- "The best military official is also a puppet master. To be able to pull the strings and see the marionettes dance on the battlefield...that is true strategy."
- ―Eriro Dusquen
Eriro Dusquen was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Yridian Surface Command and the commander of the 2. Brigade "Children of Heq" within the Clan Tarentum I Corps. A stoic and experienced military official and graduate from the Carida Military Academy, Eriro was seen by Tarentum as a trustworthy strategist and a manipulative militant. Apart from leading the Heqite-influenced brigade, Eriro was also a military advisor to Major General Ronovi Tavisaen. He was killed on Yridia IV during the attempted coup by the Church of Infinite Perception, while serving under High General Sato Tarentae during the military occupation of the planet.
Character History
Origins
Eriro Dusquen, Imperial officer.
Eriro was born in 20 BBY as the only child of two members of the Council of Merchants on Carida. The council shared power with an Imperial military body, so Eriro's parents encouraged their son to partake in many military studies beginning at the age of eight. As both his mother and father mostly left him alone with his books and activities, he became incredibly detached to the outside world and its inhabitants, spending many days indoors to study while keeping himself on a rigid diet to maintain a sturdy physique. Many who knew the Dusquens were worried that the young boy was becoming isolated, but in the end, while his work made him a more introverted individual, he was never entirely anti-social.
Developing a prowess in military history and strategy, Eriro was accepted into the Carida Military Academy, earning high marks and graduating second in his class. While initially trained to be one of the empire's many stormtroopers, Eriro never considered himself strong enough to be out on the battlefield. Still, he was usually recruited to man AT-ATs, being instrumental in the taking of Hoth from the Rebel Alliance in 3 ABY. Seeing the destruction on the field, however, made the young man wish to work behind the scenes rather than within them, and he moved his way up the military ladder to become one of the Imperialists' most trusted military advisors.
After the downfall of the Empire, Eriro returned to Carida to become an instructor at the academy he had graduated from, helping it rebuild after a devastating attack on it in 0 BBY. While mainly teaching military strategy, Eriro reminded his students to be manipulative as well as authoritative, claiming that one of the best strategies on the field was to prove to the enemy that it could not overcome a mastermind. He stopped teaching in 11 ABY, being one of the many Imperials who evacuated Carida before it was destroyed by Kyp Durron. While Eriro survived, his parents could not escape the power of the Suncrusher as it split the planet in half.
Alone and wanted for his Imperialist roots by the New Republic, Eriro escaped to the Outer Rim before making his way to the Yridia system. He decided to spend the rest of his days as a hermit, settling into Yridia IV as it had recently been colonized. After more than ten years of isolation, he would be thrown back into the military field when he was introduced to the many followers of Dusemer, the acclaimed prophet of the goddess Heq.
Allegiance to Tarentum
The symbol of the Clan Tarentum I Corps, where Eriro spent most of his Tarentum Military career.
- "Obey your officers without question! For their voices convey to you the wishes and demands of Heq. Offer them your absolute loyalty as you would to Heq herself. For they will lead you out of the light and into darkness."
- ―Teachings of Heq
As he was nearly in his fifties, Eriro first was resistant to the idea of rebelling against structured facilities on Yridia IV. However, after meeting many who listened to Dusemer's sermons, he decided to hear the man himself. He was escorted into the Yridian mines to hear the "prophet" speak, and at the sound of his words, an idea formulated in Eriro's head to take advantage of the ideas of zeal and loyalty to higher-ups.
Eriro declared himself one of the many proclaimed Children of Heq and assisted them in overtaking the mining facilities. He then resettled into an area where many Heqites resided, though he did not practice any of the cult's customs. In truth, he merely wished to enjoy the ride and see where it would take him in power. He soon was rewarded for his patience with the reformation of the Tarentum Military, when various Heqites filled the ranks of one specific brigade in the second division of the Clan Tarentum I Corps. Eriro, feigning absolute loyalty to Heq, was pushed into the brigade by some of the cult's proclaimed elders, and it was there that he met Tarenti Ronovi Tavisaen, who was Lieutenant Colonel at the time of his enlistment.
