Nicholas Rye

**Nicholas Rye** was the head of the Rye family, leader of the Escudo Police Force in Acropolis and is the father of Amelia and Matt Rye. He was an effective and austere police constable, although at one point possessing a softer side, but by his thirties and fourties he only had one expression: stern.
Much like his wife, Nicholas delved into his job than into his children's lives, expressing slight concern for them being alive, but it never developed past that. He was possibly trying to earn enough money to better his children for life, as Matt later conjectured.

## Early Years

Nicholas did not mention talk about his past much to anyone, and only sparingly spoke to his children. It is unknown where on Darios he was born, not even the continent he originated from, or who his parents were, although it is strongly implied that he was an orphan and they may have died when Nick was young.

At some point, Nicholas moved to Acropolis, renting an apartment for a time when he believed he wouldn't be staying there long, until he eventually got a job at the Escudo Police Force. This may suggest towards some background with the force, or some kind of upbringing that led him to pursue a job in it. He might have also had some experience in policing.

By the time he met his wife-to-be, he was a detective inspector with the Force, working on a case where DNA evidence had been stolen from the Acropolis Unity Courthouse. He met Deborah as the lawyer on the opposition for the case.

Deborah was targeted by the criminal who stole the evidence, so she placed in Witness Protection until the latter offender was caught and brought to justice.

During this time, Deborah and Nicholas eventually fell in love. Their marriage was subsequently arranged by their parents and they proceeded to have children in the following years.

Nicholas was later promoted to leader of the Escudo Police Force.

## Being a Parent

Nicholas did not harbour much care or love for his children, as he intended them only to succeed him in some way, not necessarily by joining the Force but at least achieving a satisfactory job. Due to his ruthless background from training on the Force, Nick was exceedingly grim and violent. As a result, he was very callous with them and cared little for their wellbeing, only whether they were alive or not. This eventually extended to even his relationship with his wife.
Nicholas also physically abused his own son from time to time.

Whilst Deborah did at least possess some interest in her children, Nicholas did not and as such did not try to stop Amelia when she sneaked out of Acropolis. However, he did have some concern for them, but only if he believed it was for the benefit of his reputation, like generating enough income to better their lives and make it easier for them to get jobs.

Whether he would have attempted to form a bond with them once he believed their achievements were satisfactory is unknown, but it is unlikely as it would likely have been too late.

## Disowning Matt

After Amelia was murdered by Hyperion, Nicholas refused to take the blame and instead forced it upon Matt, whom he strongly believed was responsible for his recklessness. Enhanced in this thought by his wife taking his side, Nicholas was extremely furious with him for getting his daughter killed, despite never displaying any care for her in the past. When his son brought this up, Nick was further enraged and took to physically harming him for his "insolence", as his wife merely watched.

While beating him up, Nicholas declared him to no longer be his son and proceeded to disown him legally, using Unity Courthouse. He provided his son with a ship to leave Darios, telling him to get off the planet, but harshly told Matt that it wasn't for his benefit, but theirs, as they would "fortunately" never see him again, "if [we're] lucky."

Nicholas was the one who organised the Acropoliptan mob of profound Gemini boycotters to help forcefully throw his son off his own planet.

## Divorce

Sometime after Matt left Darios, Nicholas noticed that his wife was beginning to regret her actions with him.

He confronted her about this, and it led to an explosive argument between them where Deborah argued that it was not helping their familial cause by throwing away the last child they had. Nicholas objected and claimed adamantly that Matt was not his son anymore. Deborah insisted that he was and this was not what Amelia wanted. Nicholas claimed that neither of them actually cared what Amelia wanted when she was alive, something that Deborah unfortunately couldn't disagree with.

His wife told him that they should have, and Nicholas supposed he should have paid more attention, but outwardly avoided stating that he had many any mistakes. Deborah told him she was going to go look for Matt, and Nicholas ordered her not to, and Deborah disobeyed him and demanded a divorce.

After the legal papers had been sorted through, Nicholas and Deborah were divorced and went their separate ways.

## Status

The last time Nicholas was heard of, it was by Deborah. As she explained, Nicholas left Darios at the same time she did, quitting his job on the Escudo Police Force, and went to live on a planet named Teleptia Major in the Garn Belt. It is unknown what he was doing there, if he remarried or got another job in the force.