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- "'You go in, come out alive. You lie your way through the paperwork, go home, and try to forget about what you saw. Trust me kid, it's the only way you stay sane."
- ―Blackwood
John Blackwood, also known as Subject Delta, is a male Barabel serving as an operative of Clan Odan-Urr. Found as an infant amid the wreckage of a freak starship crash on the outskirts of Coronet City, Blackwood was taken by a Human couple and raised as their child. Although beset by strange occurrences and freak incidents throughout his childhood, Blackwood would join the Corellian Security Force, serving as a detective and investor. Naturally skilled and observant, Blackwood would serve the organisation well, but would find himself embroiled with occult crimes and strange murders, earning him an ill reputation.
Late into his career, Blackwood would uncover the truth of his origins when facing a spectral entity of a long dead Sith Lord; learning that he had been originally biochemically forged by the Sith to serve it as a bringer of destruction. Although Blackwood was successful in defeating the spirit and the horrifying experiments it had influenced, a growing disgust with CorSec's upper management would lead him to quit the force. Swiftly recruited by Essik Lyccane, Blackwood would join Clan Odan-Urr as a field agent and expert on the Dark Side.
Character History
CorSec Days (9 ABY - 42 ABY)
Trainwreck Beginning
The exact origins and genetic history of John Blackwood were a mystery at the time of his discovery around 11 ABY. A freighter, either due to accident or sabotage, had lost control and crashed while trying to depart from Coronet city, and had crashed on the outskirts. Barely missing the outlying suburbs, the vessel had carved a deep scar into the earth and had been split apart upon impact. Although largely intact and failing to explode, what was found within was more horrifying to first responders than any mound of corpses. The vessel's hold was filled with genetic analysis and experimental equipment, transformed into an extensive lab worthy of any biological research station, and with horrors worthy of an Imperial Dungeon ship. Gene-spliced creations were found amid the wreckage, still hooked to wrecked monitoring equipment or barely alive. Some had been forcibly implanted with symbiotic creatures, while others had been seemingly cloned from multiple sources in an effort to splice a new species entirely. Most were dead, and the few left besides swiftly begged for a merciful end.
As the responders explored the freighter they found darker things; data from the Emperor's Deep Core stronghold, passages from the time of the Sith Empire, and texts apparently crafted outlining cruel means of altering another's biological form. This would soon lead to the involvement of Professor Casath Blackwood, a teacher at Corellia University who had knowledge of Sith sorcery. Casath was at a loss for how someone had so easily come into possession of so much illicit data, but soon concluded that the creator at the heart of such work was not among the bodies, and had likely been helping guide it remotely. When investigating a symbol escribed chamber at the heart of the vessel, Casath found the infant Barabel. Unharmed by the wreckage but terrified, his lack of mutations was a sign of suspicion but his lack of hostility or tell-tale signs of experimentation spared him from the fate of other victims of experiments.
Casath quickly came to the conclusion that the Barabel child had likely been abducted from another world. Trying to find his family first through genetic links, and then the freighter's flight path, she was unable to find any possible home he might have been taken from. Even a handful of unusual markers within his genetics offered nothing more than a sign of potentially being tested for DNA harvesting, but nothing more. Wanting to both keep an eye on the child for any risk he might pose and also spare him the hardship of growing up without parents, Casath adopted the Barabel into her family, naming him John after her father.
The Normal Years
John's upbringing was thankfully uneventful but far from normal. Casath wished to keep a close eye on the Barabel and, while every effort was successful in integrating him into her family, she wished to keep a close eye on him. Finding someone in a hellish place such as the freighter had raised her suspicions, and Casath had seen first-hand how the Dark Side could snare someone during the University's efforts to destroy the Cult of Exar Kun. Because of this, John was kept close to her and saw much of the galaxy from an early age, usually being tutored on military bases or joining Casath on archaeological sites. Every effort was made to avoid treating him with suspicion and his history was kept hidden from all but those who saw it as an essential need-to-know security basis. Even so, there were some moments in which John displayed unusual abilities, such as a clear ability to connect with the Force in sensing life about him, or tap into it to enhance his strength. Already growing far stronger than would be expected of a young child; it took considerable effort on Casath's part not to see him as a ticking bomb.
