Caelior

## Caelior of the Maelstrom

“Quisilia wasn’t entirely joking when he gave Caelior that little nickname.” ~Zar’Chon’ravarian’vitiary

### Titles

"Wielder of the Maelstrom""Destroyer of Immortals"

"Little Storm"

### Affiliation

The Ethereal Empire (Formerly)The Ethereal Collective (Formerly)

XCOM

## Appearances

### Debut

XCOM: The Advent Directive - Chapter 7 | "Battleground: Japan"

### Appears in:

XCOM: The ADVENT DirectiveThe XCOM Files

XCOM: New Blood

Caelior is a young, natural-birth Ethereal, who defected to XCOM after being incapacitated and captured in the battle of Tokyo by Patricia Trask.

## Biography

A rare natural-birth, Caelior was among the last generation to be born and raised to maturity before the fall of the Empire.

Even at a young age he stood out as a telekinetic prodigy. In fact he stood out to such an extend that he was drafted into the Division of the Maelstrom before he finished his schooling. Being surrounded by people constantly praising his potential, coupled with his own natural talent, cultivated an arrogant streak in Caelior so strong that he even went so far as to assign himself a title: *"Wielder of the Maelstrom".*

### Fall of the Empire

When the Synthesized began attacking the Empire Caelior was among those sent to face them and he would go on to destroy entire fleets through his telekinetic might alone. Though far from the only Ethereal capable of performing such feats, such realizations eluded Caelior and his pride and sense of self-importance only continued to grow. This did not go unnoticed by his superiors who, rather than curbing the young Ethereal's exponentially growing ego, sought to use him as a propaganda tool. A rallying cry for the the Empire in which to raise overall morale.

Other divisions within the Empire, such as the Division of Shadows and the Division of the Overminds, coordinated together so as to orchestrate events to further emphasize the legend of Caelior and bolster him in the conflicts. Something Caelior himself was unaware of, having been discreetly conditioned to pay no attention to the Overminds and Aegii supporting him.

The Battle of the Crystal Seas saw Caelior facing an enemy fleet twice the size of his own and led by a Director Flagship. Whether this was a mistake in the intelligence gathered by the Division of Shadows, or a deliberate confrontation devised by them would not be known. During the battle Caelior challenged the Director Flagship and, though it cost him nearly his entire fleet, he managed to destroy the Flagship. The act took his pride to new heights and he gave himself another title: *"The Destroyer of Immortals"* and drew the attention of even the Battlemasters whom had not been impressed with the young Ethereal's previous displays and solidified his legend in the Empire.

Though unconfirmed, it is suspected that Caelior's victory only came about via the subtle aid of the Imperator.

### Earth

At some point Caelior agreed to enter cryostasis with a select group of other Ethereals whom were brought together when it became clear the Empire was going to fall and, together, these survivors would go on to establish the Ethereal Collective millennia later.

Despite the incredible loss, Caelior's pride and confidence remained as strong as ever and cultivated the impression that the reason the Empire had *lost* was because of a lack of Ethereals like himself to turn the tides. The other surviving Ethereals, though fully aware of the propaganda that made up the legend of Caelior, did nothing to correct this assumption.

During the War on Earth the Battlemaster decided it provided to the perfect opportunity to train Caelior as a commander of Collective troops, giving him theater over the Invasion of Japan. Lacking any training in the field of tactics and strategy, Caelior's initial attempt was an abject failure leading to extreme losses for the troops under his command. His attempt was so bad, in fact, that the Battlemaster outright dismissed him from the operation and took control himself, leaving Caelior to back down in disgrace.

The failure drove Caelior to try and improve and, as a result, his showing of the second battle for Japan was much more successful. Mainly because he emulated the Battlemaster's own tactics and methods. The second battle culminated in Caelior taking the field himself and demonstrated his strength to XCOM and ADVENT by first destroying *every* force arrayed against him before throwing an aircraft carrier into the middle of Tokyo almost as an afterthought. This won him Japan and soothed his bruised ego.

Month's later, Operation Sherman threatened to free Japan from Collective control and Caelior was infuriated to learn the Battlemaster, in the face of ADVENT's new tactics and *Aegis* taking the field against them, intended to allow human forces to take the island in favor of bolstering their forces elsewhere and adapting to the new tactics shown. So infuriated, in fact, that he assaulted the Battlemaster, decrying him as weak, demanding he be placed in total control of Collective forces and declaring that he would kill Aegis and win the war for the Collective. The Battlemaster agreed to the demand, on the condition that Caelior successfully kill Aegis in the immediate battle.

