The following is a character backstory for a Star Wars RPG that a friend of mine was running. The character is an Arkanian (near-human) force using bounty hunter living during the Old Republic timeline.
Timeline - 22 years
Kadrath Anisari, an Arkanian, was born in 3988 BBY in the city of Novania to parents who were both geneticists. Kadrath never knew exactly what type of genetic experiments his parents worked on but was frequently in the lab where his parents could keep an eye on him. Three years later, due to suspicious reports of force-sensitive experimentation, a Jedi Sentinel was inspecting the genetics laboratories. During his inspection, the Jedi sensed Kadrath in the lab and sensed that he was strongly force-sensitive. The Jedi immediately took custody of Kadrath and sent him away to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to be tested.
A three-year-old Kadrath was tested by the Jedi masters and found to be strong in the force but with a shadow in his heart. Still, the masters decided that he could be trained in the ways of the Jedi and that they would cure the darkness they perceived within him. Lost and alone, Kadrath entered the ranks of the initiates.
Over the next few years as an initiate, Kadrath excelled at lightsaber combat, particularly favoring the Makashi form using dual sabers. In addition to the saber skill, Kadrath showed particular promise with certain mind-centric force powers such as mind-trick and farsight. These innate talents caused a noticeable rift between Kadrath and his fellow initiates, making him feel even more isolated. As the initiates progressed through their training, this rift became more pronounced despite all the masters could do to prevent it. Kadrath, as a defense mechanism, retreated inward, preferring to spend time alone in the archives or focusing on his saber work. Though always surrounded by others, Kadrath spent a very lonely nine years as an initiate.
In the summer of 3975, Kadrath would take part in the initiate trials, the final step before being assigned to a Jedi as a padawan. The first trial, that of the Jedi code, would prove the most difficult for Kadrath. While he had fully memorized the code through repetitive practice and could recite it in three languages, he did not fully believe in the code, and it never quite sounded correct to his ears. Kadrath could sense that the masters conducting the test could feel this hesitation in him, but they still allowed him to pass on to the next trial.
The second test, that of the lightsaber, was the test Kadrath was most looking forward to. After traveling to Ilum, each initiate was tasked with venturing into a set of ice caves and using the force to find a suitable crystal for their lightsaber. As the others returned with their crystals, Kadrath still had not returned. He had been gone long enough that the masters issuing the test were considering sending out a search party, despite Kadrath’s Arkanian cold resistance.
Eventually, Kadrath returned to chiding comments from the other initiates who thought (or hoped) Kadrath might fail the test. The crystal Kadrath brought back was far larger than the others, and a deeper, almost midnight blue. The attending masters explained to Kadrath that the crystal was too large and likely would not work, as there were too many inclusions which caused the darker color. Kadrath, however, was confident.
Taking the rest of the necessary parts, Kadrath locked himself in a meditation chamber to attune the crystal and assemble the lightsaber. Once again, Kadrath was gon much longer than the other initiates. Whereas most of the others had completed their sabers in a few days, one or two had taken as long as five days. Kadrath, however, was locked in his chamber for a full seven days. The other initiates were sure that Kadrath refused to come out because he had failed his trial and could not create a working saber.
When Kadrath finally emerged from his chamber, the chiding remarks and laughter from the other initiates ceased when he ignited not one but two identical sabers with matching blades of deep blue. Kadrath had used the force to split the large crystal into two identical focusing crystals. Kadrath had successfully created his lightsaber and could pass on to the second part of the trial.
The next part of the second trial, staged saber combat, was simple for Kadrath and his refined Makashi form and dual sabers. One by one, each initiate was paired off with several Jedi knights in a sparring match. While this test was done to assess the fighting forms of the initiates, this was also a chance for the initiates to see who was the most skilled in saber combat. While most of the initiates were able to work through their forms and score a few points on their opponents, Kadrath was able to overwhelm all of his opponents with a speed and ease that the other masters found disconcerting. Kadrath had passed the second trial.
In the third trial, Kadrath was tasked with locating an accused criminal and adjudicating the judicial trial, which seemed simple enough. That is to say, the locating of the criminal was simple for Kadrath. Using his farsight powers, he quickly located and captured the criminal to bring him to trial. The adjudication of the criminal's trial was a little more difficult. The fugitive violated the law, and the law was clear, but the motives for the crime were understandable. Kadrath could easily see both sides of the coin and briefly warred with himself on the correct course of action. Ultimately, Kadrath would do what the Jedi would see as the "correct" decision in order to pass the trials. However, in his heart, this choice nagged at him as the "correct" decision felt very much like the wrong decision. Still, Kadrath had passed the trials and joined the ranks of the Padawans.
