Valavai Tarses

Name Valavai Tarses

Position Bastion Grand Moff

Basic Info
Personality
Skills and Abilities
History

Character Information

Written by		Delon
Title(s)		Grand Moff
Gender		Male
Species		Human
Age		72
Class/Occupation		Military Governor
Affiliation		Bastion Moff Empire Tarses Family
Alignment		-10
Born		1,146 ABY
Homeworld		Dubrillion, Bastion Moff Empire
Weapon(s) of Choice		All of the men, women, and resources of the Bastion military. Personal sidearm is an antique DE-22 blaster pistol taken from the corpse of a Mandalorian warrior he slew in his youth.

Physical Appearance

Height		6ft 3
Skin Colour		White
Weight		200 lbs
Hair Color		White
Eye Color		Green
Physical Description		A pale skinned man of imposing height and well known for having a steely-eyed gaze that might make you feel like your soul is slowly being cut apart if stare back at him too long. He maintains his physical fitness as best he can for a man his advanced age, but he lacks the considerable musculature and endurance of his prime years. Most of his scars are small and on his body and limbs. The worst is a crater-like scar on his chest just below where his heart is. It was a "gift" received at point-blank range from a traitor within Bastion that he once trusted as a good friend. He is still not certain how he survived such a grievous and unexpected wound to this day, but it taught him a harsh lesson on trust that he never forgot.
Form of Dress		Bastion battle dress uniforms, every day, from morning until bedtime. He owns very little in casual clothing as the idea of being off-duty never enters his mind.
Prosthetics/Cybernetics		None

Important Figures

Mentor(s)		Various officers and military instructors throughout his life.
Mentee(s)		None. Bastion business prevents him from taking time to personally train the next generation of soldiers.
Lover(s)/Partner(s)		Unknown/deceased
Children		Cpt. Symon Tarses (Human male, 24 - Bastion Army Elite Special Forces officer)
Father		Unknown/deceased
Mother		Unknown/deceased
Brother(s)		None
Sister(s)		None
Other		Numerous relatives within the extended Tarses family on both Dubrillion and Bastion.

Other

Voice		Your browser does not support the audio element.
Music and Themes		Bastion Shipyard (Unveiling the Supreme Star Destroyer) Your browser does not support the audio element. Valavai (Bastion Theme) Your browser does not support the audio element.

Personality & Traits

General Overview		The current Grand Moff of Bastion, Valavai Tarses is a pragmatic career military officer who believes in accomplishing his goals in the most efficient manner possible. His sense of honor and civility, however, sometimes gets in the way of his pragmatism, especially towards those he deems worthy of his respect. Tarses is a keen strategist who is not afraid to take bold risks if the reward for victory is worth betting against the odds. He relishes the art of deal-making, and would probably have been a successful businessman had he not been committed to Bastion. He is also known for his history of fearless defiance on the battlefield and crotchety stubbornness in his old age. Gregarious and assertive, Tarses knows the value of being the most important man in the room at all times, and strives to carry himself in that manner even when his back hurts from maintaining his straight military posture. Given his position and authority, he refuses to allow himself to be bullied or intimidated by anyone regardless of whether he is outmatched or outgunned. His soldiers sometimes privately joke that the "old man" would never take a step back in retreat even if he were facing certain death in front of a rancor, and would probably take his gloves off and slap the rancor in the face with them too just to make a point.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Known as a maven of strategy and proven ability to boldly lead where others would tread cautiously, Tarses indisputably earned his way to the top of the Bastion ranks. He is supremely confident in himself and the true grit and determination of the people he represents. In his youth, he held a reputation for cunning and enjoying the thrill of acting decisively under pressure, but that has changed in recent years. As an older gentleman, his clever ways have waned considerably and he prefers a steady daily routine and stability far from the battlefield. Not as relaxed or charismatic as he used to be, he keeps the affairs of Bastion as tightly controlled and disciplined as reasonably possible, and often at the cost of others having a somewhat lowered opinion of him. He was never the perfect model of athleticism, but he still keeps himself as fit as his doctors allow him to be. His mind is always willing to test his personal limits, but his body is failing and has most recently been diagnosed with a heart rhythm disorder. His decision-making skills have also slipped. Where he used to be energetic and extroverted, he often finds himself having more introspective thoughts and occasionally dwelling upon his past failures and regrets.
Ambitions		If asked what his goals are after a long life of military service, he would replied that the obvious task would be to find a worthy successor among the Moffs to carry on the work of restoring the Galactic Empire. Secretly, however, he knows, just as all his predecessors did, that the Empire could never truly rise again without an actual Sith Lord on the throne. And just like other Grand Moffs before him, he has gone to great lengths over the years to find the man or woman worthy to become the new Emperor. His efforts, however, have always been thwarted at great cost with every attempt, either by heroes of the Republic, or the Reborn Jedi Order. At the insistence and pressure of the other Moffs of Bastion, he has slowed these efforts considerably in recent times, but he still holds out hope that one day destiny will rekindle the fire that gives birth to a new and everlasting Empire.
Interests and Hobbies		With a background in mechanical engineering, Tarses put together a research task force decades ago with the goal of developing cutting-edge battle gear for stormtroopers that could enable them to successfully engage and defeat the Jedi. Many promising developments came from that project, codenamed "Scarlet Night", which significantly improved the standard field equipment for troopers while simultaneously reducing production costs. The single most expensive project that came out of Scarlet Night, and the personal brain-child of Tarses himself, was the prototype for a new class of military infantry unit, the "C.R.O.S.S." trooper. It was an acronym for "Cross-linked Remote Operated Strike Suit". It was essentially a droid-like suit of heavy trooper armor that could be remotely piloted from vast distances by a select team of the brightest young military minds available in Bastion's ranks. Tarses' son, Symon, known for his sensitivity to the Force, volunteered to be placed in the linking chamber that remotely bound his mind to the machine. Initial tests were problematic and sketchy, but not complete failures. It was later determined that additional Force-sensitive youths that were "cross-linked" with Symon (as their team leader) to their own separate drone suits enhanced the responsiveness and reliability of the C.R.O.S.S. units. Testing is ongoing with Tarses' personal supervision, and new lighter objective-specific suits continue to be in development. Progress at this time, however, is hampered by lack of resources, and none of the suits have been placed in actual combat as of yet.
Languages		Galactic "Imperial" Basic

