Arritz the Hero

## Summary

A legendary historical figure, Arritz was found as a lonely orphan in the Kheisk Ward of Ambaria, near where **Hop** himself lived on **Karrots**. He became a treasured warrior and ascended into Hoppist folk lore when he committed the ultimate sacrifice and defeated a terrorizing monster off-world by himself. Eventually he was granted freedom, and sent back to the military to become a proper warrior. He has a **memorial** on **R'Juko**. He serves the role of commander in the Grand Sop Army's 57th division in Hop's place when he is absent.

## History

### Youth

Arritz did not speak about his youngest days, but Hop's friend **Bop** discovered him diving in trash and wandering between buildings and underground roads near their homes in Ambaria. During this pattern, Bop approached Arritz out of curiosity. He noticed that Arritz's head was slightly deformed and possessed an unusual fur color, likely due to being unwashed and homeless most of his days. His eyes also appeared unusual, like stars. Bop invited him to meet Hop and his father, to become a soldier and gain a new life, as they were actively recruiting for **The Endless War for the Eternal Throne**.

Together he played with Hop and his sister, on occasion with Bop, and other young hoplings at the time. Once matured, he entered the Grand Sop Army and became a follower of Hoppism. His strong faith was enhance due to being saved by other Hoppists that set a powerful example of a role model. Arritz wanted to be better than those who abandoned him, and as good as those who saved him.

### Military Career

Learning basics alongside his peers, despite being different, Arritz learned skills fast and became a talented weapon user. He was not ready to become a warrior yet, and did not pass higher tests, including the **Initiate Trials**, but he often returned to these with vigor during his early career. Hop encouraged his personal motivation and promised he would get to a combat ready level eventually.

After a few orbits passed, Sop offered him an accelerated training program meant for Knights, figuring the higher pressure would weed out any lagging soldiers. The progress impressed him, and gave him an honorary position in the 57th division, being an on-call enforcer for heavy assaults. Following him and Hop into warzones during The Endless War, he gained experience in battles on planets of high importance in the war.

Very shortly after, he was sent back due to critical fights taking place that caused Sop to worry he and his son would fail, and their strongest soldiers besides themselves would have to defend Karrots in their absence. He moved in with Bop and his family on Karrots during this time. At this time he was considered mature and fully loyal, standing guard at the sole active Electric Eye on Karrots alongside Knights of Sop and other notable veterans.

When Sop's involvement in the war ended, he returned home and put the world back into a state of non-emergency. Arritz then spent his remaining career serving as a personal assistant for Sop or his son during combat situations off-world. At the end of his tenure, he was offered to retire and gain his benefits, but Arritz declined and asked for higher rewards in exchange for more service. He wanted his own home in Ambaria and a personal ship once he became a knight and served for as many orbits as Sop has.

This impressive tenacity struck Sop with pride, and offered him to live with Hop and his friends at any time during his continued military service. Trusted and experienced, Arritz would serve with infrequent retreats (military vacations) back to Karrots while he attempted to earned a higher rank.

### The Legend

During his retreat with Bop and his family, they took time to visit Hop during a visit between his skirmishes. Spending an evening together, watching the dual sunset, all took a nap after playing games. Arritz awoke suddenly, to see Hop's comm devices going off in his room. Due to being tired, and wearing earbuds, the others could not sense this. Grabbing a tablet, he stares at the screen, seeing footage of a terrible Nido beast destroying an above ground mining city, standing where a mountain range once stood.

Glaring at it, he tried to wake Hop, but to no success. With a sense of urgency and duty overcoming him, Arritz ran to Hop's storage area and withdrew a war trophy, an enchanted sword that Hop recently told him about. He later explained he knew that his personal weapons at home would take him too long to retrieve, supported by the idea his arms would not yield enough power to hurt it, given the footage of the local hops on the world fighting it to no success.

Panicking, Arritz decided to rush into the storage area of **Hop's room**. Dashing to the weapons workshop, he stopped to find a weapon suited for defeating beast, hanging next to Hop's trophies. A sword-like item (filed down to be small enough for Hop himself to weild) hung from the wall. Knowing Hop bragged about discovering its enchantment, Arritz decided it would be a fitting weapon given the little time he had. Not even taking the time to learn how to use it, he dashed toward the nearest Electric Eye warp point and commanded the operator to send him urgently toward R'juko.

