Haruka Emberfall

## Overview:

~Age: 34

~Male

~Birthdate: September 10th 1298AE

~Ash Legion Centurion, Presiding over the Fall Warband

~Weapon Skill: Versatile, Proficient in Unarmed Combat

~Status: 3 Mates | Sawo Wildheart | Raze Thunderfall | Knella Nightwing

## Personality:

He is reserved most of the time, due to growing up in a small fahrar with his 2 sisters, and run by his sire. He still enjoys a chance to speak with others about his interests, and loves sharing wisdom with all people. He is outspoken and assertive only when his position as a leader, or soldier demands it. He is far more philosophical than practical. While he is objective, he is still often speculative, and while creative, his methods arent always practiced. It's tough to say when he relishes the chance for a fight, or disdains it. When He's in a good mood, he'll usually come off as charming, collected, and polite, while other times he might seem pretentious, inconsiderate, or a bit of a know it all. As cold as his craft may be, he works out of as much of the goodness in his heart as possible. He is an opportunist, never hesitating to push his advantages, either in the battlefield, in a relationship, or in an argument. He has a lack of tolerence to disobedience, loud noises, and obnoxious behavior. He raises his voice when angry, but is not known to become angry enough to strike someone. Haruka is very discerning of other individuals, it wont be easy to tell if he likes or dislikes you, unless he actually tells you. In any case, you are either on his very good side, or very bad side. Haruka commonly shows his affection through gifts, and praises those that he adores. Haruka has a very hard time actively showing disdain, without openly specifying it. He is rarely expressive, only smiling of frowning at his own thoughts, as opposed to influence by others.

## Backstory:

Haruka Emberfall had a slightly different experience as a child than most charr. His sire was a combat medic in the ash legion, but he also loved to play music, his Dame also happened to love music as well.
His parents were very skeptical about sending him, his younger brother, and 2 sisters to the fahrar, they were experiencing life both inside and outside of the legions, but a very marginal decision was made to send them to the nolani fahrar.
During his second week in the fahrar, several devourers still in training had escaped from the nolani hatchery, while they were training, Haruka’s brother, and several other cubs, were attacked by the loose devourers, and unfortunately not many survived. Haruka’s brother was a victim of the attack, and passed away shortly after the attack. Although Haru was too young to really perceive death, the memory would remain to scar him throughout his life, and help shape his philosophy. The primus in charge of the fahrar was to be replaced, and Haru’s parents took the opportunity to remove Haru and his 2 remaining sisters from the Nolani Fahrar, and decided to make their own. But by doing this, Haru’s sire, Animus Blackrose, had to quit his job as a combat medic, and become a Primus.

Growing up, Haruka did not talk to other cubs much, for he was not allowed near the fahrars, but one year after the incident with his brother, his family moved from nolani, to a home inside the citadel, and happened to be very close to the Asura Portal to LA.
This meant that Haruka and his family would make many trips to the other cities, often to play in concerts, and ended up joining a band soon after. Haruka met with many other races, many times, and began to know them better than he knew any other charr.
But his favorite place of all was The asuran capital of Rata Sum. He would spend entire days talking to asuran scientists and inventors. and eventually was allowed to travel to and from rata sum freely, after he met an asura by the name of Skitz,
and after he expressed an interest in supervising (which is basically the asuran way of saying Studying) the young cub, to his parents, they agreed to allow Skitz watch over Haru on occasion, during his visits. Skitz would even teach Haru a few things in secret. Skitz was simply a freelancer, not constrained by any colleges, and pretty reclusive to boot.

While he was in a Fahrar, it wasn’t a normal one. It only belonged to him and his 2 sisters, this meant Haruka had lots of spare time since his sire had fewer cubs to teach, and once he turned 5 years old, his sire gave him his first weapon, a repurposed dagger with a sized down grip to use as a sword.
Any free time he had, he often opted to practice with his sword if he wasn’t visiting Rata Sum, and by the time he was 7, he already had a Greatsword, 2 axes, 3 swords, a bow, a dagger, a spear, and a pistol, some of which were reclaimed or crafted. He continued practicing with his weapons,
but unknown to him was the fact that the amount of free time he had meant that he was able to devote even more time to practicing with his weapons than any fahrar cub, and was even able to hold his ground against his sire at 9 years old.

