- "'In the right place, a single candle can hold back the night. I'm just trying to make the galaxy a little brighter before I die."
- ―Tarvitz
Ka Tarvitz is a Human male associated with the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Sired by Alderaanian survivors, he was raised by the Jensaarai and taught their ways, serving first as an Apprentice and then a Defender. Despite being a devoted believer in their teachings, he proved to be extremely reluctant to draw upon the raw aggression which balanced the Light against Dark, and constantly questioned their insular role within the universe.
Eventually joining several like-minded Defenders, he set out to visit a number of distant worlds to return with word of rumoured galactic events that could threaten them. This, combined with their self-appointed role of recovering lost Jedi relics, eventually brought him to the worlds ruled by the Brotherhood, and into conflict Clan Odan-Urr while investigating New Tython's destruction. Following their initial hostilities, Tarvitz quickly pledged himself to their service upon realising the threat which beset the Jedi, and served the clan under the guidance of Edgar Drachen. He would remain with them during the war against The Collective, eventually opting to permanently remain with the clan.
Character History
Lost Heritage (1 ABY - 8 ABY)
- "I can't say I had much of a childhood, but quite frankly I was fortunate to have one at all."
- ―Tarvitz
Like many of his comrades, Tarvitz was taken in by the Jensaarai at an early age. Unlike them, he was brought to their world in an act of desperation. Both of his parents had been freighter pilots operating a small scale shipping corporation centered upon Alderaan. Focusing primarily upon sprint-trades between a number of worlds across the Core, their activities had been all but crippled by the planet's destruction. Quickly robbed of their fortunes and driven away from more prosperous opportunities by old rivals, in a matter of mere months they had been left with little more than an aging bulk freighter to their name.
The ruins of Alderaan As they became increasingly desperate for credits, the two arrived on Susevfi and sought out the infant Tarvitz's grandparents. Seeking to leave him in their care for a time, they outlined the vaguest hints of a risky but highly profitable plan capable of restoring their fortunes. Whilst unwilling or unable to divulge anything beyond the most basic facts, they nevertheless managed to secure their support, promising that they would return within a few days.
Several messages were received in the week that followed, suggesting that their mysterious task was going according to plan, before all contact was lost entirely. As weeks turned into months and still no word came, several fruitless attempts were made to track down their vessel. Each amounted to nothing, only learning that they had last been seen making for the very fringes of the Outer Rim before seemingly disappearing entirely. With no other choice, his grandparents took full custody of Tarvitz, raising him as best they could.
Tarvitz's upbringing proved to be turbulent, thanks in no small part to his adventurous nature. Often told of Alderaan's lost beauty and the bright center of the galaxy, he forever imagined that there was a better world far above him, that some verdant paradise lurked beyond the harsh wilderness of his home. While several dangerous encounters with the local wildlife gradually curbed his innate curiosity, Tarvitz was nevertheless left with a highly idealized view of the Core, and the constant sense of something better always lurking just beyond his reach. It was, perhaps, for this reason that any questions of his past always focused upon the home he had never seen rather than the parents he had never known.
However, Tarvitz's life proved to be neither quiet nor simple. Before even reaching his eighth year, it became clear that he retained a strong connection with the Force, often manifesting uncontrolled shades of his true potential. Though his grandparents were at first capable of keeping him in line, it became increasingly obvious that he was in desperate need of guidance to control his developing powers. Knowing there was no alternative, Tarvitz was given to the Jensaarai so he might be trained in their ways.
Apprentice (9 ABY - 18 ABY)
A Difficult Path
Tarvitz's formative years among the Jensaarai were far from easy. Old by the standards of their recruits, he lacked the innate focus and basic lessons that had been drilled into them from the day they could walk. Barely keeping up with those who should have been his equal, Tarvitz often found himself falling short of objectives time and time again during training seasons. Matters were made worse thanks to a growing distrust for his new tutors, and an almost outright refusal to follow certain aspects of their creed. Although initially welcoming of their guidance, their seemingly constant scrutiny of his abilities, and attempts to heighten his aggression, made him reluctant to put his faith in their lessons. This problem was made substantially worse thanks to the one area in which he displayed any true talent - Farsight. His natural skill meant he was capable of casting his mind seemingly years into the future, to witness distant events. Unfortunately, Tarvitz's every effort to look into the future was always fixated on one moment in time - His death. The nebulous details were lost on him, disappearing from his thoughts saved for the words "You will die in the doorway of ten lights" echoing in his mind.
The only consolation that Tarvitz was offered was that he had been given a forewarning and a chance to make use of the years he had ahead. He could spend his life fleeing from the prophesized moment, or accept it and live a life that he could be proud of. Tarvitz chose the latter, fuelling his determination to succeed, but refused all further attempts to train him in the fart of Farseeing. The more he knew of his fate, the more closely bound to it he might be, and he desired to take advantage of whatever freedom he still had left in order to shape his future.
Holocrons were a rarity among the Defenders, with trainees learning more from written records. Tarvitz was only saved from total failure after he was encouraged to embrace a more unorthodox approach to their lifestyle. Following an especially humiliating loss to another trainee during a training duel, the observing Defender offered him a few choice words of advice: "If you find yourself in a fair fight, it's because you played to your enemy's strengths." While largely made in jest, it was nevertheless enough to force Tarvitz to reevaluate his abilities.
Unable to match the innate skill in lightsaber combat or ballistakinesis displayed by other Apprentices, he began almost ignoring them entirely. Instead, he began pestering, begging or in one particular case even bribing older Defenders to help focus his efforts upon mastering the subjects ahead of them. While others of his age learned how to wield the weapons of their organisation, Tarvitz pushed to understand how they were forged and maintained. While other Apprentices were taught the finer points of hand to hand combat, Tarvitz studied the details of piloting a gunship into battle. He was by no means a star prodigy in any role but, in taking to these subjects far earlier than others of his age, Tarvitz found he had enough of an edge to stand as an equal to other Apprentices.
With this personal success, Tarvitz began to more openly ignore areas he was failing in, seeking to instead bolster skills he had a natural affinity for or could begin on an even footing with others. Learning that he could overcome his failings with ingenuity, he focused upon developing fighting techniques capable of nullifying the natural advantages of others rather than simply contesting them, and leveling the playing field as best he could.
This was most evident during training duels, where he began using slight bursts of telekinesis to keep his opponents off-balance or reversing their strikes, often timing pushes to work against key moves of the styles they practiced in. Even going so far as to frequently abandon his training lightsaber in place of more commonplace weapons, Tarvitz came to favour physical blades over the more typical energy swords. By the time he was set to craft his personal armour, Tarvitz was more often seen wielding a metal blade than the weapon of a Jensaarai. Word of his obvious shortcomings were a point of concern for the Saarai-kaar and older Defenders, but his peers nevertheless opted not to hold him back. Instead, they chose to focus his talents, placing him where he could further enhance his skills. Seconding him to the Ring Defenders, Tarvitz served among them as a ship mechanic and occasional pilot, assisting their starfighter corps with day to day duties.
Growing Questions
Tarvitz proved to be a capable asset to Defenders, and was noted for his talent in keeping their older fightercraft in operation while enhancing their overall combat performance. His attention to detail and a surprising skill behind the controls of light freighters meant he was often found in a supporting role, often piloting or repairing their heavier ships. More often than not he was seen preferring to fly the Fire Hawk, an abandoned YT-2000 which had been left in desperate need of an overhaul by its previous owner, and using it as a test-bed to assist in enhancing his knowledge.
Tarvitz's armour.While initially happy to have found a niche within their organization that benefited his skills, those serving alongside him noted occasional bouts of discontent. Conversations with his superiors often turned to why the Jensaarai limited their influence to a single world rather than looking to expand to other worlds. The scattered records of their archives, lacking as they were, spoke of the great conflicts between the Jedi and Sith, and how empires had risen and fallen before them. Each had been a mighty force to be reckoned with, standing for thousands of years at a time and being reborn time and time again, while they hid on a barren rock, hoping to go unnoticed by the rest of the galaxy. Few answers if any would satisfy him, and he would often cite how the Empire was crumbling away, how their famed leaders had met their end at Endor, and how the Jedi were at best a rumoured shadow of their former selves. What little news passed through Susevfi by traders or visiting travelers rarely mentioned any widespread organisation of experienced Force users and, in its fragile state, the galaxy seemed ripe for their ascendance.
He had not been the first to ask this, of course, as Apprentices and Defenders alike had argued this many times over, but Tarvitz proved to be especially persistent. Still maintaining the same rose-tinted view of the Core Worlds, leaving Susevfi's atmosphere only to still find himself bound to the world only frustrated him further. He hungered to see them for himself, and longed to learn more of the wider galaxy, but so long as the Jensaarai remained determined to keep themselves secluded to a single world this remained impossible. Matters were only made worse as the spacers he often spoke with mentioned widespread slave trading in Hutt Space, the injustices which took place on the criminal backwater worlds of the Outer Rim, and how the New Republic had done little to truly rid the galaxy of the last vestiges of the tyrannical Empire.
Much as he tried to suppress these frustrations, as duty-bound and devoted as he was to those who had shaped his very life, Tarvitz's dissatisfaction became increasingly evident throughout his final few years as an Apprentice. By the time he was deemed ready to face the trials of becoming a Defender, he had developed something of an ill reputation for trying the patience of his superiors. Nevertheless, Tarvitz's skills proved to be adequate enough to overcome the obstacles put before him, and quickly justified his place among their number. Shortly before his sixteenth birthday, he began the painstaking task of constructing his armour, building it plate by plate over the basic framework provided to him.
Tradition required that Tarvitz construct its design with a basis upon another creature, reflecting its aesthetic and core traits. Although there were exceptions to this, many chose to forge their designs based upon creatures they respected, emulating their skills, appearance and even certain abilities if given the opportunity. Unable to select a true choice at first, Tarvitz eventually settled upon the quite unusual choice of a Vorn tiger; an extinct beast which had once been native to Alderaan's open plains. Renowned for its territorial nature, he appreciated its ability to avoid unnecessary conflict but its sheer ferocity when combating those who crossed them, though the influence of his lost homeworld over this choice not be denied.
