Vhexus

[Kuhblam]

Name: Lord Vhexus / Virgil Tagaris (No longer uses sur-name)
Age: 43
Race: Human
Birthplace: Iridonia
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 212 lbs

Appearance:

To say the least, Virgil was built with athleticism in mind. A combination of long years of hard physical training as well as the drive to maintain his former master’s harsh regimens has transformed Virgil into a fit and lethal fighting machine that, outside of force-adepts, genetically-enhanced beings, and naturally-powerful exotic alien species, is only matched by a select number of people in the galaxy. With the physique of a twenty-five year-old man in his prime, Virgil’s arms and legs are lean and muscular. He is well-toned, but not to the point of competitive body-building; thus, Virgil can maintain the appearance of a normal, average-ability human being and not draw attention for freakishly large muscles. His skin is a light tan, keeping in tandem with a lot of traveling and not spending much time inside apart from physical training.

With short, buzzed brown hair and golden-yellow eyes that were formerly deep blue, Virgil mostly fits the common gene-pool when it comes to the various options a human has for his hair and eyes apart from the whole 'Dark Side' gig. A number of lengthy and depth-varying scars adorn his face as the mixed product of his training as well as durasteel shrapnel colliding with his face, and a single letter tattoo adorns the center between both eyebrows, an addition he recently gained from joining the Sith Order as an Initiate. All over Virgil’s upper body, there are even more myriad black tattoos and written verses, the majority of them from his time in maximum security prison. The most noticeable of these prison tattoos are nine bars incorporating different identification numbers/designs circling the biceps of his left arm.

Typically, Virgil’s torso is protected by a light composite combat vest, and he wears a pair of durasteel-plated gauntlets. Virgil usually wears a utility belt about his waist, containing a variety of useful tools that he might need for any sort of strange occasion. Over top of his light armor, he wears loose black robes typical of a Sith Order member, with an added cloak of the same color if stealth is required. He may not be entirely mentally sound, but Virgil does maintain common sense; he’s not about to get caught unaware. The last time that happened, he received a severed right hand, which he now cannot use to project forth powers of the Force. His robotic prosthetic replacement is covered by a black glove at all times.

Personality:

Insane? No. Crazy? Maybe. Hedonistic? Most certainly. Virgil is quite the ball of sunshine. He revels in power; how it gives him dominance, how it feeds him energy. Power is Virgil’s one innate desire; if he had the choice to save a burning building full of Core World orphans or get an ounce of more power, those unlucky enough to know him well would obviously give an answer as to which option he might choose. When Virgil’s master first introduced him to the hidden potential he had inside of him, Virgil immediately caught on. He likes the feel of the Force, the idea of being able to do whatever he wants at the snap of his fingers. Although his conception is not nearly as accurate as the truth, this ideal has remained with him to this day. In tandem with his ability to use ‘Drain Knowledge’, this makes for a dangerous combination.

Virgil is charismatic on the surface, something odd given his actual nature. He has an innate ability as to talk his way out of situations provided he’s not locked in cage with seventeen blasters pointed at his head. Virgil’s innate ability to lead and command respect from others is a gift he may have inherited from his father, if that means anything. Had he actually reached Coruscant and joined the Jedi instead of being brought up by Roderick and his pirate crew, Virgil would have made a great Jedi; whether he followed the path of Soresu or became a self-styled Revanchist is another matter entirely. Once someone gets to know Virgil on a personal level, however, they see the true monster underneath. Amongst other things, he is also compulsively vengeful; Virgil isn’t one to simply drop and let go of a grudge. As is evidenced by his obsessive looking for Jaeira and Sarah, he won’t let go of something until he sees it through finished to the end.

Quirks about Virgil include a major dislike bordering on hate for feline exotic species, such as Cathar and Squib. He finds them irritating, weak, and ironically bestial and animalistic. Although he disregards aliens as inferior in general, feline species are his pet peeve. Near-humans do not escape his humanocentric racism as well. Among other things, he can’t stand incompetent underlings. This ties in to his low level of patience. As long as Virgil knows he is making progress with something, he won’t get too restless. However, not moving about for too long will irk him until finally he will take matters into his own hands, and whatever the situation it is it will most likely end with severed limbs or electrocuted corpses. Among other things, Virgil is on the lookout for Dark Side adepts; out of his master’s other students, Virgil has eliminated two of four in exacting revenge for past transgressions.

Faction: Sith Order
Rank: Master

Previous Faction: Dark Jedi
Mastery Level: Master

Bio:

The Beginning

Virgil Tagaris was born on Iridonia, the son of Uriel Tagaris, the Republic Ambassador to the Iridonian planetary government. His father had been formerly been a Senatorial aide on Coruscant, and his mother Abdiela was a former nurse in the Republic Navy’s medical corps. Born amongst numerous other Zabrak infants, the planet’s Jedi Watchman was not about at the time, and so Virgil’s force sensitivity initially went un-noticed. His childhood was good, almost the ideal; Uriel was heavily wealthy, and thus the family lived in an urban upscale mansion estate reminiscent of the high echelons of Iridonian society. Life was great; both parents got along well, and loved their son dearly. With the credit wealth he had spent many hard years working on building up, Uriel planned to get his son high-level education and prepare him for a military career.

From his earliest days, Virgil showed no sign of force-sensitivity what-so-ever, and thus his parents mistakenly assumed their son was just another human child who would grow up a sheltered life. However, this would all change soon enough. At three years of age and a toddler, Virgil displayed somewhat improved reflexes for a child. Uriel had heard of children who had shown limited increased ability in such areas, and talked to his wife about the minute possibility of their son being force-sensitive. The idea was interesting, to say the least, but none the less the pair decided to call in the planet’s Jedi Watchman. When he arrived and conducted a blood test, his results were conclusive with Virgil having a high level Midi-chlorian count.

When he revealed this news to Virgil’s parents, they decided to confer and think over the decision for a week. The thought of their son being a Jedi some day was amazing; the hidden potential he contained was enormous. However, Uriel and Abdiela knew they’d be losing their first-born son at no less of a cost. In the end, however, their mind was set. The Jedi Order would be able to provide a set life of comfort and unlike a capitalist-based life-style would never be in flux concerning availability of money. It wouldn’t be as nice as the wealth they afforded, but Virgil would develop strong morals and virtues as well as discipline. Abdiela was initially hesitant like all mothers, but sided with Uriel and presented to the Jedi Watchman their decision, who was most pleased. He had in fact gathered three other children, one of them an infant, during or before his visit to the Tagaris household. Virgil would travel with him and these children on a hasty journey to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

With luck, Uriel and Abdiela wished their son love and the best of futures as the Jedi Watchman left the estate with Virgil in tow inside his speeder. Little did they know, however, that simply giving their child to the Jedi did not ensure such hopes and dreams. In fact, upon leaving the planet in the Jedi’s transport bound for hyperspace, just such a possibility would rear its ugly face and snatch up Virgil along a very much different path.

The transport had reached the outer edge of the system almost without jumping to light-speed, and the Jedi’s hyperspace navigational computer was experiencing some unusual malfunctions making any attempt to jump dangerous lest they want to risk re-appearing inside of a planet or star. It was at this time that the Jedi’s padawan picked up on the transport’s sensors another ship, a corvette, which was heavily reminiscent of the kind pirates used. Their suspicions were confirmed when an Ion cannon fired from the unknown predator ship, hitting the light transport in the side and rendering nearly all the ship’s systems inert and useless. Igniting blades, the pair prepared to defend themselves from boarding. Focused and calm, they waited as the corvette latched onto their transport, and the airlock slowly gave way as whoever was on the side broke through. When it was apparent who was attacking them, the Watchman’s eyebrow’s raised. It was a Dark Jedi; no, three, at any rate. A leader and two accompanying cronies who could only be apprentices were behind him. He could sense more life-forms behind them, possibly hired pirates, but they were a secondary concern as of now.

The fight commenced immediately, and was blood and quick although not one-sided. Easily dispatching the younger of the two apprentices who had rushed him, the Jedi Watchman left the other one to his own padawan while he engaged the leader. At length, however, he was out-matched. Utilizing Ataru in such confined corridors was ineffective against such a trained individual, and the Watchman, only a Knight, was cut down soon enough. His padawan, alone and by herself, was too neutralized soon after at the combined assault of Master and apprentice. Upon thorough inspection of the ship, they came across a nursery of sorts, containing four children, three of them toddlers with one of these toddlers being Virgil. Unlike the other two toddlers, however, Virgil not shirk away from these new figures but rather slowly waddled towards him, the sound-tight door having made him oblivious to the combat that had taken place outside. His curious eyes were drawn to the lightsaber in the apprentice’s hand, and as the teenage human known as Marut prepared to strike down the young child, his master restrained him. He could feel the Force resonating through this room, and that this child had great potential alongside the other children/infants in this room. Instantly, he commanded Marut to scoop up the others while he led Virgil by the hand out of the ship and into the pirate corvette. This child had indeed impressed him.