As he spent more and more time training with his sire, practicing with his weapons and studying science and magic with Skitz, the more he wondered about what it would be like to join the legions. He was 12 years old when he was travelling from his home, to the Asuran Portal to LA, a cub from a different fahrar, his age confronted him.
He claimed that Haruka had no experience with combat, (He could never see haru training because most of it is done in his home or even outside the citadel.) teased him about how he should leave the citadel and cook for the flame legion, and even stated that he is becoming a rat just like the ones he talks to. He knew haru went to Rata Sum very often, probably gleaning some kind of information from another cub that Haru talked to. Haru tried walking away, but 2 other cubs that were with the one that is confronting Haru kept him from leaving. Eventually, the cub drew his sword and leveled it at Haruka. It was clearly a Practice sword, no sharp edges and probably couldnt even upset a moody dolyak. but Haruka was trained by his sire specifically in unarmed combat, and many disarming techniques, things that most cubs aren’t very enthusiastic about learning until much later on in the Fahrar. But before the other cub could do any more, his primus intervened, he asked what was going on. and the other cub said exactly what he claimed Haruka was. the primus then asked Haruka about why he is not in his fahrar. Haruka remained silent as he almost never speaks to other charr. The primus told Haruka to return to his Primus and told the other cub not to confront haruka again, saying that “If you believe you opponent is really what you say he is, then he is not worth fighting. He probably couldn’t fight back, and fighting someone who cant fight back makes you just as worthless.” Haruka then raised his voice, confident in the self defence training his sire gave him. and surprisingly in defense of the other cub’s honor.
“Im not unskilled.” He stated. The primus was surprised, he didn’t expect a challenge from Haru. He came up to the cub and said “I’ll spar with you if it makes you happy, i’m not worthless, i can fight.” The Primus allowed his cub to duel Haruka. As soon as they began fighting, he quickly realised that his opponent was no where near as quick or strong as his sire that he is used to sparring with.
One swing of the cub’s practice blade resulted in instantaneous disarmament. Both the cub and his primus were shocked and ashamed. the primus just witnessed a cub he had trained for its whole life get dissarmed by an assumingly untrained cub, that is rarely visible unless traveling to and from a big purple portal.
The primus demanded to speak to Haruka’s parents, he took the primus to see them, and haruka was told to leave them to speak. Not many days later, haruka was confronted by an ash legion centurion and by his parents.
The Centurion had been observing Haru’s fahrar run by his sire, and knew that it wasn’t the most fitting for him. He gave haru, and his sisters a chance to train in another Fahrar with more cubs, and a more experienced Primus. The ash legion urged Haru’s parents to allow him to join a bigger Fahrar, and allow Animus to resume his duties as a combat medic, which were scarce at the time, and needed in many places all around ascalon. Animus explained this to Haru, and he, along with his sisters agreed to join the other Fahrar.

Haruka quickly demonstrated a great proficiency when sparring with the other cubs, He could use just about any weapon you can think of, giving him great versatility, but excelled in none of them. But what he did excel in is fighting unarmed, or with smaller weapons like daggers. but what surprised many others is how much Haruka would avoid, supress, or remove conflict through negotiation without drawing a weapon or upsetting others. This caused him to be promoted to legionnaire of his warband. By 16 years of age, after graduating from the Fahrar, Haruka and his “Fall” Warband were carrying out Flame Legion Activity Supression duties in Diessa Plateau. And at 23 years old, was promoted to centurion.

