Post by Space Core on Sept 23, 2012 19:26:30 GMT -5
Name: born: Novjalkzymaen Lig Raxkxala
commonly: Novux
Birthplace: Kalee, extreme northern reaches.
Race: Kaleesh
Age: 22
Height: 6ft
Weight: 188lbs
Appearance: Novus is a tall by the standards of his people. His muscles are defined and would look bulky on any other individual, but his height balances that out, making him look frailer than he truly is. Like all Kaleesh his hands have four digits, including two opposable thumbs on each hand. His scaly skin is a reddish-brown (though it leans more towards brown than red) and is scarred by multiple straight scorch marks of varying lengths, as well as scabbed and slightly curved cuts predominantly found on his back and shoulders. On his left shoulder is an insignia, branded deep into his flesh, marking him as a slave, or rather an ex-slave. His jet black hair dips a couple of inches below his shoulders and is usually kept in a loose low ponytail. The tusk protruding from his upper right jaw was considerably reduced, damaged in combat while the one protruding from his upper left jaw is only slightly cracked. A notable feature of his is that the claws on his hands have been filed off, making the natural weapons blunt (at the request of his previous owner). They will grow back over time, but it will take a while.
Novux wears clothes similar to the ones he arrived on Korriban in. Simple garments consisting of non-descript slacks which fall all the way to his ankles, a shirt of similar nature and a long coat. He still wears his traditional Kaleesh headscarf made of white cloth as well as his Kaleesh tribal mask. These two items are his most precious possessions and he would guard them with his life. The mask is, like all Kaleesh masks, made of the bones of one of Kalee’s animals. His is carved out of and made to resemble the skull of a mumuu, with symmetrical tribal markings surrounding each eye socket. The mask sports several small and shallow cracks which do not yet threaten its physical integrity. His hands, fingers and forearms are covered in wrappings. Novux was allowed to keep his mask through his slave years, one of the rare kindnesses that his owner showed him.
Personality: Novux’s anger is the trait of his personality which affects him most. The kaleesh seems to always be bristling, as though the simplest inconvenience could make him crack. His eyes burn at all times with an unending wrath, making his once stern sallow reptilian eyes glimmer with raw rage. However Novux learned to contain his anger, to some extent. He has developed the ability to lock away all his rage, for a time. This allows him to maintain a semblance of control over his emotions, preventing him from losing all sanity and turning into a rampaging beat. But this ability is not limitless. Keeping this much anger subdued for long periods of time is both unhealthy and impossible. Novux usually uses this anger in combat, utilising it to fuel himself, but if he goes for long periods of time without a fight anger levels can get too high for him to handle. Symptoms of holding back too much anger include sleep deprivation and nightmarish visions during what little rest he manages to get. He is always prone to violent anger outbursts, during these he lashes out physically or verbally at whoever happens to be unlucky enough to be close to him, be that as it may these anger outbursts have a tendency to drain him of his wrath for a short period of time, providing what one could call a moment of clarity, a few seconds during which his memories come back to him in full (except for those memories that occurred after his enslavement), before the storm of his anger clouds them again.
During these outbursts he loses all reason, consumed by anger and considerably strengthened by it, but lowered to the level of a thoughtless beast. It should also be noted that the more anger Novux is holding back the more often he will experience outbursts of rage and the longer they will last. On a similar note, the longer the rage outburst the longer the moment of clarity that will precede it. One could say that his short spurts of sanity are an indication of his former self trying to pierce through, an old self far less corrupted by the dark side, and far more honorable. An experienced Jedi could definitely use it to turn him back to the light. However a Sith master would also be able to use Novux’s overlying anger to push him further into the dark side.
His tutors on Korriban were zealous in their teaching of the Sith code, but one aspect of it always marked Novux more than any others. The idea of power leading to freedom. As such obtaining more power is the one thing he aspires to. Power to get his revenge on the Republic and power to keep his anger in check. He is cold, callous and cares little about what others want or think. He is deeply cynical, denying the existence of love, happiness and hope among other things, to him there is only power the greed to obtain it and the will to use it. He believes that if there is a higher power somewhere in the galaxy it stands neither for justice nor for the good of mortals, and that should such a deity exists it is neither worthy of his recognition nor of his time. And yet despite his ramblings about how unfair the world is he has no intention of changing it. It suits him, and in a way he likes the galaxy as it is. Chaotic, unpredictable, cold and uncaring. Beautiful. His mind works in a brutally logical manner. Intelligent despite being uneducated he is very good at stepping back and assessing the situation objectively and coming up with a plan. His inability to take in account emotional variables in addition to his lack of understanding of what drives others makes him a poor leader though. Laws and regulation usually matter very little to him, and while he is perfectly happy follows orders to keep superiors happy he is also capable of adapting the mission parametres to reflect changing circumstances.
Yet he is not without some, erm… redeeming (kinda) traits. His sense of honour for example. Admittedly twisted and barely regarded as a sense of honour at all by anyone but himself. But he sticks to it nonetheless. He never attacks, kills or tortures without reason. Acts of wanton and unprovoked cruelty are not his cup of tea. Of course he will ignore this rule without hesitation if doing so would hinder his own personal goals. For example if a superior orders him to interrogate a prisoner he will do so, and won’t hesitate to use torture to successfully carry out his orders, but if he deems torture to be unnecessary he will not use it.
His loyalty is another example, hard to earn but definitely worth it. He would be willing to lay down his life for someone he is loyal to. To earn his loyalty one would first need to earn his respect and then his trust. None have achieved both. Another part of his personality which would be labelled as a redeemable factor would be his usually polite demeanour. He rarely (if ever) swears and his tone remains calm even when berating others (although in those instances it gains an icy and venomous edge). He also happen to have a sense of humour, even if it is dark, dry, sarcastic and unforgivably mordant. Which means his attempts at levity often fail to amuse anyone other than him.
Naturally all these nice things about him lovingly described about him over the course of the past two paragraphs tend to get completey swallowed up whenever he enters one of his fits of rage.
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction: Kaleesh rebel
Previous Rank: leader of the above rebel movement
Lightsaber: randomsabers.com/raw_images/slaughter.jpg Elongated hilt making it a long-handle lightsaber, meant to accommodate Novux’s two thumbed hands more easily. Single phase.
Color: crimson blade.
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho 3
Makashi
Soresu
Ataru
Shien / Djem So 2
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman
>>Sub-form Jar-kai, or Dual Wield
Juyo
Double Bladed Combat
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 3
Telepathic:
Body:
Sense:
Protection:
Healing:
Destruction: 2
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 6
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 4
Unarmed: 6
Melee Weapons: 6
Ranged Weapons: 3
Theme Song: Black Hell-Danzig
Monster-Skillet
Bio:
Novjalkzymaen was born in the tundra of the northern reaches of Kalee. An inhospitable land on a good day and downright lethal on a bad one. His father, Rruronu was a prominent member of the settlement, a renowned hunter famed for his skills with the Lig sword. His mother he never met, she died due to complications in childbirth, losing both her life and that of Novjalkzymaen’s twin. The tale was oddly reminiscent of an ancient Kaleesh legend of Lig Raxkxala, a Khaleesh man who had lost a twin sister in childbirth but went on to become one of the most respected warlords on Kalee, the name of the hero form the tale was passé don to the newborn, in hope he would achieve similar feats. His father’s second wife, Xhael essentially became his surrogate mother, taking him in as if he were her own child.
