Kel Tsoro

> "*I may be the will of the Kel, but I am still Kel. The Kel are made to serve. Part of that service is death.*"
> ― Hexarch Kel Tsoro
>
>

Hexarch **Kel Tsoro** was the most recent Kel hexarch. She appears in Raven Stratagem.

## Appearance and Personality

Tsoro had a broad face which was scarred, the retention of the scars an affectation. Though she appeared personally in communications with others, she usually spoke for the entirety of the Kel Command hivemind, and used an archaic plural of the first personal pronoun. When speaking on her own behalf, she used the equally archaic singular.

While she didn't like Hexarch Shuos Mikodez, she believed that he was competent. Mikodez wished she had a sense of humor and felt it would do her good to learn to relax.

She keeps a file of Kel jokes (which Mikodez has hacked) and is known to tell them from time to time.

## History

As a junior lieutenant in an otherwise small and insignificant battle, Tsoro once took a bullet that scarcely missed her heart.

After the takeover of the Swanknot swarm by General Shuos Jedao, Tsoro and Kel Command recalled General Kel Inesser from the High Glass border, feeling that General Kel Khiruev had already been compromised by Jedao and could not be trusted to lead the swarm again even if he were to be ousted.

During a video conference with the other hexarchs, Tsoro explained that Jedao had been able to claim the swarm by exploiting formation instinct because Kel did not make a practice of demoting the dead. Tsoro also had a side conversation with Hexarch Andan Shandal Yeng, using protocol programs to cover their inattention; Mikodez noticed and recorded the conversation for later review. After impassivity at Shandal Yeng's dig about Kel finances and an icy argument with Mikodez over extraditing a Shuos spy he had planted on the Fortress of Spinshot Coins, Tsoro amplified Hexarch Nirai Faian's suggestion to pressure Ajewen Cheris by threatening her parents, suggesting genocide of all Mwennin instead and remarking that Hexarch Vidona Psa could find a calendrical use for them. Despite Mikodez's protests, the proposal was accepted. Tsoro, dressed in full formal, then sent a bulletin to all Kel personnel announcing that Jedao's commission had been revoked and ordering his movements to be reported.

After confirmation of information provided by Kel Brezan, Tsoro vid-called him personally to tell him that Kel Command had a new assignment for him, but also to make sure he understood that he was a crashhawk and would face therefore face unique difficulties if he chose to remain in Kel service. Assured of his desire to serve, she assigned him to accompany Agent Andan Tseya to the *Hierarchy of Feasts*, facilitate her assassination of Shuos Jedao, and, as a high general, take control of the swarm afterward. She assured Brezan that the paperwork for his promotion would be expedited and told him to adjust his uniform, visit Medical, and use his first order to obtain some real food, and then cut the connection.

After subduing every dissenter in the Kel Command hivemind, Tsoro shirked a remembrance to hold an emergency call with the other hexarchs, during which she declined Faian's new form of immortality on behalf of the Kel. She explained that part of Kel service was death, and that she would not ask soldiers to risk something she would never experience or block her high officers from eventually advancing to her position. When Psa intimated that she might change her mind in old age, she retorted that she had once almost died as a lieutenant, and would certainly forget that formative brush with Kel fate if she lived forever.

Mikodez sent her a faked report that the Hafn intended a deep strike on the Aerie. Tsoro summoned six swarms, including *Three Kestrels Three Suns*, to protect the Aerie, but sent four away to investigate when several Kel shipyards were bombed. Tsoro died when the Aerie was destroyed.

## Trivia

* Tsoro's presence at the Aerie at the time of its destruction is not specifically confirmed, but subsequent behavior by Mikodez and Cheris demonstrate that they have compelling reasons to believe she was there.

## References

1. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12
2. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 7
3. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25
4. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26
5. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 7
6. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26
7. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 7
8. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter
9. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 12
10. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 25
11. ↑ Raven Stratagem, Chapter 26