Post by Chariot on Feb 26, 2015 18:36:28 GMT -5
alena stappar.
Name: Alena Stappar
Race: Morellian [Mother] / Human [Father]
Age: 62
Birthplace: Coruscant // Galactic City
Allegiance: Republic/Jedi Order
Status: Jedi High Council Member
Rank: Jedi Master, Knight-Sentinel
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 135lbs
Appearance:
Renowned for her gentle beauty and friendly disposition, Alena takes more pride in how she physically feels rather than how she looks. Due to her blindness, taking the time to make sure she looks presentable is no longer a factor, meaning she is very often complimented on her natural good looks and motherly, caring way she holds herself. Her voice is smooth, controlled and respectful, often remaining quiet simply because it brings more attention when she does eventually speak.
Being of relatively average height and weight, Alena does not necessarily have anything stand-out when it comes to her physicality. Perhaps the most interesting thing is her youthful appearance despite her growing years due to her Morellian blood, making many question why such a young girl was promoted to be a member of the Jedi High Council. She also does tend to have a subtle muscular form, very clearly toned but in a way that does not emphasize her strength.
As mentioned before, Alena is indeed blind, resulting in her eyes reverting from a soft hazel color to a lavender-white. She prefers not to cover them simply so that it does not draw attention to the fact that she is blind, as she tends to perform most tasks just as well as if she was capable of seeing. Her nose is rather on the small side, with very delicate lips, giving her the appearance of a girl who has just passed her 28th year, despite being more than twice that age.
Her hair is a blue-black color, often leading many people to believe that it is dyed. In reality Alena's hair has always been this color from the day she was born, only really looking blue when the sun shines through it. She keeps it cut with a straight fringe just above the brow and long straight-cut strands down to the middle of her back, giving it a very clean, ordered appearance.
As for clothing, Alena has a custom-made lavender-colored Jedi robe designed to restrict her movement the least amount during battle but still be practical for every day wear. As such, it consists of a lavender-colored form-fitting sleeveless shirt with a zip-up front and a tight but flexible waistband colored a deeper purple. On her legs are a pair of three-quarter length trousers that are made to look plain and unassuming and a pair of soft leatheris shoes made to be as light and flexible as possible, though she has been known to walk around the Temple barefoot. Often over this she will wear a darker lavender cloak which is designed to protect mainly against rain and protect the identity of the wearer if needed.
Personality:
Alena tends to be a rather meek, quiet person by nature. Ever since her Youngling days did she tend to keep out of the affairs of others and concentrate on bettering herself. As such, you could very much describe her as an introvert, depending on her time alone to center herself from the chaos of the outside world.
Due to her 'disability', Alena likes to shy away from loud noises but will not hesitate to listen to them from a distance if needed to find her target or gain information. In that way she can be a very good reader of people, knowing when they're lying by listening to their heartbeat and using her own life experiences to help calm down those who are stressed or pressured.
Her sympathy extends to those who are similarly 'disabled' as she is, often attempting to help or mentor them even when they do not ask for it. In every other sense Alena relents very quickly, feeling as if her judgement is somehow flawed if someone objects to what she says. This lack of self-confidence is a flaw that the other Jedi Council members tend to encourage her to remove, though she still feels that she doesn't quite deserve to sit next to them.
She tends to have a dislike of killing her victims, using her lightsaber more to disarm than to kill, though will not hesitate to do so when given no other option. In the same vein, she has a particular dislike of dishonesty and dodging of the truth, especially within the Jedi Order, encouraging everyone to be open and honest about themselves and their own flaws. Not even Jedi are perfect, after all.
Ships/Vehicles:
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Equipment:
Lightsaber
Alena's lightsaber, being her main method of combat, is built almost exclusively with practicality in mind, covered almost entirely in a rubberized material to allow for grip no matter where on the blade a hand is placed and extended in such a way that using the hilt with both hands is not uncomfortable. It is Force-activated and single-phase, with a strangely mutated Adegan crystal that, according to observers, produces a shining lavender-colored blade. Alena, of course, cannot see the color and therefore does not know for sure.
Stats:
Strength - Average
Agility - Superior
Intelligence - Above Average
Charisma - Below Average
Languages:
Basic - Fluent
Binary - Fluent [Understanding]
Braille - Fluent
Force Stats:
Telekinetic - Adept
Telepathic - Apprentice
Body - Expert
Sense - Master
Protection - Unskilled
Healing – Unskilled
Destruction – Unskilled
Combat Training:
Unarmed Combat - Master
Vibroblades - Apprentice
Force Training:
Force Sight - Master
Force Listening - Master
Farsight - Expert
Battlemind - Expert
Other Training:
Lie Detection - Expert
Heightened Hearing - Master
Heightened Touch - Master
Heightened Smell - Master
Tailoring - Adept
Acrobatics - Expert
Flexibility - Expert
Lightsaber Training:
Shii-Cho - Master
Makashi - Master
Soresu - Apprentice
Ataru - Adept
Shien/Djem So - Master
Niman - Expert
>>Sub-form Jar-kai - Apprentice
Biography:
0 - 11
Born to a young Jedi Padawan mother and a failed Padawan father, needless to say Alena's birth was not only unplanned but also kept to the utmost secrecy, being left on the doorstep of the Jedi Temple at only 5 weeks old. The two Jedi that were involved in her birth were discovered only a few days later by the Council and expelled from the Order, apparently living a relatively happy life together in Coruscant, while their unwanted daughter grew up in the care of the Order.
Clearly gifted with the Force from a young age, Alena developed her talents quickly, proving to be a very shy and quiet child, charming her carers with her delicate nature. Concerns were raised about Alena's apparent lack of focus, as her attention tended to wander when instructed in the ways of controlling the Force. Another concern was her tendency to get easily frightened and startled, which many of her instructors saw as a flaw that would make it easier for her to fall to the Dark Side.
As she progressed into her Youngling years, Alena showed an aptitude for lightsaber combat far beyond what anyone thought possible, moving with the grace of a dancer and the controlled passion of a practiced Jedi fighter. Combat between children was always very stilted and slow, especially for a girl who had the body of a 5 year old, no matter how fast they matured. But she showed great control and aptitude, memorizing sequences and patterns in the forms much faster than her significantly larger classmates and even on occasion used her size to her advantage when it came to practice duels.
At the age of 10, during one of her many training matches, Alena was struck in both eyes with a training saber by a very over-zealous student, resulting in her immediate blindness. The wound to both eyes were so severe that not even the best of the Jedi's healers could save her sight, leaving her permanently completely blind. Needless to say, Alena was shocked and scared at the sudden loss of her most precious sense, leaving a quivering wreck of tears and sadness.
Her teachers, who had grown very attached to their most promising student, were reluctant to let the Council send her away to the Service Corps, as they felt such talent would be severely wasted. But seeing how emotional and broken young Alena had become proved that continuing to train her would only lead her to stray from the path of the Light.
But one teacher stepped forward, a determined young Jedi Knight, who resolved not to give up on the girl and took her under her wing, against the advice of the Council. And so, even before the wounds had truly healed, Alena was now a Jedi Padawan.12 - 16
It was quite clear that Alena's self-confidence was now at an all time low, which led to a lack of motivation during training. Not only that, but she found it difficult to focus herself for long enough to truly see through the Force, as her Master wanted her to. Luckily, her Master was patient and resourceful, teaching her young pupil how to feel the Force around her and react according to it's guidance.
And thus Alena took her first steps in learning how to see without her eyes. However she also began to notice that her sense of hearing and smell had improved significantly as a result of her blindness and a lot of the tactile sensations she was used to felt sharper. Her Master concluded that her other senses had compensated for the lack of sight and the Force was working through her to bring her to her full potential. Their lessons quickly shifted focus to this new discovery, teaching Alena how to take advantage of her new sensory abilities and how to pinpoint specific targets utilizing the Force.
When many Master/Padawan teams were off performing missions, Alena and her Master stayed within the Temple, working constantly to draw out this new found confidence. As such, Alena's lightsaber training actually came a lot later than most Padawan her age but she had the added advantage of time, which they did not. As a half-Morellian, Alena knew she had years to perfect and refine her lightsaber skills after she had a fully formed set of senses with which to use them. And before long, her ability to 'see' was adequate enough to live her life as if she truly were not blind.17 - 23
In the second half of her life as a Padawan, Alena focused on learning to utilize her newly mastered sensory abilities alongside the traditional Lightsaber forms, creating slight variations where the styles did not particularly fit her disability. Of course, practice matches against other Padawans was not a good idea, even if they were her age. In a physical sense an 8 year old has no chance against someone of 17 years. But she knew the theory and she could perform the technique, to her and her master, that was all that mattered. Getting comfortable with the feel of a lightsaber and utilizing it in conjunction with her new sense of 'sight' was an accomplishment in itself.
