Nikolaos au Fabii

"'I choose death, Cal. Every single time I go out there, razor in hand, I am choosing the possibility of my death. We are Peerless Scarred. We all choose death' - Nikolaos au Lahcen, Truth Knight, on his personal philosophy."

Early life
Firstborn to Itomaos au Lahcen (nee Toras) and Zora au Lahcen, although he came to life on Venusian orbit and spent his first few years on that planet, the bulk of his education took place in Martian soil, in the official Lahcen residence. Never quite close to his parents, mainly due to their continued absence, the first person to whom he formed genuine attachments was his younger brother, Brasidas. However, that bond lasted only until they were separated and Brasidas was sent back to Venus.

After that, Nikolaos mainly kept to himself and his studies, although he did not deprive himself of attending social gatherings and parties, in which he built something close to a friendship with various other young golds. It wouldn’t be until years later, a few months before going into the institute, that he met Amyntas, the first person outside his family with whom he truly bonded.

The Institute
Shortly after, he attended the 546th class of the Martian Institute and won his year as a member of House Juno along with Amyntas. Of note is that, while the games took place, he never once showed ambition to be Primus of his house, preferring simply to be second: the sword to dispose of enemies rather than the mind that decides what to do. There he began a formal relationship with the Aelius, and the two became known to their Institute classmates as the Blade and Shield of Juno.

Lune Lancership
Nikolaos' performance during the Insitute got him an offer of lancering for House Lune, which he, along with his boyfriend, took on the spot. The two of them moved to Luna, and began living in the lancer barracks around Lake Silene. There they got acquainted with the heirs of Lune, Marcade and Accalia, and became friends with Anastasia au San and Aurelion au Nyx, both fellow lancers of Lune.

Batlle of Hildas
After almost two years of service as a lancer for House Lune, Nikolaos received his first true major assignment: he and Amyntas, among with a few other lancers, were to accompany Ajax au Lune, Joy ArchKnight of the Society on his mission to first recruit the Asteroid Lords, and then keep Ceres from falling into Martian hands.

The first endeavour failed, with the Asteroid Lords joining the forces of Augustus and the Rim, but the negotiations ended without bloodshed. Tensions were high, however, and soon violence exploded in what came to be known as the Battle of Hildas. In it, Ajax' life was lost, and with that command of the overall Lune forces passed not to Accalia, due to her lack of field experience, but the Ash Lord.

It was in the aftermath of the battle that he first met the man who would go on to become one of the most relevant figures in his life whe, driven by sheer curiosity at who had angered Daxos au Valii-Rath, Ajax' pupil and the Society's newest Joy Knight, into a duel -and lost limbs, plural, for it- he chose to pay a visit to one Caladus au Thracii.

The Iron Rain
Nikolaos began his meteoric, but troubled, ascent through the Society's ranks during the Siege of Ceres. When the Ash Lord's fleet launched an Iron Rain, Nikolaos was among the first to fall. He soon started showing his battle prowess, but then luck struck against the loyalist side: Accalia, heir to the Morning Throne, was bound by the enemy, and the battle turned to a race against time for the Society. The Martian squad carrying the princess began a hasty retreat, and the loyalists pursued, with Nikolaos and Amyntas at the lead.

The day was not to be theirs, however: Amyntas took a daring offense against the kidnappers, only to have Gaius au Voloxes take off one of his arms while Nikolaos, engaged with enemies himself, could only watch. The young lancer attempted pursuit of Gaius but, much to his dismay, was interrupted by Markus au Justinian, ArchGovernor of Titan. The Titanean Gold handed Accalia off to Gaius, and had the Martian's squad run with their bounty as his own soldiers interferred with the retrieval efforts.

Lahcen, infuriated not only at the injuries to his lover, but also the inability to complete the Blood Feud he had just declared against Volovex, drew Justinian's attention to him, and the two Golds faced each other in single combat. This was Nikolaos' first taste of true glory, as, after a hard fought duel, he fell the ArchGovernor, denying him even the honor of death. Instead, he cut his spine at the neck, leaving him paralyzed from the shoulders down. "'You mistake my intentions, my goodman. I am not returning you anywhere. And where I am sending you, there is no dust' - Nikolaos to the ArchGovernor of Titan, after taking the man's arms."