Darkening Skies
In 17 ABY, elements of the Jensaarai became embroiled in a far larger conflict. While preferring isolation and secrecy above all else, a few events had erupted on such a vast scale that the Order could not wholly ignore them. Chief among these were the New Republic's wars, as many among the older generation had feared both the return of the Jedi and the Sith. Yet when it became clear that other powers might work against them, a few Defenders opted to act in the Republic's defense, secretly tipping the scales in its favour. The conflict in question had seen the Republic losing ground at every turn, and the Saarai-kaar granted a few Defenders permission to work alongside their forces in what many hoped would be a decisive battle. Tarvitz was among these members, largely thanks to a combination of his flying skills and managing to call in a few favours to have elder members speak on his behalf. Disguised as mercenaries, they fought to minimize casualties and disrupt the enemy through Battle Meditation.
It was during this battle that Tarvitz came into contact with Rear Admiral Essik Lyccane, and was driven to reveal his capacity to channel the Force just prior to their victory. Having briefly served with the Jedi during the Clone Wars, Lyccane was swayed into omitting any details of Tarvitz's presence from his final reports, and even proved to be willing to pass on details of the Order when pressed. The conflict would have a lasting impact on Tarvitz for this reason and many others. It proved to Tarvitz that just a few Force users could dramatically turn the tide of any battle, and that the galaxy desperately needed a strong standing Order to maintain peace. Furthermore, Tarvitz would remain in contact with Lyccane in the years that followed, and became one of the few people in the galaxy Tarvitz trusted with his true identity.
Defender (19 ABY - 24 ABY)
Dissent Among the Ranks
- "How many of us patrol these streets now? How many of us are needed to keep watch here, rather than dealing with threats out there?"
- ―Tarvitz
Tarvitz found little reason to celebrate his ascension to Defender. For years it had been his sole focus above all else. With that once seemingly distant objective now accomplished, and his arguments with the other Defenders getting him nowhere, he felt as if his life had lost direction. In response to this, he began burying himself in his work, actively requesting further duties and more arduous tasks. Hoping to find both a satisfying substitute for the relentless training which had dominated his life as an Apprentice, and a distraction from his frustration at what he saw as the Jensaarai limiting themselves, he began almost ceaselessly patrolling the system, rarely stopping save to refuel their vessels or continue his duties as a mechanic. This was ignored by the others at first, but it wasn't long before the elder members of their Order became concerned at his actions, coming to view it as some odd obsession or even a determined hunt for a fight. Tarvitz countered that it was no different than their efforts to maintain peace on Yumfla's streets. He was merely taking a proactive role in an area he was best suited for, albeit with some sense of the freedom to explore he had craved.
The Saarai-kaar Nevertheless, their criticisms did slowly wear away at Tarvitz's resolve. For all the times he had argued that the Jensaarai were failing to achieve their full potential, he could hardly overlook the same argument when it was brought before him. He was, they had claimed, focusing upon serving them in only one way when he retained the skills necessary to carry out a dozen other duties with the same effectiveness. Shifting his focus towards more terrestrial issues, Tarvitz first took to repairing and reworking the equipment of his allies, then joining other Defenders as they enforced the law throughout Yumfla.
Ironically, while his superiors had insisted he partake in these activities to offset his growing doubts, this only permitted them to flourish and then spread to others. He soon came to learn that he was far from the only one of their kind who felt that what was effectively self-imposed exile from the rest of the galaxy was a mistake. Others agreed that it was an outdated decree, when they required near-total silence in order to survive, and that all vestiges of it should have been abandoned by the Saarai-kaar long ago.
Most of those who sided with him were younger Defenders, but a number of veterans did not counter his arguments, with several even coming to agree with him. For all they had done to ensure justice was upheld on Susevfi, their limited resources meant any determined pirate with a capital ship at their command could easily hold the world hostage, and a number of prior attacks could have easily been prevented by spreading their forces across a number of nearby systems. A few even cited past incidents where other forces had freely attacked the world, with the Jensaarai offering only a limited counter-assault in response.
The more Tarvitz spoke, the more he and several like-minded individuals came to question the semi-isolationist policy supported by the Saarai-kaar. Though they had no wish to directly overthrow their leader, nor risk splitting their number in a civil war, they began more openly voicing these issues. Too many of their number had been raised only on a single world, knowing little beyond the few surrounding systems, and far too few older converts were aware of the wider galaxy, or maintained contacts with nearby planets. They argued for changes to the Defender trials, for further off-world excursions, and at one point even went so far as to push for a new role akin to the Jedi Sentinels, to keep watch on the galaxy and bring back word of possible threats.
Little headway was made in these arguments and, while the Saarai-kaar was far from unreceptive to their reasoning, she made it clear that the kind of change they requested could hardly be accomplished in a mere day. Even if she wholeheartedly agreed with their assessment, overturning such an entrenched tradition would take time, and the consequences of their actions carefully considered. The Jensaarai had, after all, only hidden themselves in part to ensure their survival, and their self-imposed isolation was intended to avoid needless conflict across other worlds. She did not need to add that the Galactic Empire itself had risen thanks to a perceived need to enforce order and security.
Outside Influences
While frustrated at their leader's inability to offer a decisive answer, Tarvitz gave his word that he would stand by her eventual judgment, but that did not stop him pressing home his points several more times over the years. Matters came to a head when the very thing he had long argued they should have stood ready against came to pass. Viewing Susevfi as easy pickings, a vessel belonging to a self-styled alliance of pirates known as the Confederated Suns entered the system, disguised as a mercantile freighter. Seeking slaves to trade on Nal Hutta's markets, they landed some way outside the capital before rushing its streets en mass, seeking to use surprise to their advantage. Caught off-guard, the Jensaarai were slow to respond, often engaging the pirates in small running engagements rather than as a massed force.
While they had sensed the impending attack, any premonitions led the Defenders to believe that it would originate from within Yumfla itself, and had dispersed their numbers to prevent possible riots, not to engage enemy raiders. The attack itself was quickly repelled with few casualties, and their ship seized as it attempted to flee the world, but this was the final straw for the dissenting voices who had joined Tarvitz. After interrogations with the surviving pirates revealed that the Confederated Suns prowling nearby systems for months without the Jensaarai ever knowing of their threat, he stormed into the Saarai-kaar's chambers. He argued vehemently that this was a failing on their part, and it could have easily been a disaster if the pirates had arrived in greater numbers or acted with orbital support. This time the Saarai-kaar gave him a definite answer.
While unwilling to wholly back their suggestions, she agreed they required a greater level of awareness when it came to galactic events. Permitting Tarvitz and those who had sided with him to depart from Susevfi, she tasked them with carrying out the missions they argued were so desperately needed. From tracking potentially hostile organisations such as the Confederated Suns to investigating the ascendance of a supposed pro-Imperial splinter group opposing the New Republic, they were to report on anything which might threaten their way of life. Whether or not such a role would be implemented on a wider scale would be judged upon their findings. It is unknown if, as some suggested, this was simply to placate the more radical elements among their number or rid herself of a potentially dangerous element without bloodshed. Whatever the case, the Defenders quickly accepted the Saarai-kaar's terms.
Reclaimer (25 ABY - 33 ABY)
New Horizons, New Problems
Mere days after the Suns' assault, Tarvitz and sixteen other Defenders mustered in the main hanger, ready to depart from Susevfi for what could be months of reconnaissance efforts. Personally greeting them before each took to their ships though, the Saarai-kaar laid down several decrees that each and every one of them would be required to obey before she would permit them to carry out their missions. Foremost among these was that they would be required to maintain secrecy. At no point were they to speak of the Jensaarai, their ways, or their homeworld's location, and that their armour was to never be worn save for the most dangerous of conflicts. In addition to this, they were to focus their efforts on the Mid and Outer Rims, whilst avoiding the Core entirely. This was merely to gather initial information, and she did not wish to risk their discovery by flying into the very heartland of the New Republic. Tarvitz balked at that last decree, but he nevertheless he saw the wisdom in her words. No matter how much he yearned for it, he was not about to put the rest of his kind in danger purely to satisfy his personal curiosities. Selecting the Fire Hawk as his ship for this task, he joined the others soon afterward.
With this done, they left, splitting up as they reached the system's edge and heading for separate destinations. Fully half their number set out to investigate the nearest worlds, gauging the strength of any further threats from pirate groups, while the rest set a course for distant stars. Initially focusing their efforts on the more developed worlds along the major hyperspace lanes, they focused upon gathering anything from vague rumours bandied about by passing spacers to recent news from that region. Many word-of-mouth statements were proved to be either inaccurate or offered no more insight than a cursory HoloNet search, but a few others proved to be surprisingly insightful. Supplied with enough drink or credits, certain smugglers proved to be quite capable of passing on valuable information, from First Order sightings to the power plays of the Hutts.
In other cases, deep space freighter captains could be provoked into giving information on the prominent New Republic worlds they had recently visited, giving a better impression of their status and capabilities from firsthand experiences. Each claim naturally required extensive investigation, but more often than not it was enough to at least point them in the right direction. However, as the first year of these expeditions drew to a close, Tarvitz's group began to creatively interpenetrate their orders to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity.
A Forgotten War
The flights to and from Susevfi made by the Defenders were far from direct. Making erratic jumps from system to system, each vessel was required to leave a scattered mess of a trail to shake off any unwanted attention they might have gained during their travels. Picked at random via a list of prerecorded destinations in the ship's astrogation computer, these journeys could take days at a time to complete, and no one could fully predict just where they would end up. In Tarvitz's case, the group found themselves jumping right into the very heart of the Elrood sector. Emerging in the very fringes of the Kuras Asteroid Belt, the Defenders were greeted by a startling array of warships, from capital vessels to smaller frigates seemingly waiting for them.
