Post by Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy on Sept 17, 2012 18:36:31 GMT -5
Name: Doctor Professor Sobi Q’asdan
Race: Arkanian (Pureblood)
Age: 62
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 161 lbs
Appearance:
Sobi Q’asdan is an Arkanian, which means a few things. The first is pure white eyes, without a hint of the normal mechanisms for vision in other species. The lack of pupils and irises can be quite troubling for some other species. The second thing is her four-fingered hands, which further set her apart from humans. The final is her white hair, worn short above her shoulders. It is completely straight, and highly glossy, normally impeccably well-kempt.
She is a woman of greater height than most, and despite her age has a very attractive build. As someone might say, ‘there are the remains of a fine woman about her.’ Her skin is quite normal by human standards, and has resisted aging remarkably well, thanks to the miracles of technology.
As to her face, is rather wide, with a pronounced patrician nose, wide round eyes, and thin lips. Her cheekbones are not pronounced, and her chin is more squared than pointy.
Indeed, Sobi is very vain, a woman who thrives upon her own appearance, and who feels dedicated to stemming the flow of time. It shows in that she is amazingly well-preserved, and can pass herself off as a much younger woman, which is something she does a shocking amount of the time.
Doctor Q’asdan does not look anything like the common preconception for a Sith. She detests the color black, and she finds those quintessential dark side robes to be tacky and hideous. She doesn’t even wear around the facial expressions one would expect. Rather than a dark and brooding face that seems constantly centered on evil thoughts, Sobi wears the face of the distracted research scientist, someone obviously more concerned with matters inside her head than out.
Just about every day, she can be found wearing a form-fitting blue jumpsuit and a white lab coat, with a lightsaber hanging from her waist.
Almost surprisingly for an Arkanian, Sobi has virtually no cybernetics implanted into her body. Everything not touched by plastic surgeries is completely natural, with the exception of cybernetics attached to her optic nerves, which block out the infrared light known to plague Arkanian vision off their homeworld.
Personality:
To call Sobi Q’asdan a woman with issues would be both an understatement and an insult to all the relatively normal women with issues. Sobi has issues to the nth degree, starting with racism.
It is Sobi’s firm belief that Arkanians are the most evolved and advanced race in the whole of the galaxy, and the beacon of science and civilization in a dark universe. What’s more, she believes that the normal rules of civilized conduct don’t apply to other species. While superficially polite, she has no qualms about dissecting a living Aqualish or rewriting the genetics of a human embryo so the baby will be born with the deformities she wishes.
Sobi has carried out infanticide and murder so many times she doesn’t even blink, securely confident in her own rightness. What’s more, she learned to take a degree of pleasure in it, of purging undesirables from the world.
Of course, for her everything is in the name of Science. Science is her raison d’être, her everything. If somehow she was to be transported completely away from her technology and her work, she would wither and die like a plant deprived of water.
In addition to her racism, Dr. Q’asdan has arrogance so monumental that, had she the money or influence, there would be enormous statues erected of her and buildings crafted in her name. Sobi genuinely believes that she is the most brilliant being ever to set foot on Arkania, or Korriban for that matter. When criticism is directed her way, she simply dismisses it as the work of meager plebes who lack her vision and genius.
Her arrogance is not, surprisingly, unfounded. Sobi is a brilliant research scientist of the highest caliber, and her mind works on a wholly different level than others. In a single glance, the Arkanian woman is dissecting others, looking for physical traits of genetic disorders, trying to determine all the different research applications the person would have.
Despite her arrogance, one of the first things anyone notices about the Doctor is her politeness. Sobi is almost painfully polite under any but the most adverse circumstances, with a silky and friendly tone that seems wholly at odds with her status as a Sith.
Additionally, Doctor Q’asdan has always been highly acclaimed for her bedside manner with children, showing them great levels of kindness and positive attention. Sometimes this happens shortly before dissecting them or conducting some sort of experiment. Even at times other than the final experiment, she was often ready with a sweet or a toy for a child.
Among adults as well, the Doctor is famous for her pleasant bedside manner. When news of her medical experiments was made public on the holonet, those who had encountered her were quite shocked at what they heard. Despite irrefutable evidence of her wrongdoings, some on Arkania still refuse to believe.
The Doctor might seem an odd sort for a Sith, for a very simple reason. She is. No one expects a brilliant scientist to be a wielder of the Force following the path of the dark side, but when one looks at the goals she pursues, it doesn’t seem so odd after all. The Sith aim to reshape the galaxy, as does Sobi. The Sith provide opportunity, and she needs opportunity. The Empire has in her, a researcher for the Empire who also happens to be in their Order, cutting out the middleman completely and opening the doors for a promising career.
Chief among her quirks is an unhealthy obsession with personal beauty. The idea of fighting time appeals to Sobi, though she knows she can never fully defeat what everyone succumbs to. The idea of somehow becoming ugly is the subject of nightmares for her, and a large portion of her waking thought. In the perpetual stride to make herself look better, there have been ten separate plastic surgeries since the age of forty, and as the years go by, more are likely.
The concept of death as a result of age has been one of her driving interests, which has slowly expanded into death in general. Her ultimate goal is to resist mortality, and to control it, and to create the ultimate race genetically. It is a goal she does not believe she can complete in her life, part of the reason she has kept her work meticulously documented.
Q’asdan is a dedicated chewer of pens, pencils, and styluses. If it can be used to write, she will most likely be nibbling on the end. And she does insist on writing, scrawling out her notes, and often devoting multiple walls of her home environment to various scientific endeavors. Her favorite method is a blackboard and chalk, which she describes as ‘archaic, but effective.’
The Doctor is also still very much the Professor, an instructor following lesson plans and passing along her knowledge to students. She is quite used to being the one listened to.
While not beholden to laws, Sobi does not flaunt them. Whenever possible she operates within the law, and when she violates it, she keeps as low a profile as possible. She does consider herself above the law, but only for one reason. Science. As far as the cause of science is concerned, there are no limits.
As a recent convert to the Sith, Sobi prefers to think of herself as a semi-autonomous ally of the Order, still accountable to her research, but on call for what tasks the Order wishes of her. Ultimately her greatest desire is for the Sith to be her prime patron, and give her access to the resources she needs to become the master of death. She does accept that nothing comes for free, and her membership inside the Sith is her idea of paying for what she receives.
In that sense, she feels a responsibility to obey the Inner Sanctum and be a productive member of the Order, which in the end is what matters.
Birth place: Arkania
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction: Dark Jedi
Previous Rank: Knight
Lightsaber: Single blade single phase
Color: Red
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho 5
Makashi
Soresu 5
Ataru
Shien / Djem So
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman
>>Sub-form Jar-kai, or Dual Wield
Juyo
Double Bladed Combat
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 4
Telepathic: 8
Body: 2
Sense: 5
Protection: 2
Healing: 2
Destruction: 8
Specialized Skills: Drain Knowledge
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 4
Intelligence: 9
Speed: 4
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 1
Melee Weapons: 1
Ranged Weapons: 3
Bio:
An Unremarkable Beginning
Sobi Q’asdan was born on Arkania in 3663 BBY, the only child of a pair of Arkanians. The birth itself was unremarkable, but the story began twenty years earlier.
A scientist named Rani and a medical doctor named Scalira crossed paths one day at a symposium on bio-technology and cybernetics, and they quickly felt a certain bond forming between them, both intellectual and emotional.
Rani was in the field of cybernetics, and Scalira was a practicing physician interested in biotechnology quite keenly. Both were affluent and from good families, and both were exactly what most people thought was wrong with Arkanians.
They were both supremely arrogant racists, and held Offshoots in about the same light as lab rats. Neither had much opportunity to act on their feelings however, as their fields didn’t require much experimentation.
When they finally married five years after meeting, they were only interested in furthering their careers, not in building a family. But, they did succeed in masterfully building and binding their careers together. They both found work in the same Arkanian company, rising in the ranks of research and development for biotechnology, working hand in hand.
Only when life had stabilized did they decide to become parents.
When Sobi was born, they had every belief their perfect little bundle would grow up to be their spitting image, a brilliant scientist. They were firmly convinced of the fact any child they sired would be brilliant, brilliant enough to shame non-Arkanian parents.
As it happened, they weren’t going to be disappointed.
The only real issue of note in her birth was the first blood test, revealing force sensitivity. Sobi’s parents were approached by the Jedi, however they haughtily refused. What good was it to have their brilliant baby raised by inferiors? No, she needed a proper Arkanian upbringing.
In Father’s Footsteps
It would be tempting for parents to claim their child as a prodigy from the first few days, but objectively Sobi was much like any other child. The expectations were higher growing up, and she did master putting the correctly shaped blocks in the correctly shaped holes rather quickly, but she was hardly a prodigy at an early age.
