Oko

Oko (pronounced *OH-koh*) is an Okala mechanic and craftsman. He is one of the most prominent 'Point of View' characters featured in the novel, Pendulum: Empyrean Order.

He is an adult male (late 20s-early 30s by human maturity standards) native of the Gliesean Habitable Zone on the planet Gliese 1061d (Pendulum).

Oko is an innately gifted wright with preternatural instincts when it comes to turning raw materials or spare parts into precisely what the situation calls for. His silently contemplative nature and uncanny creativity lends itself well to his efforts to survive in the aftermath of the sudden, cataclysmic warfare that slaughtered most of his fellow Okala, including his beloved mate, Raal.

Inspirations for this character include Andy Dufresne (The Shawshank Redemption), Max Rockatansky (Mad Max: Fury Road), Erin (You're Next), and Wrex (Mass Effect).

### Physical Description

Okala males tend to be quite massive compared to the average human. They have two pairs of arms, one upper pair that is broader at the shoulders with bulkier musculature (terminating in large hands possessing two fingers and an opposable thumb) and more slender, lower pair better suited to delicate, precise tasks (these arms terminating in smaller hands with three slender fingers and an opposable thumb). Okala do not possess noses or ears. They have two eyes beneath a prominent, hairless brow.

Oko stood out physically from his fellow Okala, who upon first impression often found him to be lanky, awkward, and uncomfortable in his own skin. Taller than most adult male Okala, narrower of build and more slender, Oko carries himself with a posture that belied his confidence and work ethic. Some were quick to presume the young man to be lazy or stoic, but he quickly allayed such suspicion though his words and his deeds. He has brilliant yellow-green eyes, over which he sometimes wears a set of goggles of his own devising. He has short, unkempt black hair with a stubbly beard. His skin is an earthen red-brown with prominent black vitiligo patches over the left side of his face and down his neck to his chest and abdomen. He often wears a comfortable set of coveralls with a tool bandolier and a large, circular keyring hanging from the left side of his belt, which bears dozens of pouches to contain fasteners, small tools, wires, and other materials scavenged along the way.

My inspiration for the Okala includes Sarris (Galaxy Quest), Green Martians (John Carter, Disney, 2012), Orcs (Warcraft, Legendary Pictures, 2016), and Four Arms (Ben-10). I think the voice of actor Kevin Michael Richardson (Baldur's Gate) would best represent what I think Oko would sound like.

### Personality

Despite himself, Oko fell in love with the fiery, dangerous, utterly out of his league Raal. She was a zealous member of a local militia, and thus when the time came for her to rally to the defense of her people when the alien forces suddenly arrived to wage war upon their homeland, Oko felt obliged to don the armor of her militia and fight alongside her. Unfortunately, things didn't end well for Raal, who succumbed to fatal injuries caused by being in the crossfire between two rival alien forces (who seemed oblivious to the Okala's presence, altogether, as if their choice of venue for this apocalyptic battle was a mere afterthought). Now, as Oko wakes to find his species endangered, his homeland laid to waste, and his lover perished, the Okala struggles to find a reason to keep on living...

...a reason he would find in the most unexpected of places, and among the most unexpected of people.

(*Further details to be redacted so as to avoid spoilers.)*