(See more images here.)
Pronunciation: VEHR-ih-koh
Commander of the Guard and future leader in the Octerran League, the ambitious Verico would affect much of the Post-Reformation’s first millennium. To his admirers he was a champion of the stateless, the father of a nation, and an emblem of Magnan-Protoderman unity. To his opponents he was a usurper, an engineer of wars, and subverter of the old ways of the Glatorian. He was born in the final years of Bara Magna, to the last vestige of a pre-Shattering Jungle Tribe. He would go on to shape the future identity of all eight Element Tribes of Octerra.
Bio:
The backstory to this character got a bit lengthier than I envisioned, so I’m breaking the first half up into little collapsibles. The rest ran up against the character count; as much as I hate to do this, I’ll leave a link to the rest below.
A cookie for the one or two people that make it to the end: 
Part 1:
Castra Magna (Pre-Shattering to Middle Ante-Reformation Era)
Verico was born in Arx Maxima, capital of a narrow strip of land between the Jungle and Rock Tribes known as Castra Magna. Its nine colossal strongholds were commissioned by the Jungle Lord on the eve of the Core War to shore up their porous northern border. This archipelago of fortress cities was christened “Castra Magna” - or the Great Strongholds. Each was equipped with the most advanced military armaments and technology then known to Octerra (*the expansive region historically inhabited by the eight Element Tribes). Its inhabitants comprised the most loyal and hardened elite of the Jungle Lord’s legions, who swore an oath to defend Castra Magna unto death. For years the strongholds held as the Jungle’s legendary bulwark against their enemies’ most aggressive incursions.
After the Shattering, Castra Magna’s heavy defenses and stockpiled resources spared them the hellish anarchy of early Bara Magna, and settlements in between strongholds happily fell under their protection. With the collapse of Tribe governance, each stronghold’s Praetor assumed full civic power in addition to their military authority, creating the title of Propraetor. The nine Propraetors ruled each stronghold and surrounding settlements with absolute authority, deferring only to the judgement of the most powerful stronghold: Arx Maxima. As such, Arx Maxima’s Propraetor - a fearsome Glatorian named Fidius - was given the unique title of Propraetor-Iudex. Presuming the Jungle Lord dead, the Propraetors believed themselves sole heirs to his imperial authority. Castra Magna, they believed, was now the only legitimate sovereign power in and of the Jungle Tribe.
The region developed independently from the rest of Bara Magna. The Propraetors’ claim to the whole of the Jungle Tribe raised friction with the region’s other survivors, whom Castra Magna dismissed as scavenging barbarians. They further ostracized themselves by refusing to participate in the later Arena system, and thus denied any formal relations with the remnant tribes. To the legionary Castra Magnans, the Arena matches were little more than ritual bloodsport - a mockery of Glatorian martial honor born out of a desperation they did not share. But by the middle Bara Magna period, most of the scattered “barbarians” had consolidated along old tribal lines. Castra Magna’s resources and technology became tempting targets. To the east, the loosely collected Bone Hunters were more irritating than truly threatening. The new Jungle Tribe to the south warred more coherently, but eventually mellowed into tacit tolerance after realizing Castra Magna served better as their historic northern barrier than as their enemy. And to the north, the Skrall continued their aggression unabated. Castra Magna’s legendary impenetrability was reaffirmed with every successful rebuff. But in secret, each new attack also strained their precious resources a little more.
Tuma's War (Late Ante-Reformation Era)
The most devastating attack came from a newly unified Skrall nation under Tuma. The warlord placated the other Octerran Tribes, even formally participating in the Arena system, in order to lower their guards. In truth, Tuma planned an unprecedented campaign of conquest and sought Castra Magna as the pivotal first stepping stone into the Octerran heartland. Tuma saw past the strongholds’ supposed impenetrability. And Castra Magna’s strategic location, fortification, and weaponry were irresistible targets to make the foundation of his long term campaign. He convinced the Jungle Tribe to remain neutral in any potential conflict between Castra Magna and himself, even offering a part of the strongholds in promise of good faith. The Jungle Tribe was content with this arrangement.
