Champion
Character Profile
Real Name: Marcus Hale
Callsign: Champion
Age: 36
Status: Active
Faction: Hell Hosts
Branch: Doom Corps / Fleet One
Rank: Fleet Admiral / Battalion Captain
Command: Fleet One, Hell Host Commonwealth, 702nd Battalion, and multiple attached Doom Corps battalions
Threat Level: Extreme
Primary Weapon: Y205 SSMG
Secondary Weapon: Combat Knife
Known For: Frontline leadership, overwhelming morale presence, Fleet One command, fifty successful major operations, and his complicated relationship with Valkyrie
Overview
Marcus Hale, better known throughout the Hell Hosts as Champion, is one of the faction’s most respected military commanders.
Serving simultaneously as a Fleet Admiral and frontline Battalion Captain, Champion occupies an unusual position within the Hell Host military structure.
He commands Fleet One, operates from the Hell Host Commonwealth, and maintains direct authority over the 702nd Battalion alongside several attached Doom Corps formations.
Despite his seniority, Champion remains deeply connected to frontline combat.
He does not believe command should separate an officer from the people carrying out their orders.
Where possible, he fights beside them.
His reputation was not built through politics.
It was earned through battle.
Through victories.
Through failure.
Through sacrifice.
And through repeatedly standing beside his soldiers when retreat would have been easier.
To many Hell Host personnel, Champion represents the ideal officer.
Not because he is perfect.
Because he cares.
Early Military Career
Marcus Hale showed unusual promise from the beginning of his military career.
He possessed a combination of:
- Natural leadership
- Tactical confidence
- Physical ability
- Strong battlefield instincts
- Emotional intelligence
- Competitive determination
Marcus became well known through internal military exercises, combat trials, training competitions, and operational simulations.
He won repeatedly.
The pattern became difficult to ignore.
Eventually, personnel began jokingly referring to him as:
Champion
The name stuck.
Over time, fewer people called him Marcus Hale.
Eventually, the callsign became more widely recognised than the man beneath it.
Why “Champion”
Champion did not choose his callsign.
He earned it.
Throughout his early career, Marcus repeatedly succeeded in:
- Combat tournaments
- Training trials
- Tactical exercises
- Internal duels
- Live-fire competitions
- Operational evaluations
He developed a reputation for being exceptionally difficult to defeat.
What began as a nickname became an identity.
Eventually:
Marcus Hale became Champion.
Despite this, Marcus has never treated the title as proof that he is unbeatable.
If anything, he considers it an expectation he has to keep earning.
Appearance
Champion stands approximately:
6’2”
with a strong, athletic build developed through decades of combat training and active deployment.
Features
- Short brown hair
- Brown-hazel eyes
- Slightly broken nose
- Numerous small scars
- Weathered but approachable appearance
- Strong jaw
- Usually tired eyes after extended campaigns
Unlike many feared Hell Host figures, Champion does not possess an unnatural or overwhelming presence.
He looks human.
Completely human.
A veteran.
A soldier.
Someone who has survived more than most people ever should.
The Smile
One of Champion’s most recognisable characteristics is that he smiles.
Not constantly.
Not artificially.
But often enough that soldiers remember it.
Within a military culture filled with hardened veterans, brutal commanders, and intimidating battlefield figures, Champion’s willingness to laugh or reassure someone matters.
He does not believe authority requires emotional distance.
A nervous recruit speaking to Fleet Admiral Champion may still receive:
- A joke
- A handshake
- A pat on the shoulder
- A straightforward answer
- Or simply reassurance that they are doing fine
Many troops remember those moments for years.
Armour
Champion’s armour reflects both his status and his philosophy.
It is highly functional and heavily used.
Rather than constantly replacing damaged plates, Marcus prefers maintaining equipment that has already served him well.
His armour commonly features:
- Repaired plating
- Scratches
- Bullet impacts
- Field modifications
- Reinforced sections
- Worn edges
- Visible campaign damage
However, his command status is immediately recognisable through distinctive:
- Gold command markings
- White command markings
These markings distinguish him from standard Doom Corps officers and identify his senior authority within Fleet One.
