Historical Krayd Hasperre

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KRAYD HASPERRE

Krayd Hasperre, also known as "the Hero of Javin", "the Fox of the Koda Spur" and "the Last Jazaq", was an Ossein mercenary and adventurer who lived between approximately 320 BBY and 285 BBY, around 420 years before before the present day. One of the many heroes of the High Republic Era, he was considered one of the last truly legendary pilots produced by the Ossein.

Although he lived in a time of relative peace, when the Republic was at last beginning to expand back into the Outer Rim after an absence of millennia, and the worlds had begun to cooperate in a way that had seldom been seen before in Galactic history, Krayd's feats and adventures are as spectacular as any Jazaq who lived in earlier, less civilized ages. He is known as a liberator of worlds, a slayer of monsters and pirates, and even as a peacemaker on a few occasions. His memory has inspired stories among the Ossein, and among the people of a thousand worlds.

ORIGINS

Krayd was an Amaran born into the family of an Ossein noy, although in the Ossein style, his species was and is not generally acknowledged among the Ossein except for specific physical characteristics. Growing up in a time of relative peace, Krayd was nevertheless drawn to the mission and ethos of the Jazaq, the ancient warriors who had defended the fleets of the Ossein in eras past. Although by this time few were left to teach Krayd the old ways, Krayd swore to uphold the Jazaq Yassa, and was largely self-taught, demonstrating a high degree of innate skill as a pilot that modern scholars speculate may have stemmed from a latent Force sensitivity.

One wonders if any of those who saw him set out in his ambition were aware of what Krayd Hasperre would one day accomplish.

ADVENTURES

There are many feats attributed to Krayd Hasperre. Although it may seem unbelievable that a single being could have accomplished so much in one short lifetime, it is an undisputed fact that Krayd was a larger-than-life individual, and - through luck, skill or both - managed to do things that may seem unbelievable to people today. Some of his more notable adventures include:

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE TERROR OF JAVIN

Krayd's first widely recorded adventure - and arguably the one which first gained him attention - was an affair in the former Mugaari Empire circa 300 BBY, during which he defied the orders of his fleet's Noyon to lead a small group of spacers - some Ossein, some not - to hunt down a supposed "space monster" which had been terrorizing local space, destroying ships and damaging small orbital stations across the Javin Oversector. The "monster" turned out to be a badly mauled but still functional Mugaari cruiser presumed lost during the Republic annexation of the region. Its crew was long dead, but its main computer had been afflicted with an unknown class 3 dataplague, which had caused it to reactivate and go on a rampage. Krayd and his allies managed to destroy the diseased computer core in a boarding action, ending the threat. He and the others later contributed the inert cruiser - a scarce example of Imperial Mugaari naval architecture - to representatives of the Bureau of Ships & Services Heritage Museum, where it can still be seen today in restored condition.

Krayd and his allies were subsequently known as the "Heroes of Javin" for their accomplishment. The Heroes of Javin would subsequently travel with Krayd and the fleet he served, sharing in many of his later adventures.

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE PIRATES OF INDREXU

Subsequent to his adventures in the former Mugaari Empire, Krayd and the Heroes of Javin traveled with Krayd's fleet across the Outer Rim, having a number of minor adventures before arriving in the ancient region known as the Tion Cluster. There, their fleet was attacked by raiders calling themselves the Pirates of Indrexu.

Nominally led by a female human called the Reborn Queen who the pirates believed was the reincarnation of Indrexu, an ancient ruler of the planet Ranroon, the Pirates of Indrexu believed it was their destiny to reunite their leader with the Reborn King, a reincarnation of no-one less than the long-dead conqueror Xim the Despot. With King and Queen united, they would go on to reconquer the Tion Cluster, and subsequently the rest of the Galaxy.

Krayd and a number of other Ossein males who distinguished themselves in the defense of their fleet were taken by the Pirates of Indrexu during the battle. They were subsequently brought to the Queen's asteroid palace deep in the Indrexu Spiral, to be presented to her highness, and then subjected to trial by combat, where they would fight to demonstrate whether or not the spirit of Xim had returned in any of them.

Although the Heroes of Javin not taken by the Pirates of Indrexu staged a rescue attempt, it proved unnecessary, with Krayd managing to survive the trials, although he refused to slay any of his opponents. He subsequently foiled a plot by one of the Reborn Queen's viziers, saving her from a cybernetic procedure which would have reduced her to little more than a puppet, winning her favor and apparent admiration in the process. Although Krayd would return with his would-be rescuers to his fleet, he would remain in regular contact - some believe very intimate contact - with the Reborn Queen.

The Reborn Queen would subsequently reform the Pirates of Indrexu into a militia known as the Spiral Guard, which would cooperate with the Heroes of Javin on a number of subsequent occasions.

