Post by Fell on Jul 28, 2010 3:19:04 GMT -5
Name:Varan Raeth
Race: Human
Age: 41
Height: 6’00’’
Weight: 160 lbs
Appearance:
Varan does not appear to be anyone of consequence at first glance. His appearance remains mostly untouched by his delving into the dark side of the Force, although his skin does have a slightly unnatural tinge to it. Even so, any Jedi who saw him would walk right past without giving Varan a second glance.
Looks mean nothing to Varan, as he views appearances as a distraction that only the weak-minded pay heed to. Even so, he has an appreciation for well-cut clothes and expensive fabrics. He wears a belted black coat with a high collar not unlike the one later worn by Darth Maul, although his is made from silk. Along with that he wears matching trousers, boots, and leather gloves. When traveling he also wears a black cloak with a high-cut hem. Overall this outfit provides Varan with comfort, freedom of movement, and the classic intimidating countenance long associated with the Sith.
Personality: Varan is a soft-spoken person who prefers to think and observe before taking any action. He is very much an independent thinker, and as such oftentimes has very unorthodox views on issues. To him all knowledge that comes from outside himself is inferior to the information he has gained through his own experiences. Consequently he believes himself to logically be the most reliable source of true perception in the universe. This belief has led him become a solitary and quietly arrogant person. Considering the cynicism and bitterness that taints Varan’s view of the world, he is an altogether unpleasant person to have a philosophical conversation with.
Despite this negative outlook, Varan gets along well enough with his fellow Sith. His empathic abilities help guide his choices in social situations, allowing him to judge what others are feeling almost before they are aware of their own emotions. While he has never held a position of true leadership, he is nevertheless a commanding presence because of this skill. He knows when others need assurance, threats, or promises of reward to motivate them, and because of this he can tell how far he can push others in pursuit of his own ambition.
Unlike some Sith, Varan has no inherent love of torture or the suffering of others. He is in no way sadistic, but he will not hesitate to commit acts of cruelty if he thinks they will benefit him. By becoming the most powerful person he can be at any cost, Varan can achieve perfection and his natural place in the universe. To Varan, the Sith way is the only truth in the universe, and only truth is beautiful.
Birth place: Empress Teta
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction:Jedi/Dark Jedi
Previous Rank:Consular/Prophet
Bio:
Varan was born to a wealthy family on Empress Teta. His father had made a fortune in the carbonite mining industry, while his mother held the title of marchioness and was distantly related to the original Empress Teta herself. They surrounded Varan with opulence from an early age, but they also spared no expense trying to prepare him for the future. By the time he could speak his parents had line up a number of tutors specializing in young children. Varan was reading classical literature by the age of five (albeit with limited comprehension) and could speak Zabraki and Huttese as naturally as he spoke Basic. He also had an uncanny knack for perceiving thoughts and emotions, something that caused both pride and unease in his mother and father. He knew even before they spoke if he was annoying his parents and would change his behavior accordingly, but at the same time the casual lies adults so often tell children rarely deceived him. His parents called him “gifted” and “an old soul,” but they suspected there was more to their son than they cared to admit.
Despite these peculiarities, Varan had no trouble getting along with other children his age. He was an easy-going child despite his pampered upbringing, and if he wasn’t the most popular child his own age, he certainly wasn’t the least, either. He played with toy space ships and loved games like any child his age, although he did have unusual luck when it came to guessing games. He also developed a dislike for hide and seek after winning too many games. He had an unnatural way of knowing exactly where the other children were, while at the same time no one ever managed to find him. Consequently, he preferred to played tag.
Overall, though, Varan had a normal childhood. That changed one month before his sixth birthday when the Conference of Deep Core Worlds was held on Empress Teta. Delegates from dozens of worlds converged on Cinnagar to discuss local and galactic politics, and Tetan nobility opened their homes to the ambassadors for the duration of the CDCW. Varan’s parents were no exception, and they ended up hosting one of Tython’s galactic senators as well as his personal advisor, Jedi Knight Domon Kasenti.
Domon recognized Varan’s potential almost immediately and discussed the boy’s future with his parents. Staunch supporters of the Republic, they soon agreed. Varan, however, was a different story. He was perceptive enough to realize that being a Jedi would mean more than what the adults told him, but what that was exactly he did not know. The thought of leaving home was something he did understand, though, and he knew he didn’t like it. Eventually, however, Varan gave in to the urgings of his parents and the stories Domon told of exotic worlds and agreed to join the Jedi Order.
Youngling (Age Six to Seven)
Varan did not take easily to the Jedi lifestyle. He was used to being the center of his tiny world, but at the temple he was just another youngling. While still one of the more intelligent children there, he had nothing to make himself stand out, to give himself an identity outside his peers.
Varan’s homesickness did not last, however. While the Temple and his fellow students only made Varan feel lonelier, the lessons taught there captivated him. He already knew much of the history taught to Youngling, but the lessons in mental discipline and the Force were completely new. It was like playing a game where all the pieces were in his head. Clearing his mind, dividing it into compartments so he could perform different tasks, shaping his thoughts… it was difficult, true, but it was a challenge Varan relished.
The Jedi themselves also served as a form of motivation. From the quiet grace that guided their movements to the serenity they always seemed to carry, it seemed like the Jedi were perfect beings. Some had walked among the ruins of ancient civilizations, others knew the stars better than they knew the alphabet, and a few could even teach a willing student about all the natural wonders of the universe, but all served as the agents of balance in the universe. Even if the stories the youngling told each other were exaggerated, there was no denying the role of the Jedi in the galaxy. Varan intended to trade his former future as a Tetan noble for a far more important station in life as a Jedi.
Varan eventually adjusted to life in the temple. Once he was able to become comfortable not being the sole subject of attention, he made a number of friends among the other youngling. Unlike with the adults on Empress Teta, Varan’s natural empathic abilities did not alienate him from the other students. He was praised for his skill, and while occasional rivalries occurred, none lasted long under the calm guidance of the Jedi Masters.
