Post by Apillis on Feb 27, 2015 3:26:59 GMT -5
"Waking up to who you are requires letting go of who you imagine yourself to be." ~ Alan Watts
Name: Lish Stargazer
Race: Human
Age: 29
Birthplace: Dantooine
Allegiance: Jedi Order/Galactic Republic
Status: Jedi Ace
Rank: Jedi Knight - Guardian
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 108lbs
Appearance:
Saying Lish easily meets the human standards of attractiveness is pointing out the obvious. A shapely petite frame and angular face with milky white skin that contrasts with her dark green eyes. While she has her naturally brunette hair in an asymmetrical hair style, she has the length of it dyed a very light blonde that it is almost white. Yes, she certainly is pulchritudinous, there is little denying that.
But most notably for most Jedi she dresses fairly unconventionally. Oft she wears out dated Republic Naval flight suits combat pilots wear, though she tends to have the pant legs rolled up to her knees while wearing ankle socks and constantly wears mixed colored slip-on shoes ranging in all sorts of colors (example: her left shoe red, right shoe purple; or left shoe blue, right shoe white). What she wears over the flight suit she dons is the classic unassuming brown cloak that Jedi oft wear, and then outside of it around her slim waist is her Jedi utility belt. On her hands she wears Republic Navy flight gloves, but she cut off all the fingers to them. Then accentuating the entire ensemble she wears a white aviator scarf like pilots did in ancient times (think WWI or WWII fighter pilots), wrapped stylishly around her neck with the two extra lengths of it hanging down either side her back.
Naturally she is not always wearing her cloak, and because of how she dresses oft by appearance alone she is taken for just being a run-in-the-mills freelance pilot on Nar Shadaa, or anywhere else she may travel. For though she maybe wearing items that are Republic navy, given how she "customized" them and how dated they are compared to the modern flight suits, she clearly is not Republic military--or at least not anymore if one were to make the presumption. While working on starships, because of the heat involved in garages and the tough, sweaty labor it is not uncommon to see her relax the upper half of her flight suit and ties the sleeves around her waist, but revealing that she merely wears an ordinary tank top or jog bra underneath. Seeing her covered in grease and oil stains and electrical burns on her clothes is also not an uncommon sight.
And lastly, and also quite notably about her, she has numerous tattoos all over her body, each bearing a certain significance to herself to which she tends to be guarded and aloof about when questioned about them. But nevertheless felt compelled to have them permanently placed upon her body as a form of her own self-expression. The tattoos can be found outlining her back as well as on her lower abdomen and pelvis, left thigh, right shoulder and bicep, on her hands and fingers, as well as under her left bicep. But also in a way they only lend further to her appearing as a freelancer pilot of some sort rather than a Jedi. Her only give away to being a Jedi are the two lightsabers that dangle off of her utility belt.
Personality:
People respond to surety and confidence, they find it comforting--reassuring. There are those who get that sense of comfort with Lish, since she was young she has always seemed to have this unshakable confidence, and it has drawn many to her as a result. She will take a stand before the opposition as if she were a stone wall while her opposition seems like a meek wave about to crash against it uselessly. That is how it can look from the outside looking in.
The reality is Lish inwardly has more of an easy-come-easy-go personality, just going with the flow of things. Her perceptions within the Force are nothing shy of absolutely remarkable, even when measured among Jedi masters. And this has largely shaped her both in her training, but also in her personality. And how could it not? To be so keenly aware of one's own surroundings, themselves, and the intentions of those near her. She could try to shape it for her own gain, but that is not Lish, that is not the sort personality she is.
Lish is a tinkerer, a thinker, oft when not tinkering with machines and starships she is losing herself into pensive moments pondering what maybe possible with her next project. That is where she finds herself, that is where she finds her equanimity, her sacred space. And if not there, then in the stars themselves, traveling the vastness of the galaxy, and where there are those who only see an ever expansive void--she sees light by the immeasurable billions filling it. The simplicity of it all is where she finds fulfillment, and she does not want anymore. In her eyes, she is the richest woman in the galaxy. What she has found in herself is contentment, and not want for more than what she already has, for she would be the first to say that she had been given much and then question what could ever compel someone to ask for more. Though, because of her continuous pensiveness, she is oft criticized as a daydreamer by her peers and betters, and they would not be too far off in their criticisms.
Her trust in the Force through her perceptions because they are so keen, she does not simply feel--she knows. To come full circle, that is what her seemingly unshakable confidence and steely surety comes from, it is not that she has some godly will, she merely perceives--knows the outcome. Not always, of course. What will or may happen is an ever shifting thing. Her trust with the Force is unwavering, but she rejects the notion of it being 'faith' or 'piety', quoting one of her instructor's when she was a youngling, "I don't need faith, I have experience.", for she does not need to believe in it, she senses it--is aware of it--feels it, knows it--experiences it.
