Arian Torres

### Additional Notes

* Scars can be seen across his torso and left eye. The nature of which he got these scars has yet to be revealed

## Alignment & Character Traits

### Likes

* Holding immense power
* Righting the "wrongs" of the world
* Unifying all living things under one rule

### Dislikes

* The Skulk, particularly Arthur Snow
* Incompetence
* World-conquering attempts being foiled
* Being mocked
* Betrayal

## Abilities

### Skills

* Genius-level intellect
* Enhanced Recovery
* Leadership Skills
* Strength
* Weapon proficiency

**Arian Matthew Torres** is a character that makes a prominent appearance throughout the *Foxtrot: Foxes In Arms* series and acts as a primary antagonist. He is an animatronic grey fox who, following some unforeseen and unfortunate events, "fell off the grid." Struggling through a difficult childhood and being declared mentally unstable later in life, Arian has all but turned his back on those he thought cared about him and wants nothing more than the "salvation" of the world through whatever means necessary.

He is now the self-appointed emperor of the Urocyan Empire, and is also the head of the Urocyon Dynasty, a faction whose members share similar ideals to Torres, even if his own ideals are a bit extreme.

## Physical Appearance

Arian is an animatronic fox standing at over 5 feet 10 inches (1.778 meters), taller than the average male. However, some debate has gone as to whether Arian is a true grey fox or a hybrid between a grey fox and a grey wolf. His body has primarily dark grey fur with light grey fur on his front torso. Arian has peach fur on his muzzle and tan skin on his ears’ insides while his neck is metallic silver. Arian's eyes are a crimson red, a rare color for any fox species; some describe it as abnormal.

Arian has a build similar to that of the average human male, if a tiny bit on the buff side, though he is considerably stronger. "Above average physical health" is how many would've described him.

Arian has three fur tufts on each side of his lower head and hair arranged into bangs. Early depictions have him as having four bangs, but later interpretations will show three large bangs. The most notable thing about Arian is that there are several scars across his body. One scar goes across his left eye, and there are two large ones across his torso (some depictions have him with three large scars on his torso). Arian's ears are also depicted to be missing. Unlike many others, Arian appears to be the most "animalistic" as he mostly doesn't go for anything for attire, at least not that often.

## History

### Early Life

Arian was born on February 26, 1993, in the small incorporated village of Derby Line, Vermont. This village was right on the US-Canada border, and it should be noted that one side of Arian's heritage (his father's side) is American while the other side (his mother's side) is Canadian. While he was born in Vermont, he and his parents would move further south to Pennsylvania and would even venture to states like Maryland.

His upbringing was pretty good. Neither one of Arian's parents was military, but the generations beforehand did have some military service. Since he was a young pup, Arian had been the quiet and withdrawn sort, though he always followed directions without fuss. Many adults said he had a bright future ahead of him, and since he'd been a brilliant fox, that could very well have been the case. The series of events that followed would lead to this young pup going down a very dark path.

Arian would come under ridicule; why this was the case, he never knew. Many of his peers, including other animatronics, organic animals, and even humans, began targeting him. It started out as minor things like simply making fun of him with words, and then at some point, it got physical. Arian has had the strength to brush it off for the longest time, but it only started getting to him when troubles at home began to occur when things began to turn his mental state around. His parents began to argue to no ends, and while he tried to brush this off too, it was too difficult. At some point, it seemed like Arian was being neglected. He couldn't understand why, and all the time he tried to comprehend it, it began to take a toll on his mental state.

During his later youth years, Arian came into contact with two individuals; a pair of animatronic foxes similar to him. One was a red fox named Justin Redding and a swift fox named Swefred Hayden. Both Justin and Swefred seemed pretty friendly compared to most of the other people he's had contact with, but on the other hand, Arian, with his mental health slowly beginning to decline, held some doubt. Surprisingly, the two foxes were very friendly and would try to support him however they could. This was a step up for Arian after all he'd dealt with up to that point. He'd also come to know two arctic foxes, the Snow brothers Arthur and Sewell. Like Justin and Swefred, Sewell was pretty extroverted, while Arthur, like Arian himself, was rather introverted. Arian figured that since all these guys were relatively kind people, perhaps he could hang with them for the sake of his sanity.

