Vark Kur
Character
VARK "GREASE FANG" KUR
| Age | 42 GSY |
| Species | Shistavanen |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 6’3" (1.9m) |
| Weight | 210lbs (95kg) |
| Force Sensitive | No |
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Vark sports salt-and-pepper fur that is perpetually matted with hydro-spanner grease. His most striking feature is a heavy-duty cybernetic ocular implant in his left eye, glowing a faint, menacing red, which allows him to see heat signatures and structural micro-fractures. A jagged scar runs from his ear to his snout, earned during a botched boarding action.
INVENTORY
- The "Final Word": A heavily modified fusion cutter that can double as a short-range plasma torch in a fight.
- Custom Tool Bandolier: Contains a hydro-spanner, a laser welder, and several "borrowed" Imperial diagnostic chips.
- R5-D8 ("Rusty"): A battered, soot-covered astromech droid that Vark has reprogrammed to be just as cranky as he is.
- Lucky Krayt Bone: A small carving kept in his breast pocket, rumored to be a gift from the Captain.
- Vibro-shiv
- Blaster pistol
- Personality: Gruff, taciturn, and prone to growling when interrupted. He has a dry, cynical wit and zero patience for "bridge officers" who don't know a motivator from a manifold.
- Beliefs: Vark is a "Machine Animist." He believes every ship has a soul that needs to be fed with proper maintenance and occasional "blood sacrifices" (usually his own barked knuckles).
- Phobias: Astrophobia (Fear of the Vacuum). Despite being a spacefarer, the idea of being ejected into the cold, silent void without a hull around him absolutely terrifies him. He never works near an airlock without a safety tether.
STRENGTHS
- Machine Intuition & "Animist" Focus: Because Vark views ships as living beings, he doesn't just "fix" things—he listens to them. His cybernetic eye allows him to spot structural micro-fractures before they become hull breaches, making him a proactive genius rather than a reactive mechanic.
- High-Stakes Resilience: As evidenced by his thermal-detonator-casing fix during a reactor leak, Vark doesn't panic under pressure. He possesses a "Shistavanen stubbornness" that allows him to ignore pain, radiation, and odds that would send a sane engineer to the escape pods.
- Mechanical Improvisation: Coming from a background of "unorthodox methods" and freelance fixing, Vark is a master of "MacGyvering" solutions. He can keep a mismatched fleet running on "borrowed" Imperial tech and sheer willpower, making him invaluable in the resource-scarce Outer Rim.
- Crippling Astrophobia: In a world of space piracy, having a terror of the vacuum is a massive liability. If a hull breach occurs or an external repair is required (EVA), Vark becomes effectively paralyzed or compromised, requiring a safety tether just to function near an airlock.
- Social Abrasiveness & Insubordination: Vark has "zero patience" for anyone he deems technically inferior—which is everyone on the bridge. His tendency to growl at officers and his lack of loyalty to any "cause" mean he is a HR nightmare who could easily spark internal crew friction.
- Physical Wear & Tear: At 42, Vark is entering middle age for his species and is covered in scar tissue and grease. His "blood sacrifice" approach to maintenance means he's likely working through chronic pain or lingering injuries, which could fail him at a critical moment of physical exertion.
Vark is the mechanical heartbeat of the pirate fleet, a Shistavanen who prefers the company of sparking hyperdrive cores to the politics of the Outer Rim. He serves Captain Valen not out of loyalty to a cause, but because the Captain is the only one who lets him "overclock the engines until they scream."
Vark began his career as a low-level technician in a Kuat Drive Yards subsidiary, but his "unorthodox" methods (and a tendency to steal high-grade parts) led to a swift termination and a bounty on his head. He fled to the Outer Rim, scraping by as a freelance fixer until his path crossed with Captain Krayt Valen.
During a skirmish with a Empire of the Lost patrol, the Void's Toll's then flagship suffered a catastrophic reactor leak. While the rest of the crew prepared to abandon ship, Vark—then a mere prisoner in the hold—broke his cuffs, sprinted into the radioactive engine room, and patched the leak using nothing but a thermal detonator casing and sheer Shistavanen stubbornness. Valen promoted him to Chief Engineer on the spot. He has been the only person capable of keeping the Captain's mismatched, battle-worn fleet running ever since.