Scion Altera

Childhood

V-Scion was born on Kegan. Local tradition held that males add a "V" to the front of their names, while females add an "O". The law requiring this name prefix had been repealed some thirty years before, but V-Scion's parents were very traditional and chose to continue its use.

When he was very young, Scion did well in school. His attention turned to the stars when he hit his teens. He was becoming aware of the situation around him, and it didn't suit him. He considered himself trapped on a backwards world in the middle of nowhere, and he promised himself he would get out.

At 13, he began to drop the V from his name, going simply by "Scion". In the next years he got in trouble repeatedly for truancy, shoplifting, robbery and other petty crimes. At the age of 15, Scion's closest friend hanged himself. His family members said it darkened his view of the world, and he simply withdrew from everyone. Later that year, he ran away from home.

After two hard years of wandering from city to city on Kegan, he met a man named Vampire outside a bar. Vampire was a squadron commander in the Emperor's Hammer TIE Corps. Seeing his ticket off planet, Scion begged Vampire to let him enlist.

Career

In the Navy, Scion showed great aptitude both as a pilot and a leader. He had originally been stationed on the SSSD Sovereign in Wing III's Beth Squadron under Vampire's command. He was given the nickname "Firebird" by his men because of his "rebirth" from dirty street rat into a respectable fighter pilot. He was soon promoted to the commander of Beth Squadron.

The TIE Corps underwent significant changes after Scion received his first command, consolidating several wings together. Firebird was moved into Wing VI and combined with Koph Squadron. The former commander of Koph was demoted to a Flight Leader and Firebird was given command of the new, nearly full squadron. Scion served the majority of his time in the TIE Corps as the commander of Koph, flying nearly 100 missions.

Several years later, the position of Wing Commander for Wing VI opened up. Certain he would receive the promotion due to his outstanding performance as Koph commander, he had his office packed up and ready to move. To his dismay, the commander of the largely inactive Resh Squadron was promoted to fill the position. The two never saw eye to eye after that point.

It turned out that Admiral Proton, the Commodore of the Sovereign, had other ideas for Firebird. He had managed to keep it relatively quiet, but the Wing Commander of Wing I had gone missing. He appointed Firebird to the position and charged him with repairing the damage to a wing so long neglected by its commander. Scion went to work straight away, and Wing I once more became a strong force in the TIE Corps.

Eventually the day came when Firebird felt it was time to retire. He saw strength in those serving under him, and the thought of filling out more paperwork was becoming tiresome. He submitted his resignation to the Commodore, recommended a replacement, and made his way to the retirement frigate for a well deserved rest and a stiff drink.

Brotherhood

Rest was not forthcoming. Visions of darkness and death began to plague the Colonel. He had had dealings with Force users before, and had heard some very strange tales in his time, but now in his mid-forties he had assumed he just didn't have it in him. He didn't mention the visions to anyone until a full five years of retirement had passed. They were becoming too much to bear. He contacted his old friends Apollo and Timbal and told them of the things he had seen. Brotherhood members themselves, they both urged him to make the journey to the Shadow Academy.

The Colonel stole a TIE Defender from the retirement frigate's hangar and made his journey to join the Brotherhood. While the TIE was immediately confiscated upon his arrival, he was nevertheless accepted into the Shadow Academy. Scion stood out as one of the most elderly of the new Initiates, but his lifetime of prior experience both in the military and on the streets served him well during his trials. He now stands a proud member of the Brotherhood where many other, younger candidates failed.

After Scion had risen to the rank of Acolyte, his old friend Apollo offered to take him as his apprentice.

Scion substituted in for the flight leader of flight two in Apollo's Super Second Squadron of TIE Defenders. The space superiority squadron was scrambled to help deal with a set of coordinated attacks in the Yridia system.

Shortly after following his master from House Tridens to House Gladius, Scion helped a small Gladius team lead by Telona Murrage to a backwater smuggler's planet to capture a pair of Dark Side Dragons. The mission went well overall, but events became more complicated when the team arrived back at the The Sword's Sheath. The occupants of the base had been infected by droch parasites, including Scion's master, Apollo. The only remaining personnel were Troutrooper and Ziltopia who had barricaded themselves in. Telona's team was able to fight their way in and relieve the two Dark Jedi, but Telona was severely injured in the fighting.

Following her injuries in the incident with the droch, Telona resigned her post as Quaestor of House Gladius. It was Scion's Master, Krath Archpriest Apollo, who took over from her as Quaestor. Dralin Hakh'khar was appointed Aedile, and Scion was given an opportunity to serve as Rollmaster of the House. He took to this new position with zeal because filing paperwork, delivering reports, and welcoming new members had been the bread and butter of his career in the TIE Corps, and this was hardly any different.

After serving the position of Rollmaster in House Gladius faithfully, the day came that Dralin Hakh'khar stepped down from his position as Aedile. Apollo bestowed the vacated position on Firebird. At the rank of Guardian, Scion was seen as somewhat under-qualified for the position. His work as Rollmaster, however, spoke loudly enough for the Clan Summit to give him the opportunity to serve.

Personality

Scion has seen much in his life, from the hardships of living on the street to losing close friends in battles in space. In his command he was fair and tried to be a calming force in the lives of his pilots. He always encouraged them to work and train as hard as they could, especially encouraging training exercises against other units. He is patient, calm and calculating. To solve a problem, he gathers the required information and takes the most effective action rather than wasting precious resources with rash decisions and emotion. In all his pursuits he aims to be the best. He does not take defeat lightly.

Joining the Dark Brotherhood at such an old age was a difficult decision. It essentially meant starting over. After weighing the benefits and drawbacks of joining, the Colonel decided to approach it with the same vigor he had when he first began in the TIE Corps. He would keep a mind open to learning new things, and work as hard as he could on any task set forth by his new masters. He would bring the full benefit of his life experience to bear and take this new "career" as far as he could.

Real Life

The man behind "The Colonel" is a software engineer from Oregon. He is not actually 50 years old. He loves games (creating and playing them), skiing, camping, listening to heavy metal and being a smartass. Scion was in the TIE Corps in the Emperor's Hammer for more than 10 years and served with many of the older members of the Brotherhood. After 5 years of retirement, he discovered that everyone he had known in the EH was over here... so here he is.