After serving as a centurion for 5 years, haruka was on a deployment to monitor and consolidate friendly activities in the iron marches around invictus castrum, alone.
During a small scouting mission, Haruka with a small security detachement, deployed into an obscure sector of the iron marches, there he was ambushed by flame legion, and he and his forces were imprisoned and sent to invictus castrum.
Haruka was forced to watch the security force members be tortured and killed, but the flame legion told haruka that they have “Plans” for him. on his 3rd day inside invictus castrum, they took him out of his cell, chained him to the ground, and beat him with until he couldnt stand.
They then dragged his half dead body along as he could only observe what was going on, to a patch of ground that appeared to be just ground, but then opened up to reveal a large stone circle with markings that looked like fire. Acolytes appearing in Black robes and gold trim took haruka to the center of the circle.
They began some kind of ritual, and haruka stayed awake as long as he could before passing out. When he awoke, he felt… different, he felt as though he had an additional sense, or instinct. while there was no one around, he would try to tap into this instinct, and to his surprise, was able to conjure flames, much like a shaman, but different. Theses flames couldnt light things on fire… Yet. This was no ordinary flame, he could control it, hide it, he had no idea what happened, but he knew that the flame legion did something to him.
He also knew that escaping would be a cinch due to prior scouting. he had agents that infiltrated the base and make detailed maps of the interior of invictus castrum, so Haruka knew which part of the building he was in. But before he could do anything about escaping, a squad of heavily armed and armored flame legion soldiers appeared to detain Haruka.
He was brought to a flame legion commander for torture. Haruka had been hiding his flame abilities this whole time, and made no attempt to resist arrest, “Maybe they think i cant control this strange flame?” he thought. And he was right, they chained him to the same shackles they previously used, and stated “If you wont accept the flame, you have no further use to us.” They left the cell, most likely to let Haru starve to death.
Haruka knew he couldnt stay, as soon as he felt a chance, he used the flame abilities to try and remove the shackles… But the shackles didnt melt, the fire simply formed a lockpick, unlocked the shackles, and fell to the ground. he ran before they could capture him. The powers he recieved worked in strange ways, it could function as a shield if he wanted.
He was able to escape stealthily, and didnt hear about any escapees. “I guess they dont check on the prisoners they leave to rot? I’ll take that.” he thought. He finally had a chance to lay low inside invictus, inside a crevice in the ground near the easternmost part of the castrum. several hours later at nightfall, he emerged from the crevice and made a break for the gates. Prior observation of the sentries along the walls of invictus castrum,
allowed him to time his sprint to reach a rock for concealment from the sentries. But as he exited the gates, he instantly felt half of his energy being sucked from inside of him, but he continued slowly making his way out of range of the flame legion fort, but before he could reach his Oprations center, he didnt bother to look at his attire. He found out just moments away from coming into view of the ally base that he was dressed as a flame legion shaman. “Burn me…”
Ash legion troops quickly spotted him, and gave him a good beating before detaining him. He was thrown into yet another cell and forced to await yet another relocation. the next day he was transported back to the black citadel, Thrown into another cell made of tungsten,
and to his surprise was in the citadel prison for only 3 hours before being approached by an ash centurion, released, given a pair of new clothes, vague instuctions on his warband’s next task, and a crutch for his broken leg. He then discovered that the powers he recieved from the flame legion were drastically weakened, but still usable. he was told that the legions knew of his powers, but he didnt know what they planned to do, so he continued his duties as instructed.

Several weeks after the invictus castrum incident, Haruka was getting strange looks from his warband. He soon found out that one of his most trusted warbandmates, Miriam Frostfall had been spreading rumors about him.

Another few weeks afterwards, Haruka was stunned to find out that half of his warband had gone AWOL overnight, and they were soon found out to be conspiring with the flame legion. Haruka was demoted to Legionnaire, and a full investigation on him and the events inside invictus castrum were put into effect.
He was suspended from active duty and forced to elect an acting legionnaire for his now small warband. a month had passed and haruka was cleared to regain command of his warband, and reunited with his sisters once again, with a firm threat of surveillance from the high legions. He still wonders why he was able to control the flame inside invictus castrum.
And tries not to think of what it would have been like if he couldnt.

