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Welcome, Nikora Rhan!
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Character Notes: Concept and Direction
This is being written as a reminder and for future reference, for further development and when the time comes to reconsider possible directions, rework elements, or start anew. Given the character details present on this wikia, easy access seems to be the right choice in this case.
Guiding Direction
The guiding overall direction for each character was to each be founded upon a question. That will remain so, but up to this point, each has also been founded upon a more unifying idea: Take the founding ideas of villains and turn them into genuinely heroic figures.
For the past fifteen years I have largely written villains, anti-heroes, and monsters of various types, ranging from the amoral to the truly abominable. While there have been exceptions, even these largely fitted into people carrying out horrific acts in the name of some greater good, and barely being better than those they fought. While entertaining, this primarily served as a means to explore each and study their concepts, but I was lacking in variety and it was stunting potential creativity. It was difficult to create any truly good character who was not willing to get his hands dirty, simply due to how limiting it was, and they would all too easily morph into the same past creations. Because of this, my goal instead became a way to have the same starting point as many, but then to walk back, until they wouldn't be out of place among genuinely good people.
The effort has had its stumbling points and problems, but overall it has proven to be an engaging venture on the whole, as each has offered some facet or archetype to work with. At the very least it has helped to add a degree of exploration back toward storytelling and angles that I otherwise abandoned for a time, and explore concepts that would otherwise be rather limited. It is also why two of my characters - Tarvitz and Essik - were noted to be on borrowed time, due to both predictions of an impending end and sheer age respectively. While left relatively nebulous, this left the door open for others to pass them, allowing each to serve as an experiment in certain factors, before others might be moved onto once their tales were complete.
Ka Tarvitz
Out of all those here, Tarvitz's question was the most basic - How many villain tropes and origin elements can I create while making them on the side of the angels?
This was largely accomplished due to self-awareness of certain elements, and willingness to utilise a variety of means to offset a number of anti-hero qualities. Furthermore, much of his story can still be read as a villain's tale when a number of caveats are skimmed over:
Tarvitz was born of a dead world, his parents were killed giving him little guidance in his early life. His powers were beyond his control, causing devastation and ruin when employed. He was inducted into a cult of warriors following Sith doctrines and pressed into challenges that he was ill-suited for or had others see a distinct advantage over him. He accomplished relatively even odds by fighting dirty, stretching duelling rules to their absolute limit, and relying on sheer brute strength in several cases. He was repeatedly pushed back and actively limited in following certain goals, while at the same time haunted by frequent visions of his death from the age of seven onward. He was encouraged to treat this as a part of life, giving him an unhealthy view on death itself, while also venerating his lost home.
After being granted the ability to operate on his own, Tarvitz used it to pursue his personal goals; one of which was to recover and hoard relics of bygone eras and their knowledge. During his travels, Tarvitz left a trail of destruction in his wake, killing thousands as he travelled the Outer Rim and often profiting from their deaths. Showing little hesitation to engage in fights, and openly displayed joy in every engagement, no matter how large the massacre might be. His entire body is a massive network of scars from these battles, some so horrific that they can be disturbing to look at. Some were earned in horrific acts, such as drowning one enemy in molten lead. His hunger for knowledge and hints of the future led him to the ancient Sith worlds, discovering the Brotherhood and quickly joining them.
Fighting in several of the Brotherhood's wars and engaging those that sought to halt them, he returned to his kind only to be reprimanded for his actions and all but damned for them. Deemed to have gone too far, he gathered the knowledge forbidden by his kind, and worked with like-minded individuals to ensure their kind's future. Claiming a haunted castle in a forgotten and desolate part of one planet after paying the price for its ownership in blood, Tarvitz now seeks to expand upon his existing teachings and continue their path. Supporting this is a growing army of automata; each stolen or claimed from the dead.
It fits in nicely with a number of possible foes, enemies, and general antagonists from a number of works, and it only becomes far more clear with greater detail. The way he was made heroic was by adding a slight spin onto each one to add a different context. To cite a few examples:
- Tarvitz doesn't enjoy inflicting death, but the challenges combat brings, and gains as much euphoria from training bouts as pitch battles. He's keenly aware that he needs to avoid taking pleasure in a foe's end, as that would make him no better than those he fights.
- The majority of those that he killed in the Outer Rim were pirates and raiders, typically fighting them alone, after giving them a simple chance to walk away. Most of his scars were earned from saving lives and going out of his way to protect others, while his eye-implant was added as a reminder of his mortality.
