Nil Heska
Character
NIL HESKA
| Age | 16 |
| Species | Evereni |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | Five feet, eight inches |
| Weight | One hundred forty one pounds |
| Force Sensitive | Yes |
APPEARANCE
One glance at Nil immediately points to his evereni heritage; his skin is slate gray, his eyes are black and pupilless, and his teeth and nails are razor sharp. These identifying traits are the only thing he shares in common with his kin, as he possesses far more similarities with the other urchins that call Coruscant’s underbelly home.
Nil’s dark, shaggy hair is almost always unbrushed and unkempt. His skin is often caked with dirt or dried blood that streaks down his face whenever he sweats. His clothes are usually a fraction of the garments they were before, held together by crude patch jobs and sheer will. His cheeks are on the gaunt side and it’s rare to look into his eyes and not see the exhaustion behind them.
More than anything, Nil’s body reflects the hardships of living in the lower levels of Coruscant. At five feet and eight inches tall, he’s a good few inches behind most males of his species. His weight is equally slight and underwhelming, totaling at a mere one hundred and forty one pounds. Despite this, Nil still possesses a deceptive amount of strength from the more secure lifestyle he once led.
PERSONALITY
Life in Coruscant’s lower levels has also left its mark on Nil in ways that aren’t physical. The biggest example of this is his personality, which has been molded by a harsh, unforgiving environment where cunning and brutality are two of the most valuable things a person can possess. As a result, Nil takes little issue with using violence when he believes a situation calls for it. In the same vein, he is no stranger to relying on deception if it means securing a few credits or a meal.
Although he’s still young, Nil has become quite jaded thanks to everything that’s occurred beneath the surface of Coruscant. He has a hard time forming friendships and an even harder time placing his trust in others. This is especially true of adults or authority figures, as he is particularly wary of coming to rely on them in any sort of way. Even so, Nil maintains a strong sense of empathy and morality that often pushes him to help those in need.
While he may not be the most talkative individual, Nil does have a sense of humor. He enjoys simple jokes or puns, though he’s certainly not above laughing at absurd or slapstick humor. On occasion, Nil’s wit can give others the impression that he’s got a bit of a smart mouth. This isn’t always the case, but it’s worth noting that Nil can and will use this skill to insult or provoke those who draw his ire. At the end of the day, he is still a teenage boy.
In spite of everything, Nil has always clung to one specific dream: to see the sun, the moon, and the stars. This single desire has kept him going through even the darkest times in his young life. He wants to find his way out of Coruscant’s lower levels and into the greater galaxy, where he will be free from the darkness that has loomed over his life for so long.
INVENTORY
Lockpicking set
Punch-dagger
Vibro double-blade
SKILLS
Hand-to-Hand Combat
Lockpicking
Swordsmanship
STRENGTHS
Assertive - Growing up, Nil was taught that when push comes to shove, it’s always worth saying what you think or believe. Nil took this lesson to heart and has always done his best to speak up for himself or others when necessary.
Independent - Nil has always been quite capable of fending for himself, even as a small child. His training and his confidence in his own abilities have granted him the ability to be self-sufficient.
WEAKNESSES
Detached - Nil makes a concentrated effort not to form attachments to other people. This can sometimes be to his own detriment, as it prevents him from connecting with others or accepting help or support when he needs it.
Rash - If a situation allows for it, Nil is perfectly capable of putting together a plan. However, if something rubs him the wrong way, he’ll resort to split-second decisions. This often results in physical violence more than anything else.
HISTORY
It was somewhere between the 500th and 600th levels of Coruscant's suffocating underbelly that Nil drew his very first breaths. His uncomplicated arrival was a momentous occasion for his mother and the other members of the pitiful shantytown in which they lived. For just one evening, the spark of a new life brightened the moods of the townsfolk.
But like all good things in the lower levels of Coruscant, this joy would not last.
Aside from the harsh reality of having another mouth to feed, there were countless other drawbacks to life in the undercity. The violent crime, the lack of sunlight and fresh air, and the perpetual threat of the Ferals lurking in the shadows placed a tremendous amount of stress on Nil's young mother, Xetra. To make matters worse, the lack of healthcare and proper housing in the lower levels only contributed to her growing fear for her son's life.
The only comfort she found came in the form of a masked woman who would turn up night after night to keep a watchful eye over the shantytown. She seldom spoke, though she lingered near Xetra and Nil whenever the evening was uneventful. Xetra spent many long nights talking to the woman, even if no response ever came. Before long, Xetra was allowing the woman to hold Nil, and he had developed quite an attachment to her by the time he was a toddler.
It was also around this time that a disease began to sweep through Coruscant's underground. This was no rare occurrence, but the severity of this particular illness was unlike anything the shantytown had ever faced. In a cruel twist of fate, Xetra fell gravely ill, and she soon withered away like countless others in the encampment.
At his tender age, Nil was frightened, and he sought the familiar comfort of the masked woman's presence. It was that night that Nil first saw her face–that of a kind-eyed echani–and heard her utter her name: Meshi. With that, she had taken the young boy under her wing and marked the beginning of the lengthy process of raising him and training him.
