Maxnus Iscaus

**Maxnus Iscaus** is a Turian Hierarchy Military Sergent, Freelance Mercenary and member of the Council Recovery Corps

## Demographics

### Education

High SchoolTurian Hierarchy Military SchoolScout Marksmanships courses

## Physical Description

### Identifying Marks

Orange Carthaan Outpost face markingsMissing the lower half of left mandible

## Biography

Born in 2154 on Palaven to parents that were, like most Turians, career soldiers, Max lived an interesting childhood - his mother, Laria, was a naval combat triage specialist, and his father, Tiruns, was an NCO in the special forces. As a result, the Turian never saw much of his parents, with his mother spending most of her time away serving on a Turian cruiser, and his father being sent across Turian Space, taking part in classified missions for the Hierarchy that he could never talk about. The few times he did see them, they came back different. Sometimes they were quieter, and sometimes they were louder and quicker to anger than he remembered. Most of Max’s childhood was spent being raised by his Grandfather, Arrumus, on his Father’s side, who was a decorated veteran, who had spent most of his career travelling the galaxy with the Turian scout regiments. He regaled the young Turian of his war stories, no doubt embellishing them a little for the child’s imagination, and told him of adventures in deep space, full of wonder and excitement. Max had expressed to his grandfather that he wanted to be a scout as well, and he did everything he could to get him ready for boot camp, taking him shooting regularly and training his marksmanship early on, as well as camouflage and scouting techniques.

In 2169 came time for boot camp and Max was already a natural fit for a scout, and the selection process into the scout regiment came easy for him. He was quickly inducted into the regiment that his grandfather had set for him, and began his training at the usual age of fifteen. Max quickly excelled in practical tasks, but there was a fire in the teenage Turian that his commanding officers weren’t fans of, and he was repeatedly cautioned and sanctioned for what was seen as “conduct unbecoming”. Max was a fan of playing practical jokes and particularly enjoyed getting a rise out of his particularly hard lead trainer, which always got a few giggles and snickers out of the other trainees. Eventually, Max graduated into enlisted service, with his first station on the planet Invictus in the Minos Wasteland. His first tour primarily consisted of hunting down dangerous bandits and pirates from the Terminus Systems. Max quickly developed a reputation of being an excellent shot, and despite still having his young love for practical jokes, being the model soldier in the field with his calculating and reserved demeanour and attitude towards a mission. Two years into his first tour, he was recommended for promotion.

Now a Private First Class, Max was sent to the developing colony of Silona, where he spent less time in combat, and more practising his scouting. Max found Silona extremely dull, and as the colony was still being settled, there was very little for the still young Turian to do. As a result, Max got into more trouble here than anywhere else in his military record, and frequently found himself spending a night or two in the cells for his mischievous nature. The only thing that kept him from a demotion was his platoon leader arguing the case that Max’s antics kept morale high. He spent two years on Silona, before being moved back to Palaven for further scout training. Max didn’t realise how little he missed home until he returned to Palaven. It had been five years since he’d seen home and his family. During his time away, his grandfather had passed, his parents had split up, and he had come back to a fractured family. The homeworld had nothing for him now other than sentimental value, and he was never really big on sentimentality. His scout training here lasted another three months, with another three months spent on Quick Reaction Force (QRF) training conducted on Palaven’s Moon, Menae. He flourished in this training; and now being more mature, he toned down his jokes and tempered his occasionally childish moments, realising that there was a time and a place for messing around.

Max’s longest tour came courtesy of the Navy. Scout platoons were occasionally assigned to the Turian Navy as a ground recon and as QRF specialists, and Max was deployed in multiple systems aboard the THS Pyrrhus, a Turian Hierarchy Frigate that was tasked with finding and stopping pirates in the Citadel/Terminus border systems. Max greatly enjoyed his time here, the sense of the unknown and the wanderlust inspiring the Turian into excelling again and again, and it wasn’t long until he earned his third promotion to Corporal, or Corporal, for a well-executed raid on a pirate gang in the Ismar Frontier. Max’s marksmanship proved invaluable, and to this day he holds the longest range confirmed kill aboard the Pyrrhus at 815m. He concedes that it’s less impressive than it sounds, as the Phyrrhus was a frigate consisting mostly of marines more suited to a close-quarters fight, but the record stands regardless. Alas, as his service aboard the Pyrrhus lengthened, his desire to explore became stronger. Being on a naval ship, seeing space all around you and never being able to visit any of the worlds you come across didn’t sit well with him, and after five years aboard the Pyrrhus, and five years elsewhere as an enlisted man in the Hierarchy’s military machine, Corporal Maxnus Iscaus was officially honourably discharged from the military in July 2184, at the age of thirty.

