Star Wars PBP musings

[LadyTevar]

*FACEPALM**
Ok, I see your point

[General Havoc]

You post things like that, and then you wonder why I play characters fueled by weaponized hate?

[rhoenix]

You post things like that, and then you wonder why I play characters fueled by weaponized hate?

I like to think of it as making sure a good friend is well-supplied. Friends help one another out, right?

[Comrade Tortoise]

Name: Asarak Set
Race: Hortek
Occupation: Jedi Knight.
Height: 1.9 meters
Weight: 80 kilos
Eyes:Green
Skin:Yellow with black stripes
Languages Fluent: Basic, Kel Dor, Dosh, Bocce, Hutteese, and Sith.
Can understand Wookieese and droid binary

Personal History
Asarak does not remember a great deal about his very early childhood. There are periodic flashes of memory, enough to let him know that he had loving birth parents who died violently. His first clear memories are, when at the age of four he was being raised on Dorin by adoptive Kel Dor parents, Tima and Pol Saal. When he manifested obvious precognition at the age of seven, he was taken in by the Jedi Council. Upon completing the Youngling stage of his training, he was apprenticed to Master Doru Kard, a Jedi Master and survivor (as a Padawan) of Mizra, who for political and philosophical reasons would never sit on the Jedi Council. A trait likely shared by the apprentice.

There is one difficulty in raising a predator. Not an omnivore, but a flat out predator that evolved as a telepathic pack hunter. Finding a way to curb the desire to eat others, assert social dominance in an unfriendly fashion etc. This is something Asarak's adoptive parents struggled with, and they eventually managed it through telepathy. Not just being able to predict the emotional response of others, but knowing it. Knowing their thoughts, knowing their hopes, and every harm inflicted upon another. Then tying that back to himself, and how Asarak would feel if he were so harmed. The Jedi Order had a different issue. Finding a niche for him. A way to channel that predatory instinct in a pro-social non-darkside way. Rooting out sith infiltrators and doing counter-intelligence works for that. To make someone's predatory instinct be applied through intellect rather than aggression. His adoptive parents taught him to empathize with others. The Jedi taught him to wrap that empathy in layer upon layer of control, focus, and mental discipline.

Which brings him to Vaganus. It is the sole decently habitable world in a disputed zone, and an excellent staging ground for observing Sith movements, interdicting agent insertions, and generally keeping an eye on the various goings on of a grey zone of control.

Personality and Outlook

Despite his role within the Order as a whole, Asarak is a moderate. He has seen enough Sith defect to know that the usual Jedi line about the Dark Path Forever Dominating Destiny is not entirely correct, at least not as interpreted. Instead, a Sith can be brought back, but they will forever be struggling against the Dark Side, they will (rightly)forever be held in suspicion, and will forever be haunted by their past crimes against sentience (if any, which there usually are, and this is good and proper). Of course, he struggles daily with a desire to sink his teeth into living flesh. He can empathize with that, and it is never a good idea to demonize one's enemies to the point that they are considered for all intents and purposes non-sentients. Down that path lies the Dark Side in and of itself. The Sith must be opposed, but they are still people, and many do not choose to turn to the Dark Side. Many turn due to trauma, or years of systematic abuse.

There are practical reasons to spare their lives as well. Former sith can be valuable sources of intelligence and agents of subversion. Moreover, some unturned sith can be turned against their fellows due to the fractious nature of the Sith, and thus can potentially be used. This point of view is less than popular. Many within the Order do not think that Sith can really be turned, or that using the sith against their own is either risky or dishonest. As far as Asarak (and enough of the Jedi Order to not ban the practice) is concerned, the risk is justified and honesty tossed out the window in war, with the truth being surrounded by a bodyguard of lies. Besides, the Sith engage in subversion, and turnaround is fair play.

