Barda

Barda is an Irchtani kithuun -- meaning chiliarch -- and commander of the Irchtani auxilium serving under Hadrian. Green-feathered and elder among his soldiers, he is regarded as a capable, steady officer who speaks Galstani. He refers to Hadrian as "the Devil" and to palatines as "Bashan Iseni" -- Higher Beings. His subordinate Udax serves among his centurions.

Barda serves through the campaigns culminating in the Battle of Nemavand, riding the triumph barge at the Imperial Triumph in Forum as a recognized hero. At Gododdin, he commands the missile emplacements on the inner wall, rescues Hadrian's trapped group with roughly three hundred Irchtani, and leads the assault on an enemy crawler alongside Bassander Lin, halting it short of the Storm Wall. More than half of his thousand soldiers are lost at Gododdin. He mourns the dead and is present in the atrium when Hadrian returns alive from his confrontation with Syriani Dorayaica.

In the subsequent fighting against Bahudde and the Cielcin on Berenike, nearly two-thirds of Barda's remaining Irchtani are killed. Barda is reassigned with his survivors to a Legion fort on Zigana, where he trains new Irchtani soldiers to fight for the Sollan Empire. At Udax's funeral, Hadrian promises Barda his loyalty to the Irchtani people -- a promise Hadrian later reflects he has done little to keep.