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE GALLEONS OF ARLEEN

During a stopover on the remote planet Erilnar, capital of Centrality space, the Heroes of Javin were contacted by famed Republic archaeologist Professor Trantori Halsk, who had discovered the log recorder of the Ascendant Share, a legendary Republic Frontier Corporation treasure ship which - along with a dozen other vessels of her type - had blind-jumped into hyperspace during an effort by the old Republic Judiciary and the Jedi to capture the fleet and bring its commanding officers in for prosecution. Professor Halsk had been given the log by a colleague who had died - been murdered, she suspected - before having a chance to say where it had come from. Halsk wished to recruit the Heroes of Javin to help her find the lost treasure fleet, which would be both a major historical discovery and yet another piece of evidence in the millennia-long recrimination process being undertaken by the Republic for worlds looted by the RFC during its existence.

Krayd and his allies subsequently foiled a murder attempt against Professor Halsk by assassins working for an unknown party. Upon playback of the log recorder on a suitably ancient data terminal, the group was directed to the Arleen System, where they were given a less-than-friendly greeting by the local authorities, who stalled granting investigative permits for the outer planetary moon system Professor Halsk wished to investigate. This preceded a second assassination attempt, this time by curiously obsolete starfighters, which Krayd and the other Heroes of Javin repelled.

Forgoing official channels, Professor Halsk and the Heroes of Javin proceeded to Arleen VIII, a many-mooned gas giant which was the last clear location mentioned in the log recorder. Expecting to find a few ancient wrecks, investigation discovered an entire intact fleet of Republic Frontier Corporation galleons hidden in Arleen VIII's ice rings. The ships - crewed by the inbred, brainwashed descendants of their original crews - attempted to destroy the ships of the Heroes of Javin, but their feeble, ancient weapons were inadequate to the task. The galleons swiftly received backup, however, in the form of several elements of the Arleen Defensive Navy, commanded by agents of a secretive sect within the Centrality government which had also descended from the RFC galleons' commanding officers, who had charged their descendants with keeping the secret of their origins and treasure.

Although the Heroes of Javin managed to hold their own in spite of the odds, the day was saved by the timely arrival of the Republic Judiciary Fleet. The RFC fleet was unfortunately lost - in a panic, most of the crews flew into the densest part of the ring system, where the ancient galleons were torn apart by densely packed debris - but the ring-leaders of the cabal within the Centrality were apprehended, providing evidence of several previously unknown RFC atrocities.

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE SLAVE-MINDS OF BIIVREN

During a mission to the industrial planet Biivren to acquire much-need replacement parts for the flagship of his home fleet, Krayd Hasperre - traveling alone - was accidentally witness to what he believed was a black market slaver transaction, with a number of Givin being apparently exchanged for spice and credits. Investigating further, he was confronted with the gruesome sight of a number of heavily cybernetically altered beings in the apparent headquarters of the slavers, before finding a strange set of blueprints for what looked like a massive starship. Making his way out of the headquarters, he was discovered and captured by some of the slavers and their mindless cyborgs, before being rescued by another being who identified himself as an agent of the Spiral Guard.

Apparently, the Spiral Guard had been tracking the activity of a group of slavers who exclusively seemed to go after highly intelligent beings; university students, scientists, etc. Although the only criteria for the kidnappings seemed to be high placement on standardized intelligence tests, the Reborn Queen believed there was some particular reason for it, and ordered it investigated. As it turned out, the victims were being brought to a facility on Biivren to have their brains harvested and their bodies converted into mindless drones; the brains were apparently being saved for use in something related to the blueprints Krayd had discovered.

Breaking into the brain harvesting facility, Krayd and the agent were able to free a large group of slaves awaiting surgery, using a freight turbolift to escape the facility guards. Along with the former slaves, they descended into a secret shipyard located beneath the facility, where a massive vessel was under construction, quickly identified as the ship from the blueprints. Climbing aboard, the group was horrified to discover hundreds of living brains wired into a massive navicomputer array, being used as extra processing architecture. The group was then confronted by an army of guards, along with the mastermind of the project, a rogue Republic scientist named Doctor Lorraine Evazan.

Dr. Evazan, in a triumphant monologue, spoke of the construction of a "Hyliner", a vessel guided by the most powerful navigation computer yet devised, which could plumb the mysteries of hyperspace and discover hyperlanes more efficient and direct than had even been dreamed of by "conventional" science. This speech was interrupted, however, when anguished voices began to be heard over the ship's public address system, the voices of the hundreds of sentients wired into the machinery.

As it turned out, Krayd's new droid, a state-of-the-art astrogation unit provided by the Hi-Mech Corporation as thanks for defending a major shipment of their products from pirates, had gone unnoticed while the organics were rounded up. ZZ-4A4 had accessed the ship's internal network, and removed the cognitive dampers applied to the conscious thought centers of every brain. Suddenly aware of their horrific situation, they began to tear the ship apart, causing a cascade of failures and overloads that ran unchecked through every system.

Barely escaping the secret shipyard, which began to collapse shortly after the turbolift began its ascent, Krayd, the agent and the rescued slaves reported their ordeal to the Republic authorities, who immediately placed Dr. Evazan on their Most Wanted list. It is believed that she was killed in the destruction of her ship, but this was never confirmed...