Ships/Vehicles:
Gestalt (clicky)
The Crystalline Blackbird (clicky)
Equipment:
Double-bladed Lightsaber w/ Icy Blue blade (Permafrost crystal) - Has four switches on its hilt, two at the center so she can switch one the left or right blade with either respective hand. And the other two switches, one is at either end of the hilt to serve the same purpose as the two at the center. Thus giving her more options to switching to single or double-bladed lightsaber combat at leisure to best fit the situation and flow of the battle itself.
(Note: Permafrost crystal just makes the lightsaber blade(s) an icy blue color, nothing more special than that.)
Dual-Phase Lightsaber w/ Ice Blue blade (Permafrost crystal) - There is a switch near where her pinky rests on the grip close to the pommel, and another close to her thumb near the hilt of the saber. Both switches were set for quick and easy switching the blade on and off during combat for the identical reasons she created her double-bladed lightsaber with multiple switches.
Stats:
Strength - Below Average
Agility - Above Average
Intelligence - Above Average
Charisma - Superior
Force Stats:
Telekinetic- Adept
Telepathic- Adept
Body- Expert
Sense- Master
Protection- Novice
Healing– Novice
Destruction– Unskilled
Combat Training:
Piloting - Master
Mixed Martial Arts - Expert
Force Training:
Farsight - Expert
Enlightenment - Novice
Moving Meditation - Master
Comprehend Speech - Expert
Other Training:
Mechanics - Expert
Naval Flight Tactics - Expert
Galactic Lore - Apprentice
Force Lore - Adept
Military History - Adept
Slicing - Apprentice
Demolitions - Novice
Droidspeak - Master
Lightsaber Training:
Shii-Cho- Apprentice
Makashi- Specialist
Soresu- Untrained
Ataru- Untrained
Djem So- Untrained
Niman- Apprentice
>>Sub-form Jar-kai- Adept
Juyo- Untrained
Double Bladed Combat- Adept
Biography:
"Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes." ~ Alan Watts
Where Lish's earliest beginnings start is on Dantooine, her parents were little more than homesteaders. Her mother a homemaker, her father a mechanic at the nearest settlement. Both her parents were born and raised within that settlement all their lives, seldom ever venturing beyond the region it lay within. Neither had even been off-world as they lived contentedly on the grasslands of Dantooine among others like them leading simple uninterrupted lives.
They were a young couple, still newlyweds when Lish was born, she was born at home--she only saw the settlement's local doctor. The day she was born all that was done was simple scans to make certain she was a healthy baby, but anything more nuanced like testing her blood for Force Sensitivity was beyond the scope of such a provincial settlement.
For the first few months of Lish's life they never knew she was born Force Sensitivity, nor did they ever suspect their child maybe such. Why would they? Not only is such a thing exceptionally rare but they held no family history or at least were aware of ever having any family who were ever born Force Sensitive. So when Lish was a few months old and begun wailing repeatedly and unrelentingly night and day, her parents had no idea why. So naturally they took her to the local doctor, who in turn had no answers himself. It was not until they took her to a doctor in the city did they learn what was happening with her.
Routine tests were done again on the infant Lish, but what was routine for those in the city with a more detailed health care system was more thorough then the humble settlement's in which Lish was born. They tested Lish's blood for any diseases and it was then her midichlorian count was discovered and was of a very high number making her Force Sensitive. So a Jedi Healer from Dantooine's Jedi Enclave was called upon, and from the Jedi Healer it was learned there was nothing wrong with Lish, it was simply for an infant her perceptions were so much more acute--but as an infant she did not know how to react or what to do in regards to what she sensed, and so she did what all infants do when they feel helpless, she cried and cried.
It was then the Jedi approached her parents about them taking Lish to the Jedi Enclave to be raised and trained as a Jedi should that prove to be a path she was willing to walk. The decision in the end was open to her parents, and after this episode with Lish, the fright they experienced fearing there was something terribly wrong with Lish, though in the end she was merely Force Sensitive. In the eyes of her parents, it made them feel as though they were ill-equiped to raise and care for a Force Sensitive child, and that perhaps the best thing for her would be to raised by the Jedi. After all, though they maybe simple homesteaders of a backwater settlement on Dantooine, nevertheless they were still citizens of the Galactic Republic, and who did not know of the Jedi who fought and protected its people? Their child could become one of them, while receiving better care than they believed they could provide, so even in spite of their rationale, they still made the choice that was the hardest for them to make in their entire lives; which was to give up their first born child, but only so she may have a better future than they could give her.