Initially reacting to the sight with a display of evasive maneuvers and half expecting the fleet to fire upon them at any moment, it took the Defenders several moments to realise that not a single ship was moving under its own power. In fact, few could have even been considered flight-worthy. Each one was a crater strewn shadow of their former selves, and many were only identifiable by the markings of the Republic Navy or Confederate Fleet displayed upon their ruined hulls. Some had been completely torn asunder by the asteroids, while others still bore the telltale blast marks of turbolaser-fire and torpedo strikes which had brought them to ruin. This was no hidden armada, but a forgotten graveyard of the Clone Wars.
Braving the Kuras Belt Curious to know how two such warring fleets had ended up in this forgotten corner of the galaxy, Tarvitz convinced the others to dock the Fire Hawk with the relatively intact Republic flagship. Quickly making his way towards the bridge, he began restoring power to the main data banks, repairing them as best he could given the limited resources on hand. It was almost unintelligible thanks to its state of disrepair, but what little he could make out suggested that the Republic ships had been attempting to avoid combat. Making its way from some unlisted location back to Coruscant, they had been carefully navigating their way about the various Outer Rim Sieges back towards the core. Unfortunately, the fleet had been ambushed by CIS forces as it emerged from hyperspace, with the droid fleet seemingly lying in wait during the final leg of their journey. Unable to escape, each side had fought the other to the point of mutual annihilation.
Hungering to know just what kind of cargo could have been worth such a pitched battle, the Jensaarai chose to make a cursory investigation of the Acclamator's main cargo hold before departing. Each of them knew that this would be a rare treasure for sure, but none there could have predicted what awaited them. Rather than engines of war or battalions of soldiers, the hold instead held a small number of cargo containers, each filled with historical texts belonging to the now extinct Jedi Order. It was a far cry to the great archive they had once maintained and lacked even a single holocron amid the crates, yet such a find was near priceless following the Empire's purges. The teachings, ideas, even the original records of Jedi and been burned away and their ashes scattered to the wind and, save for the odd surviving datapad, few heard of such a cache of information.
Each of them knew that they could not simply leave such valuable relics to be forgotten. Even if they did not desire to follow it themselves, few wished for such teachings to be lost to the galaxy; yet none there could say for sure how the rest of their ilk would react if they returned with a hold filled with Jedi lore. For many years the Republic's servants had been viewed as enemies of the Jensaarai, and even after a fortunate series of events had corrected this mistake, the oldest among their kind still regarded any memory the Order with hostility. Combined with the Saarai-kaar's staunch traditionalism, each of them knew they would hardly be met with a hero's welcome. Unwilling to risk handing such information over to the New Republic, and finding no signs that the Jedi had survived into this new age, they instead chose to protect it themselves. Deciding to hide it among the outlying settlements who could be trusted with such a find, they would guard it there until enough time had passed for their eldest Defenders to become more accepting of Jedi knowledge and add this lore to their own library of texts.
Treasures of the Dead
Still seeking to turn their find to their advantage and better solidify their role among the Defenders, they instead sought to make use of the wrecked fleet. Logging its location and downloading the fragmented remains of its data-banks, they returned to Susevfi with several items in tow. From null quantum field generators to B7Y plasma phase coils, each was an essential ship component, and costly to replace.
Bringing them before the Saarai-kaar, Tarvitz cited how their limited resources and interaction with the rest of the galaxy had repeatedly hurt them, before emphasising how this discovery and others like it could benefit them. By salvaging forgotten derelicts, the Jensaarai would be able to keep their ships flying, provide the metalwork for weapons and even entirely new ships without drawing undue attention. Although dubious of this suggestion at first, this treasure trove of parts combined with their relative success in gathering information eventually swayed the Saarai-kaar into voicing her approval. Ordering that they concentrate their efforts upon raiding older, forgotten vessels and sites of battles long past to help avoid conflict with the New Republic or other powers, she sanctioned further flights into the wider galaxy.
A fortunate haulOver the next several years, the number of Jensaarai were tasked with performing the dual role of gathering information and recovering technology from lost vessels gradually swelled. Often departing in small groups, or even on lone missions, they would disappear for months at a time, eventually emerging with anything from detailed news of distant conflicts to enough parts to construct a new ship from scratch. While he was officially remaining a part of the Ring Defenders, this role earned them the unofficial monikers of "Reclaimers", especially those who focused their efforts upon finding derelict warships.
While still ultimately serving in this role, Tarvitz's small group continued to carry out their own private agenda, often using their hunt as an opportunity to track down further Jedi relics. Successful finds were few and far between, yet the occasional victory was enough to reaffirm their personal mission was still a necessary one, and just as vital as their official role. However, while secrecy was paramount, their relentless hunt inevitably brought them into conflict with other groups. From scavengers seeking to defend their finds, to privateers hunting illegal salvage operations for Outer Rim warlords, and even more militant elements of the Church of the Force, it seemed that there was no end of factions ready to take their prize by force.
Such disagreements were rarely bloodless, and several bitter skirmishes forced the Jensaarai to completely annihilate the opposing force to ensure they went undiscovered. Although he had been pressing for more ambitious expeditions, Tarvitz vocally opposed such measures and regarded them with distaste, often arguing that there was no need to completely eradicate a foe. For all the times he would argue this however, few alternatives proved capable of completely ensuring their silence, and the few times they permitted their foes to leave unharmed often resulted in vengeful attacks later on.
While initially attempting to accept them as a necessary evil, Tarvitz became increasingly jaded at such measures, and the constant violence which seemed to accompany their every mission. Seeking to avoid the needless bloodshed, he began opting to fly alone on such missions; hunting down the far more remote, far more dangerous rumours of lost vessels overlooked by other Jensaarai, hoping to find prizes which would not be earned by the murder of all others who laid claim to them.
The Wandering Swordsman
While he sought a more peaceful path, Tarvitz was forced to draw his blade time and time again in his missions. Unable to wholly ignore the injustices of the Outer Rim worlds, the Defender repeatedly stepped in to protect others under threat from pirates or the criminal scum of the universe, often with lethal results. Such instances became so frequent that he was required to procure a suit of armour as a substitute for his more traditional warplate, allowing him to more freely intervene in dangerous matters without outing himself as a Jensaarai.
Attempting to single-handedly rid a world of crime was an impossibility, but that did not stop him from trying to make the lives of others easier once in a while. More than once such intervention cost him to the most valuable components of a wreck, or left him staggering away from the fight with several new scars to add to his collection, but the call to assist others was difficult to wholly ignore. Privately, he even came to enjoy the freedom his position offered, following only the Jensaarai creed bereft of oversight or the limitations of remaining on a single world. Away from the more ordered streets of his home, and amid the galaxy's criminal underbelly, there were more opportunities to do more than merely maintain the status quo. The act of killing itself rarely brought him joy but the knowledge that he had an opportunity to make the galaxy a brighter place, if only for a few people at a time, gave Tarvitz strength.
This time was not without its hardships. It was during these years that Tarvitz lost his eye to a fragmentation grenade, arrogantly overestimating his abilities while fighting a group of criminals who had supposedly claimed Jedi relics for themselves. Refusing Bacta treatment, Tarvitz instead opted to have a bionic substitute put in its place, to serve as a constant reminder of his own mortality. It was a lesson that would stay with him until his dying days, but it would not be the last such wound he was to suffer.
During this era, Tarvitz attempted to avoid being drawn into the greater conflicts of the galaxy. Favouring threats he could directly end, his days were spent on the Outer Rim, battling pirates, raiders, and petty lords as required. Often claiming their equipment or supplies to sustain himself, he was careful to leave suggestions of other combatants or threats, in the hopes of at least delaying another group taking their place. For all his efforts, however, Tarvitz found himself fighting alongside the armies of the New Republic on more than one occasion in what he dubbed the Unsung Wars of the galaxy. Chief among these were the years in which the galaxy was dragged into one of its single most bloody wars in recorded history, against a force of aggressive outsiders who sought to subjugate and destroy all who opposed them. Tarvitz continually found himself on the front lines, attempting to cover refugee efforts and a number of independent operations. His exact actions have gone unrecorded, but it is known that he operated alongside Essik for several months during this war.
Knight (34-35 ABY)
Discovering Older Powers
As the lists of old battlefields yet to be completely stripped of all worth lessened with every passing year, the Reclaimers were driven to widen their searches. Many chose to instead focus more upon the gathering of information over this mission, and the few who continued to track down shipwrecks found themselves relying upon less than accurate information or traveling into the more obscure sectors of the galaxy. Given this situation, it was only a matter of time before a Defender dared encroach on the Esstran sector. The region was understandably held in ill regard among the Jensaarai, and while the Reclaimers had not been ordered to avoid the sector outright, few wished to visit a place which had served as the cradle of the Sith. However, followed a string of dead ends and poor luck, word of a promising find was enough to push Tarvitz into venturing into the territory.
The ancient domain of the SithAn old contact had mentioned disturbances in the sector, with skirmishes and even outright battles between major powers in the area, and leaving a multitude of wrecks in their wake. He ignored the mention of it at first, but Tarvitz eventually conceded that any such battle was well worth further investigation. Even if he found nothing worth salvaging, a war raging among the old Sith Worlds was not something to be taken lightly.
Opting to avoid the major hyperspace lanes into the sector, Tarvitz was able to barter a lesser-known route from his contact. Using it to arrive relatively unnoticed, Tarvitz began to quickly search the area indicated to him, hoping to find the information he needed and then leave soon afterward. He might have even done so, were it not for the sight which greeted him. As mentioned, the location was filled with the blackened ruins of ships destroyed in some great conflict. Dwarfed only the great graveyard they had first encountered in the Kuras Asteroid Belt, Tarvitz made out a vast multitude of floating dead in space, from snubfighters to vast capital ships. It would have taken a sheer, pitched battle to slay so many in this one conflict, but that was a mere afterthought compared with the true carnage before him.
