The enigmatic and powerful figure known to the masses only as Zero is a longstanding and influential member of Clan Tarentum. The apprentice of Lord Khyron, he is ranked as a Sith Master and is rumored to be a 'Watcher' in the black art of Necromancy.
Character History
Childhood
"Zero" grew up the son of a successful merchant on Rhinnal. He enjoyed an upbringing free from strife, and had the benefit of the instruction from the best educators on Rhinnal. Throughout his youth, his father engaged his boy’s natural observational skills by encouraging him in simple games, usually some form of abstract strategy. His father’s years of "applied psychology" (as he called it) learned as a trader were imparted as lessons in games. "Don’t play the game, play the player" was the first lesson – that the nature of conflict is less important than the nature of those involved in the conflict. "Use my eyes so you can think my thoughts" encouraged the young man to understand that to know his opponent, he had to see the same thing from the other side. "Tell me the truth, and then make it a lie" illustrated the art of misdirection by making his opponent believe what he thought already, and using that belief to catch him off guard.
Tau Squadron
When the prodigal son announced his desire to attend the Imperial Naval Academy at age seventeen, his father was taken aback. He had intended for his son to take over his contracts when he retired. Soon, however, his father recognized what the boy had known for years: his education had prepared him as well for war as it had for trade, as trade is little more than a battle of wills. Reluctantly, he accepted his son’s choice and bade him a safe journey to Caridia.
At the Academy, the young recruit excelled at starfighter combat. In training flights against other cadets and the occasional instructor, he was unmatched. Opponents complained that he knew what they were going to do before they did. So many competitions ended with him being undefeated that his classmates started referring to him by the number by his name in the Losses column: Zero. The name stuck, and his given name fell into disuse.
Zero graduated at the top of his class out of the Academy, and was billeted to a lackluster squadron aboard an ISD assigned to the Outer Rim. His flight record in skirmishes in minor conflicts was sufficient for a field promotion to First Lieutenant and some minor decorations. The fact that he was destined for greater things quickly became evident to his superior officers, and within a month, he received an involuntary transfer to Tau Squadron. The frustration of the transfer just as he was becoming acclimated to Navy life was offset by the realization that Tau was a top squadron, a choice assignment, and on the front lines of the war to quell the Rebellion. Without really trying, he’d found himself in one of the best fighter jock assignments in the entire Navy.
Shortly after arriving in Tau, Zero found himself in an entirely new environment, wholly unlike his first, albeit short, backwater assignment. Here, he frequently encountered flag officers in the course of a day, and was treated as their equal. Other times, he saw Generals nod in deference to Majors, and Airmen holding influence over Sergeants. He quickly started questioning which Imperial Navy he should be expecting. Was it the rigid life aboard the ISD he had seen in the holovids and known first-hand, or the more fraternal group in which he found himself now? He learned the difference when he met his friend Khyron in the commons. Khyron was a command officer, although Zero hadn’t found this out until he happened on his new comrade at the end of a watch when they were still in duty uniforms. For some reason, a Lieutenant socializing with an Admiral, unheard of out on patrol, seemed commonplace and natural here. After meeting for a few weeks off duty, Khyron encouraged Zero to accompany him to a meeting taking place on an obscure deck at a strange hour. Puzzled, but curious, Zero acquiesced and, by doing so, began to fulfill his destiny.
Dark Brotherhood
Zero was, that night, initiated into the Dark Brotherhood, and came to know the nature of his new home. Dark Jedi ranks held sway here, and Navy ranks meant little. The unit to which he had been assigned, Tau Squadron, was the personal escort of the Grand Master, a high honor for which he had been unknowingly selected based on his performance at the Academy and in the field. The A9b fighter that was the signature weapon of Tau was designed to give the Dark Jedi pilot an advantage by amplifying his ability to manipulate the Force in combat.
When Khyron, who had climbed to become Deputy Grand Master of the Brotherhood, decreed that the Dark Jedi divide up into Houses, Zero joined his flying comrades in the newly formed House Tarentum, where the House leader was also the Squadron leader. Zero humbly took his place as second-in-command of Tarentum at the invitation from his Commander, leading the fight from the front. The fact that his squadron had all joined the same House allowed for a solid core of pilots and an established chemistry between teammates. Good pilots and teamwork proved to be the deciding factor in the first House War, when Tarentum was awarded the title First House and received a Victory-class Star Destroyer from the Dark Council as a reward. Its naming fell to the House members, and to honor the pirates of Tarentum’s homeworld in centuries past, Zero suggested the Corsair, a name that found favor with leadership and membership alike.
Shortly thereafter, the Quaestor of House Tarentum resigned that position to concentrate on the Society of Envoys, of which he had been made Knight Commander. Zero assumed the reins of the new First House, and asked Maxamillian von Oberst to assume his former position as Aedile. The two served briefly in leading Tarentum, Oberst providing a suitable complement to Zero in both expertise and personality.
Zero found his "career" taking off after that, making ranks in his Navy uniform at a prodigious rate. Knowing that the true power lie in the Brotherhood, he ignored Navy advancement – it was taking care of itself – and devoted more effort to his studies of the Force. Playing the players and making use of his newly-found force powers, Zero secured himself a prestigious assignment in the office of one of the Navy’s command staff and a flag rank of his own, that of Vice Admiral.
Joining the admiralty opened doors previously closed to him, and allowed him to forge new associations with the most influential Navy and Brotherhood figures. Many of his known associates came either from command staffers like him or his old flying buddies from his days as a fighter jock. His long-time friend and confidant Khyron had climbed the Brotherhood ranks with the same stunning speed and apparent effortlessness with which Zero had ascended through the Naval hierarchy. When Khyron assumed the throne as Grand Master of the Brotherhood, he tapped Zero as his second-in-command.
Zero’s tenure as Deputy Grand Master was short-lived. Despite the respect and power associated with his office, Zero craved more. Shortly after his elevation to Dark Jedi Master, he left in search of wisdom that could be gained neither from the Brotherhood, nor the Navy. He resigned his Navy commission, stepped down from the Dark Council, and abandoned everything he’d known to seek wisdom among the uncharted space in the Outer Rim. He boarded his A9b, given to him when he left Tau as a personal craft, and was neither seen nor heard from for several years.
Return
His return, he had hoped, would be a smooth one wherein he could resume his career where he had left off, but the universe changes whether we observe it or not. While on retreat, a schism had occurred between the Brothers and the Navy. His first contact with Oberst made clear what he’d observed: that to return to the Navy would be to spurn the Brotherhood, and vice versa. His choice was clear: to rejoin that which he had helped to build, as a member of now-Clan Tarentum. Shortly after his return, and in acknowledgement of his position as a founding member of the first generation of Clans, Zero was offered membership in the Tarentae, an association he now uses as his official name.
Zero currently commands the flagship of Clan Tarentum, the ship he helped win and name. His personal A9b sits with the TIEs in the Corsair’s hangar, and has been spotted in maneuvers and taking target practice when the Corsair is on patrol and he is not needed on the bridge. In Clan politics and operations, he takes a more observational role, allowing events to play out on their own unless he feels his influence is needed. In conflicts, Zero holds his forces in reserve and strikes with overwhelming force when his enemy exposes weaknesses.
DJB Facts
Positions Held
- Second Quaestor of House Tarentum
- Knight Commander of the Brotherhood
- Deputy Grand Master