Paul Luz
| Paul Luz | |
 | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Race | Mirialan and Arkanian |
| Homeworld | Ando |
| Physical Description | |
| Gender | male |
| Political Information | |
| Affiliation | Ternion Corps |
| Prior Affiliation | Golan Technologies, Trade Federation, Kamino Medical Laboratories |
| Awards |
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Born on Year -51, Paul Luz is scientist and scholar working within Ternion Corps after a long and storied career.
The Clone Wars and Flight From the Empire
The Luz family had been on Ando for as long as anyone could recount, building and repairing weapons in the Baragwin fashion for the seemingly endless Aqualish clan wars. While their craftsmanship was lauded, the cost of constantly moving and protection fees to the various nearby clans kept their profit margins negligible and the family could never save up enough to get their members off world. Around year -30, the family took up residence in a crumbling fortification on an island in the north-east of the planet's large ocean. Repairs and renovations began immediately, and the nomadic weaponsmiths began to put down roots and build wealth and security.
Then the Clone Wars began, Ando was one of the first systems to join the Separatist cause, and the droid army quickly set up garrisons across the planet. By late in Year -25, Ando was a major CIS depot in the sector, and the Luz family had been conscripted to make weapons for the Aqualish militias that were deploying against the Republic. The tables turned when at the year's end, Jedi General Jaska Xuzhi lead a campaign to disrupt Separatists operations in the system and liberate the planet if possible. Paul and his family were forced at blasterpoint to join in the Separatist defense, only later to be freed when Republic clone troopers overtook their position. However, local Aqualish tribes used the chaos to take out their frustrations by destroying the Luz compound and massacring all inside at the time. With nothing left tying them to the planet, Paul and the remaining Luz family members traded their services to the Republic in return for safe passage to Republic space and refugee status. General Xuzchi made good on her promise, and the Luz family was resettled working in the Duros shipyards repairing and upgrading weapons systems on damaged Republic warships for the rest of the war.
Little changed for the Luz family as the war ended and the Republic transitioned to the Galactic Empire. Mop up operations against Separatist holdouts, the Imperial civil war, and the growing Rebellion all ensured that work at the shipyards remained steady. However, as the years rolled on, the human-supremist attitudes of the emerging Empire made conditions inhospitable. The family gradually became isolated from their friends and coworkers, their wages dropped dramatically, leaving the family in poverty once again- practically enslaved. When the situation got bad enough, arrangements were made to smuggle the members of the family to more hospitable regions of the galaxy. Paul was taken to the Bhuna Sound system by a Duros pilot Mark Antioch who helped him find work at Golan Technologies and obtain citizen ship within what would become the Avance Coalition.
Golan Technologies
Paul was soon taken under the wing of Golan's Director, Adrian Kilstar, who taught Paul much about mass production, sales, logistics, and the sport hunting industry. He found new life and vigor in his old age. Paul quickly rose up the ranks to head up the sales department. After getting acquainted with some of the other citizens around the holonet and on business trips, he decided to look up Mark Antioch again. At first, all he could find was that he no longer worked for Golan. He found his official file and records, but they left off mysteriously. There was no record of his being fired or quitting. After a few months of tireless searching, he found out that Mark had had some type of breakdown while on a delivery, and had developed what they are calling the Lost Soul Syndrome. The symptoms were serious, though not exactly terminal. The body would remain functioning, but vegetative. Mark was only biologically alive. As they could not locate any family, and Mark showed no signs of recovery, another friend of Mark’s gave Paul some of his personal affects: a few firearms, a Golan-commemorative saber, and a robe. Paul treasures these to this day.
That friend, Shor Urra, soon joined Krey Merr as they took the reigns of Golan Technologies after Kilstar's retirement. Under their leadership Paul was able to stretch his skills and diversify his interests. In addition to processing sales, Paul was charged with negotiating sales treaties with the Trade Federation as well as setting up many promotional events and competitions for the sportsmen of the Avance Coalition and projecting what new markets Golan might expand into. It was an exciting time which required Paul to explore the fields of economics, politics, and ecology. He began to watch these issues closely and write in editorials for the Avance News Network and was eventually brought on as a reporter, serving under Editor-in-Chief Insurik Damask. The Directorship of Urra and Merr proved to be temporary as both of them returned to their previous business ventures once a replacement was decided upon by Golan's owner. Much to Paul's surprise, he was asked to accept a co-directorship alongside the shady, largely absent Director Vincent Kail.