Thankfully, it seems that hanging around the Skulk seemed to be saving Arian's mental state as he was able to open up a little more with them, and it seems he'd be going on the right track, but that began changing. As he went through his teen years, Arian continued to get bullied, and it really was starting to affect him both mentally and physically. His parents weren’t supportive of him at all, many of his other peers were mostly bullies or paying no mind to him, and it all started to cause him to build up rage at his treatment. Eventually, it got to the point where he began venting his anger on his friends; more specifically, he began to single out Arthur. The two foxes fought quite a bit, even though Arthur was also getting bullied to an extent, and most of these squabbles lead to both feeling quite emotional. But one event came about that came close to pushing him over the edge.

### Dark Path: Decline in Mental Health

One day, Arian had been out and about when he once again became the target of a group of other animatronic animals. They had the nerve to get physical with him, laughing at his expense. The things they said to him were over the edge, and, finally, they seemingly pushed him over the edge. Arian, beginning to lose his cool, promptly shouted, "Allow me to give you what you've given me!" Arian lashed out at the bullies in a fit of built-up rage, attacking them in an almost primal or animalistic way. He ended up killing two of the bullies and injured the rest, who managed to escape.

Shortly after the killings, Arian was caught by the police and arrested. In his trial, it was found that he was becoming mentally unstable due to various influences, and as a result, was acquitted and sent to a mental health hospital to get psychological help. After several years, Arian was released, but unfortunately, not much progress was made with his mental health, and he got more unhappy with how things were.

At some point, Arian fled the United States seeking asylum from the life he wanted to leave behind and ended up in the Urocyan Republic. It would turn out he had quite a bit of family who originated in Urocyia, and upon gaining citizenship, made this country his new home. At some point during his younger years, he spent a bit of time in the Urocyan military, joining the Army as an artillery officer.

### Becoming the Urocyan Emperor

In the following years, Arian dwelled on the idea of his treatment. Almost everyone had been cruel to him, and while he never understood why, at this point, he didn't care. He hated the bullies that made his life a living hell; he hated everyone who simply stood by and watched without intervening. He hated the overall cruelty of humanity and those that were similar to them. But most of all, he hated himself for being so blind to the cruelty and not sticking up for himself earlier. At this point, he began to have ideas on how he could get back against all those who had sinned against him, but how would he do it?

More thoughts of cruelty and feelings of hate and rage led Arian to think that if the world is going to be cruel to him, he must be cruel to the world. He began making plans for how he could get back at the world, and there was one concept he'd learned when he was younger that had stuck with him. That was the concept of "Salvation." Due to his mental state, his morals began becoming mixed up, and while he wanted to enact revenge, he also saw it as an opportunity to save those who suffered like he did from any more cruelty, harm, or loss.

Arian had no intentions of joining any terrorist organization. However, he still saw it necessary to use cruelty to get his message across, even if people out there wanted to stop his plan. Arian soon joined a gang of Urocyan nationalists known as the "Urocyon Dynasty," where he initially started out as pretty low within the ranks. However, he would swiftly prove himself worthy of getting higher up, having both literally and figuratively clawed his way up to the leader position of the gang. Many within the Dynasty were impressed by Arian's resolve, and began to swear unending loyalty to him. By this point, Arian had gained a number of scars across his body to show how he'd fought his way up to the leadership position.

In his new position, Arian began raising up his own private organization with an army to enact his own plan for the world. Involved in this plan was to take control of the country and establish his rule and, eventually, spread it across the planet. He spend several years planning a coup to take control from the Urocyan federal government with the intention of establishing an empire. When he was ready, Arian pounced on the government and military. The leaders of the federal government were executed, as were all who opposed the Dynasty. Seeing how successful and bold the group was, military leaders, many of whom were still unhappy with the state of the country and enthused by the Dynasty's ideals and promises, swore loyalty to Torres and the Dynasty, as did their subordinates.

### Running an Empire & Starting a War

By the time he was in control, Arian addressed the Urocyan people, demonizing all those who had oppressed him and the greater Urocyan people, who were mainly consisting of fellow grey foxes and similar species. He ended up gaining the support of the entire country, aside from those who resisted becoming an empire, whom Arian threw into purpose-built concentration camps. He was even bold enough to address the people of the world, announcing his own distain for the world and all the "injustice" within it.

