There's more than one way to be enslaved
Please note that credit for the culture and inspiration for the character should go to fiallaril
NAME: his master names him Dehba. But he is a person and he names himself Anakin Stormrunner.
FACTION: Darkwire
RANK: Unfettered and Depuskalta (master slayer, the desert whispers in his bones); Among darkwire agents he is a shadowrunner
SPECIES: Avaris Harpy | AGE: 71 (21 when put in a human lifespan) | SEX: Male
HEIGHT: 5’5 | WIDTH: [wingspan] 8’8 | WEIGHT: 93 lb
EYES: spice blue | HAIR: black | SKIN: light brown
FORCE SENSITIVE: yes
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:
+Nat 20 Perception+ As a result of his instinctual awareness in the force, coupled with the knowledge that slavers could still come and try to take him, Anakin is always aware of his surroundings and getting the jump on him will be a feat worthy of a story.
+Tricks of the Trade+ Spending half a human lifetime smuggling sentients and sneaking through forbidden places has left Anakin with a masterful knowledge in all things smuggling and espionage.
+Expert Dancer+ Like many Amavikka, Anakin has learned nimdara, a form of self defense, storytelling, and cultural teaching disguised as a dance. The style itself tends to be extremely energetic, with lots of rapid movements and complex patterns. Often it focuses on attacks with the legs with some help from the arms. Having been first taught the style at twenty one, Anakin has gone on to master it and even adapt it to include his wings, typically for balance or disorientation though sometimes they take the place of the arms in attacks.
+Con Artist+ While the ability is not one of his main strengths, Anakin has grown up a slave and knows how to use a lie. He is able to con his way into the situations and places he needs, though he dreads the ability of manipulating others.
-Removing the safety net- Having lost the knowledge of shifting when he was taken from his family, Anakin is reliant on his pseudo Invisibility to stay unnoticed. Because of this, he cannot rely on the anonymity many utilize and has an increasingly large bounty on his head.
-A Story of Scars- Anakin’s life has never been easy, and many of the victories he’s won have been won with a pound of flesh. Covered in scars as he is, extreme cold has been known to make some of the old injuries flare.
-Bounty- Throughout his lifetime, Anakin has collected quite the bounty on his head. This makes him a ripe target for any aspiring hunters.
Current bounty: Hutts: 40,000 credits alive, 30,000 dead | Denon Corporate Authorities: 10,000 credits dead or alive
PERSONALITY:
Freedman- like many other former slaves, Anakin carries himself with a wary strength. He refuses to back down and cower before others but still he expects slavers and bounty hunters to force him back to a master at any time. Always ready for a fight, anyone attempting to get the jump on Anakin will find it a difficult task.
Bedrock red- While Anakin may not have endured to buy his freedom, he is nonetheless a very determined individual. With a strong sense of justice and a steadfast strength and courage that is hard to find in these turbulent times, there is little he will allow to get in his way.
Umakkar the Fury- There is very little difference between a master and a slave when they're trapped in a sandstorm. Both will be ripped to shreds and destroyed without mercy. Anakin is not the sandstorm. He can and will decide who he rips apart and spits out a ragged mess of flesh and stone. But gain his ire and the storm he runs before will swallow you whole.
First Hand Knowledge- Anakin has spent a human lifetime enslaved. He knows the depths of its cruelty and pain of its whip. He knows what it does to a person to be owned. He has spent half a human lifetime freeing slaves. He knows the ins and outs of tricking Depur and the tricks of the trade when it comes to smuggling and espionage. He is confident because of this. He knows what he’s doing and acts like it.
Rage of the Storm- Anakin is not a good person. Not in the standards of most sentients. He is quick to anger and willing to go to extremes to help his people. His anger is a quiet thing. Unlike the storm he is known to bring, he is not all righteous fury and burning passion. Instead he is the strong breeze and small chunks of sand that herald the onslaught. At first.
APPEARANCE:
Few slaves escape their bonds with their skin unmarred. Anakin is not one of these lucky few. His back is covered in the lichtenberg scars of an electric baton. Some are small, only a few inches in width. Others are large, almost as big as dinner plates. There is one, situated near his left shoulder blade, that spirals down his waist and twists over his shoulder. A smaller one, the size of his hand, branches over his neck. But lightning scars are not the only marks he bears. His chest and stomach is pockmarked with the small divots and pale streaks of the weakest of the sandstorm and the curve of his torso bears the dark blotchy scar of the worst of it. It wraps around his ribs and a little bit of his back, a large mark reminiscent of a road rash scar.
It isn't just his back that is a canvas of scars. His left forearm is a tattered stretch of skin, pockmarked with the grooves and knots of the weakest of the sandstorm. It stretches all the way from his elbow to his calloused and talon tipped hands. That same arm also bares what looked like an old bite mark. A slaver's dog, a feral beast that had attacked him when he was helping to free a shipful of slaves. His face, though dominated by the lichtenberg scar, is home to a multitude of others. Curling around his chin is a single pale mark from a whip, given more for pain than punishment. It is a careworn face, with skin marred by the weakest of the sandstorm and the skin around his right each and chin painted with the pale of a sunburn scar. His body is a tapestry of scars, but that is not all it holds.