The child learned to talk quite late, and even then didn’t prove very talkative. While most little children were chattering away merrily in nonsense words, Sobi’s words were few and far between. Her performance at school was barely adequate. It was odd enough that her parents were worried their child was defective, and they sought professional advice.
After browsing the field of the best Arkanian childhood psychologists, they arranged a meeting and ran their four year old daughter through an exhausting battery of tests and examinations. They were bracing for the worst, for news that their child was mentally incapable. Instead, they were surprised. Sobi possessed a very high intelligence, but was confined to her own mind, not relating to others. Her development was certainly delayed, but it had nothing to do with being insufficient. Sobi’s parents were assured that their daughter would blossom in her own time.
So began a period of waiting that lasted for six years, in which day after day marched by of Sobi staring at walls and scribbling drawings onto pieces of paper. It seemed as though the Arkanian girl would never develop, that she was stuck in the same rut, with the same repetitive behaviors over and over again.
Shortly after her tenth birthday, things started to change. Sobi spoke more often, and asked questions to help her understand things. Her performance in school streaked upward, and like magic she was turning around. Her language skills grew in leaps and bounds, while she maintained the skills she had previously shown promise in, those she had received coaching in by her parents.
Scalira and Rani were excellent teachers, and showed remarkable patience. Above all, they wanted to get their daughter into their field, to convince her that science was her future. They took this to such a degree that science became associated with love while the humanities were not. Sobi became convinced that her access to love was contingent upon pursuing the sciences, a message that was reinforced by scientific gifts for each birthday. Chemistry sets, microscopes, and everything a blossoming young scientist could need or hope for.
It was no stretch to say that Sobi grew up with a lab, and was raised in the scientific method. Her formative years were so heavily shaped in that field that she never even had a second guess over what she would be doing as an adult.
One level of school was replaced by another, and the honors started to accumulate. Every class taken was an honors class, every grade earned was the maximum. The benchmark for success in the household was perfection, and deviations were punished. Love was withheld when performance was poor. While hardly the best parenting practice, it was highly effective. Sobi became the quintessential young egghead, involved in every kind of science imaginable, from chemistry to astronomy.
Thanks to hard work and no personal life, Sobi excelled. But try as she might, she still felt something was missing. It was in the glances that she received that she felt a calling. It wasn’t a calling of intimacy or of romance, it was a desire to be seen, to be visible.
Sobi started to dress nicely after puberty hit, to show off her assets. She was never really interested in going out on dates, but there was something exhilarating in turning the heads of boys her age. Of course that didn’t exactly endear her to the girls her own age.
Some people believed beauty AND good academics was too much, but it came at a cost, and that was the personal life. Outside of science, there was nothing else going on in her life. It was almost bleak.
Her home existence was best described as luxuriously Spartan. Every item in the house was of the highest caliber, from appliances to wall décor, but they were sparse, and the lifestyle was far from human luxury. There were no vacations of any kind, and growing up there was little concept of fun. Fun was work. Work was fun.
The only source of recreation was the science she was studying, which was some kind of perverse circular logic in regards to the definition of fun.
Also at home, certain values were taught, some good and some bad. Among the good were the values of hard work and courtesy, mixed with a love for knowledge. However the bad were quite severe. From day one, Sobi was brought up with racism. Arkanians were the most pure species, the most intelligent species. Sobi was indoctrinated that she was superior, and especially over one group.
Scalira and Rani made it very, very clear that the Arkanian offshoots were the lowest of the low, genetically altered organisms made to serve as workers. They were not ‘real people,’ and didn’t merit a second look, or the politeness Scalira drilled into Sobi. They were like cattle.
It was no surprise that Sobi grew up holding offshoots in worse contempt than offworlders. It was her first real prejudice, and would taint her life permanently.
It was also in these formative years that she selected her exact career preference. While a skilled enough student in a breadth of fields, her true preferences were biology and chemistry, and she was able to obtain a prestigious scholarship to Arkania’s premier institution of higher learning.
Academia
At the Arkanian Institute of Science, Sobi Q’asdan was paired with the brightest minds her own age, her peers in more ways than one. While in her own mind she stood out against them, to her professors she was hardly as distinctive. Her real claim to notoriety was the applied way in which she used her intelligence. While many were content to passively learn the material and complete the work, Sobi went the extra mile and haunted her professors like a ghost, constantly there with a question and a winning smile. She was charismatic and intelligent enough that her professors took it in stride. By her third year she was working as an assistant to Professor Ulia Sara, one of the leading Arkanian research scientists in the field of biology, with a heavy emphasis in genetics.
When the words ‘Arkanian scientist’ are bandied about, they aren’t usually associated with the word ‘ethics’ or the word ‘morality.’ Ulia Sara was very much the reason for that view. Many of her experiments were done off the clock and away from the university, in immaculate rooms filled with unfortunate Offshoots selected for medical experimentation.
Ulia’s research was geared towards enhancing the Arkanian race through genetic engineering, and the Offshoots made ideal test subjects due to their close similarities.
Some of the modifications were benign, and the test subjects returned to their lives, but a great many of them were much darker. Genetically-enhanced eyes grown in labs were used to replace existing eyes, often with disastrous results. It was much the same with other organs as well, and a great many research projects ended up with dead and dying Offshoots.
Of course those extracurricular activities didn’t count for college credits, and mixed work required more time than Sobi had ever devoted before. Her sleep-time was cut into, and she had to juggle her on the clock and off the clock work very carefully. However, the experience was extremely valuable, and she learned a great deal.
Ulia became a mentor over two years, a true inspiration for Sobi. She was a beacon of science, a shining light in the darkness for her student. She became the go-to source for advice.
One bit of advice that came to fruition was career advice. Ulia advised that Sobi enter medical school to earn a Doctorate, and to better implement her biology studies.
Luckily there was an attached medical school, and Sobi transitioned into it seamlessly after earning her first degree.
Her parents were extraordinarily proud of their daughter, though she never mentioned what her duties assisting Ulia were. Her parents never asked either, appreciating proprietary secrets as they were. Of course, they saw precious little of her.
Sobi was growing away from her parents. She had superior role models, and absence was not making the heart grow altogether fonder. She did accept that her parents were her family, but she had been raised in such a fashion that she rarely looked behind, with the result that sometimes her parents were forgotten.
With the hectic pace of medical school, Sobi rarely looked back for her old life, or even thought about anything but learning. She was memorizing the anatomies of Arkanians, as well as dozens of other species. The pure volume of information to cover was staggering, but Sobi’s retention was remarkable.
It was during her second vacation period that she discovered something else about herself, from a comment her parents let slip. She was force sensitive, and could have been a Jedi.
What Could Have Been
Sobi was rather entranced by her newfound force sensitivity, and over the vacation she was pouring over data on the Jedi Order. Her conclusions were rather forceful.
The Jedi wielded among the greatest power in the galaxy, yet they crippled themselves and refused to use it. By the same token, the Sith and Dark Jedi she researched had lacked the discipline and will to use their power effectively. She became convinced that she could do better, that she could use her intelligence to surpass both.
Interestingly, she never thought of greatness through military conquest or breaking the will of another, but she viewed it as living up to her full potential, exploring another aspect that could assist her.
However, Sobi rightly realized that at her present station in life she lacked the time and the resources to follow through on it. She marked it down in her mind for later action.
Carrying On
Medical school returned, and went swiftly by until residency came at the age of 26. Doctor Q’asdan, as she was now known, was formally a specialist in neurology, but in practice her breadth of study was much wider.
Her residency took place in a private hospital on Adascopolis, under the close supervision of a Doctor Gal Prox, a rather esteemed figure in the medical community. It was his personal goal to instill values in Sobi, to craft some kind of noble idealism into her.
In many ways, he stood as the antithesis of Sobi’s other great mentor, Ulia Sara. Where she preached of glory and renown in science, he taught of hard work and duty. Most of all, while Ulia had taught the lives of lesser beings were sacrificial for science, Prox taught that all life was sacred, and a physician was to do no harm.
Sobi quickly determined that she could apply that principle to Arkanians and Arkanians alone, but she couldn’t wrap her mind on inferior Offshoots meriting the same quality of care. They were basically lab rats in her eyes after all.
Despite that irreconcilable difference, Sobi found Prox to be a role model in some other ways. His courtesy and polite demeanor was excellent, indeed legendary among the staff. As a result, while Sobi ignored his lessons on ethics, she emulated his polite behavior, without any differentiating between Arkanian and non-Arkanian.
During her residency, she rarely had the opportunity to practice neurology on other species, but on two occasions she found herself treating humans.
The first was during a very late night at the hospital when a wealthy human businessman was brought in, wracked by convulsions. As the only neurologist on duty, the task of diagnosis and treatment fell to Sobi. Of course it helped that she could run through symptoms, checking a database as she went. If the man had been Arkanian she likely would have been able to diagnose him on the spot, but instead she managed to trace down the human causes and find what had happened in a short amount of time.
