Yasha Cadera
Mom'alor
Girak Cato Nereus Kierke
“Ah, Ambrose. What's the Infernal's name, again?"
"Yasha Ghada Nussyn Fitz-Kierke Mantis."
"Su cuy'gar, I'm the Kierke."
"... let him through."
Girak & [member="Ambrose Mantis"] meeting for the first time.
Intent: To give [member="Yasha Mantis"], [member="Adara Raxis"], [member="Beth Australis-Mantis"] and associated family members her maternal grandfather. To give the Mandalorian Navy a Fleet Captain.Image Credit: 1 (IMDB) | 2 (Sideshow Collectibles)
Role: A Fleet Captain for the Mandalorian Navy & Wolf Fang Armada, and a staunch Panathan radical of a grandfather for Yasha.
Links:
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Force Sensitivity: Force User - Knight
Species: Epicanthix
Appearance: Girak is a slender, greying Epicanthix who while fairly short for a member of his species at 6'3" is no less imposing. Or was, in his younger days. Known as a handsome gent back in the day, Girak spent the majority of his life either tending to his husbandly duties, raising his daughters, or elbows deep in machinery. Although properly dressed and pressed he is an imposing sight, Girak has the unmistakeable hands of a worker, and his bowed shoulders show a lifetime of hard labour for the good of his family.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Girak Cato Nereus Kierke
Loyalties: House Fitz-Kierke no Kaho/Clan Mantis (Yasha Mantis, Adara Raxis, Ambrose Mantis), Mandalorian Empire, Panatha
Wealth: Middle-High
Girak's family were Panathan Citizens with high standards and high cultural significance, but low financial standing. His marriage to Ada Fitz was one of convenience, an attempt to continue the genetic legacy of Deacons from the Kierke Family Line and the Fitz perspicacity.
Even with Ada's family connections, Girak worked like a bantha strapped to a plough to provide for his wife and daughters' lavish lifestyle. Ada's careful investing, and the addition of a third to their marriage helped, as did the family slaves.
He squirrelled away money from his mechanic work and set it aside without his spouses' knowledge, giving some to Aditya whenever she had need out in the wide galaxy.
Notable Possessions:
- A Panathan Pendant of Nereus
- The Robes & Doctrine of a Deacon of Nereus & Nussyn
- An aging naval uniform
- An expansive tool kit
- Engineering manuals
- Etiquette
- Engineering & Mechanics
- Naval Command
- Religious Devotion
A true thinker, Girak steeps in philosophy and the love of the engineering sciences.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Force Powers (All at a Knightly/Middling Level):
- Foresight
- Force Body
- Astro-navigation
- Force Speech
- Telepathy
- Force Sight
Girak Kierke is a Fleet Captain, with years of experience in the navy. He focusses on tactics and formations, while any hand-to-hand prowess has faded with age and injury.
Strength:
- Captain Tactics: Girak is ultimately a navy man, who employs tactics built on the physics of starship movement and operations.
- Ruddy Good Punch: A brawler in his younger days, Girak still knows a thing or two the younglings don't about hand-to-hand.
- Foresight: The main talents Girak holds in the Force are those of Astro-navigation, Foresight and the occasional Force Body sucker punch. He doesn't project his force sensitivity, in fact he uses it very little and has no real substantial skill.
- Trick Knees: Years of fighting have taken their toll on Aditya's father. The pain of injuries over time can be debilitating, and require the use of stims. He will never sustain a long fight, nor win any duels.
- Tintinitis & Failing Hearing: A hidden medical condition is making Girak slowly go deaf. Loud noises can damage Girak's ability to function, and cause debilitating headaches.
The Kierke Family has been almost as long standing upon the planet of Panatha as the Zambranos. Quiet and diligent workers, the Kierkes earned their way to Citizenry and the Noble Playing field by their ferocity in battle, ingenuity, and penchant for birthing those gifted with the Force.
A religious lot, the Kierkes worshipped Nereus and Nussyn with a fervour many thought insane. But there it was, the Kierke's, engineers, architects and Deacons for hundreds of years.
Oh, and don't ever get punched in the face by one. Good golly. By the time Girak Cato Nereus came to life, the Kierkes were out of fashion, their comfortable place in society crumbling over the lack of a true gifted Epicanthix for an entire generation. Girak was the saviour of them in his early days, he trained at the Temple of Nereus and as a young man distinguished himself in battle.
Yet, all he wanted was a wife, children and a place to fix and modify speeders, ships and technology. What he got was an arranged marriage to a rich Ada Fitz, and a life controlled by the Panathan Cedecimir codes of living. To say his home life was oppressive in his wife's company was to say the sun shone during the day. He retreated more and more to his mechanic shop, and when his daughter Aditya was born, Girak took to her with a ferocious vengeance.
Girak and Ada had many a battle over Aditya's education. He wanted her to be a woman of religious devotion and engineering. She wanted Aditya to be a ballerina and make the family wealthy. The brawls were vicious. Not even their spouse Hector could quell the blows.
Pejaranyhia and Miaya came along, and Ada's attention was split three ways. Thank goodness. Girak and Hector spoiled Aditya in private, and finally when Aditya had enough, Girak took his saved nest egg and bought his daughter a ship. He covered her retreat and off Aditya went, sending weekly messages home to her father.
After Aditya left, Peggy tried to make a name for herself, and succeeded enough to become an architect of some small renown. Girak couldn't have been more proud, until the day word came.
Aditya and his little granddaughter Yasha were dead. Sucked into the Netherworld like so many in the Galaxy. Girak's spirit died that day, crushed under his favourite daughter's fate and Preliat's refusal to do anything about it but drink himself away. Returning to the Temple of Nereus, Girak entered the service of his God.
Six years passed, Girak praying to Nereus every day for a miracle. That miracle happened when little Yasha Mantis pulled her mother's near-dead body out of the Warlock Gate. Girak's heart beat again. He launched himself at his daughter, refusing the distance kept to honour his wife's desires. He and Aditya reconnected, and he attempted to know his granddaughter.
When things between Aditya and Preliat were at their worst, Girak called Aditya to take Yasha and come home. Aditya told her father she was having a son, and whispered fears about Preliat's mental condition. He renovated Aditya's holdings on Atrisia and Sakura, and prepared.
Then the Cataclysm of Manda'yaim took Aditya away. The Civil War was debilitating, and Girak watched with baited breath from Panatha as the Mandalorians seemed to eat each other like a two headed snake gobbling itself whole.
The war ended, and the Undying stood the victor... with a lanky limbed, sour-faced Epicanthix girl standing behind him, carrying his spear.
Yasha.
Girak realized then what he had to do, and kissed his spouses one last time. He packed up his possessions and his life, and travelled to Mandalore to offer his services to the navy and engineers.
Peggy followed her father, yet one thing remains to be seen.
Girak hasn't introduced himself to Yasha as her grandfather, yet. The Infernal has met the mysterious Panathan Captain, yet the connection hasn't been made. It will... oh, what a bittersweet reunion that will make.
