Player name: Mordoskul
Character name: Albedan Brethu
Species: Human (Naboo)
Age:24
Appearance: A haggard, well-worn human male prematurely aged by recent battlefield trauma. A beard covers his face to help him better blend into the masses of the Fringe.
Equipment: Blaster pistol, blaster rifle, bladed knuckles. Carapace armor. Comlink.
General skills: Imperial Etiquette, Soldiering, Languages (Naboo, High Galactic, Basic), Galactic History (Heavy Imperial Bias), Athletics, Melee, Ship to Ship Boarding Maneuvers. Sailing. The Construction of Scale Models of Various Land, Air, and Spacecraft.
Motivation: To find purpose in a chaotic galaxy turned upside down. Failing that, to disappear completely.
View on the fallen Empire and the New Republic: The Empire was a beacon of civilization and order, a true monument to the superiority of Humanity. Emperor Palpatine transformed a corrupt and dying Republic into a powerful and just Empire that purged the rot infecting the galaxy. The Alliance to Restore the Republic, nothing but a band of reactionary terrorists clinging to a past that never existed. This disorganized mass of hooligans and thugs could never hope to challenge the rightful rulers of the galaxy.
Then why did they win?
Why did the New Republic spring so easily from the ashes while the Empire collapsed into warring fiefdoms nearly the moment Palpatine died? Unity. Brotherhood. Justice. All perished in the mad scramble for Coruscant. Brother killing brother, human against human. As the Empire disintegrates under the weight of its cruelty and the ambition of its Moffs, Albedan is left without a cause to turn to. Was the Empire ever right? Could he have been wrong about the New Republic? Maybe it doesn't matter. As an Imperial deserter, neither will welcome him with open arms.
Homeworld: Naboo
Backstory: Born the year the Empire rose to ascendency, Albedan Brethu grew up within a middle-class family in the royal city of Theed, Naboo. Raised in the SAGroup, the youth wing of the Coalition for Progress, Albedan was inundated with Imperial propaganda. A true believer all his life, Albedan entered the Stormtrooper Corps as soon as he turned eighteen. Due to his background in the SAGroup, the young Albedan was selected to become a Nova Trooper. Nova Troopers, though used later in the Galactic Civil War as marines, served as an honor guard standing watch over historical Imperial sites. Assigned to the Palace of Theed, Albedan enjoyed a cushy assignment performing garrison duty.
As the Galactic Civil War raged outside, Albedan remained absolutely certain that the Empire would triumph over the terrorists. When news reached Naboo of the Emperor's death on the Second Death Star, Theed was thrown into a panic as rebel sympathizers rose in open rebellion and confused Imperial troops attempted to follow contradictory orders. With Vader dead as well, and the whereabouts of Sate Pestage unknown, the Empire had no Emperor.
As Naboo threatened to spiral into total anarchy, one man stepped forwards to seize the reins of power. Moff Quarsh Panaka, once bodyguard to the late Queen Amidala, proclaimed the independence of the Chommell Sector from the Galactic Empire. Declaring the Chommell Neutral Zone (CNZ), Panaka refused to acknowledge any warlord until a legitimate successor to Palpatine had been chosen. The CNZ, though an Imperial splinter faction, relaxed many of the more authoritarian policies that had been in place since the end of the Clone Wars. Aliens were granted residency rights and a new constitution was being drafted to reform the CNZ into a controlled democracy. Though a far cry from the liberalism of the New Republic, Panaka's policies were seen as heresy by Colonel Gothlik Gorm and his clique of hardline officers.
As the CNZ was born, Albedan and his fellow Nova Troopers began to take the role of military police within the cities of aligned planets. Albedan remained in Theed, and though initially shocked by the rapid changes in Imperial policy, could not help but find Panaka's rule to be both just and fair. In Panaka, Albedan saw what propaganda had made the Emperor out to be: a wise, benevolent dictator who ruled not with an iron fist, but an even hand. As part of the CNZ, Albedan began to believe that the dream of the Empire had been preserved on Naboo.
Stability reigned during the brief tenure of the CNZ, but it could not last. As the Empire's death throes consumed the galaxy, the final cruelty of Palpatine revealed itself. Operation: Cinder, the final failsafe to ensure that the Empire died with its Emperor, began to consume worlds. When Imperial Star Destroyers began to emerge at the edge of the CNZ, they believed that another warlord had come to claim Chommell as their own. However, discontent crept into the ranks as the Star Destroyers refused to answer any hails.
The ensuing space battle between the small CNZ defense fleet and the overwhelming firepower of the Cinder ships forced a ragged retreat back to Naboo, where Panaka hoped the planetary shield would prevent an invasion. Perhaps it would have, and perhaps ground to space fire would have eventually forced the Cinder fleet to draw back.
In the city of Theed, Gorm's clique launched a coup. Having been in secret contact with Imperial operatives, Gorm was content to see Naboo burn to wipe away the stain of Panaka's treachery. Albedan, once a contented Nova Trooper watching over monuments, was suddenly thrown into combat against fellow Imperials. In all his years in the SAGroup, the Stormtrooper Corps, of his unwavering conviction in the rightness of the Empire, Albedan never imagined that his first kill would be another stormtrooper.
As Colonel Gorm launched his coup, so too did the rebels. A motley of monarchists, New Republic loyalists, and Gungan guerillas, rose up as the CNZ garrison was distracted fighting its own soldiers. An ugly three-way war soon consumed Naboo.
As the gardens and estates of Theed echoed with the sound of blaster fire and the tramp of armored walkers, Albedan found himself at the side of Moff Panaka. Escorting the Moff through the wartorn city to safety, their armored craft struck a mine. As metal groaned and buckled, Albedan attempted to pull Panaka from the wreckage, but was too late to save the short-lived leader of the CNZ.
As the planetary shield unraveled overhead, the orbital guns of the Star Destroyers thundered, beginning the devastation of Naboo.
As the city burned, Albedan ran, all martial pride forgotten as everything became light and noise. His armor dented and carbon-scored, the Nova Trooper watched in disbelief as a New Republic fleet engaged the Star Destroyers in low orbit, forcing the true believers to perform an emergency Hyperspace jump.
It was surreal to watch the enemy he had hated his entire life descend to the surface of Naboo to save its people. His armor and identification disposed of in the flaming wreckage of an Imperial transport, Albedan joined the flow of refugees out of Theed. To where, he didn't know.