Nova Rigil Starcry

[Halcyon]

NOVA RIGIL STARCRY​

Nova Rigil Starcry, commonly known as Nova Starcry and born Kent Rigil, is a 25 year-old male Arkanian Offshoot/Sephi hybrid. A force sensitive, Nova was trained as a Jedi Padawan but abandoned the Order, ultimately becoming a smuggler while often working as an independent contractor.

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Currently, he is trying to pay off his debt to the Smuggler's Association, which repaired his ship and showed him the ropes on how to smuggle for a living. He also has a (somewhat) working lightsaber from his days as a Jedi, plus a few spare parts for a second one, and is looking for someone who can help him rebuild them both.

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Navigation

NOVA RIGIL STARCRY -- PROFILE

:: VITAL INFORMATION :: FORCE INFORMATION :: LIGHTSABERS ::

:: APPEARANCE :: TECH ::

:: STARSHIPS and VEHICLES :: COMPANIONS and DROIDS ::​

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[Halcyon]

NOVA RIGIL STARCRY ​

VITAL ​

INFORMATION​

Image credit: omupied.deviantart

BIOGRAPHICAL	PERSONAL	MISCELLANEOUS

[TR1][TD] [HOMEWORLD]

Arkania;​

[BORN]

10XX BBY,
Coronet City, Corellia;​

[FILIATION]

Muhlifain Rigil,
Aspidiske Rigil;​

[SIBLINGS]

Aschere Rigil,
Carinae Rigil;​

[/TD][TD]
[KNOWN PLACES OF RESIDENCE]

None,
Lives Aboard Spaceship;​

[BASE OF OPERATIONS]

Axxila;​

[KNOWN ASSOCIATES]

The Smuggler's Association;​

[TD]

[KNOWN LANGUAGES]​

[FLUENT]

Galactic Basic Standard,
Arkanian;​

[PROFICIENT]

Twi’leki,
Rodese,
Durese;​

[ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE]​

Human and Near-Human Anatomy and Biology,
Diplomatic Experience,
Galactic Lore;​

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[CONTAINER][FANCYBOX2]

Image is an approximation. Click it for the actual description.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
[SPECIES] Arkanian Offshoot/Sephi Hybrid, (Near-Human);​ [GENDER] Male;​ [HEIGHT] 1.77m;​ [WEIGHT] 65kg;​ [SKIN COLOR] Pale;​ [HAIR COLOR & SHAPE] Silvery White & Long;​ [EYE COLOR] Silver Blue;​ [DOMINANT HAND] Right;​ [DISTINCTIVE FEATURES] Pointy Ears (Selphi Trait), Human-like Eyes & Five-Fingered Hands, Arkanian Base DNA;​ [RACIAL TRAITS] Heightened Sense of Hearing, Weak Immune System;​

Click image for Tech and Appearance.

ATTRIBUTES	SKILLS	FEATS
[STR] Above Average;​ [DEX] Superb;​ [CON] Average;​ [INT] Superb;​ [WIS] Good;​ [CHA] Above Average;​	[COMPUTER] [USE] Average;​ [DEMOLITIONS] Poor;​ [STEALTH] Good;​ [AWARENESS] Superb;​ [PERSUADE] Average;​ [REPAIR] Superb;​ [SECURITY] Bad;​ [TREAT] [INJURY] Good;​	[WEAPON] [PROFICIENCY] Lightsaber, Quarterstaff, Bow and Arrow, Blaster Pistols, Daggers; [ARMOR] [PROFICIENCY] Light Armor, Shoulder Guards, Vambraces, Greaves; [TWO-WEAPON] [FIGHTING] [FORCE POWERS] Telekinesis, Acrobatics, Sense, Trance;​

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Spoiler: IN DEPTH ANALYSIS

Because the profile is intended for free-form RPG, the rating system employed above is for reference only.
Attributes, Skills, and Feats are loosely based on popular d20 system settings. Instead of numbers I listed relative values ranging as such:

Poor < Bad < Below Average < Average < Above Average < Good < Superb​

Average is being considered the standard value of reference for the common NPC while standard PCs are usually always above that.
Reference values are up to date and subject to change - e.g. sickness, cybernetic implants, etc.
ATTRIBUTE CLARIFICATION

STRength​

Due to his intensive physical conditioning before and during his time spent on the Jedi Praxeum, Nova has strength above that of the average Offshoot Hybrid, which still isn’t saying much.

DEXterity​

Dexterity is Nova’s strongest physical trait, as much in regards to both acrobatics and limberness, as well as with his ranged weapon expertise and excellent aim.

CONstitution​

Offshoots are prone to sickness and their overall health tends to be frail. Nova, due to his Force training, has considerably better constitution than most, but it is still inferior to the average Jedi.

INTelligence​

A curious man at heart, quick thinker and good puzzle solver, Nova is able to quickly ascertain a situation and perceive people’s intentions. His awareness also factors into combat, as well as his creativity (as in experimenting with unorthodox tactics).

WISdom​

Avid reader since a young age and bilingual, his wisdom refers to his vast knowledge of Galactic Lore - mainly Jedi/Sith related trivia - and historical events. Some of it is actually wrong though.

CHArisma​

Good-looking for an Offshoot, although his paleness of skin and pointy ears can be a turn off for some. Extrovert once familiar with someone but otherwise introvert and kept to himself.

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FORCE SENSITIVEDATA​

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FORCE​

INFORMATION​

FORCE	LIGHTSABER COMBAT	POWERS

[TR1][TD]
[SENSITIVE]

Yes;​

[ALIGNMENT]

Gray,
Shifting Towards Light;​

[PROFICIENCY]

Padawan Equivalent,
[See Reference Notes];​

[MASTER]

Whatsherface;​

[/TD][TD] [FAVORED LIGHTSABER]

Saberstaff;​

[FAVORITE FORMS]

Form VI -- Niman,
Jar'Kai;​

[INHERENT COLOR]

Silvery White;​

[TD]

[Telekinesis]​

Force Push/Pull;​

Object Manipulation;​

[Acrobatics]​

[Sense]​

Precognition;​

Insight;​

[Trance]​

Battle Meditation;​

Enhancement;​

Rejuvenation;​

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[CONTAINER]

LIGHTSABERS[FANCYBOX4=http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv148/MockaDash/SWRP%20Profile/jhjh4jk5h3jg6jkh6j3k46j3h4j_zps5ttannqg.jpg~original]

Spoiler: Illustration of Starscry and Spare

STARSCRY

[Not a Typo]​

[HILT]

Single-Bladed/ Regular;​

[COLOR]

Silvery White;​

[KYBER CRYSTAL]

Durindfire Gem;​

[CRYSTAL BOND]

Yes,
Reacts to Starcry's Level of Force Detachment;​

[ENHANCEMENTS]

None;​

[FLAWS]

Minor Power Cell Deficiency;​

[UNIQUE FEATURES]

Due to the synergy between the inadequate Power Cell and the particular Kyber,
the color of the plasma beam shifts hue from a pure silvery white to a cloudy slategray, in response to Starcry's Force detachment;​

[RESPONSIVENESS]

Currently unsuited for intense lightsaber-vs-lightsaber duel,
Can still be used to deflect blaster bolts, perform minor cuts, small burns, etc.;​

SPARE



[HILT]

Single-Bladed/ Regular;​

[COLOR]

None;​

[KYBER CRYSTAL]

None;​

[CRYSTAL BOND]

No;​

[ENHANCEMENTS]

None;​

[FLAWS]

Lacks Power Cell and Crystal;​

[UNIQUE FEATURES]

This saber was built from the spare parts obtained while converting Nova's original two-bladed into a single-bladed lightsaber;​

[RESPONSIVENESS]

Currently not functioning;​

[/FANCYBOX4][/CONTAINER]

Spoiler: REFERENCE NOTES

FORCE CONNECTION

CRIPPLED

Despite having the potential to be a strong Force user of Knight-rank, due to his training starting at a late age, his own views apart from the strict Jedi tenets, and the family bonds he formed while growing up, Nova's connection with the Force is currently unstable. Apprehensive of what might happen if he resorts to the Force too much, he seldom abuses it in combat, unless he feels that he necessarily has to.

His lightsaber has a faulty power cell, making it weaker than a normal one. This causes a slight hue shift in the plasma blade's color due to the Kyber's particular bond and its response to Starcry's force detachment. Nova currently believes that the change in hue reflects a deteriorating connection with the Light side of the Force. It doesn't, and the phenomenon only occurs due to the deficient power cell.

The Force powers listed simply indicate the ones that he has more training and is more experienced with, and often uses the most. As with everything else, those are merely guidelines.

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[Halcyon]

TECH and APPEARANCE

[FANCYBOX2]

APPEARANCE​

[CONTAINER]

Clothing​

Having very pale skin, hair, and light eyes, Nova likes to wear dark clothes for contrast. He usually wears a fencing leather jacket on top of a white or gray shirt, dark (black or blue) trousers, and leather boots (either just above the ankle or below the knee) with several buckles and straps.

While working - a.k.a. smuggling - Nova wears black leather gloves to protect his hands, the right one only covering the index, middle and ring fingers - an archery glove.

Even with warm weather, he usually wears either a scarf or a (manly!) shawl, large enough to sometimes even be wrapped around the head and worn as a hood. Unlike the rest of his attire, the fabric and colors of the scarfs/shawls can greatly vary.

Nova almost always wears a pair of tinted goggles, even while indoors - at which times he places them on his forehead, above the eyebrows.

He owns a single (one) black leather overcoat that he only wears when he feels the need to conceal weapons - provided he's not wearing many underneath - or if it's really, really, really cold - Nova's time spent on Arkania made him accustomed to cold weather and, maybe that's why he got used to wear scarfs all the time.

Equipment​

He usually wears a brown leather utility belt (on top of a regular one) to hold the lightsaber/s, comlinks, datapads, tools, food and energy capsules, credits, etc. The utility belt has several pouches and two fasteners to attach a firearm holster to it. Nova has one such holster, but he usually doesn't wear it on the belt. Instead, he holsters both his blaster pistols on a dark brown leather baldric worn around the torso, from left shoulder to right hip. One holster is plainly visible at his right hip, while the other is concealed behind the back, with a series of straps to let the hidden firearm stay in place - consequently making it harder to draw as well.