They are not particularly ornate.
Champion dislikes unnecessary decoration.
Operation Markings
One of the most distinctive details on Champion’s armour is a collection of small carved marks representing his completed major operations.
Each operation receives a mark.
Victory or failure.
The armour currently bears:
51 operation markings.
Fifty represent successful major operations.
One represents:
Champion deliberately gave Sparkplug the same mark as every victory.
He has never attempted to hide it.
To Marcus, failure is still part of his history.
Removing it would mean pretending the dead did not matter.
Personality
Champion is:
- Honest
- Approachable
- Courageous
- Humble
- Protective
- Charismatic
- Competitive
- Loyal
- Emotionally perceptive
- Stubborn
- Difficult to discourage
He has an unusual ability to make people feel capable.
Champion rarely delivers elaborate speeches.
He simply makes people believe that whatever is happening can still be survived.
Honest
Champion rarely hides what he thinks.
Officers know where they stand with him.
Soldiers know when something has gone wrong.
Marcus believes false reassurance destroys trust.
If a situation is terrible, he will say so.
Then he will explain what they are going to do about it.
Approachable
Despite holding enormous military authority, Champion remains surprisingly accessible.
Personnel regularly approach him directly.
Sometimes about military issues.
Sometimes about personal ones.
He listens.
Not because regulation requires him to.
Because he genuinely cares.
Champion dislikes commanders who deliberately create emotional distance from their soldiers.
Rank exists for organisation.
Not superiority.
Courageous
Champion is not fearless.
He understands fear extremely well.
He has seen entire squads disappear.
He has watched ships burn.
He has survived battles where the odds were catastrophic.
His courage comes from refusing to let fear make decisions for him.
Humble
Marcus knows he is an exceptional commander.
He does not pretend otherwise.
But he does not need constant recognition.
Champion believes reputation should follow actions rather than precede them.
He rarely mentions his victories unless they are relevant to a briefing or lesson.
Other people usually do it for him.
Protective
Champion’s strongest defining trait is his desire to protect the people under his command.
He does not view soldiers as numbers.
He remembers:
- Names
- Faces
- Families
- Injuries
- Personal problems
- People lost during campaigns
This makes him an exceptional commander.
It also makes loss extremely difficult for him.
Command Philosophy
Champion believes command means being responsible for people, not simply responsible for objectives.
His philosophy can be summarised simply:
Never ask someone to take a risk you would refuse yourself.
He expects soldiers to fight.
He also expects officers to remember what they are fighting for.
His command priorities usually include:
- Mission completion
- Soldier survival
- Civilian protection
- Maintaining morale
- Clear communication
- Personal accountability
- Rapid adaptation
- Decisive action
Champion accepts casualties as a reality of war.
He refuses to treat them casually.
Combat Style
Champion specialises in:
- Shock assaults
- Urban warfare
- Breach operations
- Rapid response missions
- Close-range engagements
- Reinforcement operations
- Emergency counterattacks
- Combined infantry-fleet assaults
His personal style is aggressive, fast, and mobile.
He prefers momentum.
Once Champion identifies a weak point, he attacks before the enemy can reorganise.
Leads From the Front
Champion’s most famous battlefield trait is his willingness to personally enter combat.
Even after becoming Fleet Admiral, he continued joining frontline operations.
He is commonly found:
- Inside breach teams
- Leading assaults
- Reinforcing collapsing positions
- Coordinating directly with infantry
- Entering contested ships
- Fighting alongside Doom Corps battalions
Many commanders inspire confidence through authority.
Champion inspires confidence through presence.
Morale Weapon
Champion’s greatest battlefield weapon is arguably not the Y205 SSMG.
It is morale.
When Champion arrives, soldiers tend to fight differently.
They move faster.
Hold longer.
Take greater risks.
Not because they fear disappointing him.
Because they believe he will not abandon them.
A common feeling among troops is:
If Champion is here, someone still believes this can be won.
Fleet One
Fleet One is one of the most important military formations under Champion’s command.
Unlike a military division, Fleet One is a collection of Hell Host vessels operating together under central command.