- While he was shown visions of his death early on, he interpreted it as a means to not claw onto life, but to spend it well. As such he throws himself into battle when he deems the cause correct, so that others will not have to until he is gone.
- The forbidden knowledge he claimed were largely those of Jedi origin, and the few scraps that could be found following the purge. Those of Dark Side origin are sealed away so they might be used, or destroyed if found to be too dangerous. These were forbidden due to the self-censorship the Jensaarai were undergoing, as Tarvitz felt that this harmed them.
There are many others besides, but it has been an entertaining means to find an interpretation of each that might be pushed into a more heroic light one way or the other. Or at the very least a means to better justify some acts that would be used to otherwise cement a character's villainous nature. While certainly worse off than a large number of Jedi due to these acts, it was a means to rework this sort of story without turning him into the Star Wars version of the Punisher or something similar.
Admittedly, as was pointed out at a later date, this did make him a mirror image of Darth Sion in many ways. I'll likely have to think on that more at some point.
Essik Lyccane
Essik's question was quite simple - What happens when someone gives everything to a government they serve, and it dies?
This might not seem villainous in of itself, but it is the starting point to a number of villain tales that come to mind, and even motivations. After all, the fall of a central government can easily lead to warlords rising, especially among experienced military leaders. We've seen this in history and media alike, either from those hungry for power or even those trying to stymie the chaos through necessary tyranny. Atop of this is how many times Essik was betrayed by those he served, pushing him into bitter resentment, and the massacres he inflicted in the name of restoring order during previous years. Even then, it is made clear that he predicts possible threats and betrayal from all of those about him, and makes plans to fight or oppose even his closest allies should the worst come to the worst. Cap that off with how his more amiable elements are something of a show, and he has actively deadened connections to those under his command, and it isn't hard to see how certain elements would easily push him into a villain role.
Many qualities make him into a pragmatic and ruthless planner, either those that become villains or those who are that way at the start of a story. One - his relationship with those who serve him - was directly influenced by one character quality in Berserk's antagonist, and more than a few others have been repeated by certain foes in various media. While I couldn't give him a direct army to command, he fits very neatly into the aspect of criminal mastermind and villainous chessmaster. Someone who can keep coming back over and over again, keep rebuilding, and is dangerous if given any group to command, especially when paired with his willingness to use open threats and kill thousands if it brings a far greater conflict to a standstill.
His primary redeeming feature is extreme loyalty to those he serves, even those now long gone. However, even that could be interpreted as a villainous quality in certain stories, and with extremely little effort. As such, I worked to offset this in two areas, one that was planned and the other that gradually arose as his character developed.
The first was to work that loyalty with one other aspect: He considers violence to be a means to an end, and something to be avoided if given the chance at all. While the opportunities to do so are few and far between, he will study a foe, will test and make sure if they can be talked down or a weakness exploited, and drive them into retreat. Essik typically responds with appropriate force, but is more than willing to use absolutely every asset on hand to accomplish this. As such, in wider battles, he is more than willing to completely break or annihilate an enemy, especially if they refuse a chance to surrender when the situation is turned against them, or keep resisting once others have stood down. He doesn't believe in fair play, but that doesn't mean he believes that extremes are the only option.
The other was quite simple: He considered his role to be one needed to save lives and prevent things getting worse. He's good at it, and I have even had him enjoy elements of the lifestyle in stories. But I have never had him lose sight of that one fact above all others. His failure to do so is a major part of what haunts him about the New Republic's loss, and why he feels as if so many years were wasted, because it effectively set the galaxy back forty years to the point where the Rebellion might as well not have happened at all.
These two elements are enough to keep him grounded and focused, even when he's at his most bitterly ruthless. In fact, they have been worked into a major strength in some ways, as it's resulted in stories where he's talked a squad sent to abduct their target into switching sides mid-revolution, and another where he privately convinced a leading figure in an uprising into serving as House Sunrider's informant. This is admittedly also helped by how he found another cause to dedicate himself toward - that of Clan Odan-Urr and even Tarvitz's private project - but I think that he would still be acting in that way even had he not joined them. Part of why is the second reason: His interpretation of those values into new goals.
As you might expect of story competitions, there are few needs for tactical and strategic figures or even major military leaders in them. Because of this, many came to instead focus upon his other talents and adapting them in a new way: As a detective. A number of stories have turned into murder mysteries thanks to his involvement, or even just his efforts to oppose actions through investigation and enough choice words. While unintended and existing largely thanks to a few story opportunities, it did help to shape him as someone reworking their existing talents into a new role. One that allows him to preserve the same values he had as before, but applying them on a much smaller scale. It's also something that's going to influence and rework his mindset in the coming years, and shape a good chunk of the lessons he will likely pass on.