Impressionable Young Minds

The main Dark Jedi, known as Roderick, took the children with Marut back to their hideout, a former abandoned mining space-station in the Inner Rim located just outside an asteroid belt. It had fallen into disrepair, but had since been refurbished by Roderick’s crew of pirate minions as well as other scum of the galaxy who had decided to populate it. The station had become a nice little unknown hide-away and black market hub, and Roderick made sure to keep it just small enough to remain under the radar. He ruled this place, commanded every inch of it. His apprentice, Marut, was being groomed to take his place one day, but he was unhappy with the adolescent’s progress concerning his training. He would never be Roderick’s equal in any age, and thus Roderick decided that these children, two boys and two girls, would be trained across the board and that the best would take his place as the leader of the small paradise he had created. Of course, he would keep Marut oblivious to this; he didn’t need any pre-meditated assassination attempts against him.

Of the new four, Virgil was the beginning favorite. The second eldest who had decided not to shirk away from Roderick, there had been a feeling from the Dark Jedi master that this child was somewhat more… special. As to why, he had no idea; only that the Force was strong in him. The eldest was another boy, a Zabrak of course, named Ryl. The younger two were girls, one toddler and one infant, humans, named Jaeira and Sarah. As they grew into ripe younger years, the news reached the parents of all the children except the orphan, whom the Council felt needed to know as they had not even done testing to see if they could be younglings and new initiates yet. Uriel and Abdiela were devastated; Virgil’s mother would slip into depression, but Uriel remained strong. Still, they would never see their son again, believing him to be dead. Roderick had done the usual trick by setting a distress beacon after leading the ship into an asteroid belt before destroying it with laser fire and leaving the burnt husk to the asteroids; no one would be looking for the children. Roderick knew it was risky to train all of them, but he knew the dangers. Having personal lapdogs to do his bidding would very nice indeed.

The training was immediate and harsh for the young children, to say the least. It was parallel to the regimens a youngling might receive in the Jedi Order, but there was no comfort here. For Roderick, one of these children would inherit whatever wealth he had; the others, subservient dogs for his usage. There was no comfort, no kind voice to guide the four infants. Roderick would beat and hit the children when they failed to live up to his expectations, and it created hate and anxiety from the ‘family’ to its ‘father’. Virgil quickly developed into the leader of the pack of children, however, as well as Roderick’s clear favorite. This caused angst to be created from Marut, who could sense that perhaps these children weren’t just being trained to be hands for Roderick’s small pirate quazi-empire but rather that one of them might replace him as the successor. However, he did not act; he simply watched onwards and followed Roderick.

The Dark Jedi taught the four about the power that the Dark Side could produce, and that they were to draw on their emotions for strength and guidance. He related the idea to Virgil that someone following the pure light could never achieve the individual power the followers of the Dark Side could attain. There were exceptions of course; lessons about Revan served to sate Virgil’s curiosity, but otherwise he didn’t pay much attention to the short lessons Roderick afforded to them. He was naturally intelligent, but wasn’t interested in turning into a scholar. Virgil wanted the power that Roderick told him about in stories of past galactic history, the kind that might afford him to be at the top of the universe’s proverbial throne some day. At eight years of age, he was easily progressing faster than Ryl, who wasn’t as strong but still equally skilled. It was clear that Virgil was the best-rounded, but Jaeira had him in speed by a mile and Sarah was the smartest concerning just about everything non-combat related.

At this point, Roderick began to pit the children against each other, trying to drive them to be more competitive. He wanted his nice little ‘family’ to be more superior to any future Jedi. It wasn’t just about training a successor or lapdogs anymore; the children had turned into something larger than life for Roderick. Virgil could tell his hated but respected mentor was beginning to have delusions of grandeur even at a young age, but otherwise didn’t say anything. He set a goal for himself; to keep his eyes on the prize. Power was the main thing, with Roderick’s fortune wealth as a secondary bonus. He could tell the others, from Roderick’s lessons, were beginning to formulate similar opinions of secretive nature; Virgil had to remain one step ahead. Of course, his plans were elementary in nature; he was eight years old! There was still much to learn and he had a long time to wait.

Because of the lack of training sabers, the children acolytes used stun batons set to maximum power for pain and injury. Roderick, being a weapon-master, knew next to all of the forms to some extent with the exception of double-bladed combat and quickly introduced them to all the forms. Virgil was interested in Shien and Djem So, the opposite halves that made up Form V. Being able to switch between blaster deflection and then engage a sword-wielding enemy was something Virgil valued wisely; of course, he did not forsake Shii-Cho and instead chose to train with Form I first on the basis of it being the root form. Ryl chose a format of Jar’Kai and Form II, Makashi, which was known for being the ultimate refinement of lightsaber dueling. Jaeira chose Form IV, Ataru and a single blade; as for Sarah, she developed a knack for Form III, Soresu, and a single blade as well. In terms of sword skill as they grew, Ryl proved to be the better swordsman in terms of dueling in contrast to Virgil's superior strength. By now, they had adjusted to dulled machetes, and the contrast was apparent. Ryl's elegance was matched by Virgil's strength and physicality. Time and time again, they would clash; Ryl would evade Virgil and slash him shallowly and Virgil would batter away his opponent's blades to knock him on his back. The rivalry would only get bigger and more annoying to each of them as it progressed further.

Now a teenager with flustering hormones, Virgil was beginning to develop strong Force ability, steps above his original simple sensitivity to the energy field. However, he did not master the Force as quickly as Sarah, who would out-show the other three with the destructive powers she could produce forth. Regardless, Roderick taught all his students the same powers even though they were different levels; particularly, he reveled in bringing to them the basics of specialized techniques that turned the target insane or petrified and drained him of his strength. Force Insanity, Force Drain were two of the main powers. Virgil contained a natural knack for telepathic powers, and this worked to his advantage. Virgil particularly liked Force Insanity, or at his level, Force Fear. It gave him a sort of sick satisfaction in being able to use it on Ryl, whom he came to bully on duels by twisting his thoughts that would disrupt the Zabrak’s focus. Of course, these powers weren’t just used by him; Sarah would just as easily drain him of his energy to the max of her ability and leave him somewhat incapable of producing any kind of coherent defense. It would often force the young man to constantly use the Force to aid him in leaps and jumps so that Sarah or one of the others would be distracted while attempting to use a force ability against him. Besides his superior telepathic ability, Virgil showed very good ability in telekinetic ability; although he didn’t possess as much raw energy to focus, his specific ability to manipulate that energy gave him an edge.

It was around this time that Virgil began to develop an emotional attachment to Jaeira, who was the more beautiful of the two girls. The two had long held a secret pre-disposal towards each other, and decided that to their feelings out. He was heavily attracted to her, and in his spare time spent a lot of time with his new girlfriend. Of course, he kept this secret from Ryl, who had an equal attraction to Jaeira and would be heavily jealous, and Sarah, who was equally attracted to Virgil. When Roderick began to sense these emotions in the presence of the teenage acolytes, he did not attempt to stop it but instead encouraged it somewhat; emotions they could draw on would feed them in battle and during training. Eventually, Virgil and Jaeira no longer concealed their relationship, and this infuriated both Ryl and Sarah, who were jealous for various reasons about their respective counter-parts of the opposite sex; Ryl, angry because he too found Jaeira attractive, and Sarah, because she was jealous of the pair's relationship. This only made them fight that much harder during training duels when pitted against Virgil specifically, and Roderick even began to have the two of them fight Virgil in two on one fights, which would leave Virgil despite his physical superiority beaten and bloody.

At twenty years of age, Roderick taught Virgil in particular the basics of Drain Knowledge, a powerful ability that could be used to rip useful memories from someone's mind. Virgil was young, but his telepathic ability was already impressive, and Roderick felt that by teaching him the basics now, the boy would be able to bring it to bear on a greater level in the future. He confided to Virgil that his training in the power would be paltry and he would hardly be able to use it effectively; only time would improve his usage with it once he had learned the basics. Later that year, Roderick brought the entirety of the student-body to his personal chambers, where he presented to them a box of components which might be used to build a lightsaber. He had waited much longer to present the apprentices with the ability to create their own weapons, for in the teenage years he had recognized the anger which might lead them to preemptively kill one another. He had toyed with the idea, but wanted to get the most out of their training. Roderick then presented to them crystals, one to each. Nearly all of them were malevolent crimson red Synth-crystals, and to Ryl and Virgil he presented two each, with the extra one as a backup for the latter. However, it infuriated Ryl when one of the crystals Virgil was given was instead a Pontite crystal of bright sky blue nature, perfect geometrically and stunning to say the least. This was a reminder of Roderick’s favoritism towards Virgil, and when he saw his master give the crystal to Virgil, his inner anger exploded and he tackled Virgil from the side. However, Roderick adapted and used the momentum from the tackle to send Ryl flying over him as they rolled backwards. Upwards on his feet, Virgil shot forth blue-white lightning from his finger-tips at the Zabrak, shocking him and causing him to convulse until Roderick stopped him.

