Rul Secura

Rul Secura (or Rul'secura in Twi'leki) was a female Twi'lek/Togruta smuggler and freedom fighter, and co-captain of the Marauder alongside her wife, Xet . While she was active as a smuggler from around 32 BBY, she only rose to relative notoriety during the Clone Wars. She, and a crew she jokingly referred to as "the Odds and Ends of the Galaxy," transported supplies to civilians most affected by the war in both Republic and Separatist space. The crew would also intervene in battles to protect Republic forces, and provide safe passage to clones wishing to desert the Grand Army of the Republic.

## Biography

### Early Life

Born in 51 BBY to a pair of poor farmers on Ryloth, Rul was sold into slavery at a young age, the proceeds going to fund her mother's spice addiction. Transported to Geonosis, Rul was purchased by Archduke Poggle the Lesser, who hoped to have her trained to be a personal gladiator of his in the Great Petranaki Arena. While most of her time was spent in training, she was occasionally shown off to Poggle's guests, who were fascinated by her mixed features. Rul's weapons of choice were battle staves, although she was trained in the use of a variety of other weapons, including knives, battle axes and blasters. She even underwent basic lightsaber training.

### Career as a Gladiator

Rul was sent to fight in the arena at just fourteen years old, and from then on, it was drummed into her on a daily basis that she was expendable. Gladiators frequently died with barely a change in the crowd’s volume, and her masters quickly found replacements. After her first week in the arena, she vowed to survive as long as she could, in an effort to ensure that she would be remembered. She developed a loud, crass persona, and made a point of hamming up every appearance for the thousands-strong crowd. She used her smaller stature and greater agility to her advantage in battles; one of her favourite techniques involved dodging an opponent’s blow and stepping around them to attack from behind. It was in the arena that Rul’s Force-sensitivity came into play; she could sense what her opponent’s next move would be.

Two years into Rul’s career as a gladiator, Xet was caught by slavers just outside the system, and sold to another gladiator master to face Rul in the arena. As Rul’s first Force-sensitive opponent, the two were more evenly matched, and Rul lost their first match when Xet struck her in the face with a short sword. Xet spared Rul’s life, and later met her in the gladiators’ quarters to help her treat her wounds, and let her in on an escape plan. Grateful that Xet had spared her life, and noting her remorse with regards to the wounds she had inflicted, Rul struck up a friendship with her. While Rul became more dependent on her Force visions to fight due to her compromised sight, the scar across her face also gave her more “personality,” as her master put it, especially since she refused to wear an eye patch. The look cemented her status as a fan favourite. Her biggest fans would often paint lines on their eyes to mimic her scar.

In 32 BBY, Rul began to have dreams of what she described as "a white place." In the recurring dream, she was led through the place by a light that always settled on the same thing: a transparisteel pod containing a human embryo. Unbeknownst to her, the white place she dreamt of was in fact a laboratory in Tipoca City on Kamino, and the embryo was her future adoptive son, Nameless. The dreams continued for the full five months of his development. One night, she instead found herself in a nursery, gazing upon a newborn with a swollen eye. The dreams stopped after that.

By the time she was nineteen, Rul had accrued a substantial amount of money from her victories, but no amount of money was enough for her master to consider selling her freedom. Perhaps as punishment, or perhaps because she was getting boring, Rul’s fights started to become more and more difficult and unusual. One day, Rul and Xet were tasked to have a rematch, and halfway through the fight, an acklay was released into the arena. The two gladiators tried to fight it off, but Rul was knocked down, and before she could get up, the acklay moved to step on her. She rolled, but the acklay caught her left lek underfoot, and it was crushed.

## Personality and Traits

Rul became loud, crass and brazen during her time as a gladiator, often working up the spectators before fights and making jokes while battling. She also possessed great compassion and respect for her fellow fighters, and never killed if she could help it.

She carried this compassion forward into her career as a smuggler, frequently transporting food, water, power cells and spare parts to refugees and the poor. She believed strongly in personal freedom; people should be able to do what they like, as long as they were not hurting anybody else, or infringing on *their* freedom.

However, Rul was not opposed to using violence, or even Dark side techniques, against certain people. Usually, slavers were the ones bearing the brunt of her moral ambiguity, and she wouldn't hesitate to kill them. Anybody she views to be supporting it may have also found themselves on the receiving end of a Force choke. She could be insensitive, which often steered people away from confiding in her.

## Powers and Abilities

Rul is moderately Force-sensitive, and taught herself to use the animal friendship, Force speed and Force jump techniques even without formal training. Rul also experienced Force visions from a young age, although her limited skill with the technique only allows her to see a few seconds into the future. This does give her an advantage in combat, however. After being trained by Xet, she developed these skills further, as well as gaining limited skill in Force push. Rul also gained some knowledge of Dark side abilities under Xet’s tutelage, and has been known to use the Force choke technique.

Having been a gladiator, Rul is also an accomplished combatant; she is most familiar with battle staves, but has also used other lightweight weapons, such as knives, extensively in the arena. She also has limited experience with axes, clubs, swords, and even the occasional lightsaber that found its way into her master’s hands.

Rul is also a fair pilot, but leaves more challenging journeys to Xet or Alma.

## Trivia

* Rul's accent and way of talking are largely influenced by Arthur's "British People" vines. Her facial features, however, are modelled after those of the actress Danai Gurira.
* Originally, Rul was a full-blooded Twi'lek, and slightly taller than her finalised incarnation.