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- "Within every truth, a lie. Within every lie, a truth. The wise can discern the truth from the lie. The powerful decide which is which."
- ―Kor Vaal
A Journeyman of the Krath order and member of Scholae Palatinae, the Kel Dor known as Kor Vaal awoke in adulthood with little memory of his previous life, but with a strange knowledge of the religions, legends and artifacts of the galaxy which he can to this day not explain. A mysterious and aggressive individual, he spent many years as a slave, before breaking free of his bonds and earning a living as a traveling mystic, fortune teller and something of a con man before eventually finding the Dark Brotherhood and realizing where his powers stem from. He is obsessed with all things occult and esoteric, whether they are the philosophies of Force users or the superstitious practices of primitive species, as he believes that all idea's of religion and magic hide truths pertaining to mastery of the Force. For all his scholarly leanings, his anger and hatred can overpower him, greatly strengthening him but reducing him to nothing more than a bloodthirsty killer. Sometimes this rage comes unbidden, but at other times he seems to allow himself to lose control, as if he revels in the unbridled anger and bloodshed.
Character History
Pre Dark Brotherhood
Rude awakening
Kor Vaal awoke sat in a cave in front of a fire at roughly age 20, knowing only his name and species, but could remember little else. Although disorientated, he felt at ease, like he was definitely meant to be there. On the other side of the fire was a pendant composed of a small clear crystal wrapped with bronze coloured wire on a chain of fine dull silver. Again, recognition flared in his memory, and he put the piece of jewellery on. There were two well read books in the cave with him, one a book of lore and ritual of the Baran Do sages, the other a small study of Sith history and philosophy, along with a small satchel with some food, water and a stack of what he assumed to be local currency. Seeming safe for the moment, and hoping his memory would return, Kor stayed in the cave and read for a time, feeling some sense of familiarity with both books. Although no memories resurfaced, he felt as though he had read the words in the books a thousand times before, as if they were locked away in some part of himself. After a time he packed the books in the satchel and found his way out of the cave. He was halfway up a mountain, on a dusty grey planet dotted with barren white trees. Seeing a town in the distance, and with no other real options, he set on his way to find answers.
Capture
When Kor arrived in the town he headed to the nearest cantina, ordering a drink and trying to establish where he was with the bartender, discovering he was in the outer rim territories. After divulging about his amnesia, the bartender told Kor that there was a man in town who could help him, and told him to go to his address and tell him that the bartender sent him. Upon arriving at the address and mentioning the bartender, Kor was taken prisoner by the man, who was a Twi'Lek slaver and smuggler by the name of B'kahn. On the way to a sale, Kor recognized and identified an item one of the other slaves had on them, a valuable religious artefact. B'Kahn took the item and found a buyer, making double what he would have sold the slave for. When asked how he knew what the item was, Kor was unable to answer, he just somehow knew. B'Kahn took ownership of Kor for himself, and gave him bed and board on his ship, provided that Kor identified and helped him find valuable artefacts to sell.
In Servitude, In Chains
Kor Vaal was granted a room aboard the ship and allowed to keep a handful of possessions, these were mainly books and data slates regarding various religions and magical practices and items, the better he could identify items for B'Kahn. Initially he would inspect any meagre items B'Kahn's newest stock had in their possession so that these could be taken from them and sold seperatly, but soon enough B'Kahn saw how lucrative trading in ancient artefacts and books could be. In addition to slaves, he began to deal in artefacts, always finding buyers and sellers in the many crime dens he visited. Kor Vaal's knowledge grew as he studied each artefact and tome, his understanding of ancient cultures and practices allowing him to spot forgeries with ease (and, on occasion, make them himself). No more of his memory returned to him, but he was at least content to continue his studies. After a couple of years B'Kahn decided to expand his operation, and he began to explore ancient ruins he heard of, taking Kor Vaal to identify anything of value. B'Kahn allowed the crew to teach Kor Vaal the basics of hand to hand combat in case they ran into trouble, and he learned something of the use of explosives from the need to break into ancient tombs and other sealed off places.