Novjalkzymaen’s childhood was spent in much the same style as that of any other Kaleesh child in the settlement. Most of his time was spent either serving the tribe or learning how to. The settlement he was born in was small and remote, which meant that whatever education was provided was basic and little else than what was crucial for survival was taught. By the time he was sixteen the young Kaleesh had learnt to speak both the native Khaleesh language and basic, write and read Kaleesh, count up to a hundred, however he was also incredibly well versed in philosophy and skilled at debating.
One may find it strange that a tribe that does not bother teaching its children how to read or write basic would instruct them in philosophy, but this practise was meant to keep the mind of warriors sharp. In the settlement Novjalkzymaen was born into members were either hunters or teachers. The former would gather food and share it with the rest of the tribe, while the latter would gather knowledge and wisdom and share it with the tribe. This knowledge mainly consisted of philosophical or religious teachings. Furthermore each warrior would usually spend some time debating with a teacher every day, an exercise to sharpen the mind which helped warriors outwit both preys and opponents. These teachers also served as holy men. Novjalkzymaen received many lessons regarding Kaleesh religion, ceremonies, rituals and philosophy from them, these sessions over time taught him to accept life and death as natural occurrences and to respect both.
Besides these subjects he also received lessons in combat both melee and ranged from a young age. He was mostly taught by his father, though the stories of his potential future fame meant that many were willing to teach him what they knew. At the age of seven he accompanied his father on his first hunting trip into the tundra. There he made his first kill, it was no karabac merely a small rodent, but both his father and Xhael were proud, that much was enough for the young child.
On the day of his seventeenth birthday he was sent out into the tundra alone, with nothing but his Lig swords and Shoni spear as companions. This was common; all Kaleesh of the tribe on the cusp of adulthood underwent this trial, sent out and ordered to survive for a month on their own. It was meant to be a test of the Kaleesh’s resolve and capability to provide for the tribe. It was during that month that the child would carve his or her mask which he or she would wear for the rest of their life. A rite of passage of sorts to prepare the child for adulthood.
Novjalkzymaen was prepared, and he had a goal. The muumuu beat was a tusked quadruped native to Kalee, a powerful beast that most hunters feared to take on alone. The last person in the settlement to carve their mask out of a muumuu skull was his father, and he would duplicate the feat. He spent most of the first two weeks heading south, feeding himself on what prey he managed to find on his way. Soon enough the tundra gave way to dense jungles. There Novjalkzymaen made his camp. Game was anything but rare, and it would have been easy enough to simply stay there complacently, letting the days go by lazily, but this was a trial, and the young man respected traditions far too much to let this period of time be anything but challenging. And so he moved on, until he finally found his prize, a muumuu male, the alpha of a pack which had taken to grazing in a field close to the southern edge of the forest. The next day Novjalkzymaen attacked, using fire to separate the alpha from the rest of the herd, while the Kaleesh confronted his prey. The battle was long and both fighters were ragged and wounded by the end of it, but it was Novjalkzymaen that came out on top in the end.
Dragging the carcass back to his camp in the forest the hunter feasted that night, and got to work on carving his mask. By the time he arrived back to his village all that remained of the beast was the mask which Novjalkzymaen would keep, and its tusks which the young Kaleesh had kept as a trophy to prove his kill.
But his return was accompanied by disturbing events. By the time he was back at the settlement it had been taken over by Imperial troops. Now for a planet that was occupied by the Empire the tundra had been rather devoid of non-Kaleesh, and by that I mean no Imperial trooper had ever set foot in it. The frozen waste had little if anything of value to offer and its people were reclusive and relatively peaceful, giving the Empire no reason to send troops there. Novjalkzymaen had lived his entire life seeing neither hide nor hair of humans. Tales of invasion and enslavement by Imperial agents told around the fire had been nothing more to him, just tales. This all made the shock of the situation all the more vivid. The soldiers were apparently looking for an artefact of some description in the tundra, and at first all was fine. The Imperial troops stayed away from the village, but soon they started forcing the men to work for them, even Novjalkzymaen was employed, forced to work for an Empire he knew nothing about. What truly was the final insult was when the Imperials found their artefact, beneath the settlement’s burial ground. When they began desecrating it Novjalkzymaen could take no more. That day he killed his first Imperial. He was barely eighteen.
The rest of the expedition succumbed rapidly enough, they had expected no hostility from the locals and they were massacred before they could react. Novjalkzymaen split the tribe in half that day. Half the settlement elected to stay and hand him over so as to protect themselves, while the other half elected to follow him and oppose the Empire however they could. Novjalkzymaen left, and his followers went with him. A few days later an Imperial scouting party came to the village to find out what happened to the original expedition, and they began torturing those Kaleesh that had stayed, who promptly sold out the young rebel, but that only led to the troopers to decide to gun down the rest to send a message to any and all who would oppose them. A few minutes before the execution Novjalkzymaen and his supporters burst out of the shadows, annihilating the Imperials, taking advantage of the chaos and confusion. Those who had once opposed him joined him, and the rebel group grew.
They moved south, engaging Imperial Forces many times their own size, using hit and run tactics and stealing from Imperial supply chains to sustain themselves. Their first significant attack was on a slave cargo. Kaleesh prisoners were being transported along their path to the capital Kaleela where they would then be shipped off to the rest of the Sith Empire. Novjalkzymaen’s plan was simple enough, he and his men would move ahead and lay a variety of traps on the road. The slavers weren’t expecting any trouble and were lightly armed and armoured. For two days the Kaleesh rebels lay in ambush before their prey finally sprung the trap. The battle was short; the slavers barely had time to register what was going on before it was all over. The group freed the slaves, most of which agreed to join their saviours. Among the prisoners one caught Novjalkzymaen ‘s attention, an alien female, just a few years older than him. Non-Kaleesh were an uncommon sight on Kalee and that was enough to spark his curiosity, but there was something about her which awed him, a certain sense of power in the way she carried herself. He soon found out her name was Arshala and that she belonged to the Togruta species. When he asked her what her business on Kalee had been she replied she had been on an archaeological trip. A tall tale which the young Kaleesh rebel didn’t believe a word of, but she agreed to help him and his men, and while he was unwilling to trust her he was hardly in a position to refuse assistance.
Over the course of the following few battles he kept an eye on her, keeping her close and watching her movements. If she was aware of this she showed no sign of it. After the first few skirmishes the Kaleesh knew there was something unnatural about her, she always seemed to react too fast, as if she could sense her opponent’s intentions. At the same time he came to respect her and slowly trust her. Between battles the two would often speak, sometimes discussing serious issues and sometimes simply passing the time in each other’s presence. It was Arshala who came up with the nickname Novux, a simplification of the Kaleesh’s true name which she was incapable of pronouncing correctly. On her lips the nickname was friendly, a mark of her unwillingness to butcher his real name’s pronunciation.
