Character Calia Rook

[Calia Rook]

CALIA "SABLE" ROOK

Age	24
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Height	5'7" | 170 cm
Weight	121 lbs | 55 kg
Force Sensitive	Yes

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Athletic of build and lean, with a generally upright and alert posture except when it behooves her to look slouched and relaxed, Calia Rook is likely to be considered conventionally attractive. She has a slightly golden-tanned skintone, scattered with freckles and beauty marks dotting her face like a constellation, and an oval-meets-heart shaped face, with a defined jaw and tapered chin. Large, expressive, almond-shaped eyes with a slight lift to their outer corner feature prominent lashes and sit beneath dark brown eyebrows with a gentle arch. Her nose is straight, with a softly sloped bridge, leading to a rounded and proportionate tip. Her cheekbones are noticeable but not overly prominent; her cheeks are healthy and almost full rather than gaunt. She has a well-defined cupid's bow, full mouth, with the lower lip especially full.

INVENTORY

Watch this space

PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS

Outwardly, Calia acts like she expects the galaxy to disappoint her, because it usually does. She is stubborn and proud -- allergic to pity. If someone treats her like a charity case, she sees that as a potential leash and would rather burn that bridge than risk being collared again. If someone treats her like a professional, she will move mountains to get the job done, even though she will absolutely complain the entire time.

Calia hates the idea of being owned. She tolerates a leash for the Morcant Family because she can pretend it's a choice (even though it really isn't). If she is humiliated in public, she comes dangerous, because her view is that if she is going to go down then everyone else is going to go down with her. But there is a moral line in her; she'll smuggle contraband and sleep just fine, but she doesn't touch slaves.

Calia Rook values competence and dislikes people who talk bigger than their game. She is naturally reticent and prefers to avoid attention and public associations. She holds grudges -- long ones -- when she believes she has been manipulated or humiliated. She doesn't forgive easily -- if ever -- and rarely gives second chances if someone's mistakes put her, her family, or those under her protection at risk.

STRENGTHS

• Gee-Whiz Pilot: Her skill in a pilot's seat is unmistakable. She has coaxed performance out of her ship that might have seen it shake apart in the hands of a less capable pilot. Calia thinks of it as fine-tuned intuition and skill, and it is, but there's also the Force: a tool she doesn't know she has.
• Underworld Parlance: Calia is good at reading the soft parts of a situation -- the officious bureaucrat that wants his ego stroked, the guard who wants to be bribed without having to call it a bribe, and the dockmaster who will look the other way if it's made easy for her.
• Engineering: Around ships, Calia can do basic repairs and troubleshooting, as well as some improvised crafting/repair work.
• Stealth: Criminal life means you can't always go in the front door. Or the back door. Sometimes you gotta find a hatch, an unlocked skylight, or a sewer.

WEAKNESSES

• Emotional Avoidance: Repression is the name of the game. She relies on work and routines to suppress stress, often until it becomes too much to contain.
• Refuses Help: Calia is reluctant to ask for or accept help until late in the game. This can increase risk during emergencies and other difficult situations.
• Low Trust: Calia assumes people are out to screw her over; her assumption is that everyone has an ulterior motive, which can misread genuine help as manipulation or efforts to gain control.

HISTORY

Calia Brendt -- now Calia Rook -- was born into the working class on Denon. Her family remains there and does not have the resources to relocate. She earned her piloting credentials through legitimate freight and courier work after earning a scholarship to flight school with an aptitude test. She developed a reputation for integrity and reliability. She had no way of knowing then that her work had come to the attention of the Morcant crime family on Denon. She met Rafe Dorran, who approached her as a romantic interest and, once he had established a relationship, proposed a "one and done" job -- something he desperately needed to clear a debt so that they could start 'building for a future together'.

For such a smart cookie, Rook could be such an idiot. But you're only young once, right?

The run went bad, as it was always designed to do. The receiving party wasn't who was expected, and 'law enforcement' came faster than was normal. The ship was captured, and the law enforcement were talked down by a Dixon Morant. He swooped in, all oily smiled and sharkskin suits and cleared everything up. And then he sprang the trap: now that the Morants had done Calia a favor, maybe Calia could be relied upon to do a favor for the Morants in return. Nothing too big. Just a little... off the books cargo.

Or she could go home to her family, whom he named individually, and showed photographs. At the address he named, and showed photographs. The threat was subtle, but not so subtle that it wasn't painfully, unmistakably clear. Clear enough that Calia complied, and agreed to do the Morants a favor. And of course, the favor didn't turn out to be just one thing. So the Morants got themselves a feisty smuggler more concerned with her family's safety than her own morals or criminal record, and Calia got a lifetime of indenture.

What happened to Rafe? A mystery. She was told by Dixon Morcant that he died, but Calia has access to his debt ledger account owned by the Morcants. It's still active, periodically updated. She doesn't know what it means, and she never talks about Rafe. She suspects that he was, at best, another poor sucker like her, sucked into the Morcant criminal enterprise, using his good looks and suave, debonair nature to prey on women like her. At worst, he was probably in on the scam from the beginning.

In any event, alive or dead, he's certainly dead to her now.