- "This is probably the part where you're expecting me to say something really important, except then I don't. Then you're caught thinking, 'Oh, so she's just some dork,' and all I can really do is nod and say... 'Yeah, pretty much.' That's me, for you."
- ―Eilen
Eilen Jath is a Force-sensitive hybrid, the offspring between a Bothan mother and a Selonian father. She is a recent arrival within Clan Arcona, and is currently training with Ruka Tenbriss to further develop her abilities. While notably awkward and quirky, Eilen's strong precognitive senses and well-developed dexterity help to make her a fine pilot. Although she makes for an unorthodox combatant, she has a variety of practiced talents, and is quite effective in the art of sabotage.
Physical Description
Eilen is a hybrid born of Bothan and Selonian parentage. Her Bothan features are dominant through her tall, pointed ears, and her fur pattern, which is primarily colored a dark, dull brown. Her face is a rough combination between each of her parent races, presenting mixed aspects of both. Her eyes in particular sport a Bothan's more typical mammalian form, and are colored a pale shade of purple. She is taller than a typical Bothan thanks to her Selonian roots, her body lean with sinewy muscle. What separates her most from other Bothans, however, is her half-meter-long tail and digitigrade, three-digit feet.
Like most Bothans, Eilen's fur grows thick on her head, except for her face, on which it is very short. Eilen's "hair" is swept back, with a few strands falling loose over the right side of her face, and the rest left in a thick, tangled mess. Behind her right ear, she grows a small patch of hair quite long, which she braids and drapes over her shoulder.
Eilen has earned a handful of small scars over the years, including a long gash across the back of her left shoulder, although they are not often noticeable through her fur. A number of small ring-like decorations are tied into strands of hair, worn proudly along with a forehead circlet with some small decorations attached.
Biographical History
A Hybrid's Origins
Eilen Jath was originally born as Eilen Ru'tyari, a hybrid child born between a Bothan mother and a Selonian father. Her mother, Lonae Ru'tyari, was an agent within the Bothan Spynet who helped liberate a captured Selonian named Rosica, who had long been inducted into the Spynet as a spy. To her surprise, Rosica was a rather dependent individual who was unable to safely return to his home, and thus sought a new shelter with somewhat assisted living. After some debate, Lonae somewhat reluctantly opened her home on Kothlis to him, as she had already learned some of his quirks. In time, however, they grew close, and eventually bore a hybrid daughter, Eilen.
Quiet Youth
Between her mother's continued involvement with the Bothan Spynet and her father trying to maintain a low-profile life, Eilen did not leave home often in her youth. Most of her education was either home-schooled or achieved over the holonet. She only knew a handful of trusted family friends and allies in person, some of whom would help to care for her and Rosica when Lonae had to leave for long periods. Eilen's isolation only worsened after her father died of medical complications when she was six years old.
Without much to take up her time and fill her desires, Eilen learned to make her own entertainment. Following her father's passing, she began to crave the chance for greater experiences in life, and to do so without dependence on others. Eilen began sneaking out at night to see new places and observe the world beyond her home, though she made a point to never interact with or be caught by other people. Her free time spent at home largely consisted of either reading or finding creative ways to occupy herself, often with inspiration drawn from things she had seen in the outside world.
Forces of Change
As Eilen's adventurousness began to flourish, so too did her unsuspected connection with the Force. As far as she could explain it to her mother, things would come to her as she reached for them, and she could see some things moments before they happened. It was around this time that one of Lonae's long-time friends and occasional associates, a Kel Dor trader and smuggler named Baro Jath, began taking an interest in Eilen's personal growth. As a hidden Force-user himself from the era of the Galactic Empire, Baro could sense her presence and growing connection with the Force. Although he had chosen to maintain his former lifestyle, rather than affiliate with any emerging groups of Force-users after the Empire's fall, Baro believed it would be a waste to prevent the growth Eilen's newly discovered potential. It took some convincing, but Lonae eventually let Baro begin teaching Eilen about the Force when he was able to visit.
While Baro was not able to see Eilen frequently due to the nature of his work, Eilen quickly grew fond of his visits and teachings. The Force fascinated her, but more than that, Eilen begged to hear about the rest of the galaxy from Baro's perspective, as she believed from his short tales of his travels that he had seen it all. Though he certainly left out a number of details about his actual smuggling work at the time, Eilen was captivated by the thought of so many stars and planets one person could reach. Baro became as much of a teacher to Eilen as he did a driving force for her desire to leave home, more than ever.
