Post by mephz on Jul 7, 2012 18:37:47 GMT -5
Hunger to learn, to know
Name: Rui Magnus
Race: Umbaran/human hybrid
Age: 24 years old
Height: 6'2" (1.88m)
Weight: 155lbs (70kg)
Appearance
A pale, thoughtful and fierce young man would be correct way to identify him if someone decided to do so based on his appearance alone. Another appearance trait that sticks out like a sore thumb are his sunken eyes and the cold calculating stare that seemingly pierces through to the soul. From afar the eyes seem completely average black, but if you look deeper it seems as if there is a dark blue reflection of icy tundra. His eyes, although deep and menacing at first glance, hold a deep and profound respect of life. His sunken eyes make him look older than he really is. He has short black hair and well trimmed matching beard. He also possesses a slightly pointed nose, which is not at all too big or too small for his face, rather seemingly fitting just right.
He has a tall and slender yet toned build, with muscles all in the right place due to his fierce training regimen. He possesses smooth and silky skin that is completely void of scar but yet his skin is rather pale, possibly even frighteningly pale even though he is at the peak of his physical health. This skin condition is from his Umbaran half, the mother. Unlike his other Umbaran brethren, he however is not adjusted to darkness. This is because he was born and raised on Nar Shaddaa not on planet Umbara where the inhibitors dwell in eternal twilight. His eyes are therefore also, not as sensitive to light or flashes of light. In addition his eyes are human, therefore he can‘t see the ultraviolet like the Umbarans can.
He is one of those that dresses in dusty black or grey, however in his case it's primarily due to having better things to do instead of thinking about what to wear. After joining the Jedi Order, he always dresses in the simple robes of the Order. Recently Rui Magnus has gained ownership of two droids and the duo shadows Rui wherever he goes. One is a protocol droid of the GE3-series, the other droid is an astromech droid of the T7-series. Neither has been improved at this point in time so they look completely normal for the serieses.
Personality
He is a very conflicted character, torn between what the Jedi Order asks of him and what his mother taught him. However unlike his mother, his alignment can only be said to be good, but possibly with a chaotic twist in it. He holds deep respect for humanoid life, but is aware that every problem cannot be solved without harming life. He acts as his conscience directs him with little regard for what others expect of him. In a sense he goes around his work like a engineer, applying the exact amount of work necessary to get the job done and no more than that. It's irrelevant what that amount is; enter a knife through the ribs here or apply an army there, whatever gets the job done is what matters.
He believes in doing what is right, but has little use for laws and regulations when they stand in the way of goodness. He follows his own moral compass, which, although good, may not agree with that of society. His believes in some cases clash with the beliefs of the Jedi Order. He is an individualist and promotes the exercise of ones goals and desires. He values independence and self-reliance and often challenges tradition, especially if he feels that there are better methods. For example, he disagrees with the opinion that the Jedi should be emotionless. He does not believe that using the force like a machine, devoid of emotion and passion is possible or desirable. He thinks there must be a better way, but is unsure of the way. He does however not act on those beliefs, instead he follows the Jedi teachings to the letter, knowing full well how some people might see his thoughts.
His normal attitude if tried to explain in a single word, then that word would most likely be serious. However that attitude is often hidden under a shroud of carefree attitude, which makes people sometime wonder if he is taking them or the job seriously at all. In addition he often acts dumb around people, or enemies that don't know him. He considers it to his advantage in the long run, if people write him off. Anyone that sees him during a mission for the Jedi council instantly has his doubts about his seriousness extinguished. His emotions seem to simply disappear as soon as he is on a mission, as he puts full priority on his orders. He however knows full well that the emotions are still there, just hidden under a cloak in his mind. This ability of his to control his emotions and bend them to his will, sometimes prevents psychological influence during battle. His ability to protect himself both physically and mentally makes him one of the most formidable Jedi knights in the Jedi Order.
Rui is extremely Charismatic. He is only half Umbaran, his Umbaran abilities are therefore somewhat diminished when compared with other Shadow people, as they are also known. In short Umbarans have the ability to read, subtly influence, and sometimes control the will of others. In his case the abilities have not completely dwindled away, instead his Umbaran abilities surface in the form of strong leadership qualities. Unknowingly he subtly influences the people around him to follow his lead, but he is completely unable to control the will of others. So in a sense he only affects those that already feel a similar way, he won't turn anyone that disagrees with him to his cause, but rather make those that already agree, agree more if at all possible. This can potentially also affect those of neutral opinion, but only if swayed with words as well.
In battle be becomes ruthless, cold, calculating and capable of doing whatever necessary to achieve success in his mission as he cuts through his enemies like a scythe to the crops. However another main part of his character is his sarcastic sense of humor and his dark humor, he usually uses humor to quell his own nerves even if the timing and place is not good for such things. He deals with horrors of the aftermath the same way, unless he feels the issue is too sensitive for prying ears, then he is wise enough to hold his tongue.
During combat, Rui Magnus relies heavily on speed. His human/Umbaran hybrid body is light for his height, the slender body, although it's as muscular as it can get, is not as strong as average human with similar build. Instead his strength is similar to that of an average human woman. His hits therefore don't hurt as much, his swings are not as heavy and Rui had to adjust in order to be able to fight on equal footing with other physically stronger humanoids. He did that by focusing on speed, footwork, reflexes, balance, agility and motor coordination. His acrobatics and speed training therefore when compared to the average human make up for the strength weakness by being top notch.
As formidable as he is then his main weapon has not even been mentioned. His wits, vast knowledge form the basis of a strong calculating mind that can easily pick up and remember things many would have a hard time just noticing. He for example automatically checks guard positions, security and escape routes as he walks into buildings. He also burns into his mind details about people, their appearance, personality and the locations of their weapons if they have any. He could also burn books firm and stuck into his mind with ease, even possibly with just a glance at the page if the material was simple enough. His memory was simply unnaturally good and he was a quick learner.
This leads us to his main strong point, his driving feature is his mind and a brilliant mind it is. When not doing any work for the Jedi, studying anything force related or practicing his Shii-Cho light-saber stance, then his favorite hobby is by far to add to his already large knowledge base. He does not only enjoy adding to his knowledge, he gorges on any new knowledge. Especially knowledge about wars, battle tactics, battle maneuvers, weaponry and even the sociology of different races. He enjoys to grab a book to study techniques or battle strategies from, find a tree with good shade, and just sit down to read. The pursuit of knowledge is his main goal in life and nothing gives him more joy than to use that knowledge to outwit an opponent. He likes everything that tests wits, be it a simple chess game or large tournaments of some kind. He prefers to solve everything through discussion, rather than violence. Some cunning words can often do the job just as well as the end of a light-saber can. Some people at the academy have jokingly started to call him the "Master Tactician", liking the sound of that, he does nothing to dispel such beliefs, instead he plans to prove them correct in the coming years.
He never even thought he would fail to do so. His mind was so clear, problems other people could not see, he could solve. When people thought something was impossible, he saw the solution. When people thought technology could not be improved further, he saw more than a couple of ways to improve them. He saw the future like a flowing river, but did not let himself get pulled with the torrent like everyone else, instead he steered himself down torrents of his choosing or up against the stream if he wished it. He made new things possible, instead of giving into what was considered the norm and sticking with them. He felt he was one the few in the universe that stood up from the crowd in the galaxy, one of the few that could drag the society forward into a new age and his brilliant mind was the means of doing so.
Birth place: Nar Shaddaa
Faction: Jedi
Rank: Knight (Specialization: Consular), teaching assistant, Archives Assistant (and an inventor and researcher in his own time).
Lightsaber: single blade, single-phase, Firebrand (hilt)
Color: Red
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho 5
Makashi N/A
Soresu N/A
Ataru N/A
Shien / Djem So N/A
>>Sub-form Backhanded N/A
Niman N/A
>>Sub-form Jar-kai, or Dual Wield N/A
Juyo N/A
Double Bladed Combat
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 3
Telepathic: 5
Body: 6
Sense: 3
Protection: 3
Healing: 2
Destruction: 4
Specialized Skills
Battlemind
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 4
Intelligence: 8
Speed: 6
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 2
Melee Weapons: 5
Ranged Weapons: 3
Bio
Rui Magnus the Unborn - Prequel:
The story begins on planet Umbara deep within the Ghost Nebula. It starts with A female Umbaran named Elm Magnus. The Umbarans are highly secretive and manipulative people. They crave little else than power and influence and Elm was one of the worst of them all. Then again you can't really expect otherwise from a person that lives within a society like that. Elm Magus was a force sensitive and used that to her advantage as she climbed up the ladder in the caste system like any other average Umbaran. She used ordinary Umbaran tactics like blackmail, subterfuge and assassinations, but Elm simply did it better than the others due to her strong connection With the force and the dark side of it especially. When the last one in line towards the top, the final hindrance before joining the top then caste levels, chocked to death without anyone being anywhere near him, she finally gained what she had been after, which was the right to go off world first and foremost. The prestige and wealth on her home world was not enough for her. Her greed was not so easily sated, she wanted more, higher status in the galaxy and not just a random planet.
She traveled around the galaxy for few years until finally settling on Nar Shaddaa once she found the perfect opportunity for both fame and wealth. There she found her husband to be and intentionally caught his eyes after researching his wealth and everything necessary to hit home. He was the owner of a small but profitable droid company and with her abilities as an Umbaran and a force user she influenced his mind little bit at a time. controlling him more and more as time went on. Few months later, she was the head of the corporation and the husband thought it had been his idea and was completely happy with the change, that was after all what she told him he should think and how he should feel about it.
Rui Magnus the Child - Age birth-6:
Having gained full control over the company and in turn changed her status of a trophy wife, into having a trophy male instead, she then started thinking about an offspring that would get everything once she passed on. In turn she wanted a child she could teach the things she knew, not only the knowledge about Umbaran culture, not only how to make it big with tricks and dirty tactics but also about the force. She wanted a force sensitive child and only a force sensitive child. Because then she could teach her child everything about this invisible strength she had, this incredible tool that she could use against her enemies at will, for her own gain or amusement. Elm Magnus was even willing to try repetitively until she had a child brimming with the force, caring little about the others that came before.
It was in her third try, having sold the other two children to slavery, that she got what she wanted, a force sensitive child. She could feel the force flowing within the child's body, which was unlike the feeling with the other two children, therefore this one was given a name. She had long since decided on the name for her force sensitive child and finally she could use it, the other children did not deserve the name. The name was Rui Magnus.
