Kaleso Stralbane

Lord of Corsairs

Crazy Bastard with a Plasma Sword

Brother

Eradys (daughter; Beta Timeline)

Ferokin (son; Beta Timeline)

Sorcerer Orders (formerly)

Defiance Crew (currently)

Grand Jokarium Reclamation Forces (Beta Timeline)

*"Let's travel the Galaxy and meet unexpected people. And then kill them. Because usually, they'll try to kill your first. That is, until you get an actual friend."*

Kaleso Tögensa Konkara Stralbane, usually known as Kaleso or as Kale, is a former Jokari Corsair Lord that has ended up within the Defiance due to a string of unfortunate events. He has since become one of its more respectable members right up until the end of its voyage in the Beta Timeline, wherein he goes on to become the Chief Administrator of Mazumanda Waypoint Station.

In the Alpha Timeline, Kaleso dies fighting the Ragon in the events leading towards the arrival of the Defiance into the Solar System. Details are scant, but it is believed he burned out from overusing his psychic abilities, quickly succumbing to a sickness exclusive to Jokari Sorcerers like himself.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

Skills

* **Intelligence**: Kaleso is very intelligent as per his species. Academically at least.
* **Master Combatant:** He is proficient in using both melee and ranged weapons. He also wields offensive psychic powers, typical to members of the Order of Sorceres.

Weaknesses

* **Psychic**: Due to his high psychic ability, he is actually susceptible to EMP pulses.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Psychic Lightning**: Kaleso is able to channel hyperspace energy to form a stream of electricity. It is capable of stunning and knocking back creatures up to the size of a Ragon upon impact, though it can also kill given time.
* **Telepathy**: Like all Jokarun, Kaleso is able to communicate directly to the brains of others. He cannot read minds.
* **Psychic Barrier**: Kaleso is able to form a barrier made of solidified hyperspace energy in order to block enemy attacks.
* **Flight**: As a Jokari Untainted, he is able to launch himself up into the air, though he cannot sustain powered flight.

## Background

Role on Ship: Close Combat Specialist/Psychic Support

Crimes Committed: Illegal Experimentation, Assassination, Freeing Slaves, Planetary Genocide (when unknowingly he had his personal battleship slag a Kiellar colony), and War Crimes.

## Personality

*“I just want a hug.”*

Angsty and perhaps coming off as a snarky tsundere, Kaleso is strange, if nothing else. However, he is easily moved, and often lends a comforting hand if all conditions are met. Yare-Lokem, his partner in crime, describes him as “hard on the outside, but squishier than jelly on the inside.” He is rather distant and aloof to most, but once someone actually approaches him, they will see that he is a swell fellow after all. However, during his tenure in the Defiance, he mellowed, for the lack of a better word. He has done so enough to share an embrace with Nathaniel Carter; a gesture usually reserved for the closest of friends in Jokari culture.

Kaleso has a very small amount of patience, as demonstrated by his frustration at Ra'rannir when she kept on asking questions about modern living. He is frank and does not mince words when speaking his mind, which has the very real potential of causing friction between himself and others. He is incredibly loyal and protective, particularly towards Nathaniel Carter, with whom he has fought alongside in many missions.

Kaleso is rather intimidating at first sight both due to his reputation and voice, which has been likened by Corsair Lord Mozkrek to "a disembodied spirit speaking from the shadows of death." He feels elation in battle, and finds it enjoyable to make his enemies suffer great pain and a slow death. He believes that vengeance is justice, and that a lost eye demands another in retribution. However, he seems to be saddened by the fact that his once pacifist race is consumed by its thirst for revenge.

## Backstory

Ever since the Kiellar approached the Jokari Moonship, the more disparate and free swilling members of Jokarun society decided it was time to show the lesser races the horrors they just unleashed by destroying the Jokarun Republic. These angered ones would be known as the Corsairs or the Zulfikari in the Jokari Lexicon. They soon became a terrifying presence within the Neutral Zone, and rumours about powerful alien warships clad in black armor wielding sophisticated weaponry abounded across the Neutral Zone.

