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Korroth of the Karn

102 BBY to 85 BBY

Korroth set up residence in a cavern in the Med Zathruma South of Ezzekieli land, where he would be able to carry out his experiments for the most part undisturbed. Tribe Ezzekiel sent him supplies regularly, and he had managed to organize a group of tribesmen to dedicate their time to constructing the instruments he needed to carry out his experiments. However, he was not completely satisfied, as the tribe simply did not have the technical knowledge to craft the more complex apparatuses he required. Eventually he was able to have Chieftain Udhren send a delegation over the Med Zathruma to travel to the Tarbaur sinkholes (Korroth could not go himself as he was still in exile from that place). There, with the permission of the Tarbauri, they copied the scientific texts written by Tuvon's scientists and drew schematics of scientific tools and devices, which they brought back to Korroth. They also brought back news on what had occurred since Korroth's exile. It seemed that each sinkhole now had its own separate government, and some sinkholes were even split between two authorities. Tensions between the sinkholes had grown drastically, and war threatened to break out soon.

This account did not trouble Korroth very much, since events in Tarbaur would not affect him now that he had what he wanted. Using the texts and schematics from Tarbaur he was able to set up experiments that took up his time for several years, but which in the end advanced his knowledge enormously. Tuvon's scientists in Tarbaur had mainly been concerned with research that had practical uses, but Korroth delved much deeper than them, especially in the fields of chemistry and biology. The tribesmen that were in contact with him believed him to be practicing arcane arts and mystical rituals, but Korroth was using and developing the rational reasoning, the objective interpretation of results and the firm respect of facts that would be essential to him in his future scientific pursuits. During this time he also gained a reputation as a healer; he himself encouraged tribesmen to bring their ill or injured relatives to him, as this provided the opportunity to study a myriad of interesting diseases and conditions. He was even able to carry out quite risky experiments on them; the other tribesmen hardly noticed because normally someone who fell ill was fated to die anyway.

To clear his mind, Korroth often went on long excursions through the Karnashu, the lifeless desert West of Ezzekieli land. Apart from honing his survival skills and tempering his resilience, he found that if he had been pondering on a difficult question for a long time, sometimes the answer became clear while he travelled the desert. In 93 BBY, when he had been particularly troubled by a set of results from one of his experiments, he found a small oasis far into the Karnashu and stayed there for almost an entire year, until the explanation suddenly came to him one morning. Because of these jaunts, and because of his seemingly unemotional demeanor, the Ezzekieli tribesmen came to call him "Korroth of the Karn", which literally means "of the Dry Sand". Karn was the name of the sterile sands of the Karnashu, and in the language of the tribes, "dry" was used to mean "cold", "emotionless" and possibly "heartless". Korroth thought that this nickname suited him well, so on one of his trips he travelled to the Med Ushibri, where so many years ago he had incised his initials on his rite of passage. After he found the place where he had carved them, he added two lines to the Sazareli glyph for "H", so that it now read "KK".

Extraterrestrials

85 BBY

During the year 85 BBY, Korroth's studies were persistently interrupted by sightings of giant wedge-shaped metallic objects flying in the sky higher than any dactillion. Many tribes reported missing tribesmen, and in the fifth month of that year the whole of Tribe Crabwa disappeared, leaving behind only crushed tents and a few dead bodies. After that event, Korroth remained in the Ezzekieli camp in the hope of spotting himself one of these strange phenomena. His wish was fulfilled when one of the giant metal objects landed just outside the camp on the 12th day of the 7th month of 85 BBY, in a great gust of hot air and sand. Out of the flying object came strange creatures, with the heads of lizards and hands with scales and talons. Some tribesmen, terrified by their appearance, threw spears at them, but the lizard creatures shot beams of colored light out of gnarled metal tubes that incinerated the tribesmen. Threatened and pushed by these metal tubes, Korroth and the Ezzekieli tribesmen were herded into the flying object.

They were shut in dark, cramped and cold metal cubicles for an uncertain period of time. Korroth could not tell if days or months were passing, as they weren't even fed at regular intervals. His excitement at having met extraplanetary beings and technologies soon evaporated; it was obvious that the lizard-men regarded them as mere chattel rather than fellow sapients with which to share their knowledge. The tedious and hungry passage of time in the cubicles was occasionally interrupted by short hours of exercise, where they would be made to jog along bland metal corridors. During one of these exercise hours, Korroth passed by a round window and saw outside what seemed to be stars racing past at great speed. However, back in his cubicle, his hunger and desolation prevented him from working out the significance of this sighting.

