Name: Castor

Gender: Male

Age/DOB: <200, unknown dob

Origin: Rookery Earth's Xen, remained local at Black Mesa after arrival

Family: though all Vorts can be considered 'family' Castor and Pollux appear to be clutch mates, at the very least going through all their processing and training together since youth

Other: If it ever becomes possible to return to, or somehow recreate, the Vort homeworld, Castor wants to see it. He's ideally suited to it, his grand elders have told him he'd be excellent at herding as their own ancestors were

Height: 5'2" stretches to 5'9"

Weight: around 140, on the smaller and leaner side, for a Vort he's a bit wiry

Hair: none

Eyes: Vibrantly pink and melon-orange red, quite unusual and bright, often central pupil is nearly white

Appearance: overall a mottled green-grey with yellowish limbs and ear spouts, and pinkish scarring around his neck from early binding preparation; he seems shorter than some, as his posture is usually a bit hunched, he likes keeping low and his head is often sticking perpendicular from his body, rather than an upward neck

Icarus Processing: none, but he had gone through the first stages of Controller binding, which would have stuck a neck band and arm bracers on him to allow them to manipulate him Vortally

Image Credits: Valve

Genetic Abilities: As with most Vorts, he is able to sense Vortal auras and minds, communicate to other Vortigaunts with Flux Shifting, and produces a number of effects using that Vortessence. While he can aid in the healing that his friend Pollux does, it's much weaker than his main power of blasting with electric energy. He can produce sharp jolts that are precisely aimed, not necessarily to damage, but to guide and deter Antlions or enemies. They are enough to temporarily stun most Antlion-sized creatures, including humans, and kill small creatures like headcrabs. Accurate to around 30 meters, but best around 10. He can also producre a sort of shield of energy with this Vortessence, though it doesn't last very long it can withstand an Antlion Guardian's bull-rush and bullets, though not keep out energy beam fire. This will wear him out, so it's a last ditch effort rather than his strong point.
Skills or Profession: Defensive tactics, Antlion hunting and herding; once the Rookery was in full swing, his skills have been very much appreciated. Kicking headcrabs out or leaving them for others to pick up and throw into the cook pot, he is expert with tracking animals and rounding them up when needed. Though he doesn't reside with the Ranch Vorts, they always trust him to move any strays out from under the Rookery itself and into their territory so they can keep better tabs on their 'herds'. On very rare occasions he'll be asked to help transfer refugees from one location to another, and he uses his spotting skills to make sure the area is clear of any threats before moving through it. While he does enjoy the occasional fight with Combine, he much prefers the hunting and chasing of antlions and animals for food, being productive rather than destructive.
Personality: Energetic but a bit on the stand-offish side, he would rather hang out with other Vortigaunts and maybe some of the more animal-oriented Pantheon, than just in general anywhere. He will get twitchy if he's not requested to do anything, and is a self-starter for that reason, he always wants to be doing something, be it exploring or bringing in food. Not talkative except to the local dragons, his 'brother', and those in the Pantheon he looks to for orders overall.

Events or History: Continues to reside at the Rookery, occasionally chasing antlions through the tunnels all the way to the Ranch. He and Pollux are well suited to their duties, and he enjoys exploring and mapping out the 'underworld' below the New Mexico desert. He knows the twists and turns of those old caverns, and has made note of the presence of a few invasive Xenian spots - and he knows they're Xenian because one or both of the Lanes has told him so. He doesn't have any particular negative association with those weird Convocation people, being too young to have known anything different than Nihilanth and the Controllers brutalizing his people - he knows intellectually that Lane put them in that position in the first place, but doesn't really hold it against him.

Castor is hoping to be the caretaker of a Rukel! He isn't sure what that IS but at least a few riders from beyond the Rookery have suggested that since Darkling Dawn has a new clutch, that he put in an application. As a herder of creatures, he knows just what to feed any given animal, or use which tactics to train them. He would never want harm to come to a pet, so it's possible that this little creature might wind up remaining in his quarters, rather than coming along on hunts or herding - but that remains to be seen, it will depend on the results of this egg!

"She is quite Vortal," Castor said, voice lingering deeply as a rumbling tone, which the tan and cream Rukel seemed to like. Laying on her back, wings outstretched and paws in the air, she batted at his third hand, which in turn was allowing Castor to sense more about her than even his Vortessence might see. "The long connections between her aura and her home-place, do you see them?"

