Lysandros Rast

Lysandros Kimon Rast served as Grand Admiral (the highest ranking official) of the Imperium Fleet from 836 to 839. One of the first officers to vocally and openly support the reign of Titus as Imperium. He was noted for his savagery in enforcing Titus's laws.

Early Life
Rast was born to the prosperous Rast family of Misericordiae in 790, during the reign of the Sovereign Corinna. The Rasts were aether merchants, known for the cutthroat practices they employed to secure their position in the market. The Rasts were known to openly intimidate and threaten their competitors, while keeping close friends with officials in the Misericordiae shipping establishment. This allowed them to hold dominance in that area for several decades. Young Lysandros, while an active and inquisitive child, did not speak until he was nearly four years old. This developmental issue continued to plague him into his adolescence, causing him to stutter and struggle to form words accurately. He also had difficulty reading.

While Rast showed promise, displaying prodigious athletic ability, resourcefulness, and a keen intelligence, his struggles with speech caused his father to reject him as an idiot. There is evidence that young Rast was abused, berated and often beaten when he struggled to form words. Several of the scars that he wore proudly later in life were most likely inflicted by his own father.

The Fleet and the Reign of Titus
In 808, Rast took the entrance exam necessary for all airmen wishing to enter the Sovereign Fleet. Due to his poor reading skills, he failed the written portion. However, Fleet records show that Rast passed the exam when he took it approximately 45 days later. Since it is unlikely that Rast's ability improved so drastically in such a short time, it is possible that he devised a way to cheat the system. He was sworn into the Sovereign Fleet in the Wintertide of 808.

An ambitious and intelligent airman, Rast worked his way up through the ranks. Initially enlisted as a gun crewman, he became something of an expert in that area, scoring hits on targets at amazing distances.

Rast had attained the rank of deckmaster on the dreadnought Mercy of Melantha when the Imperium Titus defeated his brother Lorus in 824. His shipmaster and several other officers retained their loyalty to the Sovereign, and planned to resist Titus's rule. Rast staged a counter-mutiny, capturing or cruelly killing the loyal officers. He then sailed back to Carath with his remaining crew, publicly pledging his loyalty to the Imperium. Titus was delighted with the young officer, and he was quickly promoted to shipmaster. Known for never refusing to carry out the Imperium's orders, no matter how heinous, Rast was made Grand Admiral of the Imperium Fleet in 836.