Achernar was often well-liked amongst the other Hunter stars for his humor and general friendliness. In truth, he was trained by his father figure to know how to best control people to get what you want, and unconsciously would behave in such a way. His absolute disdain for the system and for any authority figures helped him avoid rising through the ranks. Despite how he appeared to others, he struggled with deep depression and rage over his situation and lack of agency. It wasn't until meeting Rigel that he finally felt the urge to do something to change the system for the both of them.

After Rigel became Sector Leader and the Quartet (the previous Sector Leaders) were disposed of, Achernar disagreed with Rigel over his choices. He wanted the system reworked for the Hunter soldiers, while Rigel instead dismantled the entire system. Achernar struggled with his emotions over his newfound freedom and realization of how much of his life was spent with no agency in a horrible system, and chose to go home for the first time to try to figure out a new life.

Unfortunately (and obviously) this didn't solve all his problems and he didn't learn how to open up about his feelings in a healthy manner.

I apologize for this being WAY too long. There'll be a shorter version ASAP! maybe

Early Years

About 30 MYR before the start of Spectral Clash, Achernar was abducted from his home and conscripted into the Hunter force, an archaic defense force from when the galaxy and universe were more tightly packed and more dangerous. It had since become a system used to train soldiers to control and oppress the sector into following the Sector Leaders, who have been funded and controlled by the three major gangs/organizations of the sector (URSA, Draco, and Pegasus).

He was personally raised by the man who stole him from his home, Vindemiatrix, one of the 4 Sector Leaders (colloquially known as the 'Quartet') and raised both as a student and a son. Vinde taught Achernar all that he knew about manipulating and blackmailing others to get what you need. However, Vinde's idea of being a father and mentor was distorted by the cruel way he himself was treated by his own mentor. Whenever Achernar refused to meet expectations, he was punished, because that's the only way Vinde himself ever learned. Unfortunately, Achernar was not Vindemiatrix. It just made him untrusting and depressed. Vinde eventually tossed Achernar to the side like he was worthless and had him demoted. (Unbeknowest to Achernar, Vinde actually ordered Achernar to be killed, but Sarin intervened. A bargaining chip was raised against her for this.)

To avoid having to unpack his complicated emotions over this, Achernar masked it all with humor, calling himself the 'best failure' hunter and became well known as a very talented but very lazy guy. Anytime someone was considered an outcast or not good enough, he would give them "free" training (usually in exchange for food or other things) or info they could use against their enemies. Vinde banned Achernar from his section of the training facilities, so since Ach couldn't play pranks and mock him, he just spread rumors and negative opinions about Vinde and the rest of the Quartet instead. He became very popular amongst Hunter stars even though Vinde and Yildun forbade their students from mentioning his name.

He spent a large portion of his time sleeping over at Dalim's, one of the Hunters under Sarin's watch. Sarin may have acted generally cold and distant to everyone, but never got onto Achernar for spending so much time in her section of the training grounds. He enjoyed picking on her and mocking her, as Sarin never hesitated to throw it back at him. They usually only stopped when Dalim interrupted them, tired of the banter.

Meeting Rigel

Rumors spread very quickly, and Achernar was one of the first to hear about Sarin hand-picking a new Hunter star and student/bodyguard. (This was the first star hand-picked by a Quartet member since Achernar was picked, and the first time Sarin had picked a student in 50+ MYR.) He intercepted Rigel meeting Dalim to begin training and pretended to be his real teacher, teaching him life lessons as well as survival tactics. (Dalim did eventually find out and take over as Rigel's real teacher, bonking Achernar on the head for tricking xir.)

Achernar quickly took a liking to Rigel because he was cute and a little dumb. Even though he always claimed he never cared about the Hunter force, he joined Rigel in rising through the ranks, not really understanding why himself. It wasn't until they were laughing and relaxing together one day after training and Rigel leaned over to kiss him that Achernar finally realized he had fallen for Rigel, and fallen hard. They didn't have a real name for whatever they were, but were definitely more than friends. Achernar started to put Rigel on a sort of pedestal, amazed at his rapid improvement and natural talent - definitely worthy of being picked by a member of the Quartet. Unlike him, of course. Achernar didn't even realize he was building resentment.