Lightsabers and The Force

Note: Here, I am taking liberties with how telepathy works on a functional level in a species in which it is naturally occurring, given how force sensitivity amplifies the naturally ocurring ability

Asarak prefers to fight with the Force fully utilized, in attack and defense, to the point that he has only really trained in one lightsaber form. The Niman form, which is good for general use, with emphases for particular applications. He uses the force and his native telepathy to augment his combat ability. When he was an Padawan, he specialized in telekinesis, combat precognition, far-sight, and force-enhanced telepathy. These abilities he has fully mastered. He is not the best saber duelist in the universe. If his other abilities were not in use, well... the battlefields of the galaxy are littered with middling swordsman like himself. But he is lethal precisely because he uses The Force effectively.

When someone bootstraps telepathy using the force, they use sight or hearing to interact with the thoughts of others. Natural telepathy is a different sensory modality, operated in parallel with the other senses. It is not an overlay on his vision, but a N dimensional mindscape that operates on an entirely different cognitive process, like hearing is to vision. They interact in the same way that what one hears can be localized to a visualized object, though.

He uses this sensory modality for precognition and farsight. This is important because, while the limits of using sight are not present (for example, detailed combat precognition is not limited to his line of sight), he does have to take down the mental blocks he uses to ward off the casual thoughts of others to one degree or another. For combat precognition and matters of high personal resonance (like his ship being destroyed in the hangar bay), this is less difficult due to the signal strength. He will still sense danger and can drop the blocks to obtain more detailed information, in much the same way that strong thoughts will slip through his usual blocks. He can also drop the blocks selectively and zero in on a particular event or group of threats to perceive them beyond the usual limits of a sight-based modality.

Doing anything but battle precognition, short-ranged Force Sight, or perceiving the next room requires meditation on particular subjects or areas, the more dedicated the meditation and focused in subject the better, as he opens a window in his blocks to engage in the use of The Force in this way. If he wants to know how many enemies are in an adjacent room or get a general sense of how space combat is flowing, he can do that quickly and easily. If he wants to track all the life forms in a small corvette, he wont be doing anything else except relay what he knows to others telepathically.

This has a drawback though. It makes him all but incapable of sensing the future beyond a few seconds by spontaneous vision or devoted concentration, without dropping his blocks completely and being overwhelmed by the sensory input. The Patterns of the Living Force are too mercurial and the signal strength weak enough that has to open up fully in order to get the information. He has not refined his mental discipline sufficiently to act as a selective filter that weeds out stray thoughts, but lets in visions of the future. It would be like shutting one's eyes to the Green visual spectrum but not the others. He can open his third eye, keep it closed, restrict the amount of input by restricting the metaphorical iris or through focusing on something particular, but cannot specify what input he admits. Recieving Visions requires a fully open Third Eye, which is not something that a wise person does. Not unless they want to risk looking directly at the proverbial sun for a protracted period of time.

With telekinesis, he is able to move large masses, including over small areas (cones and small diameter spheroids), manipulate objects with a high degree of precision (he does not need tools to disassemble a speeder bike, for instance), apply focused Force Sight to know how to break objects (then do so. Such as shattering a battledroid), and apply it directly to his person to throw himself bodily, slow falls, fly when necessary (though this is taxing), and enhance his apparent strength.

Any sort of telepathic manipulation or sense is naturally very powerful.

There are other abilities he is still working on, and others he has not touched.

He has some ability to heal and revitalize others and himself using The Force, and to directly protect himself from harm. However he has not mastered these abilities. He has sufficient skill to hedge out poisonous gases (but not purge poisons from his system, see below), shield himself from some physical impacts, and nullify the harmful effects of some force powers either by countering them with his own telekinesis or by direct absorption, but he cannot retransmit the energy for his own use, or do things like block blaster bolts or a lightsaber with his hands. He also cannot yet handle critical trauma using the force, though fatigue and minor injuries are within his powers.

Direct body manipulation is not something he is generally skilled with. He can use the force to enhance his reflexes, but cannot do things like survive in vacuum without taking a pocket of air with him using TK. Force speed is also right out, other than throwing himself at high velocity, which while risky can bootstrap the same function.