As Varan’s class of youngling grew older, anxiety and excitement about becoming an apprentice grew. The children compared stories about the different Jedi and thought up ways to impress their potential masters, and Varan was no exception. While the other youngling changed their mind about which Master they wanted on a weekly basis, however, Varan knew by the age of ten who he would end up with: Kana Ven.
He first met the Twi’lek when she gave a lesson to the youngling on telekinesis. They were supposed to levitate and hold a wooden block in the air, but Varan was so enamored with his instructor that he ended up launching the cube halfway across the room into the back of another student’s head. The other child wasn’t badly wounded, but Varan’s pride certainly was. Even so, he couldn’t stop smiling after the lesson. Kana was beautiful even by the standards of her species, but to Varan she was a goddess. He resolved to do anything it would take to be her apprentice and applied himself to his studies with a vengeance. He added Ryl to his linguistic repertoire, spent all of his spare time in the Jedi Archives, and focused even more intently on learning to use the Force. While Varan had difficulty with what he thought of as internalized applications of the Force, he excelled at manipulating objects outside of himself. Telekinesis came easily to him, but sensing and the minds of others proved to be his true talent was. He could use that to make himself an even better choice as an apprentice, as Kana was also an adept telepath.
Two years later, Varan got his wish and was chosen as Kana’s apprentice. He was overjoyed at the news, but his excitement proved to be short-lived. While the training of Varan’s peers by their own masters was by no means easy, Kana put her apprentice through an experience that could only be found in a military boot camp. Daily sparring sessions with vibroblades, hand to hand combat training, vigorous physical exercises, and all manner of twisted mental challenges filled Varan’s life for the two months after becoming Kana’s apprentice. One particular task involved Varan having to recite the names of the last two hundred Chancellors of the Republic while balancing a piece of wood on the head of a needle set ten feet in front of him. Needless to say, Varan went to bed filled with frustration.
At the end of the month, Varan was sleep-deprived and very much over his crush on Kana. That was when his master revealed that she had known about his feelings all along. She had sensed that his talents in the Force matched her own, making him an ideal pupil, but at the same time she couldn’t have her padawan fawning over her all the time. Therefore she had created all of the tasks Varan endured to end his infatuation. That, and because any apprentice of hers had to be dedicated to becoming a Jedi.
While their relationship was rocky in the beginning, Kana and Varan eventually warmed up to each other. While gruff and severe during the first month, Kana revealed herself to be a thoughtful and patient teacher. Varan in turn quickly matured under her tutelage, and two formed a strong platonic bond.
Varan’s command of the Force quickly grew now that he was receiving personalized teaching. His ability to perceive the minds of others was carefully refined until he was able to begin learning how to influence the thoughts and emotions that he touched. He also began learning the art of Force concealment, a rare power that let the user hide from the minds of senses of others. Kana herself had the gift for it and had based her decision to train Varan in part because few other Jedi would be able to bring out the talent she sensed in him. Practicing the skill was slow and tedious work, but over the years Varan showed an increasing proficiency in the ability.
Kana also introduced Varan to the works of the greatest philosophers of the Republic. She taught him to ask why and how instead of just what, when, and where when looking at the universe and made him question everything he believed in. Over time he came to realize that the Jedi were not so much the heroic defenders he had once envisioned as much as they were keepers of balance. While they were certainly noble and valiant, the true purpose of the Jedi was in ensuring cosmic harmony and order. Because they were so integral to the preservation of the universe, there could be no higher purpose in life than to serve as a Jedi.
The first few years of Varan’s apprenticeship were uneventful. Most of the missions he and Kana went on were diplomatic in nature and ended relatively peacefully. While some conflicts had no solution, most were resolved at least to some degree, and so Varan’s faith in the Jedi seemed to be well-placed. Because of their linguistic abilities, Kana and her apprentice were sent to many of the most exotic worlds in the Republic, allowing Varan to finally fulfill his dream of seeing the stars. As they traveled the two spoke almost always in Ryl, although after one particular mission to Shogun, Kana began to teach Varan Mando’a as well. While Varan was too old by then to achieve the perfect inflection he had for his other languages, he nevertheless became a fluent speaker.
As Varan approached the age of eligibility for knighthood, the missions he and his master were sent on grew ever more dangerous. While they continued to be deployed mostly for the purpose of negotiations between Republic parties, the nature of the conflicts grew increasingly hostile. Several times after diplomacy failed, the pair were forced to fight for their lives.
It was after one such mission that Varan would prove himself worthy of being a Jedi Knight; however, it would also prove to be the first event to point him toward the dark side of the Force. Kana’s and Varan’s objective had been simple: negotiate peace between the government of Zolan and the Clawdite Liberation Movement (CLM). Simple, however, did not describe what eventually transpired.
The Clawdites were a race of changelings created by and from the natives of Zolan after a failed attempt at gene manipulation. The Zolanders feared and hated their cousins, however, and created an apartheid state to oppress them. In response, the Clawdites formed the CLM to fight back against the Zolanders through various acts of terrorism. The insurgents had managed to capture a number of important Zolander politicians and were holding them hostage in exchange for a number of concessions. Not trusting the Zolanders, the CLM had demanded that the planetary government call in the Jedi to mediate during the negotiations. The Council obliged.
The meeting should have been simple. The hostages would be transferred over, the Clawdites would gain better living conditions, and everyone would be happy. Things never got that far, though. While several important figures from the CLM did show up for the negotiation, the Zolanders didn’t wait for the delegates to reveal the location of the hostages. Believing that striking back at the CLM was more important than the lives of the hostages, the Zolanders attempted to murder the Clawdites in cold blood.
Because the Republic did not have the power to interfere in intraplanetary affairs, the Zolanders assumed the Jedi would not actively interfere in their plan. Unfortunately for them, Kana and Varan had other ideas. Kana stepped in to shield the CLM representatives while Varan protected the token hostages the terrorists had brought with them from being killed by the furious Clawdites. By the time the CLM members managed to escape out of the building, only two Zolanders and three Clawdites were wounded or killed. When the pair returned to Coruscant the Jedi Council congratulated them on helping to avoid further bloodshed and granted twenty-three year old Varan the right to take the Jedi Trials. The government of Zolan, however, was less than enthusiastic and promptly shipped the Jedi off their world.
