Percival Hayes

**Percival Hayes**, known by his title as the **Apostle Who Rises from Grandeur**, was the male Borealan Human that once served as the ambassador of Borealis to the United Cassiopeian Republic, representing his homeworld in the Galactic Embassy. He served as ambassador after Alden Lafayette and was the patriarch of House Hayes. In secret, Hayes was a devout Apostle of the Faceless that worshipped a corrupt, divine entity, having fought in the Faceless Wars.

## Biography

### Early Life

Around the year 5900 ASA, Percival Hayes was born on the planet Borealis, an urban planet with castles decorating the majority of the land. Hayes was born as a member of the Borealan noble house, House Hayes. Percival heard legends about how House Hayes gave rise to the first King of Borealis. However, seeing House Hayes become second to the powerful House Stone made Percival incredibly cynical and pessimistic. This was the spark that led to Hayes' path to becoming a member of the Faceless.

### The Faceless Wars

Throughout the seven years that the Faceless Wars ravaged the Cassiopeia Galaxy, Percival managed to survive and keep his Faceless identity separated and hidden from his public persona.

### Disappearance of House Lafayette

Sometime after the war, when Alden Lafayette held the title of Ambassador of Borealis to the UCR, Percival was an aide to Lafayette. He used his position as an aide to further assimilate into the culture of the Galactic Embassy.

In 5947 ASA, Percival took part in a conspiracy between the different noble houses of Borealis. To protect their dark secrets and to keep themselves in power, House Stone wrongfully accused House Lafayette of treason, subsequently resulting in the incarceration of all of House Lafayette during a raid, including ambassador Alden Lafayette. Oswald Rosewood, patriarch of House Rosewood, believed Alden to have been killed during this raid. In reality, Alden was kept imprisoned on the Borealan colony of Hailstorm with the rest of his noble house, where he would remain for a decade.

The only members of House Lafayette to have avoided imprisonment were Agatha and Horace Lafayette, who lived safely on Republic capital of Cassiopeia Prime, and Amber Lafayette, who was away from the Lafayette home during the time of arrest and fled off-world to live with her grandparents.

### The New Ambassador

With the role of ambassador left vacant, Orlean Turing of House Turing was decided to be the next ambassador of Borealis. By 5952 ASA, after Orlean Turing came Percival Hayes himself, fulfilling the conspiracy against Alden Lafayette and his family and ultimately giving Percival a high position of power in the largest commonwealth in the Cassiopeia Galaxy. He held this position for five years.

### Deal with the Praeliorian Empire

In partnership with the Praeliorian Empire—along with the ambassadors for Vundoria and Oktarach, Adela Maslow and Dana Lycosa respectively—, Borealis crafted up a conspiracy that would implicate the Dawns, as all parties found the group of freedom fighters to be a nuisance in some manner. As the ambassador of Borealis, Percival was given a vital role to play in the conspiracy. He worked closely alongside elite officer Gris Véridémi of Praelior to both incriminate the Dawns and, in turn, help Praelior earn a seat in the Galactic Embassy.

### Trial of the Dawns

In 5957 ASA, emissary Véridémi came to Cassiopeia Prime in order to speak to the Galactic Embassy as an emissary of the Praeliorian Empire. Granted an audience by Vice Paramount Rhamal Dheis, Véridémi proceeded to relay the crimes he believed were directly committed by the Dawns on several different worlds and polities throughout the Cassiopeia Galaxy. Other ambassadors spoke in support of Gris, such as Ambassador Adela Maslow of Vundoria. After making his case, Véridémi asked the ambassadors to revoke the citizenships of the Dawn members who shared homeworlds with some represented worlds within the Galactic Embassy.

Fully believing emissary Véridémi, many ambassadors were in support of this decision. Ambassador Hayes officially barred Amber Lafayette from ever returning to Borealis as a first act of support for Gris. Of course, Hayes was secretly working in tandem with emissary Véridémi and other politicians as part of the larger plot against the Dawns.

#### The Recess of the First Hearing

During a recess for the Embassy hearing, Percival struck up a conversation with Ambassador Apollo Vopordna of Aethra, who was not part of the conspiracy against the Dawns and was genuinely suspicious of emissary Véridémi. Senator Jove Scorzalita of Cascade later joined in the conversation and politely warded off Percival for the sake of his friend Apollo, who desperately wished not to be there alone with Percival. After parting ways with the Cascadian senator and the Aetherian ambassador, Percival met with Ambassador Dana Lycosa and emissary Véridémi in secret. After eavesdropping, Lycosa informed her allies of Jove and Apollo working to investigate the claims made against the Dawns in order to prove their innocence, much to Hayes' frustration and disdain. Unworried, Véridémi informed his allies that he had his own methods of halting their adversaries' progress.

#### The Distraction, the Success

To prevent Scorzalita and Vopordna from being present for the remainder of the hearing after the recess, Véridémi hired a Xanthan hitwoman to deal with Vopordna alone in his office. Vopordna was stabbed in the back by the Xanthan, who disguised herself as one of Vopordna's ambassadorial aides. The Xanthan left him for dead and fled out the window, leaving his body to be discovered by Jove Scorzalita, who was able to save his friend and get him immediate medical attention.

Without the intervention of Senator Scorzalita and Ambassador Vopordna, several other ambassadors of the Galactic Embassy agreed to Véridémi's terms for Dawn citizenship revocation. Ambassador Synais Thima exiled Asher Kardia, Ambassador Cyanea Armata exiled Lilian Larimarias, and so forth. The plan was a success, as both Scorzalita and Vopordna were unable to view the remainder of the hearing and thus unable to further interfere that day.

### Interrogation and Escape

Soon after the final hearing regarding the Dawns had concluded, Percival was taken into custody by UCR officials. Agent Kesel Amatan of the Cassiopeian Intelligence and Security Agency interrogated the former ambassador in some high-level-security building in District I. Frustratingly, Amatan was unable to get any substantial information out of Percival. Just as the Cassiopeian Guardsmen were about to take Percival back to his cell, he flipped over the only table in the room with a surprising amount of force. During the confusion, a green portal opened up behind him, letting in a mist that flooded the room. This same mist managed to free Percival from his handcuffs. With a final word of goodbye, a mask materialized onto Percival's face, with the former ambassador now revealed as a member of the Faceless leaving the interrogation room through the portal. Agent Kesel Amatan watched in horror and frustration as Percival escapes, immediately leaving to hurriedly report what she and the Cassiopeian Guardsmen had witnessed.

## Personality and Traits

Percival Hayes was a Human man with short blond hair and brown eyes, with his hair having gradually turned white with age. While in public, Hayes put on a charming smile that covered up his usual perpetually-agitated look. As a member of the Faceless, he wore a golden mask.

As a recognized noble of the Borealan Aristocracy, Percival Hayes had a reputation to uphold, which he did to the best of his ability as ambassador of Borealis. He was a two-faced man, putting on a charismatic, sharp-witted, and formal persona in front of other politicians like himself—much like the Sentinel of his planet during his time, Danton Stone—, but in reality a manipulative and greedy man. He never faltered to send out his underlings to handle messy situations for him, so long as it meant keeping him and his close associates in power.

As a member of the Faceless, Percival genuinely wished to see the universe burn into anarchy and destruction. The leadership of House Stone, particularly Danton Stone's leadership, had disillusioned Hayes to a point of no return. In his eyes, if Borealis was to be ruled by someone unworthy, then he'd want to see it all destroyed. Some have noted how Percival aiding in the schemes of Danton Stone seemed paradoxical to his own beliefs, as if Percival himself lacked a clear motive other than general disruption and chaos by sowing seeds of instability. Above all, Percival was a cold man who did not hesitate to throw others into harm's way if it meant furthering his own agendas.

## Skills and Abilities

Percival possessed some degree of skill over dark magic as a member of the Faceless. He used his smug and charismatic persona to sway the people of the United Cassiopeian Republic, both its representatives and constituents, further into ruin.