General Skills

Decent ability to pilot and maintain ships, and run weapons systems though he is not preternaturally good at these things beyond the advantages The Force gives him (read: if you put him in an unshielded fighter, he is competent enough to not die horribly and immediately, but he wont be a terror of the void or anything at his current degree of proficiency. The same goes for maintaining mechanical things. He knows enough to keep something in good condition in good condition, but he wont be able to repair a damaged hyperdrive in the field).

The usual skills and knowledge that come with a first rate education

He is good at espionage and counter-espionage. Especially counter-espionage. And that is before The Force and telepathy get involved. This includes computer slicing, and the prevention of same. He is also very good at "debriefing" captives, for obvious reasons


Gear and Assets

Amber bladed lightsaber
Portable breather
slicing tools
datapad
restraints
Small personal transport shuttle (docked under a false identity *officially* owned by a surveyor. Looks in worse condition than it is)
Small flat
contacts in the port authority
Allowance for Bribes

[Comrade Tortoise]

Rhoenix, dear... how much time passed between your first post and second? It usually takes time to establish a semi-regular day labor gig like that and settle into a routine. With the surrounding posts, we are looking at time scale measured in hours at most.

[rhoenix]

Rhoenix, dear... how much time passed between your first post and second?

No more time than was specified. Corvin spent the evening reading & doing Jedi shit after the first post, and the last two posts were for the next morning's actions.

It usually takes time to establish a semi-regular day labor gig like that and settle into a routine.

Correct. This is him beginning to establish such. He is not currently an employee of the junk shop, he simply has a business relationship with the owner of said ship to rent said owner's apartment above it. Corvin got the hint that helping said shop owner might help lower his rent while he's there - he's pretty good with machinery and such, and since the shop's near the spaceport (and therefore a good vantage point), it works for multiple reasons, and therefore he's now establishing a working relationship with the shop owner to create such a routine.

I thought I was fairly clear in what he was doing, and the implied reasons as to why, but apparently I was not.

With the surrounding posts, we are looking at time scale measured in hours at most.

Correct - approximately 16 hours' worth, all told.

EDIT: If this is a very roundabout way of telling me that I'm posting too much, the last post was made for two reasons - first, as bait for CynCat, and more broadly, as an instant barometer for who Corvin should check out and meet, and when, should more Space Mages arrive.

[Comrade Tortoise]

EDIT: If this is a very roundabout way of telling me that I'm posting too much, the last post was made for two reasons - first, as bait for CynCat, and more broadly, as an instant barometer for who Corvin should check out and meet, and when, should more Space Mages arrive.

Not at all. It is just that the way you wrote it made it seem like more time had passed than actually could possibly had passed without making things...odd.

[Josh]

Still haven't gotten my character notes down. Jeez there's a lot of you little buggers all cropping up with your powers and your histories and etc.

'Tis cool. We've got a crew that could mop the floor with the original KotoR crew in a straight fight. Bonus points for the one who brings me the head of Carth.

[White Haven]

It will be done.

Attached to the Body of Carth Onasi, speaking the Words of Carth Onasi in the Voice of Carth Onasi. Because I find myself in the mood to flex my inner Sith.

[Josh]

Got my first rules lawyer.

[Lys]

Had there been more, you know, non-Sithy-McSithersons, I would have likely made a non-Jedi, but noooooo, everyone had to be like, "No, I don't want to be a Jedi, zey are boring, ja? I want to be something that doesn't sell out."

No, no, I'm going dark side because I'm selling out.

Lys does it because she likes being a bad girl.

Is it that obvious? v_v;

[White Haven]

Now I'm just picturing subbing Carth Onasi for one of the great Sith entombed on Korriban. Tulak Hord, perhaps.

[Josh]

Now I'm just picturing subbing Carth Onasi for one of the great Sith entombed on Korriban. Tulak Hord, perhaps.

The Ghost of Perpetual Sulking Past.

"No Carth, sit your worthless ass down. I want the head fucking sparkling when we get back, and you will find the other sock that the dryer 'ate' or else it's a spacing for you."

