Post by Fromikeable on Nov 28, 2018 1:16:17 GMT -5
Taas Erastothenes Full Name • Taas Brahe Erastothenes, PhD Nickname • Taas Race • Arkanian Birthplace • Empress Teta Age • 94 Gender • Male Faction • Jedi Concept • Jedi Master, Chief Librarian for the Order Languages • Basic, Arkanian, Droidspeak, and incomplete knowledge of Givin, Selkatha, and Mon Calamarian Assets • 1 x Violet Double-sided saber, a variety of hand-held tools, meters, and measurement devices, and a collection of lab attire suited for every circumstance (including some worn duplicates kept for posterity), eleven honorary PhD's from eight universities, and a letter from the Galactic Interdisciplinary Board of Galactic Chaos Theory condemning his life's work (framed and preserved in his office) Appearance Face Claim • Ian McKellan Height & Weight • 5' 11", 150 lbs. Overall Looks • Taas fails to break the mold for your typical Arkanian, white hair having sat on his head since childhood. His eyes match, the both of them white as snow, but close observation notes that one is cybernetic. This couples with a notable cybernetic interface located on the Arkanian's lower torso, which in turn connects to a cybernetic liver, kidney, and pacemaker. None of these cybernetics sport any advanced capabilities, being installed purely for reconstructive purposes following injuries Taas has endured over the course of his life. The only non-standard capability is housed in his cybernetic eye, which can perceive infrared ranges of light just as well as his remaining natural one. In terms of physique, Taas is a lanky man. Age has wrinkled the Jedi Master's angular face and pocked his once smooth skin. Thick eyebrows and a maintained, often stylized beard masks his mouth, both white as can be. His hair rarely exceeds a few inches in length, being notably wavy. In terms of fashion, Taas appears as your typical Jedi, sporting grey and white robes with random chance. Breaks from usual Order outfits include labcoats, goggles and other safety equipment, datapad styluses and pens perched atop his ears and in his pockets, and very conservative laceless shoes. The main things of note are a pair of glasses that hang from Taas's neck by a lanyard. The lenses they contain are simple panes of glass with no magnification or correction. Taas wears them on occasion mainly just because he thinks they're fitting for a Head Librarian. Personality Profile Taas can be effectively summed up in one word. Odd. The man is unmistakably intelligent, constantly educating people where he sees opportunity to do so and equally seeking knowledge when he comes up short. Between these desires, it's no wonder that the Master is a bookworm, rarely seen anywhere without at least a datapad on a new theory or strange subject. As such, normal pieces of information have quickly become old news, so Taas usually pursues strange studies or odd theories pertaining to normal studies. More often than not, Taas fills his free time with independent experiments of his own ranging in topic from the physics and implications of the early universe to determining the thermal conductivities of popular soda brands. For the record, a Corellian espresso soda is the optimal choice in lieu of motor lubricants. This fascination with scientific process stems from two core beliefs. Firstly, and most importantly, Taas is an optimist .He believes that every problem in the galaxy, big or small, can be reduced to a trivial issue with enough time, study, effort, and attention. Secondly, Taas is very much what the scientific community would call a determinist. He believes that everything, including the Force itself, can be predicted and quantified. Most of his more prominent papers are actually experiments attempting to quantify and express various manifestations of the Force mathematically. All of this has come at the cost of Taas's tolerance for mysticism. The elder Jedi has little patience for anyone, Force-user or non, who insists that any aspect of the universe is an unknowable mystery. Most of his disagreements with his fellow Jedi revolve around this fact, with some finding his insistence on definitions and constraints to be irreverent. Taas considers his goal to help define the Force as an ode to it; the ultimate expression of its all-encompassing nature. Background Father • Franlen Erastothenes, businessman, deceased Mother • Alenor Erastothenes, businesswoman, deceased Siblings • Teodor Erastothenes, businessman, 102 Aunna Erastothenes, businesswoman, 92 Other Important Connections • TBD Overall History • The Erastothenes family were the wealthiest Arkanian family on Empress Teta at the time of Taas's birth. Both parents, Franlen and Alenor, held very high positions in a major carbonite mining company, living outrageously comfortable lives. Upon the news that their son was Force-sensitive, the decision to send him off to the Jedi was heavily deliberated. Upon the birth of Taas's little sister Aunna, however, it was decided that two children would be enough to carry on the family legacy of business, and Taas was relinquished without further inquiry. Childhood proved telling as Taas grew from infant to youngling, the boy having a worrying obsession with the world around him. Chasing and capturing bugs proved to be a regular past-time, alerting many of Taas's Jedi caretakers that he would not be one to be kept cooped up. This was, of course, when he wasn't incessant in his lines of questions to them. After the fourth or so repetition of "Why don't the clouds form like balls or boxes?", he was handed off to the librarians and archivists, who seemed far more willing to entertain him. His padawanship naturally fell to one of them, Master Firo Plugon. Master Plugon embraced Taas's interests in the world around him, introducing him very early on to the world of research. Their work mostly consisted of that of the Researchers, with Taas learning just as much about mathematics and science as he did the usual Jedi fair. What time they didn't spend in labs, libraries, and other places of learning tended to lean more toward diplomacy, expeditions, and exploration. Taas was knighted at the age of 21 with a zeal to join his master's work as more of an equal. Alongside Master Plugon, Taas helped make the old Human's last 7 years of life some of his best. Together, they published what Taas considers to be his teacher's magnum opus, a paper entitled Quantification Of Telekinetic Midichloric Dynamics. The paper laid out a few basic theories and constraints on the production of kinetic forces and fields via Force powers. While it marked the end of Master Plugon's life, it sparked an interest in Taas that was only beginning. Forgoing a padawan of his own, Taas devoted himself to study. Dispatched by the Order to work alongside scientists and other researchers, he found a niche in the Order of dealing with ethics in science. Often he would be sent to negotiate with (and in extreme cases, neutralize) researchers suspected of dubious practices. When they proved more cooperative, Taas would assist them in coming up with morally-acceptable means of research. When they proved hostile, Taas would be charged with shutting them down safely and working to the best of his ability to undo the damage they had wrought. This ranged from helping abused test subjects to come to terms with permanent damage to repairing ecosystems. In the worst of cases, Taas would incur injuries from experiments gone awry, eventually leading to the failure of several of his organs and blindness in one of his eyes. As these occurred over time, so too would they be dealt with via an increasing number of cybernetic replacements. In his work, Taas proved to be a physicist above all. As he advanced in age, he dabbled in most major sciences, becoming adept at biology, chemistry, psychology, and even cognitive science. When left to his research, he fostered his interest in quantifying the effects of the Force, which culminated in his second major paper, Approximate Modeling Of Midichloric Expansion. This paper featured the most accurate current models of how the Force could be used to caused rapid, violent expansions and even explosions through a power better known as "Combustion", which Taas had specifically begun to study for its scientific implications. The scientific community responded with praise to the paper, and despite causing debate among the Council at the time about how they felt about his philosophy, Taas was raised to the rank of Master at the age of 45. With his new rank came new challenges and new perks. Taas's assignments became far longer, but so too did the periods between where he was simply left to his own devices. Now negotiating between entire planets and companies about the global and galactic impacts of research, Taas also began assembling entire teams of Jedi Researchers to help run his experiments continuously. This access to resources enabled some projects that even he would admit were silly; for instance, would an apple held in a stasis field decompose if continuously stimulated through the Force? Though without immediate benefit, all of his research continued to contribute to his theories. With the passing years, Taas put out his third and most controversial set of papers within the Order: Arguments For Physical Determinism And Physical Chaos Via Midichloric Fundamentals. Within, Taas formed two opposing arguments, offering both to the Order and scientific community at large for debate. The first insisted that the events of the universe were all finite and predictable, ultimately being guided by the living will of the Force, which he stipulated could be quantified. The second was opposite, arguing that the will of the Force behaved much like random probability and that the universe was a result of almost perfectly random decisions that were made every second. The paper attempted to reconcile both physical views of the universe with the Force. In turn, it seemed to spark debate between scientists and Jedi alike, many accusing him of being wrong and a few even accusing him of non-scientific thinking and sacrilege, respectively. Happily debating both, Taas entered the latter half of his 80's with gusto. When the Sith Order returned, he argued against the Order's involvement in the war initially, pointing out that the Sith only had support due to separatist sentiment. As the war became more severe, his position lessened until he agreed with the Order's decision to intervene, ceasing his usual research topics long enough to assist the Republic with the development of new weapons, medicines, and machinery. Following the war's conclusion, Taas returned to his usual research. With the Order's wounds, he was offered his position as Head Librarian shortly after the treaty was signed, which he accepted with little fanfare. Considering himself less a true council member and more their scientific consultant, Taas set to work reorganizing the Order's libraries and archives. Updates included a massive influx of scientific papers and educational materials, a call for more teachers among the Order to teach a swelling number of padawans, and the renovation of many of the smaller temples' libraries, labs, medbays, and classrooms. |