Tahomas

In writing be it cemented

 Tahomas is the current head-scribe of the Artesjan Artist's Confederation and the author of chapters 7 and 8 of the Gible. he was born on the 10th of August to a farming family on the outskirts of Szaganad, and his public school years were marked with high grades but also a lot of pressure to keep them up. This led to him essentially having a mental breakthrough around 8th grade when he locked himself into his room and spent three days writing a thesis on Artemis' reforms and their consequences, this piece of literature impressed his mentors, who recommended him to the Karelja institute of arts, and, for the first time in his life, he was completely separated from everyone he knew, in the capital of Artesja. It was during his years at the institute that he truly came into his own. he wrote article after article and his grades again started to improve. He also began to establish connections, or, what normal people call making friends. However, as his books began to gain traction in the metropolitan area, the military and AAC took notice; they could very much use someone with his talents. 

Tahomas

We have Taken notice

— -The Vehr

 It was initially Tahomas' dream to be the first real artist from Szaganad, but when the Vehr offered him a nice apartment in Karelja and a stable source of income, a respectable title, and a job for which he had passion, he left these dreams behind and took up the mantle of Scribe for the Artesjan military. And quickly moved into his new abode, which was a clear upgrade over sleeping in a traveler's shelter. His place wasn't special, a three-room single apartment in a large complex on the north side of town, the commute to the Kerzsa didn't take more than half an hour, it was crowded, sure, but Tahomas was never too bothered by people. In fact, on one particularly snow-ridden morning, he saw a presentable young woman step onto the train. She was visibly cold and sat down next to him, so he lent his jacket to her. They talked and, when Tahomas went to get off the train, she joined him; they were both going to the Kerzsa, so she was in the military too. It was weird but, when Tahomas looked at her, his heart began to pound and his thoughts wandered. The young woman's name was Nonna, Nonna Yugashvili, and it turned out that it was her first day at the HQ as a major. And Tahomas quickly befriended her, went out together, got into trouble they probably shouldn't have, and grew closer over the summer of 52'. It was the first time he'd felt it, a genuine human connection with someone, like no one understood him as she did. And like that, he fell in love. Nonna was special to him, Tahomas knew that, but he didn't know how to tell her that. He asked around but didn't really get a lot of advice, most just "Be yourself" and "Stick to being friends", not much help, but then. Someone stepped up, Alani, a grizzled veteran of the Rasini war of succession and Thyrimia. He'd been quite the romantic in his youth, so he knew a thing or two about this sort of thing. 

Tahomas, listen to me, you've got to come clean with Nonna, I've met her, and I've seen how you two act when you're together. I'm sure that she'll say yes, just don't make a big deal out of it and for god's sakes don't do it in public, that's never a good idea. Maybe invite her out to eat, real romantic-like. Good luck, sport. -Alani

 Tahomas followed orders as he did best, he invited her to the "Visztula Grande", and confessed his feelings to her on the platinum gate bridge, 

Nonna did indeed feel the same, and the two shared a tender kiss under the starlit skies. The years to come were filled with romance and warmth for the young pair. And, the two, wanting to spend more time together, moved into a larger apartment in the Swedenhatius city center, accommodating both of them; they were practically made for each other. Nonna took care of Tahomas, and Tahomas lifted her into bed if she stayed up too late drawing blueprints. Eventually, the war of the tyrant came, it was a stressful time for Tahomas, but even more so for Nonna, she worked long into the night and by the time she'd gotten home, he would be waiting for her, always ready to help her with getting some tea or getting her properly into bed. Tahomas himself avoided the conscription, at least for now, because he was a personal friend of Artemis, who managed to excuse him; after all, the head-scribe was an important position that needed to be filled. Oh yeah, a bit after he started dating Nonna, he got a promotion, so that was good for him. 

It doesn't get better than this

 Tahomas had everything, well, except one thing, he had yet to propose to Nonna. And, for the first time in a while, he started to worry that it would all go wrong and that she would leave him for someone, someone who took better care of her, someone who looked better. He couldn't stop thinking about it, but not once did he give in to his thoughts. He bought a nice ring for her and invited her to the Visztula Grande again. And, when they were walking home on the platinum bridge, talking about nothing in particular. Tahomas knew where it was that he'd confessed his feelings that summer night, and when he reached that spot, he stopped, and proposed

Nonna said yes.

  Hand in hand they walked home, both ecstatic at the prospect of getting married, however, they had both forgotten their weapons at home. Most streets in Artesja are relatively safe, the FGDP keeps a vigilant eye over the major cities anyway. As they turned to go down Drageirnstrasse, several armed men stepped forth. Tahomas quickly recognized them, Svensi terrorists, they were the same "people" who kidnapped Eliza, though the only thoughts in his mind were: "Are they after me, or Nonna?" There were two of them and two of the terrorists, so a tussle began quickly, fists flew, and Nonna even managed to land a few well-placed kicks. But when they all freed themselves from each other, the Svensii had a revolver pressed up against Nonna's temple. They tried to exchange Nonna's safety for his coming with them, and with that, he knew, they were there for him. He had wrestled a gun away from one of the men during the fight, but instead of pointing it at them, he pointed it at himself. He recognized that the men couldn't afford to lose him, so he threatened them with exactly that. They tried to mask their fear by groping Nonna and pretending that they were going to execute her. Tahomas responded thusly: 

I wouldn't do that if I were you. If she dies, I'd suddenly have nothing to live for, and I doubt your boss would like that

— -Tahomas

 The two terrorists lost their nerve and took off, attempting to shoot Nonna as they ran, but she managed to wrestle free and went to hide behind Tahomas, who aimed the gun toward the fleeing men and opened fire. 