Compass by Penabranca
All Amavikka know that visual art never lasts. In the harsh conditions of Tatooine, it is easily destroyed or confiscated or repurposed. If you want something to last longer, it must be marked on the body. On his right wrist, inked over an old sunburn scar, is Kol-depuan, the symbol of the Unfettered. A circle marked in black and broken into seven pieces. His right shoulder is inked with the compass. A symbol often used to identify the way houses on the freedom trail.
After his capture by Corpo forces, Anakin came out permanently changed. Though he escaped with the help of Xan, the damage to his left wing was too sever and had gone untreated for too long. He was forced to amputate the limb, leaving a short stub of the upper wing.
BIOGRAPHY:
In the end it’s his appearance that saves Anakin. If this can be considered saving. Dukkra ba dukkra, he will think every time his masters bring this up. The truth is, few harpies survive discovery in their avian form. The truth is, it was only his bright colors that kept him alive. The truth is, it was only convenience that made his master choose him over the baby.
At ten, a family of harpies is discovered in the Mos Eisley spaceport. The hutt in charge has them quickly and efficiently executed. All except one. A ten year old boy with feathers as blue as water. This one he kept alive, made a slave as a statement to the hutt's wealth and power. The child spends eleven years a slave to the hutt. He is given a hutteese name. And he is forbidden from changing his form. It is with his first master that the boy learns of Ar’amu, the moonspinner and mother of all slaves. It is with his first master that the boy learns of Ekkreth the Trickster. And the one who can hold them has not yet been born. It is here that the boy learns of his sister Leia, the great krayt dragon who’s wings created the first wind and who can never be chained. It is here that the boy learns of Ebra, the one to whom Ar-amu gifted the secret of Tzai and the knowledge of runes. It is here that he learned the promise of Ar-amu. That one day, the All-mother would gather her children, newly freed, and they would know this time when the rain begins to fall and Ar’amu is finally able to weep. It is here that the boy learns. That he is given a name in the traditions of the Amavikka. He is Anakin, the one who brings the rain.
“I am a person, and my my name is Anakin”
At twenty three, his depur is killed by a rival hutt and Anakin is gifted to the victor's head enforcer. The next day he performs the Vigil of the Lost with four other slaves. By the time he is forty he has performed the Vigil of the lost thirty eight times and been sold nine. And his back is painted with the lichtenberg scars of an electric baton. When Anakin is forty one, he is sold for the tenth time to the cruelest master of all.
It is here that his soul, already tired from a life time of slavery, breaks. It is here he forgets his people, forgets his culture, forgets the promise of Ar-amu and the meaning of his name. It is here he becomes Keekta-du.
His newest Depur does not care about the life of his slaves. This is obvious in each careless beating, in the electric baton that pushes into his skin even as miniature lightning bolts burns through his veins. In the name his new master gives him. Dehba. Bird. Depur cares little for the life of his slaves. And this is seen no clearer than when he first commands Anakin to fly across the planet and deliver a package to an adversary. Again and again this is done until his shoulders are marred with the blotchy scars of minutes in a sandstorm and his stomach is pockmarked with small scars from flying above the worst of the storm.
For ten years he lives like this and those he came with have been sold or died. Those back in the quarters whisper of the blue winged harpy. They begin to point to him as they address the children, warning them to never forget where they came from, to never become Keekta-du.
In the tenth year, Anakin lands in the courtyard in the dead of night, and in the shadows he hears a Grandmother speak. “Do you remember the stories?” she asks him. “Do you remember the tales of Ekkreth the Trickster, or Ar-amu the All-mother?” But his heart is closed to her and he hurries towards his master’s palace.
The next time he returns to the courtyard it is the waking hours of dusk and the dry season has begun to set in. Again a voice calls from the shadows, the speaker hidden from the enforcers of his master by a pillar or a wall, speaking words only for him. “Do you remember the stories?” she asks but again he hardens his heart and walks away. Four more times she does this. And four more times he hardens his heart and walks away.
Now on the seventh time, her voice comes from beside him. It is the dead of night, and only Echuni, the smallest and dimmest of the moons grace the sky. Though he can but make out the faintest outline of her person, Anakin feels her hand rest on his arm and the desperate whisper of her voice. “Do you remember the stories?” She says. And the silence after lasts an eternity. “Yes.” The whispered words surprise even him. “Then listen.” The grandmother disappears with the rustle of cloth and the near silent pitter of fleshy feet on stone ground.
That following day, the Grandmother is discovered with a scanner and a scalpel hidden in her quarters. She is sentenced fifty lashes. She only survives twenty.
His next flight happens in a storm. The sand whips around him, digging at the mask he wears and the clothes of his underbelly. He is lucky to fly above it, to avoid the true fury of Umakkar . Throughout his flight, his mind is abuzz with the stories of his people. And the death of the grandmother.
“I tell you this story to save your life.” The desert speaks to him with a hollow, bone deep voice. A muffled boom and the wet splat of liquid, so much like the life giving water. The screams of the Grandmother as the whip cracks against her back. Even as he dodges another bolt of lightning he is reminded of the lichtenberg scars that he bears along his back. “I tell you these stories-”
“To save your life.” The voice of the desert howls through his bones as he stands before Depur. It screams as he is allowed to approach the hutt alone. Depur believes him broken, but this is no longer true. A clawed foot flexes as he nears.
