Darrel "Twilight" Rodenski (Müller)

Darrel Rodenski (formerly Müller) (c. 1932 – 4 April 1974 Gregorian Human Calendar, GHC) was a KFAF Liberty War veteran and ambassador to RUAC. He had fifteen children, thirteen of whom were massacred by the Gamians invaders alongside he and his wife. He is the father of Joseph Rodenski.

## Life

### Early Life

Darrel Müller was born in 1932, in the Herbiv district of Kalubio. In his early teens, Darrel fled home and was put into a mining labour camp just south of his village, C’ciñgbypwokdpo B85 (known as C3413 in Kalubian Ba’it). Here, he was labelled “R(esident) 1244-A64.” Darrel would quickly join the camp’s main gang, the “Mñehs’nanonaɪ,” also known as the “Lifeless” or “Phantoms.” While a Phantom, Darrel would become friends with the Lifeless’ leader, Nahgakhet, and eventually a close confidant and enforcer.

### Liberty War in Jalfxia (1947-1949)

Darrel was one of several million conscripts deployed to Jalfxia to assist in operations following Kalubio’s involvement in the Liberty War (1947-1949) against the Bor'faach Monarchy, who was seen as a rising threat to Kalubio’s individually-headed military power status. He enjoyed the opportunity to get out of the C3413 camp at first. The much stricter lifestyle was the first major adjustment, where discipline was enforced much more than the at the camp. Darrel butted heads with his commanding officer during training, and was subject to brutal punishments of beatings and labour. After only two months of training as a specialized commando gunner, he was sent into active combat against the Bor'faach loyalists.

The atrocities and general horror of the war traumatized Darrel. While he became close friends with those in his squad (including Facorin Meiawkif's brother Faenzha), his witnessing and participations in slaughters left him traumatized. After his regiment was ordered to massacre a Kalu-blood village to frame on the loyalists and garner Kalubian support for the war effort, Darrel gave up on his old life and resolved that if he lived to return to Kalubio, it would be as a better person than when he left.

Enduring the deaths of several friends, including Faenzha, Darrel survived to see the end of the war. Darrel was the Kalubian who slew Empress Bor'faach in combat, effectively ending the monarchy and sending her supporters scattering. The confirmation of her death on July 27th is widely considered the date the war officially ended, though foreign peacekeepers remained there to deal with lingering unrest and vengeful loyalist threats.

Upon his return to Kalubio, Darrel returned to C3413, but applied for release due to his military service. With some behind-the-scenes manipulation, his release from C3413 was agreed to. On his final day, Nahgakhet attempted to convince to stay and remain with the Phantoms. When Darrel refused, Nahgakhet attempted to murder him. Darrel retaliated, nearly killing his former superior in a rage. Depending on the selected choice, Darrel will either kill Nahgakhet and leave the camp troubled, or spare him and leave committed to his new path.

### Gamian War and Death (1971)

*Main article: Gamian War*

In 1971, Darrel was one of several Colanexian ambassadors present at the meeting with the Gamian colonizers to discuss territory negotiations. The talks quickly became hostile, and a gunfight broke out, signifying a war between the two planets. Darrel was one of few negotiators to survive the clash, and after roughly a week of recovery, was allowed to return to his family in Herbiv, Kalubio. Less than twenty-four hours later, he was tracked down by the Gamians, who launched a siege against the district of Herbiv from orbit. Most of Darrel’s village of Vagã-Demuts was slaughtered, including his wife Helen Rodenski and thirteen of his fifteen kin. After seeing his son Joseph was alive, along with his bodyguard Chernova Kamarova, Darrel sacrificed himself to fend off the Gamians, allowing Chernova and Joseph to escape and hide until KFAF arrived to repel the attack.

## Appearance

Darrel is a rusty-brown Kalu-blood rabbit with dark eyes and a muscular figure. As a member of the Phantoms, he often wore a PVC jacket and was rarely seen without a joint or booze flask in hand. In the military, he wore a KFAF sash over his supply straps and belt, and a bright red headband tied to distinguish himself to his allies on the battlefield. Due to federal limitations, Kalu soldiers were forbidden to bear a käɱ symbol in combat. However, like most of his ethnicity, he would often mark a pattern with mud or grease on his face and torso when fighting away from command.

## Equipment

Darrel wields a JL-96 machine gun as his typical primary weapon, though he wields an IK-42 for heavier duty missions. He carries two sawed-off double-barrel shotguns as secondary weapons, which he would often use akimbo (a new technique at the time). Darrel’s sidearm was a KFAF standard L-14 Cobra revolver. He used a Sakurai sword for a melee weapon.

## Personality

Darrel’s personality grew drastically during his time in Jalfxia and beyond. While a member of the Phantoms, he cared little about the well-being of others provided they were not killed, and would rather spend his time getting drunk, high, and engaging with sexual partners. His time in Jalfxia taught him comradery, humility and discipline though, and he returned a changed person. He was also much less carefree, valuing his time with others as much as possible. This was especially prevalent with his wife Helen. After he became appointed as the Council ambassador for Kalubio to Tropai, he struggled to make time for his children, but tried to on every occasion.

As a father and an adult, Darrel cared deeply for his family and community. His time among so many elites in the Kalubian political climate, on top of seeing the suffering they put others through thanks to the Liberty War, made him a driven and hard-working ambassador to allied regions, determined to prevent further violence with others. He was willing to risk his own life to evacuate others from the CICC when the Gamians assaulted it in 1971, and went so far as to give it to try and save his village and children when weeks later, the Gamians attacked Kalubio.

## Trivia

-       Darrel is one of the first to popularize akimbo shotgun fighting among Kalubian military personnel, mixing his combat style with Kalu military and mobility training. This is one of the ways he was such an effective commando in KFAF.

-       Darrel is fluent in both of Kalubio’s languages (Ba'it and Kohl), as well as Skalrein. His mother is a Gacawys Kalu-blood, while his father is a native Kalu, which is how he learned all three languages.