She was a decent enough mom to that sole child, she taught Rui a lot of basic but useful things until he was five years old. Obviously his first two years in the world, were hazy at best, but nonexistent most of the time. The reason being quite simple, Rui is mostly human so as a perfectly normal child, he did not start to form memories until around two years old. Rui Magnus could however got a caring feeling from his mom from that time. While he could not put memories to it, he felt that she had raised him well during that time, probably alone as she did not seem to want to let his father have any part in the upbringing.
On the other hand his memories from being two years old until around roughly five and half years old were different matter all together. She pounded her values into him, she expected a lot from him, he was going to be her ideal child and even though she obviously loved him that just made her stricter if anything. Some of her values still stick, for example he lusts for power in a sense, knowledge is power so he lusts for that given value of power. She taught him about his home world, about the ways of the Umbaran people and during that time Rui also took his first basic steps with the force. She wasn't much of a force teacher, so his mother used very unorthodox teaching methods to teach the force to Rui. One of the holes in her teachings was that her view of the force was so skewed that she really could not do a good job at it when she only knew the dark side of it and how to miss use it.
Rui was not completely without results during that time though, at the end of the teachings, Rui was capable of throwing small rocks around rooms or small spaces, sometimes even hitting targets but usually just randomly tossed around. He could also trip other younger children with the force, he did it by focusing the force on a point on their legs, right behind the knee for example where a small push could have this effect on the balance. This technique was completely ineffective against larger targets than those young toddlers and small children. He could not trip anything older or stronger than himself, not even other kids the same age.
These teachings were cut short soon after. She in her lust for power and wealth, never stopped trying to gain more of it. While she was raising Rui she did not sit still with her business, but instead gradually started to take more chances for more wealth and better life for herself and Rui. Elm started making more shady deals, hired shady people and started doing more and more illegal things with the business and on the black market, starting with the small things then moving to big game, even slave trading and the weapon market. In the end her business was downright criminal in nature and when she purchased a highly dangerous bio-weapon on the black market a high point was reached. High enough point to alert the Jedi Order that had so far ignored her small schemes, because they had other more pressing matters.
That all changed after the Jed Order found out two pieces of disturbing news, one she was a Dark Jedi and two she had recently purchased a highly dangerous bio-weapon on the black market that was now in her hands. What she planned to do with it was still unknown but a strike team was sent. Four Jedi were sent on the job, she fought bravely but was heavily outmatched in the art of light saber fighting. The battle was quickly over, she got stabbed right through the chest, but before dying in retaliation against her killer, she unleashed her strongest force lightning up the metal hilt. The blade was in deep so the hilt touched her body and the lightning had a direct route up into the Jedi that had stabbed her. The Jedi died with her at the same time as he finished her. The remaining three Jedi found the bio-weapon and in turn did not fail to spot the force sensitivity of the child, when within proximity of Rui.
They took him with them, unsure what to do about him at the time. Rui was angry at them for taking his mom from him at the time, but soon enough he understood the horrors she had been doing and easily forgave those three. This was right before his sixth birthday, he never met his father again, now knowing full well that the reason is probably that he got crazy, or at least very confused after snapping out of his mother's control after so long. This much damage over such a long time probably broke his mind when finally released. In reality his father committed suicide soon after, never managing to deal with what Rui's mother had stolen from him for so long. His life at the Jedi Temple as a youngling started, innocent and unaware at the point. Rui did not yet know that many things his mother taught him were bad, the concept of good and evil simply had not formed clearly in his mind, but it soon would.
Rui Magnus the Student - Age 6-10:
His life as a youngling, was in a word, boring. While the classes were more than enough for the first few years, he soon caught up and went past the material they were teaching, making him bored most of the time during the classes. Some he considered especially worthwhile and were among his favorites through out his studies, like science, history and math but he soon knew much more than the teachers taught the kids so he quickly moved to self-study by reading books about the material and about other topics that interested him personally, sociology for example.
On the other hand Rui Magnus did not enjoy physical classes like the martial arts classes, he simply was not interested in hand to hand combat. He was not gifted in them at young age and as he got older, he felt martial arts were beneath him in a sense. He started thinking about martial arts as the drunken man's discussion method. If an argument could not be solved with words, then later in his life light-sabers and melee weapons were going to be his choice of weapons. Even we he was a youngling he just felt that light sabers and other sharp blades had a certain charm about them. He had only read about them at the point and never held them in his hands himself, but a sword simply sounded a lot more gallant in stories than a hero wielding a brute‘s weapon like an axe did.
At the start of the practice sword training Rui Magnus had mostly the same problems as in the martial arts class. His blows were light, he was light, his bones were light and he could not handle many clashes of the practice swords before getting overpowered by most opponents. His strength was beneath that of an average Jedi student so this happened all the time. One night he had a vision, in the vision he saw himself clash a light saber with a dark Jedi. He could see that he had no chance, he simply was not strong enough, he was pushed back, his light saber soon after dropped from his hands after a heavy blow and he got run through with a quick thrust. That was when he woke up, sweating, but the vision was still burning in his mind. That's why he knew it was a vision, not a dream, it never faded.