Blood paints the floor and the walls. It spatters his feathers and dots his face. On the ground is the corpse of Depur, a taloned foot resting on what once was a throat. It was a messy death, a painful death. But he would not have it any other way. Not for one such as him. He debates arming himself, eyeing the electric baton, but reaches instead for one of Depur’s ornamental knives.
The castle is in flames and Depur’s head stands on a pike outside it. The enforcers are dead, and those that were once enslaved are finding and removing their chips. His was in his wing.
“I give you yourself.” says the singer, handing him a tracker and a bomb, still slick with his blood. Anakin smiles through the pain and takes the device. Later he will have it disabled, all dangerous parts removed. Later he will have it strung up, hanging around his neck. Now, he walks out of the quarters with a smile on his face and a sewed up wound at the base of his left wing. It will scar, but that is fine. It will be his first freedom mark.
At fifty, the desert gives him a name. It is given from Umakkar the fury, the storm. He is depuskalta and kol-depuan. A master slayer and unfettered.
"I am a person, and my name is Anakin Umakkar-lii."
At fifty one, Anakin joins the freedom trail. There are many jobs to be found, from manning safe houses, to performing surgeries, to running weapons and transporting runaways. He begins his work on Tatooine, and learns to fight as quickly as he learns to work a scanner and scalpel. For three years he worked on Tatooine, starting at a safe house where he learned the ways of a singer. In his second year, slavers burned his home down and he’s left on the run. He does not run as they want him to. He does not flee from the fires of his home in a desperate attempt to avoid his hunters. No. He joins a crew, and begins to run guns and medicine and intel. Eventually he runs people, sometimes even removing their chips as they flee their depur. For two years he remained on Tatooine before the amount of slavers and bounty hunters sent after him forced the Freedman to take his work off world.
At sixty nine, he is known throughout the freedom trail and the bounty on his head has risen into the thousands. After a number of bounty related scrapes, his friend pushes him to lay low until the heat dies down. However, the idea chaffs at him. He’s already escaped his chains once, and he refuses to allow more to be placed on him. He agreed though, reluctant as he was.
When Anakin arrived on Denon, he had expected little more than the seedy underbelly of a corrupt planet. What he found however, was much different. It started when he began to volunteer at Keys. Ostensibly, it was a corporate program focused on freeing and educating slaves. But it was a government organization, and that alone was enough to gain his distrust. The help of leaders is like aid from the core. Nonexistent and hidden traps when it did exist. So to say he stumbled across the truth by accident would be a grave lie. The truth is, he has too much of the desert in him to trust authority. The truth is, the music of the dunes howled in warning when he first heard of the program. The truth is, he knows a chain gilder when he sees one.
It only took him three months to discover the truth of the program. He began smuggling people out as soon as he did. Those he didn’t smuggle he taught. He could still remember the stories of the Grandmothers, and could tell them just as well. Some had their own culture, some didn’t, but he taught them all and impressed upon them the importance of these stories. There was no japor to carve runes on, so he taught them on scrap metal and other odds and ends the masters wouldn’t think to look at. And so it went, months passed and eventually Anakin turned seventy. But just as time passed and the year drew to a close, so too did his chance to help. The corpos had gotten word of the harpy teaching their slaves the promise of Ar-amu and the power of secrets, though they heard nothing of the Amatakka many now spoke. They chased him out, and the bounty on his head increased.
Forced to hide, Anakin melted into the shadows of Denon. He didn’t leave, for his eyes had been open to the truth of the corporate authority, but neither did he cling close to those trapped in the Keys program. They knew of Ar-amu now and knew the truth of their situation and he trusted the eldest to teach those new to the program.
FORCE ABILITIES:
The Mother’s Judgement: through his long years of exposure to lightning, Anakin has slowly built up a resistance to it. By using the force, he is able to instinctively channel the worst of the energy through his body and safely back out, usually into the ground or out another part of him when flying. While originally learned to protect himself, he is able to direct the lightning towards an opponent and with enough concentration can summon his own.
Safe in the Night: The story goes that at twenty five Anakin is fleeing from a drunken and lustful master. Having run out of places to go, he curls up in a storage room alcove and think of the desert, of the vast open spaces of wind and sand and directs the thoughts outwards. “I am nothing but dust and light” he tells the world and when Depur makes eye contact with him his heart skips a beat. But Depur moves on, noticing only the dust and the light. Later he will suffer beatings for his absence. Later he won't be quick enough to escape. At twenty five Anakin discovers the ability to nudge the perception of others. He does not trick them but instead directs their attention away. Forty years of slavery and thirty years of running freed slaves and he has mastered the technique, able to hold it not just over himself but a crowd of four adult humans and trust that he can fool anyone but a force-null. It is only in groups of six to eight that his work begins to get noticeably worse, with the quality of the disguise weakening with each person added.
Child of the Desert: born of necessity, Anakin learned to part the worst of a sandstorm. It’s a subtle ability that doesn’t stop the individual grains themselves so much as creates a channel or current in the force that simply nudges them around him. It’s not a perfect technique, and while it can be applied, often instinctively, to other projectiles such as blaster bolts it doesn’t guarantee he won’t get hit, only minimizes the chance.
Dance of the Storm: Similar to parting the torrent of sand, Anakin is able to weaponize the grains of his home. He holds them aloft in the force, lets them float in the ebbs and flows and his presence. When passive, they manifest as three rings, twisting around his torso at different angles and speeds. In a fight, Anakin's natural force presence begins to speed up, sending the grains of sand caught in it whirling around his body, as much a natural defense as an offense. They can be used to block and blind foes, and when they move fast enough, act much like the storm he is named for. Able to rip flesh from bone, this ability is one Anakin must be careful to utilize in the presence of allies, as it can just as easily harm them as it can his enemies.
