Ramanthanu

Ramanthanu, also called Ram, was a Cielcin ichakta (captain) -- full name Eka Ugan Ramanthanu Evamta, Ichakta ba-Marlowe -- identifiable by its single remaining brow-horn and pale braids, standing nearly two cubits taller than Hadrian even among its own kind.

Ramanthanu swore fealty to Hadrian at the Battle of Sabratha after witnessing him stand against the god Utannash, concluding that only the strongest was worthy of its service. Across decades of campaigns -- from Vorgossos to Danu to Dharan-Tun -- it served as Hadrian's closest Cielcin lieutenant, repeatedly placing itself between Hadrian and death. It formally renounced all gods but Utannash in a singular act of conversion, and with its mate Otomno fathered a child, Darathama -- the first Cielcin born under Hadrian's banner.

Ramanthanu dies during the escape from Aurora, killed by energumens in an airlock when one tore its throat with his teeth. Though Demiurge healed its wounds, Ramanthanu had been without oxygen too long, and its mind was destroyed. Doctor Farra declares it dead; it is buried in Demiurge's garden, wrapped in white like a king. Hadrian reflects that Utannash restored him but not Ramanthanu, and that Ramanthanu was the first of its kind to turn away from Cielcin darkness -- the last living convert won at Sabratha, and the first of a new way.