OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To codify the long-awaited NPC sub for Val Drutin's father.
- Image Credit: Rudolph Valentino
- Role: Captain Rhett Valentino is a Hapan pirate and (unbeknownst to him) the biological father of Val Drutin.
- Permissions:
- Vibrocutlass [N/A]
- X7-B "Checkmate" Holdout Disruptor [Open Market]
- Links: Val Drutin | Sinead Drutin
- Age: Early forties.
- Force Sensitivity: Untrained Force Sensitive
- Species: Hapan
- Appearance: Among his fellow Hapans, Rhett Valentino is considered below average in the looks department. Ironically, he's rather vain, always appearing meticulously well-groomed. He's even been known to use makeup. He suffers from a deformity—his right ear is cauliflowered due to a childhood injury—which he keeps hidden by wearing his trademark keffiyeh. The rest of his oriental-inspired costume is mere flamboyance on his part, but the outfit has earned him a nickname: "The Sheik". Those rumors that he was actually raised on a desert planet are false. Probably.
- Name: Captain Rhett Valentino; "The Sheik"
- Loyalties: Himself and his crew.
- Wealth: Rhett made a promise to himself years ago that if he were to come into true wealth, he'd give up the business, at least for a little while. That has yet to happen.
- Notable Possessions:
- Skills: Rhett got his start as a pilot, though he isn't exceptional in that area. In fact, he's not particularly exceptional in any area, except maybe charisma and leadership. For whatever reason, people are willing to follow this guy... right up until he leads them into a really bad situation that either gets them killed or nearly so. He also sports cybernetic enhancements which improve his reflexes and physical strength.
- Personality: A troublemaker and an adrenaline junkie, Rhett Valentino's eccentric, excitable personality fits right in among other pirates. He has a mischievous streak a mile long, but when he gets that familiar gleam in his eye, you might be better off running away than joining in on the fun. You see, the Sheik isn't all that good at being a pirate. He's a little too impulsive, not very forward-thinking, and prone to extremes in temperament. He either loves something so completely he can't see the flaws in it, or he absolutely hates it and can't see anything good about it. People find him frustrating to deal with. People find him incompetent. People find him, perhaps, just a little bit dumb. But there's something innately likeable about this dumb, incompetent, frustrating pirate captain which endears him to his crew rather than prompting them to reject him. They feel a need to protect him from himself. That seems to be the secret to his success.
- Weapon of Choice: Hand-to-Hand/Melee
- Combat Function: If he can settle it with words, he will. But you can get a lot more with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word. When it comes to weapons, Rhett prefers blades but will utilize small arms such as pistols as well.
- Pirate Code: Who says there's no honor among thieves? Rhett has formulated his own code of piracy which seeks to ensure everything is fair and equal among his crew. Or at least, everything that matters, like the distribution of booty and settling of disputes. Rhett tends to be very agreeable and almost comically non-confrontational, so his crew are more likely to get what they want from him rather than having to fight for it.
- More Machine Than Man: Did I mention he's a cyborg? His right hand is a prosthetic outfitted with repulsors that essentially give him super strength, and most of his nervous system has been replaced with a response improvement package which accelerates his reaction times. Both of his eyes have been replaced by vision-enhancing cybernetics, so he no longer suffers from the Hapan weakness of being night blind.
- Two Left Feet: While not a complete idiot, Rhett is somewhat incompetent and prone to making blunders and tactical mistakes. Usually his crewmates can stop him in time before he gets them all killed, but on his own he tends to either overthink things to an absurd degree or not think about them at all.
- Something to Prove: Hapan culture emphasizes females over males, which has driven plenty of their men to become pirates over the centuries. Rhett is one of those men. He's out there in the galaxy trying to prove something, if not to everyone else, then certainly to himself.
- The Spice Must Flow: Rhett has a spice habit he's never been able to quit. He's fully aware of the self-destructive nature of it, but has given up trying to rehabilitate himself. He indulges whenever he feels like it, knowing that it will negatively impact his health in the long run.
As far as we can tell, Rhett Valentino was born and raised in space, gaining a taste for adventure and troublemaking at a young age. He joined the Hapan navy, only to lead a mutiny among the crew of a Battle Dragon, the Morning Star. The mutiny was a success and Rhett was declared the new captain.
His first step was to get the hell out of the Hapes Cluster, which was much too used to dealing with pirates. Once freed of the chokehold beyond the Transitory Mists, his career as a swashbuckler began. He and his crew pillaged their way across the stars for a while, though by the end of their first campaign scarcely an original member remained of the crew. The mutineers had all been replaced by a mismatched motley of strangers-soon-to-be-friends, including among them an attractive dancer with a taste for spice. She and Rhett had a brief fling; she left him lovesick, but he was never able to find her again.
At least, not until now. Sinead Drutin has recently re-emerged after a five year incarceration due to her association with a crime lord. Val's attempts at reconnecting with the one who got away have unwittingly placed him on a collision course with the son he never knew he had, along with other stunning (and not so stunning) revelations.
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