The baldric also has several pouches that he mostly use to carry ammunition packs. Furthermore, the portion of the baldric that rests over the left shoulder can be rigged with a (removable) durasteel shoulder guard. It's not possible to wear the shoulder guard with the long overcoat on top.

Lastly, the back of the baldric and the side has straps to attach a quiver for carrying arrows. Nova only uses one at the time, and in accordance with how many other weapons he might be using - for clarification, he doesn't use everything at the same time because it would encumber him. He usually prefers wearing the quiver on his belt instead of the gun holster.

Nova Starcry prefers - and is far more proficient with - a bow and arrow than with blasters. He understands that the latter is much more easier to quick draw and conceal. Therefore, he uses blasters more often, but is far more deadlier with a bow.

Additionally, he owns a double shoulder gun holster, that he wears when not wearing neither the utility belt nor baldric. This is his last and less preferred method of carrying firearms.

Other​

Nova wears his hair long and usually loose. He has a small scar above his left shoulder blade.

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[FANCYBOX2]

TECH​

[CONTAINER]

Click image to view lightsaber-related info.​

LightSabers​

• StarScry
• Spare

Blasters​

• CZ-BP01
  [owned:1]-- Favored/Primary​
• CMBP-12
  [owned:1] -- Favored/Secondary (usually worn strapped on back)​
• R-8R
  [owned:1] -- Primary (used on demand, usually stays on the ship)​
• GLIE-9
  [loaned:2] -- Backup (stored on the ship, taken when needed)​

Bows and Arrows​

• Standard Plasteel Compound Hunting Bow [generic]
  [with sight, stabilizer, mounted quiver (cap:6), wrist wrap,
  cams, bolts, etc.]​
• Basic Plasteel Arrows [generic]
  [less than infinite, more than a lot; the kind that has a pointy end and likes to prick stuff]​
• Large Quiver [generic]
  [Capable of holding 60 basic arrows]​
• Medium Quiver [generic]
  [Capable of holding 40 basic arrows]​

Assorted Melee Weapons​

• Durasteel Quarterstaff [generic]
  [length:1.8m, no special properties]​
• Your Average Dagger [generic]
  [owns: a shitload; can conceal carry up to a dozen]​

Protective Gear​

• Safeguard-Series
  [worn on top of the leather jacket during dangerous missions]​
• Platinum (color) Phrik Vambraces [generic]
  [always worn]​
• Timberwolf (color) Plastoid Greaves [generic]
  [always worn while "on the job"]​
• Ash Gray (color) Durasteel Shoulder Guard [generic]
  [worn on occasion]​

Paraphernalia​

• Utility Leather Belt [generic]
  [can hold: comlink, holoprojector (imagecaster), datapad (1) or grappling spike launcher (1), gun holster (1) or quiver (1), lightsabers (2), capsules, assorted repairing tools, credits, etc.]​
• Utility Leather Baldric [generic]
  [can hold: gun holster (1) or quiver (1), additional concealed holster (1), additional quiver on back (1), power packs (up to 7), assorted stuff, can be rigged with Durasteel Shoulder Guard]​
• Double Shoulder Gun Holster [generic]
• Personal datapad and comlink [generic]

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[Halcyon]

Unedited [grisly] wall of text

Assets

Ship
Eidolon "Eiddie"
Alabaster Escort Freighter
modified with SA transponder and hidden smuggling compartments,

Companions

AKW - pending approval
That one NPC

generic astromechs

R4-FL aka raphael or el
RU-D3 aka rude
n10-t2 aka ain't 22

 

[Halcyon]

BIOGRAPHY I
from Birth to Jedi



LEGACY OF THRALLDOM
A Prelude

Spoiler: Introduction

[FANCYBOX4=http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/1/1d/Arca_Jeth_Legacy.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100614170914]The Arkanians, a near-Human species from Arkania in the Perave System of the Colonies region, considered themselves the apex of evolution and epitome of excellence, in both body and mind. Their arrogance, combined with their scientific knowledge - particularly on the field of genetic manipulation - frequently caused them to alter their own bodies both genetically and via the usage of several cybernetic implants. The irony of such, apparently lost to them.

Due to Arkanian unscrupulous tendency to experiment, often on unwilling subjects and entire populations, they held fierce infamy among many other species of the galaxy. One such notoriously controversy-filled experiment, concerned the Offshoots.

The Arkanian Offshoots were an Arkanian sub-species; genetically engineered by mixing Arkanian DNA with strands from several other races, they were created to toil in the various Arkanian diamond mines and thus free the higher pure-blooded Arkanians from physical labor, allowing them to be able to devote themselves to less prosaic endeavors. Offshoots were either considered subpar citizens, or not citizens at all. Several times, prominent Arkanian figures attempted to expunge them via altered biological agents and pathogens.

Long ago - current Offshoots would have us believe - a Mandalorian Zeltron scientist attempted to infuse the DNA of an Arkanian Jedi Master with that of several Offshoots in order to breed a race of Mandalorian Force users, since they were a far easier resource to acquire than the pure-blooded citizens. The Jedi in question however, as the Zeltron would soon find out, lacked proper pedigree himself. Although Arkanian records attempt to discredit it, he was an Arkanian-Sephi hybrid.

After adding Spehi DNA to the Offshoot base one, the mad scientist was successful in creating the hybrids. He then began training them on a remote Academy on the uncharted planet of Osadia.

Despite his relative experimental success, his plan to create an army was ultimately foiled by the unexpected intervention of a powerful, yet obscure, millenary slaver organization.

According to miscellaneous galactic records, the slavers were responsible for the death of many of those genetic hybrids. Unbeknownst to the slavers however, many had escaped their persecution and still lived, spread thin over the galaxy. Regardless, it was revealed that, and despite having been partially conceived with a Jedi's DNA, the new species of hybrids were not in any particular way strong - or even attuned - with the Force.

***​

All of this happened nearly 2000 years ago. Since then, rather than being an unique occurrence in the galaxy, the Offshoot-Sephi hybrids have significantly blossomed out into an actual sub-species of the Arkanian main genotype; although they still count themselves rare, even amongst the several other Arkanian sub-species.

When their existence first came out into the open, and their genetic similarity with the notorious Arkanian Jedi became known, a nonviolent revolution took place spanning Arkanian dominion. Despite not actually being attuned with the Force, the mere existence of such a sub-species drew the attention of the Republic onto the Homeworld of Arkania. Entire Offshoot populations wanted out of that planet, driven by the unprecedented notion of a right to freedom and sense of enterprise, that had them cutting their bonds of oppression with the higher ranking Arkanians. The latter, were incapable of preventing such exodus, lest they wished Arkanian corporative holdings across the galaxy collapsing due to lost franchises and closed markets, now that the eyes of the Republic were upon them.

The Arkanian Offshoot/Sephi sub-species can be found throughout the galaxy nowadays; although, in a cruel twist of fate, their small and oftentimes reserved communities are still common targets for xenophobia and prejudice.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• ARKANIAN OFFSHOOT/SEPHI HYBRID - The species was not entirely made up by me; instead, it was based on an existing one from Legends. For that reason I don't think I need to make an actual species submission, but I'll be waiting for confirmation. Because the species background is tied to a Legends KotOR story arc I'll passing it as folklore.

[/FANCYBOX2]

IN THE LAND OF THE BLIND
Origin and Early Years

Spoiler: Chapter I

[fancybox4=https://cdn.artstation.rocks/p/assets/images/images/000/265/775/large/klaus-pillon-worldmap-final-low.jpg?1414090741]Kent Rigil was the firstborn of Muhlifain Rigil, an electrical engineer limited to the occasional odd-job, and Aspidiske Rigil (whose maiden name was Argo), a hostess at a Blue Sector’s Hutt controlled gambling house. While Muhlifain was the descendant of Arkanian Offshoot-Sephi hybrids that migrated to the Corellia system several generations before, and was born and raised on Corellia’s capital city, Coronet; Aspidiske was born on Arkania and emigrated to Corellia when she was young.

Rigil has two sisters; the middle one being only two standard years younger, was born Aschere Rigil; while the youngest (by a considerable margin) amongst the three is called Carinae Rigil. His Human (rather than Arkanian) name is a reflection of his parent’s wishes for him; that he could live free from bias amid his fellow Corellians.

When his mother became pregnant with him, both his parents, dreaming of a better (and honest) life, decided best for Aspidiske to quit working under Huttese management. Unfortunately, since there were not many job opportunities for near-Humans on the capital, credits became short, and the family was forced to go down into the Selonian Tunnels.

Many species mingled on the subterranean tunnels of Coronet, and while all of them were rejects from the surface, many were unsavory characters. Those criminal elements however, usually posed no threat to the “native” dwellers of the tunnels, since all were forced to live under the same “roof”.Therefore, Kent was able to experience an uneventful infancy. As he learned to walk, run, and fall; as well as to communicate and interact with many other children his age but from a myriad of races and provenances, Kent never felt shunned or secluded in any way.

Uneventful as it was, still it was far from mundane. Since a very young age that the boy revealed having minor telekinetic capabilities. Whenever he cried, his makeshift toys would go flying off in every direction. His mother became really good at catching them before they would hit her head, and his father excelled at fixing them.

Talent often skips a generation, or so they say.

Kent was able to stand on his own two feet and speak his first baby words prior to the completion of one galactic year. Before that even, he was already able to make his mother aware of some of his basic desires and needs, via rudimentary and subconscious telepathy.

As he grew up, his untamed affinity with the Force made him stood amongst his peers; if only as troublemaker! Boys will be boys, but Kent had an uncanny talent for breaking everything around him and annoy every single adult. Luckily for him, living in the Tunnels amongst simple people meant that no one was aware of his abilities - least of all him - and the “accidents” were simply attributed to his hyperactivity and misbehavior!

His parents were the only ones that knew the truth, since every Offshoot-Sephi hybrid had taken to heart the tales surrounding their unique origin. They were able to understand early on that their son could grow up to become a Force adept; which, despite the legends surrounding their race, was actually rare - and even unheard of in Kent’s family. They understood that nothing good would come out of it; his son would never be able to receive proper guidance in the ways of the Force. Nevertheless, that trait of his could attract unwanted attention, particularly under the scrutiny of the Selonian Tunnels and their gangs.