As he flew through space, he thought to alert the others, sending his personal distress signal from his tablet and leaving it at the exit node of the Electric Eye, pinging for help. Slamming into the atmosphere of R'juko, body ignited upon contact with the air, due to friction. Landing violently, he quickly darted toward the city, remembering the map of the planet from the emergency broadcast. The beast was clearing structures and parts of the landscape as he arrived. It continued to shrug off the citizen's weaponry and focusing its rage on anything it could reach.

With the residents unable to flee due to the beast's long reach, Arritz sped into the city, alerting citizens to flee and head for the surrounding forests. As he accelerated, the figure of the beast was apparent even looming over the clouds on the planet. It stared at the landscape, stepping back and inhaling, causing the ground to tremor. Arritz, entering the city, dashed up the road that led to the mountain lift, running vertically up it, and leaping into the air toward the beast, as it brought its tail around front of its face to destroy more. It glanced at him, screaming as he jumped.

Arritz was struck by its tail and sent flying into the ground. Sitting upright, he leapt back up, landing on a building with a camera pointing at them both, with the beast taking interest in him, staring him down. They exchanged glares before roaring at each other loudly.

No footage was captured the battle from this point forward, as citizens fled in fear, and the city lacked infrastructure for the technology while what was in place was crushed under debris by this point. Arritz's account is that he leapt from the building onto its limb, then rushing to its shoulder while it attempted to shake him off and bite him. On the rear of its shoulder, Arritz stabbed his now glowing sword into the monster, causing it pain, as it yelped and shook violently, causing buildings that were already unstable to plummet into the ground.

With the citizens of the city fearful of losing everything, Arritz took a moment to pray as he held on tightly. The beast took this chance to whip its tail at Arritz wildly, missing upon the initial attempts but suddenly crushing him. Thinking it was free of its pest, it took a single step forward, before shouting in pain, as Arritz lifted its tail with the sword between them. As he twisted it fiercely, he ripped it out of the monster, and its tail was violently absorbed into the sword, as well as Arritz's tail. Fighting the enchantment, the sword twisted itself upside down and cut his tail, demanding a price for sealing the beast.

Both experiencing great pain unlike before in their lives, they screamed loudly together. Arritz rolled off the beast, the sword falling besides him, while the beast leaned into the mountain. He turned his head, the beast wailing and tossing into the mountain, unbalanced due to the loss of its tail.

Dragging the sword behind him with his foot, Arritz crawled to his feet and began to sprint toward it. As he jumped to its face, it reached toward him with one open paw. Arritz began to pray again and held the sword with his feet as it struck him. The sword again ripped a limb away from both combatants at the same time, causing Arritz to panic as he was less able to fight, while the sheer size of the monster meant he was unable to compete more and more. Arritz grabbed the sword with his remaining arm and landed on his feet, running around the corner. The monster roared again, slipping to one side as its weight brought its unbalanced body to its belly.

Building with fear and a sense of duty, Arritz had stared down the beast, both equally distraught. Both scrambled to a fighting position. A single remaining citizen was staring at Arritz from the other side of the street, nodding at him. Glancing his sword, then at the behemoth, he nodded and shoo'd the citizen away. He ran farther back, turning to face the beast which crawled now on 3 limbs, sniffing and growling, its pupil-less eyes glaring in all directions.

Trembling, it spotted him, and its mouth began to emit a faint, then suddenly bright light, as it spat energy directly at Arritz. Using the sword again, he screamed and slashed it upon contact, causing it to deflect all momentum and heat off its blade. Glancing again at the sword, Arritz realized he had to continue to put faith in his weapon in order to end this massive terror. Walking toward it, it continued the same attack over and over, tiring itself out until it could roar no more. Running now, he leapt into the sky, above the rooftops, over the beast and nearly to the clouds. As he fell, he tucked the sword between his feet and last hand, yelling as he descended. The beast let out a final, fearful yelp and slipped as it tried to run away.

Landing with the speed of a raindrop on the beast's forehead, an explosion of light engulf them both, blowing out the buildings and mountain around them into dust. The sword flew into the sky, absorbing all the light from the blast, and landed harshly on the ground. It sat there, unmoving, as its sheath mysteriously flew back over the blade. Citizens returned to site a time later, finding Arritz's ribbon landed on the hilt. A child, running out from its mother's grasp, grabbed both, and quickly tied it over the sheath and handle, tightly sealing them together.

### Freedom

With the sword in his possession, Hop often would train with it, considering returning it to his personal storage beneath his room. Thinking the monster trapped inside would make a disaster of the area if released (in Hop's absence), the decision was to place the sword somewhere far away from others but observable.

