Post by Zabasaz Volgarius on Jun 8, 2009 11:15:10 GMT -5
Name: Zabasaz Volgarius
Race: Iridonian (Zabrak)
Age: 55 Years Old
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 185 lbs
Appearance: Zabrak do not differ very much from humans on a cosmetic level, although beyond that is a much different story. Zabasaz, however, bears some striking differences from the norm of his species. Primarily, his physique - he has managed to keep a remarkably athletic form even despite his age. Zabrak lifespans don't stray too far from humans, although they do tend to last about ten to twenty years longer - Zabasaz looks about ready to double that. At fifty-five years old, he has the appearance of a thirty-five year old Zabrak, or more descriptively a forty to forty-five year old human. This isn't just visible in his face, though.
Two inches shy of standing six feet tall, Zabasaz weighs one-hundred eighty-five pounds, a weight reserved to either the obese or the muscular, and Zabasaz obviously fits the latter. One could go so far as to describe him as stocky, but it's a stretch even then. His body mass index can be estimated about seven to ten percent body fat, perhaps even lower if one were daring in their estimation, as is obvious when looking upon his highly defined arms, pectorals, and abdominal muscles.
Zabasaz's features are memorable in their striking nature, not to imply that he's remarkably attractive, but rather remarkably unique. His eyes are angled in just the right slant to make them naturally capable of intimidation, even for an Iridonian, and his eyes are ringed with hazel that bares a touch of red. He's exceptionally dark-skinned, and his ebon features are made ornate by dark red tattoos located in the following three areas of his visible face: a streak of red falling in a column shape with slightly concave sides down from the center of his bottom lip; a half-circle or more accurately a half-oval below his left eye of the same color, angled so the lengthier portion of the oval is horizontal. It is nestled just under his eye, but close enough to seem to begin AT his eye, with each of the edges of the tattoo (like the points of a lemon) directed off to the outer side of his eye and to his nose; an identical tattoo under his right right eye, positioned in the same manner with respect to the eye, making them symmetrical.
Predictably, Zabasaz possesses a crown of horns. In particular there are six of them, arranged in a flawless circle over his bald cranium like the crown of Julius Caesar, each of the black horns curving inward like a vicious hook, facing dead center. Notably, Zabasaz's head is devoid of hair - not as if it were cut off, but rather never existed altogether, leaving his cranium a veritable shining surface though a comment regarding the reflective nature will often result in a thorough strangling. His body, too, is mostly devoid of hair, with the exception of his lower abdomen and crotch.
Zabasaz lives a nomadic lifestyle, so his regalia tends to vary based on the atmosphere - for example, he may choose a lighter form of clothing, generally without any form of armor, if here were on the deserts of Tatooine - on the other hand, if he found himself for whatever reason exploring the colder regions of Corellia, he would likely choose heavy insulating material for regalia as well as heavy duty boots and gloves. Most typically, however, when the climate doesn't tend towards an extreme, his choice of regalia is expected to reflect his martially extreme tendencies. Composite durasteel armor, generally a full set, is something he feels right at home in. He has a chestplate, greaves, pauldrons, bracers, gloves, boots, and a helmet - and typically he'll wear them all, the most interchangeable piece being his helmet. The helmet possesses a sensor array and a low-grade visor, often emitting an orange glow to onlookers.
The armor, dyed black, blends well with his drab choice of black-dyed fabrics, such as a duster fit with a broad hood to encompass his helmet, a pair of loose and durable slacks, and in some cases he may choose to wear a composite tasset with a black-fabric hip-cape on the back. His armor isn't as thorough as a typical set, which bears striking resemblance to Death Watch style Mandalorian armor, but instead prefers the more essential plates and pieces, and conceals the open areas with a form-fitting black, flexible mesh that functions very similar to fabric. This offers only environmental protection, and would not hold up in combat, but that's what the durasteel is for.
Birthplace: Iridonia, southern hemisphere, a small, tribal settlement roughly 12.6 kilometers from the city Wortan.
Faction: N/A
Rank: Dark Jedi Master - Zabasaz has reached a level of proficiency in two things that make one a master of the Dark Side - Destruction via Force and Lightsaber, and embracing the Darker Side of the Force that he wields. He's fifty-five years old and has confronted his fair share of Jedi - but this doesn't make him a Dark Lord, for he does not (yet) associate with any Dark Jedi, if any such organization exists. Zabasaz doesn't actively seek such affiliation, and in fact if any such organization exists, he may react with hostility to them rather than amiability. Keep in mind that while Zabasaz has reached the level of power that constitutes a Dark Jedi Master, Zabasaz did not reach it until only recently. (Within the last five years, give or take.) Other Dark Jedi Masters obtained their positions at a much younger age, making them technically stronger in the Force than Zabasaz - but Zabasaz's abundant experience levels the playing field.
Bio:
It all seems so much clearer now.
The energies of the Force maneuvered like slow but sure swirling tendrils around him as he gauged the field of battle. It felt strangely invincible, in a way, as he looked upon his fellow Iridonian warriors engaged in combat with opposing tribes. While j'Keenim and its rival tribes had this tendency of straying from the typical methods of warfare even from an archaic point of view, somehow when it boiled down to the weapons clashing and entering the bodies of one another, there was a kindred essence to this sort of war and the conflict waged on an intergalactic scale, 'above.' As did soldiers eventually fall out of formation and entwine in a conflict like two liquids mixing and in time becoming one volatile concoction, so did fleets, circling one another like a whirlpool of turbolaser fire and fighter passes.
This was the nature of all warfare, even as primal as they came with Iridonia's southern hemisphere's warring tribes, sport though it was. That was the strange tendency of outsiders and even Iridonians from farther reaches of the world, to think this bloody war was waged solely out of some hatred of dispute. No war between such like people is waged for so long for a despicable reason such as that. It took a mind that transcended the simple and yet ever so common ignorance to get the truth purpose of the war. Then, to get why that purpose meant so much to these people took decades of learning among them. Being among them.
There Zabasaz stood, of the j'Keenim tribe but parted so long from them, return to grace the battlefields and make a rite of passage to manhood. Truly, however, as at-home did he feel, there was a strange sense in the back of his head that did so aptly claim this was alien as well. The way his comrades and his enemies waged conflict, engaged with one another like a pool of bleeding masses, some moving and some rejoining the world's soil, possessed but did not exert this primal tenacity he felt pumping through his adrenaline-filled veins. This conflict stirred the Force into mass torrential waves and that is what caused him to learn of it in the first place, in an indirect sense of things, but how could such a brutal conflict that corrupted the spirit in such a vast and terrifying manner have lasted so long?
He felt determined, now, to finally end it. And he felt completely and utterly capable, as well. What a rite of passage this would be, likely one that would be sung for centuries to come to children that praised the heroic deed of the returned Iridonian, who kept true to his promise to fulfill his trials despite being part of a new and bigger world and liberated the tribe, only to disappear into the dark, starry abyss above, remembered forevermore.
Those thoughts, those possibilities resonated with what was happening in the here and now - in his left hand he possessed a pole-axe, not possessing the vibration qualities of a long vibro axe, but still quite effective and far from being described 'crude' simply based on the nature of those who crafted it. It was a balanced weapon, not too light to be ineffective but not too heavy to be cumbersome, and holding it there in his hand took him back to childhood, where he once before possessed such a weapon the moment his feet could allow him to stand. He felt amazingly proficient with it, even for a single soldier - he had kept training with it since he had left for the Jedi Academy, as well as a variety of other melee weapons, when time permitted and his masters were not around to criticize him for devoting himself to such a crude weapon, time that could be devoted towards the expansion of his knowledge and wisdom. Martial prowess was wisdom, to him, anyways.
Iridonians, with their faces painted for war (or tattooed, or a hodgepodge of both) seemed guided not by their eyes in this battle, but Zabasaz figured it just a strange sensation and wiped it outside, not to be considered. They held similar weapons, if more personalized than Zabasaz's, from pole-axes to war-axes, exotic short blades and double-ended falchions known to the Iridonians as poignards and t'Vars, to stranger and more obscure arms that resembled the rantoks used by off-world species. Zabasaz had such a weapon reserved for a side-arm purpose holstered on his back.
Many more crude spears used exclusively as projectiles were sticking from the ground, some angled in one direction and some in another, like the vicinity were a field growing them as crops, a product of a prior volley of the tribes as they closed the gaps between one another in a vicious, blood-thirsty charge fraught with war cries and fierce heaves of dashing warriors. The initial burst of combat, as formations clashed, was a bloody one, and then formations broke and the soldiers were engaged with one another. Rout seemed imminent for either party, Zabasaz subtly discerned, and decided to ensure it wasn't his.
An opposing Zabrak set him into motion - about the same size and physique to Zabasaz, perhaps a bit taller, an opposing tribesman from the j'Wari came at him, spear held not like a javelin but a war staff, Zabasaz reacted to the potential threat by immediately countering the initial thrust by redirecting it with the off-end of his pole-axe. Then, with the momentum of this redirection, his off-guard opponent learned in the most fatal manner there was what happened when a j'Keenim warrior of such a martially-endowed bloodline incorporated the Force and Jedi training into his battle stance. The axe drew from the man's hip bloodier, and found its way quickly against into the man, this time his neck.
This was the last necessary kiss his weapon would give the man, but the momentum this clash caused would not end here. In the next few minutes his weapon sought many more bodies with unvarying degrees of smashing success. One could call this a killing spree, but Zabasaz tore through their tattered ranks and broke the formation of their reinforcements near single-handedly before a true challenge came before him.
Every tribe had its rabble and its integral players, and Zabasaz had encountered and slain many in this bloody month. The rite of passage was brutal - his body would be committed to war and the wilderness for an entire season before he could return to his people, and then from there his learning would be gauged and his successful rite celebrated. He was drawing closer and closer to the half-way mark as the days went on, and could not give a number to how many he had wounded and killed, though the latter was likely significantly smaller of a tally than the former - it was proper conduct to not slay the enemy forces but to wound them until they could fight no more, though that didn't imply that it was necessary to hold any blows. A coup de grace here or there was common, too, for those who could never live the life of a warrior due to their wounds again. However, this did not detract from the horrifying brutality of the bloody battles at all - oh by no means.
Zabasaz, though, had fought many officers and significant warriors among the enemy forces and bested nearly all of them. He had incurred hardly any wounds, either, an extremely rare occurrence in the rite of passage. Generally, a man who was wounded would disappear into the wilderness to recuperate and return to the battle for revenge, but Zabasaz had done what would be dangerous for anyone else, but they weren't force sensitive - he had fought NON-STOP for many weeks aside from resting periods and traveling intermissions. He missed no battles, spent minimal time licking his wounds, and likely transcended the amount of hours devoted to battle in a typical rite of passage in just a third of the time. Did this make him special? Yes. Did he dwell too long upon this triumphant achievement? There was no time.
