Taaru Ithillien Masako

[Taaru Masako]

Name: Taaru Ithillien Masako
Species: Human (technically Near-Human, but can still interbreed with Homo sapiens sapiens)
Gender: Male
Age: 63 Galactic Standard Years (appears ~28, as Thruvarans age slower than most humans)
Height: 6' 5"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Skin color: White, but tanned
Eyes: Pale Blue, almost grey
Hair: Reddish orange, often unkempt and mussed
Apparel: Usually a crimson trenchcoat with a black jumpsuit underneath, as well as armor. Sometimes with or without dried and crusted layers of blood, depending on what kind of day it is. 
Homeworld: Thruvar
Occupation: Adventurer for Hire, Contractor for the Corellian Government, Self-employed Military Hardware Designer
Ships: Modified Corellian Engineering Corp. YCX820 escort freighter, (Eternal Rhapsody) & modified CEC We.S.Ja. V86 Interstellar Superiority Fighter (Starviper)
Weapons: Accessorizes with the entire weapons spectrum, but generally has his trusty blasters (2x Custom Malaxan Firepower Inc. FA FWG-9 HBPs) and lightsabers (2x twin parallel push blade design, blue) on him.
Languages: Mando'a, Thruvaran (various dialects), Huttese, Bocce and other trade pidgin languages, among others.
Affiliation: Corellian government, DJO

First Impression: Coming from an agricultural world with abnormally high gravity, Taaru has a robust frame. One of his dominating 
features is his impish smile, which betrays his impulsiveness. However, when necessary, Taaru can be serious and
singleminded to a fault, and generally casts a sort of grim presence to most general audiences. He is somewhat of a Renaissance Man, multidisciplinary in his work with the ability to fully devote his intellect and skills to any new area of interest. Due to hisThruvaran background, he speaks Basic with a slight accent.

[Taaru Masako]

Biography

Taaru was born on the wealthy agricultural planet of Thruvar, located in the Dilevian System in the Mid Rim. His parents, Krade and Era Masako, were substantial landowners and had a flowering trade business. His family also consisted of two siblings: Senni, his older sister, and Ree’ad, his younger brother (his twin, actually, but Taaru was born a few minutes earlier). Taaru's mother was a descendant of a long, powerful line of Force users, most of them Dark Siders, but also including Jedi and other branches of Force philosophy. Era herself was not gifted in the force, a sleeper generation, but unbeknownst to the family, Taaru and his brother inherited the gift of the Force through their matrilineal bloodline. Their gift was first realized by the Jedi Amon Koth, who was stationed on Thruvar to resolve a trade dispute, and had been invited to the Masako estate by Krade in hopes of making a potential friend in a considerable position. In the time that Koth spent on Thruvar, he regularly visited the estate to assess the brothers’ powers and guide them as much as he could, unable to take the boys to the Academy as Era was adamantly against it. Koth eventually left and life returned to normal, neither Taaru nor his family taking his Force sensitivity seriously, and so leaving it to atrophy. Taaru and his siblings received a formal education at their parent’s estate, as he was destined to take over his family’s business when the time came.

At 19, Taaru joined the Imperial Academy, to his parent’s dismay. Thruvar, a major agricultural and industrial world in the Mid Rim, came under Imperial surveillance before Taaru’s time, as a potential target for private corporations to produce the Navy’s war machines. A fierce political power struggle had ensued between Imperial sympathizers and Thruvaran Independents, Taaru’s parents choosing the latter. Their son’s choice of an occupation was a shock to them, but Taaru attempted to distill their fears, reasoning that the skills he would learn at the Imperial Academy could only help him on the road to come. Eventually, his youthful pride and independence won out, and he was on the midnight shuttle to the Academy. His Academy life was a hard, but fruitful one, achieving high scores in both simulator and actual flight skirmishes. During his time, he also formed an interest in battlefield tactics, as well as developing multi-faceted interests in everything from historic academia to weapons design. Furthermore, he became closely acquainted with a fellow Thruvaran, Miko Reglia, whom he remains good friends with to this day.