BELONGINGS:
7 carved japor snippets, among them including:
Bantha hide pouch- A circular pouch of tanned bantha hide, the long trails of fur are a mix of loose strands and braided bundles capped with wooden japor beads. It is not a subtle container, but Anakin is adept at hiding the noise when he must. Inside the pouch is several fistfuls of dark Tatooine sand, a memory of home as much as a weapon. There are of course, other pockets of sand hidden on his person, but this is the only one in plain sight.
Well worn plasma cutter- Smooth with age, the plasma cutter was a gift from a fellow Amavikka and has seen much use since, often on chains and bars.
Rocket boots- unlike normal rocket boots, these strap onto the ankle above his avian feet and are close to his skin until activated. At that point, the jets pop out so as not to injure his feet. Instead of supporting his entire body, they’re designed to help him turn corners sharply and give him a boost of speed.
When inactive, the boots - which cover the scaled skin just above his feet and bellow his feathers - protects the area from blaster bolts, most bladed melee weaponry such as swords and daggers, along with light weight blunted melee weaponry. Additionally, its high resistance to electricity - a necessity for one who often emits electricity when feeling threatened - provides a strong protect against EMP and ion based weaponry.
Pinprick Needler- bought with subtly in mind, the only drawback of the needler is its nonlethality as it allows slavers to continue in the world.
Lookout Probe Droid- without the existence of a scanner that can safely detect slave bombs, Anakin uses the Lookout as a workable, if flawed, replacement. Coupled with its designed functions, Anakin has found it an invaluable item and makes sure to always have one on him whenever possible.
The Terminus Shiv- with a worn handle, its obvious that this blade has seen plenty of use.
Sneakitheif- as a device that is said to not exist, it is not a surprise that Anakin doesn’t have one. However, if he did, it would be older, a little worn around the edges but still in pristine condition in regards to functionality.
Slave Bomb- hanging from a black strip of bantha leather is an old slave bomb. Though it looks in one piece, all the inner mechanics of both the bomb and the tracker have been removed. Carved onto the back of the bomb in the broken circle of Kol-Depuan
Razzmatazz Holospheres- Perfect for emergency getaways, Anakin always has several holospheres on his person.
Wind-Talker Personal Communications Array- While sometimes inconvenient, Anakin prefers the safety provided by the highly secure comm unit.
Last Whisper Pistol- his main form of long ranged weaponry, Anakin always has the Last Whisper on him, often hidden under his clothes or on occasion his brightly feathered tail which provides ample cover, of not as much as a loose shirt or coat.
LANGUAGES:
Hutteese (fluent)
Amatakka (fluent)
Tusken Sign Language (understandable)
Galactic Basic (understandable)
Harpyia (nonexistent)
SHIP:
Anakin owns a Class 720 freighter named Night. It looks much like the other ships of its kind, with a dull grey paint coat and the name done on the side in navy blue paint so dark it almost looks black. Inside, the ship is full of hidey holes, enough that people could easily get lost in it. Outside of the pain cargo hold, which once again looks like a normal 720 freighter, the ship begins to gain some personality.
Of the three crew quarters, the one adjacent to the ‘fresher has been converted into a kitchen. One wall of the kitchen is home to a beautiful mural of a stone fortress full of empty chains. In the center of the picture is a warty green frog, his face screwed up in anger as he shakes his fist at a red bird wheeling away. Its beak is parted and eyes crinkled in what would be laughter on a human. Much of the ship has similar designs, and the hallway between the crew quarters has a series of stylized drawings done in a style similar to the black-figure painting. It depicts the story of Maru and how Ekkreth stole the moon.
While much of the ship is full of wall paintings, these are the only two depicting actual stories, or in the former’s case, the end to a story. Aside from the art, one of the two storage rooms has been turned into a pantry while the other contains the typical materials for a long voyage on a large ship.
Last but not least are the potted japor and tzai plants lining the lounge and hallways. More native plants can be found scattered as decoration around the rest of the ship, but in reality all of them are used in traditional Amavikka cooking as important the materials becomes an expensive luxury when off world.
Threads: ( * = important to plot)
Arc One
NAME: his master names him Dehba. But he is a person and he names himself Anakin Stormrunner.
FACTION: Darkwire
RANK: Unfettered and Depuskalta (master slayer, the desert whispers in his bones); Among darkwire agents he is a shadowrunner
SPECIES: Avaris Harpy | AGE: 71 (21 when put in a human lifespan) | SEX: Male
HEIGHT: 5’5 | WIDTH: [wingspan] 8’8 | WEIGHT: 93 lb
EYES: spice blue | HAIR: black | SKIN: light brown
FORCE SENSITIVE: yes
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES:
+Nat 20 Perception+ As a result of his instinctual awareness in the force, coupled with the knowledge that slavers could still come and try to take him, Anakin is always aware of his surroundings and getting the jump on him will be a feat worthy of a story.
+Tricks of the Trade+ Spending half a human lifetime smuggling sentients and sneaking through forbidden places has left Anakin with a masterful knowledge in all things smuggling and espionage.
