Ysria

**This page is a work in progress. I'll update it further once *The Hunter and the Shroud* is finished.**

## Ysria

Ihsraya Melrun (formerly) Ysria Melrun (formerly)

### Affiliation

Shroud
The Vanguard

The Last City

### Occupation

Guardian of the Last Safe City - Hunter class

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Mobile Repair and Refit outpost 18 ("The Nest")

## Appearances

### Appears in

The Hunter and the Shroud - The Eve of Exodus - Metempsychosis

### Debut

The Hunter and the Shroud

Ysria *("is-ree-uh")* is an Awoken Hunter reborn in the aftermath of the Reef Wars. With assistance from her Ghost, who would come to name himself Shroud, she discovered her past selves, and dedicated herself to their dream of exploration while also protecting Humanity as a Guardian of the Last City.

## Appearance

Ysria has an appearance some may describe as "gothic". Pale blue skin, yellow eyes and black hair that, when let down, reaches just past her shoulders. Her forehead bears a black tattoo that tapers to a point halfway down the bridge of her nose, decorated around its edge by small dots. The meaning of this tattoo still remains a mystery to her, though not for lack of trying to find the answer.

She tends to dress herself in dark clothing. Purples and blacks are the most likely colours to find her wearing; a holdover from her previous lives where she adopted much the same style, as evidenced by the combat harness she discovered in the cargo hold of her Ceres Galliot.

## Personality

To many, Ysria is quiet and aloof; oftentimes becoming unintentionally (though sometimes entirely purposefully) hard to read, especially when wearing a helmet. She remains distant from those she does not trust completely. Her Ghost, Shroud, is one of the only individuals to interact with her in a completely relaxed state, though he's too protective of her privacy to say anything about it.

## History

The twice-amnesiac Ysria is not a unique case in that there have been other Awoken Lightbearers who lived through the creation of the Awoken Distributary in previous lives. However, none have a history as well documented as this Guardian, who, throughout all three of her lives has thoroughly documented her experiences. The Vanguard has only recently become aware of this. It is against policy for a Guardian to search for information regarding their past life. In spite of protocol, these documents provide a valuable insight into eras the City has scant information about. Much to the annoyance of the Cryptarchy, they are jealously guarded by both Ysria and her Ghost. Perhaps in time, if such information is required, they will share what they know.

### Ihsraya Melrun

Born nineteen years prior to the onset of the Collapse into a middle-class family, Ihsraya *(ees-rye-ah)* spent her life under the tutelage of her father, who taught her everything she knew about being a mechanic. She had always been close to her parents, but her want for adventure left her feeling constrained by their refusal to let her do any meaningful travel on her own.

As a hobby, Ihsraya kept many journals, sketchbooks and audio-diaries of her day to day life and the projects she had worked on or was planning to work on. She would never know it, but some of those plans would come to fruition in the centuries to follow.

News of the encroaching Darkness reached the Melrun household as the family were organising a holiday to the Martian capital of Freehold, shortly after Ihsraya's nineteenth birthday. Jubilation turned to panic as the family tried desperately to secure three of the rapidly-disappearing places on the colony ship Exodus Green. Only Ihsraya was accepted, and staunchly ushered off by her parents when the day came for her to leave. She would attempt one last goodbye message mere hours before boarding the Green, but it would never reach the ears of her family.

Ihsraya was aboard the Exodus Green during the singularity event that birthed the Awoken and their Distributary.

### Ysria Melrun

Like nearly all who awoke on that first day in the Distributary, the woman who would call herself Ysria *(ees-rye-ah)* Melrun had no memory of the time before. Fortunately, she found something close to the point of her awakening. A bag, containing myriad forms of documentation from an individual of the same name, but with a spelling different from the one she had chosen for herself. She would study these at great length over the course of her life, and create more of her own to honour the legacy of the her before her.

Ysria would settle with a small community by a lake. Together they built a settlement where each building would have outside of it a sparkling, turquoise tree, as a way of thanking the environment for the resources used in the construction of settlement. This tradition would continue for a time, as the settlement grew into a village, and then a town. As more people started arriving though and the town become a city, this tradition would stop in favour of rapid expansion which ended up destroying the forest from which the trees had originated.

Throughout her time in this settlement, she made her way as a mechanic, though it was originally unclear as to how she possessed the skills to do so. She rapidly became a cornerstone of life in the city, and as such found herself unable to dedicate any meaningful time for herself. She could never afford to leave for long, and thus could not fully enjoy the exploration and discovery she craved.

When the Theodicy War broke out, a large portion of the city's population supported the Eccaleist movement, which was unusual for city-folk who generally enjoyed their comforts too much to consider leaving. This belief in serving a greater purpose -- in venturing outside their universe to help the one that birthed them -- resonated with Ysria, who had heard more than most about what lay beyond. In the years to follow, she would lend her mechanical services to the war effort, in hopes that she could help bring it to a close sooner.

When construction of the Ships that were to take the Eccaleists back through the singularity had begun, Ysria was called upon to aid in said construction. soon after completion, this fleet would succeed in its ultimate purpose of delivering the Awoken to their mother-universe. When the Awoken settled the Reef, Ysria joined the Corsairs in hopes of being at the forefront of exploratory expeditions. Unfortunately, due to the Queen's desire for secrecy, Corsair expeditions were suspended, and she was instead assigned command of a repair station at the far edge of the asteroid belt.