Zaire Aldrich

Zaire is quite a solemn, intelligent and stoic individual, they are a very competent leader and are very confident in their skills and calling the shots. If you get to know them, they have a soft side to them and they have a very close bond with their friends and family. They are loyal to those they respect and will put others before themself. Over time, Zaire allows themself to become closer to more people and also starts seeking help for the conditions they developed after leaving the Octarian Army and The Metro.

• They prefer to be isolated but are not introverted.
• They almost always play by the book.
• They find it very hard to relax
• They can be very aggressive towards people who mention anything involving their past.
• They have separation anxiety for those they care for.

• They participate in turf tournaments.
• They work at Grizzco Industries on occasion
• They play Turf War and other modes with their team and friends.
• They tinker with weapons in their spare time.
• They work at Ammo Knights, repairing weapons when they are free.

Zaire is quite muscular, they stand at 6ft 1in and has a weight of 95kg. Zaire's hairstyle is extremely similar to the one that rival octolings have except it is shorter and the longer front tentacle only has 2 suction cups instead of 3. Naturally, their ink colour is carbon black, they have candy apple red spots and rings on the left side of each tentacle, and dark blue spots and rings on the right side of each tentacle. However, their ink colour when in turf wars is yellow with blue spots and rings, relating to the colour scheme of the blue-ringed octopus. Their eyes are naturally purple, however, their left eye has been replaced with a blank glass eye and is fully milky white, they also have a scar over the same eye. Their pupil resembles those of the giant pacific octopus and their eye markings resemble the head of the giant pacific octopus, they are rounded on the outer edges. During their time in the Octarian Army, they were branded^*3 with a Nordic rune known as “Dagaz”, on their right shoulder blade. Zaire was also born with an X-shaped, glowing green birthmark in the middle of their left forearm. Zaire's fingertips are much like those of rival octolings and Marina Ida's except they are a gradient from their skin colour to candy apple red, coordinating with the red spots on their tentacles.

Zaire can be seen wearing a pair of sennyu specs, a white t-shirt with the word “swag” on it in full capitals, a brown aviator jacket (with a nonbinary pin and grey-aromantic pin on it) paired with a metallic shark tooth necklace, black fingerless gloves, black combat trousers paired with a black leather & stainless steel belt, a pair of polished black boots, with 18K yellow gold eyelets^*4, gold thread, black laces and grey outsoles. They also have three cuff earrings (one 18K black gold cuff earring and two 18K yellow gold cuff earrings in each lobe of their ear as well as three 18K white gold cuff earrings around the upper helix^*5 of each ear. Zaire's weapon of choice is the Nautilus 83^*6.

Zaire is the child of DJ Octavio and their mother, ███. After she went against him, Zaire was deemed illegitimate for his throne. They grew up in the capital of the Octarian nation alongside their older sister, Rosetta, and younger half-brother, Dante, as well as their childhood friend, Cordelia. Their parents were well-known opponents to the current Octarian regime and one night when they were 14, a raid was conducted on their house which resulted in both of their parents being killed, Rosetta managed to escape and pledged to reunite with Zaire someday. They were taken to be a part of the Octarian Army and had to be brainwashed so that they'd fight for them, forgetting everything that happened that night. Zaire was naturally gifted and their training for the Octarian Army only sharpened these skills, they just barely graduated at the top of their class at the Royal Octarian General Academy (R.O.G.A) due to this they were chosen to lead a team in the Octarian Special Forces and was given the alias of Agent ᛞ (Dagaz) and was branded^*3 as such. Upon leaving the R.O.G.A 10 months later, they were given the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. Their team had no name, only a designation, but Agents of the NSS, notably young Agents 1 and 2, began calling them the “Sea Devils” due to it's members being ruthless and terrifying, Zaire took the name. By the time they were 18, they were a Captain and had held the rank for a year at this point, they had also become one of the Octarian Army's lead engineer's and specialized in maintaining and upgrading the Great Octoweapons. When they were promoted, they received a medal, their iconic brown aviator jacket, which they still wear the jacket to this day although disliking the Octarian monarchy now, and was made 2IC^*7 of Unit A09 consisting of around 120 Octarians. After the promotion they started working alongside another Captain in the Octarian Army and their unit. A few months later, when they were 19, Marina Ida went AWOL and they became the only lead engineer.