When Eilen was ten, Lonae became deeply involved in a long-term investigation by the Bothan Spynet which came to compromise her identity. For her safety and Eilen's, they had to leave Kothlis. Lonae could not afford to abandon her progress, however, which made accommodating for Eilen an increasingly difficult challenge as she sought both a safe haven and a means to maintain her work with the Spynet. Furthermore, Lonae no longer wanted her daughter to remain closed off from the galaxy at large, for even in her youth, Eilen longed for a bigger life. Though it pained her to let her daughter go, Lonae sought help from Baro, who soon agreed to take Eilen under his care and tutelage - with a remark about taking on an Padawan, much like a Jedi Knight would have.
Upon parting ways with Lonae, who changed her surname for her own safety, Eilen adopted Baro's surname, Jath, as her own. Following this, the two would begin to put forth the cover story that she had been raised from infancy as Baro's adopted daughter.
Seeing the Stars
After making a new home on Baro's ship, a Starlight-class light freighter called the Galewing, Eilen's disappointment from leaving her mother was soon overtaken by her excitement to see new worlds and planets with her mentor. She considered it an opportunity for every adventure she'd ever dreamed of having, and to some extent, it was. Every new planet, city, landscape, and starship Eilen encountered on the Galewing's travels filled the hybrid girl with excitement and wonder. Eilen's new life was only made brighter by Baro's continued lessons about the Force during their downtime.
However, the full nature of Baro's work as both a trader and a smuggler soon began to show Eilen the darker aspects of life across the galaxy. For all the places the Galewing would visit, it would frequently travel into the scattered reaches of the galactic underbelly for all manners of business and necessities. Early on in Baro's care for Eilen, he was cautious and remained wary of potential threats to her, though this soon began to take a large toll on his available jobs and earnings. Eilen was inevitably exposed to more mature and dangerous places as Baro slowly lowered his safety standards. While she was always resourceful and creative, Eilen did begin to find herself in trouble from time to time over the years to follow, forcing her to grow up much faster than before.
To help acclimate her to his way of life, some of Baro's lessons for Eilen began to include trade and the galactic market. He also started teaching Eilen how best to deal with the dangers of the of the galaxy they would continue to meet, and soon included self-defense with a quarterstaff into her training. After some jobs and encounters gone badly that sent the two running, Baro made an active effort to improve Eilen's agility in open places at every chance. When he was more confident in her capabilities, he began letting Eilen stray further from his side while they were docked, eventually sending her on errands by herself and letting her roam freely if time permitted. Running errands soon became helping with more complicated jobs, for which Eilen - admittedly with some excitement - began to study means of sabotage, as a niche but useful addition to her skills. Among all she was learning, Eilen's favorite lessons were that of flying the Galewing herself, which she soon followed with study of many other starships' and speeders' control schematics.
Copious amounts of free time aboard the Galewing during its interstellar travels enabled Eilen to practice all of her growing talents frequently. Unfortunately, it also prevented Eilen from interacting with people outside of Baro's various jobs very often, offering almost no chances for her to form lasting relationships with anyone other than her mentor. At every rare chance they were given, though, Baro managed to regain contact with Lonae, and took Eilen to briefly visit her at any given place she happened to call home at the time.
Eilen would continue this way of life with Baro for more than a decade, reaching full maturity within the Galewing. By this point, Baro had no more to teach from his limited knowledge of the Force, and in spite of some self-improvements she'd desperately need to make, he felt Eilen was capable of living on her own. She would certainly find nothing further to her young life within the Galewing, and Eilen clearly aspired to do more. In the interest of getting her better training and trying to help her start a life of her own beyond one-off jobs on a freighter, Baro began searching for a safe place where non-Jedi, non-Sith Force-users could grow and call home. While such places were an extreme rarity at best, one organization in particular held his attention: Clan Arcona, a group Baro had done minor business with in the past, which, as he last knew it, was led by the incomparable welcoming hand of Atyiru Caesura Entar. Though his information about the clan was somewhat outdated and included its share of concerns, Baro believed someone such as Eilen would find a chance for a great start on her own, among their people and cities. Though Eilen was hesitant to leave her fatherly mentor, the two worked out a personal agreement to meet again whenever they could. Eilen soon looked forward to taking the next big step in her life.