Exploring Officer
SWRP Writer
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2018
- Messages
- 14
- Reaction score
- 12
NAME
AGE
► 33
SPECIES ► Human
HEIGHT ► 6'2
WEIGHT ► 78kgs
EYE COLOR ► Blue
HAIR COLOR ► Brown-Blonde
HOMEWORLD ► Coruscant
GENDER ► He, Him
FACTION ►Imperial Republica
RANK ► Imperial Agent
FORCE SENSITIVITY ► Negative
BIOGRAPHY
Gaelin Carid was born on Coruscant, living on a level just below the border of the undercity. With little in the way of opportunities beyond criminality or mindless toil, Gaelin took the only other option that seemed open to him and enlisted with the Imperial Army. He held no delusions that military service would be in any way glamorous, already weary enough from his father’s own tales to doubt the claims of exciting adventure and in the opportunities for advancement the holos and his recruiter preached. If he made something of it then all the better and if nothing else, then at least it might give him a purpose. Gaelin adjusted to military life with surprising ease however, owed in no small part to the regime of discipline and uncanny simplicity. Though not a meek nor submissive man he had never been one to buck authority on principal nor pride and took to taking orders well. Upon completion of his training, Gaelin was assigned to the 833rd Legion.
Gaelin’s first assignments were relatively unremarkable, conducting policing actions on planets where sedition risked spilling over into civil disobedience and terrorism. Rocks were thrown, blasterbutts responded and before too long public order control became sweeps for suspected weapon caches and hunts for political dissidents. The initial excitement of confronting angry crowds and rush of forcing open a suspect’s door began to fizzle out. Still, there were far worse jobs in the galaxy and he was content. The man’s true trial by fire was soon to come however. On Thobos much of the planet’s oppressed workers had risen up in revolt, spurred by revolutionary leaders. The Navy had quickly moved to blockade the planet, but the garrison lacked the men and equipment to suppress such a surprisingly well-organised and zealous uprising. The importance of it’s factories and mountainous terrain made aerial bombardment impractical.
Reinforcements were requested, but by the time the 33rd had mobilised and arrived in-system the rebels had become entrenched in their regional gains. What was supposed to be a swiftly quashed uprising turned into months of gruelling trench and close-quarters warfare against a well organised, dug-in foe. This was compounded by the inexperience and ineptitude of leaders who were more used to putting down protesters and small cells than fighting a protracted conflict. The Empire ultimately prevailed through attrition rather than cunning strategy and more than a few political and military reputations were left tainted by Thobos. The scale of the uprising and losses incurred were downplayed as best the Empire could.
For Gaelin’s part, it had been his first taste of true warfare. It had shaken him, scarred him even and more than a few of his friends had lost their lives there. He had seen first hand the Sith’s infamous callousness and his own officer’s willingness to put their reputations ahead of responsibility. If nothing else, the experience hardened him, as well as reinforced a odd, twisted feeling of confidence that he could wade into battle and even survive it. It didn’t hurt that Gaelin had apparently been earmarked for a promotion to corporal although he suspected it was due to seniority more than his actions upon Thobos.
Corporal Carid’s next few years continued much the same, being posted from one planet to another, frequently being called upon to hunt down small cells of suspected rebels, pirates and other criminal elements. It was after the storming of the corrupt Count Umeren’s palace that Gaelin was made sergeant and caught the attention of one Lord Craelor, the Sith having personally led the operation. Lord Craelor had proven more level-headed than most Sith that Gaelin had encountered. Lives were not expended fruitlessly under his command, but his strategies were rarely overly conservative. Gaelin found himself being able to respect the man on some level or least as an anomaly. A meritocracy the Empire was not and the 33rd had paid for it on more than one occasion.
Gaelin took to his command well, having become experienced with small unit tactics and felt, at least on some level, he’d inherited the habits of those better men he had served under. Lord Craelor apparently agreed and his squad found themselves seconded to the Sith’s favoured officers for important assignments on several occasions. It was the events of Cegichi that truly cemented his place however. Whilst deploying to the heavily forested planet their dropships came under intense anti-aircraft fire that such a primitive backwater was not reported to possess. The intelligence blunder caused the Lord’s dropship to plummet to the surface, killing or else incapacitating most of the soldiers within, including Craelor. Alive but grievously wounded, the Sith was essentially powerless with Gaelin’s few remaining men and other survivors forced to hold the crash site against the vengeful natives. An impressed Craelor ensured that Gaelin was promoted to lieutenant.
Lord Craelor had often been an outspoken supporter of the Emperor’s line and, shortly after recovering from his injuries on Cegichi, was killed in the opening stages of the civil war. Although Gaelin’s commission stood it left him with almost no influence among his supposed peers, most of whom were younger and of noble bloodlines that typically looked down upon a commoner being raised up from the ranks. If nothing else, it garnered him a measure of respect with those troops whose same boots he had previously served in.
PERSONALITY
Gaelin is a world-weary and jaded man who nonetheless possesses a decent, often well-meaning core that has clashed with his duties to the Empire on more than one occasion. His demeanor is usually direct and often crude but he is fully capable of putting on a respectful front when required. He has sometimes been referred to as ‘wayward’ in his conduct on the battlefield, able to show a good deal of initiative in the pursuit of victory - or more likely, survival. Gaelin cares a great deal about the lives of those under his command but is all too aware that the harsh realities of war make casualties an inevitability.
On some level Gaelin has always been resentful of the Sith and their unlimited potential to ascend from nothing to the highest stratas of society. He has often mused on how he might have faired if he had been blessed by greater sensitivity to the Force. The lottery of life did not see fit to put a silver spoon in his mouth either, his veins apparently lacking a drop of blue blood and possessing none of the affluence nor connections that typically came with it. Some of his superiors appreciate the experience that comes with such an officer, as many - if not more - have done little to hide their disdain.
Although he has taken a great deal of pride in his service to the Empire he is under no delusion that is is an immensely flawed beast and that he just so happens to be on it’s side. He respects law and order a great deal more than the alternative. The civil war troubles him a great deal, moreso for the risk it poses to the Empire’s existence than any true loyalty to the Emperor himself, as well as his discomfort at the prospect of having to fight against fellow Imperials. Far from an optimist, Gaelin knows that things are likely to get a great deal worse before they get better.
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