Pallino of Trieste

Pallino had a craggy, revitalized face -- the product of patrician gene tonic treatments that restored his youth from near-seventy. His face and hands carried fine scars like silver wire. His eyes were blue. He originally wore a scuffed old leather patch over one eye before his elevation restored his sight.

Pallino was a skilled cook in the plebeian manner and a capable hand-to-hand combatant. In battle he favored a polearm and carried an energy lance with bayonet. He underwent patrician gene tonic treatments that granted him the wiry strength of a young legionnaire. In survival situations he was brusque and decisive, capable of improvising demolitions to stop pursuit.

• Elara -- lover and long-term companion; dies before him on Akterumu
• Hadrian -- close companion, liege, and commander; regarded by Hadrian as a father; Hadrian carries his memory for decades after his death
• Valka -- Hadrian's companion; provides an account of Pallino's final days and reminds Hadrian he chose to follow him
• Switch -- fellow myrmidon from the Colosso
• Gibson -- Hadrian's old tutor; shielded by Pallino inside the Horizon
• Alexander -- shielded by Pallino inside the Horizon
• Corvo -- fought alongside Pallino in the survival group after Akterumu
• Crim -- fought alongside Pallino in the survival group and in earlier campaigns
• Ghen -- fellow myrmidon; Pallino cooks for his memorial dinner

Pallino grew up on Trieste, son of Auberno, and was the first person from his village in over five hundred years to join the Imperial Legions. He had been a farmer before becoming a soldier.

He served forty years in the Legions, rising to the rank of First Line Centurion with active service on Imperial dreadnoughts. His first combat was on Sulis, where he killed forty Cielcin. He lost his eye staying alive during his military career.

After his discharge, Pallino worked as a myrmidon at the Borosevo Colosso on Emesh, where he encountered Hadrian. He joined the crew that departed Emesh with Hadrian and served in the Meidua Red Company.

At Vorgossos, he led the entry through the hightower airlock and endured captivity in Kharn Sagara's palace before rejoining Hadrian's company. Following his elevation to the patrician class, he commanded the First Cohort as chiliarch. He articulated his philosophy of loyalty at Vorgossos: a soldier's allegiance runs to his people first, his commanders second, and the Empire third.

He commanded the First Cohort as chiliarch through the Dharan-Tun campaign, covering Hadrian in combat, leading the retreat through tunnels, driving the final wedge through the Cielcin vanguard, and declaring the Halfmortal legend true when Dharan-Tun eclipsed the sun. He attended the Imperial Triumph with Elara and shielded Gibson and Alexander inside the Horizon facility at Colchis.

On Gododdin, he maintained his paternal vigilance over Hadrian, surviving a rebel ambush, organizing the withdrawal from the Sollan embassy, and witnessing Prince Aranata inflict a fatal wound on Hadrian.

At Akterumu, Pallino piloted an Ibis shuttle into the carnage, cradled Elara as she died, and fought the Cielcin warrior Aulamn on the Tamerlane's hull. Though beaten nearly to death, he caught Hadrian's thrown sword and drove it through Aulamn, killing it. He died from his wounds shortly after; his last words told Hadrian to give them hell.

In the survival group that formed after the battle, Valka's account records that Pallino mined a door to stop pursuit, was wounded by Cielcin workers, and volunteered for cryosleep to conserve resources before his death.

Hadrian raises a cairn for Pallino on Thessa and carries his memory for decades. Long after his death, Pallino's shade appears to Hadrian on the ice of Dharan-Tun, acting as a herald proclaiming the Halfmortal's arrival -- his gruff voice heard among the host of Hadrian's dead.