Name: Astera Nalin
Species: Zelosian
Age: 46
Gender: Female
Faction: Jedi Rescuer
Rank: Jedi Knight
Master: N/A
Former master(s): A man by the name of Seri White, who died in battle a little less than a decade ago.
Homeworld: Zelos II
Trained at: The Jedi Praxeum on Arkania
Spoken Languages: Basic and Zelosian
Written Languages: Just Basic, and that's hard enough.
Concerning you
You are on a mission. How did you dress for it? What else can you say about your looks?
I have a triangular face with well-defined features. Thin lips and almond-shaped eyes, high and narrow cheekbones with small ears and a cute nose. I'm somewhat proud of how I look, and I take care of myself to make sure I'm always presentable. My hair is shoulder-length and a reddish brown color, and complements my species' bright green eyes well. My skin is mostly smooth, save for a few nasty scars, and has a barely noticeable green tint- a Zelosian’s version of a tan, otherwise my skin is pale due to the lack of red pigment in my blood and body. I am 5'8" (~1.7 meters tall) and weigh about 120 lbs (~55 kg). I'm quite modest in how I dress, preferring to cover as much of my body as possible. Along with my normal outfit, I wear the traditional brown Jedi robe, and always carry my green-bladed lightsaber with me by tucking it into a hidden pocket in my belt. If you were to ever see me without my clothes -a very unlikely situation- you would be able to see that my right leg is completely cibernetic from my mid-thigh down. The only other way someone could know of this is if they were able to hear the mechanical parts moving when I walked, or if I told them.
In order to confront the Sith, you need to be strong. Name one weakness or flaw you have identified but not neutralized.
Well, I am dyslexic, so it’s hard for me to read something and get it right on the first try without focusing, and this also affects my ability to write. Though I suppose you're looking for me to point out one of the things that I can still try to change?
In battle, I am not against harming my opponent when necessary but I prefer not to take any life, so sometimes I may not use as much force as is needed until I realize that I do need to try harder. I would also describe myself as soft-hearted, which would explain why I’m here as a rescuer rather than a member of the strike team. I cannot bring myself to leave someone who is suffering or in need of help, and I often don’t think past the present moment before attempting to help because, in my experience, if you wait it's too late.
Fighting Sith is not easy. How do you plan to use the Force for this?
Telekinesis - (Master) I have extreme amounts of both strength and control with this skill, as I should as a Sage.
Serenity Trance - (Master) A brief and specialized meditative state for use in battle. If I can do this for even just a few seconds mid-battle it will allow me to regain my focus and power.
Center of Being - (Master) Another specialized form of meditation, and a stance used in lightsaber combat. When in such a state, I can almost unconsciously defend from even the most flowing random attacks and feints.
Force Empathy - (Master/Innate) I’m a natural empath, and can pick up other’s emotions with little effort. Almost all my training with this has been in order to control what I sense, and to tune out the emotions that could cause me to loose my own calm or harm me.
Alter Damage - (Advanced) I don’t wish to harm my opponent any more than necessary, and this skill is perfect for that purpose. I’m able to prevent my strikes from doing barely any damage at all if I want, and I have a great amount of control over this ability to ensure that.
Mind Trick - (Advanced) I am able to defend myself against most mind tricks, and able to trick most anybody if they’re not defending themselves as well. I’ve never really tried to trick another force user before, as I’ve had no reason to try it on Jedi, and with the Sith I’m usually too busy fighting or throwing things around with telekinesis to try it.
Comprehend Speech - (Advanced) I am easily able to grasp and comprehend the meaning of alien words when attempting to communicate with any being I would not normally be able to understand. Use of this skill takes minimal effort and it’s become automatic on my part when encountering anyone I would not normally understand.
Force Sight - (Intermediate) While most younglings are taught to sense what’s around them with the force, I studied this further as a way to compensate for my species’ blindness in the dark. I’m not the best at this, I’ll leave that to the Miraluka, but I’m able to use it just well enough that I can do most anything in the dark that I normally would be able to. Better even, as in the dark I don’t have to worry about dyslexia affecting anything I read. The Force interprets words and images much better than my own mind, it seems.
Force Healing - (Intermediate) I can heal myself or another, but it won’t do much. I can heal mild wounds and take the edge off of worse ones, but any severe wound would take a lot of focus to do anything to, and would most likely need many treatments to completely heal. I have trained with this skill enough to no longer need to meditate in order to use it, but it doesn’t hurt to do so anyway.
