Ziyado Idani, Hush

Personal Information
Name/Handle: Jason, Jasiko, Jazz, Jaz, Jax, Jiz, Jix, Sexy. Ok, I may have made up that last one. Probably not though.
Age: 24
Gender: Frank and beans.
How did you find us?: I didn't. You found me.

Have you read the rules?: I tried, but I'm illiterate so I couldn't. Sorry.

Character Information
Name: Ziyado Idani
Nickname/Alias: Hush
Gender: Male
Age: 33
Species: Miraluka
Homeworld: Alpheridies
Force Sensitive: Yes

Body Information

Clothing Outline: The clothes he wears are of little concern to Hush. While his people's way of seeing the world gives them a unique concept of aesthetics, he simply dismisses the whole thing. That which he does wear is eminently pragmatic. When it is cold, he bundles up. When training, he wears that which will not restrict his movements, often nothing but a simple kilt or pair of trousers, occasionally with a light shirt of some sort as well. Color schemes don't particularly matter, and this has caused him to be found in some rather comically clashing getups.

Of course when requested, he will dress in the menacing manner common among the Cult of Sadow. Also when out and about the galaxy, he tries to wear something that more or less fits with whatever region he's in, often translating into a plain loose robe, tied lightly about his waist. One thing about his appearance that never changes is the two swords strapped in the shape of an X across his back. Typically he doesn't even seem to notice them unless they're being put to use.

Face Outline: The nearly human face that rests above Hush's neck tends toward slim, though not quite angular. Features are set a bit low, leaving an ample forehead despite having a full and thick hairline. This appearance is increased even further by his lack of eyes, smooth skin covering empty sockets and leaving only the bridge of his nose and his moderately tinted eyebrows to break the smoothness of his upper face. His jaw is relatively broad, matching the width of his high cheeks but thinning as it comes down to his chin, which is slender and uncleft but far from pointed.

The often slightly tangled crop of light brown hair atop his head is kept short at all times, as longer tresses interfere with his perpetual motion in combat, flopping down into his face on the few past occasions he let it go too long without a trim. True, he has no eyes to interfere with, but the skin covering his sockets is quite sensitive, and the intense tickling caused by his waving locks proved overly distracting. Unlike most Miraluka anyone is likely to see in the galaxy, Hush does not keep his face covered. He did back when he lived among his people, and still when he traveled through the stars. Once the cult took him in however he gradually lost the inclination to hide what to some is a rather disturbing countenance. If a situation calls for it or if he's asked politely, he will tend to cover up, but if left to his own devices he prefers paying as little attention to that detail as he does the rest of his attire.

Body Outline: Athletic is a good place to start when describing Hush's figure, but it hardly does him justice. During his childhood and adolescence he was actually quite scrawny, his entire musculature small and undefined from lack of use. Even during his early years in the Cult of Sadow he focused more on mental disciplines, his body almost neglected. For just over a decade now he has engaged most every day in rigorous training, often with harsh opponents who showed no mercy and took every opportunity to put him on the ground. The combination of sustained exertion and the highly kinetic combat style he engages in has over the years produced a superior form. Powerful muscles stand out during combat, while his sinuous frame moves fluidly whether his motion is peaceful or otherwise.

Physical Build: Sleek and slender yet with obvious strength, no fat seems to cling to Hush's body. In part this is from his brutal and continual training regimen, though his diet assists as well. Never having taken much joy in eating, it is more a necessity than an indulgence to him, and so he eats what will best fuel his body rather than what tastes pleasing. Hush's pleasure comes from elsewhere and he is not an inherently greedy character, thus he need not seek more. His hands appear almost delicate next to the rest of him, but they are hardened and calloused from countless blows and the daily grip of his blades.

Height: 5'11"

Combat Information
Faction: Cult of Sadow
Rank: Aspirant
Class: Assassin
Weapon: Sith Sword
Spaceship: Unnamed YG-4210 Light Freighter - The thing is reliable, if not terribly fast. It also lacks any weaponry and all but the most basic shielding. Space battles do not interest Hush. He only kills when he's close enough to benefit from it. It is a necessary vehicle that allows him to move around and provide transport for others, nothing more.
Skills:

• Hush is both gifted and skilled in nearly all means of stealth, from moving silently and staying out of view, to using stealth field generators, to Force Concealment and Force Cloak.
• He is impeccably capable with his blades.
• Through years of training he has developed impressive acrobatic and athletic abilities, often using the Force to take them beyond his body’s natural limits.
• While he has not really bothered developing any combat Force powers other than those that simply enhance his melee ability, he can channel Lightning into his hands and thus into his Sith sword.
• Though they're nothing to some of the other cultists, Hush has learned some martial arts as well from some of his colleagues and is plenty lethal even if unarmed.
• Hush possesses basic knowledge and ability with slicing and bypassing security on a very localized level, such as opening doors and disabling alarms. He certainly won't be breaking into any state of the art military installations, but civilian security isn't a problem and with time he can make his way into and out of most places.
• Between his inherent senses, the basic training he received as a child and the more focused techniques he learned later in life, Hush holds advanced use of Telepathy, able to communicate with virtually anyone within about a half kilometer. If it's someone he's intimately familiar with, the range can be pushed farther, though nothing beyond a handful of kilometers. This is strictly a communicative ability. He's never had the desire to take thoughts from another's head unbidden, and unless the recipient of his call can similarly broadcast thoughts, the communication is one way.
• He has developed the core Force powers adequately merely as a means of utility and defense.
• He can only boast of very basic piloting ability, and if something broke down he'd be in trouble.

Additional Items:

• Aspirant Robe (rarely worn)
• Security Kit
• Electronic Lock Breaker

Lightsaber Sith Sword Information
Handle Design: Plain black cloth wrapping with a golden tsuba (guard)
Blade Color: A muted, dark silver. Similar to gunmetal
Focusing Crystals: N/A
Learnt Lightsaber Techniques: Ataru, Soresu
Mastered Lightsaber Techniques: Ataru

Additional Information
Personality: In many ways, one meeting Hush for the first time would think him a Jedi rather than an evil Cultist. He moves with grace and tranquility, often taking his time to enjoy the smells and sounds around him. Any who come near are greeted with a pleasant smile and perhaps the quiet echo of a "hello" in their mind. Hush never speaks aloud; not even to make some wordless noise. His "voice" whenever one senses the soft tone in their head is serene, almost childlike.

Though not exactly outgoing, he is more than willing to engage in conversation and to lend aid any way he can, even to someone he's never met before. While the notions of "good" and "evil" aren't really factored into his mindset, Hush finding such ideas quaint, he does tend to do things that most would call “good,” but not out of any sense of obligation. He enjoys sensing joy in others, and usually shares in it. There is however the aspect of him that tends to trump any other motivation he has.

Hush is a killer. While because of his unique way of viewing the Force he believes the release of life energy when he slaughters serves the Force, and through that the galaxy, he is also a simple addict. Both the overwhelming "view" of the expulsion of Force energy produced by a violent death and the euphoria that overtakes him afterward have him trapped in an endless cycle of murder. Of course he doesn't see that and probably never will, since the peace he feels after a kill rivals that of any Jedi Master.

Even in the midst of combat and despite the savagery and aggression of his attacks, Hush remains calm and collected. It is not anger or malice that drives him to kill. He does not torture his victims before killing them because he wants them to suffer. No, he tortures them because he's learned that their fear and pain increase the intensity of his euphoria when they die. He's more inclined to apologize to them than laugh at what he's putting them through. It had concerned him that actually apologizing might lessen their torment or terror, but experimentation has proved that most don't much care for his apologies, fearing death just as much regardless. Thus he can happily offer them without worrying about watering down the experience.

Because of the reasons and results of his kills, Hush perceives a deep level of intimacy with his prey. While not nearly cynical enough to believe all love must climax in murder, he does consider his relationships with his victims to be romantic, at least in some vague, philosophical way. While he certainly claims feelings of affection toward those he kills, he has lately developed a desire to have the same from them, leading him to cultivate benevolent relationships before revealing his true motivations. Usually he will take his time in order to accomplish this, but sometimes things get in the way.

Hush's addiction does at times control him, and if it's been too long or he finds an uncommonly tempting target, he may pursue satisfaction even if it's highly impractical. After such experiences he often shows some regret, not drawing as much pleasure from the death of one who he’s not developed at least a basic relationship with. Of course, not every relationship is formed for the purpose of a kill, but few are implicitly safe. He has never returned to Alpheridies, nor has he ever taken the life of another Miraluka. Family is off limits, which extends to his entire species. Of course, merely because he refuses to kill a given individual by no means necessitates that he do a thing to prevent their death. Not desiring a person’s death is not the same as wanting them to live.

He does form attachments however and there are those he would fight for. He is curious about the possibilities of a long term romance without the bloody ending and would like to explore them at some point. Thus far it hasn't come up. A quirky thing about his lack of ordinary vision is that what he finds physically attractive is hard to pin down. It makes him much more difficult to seduce, although his usually tranquil mindset helps with that as well. It allows him to focus more on the person inside the face and body, a true advantage. Physical aesthetics are not disregarded entirely; it's merely hard to say what effect any given feature will have on his opinion. Gender preference is also an uncertain issue. While the “romances” he indulges in with victims hold no real preference for gender (or age for that matter), his interests in non-lethal relations lean toward female.