After manipulating pretense for war, Tuma launched his surprise attack on Castra Magna in the late Bara Magna period. All surrounding towns were demolished during the early offensive and their inhabitants fled permanently into the strongholds. An intense siege war ensued thereafter for weeks. But the fortress cities proved more than Tuma had expected. Their zealous resistance forced the warlord to concede that retreat would be better in the long term than a pyrrhic victory. Tuma’s siege of Castra Magna set back his plans by years, forcing him to ally with the Bone Hunters and reorient the staging ground for invasion from the southeast instead. But if the war had injured the Skrall, it crippled Castra Magna. Its entire population was now bottled into its nine fortress cities - cities in massive disrepair, dangerously low on resources, and whose high technology was beginning to break down. From this point on, Castra Magna’s reputation was its only true deterrence from serious attack. None outside the walls could have guessed how badly damaged the strongholds really were.
Young Verico (99,973-100,000 A.R.E.)
It was into this dysfunction that Verico was born. His mother Braenna was one of those fleeing the inner towns for the strongholds. His father was a famed warrior of Arx Maxima named Sarpinius Magnus, whose cognomen was awarded for his outsized valor in the war with Tuma. Sarpinius had saved Braenna from the wreckage of Tuma’s assault on the outside settlements and sired a son with her in the aftermath of war. For most of Verico’s young life, this would be all he knew of his father.
Sarpinius was an Auctus, one of the worthy chosen by the Great Beings (and later the Element Lords) for the highest suite of cybernetic enhancements. They had often spearheaded Tribe legions, and thus formed the leadership of contemporary Castra Magna. The most distinguishing feature of their augmentation became their incredible longevity; by Verico’s time the average Auctus would have seen the passing of a hundred Magnan generations. But after the Shattering and the loss of augmentation technology, a taboo developed against Aucti forming families and generating children which seemed to recognize the emotional distance between such jarringly different lifespans. Sarpinius had broken that taboo with Braenna and their son. Thus he publicly denied his parenthood throughout Verico’s childhood and saw little of him. The young Verico only understood that his father was ashamed of him and his mother. And it bore in him confused resentment.
But this pattern changed toward the end of Verico’s adolescence, when his father took an abrupt interest in training him. One evening, Sarpinius had witnessed his son successfully fend off a group of larger boys from his district; perhaps he recognized a familiar ferocity in the spirit of his son but the old Auctus decided on the spot to take Verico under his wing. At first, Verico didn’t know what to make of his estranged father’s sudden reappearance. But he eventually accepted the offer, if only for the benefit of his mother who, along with Verico, would finally be invited out of the cramped post-war slums of Arx Maxima.
Young Verico trained under his father, both privately and in the company of Arx Maxima’s legions. The precocious adolescent was quick to learn the ways of war and, despite misgivings with his father, trained passionately. He proved to possess a tactical mind, more so than Sarpinius, and was allowed to share his insight with the veteran soldiers on strategic matters during campaigns. But through all of this Verico was still not allowed to acknowledge his true relationship with Sarpinius. Whenever he pointed out his father’s contradictory behavior, first denying his son then raising him without full recognition, it only aggravated the short-tempered Glatorian. Verico tried for years to understand his father, but was only left with his initial impression of a coarse inarticulate legionnaire devoted to old imperial glory. He learned to stifle hope that his father saw him as anything other than a potential addition to the Castra Magnan ranks. Verico acknowledged his father’s venerable warrior reputation, but that was all. He respected his father, but determined not to love him.
His father’s tutelage also brought Verico in close contact with the most powerful figure in Castra Magna: the Propraetor-Iudex, Fidius. A close friend of Sarpinius, Fidius was fond enough of the young Glatorian. But there were disagreements. More than once Verico had raised concerns with the direction of Propraetor policy, which had grown increasingly austere and even oppressive in the aftermath of Tuma’s siege. It was not that Verico couldn’t understand the pressures to make hard decisions, especially now, but he was growing uncomfortable with Fidius’ seeming indifference to his descriptions of common suffering. On one occasion Verico realized he had gone too far in imploring the Propraetorship to reach out to the new Jungle Tribe. The Propraetor-Iudex dropped all cordiality and warned him threateningly that any formal relation with the Jungle Tribe meant acknowledging their legitimacy while undermining Castra Magna’s sole regional sovereignty, an intolerable scenario. None had the authority to question the Propraetors’ decision on this, regardless of who their father was. Verico begged Fidius’ pardon and never spoke of it again.