Max settled on Omega and the surrounding colonies in the Terminus Systems. From his experience aboard the Phyrrus and stopping pirates and slavers in the border systems, Max had seen first hand how badly some of these people needed help. He became a freelance mercenary, accepting work from people in need for little pay. His three years on Omega were spent finding and rescuing missing people, disrupting slavers, and fighting against criminal exploitation of the poorer populace in the Terminus. During his time there, while his deeds and feats were not necessarily heroic or particularly noteworthy, he managed to accrue a modest bounty on his head from the Batarian Slaver groups, and some of the Terminus’ smaller gangs. Max was never captured, his time as a recon operative proving useful in not getting caught.

When Monarch destroyed Eden Prime, Max re-enlisted with the Turian Hierarchy in 2187, knowing that something big was coming and, like most Turians, wanted to do his duty to the cause. Reinstated as a Lance Corporal once more, Max was immediately deployed back to Invictus, where his military career started all those years ago, and he was on the front line against the Reaper invasion for the entire month-long conflict, until the Omega 4 Relay was destroyed. During his time here, he had one notable combat action where he provided cover fire for combat medics extracting wounded soldiers, keeping the Reaper ground forces at bay, and giving the medics time to retreat. His time spent as a mercenary in the Terminus lent itself well to this kind of skirmish warfare, and he was able to coordinate his fellow recon operatives well enough to earn himself a promotion to Sergeant. In the final days of the conflict on Invictus, Max found himself caught in a Reaper Artillery strike, causing minor facial damage, and only surviving when shrapnel struck his dog tag, instead of lacerating his throat. He spent a week recovering from his wounds in a field hospital on Invictus, by which time, the Omega 4 Relay was destroyed, and the Reapers were defeated. Physical recovery was straightforward for him, having only received a minor injury to the bottom of his mandible, and he was back in active duty within a few days. However, the mental recovery took much longer, and Max seemed a little more distant and quieter than he was before his injury. His near-death experience also prompted him to try and contact his parents, but neither of them had returned his calls or messages.

Max spent the rest of his deployment on Invictus assisting with the rebuilding efforts, and recovering survivors on the Turian Colony. His change in demeanour from the injury had not negatively impacted his work ethic, and he returned to his duties with a renewed focus and drive. He used his scouting experience primarily to find and rescue those stranded after the conflict and also helped in finding supplies and equipment that were either lost or abandoned as the lines of the battle had shifted. As Invictus was also a notorious criminal hideout, Max was also deployed to ward off scavengers in the area, attempting to take advantage of the Turian Colony’s now more exposed state. Getting out and helping people as best he could seemed to bring him back out of his shell, and while he was still a little more reserved than he used to be, the jokes and laughs slowly returned, though with more of a light-hearted, gallows humour tone to them.

Max’s consistently good actions, work ethic, and driven nature earned him his final promotion to Sergeant in late 2189 and was given his own squad to lead. With the rescuing long since complete, and the rebuilding works nearing their end almost two years after the fact, they shifted more back to a combat role, helping and assisting the regular infantry in finding and rooting out pirates and criminals that plagued Invictus. He bonded well with his new squadmates, and in many ways, they were as good for him as he was to them, with them helping to bring out Max’s sense of camaraderie and loyalty to those closest to him. Under his command, the scout team was never injured, as they performed more of a reconnaissance role for the Infantry, being the eyes and ears for the assaulting troops. When the new decade came, and his fifth tour of duty in the Hierarchy coming to an end, Max had caught wind of the Council Recovery Corps from an extranet broadcast. After doing some research into the organisation, and agreeing with its goals and principles, he left the military for a second time and travelled to the Citadel to join.

## Personality

Max is the strange kind of cheerful, with the sharp tongue and gallows humour of a career soldier and mercenary. However, despite his sometimes morbid jokes and occasionally grim outlook on life, Max is an optimist, and works to elevate his colleagues, and tries to improve the lives of those around him. As a Turian NCO, he cares for the lives of his friends and partners and is always willing to be the shoulder to cry on, the guy to have a drink with, or just a friend to shoot the shit with. He’ll always have a friend’s back, whether it be in a moment of weakness, or a bar fight in Omega. The Turian will always try and cheer people up with his jokes and relatively casual demeanour, and off the field, he’s relatively easy going - for a Turian, that is.

However, one may get the hint that the humour and the optimism is a mask for something darker - a shield stopping the horrors that the Turian saw his service to the Hierarchy and his time freelancing on Omega and the surrounding Terminus Systems. As a Scout, Max was often alone on the field, or in a very small squad at the most, and whether you’re first recon for an Infantry Squad moving to assault a slaver den, or behind the lines of a Reaper invasion, or attempting to find and rescue a missing person that has vanished in the Terminus, you’re bound to see things that people should never see. Max isn’t averse to violence, and he understands that sometimes the bad guys need to die so that the good guys can live happily. He wouldn’t say that he enjoys the violence and he sees it as necessary, but the satisfaction of being able to drill a round between the eyes of a bad guy at five hundred meters is rather gratifying in its own morbid way. This does, however, present itself in an almost martyr-like form, where he believes that it’s him, and people like him that have to bear the burden of ending a life or doing something immoral if it means that other, better people can live peacefully. This can lead to him seeming emotionally distant at times and almost cold-hearted when making difficult decisions, despite always being there to offer advice to others should they want it. He isn’t outwardly religious, nor does it shape his worldview or general beliefs, but he does believe and occasionally practice Turian Spiritualism, and also believes in the act of reincarnation, where spirits can be reborn into new people if they wish to. He also believes that people can practise whatever religion they wish, as long as they don’t attempt to force their beliefs upon others, emphasizing choice and freedom.

