Erve Kozzit
Character
ERVE KOZZIT
| Age | 29 |
| Species | Kiffar |
| Gender | Female |
| Height | 1.72 meters (5’7”) |
| Weight | 76 kilograms (167 lbs) |
| Force Sensitive | Yes — Trained Force Adept |
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Erve Kozzit is a dark-skinned Kiffar woman with a powerful, distinctly curvaceous build developed as much through hard physical labor as combat training. Standing 1.72 meters tall, she possesses broad hips, strong legs and an athletic frame that gives her an imposing presence despite being of otherwise unremarkable height.
Her black hair is kept extremely short in tightly curled coils, partially for practicality and partially because Erve has never possessed the patience required for elaborate hairstyles. Multiple small piercings decorate her ears.
Far more distinctive are the yellow and orange clan tattoos covering portions of her face. Geometric lines, broken angles and small markings travel across her forehead, cheeks and chin. Erve wears the markings proudly, retaining them even after leaving Kiffar society behind.
Her clothing is similarly difficult to overlook. Erve favors battered armor assembled from whatever equipment has survived long enough to prove itself useful. Imperial components exist alongside salvaged armor plates, reinforced leather, scavenged utility equipment and pieces whose original owners are better left unmentioned. Repairs are rarely concealed. Welds, replacement fasteners, patches and mismatched materials are instead treated as part of an item's history.
A tattered burgundy mantle bearing the insignia of the Junkyard Knights of Mahporeem is usually worn over her armor.
If something keeps her alive, she wears it.
INVENTORY
- Heavy Saber — Erve's primary weapon is a heavy saber assembled by herself from recovered components rather than constructed according to any particular Jedi or Sith tradition. Its yellow-orange blade has become closely associated with her.
- Junkyard Knight Armor — A continually evolving collection of salvaged armor plates, protective fabrics and military equipment. Erve repairs, replaces and modifies components whenever something better becomes available.
- Utility Belt — Carries basic survival equipment, repair tools, power cells, restraints and whatever useful pieces of scrap Erve has collected recently.
- Blaster Pistol — Because having the Force does not make a blaster stop being useful.
- Heavy Gloves — Reinforced gloves serve the mundane purpose of protecting Erve's hands while scavenging, but also help prevent unwanted psychometric impressions from objects she would rather not experience.
- Burgundy Junkyard Knight Mantle — A battered mantle displaying the insignia of the Junkyard Knights of Mahporeem.
PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS
PRAGMATIC • HEADSTRONG • RESOURCEFUL • IRREVERENT • LOYAL • CURIOUS • FEARLESS
Erve has difficulty accepting that anything—or anyone—is truly beyond salvage. Machines can be repaired. Weapons can be rebuilt. Ships can fly again. People can change. Even philosophies can have the useful pieces stripped from them while the rest is discarded.
That outlook heavily influences Erve's relationship with the Force. She finds the Jedi insistence upon the Light and Sith obsession with the Dark equally tiresome. Erve does not believe that either tradition possesses exclusive ownership of the Force or that using a particular emotion or technique automatically determines who someone is.
Compassion has its uses. So does anger. Serenity can focus the mind. Fear can keep someone alive. Passion can provide strength when calm acceptance would mean surrender. What matters to Erve is why someone uses the Force, what they accomplish with it and whether they are prepared to accept responsibility for what follows.
That does not mean Erve believes morality is meaningless. Quite the opposite. Without a convenient philosophical label determining whether an action is "Light" or "Dark," Erve believes responsibility falls entirely upon the individual making the choice. It is an outlook that has made the Junkyard Knights of Mahporeem an unexpectedly comfortable home.
Despite her intimidating appearance, Erve possesses a dry and occasionally mischievous sense of humor. She has little patience for excessive ceremony, grandiose titles or people who take themselves too seriously. She is particularly irreverent around conventional Jedi and Sith, especially when either attempts to lecture her about what she should be.
Erve is fiercely loyal once someone earns her trust. She does not give that trust easily, but once given, removing it is considerably harder.
STRENGTHS
- Psychometry — Erve possesses the Kiffar talent for reading impressions left upon objects through the Force. Particularly significant objects can reveal emotions, images and fragmented memories associated with their previous owners. Her ability makes her exceptionally effective at investigating ruins, battlefields and salvage.
- Jury-Rigger — Growing up around salvaged equipment taught Erve that "broken" and "useless" are very different concepts. She is mechanically capable and particularly talented at making damaged technology function with limited resources.
- Unorthodox Force Adept — Erve has studied fragments of several Force traditions without completely embracing any of them. Her resulting style can be unpredictable because she feels little obligation to fight according to Jedi or Sith expectations.
- Hard to Kill — Erve is physically strong, accustomed to difficult environments and stubborn enough to continue fighting well after common sense suggests otherwise.
WEAKNESSES
- Nothing Stays Buried — Psychometry is not entirely under Erve's control. Particularly powerful objects can force unwanted visions upon her. Battlefields, personal possessions and artifacts associated with intense suffering can be overwhelming. She consequently avoids touching unfamiliar objects with bare skin whenever possible.
- Patchwork Education — Erve's Force training comes from several incomplete sources. She possesses considerable practical ability but lacks the depth of formal education expected of an experienced Jedi or Sith. There are significant gaps in her knowledge.
- I'll Fix It — Erve's belief that nearly anything can be salvaged occasionally becomes a liability. She has difficulty abandoning damaged equipment, hopeless situations and, most dangerously, people she believes can still be saved.
- Authority Problem — Erve respects competence rather than rank. Imperial military hierarchy and her tendency to openly question orders therefore make uncomfortable companions.
HISTORY
Erve Kozzit was born among the Kiffar, where the yellow and orange markings across her face identified a clan heritage that she would continue to carry long after leaving her people behind.
Her sensitivity to the Force manifested through an ability familiar among certain Kiffar bloodlines: psychometry. For Erve, objects sometimes remembered. At first the experiences were little more than impressions. Picking up something belonging to her mother might bring an inexplicable feeling of familiarity. A misplaced tool could provide a fleeting image suggesting where it had previously been used. As Erve grew older, those impressions became considerably stronger.
A broken blaster might remember its last shot.
A discarded helmet could carry the terror of the soldier who died wearing it.
A child's forgotten toy might retain an unexpected moment of happiness.
And a weapon that had passed through enough blood-soaked hands could contain things Erve desperately wished she had never seen.
The ability fundamentally shaped the way she viewed the physical world. Objects weren't merely possessions. They had histories. Something discarded by one person could contain enormous value to another.
Nothing was just junk.
Erve eventually left Kiffu and traveled into a galaxy where collapsing governments, endless warfare and abandoned battlefields provided no shortage of forgotten things.
Her Force training was similarly scavenged. Erve never received the orderly education of a Jedi Padawan. Instead she learned wherever knowledge presented itself. A wandering Force adept taught her meditation. Another mentor showed her how to channel emotion without allowing it complete control. Fragments of Jedi teachings were studied alongside techniques their Order would have considered dangerously close to the Dark Side. She recovered damaged holocrons, listened to survivors and occasionally learned through the extremely effective educational technique of nearly getting herself killed.
What emerged was not a Jedi. It wasn't a Sith either. Erve gradually became suspicious of anyone claiming that the Force could be neatly separated into two opposing philosophies. The galaxy was filled with ruins left behind by organizations convinced that their understanding had been correct.
Then she found Mahporeem.
For almost a millennium the isolated Imperial world had accumulated its own mountains of history: forgotten machinery, obsolete military equipment, damaged vessels, ancient Imperial technology and countless objects that had passed through generations of hands. To most people, they were scrapyards. To Erve, they practically spoke.
More importantly, Mahporeem was becoming home to an unusual collection of displaced Force Sensitives. Former personnel of the fallen Diarchy arrived alongside exiles, wanderers and even former members of the Galactic Alliance. Many had already experienced the failure of organizations that demanded ideological loyalty alongside military service.
From them emerged the Junkyard Knights of Mahporeem. Their philosophy immediately appealed to Erve. The Force was neither Light nor Dark. Those were descriptions imposed upon something infinitely larger than the organizations claiming to understand it. Techniques were tools. Emotion was a tool. Discipline was a tool. What mattered was the person wielding them.
For perhaps the first time in her life, Erve had discovered a Force tradition that didn't immediately begin by explaining what she wasn't allowed to become. So she stayed.
Today Erve walks Mahporeem's scrapyards and accompanies the Imperial Remnant beyond its borders as one of its Junkyard Knights. She searches battlefields, ruins and forgotten places for things worth recovering, while her psychometry allows her to uncover histories that conventional investigators might never discover.
Sometimes she brings home technology. Sometimes a weapon. Sometimes knowledge. And every once in a while, Erve finds something considerably more troublesome. Someone who isn't quite beyond salvage yet.