- "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance."
- ―Socrates (469 BC - 399 BC)
Kazarelth is a Dark Jedi Knight of Clan Tarentum, serving as Right Hand of Malice within the lone Battle Team of Cestus. He arrived to the Brotherhood in search of power and new kinship, and found these and more within the boundaries of the Yridia System. His thirst for knowledge intensified with his new religion: Krath. All he desires now is more power, and more knowledge.
History
Omwat
Birth and Growth
Kazarelth Talismarr was born in the planet of Omwat, to parents he never knew. He was born into nobility, and was raised by many hands. One of those hands was the Dark Side, which influenced him from an early age, as a result of which he was mostly an outsider in his own planet, as many of his own kind left him alone. This had a lasting impact upon the immature mind of the Omwati. The bond that many shared with their home, never influenced him. His greatest resentment was that his kind thought of the Empire as an enemy, when they were actually helping the Outer Rim Territories.
Family
Family was a word the Omwati child never understood till late. His upbringing was subject to an offshoot of Grand Moff Tarkin’s regimen. The mental experiments performed with his tender mind strengthened his intelligence, which therefore expanded exponentially and continues to do so, though at the cost of his physical prowess. He believes that his short-time experimenter was a darksider and he thus was touched by the Dark Side, at a very young age.
His memories are nothing more than blurs. When he was returned to his native planet, and who did keep him company in the palatial estate of his parents, he does not know. Although when asked he does respond that his caretakers were the old, forgotten, dusty books which inhabited the estates libraries. His extended family did nothing but let the boy educate himself with forgotten lore.
He almost always studies and gathers knowledge, seeking the power over Learning and Wisdom. He has also sought to find information about his unknown parents. From living relatives, he did sketch out a rough outline about his parents. Not satisfied with this, he researched through history and facts, and built up a possible history of his parents. He believes that his parents designed and engineered the Galaxy Gun. Yet, the truth remains a mystery.
The Arrival of the Jedi
After the death of Tarkin, the Jedi came to the planet of Omwat, with a portion of the Couruscanti Omwati. The Jedi had come there with the news of Tarkin’s death, and with an open hand of friendship. They also were told that children wishing to train as Jedi were welcome to their new Academy on Yavin IV.
Kazarelth did not wish to have anything to do with the Jedi, held in thrall by the old pages of Sith books that he had acquired in the library of his house's hidden libraries. He delved deep into the mysteries, but he could not find the knowledge he yearned for. However, he knew that he could not find the answers with the ignorant Jedi who themselves prayed for unwanted peace. He looked at them in contempt, resulting in many telling the rest that the boy's connection to the Dark Side was deep and dangerous. And thus it resulted in Kazarelth's overall shunning by his Jedi-loving kindred.
The Brotherhood
Mentor
At 16 years of age, Kazarelth stepped inside the Halls of the Brotherhood, and was inducted as a Sith into Clan Tarentum, House Gladius.
He quickly rose through the ranks, and was transferred to the Battle Team The Praxeum. It was here that the Omwati’s basic training was given. He learnt the dominance that even a lowly Dark Jedi could have against the ordinary. Windos Helkin Bruth'Kothae played the part of an unexpectedly patient teacher, guiding the boy through the Brotherhood’s arcana.
His guide walked him through the basic tenets of Tarentum’s gift of necromancy. He gradually taught Kazarelth the simple elegance of the Keeper’s secrets.
Windos also noticed Kazarelth’s devotion to the knowledge collected over centuries in dusty volumes of books. He soon asked his young Protector, now a proud Krath, to assist the archives and libraries that the Battle Team possessed.
The Omwati’s untiring love for knowledge bade him to agree to Windos' request. As the Librarian of a certain library which many did not visit often, Kazarelth used to be engrossed in the ancient tomes. The very whiff of an old guardian of knowledge excited him as he plunged deep into the mysteries of the Darkness.
