Varik Ice

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- Varik Ice

Varik Ice is a Jedi Padawan within the New Jedi Order. Born in 3ABY, he is a native of the planet Barab II, where a primitive near-human civilisation had developed over millennia. Talented in using the force to enhance his physical prowess and mental abilities, Varik struggles to externally use his force powers beyond that of basic function without losing control of them.

From a young age, Varik was believed to be an avatar of his civilisation’s god due to his natural abilities and treated as a destined leader of his people. He was expected to become a powerful tribal chieftain, eventually taking his place as a primitive king who ruled over a number of tribes that were subsumed by force.

When Varik was a young man, a devastating civil war between the tribes on Barab II resulted in the death of the majority of the population - as there was also a great sickness that prevented further births combined with the harsh environment on the planet, his people died off soon after. Wandering the planet, he was eventually found by Knights from the New Jedi Order, who detected him when he had unwittingly reached out with the force. Having no real education but a notable power in the force, he was brought into the NJO to learn as a Padawan.

## Biography

Varik was born on the floating, frozen ball of ice and snow that was called Barab II. Though the planetoid did have a forested area that was more notable in the joyous, kinder season, he was not born during this. He was born during a time of deadly snow and ice, when men would die from mere hours out on hunting. A birth was prophesied to happen soon, of a chosen child; one who represented one half of the deity worshipped by the Lorro’kah, a primitive people who inhabited the planet, descended from a colony ship that had crashed there many years ago. Varik’s birth in itself was odd, with his father not being a member of his tribe, but an odd traveller who had come to visit them - he spoke in what they regarded as their holy language and in odd riddles, disappearing not long after his meeting with Varik’s mother. However, things became dire once Varik was born; first his tribe struggled to have children that survived birth, which slowly spread to the others.

From the beginning, Varik’s force sensitivity manifested in a certain physical prowess, and his wild power allowed him to do quite basic feats at a young age, such as pushing small objects. His mother, being a priestess, demonstrated his powers to the rest of their tribe, and he was declared to have the name Varik from then on - the name for the male half of their people’s god. Other tribes saw him as a false prophet and a scourge that prevented new children, and at a young age, attempts were made on his life by raiding parties.

He was trained quickly to fight and kill, to hunt and survive in the harsh world in which he lived. He was educated by his mother and other priests in not only the native tongue of his people but in the ‘holy language’ that the gods spoke, and that had no written form - what the rest of the galaxy referred to as Basic. Varik had expectations placed on him that were higher than other children; he was expected to pass his first rituals around the age of 12, to qualify for positions of responsibility usually reserved for adult men. He went out on a hunt alone, tracking a large beast that often acted as a predator for their people, rather than the other way around.

When Varik returned with the pelt, he was hailed and accepted. Yet, despite being a full man, he was not confirmed as the vessel of god yet. After passing other tests of the spirit and mind, he was challenged to win a ritual combat against a man from one of the tribes that declared him fake. Seeing his opponent as little more than a boy, the other man gladly took on Varik. Yet, despite his age, he was faster and stronger than he should’ve been, his natural talents in the force enhancing his already impressive abilities.

As his opponent fell dead, the other tribe was silenced, eventually falling into the fold and wishing to join beneath Varik. Finally, he was hailed as the god and king he was convinced he had always been. Varik became convinced that he was to join their people together as one tribe, and then maybe he could right the wrong of his people being unable to have children. The mate he had been told would be born, a representative of the warmth and other half of their god, had never come. First, it was through talking, and then trade. Soon after, it was through force. Varik led the warriors under him to fight others, to do what he felt he had to in order to fulfill the destiny he was told was his.

Soon, Varik was considered a ruler over all the tribes as god and king, even as he was still not a fully grown man. His reign was particularly short as he mismanaged resources and failed to keep warring tribes from one another, with about half of them banding together to oppose him. As the births still did not come and their people waned, he was accused of being a demon there to poison and destroy them. Though those that sided with him still believed he was the avatar he thought of himself as, it mattered little in the end.

The opposing sides destroyed each other. Though Varik lived, almost all of those who followed him were dead, and that was even more so for those against him. Realising what he had done, Varik renounced what he was as guilt overcame him and set himself on a pilgrimage, deciding to travel the length of his planet over and over until he passed - the people left rejected him, knowing they too were doomed. For the next few months, he wandered, fighting his planet’s predators and surviving the elements. Eventually, the snows and harsh bitter wind calmed somewhat and Varik was able to find and explore the area of forest his world held; the first time in his life he had seen trees.

The young man lived in this area, surviving within it and learning how to live in a place where food was slightly more plentiful. More importantly, the area seemed to fill him with a sense of belonging and calm the closer he got to the centre of it. He would often sit there and close his eyes, listening to the animals and to the rustling of the trees, focusing on it for much longer than he realised. Though he did not know at the time, he was able to commune with the force more easily in this place, and in turn, his presence helped it grow as it had originally been intended to.

Though Varik did not notice at first, the forest had soon doubled in size as he used its calm to try and pray - not to the gods his people believed in, but to anything. With his people gone, part of him wished to try and mend his mistakes, to fix what he had brought upon them somehow. He did not realise that someone was in fact, listening - reaching out to the force had sent a small signal through it and alerted members of the new Jedi Order, who travelled to Barab II to seek out the strange disturbance in the force.

When the odd spaceship arrived, Varik prepared himself for the end. Not having any knowledge of what it was, he assumed the ice god that he considered his true father had come in a strange vehicle to end him. Instead, robed figures came instead. Though at first he was threatened by them, speaking in what was considered the ‘holy tongue’ of Basic helped relax him. Even so, his people’s grasp on the language had declined and he had much to learn.

Varik was taken in the ship back to Odessen where other force-sensitive individuals had been gathered, and his first lessons covered more basic education. Though he grasped the concepts well, the reading of the Aurebesh alphabet was a significant struggle for him, being so different in its written form from his native tongue. Combat training and more practical applications came more easily to him - he had survival instincts and an edge many of the other padawans with more normal lives had not come there with. However, that presented its own challenge; exercising restraint.

Varik continues to persevere with his lessons, dedicating himself to the Jedi way of life. He views it as his atonement, and perhaps a way to fulfill the prophecy placed upon him after all - even if he could not bring happiness to his people, who he does his best to preserve the memory of, he could try to bring it to peoples across the galaxy.