Plus, he's a Gand. Humanoid insects tend to be made into villainous or evil figures more often than not, no matter their depiction.
Nikora Rhan
Rhan is an oddity, in that she ultimately follows the general path intended for Tarvitz. He was originally planned as a creative and machinist type before going full on space knight, and that was a baseline for Rhan's own work. However, I made a push to give the character a better sense of personal identity despite their similarities, and further emphasising a few aspects of his history. At the same time, I tried to do a few things with her that he couldn't simply due to his timeline and events.
Her question(s) was as follows - How would someone with two conflicting roles find a compromise between them in their lifestyle, and how would a fundamentalist adapt to restarting elsewhere in order to preserve the values she upholds the most? Even when it throws them even further into question?
Much of this came down to Rhan enduring and surviving many of the events that Tarvitz was able to largely skip over, while trying to work against them at home. She was far better suited as a teacher, far more of a specialist, and while she retained the Jensaarai's push for aggression, she followed the role as a police officer rather than an out-and-out berserker.
So where does the villain part come in? Well, Rhan is a person trying to keep alive and preserve occult knowledge and historical texts which were being burned. She seeks to pass on details of them in secret, usually to her students, and effectively tried to inspire a secret society of sorts. She even has the knowledge of how to emulate sorcerers of past ages, and actively practices their means. She sees life where it does not exist to most people in this setting, and she can even inspire its creation. Finally, is a person that actively wants to delve deeper into the forgotten parts of the galaxy. Equally, she has little patience for the setting's church.
If she was a character in a Lovecraft setting, Rhan is the sort of person who would be leaving an apocalyptic diary in her wake, having found things that no person was meant to know. That or she would have sided with them. Each is possible.
So, the difference on the villain side is quite simple really - She's far more hardline against Sith teachings than Tarvitz, and she has clear places in which to draw the line at using any of their lore. While experienced in the means of Sith Alchemy and retaining some knowledge of their sorcerers, this is limited purely to her ability to create objects and materials through alchemic rituals. The rest that she knows goes toward learning the weaknesses of certain Sithspawn, means of creation, and understanding exactly where the line between her work and worse things is crossed. Equally, her role in seeing life where it does not exist stems largely from her ability to see life in other aspects, or even create it, but how she sees droids as people and the same spark that is visible in others. This goes beyond simple sentience and treating them as people, as she can and will treat even nonsentient droids as having the same rights as at least a housepet. This is one of the major reasons why their current residence is home to a free droid enclave.
Much of her potential villainy instead stems from two things that were left unspoken in the description: She was discouraged and had heir abilities disbelieved for years on end, and when it was finally believed it was during an action where she was forced to kill people en mass through the use of her ability. From there on, even after being found by the Jensaarai and offered training, she was effectively being fast-tracked for a single role-based upon her abilities rather than as a person. It was somewhat akin to a square peg being hammered into a round hole, until it fitted. The only reasons she did not develop further resentment was thanks to some of the connections made, and a sense of comradery with certain people. There was an immense amount of control placed upon her role and, even when she did find enjoyment in her works, it was severely limited and ultimately restrained. Combined with the later burning of the history she found fascinating, that resentment would typically result in someone going off of the deep end with one strong push. The reason she sidestepped it was by having enough resolve and consideration for her potential actions to find a way to actively preserve what she had, and then to wait for an opportunity to overcome the current changes.
In terms of the question itself, that need to constantly restart is a strength to her rather than a weakness. She was a scavenger first. Then a Jensaarai Defender. Then an Engineer. Then a Reclaimer. Then a Teacher. Now she's a Warsmith. She sees the ability to start over and begin anew as a chance to better consider what might be required of the future, and to broaden her horizons, without compromising or putting the past to the torch as so many others might do. While it results in some flaws and the lack of same solid experience as a single dedicated focus, the fact that she has never fully strayed from a few elements still serves her well. This also helped in the question, by giving her an extremely pragmatic view on certain values and how to approach them; in many cases with her ultimately reworking or even fine-tuning certain systems, and even leaving others to rework it as might be done best. It's also why I've tried to treat her as the de-facto leader among the small group, at least in matters of doctrine, structures and teaching.
