Polaris

Polaris is a Hunter and The Chosen One of Iteration-8646, taking the role of the overarching protagonist of the series of stories taking place within that timeline. In his previous life, he was an Ahamkara named Avix, and the brother of Riven of a Thousand Voices.

He is the unofficial leader of Fireteam Apex and the Captain of the *Northstar*, a Ketch formerly belonging to the Spider. He was recently appointed the Acting Hunter Vanguard as a punishment for Crow's accidental killing of one of Caiatl's Psions, and has been reluctantly managing the Hunters in the absence of an official Hunter Vanguard since the death of Cayde-6.

## Appearance

Being an Ahamkara, Polaris can alter his appearance as he so chooses, but his preferred form is a tall young man with an athletic but lean build. He has black wavy medium-length hair, lightly tanned skin, and eyes that change color depending on which element of Light/Darkness he's using, turning a stormy gray when he was briefly Lightless during the Red War. In recent days, due to increased stress and a lack of opportunities to rest, Polaris has developed dark circles around his eyes severe enough to concern his friends.

Polaris's usual gear consists of the Luxe Visage helmet, Errant Knight 1.0 gauntlets, the Vest of Optimacy, the Empyrean Cartographer Strides, and the Coronation Cloak all in the Vintage Timber shader.

## Personality

Polaris is a snarky and playful person with a mischievous streak longer than the heliopause. He loves teasing and taunting both his friends and enemies. He has a history of making temporary enemies through his demeanor, but is more than confident enough in his charismatic nature that he can win them over eventually. Polaris is extremely confident and even cocky or arrogant in many situations and has a flair for the dramatic, being known as a showoff in battle.

Polaris has the outward appearance of a risky and reckless fighter, but is in reality an extremely quick thinker and is constantly planning and analyzing the current battle in his head. He's much more intelligent than he lets on, even being considered smarter than his former Warlock ally Hecate, a renowned Hidden agent. His tactical mind allowed him to lead the fireteams that defeated numerous powerful opponents, including Oryx and Rhulk.

When under high stress or exhausted, Polaris shuts down, becoming more blunt and reserved. His temper shortens significantly and he loses his confident edge.

Despite his extroverted and confident exterior, Polaris's inner personality is, in his words, "a mess." He uses humor and cockiness to hide the internal fear that he'll never live up to other people's expectations of him, and that he'll fail to replace Cayde as a leader and shining light for the Guardians and City as a whole. He's terrified of the day his own perceived inferiority finally catches up to him and his life starts to crumble around him.

## History

Polaris's first life was as Avix, an Ahamkara born in the same clutch of eggs as the infamous Riven of a Thousand Voices. Avix was as much of a trickster as his future Guardian counterpart, with his sister referring to him as "fast and clever," like the Hunter he would become. Avix was fascinated by humanity and spent many of his days in a human form, wandering the City and gaining power from the citizens' indirect wishes. Avix was hunted by Cayde-6, Andal Brask, and Shiro-4 during the Great Hunt, being killed by the Hunters in the Old Russian Cosmodrome. He would later be revived by his Ghost, later named Daedalus, and go on to become a famous Guardian. His name would be given to him by Mara Sov when she thanked him for his help against Skolas, the self-proclaimed Kell of Kells.

## Powers and Abilities

**Light:** Polaris is a master Lightbearer, able to effectively use any Light-based ability, including custom techniques that he personally developed.

**Darkness:** Polaris is gradually becoming more adept at wielding Darkness-based abilities. He is one of the strongest Stasis wielders in the system, as well as being adept at using the power of Deepsight to peer into memories and other abilities rooted in the power of the Dark. Having recently discovered Strand, he is quickly becoming an expert of this new power.

**Hand Cannon Mastery:** Polaris is a master of wielding hand cannons, with them being his main gun of choice for all operations and the Crucible.

**Shotgun Mastery:** Polaris is a master with a shotgun, frequently using a variety of them in both the Crucible and his daily Vanguard work.

**Glaive Expertise:** Polaris is skilled with a glaive, having frequently wielded them since crafting the Enigma during the hunt for Savathun.