Praetorianhood
After the fall of Justinian, Nikolaos, along with Caladus au Thracii, the Reaper, and a few notable others, embarked on an operation to neutralize the Anti Aircraft gun emplacements harrying the Societal fleet above the Ceresian sky. The operation was a huge success and this, along with Nikolaos' performance in the initial stages of the Rain, led the Ash Lord to move Nikolaos from simple lancer to a member of the Praetorian Guard. He continued taking part on the battles for the planet, assisting the Ash Lord, Gloria, and the Olympics as needed. He soon was given the badge of a knight-captain by the Ash Lord, after the Reaper's betrayal.

He proposed a dangerous plan to the Ash Lord on the same night of his promotion, designed to infiltrate the Reaper's inner circle. In truth, this was a cover for his own defection. The Ash Lord, counseled by Caladus as his Dux, altered the plan to, among other things, include the Thracii. This, eventually, led to a confrontation between Nikolaos and Caladus as the latter was about to bring his own secret directive to fruition. Nikolaos let Caladus take off his sword arm, and threw his weapon away, in an attempt to convince the other Martian that he was still loyal to the Ash Lord. Unbeknownst to him, he was unsuccessful, and the reason why Caladus let him live on that day would remain a mystery until much later.

The Black Wedding
After the Societal defeat at Ceres, Nikolaos retrieved Amyntas and, following his boyfriend's wishes, the two of them completed their defection from the loyalist side, joining the Martian convoy on their way back home. The weeks that followed after their arrival on Mars saw the lovers separated for the longest time since they started their relationship, with the Aelius often claimed by his family, as Nikolaos was by his own, having just reunited with his younger brother for the first time in over a decade, after young Brasidas au Lahcen's Insitute graduation.

The Ash Lord, however, had taken particular offense to Nikolaos' defection after the cease of hostilities, and the man was targeted by a team of Dragoon assassins while walking through an Agean park. He survived, but with the incident following a public altercation with Gloria, the eldest of the Furies, it was now clear to him that House Grimmus was after his head.

Still, not all was grim: after the conflict, the involved parties signed the Ceresian accords, and life in the Solar system returned to relative normalcy as preparations for the double wedding of Saren au Augustus to Sheba au Grimmus, and Marcade au Lune to Artemisia au Raa, went underway. Nikolaos spent some time reconnecting with his brother and practicing his razor skills, devoting as little time as possible to worrying about his uncertain future. It was not to last.

The night of the wedding, tragedy struck, as did the Red Legion. Among the many notable casualties, chief to Nikolaos was that of Amyntas, who took a sniper's round to the head. Feeling his breath give in his arms, a grief-stricken Nikolaos lashed out in a rampage, until he happened upon the fleeing party of the Ash Lord, the Furies, and the newly adopted Grimmus heir: Caladus au Thracii Grimmus. Called to action by Cyrus, he followed them back to orbit, and along with Voloxes he led the boarding of one of the unresponsive Solaris dreadnoughts, the Sol Diem. Later that night, Caladus and Nikolaos had their first less-than-chaste encounter, both of them drowning in grief -and alcohol.

Ascension to Truth
During the aftermarth of the Black Wedding, Caladus named Nikolaos Legate of Legio XX Fulminata, the Thunderbolt legion, which was under the Grimmus' command as newly appointed Imperator of the Sword Armada. The first months after the event were frantic: the Ceresian Accords were voided, and the loss of most of the Heads of the Great Houses created waves throughout the system. And, on the personal, Nikolaos, still devastated by the loss of Amyntas and the disappearance of his brother, sank deeper each day into the solace offered by Caladus, all the while carrying with him unbearable feelings of guilt.

Soon enough, however, Olympic trials were held to replace those lost during the Lion's Rebellion. Nikolaos took part in them, and rose as Truth after defeating every opponent put in his path.

Olympic Reforms
With the Core in turmoil over the Black Wedding, and the deaths of many Rim House heads and heirs, the Moon Lords found their thirst for independence renewed by the dry winds of loss. Thus began the Second Moon Lords' Rebellion. The Sword Armada was promptly deployed to bring the Rim to heel, and Caladus, as its Imperator, received one paramount command: the war must be conducted honorably, in the hopes that reunification and reconciliation would come after the defeat of the Moon Lords. Along with the Ash Armada sailed many of the Olympics, including the newly appointed Nikolaos.

