Renegade Rodian
OOC INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out one of the Helix Syndicate’s higher-profile mercenaries.
- Image Credit: Besalisk from ALIENS: Annoying Star Wars & Mass Effect Equivalents
- Role: A mercenary commonly employed by the Helix Syndicate.
- Links: N/A
- Age: 43
- Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User
- Species: Besalisk
- Appearance: Ogedei is one of the larger, stockier Besalisks around. He’s in good shape for his age, mostly thanks to a good diet and consistent physical activity. As far as clothes go, he seems to prefer loose-fitting clothes in a military style. Grooming is never high on Ogedei’s to-do list, so more often than not he’s sporting the uncomfortable, rough facial hair patches typically found on Besalisks.
- Name: Ogedei
- Loyalties: Helix Syndicate
- Wealth: Comfortable for a mercenary
- Skills: Ogedei is a former commando, specializing in medium range weapons and demolitions. If it comes down to it, Ogedei can hold his own in most melee engagements thanks to his size and strength. But he’s most at home with a blaster rifle in each hand and a bandolier of thermal detonators. Before he took to soldiery, Ogedei lived the life of a simple Nerf herder on one of the more agrarian Core Worlds. He is still familiar with Nerfs and how to properly raise them… What little good it does him in his current line of work.
- Personality: Of all the mercenaries employed by the Helix Syndicate, Ogedei is arguably the most approachable. Ogedei is rather congenial compared to his colleagues. He pals around, he makes light, he has regular conversations about regular things. Of course, he has shown a tendency to enter into immeasurably violent berserker rages if sufficiently injured while in combat. Occasionally he has injured friendlies during these rages, more often than not because they couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. But, you know, aside from that small detail...
- Combat Function: Ogedei is adept with most mid-range weapons, preferring blaster rifles and blaster pistols when in combat. He is especially skilled with explosive devices, particularly grenade launchers.
- Weapons of Choice: Blaster Pistols, Blaster Rifles, Grenade Launchers, Grenades, H&H ARC Cannon
Most of Ogedei’s history is not documented in writing as he spent a substantial amount of his life living off the grid, so to speak. Fortunately he is not really adverse to talking about these things, so it isn’t entirely difficult to find out. Ogedei was the son of Nerf herders living on an isolated homestead. The planet itself was a small, irrelevant backwater - something agrarian on the outskirts of the Core Worlds. Ogedei and his parents lived a simple life herding Nerfs. And then, of course, the One Sith showed up. Particularly the Yuuzhan-Vong.
It was an abortive attempt to do what would eventually happen to Selvaris. Something went wrong or the Yuuzhan-Vong decided against it halfway through and left. Whatever the case, destruction was total. Ogedei’s family and most of his neighbors were killed. The ecosystem of the planet was partially Vongformed, but it didn’t take. Within years, it was nothing but desert and blighted land. The Nerfs turned into abominations or died off, no one is sure because no one ever went back to check. There was no reason to. It would be easier to just leave.
So Ogedei left. He does not discuss how he got off the planet or how he initially survived. It’s easier that way.
Sufficiently enraged, Ogedei enlisted in the Republic armed forces. He was a robust, strong Besalisk male honed from years of working on a farm. Ogedei was an ideal candidate for military service, especially given the stereotypically tragic backstory that brought him to the enlistment center in the first place. He performed well in training and was shipped off to the frontlines soon after. It was at this point that Ogedei began to go berserk. Sure, he was friendly enough with his squadmates. Sure, he seemed to be taking the death of his parents, home, and world in an uncannily upbeat stride. It’s easier to get through these things with a positive attitude.
But when the Vong showed up, Ogedei lost it. Blackouts, he called them. No formal reports were filed because the Republic did not file a lot of reports at that time. There are, after all, only so many ways one can write “we lost again.” Asking his squadmates, the stories varied. There was talk of ripping off limbs, tearing out throats, “creative” use of grenades and grenade launchers. That kind of thing. Apocryphal tales, one would hope, but his squadmates are convinced these things happened. Ogedei doesn’t remember these things himself. Maybe it’s better that way. Easier, too.
What wasn’t easy was losing. Ogedei was not a tactical mind. He imagined if he just killed enough of them during any given battle, the Republic would win. The One Sith onslaught would be stopped in its tracks and the counterattack would begin. So he killed in droves, but it was never enough. They always lost. Every time. There was no change. For every enemy combatant killed, the One Sith conscripted ten more. Then the Vong stopped showing up entirely. They might have left or something. He never got the details, the Republic disbanded not too much later.
Can you imagine that? Being an enlisted member of the military for a venerable galactic government and then… Not be? It was like a slap in the face. Most of the people he knew went to join the Silver Sanctum Coalition. That would have been easy, but Ogedei would have none of it. There was nothing there for him. Except, maybe, the prospect of losing again and again, just like before, but this time in silver instead of blue. He drifted away from the Core region and began operating as a mercenary out of the Pentastar Alignment, far from the reach of One Sith. He did a lot of contract work. Can’t go back to Nerf herding after doing all that business for the Republic.
It was mostly for local resistance cells and criminals. Hatred for the Mandalorian Crusaders was overwhelming among the local populace. Ogedei killed lots of Mandalorians during that time. Eventually the Mandalorians left, though for different reasons. It was during the interim period before the Sith Ascendancy emerged that Ogedei was retained by the nascent Helix Syndicate.
The pay is better than it once was. Ogedei can now look forward to an eventual retirement. Things are easier, but not by much. He’ll take it, though. Sure as hell beats losing.