**Sword Mastery:** Polaris is one of the best swordsmen in the Tower, second only to Lord Shaxx.

**Miscellaneous Weapon Expertise:** Polaris has become skilled with all kinds of weapons aside from his main combination throughout his time as a Guardian.

## Equipment

Aside from owning at least one of most weapons and armor that are currently available, and most that aren't, Polaris has very specific gear that he tends to use in his everyday work.

**Hawkmoon:** Given to him as a gift by the Traveler itself, Polaris's primary weapon of choice is a one-of-a-kind model of Hawkmoon that has explosive rounds, along with the Paracausal Charge abilities that the weapon has intrinsically. It is known as a Weapon of Hope, alongside the likes of Lumina and the Prince's Birthright.

**Lubrae's Ruin (Adept):** After defeating Rhulk, the First Disciple of the Witness, Polaris took his glaive as a trophy and remade it to be better suited for his needs. His particular design comes with Ballistic Tuning, Accurized Rounds, the Grave Robber and Swashbuckler perks, a Shield Duration masterwork, and an Adept Big Ones Spec mod.

**Felwinter's Lie:** Polaris recovered this legendary shotgun from one of the Warmind Rasputin's Seraph Bunkers sometime before the arrival of the Witness's fleet in Sol. Since then, he has wielded it on and off, typically alongside his various hand cannons in both the Crucible and Vanguard operations. After becoming bored of glaives, he has once again taken up Felwinter's Lie as part of his main arsenal alongside Hawkmoon.

**Gjallarhorn:** Polaris's ranged heavy weapon of choice, the Young Wolf reclaimed this ancient relic from the Eliksni in the mysteriously expanded Loot Cave in the Cosmodrome and soon fabricated a catalyst for it, bringing a mythical weapon back into the fold and wielding it against various foes, including Savathun, the Witch Queen.

**The Prince's Birthright:** Polaris's unique sword and melee heavy weapon of choice. He forged it initially from the remains of the Young Wolf's Howl, but after his battle against Rhulk, the sword was damaged. He brought it to the Shard of the Traveler, where the Shard itself repaired the sword, giving it a gleaming white blade and remaking it into a Weapon of Hope. The blade gains power with every killed enemy, and can release all its stored power in a devastating beam attack.

## Free Use Guidelines

You are free to use Polaris as much as you want in your stories. In universes other than his own, he is not the Young Wolf (unless you want him to be). He is just a well-known and powerful Hunter who also took command of a Ketch in the recent fight against the old crews. The only rules regarding how you use him are that you don't permanently kill him, have him fall to Darkness, or have him captured by enemy forces.

## Trivia

* Polaris is 5'10 (1.78 m) tall.
* Polaris weighs 150 lbs (68 kg).
* Polaris's title/nickname, "Prince of the Sky," comes from the fact that his preferred armor has always been regal and pristine in nature, often with gold accents. The "Sky" portion of the moniker comes from another name for the Light: the Sky.
* Polaris is an avid collector of pre-Golden Age relics, especially those related to popular culture. In his spare time, he kit-bashes and modifies technology to be able to watch/listen to ancient films, shows, and music.
* Polaris's fears include but are not limited to Aunor when she's angry, wasps, the Witness, and clowns.
* Polaris dated Hecate for a while, but they found they worked better as friends than partners.
* Polaris is jokingly referred to as a disaster bisexual. He's dated numerous Guardians and mortals of equally numerous gender identities. He would've been quite content to stay with Aunor Mahal for the rest of his days, and was devastated by their second breakup even though it was on much better terms than the first.
* Polaris tries not to find enjoyment in the work that he does against the enemies of humanity, but he can't help but have fun with his recent pirate adventures against Eramis, especially now that he's officially the captain of his own crew.
* Polaris hates the "Young Wolf" nickname, even gagging at the nickname when he instinctively called himself by it.
	+ He much prefers birds over wolves, namely hawks. This partially stems from Hawkmoon being his favorite weapon both prior to the Red War and after it was restored by the Traveler after arrival of the Black Fleet.