Soon, under Arian's control, Urocyan military forces began annexations of foreign lands, which the world took notice to, realizing another global-scale war was on the horizon. The United States was the first to act on it, and not only built up their own military forces, but initiated a conflict by attacking Urocyan assets on a remote island. Arian was annoyed, but had expected a war to begin, and stated that if the Americans want a fight, they would lose. Arian would also have several run-ins with his old friends within the Skulk, whom he now saw as enemies getting in the way of his goal. Arthur, in particular, who was now the captain of an old Navy battleship, would prove to be a pain in Arian's side, and just as he had in particular, he singled out Arthur as a priority target for individuals, while also doing so for the rest of the Skulk by proximity.

## Personality

As a young pup, Arian usually kept to himself most of the time. He mainly was a follower, though after all he's gone through, that no longer applies to him. As of late, Arian has become dead-set on making the world suffer the way he had. Selfish, manipulative, and for lack of a better term, a pretty literal psychopath, Arian no longer has a sense of moral right as he'd been struggling to find that suitable for pretty much his entire life. He no longer has single care for the lives of others, nor does he care about how he enacts his vengeance.

Arian can also be described as a short-tempered, pompous, and cruel evil genius. He is prone to having anger outbursts and is overall ruthless when it comes to defeating enemies. Arian claims to be doing this to "purge the planet of sin", though his actual intention is to cause as much death and destruction as possible, all in the name of teaching the world a lesson. Speaking of his intentions, when he has his mind on something, he will stubbornly and aggressively peruse it until he's either dead or it is accomplished. Arian doesn't even care if he dies, just as long as he made sure the world felt what he suffered throughout his entire life.

Even though Arian is mentally unstable, he still thinks out every move he makes, something he learned the hard way when he tried to kill someone without planning for it. If things don't go his way, he'll go and wing it, making his moves very unpredictable. Perhaps the most dangerous trait Arian has is the combination of his manipulative nature with some charm he still manages to maintain. He is also quite the poet, often making his quotes something out of Shakespeare’s writing. He can will people to his side, and if it seems he will be betrayed, he kills whoever tries to double-cross him.

Though it is said that Arian can become impulsive at times, and his biggest flaw is that on occasion, he will fixate himself on a particular goal, person, or group and neglect the surroundings if it doesn't have anything to do with his intentions.

## Abilities

Arian is a powerful individual physically speaking, even more so than the average animatronic animal. He can hold up a fight with opponents larger than him and usually go for the kill in most cases. As stated before, Arian is also a genius; his intelligence gives him an advantage, though it does get hindered by his "insane" label. Arian's hand-to-hand fighting capabilities can potentially really hard to overcome.

Most bizarre is that some have attempted to take Arian's life in the past, though none have succeeded in effectively doing so. Some of the scars he holds are all evidence of the attempts on his life. His ability here seems to be a sort of enhanced recovery. This seems especially true whenever he's hit an enraged state; rarely will he take damage, and when he does, it gives the notion of the blow having little to no effect on him. And being a fox, that sly mind of his gives him the advantage in outsmarting the opponent.

Lastly, Arian is strangely proficient with almost any weapon he can get his hands on. He proved himself to be very well-versed in firearms like Howitzers or even the guns he'd stolen from his father.

## Relationships

Arian has mostly turned his back on the rest of the world, but there are some notable relationships, and they are as follows:

### Arthur Snow

Arthur Snow is Arian's archenemy, and he hates the arctic fox with a burning passion. They've been at odds with one another since they were young adults, following their relationship turning sour. Arian did used to be friends, or acquaintances, with Arthur as they did share some similarities, including the fact that they were both bullied. However, more people seemed to gravitate toward Arthur, who'd become visibly depressed, for support, and this made Arian jealous. He began to resent Arthur by the amount of support he got while Arian had to deal with it mostly alone. Eventually, Arian blew up on Arthur and attacked him, ultimately becoming his greatest bully and enemy. He's even tried to kill Arthur on several occasions, by has never succeeded. Even after he left the United States, Arian never forgot Arthur and still hated him, beginning to blame him and his depression for getting more support that could've gone to him as well. That led Arian to the desire of doing Arthur in himself, which took a seat right next to his desire to get back at the world who'd mistreated him and turned its back on him.