Ronovi was impressed by Eriro's military and academic prowess; he was appointed the executive officer of the brigade, and he quickly rose to Major. However, partly due to his age, Eriro worked less on the ground and more in communications with the young woman, often influencing her in military decisions and strategies. He was pleased to see that Ronovi, similar to his philosophy, took steady advantage of the Heqites' complete fealty to her as a military superior and submitted them to rigorous military exercises and assignments.
After Ronovi's promotion to Brigadier General while fighting on Antei, Eriro was selected to be the brigade's new commander. When the I Corps was replaced by the Yridian Surface Command, he moved into the new military legions as a newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel. He also worked as an advisor to Tarentum's military and its leaders, directly working with Sato Tarentae, High General of the YSC.
Death
Even a brilliant strategist cannot always avoid an unfortunate demise, as Eriro learned. In 33 ABY, Ronovi Tavisaen Tarentae, then Consul of Tarentum, instructed Sato Tarentae to send YSC forces to Yridia IV to halt protests and riots during development projects. Eriro was vital to the removal of the incompetent, two-timing governor of the planet, Morrisey Kritt, who he then had launched into space under the High General's orders. Sato appointed Eriro as temporary overseer of Yridia IV, as the High General and many other military commanders had duties as Dark Jedi within other parts of the system.
While Eriro awaited the arrival of the new governor appointed under Ethnarc Stanson Rend of the new Yridian Kratocracy, fleets commanded by the Church of Infinite Perception landed on Yridia IV and severely crippled military fortifications. With many soldiers out of the way, the Preceptor of the Church, along with two Yuuzhan Vong and a former ally of the Keepers known as Lady Nilani, made his way to the office of the governor. Eriro was there at the time and responded to the attempted coup with gunfire, before realizing he was no match for his opponents.
Using one last strategic method, Eriro attempted to escape the building, only to be shot in the kneecap by the Preceptor and brought to the floor. He was brutally killed by Lady Nilani, cut into pieces by her blade. Only much later were his remains recovered by soldiers of the YSC, to be brought to Yridia II for a proper military funeral.
Characteristics
Appearance
Eriro Dusquen's military uniform.
Eriro looked significantly older than his age, being worn down by battle and self-imposed isolation throughout the years. While he had sported a fine crop of red hair in his youth, by the end of his life his hair was almost entirely gone, the remaining wispy strands being shades of gray and white. Eriro's skin had also become incredibly brown and leathery, and many mistook him to be part of a darker race when he was actually from a white family.
Eriro wore standard military garb, though he would not wear the uniform of the brigade that he once commanded, as he found it to be incredibly tacky and ridiculous. He was also rather small in stature compared to many of his superiors, standing at 1.7 meters. Subsequently, he was a lightweight, and often military officials teasingly suggested that he beef up so as not to look minuscule compared to the rest of Tarentum's troops.
Personality
- "I like you, Dusquen. You're as brutal as they come."
- ―Ronovi Tavisaen Tarentae
Eriro, while not incredibly sociable, knew how to hold a discussion especially when it was in his military forte. He spoke deliberately and concisely, having a tendency to get to the point without elaborating too much on details. He did not harbor much emotion, instead taking positive and negative responses to his advice with the same stoic expression and furrowed brow. Eriro, while making himself out to be a trustworthy individual and advisor, still held a slightly mysterious aura, and sometimes his manipulation of the Heqites for the military's as well as his own benefits was viewed with caution from other military officials.
As Lieutenant Colonel, Eriro was brutally militant in his position, but he also took on the persona of an instructor when needed. He normally used his mentor-like side to make soldiers comfortable, a device he used then to throw them into a disturbing, dangerous environment to prove that they must always be vigilant. He was considered a Machiavellian individual, using cunning and duplicity to trick and manipulate subordinates to his liking in order to produce more than adequate results.