Orphion

A Snake Space Knight. A Snace Snight if you will.

One of the most distinguished of the Space Knights, Orphion is a loyal servant of the Solstar Order, partner of Livia, and commanding officer to Rom. Just like the other members of the Order, he too is at war with the Dire Wraiths but his reasons go far deeper having lost his family and world to the shape-shifting monsters. While Orphion may seem to have a tough ends-justify-the-means attitude, he is not entirely devoid of reason. If words are chosen correctly, he will listen when others call him out on his actions and give them the opportunity to prove their own points.

Fiction

Early Life

Little is known of Oprhion's life before becoming a member of the Solstar Order, but what is known is that his home world was among the "Fringe Worlds," a region of the Solstar Order's territory that was ravaged by a Dire Wraith invasion and occupation, with him being among the last survivors and swearing revenge upon the Wraiths. Adding insult to injury, among the victims of the Wraith's onslaught on his world was Orphion's nest family. Orphion profile He is also non-religious, although it is unclear if he was that way before or after the loss of his world. Interlude A close friend of Imperator Carax, both men opted not to reveal the existence of the Wraiths to the public in the fear that the populace would simply flee into space and become easy pickings. Cold Fire As Orphion learned more about the galaxy, he developed a pronounced disgust for the Cybertronian race. Interlude

Solstar Commander

Solstar forces under the command of Orphion investigated the site where strange meteorites had struck Rom's family home on the planet of Elonia. There, they found the charred but still alive form of Shah K'atsema, who was on the brink of death. Further investigations confirmed Orphion's worst fears; the Dire Wraiths had arrived. Later, the Dire Wraiths escaped.

Rom, Livia and Fy-Laa joined the Solstar's military, and were debriefed at the Solstar Order Command Center about the threat of the Dire Wraiths by Carax and Orphion. Rom was understandably enraged about the fact that he and the people of Elonia were not informed about the threat sooner, though Orphion was quick to scold Rom for addressing the Imperator in such a crude manner. However, Carax agreed with the young recruit that the Elonians should have been given a fighting chance, something that he was giving to Rom and friends at that moment.

When Rom, Livia, and Fy-Laa had graduated to the status of Solstar cadets, Imperiator Carax and Orphion deployed the three of them on their first mission; guarding a mine near Rom's old home that the Dire Wraiths could use as a command post, much to Rom's annoyance.

After the Cadets survived an ordeal with a group of Dire Wraiths at the mine and had gotten their new armor from a mysterious ore, Orphion was present when the Solstar Order examined the Cadet's armor to ascertain its abilities. When Fy-Laa gave his concerns about the potential downsides of the new suit enhancement, Orphion agreed that those were reasonable concerns, but they had yet to have any definitive answers at that point in time. After Livia showed her enthusiasm for using the armor to take the fight to the Wraiths, Orphion claimed that she took the words right off of his forked tongue, saying that they could possibly even strike at the Wraiths' home world. Fy-Laa respectfully called him out on the idea, pointing out the questionability of sending three cadets that he barely let guard a hole in the ground to take on an entire planet. While Orphion did call the cadet impertinent for saying such a thing to his commanding officer, he did agree that the assessment was accurate, and said that he would never send his troops to do something that he himself would not. So, with Imperiator Carax's backing, Orphion stated that he would undergo the armor conversion process, and then train any battle-hardened volunteer so that they could all go and fight the Wraiths, thus beginning the group known as the Knights of the Solstar Order. Cold Fire

Years later, he was part of the group that saved Stardrive from Vekktral on Mato Grosso. Shining Armor #1 Five years after that, following Stardrive's defection from the order of the Space Knights, Orphion communicated with the Galactic Council to try and salvage the treaty between the two interstellar factions before the Council representative's bad attitude caused the discussion to devolve into a petty argument over whose war was the more dangerous one. Shining Armor #5

Two centuries later, Orphion was one of the Order members whom Rom thought of while explaining his life story to Darby Mason. Earthfall: Part Two

Arrival on Earth

Circa 2016, along with Livia, Orphion arrived in Earth's orbit following up on rumours that Rom's mental health was deteriorating. As per Solstar protocol, the two used their Analyzers to do a scan of Earth and found it bursting with Wraiths which sealed their decision to destroy Earth at the first opportunity. Reinforcements, Part 3 Nonetheless they made planetfall on Earth in the Pacific Ocean near Pismo Beach to try and find Rom. Earthfall: Part Four

He and Livia tracked a duo of Wraiths to Santa Barbara where Orphion destroyed them while joyriding in a taxi (which Livia found just a bit ostentatious) before the two tracked Rom to Cooper's Mill where he insisted Livia wait for more information before rushing in. Rom was then thrown out a house fighting an infected Camilla Byers before he triumphed and prepared to execute her. At this point Orphion and Livia made themselves known and encouraged him to follow through on it. Reinforcements, Part 1

Rom attempted to explain his actions but Orphion would hear none of it bringing the Knights to blows. After Livia had amputated Camilla's infected arm, a Wraith Hawk arrived and the younger Knights engaged it while Orphion exchanged some (one-sided) banter with Camilla, being impressed by her bravery and spirit. After the Hawk had been defeated, Orphion fired his weapon expunging the Wraith presence from Camilla though he was quick to tell Rom that Earth had to be destroyed. Reinforcements, Part 2

