Horatio Wolfram

Biography
A native of the New Caucasus Republic on the Inner Colony of Fjord, Wolfram was raised to love his nation and served in the youth wing of the New Caucasian Home Guard since the age of thirteen. At the time, the planet was embroiled in a civil war between two warring blocs (the New Caucasian Republic and the People's Republic of Greater Ossetia), arising from century-old grudges that stemmed from disputes about colonization and mining rights back in the days of the colony's founding. For over four years, Wolfram fought in intense guerrilla campaigns across the harsh outlands of the New Caucasus Mountain Range, gaining many skills which would prove invaluable in his later life, but also witnessing atrocities which hardened him beyond his years.

New Caucasus suffered a humiliating defeat in the war, cementing Greater Ossetia's status as Fjord's central government. Rather than live under a regime they despised, Wolfram and a number of other New Caucasian loyalists emigrated off-world. Ending up on Reach, penniless and without many skills outside warfare, Wolfram eventually enlisted in the UNSC Marine Corps at the age of nineteen. A toughened veteran in his physical prime, he was undaunted by the UNSC's training regimen and was something of a misfit among the other recruits, most of them being fresh-faced youngsters from civilian backgrounds. Even before he had finished boot camp, his impressive performance caught the eye of Naval Special Warfare and not long after, he was conducting missions for NAVSPECWAR's Development Group.

While his loyalties gradually shifted to the UNSC over the years, Wolfram remained bitter about the New Caucasian defeat for decades to come. Ironically, nearly twenty years later, he led a NAVSPECWAR strike team to eliminate an Ossetian leader, Fjord's (now under the name Greater Ossetia) government having since set their sights on the UNSC as part of the Insurrection movement. This, in turn, destabilized the Ossetian regime and, within ten years' time, allowed a rising movement of New Caucasian partisans to rise to power. Still, the partisan group were largely of a newer generation than Wolfram, and in many cases did not share his former ideals; whatever the case, Wolfram had little interest in going back.

Throughout the Insurrection and later the Covenant War, Wolfram racked up an impressive, if largely classified, combat record. He served in active combat duty up until mid-Covenant War, but the Navy has gradually moved him to non-combat roles due to not only his invaluable expertise but also certain health issues he does his best to hide. Since the mid-2540s, he has served as a NAVSPECWAR DI and operations advisor, and has written or contributed to several Special Warfare manuals which are still in use. He served as a handler for a SPARTAN-III Gamma Company splinter contingent after the company's recall in late 2552 up until mid-2553, when he returned to his duties as a Naval Special Warfare instructor for a time.

Between assignments, in 2553, he requested leave to visit his homeworld for the first time in decades. He had kept up to date on Fjord's development whenever he could, but what he found still came off as a refreshing reminder of lessons he had learned the hard way. The fiery patriotism and warrior culture of the rough and tumble world of his youth was but a memory, and Fjord had very much become a typical Inner Colony where the foremost matter of interest in the local youth's minds was the mounting anticipation for an upcoming instant, wide-bandwidth FTL Waypoint and ChatterNet coverage. The once fierce divide between New Caucasus and Greater Ossetia seemed almost absurdly quaint to the vast majority of the current generation. Still, Wolfram did not actually look back on the Fjord of his youth with any particular fondness; he had realized the folly of the old conflict long ago when viewed against the background of a hundred similar wars throughout the colonies -- a mountain of trivial absurdity capped by the arrival of the Covenant.

In 2556, he was assigned to his current role in the operations personnel of the NAVSPECWAR element attached to the UNSC Battlegroup Endymion. His assignment was partly due to his prior experience with several of the six Gamma Company operators who were to be reassigned to the battlegroup. Wolfram always seemed to know how to deal with different people, and the Gammas were no exception despite being considered something of a hot potato in the Special Forces community. Another consideration was his utilitarian attitude toward the ex-Covenant species, given that Endymion's mission volume intersects the Joint Occupation Zone: while he has no love for the aliens, he is enough of a realist to recognize the necessity of cooperation, an attitude he openly cultivates among the battlegroup's personnel.

Personality and background
Master Chief Petty Officer Horatio A. "Wolf" Wolfram is a veteran NCO whose involvement with Navy's Special Warfare stretches back to the late 25th century. A bit cranky and outspoken with his opinions (more often than not underlined by cynicism toward the present direction of the UNSC), his quirks are not always appreciated by the brass, but none can question the experience he brings to the table. As of 2558, he serves in the operations staff of Battlegroup Endymion's Naval Special Warfare detachment, officially in a command and senior advisory role, though he is still known to involve himself directly in the field from time to time.

Wolfram's harsh upbringing informed his outlook on life. Having seen the folly of blind loyalty firsthand and watched everything he once believed in crumble to nothingness, he is rather jaded, but ever a realist. Due to his directness, he is respected more than he is liked, and he can be rather particular in his endeavors to correct inadequate performance wherever he sees it. These days, he often finds himself the senior member of any unit he is assigned to (Battlegroup Endymion being no exception), and younger officers (which is, in most cases, virtually any officers present or nearly so) often have the sense to defer to his counsel; he is forgiving of honest inexperience, though he has much less patience for inexperience coupled with delusions of grandeur. He has an eccentric, dry sense of humor and often brings up obscure references to history or classical mythology.

He has a characteristic dislike of custom kit, particularly armor or weapon decoration, viewing such ostentation as amateurish. He makes a point to always use standard-issue equipment himself, and occasionally finds subjects of mild ribbing in instances of oft-liberal application of slogans and "warpaint" on armor and weaponry he encounters. Though Wolfram is rarely bothered enough to actually order a subordinate to clean up their gear, his half-informal and often creatively wry reprimands have encouraged many an operator to give up burgeoning careers in equipment personalization.