Under Paul's leadership sales were moved to be managed exclusively by the Trade Federation Marketplace as partnerships through the Galactic Concordiate brought the Federation and the Coalition closer. Paul also rebooted former-Director Kilstar's program of producing foreign goods for the Avance markets. His proudest achievement, however, came after a group of university students were attacked by poachers while studying the wildlife on one of Golan's planets. To ensure that nothing like that would happen again Paul formed the Golan Counter-poaching Division, or CPD. They were hand-selected elite security officers assigned to patrol the wilderness of Golan-managed space protecting sportsmen, researchers, and wildlife by eliminating poachers and pirates. He was surprised to find a familiar name among the applicant pool for the head of the CPD and quickly appointed Cally McKnight as the Division's first captain. In another twist of fate, following criminal allegations Insurik Damask was forced to step down from the ANN, and Paul was elected the new Editor-in-Chief where he focused stories on galactic politics and economics, addressed overlooked public problems, and raised up the valor of everyday working sentients from around Avance.
The Scholars Guild
Paul's dual roles and Director of Golan Technologies and Editor-in-Chief of the ANN opened him up to many new worlds and reawakened his sense of curiosity. What began as smaller articles and investigations for the paper ended up as much larger research projects, and Paul was encouraged to present them to the Scholar's Guild, a nonpartisan group for academics and researchers to share their findings. His first presentation was on the Duros High House Reformation. This research took him to the surface of Duro, where he witnessed first hand what he heard about in stories while living in the orbital shipyards. The land was in ruin. He vowed to become an even stronger disciple and advocate for the truth and an end to violence. Shortly after that he became friends with several Jawa Scholars and was soon fascinated by their rich and overlooked history, culture, their stories, and their language. The Jawas seemed similar to the Duros in many ways to him. Taking a leave of absence from Golan for a short while he joined his new friends on a journey into Tatooine where he studied their language and way of life. He then found himself called to investigate newly uncovered Jawa ruins in the Dune Sea, and published his results in his award-winning piece "The Bene Alissimama." Paul would also go on to publish the official public report on Operation Deep Helm, where the Mindabaal League and the Avance Coalition rescued Jandur from economic collapse and defended it from the Bothan Media Services. This report, too, would win him several awards.
The Great Merge, Elyssia, and the Trade Federation
The Avance Coalition, like many governments, was slowly beginning to get back on its feet after the Galactic Recession. Its large infrastructure was hard to maintain after the necessary cuts to several programs and departments, and many were worried that Avance's lifespan was growing shorter. Paul became an early supporter of a merge between Avance and a compatible ally, and he was very pleased when the Trade Federation was announced as the potential partner. He used his last article for the ANN to plea his case to the people of Avance that a merge was the best move forward for everyone. The story did much to move public sentiment, and the 'Great Merge' was soon approved by a slim majority of the elite. Arklari Clise, owner of Golan Technologies and leader of House Vigihan which governed much of Golan's space, was among those who voted against the merge. Clise soon announced his plans to hold Golan and Vigihan territory back from the merge and to form its own government. Although Paul was a vocal supporter of the merge, he remained at Golan Technologies and was very active on the ground floor of what would soon become the Kingdom of Elysia. He was appointed their head of culture and was able to get his former co-Director Kail a job as head of the provisional Elysian navy. Shortly after the coronation of King Clise, however, Paul caught wind of some policies and business practices he did not approve of and after much consideration submitted his resignation from Golan and his duties to the Kingdom.