Sirra Werd'la
Sirra is the easiest to pin down for one simple reason: She's Tarvitz's idea but taken up to eleven. Rather than having lived through her origin story and come out the other side, she's still living through it and adapting to one that was actively derailed before it could become worse. Sirra's question was a response to people repeatedly calling the Jedi "emotionless drones hidebound by dogma, incapable of thinking for themselves, and existing only to kidnap then forcibly assimilate children into their broken culture". So, my argument was this - How does someone develop when they have no one to teach them how to control these powers and they cannot switch them off?
To put it simply, it all but breaks them.
She's by no means a unique one in this example, as there are a multitude of EU characters who underwent similar things, but Sirra had it happen in the worst way possible in almost the worst place possible. She was left with telepathy that couldn't be switched off and the ability to read any object through touch, but on Nar Shaddaa. Combined with the abandonment of her parents, that telepathy was all that kept her from growing up completely feral, but it also left her with a very warped sense of morality, judging the world in a state of predator and prey. Hunting, stealing, and killing what was needed, she grew up with a very loose sense of morals, and was more than happy to butcher others if push came to shove. Her history has her inciting and then overseeing the slaughter of a street gang before she hits double digits. This is someone who doesn't even know the basics of the language, maths, or many grounding elements in the world when she is found, and is heavily reliant upon telepathy to judge anyone.
Her history while on the Smuggler's Moon leaves her dead set for a weapons-grade Darth Edgelord future, and it's only blocked thanks to a chance discovery by Tarvitz. Even then, however, she is barely kept in line and struggles to fit in with others. She only hesitates from killing Tarvitz after meeting him thanks to some creative use of memories on his part. As such, Sirra's story isn't an out-and-out subversion or reworking villain tropes, but something of a display of someone trying to rapidly shift gears. The time on Nar Shadda makes it clear that she should end up as a villain, but the others are working hard to try and make sure she has another option for the future. This is far from, and her entire history is littered with failures, stumbling points, and problems along with successes. Tarvitz might be the one to open the door to her, but it's made clear he's a poor choice for her overall teacher, especially after she is almost killed while trying to live up to his beliefs. Her association with Rhan was extremely hostile throughout her tutorship, thanks largely to various communication problems and misunderstandings breeding resentment for months between them. Even then there remains a multitude of problems, ranging from flaws brought about due to years of malnutrition to her inability to fully emulate those she is trying to follow.
Part of the subversion does mimic Tarvitz in one way, in that she cannot wholly leave her history or beliefs behind. She can have them questioned, altered, and made more complex, but the set of skills she follows are ones that can be best hammered and used in a new fashion or fitted into cultures that embrace them. This results in her performing similar acts but under a new context, like butchering a dozen armed mercenaries, but this time in order to protect a multitude of students that they were given orders to kill. Or, due to her competitiveness and deeply-ingrained need to hunt, fight, and survive, she finds that she has far more in common with Mandalorians than anyone else. it's less changing wholesale than adaptation, and trying to find enough to fully offset the lessons and ideals that serve as a foundation to her life, ones that she cannot easily abandon, even with the help of others.
Saga Ongoing
With things as they are, there is unfortunately a very good chance that I might not be able to complete my characters' stories. The last several months have seen them constantly delayed or put on hold, so I wanted to hammer out a few essential details on what was planned in case I am never able to finish the saga.
- The crew of the Yastobaal would continue to travel the galaxy, trying to rebuild their strength with continued mixed results. Although the numbers of the Free Droid Enclave would continue to expand and even a few new Jensaarai would join them, they wouldn't be able to rebuild the group's strength to back where it was when they controlled the Fang. The simple lack of infrastructure and even a dedicated warship would continue to hinder them, though Essik would find success in continuing to build his network of spies, agents, and contacts.
- The group would have repeated run-ins with the Shadow in the Force and groups allied to it, ranging from rogue Inquisitors to pirates. Although very successful in initial encounters, the group soon starts to struggle due to both the volume of people joining the entity and how readily it keeps adapting to their tactics. Far more worrying is how many individuals are clearly enhanced by Sith sorcery or have been reworked on a genetic level, leading Rhan to suspect that Arani might have joined them due to the nature of their creations.
- Attempting to follow up on a lead to a research station leads them to encounter the Shadow almost physically, but it is confused and seems not to know them. They are able to at least fight it to a stalemate, but the entity retreats with the genetic prize it had been seeking out. Even so, as it withdraws it makes it clear it has never met them before and is much more concerned with its personal items there. They attempt to identify the exact nature of what it took, but much of it consisted of recorded biological data and enzymes.
- The group begins working to try and actively hunt the Shadow, pinning down information about it. Between making a deal with the Saarai-kaar for their few remaining records, accessing the Shadow Academy, and utilizing the resources they have gathered, they are able to pinpoint repeated appearances across the last few centuries, and a lengthy series of sightings long before then.
