Darth Azazel

"Darkness is the natural state of the entire universe. It is all-knowing, all-encompassing. The light will not shine forever; one day it will burn itself out. My darkness, however, any darkness, is everlasting and never expires. Now, you may fight what you believe to be evil, fight it until you have worn body, mind, and soul down to mere dust, or...you may embrace it, clasp it close to your heart, and experience power and knowledge beyond your comprehension. The choice is yours."

- Darth Azazel

Darth Azazel, also known as Kuro Kas' Zorn, was an extraordinarily powerful and astute Sith Lord. Born in prelude years to the, he was raised and educated by the notorious pirate organization known as the Sand Kings, following the death of his parents at the hands of the very man who would become his adoptive father. After his rite of passage with the Sand Kings, Kuro discovered his immense Force-sensitivity and subsequently sought-after what he believed to be his destiny; to plunge the galaxy into chaos and then reconstruct it from the ashes according to his own convoluted and twisted design. Questing to master his own power first and gain experience, however, Kuro joined the and rapidly ascended the ranks, becoming the youngest Captain in the Imperial Navy.

During his short career with the Imperial Navy, Kuro became a seasoned combat veteran and saw heavy action against the, battling the insurgent force on and above such planets as , , , , and. He was praised and admired for his use of novel tactics, charismatic ability to lead and his strong devotion to the laws and ethics of the Empire. Kuro quickly became disgusted with the conflict, however, and arranged to disappear during a small skirmish above prior to the.

After staging his death, Kuro traveled across the galaxy, seeking out a particular Jedi Master, one Nihlus Nryik, who he believed had escaped. By a stroke of luck, it was not Kuro who found his quarry, but his quarry who found him; the Jedi had happened to be attempting to arrange transport at a cantina were Kuro himself stopped to rest. Perceiving the incredible power within the young man, Nihlus was somewhat quick to agree to his request for training and assistance in 'fleeing' the Empire, as he saw the young man as a potential weapon to be used against Palpatine. After relocating to a remote camp on, Nihlus began to instruct Kuro in the principles and ancient combat arts of the Jedi Order, to which the young man took to with great devotion and eagerness. By 7 ABY, Kuro had mastered everything he believed the Jedi Master could teach him and so abandoned him much in the same way he had left the Navy.

Following his defection from his Jedi Master, Kuro again disappeared for a short period of time, resurfacing in 8 ABY among the employ of Grammaton Technologies. Posing as Diogenes Zureez, he was able to gain control of the corporation's top-secret supersoldier Project through clever manipulation and deception. With his considerable military experience and capable leadership abilities, Kuro was quickly appointed as the commander of Grammaton's Project, located on the remote world of Anakaa. After processing and polishing the corporation's techniques and making it appear as a break-through by the researcher's actually responsible for the complicated work, he fashioned a unique training regimen and secretly began indoctrinating what he considered to be his soldiers while ensuring their lethality. By 16 ABY, Kuro had amassed five-hundred thousand infantry units and three companies of what would come to known as his elite Forgotten. With his loyal and almost unstoppable army behind him, Kuro smoothly staged an elaborate coup, murdering all but the lowest workers of the corporation and taking control of the company, as well as it's vast resources and wealth. Using these resources, Kuro was able to continue amassing his forces, as well as beganing the construction of a considerable naval force. After his successful arrogation of power, Kuro declared himself Darth Azazel, Dark Lord of the Sith.

Cloaked by his assumed title, Azazel continued to assemble his forces and gather resources. At the same time, he was laying traps and preparing the simultaneous assault of over a hundred worlds in preparation for his quest. In 22 ABY, Azazel declared war on all non-Ash'rak species and finally brought his forces out of hiding in a massive surprise attack across the galaxy. With warriors superior to any ordinary troops and a massive arsenal of weapons and warships, Kuro was largely successful in his atrocious quest for several years, and wrought incredible destruction. However, ironically, in 30 ABY, he was ambushed onboard his flagship by a small squad including Nihlus and, following a lengthy dual, killed by a single projectile bolt to his heart, delivered by his best and, once, most trusted apprentice.