During transportation of the sword, a Hopficer was entrusted with bringing between two Electric Eye nodes. The sword was uncovered and exposed during a warp and the intense energy caused the hilt to repel the transportation beam and the Hopficer was slammed into the ground, while the sword flew off into the distance. When it landed, a massive tremor was felt on the moon he was stationed at. Standing to his feet, he panicked as the sword appeared to be emitting a powerful light as the ground growled.

Looking into the distance, he called for Hop, who was back on Karrots. Arriving rapidly, skipping the final (now damaged) Electric Eye, choosing instead to be fired into the surface of the moon instead of the exit node. Slamming into the planet, he began dashing to his subordinate, who encouraged him to investigate the commotion emanating from the sword's landing spot. Hop began to charge at it, prepared to fight, but slid to a halt once he saw a figure he recognized kneeling near the sword. Shaking violently as he held the hilt shut, Hop approached him. Arritz was standing before him with an anxious pose over the sword. Hop could sense the sword was inert, giving off no energy, he approached his friend and comforted him, as well as thanked him.

Arritz was escorted back to Karrots, while Hop personally leaped off the moon to the nearest empty world to stow the sword for a time. He rushed back to Karrots and began to properly recognized Arritz before his people as a hero.

Now freed from the sword, Arritz was given a new sword, a replica of the first. Then he was formally promoted and given a proper promotional ceremony, with a unique ribbon. Among other privileges, Hop gave him a ship so he could manage the 57th "Knight Assault Battalion" division in Hop's absence.

Many orbits would pass getting Arritz to the standard of a Knight of Sop like Hop himself. Of note in his training, Arritz attempted to use the original sword's powers to strike and seal Hop, wondering if he discovered a weakness of his. However, this trial, even with Hop's guard down, and his consent, was unsuccessful. Arritz further tested this in hopes that its power could seal powerful beings. The sword seems to either have an upper limit or Hop himself was simply immune to the sword's power by **greater divine intervention**.

### The Beast Revived

As part of his advanced training, Arritz was sent to a newly discovered world far from Karrots. He was to test the vacant planet with a fellow Knight and an exploration crew was assigned with research of its structure. If the world suited their needs, Hop would elect the location to be one of the worlds on rotation for Knight of Sop training, where they can unleash their full strength. Arritz was approaching a high level of power that warranted training away from Karrots.

In this venture, Arritz took both his original sword, now named L'lin Phoiya, as well as his Athylin replica. On the planet, he and his fellow Knight, Riphona-T'Zul, trained in sword fighting with heavy strikes. Srikes so powerful that they struck and shook the ground beneath them. The final strike in their duel unexpectedly shattered the L'lin Phoiya in Arritz's grip. The crack in its metal trailed down to the hilt and expanded with a flash of light that sent Arritz and T'Zul careening backwards.

Sitting up and glancing around in panic, Arritz sees a familiar shape that roars an eerily similar sound. T'Zul stands to his feet, and collects the Athylin sword, shouting at the beast. Arritz warns his comrade, who foolishly lashes out at the monster between them, who swats him away effortlessly. In a sprint, Arritz recovers his ally and takes his weapon, having him retrieve his other gear and alert the exploration crew which was on a rover heading toward the planet's equator.

The Knight fled rapidly as Arritz valiantly fought the beast alone, putting his uniform to the side and setting his radio into emergency ping mode. The beast recognized him, Arritz believed, as it seemed startled by his yells and stance with a sword. Both were afraid of each other, knowing the other was a fierce enemy that was now stronger than before, but to an unknown degree. They cautiously engage in a stalemating fight, while T'Zul and the crew successfully alerted Karrots through the Hoppist Network. Hop himself was rapidly approaching the training world.

A brilliant beam ejects Hop into the space above the world, where then Hop flies down, in his upgraded Knight of Sop armor, he slams into the back of the beast during its exchange with Arritz. The powerful blow pushed Arritz back greatly. Mid-air, Arritz slams the sword into the ground to slow down, and then flings himself back toward the beast, which is now writhing on the ground violently. It begins to screech and eat the ground below it. Staring at his still-stance leader, Arritz questions why he does not kill the beast. Hop confesses to hesitating for the sole reason of letting Arritz kill the horror that tormented him since his release from the L'lin Phoiya. He is concerned with his power being held back due to the trauma of the incident.

A brief conversation ensued that became a short debate. Hop had no interest in changing his stance on the matter. As this went on, the beast physically bulked up as it consumed the planet's mineral rich ground. It did not budge from under Hop's mighty foot, which firmly pressed it into the ground. Staring at his childhood friend and soldier, Hop ordered Arritz to personally slay the Nido beast. Offering one last assist, Hop used his powers to drill a lobotomizing hole in the beast's skull, where it fell limp briefly. Its body jolted awake a moment later as it tried to regenerate. Leaping off of the beast, Hop landed behind Arritz and pushed him into the belly of the monster.