Melida/Daan

85 BBY

After an indiscernible period of time, they were finally led out into the open air. Korroth could see that they were on terra firma again, but most probably that of a different planet. The wind was cold, the sky grey and the vegetation unfamiliar, although it bore some resemblance to the plants of Medri Gamri. A group of aliens came to speak to the lizard-men and examine the Pau'an prisoners. They were more similar in appearance to the Pau'ans than to the lizard-men, but they had damp-looking pink skin, tiny pupils and fur on top of their skulls. Korroth could not understand their language, but it appeared as though the lizard-men sold their Pau'an captives to the furred humanoids. They were then given grey uniforms to wear and were escorted to a camp; there Korroth saw more alien species than he could describe, but they all seemed to be captives of the furred humanoids. They spent the next few days in the dirty and crowded camp, during which time the group of Pau'ans attempted unsuccessfully to find someone speaking their language. Also, each day the furred humanoids gathered the prisoners and trained them in the use of those metal tubes that shot beams of light. From this, and from the distant rumblings of explosions, Korroth conjectured that they had been sold to an army (vastly more technologically advanced than those of Tarbaur) which intended to use these slaves as cannon-fodder.

His speculations were proven right when, one day, they were suddenly rounded up and sent running at what appeared to be the enemy line. Korroth survived this and three subsequent battles only by what he believed to be sheer luck. Most of the Pau'an tribesmen with him died, and the prisoner camp became visibly emptier after each battle. Korroth knew that, if he did not do something soon, his body would be added to the pile in no man's land. On the third battle, he was sent to the infirmary for a minor wound. There he managed to impress upon the field-surgeon that he had skills in healing and could help him in the infirmary. The surgeon, who was one of the only three doctors working in that camp, accepted and arranged for Korroth to remain in the infirmary to work as his assistant. For a moment, Korroth almost felt gratitude towards the surgeon, who had virtually saved his life; but then he remembered the Renascence Pledge he had made in Medri Gamri and doubled his efforts to repress his emotions. He could not allow himself to slip in such a precarious situation.

Field Surgeon

85 BBY to 78 BBY

As soon as his wound had healed, Korroth began help the three surgeons. At first he was only given menial tasks, but over time he was able to use the skills he had already learned in the Sazarel and acquire the more advanced techniques of the surgeons. There was a constant stream of wounded soldiers coming in, so there was no shortage of subjects to practice on, and epidemics of quickly spreading diseases were frequent in the camps. Both the war injuries and the alien diseases were new and fascinating to Korroth, and so were the treatments that the surgeons passed on to him. He only regretted not having the time to study them in more detail.

Apart from imparting surgery procedures and techniques, the doctors also taught Korroth to speak Basic. The first thing he learned was that they were on the planet Melida, and that both Melida and Daan lived on the planet. These two peoples had been at war for centuries, with victories and defeats on both sides and occasional brief periods of peace. Currently the Melida, in whose army Korroth was a conscript, had been driving North to siege the city of Garth. All three surgeons were strongly nationalistic Melidans, and they claimed that the Melidan army was taking back what was theirs by right. The surgeons were also able to shed light on Korroth's own home planet and travel to Melida. They speculated that he came from Utapau in the Tarabba sector. Korroth eagerly listened to all the surgeons knew about Utapau; he had often wanted to explore more of the planet before he was captured by the slavers, but he had not been able to do so because of geographical impediments. In addition, the surgeons were able to tell him that the slavers who captured him were of the Trandoshan species, and that they probably worked for the Karazak Slavers' Cooperative. The Melida and the Daan were Human, and the surgeons described the biology of these species and of the many other species that passed through the infirmary.

The war between the Melida and the Daan continued all around the planet until 78 BBY. Despite being confined mostly to the infirmary, the surgeons and Korroth were forced to fight several times; by the time they had taken Garth in 80 BBY two of the field surgeons had been killed in ambushes. Once the siege of Garth had ended the army remained garrisoned in that city, and Korroth was able to dedicate more of his time studying the wondrous wealth of information on this planet and the galaxy at large. However, when the war ended in 78 BBY with the capture of Zehava by Melidan forces, the generals of Melida decided that all the conscripts they had bought from slavers would just be a burden in time of peace, so they were to be sold to off-world buyers. Korroth attempted to hide in the outskirts of Garth as soon as he received these news, but his alien appearance made him easy to find and he was soon arrested. He was sold to a band of space pirates to work as an on-board medic for the pirates' slaves.

