Biography[]
Early Life[]
(The following information is background that has not been roleplayed)
Grado-Ekk was born 171 BBY to a warrior father who had several wives. He followed the typical path of most Draethos in pursuing a life of a great warrior/hunter becoming skilled in several forms of hand-to-hand combat and proficient with various blasters by the time he reached maturity in his early 20's.
The training Grado-Ekk acquired in his youth led to joining the elite guardian force that protected his home planet of Thosa and its corrupt, power hungry leadership. During his time in the Draethosian military, he trained as a fighter pilot due to the constant assaults from the neighboring Corporate Sector Authority. The CSA, which hoped to establish a presence and exploit the planet's natural resources, was finally turned away due to a daring move by Grado-Ekk. Taking the lead point in his squadron's formation he helped to tear a hole in the CSA's defenses. Unfortunately, their capital ships were still able to hold their position and push back the Draethosian forces. Ordered to return to the main battalion to regroup, Grado-Ekk instead broke apart from his squadron and flew his small, one-man snub fighter in a frontal assault against the largest of the capital ships. Skillfully evading the tubro-lasers he was able to penetrate the shields and strike the main bridge with two photon torpedos causing the ship to lose control and collide with another vessel. The damage done weakened the CSA enough that the remainder of the Draethos Navy was able to force them into a retreat out of Wyl star system. Many Draethos debated Grado-Ekk's decision to ignore direct orders, but his actions did gain the attention of another Draethos, Olrek-Urr, descendent of Odan-Urr.
Training under Odan-Urr[]
(The following information is background that has not been roleplayed)
Grado-Ekk training with his tonfa sabers
Decades later, during the Clone Wars, Grado-Ekk was recruited by Olrek-Urr to assist the Republic in a strike force designed to destabilize the CIS's Outer Rim operations. The two worked closely for several years attacking various military installations, either through surprise star fighter attacks or covert ground operations. It was during this time that Grado-Ekk acquired his Delta-7B Aethersprite-class light interceptor, Crimson Shadow, nicknamed by the enemy because of Grado-Ekk's reputation for trailing, hunting, and surprising droid ships that appeared in the Outer Rim.
Once Order 66 was enacted, though, Olrek-Urr was quick to pull his secret strike team back to Thosa to avoid attracting the Empire's attention. Since Olrek-Urr was trained in the force by his ancestors, he feared that the Empire would send Lord Vader to hunt him down if he knew of his existence. Thankfully, Olrek-Urr's assistance and activities were only known by the Jedi council members Master Windu and Master Yoda. Olrek-Urr had decided at that moment, that it would be wise to take members of his own race that were force sensitive, and to begin training them to assist the young unstable Alliance. Grado-Ekk being his first pupil.
The preliminary training of his force sensitive soldiers was to teach them how to fight with the traditional weapon of the Jedi, the lightsaber. Grado-Ekk, being a well seasoned fighter developed a unique form of combat using tonfa-sabers. Once again assisting military operations in a covert manner, he helped to hunt down and capture Imperial leaders to gain information for the Alliance. It was during one of these missions that Grado-Ekk, during an interrogation, tortured an Imperial officer. Upon learning this, Olrek-Urr, concerned with the effect war was having on his pupil, removed him from future missions and stationed him back on Thosa to protect the planet, should the Imperial forces decide to invade.
Decent into darkness[]
(The following information is background that has not been roleplayed)
Soon after the end of the Galactic Civil War, Olrek-Urr returned to Thosa and, upon his recommendation, the planet's leadership decided to remove itself from further involvement with the rest of the galaxy's affairs. During this period of Thosa's self imposed isolation, Olrek-Urr continued the training of force sensitives on the planet. Concerned with the effect that the wars were having on some of his students, in particular Grado-Ekk, Olrek-Urr kept the training to only the basics of force power usage such as Force Push/Pull, Telekinetics, and Force Jumping. He shunned the pursuit of advanced knowledge in these force techniques and strongly opposed the exploration of other areas of force teaching, concerned with the way the warrior species would implement these powers.
Grado-Ekk remained a loyal student of Olrek-Urr up until his mentor's death in 210 ABY. He had mastered his lightsaber skills and was quite proficient with his limited force abilities gaining him a powerful reputation amongst the Draethos. He spent much of the last hundred years studying the bio-sciences, mostly xeno-biology, in an attempt to understand the prey he hunted on Thosa, hoping to improve his skills. It was a combination of this pursuit in science and the lack of his mentor's suppression of exploring force abilities, that Grado-Ekk was began to dabble in dark areas of the force. It began with him 'senseing' the emotions of prey who were frightened by hunters. Once he latched onto this emotional response, he could track them down over great distances. Eventually developing a taste for the fear of other creatures. Grado-Ekk was soon able to tell what species they were hunting simply based off the scent of their fear. The addiction he began to develop from this 'taste' of fear, caused him to turn on members of his own race, tormenting them into obedience. It was due to these developments that the leadership of Thosa decided they needed to remove Grado-Ekk before he became too powerful and threatened their rule.