Early Life
"Only the strong survive, the weak and unimaginative are left behind, to be cast aside into oblivion. My childhood taught me that very quickly, among other things."

- Azazel describing his formative years to Kaidan

Personality and traits
"My children, you all have no idea how much I cared for you. I was attempting to build something, unlike those anserine politicians who believe they hold sway over us. Imagine it, instead of dispatching a thousand soldiers into battle and losing half, I could dispatch a single platoon and lose none. And afterwards, following the culmination of your purpose, imagine what kind of society warriors such as yourselves might be able to construct. A society of discipline, efficiency, and ultimate, true justice, where politics do not interfere with the completion of duty...and where morality cannot limit the imagination."

- Azazel to Kaidan Dex

Darth Azazel was undeniably sociopathic; a militant reformist and impressive genius, he was wholly amoral and obsessed with eradicating all sentient life, to be replaced by his own hyper-evolved creations. He was well-versed with politics and various applied sciences, and was often considered the galaxy's most competent creative thinker. Cool under pressure, he possessed an uncanny ability to locate and exploit the weaknesses of any enemy, even before he mastered his Force-sensitivity. When serving with the Imperial Navy, Azazel distinguished himself as a brilliant strategic commander, and demonstrated his disposition towards efficiently and throughly eradicating anything and anyone that blocked his ultimate goal. However, it was his resolve which made him such a dangerous threat. Disgusted with the constant galactic conflict, he absolutely believed in his vision of a perfected galaxy, and he was completely prepard to murder every sentient being to bring his vision to fruition. Despite this, however, he held no delusions about himself, and even admitted to Nihlus Nryik that he was a monster, and never planned to live in his utopia civilization, as there would be no place for him there. An advocate of logical and creative thinking, he was amply capable of utilizing his passion and rage to fuel his power, yet never allowed his emotions to control his actions.

Exceedingly intelligent and naturally cautious, Azazel would not reveal himself or strike at an enemy unless he felt he could defeat them. He was also by no means adverse to fleeing if an engagement went badly, and this made him a very perilous and vexing foe to the few who managed to survive his wrath. Though he acknowledged the Force as the most powerful weapon in the galaxy, he believed that only a fool limited themselves to it. , he was considered to possess almost preternatural knowledge, yet was also very arrogant, which had resulted in a degree of carelessness and an inability to fully recognize and learn from his own failures. Even without drawing upon the Force, he could manipulate others with great ease, and in fact it was this ability which more often allowed him to succeed, rather than his mere physical power. Despite the impressive control he exercised, Azazel was known to occasionally become infuriated when faced with a seemingly imposssible and problematical situation, especially when his carefully laid plans failed. As a leader, educator, and drill instructor, he had superb organizational and management abilities, as evidenced by his extremely successful fabrication, training, and deployment of a completely new species.

Although he was normally quiet and withdrawn, focused only on his work and his children, he could be remarkably polite and charming when necessary. Though he established several restrictions after assuming control of Grammaton Technologies, which caused a considerable decrease in profits for the corporation, he nevertheless demonstrated very impressive business acumen, maintaining Grammaton's vast resources and using it's connections and massive wealth to construct an elaborate and extremely powerful force of naval vessels and ground vehicles. His forces were not only physiologically superior, but were out-fitted with advanced, rugged gear, supplied by Grammaton Technologie's expansive factories. He was an expert at ochestrating elaborate battle-plans, and was deemed equal to Thrawn in strategic insight and command ability. Through the Force, he could more often than not predict his enemies plans, positions, and strength and weaknesses hours or days before the actual engagement took place, which ensured that the battle was over before it could even began. He could appear to make incomprehensible decisions, yet his insight became evident when his carefully laid plans came to fruition. Azazel was perfectionist to his core, as well. He would not settle for anything less than pure excellence, and was known to admire efficiency and elegance. He constantly sought to fix any perceived weaknesses, both in himself and within his children, be they physical, mental, psychological, or spiritual. Though he by no means feared death, he also understood that such an endgoal of annihilating an entire galaxy would require an extreme amount of planning and time, he went to great lengths to prolong his life and ensure that he remained unharmed, as he considered his power, insight, and leadership abilities to be invaluable to the culmination of his vision for a utopian galaxy. Azazel often demonstrated a morbid and cynical sense of humor as well, typically laughing at the expense of others, but also capable of laughing at himself despite his usually narcissistic demeanour. He would often use during a duel as well, utilizing taunts and jests to manipulate and distract his opponent, often to great effect. Azazel was well-known to usually express a bemused smile, and he enjoyed twisting his enemies fears and uncertainties to destroy them as entirely as possible. He was usually seen garbed in a hand-tailored tunic, pants, and leather boots, complete with cloak and cowl, regardless of weather conditions.

