Sebastian T. Shelby

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"My mentor... He was never about the glory. He was serious and ran his crew hard, but we didn't mind - we owed him for his dedication at protecting the colonist. He was the most driven and interesting man I ever knew... Hard to imagine I'll never hear his speeches again..."

- Captain Nagata Shinano.

Vice Admiral Lord Sebastian Tiberius Shelby, 37th Viscount of Whitelaw, also known by his troops as the Blueblood Admiral and the Swordsman Admiral, and to the as one of the Seven Impediments of the Path, was a skilled naval commander of the  who served during the  and early. Born to noble blood in England,, Shelby always intended to serve the greater benefit of humanity through military service, without letting his heritage get in the way. Graduating from the on, Shelby would quickly earn command of his first ship, the  UNSC Galahad. Making only friends to those who could earn his respect through skill and strength of character, Shelby earned a reputation as a stoic aristocratic officer who was particularly harsh on pirates, and played a particularly-active role during the Insurrection.

Despite expecting to retire by at the age of 62, Shelby would be forced to stay on in command when the  arrived, beginning the. Now commanding the lead ship of the, Shelby would risk forced retirement until the massacre of Midvale. Now witnessing the horrors of the war he was now fighting, Shelby would famously defend every colony he was assigned until the last civilian was evacuated, taking severe losses but inflicting damaging casualties on the alien invaders. He would continue doing so for another four years, until in he would meet his end during the Battle of Thorney. There Shelby would sacrifice himself to buy his fleet and the colony the time to escape in a legendary gambit, meeting his end after engaging in a duel with a Covenant Shipmaster.

Early Life
Sebastian Tiberius Shelby was born on September 29, 2463, to Gennevieve and Viscount Tiberius Shelby of British Nobility in their native Viscounty of Whitelaw in England, Earth. He was the first-born of three brothers and a sister.

Battle of Caruthers
"This is Vice Admiral Lord Sebastian T. Shelby. Lt. Snow is indisposed. You are hereby ordered to allow that transport to leave unobstructed. Interrupt the evacuation of civilians again and I will deliver to your superiors your heads personally."

- Rear Admiral Shelby ordering ONI agents to allow a civilian evacuation ship to leave despite the agents' belief that Insurrectionist-sympathizers were on board.

Battle of Thorney
"Listen and take heed, alien scum. I am Admiral Lord Sebastian Tiberius Shelby, commander of this fleet and 37th Viscount Shelby of Whitelaw. By the power invested in me, this world and its inhabitants are under my protection. If you want them, you’ll have to go through me. I challenge you, cowards! I spit at your so-called warrior’s pride. You gutless Elites have butchered our worlds for the last time! And I’m coming for you! Helm! Give me full power ahead!"

- Shelby's most famous communique, challenging the entire Covenant fleet before launching his final stand.

Personality
As a child, Shelby was best described as an intelligent, if lonesome and driven, young boy. He isolated himself away from the other children because of his nobility, but remained modest and humble. He quickly understood his position as a firstborne commanded no real power, so never ordered people around and never bragged about it. Instead, he knew it meant he had higher standards to meet, and wanted to meet the goals he set himself by himself and rarely accepted help. He made this up with his near-obsessional dedication to his studies, practising revisions from his lessons in his free time thanks to pressure from his position to do well. However, he often butted-heads with people who were lazy, unable to understand why they couldn't drive themselves to reach the average mark. This led to several confrontations in which Shelby fought his classmates in early high school, though fortunately he became more tolerant and calmer as time went on. He did not pursue relationships even this early, believing it to be a waste of time that could be allocated to his studies. In fact, he rarely seemed to have fun, with the exception to his swordsman lessons which he enjoyed immensely. Out of school, he was well-manned, mature and highly disciplined, always offering to take bags from visitors, pull seats out at the table and offering help whenever he could. The only downside to this pressure and expectations from his family is that he did encounter minor anxiety which occurred in panic attacks at times.

Unlike most people, Shelby did not actually change much since his childhood.

Shelby spoke in a very proper, very well-calculated way with words. His accent was easily identified as being from English nobility, speaking loudly but softly in a way that still commanded attention and respect. He always included his manners and referred to people by their rank and last name, except with people he was close to in which he would refer to their first names or even nicknames, like with the command crews on his flagships. However, he could get quite bombastic when it came to his inspiration speeches, often drawing his sword and pointing it at the enemy.

Skills
As shown throughout his service, Shelby was a gifted tactician that was sometimes compared to the great by his men. Throughout his career, Shelby, while not a innovator himself, was quick to adopt new tactics should they prove more effective than his own, such as the implementation of Magnetic Accelerator Cannons, and continued to experiment with fleet formations and composition. Shelby was keen on always keeping the warships under his command properly supported, often luring in Covenant ships with his cruisers and using bold hit-and-run tactics to great effect.

Unlike Cole, who was willing to accept ruthless statistics and abandon some colonies to protect others, Shelby was determined to fight every single battle he could, having sworn to protect every colony under his protection until they could be completely evacuated. Above all else, he was far more driven then any other commander, and encouraged his ships to fight tooth-and-nail until they could no longer fight, giving him an impressive number of kills under his belt. His tactics and motivation ensured that while he saw few actual victories, each defeat saw a high number of casualties dealt to the Covenant.

While his inability to accept the futility of a situation could be seen as a weakness, the reason why he could perform such feats was another strength of Shelby - his charisma. Shelby made a great attempt to know or at least learn about every servicemen under his command, and left an impression on captains who conversed with him regularly. Despite his noble-born status as aristocracy, Shelby never distanced himself away from his crew. He frequently ate with them, listened to their life stories, answered many questions about himself and his thoughts on their situation without reserve, all with his usual composed dignity. For this reason, the Admiral never saw the crews of his ships as simply numbers, and the loss of each one spurred him on to rally his sailors to redouble their efforts. Unfortunately, this would come to eat away at his conscience, as each battle he fought ended with a entire world being glassed and many many brave crew members who had chosen to follow him having lost their lives. While he bore these losses stoically, they would continue to weigh heavily on his shoulders. That said, he'd always regalvanize himself by being determined to be better prepared for the next battle, pushing himself to learn from each battle.

He did much to prepare the UNSC's reeling forces for the later war which he knew he would not be a part of, "preparing the next generation" as he put it; compiling an extensive list of observations about Covenant tactics and fleet formations for other officers to use, proposing theoretical new ship designs aimed at combating the Covenant specifically, training untested crews and fleets in new tactics, and even personally took some promising captains under his wing to prepare them for the worst that's yet to come. All of this won him many allies and admirers who supported him.

Although this had few, if any combat utility given his position, Shelby was a lifelong practitioner of swordsmanship and a superb fencer. While simply a long tradition in his family, even at an advanced age Shelby maintained strict physical and mental discipline, practicing and sparring to stay sharp. Trained in the art by a dedicated tutor starting at a young age, the man quickly developed a hard, fast style that he made sure to change occasionally, focusing on always adapting to the changing circumstances. This made him a very hard opponent to beat, and even allowed him to last a fair while in a duel against an experienced Sangheili shipmaster. He carried around a ceremonial sword everywhere he went, expensively tailored by a master swordsmith to his exacting standards. As expected, it became the most treasured object in his possession, and he used it to exaggerate his pose when giving out orders.