While Varan subsequently passed his trials and earned the rank of Jedi Consular, a shadow continued to hang over him. Clearly the Jedi had failed to ensure balance on Zolan, forcing Varan’s entire conception of the Jedi into doubt. Reports of genocide against the Clawdites on Zolan as well as CLM speeder bombings only worsened his disillusionment. Normally he would have discussed his feelings with Kana, but she had little time to spare: she had been appointed to a task force that would be sent to a newly discovered planet in the Outer Rim that was applying for membership in the Republic. She wasn’t expected to return for months if not years, and so Varan was left alone with his thoughts
While Varan continued to perform his duties as a Jedi well, his crisis of faith only worsened. After visiting planets like Nar Shadaa, Metellos, and Tatooine, Varan came to realize that the balance the Jedi were supposed to provide was even more flawed than he had thought. Justice was a myth in the Republic, and the Jedi could not do enough to change that.
Varan began to delve even more deeply into philosophy in response to his inner crisis. While his master had been somewhat unorthodox in her beliefs because of her open-mindedness, Varan went even further by devouring the beliefs recorded in every book he could find. He became on of the few proponents of the Unifying Force among the Jedi partially because he no longer believed the Force distinguished entirely between light and dark sides and partially because he wanted to believe that some greater purpose existed in the senseless chaos of the world. He also encountered the works of the philosophers Jorgas Descar and Hom Malthun. The former proposed the objectivism of all knowledge and appealed greatly to Varan and his own uncertainty about all he had learned in life, while the latter suggested that the natural order of the universe was for the strong to survive at the expense of the weak. While Varan rejected Malthun’s ideas at the time, they would remain in his mind and later lead to the formation of his ideology as a Sith.
Years went by, but Varan’s cynicism did not abate. He was thirty-two years old and had the skill and knowledge to become a master, but because of his unwillingness to train an apprentice and his wavering alignment he remained a knight. Eventually one of Varan’s few friends, a fellow Jedi named Thulen Gray, proposed reuniting Varan with his old master to help him find his direction in life. The Jedi Council agreed, and when Kana came back from her latest mission she was assigned to work with her old apprentice once more.
The reunion was a happy one for Varan, and for a time his spirits were indeed boosted. Kana had guided him in forming his beliefs when he was younger, and she was still a comfort to him even now. However, as they talked on the shuttle leaving Coruscant Varan held a fear that even Kana would not be able to alleviate his doubt. He would prove to be right.
Their assignment was to capture the pirate ship Shadowed Fate. Normally the Jedi would not have gotten involved with such a thing even though the raiders had made a habit of targeting Republic ships, but a Dark Jedi was believed to be in charge of the operation. Varan and Kana along with a small compliment of Republic soldiers were to hide on a decoy freighter that would hopefully be captured by the pirates.
The operation went smoothly at first. Their freighter was boarded as planned, and while a few Republic soldiers died in the opening battle, the pirate casualties were much higher. The Jedi team and remaining soldiers spread out through the ship and managed to defeat the remaining pirates. The Dark Jedi, however, proved to be elusive. As the Jedi searched for him, the pirate captain used Force camouflage to sneak about the ship, slaying the surviving soldiers one by one. As they realized something was wrong, Varan also cloaked himself in the hopes that seeing Kana alone would draw the Dark Jedi out of hiding. The plan worked, but at a terrible cost: the pirate captain managed to approach Kana without either of the Jedi detecting him and stabbed the Twi’lek in the back with his lightsaber before Kana could even draw her own weapon. Varan watched in horror as his old master fell to her knees. With one swift movement the Dark Jedi then cleanly cut off Kana’s head.
Varan had been paralyzed with shock before that, but now he was back in the moment. A scream erupted from inside his chest, but as the sound left his mouth he could feel the Force building around him and adding energy to his cry. Waves of sonic power smashed into the Dark Jedi, slamming him back against the ship’s metal bulkhead. Varan leapt forward and began to slash at the pirate’s body, but when he finally stopped and looked down at the eviscerated body he saw that there was blood leaking from the Dark Jedi’s ears. He had been dead before Varan even drew his lightsaber.
When Varan returned to Coruscant, he said nothing of how he had killed the pirate captain. The fear that he might be falling to the dark side was strong in him, but he refused to seek help. The Jedi Council interpreted the emotions they sensed in him as grief and counseled him to beware his feelings, but they did not realize the depth of what had happened.
Varan was struck another emotion blow days later when reading an article on the holonet: his parents had died in an accident on Empress Teta. While Varan hadn't seen his parents since joining the Jedi, it still saddened him to hear of their deaths. With the Council’s permission he left for their funeral after Kana’s own service was held at the temple.
Varan did not recognize most of the people at his parent’s funeral, but they greeted him warmly nonetheless. He was his parents’ only child and was technically now Marquess Raeth with his mother’s death. The idea surprised him at first, but as Varan thought about it he liked it more and more. There was nothing left for him with the Jedi anymore, that much he knew; nothing made sense at the Temple anymore, but everything reminded him of Kana. Besides, he knew it was only a matter of time before the Jedi sensed the darkness in him, and in his grief he falsely believed that the Jedi would imprison or kill him for it. No, from now on Varan the Jedi Knight was dead and Marquess Raeth was alive.
Varan discovered that his parents still had a great amount of wealth. Despite their support of the Republic, it seemed that they had kept most of their money on worlds controlled by the Hutts or the Corporate Sector. He also inherited stock in several companies which he promptly sold off for a moderate profit. When not managing his parents’ last wishes, he set about constructing a new lightsaber using a ku'ari gemstone that had previously belonged to his mother. The work helped clear his thoughts, and in any case he no longer liked the feel of his old lightsaber. It reminded him too much of Kana and the Jedi.