History: A peaceful life. A loving family. The story of Ziyado Idani's childhood is not a tragic tale of abused innocence, no outside dark forces swooping in to snatch the serenity from his pleasant young existence. There is hardship, imperfection, but what story is without those? When the tale begins to turn dark, it is none but Ziyado himself who bears the blame. One debatable tragedy to strike the young Miraluka was that, along with the lack of eyes that all his species shared, he was also born without benefit of fully functional vocal chords. While this was a source of sorrow for a time, the family quickly adapted. The universal Force sensitivity allowed his parents to understand his needs and desires even if he couldn't vocalize them. Though he did seem to have a higher than average connection to the Force, his special disability meant his parents would not even consider allowing the Jedi to take him, his mother Ashanaa particularly feeling fiercely protective. The Jedi of course accepted the parents' wishes and didn't press the issue.

The second potentially destructive event occurred roughly three years after his birth. While Ziyado's father had ever been dutiful and faithful, even the best of men are not immune to lust and temptation. Far too young to understand any of the details, all the boy knew was that his father had fallen in love with another woman and ran away with her, leaving the Miraluka homeworld of Alpheridies. Still this would not prove to be a truly calamitous event. While the loss and the scandal did hurt Ashanaa, she was determined to love Ziyado enough for both parents. And she was not alone, her full family still there to offer support.

When Ziyado grew old enough to realize that other children his age could speak, his inability began to sadden and frustrate him. Though his family could understand him well enough, having grown attuned to him in the Force, he remained dissatisfied. Other Miraluka didn't make a habit of reaching out to sense him any more deeply than to know that he was there, and the few aliens who would visit or had taken up residence and didn't see through the Force as he did were virtually impossible to communicate with. Ever the doting mother, Ashanaa took it upon herself to fix his problem as best she could.

Refusing to allow a machine to be implanted in her son, the idea of a vocabulator prosthesis was dismissed right out. Instead Ashanaa turned to their natural predilection for the Force for a solution. While she herself had never been formally trained, her sister was a Jedi. Given to the order at a very young age, she'd returned nearly two decades later, desiring to have some form of relationship with her family, even if it wasn't advised. Ziyado's aunt had taught Ashanaa the basics of using the Force to communicate telepathically. It had been a slow process, though aided by their shared blood. Eventually they could carry on full conversations without making a sound. Now it was Ashanaa who taught and Ziyado who learned.

Again, the strong connection of blood aided the process and by the time a year had gone by, he could easily call to his mother from anywhere in the house. As he grew and his connection to the force strengthened, others in the family were able to hear him in their heads as well. The trouble came when he'd try with other people, those he shared neither blood nor familiarity with. General sensations, feelings of joy or sadness or the implication of a greeting he could manage, but true telepathic communication seemed beyond him, at least with the rudimentary training he'd received. With time, as a person grew more familiar to him, he'd get better at transmitting to them and reading them, and it was enough to get by, though it again left him unsatisfied.

The mild dissatisfaction remained until a catastrophically fateful day when Ziyado was twelve years old. Nothing happened to him, nor his family. No one he knew or cared about was hurt. Still it provided the catalyst for everything that followed. He and his family lived in one of the larger cities and many were the tall buildings with high balconies and elevated promenades. It was a rare occurrence, but accidents did happen. This time it happened at Ziyado's feet. Some visiting Chagrian child was playing high above, balancing on the ledge of a balcony. As a general rule, Chagrians do not have astounding balance. A scream. A dull thud. And then the explosion.

All Miraluka see through the Force, but not all see exactly the same. The Force is the energy of life, and while all those around him saw tragedy and loss, Ziyado saw so much more. At the moment of death there was a burst of light as life escaped the body that had contained it. It was as if a budding flower had caught fire and suddenly blossomed into a beautifully breathtaking spectacle of flame and glory. And then it was gone. Ziyado stood, exhilarated, stunned, while up above parents wailed, and were joined in their sorrow by all the Miraluka below. All save one.