The key warrior among the j'Wari war party Zabasaz's party was waylaying was Iizeer, known for his preternatural strength said to rival a wookiee's (though it was anyone's guess how such an immobile tribe knew what a wookiee even was.) Zabasaz saw him approaching but was too occupied with multiple opponents to pay him the attention his reputation so afforded him, but he did notice one thing - Iizeer's weapon. It was a war maul, perhaps an older form of the Power Hammer, some kind of prototype. Heavy weapons in the right hands were deadly except against exceptionally quick opponents, and Zabasaz was not 'exceptionally' quick, just 'quick enough' not to be dead already. Overpowering an opponent with equally immense strength and a heavier weapon was a task Zabasaz could foresee yielding perhaps his first serious injury, though he felt confident he would survive the battle if he had the foe isolated well enough to devote his entire focus on him.
Zabasaz gave a quick whip of his weapon, the butt hitting the chin of the foe behind him, then levered it into its mathematically inverted position and thrust the bladed end into his other opponent, knocking them both briefly out of his way. The third opponent did not pursue Zabasaz when he saw that he was heading for Iizeer - Iizeer's comrades knew well enough not to interfere, at the dramatically increased risk of becoming a member of the statistic.
In closing the gap Zabasaz immediately struck with the viciousness and aggression of a hungry and highly territorial scyk, bringing his pole axe's bladed end for Iizeer's ribcage. Iizeer responded with a surprisingly effective parry despite possessing a rather heavy and sluggish weapon. Of course, this proved to be advantageous to Zabasaz - his weapon was two, not one, possessing two usable ends, and so when his weapon's axe blade got caught on the power hammer's more blunt end, he struck at Iizeer's lower torso with the pole arm's blunt end.
Expecting to have already dealt a reasonably decisive blow, Zabasaz was surprised when it felt as though the shaft of the metal weapon hit an equally metallic surface. His foe was certainly as resilient as he was strong. Immediately the two of them wrenched free from one another, and then Iizeer opted to take on the offensive this time. Swinging his hammer in a vicious downward sweep, Zabasaz deftly evade it by moving his threatened half out of the way by pulling his shoulder back, but Iizeer followed up by retaining his momentum in a graceful spin and bringing it down in another sweep, this time with his other arm in command. Zabasaz evaded this in the same manner, and meant to move in to attack when Iizeer did so again - but this time, to Zabasaz's surprise and almost his death, he attacked with a horizontal sweep for his head that could had very well ended this fight early had Zabasaz's reflexes not been extremely remarkable. Lacking the speed to avoid such an attack, he turned his attempted offense into an impromptu parry, bracing the shaft of his weapon against his right ribs and angling it up so that the shaft's of both weapons clashed and the kinetic energy, instead of striking his head, would be stopped brutally on his side.
A shock of pain raced up and down his body as his ribs, now fractured, wavered but did not give in entirely. Then, resolving to grit his teeth through the pain and make an important action, Zabasaz thrust his weapon in a skilled spin so that it would maneuver the lethal edge between his foe's legs. Pulling back, the unfortunately edgeless portion of the pole axe gripped his foe's ankle violently and wrenched him off his feet. Iizeer hit the ground hard, a dizzying shock racing through along his spine and into his skull despite not having hit his head on the ground. However, he did not come down alone - not before he was totally off-balance did he dig his fingers underneath Zabasaz's chest armor underlay and pulled him until the grip was lost. Zabasaz stumbled forward and may had maintained his footing had he not tripped over Iizeer himself. The both of them, disarmed, were left on the forest floor for a second to collect themselves in a daze, Iizeer from a nasty fall onto the back and Zabasaz still recovering from his fractured ribs. Iizeer collected himself first, turning, searching frantically for Zabasaz's ankle, and when he found it pulling and 'climbing.' With or without his weapon, he'd finish this.
Grappling one another, their fight might look to on-lookers like it was going nowhere provided any were able to safely watch, but the battle was still in full swing and nobody sought to interfere with two warlords, as it was not only not in good sport, but it was perhaps good luck as well. Iizeer had mounted Zabasaz but Zabasaz was defending himself as best he could. He was able to defend himself by keeping his foe constantly unbalanced and by throwing as much defense as he could up, and even managed to get a number of decent fist strikes to the j'Wari warrior's ribs, but it all began to spiral when Iizeer managed to drop an elbow hard on Zabasaz's fractured ribs. Wailing in pain, his vision going red and his pulsing veins visible on his eyes like a flashing network of Coruscant airways, he thrashed like a beast at genuine risk of death when he felt Iizeer's thumb pressing hard under his ear. Luckily for him, he managed a lucky shot - a formidable strike to Iizeer's wrist artery numbed the entire arm momentarily, allowing him to get the upper hand.
With a twist and a roll, Zabasaz freed himself and scrambled to his feet for his weapon, and so too did Iizeer. Zabasaz was closing in on it, too, when he heard Iizeer give a verbal heave. He turned just in time to see the weapon coming, and like before evaded it, but in so doing he tripped over his own pole arm. Iizeer advanced on this opportunity, bringing his hammer down on Zabasaz's right pectoral. He had no time to roll - he could only minimize the fatal potential of it by causing it to hit his right arm instead, and immediately he felt as though it was broken. The pain was immense but he had reached a level of chemically-induced battle high that had long since endowed him with pain resistance, a trait known to all Zabrak. When he saw the hammer coming again, he had an epiphanic shock when he felt his weapon's handle under his hand. Quickly he brought it up and to his advantage the bladed end was opposite him. It dug into Iizeer's leg, causing him to issue a shout of frenzied pain. Zabasaz then pulled him off his feet again in the same manner as before, though this time Iizeer fell forward.
Iizeer's frenzy was superior to Zabasaz's, apparently, as he began to strike wildly, and with only one arm and a number of wounds, he was prone to a flurry of blows from the opposing Iridonian. Then, when it seemed he might be overwhelmed, things changed.
Everything began to move slow, as if in slow motion. What this sensation was, however, Zabasaz could not put together - it was like some kind of battle reflexes had been given to him. His eyes saw everything black and white, and he could see his pulse beating fast in his eyes no matter how slow he seemed to perceive reality. There, before his blurry vision, was an opening - Iizeer's hand clawing and striking madly had slowed to a crawl, and it was cocking back for a blow that would likely end Zabasaz's chances of survival. But in that window of opportunity, there was his salvation as well. Time resumed its normal flow as Zabasaz thrust his open palm forward with his fingers bent in and struck three times, once on the right, middle, and left of Iizeer's diaphragm. Finally he had taken the fight from a grapple fest to a controlled state where he could -actually- utilize some of his martial arts experience from the Jedi Academy.
Iizeer seemed to bounce between limp and stiff as his organs were thrust and jostled by his spasmodic diaphragm. Then, Zabasaz remembered his side-arm - quickly his left hand dove into the region between Zabasaz's back and the leaf and dirt covered ground, pulled the large poignard from its leather holster, and thrust it directly into the side of Iizeer's neck.
For a couple of seconds, Iizeer's bodily spasms resigned to stiffness. And then, there, erect above Zabasaz, he ceased movement, his eyes rolling back. Zabasaz gave a jerk and the j'Wari fell to the ground, and then it was clear when the blood spurts from his neck died down that he was no more.
Zabasaz weakly stood, but that was only a cosmetic description of that action. The battle was almost over as it stood - most dead, still some fighting, but they had stopped to see the end of the conflict. When the outcome was clear, with Zabasaz the fearsome victor, it was in the best interests of the j'Wari war party to flee and nobody protested - chase was not to be given in such a bloody battle. Zabasaz himself was covered in blood, but none from himself, but he did have some serious injuries - the kind he wasn't sure he could recover from without forfeiting his rite of passage. And curses, had he the talent to utilize the Jedi healing techniques...
His allies rejoiced and it broke his focus. He couldn't think and he didn't know what to do - but after surviving this far and undergone Jedi training, he REFUSED to forfeit... but he couldn't die. Not now, not here. Something in the back of his mind pulled on him, directed him, and it was foreign and untrustworthy. Yet he disappeared into the woods, unknown to his comrades, to find his own way.
...
What in the name of Iridonia is this place...?
Somehow, within the countless generations of scouting, settling, and warring within these woods southeast of Wortan, not once had someone uncovered these strange ruins as Zabasaz would later discover. This place, it was dark... ominous. They had avoided it, despite its tactical implication of being nestled right in the center of the vast forests between the tribal territories. Strange, too, that Zabasaz would find himself locating it despite its dense and concealed location without any aid all on his own. It was as if he was... drawn there.
They were stone ruins, most the bases and foundations of once-existing structures and walls, archways, monuments, but now they had fallen into disrepair due to the inevitable rigors of time. In the center, though, covered in abundant flora overgrowth and moss, was an unmistakably intact structure that immediately caught the eye of anyone who wandered too near - particularly Zabasaz. Made of the sample faded yellow blocks that the rest of the ruins were was a wide but not remarkably tall ziggurat, a square-based triangular structure but not smooth-surfaced like a pyramid - rather it was built in steps.
It had been two days since Zabasaz had killed Iizeer and parted from his war party. His wounds, two or three fractured ribs on his right ribs and a shattered right shoulder, were serious - however, he had the physical capability and the hardiness of an Iridonian to last. He had set his wounds right with bandages and braces that he, among all of the other tribal warriors, carried in pouches on their belts and bandoleers. Thus, he wasn't worried he would die out from eternal bleeding or end up with any permanent damages - but he certainly could do no more fighting. He wasn't sure how he was going to pass the rest of the season simply recuperating, and how that would appear when the success or failure of the rite of passage was considered by the elders and the battlemasters. However, he could only imagine it wouldn't be all too well. He could not effectively wield his pole-arm with one hand, and the side-arm which he had left in Iizeer's neck was worthless in a true battle. What he would give for a lightsaber...
Now, standing here before the ziggurat, curiosity and some subtle impulse drove him to consider approaching it. No, not consider... it drove him absolutely to approach it. To enter it. Something was dark about the structure itself, and it swept over the entire ruins like a lunar body induced tide. The Dark Side was strong here, but he didn't feel wary. He had been warned of it, but never truly exposed to it. Or perhaps having been born in this forest, it just felt normal to him. But, it wasn't - he was overcome with a corrupting sensation, a sort of necrotic essence that made approaching the ziggurat an act of guilt and not curiosity. He felt overcoming the guilt was a challenge, a crucible, perhaps forgetting the purpose of such a sensation. But then, he had little else going for him now. His mind, for the first time in his life, was fraught with genuine uncertainty. This bred some kind of fear... the early stages of descending down a dark path. Ignorant of this danger, he came upon the entry of the ziggurat to find the interior must had been much larger, for a stone stair descended underneath the ziggurat and therefore underground, to lead into the interior.
A chill lingered in this place, but it was after all underground and the cold was insulated by the unique architecture. Still, it was... preternaturally cold.
---
In Iridonia, in a forest located in the southern hemisphere due southeast of Wortan, Zabasaz Volgarius was born a member of the brutal j'Keenim Tribe, a tribe locked in an endless violent dispute with several opposing tribe as an act of exercising their martial availability and appeasing an obscure war deity. It was a well-known fact to all the tribes that their war was waged solely because it is was a fundamental belief that if at any time they embraced a life of peace and a lack of martial readiness, their deity would be displeased and the tribe would, as a result, rejoin the soil of Iridonia forevermore. In a way, this deity was more of a figure of speech than a genuine celestial body that they devoted their minds and bodies to. Nonetheless, this would result in j'Keenim having the blood of a warrior running thick and hot in his veins. Strong and naturally adept at warfare, Zabasaz was quickly put to training for a life of war and tribal preservation and he couldn't say he had any reason to complain. There was a lot in the galaxy for him to know and learn, but he never considered it for the concept was never put before him. Philosophy was in short supply among his people, unless the philosophy pertained in some manner to war.