The Jedi waited for Varan to finish grieving, but when he didn’t return they tried to get in contact with him via comlink. Varan refused all their calls, however, and even when they sent a messenger to him to see what was wrong he turned them away. Technically Varan had done nothing wrong, so he knew the Jedi could not forcibly bring him into their fold once more.
Varan did not expect the next person who came after him, though. Seeing as how all their previous attempts had failed, the Jedi Council sent Varan’s old friend Thulen Gray to convince him to return. Caught off guard, Varan allowed the Jedi to enter his newly acquired mansion. Thulen tried to comfort Varan and convince him to return, but to no avail. Eventually Varan tried to throw Thulen out, but at that moment the Jedi realized that his friend was dangerously close to falling to the dark side. Thulen tried to use compassion and kind words to redeem Varan, but upon hearing mention of the dark side, Varan’s fears about what would happen to him if the Jedi believed he had fallen resurfaced. He engaged Thulen in a lightsaber duel then and there, and while the battle was long and fierce, ultimately Varan won. Realizing that he was now a murderer, Varan set fire to his mansion and Thulen’s corpse and fled into the night.
Varan managed to escape to the newly christened Sith Empire. Because of the nature of his parents’ funds, he was able to live comfortably in his exile, although he was always careful never to stay in one place too long or to attract attention to himself. He spent his days studying philosophy and slowly came to embrace Malthun’s view of the universe. Power and suffering were integral parts of the universe, and he soon came to realize that he would need to master those things if he truly wanted to understand the world around him. Even so, his quest was for knowledge more that power. Where other Dark Jedi sought out dark side artifacts, he read scholarly articles by modern professors and experts about the beliefs of dark side cults like the Sith. Philosophy meant more to him than magical trinkets. However, that did not stop him from acquiring one such item, a holocron made by the Dark Jedi and former Krath practitioner Amon Fel. Through the holocron Varan learned to control the Force scream he had used all those years earlier, conjure lightning from his fingertips, and drain the life essence of those weaker than him. He also learned about a powerful ability known as Force stealth that allowed him to hide his presence in the Force. The principles behind the ability were not so different from his use of Force Camouflage. When cloaking himself, Varan influenced others’ perceptions so that they could not see or hear him. With Force camouflage he instead altered the way the minds of others perceived the Force in him, allowing him to appear as a non-Force sensitive. It was an ideal skill for a fugitive such as himself.
In the nine years of Varan’s exile he learned much about the galaxy and the Force. However, he slowly grew bored over time. Achieving enlightenment meant little without a means of putting his powers and beliefs into action. Then Varan heard rumors of a new Sith Order, one that was philosophically more refined than any of its previous incarnations. Suddenly he knew that the purpose he had been looking for had finally found him…
Lightsaber: A dual-phase lightsaber with a curved hilt made from black metal. Varan can switch between a conventional 1.3 meter blade and a thinner .6 meter blade with the flick of a switch. He also has his old single-phase lightsaber, but he does not carry it on his person anymore and is not trained in two-handed combat.
Color: Dark purple and blue respectively.
Practiced Lightsaber forms:[/b]
Shii-Cho: 5
Makashi: 4
Soresu: 5
Ataru: N/A
Shien / Djem So: N/A
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman: N/A
Juyo: N/A
Double Bladed Combat: N/A
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 8
Body: 3
Sense: 5
Protection: 2
Healing: 1
Destruction: 6
Specialized Skills:
Fluency in Ryl, Huttese, Zabraki, and Mando’a
Force Camouflage—Varan’s version of this power works by influencing the mind. Droids are unaffected by this power as are video recordings, although Varan can influence the minds of people watching such recordings if he can sense their mind.
Force Stealth—Similarly, Varan must be able to sense a person’s mind to use this power. While Varan is exceptionally adept at detecting the presence of others due to his telepathy, he can still be taken by surprise.
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 5
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 4
Ranged Weapons: 3
Force Attunement: -5
RP Sample:
Varan had been on Korriban for a month now, yet his excitement had yet to diminish even a little. Power emanated from the planet like a heartbeat, and everywhere around him were others like him who sought truth through the dark side. Well, almost like him, amended Varan. Many of the initiates here were simply power-hungry brutes who cared nothing for the greater meaning behind what the Sith were trying to achieve. They were like blind men whose hands groped right past the object they sought to find. Even so, Varan knew he had to be careful around him. Even a dumb animal could be dangerous under the wrong circumstances, and there was no denying that none of the beings here would hesitate to kill him if it furthered their own gain. Thankfully Varan managed to avoid most of the petty displays of power the younger initiates engaged in by keeping to himself. Having to exchange empty taunts with one of them would just be… undignified.
Today his destination was, unsurprisingly, the library. While no objects of any real power remained on Korriban, there were still a number of ancient texts here that detailed the beliefs of the original Sith. It seemed to Varan that every time he opened one of the books here that he uncovered some new truth to the universe. The most interesting ones tended to put words to things he had already known yet never quite articulated. The Sith had constructed such a natural outlook on the world that Varan could not help but stand in awe of them.
Suddenly Varan felt a presence in the back of his mind. A Trandoshan appeared around a corner of the hallway moments later, its movements arrogant and cocky. The alien’s thoughts were murky and unclear, but Varan could sense himself being sized up. The Trandoshan was probably looking for a fight to impress the other Sith.
Without looking at the alien, Varan reached out with his mind to the Trandoshan. He softly touched his mental defenses, found their weakness, and slipped the tiniest feelings of doubt into the alien’s mind. He felt the Trandoshan studying him more as he approached… and then the alien looked away. The seed of uncertainty he had planted in the alien’s brain had blossomed fully.
Varan made no acknowledgment of the exchange. His mind was already on the many mysteries awaiting him in the library.
Race: Human
Age: 41
Height: 6’00’’
Weight: 160 lbs
Appearance:
Varan does not appear to be anyone of consequence at first glance. His appearance remains mostly untouched by his delving into the dark side of the Force, although his skin does have a slightly unnatural tinge to it. Even so, any Jedi who saw him would walk right past without giving Varan a second glance.
Looks mean nothing to Varan, as he views appearances as a distraction that only the weak-minded pay heed to. Even so, he has an appreciation for well-cut clothes and expensive fabrics. He wears a belted black coat with a high collar not unlike the one later worn by Darth Maul, although his is made from silk. Along with that he wears matching trousers, boots, and leather gloves. When traveling he also wears a black cloak with a high-cut hem. Overall this outfit provides Varan with comfort, freedom of movement, and the classic intimidating countenance long associated with the Sith.
Personality: Varan is a soft-spoken person who prefers to think and observe before taking any action. He is very much an independent thinker, and as such oftentimes has very unorthodox views on issues. To him all knowledge that comes from outside himself is inferior to the information he has gained through his own experiences. Consequently he believes himself to logically be the most reliable source of true perception in the universe. This belief has led him become a solitary and quietly arrogant person. Considering the cynicism and bitterness that taints Varan’s view of the world, he is an altogether unpleasant person to have a philosophical conversation with.
Despite this negative outlook, Varan gets along well enough with his fellow Sith. His empathic abilities help guide his choices in social situations, allowing him to judge what others are feeling almost before they are aware of their own emotions. While he has never held a position of true leadership, he is nevertheless a commanding presence because of this skill. He knows when others need assurance, threats, or promises of reward to motivate them, and because of this he can tell how far he can push others in pursuit of his own ambition.
Unlike some Sith, Varan has no inherent love of torture or the suffering of others. He is in no way sadistic, but he will not hesitate to commit acts of cruelty if he thinks they will benefit him. By becoming the most powerful person he can be at any cost, Varan can achieve perfection and his natural place in the universe. To Varan, the Sith way is the only truth in the universe, and only truth is beautiful.
Birth place: Empress Teta
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction:Jedi/Dark Jedi
Previous Rank:Consular/Prophet
Bio:
Early Life (Birth to Age Six)
Varan was born to a wealthy family on Empress Teta. His father had made a fortune in the carbonite mining industry, while his mother held the title of marchioness and was distantly related to the original Empress Teta herself. They surrounded Varan with opulence from an early age, but they also spared no expense trying to prepare him for the future. By the time he could speak his parents had line up a number of tutors specializing in young children. Varan was reading classical literature by the age of five (albeit with limited comprehension) and could speak Zabraki and Huttese as naturally as he spoke Basic. He also had an uncanny knack for perceiving thoughts and emotions, something that caused both pride and unease in his mother and father. He knew even before they spoke if he was annoying his parents and would change his behavior accordingly, but at the same time the casual lies adults so often tell children rarely deceived him. His parents called him “gifted” and “an old soul,” but they suspected there was more to their son than they cared to admit.
Despite these peculiarities, Varan had no trouble getting along with other children his age. He was an easy-going child despite his pampered upbringing, and if he wasn’t the most popular child his own age, he certainly wasn’t the least, either. He played with toy space ships and loved games like any child his age, although he did have unusual luck when it came to guessing games. He also developed a dislike for hide and seek after winning too many games. He had an unnatural way of knowing exactly where the other children were, while at the same time no one ever managed to find him. Consequently, he preferred to played tag.
Overall, though, Varan had a normal childhood. That changed one month before his sixth birthday when the Conference of Deep Core Worlds was held on Empress Teta. Delegates from dozens of worlds converged on Cinnagar to discuss local and galactic politics, and Tetan nobility opened their homes to the ambassadors for the duration of the CDCW. Varan’s parents were no exception, and they ended up hosting one of Tython’s galactic senators as well as his personal advisor, Jedi Knight Domon Kasenti.
Domon recognized Varan’s potential almost immediately and discussed the boy’s future with his parents. Staunch supporters of the Republic, they soon agreed. Varan, however, was a different story. He was perceptive enough to realize that being a Jedi would mean more than what the adults told him, but what that was exactly he did not know. The thought of leaving home was something he did understand, though, and he knew he didn’t like it. Eventually, however, Varan gave in to the urgings of his parents and the stories Domon told of exotic worlds and agreed to join the Jedi Order.
Youngling (Age Six to Seven)
Varan did not take easily to the Jedi lifestyle. He was used to being the center of his tiny world, but at the temple he was just another youngling. While still one of the more intelligent children there, he had nothing to make himself stand out, to give himself an identity outside his peers.
Varan’s homesickness did not last, however. While the Temple and his fellow students only made Varan feel lonelier, the lessons taught there captivated him. He already knew much of the history taught to Youngling, but the lessons in mental discipline and the Force were completely new. It was like playing a game where all the pieces were in his head. Clearing his mind, dividing it into compartments so he could perform different tasks, shaping his thoughts… it was difficult, true, but it was a challenge Varan relished.
The Jedi themselves also served as a form of motivation. From the quiet grace that guided their movements to the serenity they always seemed to carry, it seemed like the Jedi were perfect beings. Some had walked among the ruins of ancient civilizations, others knew the stars better than they knew the alphabet, and a few could even teach a willing student about all the natural wonders of the universe, but all served as the agents of balance in the universe. Even if the stories the youngling told each other were exaggerated, there was no denying the role of the Jedi in the galaxy. Varan intended to trade his former future as a Tetan noble for a far more important station in life as a Jedi.
Finding a Master (Age Seven to Twelve)
Varan eventually adjusted to life in the temple. Once he was able to become comfortable not being the sole subject of attention, he made a number of friends among the other youngling. Unlike with the adults on Empress Teta, Varan’s natural empathic abilities did not alienate him from the other students. He was praised for his skill, and while occasional rivalries occurred, none lasted long under the calm guidance of the Jedi Masters.