This realization only further fueled the desire his parents already had: to be able to provide a better life for themselves and, most of all, for their offspring.

***​

A couple of years after the birth of Kent’s sister, his father finally managed to get a low-paying but stable job working on one of the hyperdrive factories owned by the Corellian Engineering Corporation (or simply, CEC) on Nova Labor Valley. Ships were in high demand throughout the Republic, and the CEC was hiring able people regardless of background, with good opportunities for career advancement.

Despite the new job, the Rigil family was not ready to leave the Tunnels just yet; therefore, Muhlifain was forced to travel the maglev train back and forth everyday. He always rode with his son, who got accepted into a Coronet preschool as part of CEC’s incentive package deal.

Life under the sun, would not be as lenient to Kent.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• PLACES: CORELLIA & CORONET - I'm going with location references such as Blue Sector or the Selonian Tunnels until someone points out I shouldn't.
• CORELLIAN HUTT'S - Generic Hutt organization entirely made of NPC's. Can be fleshed out with actual PC's or tied with a faction in the future.

[/FANCYBOX2]

THE WRAITH OF CORONET
Growing Up

Spoiler: Chapter II

[FANCYBOX4=http://eros.ss.org/artwork/Artwork/Landscape/futuristic-city-4-rich35211.jpg]Since the vast majority of Corellians were Human, so were the majority of the kids on Kent’s classes. They were not as welcoming as the people living beneath the city towards the “pale ghost boy that crawled from the sewers”, as they took to say.

From four to six years of age, Kent endured bullying in preschool, and then the pattern continued until he was ten and old enough to leave primary school, though he was immune by then. Things also did not improve when he entered a Coronet Academy that would see him into adulthood, but that was not fated to last.

Admission into the several schools was granted by the CEC, and the institutions he attended were actually amongst the most prestigious ones. Several children of noble families went to the same classes, and shared the same schoolyards. Kent Rigil was then well aware of the segregation his ancestors suffered, and he felt that he was living it both vicariously through his datapad and their treatment towards him.

The abuse was strictly verbal, seeing as the few times older kids attempted to physically assault Kent in the past, they ended up in the infirmary. Aside from that, Kent Rigil (along with other non-Human and near-Human species) was utterly and completely ostracized. Even a few teachers shared the students prejudice towards the CEC workers’ children.

Despite being an extrovert, Kent was perfectly fine with seclusion. In fact, he cherished his time alone with his datapad and would much rather spend it reading all sorts of stories both fictitious and factual on the device, than spend time with the other CEC kids that banded together for strength - which Kent became to consider lack of character.

He mostly breezed through his classes, studying subjects for his own benefit rather than teacher’s grades. Mathematics came easy to him; all sciences and their constant pursuit of knowledge towards the understanding and inner workings of the Universe fascinated him deeply. But the history classes were the ones he loved the most. Lore was his passion.

That was how he became familiar with the controversial past of his own people; but also with great wars between worlds, past and present; amazing discoveries and the recycling of ancient lost technologies; but most of, with the Force. The everlasting Jedi, the Sith, the Matukai, the Jal Shey, the Zeison Sha, the Baran Do, the ancient Dai Bendu and the Je’daii. Light and Darkness, Ashla and Bogan. He craved it all; the knowledge. Granted he was not capable of understanding more than half of the things he read, the first time he did so. But he insisted and persisted, going back to the same files over and over, time and again. Simply because he found it fun.

His search was pure, born from curiosity. It would grow into academic scrutiny, but at that moment they were nothing more than puerile chimeras.

All those stories were filled with unexpected heroes and behemothic villains! That was the hook; the Galaxy was the line and the sinker... would soon be revealed.

He wanted to travel the sea of stars like explorers of yore, trailblaze the skies, seek adventure! His father had gone up the industrial ladder by then and was working on one of CEC’s shipyards in planetary orbit, from which he flew a shuttle everyday up and down from the Nova Labor Valley - a small transport lent by the CEC for his personal use, in the condition that he also carried goods in and out of the planet into several CEC factories and stations while doing so.

Planetside, Kent had to stay and wait several standard galactic hours for him to return so both of them could catch the maglev back home, to the Tunnels. Dusk would usually settle before his father’s return.

He was almost ten now. And as he waited, resting against a bench or the trunk of a tree on the garden opposite the school’s front yard, he would shift his gaze between the images and words on his datapad, the people walking the streets or flying above his head, and finally to the inviting darkness of the night sky, and he would lose himself between the flickering lights and become lost in dream.

The Force! Itself has revealed to him as the answer. The realization suddenly popped into his mind and at last the triumvirate was complete! Adventure, exploration, and the Force! He knew he had it, somehow he knew; he simply forgot it while growing up. His mind was set, he would become a Jedi. He would be a new age deliverer and cast his people (wherever they might be) out of the shadows and into the light!

Almost Arkanians, almost Humans, yet neither; betrayed by their pale skin. In obscurity they were but specters, under the starlight they would shine like a Durindfire gem.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• LORE - References to Legends are being stated as folklore. I'm assuming this is okay.

[/FANCYBOX2]

HALCYON DAYS AND SILVER LININGS
The Discovery of Purpose

Spoiler: Chapter III

[FANCYBOX4=http://beautypic.ru/uploads/posts/2012-07/beautypic.ru_088.jpg]At age ten, Kent was about to enroll on a Coronet Academy, yet he still had to decide upon a degree. The abundance of different subjects and the amount of knowledge required to master any of them, meant that choices had to be made early on in life so as to begin narrowing the field of expertise.

His parents had never placed any kind of pressure on Kent’s choices; still, they could not mask their surprise when he told them he wanted to quit school instead. His sensitivity towards the Force had almost been forgotten by them as he grew up and it seemed to fade. For Muhlifain and Aspidiske Rigil, his son’s better future was in academia and not in the hopeless pursuit of a Jedi dream.

Their son wanted to become a powerful Jedi Master to locate and reopen the Academy at Osadia taking it under his aegis, in the process becoming a paragon of hope and achievement for all unprivileged races - his own included.

Children and their dreams...
How would he even go off-world?

Going against their own beliefs, his parents did not wish the bad choices of one child to influence those of another. So they did the unprecedented and forced Kent to pick a field of study and abandon all his aspirations of one day becoming a Jedi.

Two years went by and Kent’s sister, Aschere, also had to make a choice. She was now going to the same school Kent was, but they did not spend much time together while on school grounds. Outside familiar context it was hard for any siblings to interact - particularly boys and girls - while growing up. Harder still was doing so on that city; on those schools.

The boy was, all the same, resolute and dedicated to the pursuit of his dream.

He had picked biology in the hopes that, while still appeasing his parents, he could study and understand more of the underlying mechanism of all living beings so that, in a way, that would also strengthened his understanding of the Force - which ultimately proved to be futile in that regard.

A major factor to his decision however, was the amount and nature of the sport clubs available on the Academy of his choice. He found out about a martial sparring club devoted to ancient Galactic practices, namely the bow and arrow as well as the quarterstaff, and wanted to join.

Because he eventually became fascinated with the combat prowess of a certain ancient Jedi, Kent began studying the principles of such combat forms as the Niman and the Jar’Kai. He also read about quarterstaff dueling carried out by the Echani, a race much like his own and even believed to be the result of Arkanian genetic experiments also. Lastly, something about an ancient Offshoot and of her expertise with a shockstaff - that he considered to be more myth than anything else, although the tale still served as inspiration - further peeked his interest on the rudimentary weapon. He began implementing stances and forms of what he had read with those actually taught to him by his trainers at the sparring club.

Such techniques he only knew by reading about them, many of which were either lost or somewhat exclusive to certain organizations and therefore kept hidden. He was aware of that; both of the likely inaccuracy of the documents he had, as well as of the infeasibility of learning a martial art by proxy.

Nevertheless, he was not going to quit. And although the way in which he applied the techniques and stances from which he drew inspiration from was in a very different way than that of the actual forms, how he implemented them along the dueling practices of his club made him triumph against his fellow club members.

Every other student was taught to do things one way and react to those same things - when done by their opponents - another way. To Kent Rigil, that seemed overly and needlessly stagnant. He had learned how even stars born and die, dominions rise and fall like the ebb and flow of tides, species evolve, paradigms shift and tenets crumble. He knew that all the cells comprising his body at the time, were different than the ones he had when he was born; that his atoms were once dust blown away by a solar wind. Even the Force shifted, rhythmically unbalancing to either side.

Combat too needed to be flexible, responsive, creative.

Despite the disapproval of teachers and trainers in him using - what was called by them as - unorthodox and ineffective techniques, after a couple of years of practicing, Kent was able to dominate every other student in single combat and sometimes while facing several foes at the same time as well.

By that time he was twelve and his sister ten. She also decided to study biology. Kent’s father finally had enough connections and spare credits to rent a space on the drydock he was working, orbiting Corellia, and the Rigils opened a business there, repairing androids and selling spare parts from and to off-worlders. By then they also had enough credits to maintain an apartment on the dock station adjacent the shop - which meant that Kent’s father still had to do two daily trips planetside, but this time to drop and pick up his kids from school.

For the first time in his life, Kent was able to leave the planet’s surface, and started to do so on a regular basis.

Kent’s mother managed the droid shop mostly on her own, having learned to maintain and handle basic systems. Both Kent and his sister learned from her and helped around the shop whenever possible. His father lacked the time to do most of the work because he still had his job at CEC, and only took care of the hardest repairs at first; given time however, Kent became capable of completely replacing his father at the shop.

Suffice to say that most droids that came in and out were already in prime condition, and only minor repairs and system maintenances were often required. The species-ratio on the drydock seemed to have an inverted proportion to that on the planet surface. Humans were very rare, and sometimes Kent would even see Arkanian Offshoots. Everybody seemed to be in a hurry though, either passing through the station or being needed someplace else to do a repair, a system's check, some maintenance, or a simple game of chance.

Therefore, Kent had plenty of opportunities to remain exclusively in the company of his thoughts and self.

***​

Planetside, Kent was much more into his training and matches, than with studying biology. From the files he stored on his datapad, Kent continued to gather bits and pieces of information from several different sources. They told of how important meditation, focus, control, strength, stamina, supremacy, mastery of combat as a way to master the body and the mind were; of how all were equally paramount to a Force user. Indeed the sources were conflicted, but lacking proper tutelage he failed to notice that and so the boy had to work with what he had and (thought he) knew.

