Lorian Aristedes

Lorian stands no more than five feet high with colorless eyes and hair the color of aged bone. He moves with a cane and carries a Cid Arthurian malaros at his wrist. His body bears Extrasolarian nerve implants beneath the skin, visible as black veins. He has lived roughly four hundred years. Earlier in his career he had pale white-blond hair and ghost-blue eyes; his eyes were later surgically replaced with pale gold irises in honor of Valka after his retinas detached due to his palatine condition.

As an intus, Lorian bears genetic defects from unregulated palatine reproduction causing numbness, periodic limb paralysis, and joint dislocation. Extrasolarian nerve implants replaced his tendons and major ligaments, substantially treating his prior degenerative condition. He carries both a wolfram needler and an antique needler from his days on Belusha. He is a Cid Arthurian adorator whose faith has been persecuted by the Holy Terran Chantry. He is not Interfaced. Hadrian considers him the most capable officer he has ever known.

• Lysandra Aristedes (Mother)
• Grand Duke of Patmos (Father) -- pushed Lorian into the Legions to conceal the scandal of an illegitimate, deformed son; never publicly acknowledged him
• Hadrian -- commanding officer and closest companion across decades; Hadrian calls him his last friend and a finer man than any he has known; Lorian sends a final message to Hadrian on the scaffold at Tenba
• Valka -- colleague and friend; Lorian chose his gold replacement eyes in her honor
• Princess Selene -- praised Lorian's bravery during the Chantry infiltration; present at Gododdin and Tenba
• Syriani Dorayaica -- sent Lorian to Nessus before the Akterumu massacre
• Bassander Lin -- coordinated Hadrian's jailbreak from the Tempest; does not consider Lorian fit for service
• Prince Olorin -- arranged the rescue vessel during Hadrian's jailbreak
• Calen Harendotes (Kharn Sagara) -- the Monarch of Latarra; Lorian served under him; murdered 2Maeve; Lorian did not know the Monarch's true identity
• Sarala -- saved Lorian after his escape from Belusha; Lorian tried and failed to save her in return
• Cassandra -- met her at Hadrian's dinner in the Arx Caelestis; visibly moved; Lorian relayed Hadrian's location on Dharan-Tun to her
• 2Maeve -- Lorian's security chief and lover; murdered by Kharn Sagara while serving as Valka's replica
• Gadkari -- fellow former Imperial Commandant General; co-leads Roundtable Fleet
• Harred -- fellow former Imperial Commandant General; co-leads Roundtable Fleet
• Tolten -- fellow Commandant General; co-leads Roundtable Fleet
• Lord Douro -- dismissed Lorian as misborn; Hadrian rebutted sharply; killed at Vorgossos
• Archambault -- confirmed Lorian never knew the Monarch's true identity
• Crim -- investigated the knife-missile attack jointly with Lorian aboard the Tamerlane
• Prince Alexander -- served alongside him aboard the Tamerlane
• Leonid Bartosz -- called Lorian 'inmane'; quit the field at Berenike, leaving Lorian in sole command
• Commandant Kartzinel -- commandant at Fort Horn on Nessus who had Lorian's hair cut and threatened to return him to fugue
• Amatorre -- first officer aboard Mistwalker; is Exalted
• Orphan -- the creature Lorian shot through the head to save Hadrian at the round table council, sealing Demiurge's fate
• Prytanis -- sends a final message to Hadrian on the scaffold at Tenba alongside Lorian

Lorian was born out of wedlock to the Grand Duke of Patmos and a patrician knight named Lysandra Aristedes. As an intus -- a palatine born outside the approved genetic lines of the Sollan Empire -- he existed in Imperial service only because his father's rank permitted it, though his father would never publicly acknowledge him. His father pushed him into the Legions to conceal the scandal of a deformed, illegitimate son, and the Legions kept him at desk work for fifteen years -- including years as a scribe for Strategos Beller on Forum -- rather than employing his talents. He eventually found his way into Hadrian's service aboard the Tamerlane.

As tactical officer aboard the Tamerlane, Lorian demonstrated exceptional command during the engagement against the Cielcin worldship at Nemavand: deploying AM mines, proposing the boarding feint, and directing the ship while Hadrian led the boarding operation. At the Imperial Triumph on Forum he held court among officers at the Peronine Palace ball and praised Hadrian publicly. When a knife-missile was discovered aboard the Tamerlane, he and Crim investigated, with Lorian identifying security changelog tampering as the key investigative avenue. He then undertook a solo covert infiltration of a Chantry frigate -- being the only crew member small enough to navigate the ventilation ducts -- sustaining serious plasma burns and a concussion, and walking to deliver his report in person. Princess Selene called this brave; he called himself foolish.

At Berenike, Lorian assumed sole command of the city's full defense after Strategos Bartosz quit the field. He directed the Falcon-II strike on Deira, ordered the colossi deployed, devised tactical feints to cover Hadrian's movements, identified the tramway tunnel using starport schematics, refused to open the hypogeum gates to prevent lethal stampeding, and communicated with Hadrian by comm throughout. During the negotiation with Dorayaica, he warned Hadrian not to respond to the Prophet. He gave Hadrian a genuine salute -- without his usual mockery -- as Hadrian walked out the gates at the battle's end.