[frigidmagi]

At this point you're a small army of force users. There's 7 force user bios posted which means frankly that on paper y'all should be able to mow through a company of infantry. On the flip side, I expect y'all to spend as much time knifing each other as anyone else so things balance out.

[Josh]

On the flip side, I expect y'all to spend as much time knifing each other as anyone else so things balance out.

This is why a Sith cruiser hasn't already showed up in orbit, basically.

[rhoenix]

Wow, CT. But ok, we can do this.

[Cynical Cat]

Are you ready to play hungry, hungry rancor?

Also might be wrong about how long this Jedi has been here, almighty station chief.

[rhoenix]

Are you ready to play hungry, hungry rancor?

Also might be wrong about how long this Jedi has been here, almighty station chief.

I'm also curious as to how he knows Corvin's name, but whatever - this is going to get fun.

[Charon]

Alrighty, Version 1

Name: Fenri Kast
Race: Mandalorian
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Mercenary

History: Fenri is one of many Mandalorians that has never seen the homeworld. Born of mercenary parents who were themselves born of mercenaries Fenri has always known war, as is fitting for a Son of Mandalore. Moving from one battlefield to the next, Fenri learned the trade quickly, though his parents did not let him get involved in the fighting itself until he was in his teens. He lost his father at the age of 17, fighting for the Hutts. He lost his mother four years later fighting against the Sith. He kept on with his siblings and the Mandalorian crew that he had been born to, however, and became quite a fierce warrior in his own right.

Just a year ago, Fenri ran into tragedy. Hired by the Jedi, Fenri and his unit were given the job of making a strike against a Sith manufactory. Unfortunately for Fenri, the Sith found out about the mission. Trapped in the building and outnumbered 2:1 the Mandalorians didn't have much of a chance. Faced with extermination, the Mandalorian's fought with desperation and died with valor. Only Fenri made it out alive, losing his entire Family in one fell swoop. Also on the hook for having failed the mission, Fenri decided discretion was the better part of valor and fled to the Gray Band to re-coop from his losses and make a little cash on the side. Without a team however, Fenri has found getting a good paying job to be difficult, and even harder ever since he was marooned on Vaganus by a former employer.

Fenri has quite a chip on his shoulder over the last year of his life. He hates the Sith for killing his family. He hates the Republic for being incompetent and getting him into the situation he was put in. He hates the stupid, boring planet that he's been stranded on for far, far too long. Still, money is money, and he's desperate enough to work for just about anyone.

Appearance: Looking at Fenri, there is no doubt he is a Mandalorian. Dark haired with strong facial features and clean shaven, Fenri could be called attractive if he ever stopped scowling. Tall and muscular he is intimidating to most other humans and the way he carries himself suggests that he is skilled enough that even many stronger humanoids will at least consider other options. Of course, the fact that he wears Mandalorian Armor may have something to do with it.

Skills: Fenri is a combat specialist, as many Mandalorians are. Trained in hand-to-hand, melee, and ranged combat by some of the best, Fenri is a consummate soldier. Just as comfortable clearing a bar brawl as he is in the midst of the Front-line and even, on rare occasions, serving as a Sniper. Fenri is less at home in ship-to-ship combat, having little training or experience and certainly is no pilot, but as long as all he has to worry about is shooting he can still manage considerably well.

Notable Possessions: Mandalorian Armor
Vibroblade
Jetpack
Blaster Pistol
Blaster Rifle
Thermal Detonators
Utility Belt with communicator

[rhoenix]

A Mandalorian, surrounded by Space Wizards and their fancy laser swords.

I predict that Fenri will make drinking hard liquor an art form in the future.

[Charon]

He's found that the best way to deal with killing Space Wizards is misdirection and excessive force.

Admittedly, he's a little short on excessive force at the moment.

[Hotfoot]

Posted, enjoy.

[rhoenix]

You worked with Marcao on that post, I see.

[Hotfoot]

Don't be silly. That would imply that I talked to him about it, instead of ripping his sections from his mind.

Neuron by neuron.

[rhoenix]

Waiting on you, CT.