The Jedi Council eventually learned of the fabled existence of the warring tribes, and were naturally inclined to assume there was some foul play, like the Dark Side's influence - and so a veteran Jedi Master was sent to Iridonia to seek out these tribes and investigate the meaning and purpose of their struggle, if it even existed. In time, that Jedi Master would not only learn of the authenticity of this conflict, but would find herself side-tracked by a strange sensation, not so much a disturbance in the Force but more like a parting in a calm stream that piqued her interest. What she found was a young Zabrak boy, called j'Keenim Zabasaz Volgarius. Intrigued, she tested his blood for midichlorian influence and not only found it abundant enough for Jedi training, but unusual in its own way. It seemed stronger and yet limited, and thus she wanted to do everything in her power to bring Zabasaz back to the academy, not just to train another potential galactic savior but to document this phenomenon.
It took some time and some coaxing, but every bit of it was done with honesty and not with manipulation of the Force. To convince the j'Keenim of the righteous path Zabasaz could potentially tread, she had to fight for their tribe and demonstrate the worth of the Jedi. It was a stunningly difficult task - the fabled ferocity of Iridonian tribal warriors was overwhelming, but through her expertise and by remaining calm, she shined through. Convincing the tribe and convincing Zabasaz were both difficult matters - until she appealed to the potential for visiting and beholding the galaxy beyond the forests of Iridonia. It was almost a traumatic blow to the mind of Zabasaz, but it was nonetheless enlightening. He wanted it, so he agreed to go.
Training in the Jedi Academy unraveled many of the mysteries of Zabasaz's strange anatomy - it was clear that he would never quite wield the Force in the way a true Jedi did, but he was able to do his best with what he possessed. Many flags, however, were raised in the progress of Zabasaz's training that led to skepticism as to whether or not Zabasaz could hold true to the path of peace... emotions ran strong in him, and his blood boiled for the battle he was bred and born for. In fact, in a manner of speaking, Zabasaz could be said to have the Dark Side bred into him, rather than have been driven towards it by anger or fear. In spars he was strong and fierce, in training modules and missions he lacked a sense of mercy and seemed to disregard his allies, preferring to work with his own potential - a sure sign of a troubled soul. He grew and learned quick - something was out of place, for sure, but the masters turned a blind eye, hoping that through his understanding of the Force could Zabasaz be saved.
Apparently, he could not.
Exactly when Zabasaz came of age for his rite to adulthood among the Iridonians did he depart, claiming to seek a sabbatical so he may return to his people as per an outlined vow and pass on to manhood, then he would surely return to continue his training. Skepticism was widespread among his peers, but the masters taught him how to further his training during his absence to some extent, took his lightsaber from him, and bid him farewell. As expected, Zabasaz would never return. On Iridonia, he used his new powers to fight for his tribe - and they were stunned, on his return, by the changes. He was a ferocious, proficient warrior, even though he lacked his best-trained weapon... at first. But then, with a dark revelation having tainted his mind (perhaps the very source of the conflict that inclined the tribes to perpetually wage war) he made another - and with his new lightsaber, he demonstrated his lack of understanding in the points of the j'Keenim and the opposing tribes' eternal war. It was not to win, it was to simply fight. Survival of the fittest implied you had to remain fit, but Zabasaz had been taught things beyond 'survival,' he had learned not just how to survive but how to destroy. The Masters did not mean for him to learn this, but the Force opens the way to many things, and some such things can only lead to sorrow or madness.
Destroying the opposition of the other tribes led to him being exiled - and being exiled led to outrage on his part. How could his people be so foolish as to send him out simply for doing what he was born to do, only better than them? In his distress, a voice told him what had to be done.
Zabasaz left Iridonia the last of the j'Keenim.
Word spread of this. The Jedi sent their Knights to track down and bring Zabasaz to justice before he could spread more grief through the galaxy, but they were but practice for him. Some fell, but most escaped, and the news of his growth met the ears of his master - the one who brought him to the Academy in the first place, now ashamed of her apparent failure. To this day, she seeks to take things into her own hands.
On the other side of things, a man with power but no purpose cannot exist, so now an aging Zabasaz who has furthered his training on his own for thirty years under the radar of the Jedi and the Dark Jedi alike, seeks a purpose... a use for his new powers, his immense capabilities. And so the past meets the current...
Lightsaber: The self-constructed lightsaber that Zabasaz wields possesses a few key factors, but is otherwise a mundane single-bladed and single-phased lightsaber. The primary thing to know about it is that it lacks an external switch - the lightsaber is made operable by lightly twisting the internal magnetic ring into place, and therefore can only be activated through the use of the Force. Another aspect of the lightsaber that is unusual is its appearance, but it can be expected that anyone who creates their own lightsaber will, at some point, have a preferred shape and construct that is exclusive to them. Zabasaz's lightsaber handle can be compared to a double-bladed lightsaber, as it lacks the special tuning instruments and is shaped like a simple cylinder with a slightly ribbed grip - about as simple as a vibro-blade handle, or perhaps even simpler. Maintenance and alterations are carried out by Zabasaz via the use of the Force. This does not cause any detriment to the performance of the weapon, and in fact makes the weapon much more comfortable when held in two hands.
Color: Red - the crystal is about as mundane as they come, a basic red tint. It shines not in its construction but in the hands of its master.
Form I: Shii-Cho[/b] - 5 - Shii-Cho is the fundamental form of lightsaber combat, learned first due to its simplicity. It familiarizes a Jedi with his weapon so that they don't make any fatal mistakes, and is a staple for all the other styles to some extent. Zabasaz is a master of the style - as an Iridonian, he was already genetically predisposed to melee combat, so he was able to grasp the fundamentals quick which opened the way to the other styles. Mostly, Zabasaz's usage of Shii-Cho is limited as he prefers a more specialized and aggressive form like Form V. However, against opponents carrying certain characteristics that make Shii-Cho more reliable, Zabasaz's style of combat in this form in consort with his foe is often described as a "tug of war of footing." That is to say, he chooses to weave out of range of his foe's attack rather than parrying, then spring forward with his own counterattack while his opponent is still recovering from their failed attempt. This can generally be the common pattern of fighting until a decisive blow is made.
Form II: Makashi[/b] - 1 - Makashi is a style that Zabasaz did not much favor, one of the first flags to his masters in the Jedi Academy that warned of his potential walk down the path to the dark side. He held its strikes as shallow and unnecessary, but still learned it to some small extent if for the sole purpose of exercising mercy on underwhelming opponents. All in all, however, he is not amazingly proficient.
Form III: Soresu[/b] - 3 - Zabasaz's second favorite style, he is one who is not fond of tiring himself out with unnecessary movements and flashy actions, and prefers relying on his brute strength and remarkable reflexes to get the job done. Soresu's tendency to favor keeping the saber close at hand for the lowest distance of movements, therefore making it an almost flawless tool of defense, came often in handy when Zabasaz fought opposing Iridonian tribes. As mentioned before, Zabasaz has remarkable reflexes despite not being very dexterous and quick in order to keep up with it - thus, when wielding Soresu, Zabasaz is highly defensive, able to stop blaster fire from multiple targets in multiple directions with accuracy that is astonishing. Otherwise, though, he is not particularly deadly in lightsaber duels using this style, and tends to reserve it for stalling as he seeks an opening, then quickly jumps into another style and blindsides his opponent, making a decisive blow.
Form IV: Ataru[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz learned very little of the Ataru form, and doesn't utilize it at all. Ataru's emphasis on acrobatic feats and quick movements proved impossible for Zabasaz's slow body to grasp. Even with the Force, he was too clumsy to safely utilize it, and thus he overlooked it altogether.
Form V: Djem So[/b] - 5 - Zabasaz's favorite style and one of the greater signs of his impending departure from the Jedi Academy, in the hands of the Zabrak it is force to be reckoned with for even the most accomplished lightsaber practitioners. This is because of all the styles Zabasaz was taught, Djem So allowed him to take advantage of his superior strength to the largest extent possible. With the style, Zabasaz makes slow but deadly strikes to overpower his foes, making his attacks virtually impossible to consistently parry. Generally his moves are predictable but nonetheless overwhelming and intimidating. Often Zabasaz's emotions (his thirst for battle and his anger) can show up when using this style, and it blends well with his Soresu proficiency, as he tends to change between the forms with a smooth and quick transition when the situation calls for it. Zabasaz was known also to switch into back-handed grips for short periods of time in combat, specifically when his foe was either disarmed or off their guard due to his onslaught, as he finds himself much more able to put his back into strikes and therefore make them more powerful and fatal.
Form VI: Niman[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz never had the opportunity to learn this form, nor any of its sub-styles.
Form VII: Juyo[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz never had the opportunity to learn this form.
Double Bladed Combat[/b] - 0 - While Zabasaz has no experience in using a saberstaff, it does not necessarily mean he could not handle it. It is likely he would blend elements of Form V into it. He does, after all, have experience with polearms that his tribe used on Iridonia.
Force-Sensitive Abilities or Practices:[/u] It is important to note Zabasaz's special condition before looking into his proficiencies with the Force. Zabasaz possesses the rare genetic condition known as "Midichlorian Coagulation." This condition, in layman's terms, causes Zabasaz's midichlorians to 'clot', or stick together and function differently than if they were freely individual in his bloodstream. A simple explanation as to how this effects him is that is allows him to use the Force on a grander and more powerful scale than is typical for someone at his level, with the immense drawback that the more fine and intrinsic aspects of the Force are impossible for him to utilize, primarily because his grip over the Force suffers the 'Lennie' effect. That is, attempts to manipulate the Force are unintentionally stronger and therefore abilities like body enhancements and alterations, healing, and sensory/mental manipulation are impossible for Zabasaz to utilize.
This lead his masters to emphasize, in his training, the more basic techniques in hopes that expanding his proficiency in using the Force would help him overcome this disability. It hasn't yet - however, Zabasaz finds that it did allow him to evolve into using the Force in aggressive and dangerous manners, a definite sign of his inevitable descent into the Dark Side. This does not mean Zabasaz is a stronger-than-normal prodigy of the Force, it just means he can't use certain powers. As such, he devoted more attention to those he COULD use, and thus they were stronger a result, sort of like when a man loses his sense of sight but experiences the heightening of his remaining senses.
Telekinetic - 9 - Of the Force Powers that could be trained to him by the Academy, the category of Telekineticism was the only one he could really grasp to any reasonable extent due to his special condition. Thus, all the devotion to these powers has made Zabasaz remarkable in their use, perhaps even legendary. This pairs with his natural strength to cause amusing results - Zabasaz's use of abilities such as Force Push is astonishing, as he is able to cause immense destruction that transcends the simple ability to 'move things away' and can be better defined as 'blow things away.' Similarly, his skills in the use darker techniques like Force Grip, Force Choke, and to throw his Lightsaber, are far above average for someone of his level. It is through his mastery of Telekineticism that he is able to operate his lightsaber, for without so much training he would likely damage or crush it in his frustrated attempts.