Rui Magnus felt he was in his element when reading books on his own. He preferred that above the classes throughout his youngling period, mainly because he could choose his reading material as long as it was not locked for younglings. He could read all the science, math and history he wanted as long as the subject was not in any way connected with the dark side of the force. Which kind of backfired in a sense and made him want to read about it even more, especially because he recalled his mother's teachings to a point and was searching for a connection between them and his studies, but he never found any connection between his mom teachings and force teachings at the school. It seemed to be an untaught subject at this age.
The youngling years were however not without force teachings, even if they were not exactly what Rui was looking for at the time. Rui quickly showed himself to be strong in the force, consular material, a thinker rather than the physical type. He especially showed remarkable skill with body and telepathic force abilities, but Rui kept his minimal destruction ability secret from the teachers at the school. Never even once daring to use it within the Jedi Temple. However nobody is perfect, Rui Magnus showed no more than basic understanding in telekinetic, healing, sense and protection.
During his youngling days, he gained a few friends among the other students, but in the long run the Jedi Order did not want strong attachments so he thought making such connections with other younglings was probably not wise. Rui therefore did not make a lot of friends, even avoided making them, he was content alone with his books anyway. He however suspected that some of the others did look at him as a close friend at the end, he hoped that it would not come to haunt them later in life. Most noticeably there was a youngling named Samuel and his secret love Janna, both of them promising students and sure picks for padawanship if there ever was anything completely certain in this life. At the time the Jedi Order did not know about their relationship, but it's always found out eventually. More importantly however, he caught the eye of many knights and Masters seeking a padawan for their own reasons. In the end, on his tenth birthday a man named Edwin, Jedi knight Consular got Rui on as his padawan. Everyone interested in Rui Magnus's affairs thought he had been picked due to his exceptional grades in force related subjects, however Edwin had other reasons for picking Rui Magnus.
Rui Magnus the Apprentice - Age 10-22:
Rui Magnus was now a padawan, although being one had it's fair share of restrictions, he still had more freedom than a youngling that could not even leave the temple. The most vital thing for Rui Magnus was the increased availability of books and documents, many of which he he had not been allowed to read as a youngling but now stood open for him. However much information was still locked to him, but on the bright side he could read a lot more than he could before. He especially dived into war reports, heroic tales, books about battle tactics, books about Mandalorians and many other titles along this line. The Mandalorian culture fascinated Rui along with their technology and war tactics, this in combination made him a fierce reader of everything he could find about the people. Rui Magnus was completely hooked on war, often imaging himself as a hero in one, fighting for the good of mankind, dealing justice to those that deserved it.
In a way he had a goal, perhaps not exactly like he imagined it, he did not think he was ever going to be a war hero but he liked coming up with tactics of his own, something that could beat the more traditional tactics of the books. He liked trying to outsmart the enemies in the books, thinking about ways to break their tactics, sometimes even guessing exactly how the tacticans of old decided to proceed with the battle and gained victory by doing so. His new Master, Edwin did nothing to quell these thoughts of his, instead supported them, even gave him tips. Rui Magnus liked Edwin and with time grew even fonder of him and started thinking about him as the father, he really never had. Edwin always seemed to have something interesting to say and always came up with new problems or questions for Rui Magnus to ponder and solve.
Being a Padawan was however not all free time, he had work to do that came with the status. The first couple of mission he went on with his master were uneventful diplomatic missions. The first one was a simple escort mission to Dantooine, then bodyguard duty while the meeting took place and an escort back to Coruscant. Everything happened as planned, no danger and the diplomat and his companions all got back home safely. The second one was even less interesting than the first one. Only a body guard duty as a royal stayed in Coruscant on business for a single day. Once she was safely off world the job was done. There was no known danger, but the Jedi Council wanted to make sure to have Jedi visible on both occasions. However his third job however went crashing down, quite literally. On paper the mission was simple, he was to travel on a Luxury sail barge with an diplomat, speeding towards Mos Espa, then help her aboard a ship and watch her fly away. This time there was danger, but his Master Edwin was handling the harder parts of the mission, for example clearing the area, stopping assassination plots, anything that came up.
Soon after setting out for the journey, the Luxury sail barge broke and crashed into the sand dunes. It smashed up in such a way that it had no hope of getting repaired without some serious engineer equipment. In addition, the communication devices got heavily damaged, however the diplomat was unharmed and so was most of the crew. They had a long way ahead of them on foot. Rui Magnus did not like that option, he told them to remain on the crash site instead of attempting to cross the dunes, he regrouped and organized the crew around the wreck, it was vital to save all the water they could find before the sand ate it up, so that was his first priority. He ordered everyone inside after that, as the watchers he had placed around the camp noticed a sandstorm approaching. The sandstorm furiously pounded on the Barge, but the Barge was shelter enough to keep them away from the worst of it. His third trial in this simple and safe diplomatic mission was an attack by Sand people. The Sand people were clearly hoping to get their hands on something useful in the wreck, they had is surrounded in numbers, there was no way out. A small battle started, as the survivors under the leadership of Rui Magnus fought for their life against the swarm surrounding them. His tactics delayed the Sand people, but with such overwhelming odds in favor of the enemy, there was no hope of victory without reinforcements. When Rui was shot through the shoulder by a Sand people sniper he thought it was all over, soon after however, the reinforcement they needed came in the form of his master Edwin and some mercs be picked up in Mos Espa after seeing that the Barge was behind schedule. In the end, everything worked out, but more importantly for Rui Magnus, he took part in his first battle and he was proud of it even if his master Edwin had to handle everything after that, because of a injured padawan.