He viewed dueling as a way of better unifying mind, body, and the Force; and by that age of twelve was excelling at it.

Then he met Rudolf Kingfisher, a male human his age and his first true rival; coincidentally, also the catalyst for the change that was about to happen in his life.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]------------------------------------------[/FANCYBOX2]

AN APPLE THAT FELL FAR FROM THE TREE
The First Step Into an Uncertain Future

Spoiler: Chapter IV

[FANCYBOX4=http://i705.photobucket.com/albums/ww55/ArmidaChaidez_Nuala/snap113.jpg]Rudolf Kingfisher - Ruddy for short - was a young member of the Kingfisher Family, a noble House in Corellia, famous for the honorable reputation of its members and for the fact that many of those were Force users that followed their own set of codes and traditions and never ventured beyond Corellian space.

By the time Kent was fourteen years old, Ruddy joined his Academy and its Martial Club, already an accomplished duelist. They had many duels together, and were considered by everyone else as being of equal skill with the quarterstaff and unparalleled amongst the other students.

It was by that age that Kent was allowed by his father - under constant supervision - to be the one to fly the CEC shuttle to and from the drydock station.

Finally, it was also at that age that Kent Rigil was old enough to participate in the Academy’s annual club festival. Every club was responsible for holding a different event, and the Martial Sparring Club held, as usual, a friendly exhibition tournament.

Both Kent and Ruddy wanted to win the games, and since they were evenly matched and above the rest of the competition, their minds were only set on facing each other. Kent trained intensively, driven like never before.

The day before the event, Ruddy approached Kent - which was unusual. The noble heir had a proposal; he attempted to bribe his rival with a precious stone.

Away from prying eyes, Ruddy showed Kent the glistening mineral and explained to him what it was. It was a Durindfire gem, a rare precious Kyber crystal formed solely on Tatooine. But because it was so rare and valuable, as well as being able to serve as focus for lightsaber construction, it could be found throughout the Galaxy but only in the hands of powerful and rich people. In fact, Ruddy explained, Durindfire had always been the Kyber crystal of choice for the construction of lightsabers by Force sensitive members of the Kingfisher House.

Kingfisher Jedi would hand down their own Durindfire gems to their heirs. Coincidentally, neither Ruddy nor his father were Force sensitive, so he inherited his Durindfire from his father, who in turn got it from Ruddy’s grandfather. Ruddy himself was supposed to hold on to it until he had children of his own.

“I don’t want it! It’s useless to me, and I can always buy another one! You want it right?” the rich boy asked Kent. “You could easily sell it. I’m sure your parents could use the credits!”

Angered, Kent snatched the crystal from Ruddy’s hands. He was going to throw it away in an act of rejection. Yet, as he grabbed the crystal something seemed to flicker, both inside its silvery matrix and his mind. He thought he was hallucinating.

Kent saw himself holding a double-bladed lightsaber, its color shimmering silver, while wearing Padawan garments. He saw himself from the outside, as if looking through the eyes of another, standing alone on a white empty world.

The vision faded and Ruddy was demanding that Kent returned the gem, otherwise he would tell his father that the boy stole it. Kent would have the “worthless stone” only after losing to him during the club exhibition - but, not without putting up a good show first.

Kent abided, carefully returning the Durindfire to Ruddy, saying that he would do as requested of him. He felt that - somehow - that gem held his ticket out of that rock.

***​

On the day of the event, his family were all there to watch him. Kent could see what he believed to be Ruddy’s family. It was an elimination tournament and more than once Kent was close to losing a round due to lack of concentration. He felt as if his body was splintered between heart and mind. A part of him wanted to win the tournament. Another, wanted to win the rare Kyber crystal.

Kent and Ruddy faced each other on the quarterfinal. There was an air of smugness painted over his red cheeks, and he eyed Kent with arrogance. Kent tried to keep his mind focused on the prize but his thoughts were drawn towards the match. Actions followed.

The Offshoot flourished his staff above his head, swirling with it until falling into stance; knees bent, evenly spaced foots, right dominant one ahead of his center of gravity, left foot behind. The quarterstaff was above his head and angled towards Ruddy, hands holding it at approximately a third of the way from each end.

Ruddy rushed towards Kent, his eyes burning. Kent realized that the other boy saw victory as if it had already happened. The Kingfisher boy jumped high into the air with his right hand holding the staff behind his back and over his shoulder; midair, he started to bring it down onto Kent’s head with all the might of his muscles behind it. Kent too realized that the outcome was already decided. He was, after all, going to lose.

Similar to the sounds of rain drowning every other sound, and the scents being washed away by the downpour; the understanding of the inevitability of the match gave him peace. Some senses became numb to the immediate world while others seemed to have sharpened.

He brought the quarterstaff up to meet his opponent's, shifting the hands and blocking it; both staffs formed a cross above his head. As soon as Ruddy landed both feet on the ground he placed his left hand on his staff and feinted a left vertical stroke, Kent shifted his staff to meet it, same as before. Ruddy swiftly followed the feint with a right-to-left wide swing.

Rigil had just enough time to switch his footing and turn to the incoming blow, again deflecting it; his own staff was now held perpendicularly to the floor. All the while, he was losing ground.

Ruddy however, was getting overly confident with each footing he conquered.

Kent’s hands moved across the plasteel of the quarterstaff with fluidity, the right hand was near the bottom and the left one a third of the way for added strength, as he swung it to the side cutting off Ruddy’s pressure on that spot and forcing him to suddenly fall back, he then swung it back down at his opponent’s head, effectively taking the lead away from him.

Kent took the advantage and followed with a right swing; then a left one; quickly a feint, a spin, a successive left sweep of the foot. Each time, Ruddy was blocking but always falling further behind. Almost at the edge of the mat, he was able to use the opening Kent created when sweeping in order to have time for another downward strike aimed at the top of the head. Kent barely blocked it and Ruddy lowered his torso and further advanced his foot, mimicking a sweep of the leg, he brought the staff back, parallel to the floor, and made a piercing motion towards Kent’s solar plexus instead.

The Arkanian Offshoot had no choice but to get out of the way with a pivot. The Human did the same only in the opposite direction. Both faced each other and fell into similar stances.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Ruddy asked, in between forceful exhalations.

“Putting up a good show.”

They both rushed and met at the center; staffs crossed. The plasteel glinted under the lights with each swing. Block, spin, sweep. They were panting. Pivot, feint. Crying out with each blow. Flourish, attack, counter. Sweating. A sweep, a jump, a cross-block.

Kent attempted to deliver a piercing blow to Ruddy’s head, his cheeks were fully flushed now. It was deflected. Kent spun. Ruddy was losing speed. He brought the staff against Ruddy’s chest, the full momentum from his body’s motion behind it. Ruddy blocked, deflected, attempted to gain ground, but his step was weak and his foot not well placed.

Kent ducked, swept his dominant leg. The Human boy feel to the mat with a muffled sound and a gasp from the audience. Kent hesitated; he was about to win. All it would take was for him to place the edge of his quarterstaff against his rival’s neck.

Ruddy crawled away and got up, increasing the distance between them both.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Kent did not answer this time. Instead, he ran in a straight line towards him. Ruddy adopted a defensive stance; a solid one; a stagnant one.

Halfway through, he suddenly changed directions and ran diagonally to his right. Ruddy seemed surprised, he clearly did not know how to respond to that. Kent struck; Ruddy had to extend his arms in an awkward position in order to block the attack; his form was weak. The opening created by Kent’s attack was too wide for him not to exploit. The kid of the CEC worker delivered a spinning kick to his opponent’s torso. An unusual yet legal move.

All the air escaped from Ruddy’s lungs and he let go of his staff.

Kent brought his quarterstaff down onto Ruddy’s forehead, but stopped immediately before they connected. With a roar from the crowd he knew he had won the match. Two successive blinks of both eyes and a deep breath, and his senses returned to normal.

Before the battle he felt as if he already knew what the outcome would be, as if he had a premonition; whatever it was, it came true. Kent Rigil managed to keep his pride, but in doing so he had lost both the crystal and his word.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]------------------------------------------[/FANCYBOX2]

NACREOUS HOMEWORLD
Leaving Corellia

Spoiler: Chapter V

[FANCYBOX4=http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/galuswrpg/images/a/ae/AlzocPlanet.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110506060418]Kent stepped outside the Academy grounds victorious, his family was with him. The remaining two matches he had after sparring with Ruddy were easy in comparison.

While the family was talking of going out to dinner to celebrate, they were all stopped by the Corellian Security Force (CorSec) and taken into custody.

The charge made against the Rigils was that they stole Rudolf Kingfisher's heritage - a Durindfire gem. The family was interrogated and searched, Kent in particular. Despite no actual evidence being found and the fact that the family members all had alibis, they were not released.

They were kept in separate interrogation rooms, unable to see each other. It took several hours for them to be brought together again into a single room. In there, the head of the Kingfisher family, along with Ruddy and two CorSec officers at his side, was waiting for them. He had an overly ornamented lightsaber in his hand - other than on his datapad, Kent had never seen an actual lightsaber but he was able to recognize it right away.

Ruddy’s father, in the name of his House and the CorSec, deeply apologized for the trouble his son had caused the Rigils. Apparently his son had weaved a somewhat credible tale that the Durindfire was stolen by Kent, but he soon came to realize the cracks on his son’s story as he pressured the boy for more details. The gem was in fact hidden in plain sight, inside the family heirloom all along. He brought over the lightsaber to show it as evidence to the CorSec authorities.

Ruddy was brought to the station to answer for his perjury and his father asked the Rigils what else he could do to atone for his son’s actions. Kent saw it for what it really was; an attempt to keep the whole thing under wraps.

Kent looked at Ruddy’s blushing face and felt something beginning to stir up inside of him. He told the boy’s father the whole story; how Ruddy attempted to bribe him to win the match, and how he probably never planned on giving up the crystal anyway. Kent postulated that Ruddy’s original intention was to blame him for stealing the precious gem all along, even after giving it to him had he accepted it as bribe.

Ruddy went berserk. He stole the lightsaber from his father’s hands and threw himself at Kent. The CorSec officers drew their blasters but hesitated, not knowing how to react against an aristocrat. Ruddy activated the lightsaber midair.