The Search and the Torment
The trials of the sword were not far away to the Protector. His Battle Team had been called away to assist the Shadow Academy’s investigation on a stolen book. Under Windos’ leadership the team along with their Quaestor and Aedile they soon overcame their enemies and successfully retrieved the old tome.
However, Kazarelth’s brush with an unimaginable Darkness left him slightly scarred. His torture at the hands of the “thief” left him paler than normal. He lived the suffering over and over again in his dreams and acquired the gift of clairvoyance in a strange way that he would see himself being brutally tormented by anything dreadful that was to happen to him.
Although the young Protector lived through this for a time, he eventually sought out a master of learning.
Master and mastery
His search brought him to the tutelage of Pontifex Saitou. The old Pontifex readily took the Omwati under his wing, and so began Kazarelth’s frequent visits to Castle Tarentum. His teacher demystified many enigmas of the Force and helped him uncover the cloak and dagger operations of the Krath. Saitou’s help and the ever-present Windos’ dedication on him steered him to the clothes of the Guardian. His first warbanner summed up his ardour to Krath.
He began to be involved in his Battle Team’s missions more rigorously and trained in the Cerberus’ command deck. This was primal in Marshal Maxamillian von Oberst’s mind as he tapped the Omwati into the command of the recently vacated Creeping Death, as a lieutenant.
Kazarelth gladly took over the command of the Marauder corvette. He sensed new responsibilities that would come as a result of this.
The New Phyle
However, Kazarelth soon realized that he was being pushed from his beloved Praxeum into another Battle Team: The Keepers of the Night.
Although wary and unfriendly at first, Kazarelth soon established himself as a promising member under the leadership of Lady Telona Murrage.
Kazarelth knew Lady Murrage. She was his boss at Antei, where he worked as the assistant editor of the Dark Voice. He soon grew fond of her direction as he worked into forging his place in the halls of the hallowed Phyle.
New Times
Yet, the Omwati could not shake a nagging sense of “not-belonging”. He missed his old Praxeum and the friends he had made there over time.
At this time, the administration of Gladius took a new turn. Quaestor Sato and Aedile Dranik were called away on their clandestine operations, and the House was at a loss to seek what to do. An old stallion in Munesanzun Mitsukai Isradia rose up to hold the bastion of Gladius high, as Windos, being experienced and respected, took to the job of assisting Mune as the Aedile. Lady Murrage also stepped down as the Dark Voice Tribune.
It was during this furtive change of hands that Kazarelth found unexpected powers by virtue of his ascension to the rank of Jedi Hunter, and a simple note in his room saying that he was the Praxeum’s new leader.
The young Hunter was surprised, and delighted; and resonated with the air of responsibility everyone around him perceived. This was a beginning of a new time. A testing and wondrous time of new and powerful responsibilities. Derev Niroth took over as the Dark Voice Tribune, and selected the Jedi Hunter to serve along with Dismal as joint second-in command of the Dark Voice.
Invasion and Ascension
However, Kazarelth’s newfound powers and responsibilities were put through the test of fire. He was on board the Creeping Death when the Yuuzhan Vong assaulted the Shroud. His ship was instrumental in defending all Tarenti not protected by the strong formation of the rest of the Kraken Battlegroup. He suffered the mental strains of his encounter with a stoic sense of responsibility, and fought back bravely in the space skirmishes against the hated invaders. He came to terms with the masochistic tendencies of the Children of Yuuzhantar, and was transformed into a self-sadistic monolith himself in those times. He bore the scars of his deathly encounter with the Yuuzhan Vong’s boarding with honor.
After the humiliation of the retreat, Kazarelth received his Consul’s focus. Sith Bloodfyre noticed the passion that the youthful Hunter had, and in a small ceremony, fastened the quad-ridged Sapphire Blade to its Mandalorian hilt and presented the award to the Omwati. The blade now hangs faithfully by his left hip, as he rejoices in the comfort and disposition it grants him.