The Trade Federation was quick to offer Paul a position within their Department of Trade, where he was placed under the tutelage of Acting-Director Ted Winner with the intention of grooming Paul to manage the Southern Hub for the Federation Marketplace which was being constructed. Paul began to draw up all kinds of plans for the expansion of trade in the newly merged southern Federation territories, or the former Avance Coalition. While his work was fulfilling, he missed his former colleagues at Golan Technologies. His previous private pilot managed to join him soon at the Federation, but soon was transferred to the Department of Logistics as a freight pilot. Cally McKnight, his old friend, had chosen to stay with the CPD and aid in its transition into the ground force of the Kingdom.
Later that year, the Viceroy announced that Paul had been selected to serve as the Regional Governor of the Federation's Zuma Region which consisted of three former-Avance sectors. Around this time he was also brought on board to the Ledger, the Federation's news service, where he covered the trial of his former employer, Insurik Damask, and the surprising announcement of massive reclamation on the Forest Moon. As Governor he began touring the region, meeting with local leaders, and putting together a list of tasks and priorities to best serve the people. Under Paul's leadership the Federation-controlled planet's of Bakura all received state-of-the-art space defense systems, and Paul's advocacy moved his citizens need to the top of the lists for the various departments responsible for economic and civil development. During this time countless jobs were also brought to the Zuma sector when Centurion Arms relocated its headquarters and industry center there.
However, as productivity grew, so did the lists of tasks needed to be accomplished at the same time and Paul quickly became overwhelmed. Sensing the strain, the Federation Directorate offered Paul the chance to step down and receive a transfer back to the Department of Trade, where his particular skills and experience would be better used. Paul worked briefly for Centurion Arms and then Haven Corporation, the Federation's nationalized recycling conglomerate, before finally retiring.
House Arkoh
During his time with the Federation, Paul was approached by Dr.Con Semper for assistance in a project. Semper was part Arkanian -an extinct race- and had long been attempting to revive his people's linage through genetic experimentation and retrieve its way of life. Semper taught Paul the basics of genetics and cloning, and Paul was assigned to supervise construction and development as House Arkoh was formed. Paul assisted Semper in the early stages of the Arkanian-Offshoot program, which led to the perfection of the Semper Procedure. During Year 17, Paul noticed himself feeling ill chronically, accompanied by feelings of weakness, acute pain, and an overall sense of 'uncenteredness.' At the urging of his closest friends and advisers Paul checked himself into Eren Research Installation - home of House Arkoh's premiere medical facility- and he was formally diagnosed with a violent strain of the Metamorphosis Plague. Paul's body was resisting the incorporation and domination of the newly introduced genetic material, and the instability caused his body to wage war on itself. It appeared that the invasive genetic code was for the Mirialan species, and though resilient it did not look like the virus had the strength to overcome Paul's dominant Baragwin genetics. The medical scientists predicted that if left unchecked the strain would prove lethal. In a rush to stabilize his condition the team of scientists and doctors decided to try a gene therapy they had recently came up with. Arkanian-derived DNA would be introduced into Paul's system in hopes that it might fill the gaps or areas of tension that were contributing to his prolonged state of limbo and illness. After two months of careful treatment Paul was discharged as a Mirialan-Arkanian Offshoot. He later discovered that the Arkanian genetics used in his treatment was donated by Con Semper.
Shortly thereafter, Semper recognized Paul's sensitivity to the Force and began to train him as a Force user. Semper took Paul along on his travels to recover Force-related artifacts. Paul soon took to the academic study of the Force and Force cultures, and Semper appointed Paul as the supervisor of Arkoh's cultural office, library, and religious institutions. Paul assumed leadership in Semper's absence shortly before the House program was ended by the Trade Federation. No longer officially supported by the Federation, Arkoh's settlements in Trade Federation space remain vibrant centers of life for the Arkanian offshoots that live there. Paul oversees the program, but has turned over most direct administration to local officials. Paul continues the genetic therapies and cloning at Eren Research Installation and is building even more deep space settlements to expand the project.
