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Character History
Birth and Childhood
Nikola was born to a pair of spacers that made their living undertaking long-freight work. He was born and raised on the freighter for four years, clambering about heating ducts and storage containers like his own personal playground.
His childhood died when the slaving gangs from Port Ol'Val descended on the freighter. Nikola hid in the workings of the ship that had been his playground, keeping quiet as his parents were killed for fighting back. Huddled down as he was, he did not notice the tiny probe droid working it's way through the ship. It latched to the nigh on imperceptible sounds of the child's whimpering, leading the cruel slavers right to the boy. Where his parents had fought, Nikola only went limp, defeated.
In the great hollow asteroid that held within some of the dankest dregs of society, Nikola was sold into indentured service to a salvage company, tasked with cleaning out the Kas tunnel of the wrecks of ships piloted by those without the skill to navigate such a complex entrance. Nikola was only a child, and so was tasked with attaching the lines of the tugs to the wrecks, swaddled in a space suit. After years of manual labour, Nikola was practiced at moving in the void effortlessly, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness and freedom offered in the vacuum. He could forget about the squalid living conditions of the slaves, of the beatings by the company enforcers, themselves former slaves.
Valtiere never grew to be an enforcer, his anger at being made a slave becoming more and more prominent as time grew on. More and more, he would be beaten and locked away for striking out against enforcers and employees of the company. He became harder and harder to control, pushing the limits of his owners more and more every day.
His luck changed when the Quaestor of Galeres crossed his path. Zandro Erinos was on a refuelling run, having to use the facilities of Ol'Val as the Yuuzhan Vong war raged. Hunting down the presence in the Pride of Corellia district, Zandro came across the teenager sullenly eating the thin nutrient paste slaves were given. Nikola happily followed him, glad to leave his pathetic existence.
Enforcers tried to stop Zandro, claiming he was taking company property. Zandro was silent, not moving as he drew on the Force, crushing the enforcers against walls and the ceiling.
Being the Quaestor of Galeres meant that Zandro himself could not take on Valtiere as a student, leaving him in the capable hands of the instructors at the Savric Flight Academy, where he learnt the skills that would make him and excellent pilot.
Valtiere split his time between the Shadow Academy and the Flight Academy.
Nikola excelled as a pilot, throwing himself into battle and pushing himself to his limits. To improve himself, he had his legs removed just above the knee, replacing them with limbs of durasteel, meaining his body could withstand higher gee forces than normal, as blood could not rush away from his head. At that point, Nikola began an infatuation with prosthetics, stating that flesh was a weakness, an obstacle in the path to power.
Ascendancy
Horizons
Avenger II
Krayiss II
The first world Valtiere had fought over for the Brotherhood, Krayiss II was a host of new experience. With the guiding hand of his Master, Nikola managed to ensure Void did their work well above the planet, reaping a good tally for Arcona. However, being a new commander, used to simply being given orders and let loose, Nikola had some teething problems. More than once the Jedi Hunter forgot he had a whole unit to lead, pursuing his own attacks with minimal communication.
Following the poor results for Arcona, Nikola realised his errors, pushing to ensure he would be able to lead Void in the next campaigns in the war, to help win worlds under the banner of Arcona.
Captain
File:Nikola Valtiere Knight.jpgNikola following knighthood
Nikola's final mission before promotion to Captain brought him back to where he had begun: Port Ol'Val. A criminal tyrant by the name of The Accountant made the fatal error of killing members of Qel-Droma. Nikola and Nadrin were deployed to root out this criminal.
After spreading fear and discord through the gangs under the Accountant's command, Nikola finally came upon the infamous gang leader. He had found that the man was in fact a former Knight, who had fled the brotherhood because they did not agree with his imperious views. Nikola managed to fight and kill the man, but lost his arm in the process.
Dark Crusade
Valtiere spent all of his Captaincy fighting in the long war dubbed 'The Dark Crusade'. The Dark Council, suffering an embarrassing attack at the hands of the One Sith, reacted by razing their territories, taking their worlds in the heart of what was once the Sith Empire.
Early on in the campaign, Valtiere led Void Squadron in multiple victories, the only 'mundane' to ever do so, spearheading a new award initiative for his pilots, a motivation that pushed them to new heights of skill and drive. They fought as one cohesive unit, their signature mind-link making them act in concert more completely than any other piloting unit ever could. They would clear the space of the planet for Arcona, the silent vanguard of many assaults.
The Crusade was a long war. It ground down all those who fought, all members of the Brotherhood coming out changed in some fundamental way. Valtiere was tempered from a raging dervish to a more controlled, cold individual. He developed a hatred for pointless politicking and the manoeuvring of those that sought favour for their own sakes.
Officer
- "There is only one unforgivable lie. That is the lie that says, this is the end, you are conqueror, you have achieved it, and now all that remains is to build walls higher and shelter behind them. Now, the lie says, the world is safe. All emperors are liars."
- ―Lahek Burchi to Nikola Valtiere
After rising above Captain, Valtiere began to learn constraint. He began to spend time with his foster-parent, Lahek Burchi, in the Savric flight academy, as a calm man, not an angry boy. Something Burchi had taught the boy to focus his mind was the use of the Tulwar, a curved blade suited to mounted combat, but deadly on foot as well. It had been his callsign in Void squadron, but his knowledge in its use had dulled as he worked with the Clan.
