Horatio is practically immortal at this point. His understanding of the biological sciences is ridiculously advanced. Zelevas is not necessarily immportal, but he is using a dustwater-like substance to make himself much younger. If he does this continuously, he would practically live forever.

Also I want to add that Horatio arrived on Horatio prime in a cryoship. So after he acquired the technology on Auriga he then travelled to his planet. In the end, the Mezari empire should have collapsed by the time he was awake, so he is already incredibly old.

Basically Horatio was a Trillionare in the Mezari Empire, who left the empire out of (apparent) boredom.

He probably traveled across the galaxy (knowing of the Endless) and landed on Auriga looking for technology that could possibly extend his life and do a bunch of other crazy shit. Knowing that Auriga was the central biological labratory planet of the Endless would have drawn him there. Like the others said, he had landed on Auriga shortly before the events of DotE, and was searching the planet for technology. Upon discovering it (with the unknowing help of some of the Success survivors) he left the planet to go (back to) Horatio Prime. 

 He would land on Horatio Prime (formerly an Endless Resort Planet) either before or after his landing on Auriga.

DotE takes place centuries, possibly even a millenia or two (thanks to EL) before the events of ES2, and Horatios landing on Horatio Prime was probably inbetween the DotE timeline and the ES2 timeline. However, it's good to note that DotE canonic lore is a bit complicated when trying to connect it to EL and/or ES2. 

Horatio is one of the few near-immortal/long-living Mezari (humans) in the galaxy. 

The others are members of the Zolya Clan (First and Second of the bloodline being the most famous but there are Mezari ones like Varb, though he became a Vodyani), Emperor Zelevas due to his overconsumption of dust, and Kinete Muldaur (she is centuries old somehow, as she is one of the founders of the Academy which has been around since Isyanders Rebellion against the Vodyani leadership). 

Don't know if I missed any lol

Hey all,

I am new to the series and soaking in the lore as it comes to me, which I admit, is a little difficult because so much of it is spread out (The comics are amazing, they need more exposure!). If anyone can answer these questions, please feel free to chime in or correct me! But I admit, I'm hoping for a response from Slow' if possible.

My best understanding of Horatio before, was from some of the wiki pages and other literature provided by Amplitude. According to a wiki I found about ES1, Horatio was a citizen of the United Empire. In the wiki for ES2, he is from the Mezari empire. 

In the Horatio comic ( https://wiki.endless-space.com/comics/horatio ), I guess he participates in the events of Dungeon'? So does that mean he's still a rich person who was now, for some reason, on the prison ship to colonize Auriga?

My confusion, I think, similar to my other thread, is that if the Vaulters are decended from the Mezari in Dungeon', it requires Dungeon' to have taken place at least a bit in the past. 

Anyhow, thanks for any thoughts on this! 

On Horatio genders, I think actually gender as a thing doesn't really matter in The We, because Horatios don't reproduce. Most likely, all the clones are sterile to begin with (can't risk the splendid Horatio genes going to other species). In ES1 I interpreted the female Horatios as Horatios who identify as female, perhaps genetically influenced to do so. I think this is just so that Horatio the First doesn't feel too bored - he designs Horatios anyway, giving them a specific purpose. In any case, the female Horatios in ES1 were for me the most obvious trans characters I've seen in recent sci fi settings. I thought it was really cool. Also with the lesbian Lumeris hero, I thought it's just Amplitude's way of giving some representation. Maybe I'm wrong.

Right, I just thought it was interesting that ES1 had female Horatio but ES2 didn't seem to.  (There was even one in ES1 who was convinced she was the true ideal model and wanted to become the new gold standard for the race)

My only guess is that they retconned this because Horatio is kind of scarier or more intense if you realize his willingness to roll over gender identity in his quest to impose perfection. But I didn't want to sound like an idiot if, say, the lady above (Perfectio Aeternus) was still in the story.

Sidenote: I would totally play Horatio if Perfectio Aeternus became an alternate skin or something. 

MidnightTea wrote:

Right, I just thought it was interesting that ES1 had female Horatio but ES2 didn't seem to.  (There was even one in ES1 who was convinced she was the true ideal model and wanted to become the new gold standard for the race)

My only guess is that they retconned this because Horatio is kind of scarier or more intense if you realize his willingness to roll over gender identity in his quest to impose perfection. But I didn't want to sound like an idiot if, say, the lady above (Perfectio Aeternus) was still in the game.

Sidenote: I would totally play Horatio if Perfectio Aeternus became an alternate skin or something. 

I fully support female trans Horatios in ES2. I'm actually ready to campaign for them. Also I like your idea, we need a Horatio Empress who wants to grab the throne. I think this is the one faction that can pull off awesome trans characters with amazing ease.

KnightofPhoenix wrote:

dobyk wrote:

MidnightTea wrote:

Right, I just thought it was interesting that ES1 had female Horatio but ES2 didn't seem to.  (There was even one in ES1 who was convinced she was the true ideal model and wanted to become the new gold standard for the race)

My only guess is that they retconned this because Horatio is kind of scarier or more intense if you realize his willingness to roll over gender identity in his quest to impose perfection. But I didn't want to sound like an idiot if, say, the lady above (Perfectio Aeternus) was still in the game.

Sidenote: I would totally play Horatio if Perfectio Aeternus became an alternate skin or something. 

I fully support female trans Horatios in ES2. I'm actually ready to campaign for them. Also I like your idea, we need a Horatio Empress who wants to grab the throne. I think this is the one faction that can pull off awesome trans characters with amazing ease.

I fully endorse this as well.

I was actually quite disappointed that Horatio was made to perform 'masculinity' a lot more explicitly than he did in ES1, by losing the make-up and having a facial structure that is a lot less ambiguous than in ES1.  In ES1, Horatios in general were a lot more gender ambiguous.

I don't see someone like Horatio performing masculinity or feminity, but would perform whatever they deem 'beautiful' – i.e. gender identity and performance should have become completely obsolete in Horatio society.  

I mean someone like Salario Domus, who looks very masculine, is not at all what I picture Horatios to look like.

I have to agree actually. As much as I love my Horatios, I really miss their gender ambiguity. The make-up, the ridiculous attire which could have passed for male or female, it just more unique and alien.

To be honest, I like Horatio either way. If he's overtly performing masculine and he intends to turn you into a masculine being in the longrun, that's actually pretty scary and offputting to some folks. Particularly if, like me, you consider ideal beauty to be feminine and have some MtF trans-ish tendencies. But it does mean I'm probably never going to seriously play the faction and will miss out on trying its unique mechanics. That's my hang-up and my loss, so I'm not actually asking for any changes to be made on my behalf or anything. Because as I said: he's pretty scary as-is and it gives the Horatio a strong flavor as a faction and I think it's great that way.

But again: I would totally love to play Perfectio Aeturnus Echo -6CF Betalus, Ecus -6C5 Betalus Faruda -1A Tergus, Athena -17 Tergus and Emla/Jesy -E Sparop -AE on a goal of making the galaxy an identical lesbian cuddle party.

(Deviant Art would probably have a field day with this as well)

EDIT: I had the wrong hero all this time, oops. Perfectio Aeternus identifies non-binary, which actually makes ES1 surprisingly ahead of its time in some ways. The others are ladies though!