Telepathic - 2 - Zabasaz's ability to perform tasks so fine as altering the mind of his opponents and peers is highly limited by his condition, but he can still at least sway or intimidate the weak-minded to stay out of his way. Generally, this task is more reserved to his intimidating demeanor than his actual Force power, so as such he supplements his natural intimidating factor with the Force in order to sow uncertainty in the minds of his foes.
Body - 0 - Altering his body is impossible to do correctly or safely given his condition. Thus, Zabasaz cannot perform any such feats of the Force.
Sense - 0 - Zabasaz lacks access to any powers that allow direct contact to the Force, but it is notable that he can overcome this weakness by supplementing his naturally heightened Zabrak senses with the Force. Sure, he can't detect a living organism through the Force, but he can sure as hell hear it loud and clear.
Protection - 0 - To his dismay, Zabasaz cannot weave the Force correctly enough to emulate any protective effects, thus he has to rely on his abilities with the Lightsaber form "Soresu" or a very hostile offensive to keep his foes from exploiting this weakness.
Healing - 0 - Similarly with Body enhancing ability, Zabasaz cannot safely use the Force to mend his wounds. He must rely on meditation and physical superiority to survive mortal wounds, thus making him about as endangered in a battle as a hemophile is in a knife-fight.
Destruction - 7 - When he left the Jedi Academy, Zabasaz found that advancing his Telekinetic powers into a more aggressive form of combat was an easy thing, and was enraged to find that the Academy had hidden this possibly from him. Thus, the ensuing rage caused him to discover his skills in the use of abilities such as Force Lightning and combustive abilities. It is worthy of note that there are some Destruction powers he cannot use, such as draining and weakening effects. When considering such abilities, refer to his "Destruction" ability as if it were "0," but only EXCLUSIVELY when he is USING them, not when he is subject to their use by an outside source.
Force Crush - A personal favorite of Zabasaz, this power allows him to crush objects (particularly hollow ones) into a smaller and more compact size. The act of doing so is violent and deadly, as the compressing of an object can vary in duration based on size, mass, and integrity (an X-32 Landspeeder may be turned into a sphere of rough scrap in a couple of seconds, whereas a full storage crate would take several minutes of concentration.) This power is much less effective against living targets, as the anatomy and the beings of such targets are in constant motion. Thus, Zabasaz can't simply crush an opponent to death unless they are unable to defend themself, such as if they're unconscious or accepting of Zabasaz's attempt.
To use this power, Zabasaz must plant his feet firmly into the ground and utilize both of his arms, focusing the entirety of his mind to crush the object. In some circumstances, exceptionally easy to crush targets can be crushed with less devotion of effort - such as the use of one-hand and roughly half of his concentration (such as if he sought to crush an EG-6 while keeping his eyes on a potentially dangerous opponent, he could hold out one hand and crush it in a matter of seconds while his other hand keeps his lightsaber ready.)
Force Deflection - This power renders Zabasaz capable of defending himself from hostile attacks with the Force and by blaster fire by countering with his own Force powers. Examples of applications of this power would be using his hands to stop a Force Push or Force Lightning attack by absorbing the kinetic energy committed and diverting it into another direction or stopping it altogether. Since Zabasaz's strength over the Force due to midichlorian coagulation is preternaturally powerful, he is able to deflect Force powers equal to roughly his own potential in that sphere (telekinetic and destruction for example.) He can also protect himself against an opponent's Force Crush ability with a one-hundred percent margin of success and effectiveness, provided he is alert and conscious. His ability to protect himself is increased when in Tràkata form drastically.
Force Repulse - Zabasaz's brute-force approach on the Force allows him to exert his masterful telekinetic capabilities to create three-sixty spherical explosion effects with his Force Push power. This emulates a close range, powerful Force Push in all directions, as he suspends himself in midair to activate the ability so as not to be standing on the ground during the burst due to the potential of losing his balance and harming himself.
The ability takes several seconds to charge if he seeks to make a more deadly effect, and doesn't possess a strong enough radius to push or crush targets as far away as they could be if he focused the power in one direction like a normal Force Push. It cannot be used in the heat of a lightsaber battle, as it would leave him dangerously off-guard. It can be used during intermissions, however, such as if he were able to kick an opponent away or stun them with a blow to the head.
Physical Strength - 8 - Zabasaz's most remarkable trait is his strength - he is powerful, so much so that few can match his strength in a deadlock. His physique betrays an obvious abundance of strength, but he excels beyond that with the assistance of the Force. In a spar, a fellow padawan compared Zabasaz's raw might to that of a Gorax. Few can match Zabasaz's strength, especially when in a lightsaber duel.
Intelligence - 4 - Zabasaz is not very bright, as anyone can see, but he possesses at least some tactical integrity. While it is not difficult to out-smart Zabasaz or lure him into a trap, in battle he can make some remarkable revelations in order to preserve his own being, a product of his martial bloodline as an Iridonian.
Speed - 2 - Zabasaz is slow due to his stocky physique and his natural lack of aptitude in speed. It is worthy of note that despite lacking physical speed, he still has remarkable reflexes as per his martially-endowed nature. The low score refers to his inability to perform remarkable acrobatic feats and to maneuver with immense proficiency like other Jedi - he is, however, not necessarily too slow to be effective in close-combat, especially with a weapon so light and deadly as a lightsaber.
Leadership - 3 - Zabasaz is a borderline sociopath. He leads by intimidation and prefers to do things on his own. Comrades in the Jedi Academy described their experiences working side-by-side with Zabasaz as "a complete and utter nightmare," and described his methods and treatment of comrades and contacts as "the manner that which a lunatic would conduct."
Unarmed - 8 - Having a lot of strength and experience in the sphere of combat, Zabasaz is a capable martial artist and hand-to-hand fighter, despite his lack of speed. Most of Zabasaz's unarmed combat experience derives from self-discipline, though he has training in a vast array of exotic and obscure martial arts that he has picked up over his thirty years of traveling and hiding from his enemies. This is not limited to Teräs Käsi and many other styles, although he isn't necessarily a master of any - the high number in reference to his unarmed skill is an expression of his ability to hit extremely hard in hand-to-hand as well as how refined he is in this sort of fight due to all the things he has learned in the sphere.
Melee Weapons - 6 - In his younger days, Zabasaz was one of the most capable members of his tribe in melee combat and war in general. The moment he was able to walk, he had a weapon in his hands and he was learning to use it. During his time in the Jedi Academy and time after, he has kept his skills polished and advancing. Now he values these skills more than ever, having reached a point where his ability to wield melee weapons is matched only by those of remarkable skill - not to mention his own physical strength factors greatly into his melee effectiveness. With more focus going into lightsaber combat, however, it's more of a way-side skill if he is in need of a special touch or an alternate weapon.
Ranged Weapons - 2 - His accuracy leaves a lot to be desired.
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RP Sample: Malastare was fraught with scum, or at least that was Zabasaz's opinion. He could only stand your every day Dug if he were in a good mood, and fortunately for his sanity and his efforts at keeping under the radar, he was in quite a grand mood, in fact. He had been taking up residence in Pixelito for six standard months now, at the cantina furthest from the spaceport, and furthering his training was something he could do with ease hidden away in this corner of the galaxy. Sure, it wasn't the most obscure locale, but nobody would want to dredge through a pile of slimy Dugs in order to unearth him if there was any doubt he could be hidden away here.
Now, to say he was living in a cantina in a literal sense would be a lie - in fact, he was living in a personal dormitory down the way from the cantina, but he spent most of the time he wasn't busy making a living or broadening his control over the Force having a strong drink in the fine drinking hole (fine being a relative term.) His table in the back was a favorite mostly because his presence there so often has kept Dugs from using it enough for their stench to affect it too strongly. Not many questioned why a Zabrak was living in such a place, because it didn't take a genius to know that Zabasaz wasn't a man who responded well to a nosy inquisition - in fact, all it really took was a pair of eyes.
It was his first drink of the evening, and he was ready to enjoy it - a personal favorite of his, the Malastare fuselage always put him to sleep within an hour or so. Local liquor was something he had taken to enjoying a lot more than the imported, more popular beverages in the galaxy, and ironically it was much less expensive. In fact, his Jedi background helped him a lot in getting by with a minimal amount of work in his new community. He needed little - only the necessities, such as nourishment, and the rest could go right into recreation every so often; and to his advantage, he hadn't reach the washed-up, alcoholic state where he would need that recreation every night quite yet. Perhaps more biweekly.
First drink of the night and he would savor it... only in his dreams of course, for there were more pressing matters at hand.
With a hiss, the red bar of his lightsaber came into view, snapping to life as he lashed it forward, cleaving his table clean open and leaving a charred valley in the center of it. His blade met another one, and it was odd enough that an attacker would aim for a fatal blow so soon - until he realized their lightsabers were both the same color - red.
For a split second their weapons sparked, as the opponent had come down at him from midair after a leap, probably a Form IV practitioner given such an audacious opening strike. Zabasaz's overwhelming strength was fittingly demonstrated when the opponent, even having the momentum of his leap and gravity on his side, was tossed clear across that particular alcove of the bar onto a table, where drinks shattered and splashed about.
So, he had been found, and sooner than usual. He was just beginning to get comfortable, too - but strangely, this assailant wasn't a Jedi. No Jedi attempted a fatal blow for their opening blow, let lone as a sneak attack. A Dark Jedi, clearly, and it was confirmed when he saw the red lightsaber and the black trainee's clothing. Already he could tell this foe was nobody of worth, not that he'd have hesitated either way to destroy them. Stepping around the table, he walked towards the opponent expecting that there was no rush after they had sustained such a violent landing. His lightsaber flared in his hand, sparks shooting about as it left a burnt trench on the stone floors while he closed the distance, ignorant of the Dugs that began watching or, if wise enough, filing out. The gap was almost closed when the Dark Jedi showed his tendency of sneak attacks for a second time by quickly throwing his hand out at Zabasaz.
The Force was strong with this one, if only because he was exceptionally ambitious. He couldn't quite identify what obligated a Dark Jedi to seek him out, but the whole "shoot first, ask questions later" method didn't serve to educate him, neither, since most of his shots were fatal or at least debilitating enough that he could get no answers. One thing was for sure - the disturbances this fight was going to cause would ripple the Force in ways that'd give up his hiding place in a heartbeat. Anger welled within him when he realized he needed another home, and it hadn't even been a year yet. He was just settling in!
The Force Push blasted at him, causing him to stumble back, his armored mass moving clumsily. He straightened himself quickly, however, thrusting both of his hands forward. The kinetic energy hurled forward via the manipulation of the Force caused by Zabasaz was phenominal, but then he had the advantage of being on his feet and not the least bit dazed. The ambitious opponent crashed through the thin walls of the establishment and down several stories.
The Zabrak ran to the hole to see that his foe had already disappeared. Another attempt would likely come soon, but he hadn't the ability to sense his foe through the Force. Resolving that departing to a more open area and finishing this conflict would be the wisest course of action, he took off for the exit, astonished Dugs chittering in their repulsive native tongue their vulgar opinions of the ordeal.
Zabasaz couldn't be followed, so he had to make sure this was dealt with properly.