Finding this acceptable, Caelior left to take the field on Earth, unaware that he had broken the last strands of the Battlemaster's patience with him and become an unacceptable liability in the elder Ethereal's eyes.

### Capture by XCOM

The battle for Japan found Caelior facing Patricia Trask, whom had recently been taught the principles of Lower Brain Telepathy by the Imperator. Using her newfound ability she was able to bypass his mental defenses and seize control of his very body, making him cough up blood and writhe in agony successively. Only Aegis arguing with the Commander for Caelior's life, pointing out that the Battlemaster and the Imperator *both* had sent him out to die and wouldn't it be wiser to deny them that victory, kept Trask from executing the young Ethereal right then.

Rendered unconscious, Caelior was transported to the Presidium where Dr. Vahlen had him medically paralyzed from the neck down to hinder his telekinetic abilities and leave him mostly harmless. Then allowed to wake, Aegis proceeded to reveal to Caelior how he had been used during the war and how the Battlemaster and the Imperator had sent him down to die. Though initially denying Aegis' words, the young Ethereal soon came to believe him and what defiance remained evaporated, leaving Caelior weary and resigned. He asked what was to become of him then as he knew how XCOM operated and was aware of just how grim his prospects were. At best they would put him in stasis, never to awake again.

Again Aegis stepped in for him, suggesting to the Commander that they utilize Caelior's power rather than waste it. The Commander accepted the suggestion on the caveats that Caelior tell them what he knew of the Collective's doings and that he undergo the Manchurian Restraints once they were completed. Caelior agreed, but requested he be put in stasis after being questioned as being medically paralyzed was disconcerting.

Once the Manchurian Restraints were applicable Caelior was reawakened a the medical paralysis was undone. From there he was tasked with further psionic training to refine his raw talent as well as, to his initial bewilderment, given mandatory sessions with Dr. Haley Yates, the Head of the XCOM Psychology Division. These sessions would aid Caelior in working through longstanding personal issues of his own and further shape the training he would receive, among which was remedying his lack of strategic understanding by going over battles during the Synthesized War and learning the pros and cons of decisions made as well as supplemental material in the form of RTS Video Games.

### Battlefield Deployment

Eventually Caelior would be cleared for the Battlefield and his first debut as a soldier of XCOM was (like Aegis before him) Busan, Korea. From there he would be utilized against various Collective Forces, particularly against the Cleanser Ships in orbit around Earth which, should they get to close, he would just yank out of the atmosphere via telekinesis.

During the Reign of the Dread Lord he would be deployed in Beijing, China where he assisted in flushing Isomnum into the open, though he did not deal the final blow against the other Ethereal.

Unfortunately the victory would be soured when Trask, now the Harbinger of the Imperator, attacked the Presidium and proceeded to massacre anyone unfortunate enough to cross her path. Caelior was among the XCOM troops who rallied against her and, while his recent training allowed him to defend his mind against her telepathy she circumvented that by shooting him with psionic lightning, something he had absolutely no defense against. Trask proceeded to reclaim the young Ethereal and it was only through the sacrifice of Nuan Kun, who warned of the *fatal* consequences of taking Caelior off Earth, that allowed him to survive the encounter.

Kept unconscious, Caelior was taken to one of Revealan's Earth-based labs where the scientist could study the Manchurian Restraints and potentially find a way to circumvent them. There he would remain, kept comatose, until XCOM (with the aid of T'Leth's agents) located the lab and staged a costly, but successful, rescue.

### Two of a Kind

To celebrate the successful mission an Ethereal Basketball Game was put together, Caelior-vs-Aegis and their respective teams. During the pre-game practices Caelior was introduced to Dawn Conley, teenage recruit of XCOM and the first human biopath, and they got along well.

With the game ending in their favor, mainly through the teamwork between the two adolescents, Caelior suggested training their psionics together. Dawn needed experience using offensive telepathy and Caelior needed more experience defending against telepathy.

The two would bond over their mutual status as psionic prodigies and they would, along with the rest of Dawn's squad, enjoy leisure time together. At one point even poking fun of the XCOM Television show.

Seeing an echo of his own situation in Dawn, Caelior would warn her against making the same mistakes he had.