Right after his third mission, his master told him that Rui was ready for the responsibility of having a light saber. First he asked Rui to recite the Jedi code, which Rui did flawlessly. After wards he stated to his padawan that he had two reasons for giving the sword to him now. One, Rui had impressed him on his last mission, but at the same time, is second reason was that Rui clearly needed something to even the odds if danger came knocking on his door again. Edwin said that he did not feel right knowing that his padawan was sword-less, when something like the issue with the Sand people could happen again. Additionally Edwin told him that he thought Rui was already well on his way of mastering everything he needed to know about Shii-Cho, he told Rui he felt he should start learning a style that would compliment his speed, movement speed, agility and balance. Edwin agreed with his master on the point, but wanted to finish mastering Shii-Cho before moving on to other styles. Edwin said that his own style was best fitted for Rui, The style was Form II: Makashi. Rui Magnus kept the name of the style in his mind, it was worth to look into later. Rui's first saber was blue in color, single-phase and had a firebrand hilt.
Few years later, after around twenty uneventful diplomatic missions, many training hours and a lot of book pages read, Rui arrived on Tatooine for the second time. This time his mission was slightly different than from before, he and his master were tracking a dark Jedi spy. The dark jedi recently managed to get his hands on documents from the Archives, which was in short a list of Jedi watchmen. The list was detailed to a point that there would be no problem of assassinating each one that was featured in it based on the description and image that came with, or they could be avoided and force sensitive children hidden from them, if that was the more desirable option for the dark jedi. The dark jedi had managed to get his hands on the documents as they were being transported in a shuttle towards Coruscant and Rui and his master were nearby and ready when the call came. The chase after the dark jedi lead them to Tatooine and into a large cave within the Dune sea. The cave split after a few minutes, they were unable to find tracks so they in turn split on Edwin's command. Rui took the left path and found the dark jedi spy working on a transmitter station. However the spy was ready for him.
Rui Magnus clashed swords in mortal combat for the first against the dark jedi. He was wielding his blue light saber but the assassin was using a red one. Rui Magnus decided to use the Shii-Cho form against this assassin for the first time in real life combat, before this he had only used it in practice. Suffice to say, he was losing badly, but sought the calm within himself, Rui let the force flow freely within his body, all the way into his limbs, strengthening them wherever it flowed. He controlled his emotions and bent them to his will. This gave him a boost and for a moment he was pushing the dark jedi back, but it only lasted a short duration and the assassin was again on top soon enough. Finally the assassin attacked with an excellent swing and cleaved Rui's saber in two at the hilt, however when he was going to finish Rui by stabbing him through the chest, Edwin appeared behind him and ran him through from behind, again saving his padawan on Tatooine. It's said that trouble sires three children, Rui had already discovered two of those and he did not want to return to Tatooine to find the final and most powerful child.
It took a month to repair the lightsaber, but time did not stand still for Rui. The power he had seen in the dark jedi he had faced was immense. In secret he called for his own destruction ability a lot as he and his master traveled around the galaxy at the command of the council. Edwin was either unaware or did not try to stop Rui from using the dark side of the force. Rui thought the first option was the true one but in reality it was the second one. His strength in the destruction ability grew a little bit every time he used some aspect of it on a sentient being or an animal.
One night Edwin summoned his padawan and asked him to meditate with him. Rui took a look deep within his soul, he went into the darkness of himself and was confronted by a powerful vision of himself using the dark side of the force for selfish reasons. He saw himself cut down a person after person, slowly seeing his skin blacken, his appearance changing and growing more vicious and ugly. He was the embodiment of evil, his own arch nemesis, he had becomed what he was fighting with all his heart. He woke up with a scream, but like with all visions, it did not fade like a dream. Edwin sat in front of him and watched him, but said nothing for a while. He promised himself that he was never going to use his destruction ability for anything else than good cause. He saw the darkness in him, he could not decline it, but he could avoid it from this time on.
After sitting together in silence for a while, his master Edwin told him that he believed he had already cleared the requirements for Trials. The Trials are the Rite of Passage to Knighthood. Rui Magnus wasn't sure his master was correct but Edwin counted them up one after another, proving his pupil wrong once again. Rui Magnus had proved his skill in the duel against the dark jedi spy, he had showed good control of the Shii-Cho style and managed to hold is ground against a much stronger opponent. In turn he had proved his courage by fighting an opponent that was much more skilled. He had passed the test of flesh when critically injured with a rifle during his first trip to Tatooine. Last but not least, he passed the trial of spirit by confronting the darkness within.
Rui Magnus the Knight - Age 22-24:
Rui Magnus was finally a full member of the Jedi order and in turn Edwin graduated from the knights and became a Master. They still kept in touch, but soon after Rui Magnus became a knight, another young knight he knew from his academy days approached him. Samuel was looking for support for allowing Jedi to love and marry. It made Rui think, he did not really see the harm, but he was not willing to support him. That would face the wrath of the council, so instead he took on the wrath of one knight. The change in character after he declined his request surprised Rui, he blazed up in anger. So much that Rui wondered if he should report him, but thought better of it. Surprisingly his mentor Edwin, walked up to him after wards and asked him about the conversation. He seemed to know more than he should about what that conversation was about. In addition he seemed angry and possibly disappointed over Rui‘s decision not to take Samuel‘s side. Those were the first worrying signs Rui was supposed to register, but he did not. Instead he remained blind, this was his mentor, he respected him and loved him as a friend. He remained blind to his motives, because he did not want to believe they could possibly be true.
