Nia'ati Kuryeon


 * (THIS ARTICLE IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS AND WILL BE FINISHED INDEFINITELY. THE CREATOR APOLOGIZES FOR THIS INCONVENIENCE.)

Nia'ati is an Endymion Overseer from the Zwei XIII Legion. She serves as the navigator aboard the legion's fortress-craft Myrmidon, and is assigned to the Vanguard detatchment of the legion. Nia'ati easily falls into the more naive lot of the Endymion, hailing from a more primitive race of sentient beings. As such her prejudices are more profound towards other races, although her time in The Order has since softened such behaviors. Nonetheless, she genuinely respects most of the species that make up The Order. As a unit of the Vanguard detatchment, Nia'ati is charged with leading the frontal assault of her legion's skirmishes. Her petite and lithe form has allowed her great mobilty and flexibility in combat. Coupled with her natural heightened senses further strengthened by Endymion training, Nia'ati quickly darts about on the battlefield while assessing enemy strengths and weaknesses and crushing their defenses.

Nia'ati is also the lover of Khariton Kir, having met him prior to their induction into The Order. Although separated for a time, it has not weakned the bond nor the feelings she feels for her serpentine partner. Nia'ati's playful and assertive demanor has often resulted in public displays of affection for her beloved, much to his chagrin.

Early Life
Nia'ati was born to the Kuryeon tribe. The name of her homeplanet roughly translates into Universal Dialect as "Excalibur". Although birthed as a child-bearing female of the Squirren, Nia'ati soon proved herself to be more of a hunter than a mother. Gifted with a natural curiosity and tenacity, Nia'ati quickly excelled as a hunter. However, she also became quite a troublesome child to care for. She would often wander off into the depths of the forest beyond the walls of the village to satisfy her curiosity. Many times the elders had taken her for dead, only to have her show up at the village gates days and sometimes weeks later with odd plants and strange but beautiful stones. Nonetheless Nia'ati soon became renowned among the neighboring villages in the area as one of the strongest hunters in her early adolescence, surpassing even the greatest male hunters of the Kuryeon tribe. Her parents were quite proud of their little one despite her disgrace as a child-bearer--of which was mostly overshadowed by her proficiency as a hunter.

Nia'ati was also known as a great healer, for she could see the life force in all living things. This ability greatly helped in caring for the sick and injured, as she was able to see the impurities in a person's life force and prescribe the correct herbs to ease or cure such diseases. Discovering this ability while assisting her mother, whom was also a healer, While many Squirren shared this ability, none were as precise or as sensitive as hers. With her newfound duties as a hunter, Nia'ati often gathered plants that had long been considered by the Kuryeon tribe as useless to be used to aid in diseases the tribe had long considered incurable.

While many females often were paired with mates early on in life, Nia'ati failed to find a suitable mate many times. Given their ability to see the life-force of others, healers were often blessed with very happy futures with their mates. However, Nia'ati, who naively followed this tradition whole-heartedly. Despite many males competing for her affections, Nia'ati turned down every single one. There were many instances also where she would accept a mate's proposal, only to reject him days or even moments later. This led to many label her as whimsical and reckless. However, the young Squirren, after many failed trials, eventually came to her own conclusions. Often fascinated with the lights in the night sky, and close companions with a eccentric Squirren Elder who studied these lights, Nia'ati claimed that her suitable mate dwelled within the heavens and that he would come down to greet her when the time was right.

Nia'ati's claims would one day come true, although in an entirely different way than she would have expected or desired.

Invasion of the Lazarus Empire
Nia'ati's rather quiet life was shaken when the Lazarus Empire invaded Excalibur. The Lazarus race, composed of massive, squid-like beings, had arrogantly proclaimed themselves as the rightful rulers of the galaxy. In their invasion they demanded the Squirren surrender themselves as slaves to their superior race. At first the Squirren resisted. However, their resistance was met with the overwhelming force of the Lazarus Empire. Entire villages were massacred overnight, and the primitive weapons of the Squirren were no match for the technology and tactics of the Lazarus.

Nia'ati spent two years on the run, moving from village to village as a refugee as each village fell or surrendered to the Lazarus. Eventually she came to a the war-like village of Tokylyk. There she witnessed a mass gathering of hunters and warriors who were prepared to lay down their lives to fight for the freedom of the Squirren people. Enthralled by the leader's moving speech, Nia'ati quickly enlisted to join in the war party. Although many were skeptical of her abilities at first, being one of the only female Squirren to enlist, Nia'ati quickly proved herself to be as capable a warrior as she was a hunter.

First Victory and the Squirren Rebellion
Coming soon!

Lazarus Retaliation and The Fated Meeting
Coming soon!

On the Run and Blossoming Love
Coming soon!

Induction into The Order of Endymion
Coming soon!

Personality

 * "She becomes deathly silent when upset... and believe me... you don't want to see that happen... especially now..."


 * --Kir, injured, tells a fellow trainee of Nia'ati

Despite the seriousness of her duties as an Overseer of an Endymion, Nia'ati manages to maintain a silly, friendly, and generally whimsical and energetic demeanor, oftentimes to the dismay of her comrades. However, her upbeat attitude even in the thickest danger has helped to ease the minds of her comrades as she dashes into battle. Her personality has been described by a few Endymion as bearing on overwhelming, including her own lover Kir, who is the target of her affection whenever the two are together. She also possesses a bit of a scatterbrained curiosity about the wonders of the universe, she herself hailing from a primitive society whom had beforehand never been to the stars.