It had been a couple of weeks since they had first met when Arshala finally came clean. She was, or rather had been a Jedi. She told her tale, that of a Togruta child born into a loving family and snatched away, abandoned by her parents to strangers she neither knew nor liked. How she was trained, taught to hide herself, and how she left it all behind just a few days before her trials, sick of restraint and emotionlessness. How she survived by selling herself as a sell sword, until she realised her lifestyle had brought her closer to the Dark side than she ever thought possible. Terrified by this realisation she decided to exile herself on Kalee, far away from all sentient contact. Until the Empire found her that is. The Kaleesh listened to her story, not saying a single word throughout the tale and for several minutes afterwards. He only asked her one thing, and that was why she had joined his group, why if she was so unwilling to be close to others and fight had she decided to take up arms again in such a large company? Her answer was simple and one that earned her his respect. He had saved her from slavery, she owed him a life debt, one she would repay no matter what. She also revealed to him that he was Force-sensitive, explaining that she found his presence soothing for that very reason, he was a clean soul where the Force was concerned, never having used itdirectly or consciously. That night the two came to an agreement, he would no longer ask her to fight, but in return she would teach him the ways of the Force as best as she could.
Soon word spread of the rebels’ victories, and the group grew bigger and bigger, individuals from all tribes joined them, men and women who were tired of the Sith rule. Over this time the Togruta ex- Jedi taught Novjalkzymaen daily, teaching him what she knew about the Force, though the fact she had only barely been at the level of a knight before leaving her master’s tutelage severely impeded what she was able to teach him. She even taught him the basics of lightsaber combat, the two of them practising with bladeless sword hilts to best simulate the Jedi weapon.
During that time the rebels made such ripples that Empire sent reinforcements to Kalee. Upon landing the new Military governor of Kalee, in all his arrogance, took a large Force to meet the rebels head on, intent on crushing them with sheer numbers. Sadly for him the Kaleesh were on their turf and they knew it well. Every time the army stopped it was harangued for all side by small rebel groups, lightning fast raids which rarely lasted more than a few minutes and slowly took their toll. By the time the Sith force reached the rebel camp the troops were exhausted, barely fed and poorly equipped, no match for the well fed, entrenched and rested Kaleesh warriors they met in the field of battle. The Goveror fell to Novjalkzymaen’s own blade. The young Kaleesh warlord was nineteen, and already his men lauded him as a demi-god.
However that victory was what led to his demise. Emboldened by this success the rebels attacked larger and larger Imperial settlements, Novjalkzymaen racked up a massive kill count, which soon came to include a second Governor. During this time he and Arshala began to alienate one another. She had taught him all she knew (as little as that may have been) but she was afraid he would slip into darkness as she had. In truth she was being overly paranoid, fearing he would fall just as she had, her reasons for doubting his motivations were mostly conjecture. She dealt with her anxiety poorly though. She kept trying to overrule him, openly challenging his decisions at all times and other small marks of defiance. These constant blows to his overly inflated pride infuriated him to no end, and he openly bickered with her whenever she interrupted him or tried to teach him. To some extent their constant quarrelling disheartened many of the rebels who were used to seeing the pair in complete harmony. But their moral would soon be pushed up by Novjalkzymaenand his claims that they were invincible.
He was soon to be proved wrong though. The Empire sent their best this time, one of their brightest military minds who had made a name for himself rooting out rebel groups all over the Empire. Novjalkzymaen had grown over confidant in his abilities and his strategy was sloppy, as the rebels made their next strike they were repeatedly defeated. The sudden defeats were costly to the rebels, and the movement lost its momentum rapidly. Warriors began leaving, until Novjalkzymaen’s men had either deserted him or died. Soon enough the kaleesh rebel leader was left with no allies save for Arshala. As much as the two had thought they hated one another their disputes now seemed petty and idiotic. During the short period of time between the mass desertions and the new Sith Governor’s last strike against the rebellion the Togruta and the Kaleesh became lovers, living on the run together, finding comfort in one another before their last fight. When they were finally unable to run anymore they made their last stand in a lost jungle. There they faced off against impossible odds, and lost. Arshala was killed, crushed by a tree which had been ripped form its bark by a stray grenade. Novjalkzymaen fell soon after, knocked out and imprisoned. Sith often kept powerful opponents as slave, and that was exactly what happened to the Kaleesh ex-warlord.
The Kaleesh was taken off his beloved planet at the age of twenty and sold to a rich Sith aristocrat by the name of Nohansen Daphnes Xelgrav (the second), a xenophobic little man with a penchant for abusing his subordinates. Over the course of his servitude to the Xelgrav family Nohansen tried to break Novux again and again, and to an extent he succeeded. The Kaleesh would have used the Force, but he was never given the opportunity, his focus was constantly disturbed with various drugs which prevented him from accessing his lessons.
Upon arriving in the Xelgrav household Novux discovered an environment which was wholly hostile to him. His fellow slaves saw him as a potential rival for favours, the free staff in the house preferred to ignore his presence entirely and his master despised him for no other reason than that he was born. It should be mentioned that Nohansen knew nothing of his Kaleesh slave’s past; Novux had been erased from the records and was officially dead. For the first few months in the house the Kaleesh was referred to either as various pronouns such as ‘you’ or ‘that’, or by his assigned designation K-17.
He was tasked with minor menial duties which required little to no skills to accomplish; those mainly involved cleaning of some description. The Kaleesh refused; his pride would never let him swoop so low as to clean a man’s home. To say that Nohansen had been looking forward to having a slave to break would be an understatement. During the first year the Kaleesh spent more time in the cellars, being beaten, whipped and otherwise physically abused than he did working. It was over the course of this time that he obtained most of the scars which he would arrive on Korriban with, including the sign branded into his left shoulder. He was routinely given drugs which gave him terrible hallucinations, keeping him in a nightmarish trance. He would have completely been broken had had not subconsciously shielded his inner mind with the force, locking his sanity, memories and personality away where Nohansen couldn’t reach them.
Novux’s saviour came in a shape the Kaleesh would never have expected. The newly resurrected Sith Order. The Kaleesh’s Force sensitivity had been detected within the Xelgrav household and the slave was taken away by the Order to Korriban to the new Sith academy. The Kaleesh had spent over a year in slavery and his training, while still there, was buried under the shield he had subconsciously erected around his sanity during the months he spent in torture. However during his first trial, an excursion into one of the ancient tombs of Korriban that shield was smashed down.