The businessman had ingested a toxin that was attacking his nervous system. Luckily for him, Sobi administered a treatment, and after a week of neural therapy he was released to go on his merry way.
The other human came three years later, and was a mere child. Like the businessman, he came in convulsing, but also in excruciating pain. Drugs were administered to keep him unconscious, and muscle relaxants were injected to prevent more convulsions, but the cause itself required many hours to track down.
No one could say Sobi was not thorough, and she followed every process for testing that she knew. In the end, she was forced to diagnose the boy with a chronic and degenerative condition affecting a miniscule amount of people. She prescribed medicine to control the symptoms, but she found her consolation in the fact he was not of her species.
Back to Basics
Once her residency was complete, Sobi received an offer she found quite intriguing. Ulia Sara offered her a position working under her, much like old times. Without a single moment of hesitation, Sobi left the hospital and headed back to Ulia’s lab.
The work there was amplified from before, and Sobi utilized both neurology and genetics in the analysis of various diseases and conditions, looking for ways to cure genetic diseases in Arkanians, which perversely involved the pursuit to craft genetic diseases in test subjects, so curing them could be practiced.
While working there, the Arkanian woman decided it was time to live up to her potential, to seek instruction in her Force sensitivity. She sent out feelers to the underworld at the age of 30, searching for a wielder of the Force to instruct her.
The call was answered by, appropriately, an Arkanian Dark Jedi. His name was Alarin, and he was a former Jedi who had fallen and trained at a hidden enclave before setting out on his own. He was interested in stable income and job security.
And so began a dual life of training and science.
Leaps and Bounds
A typical day in Sobi’s double life started before dawn, rising early to study the ways of the Force with Alarin. Her training continued until mid-day, and touched many subjects. Then came a meal, and after the meal a return to Ulia’s research facility. Sobi returned home late and fell into a grateful sleep, waking again to continue the cycle.
Her Force training was far from comprehensive. While she was taught the basics of the Force and manipulation thereof, it quickly focused in on two aspects. These were telepathy and destruction, which Sobi thought to be quite useful. Telepathy was a day-to-day boost in all her interactions, and destruction was something she viewed as excellent self-defense material.
Alarin proved to be an excellent teacher, as befitted a former Jedi Knight, but he lacked his new student’s vision and convictions. He felt no loyalty to his race or concepts like progress and science, which led to many conflicts between him and Sobi. These were never particularly severe or long, but it led to a festering tension quite often.
Alarin had an ego, and he liked to think Sobi was his great project, the chance for him to prove he was Master material. So he jumped at it.
Despite her limited time, Sobi’s progress was stunning, far greater than could reasonably be expected of someone so far past the prime window of training. They both recognized that fact, and Sobi became convinced the reason so many organizations insisted on training children was purely from the standpoint of ease of indoctrination.
Of course it wasn’t easy or swift, the work was long and hard, but it didn’t require quite the same kind of effort as her work with Ulia, which remained her primary passion.
If Sobi had been a favorite of Ulia before, she was the darling and beloved daughter now. Nothing was kept secret between the two, and they were practically of one mind. Between their skills, they were documenting the genetic causes of diseases, and isolating the DNA strands responsible. It was slow and exacting work, but both Ulia and Sobi had the patience expected of the best scientists, that quality allowing experiments to flourish in their own time.
After five years of that basic existence, substantial progress had been made in both fields. Sobi was levitating small objects, and she’d recorded the genetic causes of Dari Syndrome, Akello’s Disease, and Ratheni. They were ready to begin their next phase, and to rewrite genetic coding, to see if they could introduce those conditions into test subjects, starting small with rodents.
It took them a full year to figure out how to introduce the new genetic coding into the body, to cause gradual change on a cellular level. Once they mastered it, over a month of exposure they gave a lab animal a genetic blindness.
It was hailed as a massive success by all involved in the project, the first real proof that genetic conditions could be altered by the hands of Arkanians.
Ulia Sara put forward her findings to the Arkanian Academy of Science, and was promptly given one of the highest scientific awards on the planet.
Meanwhile, Sobi was progressing more in her training, and had reached the point where serious subjects could be intensely studied. It was here that telepathy came into play. If Alarin had been demanding before, he was easily impossible now. He would take Sobi out in public and demand she read the thoughts of passers-by. When she failed, he would grow irate.
Every failure brought renewed focus, but as it progressed she grew increasingly determined to do it right, and eventually she was able to sense dominant thoughts. When she had time free at work she would practice reading whatever she could from whomever she could, like a workplace game of sorts played while she was awaiting test results.
It was also in this time that training began with a lightsaber, though Sobi was adamant she would never need one. Nevertheless, she was taught how to operate the Jedi weapon, and showed passable performance with it.
If Alarin had thought he was teaching a prodigy, he was quickly convinced otherwise. Of course he had never anticipated sharing his time with Science, the more important master.
After another five years of studying and Science, Alarin decided to part ways and head for less ‘mind-numbing’ work. That suited Sobi fine, as she had a new opportunity fall into her lap.
Change in the Wind
Ulia Sara had, by virtue of her lawful work during the day, won serious acclaim, and she had lobbied for a special campaign, a catalog of genetic diseases gathered from across the galaxy, taking samples of every disease in every corner of the galaxy. Field agents were needed, and Ulia hand-selected Sobi for the Outer Rim.
So it was that Sobi Q’asdan packed her bags and headed for Bakura, on the beginning of her new quest.
In her first year she reached Bakura, Cerea, Subterrel, Utapau, Sluis Van, and Eriadu. She spent two months on each planet, travelling from city to city and scooping up medical records and firsthand materials.
There were a considerable amount of new experiences taking place, from languages to food. While Sobi never changed her view that Arkanians were the supreme race, she did take a liking to certain other foods and art styles.
All the while, she still continued force training on her own, pushing her own limits in her spare time. With her lifestyle though, she doubted she could find another tutor for some time.
In the next year she reached Ryloth, Tatooine, Molovar, Rishi, and Kamino. This was one of the most exciting legs of her journey.
Ryloth itself was uneventful, even if Sobi grew to detest the smell of munch-fungus cooking. She found the weather in the twilight areas to be fine, but in the bright lands and the night lands she found it considerably less pleasant.
On Tatooine, Sobi was introduced to two facts. The first was that she could easily gain a tan, which she did, and the second was that she needed more training.
A man in a cantina got a little fresh with her, and when she left she was followed. When she turned down his advances, he hit her in the face, hard. Out of practice, Sobi choked him with the Force long enough to make a run for it, and she narrowly escaped. Naturally the local Hutt authorities were unwilling to deal with the assault, and Sobi immediately sought out a force user to assist her as a trainer, assistant, and bodyguard. Miraculously she found one in her last weeks.
She was a Mirialan woman named Elteria, and was a grey Jedi, on good terms with the Order. Aware that her own dark-side instructions might be a point of contention, Sobi left that part of her narrative out and instead let it be known she had some generic force training.
Her own dubiously ethical actions were carefully left out of conversation.
The journey went on with Elteria in two, with quick stops on Molovar and Rishi, which proved to be exactly like Tatooine and not wholly pleasant respectively. When they reached Kamino, they were promptly turned away by the natives, who had absolutely no interest in taking part in the study.
As Sobi made her way into Hutt space in the third year of her mission, she was making leaps and bounds in her control of the Force, especially with her telepathy. Elteria would practice by keeping a thought at the forefront of her mind, and challenging Sobi to read it. Unlike Alarin, she had patience.
It was Elteria who built Sobi a lightsaber and began to instruct her in Soresu, telling her that this would serve for all her self-defense needs. With the aid of a training remote and a Mirialan Grey Jedi, she was able to learn quite a bit.
Of course, Hutt space was hardly a walk in the park. Sobi found it to be backwards, grimy, and entirely unpleasant. She also found the Hutts to be inconsiderate hosts with absolutely no interest in her assignment. She was greatly displeased from Sleheyron to Ylesia, but the worst was on Nal Hutta. Far from glorious jewel, it was slimy hellhole.
Swamps. Miserable, festering swamps, and a plethora of diseases the Hutts had never researched. It took months to determine which ones were genetic and wish were of other types. It wasn’t that the work was hard, it was that the work was tedious and long.
On one day, someone tried to mug her, and Sobi responded by lopping his arm off with her lightsaber. The next week she finished her cataloging and left, beginning her path out of Hutt space.
Finally she broke free from Klatooine, and with a quick layover on Kessel, she was off to the far reaches of the Republic.
Mon Calamari and Belderone were comfortable enough and uneventful other than as benchmarks in her training. It had been almost four years of training under Elteria, and the progress was excellent as training was the only entertainment available in these Rim worlds.
