Trueno Benitez
| Trueno Benitez | |
 | |
| Profile | |
| Origin | Planet Crete |
| Occupation | Full time Benitez Elder, pasttime pirate hobby rum distiller |
| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | The Benitez Familia and the Corsair Empire |
| Rank | Familia Elder |
| Status | Armed and dangerous |
| Born | 791 A.S. |
Trueno Benitez is a Crete-born Corsair of humble upbringing who joined the the Benitez Familia in order to gain fame and glory and ended up devoting his life to foster the well being and the growth of the Empire.
Family and early life
Trueno is the youngest son of Jamon and Cereza Cocinero, born and raised on planet Crete with his older brothers,the twins Tazo and Medidor. Living a humble life, his family kept afloat by going on low scale and risk piracy in the Sigmas and the Omegas, showing youg Trueno from an early age what it means to live life as a Corsair. Impressed by the riches seemingly available to citizens of the houses, especially in comparison to his humble upbringings induced a certain jealousy and lust for mor to him. In a particularly bad season the small families ship was severly damaged as i was surprised by a bretonian patrol and barely made it back to port, leaving the Cocineros without a way to generate income. Facing the risk of poverty and hunger Jamon set a challenge to his sons: He would abstain his de-radiation drugs to by food and pay the rent of his family while pawning what was left of their ship. For his sacrifice he demanded his sons to find ways to earn honor and rank among the Corsair society so his bloodline will not dry out in the sands of Crete. Whoever earns the most honor, judged by him, would be the new head and patriarch of the familia, never to be questioned-knowing that his own lifespan is drastically reduced. With this challenge ahead the siblings awaited their coming of age ceremony to be grown men and able to take their paths.
Joining the Benitez Familia
While his the two elder twins have grown more and more into bulging brutes and soldiers, Trueno was always the smaller, weaker and less formidable in combat, be it in space or man to man. Knowing this, Trueno began to study the history of the Corsairs, followed the ways of traders and diplomats and dove deep into the research of artifacts - hoping to win honor by riches and not by war antics. Not having any capital of his own or the right network to borrow some, Trueno pledged his life to the Benitez family, which accepted him into their ranks. Having secured his position as soldato and member of the Benitez Trueno was schooled how to properly pilot fightercraft, the basics of space and ground combat for thefirst time. While trying to keep up with the other new soldatos it soon became clear that he migh never surpass an average level in the field and began concentrating more on his other studies. With the extensive ressources and schooling availabe to the Benitez Trueno submersed himself in the ways of the Corsair Empire, its history, inner workings and outside contacts. Realizing that the foundation of the Corsair riches were the monopoly on the alien artifacts found in the Omicrons he began managing and researching them and their trade, developing a passion for the strange pieces.
Mingeling with corsair philosophy and accompanying the familia on raids within the houses Trueno realized more and more how the houses let down and mistreated their former kin from Sol, not extending their hands to help the fledgling Corsairs trapped in misery on Crete when they were rediscoverd. Trueno realized- they owe the Empire, not a little but exactly a fifth of known Sirian space, complete with hospitable planets, advanced technology and riches. The idea sunk deep into Truenos mindset - he had to see families with children starve, Corsairs crippled to death due to radiation...all the fault of those "noble" houses who never even tried to extend their hand! This realization was a cut in Truenos mindset- instead of gaining honor and riches for himself, he decided to devote his life to right the wrongs done to the Corsairs, seeking paths to improve the Empire, the Empires standing among other factions and houses to finally be able to extract vengeance in the future. With this strengthened resolve Trueno worked day and night to bolster the ressources of the Benitez, trading and schooling himself even further. While trying to maintain the picture of a "proper" Corsair, he tried to make a name of himself as a raider as well, though he could ever rally land a big fish to gain true fame. This changed as Trueno was given a chance to prove himself as a worthy combatant by leading a vengeance operation against the Wild in the Omegas. With the operation successful and vengeance extracted he could prove he is at least worthy as a commander guiding units in battle. With the promise to learn more of the Corsairs art of war and his continuous efforts in the artifact trade and research he was appointed Elder of the familia.
