Mr. Pig
Oink
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
As a Rakatan, he is tall and thin, with a long, oblong head and eye stalks on both sides of his head. He has a mouth full of sharp, sharklike teeth. He wears clothing that is current with high society fashions, although he tries to keep to more business professional fashions. He does not wear much jewelry unless it is explicitly Rakatan in origin.
INVENTORY
- Holdout Blaster
- Protocol Droid
- Communicator
PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS
Bal is a man who longs to be an idealist and optimist, but nothing in his life has given him cause to embrace these things. Ideas like the rule of law and fair play have long been left by the wayside. There is a fire within Rakatans that have long been suppressed by thousands of years of decay and living on the brink, and his fire and passion for life is a smoldering coal. He sees the Galaxy in terms of power and ambitions, and the closest thing to kindness that is possible is caring for those you've chosen as your own people. Nothing protects you but power and guile, and he has plenty to spare. Despite this, he plays the role of an idealist, and recites the words and mimics the tone, and does so well.
STRENGTHS
- Cunning: Senator Tal plays a role of an idealist, and plays it well.
- Connected: Being a Senator, Tal has connections within and without the Galactic Alliance that affords him more leverage than he otherwise would be able to wield
- Passionate: Even if he doesn't admit it to himself, the cause of restoring his species is a deeply held conviction
- Cynical: He has little to no faith in the systems that purport to protect and serve, and believes that everyone is looking out for their own interests
- The Rarest Among Us: His species peters on the brink of extinction, and so he has few cultural connections and little family.
- Depressed: A lifetime of listlessness and lack of purpose has a hard effect on his mood, and those who see him in vulnerable moments are often astonished by the depths of his sorrow.
Contrary to popular belief, the Rakatan people are not extinct - not entirely, anyway. A handful remain in what is known as the Rakata Archipelago in the unknown regions, living as raiders and bandits in small tribes, disconnected from each other and their history. Other tribes live in the fringes of society, bottom dregs of the bottom parts of forgotten populations, so thoroughly integrated into impoverished Galactic history that nobody realizes that they were once the most powerful species in the Galaxy.
These raiders were brought to the attention of the Galactic Alliance in the dusk of the Yuuzhong Vong War as the Rakatans raided both sides of the war. Initially dismissed as mere opportunistic pirates, the truth was gradually uncovered. It would be decades until their survival was anything more than a piece of trivia, and the Republic realized that this historically significant species was nearly, but not quite, extinct. The existence of these raider tribes led to efforts to rediscover the lost tribes of the Rakata, and the New Republic created remote and isolated compounds to restore the species through breeding programs. Rakatans were banned from serving in the military or other dangerous roles, and a generous stipend system was set up to encourage them to live peacefully and breed often.
It was into one of these compounds that Bal Tal was born. Although well intentioned, these Rakata breeding compounds are not well maintained and have little enrichment. So little is known about Rakatan culture, and what is known is not considered polite Galactic company. Most of the people living here are listless and aimless; their every need is catered to by caretakers, and they have little structure in their lives beyond what the breeding program provides. Many Rakata are not even raised by their parents, who simply have children and leave them to be raised by the Republic.
Bal Tal's parents were one of the few families that insisted on raising their own children. His mother formally declared them the Tal Clan, and began working to reform their compound to give their people a sense of purpose and life again. The collapse of the Republic had been a wake-up call for his parents, as, for the first time in centuries, they'd been forced to look after themselves, and their compound had nearly collapsed as a result. Bal grew up with a passable Galactic standard education as a result of their reforms, and he saw that the system meant to rejuvenate his species was merely prolonging their decline and death, rather than providing hope.
When the Galactic Alliance assumed control of the program, a Senator came to view the compound, and Bal saw how everyone that worked the compound catered to the Senator hand over fist. The fate of the entire system depended on this Senator making a recommendation to other Senators, Bal realized. What the Senator found did not impress them; a bunch of lost, disinterested aliens being cared for like bored, spoiled children. Centuries of funding to just create a colony of bored, barely educated people so that a few people could look good.
Bal saw opportunity. He ingratiated himself to the Senator, expressing interest in the Senator's work and career, and insisting that, with the right help, he could turn the compound around, if only he had the chance. The compound's director insisted that everything was on track, and that the whole program was a long term effort that would need centuries more to fully culminate in the intended results. Bal proposed that the program could be used to inspire the egos of the wealthy into donating to a 'worthy cause' that spoke to the purported ideals of the Galactic Alliance.
Bal's proposal won the approval of the Senator, and the program was fully funded within a year. Bal became the face of the program, inviting the Galaxy's wealthy and powerful to the compound. He forced out uncooperative staff, and installed his own people to make sure that the Rakatans complied with demands that they show off dances, education, culture, and progress. Bal created gangs of Rakatans who enforced his rule, and those who did not participate were punished with isolation - sometimes physically enforced.
The system worked. He was able to secure essentially indefinite funding for the program through wealthy contacts who saw the 'good work' that was being done to restore the Rakatan people, an effort of many worlds coming together for a 'greater good.' Bal didn't believe in the donors, but he did believe in those who stuck around and worked the program. The Rakatans they cared for were their people, their tribe. He appreciated their passion, but knew there was no great work, no real greater sincerity. Only the exchange of good press in exchange for tax funding, and the labor of the passions of a few sociologists.
They were talking zoo animals.
Bal climbed the social ladder, allowing himself to be a successful curiosity for the rich and famous. Eventually, collectors started coming to him in regards to their Rakatan artifacts, asking if they were genuine. Bal had no idea, but he did understand that this was an economy he could tap into. Whether they were real or not, Rakatan artifacts were valuable in all kinds of circles: The rich, the underground, the Jedi, and even the Sith. He began tapping into these connections, collecting both fakes and genuine articles and arranging for their sale and gifting to important contacts.
It was when he got his hands on a Chandi Merle that his fortunes went from decent to extraordinary. It had been recovered from archaeological finds on Lehon, and Bal made sure that word about its discovery did not leave the Rakata homeworld. Bal contacted the Chandrila political elite, and arranged for its return. From that point on, Bal had all the funding he could possibly need to not only walk among the political elite of the Galactic Alliance, but become one of them. Bal Tal ran for the Senate.
Lehon, the Rakatan homeworld, had been essentially abandoned since the First Great Galactic War, with only the occasional archaeological effort providing any kind of inhabitation. By the Age of Chaos, it was essentially abandoned. It was a tropical world full of life, and no civilization. Bal offered a new vision for Lehon: A paradise colony, where the rich and famous could live in luxury and contribute to the restoration of the Rakatan civilization. The Rakata would get the chance to live on their homeworld and reconnect with it, and become a part of the Galaxy, rather than its conquerors and oppressors. With the backing of his artifact smuggling, his allies in Chandrila, and his many connections, he was able to get a special seat created for him in the Senate, and now he serves as the Lehon Sector's senator.