Name: Kresst Salavr
Species: Mrlssi
Age: 29
Appearance: (Stands at about 0.7 meters in height. Appears much like the male on the right, but with primarily green and yellow head plumage.)
Equipment: Simple brown Jedi robes
Short lightsaber, yellow
Camera
Datapad, high memory capacity
Skills:
- Practiced with both the light and dark sides of the Force, with strength appropriate to his years of study. His explorations into the force have been made with the goal of maintaining balance, and as such, any training in the applications of the dark side must also be matched with complementary training in the light.
- Telekinesis: Kresst has developed his abilities in telekinesis for purposes both academic and pragmatic. With his small stature, he frequently relies upon his telekinetic abilities to function efficiently in a world meant for beings much larger than himself. As such, he is well-practiced in many applications of telekinesis and can use it to overcome his physical limitation, augment his physical abilities, and affect the world around him. He considers telekinesis to be a naturally balanced application of the Force that can be used through the dark to attack, or the light to defend.
- Tutaminis and Lightning: Among the more “iconic” applications of the dark side, Kresst has explored the creation and projection of energy through force lightning. Under normal cirumstances, Kresst lacks the intensity of emotion for the dark side to draw upon, so his lightning is not usually as powerful as that of a true darksider. Regardless, his study into producing energy with the dark side was also matched with study into absorbing and diffusing energy with tutaminis. His abilities in absorption draw upon his more peaceful, tranquil emotions, thus maintaining his balance.
- Fear and Valor: In his explorations of telepathy, Kresst has learned to isolate and amplify either positive or negative emotions. Drawing upon the dark side, he can manipulate the mind of another to encourage fear, hopelessness, and despair to varying degrees, depending upon the willpower of the target, to reduce their effectiveness or cause them to flee outright. Likewise, he can draw upon the light to inspire a being and enhance their capabilities.
- Well-educated historian and archeologist. Experienced with technology, particularly as pertains to ancient technology
Abilities:
- Excellent memory
- Deep connection to the Force
Weaknesses:
- Diminutive size. While his abilities in the Force can more than make up for any physical disadvantages, if his concentration is sufficiently broken, or he otherwise cannot rely on the Force, his small form does him few favors in fighting against danger.
- Lightsaber combat. Despite his Force abilities, his skill with a lightsaber is not as well-developed compared to other Jedi Knights, particularly those who entered the war.
- Lack of combat experience. Kresst does, of course, have Jedi training, but lacks much in the way of practical fighting experience in comparison to many Jedi. While he can certainly fight with the Force, he does not have as much experience with tactical, split-second decision making.
- Untested Balance. Thusfar in his life, Kresst has maintained his balance through the study of both the light and dark sides of the force. However, that balance has also never been greatly tested. He has avoided the pain and trials of the Clone Wars. However, with Order 66, it is now the stress and desperation of exile which now lies ahead, and will test to see if he can maintain the balance he has always sought.
History: Kresst’s induction into the Jedi Order was rather mundane, as Jedi would consider it. He was a hatchling found to be Force sensitive, and therefore was taken to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for training, like countless other younglings. He neither struggled nor excelled as an initiate, which continued on into his time as a Padawan. Perhaps influenced by his species’ own natural tendencies, Kresst took a particular interest in scholarly pursuits. He was motivated to educate himself whenever he had a free moment: history, science, technology, sentientology, and any other form of knowledge that seemed even somewhat interesting. However, it did not take long for his interests to turn to what was, to the Galaxy, the defining trait of the Jedi: the Force. Its mysterious nature compelled Kresst. The Force was, to him, a question that had been given many thousands of answers over the millennia, but none were quite satisfactory. The Jedi Order naturally had more volumes in its archives about the force than many beings could read in a lifetime, but Kresst could not be satisfied simply reading the thoughts of others on the subject.
Over time, Kresst started to spend more time in his meditation chambers than in his books: a behavior that was greatly encouraged by his master, and other Jedi. The spiritual, mystic nature of the Force was not something that was generally well-received by more rational, logic-minded scientists and scholars outside of the Jedi Order, but it was that very fact that made it so captivating to Kresst. The Force was not a science that could be recorded, categorized, and measured, and yet it was undeniably real. Just because the Force was “unscientific” by nature, that did not mean it could not be understood. It merely meant that the methodology for understanding it would have to be different.
As he was a Padawan, Kresst still had to undergo all of the usual training. There was combat and dangerous missions, but Kresst took little pleasure in taking them on. Of course, his master found his preference for diplomacy over violence to be an encouraging trait for a Jedi. Even still, the fact that a Jedi had to be ready to engage in violence if necessary meant that Kresst had to dedicate far more of his time to combat training than he liked, when he would have much preferred to be meditating.
Kresst spent years delving into the mysteries of the Force whenever he had the opportunity; however, his studies started to become more frustrating as he reached the limits of the Jedi Order’s strict teachings. For something as mysterious and intricate as the Force, Kresst felt that the Order’s rules on what was and was not forbidden were strangely strict and specific. He questioned if the Jedi could
truly understand the force by only looking at a part of the whole. If the Force was balance, then gaining the complete understanding of that balance would require looking at both sides. It was that desire for true understanding that motivated Kresst to begin experimenting with the Force outside the bounds of the Order’s teachings.
It had been clear to his master that Kresst was going down the path of a Jedi scholar, which was a respectable path in her eyes. He had begun the process of authoring drafts of books based on his own research, and some of his earliest writings had focused on the nature of the Force. However, as his interests grew beyond the Jedi’s rules, his writings shifted their focus back to other scholarly topics. Outwardly, his interests went towards history, particularly ancient history. He educated himself even more thoroughly on the past, and trained himself in the practices of archeology to uncover new secrets. In his later years as a Padawan, his master obliged his requests to take on tasks that would allow him to apply those skills. However, what his master interpreted as a simple shift in interests was truly meant to facilitate his explorations into the mysteries of the force. Many of the ancient cultures he studied had their own traditional force beliefs, from which Kresst was happy to learn. Additionally, his work simply kept him isolated enough from other Jedi to allow him to continue his research into the Force in peace, whether it be the light side, or the dark. In general, Kresst lacked the internal conflict and unrest that usually went along with Padawans who explored the dark side. It was curiosity which drove him, so his motivations went unnoticed by his master.
Once he became a Jedi Knight, Kresst continued into the life he began as a Padawan. As a Jedi researcher, he spent months, or even over a year at a time on expeditions in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. There was the occasional time when he would be given an assignment more like an average Jedi, but they were few and far enough between Kresst was not terribly bothered by them. Even the start of the Clone Wars did not fundamentally change his life, apart from the fact that travel in the galaxy became much more difficult, and it was more difficult to be approved for assignments that would allow him the solitude he preferred. Kresst had no desire to enter the war, and even his peers agreed that his skills and temperament would not lend themselves well to wartime.
