Mikel Marzullo

==Profile==
"Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."
===Personality===
If anything can be said of Mikel, it is that his personality has evolved during his life. When he was a child, it seemed to be endless optimism and joy. Nothing could be out of his reach, though he was never arrogant about it. And he always had a firm set of morals, which he used to help whoever he could. This ideal carried over to when he became a Jedi, though it was slowly being changed. As a Padawan, he started to hear more about the Sith. That caused him to start to grow a dislike for their ways. Yet he also pitied them, as he saw them as weak due to what they did. But that would change when he became a Knight, a strong one in his own mind, and began to fight against them. His thoughts towards them changed to hate, a hate for the destruction they caused. But more importantly a hate for their very existance. He sought to kill them, erase them, and would go so far as to seek them out. This constant fighting caused him to become arrogant, however, as he was the champion in his own mind. Those two things, the hatred and arrogance, fed each other. Both slowly becoming stronger until he became taken over by both of them. His hatred for Sith had evolved to hatred of anyone who proved him wrong. His arrogance made him challenge his fellow Jedi. Fighting was all he thought about, and then it happened. Then he fell from the light, his hatred directed at those who had "failed" him. Everything was changing. Along the way, another aspect of him had changed, even. His loyalty, it grew to be attached to only a select few. And there was one raised higher than the others. The arrogance, hatred, and scant loyalty, would be what defined him in the years to come. Yet it was dying out, the hatred being replaced by something else. Mikel was starting to become the calm that the Jedi had wanted him to be, his hatred being replaced and taken over by what most would see as arrogance. It had become cemented in his mind that every other being that wasn't River Shanshu, Karma Shanshu, or himself, were inferior. The others were just things, even. Not even his former allies would be immune, slowly becoming backdrops in his mind as something else took over. What most see as insanity, he sees as the truth.
===A look in the mirror===
Even when Mikel started out as a Jedi, his attire differed from the other padawans. That was because he was honoring his master, black robes to match those of Link Tolen. Those same style of robes, albeit it different robes to be sure, still are to be seen. Due to his long years of training, he has developed a slender, yet toned, figure. This is something that sets him apart from some of the Sith that seem to frighten by sheer size. Not only that, but his brown hair and blue eyes, along with the way his face looks, would almost make him seem kind. In fact, he really isn't scary looking in any way.
===Weapons, ways of fighting, and other useless information===
When Mikel was a Jedi Padawan, a Knight, and even up until the last days of him being a Sith Knight, he had but two lightsabers that he valued. Theu were green and blue, and he trained with them excessively. Afterwards, they got destroyed at the hands of two separate opponents. That taught him an important lesson about keeping spare lightsabers. Ever since then, he has tried to make sure that he will not lose for a lack of a weapon. Nowadays he carries a lightstaff, and two lightsabers. Usually all of them are of the same color, red, as that was what he could pilfer from the Sith Temple. Mikel has always worked hard to keep up with his lightsaber combat, and so he has become more attuned with using actual weapons than some of his fellow Sith. This means that he can adapt in strategy, always trying to gain the upper hand. From defense to attack, it doesn't matter. But this also means that his abilites with the force are lesser than a lot of his fellow Sith.
==History before the Jedi==
As Mikel was born on Tatooine, Mikel always thought about what laid anywhere else in the universe. As soon as he could talk, he started to ask, non-stop, what there was beyond Tatooine. Soon, everyone got tired of the question and Mikel ended up being ignored for a good portion of his life. During his childhood, Mikel had learned how to wield a blade but not enough to be a master at it. He had to stop learning when his mother forbade it until Mikel grew up. Leaving home at 18 was something that Mikel had thought about all his life. He didn't exactly know why then but he felt that he should leave then and not look back. After leaving though, Mikel only knew that one thing was certain. He would have to figure out something to do with his life. One time when he was on Naboo, he ran into one of the Jedi there. The Jedi told him that he had potential to be a Jedi.
