Kelly Vermillion

**Kelly Vermillion** is a member of Betah Team, and one of its many recruits who defected from the Empire. A former soldier of the Empire, she grew up blind to the crimes of the Empire and was raised with a sense of morality and compassion to others. She will often find it hard to kill those she likes and she feels a connection to(i.e. Vallum Soldiers). However, being raised in the Empire means she has a biased disposition against androids and homosexuals.

## Background

Kelly Vermillion is a “former” Kampfer(the Vallum Empire's slave forces, eventually integrating Vallum citizens) and Knight of the Empire currently living in the KR. Born Jane Iscariot in the slave pens of Vallum, she changed her name when she was adopted by her a banking family, the Vermillions. As a Kampfer, she was taken by the Vallum Empire at the age of 10. Her work and service in the empires janissary corps eventually rose her to the rank of Knight, a title given to the personal retainer of noble heirs. When she was 25, Kelly was chosen as retainer for Harold Soffley. Her blind service to the empire, allowed him to easily manipulate and use her.

## Weapons

* Paimon(pistol)
* Gusion and Barbatos(dual swords), hits twice and inflicts bleed
* Amdusias(lance), hits once and inflicts bleed

## Early Life

In the Vallum Empire, albinos are viewed as abominations sent from God to punish families(albinos in Vallum are deemed as sub-human and often killed at birth). However her parents owners found value in her skin color, quickly taking Kelly from her parents and selling her. She was bought by one of the richest families in Vallum, the Vermillions. From a young age, she was raised by a them as family, working as an aide around their home, learning with the families children and was given the privilege to sleep separately from the rest of the slaves. Her education in history, literature and science were all dominated by empire propaganda, and her life was set around serving it. Kelly grew to love her adopted family, and eventually they adopted her on her 8th birthday. The next 2 years saw her given lessons in martial arts and swordplay.

## Kampfer

Every 5 years, the empire takes one child(between the ages 10-12) from every family in its territory states to serve as future soldiers in their army. Kelly’s adoption into the Vermilion family served as a ploy to get their eldest son, Seras, from serving in the army. Though she had been used, Kelly believed that it was her purpose to serve the empire. After a few quick goodbyes with her adopted brothers and sisters, she was marched with 2000 other children to the empire's capital. There they were tested both physically and mentally in an attempt to determine their roles in the army. Thanks to her training and education with her previous family, Kelly was selected as a candidate to be a royal guard. She was kept at the royal palace for 10 years, learning mathematics, science, history and literature; and being schooled in the arts of sword-craft, mounted combat, firearms and close combat. During her training, she was often sent to the southern border of the empire to put down rebellions and uprisings in what is now the Knights Republic. As a trainee, she was given a yearly pension and one week leave from the military to buy clothes, weapons and other items as well as spend time in the capital(they were not allowed to see their families), though she never found any need to spend on useless trinkets like alcohol and men, instead, she spent most of her free time and money at plays and on books. At the end of her service as a trainee, she was assigned to the 2nd Royal Guard squadron. For the next 5 years Kelly worked in service of the Emperor, her unit often being used as the main force during expeditions and trips out of the capital.

## Time in Betah Squad

Kelly's team time was rather brief and she often displayed great knowledge of the empire's tactics and Kampfer divisions. In this time, she began to bond with Cain, a former Royal Knights who moved to Fort Ajueze. The two had a budding romance in this time. However she suffered from constant sleeping and nearly dying from mind controlling moss. She began to take a back seat as the war continued.

#### Murder

In the wet week of mid-October, the Betah Squad was beginning to witness a string of murders inside the forts and the forests outside. Kelly remained in her slumber during this time and the murderer took advantage of that. On the final day, her death went as followed:

Kelly's body hanging in the center of the room, a rope tied around her ankles suspending her in the air. More rope has been used to hold her hands in a position in front of her, clasping a note over her chest. Her body is very bloody - but a few conflicting possible causes of death are present.Her stomach and head are bloodied with not just gunshot wounds, but part of her head seems almost caved in by a single, strong blow. Furthermore, she has several, single puncture wounds - all spaced evenly throughout her neckline and arms, in the same pattern as a snakebite. Finally, her arms and wrists are all cut - the blood from her wrists staining a note held between them.