It was an interesting situation, but none the less Roderick wanted to test the two boys to their limits. He told Virgil and a weakened Ryl to come to him when their lightsabers were completed, and that at the conclusion of a death-match, only one of them would remain. Virgil gritted his teeth while Ryl stood up shaken, fists clenched in anger as he moved back to pick up his own crystals and began to tear furiously through the box for the items he’d needed. Virgil removed his own crystals from his pockets, examined them for damage, and pushed Ryl aside as the established alpha male with a kick before taking his own components and retiring to his quarters. As he made his way out from the restricted section back into the open air pirate corridors of the space station for his quarters, he enjoyed the thought of ending Ryl. He had never liked the Zabrak, and this was a chance to establish the position of leader legitimately.

The creation of his weapon took a long time, but none the less he created it with care. It was un-adorned, un-modified, but the lightsaber was still just as deadly. When he finally came to Roderick with his weapon ready, he eyed an already present Ryl and Marut who had been discussing something with the trio’s master. When Roderick saw the weapons in his apprentice’s hands, he smiled, and waved Marut and his pirate bodyguards away. Leading them to the dueling chamber, he quietly locked the door behind them and closed it off to watch from an upwards viewing window. Virgil wasted no time in attacking Ryl as they walked inside, sending a strong force-push into his back and not waiting for his master to give the go-ahead. Igniting his lightsaber, he began to walk towards a prone Ryl, who was only just standing up. Virgil knew Ryl was a good swordsman, but he was physically weaker and not nearly as strong as Virgil. Initially at first, Ryl seemed to have the advantage; his blade work was on a par with Virgil's and above it. He managed to singe Virgil's clothing even, burning a half inch of fabric right off the edge of his sleeve. However, it was only a matter of time before Virgil gained the upper hand, his superior strength defeating Ryl's delicate maneuvers. It was now a simple matter of Virgil simply pulling him up to his knees and shocking him into submission. Proceeding with Force Fear and driving his mind insane, Virgil drained Ryl although not entirely of his Force energy. For the next few minutes, Virgil made the bloody Zabrak his play thing; lightning electrocution, telekinetic choking and the like. Of course, everyone didn't have all day, and like the dog he was Virgil lopped off Ryl's head and ended the game as pleased as could be.. Above, Roderick clapped ecstatically whilst Marut’s jaw dropped. Roderick wasn’t even mad that one of the student’s he’d invested so much in had died in a second.

Afterwards, Virgil was the clear choice for succession. He had heavily impressed Roderick and earned Jaeira’s un-divided loyalty. The quick duel had served to be his “Trials” of sorts, in a sick and quick sort of version. Virgil had shown no aversion to quickly killing and ending Ryl; Roderick had succeeded in grooming an equally twisted apprentice. Marut became a distant fourth behind the newer apprentices, who were catching up to him in terms of time and ability. With this, Roderick began to send the four on lackey missions he couldn’t trust his normal thugs to do, the beginning of Virgil, Jaeira, and Sarah’s real experience in the outside world.

A Change of Direction

Of course, things rarely went as planned. Jaeira had lost her affinity to Virgil that had surfaced in previous years, Sarah had grown more hate towards Virgil, and Marut simply wanted him gone due to the fact that he knew he was soon to be replaced. It was on their very first mission together that Marut quietly persuaded the two girls to side with him against Virgil and double-cross him. They all knew who Roderick’s favorite was; it was in everyone's best interest to remove him so that they all didn’t suffer the same fate as Ryl. However, they didn't want to kill him; Marut persuaded them to give him a fate far worse to get back even more; get him stuck in the middle of a prison for the rest of his life with no way out. The planet in question was Commenor, a Corporate Sector world where Roderick had major business interests that were ironically also double-crossing him. When the ship landed in one of the space-ports, Marut and Sarah disabled a sleeping Virgil and proceeded to heave him down the boarding ramp to wary customs officials. When presented with the supposedly dead body, they were unsure what to do. Of course, they didn’t have the chance to do anything to begin with. The trio descended from the ship, slaughtered the customs officials and all the workers on the isolated landing pad, and fled the ship in the midst of the storm rocking the city, their simple impromptu plan working exactly as planned.

When Virgil came to, he was surrounded by local security forces pulling him away from the scene. However, he was too drugged to utilize his Force powers, and from the little awareness he could muster, there were too many guards to fight off without his still-new lightsaber. He wondered where Jaeira, Sarah, and Marut were, but otherwise was too pre-occupied with whatever had happened. At a prompt trial the next day, it was revealed to him while slapped with a neutralizing collar in a Force Cage that he had been found amongst a series of dead and severed bodies with the ship he had taken to arrive on Commenor. The cameras around the walled landing pad had been knocked out of commission during the storm, and with no other apparent explanation as to the massacre with the lack of witnesses to call on, it had been pinned on him. Virgil couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had been betrayed, double-crossed! His entire body was seething with anger and thought of ripping Roderick’s other remaining students to shreds. If Virgil hadn’t been restrained by then, he would’ve killed everyone in the stark white court room. As the old human judge barked out a verdict of guilty and the death penalty sentence by lethal injection, Virgil cringed and barked bloody murder, cursing everyone in the room. He didn’t even bother to present his case or aid his appointed attorney; he was so pre-occupied by the thought of betrayal. He was even more furious at the thought of not having seen it coming.

In maximum-security prison while awaiting execution, it had become obvious that they had known Virgil was force-sensitive. Knowing they must have retrieved his planted lightsaber as evidence of his supposed involvement, Virgil was kept in a Force Cage pending the decision of instead extraditing him to the Jedi Order in Galactic Republic space for rehabilitation with the added bonus of severing his connection to the Force. Despite the lack of healthy meals he received as well as torture interrogations designed to discern his purpose on Commenor, Virgil quietly bid his time and used this sudden turn-about of events to beef up his mental resistance and mind barriers. Virgil wasn’t about to let this time go to waste. He would wait for an opportune moment, break out, and systematically kill off his former colleagues in manners only befitting the most self-righteous of Jedi pretenders.

During the few moments he was allowed free time and was bogged down with a shock/neutralizing collar while watched from above by heavy guard, Virgil formed friendship amongst a series of other prisoners also most likely to be extradited to Republic space. Amongst them, to his amazement, was another Force-sensitive, an equal, who revealed himself by conversation. He was a Jedi turned Dark Jedi by the name of Florian who was to be extradited as well to the Republic. Virgil wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, but there was an air of extremely corrupt honesty to him. Despite the equal impasse of cocky and arrogant egos, the pair developed a sort of mutual respect. More importantly, they began to develop something else; an escape plan. The best moment, they decided was when they were to be transported off planet to Prazhi, where supposedly a prisoner exchange would take place in a swap-meet with Republic officials. Among other things, Florian related to Virgil how he had in a public display to the press during the usual media outlet part of any trial offered a substantial reward for anyone willing to break him out.

This was news to Virgil; the likelihood of quickly breaking out and maintaining a new, on-schedule hit list was good although the route to the prison transport taking them off world would be heavily guarded. Until the prisoner exchange, however, all he could do was glare and think angry thoughts. Virgil wasn’t about to get rusty and fat while stuck in a maximum-security prison waiting to be transferred to another maximum-security prison. Virgil's free time outside the Force cage with a force-neutralizing collar slapped on his neck was spent practicing movements from Shien/Djem So minus weapons. Force training was a big no-no, but he figured he would able to resume training as such soon enough. He also received a myriad amount of tattoos all over his upper body. Regardless, it was all secondary; his anger at the roman triumvirate and their emperor drove him nearly mad while he bid his time impatiently, the minutes turning into days. The exchange was getting tied up in bureaucratic mishaps just like Virgil’s now commuted death sentence conviction, and it took its toll on his mind. Two years passed by, and all the while Virgil never forgot and never forgave.

Finally Virgil, Florian, and a host of other dangerous criminals were put on board an armored speeder bound for the space-port. Here, they exited and were sent single-file through the crowded spaceport, guarded by numerous security guards. Virgil could tell something was odd; there was an awful lot of aliens about, and the humans present obviously weren’t traveling Corporate Sector business men. As the group came around a corner, they found themselves blocked by a forklift and its worker attempting to remove crates from the way of the path to the ship. It suddenly hit him that--- no, it actually hit him. A blue stun bolt intended for a guard hit Virgil directly in the torso, knocking him flat on his feet and out of consciousness as crimson and light blue blaster bolts erupted from behind the crates blocking the path leading to the prison transport and pinged off various surfaces. As he blacked out, Virgil felt two strong hands pulling at his shoulders and his back dragging across the surface of the cold permacrete.