Nia'ati does however have her bitter sides as well. She is easily distraught by the death of innocents, although she tries to hide it behind the lighter sides of her personality. Occasionally she also has bouts of bitterness and is disgusted by individuals whom have no regard for life. Although initially blinded by her naivety, Nia'ati has begun to see much of this in The Order, in which chaos and corruption has festered over the billions of years of its service. She would have much rather leave such a corrupted organization if not for her legion and Legion-Master's adherence to the original duty of The Order.

Nia'ati speaks in a rather informal way, barely using honorfics to regard superiors aside from her Legion-Master Zwei whom she respects to a large degree. Although her informal, casual tone is much welcomed by most of the units of her legion, it often irritates the other legion units to no end, something that Nia'ati often plays up quite often. Her personality has also been brought onto the battlefield, where she she utilizes her blinding speed and smart mouth to constantly taunt her opponents in order to exploit their weaknesses.

Although Nia'ati is quite flamboyant around her lover, Kir, regarding their relationship, she often grows embarassed and shy whenever the topic of children is brought up. Although she is often the one who brings up such topics out of the blue, much to the embarassment of her partner.

Appearance
Nia'ati is appears as a young girl with a lithe, muscular figure as a result of intense specialized training characteristic of Endymion. As Squirren, Nia'ati possesses rodent-like ears at the top of her head and a medium-length, bushy tail. As characteristic of all Squirren, her eyes are two different colors. The right eye is a deep green while the other is a bright magenta. Her hair is a hazelnut color with streaks of silver, and her skin possesses a natural slight tan as a result of her species' wild nature. Also common among all Squirren are a pair of fangs that indicate their predatory nature.

Although she is chronolgically 47 years old, Nia'ati appears as a young adolescent girl as that was her age when she was inducted into The Order. Her young appearance belies the knowledge and skill she has obtained as an Endymion, and she has used it to quite an extent when dealing with other societies as an Overseer.

When channeling existence, Nia'ati's eyes glow dimly. This is most often seen when she is controlling the Myrmidon.

Abilities and Traits
Being a Squirren, Nia'ati is gifted with incredible agility and balance suited for the dense jungles and forests of her homeworld. Such abilities have been greatly enhanced through Endymion training, allowing her to perform feats such as sprinting, flipping, and shooting simultaneously on tightropes, and being able to physically walk on water. She also possesses an acute sense of hearing and excellent nightvision capabilities, natural-born traits of her species that have also been enhanced by Endymion training. Her strengths have made her an ideal close-quarters combatant, although she often fills the stealth category as well for her slim, lithe profile and acrobatic physique. Nonetheless, her natural ability to entune her soul to those of others has made her a natural pilot, able to easily create a conduit with the Fortress-Crafts in order to control them. This ability served her well during the major confrontation against the corrupted fleets of the Astartes civilization, whom used the warping abilities of The Fallen to conduct devastating strikes against the fleets of the Endymion.

Despite her incredible agility, Nia'ati is a terrible dancer. This often frustrates her to no end as she is often compared to her lover Kir who, despite not having any legs at all, has shown himself to be quite adept on his "feet". She is also knowledgable on meditation techniques from her time spent with her father who was a warrior--quite a contrast with her often whimsical personality. She has since dedicated her knowledge to her legion, helping them cope with stress and fatigue aboard the Myrmidon.

Caster Rifle
Nia'ati's Caster Rifle is a conventional single-loader design designed for maximum mobility and low weight. The barrel length is drastically reduced so that it is easier to maneuver, a design that suits her acrobatic combat style though she herself often complains of the high recoil as a result of the shorter barrel's inability to absorb the feedback from the weapon. The Blade component has been enlarged, forming a trigger guard that runs about the length of the grip that allows her to use it as a parrying weapon if needed.

Pre-Induction

 * "The One that I will give my life to isn't here on this world. He's up there, dancing with the stars in the night sky. And one day... he'll come for me when the time is right."


 * --Nia'ati Kuryeon


 * "Kir, do you ever wonder what our babies would look like? I-I mean... just strictly speaking! Y'know? If it were even possible and... well... if we were ever to get that far and... well... umm... you know? With the whole 'being hunted by your own race thing'... and... well... you don't lay eggs do you? Umm... I mean... even if it were like that, I don't... think... I could... umm... I'll just stop talking now."


 * --Nia'ati, digging herself into a deeper hole

Post-Induction

 * "Hmph! Dancing is way different from the fighting techniques Master Zwei teaches us. Don't you dare tell me that its the same Kir!"


 * --Trying her hand at partner dancing... again...


 * "C'mon Kir! You're so slow!"


 * --Dragging Kir around the sanctuary


 * "This would be so much easier if I had ten arms like you!!!"


 * --During a survival exercise


 * "Hmph! So all we have to do is run straight through, right!?"


 * --During another survival exercise

Pre-Induction

 * "Child, you will most certainly change the world someday. This old one can feel it in her bones."


 * -Squirren Elder

Post-Induction

 * "That girl... is quite spirited..."


 * --Deus, dumbfounded, to Khariton Kir


 * "Hmm... So even the most star-crossed lovers can find a way... huh?"


 * --Kana Xanadu, on Kir and Nia'ati's relationship


 * "You seem to enjoy embarrassing me around the brothers and sisters of our legion... not that I don't mind it at all but..."


 * --Khariton Kir, flustered, reprimanding Nia'ati

Trivia

 * Nia'ati's conceptualization is of a squirrel anthropomorph. Her character design and personality was based off of Makoto Nanaya from the Blazblue game series.