Phoenix Arcanum

Phyrus Thaelixar, more commonly referred to by the pseudonym "Phoenix Arcanum" or the sobriquet of "the Phoenix", is a century-old Xyonian (Sanctioned Xenos) that acts as a Rogue Trader.

Like the rest of his race, Phoenix has a high level of "temporal awareness" and is able to perceive future events before they happen. Uniquely however, Phoenix himself claims to be haunted by visions of "other realities" and "parallel timelines". Whether this is a genuine claim or some kind of joke is uncertain.

Childhood
Phyrus Thaelixar was "born" several decades to a century prior to 999.M41 on the planet Xyon into the aristocratic House of Thaelixar. As was custom for Xyonians of the Great Houses, he wasn't born in the typical fashion of the "commoners" rather he was "grown" in a "loom" (essentially a large vat). During his "looming" it became apparent that his "bio-data" had developed numerous deviances from the "Thaelixar template". This genetic "anomaly" earned him the scorn of his family and his peers.

Throughout his childhood, the only people who treated him with any form of compassion where his brother Belial, his sister Katiana, and his childhood friend Serana (a fellow Xyonian). A notable point of his life on Xyon was the brutal combat training he partook in. Ever since the day he was born, his sibling Belial would take him out into the arid wastelands of their homeworld for hours on end after his daily education. Phyrus' entire life consisted of nothing but eating, learning, training and sleeping.

As a child of one of the Great Houses Phyrus was eventually forced to enroll in the Academy of Zyon. Phyrus spent 2 years at the Academy until one night, on his tenth birthday, he was inexplicably moved to run away. After hours of wandering the Capital City's spaceports, he eventually found a crew of questionable morality willing to take him far away from his homeworld. After he left Xyon, he forsook his birth name in favor of the pseudonym Phoenix Arcanum.

Elysian War
Shortly after leaving Xyon, the ship he was on was attacked by militaristic "Aetrian Empire" (a small Xenos empire located on the fringes of the Galaxy in the Segmentum Tempestus) who enslaved the crew (and Phoenix), forcing them to serve in their military. Following introductory training and numerous attempts at organic augmentation, he was placed in the "Trench Corp" of the Second Penal Legion (slave armies that made up the backbone of the Aetrian military). Ten Penal Legions (including the Second Legion) were sent to Elysia, an Imperial planet located within the Segmentum Tempestus.

After only a few years, Phoenix, who had been forced to fight in the trenches under brutal conditions all while suffering constant abuse from his superiors, assaulted his commanding officer while she was celebrating the 75,213th anniversary of the formation Aetrian Empire. This caused unrest within his Legion and ultimately lead to the Legion being imprisoned at the Fort Dormstagg Detention Facility the very same day. For an entire year the Phoenix suffered torture at the hands of his captors. Eventually, he was able to stir up a prison revolt large enough to take over the prison and slaughter their captives. Slowly the inmates were able to not only destroy the prison, but the surrounding town as well. Phoenix's own rampage was put to a halt when a multi-story building collapsed on top of him. He survived (albeit grievously injured) and was pulled out of the ruins by his fellow escapees. Upon recovering his body, the wounds miraculously healed themselves with minimal scarring. This event earned him the epithet of "the Phoenix".

The escapees would eventually find themselves at Elysia's capital city of Satalia and pledged themselves to the Elysian government and the Imperium of Man. News of the Second Legion's rebellion inspired similar events and eventually just under half of the Aetrian Penal Legions had turned traitor and joined forces with the Elysian and the Imperium. Over the next decade and a half the Elysian PDF and their Aetrian defector allies were able to slowly wear down Aetrian forces and force their withdrawal from the planet. The same day of the Aetrian retreat, the Imperial forces and the Aetrian defectors were forced to abandon the now nearly uninhabitable. The Elysian War refugees were able to settle a previously uninhabited and undiscovered world with Segmentum Solar found through Phoenix's "trans-temporal visions". After settling on the planet (now named New Elysia) the Humans named their newly build capital city 'Phoenicium ' in Phoenix's honor.

Becoming a Rogue Trader
Several years later, the inhabitants of New Elysia were able to establish communication with the rest of the Imperium. The Imperium was initially appalled that the Humans of New Elysia had been living alongside Xenos for years, they begrudging gave the Aetrian defectors "Sanctioned Xenos" status after learning that they chose to fight with the Humans and drive the Aetrians from (Old) Elysia.