The League of Cavaliers Corsaire

78 BBY

The pirates called themselves the League of Cavaliers Corsaire. Since first stepping onto their starship it was obvious that they were quite different from the barbarous and bedraggled space raiders that Korroth had read about in the libraries of Garth. In 78 BBY there were 245 "Cavaliers"; many of them were Mon Calamari, but there were also Humans, Bith, Givin, a Gossam, Muuns, Koorivar, a Falleen and even a Celegian. They came from very different backgrounds, but most of them had received a university education, or they were at least bright enough to be able to learn from the other Cavaliers. Korroth soon found out that the Cavaliers' main line of pursuit was not piracy, but academic learning. Piracy was just their method of financing their travels and studies. The League of Cavaliers Corsaire was basically a collection of scholars that found it more fruitful to carry out their studies outside the law. All of the Cavaliers strove to become erudite in all branches of study, but most were specialized in various fields of science. This was because many Cavaliers were originally led to join the League by burdensome regulations and laws that limited their research, imposed by the Republic or their home planet for ethical, bureaucratic or political reasons. The substantial income provided by piracy was also an incentive, when compared to the meager and restrictive budgets that researchers were often granted.

The League travelled aboard a custom frigate, called the Ghostly Galleon, that the Mon Calamari Cavaliers had designed and then stolen when they were still working for Mon Calamari Shipyards, and they also had three Republic light assault cruisers modified to serve as escort and assault ships (the Furor Corsaire, the Vexer Corsaire and the Veto Corsaire). All the books, datacards, papers and information that the Cavaliers had collected over their travels was stored in the MC Frigate, where they also carried out their studies. There were many lecture halls, a library at either end of the ship and several laboratories with "borrowed" equipment. However, the Cavaliers also spent as much time as they could on planets of interest, at least until their location or identity was discovered by the local security force. A committee of representatives for each specialist group convened each time they were forced to move on to decide on their next destination. Since the Cavaliers were divided into several specialized groups, like biology, physics, engineering, chemistry, et cetera, these committees sometimes had disagreements, but in the end they always found a planet that accommodated each specialization's interests. All the Cavaliers were partial to worlds with important universities or large libraries, as this was their main means of keeping up-to-date with the progress made in their fields across the galaxy. However, many of these universities did not want anything to do with research that was financed illegally and that used methods and procedures that broke laws and regulations. Therefore the Cavaliers often had to infiltrate these universities and steal the information and instruments they required. Occasionally they came across institutes that recognized the value of their unrestricted research and were ready to exchange information in secret.

The League's piratic activities were confined to the Outer Rim Territories, because they wanted to remain out of sight of any law-enforcement authorities. They preyed mainly on independent smugglers and smaller pirate groups, so as not to attract the attention of larger criminal organizations. The most abundant booty was spice, but they also looted weapons, expensive artifacts and foodstuff and stolen merchandise in general, and they sometimes commandeered the ships of their victims. These things they would sell for a large profit or in exchange for favors, advanced laboratory instruments and rare datacards. They also raided slaver ships and cargo freighters of certain manufacturing industries. The League used the slaves as subjects for their experiments and studies, sometimes setting up ambushes on specific slaver bands to acquire subjects of a certain species or origin. They also raided specific cargo freighters that carried supplies of chemicals and instruments for their laboratories. Because of this, the labs of the Ghostly Galleon were often filled with mismatched pieces of equipment. When they ventured towards the more civilized territories of the galaxy, most often to visit universities and libraries, they refrained from conducting illegal activities so as to maintain a low profile towards the local and Republic authorities.

The main method used by the League to seize target ships was to lay an ambush at specific hyper-points, where ships came out of hyperspace. A lot of preliminary investigations were carried out on the target to make sure that they did not travel with an escort too powerful for the League's fleet. When it came out of hyperspace, the target ship would find itself surrounded by the three Corsaires and targeted by long-range missiles from the Ghostly Galleon. The Corsaires had modest ion cannons which were usually enough to disable a target ship before it could react. If the victim still refused to surrender, they would be boarded using six pods launched from the Ghostly Galleon. The Cavaliers took it in turns to take part in the boarding operation. Cavaliers who refused to join the boarding party when it was their turn were often ostracized and eventually expelled from the League. Consequently, every Cavalier spent a certain amount of time exercising and training in close-quarter combat on the Furor Corsaire.

Over the years, the Cavaliers had developed a peculiar kind of chivalric code that allowed them to keep their self-esteem while they pirated, exploited salves and carried out ethically ambiguous studies. This unwritten code of morals placed study and knowledge as the virtues to be sought by Cavaliers, thus making bloodshed, slavery, theft and even torture honorable if done in the name of science. The Cavaliers were also encouraged to expand their general cultural education outside of their specialization. For the Cavaliers, perusing literature, poetry or galactic history was an enjoyable recreational activity. Some became connoisseurs of fine art, music, interplanetary cuisine, liquors and even fashion. As a consequence the Ghostly Galleon was full with both legally obtained and stolen works of art, and the Cavaliers sometimes employed or kidnapped bands and small orchestras to play on board. The Cavaliers often wore elegant and expensive clothes, even during a boarding, and elaborate dinners with lavish food and drink were served almost every evening.

On the Ghostly Galleon

78 BBY to 75 BBY

In 78 BBY the League had been forced to land on Melida/Daan after the Ghostly Galleon had been tracked down and badly damaged by a wing of Jedi pilots. The Cavaliers had managed to escape and throw off the Jedi when they landed on Melida/Daan. While the engineer Cavaliers repaired the MC frigate, the others took the opportunity to purchase several slaves from the Melidan military. Korroth was bought to serve as a medic for the slaves that the Cavaliers used in their research. There were already many experienced medical doctors in the League, but they did not have time to look after all the slaves. Korroth was an investment that would pay off by keeping slaves alive if dangerous experiments went wrong, and by generally keeping slaves healthy enough to be used in the Cavaliers' various studies.

Korroth's status within the League improved when a Cavalier requested him to join a study on medicinal herbs used by primitive cultures across the galaxy. Korroth provided information on herbs that he himself had examined and used in the Tarbaur and the Sazarel, and he was also able to use his knowledge to expand upon the work done on xerophytic plants of other desert planets. His work on this and subsequent studies brought him to the notice of a wider circle of Cavaliers, who, in 75 BBY, eventually invited him to become a Cavalier himself. Korroth hesitated at first, principally because of the League's peculiar code of honor. This code appeared to be modeled to allow those who wanted to remain morally upright to carry out studies and use methods which society at large would consider immoral. However, it simply shifted the focus of its component ethical rules, it did not actually eliminate any of them. Korroth did not want to be limited by any moral laws, but in the end he recognized that he would not be able to live with any type of society unless he at least gave the appearance of following their laws. Therefore Korroth Karn accepted and was inducted into the League of Cavaliers Corsaire on the 11th day of the 5th month of 75 BBY.

To solemnize his induction into the League, Korroth was granted a coat of arms. He used a simple shield with a brown field; for the charge he used the Sazareli glyphs for "KK" (the same that he had carved on the Med Ushibri on Utapau) in gold.

Cavalier Corsaire

75 BBY to 55 BBY

In the ensuing decades, Korroth travelled the galaxy with the League. In the years following 75 BBY, he was exposed to countless new cultures, species and planets. This boundless profusion of unfamiliar natural phenomena, landscapes, organisms, ecosystems and civilizations was open and waiting for Korroth to study and understand; this left upon him an impression so strong that it reaffirmed his dedication to the understanding of the universe for the rest of his life.

Between 75 BBY and 68 BBY, as recommended by his fellow Cavaliers, Korroth spent seven months of each year studying in the University of Sanbra, and then later in Corellia University, while the rest of the League travelled the Outer Rim. Korroth was able to study openly at these universities because he had not yet participated in any of the League's illegal activities. During the five years in the University of Sanbra, he was educated in the advanced concepts of science that he had previously just brushed upon on Utapau. In 70 BBY he graduated in xenobiology. Although he was not particularly keen, he also went to the Corellia University for two years to study starship engineering; the other Cavaliers had insisted on this because they wanted every new Cavalier to be able to repair and rework the Ghostly Galleon and the three Corsaires.

