#:ady Katherine Grey

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Levina Teerlinc

Levina Teerlinc is an almost forgotten female painter from the 16th century. Alongside Susannah Horenbout (1503-54), Teerlinc was one of the earliest women in Britain to be named an artist. As is a common feature of this era, written histories have failed to record Teerlinc’s activities because she was a woman. Although there are works attributed to Teerlinc, they are not certain. Born in…

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Jedi Knight Jaran Val (Revised Version)

This is the revision of my Jedi Padawan Jaran Val into a Jedi KNIGHT.  He’s still a little shaky, because I don’t feel I have a grasp on all of his aspects, so pointing out any weak spots or hyperbole would be appreciated.

(Hi! Mod D here. Your profile review is under the cut!)

Name: Jaran Val Aliases: Hazard Gender: Male Sexual Orientation: Bisexual Age: 29 Occupation: Jedi Knight and General of the Grand Army of the Republic, 429th Infantry.

Group/Organizational Affiliations: Jedi Order, Grand Army of the Republic, 429th Infantry. Family: The Val Clan Best Friends: Knights Naomi Talis and Jeza Nomar Relationship Status: Single Significant Other: N/A Other Relationships: Master Jeanette Starsoul, Knight Kara Saje, Healer Sarisa Ven, Master Ki-Adi Mundi Height: 5’8” Weight: 160 lbs Build: Athletic body with defined muscles Skin Tone: Dark brown Hair: Black Eyes: Grey Identifying Marks: On his left jaw, there is a scar that looks like three crescent moons that connect on the curve with the points facing outwards, left from a punch with a ring.  He also has a sky blue tattoo that is shaped like two acute triangles that connect on his nose and point downward under his eyes, which is the mark of Clan Val and was tattooed on his face shortly after he was born. As well as a tattoo on his left bicep that mimics the crescent moon scar, but with three right triangles, each pointed to the center of the tattoo with the base between the points of the moon. Appearance: Jaran is an active guy with a big presence.  Not only is he a skilled duelist with a lightsaber, but he’s the sort who loves to get involved with various pick-up games wherever he ends up.  Jaran has a mobile face, quick to show his emotions as he feels them, even after years of instruction on presenting an aura of serenity.  His face is narrow and sharp, the kind of face people might compare to a fox on Earth, with a narrow, upturned nose and ears that stick out a bit. 

He keeps his hair in dreads which fall to down to about his mid-back when he leaves it lose, but he usually wears it styled out of his face and so it won’t get caught in his lightsaber. Again.  He taught himself to do that, using mirrors and the Force, which does get him some twitting about vanity, but is more about Jaran’s need to control things in his environment.  Jaran favors wearing Clone Trooper style armor in combat, painted in the same blue as his tattoos with the moons and triangles on his left breast and back of his helmet, as well as the clan mark under the eyes of the helmet.  Off duty, he either wears the black under armor of his combat gear or dark brown and black Jedi robes.

No matter what he wears, Jaran always wears gloves, his favorite pair have hard ridges on the back over the knuckles that are useful in a fight and have specially designed fingertips that let him use touch screens and translate textures to a point.  He could maybe read braille with them, but wouldn’t feel all the details of, say, grains of wood.  He also prefers long sleeves in almost all weather and avoids planets with high heat and/or humidity to minimize the need for clothing that does not cover him from his neck down.

Species/Planet: Jaran is a Kiffar from Kiffu. They are near standard-human, save that their blood is distinctly scarlet, and their facial tattoos, which represent their clan affiliations on Kiffu. Also, one in a hundred Kiffar have psychometric abilities, regardless of other force sensitivities. Personality: Jaran doesn’t think of himself as a good Jedi Knight because he has control issues.  His psychometric abilities are very strong, so he is careful about what he comes in contact with, which has translated over to being very possessive and territorial about his personal space and living quarters.  He doesn’t invite contact from people he doesn’t know, and gets anxious in close quarters.

Jaran is not a natural diplomat or a good actor.  He has something of a reputation for being taciturn and stern with people, which is how he masks his discomfort and anxiety over what he can or cannot control around him.  He’s not carefree or easy going, but he’s got a sense of humor and appreciation of the absurd as it affects others.  His few friends are hard won and sometimes endure because they are far more flexible than he is in regard to his control issues and anxieties.