Still burning from the fires of massed orbital bombardment, the planet this fleet of the dead orbited had been scoured clean of life. Whatever civilisation had once called it home, whatever population dwelt on that world, all had been reduced to molten glass under the guns of a single concentrated assault. Looking on in mute horror at the sight before him, Tarvitz knew that this was not the result of a mere war, with one petty warlord looking to claim the territories of another. This was genocide, a twisted act wrought by a monster to annihilate all sentient life upon a planet. He could barely think of anything more pointless nor spiteful than what he was witnessing before him.
While every fiber of Tarvitz's being screamed at him to fly away, to bring the news of this destruction before the Saarai-kaar, he knew that word of this event alone would not be enough. The Jensaarai would want further information, from the identity of the figure who had ordered this attack to what had been lost. He was risking enough coming here alone to find this, and he was not about to put others in harm's way by allowing his fear to get the better of him. Avoiding any armed vessels prowling nearby, he piloted the Fire Hawk out of the system and towards one of the outermost inhabited worlds, seeking to uncover the truth behind this incident for himself.
A Change of Banners
- "I lost everything because a madman reduced my home to rubble. I will not walk away from those who have suffered the same fate. Not while the monster who burned your world to ash still sits upon his throne."
- ―Tarvitz, promising to serve Clan Odan-Urr during the ongoing war against Pravus.
For the next three standard days, Tarvitz moved from one world to the next, gradually picking up what information he could about the current conflict, or the fate of the world he had found. While careful never to probe too deeply, and often going to great lengths to rarely stay on a single world long, his efforts eventually drew the attention of those far more skilled at brokering information. Whilst attempting to investigate details surrounding the planet which had been bombarded and the population which had dwelt there, Tarvitz found himself gradually being shadowed by other figures.
At first, he caught only occasional glances of the same face appearing time and time again in crowds, but as he continued his search, more started to join them. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Tarvitz made several attempts to lose them before returning to the Fire Hawk, seeking to depart with the few details he had been able to gather from his brief searches. Unfortunately, his efforts to lose them were for naught, and as he made for the ship's hanger Tarvitz found himself being closely pursued by several figures.
Tarvitz's personal war banner after joining Clan Odan-UrrInitially attempting to confront them in the hopes of quickly driving them off, Tarvitz was shocked as his assailants drew lightsabers as they closed in. Briefly stunned at the sight of another warrior carrying such weapons, and unwilling to risk killing them without further information, Tarvitz fell back. Attempting to hold them off through a mixture of mechanical skills, knowledge of the Force and ingenuity, he succeeded in disabling two of his opponents amid a series of running battles before finally being cornered brought low following a brief lightsaber duel.
Much to his surprise, however, Tarvitz did not meet his end. Clubbed unconscious by the victorious warrior, he awoke some hours later chained to the floor of an unfamiliar room and surrounded by armed guards. Tarvitz initially expected he was being readied for little more than a swift execution, yet his assailants proved to be far more interested in gaining answers than claiming his head. They began rattling off names and questions, demanding answers of things he had never even heard of before that day; questioning which Clan he belonged to, of fleet and ship movements among Darth Pravus' forces, and how many other infiltrators had joined him. To each he could only react with growing confusion, demanding to know just who they were and what they referred to in turn, which only earned him a number of threats from his captors. It took them quite some time to recognise that his questions were not mocking responses born of defiance, but genuine confusion.
Cautiously agreeing to exchange knowledge, especially after coming to understand that Tarvitz held no association with any powers within the Brotherhood, the groups began to enlighten one another. Careful to avoid any direct mention of the Jensaarai, he explained had come to be there and why he had been investigating the final assault upon the world - New Typhon - and the events surrounding it; then listened as his captors identified themselves as Jedi of Clan Odan-Urr. Tarvitz was understandably surprised to learn that a group of Jedi had survived the multiple purges of their order, but even more shocked to realise that the Sith had endured with them.
They spoke of betrayal, briefly outlining the events which had led to their ruin, and of how they were being hunted to extinction by the rulers of the Brotherhood they had once aligned themselves with. Tarvitz was extremely dubious of such claims, and yet he could not deny that much of what they had said corroborated with his own findings. It was far from impossible that the other Reclaimers might have overlooked such a power given their limited numbers. As Pravus's ambitions were as much a threat to his own kind as the Jedi, but unwilling risk drawing them into the conflict by his sole choice alone, Tarvitz pledged his services to the Jedi.
The Jedi accepted his help, yet they did so with some understandable caution. For, while they were relatively certain that this newcomer had nothing to do with the Sith Clans, he was nevertheless an outsider. What's more, the many teachings Tarvitz had all but skipped in his training were still definite shortcomings, and his lackluster skills with a lightsaber could not be overlooked. As such, he was seconded to Savant Edgar Drachen, to be trained and observed until deemed a worthy asset to the Clan in their war, and capable of at least holding a rank akin to a Knight.
The Lotus Blooms
- "Do I need to go up there and fly this thing?"
- ―Tarvitz whilst their escape shuttle is being chased by TIE Fighters
Battle ready. Violent introduction aside, Tarvitz quickly proved himself to be a skilled warrior and an asset to their clan. Often finding the basic lessons in controlling one's powers to be remarkably similar to those of the Jensaarai, he was able to rapidly overcome the vast majority of the challenges put before him. Quickly rising first to the rank of Acolyte and then Padawan, Drachen began pushing him harder, testing to see where his new student's strengths lay like the Defenders from so long ago. Unlike then, however, Tarvitz was hardly insulted by the act, finding it nostalgically amusing more than anything else.
Quickly passing through many of their sessions, he instead began to more readily examine and record the teachings of the Jedi, often using it as an opportunity to compare Odan-Urr's own ideologies with the fragments they had recovered. Surprising many, given his scarred and warlike appearance, the Jedi often found him pouring over the remnants of their archives and fascinated by their long history. Given any opportunity, the questions he asked of his Master related to ancient battles or odd discrepancies with the Jensaarai's own record of events.
As the Jedi examined him, repeatedly testing both his loyalties and skills, one failing above all did rapidly become clear: In his years of traversing the galaxy, Tarvitz had rarely faced another Force user. While a confrontation by Lithar Andaris proved he was far from reliant upon his connection to the Force, and quite capable of winning battles without calling upon its strength, he was often found unable to counter the abilities of the Sith. This quickly became a key focus of his sessions with Drachen, who pushed him to more frequently resort to a lightsaber in their sessions and tested him against the more advanced powers of a Jedi. It was perhaps because of this that he found himself limited to a supporting role during a joint strike against a major Brotherhood shipyard. Shortly after this victory, Tarvitz was deemed worthy of Knighthood and elevated to the position of a true member within their Clan.
His newfound freedom within the Clan permitted him to take far more of a front-line role in events, and he found himself recruited first into the Knights of Allusis where he served them to the best of his abilities. Tarvitz certainly lacked the subtlety or focus required for either role, but his broader range of skills as a craftsman, pilot, and mechanic were often put to good use on a number of occasions, such as replacing Blade Ta'var's lost sword. It was perhaps because of this that he found himself paired up with Tisto Kingang during the ill-fated raid on the Edrien shipyards, where the two boarded a stricken Interdictor cruiser. During several fierce firefights, the two managed to battle their way to the engine room and send the ship into hyperspace, to an awaiting jump point where the Void Snakes would be ready to strip the vessel. A close engagement against a powerful Inquisitor saw the two thrown into space and almost killed Tisto before they were rescued, but surviving it was the start a friendship between the two.
Unfortunately, Tarvitz himself was stuck with ill news when the Fire Hawk was deemed to have been damaged well past the point of repair. Following numerous efforts to fix the ship's superstructure, and months spent in one of the Clan's hangers, Tarvitz was eventually forced to accept defeat and allowed the ship to be stripped down for spare parts. Searching through the malfunctioning vessels the clan had set aside, he eventually selected an N1-Starfighter as his replacement ship, managing to bring it back to operational status with some assistance from Jasper Arlow. Dubbing it the Spitfire, Tarvitz found the smaller vessel difficult to maneuver, and his performance notably suffered for quite some time before he adjusted to its quirks.
Flying a number of missions and recon flights under Odan-Urr's banner, Tarvitz found himself primarily serving roles in missions where commando raids required a dedicated pilot to cover their escape or serve as air support. His status as an outsider eventually led to his transfer to the The Wildcards and their mobile base of operations, the Idiot's Array, after stealing the ship from its previous owners, the Black Sun. It was a role he was well suited to, and yet he found himself surprised at some of the people the Jedi were willing to align themselves with, many of who were little better than the smugglers he had previously worked with. It was certainly a far cry from stories of the old Order which had defended the Republic, but he nevertheless kept such thoughts to himself. The only true interruption during this conflict came when Tarvitz requested to briefly return home to deal with a personal matter.
Speaking with the deadTravelling to his family's shrine on Susevfi, he performed a variation of The Return, offering gifts to his departed parents and voicing his thoughts on the ongoing war to their memory. It was as much to offer him a moment of peace and clarity before the next chapter of the ongoing conflict as respect their memories, however, as Tarvitz felt the war was moving towards an endgame, and wished to be able to focus upon it without distractions or past duties drawing him away from it. During his time there he considered recruiting other Defenders into the White Lotus, he ultimately decided against such an action. It would have lead to too many questions and, even if they did agree to support the Jedi in this conflict, it would put them at risk of reprisal by the Iron Throne.
