Character Name: Paku Reem
Race: Duros
Gender: Male
Light Side/Dark Side Ratio: 10/7
Description: As in all members of the Duros race, Paku Reem has large, orb-like red eyes and a bulb-shaped skull with a large braincase. Duros also lack a nose. A result of growing up under the twin suns of Tatooiine, Paku’s skin is darker and more leathery than that of most Duros. At five feet, ten inches, he is also of slightly below average height for a Duros. Generally, Paku wears relatively simple garments in varying greys and browns, but occasionally, he will wear a set of old, pre-Clone War body armour he purchased for next to nothing from a junk dealer.
Homeworld: Tatooine
History: Paku Reem was born on Tatooiine during one of his father’s many stopovers on the planet. Vuba Reem was captain of a transport that carried cargo across the galaxy, causing him to be away from his home planet of Duros for months at a time. In order to maintain some semblance of a normal life, Vuba’s wife Yio joined his crew and for years, the pair travelled the stars together.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Yio, Vuba had fallen deeply into debt financing upgrades and overhauls to his rapidly deteriorating freighter. While on a one-week stopover on Tatooiine, the InterGalactic Banking Clan impounded Vuba’s ship for non-payment. The one-week stopover became 4 months, during which time Paku was born. With one more mouth to feed and the constantly increasing debts, the Reem family sunk further and further into financial ruin.
In a last-ditch effort to save his business, his ship and his family, Vuba took a navigator position aboard a smuggling vessel owned by the crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Thanks largely to this job – and the fact that it was under the table and thus his income out of sight of the tax collectors – Vuba was able to pay off his debts to the Banking Clan and regain ownership of his freighter and had high hopes of resuming his cargo hauling business to pay off his remaining debts. However, fate intervened and Vuba died of natural causes two weeks after regaining control of his ship. Paku, at this time, was three years old.
With no piloting skills of her own and without any financial resources whatsoever, Yio immediately sold her late husband’s ship and used the proceeds to set up a small shop in Mos Eisley, selling supplies to moisture farmers and transient spacers. She also worked as a courier for Jabba, collecting money, information and goods from incoming vessels and transporting them to his palace, all under the guise of her supply business. As a result of this business connection, young Paku spent a great deal of time in and around Jabba’s palace as well as running around the docking bays of Mos Eisley. It was at the former that, at age eight, he met a Rodian female named Triiba, one year his junior. Triiba was the daughter of a bounty hunter who worked for Jabba and as he was frequently off on assignments for the crime lord, Triiba spent most of her time alone, wandering the halls of the palace, getting into as much trouble as she could without bringing herself to the Hutt’s attention. She happily roped Paku into joining her adventures and in their adolescent years the duo took particular pleasure in playing pranks on the dim-witted Gamorreans. From their first meeting, Paku and Triiba were virtually inseparable. For Paku, it was wonderful to have someone roughly his own age who shared many of the same interests – especially space travel. For Triiba, it was nice to have a friend at all. Rodians give off an odd, oily smell that many species find unpleasant – for young Triiba, this meant that most children either avoided her or made fun of her. However, entirely lacking in any of the anatomical structures associated with the olfactory senses, a Duros like Paku would not be at all affected by the odour.
As the pair grew older and outgrew their practical jokes on less intelligent bipeds, they began making plans for a future business together, including the purchase of a top-of-the-line Corellian transport. Both began working at the docking bays in various capacities and Triiba began participating in swoop races, on which she would also bet a good chunk of her earnings. Always the more cautious of the two, Paku saved his pay and let his friend feed her need for adventure, as long as she didn’t put herself into debt. Within a few years, the duo had accumulated enough capital to make a down payment on a freighter, but with his deep aversion to debt, Paku had different ideas. Both he and Triiba had very good mechanical skills and during their time at Jabba’s palace, they had befriended a group of Jawas who travelled the area. With all of their expertise, he figured, they could buy junked parts and build their own ship for less than half what it would cost them to buy a used freighter. And best of all, they could do it without going into debt.
It took them close to three years, but in the end, an awkward-looking but fully functional transport named the White Bantha was born. Paku and Triiba took to the stars to explore and, hopefully, make a decent living.
What they discovered was that exploring was expensive and legitimate shipping contracts were both hard to come by (thanks to large shipping conglomerates) and not particularly lucrative. At Triiba’s suggestion, the White Bantha was fitted with secret compartments and the pair began taking smuggling assignments. Always having had an idealized picture of her father’s lifestyle, Triiba also managed to somehow convince the cautious and decidedly unadventurous Paku that they should register with the Bounty Hunters’ Guild and begin side careers bringing in bounties.
As smugglers, they were quite successful. As bounty hunters… not so much.
Paku’s general aversion to being shot at notwithstanding, he and Triiba quickly discovered that while they were both fairly good at finding people and keeping their own tracks covered – skills they had developed as smugglers – actually confronting, capturing and delivering their quarry were aspects of the trade neither was particularly adept at. Triiba was certainly better at it than Paku, but that’s really not saying much. As a result, their usual bounties are small, going after small-time crooks wanted by the authorities, corporate embezzlers or deadbeat spouses. In other words, the kind of mark that doesn’t usually own a blaster rifle or a thermal detonator.
Despite their lack of success as bounty hunters, Triiba’s love of action and adventure gets her and Paku into trouble quite frequently. One such incident has become, for Paku, a source of inspiration, confusion and trepidation.
The White Bantha was docked at the spaceport at Anchorhead, Tattooiine, awaiting a transfer of cargo that was several days late arriving from Manaan. While waiting for the arrival, Paku and Triiba spent a great deal of time lounging about in one of the local cantinas, enjoying the drink and trying to avoid the belligerent drunks populating the place. It was late at night, their sixth day of waiting for their late cargo, that Paku felt an odd, soft “pop” in his head. It wasn’t really a “pop,” but he couldn’t describe it any other way – it was a sensation in the air, rather than a physical one, something just outside normal comprehension, but just strong enough to notice. Glacing up, he was startled to see, standing in the doorway and backlit by the bright light of two suns, a tall Twi’lek female. Even before the doors closed again, blocking out the bright sunlight and allowing her features to be seen clearly, he knew what she was. A Jedi. It seemed strange to him that so few of the bar’s patrons had taken notice of her – surely the others had felt the same thing he had? Paku was utterly enthralled. He had never seen a Jedi before, though he had, of course, heard a great many things about them. He caught a glimpse of a metallic cylinder clipped to her belt and twitched involuntarily. Glancing to her beautiful face once more, his breath caught in his throat – the Jedi was staring at him fixedly. She smiled. And then she turned and quickly left the cantina. It took Paku several minutes to recover from the brief encounter, but when he did, he was left with the distinct impression that something was seriously wrong in the universe and that the nameless Jedi, who had seemed so serene and so kind, was in a great deal of trouble. Immediately, he rushed into the streets, Triiba trailing him, not understanding what was happening. But the Jedi was gone. Paku asked around, but no one had any information. Dejected, and unsure of what else to do, he returned to the cantina and got entirely inebriated, passing two more days in a drunken fog until their long-awaited cargo arrived.
The White Bantha left Tattooiine, but the Jedi did not leave Paku’s thoughts. What was wrong? What kind of trouble was she in? Why did she look at him with such a firm gaze? Where had she gone?
He had no answers, but he resolved to look for them. He and Triiba continued their business, both legal and not, but Paku also carried on a side investigation, trying to find any trace of the mysterious Twi’lek Jedi.
It was been four years since the encounter and he has found very little. He discovered that she had been to Naboo after her visit to Anchorhead, but little else – not even her name.
This search has become a minor obsession for Paku, one that has taken on greater significance for him since the Empire began exterminating the Jedi Order. However, one cannot engage upon personal quests unless one has a source of funding. As a result, and much to Paku’s displeasure, his search must frequently be subordinated to his commercial interests, be they legitimate cargo runs, smuggling operations or collecting the odd bounty.
Currently, Paku and Triiba are stuck on Vorgrell awaiting parts to repair the White Bantha’s hyperdrive, which was damaged in a run-in with a fellow bounty hunter. It is unknown as to why the bounty hunter attacked them, but he appears to have lost their trail.
Politics: Paku was never all that fond of the Republic. It was clearly not working the way it should have, as evidenced by the separatist movement and Paku feels that the Republic was far too heavy-handed in dealing with the separatists. If the Republic was really as democratic as it claimed to have been, why wouldn’t worlds be able to pull out if they so choose? All in all, were it not for its campaign against the Jedi, Paku would probably have been a supporter of Palpatine’s Empire. With the fractured and ineffectual nature of the Senate, stronger leadership was needed, which Palpatine provided. However, the harshness of certain Imperial policies has left a foul taste in Paku’s mouth.
Items: Blaster pistol, blaster rifle, utility droid, starship “White Bantha.” The White Bantha is almost entirely unrecognizable as being built by any one manufacturer. In fact, its main body is a combination of hulls from three different ship producers, and its other components have been culled from nearly every type and model of ship imaginable. About the only common thread between all the disparate parts that comprise the White Bantha is that they actually function well together and they’ve all been painted green. Paku also owns a set of old, but sturdy body armour, but he only wears it when going after a bounty, as he finds it uncomfortable.
Abilites: Paku Reem is an excellent pilot, though you’d never hear him actually say so. Growing up in the cultural melting pot of Mos Eisley was of great benefit to Paku, as through his relationships with other species he became fluent in several languages and has a good understanding of their cultures. Though he is a slightly above average shot with his blaster, Paku is generally more a man of strategy than a man of action. As Duros have no olfactory senses, they have evolved with heightened awareness of sound, not through actual hearing, but through “feeling” shifts in air pressure, air currents and subsonics. There are two hollow compartments in the back of the Duros skull through which these senses are felt. The Duros generally refer to these senses as “hearing the silent thunder.”
Force Powers: Though he has yet to clue in to it, part of Paku’s strong reaction to his chance encounter with the mystery Twi’lek as well as her reaction to him is due to his own Force sensitivity. He has never really considered this possibility and it has never occurred to him that he seems to have very good instincts about a great many things, his opinion of himself as a perennial loser notwithstanding. Since he’s currently oblivious to his Force powers, he has none beyond ones that would occur naturally – an instinct for when trouble is about to hit, an ability to persuade people in minor ways (i.e., lower a price by ten credits or let it slide that he actually doesn’t have a docking permit).
Played by: CG character, voiced by Alan Rickman.
Player: Jim Harnock.
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Have at it ;)
There some holes in the history, which are intentional. I don't want to be too structured in what Paku's experience has been -- I want to be able to develop it a little more freely through his interactions. Also, I had named the ship before I had read the character profile for Aran Camoth, so the Black Krayt/White Bantha parallel is just a really funny coincidence :lol:
I haven't finished the NPC profile for Triiba yet, but you should be able to get a good idea of who she is from the info supplied here.
Oh, and finally, just in case anyone was wondering... like Paku, I have no idea whether his mystery Jedi is alive or dead or if he'll ever find her.
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Proposal: Paku Reem (Accepted)
I really like it, Jim. :D
Proposal: Paku Reem (Accepted)
That ship is about the ugliest flying piece of Batha poodoo I've ever seen. It's gorgeous! I like the idea of twin cargo bays. I like it as far as it goes...he's been aroundthe block a few times...but this bit confused me:
Olfactory senses are "smell". What does that have to do with sound? I can see from your picture that they have no ears and your description sounds a lot like "pits" similar to the way some Earthly reptiles hear.
As for smell, do they "taste" air? To they have some highly developed sense of taste that allows them to distinguish airborne signals like pheremoes and toxins? A lack of olfactory sense might sound like no big thing, but ask Adam about what it is like, and he'll tell you it has some drawbacks.
Proposal: Paku Reem (Accepted)
I read it as a sort of whatshisname? The superhero dude who is blind and so has heightened senses... what IS his name?
Yeah, uh, so because Paku can't smell his this other sense has evolved to compensate. I kind of understand the hearing thing (I think) like when you can hear someone swinging their fist through the air - the sound of an object changing the air pressure and currents through displacement. Sometimes you can feel this change through the skin, like when someone runs past you and you feel the air part. I'm guessing it's a combination of these two, and it probably acts like having an extra-sensorary perception because it's so sensitive. (Like being able to sense people approaching, or things flying overhead - I guess it depends on HOW sensitive Paco is).
At least, that is how I interpreted it. Good profile, I enjoyed reading it :D
Proposal: Paku Reem (Accepted)
Sorry, I meant to explain that a little better in my notes below the profile. The idea is actually taken from elephants, who have evolved in such a way that they can hear and communicate with subsonics (similar to whales, actually), as well as "hear" and "taste" odours. The idea is that everything creates some kind of "ruffle" in the air, be it heavy footsteps or a thick odour. That's what the sense is -- being able to feel things in the air beyond the normal tactile senses. Non of this is actually attributed to the Duros in SW canon, I just attached it to them because I thought it made sense to have some other sense compensate for their lack of noses.
Glad you lovehate the ship ;) I tried to make it random and assemblage as possible while still looking partway flight worthy.