Yet, the words "your Knighthood and lightsaber are surely not far behind, but I hope you will see the significance in this reward, as well" that Bloodfyre spoke during the award ceremony were truly prophetic. Kazarelth was soon given the opportunity to construct a lightsaber by his master; and in the ritual duel that followed it, Saitou scarred him beneath his left eye as the Rite of Honor. The harvest had been ripe and Kazarelth now hung his lightsaber hilt along with his Sapphire Blade. He was now truly a renowned member within Tarentum.
A House, and a Dream
At the end of the shameful retreat, many Tarenti felt a burning mental plague sear their cerebral lands. With time and research, the source was known to be the deserted satellite of Koros. Home once of the mighty Obeliskan House, Cestus. Yet, Tarentum’s loss there was palpable: Hundreds and more fell at the hands of an experiment in Undeath gone horribly wrong.
However, a small team of younglings, guarded for by the able Lady Murrage, went to investigate the destroyed Cestus Complex.
The Aptrgangr and Draugr held them down until relief arrived with Welshman leading Kazarelth and Karel Tarentae. It was long before they could extract the group, and before the Clan’s elders came to a collective rescue.
The Undead held sway with numbers and imagery, and waves of them were swathed with the sick intelligence of their masters. And the Consul came to a decision: His old friend and dragon brother was called, and an another old friend discarded her wings and crashed onto the ruined Cestus Complex. Burying itself with the combined powers of Necromancy and Telekinesis, the Star Destroyer sent the undead a little deeper into their restless graves.
On these restless bones, and old mastery, House Cestus was born again. Kazarelth was installed as the Aedile, while Karel took over as his superior. And thus began a new era in the Clan’s timeline.
Malice's Right Hand
At the end of his tenure, the Omwati had grown restless. Constantly seeking new powers and expanding his present Necromancy, his eyes bled drowsiness, but his spirit never wavered. Through a tumultuous time of summoning and dismissals, the Necromancer had taken over his life. His chamber was filled with all sorts of fetters he sent off his many minions to scour Yridia.
His experiments with Life had taken to strange proportions. His constant companion, a domesticated feline monstrosity that went by the name “Banshee” was seen in varying stages of death and decay every day. Some days with its fur intact, but its eye threatening to fall off, and yet other days when everything seemed perfect, except its movements were stupefying and murderously inclined. Its nature seemed undecided: its domestication was almost forgotten on some days; while on others, it was seen as a picture of obedience and loyalty [in the feline manner].
Sith Bloodfyre took it up as a mentor in the ways of Necromancy to look after his younger friend. In the passing days, he mentioned a better and renewed way to refocus his attention on the present. Gifting him an opportunity to lead a hardened Battle Team he created a siphon through which he could access his anger in a potentially devastating way, as well as collecting fetters and Knowledge in the process.
In the succeeding days, Kazarelth took on the mantle of the Right Hand of Malice, the leader of the Hands of Malice, a team of dedicated Dark Jedi of Cestus. A name to be dreaded and looked up in awe.
Prakith
When Sato Khan, the then Quaestor of responded to the Summit of Tarentum's request for warriors on Prakith, Kazarelth and his team of dedicated Dark Siders were promptly summoned and sent to Prakith, the base of a secret Imperial facility. They were told to bring back anything that would contribute to the stockpile that was Tarentum's war-effort. As the Hands of Malice swept through the southern entrance of the secret facility, they picked up the valuable Starkiller system along with a mysterious orb that gaoled a spirit full of wickedness. This orb affected the Omwati's physic the most, chilling his heart that no dreg of warmth could cure, except those conjured-up by Bloodfyre.
When the spirit was bent into submission so that even the young Knight could control it with ease, he pocketed it- hoping to experiment with its spirit that caused him the most harm.
Appearance and Demeanour
Teal eyes are not a common sight amongst the Omwati children. And thus was Kazarelth ridiculed, mocked, derided, insulted, gawked at but noticed wherever he went. His eyes are the first things that anyone perceives of him; standing at around six feet, the Omwati is not an especially tall specimen of his own species and certainly is not a part of the tallest-members-of-the-Brotherhood club, and thus he is not, so to speak, a "head above the rest". However his eyes, once timid and unwilling to shine, now menace with cold anger as his voice does. His voice barely rises above a whisper, yet it has a threatening aura around it which wraps itself around the fact that his tone is as strong as it is unfriendly.