He spent his time with Burchi learning the art again, and hunting, far from anyone, living only off what they killed. The old man imparted his wisdom to his adopted son. He learnt about fear, that it was a tool, like pain, or ambition, or greed, that could be used, not the only thing. You could not chisel rock with an arrow, as Burchi said.
It is important to never stop, Burchi said. Once a man stopped, another would come and take what he had. As a leader, he had to move forward, to be the centre others built around. If he got complacent, he would become weak, and fall. Then those he led would be sacrificed for his mistake.
When he returned to the Brotherhood, fresh and ready for War, it was as a changed man, no longer obsessed with sowing fear and distress, but as a strategist with a mind that ranged steps ahead of others, quiet and distant from his fellows.
Aedile
Quaestor
Rollmaster
Nikola aboard the BAC Shadow
After stepping down from his role as Quaestor of Qel-Droma, Valtiere seemed to disappear, out of the eye of many of his Arconan Brethren. He spent time with members of the Arconan Armed Forces, hopping from ship to ship, more comfortable among the members of Arcona's Navy than their Force Sensitives. During the War, he begrudgingly joined the fellow Dark Jedi in battle against the foes of Grandmaster Ashen. In battle, Valtiere found himself again, be it flying a fighter, or going toe-to-toe with a competent opponent. The War was a monument to the arrogance of Dark Jedi. Valtiere realised he could work to redress that viewpoint somewhat.
Personality
Nikola is a quiet individual, not wasting time with many words, succinct and to the point. This can appear dismissive or brusque to some members of the Brotherhood. One of the things that Nikola thrills in most is combat. His joy is especially in quickly striking an opponent, crippling them. The thrill of a hunt is also almost intoxicating for the Sith. He finds true joy studying tactics and histories, working out new ways to prosecute attacks on foes. His fury of the past is still present, but it is colder, controlled. He hates those who attempt to rise for the sake of power, not working towards something. It has caused him to be cold to leaders and subordinated he sees as too interested in personal gain rather than having a point to the power they accrue. He sneers at any of the political subterfuge in the Dark Brotherhood, seeing it as a weakness that leads to pointless waste of resources.
Appearance
Nikola is imposingly tall, towering above most of his fellows within the Brotherhood, giving him a habit of seeming to bore down on an individual. Though tall, Nikola is slender and long limbed. He moves with the gait of one used to lower than standard gravity, stepping lightly, pushing forward more than upward with each step, making him move fluidly. He has a shock of dark brown hair atop his head, kept relatively short due to his having to wear a full face helmet when flying. His pale skin is marked by a few scars, relics of combat. One of his eyes is pale green, while the other glows icy blue, an obvious prosthetic, for while Nikola could afford a facsimile, he prefers to flaunt his augmentations. His lower legs are wrought of durasteel, a sacrifice to ensure he could withstand the Gee forces of extreme flight, allowing him to outmaneuver other pilots more easily. Following his battle with the accountant, Nikola lost his right arm above the elbow, having it re-crafted in metal, with hidden blades in the fingertips, to make use of his hand-to-hand skills. During the crusade,the rest of the right arm was lost. He then underwent further elective surgery, removing his left arm to be replaced with a cybernetic of brushed durasteel.
His usual attire is his flightsuit, worn with pride, or, for more formal events, an anachronistic dress uniform is worn.
Fighting Style
Originally, Nikola fought without regard for his personal safety, throwing himself at the enemy, hammering away at their defences, using his anger to keep him going beyond the point at which others would falter.
However, with training under Nadrin and some select hand-to-hand masters, Nikola began to learn how to turn attacks against the foe, tricking foes by presenting false weaknesses, incapacitating limbs, and attacking weak points enemies present. Each strike has fury behind it, but it is cold, precise, controlled. Nikola is most proficient with Jeswandi, the Bothan style of combat, revelling in trapping and incapacitating foes as their strikes are directed away uselessly.
Along with Jeswandi, Nikola has also turned his skills to Verdanaian, the Anzat martial art, suited to its fluid motions and redirection of strikes, turning them on the attacker.
Equipment
Nikola's knife
R9-S6
R9-S6, 'Swift', is Nikola's astromech droid, an R9 unit. Having flown with Nikola for years without a memory wipe, Swift has picked up some behavioural quirks. Quick to launch into battle, Swift has a penchant for pulling tight manoeuvres and performing hit and run attacks.
Knife
Nikola uses his hands mainly for melee combat, however, in some cases, he will use his finely wrought long knife, a gift from one of his flight instructors, Lahek Burchi. It measures a foot and a half in length, and two inches wide. On the base of the pommel is a small carving of an unassuming looking bird.
Stealth X
The StealthX is a modified X-wing, suited for stealth operations. Nikola flies it as a former part of Void Squadron.
DJB Facts
Positions Held
Commander of Void Squadron 36 ABY-37 ABY.
Aedile of House Qel-Droma 37 ABY - 37 ABY
Quaestor of House Qel-Droma 37 ABY - 38ABY
Rollmaster of Clan Arcona 38 ABY-Present
Outstanding Achievements
Achieved Dark Maven of flight as an Acolyte.
Trivia
Interesting or important facts that do not fall under the other two categories.