Jaran does try to do things outside his comfort zone, but the further out he gets, the more tense and uncomfortable he gets.  It’s a struggle between two sides of his nature, the fear of his abilities versus his desire for social interaction.

Jaran was captured during the war and held hostage for several weeks.  In the aftermath, he’s had to deal with his increased claustrophobia, and being tied or otherwise having his arms restrained.  He actually spent six months working with mind healers to be able to use his armor again because it reminded him of aspects of his captivity.  He was kept restrained in an inadequately heated basement on a planet that has a lot in common with northern Alaska, so things like snow, cold, dripping water, and inadequately lit spaces can make him twitchy, if not actually trigger him, although he’s generally okay with total darkness.  He does have nightmares, usually about hearing voices he can’t quite understand, and laughter, or about being completely abandoned to starve by unknown people.  He’s working on dealing with his issues with a mind healer.

Motivations: To avoid another battlefield like the one that cost him over half the 429th, to stop setting off Jedi relics with the Force. To heal from the damage from his captivity.

Current Goal: To protect his brother-warriors (the clone troopers) and be a good partner with Kara. Life Goal: To find his balance back and be a credit to his Master. Motto: To fear is one thing.  To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.  ~Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved   Best Quality: His ability to roll with the absurd. Worst Quality: His obsession with control and his fear Fears: Falling (to Darkness), killing his own people, getting kicked out of the Order Hobbies: Sports (He knows and played a variety of them, and uses them as a way to connect with the troopers), philosophy, history Talents: Hand eye coordination, excellent sense of balance, and a pleasant singing voice Skills: Sharp shooting, parkour, general athleticism, and a general knowledge of how to read body language and to use Lorrdian kinetic communication. Abilities: Psychometry (the ability to read empathic residue from inanimate objects), telekinesis, mental shielding, and minor clairvoyance (ability to see current events from a distance) Weapons: Lightsaber, blaster  Weaknesses: His psychometry is very strong, he doesn’t have to concentrate to pick up empathic residue from objects, even an accidental touch can fill his mind with the thoughts and emotions of previous handlers, however his general empathy is lower than average which gives him trouble in trying to find people and utilize training bonds (although people don’t realize this because he is exceptional at reading body language and reacting to that instead), and he sometimes accidentally activates Force imbued objects (which earned him the Hazard nickname) Fighting Style: Jar’Kai, the use of two lightsabers is his preferred, but he also studied Soresu from Master Jeanette. Secret: Jaran almost left the Order while still a Padawan after a disastrous mission, only convinced to stay by Master Jeanette and Master Mundi during his recovery in the Healer’s Wing in the aftermath.  Sometimes he wonders if he should have followed through on the thought. Influential Memory: Meeting Master Jeanette for the first time after his Padawan Trials (a series of tests and demonstrations to show an initiate has the knowledge and skill for the more advanced teaching.) Role Model: Quinlan Vos and Master Jeanette Crush: Clone Commander Wolffe from Master Plo Koon’s battalion Source of Embarrassment: How many times has he accidentally picked up the empathic residue from shower sex in hotels?  Too many.  Source of Pride: His work on mastering Jar’Kai, even if he’s not a master of the form yet.

Backstory:

Jaran was born on Kiffar and was sent to the Temple at eighteen months.  The Jedi Order and Kiffar have strong but distant ties, so Jaran has very few memories of his family outside of a few letters sent by his mother.  His life was good, he got into the usual Youngling troubles, played a prank or two, and he was considered a bright, gifted lightsaber student.  He got in trouble a few times as a child for trying Jar’Kai before he was considered ready for the lessons, but other than that he had a pretty average childhood for a youngling.  His only struggle was emotion control, but since his was a happy nature, it was considered a minor flaw and not an actual defect.

At age ten, Jaran completed his Padawan trials and became Master Jeanette Starsoul’s Padawan within two weeks.  At first, he wondered if Master Jeanette had actually chosen him, or if she had taken him on at the behest of the Jedi Council because she was reserved with him, and her praise was difficult to earn.  It wasn’t until just after his eleventh birthday that he learned the truth.  He had contracted a persistent fever during one of their missions that landed him in the Halls of Healing at the Temple, delirious, for nearly two weeks.  He doesn’t remember much besides being miserable and a few hallucinations, but the one thing he has never doubted, no matter what, was that Master Jeanette was with him almost the whole time.  There were a few times when he knew it was Master Ki-Adi Mundi watching over him in a bio-hazard suit, but the rest of the time it was Master Jeanette.  Afterwards, she was still reserved with him, her praise still difficult to earn, but Jaran knew that she cared for him.

