Hrulash Cato

Hrulash Cato is the son of Marcus Cato and Elisia Delphina Cata and the rider of Garekhen. He is the cousin of Tseo ad Ventum and the future husband of Hitomi, and the future father of Aiya Elisia Cata and Mwennon Marcus Cato.

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Name: Hrulash Cato
Race: human
Birthdate: 3954
Place of origin: Regalo, Quintus
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 198 lbs
Hair colour: brown
Eye colour: brown
Voice type: baritone
Voice match: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Occupation: soldier, landholder
Unit and rank: Littleclaws Training Unit, I/VI/X, I/III/VII, legionary; Littleclaws Training Unit, centurion
Bonded partner: Garekhen (empathic)

Background

Hrulash was born in the Quintusian city of Regalo to Marcus Cato and Elisia Delphina Cata. They happened to live next to the ad Ventum family, and as Elisia was very close to her sister, Cara Delphina ad Ventum, she was also taken by the ad Ventum tradition of naming their children elvish names in honour of an elf ancestor - and so Hrulash was given an elvish name, despite having no drop of non-human blood in his body. Marcus was indulgent on the name, as long as it didn't sound ridiculous, and his father Petrus Cato scoffed but Petrus's wife Cynthia Rosae Cata thought it was a lovely idea. From a very early age, Hrulash grew up inseparable from his year-older cousin, Tseo ad Ventum. They played outside at Tseo's insistence, terrorizing the servants, slaves, and neighbourhood children. They formed what might be called a gang, with Tseo as their captain and Hrulash as his lieutenant, and into their early teens, whenever Tseo had free time, Hrulash was at his command.

At the same time, Hrulash was receiving the best education the Catos could provide. His mother taught him his letters when he was very small, but as he grew older, he had a tutor for history, geography, rhetoric, mathematics (his favourite subject), and music (his least favourite subject). The Cato steward, Domitian Matius, taught him the principles to running the estate, though Hrulash's father Marcus wouldn't let him do much of that sort of work yet. He and Tseo studied martial arts on an off-hand basis with another tutor, since even though Regalo was in the heart of Quintus, Quintus was still an Empire with many enemies. Beginning in his early teens, Hrulash began to accompany his father to the Regalo Council sometimes, and from then on he began to spend less time with his gang - and so did Tseo. Here, he began to meet more people, including girls, though nothing came of that; most of them were interested in him only for his parents' wealth and position, and flattered him even though they also clearly disliked him and his solemn, stoic demeanour. But Hrulash learned how to deal with the finicky, fickle Council, how to use his rhetoric in a practical fashion, and how to support sane opinions in a reasonably diplomatic manner even when old fat men said silly impractical things.
When Hrulash turned eighteen, he went camping with Tseo in the mountains across the river from Regalo, a week-long trip to celebrate his ascension to adulthood. But it was not a peaceful experience, and one that led to Hrulash saddled with an empathic bond with an addlepated dragon named Garekhen

Personality

Dour, sarcastic, and cold. He is also proud, dutiful, private, irritable, unimaginative, and overwhelmingly logical. He prefers quiet and order in his life. Once his trust is gained, he is loyal to death. He has a strong moral code, and although he is a relatively weak fighter, he makes up for it with patience, tactical analysis, and a cold-blooded determination. Hidden away as much as possible are the self-doubts that plague him; he considers emotion, positive or negative, to be weakness and wants to show no weakness even to his close friends; he is emotionally constipated. Related to that, he hates 'performing' tasks at which he is not expert. He is excellent at colour drill but will only rarely join the unit in karaoke and dancing at the local bar, and then only if not pestered, only if he can take the others by surprise. He would be jealous of Tseo’s abilities, charisma, popularity, and cheerfulness, but he respects his cousin too much for that, and so all he feels is a tired wistfulness that he is not a different man. His duty is his life and he respects rank greatly. He is a surprisingly strong proponent of the First Cohort and will sometimes reveal a flicker of passion regarding their honour and purpose. He is not very religious, like his father and grandfather, though he suspects he should believe in something.
He loves the smell of wool. When feeling confident in sparring, he will twirl his lance once before attacking, though he never does this in proper battle. Very straight and disapproves of shenanigans in public. His favourite colour is yellow.
As mentioned, Hrulash is a relatively weak fighter, relying less on instinct and talent and more on endlessly-drilled technique. He is strong, but not quick (much like Garekhen) and will only let his reflexes take over when he panics. He struggles to relax into the flow of battle. While his experience as a child has helped him somewhat to read tactics unconsciously, he doesn't trust his gut and studies hard to try to understand what he feels the others just seem to know.

Detailed Appearance

Hrulash has smooth dark brown hair that he lets grow long, and ties in a low ponytail. It often hangs over his shoulder (although that is mostly an attempt by the artist to show that he has a ponytail). He has narrow, fierce brown eyes that are slightly tilted up at the corners; he might have inherited them from his mother. From his mother, too, comes his long straight nose, instead of his father and grandfather's aquiline Cato nose. He has a small mouth that he often keeps firmly shut and set in a perpetual disapproving curve. Although he finds it difficult to grow a beard, he keeps his face shaved neatly. His skin is a tanned olive colour.
Hrulash is fairly tall (6'3") and due to his training as a soldier, he has considerable muscle mass, but he is an extremely lean and wiry man.
Hrulash often wears yellow tunics at home, and usually his toga is white. In the army, he inherits his grandfather's dragonrider armour, which is gilded gold over dark blue wool and leather. The helmet has no crest. After he inherits these colours, he starts wearing a dark blue toga over a yellow tunic on special occasions.

Skills and Abilities

  • paperwork
  • lance fighting
  • power of grump/snark
  • (Book 2) basic fire magic

Personal Belongings

  • Rufumala Hastam: the Redwing Spear, a three-meter long lance belonging to Hrulash's grandfather, Petrus Cato. The head is of red steel, with wings on either side of the central blade, and the haft is black. Dwarf-made.
  • Cato armour: Petrus Cato's gilded golden dragonrider armour, over a dark blue wool tunic and shorts, and with a dark blue cloak.

Other

Theme songs:

Nicknames: Hru, Hruly, Lash, Grumpypants

Hrulash is a crossover from the Adhemlenei.

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