Artemis de Chatillon
| Artemis de Chatillon | |
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Race | Kiffar |
| Homeworld | Kiffex |
| Siblings | Sadie de Chatillon |
| Born | Year -18 Day 13 (44 yrs old) |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 1.85 meters |
| Coloring | Pale skin |
| Eye Color | Grey/Blue |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation | Cantrell Conglomerate Eidola |
| Title | Governor, Regent-in-Exile |
Artemis de Chatillon is a Kiffar who was born into high society, raised in wealth and security but ultimately lived a life marked by his descent into the underworld as one of the galaxy’s criminal elite. He is currently the governor of the planet Ord Cantrell.
Contents
Early Years
Artemis was born on Kiffex, a world that had been scarred from intense conflicts. His father, Cronus de Chatillon had achieved great status through his service as an intelligence analyst for the Galactic Empire. This afforded the Chatillons with a comfortable and luxurious lifestyle compared to many others who suffered the effects of war.
Cronus had three children by his wife Rhea. The children were Artemis, Silenus, and Iris. Of the three Artemis was the eldest and so was often entrusted with the responsibility of being the ‘man of the house’ during the times that Cornus was absent from the family home. This early authority ended up shaping Artemis in later life as he developed a desire to dominate every domain he crossed.
Of the other two Chatillon children, only Iris had a profound effect on Artemis' life. Iris was plagued by illness throughout her life, and the strain which resulted from her constant state of distress dominated almost all interactions with her, which lead to tense, frequent rifts in the Chatillon family. As a consequence of Artemis’ excellence and Iris’ illness their brother Silenus fell through the cracks. He was neither remarkable or suffering and as a result of this neglect within the family he left home early. Eventually Silenus would find himself incarcerated for many years for reasons which were as inconsequential as his childhood.
As a student, Artemis excelled in his studies thanks to the tutelage of a private and overqualified tutor. It was here that Artemis learned of his analytical coolness, a trait that would go on to help him in later life. Artemis desired to have more knowledge and, as a result of this knowledge his own lust for power and domination grew within him. As a result of this growing desire he left home as he entered into adulthood, severing ties with many of his relatives except for Iris and his reclusive uncle, Ares.
Adulthood
Once Artemis left home as a young adult he fell into the company of the Nefas, a cult of shadowy extremists from beyond the Kiffex skyline. There Artemis made his acquaintance with the influential, charismatic Kiffar Coeus Ahlstedt. Their tenuous friendship was strengthened as Coeus succeeded the Nefas leader. This resulted in Coeus pulling Artemis along with him. Artemis found that he enjoyed the more unsavory components of the set of beliefs that the Nefas had devoted themselves to follow.
The twisted journey with the Nefas and Ahlstedt continued for some time and with each moment where Artemis came into contact with people, his notoriety grew, however, in his personal life things were not so optimistic. His sister Iris’ condition had worsened and realized that this close family tie would cause him to be vulnerable with the growing list of enemies he decided to act, to pull Iris closer to him, so he arranged to have Iris taken off Kiffex so that she could travel with him. Using his personal capital and influence he contacted every physician available to see if there was a way they could help Iris and give her the best care possible.
Eventually the Nefas were betrayed by Coeus. Artemis had discovered afterward that this was Coeus’ plan all along and that his allegiance to them was just a ruse to bring the religious organization down from within. The illusion of what this group had stood for burned away in Artemis’ mind and concluding that this was just a terrorist group left a vacuum in his life. This was soon to be replaced by another group; Silhouette. Artemis found himself hired as a bodyguard for Silhouette; a security group that worked for the Tion Hegemony. The group focused on subterfuge, espionage and other underhanded methods to promote their own agenda. The group was led by Coues and once again Artemis was working alongside him. The group suited Artemis for a time but soon his relationship with Coeus would begin to fracture. Coeus was always watching Artemis and what he was doing, this did not settle with Artemis who desired more freedom, more control, and an opportunity to achieve his own glory on his own terms. He grew tired of working for the desires of someone else ad eventually left Silhouette to pursue his own agenda.
Ord Cantrell - New Beginnings, Sad Endings
After a few months Artemis landed on the planet of Ord Cantrell. He sought to assert his will freely and fully on the local population. He discovered through living there that the culture of the planet was now well-governed and this enabled Artemis to put his well-trained mind into acquiring vast amounts of territory for himself. Within weeks Artemis found himself in an unusual position, effectively becoming a mix of Monarch, Despot, and Governor to the local populace. With this power and influence over the planet, Artemis turned Ord Cantrell into a have for the seedier aspects of the galaxy, an aspect that he had already known after leaving Kiffex. He established the Drunken Pirate, one of the most notorious relaxation establishments in the galaxy, and the “acquisition” of a YT-2000 from former pirate Jessica Hyde.
As time passed it appeared to those looking on that Artemis was content. He was in control of Ord Cantrell and was being as manipulative as ever. However, internally this was far from the truth. Artemis agonized over his sister Iris and her deteriorating condition. She had gone into a comatose state in the time that it took Artemis to settle on Ord Cantrell and from his throne of corruption he was unable to wield any influence over her condition as he learned that all treatments were ineffective.
Artemis was consumed by apathy in the face of his sisters’ illness and eventual death. Iris was laid to rest on Ord Cantrell at the behest of Artemis. Tradition would normally have seen her ashes returned to Kiffex however this did not sit well with Artemis who preferred that she be buried closer to him than to his father.
Kiffex - Revolutionary Homecoming, New Kiffex
As Artemis found himself turning away from his vagrant past he began to channel his apathy into the affairs of his homeworld, Kiffex. In the wake of Iris’ death, Artemis returned home to the de Chatillon estate. The grounds were empty, the corridors silent, the rooms frozen in time. Artemis came to realize that his parents had passed on leaving the estate silent and derelict. Artemis’ apathy seeped through in his feelings about this, unaffected by the loss of his parents he resigned them to his past and was committed to what the future could bring him. Artemis, bound by passion of the Kiffar clans, forced his way into seizing control of the southern provinces and leading those provinces into an uneasy stand-off with the Northern Clans.
Around this same time the Black Sun crime syndicate, the despotic rulers of the war-torn planet initiated a policy of fear and control over the populace. Within days of this policy being enacted, thousands of Kiffar were killed in cold blood by members of Black Sun’s mysterious force-user sect. These indiscriminate killings, often unprovoked sparked the seeds of revolt in the Kiffar. Former enemies would unite against a new common enemy, Black Sun as well as anyone else who would seek to oppress the people of Kiffex. It was at this moment that Artemis came into contact with Drexel Skorzeka, a Kiffar insurgent who was already a leader in his own right. Artemis supported this movement and funded the group into becoming the Kiffar Liberation Army, or KLA for short. Along with funding, Artemis also played a leadership role within the movement.
The revolution on Kiffex was compared to a match lighting up a storeroom full of unrefined Ryll. Much of the established social and political order of things were reduced to shambles as the conflict raged between the KLA, Black Sun, foreign agents, and Clan Kiffar who were willing to die for each other to continue the cause. Trust became the sought after commodity on the planet as often inner-clan bickering resulted in more Kiffar casualties than were already being inflicted on the population.
As death, chaos and misguided hatred that embodied every fresh, young Kiffar proliferated Artemis decided enough was enough. He closed off most borders to the Chatillon estate and used his political influence off-world to diminish most on-planet trading and left the ravaged surface of Kiffex, briefly turning his shoulder on the planet to return to the more familiar ground of Ord Cantrell where he could re-establish his own calm, more calculated form of order.
Whilst it may have seemed that he had turned his back on the Kiffex people this was far from the truth. He used his position on Ord Cantrell to receive Kiffar refugees who had escaped the war-torn homeworld. Unlike Kiffex, Ord Cantrell offered a new start in more peaceful conditions. Despite being a planet riddled with corruptions the opportunities for the Kiffar were far better than what they were accustomed to facing on a daily basis back on Kiffex.
Ord Cantrell became a New Kiffex to those fleeing, but not a Kiffex torn by war, political agenda or foreign meddling but rather a new, wiser Kiffex built on new opportunities under the stern and benevolent leadership of the man who understood the Kiffar race more than any other individual in the galaxy.
The Slumbering Governor
As things began to calm down for Artemis he could not escape his past. The apathy that he had felt was just a masquerade for further deep-seated emotions. Artemis had never felt these more ingrained feelings before and did not know how to properly handle them. Feelings of depression and loss overwhelmed him as the death of Iris finally caught up with him, despite feeling he had resolved his feelings when he laid her to rest. Unable to handle his grief as years had passed by since her death he could not properly conceive of a way to gain control of them by his own means. His anger often conflicted with his grief and he felt as though he betrayed Iris by not going more to help her.
Reacting the only way that Artemis knew he turned once again to technology for a cure. He had installed in his residence a cryogenic pod, modified from an escape pod. Knowing that taking this step would mean Ord Cantrell would be left without an active governer he rationalized in his mind that the population could endure without him as they had done before his arrival many years earlier. He sealed himself away into the pod with an agreement to the physicians that at an appointed time he would be released from his cryogenic stasis.
Artemis had imagined this stasis would only have lasted a couple of months as his subconscious worked things out in a controlled manner, however, months turned into years as the physicians had been driven away from Ord Cantrell by new criminal cartels who sought to use this opportunity to take control.
It wouldn’t be until five years later when a Jawa, Jic Uiji stumbled upon the cryogenic pod whilst making a catalog of salvage for the pirate group Eidola. Activating the pod, Jic unknowingly began to process of re-awakening Artemis into a new world, a new Ord Cantrell.
Ord Cantrell - A Brave New Planet
When Artemis came around Jic began to discuss all that had changed within the galaxy. Governments that were familiar had either collapsed or merged into other Governments to form super-powers. Alliances rose and alliances faded. Old criminal cartels had been replaced with new criminal cartels and whilst everything for Artemis had stopped in Year 13, by Year 18 the galaxy was as new and fresh as it was when Artemis had left Kiffex for the first time all those years ago.
It took a few weeks for Artemis to come to terms with the changes. He remained isolated on his estate and observed the activities of what was happening on Ord Cantrell. As had been mentioned to him by Jic he identified several cartels and organizations using the cities he once governed closely as hideouts and bases to conduct their criminal activity.
One particular group of people that he noticed was his own clan, Clan de Chatillon. During the five years of his deep sleep in cryostasis they had continued to maintain some lands which they used for agriculture and alazhi farming. The lands were fairly isolated from everywhere else and since the cartels were more focused on the more populated cities they could be left to their farming without any hindrance.
When Artemis had finally caught up on the changes he missed, come to terms with friends he had lost, he set to work to bring Ord Cantrell back to the status he had always wanted it to be. He contacted some old friends, an albino Rodian, Aziz with whom he appointed as his Majordomo (Chief Steward). Aziz has been involved in a shootout at some stage in his life that ultimately cost him an eye. This didn’t stop him from being useful to someone like Artemis who felt more than ever invigorated to take back control of his planet. Aziz suggested to Artemis that he also bring onboard an ex-Stormtrooper going by the name Solomon Malo. Solomon had served within the Empire for many years before leaving his duties. Artemis needed someone who could maintain a strong military presence and using the local Kiffar who were already weary from war did not seem to provide a good solution. Solomon, however, was a much better fit for the role, he was fresh to the planet, thirsting for a new challenge and Artemis could provide the opportunities that Solomon was looking for.
Whilst his two companions set to work to become an organization fit for governing, Artemis turned his attention back to the farmlands of his clan. He concluded the best way to incorporate them into his plans was to acquire and consolidate the clan’s alazhi holdings. Artemis purchased and amalgamated several local medical institutions into a single planetary institution known today as the Cantrell Institute with the goal of producing high-quality bacta. In the process of organizing his business affairs, he came across a relative that he had never known, Sadie de Chatillon. At first, he didn’t realize how close they were connected, presuming that she was a cousin but it wasn’t until he began to work alongside her that it became known that she was in actual fact his sister. Artemis was surprised by this, he thought he had known everyone in his family and that is family past had been put firmly behind him after the death of Iris and his parents.
A Lost Sibling Discovered
Artemis was unsure of who Sadie was. He recognized her Qukuuf as being the markings of his mother, Rhea but he was unable to ascertain why or how he had never known about her. Her name was not in the same fashion as he and his siblings and her appearance was similar but also different. What he discovered about her initially shocked him but really did not surprise him once all the pieces came together. As it turned out, Sadie was born as a result of an indiscretion between his mother and another Kiffar. With his father Cronus always being away on assignments there was no one to comfort Rhea. Eventually Rhea fell pregnant as a result of this affair and unable to handle the public shame on the reputation that Cronus has made for his family he played along. After Sadie was born he moved her into the family of her patriarchal father and used his income to pay for her to have a well looked after lifestyle. Artemis was unaware of this as his parents made mention of Sadie with him or his siblings. When he left Kiffex with Iris however, his parents seemed to have a slight change. Without Iris in the family home it left a vacuum and so Sadie was allowed to reside there but was never really treated like family.
In amongst the revolution and the evacuation of refugees, Sadie had been told by Rhea of “extended family” that had made a home on Ord Cantrell. Making her way there she expected to find the missing family members but in the end found no one. With only her markings as proof of lineage in the Clan she was accepted but tasked to farming alazhi.
Artemis acknowledged that he was in fact her half-brother. He had longed for Iris without realizing that Sadie was under his stewardship all along. He wanted to be close to her, as he was close to Iris. He welcomed her properly into his Clan as if she was a full sister and the two grew close. In time Sadie would come to be a close ally and supporter of her brother and his operations.
Fairwind Exotics & Cantrell Conglomerate
To support his endeavors to trade not only the bacta his clan produced but also other salvage, he searched through the planets corporate databanks to find a company that was established and could suit his needs. In the end he found Fairwind Exotics. Fairwind stood out as they were already operating out of a moderately safe starport on the planet and to ensure safe transit of goods it was in a location that could be easily secured by his growing military force. After securing the purchase of the trading company he appointed the Zeltron Avelyn ca Vella to oversee the management of the company. Prior to gaining prominence under Artemis, Avelyn was a bartender from Lorien on the planet. After catching Artemis’ eye in her style and way of managing the bar he decided to transfer those skills into more meaningful activities through Fairwind Exotics.
The acquisition of the Cantrell Institute and Fairwind Exotics became the foundations of the Cantrell Conglomerate. In addition, Artemis acquired Fath Industries and Cantrell Consulting and added them into the fold of the conglomerate. With a growing list of companies in his grasp and a planet under his watchful eye, he began to rebuild what was lost and secure a stronger stake on the planet and in business.