Its role includes:
- Strategic deployment
- Fleet engagements
- Orbital support
- Ground-force transportation
- Emergency reinforcement
- Planetary defence
- Assault operations
Champion personally oversees Fleet One from its flagship:
Hell Host Commonwealth
The Hell Host Commonwealth serves as Champion’s flagship and primary fleet command vessel.
Although Marcus is fully capable of directing massive fleet engagements from its command deck, he dislikes becoming isolated from the forces operating below.
He frequently moves between:
- Fleet command
- Ground command
- Tactical coordination
- Active combat zones
This habit has repeatedly frustrated officers responsible for keeping senior command personnel alive.
Champion considers that their problem.
702nd Battalion
The 702nd Battalion remains Champion’s most personally associated Doom Corps formation.
Despite his broader responsibilities, Marcus maintains a close relationship with its soldiers.
The battalion is known for:
- Aggressive frontline action
- Strong morale
- Rapid response
- Urban operations
- High trust in command personnel
Champion regularly participates in training exercises with the unit and continues to involve himself directly in battalion life.
Weapons
Y205 SSMG
Champion’s primary weapon is the Y205 SSMG.
A compact combat weapon designed for aggressive, close-to-mid-range engagements.
The Y205 is valued for:
- High mobility
- Reliability
- Accuracy
- Strong rate of fire
- Ease of use during urban combat
- Suitability for breach operations
The weapon matches Champion’s personal style.
Fast.
Practical.
Direct.
Combat Knife
Champion carries a heavily used combat knife.
The weapon has accompanied him through numerous campaigns and bears visible signs of wear.
Unlike ceremonial weapons owned by some senior officers, Champion’s knife is purely functional.
It has been used repeatedly.
Major Operations
Champion has completed:
51 major operations
of which:
50 were successful.
Only one is officially regarded by Marcus as a complete failure.
He remembers it more clearly than many victories.
Operation Sparkplug
Operation 36
Operation Sparkplug took place on:
Bleval-5
near the edge of:
A Hell Host unit issued a distress signal reporting hostile contact and requesting immediate assistance.
Champion personally led a ten-person rescue team.
The mission should have been straightforward.
It was not.
Arrival
Upon arriving on Bleval-5, the rescue team immediately realised something was wrong.
The environment was unnaturally silent.
There was:
- No wind
- No wildlife
- No movement
- No ordinary environmental noise
The original Hell Host encampment was found abandoned.
Bodies were later discovered throughout the surrounding area.
They had been violently mutilated.
The nature of the attack was unclear.
Ambush
Champion’s team was attacked shortly afterward by unidentified hostile forces.
The engagement became catastrophic.
Every member of Champion’s rescue team was killed.
Marcus sustained multiple gunshot wounds and barely managed to request emergency evacuation.
He survived.
Nobody else did.
The attackers were never conclusively identified.
Aftermath
Operation Sparkplug permanently changed Champion.
The mission reinforced his greatest fear:
Failing to bring people home.
He remembers every member of the rescue team.
Every operation marking on his armour is identical.
Sparkplug receives no special symbol.
No red line.
No black mark.
No attempt to erase it.
It was an operation.
It happened.
People died.
Champion believes pretending otherwise would dishonour them.
Flaws
Carries Too Much
Champion assumes responsibility for almost everything that happens under his command.
Mission failures.
Casualties.
Strategic mistakes.
Lost ships.
Dead soldiers.
Even events completely outside his control can become personal burdens.
He struggles to separate:
Responsibility
from
Guilt.
Difficulty Letting Go
Champion remembers failures far more clearly than victories.
He can recount the details of Sparkplug more easily than operations where thousands survived.
This drives him to improve.
It also prevents many emotional wounds from healing.
Refuses to Stay Behind
Champion’s habit of personally joining frontline operations is inspirational.
It is also dangerous.
Senior command personnel have repeatedly argued that his death could destabilise entire fleet operations.
Marcus agrees.
He continues doing it anyway.
Katherine Stone
Champion’s relationship with Valkyrie created another weakness.