The married life

 Things were better after Tahomas and Nonna got wedded, they combined their bank accounts and worked hard, and bought the apartment they'd previously rented. Together, they could also afford to buy and maintain a car. It was also at this point when Generaldversung Trent (General Alert Yellow), was activated due to increased thaumatological waves through the Pannalian plains. As a result, Tahomas was forced to rejoin the armed forces, he chose to enter training to become a pilot of the Starravehr. Luckily, his training occurred at Airbase U3 Karelja, so Nonna came to visit him every once in while, it kept him going. His training would come to a halt however in 1861 when the Bejakoz united syndicates opened a large rift in the suburbs of Swedenhatius, causing demons to stream out and into the wide flatlands of Pannalia. It was not long before the demons were in the capital city, and the only army units in the area were the 1st Guards' tank regiment, 78th Arktisjeager battalion, 228th artillery company, and the knights' guard.

 The battle was bitter and cost tens of thousands of lives, and it turned out that the air force was the saving grace of the ground forces. The straight and wide streets of Karelja proved ideal for CAS aircraft to utilize their armaments. Tahomas, after assuring Nonna arrived at the Kersza safely, hopped on his bike and sped towards the airbase where chaos was unfolding, planes sweeping past runways strafing enemies, anti-tank guided missiles firing away with staggering speed. In the midst of the action, he managed to grab his equipment and switched with a pilot returning from the air. As he took off, he took a second to observe the utter bloodbath that was unfolding, Smoke was rising all over the city, creating a harsh environment for the pilots. He did not have long, though, as his HUD lit up with radar lock warnings; his flares had all been expended by the previous pilot, so Tahomas was forced to dodge the incoming missiles without help. 

  In the end, the battle was won. And afterward, the flurry of information flooded the available military communications networks. Tahomas had no way of knowing where Nonna was, so he remained at the airbase where her regiment was stationed and sent out messages every ten minutes, pleading for her to come back. For hours he waited, contemplating whether or not any of his life up to that point had been worth it, he found his eyes watering, tears, he felt fatigued, and collapsed against a wall. When he woke up, he felt a certain warmth, he felt calm. Sat next to him was Nonna, she was sleeping too, leaning up against his shoulder. He didn't wanna get up, and so, he didn't. 

Theatre: Thyrimia

 Tahomas only had a week to pack his things and get his affairs in order before he would be shipping off to the Thyrimian theatre. He said a tearful farewell to Nonna, boarded the CHZ. 48 and took off into the dark skies. Shortly after he touched down in Thorne Provisional Airport, he was shocked by the heat and dryness of Thyrimia. An escort of trucks and IFVs was waiting for him and his comrades, the ride to the airbase was... Nerve-rackingly quiet, barely a word was spoken except for updates on the war. When he got to the airbase, he was lightly shocked at the condition of the defenses. The checkpoint was lightly manned, only having two guards to process over thirty new pilots; the whole endeavor took a couple of hours, standing out in the heat, completely exposed. The plane he was assigned wasn't anything ideal either, an elderly Z-1000; it wasn't ready for the skies, though, two of its ailerons had been shot off, and the radar was delayed about five seconds. So he had three days of free time before he could take to the skies again.

He wouldn't get to enjoy this time, however, as the base came under attack from Jakteskadrille 30 and Jordangriffsvinge 2, of the Bezjan air force, the Bezjan aircraft were few in numbers but deadly in armaments, all of their jets were armed with the thaumatological weapon known as the abyssal cannon, much akin to a fleshy railgun. 

The situation was improved slightly by the arrival of the prototype X-9D Excelsior designated fighter aircraft, which proved much more versatile than the Z-1000s, wielding the untested RAC-8 Skink AAMs. Tahomas was one of the few who were assigned these new planes since he had recently been awarded his second ace star. 

Black August started with Tahomas developing a case of Desert Salinosis, which forced him to stay in the infirmary for a week. During his stay, the Bezjans launched a night operation, flying under Artesjan radar screens. They destroyed a majority of the airbase's SAM sites, forcing the pilots to work overtime defending their airspace. And right from when he could stand again, Tahomas wouldn't rest for a moment until the 3rd of September, when he made aerial history. 

He was being pursued by five different hostiles, he'd expended his Skinks so he was pushed to be resourceful, he pulled Pukachev's cobra, reducing his throttle and pitching his nose upwards. Strafing the enemy above, causing him to catch fire and explode, taking one of his comrades with him in the fireball. He then turned his attention to the D-10 that had locked him with its missiles. it fired two, and Tahomas deployed his countermeasures, ceasing the missiles' course toward his plane. 

The Bezjan missiles were made to be able to attain a lock again after being led off course by flares or chaff, however, it worked against them in this instance, with the two aerial darts locking a friendly, and, unfortunately for him, he was out of flares. Two left... Well, just one actually, one of the enemies were forced to evacuate as he was reaching his TOZ limit, little did he know, it would save his life.

One-on-one, the enemy pulled up toward the sky, Tahomas followed him, occasionally firing his autocannon at him, but they were climbing too fast, yet the enemy turned on his afterburner, perhaps attempting to gain the advantage in height, but his jet soon stalled, and he found himself plummeting towards the X-9D, Tahomas simply lined up his reticle, and took the shot.

Three loveless years

 At last, his tour expired, and Tahomas was picked up by the same convoy that'd dropped him off, this time though, they lacked nearly half of their men. He, alone, boarded his plane home and dozed off somewhere over the Ungri mountains. When he landed at Swedenhatius airbase again, it was snowing, and they seemed to have cleaned all of the corpses up. And, standing there amongst the various service workers, stood the love of his life, she was holding a sign reading "I know, not much of a heroes' welcome". He rushed to embrace her, it was much colder down here, yet, somehow, he still felt just as warm on the inside.