[hider=Persephone Ignatz]
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[b]Name[/b]: Persephone “Brimstone” Ignatz

[b]Age[/b]: 27

[b]Gender[/b]: Agender

[b]Height and Weight[/b]: 5’8 ft / 55.3 kg (122 lbs)

[b]Speciality[/b]: Sniper

[b]Appearance[/b]:
     Persephone is a female born Mediterranean (olive skinned) with gunmetal grey eyes, thick straight eyebrows, and wavy strawberry colored hair that had been shaved on the back and sides. What is left would reach their chin and habitually placed on the right side of their face. Their figure and features do not strongly resemble any feminine features (obvious breasts, wide hips) but it does not appear too masculine either (accentuated pectoral or abdominal muscles). This makes them androgynous enough that it is hard for most to determine their sex through physical observation.
     Their body is littered with various scars and cuts that vary in depth and length. A few of their notable traits that they had acquired from the battle in the Vernum Sector would be a deep scar that runs horizontally just under their right eye to their chin, and their bionic right arm that starts from their shoulder.
     Generally, their exceptional hygiene and their need for order make them appear very well-kept and sharp despite constantly appearing bored.

[b]Uniform[/b]: Worn out flak armor with her regiment’s insignia on it. The right shoulder pad is missing and there is also an indentation on her helmet aligned with the scar on the right side of her face that goes down until the upper right portion of her chest plate. 

[b]Armament[/b]: A long-las sniper rifle, their [url=http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/14/145849/3599622-p1011117.jpg][i]Hija[/i][/url] (\i-hᴧ\), two frag grenades, one set of guard-issue medical supplies, 9-70 Entrenching tool, gas mask, and the ever present [i]Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer[/i].

[b]Personality/Demeanor[/b]:
     Persephone’s actions appear lax: from the courteous nod, to the attentive stare. Though, her staring tends to go a little awry when people realize that they had been staring at them for far too long. Usually it is because they were staring at them, on other times it would usually mean that they are simply reminiscing the lessons that life taught to them through blood and loss. While they do not usually start conversations, they would sometimes approach people that interest them (through various ways). They would also respond in kind if spoken to. Persephone tends to be quite frank as it is a custom in their planet to refrain from keeping opinions, comments, or praises because a person’s life can end in any day. Persephone also prefers conformity over individuality because they believe that excessive individuality is narcissism at its worst, especially if conformity is required to save the lives of the many. As a death world native, they had also learned to separate emotions with work, lest they die from an error or emotional trauma. However, this does not mean that they are an isolationist. They find comfort within groups but prefers to stay out of the limelight.

[b]Greatest Ambition[/b]: At the moment, survive long enough to maybe have a family that they can take to a forge world.

[b]Greatest Hatred[/b]: Others faltering in battle when standing one’s ground is necessary.

[b]Skills[/b]:
     Has moderately good medical skills learned as a necessity on her homeworld (“Settler’s Bane”). They have impressive skills with using both Laser and Ballistic sniper rifles, hitting her targets 87% of the time (also a necessity of their homeworld). They do not falter as easily as most humans due to the harsh environment they grew up in, where calm behavior was needed in order to survive. They are also a generally organized and hygienic person, to the point of it being a mild obsession

[b]History[/b]:
[hider=Planet’s History]
     They were born on a Death World named by the Imperium as “Settler’s Bane” due to the harsh nature of the planet where nearly everything is a hazard (from the local wildlife to the Arsenic-laced water supply). The planet is mainly covered in sandy desert, active volcanoes (and the barren lands that surround them), littered with patches of ionic storms (which makes aerial travel difficult), multiple mountain and plateau formations, and variously sized oases surrounded by small jungles.

     The planet is inhabited with differing tribes and clans that have their own settlements on plateaus, mountains, and oases. Plateau and mountain settlements are usually known as supply drop zones and  supply export zone in the planet while those living in oases are harvesters who are tasked with gathering the planet’s raw materials for export.

     The most famous location on the planet (amongst locals) is what the locals fondly call as the “Palace of Whispers”. This is a 15 story mega-building where Guardsmen are recruited and trained. The reason for this is because the [i]Palace[/i] has been settled on the largest oasis within the planet (spanning almost two hectares) and had been purposed as recruitment and training for initiates. This, however, does not mean that the Guardsmen initiates training are supposed to be kept safe. Heading to the location itself is deadly when they need to traverse the canopy with relative silence or avoiding predators, and more so with the training that the initiates are required to go through as a requirement for Guardsmanship (i.e. tracking and hunting sliders, surviving in different oases without the safety of sturdy buildings in a set amount of time, muffling one’s movements to avoid fauna aggression, etc). They will eventually get shipped out to another designated “drop-off zone” if they are to be shipped off world for the transport vehicle’s safety.