Thankfully, Casath's fears proved to be unfounded. Even in an unconventional environment John thrived, and seemed much more at home on the move than staying isolated in any one place. Happy and outgoing, even being left to his own devices resulted in no crises beyond what might be expected of his natural curiosity. Although he shared nothing of Casath's own patience when it came to research, he was keen to listen, and even grew to read and try and understand the history of his own species. Even in these halcyon days, however, there were some warning signs. It could not be denied that certain arachnological digs seemed to become far more dangerous in John's presence, especially those rooted in the history of the Sith. Ancient arcane devices would suddenly activate, or dormant defensive droids would abruptly awaken. Stranger things even occurred on bases he was stationed in, and one notably harrowing visit to a research base uncovered illegal development of nanomachine weapons based upon a Sith superweapon.
Although active during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Casath actively made a point of keeping as far away as possible from the frontlines. Going so far as to accept a temporary desk job - something anathema to her - she worked to accept only tasks far from the battles as possible. This galled John given their past lifestyle but, when pressed as to why she was so actively avoiding the war, Casath indicated only that she had been at the heart of a similar onslaught once before, and would never wish to risk it again.
When the time came for John to choose his path in life, he would break from his family's history of working in educational centres in favour of a far more active judicial role. This was in part driven to his lack of patience for the more academic elements of the work he had found, but also his ability to carefully examine, judge, and come to accurate conclusions of scenes. While Casath did attempt to dissuade John from this path in life, once he was set upon it she ultimately gave her blessing and full assistance in enrolling in CorSec. Although struggling with several written exams, John would pass any basic physical challenge with flying colours in 29 ABY. Although unable to immediately promote him to the role of detective or even investigator, John's superiors were quick to put him on the first steps toward that and fastrack him to such a role. This was a choice they would soon some to both celebrate and regret in equal measure.
The Black Dossier
- "'You can hear them, but you don't really believe they're there. They can't be. You've never seen anything with skin that colour before. That particular texture and sheen. You think you've smelled their breath, but you can't be right. The smell of hospital burn wards, of speeder crashes. The smell of cooked human meat on their breath. That's what you're thinking, isn't it. There are things moving in that building which should not even be alive. Unfortunately, while you might have forgotten about them, they've definitely not forgotten about us."
- ―Blackwood
Blackwood's initial years within CorSec went without incident, serving primarily as an officer of the law. While often favoured in matters relating to illegally stolen or traded cultural artifacts due to his experiences in archaeological digs, for the most part he was seen as unremarkable. That would begin to change during his promotion to investigator, and the free reign the rank would offer him. Ill tidings would begin to follow Blackwood, beginning with a missing person's case which would lead him to encounter a minor religious cult. The events of the case are a matter Blackwood remains tight lipped about, save for the fact that CorSec uncovered a labyrinthine tunnel network beneath Coronet City which, by all rights, could not possibly exist. In the investigation that followed, three other CorSec officers would be lost along with the hostages. Blackwood's report outlined encountering an abomination shackled to a realm below the city, and that a disaster had barely been averted at the cost of many lives. This would see Blackwood suspended and put under psychiatric evaluation for months, but he would be cleared soon after. Due to his prior record Blackwood would be allowed to return to duty, but it was just the beginning of a series of increasingly strange cases.
Another later case would see Blackwood disrupting a narcotics trade, only to uncover a link to the Sith. Alchemically modified crystal shards resonating with the Dark Side were being traded on the streets, allowing users to briefly feel absolute connection with the Force. Repeated use of them would corrode an addict's soul, until their life essence was drawn away to be consumed by some entity lurking within the Force. Blackwood would personally hunt down and destroy the cult but, having narrowly escaped being accused of insanity before, would omit certain details about the case. Instead, he would soon begin to cover and detail the unabridged truth of each case in a personal file he dubbed the Black Dosser, along with findings about Corellia's underworld.