Thanks to Nil's young age, he absorbed much of Meshi's teachings like a sponge. He came to understand combat and the movements of one's body as the truest form of communication like a native echani. By the time he was old enough to receive more physically demanding training, he was thoroughly prepared. Nil took to learning the ropes of combat with an eagerness that pleasantly surprised Meshi.
In enough time, she began to notice that he had an uncanny ability to perceive things without the use of his eyes. Meshi entertained the idea that Nil possessed some degree of Force sensitivity but refrained from bringing it up to him. Instead, she continued Nil's training, helping him become adept at hand-to-hand combat before moving on to learn his way around a double-bladed sword similar to her ritual brand.
A few years later, Nil discovered his ability to move small objects with his mind all on his own. He told Meshi the news and was surprised when she told him it was crucial that he kept this power a secret from the rest of the world. Though he was disappointed he wouldn't be able to share it with others, he trusted Meshi, and he honed this unique skill in the privacy of the cramped loft where he slept.
Around the time of his tenth birthday, it dawned on Nil that he might be able to use his talents to drum up the funds to get himself and Meshi out of the undercity. He hatched what he believed to be a clever scheme; one where he would float credits and other personal belongings out of strangers' pockets. In the simulated daytime hours, Nil would steal what he could off of people from the cover of the shadows. With every successful attempt, his confidence grew, and soon enough he was making conversation with people as he floated their possessions into his own pockets.
The credits he stole were often valid, as were those he earned from selling the various things that he took from strangers. His earnings weren't nearly enough to afford more than a bit of food to put on the table, though. Despite this, Nil was undeterred, and he redoubled his efforts in the hopes that he would be able to start saving up. He spent several hours skulking about the lower levels and filling his pockets with anything he could slip out of pockets and bags. A trend soon began of showing up late to his watch shifts with Meshi.
Nil was thirteen when one such incident occurred. After he successfully stole credits from a pair of older boys, Nil moved onto the next street to find his next target. The boys, who had since realized what had been taken from them, began pursuing him. When they cornered him in a dirty alleyway, they attacked, and Nil relied on his training to help him hold his own. Though he didn't escape unscathed, he properly defended himself, warding off the two boys and retaining their credits.
When the dust had settled, a strange man stepped out of the shadows. He approached Nil, telling him that he should come to the Syzygy Cantina a few blocks away. According to him, they regularly hosted pit fighting matches, and he told Nil that the prize money was nothing to scoff at. Without answering any of Nil's questions, he walked off, and Nil thought about the suggestion for a short while before trailing the man to the cantina.
Beneath Syzygy, an entire underground fighting ring had been cobbled together. Rowdy patrons threw what little money they had at the brutal fights that took place in the pit. Other kids Nil's age and older participated, throwing as much of their weight behind their punches as they could. He was hypnotized by the spectacle until the strange man approached him again, this time finally introducing himself as Tugg.
Tugg told Nil everything he wanted to hear, promising him the funds to get away from Coruscant and more. All he needed to do was show up whenever he was scheduled to fight. Nil saw no drawbacks to the arrangement and agreed to the terms. For the foreseeable future, he did exactly as he was told.
It was a challenge to balance the responsibility of his watches with Meshi and his obligations as a pit fighter. He would spend hours at Syzygy only to show up an hour or two into his watch shift with Meshi, who only chided him gently for his tardiness. Nil appreciated her mercy, though she pulled no punches when she eventually informed him that the situation in their neck of the woods was worsening.
The severity of organized crime was growing worse with each passing day. There were rampant muggings, violent murders, and criminals were only getting more desperate. As a result, vigilante work was riskier than ever, and Meshi made that abundantly clear to Nil. She emphasized the importance of showing up on time to his shifts and taking routes that didn’t include the most dangerous parts of their level.
Nil agreed to show up on time later that same night–the night of his sixteenth birthday–before slipping away to attend what was slated to be one of the biggest fights of his “career”. Syzygy was more packed than ever as he stepped into the ring to square off against a trandoshan called Grek who was a few years his senior. The fight lasted a grueling twelve rounds, rendering Nil late for his shift, but he emerged victorious.
Even after Tugg had taken his cut of Nil’s winnings, the boy believed he finally had enough to arrange for his and Meshi’s passage offworld. As he ran to meet her at his shift, he was approached by a breathless member of the shantytown. He frantically informed Nil that Meshi was badly injured and that everything had been ransacked. Nil sprinted all the way there, completely forgetting how exhausted he was.
When he arrived at the scene, he found Meshi lying on the ground. Her mask, which had been knocked off of her person, was badly damaged and spattered with blood. Her trusty ritual brand had been broken in two, sitting just out of her reach on the filthy street. Two stab wounds were visible on her torso, and Nil quickly realized there was nothing he could do to help.
He wept over her, apologizing for his absence and begging her to hold on. She raised a shaking hand, cupping his face in her palm as her eyes found his own. Nil placed his hand over hers, keeping it there until her body was no longer warm.
The winnings he’d earned from his big fight went to properly taking care of Meshi’s body. He refused to leave her to the crooks and the Ferals. When everything was said and done, he had barely enough to grant him passage to the upper levels, and he arranged it in the hopes of finding his way and making good on the dream he once wished to share with the woman who raised him.
Now, it’s up to Nil what will become of his future.