A final order to kill it was given and Hop went to Arritz's uniform and turned his radio off, ordering the others on the planet to return to their ship and leave, and never return to the planet. Instead of continuing toward Arritz to assist him, they fled as ordered. Arritz was told to build his warrior spirit up enough to overcome his ongoing shock and self-doubt. Standing at a distance, Hop observed Arritz storm into the hollow head of the monster. Moments passed as he half-heartedly stabbed its insides. It struggled to heal but Arritz became overwhelmed and as the beast stood to its feet, it spat him out of its mouth and it roared, more confident than ever.

Turning to his leader, Arritz begged to know why he would throw him back at this strengthened beast with a weapon that was far less effective than the L'lin Phoiya. Hop explained it was a greater weapon by far. Sensing how the beast was unleashed, Hop correctly assumed the series of events to this moment, inferring that Arritz only attacked out of fear, not confidence and duty, which is why he sent for help right away. Scolding him, he wanted him to train more than his power but also his control over himself. Hop wanted to continue Arritz's legend beyond the self-sacrificing moment in his life. Just because he was ready to lay down his life did not mean he had any right to refuse acceptance that it would go on since he was freed. He has a duty to himself and Hoppism to improve himself now that he is not bound to the sword that he stole from his leader.

Extremely shaken, as the beast roared and charged at him, Arritz failed to strike in time and was sent hurtling back. Sliding to a stop, he stayed still for a moment. The beast bellowed at Hop, but turned his head to face Arritz after it saw him rise to his feet again. They began staring at each other. Both seemed afraid, but now of different things than when their rematch began. Hop's presence, Arritz felt, was a threatening one to them both, due to mutual their knowledge of his power. As if forced to face each other, they slowly approached their enemy.

Drawing his sword into a fighting stance, the beast whipped its tail around its slow-healing throat. Hop jumped into the air and flew high above them, as if passively spectating the fight, but more intently focusing on the energy and thoughts in Arritz's mind. It was blank and Hop was unsure about his decision for a moment. Then the two opponents clashed and each was violently struck or cut by the other. The Athylin sword acting as both weapon and shield for its wielder. Many strikes followed, until the cuts on the beast were numerous and its healing ability became overwhelmed but the might of the metal weapon of its far weaker owner.

Seeing the advantage before him, Arritz suddenly perked up and felt the need to rush in. The monster roared fiercer than ever, sensing its life was more truly going to come to an end than last time. The hero of R'Juko began to stab the beasts tail and head, until it lowered its guard. Wailing and rolling on the ground, it tried to shake him off. However, Arritz remained fierce and clung to its scaly skin and jumped into the hole in its neck. Coughing and clawing at itself, it tore itself open and reached within its throat, but it was far too late. Arritz made his way into the beast's core and began to eviscerate its internal organs. Every cut stung and every lunge seemed to push the beast as if he was outside its body and was striking it like Hop.

Minutes of agonizing screams continued as Arritz went from silently and strategically cutting its body apart, to a growing anger that was followed by increasingly loud screams. Arritz channeled his hatred into the sword and began gutting the beast, to the point where he could stab all the way through its body. Jumping out of the wound, he leapt back onto its head and yelled as his stabbed it several times, dunking its head into the ground each time it weakly stood up.

He continued to do this until it ceased movement, where then he let out a violent shout and tossed the sword away from them. Continuing, he began to punch the beast with his own paws. The strikes were so powerful that chunks of the monster flew off as he did this. When he nearly hollowed out its skull, he jumped to its neck and roared as he began to tear its head from its body. He screamed as he slowly decapitated the beast in his rage. Tossing the head away, he began to blindly slam the body into the ground with reckless abandon.

Hop continued to watch until Arritz tired himself out and fell to the ground, apathetic and still. Lifting his friend into his arms, Hop carried him to the sword and handed it back to him, wrapping his arms around it. Arritz was silent and ignored Hop. Somberly, he set his friend down and turned his gaze to the beast's head in the distance. Hop shot it with a glare that evaporated it instantly, then the body, too. Arritz slowly turned his head up to his leader and began to mumble. Their conversation was kept secret and Hop dressed his soldier back into uniform, as the pair was later picked up by the exploration crew who was in orbit.

