Padawan Menace
- Intent: Codify the lore behind Boo's pet amphistaff.
- Image Credit: Black Spitting Cobra by Willem Van Zyl, originally found here.
- Role: Full-time Pet; Part-time Lightsaber Alternative
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- The Last Days of Empire
- Passing Through Gethsemane
- A Voice In The Wilderness
- First Day, First Order
- Cats on Fire
- Witchy Ways
- You Really Do Belong With Us Here Among The Clouds (Posts #84, 90, 93, 96, & 98)
- Two Parts Pirates, One Part Zombies, Ninjas Optional (Posts #36, 38, 40, 49, 51, 66, 68, 77, & 83)
- Sell Your Cloak and Buy a Saber
- Master vs Padawan, Episode I: Negotiations Over Bedtime Fail
- When Pantorans Attack! | Winter Fete Morning Raid on the Life Day Tree
- Age: 3.5 years
- Force Sensitivity: Force Dead
- Species: Amphistaff
- Appearance: A snake-like biot with a diamond-shaped head and a body that was described as 'living shadow.' Azi had black eyes that were similar to onyx gemstones. Not yet fully developed, Azi was a small amphistaff at only 1.8 meters length.
- Name: Azi
- Loyalties: Boo Heavenshield, Théodred Heavenshield, Ylva Heavenshield, Thora Heavenshield
- Notable Possessions: In theory, a large dog bed (in reality, Boo's bed. In particular, Boo's pillow). Whatever Boo may be eating at the time. Whatever Boo may have in his hands at the time.
- Personality: Curious and friendly. Vocalizes frequently, and in a lower tone than that of the typical snake, primarily a mewling or barking hiss. Easily handled, though may trap or lock the limbs of a handler like a vice. Loves to burrow in sand or loose soil. This includes diving down the front of shirts or attempting to burrow into sleeves. Demonstrated affinity for swamps and water, including sani-streams on transports or star cruisers.
- Training: Through repeated handling, Boo has developed a Vongsense rapport with Azi that enabled him to discipline the amphistaff to recognize both verbal commands and handling cues (whether she responds to those cues is another matter). In combat, these cues coax the amphistaff into becoming rigid or pliable, enabling the amphistaff to take on its three distinct combat forms (staff, whip, or javelin).
- Combat Function: Exotic Melee Weapon. The Yuuzhan Vong biot known as the amphistaff is roughly equivalent in function to a double-bladed lightsaber, or lightsaber staff. Possessing an organ capable of generating a bio-electric field along the length of its body, the biot can produce a razor-fine edge down to the atomic level; allowing it to sheer through most solid materials with a similar ease as with lightsabers. Materials resistant to lightsabers are similarly resistant to amphistaff. The amphistaff also produces a neurotoxin, cable of inducing blindness, paralysis, and eventual death in humanoids. In the hands of a master handler, it can be both pliable and rigid, allowing it to be wielded as a staff, whip, or javelin.
- No "Off" Switch. An amphistaff cannot be shut down like a lightsaber, such as by contact with pure cortosis
- Extreme Durability. An amphistaff is extremely resistant to physical and lightsaber-based attacks.
- Independent. The amphistaff is a predatory animal with a prey drive. It can (and will) attack on its own, whether or not its master intends for it to. This has the benefit of allowing Boo to sometimes allow Azi to operate independent of his handling, so that the two are striking at an opponent in tandem.
- Living Animal. Unlike lightsabers, which are mechanical and can be adjusted to work in oxygen-deprived environments (under water, in vacuum, etc), an amphistaff is a living creature and, thus, requires food, water, and a breathable, pressurized atmosphere.
- Independent (Her Own Mind). The amphistaff is a living animal possessed of its own non-sentient mind. No matter what level of training, the amphistaff is only going to do what the amphistaff wants to do.
- What Do You Mean "Non-Lethal Options?" Unlike lightsabers, which have the option of a power adjustment knob, an amphistaff really only has two modes: Deadly Snake or Deadly Laser Snake. Thus, you wouldn't want to use an amphistaff for training or sparring with someone (someone you didn't want to kill).
- Burrowing Instinct. One of the difficulties in owning an amphistaff is the fact that they develop as ground polyps and, thus, have a natural instinct toward burrowing. Being that they're effectively living lightsabers, they are highly effective at burrowing through anything that isn't made of Mandalorian Iron (or something similar). This includes the foundation of your house, the mattress on your bed, or anything else that the amphistaff might feel like burrowing to explore at the time,
After he'd been taken by Darth Scorpius, Boo was introduced to the Sith Lord's terrace garden in the spire on One Sith Coruscant. A deadly menagerie, one of the plants that Scorpius kept was an amphistaff polyp. When the Galactic Alliance lay siege to the planet, Darth Scorpius' tower was heavily damaged. The various vines (amphistaff) detached themselves from the polyp, scattering into different parts of the collapsed structure. One such vine (amphistaff) attached itself to a young Boo Chiyo, and was thus adopted with him by Doctor Irajah Ven when humanitarian workers began combing through the wreckage for survivors after the Battle of Coruscant.
Adopted by Ven, both Azi and Boo moved to Dosuum, where the docile amphistaff was domesticated as the family pet. When the Knights of Ren engineered the separation of Boo and Ven, Azi moved with the boy to the Skye Academy and the biot's use as a weapon started to be honed. The pair traveled to Dagobah, where the initial training did not go well -- with Azi leaving Boo to fend for himself against a crystal spider, while she hunted in the bog. By the time that the boy had come into the care of the Silver Jedi (then the Silver Sanctum Coalition), the developing Vongsense rapport between the two was improving the coordination between the amphistaff and handler.
During the period that
Théodred Heavenshield
served the Iron Empire, Azi served as both a pet and "lightsaber" when Boo first started as Théo's padawan, though he later also completed construction of a lightsaber under Théo's supervision. When Boo was adopted by Théo shortly after, Azi was cemented as the family pet -- and has come to be accepted as such by
Thurion Heavenshield
and
Coci Heavenshield
(though the latter initially ran up a kitchen table upon first meeting the snake-like biot).Except when hunting or her prey drive is triggered, Azi is often described as the deadliest couch potato in the known universe. She will happily lay in a sunbeam or take refuge in the lap of a warm body, particularly if said body imparts belly rubs on the amphistaff. Being both friendly and curious, those who encounter the biot in its typical docile temperament may forget how exceedingly dangerous the animal actually is.
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Sending it up the line.