After he finished his university education in 68 BBY, he settled permanently on the Ghostly Galleon and became fully involved in both the piratic and research activities of the League. Since all the ambushes and boarding raids were entirely carried out by Cavaliers, Korroth was obliged to take part in these fights. The various roles in a battle were rotated among all the Cavaliers, so that Korroth learned how to man the various stations of the Ghostly Galleon, how to handle a single Corsaire and its gun emplacements, how to fly the four ships in hyperspace and realspace, and he also became quite adept at close quarters combat with vibroblades and blaster pistols.

The project that interested and took up most of Korroth's time after 68 BBY was a study on the genetic engineering and cloning of ludos and several other animals from Ganlihk. The aim of the study was to find and remove, modify or neutralize the genes that caused senescence in these animals. The first problem they solved was the shortening of telomeres, and at the same time they found a way for cells to repair DNA replication errors and damage to DNA from external sources much more efficiently. They then spent a number of years cataloguing genes that they thought were related to senescence, and after this they examined every single one to see if it could be completely removed or if it was essential for some other purposes. In 56 BBY, they completed the modification or elimination of all the target genes and they cloned a batch of ludos with this new genome. They were relieved to find that their tampering of the ludos' DNA had produced no apparent detrimental side effects, and the ludos in fact appeared to be more resistant to radiation and certain toxins and pathogens, and generally healthier. Regarding the effects of aging on the ludos, their only option was to wait and see. They were not able to eliminate damage caused by many environmental factors (although they succeeded in improving the ludos' resistance to things like dehydration, infections, toxic chemicals and mechanical damage), but they estimated that the mutated ludos would be able to survive hundreds of years in an ideal environment.

With this project complete, Korroth decided to research a completely different topic, the vocalizations that the ludos appeared to use as a basic form of communication. He obtained several interesting results from his studies. The vocalizations of the artificially mutated ludos were much more complex than those of the ludos they had captured on Ganlihk. The mutated ludos were able to produce what could almost be described as songs. They were able to repeat these songs accurately, but they seemed to intentionally modify certain sections every time they repeated it. He placed the mutated ludos in differing environments to see what caused these vocalizations and the modifications in the song. When placed for a long time in an empty room in which nothing changed, their song did not change and they eventually ceased vocalizing. If they were placed in a room with other mutated ludos, but with nothing else changing, the songs of the individual ludos eventually became the same, and they changed together if certain sapients entered the room. If they were placed in a space where many sapients came and went and interacted with each other, the ludos' song changed almost constantly, although certain segments were repeated at apparently random times. This did not happen when they were placed together with other non-sapient animals and Ganlihk ludos.

Korroth and the other Cavaliers working with him concluded that the ludos' song described something related to other mutated ludos and to certain Cavaliers, although they had no hint as to what this was. Eventually they found that the mutated ludos had a much higher count of midichlorians per cell than the Ganlihk ludos, and that the Cavaliers that caused them to change their song also had a higher midichlorian count than the other crew members. Korroth had been taught about the function of midichlorians very superficially at the University of Sanbra, and he knew very little about the Force. The same applied to most of the other Cavaliers, because there was an especially strong taboo against the Force and any study of it. This was due to the fact that, in 78 BBY, the Cavaliers had started a study on Force-sensitive slaves, which had been widely publicized and criticized in many universities. This had attracted the Jedi Order's attention, and the Jedi had tracked down and had almost destroyed the Ghostly Galleon. Since then studies concerning the Force had been virtually banned by the League.

However, Korroth and certain other Cavaliers that worked with him had joined the League only after this event, so they did not have this prejudice. In 55 BBY the League had been studying the local fauna and limited flora of the desert planet Blenjeel, when an intense dispute broke out between the Cavaliers that were carrying out the research on the ludos and the other Cavaliers who saw this study as meddling dangerously with matters of the Force. It erupted when the ludos researchers requested blood samples of every Cavalier and later revealed that they had used the samples to make a midichlorian count. Many Cavaliers immediately accused the researchers of trying to attract the Jedi's attention, and the ludos researchers accused the other Cavaliers of being paranoid. At one point, violence broke out, but the Cavaliers that stood against research on the Force greatly outnumbered the ludos researchers. Eventually the ludos researchers, all their test subjects and equipment, and even some of the other Cavaliers that had been found to have high midichlorian counts were thrown out of the Ghostly Galleon. The MC frigate and the three Corsaires left them stranded on the planet and never came back.