Like most Turians, he is loyal to the cause he finds himself aligned with, only amplified as a lifelong soldier. He is driven and focused on his tasks, whether it's on a mission, or something as simple as being there for somebody else. He is also considered an honourable man, driven by a need for justice and doing what is right, even if that justice can sometimes take place outside what is lawful. He refrains from lying as best he can, preferring to tell the truth when he can, even if the truth is uncomfortable to hear, and believes that you do not need to lie about his actions if you’ve done nothing wrong. He does not believe in karma, and people who are deserving of having justice brought to them will only be given it if someone does something about it, and he is more than willing to be the person that does bad things to bad people if it means that good people can prosper. This does however occasionally lead to conflict - he does not like to compromise and leaving something he considers half-finished annoys him greatly, and he is not shy in expressing it. Max also enjoys exploring, and being out in the galaxy. He enjoys the sense of adventure and getting out of his comfort zone to experience new things, new places, and new people. He believes that trying these new things is the best way to grow and better yourself and that staying comfortable can lead to stagnation. He finds laziness or inaction unacceptable, and believes that something can always be done to improve yourself or your situation, and holds others to the same standard.

### Hobbies & Interests

* *Court Jester*: Max enjoys making others laugh, finding the funny side in almost any situation. He likes to keep morale up and spirits high, knowing the value in both as a former NCO. Possessing quick wit, the Turian can trade blows in verbal back and forths and is more than willing to crack a joke to bring some light to an otherwise poor situation.
* *Sight informs the mind, sound speaks to the soul:* Max likes a good audiobook, stemming from his military days. Being able to shut his eyes and reset, and to lose yourself in another fictional world is paramount to unwinding for him, and keeping himself sharp. His favourites tend to be fantasy novels, usually set in the past, and he enjoys exploring the literature of other races. While he will always be biased towards Turian works, he does also enjoy human and asari fantasy novels, particularly enjoying the Human take on magic before they discovered biotics. He also likes music, and a lot of it, enjoying music from all walks of life. While “Die For The Cause” can get one misty-eyed and patriotic, to Max, that isn’t what music is about. In the same vein as the audiobooks, he believes that a story can be told across an album, or even in a four-minute track, and a well-executed piece of music can get you thinking or stir the emotions as much or if not more than a novel can. Max listens to a wide range of genres, stemming from practically ancient classical music from turian and human cultures to the latest thumping club tracks to Asari synthetic orchestras and even the occasional underground punk and metal ‘hits’.

* *Cocktails, for when the music isn’t enough:* Turians aren’t exactly known for flavour when it comes to their food and drink, and Max is jealous of all the non-dextro alcohol that comes with the other races. While Turian alcohol is a thing, finding good dextro-based cocktails is very difficult outside of the fancy bars on the Citadel. He tries his best with what he has, and the products of which are always strong, and sometimes even nice tasting. A perfect night for Max consists of a smooth and tasty drink, coupled with the low thrum of a classic album, relaxing in a soft armchair.

## Physical Description

Max stands at 6’6”, around average for a Turian male, but is relatively svelte for his size. Facially, his orange markings are striking against his darker carapace, and his eyes gleam through the dim eye sockets. Two sets of dog tags are worn around his neck, with one set being from his first stint in the military, while the second is from when he re-enlisted to help defend Invictus from the Reaper threat. The latter set of dog tags has a large scratch along its front face, and it’s buckled inwards slightly from where something hit it. Beyond that, the tip on his right mandible has been taken off, no doubt as a war wound. His voice is deep and subdued and allows for the near-perfect delivery of his usual dry wit.

Max dresses simply, with basic clothing and simple dark colours, preferring to keep his clothes ascetic and practical. Typically, he wears loose-fitting clothes that can easily conceal a side-arm, and they are always pressed and well kept, as is the turian way. His combat armour is similar; wearing modified Turian Scout-Recon armour; painted dark grey, with extra ammo pouches and a chest holster added in post-production, along with a standard-issue scout monovisor, tinted orange, which provides a heads up display as well as an optical zoom and communications system, which can record both comms traffic and video from Max’s point of view. All in all, however, there’s nothing flashy about what he wears; simply neat and tidy, with no frills or ostentatiousness, believing that utility is more important than presentation in everyday life. However, when it comes time to dress sharply, Max will don his military uniform, as most Turians do when it comes to outfitting oneself for an occasion.

### Armament

* M-92 Mantis
* Krysae Sniper Rifle
* M-12 Locust
* M-6 Carnifex

### Abilities

* Concussive Shot
* Tactical Cloak
* Decoy