Aeron Molave

**Aeron Molave** is a Piscan botanical researcher working for BaiKal on Preservation.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Swift (coworker, friend)
* Vidark R'oh (coworker, friend)
* Dirk (coworker, friend)
* Nico Kelaen (friend)
* Zirul Raenne (friend)
* Damien (significant other, friend)
* Sol (informant, patron)

## Physical details

### Abilities

* Underwater night vision
* Increased aquatic mobility

## Biology

Aeron is a Picas, bearing some physical resemblance to the blue tang surgeonfish. Their skin is pitch-black and fades to blue at their fins and other extremities, with the black being most noticeable on their face. They do possess normal humanoid facial features like a mouth and nose, but all of these are simply the same pitch-black as their skin and cannot be easily discerned by sight alone. Their eyes appear black but glow a bright blue when underwater. On either side of their head, where the ears of a human would be, lie a pair of blue fins.

Their most distinctly nonhuman trait is their tail. Measuring almost three feet in length, the tail exhibits the same black-to-blue gradient as their other limbs. Both sides of the tail tip have sharp spikes, similar to those of a surgeonfish.

## History

### Before Preservation

Aeron was born into a high-class Piscan family on Picon-q4, and their upbringing was one without much turmoil. When they finished university, the first job they managed to get was a botany position in BaiKal. They were assigned to work on an as-of-yet-unnamed desert world, which unbeknownst to them was due to an error in the assignment process. They spent a total of two years working on that planet, barely able to survive the dry climate, without so much as a word of complaint to higher-ups. The mistake only stopped when another researcher took notice of their declining health and informed the authorities. After a brief apology for the mixup, they were swiftly reassigned to work at BaiKal's research base on Preservation.

### Arrival

They arrived in tandem with another BaiKal botanist, Swift, who was onboard the same ship. On arrival, they nearly suffocated at the spaceport due to lacking a water breathing apparatus either on their person or provided at the landing site. This had to be circumvented by them jumping over the railing of the landing platform and into the nearby ocean.

### Beginnings (and a Pact)

Swift and Aeron together would soon begin discovering the odd ways that the local flora would interact with materials, but they hadn't made much headway in terms of applicable results. At this, Aeron sought out the possibility of finding someone on Preservation who may have been more experienced with the natural phenomena they were studying. They found their answer by following some rumors that lead them to their expert: Sol.

Sol had no kind words to spare for Aeron, as he held a serious hatred for corporations and those who willingly aided them. He initially declined the notion of helping them with their research, claiming that the things they were studying were exploitable and dangerous should they ever be revealed to the public. He only relented and offered guidance when Aeron swore to *never* reveal any technology or magic that Sol deemed a threat. They accepted mostly for the knowledge, but they felt an odd sense of agreement to the notion that their work might be dangerous in Baikal's hands.

A few days after this, they had made more progress, and eventually confessed to Swift about the deal they had made. The two would continue their work under Sol's tutelage, taking care to not document anything that seemed too exploitable.

### Off to Work

The nearby kingdom of Eriador announced that it would be opening its doors for Halloween celebrations, and Aeron eagerly tagged along. The only event they managed to participate in was winning first-place at the costume party. Their reward was a few enchanted books, but the runner-up, Bani, had received a prize that intrigued them far more. He had been given an ornate pink bucket made out of a material Aeron didn't recognize but reminded them oddly of the metals they had been synthesizing for their research. They traded some bottles of alcohol with him for the bucket and took it home to study. They found no match for its material anywhere on Preservation, which seemed to suggest there was a form of magic they had yet to uncover.

At some point, they began negotiations with a recently landed bounty hunter named Zirul Raenne, who had found himself without any weapons or equipment when he arrived on the planet. Aeron offered to smith him a new set of armor and a greatsword, to which he obliged. He seemed to have a soft spot for fish. Soon after they had handed off the armor to Zirul at the tavern, they ran into him again when he brought someone they didn't recognize into Vidark's lab. They didn't want to intrude on whatever he was doing, so they let him through. Unbeknownst to Aeron at the time, the man accompanying Zirul was Jian Feng-Wu, whom he had encountered in town and was there to interrogate. Zirul informed them of Jian's identity after this event when he was assigned to hunt him down, but Aeron feels surprisingly little about the fact that a known murderer is aware of where they are.

### Crisis of Loyalty

Around this time, Aeron became friends with Nico Kelaen, a fellow Piscan they had met on public comms. Zirul seemed eager to talk to them too, and Aeron even taught him the basics of speaking the Piscan language. It was during an offhanded conversation of Aeron complaining about their job to Nico that they first revealed they work for Baikal. The mere mention of the company's name sent Nico into a panic, and all Aeron could gather was that they had done something to *hurt* him. On realizing that the corporation they were working for had outright traumatized their friend, they weren't particularly enthused about their work from that moment onward. The incident had them pondering just how much they were really valued at Baikal, just how much good they were really doing by being there. Were there more people suffering under their thumb like Nico at this very moment? Their research was *for* Baikal, who's to say Sol wasn't right that they were going to use it to do awful things? They weren't even being paid yet; did they matter there at all? Aeron's research slowed to a crawl, unable to bring themself to put any real effort into their work. They couldn't drop everything and leave though, so there they just... waited.

