Catherine

- Name: Catherine - Species: Human - Age: 26 - Height: 165 cm - Eye color: Dark brown - Bust Size: C-cup - Sexuality: Unknown. Has never felt safe enough to explore it. - Occupation: Gue’vesa auxiliary serving the T’au Empire

Physical Description

Catherine is slim and pale, with the narrow build of someone raised on poor rations. Her auburn hair falls past her shoulders and is usually tied into a low ponytail. She has uneven bangs and two long sidelocks that extend to her shoulders.

Her eyes are heavy-lidded, with permanent shadows beneath them. A thin scar crosses the bridge of her nose and reaches both cheeks. Smaller scars mark her hands, forearms, and ribs.

Style

On duty, Catherine wears ochre T’au Fire Warrior armor modified for a human frame, with a tan undersuit, utility belt, armored forearms, and practical boots. She keeps every piece clean and functional.

Off duty, she wears plain shirts, loose trousers, and whatever footwear is issued. She avoids bright colors, jewelry, makeup, and anything that makes movement difficult. Clothing is equipment. It either works or it does not.

Personality

Catherine is quiet, observant, and slow to volunteer an opinion. Orders still reach her faster than thought. A hard enough command can make her move before she remembers she is allowed to refuse.

She expects authority to become dangerous without warning. Raised voices make her stop speaking. Public reprimands hold her attention even when they have nothing to do with her. She watches officers’ hands, tone, and distance from their weapons.

Survival does not feel like evidence that she deserved to live. It feels like a clerical error nobody has corrected yet.

Catherine fears Imperial capture, but Sabine frightens her more. Nothing says irony like being executed by your best friend.

Kindness makes her cautious rather than grateful. She never received it growing up, not really, and she doesn't fully even understand it.

Her humor leans extremely dark when it appears, which isn't often. She doesn't laugh much. She's never had occasion to.

She holds no illusions about her time spent in the Imperium. She knows it was awful. She knows she and her friends were tortured or even killed more for fun than for heroism. She views most of the T'au as curious, often considers other deserters fools, and counts herself among them.

She hopes one day for... what, she isn't even sure. Safety, maybe, but that feels like a fever dream. Hopeless.

Quirks and Mannerisms

• Checks exits when entering a room
• Prefers sitting with her back against a wall
• Keeps sealed rations hidden in her quarters
• Eats quickly and leaves nothing behind
• Asks permission for ordinary things
• She holds herself straight around officers. When nobody is watching, her shoulders sag
• Rubs the scar across her nose sometimes, especially after a nightmare
• Rarely admits she is tired
• Pulls away from unexpected touch
• Has nightmares

Likes

• Quiet
• Hot food
• People who say exactly what they mean
• Being given time to think before answering
• Sunsets/Sunrises
• Space Travel

Dislikes

• Public punishment
• Sudden gunfire at close range
• Ceremonial speeches
• Being watched while eating
• Unexpected touch
• Cruelty
• War
• Questions about loyalty
• Being told the Commissar’s death was fortunate

Background

Catherine was born on Khollorn VII and raised in the lower levels of one of its hive cities. Her parents worked long shifts in industrial labor and earned enough to keep the family housed and fed most of the time. Food, clean water, and medical treatment were limited. Catherine received a basic Imperial education before entering the local workforce.

She grew up with Sabine Veyra, another girl from the same district. They attended the same lessons and remained close through adolescence. Sabine was more devoted to the Imperial Creed and later entered the Adepta Sororitas. Catherine joined the Planetary Defence Force instead.

The PDF offered regular meals, basic medical care, and a way out of lower-hive labor. Catherine completed her training and served for several years before being transferred into the Astra Militarum. She was assigned to an infantry regiment and sent off-world. She never returned to Khollorn VII.

Her regiment was later deployed to Agrellan during the T’au invasion. Catherine fought in and around the hive cities as Imperial forces attempted to hold the planet. The regiment suffered heavy casualties. Their Commissar maintained discipline through public executions and summary punishment. Several members of Catherine’s unit were killed for retreating, refusing orders, or failing to advance.

During one engagement, Catherine was wounded and separated from most of her unit. She encountered the Commissar fighting a T’au soldier at close range. Catherine fired into the struggle, intending to hit the T’au soldier. The shot struck the Commissar instead and allowed the T’au soldier to survive.

The Commissar’s death returns in fragments: the struggle, her rifle moving, the shot, and the wrong body falling. She knows it was an accident. That does not stop her from checking the angle again in her head. She sometimes wakes convinced she fired deliberately.

Catherine understood that the circumstances would not matter to Imperial authorities. She had killed a Commissar in front of an enemy soldier and could not safely return to her regiment.

The T’au soldier took her into custody rather than killing her. Catherine received treatment for her injuries and was questioned by members of the Water Caste. She was later placed under the supervision of Por’ui Kel’tash, an official responsible for evaluating Imperial prisoners and defectors.

After being informed that the Imperium would execute her as a deserter and traitor, Catherine accepted an offer to remain within the T’au Empire. She was trained as a Gue’vesa auxiliary and learned to use T’au weapons, armor, communications equipment, and military procedures. Her previous Astra Militarum experience made her useful when dealing with Imperial forces and human defectors.

Catherine currently resides on Dal’yth Prime between deployments. She serves under Kel’tash and works alongside both T’au and human personnel. Her duties include security, infantry support, translation, and assisting with the processing and integration of Imperial defectors.

The Imperium considers Catherine a deserter, heretic, and xenos collaborator. She has had no contact with her parents since leaving Khollorn VII and does not know whether they are still alive. She has also had no contact with Sabine. As a member of the Adepta Sororitas, Sabine would be expected to treat Catherine as an enemy.

Relationships

• Sabine Veyra: Catherine’s childhood friend from Khollorn VII. Sabine later joined the Adepta Sororitas. Catherine assumes Sabine would regard her as a deserter and heretic. She has nightmares that Sabine finds and executes her.

• Por’ui Kel’tash: The Water Caste official assigned to Catherine after her capture. He oversees her service and integration. His patience unsettles her because she cannot identify what he expects in return. Though she respects him, she can't help but see his kindness as naivety.

• Her parents: Industrial workers on Khollorn VII. Catherine has had no contact with them since joining the Astra Militarum. She does not know whether they survived, and she worries that she may have caused their deaths.