Unfortunately, Tarvitz was soon proven wrong. In a mission to seek out allies and further strengthen their alliance, he was seconded to Celevon Edraven Erinos while they met with The Collective. This mysterious group had only become known to them in full recently, and yet they had succeeded in annihilating the Iron Fleet's flagship in a single strike. However, rather than simply purging the Sith from the galaxy, their self-styled Lord Superior Rath Oligard, announced his intentions to commit genocide against any group associated with the Force. Blaming Odan-Urr for New Tython's fate simply for existing, the Lotus members barely escaped a suicide bomber attack intended to claim their lives. Soon after this, the Collective began pressing its attacks upon the Iron Fleet, driving Pravus' forces into a full retreat, and leaving the Clans to fend for themselves. One war had been seemingly postponed but only so that another could take its place.
Twelfth Great Jedi War
With the Collective's offensive, the Clans were driven into the conflict against an even more powerful foe than before. Despite the lack of even an inkling that it had ever existed, the Collective proved to be infinitely more powerful than anyone realised. Capable of rivaling even the major galactic powers with an armada which had seemingly emerged from nowhere, the war rapidly turned into a guerrilla conflict. Matters were only made worse both by the presence of massed combat cyborgs among the Collective's poorly armed fanatics, and their seemingly preternatural ability to counter any advantage brought against them. Managing to somehow destabilise every intelligence network among every Clan and initiate a successful propaganda campaign against their kind, Jedi, Krath, Obelisk and Sith alike were soon driven onto the backfoot. Before the Clans could even fully organise a united front against the Collective, word reached them that they had attained ancient Sith scrolls belonging to Darth Plagueis. Coming to understand the true gravity of the threat before them, Odan-Urr readied itself to launch a strike against Nancora, the factory world which served as the Collective's base of power. This was considered to be the outbreak of the Twelfth Great Jedi War.
While the Lotus Resistance planned its attack, the other Clans of the Brotherhood decided to take matters into their own hands, launching an assault against the world's orbital defenses as Odan-Urr and Arcona initiated their assault. Of the Iron Navy itself and the Grand Master there was no sign, with Darth Pravus having opted to leave the Clans to fend for themselves. Many saw this as a tactical decision to allow two enemies to weaken one another at once, but Tarvitz viewed it only as a mark of cowardice. Pravus had been happy to hurl his full military might against an enemy a fraction of his strength, yet the moment a true threat had emerged he had made every effort not to directly engage them. Whatever strategic benefits were spawned from this act, given the opportunistic behaviour of the Sith and their near-fetishistic obsession with strength, he wondered how many might start to doubt his ability to lead them.
Initially engaging in the orbital battle, Tarvitz piloted the Spitfire against smaller enemy craft, directing his effort to intercept the kamikaze pilots sent against the larger capital ships. Utilising ion torpedoes and forcing them into close flight patterns, he repeatedly attempted to disable and force as many from the Odanite fleet as possible, hoping to immobilise and capture the more fanatical elements of the Collective. This often proved to be for naught, as most pilots opted to manually detonate their ships or were fired upon by their allies in an effort to make use of their explosives. Eventually, following Raava Squadron against the enemy fighter formations, Tarvitz downed several ships thanks to his enhanced Precognition giving him an innate edge against their bionic implants. Actively countering and even avoiding strategies as they were formulated, Tarvitz disrupted and opened up individual ships to attacks by the rest of the squadron, driving them back again and again as Brotherhood transports began to punch through the orbital blockade.
Supporting the attack ships, Tarvitz defended the ground forces until they had been fully established before damage to his fighter's engines drove him to temporarily land. Conscripted into Aurek Team - a group of Odanite and Arconan troops and more militant Force sensitives - Tarvitz fought alongside them to clear several buildings and secure the flank of the Lotus Resistance's spearhead. Forced to hold their ground against poorly armed cannon fodder and heavily upgraded cybernetic troops alike, Tarvitz was eventually confronted by one of the Collective's so-called Jedi Hunters. Recognising that the cyborg had been tailored to counter Jedi lightsaber forms and openly offensive Force abilities, Tarvitz fell back on his secondary weapons and affinity for Telekinesis. Through this he was able to quite literally dismantle his opponent one limb at a time, eventually claiming its cloak and equipment as spoils of war. His attempts to take the Hunter captive were unfortunately thwarted by a zealot of the Liberation Front, whose dying act was to behead the crippled enemy cyborg, killing him and destroying any data his cranial cybernetics held.
Thankfully, others had managed to capture an infinitely more valuable prisoner. Darro Zhen had managed to take a Technocratic Guild scientist prisoner, and worked to gain information from him. Along with Tarvitz and Droveth Kathera Vectivi, they were able to find and breach a secret experimental facility. Within it they were greeted by the gruesome sight of where Brotherhood prisoners had been mutilated and experimented on, both for their connection to the Force and as raw material for new cybernetic creations. After executing the scientist and turning the facility into a makeshift funeral pyre, the group fell back while supported from the air by Alifal Bav.
Though the Brotherhood's initial strike was a success, a Technocrat taken captive by Turel Sorenn and Satsi Tameike revealed that the Collective was withdrawing and that their actions had been predicted. In mustering their forces to devastate Nancora, several Brotherhood homeworlds had been left open to attacks by other fleets. Refusing to sacrifice their homes in the name of retribution, the Brotherhood withdrew from the ruined world with all speed. Tarvitz himself would only learn of this in the hours following the battle.
Ranger (36-37 ABY)
The War at Home
During the Collective backed uprising against the Kiast System's ruling government, Tarvitz was part of a counter-offensive launched against the enemy base of operations. The exact nature of his actions and the events which followed have unfortunately gone unrecorded, but it is known that Odan-Urr's efforts to safeguard its holdings was successful, in part by turning major enemy artillery emplacements against them.
Down Into a Sunless City
In the months following the conflict over Nancora, Tarvitz used his contacts to recruit Essik into the Clan. The former Admiral had been commanding one of the few counter assaults against the First Order, using an ad-hoc fleet of mothballed New Class Modernization Program ships and the few newer classes which were actually combat effective. Despite winning a string of victories, and striking a decisive blow against a much larger opposing force in orbit over Onderon, Essik had been forcibly removed from his position so that Corellia's former senator could claim the fleet for himself. While jaded and distrustful, he was eventually convinced side with the Jedi against their enemies.
Using Nar Shaddaa as a rendezvous point, Tarvitz used the opportunity also to investigate leaked information relating to the planet's undercity. The recent rebuilt and recolonized moon had swiftly begun to resemble its older self following terraforming efforts by the galaxy's invaders. This had left it open to new organisations taking hold, one of which appeared to be the Collective. Believing that they had been recruiting undercity dwellers into their armies, Tarvitz's task was to confirm its presence and deny the Collective any further recruits for its cannon fodder if possible. Unfortunately for both of them, it proved to be a trap.
The Collective had leaked the information, hoping that the sight of a bloodied and beaten Jedi would rekindle the zeal they had used to draw others to their ranks. Rather than a small group of guards, Tarvitz and Essik found themselves facing down a full platoon of combat cyborgs and Liberation Front cannon fodder. Worse still, was that they were actively hunting something besides him. Managing to fight their way free of the initial ambush, they quickly turned the tables on their foes. Through the inventive use of telekinetic attack, Tarvitz was able to swiftly annihilate the squad waiting for them, along with several of the cyborgs. As Essik drew the remainder of their number to the spaceport and used their own transport to dispatch them, Tarvitz descended deeper into the undercity.
Fighting his way through several more ambushes and engagements, he gradually managed to thin their numbers until only a small handful were left to confront him. Defeating all but their leader, Tarvitz was grievously wounded in the process, and even briefly empowering himself through Rage only managed to wound the cyborg. However, as his opponent prepared to finish him off, another figure took up Tarvitz's fallen lightsaber, who swiftly gutted and then bisected the cyborg. Tarvitz half expected to see a Sith, but instead, a young child confronted him. As his mind was suddenly assailed by images, implications, and attempts to prize free information, Tarvitz realised that the child was the one the Collective had been hunting. As a naturally powerful telepath, they had likely sought to abduct him for experiments similar to those found on Nancora, or perhaps even as a leashed soldier to interfere with Force users on the battlefield.
Having been raised in a den of murderers, and seemingly with no means of communication beyond telepathy, Tarvitz was only able to avoid his death by allowing the child into his mind. Showing him images of his own training, his own fear of his powers and efforts to control them, Tarvitz managed to convince him that there were others who could train him in how to fully utilise and control his abilities. Staying long enough to warn the growing audience of undercity dwellers of how the Collective would treat them as mere fodder, Tarvitz left for the surface with the child in tow before departing the moon for good.
Hidden Empire
As initial rebellion on Kiast had been quickly quelled in a series of offensives, Tarvitz at long last decided to take his leave. While he had not been justly beheaded for his crimes, Pravus had fled his throne in the wake of Nancora and had left a successor to take his place. From what little he was able to uncover about his replacement, Telaris "Mav" Cantor was a devoted Sith Lord but at least lacked the egotism and elitism which had dominated Pravus' every move. With a new enemy on their doorstep and the Grand Master's efforts indicating that he was determined to repair the catastrophic damage Pravus had inflicted upon the Brotherhood, it seemed that he would be pragmatic enough to make peace with the Lotus Resistance. As Tarvitz's oath had technically been fulfilled, he saw it as an opportunity to return home and question the elders among his order. There had been far too many contradictions among the databases of every faction he had met, and even odd gaps within their assembled knowledge. At first, he had believed that this was the result of a lack of resources, but with each passing day, it far more closely resembled censorship. Even without that, the Collective was as much a threat to the Jensaarai as the Jedi, and they at least deserved to be warned of their genocidal crusade.
Staying only to explain his reasons for departing to the clan's leader, Alethia Archenksova, Tarvitz took the Spitfire on one final flight through the Palioxis Cloud, joining the new pilots of Paladin Squadron during their patrol. For the most part, the journey was without incident, leaving Tarvitz time to come to terms with the weight of this decision. However, as he moved to leave the Cloud and make the final hyperspace jump, hostile ships emerged from the cloud and opened fire. In a vicious skirmish against the unknown assailants the Odanites were almost overwhelmed by a mixture of Clone Wars and Imperial era fighters, and the refitted Nebulon-B Escort Frigate which had been refitted into a carrier. They were only able to break free from the trap when Tarvitz made a near-suicidal run on the carrier, and used the Force to redirect torpedoes into its main flight decks and a gravity well generator.