Alena was not taken on any actual missions until the age of 19, when her Master believed she was ready to construct her own lightsaber. The two traveled to Ilum, the icy planet giving Alena quite the chill simply because she was unable to focus her sense of touch to detect heat until they were only several meters away. Even her hearing was limited due to the snowstorms, testing the limits of Alena's 'sight'. In the end she was compelled to rely entirely on the Force to guide her, getting a lot of practice at 'seeing' in a place that ultimately blinded virtually anyone who arrived on it's surface.
In the large ice caverns beneath the surface of the planet, Alena regained her senses, allowing her and her Master to traverse the maze of ice tunnels incredibly easily, avoiding tunnels with a lot of noise and rumbling, in case of cave-ins or dangerous creatures. When eventually the Master/Padawan duo reached a deeper cavern within which a bed of crystals lay, Alena knew exactly which crystal was hers from the moment she felt it. A faint but immediate bond had formed between this small crystal formation and the blind Padawan, using her training saber to remove a chunk of the formation and allowing the dup to return to the surface.
When constructing her saber, Alena insisted on returning to the deeper ice caverns to do so, having felt a certain closeness to the Force on account of her sensitive senses being somewhat amplified in the tight space. And so she meditated on the crystal, tuning it to herself and slowly constructing the saber over the course of 8 hours of intense concentration. The components were pieces of broken land-speeders and other equipment she had found scattered around the Jedi outpost on Ilum, resulting in a lightsaber that was comfortable to use but looked very worn and old. Of course, as Alena couldn't necessarily see the saber hilt, this didn't exactly bother her but she would later change it anyway to better suit her new lightsaber styles.
It was around this time that, unbeknownst to Alena, her Master had begun recording the blind girl's contributions towards her Jedi Trials. In her mind, losing her eyes at such a young age was more than enough for the Trial of Flesh, despite the fact that it happened when she was only a Youngling and such a hardship seemed enough to pass the Trial of Courage as well. Whether or not Alena's victories against her fellow Padawans constituted an adequate Trial of Skill was debatable and as such, by the time they returned to Ilum, the trial was already being planned.
At the age of 21, Alena was pitted against a simulacrum of a particularly powerful Sith Lord, however it was not revealed to her that it was actually a simulation, leading her to believe that the Sith Lord had broken into the Temple and was about to cause havoc. Acting immediately, she engaged the simulation of the Sith Lord, but immediately she realized that she couldn't hear his heartbeat or any of his vitals, only the whirring of his lightsaber blade and the strange dark side energy emanating from the figure. Originally Alena simply thought this was a trick of the Sith Lord's to stop her from predicting his movements, but as she fought she began to pick up a distinct static sound coming from to the right of her, realizing that it was a device she had 'seen' before. Knowing this was now a simulation and knowing that against such a tenacious opponent she would stand no chance, Alena instead threw her lightsaber at the device, rending it in two and immediately ending the simulation.
She was commended for her ability to detect the deception despite her Master's best attempts to conceal it and for holding her ground against such a powerful adversary. And although rather unconventional, this was counted as Alena's Trial of Skill.
However, the one that would prove the most difficult was the Trial of Spirit, which Alena attempted multiple times to no avail. No matter how hard she delved into herself, she could never overcome her rampant fear and self-loathing, no matter what form it took. In fact, over a period of two years, Alena attempted this test no less than 24 times, each one resulting in a failure.
On her 24th attempt, Alena once again failed, emerging from her meditation in a cold sweat and shaking from head to toe. But with encouragement from her Master and reassurance that she would get it eventually if she just persevered, the blind Jedi was finally able to conquer her fears and provide herself with a whole new clarity of thought. This time her fear manifested itself as a faceless version of herself, which proceeded to pounce on her and begin to choke the life out of her. Panicking for a moment, she closed her eyes, before forcing the specter off of her, stepping towards it and embracing it. The fear was a part of her and trying to deny that was fruitless. Instead she must work to minimize it but even Jedi feel fear and a lack of self-worth.
