Tal 'Zerex

"I was driven to my lowest point, abandoned by everything I ever knew. So I left it all behind, threw away all they taught me and forgot all they did to me. I chose my own path. My life is my own and it always will be."

- Tal 'Zerex

Tal 'Zerex, also known by his title and pseudonym The Blood Reaver, is a mercenary that appeared soon after the end of the. Starting an initially unassuming life in a small backwater keep on the Sangheili colony of Expectant Prospects Tal's simple life soon took a turn for the worst when his keep was obliterated, leaving him the only survive. Determined to not let his life slide into poverty and solitude he joined the military. There he was able to overcome the stigma placed on him by his peers and was able to prove himself as a dedicated and skilled warrior. From there Tal would lead a successful military career until he was almost killed in an explosion. Instead of being killed Tal was saved, but to do so he had to be heavily augmented with cybernetics. After this he was sunned by most of his kind and placed in a support unit for the remainder of the war. Embittered over his treatment following his augmentation Tal disappeared soon after the war ended, taking up work as a mercenary. He eventually ended up a gladiator in The Pits, where he rose to become the most successful fighter until his escape 5 years later. Once free Tal took up mercenary work again, becoming a feared killer for hire. Eventually he would join the crew of the Chancer V, becoming honour-bond to protect it's captain.

Early Life
Tal 'Zerex was born during the early years of the 1st Age of Reclamation, the year 2525 on the human calendar, to the line of Zerex on the colony of Expectant Prospects. The Zerex keep was by no means a well known keep, it's main export was food grown on the miles of fertile ground. As such young males of the keep diverted their time between helping to tend the farmland and learning the arts of combat, the instructors of the keep maintained that working the land grew important characteristics in the young ones. From a young age Tal was known to be an energetic and driven youngster and could often be found trying to keep up with the adults of the keep, in some cases trying to follow them into meetings he was forbidden to enter. Though his actions did sometimes end with punishment his will to follow often impressed his elders.

As he grew older he did become more reserved but no less spirited. His driven attitude also attracted the attention of Tak 'Zerex, a close uncle of Tal's who was a recently returned veteran of the covenant military. Seeing in Tal the necessary skills that could, with the correct coaching, lead him to be a great warrior. He decided to give Tal extra training, hoping to carry on his own fading legacy in Tal's potential.

In the shadows
Tal spent the next decade and a half wandering the galaxy alone. He took up work as a solider for hire. During this time he worked with human insurrectionists and Kig-yar pirates, anyone who could offer him supplies or money. Tal speaks very little of these times leading to a certain amount of inaccuracy as to what he really did. It is known that he was mostly on the run, fleeing the covenant forces in his area so that he wasn't killed for heresy and desertion. Though there is no real evidence for it there are theories abound that he was present during the insurrection on Mamore and the battles of Reach and Earth. Though to what capacity remains unknown. For the better part of two decades Tal 'Zerex disappeared from the galaxy.



The Gladiator
The next time the galaxy heard anything of Tal 'Zerex was in 2560 on Renegade City. The city was positioned out in the Frontier where even during the covenant's occupation of that portion of the galaxy all manner of species had come to the gargantuan station. It was here that Tal was making a new name for himself. Captured by pirates two years previously, they had sold him on the owner of the gladiatorial arena, the Kig-yar Raa-Ursk, in exchange for a healthy sum of credits.

In the arena Tal quickly rose through the ranks, becoming a favourite of the crowd and the owners of The Pits. Tal would spend the next three years in The Pits, matching his skill at arms against anything that could be thrown at him. Eventually he was the highest ranking and most successful fighter in the arena. It was during this time that Tal became addicted to Red Dawn, a combat enhancement drug popular among the fighters and owners as it made a much more entertaining fight.

Despite not being free The Pits made Tal feel alive again. As he proved himself more as a fighter the other gladiators begun to respect him and he them. Bonds were formed through fighting, regardless of race or background. Tal felt like he had a family, a dysfunctional one but family none the less.

As Tal's skill and popularity grew many of the older fighters begun to see the chance they had long been waiting for. The chance to escape. As per the laws of the arena the most successful fighter can demand a 'Freedom Fight' where by if the fighter wins he is released. For years fighters from the Pits had battled their way up the ranks only to be defeated. However many believed that Tal had the skills needed to complete this challenge. Tal decided that he wanted his life back and stormed into Ursk's hall and demanding the fight. Ursk agreed and decided to pit Tal against one of his Lekgolo bodyguard Ungda Nora Pauu.

