Ikondoroo Pericles

Professor Ikondoroo Pericles, is a Ravenoid Tyuri scientist in service of the Vanguard. He is among the longest living Tyurians to date and is the team's medic, "comic relief" and cook, aswell as the last of Lady Isis' royal guard along with her uncle. He is especially noted for his whimsical nature despite being referred to as a sadist of the highest order, contrasting greatly with his personality.

History

Pericles was born in the year 276.BCR (approximately 1813.AD) in the city of Komniaram Gaul, Psuedotemia. As per family tradition, Pericles set himself up as a merchant, although his choice in wears was rather unusual. He dealt in information, books, miscellanea and trivia that tended to be very popular among his more well-accommodated clientèle. After studying at a privileged academy, Pericles began to dabble in biology and medicine, aswell as high-cuisine for reasons he has never been able to understand himself, but has served him well on many occasions.

After 25 years of experience in the field, Pericles returned to the academy as a professor of xenobiology and sociology. It was here that he began to develop his strong political ideals that would one day prove to be his undoing. Pericles believed that the social divide between Tyuri, Psuedotemians and Xitavians could be resolved via the elimination of social-estamentarianism, a fine idea in theory, but one that encountered many critics and skeptics. Despite this, Pericles was able to convince the current king, Daemus Hyperius the Fourth, to begin social reforms. He did this by exploiting his relationship with the king's daughter, his protégé, Daema Isis.

After years of cultural reforms, Pericles' plans appeared to be functioning smoothly. Until, that is, extremists that held on to old grudges against the primarily-Psuedotemian government began crawling out of the woodwork. These extremists believed strongly in the ideals set forth by the government, but insisted on deeper and more radical changes to both the economy and interior-exterior policies of the kingdom. The idea of collectivism became a recurring theme, as did the elimination of private property, reforms the Monarchy was not wiling to implement. During this tense period, stress began to overwhelm Pericles to the point of collapse. Despite this, he maintained his strong political presence in addition to his teachings remaining relatively unbiased, as he had agreed with the education board, members of which included several Tyurians and Xitavians aswell as Psuedotemian magistrates, a testament to his "New Order".

Nonetheless, revolution began shortly before the king's planned abdication in 357.BCR. The predominantly-Xitavian Communal Socialist Party (CxPL) began a fierce anti-monarchic campaign to impose extreme ideals of what is now known as Communalcentricism. After a revolution two years later, the Monarchy was violently disbanded, many being executed. By this time Pericles had almost completely lost himself, having suffered massive injuries both physical and psychological. Able to survive thanks to advances in medicine and biodynamics (many of which he contributed to), also counting those granted by the recently discovered Ran'Cor Imperium.

After this, official records cease, but it is known that in a last effort to salvage what remained of his once-great home, Pericles joined the Vanguard after a prompt from the now-infamous Ci'Raan of the Sevoraxx with the long term goal of eliminating the ones responsible for the fall of the old regime, monsters of his own creation, but has since begun to work closely with the currently-standing party in order to build a more balanced government, behaviour far out of the norm for him.

Appearance

Pericles is a Tyurian of average build and height, standing at approximately 2m (~7ft), with lavender and purple plumage. He has a 30cm (~1ft)-long beak, the lower-major having been modified with 24 8cm (~3") teeth-like serrations (12 per side) and metalic plating on the upper-major. His minor beak remains unmodified, save for another 16 serrations built into the gums around the otherwise mostly fleshy, feather-covered component. His facial plumage is messy and unkempt, most prominent on the top of his head and the minor-beak, covering several areas where skin has been replaced by plating and artificial mesh-tissue. His left eye has been fully converted into a blackened, circular, multi-use cyberprosthetic with a red-amber tinted eyeglass that is slightly larger than his right eye, while the area surrounding it has been replaced with reinforced meshing that leaves some cables and crossbeams visible. His ear-structures are ornate, resembling vegetation, but are constructed of several composite minerals (Iron, Platinum and another three which have yet to be identified), as opposed to bone. Over 60% of his body is covered by the same meshing and mechanisms, most of which support his armour plating, while his limbs are mostly reconstructed prosthetics. His wingspan reaches about ~3m (~10ft) in length, each wing having a vertical length of ~1m (~3ft) and girth of ~15cm (~0.5ft).

Abilities

• Flight: Pericles makes use of his wings to glide through the air and also to propel himself forward when under water. He of course needs to fall from a great height, in order to build momentum and can only lift off the ground and hover when he has no open space to do so. However, he is also
• Eye-Beam: Pericles can fire a very powerful beam of light from his cybernetic eye that is capable of cutting through most materials, but is better suited as a scanner. 
• Poison feathers: Like both Sifer and Isis, Pericles is able to pull feathers out of his hide. Like his comrades, their tips are highly corrosive and will melt most materials on contact and enhanced hand-eye coordination allows him to hit a still target from long distance. One major difference is that his feathers explode. When they make contact with a target, embedding in or adhering to it, they release a chemical that reacts with air to produce a relatively small explosive reaction that also spreads the corrosive acid from his blood.
• Mutation: Pericles chronomech has one unfortunate side-effect, it causes mutations to certain alien species (i.e: Humans and maybe Delsons). These mutations range from simple nausea to horrific deformities. It also causes him to be at times absent minded and gives him a severe case of vertigo. This can be corrected with his mechanical eye, but until then he is extremely vulnerable.