+Expert Dancer+ Like many Amavikka, Anakin has learned nimdara, a form of self defense, storytelling, and cultural teaching disguised as a dance. The style itself tends to be extremely energetic, with lots of rapid movements and complex patterns. Often it focuses on attacks with the legs with some help from the arms. Having been first taught the style at twenty one, Anakin has gone on to master it and even adapt it to include his wings, typically for balance or disorientation though sometimes they take the place of the arms in attacks.
+Con Artist+ While the ability is not one of his main strengths, Anakin has grown up a slave and knows how to use a lie. He is able to con his way into the situations and places he needs, though he dreads the ability of manipulating others.
-Removing the safety net- Having lost the knowledge of shifting when he was taken from his family, Anakin is reliant on his pseudo Invisibility to stay unnoticed. Because of this, he cannot rely on the anonymity many utilize and has an increasingly large bounty on his head.
-A Story of Scars- Anakin’s life has never been easy, and many of the victories he’s won have been won with a pound of flesh. Covered in scars as he is, extreme cold has been known to make some of the old injuries flare.
-Bounty- Throughout his lifetime, Anakin has collected quite the bounty on his head. This makes him a ripe target for any aspiring hunters.
Current bounty: Hutts: 40,000 credits alive, 30,000 dead | Denon Corporate Authorities: 10,000 credits dead or alive
PERSONALITY:
Freedman- like many other former slaves, Anakin carries himself with a wary strength. He refuses to back down and cower before others but still he expects slavers and bounty hunters to force him back to a master at any time. Always ready for a fight, anyone attempting to get the jump on Anakin will find it a difficult task.
Bedrock red- While Anakin may not have endured to buy his freedom, he is nonetheless a very determined individual. With a strong sense of justice and a steadfast strength and courage that is hard to find in these turbulent times, there is little he will allow to get in his way.
Umakkar the Fury- There is very little difference between a master and a slave when they're trapped in a sandstorm. Both will be ripped to shreds and destroyed without mercy. Anakin is not the sandstorm. He can and will decide who he rips apart and spits out a ragged mess of flesh and stone. But gain his ire and the storm he runs before will swallow you whole.
First Hand Knowledge- Anakin has spent a human lifetime enslaved. He knows the depths of its cruelty and pain of its whip. He knows what it does to a person to be owned. He has spent half a human lifetime freeing slaves. He knows the ins and outs of tricking Depur and the tricks of the trade when it comes to smuggling and espionage. He is confident because of this. He knows what he’s doing and acts like it.
Rage of the Storm- Anakin is not a good person. Not in the standards of most sentients. He is quick to anger and willing to go to extremes to help his people. His anger is a quiet thing. Unlike the storm he is known to bring, he is not all righteous fury and burning passion. Instead he is the strong breeze and small chunks of sand that herald the onslaught. At first.
APPEARANCE:
Few slaves escape their bonds with their skin unmarred. Anakin is not one of these lucky few. His back is covered in the lichtenberg scars of an electric baton. Some are small, only a few inches in width. Others are large, almost as big as dinner plates. There is one, situated near his left shoulder blade, that spirals down his waist and twists over his shoulder. A smaller one, the size of his hand, branches over his neck. But lightning scars are not the only marks he bears. His chest and stomach is pockmarked with the small divots and pale streaks of the weakest of the sandstorm and the curve of his torso bears the dark blotchy scar of the worst of it. It wraps around his ribs and a little bit of his back, a large mark reminiscent of a road rash scar.
It isn't just his back that is a canvas of scars. His left forearm is a tattered stretch of skin, pockmarked with the grooves and knots of the weakest of the sandstorm. It stretches all the way from his elbow to his calloused and talon tipped hands. That same arm also bares what looked like an old bite mark. A slaver's dog, a feral beast that had attacked him when he was helping to free a shipful of slaves. His face, though dominated by the lichtenberg scar, is home to a multitude of others. Curling around his chin is a single pale mark from a whip, given more for pain than punishment. It is a careworn face, with skin marred by the weakest of the sandstorm and the skin around his right each and chin painted with the pale of a sunburn scar. His body is a tapestry of scars, but that is not all it holds.
Compass by Penabranca
After his capture by Corpo forces, Anakin came out permanently changed. Though he escaped with the help of Xan, the damage to his left wing was too sever and had gone untreated for too long. He was forced to amputate the limb, leaving a short stub of the upper wing.
BIOGRAPHY:
In the end it’s his appearance that saves Anakin. If this can be considered saving. Dukkra ba dukkra, he will think every time his masters bring this up. The truth is, few harpies survive discovery in their avian form. The truth is, it was only his bright colors that kept him alive. The truth is, it was only convenience that made his master choose him over the baby.
At ten, a family of harpies is discovered in the Mos Eisley spaceport. The hutt in charge has them quickly and efficiently executed. All except one. A ten year old boy with feathers as blue as water. This one he kept alive, made a slave as a statement to the hutt's wealth and power. The child spends eleven years a slave to the hutt. He is given a hutteese name. And he is forbidden from changing his form. It is with his first master that the boy learns of Ar’amu, the moonspinner and mother of all slaves. It is with his first master that the boy learns of Ekkreth the Trickster. And the one who can hold them has not yet been born. It is here that the boy learns of his sister Leia, the great krayt dragon who’s wings created the first wind and who can never be chained. It is here that the boy learns of Ebra, the one to whom Ar-amu gifted the secret of Tzai and the knowledge of runes. It is here that he learned the promise of Ar-amu. That one day, the All-mother would gather her children, newly freed, and they would know this time when the rain begins to fall and Ar’amu is finally able to weep. It is here that the boy learns. That he is given a name in the traditions of the Amavikka. He is Anakin, the one who brings the rain.