One particular client requested a particular book on history and philosophy of the sith, the book Kor Vaal had awoken with in the cave. Kor Vaal refused to part with one of his most treasured possessions, but B'Kahn had him beaten and took the book from him. He made Kor Vaal watch as he arbitrarily began destroying random items and books in Kor's room. After this was done he clasped an iron collar round Kor's neck and told him that from now on he would be lead on a leash, to remind him that he was nothing but property to B'Kahn.
Unheeded Whispers
- "You're nothing but an animal, fit for one purpose alone, and I am your master!"
- ―B'Kahn to Kor Vaal
The indecent almost broke Kor Vaal. Where once he considered the crew as something close to friends, he now realised he was nothing more than an asset to them, and he learned to hate them, for their betrayal, for the beating and for destroying what unique items that may have been the only source of the knowledge they contained. But most of all, he hated B'Kahn, he hated that he had been reduced to a dog on a leash, subservient to the whims of another. Just a few weeks after the beating, as he sat in his cabin, brooding on his hatred, he heard it for the first time. A faint voice that rang like nails on glass. He couldn't make out the words, but he discerned where it came from; the pendant around his neck, the one he found in the cave when he first awoke. In a moment of surprise and panic he tore it from his neck and threw it across the room. Slowly, he approached the place where it had landed, amongst a pile of scrolls. He picked it up by the chain and studied it carefully. To his visored eyes the pendant seemed as it always had, but as he stared he thought he saw a faint glimmer, like a shadow passing in the crystals core. He heard the whisper again, but this time he did not panic. He concentrated on the voice, a cold and faraway sound. Eventually, he managed to discern one word. The crystal said 'learn'. Suddenly the chain of the pendant slipped through his grasp and the crystal landed on a book that he hadn't realised was on the floor. Picking up both, he stared in wonder at the book, a small dog eared thing, almost a pamphlet. It was titled Forgotten Magics of the Sith Empire. Understanding dawned on Kor Vaal. He knew what he had to do.
Unbound
For the next year Kor Vaal continued to do as he was bid, being led through ancient ruin's on a chain 'sniffing out value' as B'Kahn put it. But now, instead of studying his tomes and artefacts as a scholar, he began to practice what he read. He learned all he could of the rituals and rites of ancient powers, performing such as he could in his confined quarters with limited resources, he studied the properties of crystals and various other substances. He practised many methods of divination, various runes and cards of a myriad different cultures and religions. He also studied the philosophy's of force users in attempt to find correlations between the various paths he was now studying. But overhanging all this he studied the philosophies of the Sith Empire and the Krath cult, for he knew that the power he sought was hidden in these. He attempted to coax more from the crystal pendant, but it rarely spoke again, and the times it did it merely certain books or certain cards in reading. Almost a year to the day that the crystal first spoke he was performing a reading of the future, when he was struck by a vision: his hands bloody, a broken chain at his feet. When he came back to his senses the crystal had fallen from its chain and landed on a certain card in his reading, a card of cataclysmic change and death. He picked the crystal up and it spoke, but with such clarity that Kor Vaal nearly fell backwards in shock. It said 'The time is coming'. With that his room communicator buzzed into to life to inform him that they would soon be departing the ship. Kor Vaal packed away his things and put the crystal back on the cord around his neck, and awaited to be collected.
B'Kahn was going to a slave market on the planet they were on, while some of the crew were to take Kor Vaal and travel to a local ruin to search for anything of value. Once there, they discovered nothing of value except a peculiar carving on one of the walls. Kor Vaal wished to study it but his Trandoshan handler Drosk demanded they return to ship. An argument ensued and Drosk fired his blaster at the carving, destroying it. To see more valuable knowledge destroyed before his eyes pushed Kor Vaal over the edge. His anger and hatred roiled to the surface and he flew into rage, ripping the chain he was being led on from Drosk's hand and managing to break it from the collar round his neck. Swinging wildly he used his makeshift weapon as part whip and part bludgeon, and moved with a supernatural speed, felling all the others in the small group. In a final act of vengeance, he took a dagger from the broken but still living form of Drosk and plunged it into his neck, finally ending the trandoshans life. When his senses finally returned to him Kor Vaal looked down to see his hands covered in blood and a broken chain at his feet, exactly as had been in his vision. Though exhausted from the incident, he felt powerful. He realised that his feats of supernatural strength and skill were proof that he was studying on the correct path. Though this was a raw display of his new power, he knew through careful study he would be able to control it, and become like a god. Picking up the chain that used to be his leash and a blaster from Drosk, he made his way back to the ship on the speeder he arrived on. When he arrived at the ship the guards were stunned at the sight of the bloodied and exhausted Kel Dor. He told them that the group had encountered some form of ancient trap and that the others were dead. One left to tell B'Kahn what had befallen the group. The other escorted Kor Vaal back to his quarters. As the guard opened the door, Kor Vaal tried to bring forth his anger as he had before, and through an effort of will lent himself the strength to strangle the guard from behind with his chain. He could not muster the same strength as before, but it was enough to accomplish his task. Not wanting to take on B'Kahn and the rest of the crew in his now weakened state, Kor changed his clothing, found the key for the collar around his neck, found a handful of local currency but most importantly gathered as many of his books and artifacts as he could. After all the 'business' meetings that B'Kahn had taken him to, Kor Vaal had a good understanding of how to travel without attracting attention, and he set off to put as much distance as possible between himself and the slaver. He vowed to continue his learning, gather his strength and take vengeance on B'Kahn.
