Revenchent
Dungeon Master
Calico Tal'verda
The Ghost of Mandalore
Madness is the greatest enemy of man. The horrors of the mind are tailor made to torment the individual, and there are few forces in the galaxy more powerful than guilt and regret. Calico Tal'verda understands these forces intimately.
There was a time when the future was not one of bleak disinterest for the Mandalorian warrior. In the past, he fought to attain the greatest glories and accolades that might be bestowed upon him. He led legions of the galaxy's greatest warriors to battle under the Confederate flag. He'd made himself a family with his wife [member="Zandra Tal'verda"], and established a home in Mandalore's frozen north so that their children might grow safely away from the violence of the galaxy.
Unfortunately for Calico, luck was never one of his great strengths. During the height of the Confederacy's power, Cal chose to lead his people away from the Confederacy for the sake of independence. His greatest ally, brother, and friend [member="Galaar Tal'Verda"] disagreed, and took over Cal's position within the CIS. Eventually the two groups would come into conflict, and Calico was forced to slay his oldest brother in single combat during the battle of Drunkenwell.
The conflict was won, but Calico was left hollow. Galaar had been by his side since birth - to live without him was to live as he never had before. It was fortunate that Cal had Zandra to turn to; the Echani was the rock upon which Calico maintained his sanity.
They retired to the wilds of Mandalore and birthed two children, Corrin and Rawnie. The family and its clan were happy for a time, until Calico received a message from a being known only as the Monitor. The Monitor was an ancient droid that had facilitated Calico's entrance into the galaxy - the droid offered him answers to questions he hadn't known he could even ask.
Cal left to accompany the Monitor to his home, and did not return for three years. The droid had taken him hostage to rewrite the warrior's brain, as it seemed the soldier had wavered from his original purpose. Cal managed to escape by overriding the memory wiping process through sheer force of will. The droid attempted to calm the soldier, but Cal was in a narcoleptic state. His restraints broke, and his fingers managed to find a hydrospanner laying across the droid's tool table. He wasted little time in dispatching the Monitor with the pseudo-weapon. Cal accessed the droid's personal terminal, and came to the realization that he was not truly a clone soldier at all. He and Galaar had been grown by the Monitor as an experiment of sorts: his memories of life before waking up on Coruscant were false.
Escape followed, but it brought Calico no comfort. Upon returning to Mandalore, Calico found a shattered world. The planet had undergone a cataclsym unlike any it had endured before - caused by his own people - and little had survived. When he returned to the snowbound village of Kurs'taylir, Calico was greeted with ruins. His people, isolationists by nature, had few ties to the other clans. When the cataclysm had come, they had received no aid.
Not a soul had survived the volcanic eruption that had burned the forest around his ancestral home to cinders. His wife Zandra had disappeared along with his daughter. He found his son laid out in the town square wearing Cal's own beskar'gam; the boy had died trying to get as many of his people to safety as he could manage.
Grief became Calico's closest friend. He left his home to the wolves, cut ties to his people for the sins they had committed against his family, and took to the stars. The soldier has spent the past few years trying to leave as little of a footprint as possible. He'll take a merc job now and then, and spend as much time as he can wandering from bar to bar until his funds have been drained entirely. He is a man without a cause or a purpose: one whose demons follow him wherever he goes. He often hears the voices of the dead when alone, and subtle hallucinations have become something of a norm for Cal. He cares not for what that might mean in regards to his health - as far as he's concerned, the death he's spiraling toward is the destination, not something to run from.
│ Basic Information │
- │ Name │ Calico Tal'verda
- │ Title │ Former Confederate Grand Marshal, several honorifics
- │ Species │ Human
- │ Allegiance │ Himself
- │ Homeworld │ Kamino
- │ Force Sensitivity │ No
│ Physical Information │
- │ Age │ Appears Early 40's
- │ Gender │ Male
- │ Height │ '6'0
- │ Weight │ 200 LBS
- │ Eye Color │ Blue
- │ Hair │ Blond
- │ Complexion │ Caucasian
Cal stands slightly above average height. His visage is harsh and judging, his eyes seemingly always narrowed in constant suspicion of those around him. His hair is black and kept cut short to his scalp - once you have your hair pulled in combat you tend to keep it cut. The man is bulkier than most, courtesy of the gene splicing used to create him, and has been described as both intimidating and protective in appearance. He is usually clad in green beskar'gam that covers his whole form, and wears a large overcoat over his combat fatigues when not. The coat itself was crafted to serve as a mark of his station as chieftain; now it's little more than a reminder of better times.
│ Personality |
Cal has always been an easygoing individual. He has often served as the older brother figure for his squad, and it shows in the way he carries himself. He is quick to crack jokes at his own expense and prefers a lighter mood. He will forgive mistakes relatively easily, and his compassion for the downtrodden is something he wears on his sleeve. He tends to be far less hotheaded than most Mando'ade, choosing to wait and consider all his options carefully before making drastic decisions. He is a capable leader as well as a loyal follower, but his loyalty is difficult to earn.
It would be a lie to say that Calico's experiences have not jaded him. Much of his optimism had been replaced by pessimistic realism, and his good moods have become far shorter and less common than before. His capacity for anger is extraordinary when he chooses to let it burn, and the violence that often follows tends to be of almost cinematic quality. It is not uncommon for the death grip of depression to take hold of his mind, though it is something he has learned to live with. The voices of the dead haunt him but Cal cares little for treating what is obviously the onset of mental illness. He's got a death wish, and self-care isn't particularly high on his list of priorities.
Old Profile