While he was in the tomb he met a variety of creatures, all hell bent on making him their lunch. The first few beasts that attacked him he killed more out of sheer luck than skill, swinging the weapon as best as he could without hurting himself. That was until he stumbled into a shyrack nest. Attacked from all sides he was incapable of defending himself, and just as he was about to be killed his survival instincts kicked in and kicked hard. His personality, memories and training came back to him in one great flow. He turned the sudden burst of anger and pain into fuel and killed everything in the nest. Even after that he could still feel rage, an endless anger that burned through his veins. It clouded his memories, preventing him from finding a culprit, someone to vent his wrath on, furthering angering him. As he returned to the academy, successful, people weren’t expecting him to have changed so much. Within the establishment he had been known for being reserved and rarely speaking, rapidly turning him into the butt of all jokes. The first student that levelled an insult at him had his nose broken and several of his teeth shattered. Soon enough people came to realise that messing with the Kaleesh was a bad idea. Novux became even more reserved than he had before, shunning his fellow students, spending all his waking hours either undertaking his trials or training.
His instructors rapidly saw potential in his newfound anger and lack of firm memories, but they found his lack of faith in the Sith Order to be disturbing. They decided to use his absence of memories to turn him further into the Dark Side, making him believe that his current predicament was the fault of the Republic and the Jedi and that he could gain revenge by becoming a Sith. They modified his past so that the Republic was put to blame for both his imprisonment and enslavement. Convincing the Klaeesh was easy enough, but they knew that if he ever broke away from his anger he would rapidly discover the lies and fabrications the Sith had used to turn him. However at the same time they were also highly doubtful of his ability to overcome his anger.
Truly enough the veil held, and Novux went on to complete his trials, proving himself worthy of the tutelage of a Sith master. One of the few in his group to do so.
RP Sample: The room was roughly semi-spherical, its circumference sometimes interrupted by rocky outcrops jutting out of the walls and ceiling. If Novux hadn’t known what he was looking for he would never have guessed this was anything but a natural formation. But the point was that it wasn’t, this cave had been carved out by some form of sentient creatures, and that meant it led somewhere. As soon as he had entered he had made a rapid sweep of the area to ensure that no other students had made it to this place before him. He could sense his peers still roaming about in the maze of tunnels which led to this place but none of them seemed anywhere near the entrance to this cave. He had proceeded by meticulously inspecting the walls, trying to find a button, or a lever of sorts, but to no avail. He similarly scrutinized the floor and still had found nothing.
He was now sitting cross-legged in the centre of the room, regulating his breathing, one of the basic calming methods he had been taught. He could feel the rage inside him straining against its bonds. Now wasn’t the time to use it. So preoccupied with his own inner beast was he that he failed to notice that two other students of the academy had made their way to this room. When he finally took notice of their presence he immediately realised something was off, they had been forbidden form killing each other on this task, but both had drawn their lightsabers. They knew he was better than them, and they planned to take him out of the competition and blame it on the creatures roaming these caves. Kill or be killed. The Kaleesh slowly rose and turned to face the newcomers. Two of the human students who had been so fond of tormenting him he noticed, not without a hint of satisfaction. One was a stocky little man, with short blond hair, pale skin, dark eyes and a rather atrocious looking neck beard; he went by the name Plague around the University, probably hoping the name made him sound less ridiculous than he looked. The other looked a little more serious, a lad named Jona, adept at duelling, and little else. Bald, grey eyes, no facial hair, dark eyebrows. His nose was crooked as if it had been broken at least once before and several of his teeth were missing. Novux smiled to himself.
“Gentlemen. Glad to see you made it. Unscathed. Even better. Hope you don’t plan on using weapons. Orders were clear. No combat between students expected,” Novux called out, his gravelly monotone echoing in the dank cave. The two humans looked at one another, they had probably expected to kill him before he had even realised they were present. Typical.
“No one’s gonna miss an alien slave,” Jona muttered disdainfully. Novux was still smiling behind his mask, but not out of amusement. He would allow himself to enjoy killing them. They were too stupid to let live. Far too stupid.
“Ex-slave if wishing to be accurate,” the Kaleesh replied coldly, drawing his lightsaber. Three crimson blades ignited at the same time. “Sure you want to do this?” his only reply was Plague’s shout as he charged, a clumsy overhead strike which was easily parried, however Jona’s attack followed swiftly, the human struck out from behind his stocky comrade. Novux pushed at them with the force, throwing Plague into Jona, pushing the latter’s lightsaber strike away from its intended target and into thin air. The kaleesh retreated several steps back. He’d have to take them on separately, that much was clear.
Novux used the Force the throw a rain of small rock chips onto Plague, distracting him as he lunged at Jona. The bald human was immediately pushed into a defensive stance, doing his best to parry a flurry of blows raining down on his guard. He never saw the kaleesh’s foot as it soared upwards and smashed into his midriff, the force of the blow amplified by a simultaneous Force push, sending Jona into a wall, dazing him. Novux immediately turned around, blocking an attempted backstab by Plague with his lightsaber and punching the stocky man square into the jaw before bringing his blade around, scoring hits on Plague’s right shoulder and left hip in quick succession. He had let his anger speed up his movements and fuel his attacks, and left no chance to the two of them, but just as he was about to finish off the shorter of his two opponents Jona threw his lightsaber, the strength behind the throw was perfectly judged, but the aim was poor. Instead of severing Novux’s arm is struck too high, only severing the kaleesh’s right tusk.
The wound was painful, but not overly so. But more importantly it came at an inopportune moment for the two humans. Novux had been using his anger to fuel his power, leaving himself open to its influence, but not controlled by it. The hit scored by Jona changed that. For a moment the kaleesh lay still, his weapon held in mid swing. The two humans looked at each other confused, until Plague decided to act, picking up his lightsaber with his uninjured arm and attempted to strike Novux down. Before the strike hit its mark a scaly hand shot out, grabbing the human’s left wrist in a vice like grip, bones groaned under the pressure, and shattered before Jona closed the distance. By the time Jona was close enough to attack Novux had already moved around the blow, avoiding the attack and bringing his lightsaber around in a reverse grip, slicing Jona’s leg in half at the knee.
Both humans lay whimpering on the ground, nursing their respective injuries when Novux’s anger receded, and immediately his stance changed. His shoulders slumped, his hands began shanking wildly and his lightsaber fell to the floor. As his eyes fell on his two victims on the ground he stepped back, shaking his head as if to try to deny his involvement. The change was gone as suddenly as it came on, the shaking stopped and the shoulders were squared, leaving the two humans slightly confused. But Novux wasn’t looking at their faces. He was facing the southern wall of the cave and had noticed something had changed, a glyph of some sort was glowing faintly, a carving in the stone he had missed due to the poor lighting. It took him a second to realise what was causing it.
“Blood sacrifice,” he muttered to himself. “Crude, should have expected it,” as he muttered to himself he began walking up to his two attackers, breaking Plague’s neck with a savage blow before using the Force to reclaim his lightsaber and igniting it into Jona’s head. The Kaleesh then proceeded to drag both corpses up to the northern wall and made several incisions at key arteries on their bodies using the sharpest rocks he could find. His work complete he took a few steps back, admiring his handiwork with some measure of satisfaction as the glyph on the wall grew brighter with every drop of blood spilled on the floor, until a segment of the wall split in half and opened, revealing an old chest matching the description given to the students by their tutors.
commonly: Novux
Birthplace: Kalee, extreme northern reaches.
