[hider=Rua Skirata] [hider=My Hider] [img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8c/c7/c5/8cc7c5f2c456cdd109a685722ff74dfb.jpg[/img] [/hider] [b]Name[/b]: Rua’ Skirata [b]Age:[/b] 30 [b]Race:[/b] Human-Arkanian mix [b]Brief Bio:[/b] [hider=My Hider] Born into Clan Skirata, the son of an Arc trooper clone and an Arkanian Rebel, Rua grew up in one of the more unconventional and smaller Mandalorian clans. Rua grew up, partially raised by Tallisebeth Esterhazy who instilled in him the virtue of persistence in the face of insurmountable odds and the value of holding fast to your own dream. Though what dreams lay in Rua’s mind might as well have been a mystery to the wider Galaxy (if anyone truly cared). Growing up he was quiet, soft spoken but there was always an edge of fire in his tone and he was nicknamed “jitters” by the other children for his propensity to fidget in place while he waited his turn during live fire exercises or in training. Less out of fear and more akin to the eagerness a trained racing beast or hunting hound might experience when being held at the gate by his master’s chain before being allowed to dart off. He excelled in knife fighting and blade work and was counted among the best of his generation. Farm work bored him but he developed a healthy appreciation for animal husbandry and breeding that would become somewhat of a hobby of his later in life and the insights he gained from his youth spent on Clan Skirata’s farms eventually led him to take his Darwinist approach to life, what it means to be a Mandalorian and the Galaxy at large. Around age seventeen, he began to feel restless and felt the call to a life beyond the confines of his world. At first, he contemplated joining the Imperial army or the Storm Trooper corps, but even the mighty five hundred and first seemed almost too ordinary for him. He’d been trained and bred, raised for something more and his own views on how the Galaxy should be brokered no substitution for the experience he would need later in life. Rua sought work where he could get it, as a bounty hunter, enforcer, life in the wider galaxy wasn’t as glamorous as he’d thought. Once or twice he did off the book missions for Garm Bel Iblis, Saw Guerrera and a few other more radical elements of the alliance to restore the Republic. Eventually he ended up as a bounty Hunter for Durga the Obese, the orange colored immense Hutt Vigo of the black sun. Rua earned a great deal of wealth accepting bounty’s that were incredibly high risk and doing wet work that Moff’s wanted outsourced. Wealth enough that he eventually bought a small shipping firm both to launder his more illegitimate earnings and begin to establish himself as independently wealthy. Rua had a taste for the finer things, he also had grander plans than to just be a mere bounty hunter. Plans which required him to have the right kind of connections, the right kind of reputation and more importantly the right kind of victories to his name. Rua spent several years expanding his own wealth and becoming known somewhat as a fop who hunted bounties for sport. In time he even gained invite to Imperial sector parties where he mingled with everyone from Ardus Kaine to Grand Admirals Thrawn and Grant to a rising star whose murder of his own mother earned him the title War Lord. While Imperial intelligence could never prove he’d worked for the Rebels (and occasionally still supplied them with intelligence for currency or the debt of favors), while his reputation as the antithesis of what his clan was known for during the clone wars led many to dismiss him as a potential traitor, doors still remained closed to him. Durga and the black sun provided him with much knowledge and had been a great stepping stone but Zsinj had become the closest thing he had to a benefactor and in time the two developed a friendship or at least as close as a pair of ultra-ambitious killers could have. Serving as an assassin for Zsinj Rua tracked down two Dathomirian Nightsisters who’d managed to escape the blockade. Though the Warlord had neglected to inform him one of them was a powerful Shaman. Never the less, Rua became the first Mandalorian in a thousand years to kill a force users. This victory resulted in Zsinj presenting him with twin daggers made of Song steel with Arkanian Dragon fangs for grips. The defeat of two force users also won him (at least in his mind) the right to use Mandalorian armor, true Mandalorian armor. Esterhazy taught him well, she’d shared with him the knowledge of Jedi combat and he credited her fighting styles fused with what he’d learned as a youth with saving his life. For years he’d kept her secret and still has too this day but the skills acquired must have given the impression that he at least had some prior contact with force users for he was soon sent on a mission by Durga to assassinate or retrieve if possible a criminal the Empire considered to be among the most dangerous. He’d been given a partner too, something that while not unheard of had been rare. The red headed woman felt off and on noticing her attire and lightsaber he cursed himself. The two spent