Blenjeel

55 BBY to 52 BBY

Form the 67 Cavaliers left stranded on Blenjeel on the 14th day of the 3rd month of 55 BBY, 45 survived the first two days, and 12 more died in the following two weeks. It had been a long time for Korroth since he had walked a desert, but he soon became accustomed to it again and recalled all the skills he had acquired in the Sazarel on Utapau. Most of the other Cavaliers, however, had been raised on civilized planets and had seldom been in a situation more dangerous than a boarding sortie. On the first day, many were eaten by the native sand burrowers. After they found and established themselves on several rocky cliffs out of reach of the sand burrowers, some of the survivors simply died of dehydration and the relentless heat. Those who survived the initial decimation came to naturally follow a Filvian named H'chad Globergan, because they knew that he had grown up on Filve, a desert planet. Globergan's gregarious nature and innate leadership skills suited this role, but not long passed before Globergan had a private meeting with Korroth. The Filvian told Korroth that he had actually spent all his pre-Cavalier life in the cities of Filve, so he did not posses the knowledge and expertise of the desert that the other survivors expected of him. Korroth agreed to progressively teach Globergan all he knew about desert survival, but only if he sent an expedition to retrieve the research equipment and the ludos that they had left where the Ghostly Galleon had abandoned them.

Korroth went with the expedition, and he found that none of the ludos had been eaten by sand burrowers, because they were in large metal cages. However, most of the ludos had died from the heat and lack of water. To his surprise, six of the mutated ludos were still alive. This would allow him to partly continue his research, although it would be very limited by the lack of equipment. Most of it had been damaged by sand and heat, and some of it had even disappeared beneath the sand dunes. Eventually the 33 survivors settled in a narrow rocky gorge that was repaired from wind, sun and sand burrowers. At the end of the defile they found a meagre spring surrounded by purple and blue-colored vegetation. They managed to survive on this and other small small scurrying animals until they could set up hunting parties to catch sand burrowers. It was not easy at first to kill these fell fiends, but the Cavaliers found that the juice of a certain succulent plant was poisonous to the sand burrowers. To kill the beasts, they would spray the juice over a wide area of sand, and then attract a sand burrower by pounding rhythmically on the ground. When the sand burrower emerged out of the sand, it would inevitably get some of the juice on its body, which would cause it to thrash and spasm, while a viscous fluid leaked out of the gaps in its exoskeleton. The Cavaliers were quick to gather this liquid, which was both water-rich and nutritious, before it evaporated on the sand. Once the sand burrower was dead it was dragged to the camp, where its meat was used for food and its exoskeleton and teeth for tools and weapons.

During the first months on Blenjeel most of the Cavaliers were solely concerned with increasing their chances of survival. However, Korroth was worried less about this and more about continuing his research, especially after he observed that the ludos' songs were able to calm a person who was in a high emotional state. By putting pressure on Globergan, he was able to secure three personal assistants and a general cooperative attitude from the whole group of survivors. His assistants were fully dedicated to the research and were spared most of the other menial tasks of the group of survivors (although Korroth himself chose to go on periodical sand burrower hunts), and the rest of the Cavaliers helped sporadically when they were not busy with other tasks.

As he continued his study of the ludos' vocalizations, Korroth took to carrying one of the mutated ludos, Test Subject THY-16.3, around with him wherever he went. Thanks to this habit, he was able to observe that the ludos' song changed when one of the Cavaliers rich in midichlorians (Korroth being one of them) experienced intense emotions or carried out tasks which required concentration, agility or fast reactions. From what the other Cavaliers knew of the Force, mainly popular culture, the ludos' changing song could have been reacting to or even describing an unconscious use of the Force by the midichlorian rich Cavaliers. The ludos themselves appeared to use the Force to alter, through their song, the state of mind of both Force-sensitive and non-Force-sensitive Cavaliers. If one calmed themselves and listened intently to the ludos' vocalizations, they would become immersed in a deep state of concentration where all their thoughts and feelings would become very clear and distinct. It was during one of these meditations, in 52 BBY, that Korroth made the most important discovery of his study. He found that, alongside the ludos' song, he could recognize a feeling or sensation external to himself, which he did not sense through hearing, sight, taste, smell or touch. At first it was only in the song, but then Korroth was able to expand his perception of this feeling and he sensed it in the ludos itself, and in the other Cavaliers and in al the other lifeforms around him. This, he realized, was the Force.

