Ophrean

Unlike his mythological namesake, Ophrean is an aspiring poet who dreams of joining the 10 Greatest Hellecian Poets of all time.

While his lack of poetic talent and wanderlust keep him from achieving his goal. His ability to talk himself, and his traveling accompanist Linessus, out of (and into) trouble makes life wandering the Hellecian Sector interesting.

While Ophrean tricked Ulysses "Ollie" Dylos in to making them the Psygonauts' "Contextual Interpreters." But wound up getting the Psygonauts thrown in a Thrician prison over a cultural misunderstanding.

Forcing the crew to deal with their problems such as jaded patrons & angry guilds, Ope & Linus have proven on several occasions to be invaluable to the Psygonauts.

Combining their music and Ichor to lull dangerous creatures to sleep, create distractions or incite riots to cover an escape, "contextualize" arguments for foreign-speaking diplomats & provide comic relief for the crew while treating the ship like their tour bus to fame & fortune.

Eventually, Linessus will leave Ophrean over creative differences. And the two will switch places: Linessus becomes the better poet while Ophrean becomes a legendary musician.

Origins:

Left as an orphan on the Ionite Flotilla of Space-Faring Colonists, the Colonial Corps adopted Ophrean (giving him the name Lipko).

They raised him as a fellow Ionite. However, Lipko wasn't very good at anything with his uncoordinated bird-like limps. Over time, Lipko learned to use his circumstances and half-truths to get what he wanted.

Eventually, Lipko would become a colonist on the new colony of Kothyra. Given his wanderlust and his inept abilities as a colonist, Lipko longed to find his true calling.

In order to escape his contract with the Delothian Collective, Lipko faked his death and fled through the Kothrian Pass to a life of adventure.

For once Lipko was content: listing through the stars, hardly making ends-meet, while getting disbarred from every Aeonite guild for negligence. Until he discovered Hellecian Poetry.

Finding a calling he couldn't ignore, Lipko abandoned his remaining contracts and traveled to The Great Opheamus Poetry Cloister of Lesbas to learn poetry.

Taken in as a janitor, Lipko learned all he could from listening in on various lectures and sifting through crumbled passages found in the garbage.

Picking up a misplaced textbook labeled The Greatest Poets of the Patrokonoi-Hellecia. Lipko devoured its contents (often neglecting his duties). He stopped when he came to the last page that asked an open-ended question: "Does your prose & verse belong in legend next to those in this book?"

Emboldened, Lipko changed his name to Ophrean (after the poets: Threnian of the Quill & Orphus of the Fulcrum) and resolved to become one of the greatest poets of all-time.

Long Way to the Top:

After getting fired for his continued negligence, Ophrean left the Cloister to become the greatest poet of all-time.

Posing as a member of the Cloister, Ophrean crafted epithets and odes to patrons of all varieties from poor merchants to wealthy oligarchs. And they all could agree on one thing: Ophrean' poetry was terrible.

Upon learning of a pretender ruining the prestige of their order, members of the Cloister sought to capture and make an example of Ophrean.

Sent into hiding but undeterred, Ophrean resolved to change his style. Upon consulting with his textbook, Ophrean made a crucial discovery: Every great poet had a great musical accompanist on the Altidrum.

With the Cloister still looking for him, Ophrean hitched a ride to the Attican Core Worlds' prestigious institutes and sneaking into the classiest parties to find the best musician to become his accompanist (where Ophrean developed an addiction to Green Tide).

However, no one was interested in saddling with a charismatic nobody poet. It's at one of these parties, Ophrean first met Linessus.

While being accosted by his abrasive tutor & the host for dropping their bags, Ophrean intervenes on behalf of the timid Linessus. And after a string of insults, Ophrean challenges the aged professor to an Dyarnkoid or a verse battle (Ophrean & Linessus must come up with a better sounding verse and accompaniment than the tutor & one of the nobles; determined by applause).

Together the pair defeats the tutor with a better verse. However, the audience applauds for their host who then throws Ophrean in prison for disturbing his party.

Linessus bails him Ophrean out of jail the following morning. And after days of convincing and seeing no sign of respect or advancement in the institute, Linessus leaves the institute and joins Ophrean.

Linessus is the straight shooter who keeps Ophrean grounded in reality. While Ophrean challenges Linessus to take risks and live a little.

From Street Performers to Translators:

While performing on the capital planet of the Chacidik Talons (under Thrician rule). The pair spot The Psygorellius land in their port.

Seeing an opportunity for fame & glory, Ophrean approaches the commander offering his services as a bard to tell of their stories or as "contextual interpreters" for the ruling Thrician barbarians.

For non-Hellecian species that do not possess Ichor, "Contextual Interpreting" is vital in communication between species who don't speak the same language.

Instead of communicating complex ideas with words and definitions that vary between cultures. Contextual Interpreting communicates using specific gestures, props, and sounds to imply very simple ideas, based on the changes in the phrasing of these sounds (i.e. using fast paced music to imply danger attached to a group having something; using soft music to imply peaceful intentions attached to an object they would like to trade).

However, this field is very dangerous and required very specialized training due to the variations of implications across different cultures from different planets.

Reminding his impetuous partner of these facts, Ophrean assures Linessus they can fake IDs for the local chapter of Contextual Interpreters, pretend to interpret the content Thrician rulers long enough to prove their worth to the Psygonauts. They can work on their "craft" when they're aboard the most famous ship in the sector.

However, their actions in the Thrician governor's throne gets the pair and the rest of the Psygonauts imprisoned.

It isn't until Ophrean absent-mindedly strums a few strings on Linessus' instrument that he realizes he can control the Thrician guards with their music and Ichor.

By doing so, Ope & Linus help the Psygonauts escape the Talons.

While Dylos is still mad about being imprisoned because of these two jokers. The Psygonauts will continue to run into Ope & Linus over the course of their adventures: needing their rescue or needing to rescue them from the trouble they're in.

At one point, Dylos and company will need to rescue the pair from the Poetry Cloister and the Musicians Guild in order to cross into the Black Void Nebula.

Aboard the Psygorellius:

Despite their incompetence and the number of times the pair nearly got them killed, Ope & Linus will serve as the Contextual Interpreters between non-Hellecian species and assist in a support role on missions that involve subduing creatures or creating distractions for the group.

Dylos and Ope will never truly get along with their opposing personalities (measured vs care-free) and their "professional" relationships with Eucidrie.

Ope & Linus will continue performing while on planet and maintain a brotherly relationship.

Until one day, tired of following Ophrean lead into death countless times and envious over his lazy friend's transcendent skills on the instrument he devoted his life to perfecting.

Linus will break up the band and leave the ship, citing "creative differences" and seek to become the greatest poet before Ophrean.

Will Ophrean achieve his dream in spite of Linesus' harsh words or will he swap dreams to spite Linesus? (quick answer: the latter because Ophrean is a terrible poet, godlike on the Altidrum & incredibly petty).

Will the two friends ever see each other again and play on the same stage? Or will their journeys keep the two friends from playing on the same stage again?

Epithelial Title on Psygorellius: The "Interpreter"

Greek Comparison: Orpheus

Home Cluster: The Chalcidik Talons/Fork (currently)

Species: Thricians (specifically Baleri)

Affiliated Organizations:

• The Psygorellius
• Inter-Species Contextual Translators Guild - Chalcidik chapter (one of the Professional Guilds of Aeonite Craftspeople)
• Musicians Guild of Stringed Instruments - Attican Core Worlds chapter (violently expelled)
• Poets Guild of the Great Lebas - (cloister attendant; disbarred)
• Deep Space Commerce Guild - Kothrian Pass chapter (delivery driver; disbarred)
• Colony of Kothryca (colonist; presumed dead)
• Ionite Flotilla of Space-Faring Colonists