Life back at the home front was not as care free. The system had slowly fallen under Imperial overwatch. While remaining independent, Imperial military and business interests became intertwined with the Thruvaran economy, to the point that the Empire was secretly orchestrating a political takeover and annexation of the system. The public frontman for this venture was Hearn Kesheth, an Imperial who had gained Thruvaran citizenship and served as a senator in the Thruvaran House of Counselors. In a calculated political move, Hearn announced his candidacy for planetary governor during an election year. While not publicly stated, the Empire’s fiscal and logistical support of Hearn’s campaign was well-known, and anti-Imperial sentiments resulted in violent episodes in Thruvar’s cities as loyalists attacked Imperial businesses and citizens, the most notable of which is known as the Week of Burning Banners (Fahnenbrennerwoche), after the immolation of imperial banners in the capital city. Tensions reached their high point when Hearn Kesheth was assassinated by a young loyalist gunman, Gavrilo Duehrer, during a rally.

Duehrer was immediately arrested by local authorities. However, with Imperial interests vested in Kesheth’s campaign, the Empire pressed for jurisdiction, considering Kesheth’s former citizenship. The Thruvaran High Court declined. This only served to further exacerbate the situation, and street violence eventually led to the House of Counselors to declare an embargo on Imperial goods and demand an exodus of Imperial citizens.

The Empire responded in a characteristic manner. Cutting their losses was not an option, as Thruvar was an important trade hub on a major hyperlane. Strategically and economically, the Empire could not afford to lose the system’s strategic position. Thus, within days of the embargo and exodus, elements of the 3rd Fleet under Moff Akraan exited hyperspace above the planet. Queries from the planet’s Orbital control station were met with jamming and a hail of turbolaser and missile fire, disabling communications to the galaxy at large. Having enjoyed many decades of peace, the underfunded and undermanned defense force was no match for the Imperial fleet, and was soon left in ruins. Akraan reported the destruction of Thruvaran opposition to his superiors. Thirty minutes later, he received a final command authorization: Base Delta Zero. Throughout the rest of the Thruvaran day, fire rained from the sky. The sun was blotted out as city after city was turned to ash and superheated glass, millions dying as the Imperial Fleet “made an example” of a rebellious world. By the next day, the world lay in ruins, with only a handful of survivors in the countryside, in underground facilities and in the diaspora.

Taaru’s graduation would have occurred two days after the massacre at Thruvar. But as he was returning from a training mission, he was met by a grief-stricken Miko. Unable to speak, Miko simply led Taaru to the nearest Holonet screen, frenzied with news of the planet’s destruction. A cover story had been released of a rogue warlord assaulting the planet, and they believed it at first. Like his friend, the loss of his family and entire society tore him to pieces. As fellow graduates crossed the stadium floor for their diplomas, Taaru and Miko were on their way to Thruvar to see it for themselves. It was on the planet’s smoking surface that he found the Empire’s dark secret. Amidst the wreckage of Vimar, Thruvar’s capital, Taaru discovered the flight data recorder of a downed fighter craft. Taking it back to the ship, he saw the waves after waves of TIE fighters with distinct Imperial markings destroying the defensive fleet. Taaru and Miko were speechless, unbelieving. The cause they stood for had done this to them. Everything they believed was a lie…..

Revenge came to mind, but Taaru rationalized as much as he grieved. For a crime like this, any form of revenge that he could practically or impractically issue would never be enough. Revenge was no path, but he had no other. Eventually, amidst the rubble of an apartment building where the two had set up camp, he came to the conclusion that this would take more thought than he could muster here, and so he resolved to do what he had fantasized about as a boy: Travel the galaxy. Except now, he was in search of an answer. After leaving Thruvar and arriving on Corellia, he said a somber goodbye to Miko, and left to seek enlightenment or solace.

