Amphear

―Amphear about his engineering talent, *Forlorn Hope*

**Amphear**, also known by his self-name **Forever-Locked-Beneath-Glass**, is a male shilt who, while on his pilgrimage through the Ambrosia Galaxy, ended up working for Ockrahm on Forlorn Hope Station, a backwater space station 110 light-years from Amaranthine. When the crew of the *Unreliable* arrived at the station to stock up on supplies for the long journey to the Green World, Amphear willingly joined them, preferring to risk death and complete his pilgrimage then serve under his boss any longer. Having survived the Battle of Nexus Station, Amphear decided to remain with his friends and joined the crew of the CSS *Unreliable* as chief engineer.

Departing the crew after the "death" of Elijah, Amphear somehow ended up on the planet Methuselah in the Euclid Galaxy, where he was leading a shilt refugee group that was stranded on the planet. Reunited with Elijah, Amphear aided him and his new crew in stealing the coded location of a Rising Tide bioweapon called "Tsunami". With the mission successful and his fellow shilt saved, Amphear joined Elijah on the *Indigo Dawn*, later rejoining the *Unreliable* and fighting in the Battle of Borealis.

## Biography

### Early Life and Background

Not much is yet known about Amphear's early life. Like most of his race, he was born on the shilt homeworld of Shen in the Whirlpool Galaxy. Even among the shilt, Amphear demonstrated extreme sensitivity to any form of atmospheric pressure, an affliction that nearly killed him as a child. To save his life he was permanently sealed inside his pressure suit and constantly fed a high-potency mixture of gaseous nitrogen and liquid nitrogen; as a result, any drop of pressure in his suit could lead to his death.

The restrictions that Amphear's disorder brought to his life resulted in him being highly secluded, introverted and left out during practical skills training, with him being widely seen as a liability. However, the young Amphear quickly developed a remarkable talent for engineering and he quickly earned a name for himself as a technician on his home station. Amphear, despite the protests of his elders, eventually left for the traditional shilt pilgrimage, from which he would not return until he had performed a feat worthy of his memory being preserved in the archives of Shen.

At some point, Amphear arrived in the Ambrosia Galaxy and fell into debt to Ockrahm, the owner of Forlorn Hope Station. Although Amphear eventually worked off his debt, he had little choice to remain on the station, with no means of leaving and continuing his pilgrimage.

### Adventure Across Ambrosia

#### Joining the *Unreliable*

Amphear greets the crew of the *Unreliable* as they dock on Forlorn Hope Station. All of the crew aside from Alyx immediately take a dislike to him due to his overly cheerful, fidgety and enthusiastic demenour. Elijah hands Amphear some credits to take a look at the *Unreliable*.

Amphear takes a look at the *Unreliable*'s systems and is horrified by the impact that the stealth modifications have had on the rest of the ship. Gerren returns to the ship to make sure Amphear is not stealing anything - primarily because of the tense relations between quills and shilts - and the two strike up a conversation about the ship's systems. To Gerren's surprise, Amphear manages to safely divert power to the rest of the *Unreliable*'s systems, bringing the kinetic shields and the weapons back online.

Amphear stays on the ship when the crew is forced to make a quick escape after Kera and Verandar are kidnapped by Ockrahm and his mercenaries. Using Amphear's knowledge of the station's layout, they are able to infiltrate and rescue the women. When the *Unreliable* escapes, Amphear decides to remain with the crew, preferring to join them on their quest than stay in Ockrahm's employ.

#### Pirates Attack

One week after escaping Forlorn Hope Station, the *Unreliable* continues its seemingly endless trek through Ambrosia to Sithniatt. Hardened by their encounter with Ockrahm and his slavers, the crew have significantly bonded over their ordeal. Amphear, accepted by the crew, has settled in nicely in the engine room.

In the cockpit, Gerren picks up a nearby lightfolding alert. He summons the crew to the command deck, where Alia activates the scanner. She discovers that another vessel is head straight for them at FTL speeds, but is unsure of what direction. Suddenly, at the starboard side, a larger coaster, the *Apex*, appears from foldspace and inserts itself into the *Unreliable*'s foldspace tunnel. The ship pilots in front of the *Unreliable* in an attempt to slow it down and fires two grapples that pierce its hull, capturing them. With no weapons and little shields to defend themselves, the crew arms themselves with what little weapons they have and split up to hide. Gerren forces the *Unreliable* out of foldspace before he hides himself in the forward cannon. Elijah, Alia and Verandar hide in a storage cupboard on the port side of the command deck, and Kera is forced to hide in a ventilation shaft when she fails to reach her mother in time.

The heavily-armed and armoured enemy crew cuts into the *Unreliable*'s hull and enters the ship before firing several warning shots. Their leader, Egor Black, calls out to Mercer, the ship's previous owner, but receives no answer. Black orders his crew to search the ship for "what Mercer promised us" and they split up throughout the ship. Amphear is quickly found while in the middle of trying to reactivate the *Unreliable*'s weapons, and his nitrogen tank is damaged when he is captured and bound.