     The planet’s history goes back approximately 2000 years ago when an Imperial ship was trying to avoid a large ionic storm within the sector. The storm eventually got worse and they had to seek refuge in the planet that would eventually be called “Settler’s Bane”. The Imperials thought that they had found a potentially habitable planet (sans the aggressive animals that originally lived there) and started to colonize the planet by sending settlers. The settlers immediately found out that the original creatures that resided in the planet were gigantic as a result of the planet’s increased oxygen levels. The most prominent predator of the SeB (a local term for the planet) is what they refer to as the “Sand Slider” or a “Slider” for short. It is a gigantic centipede-like creature that feeds on the majority of the planet’s wildlife. The Slider possessed a thick carapace that defended it against numerous types of Imperial weaponry. The creature’s main weaknesses were the small bits of exposed flesh in between its carapace, and its blindness that limits it to sensing prey through vibrations in the air (sound), and through the sands. The locals discovered that the best way to evade the Sand Slider was to remain completely quiet and avoid disturbing the sands too much. IF this could not be done, then they would attempt to distract the creature by throwing objects into other directions.
Others creatures in the SeB would be a Dragliks, a reptilian large, lizard-like creatures who has necrotizing saliva, are nearsighted, and have a tendency to drag prey back to their dens before devouring them; and the Aribours, a creature almost akin to giant Vultures with bald heads. They feed on large Gecko-like creatures and are usually seen near volcanoes (they live long, hence mate later in life and only produce one chick at a time) but are a fairly rare sight.

     Eventually the settlers forced into the planet created what would be called as the Palace of Whispers. The building’s name was derived from its structure and purpose: to dampen sound from the inside of the structure without compromising the noises coming from the outside. This effectively made the locals and the Palace almost invisible to the creatures that roam the sands and the oasis that they stand in.

     In order for the planet’s inhabitants to acquire additional resources outside of the areas they could reach on the surface, certain Imperial cities have landing zones that has been designated as drop-off points for supplies, and also for the export of their annual tithe of manpower for the Imperial war machine along with some luxury goods of exotic plant fabrics and dyes used as raw materials. In earlier times, transports had attempted to land close to, or by oases in order to directly take in the new recruits. However, the loud noises and vibrations coming from the transports attracted the attention of the local Sand Sliders, which attacked the transports by snatching them out of the air, and also endangering the buildings or the people nearby by attracting several other creatures. Landing zones were set up on cities living on mountains or plateaus, whose mineral and stone deposits were dense enough to stop Sand Sliders from tunneling through. Locals living in oases had to assign people who would act as “runners” to take or deliver supplies from the landing zones, while snipers were used to protect both their runners and exports.

     The planet’s resources had interesting effects on the locals made them medical anomalies. The most notable anomaly would stem from the planet’s water supply that is laced with 60 times the lethal dosage of the poison arsenic. Because the locals (especially those living in oases in fear of having creatures hear the loud humming of purification plants) have no choice but to drink the poison-laced waters, [url= http://www.cracked.com/article/184_the-6-best-towns-to-live-in-if-you-have-death-wish/]they eventually built up immunity to it[/url]. The locals are also known to be fast but quiet [i]ghosts[/i] that had learned to walk and move in relative silence as a defense mechanism to the creatures that thrive within and without the oasis.
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[hider=Persephone - Childhood]
     As a child, Persephone was born as the only daughter in the Ignatz family. Due to the harsh nature of the planet and them living as harvesters in an oasis, the community itself is incapable of caring for too many children at one time. Every member of their community is expected to be able to show usefulness from an early age, because they cannot afford to waste what little resources they have on those who will not contribute. Her mother was one of their main runners, while her father acted as a lookout and a sniper.

     Persephone’s parents were emotionally distant by most people’s standards, however, they showed their affection for her in other ways, such as ensuring that they never got too hungry and teaching her how to use a ballistic rifle and basic marksmanship in a very early age. Aside from these, they made certain that they would be instilled with all of the necessary skills needed to survive on their planet (foraging, hiding from predators, hunting prey, etc.)

     During what was supposed to be a routine supply run, an ionic storm had unexpectedly drifted close to their atmosphere, causing lightning strikes all around the route between the city and the landing zone. Persephone’s mother was one of the three Runners caught during the storm, which caused so many vibrations in the air that an entire swarm of newly hatched Sand Sliders emerged from the sands due to the overstimulation. The hatchlings proceeded to jump out of sand and attacked the nearest source of food, which were the Runners. The snipers from the city tried to cover them, however, the lightning strikes and rumbling thunder made aiming difficult, and also caused the Sliders to behave unexpectedly as they would sometimes follow the lightning strikes and break off from their original direction. Her mother and one of the other runners were presumably killed as hatchlings bit onto them en masse and dragged them screaming under the sands. One runner managed to make it back to the city, with the severed head of a hatchling still biting onto their leg, and delivered  portion of the supplies, though they died from their injuries soon after due to the venomous nature of the Slider’s bite.