“I am a person, and my my name is Anakin”
At twenty three, his depur is killed by a rival hutt and Anakin is gifted to the victor's head enforcer. The next day he performs the Vigil of the Lost with four other slaves. By the time he is forty he has performed the Vigil of the lost thirty eight times and been sold nine. And his back is painted with the lichtenberg scars of an electric baton. When Anakin is forty one, he is sold for the tenth time to the cruelest master of all.
It is here that his soul, already tired from a life time of slavery, breaks. It is here he forgets his people, forgets his culture, forgets the promise of Ar-amu and the meaning of his name. It is here he becomes Keekta-du.
His newest Depur does not care about the life of his slaves. This is obvious in each careless beating, in the electric baton that pushes into his skin even as miniature lightning bolts burns through his veins. In the name his new master gives him. Dehba. Bird. Depur cares little for the life of his slaves. And this is seen no clearer than when he first commands Anakin to fly across the planet and deliver a package to an adversary. Again and again this is done until his shoulders are marred with the blotchy scars of minutes in a sandstorm and his stomach is pockmarked with small scars from flying above the worst of the storm.
For ten years he lives like this and those he came with have been sold or died. Those back in the quarters whisper of the blue winged harpy. They begin to point to him as they address the children, warning them to never forget where they came from, to never become Keekta-du.
In the tenth year, Anakin lands in the courtyard in the dead of night, and in the shadows he hears a Grandmother speak. “Do you remember the stories?” she asks him. “Do you remember the tales of Ekkreth the Trickster, or Ar-amu the All-mother?” But his heart is closed to her and he hurries towards his master’s palace.
The next time he returns to the courtyard it is the waking hours of dusk and the dry season has begun to set in. Again a voice calls from the shadows, the speaker hidden from the enforcers of his master by a pillar or a wall, speaking words only for him. “Do you remember the stories?” she asks but again he hardens his heart and walks away. Four more times she does this. And four more times he hardens his heart and walks away.
Now on the seventh time, her voice comes from beside him. It is the dead of night, and only Echuni, the smallest and dimmest of the moons grace the sky. Though he can but make out the faintest outline of her person, Anakin feels her hand rest on his arm and the desperate whisper of her voice. “Do you remember the stories?” She says. And the silence after lasts an eternity. “Yes.” The whispered words surprise even him. “Then listen.” The grandmother disappears with the rustle of cloth and the near silent pitter of fleshy feet on stone ground.
That following day, the Grandmother is discovered with a scanner and a scalpel hidden in her quarters. She is sentenced fifty lashes. She only survives twenty.
His next flight happens in a storm. The sand whips around him, digging at the mask he wears and the clothes of his underbelly. He is lucky to fly above it, to avoid the true fury of Umakkar . Throughout his flight, his mind is abuzz with the stories of his people. And the death of the grandmother.
“I tell you this story to save your life.” The desert speaks to him with a hollow, bone deep voice. A muffled boom and the wet splat of liquid, so much like the life giving water. The screams of the Grandmother as the whip cracks against her back. Even as he dodges another bolt of lightning he is reminded of the lichtenberg scars that he bears along his back. “I tell you these stories-”
“To save your life.” The voice of the desert howls through his bones as he stands before Depur. It screams as he is allowed to approach the hutt alone. Depur believes him broken, but this is no longer true. A clawed foot flexes as he nears.
Blood paints the floor and the walls. It spatters his feathers and dots his face. On the ground is the corpse of Depur, a taloned foot resting on what once was a throat. It was a messy death, a painful death. But he would not have it any other way. Not for one such as him. He debates arming himself, eyeing the electric baton, but reaches instead for one of Depur’s ornamental knives.
The castle is in flames and Depur’s head stands on a pike outside it. The enforcers are dead, and those that were once enslaved are finding and removing their chips. His was in his wing.
“I give you yourself.” says the singer, handing him a tracker and a bomb, still slick with his blood. Anakin smiles through the pain and takes the device. Later he will have it disabled, all dangerous parts removed. Later he will have it strung up, hanging around his neck. Now, he walks out of the quarters with a smile on his face and a sewed up wound at the base of his left wing. It will scar, but that is fine. It will be his first freedom mark.
At fifty, the desert gives him a name. It is given from Umakkar the fury, the storm. He is depuskalta and kol-depuan. A master slayer and unfettered.
"I am a person, and my name is Anakin Umakkar-lii."
At fifty one, Anakin joins the freedom trail. There are many jobs to be found, from manning safe houses, to performing surgeries, to running weapons and transporting runaways. He begins his work on Tatooine, and learns to fight as quickly as he learns to work a scanner and scalpel. For three years he worked on Tatooine, starting at a safe house where he learned the ways of a singer. In his second year, slavers burned his home down and he’s left on the run. He does not run as they want him to. He does not flee from the fires of his home in a desperate attempt to avoid his hunters. No. He joins a crew, and begins to run guns and medicine and intel. Eventually he runs people, sometimes even removing their chips as they flee their depur. For two years he remained on Tatooine before the amount of slavers and bounty hunters sent after him forced the Freedman to take his work off world.