Force Exploration

52 BBY to 25 BBY

With little hope of ever leaving Blenjeel, Korroth concentrated fully on this new and wondrous aspect of the universe that he had just experienced. At first it seemed that he would have to revolutionize his whole view of the universe, but gradually he came to see that the Force fit perfectly into what he already knew, and it even filled some of the many gaps in his understanding. However, in his current state Korroth did not have the resources to test scientifically and in detail the interactions between the Force and the material world. Instead, he focussed on delving deeper and deeper into the Force during his meditation sessions. He examined, simply from his sense of the Force , how it interacted with other living beings and how it changed in these beings, from microbes to Cavaliers to sand burrowers. It appeared to him that the Force became more intense around a being the more that being's emotions escalated; but also its "swirls" and fluctuations became more complex the more sapient and intelligent the organism was. From this, Korroth speculated that the Force was very closely correlated with certain aspects of higher organisms' thoughts, feelings and emotions.

Korroth taught what he learned through these explorations to the other Force-sensitive Cavaliers. Some seemed quite unable to even sense the Force, while others far surpassed Korroth's abilities. These Cavaliers gradually learned to actually interact with the Force rather than just sense it. After many years of trial and error, they were able to make small objects move in a certain direction by a few centimeters, and they could subtly alter a person's or beast's emotions if they concentrated enough. Korroth never got this far in his experimentations on Blenjeel. For many years the Cavaliers' connection to the Force was only possible through the meditative state induced by the mutated ludos' song. Korroth relied on THY-16.3 (which he had come to call Thy) for his explorations of the Force until around 40 BBY, when he first touched the Force without the aid of Thy's song. Despite this, Korroth and most of the other Force-sensitives preferred to use the help of the ludos' songs, because they made it relatively easier to touch the Force.

One thing that distracted Korroth slightly from his studies on the Force was the non-Force-sensitive Cavaliers' progressive change of behavior over the years. The Force-sensitives and Korroth observed with interest as these Cavaliers gradually descended into an uncivilized society of almost primitive practices, driven by basic urges like the hunt for food, water, survival and reproduction. While many more Cavaliers were killed over the years by Blenjeel's environment, numerous families formed in the group of non-Force-sensitives, so that by around 30 BBY the total number of Cavaliers had actually increased to above 50. The Force-sensitive Cavaliers, like Korroth, developed the habit of keeping the other Cavaliers at arm's length, so that the Force-sensitives were able mostly to retain their culture and civility. This was probably the origin of Korroth's subtle and involuntary prejudice against non-Force-sensitives. Nevertheless, they still lived with the non-Force-sensitives because they relied on them to supply certain resources while they carried out their studies. This was another lesson that Korroth took to heart. He also conjectured that the descent of the non-Force-sensitives into barbarity was due to the fact that all they had left was their primordial instinct for survival, while the Force-sensitive Cavaliers still had a higher purpose to drive for, their study of the Force. Additionally, Korroth was always careful not to let his fellow Force-sensitive Cavaliers become too lazy, spurring them (through Globergan) into taking part in hunts and expeditions under the threat that they would not survive the planet if they became too lethargic.

Rescue and the Trade Federation

25 BBY

In 25 BBY a merchant ship was spotted landing in the middle of a far-off desert of the planet. All of the Cavaliers attempted to reach it, but it left before they could contact it. Fortunately, several other ships arrived a few days later, and the Cavaliers were able to meet with them. The merchants, which claimed to be in the service of the Trade Federation, were surprised to find inhabitants on Blenjeel. However, the Cavaliers told their story and the merchants agreed to carry them off-world if they helped the merchants find phrikite on the planet. The Cavaliers were not sure what metal that was, but they directed the merchants towards a cave where they had previously found veins of a very hard ore. This, and a general warning about storms and sand burrowers, was enough to earn the Cavaliers and all their offsprings a ride on the merchant ships.