For Lish her severely acute perceptions would prove to be both her greatest strength and weakness all her life. Growing up still learning how to control what she perceived through the Force hindered her immensely, and did greatly impact her training throughout her life. While for other children in her class what they perceived through the Force was like a trickle from running faucet, and it was much easier for them to be taught to shut it off or control or put it out of mind. For Lish however it was more extreme, it was like a running faucet pouring out water at full blast and the faucet handle was broken making it vastly more difficult for her to learn how to shut it off or mitigate what she perceived. As a young child she felt constantly overwhelmed, but what she could feel within her surroundings--the immense pressure and weight of so much compressing on her senses through the Force whether she was prepared or not was a continuous strain on such a young girl.
There is the delusion that because her perceptions were so hyper-sensitive at a young age that learning how to perceive through the Force was easier for her. But such a view is a delusion, in fact, she struggled with it severely. When one is so constantly overwhelmed by a subject, how can it be any easier to learn than it would be for anyone else? In fact, her instructors when she was a child had to devote much time in teaching her how to pull back and withdraw the range in which her perception through the Force would reach out, that it oft eclipsed her training in other fields of study in the Force.
Flashes of others surface thoughts, intentions, emotions--blinks and glimpses of what is about to happen or what may happen or what tomorrow may bring or what yesterday has brought. Just fractions of a second of a vision, whether she was prepared for it or not. All happening at once. It was something she could never exactly explain or articulate, especially as a child. The Force is a multifaceted thing--thousands upon thousands of aspects and even states of being but as a one singular "existence" or "energy". The Force is one energy interconnected with all life--all existence throughout the galaxy--the universe as it is ever expanding. How could a child ever articulate what she perceived through it--if even just an iota of it? But even that iota being far beyond sentient understanding, at least as a child.
When asked by her instructors, she would open her mouth to try to tell them, to inform them what it was that ailed her. But only to just as suddenly close her mouth, and fall back into silence realizing she did not have the words, and all that the little girl had was confusion and perplexity at all that she felt and saw through the Force within her immediate surroundings.
It was not until she encountered the Jedi Watchman of Dantooine, Jedi Master Narazin when she was 8 years old did her training to control her perceptions turn for the better. He was guest instructing at the Enclave with one of her instructors for the younglings, and so often she was taught to control it as the other younglings were--to minimize it like shutting ones eyes--things can still be perceived but not all at once. But with Lish's hyper-sensitivity, this was simply not an option--the Force manifests uniquely within everyone, and in Lish's regard she did not perceive the Force quite like others did, it was more acute and severe than it was for her peers. What Narrazin, an old Miraluka taught her was what he would have taught another Miraluka child in regards to controlling their Force Sight, which was to accept it. Stop trying to force its reduction or minimize what she perceived but to simply become part of it, not stand against the flow of water but merely float with it. It turned on its head so much of what she was trying to learn, the young girl was fascinated by what he was telling her through the days he served as a guest instructor for one of her classes.
He did see how just his giving a new alternative and insight to what Lish had been taught prior was making a small difference in her training where others had fallen short, Narazin decided to remain at the Enclave for a bit longer, feeling he had a duty to help her. So he gave her additional instruction to help with her perceptions through the Force, teaching her to become part of what she perceived, not to try to hold it back or quiet her mind, but to let it go--stop trying to build a dam to the river but rather become part of the river herself. For what she sensed was not simply her surroundings, the Enclave, the grass blowing the breeze, the myriad of intentions and emotions she felt from others, the flashes of fractions of the second from the past or present or future--these things were all not some other existences or entities apart from herself--they were all part of her. They were all aspects of the Force just as she herself is, so instead of resisting all these things that she believed to be separate from her--she was taught to perceive them through the Force as she would perceive herself through it.
Those lessons changed everything about her...
As a young girl growing up in the Enclave, she was timid and quiet, constantly feeling overwhelmed by what she felt. But once she begun learning to sense through the Force no differently than one unconsciously does as if they were hearing or seeing, not as something that were merely a skill alone but an unconscious ability naturally performed by one's own body, did her entire outlook and personality begin to shift. Her silence manifested into being more of a pensive disposition, her timidness melted into attaining a more self-assured stance, and her constant feelings of being overwhelmed shifted into becoming a quite easy-going, go-with-the-flow personality. Naturally it was not sudden but a process over the course of her training from her time as a youngling barely over knee high to many adults into her preteen years around age eleven or twelve. It was during those transitional years and how he saw Lish's gradual change for the better under his teachings that he decided to take her on as his padawan-leaner.