When Jaran was twelve, his psychometric abilities expanded rather suddenly.  Where before he’d been slowly getting better at picking up emotional residue and sorting through what it told him, he was trying to get a sense of the last person to handle a vibroblade connected to a series of murders when he suddenly was slammed with everything, not only the killer’s feelings and thoughts in the murder, but the feelings of the victims as well.  In a fit of panic, he managed to broadcast all of it so loudly that Master Jeanette got all of it, as did two members of Judicial who were sensitive to the Force, but not so strong that they would have qualified to become Initiatives.  After the broadcast, Jaran passed out for almost a full day, before waking up to find that he couldn’t STOP experiencing the sensations of emotional residue, which left a very severe impression on him.  Master Vos, being the strongest available Kiffar Jedi, was brought in to try to teach Jaran to control his out-of-control powers, but even with tutelage, Jaran only managed to learn how to recognize and sort through images, and to release their intensity to the Force afterwards, not how to prevent his mind from being overwhelmed in the first place.  Gloves and concealing clothes were a last resort type option that none of them were happy with.

The first six years of his Padawan instruction, Master Jeanette took him on missions that spanned the spectrum of Jedi tasks, including visiting one of the ancient Jedi Temples that was being investigated by archeologists and Jedi scholars on his sixteenth birthday, where he was allowed a week to indulge in his love of history.  Jaran almost switched his classes to be more geared to an archival or scholar role after that, but after he returned to the Temple and spent nearly an hour debating with Master Jocasta Nu about what he’d learned at the ancient temple, he realized that being a scholar of any sort would mean more of dealing with her and chose to continue on as an armchair historian.  Part of that was that Master Nu never did forgive him for being in the Archive the day two of the Youngling Clans, including his own, reenacted one of the battles of the Great Sith War using the Archives as their battle ground.  Not that Jaran was involved, but he was there, and Bear Clan, and that was enough for Master Nu.

After he turned sixteen, Master Jeanette began taking missions that involved more possibility of combat, with numerous bodyguard jobs.  She never exactly explained why, saying only that sometimes the Force had odd ideas about its chosen guardians.  Jaran learned a lot, both about the use of Jar’Kai in combat, the actual value of Soresu, and even began branching a bit into the Form V’s blaster deflection techniques, adapted to his preferred dual weld.  He also learned how to interact with the people he protected, including how to firmly suggest things that would keep them safe without violating their cultural taboo.  Not that he was always successful, but he tried, and would earn forgiveness later on after they were safe.

Jaran earned his Knighthood at age 24, five years before the Battle of Geonosis, and has been working mostly on solo missions since then.  He’s developing a reputation as a body guard, with a successful string of kidnapping and assassination prevention under his belt.  For the time being, he’s managed to leverage his dangerous missions as a reason for not taking a Padawan learner yet, but he’s pretty sure that Master Yoda has someone picked out and is plotting on how to force the issue between them.  Jaran isn’t sure he is ideal for training a Padawan because of his control issues.  He survived living with Master Jeanette well enough because his room was his personal space and sacrosanct, bringing a Padawan into his personal space would be a much more difficult proposition, especially considering that Jaran’s favorite thing about his rooms was the ability to go barefoot, not wear gloves, or even wander around completely naked without worrying about anything more than his own traces of empathic residue.

Jaran was not present for the Battle of Geonosis, arriving at the Temple hours after Master Windu had left with his recruits.  He was patched up and sent out to take control of the 429th within days of the Clone Wars beginning, assigned to a battle group under the command of Jedi Master Eeth Koth working to preserve control of one of the hyperspace lanes.  During the course of the multiple battles, Jaran found himself a dismal strategist in terms of using the full battalion to its greatest effect, often relying on his Commander to ensure that whatever happened, it wouldn’t be a blood bath.  The strategy was marginally successful until the end of the campaign, when the 429th was assigned to the Aurin system to assist the local defense forces in protecting their access to a hyperspace lane.  Four months into the assignment, Commander Gill was killed in battle, which led to the death of nearly half his battalion.  In the course of that campaign, Jaran and two squads are trapped underground for eight days in extremely close quarters.  Jaran’s mental issues were so prominent during that time that he actively hindered their attempts to free themselves until one of the troopers managed to knock him unconscious.