For the next several years Blackwood would take every effort to conceal the strange cases he would find himself embroiled in. Although sorely tempted to issue the unedited truth if only to force his superiors to accept some of the deeply horrifying things in their universe. Although any would readily accept that the Jedi and Sith existed, that the Force was a singular binding energy to the universe, and that biotechnology had been abused for decades among many worlds, any hint of sorcery would draw only ridicule. Thanks to this and with several near death situations, Blackwood would rapidly begin to expand upon his records. Rather than singular cases or even detailed records, he would soon expand it into details of how his encounters had hidden in plain sight, along with the sorts of individuals drawn to them.
Even with his habitual secrecy, Blackwood would gain unwanted attention when he was required to take on partners. The worst among these were trainees and, while Blackwood would actively try to take only mundane investigations, fate had a cruel sense of humour. Several of these would end with encounters against Dark Jedi seemingly drawn to Blackwood, while another would end with the two facing a madman attempting to draw the spirit of Ajunta Pall back into the physical world.
Yet it would be one case in 33 ABY which would earn Blackwood an ill reputation among CorSec and the realisation that, even if they did not believe in his cases, he seemed to draw bad luck to him. Paired with a younger Aqualish by the name of Talik, Blackwood was sent to investigate the theft of vital medical equipment from several of Coronet city's major hospitals. Although at first suspecting only a simple theft, the truth behind it would become clear when Talik identified a major power drain drawn into a supposedly abandoned building. Within the two would find a nightmarish scene: Repurposed bacta tanks were being used to flash-grow clones. Malformed and half insane, each were being outfitted with cybernetics to overcome the shortcomings of the crude process, before being outfitted with combat enhancements. Yet perhaps the most alarming quality was that each was powerful in the Force, either through some part of the process or the genetics selected. Although insane and unskilled, the cybernetics could focus this power into crudely destructive means.
The two attempted to avoid conflict, but were soon discovered when Talik attempted to draw data from one of the main computers. Blackwood fought to hold the door against two of the maddened creations while Talik attempted to draw information from the computer and sabotage it. Although successful in his efforts, and even disrupting the cybernetics which guided their mental faculties, the power behind the effort: A coven of Dark Jedi. Survivors from the long gone Second Imperium, they had thrown their lot in with another power and had come to test a technology capable of building armies. Outraged at the setback, the Dark Jedi attacked the two. Talik would lose a leg in the ensuing fight, and the two only survived as Blackwood hurled them through a window, leaving a bundle of explosives in his wake. In the following search, the body of only one Dark Jedi would be found, with all others seemingly escaping.
Unable to downplay what had taken place thanks to Talik's presence, both the destruction, Talik's maiming, and the presence of Dark Jedi would would only worsen Blackwood's poor reputation.
Dangerous Habits
Blackwood was trapped between tasks. The growing insanity and danger of his day job, which inexplicably kept drawing him deeper into business even most Jedi would not encounter in their lifetime, and his superiors who both blamed him for the hostile forces they faced but refused to admit to their real existence. Partially aware of this unconscious contradiction, Blackwood could not help but feel he was increasingly being set up as a scapegoat by leaders more concerned with the quiet running of things more than truly resolving a problem and finding a situation they disliked. His suspicions were only further deepened due to an opposition of contacting the Jedi Order to deal with the threats which had emerged, even just for archival access. Although Blackwood put this down largely to animosity in the wake of the Vong war, the vehemence was suspicious.