When he awoke, he jumped up in his bed while regaining sight to find Florian dolling out credit chips on a parallel bunk, his black hair and beard completely shaved off. He turned his head towards the newly awakened Dark Jedi with a wild grin and pulled a set of clothes from the bag to the side of his chair, tossing them on top of Virgil. The young man could only assume he had been dragged away from the fighting, for the collar around his neck was gone and he could utilize the Force around. The missing presence of a Force Cage was also a comforting feeling. Waving out the mercenaries he had been paying, he turned to Virgil in a quick exchange of dialogue. Virgil had indeed been dragged away from the fighting by Florian, and they had escaped off planet in a mercenary ship called the Sundered Blade. Virgil attempted to probe further, but Florian waved it off as the past. He simply stated that most of the crew members were former slavers who had worked under him and that Virgil shouldn’t think about it too much.

Virgil couldn’t believe what was happening, but he was too tired to question it. He was inside some medium freighter’s bunk room with another Dark Jedi after having escaped from a maximum security prison exchange. However, he decided to take Florian’s word for it. What was more important was hunting down Jaeira, Sarah, and most importantly that self-serving traitorous wimp, Marut. Virgil also decided he might as well take down Roderick and self-destruct his pirate enclave. He couldn’t believe after all this time that Roderick hadn’t even sent someone to visit for him on behalf of his interests. Of course, perhaps those rebels had told him that Virgil was dead… no, Roderick must have sensed them lying but had chosen not to search for him. Regardless, people were going to pay and then die nice, slow deaths. But first he needed help, and he needed weapons. More specifically, he needed a lightsaber and a lot of preparation. If this hunt was going to take up the entirety of his time from now, Virgil was going to have to seek more power. His mind drifted to Florian. Sure, he was scum, but he was as much a killer as Virgil and he could have left him for dead back in that firefight.

Having dressed after freshening up, he sought out Florian on the bridge of the freighter. Virgil had already related his story to Florian, and now stated his past history with Roderick, his hated but also paradoxically beloved mentor. Florian proved to be hesitant at the idea, but when Virgil offered up his former master’s pirate corvette and enclave space station, Florian jumped at the chance. He didn’t know Virgil very well, but it had hardly ever mattered to Virgil’s future business partner as to who he helped or why. The idea of a refurbished private mining station with some less-crappy accommodations than what he had currently was an enticing prospect, along with the credits that stood to be made from taking over Roderick’s enterprise. He agreed to Virgil’s proposition to hunt down these Dark Jedi; power ventures like these weren’t exactly a dime a dozen. Rid the universe of another rival force-user, get money in the process; that’s how Florian saw it. For Virgil, it was more personal than that; he had a score to settle with his ‘family.’

Florian, being older by about ten years, offered to train Virgil further in the ways of the Dark Side. Both of them knew from Virgil’s descriptions and memories that Roderick was more than a match for either of them alone, and so Virgil would need more training if he was to off his father-figure. Still, Virgil needed weapons; unlike Florian, he didn’t just have a crew that would save his lightsaber in the event of being captured by elite security forces on a core-ward planet. Florian supplied Virgil with a crystal, an emerald green Adegan, as well as a series of surplus parts he had for himself just in case he needed to re-construct a lightsaber or two… or three, maybe four. Virgil had a wealth of varied components to choose from, as well as rare electrum parts with which to adorn his weapons. Virgil wasn’t too much about the looks so much as the practicality, but Florian encouraged the younger man to give his lightsaber some flash and distinguish himself. After several weeks, he had created a single product; Virgil ignited it with a satisfying hiss as a bright green blade sprang to life in the darkness of his new private quarters on board. It was game time, or nearly game time. First, he needed information on the whereabouts of his targets; storming Roderick’s palace was foolish, even in his opinion. As to where he was going to get it, he had no idea.

When he presented his perplexity to Florian about his lack of experience outside of Roderick’s pirate station, the elder Dark Jedi gave him a route. He had a contact on Nar Shaddaa who might be able to help with the locations of at least one of Roderick’s former apprentices. Virgil didn’t say another word and motioned for Florian to take him there at the earliest possible convenience. In the mean time, training was a go. Florian furthered Virgil’s mind barriers by assaulting him constantly with the same powers Roderick had taught Virgil before. Upping Virgil’s mind barriers would allow him to protect himself from what Jaeira, Marut, and Sarah would most likely use against him. Florian also aided Virgil by providing him both a sparring partner in the form of himself while also giving a somewhat inconsistent supply of prisoners to practice tearing apart the mind barriers or instead use on them Virgil's destructive force capabilities. Utilizing his increased control over his telepathic and destructive on various targets including a captured Republic marshal gave Virgil much practice. Although this particular agent of the galactic government had a substantial amount of willpower and was very resilient, Virgil used a mixture of torture techniques to break him down before ripping his memories apart with 'Drain Knowledge' and receiving a gamut of useful information, including proficient knowledge of K’thri martial arts techniques. He had never considered unarmed combat heavily useful besides the average level training Roderick had given him, but Virgil decided practicing K’thri couldn’t hurt; besides, beating someone to a pulp with his fists was a rather entertaining prospect.

Nar Shaddaa proved to be everything he had hoped for and more. It didn’t provide anything for ushering him along a path of power, but the contact Florian provided him with was more than helpful. The contact told him that a certain person of note claiming to be Marut was last seen on Ojom, the icy home-world of the Besaliskans, shaking down local glitterstim dealers on behalf of the now major crime-lord Roderick. Virgil automatically turned on a heel and headed back for the spaceport, where he reported his findings with a revenge-themed temper. Thoughts of the initial part of his plan coming into position were awe-inspiring; he was going to drop Marut to his knees like he had done with Ryl, take his memories, and break him. Death was far too good for someone like Marut; Virgil had a feeling that he had been the one to mastermind the plan as Jaeira was too cautious to formulate something similar and Sarah was a weakling sleeper whose only strength lay in Force ability. Before he left, Virgil proceeded in some pleasureful revelry, where he took aside an unassuming Nikto guard and assaulted him relentlessly with Force Fear before he tore his mind apart; little mental resistance from the weaker being gave Virgil what he was looking for; a fluent, even if rough, knowledge of Huttese. The language would be useful for future dealings in the darker side of the galaxy’s business world.

The trip to the Inner Core was long and arduous, and it drove Virgil’s patience to the deep end. He had no lack of anti-tolerance, if such a thing existed, for long trips through the blackness of space, and tormenting the victims of Florian’s mid-trip pirate raids could only provide so much pleasure. Virgil threw himself deeper and deeper in his training, and with Florian slacking off in the excess of his ever-increasing wealth, Virgil soon surpassed his former secondary mentor in terms of martial skill. White little thoughts of betraying Florian and commandeering the Sundered Blade surfaced in his head, but Virgil thought twice about that one; he needed the egotistical Dark Jedi pirate captain for the fight against Roderick. Virgil could stand his arrogance and match with his own, although his over-confidence was to a lesser scale and he knew his limits. As the ship reached Ojom, he prepared himself; this would be his first real duel, a test of his strength, in the event that this Marut was the one he was looking for.

The process of learning Besaliskan was rather easy; not doing it the hard way, Virgil accosted one of the four-armed reptilian freaks, a thuggish club bouncer, and got a “free lesson” in the language. Leaving the anonymous corpse behind in an alley-way, Virgil used the information he had gained to find and converse with a local glitterstim dealer on recent sightings of off-worlders. When asked why he was inquiring, Virgil replied that he was here to kill the person in question. The Besalisk changed his rude tune and supplied Virgil the information he required; he had been shaken down by an off-worlder with a lightsaber not too long ago. With knowledge that Marut had left for one of the icy caverns used for smuggling in the northern fringes of the planet, Virgil gathered up Florian and “borrowed” a speeder to leave the city. Maps provided by the dealer took them in the right direction, but eventually they had to “hire” a guide to the location.

As they reached the caverns, the pair had the luck to find Marut leaving for his own speeder at the front of the entrance, a pair of severed guard corpses lying in the snow. When Virgil spotted Marut, he didn’t waste a moment, months of anger poured out into blue-white lightning extending from his finger-tips like tendrils. The destructive powers he had only encouraged to grow since their last meet lashed out like whips, electrocuting Marut and sending him flying backwards on his back similar to when Virgil had fought Ryl so long ago. His assailant had no clue as the identity of Virgil, but none the less was unable to defend himself properly until Virgil stopped the lightning and ordered him to get up and fight the ghost of his past in a little humorous season rhetoric. Single deep purple blade igniting, Marut charged Virgil, who in turn brought forth a single green blade and engaged Marut in lightsaber combat while Florian watched, yawning. It was clear to Virgil that Marut had improved since their last meeting; his style was distinctly Form VII, Juyo, and it was hard to maintain a coherent defense against such staccato sequences.