Nowadays, Arian still resents Arthur and, as the now emperor of the Urocyan Empire, considers him a huge thorn in his side. He's had a few confrontations following the first meeting he had with Arthur in many years. Once more, Arian would try to kill Arthur to remove that burden on him, but with no success. If there was anyone within the Skulk that Arian wanted to do away with the most, it was Arthur. Arian wouldn't even consider an alliance with Arthur even if it meant saving the world for him to ensure his conquering. Even if Arian doesn't want Arthur dead, he would still try and make him suffer, since he knows he still suffers from depressive episodes even as he's become a military officer. Arian has little to no respect left for Arthur, and while he does find him impressive at times, he still considers Arthur weak and pathetic compared to him and even he others.

### Sewell Snow

Because of what's happened between Arian and his brother, Sewell is another one of Arian's higher enemies, but Arian doesn't hate Sewell as much as Arthur. They met when they were younger, and Sewell, in all his positive nature, tried to make friends with Arian. It worked for quite some time until Arian's turn on Arthur, and Sewell promptly stopped associating with Arian to stand by his brother. They haven't interacted much since then, but it is known that they do dislike one another. Arian mostly finds Sewell to be a bit annoying and a bit too childish nowadays, but he does respect Sewell's ability to mostly stand on his own. He's mocked Sewell, calling him a kid, and while Sewell does have younger charm, he's very much still mature, but Arian doesn't care. The biggest thing Arian hates about Sewell is that he is related to and stands by Arthur as much as he does, and his hatred toward Arthur fueled this resentment.

### The Skulk

With regard to the rest of the Skulk, Arian does still resent them for meddling with his plans, standing with Arthur, and being insistent on protecting the world. However, despite that hatred and with the exception of Arthur, Arian does hold some level of respect for the varying members. Examples are as follows:

#### Justin Redding

Arian does have some level of respect for Justin's piloting abilities. While he does believe Justin's cockiness could be his own undoing, he does hold the "Red Wind's" reputation quite highly, and considers it wise not to underestimate his abilities, and those the rest of his squad.

#### Vienna North

Arian also holds quite a bit of respect for Vienna. Her leadership abilities as well as marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat abilities have impressed him on several occasions, and he also knows Vienna has a bit of martial arts training, so she's a force to be reckoned with. Though he does question her taste in guys, given that her boyfriend is Arthur, and Arian believes there could be anyone better than him. Being a genius himself, Arian also admires Vienna's higher-level intelligence within this group, where he sometimes refers to her as a "clever girl".

#### Swefred Hayden

Arian's respect toward Swefred mainly goes toward his own persistence and medical abilities. He has admitted that his abilities to save lives is perfectly commendable, and when it came to his own empire, Arian wouldn't mind having medics like Swefred in the Imperial military, on top of having someone as level-headed, as much as Swefred does annoy Arian.

### Friends & Allies

* The Urocyan Dynasty
	+ Flynn Sykes
* Anyone who submits to his cause

### Enemies

* The Skulk
	+ Arthur Snow (primary archenemy)
	+ Jess Silver
	+ Sewell Snow
	+ Vienna North
	+ Justin Redding
	+ Tom Redding
	+ Swefred Hayden
* Jesse Silver

## Trivia

* Of all the animatronic foxes introduced so far, Arian is the only one who is not based on a "true fox." He is based on the grey fox, or *Urocyon cinereoargenteus*. The Genus name also lends itself to the rule Arian intends to put into place.
* Though it is not said outright, it is implied that Arian may have a severe case of Schizophrenia. That could link his mixed interpretation between fantasy and reality, though it is not confirmed whether or not he has it. If he does, then Arian is the first animatronic in the series to have a case of a real-world mental illness,
* As of the latest depictions, Arian's character is loosely based on that of another character from a video game franchise. Links between Arian and Captain Matias Torres from *Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown* can be drawn, especially regarding their plans of wiping out millions of people. He even shares his last name with the Erusean captain.
* Arian was one of the earliest characters to come into development as an opposition to Arthur. While this still remains true, Arian is more of a villainous character for all our protagonists, and plans are in place to give him more henchmen.
* The scar over one of Arian's eyes is a reference to Anakin Skywalker from the *Star Wars* franchise. Links between them can also be drawn as both were once good before turning to the dark side. He also has similar traits to Emperor Palpatine in some aspects.
* So far, Arian's backstory was the most difficult and most complex one we have to date. Though as the series evolves, that level of complexity may end up changing depending on the circumstances.