Race: Kaleesh
Age: 22
Height: 6ft
Weight: 188lbs
Appearance: Novus is a tall by the standards of his people. His muscles are defined and would look bulky on any other individual, but his height balances that out, making him look frailer than he truly is. Like all Kaleesh his hands have four digits, including two opposable thumbs on each hand. His scaly skin is a reddish-brown (though it leans more towards brown than red) and is scarred by multiple straight scorch marks of varying lengths, as well as scabbed and slightly curved cuts predominantly found on his back and shoulders. On his left shoulder is an insignia, branded deep into his flesh, marking him as a slave, or rather an ex-slave. His jet black hair dips a couple of inches below his shoulders and is usually kept in a loose low ponytail. The tusk protruding from his upper right jaw was considerably reduced, damaged in combat while the one protruding from his upper left jaw is only slightly cracked. A notable feature of his is that the claws on his hands have been filed off, making the natural weapons blunt (at the request of his previous owner). They will grow back over time, but it will take a while.
Novux wears clothes similar to the ones he arrived on Korriban in. Simple garments consisting of non-descript slacks which fall all the way to his ankles, a shirt of similar nature and a long coat. He still wears his traditional Kaleesh headscarf made of white cloth as well as his Kaleesh tribal mask. These two items are his most precious possessions and he would guard them with his life. The mask is, like all Kaleesh masks, made of the bones of one of Kalee’s animals. His is carved out of and made to resemble the skull of a mumuu, with symmetrical tribal markings surrounding each eye socket. The mask sports several small and shallow cracks which do not yet threaten its physical integrity. His hands, fingers and forearms are covered in wrappings. Novux was allowed to keep his mask through his slave years, one of the rare kindnesses that his owner showed him.
Personality: Novux’s anger is the trait of his personality which affects him most. The kaleesh seems to always be bristling, as though the simplest inconvenience could make him crack. His eyes burn at all times with an unending wrath, making his once stern sallow reptilian eyes glimmer with raw rage. However Novux learned to contain his anger, to some extent. He has developed the ability to lock away all his rage, for a time. This allows him to maintain a semblance of control over his emotions, preventing him from losing all sanity and turning into a rampaging beat. But this ability is not limitless. Keeping this much anger subdued for long periods of time is both unhealthy and impossible. Novux usually uses this anger in combat, utilising it to fuel himself, but if he goes for long periods of time without a fight anger levels can get too high for him to handle. Symptoms of holding back too much anger include sleep deprivation and nightmarish visions during what little rest he manages to get. He is always prone to violent anger outbursts, during these he lashes out physically or verbally at whoever happens to be unlucky enough to be close to him, be that as it may these anger outbursts have a tendency to drain him of his wrath for a short period of time, providing what one could call a moment of clarity, a few seconds during which his memories come back to him in full (except for those memories that occurred after his enslavement), before the storm of his anger clouds them again.
During these outbursts he loses all reason, consumed by anger and considerably strengthened by it, but lowered to the level of a thoughtless beast. It should also be noted that the more anger Novux is holding back the more often he will experience outbursts of rage and the longer they will last. On a similar note, the longer the rage outburst the longer the moment of clarity that will precede it. One could say that his short spurts of sanity are an indication of his former self trying to pierce through, an old self far less corrupted by the dark side, and far more honorable. An experienced Jedi could definitely use it to turn him back to the light. However a Sith master would also be able to use Novux’s overlying anger to push him further into the dark side.
His tutors on Korriban were zealous in their teaching of the Sith code, but one aspect of it always marked Novux more than any others. The idea of power leading to freedom. As such obtaining more power is the one thing he aspires to. Power to get his revenge on the Republic and power to keep his anger in check. He is cold, callous and cares little about what others want or think. He is deeply cynical, denying the existence of love, happiness and hope among other things, to him there is only power the greed to obtain it and the will to use it. He believes that if there is a higher power somewhere in the galaxy it stands neither for justice nor for the good of mortals, and that should such a deity exists it is neither worthy of his recognition nor of his time. And yet despite his ramblings about how unfair the world is he has no intention of changing it. It suits him, and in a way he likes the galaxy as it is. Chaotic, unpredictable, cold and uncaring. Beautiful. His mind works in a brutally logical manner. Intelligent despite being uneducated he is very good at stepping back and assessing the situation objectively and coming up with a plan. His inability to take in account emotional variables in addition to his lack of understanding of what drives others makes him a poor leader though. Laws and regulation usually matter very little to him, and while he is perfectly happy follows orders to keep superiors happy he is also capable of adapting the mission parametres to reflect changing circumstances.
Yet he is not without some, erm… redeeming (kinda) traits. His sense of honour for example. Admittedly twisted and barely regarded as a sense of honour at all by anyone but himself. But he sticks to it nonetheless. He never attacks, kills or tortures without reason. Acts of wanton and unprovoked cruelty are not his cup of tea. Of course he will ignore this rule without hesitation if doing so would hinder his own personal goals. For example if a superior orders him to interrogate a prisoner he will do so, and won’t hesitate to use torture to successfully carry out his orders, but if he deems torture to be unnecessary he will not use it.
His loyalty is another example, hard to earn but definitely worth it. He would be willing to lay down his life for someone he is loyal to. To earn his loyalty one would first need to earn his respect and then his trust. None have achieved both. Another part of his personality which would be labelled as a redeemable factor would be his usually polite demeanour. He rarely (if ever) swears and his tone remains calm even when berating others (although in those instances it gains an icy and venomous edge). He also happen to have a sense of humour, even if it is dark, dry, sarcastic and unforgivably mordant. Which means his attempts at levity often fail to amuse anyone other than him.
Naturally all these nice things about him lovingly described about him over the course of the past two paragraphs tend to get completey swallowed up whenever he enters one of his fits of rage.
Faction: Sith
Rank: Initiate
Previous Faction: Kaleesh rebel
Previous Rank: leader of the above rebel movement
Lightsaber: randomsabers.com/raw_images/slaughter.jpg Elongated hilt making it a long-handle lightsaber, meant to accommodate Novux’s two thumbed hands more easily. Single phase.
Color: crimson blade.
Practiced Lightsaber forms:
Shii-Cho 3
Makashi
Soresu
Ataru
Shien / Djem So 2
>>Sub-form Backhanded
Niman
>>Sub-form Jar-kai, or Dual Wield
Juyo
Double Bladed Combat
Force-Sensitive Abilities or practices:
Telekinetic: 3
Telepathic:
Body:
Sense:
Protection:
Healing:
Destruction: 2
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 6
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 6
Leadership: 4
Unarmed: 6
Melee Weapons: 6
Ranged Weapons: 3
Theme Song: Black Hell-Danzig
Monster-Skillet
Bio:
Novjalkzymaen was born in the tundra of the northern reaches of Kalee. An inhospitable land on a good day and downright lethal on a bad one. His father, Rruronu was a prominent member of the settlement, a renowned hunter famed for his skills with the Lig sword. His mother he never met, she died due to complications in childbirth, losing both her life and that of Novjalkzymaen’s twin. The tale was oddly reminiscent of an ancient Kaleesh legend of Lig Raxkxala, a Khaleesh man who had lost a twin sister in childbirth but went on to become one of the most respected warlords on Kalee, the name of the hero form the tale was passé don to the newborn, in hope he would achieve similar feats. His father’s second wife, Xhael essentially became his surrogate mother, taking him in as if he were her own child.