Race: Iridonian (Zabrak)
Age: 55 Years Old
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 185 lbs
Appearance: Zabrak do not differ very much from humans on a cosmetic level, although beyond that is a much different story. Zabasaz, however, bears some striking differences from the norm of his species. Primarily, his physique - he has managed to keep a remarkably athletic form even despite his age. Zabrak lifespans don't stray too far from humans, although they do tend to last about ten to twenty years longer - Zabasaz looks about ready to double that. At fifty-five years old, he has the appearance of a thirty-five year old Zabrak, or more descriptively a forty to forty-five year old human. This isn't just visible in his face, though.
Two inches shy of standing six feet tall, Zabasaz weighs one-hundred eighty-five pounds, a weight reserved to either the obese or the muscular, and Zabasaz obviously fits the latter. One could go so far as to describe him as stocky, but it's a stretch even then. His body mass index can be estimated about seven to ten percent body fat, perhaps even lower if one were daring in their estimation, as is obvious when looking upon his highly defined arms, pectorals, and abdominal muscles.
Zabasaz's features are memorable in their striking nature, not to imply that he's remarkably attractive, but rather remarkably unique. His eyes are angled in just the right slant to make them naturally capable of intimidation, even for an Iridonian, and his eyes are ringed with hazel that bares a touch of red. He's exceptionally dark-skinned, and his ebon features are made ornate by dark red tattoos located in the following three areas of his visible face: a streak of red falling in a column shape with slightly concave sides down from the center of his bottom lip; a half-circle or more accurately a half-oval below his left eye of the same color, angled so the lengthier portion of the oval is horizontal. It is nestled just under his eye, but close enough to seem to begin AT his eye, with each of the edges of the tattoo (like the points of a lemon) directed off to the outer side of his eye and to his nose; an identical tattoo under his right right eye, positioned in the same manner with respect to the eye, making them symmetrical.
Predictably, Zabasaz possesses a crown of horns. In particular there are six of them, arranged in a flawless circle over his bald cranium like the crown of Julius Caesar, each of the black horns curving inward like a vicious hook, facing dead center. Notably, Zabasaz's head is devoid of hair - not as if it were cut off, but rather never existed altogether, leaving his cranium a veritable shining surface though a comment regarding the reflective nature will often result in a thorough strangling. His body, too, is mostly devoid of hair, with the exception of his lower abdomen and crotch.
Zabasaz lives a nomadic lifestyle, so his regalia tends to vary based on the atmosphere - for example, he may choose a lighter form of clothing, generally without any form of armor, if here were on the deserts of Tatooine - on the other hand, if he found himself for whatever reason exploring the colder regions of Corellia, he would likely choose heavy insulating material for regalia as well as heavy duty boots and gloves. Most typically, however, when the climate doesn't tend towards an extreme, his choice of regalia is expected to reflect his martially extreme tendencies. Composite durasteel armor, generally a full set, is something he feels right at home in. He has a chestplate, greaves, pauldrons, bracers, gloves, boots, and a helmet - and typically he'll wear them all, the most interchangeable piece being his helmet. The helmet possesses a sensor array and a low-grade visor, often emitting an orange glow to onlookers.
The armor, dyed black, blends well with his drab choice of black-dyed fabrics, such as a duster fit with a broad hood to encompass his helmet, a pair of loose and durable slacks, and in some cases he may choose to wear a composite tasset with a black-fabric hip-cape on the back. His armor isn't as thorough as a typical set, which bears striking resemblance to Death Watch style Mandalorian armor, but instead prefers the more essential plates and pieces, and conceals the open areas with a form-fitting black, flexible mesh that functions very similar to fabric. This offers only environmental protection, and would not hold up in combat, but that's what the durasteel is for.
Birthplace: Iridonia, southern hemisphere, a small, tribal settlement roughly 12.6 kilometers from the city Wortan.
Faction: N/A
Rank: Dark Jedi Master - Zabasaz has reached a level of proficiency in two things that make one a master of the Dark Side - Destruction via Force and Lightsaber, and embracing the Darker Side of the Force that he wields. He's fifty-five years old and has confronted his fair share of Jedi - but this doesn't make him a Dark Lord, for he does not (yet) associate with any Dark Jedi, if any such organization exists. Zabasaz doesn't actively seek such affiliation, and in fact if any such organization exists, he may react with hostility to them rather than amiability. Keep in mind that while Zabasaz has reached the level of power that constitutes a Dark Jedi Master, Zabasaz did not reach it until only recently. (Within the last five years, give or take.) Other Dark Jedi Masters obtained their positions at a much younger age, making them technically stronger in the Force than Zabasaz - but Zabasaz's abundant experience levels the playing field.
Bio:
It all seems so much clearer now.
The energies of the Force maneuvered like slow but sure swirling tendrils around him as he gauged the field of battle. It felt strangely invincible, in a way, as he looked upon his fellow Iridonian warriors engaged in combat with opposing tribes. While j'Keenim and its rival tribes had this tendency of straying from the typical methods of warfare even from an archaic point of view, somehow when it boiled down to the weapons clashing and entering the bodies of one another, there was a kindred essence to this sort of war and the conflict waged on an intergalactic scale, 'above.' As did soldiers eventually fall out of formation and entwine in a conflict like two liquids mixing and in time becoming one volatile concoction, so did fleets, circling one another like a whirlpool of turbolaser fire and fighter passes.
This was the nature of all warfare, even as primal as they came with Iridonia's southern hemisphere's warring tribes, sport though it was. That was the strange tendency of outsiders and even Iridonians from farther reaches of the world, to think this bloody war was waged solely out of some hatred of dispute. No war between such like people is waged for so long for a despicable reason such as that. It took a mind that transcended the simple and yet ever so common ignorance to get the truth purpose of the war. Then, to get why that purpose meant so much to these people took decades of learning among them. Being among them.
There Zabasaz stood, of the j'Keenim tribe but parted so long from them, return to grace the battlefields and make a rite of passage to manhood. Truly, however, as at-home did he feel, there was a strange sense in the back of his head that did so aptly claim this was alien as well. The way his comrades and his enemies waged conflict, engaged with one another like a pool of bleeding masses, some moving and some rejoining the world's soil, possessed but did not exert this primal tenacity he felt pumping through his adrenaline-filled veins. This conflict stirred the Force into mass torrential waves and that is what caused him to learn of it in the first place, in an indirect sense of things, but how could such a brutal conflict that corrupted the spirit in such a vast and terrifying manner have lasted so long?
He felt determined, now, to finally end it. And he felt completely and utterly capable, as well. What a rite of passage this would be, likely one that would be sung for centuries to come to children that praised the heroic deed of the returned Iridonian, who kept true to his promise to fulfill his trials despite being part of a new and bigger world and liberated the tribe, only to disappear into the dark, starry abyss above, remembered forevermore.
Those thoughts, those possibilities resonated with what was happening in the here and now - in his left hand he possessed a pole-axe, not possessing the vibration qualities of a long vibro axe, but still quite effective and far from being described 'crude' simply based on the nature of those who crafted it. It was a balanced weapon, not too light to be ineffective but not too heavy to be cumbersome, and holding it there in his hand took him back to childhood, where he once before possessed such a weapon the moment his feet could allow him to stand. He felt amazingly proficient with it, even for a single soldier - he had kept training with it since he had left for the Jedi Academy, as well as a variety of other melee weapons, when time permitted and his masters were not around to criticize him for devoting himself to such a crude weapon, time that could be devoted towards the expansion of his knowledge and wisdom. Martial prowess was wisdom, to him, anyways.
Iridonians, with their faces painted for war (or tattooed, or a hodgepodge of both) seemed guided not by their eyes in this battle, but Zabasaz figured it just a strange sensation and wiped it outside, not to be considered. They held similar weapons, if more personalized than Zabasaz's, from pole-axes to war-axes, exotic short blades and double-ended falchions known to the Iridonians as poignards and t'Vars, to stranger and more obscure arms that resembled the rantoks used by off-world species. Zabasaz had such a weapon reserved for a side-arm purpose holstered on his back.
Many more crude spears used exclusively as projectiles were sticking from the ground, some angled in one direction and some in another, like the vicinity were a field growing them as crops, a product of a prior volley of the tribes as they closed the gaps between one another in a vicious, blood-thirsty charge fraught with war cries and fierce heaves of dashing warriors. The initial burst of combat, as formations clashed, was a bloody one, and then formations broke and the soldiers were engaged with one another. Rout seemed imminent for either party, Zabasaz subtly discerned, and decided to ensure it wasn't his.
An opposing Zabrak set him into motion - about the same size and physique to Zabasaz, perhaps a bit taller, an opposing tribesman from the j'Wari came at him, spear held not like a javelin but a war staff, Zabasaz reacted to the potential threat by immediately countering the initial thrust by redirecting it with the off-end of his pole-axe. Then, with the momentum of this redirection, his off-guard opponent learned in the most fatal manner there was what happened when a j'Keenim warrior of such a martially-endowed bloodline incorporated the Force and Jedi training into his battle stance. The axe drew from the man's hip bloodier, and found its way quickly against into the man, this time his neck.
This was the last necessary kiss his weapon would give the man, but the momentum this clash caused would not end here. In the next few minutes his weapon sought many more bodies with unvarying degrees of smashing success. One could call this a killing spree, but Zabasaz tore through their tattered ranks and broke the formation of their reinforcements near single-handedly before a true challenge came before him.
Every tribe had its rabble and its integral players, and Zabasaz had encountered and slain many in this bloody month. The rite of passage was brutal - his body would be committed to war and the wilderness for an entire season before he could return to his people, and then from there his learning would be gauged and his successful rite celebrated. He was drawing closer and closer to the half-way mark as the days went on, and could not give a number to how many he had wounded and killed, though the latter was likely significantly smaller of a tally than the former - it was proper conduct to not slay the enemy forces but to wound them until they could fight no more, though that didn't imply that it was necessary to hold any blows. A coup de grace here or there was common, too, for those who could never live the life of a warrior due to their wounds again. However, this did not detract from the horrifying brutality of the bloody battles at all - oh by no means.
Zabasaz, though, had fought many officers and significant warriors among the enemy forces and bested nearly all of them. He had incurred hardly any wounds, either, an extremely rare occurrence in the rite of passage. Generally, a man who was wounded would disappear into the wilderness to recuperate and return to the battle for revenge, but Zabasaz had done what would be dangerous for anyone else, but they weren't force sensitive - he had fought NON-STOP for many weeks aside from resting periods and traveling intermissions. He missed no battles, spent minimal time licking his wounds, and likely transcended the amount of hours devoted to battle in a typical rite of passage in just a third of the time. Did this make him special? Yes. Did he dwell too long upon this triumphant achievement? There was no time.
The key warrior among the j'Wari war party Zabasaz's party was waylaying was Iizeer, known for his preternatural strength said to rival a wookiee's (though it was anyone's guess how such an immobile tribe knew what a wookiee even was.) Zabasaz saw him approaching but was too occupied with multiple opponents to pay him the attention his reputation so afforded him, but he did notice one thing - Iizeer's weapon. It was a war maul, perhaps an older form of the Power Hammer, some kind of prototype. Heavy weapons in the right hands were deadly except against exceptionally quick opponents, and Zabasaz was not 'exceptionally' quick, just 'quick enough' not to be dead already. Overpowering an opponent with equally immense strength and a heavier weapon was a task Zabasaz could foresee yielding perhaps his first serious injury, though he felt confident he would survive the battle if he had the foe isolated well enough to devote his entire focus on him.