While they were making their way towards Gromas 16 in the Perkell sector, the Cavaliers and their sons and daughters (some of whom were already over 20 standard years old) discussed what they should do. Many of them, both Force-sensitive and not, had developed a rotting hatred of the Cavaliers that had left them stranded on Blenjeel, which they had passed on to their offsprings. These Cavaliers thus decided to hunt down the League of Cavaliers Corsaire and take revenge. Korroth had no doubt that the League would be slaughtered if they were found by these Cavaliers, since Blenjeel had tempered and strengthened them into hard and unforgiving savages. However, Korroth saw no value in revenge, it would not actually profit him in any way and would therefore be a waste of his time. Therefore, he and five other Force-sentient Cavaliers decided to set off on a different path. They questioned the Trade Federationists on Gromas 16 on what employment a group of scientists like the Cavaliers could find in the Federation. They assumed that, having been isolated on Blenjeel for thirty years, their criminal records had been archived long ago.

Their enquiries led them to Cato Neimoidia, where, through an exasperating chain of secretaries and bureaucratic procedures, they were referred to a Neimoidian noble. He offered them a funded research project on the Q'Maere Research Facility to study several arachnids and insects. He produced paperwork that stated they were to determine the best species to be used for "pest control" in agriculture, but he made it clear, off the record, that their real job would be to find a species to be used as assassin bugs. The Cavaliers were hesitant to accept. In the three months since their rescue from Blenjeel, they had become aware of the rising tensions between the Republic and the Trade Federation and its allies. They did not want to commit to one side or the other yet, since their thirty-years long absence had left them ignorant of the actual state of galactic affairs. Also, now that they were off Blenjeel they thought they would have been able to seek more information on the Force, but on the isolated Q'Maere this would not be possible. In the end, however, they accepted the Neimoidian's offer because they knew that they would have a better chance to survive on Blenjeel than in the civilized galaxy if they had no credits in their pockets.

Q'Maere Research Facility

25 BBY to 22 BBY

On the University of Sanbra-owned Q'Maere Research Facility, the Cavaliers found all the arthropods they needed to conduct their study. Despite this, the Cavaliers did not find this project very interesting, and the rarity with which the Trade Federation came to check on their progress encouraged them to deviate slightly from their original aim. Instead of examining an assortment of arthropod species, they selected the drewood mite and set out to genetically engineer it to produce a suitable "assassin bug". The secrecy of their research did not bother the other scientists of the facility, since many of them were also working on confidential projects.

The Cavaliers spent several years on this project, remaining on Q'Maere until shortly after the start of the Clone Wars. Early in 22 BBY, the Trade Federation contacted the Cavaliers to inform them that they would be sending a Commerce Guild functionary to collect the results of their studies. The Cavaliers had already completed the project, and they only needed to add the finishing touches. They had engineered a mite that could be made to recognize a specific individual by allowing them to feed for a period of time on a culture of the individual target's cells. If the mites were then released close to that individual, they would be able to attach themselves to the target and secrete a toxin into their muscles, which proved deadly if injected by more than five of these mites. The secretion of this toxin also triggered the release of large amounts of lysozyme, which would break down the mite completely in a very short time, thus serving to remove any evidence of the assassination.

While waiting for the Commerce Guild functionary to arrive, Korroth was able to meditate on his current situation. The most troublesome thing that he identified was his attachment to the other five Cavaliers that were presently working with him. He had known those Cavaliers since 78 BBY, and he had studied with them, worked on the same projects, travelled on the same ship and spent thirty years stranded on the same uninhabited planet with them. Korroth now recognized that the bond of friendship he had formed with these Cavaliers had violated his Renascence Pledge. He could even remember one time on Blenjeel when he had risked his own life to save one of them from a sand burrower. Obviously this friendship had grown too strong and had led him to act for the benefit of others rather than solely to serve the self. Therefore, he resolved to sever his bond to the Cavaliers. Just before the Commerce Guild functionary came, Korroth prepared several of the assassin mites and released them onto the five Cavaliers.

The Commerce Guild functionary landed on the facility just as Korroth's five colleagues expired their last breath. Korroth made it look like an accident, but there was no need, as the pragmatic Gossam functionary simply took those bodies as confirmation of the success of the research project. With the project finished, Korroth hoped to go to the University of Sanbra, where there was supposed to be a professor expert in the study of organizations of Force-users. This was not in the Commerce Guild's plans, however. The Gossam functionary informed him that since the beginning of the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems had been short of medical staff to attend to the small portion of organic soldiers in their army. Therefore, Korroth had been conscripted to serve as a medical officer in the Gossam Commandos on Castell. Korroth was obviously very displeased that decisions like this were made without his knowledge and then forced upon him, but the Gossam's escort of battle droids put Korroth in no position to argue or refuse.