Novjalkzymaen’s childhood was spent in much the same style as that of any other Kaleesh child in the settlement. Most of his time was spent either serving the tribe or learning how to. The settlement he was born in was small and remote, which meant that whatever education was provided was basic and little else than what was crucial for survival was taught. By the time he was sixteen the young Kaleesh had learnt to speak both the native Khaleesh language and basic, write and read Kaleesh, count up to a hundred, however he was also incredibly well versed in philosophy and skilled at debating.
One may find it strange that a tribe that does not bother teaching its children how to read or write basic would instruct them in philosophy, but this practise was meant to keep the mind of warriors sharp. In the settlement Novjalkzymaen was born into members were either hunters or teachers. The former would gather food and share it with the rest of the tribe, while the latter would gather knowledge and wisdom and share it with the tribe. This knowledge mainly consisted of philosophical or religious teachings. Furthermore each warrior would usually spend some time debating with a teacher every day, an exercise to sharpen the mind which helped warriors outwit both preys and opponents. These teachers also served as holy men. Novjalkzymaen received many lessons regarding Kaleesh religion, ceremonies, rituals and philosophy from them, these sessions over time taught him to accept life and death as natural occurrences and to respect both.
Besides these subjects he also received lessons in combat both melee and ranged from a young age. He was mostly taught by his father, though the stories of his potential future fame meant that many were willing to teach him what they knew. At the age of seven he accompanied his father on his first hunting trip into the tundra. There he made his first kill, it was no karabac merely a small rodent, but both his father and Xhael were proud, that much was enough for the young child.
On the day of his seventeenth birthday he was sent out into the tundra alone, with nothing but his Lig swords and Shoni spear as companions. This was common; all Kaleesh of the tribe on the cusp of adulthood underwent this trial, sent out and ordered to survive for a month on their own. It was meant to be a test of the Kaleesh’s resolve and capability to provide for the tribe. It was during that month that the child would carve his or her mask which he or she would wear for the rest of their life. A rite of passage of sorts to prepare the child for adulthood.
Novjalkzymaen was prepared, and he had a goal. The muumuu beat was a tusked quadruped native to Kalee, a powerful beast that most hunters feared to take on alone. The last person in the settlement to carve their mask out of a muumuu skull was his father, and he would duplicate the feat. He spent most of the first two weeks heading south, feeding himself on what prey he managed to find on his way. Soon enough the tundra gave way to dense jungles. There Novjalkzymaen made his camp. Game was anything but rare, and it would have been easy enough to simply stay there complacently, letting the days go by lazily, but this was a trial, and the young man respected traditions far too much to let this period of time be anything but challenging. And so he moved on, until he finally found his prize, a muumuu male, the alpha of a pack which had taken to grazing in a field close to the southern edge of the forest. The next day Novjalkzymaen attacked, using fire to separate the alpha from the rest of the herd, while the Kaleesh confronted his prey. The battle was long and both fighters were ragged and wounded by the end of it, but it was Novjalkzymaen that came out on top in the end.
Dragging the carcass back to his camp in the forest the hunter feasted that night, and got to work on carving his mask. By the time he arrived back to his village all that remained of the beast was the mask which Novjalkzymaen would keep, and its tusks which the young Kaleesh had kept as a trophy to prove his kill.
But his return was accompanied by disturbing events. By the time he was back at the settlement it had been taken over by Imperial troops. Now for a planet that was occupied by the Empire the tundra had been rather devoid of non-Kaleesh, and by that I mean no Imperial trooper had ever set foot in it. The frozen waste had little if anything of value to offer and its people were reclusive and relatively peaceful, giving the Empire no reason to send troops there. Novjalkzymaen had lived his entire life seeing neither hide nor hair of humans. Tales of invasion and enslavement by Imperial agents told around the fire had been nothing more to him, just tales. This all made the shock of the situation all the more vivid. The soldiers were apparently looking for an artefact of some description in the tundra, and at first all was fine. The Imperial troops stayed away from the village, but soon they started forcing the men to work for them, even Novjalkzymaen was employed, forced to work for an Empire he knew nothing about. What truly was the final insult was when the Imperials found their artefact, beneath the settlement’s burial ground. When they began desecrating it Novjalkzymaen could take no more. That day he killed his first Imperial. He was barely eighteen.
The rest of the expedition succumbed rapidly enough, they had expected no hostility from the locals and they were massacred before they could react. Novjalkzymaen split the tribe in half that day. Half the settlement elected to stay and hand him over so as to protect themselves, while the other half elected to follow him and oppose the Empire however they could. Novjalkzymaen left, and his followers went with him. A few days later an Imperial scouting party came to the village to find out what happened to the original expedition, and they began torturing those Kaleesh that had stayed, who promptly sold out the young rebel, but that only led to the troopers to decide to gun down the rest to send a message to any and all who would oppose them. A few minutes before the execution Novjalkzymaen and his supporters burst out of the shadows, annihilating the Imperials, taking advantage of the chaos and confusion. Those who had once opposed him joined him, and the rebel group grew.
They moved south, engaging Imperial Forces many times their own size, using hit and run tactics and stealing from Imperial supply chains to sustain themselves. Their first significant attack was on a slave cargo. Kaleesh prisoners were being transported along their path to the capital Kaleela where they would then be shipped off to the rest of the Sith Empire. Novjalkzymaen’s plan was simple enough, he and his men would move ahead and lay a variety of traps on the road. The slavers weren’t expecting any trouble and were lightly armed and armoured. For two days the Kaleesh rebels lay in ambush before their prey finally sprung the trap. The battle was short; the slavers barely had time to register what was going on before it was all over. The group freed the slaves, most of which agreed to join their saviours. Among the prisoners one caught Novjalkzymaen ‘s attention, an alien female, just a few years older than him. Non-Kaleesh were an uncommon sight on Kalee and that was enough to spark his curiosity, but there was something about her which awed him, a certain sense of power in the way she carried herself. He soon found out her name was Arshala and that she belonged to the Togruta species. When he asked her what her business on Kalee had been she replied she had been on an archaeological trip. A tall tale which the young Kaleesh rebel didn’t believe a word of, but she agreed to help him and his men, and while he was unwilling to trust her he was hardly in a position to refuse assistance.
Over the course of the following few battles he kept an eye on her, keeping her close and watching her movements. If she was aware of this she showed no sign of it. After the first few skirmishes the Kaleesh knew there was something unnatural about her, she always seemed to react too fast, as if she could sense her opponent’s intentions. At the same time he came to respect her and slowly trust her. Between battles the two would often speak, sometimes discussing serious issues and sometimes simply passing the time in each other’s presence. It was Arshala who came up with the nickname Novux, a simplification of the Kaleesh’s true name which she was incapable of pronouncing correctly. On her lips the nickname was friendly, a mark of her unwillingness to butcher his real name’s pronunciation.