==And as a Jedi...==
===Training as Jedi Padawan===
Arriving at the temple, Mikel was greeted nicely and later trained by Jed Knight Link Tolen. Training progressed well and Mikel learned at a decent speed until Link decided that he should be promoted and went before the council and Mikel then got promoted to Jedi Knight. Before that happened, though, Mikel fought against the Sith when they tried to besiege the city of Theed. 
===Years of the Jedi Knighthood===
He was ecstatic when Knighted, and went on any mission he could. That lead him to fight the Sith on many occasions, and to meet one in particular. Almost seemingly a chance meeting, Mikel ran into a Sith Master named Malice Draclau. Mikel did his best to fight against him, protecting a few of his comrades. But Malice was too strong, and almost killed Mikel easily. This caused Mikel to hate him horribly. And he vowed to kill the Sith if it was the last thing he did. A little after that, Mikel went into relative seclusion. But like any good Jedi he returned just a few years later hopefully wiser. His return was to the Jedi Brotherhood, a group that had formed while he was absent. Getting there he helped repel the invasion by the Separatists. He fought the Count, and then Gene Solo. Those battles cost him his right hand and left leg below the knee. But the people there, even as nice as they were, left Mikel with some poor feelings. Several of the Masters there had been Padawans when he was a Knight. After a little time at The Jedi Brotherhood, Mikel returned to his home at the Naboo temple.
He returned just around the time of the Knightfall invasion. This led to another encounter with Malice Draclau, and a new threat. The Yuuzhan Vong leader, Artemis Obauldi, was only defeated by Tantor Aden. But during that battle, Mikel abandoned them in the fight to go after Malice. The battle did not end with Malice's death though. Reports came in that Sky had finished Malice off. Mikel knew that the Sith would not die so easily, and waited for his return. In his mind, the only one that could kill Malice was Mikel. He asked around about Link at the temple at Naboo, but no luck. He participated in the battle at Coruscant, where he saved the Jedi master, Bethany Kismet. He had not seen her in a long time, and could not explain the odd feeling he had when she was around. He would do anything to keep her happy, keep her safe from harm. Realizing that he no longer knew many of the people there, he went back to the Brotherhood. Still he tried to hold on to the light, his Jedi path. But slowly he was starting to drift from it. He continued to go on missions to help out the Brotherhood, and that led to another fateful encounter. He met a Rogue Sith Master, named River Shanshu. 
Through her, he learned much about pain. During the aftermath, Mikel stabbed his once valued friend Vohn in the back with a knife. But he put that out of his mind, and life went on as it always did. Soon Mikel was in love, with a Jedi Padawan Isabelle Shiroph. They went on a couple of missions together, both happy just to be around each other. Then she got kidnapped by a Sith, Stephen Meteor. Then the Sith tried to get Mikel to join the Sith, and Mikel gave in to his hatred more than he ever had. After causing the Sith to flee, Mikel went off once again to think. But this time several Jedi and a couple Sith went to try and influence his thoughts. River appeared, and laid claim on Mikel. He accepted, glad to think somebody cared for him. One of the Jedi was Bethany, and he confessed his love for her. She turned him down, and he stabbed himself in the gut. Almost dying, he was saved by Bethany and brought back to the Jedi. That prevented him from leaving with River as he had promised. Then he continued, and his allegiances were tested again by a Sith Mistress known as Athena. He ended up being saved by a fellow Jedi, and taken back to the temple. 
While that had happened, River had been captured. Mikel rushed to her, and ended up setting her free. His allegiance was to her, he made that perfectly clear to everyone. A bit later, he was sent on a mission to redeem himself. That was where things went wrong. He ran into a Sith Knight, Thistle. This young, six year old, girl was just the one to seal the fate of the Knight. 
==Once a Jedi, now a Sith==
===The fall of a Jedi, the rise of a Sith===
She led him down the path of the dark side, and he went with her to the Dark Sith Order. One of the first things he did as a Sith was to influence, however little his influence was, the Outlaw takeover of Nar Shadaa Before he got much training, he participated in two battles. The Sith invaded Dathomir, where he fought against many of the Jedi from the Brotherhood. His first act was to kill his old lover, Isabelle. After that he fought many other Jedi, as they sought revenge. Somehow he got out of there alive, despite being defeated three times. By around the end of the battle, he was passed out in his ship. Not long after he was defeated, the Sith were forced to retreat from the planet. A sad day, when the Jedi defeated the Sith. The next was Tyferra. Mikel helped in the defense of the planet. After being defeated due to his arrogance in one on one combat, Mikel did his best to hold the capital. And for a while his defenses worked. The Sith even had been able to send out some forces to attack one of the Republic forward command centers. But then the remaining forces dug in, and it turned to a siege. Then the capital was evactuated, as a ship was rammed into it. Despite that, the Sith would regroup and the defense would continue. It didn't take too long for Mikel to run into a raiding group and started to make his way back to where he could regroup with the other Sith. After a long time of fighting, and doing his best to hold off the enemy as greatly as he could, a peace was signed. The planet was divided, much to Mikel's dismay. And then under the teachings of Darth Terace, Mikel hoped to increase his strength. Quickly he grasped the teachings of his Master and was promoted to a Sith Knight.
===Once again a Knight, though to a different order===
As a Knight Mikel continued to try and learn everything he could. And he tested his skills often, going against an aging Jedi Master, Siris Nido. That battle did not end with the Jedi's death, which meant that Mikel needed to practice more. He even went so far as to end up helping a Jedi in exchange for copies of some very old documents. But when he went to claim his prize, the Jedi tried to deny his claim. After a masked stranger, Corringath, appeared and quickly dispatched of another Jedi on the scene the three started to fight for the document. It ended quite nicely for him, as he was somehow able to obtain the document from the Jedi before retreating to preven being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Jedi. 
Not much happened for a while, no Apprentices to speak of. Though he was able to get an old friend to join the Sith, Steph Hinata. It didn't even take much, though they both felt as though they had somehow failed the othet before as Jedi. For some reason, she did not want to be trained by him. He could only speculate that it had to do with before. That it had to do with the fact that she thought that she had failed him. Their friendship, of course, was not going to last. Soon she betrayed him, and they both tried to kill each other. During this time, he almost completely trained his first Apprentice. But it was a failed attempt, and soon she joined her mother, Athena, as a rogue. After a lot of nothing happening, Mikel decided it was time for him to go to his small house at Corellia. That would help him get away from the business of being a Sith. But no sooner had he got there, than the Jedi attacked it. 
Despite his best efforts, the Jedi took the planet from the Empire and he was forced to retreat. It seemed that he was determined to lose, as there had not been many victories for him. Soon he challenged Malice again, in which he suffered a defeat due to the illusion that was used against him. The Sith Master had somehow looked like River. This lost gave Mikel an insight, he had to go find River. In fact, one could say he needed to be around her. Soon he did, and as normal she inflicted much pain upon him. He did his best to inflict as much pain as he could to her, as that was what she wanted. They both passed out, waking in a hospital. Their next destination was Cato Nemoidia, in which the events ended in their marriage. It was a happy day for Mikel, being with the woman he loved. But he awoke in a hospital again, to realize that his wife didn't remember it. 
She had been drugged through the flesh that she had eaten during their short stay on the planet. But he was determined to think that she still loved him, though she knocked him out and left for no apparent reason. After that, he tried to go out and prove himself. While it was mostly for himself, it was also in the hopes that River might notice what he was doing. He even went so far as to try to kill Kyle Solo, of whom he used to be friends with. The battle ended with his defeat, due mostly to his own carelessness. The defeat wasn't the only thing that he suffered, but also he suffered being taken to trial for his crimes.There was little justice to be seen at this trial, and he was once unleashed on an unsuspecting galaxy. Once again, he went to search for River. 