Sobi’s telepathy was progressing at an astonishing pace, and her Soresu was approaching ‘proficient.’ While her destruction skills had languished, she had made excellent progress in other fields.
By the end of five years, her mission was done, and at the age of 45, yet another phase of life began.
Rise to Glory
Upon her return, Sobi compiled all her findings for a month, preparing an in-depth research paper discussing the experience and her findings. The Arkanian Doctor published it, and the work, Genetic Illnesses in the Outer Rim, quickly became famous among the scientific community on Arkania. Seeking a special time to shine in the limelight, Sobi realized a few things.
Image was essential, and she was starting to show the effects of age. Without hesitation, she underwent her very first cosmetic surgery, which resulted in her easily looking ten years younger. Sobi was hooked, ensnared by the prospect of such surgeries.
She also found that she greatly enjoyed the celebrity she had earned among her community, and she turned to her old mentor Ulia for guidance.
Ulia advised Sobi that she had to shape her own career, that she had to take her place in the sun. With that said, she didn’t think they had to split ways completely. Ulia had every intention and hope of staying in close contact with Sobi, working together and exchanging information. While Sobi agreed that was an ideal plan, she still believed in adding more breadth to her career, and she took a job that was offered to her.
Doctor Q’asdan became a medical researcher at a cybernetics company, testing out the implants on living subjects, and finding what could go catastrophically wrong, instigating such results in living test subjects. It was a common practice on Arkania that Sobi thought very little of, but as soon as Elteria found out, she was irate.
After a heated argument, they split ways and the Mirialan headed off the planet, leaving Sobi alone in her training.
Very quickly, the Doctor made her way up the ranks to an illustrious position as medical research supervisor, but it didn’t please her. She wanted something more hands on. She wanted what Ulia had.
At 50, several things happened. The first was that Sobi found a new instructor, a Twi’lek woman named Supisy, who was a self-styled Dark Jedi specializing in telepathy and destruction, the two fields Sobi had the most interest in. Also, the Doctor became a Professor, teaching courses on genetics and neurology at the University of Arkania. Her first few years were relatively uneventful, but she quickly settled into her dream research, behind closed doors, and once again she joined forces with Ulia.
Ulia had, in Sobi’s absence, finished a method of rewriting genetic code to instill genetic diseases in a test subject, which was the first prerequisite to finding cures, or to devising a new weapon.
They divided their labor, and Sobi was assigned to test on Offshoots, and to find cures. She had far more interest in the testing itself, and Sobi began her own side-project, turning the process of rewriting genetic code to instill a disease into a weapon.
At the same time, Supisy, who was proving to be a pleasant balance between Alarin and Elteria, introduced Sobi to a power called drain knowledge, which she felt might be a useful addition for an academic. It was to have use in only six years.
Ulia Sara, respected Professor and Scientist, was nearing one hundred years old and her health was failing. For her, retirement was no option, and she was desperate to pass along her knowledge, recording everything she knew on every material she knew, but that process would take far longer than she had left. It did come to her attention, through certain sources, that Sobi was undergoing training in the ability to drain knowledge. Intrigued, Ulia sent for her pupil.
After a long and drawn out debate lasting many hours, Sobi yielded to her mentor’s wishes and began the lengthy process of drawing out every valuable piece of knowledge Ulia had and placing it into her own mind, with as delicate a touch as she could harness. Sadly, it was not delicate enough, and it left Ulia with severe dementia, ending her career. She died a few years later and was cremated in a ceremony Sobi spoke at.
With Ulia gone and Sobi the clear heir apparent, both sides of the research coin were united at last, and Professor Q’asdan took the helm as the guide of the project. Sadly both her parents died in short succession, further burying Sobi in dark emotions. Still further tainted by her own exposure to the dark side, everything took on a more grim note.
Sobi had a new goal, and it wasn’t ending all genetic diseases. Her new goal was to make the Arkanians the master race through the use of genetic engineering, particularly in the field of aging. She even spent lavish amounts of money arranging for Morellian and Firrerreo test subjects, to find the genetic code involving aging. The search for parallels was intensive, and as it went by with every passing day Sobi became more intensely immersed in her work.
Classes that she taught became a distraction, and she took fewer and fewer students. As she looked in the mirror again and again, she always became displeased with what she saw, and she underwent additional cosmetic surgeries to restore her youth.
At the age of 58, Sobi released her findings on treating genetic illnesses by rewriting genetic code on a cellular level, with complete cures for three common Arkanian genetic conditions. Very promptly she was hailed as a scientific genius, a true pioneer in the field of medical science.
In her own research though, everything kept getting darker as her heart became darker.
The new research was maniacal, pursuing every possible benefit to the Arkanian species. Testing was, of course, done on offshoots. Genetic code was rewritten without consideration of the consequences, with often disastrous results. Some of the work was reasonable, like altering the optic nerve to reduce sensitivity to infrared light. Some of it was simply deranged, like trying to enable subjects to breathe underwater or withstand great cold and heat. The tests the Offshoots were put through were truly heinous, heinous enough that sooner or later they would be stopped.
One particular graduate student in the research division decided to grow a conscience, and she snuck in cameras to document the work, seizing datapads of evidence as well as spiriting away a survivor of the tests. They approached the Arkanian government in late 3602BBY, and received promises that an investigation would be made, but the student was not content, and she went directly to the Galactic Republic with her evidence.
While the reaction on Arkania was mixed, with many in favor of Professor Q’asdan, the reaction in the Republic was violent outrage against Sobi, and against Arkanians in general. The Holonet was splashed with the story by 3601 BBY, and Sobi hurriedly packed her belongings and prepared to flee. Supisy had already abandoned her instruction and left at the first hint of trouble.
With the Republic up in arms, even the Arkanian government sprang into action and shut down the whole operation, seizing what information Sobi was unable to hide in a safe location.
And then Doctor Q’asdan went into hiding until the coast was clear and she could make a run for Sith space, where she had a new plan: to join the Sith Order and use their resources to start her work anew, and to fulfill her full potential as a force user.
RP Sample:
Two Years previously
Doctor Sobi Q’asdan entered the clinic she’d been using as a front for her experimentation, a sterile but somewhat run-down building that had seen better days. It was in the less-desirable districts of a certain Arkanian city, with decaying and outdated architecture, not the sleek and modern lines that spoke of Arkanian design. It seemed clunky and primitive in comparison, but it sufficed.
And masquerading as a legitimate clinic there was no shortage of test subjects, attracted by the money they would be compensated. Though most of them would never receive it.
The Arkanian Doctor behind it all passed through double doors into a waiting room, glancing at a large datapad listing the subjects of the day. 112. Immediately she put a face to the number, and a name.
“Jelin,” she called, beckoning to an Arkanian Offshoot boy about six years old with a wide smile on her lips. “How are you doing today?”
He nodded mutely, still nervous around doctors. He was from an orphanage, obtained very cheaply expressly for the purpose of medical experimentation. Parents killed in a mining accident, a rather sad story in fact, soon to have a sad ending.
“Here, I brought you a sweet.” The Arkanian scientist placed a wrapped candy bar into the child’s hand and he greedily tore open the wrapper and took a bite, munching away happily.
Sobi tousled his hair with a smile.
“Don’t eat it too fast, or you’ll get sick. Now come with me.”
She led him back from the waiting area, sliding her datapad back into the pocket of her lab coat. By the time she arrived at the testing room, the confection was eaten and the wrapper deposited into a pocket.
The room itself was Spartan and immaculate, devoid of anything but a single airtight chamber hooked up to a large machine, the centerpiece of the test.
Jelin had been experimented on a year previously, having his genetic code rewritten on the cellular level, an experiment to see if his body could resist the effects of harmful radiation.
“You see that chamber? You’re going to go in there. It’ll be just like an adventure.”
“But I don’t wanna…” The boy muttered feebly, at which Sobi rubbed his shoulder and promised another candy bar if he complied.
“It will only take about a half hour,” The Doctor said soothingly as she lifted him up into the chamber, sealing it over his protestations.
Then came the protective equipment, a radiation suit in case of leakage, and the room completely isolated. After that the test began.
Sobi kept the radiation levels low at first, watching the readouts on his cells. They did show admirable resistance to low levels of gamma radiation, but she hadn’t rewritten his genetic code for low-level resistance. She increased the levels again and again, until finally his cells were showing damage.
And then she continued.
The boy writhed in pain inside the chamber, his body being wracked by invisible forces. Soon he was vomiting, sores were forming. He’d been in for too long, far longer than she’d promised.
She’d lied.
Finally, after hours of exposure he died. The chamber was cleared, the radiation controlled, and then an Arkanian orderly came in and removed the body, tossing it into an incinerator.