Despite his homeworld of Xyon serving as the homeworld of the Temporal Lords Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes and personally serving alongside the Elysian PDF, Phoenix had limited knowledge of the Imperium of Man. After learning of the existence of Rogue Traders, Phoenix immediately knew that his destiny was to become one of these freelance explorers. Initially hesitant due to his Xenos heritiage, the High Lords of Terra knew of Xyonians sanctioned xenos status and understood that the races "temporal awareness" would be an excellent quality for a Rogue Trader, they reluctantly granted Phoenix Arcanum a 'Warrant of Trade' and a Dauntless-class Light Cruiser to serve as his flagship.

Personality
If Phoenix's personality were to be condensed into two characteristics, it would be "sanguine". Phoenix is an often cheerful, charismatic, hyperactive, and enthusiastic. He is also very sociable and talkative, sometimes approaching strangers in his travels in order to strike up a random conversation. Phoenix is very passionate and outspoken about his beliefs and is quick to verbally retaliate against those who challenge said beliefs. Phoenix is also a rare example of a kind individual in the 41st and 42nd Millennium, always seeking to help others wherever he goes and is willing to sacrifice his safety and well-being in order to protect the safety and well-being of others.

Phoenix is notable for typically confronting dangerous situations with a highly facetious and somewhat humorous attitude. However, he is capable of quickly dropping his flippant nature and getting serious when the situation demands it, sometimes even giving into "righteous anger" when the lives of his friends are put at risk. When driven by this anger he will not hesitate to brutally strike down those that oppose him. Despite this, Phoenix still retains his somewhat merciful and compassionate nature, going as far as to extend the offer of help to even the most dangerous of foes before resorting to violence.

Phoenix's main flaw is his hubris. Attempting to take control of many of the situations he finds himself in. He also feels it is his place, duty, and obligation to "administer justice" to those who commit "horrific acts". Phoenix often views himself to be in a higher position of authority than he actually is, sometimes believes himself to be the strongest/smartest/best person in the room, and often uses his own name as a form of threat.

Appearance
Like all Xyonians, Phoenix Arcanum is nearly physically indistinguishable from Humans.

Phoenix Arcanum is a man with a very young and youthful appearance (despite being over a century old), stands at six feet tall, has a light caucasian skin tone, and displays a strong/well-built physique. He has medium-length dark brown hair that is described as perpetually messy and highly unkempt. He is dark brown eyes that are capable of changing color to a bright crimson. His face is often clean-shaven. Phoenix displays the somewhat pronounced canine fangs typical of his race. Despite his great regenerative attributes his arms, legs, and torso are heavily scarred. Only a small scar on his right cheek is present on his face.

His attire consists of a long black open coat, dark blue pants, brown boots, and brown finger-less gloves.

Equipment
Phoenix's most common weapon is an ornate power sword named Claíomh Dóchas (Sword of Hope in Low Gothic) that he received as a gift from the Iron Spears Chapter.

Abilities
Phoenix Arcanum's displays a number of abilities that are present in nearly every Xyonian.

Temporal Awareness: Phoenix is able to perceive future events before they occur. However, like all Xyonians Phoenix can only consciously see between five seconds to five minutes into the future, anything beyond that time comes in the form of random "visions" within dreams.

Psychic Powers: Phoenix, like the majority of the Xyonian population, is classified as a potent Psyker.

Regenerative Attributes: Due to an apparent mutation of a Xyonians already great healing attributes, Phoenix has a heightened healing ability such that the most grievous of wounds heal within a few weeks with minimal scarring. So long as Phoenix remains alive he is able to heal from any injuring including dismemberment, being torn in half, etc. During the healing process, the wound will glow a light gold/yellow color alongside the presence of smoke (or steam) and a slight hissing noise. According to Phoenix, the healing process is quite painful and, to quote, "feels like cauterization but a hundred times worse."

Superhuman Strength and Durability: Phoenix's physical capabilities are considered to be "above average" for his species. Like all Xyonians, Phoenix displays greater physical strength and durability far beyond that of a regular human. A Xyonian's physical strength is so great that it is often said that they are almost equal to that of an Asartes, though this is likely an exaggeration.