Physical Description: Rouke stands at a solid 6’1, with lean muscle from strenuous labor and combat on Tatooine. While not overly bulky, he does have a very thin layer of fat over his frame, though his muscles remain defined. Rouke’s leathery skin is a roadmap of blaster burns and scars. His right eye is a ruined mess, permanently shut after a krayt dragon ripped it open with its claws, and numerous other scars coat his flesh from the same incident. Rouke typically keeps this concealed with a simple tan cloth wrapped at an angle around his head. A long keloid scar extends diagonally across his throat, tapering off towards his jaw. Rouke’s hands are coarse and callused, his right missing its pinkie finger from the first knuckle up. Rouke’s long hair is generally tied up in a bun, and he maintains a slight beard.
Name: Grrur’rkrs’rouk (Rouke)
Age: 39
Homeword: Tatooine
Gender: Male
Race/Species: Human
Occupation: None
Faction: No affiliations
Weapons (if any): Tusken cycler, beskar-reinforced gaderffii, small knife
Equipment: Syntherope, 2x thermal detonators, 5x ammo cartridges, sharpening stone, canteen
Clothing: Rouke wears flowing earth-colored robes and rags with mismatched pieces of salvaged armor over them. His face is typically obscured by a hood.
Personal Ship: N/A
Power/Abilities:
Tracker: Rouke is an experienced hunter, spending years stalking both man and beast alike as a Tusken. Tracking on the shifting sands of Tatooine is very difficult, but he has largely mastered this fine art. Likewise, Rouke knows how to travel silently and leave no trace behind. However, his tracking skills remain on a more primitive level, and concepts like paper trails and interrogation escape him.
Strong Constitution: Rouke is able to go without food and water for a significantly longer time than most without feeling the effects as severely. He can travel for days at a time without stopping as well, though this takes a toll on him. Having spent almost all his life on Tatooine, which has both searing hot days and freezing nights, Rouke is quite accustomed to extreme temperatures, though he is still terrified of any water deeper than his canteen.
Combat: Having fought both Tuskens and colonists for most of his life, Rouke’s reflexes are honed and his muscles tuned to the pace of combat, though not comparable to a Sith or Jedi. He relies on brute strength and his versatile fighting style to gain the upper hand in a fight, and when these fail, Rouke’s endurance and tolerance to pain allow him to out-slug his foe blow for blow. Rouke is a decent shot with a rifle, but prefers to fight hand-to-hand despite his missing eye, which is a significant disadvantage in combat.
Personality: Rouke is a man of contradictions. He is confrontational and aggressive, but has difficulty looking people in the eyes. Even after three years away from his tribe, seeing others not completely concealed by robes and rags is unnerving to him, almost shameful, and he does his best to avert his gaze. Rouke’s physical presence in a room is strong and imposing, yet the Tusken speaks little, and when he does, it comes out as a harsh and gravelly whisper, his vocal cords damaged after being slashed by a rival tribe member’s gaffi stick. The Tusken believes in victory at any cost, as evident from his numerous scars and missing eye, but despises using any technology more advanced than his cycler rifle to defeat his enemies. Rouke is excellent at reading body language and concealing his, yet he cannot read faces or hide the emotion on his own. He grew up in a culture where there was never any reason to lie to another, and is almost entirely incapable of doing so, but he is extremely distrustful of others.
Like most Tuskens, Rouke despises anyone outside of his tribe, but with them behind him now, he is slowly opening up to others, accepting them into his “tribe”. He trusts Bob with his life, though this trust was started when the Kushiban saved him. Rouke is deeply religious, believing in a system of gods and spirits that look over all Tuskens, so to Rouke, it was no coincidence that Bob stumbled upon him. He has a profound connection to nature and animals, and hates being indoors, or worse, in outerspace. His sense of humor is sometimes cruel and leaves much to be desired, but is slowly becoming more civilized. Despite his relatively quiet demeanor, Rouke is an excellent and engaging storyteller, one of his favorite pastimes, though he does tend to exaggerate his feats and adventures.
Religion: Tusken animism
History: Rouke was born on Tatooine to a pair of young moisture farmers, but then, his name was Ilkea Jhoren. When he was a year old, the farm was attacked by Tusken Raiders, and his entire family was killed by the Sand People. Luckily, Ilkea was adopted by a female Tusken on the raid, Ora'jss'ask, who had just lost a young child of her own. Ora substituted her deceased babe with Ilkea, ensuring that none of their tribe knew the true identity of the human amongst their ranks, though many of the Tuskens were unknowingly humans themselves. She named the adopted child Grrur’rkrs’rouk, or Rouke, and raised him as her own with her mate.
Rouke lived as a Tusken for 35 years. He never knew he was any different from the others, since Sand People never saw another unrobed unless they were married, and none knew what other members of their sex looked like. From a young age, he trained and fought with his gaderffii, raiding and killing others. When his time for his bloodrite, a ceremony which turns a young uli-ah into a full-fledged tribe member, Rouke set off into the Jundland Wastes. He managed to kill a krayt dragon and retrieve the precious pearl from its gullet, though the creature severely mauled Rouke, which resulted in the loss of his eye. He returned to his tribe a man, and was given a blood-bound mate, R'Rin Srugdogg. After Rouke healed, the two were wed, and though she, too, was a human adopted by the Tuskens, neither were aware of their unusual position.
Rouke became a prominent member of the tribe, rising to the rank of Chieftain by the time he was 30. The couple had two children, a boy and girl, and lived life as most Tuskens do. Six after Rouke was appointed Chief, their Storyteller, an important figure in the tribe, was killed in battle with another group of Tusken Raiders. The death of the Storyteller greatly weakened the tribe, and led to massive infighting. Without the Storyteller, the tribe’s history was lost, and according to Tusken tradition, a tribe with no history was not worthy of existing. Other Tusken tribes were quick to prey on Rouke’s, and they were raided during the night. Rouke managed to rally his men and ward them off, but his family were among those killed. Gravely wounded and with sickened with guilt, Rouke shed his robes and exiled himself into the desert, believing if his family’s souls wanted him to survive, he would.
After wandering in the desert for days, a Kushiban, Bobecc, found him. Rouke, half-dead from dehydration, saw this as a sign of forgiveness by his now dead family, and knew that it was their will that he follow this small creature. Bob helped Rouke regain his strength, and the two have been travelling since then, bounty hunting across the galaxy. In the back of his mind, Rouke knew that one day he would have his revenge, but he need not seek it just yet.
Family: Rouke's mate and two children were killed by another Tusken tribe, but his parents both survived. However, after the collapse of his tribe, it is likely they are both dead as well.