Post by CaptainBonkers on Aug 10, 2015 6:58:30 GMT -5
Name: Jayec Veth
Race:Human
Age: 37
Birthplace: Mandalore
Allegiance:His kith and kin, Mand'alor
Status:Recon unit commander, previously bounty hunter / mercenary
Rank: Alor'ad
Height/Weight: 6' / 200lbs
Appearance: Due to his lifestyle Jayec is in an excellent physical condition and has more bulk than your average human. He rarely bothers with maintaining his appearance beyond semi-regular shaving and keeping his brown hair cropped short. He still washes himself regularly, though. Jayec has several scars all around his body, ranging from blaster shot wounds and stab wounds to bite and claw marks. Other distinctive marks include a pair of tattoos: a Krayt dragon coiled around his right arm and the crest of his clan on his right shoulder.
He usually dresses in simple clothes appropriate for the current climate when not wearing his beskar'gam- Seeing Jayec in fancier clothes than simple jackets and shirts or cargo pants is a rarity, though he might dress up for special occasions as a courtesy for the host.
Personality: If one knows Jayec through reputation only they would have every right to be at least slightly nervous upon meeting him. The side of him the Mandalorian shows to enemies and employers is that of a cold and efficient professional with a very strong ruthless streak with plenty of relentlessness sprinkled in the mix. All of said qualities are part of his personality but they are by no means all that there is to Jayec. Truth be told, under all that he is pretty decent guy, who just happens knows a bunch of ways to kill or hurt people.
Among friends and family, and to a lesser extent with people serving under him and people he considers harmless, Jayec shows his more pleasant side: friendly, though with a bunch of rough edges. He has a good sense of humor and lots of patience making it hard to anger him, though there is one sure-fire way to get him to fly off the handle: going after anyone he cares about. Hurt someone Jayec cares about or considers under his protection and he will do everything in his power to hurt you back. Disproportionately.
Like many of his fellow Mandalorians, Jayec has a strong sense of honor, though he can be flexible about holding on to it. He'll act according to it whenever possible but will never place it before reason. If achieving something critically important requires acting against his sense of honor Jayec won't hesitate to do what's necessary.
Ships/Vehicles:
Equipment:
Beskar'gam
- Helmet Specs: Nigh Vision, Thermal Vision, Face recognition, 5x zoom
Scoped blaster carbine
Blaster pistol
Beskar hunting knife
Vibro knife
Stats:
Strength - Above Average
Agility - Above Average
Intelligence - Above Average
Charisma - Average
Combat Training:
Mandalorian CQC techniques - Expert
Marksmanship - Adept
Explosives - Apprentice
Other Training:
Stealth - Expert
Tracking - Expert
Slicing - Novice
Known languages - Mando'a - Fluent, Galactic Basic - Fluent, Huttese - Conversational
Biography: Jayec was born into clan Veth, a smaller clan renowned for producing skilled hunters, on Mandalore. He was the first child of his family but not the last: his parents would go on to give him two younger sisters and a little brother. Despite its large size, the family never had to struggle financially. Jayec's parents, Renlon and Sanya, had worked as mercenaries before settling down and had both gathered a modest fortune that combined guaranteed a modest but comfortable life for them and their children. They didn't have money to throw away but there was always food on the table, clothes on their backs and a roof over their head.
Jayec's training, as demanded by tradition, began almost at the birth. As soon as he was old enough to understand what was expected of him the first lessons began, often disguised as play. His parents also instilled into him the values of the Mandalorian culture and taught him the tenets of Resol'Nare and their meaning. When Jayece grew some more, playing gave way to training: first mostly with his mother, though after his eight birthday his father took over his training until his Verd'goten.
His parents weren't the only ones training Jayec. His grandfather, Jayric, a venerated member of the clan and a veteran of countless battles and hunts, also took an active part in the upbringing of his grandchildren. He insisted teaching Jayec and his siblings to hunt and then took them along on hunting trips whenever possible. Jayec and his siblings came to cherish said trips greatly. Grandfather had much to teach about hunting: how to track one's prey in wilderness, how to stalk prey unseen and where to aim in most creatures. At nights he would regale his grandchildren with stories from his youth and they would absorb everything with wide-eyed awe.
Turning eight marked a milestone in Jayec's life, just as it did in the life of every other Mandalorian youth. The time for his actual warrior training had come and his father assumed responsibility over it. During the next five years Jayec spent more time with his father than with anyone else of his family. In a way this made him sad. He had always been close with his younger siblings and being apart from them was painful. Then again he got to spend a lot of quality time with his father while learning the skills of a Mandalorian warrior. And he enjoyed learning.
Jayec's father was a good teacher. He had a good understanding what his son could and couldn't do and thus geared the pace and intensity of the training accordingly. He was always pushing Jayec to find his own limits and then pushing them to the breaking point. If Jayec ever tried to complain that he couldn't do something his father was convinced he could he was immediately shot down. Giving up was something his father wouldn't tolerate. If Jayec couldn't pass a training exercise said exercise was repeated until he could do it with his eyes closed.
The training covered everything Mandalorian warrior would need to know: martial arts, marksmanship, survival training, small unit tactics (trained together with other local kids going through their warrior training) and plenty of other skills. It also made sure that Jayec was in peak physical condition for his age. Many of the exercises Jayec's father set up had no other point than to build up his fitness, agility and reaction speed. By the time he was thirteen, Jayec could give his father a run for his money in practice ring. It would be several years still, though, before he could actually best his old man in a sparring match. And few years after that before he could claim a draw with his mother.
Soon after Jayec’s thirteenth birthday time came to undertake his verd’goten. Early one morning, one of the last of that summer, his father woke him and told him to pack up. When he asked what to pack, all his father would say was ‘Whatever you think you need but keep it light. You might need to move fast.” Without further questions Jayec followed his father’s suggestion and packed only essential items: field rations, hunting and survival equipment. Once he was ready he followed his father outside and hopped on a speeder waiting outside.
They flew deep into the wilderness, quickly passing the region Jayec was familiar with. Finally, when day began to turn into night his father stopped the speeder hover twenty feet over a small lake in the middle of a vast and dense forest. Then he handed Jayec a rifle and a communicator and told him to head to a town fifty miles to the north of there. When Jayec asked if he was going land to let him out, his father grinned and told him to jump. After giving his father an annoyed look, Jayec jumped out into the lake and swam ashore.
After a cold and uncomfortable night spent trying to build a fire to dry his equipment Jaec headed out towards his destination. The trip took him the better part of the week, mostly because he didn’t know the lay of the land and didn’t want to stray off course. 90% of all problems he encountered during his journey were caused by the terrain. Jayec’s father had selected a destination that took his son through two swamps, over wide river and up a steep cliff. The remaining ten percent were caused by the fauna on Jayec’s route.
On day three he was briefly chased by a pack of five strills but he managed to shake them off by dropping some of his rations and crossing a narrow but deep stream. He also had a problem with a pair of shriek-hawks the next day. Jayec strayed too close to the pair’s nest and was chased off by the raptors, suffering a number of nasty cuts in the process which led to Jayec’s final noteworthy encounter with animals in the area.
Although Jayec had treated his wounds to the best of his ability, his clothes still smacked of his own blood. An adolescent Nexu caught his scent and tracked him down, nearly killing him before Jayec had a chance to put up a fight. It was pure luck that Jayec lived through the nexu’s first attack. The beast had followed him for a while, moving through the foliage quietly. Just as it prepared to pounce on Jayec, the branch it was on broke under its weight, alerting Jayec to its presence. The young Mandalorian froze only for a blink of an eye, before firing several rounds at the nexu, grazing it lightly. The beast too recovered quickly and, ignoring its wound completely, charged at Jayec, its white fangs ready to rip him to pieces.
Jayec dodged at the last moment but not completely. The whiplike tail of the nexu managed to give him a deep gash in his right arm. Jayec got the beats back though, landing a shot smack middle of its back, causing it to howl in pain as it spun around for another charge. This time Jayec held his ground and instead of spraying blaster fire at the general direction of the target and hoping for a hit took his time to line the shot. Just as the nexu pounced, Jayec took the shot. The blast found its mark, the palate of the beast and made its way through to the brain, killing the nexu immediately. Jayec was safe from immediate death, but the gash in his arm still posed a danger. He could bandage it but without proper treatment it still posed a serious risk of infection. He needed to reach the village soon. However, Jayec also wanted a trophy.
For a moment he considered lugging the whole corpse with him but decided he wasn’t in condition to do so, even if there were only about ten miles or so to go, assuming his estimations were correct. He might be able to carry its pelt though. Skinning the beast took few precious hours but gave him something he could present to his father at the end of his journey as proof that he faced real hardships and danger during the verd’goten and conquered them.
With the pelt of the Nexu on his shoulder Jayec stumbled into the village he was supposed to reach early next day. His father was waiting for his arrival and despite of the worry he showed over his child’s injuries, was overjoyed by the fact that Jayec had made it and brought an impressive trophy with him. As soon as Jayec’s wounds had been seen to by the doctor of the village, his father took him back home to celebrate passing the verd’goten and becoming an adult in the eyes of his clan and rest of the Mandalorians.
Jayec stayed home for the next few years, training with the rest of the clan and improving his skills. After his sixteenth birthday he was sent off to join a mercenary unit led by his uncle, Djannic, to gain some actual combat experience. At first he didn’t take part in the real action, mostly serving in the rearguard of the unit until his uncle was sure that he could be trusted not to get himself killed within the first few minutes of a firefight. Or worse, get someone else killed. Jayec stayed with the unit for a few years but yearned to strike out on his own. This was partly because Jayec often felt that he and his comrades risked their lives for employers who by no means deserved their allegiance, no matter the compensation. Eventually he decided he wished to move to other things, setting out on his own to try his hand at bounty hunting. It didn’t begin well.
Although Jayec’s training and upbringing gave him a leg up when compared to other new bounty hunters, he still managed to mess many of his first jobs, learning a bunch of important lessons the hard way. Fortunately for him, he ran into another Mandalorian bounty hunter, a member of the clan Ordo named Moren, who decided to take Jayec under his wing and show him the ropes of the business. It became an invaluable ‘apprenticeship’ for Jayec. Moren taught him the ins and outs of being a bounty hunter and introduced him to a number of useful people. In exchange Jayec assisted him at his job for food and did many of the menial maintenance tasks on Moren’s ship Moren himself didn’t want to do. He stayed with Moren for few years, until he felt like he was ready to work alone. He and his mentor departed on good terms and still keep in touch regularly.
Over the next few years Jayec managed to build himself something of a reputation in the bounty hunting circles. He was hardly a celebrity, but known enough to haggle up his fees slightly and to get the occasional free drink in cantinas. He saved most of his money until he had enough to get a beskar’gam of his own from back home. Until that time he had used his father’s old armor, or rather the parts that still fit him around the time he was twenty one, but now acquired a set that was perfectly fitted for his frame. Wearing his armor for the first time was one of those moments he would remember forever fondly. His new armor ended up saving his life soon after: he was chasing a fugitive with a price on their head when said fugitive managed to hit Jayec in the chest with his blaster. If he had been wearing his old hybrid beskar’gam it would have gone straight through and ended his life. All he got now was a large bruise and a handsome dent in his chest plate.
Every now and then Jayec would take time off hunting bounties to either visit home to see his family or go hunting dangerous game in some remote part of the galaxy. He wished to hunt a beast great enough to place him among the legendary hunters of his clan. His desire was also spurred on by a small amount of friendly generational one-upmanship: he wanted to best his grandfather’s great wampa. But what beast was great enough for both goals? Jayec kept watch for any stories about great beasts that might be sufficient but it took a great while until he heard about a one so magnificent that it could make him a living legend among his clan. Then, one day, he saw it.
Jayec was chasing a target through the Southern Dune Sea on Tatooine when he saw it. In the gathering darkness of the evening the great beast stood atop a large cliff jutting out of the sand, its silhouette a gaping hole against the deep red sky. A krayt dragon. When Jayec heard its roar in the evening’s gloom, he almost dropped his current job there and then to hunt the beast instead. He finished the job as quickly as he could and began preparing for the hunt. Over the next six months Jayec did nothing but prepare. He read everything about the species he could get his hands on: biology, anatomy, behavior, life cycle, memoirs of other hunters that had felled them and even recorded legends concerning them. He also searched people who had survived encounter with one of the dragons or even killed one. When he heard that the sand people hunted them as part of their rite of passage he spent several month’s observing a certain tribe from afar until he could witness the methods they used in their hunts.
Once Jayec felt confident he knew enough about his intended prey, he set out to find the beast he had seen earlier and then spent another several months observing it, making notes on its movement, size and behavior. When he finally felt ready he began the hunt. The first thing he did was lure the beast into a narrow canyon that limited its ability to move using a fat bantha carcass as bait. Then, while the krayt was concentrated on feasting, Jayec blew the charges he had set, collapsing the exit of the canyon thus trapping the beast into the canyon. Then he emptied a clip of armorpiercing slugs to the neck of the beast, until he saw blood. Once the krayt’s threshing leveled out enough Jayec jumped on its back, armed with two long knives. It was hardly the best approach but in this case just killing the beast wasn’t the point. This was also about the tale he would be telling assuming he survived the fight.
He nudged towards the wound he had made to the krayt’s neck where his slugs had made a hole into the beast’s scaly armor. Holding on as tightly as possible, Jayec went to work and began hacking deeper into the krayt’s flesh. He continued until his blade found the krayt’s spine. The bone was too dense for his knife but Jayec had anticipated this. On his belt he had a small grenade with ten second fuse. Jayec stuffed the explosive into the wound, pulled the pin and rolled down the krayt’s side. Ten seconds later the grenade went off, shattering beast’s spine. It died quickly after, when Jayec retrieved his rifle and fired a single bullet to the krayt’s brain through its sinuses.
Not wanting the carcass go waste, Jayec hired a group of Jawas to haul the corpse back to the nearest town where Jayec had it skinned, though only after he had recovered the pearl in the krayt’s stomach. Along with the pearl the only parts of the carcass Jayec kept were the skull and a part of the hide and took them with him to home. Everything else he sold to the locals for a good profit. The skull he left home as it was too big to carry around with him. The part of his hide he made into a sturdy belt that also served as a trophy he could carry around but wouldn’t get in the way.
After spending some time home, enjoying the fame among his clan he had earned with his deed, Jayec returned to hunting bounties, making many friends, allies and enemies in the process. His preferred method was to approach his prey undetected and surprise then when they were least expecting him. This lead him to become quite good at not being detected. By the time of the Mand’alor called the Mandalorians to war Jayec had done quite well for himself. He had his own ship, a small crew of trusted friends and a small fortune of savings stored away for a rainy day. Had he desired to he probably could have retired in a decade or so. He wouldn’t but it was good to know he could if he wanted to.
When the call of the Mand’alor reached Jayec, he answered, though not immediately. Jayec didn’t want to arrive with nothing else than himself. So he gathered his Mandalorian friends and few outsider friends who possessed an useful skill or specialty and were willing to fight for the Mandalorian cause for a reason or another (and were also trustworthy enough or predictable enough). Jayec led his little group through few fights while with a larger Mandalorian group, but soon managed to concince his commanders that he and his group could serve the Mandalorian cause more efficiently doing reconnaissance for the larger force. His commanders decided to give Jayec a chance to prove his claims right and he proceeded to do so. Over the next couple of years Jayec’s unit proved itself to be a skilled and efficient recon unit, surviving many hairy situations with relatively few casualties.
Roleplay Sample: The new recruits were all grinning and looking quite pleased with themselves in general, Jayec could tell it even though they still had their helmets on. It was obvious from their body language. They had a good reason for feeling just a little bit smug: they had all passed the trials and thus been accepted into Jayec’s unit. It hadn’t been an easy trial to pass. The unit might not have yet earned designations like ‘special’ or some other prefix title that denoted elite status but that didn’t stop Jayec from holding his men to a high standard. He could proudly say that every man and woman in his unit had earned their place: no one ever just got assigned there.
They were all standing in the cargo bay of the transport assigned to the unit. The five recruits stood at the center in single row surrounded by the veteran members of the unit and faced by Jayec and his officers on standing on a low makeshift dais.
Kenna, Jayec’s second, stepped forward. “Helmets off!” her voice rang loud and clear in the bay. The recruits obeyed the command and removed their helmets, revealing their faces, desperately trying to keep their expressions solemn. One of them, a blonde girl barely over sixteen, was failing miserably, the sides of her mouth twitching upwards and her green eyes sparkling. Jayec sighed in the privacy of his helmet before also removing it. His niece had plenty of skills and talents but unfortunately a good pazaak face wasn’t one of them.
“I wish to congratulate you five.” he said “You have passed the trials and earned your place in this small band.” Jayec intended to keep this short. The newbies deserved to be congratulated for succeeding but he wasn’t going to spend any time pointlessly lauding them. All passing the trial had showed him was that they had the necessary skills to keep up with the rest of the unit. Whether or not they were deserving of any praise would be seen later when the stakes were real. Not that Jayec doubted them in any way. Each and every one of the new recruits was after all a Mandalorian. Mandalorian’s didn’t raise cowards. Idiots occasionally but never cowards.
“Tomorrow you’ll be assigned to your new squads and begin preparations for the next mission but tonight you may celebrate with your new comrades. Oya!” the rest of his men responded in chorus before dispersing to fetch the drinks. The whole lot would drink a few and then start hazing the new meat. Jayec intended to stay on the sidelines during the party, make sure that no one got too excited and not drink more than couple drinks. It was the best middle ground for him.
Race:Human
Age: 37
Birthplace: Mandalore
Allegiance:His kith and kin, Mand'alor
Status:Recon unit commander, previously bounty hunter / mercenary
Rank: Alor'ad
Height/Weight: 6' / 200lbs
Appearance: Due to his lifestyle Jayec is in an excellent physical condition and has more bulk than your average human. He rarely bothers with maintaining his appearance beyond semi-regular shaving and keeping his brown hair cropped short. He still washes himself regularly, though. Jayec has several scars all around his body, ranging from blaster shot wounds and stab wounds to bite and claw marks. Other distinctive marks include a pair of tattoos: a Krayt dragon coiled around his right arm and the crest of his clan on his right shoulder.
He usually dresses in simple clothes appropriate for the current climate when not wearing his beskar'gam- Seeing Jayec in fancier clothes than simple jackets and shirts or cargo pants is a rarity, though he might dress up for special occasions as a courtesy for the host.
Personality: If one knows Jayec through reputation only they would have every right to be at least slightly nervous upon meeting him. The side of him the Mandalorian shows to enemies and employers is that of a cold and efficient professional with a very strong ruthless streak with plenty of relentlessness sprinkled in the mix. All of said qualities are part of his personality but they are by no means all that there is to Jayec. Truth be told, under all that he is pretty decent guy, who just happens knows a bunch of ways to kill or hurt people.
Among friends and family, and to a lesser extent with people serving under him and people he considers harmless, Jayec shows his more pleasant side: friendly, though with a bunch of rough edges. He has a good sense of humor and lots of patience making it hard to anger him, though there is one sure-fire way to get him to fly off the handle: going after anyone he cares about. Hurt someone Jayec cares about or considers under his protection and he will do everything in his power to hurt you back. Disproportionately.
Like many of his fellow Mandalorians, Jayec has a strong sense of honor, though he can be flexible about holding on to it. He'll act according to it whenever possible but will never place it before reason. If achieving something critically important requires acting against his sense of honor Jayec won't hesitate to do what's necessary.
Ships/Vehicles:
Equipment:
Beskar'gam
- Helmet Specs: Nigh Vision, Thermal Vision, Face recognition, 5x zoom
Scoped blaster carbine
Blaster pistol
Beskar hunting knife
Vibro knife
Stats:
Strength - Above Average
Agility - Above Average
Intelligence - Above Average
Charisma - Average
Combat Training:
Mandalorian CQC techniques - Expert
Marksmanship - Adept
Explosives - Apprentice
Other Training:
Stealth - Expert
Tracking - Expert
Slicing - Novice
Known languages - Mando'a - Fluent, Galactic Basic - Fluent, Huttese - Conversational
Biography: Jayec was born into clan Veth, a smaller clan renowned for producing skilled hunters, on Mandalore. He was the first child of his family but not the last: his parents would go on to give him two younger sisters and a little brother. Despite its large size, the family never had to struggle financially. Jayec's parents, Renlon and Sanya, had worked as mercenaries before settling down and had both gathered a modest fortune that combined guaranteed a modest but comfortable life for them and their children. They didn't have money to throw away but there was always food on the table, clothes on their backs and a roof over their head.
Jayec's training, as demanded by tradition, began almost at the birth. As soon as he was old enough to understand what was expected of him the first lessons began, often disguised as play. His parents also instilled into him the values of the Mandalorian culture and taught him the tenets of Resol'Nare and their meaning. When Jayece grew some more, playing gave way to training: first mostly with his mother, though after his eight birthday his father took over his training until his Verd'goten.
His parents weren't the only ones training Jayec. His grandfather, Jayric, a venerated member of the clan and a veteran of countless battles and hunts, also took an active part in the upbringing of his grandchildren. He insisted teaching Jayec and his siblings to hunt and then took them along on hunting trips whenever possible. Jayec and his siblings came to cherish said trips greatly. Grandfather had much to teach about hunting: how to track one's prey in wilderness, how to stalk prey unseen and where to aim in most creatures. At nights he would regale his grandchildren with stories from his youth and they would absorb everything with wide-eyed awe.
Turning eight marked a milestone in Jayec's life, just as it did in the life of every other Mandalorian youth. The time for his actual warrior training had come and his father assumed responsibility over it. During the next five years Jayec spent more time with his father than with anyone else of his family. In a way this made him sad. He had always been close with his younger siblings and being apart from them was painful. Then again he got to spend a lot of quality time with his father while learning the skills of a Mandalorian warrior. And he enjoyed learning.
Jayec's father was a good teacher. He had a good understanding what his son could and couldn't do and thus geared the pace and intensity of the training accordingly. He was always pushing Jayec to find his own limits and then pushing them to the breaking point. If Jayec ever tried to complain that he couldn't do something his father was convinced he could he was immediately shot down. Giving up was something his father wouldn't tolerate. If Jayec couldn't pass a training exercise said exercise was repeated until he could do it with his eyes closed.
The training covered everything Mandalorian warrior would need to know: martial arts, marksmanship, survival training, small unit tactics (trained together with other local kids going through their warrior training) and plenty of other skills. It also made sure that Jayec was in peak physical condition for his age. Many of the exercises Jayec's father set up had no other point than to build up his fitness, agility and reaction speed. By the time he was thirteen, Jayec could give his father a run for his money in practice ring. It would be several years still, though, before he could actually best his old man in a sparring match. And few years after that before he could claim a draw with his mother.
Soon after Jayec’s thirteenth birthday time came to undertake his verd’goten. Early one morning, one of the last of that summer, his father woke him and told him to pack up. When he asked what to pack, all his father would say was ‘Whatever you think you need but keep it light. You might need to move fast.” Without further questions Jayec followed his father’s suggestion and packed only essential items: field rations, hunting and survival equipment. Once he was ready he followed his father outside and hopped on a speeder waiting outside.
They flew deep into the wilderness, quickly passing the region Jayec was familiar with. Finally, when day began to turn into night his father stopped the speeder hover twenty feet over a small lake in the middle of a vast and dense forest. Then he handed Jayec a rifle and a communicator and told him to head to a town fifty miles to the north of there. When Jayec asked if he was going land to let him out, his father grinned and told him to jump. After giving his father an annoyed look, Jayec jumped out into the lake and swam ashore.
After a cold and uncomfortable night spent trying to build a fire to dry his equipment Jaec headed out towards his destination. The trip took him the better part of the week, mostly because he didn’t know the lay of the land and didn’t want to stray off course. 90% of all problems he encountered during his journey were caused by the terrain. Jayec’s father had selected a destination that took his son through two swamps, over wide river and up a steep cliff. The remaining ten percent were caused by the fauna on Jayec’s route.
On day three he was briefly chased by a pack of five strills but he managed to shake them off by dropping some of his rations and crossing a narrow but deep stream. He also had a problem with a pair of shriek-hawks the next day. Jayec strayed too close to the pair’s nest and was chased off by the raptors, suffering a number of nasty cuts in the process which led to Jayec’s final noteworthy encounter with animals in the area.
Although Jayec had treated his wounds to the best of his ability, his clothes still smacked of his own blood. An adolescent Nexu caught his scent and tracked him down, nearly killing him before Jayec had a chance to put up a fight. It was pure luck that Jayec lived through the nexu’s first attack. The beast had followed him for a while, moving through the foliage quietly. Just as it prepared to pounce on Jayec, the branch it was on broke under its weight, alerting Jayec to its presence. The young Mandalorian froze only for a blink of an eye, before firing several rounds at the nexu, grazing it lightly. The beast too recovered quickly and, ignoring its wound completely, charged at Jayec, its white fangs ready to rip him to pieces.
Jayec dodged at the last moment but not completely. The whiplike tail of the nexu managed to give him a deep gash in his right arm. Jayec got the beats back though, landing a shot smack middle of its back, causing it to howl in pain as it spun around for another charge. This time Jayec held his ground and instead of spraying blaster fire at the general direction of the target and hoping for a hit took his time to line the shot. Just as the nexu pounced, Jayec took the shot. The blast found its mark, the palate of the beast and made its way through to the brain, killing the nexu immediately. Jayec was safe from immediate death, but the gash in his arm still posed a danger. He could bandage it but without proper treatment it still posed a serious risk of infection. He needed to reach the village soon. However, Jayec also wanted a trophy.
For a moment he considered lugging the whole corpse with him but decided he wasn’t in condition to do so, even if there were only about ten miles or so to go, assuming his estimations were correct. He might be able to carry its pelt though. Skinning the beast took few precious hours but gave him something he could present to his father at the end of his journey as proof that he faced real hardships and danger during the verd’goten and conquered them.
With the pelt of the Nexu on his shoulder Jayec stumbled into the village he was supposed to reach early next day. His father was waiting for his arrival and despite of the worry he showed over his child’s injuries, was overjoyed by the fact that Jayec had made it and brought an impressive trophy with him. As soon as Jayec’s wounds had been seen to by the doctor of the village, his father took him back home to celebrate passing the verd’goten and becoming an adult in the eyes of his clan and rest of the Mandalorians.
Jayec stayed home for the next few years, training with the rest of the clan and improving his skills. After his sixteenth birthday he was sent off to join a mercenary unit led by his uncle, Djannic, to gain some actual combat experience. At first he didn’t take part in the real action, mostly serving in the rearguard of the unit until his uncle was sure that he could be trusted not to get himself killed within the first few minutes of a firefight. Or worse, get someone else killed. Jayec stayed with the unit for a few years but yearned to strike out on his own. This was partly because Jayec often felt that he and his comrades risked their lives for employers who by no means deserved their allegiance, no matter the compensation. Eventually he decided he wished to move to other things, setting out on his own to try his hand at bounty hunting. It didn’t begin well.
Although Jayec’s training and upbringing gave him a leg up when compared to other new bounty hunters, he still managed to mess many of his first jobs, learning a bunch of important lessons the hard way. Fortunately for him, he ran into another Mandalorian bounty hunter, a member of the clan Ordo named Moren, who decided to take Jayec under his wing and show him the ropes of the business. It became an invaluable ‘apprenticeship’ for Jayec. Moren taught him the ins and outs of being a bounty hunter and introduced him to a number of useful people. In exchange Jayec assisted him at his job for food and did many of the menial maintenance tasks on Moren’s ship Moren himself didn’t want to do. He stayed with Moren for few years, until he felt like he was ready to work alone. He and his mentor departed on good terms and still keep in touch regularly.
Over the next few years Jayec managed to build himself something of a reputation in the bounty hunting circles. He was hardly a celebrity, but known enough to haggle up his fees slightly and to get the occasional free drink in cantinas. He saved most of his money until he had enough to get a beskar’gam of his own from back home. Until that time he had used his father’s old armor, or rather the parts that still fit him around the time he was twenty one, but now acquired a set that was perfectly fitted for his frame. Wearing his armor for the first time was one of those moments he would remember forever fondly. His new armor ended up saving his life soon after: he was chasing a fugitive with a price on their head when said fugitive managed to hit Jayec in the chest with his blaster. If he had been wearing his old hybrid beskar’gam it would have gone straight through and ended his life. All he got now was a large bruise and a handsome dent in his chest plate.
Every now and then Jayec would take time off hunting bounties to either visit home to see his family or go hunting dangerous game in some remote part of the galaxy. He wished to hunt a beast great enough to place him among the legendary hunters of his clan. His desire was also spurred on by a small amount of friendly generational one-upmanship: he wanted to best his grandfather’s great wampa. But what beast was great enough for both goals? Jayec kept watch for any stories about great beasts that might be sufficient but it took a great while until he heard about a one so magnificent that it could make him a living legend among his clan. Then, one day, he saw it.
Jayec was chasing a target through the Southern Dune Sea on Tatooine when he saw it. In the gathering darkness of the evening the great beast stood atop a large cliff jutting out of the sand, its silhouette a gaping hole against the deep red sky. A krayt dragon. When Jayec heard its roar in the evening’s gloom, he almost dropped his current job there and then to hunt the beast instead. He finished the job as quickly as he could and began preparing for the hunt. Over the next six months Jayec did nothing but prepare. He read everything about the species he could get his hands on: biology, anatomy, behavior, life cycle, memoirs of other hunters that had felled them and even recorded legends concerning them. He also searched people who had survived encounter with one of the dragons or even killed one. When he heard that the sand people hunted them as part of their rite of passage he spent several month’s observing a certain tribe from afar until he could witness the methods they used in their hunts.
Once Jayec felt confident he knew enough about his intended prey, he set out to find the beast he had seen earlier and then spent another several months observing it, making notes on its movement, size and behavior. When he finally felt ready he began the hunt. The first thing he did was lure the beast into a narrow canyon that limited its ability to move using a fat bantha carcass as bait. Then, while the krayt was concentrated on feasting, Jayec blew the charges he had set, collapsing the exit of the canyon thus trapping the beast into the canyon. Then he emptied a clip of armorpiercing slugs to the neck of the beast, until he saw blood. Once the krayt’s threshing leveled out enough Jayec jumped on its back, armed with two long knives. It was hardly the best approach but in this case just killing the beast wasn’t the point. This was also about the tale he would be telling assuming he survived the fight.
He nudged towards the wound he had made to the krayt’s neck where his slugs had made a hole into the beast’s scaly armor. Holding on as tightly as possible, Jayec went to work and began hacking deeper into the krayt’s flesh. He continued until his blade found the krayt’s spine. The bone was too dense for his knife but Jayec had anticipated this. On his belt he had a small grenade with ten second fuse. Jayec stuffed the explosive into the wound, pulled the pin and rolled down the krayt’s side. Ten seconds later the grenade went off, shattering beast’s spine. It died quickly after, when Jayec retrieved his rifle and fired a single bullet to the krayt’s brain through its sinuses.
Not wanting the carcass go waste, Jayec hired a group of Jawas to haul the corpse back to the nearest town where Jayec had it skinned, though only after he had recovered the pearl in the krayt’s stomach. Along with the pearl the only parts of the carcass Jayec kept were the skull and a part of the hide and took them with him to home. Everything else he sold to the locals for a good profit. The skull he left home as it was too big to carry around with him. The part of his hide he made into a sturdy belt that also served as a trophy he could carry around but wouldn’t get in the way.
After spending some time home, enjoying the fame among his clan he had earned with his deed, Jayec returned to hunting bounties, making many friends, allies and enemies in the process. His preferred method was to approach his prey undetected and surprise then when they were least expecting him. This lead him to become quite good at not being detected. By the time of the Mand’alor called the Mandalorians to war Jayec had done quite well for himself. He had his own ship, a small crew of trusted friends and a small fortune of savings stored away for a rainy day. Had he desired to he probably could have retired in a decade or so. He wouldn’t but it was good to know he could if he wanted to.
When the call of the Mand’alor reached Jayec, he answered, though not immediately. Jayec didn’t want to arrive with nothing else than himself. So he gathered his Mandalorian friends and few outsider friends who possessed an useful skill or specialty and were willing to fight for the Mandalorian cause for a reason or another (and were also trustworthy enough or predictable enough). Jayec led his little group through few fights while with a larger Mandalorian group, but soon managed to concince his commanders that he and his group could serve the Mandalorian cause more efficiently doing reconnaissance for the larger force. His commanders decided to give Jayec a chance to prove his claims right and he proceeded to do so. Over the next couple of years Jayec’s unit proved itself to be a skilled and efficient recon unit, surviving many hairy situations with relatively few casualties.
Roleplay Sample: The new recruits were all grinning and looking quite pleased with themselves in general, Jayec could tell it even though they still had their helmets on. It was obvious from their body language. They had a good reason for feeling just a little bit smug: they had all passed the trials and thus been accepted into Jayec’s unit. It hadn’t been an easy trial to pass. The unit might not have yet earned designations like ‘special’ or some other prefix title that denoted elite status but that didn’t stop Jayec from holding his men to a high standard. He could proudly say that every man and woman in his unit had earned their place: no one ever just got assigned there.
They were all standing in the cargo bay of the transport assigned to the unit. The five recruits stood at the center in single row surrounded by the veteran members of the unit and faced by Jayec and his officers on standing on a low makeshift dais.
Kenna, Jayec’s second, stepped forward. “Helmets off!” her voice rang loud and clear in the bay. The recruits obeyed the command and removed their helmets, revealing their faces, desperately trying to keep their expressions solemn. One of them, a blonde girl barely over sixteen, was failing miserably, the sides of her mouth twitching upwards and her green eyes sparkling. Jayec sighed in the privacy of his helmet before also removing it. His niece had plenty of skills and talents but unfortunately a good pazaak face wasn’t one of them.
“I wish to congratulate you five.” he said “You have passed the trials and earned your place in this small band.” Jayec intended to keep this short. The newbies deserved to be congratulated for succeeding but he wasn’t going to spend any time pointlessly lauding them. All passing the trial had showed him was that they had the necessary skills to keep up with the rest of the unit. Whether or not they were deserving of any praise would be seen later when the stakes were real. Not that Jayec doubted them in any way. Each and every one of the new recruits was after all a Mandalorian. Mandalorian’s didn’t raise cowards. Idiots occasionally but never cowards.
“Tomorrow you’ll be assigned to your new squads and begin preparations for the next mission but tonight you may celebrate with your new comrades. Oya!” the rest of his men responded in chorus before dispersing to fetch the drinks. The whole lot would drink a few and then start hazing the new meat. Jayec intended to stay on the sidelines during the party, make sure that no one got too excited and not drink more than couple drinks. It was the best middle ground for him.
