Tren Krellos

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Tren Krellos is a renowned bounty hunter from the Coreworlds. He is also known by his moniker, "the Gunmetal Gyre", and pilots a personal starship of the same name. After becoming part of the Ele Metanation, he also took the name 'El-Krellos'.

Krellos is highly resourceful and diligent in his pursuit of targets, and cultivates a number of valuable contacts throughout the galaxy. Like most bounty hunters, he is willing to put his desire for profit ahead of any moral compunctions. He wears heavy boots.

Krellos' skills became instrumental in 2270 when he decided to accept the bounty on the head of fugitive Endelle Stroth, the former Curator of the Aglostarros University Museum. From Aglostarros, where Krellos successfully bribed a starship salesperson into revealing the tracking data of Stroth's vessel, the *Looking Glass*, the bounty hunter pursued his quarry into the territory of the Ele Dominion, about which he and his contacts knew very little. Krellos expected Stroth to be an easy target.

Piloting the *Gunmetal Gyre*, Krellos engaged Stroth in ship-to-ship combat while in Ele territory, near the star Doresh Daar. Krellos used specialised torpedoes to scramble the *Looking Glass*'s electrical systems. Krellos encouraged the former Curator to surrender so that he could bring her in alive. However, the attack was cut short by the arrival of the Ele starship 'Arrowhead'. Krellos and Stroth were both brought aboard the 'Arrowhead' as informal captives, which angered Krellos.

Aboard the 'Arrowhead', Krellos and Stroth met with the Ele ambassador, El-Deen, who explained that the new arrivals had nothing to fear and were already becoming part of the Ele Metanation, a concept which Krellos struggled to grasp. After this introduction, Krellos and Stroth were released from their holding cells into more comfortable accommodations, as the 'Arrowhead' transported them to the Ele capital world of El-Kera. During the journey, Krellos proposed a détente in his conflict with Stroth, and the two of them grew closer while sharing a living space aboard the 'Arrowhead', despite the former Curator still feeling uneasy around the bounty hinter. Krellos promised he would seek out his quarry once more once they were on El-Kera.

Approximately one week into her time in the city of Korus, Stroth had not seen any further sign of Tren Krellos. The former bounty hunter had taken the name El-Krellos and chosen to wear the Builder mask, and was settling into his life on the Ele capital world. El-Krellos enjoyed tending to a small grove of nere trees in the courtyard of his apartment building, welcoming the meditative activity as a change from his previous occupation. El-Krellos struggled to get used to wearing his mask, and when he briefly removed it he experienced a strange 'creeping' at the edges of his vision, which distressed him. This effect was alleviated by Krellos putting his mask back on.

As part of his new life on El-Kera, El-Krellos attended picnics and took tea, learned pottery and woodworking, and grew close to his community. While taking the Feast of Elforsht, Krellos realised that he was unsure of his life's purpose now that he no longer had to earn a wage in order to survive. It was a sentiment that his new friend, the former Crystal Cerite miner Zell, could relate to.

Later, while walking the Fields of Elkre botanical gardens, El-Krellos met with his former quarry, Endelle Stroth, who now went by El-Endelle. Krellos confessed his lack of purpose to the former curator, who suggested that he become a mechanic due to his dedication to his personal starship. Krellos remained unconvinced, and warned Stroth that she would still be wanted outside the borders of the Dominion.

When the Ele Congregate confirmed Stroth's mission to return to Aglostarros and shut down the wayward Centurions from the Project Centennial command console in the AUM, they assigned Krellos to accompany her for protection, a move that Stroth considered a strange twist of fate. She hoped that Krellos would not return to his mercenary ways once the two of them were outside the Metanation. Stroth and Krellos both underwent the ritual of the Severing to break their connection to the Metanation.

The two planned to reach the Coreworlds by traversing the region of the galaxy known as 'Uncharted Space'. On their journey, Krellos struggled to open up to Stroth about his experience within the Ele Metanation, but talked enthusiastically about all he had learned of horticulture, a subject which had evidently intrigued him. The voyage took the two of them through an area occupied by the Rhyzomic Expanse, a vast and ever-growing network of roots and branches several parsecs across, which posed a significant navigational complication.