Tural Varta

Tural Varta is a male Miraluka and Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, formerly a member of the Jedi High Council.

History
Tural Varta was born on Coruscant to a female medical corps officer (Jeliin K'dan) and a Jedi Knight (Hadan Varta) who was granted permission to marry her. Tural was raised collectively by the Jedi Order and saw little of his parents. By the time he could walk, he was already being trained in the use of the Force.

When he was seven years old, Tural was informed that his birth-mother had been killed in an attack on an outer-rim world, but the news had little effect on him, having never been close to either of his parents. By that time, he had already developed a fascination with the art and science of making war. Games of strategy came naturally to him and he had a talent for manipulating the rules to his advantage.

Shortly after that, he entered a divoran holochess tournament for temple younglings. Although he only came in at fifth place, his talent was recognized by the Jedi Master, and famed general at the time, Pei-Rai-Lao (a female Cerean.) Just returning from the campaign against the Sith which had claimed the life of her padawan, she decided to take the young Miralukan on as her new apprentice.

Tural continued his training at the temple until the age of 14, spending what little spare time he had studying military history, strategy, and tactics. Just before leaving, he was informed of the death of his blood-father, a master by then, who had been killed by a giant creature while on a rescue-mission on a recently-developed world. As with the death of his mother, it affected him very little. However, it did make him realize the cold, sometimes bitter nature of the order's way of life.

He began to travel then with his master on her battles against the Sith and got a real taste of war. He assisted in strategic planning and tactical command of the operations, even leading missions to topple Sith strongholds. He became a renowned military mind throughout the Republic. At the age of 24, Tural became a Jedi Knight.

Tural swept across the galaxy then, under the order of the Jedi Council and with fleets of Republic warships under his command. He took to the outer-rim and battled the Sith Empire with ruthlessness, crushing Lord after Lord, pushing the borders further back every year.

He became a master at the age of 35 and was assigned a padawan, a brilliant Arkanian girl named Ulis Yind. She was a cold, seemingly emotionless girl who absorbed his teachings without pause.

At the age of 40, Tural met Elasa Silvas, a young human woman who'd just become a Jedi Knight and was placed as a tactical officer under his command. The two of them developed a deep connection and eventually fell in love. They kept their relationship a secret for the next several years.

When his apprentice turned 19 (when he was 45,) she told him plainly that she had surpassed him in every way and demanded that she be elevated to the status of Jedi Knight. When both Master Varta and the High Council denied her petition, she stole a vessel and made for the imperial border, intending to join the ranks of the Sith.

Tural was ordered to pursue his apprentice and destroy her. Elasa accompanied him on his mission. They caught up with her slower-moving ship and boarded. Tural had a duel with his apprentice, but was outmatched by her skill with a lightsaber. As she prepared to make the killing blow, Elasa shot her in the head with a high-velocity blaster, killing her instantly.

Tural felt such gratitude for his lover who'd saved his life that he no longer wanted to keep their relationship a secret. As a Miralukan, he was allowed to petition the council for the right to marry a member of his own species. He made that petition, wording it ambiguously so that the council's agreement would allow him to marry a member of any species, even a member of the order. The council agreed and the two wed without delay. Although the council was unanimously furious, luck was on the side of the lovers. The scheme was timed in perfect accordance with a Sith assault upon the outer-rim territories.

The two left immediately to battle the Sith. For the next three years, they held off the attack and even gained a few vital worlds for the Republic. They had a child together out there in the midst of war and raised her for two years. They named her Amata. In a vicious assault, Elasa's fleet was destroyed and her along with it. Tural shaved his head in mourning for his wife and led a year-long campaign against the Sith of the region which pushed back the borders further than they'd been in decades.

The war over, Master Varta returned to Coruscant with his young daughter. Strong in the Force like both of her parents, Amata was placed with the temple younglings and the council overlooked Tural's indiscretions to make him a member of the High Council. Unlike his own parents, he maintained a close relationship with his daughter throughout her training. He assigned her as a padawan to Master Loran Yago, a Jedi Shadow, directing her career so that she'd someday become an elite sentinel.

As a member of the High Council, Master Varta continued to command the Republic military as a strategist, but found even greater power as a diplomat. He visited many member worlds to convince them not to submit to the Empire and even several Imperial worlds to convince them to join the Republic. He became a regular visitor to the Senate, exercising his silver tongue to appeal for various policy changes regarding the military and the outer-rim member systems. His calls for the drastic reduction of taxes and increase of agricultural subsidies in the outer-rim worlds, constantly in danger of submitting to the rule of the Sith, made him extremely popular among the politicians representing the affected worlds.

Suddenly, he had become a very popular face in politics and was being encouraged by his fellow high-council members to make an attempt to become chancellor. He built up his political alliances within the senate and put himself into the bidding. He was elected by a wide margin, but found himself a great many political rivals, not least of which being the senator of Alderaan, who is his constant critic, and allies of the senator.

Tural has served as the Supreme Chancellor for the past year. His Daughter, at 19, has become a Jedi Knight, a Jedi Shadow who receives missions of espionage and assassination, sometimes from Tural, himself. His political rivals often accuse him of attempting to extend Jedi control over the government and the military (accusations which he's never denied outright) and of being obsessed with the total destruction of the Sith Empire and all who inhabit it.

Personality and Traits
Tural Varta is a man of simple tastes and simple desires. His monastic upbringing is often at odds with his life as a politician. He dresses as plainly as is socially acceptable and devotes most of his salary to charity. His new wealth and the expectation of extravagant living make him mildly uncomfortable, but he tries to accept the culture of the Republic nobility as best as he can.

He is often viewed as a man of gentle demeanor who rarely shows anger. This is generally unexpected from people who expect to find the war-criminal who cut a swath of destruction rivaling the brutality of the Sith. His smile is soft and genuine, even when addressing his rivals.

Powers and Abilities
In his younger days, Tural was known to use the Force in uncommon ways, often improvising with telekinesis to create particularly devastating attacks. Overuse of this ability has weakened him physically, though.

Tural's most powerful ability in the Force is his ability to sense the feelings, and sometimes even the thoughts, of others. He can detect most subterfuge instantaneously. He can extend this power into manipulating the will of others without verbal commands or causing illusory, though debilitating pain.

His defense against the Force-powers of others is extraordinary and his telekinetic powers are powerful enough to significantly alter the trajectory of nearby vessels.