Marcus understands that Katherine serves the Free World Order.
He respects her loyalty.
He respects her beliefs.
But he has never fully learned how to treat her as an enemy.
He may hesitate.
Give her opportunities to withdraw.
Conceal encounters.
Or continue believing peace can still be restored long after everyone else has stopped.
Champion would never willingly sacrifice Hell Host personnel for Katherine.
But the possibility that one day he might have to choose between duty and saving her terrifies him.
Relationships
Predator
Predator is one of the few commanders Champion follows without hesitation.
Their relationship is built on respect rather than fear.
Champion does not worship Predator.
He does not treat him as infallible.
He trusts him.
Predator values Champion because Marcus will tell him the truth even when the answer is uncomfortable.
Many within Hell Hosts believe Champion is among the people Predator would trust with the faction’s future.
Destiny
Champion’s relationship with Destiny often resembles that of siblings.
Both are deeply protective of others.
Both carry emotional burdens they rarely discuss openly.
Both frequently attempt to protect everyone except themselves.
This leads to arguments.
Champion worries about Destiny more than she appreciates.
Destiny regularly tells him to stop.
He does not.
Ranger
Ranger is one of Champion’s oldest and closest friends.
The two share a strongly brotherly relationship.
They frequently argue about:
- Tactics
- Training
- Battalion structure
- Equipment
- Command decisions
Neither enjoys admitting when the other is correct.
Their rivalry is friendly.
Their trust is absolute.
Blood
Champion respected Blood as both a warrior and an ally.
He valued Blood’s resilience, loyalty, and willingness to protect people under his command.
Blood’s disappearance and later Ascension became another loss Champion quietly carried.
Although the circumstances surrounding Blood were unlike Sparkplug, Marcus still experienced the same familiar feeling:
Someone disappeared.
And he could not bring them home.
Katherine “Valkyrie” Stone
Valkyrie, real name Katherine Stone, is one of the most important people in Marcus Hale’s life.
Their relationship began during one of the rare periods when the Hell Hosts and Free World Order were allies.
It survived after the alliance did not.
Before They Met
Champion had heard of Valkyrie before ever meeting Katherine personally.
She was already recognised as one of Free World’s greatest defensive commanders.
Her reputation centred around:
- Civilian evacuation
- Defensive warfare
- Organised retreat
- Saving surrounded forces
- Protecting frontier settlements
Marcus respected her record.
He still expected her to be difficult.
Katherine had also heard of Champion.
She expected him to be an arrogant Hell Host golden boy.
She was partially correct.
The Alliance
The Hell Hosts and Free World Order had been enemies for years.
That changed following the disappearance of:
With Onyx believed dead or missing, leadership of Free World passed to:
Facing the growing threat of the Angel Sword, Ultimatum entered into an alliance with the Hell Hosts.
For the first time, personnel who had previously fought one another were expected to cooperate.
Champion and Valkyrie became involved in multiple combined operations during this period.
First Impressions
Their early relationship involved frequent disagreement.
Champion specialised in:
Attack.
Katherine specialised in:
Defence.
Marcus believed hesitation could allow an enemy to recover.
Kat believed aggression without preparation created unnecessary casualties.
They argued constantly.
Then they began noticing something.
Champion’s attacks were stronger when Katherine secured the ground behind him.
Katherine’s defences survived longer when Champion destroyed threats before they reached her lines.
They complemented each other.
Respect developed quickly.
Romance took longer.
Why Champion Fell for Her
The earliest stages of Marcus’s feelings for Katherine were not based entirely on attraction.
They began with admiration.
Marcus watched Valkyrie take collapsing fronts and turn them into successful evacuations.
He watched her protect soldiers who should have been dead.
He watched her bring people home.
That mattered deeply to him.
Operation Sparkplug had left Marcus haunted by the fact that he failed to save anyone.
Katherine built her entire career around preventing exactly that.
She represented something Marcus desperately valued.
The ability to look at a hopeless battlefield and still say:
“We’re getting them out.”
Kat
Champion is one of the few people who regularly calls Katherine:
Kat.
The name belongs to the person beneath General Valkyrie.