Shortly following this, Arritz was in his quarters on the exploration ship as the upgraded Electric Eye warped to area. Hop ordered the planet be entirely destroyed, however to hold the firing process until he and the crew boarded it. Once on the bridge, Hop carried Arritz to the deck and stood him in front of the cannon's console. Explaining to him that he can fire the weapon at the world and destroy it if he wished. Going against Hoppist ideals, the crew and Arritz briefly protested. Hop warned the Nido beast may have survived and could be powerful if it had time to eat the entire planet in the coming future. Arritz felt the knowing lie could perhaps be true, given it could have lived if Hop held back so it could regenerate. This sealed a decision in the minds of present company, and Arritz alone pressed the button that fired a planet-destroying beam out of the Electric Eye and into the world.

The light instantly engulfed the surface, and then the planet exploded violently. The liquid molten core bled into space before swiftly being solidified by the freezing vacuum of space. The energy of the Eye's beam was not at full power, as it needed to conserve energy to afford a trip home (the planet had no star and emitted no light).

Following this, Arritz was allowed to stay on indefinite leave. He visited Pobbsith on Karrots during the time between then and Sop's Ascension. As the Civil War broke out, Arritz entered the GSA Academy and met with Hop, mentally healed and his will fortified to serve as a Hoppist loyally, forever.

### Hop Civil War

Arritz was a co-leader of Hop's personal division during the Hop Civil War. Despite being a lesser rank than some Knights, his age, experience and bravery ascended him to a unique role that Hop granted to him. During his service, he led a campaign against Gop's Paw, the New Sop Order and was later privately assigned to hunt down W'Nan-Sie after a brief encounter with Hop.

Teaming up with Buddy's brother "Frhank" to ensure they had to strength to put down the outlaw, they spent orbits travelling numerous galaxies, interrogating New Sop Order commanders for information on their weaponized ally. Cornering him on an unnamed planetoid trapped in orbit around a lone exoplanet in deep space made apprehending him simple but not easy. The firepower of W'Nan-Sie's pistols often forced the duo back and cut into their armor, welding them into the ground. A legendary battle ensued, where Fhrank chased Sie up a mountain range, his ally Arritz, with his new Athylin sword, withstood the hellfire long enough to force their foe into a trap, leading to his capture.

Arritz later served in **The Battle of Tuirqo**, helping parts of The 57th division secure the planet's equator. He stood with Hop as they cast the leaders of the NSO into captivity, serving as an enforcer.

### Post-War

After the official conclusion of the conflict, Arritz continued his duties for another campaign where he led squads of Knights to dangerous worlds in order to tame them or provide Hoppist assistance in the greater effort to ensure other beings that the hops can be trusted. This was a major long term goal that he personally treasured being involved in, as Sop and Hop inspired him to be a true Hoppist in the most positive sense. Lead by example and act caring as often as you can to those around you, deserving or not.

The many orbits on this Journey for him enlightened him far beyond the simple warrior lifestyle he lived prior.

### Legacy

Years after the Hop Civil War, due to his service, he was allowed early leave. Once retired, he set off in the ship given to him by Hop to navigate the wider universe during the second Great Hop Expansion. He has not been heard from since departure. His ship left in the universal upward-north, toward the charted edge of the universe, taking Electric Eyes into deep space, before using his own vessel to continue past the conquered wild stars.

## Belongings

Arritz has many items in his sole possession, either gifted to him or as a spoil of conflict. Included in his collection is:

* An Athylin sword made by Hop.
* Knight of Sop formal armor, painted to represent his rank and fur color.
* W'Nan-Sie's lost pistol, welded shut and rendered useless, on display at Arritz's home.
* A custom Royal Ampbersamd light-drifter class starship, his chosen benefit rewarded to him by Hop for Sie's capture.
* Two ribbons, one for his rank and one for sacrificing himself to save the locals of R'Juko.

## Hoppist Rank

Hop promoted Arritz to Tier 7, Hopficer, after sealing himself inside the sword. Eventually, Hop freed both beings from the sword's enchantment while retaining the integrity of the weapon. After Hop and Arritz defeated the monster for a second and final time, Arritz was welcomed back into the Knight's Castle of the GSA Academy on Karrots. He bypassed traditional rankings and became a Knight of Sop, and was allowed to wear a ceremonial ribbon over the required style.

### Special Declaration of Leadership

He was in a co-leader of The 57th "Knight Assault Battalion" during the Hop Civil War, and is an honorary Knight of Sop. He can command Knights above his rank even in other divisions due to a declaration by Hop. Arritz must be overruled by three higher ranking Knights at once to lose command. Then he will fall in line as leader of only his division.