Every trace of him was extinguished, and it was like he’d never existed.
Race: Arkanian (Pureblood)
Age: 62
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 161 lbs
Appearance:
Sobi Q’asdan is an Arkanian, which means a few things. The first is pure white eyes, without a hint of the normal mechanisms for vision in other species. The lack of pupils and irises can be quite troubling for some other species. The second thing is her four-fingered hands, which further set her apart from humans. The final is her white hair, worn short above her shoulders. It is completely straight, and highly glossy, normally impeccably well-kempt.
She is a woman of greater height than most, and despite her age has a very attractive build. As someone might say, ‘there are the remains of a fine woman about her.’ Her skin is quite normal by human standards, and has resisted aging remarkably well, thanks to the miracles of technology.
As to her face, is rather wide, with a pronounced patrician nose, wide round eyes, and thin lips. Her cheekbones are not pronounced, and her chin is more squared than pointy.
Indeed, Sobi is very vain, a woman who thrives upon her own appearance, and who feels dedicated to stemming the flow of time. It shows in that she is amazingly well-preserved, and can pass herself off as a much younger woman, which is something she does a shocking amount of the time.
Doctor Q’asdan does not look anything like the common preconception for a Sith. She detests the color black, and she finds those quintessential dark side robes to be tacky and hideous. She doesn’t even wear around the facial expressions one would expect. Rather than a dark and brooding face that seems constantly centered on evil thoughts, Sobi wears the face of the distracted research scientist, someone obviously more concerned with matters inside her head than out.
Just about every day, she can be found wearing a form-fitting blue jumpsuit and a white lab coat, with a lightsaber hanging from her waist.
Almost surprisingly for an Arkanian, Sobi has virtually no cybernetics implanted into her body. Everything not touched by plastic surgeries is completely natural, with the exception of cybernetics attached to her optic nerves, which block out the infrared light known to plague Arkanian vision off their homeworld.
Personality:
To call Sobi Q’asdan a woman with issues would be both an understatement and an insult to all the relatively normal women with issues. Sobi has issues to the nth degree, starting with racism.
It is Sobi’s firm belief that Arkanians are the most evolved and advanced race in the whole of the galaxy, and the beacon of science and civilization in a dark universe. What’s more, she believes that the normal rules of civilized conduct don’t apply to other species. While superficially polite, she has no qualms about dissecting a living Aqualish or rewriting the genetics of a human embryo so the baby will be born with the deformities she wishes.
Sobi has carried out infanticide and murder so many times she doesn’t even blink, securely confident in her own rightness. What’s more, she learned to take a degree of pleasure in it, of purging undesirables from the world.
Of course, for her everything is in the name of Science. Science is her raison d’être, her everything. If somehow she was to be transported completely away from her technology and her work, she would wither and die like a plant deprived of water.
In addition to her racism, Dr. Q’asdan has arrogance so monumental that, had she the money or influence, there would be enormous statues erected of her and buildings crafted in her name. Sobi genuinely believes that she is the most brilliant being ever to set foot on Arkania, or Korriban for that matter. When criticism is directed her way, she simply dismisses it as the work of meager plebes who lack her vision and genius.
Her arrogance is not, surprisingly, unfounded. Sobi is a brilliant research scientist of the highest caliber, and her mind works on a wholly different level than others. In a single glance, the Arkanian woman is dissecting others, looking for physical traits of genetic disorders, trying to determine all the different research applications the person would have.
Despite her arrogance, one of the first things anyone notices about the Doctor is her politeness. Sobi is almost painfully polite under any but the most adverse circumstances, with a silky and friendly tone that seems wholly at odds with her status as a Sith.
Additionally, Doctor Q’asdan has always been highly acclaimed for her bedside manner with children, showing them great levels of kindness and positive attention. Sometimes this happens shortly before dissecting them or conducting some sort of experiment. Even at times other than the final experiment, she was often ready with a sweet or a toy for a child.
Among adults as well, the Doctor is famous for her pleasant bedside manner. When news of her medical experiments was made public on the holonet, those who had encountered her were quite shocked at what they heard. Despite irrefutable evidence of her wrongdoings, some on Arkania still refuse to believe.
The Doctor might seem an odd sort for a Sith, for a very simple reason. She is. No one expects a brilliant scientist to be a wielder of the Force following the path of the dark side, but when one looks at the goals she pursues, it doesn’t seem so odd after all. The Sith aim to reshape the galaxy, as does Sobi. The Sith provide opportunity, and she needs opportunity. The Empire has in her, a researcher for the Empire who also happens to be in their Order, cutting out the middleman completely and opening the doors for a promising career.
Chief among her quirks is an unhealthy obsession with personal beauty. The idea of fighting time appeals to Sobi, though she knows she can never fully defeat what everyone succumbs to. The idea of somehow becoming ugly is the subject of nightmares for her, and a large portion of her waking thought. In the perpetual stride to make herself look better, there have been ten separate plastic surgeries since the age of forty, and as the years go by, more are likely.
The concept of death as a result of age has been one of her driving interests, which has slowly expanded into death in general. Her ultimate goal is to resist mortality, and to control it, and to create the ultimate race genetically. It is a goal she does not believe she can complete in her life, part of the reason she has kept her work meticulously documented.
Q’asdan is a dedicated chewer of pens, pencils, and styluses. If it can be used to write, she will most likely be nibbling on the end. And she does insist on writing, scrawling out her notes, and often devoting multiple walls of her home environment to various scientific endeavors. Her favorite method is a blackboard and chalk, which she describes as ‘archaic, but effective.’
The Doctor is also still very much the Professor, an instructor following lesson plans and passing along her knowledge to students. She is quite used to being the one listened to.
While not beholden to laws, Sobi does not flaunt them. Whenever possible she operates within the law, and when she violates it, she keeps as low a profile as possible. She does consider herself above the law, but only for one reason. Science. As far as the cause of science is concerned, there are no limits.
As a recent convert to the Sith, Sobi prefers to think of herself as a semi-autonomous ally of the Order, still accountable to her research, but on call for what tasks the Order wishes of her. Ultimately her greatest desire is for the Sith to be her prime patron, and give her access to the resources she needs to become the master of death. She does accept that nothing comes for free, and her membership inside the Sith is her idea of paying for what she receives.
In that sense, she feels a responsibility to obey the Inner Sanctum and be a productive member of the Order, which in the end is what matters.
Birth place: Arkania
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction: Dark Jedi
Previous Rank: Knight
Lightsaber: Single blade single phase
Color: Red
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho 5
Makashi
Soresu 5
Ataru
Shien / Djem So
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman
>>Sub-form Jar-kai, or Dual Wield
Juyo
Double Bladed Combat
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 4
Telepathic: 8
Body: 2
Sense: 5
Protection: 2
Healing: 2
Destruction: 8
Specialized Skills: Drain Knowledge
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 4
Intelligence: 9
Speed: 4
Leadership: 6
Unarmed: 1
Melee Weapons: 1
Ranged Weapons: 3
Bio:
An Unremarkable Beginning
Sobi Q’asdan was born on Arkania in 3663 BBY, the only child of a pair of Arkanians. The birth itself was unremarkable, but the story began twenty years earlier.
A scientist named Rani and a medical doctor named Scalira crossed paths one day at a symposium on bio-technology and cybernetics, and they quickly felt a certain bond forming between them, both intellectual and emotional.
Rani was in the field of cybernetics, and Scalira was a practicing physician interested in biotechnology quite keenly. Both were affluent and from good families, and both were exactly what most people thought was wrong with Arkanians.
They were both supremely arrogant racists, and held Offshoots in about the same light as lab rats. Neither had much opportunity to act on their feelings however, as their fields didn’t require much experimentation.
When they finally married five years after meeting, they were only interested in furthering their careers, not in building a family. But, they did succeed in masterfully building and binding their careers together. They both found work in the same Arkanian company, rising in the ranks of research and development for biotechnology, working hand in hand.
Only when life had stabilized did they decide to become parents.
When Sobi was born, they had every belief their perfect little bundle would grow up to be their spitting image, a brilliant scientist. They were firmly convinced of the fact any child they sired would be brilliant, brilliant enough to shame non-Arkanian parents.
As it happened, they weren’t going to be disappointed.
The only real issue of note in her birth was the first blood test, revealing force sensitivity. Sobi’s parents were approached by the Jedi, however they haughtily refused. What good was it to have their brilliant baby raised by inferiors? No, she needed a proper Arkanian upbringing.
In Father’s Footsteps
It would be tempting for parents to claim their child as a prodigy from the first few days, but objectively Sobi was much like any other child. The expectations were higher growing up, and she did master putting the correctly shaped blocks in the correctly shaped holes rather quickly, but she was hardly a prodigy at an early age.