Returning to Kiast with the remains of Paladin Squadron, it was clear that a far stronger uprising had been taking place since he had left. The Empress had been poisoned during a meeting with Odan-Urr's leadership, and her final proclamation she named Archenksova regent of the Empire until she regained consciousness. This had been accompanied by a slew of random skirmishes and raids across the Empire, as soldiers suddenly arrested nobles sympathetic to the Odanites in the street, incited riots and even raided targets while dressed in O.E.F. uniforms. It was clear that they were being set up, but just who was pulling the strings remained in question. While not a detective, Tarvitz was paired with Ethan Martes and tasked with investigating any leads which might help them prove their innocence. Between Martes' contacts and Tarvitz's none too subtle methods, they were able to uncover a workshop which had been commissioned to construct the tea set which had contained the poison. It was in the midst of being torched by an assassin, who promptly took his own life rather than be taken captive. Nevertheless, they were able to retrieve a number of files - and even a prototype set of similar teacups - as evidence that another group with ties to Kiast had sought to poison the Empress.
With the clan still under threat, Tarvitz decided that his return to the Jensaarai could wait a little longer.
The Meridian Conflict
Following efforts to contain and limit further damage in the Kiast System, Odan-Urr's leaders made a surprising move. Rather than focusing on the pressing threat of an insurrection by the Vauzem Dominion they instead opted to participate with an assault on a key Collective outpost. Forming an alliance with forces loyal to the Iron Throne, the Jedi sought to locate a captured agent of the Inquisition, and then to utilise his information to attack Meridian Prime space station - A major port, supply base and prison facility for the Collective as a whole. The decision did not sit well with Tarvitz, who viewed the matter as being simply none of their business. At best, he would have voiced that they target Brotherhood facilities while the bulk of their fleet was engaged against a foreign target. However, knowing that he would soon be free of his oath and no longer a part of the Clan, Tarvitz decided to follow the decision without comment.
Joining a small strike team of Len Iode, Creon Saldean, Dral Falgorth and supporting elements of the O.T.F. they first boarded the Akan - an enemy Dreadnought class cruiser - in search of its data. Upon boarding the vessel, they quickly discovered that the ship's self-destruct sequence had already been activated and was rapidly counting down. Tarvitz led a small group in search of the ship's rear data core while the others stormed the bridge, engaging not only Collective troops but an Inquisitorial agent along the way. Tarvitz's unit was briefly waylaid by a squad of combat cyborgs, and then a pair of Managuard before they finally achieved their objective. Withdrawing moments before the ship exploded, they soon regrouped with the fleet and joined with the assault of Meridian itself a few hours later.
The group assaulted the station via boarding torpedo, punching into its lower levels and moving up to the command centre. With the troops guarding the facility having been drawn away by more pressing boarding actions in the main hangers, they were able to quickly engage and neutralise most patrols they encountered before locating the main control centre for the prisons. Slicing into the computer network, the group disrupted the release cycle for a multitude of cells, opening the way for the prisoners to riot and overwhelm their jailers. This quickly drew the attention of the governing AI of the station but, before they were forced from the network, the group was still able to pinpoint the location of its core. Following a brief battle with a rearguard assembling about the system, the unit was able to set charges and destroy the system housing the AI.
While the battle had been one-sided from the first shot, the loss of the station's AI quickly turned it into a rout. Few prisoners could be taken from the Collective personnel, and even those that succeeded in taking died soon after their capture. Most had been rigged with implants to execute them upon being lost to the Brotherhood, while others willingly overloaded their circuits. It was a pointless waste of life and only further cemented Tarvitz's view that Rath Oligard's crusade would only succeed in massacring countless lives, no matter its outcome.
As Meridian was overwhelmed and captured, the forces of Odan-Urr quickly withdrew from the battle to avoid being caught in a possible ambush. The ceasefire between themselves and the Brotherhood had been fleeting, and the habit of the Sith to betray their allies had hardly been forgotten by any of them. However, to the surprise of many, they soon found themselves contacted by representatives of the Brotherhood hours after the conflict's end. The communications requested that they meet in a neutral location, specifically a long-abandoned mining outpost in the Kessel Sector to discuss further matters relating to the future conflict with the Brotherhood. These specifically mentioned an important item which had come into their possession, and it was an offer that Odan-Urr could ill afford to overlook. Despite his lack of official standing, Tarvitz was selected to meet with them along Ta'var and Archenksova. They were soon greeted by Deputy Grand Master Morgan B. Sorenn and a small contingent of bodyguards, along with an item which resembled a gigantic kyber crystal.
The crystal itself had been claimed from the Collective's Technocrat operatives and retained some strong but as of yet unidentified connection to the Force. Sorenn offered to leave it in Clan Odan-Urr's custody, and even permitted the Jedi to set terms in exchange for this deal given the possible danger it posed.
The Choices of One
- "Should you continue to walk upon this path, you will only tread ever deeper into darkness." "Of course I will! Where better for the light to go than where it is needed most?"
- ―The last exchange between the Saarai-kaar and Tarvitz
Following the Brotherhood's victory at Meridian, Tarvitz became increasingly reclusive. While still maintaining the same boisterous friendliness that he had expressed since his arrival, he spent more time alone with his thoughts than before. Most attributed this to exhaustion from the constant fighting, but instead, Tarvitz had found himself conflicted in his duties. His oath had ended and with it, his time in Clan Odan-Urr should have come to an end. Yet, wherever he looked, he found strife, trouble, and enemies to combat. While loyal to the Jensaarai, returning to their ranks would have brought an end to this, and likely a return to the solitude within their stronghold. His time as a Reclaimer had granted some freedom, but after taking a years-long unannounced leave of absence he would almost certainly be stripped of that position.
For days Tarvitz wrestled with his thoughts before finally coming to a decision. He would return to Susevfi and accept whatever judgment was made of him. Even if it saw an end to his role as a wandering swordsman, the Jensaarai deserved to be warned of all that he had uncovered there; and equally, he deserved answers to the bizarre contradictions in their history. Whatever followed after that, Tarvitz would at least find some peace in not fleeing from his duties any longer. Leaving a note addressed to Drachen, Iode and the clan leadership explaining his actions, he departed from House Hoth's base of operations in the dead of night.
Tarvitz's return was far from auspicious. Soon after arrival, he was taken under guard and reprimanded for his absence. Stripped of his equipment, he was taken into a cell and held there as an elder Defender interrogated him, demanding answers for what had happened over the past two years. Tarvitz held his nerve, answering each point with simple and direct responses, and detailing much of what had transpired since his last visit. Understanding that, while he was not being openly treated as an enemy, his old comrades were suspicious of his silence, he instead offered knowledge whenever possible. He detailed the existence of the Brotherhood, of the Sith, Krath, Obelisks and Jedi which now fought among the ancient Sith worlds. He explained of how forces like the Collective had run rampant across the stars, waging their crusade against all they saw as undeserving of living now that no larger government stood to hold them in check, and even went so far as to mention names of former members who seemingly did not exist according to their records.
After the interrogator had finished hearing of his stories, Tarvitz was left alone in his cell for some time. Then, without ceremony or warning, he was brought before the Saarai-kaar herself.
Their meeting proved to be fleeting, with neither willing to give ground on their points. The Saarai-kaar asked that Tarvitz silence himself, and to cease repeating all that he had seen. She admitted that, to protect the Jensaarai, the Order's records were being altered. All contact with Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order or the New Republic was being slowly erased, using elements taken from the New Republic's propagandists to create a more cohesive and simplified history, bereft of anything which could bring them to danger. With it, she intended that their kind could be protected and discouraged from leaving the planet thus drawing others to their home. She had hoped that Tarvitz's time among the galaxy might have shown him the dangers which lurked out there, and how they could destroy their lives.
Tarvitz, for his part, argued that this only meant that the Jensaarai were needed more than ever. With nothing to replace the Jedi Order, there was nothing to serve in the same role that they had once provided, and no one to counter the likes of the Sith. Odan-Urr's Jedi were few in number, and with the First Order, the Collective and others hunting down any Force-sensitive factions who might oppose them, the Jensaarai could not simply hide on one world. Even as the Saarai-kaar objected, he asked that she at least consider lending some of their Defenders to assist with the Clan's operations, or open up negotiations with the Brotherhood's more trustworthy elements.
Ultimately each refused to cede any point and, by the end, each walked away having lost respect for one another. While the Saarai-kaar threatened Tarvitz with imprisonment to hide them from the Brotherhood, Tarvitz revealed that they were already aware of them and that her former apprentice was among their number. Voicing his disgust that she would not uphold the justice that they supposedly valued above all else, Tarvitz chose his duties to Clan Odan-Urr over any obligation to the Jensaarai. Without a further word he formally resigned from the Order.
A Not So Simple Path
Whatever doubts that Tarvitz might have had about his self-imposed exile soon faded upon his return to Solyiat. The bitterness of the Jensaarai's choices to abandon their history and very name plagued him, but he knew at least that he could accomplish some good among the Jedi while staying true to his code. This soon proved truer than he would have imagined, as one of the Jedi came to Tarvitz with a request that he speak with the child he had brought to them. Along with learning that he had mistaken the child's gender, she had attempted to flee from the Temple several times. The few efforts by telepaths to convince her to speak with them had proven unsuccessful, and she was refusing to lower her guard. This swayed Tarvitz into meeting with her once more, but he cited any concerns of what she might learn from him. As someone who spoke through telepathy and read the minds of others, his life of bloodshed, violence, and warfare seemed as if it would, at best, tempt her toward the Dark Side.