His vision from his past still prayed on his mind, he decided that he knew enough by now to attempt to remedy a solution for the problem. He needed to fight in a way that complimented his build and did not in turn favor brute strength. For few years he slowly adjusted, improved and changed his fighting style to suit himself and his build. He still trained the traditional Shii-Cho style he had been learning as a child, but he was building a foundation to change his Shii-Coo style, make it more personal for him. Now when he used the chaotic, randomized light saber style of Shii-Cho, he focused on speed and agility, his fighting style changing from the brute style of clashing swords to a more constantly moving style of fighting. He attacked with quick thrusts, pokes even then retreated to safe distance before the enemy could retaliate. If he had been using a sharp sword or a light saber not practice swords, then many of his opponents would soon look like pin cushions from all the thrusts he used on them. With a melee weapon then this style would slowly bleed a man to death in real combat, with small cuts and shallow holes without allowing the enemy to return in kind by using speed to stay out of range. What's more, this style annoyed his opponents, sometimes making them throw their own teachings out of the window, or let their guard down while trying to hard to catch him with a swing. When that happened, Rui Magnus could pounch on the opening or the failed move and strike a really devastating blow without clashing swords with a physically stronger opponent. However Shii-cho was to be completely blunt, very bad in one on one confrontations, therefore Rui Magnus was a little worried about how slowly he was progressing with his light saber training and how few styles he had learned. He was already a Jedi knight, but only had one style he could consider his own and had been mastered. He had no variety to choose from, he in a sense felt vulnerable.
That's when the assassination attempts started. The assassin was weak, easily defeated but many attempts followed. The attempts were unrelated to Samuel, but instead came to being because of his mother. Rui Magnus after all is technically part of the top ten caste ladder in Umbara society thanks to his mother. Crafty lower class Umbarans now sought to kill him and take his spot by hiring aliens, common scum, bounty hunters, almost everything that could go off world to get Rui Magnus and clear room at the top. Rui Magnus knew why the assassins were coming, however he had not given himself the time to travel to Umbara in order to deal with the families that were creating the problems. At any rate new families would probably just replace the defeated families, as it's really a everlasting circle in a way. You have to defend what you got, in this case he simply had to defend his own life.
Shortly after the first assassination attempt, Rui left for a mission, he was going undercover within a crime syndicate named the Ezrael on the order of the Council. It was his first mission as an investigator for the Jedi council and it took him one year to complete the mission. It started with many weeks of training, because in order to infiltrate a large criminal organization like the Ezrael, Rui had to start at the bottom and two of the most vital things necessary to maneuver in the criminal world are weapons and the knowledge to use weapons. He could not take his light saber with him, or rather he could secretly have it, but he could not use it, or his cover would be blown. Therefore weeks of vibroblade training instead of light saber training and targeting practice with a blaster rifle was the beginning of the quest he was going on. Not the most exciting of starts, but it was simple enough.
When he finally deemed himself good enough to enter The Ezrael, without blowing his cover the moment he raised a blaster or vibroblade and showed everyone he was a novice, then Rui went and got a cruiser to Nar Shaddaa. He did not really miss his home but it wasn‘t that bad. The change wasn‘t much from Coruscant in terms of population, noise level and activity, but there was a lot more trash around, both literal and metaphorical. It was a real crime city and The Ezrael had a large part in the cake.
He started his climb as a spice runner. Too this day Rui still feels bad about the people he might indirectly and directly had harmed from this time. How many families had he destroyed? How many people had gotten addicted to the spice? He dreaded to think about it, but his objective had been out of reach at the time, he needed to climb the ladder and losing spice was a quick way to get yourself killed instead, he simply had to deliver the spice if he wanted to be able to complete his mission. Rui learned quite a few things from his time here. Among them were flight routes, those routes that were useful to avoid patrols. Also useful and quick routes from Nar Shaddaa to other nearby planets that might have spice buyers. Rui was not sure if this would ever again be of use, but it might.
Finally Rui Magnus caught the eye of larger names than most of the small fry he had been hanging around with for the past month. He was given another job as a body guard this time and would probably have been stuck in that spot for a while, but perhaps the force had a hand in it. Soon after the change of job, an assassination attempt was tried on the head of the spice running department within The Ezrael. His body guards got killed and so would the head if Rui had not stepped in and defeated the assassins. Instant promotion followed and he was suddenly head of security for the department.
After few months of work, saving the ass of his boss, he himself hated. Keeping a company running smoothly that he rather wanted to drive into the ground. He finally got the the opportunity to strike, he was summoned along with all the other heads of security, to defend a meeting of the heads of the organization. Every vital part of The Ezrael was going to be in that meeting room, but the main thing was there was well. His mission had been to locate three things that would all be in the building, in which the meeting was going to take place. The main Ezrael building, which is completely locked to any outsiders. Those three things were, number one; stolen documents from both the Galactic Republic and Jedi. Number two; some light saber crystals and three; some younglings that had been kidnapped from the shuttle the Ezrael got their hands on. The shuttle had been bound for the academy, filled with younglings that had recently been discovered and were being transferred to Coruscant for training. Those younglings were currently just used as slaves at the building, but Rui believed they were probably hoping that they got their hands on force sensitives they could make use of in the future.