Word of events in the galaxy had come to the Draethosian leadership of the wars between the PGA, GAR, the New Galactic Empire, and the Revenant Armada. Still not wanting to involve their planet in galactic affairs, the Draethos high council devised a plan to fix both the problem of Grado-Ekk and that of impending galactic conflict. The plan was to banish Grado-Ekk and send him to the Armada to assist them in their conflicts, believing the Armada would respect Thosa's sovereignty in exchange for such a strong soldier in their ranks.
Joining the Armada[]
Following his banishment from his homeworld, Grado-Ekk took the Crimson Shadow and headed to the Y'Toub system to seek out the Revenant Armada on Nar Shaddaa. Upon arriving to the smuggler's moon, Grado-Ekk made contact with the Armada and soon had an audience with Darth Ikiryo, who at the time was commander of the Wraiths. Ikiryo was skeptical about the offer of one man's service in exchange for the sovereignty of a whole planet, but she eventually took the deal noting that if he should fail them that Thosa would pay the price. Once enlisted, he began to explore his powers more fully under the guidance of both Ikiryo and Darth Apparition. Under orders from Apparition, he traveled to Alaris Prime to study both the activities of the Armada's enemies and to strengthen the skills he already possessed, heavily focusing on his ability to tune into another's emotions and use it against them. Unfortunately the continued use of this power slowly caused the once proud and self-reliant warrior to slip deeper and deeper into his own darkness. Upon returning to Nar Shaddaa, Grado-Ekk finally was able to meet the Empress Xera Keto, who shared with him the knowledge of creating illusions through the force. His loyalty to the Armada and the Tetan Empire would soon be unquestioned as he strove to please those who shared the knowledge that fueled his dark hunger.
Leaving the Armada[]
Grado-Ekk served the Tetan nobility faithfully, in particular the Empress. He hunted down and slayed those who would pose a threat to her rule, even other members of the Tetan Council. He was her loyal executioner until the day the Tetan Empire split from the Armada. Leaving Grado-Ekk torn with his loyalties.
He knew if he betrayed the Armada and went with the Empress he would not gain the power he so craved, yet he could not raise his saber against the Empress whom he had followed so closely. It was at this time Apparition came to him and discussed his plans to form a new stronger order for the Sith. A New Sith Order was formed and Grado-Ekk kneeled before his new master as an apprentice in the Apparition's new regime.
Powers and abilities[]
Grado-Ekk, as a soldier on his home planet of Thosa, was trained in many forms of combat. Studying various forms of hand-to-hand fighting, he was sometimes known to wrestle large prey on the mountainous cliffs of Thosa. He was equally skilled with a blaster, his preference being a DC-15 rifle. In combat missions, and largely due to his aggressive, reckless nature, Grado-Ekk acted covertly, usually entering a hostile area alone without much more than his rifle. The missions he was assigned were generally seek and destroy, as he was known to be a relentless hunter.
Telepathy[]
As was typical of all Draethos, Grado-Ekk possessed the ability to communicate telepathically with other sentient beings that were within a 500 meter radius. The ability was limited to communication only and it did not give him the ability to influence or read another's mind. He would, however, use a combination of his force powers with his telepathy to drive his victims mad, attempting to influence them.
Lightsaber training[]
Grado-Ekk originally used lightsaber style tonfas, or guard shotos, with a reversed grip. He took an altered Form IV opening stance that kept him low to the ground and left the blades of his saber pointing outwards directly in front and behind him. With this stance, Grado-Ekk was able to use a combined variation of Soresu and Shien that kept the blades of his saber following a tight line against his body, that combined with force enhanced jumps and twists, created a strong defensive shield.
This style served him well for several hundred years but, when he began the more advanced training with Apparition under the NSO, he was disarmed quickly leaving both guard shotos in pieces and was quickly disciplined for his failure to protect himself. During his meditations that followed that lesson he constructed a new saber, one with a hilt made of metal and bone, 'Death's Key' as it has become known. Altering his style slightly he focused on the use of a single blade in combat, perfecting his form.
A practitioner of Dun Möch, Grado-Ekk did not change one aspect of his style. He would employ the use of telepathy to taunt opponents inside their own head, much to the dismay of his vicitims.
Force abilities[]
Grado-Ekk preferred to rely on his force powers as he found it a much more enjoyable way to take down prey. He developed a set of force powers that he would employ together to create what he referred to as the "Creeping Nightmare". He would begin with the use of telekinesis to manipulate loose items, such as clothing, to move in an unnatural way to 'soften' the victims mind making it more susceptible to further mental attacks. Concurrently, he would open his mind to the emotional output of others, typically latching onto their repressed, underlying fear, amplify it using Force Fear. Once he gained control, Grado-Ekk would project Force Illusions to intimidate and horrify his victims, all while whispering dark words inside their heads. The more scared they became, the stronger his powers grew and the more vunerable they became to his influence driving them closer to madness.
Occasionally, during battles he would attempt to draw from another's rage or anger to boost his psychic assults. This was less effective but was good for turning the tide of a battle if it was not going the way he desired.