Personality

Over the years, exposure to his chronomech and trauma, both physical and mental has rendered Pericles into a sociopathic sadist and social Darwinist , also causing him to experience severe nausea, attention deficit and absent-mindedness. His sadistic tendencies extend to his work, what he refers to as "weeding", in which he will torture, experiment upon and kill subject, generally for no other reason than curiosity in regard to their biology, pain and trauma tolerance, etc. and, in a few cases, to use archaic and (for most societies) morally unthinkable means to achieve maximum development in these subjects, mutating and reconfiguring them biologically in much the same way as Gomodd assimilate and modify their victims, with the simple intention of studying them and possible use as bio-weapons.

A strong believer in the Tyurian mantra, "Beneficis aut els qu iste vet ave bonfass", translating to: "Luck to [he] who faces life with [a smile/good humour]", Pericles maintains an almost constant cheery disposition, contrasting greatly to his actions and behavioural tendencies. He also fancies himself a comic, poking fun at his team mates and "lightening the mood" in sombre situations.

Chronomech

Pericles possesses a very unstable chronomech from the post-Rancoromachy era, meaning it was not created by the Si'Gean and it's true origin is unknown. Lt. Rayzon and Commander Zhang speculate that it originates from failed Ran'Corian experiments during the Ranquiro-Xavin War. Regardless of it's history, the matrix is still very potent, but also causes negative side-effects, unlike perfected models. Among these are nausea, minor mutations, mild schizophrenia and small bouts of migraines and Pericles also attributes this to infrequent burst of gastro-intestinal distress, despite the global agreement by his team mates that is more likely his dietary choices.

Among it's many unusual capabilities, the matrix has presented the ability to, in effect, control the dead. Despite the implication, this is not necromancy, rather complex physio-chemical-cognitive process manipulation. Pericles' talons are all mounted with almost-invisible syringes that inject various toxins into a subject on-contact. Among these is a liquid he calls Attghanimium's Vel, in honor of the Raxxin Plague God, that causes synaptic degradation and advanced cellular mutations, essentially destroying higher brain functions that can result in death, at best. When charged with energy from the chronomech (one may call it "Necrogenic" energy for ease), the liquid begins to build structures within the host bodies that act like parasites, capable of altering behaviour and maintaining themselves long after the expiration of the host, essentially creating necromorphic organisms or "zombies". A complex sub-structure that functions as a receiver allows Pericles to manipulate the behaviour of the resulting "creature" as well as maintain it's bio functions as though it was an extension of himself. In advanced cases, he can even become a puppeteer and control subjects, living or dead through these structures, threatening living subjects with death if they do not comply or simply suppressing their consciousness. He can order the structures to breakdown and self-digest on a whim.

The matrix also houses swarms of molecular-scale machines that perform functions that modern nanotechnology is not capable of, such as rapidly healing wounds, altering molecular structures in high quantities, which explains his abilities to heal and/or mutate subjects so rapidly. Of course, these swarms cannot instantly alter these structures without causing damage to an organism, unless said organism can withstand it, as is the case with more dexterous species and individuals such as Ran'Cor, Karnasaurs and Estin. The swarms also have a limited range of operation, approximately 150 meters, though they are capable of building hubs that allow for greater range, but they cannot, for example, leave the atmosphere of a g1 planet without assistance. They also start to brake from Pericles control at too great a distances. There are a few symptoms, such as nausea, vertigo, mild hallucination and migraines that can present themselves, but by the time they do, the host has already been infected long enough for behavioural modifications to set in, forcing them to ignore the symptoms.

Clones

An additional feature of the chronomech is the ability to create organisms through the same processes used in it's other attributed capabilities. To date Pericles has displayed the ability to create and maintain up to five fully-functioning, albeit-dependent, physically identical clones, in addition to two semi-independent clones named Drehdtviing and Cieklaw, that he can communicate with telepathically. All other clones require Pericles to maintain their bio-functions via an interface generated by the matrix while the two named clones only require instructions from him or an outside source. Clones typically lack personality of their own, being nothing more than mindless husks.

Pericles stores a great number of these clones that he can summon at will in a dimensionally-shifted containment area that occupies the same space as his matrix. Up to 250 clones can be stored here, including Drehdtviing and Cieklaw, but he only has the ability to create five sapient clones at a time, though he will occasionally send out massive waves of husks that work on base instinct like the aforementioned "zombies" in a horde rush. He summons and seals away these clones via a portable, directed quantum-molecular transporter implanted in his left metacarpi.

Clone husks are built by the molecular swarms native to the chronomech using biomatter obtained from subjects and occasionally from the environment. For example, Pericles can create a clone from organic matter or from a raw material such as iron, the latter proving more difficult due to the material and more time-consuming to make, albeit it would be much more resilient than an organic clone. The range of materials he can sue is extensive, only the materials present in the chronomatrix and certain anomalous alloys being unusable for being too difficult to render.

Most of the clones take Pericles' fully-organic form but with muted colouring and are generally smaller. Due to the almost-unlimited capabilities of the molecular swarms, clones can be shaped into practically any form and can even form it's own personality, as is the case with the named clones. Pericles could, in theory, create many more of these independent clones, but maintains that it is a highly complex procedure, one that he has yet to master. This is shown in his "brothers", Drehdtviing and Cieklaw, as they need to be regularly maintained by Pericles despite being separate personality-wise.

Drehdtviing

Drehdtviing is the older of the two named clones. Physically, he is identical to Pericles, albeit taller and with blue and green plumage. Highly intellectual, Drehdtviing is very proficient in strategic planning and is also a capable arms smith. He is cold, distant and can be taken as a psychopath very easily, although he is among the only members of the Vanguard that empathizes regularly.

Cieklaw

Cieklaw is a smaller, orange-yellow-plume version of Pericles. He is a highly unpredictable paranoid schizophrenic but can easily take down multiple opponents thanks to unusually precise and reliable advice from "the voices in his head". He does not engage in fights directly unless instructed to or he has to defend himself.

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