This time, though, they met at the ball. Mikel was able to "win" her at the auction and prevent one of the lesser beings from trying anything. The Ball was a rather interesting event, where River seemed to show her love for Mikel. Unlike before, she sought his love and affection. (insert more about the ball). But his duty to the Sith called him back again, and soon he was helping to claim the planet of Coruscant for the Sith Council. After a long battle, the Sith were able to capture the planet and drive away any of the people who would claim the planet for their own. But Mikel didn't actually fight a majority of the battle against the Imperials. He had first gotten captured by some crimelords that he had taken money from. His rescue was by his wife, River Shanshu. After they were reunited, it wasn't long before they had to fight against an enemy. This time, it was the fallen dread lord, Artemis Obauldi. In the course of the battle, one of his lightsabers was crushed by Artemis, who then ran away. The battle was won, but soon Mikel was passed out with River once again leaving him. For Mikel, not much happened in the galaxy. Immediately, he tried to think of a way to reach River again. The only idea he could think of was to trick her, which would mean that he would pretend to be kidnapped. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he realized that his fake prison was a trick. His captors meant to sell River and Mikel, they had captured River when she came to recuse Mikel, and split the money between them. 
But Mikel wouldn't allow that, and he was able to free them before anything could happen. The real surprise, though, came afterwards. They went on a date, something that Mikel didn't expect. They walked along the beach, and soon they both went swimming. While they were swimming, River nearly died to be saved by her Knight.
===Sith Master Shanshu===
It was afterwards that Mikel was told by River that he had been elevated to the rank of Sith Master. Between the time that they got done swimming, and before they left the beach completely, the two shared their love in a more physical way. But he messed up, and revealed that they were married, This seemed to be something that she didn't know, and in her anger she cut off Mikel's arm. Then she walked up the snowy mountain, testing his devotion to her in this way. His pants had been lost to him, which made this journey even worse. The cold ate at him, but it was the pain of knowing that he hurt the one he loved that was worst. But through this test, their love endured, and they even planned another wedding. Something that he thought wouldn't take place, and yet it did. During the course of the wedding, many glorious things happened. Mikel was able to get revenge on Steph, removing her ability to have babies. Of course, he was not the only one to get his revenge. It seemed that everyone that was invited did, unfortunately for Mikel, and he went through yet another beating at the hands of those deemed inferior. The wedding ended, and they were married again. But for now, they would part ways. As a Master, Mikel didn't do a lot for the order. He helped defend the Empire's world, Alderaan, though he proved to be worse to his fellow Sith than the Jedi. He had started to torture an apprentice, and then ended up in a fight with two Knights. If it hadn't been for Peiori's appearance, they might have all killed one another. It wasn't long after that, the Jedi were able to finally get to the planet. This was due to what Mikel would see as the shortcomings of the Empire. But it didn't take long for Mikel to send the invaders packing, though they did not secure the planet for the Sith Council. 
There wasn't going to be any rest for him, though, as he found himself part of a team sent to meet up with Artemis Obauldi. The trip turned into a trap, it seemed, when the droids in the hangar of a ship activated and attacked. The small band of Sith fought for their lives, Mikel using this time to strength his own hold over the darkside as he delved deeper and was able to use something he hadn't expected. The Master was able to use force lightning, much to his own surprise. But his happiness wouldn't be shared by all, and once again he ended up fighting with Avicus after the droid threat had subsided. Once more their fight ended without a winner, and everyone parted ways on the failed mission. After all of this, Mikel looked forward to some time to find his wife again. Once again she had seemingly disappeared off the face of the galaxy. Yet he wasn't able to, once again being called to do some buisness for the Order. This time he was sent to Fondor, where he worked with the former DSO member Darth Cazador. Quickly they went to fight the Jedi, soon starting to overwhelm the single Knight they ran into. Caleb did his best to throw them on the defense, however this was short lived. Yet another Sith Master, Peiori Caligga, appeared on the scene to help the already one sided battle. The battle continued for a while, though Mikel sat out the rest of it. After all, Peiori was doing a fine job of handling the Jedi Knight.
The next fight happened on an all too familiar planet, Naboo. By this time, he cared little for the order that he served. Yet somehow he had been able to be talked into going to cause a distraction in the city of Theed. He was supposed to help a group of Sith that were there to cause as much destruction as they could. Then the Jedi would show up, as they did, and the rols of distraction would be played out. Yet it seemed that a ghost of his past would be the one that went after him. Tantor Aden], a Jedi Master and somebody who Mikel had known during his time as a Jedi, was the one dispatched along with a Knight, Steanler. The fight lasted for a while, until Tantor Aden taunted Mikel about his wife, River Shanshu. Those words set Mikel off, and he charged just to meet the end of a lightsaber. If it wasn't for the help of Sophie Maurow, a fellow Sith Master, Mikel would have surely died there. But he didn't, and stmbed away to heal the wounds only to be aided by the same Jedi Knight that had stabbed him.