As Epsilon-056 were out on a mission, they were ambushed by Agents 1, 2 and 3 and were massacred apart from them and Cordelia, who had joined the team one year prior, both of them heard the Calamari Inkantation and were released from the shackles of the Octarian monarchy. The result of Zaire surviving led to them developing PTSD, Survivors Guilt and Depression, they also forgot everything, even their name, if it weren't for Cordelia they would've never regained all of their memories. They both ended up in The Metro with a fellow captain, Cap'n Cuttlefish. Due to the ambush, Zaire got a scar over their left eye as well as the eye being damaged beyond repair. They could not recover from the traumatic injuries due to being severed from their supply line and respawn-point. They wore a medical eyepatch during the duration of their time in The Metro. Zaire, Cordelia and Cap'n Cuttlefish could've escaped The Metro earlier than they did but when Zaire regained the memory of their family dying. They lost all motivation to leave, let alone do anything, for weeks after that. After a year, when Zaire was 20 they encountered Agent 3 again and escaped The Metro. Zaire put their life on the line to save Inkopolis from a telephone-AI called Tartar, even though they knew nobody who lived there. When they got to Inkopolis, Zaire immediately was admitted to a hospital where they removed their left eye and replaced it with a blank glass one. After they recovered, Zaire and Cordelia met up with Dante and Rosetta who were been able to be smuggled out of the nation years prior due to the amount of wealth Dante had earned.

Sometime between getting out of The Metro and now, Zaire formed their own competitive team with Dante, Cordelia and Ascella, another octoling they met in Inkopolis they had become friends with thanks to Dante. They adopted the name “Team Vermilion” for the team. Zaire later met an inkling during a tourney called Maddox, who had his own competitive team called “Team Azure” which consisted of all inklings (much like Team Vermilion consisting of all octolings), it included them, Lilith, Freida and Zephyr. The two teams became rivals but outside of tournaments they were great friends. After two years, Team Vermilion became one of the higher x rank teams rivalling The S4, Team Emperor and even Team X-Blood (The X4), the team has had the luxury of meeting many famous faces during their time spent in Inkopolis due to their successes, such as, The Squid Sisters, Off The Hook, Emperor, The S4, Rider, Goggles, Gloves and even Vintage, although it wasn't formally and it was for a short time during a tournament match against his team which Team Vermilion ultimately lost.

Sometime after forming Team Vermillion, Zaire and Rosetta met Loliga, Coral, Haru, Alex, Thomas and Leo. A few months after becoming friends with the group they all decided to form a band as a side gig and they became a relatively popular indie band in Inkopolis but not anywhere near any of the main bands found in Inkling and Octoling culture. The band was called "Washed Out" and primarily made electronic rock covers of preexisting songs while also making a few of their own songs.

Sometime when Zaire is 24 years old and after Team Vermillion became a high-ranking team, Zaire and their team as well as Maddox and his team became bored of the current state of turf war and tournaments in Greater Inkopolis. They all began seeking turf tournaments with more thrill, while Rosetta joined cause everyone else was going, and heard about a city in The Splatlands, Splatsville, growing in popularity for years since the Final Splatfest. The two teams, plus Rosetta, gathered and bought everything they needed for the journey into the arid deserts of The Splatlands and decided to meet up once they all got there. During Zaire's journey, they did not wear their regular clothes, although they did bring them, they wore a short-sleeved white shirt and a pair of tan combat trousers. They also wore a pair of shield sunglasses and a dust blocker 2000 to protect themself from the desert sands, they also brought their sennyu specs with them. Lastly, they wore a hooded cape to protect themself from the rays of the sun. Their shirt and cape ended up getting torn throughout the journey, mostly at the final stretch. About 3 months into the journey, the motorbike they were using to get to Splatsville broke down and they had to hike the rest of the way, luckily, it wasn't that far left. Sometime during the hike they found a smallfry, one of many species under the genus of the salmonid, it wasn't aggressive like many of the salmonids they fought back in Greater Inkopolis so they decided to take it in and make it their companion, he called it “Landon”. Next time we see them, they have turned 25 and are just outside Splatsville. They take the train into the main part of the city and meet up at Splatville's Ammo Knights.