It had been a couple of weeks since they had first met when Arshala finally came clean. She was, or rather had been a Jedi. She told her tale, that of a Togruta child born into a loving family and snatched away, abandoned by her parents to strangers she neither knew nor liked. How she was trained, taught to hide herself, and how she left it all behind just a few days before her trials, sick of restraint and emotionlessness. How she survived by selling herself as a sell sword, until she realised her lifestyle had brought her closer to the Dark side than she ever thought possible. Terrified by this realisation she decided to exile herself on Kalee, far away from all sentient contact. Until the Empire found her that is. The Kaleesh listened to her story, not saying a single word throughout the tale and for several minutes afterwards. He only asked her one thing, and that was why she had joined his group, why if she was so unwilling to be close to others and fight had she decided to take up arms again in such a large company? Her answer was simple and one that earned her his respect. He had saved her from slavery, she owed him a life debt, one she would repay no matter what. She also revealed to him that he was Force-sensitive, explaining that she found his presence soothing for that very reason, he was a clean soul where the Force was concerned, never having used itdirectly or consciously. That night the two came to an agreement, he would no longer ask her to fight, but in return she would teach him the ways of the Force as best as she could.
Soon word spread of the rebels’ victories, and the group grew bigger and bigger, individuals from all tribes joined them, men and women who were tired of the Sith rule. Over this time the Togruta ex- Jedi taught Novjalkzymaen daily, teaching him what she knew about the Force, though the fact she had only barely been at the level of a knight before leaving her master’s tutelage severely impeded what she was able to teach him. She even taught him the basics of lightsaber combat, the two of them practising with bladeless sword hilts to best simulate the Jedi weapon.
During that time the rebels made such ripples that Empire sent reinforcements to Kalee. Upon landing the new Military governor of Kalee, in all his arrogance, took a large Force to meet the rebels head on, intent on crushing them with sheer numbers. Sadly for him the Kaleesh were on their turf and they knew it well. Every time the army stopped it was harangued for all side by small rebel groups, lightning fast raids which rarely lasted more than a few minutes and slowly took their toll. By the time the Sith force reached the rebel camp the troops were exhausted, barely fed and poorly equipped, no match for the well fed, entrenched and rested Kaleesh warriors they met in the field of battle. The Goveror fell to Novjalkzymaen’s own blade. The young Kaleesh warlord was nineteen, and already his men lauded him as a demi-god.
However that victory was what led to his demise. Emboldened by this success the rebels attacked larger and larger Imperial settlements, Novjalkzymaen racked up a massive kill count, which soon came to include a second Governor. During this time he and Arshala began to alienate one another. She had taught him all she knew (as little as that may have been) but she was afraid he would slip into darkness as she had. In truth she was being overly paranoid, fearing he would fall just as she had, her reasons for doubting his motivations were mostly conjecture. She dealt with her anxiety poorly though. She kept trying to overrule him, openly challenging his decisions at all times and other small marks of defiance. These constant blows to his overly inflated pride infuriated him to no end, and he openly bickered with her whenever she interrupted him or tried to teach him. To some extent their constant quarrelling disheartened many of the rebels who were used to seeing the pair in complete harmony. But their moral would soon be pushed up by Novjalkzymaenand his claims that they were invincible.
He was soon to be proved wrong though. The Empire sent their best this time, one of their brightest military minds who had made a name for himself rooting out rebel groups all over the Empire. Novjalkzymaen had grown over confidant in his abilities and his strategy was sloppy, as the rebels made their next strike they were repeatedly defeated. The sudden defeats were costly to the rebels, and the movement lost its momentum rapidly. Warriors began leaving, until Novjalkzymaen’s men had either deserted him or died. Soon enough the kaleesh rebel leader was left with no allies save for Arshala. As much as the two had thought they hated one another their disputes now seemed petty and idiotic. During the short period of time between the mass desertions and the new Sith Governor’s last strike against the rebellion the Togruta and the Kaleesh became lovers, living on the run together, finding comfort in one another before their last fight. When they were finally unable to run anymore they made their last stand in a lost jungle. There they faced off against impossible odds, and lost. Arshala was killed, crushed by a tree which had been ripped form its bark by a stray grenade. Novjalkzymaen fell soon after, knocked out and imprisoned. Sith often kept powerful opponents as slave, and that was exactly what happened to the Kaleesh ex-warlord.
The Kaleesh was taken off his beloved planet at the age of twenty and sold to a rich Sith aristocrat by the name of Nohansen Daphnes Xelgrav (the second), a xenophobic little man with a penchant for abusing his subordinates. Over the course of his servitude to the Xelgrav family Nohansen tried to break Novux again and again, and to an extent he succeeded. The Kaleesh would have used the Force, but he was never given the opportunity, his focus was constantly disturbed with various drugs which prevented him from accessing his lessons.
Upon arriving in the Xelgrav household Novux discovered an environment which was wholly hostile to him. His fellow slaves saw him as a potential rival for favours, the free staff in the house preferred to ignore his presence entirely and his master despised him for no other reason than that he was born. It should be mentioned that Nohansen knew nothing of his Kaleesh slave’s past; Novux had been erased from the records and was officially dead. For the first few months in the house the Kaleesh was referred to either as various pronouns such as ‘you’ or ‘that’, or by his assigned designation K-17.
He was tasked with minor menial duties which required little to no skills to accomplish; those mainly involved cleaning of some description. The Kaleesh refused; his pride would never let him swoop so low as to clean a man’s home. To say that Nohansen had been looking forward to having a slave to break would be an understatement. During the first year the Kaleesh spent more time in the cellars, being beaten, whipped and otherwise physically abused than he did working. It was over the course of this time that he obtained most of the scars which he would arrive on Korriban with, including the sign branded into his left shoulder. He was routinely given drugs which gave him terrible hallucinations, keeping him in a nightmarish trance. He would have completely been broken had had not subconsciously shielded his inner mind with the force, locking his sanity, memories and personality away where Nohansen couldn’t reach them.
Novux’s saviour came in a shape the Kaleesh would never have expected. The newly resurrected Sith Order. The Kaleesh’s Force sensitivity had been detected within the Xelgrav household and the slave was taken away by the Order to Korriban to the new Sith academy. The Kaleesh had spent over a year in slavery and his training, while still there, was buried under the shield he had subconsciously erected around his sanity during the months he spent in torture. However during his first trial, an excursion into one of the ancient tombs of Korriban that shield was smashed down.
