- "The Krath seek knowledge. Many say knowledge is power. The Obelisk seek to perfect themselves physically. A strong body is a physical manifestation of power. Everyone seeks power. Only the Sith follow the pure path."
- ―Nikola Valtiere
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. While there, Zandro felt a presence in the Force, an untrained mind, capable in the Force. Hunting down the presence in the Pride of Corellia district, Zandro came across the teenager sullenly eating the thin nutrient paste slaves were given. Motioning for the the boy to come with him, Zandro told him of the power he held, and what he could become if he joined the Dark Jedi. 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, training his Force powers while on leave. It wasn't until he was a fully qualified pilot that Nikola began to learn the true path of the Force.
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
Once Valtiere was accepted into the Brotherhood after seven years of combined training and flying with the starfighter corps of the Arconan armed forces, he was moved around a few different masters for a couple of years, seeming to be unable to tame Valtiere’s fury to make it into something to be wielded and ruled over. He languished in the Shadow Academy, learning piecemeal from the impatient masters.
Finally, the son of the man who freed him took up Nikola as an apprentice. With Nadrin Erinos Arconae as his master, Nikola rose through the ranks within the Brotherhood rapidly. From his master, he learnt how to shoot, along with skills in assassination and hand to hand combat.
Nadrin, himself strongly attuned to the Force, taught Nikola important force techniques, helping him guide his power into useful applications rather than blurts of potential. Steadily, Nikola began to improve his skills, and overcome his combat fury, to some degree.
Horizons
In the year 36ABY, the Horizon plague swept through the Dark Brotherhood. It ravaged the Dark Jedi, stealing the Force from them, turning them into mindless savages. When the Horizon plague ravaged the Brotherhood, Valtiere was one of the first brought low. He suffered a wound at the hands of his master as the Force fled him, leading to his eye requiring replacement.
Valtiere regressed to a mindless animal, driven wild by his power being taken from him, destroying the medical bay he was rushed to. He had truly believed his master had somehow stolen his power to supplement himself. Due to the importance Nikola gave power, the theft was even more galling, driving him further into rage.
It took two higher level dark Jedi to subdue the beast. However, Nadrin, who also fell foul of the disease, convinced his student that it had been an Entar plot by Timeros Caesus Entar Arconae to take down the Erinos, freeing him while on a sandspeeder on Antei.
Before the two could act, the cure was found, and power restored to the journeyman. After that day, he developed a respect for his master, who had shown the ability to turn situations to his favour and gain power.
Knight
Nikola's final mission before knighthood 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. During the mission, Valtiere learnt the power of fear. Fear could destroy foes better than a show of might or any weapon.
Nikola faced gruelling trials before he could ascend to knighthood, pushing his limits to ensure he had the mettle to rise to knighthood. He had to battle a master while suspending an orb to show his skill; place his hand in a trap to show courage; endure great pain to show he was not weak in the flesh; Overcome his inner daemons to show strength in his spirit, and overcome an illusionary puzzle to show he had insight. Valtiere showed he had what it took to become a knight, to craft his lightsaber.
Basing the weapon around the crystal he took from the lightsaber of the accountant, Valtiere constructed his weapon, the handle longer than an average saber, due to his size, with a deep orange blade. With it, he was knighted by his master, Nadrin, and a group of his peers, taking another step on the dark path.
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 than Kinola 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.
One of the most prominent personality quirks displayed by Nikola, however, is is infatuation with prosthetics. He has already undergone an elective procedure for the removal of his lower legs, and sees the loss of his left eye as a blessing. He is constantly seeking ways to 'improve himself', held back only by his means, and the tight leash of his master.
Appearence
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. 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 red, 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 outmanoeuvre 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.
His usual attire is his flightsuit, worn with pride, sometimes a sleeveless robe thrown over the top.
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 it's fluid motions and redirection of strikes, turning them on the attacker.
While fighting, Nikola uses the power of the Force to instil fear in his foes, causing their focus to slip, or to create tiny openings for the Sith to exploit to deadly effect with his skills at targeting important areas with quick, direct strikes.
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. 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 part of Void Squadron.
DJB Facts
Positions Held
Commander of Void Squadron 36ABY-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.