For the most part Blackwood returned to his previous work, albeit treading carefully with others now watching his every move. Even while tempted more than once to retire or even go rogue after his department was threatened with closure in the wake of horrific cases, but every time he returned knowing there was little money in waging a private war against an enemy he already hated. Yet it was during this time in which he would become more aware of the threats posed by Force users due to repeated encounters. The first among these was a Sith who, upon learning that Blackwood was creating a personal archive along with the Black Dossier to better combat the strange cases, raided Blackwood's apartment and attempted to depart with several data cores. While the Sith met his end in a hail of gunfire, Blackwood was disturbed by his behaviour, seemingly regarding Blackwood as more of a rival than a foe. This would only be confirmed in a later incident, in which one of the prior Dark Jedi, seemingly outcast from his group, sought out Blackwood and tried then failed to forcibly capture him as an apprentice. This would then extend to a point worthy of a farce when a Jedi Knight appeared mere months later, not to deal with the many threats Blackwood had been waging war against, but to confront Blackwood himself. This last incident would be too much and, after managing to knock the Jedi unconscious via a well placed stun grenade, Blackwood would forcibly sit him down and demand answers.
The Jedi was unreceptive at first, expecting death, but slowly came to realise that Blackwood's obliviousness was no act. Although not fully believing it, the Jedi his name as [[StarWars:Streen|Streen] and explained how Blackwood could be sensed through the Force. He described what he felt of Blackwood as a black flame in the Force, actively serving as a beacon to not only entities with an affinity to the Dark Side, but making him appear as if he was no different from any Sith. Blackwood refused to believe this for a moment, but the more Streen spoke the more there was a perverse kind of sense to it. How certain archeological sites had reacted to him, the behavior of his prior opponents, and even how he seemed to stumble from one nightmare to the other with little to no normality amid his work. Streen clearly couldn't quite believe it himself, but his past experiences with powerful Sith made him quite certain of how Blackwood appeared in the Force, but how little this was reflected by his true self.
An offer was made to take Blackwood back to any of the Jedi Academies established in the last few years, but Blackwood refused. He'd known of Exar Kun's revival and, given how darkness seemed to be drawn to him, he did not wish to rush headlong into the Jedi Order as it was still rebuilding. The two would exchange words and promise to remain in communication, along with warning that Corellia and its associated worlds were becoming more hostile to outsiders. This would only become clear over the following years, with the outbreak of the Second Galactic Civil War and the rise of a Sith Lord in power over the nascent Galactic Alliance. With the Sith on one side and a hostile government on the other, Blackwood would actively avoid being drawn into the war and keep to the sidelines as best he could. The year that followed would be one of waiting and keeping quiet, along with quietly removing a few dangerous figures who wished to take advantage of the chaos. Instead Blackwood would speak with his adoptive mother and learn the full details of his origins, and what had been found in the freighter crash. Although he had known the essential details, it would only be now that he would come to learn of the experimental documents and abused creations he had been found with. This would cause a rift between the two, and Blackwood would not speak with Casath for some months afterward. Even then it would only be in order to confirm something he was increasingly certain of - Blackwood was powerful in the Force, and capable of channeling it unconsciously in crude ways. Although this threatened to be a rift between them again, Blackwood would come to accept that his mother had made the right choice; first in hiding his original from him if only for his own sanity, and then not sending him to the Jedi out of a fear of what he could easily become. Even after learning this and the risks his origins posed, Blackwood would soon return to his work; reasoning that wherever he went the Dark Side would find him. At least by hunting it down, he could do some good and remove a few threats before they claimed innocent lives.
The Drowning City
There's no hope for this city. If Coronet is the heart of Corellia, it's one from a guy who smokes twenty a day, and washes it down with discount whisky. There's a lot of history here, but no future. Only that history isn't what it was yesterday.
