Difference between revisions of "Julian Valendrift"

Latest revision as of 09:23, 16 June 2024

Julian Valendrift
Biographical Information
Race	Human
Homeworld	Dakshee
Mother	Madeline Valendrift
Father	Elias Valendrift (deceased)
Spouse	Bailley Zion (divorced)
Siblings	Dante Valendrift (deceased), Aalaiyah Valendrift
Children	none
Born	D255 Y -10
Imperial Service
Branch	Imperial Army
Positions
Prior Service	Ruby Region Taskforce Commanding Officer 3rd Imperial Legion Legion Commanding Officer 2nd Brigade/2nd Legion Brigade Commanding Officer Brigade Executive Officer Imperial Army Legionnaire
Awards

"You can pay a soldier to fire a gun. You can pay him to charge the enemy and take a hill. But you can't pay him to believe."

-Anonymous

Julian Valendrift is an esteemed Imperial and fiercely dedicated soldier currently serving in the Imperial army.

Character History

Julian was born the second of three children on the planet temperate planet of Dakshee. As a resident of one of the larger coastal metropolises with the planet's largest starport, Julian benefited from surroundings flush with the products of Imperial peace. Abundant trade, safe streets, room to live and every amenity within reach. His family was close knit, his parents fostering competitiveness and compassion. The family business was founded as a fluid computer software company and now traded in of hypercommunications and data encryption. There was room to grow and each of the children had some dream for the slice of the company that might be their's. His parents were also leaders in the local COMPNOR party, and they each came into their own as dutiful, active citizens. Julian, more than the others, found himself progressively more concerned by his daily findings on the Galactic News. He started to wonder if his service - his calling - would be somewhere far away from Dakshee.

As he finished his primary studies, Julian became outwardly militant. Despite the peace he took for granted, the Empire was at war. His readings and political engagements would bring news of a health crisis, or terror attack - things always boiling in the reckless lawlessness outside of Imperial space - that appeared to come closer every day. How could he justify inheriting affluence and security when, somewhere, he could be forcing a change? His parents did not disuade him from visiting recruiters. Nor did they restrict his trips to firing ranges or martial arts centers when athletics no longer served as a proper outlet. And they did not dismiss his anxieties or dismay at the dinner table, but conversations would usually end the same: he ought to be thankful for his lot and focus on building better opportunities at home.

Julian's home city

Julian gradually found himself chaffing at the expectations of joining the company and adding the next building blocks. He had a knack for administration and team building, but didn't feel like the tasks were serious enough - or the stakes bombastic enough.

But a comm letter home made the decision for him. The Galactic Alliance at that time was like a chimera from a horror-vid, comically misshapen but with a ravenous appetite an appalling lack of consideration for those it would associate with. This fact would be the one that shattered his world, when his father was among those killed in a starport disaster when he was striking business out of sector. The pirates who gloated responsibility for the heinous crime were found within weeks to have funding sources in the GA.

The pain struck like a dagger lightyears away. Their mother was debilitated by mourning and the business was abruptly handed to partners while she was incapacitated. Julian's brother Dante immediately enlisted in the Imperial Army, vengeful and accused of running from his grief, particularly by his siblings. His sister Aaliyah took a more active part in the business, compartmentalizing as her way to stay afloat. He had hesitated until his mother recovered, but Julian was eager to turn his grief to action. His education and his family’s standing left fewer obstacles in his path to a military commission. But his reckless urgency, like his brother’s, compelled him to action immediately. And to Julian, regular Army training would not do. He would put himself among the number clad in white, their helmets with stone-cold scowls. Shortly after application, he was on a corvette to Stormtrooper Corps Basic Training on Carida, joined by dozens of fresh Imperials from the latest COMPNOR Spirited Enlistment drive.

Imperial Service

Forged in Fire

Upon the completion of his basic training, Julian was thrilled to find his wish had come true. Half of his graduating unit would be assigned to active combat duty. Operation Sovereign Canopy on the planet Derra IV had entered its late stages, with the Galactic Alliance locking in brutal combat with Imperial forces as the Metamorphosis Plague spiraled out of control. He arrived with jingoist overconfidence, but was quickly stamped by disastrous encounters with apex predators in the jungle and the daily struggle of sporadic combat against an entrenched, determined enemy.

Julian with his company during the 2nd Brigade assault on Derra cities

He took part in 16 walker assaults on heavily fortified cities over two continents, distinguishing himself in bloody urban combat against New Republic regulars and fanatic Krath Dynasty legionnaires. He would earn the friendship and trust of Bailley Zion,Kage, Jake Addison, Ivy Yetheron and Mikal Blak. He, like many others in the ranks of the 2nd Imperial Legion, aspired to conduct himself in the manner of the legendary Agramon Kane, the Hellhound personified. But he and his comrades equally treasured the precision and foresight of Amne Zailyn and the heroics of Lane Rendell, the latter of whom had a penchant of charging alongside his troops through the thickest of combat. The Galactic Alliance withdrew from the planet, and a demanding Imperial occupation relented when criminal syndicates and war profiteering regimes were stamped out, leaving room for provisional local governments to re-establish a semblance of cohesion and prioritize the virus.