The button on the hilt was pressed and an ashen beam of plasma protruded from it. Kent saw and heard, as if in slow-motion, the plasma beam starting to wave and crackle irregularly as streaks of energy ran along its length and sparks flew. The color of the plasma seemed to get increasingly muddy, as if it was liquid.

He instinctively raised his arms and shielded his face with both hands, in a meaningless gesture of protection, palms faced outwards. He closed his eyes and felt a sudden burst of energy, as if a current ran through his body and escaped through the pores on his skin.

He heard a sound like something slamming against a wall, hard.

When he opened his eyes again, after a second, every blaster riffle was now pointed at him. Ruddy lay on the ground against a wall, unconscious. The lightsaber lay deactivated at Kent’s feet.

Kent heard all sorts of voices screaming incoherently as if his ears were submerged. He moved his right hand towards the lightsaber’s hilt with the intent of picking it up, as if something inside that object was calling out to him. He understood now, faintly, that law enforcers were instructing him to stand down while his family and Ruddy’s father seemed to be yelling at the officers to hold their fire.

Kent grabbed the lightsaber and pressed the activation button. The plasma beam shone bright silver now. He was transported into deep space, across dozens of star systems in the blink of an eye. He saw, with his mind’s eye, snow burning and heavy dark clouds of smoke rising up into a white oblivion. There was no horizon but he could tell up from down because, far away high in the sky, a star sparkled.

He heard footsteps treading in cotton, and was back on the same room as before. Kent deactivated the lightsaber and surrendered it to Ruddy’s father.

“This belongs to you.”

“Yes,” the man acknowledged as he opened the lightsaber’s crystal chamber and retrieved the Durindfire stored inside, “but this, has your name on it.”

Ruddy was waking up with a look of disorientation on his face.

***​

While exiting the CorSec premises Kent felt as if walking on air. Recent events were still all he could think of. He had his own lightsaber crystal now and was finally going to learn how to become a Jedi.

Ruddy’s father explained that the way the lightsaber’s beam reacted when Kent picked it up meant that the crystal and the boy had forged a bond; somehow, somewhere in the past. That particular gem had never been touched by a Force sensitive before. Ruddy’s grandfather’s lightsaber was lost and the Jedi, in the later years of his life, made arrangements for a new Kyber to be delivered from Tatooine to Coronet so that he could pass it down onto his heirs. Ruddy’s grandfather never did approach the mineral.

Even if Ruddy was a Force sensitive - which clearly he was not - that stone could never be used effectively neither by him nor by his future children, now that it had formed a bond with Kent. At least that was what the Kingfisher lord believed - or chose to believe.

As a way of apologizing - and buy the Rigils’ silence, Kent was sure - the Kingfisher not only gave him the crystal but a small spacecraft as well. The outdated but still operational XS stock light freighter (a Kingfisher antique, forgotten in one of the CEC’s drydocks) was given to Kent so that he could travel to Arkadia to join the Jedi Praxeum there.

Ruddy’s father considered one of the many duties of the Kingfisher to help Force sensitives receive proper Jedi training, so that “they would not stray from the path of Light”. He had contacts in the Praxeum and could arrange a meeting for Kent with one of the Jedi Masters there. Acceptance was not guaranteed, but at least Kent would have a chance to be observed and the Masters would then decide if he was to be trained or not.

***​

The following standard months flew by and he reached his fifteenth birthday, as he made preparations to travel off-world. He bid his family farewell, promising them that the next time they would meet he would be a Jedi Knight, and got into his spacecraft - now dubbed Eidolon by him - with one of the astromechs from his family’s shop, RU-D3. He had studied the astronomical charts and planned to take the Corellian Run into Coruscant first, and then the Perlemian Trade Route into Arkadia, doing the trip in just two hyperspace jumps.

Although hyperspace seemed like an eternity to him, Kent was used to solitude by then and so the rigors of space did not bothered him at all. Everything was going well just until he was about to leave hyperspace and reach the Perave system.

Either the charts he had were outdated, something went wrong with the astrogational system and the astromech failed to notice right away, or Kent simply made a mistake. The plotted course led the Eidolon too close to a binary star system.

A white dwarf, that had been pulling material from the nearby companion, was reacting and causing a nova.

Luckily for them, the nova reaction scrambled the signals of the ship before they ever came into contact with the stars’ mass shadows. RU-D3’s quick sensors and Kent’s good reflexes and decent piloting skills allowed the ship to escape from hyperspace before colliding with the stars, but many of its flight and communication systems were fried by electromagnetic emissions.

They left hyperspace slightly off course, just outside Arkania!

The astrogation computer was working so Kent still managed to plot a landing vector that would lead them near the Jedi's Praxeum. Reaching the Praxeum was easy, landing in one piece was going to be the hard part.

He and RU-D3 ran the ship back and forth trying to repair most of the damaged systems as much as possible, all the while he was able to watch the nova flare in the distance through the aft porthole.

To make matters worse, neither the Coms nor the telesponder were working when security stations orbiting the Durindfire-like planet tried to hail them. Fighters were sent to intercept the Eidolon and Kent had a hard time avoiding them while trying to enter the planet’s atmosphere.

The ship was hit by lasers several times before entering the troposphere, at which point the pursuing fighters gave up the chase. The reason for that being the heavy snowstorm that was taking place over that area. The storm messed up the ship’s - already damaged - systems, and the Eidolon was flying blind.

Kent felt as if something was guiding him; showing him the way. He then felt as if he suddenly had to bail out, still not sure of his actual altitude, all he could see was white when he opened the ship’s hatch and plunged into the alabaster emptiness.

He blacked out.

***​

He came to, hearing footsteps on the snow. Two silhouettes appeared within his field of vision and started talking to him. Asking what happened, how he was feeling, what was his name.

He wanted to answer every question. To explain that a nova warned him of the proximity of uncharted stars, that it almost wrecked his ship completely, and that he was forced to crash-land. That he did not know how he felt, and could not gather the strength to get up. That his name was Kent Rigil.

He only managed to let out two syllables before passing out again.

“No... Va...”[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• TECHNOLOGY - The Eidolon, a XS stock light freighter, is a ship from SWTOR, hence why it is stated as being an antique. That, the fact that I wanted a CEC-built ship, and the fact that I haven't done much research on matter, made me opt for that starship model in particular. It's not yet stone in stone.
• PLACES: ARKANIAN JEDI PRAXEUM - Obviously based on the loose references made in Legends; still this is my own submission, and I'm currently waiting on approval to use it.

[/FANCYBOX2]

​

 

[Halcyon]

BIOGRAPHY II
from Jedi to Rover



POURING WATER INTO A FULL CUP
Initiate Year

Spoiler: Chapter VI

[FANCYBOX4=http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/6/67/Jeth's_praxeum.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091027043543]“So you’re finally awake,” the Jedi was saying. “Feel any better?”

Kent looked around the room he was in. It was still mostly white; the walls, the ceiling, the floor, even the bed linens. The various machines spread throughout the room and their cacophony of beeping sounds and monitors filled with graphs going up and down gave away the nature of the room. That, and the medical droid beside Kent’s bed.

“Feeling good enough to talk?” the woman insisted.

“Yes,” he cleared his throat. “Yes. How long was I sleeping?”

“Sleeping? It’s been two weeks. Don’t worry, relax, you’re fine now. We had to induce you into a coma after we took you out of the kolto tank. We’re suffering a shortage due to war effort. You healed remarkably well, except for a scar on your left shoulder. That’s it.

“Apparently, the only thing you were able to tell the Younglings who rescued you was your first name, Nova. We never got your last, would you please tell me what it is now?”

“Sorry, I’m still a bit confused.” Kent sat on the bed and placed his hand over his throbbing forehead. His memories were still a bit scrambled but he was sure about his name, and that was Kent Rigil.

The memory of the accident resurfaced and he understood what had caused the confusion. He was about to correct the female Jedi questioning him, but he suddenly decided against it.

“Rigil. Nova Rigil is my full name.”

It felt like kismet. He never understood why his parents wanted him to bear a Human name in the first place. Now, more than ever, he did not want to have anything to do with his previous life on Coronet or with any Corellian Human for that matter. He was turning a new page, and the white dwarf incident was probably not an accident at all. Maybe the Force was christening him.

“That’s odd then,” the Jedi went on. ”We were expecting a Rigil to arrive; only, a Kent Rigil. We looked through the logs of the starship you came in and managed to fix the transponder. We were able to confirm that it is indeed owned by a Kent Rigil, despite the ship’s registration number being very old.”

“Yes, it’s me,” the boy hesitantly said, “I used to be Kent Rigil,” suddenly embarrassed he admitted, he felt his cheek warming up. “I’m not anymore.”

“I understand. You don’t need to worry about that. It’s good to meet you then, Nova,” she smiled warmly. “What do you recall of your accident?”

In different circumstances, upon remembering the crash, Nova would have instantly jumped out of bed. He was still quite sedated though. “Not much. I must’ve messed the hyperspace route calculations and flown too close to a star. I don’t remember much of the... landing.”

“Many of the ship’s systems were badly damaged; we were still able to check the astrogation logs though. But, from what we could tell you’ve made no mistake, someone recently altered the charts before you acquired the ship.”

Nova’s eyes widened.

“Do you have any idea who could’ve done it, or if it was intentional?”

“No,” he lied.

“Is that so?”

“Well, If I had to guess...” the sentence hung in the air; Nova felt intimidated by the Jedi’s poise.

“Do you have to guess?”

“Sorry, I don’t; I know for sure who did it.”

The Jedi smiled again, “Good. I know you do, and I’m certain that it’s a conversation for some other time. Can I ask you something else, regarding this subject?”

Nova nodded.

“How do you feel about that person now?”

Rigil lied down again and grinned. “I feel grateful; somehow. I think he’s the reason why I’m here.”

The Jedi seemed pleased yet amused with the reply. “Do you know where ‘here’ is then?” she asked as she got up and prepared to leave the room.

“Arkania’s Praxeum. I’m here to become a Jedi.”

She could not avoid a grin.

“Please wait! What about the ship? And... there was this crystal!”

