Personality
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Zartosh is both a man ruled by his passions and a deep thinker. He sees the Force as a great uncaring mass that will grind down the will of individuals if they allow them to be swept up in it, but if one can step into the force and have their own will remain strong, then they will become great. It is this belief that leads to the dark side and have sympathies with the Sith teachings, even if he is reluctant to describe himself as a Sith, he shares their view that the moral tradition of the Jedi and the old republic leads to weakness and decay. Self-denial is his least favorite thing, he sees life as absurd and believes that only by living with ones passions can anyone become truly free, eventually gathering the inner strength to project their own meaning onto the absurdities of fate and cosmic events. He also rejects bitterness, preferring to laugh at misfortune than allow it to build up negative emotions inside himself.
In dealing with others he is known as a trickster, justifying that he must be one to break people’s ways of thinking and be a good teacher. This extends to a dislike of traditional morality, meaning he has no qualms about theft, and regards those who cling to it too closely as practicing a form of self-deception by denying their own freedom. However, he is a pacifist, violence makes him personally uneasy and he views it as a shortcut, employing brute strength to get ones desires and missing opportunities for personal growth. Zartosh enjoys teaching others, is eager to talk, and feels that one day a student of his accomplish far more than he could ever hope for. A side that is little seen is his doubts and his fears. Underneath all of the bluster and trickery, he knows he only has an incomplete picture of the mysteries of the force, far less than he wishes he had, and that there are those out there who possess much deeper wisdom than he does. Part of him truly does fear death, and even fears the force itself, but he will do everything in his power to keep this fact secret.
Notable Skills
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Historian: Zartosh has spent years combing through whatever old records he can. He has focused on Jedi and Sith history, coming to know the stories quite well. He also has some grasp on general galactic history. How much of it he believes is an ongoing question, but his knowledge is built on solid foundations.
Well Educated: From his privileged upbringing he has learned many skills that would help him with business deals. He knows several languages, the customs of multiple species, and is familiar with the ins and outs of commerce. He also has some basic education in science (though little practical skill) and an appreciation for the fine arts.
Force: Zartosh’s training has focused near exclusively on the mental and spiritual aspects of the force; he has never even held a lightsaber, let alone practiced combat forms. This focus means that he is quite skilled within his specialty, excelling at using the force to sense, to manipulate others, and to augment himself. The only “visible” force power he is skilled with is Telekinesis, where he has both power and precision; it is his most potent backup when other options fail.
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Zartosh Kynos
55
Human
Force Sensitive, trained on Ossus
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Personal History
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Zartosh’s family has been involved in commerce for as long as the records go back. Originally a minor player in banking, they made a calculated decision to support the republic during the clone wars, which paid dividends when the Empire rewarded them for their loyalty with a prominent place once the Empire reorganized the Intergalactic Banking Clan. From then on they were a fixture of Muunlist’s upper echelons, having money and power, if lacking in the respect that some of their peers had. Their money made money, and with employees to handle the technical aspects, the Kynos clan had little to worry about. Zartosh himself was the third child and had even less responsibilities than his elder siblings. It gave him freedom to live a carefree lifestyle, but what he did not have was recognition. To try and establish himself he launched a new financial venture, and when the results were underwhelming, resorted to fraud to boost his numbers. It went smoothly until the financial shocks leading up to the Great War exposed his trickery, and he was placed under house arrest as charges were being filed against him.
Through spending most of his fortune and taking advantage of the chaos at the outbreak of the Great War, Zartosh was able to flee Muunlisit and wander the galaxy as a fugitive. His travel brought him to Ossus, a wasteland on the outer rim, and there he found a community of Jedi who didn’t ask questions of those who came to visit. Ossus had become a sort of neutral ground for Force users; both heretics and mainline Jedi lived there, loosely organized into dozens of communities living among the ruins, their only common feature being a desire to stay uninvolved from the galaxy at large. Force users on Ossus committed to a monastic lifestyle, detached from the galaxy and the comforts of civilization. It was a shock to Zartosh, different from his upbringing, but he found he had a talent for the force and in time adapted to life on Ossus. He lived a life of contemplation, only vaguely aware of the war gripping the galaxy, immersing himself in meditation and reading whatever old texts he had access to. He maintained friendly relations with several groups but never became a full student of any of them; none of them felt right until the day he first encountered Master Ama Sotere.
The only time anyone ever saw Sotere was when she would visit the temple ruins every few weeks, spending the rest of her time in the wastes away from all other living creatures. Rumors and legends circulated about her, many false, but the two things that always persisted were her great wisdom and her reluctance to accept new students. Many times he tried to speak with her and each time she was silent. He never gave up, on one attempt she spoke, when she asked to see the page of notes he carried with him. He obliged, and she said it was worth less than a blank page, but it could be made blank again. He asked how and she asked for his pen, and then emptied the inkwell onto it until the whole thing was covered solid. While he sat staring at the now pitched black page, she handed him a piece of chalk and told him he must do the same with his mind before he would be ready to learn.
Zartosh interpreted it as an instruction to learn more, and to learn beyond the bounds of what he had before. Now he studied the lore of the Sith as well as the Jedi and any other tradition he could find. He lost the certainty he had as a novice, questioning simple truths but never arriving at new ones. Then he found one day Sotere came back to him, telling him he was ready to learn. Her visits were infrequent but insightful, and it was through them that he kept on his path even through the noise of the Cacophony. His greatest questions revolved around the will of the force and individual growth, wondering if there was a point to spiritual growth if one couldn’t control their own destiny. At the height of his troubles Sotere appeared again, and asked him to go on a journey into the mountains with her. He accepted immediately, knowing of only one of other of her students that she had asked the same of.
Zartosh and Sotere reached the summit of a mountain and meditated together for a long period. The spirits of the force were stronger up there, and he began to see flashes of what would be, that he would be called to teach others one day. After he reached deeper into these visions, he began to notice something deeper, harder to ignore, and Zartosh was gripped in a primal fear; like seeing his own death only amplified throughout the whole cosmos. He tried to reach out for help and found none, not even from his teacher sitting by his side; she would not wake from her trance. He stopped his meditation and entered a maddened state; to this day his memories are cloudy except for the moment when he realized his hands were gripping her throat and she breathed no more.
He did not dare return to rest of the force using community after leaving the mountain. He wandered through the villages of Ossus as an eccentric teacher and beggar. To center himself he contemplated the code of the Sith over and over again, it connected with him in a way more complex teachings did not. This was when his personal philosophy crystallized: seeing destiny as cruel joke, something to be rejected, and that inner strength was of prime importance, in hopes that someday one could obtain true freedom. When word began to spread around Ossus he left the planet, continuing his wanderings around the galaxy. He has no permanent home or plan, going as far he can get with the credits he manages to earn through begging and trickery, and offering his wisdom to any who appears receptive.
Notable Possessions
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His Jedi robes, obtained on Ossus.
A durasteel armored vest he wears underneath his robes because although he is not a fan of violence, he is also not a fan of dying to random blaster fire.
Hair dye (for his beard). Might be just a bit insecure about his age
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