And with her new understanding, Alena, three days before her 24th birthday, was slated to be given the honour of becoming a Jedi Knight.
Of course, this raised some controversy simply because of Alena's Morellian blood. She looked much too young to be anything more than a Padawan, with the body of an 11 year old girl but the mind of a full-fledged Jedi warrior. So her promotion was held off until she was mature of body enough to perform her duties. To many this would have been somewhat of a frustration, to be held back as such, however in Alena's case it was quite understandable. Regardless as to how mature of mind an 11 year old girl is, it's still an 11 year old girl and thus not fit for Knighthood.
Upon further reflection, the Council also revoked it's previous position that the Trial of Courage was sufficiently covered by the loss of Alena's sight so young in her life. And so she was not counted as having passed all of the trials.
In a way, such a decision was a test by the Council, to see if any of that youthful doubt and self-loathing and fear was still embedded within her. Instead they looked upon a girl who was very happy to remain in the tutelage of her Master, having grown accustomed to the Temple and found ways to pass her time. The Council were impressed by the girls new sense of self. It seemed her Trial of Insight had truly changed her outlook on life. Not uncommon but certainly unexpected.24 - 36
During this time, despite the fact that she was technically still supposed to be in training, Alena spent a great deal of her time alone, focusing and honing her skills without direction, realizing that holding her Master for a longer period of time would prevent other Padawans from receiving her tutelage. She began to study several lightsaber styles at once, developing an affinity for certain ones over others but dedicating herself wholly to a balance as compared to her Master's focus on Juyo.
It was important for her to learn the common movements of each style, so that it was easier for her to predict. Her disability made prediction due to sound and movement vital if she were to prevent herself from being injured in combat. As such, it was not necessarily due to any love of lightsaber combat that she devoted so much time to it's study, more a means of survival. However in doing so she developed into a fine duelist indeed.
In particular she tended to favor Makashi, the first style she had been taught by her Master after she had sufficiently grasped Shii-Cho, simply because she had been doing it the longest and the movements were familiar to her. Styles such as Ataru were too unpredictable to utilize and tended to require thinking several steps ahead of the opponent so that she wasn't trapping herself inevitably. Her understanding of the style was more akin to knowing how to counter it, rather than perform it to any great degree, though this would change later in her life.
Shien and Djem So were fairly new to her and so she tended to watch other duelists in the Temple utilize the style instead of adopting it herself. Again this would change later in her life, but Djem So seemed far too aggressive and Shien far too passive in equal measure for her liking. Nonetheless, she adapted her fighting style to try and counter and eventually learn the the form.
Juyo was one that she has always struggled with and has continued to struggle with. Since it is such an individual style that forces self-expression through the channeling of aggression, each person fought slightly differently using it, which tended to confuse Alena to no end. She understood enough about the style to defend herself against it simply by watching her Master but she outright refused to even attempt to learn it, instead focusing on the more traditional styles.
It was during her time in the Temple that Alena learned how to craft clothing from the Service Corps workers who manned the Temple, tailoring small outfits out of simple materials in keeping with the Jedi Code, more practical sets of clothing for combat. This was in addition to receiving informal training from the lead archivist of the Jedi Temple at the time, allowing her to learn about and slowly develop both Battlemind and Farseeing, though such concepts were very difficult for her to grasp at first.
She spent most of her time in the Temple, meditating, learning, tailoring and training. Bringing peace to her youthful thoughts and feelings, until she felt truly content and happy with herself. She had calmed the raging waters of her soul once more and conquered the extended period of puberty that those of half-Morellian blood often experienced. By the time her body looked 17, she was 36, having developed an incredibly calm, gentle demeanor that surprised even the most optimistic Jedi that had looked upon her as a child. Gone was the little girl who was scared to lose her light. Born was a new woman, ready now to become a Jedi Knight.37 - 41
Newly promoted but considered a Jedi Knight of incredibly destiny already, Alena was fully expected to perform well in the service of the Light, her primary function serving as a means to 'remove' the influence of Dark Jedi from the Galaxy due to her incredible dueling skills and tracking thanks to her enhanced senses. With a sudden increase of such activity around the Galaxy, especially in the eastern section of Hutt Space, Alena was dispatched immediately to find and eliminate these Dark Jedi that had found service to the Hutts.
She found them particularly illusive, especially on such planets as Nar Shadaa,where the noise and the smell almost blinded her 'sight' but eventually, one by one, she delivered their punishment. Usually in the form of knocking them unconscious and leaving them to the Republic SIS to take care of. The Jedi Council had not expected her to perform so well, so quickly and were stunned by just how many Dark Jedi she found hiding on the Hutt worlds. But they realized quite quickly that a lot of these Dark Jedi were simply apprentices and thus proved no match to a specifically trained Jedi duelist.
Which meant that somewhere in Hutt Space there was a bigger threat.
Some kind of Dark Jedi Master hastily training apprentices in order to build a makeshift army, hoping that the apprentices would be able to keep their rage in check long enough to be useful, before discarding them. It was then that Alena began collecting the lightsabers of these misguided apprentices, feeling something in the crystals that were used to construct them. But then she realized it wasn't just the crystals, it was the casing, the emitter, the power cell. It all screamed with the Force, projecting their wielders personality long after they had either perished or had been captured. And in that Alena began to develop the philosophy of the saber, that the parts that make up the hilt are not necessarily indicative of the person who makes it but rather that those parts take on the personality of the person wielding them and are shaped by their actions and feelings. As if they are constantly leaving an impression with the Force, both on the crystal and the metal.
A lot of the Jedi Order saw the taking of what they assumed to be trophies as odd, however Alena was able to explain what she had felt through the Force with each and every one of the sabers and urged the Council to try it themselves. They reluctantly relented that what she said at least had some partial truth, that the metal and crystal held some latent Force energy that felt distinctive and unique. But none seemed to feel it as strongly as Alena.
And so she began to develop a 'collection' of sorts, noticing that the more Dark jedi she found, the more sloppily they were trained and the quicker their lightsabers were made, eventually finding one with a power cell, emitter, matrix and crystal held together very loosely with electrical tape. This Dark Jedi Master was clearly getting very desperate and less efficient in their training, resulting in young apprentices that could be defeated by Alena with a single swing of her saber.
Eventually she managed to corner him in the Refugee Sector of Nar Shadaa, promising the local refugees that he would reward them with riches should they protect him from the Jedi that was pursuing him. In his hast however, he hadn't informed them as to what this Jedi looked like and the young, unassuming blind girl in casual clothing didn't fit the bill for the traditional Jedi and so she was able to slip through unnoticed.
The two clashed in the cargo control room, resulting in a whirling flurry of strikes as the Dark Jedi's desperation lent him strength. But Alena was too quick and was eventually able to disarm him and render him unconscious, leaving him for the Republic SIS and taking his saber to meditate upon.
She found this particular saber difficult to focus on for any length of time due to the withering dark energy that permeated every notch. It took a lot of time for her to understand who she had just defeated and imprisoned but when she did, she was truly convinced of her philosophy of the saber. It was as if she had been this man's best friend from the moment he constructed the blade and the exercise allowed her to give suggestions to the Council on how to prevent young Jedi turning from the Light, using his experiences as an example.
The Council were suitably impressed and immediately assigned Alena to another mission working alongside the Republic SIS, particularly to track down a Rodian raiding group known as the Red Kings operating along the Corellian Run. The Republic ship disguised itself as a Hutt slave ship in order to convince them to board it, with Alena acting as the slave. Once she had been taken on board as tribute for the ship's free passage, she freed herself from her bonds and proceeded to perform 'aggressive negotiations', leaving it a ghost ship within the hour.
In the struggle however her lightsaber had been badly damaged, leading her to redesign it on board the Republic ship when heading back to Coruscant. The captain of the ship, who had taken a particular liking to Alena, an attachment some could even call romantic affection, gave her a replacement crystal suitable for a lightsaber from his own collection of gemstones. The crystal was too small for the housing of her current saber and so she was forced to refit it but she was grateful for the gift, noticing a strange radiant connection with the crystal already. When re-constructed, the blade lit up in a hue of shimmering violet, ignoring the romantic intentions of the captain.42 - 56
After this successful mission and the awkward situation with the captain's crush resolved, the Council ordered Alena to take a Padawan learner. After a lengthy selection process, she took on a young girl who seemed rather lost and hopeless, just as she had been when she was blinded. The Twi'lek girl, named Izoj'lamo, was heavily scarred after surviving a speeder crash when she was only 3 years old but to Alena she was simply a normal girl.