For years, Taaru wandered the Outer Rim, far from Imperial control, selling his skills as a pilot and dabbling in bounty hunting and other oddjobs. He became very proficient at most of his ventures, due in part to his latent Force ability, which he slowly began to reacquire and train in. Still wracked with grief over the loss of family and home, he was often disturbed by night terrors. But time, experience and many a harrowing adventure blunted the edge of his hatred and reestablished his trust in existence and its myriad opportunities. But a distrust of governments and immense disgust for the Empire remained. To this day, he continues his legacy as Adventurer-for-Hire and entrepreneur, as he often functions as occasional inventor. He is renowned among some circles for his skill as a pilot, and barkeepers the galaxy over will testify to his penchant for trouble.

Recently, Taaru has again teamed up with his friend, Miko, whose abilities as a cryptologist and youthful aspirations of joining Imperial intelligence make for an excellent informant and partner in crime. Together, they have rejoined the fold of Thruvaran survivors, formally known as the Diaspora, who have begun to consolidate and reestablish what little foothold of existence they have left. Their past and present are bleak, and though the future may be unknown, their wounds have begun mending, and hope is ever present

And so, the quest continues…

Update

Since rejoining the Thruvaran Diaspora, Taaru has become a member of the Tears of Thruvar, a clandestine special forces unit hand-picked by the Council of Elders. The Tears are tasked with the Diaspora’s only recourse: vengeance. Issued “The List,” the Tears continue to operate in various locales in the galaxy, hunting down those Imperials responsible for the destruction of Thruvar. Taaru and Miko have been instrumental in this task, using their formal Imperial training and their personal abilities against their sworn enemies.

It was during his service with the Tears that he happened to meet Jet Al’Meara, then a DJO Praetorian and Kabal Huntress apprenticed to Grifter Storm of Corellia. Coincidentally assigned the same Imperial target, the two assassins joined forces to eliminate him. The ensuing friendship has lasted to this day, to the point that Taaru was nominated an honorary citizen of Corellia when Jet became Corellian Diktat. Having completed his service with the Tears, Taaru went to work for Jet and the Corellian government, his many exploits in defending the Corellian system eventually earning him the title of Brother of Corell, the highest distinction given to a Corellian citizen for valorous service. Amidst these exploits were the capture of the planets Myrkr and New Carida , numerous campaigns against Corellia’s enemies, acquisition of the Kuat shipyards via business takeover, putting down the Corellian insurgency and development of many of Corellia’s current military hardware (to include Terror Drones, TD3 motherships, StarVipers, Mk VI Combat Skins, MACs, etc.). Taaru is and remains a valued member of the DJO’s affiliates, though he has not been offered an official membership (and frankly, has never asked for it).

Taaru has also been instrumental in cementing relations between the Thruvaran Diaspora and Corellia. To many Thruvarans, Corellia has become a second home.

[Taaru Masako]

Taaru's Weapons

A pair of Custom Malaxan Firepower Inc. FA FWG-9 Heavy Blaster Pistols and two blue push-blade style sabers.

Both pistols have several fire modes. Aside from regular semi-auto, they both have full auto options, as well as a secondary barrel for various custom-made slugs. Generally, these will be some form of armor piercing or explosive rounds.

The sabers, outside of their regular blade geometry, can also function as personal handheld shields by extinguishing the blade and re-purposing the magnetic field that normally shapes the blade into a ray shield.

Beyond their aesthetic value, the basket hilts for the sabers function as shaping veins for the magnetic field, as well as offering additional protection: the hilts are layered with cortosis weave, which comes in handy during saber duels.

Though not typical, Masako may also wear an ornately decorated Thruvaran crushgaunt, if he expects a lightsaber duel. Like its Mandalorian equivalent, this crushgaunt greatly increases the wearers grip strength, allowing them to crush bone or armor. Furthermore, the gauntlet's Mandalorian iron impregnated design means it can act as a defense against lightsabers. Unlike the Mando version, however, Thruvaran crushgaunts do not have rounded fingertips. Instead, they end in vibroclaws, which are powered by a vibromotor in the wrist assembly.