Trueno as an Elder
By reaching a position of honor within the Empire, his fathers challenge was completed and won by Trueno. who lost no time to appoint his brothers as his personal bodyguards and right hands, as well as buying back the rampaged ship of his native family, installing it as his personal flagship, the Naiades, godess of fresh water, saviour of parched Corsairs. Truenos goals did not change much, though now he hat both the power and the resources to foster them more.
The artifact trade as a lucrative business is running to slow, not enabling the Corsairs to buy sufficient supplies or war materials- Truenos goal is to establish artifacts as an even more desirable good in the houses, selling pseudo-functional trinkets and artistically upgraded pieces, while spreading rumors on the potential militaristic value of this deep Omicrons export. Superstition or true functionality always remains the question...but no one will find out without buying from the Benitez first!
Of course, getting supplies back to the Empire is equally important, thus whenever a convoy with food or military goods passes throught Bretonia or Rheinland, Trueno and his men might be already out to catch it. As no one can supply an empire Trueno is often travlling around trying to broker deals with existing trade partners aswell as looking out for new ones.
In his grande scheme of things it is necessary to gather more support and allies for the Corsair Empire if it ever wants to strike out to conquer parts of Sirius. While diplomacy does not come easy to the Empire with its somewhat xenophobic and aggressive stance, his new position enabled him to smoothen edges here and there, easing worries of existing allies while carefully trying to grow some new connections with "worthy" partners. Trueno fully knows that this "peaceful" attitude might be frowned upon as weak...but he knows that without backup or at least goodwill from powerful groups he will never be able to reach his Corsair dream of grandeur.
Being somewhat of a scholar Trueno supports research on practical things like weapon and ship construction as well as topics like corsair history and psychology to a great extend, firmly believing that by doing so the dependence on imports might be eased, freeing the Empire of less desirable associates and gaining a better bartering position and giving the Corsairs a better identity as a House. His goal is o establish a independent, "true" Corsair identity, ready and willing to conquer and pushing in one direction, as proud as any houslings- equally feared and respected by the rest of Sirius.
In order to keep his status and gain true respect among the Corsairs Trueno deems it necessary to continue to fight and raid in person, always balancing the odds of gaining honor and not getting himself killed, this part of his life is still a big headache to him.
Personality and Appearance
Constantly tired and overworked his appearance is mostly that- tired and older than he actually is. Knowing that clothes makes people, he always dresses for the occasion, be it a decorated uniform on official events, a ragtag combat suit while out with his men or a upper class dress for business trips- he thinks this habit as necessary as it is ridiculous.
His main ambition in life is to get the Corsair Empire what he thinks it deserves and tries to accomplish this through the Benitez Familia, doing whatever is necessary- favoring diplomatic scheming and subtle methods over open brutality. While in no way a cruel or violent persona himself, he does what is deemed expected of a Corsair in order to not lose face among his peers or getting his honor and resolve questioned. Trueno is not the one to harbor personal hatred very fast and thus his enmity is more directed towards "the houses" instead of a police officer or transport captain directly. As the Corsairs have more enemies than everything else he despises the Red Hessians for delaying the path of the Corsair fleets in the Omegas, seeking for ways to break their neck and resolve as fast as possible. The other warfront of the Corsairs, the Outcast is the same as fighting nomads to him- they have lost their humanity with their cardamine addiction and slavery, being simply aliens to get rid of in his eyes.
His devotion to the Corsairs in general and the Benitez in special is unquestionable to him, feeling that they and he himself are the good guys, fighting for a right and just cause. Trueno is a firm believer of leading by example and only gives in to the splendors of the houses or his position when he thinks it is expected- privately he lives a quite simple and spartanic life, trying to stay close to his roots. Some events in the past made him rethink parts of his behavior leading him to question if he really lives a "complete" Corsairs life or if he is losing out somewhere as well as questioning if he always decided right in moral dilemmas.