Skills/Abilities

Melee		Good
Marksmanship		Very Good
Lightsaber		Unknown/None
Force Sensitivity		Unknown
Force Ability		Unknown/None
Engineering		Excellent
Computers		Good
Piloting		Good
Medical		Average
Charisma		Excellent
Stealth		Poor

History

Throughout the life of Grand Moff Valavai Tarses, he was known as a man of bold words:

"...My friends, we have stood the test of time. For every failure, we have endured and grown smarter and wiser. For every triumph, we have valiantly pushed onwards and grown ever stronger. Our foes underestimate our resolve and unyielding grit, and I swear to each and every one of you that their arrogance shall be their undoing. Our grip on this chaotic galaxy tightens a little more each day. We are the greatest hope for universal peace. We are relentless. We are the future. We are eternal!" --Valavai Tarses, from his "Proclamation of Valour" speech given on the steps of the Capitol Building on Dubrillion, 1,201 ABY

He was also a respected stalwart man of action:

"Ridge 1007-Dorn was a bloodbath. We had only one chance to hold the line and retake the hill. We were almost three days without sleep, rations were low, mud caked all over our gear, and my rifle had maybe only a few good shots left in it. I'll never forget when our platoon leader, Captain Tarses, stood in the line of fire and shoved courage in our ears. He said that our entire lives came down to a flanking maneuver. Every lesson from our fathers, every single piece of knowledge gleaned from our classroom studies, every combat training drill all came down to that singular moment of time. We had to fight for the future. Only we could ensure success. Only we held the power to give our fellow brothers surrounded on that damned ridge a fighting chance to live. Say what you will of Valavai Tarses today, but we charged into battle following the greatest leader ever produced from the Bastion Military Academy. He was in the dirt and grime with the rest of us. He led from the front and never gave an inch to friend or foe. He was one of us, and we were unstoppable. We could have killed anyone or wrecked anything that got in our way; man, beast, freckin' Jedi, it didn't matter. We had the power of bloody titans in our hearts, and my rifle opened fire like it was brand new and match grade. We slaughtered those bastards on the hill and saved Colonel Carson's Roughnecks. The ridge was ours. I swear, it was the best feeling I ever had. We were the most powerful men in the galaxy that day." --excerpt from the memoir, What Soldiers are Made of, 2nd edition, by retired Bastion Army Sergeant Major Enzio Rocinante

For all of his failures, victories, and glorious achievements throughout his career in service to the Bastion, few were as impactful or character-defining to Tarses as the outcome of the Fifth Bastion War. A great number of improved combat strategies and technological developments were invented by the Bastion military over the previous millennium since the end of the Second Galactic Civil War. Nevertheless, the Mandalorians had produced formidable counters to almost everything at Tarses', and Grand Admiral Willem Stert's command. The resulting costs of the war were devastating.

Tarses knew that his people were no strangers to blood, guts, and destruction, and he took ambitious advantage of their resilience. Rather than falter from the scars of the war, he rallied the people of Bastion and Dubrillion, his homeworld. In 1,199 ABY, during the post-war recovery when Bastion was still reeling from their conflict with the Mandalorians, Tarses submitted his Grand Plan for the future of his people to the Council of Moffs. This involved a carefully constructed military partnership with the GalactaWerks Corporation. Tarses went to great lengths to ensure Bastion's contracts with the infamous Third Republic-aligned company were as discreet as possible.

In addition to helping Bastion rebuild its shattered fleet, Tarses announced--to the Moffs' great surprise--the initial development of the Praetor-class Supreme Star Destroyer. Tarses described it to the Moffs as, "...a wondrous new battleship intended to be the absolute pinnacle of Imperial starship design for all time." He further described it as having been conceived with many lessons learned from the past, including the monumental integration of a state-of-the-art superlaser cannon derived from technology that had been utilized in both Death Stars from the time of Palpatine's Galactic Empire.

After months of careful consideration of the new military contracts and blueprints for the cutting-edge warship, the Moffs unanimously approved Tarses' bold new proposals, and further committed to not only one, but three of the new ships-of-the-line. Utilizing GalactaWerk's considerable shipbuilding resources, the first of the three Praetor-class vessels began construction in 1,204 ABY, and its keel was laid down three years later with satisfactory efficiency. It was initially launched in 1,216 ABY for trial-run testing and shakedown maneuvers, and it is estimated for official commissioning and deployment no later than 1,218 ABY.

Though Tarses has forged nothing less than a historical military construction campaign not seen in over 1,000 years, it is all but certain to he and his Bastion colleagues that they will almost certainly turn on GalactaWerks in a heartbeat at some point in the near future. Tarses is a man that understands the importance of winning the hearts and minds of the people, but he is also ruthless enough to never allow his faction to bend-the-knee or become permanently mired in entangling alliances that weaken Bastion's designs on Imperial domination. All of his hopes and bold strategic plans rests on one key missing ingredient: a new Sith Emperor. The Force may soon grant him exactly whom he is hoping for. The dawn of the New Galactic Empire is at hand...