After seeing off the ambulance that took Camilla to a hospital, Rom led his colleagues to Blind-Eye Cave to compare notes with Orphion chewing Rom out for not requesting a new partner after his previous one perished before revealing how infested Earth truly was. Though Orphion was briefly given pause to consider that destroying the Earth could cause a war with the Cybertronians, he was convinced that Solstar diplomats could handle them before he knocked unconscious by two rogue members of G.I. Joe. He recovered mid-battle and flew off. Reinforcements, Part 3

Orphion flew to an oil rig infested with Wraith Soldiers with the sight of him sent the Wraiths into a mass panic. Though his Neutralizer was still rebooting, Orphion tore the structure in melee combat before his weapons returned and he finished off the surface crew. As he prepared to send the energy of his Neutralizer down the drill shaft to destroy Earth, he was again confronted by Rom. Orphion ordered Livia to go below and destroy Earth while he fought Rom. Though he initially had the upper hand, Rom's patience finally expired and he promptly absorbed Orphion's Neutralizer before knocking him down to the lower levels. Orphion got the last laugh however when he used his tail to envelop Rom and stun him with Neutralizer energy. Reinforcements, Part 4 Rom refused to fall however and Orphion ordered Livia to take him down. As Orphion prepared to shatter the planet, a being known as the the Absence made itself known easily besting Livia before it phased through Orphion's armor and began draining his strength only for Rom to recover and save him. While Rom wanted to save Livia, Orphion continued to send his energy down the drill to destroy Earth until Rom convinced him to help Livia. In the aftermath, Orphion decided to hear Rom out asking him to show what made Earth so special. Reinforcements, Part 5

New Threats

Rom took the two back to Pismo Beach to observe the diversity of the humans under stealth cloak. Orphion meanwhile read the human internet and was deeply unimpressed by humanity. As such he ordered his subordinates to drop their cloak to see how humans truly reacted. As it turned out, the humans were incredibly grateful to meet their heroes, the Autobots. No one listened to Orphion's insisting they weren't Cybertronians but a little girl gave him a flower and he posed for several pictures. When Rom announced it was time to leave however, a local man approached Orphion and directed the Knights to a nearby church where a Dire Wraith was residing. Inside Orphion reminded Rom that he wasn't off the hook for stealing Orphion's weapon as well as commenting that humanity had too many gods and used that as an excuse for war. The Wraith within was not only extremely powerful but quite possibly insane. Orphion eventually charged it and wrapped it in his tail, only for the Wraith to mock the death of Orphion's spawn and used his hatred to fuel a transformation into a monstrous form. The three Knights however combined their weapons and felled the Wraith with Orphion heading Rom's point about Earth's uniqueness but remained unsure whether it should be destroyed or spared. Interlude

Orphion then sent Rom and Livia back into orbit to reconfirm the earlier scan. Orphion sent Rom and Livia to the Mediterranean Sea to investigate abnormal energy readings while he explored the 37th parallel of the United States. As his subordinates flew off, Orphion commented how good it was that Rom had a partner again while leaving Orphion free to attend to his true business on Earth. Long Roads to Ruin, Part 1

Travelling to Factory Butte in Utah, Orphion found a tented structure within which his Energy Analyzer detected a large concentration of Wraiths. Arriving too late to save the humans within, Orphion bore witness to the ghostly image of a monstrous Wraith before he slew the Wraith Soldiers and wrapped Kagan Knight in his tail. Despite this, Knight remained defiant prompting Orphion to slay him. Tracking the energy the Wraiths had released, Orphion found it had all been sent down a large crack in the ground. As he pondered why the Wraiths would willingly dump so much harvested psychic energy as well as the cause for the crack's formation, a green light shone from the crack and it sealed itself leaving Orphion baffled. Unbeknownst to him, his actions were observed by the Absence and D'rge with the latter being wary of how close Orphion was to finding answers. Long Roads to Ruin, Part 4

Upon reuniting with Livia and Rom, Orphion took the former with him to dispatch a lava-based Wraith creature. During the battle, they received a distress beacon from Rom and arrived in time to see him seemingly shrink into nothingness. Without hesitation, Orphion tackled Baron Karza and wrapped the tyrant in his tail, shocking him with Neutralizer energy only for Karza to access his centaur form to break free, rendering Orphion unconscious. He was roused by Livia who informed him that there was no sign of Rom or the Micronauts. In the tradition of the Space Knights, Orphion fired his Neutralizer straight up to mark their departed comrades and led everyone away to plan their next move. Small World

Notes

• Orphion’s name likely derives from Ophion, a giant snake creature from Greek mythology, often featured in Orphic poetry.
  • Ophion had previously been named an aspect of The Serpent worshipped by The Coil in the sixth issue of G.I. Joe: Cobra II. Though Cobra II and ROM were both co-written by Christos Gage, it's unlikely any actual connection was meant between Orphion and the snake cult. (Or was it?!)

External links

• Orphion at the TFWiki