At Eue, he refused his assignment as Dorayaica's messenger to Nessus until forced, protesting he would not leave Hadrian to die. He limped up the altar stairs without cowering before the Prophet and was escorted to a shuttle. His pod drifted until an emergency beacon reached a relay and the Nessus Defense Force retrieved him. He spent approximately twenty years held mostly on ice at Fort Horn -- decanted periodically, interrogated under amytal, and threatened with return to fugue by Commandant Kartzinel. During this time he had been in fugue when the Tamerlane was taken at Padmurak.

Lorian reunited with Hadrian at Maddalo House approximately five weeks after his decanting. Upon hearing that none of the company survived except Hadrian and Valka, he struck Hadrian on his reconstructed shoulder -- dislocating his own hand in the process -- then snapped it back into alignment. He voiced guilt at having been sent away and knelt on the parlor carpet asking to return to service. He rejoined Hadrian's company and accompanied him to Carteia, kneeling before the Emperor -- described by Hadrian as Imperial to his bones. He served at Perfugium as operations officer: making the licensed-pilot proposal directly to the Emperor, coordinating the evacuation from the war room, timing the aquilarii strike to within three seconds, and stepping forward alone to talk Hadrian down after Valka's death. Hadrian named him armsman to protect him from Strategos Bartosz's legal claims on an intus.

Lorian engineered Hadrian's jailbreak from the Tempest: coordinating with Bassander Lin to clear corridors, disabling cameras, arranging a freight tram pod, recruiting the Dragonslayers, and contacting Prince Olorin for a rescue vessel. He accepted full responsibility for Hadrian's disappearance, understanding this may cost him his life as an intus. He was sentenced to Belusha, where he spent approximately four years extracting precious metals from scrapyard derelicts before escaping into the planet's wastes. He was saved by a woman named Sarala, whom he tried and failed to save in return. He subsequently joined Calen Harendotes and the Latarran Monarchy, fought at Eragassa and Nida, and rose to Commandant General -- his designation as one of twelve Commandants being October, one of three former Imperial officers among them.

On Forum as the Monarch's apostol, Lorian revealed Latarra's telegraph detection technology capable of tracing telegraph nodes across several thousand light-years, and acknowledged that the Monarch had provided human test subjects to MINOS scientists. He visited Hadrian at the Arx Caelestis, met Cassandra for the first time and was visibly moved, and argued the credibility of the telegraph sensor at the Imperial Council. On Latarra he lived in the Façade district with scale starship models in his study including a self-painted Tamerlane replica -- dexterity he only regained after his physical alteration. He commanded Mistwalker from high polar orbit during the Vorgossos assault with the Exalted Amatorre as first officer. Under orders he withheld information about Harendotes's ground presence from Hadrian. After the battle he declared: 'I'm not your man anymore. I am Latarran, now.' His lover 2Maeve was killed by Kharn Sagara while serving as Valka's replica.

When Hadrian seized the Demiurge, Lorian did not answer his call. He broadcast on all frequencies demanding an explanation, then -- after appearing to withdraw -- ordered Mistwalker's battlegroup to destroy an Imperial missile swarm saving the Demiurge and Hadrian's life. He told Hadrian he can never fully trust him again, said 'This is the last time,' and departed with his fleet.

Following Harendotes's death and Latarra's collapse, Lorian formed the Roundtable Fleet with Tolten, Gadkari, and Harred. He had both retinas replaced after his palatine condition caused detachment, choosing pale gold irises in Valka's honor. He arrived at Gododdin as Supreme Commandant -- introducing himself with full titles and not bowing to the Emperor -- claimed the Norman Expanse for the Roundtable by right of arms, and agreed to fight in exchange for Imperial recognition. In private with Hadrian, he said he came for Valka's sake and for his people's sake. His Roundtable Fleet intercepted the Cielcin armada above the ecliptic near Ywain before Imperial forces could respond; Cassandra reported that he brought Mistwalker in close to Dharan-Tun after the destruction of the Watcher Ushara.

Mistwalker survived the supernova at Gododdin by riding the shockwave long enough to cycle the warp drive, emerging a couple of light-days from the system. He sent dragoons ahead in cephalophore craft to hail Demiurge when his comm arrays were destroyed in the blast. At the round table council he argued against sailing to Earth, advocating a preemptive strike. When the creature Orphan seized Hadrian and threatened to kill him, Lorian shot it through the head with his needler without hesitation -- an act that sealed Demiurge's fate, since only Orphan could fly it. He told Hadrian: 'We will not meet again.' He departed with his fleet after Ramanthanu's burial, marked by flashes of Cherenkov radiation. Hadrian imagines Lorian has quit the galaxy following his late Monarch's contingency plans, and hopes he is free.

In Hadrian's final moments on the scaffold at Tenba, Lorian is among those who send a last message -- a small roll of paper with the words 'Marlowe! Marlowe!' -- a testament to a friendship that outlasted everything it survived.