Valsion
RETIRED
NAME: Val`Sion Zatara [pronounced: Val CEE-un]FACTION:
RANK:
SPECIES: Echani
AGE: 127 years old (looks 27)
GENDER: Male
HEIGHT: 6'2"
WEIGHT: 186lbs.
EYES: Silver
HAIR: Snow White
SKIN: Pale
FORCE SENSITIVE: Quite
LANGUAGES: Basic, Bocce, and High Galactic
EQUIPMENT: Given as a ceremonial gift when leaving Eshan; a super-cooled Echani Vibrosword with cortosis weave.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
- +/- Val`Sion has developed a great deal of patience in his time abroad as well as his training on Eshan. He has no issue with waiting for things to come to pass, yet sometimes he will be too patient, letting opportunity slip through his grasp.
- + Trained in the arts of the Eshan and the Followers of Palawa, Val`Sion is more than a formidable fighter, and although combat experience was limited to that of Eshan and a hand-ful of encounters, it is still most impressive.
- - Loss of time is one of his greatest areas of weakness. Although seeming necessary, Val`Sion has lost a century of understanding in the galaxy. Through this he has lost all family and friends. He has no home anymore to return to, and often feels a lack of connection to anything substantial.
- - Because of his wandering state there is very little that he has in material wealth. The Echani is quite poor, and often must make do with very little because of his focus on personal growth rather than sustaining any measure of wealth or substance.
PERSONALITY:
A man of routine discipline and mental acuity; Val`Sion is peaceful and polite. A soft spoken Echani who prefers polite conversation over hostility. Avoiding brawling and violence, however he sees the beauty and expression of structured and trained combat. Always willing to respectfully engage in a spar of honor, not to be confused with crude tussles. He seeks to grant compassion and patience to those he counters, and is often seen meditating. While having lived for many decades, he is technically still quite young and is not as jaded as other beings. His often optimistic and peaceful attitudes can sometimes be mistaken for arrogance or egotism. Yet as he seeks to improve upon himself, it often leaves him wanting for the physical needs of a world ensnared in greed.
SHIP:
The Echo was a retrofitted Gladius-class freighter gifted to the Echani's family as a gesture of good faith by the visiting Jedi, despite Val`Sion's polite decline of the offer to be trained by the man.
BIOGRAPHY:
The given name of Val`Sion was afforded the Echani at birth, and yet his surname 'Zatara' was chosen by him. It meant driftwood, and seemed to encompass his wanderlust that has drove him to be a journeyman, traveling the stars in search of that ever elusive enlightenment that is just within reach and yet always beyond his grasp. Some would say that he affords all options to a restless spirit, while Sion would tell you that it's simply the calling of the life energy of the galaxy that spurs him onward.
This desire seemed to be his passion since birth, under the full blanket of the heavenly stars enveloping the deep dark night in a campsite where he was delivered. Even then the wonder of the stars beckoned the infant, which reflected in his wide eye-ed wonder as he beheld the celestial map looming above. His childhood marked the adventuring spirit often taking him through the forests where the other Echani children didn't go. He'd come back with stories, and great tales of adventure (though it was mostly just made up propaganda and his overactive imagination.)
Young Val`Sion, like the other Echani was trained heavily in unarmed as well as melee combat. While other children may of played with sticks as swords, it was not play time for them. It was an expression, a delving into the most sacred of rituals of their people. He, however had an affinity that went beyond the simple prowess of their race's fighting creed. Val`Sion had the strength of the Force to flow through him and call upon. Through the discipline of combative rituals he did learn some control over the mysterious and illustrious power it granted him. He was set apart from the rest, the envy of some, while his parents knew that their little boy would not be with them much longer.
During a visitation from a Jedi (requested by the tribe's highest ranking council) Val`Sion learned about the power he held sway over, and yet the Jedi's message didn't excite the youth. It merely confused him as he taught of the balance, the light side and the dreaded dark side. He was warned harshly of the dark side, how it would corrupt and control. This message seemed contrary to the teachings of the Echani. Balance could not be attained by straying from one extreme and clinging to another. With such a simple understanding, Val`Sion thanked the Master Jedi for his time, but decided to forego his offer of training; a decision which shocked both the Jedi and his peers. Nevertheless he was not forced to follow the path of the Jedi and was left to his tribe on Eshan.
Once the boy became of proper age and had not selected a mate through their ceremonial rituals of combat, Val`Sion said farewell to his family and followed the path he felt called to. The call to travel. Securing the parting gift of good faith by the Jedi, (a vessel for traversing the planes of hyperspace) the new tender teenager moved at light-speed towards his destiny.
His travels have been many, moving from the inner rim to the outer, and even into the deep core a time or two into forgotten hyperspace lanes. Leaning came with every stop, and experience was gained while wisdom was collected bit by bit. Trial and error afforded him many adventures and mishaps along the path. The most notable of these came near the middle of his twentieth decade. In an investigation of a small tribal settlement in the Pacanth Reach, Val`Sion visited the system of Bunduki. An ancient planet with strong ties to those attuned to the strength of the Force. It took months of searching to find the elusive tribe, but eventually they found him.
The Followers of Palawa were few and far between, and yet still even after all these years their teachings had remained in the remnant, finding a home still on this planet once ruled by the Galactic Empire so many centuries ago. They held no allegiance to Jedi or Sith alike. Their message was of compassion, self improvement through the Force. Val`Sion took to their teachings like a Mynock to power cables. Here Val`Sion would learn and study the art of Teräs Käsi or 'steel hands'. A exquisitely powerful form of combat using an un-armed style paired with the power of the force. With his already healthy knowledge of combat, Val`Sion excelled in these teachings, but never for the purpose of outright brutality. His combat was expressive, and fraught with purpose.
Not only though did the Echani learn about the art of the Force Warriors of old from these hermit like friends, but the meditative practices they held and passed along to their new friend were amazingly beneficial. Here he would learn the secrets that would unlock his mind to the philosophy that would drive him forward, seeking to teach and to be a guide to those looking for answers in the great black of space. The guiding Force however had not yet opened up this opportunity to him just yet. The timing was not right. Thus, when the Followers of Palawa initiated their hundred year rest, Val`Sion joined them, allowing the Force to sustain him as well as their own connection likewise for the next hundred years of hibernation. Their deep trance technique utilized the Force to even abridge time, and keep them from aging during this slumber.
Now, after a century of devotion to nothing but the sustaining power of the Force, Val`Sion once again has left his time with the Followers of Palawa and began to journey once again into the depths of the galaxy looking for the next place where the Force would lead him.
ARCHIVE THREADS:
- Knocking on the sky
- Paying Respects
- A Watery Grave
- World's End
- A Family Affair
- The First Thing to Remember
ACTIVE THREADS:
