Vazus Mandrake

Vazus Mandrake was a Human male from the planet Corulag. Born during the waning years of the Galactic Republic and middle-aged by the time of the Clone Wars, Mandrake commanded a mercenary unit that had been hired by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist government that was fighting the Republic, and he was sent to fight on the planet Felucia in the Outer Rim. However, during the battle, Mandrake's unit was wiped out by Republic troops, and Mandrake fled into the Felucian jungle.
Mandrake nursed himself back to health and, following the end of the Clone Wars and the formation of the Galactic Empire, went to live with a group of Felucians. He stayed with them in a village deep in the Felucian jungle, where he encountered a group of Alderaanian Resistance agents who were passing through the forest. An Imperial scout trooper flew by the village on a speeder bike, so Mandrake persuaded the agents to leave and prevent the trooper from reporting the village's location to the Empire.
==Biography==
===The Clone Wars===
Vazus Mandrake was a Human who was born on the planet Corulag during the waning years of the Galactic Republic and was his middle-aged by the time of the Clone Wars. Mandrake was the commander of a group of mercenaries who were hired by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a separatist government that was fighting the Republic. During the later stages of the war, he and his troops were sent to fight on Felucia, a jungle-covered planet that was located in the Outer Rim. They brought with them a group of kybucks, a species of ungulate creatures that were native to the planet Kashyyyk and could be used as mounts. During a battle against Republic forces there, Mandrake's unit was attacked and destroyed by several Republic clone troopers. Mandrake was seriously injured in the engagement, and he was able escape from the troopers by crawling off into the Felucian jungle.
Alone in the jungle, Mandrake nursed himself back to health. Some of the kybucks had survived the battle, so Mandrake tended to them and named them after his fallen comrades. Elsewhere, the leaders of the Confederacy were executed by the Sith apprentice Darth Vader, ending the Clone Wars and leading to the reformation of the Republic into the more authoritarian Galactic Empire. When Mandrake learned of the existence of the new government, he decided to go and live with the Felucians, Felucia's native sentient species.
===Life with the Felucians===
Mandrake went to live with a group of Felucians at a remote village that was located deep in the jungle. They accepted him into their community, and he learned to speak Felucianese, which he eventually became fluent in. However, when the Empire established a prison on Felucia, many of the Felucians from the village were imprisoned in the facility, where its commander, Captain Vischera, experimented on them. This angered Mandrake, and he planned to sabotage the facility, although he doubted he could do so by himself.
After the Imperial Admiral Gilder Varth began aiding the Alderaanian Resistance, an anti-Imperial rebel group, the admiral was sent to the Felucian prison by the Empire. Senator Bail Prestor Organa, the leader of the Resistance, responded by dispatching a group of agents to Felucia to free Varth. However, as they trekked through the jungle on their way to the facility, they came to the edge of the village where Mandrake lived. Believing them to be Imperials, some Felucian scouts from the village attacked the Resistance agents. Mandrake realized from their appearances that the agents were not Imperials, so he intervened and broke up the fight.
The agents entered the village and Mandrake conversed with them, as he was curious about why they were on Felucia. However, a short time later, they were interrupted when an Imperial scout trooper from the prison flew by the village on a speeder bike. This worried Mandrake, as he believed that the trooper would report the village's location to the Empire, who would launch an attack on the village. However, Mandrake realized that, as the chemicals released by mushrooms that grew in the area blocked long-range communications, the trooper wouldn't be able to report in until it arrived back at the prison. If the trooper was stopped, the village would be safe, so Mandrake begged the Resistance agents to take his kybucks and chase after the Imperial. The agents agreed and after mounting the kybucks, they rode off in pursuit of the speeder bike.
==Personality and traits==
Mandrake had a scarred face and stringy gray hair. Although he was generally genial, he felt bitter toward the Empire because of his defeat during the Clone Wars. His dislike of them was increased by the presence of the Imperial prison on Felucia, which he wanted to destroy. However, he was unwilling to attack it by himself; living with the Felucians had made him a more measured person, and he was not as eager to fight as he had been when he was a mercenary.
==Behind the scenes==
Mandrake was created by writer Rodney Thompson and appeared in The Traitor's Gambit, the first scenario in the Dawn of Defiance campaign, a Wizards of the Coast online supplement to the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. In the supplement, the players role-play as the Alderaanian Resistance agents and their actions can influence what Mandrake does. After the player characters have fought the Felucian scouts, if the players are unwilling to enter the Felucian village, then Mandrake invites them in. Once they enter the village, Mandrake offers to act as a go-between for the players and the villages, if the players did not bring a translator droid with them. If the players reveal to Mandrake that they are opposed to the Empire, then he becomes very friendly with them and treats them like old friends. If they tell him that they are going to the Imperial prison, he gives them an explosive device and asks them to detonate it in the prison's communications center, which he believes will destroy the entire structure.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Confederacy military personnel
Category:Corulag residents
Category:Felucia residents
Category:Humans
Category:Males
Category:Mercenaries
Category:Soldiers