As Varan’s class of youngling grew older, anxiety and excitement about becoming an apprentice grew. The children compared stories about the different Jedi and thought up ways to impress their potential masters, and Varan was no exception. While the other youngling changed their mind about which Master they wanted on a weekly basis, however, Varan knew by the age of ten who he would end up with: Kana Ven.
He first met the Twi’lek when she gave a lesson to the youngling on telekinesis. They were supposed to levitate and hold a wooden block in the air, but Varan was so enamored with his instructor that he ended up launching the cube halfway across the room into the back of another student’s head. The other child wasn’t badly wounded, but Varan’s pride certainly was. Even so, he couldn’t stop smiling after the lesson. Kana was beautiful even by the standards of her species, but to Varan she was a goddess. He resolved to do anything it would take to be her apprentice and applied himself to his studies with a vengeance. He added Ryl to his linguistic repertoire, spent all of his spare time in the Jedi Archives, and focused even more intently on learning to use the Force. While Varan had difficulty with what he thought of as internalized applications of the Force, he excelled at manipulating objects outside of himself. Telekinesis came easily to him, but sensing and the minds of others proved to be his true talent was. He could use that to make himself an even better choice as an apprentice, as Kana was also an adept telepath.
Two years later, Varan got his wish and was chosen as Kana’s apprentice. He was overjoyed at the news, but his excitement proved to be short-lived. While the training of Varan’s peers by their own masters was by no means easy, Kana put her apprentice through an experience that could only be found in a military boot camp. Daily sparring sessions with vibroblades, hand to hand combat training, vigorous physical exercises, and all manner of twisted mental challenges filled Varan’s life for the two months after becoming Kana’s apprentice. One particular task involved Varan having to recite the names of the last two hundred Chancellors of the Republic while balancing a piece of wood on the head of a needle set ten feet in front of him. Needless to say, Varan went to bed filled with frustration.
At the end of the month, Varan was sleep-deprived and very much over his crush on Kana. That was when his master revealed that she had known about his feelings all along. She had sensed that his talents in the Force matched her own, making him an ideal pupil, but at the same time she couldn’t have her padawan fawning over her all the time. Therefore she had created all of the tasks Varan endured to end his infatuation. That, and because any apprentice of hers had to be dedicated to becoming a Jedi.
Apprenticeship (Age Twelve to Twenty-Three)
While their relationship was rocky in the beginning, Kana and Varan eventually warmed up to each other. While gruff and severe during the first month, Kana revealed herself to be a thoughtful and patient teacher. Varan in turn quickly matured under her tutelage, and two formed a strong platonic bond.
Varan’s command of the Force quickly grew now that he was receiving personalized teaching. His ability to perceive the minds of others was carefully refined until he was able to begin learning how to influence the thoughts and emotions that he touched. He also began learning the art of Force concealment, a rare power that let the user hide from the minds of senses of others. Kana herself had the gift for it and had based her decision to train Varan in part because few other Jedi would be able to bring out the talent she sensed in him. Practicing the skill was slow and tedious work, but over the years Varan showed an increasing proficiency in the ability.
Kana also introduced Varan to the works of the greatest philosophers of the Republic. She taught him to ask why and how instead of just what, when, and where when looking at the universe and made him question everything he believed in. Over time he came to realize that the Jedi were not so much the heroic defenders he had once envisioned as much as they were keepers of balance. While they were certainly noble and valiant, the true purpose of the Jedi was in ensuring cosmic harmony and order. Because they were so integral to the preservation of the universe, there could be no higher purpose in life than to serve as a Jedi.
The first few years of Varan’s apprenticeship were uneventful. Most of the missions he and Kana went on were diplomatic in nature and ended relatively peacefully. While some conflicts had no solution, most were resolved at least to some degree, and so Varan’s faith in the Jedi seemed to be well-placed. Because of their linguistic abilities, Kana and her apprentice were sent to many of the most exotic worlds in the Republic, allowing Varan to finally fulfill his dream of seeing the stars. As they traveled the two spoke almost always in Ryl, although after one particular mission to Shogun, Kana began to teach Varan Mando’a as well. While Varan was too old by then to achieve the perfect inflection he had for his other languages, he nevertheless became a fluent speaker.
As Varan approached the age of eligibility for knighthood, the missions he and his master were sent on grew ever more dangerous. While they continued to be deployed mostly for the purpose of negotiations between Republic parties, the nature of the conflicts grew increasingly hostile. Several times after diplomacy failed, the pair were forced to fight for their lives.
It was after one such mission that Varan would prove himself worthy of being a Jedi Knight; however, it would also prove to be the first event to point him toward the dark side of the Force. Kana’s and Varan’s objective had been simple: negotiate peace between the government of Zolan and the Clawdite Liberation Movement (CLM). Simple, however, did not describe what eventually transpired.
The Clawdites were a race of changelings created by and from the natives of Zolan after a failed attempt at gene manipulation. The Zolanders feared and hated their cousins, however, and created an apartheid state to oppress them. In response, the Clawdites formed the CLM to fight back against the Zolanders through various acts of terrorism. The insurgents had managed to capture a number of important Zolander politicians and were holding them hostage in exchange for a number of concessions. Not trusting the Zolanders, the CLM had demanded that the planetary government call in the Jedi to mediate during the negotiations. The Council obliged.
The meeting should have been simple. The hostages would be transferred over, the Clawdites would gain better living conditions, and everyone would be happy. Things never got that far, though. While several important figures from the CLM did show up for the negotiation, the Zolanders didn’t wait for the delegates to reveal the location of the hostages. Believing that striking back at the CLM was more important than the lives of the hostages, the Zolanders attempted to murder the Clawdites in cold blood.
Because the Republic did not have the power to interfere in intraplanetary affairs, the Zolanders assumed the Jedi would not actively interfere in their plan. Unfortunately for them, Kana and Varan had other ideas. Kana stepped in to shield the CLM representatives while Varan protected the token hostages the terrorists had brought with them from being killed by the furious Clawdites. By the time the CLM members managed to escape out of the building, only two Zolanders and three Clawdites were wounded or killed. When the pair returned to Coruscant the Jedi Council congratulated them on helping to avoid further bloodshed and granted twenty-three year old Varan the right to take the Jedi Trials. The government of Zolan, however, was less than enthusiastic and promptly shipped the Jedi off their world.