Powers and abilities
"Even without the Force, I am never without options."

- Darth Azazel

Darth Azazel was an authentically gifted man, born with an astounding connection to the Force and a natural gift for manipulating it's energies. As such, Azazel's Force powers were impressive to say the least, but he also specialized in a broad variety of other disciplines; this allowed him to approach his goals from several domains of expertise, and assured that he was never limited to only his Force abilities. Despite his aristocratic and slender physique, Azazel was a tremendously powerful and talented fighter, with extroardinary expertise in armed and unarmed battle. Due to his admiration of elegance and efficiency, he favored the Makashi style of lightsaber combat, with which he was awesomely formidable. He conceived that only the most elegant of the forms were worthy of his abilities, and found the other six forms to be crude and overcompensating, but he was completely accomplished with them. He also mastered Juyo in the process of his training, but rarely employed it. Even without drawing upon the Force, Azazel possessed incredible physiological abilities; through Alchemy, he had an improved metabolism and amended body. He could leap several meters above his own height without assistance from the Force, often clearing a standard fence or wall without touching it, and was capable of sprinting at extreme speeds or twisting his body quickly enough to dodge blaster and projectile bolts. Despite his average build, he could lift a full-grown Wookiee off his feet and throw him some distance, as well as kill with a single blow if necessary. Unlike other Force-users, Azazel never developed an effective Force-sense, and trusted instead his ultra-keen natural sensory capabilities, which provided him with an excellent understanding of his environment. When combined with his hyperacute reflexes, his abnormally strong precongnitive ability allowed him to react even faster than the typical Force-sensitive. Through brutal physical conditioning, Azazel possessed incredible stamina and pain tolerance as well; he could battle relentlessly and could practically ignore injuries that would lame any ordinary being.

Alongside his swordmanship and improved body, Azazel also mastered an assortment of martial arts. During his childhood with the Sand Kings, he had been throughly instructed in Teras Kasi, and learned the very basics of Stava as well. After joining the Imperial Navy, Azazel also studied the Echani disciplines, and developed his precognitive abilities to the point were any attack was relatively futile against him. Azazel's penchant with martial arts would lead to him developing his own unique close combst system, which he taught extensively to his children. Unlike other lightsaber duelists, Azazel would combine his swordmanship with hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, becoming an arguably unstobbale dervish of devastation. His studies of martial arts provided him a superior understanding of meditation and bodily coordination as well, and improved his knowledge of anatomy and pressure points. His enhanced physique and skills as a martial artist also allowed him to quietly dispatch an opponent with only his bare hands, without the bright flash and noise of a lightsaber blade. Even so, Azazel's physical abilities were faint in comparison to his indescribable power in the Force. Trough his training under Jedi Master Nihlus Nryik and his studies of Darth Mantis's Holocron, he became well-versed in both sides of the Force, both Light and Dark. He specialized majorly in aspects of stealth and psychological manipulation, and as such very few were so much as aware of him. He possessed an incredible affinity for Sith magic, particularly with concealment and mind control. He was able to become effectively invisible to every known form of detection, except the danger-sense of a Force-user. Even other vastly powerful Force-users were unable to detect him. Those who were aware of his presence were typically enslaved under his iron will or were only perceiving an illusion. However, despite his preferrence for stealth and remote manipulation, Azazel also possessed a natural intuition with many other Force techniques, including more combative powers. His proficiency with telekinesis was such that he could levitate small spacecraft as a child, and even managed to drag an entire space station down from orbit and use it as a battering ram to destroy the orbital shipyards of Paraxius VII, though doing this weakened him considerably. He also possessed enough delicate control to surgically slice through many materials, as well as biological matter, and could perform multiple tasks at one time by using his telekinetic ability. He was an expert practitioner of Force-lightning also, an ability he developed to the point were he was capable of controlling it's direction and spread, as well as limiting it's power. He was also skillful with projecting Force-blasts, which could punch through solid durasteel at full power; more than once, he was able to utilize this ability to escape from imprisonment. Azazel studied and exercised the rare ability of flow-walking as well, which he would regularly use to study his enemies history and experiences, in order to gain a broader understanding of their behavior. He also utilized this ability to observe the future when drawing out plans of attack and would often meditate on past duels and engagements, seeking to fix any flaw or weakness in his battle-plans or fighting form. He also mastered the shatterpoint technique, which he was able to use not only in personal combat, but also during a space-born engagement, where he was able to quickly discern and exploit the weak-points of an enemy formation. He was able to utilize this ability to secure victory on many occasions, most notably during the Battle of Mozia, when a full legion of his troops turnd against him, yet he was able to escape by exploiting the single shatterpoint among them.

As Azazel further developed his abilities and engrossed himself within the Force, he began to experiment with his power and work to develop other, more obscure and complicated, abilities. Through his impressive knowledge and intelligence, Azazel was able to acquire several abilities very rarely demonstrated by even the most powerful of Sith. He was able to process the ability of Force-drain to the point where he could absorbe an individual's life-force directly into himself merely by touching them, leaving nothing but ash behind. He was also able to summon absolute darkness at will, yet this appeared to weaken him considerably if maintained for a lenghty period of time. Using this ability, he was able to expand a wave of darkness broad enough to encompass an entire Star Destroyer. He was also skilled at projecting small portions of darkness at his opponents, which could be used to cover them completely or merely shroud their eyes.

Other Knowledge
"I have experimented and expanded my knowledge to dimensions far beyond your imagination, little Jedi."

- Darth Azazel to Broca Nu

Slicing
Azazel's oldest and most elaborated ability was his affinity with slicing and electronics. He was extrordinarily skilled, capable of bypassing all but the most complex security systems with ease and remarkable quickness. He even managed to crack the Jedi Archives, and hack into the Galactic Empire's central command network, as well as the New Republic's military archives.

A natural extension of his interest in slicing, Azazel also excelled in programming. He was particularly adept at creating complex computer viruses, and more often than not, they went hand-in-hand with his slicing efforts. He would often use a specially designed virus to assist him in cracking a protected system or slice one or several dozen into a system, his intention any number of things. Though not invincible, his viral machinations often resulted in the complete collapse of space stations, warships, planetary defense networks, and even entire fleets.

Genetics/Sith Alchemy
Although not as polished as his other abilities, Azazel's knowledge of genetics and Sith Alchemy were formidable. He experimented on millions of different species, sentient and non-sentient, in order to fabricate a means of immortality.

Dissimilar to other Sith Lords, Azazel was not content with a mass of simple minions to serve him, and chose to attempt the creation of an unstoppable and superior soldier, unlike anything the galaxy had every seen before. In this quest, he was highly successful, manufactering a wholly new species. However, his creations were not as obedient as he first thought, in part due to his insistance that they possess completely independent minds, and they eventually evolved into something entirely different from what he had planned.

Azazel was well-versed in the other aspects of Sith Alchemy as well, but he did not have the same expertise with them as he did with genetics. Despite this, he was able to create a vast array of technology for use by his warriors, including an impressive arsenal of weaponry.