In the engine room, Gerren demands to know why the pirates are attacking them, and Black reveals that he and his crew made a deal with Mercer, the ship's previous owner, concerning the ship's stealth system. Black orders his engineers to tear the system out of the ship and demands to know where Mercer is; Kera says that Mercer died on Haven, to which Black responds that the ship's new captain is responsible for fulfilling his agreement with Mercer. When asked how the pirates found them, Black reveals that one of his men flagged their ship on Amaranthine's moon.

Amphear begins to suffocate due to the damage to his nitrogen tank. Desperate, Hendrix detaches his hands from his arms, freeing him of his cuffs, and activates the blades hidden in his arms. He quickly dispatches one of the pirates but finds himself up against the biogenic pirate, who easily stops Hendrix's arms mid-fight. Amphear, in desperation, smashes his tank against the wall, revealing that it contains liquid nitrogen, not nitrogen gas. Amphear leans forward, firing a stream of freezing liquid nitrogen at the pirate. The pirate screams in agony as their entire right side is frozen, allowing Hendrix to stab him in the neck, killing him. Hendrix frees the others from their bounds and Gerren sacrifices a nitrogen coolant tank for the lightfold engine to save the dying Amphear.

With all the pirates - and, tragically, Verandar - dead, the crew wrap the pirates in the carpet of their cabins and discharge them from the airlock. As Kera mourns, the rest of the crew ransacks the *Apex*, recovering a large arsenal of energy weapons and armour, a space mine, a centaur rover, a new foldspace crystal, food, water, liquid radio, and a small modification for the lightfold engine that will allow them to switch it to a skip drive. Alyx also discovers and takes a small ukulele. Hendrix and HIEdi cut the cables attaching the two ships and leave the *Apex* adrift.

The crew gathers at the airlock, where they perform a short, sweet funeral for Verandar. As Gerren comforts Kera, they release her mother's body into the vacuum of space and cremate her in the fires of the engines. As they continue at FTL speeds towards Sithniatt, they gather on the command deck and debate their next move. Elijah suggests that they turn around and bring Kera to the safety of the Nexus, and goes even further to suggest they all hunker down at Nexus Station. Gerren speaks for the crew and refuses, saying that they all accompanied Elijah on this journey for their own reasons and they intend to see it through. Elijah says he does not want to be responsible for any more deaths, but Kera pipes up and says the Scourge is to blame: were it not for the attack on Haven, Kera and her mother would never have left their home, and her mother would still be alive. Now armed with greater knowledge of her powers, Kera refuses to leave the crew and affirms her commitment to stopping the Calculator and its Scourge army. Elijah accepts and tells the crew to rest.

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Due to his condition, Amphear is permanently sealed inside of his pressure suit, making his physical appearance unknown.

### Personality

Amphear is shy, energetic, intelligent, enthusiastic and witty, having developed such a personality from a lifetime of social seclusion and great expectations. His cheerfulness can often come across as irritating, but his relentless enthusiasm and talent for engineering quickly endears him to those he meets.

## Powers, Equipment & Abilities

### Powers

#### Former

* **Telekinesis:** During the fight against Kalkoranin, Amphear was granted temporary telekinesis thanks to Elijah being a Source.

### Equipment

#### Armour & Apparel

* **Pressure suit:** Because of a medical condition that greatly reduces his tolerance for high atmospheric pressures, Amphear is forced to remain sealed inside his pressure suit; unlike other shilt, who are able to remove their suits in their space stations and certain planets, Amphear can never remove his suit and is effectively sealed inside of it.
	+ **Liquid nitrogren tank:** Amphear's suit come equipped with a tank containing liquid nitrogen, which sustains the high nitrogen content of his suit as well as keeps his body temperature low, well within the optimum shilt homeostatic temperature.
	+ **Mask:** Amphear's mask contains heavy-duty nitrogen filters to ensure the nitrogen he needs to breath is free from contaminants. The mask also comes equipped with a speaker, allowing Amphear to communicate at various volumes. The thickness of the mask's glass means that Amphear's face is permanently obscured, leading to his self-name "Forever-Locked-Beneath-Glass".

### Abilities

* **Master engineer:** A life aboard space stations and constant maintenance of his suit has made Amphear an expert engineer, even among shilt. He has a photographic memory when it comes to lightfold engines and is a certified infrastructure engineer.

## Associated Deaths

### Murders committed by Amphear

* Kalkoranin - shot in the chest with an explosive bullet

## Relationships

### Elijah Rayes

"*We're on a potentially suicidal mission to stop a genocidal force of monsters that destroys planets in seconds, led by some form of evil intelligence that we can't even fathom. You sure you wanna come?"
 "Literally **anything** is better than staying at **that** place,*"
—Elijah and Amphear[src]

## Appearances

### Hyperspace: The Cosmic Gospel

#### Part I: Darkened Heaven

* "Forlorn Hope"
* "Boarding Party"
* "The Green World"
* "Homeworld"
* "Darkened Heaven"

#### Part II: The Battle of Borealis

* "Superluminal"
* "Parabellum" *(hologram)*
* "Indigo Dawn"
* "Glass"
* "Hadron"
* "War Never Changes"
* "The Battle of Borealis"