While Varan subsequently passed his trials and earned the rank of Jedi Consular, a shadow continued to hang over him. Clearly the Jedi had failed to ensure balance on Zolan, forcing Varan’s entire conception of the Jedi into doubt. Reports of genocide against the Clawdites on Zolan as well as CLM speeder bombings only worsened his disillusionment. Normally he would have discussed his feelings with Kana, but she had little time to spare: she had been appointed to a task force that would be sent to a newly discovered planet in the Outer Rim that was applying for membership in the Republic. She wasn’t expected to return for months if not years, and so Varan was left alone with his thoughts
Disenchantment, Reunion, and Tragedy (Twenty-Three to Thirty-Two)
While Varan continued to perform his duties as a Jedi well, his crisis of faith only worsened. After visiting planets like Nar Shadaa, Metellos, and Tatooine, Varan came to realize that the balance the Jedi were supposed to provide was even more flawed than he had thought. Justice was a myth in the Republic, and the Jedi could not do enough to change that.
Varan began to delve even more deeply into philosophy in response to his inner crisis. While his master had been somewhat unorthodox in her beliefs because of her open-mindedness, Varan went even further by devouring the beliefs recorded in every book he could find. He became on of the few proponents of the Unifying Force among the Jedi partially because he no longer believed the Force distinguished entirely between light and dark sides and partially because he wanted to believe that some greater purpose existed in the senseless chaos of the world. He also encountered the works of the philosophers Jorgas Descar and Hom Malthun. The former proposed the objectivism of all knowledge and appealed greatly to Varan and his own uncertainty about all he had learned in life, while the latter suggested that the natural order of the universe was for the strong to survive at the expense of the weak. While Varan rejected Malthun’s ideas at the time, they would remain in his mind and later lead to the formation of his ideology as a Sith.
Years went by, but Varan’s cynicism did not abate. He was thirty-two years old and had the skill and knowledge to become a master, but because of his unwillingness to train an apprentice and his wavering alignment he remained a knight. Eventually one of Varan’s few friends, a fellow Jedi named Thulen Gray, proposed reuniting Varan with his old master to help him find his direction in life. The Jedi Council agreed, and when Kana came back from her latest mission she was assigned to work with her old apprentice once more.
The reunion was a happy one for Varan, and for a time his spirits were indeed boosted. Kana had guided him in forming his beliefs when he was younger, and she was still a comfort to him even now. However, as they talked on the shuttle leaving Coruscant Varan held a fear that even Kana would not be able to alleviate his doubt. He would prove to be right.
Their assignment was to capture the pirate ship Shadowed Fate. Normally the Jedi would not have gotten involved with such a thing even though the raiders had made a habit of targeting Republic ships, but a Dark Jedi was believed to be in charge of the operation. Varan and Kana along with a small compliment of Republic soldiers were to hide on a decoy freighter that would hopefully be captured by the pirates.
The operation went smoothly at first. Their freighter was boarded as planned, and while a few Republic soldiers died in the opening battle, the pirate casualties were much higher. The Jedi team and remaining soldiers spread out through the ship and managed to defeat the remaining pirates. The Dark Jedi, however, proved to be elusive. As the Jedi searched for him, the pirate captain used Force camouflage to sneak about the ship, slaying the surviving soldiers one by one. As they realized something was wrong, Varan also cloaked himself in the hopes that seeing Kana alone would draw the Dark Jedi out of hiding. The plan worked, but at a terrible cost: the pirate captain managed to approach Kana without either of the Jedi detecting him and stabbed the Twi’lek in the back with his lightsaber before Kana could even draw her own weapon. Varan watched in horror as his old master fell to her knees. With one swift movement the Dark Jedi then cleanly cut off Kana’s head.
Varan had been paralyzed with shock before that, but now he was back in the moment. A scream erupted from inside his chest, but as the sound left his mouth he could feel the Force building around him and adding energy to his cry. Waves of sonic power smashed into the Dark Jedi, slamming him back against the ship’s metal bulkhead. Varan leapt forward and began to slash at the pirate’s body, but when he finally stopped and looked down at the eviscerated body he saw that there was blood leaking from the Dark Jedi’s ears. He had been dead before Varan even drew his lightsaber.
When Varan returned to Coruscant, he said nothing of how he had killed the pirate captain. The fear that he might be falling to the dark side was strong in him, but he refused to seek help. The Jedi Council interpreted the emotions they sensed in him as grief and counseled him to beware his feelings, but they did not realize the depth of what had happened.
Varan was struck another emotion blow days later when reading an article on the holonet: his parents had died in an accident on Empress Teta. While Varan hadn't seen his parents since joining the Jedi, it still saddened him to hear of their deaths. With the Council’s permission he left for their funeral after Kana’s own service was held at the temple.
Fall of the House of Raeth (Age Thirty-Two to Thirty-Three)
Varan did not recognize most of the people at his parent’s funeral, but they greeted him warmly nonetheless. He was his parents’ only child and was technically now Marquess Raeth with his mother’s death. The idea surprised him at first, but as Varan thought about it he liked it more and more. There was nothing left for him with the Jedi anymore, that much he knew; nothing made sense at the Temple anymore, but everything reminded him of Kana. Besides, he knew it was only a matter of time before the Jedi sensed the darkness in him, and in his grief he falsely believed that the Jedi would imprison or kill him for it. No, from now on Varan the Jedi Knight was dead and Marquess Raeth was alive.
Varan discovered that his parents still had a great amount of wealth. Despite their support of the Republic, it seemed that they had kept most of their money on worlds controlled by the Hutts or the Corporate Sector. He also inherited stock in several companies which he promptly sold off for a moderate profit. When not managing his parents’ last wishes, he set about constructing a new lightsaber using a ku'ari gemstone that had previously belonged to his mother. The work helped clear his thoughts, and in any case he no longer liked the feel of his old lightsaber. It reminded him too much of Kana and the Jedi.
