Looma Karwt

Looma Karwt
Biographical Information
Race	Mirialan
Homeworld	Corellia
Father	Ritchelo Karwt
Mother	Melchora Karwt
Spouse	Maryna Chan Karwt
Other Family	Lene Karwrt (Daughter) Siff Valkier (Adopted Daughter)
Born	Year -8 / Day 93
Languages	Basic
Religion	Trikarle
Motto	"Profit is a means to an end, not vice versa"
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Height	5' 11"
Weight	180 lbs
Eye Color	Hazel
Hair Color	Black
Galactic Status
Social Status	Trader and sometime Middle
Political Status	Neutral
Affiliation	Neutral
Title	The Harmonizer

Looma Karwt was born the only child of lower middle class parents on Corellia. His formative years were spent in and around starships and scrapping with anyone remotely close to his size. His early experiences would serve him well when he left the planet to seek his fortune in the expanse of the galaxy.

Childhood

Looma was born in year -8 to working middle class parents. His father Ritchelo was a mechanic at the local starport and on occasion would fly short cargo runs to nearby starports. Looma's mother, Melchora, was a part time waitress at a local restaurant and part time hairdresser to the wives of Corellia's elite. With both parents working long hours, Looma's childhood was largely unsupervised. Like most children unsupervised, he quickly found ways to get into trouble. His favorite pastimes were fisticuffs and trading scrap metal for credits. His skirmishes as a child generally revolved around someone taunting him as a "green skin". Corellia was under the control of the Galactic Empire. Most Corellians were class A citizens, entitled to the full privileges under the Empire. However, as Mirialans, the Karwt's were class B citizens, unable to serve in the Imperial military or other similar areas. The privileged elites looked down at the Class B citizens and their children were wont to taunt children of races considered inferior. Looma was not of a disposition to take these jeers lightly and many a Class A citizen's son took a beating from the inferior Mirialan. Looma also made a habit of sticking up for others who could not defend themselves. While some of his friends, Pyrene Pellegrino, and Lirik Chume in particular, could not defend themselves adequately from the taunts of the elite, Looma could and did defend them all on numerous occasions. When he was not stirring up trouble, Looma hung out with his dad at the starport, learning how to fix and build starfighters and capital ships. This knowledge would serve him well in future.

A young Looma

Looma's struggle to make something of himself was intensified when, at age twelve, his mother died. The restaurant she worked at was held up but the bandits botched the escape. In the ensuing Imperial siege of the building, civilian casualties were inevitable and Looma was unfortunate enough that his mother was one of them. Making matters even worse was the fact that his friend Lirik's father was one of the bandits. This caused a brief rift between Lirik and Looma. Looma took out his anger at his mother's untimely death on the Class A elite children around him, becoming more aggressive in his actions toward them, bordering on belligerent. To make matters worse, Looma's father, who had adored his wife, lost his will to live, and with it his job. Looma and his father moved into public housing, dependent on the elites Looma despised for basic necessities. It would not be until Looma reached his teenage years that his attitude began to change.

Teenage Years

One of the few benefits of being on government assistance was that Looma finally was able to get some form of schooling, a luxury his parents had never been able to afford previously. It was a public school for class B and C children who lived in the government slums. The education was poor, but it was better than the lack of education Looma had previously. Accustomed to being active as he was, Looma found school intolerable early on, missing as many days as he could in order to tinker with his most treasured possession, an old, battered Nebulon-S Racing Swoop. He also helped found a group of Class C citizen teenagers who promised to protect each other against all comers. However, very few Class A citizens lived in the ghettos, thus there were few targets for Looma's fists. Among the few Class A citizens in the ghetto was a Corellian a few years his senior named Hawke Tanor . Tanor lived alone, eking out credits however he could. Looma struck up what would be an on again, off again friendship with the older Corellian. Of the few fights Looma got in, the majority were alongside the older, muscular Corellian. However, Looma spent spent most of his time fine tuning his mechanical skills and working odd jobs. He saw credits as his way out of the slums and off world. After two years of schooling, Looma opted out, taking a job as a mechanic in the starport. His father, still unable to pick up the pieces from his wife's death, began to drink heavily. Looma's future plans did not include his alcoholic father. He wanted to make a clean break with Corellia and any part of his past. However, a chance meeting changed all that.

Becoming a Man

Looma's duties at his job rarely took him inside the starport. He was focused on his work, and on his goal of getting off world. However, his goals would be changed slightly. On one of his rare trips inside the starport, he was confronted with an angel. Or at least he thought so. Maryna Chan was fifteen when Looma first met her. She was working as a stewardess for the starport, greeting passengers, checking reservations and helping with boarding. A few months older than Looma, she was as tough as an old boot when she needed to be but was pleasant and genial most of the time. Suddenly Looma found his job required him to go into the starport frequently. He fancied himself stealthy as he worked on getting to know Maryna. He managed to wait six months before he asked her out. He was shocked when she turned him down.