As soon as the meeting started, Rui acted. He was sitting along the other security heads, watching the view screen, on which all the heads were sitting around a table and speaking to each other. The security heads had their eyes fixed, but did not have any interest in it anymore, Rui brought out his light saber. Wielding a blaster in one hand and light saber in the other, he made quick work of all the security heads that had been unprepared for an attack from one of their own. The security was immense around the area and around the building. Also every single room around the area was heavy with guards patrolling, but around the room of the meeting place itself, the security was minimal. The discussion was private and the heads did not want anyone else near, eavesdropping at the door for example. It made Rui's job easier this time, because he was already inside.
Rui knew all he needed already, he got the children first and put them into a ship in the hangar. The hangar wasn‘t heavily defended, he killed the few unlucky guards that were there and all the guards on route between the hangar and the meeting place. He then went back into security control room, turned off the power in the entire building, smashed up all the controls for the lights and the security systems with his lightsaber and ran towards the meeting place. It was pitch black but he knew the route, his eyes were adjusting slowly and by the time he kicked the door in, his vision was back and he saw all the heads of the organization moving around in confusion. His sight was clear, his purpose was clear, he felt the force like a storm, unleashing it on his enemies. He felt one with the blade, a battle mind, on his mind was only one thing, cut, cut everything.
He slashed the spice runner head through the torso, family members of addicts cheered in his mind as the head fell to the floor dead. He next cut down the slave trade head, in his mind slaves cheered. Followed with a thrust, swing and few more slashes, as he cleaved his way through all the remaining heads in the middle of the chaos, as he advanced on the boss of the corporation. Blasters were randomly shot through the dark, vibroblades were swung, but the bosses had long since passed their prime. In reality his mission had just been to fetch the crystals and the documents on the table in front of the boss, but this had been a added bonus, a very good bonus thought Rui has he raised his hand towards the leader, clenched it and choked the life out of the boss. Rui felt that the use of a destruction force power was justified against that monster. The world was so much cleaner now than it had been few minutes ago. Of course they would probably all get replaced, but he had brought time for all victims everywhere.
By the time Rui returned back to Coruscant, Samuel the Jedi knight that had been asking him about love within the Jedi order the year before came again. This time he had his girl with him and a group of other people, all dressed in black and either holding light sabers or had them strapped around their waist. Even Edwin was even with them, Rui was extremely surprised about that, more so than with all the others, he was a Jedi Master, his friend and mentor. Edwin asked him to leave the Jedi order with them. To join those that could appreciate them, to join those that understood the force, to join those that allowed love, was what he said in short. Rui could easily fill the blanks, even without Edwin tossing a red light saber crystal at him. Finally he told him that he had known his mother, that he had worked closely with her for a time. From the sounds of it, she had been more than just a friend, the rage had been boiling steadily since.
Rui was stunned, he could not believe what he was hearing, the words that were coming out of the Jedi he had so long trusted were unbelievable, but he was even more stunned that a part of him wanted to go with his old mentor. However that part was not in control, he thought quick, he recorded what remained of his conversation with a holorecorder and sent it too the council as proof on a stream. He believed he was going to need reinforcements soon, this was his best bet. Therefore dragged the conversation on, asked questions as to why they were doing it, bought as much time as he could until the nine Jedi, or should he say dark jedi, in front of him decided that enough was enough and that they wanted a clear answer, yes or no.
Rui begged them to reconsider and they took it as a no. Nine light sabers lit up the night in front of him, one tiny blue light saber lid up against them. Rui knew he had no chance, until he heard and saw light sabers lid up all around them. Clearly the Jedi council had been onto the group, they had been prepared, the holorecorder and all the talk had probably been meaningless. The battle was quick, the Jedi gave the group all the time to reconsider and give up, but they got cut down to a man with very few casualties on the Jedi side. That day Rui Magnus changed the crystal in his light saber from blue to red, both as a reminder that everyone could be turned to the dark side. He also found it silly that Jedi assumed that the wielder was a dark jedi if he had a red colored saber, surprisingly this little change often helped in during his missions later on, as the dark jedi often did the same mistake and thought he was an ally not an enemy, when they saw the red blade. Then again it would not work on some dark jedi that cut down other dark jedi just as quickly as they cut down jedi.
After the confrontation, Rui wanted to get away from Coruscant and the memories of his master's death. His missions as a investigator gave him the opportunity to do so. During the work he ran into a dark jedi, while investigating a smuggler ring. Rui did not kill nor fight with him, instead he spoke with dark jedi and tried to reason with him. Rui wanted to try to turn him towards the light, but in the end he failed again. However the curiosity got the better of Rui, he asked the dark jedi questions. He wanted to know why his master had taken that path he took. He wanted to know why his master had been lured to the dark side.