In the relative peace and rebuilding following the war, Blackwood was granted some surprising months of stability. Although he faced a number of undeniably curious cases, most were down to mildly powerful relics that had become active again over the true monsters faced throughout much of his career. Even the most notable of these, a supposed mummified remnant of a Krath war leader rising from its tomb to stalk a museum, proved to be a hoax by a group planning to steal priceless items to sell on the black market. Although Blackwood suspected that this might be due to other entities perhaps drawing from the Dark Side given what little he heard of developments surrounding the Jedi, Blackwood would soon become far more concerned with direct matters. Chief among these was the increasingly tyrannical behaviour of the victorious Galactic Alliance. Although not treating the Confederation as a conquered people as he had briefly feared, there was an undeniably Imperial aspect with their approach to enforcing order.
Even once the current threat had been ended and some normality was restored, Blackwood noted a distinct change on Corellia. It had been growing for some time, not only a sense of fatalism but a reluctance to address the present. Blackwood would find many cases or attempts to study events blocked, and even entire records erased. At first he assumed this had much to do with some sense of cultural shame over the Second Galactic Civil War, but there seemed a near fanatical desperation to deny huge swathes of galactic history had taken place. Even when Blackwood attempted to approach secondary sources, he would find that the Diktat had ordered for many books and works to be removed and destroyed. Seemingly not knowing the origin of this, Blackwood was so stunned he at firs thought he had been drugged, but instead soon found it to be genuine. The more shocking change came when certain records were returned but dramatically altered; going so far as to alter key dates of past historic events and omit others entirely. This would soon coincide with both a decree to reset the galactic year across the galaxy, but sweeping changes across Corellia. Where once the world had been a jewel of the Core, it was rapidly being torn apart. Vast swathes of once beautiful cities were ripped up and transformed into a grey choked abominations, more factory than any place of culture or dwelling place. So far as the history books detailed or anyone he spoke to, Corellia had always been this way, and those who believed otherwise soon disappeared.
The Conqueror Worm
Jedi Business (42 ABY - Present)
Physical Description
A hulking brute of a man, Blackwood's sheer physicality is by far his most striking quality. Although of only an average height for a Barabel, Blackwood towers over the average sentient and has a broad-shouldered and massively muscled build worthy of any Outer Rim prize fighter. With scales the colour of red clay, Blackwood's complexion makes him stand out even among his own kind. Yet even once this is overcome, many more minor odd differences are quickly noted. Chief among these is how broad and toughly built his features are, to the point where many have cited that Blackwood appears to be less serpentine than he is mastiff. This aspect is only made far more starkly evident both due to the notably thickened cranial plating of his brow but also the deep orange of his eyes. Although most put this down to genetic quirks or even having adapted to stranger worlds, Blackwood has quietly admitted in the past that he frequently has to take extra steps to even pass himself off as a member of his species. If left unattended, his scales can rapidly toughen past even their usual state until it resembles that of a shark, while his claws rapidly lengthen to the point where they cannot be retracted and must be filed back on an almost daily basis. Although Blackwood is certain that each of these oddities are almost certainly the result of his alchemically modified origin, he has since accepted this and believes he was fortunate when compared with most Sithspawned victims.
Personality
Uncomplicated and with a layman's view of the world, Blackwood is a normal man trying to deal with a deeply abnormal life. More concerned usually with just doing his job, getting paid, and going home for the day, any casual conversation could allow for a passer by to mistake him for any blue collar worker. It's only when Blackwood gets into the specifics of his work that this illusion is broken. Blackwood will speak of horrifying rituals, serial killings, and macabre with the same nonchalant ease as a construction worker outlining fitting a roof into place. Although far from amoral or uncaring, decades of dealing with the more esoteric aspects of the Force has left Blackwood with a near unshakable disposition which is rarely surprised or horrified anymore. Short of bursts of rage when he is truly infuriated or in the heat of battle, Blackwood is more prone to dry humour or resigned irritation when dealing with matters of the Force.