The child learned to talk quite late, and even then didn’t prove very talkative. While most little children were chattering away merrily in nonsense words, Sobi’s words were few and far between. Her performance at school was barely adequate. It was odd enough that her parents were worried their child was defective, and they sought professional advice.
After browsing the field of the best Arkanian childhood psychologists, they arranged a meeting and ran their four year old daughter through an exhausting battery of tests and examinations. They were bracing for the worst, for news that their child was mentally incapable. Instead, they were surprised. Sobi possessed a very high intelligence, but was confined to her own mind, not relating to others. Her development was certainly delayed, but it had nothing to do with being insufficient. Sobi’s parents were assured that their daughter would blossom in her own time.
So began a period of waiting that lasted for six years, in which day after day marched by of Sobi staring at walls and scribbling drawings onto pieces of paper. It seemed as though the Arkanian girl would never develop, that she was stuck in the same rut, with the same repetitive behaviors over and over again.
Shortly after her tenth birthday, things started to change. Sobi spoke more often, and asked questions to help her understand things. Her performance in school streaked upward, and like magic she was turning around. Her language skills grew in leaps and bounds, while she maintained the skills she had previously shown promise in, those she had received coaching in by her parents.
Scalira and Rani were excellent teachers, and showed remarkable patience. Above all, they wanted to get their daughter into their field, to convince her that science was her future. They took this to such a degree that science became associated with love while the humanities were not. Sobi became convinced that her access to love was contingent upon pursuing the sciences, a message that was reinforced by scientific gifts for each birthday. Chemistry sets, microscopes, and everything a blossoming young scientist could need or hope for.
It was no stretch to say that Sobi grew up with a lab, and was raised in the scientific method. Her formative years were so heavily shaped in that field that she never even had a second guess over what she would be doing as an adult.
One level of school was replaced by another, and the honors started to accumulate. Every class taken was an honors class, every grade earned was the maximum. The benchmark for success in the household was perfection, and deviations were punished. Love was withheld when performance was poor. While hardly the best parenting practice, it was highly effective. Sobi became the quintessential young egghead, involved in every kind of science imaginable, from chemistry to astronomy.
Thanks to hard work and no personal life, Sobi excelled. But try as she might, she still felt something was missing. It was in the glances that she received that she felt a calling. It wasn’t a calling of intimacy or of romance, it was a desire to be seen, to be visible.
Sobi started to dress nicely after puberty hit, to show off her assets. She was never really interested in going out on dates, but there was something exhilarating in turning the heads of boys her age. Of course that didn’t exactly endear her to the girls her own age.
Some people believed beauty AND good academics was too much, but it came at a cost, and that was the personal life. Outside of science, there was nothing else going on in her life. It was almost bleak.
Her home existence was best described as luxuriously Spartan. Every item in the house was of the highest caliber, from appliances to wall décor, but they were sparse, and the lifestyle was far from human luxury. There were no vacations of any kind, and growing up there was little concept of fun. Fun was work. Work was fun.
The only source of recreation was the science she was studying, which was some kind of perverse circular logic in regards to the definition of fun.
Also at home, certain values were taught, some good and some bad. Among the good were the values of hard work and courtesy, mixed with a love for knowledge. However the bad were quite severe. From day one, Sobi was brought up with racism. Arkanians were the most pure species, the most intelligent species. Sobi was indoctrinated that she was superior, and especially over one group.
Scalira and Rani made it very, very clear that the Arkanian offshoots were the lowest of the low, genetically altered organisms made to serve as workers. They were not ‘real people,’ and didn’t merit a second look, or the politeness Scalira drilled into Sobi. They were like cattle.
It was no surprise that Sobi grew up holding offshoots in worse contempt than offworlders. It was her first real prejudice, and would taint her life permanently.
It was also in these formative years that she selected her exact career preference. While a skilled enough student in a breadth of fields, her true preferences were biology and chemistry, and she was able to obtain a prestigious scholarship to Arkania’s premier institution of higher learning.
Academia
At the Arkanian Institute of Science, Sobi Q’asdan was paired with the brightest minds her own age, her peers in more ways than one. While in her own mind she stood out against them, to her professors she was hardly as distinctive. Her real claim to notoriety was the applied way in which she used her intelligence. While many were content to passively learn the material and complete the work, Sobi went the extra mile and haunted her professors like a ghost, constantly there with a question and a winning smile. She was charismatic and intelligent enough that her professors took it in stride. By her third year she was working as an assistant to Professor Ulia Sara, one of the leading Arkanian research scientists in the field of biology, with a heavy emphasis in genetics.
When the words ‘Arkanian scientist’ are bandied about, they aren’t usually associated with the word ‘ethics’ or the word ‘morality.’ Ulia Sara was very much the reason for that view. Many of her experiments were done off the clock and away from the university, in immaculate rooms filled with unfortunate Offshoots selected for medical experimentation.
Ulia’s research was geared towards enhancing the Arkanian race through genetic engineering, and the Offshoots made ideal test subjects due to their close similarities.
Some of the modifications were benign, and the test subjects returned to their lives, but a great many of them were much darker. Genetically-enhanced eyes grown in labs were used to replace existing eyes, often with disastrous results. It was much the same with other organs as well, and a great many research projects ended up with dead and dying Offshoots.
Of course those extracurricular activities didn’t count for college credits, and mixed work required more time than Sobi had ever devoted before. Her sleep-time was cut into, and she had to juggle her on the clock and off the clock work very carefully. However, the experience was extremely valuable, and she learned a great deal.
Ulia became a mentor over two years, a true inspiration for Sobi. She was a beacon of science, a shining light in the darkness for her student. She became the go-to source for advice.
One bit of advice that came to fruition was career advice. Ulia advised that Sobi enter medical school to earn a Doctorate, and to better implement her biology studies.
Luckily there was an attached medical school, and Sobi transitioned into it seamlessly after earning her first degree.
Her parents were extraordinarily proud of their daughter, though she never mentioned what her duties assisting Ulia were. Her parents never asked either, appreciating proprietary secrets as they were. Of course, they saw precious little of her.
Sobi was growing away from her parents. She had superior role models, and absence was not making the heart grow altogether fonder. She did accept that her parents were her family, but she had been raised in such a fashion that she rarely looked behind, with the result that sometimes her parents were forgotten.
With the hectic pace of medical school, Sobi rarely looked back for her old life, or even thought about anything but learning. She was memorizing the anatomies of Arkanians, as well as dozens of other species. The pure volume of information to cover was staggering, but Sobi’s retention was remarkable.
It was during her second vacation period that she discovered something else about herself, from a comment her parents let slip. She was force sensitive, and could have been a Jedi.
What Could Have Been
Sobi was rather entranced by her newfound force sensitivity, and over the vacation she was pouring over data on the Jedi Order. Her conclusions were rather forceful.
The Jedi wielded among the greatest power in the galaxy, yet they crippled themselves and refused to use it. By the same token, the Sith and Dark Jedi she researched had lacked the discipline and will to use their power effectively. She became convinced that she could do better, that she could use her intelligence to surpass both.
Interestingly, she never thought of greatness through military conquest or breaking the will of another, but she viewed it as living up to her full potential, exploring another aspect that could assist her.
However, Sobi rightly realized that at her present station in life she lacked the time and the resources to follow through on it. She marked it down in her mind for later action.
Carrying On
Medical school returned, and went swiftly by until residency came at the age of 26. Doctor Q’asdan, as she was now known, was formally a specialist in neurology, but in practice her breadth of study was much wider.
Her residency took place in a private hospital on Adascopolis, under the close supervision of a Doctor Gal Prox, a rather esteemed figure in the medical community. It was his personal goal to instill values in Sobi, to craft some kind of noble idealism into her.
In many ways, he stood as the antithesis of Sobi’s other great mentor, Ulia Sara. Where she preached of glory and renown in science, he taught of hard work and duty. Most of all, while Ulia had taught the lives of lesser beings were sacrificial for science, Prox taught that all life was sacred, and a physician was to do no harm.
Sobi quickly determined that she could apply that principle to Arkanians and Arkanians alone, but she couldn’t wrap her mind on inferior Offshoots meriting the same quality of care. They were basically lab rats in her eyes after all.
Despite that irreconcilable difference, Sobi found Prox to be a role model in some other ways. His courtesy and polite demeanor was excellent, indeed legendary among the staff. As a result, while Sobi ignored his lessons on ethics, she emulated his polite behavior, without any differentiating between Arkanian and non-Arkanian.
During her residency, she rarely had the opportunity to practice neurology on other species, but on two occasions she found herself treating humans.
The first was during a very late night at the hospital when a wealthy human businessman was brought in, wracked by convulsions. As the only neurologist on duty, the task of diagnosis and treatment fell to Sobi. Of course it helped that she could run through symptoms, checking a database as she went. If the man had been Arkanian she likely would have been able to diagnose him on the spot, but instead she managed to trace down the human causes and find what had happened in a short amount of time.