But while he conceded to speaking out of turn, privately Verico continued to feel there was an error in the Propraetors’ priorities. And he often came back to the conversation he overheard between Fidius and his father, after the latter apologized for Verico’s insubordination. Uncharacteristically, Fidius insisted on convincing his friend that he was not blind to the peoples’ unhappiness. It was just farther from him. The new generations who never witnessed the early years had forgotten how much was owed to Propraetor leadership. But he was not so much frustrated by their people as he was simply…tired. He was tired. Of them.
For some reason, Verico could never forget those words.
Year 1 P.R.E. (Post-Reformation Era)
The final events of Bara Magna were a whirlwind for the Castra Magnans. First, Tuma’s renewed invasion of Octerra suddenly collapsed after a mysterious duel had removed him from power. Then two titanic figures waged an earth splitting battle. Then the sudden planetary reformation, the rejuvenation of water and flora, the appearance of the alien Protodermans. And before the Castra Magnans could make sense of any of it, revelation that their dominus the Lord of Jungle was actually alive…only to die before any could receive him. In truth the Jungle Lord had made contact with Castra Magna, but only its Propraetors.
The first weeks of the Post-Reformation were embroiled in conflict between peoples of the reformed Spherus Magna and the Great Being Velika who enacted designs to reign in the new world for himself. The Jungle Lord, as with the other Element Lords formerly trapped on Bara Magna, had aligned himself with Velika and made early contact with the last remnant of his former legions - Castra Magna. The Propraetors who received their dominus’ unexpected communication did so with reverence and, for some, even rapture. The Jungle Lord’s return seemed almost prophetic and signaled a return to full imperial glory. His orders were brief: ready the legions to rally to him on his command, and keep the Element Lords’ return an absolute secret until then. They did so at once. Their soldiers didn’t know why they were being mobilized so suddenly; some guessed it was a show of force for the biomechanical peoples that arrived with the Reformation. But all witnessed despite the secrecy that their leaders were animated with unprecedented vigor. And that was enough to inspire them as well. Even Verico, who learned of the truth from his father who could hardly contain it, couldn’t help succumb to the infectious anticipation. He was by this time critical of the supposed golden age of the Element Lords referred to so often by the Propraetors, but there seemed a definite vindication in the Jungle Lord’s return. He couldn’t deny hope that this meant an end to Castra Magna’s long suffering.
But as quickly as hope came, it left. The Jungle Lord had been ambushed on his way to the newly reintegrated Bota Magna to coerce the Earth Lord to join their cause. Or failing that, to eliminate a potential threat. Velika was certain that the Jungle Lord would have the upper hand in either scenario deep within the forests, his elemental domain. But the Toa Nuva were quicker in warning the Earth Lord of the trap, and offered their own terms of favor in exchange for her alliance. Uninterested in subordination to Velika and rightly fearful of future betrayal by the other Element Lords, the Earth Lord preemptively killed the Jungle Lord on his way to her. By the time the Castra Magnans learned of this it was already days after Velika and the other Element Lords had been defeated. There was nothing that could be done. A public day of mourning was declared and many were made to join in spectacular displays of anguish. Fidius proclaimed eternal enmity with the other tribes for their complicity in the Jungle Lord’s murder. It seemed the spirit of Reformation unity that had recently bound the Tribes of Ice, Fire, Jungle, and Water would not be taking root in Castra Magna. Now that their resource shortages were relieved by a replenished environment, the Propraetors only further entrenched their external hostilities and domestic authority. But the keen eyed among them should have noticed that despite the great wailing that day, most citizens of the strongholds seemed a bit forced in their grief for their Element Lord. Verico noticed. And he understood.
Cruenti Invasion (54 P.R.E.)