“Don’t worry about anything, everything was taken care of; with the off-world authorities as well. You should consider yourself lucky that some of their laser shots managed to miss the ship’s reactor but still hit the power converter. That was what caused the fire after the ship crashed. You would’ve been eaten by tundra wolves before we ever got to you if not for that fire. It kept them at bay.”

Nova never thought of a crash-landing as something that could be considered good fortune.

“We sensed the Kyber was inside the ship, through its bond with you. But I see you already knew what it was. You don’t appear to have fully recovered yet,” she nodded towards a bedside table, “the crystal is right there next to you.”

The woman turned around to face Nova once more right before exiting.

“Anyway, the ship was salvageable but it will need extensive repairs before it can fly again. Not that you will be going anywhere in the near future.” She smiled. “You never asked me my name, it’s whatsherface; for the next standard year you’ll be my student.”

***​

A week later Nova Rigil was starting his Jedi training in the condition that one year from then he would undergo the trials and leave Arkania, either as a Padawan or a failure.

He struggled for some time, because everything he had learned regarding Jedi combat up until then was wrong, but his muscles still retained the memory of moves and stances. He had to unlearn them and learn everything again from scratch. At least his body was already in great physical condition.

His mind was an entirely different subject. As always he was a quick study, but was used to researching knowledge at his own discretion. On the Praxeum, knowledge was attained at the Instructors’ discretion instead.

As for the Force, he had indeed a reasonably strong connection with it and soon became able to perform minor telekinetic and telepathic abilities with ease, albeit not with precision. He was told to be peaceful and serene yet, as each day passed and the day of the trials came closer, he was becoming increasingly anxious. To Nova Rigil his training regimen and the Jedi Codes were filled with paradoxes.

Still, while not being the best that the Praxeum had within its walls, he was far from being the worst student. He took to heart every single lesson and advice his elders tried to convey to him, and he really wanted to be their perfect student. He just had trouble making it happen sometimes, but not for lack of willing or trying.

Meditation seemed to be the answer to everything with the Jedi on Arkania; and though he did not like it one bit, he had to let go of many misconceptions about the Force, that he had picked up over the years from reading files downloaded onto his datapad, if he ever was to become a Jedi. He rediscovered archery as a way of meditation. Nova’s mind was quieter whenever his body was occupied.

The Initiate managed to build his own bow and set of arrows from materials he picked up, and started to practice it in the woods outside the Praxeum. Not that it made any difference - although he had no way of knowing - but Nova used to get as far away as possible from the Praxeum in order to avoid prying eyes, ears, and Force sense of any kind. The Initiates were actually encouraged to leave the Praxeum walls in order to meditate amongst the harsh Arkanian wilderness.

On the white and gray snow-filled forest, he recalled his time spent at the sparring club back on Coronet. Although quarterstaff was his favorite discipline there, he attended a couple of archery classes as well - before giving up completely - and still retained the basics in his memory.

Sometimes, he would go as far as to the Eidolon’s crash site, where a once smoldering crater had turned into just another monochromatic irregularity on the ground. While being allowed to go outside the Praxeum walls, no student was supposed to stray so far - without a good reason, at least.

Nova was still fascinated with a certain fabled Jedi and his pioneering saberstaff techniques. During training regimens he used a practice single-bladed lightsaber, but his mind was set on building a double-bladed one when - and if - the time came. Later, he was allowed to (correctly) learn and develop his favored techniques such as Niman and Jar’Kai. He started using two single-bladed lightsabers to do so.

Learning what it implied, he never did mention the allure he felt for lightsaber martial skill, but he was aware that he could not completely conceal it from the Masters and Instructors. They knew something was moving within him.

A year passed. After succeeding the Trials, Nova Rigil became Whatsherface Padawan.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• WHATSHERFACE - Obviously a placeholder, I'd like to have an actual Jedi PC take her place. If that cannot be arranged in time, I'll go with an NPC instead.
• WAR EFFORT - Mentions of a generic war, nothing in particular. Will probably be rectified once DoTR comes out.

[/FANCYBOX2]

BLIZZARD UNDER A MOONLESS SKY
Building a Lightsaber

Spoiler: Chapter VII

[FANCYBOX4=http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x450/mscottparr/P1080995.jpg]Nova Rigil finally cut his long hair and gave way to a Padawan braid. Shortly after, he and his Master were assigned to Coruscant to aid in the defense and diplomatic relations of the ecumenopolis world.

Sith Wars was at full blast by then, and while Force sensitive children were being brought to the front to serve and die for the sake of the Republic with little to no training, he was going to live on the elitist cosmopolitan galactic capital.

In fact, if not for the war, Nova would have never been accepted as an Initiate or Padawan at the age of fifteen and sixteen, respectably. Laws were being bent by the Jedi Order, as they had been in the past, for the benefit of the Republic and the Galaxy. But who gave the Jedi Masters the power to decide when to bend or brake their own rules as they see fit, and severely punish others when they do the same of their own accord?

Coruscant was a potential target for the Sith, and although replenishing the vanguard with soldiers was a dire necessity, so was keeping the heart of the Republic beating safely. Furthermore, Padawans such as Nova, could turn out to be more of a liability than an asset after dancing face-to-face with the naked Dark side of the Force.

But there was more to it than that, as Nova would find out. The Jedi Order was not taking part in the war directly, despite stating that the main purpose of the Jedi was to fight the Sith. Still, many Jedi left Coruscant to fight for either side, creating a power vacuum. Apparently, filling the void created on Coruscant by so many fallen Jedi, seemed more important than actually dealing with them.

***​

Before leaving Arkania, Nova’s new Master instructed him to meditate and build his own lightsaber. Nova still had the Durindfire Kyber-variant in his possession and received all the components he needed to build a double-bladed saber as he had requested. He only had his one crystal to use for both beams though.

Instead of meditating within the Praxeum’s walls, Nova left for the woods as usual. He traveled to the crash site and sat in meditation at the center of the depression that was once the ship’s impact crater. He felt that the place held some mysterious connection, that it somehow formed a bridge between himself and the Force, where past and future, arrival and departure, intersected like on a crossroad; and, standing on the middle, he stood in the moment.

Night fell but he did not notice. A snowstorm was brewing; he did not care for it either. He managed to shut off everything else other than himself, the crystal, and what was in between - such as the parts involved in the saber’s construction.

The pieces were hovering above and around him, with the crystal at the center. Focusing his thoughts on the crystal was like staring into a mirror. He telekinetically placed the crystal on the mount, inside the chamber, and let it hover. The power cell inside the field conductor. The wiring had to be precise, and if a layman were to look at what was happening he would have believed the electrical wires were moving and growing around the coils and circuits as if they were sprouting vines entwining them.

Careful placement was required for the two emitter matrices. Small parts were coalescing into units, the power insulator covering them. Near the end, the two major portions wrapped themselves around the crystal’s chamber with the power cell already in place, gently twisting and locking into position. The button clicked keeping the last of the wires inside. The stabilizing rings, the two blade emitter shrouds, the several rings to allow for the containment field to complete its cycle, all came together in two distinct sets. With each blade emitter attaching itself to each extremity, the lightsaber was complete.

Nova slowly opened his eyes to a dark world veiled with a dense blizzard. Slightly dazed from the exertion he looked up, searching for the three moons, and remembered that he was not in Corellia. A certain melancholy emerged from within and he smiled regarding the strangeness of its timing, before washing it away with stillness.

He allowed the lightsaber to slowly fall into his hand, got up, pressed the button, and witness his very own silver shimmer on a weapon of his own design for the very first time, with his very own eyes.

The silver sheen of the blade lit the surrounding area, and shadows moved in front of him. A tundra wolf - white and gray with features and size similar to a savage dog - leaped.

Nova acted by instinct and struck down the wolf with a single slash of his new weapon. Then, the plasma blades began to flicker, the pure silvery white was slowly getting gray, as if a static field was covering it. He was drawn to Corellia a year before, when Ruddy held his grandfather’s lightsaber containing that exact same crystal.

His once clear thought got clouded, and so did the color of the plasma beams. He deactivated the weapon.

Then, he heard a muffled low-pitched snarl coming from the surrounding darkness. He reached out through the Force, simply to find the animal and ascertain its position. He could not sense any other life sources, so the wolf was alone; lost or excluded from the pack. He did however felt its fear, he felt its anger, he felt its suffering. It was primal and basic at its core.

There was no hate.

Nova felt something shift inside the creature’s mind in response to his probing. The wolf was getting weaker, probably bleeding, but he felt its pulse still strong yet erratic. Rigil’s new lightsaber probably short-circuited before hitting the animal, so it did not actually cut through it but merely made a - certainly severe - surface wound. At any given moment, it could attack once again.

Nova could feel his grasp on the beast increase as the wolf’s condition worsen.

Emotion, yet peace.

He was not trying to control the animal, simply sense it.

Ignorance, yet knowledge.

Not understand the creature, but instead comprehend the underlying reasons for his own apprehensions.

Passion, yet serenity.

He was ignoring the wolf by now, simply focusing on his new found tranquility and letting it cover his entire being.

Chaos, yet harmony.

Nova could feel the creature’s heartbeat calming down, its growling ceasing. They were echoing each other.

Death, yet the Force.

It fully enveloped both of them now, and the wolf passed out.

***​

Back on the Praxeum, the wolf was placed inside a kolto tank after Nova’s persistence. What seemed to baffle the Masters more than the discovery of his innate skill with animal friendship, was that he had brought the wolf - Rulf, as Nova dubbed him - back with him.

Wasting valuable kolto on a wild animal seemed like a lunacy to the other Jedi, but Nova believed that it was the Force who had joined them both. And, if the Force brought Rulf to him, maybe the Force wanted him to take care of Rulf.

Obviously he could not take the animal with him to Coruscant; after all, he was a wild beast. Nova wanted someone to take care of Rulf while he was away, but judging from the chaos he caused once removed from the tank, that was also not going to happen.

Nova knew that releasing him into the wild was probably a death sentence to a lone wolf. Nevertheless, he was left with no other choice.

Rulf had become extremely docile in Nova’s presence, and the Padawan had to reach into his mind to force him to leave and disappear into the tundra.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• SITH WAR - Some - very generic - assumptions were made regarding DoTR. Hopefully I'm right and there will be no need to correct this chapter.