The businessman had ingested a toxin that was attacking his nervous system. Luckily for him, Sobi administered a treatment, and after a week of neural therapy he was released to go on his merry way.
The other human came three years later, and was a mere child. Like the businessman, he came in convulsing, but also in excruciating pain. Drugs were administered to keep him unconscious, and muscle relaxants were injected to prevent more convulsions, but the cause itself required many hours to track down.
No one could say Sobi was not thorough, and she followed every process for testing that she knew. In the end, she was forced to diagnose the boy with a chronic and degenerative condition affecting a miniscule amount of people. She prescribed medicine to control the symptoms, but she found her consolation in the fact he was not of her species.
Back to Basics
Once her residency was complete, Sobi received an offer she found quite intriguing. Ulia Sara offered her a position working under her, much like old times. Without a single moment of hesitation, Sobi left the hospital and headed back to Ulia’s lab.
The work there was amplified from before, and Sobi utilized both neurology and genetics in the analysis of various diseases and conditions, looking for ways to cure genetic diseases in Arkanians, which perversely involved the pursuit to craft genetic diseases in test subjects, so curing them could be practiced.
While working there, the Arkanian woman decided it was time to live up to her potential, to seek instruction in her Force sensitivity. She sent out feelers to the underworld at the age of 30, searching for a wielder of the Force to instruct her.
The call was answered by, appropriately, an Arkanian Dark Jedi. His name was Alarin, and he was a former Jedi who had fallen and trained at a hidden enclave before setting out on his own. He was interested in stable income and job security.
And so began a dual life of training and science.
Leaps and Bounds
A typical day in Sobi’s double life started before dawn, rising early to study the ways of the Force with Alarin. Her training continued until mid-day, and touched many subjects. Then came a meal, and after the meal a return to Ulia’s research facility. Sobi returned home late and fell into a grateful sleep, waking again to continue the cycle.
Her Force training was far from comprehensive. While she was taught the basics of the Force and manipulation thereof, it quickly focused in on two aspects. These were telepathy and destruction, which Sobi thought to be quite useful. Telepathy was a day-to-day boost in all her interactions, and destruction was something she viewed as excellent self-defense material.
Alarin proved to be an excellent teacher, as befitted a former Jedi Knight, but he lacked his new student’s vision and convictions. He felt no loyalty to his race or concepts like progress and science, which led to many conflicts between him and Sobi. These were never particularly severe or long, but it led to a festering tension quite often.
Alarin had an ego, and he liked to think Sobi was his great project, the chance for him to prove he was Master material. So he jumped at it.
Despite her limited time, Sobi’s progress was stunning, far greater than could reasonably be expected of someone so far past the prime window of training. They both recognized that fact, and Sobi became convinced the reason so many organizations insisted on training children was purely from the standpoint of ease of indoctrination.
Of course it wasn’t easy or swift, the work was long and hard, but it didn’t require quite the same kind of effort as her work with Ulia, which remained her primary passion.
If Sobi had been a favorite of Ulia before, she was the darling and beloved daughter now. Nothing was kept secret between the two, and they were practically of one mind. Between their skills, they were documenting the genetic causes of diseases, and isolating the DNA strands responsible. It was slow and exacting work, but both Ulia and Sobi had the patience expected of the best scientists, that quality allowing experiments to flourish in their own time.
After five years of that basic existence, substantial progress had been made in both fields. Sobi was levitating small objects, and she’d recorded the genetic causes of Dari Syndrome, Akello’s Disease, and Ratheni. They were ready to begin their next phase, and to rewrite genetic coding, to see if they could introduce those conditions into test subjects, starting small with rodents.
It took them a full year to figure out how to introduce the new genetic coding into the body, to cause gradual change on a cellular level. Once they mastered it, over a month of exposure they gave a lab animal a genetic blindness.
It was hailed as a massive success by all involved in the project, the first real proof that genetic conditions could be altered by the hands of Arkanians.
Ulia Sara put forward her findings to the Arkanian Academy of Science, and was promptly given one of the highest scientific awards on the planet.
Meanwhile, Sobi was progressing more in her training, and had reached the point where serious subjects could be intensely studied. It was here that telepathy came into play. If Alarin had been demanding before, he was easily impossible now. He would take Sobi out in public and demand she read the thoughts of passers-by. When she failed, he would grow irate.
Every failure brought renewed focus, but as it progressed she grew increasingly determined to do it right, and eventually she was able to sense dominant thoughts. When she had time free at work she would practice reading whatever she could from whomever she could, like a workplace game of sorts played while she was awaiting test results.
It was also in this time that training began with a lightsaber, though Sobi was adamant she would never need one. Nevertheless, she was taught how to operate the Jedi weapon, and showed passable performance with it.
If Alarin had thought he was teaching a prodigy, he was quickly convinced otherwise. Of course he had never anticipated sharing his time with Science, the more important master.
After another five years of studying and Science, Alarin decided to part ways and head for less ‘mind-numbing’ work. That suited Sobi fine, as she had a new opportunity fall into her lap.
Change in the Wind
Ulia Sara had, by virtue of her lawful work during the day, won serious acclaim, and she had lobbied for a special campaign, a catalog of genetic diseases gathered from across the galaxy, taking samples of every disease in every corner of the galaxy. Field agents were needed, and Ulia hand-selected Sobi for the Outer Rim.
So it was that Sobi Q’asdan packed her bags and headed for Bakura, on the beginning of her new quest.
In her first year she reached Bakura, Cerea, Subterrel, Utapau, Sluis Van, and Eriadu. She spent two months on each planet, travelling from city to city and scooping up medical records and firsthand materials.
There were a considerable amount of new experiences taking place, from languages to food. While Sobi never changed her view that Arkanians were the supreme race, she did take a liking to certain other foods and art styles.
All the while, she still continued force training on her own, pushing her own limits in her spare time. With her lifestyle though, she doubted she could find another tutor for some time.
In the next year she reached Ryloth, Tatooine, Molovar, Rishi, and Kamino. This was one of the most exciting legs of her journey.
Ryloth itself was uneventful, even if Sobi grew to detest the smell of munch-fungus cooking. She found the weather in the twilight areas to be fine, but in the bright lands and the night lands she found it considerably less pleasant.
On Tatooine, Sobi was introduced to two facts. The first was that she could easily gain a tan, which she did, and the second was that she needed more training.
A man in a cantina got a little fresh with her, and when she left she was followed. When she turned down his advances, he hit her in the face, hard. Out of practice, Sobi choked him with the Force long enough to make a run for it, and she narrowly escaped. Naturally the local Hutt authorities were unwilling to deal with the assault, and Sobi immediately sought out a force user to assist her as a trainer, assistant, and bodyguard. Miraculously she found one in her last weeks.
She was a Mirialan woman named Elteria, and was a grey Jedi, on good terms with the Order. Aware that her own dark-side instructions might be a point of contention, Sobi left that part of her narrative out and instead let it be known she had some generic force training.
Her own dubiously ethical actions were carefully left out of conversation.
The journey went on with Elteria in two, with quick stops on Molovar and Rishi, which proved to be exactly like Tatooine and not wholly pleasant respectively. When they reached Kamino, they were promptly turned away by the natives, who had absolutely no interest in taking part in the study.
As Sobi made her way into Hutt space in the third year of her mission, she was making leaps and bounds in her control of the Force, especially with her telepathy. Elteria would practice by keeping a thought at the forefront of her mind, and challenging Sobi to read it. Unlike Alarin, she had patience.
It was Elteria who built Sobi a lightsaber and began to instruct her in Soresu, telling her that this would serve for all her self-defense needs. With the aid of a training remote and a Mirialan Grey Jedi, she was able to learn quite a bit.
Of course, Hutt space was hardly a walk in the park. Sobi found it to be backwards, grimy, and entirely unpleasant. She also found the Hutts to be inconsiderate hosts with absolutely no interest in her assignment. She was greatly displeased from Sleheyron to Ylesia, but the worst was on Nal Hutta. Far from glorious jewel, it was slimy hellhole.
Swamps. Miserable, festering swamps, and a plethora of diseases the Hutts had never researched. It took months to determine which ones were genetic and wish were of other types. It wasn’t that the work was hard, it was that the work was tedious and long.
On one day, someone tried to mug her, and Sobi responded by lopping his arm off with her lightsaber. The next week she finished her cataloging and left, beginning her path out of Hutt space.
Finally she broke free from Klatooine, and with a quick layover on Kessel, she was off to the far reaches of the Republic.
Mon Calamari and Belderone were comfortable enough and uneventful other than as benchmarks in her training. It had been almost four years of training under Elteria, and the progress was excellent as training was the only entertainment available in these Rim worlds.