In later years, as a teenager her instructors were at times surprised given how subdued and unflustered she was. Though what they did not know, and what her master was well aware of, was it was less that she possessed a unique equanimity for a teenager, and more that she perceived no threat. Much of how she acted and carried herself was based on how she perceived the environment around her. What did she truly have to fear or concern herself with within the Jedi Enclave? However, he found when taking her out of secure environments, like the larger cities her disposition changed. Walking through the slum streets of even Dantooine, she would become agitated by what she sensed--darkness, desperation, hatred, even the desire and intention to do unspeakable cruelty and harm to others--including her person.
Narrazin understood Lish's issues well, it was something he saw among some of his own people the Miraluka whose sight was particularly "keen". Being able to perceive so much without a controlled filter and entering a highly populated area and thereby teeming when echoes within the Force, it can easily overwhelm, jar, or unsettle such individuals. But he understood that less exposure to such things would prove to be more of a hindrance to Lish than a benefit. So he took her to cities--especially where the populace was at its most dense, and rather than try to shut out the barrage of echoes, instead--he taught her to try to listen to them, try to hear the echoes within the Force past all the white noise caused by the presence of so many. Listen for the rhythm--the beat of the echoes themselves, to hear--the very essence of what ties them all to each other through the Force, perceive the connection of life--the Force--of the very people themselves that they all share.
Never were the lessons something done over night, taught within a day--that would be impossible and utterly silly. They were lessons, invaluable ones, they continued since her apprenticeship to Narazin til her Knighthood and even the years beyond. But Narazin also understood perfectly well that life cannot be filled with constantly learning to curb being overwhelmed by whatever one perceives through the Force, but he did have an idea as to how to marry such lessons and granting her some form of levity. He noticed she took a quick interest in technology, leading him to have her take lessons among the Jedi artisans who worked on droids, spaceships, and computers and the like when she was around twelve or so years old. That was when her passion was discovered. She loved working on such things, learning the intricacies of how they operated.
It was among the Jedi artisans she befriended a young Jedi ace, new to their knighthood whose found a certain solace and peace in working with their hands, especially on starships or starfighters granting their mind something to focus to shut out everything around them and merely to come to a moment of quiet stillness in working on what was before them. It was a form of meditation, oft simply called "moving meditation", essentially coming to a peaceful meditative state to think or just simply existing in a mode of clarity via working and/or tinkering on something with ones hands. The Jedi ace was a young woman by the name of Aine, she was also one of the number of Jedi Shadows, she tended to have a certain intensity which contrasted with Lish's more easy-going manner. But they benefitted one another, Lish gained more drive while in Aine's presence, while Aine found herself becoming more relaxed when working with Lish.
Neither of the two girls sought to be Jedi artisans, but the artisans had the best facilities for working on their projects. But it was because of Aine and Lish's gradual idolizing her that lead her to deciding to become a Jedi ace as well. When Narazin learned of Lish's interest in becoming a Jedi ace, he requested Aine teach her how to fly. Initially starting off with simple things such as speeders and shuttles, but what both Narazin and Aine quickly learned was Lish took to it like a fish to water. Flight gave her focus, made all those perceptions that overwhelmed her possess more of a purpose, she needed them in order to understand her surroundings as she flew--foresee and react to the obstacles before her, know just how to manipulate the controls of the craft to avoid the dangers she felt.
But like when working on the mechanics of such machines, Lish was also able to find a certain solace when piloting, her focus was all the more clear. Flying through the plains of Dantooine while growing up, she often possessed a smile on her visage finding herself so at peace--so at ease, she could let her perceptions expand and yet not feel overwhelmed but instead because it had purpose to it--it in those moments felt no differently than it feels to see with ones eyes or hear with ones ears. When given focus and purpose--any sense of being overwhelmed melted away and she could focus her mind elsewhere to other tasks.
Narazin was quick to capitalize on this when extending her training to the more martial aspects of being a Jedi. She wanted to become a Jedi ace, who were Jedi Guardians, Narazin was certain to train her to become one. However, what with Lish's more placid and go-with-the-flow manner, aggressive lightsaber forms and martial techniques would not necessarily benefit her, yet because of her spacial awareness via her exceptionally keen senses through the Force, it did provide an interesting prospect for her as a lightsaber duelist. However many mistake being a talented lightsaber duelist with having to know numerous forms, which is simply not necessarily always the case. Some duelists merely studied the philosophies of other forms, but specialized and utterly and thoroughly master one. For Lish that was Form II, Makashi, a lightsaber form of elegance and grace, requiring complete awareness of one's footing and surroundings utilizing both the environment and one's placement therein to out-maneuver their opponent. Unlike Form IV, Ataru, however relying heavily on acrobatics and continuous wide swings, Makashi requiring more refinement and eliminating unnecessary and/or wild movement, each motion requiring careful, thoughtful precision and leverage. Not at all unlike what was required of her as a starfighter pilot, it was a lightsaber form that fit her well.
Roleplay Sample:
