Rhys Whitley

[Rhys Whitley]

"Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody."
"Then is it not more prudent to love the darkness? For all its faults are wise in their warnings."​

CZERKA
- CONTRACTOR -


HUMAN _ 22 _ 185CM _ LEAN
BLACK-HAIR FAIR-SKIN BLUE-EYES
ARISTOCRATIC-ACCENT
TOMB-RAIDER _ BOOKIE-BY-DAY
SMUGGLER-BY-NIGHT
TRAINED FORCE SENSITIVE

Con-Men-Hate-Guns Captain-Obvious Boomerang-Bigot
Desperately-Craves-Affection Deadpan-Snarker
Implausible-Deniability Not-a-Morning-Person
Gentleman-Thief Know-Nothing-Know-It-All​

​

-CHILDHOOD-​

Born Rupert Elace Whitley on Gyosha to a superficially mediocre pair of Import-Export Clerks and domesticated Caribs - a civilized descendent of the Wendigo Cult, once Island Caribs of ancient cannibalistic faith. Modern day Caribs inherit two main philosophies: that man devours man and that the mind is an abyss of horrors to be feared. Rupert inherited this cynical faith through his harmless, albeit odd, parents but soon came to reject their meager eccentricity and moldy servile lifestyles, steadily glorifying elitist facades of fame and fortune increasingly into maturity. Adapting his lithe frame and angular features into an air of superiority poorly propped upon bland coquetry, Rupert later began introducing himself as Rhys after a short series comic character in the daily news feeds that hunted treasures as a modern day space pirate. One of the fictional Rhys Raider's ever elusive obsessions was a magical gauntlet that imbued the wearer with unbelievable powers over nature and the fabric of creation itself. Such written concepts were taken from some discarded lore of a fabled Gyoshan culture.

Gifted the Thorne-Heart Medallion at a young age, Rhys had grown accustomed to the necklace long before he could question its meaning or resent it along with the parents who gave it to him. This trinket was an invaluable relic and cherished family heirloom of the Carib faith. At the center, the heart; a ruby gem that represents the beauty of the soul, which is the mind. It is a staple to the bladed cross that stands for fury, the nature of beings to destroy both oneself and one-another. The inward thorns, imprisoning the gem and cross to know and fear the soul's evils. And the ring that is the flock who unify around the faith. To him, it was merely a shiny bauble, nothing more. If Rhys learned anything from his parents, his father's simple smile like a lukewarm snail and his mother's dismissive inclemency, and their humdrum business of otiosity it was that the impoverished suffer the reign of the affluent and that rules only apply to those who follow them.

To be honest meant to be a fool, or perhaps lazy. And to be content checking postages in closet space was to go insane. Mother and father embodied everything Rhys regarded as sheer stupidity and self-deprecation. He never accused them as such to their faces, or ever voiced anything of the sort to anyone however. Not out of respect or fear of repercussion. Rhys just didn't have the balls to say. Nor the friends to say to. But he thought it all the same. And by his cunning eyes, he hit the middle mark.

One day, fiddling with outdated machine parts and studying tax loopholes on the net weren't enough to hold his attention despite his parent's curious methods of tutoring their child and he decided to run away from home to see the world his parents feared and guarded him against. Only to get a glimpse. He accompanied his father on a delivery, as he sometimes did. But at a stop, when left alone in the rig, Rhys simply got out and walked into the wealth of a bustling promenade shopping center. A quiet boy, Rhys didn't ask for help when he eventually realized he'd become lost. After a wonderful day of exploration and eating candy, night fell and Rhys found shelter by a dumpster after avoiding the soggy thing that was already sleeping on the bench a block back. He awoke to a rank and shabby fellow huddled over him, frisking his pockets and stripping what few credits he had left; unbridled and unshaken by Rhys' flailing kicks and cries to get away. And once he had, he realized his medallion was gone. He returned to the wastrel, but the slime ran off. Rhys chased after him through the night, loosing him for hours before finding him again in a black market alley. Rhys begged him to give it back, but the beggar had already sold it and shoved the boy move aside. Left with nothing and afraid to sleep, Rhys walked the dark alleys until he happened upon a group of alien mercenaries after a night of drink and sport. Rhys couldn't muster a plea for help, only apprehensively clinging to one thug's pant leg until ridicule turned to provocation; knocking Rhys from his leg and to the ground as many times as Rhys lonesomely returned to his side, until one of them suggested leaving the boy with a waitress back at the bar.

A Twi'lek named Layla, the seventeen year old waitress assumed he was a misfortunate homeless orphan when Rhys was too shy and shaken to speak more than his made up name. She took him to live with her and two other girls in the cramped loft upstairs, who were all secretly slaves owned by the club manager Traxx. Rhys was eventually discovered and became Traxx's property in exchange for food and shelter, becoming fast friends with the girls and working the stockroom or mopping floors after hours despite several requests to be released - not understanding the finality of his decision to leave home. And even if he could escape, he couldn't muster the courage to return home without his parent's treasured legacy. Rhys asked Layla to help him with this, and with her connections she got a name; the vender's name who bought the medallion, Eleazar, known as Silver-Tooth Maven. Rhys planned to find out all he could, until Traxx was fired for dealing illegal narcotics; or rather for getting caught. So Traxx left Gyosha after posting bail, smuggling himself off world by bartering his slaves as payment. Layla, Rhys' first crush, was sold to some scumbag headed to the outer rim and Rhys was sold to the superstitious and paranoid captain Japoko Osoleve as an assistant and a guard dog to watch his stash of booze and powder; a stash that Japoko eventually used to turn Rhys into an addict.

The once diffident and pusillanimous Rhys grew to become a snarky smuggler's hand with an aristocratic inflection, able to pilot a ship and pick out the proper parts to fix a clicking engine long enough to make the hyperspace jump to the next system and start all over again. Japoko often marveled at Rhys' aptitude for picking up skills quickly despite his paltry image, but dismissed the anomaly and chalked up Rhys' ability as natural talent. Rhys never did fine tune his talents with the ladies however, spending more time with an assortment of cheap drunks and space-cases who whored it up at the copper tins in the oil slicked gutters of the galaxy than with proper gentry. Captain Japoko warmed to Rhys over time, mostly due to his at first quiet nature and consequent gifting of listening to endless and incoherent ramblings, and eventually taught Rhys to become wild and free in his own nerdy way; that all life is a trade, a give and take. Just don't ever let someone give you something out of charity, he'd threaten.

-JEDI TUTELAGE-​

This small-time band of revolving-door smugglers under Captain Japoko eventually became a thorn under foot for a Jedi operation along the Perlemian Trade Route, Japoko sometimes working with local known larcenists to procure valuable product worth moving. This among other sloppy mistakes became his downfall. A pair a Jedi Knights in a budding relationship, one Thelm Galerra and one Néve Anaaric, tasked themselves with ridding the galaxy of this scoundrel and payed off a small time thief to set up Captain Japoko in a plot to cleanly capture him and his crew on Taanab. The plan would've gone on without a hitch if not for Japoko being a paranoid kook who double-crossed the thief out of suspicion and nearly crashed his freighter in the slapdash getaway. The ship was shot down some hundred meters away and when boarded, Yapoko thought the Jedi were there to steal his secret stash of whiskies and snorting spice. In a mad dash to save the narcotics, Yapoko pulled Rhys into the refresher and forced him to help drink and snort as much as possible in their last moments. Japoko died of heart failure in Jedi Knight Thelm's arms as Rhys threw up on his boots. The rest of the crew was apprehended while Jedi Knight Néve, the more nurturing of the two, cared for Rhys until he passed out; to wake the next day in an infirmary bed. Néve pitied Rhys and convinced Thelm to take him in.

After nurturing Rhys back to good health and hearing his stories of Captain Yapoko, Néve speculated to Rhys' Force sensitivity. Thelm tested Rhys, teaching him to express a focused effect, and proved Néve's supposition founded. So Jedi Knights and lovers Thelm and Néve proclaimed Rhys to be their apprentice. Rhys stayed with his teachers and adoptive parents on the front lines and followed them on their missions as he was taught in the mystical ways of the Force, Captain Japoko's lessons of lawlessness tempered with Néve's credendas of compassion and Thelm's convictions of constitutionality. Rhys followed along for a time, putting on a front of obedience lending itself to his studious nature. But eventually Rhys saw the flaws of his birth parents hinted in his adoptive parents, forming secret opinions as he watched the two Jedi Knights battle the unruly and anarchical of the mid rim territories; the limits of their morals causing them stress on a daily basis. He valued their more devoted attention towards him however and enjoyed their more lively relationship, nights of laughing and warm meals together without the guilt of his medallion endearing him to their company far more than that of his stale birth parents; even as resentment intertwined with regret.

Rhys was not always with his Jedi family, however. Often he was left alone in their quarters while they pursued more dangerous missions, given lessons to complete paced between awkward lunches by himself among stern or preoccupied Jedi in the mess hall. It was here, in these times of solidarity, that Rhys was introduced to his inherent obsession of artifacts, ancient texts, and relics first hand. History articles and archives of lore filled his dreams with adventure and excitement of treasure hunting, like his childhood idol Rhys Raider. On a whim, and after years of investigating the black market vendor and criminal Silver-Tooth Maven, Rhys researched the trinket once worn around his neck. Which led to delving into the Caribs of his homeworld where he found a related mythos that predated the origin of the Carib's isles of Kalinago, detailing a lost temple in which some historians believed was in fact a dark Jedi's tomb. Legend tells of an artifact that once graced the wrist of this Shemhazal Anor'gethaáck that was so saturated by Shemhazal's power over the elements that all manner of stone and water and matter moves over its magnetically polarized surface like a constantly shifting and sifting landscape of its own gravity within a skin of sand. The relic and its master's story, with such a similar likeness to the concept of his childhood obsession, so intrigued Rhys that he pledged to one day discover its whereabouts. And eventually he did.

Nearing his knighthood, Rhys began taking on menial tasks of his own. One he acted as assistant to a full-fledged Jedi Knight leading a superfluous security detail guarding a General's six year old son on a ship full of Jedi, and another he was commissioned to accompany a transport of recruits and read them a prepared introductory syllabus. While Rhys was never the gladiator some of his peers seemed to be, these tasks bored his mind to mush. Until one day he chanced upon a yellow-tagged mission near his home planet of Gyosha. The assignment was basically to serve a subpoena to a mildly dangerous and alleged criminal, to gauge the man's reaction and report a field evaluation to determine if higher involvement was needed. There was warning that in serving the writ alone, a firefight could erupt. But this was far from Rhys' concern, as his mind began plotting a detour to the Kalinago Isles of Gyosha.

Rhys hastily signed up for the assignment only to discover that it was a two person commission and that a young Teinwan Ugishi would unfortunately accompany him. Awkward silence plagued their attempts at conversation until they reached their destination, the mission going wrong in every way imaginable. The criminal wasn't where the briefing said he would be. The citizens were unfairly untrusting and interfered with the mission. The criminal resisted. Their means of communication was broken in a chase. And the two had to flee when Rhys lost his lightsaber in a scuffle. Back in their ship in orbit, they finally reported the situation and handed over their duties to full-fledged Knights. The two of them were dispirited, until Rhys came clean to Teinwan about his desire to visit home; fibbing a tale of missing his parents and asking for just a moment to see them, genuine tears creeping up the corners of his eyes. Teinwan was swayed just as much by Rhys' opening up to him as he was by the sentiment and agreed. Once they arrived however, Rhys quickly spirited Teinwan off on an adventure to distant isles. Lies on top of lies, Rhys altered his intensions to include a wish that he might find a certain treasure for his parents that he lost, that they were ridiculed by their peers for believing even existed; a treasure that would heal old wounds from when he ran away, without which he could never return home. So Teinwan helped Rhys discover the tomb's location based off of Rhys' research as well as others before him, ultimately finding the hidden and fabled chamber of Shemhazal's treasure. But there was nothing there. Rhys looked around, took etchings and saved images until they found a note left in plain sight. It read in fluid cursive: "Know that you found victory where all others failed. And know that I have stolen that victory from you. I have the Dáksinya of Anor'gethaáck. -Abelard Solomon Carmichael"

-CORUSCANT COMMISSION-​

Returning home in disappointment, Rhys' soul was moved by the adventure in the tomb. His head hung low, thoughts swarming around missed hints and future leads, but his heart soared high with hopes of even greater exploits. In his secrecy of the Gyoshan islands detour, his Jedi parents saw only another failure under their apprentice's belt and feared for Rhys' morale and thus his future as a Jedi. One night, Rhys returned home to a small council of Thelm, Néve, and a revered Jedi General Viggo fresh off the front lines. They had gathered to discuss Rhys' future. The look of pain in Néve's eyes hurt most of all, though the General's words were deeply cutting; speaking to Rhys' lack of physical promise and inadequacies towards battle. It was decided that upon his Knighthood, Rhys would be sent away from the front lines to assignments that more suited his gifts. He would be separated from his parents and likely stuffed in a cramped archive to serve the Jedi legacy in lore and spiritual sorcery, returned to a life of insignificance and subservient mediocrity in a broom closet. So immediately after finding what excited him, Rhys was threatened with returning to the life of his birth parents. Nothing scared him more.

Rhys thought of running away again. He searched for ways to avoid his fate. He tried to demonstrate his ability with a lightsaber. Though his technique was sharp, his fencing style intelligent and elegant, he was no match for the more aggressive and muscular types. He tried to depict a cunning mind for strategy in the simulators, but failed miserably; unable to match the more simple and direct tactics with his own overly complex ideas. He could not escape who he was. Until one day, he found a mission briefing specializing in subterfuge; and undercover contract to Coruscant. Rhys brought it to his parents, who in turn brought it to General Viggo. If he had to be sent to the Corce, at least he could contribute to the cause more actively. General Viggo seemed unconvinced that Rhys was right for the job, but promised to take the proposition to his peers for consideration. One last supper with his Jedi parents, filled with laughter and sadness, and Thelm and Néve knew Rhys had already made up his mind. Silently they said their last goodbyes through cryptic clichés and avoiding adages, never wording what they all knew was being said. Even refusing to hug, for fear of acknowledging what was happening, he left them that night; never to return.

Without General Viggo's consent, Rhys took the commission to Coruscant as a personal charge to endeavor to great accomplishments to honor his Jedi parents' investments in him. He met with the contact Taavi who set him up with a new identity and pin number and checked him into a rundown motel. And his career as a lowlife entrepreneur began.

Isolated from the righteous tenets that reformed him, Rhys melded to his murky environment with unexpected ease and enjoyment. All that he had learned, from his birth parent's business to Japoko's criminal activities to the Jedi's missions, bred him to fit perfectly into the underworld; save for his innocent demeanor. Almost immediately he forgot what he was originally there to do and latched onto this new life of threading and sowing streams of interest and revenue, dealing at first in the only substance he could get his young hands on, drugs, and discovering a knack for gambling. Acquiring information to systematically eradicate criminal activity and feed the Jedi machine of justice quickly turned to self-indulgent networking of an ambitious mind. Finally, he'd found something he was really good at. Rhys plugged himself into various enterprises at low levels as a bookie for rookie races and back-alley dice games, a foot smuggler for side deals passing inexpensive and illegal modification goods from ship smugglers to vendors, and even flirting with the business of slavery and prostitution; believing he could provide these unfortunate products of society with a better life under his care, remembering his charming past with Layla. Here he was able to lead an exciting and unpredictable life where he could follow his heart. He even found an antiquities store full of literature on the lost and the unusual. With his sprouting network he followed rumors of likeminded vendors and stories that could lead him towards the names of his past: names like Eleazar the Silver-Tooth Maven, Traxx and Layla, Shemhazal and Abelard Solomon Carmichael, and many more.

In the more commercial section in the forefront of one of Rhys' favorite antiquities stores, he found a self-help daily devotional entitled The Pacific Journal. In it were famous quotes and anecdotal messages devoted towards the reader's daily pursuit of inner peace. The journal's gimmick was that each page was a piece of a larger puzzle that provided a map to a secret treasure. Rhys simply saw in it a perfect journal for his daily musings in all the empty comments sections. In it he solves the various puzzles and riddles to pass the time, while after his more illustrious excursions incites more colorful writings of his own accounting and notes key elements for clues towards further treasures. And when the day's subjects steer towards more philosophical concepts, or sometimes after meditation practices of which he continues in perennial Jedi fashion, he notates points of study and technique. One of his personal interests lies in imbuing ordinary objects with the Force. He studied incessantly towards this end. He also devotes much of his time to the relationship between chemistry and physics and the manipulation of matter through the Force.

As recorded in The Pacific Journal, Rhys juggled a busy life full of treasure hunting and tomb raiding while growing a multitude of fertile businesses. He loved every minute of it. And yet often times he felt in over his head. Most of the ventures floated along as ideas without any mooring. And when they went belly up, he cast them aside to start anew. In this cycle of ditch and profit, he often ruined people's lives who worked with him. One of Rhys' courtesans, a favorite of his named Gillie, asked him to help her husband Levi Hammond out of some debt before the collectors could come and maim him; or worse. Rhys agreed in his usual carefree way and thought up a quick scheme.

Rhys knew of a couple crooked cops who liked to bet on the street races. He didn't want to put himself on their radar except in a good light, so he instructed Levi in his stead. Rhys having run wagers on these races for some time now, knew of a racer's manager who liked to play dirty. So Rhys eluded to the manager that if he trusted his wager with Rhys that his return would be double, if his man could take the win; knowing this put the fire in his eyes, that he would make sure his man won. So later Rhys nestled himself up beside the two cops and listened to them discussing their top picks until inviting himself into their conversation, touting insight towards certain ends. And with the manager's credits in hand, Rhys flaunted the raving wager for the inevitable victor as his own despite all the odds. The two cops followed him over to Levi, whom pretended to accept Rhys' wager as the bookie. They weren't completely convinced but recognized Rhys and wondered if there was something to the wager. But as planned, Levi painted Rhys as some prepubescent lunatic who'd lost the last twenty times and had resorted to betting loans likely to his grave. Levi counseled towards his pick as a favor for the cops, pretending to fish for a mutually beneficial relationship as a bookie to buy their trust and security that they might look the other way as more races were fixed. So they laid wager towards Levi's choice, the worst possible pick. And they lost it all.

Rhys was all but convinced the two cops wouldn't risk their careers on a single bad wager and thought himself and Levi untouchable, his plan infallible. Instead two racers nearly died in crashes from illegal engine tampering, and Levi wasn't smart enough to run when he had the chance. The two cops cornered Levi and hauled him off into a back alley where they took all the credit chits in Levi's possession, beat him to a pulp, and arrested him on fraud and extortion charges as well as assaulting an officer and resisting arrest. Rhys lost Levi in the commotion and was cornered himself by the manager that'd made the deal. Gillie rushed to Rhys' side and was mistake for his woman, the manager's lackeys seizing her as collateral. In order to keep this life intact, Rhys had to pay the man back; he couldn't fight back. So Rhys was beaten and Gillie was in turn stolen as partial payment and insurance of return for all funds owed.

Eventually word spread, between Rhys' requests for information about Levi and Rhys' polluted reputation, and Levi's collectors came to Rhys for their return. They'd noticed how Rhys had started visiting Levi in prison almost daily and knew his face. Before Rhys could spin their heads with a Force filled flick of the wrist, they warned what might happen to Levi should Rhys not find a way to settle his debts; lest a prison bed suddenly develop a sharp edge under Levi's back. His guilty conscience culled thoughts of resistance. And should he flee, both were promised certain torturous deaths. But worst of all, his life he'd so come to love would be ruined. So he stayed to face the music. He turned all his ventures into equal payments that he might free those two he had sentenced to imprisonment. And he turned to more dubious avenues in hopes of securing larger gain. Namely Czerka Corp.

-VOICE SAMPLE-

-FILES ON RECORD-​

Entry 1: Over a Half Ham Entry 2: Theft for Fun and Profit

- Personal Account in Detail. - Personal Account in Detail.

_____________________________________________​

 

[Rhys Whitley]

"Wilson" - Rhys Whitley

_ This seeker droid, codenamed Wilson for its red colored sensors' resemblance of a human face, is a .55cm spherical repulsor-lift binary assassin droid with antennae. An old beat up model with visible wear and tear, Wilson's regressing protocols have developed odd behavioral patterns that resemble a drunken Gamorrean which, in turn, have endeared Wilson to Rhys. Rhys wears a deceptive little ring on his right middle finger with a red gem, used to point a laser invisible to the naked eye at the desired target. The ring gem is twisted to command two basic designations, sedate or terminate, using stun or blaster bolts. It is also capable of electric shock via prong. If preprogrammed specifically for the task, Wilson can also fire specific dart variants. But Wilson's primary function is to entertain Rhys as a side-kick.

"Steampunk Skull Cane" - Rhys Whitley

_ This stylish cane is adorned with a chrome squid-skull head atop a simple black shaft with a steel-toed cap. He often uses it to deceptively portray himself as a cripple, and religiously imbues the accessory with the Force for fortitude against a multitude of weapons otherwise not expected to compete against - including but not limited to lightsabers.

"Green Krayt's Eye" - Rhys Whitley

_ This ring depicting an elongated krayt dragon framing a green jewel resembling an eye is one of his more noticeable rings worn on his left ring finger. It's true purpose is lethal. If Rhys flexes open his left hand, a tooth is unhitched from the underside band containing a single dose of lethal poison. So if inspected before releasing the tooth, the ring appears entirely aesthetic and harmless. And being worn on the left hand defuses any suspicion of conventional poisonous handshakes as business is concluded with a right handed shake. Rhys will shake with the right hand, but then affectionately grasp the victim's hand or wrist with the left hand to prick the skin with the unfettered tooth which immediately dispenses the poison.

"Gabbro & Gemel" - Rhys Whitley

_ This Gabbro & Gemel name brand satchel man-bag goes everywhere with him, strapped across his chest over shoulder and resting at his right hip. In it he stores many things ranging from office supplies and datapads to dug up antiquities on delivery to be sold for bits. A secret fold hidden in one of the inner linings hides contraband. To find it, a finger must hook under the zipper to unfold the flap and then hook under the base flap in the side of a divider. It cost him a pretty penny, so he treasures it carefully. Yet it is an essential for his travels, so he takes it with him even to the most hostile of environments.

"LCD Datapad" - Rhys Whitley

_ This LED-backlit touch-screen and HD datapad with holo-projection and face-time capability is his most used accessory, connecting with holo-feeds and message boards on the go. It's security system is fair for the average techie and is password protected, even just to unlock the screen.

"6 Co. Headphones" - Rhys Whitley

_ This accessory, a wireless headset, is a generic music listening device with mediocre sound cancelation capabilities purposefully worn to put minds at ease and encourage chatter otherwise kept secret. He only occasionally actually uses this device to listen to music.

 

[Lamper]

It's me!