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[[File:Illo-Dylan.jpg|300px|thumb|right|With scarf.]]

Dylan Brushnie is the leader of the [[Gledig#Secessionist |Secessionist]] movement on [[Gledig]], and is credited with helping the Secessionists become less a terrorist organization and more a respectable political movement, in part due to his own personal charm.

==Physical Characteristics==
Dylan is a spare, lanky [[Asanii]], more humanoid in face and body than felid, and with sharp cheekbones, short dark hair,<ref name="sota-04" /> and hazel eyes often considered striking.<ref name="sota-02">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 2</ref><ref name="sota-04">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 4</ref> His fur is brindled, similar to that of his sisters who showed the brindling pattern in black and silver over gray;<ref name="sota-02" /> his eyelids are dark and his eyelashes black,<ref name="sota-04" /> and his hands are a warm gray with square-tipped fingers and close-cut nails, and calluses indicative of work and swordplay.<ref name="sota-09">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 9</ref>  

Dylan habitually wore a long black woolen coat and a red scarf, and smelled "like pine and musk and a faint warmth," per [[Svetlana Karishenikov]].<ref name="sota-04" />

Dylan is known for being "young and good-looking and a fantastic speaker."<ref name="sota-02" /> His voice is a baritone.<ref name="sota-04" />

==History==
===Family===
Dylan grew up in a family with both parents and two older sisters. As a youth, he studied swordplay under a mentor, and won the colony championship three years running; he kept the sword that he used for the championship (a gift from his mentor) locked under his bed.

A pirate raid approximately 20 years before ''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'' killed his parents immediately via direct hit, and resulted in the kidnapping of his sisters, then sixteen (Tati) and 18 (Rhonwyn), while he was pinned down by rubble; he personally witnessed their rape and capture. This experience (and especially that he had no bodies of his sisters to mourn, and no closure) permanently changed his opinion of the [[Alliance]] and [[Fleet]], and led to his support of the [[Gledig#Secessionists |Secessionists]].<ref name="sota-04" /> His practice sword did not survive the attack, but his gift sword did, though somewhat discolored.<ref name="sota-11">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]],'' chapter 11</ref>

==Recent History==

Dylan is the public face--and ostensible head, though some of his subordinates, particularly [[Langorn]], go behind his back--of the [[Gledig#Secessionists |Secessionist faction]] on [[Gledig]]. Ostensibly, and unlike the Secessionists of several decades prior, Dylan's Secessionists are a peaceful political group. In truth there is a "radical faction" that exists within the Secessionists that Dylan can't control.<ref name="sota-prologue">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', prologue</ref>

Dylan met [[Svetlana Karishenikov]] at the graveyard in [[Gledig#Daleth |Daleth]], where the two had a heart-to-heart about the planet and its issues, neither knowing who the other was.<ref name="sota-04" /> They "met" shortly later when infiltrating the [[Gledig#Daleth |Governor's Mansion]] for the formal welcome of the [[UAV Stardancer]] senior staff. Makeup had 'transformed' Dylan into a [[Harat-Shar]] pardine, complete with rosettes, dark green eye templifilms, and a black wig, though he recognized Svetlana Karishenikov in a similar disguise. However, one of his compatriots, [[Gavin Medearin]] (possibly/probably with the aid of [[Langorn]], bombed the meeting; in the aftermath Langorn was seriously injured and he, Dylan, and Perisse were forced to flee--and to lose track of Svetlana.<ref name="sota-06">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]],'' chapter 6</ref> 

In the aftermath, Dylan sought to find out where Kerenkev was--for political reasons--and where Svetlana was--for more personal ones (and to the dismay of [[Perisse]] and Langorn). He visited [[Breana Karishenikov |Svetlana's mother]], but failed to locate her there either; however, he did discover that Svetlana had been [[Fleet]]. Still rattled by this discovery, he addressed the leaders of all the [[Gledig#Secessionists |Secessionist cells]], at which he discovered that the terrorist branch had taken an injured, and unconscious, Kerenkev captive. He managed to talk down the crowd and to seemingly cow the human in charge of the explosion, [[Gavin Medearin]].<ref name="sota-08">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]],'' chapter 8</ref> 

He encountered [[Taylitha Basil]] and Svetlana on the streets of Daleth and invited them to lunch, where he and Svetlana got into a not-exactly-unpredictable debate and Taylitha learned a great deal of new information: specifically, that Kerenkev had been stealing imports from offworld to fund his lavish lifestyle and pay off the other members of the government; that the other representatives, in addition to being in his pocket, had also not been fairly elected; and that Kerenkev had been killing members of the opposition without trial. Unfortunately, just as the discussion had become productive, a group of Secessionists led by Medearin attacked the restaurant and attempted to take Taylitha hostage. Dylan talked them down, and guaranteed Taylitha and Svetlana safe passage.<ref name="sota-09" />

Upon returning to the base, Dylan discovered that Medearin's people had captured Svetlana and tortured the location of the Pro-Accord base out of her; he also discovered that Langorn had been going behind his back to support and direct the terrorist faction of the Secessionists, and was directly responsible for Svetlana's capture and interrogation (though Medearin was the torturer). Despite his fury at what Langorn had been doing and how it had been (to his mind) hamstringing the cause, he set a time for attacking the [[Gledig#Pro-Accord |Pro-Accord]] base. Dylan and Svetlana shared an intimate, soul-baring moment, but not one that could change the other's mind.<ref name="sota-11" />

After informing Perisse in no uncertain terms that no one was to follow through on Medearin's threat to Svetlana's family, Dylan made arrangements for attacking the Pro-Accord base, and retrieved the sword that his mentor had given him many years prior, before the pirate attacks began again.<ref name="sota-11" />  

Dylan avoided being killed when [[Maire]] collapsed the roof of the base on nearly two hundred of his people, just in time to see the return of the pirate shuttle over Daleth. When he started for the shuttle to fight the pirates, instead of continuing to pursue the Pro-Accord faction, he was challenged by Medearin; Dylan insisted on continuing toward the pirates because "''That'' [...] is why this began." Medearin attacked him from behind, and Dylan disabled and then killed him.<ref name="sota-13">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]],'' chapter 13</ref> 

Dylan was responsible for personally killing several pirates with his sword,<ref name="sota-15">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]],'' chapter 15</ref> and then went to meet the Fleet [[Shuttles and Aircars |Eagle]], where he ordered the hostages (Kerenkev and Courtland, who had been caught while fleeing) brought before [[Alysha Forrest]]. He witnessed her interrogation of them, and then challenged her to a duel for the mantle of defender of Gledig: himself, or Fleet.<ref name="sota-16" />

The two arranged to fight until one yielded. Alysha held her own despite far less experience at swordplay. She ended the fight by catching his blade with her bare hands, risking the loss of her fingers rather than backing down. Dylan wordlessly conceded to her and vanished.<ref name="sota-17">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 17</ref>

Dylan encountered Svetlana one more time, on the night of the memorial for Gledig's dead. He told her that there was no future for him, as there was too much blood on his hands, and that the best thing for him to do was to "remove himself." Svetlana pleaded with him not to do it, and he promised her to think about it, and that he would leave her a sign either way so she wouldn't have to wonder (as he had had to wonder about his sisters).<ref name="sota-18">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 18</ref>

Before leaving the planet, Svetlana went again to the graveyard where she had first met Dylan, and found his sword driven into the earth, and his red scarf wrapped around it. Svetlana took the scarf with her.<ref name="sota-ep">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', epilogue</ref>

==Trivia==

* Kept the sword his mentor gave him to encourage him to excel; his practice sword burned with the house. He practiced with the surviving sword, alone. The sword has a five-foot blade and is a hand-and-a-half sword; originally its hilt was wrapped with silk cords, and Dylan never replaced them. The metal is discolored where he scraped the fire scale off it after rescuing the sword from the ruin.<ref name="sota-11" />
* Won Gledig Colony Championship three years running.<ref name="sota-11" />
* Takes his coffee black and without sugar.<ref name="sota-09" />
* Referred to Svetlana as 'cariad,' part of the language of Gledig with the meaning 'beloved.'<ref name="sota-18" />
* Swears: "hell",<ref name="sota-02" /> "damn,"<ref name="sota-06" />, "Stars-be-damned"<ref name="sota-06" />

===Body Language===

Clean, economical, and very deliberate movement; no motion accidental or wasted. Svetlana interpreted this as 'courtly graces.'<ref name="sota-04" /> "[T]here was no mistaking the way he walked, carried himself, came to a halt with an assurance so fundamental it needed no bluster."<ref name="sota-16">''[[Sword of the Alliance (Fiction) |Sword of the Alliance]]'', chapter 16</ref>

==Quotes==

* "“It’s a good day when you can be grateful to hear the truth.”<ref name="sota-04" />

* "When life is the stake, there's only one try at the game. One. No more."<ref name="sota-11" />

==Story Appearances==

<categorytree mode="pages" hideroot="on">Dylan Brushnie Appearances</categorytree>

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Asanii Characters]] [[Category:Stardancer Characters]] [[Category: Sword of the Alliance Characters]]
[[Category:Deceased or Missing Characters]]