Julian left Derra IV a battle hardened Sergeant with all the evidence he needed of the chaos in the galaxy, and the forces willing to abuse it. He was even more possessed of the righteousness of the New Order’s mission, and his family was thrilled by his recommitment to armed service.

Following his tour of active combat, Julian engaged in every facet of Army life, and vigorously executed his duties at home and abroad. Within a year, Julian would step foot on more planets and stellar bodies as a Stormtrooper than he had traveled cities on his homeworld as a citizen. The splendor of seeing the galaxy would always remain thrilling, but gradually the fighting that had once consumed him became the mundane. The Brigade would seldom return to its fortress world headquarters, and would instead foray to the edges of Imperial space to combat Republic-backed insurgencies or local warlords thrashing against Imperial governance. Pacification operations allowed the Brigade to keep its teeth sharp, and left sound impressions on insurgents as they developed a reputation for swift and total responses. He became a consummate professional, participating in battles within cities, deserts, forests, marshlands, mountains space colonies and zero-gee asteroids.

MSGT Valendrift and company deploying to tame rebels on a desert world.

When not engaged in combat, Julian made a reputation for being the first to volunteer for experimental weapon and tactics programs. It is perhaps here, in addition to his tireless morale and his performance in leading soldiers in the field, where he was recognized more frequently by his commanders. He was offered to pursue an officer's commission, a rare and difficult decision for a rising enlisted man, but one that Julian was thrilled to accept. With the endorsement of his command staff, he returned to the Land Warfare College on Carida, earning his commission adjacent to the same grounds where he was first inducted years prior.

Julian was one of thousands of enlisted soldiers and starfarers who became officers at this time in the Empire, from either spontaneous fervor or a decree from the Throne to uplift and empower those fit for greater responsibilities. One such fellow soldier was Bailley Zion. Though stationed across the galaxy from each other, they made every attempt to spend time together on leave or special request since parting ways after their mutual deployment. He was awestruck by her, plain and simple, and was not shy about his admiration for her fiery spirit and her compassionate selflessness. With their commissions in hand and a future seeming certain, the two were wed with their comrades and families in attendance.

The Hellhound

The jubilation was short lived, as Julian’s commanding officer and now beloved mentor Lane Rendell would soon after become the center of scandal, publicly denouncing the Throne before the entire galaxy. Though Rendell fled Imperial justice with few friends, junior or senior, it was a personal wound to Julian. And while the Army was in no way fractured by the departure of one man, the Hellhounds in particular were cast in the stink of melancholy, its pride tarnished by treason with the pervasive sense of ISB eyes and ears prosecuting the slightest trace of doubt.

Julian grappled against the or shrink away from his duty. Or give into unreasonable pessimism, like suggest that his new friend and accomplished Imperial Intelligence hero |Robert Decca| recently assigned to the Hellhounds as a company officer was a cynical security asset. But the inspirations were aplenty.

Service Record

Ranks Held

Grade	Insignia	Rank	Time In Grade	Promoted By
[E-1]		Recruit	Y14 D150 - Y14 D160	Enrollment into the Imperial Academy
[E-2]		Private	Y14 D160 - Y14 D194	Chief Engineer Kent Amba
[E-4]		Corporal	Y14 D194 - Y14 D226	Brigade Command
[E-5]		Sergeant	Y14 D226 - Y14 D289	Brigade Command
[E-8]		Master Sergeant	Y14 D289 - Y14 D332	Brigade Command
[O-2]		First Lieutenant	Y14 D332 - Y15 D21	Brigade Command
[O-3]		Captain	Y15 D21 - Y15 D219	Brigade Command
[O-4]		Major	Y15 D219 - Y16 D14	Legion Command
[O-5]		Lieutenant Colonel	Y16 D14 - Y16 D198	Legion Command
[O-6]		Colonel	Y16 D198 - Y17 D49	Lord General Graeda L`Annan
[C-1]		Brigadier General	Y17 D49 - Y17 D112	Command General Zhaff Orikan
[C-4]		General	Y17 D112 - Y17 D307	Command General Zhaff Orikan
[O-7]		High Colonel	Y17 D308 - Y19 D207	Imperial Army Reserves
[O-7]		High Colonel	Y19 D207 - Y20 D101	Reservist Reactivation
[O-7]		High Colonel	Y20 D101 - Y21 D250	Imperial Army Reserves
[O-7]		High Colonel	Y21 D250 - Y23 D58	Reservist Reactivation
[C-4]		General	Y23 D58 - Y23 D191	Lord Admiral Cihl Rezik
[O-7]		High Colonel	Y23 D191 - Y25 D191	Stromtrooper Corps Reserves
[O-6]		Overseer	Y25 D198 - Present	Regional Government Command

Current ID

Positions Held