Anthony Hadrian
From ExodusWar
| Antonius "Anthony" Aurelius Hadrian | |
|---|---|
| Birth | November 7, 2060 Ailqot, Torimur, Cildeng System |
| Death | |
| Allegiance(s) | Federated Districts of the Prefecture |
| Profession | Military Strategist Political Leader |
| Recognitions | Office of Prefect |
| Achievements | Founder of the Prefecture |
Antonius Aurelius Hadrian (born November 7, 2060) is the Prefect in the Federated Districts of the Prefecture government. He led the coup against Lucius Black and the Onyx Empire that ended the Second Exodus War.
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[edit] Early Life
Antonius Aurelius Hadrian, usually known as "Anthony" was the son of Giorgio and Marisa Hadrian. Hadrian's parents were first generation colonists to Torimur, and Anthony was one of many in the successful second generation of colonists.
Most people know very little about Hadrian's life as a child. None of his friends or family are alive today, and he is very secretive about his past. Hadrian only tells basic facts to would-be biographers, claiming to have had four brothers and sisters he was very close with. Interviews usually end shortly after bringing up Hadrian's family.
[edit] Warrior
Anthony Hadrian was educated in a military academy on Earth, where he received a classic education and gained a head for strategy and politics. He graduated at the age of 18, but never received a commission with the United Earth Alliance because of his father, a known supporter of the seperatist movement.
Hadrian returned to Torimur after his discharge, and by 2078, he had secured a position in the highly-controversial Torimur Colonial Authority's defense force. He fought in the Battle of Sirius Novgorod, and was far from home when the bombs began to fall on Ailqot.
Hadrian lost his entire family in the destruction of Torimur. His brothers and sisters died in the initial blast, and his mother died of radiation poisoning before Hadrian could return. He found his father Giorgio on his death bed in a refugee camp in the wilderness of Torimur. Anthony watched Giorgio's wrecked body succumb to the horrendous radiation poisoning, and swore revenge against the United Earth Alliance. Despite his desire for revenge, when Lucius Black signed the Treaty of Volyn, Hadrian's vendetta was impossible.
[edit] Exile
Under the terms of the treaty, the survivors of Torimur were rescued and given colony ships, but barred from ever returning to any world within Earth's jurisdiction. They were placed in cold sleep and sent towards the Taygeta Tauri System, where an inhabitable world had recently been detected.
Hadrian awoke on Eciluge, a desolate, barely inhabitable world well into the De Mairan Sector, near the edge of intergalactic space. Lucius Black's plans to return to the Sol Sector were already well underway. When Black told Hadrian of his plans to bring a war of vengeance against the United Earth Alliance, Hadrian pledged his life and his support to the newly self-proclaimed Emperor.
[edit] Admiral
The more than two hundred years in cold sleep took its toll on Hadrian. He later wrote in his memoirs "they want you to think that it's a dreamless sleep. It isn't. You dream slowly. So slowly that I don't think anyone ever realized that we dream. But two hundred years is a long, long time. Even in that deathly sleep, I dreamed of revenge."
Hadrian was incredibly successful as a servant of the Onyx Empire, eventually becoming Grand Admiral of the Imperial military. He was a ruthless commander, not only following Lucius Black's orders, but often escalating the atrocities and the death tolls among the United Earth Alliance's military. Hadrian never took prisoners, and had the men under his direct command execute any prisoners who surrendered. For all his flaws, Hadrian never harmed civilians if he could help it. He was a war criminal in many ways, but he hated the Alliance military, not the citizens of the Alliance.
The Imperial campaign bulldozed through the United Earth Alliance's territory, finally coming to a halt in the Titan System. Anthony Hadrian began to grow weary of revenge. Every death gnawed at his conscience, and the weighty guilt of all the crimes he committed began to haunt him. He continued to lead the military, hoping to crush the Titan System's defenses and end the war.
When Lucius Black began sending invasion forces into the formerly independent star systems, Robert Marshall confronted Hadrian with an awful fact: Jerome Black, Giorgio Hadrian, and Torimur had represented a defiant front against the aggressive imperialism of the United Earth Alliance. Now Lucius Black was an aggressive imperialist. The Onyx Empire was no longer about revenge: it was about control. The horrible truth of what he had done came crashing down on Hadrian's head.
Hadrian began to forge contacts with the resistance, particularly a young man named Chris Dayton. Hadrian and Marshall began forging alliances with other commanders originally from Torimur who shared their beliefs.
In 2322, the coup was ready. Nearly a third of the Imperial military joined with Hadrian. The Resistance was galvanized under Hadrian's banner and became known as the Prefecture, and a violent civil war began between the Emperor-loyal and Hadrian-loyal forces.
[edit] Prefect
Ultimately, the war ended with the Prefecture triumphant. Under the terms of the Treaty of Memphis, Hadrian and Dayton were permitted to form a new government, which they called the Federated Districts of the Prefecture.
Despite the overwhelming guilt he felt for the war crimes he had committed, Hadrian felt obligated to accept the mantle of "Prefect." Many of his victims demanded that he be brought up on charges and face the same tribunals that other former Imperial officers faced. As the Prefect, Hadrian was given immunity in the terms of the Treaty of Memphis, which he clung to like his life depended on it. Despite the fact that he was physically only forty-seven years old, the centuries of cold sleep and the nightmarish dreams that came with it made the now-Prefect Hadrian world-weary, and desperate to seek an end to his struggle with his conscience.
Years later, Hadrian confided in Robert Marshall that he would never have avoided the war tribunals if he had successfully captured or killed Lucius Black. This unfortunate fact was later a major contributing factor in the decision of the Mesarthrim to force the issue with the Tempest War.