Lotus had put her head down and tilted it, so she could see this tiny new addition to their little group. "I do see," she crooned. "I wonder how quickly she will grow."

Pretty quickly, actually. He named her (how presumptive, but since he was not of the Repurposed dimension's Vortigaunts their customs from this one were slightly different) Beh'lah Razh'ahl - Bella to some who couldn't understand the deeper implications. She understood completely: 'she is the link to home'. Whether she would live up to this lofty name, who could say? Bella quickly became known for being a bit of a scamp, often lifting small shiny things from workshops or even dresser drawers - but out near the Ranch there are plenty of trinkets and items that have yet to be claimed by anyone else, so when she came back to Castor's rook in Black Mesa with a literal box full of costume jewelery, Castor knew what he needed to do. That would be 'let her get her ears pierced', and the moment the holes healed up she was allowed to choose whatever hoop or stud she liked, as long as someone else had already given it to her.

"Cannot have you showing off your new jewelry if it belongs in another, less furry, ear," Castor reminded her.

Bella was more quiet than some suggested Rukels got, but that was more because she liked being sneaky. However, one might occasionally hear the rustling of wings, tinkling of fallen items, and a delicate hissing laughter as she makes off with yet another bunch of someone else's belongings...

Dragon

Name: Lotus
Gender: Female
Size/Shoulder/Length: Quite small for her breed, around 7'6" s / 33' l / 55' ws
Colors: Albino (*), most scales on face, neck, limbs, body, and tail, wingarms and the backs of wingsails, are quite white with no variation; armor scales are very faint pink on face, neck, body, limb armor, and tail; tear-shaped insets are reflective white; wingsails are brightly whtie on backs, but have a very faint amount of pink tint centered on the elbow, much more prominently underside stronger pink with tiny varied and clustered red star markings; horns and dorsal spikes and ridges are carnation pink, while claws on legs and wings are more mauve pink; eyes are two toned pink and brilliant red-pink
Features: Nightwing, variant albino with distinct teardrop shaped insets
Powers: Winged Flight and ground endurance, Lotus can fly pretty well, but only for short bursts, and prefers to be running or gliding. She is quite strong to be able to lift or bash things, she's no weakling just because of her small stature, but she tires in the air too quickly to be relied upon for long distance flights or extended combat. She's good with brief flights up to check the area around her, and then dropping back down. She can drag extremely heavy items provided there is a good harness for doing so, and with her aid a lot of rubble has been cleared from some of the caverns and even older constructed tunnels. Plenty of Portal Storms have broken up the natural caves, so they've been busy pushing rocks and fallen walls out of the way, creating new paths.
Communication, (*) Very strong Vortessence, because of her mutations Lotus is clearly well suited to be a Vortigaunt's bond. Her abilities to detect and communicate with Vortal minds is extremely strong, and she can communicate with non-Vortal human minds as well, though not as well as some Pernese or Old World dragons can. Her range to detect minds is around 15 miles, and to clearly communicate is 10. So she always knows whether they're under the Ranch or straying into Combine held territory, by the presence or lack of minds. Of note, she does know that there are a few stray dragons wandering around underground, but she actually is likely to give them the heads up when they're moving around - no fights needed, just passing through.
Blinding Fire, though not really 'fire' as much as 'hot brightness', Lotus can make a cloud of short-lived blindingly white particles. They are hot, but not hot enough to really burn anything, though certainly can ignite gasses so she's very careful about just where she's doing this. This stuff can permanently blind human eyes, and completely ruin Combine visual scanners, so if there are any humans or Vorts nearby she will warn them ahead of time. The amount can vary, but not the intensity, so she can fill a small cavern (around 20 meters across) with it, it's a two-part blast, the first expelling particles, then sparking them to life. Some of the scientists are trying to find ways that they can trigger the particles without her, so she could leave pockets of it without needing to remain, but usually the particles just wind up dissolving in about an hour if they're not ignited.
Parentage: Unknown Nightwings, full sister of Static
Origin: Adopted from GuildKnight (HH) on Deviantart, Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland
Other Info: Because she was both very small and an albino, Lotus would have been thrown out of her clan, and her brother Static refused to leave her side. Also because she's small, she can often aid directly in the tunnels and caverns below Black Mesa and the Ranch, which she actually enjoys doing quite a bit. It's much easier on her very sensitive eyes.