However, Virgil had been preparing himself up to this point, while Marut had been doing Roderick’s lapdog work shaking down drug dealers. He had trained himself to the max that time would allow him, and he had no major difficulty defending himself from the telepathic assaults Marut was using against him to disrupt his emotion-fueled focus. Although he was using Juyo, Virgil could tell he wasn’t able to use it to full effect. Marut was as weak as always; foolish, un-ambitious, always thinking he was one step ahead. It was hardly so, and Virgil in turn used Force Fear to project visions of Marut’s deepest worries once he had worn him down; in this case, visions of Virgil replacing an incompetent Marut at Roderick’s side. Nothing like the aforementioned would ever happen, but with these visions Marut realized who he was facing. In theory, the only thing missing was the technicolor dream coat. His will to fight was subverted by both surprise and horror, and it worked further to Virgil’s advantage.

The duel progressed on, with Florian watching from the side in case Virgil called on him to fight. Although Marut had indeed progressed and was Virgil’s senior by at least eleven years, his natural ability was lacking, and in a brutal saber-lock, Virgil knocked his opponent on his back once more before lobbing the lightsaber away with a telekinetic grip and sending it flying away into the packed snow around them. As Marut scrambled away like a pig, Virgil drew him close by the neck in a Force death-grip and sent him flying into their rented speeder, his body pinging off the metal as the cold continued to embrace the three of them. Grabbing him by the collar, Virgil flipped him over and proceeded to beat Marut’s face into a bloody pulp, repeated strike after strike until Florian had to restrain him from killing the man preemptively. Shaking him off, Virgil called forth focus on Marut’s lightsaber, bringing it close to hand, and took the device apart like a toy, unraveling it with the Force and pocketing the purple Hurrikaine crystal before sprinkling the components all over a ragged bloody Marut.

Laughing, he crouched down and pressed his fingers on the man’s forehead. With the traitor’s mental barriers all but gone, Virgil drew forth specific parts of Marut’s mind that interested him; his technique knowledge in Trakata, his technique knowledge of Teras Kasi martial arts, the moment he had slain the Jedi Watchman’s padawan and nearly struck down Virgil. It was all rather satisfying for Virgil, who severed Marut’s head and returned with it to the ship. Orders were given to send the preserved head in all its acridness back to Roderick’s space station, the address courtesy of Virgil and Marut’s combined memory.

Back on board the Sundered Blade, Virgil breathed a sigh of relief. The adrenaline he had gotten from defeating Marut and humiliating him in the icy tundra of Ojom had revitalized Virgil, taken part of an invisible burden off his back. Producing the purple Hurrikaine crystal he had seized from his now dead compatriot, Virgil installed the crystal in his lightsaber as a reminder of his victory against the ring-leader. It was almost as sweet as when he had easily defeated that loser Ryl so long ago. Still, Virgil couldn’t get complacent in his victory. By now, he was the unofficial leader of the pirate crew. Florian had taken something of a backseat to Virgil’s leadership although still ever persistent about Virgil’s promise on the space station, and the men looked to him for guidance now more than ever. He had bigger aspirations, wanted more power; there was only so much killing rivals and training could give. Virgil wanted to tackle Roderick now, knock him out in a one-two punch.

Straight to the Top

Regardless of his eagerness, Virgil knew he couldn’t hire the muscle he needed unless he had credits. With current funds, they could never get quantity and quality at an affordable price. Reservedly, he and Florian took to raiding other pirate crews and smugglers in the Outer Rim, allowing those who joined on to keep their lives and the more loyal ones to rot inside their disabled ships with a severed head or a blaster bolt to the cranium. Roderick was well-armed, and although his space station didn’t have much in the way of heat, its corridors were full of blood-thirsty cutthroats and similar scum. Stealing the cargo of private corporations while avoiding Republic sanctioned ships allowed Virgil to remain under the radar while still getting a profit and inching himself towards his goal. Still, he never forgot about those sleeper sisters; they would pay after he dealt with the big dog. All the while, he still stayed true to the path; power, power, and more power.

Florian had since taught Virgil everything he wanted him to know, and thus Virgil was confined to practicing what he had already learned. Marut’s memories and what Virgil had seen on Ojom had revealed that Roderick was more powerful than ever, and when Virgil confronted Florian about helping him train, the man agreed. Although Virgil now knew the technique from Trakata and Teras Kasi, he had no formal experience in actually putting them to use; Florian, on the other hand, was luckily experienced with both forms.He also taught Virgil how to further fine tune his telekinetic ability with the ‘Force Repulse’ ability by directly controlling all of the energy around him. It was dangerous to teach and aid in learning, but after all, it was leading Florian to acquisition of the space station; if Virgil won, then Florian won. Virgil in turn out of a sign of respect and mutual agreement taught Florian moves from K’thri as well as Form V, a style Florian had never learned before. He also offered up short occasional lessons to Florian in Huttese and Besaliskan, but the older Dark Jedi declined Virgil’s unusual kindness; he was not interested in diverting along a secondary path of the scholar. Amongst other things, Virgil tried to develop some training in Trakata, which he had seized in an incomplete format from Marut’s mind. Its movement solely relied on the ability to rapidly turn one’s blade on and off, and Virgil noted to possibly incorporate its use in the future.

By the age of thirty-five, Virgil and his allies had sold enough stolen cargo and amassed enough hired mercenaries and conscripted pirates to fill three medium freighters, which although not much to speak for he hoped would be enough to stage a secret attack on Roderick’s space station. The plan had already been laid out well in advance as they approached it in the Inner Rim; come in under the guise of his many cargo ships with different markings, then storm inside and kill everything not willing to cooperate. The merchants were not to be harmed, however; Florian wanted business ventures to remain. It worked remarkably well; unlike government soldiers, Roderick’s pirates working the docking clamps were sloppy and were usually too piss-drunk to pay any major attention. Besides, no one was going to storm Roderick’s space station because no one who didn’t need to know about it knew about it. This would prove to cost them heavily, and when Virgil stormed forth in a bloody rage from his ship’s boarding ramp amidst a horde of disorganized Mongols and slightly more disciplined PMCs, Roderick’s understaffed and incompetent men were unable to defend themselves and the black market merchants impossibly lost as Virgil’s men simply ignored or attempted to ignore them; of course, some inevitably lost control and were shot down by the mercenaries for not maintaining focus on targets. Virgil was a whirlwind, targeting those of Roderick's subordinates that he remembered specifically as they presented themselves. Regardless of ability, Virgil's anger and emotion were somewhat uncontrollable at the moment; his eyes were beginning to become a full sickly bloodshot yellow, and the calamity he caused was enormous. Suffocating people with the Force was pleasureful to him. Of course, they were small time compared to Roderick, whom he needed to find ASAP.

Instead, Virgil didn’t need to find Roderick; rather the old man presented himself with lightsaber in hand. He had no idea who was trying to steal his small piece of heaven, but they were about to get the Sithspit kicked out of them. Florian behind him, Virgil didn’t even bother to talk to Roderick, whose mind was blown when he saw Virgil grinning like a madman with his blade ready to lop the old man's head off. As Roderick tried to make sense of the situation, he was still so in shock from seeing his favored son reincarnated in living flesh that he hardly had time to bring up his curved hilt in defense of Virgil’s attack. His former student wasted no time like those before Roderick by attacking immediately. Perhaps, if Roderick had been in his prime, he might have been able to simply glance off Virgil’s blows. Of course, two factors played to Virgil’s advantage; Roderick favored Makashi and Virgil was just too strong for the old man.

With Florian engaging Roderick from behind, the pair quickly wore down the old geezer to a solitary defense of himself. Virgil knew he could not break Roderick’s mind barriers; his telepathic ability was far too great. Even in his old age without energy, he was proving a formidable foe. Roderick used Virgil and Florian’s arrogance to his advantage, and used telekinetic blasts to separate Virgil, the better swordsman of the two. He then turned to Florian and, knocking aside his arms, forced him backwards before he decapitated the Dark Jedi, leaving his body slump against the wall. As Virgil re-entered the fight, he roared in anger at the death of his now-friend and compatriot. Blade spinning in his hand, Virgil began a vicious counter-attack. However, although his anger renewed his energy, he was not focused, and Roderick disarmed him before slashing off half of Virgil’s right hand and sending him flying once again into another wall.

Neutralized yet again, Virgil continued to cradle his hand as Roderick limped forward to him, muttering sayings of how he had failed to usurp him, how he instead might have let him back in with open arms. The only thing Virgil was heard was empty air, however. His senses zoned on his purple-bladed lightsaber, several feet behind Roderick. His face twisted in pain yet, Virgil reached out with one hand and grasped the weapon with the Force, activating it and pulling it back like a rocket into the old man’s back. A deep purple light burned through flesh and bone until a full blade was protruding from his abdomen, and as Virgil laughed in a painful contusion of his face, Roderick fell forward dead on the ground.

The House Sometimes Always Wins?