One of the lords of these Corsairs was Kaleso Stralbane, who, along with a large band of followers, were personally granted permission by the Council of Sixty-Six (after a lengthy deliberation involving the options in regards to what to do with him after being found out to Ben practicing dark magicks as a Sorceror) to raid other races for resources with the Stardeath Class Battlecruiser Resurgence. With the Resurgence under his command, Kaleso committed numerous raids against supply convoys of both the Ragon and the Kiellar, disappearing as if they were never there to begin with every time. However, he treated Ragon convoys with special discrimation, destroying every single vessel and murdering every single Ragon his warriors could find, as the hatred that burned within could only be sated with blood.

This hate sprung from personally witnessing the fall of the Republic at the hands of the Ragon Empire, who would turn the survivors that were left behind into livestock.

Kaleso was born as Kaleso Tögensa Konkara Stralbane in the year AD 1776 on the mining world of Madnilia. He was only 9 when the Republic was invaded and destroyed by the Ragon, and witnessed the consumption of most of his family, save for two of his siblings (Karesan and Korenya) and his cousin (Azar). Ever since then, he would be representative of the collective hatred the Jokari Untainted had and nurtured for over two centuries. This would eventually boil down into an indiscriminate slaughter. When a Ragon captain was taken prisoner, it was said that he told him this:

Eventually, Kaleso's hunt would come to an end. Kaleso purged a Kiellar colony planet in the fringes of the galaxy by the order of his superiors, triggering a counter reaction from the Command Navy that saw the Resurgence cornered. Kaleso faced with risking the Resurgence being destroyed along with his followers. In the end, he boarded his personal starfighter and ordered the Resurgence to leave him behind.

Kaleso, in this moment of sacrifice, downed a Kiellar Frigate with precise slashing hits with plasma torpedoes before several EMP bolts struck his fighter. He was taken prisoner with some of the worst crimes in the Kiellar Command. He would then be placed in the prison ship Defiance to later stand trial.

## Adventures in the Defiance

Kaleso was one of those spoken to by Thanica right before the outbreak of the mutiny.

## Relationships

### Family

* Nuradin Stralbane †
* Losora Stralbane †
* Aferstar Stralbane (brother) †
* Kirasa Stralbane (sister)
* Karesan Horkenamen (brother in law)

### Defiance Crew

* Yare-Lokem (best friend)
* Nathaniel Carter (captain and friend)
* Alexander Nevets (friend)
* Vesia
* Zaru
* Mihal
* Aarla
* Saessa of Anac
* Yevgeny Levenkov
* Phoenix
* Olorisa
* Thanica Vari
* Mothlua
* Sho
* Anja
* Sshalah Krilin Ruul
* Raoul
* Novo
* Vakol
* Amlai
* Caille
* Massi
* Tava
* Rabaech
* Hikari
* Etux

### Kiellar Command

* Ourobouros (initial enemy, temporary ally)
* Aethienn (initial enemy, temporary ally)

## Quotes

* *”An unexpected aid, but not an unwelcome one.”*
* *”I miss my mom.”*
* *”Greetings to you all. I am Kaleso Stralbane, the new captain of this battlecruiser, and I am honoured to serve as your commander starting this day. Let us all serve with honour.”*
* *“I have already been resigned in life, that you must know very well by now. I have seen some of the worst things this galaxy has ever witnessed. The Republic’s fall... amongst other things. If I am going to die then I will do so with a cup of Treagan on my lips. I find no purpose at all, my friend.”*
* *"You understand little."*
* *"My mind is my own."*
* *"Let your voice be free."*
* *"Ain't you a sight for sore eyes?"*
* *"We linger in the shadows."*
* *"I hear an ancient voice, whispering from the void. And it chills my lightless heart."*
* *"Kill them all. The Void claims its own."*