Nicholas Aero

Nicholas Aero is the main protagonist in the novel ''Dark Blaze. ''In his 1918-1920 storyline he is hunting down Hadrian Voivode alongside Alundra Gardner. In his 1915-1916 storyline he joins the Protestant Church Order's unit, the Ascalon Squad, under the command of Father Vivian Williams.

Pre-Book History:
Nicholas Aero had a quiet life as a farmer on the Aero Farm near Barley, in Lancashire. His favourite past time was horse riding and going to watch Preston North End with his father, Alexander Aero.

At the age of 16, Nicholas joined the British Military to find adventure in the world and to free himself from the shackles of farm-work, enlisting on the 2nd August, 1914.

After training in Tadworth, he was deployed into B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) attached to the 17th Division, more commonly known as the North Division, in North-East France and Belgium, graduating the training as an N.C.O. (Non-Commissioned Officer) with the rank of corporal.

Unlike many others, including his Lancashire brother-in-arms, Benjamin Campbell, who had demoted themselves to private due to the German sharpshooters purposely targeting Entente officers, Nicholas remained as a corporal, not allowing the enemy to fear him into self-demotion.

Sometime in 1915, Nicholas, Benjamin, Marty O'Hare and others from the 17th Division were temporarily transferred from their position in Belgium, southward to reinforce numerous southern divisions to hold the lines against the German offensives.

Physical Appearance:

 * Eye Colour - Blue
 * Hair Colour - Dark Brown
 * Hair Style - Short, well-kept.
 * Facial Hair - Thick stubble, moustache and beard.
 * Skin Colour - White.
 * Height - 5 '11" (180cm)
 * Weight - 13st (182lbs)
 * Accent - Lancashire accent.
 * Age (End Of Novel) - 22-years-old.
 * Other Features - Has various war wounds and scars across his body from fighting the unending hordes of the creatures of the night for 5 years since 1915.

Attire & Arsenal:
Nicholas Aero tends to wear dark and earthly coloured suits, fedoras, trilbys and boots, the only light coloured item of clothing he wears would be white shirts. His mainstay item would be his black ammunition boots which he had kept after his service in the British Military ended in 1918.

Below is a list of weapons Nick used during the Great War: Below is a list of weapons Nick has in his arsenal after the war:
 * Webley Revolver Mk. V.
 * Silver Bayonet.
 * .303 Short Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle Mk. III.
 * Various silver daggers.
 * Silver trench knife with knuckle duster handle.
 * Webley Revolver Mk. V.
 * 1886 Winchester Repeater.
 * Gehringer .585 Elephant Rifle.
 * Holy Water.
 * Pure Salt & Rock Salt.
 * Palo Santo Stakes (Holy Wood).
 * Flammable Agents.
 * The Dagger Of Rostam.
 * Holland & Holland Sawed-Off Shotgun.

Personality:
Nicholas has a high work-drive, obsessed with seeing objectives through. He has the typical ideals towards social and political issues for a white British male born in the 1890s. Due to his line of work, experiences in the Great War and after Christmas 1918, Nick's mental state is quite fragile and he suffers from severe P.T.S.D., known back then to be "shell shock".

Although Aero has a rough exterior he is aggressively compassionate and will aid any soul in need, especially if they are at threat of the supernatural variety. His fanatical follow-through means that he does not hesitate to throw himself into the most dangerous of situations with creatures far more powerful than himself, edging on the territory of suicidal, although Nick does not see it as suicide, but sacrifice.

His constant referral to his manhunt of Hadrian Voivode as a "crusade", denotes how determined and holy he finds this objective. Once he fights anything abnormal, he convinces himself they are void of humanity and will fight by any means necessary to come out victorious. This can be mostly seen by his emotionless executions of enemies infected with strigoium.

Biography (1915-1916):
This section contains potential spoilers, be warned.

This story begins with Cpl. Nicholas Aero in the trenches of France, alongside his best friend, Pvt. Benjamin Campbell. When Benjamin is infected with strigoium by Hadrian Voivode during a night raid, he manages to get back to friendly lines where Nick aids Ben to the reserve lines to be saved by Lt. Carl McIntyre.