Maryna Chan

Looma was nothing if not persistent however. He continued to make his absolutely necessary trips into the starport for a few more months before making another try. This time she said yes, only to stand him up when she was called into work as an emergency substitute. Undaunted, Looma tried one more time. This time plans went off as scheduled. Maryna would be a calming influence on Looma. While she was tough in her own right and shared many of Looma's ideas about the elites, she also understood far better than her now boyfriend that force was not always the best method of argument. The newfound relationship changed Looma's plans for the future slightly as well. Now his plan of escape off world involved two people, not one. He began saving every credit he could, in hopes of purchasing a ship. However his plans were not to be carried out. Now sixteen, Looma heard through the grapevine that a group of elite mercenaries were recruiting. He immediately saw this as his ticket offworld. Despite Maryna's worries that he might be killed in the fighting, he applied. However, the grapevine had distorted the facts slightly. The group of mercenaries was almost exclusively Mandolorian and they were not recruiting just anyone. Their commander initially tried to laugh Looma off. Looma would not take no for an answer, offering instead to fight the leader one on one for entry. The leader's counter offer was much more difficult. In order for Looma to join them, he would have to beat the entire command staff of the mercenaries, one after the other. Looma agreed and proceeded to beat the daylights out of all of them. Looma had his ticket off world.

Mercenary

Before leaving Corellia, Looma promised Maryna he would return and take her off world elsewhere, somewhere where they could be safe. The mercenaries were bound for Ryloth, fighting for a slaver band in a gang war against another band. Upon arriving on the planet, Looma experienced the harsh reality of war. He was met with both refugees displaced by the war, and slaves. Lots of slaves. The Twi'leks were being exploited by the many bands of slavers who sensed profit. The planet was ruled by the Tenloss Syndicate, but they did little to prevent the violence, instead profiting from the slave trade.

Twi'lek refugees

Looma's sense of justice did not handle this idea well. He kept his ideas to himself however, as the mercenaries were, in part, paid with slaves and he knew his ideas were would be very unpopular. His pay, he requested in credits only. Things continued in this manner for months, Looma doing his best to ignore the pangs of his conscience. However, that began to change when he was paid with a slave. Her name was Keena Tan. She was a leader of the Twi'lek resistance to the occupation of the slavers, though this was unknown to the mercenaries. Looma immediately released Keena and expressed his apologies for the situation. Keena, perhaps sensing Looma's distaste for his work, hinted where he could find help should he wish to change sides. Looma kept the information in mind and to himself. Months later, Looma's misgivings reached a crescendo when the mercenary commander ordered his men to level a Twi'lek village and enslave all found within. Looma slipped away just before the order was carried out, leaving the mercenaries behind. He made his way to the spot indicated by Keena and joined the resistance. Keena was thrilled to have a sentient with Looma's experience and he quickly became her number one lieutenant.

Keena Tan

However, the slavers were too strong to be overthrown by the Twi'lek resistance, particularly since most were poorly armed and even more poorly trained. Since Looma was also an experienced mechanic and pilot, Keena asked him to undertake the task of obtaining weapons for the resistance. This however, was complicated by the need for a freighter. Using almost all his saved credits, Looma purchased a YT-2000, which was bound for the scrap yard, from a junker named Karl Riber. Working around the clock, Looma and a team of resistance fighters had the Freedom's Crusader retrofitted and repaired within two weeks. Looma would now take on the role of smuggler, at just seventeen years old.

Smuggler

Looma blasted past the slaver blockade and into open space. His first stop would be Corellia, where he would be getting his crew for the ship. He was bringing Maryna, Pyrene and Lirik along with him. He and Maryna were married in a private ceremony before he left the planet, with crates of weapons in his hold. Freedom's Crusader made the trip multiple times before the slavers got wise to the it's presence in the system. Rather than risk her friend's life any further, Keena forbade Looma from making any further trips to Ryloth.

Freedom's Crusader

Instead, Looma turned to smuggling full time, donating part of his profits to the Twi'lek resistance on Ryloth. He quickly became well known in smuggling circles as being fast, efficient and trustworthy. He augmented his crew with the addition of Cerean Connie Airhart. Connie was the co-pilot, Lirik and Maryna the gunners, Pyrene the mechanic and Looma himself would pilot the vessel. If trouble struck, Connie would jump on the guns as well and Pyrene would move to the co-pilot seat. Looma spent five years smuggling items across the galaxy. He refused to smuggle drugs or slaves, but anything else was fair game. His profits grew quickly and he continually modified Freedom's Crusader adding more and better weaponry and upgrading the hull and engines. He ran innumerable blockades and brushed off attempts by various groups to capture him. At age nineteen, Maryna became pregnant and, nine months later bore Looma his first child, a daughter named Lene. This caused Maryna to settle down on Pesmenben III to raise the little girl. She was replaced in the crew by Keena, for whom Ryloth had become far too hot. However, Looma could not remain a smuggler forever. He missed his wife and he missed his little girl, who was growing up so fast. Thus, after five years, he abandoned smuggling and returned home to Pesmenben III with his crew to live in peace and find peaceful employment. However, this wish would not be granted.