Not the commander.
Not the symbol.
Not the Free World officer.
Just Katherine Stone.
She allows very few people to see that side of her.
Marcus is one of them.
Valk
Champion eventually began shortening Valkyrie to:
Valk.
Katherine repeatedly told him that she disliked it.
This was not entirely true.
The nickname became deeply personal to them.
Almost nobody else is allowed to use it.
During later hostilities between their factions, hearing Marcus say it became increasingly painful for Katherine.
Quiet
Katherine is naturally quiet.
When alone with Champion, she becomes quieter still.
Marcus learned that this is not discomfort.
It is trust.
Around most people, Katherine must remain:
- General Valkyrie
- Calm
- Controlled
- Reassuring
- Alert
Around Marcus, she can simply be Kat.
They can spend long periods sitting together without speaking.
Champion eventually learned to recognise:
- Her angry silence
- Her exhausted silence
- Her worried silence
- Her thoughtful silence
- Her peaceful silence
He does not always respect the angry one.
Sometimes he continues talking specifically because he knows it annoys her.
Physical Affection
Champion and Katherine’s relationship is romantic, but rarely dramatic.
Their intimacy usually appears through small gestures.
In private they may:
- Hold hands
- Sit closely beside one another
- Rest against each other
- Share blankets near campfires
- Quietly embrace after difficult operations
- Fall asleep beside one another
- Kiss when they believe nobody is watching
One gesture became especially important.
Marcus playing with Katherine’s hair.
Her Hair
Katherine has a habit of absent-mindedly playing with her own hair.
Champion noticed long before she realised he had.
Eventually, during quieter moments, he began gently running his fingers through it himself.
Kat loves this.
She rarely admits that fact directly.
It became one of their most private forms of affection.
Campfires
During joint operations against the Angel Sword, Champion and Katherine occasionally spent nights beside small campfires away from the main command areas.
Armour removed.
Weapons nearby.
No speeches.
No strategy.
No politics.
Sometimes Katherine would rest against Marcus.
Sometimes they would hold hands.
Sometimes neither spoke for an hour.
For a short period, both allowed themselves to imagine the alliance might last.
The Observatory
During the alliance, Champion discovered an abandoned observatory on a remote world.
The structure was old and largely forgotten.
Its telescope was partially damaged.
Sections of the roof exposed the interior directly to the stars.
After Katherine once mentioned missing the night sky above her home colony, Marcus brought her there.
The observatory became:
Their place.
During the Alliance
They visited when deployments allowed.
Champion often brought coffee.
Katherine brought food.
Sometimes Nova Cola.
They talked about:
- Campaigns
- The Outer Rim
- Hell Hosts
- Free World
- Their childhoods
- Things they wanted after the war
- Absolutely nothing
Katherine gradually stored pieces of her souvenir collection there.
After the Alliance
When Onyx returned and the factions became enemies again, Marcus expected the observatory to become another lost memory.
It did not.
They continued meeting there.
Secretly.
No escorts.
No soldiers.
No full combat armour.
Inside the observatory, neither treated the other as an enemy.
The meetings sometimes ended peacefully.
Sometimes they argued.
Sometimes they kissed.
Sometimes one of them left furious.
Both always returned eventually.
Onyx
Champion has disliked Onyx since long before his relationship with Katherine.
Marcus views Onyx as one of the primary architects of the conflict between Free World and the Hell Hosts.
From his perspective, Onyx transformed Free World into a major militant rival and helped create a war that cost countless lives.
Champion’s view can be summarised as:
Onyx started the fire and expected everyone else to live inside it.
Ultimatum Changed Everything
When Onyx disappeared and Ultimatum assumed control of Free World, Champion witnessed something he had previously considered nearly impossible.
Peace worked.
Hell Host soldiers fought beside Free World soldiers.
Combined operations succeeded.
Friendships developed.
The alliance fought the Angel Sword effectively.
Marcus began wondering whether coexistence had always been possible.
That strengthened his resentment toward Onyx.
Onyx Returns
When Onyx eventually returned and reclaimed leadership of Free World, the alliance collapsed.
Old hostilities resumed.
Champion lost:
- Allied commanders
- Joint operations
- New friendships
- The possibility of lasting peace
And, publicly:
Katherine.
From Marcus’s perspective, Onyx’s return confirmed one of his worst beliefs.
The war did not necessarily have to continue.
Someone chose for it to.
Onyx Discovers the Relationship
Onyx does not initially know the full extent of Champion and Valkyrie’s relationship.
Eventually, however, he discovers enough to understand what Katherine means to Marcus.
He recognises immediately that this creates leverage.
Onyx does not necessarily threaten Katherine directly.
That would be crude.
Instead, he may manipulate:
- Deployments
- Intelligence leaks
- Negotiations
- Battlefield positioning
- Joint objectives
- Katherine’s location
He understands that forcing Champion and Katherine onto opposite sides of the same battlefield can create hesitation that no weapon could achieve.
“Beautiful Place”
One of the most dangerous possibilities is Onyx discovering the observatory.
He does not need to threaten Marcus openly.
A simple comment would be enough.
“Beautiful place, that observatory.”
Champion would understand immediately.
Onyx knows.
And worse:
He knows Champion knows.
Ultimatum
Ultimatum played an indirect but enormous role in Champion’s relationship with Katherine.
Without his alliance with the Hell Hosts, they may never have known one another beyond reputation.
Ultimatum eventually realised Champion and Valkyrie had become close.
He chose not to intervene.
Neither commander allowed the relationship to compromise alliance operations.
Their cooperation was highly effective.
And, perhaps more importantly, Ultimatum saw no reason to destroy one of the few genuinely good things created by the alliance.
He never formally acknowledged knowing.
He did occasionally look at them in a way that made Katherine immediately realise he knew.
Marcus usually pretended not to notice.
Neither Will Defect
Champion has never asked Katherine to leave the Free World Order.
Katherine has never asked Champion to leave the Hell Hosts.
This is one of the foundations of their relationship.
Marcus understands that asking Kat to abandon the frontier worlds she dedicated her life to would mean asking her to stop being Katherine Stone.
Kat understands that asking Marcus to abandon Hell Hosts would mean asking him to betray thousands of soldiers who trust him.
They love one another.
They also respect one another too much to demand surrender.
Their Ideological Difference
Marcus believes that humanity survives through unity.
Katherine believes people cannot depend entirely on distant powers to decide when they are worth saving.
Champion sees the Hell Hosts as:
Protection through strength and unity.
Valkyrie sees Free World as:
Protection through independence and self-determination.
Neither belief comes from hatred.
That is why their conflict is so difficult.
“Don’t Do This, Valk.”
After the alliance ended, Marcus continued using the nickname Valk during rare confrontations.
During one encounter, he attempted to stop Katherine from escalating an operation.
He said:
“Don’t do this, Valk.”
Katherine replied:
“Don’t call me that.”
The words were not spoken because she hated him.
They were spoken because hearing the nickname reminded her of everything they had lost.
Off-Duty Life
Champion spends surprisingly little time behaving like a stereotypical Fleet Admiral.
When off duty, Marcus can often be found:
- Visiting soldiers
- Training recruits
- Exercising
- Reviewing operations
- Walking through the Commonwealth
- Eating with regular personnel
- Exploring deployment locations
- Checking on injured troops
- Avoiding formal officer lounges
He dislikes environments where rank becomes more important than people.
Battalion Cookouts
Champion regularly organises informal gatherings for the 702nd Battalion and other personnel close to his command.
These gatherings usually involve:
- Food
- Drinks
- Stories
- Friendly arguments
- Bad jokes
- Soldiers briefly forgetting they are soldiers
Marcus considers these events important.
War reduces people to ranks and casualty figures easily enough.
Cookouts remind them they are still human.
Hobbies
Training Recruits
Champion genuinely enjoys helping inexperienced soldiers improve.
He remembers what it was like to be new.
He has little patience for senior personnel who humiliate recruits simply because they can.
Running
Marcus runs regularly.
The habit helps him clear his mind after difficult operations.
He frequently runs alone.
Military History
Champion studies historical campaigns extensively.
He is particularly interested in:
- Failed operations
- Impossible victories
- Defensive collapses
- Leadership failures
- Improvised battlefield tactics
He believes studying victory teaches confidence.
Studying failure teaches survival.
Exploring New Worlds
Champion enjoys exploring worlds during deployments whenever circumstances allow.
He prefers:
- Local markets
- Small settlements
- Old infrastructure
- Civilian districts
- Natural landscapes
This trait later became another point of connection between him and Katherine.
Favourite Drinks
Coffee
Champion’s standard drink.
Simple.
Reliable.
Frequently necessary.
He often brings coffee to the observatory when meeting Katherine.
Root Beer
Champion secretly loves root beer.
He refuses to explain why.
Katherine knows.
This has made the situation significantly worse.
Reputation
Within Hell Hosts
Champion is respected across the Hell Hosts.
Soldiers frequently view him as the standard officers should aspire toward.
His reputation is built around three ideas:
He fights beside us.
He remembers us.
He comes back.
Among Officers
Senior officers respect Champion’s competence but occasionally find his frontline habits frustrating.
He is considered:
- Dependable
- Independent
- Difficult to intimidate
- Extremely loyal
- Occasionally impossible to restrain
Among Enemy Forces
Enemy commanders regard Champion as one of Hell Hosts’ most dangerous operational leaders.
Not because he possesses supernatural abilities.
Because soldiers under Champion rarely behave like defeated soldiers.
He can turn broken morale into another attack.
Within Free World
Champion’s reputation within the Free World Order is unusually complicated.
Many soldiers fought beside him during the alliance.
Some genuinely liked him.
Others respected him.
After hostilities resumed, those memories did not disappear.
This makes fighting Champion uncomfortable for veterans who once trusted him.
Legacy
Champion represents a particular ideal within the Hell Hosts.
Strength without cruelty.
Authority without arrogance.
Courage without pretending fear does not exist.
His fifty victories made him famous.
His one failure made him human.
His soldiers remember the commander who fought beside them.
Fleet One remembers the Admiral who refused to become distant.
Katherine remembers Marcus Hale.
And Champion himself remembers everyone he failed to bring home.
His greatest victories are not the worlds captured or armies defeated.
They are the people who lived long enough to return home.
Quotes
“My men don’t fight for me. They fight beside me.”
“I don’t give orders. I lead.”
“We’re getting out of this.”
“If I wouldn’t go through that door, I have no right telling you to.”
“Victory means nothing if nobody comes home to remember it.”
“One bad operation doesn’t disappear because fifty others worked.”
“I trusted Free World once. Funny thing is, it worked.”
“Onyx started the fire and expected everyone else to live inside it.”
“Don’t do this, Valk.”
“You don’t have to talk, Kat.”
Trivia
- Champion’s real name is Marcus Hale.
- He is 36 years old.
- He commands Fleet One from the Hell Host Commonwealth.
- He also maintains authority over the 702nd Battalion and several attached Doom Corps formations.
- Champion has completed 51 major operations.
- 50 were successful.
- Operation Sparkplug remains his only major failure.
- His armour carries one carved marking for every completed operation.
- Sparkplug’s marking is identical to all the others.
- His armour uses distinctive gold and white command markings.
- Champion leads from the front despite his Fleet Admiral rank.
- He enjoys training recruits.
- He studies military history.
- He enjoys exploring new worlds.
- His most common drink is coffee.
- He secretly loves root beer.
- Champion became close to Valkyrie during the Hell Host–Free World alliance under Ultimatum.
- He calls Katherine Stone Kat.
- He also calls her Valk, a nickname she pretends to dislike.
- Champion frequently plays with Katherine’s hair when they are alone.
- Their private meeting place is an abandoned observatory.
- They continued meeting after the alliance collapsed.
- Neither has ever asked the other to defect.
- Ultimatum knows about their relationship and chose not to interfere.
- Champion disliked Onyx long before Katherine became involved.
- Onyx eventually discovers Champion and Katherine’s relationship and may attempt to use it against them.