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| − | '''Koltan "Kol" Seraph''' is a 25-year-old Human [[Imperial Army]] Officer, currently holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In addition to his prior service in both the Army and the Directorate of [[Imperial Intelligence]], he has also served [[COMPNOR|COMPNOR's]] Coalition for Progress in several positions on a part-time basis in the past, including [[ICR|Recruitment]] and [[IIS|Archival]] work. He made his start in the Empire as a Scout Trooper in the Reconnaissance Corps of the [[Imperial Army]], being decorated on multiple occasions, eventually receiving a field commission for his service in the 1st Legion. After leaving the Army and command of the 4th Reconnaissance Brigade, "the Spectres", for a tour of duty in II as a full-time Agent, he has since returned and assumed command of the 3rd Assault Brigade, better known as "the Shadow Guard". Since Y14 D323, he has also served as Project Manager for the Imperial Archives, succeeding his fellow Brigade Commander and close friend, [[Amne Zailyn]]. | + | '''Koltan "Kol" Seraph''' is a 25-year-old Human [[Imperial Army]] Officer and [[COMPNOR]] member, currently holding the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Since Y14 D323, he has also served as Project Manager for the [[Imperial Archives]], succeeding his fellow Brigade Commander, comrade, and close friend, [[Amne Zailyn]]. |
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| | ==Biography== | | ==Biography== |
| − | ===Growing up in the Lower City===
| + | Kol Seraph was born on Taris, on Y-11 D232 to Garran and Lasha Seraph, who were refugees from a war in the Outer Rim. Although educated, as Kol’s parents were refugees, the Seraphs were forced to live in poverty in Taris’ Lower City, a violent place made infamous by its swoop gangs and ever-present signs of urban decay. Unwilling to spend the rest of his life in hardscrabble poverty and squalor under the great spires of his segregated urban homeworld, Kol ran away from home during his adolescence and joined one of the Lower City’s swoop gangs: the “Undercity Shades”, vowing never to look back. |
| − | Koltan Seraph was born on Y-11 D232, on the Outer Rim world of Taris. His parents were refugees from a conflict on [[Bonadan]], a world in the [[Corporate Sector]], also located in the Outer Rim, and as such, young Kol was raised in poverty and squalor. It was a hardscrabble life, and although his parents worked hard to the point of exhaustion to provide for themselves and their only child by way of food and basic education, it didn't take long for an adolescent Kol to become enticed with and join the "Undercity Shades", one of the local swoop gangs. To make his commitment to the Shades, his new "family", a permanent one, he ran away from home and vowed never to return, much less look back. Despite their name, the Shades resided and operated in Taris’ Lower City, using the grim notoriety of the lethal Undercity to boost their notoriety and "street-rep".
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| − | Life in the Shades was nothing less than short and violent, but it was also exciting and kept one's stomach full, without having to resort to begging or worse. Kol had no desire to remain a lowly thug, however, and he was not content with the fact that the rest of the Shades had acclimatized to being considered a minor criminal element in the grand scheme of things. To rectify both of these slights, Kol proposed something bold: to actually make use of the dark, treacherous Undercity and attack rival gangs where they least expected it (Seraph called it “a sort of rechristening”), and to intensify raids on the Middle City as a tour-de-force. Covering themselves in soot, sporting fearsome masks, and wearing only black, the Shades struck terror into the hearts of squatters and others unfortunate enough to find themselves living on the Lower and Middle levels of a world like Taris, as well as making a good deal of enemies among rival gangs like the Sabre Darts and the Blood Kin. Tensions among the myriad street gangs in the Lower City were always high, filled with intricate power-plays and danger from all angles, with full-on gang wars erupting every decade or so, but things were getting worse: something big was going on in the Upper City, and changes in the planetary political climate inevitably had dire repercussions in the lower levels. Having brought notoriety and established new sources of information and income for "the family" (in the form of forcing terrified Lower City denizens to pay for "protection" and intimidating spineless Middle City merchants to give the Shades a cut of their profits) and having the ingenuity and ruthlessness to use the deadly, infested Undercity to the Shades' advantage, Kol found himself elevated to a rather prominent position in the gang. The enigmatic leader of the Shades, a quiet, ruthless [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Umbaran Umbaran] man known only to his followers and enemies alike as "Shadow", confided his vision to Seraph and a small number of other trusted subordinates: to unite all the gangs under one banner (that of the Shades, of course), and prepare for the storm that was coming sooner or later from the Upper City. Indeed, whenever a new regime took power on Taris, it was a fact of life that it tried to cement its legitimacy in the Upper City by launching punitive strikes on the powers that reigned in the lower levels, to "cut the revolutionary threat at the roots and clean up the streets". But this new regime was no ordinary foe... the [[Empire]], after all, had a war-machine feared throughout the Galaxy, and it did not tolerate any challenge to its authority, be it worlds in full-scale rebellion, or planets held in the sway of crime syndicates that thought they could take the [[New Order]] head-on.
| + | After several years, Kol, whose blond hair, slim, lanky frame, and emerald-green eyes belied an uncommon cunning, ambition, and willpower, eventually rose to become one of the Shades’ ranking lieutenants, known for planning and leading many daring and successful raids against rival gangs in the Lower City, and attacking vulnerable commercial interests in the slightly less troubled Middle City. This lucrative state of affairs began to change for the worse, however, after the [[Galactic Empire]] claimed Taris and took over Taris’ Upper City, installing a planetary governor and garrisoning the planet with large numbers of well-disciplined foreign troops. The Shades, along with their fellow gangs, began making plans to defend the Lower City from Imperial attack, and each attempted to unite all the gangs under their banner through strength of arms, leading to a vicious gang war. This vicious, internecine conflict eventually spilled into the Middle City, forcing the Empire’s hand to intervene. Realizing that the war against the Empire was lost before it had even begun, Kol abandoned the Shades and went into hiding, knowing that he could not return home, as doing so would put his innocent parents’ lives in jeopardy, and committed to stay true to his promise to never turn back no matter what, no longer for his own sake, but for theirs now as well. |
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| − | Of course, saying you’re going to unite each and every gang against a common foe is one thing, but actually attempting it is a whole other matter entirely. The Shades, joined by sympathetic gangs, fought bitterly against its rivals in a battle for supremacy in the Lower City, gaining an upper hand and eventually consolidating the most turf of all the gangs. However, Shadow’s right hand man, realizing that unifying all the gangs and keeping them cohesive against a foe like the Empire was a fever dream at best, and suicide at worst, convinced many younger Shades to abandon the war and forsake their leader. Kol remained loyal, having come to see Shadow as something of a father figure, by virtue of allegiance if not by blood. However, taking advantage of the chaos that had fragmented the Shades, Shadow’s allies and enemies alike fell upon his gang and their turf, squabbling over the choicest pickings like a flock of carrion fighting over a corpse. It was then that, much to everyone’s surprise, the [[Imperial]] Governor, who had kept a close eye on the developments in the Lower City gang war, deployed his troops to pacify the troubled levels and rid Taris of the swoop gang menace once and for all. Facing fragmentary resistance and with their superior arms, numbers, and discipline, the Empire’s troops had little difficulty in securing multiple forward positions in the Lower City. It was at this point that Shadow (whom Kol had come to suspect as having a gift for seeing things before they happened, which Seraph would in later years learn was a sign of latent [[force]] sensitivity) conferred to him a cryptic message: that his destiny was somehow linked to the Empire, and furthermore, that he would accomplish great things fighting either for or against it, and that it would be suicidal for him to remain a Shade for much longer. Estranged by his mentor's behavior, and already fostering the suspicion that staying true to the Shades at this point was a lost cause, Kol took the first viable chance he saw and ran, never looking back. It wasn’t something he was proud to do, but hey, if there’s one rule in the Lower City, its do whatever you have to do to survive. However, even in the midst of the chaos, those who were known to be Shades had a death mark on them, and Seraph had no one to turn to: his former brethren thought him a traitor, no gangs would suffer any Shades to survive for long, and the Empire certainly had no love for swoop gangers and miscreants.
| + | While in hiding, however, Kol was discovered and caught by his former comrades, who nearly beat him to death, and would have finished the job, had it not been for the intervention of a squad of Imperial soldiers conducting a reconnaissance patrol of the Lower City, in advance of the main assault force. His tormentors killed by the Imperials, Kol was rescued and brought to the Middle City for medical treatment, a turn of events which convinced him to re-evaluate his views on the [[New Order]], a society he had been taught to hate and distrust by his treacherous former peers. |
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| − | Despite his caution, Kol found himself ambushed by members of the Screaming Wraiths gang, former allies of the Shades now led by none other than Shadow’s former lieutenant. Beaten to within an inch of dying and taken captive, Kol accepted his fate, having prepared himself as best he could for death. Kol’s fate seemed set, that is, until a squad of Imperial [[Stormtrooper|Stormtroopers]] made their way into the Wraiths’ hideout, mercilessly gunning down anyone who put up a fight. The Empire was making headway in cleaning up the streets of the Lower City, and Kol's life had not only been spared, it had been redefined- the Imperial soldiers who happened to encounter him administered critical medical treatment, and after he was stabilized, Kol was sent to the Middle City to recuperate.
| + | After Kol had recovered in the Middle City (the traumatic experience of first awakening fully submerged in a bacta tank developing into a lifelong phobia of confinement in close quarters, and a distrust of doctors and medical treatment in general), Kol made up his mind to join the [[Imperial Army]], and to leave Taris behind for good. At the time, however, he was 16, being a year too young to enlist. So Kol instead joined [[COMPNOR]]’s Tarisian Imperial Youth Militia, a local paramilitary organization of youths devoted to ending the gang violence that, it was said, had plagued the Lower City for untold generations. His experience as a gang leader of no small repute serving him well in the Youth Militia, Kol soon distinguished himself and swiftly climbed up the organization’s ranks. By the time of Kol’s 17th birthday, his prior service in the IYM had earned him passage off-world, to commence Basic Training in the Imperial Army. |
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| − | ===A Chance for Atonement===
| + | Kol trained as an IBT Recruit under Captain Rik Zoidic, then CO of the [[3rd Imperial Legion]], who recognized Seraph’s ability to grasp fieldcraft, specifically a heightened perception of his surroundings and ability to move about unseen if he wished, as well as his affinity for piloting ground and air repulsorcraft, traits that had more than earned Seraph a place in the Army’s Reconnaissance Corps. After graduating from Basic Training, Seraph was promoted to Private, and made a Legionnaire of the [[1st Imperial Legion]], being assigned to the 1st Brigade, “the Immortals”. |
| − | Having been given a second chance at living by the Empire he was raised to hate and fear, and believing that one had to make the most of the opportunities that life presented, Kol saw service in the New Order as a chance to redeem himself of all the past crimes he had committed. After spending several months in a medical facility (from which emerged a lifelong phobia of doctors, medical treatments, hospitals, and being confined in bacta tanks in particular), Seraph made his way to an [[ICR|Imperial Recruitment]] Station, voicing his intention to enlist in the [[Imperial Army]] (since Kol had no interest in being an [[MInd|Engineer]], [[Regional Government|Government Aide]], or serving in the [[Imperial Navy|Navy]]). Despite being 16 and therefore a year too young to enlist in the Army right away, Kol's desire to serve was not ignored, and instead, he was offered the chance to join the newly formed Tarisian [[COMPNOR|Imperial Youth Militia]], where his "expertise" could be put to use to serve the Empire by acting as an auxiliary and garrison force in sections of the Lower City not yet fully pacified by the Imperial Army. His experience garnered in the Shades benefited him greatly here, and Kol excelled, eventually being among the first to attain the rank of Cadet-Warrant Officer, earning a full scholarship to the [[Imperial Academy]].
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| − | As soon as he turned 17 (the minimum age for enrollment in the Academy), Kol did so, becoming Recruit Seraph, thereupon submitting a request for off-world assignment. Kol’s transfer request went through, and the new Recruit was ordered to report for duty and instruction at the foremost Imperial Academy campus in the Galaxy, that of [[Coruscant]] itself. Relishing a chance to visit another world for the first time in his life, and the chance to leave Taris behind forever, Seraph eagerly awaited the true commencement of his Imperial career.
| + | It did not take long for Seraph’s superior officer, Lieutenant Akai Ai, to recognize the leadership potential in the young Private, who soon promoted him to Corporal, swiftly followed thereafter by a promotion to Sergeant (making Kol a Non-Commissioned Officer), which in fact took place on the same day of Emperor Guinar’s ascension to the Throne. This last promotion was earned during an operation which saw Seraph and his squad infiltrate an Eidola-controlled installation, code-named "Elandorea", to retrieve a stolen Imperial starfighter and take into custody the defector who intended to profit from making it over to the Pirates. This mission, although costing the lives of several of Seraph’s squadmates, was concluded successfully, with the defector executed on-site, and the starfighter recovered. |
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| − | The Coruscanti Imperial Academy has a tradition of assigning gifted candidates to personal tutors, who possess experience in the adult branches of the Galactic Empire that the candidates themselves wish to enter upon graduation, and it was no different in Kol’s case. Seraph had the distinct honor of being assigned to none other than Army Captain [[Rik Zoidic]], then Commanding Officer of the [[3rd Imperial Legion]], who noted Kol's ability to adapt to new situations, his insatiable hunger for knowledge, and his undeniably impressive talents at grasping fieldcraft, precision marksmanship, and (due to his time in a swoop gang) his affinity for piloting repulsorlift craft, including Speeder Bikes, Chariot LAVs, and the Cloudcar Combatspeeder. Recognizing these talents, Captain Zoidic personally recommended the newly promoted Private Seraph (having graduated with a Basic as opposed to an Honors certification due to prejudice against his "provincial upbringing", and his subsequent difficulty and inexperience in grasping the finer points of protocol) to be assigned to the Army Reconnaissance Corps.
| + | Upon returning to Brigade HQ (at that time the Army [[Victory Star Destroyer I|''Victory'']]-class Star Destroyer ''Immortal''), it became clear that Seraph, whose abilities and leadership skill were recognized, was being groomed for command of his own at a later date, which suited the young Sergeant just fine. Seraph was appointed Signals Officer of the 1st Legion, succeeding [[Santiano Salazar]], CO of the 1st Brigade’s sister unit, the 4th Brigade, in this position. |
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| − | ===The 1st Assault Brigade, "the Immortals"===
| + | Embracing the duties that accompanied an administrative position with the same zeal that he had demonstrated on the battlefield, Seraph soon earned his promotion to Master Sergeant, and an accompanying appointment as Captain Ai’s new 2iC. As a Master Sergeant, Kol also applied for adult COMPNOR membership, and successfully joined both the [[Imperial Archives]] and the [[Imperial Center for Recruitment]] on a part time basis, as an Archivist and Recruiter, respectively. His devotion to duty, not only to the Army, but to COMPNOR as well, duly paved the way for Seraph’s eventual promotion to Command Sergeant. |
| − | Initially expecting to be assigned to one of the Brigades that made up Captain Zoidic's 3rd Legion, Kol was surprised when he was instead assigned to the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the 1st Assault Brigade, itself a subunit of the [[1st Imperial Legion]], the premier unit of its kind in the entire Army. It would be here that his steady climb up the enlisted ranks would occur. Seraph's innate skills and passion for the Army life soon earned him a promotion to Corporal and a position as a Squad Leader, and his deft leadership during an operation to retrieve an Imperial Army starfighter from an Eidola Pirate installation made him a Non-Commissioned Officer, and Section Commander. Having a gift for Army administration that outshone even his skill with a precision blaster rifle, Seraph became Signals Officer for the 1st Legion as a Sergeant, a highly impressive feat, and as a Master Sergeant, he was appointed Executive Officer of the 1st Assault Brigade, under Captain Akai Ai. Ever restless in his quest to better serve the New Order, and with his insatiable ambition to go further, Kol pursued part-time employment within COMPNOR and studies with the Imperial Army College, on top of his full-time Army duties.
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| − | Shortly after attaining his degree from the Army College (Brigade Command, Reconnaissance Specialization - considered the equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree from a civilian university), and while engaged in a boarding operation of a renegade Imperial space installation (a boarding operation jointly planned by Captain Ai and Seraph himself), Command Sergeant Seraph (having attained the prestigious position of 1st Recon Battalion Commander shortly before, by virtue of his specialization), was given a field commission to 2nd Lieutenant. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant Seraph, with his education, was offered a Brigade of his own to command: the 4th Reconnaissance Brigade, "the Spectres". He did not refuse, and his leadership of this unit, along with his credentials, earned him another promotion to 1st Lieutenant several months after taking command.
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| − | ===The 4th Reconnaissance Brigade, "the Spectres"===
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| − | Lieutenant Seraph found the Spectres of 4th Brigade, the unit previously under the command of [[Santiano Salazar]], the new LCO, to be dedicated to their duties to the Empire, albeit the differences in their modus operandi to 1BDE. Salazar’s previous XO, Captain Icarus Carinae, had refused to assume command of the Brigade following the former CO’s departure, and Kol found himself in the unusual situation of having an XO who outranked him. Other rising stars in the 4th caught Seraph’s attention as well, including then CSGT [[Redme Schwarz]], who would himself go on to be commissioned and given command of the Brigade in recognition for his initiative and sense of duty at a later date.
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| − | Seraph’s tenure as CO of the 4th was dominated by the Army-wide initiative, Operation: Isolated Axiom, intended to develop combat doctrine for use in the face of the enemy under any sort of engagement. The precise details of the 4th Brigade’s assignment in this ambitious operation is still classified, but sufficed to say, ACOMD was particularly impressed with some of Kol’s more innovative tactics and suggestions as detailed in his post-operational report to his superiors. Even though he had left the Immortals in person, he still kept regularly in touch with his former CO, Captain Ai, and Seraph spearheaded the 1IL reformation anniversary celebration in Y13, which saw several veterans of the Legion return to celebrate the occasion.
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| − | ===Imperial Intelligence===
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| − | With his career at a high note, Lieutenant Seraph made the controversial decision to request an extended leave of absence, the duration of which made it necessary for him to step down as Brigade CO, and pass the torch onto Captain Carinae, his XO. Sometime during this period, it is now known that Kol successfully completed the notoriously difficult preliminary entrance exams for service within the [[Imperial Intelligence|Directorate of Imperial Intelligence]]. Upon returning from his ELOA, Seraph submitted a transfer request to his Chain of Command, making clear his intention to transfer from the Imperial Army and join the Directorate as a full time Agent.
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| − | On a side note, it was after joining on with Imperial Intelligence that Kol, having returned to Coruscant for a fortnight's leave, bore witness to the festivities and high spirits celebrating the first anniversary of [[Emperor]] [[Guinar Ndengin|Ndengin's]] ascension as Galactic Emperor. Ever the intrepid writer on his off-duty hours, Kol took it upon himself to report on the celebration, and submitted the article, titled: "[[Imperials Celebrate Anniversary of the Ascension of Guinar the First (ING)|Imperials Celebrate Anniversary of the Ascension of Guinar the First]]", to the [[Imperial News Bureau]], the sister department of the Archives in which he worked on a part time basis. His initiative, patriotism, and sense of duty to the [[Imperial Information Service]] while enjoying some well-earned time off was recognized, and when he returned to active duty a week later, Agent Seraph was surprised and honoured to receive his second Letter of Commendation from the Army CO, Lord General [[Graeda L`Annan]] herself, in recognition for his journalistic efforts.
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| − | Upon returning to work within the Directorate, Kol was assigned to several ongoing, long-term operations, the details of which are still highly sensitive. Sufficed to say, these assignments took Agent Seraph on a grand tour throughout the Galaxy, performing all manner of classified activities for the good of the Empire and its citizens from behind the scenes. Despite the importance of his work, Seraph felt a longing to return to the Army one day, the Imperial branch where he still felt the most at home.
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| − | ===The 3rd Assault Brigade, "the Shadow Guard"===
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| − | It would be this sense of homesickness that would finally convince Seraph to request a transfer from his superiors in the Directorate back to the Imperial Army in mid-Year 14, when his former chain of command in the 1st Legion expressed an interest in taking him back as Executive Officer of the 1st Brigade, the position in which Kol had first made a name for himself. However, other positions in other Brigades were available, and Seraph understood that the precise nature of his reassignment lay solely at the discretion of RADIA and ACOMD.
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| − | To Kol’s surprise, he encountered relatively little trouble returning to the Imperial Army and Army life in general, and felt quite comfortable donning his old service uniform as opposed to wearing the casual civilian attire of an undercover Agent. In fact, he was reinstated at his previous rank (having beforehand expected to have to submit to a reduction in rank to 2nd Lieutenant, as per protocol), [[Graeda L`Annan|the ACO]] having personally interceded on his behalf. As it turned out, there was a vacancy in the CO position of the 3rd Assault Brigade, and ACOMD felt Lieutenant Seraph was the ideal candidate for the job. After waiting for a few days for his paperwork to go through, and for word from Colonel [[Edward Canfield]], his new superior officer and commander of the [[3rd Imperial Legion]], Kol officially took command of the 3rd Brigade in mid-Y14, with Command Sergeant [[Benedict Tharandon]], who had been acting-BCO up to that point, as his new XO.
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| − | Tharandon was commissioned and promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant mere days after Seraph assumed command. In a prior discussion with Colonel Canfield, who had expressed his intentions to commission the Corellian NCO, Kol offered to take on the duty himself, to alleviate any lingering resentment Ben might've harbored against his new superior, for assuming command of the unit he had commanded in all but name for some time. However, the Colonel insisted on commissioning the young BXO himself, as he had intended to do so earlier, while the 3rd Legion was deployed in the contested Derra System, but Legion politics had prevented him from doing so.
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| − | Seraph's tenure as CO of the Shadow Guard initially demanded that he plan out the process of demobilizing the 3rd Brigade as a frontline unit, as the 3rd Legion's rotational tour of duty in Derra had been completed. This process involved making arrangements for those too gravely wounded to remain in the Army to be discharged with honors from the service, and for those who had performed their duty in an exemplary manner -a sizable number of the Brigade, truth be told- to be dispensed the appropriate honors and promotions. Also, the Guard's equipment stores and combat vehicles had to be shipped back home as well.
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| − | Making use of an Imperial Lucrehulk-class Battleship, the 3rd Legion departed from the Derra system, after being properly relieved of the post by Colonel Kane's [[2nd Imperial Legion]], whose tour of duty to keep the system in Imperial control was set to begin. The 6th Brigade, stationed in Tapani, debarked first, with no small measure of assistance from Lieutenant Seraph and his personnel. It would be a challenge for the 3rd Brigade to do the same without similar assistance, but Lieutenant Seraph was certain that his men were up to the challenge. After arriving in Corellia and successfully coordinating with the Navy to arrange the Brigade's transport back to its planned headquarters to resume a defensive posture, Seraph saw fit to promote Tharandon to First Lieutenant in recognition for his ongoing exemplary, invaluable service as his XO.
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| − | As CO of the Shadow Guard, Lieutenant Seraph oversaw the construction and activation of 3BDE's new Army Sector HQ - Corellia, recently completed by the [[Regional Government]], and administrated the initialization of the Brigade's immediate tasking: that of training his Brigade's Enlisted Stormtroopers in the also newly-completed Corellian Sector Training Grounds, which in close proximity to the Sector HQ. For his continuing efforts in service of the New Order, Seraph was promoted to the rank of Captain by Colonel [[Wyatt Gabriel]] of the 2nd Legion, speaking on behalf of the ACO.
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| − | Having been promoted past the subaltern Officer ranks, it didn't take long for Seraph to realize that he had come as far as he could go in the Army, with only his credentials from the Army College under his belt. If he ever wanted to one day serve as a senior officer, not to mention a member of the General Staff, he’d have to seriously consider backing his name with academic graduate credentials. Fortunately, not only had Seraph been successful in accumulating a sizable reserve of Imperial credits in his bank account to finance such an investment, but Seraph also had the Imperial Army willing to pay for his educational advancement in full (his superiors no doubt having the opinion that funding his continued academic development was a worthwhile investment).
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| − | The decision now was what, with literally a Galaxy's worth of interesting and exciting areas of study, Seraph should focus his graduate studies on. Intent on pursuing a discipline which simultaneously aided his intellectual self-growth and improved on his already-considerable worth to the Army, Kol narrowed down his options, weighing picking up another language, such as Mando’a or Huttese, with Imperial History, a subject he certainly enjoyed researching on his off-duty hours. Whatever the subject he would choose to focus on, he would have to consider that, due to the nature of the profession-of-arms, he would also have to choose a graduate school that offered the option of distance education to its scholars.
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| − | Further impetus for Seraph to further his education in the form of a graduate degree was the announcement that after spending years in redevelopment and hiatus, the Imperial Military would be reintroducing the Command College, with separate courses for each branch of service, and making a graduation from this institution a prerequisite for advancement to the Command ranks for future flag officers. One of the prerequisites for entering the Command College was a Graduate or Masters-level education.
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| − | Shortly after her appointment to Army Signals Officer, [[Amne Zailyn]] (at that time a Lieutenant Colonel), the long-serving Project Manager of the Imperial Archives and therefore, Seraph's immediate part-time superior and compatriot, stepped down, recommending to her superiors in the Imperial Information Service that her replacement should be none other than Captain Seraph, due to his familiarity and measure of service within the institution. And so, on Y14 D323, Seraph was formally made the new Archive Project Manager by the Director of the IIS, Daelis Stanov, whom Seraph had, quite coincidentally, previously served alongside during his tenure as an Agent in Imperial Intelligence.
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| | ==Commission== | | ==Commission== |
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| | Surname: Seraph <br> | | Surname: Seraph <br> |
| | Given Name(s): Koltan, "Kol" <br> | | Given Name(s): Koltan, "Kol" <br> |
| − | Race: Class A Citizen (Human - Tarisian) <br>
| + | Age: 25 <br> |
| − | Gender: M <br>
| + | Species: Class A Citizen (Human - Tarisian) <br> |
| | Branch: Imperial Army <br> | | Branch: Imperial Army <br> |
| | Rank: Lieutenant Colonel [O-5] <br> | | Rank: Lieutenant Colonel [O-5] <br> |
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| | *Imperial Army College (Brigade Command, Reconnaissance Specialization), <br> | | *Imperial Army College (Brigade Command, Reconnaissance Specialization), <br> |
| | *Imperial Intelligence Agent Certification <br> | | *Imperial Intelligence Agent Certification <br> |
| − | Age: 25 <br>
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| − | Homeworld: Taris <br>
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| − | Family: Lasha (mother) and Garran (father) Seraph, assumed deceased
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| | ===Psychological Profile=== | | ===Psychological Profile=== |
| − | --CLASSIFIED-- <br>
| + | [UNDER CONSTRUCTION] |
| − | --REDACTED--
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Kol Seraph was born on Taris, on Y-11 D232 to Garran and Lasha Seraph, who were refugees from a war in the Outer Rim. Although educated, as Kol’s parents were refugees, the Seraphs were forced to live in poverty in Taris’ Lower City, a violent place made infamous by its swoop gangs and ever-present signs of urban decay. Unwilling to spend the rest of his life in hardscrabble poverty and squalor under the great spires of his segregated urban homeworld, Kol ran away from home during his adolescence and joined one of the Lower City’s swoop gangs: the “Undercity Shades”, vowing never to look back.
After several years, Kol, whose blond hair, slim, lanky frame, and emerald-green eyes belied an uncommon cunning, ambition, and willpower, eventually rose to become one of the Shades’ ranking lieutenants, known for planning and leading many daring and successful raids against rival gangs in the Lower City, and attacking vulnerable commercial interests in the slightly less troubled Middle City. This lucrative state of affairs began to change for the worse, however, after the Galactic Empire claimed Taris and took over Taris’ Upper City, installing a planetary governor and garrisoning the planet with large numbers of well-disciplined foreign troops. The Shades, along with their fellow gangs, began making plans to defend the Lower City from Imperial attack, and each attempted to unite all the gangs under their banner through strength of arms, leading to a vicious gang war. This vicious, internecine conflict eventually spilled into the Middle City, forcing the Empire’s hand to intervene. Realizing that the war against the Empire was lost before it had even begun, Kol abandoned the Shades and went into hiding, knowing that he could not return home, as doing so would put his innocent parents’ lives in jeopardy, and committed to stay true to his promise to never turn back no matter what, no longer for his own sake, but for theirs now as well.
While in hiding, however, Kol was discovered and caught by his former comrades, who nearly beat him to death, and would have finished the job, had it not been for the intervention of a squad of Imperial soldiers conducting a reconnaissance patrol of the Lower City, in advance of the main assault force. His tormentors killed by the Imperials, Kol was rescued and brought to the Middle City for medical treatment, a turn of events which convinced him to re-evaluate his views on the New Order, a society he had been taught to hate and distrust by his treacherous former peers.
After Kol had recovered in the Middle City (the traumatic experience of first awakening fully submerged in a bacta tank developing into a lifelong phobia of confinement in close quarters, and a distrust of doctors and medical treatment in general), Kol made up his mind to join the Imperial Army, and to leave Taris behind for good. At the time, however, he was 16, being a year too young to enlist. So Kol instead joined COMPNOR’s Tarisian Imperial Youth Militia, a local paramilitary organization of youths devoted to ending the gang violence that, it was said, had plagued the Lower City for untold generations. His experience as a gang leader of no small repute serving him well in the Youth Militia, Kol soon distinguished himself and swiftly climbed up the organization’s ranks. By the time of Kol’s 17th birthday, his prior service in the IYM had earned him passage off-world, to commence Basic Training in the Imperial Army.
Kol trained as an IBT Recruit under Captain Rik Zoidic, then CO of the 3rd Imperial Legion, who recognized Seraph’s ability to grasp fieldcraft, specifically a heightened perception of his surroundings and ability to move about unseen if he wished, as well as his affinity for piloting ground and air repulsorcraft, traits that had more than earned Seraph a place in the Army’s Reconnaissance Corps. After graduating from Basic Training, Seraph was promoted to Private, and made a Legionnaire of the 1st Imperial Legion, being assigned to the 1st Brigade, “the Immortals”.
It did not take long for Seraph’s superior officer, Lieutenant Akai Ai, to recognize the leadership potential in the young Private, who soon promoted him to Corporal, swiftly followed thereafter by a promotion to Sergeant (making Kol a Non-Commissioned Officer), which in fact took place on the same day of Emperor Guinar’s ascension to the Throne. This last promotion was earned during an operation which saw Seraph and his squad infiltrate an Eidola-controlled installation, code-named "Elandorea", to retrieve a stolen Imperial starfighter and take into custody the defector who intended to profit from making it over to the Pirates. This mission, although costing the lives of several of Seraph’s squadmates, was concluded successfully, with the defector executed on-site, and the starfighter recovered.
Upon returning to Brigade HQ (at that time the Army Victory-class Star Destroyer Immortal), it became clear that Seraph, whose abilities and leadership skill were recognized, was being groomed for command of his own at a later date, which suited the young Sergeant just fine. Seraph was appointed Signals Officer of the 1st Legion, succeeding Santiano Salazar, CO of the 1st Brigade’s sister unit, the 4th Brigade, in this position.
Embracing the duties that accompanied an administrative position with the same zeal that he had demonstrated on the battlefield, Seraph soon earned his promotion to Master Sergeant, and an accompanying appointment as Captain Ai’s new 2iC. As a Master Sergeant, Kol also applied for adult COMPNOR membership, and successfully joined both the Imperial Archives and the Imperial Center for Recruitment on a part time basis, as an Archivist and Recruiter, respectively. His devotion to duty, not only to the Army, but to COMPNOR as well, duly paved the way for Seraph’s eventual promotion to Command Sergeant.
[UNDER CONSTRUCTION]
This article has been an Imperial Archives featured article.
