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Age: 27
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Character Name: Adrian “Ade” Bennett
Age: In his 30s
Canon: The Wess’har Wars
Canon point: Directly after That World Before
History: Summary of the first book. Note that Ade is mostly a background character here.

In the second book, word of Shan’s new “biotech” begins to spread through the ranks of the human crew. As the information filters to governments and corporations alike back on Earth, a race begins to somehow retrieve samples. Newly bereaved by the loss of her infant son, Lindsay blames Shan for refusing to provide the child with a dose of life-saving c’nataat. Her anger becomes further inflamed when Ade tells her that the corporations are attempting to exhume her son’s body to check for contamination. Lindsay resolves that they will retrieve a c’nataat sample from Shan one way or another and enlists the help of Ade’s detachment of marines. Though Ade has started to develop feelings for Shan and thus feels conflicted by their involvement, Lindsay is his commanding officer and he does not feel able to disobey her.

Lindsay and the marines thus hatch a plan to land on Bezer’ej using “Once-Only suits” that will allow them to be dropped onto the planet from orbit without tripping the wess’har defnet. They then plan to extract Shan and steal a colony ship to return to the orbiting Actaeon. However, unbeknownst to the marines, Lindsay’s plan is far more extreme; rather than take Shan alive, she plans to kill Shan and destroy the c’nataat that inhabits her, taking revenge without the risk to Earth’s population. Their cohort is soon joined by Mohan Rayat, a spy of uncertain loyalties who also has an interest in securing a sample for his handlers. As the date of the mission approaches, Rayat convinces Lindsay to not only capture Shan, but to destroy the c’nataat’s remaining natural habitat, the island Christopher. He suggests the use of cobalt-salted nukes, misleading Lindsay to believe that the weapon will have no lasting environmental effects aside from the destruction of the c’nataat microorganism.

Eventually, Lindsay, Rayat, and the marines execute their mission, dropping near the colony and enlisting the help of a sympathetic colonist to secure passage to Christopher, the island from which c’nataat originates. Aras and Shan “capture” two of the six marines (though it is implied that this may have been part of the marines’ plans) and interrogate them, eventually learning of their plan to bomb Christopher. Lindsay then taunts Shan through one of the marine’s audio implants, telling Shan, “Come and get me.”

Enraged at Lindsay’s plan to destroy the native environment, Shan rushes off to confront her and the marines, bringing their two prisoners and Aras with her. Unfortunately, it’s too late. The bombs go off as they’re approaching Christopher by boat, poisoning the water that the bezeri inhabit.

Shan and Aras return for their final confrontation with Lindsay and the marines. Awaiting her arrival in the tunnels under the colony, the marines prepare to subdue and capture her. It becomes clear to all of them that Ade is becoming increasingly distressed by the situation, but still does not break from following orders.

Shan arrives and immediately attacks Lindsay, forcing her to the ground and holding a gun to her head. However, before she can shoot, the marines open fire, starting a firefight between them and Shan. When Shan shoots one of his detachment, Ade tackles her to the ground and pins her there, but not before she manages to headbutt him in the face, bloodying him. The marines then manage to subdue, restrain, and gag Shan. As they do this, Ade seems preoccupied by the wound Shan had given him, something that Lindsay notes is uncharacteristic for someone who has never shown much concern for his appearance before.

However, Lindsay is also preoccupied by her own plans. With Shan now incapacitated, she drops her charade and prepares to use the grenades from her belt-pack to destroy Shan and the c’nataat within her. When Lindsay tries to order Ade to leave for his own safety, he points his rifle at her, telling her to disarm the grenades on the threat of death. Lindsay attempts to pull rank on him, but Ade insists that he won’t let her murder an unarmed prisoner. Finally, Lindsay relents, sparing Shan.

Lindsay, Rayat, and the marines then load Shan onto a spacecraft and attempt to bring her back to Actaeon so that c’nataat samples may be taken. However, en-route, Shan manages to speak privately with Lindsay and convinces her to free her so that she can throw herself out of an airlock to prevent the infection being brought back to Earth. The two of them subvert the marines, secreting Shan into the cargo hatch where she can be spaced. Ade gets wind of their plot seconds too late, bursting onto the scene just in time to watch Shan fall into space.

Now empty-handed and having committed an act of war on the territory of a technologically superior foe, Lindsay, Rayat, and the marines continue to make their way back to Actaeon with a growing sense of dread. On their way, they are intercepted by an ussissi shuttle, that informs them via comm that they have deployed cobalt weapons on Christopher and demands to know what has become of their prisoner. Over the course of the conversation, Lindsay and the marines realize Rayat lied to them and has made them complicit in genocide against the bezeri. Ade then interjects into the exchange and states that he is surrendering to the wess’har authorities for his crimes, much to the horror of his comrades. The ussissi agrees to take him onboard and deliver him to the wess’har.

As Ade transfers between the two ships, he takes one last look at Lindsay through the window and peels off the bandage on his face, showing that the wound Shan had given him earlier is now completely gone. He then flips Lindsay off, having revealed that she had failed in her attempt to eradiate c’nataat—he, too, is now infected.

In the aftermath of the bezeri genocide, the humans in the system are plunged into chaos. Many evacuate the Actaeon to avoid the wess’har’s retaliation, fleeing to the isenj world of Umeh. The wess’har are indeed swift in their counterattack, destroying the Actaeon and the remaining humans onboard with a single fighter.

Meanwhile, Ade surrenders himself to the grieving Aras, the wess’har matriarch Nevyan, and Eddie, giving them an account of Shan’s last moments. He also reveals that he too has been infected by c’nataat and that he had revealed as much to Lindsay. Aras and Nevyan are horrified, but do not hold Ade accountable; according to wess’har ethics, so long as he did not personally detonate the bombs, he was not responsible. Still, they cannot allow Ade to return to his kind while carrying c’nataat and so decide to keep him captive in the wess’har settlement on Bezer’ej. Knowing that he’ll be unreachable to humanity within their custody, Ade willingly agrees.

The book ends with Ade and Aras living and grieving together, now both outcasts due to c’nataat, while Nevyan vows to find Shan’s body still lost in the void of space. At the same time, the Eqbas Vorhi, wess’har from the species’ original homeworld, are told of humanity’s crimes on Bezer’ej and consequently begin planning for an invasion of Earth.

Summary of the third book

Personality:

1. Ade is brave. In many ways, Ade is a character defined by his fear. He is constantly battling his own terror, both as a result of the frightening, alien circumstances he’s been thrust into and the C-PTSD he suffers from as a result of his father’s abuse. Yet, though Ade regularly feels fear, he rarely lets it stop him from doing what’s right. This is evident from his first introduction as a significant character in City of Pearl, in which he saves a scientist after she falls into a quicksand-like bog and into the sights of an alien predator known as a sheven. During the rescue, Ade appears to be the utter picture of courage, throwing himself into the bog after the scientist and expertly getting a line around her so she can be hauled back onto solid ground, all while the sheven circles. He holds onto this courage until he and the woman are safe once more—at which point he nearly collapses with terror. This introductory scene cements Ade’s characterization as a man who is incredibly brave not because he is fearless, but precisely because he is not. Ade’s actions throughout the series reflect this courage, from his decision to strand himself on an alien planet in order to protect life on Earth, to his decision to confess his role in Shan’s “death” to her mate Aras, knowing full well how dangerous the grieving wess’har might be (and also knowing full well his own trauma regarding violence from men). All of these decisions show Ade to be a very brave character, determined to protect and help others no matter how frightening the circumstances or how high the cost.

2. Ade is gentle. Though Ade is a soldier by trade, he is far from a violent man. He is kind and patient with others, described as having a voice that “always seemed too soft for a man who was supposed to bark orders.” When the grieving Aras becomes violent with Eddie after the latter prevents Aras’s attempted suicide, it’s Ade who softly talks them both down from the edge. When Shan is recovered from the void of space, mummified alive, it’s Ade who takes the lead in caring for her, speaking kindly to her even as she struggles against his attempts to help. Indeed, the care vigil he organizes for her is guided by his childhood experience hand-rearing a litter of abandoned fox kits. One thing that becomes very clear throughout the series: Ade did not end up as the de facto leader of his marine detachment because he was the toughest or strongest, but rather because the others willingly defer to his compassionate style of leadership.

3. Ade is obedient. One of the things that makes Ade a model soldier, especially early in the series, is his capacity to simply shut up and follow orders. The catastrophic consequences of this trait are made abundantly clear in Crossing the Line, where Ade’s continued obedience towards his commanding officer Lindsay Neville leads to the genocide of the bezeri, Shan’s capture and subsequent self-sacrifice and mummification, and ultimately war between Earth and the Ebqas Vorhi. Throughout the mission, Ade becomes increasingly distressed and disgusted by his orders and yet still sees them through. Even after he finally defies Lindsay to become a voluntary POW of the wess’har, Ade continues to show a tendency towards obedient, deferential behavior, referring to the wess’har as “sir” and “ma’am” and often following Aras or Shan’s lead and seeking their approval. On multiple occasions, he braces to be reprimanded or even struck by Shan or Aras for perceived slights and shows every indication that he sees them as within their rights to treat him this way. Indeed, the one time Shan does physically lash out at him, Ade apologizes to her, too ashamed to even meet her eye. The reasons for this subservient, passive behavior likely lie in Ade’s abusive upbringing, coupled with his strict military training. For Ade, unwavering obedience is both a means of escaping punishment and of winning the approval and safety he was never granted as a child—the very reasons he “fell in love with” life in the Corps.

4. Ade is moral. As a child, Ade was frequently protected from his father’s violent rages by the intervention of his mother, who would often take beatings meant for him. This experience left Ade with a hatred toward all cruelty and a strong desire to protect others, no matter the cost to himself. For example, the moment he finds himself infected with c’nataat, he surrenders himself to the wess’har authorities, knowing that this, at best, likely means spending the rest of his potentially-eternal life as a prisoner on an alien planet. In an even more extreme example, at the end of The World Before, he attempts to give himself as a servant to the bezeri, both to atone for his role in their near-extinction and to remove himself as a complication in Ade and Shan’s lives. That this would plunge him into a lonely, nightmarish existence at the bottom of the sea is irrelevant to Ade in the face of what he feels are the moral arguments in favor of his sacrifice. It is this moral integrity that creates the most tension within Ade’s characterization, as it often conflicts with his hard-wired drive to know his place and obey those above him.

5. Ade is self-loathing. On the surface, Ade seems to have every reason to be proud of his accomplishments. He is a decorated soldier, admired by humans and wess’har alike for his competence, bravery, and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Yet, Ade sees none of these qualities in himself, instead agreeing with his father’s assessment of him as a “gutless little bastard.” His inability to protect his mother as a child has left him with a permanent image of himself as a failure of a man, a view only cemented in his mind by his struggles with C-PTSD. He is also haunted by his role in the mass poisoning of the bezeri and Shan’s near-death, which only adds to his belief that he isn’t competent nor brave enough to save the people around him. Ironically, it is this low estimation of himself that contributes to Ade’s tendency to act in ways others view as heroic: while there’s no doubt his courage and moral convictions play a role in Ade’s willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good, it is also his self-hatred that makes him so ready to throw away his own happiness and freedom for the benefit of others.

Suitability: Ade is driven by a desire to protect others. In his canon, this specifically means saving humanity from the apocalyptic scenario c’nataat would create on Earth. Thus, it’s very feasible to surmise that he would also be driven to prevent an apocalypse on this version of Earth, especially because the hellscape created by the Fears would be worse than anything c’nataat or the Ebqas Vorhi could inflict.

Powers/Abilities: (Note that, though Ade’s abilities are powerful, none of them are technically magical. All of them are granted to him through c’nataat, a microbial alien symbiote colonizing his body. If the symbiote is removed/disabled, Ade’s abilities will return to those of a baseline human.)

1. Accelerated Healing: C’nataat gives Ade extraordinary powers of self-regeneration. A shallow cut will heal in seconds; a broken bone in one to a few hours. Even being freeze-boiled alive in the void of space can be survived, given a lengthy recovery period afterwards. The only guaranteed method to kill Ade for good is fragmentation, most reliably through the use of explosives.