Their first stop was the asteroid of Troy, home to the city of Hektor and a once-great House. The city, and in truth most of the asteroid, was mostly empty, and so it was promptly taken. Work was then begun to reform the city into a stronghold for the Olympic order. Nikolaos took charge of the project, and along with it proposed a series of reforms meant to expand the scope of the order and clean up their image to the public, to aid with Caladus' imperative of reconciliation after war. The Olympics voted on the reforms, and it came to a tie. A trial of strength was proposed, and Nikolaos was given leave to choose his opponent in the duel that would decide the future of the order. Marcus au Saud, Hearth Knight, was Nikolaos' chosen rival, and they agreed to meet blades after Sheba's soirée to decide on the matter.

The dinner, though officially hosted by Caladus, was organized by Sheba, and served as the baby shower for her newly born Niketa. During the event Darius au Saud, the young Primus of House Saud, incurred Nikolaos' anger through insult to Caladus. After a brief display of violence and a promise to meet on the Bleeding Place, Hearth came to the aid of his greatnephew: he offered to rescind his objection to Nikolaos' reforms of the Olympic order, and an apology from Darius, in exchange for Nikolaos retracting the duel. The deal was made, and the evening continued peacefully, if tense.

Later on in the night, Caladus would come to learn that someone had been intercepting messages between him and his father. He came to Nikolaos' room to discuss the situation, and what followed was a confession of love from Nikolaos, who had only recently come to terms with the extent of his affection towards the Grimmus.

The following day, Nikolaos' reforms were passed: the city of Hektor was renamed Lachesis, and the estate at its top became the Olympic Oikos, both locations now devoted to the training and honing of the Society's best blades. These changes were not the only ones: a thirteenth office, the Fate Knight, was instituted, and along with it came the Aspirant system.

Jovian Orbit
As the Sword Armada marched forward, a number of the Olympics with them remained behind, their skills needed in other places. Still, six of them, half the order, stayed with the fleet: Loran au Silas, the Storm Knight; Castor au Caan, Morning; Daxos au Valii-Rath, Joy; Saren au Augustus, Rage; Nikolaos au Lahcen, Truth; and Anchises au Raa, Fear, the most veteran of all of them and brother to Aeneas au Raa, the leader of the Moon Lords. And it would be Fear whom, despite his seniority and his blood relations, first endangered the Armada's purpose of noble warfare.

During the first engagement, which happened around Pasiphae and Carme, Fear wantonly disregarded any notion of reconciliation: his men crucified the captured enemy combatants, sparing no prisoner regardless of their Color. Anchises pinned the crimes on his second, and a trial, overseen by the Olympics, was set. As soon as it starded, however, Fear revealed he was the one behind the orders, and gave himself to the judgement of the Olympics. They found him guilty, and his punishment was set to be the Guantlet: should he survive, he would retain his cloak and be cleared of his crimes against the Olympic order.

He did survive, but when Caladus learned of this he, dissatisfied with not being informed of the change of defendant and the sentence, staged a coup against his own armada. He, along with Rage, took Fear under custody, and re-imposed his authority over the Sword. These events, however, added to the strain on Niko's relationship with Cal: Truth was being blackmailed to spy on Cal, and could only speak to his boyfriend in code and under heavy protection.

Appearance
Dark bronze skin, gone darker due to his habit of exercising shirtless in the sun. He keeps his hair, a shade of gold so light it’s almost platinum, shaved on one side, the other falling softly over his head down to neck length. His eyes, which always seem intent, are clear gold with strains of a darker shade. Standing around 7’2ft tall, he is more lean than bulky, although by no means would he be considered thin. Aside from the peerless scar, he is mostly unmarked, except for a singular vertical cut that crosses his lips. After the Fall of Luna, he adorned his face with old Earth tattoos. His upper body, particularly his arms and torso, are wrecked by a myriad of small scars.

Abilities and Skills
Nikolaos is an expert razormaster, employing an unorthodox hybrid style that pulls from many of the Core's most famous razorfighters. He is also a skilled orator and social agent, deft at weaving and bending his speech around truth.

Quotes
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