It is here that Nicholas is introduced to the P.C.O. and indoctrinated into one of their units, the Ascalon Squad, led by Ch. Vivian Williams. He has to deal with being at odds with the others, who are more familiar with their supernatural enemies, learn as much as he can in as short amount of time as possible, and deal with creatures he never even knew existed until the death of his best friend.

During his service with the Ascalon Squad, Nicholas comes into frequent battle with the Strigoi-Trupp, elite Germanic strigoii from the strigoic faction of Der Thule. A member of the Strigoi-Trupp, Sgt. Hadrian Voivode, later becomes his archenemy throughout the war.

Biography (1918-1920):
This section contains potential spoilers, be warned.

The story begins with a recent flashback of Nicholas Aero returning home from the war on the 27th December, 1918, where he discovers that his family had been butchered. He quickly comes to the conclusion that the butcher was Hadrian Voivode enacting revenge for Nick's actions during the Great War.

Nicholas sells everything he owns and opens up a bank in a fake name, where he buys the equipment required, and a black Ford Model T he names Boudicca, to hunt down Hadrian and his new pack.

Nicholas manages to kill four members of Hadrian's Pack, before he discovers that his archenemy is attempting to find a replacement to his second wife, Miranda, who Nicholas had killed in battle in Prussia in 1916. He saves Alundra, who is Miranda's double, and kills another member of Hadrian's Pack, however, Hadrian manages to escape.

Reluctantly, Nicholas allows Alundra to travel with him as he continues his crusade to end Hadrian's miserable existence, as well as stamp out and eliminate any other unnatural threats and creatures which lurked in the areas they visit; these include, a werewolf, a Satanic cult, ghouls, strigoii and other menaces.

Powers & Abilities:

 * Knowledge of Lingua Diaboli spell-casting.
 * Has a unique soul (as pointed out by Baal).
 * Top marksman with various weaponry.
 * Stealthy.
 * Deep knowledge in lore and the weaknesses of monsters.
 * Can cure lycanthropy.

Weaknesses:

 * Being human, he is at a disadvantage when facing anything supernatural.

Major Relationships:
This section contains potential spoilers, be warned.

Defeated:
This section contains potential spoilers, be warned.

This section is still under editing.

Below is a table displaying the enemies which Nicholas Aero has beaten, either defeating them or outright killing them:

Trivia:

 * Nicholas Aero's name is a cross between Nicholas Street, located in Manchester City Centre, and Aero means "Of Sky" in Greek, which is where Nick's heritage hails from on his father's side.
 * Nicholas' middle name is Byron, the name of his deceased son to Catherine Bolton.
 * Nicholas Aero and Benjamin Campbell are both Preston North End football fans.
 * Nicholas' favourite cigarettes are Philip Morris cigarettes.
 * Nicholas can speak semi-fluent French, some German, some Latin and some Lingua Diaboli.
 * Darryl M. Finch-Ellis imagines Nicholas Aero as a young Sean Bean.
 * Nicholas' Zodiac Star Sign is Aries.
 * Nicholas' favourite novel is H.G. Wells' - War Of The Worlds, a novel which was published the year he was born.
 * Before serving with the Ascalon Squad in the Protestant Church Order's War Branch during the Great War, Nicholas served within the 17th (North) Division.
 * Nicholas' grandfather on his father's side was called Alexandros, his grandfather on his mother's side was called Byron.
 * Nicholas Aero enlisted in the British Army on the 2nd August, 1914.
 * Nicholas graduated his training at Tidworth on the 13th September, 1914, as an N.C.O. with the rank of corporal under the command of Maj.Gen. Sir Philip Robertson.
 * Nicholas' favourite alcoholic beverage is Drambuie.
 * Nicholas' heritage is English, Greek & Russian.
 * Nicholas suffers from severe P.T.S.D., known at the time as shell shock.
 * Nicholas is the youngest officer to serve in the Ascalon Squad, joining at only 17-years-old.
 * Nicholas displays early signs of Parkinson's Disease with his random involuntary hand spasms.
 * Nicholas' police alias of Officer Lamb is both a reference to the former British Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, but is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to "the lamb to the slaughter" adage.