- Knowing that their continued encounters and hunts will not result in any genuine successes, Sirra is able to negotiate a plan of attack, using herself as the bait. They are able to draw in a large number of individuals allied with the Shadow as she attacks it telepathically, allowing them to capture them. This unfortunately fails to work, with most dying soon after capture, suffering from some sort of psychic backlash or withdrawal. A second effort proves to be much more effective, freezing a smaller group in carbonite. This allows them to start trying to examine how the Shadow operates, but their efforts are very limited due to how they need to keep them held prisoner.
- The group sees several breakthroughs in this time, between the powers of Rhan and Tarvitz, and also the Enclave's own group of researchers. They understand that the Shadow is working through them as some odd symbiotic relationship which turns parasitic over time, while nevertheless improving the strength and skills of those it merges with. The group does become increasingly cautious, thanks primarily to how the Shadow seems to adapt and react to their very presence.
- After several weeks they seem to find a breakthrough in hurting the Shadow, but Rhan realises that it isn't being hurt but is biding its time. They begin trying to withdraw and raise the alarm, only for hundreds of Shadow entities appearing within the base. The group does begin to withdraw, but Essik is badly wounded while halting the self-destruct mechanism to their makeshift base (a method added in case of a worst case sceario), and then pinned in place. Tarvitz tries to help evacuate Essik, but the Gand knows he is mortally wounded and tells him to withdraw. Although suffering heavy casualties they do pull out, and Essik is cornered by the Shadow, apparently the original one, holding it off for much longer than expected. Essik tries to first goad it into revealing information, only to then try to kill it by activating the mechanism. Neither works, but his actions prior to his prevents a retreat turning into a rout.
- The heroes regroup in Brotherhood space, but the losses are keenly felt. They are given little time to begin rebuilding, before they are hailed by an approaching ship, helmed by Arani. Rhan is ready to kill him, but Arani requests asylum citing an entity hunting him. Against Rhan's demands, the group allows him to dock with the Yastobaal. Arani is unapologetic for his experiments, but he states that the Shadow has been hunting him as well. He offers an alliance to pair up their information, but they soon learn that the "Shadow" Arani had encountered had been physical, and he had been able to take some information from scraps of its flesh in their encounter. They use this to realise that whatever Arani had encountered was tens of thousands of years old, and its tactics did not pair up with the other Shadows' efforts.
- A pirate warship jumps out and engages both vessels while they attempt to learn more of Arani's findings, but Tarvitz is able to cripple it in a short engagement. Although they initially believe that this is the Shadow's actions again, the surrendering pirates admit they have no idea why they are there, and they had last been plotting a route across the Outer Rim. Sirra is unable to detect any mental influences in any of them beyond heightened aggression, and Rhan can tell there is no sabotage to their drives, meaning that something actively redirected the ship to their location. This confuses them as it's clearly a far more powerful and time consuming effort over just mentally hijacking a crewman, suggesting that the Shadow's powers are limited in some way. Knowing he is still being hunted, Arani refuses to join them in their operations, but does offer a warning that they should not expect it to be taken unawares given how it seems to constantly track their actions.
- After some considerations and several more encounters, Rhan considers that the Shadow might be in an ancient location in the galaxy now long abandoned - The homeworld of the Gree. Although knowing it of largely thanks to her interest in archeology, Rhan admits that it would make some sense, between the entity's age and their now long-lost ability to craft technological marvels, including hyperspace gates. Tarvitz is ready to support this, but he admits he's largely doing it out of a lack of better options and their location. Both agree that there's every chance that this will be a trap, and try to prepare in advance.
- The group lands on the Gree homeworld, in the abandoned remains of the Imperial garrison there, but they find little in the way of life. Taking a scouting force into the city, Tarvitz is repeatedly struck by a sense of familiarity and dread as they explore the area, although not through any sense of the Force. Much of what they find proves to be lifeless, but bereft of any sense of violence that might indicate a massacre or even a mass abduction. They almost decide to leave, but several traps eventually encourage them to press onward. Sirra is eventually able to locate a remaining Gree, but their mind is all but burned out from whatever they experienced.
- The group begins meeting resistance from Shadow entities, each trying to perform hit and run attacks, but they realise they are actually trying to herd them in. A second group from the Yastobaal helps to break this, but the threat they pose forces the ship to return into orbit and then depart. Nevertheless, with a relatively large contingent of security and battle droids, they are able to press ahead.