As a result of that incident, Jaran sought out help from the Healers to deal with his worsening mental health issues, which is when he formally met Healer Sarisa Ven, who became his primary mind healer.  They do most of their work over the holonet because Sarisa is Temple-bound and Jaran’s issues do not currently prevent him from leading his troops, so long as certain accommodations are made.

Jaran was recently kidnapped while on Aurin, prompting the 425th to come to his rescue.  In the aftermath, he has been returned to Coruscant for some intense one on one sessions with Sarisa before returning to take command of the 429th as they work alongside the 425th in some of their more dangerous missions.  In some ways he’s less obsessed with control, but he’s a lot harder to break out of his shell.  Working with the 425th is actually easier for him than the front line fighting he was doing.  There are more opportunities to work with Sarisa, and given that the 425th and 429th operate out of a space station, Sarisa has even been able to come to him for their sessions on a regular basis.

Relationships:

Master Jeanette Starsoul- Jaran’s Master, a quiet, reticent Lorrdian.  Given her people’s propensity for kinetic communication, which is similar to sign language, but involves a lot of subtle movements, facial expressions, and more, she isn’t one to say much out loud, but if you know how to understand kinetic communication, you’d know that she adores her Padawan as a favored nephew.  (Never as a son.  She made that mistake only once, and never again.  Her Padawans are her nieces and nephews.)  She taught Jaran all she knew, including the kinetic communication of her people, to prepare him for whatever the Force lead him to.

Master Ki-Adi Mundi- Master Jeanette’s former Master and long-time friend, Master Ki-Adi had been a part of Jaran’s Padawan life from the beginning.  At Master Jeanette’s request, Master Ki-Adi often took the time to tutor Jaran in politics and debate philosophy with him.  (Ki-Adi Mundi is the Jedi Council member with the… cone shaped head in the prequel trilogy.)

Naomi Talis and Jeza Nomar are Knights that Jaran knew from Bear Clan when he was a youngling.  Naomi’s family hails from Alderraan, and Jeza is a Twi’lek from Ryloth.  The three of them became friends because they all loved playing physical games, and did at times get in trouble for playing Limmie (soccer) instead of doing something else.  For them, it’s not a limmie game if they use the Force, it’s all about the skill.

Naomi is a Healer and is stationed at the Temple for the time being.  She specializes in limb replacement and rehabilitation. She isn’t a violent person, but she already has a handle on the proper attitude necessary to her job, firm, implacable, and compassionate.

Jeza is stationed with her former master, a Nautolan Jedi named Ami Dessa, (Like Kit Fisto, with the green skin and lekku/tentacles instead of hair) and they are currently stationed with one of the fleets on the Outer Rim.  Ami and Jeza both favor Soresu style fighting and a habit of speaking in riddles.  Jeza has adopted her master’s laid back attitude, and while she doesn’t have her master’s aura of perpetual amusement, she is pretty upbeat herself.

Kara Saje was never exactly in Jaran’s peer group, although they were known to each other and could peacefully coexist in the Temple.  Now, they’re a bit more combative to each other, Kara’s drive to make the 425th a valued and respected part of the GAR versus Jaran’s ongoing control issues lead them to butt heads on any number of issues.  It’s harder because Kara is technically the CO of their joint taskforce, but Jaran is the more experienced Knight and would have been in charge if they had been teamed up for a more standard mission.  Learning to work together is an uphill battle on both sides.

From the Task Force:

Commander Saneone- the Commander assigned to the 425th at the Council’s behest and ordered by Kara to oversee the space station they operate out of.  He connects well with Jaran, both because he is a passive individual in the face of the Jedi, while being a firm hand for the Troopers under his command, and because they both struggle to connect and work with Kara.  Saneone has a calming influence on people; although he’s a great straight man for any number of jokes, he’s also a restraining influence on some instruments of chaos.  (Later on, he will formally be transferred to the 429th, and Captain Zip will get promoted to Commander of the 425th.)

Imp, Trickster, Mayhem, and Mischief are Saneone’s personal unit, while technically a part of the 425th, they are the core of Saneone’s personal command.  Like Saneone, they get along well with Jaran in their own way, generally related to his acceptance of them as a cohesive unit and as individuals.  Although, Jaran did take a quick and decisive preemptive action to impress upon the foursome what the acceptable boundaries were for pranking him.  (They also transfer to the 429th.)

