Lockerie Aurine
Not Today
I will Endure
Lockerie was born clinging to his identical twin brother Loukian, a circumstance which was to set the tone for almost his entire life. It would also cause problems for his family. The Aurine family were an old house of Serenian nobility, though they had never in their history achieved anything close to supremacy amongst the great houses, and Lockerie and Loukian were the first-born grandchildren of the eldest son and the only surviving child of the Family Patriarch as such one of them is third in line to the Marquessate, the other is fourth but no one can identify which child was first born and which was second. The midwife was severely reprimanded for not marking the first out.
Nothing could be done however and so it was decided that they would simply both be raised to be heir until such a time as one or the other took primacy and was identified as the better prospect. In this too the twins proved to be a frustration. While Lockerie was fast considered the more brainy of the two he was also shy and reserved and had little aptitude or inclination for physical endeavours, Loukian on the other hand was much more physically inclined but he was also rebellious and rash. The two boys were inseparable, Loukian would get them into trouble and Lockerie would get them out of it. Loukian was also fiercely protective of his brother, being his champion against any who would seek to bully or demean him and cradling him when the house rang with arguments.
Their palatial estate was often rife with discord. The marriage of their father and mother had been one of expediency and not love. The Aurine Family was old and prestigious but by no means cash rich, at the time of the marriage their estate was going to wrack and ruin and debtors circled. Their Mother was an upstart child of a tradesman who had made good. Cash-rich but blood-poor, She was also exceptional in the ways Lockerie's father was not and the Marquis soon began to look upon and treat her as his heir and not the son who had never lived up to expectations. Having produced heirs the family had little use for the twin's father except for the occasional waving or ceremonial duty. Forbidden any real role in the family or their city and overshadowed by his wife he soon descended into drink and resentment.
In time Lockerie would come to resent him too. Seeing him as many others did as a weak-willed husk pickled in cheap whiskey. Lockerie was resolved never to become like him and even developed an ardent distaste for the smell of that liquor. Their mother was a demanding woman who was never pleased with anything. If one of her children got 99 on a test she asked why it was not 100 and even when he got a 100 there was always a greater achievement to be made. Lockerie strived to live up to her expectations ... impossible though that was, Loukian did not. Sometimes intentionally flunking tests just to spite her.
Parental issues aside the twins lived a life of privilege tutored by the finest minds that could be found in the best boarding schools in the galaxy. Both children were educated in the force but mostly the sith arts by their grandfather and others paid for their expertise and Lockerie fast developed an aptitude for sorcery. They ate fine foods and lived in splendour as their family's fortunes went from strength to strength. This growing prosperity brought them into conflict with another of the fringe great houses and it was not long after Lockerie and Loukian left for university that the conflict erupted into a full-scale shadow war. Whilst the great families could not be seen to fight in the streets, behind the scenes they warred in rumour, speculation, assassination and hacking. Initially, it was only peripheral members of both families but their enemy was not above cutting deep which they proved by kidnapping the twins from their university.
Lockerie did not know where they were taken but they were soon tossed into a dank and dingy room with dripping pipes and foul smells. It was here that Lockerie discovered an allergy to mould spores. For a weak, he was in near-constant pain. great blistering rashes erupted upon his skin and he often struggled to breathe. Loukian did his best to help and when their captors came to hurt them and prepare a video for their family, perhaps in a bid to make them capitulate, Loukie fought and screamed and made a nuisance so it was him they dragged away and not Lockerie. It did not always work but it spared Lock the worst of the pain.
They were rescued a week later when the enemy family were finally beaten and they began their long road to recovery. Loukian became more erratic and aggressive and Lockerie more cautious and exacting. He was now far more fearful of uncleanly locations and disorder. He needed to be so very careful so nothing went wrong again.
Lockerie threw himself into the work of his family doing everything he was told and spending long stretches of time in the family library absorbing knowledge. That life continued for many years, Lockerie was often sent out on missions with his brother (Who would go in order to protect Lockerie but never on his own) to further the family goals or to find treasures for them. He should have known that such a life would inevitably lead back to trouble and it did. Whilst seeking an ancient Sith text in a tomb on Thule. The tomb though lost to time took some work to find and even more work to open. His efforts were seen by beings Lockerie assumes were either thugs of Thule or deserters from that group. Seeing Lockerie open the tomb and suspecting treasure might lie inside they followed and ambushed him and Loukian. Dampening their connection to the force and overpowering them.
For the second time in their life, they found themselves on the receiving end of torture. It was far worse than it had been on Serenno. Their captors lacked any restraint or decency. Loukie again tried to fight them and keep them from focusing on Lockerie but his efforts proved largely in vain. In their bid for information and access, they were relentless. Sensing that if he helped them they would only keep him as their slave Lockerie actively obfuscated and refused to give them anything no matter what they did. Loukian must have died at least three times in the months they were captive and yet with each death, Lockerie brought him back marshalling his knowledge of Sith Sorcery and what connection he could muster to the force. Perhaps it was selfish but he was resolved to live and he would not live without his brother. It soon became a game to the Thugs.
A game which ended when Dominick Feratu found them. Freeing Lockerie and assisting him (In that he did most of the work) in slaughtering every one of his captors before breaching the tomb. This time the twins were not quite so unscathed, Lockie's repeated refusal to let Loukian die had come at a high cost. For Loukian he was Mentally addled paranoid and frantic, he saw personhood and motivation in inanimate objects and their motivations often did not please him. It was and remains impossible to know on any given day what objects will or will not offend him, some are always safe but many are not.
For Lockerie his desperation and his willful and persistent defiance of the natural order left him with a force wound deep within him leaving his connection to the force a fluctuating mess. Sometimes overwhelming and other times like a lake in a draught.
Dominick brought them both back to the estate on Serenno and they were allowed to recuperate. It was fast clear that Dominick had become fixated upon Lockerie, devoted to an almost slavish degree and he pleaded for Lockerie to come with him where he could be safe and protected, to leave his family at least for a time. Having devoted himself to his family and never proved good enough for them he agreed, though he could not bring himself to completely sever contact or loyalty ultimately promising not to stay away and to return when needed.
If there was any doubt in his mind about his promise it evaporated when he discovered that Loukian had become too scared to leave his suite of rooms in the house. Refusing to even step to the threshold of the room and barring entry to all but a handful of people ... most of which were not his family. Lockerie could not leave his brother forever. He did need to leave though for his own sake and perhaps to find a way to heal Loukian.
Dominick promised him that many wonderful things could be found on Zaathru the planet he means to take him to and keep him safe on. At first perhaps Lockerie's interest in Dominick was more selfish, flattered as he was by the fact that someone could be so entranced by him. Their time together deepened Lockerie's feelings though and he came to Love Dominick intensely himself. The man was his harbour in the buffetting seas of galactic danger. His place of safety and now Lock is as devoted to him as he is to his other family.
Strengths and weaknesses
Well-read - Lockerie has read widely and can often be called upon to know at least something about a situation.
Resistant to pain - Lockerie knows intimately what it is to hurt and it takes a lot of work to hurt him so much he is halted.
Vessel of a wound in the force - Lockerie carries within him a small wound in the force this makes his own connection to the force erratic but also serves to mask the signatures of those around him and causes echos in the minds of those who have not learned to shut him out, his presence can be particularly distressing to those more attuned with the light side of the force.
Ridgid - Lockerie has a very exact way of liking things and a disruption to that can cause him great distress however it also makes him exacting and particularly attuned to variation making it hard to sneak up on him or hide anything.
Phobias - Lockerie has a great deal of difficulty around blood, his own in particular but also that of others to a lesser degree, He's also not keen on dank places and is only comfortable in clean and orderly places
Physically weak - Lockerie is not unhealthy but he is far from a specimen of strength and stamina, in close quarters he can easily be physically overpowered and he tires quickly if exerted.
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