Detoxify Poison - (Intermediate) I originally wanted to learn this skill in an attempt to see if I could neutralize the effect that sugar has on me, as other species have been able to do the same with alcohol. It does take the edge off, but I’m a lightweight when it comes to ‘drinking’. Other toxins are much easier to neutralize, and tend to clear my system in about half the time they normally would when I focus.
Sure, you can use the Force… but what else can you do?
I know quite a few things about plants, how to tend to them and help them grow as well as useful ways to use them and which ones are ok to eat, I’ve even got a few good recipes for on-the-field; normal, I think one would imagine considering I
am a plant.
Aside from my green thumbs, I have a meticulous attention to detail and a good memory. I’m quite adaptable, and able to analyze a situation to quickly make decisions based on what I know in that moment.
Socially, I’m good at avoiding confrontations and arguments. I tend to keep an optimistic outlook on problems, and am easily able to keep calm and in-control when under pressure.
I am ambidextrous, meaning that both of my hands can be used to wield a blade to equal ability in combat, and it’s rather handy for tasks needing precision and dexterity, though I’m not much of a tinkerer or anything of the like. As a Zelosian, I am able to survive for long periods of time so long as I have sunlight and water. I don’t necessarily have to eat food to live, though it helps to eat because then I regain my energy a little quicker than when relying only on sunlight.
Something got you to join this mission. What was it? What events shaped your life?
I can barely remember anything of my time before I was found by the Jedi Order as a 5-year-old. The earliest memory I have is of a game I played with the other younglings at the Praxeum on the planet Arkania.
As a youngling I was a studious child, but not nearly as much as I should have been. My attentions always strayed off the current task, even when I tried to meditate and focus on the force. In an attempt to help me learn to focus, one of the teachers came up with a test to try and find out what the problem was. I have a natural ability to sense the emotions of those around me, even when they were hiding them on the surface. This empathy caused many distractions, and it got so hard to focus past it sometimes that I had to go somewhere I’d be completely alone so I could practice using the force at all.
Yet once I was able to focus I found that certain aspects of the force came to me with ease, skills such as sensing my surroundings and using telekinesis. Focus continued to be my greatest challenge until I became a Knight, but until then I practiced as much as I could at tuning out my own emotions and the emotions of others. Eventually I got to the point where it was effortless to do, but admittedly it was slow going until I actually became a padawan. My master was a great help in learning this control.
I was 13 when I passed the initiate trials, and when I first met Seri White, or Master Seri as I would call him. He was an old Knight who had trained two padawans before me, both of whom had passed the Knight’s trials on their first attempt. Seri was a good teacher, a highly skilled Jedi, and a kind, tolerant person. It never ceased to amaze me how he cared about all the people he came into contact with during missions. He made sure to protect even his enemy from the threat they posed, to others and to themselves. I like to think I learned this trait from him, though it was not one he made any true effort to pass on to me.
"Compassion is the belief that all life is precious and important. Just because your opponent may be an enemy for now, it doesn’t mean that they can’t change if given a chance." Seri was quick to notice where I struggled and what my strengths were. He saw potential in me that I myself was blind to. I’m glad to say that his guidance was what began pushing me to get where I am now, though that doesn’t mean I was a good student at all. I can remember many occasions where I must have been the most annoying padawan in the universe to him. Still, he took my phases of questioning and impatience, rebellious behaviors and moodiness in stride, and with a sense of good humor about him as well. He was a concrete wall compared to my young self, I couldn’t have asked for a better Master.
Although, Seri wasn’t perfect. No one is. As a youngling at the temple I trained in the basics of Shii-cho and Soresu, but my current form, Niman, is what Seri used, and was all he was able to teach me as far as Lightsabers go. It was simple to learn, and I liked that it didn’t require any fancy footwork like Ataru or focus too much on the fighting aspect like Makashi. Though, at first I envied those who were able to use Soresu or Shien, as I had perceived the defensive forms to be more useful than Niman, which has no true gear towards either offence or defence. I was wrong to think so, as Niman -unspecialized as it is- is the best form for my fighting style, as I prefer not to harm my opponent any more than necessary and, as I learned and developed my skills with Telekinesis, I found it very easy to incorporate the Force into my bladework. Seri taught me that a Lightsaber, just like the Force, was a tool rather than a weapon. A means to protect oneself and the others they defend.
By the time I turned 18, I believed I was ready to attempt the Knight trials, though Seri would constantly remind me to be patient and wait until
he was sure I was ready. He would often tell me: “Not for another ten years if you can’t settle and wait! Focus, and trust in the Force to guide you.” I can’t say I’ve gained any true patience since then, but I did at least learn how to wait for things I wanted to happen -even if I’m not very calm while waiting.