Zabasaz gave a quick whip of his weapon, the butt hitting the chin of the foe behind him, then levered it into its mathematically inverted position and thrust the bladed end into his other opponent, knocking them both briefly out of his way. The third opponent did not pursue Zabasaz when he saw that he was heading for Iizeer - Iizeer's comrades knew well enough not to interfere, at the dramatically increased risk of becoming a member of the statistic.
In closing the gap Zabasaz immediately struck with the viciousness and aggression of a hungry and highly territorial scyk, bringing his pole axe's bladed end for Iizeer's ribcage. Iizeer responded with a surprisingly effective parry despite possessing a rather heavy and sluggish weapon. Of course, this proved to be advantageous to Zabasaz - his weapon was two, not one, possessing two usable ends, and so when his weapon's axe blade got caught on the power hammer's more blunt end, he struck at Iizeer's lower torso with the pole arm's blunt end.
Expecting to have already dealt a reasonably decisive blow, Zabasaz was surprised when it felt as though the shaft of the metal weapon hit an equally metallic surface. His foe was certainly as resilient as he was strong. Immediately the two of them wrenched free from one another, and then Iizeer opted to take on the offensive this time. Swinging his hammer in a vicious downward sweep, Zabasaz deftly evade it by moving his threatened half out of the way by pulling his shoulder back, but Iizeer followed up by retaining his momentum in a graceful spin and bringing it down in another sweep, this time with his other arm in command. Zabasaz evaded this in the same manner, and meant to move in to attack when Iizeer did so again - but this time, to Zabasaz's surprise and almost his death, he attacked with a horizontal sweep for his head that could had very well ended this fight early had Zabasaz's reflexes not been extremely remarkable. Lacking the speed to avoid such an attack, he turned his attempted offense into an impromptu parry, bracing the shaft of his weapon against his right ribs and angling it up so that the shaft's of both weapons clashed and the kinetic energy, instead of striking his head, would be stopped brutally on his side.
A shock of pain raced up and down his body as his ribs, now fractured, wavered but did not give in entirely. Then, resolving to grit his teeth through the pain and make an important action, Zabasaz thrust his weapon in a skilled spin so that it would maneuver the lethal edge between his foe's legs. Pulling back, the unfortunately edgeless portion of the pole axe gripped his foe's ankle violently and wrenched him off his feet. Iizeer hit the ground hard, a dizzying shock racing through along his spine and into his skull despite not having hit his head on the ground. However, he did not come down alone - not before he was totally off-balance did he dig his fingers underneath Zabasaz's chest armor underlay and pulled him until the grip was lost. Zabasaz stumbled forward and may had maintained his footing had he not tripped over Iizeer himself. The both of them, disarmed, were left on the forest floor for a second to collect themselves in a daze, Iizeer from a nasty fall onto the back and Zabasaz still recovering from his fractured ribs. Iizeer collected himself first, turning, searching frantically for Zabasaz's ankle, and when he found it pulling and 'climbing.' With or without his weapon, he'd finish this.
Grappling one another, their fight might look to on-lookers like it was going nowhere provided any were able to safely watch, but the battle was still in full swing and nobody sought to interfere with two warlords, as it was not only not in good sport, but it was perhaps good luck as well. Iizeer had mounted Zabasaz but Zabasaz was defending himself as best he could. He was able to defend himself by keeping his foe constantly unbalanced and by throwing as much defense as he could up, and even managed to get a number of decent fist strikes to the j'Wari warrior's ribs, but it all began to spiral when Iizeer managed to drop an elbow hard on Zabasaz's fractured ribs. Wailing in pain, his vision going red and his pulsing veins visible on his eyes like a flashing network of Coruscant airways, he thrashed like a beast at genuine risk of death when he felt Iizeer's thumb pressing hard under his ear. Luckily for him, he managed a lucky shot - a formidable strike to Iizeer's wrist artery numbed the entire arm momentarily, allowing him to get the upper hand.
With a twist and a roll, Zabasaz freed himself and scrambled to his feet for his weapon, and so too did Iizeer. Zabasaz was closing in on it, too, when he heard Iizeer give a verbal heave. He turned just in time to see the weapon coming, and like before evaded it, but in so doing he tripped over his own pole arm. Iizeer advanced on this opportunity, bringing his hammer down on Zabasaz's right pectoral. He had no time to roll - he could only minimize the fatal potential of it by causing it to hit his right arm instead, and immediately he felt as though it was broken. The pain was immense but he had reached a level of chemically-induced battle high that had long since endowed him with pain resistance, a trait known to all Zabrak. When he saw the hammer coming again, he had an epiphanic shock when he felt his weapon's handle under his hand. Quickly he brought it up and to his advantage the bladed end was opposite him. It dug into Iizeer's leg, causing him to issue a shout of frenzied pain. Zabasaz then pulled him off his feet again in the same manner as before, though this time Iizeer fell forward.
Iizeer's frenzy was superior to Zabasaz's, apparently, as he began to strike wildly, and with only one arm and a number of wounds, he was prone to a flurry of blows from the opposing Iridonian. Then, when it seemed he might be overwhelmed, things changed.
Everything began to move slow, as if in slow motion. What this sensation was, however, Zabasaz could not put together - it was like some kind of battle reflexes had been given to him. His eyes saw everything black and white, and he could see his pulse beating fast in his eyes no matter how slow he seemed to perceive reality. There, before his blurry vision, was an opening - Iizeer's hand clawing and striking madly had slowed to a crawl, and it was cocking back for a blow that would likely end Zabasaz's chances of survival. But in that window of opportunity, there was his salvation as well. Time resumed its normal flow as Zabasaz thrust his open palm forward with his fingers bent in and struck three times, once on the right, middle, and left of Iizeer's diaphragm. Finally he had taken the fight from a grapple fest to a controlled state where he could -actually- utilize some of his martial arts experience from the Jedi Academy.
Iizeer seemed to bounce between limp and stiff as his organs were thrust and jostled by his spasmodic diaphragm. Then, Zabasaz remembered his side-arm - quickly his left hand dove into the region between Zabasaz's back and the leaf and dirt covered ground, pulled the large poignard from its leather holster, and thrust it directly into the side of Iizeer's neck.
For a couple of seconds, Iizeer's bodily spasms resigned to stiffness. And then, there, erect above Zabasaz, he ceased movement, his eyes rolling back. Zabasaz gave a jerk and the j'Wari fell to the ground, and then it was clear when the blood spurts from his neck died down that he was no more.
Zabasaz weakly stood, but that was only a cosmetic description of that action. The battle was almost over as it stood - most dead, still some fighting, but they had stopped to see the end of the conflict. When the outcome was clear, with Zabasaz the fearsome victor, it was in the best interests of the j'Wari war party to flee and nobody protested - chase was not to be given in such a bloody battle. Zabasaz himself was covered in blood, but none from himself, but he did have some serious injuries - the kind he wasn't sure he could recover from without forfeiting his rite of passage. And curses, had he the talent to utilize the Jedi healing techniques...
His allies rejoiced and it broke his focus. He couldn't think and he didn't know what to do - but after surviving this far and undergone Jedi training, he REFUSED to forfeit... but he couldn't die. Not now, not here. Something in the back of his mind pulled on him, directed him, and it was foreign and untrustworthy. Yet he disappeared into the woods, unknown to his comrades, to find his own way.
...
What in the name of Iridonia is this place...?
Somehow, within the countless generations of scouting, settling, and warring within these woods southeast of Wortan, not once had someone uncovered these strange ruins as Zabasaz would later discover. This place, it was dark... ominous. They had avoided it, despite its tactical implication of being nestled right in the center of the vast forests between the tribal territories. Strange, too, that Zabasaz would find himself locating it despite its dense and concealed location without any aid all on his own. It was as if he was... drawn there.
They were stone ruins, most the bases and foundations of once-existing structures and walls, archways, monuments, but now they had fallen into disrepair due to the inevitable rigors of time. In the center, though, covered in abundant flora overgrowth and moss, was an unmistakably intact structure that immediately caught the eye of anyone who wandered too near - particularly Zabasaz. Made of the sample faded yellow blocks that the rest of the ruins were was a wide but not remarkably tall ziggurat, a square-based triangular structure but not smooth-surfaced like a pyramid - rather it was built in steps.
It had been two days since Zabasaz had killed Iizeer and parted from his war party. His wounds, two or three fractured ribs on his right ribs and a shattered right shoulder, were serious - however, he had the physical capability and the hardiness of an Iridonian to last. He had set his wounds right with bandages and braces that he, among all of the other tribal warriors, carried in pouches on their belts and bandoleers. Thus, he wasn't worried he would die out from eternal bleeding or end up with any permanent damages - but he certainly could do no more fighting. He wasn't sure how he was going to pass the rest of the season simply recuperating, and how that would appear when the success or failure of the rite of passage was considered by the elders and the battlemasters. However, he could only imagine it wouldn't be all too well. He could not effectively wield his pole-arm with one hand, and the side-arm which he had left in Iizeer's neck was worthless in a true battle. What he would give for a lightsaber...
Now, standing here before the ziggurat, curiosity and some subtle impulse drove him to consider approaching it. No, not consider... it drove him absolutely to approach it. To enter it. Something was dark about the structure itself, and it swept over the entire ruins like a lunar body induced tide. The Dark Side was strong here, but he didn't feel wary. He had been warned of it, but never truly exposed to it. Or perhaps having been born in this forest, it just felt normal to him. But, it wasn't - he was overcome with a corrupting sensation, a sort of necrotic essence that made approaching the ziggurat an act of guilt and not curiosity. He felt overcoming the guilt was a challenge, a crucible, perhaps forgetting the purpose of such a sensation. But then, he had little else going for him now. His mind, for the first time in his life, was fraught with genuine uncertainty. This bred some kind of fear... the early stages of descending down a dark path. Ignorant of this danger, he came upon the entry of the ziggurat to find the interior must had been much larger, for a stone stair descended underneath the ziggurat and therefore underground, to lead into the interior.
A chill lingered in this place, but it was after all underground and the cold was insulated by the unique architecture. Still, it was... preternaturally cold.
---
In Iridonia, in a forest located in the southern hemisphere due southeast of Wortan, Zabasaz Volgarius was born a member of the brutal j'Keenim Tribe, a tribe locked in an endless violent dispute with several opposing tribe as an act of exercising their martial availability and appeasing an obscure war deity. It was a well-known fact to all the tribes that their war was waged solely because it is was a fundamental belief that if at any time they embraced a life of peace and a lack of martial readiness, their deity would be displeased and the tribe would, as a result, rejoin the soil of Iridonia forevermore. In a way, this deity was more of a figure of speech than a genuine celestial body that they devoted their minds and bodies to. Nonetheless, this would result in j'Keenim having the blood of a warrior running thick and hot in his veins. Strong and naturally adept at warfare, Zabasaz was quickly put to training for a life of war and tribal preservation and he couldn't say he had any reason to complain. There was a lot in the galaxy for him to know and learn, but he never considered it for the concept was never put before him. Philosophy was in short supply among his people, unless the philosophy pertained in some manner to war.