Castra Magna’s recovery in the early Post-Reformation came with a tightening of autocratic rule. It became harder not to draw comparisons with the former barbarian tribes, now united under the Octerran League. With Protoderman help, the four tribes of the League were experiencing an industrial development that far outpaced Castra Magna’s, an uncomfortable reversal. As calls to reassociate with the prosperous League tribes became greater, especially with their Jungle Tribe cousins, so did the ruthlessness with which the Propraetors suppressed them. Verico saw that Castra Magnan society was beginning to fray again, only this time the Propraetors themselves were the cause of resentment. It left the strongholds ill prepared to defend themselves against their most brutal enemy.
In the middle of the first century Post-Reformation, a violent new sect of Skrall ravaged Castra Magna. They were led by a ferocious prophesying Skrall who brought much of Tuma’s former army back under one banner. This Skrall was the sole survivor of the blast shot by Teridax that leveled an entire peak of the Black Spike Mountains. Born of the common caste he had no name, but the first people who witnessed him after climbing out of the wreckage called him “Ash-Eater”, for the days he spent vomiting up ash and debris. To many Skrall, his survival of such complete incineration was providential. Moreover, the event manifested bizarre powers in Ash-Eater, who would claim to see visions - the greatest of which was of a new Skrall state, away from the ruined Black Spike Mountains. Right in Castra Magna. Ash-Eater claimed to hear the voice of their prehistoric founder, the mythical First Skrall, within the Castra Magnan walls. Once they had settled the nine strongholds, the soul of the First Skrall would lead their conquest north to reclaim the Skrall homelands in Bota Magna. Voices or not, it seemed Ash-Eater had reached the same conclusion as Tuma over Castra Magna’s necessity: arms and strategic land.
This new Skrall assault was unlike anything the Castra Magnans had ever seen. Ash-Eater had imbued his followers with violent fanaticism, transforming them into an almost death cult. On the eve of every battle, Ash-Eater led his followers into an ecstatic delirium during which they lacerated themselves repeatedly with their blades, appearing the next day in front of their enemies soaked in their own blood; the Castra Magnans named them the “Cruenti” for this disturbing ritual. Once at battle, the blood stained Cruenti attacked wildly with intoxicated zeal. Their movements were unpredictable, even suicidal, and they often overwhelmed the Castra Magnans by running manically into projectile fire. But after days of intense engagement, Verico became one of the first to identify an underlying strategy to the Cruenti attacks and the troops that fought with Verico became the first to successfully break a Cruenti charge. Unfortunately, it was too little too late. News arrived of the unthinkable - Arx Maxima had been breached. The most powerful stronghold of the legendary bulwark, unbroken for one hundred thousand years, was penetrated.
The city was overrun by the time Verico’s company arrived; legions were scattered and the order was given to evacuate. Verico rushed past the chaos toward his mother’s residence, relieved to find her alive though heavily injured from defending the quarter. Alongside her were many others in similar or worse condition. Unexpectedly, his father was also present and currently leading the injured party. Verico departed with them towards a nearby tunnel that was the last exit out of the city. But upon arrival, they found a large Cruenti force too close to the entrance to slip by undetected. After a grim pause, Sarpinius decided he would use a nearby turret station to draw their attention away. It was a suicide mission. Verico stood to join him, against his mother’s protests. But to his great surprise his father also rebuked him.
Verico was confused. Two Glatorian would surely hold out longer than one, and he assumed the old man was simply reluctant to admit needing his help. But as they argued, he was caught off guard by his father’s distress. Sarpinius suddenly declared that Verico could not die before him… Verico was taken aback; after fully preparing to give his life to glory in the Castra Magnan way, here its most devoted veteran was stopping him. He pressed his father more angrily, but Sarpinius then revealed a part of himself Verico had never witnessed: fear. Almost shamefully, he disclosed his deep seated fear of outliving his son. He could not bear it, not again.
It was something Verico never considered. He had never wondered what loved ones his father, or any Auctus, must have left behind generations ago. The Aucti of Castra Magna were eternal. They simply were, because they always had been. But Verico now realized that it only appeared so because no Auctus dared to speak of what his father just spoke. It was too painful. He finally began to understand the Glatorian before him, and for some reason it frightened Verico. He watched wordlessly as his father bade his mother goodbye for the first time in his memory. Then his father turned to him with anxious, frustrated eyes. They looked as if he wanted to apologize, but long since forgot how. He departed before Verico could find his words. The survivors eventually heard their cue as fire rained down on the nearby Cruenti. As Verico led his mother and the injured band into the tunnel entrance, he looked back one last time and saw a mass of Skrall descending upon his father. Sarpinius fought till the end.