I finally got my chance to take the Trials only a short time before the return of the Sith and the beginning of the war. I had only held the rank for a few weeks before it started, and I was almost immediately sent to the battlefront. It was horrible, I think especially so for me. I saw many of my comrades, people I considered friends even, fall in more ways than one. As the bodies of the dead would litter the ground, Jedi with weaker constitutions would suddenly give in to their emotions and join the Sith. So many emotions swirling around, loss, anger, fear, hatred... The Sith would speak to us, trying to convince us to turn on our allies, to use what we felt to become 'stronger'. I have no idea whether or not I also felt these emotions, or if I ever had the urge to give up and work with the Sith instead. At first the collective feeling around me was too strong to tell where my thoughts and emotions ended and where all
theirs began. If I ever did, I didn't act on the thoughts at all. Seeing my comrades struck down around me, or changed into someone nearly unrecognizable by their own choice to abandon their beliefs, strengthened my own constitution. I would not fall to the dark side just because the universe around us seemed to be spiraling into chaos. I would not allow myself to think that my path may not be right.
Over the next years I got used to the wartime setting, but I didn't stop hoping for peace, or back down from the challenge of keeping myself together. If one good thing ever came out of this war, for me anyway, it would be that I finally gained complete control over the Empathy I’d struggled with since I was a child. I never stopped learning after becoming a Knight, as I always could find at least one thing to practice or fix. I learned to meditate and focus better, centering myself and pulling away from the chaos around me in battle to help isolate myself from the emotions of those around me, and calm my mind. I taught myself how to take care of myself and others in survival situations. I even tried to learn certain Force Skills in an attempt to neutralize a few of my physical faults, such as my species' natural blindness in the dark.
By the time I turned 26 I was assigned my first Padawan, a human named Yao-wang. He was a mild-mannered sort on the outside, but I could tell that he had trouble keeping his emotions in check. I worked with him patiently, hoping to help him find his strengths and gain control over his inner turbulence. He was a good student, though he got frustrated and gave up when things didn't come easily enough to him. Before Yao turned 14, we never went to the battlefields at all, and I think I may have lost some of my edge in the two years before we went on our first battle mission together. I noticed almost immediately that the way the enemy fought had changed over the last few years. I was nervous, and didn't feel like we were ready for this quite yet, but if you never try you can never know what you're capable of, right? We weren't on the front lines, rather far from it actually, but I worried all the same that something might happen. Imperial troopers have more strength than just numbers, after all.
At one point during the battle, Yao and I were separated from each other by a group of troopers who surrounded us. I fought my way out easily, and I thought to let Yao get himself out of the situation on his own, as he could've used some practice making a decision and acting on it. I would only step in if he needed me to. He defeated almost half the troopers who had gone after him before I noticed, too late, what was about to happen. Another group of troopers had been standing a little ways away. At first I thought they were hanging back out of fear or caution, but then one of them hit a trigger that set off a bunch of firebombs around us. I was able to keep the flames from reaching me with Telekinesis, but everything and everyone else seemed to become engulfed in flame. I saw the troopers that had activated the trap run off to avoid the flames themselves. The others, who had been fighting Yao, struggled to breathe as clouds of black smoke billowed off of their burning flesh. I tried to push the flames further away, to clear the space where I’d last seen Yao standing, but I couldn’t find him. I could hear the screams of people burning around me, friend and foe alike. I could feel their emotions, their collective fear and pain. I tried to find Yao through his emotions but when I reached out to him he was completely silent, as if calm for once.
Later, after the flames died, I found his lightsaber on the ground next to what must’ve once been his body, now charred into ash. The battle was over by then, to this day I can’t remember -perhaps I never knew- who won. I understand his death was not
all my fault, but when I could have saved him by simply making a different decision or just noticing the trap sooner, it’s kind of hard not to feel like it is.
About a year later, when I was 30, I was assigned my second Padawan, Lovino, whom I ended up treating a bit like a baby bird. I never allowed her to be very far from me, at least not until I was confident she’d be ok on her own no matter what surprises might come up. In reality this was a mistake on my part. Lovino is no the worse for it but, I had allowed my fear of the past repeating itself to govern how much freedom I gave the girl. She passed the knight trials after five years with me, and to this day she is a highly capable Jedi, but I feel like I could have done better with her training. She’d been a curious and shy child, though very smart and with a natural talent for the control aspect of the Force. She was also one of the calmest children I’d ever met, and I think that may have been one of the reasons the Council assigned her to me.