Joining the Resistance
Paul retired from the Trade Federation, sought to spend the rest of his days in peace and contemplation. Between overseeing Arkoh's library and his own growing collection of rare texts and artifacts, Paul seemed destined for a life of quiet study and research. The Force, however, had other plans. After a standard year of pilgrimage across the galaxy, Paul found himself at the Temple of Kyber on the planet Camden. He felt instantly drawn to the ancient structure and to its caretakers, The Guardians of the Whills. He stayed on Camden for several months, learning from the Guardians and gradually becoming involved in their life. Paul eventually took vows to the order and began serving as its chief archivist, translating and preserving its ancient texts and relics. All this came crashing down when the New Republic fell. As what was left of the Galactic Alliance and Republic forces struggled to liberate the former-Republic territory, fear swept over the remote, Outer Rim systems like Camden that had long been sympathetic to The Resistance and would now be defenseless if the Imperial Union decided to invade. Paul and other Guardians quickly began cataloguing and evacuating the countless relics and treasures that filled the temple and its holy city along with any citizens of Camden that wanted to leave. The last transports arrived at the deep space rendezvous just before the system was invaded and the planet and temple surrendered. Paul had always been neutral in the civil war, but seeing the Imperial Union endanger a holy site like the Kyber Temple radicalized him, and he began to work closely with the Resistance first in evacuating and resettling their citizens and assets, and then in assisting their astrocartogrpahy teams discover hyperlanes to connect Resistance-friendly systems.
In Year 22, Paul reconnected with his friend and mentor Con Semper. Semper had been using the cloning technology they had perfected with House Arkoh to assist in Ternion Corps mission of reproducing clones and reforming the Grand Army of the Republic. Seeing an opportunity to contribute to the fight against the Empire, Paul helped fund the cloning operations and expansion of the cloning facilities. As tensions only continued to rise across the galaxy, Paul dedicated his wealth to funding a battlegroup himself. Eventually, Paul's work in the cloning facilities on Quantxi caught the eye of Resistance command, and Paul was asked to oversee the new cloning initiative the Resistance was starting on Kamino. Paul diligently worked to perfect that program and fortify rebel ranks with top-of-the-line clone soldiers. During this time Paul worked to build a relationship between his old friends and his new employers, which eventually gave Ternion Corps a foothold in the galactic south and helped the Reformed Grand Army join the rebel cause. After leading the program for several months and seeing the Resistance stable after the previous years of conflict, Paul rejoined the researchers at Ternion and continued thier research.
Fighting, His Way
Paul was finding himself pulled in several directions, and now well into his seventies and still struggling with the long-term symptoms of his genetic treatment. He was tried. While now very much aligned with the Rebel cause, he could no longer sustain himself as leading a corporate life as he had done before or serving on the front lines. He began to imagine another avenue for fighting tyranny in the galaxy. With much help from other archivists and assistants, Paul threw himself into moving his expansive collection of texts and artifacts into a museum that would travel the galaxy and allow free education about galactic history and the Force to all. In addition to his own artifacts and research, visiting lecturers would also be invited to allow for the free exchange of ideas between different cultures, disciplines, and schools of thought. Beyond combatting misinformation, Paul hoped the museum would inspire people to seek their own spiritual freedom in addition to their political freedom.
During this time Con Semper again approached Paul for help on another project: the Altisian Jedi Order. Con had rediscovered a holocron constructed by a group of Jedi that had split from the Jedi Order some time before the Clone Wars. The group kept the core of the traditional Jedi doctrine, but experimented with a more permissive, holistic lifestyle that did not require complete removal of attachments. Paul assisted Con in unlocking and retrieving all the holocron's teachings and trying to reconstitute the order. This lasted only a few years before Con disappeared on a research trip. Paul tried to lead the order for a time after Semper's departure, but his waning energy and eagerness to explore beyond the Jedi code led him to disband the order. Instead, Paul began working with programmers and droidsmiths to collect the combined knowledge and wisdom of the Altisian holocron and the Guardians of the Whills into droids that might spread the teachings to interested parties across the galaxy for generations to come.
With his traveling museum and instructor droids complete, and Ternion's cloning program now in the capable hands of cloned scientists, Paul has come full circle. He now heads up a research and development lab where he works to improve upon some of the same technologies that he and his family repaired fifty years ago. He hopes that his work might one day restore the Republic that saved him and his family and gave them a second chance at life.