Erron Rayes

(Unnamed) - son *(deceased)*
 Elijah Rayes - "son"
 Thomas Rayes - adoptive father *(deceased)*

Ivan Rayes - adoptive brother

―Erron taunts Leviathan before destroying the ANS *Monroe*, 2899

**Erron Rayes**, born **Kovache Immunos**,was a male human-tarsi hybrid and the protagonist of *Hyperion: A Space Adventure*. He was a botanist and mathematical genius recruited by the Gaia Program to help colonize the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Born to outlaws Howard Immunos and Kaima Oldeijy, but raised by Thomas Rayes, Erron was the lead researcher for the Olympia Colony until it was destroyed by Paul Monroe and the corrupted crew of the ANS *Monroe*. Having lost his left hand, the use of his legs and many of his friends in the attack, he willingly joined the Frontier Defence Force to hunt down the ANS *Monroe*. He became the captain of the CS *Olympus**,* leading them on their adventures across the Whirlpool. He and the crew of the *Olympus* led the FDF into battle during the Battle of Harmony, saving the Whirlpool by preventing the Titans from escaping their intergalactic prison. Hailed as a hero by the new space-state of Asgard, Erron was branded a terrorist by the FGA and now leads his own outlaw cell, the Hellhound Corps.

By 2903, Erron was still searching the galaxy for a way to free Ashley from the Prison Dimension. To do so, he entered the Continuum and encountered the Traveller, an entity that claimed Erron's actions to come would precipitate the actions of a "Special One". After rescuing Ashley, he discovered she was pregnant with his child but had been altered by the Continuum. At the start of the Titan War and the fall of the Protectorate of Asgard, Erron was appointed the leader of the Frontier Covenant, a faction of the FDF that rejected the command of Errol Welles, who had fallen under the control of the Titan known as Orcus.

Erron took his crew to the northern arms of the Whirlpool to recruit the Maelstrom Democratic Republic as allies before returning to fight in the Battle of Keystone. With the *Olympus* damaged and Erron injured, he ordered his crew to evacuate before piloting the *Olympus* into the Final Breach, triggering an explosion that annihilated the Titans and destroyed Leviathan once and for all. Erron was subsequently honoured as a hero who had sacrificed everything to save the Universe, while inadvertently triggering the next stage of intergalactic exploration by creating the Nexus in his final moments.

## Biography

### Early Life and Background

Erron Rayes was born Kovache Immunos, the son of famous outlaws Howard Immunos and Kaima Oldeijy, who were human and Tarsi respectively, on the planet Dirth in the Andromeda Galaxy. After his parents were killed by FGA soldiers, a human soldier, Thomas Rayes, adopted the child and raised him under the name Erron. He was raised alongside his older adoptive brother, Ivan.

Erron, knowing fully of his outlaw heritage, was marked as a prodigy early in his life. He was encouraged to keep his true parenthood hidden from others and never revealed his true name. His spectacular intelligence allowed him to excel in scientific studies, while Ivan followed a career in the military.

### Induction into Gaia Program

Due to his advanced knowledge in botany and his previous expeditions to other planets in the Andromeda Galaxy, Erron was selected by the New Eden Corporation as one of their colonists in the Gaia Program, part of the Virgo Initiative, which aimed to allow the many species of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies to colonise the Whirlpool Galaxy. He was assigned to the ark *Odyssey*, destination Hyperion-b, a planet in the Hydra Arm. In late 2893, Erron said goodbye to his brother Ivan and boarded the *Odyssey* for the long journey. The *Odyssey* passed through the Bifrost in early 2894, immediately arriving several light-years outside of the Whirlpool Galaxy.

### Joining the FDF

#### Battle of Harmony

Erron directed the *Olympus* to join the mobilizing 1st Frontier Fleet in orbit above Harmony, watching as the *Monroe* lightfolded into view.

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Erron is a tall, muscular and handsome man with dark hair that is beginning to grey. Although he has the typical physical appearance of a human, as a half-Tarsi Erron has several physiological differences; an example are his eyes, which are a deep violet, something he hides with laser surgery due to a general societal prejudice towards hybrids. He also has more advanced immune, muscle and nervous systems compared to other humans; these factors are the sole reason he survived the wounds inflicted on him by Paul Monroe.

Following the destruction of Olympia Colony and his rescue by the FDF, Erron was given several prosthetics, including a mechanical hand to replace his destroyed left hand and a fusion cell at the base of his spine that allows him to walk.

### Personality

Erron is immensely intelligent and pragmatic. Even as a child he demonstrated a genius-level intellect, and quickly decided that he would study botany and planetary colonization. The destruction of the Olympia Colony has forced Erron to embrace a more assertive, level-headed and cunning personality well built for surviving in the wild frontier of the Whirlpool, and he has evolved into a battle-hardened survivor who will protect his crew without question. His leadership ability is second to none, able to rally an entire galaxy to unite against the Titans despite the previous conflicts plaguing the numerous factions. Erron possesses an indomitable will, carrying the fate of the Whirlpool almost entirely on his shoulders and rarely breaking under the pressure; his willpower is so strong that it has impressed beings such as Orcus, who points out that no ordinary organic could hope to withstand the psionic influence of a Titan.

## Relationships

### Ivan Rayes

"*I ain't got much family. I got my brother, but...that ain't saying much.*"
—Erron's first mention of his brother Ivan to Ashley[src]
Erron's relationship with his adoptive brother Ivan was incredibly strained, primarily due to Erron's true parentage.

### Ashley Briggs

"*We've crossed the galaxy together. Faced Titans together. The lives of billions are on our shoulders. **I'm still here**. You found me. And I am **never** leaving you again. I'm standing by you till the end,*"
—Ashley to Erron following their reunion[src]

The relationship between Erron and Ashley forms a core plot-point in *Hyperion: A Space Adventure*. Ashley is one of Erron's closest friends, allies and advisors, a relationship that has become passionate on several occasions. Despite this, both of them have repeatedly hesitated on acting on their shared feelings due to the threat that Leviathan and the Titans pose to the Whirlpool and the rest of the Settled Systems. For his part, Erron is openly passionate about his bond with Ashley, expressing that he has never felt that way about anyone due to his disciplined upbringing; meanwhile, the more reserved Ashley is not as open despite sharing such feelings, unable even to reveal that she is pregnant with his child.

Following Ashley's sacrifice to close the Breach at the Battle of Harmony, Erron was one of the few to believe that Ashley could have survived and spent the next four years working with Weldom researching ways to rescue her. Upon discovering the existence of the Continuum and designing a way to teleport, Erron volunteered to enter the Continuum to rescue Ashley and did so successfully after being guided by the Traveller. Upon her return to the *Olympus*, Ashley is far more open with Erron, finally revealing her pregnancy and explaining that both her and the child have been "altered" by the Continuum due to spacetime not existing in that dimension. She then reiterates that she will continue to stand by him in the Covenant's war against both the Titans and the indoctrinated FDF, before reigniting their relationship.

## Trivia

* Despite being younger than his adoptive brother Ivan, Erron is technically older, as he spent a total of 2.5 years in suspended animation on both the *Odyssey* and the *Olympus*.
* As a citizen of the Protectorate of Asgard, Erron's citizenship is Asgardian.
* Following the fall of Olympia Colony, Erron becomes a cyborg, with his destroyed left hand being replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic and a fusion core placed at the bottom of his spine after being paralysed.
* According to Erron, he has never been to the Milky Way galaxy and has always dreamed of visiting Saturn in the Sol System.