Having taken note of his early abilities with mind-centric force skills, he was accepted as an apprentice by Jedi Master Kreia. It was as Kreia’s apprentice that Kadrath would meet Revan, then himself a padawan, though several years older than Kadrath. Kreia had been one of Revan’s early Masters and so still visited with him occasionally. During these times, he and Kadrath would talk about the Jedi order, each seeing a similar problem of bureaucracy and disassociation of the order. However, they disagreed on how to correct the issues they saw. During this time, Kreia would hone Kadrath’s force abilities, specifically towards the manipulation of others. Kreia also instilled her own dogma, which ran very counter to that of the Jedi Order.
Kadrath spent seven years as Kreia’s padawan, trying to reconcile his experience as an initiate with the dogma of the Jedi Order and the counter dogma of Master Kreia. It was when Kadrath turned twenty that he made a hard choice. Revan was trying to fix the Jedi Order from within, calling out the Jedi Council for their inactivity and indifference to the Mandalorians and their ongoing war in the outer rim. Kadrath, while sharing some of that feeling, was ultimately unable to reconcile the way he felt and his experiences with the Jedi Order. Thus it was, in the year 3968 BBY, Kadrath decided to leave the Jedi Order. The Jedi Council tried to make Kadrath stay, fearing what he might become without the Order, but to no avail. Kadrath was on his own.
Wandering the galaxy, taking refuge on inhospitable planets, hitchhiking on everything from pleasure yachts to pirate vessels, Kadrath spent a year as a galactic nomad before eventually finding his way back to Arkania. Raised by the Jedi Order, however, Kadrath found that he had little in common with his own people and was unable to find comfort on his homeworld. His parents, he discovered, had perished in a lab accident several years earlier. He learned that they had another child, his sister, who had been raised by an uncle or cousin. Kadrath had little desire to find his sister, knowing they would be far too different from one another, and so looked for a way off-planet and a way to make some credits to get by.
Searching through the dregs of the Holonet, Kadrath came across a bounty for a fugitive Arkanian, a spice trader, paying twenty thousand credits. Using his force powers, Kadrath was able to sense the fugitive's location on Arkania, but halfway across the world. As the quarry was so close, Kadrath decided to see if he could find him. He made his way to Adascopolis (the capital city), and by the gentle prodding of a mind-trick or three, was able to track down the docking bay and spaceport where the fugitive docked his ship. Though it took some time, Kadrath was able to hack the security controls and steal aboard the spice trader's ship.
Kadrath waited for two days, wedged into the bulkheads, before the fugitive made an appearance. As the fugitive boarded the ship, Kadrath dropped down, slicing the spice trader's droid in two before quickly subduing the fugitive and rendering him unconscious. Quickly, Kadrath secured the fugitive, stashed the halves of the droid, then piloted the ship off-planet. Pulling up the information on the bounty, Kadrath sent off a message to the bounty issuer specifying he was en route. He then plotted a course to the delivery location and engaged the hyperdrive.
Several days later, Kadrath dropped out of hyperspace near a large space station. Shortly thereafter, the ship was surrounded by a small escort of security force fighters. Kadrath quickly got on the comms to explain that he was collecting the bounty on the fugitive, using the fugitive’s ship, and was not the fugitive himself. The escort, not believing this, escorted him to a secure docking bay on the space station manned by a dozen armed security personnel. Kadrath slowly disembarked, with the fugitive in tow, and was taken to the chief of security for the station. The Chief confirmed the fugitive's identity and the value of the bounty then took custody of the prisoner. Kadrath had become a bounty hunter.
As the security chief was preparing to transfer the credits, Kadrath asked about the spice trader’s ship and was told that it would be impounded and likely auctioned or scrapped. Kadrath made a quick decision and suggested that the Security Chief keep the bounty, transfer ownership of the ship to Kadrath, resupply him, and they’d call it even. The Chief knew that any credits from an auction would ultimately go to the Republic and that transferring ownership of a republic impound carried a relatively small cost. The Chief saw the potential for a fairly large payoff for himself and agreed to the deal. He had the ownership transferred, the ship resupplied, and Kadrath went on his way while the Chief happily transferred credits across a few accounts.
Kadrath spent the next year tracking down and capturing several bounties, preferring to hunt down bounties placed by the Republic on criminals and fugitives. One such bounty led Kadrath to Taris, in the Taris system, where he has just arrived and docked in the spaceport.