### The Breaking Point

One day, when they went outside to check on some machines around the lab, Aeron was startled to find Damien of all people sitting on the shore of Baikal's island, looking out at the sea. A while back, he had gained serious notoriety for assaulting and nearly killing Amada Freightman in front of her significant other. Their initial instinct was to run or shoo him away, but this was shortly after they had overheard a very concerning public comms conversation Damien was part of, and he didn't sound like he was doing that well. As such, they just let him be. He was a Manumit member being allowed on Baikal premises with no enforcement, but Aeron had lost too much corporate loyalty to even care if they got hurt. And yet... he didn't damage anything, didn't set off any bombs, he just sat there. All Aeron did was watch him, and as he left, he glanced back only to notice that someone had been there the whole time. But still, he did nothing. Maybe he appreciated that he was left alone.

This would be far from the last time the two met.

Damien kept coming back, and Aeron built up the courage to get closer and closer to him each time. One day, they walked up right beside him and sat to watch the ocean together. He was startled and nearly drew his weapon on them until he saw they were unarmed, to which he seemed to calm down. He asked why they weren't doing anything about his presence, to which Aeron told him he seemed like he could use the company. The two would ease up around each other in the coming weeks, trusting that the other wouldn't hurt them. They started to chat and before they knew it, they were on their way to being friends. Aeron learned a lot about Damien in that time, and all the ways he's been able to live and thrive in spite of his very species working against him. They admired his boldness, his ambition. He looked life right in the eye, threw the terrible hand he'd been dealt back in its face, and kept on moving. In return, they gave Damien the sort of positive interaction he sorely needed, without the weight of all the things he had done hanging over his head.

Seeing the way that their job and their life was weighing on them, Damien offered that Aeron quit their job and join Manumit instead. He appealed to the desire to be free, to finally live for themself. Their hesitation wore away quickly as they realized just how *tired* they were of it all, and so... they agreed.

(Plans for Aeron's escape are ongoing)

At Swift's hinting, Aeron finally realized that they loved Damien.

### A Fresh Start

Aeron, Swift, and Tenebris all arrive at Manumit together, greeted by Damien preparing them a lovely meal after the journey. On hearing that he was also responsible for making a conduit in the base just to keep them safe, Aeron couldn't help but be moved to tears.

(not done writing this part but also they confessed, Aeron and Damien are dating theyre gay now)

## Personality

When they first landed on Preservation, they didn't generally seek out conflict and would rather have avoided it by finding a means of pleasing both parties. Because of this, they were also hesitant to disclose when they were being hurt, believing their own suffering to be unimportant in the face of potentially displeasing anyone else.

They are immensely protective of those close to them and would do nearly anything if it meant keeping them safe. They can't bear the thought of bringing harm to the ones they care about. As such, the discovery that Baikal, the company they were working under, had done something to seriously traumatize Nico, their friend, shook them to their core. They couldn't stand to do something in support of the company that had hurt someone so dear to them and were almost certainly *still* hurting others just like him.

Aeron strives to be kind and attentive to the needs of others, knowing firsthand the kind of damage that can be done when such things are neglected. They believe that in an unkind world, being truly kind is the most effective form of rebellion anyone can manage. This was first put on display in their interactions with Dirk, gifting him a full suit of water-protection gear after only barely hearing that he was harmed by water. In this regard, they couldn't care less about faction alignment or corporate loyalty. The strongest example of this was their willingness to befriend Damien. He seemed hurt and tired and scared and alone, and they wanted to give him someone to talk to.

Aeron's relationship with Damien has inspired them to be bolder about standing up for themself. They respect Damien immensely for his drive to keep going, regardless of the ways life pushes back against him. After they became friends, Damien pushed Aeron to realize that they shouldn't be neglecting how they feel or the pain they're in. They have needs, they have wants, they have beliefs that they no longer want to push down. Not only did Damien extend them the chance to run away and join Manumit, but it is possible that they would never have accepted the offer if he hadn't given them the will to do it. It's only with that same confidence that they had the courage to admit they love him.

### The Throngler

Longsword FormCutlass Form
**The Throngler** is Aeron's current weapon of choice, a symelial Midas Gold Cutlass/Longsword. (Ingame, the weapon is *two* Midas Gold Swords with differing enchantments.)

In cutlass form, the sword's striking power is amplified by the wielder's experience levels, potentially allowing it to slay foes in full metallurgium plate armor with a single blow. This form is the "default" state of the weapon. The longsword form trades its immense single-target damage for the ability to call lightning onto all nearby enemies, which makes it a more suitable weapon for dealing with crowds.

Both forms share a golden blade, a livingwood handle, and an ocean-themed manasteel handguard.

## Trivia

* Their costume for Eriador's Halloween event was based on the Mindflayer enemies from the game ULTRAKILL. This means that Aeron has canonically played ULTRAKILL.
* Their surname comes from the molave tree, a plant species native to the Philippines and nearby parts of Southeast Asia. Their middle name is derived from *Acanthurus brevis*, which is a less-accepted synonym for the *Acanthurus coerulus* species that Aeron resembles.
* Aeron's sword, the Throngler, was named in reference to a Twitter thread claiming that the short, nonsensical weapon name made it appear more dangerous than a sword with a lengthier title.
* The spines on Aeron's tail are sharp enough to serve as an improvised weapon if Aeron is somehow caught empty-handed.
* Aeron doesn't have any qualms with eating fish, and in fact fishes regularly in the rivers near their lab. Fishing has been their main means of acquiring diamonds, and they sometimes joke that the river pays them more than Baikal does.
* Aeron is demisexual and figured it out when they first fell in love with Damien.