defy the tyrannous stars
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To submit a mouthpiece NPC that will function as Zark's means of influencing the physical world.
- Image Credit: Diablo III
- Role: Titus serves as Regent Lord of the Oathsworn Legions, those Jedi and warriors of the Light who have pledged themselves in service to the spirit of Jedi Master Zark.
- Links: /
- Age: 36
- Force Sensitivity: Master
- Species: Thyrsian/Epicanthix
- Appearance: Lord Titus stands a full two meters in height, owing this towering build to his Epicanthix heritage. Dusky, sandworn skin more indicative of his Thyrsian side is adorned by a shaven pate. A strong martial physique betrays his upbringing in a savage and hierarchical warrior culture. Valerius is rarely seen out of his ancient yet eminently functional battle plate, often complimented by a cloak reminiscent of more classic Jedi apparel. On certain ceremonial occasions, the Regent Lord eschews full military dress for orthodox robes, but never travels without his saber.
- Name: Regent Lord Titus Valerius
- Loyalties: Lords of Light
- Wealth: None (Vow of Poverty)
- Notable Possessions: The Dawnstar, Ornate Jedi Armor, Jedi Compass
- Skills:
Form V - Djem So - Farsight
- Force Barrier
- Force Breach
- Force Healing
- Force Light
- Force Valor
- Crucitorn
- Cleanse Mind
[*]Personality: Titus has often been described by his mentors as calm like the eye of a storm. Requiring much additional tutelage as a youngling to guide his behavior away from the casual violence of his people, since those formative years Lord Valerius has transformed himself into a living embodiment of focused aggression. His voice is resounding, but there is a rough melody to his accented intonations. Titus is a true believer, driven in all things by a deeply rooted fanaticism for the Lightside of the Force. Nearly two decades of service with distinction has earned him the trust of many followers, and despite the fall of his Order he maintains a serene and optimistic outlook that can only be the product of faith.
COMBAT INFORMATION
- Weapon of Choice: Lightsaber and Light-Shield
- Combat Function:
(+) Jedi Crusader: Before his ascension to Master, Titus was a Knight of the New Jedi Order who saw combat throughout the One Sith, First Order, and Sith Imperial campaigns. Trained in the Guardian philosophy, Lord Valerius has adapted Djem So to incorporate a shield with lethal effectiveness. - (+) Force Seer: For some time now Titus has been struggling with Force visions. While they offer little in the way of practical benefits, their seemingly apocalyptic warnings guide the Regent Lord's every action in the name of righteousness.
- (+) Warlord: Eschewing orthodox Jedi restrictions, Valerius has amassed a following on Tython where he trains Jedi and baseline alike to serve as a soldiers in his own personal army.
- (-) Blind Faith: Since early childhood, Titus has been mostly blind in both eyes. Over years of dedicated study, he has learned to 'see with the Force' much in the way the Miraluka do. Since this is not an innate ability, it requires modest concentration and is not as effective as natural sight, and if cut off from the Force Lord Valerius would be blinded altogether.
- (-) Agility: The Regent Lord is big and powerful, but this natural strength comes at a cost to his dexterity. His sword and shield technique was developed to rob quicker opponents of their momentum, but if that equalizer is overcome Titus could find himself outmatched by a fast enough blade hand.
- (-) Reckless Devotion: Valerius' belief in the Lightside as an end to be achieved by any means necessary is absolute. As a Jedi Lord he strides a thin line between ardent faith in the purity of his cause and a corrupting, prideful fury.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Titus Valerius was born on the desert wastes of savage Thrysus. His small and reclusive tribe bore mixed Epicanthix ancestry, a retained evolutionary advantage which allowed his people to produce particularly fearsome warriors. From the day he was old enough to hold a practice force pike in his hands, young Titus was trained in the martial ways of his people. By the time he had been recruited by the Jedi Academy Network, he was already proficient in the ways of the pike and Thrysian talwaar.
Not long before his discovery by the Jedi, Titus was participating in a ritual pilgrimage to celebrate the cusp of his adolescence, when he and his father were set upon by one of the savage world's many predators. Together they managed to slay the beast, but the young boy's father was mortally wounded and died not long after.
After nearly a week stranded alone in the remote desert, Valerius survived off the land for long enough to walk back to civilization. Half dead from exposure, this trauma would rob him of much of his physical sight. Possibly drawn by rumors of the boy who had miraculously endured the wastes, his village was visited not long after by Jedi scouts who deemed Titus to be gifted with the Force and requisitioned him for training.
The young Thyrsian's early years at the Academy would prove tumultuous, significant remedial exercises in attaining self-control were necessary to sanctify a lifetime of aggressive instincts. Eventually chosen to be the Padawan of a similarly tempestuous Jedi Knight, much of Valerius' more advanced training was reminiscent of the duties performed by chivalric squires he had read about in what little records there were of ancient Jedi history.
Eventually Titus passed through his Knighthood trials in his Temple's honor guard for several years before galactic conflict called him to serve alongside the Republic military. Surviving the purges that followed the rise of the One Sith Empire, Knight Valerius regrouped along with the remains of the Republic fleet at Sullust, he was a founding member of the New Jedi Order and pledged himself to the Galactic Alliance until its dissolution after Grand Marshal Taeli Raaf's betrayal and the Sith Imperial attack on Coruscant.
Instead of falling back to the Outer Rim or Silver Jedi space like many Jedi refugees, Titus elected to remain at his post guarding the temple on Tython. After it became clear that the Galactic Alliance had effectively ceased to exist, the Jedi Knight meditated on a way forward, and was guided by the Force to Master Talanis Long. Bonded together by their mutual loss, the Thrysian Jedi was among the first to pledge himself to Master Long's service as Lord Commander instead of simply as a master. Assembling a small army comprised mostly of fellow Alliance holdouts, under Long's direction Titus and other Knights oversaw the construction of keeps along the wild Tythonian countryside.
From these outposts, the Lords of Light keep watch over the religious pilgrims fanatical enough to risk the Deep Core, and even at times recruit from among their ranks. For a time, Titus was content, ever since the fall of his Order he had begun having troubling dreams that eventually began to manifest in waking visions. After meditating on these visions with Master Long, Valerius eventually determined that the visions were attempting to guide him to the Valley of the Jedi on Ruusan. Taking leave of his Lord, Titus made the journey to Silver Jedi space and there he came into possession of the haunted holocron of Jedi Master Zark.
Communing with the spirit anchored to its own Jedi artifact, Titus was bestowed the title of Jedi Master himself, and encouraged to strike out and build his own army. Offering to serve as a counselor, the ghost of Zark seems to have chosen Titus as his mortal champion. Bringing the holocron back to Tython, with Long's blessing Regent Lord Valerius and a small cohort of his most steadfast compatriots set out to build their own keep in the remote Tythonian mountains.