Although typically laconic unless forced to get a serious point across, Blackwood could be highly personable and sociable with those he was able to rely upon. A few too many betrayals left him with severe trust issues, and as such such a circle was small indeed; a problem only further exaggerated by how few friends and allies he was able to retain in CorSec thanks to his poor reputation for heralding disaster and general weirdness. A former partner once commented that "You know things have gone to kark when Blackwood is given the case. It could be a Rodian taking the credit chit from someone's old granny, and two days later we'll find it's all part of some elaborate neo-Krath doomsday ceremony." It was a point that Blackwood could hardly deny.
Both his method of creation and many cases left him with little to no respect for practitioners of the Dark Side, and distrust for those who favoured its means. Even after long accepting that Nikora Rhan, Ka Tarvitz, and members of the Templar Jensaarai were as far from the Sith who created him s possible, he still never fully accepted them. Although open minded enough to accept and respect the Jedi, even following attempts on his life following misunderstandings due to his knowledge and relationship with the Dark Side, some histories simply ran too deep to fully bury.
Yet perhaps what people most commonly forget is that Blackwood considers himself human in all the ways that matter. Raised by humans, growing up among humans, and working with humans, he did not even meet another Barabel until well into adulthood. Going so far as to take classes to overcome the typical cadence and speech impediments of his kind when speaking Basic, he would only opt to learn his species' language after being prompted by members of his family.
Equipment
Often working more with anything that Nikora Rhan, Clan Odan-Urr, or the Free Droid Enclave can supply over his own materials, Blackwood has relatively few items to his name. Relying much more upon his wits than gadgetry, he typically operates with little more than the clothes on his back and a gun in his holster. Both are among the few items he kept with him after moving to Clan Odan-Urr, with a BR-5010 slugthrower pistol being the most valuable item still to his name.
Powers and Abilities
Combat
Although experienced in a variety of weapon types, ranging from Slugthrowers to blades, Blackwood lacks any noted talent. Passable at best in these fields and with only somewhat better capability when it comes to a wider variety of disabling weapons such net guns, even his experience with explosives is born more from the use of flash grenades and being talked through disabling bombs over real training.
Instead Blackwood's talent lies far more in his physicality, utilising his sheer strength and stamina to overcome opponents. This is paired with his expertise in both Mandalorian Core and the Imperial Martial Arts System, to overcome, disarm, and then disable enemies. Although much of his experience stems from training, this has been further enhanced through harsh combat, with Blackwood learning how to turn effectively any discarded item into an ad hoc weapon; something he actively pursued after being forced to disable and then kill a mutated Rancor with a sharpened length of rebar. When paired with his natural analytical skills, this allows Blackwood to quickly identify a likely weakness in his opponent and exploit it, relying upon little more than anything he can pick up during the fight.
Detective
Although far from the superhuman genius most experienced detectives are stereotyped as, Blackwood's attention to detail and ability to rapidly piece together information has served him well over many decades. Typically patient and methodical, but more than willing to take a leap of faith when needed, Blackwood's main strength lies in his ability to judge the motives of people as much as the detail found within a scene. Although hardly unconventional, it is Blackwood's ability to take the Force into account which has led him to at least survive an extremely dangerous life. With Blackwood's habit of stumbling into dangerous remnants of Sith power or ancient knowledge being warped to churn out horrifying creations, the fact he can consider them without losing his grip on the more mundane aspects of everyday life has helped him to solve both legitimate supernatural cases, and recognise when old ghost stories are being used to disguise a more conventional crime.
The Force
Blackwood's relationship with the Force is distinctly complicated. Although he has displayed a natural affinity in many areas, Blackwood actively squanders his potential and avoids utilising it save for the most necessary of situations. This is not so much thanks to concerns about his creation so much as the risk of what he might become, as he knows he lacks the same discipline and mental state of a Jedi to avoid the risks of falling to the Dark Side, or even the discipline needed to not be tempted by the quick and easy path. Even were this not the case, Blackwood remains worried that he might even be hard coded to follow certain paths leading toward being a Sith. This has left Blackwood doing little more than utilising some basic abilities of amplifying his physical attributes and tapping into the Force to sense his surroundings, largely to give him some edge against his usual foes.