2. Spontaneous Mutation: C’nataat also allows Ade to rapidly adapt to hostile conditions, for example growing gills to survive underwater or becoming able to survive on alternate food sources if nothing conventional is available. C’nataat can also activate mutations in the interest of social or emotional needs, such as altering his vocal cords to allow him to speak an alien language or making him receptive to pheromone signals. All that said, c’nataat is limited to genetic information it has acquired from previous hosts or blood exposure, i.e., it cannot give Ade cat ears if it’s never been exposed to a cat. Thus, there is a limit to the changes it can grant him.

3. Memory Sharing: C’nataat not only integrates other characters’ physical traits into its hosts, but their memories as well. Thus, if Ade is exposed to another character’s blood (or sexual fluids), the most emotionally-charged of their memories will begin to appear in his dreams. These memories can range from full sensory experiences to vague tactile impressions. Ade has no control over which memories he receives or how defined they are when he dreams of them.

4. C’nataat Vector: C’nataat is an infectious microbe that grants its powers to any host it colonizes. It can be spread through blood-to-blood contact or through sexual transmission. In canon, anyone who becomes infected with c’nataat becomes its permanent host. However, in the interest of maintaining game balance, I will alter its potency by saying that c’nataat cannot survive long-term in any host besides Ade while he is in-game. Thus, any character who is exposed to c’nataat will only experience its symptoms—including accelerated healing, spontaneous mutations, and memory sharing—for a limited amount of time, with larger quantities of blood imbuing c’nataat’s effects for a longer duration. I am very open to mod input in this regard, though my initial suggestion is that a small amount of blood can grant c’nataat’s effects for a few minutes while a very large quantity of blood (i.e., a full volume transfusion) can imbue it’s effects for a couple of days.

5. Sense of smell/Pheromones: C’nataat has allowed Ade to adapt to life among the wess’har, an alien species whose society and communication hinge upon pheromone signals. For this reason, his sense of smell is much sharper than a human's. He can identify some human scents, such as those of fear and distress, not to mention any distinctive smells a character might have due to their environment/activities. In addition, Ade passively emits wess’har pheromone signals from his skin based on his emotional state, none of which have any notable effect on humans. The only pheromone that may have an additional effect on other character’s is the the pheromone emitted when Ade is at ease/in a neutral state. This sandalwood-like scent smells very pleasantly to humans and has a warm, soothing effect on wess’har (or potentially other non-human characters, at their players’ discretion).


Entity Affinity: Of all the entities, Ade would be most tied to the Stranger. The horror of c’nataat lies in its ability to change its hosts beyond recognition. For example, after centuries spent as a host, the wess’har character Aras is completely unrecognizable as either a wess’har or a human, and thus feels lost in his otherness. However, Ade is an interesting case because his feelings about c’nataat are more ambivalent. He doesn’t fear become something or someone he doesn’t recognize; he fears becoming someone that he does. Namely, as c’nataat begins integrating the memories and emotional responses of Shan, a much more violent and hot-headed character, Ade fears coming to resemble his father. Yet, towards the changes that take him away from what he knows, Ade is much more accepting. He is fiercely happy to share a genetic bond with Aras, an alien, and shows no hesitation calling Aras his brother. When Ade’s vocal cords adapt so that he can fragment his voice in the eerie double-tones of a wess’har, he is so unreservedly delighted that he nearly drives Aras mad practicing his pronunciation. As the series progresses, Ade becomes more and more estranged from his former human life, to the point where, at the series end, he willingly chooses to continue living as a c’nataat on Bezer’ej—to continue to be reshaped and remade on a world countless lightyears from home. Perhaps these experiences and choices would horrify someone else, but for Ade, they give him an escape from the life and the self he so loathes.Thus, I think he would be drawn to the Stranger, an Entity that thrives on the loss of familiarity and falling into the uncanny.

Inventory: Arctic camo Royal Navy fatigues, a fighting knife, and several military medals

Samples: TDM threads