I remember one mission in particular with her, just a little while before she passed the Knight trials. We’d been sent away from the battlefields for this one, something increasingly rare to me as the war has gone on. We were still dealing with the Sith however, only a little more indirectly. A fellow Jedi had received some information about the location of a ‘point of interest’ to the Sith. We had no way of knowing if it was a base or hideaway-supply station or something else entirely. Either way we found ourselves on a planet in the outer rim that was mostly forest.
After a while of recon and searching for any sign of the Sith, we made our way down into a maze of catacombs to an underground ruin. There we encountered a small party of Sith troopers and a Sith who introduced himself as a Lord, though I doubted it at the time and still do. We fought, and eventually caused a cave-in that I believe either killed or trapped the Sith and his group there. They’d been there for the same reason as us, to explore and find whatever there was to find there on that lonely planet. What we eventually found, thanks to information gleaned from the Sith during our fight, turned out to be a Sith Artifact which was recovered by the Order after we sent them a message about it.
A little while after Lovino passed the knight trials, I lost my right leg and nearly died in a battle with a particularly strong Sith, a Trandoshan. I defeated him in the end, though in my own mind I consider it more of a tie. I ended up taking one of his eyes out and threw him across the battlefield with Telekinesis, though not until after I should already have died. I remember passing out as a few troopers helped me to a transport shuttle and later waking up in the Temple’s medical bay a full day later, a hole in my chest and missing a leg. Not too long after that I received a cybernetic leg to replace the one I’d lost, and after almost a year my other injury was deemed healed enough for me to return to the battlefields.
When I was about 36 years old -the same time as I would get my next padawan, a fellow Zelosian named Kiku- the Council granted me the specialization of Jedi Sage. I accepted the title with reserved joy; it’s nice to have your skills be acknowledged. I took relatively the same approach with Kiku as I had with Lovino, though this time attempting not to be too overprotective, and I think I succeeded in that aspect. He passed the Knight Trials six years later, when I was about 40 years old.
I have not been assigned another padawan since then. In fact, nothing of particular interest has happened in my life these last 6 years, besides the many missions I go on. One last thing I will mention is a rather, blurry, but happy memory that I like to remember and laugh about, if only to remind myself never to do that again. It was a little less than a decade ago, only a couple weeks after Kiku became my padawan. The both of us being Zelosians led to some interesting questions and conversation from the boy, particularly about the flaws that I’ve been able to counter in order to complete my duties as a Jedi. In this instance he asked me if I had ever had enough sugar that I became drunk.
I had, accidentally, gotten buzzed on many occasions simply because of the sugar content in any food I ate, and I knew the same was true for him, but I’d never purposely taken any sugar to get that way. In fact, I’ve always tried to be very careful about my sugar intake, as I’m very well aware that I am a ‘lightweight’ when it come to ‘drinking’, and I’ve seen drunk Jedi do things they’ve regretted before. That night though, we were in between missions and I suppose I gave in to Kiku’s persistence in questioning me that I agreed to try doing so on purpose. I don't remember much past the first few spoonfuls, Kiku later told me that I started singing (badly, in his words) and then passed out after playing umpteen rounds of Pazaak with him.
How do you fight with lightsabers?
I am a master of the Niman form of Lightsaber combat, which suits me well as I prefer to use the force rather than my blade, and I enjoy the adaptability of the form from situation to situation. I am exceedingly good at making sure I don’t hurt my opponent any more than is necessary, while avoiding injury myself. I am ambidextrous, meaning I can hold my lightsaber in either hand or with both at once, it doesn’t matter.
How do you relate to the other characters?
Among friends I’m quirky and jovial, though I try to be friendly and cordial no matter who I'm speaking to, at least unless said person proves to be too difficult. I always make an attempt to be kind to everyone I meet, and I've proven to be much more passive than one would expect, even when antagonized. My cold side isn't as bad as you might think, so long as I'm being sociable. My bite is certainly worse than my bark, as any Sith will soon find.
Out of Character
How powerful is she in the Force?
She has an enormous amount of strength and accuracy in the force, though she may not be very graceful all the time. She has reached her potential with skills such as Telekinesis and Force Empathy, and has the ability to learn a wide range of skills if she would try. Her Greatest strengths lie in her use of the force.
Has your character encountered members of the other factions before?
Yes. In the catacombs mission she met and fought Zez Keltra. She’s also fought Lord Sish before, in the fight that’s mentioned in her Bio where she lost her leg. Though, she didn’t exchange names with either of them.
Your character can’t know her every weakness or flaw. Which ones were missing above?
Personality Flaws:
- Astera has a soft spot for all living things, and is perhaps too kind to realize when she needs to stand her ground against the ideas of her comrades, and when she needs to step up.