Of course, he planned on searching for his wife after all of this. Yet once again, he got pulled into another mission for the Council. This time it had to do with a Jedi Master, Kamon Vondiranach who had been fooled and then was knocked out. But it was obvious that the Jedi would come after him, and that was why he was there to plot with several other Sith. Of course, it wouldn't go too well at first, since Steph Hinata was going to be one of the other people there. Not only that, but they almost fought. Mikel had made a comment bout her flat chest, which offended her greatly.
Afterwards, not much seemed to change about the daily life of Mikel. He was sent on missions to disrupt the work of the Jedi, even defending against the assaults that seemed to be completely against what their opponents' code stood for. Another weakening in the galaxy, something that would cause nothing short of a laugh for him. Everything around him was changing, and soon he would get caught in the whirlpool. Once again, Mikel was reduced to looking for his wife, River. This time, however, he ran into the woman who had tried to kill him before. 
Lanei Duran, just as beautiful in his eyes as before, seemed intent on ruining their relationship. Not by any normal means, but she found something about Mikel that he hadn't wanted to see. She saw him as somebody that was afraid of River, not somebody that loved her. Words filtered into the back of his mind and stayed there, the quest for River soon ending without anything happening. That was when the Sith decided that they would strike again. This time it was the planet of Glee Anslem that would be their target. Mikel was glad to fight, going against the best of them, while making even more enemies on the Council. 
Vohn, Malice, both of them eager to try to kill him. But as he continued to fight, broken and bloodied, it hit him. All of this was pointless. He hated the Council, he hated the darkside, he hated what he had become. Dropping the Sith Artifact that he had taken, the weapon that he had, Mikel returned to his shuttle and left. Without a single word to anyone, he had left the Sith. His travels ended up taking him to the Empire, to meet with somebody he wouldn't have expected. Lady Velori, she welcomed him to join the Crimson Guard. All it would cost was his ability to use the force.
===Crimson Guard, Crimson Elite===
A new life, a new way of doing things, it all held such grand prospects. It also held a fear. After all the time as a force user, he wouldn't be able to do any of it. With a few moments of thought, he took the plunge. He would be able to train again, he would quickly realize that he was stronger than ever. In his mind, this was his strength. With that, the Crimson Guard sent him out into the galaxy to further the name of the Empire. First he had gone to the Thyferra, being sent there almost immediately after coming aboard. 
They were going to take the planet from the Sith, though that would end up being a venture that led to an alliance instead of a captured planet. An alliance, and Mikel had been sent to secure another one. This time, it was with the family known as the Marzullo. They continued to talk, and then Mikel proposed a longer alliance. The only known way was marriage, something that he hadn't known. But Raine seemed to actually care about him, and soon he happily agreed. It was a happy day, at least until he was supposed to meet the family. 
They were split, some of them hating Mikel and others being accepting of their happiness. The marriage would continue, though, and Mikel happily took on the name Marzullo. Either way, the performance of the Crimson Guard in battle had led to another event. Velori led them to battle, but against the very leader of the Empire. Without much hope, they infiltrated the ship that Bill commanded and everyone started to make their way to the crazed leader. 
By the end of the fight, Velori had been crowned Empress and he had been given command of the Crimson Guard. That meant he would be given a lot more authority, and a lot more responsibility to make sure that the Empress was safe. To that end, he made sure that he guarded her whenever the Sith sent an emissary, though the fact it was Emryc made it a little more difficult. They were allies, though, and Mikel had to plan the attack to make the Guard known. Yinchorr came to mind, and that was where he attacked.
Category:Active Character
Category:Imperials
Category:Crimson Guard
Category:Character
Category:The Marzullo Clan
Category:Elite