[/FANCYBOX2]

WHAT LIES BETWEEN LIGHT AND DARKNESS
Padawan Years

Spoiler: Chapter VIII

[FANCYBOX4=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sHBOnbz5u4I/UbSRgujykTI/AAAAAAAAAt4/PemEvrNoFYA/s1600/vlcsnap-2013-06-07-23h29m59s33.png] On the Eve of his departure Nova was permitted to use a subspace transceiver to talk with his family for the first time since he had left Corellia. Everyone was happy to see him and he was as well to see both his parents and sister through the holopad.

They were glad to hear that he was doing fine, that he had become a Padawan, and that he was going to stay on Coruscant far from the wars - it didn’t even occur to him to talk about what happened with the Eidolon when he first arrived on Arkania, and that the ship was still waiting to be repaired; or, how he decided to take on a new name for himself. In turn, he found out that shortly after he had left, his mother became pregnant with a third child and that he now had a newborn sister called Carinae.

***​

The days prior to Nova’s takeoff saw more development that the years that would follow on Coruscant.

While war raged throughout the Galaxy, Nova was learning more of politics than anything else. He never once used his lightsaber because his Master believed that he was lacking on the mental connection with the Force, and not the physical one. He meditated more than he dueled and, since everything can be found on Corsucant, he even bought a new bow to practice with.

Growing up in Corellia, Nova was accustomed to bustling cities filled with diverse species of sentients. Coruscant was in many ways similar to Corellia, but on a far greater scale. He got a chance to improve his eloquence on several of his known languages, particularly Twi’leki, Rodese, and Durese; despite that, he only remained fluent in Galactic Basic and Arkanian.

***​

Convinced he had botched up the lightsaber construction because he attempted to build a double-bladed one, Nova had plenty of time to alter his saber and create a normal one instead. With the spare parts from the saberstaff, the Padawan built a second saber - more of a casing actually, since it was lacking both crystal and power cell, because his original design only had one power core.

He spent entire days locked away meditating with his Master. The lighsaber blade shone silvery white once more, as it was suppose to do.

His connection with the Force grew everyday and reached heights like never before. Still, he was occasionally tormented with doubts every time he heard, on the HoloNet, talk about the wars happening throughout the Galaxy. Because he was showing good progress, Nova was allowed to call his family on Corellia whenever he wanted to. He was also capable of hiding some of his feelings from his Master’s perception now, so she could not sense the real reason behind his periodical calls - he wanted to know if war had reached Corellia.

If Whatshername ever found out how attached to his family Nova Rigil still was, she would give him another lecture about Jedi, their aloofness, on how strong emotions leads to the Dark side, and how a good couple of days in meditation would do him good.

The Rigils were a bit surprised at first of hearing about his new moniker, but they accepted his decision.

***​

Years passed and few things changed. Nova continued to learn and strengthen his connection with the Force. He would occasionally practice with his pure silver lightsaber, other times with a plasteel quarterstaff, and most of the times with the bow and arrow. He never got to use any of those weapons in a real scenario, but instead grew wiser in the ways of the Force.

He was twenty then, and his sister was going to study medicine on the Medical Academy right there on Coruscant. They both had busy schedules, so they rarely saw each other.

Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and months to years. Weeks seemed to linger on Coruscant as Nova went about his daily business but the standard years went fast.

Between his lessons, trainings, and meditations, and amongst his many diplomatic duties, Nova Rigil was a chauffeur. He drove his master around Coruscant and sometimes even senators and other politicians. On his free time he started driving a swoop bike.

***​

Seven years after first arriving on Coruscant, when Nova was twenty three, he received an unsettling transmission one morning that once again would drastically alter his life.

A male Twi’lek was calling on behalf of Nova’s parents, with whom Nova had not talked to for more than three months. He did not gave away his name once asked, stating that his business was urgent, and that he knew Nova’s mother because they worked together.

He delivered terrible news as he informed Nova that his father had suddenly gotten very ill a couple of months before that and had to quit his job. His mother could not afford to keep the droid shop and the family had to relocate to the planet’s surface again. To pay the bills, Nova’s mother started working on the Blue Sector once more.


Still, the Twi’lek was saying, the credits she was earning were not enough to cover both his father’s medical expenses and his sisters’ tuitions - now that the CEC was out of the picture.

The Twi’lek concluded saying that he was asked to call Nova, let him know of the situation, and request that he return to Corellia to help his family. The Rigils of Corellia were in dire need of credits; his father’s life was in danger, and both his sisters’ academic future was as well.

Nova thought it peculiar that the caller did not seem aware of the fact that he was a Jedi Padawan, but he seemed to be under the impression that he had ‘means’. In other words, credits. Which was not actually true.

Nova requested permission to travel to Corellia. Whatshername immediately refused; stating that the bond he had with his family was one that he should have let go of a long time ago.

***​

Defying his master’s whishes, that very same evening Nova booked passage on the first starferry bound for Corellia that he could find - the Starcry.

During hyperspace, as he meditated, he realized that he had in his possession the key to solving all of his family’s problems. He remembered what a boy named Ruddy had told him nine years before.

The solution, was safely being kept inside his lightsaber.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]------------------------------------------[/FANCYBOX2]

BURNING BRIDGES
Abandoning the Jedi Order

Spoiler: Chapter IX

[FANCYBOX4=https://wiki.darkjedibrotherhood.com/images/4/4c/YellowSector.jpg]If credits could save his family, Nova was willing to sell his Durindfire gem to get them. Of course, that meant giving up being a Jedi, since a lightsaber had ceremonial and symbolic significance way beyond that of a simple weapon. But what was more important? His future in the Jedi Order, the whole Galaxy, or his family?

After arriving on Corellia, he headed straight to the Blue Sector and began searching for his mother, since that was the only reference he had. He kept his lightsaber concealed by the cloak, and the Durindfire obviously inside. He saw no point in selling it right away. First he wanted to see his family.

He was still familiar with Coronet’s streets, despite the Blue Sector not being one of his most visited places. Furthermore, he felt the Force guiding him towards her, although not in a straight path.

In less than an hour, Nova found the gambling house he was looking for. He saw the same Twi’lek that he had talked with on the holopad.

He approached him, and the Twi’lek nodded in his direction, recognizing him as well.

“I’m here to see Aspidiske Rigil.” Nova declared in Basic.

“Yes, yes you are.” He reiterated in Twi’leki.

Nova was able to understand most of it; the words he did not know he was able to deduce from the rest of the sentence. The same could probably be said from the other interlocutor. They continued the conversation following this bilingual pattern.

“You must be Asp’s son, no? The one I talked with? I hear your name is Kent Rigil.” Nova’s old name always sounded strange on the Twi’leki tongue.

The Padawan felt many things emanating from the Twi’lek. Arrogance, perfidy, a certain diabolical eagerness, and even some anxiety and fear. All of the Dark side. “No. You are mistaken.” Nevertheless, Nova’s own swiftness to deceive, surprised even himself.

Still, he somehow thought it the best course of action.

“Who do you take me for? I remember you, you had the exact same braid on the holopad!” Nova was glad the Corellian Jedi had different traditions. Because of that, the Twi’lek failed to understand the significance of the braid. “You’re Rigil’s son.”

“I am Nova... Starcry,” he improvised. He was reaching inside the other’s mind. Like he did with Rulf once. It was different, more clouded. But Nova was also different and his skill far greater now.

“You are Nova Starcry.”

“You will take me to Aspedeske Rigil.”

“I will take you to Aspedeske Rigil.” The Twi’lek kept echoing. Nova Starcry actually had a good ring to it, so Nova thought. It made him go back to that white dwarf all those years before. But maybe, he was simply mirroring the Twi’lek’s acknowledgment of the name.

As they walked past the several tables were countless different sentients were gambling, the Twi’lek, in a very mannerly way, began describing were they were going.

“Asp is behind that door, on the other side of the room.”

“Why is she there?”

“It’s the Hutt’s private chambers.”

“What is she doing there?”

“Dancing for him, probably. Otherwise, tending to his needs, of course.”

“I thought she took her old job back, as hostess.”

“Hostess? We have no such thing here. Slave girl, more like it!”

In Coronet? Nova halted, the Twi’lek stopped as well, a bit confused apparently as to why they were doing so.

“I have a very important gift for your master,” Starcry said. “But first, you must tell me everything you know about Aspidiske.”

The Twi’lek explained that Asp, as she was known there, was one of the Hutt’s favorite entertainers about thirty years ago, before going away with some other lowlife wraith like her. She came to Corellia as an indentured servant, after her ten year contract was up, she left.

A few years later, her lover - Nova’s father - came back to the Hutt because he needed money. Some thing or other about bad investments, so the Twi’lek was saying, and needing to pay the rent of a droid shop and put their sons through school.

Nova was surprised to be hearing all of that for the very first time. He never imagined that his own parents would keep such secrets from him. He knew every word the Twi’lek was saying to be true though.

As the interest continued to rise, the Rigils never managed to pay their entire debt. The Twi’lek explained to Nova that the system is perfect, they lend a certain amount of credits with just the right interest rate to keep people paying their entire lives. He seemed proud as he was stating that.

Because the Rigils could not make another payment, the Hutt moved in on their property. Starcry’s parents’ shop was taken from them as collateral. Both his mother and father were forced into a new contract with the Hutt.

Such unchecked criminal enterprise, although rare outside of Hutt Space or the Outer Rim (and supposedly much more so on a planet like Corellia), actually thrived under certain specific circumstances.

Trade routes from and into Corellia had become increasingly compromised due to the ongoing wars with the Sith on nearby systems. The situation had reached such a point that the monarchs allowed considerable leeway to the Hutts in order to keep the planet’s economy afloat. Smugglers were usually more audacious than honest merchants, and the amount of illegitimate activity constituted a complete parallel economy on its own.

The loan itself was completely legal, the slavery disguised as employment was not though. Neither was holding Starcry’s little sister captive, to force his parents to follow the contract.

The Twi’lek finished by saying that Asp told them his son had made a good fortune on Coruscant and that if they got in contact with him, he would come back to Corellia and pay whatever they wanted. After saying that, the Twi’lek blinked, obviously confused as to why he would told Nova all of that information.

The Padawan was loosing his grip on the alien. He made a great effort to subdue his anger.

“Take me to the Hutt now, I am ready to see him. You serve him well.”