Thinking she was protecting her child from unnecessary pain, Ashanaa refused to discuss the issue of death with him, refused to listen as he tried to explain several times in her mind what he'd experienced. The bits he did manages to tell her seemed only to disturb her and spur on her urging of silence on the matter; and so Ziyado stopped trying, merely churning it over in his mind. For two years it smoldered in the back of his head as he tried to reason through it on his own. Many Miraluka believed in twin gods, Ashla and Bogan, representing life and death respectively. Through the small bits of Jedi philosophy his mother had learned from her sister and had passed on to him, he understood that Ashla was the Light side of the Force, Bogan the Dark. Both were accepted and the concepts of good and evil meant nothing to him, indeed were not widely held by the Miraluka people. Life happened. Death happened. Morality was just an outside perception, and Ziyado's perception was shifting even further away from that than was typical.

By the time he was fourteen he'd come to a decision. He needed to see it again. He needed to understand. For two years he'd been hoping he'd have the chance to witness death again, but to no avail. Now his patience, never a strong attribute in the young, had expired. Though obviously closest to direct blood relatives, Miraluka tended to regard their entire species as family and Ziyado was no exception. Thus it was to an area reserved for offworld travelers that he went, late at night. It wasn't difficult to find some lone Sullustan wandering the streets. It wasn't difficult to lure him off into a desolate side street. And with the multiple quick stabs to the torso with a simple utility knife, it certainly wasn't difficult to induce death.

The response was even better than Ziyado could have imagined. The agony and terror seemed to summon the energies to the surface, so when the life did finally leave the Sullustan's dark eyes, the eruption was even more intense than he'd remembered. For many minutes he stood over the corpse reveling in the last traces of escaping Force. It was glorious. It was orgasmic.

It was interrupted.

Someone was coming, and whether they strongly believed in morality or not, murder was still not looked favorably upon by Miraluka law. Moving quickly in a rising panic, he dropped the knife and fled home. No law enforcement officers came to the house that night, but the next day when Ashanaa, so familiar with her son's mind, was easily able to discover what had happened, she knew they would come before long. A mother's love saved Ziyado then. Rather than have him face whatever punishment the government would dole out, Ashanaa gave him all the credits she could spare and put him on a shuttle going offworld. Ziyado had never seen his mother like that, even when his father left. There were no tears. Miraluka can't cry in the traditional sense. But he could sense great sadness in her as she warned him to never return to Alpheridies and to avoid any of their colonies. Those warnings were the last time he ever heard her mind’s voice echoing in his head.

From there Ziyado didn't know where to go, and doesn't now know where he actually went. With the credits he'd been given he hitchhiked from world to world, station to station. He never stopped moving, though there were complications. Every now and then the ship he had booked passage on would not reach its destination. Patrol ships sent out to investigate would find the ship adrift, crew and passengers all dead by multiple stab wounds. All except a single young Miraluka who still clung to life despite the wounds he also bore. None suspected the boy's own wounds were self inflicted and intentionally not as life threatening. This happened multiple times, though never in the same sector.

Ziyado was at least that careful about his business. Naturally quiet, a trait he'd garnered from his inability to speak, he learned to be utterly silent, entering a room without any noticing and leaving just as subtly. He learned that if he went for the throat first he could share his forced silence with his prey, leaving him a few moments to finish his work without worrying about raising an alarm. He experimented, determined what points in which species brought the best results, the greatest balance of fear and pain and death.

At first he would deal with some feelings of guilt, but each new death opened his world further, gave him greater insight, a more complete understanding. With each beautiful expulsion of life he grew more in tune with death, with Bogan, with the Dark side. He began to believe his cause righteous, his view enlightened. Death was inevitable in all creatures, but when it came very slowly, when one died peacefully in their sleep, it made only a tiny ripple, added only a tiny bit of color and artistry to the Force, and thus the galaxy as a whole. When life was taken suddenly, when death involved horror and torment, then the resulting violent discharge was unbelievably intense, flinging itself out into everything around it, flooding the galaxy with the Force.

Such was Ziyado's perception and belief at any rate.

For four years it continued, constantly moving, at times slaughtering. He kept track of each one, remembered clearly each face. The sacrifices they all made for him, for the Force, for the galaxy, he honored and appreciated. Each of them, he felt, had been dear friends and lovers. In killing them, he shared an intimacy with them that no other being ever had or ever would. By the time the man who shone darkly found him, he had taken four hundred and ninety seven lives.

Because they see through the Force, Miraluka see those with a stronger connection, and particularly those who are aware of the Force's currents and can manipulate them, as shining with a stronger energy than other beings. Something he'd learned over his travels was that the more they shined, the more beautiful their death. The man who shone darkly proved a tempting target, Ziyado never having seen anyone with as much power in the Force. He hesitated however, doubting he could defeat him, when the man made him an offer.