At sixty nine, he is known throughout the freedom trail and the bounty on his head has risen into the thousands. After a number of bounty related scrapes, his friend pushes him to lay low until the heat dies down. However, the idea chaffs at him. He’s already escaped his chains once, and he refuses to allow more to be placed on him. He agreed though, reluctant as he was.
When Anakin arrived on Denon, he had expected little more than the seedy underbelly of a corrupt planet. What he found however, was much different. It started when he began to volunteer at Keys. Ostensibly, it was a corporate program focused on freeing and educating slaves. But it was a government organization, and that alone was enough to gain his distrust. The help of leaders is like aid from the core. Nonexistent and hidden traps when it did exist. So to say he stumbled across the truth by accident would be a grave lie. The truth is, he has too much of the desert in him to trust authority. The truth is, the music of the dunes howled in warning when he first heard of the program. The truth is, he knows a chain gilder when he sees one.
It only took him three months to discover the truth of the program. He began smuggling people out as soon as he did. Those he didn’t smuggle he taught. He could still remember the stories of the Grandmothers, and could tell them just as well. Some had their own culture, some didn’t, but he taught them all and impressed upon them the importance of these stories. There was no japor to carve runes on, so he taught them on scrap metal and other odds and ends the masters wouldn’t think to look at. And so it went, months passed and eventually Anakin turned seventy. But just as time passed and the year drew to a close, so too did his chance to help. The corpos had gotten word of the harpy teaching their slaves the promise of Ar-amu and the power of secrets, though they heard nothing of the Amatakka many now spoke. They chased him out, and the bounty on his head increased.
Forced to hide, Anakin melted into the shadows of Denon. He didn’t leave, for his eyes had been open to the truth of the corporate authority, but neither did he cling close to those trapped in the Keys program. They knew of Ar-amu now and knew the truth of their situation and he trusted the eldest to teach those new to the program.
FORCE ABILITIES:
The Mother’s Judgement: through his long years of exposure to lightning, Anakin has slowly built up a resistance to it. By using the force, he is able to instinctively channel the worst of the energy through his body and safely back out, usually into the ground or out another part of him when flying. While originally learned to protect himself, he is able to direct the lightning towards an opponent and with enough concentration can summon his own.
Safe in the Night: The story goes that at twenty five Anakin is fleeing from a drunken and lustful master. Having run out of places to go, he curls up in a storage room alcove and think of the desert, of the vast open spaces of wind and sand and directs the thoughts outwards. “I am nothing but dust and light” he tells the world and when Depur makes eye contact with him his heart skips a beat. But Depur moves on, noticing only the dust and the light. Later he will suffer beatings for his absence. Later he won't be quick enough to escape. At twenty five Anakin discovers the ability to nudge the perception of others. He does not trick them but instead directs their attention away. Forty years of slavery and thirty years of running freed slaves and he has mastered the technique, able to hold it not just over himself but a crowd of four adult humans and trust that he can fool anyone but a force-null. It is only in groups of six to eight that his work begins to get noticeably worse, with the quality of the disguise weakening with each person added.
Child of the Desert: born of necessity, Anakin learned to part the worst of a sandstorm. It’s a subtle ability that doesn’t stop the individual grains themselves so much as creates a channel or current in the force that simply nudges them around him. It’s not a perfect technique, and while it can be applied, often instinctively, to other projectiles such as blaster bolts it doesn’t guarantee he won’t get hit, only minimizes the chance.
Dance of the Storm: Similar to parting the torrent of sand, Anakin is able to weaponize the grains of his home. He holds them aloft in the force, lets them float in the ebbs and flows and his presence. When passive, they manifest as three rings, twisting around his torso at different angles and speeds. In a fight, Anakin's natural force presence begins to speed up, sending the grains of sand caught in it whirling around his body, as much a natural defense as an offense. They can be used to block and blind foes, and when they move fast enough, act much like the storm he is named for. Able to rip flesh from bone, this ability is one Anakin must be careful to utilize in the presence of allies, as it can just as easily harm them as it can his enemies.
BELONGINGS:
7 carved japor snippets, among them including:
Amarattu, the Mother’s protection- a square containing a singular minuscule in the center with two wavy lines comes from each corner of the square and two crosses sitting in the middle of the space between the lines, opposite each other on the top and bottom of the symbol.
Leia, fearless and unconquered - The symbol was three-pronged, a dragon’s claw mark set above a half-arch. Carved as it was, points up, it almost looked like a crown.
Kelapu for change- is a wavy triangle, reminiscent of the ever shifting dunes.
Bentu, justice- takes the form of an angular branching mark that may appear as a simplified system of tree roots to one who grew up on a life filled planet, but is in reality a stylized lightning bolt.
Nimku, the mark of one with the power to choose- while similar to Kol-depuan in meaning, it is instead shown as seven small crosses above an upward facing half-arch.
Tapu for health, is a circle with three wavy lines dripping off the bottom. It symbolizes the moon and the life giving water it brings.
And Umakkar, the raging storm, is a seven pronged spiral.