Having escaped once again, Tarvitz was able to track the child down and find her in the wilderness surrounding the Temple ruins. Through a number of stumbling attempts, he managed to convey his thoughts with his limited skill, and convinced her to speak with him. Eventually piecing together the basics of what she saw, Tarvitz came to understand that she was extremely distrustful of others. His act of killing her assailant had been the closest thing to kindness that she had been granted, while his limited skills aligned more with her crude language of memories and internal images than the more complex abilities of others. To make matters worse, the Jedi Code itself ran counter to her life lessons, as she understood life in the manner of hunting, fleeing prey and preying upon others. Even when she understood what was being conveyed to her, she was unable to accept its words. As this was the case, Tarvitz opted to instead use the teachings of the Jensaarai in their place, conveying the basic tenants of his order through life examples and thoughts. He used it as a starting point to show the difference between aggression and outright hatred, and prompted those most compatible with the Jedi's beliefs. Through this and several hours of efforts, he was slowly able to convince her to return to the Jedi and learn to better control her powers.
Tarvitz would repeatedly return to speak with the child during her training, either to assist with her lessons or just to offer a heavily scarred face that she could trust. Eventually prompting her to even choose a name - Sirra - he trained her as a "sometimes apprentice", he used his knowledge to focus her powers in more productive outlets. Although still reclusive, this helped her substantially in more readily accepting the lessons that the Jedi offered, even if she struggled to accept their ways entirely.
Unfortunately, in the time that he devoted to this, Kiast was undergoing a period of increasing turmoil. The Dominion had been countered and defeated in multiple engagements, but the threat it posed was still all too real. Furthermore, there was dissent among the nobility. Archenksov had been deposed as Regent following the mention by the now awakened Empress Anasaye that it had never been her will to allow an outsider to take her place, and had even departed Odan-Urr with Ta'var taking her place. With the Odanites continuing to perform police actions, the Vatali Empire unexpectedly declared open war on both the Collective and the Dominion. Combined with the unrest among the Quorahi pushing for a more democratic system, the conflict that Odan-Urr had involved itself with was far from over.
A New Dawn
While Tarvitz continued to play a role in the wars raging across the Kiast system, they did not compare with the conflicts that he was used to fighting. More often than not the major battles were limited to brief skirmishes or infiltration efforts rather than pitched engagements. As both the Collective and Dominion had failed to gain the upper hand in their initial strikes, they had instead resorted to more clandestine means to win their battles. As the skills of others lay in such warfare, Tarvitz found himself more often than not serving in the role of peacekeeper and law enforcer over that of a soldier. Yet it was in this time that Tarvitz came to fully understand how much his time in Clan Odan-Urr had changed him. The battles that he had fought had given him a constant yearning for challenges and competition to test his mettle, and there was an air of aggression to his behaviour that he had once lacked. In the ultimate irony, the very events which had led him to be effectively exiled from his Order had awakened a subconscious appreciation for the very tenants that he had once opposed.
Knowing all too well just how easily such a drive could lead toward the Dark Side, Tarvitz took the time to retrain himself in the basic teachings of the Jensaarai. As he imparted lessons upon Sirra on a weekly basis, he was spending as much time enforcing those same concepts within his own mind. After weeks of lessons, he began testing Sirra in mock-combat exercises. This was as much to test how well his lessons had been imparted onto her as they were teaching her how to best employ her skills in a direct fight, emphasizing a need for hit-and-fade attacks against larger opponents, and targeting weak points with her strikes. This proved to be a success as, even with Sirra's willingness to treat training bouts as duels to first blood, Tarvitz was able to encourage her to make use of her abilities in battles she might once have simply fled from. Yet it was in these sparring matches that the limitations of Tarvitz's own abilities were becoming clear. His efforts to encourage Sirra to better utilise her Telepathy had pushed his apprentice to expand her understanding of this power, but he could not keep up with her. His efforts to communicate and even convey basic information were slow and labored compared to her natural affinity with transmitting thoughts, which typically left Sirra attempting to carry out all the work in any conversation. It was clear that she required someone more talented in this same area.
Because of his shortcomings, Tarvitz sought out someone within their clan with a skillset that was better suited to Telepathy and shared a similarly bleak upbringing. In time, he was able to contact Celevon Edraven Erinos, and convince the Mandalorian to meet with Sirra. Traveling to his home on Kona’li Isle, Tarvitz was able to bring her before Celevon following a momentary encounter with hostile local fauna. Convincing Celevon to at least listen to the girl and see what he would be dealing with, their meeting proved to be a success, and Celevon was able to achieve far more progress in minutes than Tarvitz had achieved in months of work. In any other circumstance, this would have been a reason for celebration, but a more alarming threat soon became evident. The wildlife that Tarvitz had accent disturbed - a gigantic breed of python - had been formed from Sith Alchemy, and its poisons were slowly spreading through his system. Gradually overriding even Tarvitz's inhuman resistance to toxins, he was taken back to Celevon's home, and collapsed soon after entering the building.
Along with his sister, Rowena Magnuri, Celevon was able to use Alchemy to single out and eventually remove the poisons. The process left Tarvitz in a healing coma for well over a day while his body recovered, leaving time for Sirra to be further trained and tested by Celevon. During that period, Rowena continued to monitor and fix him, gradually healing his body. A side effect of her alterations was the removal underlying scar tissue that had previously hindered his movement and the repairs to long-standing musculature damage, which subtly enhanced his coordination and reactions as a result. The two would stay there for several days while he recovered, eventually departing with newfound strength thanks to their experiences on the Isle.
Thirteenth Great Jedi War
The training of Sirra gradually took priority in Tarvitz's life, as he realised just how easily she might still fall to the Dark Side. Having spent almost a decade absorbing the thoughts of Nar Shaddaa's murderers and thieves, the fact that she retained any degree of stability was a miracle unto itself. However, without the rigid mental discipline and training other Force users benefitted from, it was clear that those experiences could overwhelm her entirely. Because of this, Tarvitz used the relative peace to better guide her abilities and give her greater grounding in controlling any feelings of hatred and emphasizing restraint in her combat style. It was perhaps because of this that, when the Thirteenth Great Jedi War broke out, Tarvitz elected to remain in a supporting role rather than that of frontline combat. A meeting between The Collective, the Severian Principate, and the Brotherhood had broken out into violence, with a faction claiming to be a Brotherhood strike group raiding the Lyra-3K-a system. The Brotherhood's clans had mobilized to take action, with some seeking to take advantage of the fighting while others moved in direct support of the Brotherhood's leadership. Odan-Urr, upon seeing that the Brotherhood had all the support it required, moved to support humanitarian efforts.
Deployed onto the Moon of Thillon via a covert drop, the Odanites took advantage of the fighting to rescue and limit casualties among the fallen. Focusing their efforts on the mines and the Workers Housing Quarter owned by Temnos Excavations, they worked to limit casualties and nullify threats however possible. Tarvitz worked with Sirra, utilising her familiarity with subterranean environments and telepathy to pick out buried groups of prisoners. Giving her the freedom to select and pinpoint those they had been sent to recover, he judged her actions and tested her abilities. While much of her training had emphasized direct threats, this was an opportunity to utilise her skills in preserving lives over ending them. To this end, Tarvitz dealt with the few threat that arose personally, from using his telekinesis to halt cave-ins to killing the small handfull of Collective saboteurs they encountered. While Tarvitz himself found the preservation of lives far more rewarding than simple violence, this was something that she needed to be shown and to experience.
Over the course of several hours, the Odanites withdrew to the surface and were forced to take a holding position. Their transport had been lost under enemy fire and, with more hostiles closing in with every passing minute, they were slowly being pinned down and surrounded. Rescue only came in the closing minutes of the battle, when a transport from Clan Arcona was diverted to the Odanites' position and offering them safe passage out of the system. Clan Odan-Urr was able to escape with relatively few casualties, having saved the lives of several hundred miners and their families.
After the Odanite Expeditionary Force was able to regroup and withdraw back to their home system, Tarvitz was left waiting on Pharos station as small musters of troops were permitted into the Kiast system at a time. Prioritizing the most heavily wounded and maintaining heavy security checks in order to avoid infiltration, many were left waiting on the station. Tarvitz bided his time, using his powers to heal those who could be saved. Both this work and a conversation with Ethan Martes over the battle's outcome gave him time to think on their actions and reflect on Odan-Urr's successes. By the time that he was given permission to return to his home, Tarvitz was already considering grander events. In his mind, the battle had only served to further cement his beliefs that Force users were needed as peacekeepers more than ever, and that nothing would change that. To hide away, and hope to be overlooked as the galaxy burned was not only an act of cowardice but a moral failing. One Force user could turn the tide of a battle, while a hundred could save thousands of lives in the middle of a war zone. He could not allow the knowledge of the Jensaarai or their disciplines to go to waste. Yet, as a grander plan formed in his mind, Tarvitz was given harrowing news from his former home.
Physical Description
Tall, heavily built and with his fair share of old wounds, Tarvitz is an imposing figure at the best of times. Sporting a determined if world-weary stare, his weather-beaten skin reflects a hard life of having traveled under countless alien suns, and is matched by his fading shoulder-length hair. Adorning the upper left of his brow and encompassing his eye socket, the pale green glow of a dark metal cybernetic sensor clashes against his dark blue organic left eye. Around its edges, the old scars of shrapnel wounds and burned tissue can still be seen, clashing against his proud features.
The rest of Tarvitz's body is a massive calloused network of dueling scars, claw markings and burns from blaster impacts. Many of these were earned during his time traveling the Outer Rim in search of new derelict vessels to salvage, and remarkably few were taken in lightsaber duels. Two of the distinctive ones are visible on his forearms, one from the near-miss of a turbolaser bolt he took during a boarding action and the other which was incurred during a desperate action to slay a tenacious alien beast. Tarvitz prefers to keep these hidden whenever possible and attempts to avoid detailing the exact stories behind them. The most he will typically admit to others is that they have painful memories associated with them when pressed on the matter.
