Elia au Nyx

art by @SushiWestern

### Relationships

Victoria au Saguntum (friend)Nikolaos au Fabii (friend, coworker)Atticus au Elysian (vassal)Astrid Eirunn (bodyguard)

### Family

Aurelion au Nyx (brother)
Ulysses au Nyx (adopted brother)
Kronos au Nyx (father, deceased)
Ariadne au Carthii-Nyx (mother, deceased)
Minos au Nyx (uncle, deceased)
Celestia au Nyx (cousin, deceased)

> *"Today, we drove the vile traitors from Bikku Bitti. Soon, we shall drive them from Terra, and then from this mortal coil! The Society has stood seven hundred years! It shall not perish to a false idol's whim!"* - Elia au Nyx, on the successful defence of Bikku Bitti
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Elia au Nyx is the middle child of Kronos au Nyx and Ariadne au Carthii-Nyx, and an archLegate of the Society of Man. She is generally cheerful, and often bears a smug, shit-eating grin, though her reputation in battle is one of fierce determination.

## Biography

### Early Life

Elia was born to the Aureate noble house Nyx on January 26, 721 PCE in the Nyx Falls Estate on Venus. Her mother died when she was young, and her father worked tirelessly to further the family name. Despite his lofty ambitions, Kronos still made time to care for his children aside from the Copper stewards and Brown servants. He had them study the ancient conquerors of old, as well as tactics from all centuries. Elia and her brothers Aurelion and Cato spent many days learning the details of Alexander the Great, of Genghis Khan, of Napoleon Bonaparte. Kronos also took it upon himself to personally train them in the art of razorfighting, prioritizing styles which relied on dexterity and agility instead of brute strength.

Aside from the traditional Gold education, Kronos thought it important that his children be exposed to a broad group of views from all of Old Earth's history. He believed that reading the history of Athens, or watching ancient science-fiction and fantasy films such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings would reinforce to the children the efficacy of the Society and it's superiority. His lessons worked as intended, and his children were just as loyal to the Society as himself.

### Lion's Rebellion and the Rising

Elia attended the Martian Fields, training as a Legate before joining her brother's force as the Legate of House Nyx's personal force, Nightmare Legion. Elia accompanied him in nearly all his endeavors until the beginning of the Solar War and the Iron Rain on Terra.

### The Terran Campaign

#### Iron Rain and the Bone Brigade

Elia joined the Society's Iron Rain with nearly the whole of Nightmare Legion, landing in Khartoum with the Curse Knight and several of his retainers. They carved a bloody swath towards the city's spaceport, where they connected forces with Victoria au Saguntum, who had been separated from her own legion in the Rain. Together the 'Bone Brigade' managed to secure the spaceport and rescue Khufu au Ptolemy, who unfortunately committed suicide by enemy ripWing very shortly after. Elia was injured in the battle but managed to begin a close and flirtatious friendship with Victoria.

#### The Battle of Cairo

The Bone Brigade was not able to stay in Khartoum very long, as they quickly departed to rendezvous with Lady Satiah au Ptolemy at the mountain fortress of Bikku Bitti, and from there sally out to break the Republic siege of Cairo. The Bone Brigade's forces were split in two, with Nikolaos au Fabii assaulting the Republic's back lines in the west while Elia took the other half to assault the northern line. Elia led her portion of the forces (including Victoria au Saguntum and Thalia au Falthe) to swift victory, rapidly crushing the opposition, though Victoria was rendered unconscious and evacuated during the battle. Following this, she led her forces to the west to reinforce Nikolaos' floundering soldiers.

Unfortunately her troops were not enough and Elia was heavily injured. Despite the loss of the western back lines, the battle ended in an overall Society victory as the Cairo walls were able to repel the armoured assaults of the Republic. For her swift and effective victory, Nikolaos informed Elia that Imperator Tico had promoted her to Legate First Class and granted the Nyx command of Legio XLII Vindicta, a full expeditionary legion of 20,000 fresh soldiers.

#### Cyprus, Alexandria, and Nafusa

Following her recovery, Elia's legion headed along Anatolia with the Love and Rage Knights before splitting west to ascertain the status of Cyprus. Upon confirming its Societal standing and a headache-inducing interaction with House Salacia's teenage Pixie primus, Augustine, Elia continued south to rendezvous with the Joy and Curse Knights to take the city of Alexandria, an effort that proceeded smoothly.

The Bone Brigade (with the addition of Joy Knight Lucius au Carthii and his forces) continued on to assault the auxiliary fortress honeycomb of Nafusa, which had fallen into Republic hands a few weeks prior. The battle there proved disastrous when expected reinforcements from Morning Knight Agravaine au Falthe did not arrive, and Curse Knight Nikolaos au Fabii fell and was presumed dead. While Victoria and the Joy Knight reconvened with the Morning Knight to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, Elia and her forces retreated to the mountain fortress of Bikku Bitti, where she - as highest-ranking military official - assumed command of both the Shatterheart Legion and Bikku Bitti's defence.

Once there, she and other high-ranking members of the legions were informed by Lady Ptolemy of Nikolaos' survival. All agreed to keep said survival a secret, so as to lull the Republic into a false sense of security.

#### The Siege of Bikku Bitti

A few weeks following the revelation of the Curse Knight's survival, Bikku Bitti's sensors detected increased activity around Nafusa and preparations for some sort of battle. Expecting an assault on Bikku Bitti, Elia began preparing her own troops and the fortress for battle, laying mines and explosives along the approach paths as well as sealing the exits.

She was proven to be right as only a couple days later, Nafusa began laying smoke along the northern approach vector to disguise a small infiltration team. At the same time, sensors reported a full legion climbing out of the valley of Tassili N'ajjer to the south. Under Elia's command, Bikku Bitti engages in a simultaneous two-front battle. The first, an artillery duel with Nafusa. The second, a full expeditonary legion charging up the mountain slop towards them. Elia's initial few volleys are precisely placed however, and lay waste to the legion. Nearly a full third of it is eliminated even before reaching the gates of the fortress. On the other front, Elia designs a strategy to circumvent Nafusa's fresh pulseShields by collapsing the mountain beneath them. With this, she reduces half the honeycomb fortress to mere rubble in one volley.

However, there is still the legion to contend with, even after what remained of Nafusa's guns ran dry of ammunition. Under Elia's direction, the Second and Fifth Cohorts of Shatterheart and Vindicta respectively, as well as the four main defence towers, wreaked havoc on the Republic's lines. Continuously bombarded and his troops baited into traps, the Republic commander, Legate Cassander au Azure, finally made the decision to retreat with a little under half his original force remaining.

Meanwhile, the northern infiltration force had managed to bring down one of the outer pulseDome nodes, but were prevented from advancing further by three centuries, Shatterheart subLegate Caligula, and a ghostCloaked Nikolaos au Fabii.

For her impeccable defence of the fortress, and loss of barely half a cohort's worth of troops, Nikolaos presented Elia once again with a promotion from Imperator Tico - this time elevating her to one of the youngest archLegates in Societal history, and granting her the epithet of "The Aegis".

## Abilities and Stat Bonuses

* Razormaster [+5]
* Legate [+6]
* Stealth [+4]

## Quotes

*"You know the ideals of the Society. You have obeyed, and the Society has prospered for it. If you sacrifice, it will be against the tides of chaos, and you will be remembered as heroes for decades to come. The valiant defenders of Bikku Bitti. The fight is not done, but you will not fight alone."* - To Corporal Keira ti Metz

## Credits

Bust portrait and full-body portrait by @SushiWestern on Instagram