Road to Power
For the next few years, Kor Vaal travelled through the outer rim, offering his services as a mystic and fortune teller to nobles, criminals or anyone with credits, all the while acquiring tomes and artefacts to further his own powers. His abilities of divination and prophecy grew and became quite accurate for smaller matters, but he also learned the value of lying during a divination to manipulate people to his own ends. He also began to develop his innate Kel Dor telepathy, and plant minor suggestions in the minds of the weak willed. He began to experiment with the powers of telekinesis, and while he found this difficult at first, he eventually began to be able to lift small objects. If his travels led him to a slave pit or other fighting arena, he would participate, and gained an affinity for using his chain as a whip, whilst beginning to be able to summon at will the abilities that had helped him free himself from Drosk in the ruins. Sometimes however his rage would build up beyond his control and he would kill not only his opponent but sometimes those unlucky enough to be within reach until he regained his senses. Occasionally he drove himself to this state, feeling a sense of euphoria in the release of pure rage. All the while he whispered to the crystal, and sometimes he heard it whisper back, offering him simple words and guidance, though whether the crystal was sentient, or an outlet for Kor Vaal's subconscious is a question he never brought himself to ask. Kor Vaal's obsession for practicing rituals grew, and he began to cut symbols of power and magic into the left side of his body. Eventually he fell into the employ of a superstitious crime boss on the planet Khubeaie, and became an adviser and fortune teller to him. With this relatively stable arrangement in place and with the fair measure of power he gained with it, Kor Vaal began to offer reward for valuable scraps of lore or the locations of them. He also began to learn more effective ways of garnering information, using his growing powers to help him interrogate those he felt were holding information from him.
Vengeance
Eventually Kor Vaal's past caught up with him. B'Kahn walked into the crime bosses den with a large compliment of armed mercenaries, determined to reclaim his 'property'. The crime boss attempted to calm the situation, but Kor Vaal had been waiting a long time for this day. Letting his hatred bubble to the surface, he made the first move, throwing a pair of small grenades into the mercenaries, and then launching into the fray with his whip, his more powers turning him into an instrument of death. The room erupted into a frenzied close quarters battle, and soon no-one knew whose side they were on. In the ensuing chaos, few in the crime den escaped with their lives. B'Kahn lay dead and broken at Kor Vaal's feet and the crime boss had been killed by a stray blaster bolt, but Kor Vaal had triumphed, he had gained power and taken his revenge. The survivors had already began to loot the dead, and Kor Vaal began to walk to his chambers to gather his things and move on again, when the crystal pendant once again fell from his neck and landed on the corpse of a pale, white haired human in tattered black robes. Having learned to trust in these signs, he began to look through the dead man's pockets, and found an unusual data slate which contained details of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Kor Vaal knew what this sign meant. Alone there was only so much he could learn, but this Brotherhood could help him to further his knowledge, to guide him further along the path the power. Putting the crystal back on the chain around his neck, he gathered his things and made his way to the Antei system.