Lene Karwt

Marine

Looma's desire for peace was to be interrupted due to circumstances beyond his control. There was quite a bit of saber rattling occurring on the galactic stage and all the Governments were preparing for war. The territory that Looma had settled his family in belonged to the Triumvirate Coalition. Looma was drafted into the Triumvirate Coalition's military. Since he had experience, he was immediately made Corporal and placed in the field command of four squads of soldiers. The work was quite dull to Looma, whose military experience had been fighting, not garrison duty.

Looma in the Marines

However, it was his comrades who made the job. His commanding officer was Tendari Rahl, who was an energizing officer and steady leader. Two of Looma's close friends were Jukier Chrangold and Benares Kurogane. However, shake ups in the command staff, and a battle wound removed two of them. Tendari suffered a serious, incapacitating wound, causing him to basically become paralyzed and Jukier was moved up the command staff and away from Looma's department. Growing very disenchanted with the military life, and wanting to spend more time with Maryna and Lene, Looma resigned from the Triumvirate Coalition Marines and returned home. Keena, Connie and Pyrene also resigned but Lirik stayed to continue the fight. However, Maryna was now able to accompany Looma to the skies so she filled Lirik's place. Lene came with them. However, Looma's plans were not settled. He was unsure what he would do. A chance meeting at a galactic market would change all of that.

Loduk's Hand

After a few months of inactivity at his deep space Trading station, working from the galactic market, buying and selling goods, Looma met a sentient who would elevate them both to prominence. Loduk Masikari was a rising trader and gifted negotiator. The two became quite close. Both were in the transportation business, moving items and resources across the galaxy. Loduk, however, dreamed big. He was attempting to acquire the capital necessary to open a new trading company. The pair decided to team up. Looma signed on to this new venture as Vice President of Sentient Resources. The title should have been Loduk's right hand man. It was a long road, but after several months of planning and acquiring friends, including the leadership of Nakesh Alliance Extractions and investor Auralis Nix, Looma and Loduk launched Sen`Similla Services on Year 16 Day 276.

Sen`Similla Services

Looma moved seamlessly into his role with Sen`Similla Services. He was Executive Vice President and Transportation Manager. Loduk was in charge of Station Construction. For the first few months, business boomed. Station orders poured in and Looma was up to his ears in transportation orders. Then Loduk suffered a paralyzing accident. This caused station building to become impossible. Around the same time, several workers stopped showing up for work. This caused Looma, Amee Jacen and Rathal Gurrant to do the vast majority of the work. Looma's old friend Benares Kurogane joined briefly, before his departure for the Hapes Consortium where he met his untimely death. With Loduk's accident, Looma became the acting CEO of Sen`Similla Services. It was a very stressful time in his life. He would come home to his small residence on Urce IV where the company was headquartered and go straight to bed. Maryna complained that she and Lene never saw him. Looma persevered for months, trying to keep Loduk's dream alive. It was a forlorn hope and he knew it. Sen`Similla Services was doomed. Early in year seventeen, the company dissolved due to bankruptcy.

Moving Forward

Looma took a month off after the dissolution of Sen'Similla Services. He needed the time with his family. However, he was quickly back in the skies, headed out to a new location, where he had purchased factories. He was going into the ship building business. Remembering the elite taunts from Corellia, and proud of his ancestry, he named his new business Mirialan Specialty Products. Only time will tell if this business will rank among the galactic elites one day. Looma, however, did not care as he had more time to spend with Maryna. While he and his crew traveled the galaxy, word reached him that that a Falleen named Esmerelde Du Bois had put out a challenge to the Mirialan race, calling them the "inferior green people". After due consideration, Looma turned his ship towards Derra IV, to answer the challenge.

The battle came off as Looma had anticipated. It was a long, hard fought combat. In the end, both parties withdrew from the field bloodied and battered, and with a new found respect for each other. Putting the combat behind him, Looma determined to head to the 2nd Annual Uli Memorial Swap Meet. He had many goods to trade and there was a market for them there.

Looma and Maryna

Taking on a Protoge`

While at the Swap Meet, Looma met someone who would be with one of his families most trusted friends throughout their lives. Her name was Siff Valkier . One thing Looma had not anticipated being at the Swap Meet was slave trading, which was very prevalent at the meet. Appalled, Looma did as little business with the slave traders as he could. However, there was only so much Looma could withstand and when he saw the seventeen year old Siff on the auction block, he broke one of his life long rules, never to buy a slave. Siff cost Looma nearly 5 million galactic credits, as several others bid against him. However, it was a purchase Looma never regretted. Siff became like family to Looma and Maryna. Once she reached her eighteenth birthday, Looma took her on as a junior business partner, helping her get on her feet, though she continued living with the Karwt family. Lene Karwt referred to her as Lesara or "Big sister". While Siff did struggle with the typical Togrutan depression, she adjusted fairly well to living with her Mirialan family.

Siff Valkier