Verico’s band continued toward a sister stronghold. They received more survivors, and with them, news that their destination was also sacked. A third stronghold would soon follow. With the Cruenti still on their trail, Verico made the decision to flee Castra Magna altogether and head to the Jungle Tribe. Their band had few uninjured warriors besides himself; their only alternative to being torn apart by the psychotic Skrall behind them was to beg hospitality from their old enemies. Some objected furiously to this as cowardice. Hearing this, Verico granted any among the injured to die if they wished running back to a fallen stronghold. But every healthy member was now indispensable in protecting those under Verico’s care. To these, Verico drew his blade and dared any to cut him down if they wished to leave. None dared. And so they fled south for days, held together only by Verico’s leadership and fending off Cruenti attacks time and again. But finally the exhausted survivors could run no more, and the Cruenti closed in. Verico steeled himself and all who could hold a weapon for a last stand. They planned to take every last Skrall with them to the grave.
But at that moment, they were interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a Glatorian army. Its troops bore the insignia of the new Jungle Tribe; Verico had made it across the border. They were assisted also by a small number of alien looking warriors who wielded elemental powers. It was Verico’s first contact with the Toa. Together, all rallied against the Cruenti and drove them off. The Jungle Glatorian then escorted Verico’s party peacefully to Tesara, where they took refuge. News would later reach the refugees that the war was fought to a standstill. A truce was declared, partly mediated by the Octerran League. Castra Magna’s eastern half, including Verico’s home of Arx Maxima, was taken by the Cruenti; all remaining inhabitants were systematically slaughtered. The western half held its remaining Glatorian natives. Most who fled south were from the eastern strongholds, and they were distraught to learn that their homes were now cut off to them forever. For these refugees, the Jungle Tribe was now their home…
Part 2:
*Rest of backstory here.
Weapons:
Prior to coming into the Octerran League, Verico like most Castra Magnans was proficient with a wide variety of melee weapons, often augmented with Pre-Shattering inertial technology which greatly enhanced their kinetic potential. Since the retaking of Arx Maxima however, Verico has consistently wielded his father’s unique imperial-era plasma saber which, on top of the standard inertial conduit, adds the capability of sheathing its blade in a high intensity plasma. It is also capable of projecting its powerful plasma field outward with the wielder’s swing within short distances.
After taking leadership of the Guard, Verico also began carrying a second generation Thornax Launcher. Nicknamed the “Ballista” for its greatly enhanced capabilities, the new launcher was one many designs born from the fusion of Protoderman technology with existing Magnan ones. Its ammunition cased a distilled form of the explosive energies processed from Thornax fruit and was bound by an expandable polymer shell derived from Zamor spheres. In its initial inert form, each round existed as a far more compact sphere that was loaded in small groups into a break action in the lower front handguard. A charge in the receiver energized and expanded the sphere until “caught” by the launcher’s firing claws. Pulling the trigger would then fire the sphere in an identical fashion to first generation launchers.
At Verico’s request, the Thornax Ballista was also designed to be capable of firing conventional Thornax fruit which was loaded directly into the firing claws themselves. Maintaining compatability with existing Thornax was critical to Verico. It was first easiest to train the Magnans with weapons that retained some familiarity. It was also of greater efficiency, as the intended Ballista ammunition was both expensive and difficult to manufacture in the absence of Energized Protodermis and Verico wished to make use of the abundance of Thornax fruits on Spherus Magna. Many wielders simply used Thornax fruits as their primary ammunition and saved the charged ammunition for more dire circumstances. In both cases, the Ballista shot farther, faster, and more accurately than the crude first generation Launchers and became standard issue in the Guard.
Instructions:
Download Studio file here
**The actual file has parts in purple to denote substitutes for pieces Studio doesn’t have yet (at least when I was building with it). In this case, the metru shoulders on the upper arms are stand ins for Part 50602. Think that’s all.