Medical attention was immediate; his entire hand was replaced with a robotic prosthetic.. None the less, after recovery, Virgil had achieved victory. The words of his former master echoed in his head, but he pushed them out; they were foolish and he knew Roderick had been lying. Afterwards, Virgil decided that he would take control of the space station. It wasn’t his idea of power, and it was an incomplete victory with the loss of Florian as a second-in-command, but he had won; in the end, he had won. Ryl had lost a long time ago, Marut had lost his head, and soon enough Virgil would take out Jaeira and Sarah too. No more traveling aboard second-rate medium freighters with smelly pirate crews. Taking up residence in Roderick’s old quarters, Virgil appointed one of Florian’s original crew-mates as administrator of the station, someone he knew he could trust, and made an early retirement for the next five years.

The next five years indeed proved a retirement too soon. Virgil found himself pacing the halls restlessly, never quite able to find something to do to his liking. Cheap woman, cheap alcohol, torturing captured rival pirates and then executing them; it didn’t give him any sort of adrenaline or advance him on the galactic scale. He modified his lightsaber tediously and tweaked it relentlessly, but such a thing was a day project and hardly encompassed anything outside of the usual physical training, etc. His leadership ability prevented any kind of coupe d’etat from occurring, and Virgil commanded respect from his hired thugs. He ran a much tighter ship than Roderick had ever done, much more efficient and much more profitable. Virgil continued his search for Jaeira and Sarah, but to no avail he could not locate his ‘sisters’, whom he had no doubt were hiding after hearing about Roderick’s death.

Unable to find them, Virgil refused to take on an apprentice to train him the same way Roderick had. He was not careful or fearful by nature, but more than anything he remembered the look on Roderick’s eyes as Virgil had killed him. The thought that something similar might happen to him was all-too real, and on the few occasions Virgil came across a force-sensitive when leaving the space station, he slaughtered him or her on the spot to stop any temptation of training a legacy. Virgil delved deeper into the destructive arts, and in order to find someone willing to spar with him, offered the entirety of the pirate organization to anyone who might wish to fight him in a death-match in the training chamber. Several burly, speedy, and clever figures with numerous different weapon specialties challenged him for control, and to test his skills, Virgil did not use his lightsaber but rather focused on using Teras Kasi and K’thri to close in and dis-arm his opponents. As usual, electrocution by lightning was a favorite as was telekinetically pinning someone to the wall and repeatedly crushing them. Virgil did not seize these weaklings’ memories, however; they were for his entertainment as none of them would ever actually beat him and he had no desire, however unpractical, to learn of blasters and primitive swords. By now, Virgil had long since mastered Shien/Djem So and from the memories he had seized, and he would not gain any further practice with these forms by practicing against people without lightsaber-resistant materials.

[Kuhblam]

(Short second post. )

At 37, Virgil was targeted for the first time by the Jedi Order for capture, having attracted their attention with his antics. It had never occurred to him that he was being watched, but Virgil had never really cared in the first place; he enjoyed a good fight but knew no other scum would be a real challenge. The incident took place on a trip to Ruan, a farming world, to investigate a lead on Jaeira. The information was actually false; it was an attempt to lure Virgil out into the Core Worlds on the basis discovery that feeding him data about his betrayers would place him in a position less guarded or messy then his hidden space station. Traveling aboard Roderick’s old corvette, Virgil gained permission to clairvoyance landing and received no trouble on account of falsified codes; using the ship’s actual identification module would have him chased out of the system in a heart beat. Renting a speeder and traveling into the southern plains, Virgil came straight to the address where hopefully he would find Jaeira and rip her limb from limb or perhaps clues leading to her whereabouts. However, upon arriving near the homestead, his sensory powers were detecting small fluxes of force energy, as if it someone were attempting to conceal their presence but not doing an adequate job of it. Virgil's suspicions were confirmed he found two Jedi waiting inside for him, a Padawan in his twenties and a Master. The Padawan explained the fluctuating force energy, while his Master must have been better able to conceal himself. Thus, Virgil wasn't altogether surprised.

When he found himself face to face with these men, Virgil was intrigued; here was another chance to flex his muscles. He’d never actually faced a Jedi before, but they couldn’t be much different than Marut. Of course, Marut was a weakling; he had never been Virgil’s equal. Besides, Virgil hadn't spent the last few years getting fat; he'd been training with Shien/Djem So and his telepathic ability to the extreme. His lightsaber shot from his utility belt to his hand, and as Virgil ignited it the Master pleaded for his surrender and redemption. Virgil declined with a polite blast of powerful white-blue electricity, which the Jedi had to dodge as Virgil swung about to face the student now behind him with lightsaber in hand. His other hand still coursing with energy, Virgil kept the electric storm going, and swung it about to face the Padawan, who was unable to block it and was flung to the ground from Virgil's barrage. If the Master hadn't present, Virgil might left the place much quicker. Virgil could sense the calm inside of him and his focus on the current; of course, that didn’t mean squat to the Dark Jedi. To keep them separated just as Roderick had done with Florian and him over a year ago, Virgil quickly caught him in a saber-lock and shoved him away with a heavy kick to his rib-cage. He turned about just in time to find the Master in an Ataru stance, wide open to Virgil. Ataru was nothing new to him; he had never trained in it specifically, but had enough knowledge from fighting with Jaeira to know how to counter its stylish acrobatics. Decidedly, Virgil countered with his own jumps and flip maneuvers. He couldn't match the man for his body-related force ability, but he could sure enough match him with a lightsaber; his own arrogance told him there were few that could and that this man would be no exception.

As Virgil engaged the Master, he employed a flurry of Djem So maneuvers to counter the substance-lacking flashiness of the Jedi’s acrobatics. Again, however, he found himself fighting a dual battle. Despite the taxing nature of the duel, Virgil wasn’t lacking in energy. All his life, he had been constantly conditioning himself over and over again, whereas these Jedi fools were sweating at a much faster rate. The padawan was beginning to grow weary, and his already sloppy blade-work was becoming loose and uncontrolled. Virgil capitalized on this, knocking his arms away and stabbing him through the abdomen. His other opponent did not despair to Virgil’s anger, however. Rather, he switched to Soresu to maximize his defensive ability and wear down the Dark Jedi. Starting off the one on one with more electrical blasts and all mannerisms of flashy destructive techniques, Virgil again moved to attack.

Virgil decided to play directly into his plan, and renewed an offense of Form V to drive back the Jedi Master. However, Soresu proved to be more difficult to bypass than the Master’s student’s Ataru, and Virgil found himself at an impasse. There had to be a way to feint his opponent into a false sense of security; everyone had their weakness. Then it occurred to him; Trakata. He had learned the style up to a medium level from Marut’s memories, which had served him well over the years. Virgil came up with the plan of luring the Jedi back into a counter-offensive by pretending to become extremely tired and loosening up his blade-work somewhat. The ploy worked, and the Master over-extended himself as Virgil flicked off his blade a second before they would have connected and re-ignited it, tracing the length of the Jedi's chest as he re-ignited his lightsaber. A vicious crescent carved itself into the Jedi’s chest, and a delighted Virgil chuckled sadistically. He hadn’t found Jaeira, but he had most definitely done the galaxy a favor in ridding it of two more of those stupid peacekeepers.

When he turned 43 mid-way through 3602, Virgil began to look into the new kid on the block, the Sith Empire. He had read about the Sith in its earliest days; maybe these weren’t exactly the same as HNN had reported they were just a bunch of corporate sellouts stealing a historic name for themselves, but perhaps Virgil could gain something out of this new corrupt faction. The Republic would never take a power-hungry dark-sider, but the Sith Empire would… they most certainly would. If they were anything like their namesake, they would take him in and have credence to use him. The possibility was high that they might not want him, but it was worth a shot; Virgil would not rot away in the space station. The Sith would need capable mercenaries for their extensive privateering organizations, and they’d have much bigger resources than his petty freighter and corvette group. It was an appetizing idea; the Galactic Republic was crumbling anyhow, and he could enlist himself in the mercenary ranks of the Empire and work his way up in a major contender on the intergalactic circuit. He wanted to be in the big leagues. take control; power favored those who took it for themselves. Leaving his organization in a permanent transition of ownership, Virgil packed his credit-filled bags for another life.

Lightsaber: Single Blade, Dual Phase, Electrum Hilt
Color: Purple, Uses a Hurrikaine Crystal

Practiced Lightsaber Forms:

Shii-Cho 5
Makashi N/A
Soresu N/A
Ataru N/A
Shien/Djem So 5
>>Sub-form Back-Handed N/A
Niman N/A
Juyo N/A
>>Jar’Kai or Dual Wield N/A
Double-Bladed Combat N/A

Skills:

• Dueling
  
• Tracking
  
• Trakata
  
• Natural Leader
  

Martial Arts

• K'thri (Master)
  
• Teras Kasi (Proficient)
  

Languages

• Basic (Fluent)
  
• Huttese (Fluent)
  
• Besalisk (Fluent)
  

Force-Sensitive Abilities or Practices:

Specialized Skills:

• Force Insanity
  
• Force Drain
  
• Drain Knowledge
  
• Force Repulse
  

Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 8
Body: 5
Sense: 4
Protection: 4
Healing: N/A
Destruction: 8

Attributes:

Strength: 7
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 6
Leadership: 7

Unarmed: 7
Melee: 4
Ranged: N/A

Force Attunement: -6

RP Sample:

“This is the best the Jedi Order has for me? Pathetic!”