the next month tracking down a Jedi Knight who survived the purge, a decorated veteran of the clone wars and someone believed to be roughly a century old and Rua had barely survived a pair of starving Nightsisters. The mission nearly killed him; his Songsteel blades were able to keep him in a fight with a lightsaber combatant due to being immune to the blades cutting powers but a swift thrust into his thigh and a kick to his chest had taken him out of the melee. The only consolation he’d had was that the red headed Dark sider was being beaten like a drunken Toydarian who’d just insulted a Wookie’s honor and as she struggled to keep her blade from being overwhelmed Rua snuck up on the duelists and stabbed him in the back, then a quick flick of the other knife and he’d opened the man’s throat. The Red Head was furious, and she struck at him with her lightsaber and while he managed to avoid being decapitated, she took his left eye and left him with a streak like scar. Rua eventually had the eye replaced with a sleek looking blue gem that concealed a miniature sensor suite that allowed him to see in various parts of the EM and infrared spectrums as well as remote control drones, which are usually just tiny things carrying thermo detonators (he likes to flush out prey rather than kill from a distance). The payout for the victory was a fortune but Rua got the message, whoever hired him through Durga wanted him dead. Rua bought a moon orbiting a gas giant in the Quelii Oversector and built himself an underground palace there, one with its own forests and gardens and lakes. He began funding the construction of mining facilities in the gas giant’s rings as well as the gas giant itself and made an immense profit (of which he gave 60% to Zsinj almost twice what the Warlord asked in under the table tribute, but hey, allies like that were rare). Such wealth allowed him to buy his way into the Black sun’s hierarchy and his ability to move between worlds made him indispensable to the Imperial warlord which meant Zsinj warned him that whoever was wanted him dead was likely going to try again. This time, the contract came from an imperial inquisitor himself to hunt down this Rebel pilot turned self-professed Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Rua had absolutely no interest in killing another Jedi, the last one was too close for comfort and he still viewed the Jedi Knight who taught him and partly raised him as family. Fortunately for him the Emperor was hurled down a reactor shaft and the Death Star exploded, taking the Emperor, Darth Vader and a pair of Grand Admirals with it. Apparently, the disaster was pervasive enough the Dark Jedi who was gunning for him died as well, or at least in the chaos of a galaxy spanning governments near collapse he wasn’t important enough to put any effort into (not that he’d complain). As the dust settled and warlordism set in, Rua found his shipping and hauling companies serving as courier services through the new powers and demand for his gas and minerals was higher than ever and so he spent the first few months after the battle of Endor becoming stupendously wealthy and building himself a reputation as a go between for all the different sides (all the while quietly stocking piling weapons and buying old clone wars era warships), it wasn’t a year in that Zsinj contacted him again. The Warlord turned high Admiral and Moff turned, Warlord, turned founder of his own mini empire was looking to consolidate power in his domain as a resident of the Oversector Zsinj felt Rua had a duty to help establish his new financial center. Rua was hesitant, he had other goals after all and Zsinj once again surprised him when the Warlord asked him what the purpose of becoming Mandalore was if you lacked a stable and powerful base of operations. How did “Mandalore the Imperious” sound? Zsinj’s offer was simple serve him for a decade as his master of assassins, his chief spy and his personal head hunter and Zsinj would bankroll his attempt to unite the clans so long as the war he envisioned himself leading brought all the profits and trade through Zsinj’s own empire and so long as he didn’t mind sharing the glory. Two heads in Galactic conquest were better than one and it was a lot safer restoring his culture to its glory days with an Executor Class SSD at his back than fifty-year-old rust buckets. And even if Zsinj died or was overrun before he was able to fulfill his promise, well Rua figures he’ll be one of the wealthiest men in the galaxy at that point and paying off the ruins of the Warlord’s empire (and looting its coffers) to enlist in his goal is certainly doable. Win, win figures the Jackal. [/hider] [b]Faction:[/b] The Empire of Zsinj. Rua joined up with the Warlord because he was one of the few Imperial officers Rua ever respected and because their dalliances in the past had proven profitable for both of them, enough that they’ve been working together off and on since Rua was about twenty two. Beyond that, his base of operations and his source of wealth all resides within the Quelii Oversector so, refusing the offer, an offer that might