It is rare to see Tarvitz out of his armour, even during passive moments such as personal meditation or social meetings. Preferring its bulk and weight over standard clothing, he only discards it during ceremonial duties or formal gatherings, and even then favours a practical attire over more stylised robes. This has the unfortunate - if an understandable - side effect of making him stand out from crowds or drawing undue attention in otherwise peaceful environments.
One genetic modification made to his body was to enhance its capacity to combat foreign poisons. A few signs of this dot his chest and back where injection ports once remained, yet these are all but imperceptible after all these years. They are one of the few markings Tarvitz is both willing to discuss and even joke about, as the procedure was a success, but it also rendered him immune to the effects of alcohol of all forms.
Personality
Tarvitz is relatively straight forward and aims to maintain a direct and down-to-earth approach to life. While by no means dull-witted, he is merely far happier dealing with tangible subjects such as patching up the hulls of ships or repairing equipment than debating the finer points of the Force with others. This allowed him the freedom to focus on getting a job over and done with and lacks the grey areas which prove to be so frustrating in life. This same mentality extends to his relationships with others, as he is rarely one to hold grudges or bring up ill-treatment in past eras unless a foe insists upon doing so. Once a matter is concluded he will rarely go back to it. Perhaps because of this, he often tends to think outside of the box despite his apparent simplicity, and often tries to bring any matter to a complete close before pressing forward with his life. If brought to failure he will rarely shirk responsibility, and will quite often obsessively review his performance trying to judge how and why he failed so he might overcome it next time.
Tarvitz prizes honesty about all else and, while he avoids being rudely blunt about matters, it is rare for him to sugar-coat facts. He has also proven to be stubbornly loyal to a fault, and will often be the first to answer a call for help from those he considers a friend, without questions or hesitation. Yet his view tends to exist only on a person by person level. Just because he will follow Drachen into hell itself does not mean this will extend to the rest of Odan-Urr, and the idea of "Respect the rank, if not the man" is entirely lost on him. In fact, despite often respecting those above him for their capabilities, ranks themselves mean little to him and the idea of leading from the front (with leaders performing actions just as dangerous or arduous as grunts) is something he has long stood by.
The fact he judges individuals on a person by person basis means that Tarvitz rarely takes note of gender, species or even faith unless they continually prove to be a threat. In his position, he cares less about whether it is culturally proper for someone to pick up a blaster than the fact they know how to use it and are carrying one for the right reasons. Not everyone is cut out to be a fighter, and there is no shame in that, but Tarvitz isn't about to allow anything beyond a person's skills or individual choices influence that. While part of this might be down to his noted asexuality, much of this stems from living in environments where practicality overruled all other matters. The few times Tarvitz has shown an appreciation for any culture it has typically related in some way to Alderaan or the Jedi Order, and his ongoing attempts to preserve what little remains of both.
Quick to laugh and welcoming to others, Tarvitz makes an effort to be as open and friendly as he can within the Clan even with his personal secrets, but he has also proven to be quick to resort to his blade when needed. Rarely standing for acts of apparent sadism or needless violence, he finds it difficult to ignore others in need of help no matter the situation. In his eyes, it's better to do something and be proven wrong than do nothing at all. Given his constant drive to visit new locations and see the rest of the galaxy, this has drawn him into more melees than he can count, but Tarvitz has not regretted fighting a single one of them.
Equipment
Much of Tarvitz’s current gear has been salvaged from past wrecks or bartered from traders on the Outer Rim. Each has obviously well-used, but has proven to be extremely reliable, and served him well during a multitude of boarding actions against derelict vessels. Many retain basic improvements from reworked casings to reworking the grips of his blasters, Tarvitz has often taken great care to ensure that no Jensaarai iconography or identifiable brands remain visible on his equipment.
Weapons
The rapier Tarvitz usually keeps at his side was one retrieved during a particularly notable salvage run, and taken from an ancient vessel bereft of any name. Tarvitz found that its length and the pointed head was perfect for combating a foe in the tight confines of warship. The blade has been reforged several times thanks to battle damage, and Tarvitz has always taken great care to replicate its ability to be easily slid between the armoured plates of a foe or the reinforced shell of a battle droid. Paired with the sheer stopping power of his S-5 pistol, Tarvitz has found the combination to be simple but quite effective. For some time he also carried a WESTAR-M5 for additional firepower, but necessity saw him cannibalizing this in favour of supporting more vital items.
The lightsaber Tarvitz carries is a recent replacement, with his original blade having been destroyed during the brief skirmish against Odan-Urr's agents. He recovered the crystal but opted to carry an armory weapon for a time afterward, befitting his current training under Master Drachen. It was only upon being viewed worthy as a Knight in their eyes, that he fashioned a new blade from the remnants of his old weapon, feeling that he had earned the right to carry it once more after his failure.
Armour
While often opting to travel light, and retaining few personal possessions, Tarvitz nevertheless owns three sets of warplate.
The first of these was a recent acquisition - A heavily modified and stylised set of Phase II clone paratrooper armour taken from a Rebublic warship. Reserved for situations where the Jensaarai were required to disguise their true allegiance, it is a stark contrast with his more regal uniform. Stripped of its more heavily damaged or high maintenance systems - notably its jetpack - it has nevertheless been upgraded several times, both to reinforce the plasteel chestplate and for space combat. The distinctive build of the helmet and several key features means it can be easily identified, but the dark purple colours and ivory trim disguise its practical build, and many mistake it as ceremonial armour at first glance. Several pouches at its belt store a datapad, com-link, and a small medpac among other items.
The second, his personal Jensaarai armour, is rarely seen nor worn even among Clan Odan-Urr's strongholds. Patterned after the Vorn tiger, it consists of several cobalt blue interlocking plates across vulnerable points of his body, bridged by a mesh of hardened white metal scales. The horned helm vaguely resembles that of the feline beast, with intricate patterns of its plating giving the impression of an exaggerated non-human musculature structure. Though it ranks among Tarvitz's most valuable possessions, he has taken great lengths to keep it hidden from sight, and few even know of its existence. He might be pledged to serve Odan-Urr in their war against the Sith, but Tarvitz is hardly willing to let his sole choice drag the rest of his kindred into the war as well.
The final is a recent addition, purchased out of necessity following the Battle over Nancora. Seeking a less distinctive attire for more covert missions, Tarvitz requisitioned a set of SpecForce Armor from Odan-Urr's stores. Often painting and reworking it to suit its environment, while much of its build shares the same strengths as his other choices of attire, the lighter weight structure has been constructed for easy travel. More often than not, Tarvitz makes a point of attaching faux trophies and easily discarded iconography to pass himself off as a bounty hunter.
Powers and Abilities
Combat
Tarvitz is far from the Brotherhood's best combatant, and he would be the first to admit it. Many others are better shots, better swordsmen or more adept with the Force, and such matters are hardly helped by his own limited talent with lightsaber. As such, he has striven to overcome this through sheer strength, tenacity and a range of skills from pilot to engineer.
His key focus in battle has always been to limit an opponent's greatest advantage first, often relying upon his wider assortment of skills to try and win the day. In the case of an acrobatic foe, he would draw the fight into a confined area where they could not maneuver quite so easily. In the case of a veteran gunman, he would use the Force to provide more cover or drag them into close quarters. In the case of an expert swordsman, he would seek to keep them off-balance thanks to minor telekinetic shoves or remove them from their weapon.
Regarding the Force as an asset to other skills rather than something to be wholly relied upon, Tarvitz is often seen using his powers in coordination with other abilities, focusing upon frequent but brief pulses of power rather than utilising a raging torrent of energy. He is not above using Telekinesis to drag a foe out of cover, or using its Healing talents to quickly close a wound, but he does not desire his connection to become a crutch used wholly to support himself.
Mechanic
Capable of basic repairs, upgrades and even the odd full overhaul, Tarvitz knows at least enough to get by. Partially self-taught and partially trained, he has become talented at keeping certain ships flying and combat-capable even once they are well past their prime. Often working with limited resources and tools, many of Tarvitz's field repairs are less complete fixes than brief solutions. Rather than totally restoring a ship to its prime, he will focus upon ensuring that it remains as fully flight capable as possible for a few weeks, reworking certain systems or re-routing power to maintain engine, shield and weapons efficiency until it can be returned to a better-equipped repair bay.
Beyond starships, however, Tarvitz is adept at maintaining House Hoth's armory. From patching up armour to re-forging blades, he serves as something of a smith to any forces he is associated with. More often than not he frequently tinkers with standard shelf builds, seeking to make minor improvements or upgrades to equipment even as he repairs them, and it's rare for him to stick with a single planned design for long.
Pilot
Above all else, Tarvitz's greatest talent lies behind the controls of an attack craft. With decades of flying gunships against countless targets, Tarvitz has tested his skills against a multitude of foes across the Outer and Mid Rims. From atmospheric skirmishes to running blockades against capital ships, there are few scenarios he has not overcome thanks to a combination of fast reflexes and a few creative tactics. This is especially true of the treacherous debris fields of derelict warships, and Tarvitz himself has lost count of the times he has been forced to pit himself against violent scavengers amid clouds of metallic fragments and undetonated munitions.
In most situations, Tarvitz will often favour disabling enemy fightercraft over outright destroying them, especially when defending or fighting his way clear from a position. While this is as much an act of pragmatism as a hesitance to kill - forcing other fighters to pull back and defend disabled ships rather than pursue him - it is by no means any sign of weakness. When pushed, he will quite readily annihilate enemy squadrons one ship at a time, using the Force to actively inhibit the abilities of their pilots or his engineering knowledge to exploit the core weaknesses in their designs. Tarvitz himself tends to favour lesser-known vessels in order to prevent these same tactics from being used against him, and to hinder the benefit of experience by more combat-hardened foes. Under the right circumstances, oddities such as the Preybird's aft firing missile launchers or the Chir'daki's rotational wing design can be enough to put an enemy pilot off-balance and quickly end a fight before it truly begins.