The words cut into Virgil’s assailant like a heated knife, tearing through his mind and tempting him to become unfocused. However, the Jedi Master was not as prone to Virgil’s taunting. He was more resilient than his now deceased student, who now had a nice little hole matching the exact dimensions of a lightsaber blade in his abdomen.

Virgil gripped the hilt of his blade tighter as his opponent moved back into a Soresu stance, typical of his kind. It was an effective defense style in its own right, but it wouldn’t be enough to stop Virgil. Hard to get by? Yes. An impenetrable defense? Never. His feet as if they were infused with anti-gravity, Virgil rebounded across the grassy plains to seize the offensive once more. His purple blade flashed again back and forth. Repeated strike after strike kept the Jedi guessing and on his toes, but Virgil could not force him to make a counter-attack and open himself up to Virgil’s blade-work. No, this one was too smart for that. Unlike someone younger, he probably wouldn’t feel the need to switch the tempo; Virgil’s offensive nature and his defensive mindset were complementary to the polar extreme. It was obvious Virgil had the better blade-work, but this Jedi had the better philosophy, and Virgil knew it. He had to break him now, before he became exhausted and sloppy. This duel had lasted far too long for either of their tastes.

How to get past those tight parries…

It suddenly occurred to Virgil that he had an ace of his sleeve: Trakata. Unlike Form V, Virgil could still not break through the veteran Jedi’s tight defensive posture with short random sequences and random powerful strikes. It was also drawing too much energy and for the first time Shien/Djem So wasn’t working. But he could draw his fellow force-user out of a false sense of security by pretending he was tiring, and when the Jedi moved to switch to Ataru like he had done earlier before Virgil had quickened the pace, those wide open swipes would easily fall prey to the flick of the switch and the collision of open air. It was a simply ploy, yes, but if it worked, Virgil would be leaving Ruan in the next few minutes in the Sundered Blade back for his seat of power in the Inner Rim.

Purposefully, Virgil began to slow down the duel, acting as if he was growing preemptively tired by only glancing away strikes and backing off. He increased the depth of the sound his breathing created, and began to wipe away the sweat on his forehead that had been dripping away like a waterfall. The trick worked; for all intents and purposes, the Jedi switched back to a much more open Form IV and began to make offensive strikes of his own. When he brought his blade about to deflect a strike to his left side, Virgil quickly turned off the blade a second early and left the open air area where the blade would have collided with the Jedi’s. As the hilt traced the Jedi’s chest, Virgil re-ignited the deep violet purple blade as it carved a lengthy half-moon through the Jedi’s chest. The robes and flesh of the peacekeeper melded together as the wound instantly cauterized and the Jedi felt on his back, dying.

“Master Jedi, I am somewhat disappointed!”

Virgil laughed some maniacally as he kicked the side of the Jedi with his field boots and picked up his lightsaber. It was an ugly weapon of pure, uncorrupted design; silver, unadorned, orthodox. Virgil held it up in one hand and examined it at face value before pocketing it. Suddenly quieter, he knelt down and spoke to the Jedi, whose facial expression was serene but mixed with pain. Blood had begun to drip ever so slightly from the corner of his lips, which were rapidly losing color.

“You’re a good swordsman. Too bad I’m better.”

Virgil kicked him once more for good measure. He didn’t have the desire to rip the memories from this one, however useful. There was most likely too much righteous jibber-jabber or pure light baloney in that brain for Virgil to handle, and he wasn’t about to convert. Soresu and Ataru like-wise didn’t interest him either. Placing his hand on the Jedi’s temple, he drained the energy right out of the corpse in waiting, the color draining from his face as Virgil sucked the life right out of him. The Force opened up into him like a river to the sea, and it soothed his fatigue ever so much. Conveniently, he now felt rejuvenated, both from the adrenaline his victory had afforded him and the life-force of this former Jedi. He stretched his arms, letting his torn clothes rip themselves asunder a bit more, before walking off to his speeder and hopping inside. Maybe he’d go see a show, or torture a prisoner perhaps before he left the planet. He had all day, after all.

[Trellheim]

Didn't read the whole bio, but I enjoyed your RP sample and use of Trakata.

I'll hit you with a review soon.

[Kella]

Since I've got a Dark Jedi about the same age, who's also a Prophet, I thought I'd give you some quick feedback on stats while you're waiting. :3

Shii-Cho 5
Makashi N/A
Soresu N/A
Ataru N/A
Shien/Djem So 5
>>Sub-form Back-Handed N/A
Niman N/A
Juyo 5
>>Jar’Kai or Dual Wield 5
Double-Bladed Combat N/A
Trakata 3

He'd have an absolute maximum of 3 forms mastered at this point. Knowledge =/= skill in a form. For that, you need muscle memory and coordination, which come only through practice. So, you're good as long as you take out the Juyo. A Prophet wouldn't have any reason to learn Juyo anyway.
Finally, Trakata is a technique, not a form so it should go in the skills section. :3

Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 9
Body: 5
Sense: 5
Protection: 2
Healing: 2
Destruction: 8
You need to take out 3 Force points. :3

Attributes:

Strength: 7
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 8
I'd say a 7 in intelligence is probably required for a 9 in telepathy... in which case you'd want to take that out of leadership. Natural leadership will only get you about a 6 -- it has to be exercised, cultivated, and given occasion to be used to work it up higher than that. 6 would probably be your average mayor/team coach, with 7 being a good captain, and 8-9 for high-ranking politicians and highly respected captains.

Unarmed: 7
Melee: N/A
Ranged: N/A

Hope that helps you get approved a touch faster! ;D

[Kuhblam]

Fix'd.

[sparrow]

Sorry about the wait. Anyways, let's have a look at this...

From his earliest days, Virgil showed no sign of force-sensitivity what-so-ever, and thus his parents mistakenly assumed their son was just another human child who would grow up a sheltered life. However, this would all change soon enough. At three years of age and a toddler, Virgil had been playing with several blocks in his playroom when his uncontrolled, underdeveloped abilities somehow kicked into play, and one of the blocks levitated off the ground ever so slightly even if but an inch. With his nanny present, she presented this discovery to Uriel and Abdiela, who were skeptical and almost laughed it off. Their son force-sensitive? The idea was interesting, to say the least, but none the less the pair decided to call in the planet’s Jedi Watchman. When he arrived and conducted a Midi-Chlorian test, his results were conclusive with Virgil having a high level count.

A midi-chlorian test is part of a standard blood test. Also, I suspect you might've read enough of Kella's jedi reviews to know that the whole levitating blocks thing is a no.

In terms of sword skill as they grew, Ryl proved to be the better swordsman in terms of dueling

I keep expecting this to show up again as a plot point, but I guess you go on to say in the next sentence that it's not actually true.

in his over-confidence, the Zabrak had completed his blades in a matter of days and had only been thinking of the duel

You'd think that someone excited by a duel would at least give their weapons a few swings beforehand. How does one know that they've completed their lightsaber if they don't try it?

Marut and Sarah disabled a sleeping Virgil and proceeded to heave him down the boarding ramp to wary customs officials.

So why don't they kill him?

His free time was spent practicing movements from Jar’Kai and Shien/Djem So minus weapons

In a Force Cage?

some training in Trakata... It was an interesting style...

Trakata isn't really a style. It's basically a fancy name for a certain type of movement. Also keep in mind that a lightsaber blade doesn't activate and deactivate instantaneously.

a vicious onslaught of Djem So attacks in typical Jar’Kai fashion

So how's this work exactly, considering that Djem So relies on powerful two-handed strikes to break through an opponent's defense? By definition you can't really do that with Jar'kai, unless you have like four arms or something.

but had enough knowledge from fighting with Jaeira to know how to counter its energy-exhausting acrobatics.

As Virgil engaged the Master, he employed a flurry of Djem So maneuvers to counter the substance-lacking flashiness of the Jedi’s acrobatics.

Well, the thing about Ataru is that if you're fighting a single opponent, that opponent is going to be just as energy-exhausted trying to keep themselves from being cut, and they'll be too busy trying to not get hit that they won't have the time and concentration to employ their fancy and flashy force techniques.

Melee: N/A

Didn't he train with machetes and stun batons when he was younger? Does he cut himself whenever he picks up a sword?

That's all for now. Possibly more later.

[Kuhblam]

Changing back to WIP, will work on fixing said problems and adding more to bio soon. Re-thinking his profile strengths and weaknesses; may remove DK entirely and re-work strengths.

[sparrow]

Okay. Just post here to let me know when you're done again.

[Kuhblam]

Ok, so I've decided to keep him as is, have fixed the corrections, and raised Destruction to an 8/lowered Protection to a 1. However, on the subject of Djem So... would his 7 in strength be enough to back the style's powerful moves and bypass the two-handed requirement?