- While she’ll call out things that would lead to the dark side and stop herself from going that path, she won’t force others to do anything because she wants them to make their own choice rather than have others feel forced to do anything by her.
- She prefers to avoid arguments, no matter if she’s right or not. She’ll follow any order she is given, but in a way that she feels is right with the force.
- Honesty. She doesn’t like to lie and in some cases she may inadvertently hurt others with what she says. This also means that when she does lie it’s very easy to tell she’s lying.
- Impatience and restlessness cause her to become anxious and giddy after long periods of waiting for or worrying about something. She may do something irrational in order to help someone she’s worried about.
Physical flaws:
- She has Dyslexia, which means that while she is not illiterate sometimes she may as well be. It is a good thing that most of her missions don’t require her to read or write anything important.
- Also on the topic of sight, her race is completely blind in darkness.
- Zelosians also have a strange reaction to sugar, where it has the same effect on them as alcohol does on other species.
- She has a cybernetic leg which, while it’s no weaker than her original leg was, is noticeable in how she fights now, and like all cybernetics could be messed with by anyone who tries to do so. Her right leg is the cybernetic one, and she’ll usually stand with that leg forward in whatever stance she takes.
As a non-human, list what traits your character has specifically because of their Species.
Zelosians:
- Are completely blind in the dark
- Have Chlorophyll sap instead of blood
- Due to the Green chlorophyll in the blood they get greener instead of red or brown when exposed to excessive amounts of sunlight
- They look paler than most baseline humans otherwise due to the lack of red pigment, and any veins that are visible are Green.
- At a glance they cannot be told apart from most baseline humans.
- Hair color sticks to natural brown hues, and may change slightly from season to season or due to differing levels of sunlight.
- Can use photosynthesis as well as eat food in order to survive
- So long as they have sunlight and water they do not
need to eat food
- Sugar affects them the same way alcohol does other species
- All have Emerald green eyes
The Dark Side. How well does your character resist it?
Astera is extremely grounded in the light. As a Sage it's part of her job to resist the dark side with all her might, and she's had lots of practice.
What is your character’s personality like? What motivates her?
Her goal, and what she believes her purpose is in life, is to be the best Jedi she could possibly be, and therefore the best person she could be as well. In every action she takes she’s very reserved, only doing what she absolutely must to win a fight, while causing the least possible amount of harm to her opponent. She’s good at fighting, but that doesn’t mean she likes it at all. She’s kind, bubbly, and easy to get along with, but beneath her welcoming demeanor and ever-present smile lies a calculating intelligence, and the most caring of souls. She values honesty and integrity, and sticks to her morals like glue, appreciating those who also have these qualities, even if their opinions may differ from her own. She may not be the best at knowing what to say and when, but her overall earnestness and a lack of beating around the bush tend to make up for that. As a Jedi she’s used to hiding her emotions or pushing them to the side, but they still exist beneath her calm surface even though it might be hard to tell for sure, and some of her moods can seem to be contagious, or it may seem like she’s catching the moods of others; a sign of her empathetic nature. She has an optimistic outlook on life but doesn’t ignore the bad things in the universe, she simply hopes that the good will outweigh the bad in the end.
Do you have any limits as to what is “ok” to happen to your character?
No. Astera may be a pure light, but that doesn't mean she can't/won't get into any trouble.
Do the ends justify the means?
The ends will
never justify the means to Astera. Do it the right way or you're just as bad as the Sith, and you deserve to fail if you can't do something in the light.
Captivity. Do you want her to potentially be captured?
It's not impossible. Who knows, it might be fun to see how her role change from rescuer to the one needing rescue would play out.
What do you think your character is doing in a few IC months?
This question is a little confusing.
If the Jedi lose, she likely won't be alive in a few months. She'd fight to the death, and if they won't allow her to die, she'll never turn to the dark side.
If they win (and she's still alive) she's going to take on a new Padawan, as before the events of the RP she was simply doing missions and helping the Order in whatever way she could, alone. In rescuing the prisoners, she'll realize how out of touch she is with the younger and less experienced Jedi, and request to get a Padawan of her own so she can help them and help herself to understand what troubles the Padawans are having nowadays. For every prisoner that turns, she's going to want to understand why they did, and to stop that from happening by training as many as she can to help them stay in the light.
Does your character have any secrets useful for the GMs’ plots?
Nope.
Member
Mae,
Remram,
MrSkimobile,
LustForDecay,
Days,
shylarah,
Foster,
The Eight,
Pandolin,
Ti