Sobi’s telepathy was progressing at an astonishing pace, and her Soresu was approaching ‘proficient.’ While her destruction skills had languished, she had made excellent progress in other fields.
By the end of five years, her mission was done, and at the age of 45, yet another phase of life began.
Rise to Glory
Upon her return, Sobi compiled all her findings for a month, preparing an in-depth research paper discussing the experience and her findings. The Arkanian Doctor published it, and the work, Genetic Illnesses in the Outer Rim, quickly became famous among the scientific community on Arkania. Seeking a special time to shine in the limelight, Sobi realized a few things.
Image was essential, and she was starting to show the effects of age. Without hesitation, she underwent her very first cosmetic surgery, which resulted in her easily looking ten years younger. Sobi was hooked, ensnared by the prospect of such surgeries.
She also found that she greatly enjoyed the celebrity she had earned among her community, and she turned to her old mentor Ulia for guidance.
Ulia advised Sobi that she had to shape her own career, that she had to take her place in the sun. With that said, she didn’t think they had to split ways completely. Ulia had every intention and hope of staying in close contact with Sobi, working together and exchanging information. While Sobi agreed that was an ideal plan, she still believed in adding more breadth to her career, and she took a job that was offered to her.
Doctor Q’asdan became a medical researcher at a cybernetics company, testing out the implants on living subjects, and finding what could go catastrophically wrong, instigating such results in living test subjects. It was a common practice on Arkania that Sobi thought very little of, but as soon as Elteria found out, she was irate.
After a heated argument, they split ways and the Mirialan headed off the planet, leaving Sobi alone in her training.
Very quickly, the Doctor made her way up the ranks to an illustrious position as medical research supervisor, but it didn’t please her. She wanted something more hands on. She wanted what Ulia had.
At 50, several things happened. The first was that Sobi found a new instructor, a Twi’lek woman named Supisy, who was a self-styled Dark Jedi specializing in telepathy and destruction, the two fields Sobi had the most interest in. Also, the Doctor became a Professor, teaching courses on genetics and neurology at the University of Arkania. Her first few years were relatively uneventful, but she quickly settled into her dream research, behind closed doors, and once again she joined forces with Ulia.
Ulia had, in Sobi’s absence, finished a method of rewriting genetic code to instill genetic diseases in a test subject, which was the first prerequisite to finding cures, or to devising a new weapon.
They divided their labor, and Sobi was assigned to test on Offshoots, and to find cures. She had far more interest in the testing itself, and Sobi began her own side-project, turning the process of rewriting genetic code to instill a disease into a weapon.
At the same time, Supisy, who was proving to be a pleasant balance between Alarin and Elteria, introduced Sobi to a power called drain knowledge, which she felt might be a useful addition for an academic. It was to have use in only six years.
Ulia Sara, respected Professor and Scientist, was nearing one hundred years old and her health was failing. For her, retirement was no option, and she was desperate to pass along her knowledge, recording everything she knew on every material she knew, but that process would take far longer than she had left. It did come to her attention, through certain sources, that Sobi was undergoing training in the ability to drain knowledge. Intrigued, Ulia sent for her pupil.
After a long and drawn out debate lasting many hours, Sobi yielded to her mentor’s wishes and began the lengthy process of drawing out every valuable piece of knowledge Ulia had and placing it into her own mind, with as delicate a touch as she could harness. Sadly, it was not delicate enough, and it left Ulia with severe dementia, ending her career. She died a few years later and was cremated in a ceremony Sobi spoke at.
With Ulia gone and Sobi the clear heir apparent, both sides of the research coin were united at last, and Professor Q’asdan took the helm as the guide of the project. Sadly both her parents died in short succession, further burying Sobi in dark emotions. Still further tainted by her own exposure to the dark side, everything took on a more grim note.
Sobi had a new goal, and it wasn’t ending all genetic diseases. Her new goal was to make the Arkanians the master race through the use of genetic engineering, particularly in the field of aging. She even spent lavish amounts of money arranging for Morellian and Firrerreo test subjects, to find the genetic code involving aging. The search for parallels was intensive, and as it went by with every passing day Sobi became more intensely immersed in her work.
Classes that she taught became a distraction, and she took fewer and fewer students. As she looked in the mirror again and again, she always became displeased with what she saw, and she underwent additional cosmetic surgeries to restore her youth.
At the age of 58, Sobi released her findings on treating genetic illnesses by rewriting genetic code on a cellular level, with complete cures for three common Arkanian genetic conditions. Very promptly she was hailed as a scientific genius, a true pioneer in the field of medical science.
In her own research though, everything kept getting darker as her heart became darker.
The new research was maniacal, pursuing every possible benefit to the Arkanian species. Testing was, of course, done on offshoots. Genetic code was rewritten without consideration of the consequences, with often disastrous results. Some of the work was reasonable, like altering the optic nerve to reduce sensitivity to infrared light. Some of it was simply deranged, like trying to enable subjects to breathe underwater or withstand great cold and heat. The tests the Offshoots were put through were truly heinous, heinous enough that sooner or later they would be stopped.
One particular graduate student in the research division decided to grow a conscience, and she snuck in cameras to document the work, seizing datapads of evidence as well as spiriting away a survivor of the tests. They approached the Arkanian government in late 3602BBY, and received promises that an investigation would be made, but the student was not content, and she went directly to the Galactic Republic with her evidence.
While the reaction on Arkania was mixed, with many in favor of Professor Q’asdan, the reaction in the Republic was violent outrage against Sobi, and against Arkanians in general. The Holonet was splashed with the story by 3601 BBY, and Sobi hurriedly packed her belongings and prepared to flee. Supisy had already abandoned her instruction and left at the first hint of trouble.
With the Republic up in arms, even the Arkanian government sprang into action and shut down the whole operation, seizing what information Sobi was unable to hide in a safe location.
And then Doctor Q’asdan went into hiding until the coast was clear and she could make a run for Sith space, where she had a new plan: to join the Sith Order and use their resources to start her work anew, and to fulfill her full potential as a force user.
RP Sample:
Two Years previously
Doctor Sobi Q’asdan entered the clinic she’d been using as a front for her experimentation, a sterile but somewhat run-down building that had seen better days. It was in the less-desirable districts of a certain Arkanian city, with decaying and outdated architecture, not the sleek and modern lines that spoke of Arkanian design. It seemed clunky and primitive in comparison, but it sufficed.
And masquerading as a legitimate clinic there was no shortage of test subjects, attracted by the money they would be compensated. Though most of them would never receive it.
The Arkanian Doctor behind it all passed through double doors into a waiting room, glancing at a large datapad listing the subjects of the day. 112. Immediately she put a face to the number, and a name.
“Jelin,” she called, beckoning to an Arkanian Offshoot boy about six years old with a wide smile on her lips. “How are you doing today?”
He nodded mutely, still nervous around doctors. He was from an orphanage, obtained very cheaply expressly for the purpose of medical experimentation. Parents killed in a mining accident, a rather sad story in fact, soon to have a sad ending.
“Here, I brought you a sweet.” The Arkanian scientist placed a wrapped candy bar into the child’s hand and he greedily tore open the wrapper and took a bite, munching away happily.
Sobi tousled his hair with a smile.
“Don’t eat it too fast, or you’ll get sick. Now come with me.”
She led him back from the waiting area, sliding her datapad back into the pocket of her lab coat. By the time she arrived at the testing room, the confection was eaten and the wrapper deposited into a pocket.
The room itself was Spartan and immaculate, devoid of anything but a single airtight chamber hooked up to a large machine, the centerpiece of the test.
Jelin had been experimented on a year previously, having his genetic code rewritten on the cellular level, an experiment to see if his body could resist the effects of harmful radiation.
“You see that chamber? You’re going to go in there. It’ll be just like an adventure.”
“But I don’t wanna…” The boy muttered feebly, at which Sobi rubbed his shoulder and promised another candy bar if he complied.
“It will only take about a half hour,” The Doctor said soothingly as she lifted him up into the chamber, sealing it over his protestations.
Then came the protective equipment, a radiation suit in case of leakage, and the room completely isolated. After that the test began.
Sobi kept the radiation levels low at first, watching the readouts on his cells. They did show admirable resistance to low levels of gamma radiation, but she hadn’t rewritten his genetic code for low-level resistance. She increased the levels again and again, until finally his cells were showing damage.
And then she continued.
The boy writhed in pain inside the chamber, his body being wracked by invisible forces. Soon he was vomiting, sores were forming. He’d been in for too long, far longer than she’d promised.
She’d lied.
Finally, after hours of exposure he died. The chamber was cleared, the radiation controlled, and then an Arkanian orderly came in and removed the body, tossing it into an incinerator.
Every trace of him was extinguished, and it was like he’d never existed.