Rui learned a thing or two about the dark side from that meeting, as the dark jedi seemed to be more than willing to tell a jedi about the dark side. Possibly in order to lure few more jedi over, or possibly because of mere boredom. For the first time Rui Magnus made connection between his mother's teachings and what someone else told him. He had expected as much, but it was still nice to see the puzzle click into place. The destruction was fueled by the dark side, the force abilities he had used on occasion fed on rage, that had been the feeling within himself, he could finally put name to it. His rage towards those that deserved to be struck by justice. He was a bit worried about how strong he had become with the destruction side of the force. Even more so when he saw the surprised face of the dark jedi, as Rui materialize lightning in his hand. He was surprised how powerful the lightning was for a mere jedi and said as much. Rui later left the dark jedi in peace, thanked him even, then finished his work and returned home to Coruscant.
On his twenty fourth birthday, Rui Magnus changed jobs within the Jedi Order and started working as an Archives assistant at the Jedi temple, this really did not surprise anyone that knew him. He was still the same bookworm he had been in his youth, knowledge was his lifeblood, he was completely content as long as he had his scrolls and books. So far he had not tried to get a padawan of his own, instead he completed his Shii-cho form and continued to study knowledge of any kind. However, as if to prepare himself for the role of teaching a padawan, he took up the role as an assistant teacher at the academy alongside his duties in the Archives. His life suddenly became full of work and even his spare time was mostly used on research of some kind or the creation, planning, or testing of an invention he had made. He had found his calling, all the knowledge he had gathered could be used to make lives better for his people or worse for the enemy. His inventions would shape the world as time went on, but so far he had only created minor improvements for crops production, few minor upgrades for weaponry but he was working on a lot bigger projects, those included a spaceship design, the usefulness of crystals as catalyst for the force and improved mass production systems, especially for droid production.
RP Sample:
Jill was having a bad day. This entire evening the bar had been completely full of customers of the worst possibly sort and many different problems had occurred throughout the evening. Little did she know that that it was just about to get a lot worse moments later, when a figure hiding under a dark cloak moved into the bar. It looked like a man that was roughly 1,5-1,7 meters high but the cloak did a good job in hiding most of his features. He moved swiftly past the table and into one of the corners of the cantina.
Jill looked at her watch "just great, now I have to throw this person out at the end of the day. What‘s with him coming here at the end of the day and not order anything at all. In few minutes I'll have to throw him out among with these drunk customers"
She finished her business at the bar then shouted over the group of drunks that were either knocked out or in the middle of some stupid conversations that seemed to go in circles rather than having any possible conclusion in sight.
Now you guys and gals get out of my cantina, it's closing time!
After those words of hers, many arguments followed and it took her a while to throw everyone out. Well almost everyone, there was one hooded figure remaining in one of the corner tables. Jill walked towards him and said I was not excluding you, you know?
Little did she know that those would be her last words.
A lone explorer, stalking through the street after dark, wasn‘t that unusual, except for the fact that this one wasn‘t drunk and he had a light saber in his hand. The drunks that met him on the street, were wise enough to clear a path around the figure after a glance towards his hand. The robed figure was on route towards the pubs they had exited and they wanted no part in whatever a light saber was there to settle. Rui had lost sight of his target, but the force was leading him back to him. He heard a woman scream coming from one of the pubs, high pitched but clear. She was in danger, he lid up his light saber and ran into the bar. Sadly, he was already too late.
The cantina was dimmly lid, with dark corners of plenty. The dark jedi was already killing a woman, bartender by the looks of it. She had the back to Rui and the dark jedi was in front, two tentacles extended from the cheeks and went up towards the bartender's face. The face out of sight for Rui as she was turned away from him. Rui Magnus knew that Anzati fed on the brain by sending those tentacles up through the nose of the victim. He knew therefore where those tentacles ended, without seeing the face of the bartender.
Disturbingly, Rui Magnus could visibly see small bubbles of fluid run down through the tentacles and into the Anzat. He gave the Anzat no time, without hestitation he took a step towards the pair of tentacles, then slammed the lightsaber down between them, striking each tentacle apart in the middle as they extended towards the woman. The woman crashed down to the floor dead once released, but the Anzat screamed viciously as fluids spilled out of his tentacles, both green and red.
The Anzat with a furious expression, lid up his light saber and slammed it against the already raised weapon Rui had in his hand. The blow on his light saber, sent the small and thin figure flying backwards, then with a screaming roar the Anzat came rushing after him. The Anzat then jumped towards him, sword raised over his head as if in an attempt to cleave the attacker right through the middle. Rui had however been expecting such an attack, he raised the sword towards the Anzat in mid air, then quickly thrust it forward, but stopped right before making contact with the incoming Anzat.
Jumping on my sword dark jedi, how very thoughtful of you.
The Anzat jumped right into the light saber and ran himself through in midair, his attempt to catch Rui with his dying swing failed. Rui let go of the blade and stepped away once it made contact. He did not need to hold the weapon anymore, the deed was done. The silent figure of the Jedi stood over the Anzat as it took his last dying breaths, until his mouth drowned in a pool of blood and the heart stopped pumping.
The Jedi looked over to the bartender in sadness, she was dead, there was no doubt about that, but atleast her attacker had been killed, that must count for something, surely. Rui Magnus grabbed a bottle from one of the shelves behind the bar, pulled the cork out and poured the content into a large glass. As he raised the glass in salute towards the fallen woman, he spoke:
I guess this one is on the house
And gulped down every drop as he grinned.
