The Veiled Core Chronicles · Combat roster
The Fighting 57th
Faces from the line beneath the Spira Imperialis, the soldiers and shadows who anchor The Veiled Core Chronicles: The Fighting 57th.
On Cetia 243, wars are played like moves on a board, but down in the mud and concrete it still comes down to people. The unit the Board miscounted, the ones who refuse to stay where they are placed. This roster page gathers some of the soldiers, officers, and other figures orbiting Major Sora Virelle’s command.
Major Sora Virelle
“SOH-rah vih-REL”
Commanding officer, Fighting 57th
Major Sora Virelle is built not to impress, but to endure. She is the Federation’s blade unsheathed, a commander who measures every room by its exits and how long it would take to breach each one. Calm, relentless, and allergic to spectacle, she leads Delta-57 with command without ego and loyalty without dependence, carrying the quiet knowledge that if the Board miscounted her unit, she will make that mistake hurt. In the visions that haunt her, Arath-Bar names her “child of no mother” and tells her, “you will be my sword,” a burden she shoulders even when she is not sure she wants a god’s attention at all.
Sergeant Harlan Briggs
“HAR-lin Briggs”
First squad leader
Harlan Briggs is Foxtrot-57’s grizzled sergeant, loud enough to be heard over particle fire and stubborn enough to hold a line no sane person would stand on. He bullies his Joes forward with threats and black humor, but every order comes from a bone-deep refusal to let them die for command’s nameless secrets without a fight.
Lieutenant Marcus Corsetti
“cor-SET-ee”
Executive officer, Fighting 57th
Corsetti is the officer the recruits expected the whole war to look like, clean uniform, easy smile, a talent for pretending the Board’s orders make sense. Underneath that, he is a meticulous planner and the quiet buffer between Sora’s worst instincts and command politics. He remembers every call sign, every birthday in the platoon, and writes letters home when the dead cannot.
Private Adrienne Van der Zalm
“AD-ree-en van der ZALM”
Designated marksman, overwatch
Pvt. Adrienne Van der Zalm is Delta-57’s forward point, the one who is already ten meters ahead when the rest of the squad is still arguing about the map. wiry, sun-darkened, freckles and eyes sharp as cut glass, she moves through kill zones like a phantom, cracking puns and gently needling Tatsuo just to prove she is not as fearless as she looks. Her survival record borders on impossible, which the unit writes off as luck, but feels a lot more like a sixth sense that always knows where not to step.
Corporal Tatsuo Ren
“TAT-soo-oh Ren”
Close-quarters specialist, point man
Corporal Tatsuo Ren is Delta-57’s silent guardian, a close-quarters master whose presence is felt more than heard. He speaks little, meditates between firefights, and turns that stillness into a brutal economy of motion, intimidating with certainty instead of volume. A specialist in melee ambush and interception, he moves like he sees attacks before they happen, striking only once, but with absolute finality.
Private Joaquín Esparraguera
“hwa-KEEN ess-par-rah-GEH-rah”
Close-quarters, dual sidearms
Pvt. Joaquín Esparraguera is the 57th’s walking shockwave, a towering, powerfully built close-quarters bruiser who somehow manages to radiate warmth and friendliness right up until it is time to break things. She laughs easy, hits hard, and delights in surprising anyone who underestimates her, especially once they notice the twin sidearms she’s painted a very deliberate shade of pink.
Private Silvia Enríquez
“SEEL-vyah en-REE-kess”
Breach and clear, combat engineer
Pvt. Silvia Enríquez is the 57th’s breacher and combat engineer, a driven perfectionist who treats doors, walls, and fortifications like puzzles she refuses to let beat her. Formerly a civilian mechanic before losing everything and enlisting, she brings a meticulous, mechanically minded approach to explosives and entry work, always double-checking the math even when rounds are flying. Loyal to a fault and terrible at asking for help, she has a habit of taking on too much responsibility, burning herself down so everyone else can get through the gap she just blew open.
Private Kyra Halden
“KYE-rah HAL-den”
Remote systems, recon and support
Pvt. Kyra Halden is Delta-57’s drone and systems specialist, a brilliant but socially awkward tech who would rather talk to Bot’s telemetry than a crowded room. Slight, oil-smudged, and always half-turned toward a wrist display or neural port, she moves with precise, almost mechanical economy until the drones launch and her focus snaps razor sharp. Former military tech corps, recruited for her unique interface skills, she pays for that connection with headaches, tremors, and a quiet fear that the war is rewiring her faster than she can admit to the squad.
Private Sandra Reyes
“SAHN-drah RAY-ess”
Infantry, ground assault
Sandra “Echo-4” Reyes is Delta-57’s last line between the squad and whatever is hunting them. Lean and watchful, with crimson hair, pale gray eyes, and a waveform tattoo along her collarbone, she moves like a shadow that has already picked the kill zone. Quiet, precise, and unshakably calm on rear guard, if something gets past Reyes, it was never meant to be stopped.
Rikka
“REE-kah”
Fixer
Rikka is leverage in human form, Hope Town’s quiet knife and last good option when no one else is listening. She walks with calm, deliberate confidence, dark curls, burgundy silk, and a white silver Lys Tek V9 pistol called Solstice that never comes up unless it matters. Beautiful on purpose and dangerous by choice, she trades in favors rather than feelings, protects the vulnerable when the cost is acceptable, and makes people play more carefully without ever raising her voice.
Six
“Six”
Embedded tactician, Board interface
Six is the human terminal of the Speculatrix Vigilantum, one of eight “cycles” wired directly into the core AI. She spends most of her life sealed in a red jumpsuit and soft white shoes, neural filaments trailing from the base of her skull into the system she tends. Her job is simple and terrifying, she watches, logs, authenticates, and categorizes every piece of data that touches Crucible Hall, a quiet warden who rarely leaves the cage she has become part of.