In the Dark Jedi Brotherhood
Beginnings
Upon joining the Brotherhood Kor Vaal spent a great deal of time in the Shadow Academy, longer than most do before joining a Clan. He hungrily soaked up the superior and more complete knowledge housed within the academy, his fascination with the Sith Empire and philosophies of the various Force using cults throughout the galaxy growing into an all consuming obsession. Eventually, and with more than a little persuasion from the Shadow Academy staff, Kor Vaal departed to Judecca to join the ranks of Scholae Palatinae.
Scholae Palatinae
Kor Vaal quickly acclimatised to life in House Scholae Palatinae, rapidly ascending through the Journeyman ranks and putting his knowledge and skills to good use. He was seen infrequently in social circles, spending a great deal of time in his own quarters researching ancient secrets and practicing esoteric rituals. Eager to put his knowledge to practical use and satiate his desire to release his rage, he requested to be placed in Battleteam Acclivis Draco.
Profile
Appearance
Kor Vaal's slight frame and gaunt appearance have led many to believe him physically weak, when in fact his frame is almost entirely composed of whipcord musculature giving him a strength and power not at first thought possible. His skin is a dusky red in color, and like all Kel Dor he has large extrasensory organs which frame his head and culminate in a pair of black tusks below his chin. Due to the unique conditions of his species home planet Dorin Kor Vaal must always wear a breathing mask and eye protection, which are made of a shiny black metal. He usually wears a simple black tunic and trousers wrapped with a purple sash of the Krath order and a hooded black robe. Most of the left side of Kor Vaal's body and head are covered in a mass of scar tissue. At first glance these scars look like the result of a horrific accident or a mad butcher, but they are in fact hundreds of individual scars in the shape of various runes and sigils from a myriad different cultures and beliefs which Kor Vaal has carved into his skin over the years.
Personality and Beliefs
Since his awakening in the cave at roughly age twenty and the associated amnesia, Kor Vaal has had an unexplainable yet profound understanding and deep obsession with philosophy and religion. He is a follower of the theory of the Unifying Force, and believes that all deity's, religions, magickal practices and philosophies stem from the same single point, that they are at once true and untrue. To this end he obsessively pours through ancient manuscripts, practices occult rituals and prays to various deity's and ancient Sith lords in an attempt to reconcile these various systems within the Unifying Force theory and discover the power in each. This research has given him a good grounding in the fields of history, philosophy and ancient artifacts.
Kor Vaal comes across to others as arrogant and aggressive. This mainly stems from the fact that he doesn't particularly like others and is extremely arrogant and prideful of his knowledge. His treatment from his time as a slave has left him with a great anger which almost permanently bubbles below the surface. Surprisingly, he has never attempted to overcome the amnesia of his early years, and has no interest in discovering his former life.
His most valuable possession is the crystal pendant which he wears on a chain around his neck. When in deep thought he can often be seen absent mindedly playing with it. Occasionally he can be heard gently whispering to it, as if in conversation with it. None other than Kor Vaal have ever heard it respond which, coupled with his masochistic tendency of carving symbols into his skin, has led some to believe that he teeters on the edges of sanity.
Divination
Divination is one of Kor Vaal's most studied subjects, and he uses a variety of methods to amplify his powers of foresight through the Force. His main method is by using a Sabacc deck, laying the cards out in a certain sequence and reading future events depending on what cards are in a certain position. This is his preferred and most accurate method, however he also makes use of small stones carved with Sith runes, the bones of small animals and even mists like those used by the Findsmen of Gand.
Weapons and Combat Style
Although capable of long convoluted plans and schemes, Kor Vaal is not one to taunt an enemy or let them live for a second longer than necessary. If he needs someone dead, he will try to perform the act in the most direct way possible. His favored weapon is a chain whip which was modified from his original slave chain to have a handle and a bladed segment on the end. He will usually swing this in wide arcs using it as part bludgeon and part whip. Other than that he will use small grenades which he makes himself. He will augment his ability's with force powers when necessary, making great use of his telekinetic powers or descending into a blind rage, greatly increasing his combat prowess but turning him into an almost mindless killing machine.
Trivia
- Spent many years in the DB in Arcona under the names Karan Callidus Entar and Valnir Kayvaan Tiberian, but after an absence of over seven years I requested to get demoted to Novice and to completely start afresh with a new character. The corpse that Kor Vaal finds the information for the Brotherhood on is in fact this other character.