The two quickly became friends, Izoj'lamo displaying middling aptitude for the Force but a keen interest in the history and lore of the Order, spending hours reading books and eventually reading them to Alena as well during their free time. In return, Alena would share her philosophy and stories of her own, though Izoj'lamo found her to be a disappointing storyteller, on account of her modesty.
Over the course of fourteen years, Alena and Izoj'lamo seemed to learn from each other instead of the traditional master/apprentice relationship, developing into more of a partnership of curiosity than true tutelage. By the end of it, Izoj'lamo was a fairly sufficient duelist with an open mind, ready to accept her Knighthood and go on to become a Jedi historian and archivist. It took the girl several tries to get through her Trial of Insight on account of the fact that she shared her Master's former meek nature and insecurity based on her scars. But with guidance from her Master was able to pass in less attempts than Alena.
With a Padawan ascended to Knighthood and no trace of temptation to the Dark Side, it was clear that she was an exemplar, experienced Jedi in every respect and the Council began to consider her to take the title of Jedi Master.57 - 62
From a scared little girl to a seemingly incorruptible champion of the Light, Alena had come through a lot to reach this day, when the Council called her to the Room of One Thousand Fountains. Despite her rather young body, her mind was experienced enough to match even some of the veteran Masters of the Order and so the Council allowed her to take the mantle of Jedi Master.
Immediately she was instructed to take over the training of Younglings due to the incredibly large classes on Coruscant, a task which she occupied herself with daily for almost two years, until the Mando'a made their move and Alenas particular talent as a duelist and investigative agent was of a much higher demand. Although the Jedi decided not to actively participate in the war, several on the Council decided that they needed someone to monitor the situation regardless, which ultimately fell to Alena. Her missions were short but frequent, information gathering alongside the Republic SIS, just like her younger days.
Then the Jedi Blades took up their sabers for the cause of the Republic. Tensions rose in the Temples as the young and reckless Knights went off to war in opposition to the Mandolorians and, unbeknownst to them at the time, the Sith Order. Alena herself had just returned from her most recent mission and was surpised to find that she had no more waiting. The Council considered her one likely to join the Blades in their crusade and had cancelled her missions for the time being to consider what to do with their remaining resources.
Alena never had any intention of joining the Blades. She trusted in the wisdom of the majority of the Council; perhaps trusted too much. And when it was found that she had no intention of going off to war, the Council, along with the Blades members who had reconciled with the Council after their disagreement, agreed to allow Alena onto their rapidly depleting Jedi High Council.
It was not long after this that the Jedi Blades was disbanded and the Order as a whole readily marched for war, Alena originally intending to stay behind as the primary guard for Coruscant's Jedi Temple but perhaps circumstances will change...
Roleplay Sample:
It wasn't often these days Alena had time to herself. In fact ever since the Order got fully involved in the war there were Jedi Council meetings virtually every day, for hours. Reports on the various fronts, correspondence with the Senate, the other Temples, the Republic Commanders. Trying to plan our next move.
It was nice to just take a moment to center herself.
Her fingers smoothly handled a needle and thread, fixing one of her Jedi robes in the usual ritual. Even if she couldn't see, she could feel the seam between her fingers, hear the subtle rustling of the rough material. It felt like sandpaper to her now; she was so attuned to every nook and fold in the outwardly smooth surface. To anyone else in her situation it would have broke them, to constantly feel such powerful tactile sensations whilst a war thundered around within her once peaceful brain.
She had come to an understanding with herself after her Trial of Insight. That she was a naturally flawed person and would continue to be until the day she died. And frankly, despite the Order's insistence that the Jedi were somehow higher beings, devoid of these emotions... she had seen it before. The terror that steeled their hearts and caused them to heft their weapons. Fear is not a curse. Nor is it a weapon. It is the balance between the two.
A sharp sensation of pain shot through her hand for a moment, as if struck by a hammer on the pad of her thumb. Feeling a tiny droplet of blood flow from the wound, she concluded that somehow her instincts had failed her and her needle had missed the fabric. This was a sign from the Force, she concluded.
Something was terribly wrong...