Brought into the fold of the Cult of Sadow, Ziyado was taught many things by many people. Several of those he came to know there were unkind and brutish, often looking down on his quiet and usually gentle nature. One member, Alice, who was there since long before he'd arrived, was very different, kind and giving. It was she who completed the training his mother had only been able to begin. Under her tutelage, he developed a much stronger affinity for telepathy, eventually able to communicate fluently and at a distance even with those unfamiliar to him. He liked Alice quite a bit, and would later learn more from her about defensive techniques in combat.

Because of the silence with which he moved and the way that he never spoke, even before he could effectively communicate silently with most of the cultists, he acquired the nickname Hush. Some spoke it derisively, others affectionately, most neutrally, it simply becoming the name he was known by. At first he thought little of it, but after so many years it's come to be his actual name for all intents and purposes. "Hush" is now how he regards himself in his thoughts.

Alice was not the only teacher he had by far. Aside from developing a basic proficiency with what he was told were "core" Force powers, he learned many specific things from the various cultists. His already impressive talents for stealth were expanded and improved upon by a tall, thin human man who, while ever polite, always left Hush with the feeling that he was being mocked somehow. Aside from a few advanced techniques and little tricks, the man also trained him well in Force powers that would conceal him from both sight and the ability of other Force users to simply sense him. The forms that man used with his lightsaber however did not appeal to Hush, and so other teachers were needed.

Two in particular trained him in fighting, both quite fiery females. A somewhat diminutive human taught him bare handed techniques and varied martial arts, seeming to enjoy leaving him bruised and bleeding on the training room floor. The often angry woman also explained to him how to make use of technology to further aid his elusiveness to detection. Of far greater interest to him than the use of fists and feet however was the use of blades. Ever had they been his artist's tool, and the opportunity to learn greater control over them was golden. A Twi'lek woman barely shorter than him proved the most helpful in that field, her agile and formidable style an inspiration to him. She was generally quite pleasant, though also had her outbursts. Like virtually all the others she used a lightsaber, but she also trained with metal blades and it was with these that he focused exclusively. The lightsaber, while indeed a fascinating thing that seemed to itself resonate in the Force, was counterproductive to all his stealth training, emitting both an easily spotted light and a distinct sound.

One issue with using swords rather than lightsabers was that most couldn't stand up against the technologically superior weapons. The alloys that could stop a blade of pure energy were rare and difficult to work. It was a very good day for Hush when a small cache of Sith swords was discovered, though sadly he was only able to lay claim to one. For years now he's been striving to learn the ancient secrets the Sith used to create such marvelous tools, but little progress has been made.

Many others contributed to his education as well, and he learned many ways in which the Force could infuse and enhance his physical form. He learned to let the dark energies that had been building over the years with all his killings to flow through him as he fought, both his speed and strength growing well past their physical limitations. In fact it was veritably a necessity to enhance his strength merely to wield a Sith blade effectively with one arm, so heavy was the blade. A side effect of the Sith alchemy used to forge it, he understood. A fantastic ability he discovered about the Sith blade was that it channeled and multiplied the energy in Force Lightning, allowing him to deliver a shatteringly destructive blow. Though he'd never bothered with it before, after that discovery he did take the time to learn how to conduct the power through his hand straight into his weapon.

To make up for the utility he lost in not carrying a lightsaber, Hush also began learning about slicing into security, bypassing door codes and the like. Never did he have state of the art gear, but he made do with what he could scavenge. It was enough for him to learn the basics and become fairly proficient.

With all these skills and abilities, over the years Hush became one of the preeminent assassins in the Cult of Sadow. Between the companionship he'd gained and the intense training he underwent, he had enough on his plate to distract from his recurring need to kill. The frequency with which he indulged grew less as the years went by, until finally he could make a single murder stretch out for quite some time before he'd need to kill again. The cult gave him ample opportunity, using him essentially as a weapon.

Such an arrangement suited Hush fine. The cult had given him enough that he resisted the constant desire he felt to see the doubtless spectacular display their deaths would unleash. He advanced through the ranks simply because he was so effective and would always happily share what he'd learned with any who wished it; he actually showed very little ambition, having no desire to rule. So long as he could continually deepen his understanding of Bogan, little else mattered.

Timeline:

Event | Age | Year

Ziyado Idani born without the physical capacity for speech | 0 | 2996 BBY
Father abandons Ziyado and Ashanaa | 3 | 2993 BBY
Death occurs before Ziyado, enticing him with its beauty | 12 | 2984 BBY
First life taken | 14 | 2982 BBY
Ziyado brought into the Cult of Sadow | 18 | 2978 BBY
Present | 33 | 2963 BBY

RP Sample: Go ahead and take a look at any of the crap by Darik Starshatter or Lucifer Vice.