Bantha hide pouch- A circular pouch of tanned bantha hide, the long trails of fur are a mix of loose strands and braided bundles capped with wooden japor beads. It is not a subtle container, but Anakin is adept at hiding the noise when he must. Inside the pouch is several fistfuls of dark Tatooine sand, a memory of home as much as a weapon. There are of course, other pockets of sand hidden on his person, but this is the only one in plain sight.
Well worn plasma cutter- Smooth with age, the plasma cutter was a gift from a fellow Amavikka and has seen much use since, often on chains and bars.
Rocket boots- unlike normal rocket boots, these strap onto the ankle above his avian feet and are close to his skin until activated. At that point, the jets pop out so as not to injure his feet. Instead of supporting his entire body, they’re designed to help him turn corners sharply and give him a boost of speed.
When inactive, the boots - which cover the scaled skin just above his feet and bellow his feathers - protects the area from blaster bolts, most bladed melee weaponry such as swords and daggers, along with light weight blunted melee weaponry. Additionally, its high resistance to electricity - a necessity for one who often emits electricity when feeling threatened - provides a strong protect against EMP and ion based weaponry.
Pinprick Needler- bought with subtly in mind, the only drawback of the needler is its nonlethality as it allows slavers to continue in the world.
Lookout Probe Droid- without the existence of a scanner that can safely detect slave bombs, Anakin uses the Lookout as a workable, if flawed, replacement. Coupled with its designed functions, Anakin has found it an invaluable item and makes sure to always have one on him whenever possible.
The Terminus Shiv- with a worn handle, its obvious that this blade has seen plenty of use.
Sneakitheif- as a device that is said to not exist, it is not a surprise that Anakin doesn’t have one. However, if he did, it would be older, a little worn around the edges but still in pristine condition in regards to functionality.
Slave Bomb- hanging from a black strip of bantha leather is an old slave bomb. Though it looks in one piece, all the inner mechanics of both the bomb and the tracker have been removed. Carved onto the back of the bomb in the broken circle of Kol-Depuan
Razzmatazz Holospheres- Perfect for emergency getaways, Anakin always has several holospheres on his person.
Wind-Talker Personal Communications Array- While sometimes inconvenient, Anakin prefers the safety provided by the highly secure comm unit.
Last Whisper Pistol- his main form of long ranged weaponry, Anakin always has the Last Whisper on him, often hidden under his clothes or on occasion his brightly feathered tail which provides ample cover, of not as much as a loose shirt or coat.
LANGUAGES:
Hutteese (fluent)
Amatakka (fluent)
Tusken Sign Language (understandable)
Galactic Basic (understandable)
Harpyia (nonexistent)
SHIP:
Anakin owns a Class 720 freighter named Night. It looks much like the other ships of its kind, with a dull grey paint coat and the name done on the side in navy blue paint so dark it almost looks black. Inside, the ship is full of hidey holes, enough that people could easily get lost in it. Outside of the pain cargo hold, which once again looks like a normal 720 freighter, the ship begins to gain some personality.
Of the three crew quarters, the one adjacent to the ‘fresher has been converted into a kitchen. One wall of the kitchen is home to a beautiful mural of a stone fortress full of empty chains. In the center of the picture is a warty green frog, his face screwed up in anger as he shakes his fist at a red bird wheeling away. Its beak is parted and eyes crinkled in what would be laughter on a human. Much of the ship has similar designs, and the hallway between the crew quarters has a series of stylized drawings done in a style similar to the black-figure painting. It depicts the story of Maru and how Ekkreth stole the moon.
While much of the ship is full of wall paintings, these are the only two depicting actual stories, or in the former’s case, the end to a story. Aside from the art, one of the two storage rooms has been turned into a pantry while the other contains the typical materials for a long voyage on a large ship.
Last but not least are the potted japor and tzai plants lining the lounge and hallways. More native plants can be found scattered as decoration around the rest of the ship, but in reality all of them are used in traditional Amavikka cooking as important the materials becomes an expensive luxury when off world.
Threads: ( * = important to plot)
Arc One
Interlude: Refraction point [complete]*
Cracking Chains [incomplete]
Held on Denon [ongoing]
Belazura Data Heist [incomplete]
Crooks of a feather [complete]
Part 3: Shattering the Mirror [ongoing]*
Rainy Day in the Denon Underground [ongoing]
Tonight We Protect Us [complete]
This’ll mostly consist of OOC notes on certain aspects of the bio. Including real world examples for certain aspects of the bio and extra information to flesh out strengths, personality, and belongings that I couldn’t add to the bio itself without becoming much too clunky and long.
Umakkar-lii: Umakkar is obviously the storm (specifically sand storm, but that's the only kind of Tatooine. Any other kind of storm adds a descriptor to the word.) liikin is take from the words Chelii which means a runaway, an
Since amatakka is much more specific in their words, this basically translates to a slave that ran through a storm to escape, which is my AU of part of the origin of Ekkreth.
Nimdara- think capoeira. Nimdara is often done as a group dance as opposed to paired or solo dancing
Umakkar-lii: Umakkar is obviously the storm (specifically sand storm, but that's the only kind of Tatooine. Any other kind of storm adds a descriptor to the word.) liikin is take from the words Chelii which means a runaway, an
Since amatakka is much more specific in their words, this basically translates to a slave that ran through a storm to escape, which is my AU of part of the origin of Ekkreth.
Nimdara- think capoeira. Nimdara is often done as a group dance as opposed to paired or solo dancing
Last edited: