Hemlock Briar
Plant loving Draethos
Saleucami
It was a fact that the Draethos as a species lived very long lives that could span several centuries. With such a gift, however, came the crushing responsibility and actuality that you would live to see your friends die. This fate was one Hemlock Briar had been painfully aware of.
The traveling Jedi had just left Ylesia where he was staying to help his dying friend Bix, trying to help relieve his pain before passing on. This meant tending to his garden, making different soups and salvesand sharing from Hemlock’s large collection of rare flora from across the galaxy to help his many ailments. All of these were already things the Draethos Jedi did day to day, however this time it was personal. Bix and Hemlock had met nearly fifty years prior on a small farming planet made up of mostly refugees. Bix was a small man who stood only five and a half feet tall, but he was one of the most compassionate Humans Hemlock had met. They had both been assigned to do environmental impact reports for a large factory that was trying to be built in the area. They were the only two scientists who opposed the building, and with the data discovered between the two of them they found enough to scare away the investors and leave the farmers their lands. The two of them had exchanged correspondence ever since and were very close.
To thank Hemlock the best way he knew how before he died, Bix passed on very sensitive information to Hemlock. He told him that his grandson was helping a small Twi’Lek community build an irrigation system on Saleucami that could allow for farming outside of the small green patches the planet provided and would help grow the village’s food supply and potentially improve the planet as a whole.
Outside of the personal connection, this was an offer that any Jedi would not be able to pass up. If you mix it with the fact that the bubse tree, which was used as a medical aid by many people, grew on the planet and you had an offer Hemlock could not refuse. Shortly after he buried Bix’s body beneath his garden and informed his next of kin of his passing, Hemlock traded a freighter pilot a rare stone he had found on his adventures for a small trip down Mara’s Corridor. The pilot seemed to think he was pulling one over on the Draethos but in reality Hemlock had taken a personal vow of poverty. The Jedi only carried what he needed to survive and the rest was to be used to help the galaxy become a better place. If that meant trading a valuable stone to help some colonists then by all means he would.
After a short freighter ride..
Hemlock stood in the middle of the small but bustling oasis he had come to aide. These natural pockets of life that were created by asteroids and other large impacts through the millennia were a testimony to just how relentless nature was. These scatterings of craters were some of the only fertile ground left on the otherwise arid planet. In this case they were covered in thick trees, large plants, and green grass that stood tall against the rocky surface of the planet. There were small huts and barns that scattered the perimeter of the crater
The local Twi’Leks who inhabited the crater had built from the ground provided, using the pockets of geo-thermal energy to help power their small village. Ingeniously they had also raised the ground on the sides of the crater so that the water was kept to one area. Just a few short years after settling they had already designed an impressive irrigation system to funnel the excess water out of their lake. They were also actively trying to pump it into the ground outside the crater. Tthat’s when a man by the name of Rylon Verdo came in. He was the grandson of Bix Verdo and the next stop on Hemlock’s mission to heal the galaxy.
After relishing in the raw Force energy the planet exuded, Hemlock continued his pilgrimage. He headed straight toward the crystal clear lake. There was a small hazelnut dock sitting perfectly off of the lake’s edge, dipping right into the rippling water. The dock had a couple guards stationed near it clad in navy blue security gear, blasters adorning each of their hips.
“Excuse me,” A heavily accented voice begged, “I’m obviously not from around here, but I’m looking for someone you probably know…”
“Rylon Verdo.” Before his raspy voice could sound the last syllable, the guards immediately tensed up.
“Who are you?” They asked immediately.
Being an empath and having spent a lot of time around Twi’Lek and their headtails, Hemlock immediately picked up on their anxiety and hostility. It was very obvious that they hadn’t seen a Draethos before and were thrown off. Even if I wasn’t his purple skin or his reptilian like face, his large bantha-leather brown backpack full of aromatic herbs and plants would be reason enough to be suspicious. However, he still found it unsettling that people were so quick to judge based solely on appearance in a galaxy so peppered with different species.
A quick breath in and he was ready to explain himself, tucking away any hostility his instincts might as kicked in, “My name is Hemlock Briar, I am a Jedi Padawan in search of Rylon Verdo.” The alien took another loud breath in, “I was colleagues with his grandfather Bix.”
The guard was about to speak when sirens went off.
“Damn Thaelos.”
In the distance you could hear whooping and taste the dust around the crater rising. There was something big coming this way, Hemlock could feel tremors of the Force crawling on his skin. Something was about to happen and danger was within proximity.
“Come this way! Rylon was meeting with another Jedi on a boat in the lake, we can intercept him on his way back to deal with these Thaelos!”
Quickly the guards took off and Hemlock followed closely behind.
It was a fact that the Draethos as a species lived very long lives that could span several centuries. With such a gift, however, came the crushing responsibility and actuality that you would live to see your friends die. This fate was one Hemlock Briar had been painfully aware of.
The traveling Jedi had just left Ylesia where he was staying to help his dying friend Bix, trying to help relieve his pain before passing on. This meant tending to his garden, making different soups and salvesand sharing from Hemlock’s large collection of rare flora from across the galaxy to help his many ailments. All of these were already things the Draethos Jedi did day to day, however this time it was personal. Bix and Hemlock had met nearly fifty years prior on a small farming planet made up of mostly refugees. Bix was a small man who stood only five and a half feet tall, but he was one of the most compassionate Humans Hemlock had met. They had both been assigned to do environmental impact reports for a large factory that was trying to be built in the area. They were the only two scientists who opposed the building, and with the data discovered between the two of them they found enough to scare away the investors and leave the farmers their lands. The two of them had exchanged correspondence ever since and were very close.
To thank Hemlock the best way he knew how before he died, Bix passed on very sensitive information to Hemlock. He told him that his grandson was helping a small Twi’Lek community build an irrigation system on Saleucami that could allow for farming outside of the small green patches the planet provided and would help grow the village’s food supply and potentially improve the planet as a whole.
Outside of the personal connection, this was an offer that any Jedi would not be able to pass up. If you mix it with the fact that the bubse tree, which was used as a medical aid by many people, grew on the planet and you had an offer Hemlock could not refuse. Shortly after he buried Bix’s body beneath his garden and informed his next of kin of his passing, Hemlock traded a freighter pilot a rare stone he had found on his adventures for a small trip down Mara’s Corridor. The pilot seemed to think he was pulling one over on the Draethos but in reality Hemlock had taken a personal vow of poverty. The Jedi only carried what he needed to survive and the rest was to be used to help the galaxy become a better place. If that meant trading a valuable stone to help some colonists then by all means he would.
After a short freighter ride..
Hemlock stood in the middle of the small but bustling oasis he had come to aide. These natural pockets of life that were created by asteroids and other large impacts through the millennia were a testimony to just how relentless nature was. These scatterings of craters were some of the only fertile ground left on the otherwise arid planet. In this case they were covered in thick trees, large plants, and green grass that stood tall against the rocky surface of the planet. There were small huts and barns that scattered the perimeter of the crater
The local Twi’Leks who inhabited the crater had built from the ground provided, using the pockets of geo-thermal energy to help power their small village. Ingeniously they had also raised the ground on the sides of the crater so that the water was kept to one area. Just a few short years after settling they had already designed an impressive irrigation system to funnel the excess water out of their lake. They were also actively trying to pump it into the ground outside the crater. Tthat’s when a man by the name of Rylon Verdo came in. He was the grandson of Bix Verdo and the next stop on Hemlock’s mission to heal the galaxy.
After relishing in the raw Force energy the planet exuded, Hemlock continued his pilgrimage. He headed straight toward the crystal clear lake. There was a small hazelnut dock sitting perfectly off of the lake’s edge, dipping right into the rippling water. The dock had a couple guards stationed near it clad in navy blue security gear, blasters adorning each of their hips.
“Excuse me,” A heavily accented voice begged, “I’m obviously not from around here, but I’m looking for someone you probably know…”
“Rylon Verdo.” Before his raspy voice could sound the last syllable, the guards immediately tensed up.
“Who are you?” They asked immediately.
Being an empath and having spent a lot of time around Twi’Lek and their headtails, Hemlock immediately picked up on their anxiety and hostility. It was very obvious that they hadn’t seen a Draethos before and were thrown off. Even if I wasn’t his purple skin or his reptilian like face, his large bantha-leather brown backpack full of aromatic herbs and plants would be reason enough to be suspicious. However, he still found it unsettling that people were so quick to judge based solely on appearance in a galaxy so peppered with different species.
A quick breath in and he was ready to explain himself, tucking away any hostility his instincts might as kicked in, “My name is Hemlock Briar, I am a Jedi Padawan in search of Rylon Verdo.” The alien took another loud breath in, “I was colleagues with his grandfather Bix.”
The guard was about to speak when sirens went off.
“Damn Thaelos.”
In the distance you could hear whooping and taste the dust around the crater rising. There was something big coming this way, Hemlock could feel tremors of the Force crawling on his skin. Something was about to happen and danger was within proximity.
“Come this way! Rylon was meeting with another Jedi on a boat in the lake, we can intercept him on his way back to deal with these Thaelos!”
Quickly the guards took off and Hemlock followed closely behind.