By 3 Years after these events, Haru had been promoted to centurion once again for constant and dedicated service to the legions, and a strong diplomatic influence in recent years, But there was a problem with that. With haru being promoted again, there was no legionnaire to lead his warband. On one paw Haru couldn’t promote one of his own because they were few, and all doubtful of their leadership abilities, and would not assume the role of legionnaire. And on the other paw, it is very unlikely that a Gladium or non legion charr would fit Fall’s “niche” operational capacity. This left Haru’s Warband at an impasse, and haru had to continue his duties with his warband in tandem with the responsibilities of his former Centurion, who is now retired. This instantly began to deprive Haru of both physical and mental energy, and his warband suffered for it. The legions took notice of this, and told Haru that he would have to be demoted again, or disband Fall to continue his duties as Centurion. Haru couldn’t give up such a place among his empire, but at the same time, he couldn’t live with himself if he caused his sisters and his warband to become Gladium. He pleaded with his bandmates to get one of them to become legionnaire, but life isn’t so reasonable. Haru had to find a new legionnaire, and fast, either before his warband is ruined, or he dies of exhaustion.

One day, during a deployment to Deathblade’s Watch to help defend against a possible separatist attack, Haru crossed paths with a pact charr by the name of Antonius Gearpaw. Haru was intrigued to know why a pact charr was in such a place at such a time. They talked for a while around the bonfire, exchanging stories about their past, and it was brought up in conversation that Antonius was quite skilled in technology and stealth, these fields were very much in line with what Fall normally handles. Antonius was a former Iron legion soldier, who was relieved of service for inhumane actions against the enemies of the charr, he later joined the pact and brought the fight to the brand, where Antonius was now. Unfortunately, during their talk, a separatist attack was unleashed upon Deathblade’s Watch, a BIG one. Haru and Antoinus quickly came to reinforce the gates, and much fighting ensued. during the battle, Haru suffered a grievous  injury to his leg, but had to keep fighting until he could make it back far enough to escape the fighting. He was administered medical help, but not as quick as was hopeful. Haru was completely exhausted from loss of blood, Luckily, Antonius made it back with just a few scratches. Haru and Antonius were able to meet once again before Haru passed out. Antonius had to leave, Haru awoke to be alone, next to the bonfire in a puddle of blood. He witnessed a scene of much suffering. The Separatists had ben defeated, and all the medics were occupied with many injured. Before he left, Antonius told Haru where he would be stationed at. Once Haru made it out of Deathblade’s Watch, He went to where Antonius said he would be, but he wasn’t there. The members of the pact that were there told Haru that Antonius went to the Black Citadel, so haru departed for the citadel. After some searching, Haru finally reunited with the pact charr, Antonius, with a proposition. Haru offered for Antonius to join the Ash Legion, and become the Legionnaire of Fall. Antonius enthusiastically accepted, Happy to become part of the legions again. He never joined any of the other legions after he was removed from Iron Legion, for fear of not fitting in, but since Fall was so optimistic about having a new leader, Antonius gleefully assumed the role, and Haru had never felt so relieved in his life. The responsibilities of the Legionnaire rank was lifted off his tired shoulders and was able to continue standard Centurion duties. He even got his own Aide De Camp after meeting a fahrar graduate named Riga Silvershot, who’s warband had gone missing and was technically a gladium. She joined in as Haru’s Aide De Camp after being offered a place to stay that wasn’t the Citadel Sewers. Riga is a fiery little character that had gotten into trouble with the adamant guard several times, and even flashed a firearm at Haru when they met, because Haru was standing on “My Balcony!”

To Be Continued…

## Occupation:

Haruka's leadership over the Fall Warband and their operations is more of a formal association than a functional one. Haru and Fall tend to do pretty much whatever anyone needs, acting as auxiliary units, and on occasion, as mercenaries. Haruka has seen action as both commander over a large amount of troops, and fulfilling specialized roles on the battlefield. He is a jack of all trades, master of none. His deployments usually see him end up in the Fireheart Rise, sometimes around other parts of Ascalon, but very rarely outside of Ascalon. His Tribune is Makk the Silent.

## Gallery:

Haruka's Armor and Halberd (Blender)Haru's Home Above the War Wagon Prep Deck (Yellow Building)Inside of Haruka's Home (Blender)Haruka, During his Legionnaire Years(From right to left) Sawo, Haruka, Knella, and Haru's former mate CassandraHaruka, and Raze (Shortly before her PC broke down)Haruka, training in the Hero's Canton