The fight was bitter, Tal used all the skills he had learnt in the arena but was only able to defeat the hunter by tripping it up and then tearing the alpha worm from his back, though the Hunter was still able to blind Tal in his left eye before he was defeated. Raa had assumed that Ungda would win. Not wishing to let the other fighters gain any hope of escape the jackal declared that Tal had cheated and ordered his retinue to kill him. Angered by this Tal decided to use his own trump card, feeling that the jackal wouldn't be true to his word the other fighters prepared an escape in order to help Tal should things go awry. At his call the gladiators below suddenly broke free from their cells and stormed the jackals quarters, tearing their way through the complex as they did. Tal lead the final charge into Raa's sanctum and concluded the fight by impaling the alien through the chest and then casting him in front of his followers. The quaking jackals that had survived the slaughter allowed the fighters to go free.

Personality
"I'm a drug addicted exiled sangheili mercenary. Life turned it's back on me and I turned it back around again. I don't regret anything that has happened to me."

- Tal talking about life

On the surface Tal would appear to be just another Sangheili warrior for hire. A brutish thug embodying the qualities that the rest of his species would prefer to distance themselves from. When he was younger Tal was highly inquisitive, interested to know all he could find out. Over the years; his time with the covenant army, his desertion, capture, drug addiction and long mercenary career have greatly change his personality. He acts with a cold smugness when dealing with others that isn't so much arrogance but self assuredness. With people he considers friends he is less cold and retains a rather pleasant out look, though still aloof, something that isn't fully expected given his appearance.

Tal does maintain a code of honour. Mostly he will refrain from harming innocents but isn't above taking hostages to achieve him aims. He does however show great respect to those who have earned it, though to earn it is never an easy thing. Once trust is earned Tal is very protective of those he considers friends and will look out for them as much as he can.

Skills
Having been trained to use a variety of combat systems Tal is able to easily shift between battlefield roles with ease. However he finds it easier to engage in mid to close range combat. His combat style is especially brutal, preferring to kill his enemies up close. He makes the most of his enhanced physiology and resistance to injury to let him close the distance on the enemy quickly and dispatch them quicker either with his guns or close range weapons. Due to his cybernetic enhancements he has much higher strength than most other sangheili, allowing him to wrestle with much stronger races such as brutes and hunters with ease. These enhancements also make him much more resilient and thus much harder to kill.

Outside of combat Tal is experienced in vehicle maintenance and repair, making regular upgrades and repair jobs to his personal ship. Similarly he has a limited understanding of computer systems, more so sangheili than human or alien. Tal is also very skilled at growing and making drugs and narcotics. Chief among them being Red Dawn, the combat drug he became hooked on during his time a gladiator.

Equipment
Years of working as a mercenary has made Tal proficient in a variety of combat skills. He is highly skilled with small arms weapons, of both human and alien origin, as well as a few specialised weapons. Tal's common weapons include a customized Covenant Carbine with human M6 Magnum and his energy sword. His armour is also stashed with a variety of combat items ranging from medical supplies to explosives. Tal is also known to gather weapons that he finds on the battlefield, either for later use or to save ammo at the time.



Tal's armour is a mish-mash of various components that he has gathered over the years to replace the battle damage he has sustained. The armour was originally an ultra combat harness that he stole when he abandoned the covenant. He still bears the pointed helmet, though whether this is the original helmet or one he took to replace it is unknown. The rest of the armour is made up of whatever he could gather, including an assault and commando harnesses. Over time as the suit received more damage Tal was forced to take parts where ever he could, including grafting on pieces of human armour systems as a substitute. He has also placed various pouches, containers and other storage devices on his armour to store his ammo, medical supplies and explosives.

Quotes
"I accept that there are….moral ambiguities to the things that I do. But I've always thought that morality is mostly subjective. ‘One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter’ as the humans say. So while to most people see me as a murderer, a pirate and a renegade. Others will see me as a peace keeper, savoir and revolutionary. I don't care which"

- Tal talking about his stance on morality

"No! No! Don't you dare leave us here! Damn you do you hear me! A thousand hell's await you!"

- Tal, when he was abandoned on New Jerusalem

"I like to travel actually, it adds perspective to my life. I work most of days just doing what I need to do to carry on and seeing other places and people and how they do things...I provides a new skew on how I see things."

- Tal, circumstance unknown

Trivia

 * Tal's armour changes a lot over the course of his life. He wears the common minor armour will part of the covenant, during his time as a gladiator he wears a modified ultra harness and after that he wears whatever he get his hands on.