***​

Nova Starcry was announced as such and brought before the Hutt; the Hutt seemed annoyed by his intrusion; but, then again, everything that came out of his mouth seemed like a distasteful grunt. A protocol droid served as translator.

The room was full with all sorts of mercenaries and slaves. Nova’s mother was one of the latter. He could not see neither his father or sister.

The Hutt seemed even more annoyed after learning that no one checked Starcry for weapons before allowing him inside. The Padawan revealed his intention of paying for his family freedom, without revealing his ties to them. When asked how he would pay, he slowly revealed his lightsaber to the room.

About two thirds of those inside reached for their weapons, the remaining third cowered in fear; screams were everywhere, but the Hutt’s voice was heard above all. The protocol droid said in Basic that everyone was to stand down. The Hutts were not as careless as to threaten a Corellian aristocrat.

Nova Starcry was apparently being mistaken for a Kingfisher.

Starcry explained that he would give the crystal inside the lightsaber to the Hutt, and the creature knew of the reputation of such Kingfisher weapons and the value of a Durindfire - in fact, most Durindfire gems were transported from Tatooine to Corellia by Hutts’ smugglers. Nova was told by the Hutt - via protocol droid - that Muhlifain was still working as an engineer, only now for him. He agreed to escort the (presumed) Kingfisher noble to his location. The Rigils’ young daughter of seven years old was with the father.

Nova Starcry knew he was being led into a trap, but that was not enough of a deterrent. After all, a trap can work both ways.

He was taken by the Twi’lek through a large door at the end of a winding corridor. On the other side of that door, was a wide space of approximately circular shape and sandy floor whose singed and damaged walls containing several large durasteel gates detailed countless fights and skirmishes. An arena.

The Twi’lek tried to run back from where he came, but the door slammed down hard against the sand. He yelled and bashed it hard with feet and hands; apparently, he must have been lied to, and told that he would have enough time to leave the room after guiding the Padawan there. Nova, ignoring him, walked towards the center of the arena.

The echoing guffaws of the Hutt erupted through that pit and Nova meet his gaze by raising his head. Above the tall walls, all around the arena, was a balcony; in it, looking down at Starcry, were all the occupants of the previous room he was in. Nova’s mother was beside the Hutt, chained to him with a collar around her neck.

The protocol droid began detailing how his master, the Hutt, went to great lengths in order to bring exotic animals from all corners of the Galaxy to fight on that arena. Their last acquisition was, most fortuitously, a creature from Nova’s homeworld of Arkania.

The droid, translating the Hutt’s words, insisted on explaining that his master knew and had met with all the Kingfishers - Rudolf Kingfisher, the head of the house himself, had personal dealing with the Hutt. It went on to explain that the Hutt was not sure how a smuggler could get a hold of a lightsaber such as that one, but that he was sure that Nova was no Jedi. He even lacked all the usual Jedi attires - he was thinking of the Corellian Jedi ones obviously, unaware that the remaining Jedi throughout the Galaxy did not follow the same traditions.

A giant door opposite to the one from whence Nova entered the room began opening. A large beast the size of a swoop bike or an oversized nerf, with its features concealed by shadows, emerged from within; its shape was similar to that of a dog or wolf. The laughs and cries of those on the balcony grew louder, as well as the frightened yelps of the Twi’lek on the arena.

The beast began gnarling. Its sound was familiar to Nova.

“Rulf?” Starcry said once the creature was fully under the light. “Rulf!”

The Arkanian tundra wolf recognized his old friend, he rushed towards Nova and knocked him down before proceeding to lick him vigorously. Starcry was glad but also startled at first and then became somewhat annoyed by the persistent licking, he started to mumble incoherently trying to speak.

The Twi’lek screamed in terror and most of the spectators shouted in thrill. They all thought that the wolf was eating Nova alive and took some time to realize what was really taking place.

“You’ve grown, boy!” Nova finally managed to say as Rulf calmed down. “On Arkania, I had no clue you were just a cub!” Rulf was, after all, the only tundra wolf Nova knew or heard of. Still, why nobody at the Praxeum cared to tell him the actual size of a grown Arkanian wolf was beyond him.

Silence fell over the arena’s balcony when they realize that both Arkanian creatures knew and were on good terms with each other.

The Hutt either yelled or snorted loudly, and his thugs jumped into the arena. The soil was soft enough to somewhat cushion most of the fall, while others had jetpacks and used them for that purpose; despite that, many ended up with broken limbs while a few even went as far as breaking their own necks and remain inanimate on the arena floor. Nova reached into Rulf’s mind and told him to fight. The Twi’lek cowered on what passed for a corner on a round arena. Starcry activated his lightsaber and deflected the blaster bolts coming his way.

The thugs dumb enough to approach the Padawan had a limb - or some other sort of similar appendage - removed. Soon enough there were more blaster rifles on the sand than being held by hands - or some other organ performing that same task. Starcry was enjoying the battle more than he would like to admit and, in his frenzy, sliced open a man’s chest. As the corpse fell to the ground, Starcry’s lightsaber started to flicker and the silver sheen to dull.

Reaching with his right hand through the Force to grab an abandoned blaster, he began firing it at the goons still standing, for fear that his lightsaber would lose its edge. He still held the Jedi weapon, although now on his left hand, to deflect the occasional bolt.

Rulf seemed to be having fun tearing sentients and droids apart - a much more crude yet simple way of viewing things. The few blaster bolts that were able to reach him did not seem strong enough to pierce through his strong hide. Maybe they were set to stun, Nova thought, so that the Hutt’s prized possession would not be damaged beyond repair.

Starcry shot in the Hutt’s direction, the creature flinched, but he was never aiming at him. The bolt destroyed a link on Aspidiske’s chain. She immediately jumped into the arena; her son, letting go of the blaster, used telekinesis to slow down the speed of her descent. Aspidiske landed on dirt like a feather.

The Hutt was retreating to safety while groaning. All the gates surrounding the arena opened, a myriad of monstrous creatures and assassin droids entered the fray. The beasts began rampaging across the sand attacking everyone and everything. Nova instructed the (still breathing, yet crawling on all fours) Twi’lek to take him to the remaining two Rigils that were being held in captivity. In exchange, Nova would save him and take him off-world with them.

The Twi’lek agreed.

Still fending off blaster shots with his flickering lightsaber and leaving the other beasts to deal with the remaining bandits, Nova followed the Twi’lek who disappeared into one of the tunnels and fled the arena. His mother was right beside him and Rulf a bit further down.

Soon enough, the family was reunited. Nova’s father was in bad shape, but her youngest sister seemed fine - physically at least. The siblings were seeing each other face-to-face for the first time. They were scared of the wolf at first, but not as much as the Twi’lek still was.

The Twi’lek told them to hurry, and led them all to the Hutt’s private spaceport. He was a decent slicer and managed to open the hangar doors and get the ship’s systems running - he already knew most of the code anyway. Meanwhile, Starcry kept the pursuing thugs out of the way.

Muhlifain, Nova’s father, was piloting the ship. Under fire, they left for the drydock where he once used to work.

***​

Soon, the ship’s signature was being searched throughout every available frequency, but the senior Rigil still had friends on that drydock. With their help, he managed to illegally change the ship’s ID and, with his son’s and their impromptu allied’s help, reconfigure key system on the Hutt’s ship. Nova also managed to muscle his way into their old droid shop, and reclaim some valuable parts and a fully working astromech by the name of R4-F4.

They all traveled to Coruscant; the three Rigils and Nova, the Twi’lek, the astromech, and a white and gray wolf the size of a juvenile bantha.

During hyperspace, Nova meditated. He activated the lightsaber and, disgruntled, watched the cloudy grayish white of the plasma beam. He used it to sever his Padawan braid, before deactivating the saber once more.

Nova’s parents and youngest sister were reunited with Aschere. The family was going to permanently relocate to Coruscant and start a new life there. Selling the droid parts that they took from their old shop got them some credits, enough for them to live on until finding new jobs on the capital.

Upon reaching the Core world however, Nova Starcry found out that he had a small bounty on his head. Since he used an alias while on Coronet’s Blue Sector he was not associated as a member of the Rigil family. Also, the Rigils had no bounties, instead all the prize credits fell over Nova’s head.

Because his physical description was made available, going back to using his birth name was not enough to prevent his family from being at risk.

He made the decision of abandoning his parents and sisters, leaving the planet and travel far, far away, in order to draw towards himself any potential bounty hunter, and in doing so keep them away from the rest of his family.

At the age of twenty three, Kent Rigil was no more.

Nova Starcry was going to trailblaze the skies on his stead.[/FANCYBOX4]

Spoiler: Annotations

[FANCYBOX2]

• TWI'LEK - I'm thinking of treating him like a cohort for some time. The spot is open to be played by an NPC though - in which case he'll be an ally, not a mere follower, obviously.
• CORELLIAN JEDI - Not the ones fro Legends, but I think it's safe to assume that a Hutt would not know much about the Jedi Order and that the Kingfisher family - being nobles - could have their own attires.

[/FANCYBOX2]

SAILING THE SEA OF STARS
Smuggler Years

Spoiler: Chapter X

[FANCYBOX4=https://sueddie.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/tumblr_static_full_moon_over_ocean_edited1-1024x818.jpg]

I’ll leave this chapter open for now and write/RP it once DoTR comes out.

I want to use it to match Starcry’s background with the DoTR’s timeline.


[/FANCYBOX4]

DAWN OF THE REPUBLIC
New Developments

Spoiler: Role-Playing Links

[FANCYBOX4=http://i.imgur.com/gVotXtV.png]

Coming Soon


[/FANCYBOX4]

​

 

[Padmé]

You've got the basics of our requirement met for this profile. I wouldn't necessarily refer to him as a WIP; as such I've edited your title.
Nifty and aesthetically pleasing to read. I can't wait to read his progress in the RP.

 

[Halcyon]

Thanks @Padmé, it means a lot! Hopefully, he won't die in the first open thread he takes part in! XD

Not changing the title was just my laziness showing. As you can see, there are still some minor formatting issues to be addressed, although as you've mentioned the character is - for all intents and purposes - finished. It has been so for quite a while actually, and I have him currently engaged in a few RPs.

I was planning on "fixing" the title once all minor details were edited. I appreciate your expeditiousness in the matter and - again, your - kind words.

Now, if only approving my species submission went as fast... XP