Kazarelth's hair is composed of feathers, as is true with his kinfolk. Nevertheless, they also have the distinction of being unnervingly black. Normal Omwati do not have any record of anyone who has been bestowed with such a strange facade. His measure footsteps rustle his hair-feathers and they irradiate the Teal child's odd relationship with the color.
From the Character Sheet
Physical Appearance: Kazarelth is a fairly tall, and very frail Omwati. Frequently found in the company of books than people, his aloofness has affected his appearance in more than one way; dark circles beneath his eyes tell stories of nights kept awake in the search of knowledge, and his shifty eyes suspect anything that is not written by hand. His irises are a bright shade of teal that stand out starkly in contrast with his black pupils, almost exactly like his teal-irradiating dark hair- an anomaly among Omwati children. His gaunt face usually taunts his opponent with a jeering smile, or a leering grin, letting anger flow through the battlefield. Though physically weak, Kazarelth allows the vines of the Force to twist themselves as an armor around himself, frequently setting up barriers with them to protect himself from hurtful blows, letting his knowledge of the Force thwart rogue brawns.
Impediments: As such, Kazarelth talks less; and the anomalies of the Force decided to do away with something he rarely used:- A shard from the Crystal of Tears tore his voice-box in such a way that even a cough or a grunt would cause him acute pain, let alone talk. To this day, he speaks through the Force, and that too very rarely. However he likes this mode of communication more than anything else, lacing unearthly and unholy whispers from beyond the Shroud to his speech, he unnerves his opponents and scares most laymen outright. With a life devoted to a fanatical search for more Knowledge, Talismarr has grown to have a dislike for food, preferring to stay on a diet of nothing but warm beverages or smooth liquors as he pores over dusty volumes. It shows on him, since he is a weakling in shows of physical brawn, and cannot win arm-fights against similarly-aged girls.
Distinguishing Marks: Kazarelth was marked with a vertical lightsaber mark below his left eye by his master. Saitou's precise slash left the iconic Mark that is sometimes seen to glow as Kazarelth's rage increases; although most will attribute that to his insane use of Trickery. It was his rite of ascension to the power of the Dark Jedi Knight, and he wears the scar as proudly as Saitou wears his.
Phobias: Kazarelth is mortally afraid of insects, despising them for surviving anywhere and their affliction. He, however, has much affinity for arachnids, happily regaling in biased competitions between a large insect and spiders that receive the Dark Side's blessings from his hand. Talismarr is also known to shy away from crowds, and social functions.
Tarentum Navy
Starting off as a pilot of the coveted TIE Defenders of the Clan, Kazarelth quickly climbed the ranks of the Navy to that of Lieutenant. Assuming command of the Marauder Corvette Creeping Death as a Guardian. His true potential with the vessel was shown during the Vong Invasion, where his ship was instrumental in removing boarding parties from the Corsair. Though the corvette survived a Vong boarding party, it wasn't long before the bedraggled ship collapsed at the end of the escape.
The Corvette was decommissioned, and in its stead, the newly obtained Reqiuem was placed into the able hands of the Lt. Commander Talismarr.
The Force
The Force, specifically the Dark Side has completely merged with Kazarelth’s newfound life. His connections with the Force are firmer than practically all of his age or class. He stringently manipulates the Force around him as a primary nature. Things as trivial as turning a page to those as important as flying a space vessel sees the Omwati turning to the Force to aid him. He learns new skills with the Force as easily as he adds a new feature on his modified datapad (from which he is never far).
DJB Facts
Positions Held
Present Positions
Past Positions
Trivia
- Kazarelth is called "Kaz" by people who know him in the Brotherhood.
- Youngest member to get a Sapphire Blade. {He thinks. :P }