     Persephone’s father was traumatized by the incident, and all but refused to resume his post as a sniper for a while afterwards. Persephone volunteered to temporarily take his place at the age of 14. It was here that they honed and displayed their skills in marksmanship with the rest of their community.

     Eventually, their father resumed his post after a year and Persephone was then assigned to harvest the fabric produced from the jungle around the oasis. Persephone however, still had not mastered the discipline of remaining quiet while performing their duties, and during one of her harvest runs a year after they had been assigned, they attracted the attention of a group of Dragliks who stalked them from a distance for a while.

     Their father was on lookout during the time, and managed to spot the Dragliks closing in on Persephone as they made their signature clicking noises to attract more of them for the hunt. Her father quickly notified the other lookouts before moving in to try and save her (as sniping them from a distance would only prompt them to attack her immediately out of impulse). He closed the distance between himself and the Dragliks, before firing at them and drawing their attention to him with gunfire as he shouted at Persephone to return to the city. The other lookouts tried to cover Persephone and her father, but could not stop the large pack of Dragliks that had formed, and Persephone’s father was soon taken away from them much like their mother, with their screams growing faint into the distance.

     Having their mother die due to the hazards of the planet was one thing, but having their father die to protect them was another thing entirely. Their once generally cheerful demeanor changed into something more serious and distant as they vowed to make sure that his sacrifice meant something to their people. At the age of 17, they would go through their tribe’s rite of passage, a year earlier than most of them due to how early they showed their skills.

     Their rite of passage involves airlifting the batch of adolescents to the top of a known Sand Slider’s lair named [i]”Dolorosa”[/i] (“Lady of Sorrows”), and their goal is to enter through the top, and make it to the small cave entrance alive. They are given nothing but a flashlight, 5 days’ worth of rations, and an unmodified “Hija”. The ritual served two purposes: One is to make sure that their adults are strong and capable individuals who can survive the harsh creatures of their planet or to survive their eventual deployment as guardsmen. Two, is to keep ”Dolorosa” docile with regular sacrifices from those who cannot make it.

     Persephone went in with a group of 6 other adolescents, and emerged only with 2 others by the end of the trial after 6 days, even carrying one of Dolorosa’s legs as a trophy. For many locals, the rite of passage is a traumatizing event that they would rather not revisit, and Persephone’s case is no different.

     In the same year after completing her rite of passage, they immediately enlisted for the Imperial Guard (as their planet could only provide a small number of people for their annual tithes) and was shipped off-world with a batch of fresh and resilient Guardsmen to the 3rd Regiment of Settler’s Bane Wisps as reinforcements for the ongoing crusade for the Vernum Sector.
[/hider]
[hider= Battle on Vernum]
     The 3rd Wisps Regiment is a Light Infantry Regiment that specialized in sniping and scouting, and mainly played the role of information gathering for both The Guard and the Astartes as a prelude to their offensive strikes. At times, they would also be called upon to provide accurate fields of fire over long distances to whittle down the Ork hordes before getting within range of standard Lasguns and bayonets.

     It was during the campaign that they first encountered one of the Imperium’s many enemies, which were the Orks. Throughout the campaign, they came to believe that the Orks were nothing more than animals, intelligent animals, that were capable of using weapons and rudimentary tactics. But as animals are, they remain generally predictable.

     Her regiment only experienced close quarters fighting during the final siege of Vernum Primas, 10 years and thousands of casualties later. Her regiment had been assigned to provide covering fire for the Cyrothaxian Regiments as they pushed into the munitions section of the city. During the attack, the frontlines had been broken, allowing the Orks to swarm into the snipers and gunners in the rear. It was at this time that Persephone had finally came face-to-face with an actual living Ork as they had usually seen them through their scope. To them, the creature was intimidating but their survival instincts were stronger. This reminded them of their fight with Dolorosa, and they intended for this one to end the same. The fear was numbing, but the rush of adrenaline [i]revived[/i] her spirit. With her Hija in hand, they tried to grapple with the Ork with the same will to survive. However, they do not have the strength to go toe-to-toe with an Ork. This mistake cost her an arm, and very nearly: her life. The only reason they survived was due to the incoming reinforcements and replenishment for the front lines which managed to push the Orks back after the regiments had regrouped. With her vision going to black, the last thing they would remember at that time would be the sensation of being dragged away.
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[b]Miscellaneous[/b]:
[list]
[*] They sometimes speak in third person and refer to themselves as [i]they[/i]. This is because their planet does not have distinct gender roles.
[*] Unless they are going to be deployed, Persephone usually walks around camp with a bracelet with a bell as a sentiment and good luck. Otherwise it stays in one of her pockets for safekeeping.
[*] Persephone tends to talk to themselves.
[*] Their nickname “Brimstone” comes from the fact that they tend to smell strongly sterile (think hospital) because they usually have “brandy baths” if they believe that they are very dirty. This is achieved by a moonshine recipe that came from their father.
[/list]
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