one day net him his prize is not one to be refuse. [b]Personality:[/b] Rua Skirata in many ways is the polar opposite of the now legendary Patriarch of the Arc troopers “Papa Kal” and his own father. He’s ruthless, pragmatic and oddly soft spoken, forcing people to listen when he speaks and holding his tongue unless he’s in familiar company or has something worth saying. While he’s capable of rather terrifying savagery (At Ord Cantrell when hired by the Alliance early in his career to put a stop to some slave cartels loyal to a minor Hutt Kajidic Rua and his mercenaries crucified some eight hundred thugs in an act of psychological warfare), he prefers to use efficient, clean and quick methods first. Rua despised many Imperial officers and nearly all Dark Jedi seeing them as mindless animals who butchered on a large scale as a matter of form and viewed that as pathetic and cowardly. Grotesquerie had its place in warfare, but it had to be done rationally, not indiscriminately. His sense of honor is somewhat flexible but not to where he can easily throw it away. To this day he’s never betrayed the Jedi who hid with his clan and he’s got no ill will towards Luke Skywalker though he sees the rise of a second Jedi order as a threat to his ultimate goal of a largely Mandalorian dominated Galaxy his opposition isn’t animus. That ability to think rationally, the cold pragmatism balanced out with a sense of honor has largely kept him from being completely lost to the carnage of the imperial era. Rua is somewhat vain, he enjoys the finer things in life, loves opulence and readily plays up the lazy rich man stereotype to hide the fact that his shimmersilk conceals muscles made of coiled durasteel cables. [b]Physical description:[/b] Rua definitely has more of his Arkanian mother than he does his clone father, he’s stall, elegant with long dark black hair with streaks of blue due to the particular subspecies his mother hails from. He rather dislikes the blue streaks believing it makes him look like some cliché holo drama character rather than just the Galaxy’s opportunist. The scar across the left side of his face runs from above his nose town to his jaw and the ocular implant that replaced his eye is a disguised as an amethyst gem due to his own pomposity and taste for the elegant. There are some other scars on his body, a starburst pattern burns on his shoulder from his battle Dathomirian witches and scar on his thigh from that lightsaber blade. He tends to dress in elegant clothing favoring shimmer silk and suede and when he wades into battle his Mandalorian armor is done up in ornate patterns with old “spells” of blessing and well wishes in battle. The Skirata clan symbol rests on chest over his heart and he wears a navy-blue coat with the symbol of Zsjin’s Empire on the shoulder pads in place of epaulettes. This is done in mockery of the old Republican guardsmen uniforms and the Ancient Jedi robes. He always, always wears gloves of some kind and has a shimmersilk scarf about his neck that conceals micro-segmented armor scales that he can use as a whip if necessary. [b]Equipment:[/b] A pair of Song Steel daggers which he has sheathed and attached to a belt made of rancor leather. Three ivory handled blasters with Aurodium plating, two in shoulder holsters and one behind his back. His Mandalorian armor does not have a jetback as he disliked aerial dueling, however his boots have small devices capable of emitting AG fields that allow him to “leap frog” through the air and direct his “falls” and can allow him to match Jedi for agility to a small degree. He’s also got a personal shield device though he seldom uses it due to the energy requirements. The greaves on his forearms contain a capacitor and a relay device which he can use to turn his fists into electrical brass knuckles. Unlike most Mandalorians he doesn’t have a wrist mounted flame thrower, instead preferring to keep vials of liquid that ignites when exposed to the hormones of the bodies of most sentients, which he opts to throw at his opponents (he keeps his clothing and armor laced with a chemical that nullifies its effects on him but still has to watch out for his face). Instead of a traditional Mandalorian helm he wears a rebreather mask that shields him from toxins and chemicals and can convert some gasses into oxygen and recycle his own air. He wears a sort of coronet that produces a low-level EM field that sort of disrupts blaster bolts which usually redirects fire from his face. It’s not the safest method of protection but then again, he can be vain. He wears a shimmer silk sash with the symbols for Clan Skirata and Zsinj around his waist which is similar to the scarf about his neck in that it grants him an extra layer of protection against bladed weaponry and some minor help against blaster bolts. [b]Ship (Optional):[/b] The Ascent, A custom made H type Nubian Star Yacht, twenty meters longer than the average in her class with a larger powerplant and faster engines. She’s designed to turn like a fighter and take a beating long enough to escape. Armed with twin ion cannons and one light turbo laser. [/hider]