The Jedi waited for Varan to finish grieving, but when he didn’t return they tried to get in contact with him via comlink. Varan refused all their calls, however, and even when they sent a messenger to him to see what was wrong he turned them away. Technically Varan had done nothing wrong, so he knew the Jedi could not forcibly bring him into their fold once more.
Varan did not expect the next person who came after him, though. Seeing as how all their previous attempts had failed, the Jedi Council sent Varan’s old friend Thulen Gray to convince him to return. Caught off guard, Varan allowed the Jedi to enter his newly acquired mansion. Thulen tried to comfort Varan and convince him to return, but to no avail. Eventually Varan tried to throw Thulen out, but at that moment the Jedi realized that his friend was dangerously close to falling to the dark side. Thulen tried to use compassion and kind words to redeem Varan, but upon hearing mention of the dark side, Varan’s fears about what would happen to him if the Jedi believed he had fallen resurfaced. He engaged Thulen in a lightsaber duel then and there, and while the battle was long and fierce, ultimately Varan won. Realizing that he was now a murderer, Varan set fire to his mansion and Thulen’s corpse and fled into the night.
Truth in Shadows (Thirty-Three to Present Age)
Varan managed to escape to the newly christened Sith Empire. Because of the nature of his parents’ funds, he was able to live comfortably in his exile, although he was always careful never to stay in one place too long or to attract attention to himself. He spent his days studying philosophy and slowly came to embrace Malthun’s view of the universe. Power and suffering were integral parts of the universe, and he soon came to realize that he would need to master those things if he truly wanted to understand the world around him. Even so, his quest was for knowledge more that power. Where other Dark Jedi sought out dark side artifacts, he read scholarly articles by modern professors and experts about the beliefs of dark side cults like the Sith. Philosophy meant more to him than magical trinkets. However, that did not stop him from acquiring one such item, a holocron made by the Dark Jedi and former Krath practitioner Amon Fel. Through the holocron Varan learned to control the Force scream he had used all those years earlier, conjure lightning from his fingertips, and drain the life essence of those weaker than him. He also learned about a powerful ability known as Force stealth that allowed him to hide his presence in the Force. The principles behind the ability were not so different from his use of Force Camouflage. When cloaking himself, Varan influenced others’ perceptions so that they could not see or hear him. With Force camouflage he instead altered the way the minds of others perceived the Force in him, allowing him to appear as a non-Force sensitive. It was an ideal skill for a fugitive such as himself.
In the nine years of Varan’s exile he learned much about the galaxy and the Force. However, he slowly grew bored over time. Achieving enlightenment meant little without a means of putting his powers and beliefs into action. Then Varan heard rumors of a new Sith Order, one that was philosophically more refined than any of its previous incarnations. Suddenly he knew that the purpose he had been looking for had finally found him…
Lightsaber: A dual-phase lightsaber with a curved hilt made from black metal. Varan can switch between a conventional 1.3 meter blade and a thinner .6 meter blade with the flick of a switch. He also has his old single-phase lightsaber, but he does not carry it on his person anymore and is not trained in two-handed combat.
Color: Dark purple and blue respectively.
Practiced Lightsaber forms:[/b]
Shii-Cho: 5
Makashi: 4
Soresu: 5
Ataru: N/A
Shien / Djem So: N/A
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman: N/A
Juyo: N/A
Double Bladed Combat: N/A
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 8
Body: 3
Sense: 5
Protection: 2
Healing: 1
Destruction: 6
Specialized Skills:
Fluency in Ryl, Huttese, Zabraki, and Mando’a
Force Camouflage—Varan’s version of this power works by influencing the mind. Droids are unaffected by this power as are video recordings, although Varan can influence the minds of people watching such recordings if he can sense their mind.
Force Stealth—Similarly, Varan must be able to sense a person’s mind to use this power. While Varan is exceptionally adept at detecting the presence of others due to his telepathy, he can still be taken by surprise.
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 5
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 5
Melee Weapons: 4
Ranged Weapons: 3
Force Attunement: -5
RP Sample:
Varan had been on Korriban for a month now, yet his excitement had yet to diminish even a little. Power emanated from the planet like a heartbeat, and everywhere around him were others like him who sought truth through the dark side. Well, almost like him, amended Varan. Many of the initiates here were simply power-hungry brutes who cared nothing for the greater meaning behind what the Sith were trying to achieve. They were like blind men whose hands groped right past the object they sought to find. Even so, Varan knew he had to be careful around him. Even a dumb animal could be dangerous under the wrong circumstances, and there was no denying that none of the beings here would hesitate to kill him if it furthered their own gain. Thankfully Varan managed to avoid most of the petty displays of power the younger initiates engaged in by keeping to himself. Having to exchange empty taunts with one of them would just be… undignified.
Today his destination was, unsurprisingly, the library. While no objects of any real power remained on Korriban, there were still a number of ancient texts here that detailed the beliefs of the original Sith. It seemed to Varan that every time he opened one of the books here that he uncovered some new truth to the universe. The most interesting ones tended to put words to things he had already known yet never quite articulated. The Sith had constructed such a natural outlook on the world that Varan could not help but stand in awe of them.
Suddenly Varan felt a presence in the back of his mind. A Trandoshan appeared around a corner of the hallway moments later, its movements arrogant and cocky. The alien’s thoughts were murky and unclear, but Varan could sense himself being sized up. The Trandoshan was probably looking for a fight to impress the other Sith.
Without looking at the alien, Varan reached out with his mind to the Trandoshan. He softly touched his mental defenses, found their weakness, and slipped the tiniest feelings of doubt into the alien’s mind. He felt the Trandoshan studying him more as he approached… and then the alien looked away. The seed of uncertainty he had planted in the alien’s brain had blossomed fully.
Varan made no acknowledgment of the exchange. His mind was already on the many mysteries awaiting him in the library.