The Jedi Council eventually learned of the fabled existence of the warring tribes, and were naturally inclined to assume there was some foul play, like the Dark Side's influence - and so a veteran Jedi Master was sent to Iridonia to seek out these tribes and investigate the meaning and purpose of their struggle, if it even existed. In time, that Jedi Master would not only learn of the authenticity of this conflict, but would find herself side-tracked by a strange sensation, not so much a disturbance in the Force but more like a parting in a calm stream that piqued her interest. What she found was a young Zabrak boy, called j'Keenim Zabasaz Volgarius. Intrigued, she tested his blood for midichlorian influence and not only found it abundant enough for Jedi training, but unusual in its own way. It seemed stronger and yet limited, and thus she wanted to do everything in her power to bring Zabasaz back to the academy, not just to train another potential galactic savior but to document this phenomenon.
It took some time and some coaxing, but every bit of it was done with honesty and not with manipulation of the Force. To convince the j'Keenim of the righteous path Zabasaz could potentially tread, she had to fight for their tribe and demonstrate the worth of the Jedi. It was a stunningly difficult task - the fabled ferocity of Iridonian tribal warriors was overwhelming, but through her expertise and by remaining calm, she shined through. Convincing the tribe and convincing Zabasaz were both difficult matters - until she appealed to the potential for visiting and beholding the galaxy beyond the forests of Iridonia. It was almost a traumatic blow to the mind of Zabasaz, but it was nonetheless enlightening. He wanted it, so he agreed to go.
Training in the Jedi Academy unraveled many of the mysteries of Zabasaz's strange anatomy - it was clear that he would never quite wield the Force in the way a true Jedi did, but he was able to do his best with what he possessed. Many flags, however, were raised in the progress of Zabasaz's training that led to skepticism as to whether or not Zabasaz could hold true to the path of peace... emotions ran strong in him, and his blood boiled for the battle he was bred and born for. In fact, in a manner of speaking, Zabasaz could be said to have the Dark Side bred into him, rather than have been driven towards it by anger or fear. In spars he was strong and fierce, in training modules and missions he lacked a sense of mercy and seemed to disregard his allies, preferring to work with his own potential - a sure sign of a troubled soul. He grew and learned quick - something was out of place, for sure, but the masters turned a blind eye, hoping that through his understanding of the Force could Zabasaz be saved.
Apparently, he could not.
Exactly when Zabasaz came of age for his rite to adulthood among the Iridonians did he depart, claiming to seek a sabbatical so he may return to his people as per an outlined vow and pass on to manhood, then he would surely return to continue his training. Skepticism was widespread among his peers, but the masters taught him how to further his training during his absence to some extent, took his lightsaber from him, and bid him farewell. As expected, Zabasaz would never return. On Iridonia, he used his new powers to fight for his tribe - and they were stunned, on his return, by the changes. He was a ferocious, proficient warrior, even though he lacked his best-trained weapon... at first. But then, with a dark revelation having tainted his mind (perhaps the very source of the conflict that inclined the tribes to perpetually wage war) he made another - and with his new lightsaber, he demonstrated his lack of understanding in the points of the j'Keenim and the opposing tribes' eternal war. It was not to win, it was to simply fight. Survival of the fittest implied you had to remain fit, but Zabasaz had been taught things beyond 'survival,' he had learned not just how to survive but how to destroy. The Masters did not mean for him to learn this, but the Force opens the way to many things, and some such things can only lead to sorrow or madness.
Destroying the opposition of the other tribes led to him being exiled - and being exiled led to outrage on his part. How could his people be so foolish as to send him out simply for doing what he was born to do, only better than them? In his distress, a voice told him what had to be done.
Zabasaz left Iridonia the last of the j'Keenim.
Word spread of this. The Jedi sent their Knights to track down and bring Zabasaz to justice before he could spread more grief through the galaxy, but they were but practice for him. Some fell, but most escaped, and the news of his growth met the ears of his master - the one who brought him to the Academy in the first place, now ashamed of her apparent failure. To this day, she seeks to take things into her own hands.
On the other side of things, a man with power but no purpose cannot exist, so now an aging Zabasaz who has furthered his training on his own for thirty years under the radar of the Jedi and the Dark Jedi alike, seeks a purpose... a use for his new powers, his immense capabilities. And so the past meets the current...
Lightsaber: The self-constructed lightsaber that Zabasaz wields possesses a few key factors, but is otherwise a mundane single-bladed and single-phased lightsaber. The primary thing to know about it is that it lacks an external switch - the lightsaber is made operable by lightly twisting the internal magnetic ring into place, and therefore can only be activated through the use of the Force. Another aspect of the lightsaber that is unusual is its appearance, but it can be expected that anyone who creates their own lightsaber will, at some point, have a preferred shape and construct that is exclusive to them. Zabasaz's lightsaber handle can be compared to a double-bladed lightsaber, as it lacks the special tuning instruments and is shaped like a simple cylinder with a slightly ribbed grip - about as simple as a vibro-blade handle, or perhaps even simpler. Maintenance and alterations are carried out by Zabasaz via the use of the Force. This does not cause any detriment to the performance of the weapon, and in fact makes the weapon much more comfortable when held in two hands.
Color: Red - the crystal is about as mundane as they come, a basic red tint. It shines not in its construction but in the hands of its master.
- Practiced Lightsaber Forms -
[/u][/center]Form I: Shii-Cho[/b] - 5 - Shii-Cho is the fundamental form of lightsaber combat, learned first due to its simplicity. It familiarizes a Jedi with his weapon so that they don't make any fatal mistakes, and is a staple for all the other styles to some extent. Zabasaz is a master of the style - as an Iridonian, he was already genetically predisposed to melee combat, so he was able to grasp the fundamentals quick which opened the way to the other styles. Mostly, Zabasaz's usage of Shii-Cho is limited as he prefers a more specialized and aggressive form like Form V. However, against opponents carrying certain characteristics that make Shii-Cho more reliable, Zabasaz's style of combat in this form in consort with his foe is often described as a "tug of war of footing." That is to say, he chooses to weave out of range of his foe's attack rather than parrying, then spring forward with his own counterattack while his opponent is still recovering from their failed attempt. This can generally be the common pattern of fighting until a decisive blow is made.
Form II: Makashi[/b] - 1 - Makashi is a style that Zabasaz did not much favor, one of the first flags to his masters in the Jedi Academy that warned of his potential walk down the path to the dark side. He held its strikes as shallow and unnecessary, but still learned it to some small extent if for the sole purpose of exercising mercy on underwhelming opponents. All in all, however, he is not amazingly proficient.
Form III: Soresu[/b] - 3 - Zabasaz's second favorite style, he is one who is not fond of tiring himself out with unnecessary movements and flashy actions, and prefers relying on his brute strength and remarkable reflexes to get the job done. Soresu's tendency to favor keeping the saber close at hand for the lowest distance of movements, therefore making it an almost flawless tool of defense, came often in handy when Zabasaz fought opposing Iridonian tribes. As mentioned before, Zabasaz has remarkable reflexes despite not being very dexterous and quick in order to keep up with it - thus, when wielding Soresu, Zabasaz is highly defensive, able to stop blaster fire from multiple targets in multiple directions with accuracy that is astonishing. Otherwise, though, he is not particularly deadly in lightsaber duels using this style, and tends to reserve it for stalling as he seeks an opening, then quickly jumps into another style and blindsides his opponent, making a decisive blow.
Form IV: Ataru[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz learned very little of the Ataru form, and doesn't utilize it at all. Ataru's emphasis on acrobatic feats and quick movements proved impossible for Zabasaz's slow body to grasp. Even with the Force, he was too clumsy to safely utilize it, and thus he overlooked it altogether.
Form V: Djem So[/b] - 5 - Zabasaz's favorite style and one of the greater signs of his impending departure from the Jedi Academy, in the hands of the Zabrak it is force to be reckoned with for even the most accomplished lightsaber practitioners. This is because of all the styles Zabasaz was taught, Djem So allowed him to take advantage of his superior strength to the largest extent possible. With the style, Zabasaz makes slow but deadly strikes to overpower his foes, making his attacks virtually impossible to consistently parry. Generally his moves are predictable but nonetheless overwhelming and intimidating. Often Zabasaz's emotions (his thirst for battle and his anger) can show up when using this style, and it blends well with his Soresu proficiency, as he tends to change between the forms with a smooth and quick transition when the situation calls for it. Zabasaz was known also to switch into back-handed grips for short periods of time in combat, specifically when his foe was either disarmed or off their guard due to his onslaught, as he finds himself much more able to put his back into strikes and therefore make them more powerful and fatal.
Form VI: Niman[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz never had the opportunity to learn this form, nor any of its sub-styles.
Form VII: Juyo[/b] - 0 - Zabasaz never had the opportunity to learn this form.
Double Bladed Combat[/b] - 0 - While Zabasaz has no experience in using a saberstaff, it does not necessarily mean he could not handle it. It is likely he would blend elements of Form V into it. He does, after all, have experience with polearms that his tribe used on Iridonia.
Force-Sensitive Abilities or Practices:[/u] It is important to note Zabasaz's special condition before looking into his proficiencies with the Force. Zabasaz possesses the rare genetic condition known as "Midichlorian Coagulation." This condition, in layman's terms, causes Zabasaz's midichlorians to 'clot', or stick together and function differently than if they were freely individual in his bloodstream. A simple explanation as to how this effects him is that is allows him to use the Force on a grander and more powerful scale than is typical for someone at his level, with the immense drawback that the more fine and intrinsic aspects of the Force are impossible for him to utilize, primarily because his grip over the Force suffers the 'Lennie' effect. That is, attempts to manipulate the Force are unintentionally stronger and therefore abilities like body enhancements and alterations, healing, and sensory/mental manipulation are impossible for Zabasaz to utilize.
This lead his masters to emphasize, in his training, the more basic techniques in hopes that expanding his proficiency in using the Force would help him overcome this disability. It hasn't yet - however, Zabasaz finds that it did allow him to evolve into using the Force in aggressive and dangerous manners, a definite sign of his inevitable descent into the Dark Side. This does not mean Zabasaz is a stronger-than-normal prodigy of the Force, it just means he can't use certain powers. As such, he devoted more attention to those he COULD use, and thus they were stronger a result, sort of like when a man loses his sense of sight but experiences the heightening of his remaining senses.
Telekinetic - 9 - Of the Force Powers that could be trained to him by the Academy, the category of Telekineticism was the only one he could really grasp to any reasonable extent due to his special condition. Thus, all the devotion to these powers has made Zabasaz remarkable in their use, perhaps even legendary. This pairs with his natural strength to cause amusing results - Zabasaz's use of abilities such as Force Push is astonishing, as he is able to cause immense destruction that transcends the simple ability to 'move things away' and can be better defined as 'blow things away.' Similarly, his skills in the use darker techniques like Force Grip, Force Choke, and to throw his Lightsaber, are far above average for someone of his level. It is through his mastery of Telekineticism that he is able to operate his lightsaber, for without so much training he would likely damage or crush it in his frustrated attempts.