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE SOLAR WARDEN

During a rare meeting with another Ossein fleet, Krayd was shown an ancient electrum insignia which the bearer claimed once belonged to a Solar Warden, a being out of Ossein mythology. More, the bearer claimed that they received it from an actual, living Solar Warden; this, of course, was an impossibility, as no Ossein had seen a Solar Warden since the time of the Ship of Stone, a near-mythical age when the Ossein were still settled on planets.

Later on during the meeting of the fleets, Krayd's Noyon received a distress call from a straggler, apparently stranded in a previously unknown system and beset by engine trouble. The Noyon dispatches Krayd and ZZ-4A4 to assist; before departing, however, the bearer of the Solar Warden insignia stopped Krayd and gave him the piece, saying that it would bring him luck.

Arriving in the unknown system, Krayd located the stricken ship, assisting the pilot in making repairs. During the repairs, however, both were attacked by a dreadnought of unknown configuration which seemed to appear out of nowhere. Attempting to fight off the huge ship with his new custom-made starfighter - the Silver Bolide - Krayd was assisted by an equally mysterious, dart-shaped golden craft which similarly appeared as if from nowhere. Using improbably powerful weapons for a craft no larger than a medium pinnace, the newcomer drove off the dreadnought, and passed close by Krayd, giving a view of an insignia identical to the one the Ossein had been given earlier.

After the newcomer vanished, Krayd returned to the stranded Ossein ship, not knowing quite what to believe.

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE CHALICE OF NEED

Caught between a rock and a hard place, Krayd and the Heroes of Javin found themselves defending their home fleet from both sides in an intra-system war between two planets. Knowing that the fleet - stranded by hyperlane access point traps which prevent them from leaving the system without confronting one side or the other - could not hold out longer than the combatants, Krayd sought a way for his people to escape, and was told of an artifact called the Chalice of Need, the bearer of which could - by right - demand that both sides in the war come to the negotiating table.

The Chalice - said to be hidden on the long-abandoned third planet in the system, once habitable but by then a blasted wasteland after an ancient war - was not sought only by Krayd and his allies, however. Also searching were representatives of the Czerka Corporation, who had been happily selling arms to both sides in the conflict, and who wished to prolong it as much as possible. Racing against their competitors, the Heroes of Yavin braved mutated wildlife, hostile weather and maddened survivors of a war long past.

Eventually, the Chalice was recovered, and both sides in the conflict were compelled to attend negotiations aboard the Ossein flagship. Despite several last-ditch efforts by Czerka to disrupt the talks - including a mercenary starfighter strike blunted by Krayd and company - the two sides signed a peace treaty, with the Heroes of Javin being featured in armistice monuments on both worlds. Both monuments stand to this day.

KRAYD HASPERRE & THE FORCE OF THE DARK

In a visit to the Mid Rim, Krayd and the other Heroes of Javin had their first-ever run-in with a monastic order known as the Jedi. Although Krayd was impressed with their flying ability, their notions of a mystical energy field permeating the universe seemed laughable at best. Their laser swords also seemed impractical. During their meeting, however, one of the younger Jedi told Krayd about a counterpart to their order, a group of "Dark Side" users called the Sith. Although he assured Krayd that the Sith had been extinct for over 600 years, the story refused to leave Krayd's mind, even after the Heroes of Javin and the Jedi parted ways.

Shortly afterward, Krayd and the Heroes of Javin were hired by a wealthy antiquities dealer to escort a shipment of valuable artifacts to a museum on Senex. The artifacts - apparently recovered from tombs on an abandoned world known as Moraband - made Krayd's tail bristle, but the money was good, and the dealer seemed upstanding. Just before departure, however, Krayd felt himself being watched, although he was not able to turn fast enough to catch anything more than a flicker of movement.

In deep space, the shipment was attacked by two starfighters of an archaic design, although whoever was flying them showed exceptional skill and coordination. Two of the Heroes were killed during the attack, and a third forced to eject, with Krayd's Silver Bolide taking a significant amount of damage itself. The container carrying the artifacts was stolen, and the freighter destroyed.

As he and the Heroes of Javin limped to the nearest inhabited system, Krayd considered the notion that he and his friends had just faced something none of them were even slightly prepared for, and, with luck, would never have to face again...

The end of Krayd's story is a mysterious one. The time and place of his death is not recorded, but the legendary pilot apparently never returned from a mission to the smugglers' moon of Nar Shaddaa, although some sources claim that he only briefly visited the planet before departing again for Raxus Prime, at that time a mysterious world far out in the Outer Rim. Given the natural lifespan of Amarans, he is most assuredly dead in the present day, although many historians lament that his final deeds are not recorded...

INTENT

To create an ancient Ossein hero of the kind that would have existed in the days of the Old Republic, the sort of character of which tall tales might be told in the present day. This character would also tie in with the ongoing story of Trini Halrixien, who has rediscovered Krayd's ship, droid, and unfinished final quest.

 

[Logan]

Approved.