As for the 429th itself, Jaran has a generally cordial relationship with most of them, although he isn’t particularly close to any of them.  The two squads who survived the underground ordeal with him are in some ways the closest to him, and generally rotate the role of his back up after Kara makes it mandatory, but while Jaran can identify his officers and interact with them in a genial manner in a more social setting, he isn’t particularly attached to individuals.  Although that might change as his work with Healer Sarisa goes onward.

Other:

Sarisa Ven is Jaran’s mind healer, a Twi’lek Jedi Healer who is Temple bound after losing the use of her legs on a mission before the Clone Wars began.  While her legs are paralyzed, there is nothing wrong with Sarisa’s mind, or her sharp tongue and she is considered one of the best Mind Healers for dealing with pervasive anxiety issues related to long standing trauma.

  I’m in the process of writing Jaran’s captivity story, so the future stuff is coming from my outline and notes (also known as thin air sometimes) but the idea is that he’ll have ongoing struggles with both sides of his issues, the PTSD lingering from Aurin and the control habits of behavior stemming from controlling his gift.  Again, because there is a six month gap between Aurin and the next story, some of the first reactions to Aurin have happened and will come up in hindsight.  For instance, his issues with his armor, which would allow me to display some of the adjusting dynamics between Jaran and his men, as well as the strain between Kara and Jaran if I do it right.

Hi! This is Mod D with your character re-review. Since the vast majority of Jaran's profile has been unchanged, I'll keep the focus on the alterations.

First and foremost, I think the decision to age up Jaran and establish him as a Jedi Knight make his issues with taking command (as well as his prowess as a Jedi) that much more influential on his character. As a higher ranking member of the Oder it makes sense that he's entrusted with more responsibility and naturally held to a higher standard. Combining that with Jaran's tweaked history of not-so-successfully leading troops (in-particular with the death of Commander Gill and Jaran’s subsequent entrapment), it gives his fear of leadership that much more weight. It also links back even more strongly with his desire to connect with the clone troopers themselves, and better highlights how he views them as brothers rather than just a disposable military.

In the same vein, removing Jeanette Starsoul's death from Jaran's story helps to keep the focus on Jaran's issues with command. While the context surrounding the death of his former master made the impact on Jaran's emotional state understandable, this change keeps the spotlight on Jaran's own agency. The mention of how badly the outcomes of these battles affected Jaran become that much more poignant knowing he played a more active role in how things went, rather than just having his mind damaged by a psychic link.

Speaking of, I also liked the additional mentions of how Jaran has handled attempting to avoid leadership roles. In-particular how he has refused to take a padawan of his own and wears Trooper armor so the clones won't look to him for instruction. These are hugely characterizing additions that do a lot to show the impact of Jaran's revised history, beyond just the mentions of his seeking out a therapist for his PTSD. Personally, I also just find them really interesting choices to make. The 'dress up as a trooper' disguise is old hat in Star Wars, but Jaran doing it as sort of coping mechanism is really unique.

I also liked the additional touches regarding how Jaran learned about his powers. Specifically the mention of having another Kiffar attempt to give him additional tutelage to help him better control his empathic abilities. Including how Jaran likes to relax in his own space and not be constrained by gloves and boots also added additional touches to just how closed off he has to be to avoiding getting unwanted memories. Though I think the best one was Jaran having to effectively relearn how to use his armor after his capture, due to how claustrophobic it made him feel. It’s not something I think most people would have considered, and makes the impact not only about Jaran himself but about his capability as a Jedi Knight as well.

Beyond that, I don't have much else to comment on. I like all of the changes that you've made (including the altered focus on the clone troopers on Jaran's Relationships section). Everything else is still fine, and the tweaks you made did a lot to tighten up the focus on Jaran's character arc. The impact of Jaran's involvement in the war has a greater context now (both for his own agency and how it’s influences his identity), and I think that'll provide a much stronger foundation to build on for future dynamics. There’s a lot more room for innate conflict here with both the troopers and Kara.

He doesn’t come across as shaky to me, and has no weak spots that I could discern. As is, Jaran looks like an exceptionally solid character with a clear arc and a well-rounded personality. I hope this helps assuage some of your concerns, and if you have any specific questions (or would like clarification) please fell free to send in an Ask.

I hope this helps!

-D