Rigel and Achernar disagreed over Sarin as well. Achernar considered Rigel to be naive- Sarin was just as guilty as the other members of the Quartet for what he went through. Rigel saw her like a stern but caring mother and kept proving very loyal to her. Sarin didn't think the Quartet or the Hunter force was worth keeping around, while Achernar wanted it to be rebuilt and reworked for Hunter stars. Rigel, torn between two people he cared about, refused to take sides.

Around this time, uprisings in star clusters around the sector against the Quartet started to become more and more commonplace. The star now known as Antares personally lead a group to attack their headquarters directly, and during one of these excursions Achernar narrowly escaped with his life, Dalim being killed. The more elite soldiers were pressured to do harder and harder training as a result. Rigel underwent dangerous training at this time to unlock a new way to use his multi-star system, Achernar underwent the same training but does not remember anything from the event. Whatever happened, the experience was so traumatic that Rigel struggles to use this ability to this day.

Vindemiatrix came back into Achernar's life when he noticed Rigel's rapid improvement, or more importantly, noticed Sarin getting soft for her student. Thanks to the bargaining chip he had against her for saving Achernar's life in the first place, he tried to take Rigel from Sarin and force him to undergo the abusive training that Vinde put Achernar through in the first place. Achernar snapped, tracking down Vinde and murdering him in front of Rigel in cold blood, and went on the run. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the Quartet and their bodyguards/students (other than Rigel) were killed in an event planned by Sarin and Rigel (though the other Quartet members had planned to kill everyone but themselves as well). Rigel then became the sole Sector Leader, and the age of the Quartet was over.

After The Quartet

Rigel never kept any secrets from Achernar except his plan with Sarin to kill the other Quartet members. It blindsided Achernar, who didn't expect either Rigel or Sarin to have the guts. Rigel was shell-shocked over the loss of Sarin but immediately thrust into the role as Sector Leader. Achernar became his bodyguard and second-in-command, his murder of Vindemiatrix easily pardoned as no one wanted to convict him (they hated Vinde that much). Rigel immediately turned the Hunter force against the gangs that had been puppeteering the Quartet- URSA, Draco, and Pegasus. Achernar helped to take down Draco and URSA, and URSA's famous library caught fire and burned up in flames, which Rigel was blamed for.

During this time he also heard about sightings of a Hunter star in red that was sighted in the far reaches of the sector - thinking it was Vindemiatrix back from the dead, he searched and found Kaffaljidhma. She trained him on how to use his binary star in exchange for keeping it secret that she's still alive. Achernar came back and realized he forgot to help Rigel take down Pegasus. Oops.

For spoiler reasons I won't be clarifying, Achernar was getting more and more distant from Rigel at this point, and when Rigel finally dismantled the Hunter program in its entirety and became nothing more than a figurehead, Achernar chose to head home for the first time, heading south. The last thing he said to Rigel was that he'd kill him if he followed him and followed the river south.

After Going Home

What did you think I'd tell you actual plot? no you've read enough

• He has heterochromia. His left eye is light blue and his right eye is green. This was originally to represent his binary star system. He also has thick eyebrows like all other Eridanus stars. Most other Eridanus stars have bluer hair than him (other than Rana the frog anomaly) because his hair color is meant to represent an estuary, having an open connection to the sea unlike the rest of the Eridanus constellation. (I based it off the Laguna Madre, a hypersaline lagoon.)
• He started growing out his hair after Rigel became Sector Leader. After meeting Kaffaljidhma he learned how to harness his binary star to control his ponytail. It moves freely on its own like water. It also represents his mood - chill is flowy, nervous it gets twirly/curly, angry it spreads out everywhere.
• He was supposed to have buzzed short hair as a Hunter star due to an outdated standard Vinde put on him. He HATED it and grew his hair out under his hat to spite him. It usually got to ponytail length before it was spotted and he was forced to shave again. After demoted, he kept it in a ponytail length.
• He's afab and didn't have top surgery he just has A-cup boobs.
• His scrunchie he wears has a gem on it that matches Rigel's eye color. its his favorite gemstone, and was an 'anonymous' gift. (likely from Rigel since he idly mentioned it to him one day)
• I draw him with bowie knives a lot but he's as proficient as Rigel is at all guns and knives. He prefers sniper rifles and throwing knives tho.
• *the star was thought to be 37.3 MYR old and on the main-sequence, but ... a recent study showed that it may be 63 MYR and just gone off the main sequence only about 70,000 years ago... a timespan so recent, its after Achernar went home to Eridanus. Wouldn't that be so miserable for him if it was canon to SC? :)