Telepathic - 2 - Zabasaz's ability to perform tasks so fine as altering the mind of his opponents and peers is highly limited by his condition, but he can still at least sway or intimidate the weak-minded to stay out of his way. Generally, this task is more reserved to his intimidating demeanor than his actual Force power, so as such he supplements his natural intimidating factor with the Force in order to sow uncertainty in the minds of his foes.
Body - 0 - Altering his body is impossible to do correctly or safely given his condition. Thus, Zabasaz cannot perform any such feats of the Force.
Sense - 0 - Zabasaz lacks access to any powers that allow direct contact to the Force, but it is notable that he can overcome this weakness by supplementing his naturally heightened Zabrak senses with the Force. Sure, he can't detect a living organism through the Force, but he can sure as hell hear it loud and clear.
Protection - 0 - To his dismay, Zabasaz cannot weave the Force correctly enough to emulate any protective effects, thus he has to rely on his abilities with the Lightsaber form "Soresu" or a very hostile offensive to keep his foes from exploiting this weakness.
Healing - 0 - Similarly with Body enhancing ability, Zabasaz cannot safely use the Force to mend his wounds. He must rely on meditation and physical superiority to survive mortal wounds, thus making him about as endangered in a battle as a hemophile is in a knife-fight.
Destruction - 7 - When he left the Jedi Academy, Zabasaz found that advancing his Telekinetic powers into a more aggressive form of combat was an easy thing, and was enraged to find that the Academy had hidden this possibly from him. Thus, the ensuing rage caused him to discover his skills in the use of abilities such as Force Lightning and combustive abilities. It is worthy of note that there are some Destruction powers he cannot use, such as draining and weakening effects. When considering such abilities, refer to his "Destruction" ability as if it were "0," but only EXCLUSIVELY when he is USING them, not when he is subject to their use by an outside source.
- Specialized Skills -
Force Crush - A personal favorite of Zabasaz, this power allows him to crush objects (particularly hollow ones) into a smaller and more compact size. The act of doing so is violent and deadly, as the compressing of an object can vary in duration based on size, mass, and integrity (an X-32 Landspeeder may be turned into a sphere of rough scrap in a couple of seconds, whereas a full storage crate would take several minutes of concentration.) This power is much less effective against living targets, as the anatomy and the beings of such targets are in constant motion. Thus, Zabasaz can't simply crush an opponent to death unless they are unable to defend themself, such as if they're unconscious or accepting of Zabasaz's attempt.
To use this power, Zabasaz must plant his feet firmly into the ground and utilize both of his arms, focusing the entirety of his mind to crush the object. In some circumstances, exceptionally easy to crush targets can be crushed with less devotion of effort - such as the use of one-hand and roughly half of his concentration (such as if he sought to crush an EG-6 while keeping his eyes on a potentially dangerous opponent, he could hold out one hand and crush it in a matter of seconds while his other hand keeps his lightsaber ready.)
Force Deflection - This power renders Zabasaz capable of defending himself from hostile attacks with the Force and by blaster fire by countering with his own Force powers. Examples of applications of this power would be using his hands to stop a Force Push or Force Lightning attack by absorbing the kinetic energy committed and diverting it into another direction or stopping it altogether. Since Zabasaz's strength over the Force due to midichlorian coagulation is preternaturally powerful, he is able to deflect Force powers equal to roughly his own potential in that sphere (telekinetic and destruction for example.) He can also protect himself against an opponent's Force Crush ability with a one-hundred percent margin of success and effectiveness, provided he is alert and conscious. His ability to protect himself is increased when in Tràkata form drastically.
Force Repulse - Zabasaz's brute-force approach on the Force allows him to exert his masterful telekinetic capabilities to create three-sixty spherical explosion effects with his Force Push power. This emulates a close range, powerful Force Push in all directions, as he suspends himself in midair to activate the ability so as not to be standing on the ground during the burst due to the potential of losing his balance and harming himself.
The ability takes several seconds to charge if he seeks to make a more deadly effect, and doesn't possess a strong enough radius to push or crush targets as far away as they could be if he focused the power in one direction like a normal Force Push. It cannot be used in the heat of a lightsaber battle, as it would leave him dangerously off-guard. It can be used during intermissions, however, such as if he were able to kick an opponent away or stun them with a blow to the head.
- Attributes -
Physical Strength - 8 - Zabasaz's most remarkable trait is his strength - he is powerful, so much so that few can match his strength in a deadlock. His physique betrays an obvious abundance of strength, but he excels beyond that with the assistance of the Force. In a spar, a fellow padawan compared Zabasaz's raw might to that of a Gorax. Few can match Zabasaz's strength, especially when in a lightsaber duel.
Intelligence - 4 - Zabasaz is not very bright, as anyone can see, but he possesses at least some tactical integrity. While it is not difficult to out-smart Zabasaz or lure him into a trap, in battle he can make some remarkable revelations in order to preserve his own being, a product of his martial bloodline as an Iridonian.
Speed - 2 - Zabasaz is slow due to his stocky physique and his natural lack of aptitude in speed. It is worthy of note that despite lacking physical speed, he still has remarkable reflexes as per his martially-endowed nature. The low score refers to his inability to perform remarkable acrobatic feats and to maneuver with immense proficiency like other Jedi - he is, however, not necessarily too slow to be effective in close-combat, especially with a weapon so light and deadly as a lightsaber.
Leadership - 3 - Zabasaz is a borderline sociopath. He leads by intimidation and prefers to do things on his own. Comrades in the Jedi Academy described their experiences working side-by-side with Zabasaz as "a complete and utter nightmare," and described his methods and treatment of comrades and contacts as "the manner that which a lunatic would conduct."
Unarmed - 8 - Having a lot of strength and experience in the sphere of combat, Zabasaz is a capable martial artist and hand-to-hand fighter, despite his lack of speed. Most of Zabasaz's unarmed combat experience derives from self-discipline, though he has training in a vast array of exotic and obscure martial arts that he has picked up over his thirty years of traveling and hiding from his enemies. This is not limited to Teräs Käsi and many other styles, although he isn't necessarily a master of any - the high number in reference to his unarmed skill is an expression of his ability to hit extremely hard in hand-to-hand as well as how refined he is in this sort of fight due to all the things he has learned in the sphere.
Melee Weapons - 6 - In his younger days, Zabasaz was one of the most capable members of his tribe in melee combat and war in general. The moment he was able to walk, he had a weapon in his hands and he was learning to use it. During his time in the Jedi Academy and time after, he has kept his skills polished and advancing. Now he values these skills more than ever, having reached a point where his ability to wield melee weapons is matched only by those of remarkable skill - not to mention his own physical strength factors greatly into his melee effectiveness. With more focus going into lightsaber combat, however, it's more of a way-side skill if he is in need of a special touch or an alternate weapon.
Ranged Weapons - 2 - His accuracy leaves a lot to be desired.
- Force Attunement -
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RP Sample: Malastare was fraught with scum, or at least that was Zabasaz's opinion. He could only stand your every day Dug if he were in a good mood, and fortunately for his sanity and his efforts at keeping under the radar, he was in quite a grand mood, in fact. He had been taking up residence in Pixelito for six standard months now, at the cantina furthest from the spaceport, and furthering his training was something he could do with ease hidden away in this corner of the galaxy. Sure, it wasn't the most obscure locale, but nobody would want to dredge through a pile of slimy Dugs in order to unearth him if there was any doubt he could be hidden away here.
Now, to say he was living in a cantina in a literal sense would be a lie - in fact, he was living in a personal dormitory down the way from the cantina, but he spent most of the time he wasn't busy making a living or broadening his control over the Force having a strong drink in the fine drinking hole (fine being a relative term.) His table in the back was a favorite mostly because his presence there so often has kept Dugs from using it enough for their stench to affect it too strongly. Not many questioned why a Zabrak was living in such a place, because it didn't take a genius to know that Zabasaz wasn't a man who responded well to a nosy inquisition - in fact, all it really took was a pair of eyes.
It was his first drink of the evening, and he was ready to enjoy it - a personal favorite of his, the Malastare fuselage always put him to sleep within an hour or so. Local liquor was something he had taken to enjoying a lot more than the imported, more popular beverages in the galaxy, and ironically it was much less expensive. In fact, his Jedi background helped him a lot in getting by with a minimal amount of work in his new community. He needed little - only the necessities, such as nourishment, and the rest could go right into recreation every so often; and to his advantage, he hadn't reach the washed-up, alcoholic state where he would need that recreation every night quite yet. Perhaps more biweekly.
First drink of the night and he would savor it... only in his dreams of course, for there were more pressing matters at hand.
With a hiss, the red bar of his lightsaber came into view, snapping to life as he lashed it forward, cleaving his table clean open and leaving a charred valley in the center of it. His blade met another one, and it was odd enough that an attacker would aim for a fatal blow so soon - until he realized their lightsabers were both the same color - red.
For a split second their weapons sparked, as the opponent had come down at him from midair after a leap, probably a Form IV practitioner given such an audacious opening strike. Zabasaz's overwhelming strength was fittingly demonstrated when the opponent, even having the momentum of his leap and gravity on his side, was tossed clear across that particular alcove of the bar onto a table, where drinks shattered and splashed about.
So, he had been found, and sooner than usual. He was just beginning to get comfortable, too - but strangely, this assailant wasn't a Jedi. No Jedi attempted a fatal blow for their opening blow, let lone as a sneak attack. A Dark Jedi, clearly, and it was confirmed when he saw the red lightsaber and the black trainee's clothing. Already he could tell this foe was nobody of worth, not that he'd have hesitated either way to destroy them. Stepping around the table, he walked towards the opponent expecting that there was no rush after they had sustained such a violent landing. His lightsaber flared in his hand, sparks shooting about as it left a burnt trench on the stone floors while he closed the distance, ignorant of the Dugs that began watching or, if wise enough, filing out. The gap was almost closed when the Dark Jedi showed his tendency of sneak attacks for a second time by quickly throwing his hand out at Zabasaz.
The Force was strong with this one, if only because he was exceptionally ambitious. He couldn't quite identify what obligated a Dark Jedi to seek him out, but the whole "shoot first, ask questions later" method didn't serve to educate him, neither, since most of his shots were fatal or at least debilitating enough that he could get no answers. One thing was for sure - the disturbances this fight was going to cause would ripple the Force in ways that'd give up his hiding place in a heartbeat. Anger welled within him when he realized he needed another home, and it hadn't even been a year yet. He was just settling in!
The Force Push blasted at him, causing him to stumble back, his armored mass moving clumsily. He straightened himself quickly, however, thrusting both of his hands forward. The kinetic energy hurled forward via the manipulation of the Force caused by Zabasaz was phenominal, but then he had the advantage of being on his feet and not the least bit dazed. The ambitious opponent crashed through the thin walls of the establishment and down several stories.
The Zabrak ran to the hole to see that his foe had already disappeared. Another attempt would likely come soon, but he hadn't the ability to sense his foe through the Force. Resolving that departing to a more open area and finishing this conflict would be the wisest course of action, he took off for the exit, astonished Dugs chittering in their repulsive native tongue their vulgar opinions of the ordeal.
Zabasaz couldn't be followed, so he had to make sure this was dealt with properly.
I saw all these large descriptions for each section but his bio is so short.