Oseriumuulsaeth Asaetherund is an Assault-Scout hybrid from the twilight forest city of Asaetherund in Saethera, and the first of his kind to leave the continent. He was born from an Assault-Class mother and a Scout-Class father, the smallest of seven siblings all of whom are more physically imposing than he is. At seven feet four inches he is slightly taller than the Scout-Class operative Vohk'tirrel but obviously much stronger and heavier, carrying the frame of an Assault-Class compressed into the sensory architecture of a Scout. The combination is, by Vohk's own account, almost unfair to observe.

Asaetherund

The city of Asaetherund sits in one of Saethera's twilight forests and is almost entirely hidden to those unaware of its existence. There are no obvious entrances, whether subterranean or from above, and no clear skyline because the population adapted to building within the flora rather than above it. Before it became a city it was simply a place where Scout-Class Engineered who sought isolation gathered, drawn to a region where their perception was the only reason anyone could survive. It became a haven for those seeking to be with others who understood them. The Assault-Class followed, as they do with anyone anywhere they consider even somewhat of a friend, regardless of the will of said friend.

Due to extremely limited relay connectivity, the city and its surrounding settlements stayed mostly unknown to the wider planet. The only outsiders who have seen it are expeditioners who otherwise would have died in Saethera if not saved by the local population. Most of those rescued choose not to leave, which accounts for the very small natural-born population in the region. Some of these natural-borns brought old relay footage of music, performance, history, and the wars that have shaped Geba.

Asaetherund is also the origin of the Assault-Scout hybrid as a common class. Whether this represents a new emergence similar to the Tactician-Class developing from the Assault-Class, or an unusually even and consistent hybrid race produced by the high concentration of Scout and Assault genetics in the region, remains unclear. Whatever the reason, Assault-Scouts are common in Asaetherund, and the implications are significant. They have their own phonology of the language, their own naming conventions with no apostrophe structure, and art dedicated not only to Auren, Daer, and Kaelera, but to individuals unknown outside of Saethera who are significant within their own history.

The Hunt

Assault-Scouts in Asaetherund hunt with no trackers, no communications equipment, and the most primitive projectile weapon Vohk had ever seen outside of historical reference: a tube with a spring mechanism near the shoulder and a sharp needle-like projectile inside. The operator pulls a knob attached to the spring until there is no coil remaining and releases it, sending the projectile forward. The draw requires immense strength and the weapon makes no sound. They speak in throat noises only they can hear, make micro-movements only they can detect, keep track of scent patterns, move with pressure shifts, and step only with natural noise. It is impossible for anyone without Scout-level perception to follow them or understand what they are doing, and Vohk reported that even for him it was difficult. They are clearly using their combined advantages with a precision that neither class achieves independently.

Why He Left

Osi grew up watching the small number of rescued natural-borns who chose to stay in Asaetherund, and the relay footage they carried with them made him wonder what existed beyond Saethera. He knew the broad history from the elders of the city, but he had never seen the planet with his own eyes. Despite everyone explaining that he would be overwhelmed by the smells and noise of normal society, and that nobody outside of Saethera would understand what he would try to explain about his life, he was still looking for a way out. To stop him, his family attempted to pair bond him early.

The Trials

Pair bonding among the population of Asaetherund does not normally happen until an individual has reached their first century, a tradition inherited from the pure Scout-Class that accounts for their slow maturation and very long lifespans. Osi was barely turning forty. The decision to bond him early was deliberate.

He excelled at every trial over the following twenty years. He survived the Isolation, a trial requiring a solo journey to the border where Saethera meets the Uncharted continent, where the individual must find a rock from a specific geological era, created under a specific pressure. The test exists because it is one of the few things that can actually challenge a Scout-Class body. Many fail on the first attempt. Many take years. They are permitted to try again only when allowed. Osi passed.

After the Isolation he was meant to complete the bonding hunt, the final trial. In the bonding hunt, the individual and their intended pair bond hunt each other. The purpose is not winning. It is knowing. Each learns the other's strength, weaknesses, movement signatures, and everything nuanced about how the other exists in space. In trying to win they teach each other who they are. There are likely hundreds of these hunts happening simultaneously across the vastness of Saethera's forests, with paired individuals never seeing each other for years at a time.

Aneth

During his bonding hunt Osi fell in love with Anetharsurevoha Asaetherund before they had ever spoken with sound, or had been within a kilometer of each other. Three years of hunting her through the forests, reading her pressure shifts, tracking absence where scent should have been, losing her trail and finding it again, taught him who she was more completely than any spoken conversation could have. He understood then what the elders were doing and why. She was perfect for him in every way, and that was precisely the point: give him a reason to stay that his own senses confirmed.

Vohk

During his trial period, a party led by Vohk'tirrel arrived in the region, twelve Church of the Infinite Maw members and three Engineered followers searching for the father of Zairen Vaul. They were walking toward a nest of Palmstriders without knowing it. Osi could tell that Vohk sensed something was wrong, but without Saetheran reference, a Scout from the governed world has no framework for identifying a Palmstrider that is not moving. Osi told Vohk to stop at a volume only Vohk could hear, and guided the entire party to the city without ever showing himself.

Aneth heard everything. She did not reveal herself. Instead she watched him give his attention to these outsiders for over a year, watched him demonstrate a hunt, watched him interact with the natural-borns in the party, and through that observation learned who he was and what he desired more thoroughly than the bonding hunt alone could have taught her. His desire to leave Saethera was obvious without him ever saying it aloud. It was also clear to her that they had bonded, whether he was ready to acknowledge it or not, and she had already decided that she would go with him regardless of whether he knew it.

The Trap

When Vohk agreed to take Osi out of Saethera, the elders said nothing. They wished he would see his trials through, but he was always welcome to return. The party began the long journey from Asaetherund to a clearing where short-range airships could take them to the northern coast.

On the route, the party walked into a cage that locked them inside. A net came toward Osi. He dodged it and immediately stepped onto a pressure trap that tied his legs. As he reached to free himself the pressure removal triggered a branch that drove a log into him, pinning him against a tree. He broke free, dodged a second net, and the dodge placed him precisely where a second cage closed around him. Every escape had been predicted. Every dodge moved him into the next stage of a sequence designed by someone who knew exactly how he would react to each threat.

Before he saw anyone, he heard a voice that did not need to be spoken aloud but was, specifically so his followers could hear it.

"Are you forgetting something? Someone, maybe?"

He recognized who it was immediately. Not only had he failed to detect her or the traps, Vohk had not detected them either. She had been watching him for over a year, had built a sequence that accounted for every reflex his body possessed, and had remained invisible to two Scout-level operators while doing it. The elders had said nothing because at their level of perception they had likely known what was happening from the beginning.

She revealed herself to him for the first time. They stared at each other for several moments, both nervous in a way that neither had experienced before. For an Assault-Scout in Asaetherund, seeing the person you have hunted with your own eyes for the first time carries a weight that the governed world has no equivalent for. It is intimate in a way that transcends anything physical. He already knew her movement patterns, her pressure signature, her absence of scent, every nuance of how she existed in space. Now he was seeing the face that belonged to all of it.

He told Vohk that she had to come as well. When Vohk asked why, the closest comparison Osi could offer was that this was his wife now, and that they had been engaged for years, although this was his first time seeing her. The rest of the party looked puzzled but did not argue. They left Saethera together toward the Berinu Islands in search of Zairen's father.