While he was in the tomb he met a variety of creatures, all hell bent on making him their lunch. The first few beasts that attacked him he killed more out of sheer luck than skill, swinging the weapon as best as he could without hurting himself. That was until he stumbled into a shyrack nest. Attacked from all sides he was incapable of defending himself, and just as he was about to be killed his survival instincts kicked in and kicked hard. His personality, memories and training came back to him in one great flow. He turned the sudden burst of anger and pain into fuel and killed everything in the nest. Even after that he could still feel rage, an endless anger that burned through his veins. It clouded his memories, preventing him from finding a culprit, someone to vent his wrath on, furthering angering him. As he returned to the academy, successful, people weren’t expecting him to have changed so much. Within the establishment he had been known for being reserved and rarely speaking, rapidly turning him into the butt of all jokes. The first student that levelled an insult at him had his nose broken and several of his teeth shattered. Soon enough people came to realise that messing with the Kaleesh was a bad idea. Novux became even more reserved than he had before, shunning his fellow students, spending all his waking hours either undertaking his trials or training.
His instructors rapidly saw potential in his newfound anger and lack of firm memories, but they found his lack of faith in the Sith Order to be disturbing. They decided to use his absence of memories to turn him further into the Dark Side, making him believe that his current predicament was the fault of the Republic and the Jedi and that he could gain revenge by becoming a Sith. They modified his past so that the Republic was put to blame for both his imprisonment and enslavement. Convincing the Klaeesh was easy enough, but they knew that if he ever broke away from his anger he would rapidly discover the lies and fabrications the Sith had used to turn him. However at the same time they were also highly doubtful of his ability to overcome his anger.
Truly enough the veil held, and Novux went on to complete his trials, proving himself worthy of the tutelage of a Sith master. One of the few in his group to do so.
RP Sample: The room was roughly semi-spherical, its circumference sometimes interrupted by rocky outcrops jutting out of the walls and ceiling. If Novux hadn’t known what he was looking for he would never have guessed this was anything but a natural formation. But the point was that it wasn’t, this cave had been carved out by some form of sentient creatures, and that meant it led somewhere. As soon as he had entered he had made a rapid sweep of the area to ensure that no other students had made it to this place before him. He could sense his peers still roaming about in the maze of tunnels which led to this place but none of them seemed anywhere near the entrance to this cave. He had proceeded by meticulously inspecting the walls, trying to find a button, or a lever of sorts, but to no avail. He similarly scrutinized the floor and still had found nothing.
He was now sitting cross-legged in the centre of the room, regulating his breathing, one of the basic calming methods he had been taught. He could feel the rage inside him straining against its bonds. Now wasn’t the time to use it. So preoccupied with his own inner beast was he that he failed to notice that two other students of the academy had made their way to this room. When he finally took notice of their presence he immediately realised something was off, they had been forbidden form killing each other on this task, but both had drawn their lightsabers. They knew he was better than them, and they planned to take him out of the competition and blame it on the creatures roaming these caves. Kill or be killed. The Kaleesh slowly rose and turned to face the newcomers. Two of the human students who had been so fond of tormenting him he noticed, not without a hint of satisfaction. One was a stocky little man, with short blond hair, pale skin, dark eyes and a rather atrocious looking neck beard; he went by the name Plague around the University, probably hoping the name made him sound less ridiculous than he looked. The other looked a little more serious, a lad named Jona, adept at duelling, and little else. Bald, grey eyes, no facial hair, dark eyebrows. His nose was crooked as if it had been broken at least once before and several of his teeth were missing. Novux smiled to himself.
“Gentlemen. Glad to see you made it. Unscathed. Even better. Hope you don’t plan on using weapons. Orders were clear. No combat between students expected,” Novux called out, his gravelly monotone echoing in the dank cave. The two humans looked at one another, they had probably expected to kill him before he had even realised they were present. Typical.
“No one’s gonna miss an alien slave,” Jona muttered disdainfully. Novux was still smiling behind his mask, but not out of amusement. He would allow himself to enjoy killing them. They were too stupid to let live. Far too stupid.
“Ex-slave if wishing to be accurate,” the Kaleesh replied coldly, drawing his lightsaber. Three crimson blades ignited at the same time. “Sure you want to do this?” his only reply was Plague’s shout as he charged, a clumsy overhead strike which was easily parried, however Jona’s attack followed swiftly, the human struck out from behind his stocky comrade. Novux pushed at them with the force, throwing Plague into Jona, pushing the latter’s lightsaber strike away from its intended target and into thin air. The kaleesh retreated several steps back. He’d have to take them on separately, that much was clear.
Novux used the Force the throw a rain of small rock chips onto Plague, distracting him as he lunged at Jona. The bald human was immediately pushed into a defensive stance, doing his best to parry a flurry of blows raining down on his guard. He never saw the kaleesh’s foot as it soared upwards and smashed into his midriff, the force of the blow amplified by a simultaneous Force push, sending Jona into a wall, dazing him. Novux immediately turned around, blocking an attempted backstab by Plague with his lightsaber and punching the stocky man square into the jaw before bringing his blade around, scoring hits on Plague’s right shoulder and left hip in quick succession. He had let his anger speed up his movements and fuel his attacks, and left no chance to the two of them, but just as he was about to finish off the shorter of his two opponents Jona threw his lightsaber, the strength behind the throw was perfectly judged, but the aim was poor. Instead of severing Novux’s arm is struck too high, only severing the kaleesh’s right tusk.
The wound was painful, but not overly so. But more importantly it came at an inopportune moment for the two humans. Novux had been using his anger to fuel his power, leaving himself open to its influence, but not controlled by it. The hit scored by Jona changed that. For a moment the kaleesh lay still, his weapon held in mid swing. The two humans looked at each other confused, until Plague decided to act, picking up his lightsaber with his uninjured arm and attempted to strike Novux down. Before the strike hit its mark a scaly hand shot out, grabbing the human’s left wrist in a vice like grip, bones groaned under the pressure, and shattered before Jona closed the distance. By the time Jona was close enough to attack Novux had already moved around the blow, avoiding the attack and bringing his lightsaber around in a reverse grip, slicing Jona’s leg in half at the knee.
Both humans lay whimpering on the ground, nursing their respective injuries when Novux’s anger receded, and immediately his stance changed. His shoulders slumped, his hands began shanking wildly and his lightsaber fell to the floor. As his eyes fell on his two victims on the ground he stepped back, shaking his head as if to try to deny his involvement. The change was gone as suddenly as it came on, the shaking stopped and the shoulders were squared, leaving the two humans slightly confused. But Novux wasn’t looking at their faces. He was facing the southern wall of the cave and had noticed something had changed, a glyph of some sort was glowing faintly, a carving in the stone he had missed due to the poor lighting. It took him a second to realise what was causing it.
“Blood sacrifice,” he muttered to himself. “Crude, should have expected it,” as he muttered to himself he began walking up to his two attackers, breaking Plague’s neck with a savage blow before using the Force to reclaim his lightsaber and igniting it into Jona’s head. The Kaleesh then proceeded to drag both corpses up to the northern wall and made several incisions at key arteries on their bodies using the sharpest rocks he could find. His work complete he took a few steps back, admiring his handiwork with some measure of satisfaction as the glyph on the wall grew brighter with every drop of blood spilled on the floor, until a segment of the wall split in half and opened, revealing an old chest matching the description given to the students by their tutors.