[Jenno]

Just a couple of points.

I tend to view a 9 as something a Master can't reach until they're at least 40 (based off of the principle that a 7 can only be attained at 22 and an 8 at 32 as minimums this is actually a fair bit looser). And also keep in mind that being granted a 9 is still possibly not going to happen given that there are only a select few with such ability in a force power. Also factor into the equation that this force user of 38 years old also has a 7 and an 8 and that seems to dictate that they would be even less likely to have a 9 at this age. Healing is typically a Dark Sider's 'dump' score for the Force points since for the most part it's related more to the light side than the dark side (but in a similar respect it is the same as the Destruction for the Jedi score). It doesn't mean that a 0 will equal high point elsewhere as getting a point or two in it doesn't make much of a big differencce anyway. I like that the protection score is low but bear in mind this means Virgil will likely have a low ability to defend against an opponent's force powers. I'm personally not saying you have to lower the score, mostly just pointing out that it seems unlikely to me that at this age the character may be viable for a 9, you may want to consider adding a couple of years.

Also, for the electrum on the lightsaber. This is a rare and extremely valuable material, especially when it comes to lightsabers. For the Jedi only members of the High Council can choose to have it and amongst the Sith there's usually going to be something better to spend such a lavish amount of money on. It's extremely hard to get and something a force user would only really add to their saber later on in their life, if they were to do so. Again, just a warning and this will be down to Sparrow.

Good luck,

~Jenno

[Kuhblam]

Thanks for letting me know. I changed the following:

• Changed the age to 42
  
• Revised the Force stats
  
• Added melee points, since he predominantly used them in place of a training saber
  
• Removed Jar'Kai, the second lightsaber, and adjusted every reference to a single blade
  
• Removed the Prophet ranking
  

[sparrow]

Alright, round 2...

In terms of sword skill as they grew, Ryl proved to be the better swordsman in terms of dueling in contrast to Virgil's superior strength. He embarrassed Ryl in a training duel in front of Roderick and Marut by battering his dual blades away with his own lightsaber before delivering a strong kick and knocking the flustered Zabrak on his back. By now, they had adjusted to dulled machetes, and to add insult to injury Virgil stepped on the elder boy’s chest and slashed a shallow gash across his cheek. Instead of berating Virgil, Roderick laughed; if Ryl didn’t want to get embarrassed, he had to get better. The young Iridonian would not forget Virgil’s spectacle.

Why? Why do you tell me that an NPC is better in a certain skill, only to show in the very next sentence your character handily beating them in that skill?

When he found himself face to face with these men, Virgil was intrigued; here was another chance to flex his muscles. He’d never actually faced a Jedi before, but they couldn’t be much different than Marut. Of course, Marut was a weakling; he had never been Virgil’s equal. Besides, Virgil hadn't spent the last few years getting fat; he'd been training with Shien/Djem So and his telepathic ability to the extreme. His lightsabers shot from his utility belt to his hand, and as Virgil ignited it the Master pleaded for his surrender and redemption. Virgil declined with a polite blast of powerful white-blue electricity, which the Jedi had to dodge as Virgil swung about to face the student now behind him with lightsaber in hand. His other hand still coursing with energy, Virgil kept the electric storm going, and swung it about to face the Padawan, who was unable to block it and was flung to the ground from Virgil's barrage. If the Master hadn't present, Virgil might left the place much quicker. Virgil could sense the calm inside of him and his focus on the current; of course, that didn’t mean squat to the Dark Jedi. To keep them separated just as Roderick had done with Florian and him over a year ago, Virgil quickly caught him in a saber-lock and shoved him away with a heavy kick to his rib-cage. He turned about just in time to find the Master in an Ataru stance, wide open to Virgil. Ataru was nothing new to him; he had never trained in it specifically, but had enough knowledge from fighting with Jaeira to know how to counter its stylish acrobatics. Decidedly, Virgil countered with his own jumps and flip maneuvers. He couldn't match the man for his body-related force ability, but he could sure enough match him with a lightsaber; his own arrogance told him there were few that could and that this man would be no exception.

When he found himself face to face with these men, Virgil was ecstatic; here was another chance to flex his muscles. He’d never actually faced a Jedi before, but they couldn’t be much different than Marut. Of course, Marut was a weakling; he had never been Virgil’s equal. His lightsaber shot from his utility belt to his hands, and as Virgil ignited it the Master pleaded for his surrender and redemption. Virgil declined with a polite blast of white-blue electricity, which the Jedi had to dodge as Virgil swung about to face the student now behind him with lightsaber in hand. With the Master still moving to engage Virgil in the fight, it was a wonder Virgil didn’t cut the padawan down sooner. Virgil could sense the calm inside of him and his focus on the current; of course, that didn’t mean squat to the Dark Jedi. To keep them separated just as Roderick had done with Florian and him over a year ago, Virgil quickly caught him in a saber-lock and shoved him away with a heavy kick to his rib-cage. He turned about just in time to find the Master in an Ataru stance, wide open to Virgil. Ataru was nothing new to him; he had never trained in it specifically, but had enough knowledge from fighting with Jaeira to know how to counter its moves.

As Virgil engaged the Master, he employed a flurry of Djem So maneuvers to counter the substance-lacking flashiness of the Jedi’s acrobatics. Again, however, he found himself fighting a dual battle, both blades engaging in a malicious fight.

Glitch in the matrix? Deju vu? Also, notice that you didn't remove all references to dual blades. It appears in the bio in other places as well. Might want to do a more thorough sweep.

The ploy worked, and as the Master switched to Ataru and brought his blade overheard to deflect a counter-strike, Virgil flicked off the blade and turned it back on once it had passed the climax of the Jedi’s blade. A half moon carved itself into the Jedi’s chest, and a delighted Virgil chuckled sadistically.

So how's this work exactly? The Jedi's saber isn't aiming for Virgil's lightsaber. It's aiming at Virgil, which means he either has to block it with something or get out of the way before he can counterattack. Shutting off his saber is a nice way to commit suicide.

[Kuhblam]

Removed the repetitive paragraph.

I believe I've found all the other references to having a second blade (only spotted two, let me know if there are more).

In concordance with removing Jar'Kai and raising the age, I've compared him with a few other similar master-level DJ/Sith Initiates and Lords and have decided to give him his old stats plus an extra point in Protection. I know the bios and skills vary amongst every character, but after adding up points it seems like Virgil was about 3-4 below. These stats are 2 below the average. I know the site doesn't rely on stats as much; just kind of nit-picky is all. Sorry if it seems like I can't make up my mind.

I believe I have fixed the lightsaber problem anyway, although I think you may have misread it slightly.

[sparrow]

Race: Human/Near-Human Hybrid (50% Epicanthix)

What's the point of this last minute change?

The Epicanthix occupy an area on the Outer Rim outside the Republic, and are fairly isolationist when it comes to their system and the rest of the galaxy, sorta like Chiss. And like Chiss, I would need an explanation of what they're doing outside their home system. They're both supposed to be pretty rare in the galaxy

Also, being half-Epicanthix would make him one of the aliens that he believes is inferior.

For stats, take the 9 back down to an 8. I will generally only take a 9 if it's the central ability in that character's arsenal. The centerpiece. The one thing they practice more than anything else, almost to the exclusion of other skills. On the other hand, Virgil has a pretty diverse set of skills. He's a Form V specialist, is well-versed in a number of areas of the Force, is a physical powerhouse, knows martial arts...

So anyways, these are the force stats that I will approve:

Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 8
Body: 5
Sense: 4
Protection: 4
Healing: N/A
Destruction: 8

[Kuhblam]

For the Epicanthix thing... yeah, I don't know what I was thinking. Lol, just spur of the moment; its removed now.

Stats edited. I can haz?

[sparrow]

Again, however, he found himself fighting a dual battle, both blades engaging in a malicious fight.

Looks like he has two sabers here.

Anyways, I trust you to change that, and it's minor enough that I feel that I can stamp this...

<Approved>

[Kuhblam]

Awesomesauce. Also, fixed that last edit.

[Squee]

Approved stats:

Practiced Lightsaber Forms:

Shii-Cho 5
Makashi N/A
Soresu N/A
Ataru N/A
Shien/Djem So 5
>>Sub-form Back-Handed N/A
Niman N/A
Juyo N/A
>>Jar’Kai or Dual Wield N/A
Double-Bladed Combat N/


Force-Sensitive Abilities or Practices:

Specialized Skills:


* Force Insanity
* Force Drain
* Drain Knowledge
* Force Repulse



Telekinetic: 7
Telepathic: 8
Body: 5
Sense: 4
Protection: 4
Healing: N/A
Destruction: 8

Attributes:

Strength: 7
Intelligence: 7
Speed: 6
Leadership: 7

Unarmed: 7
Melee: 4
Ranged: N/A

Force Attunement: -6

[sparrow]

Moving to Inactive.

[Cain]

Returning to Active upon member request.