Harik Ulorade

"You're a difficult individual to get a read on, Master...Harik, was it? You fight like a soldier, but wear that cape like a king. Your countenance is unmistakably that of a brute, but you speak with the eloquence of a philosopher. And you hide a diplomat's heart beneath a warrior's armor. What are we to make of that?"

- A petty nobleman

Harik Ulorade was a Lasat male, who lived during the last decades of the Galactic Republic. Born on the planet Lasan, he served as a member of the Lasan High Honor Guard for a time, before an indiscretion with the royal family and the resulting scandal forced him into exile. Drifting restlessly between mercenary jobs for years, Harik eventually found himself competing as a gladiator on Nar Shaddaa, until the day he nearly lost his life in a fight with a hostile gang. Rescued and rejuvenated by an Evocii mystic, Harik abandoned the gladiatorial lifestyle for one of pleasure and ease, coasting along on the wealth he'd accumulated over the years.

That all changed when a chance encounter with a young Mandalorian woman on Ord Mantell introduced Harik to the age-old warrior people. Fascinated, Harik traveled to Mandalore, where he fell in love with the culture, and soon after, Cyayu Ulorade. The two were married, and Harik was welcomed into Mandalorian life, taking up residence in the city of Keldabe with the rest of his newly adopted clan. Harik and Cyayu went on to start a family, adopting several children and even an abused gurrcat, which they raised while working offworld in turns.

Early life
Born Vetraharik Cwentos on the planet Lasan, the young Lasat grew up in a large family, one renowned for their generations of service to their homeworld's royal family. In addition to his more orthodox schooling, the affectionately nicknamed Harik was trained from a young age in both armed and unarmed combat, all in preparation for the day he would follow in his father's footsteps and join the ranks of the Lasan High Honor Guard. Harik's training would ultimately bare fruit, as not long after he came of age, he achieved his childhood dream of being inducted into the Honor Guard. For years after, Harik served and protected the royal family of Lasan, mastering the bo-rifle―the elite weapon wielded solely by the Honor Guard―and bringing continued glory to the Cwentos family.

Roughly half a decade into Harik's career as a Guardsman, he entered into an illicit affair with a member of the extended royal family. For many months, Harik and his lover enjoyed a passionate tryst, stealing time away from their respective duties to rendezvous in secret, whether for a lazy afternoon or a restless night together. However, the lovers' relationship was eventually discovered and forced to a regrettable end. For a Lasat noble to engage in such a dalliance with a Guardsman was seen as the height of impropriety by the royal family. Disgraced, Harik was dismissed from the Honor Guard for his indiscretion, surrendering his bo-rifle in accordance with the code of Boosahn Keeraw, before subsequently leaving Lasan in exile.

Wandering conquests
"I've fit more good living into the last two decades than most little bogans do in a dozen. Hunted murderers, captured ships, killed slavers, rescued slaves, led armies, conquered worlds, and battled Jedi karkin' Knights. You want to know if I regret any of it? Karabast, not a chance! I'm looking forward to the next adventure!"

- Harik Ulorade

With the loss of the life he'd made for himself on Lasan, Harik struck out into the wider galaxy on his own. Capitalizing on the martial skills he'd honed as a member of the Honor Guard, he spent the next nineteen years capturing vicious criminals across the Trailing Sectors as a member of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, before falling in with a pirate crew that preyed on prisoner convoys belonging to Iskalloni, Zygerrian, and Thalassian slavers. Together with his new crewmates, Harik raided their vessels, taking whatever wealth lay aboard and freeing the slaves, leaving both the ships and the fate of the slaver crew in the hands of their former captives.

Eventually, the Lasat's travels brought him to the edge of Wild Space, where his skills garnered him the attention of a territorial Outer Rim warlord. Impressed, the warlord offered Harik a place at the head of his growing mercenary army; having had his fill of the pirate's life, Harik accepted, stepping into the role of captain-general. For seven years, Harik led the forces of his new leige in a seemingly endless campaign, securing first the warlord's home planet, then capturing its surrounding system, and venturing outward beyond its borders to claim the neighboring settlements of nearby worlds. As often as he could, the former Guardsman attained victory through negotiation or guile rather than needless violence, though the warlord rewarded him equally no matter what method he employed.

In time, word of Harik's army finally reached the Core, and the Galactic Republic dispatched a Jedi-led taskforce of Judicial Forces to put an end to the warlord's conquest. Though Harik attempted to negotiate a peaceful resolution—just as he had at the onset of each of his now many conquests—neither the Republic or the warlord he served would yield to even the slightest compromise, and violence quickly broke out. The conflict lasted two long months, and world by world, the warlord's mercenary army was pushed back, until all but his original holdings had been stripped away and returned to their previous independence. Recognizing the inevitable, and having grown disillusioned with his employer's progressively more brutal attempts to rout the Republic, Harik abandoned the stubborn warlord to his inevitable defeat. Despite his losses, Harik harbored a great respect for the Judicials and their Jedi leaders, viewing their victory over the increasingly dishonorable warlord as the will of the Ashla, the everpresent "spirit of the galaxy" in Lasat culture.

Once more, Harik went wandering among the stars, engaging in freelance mercenary work for a time to support himself, before entering into the world of gladiatorial fighting. There, he acquired fresh glory and no small number of credits with every bout he won. By now, the rigors of age were beginning to weigh on him, but for more than two years, the Lasat conquered one opponent after another in the arena, refusing to kill or humiliate a foe when he could merely defeat them. instead. After a particularly grueling match on Nar Shaddaa, one that Harik emerged from victorious but badly injured, he stumbled upon a young child being harassed by a Rodian gang at the edge of the undercity. Unable to ignore the child's plight, Harik launched into action on the boy's behalf, only to suffer a severe wound when the last of the Rodian gangsters plunged a wide vibroblade into his stomach amidst the fray. As he laid on the street corner, losing blood and drifting out of consciousness, Harik ordered the boy to flee to safety before succumbing to his injuries.

Though he expected death, Harik instead woke deep in the undercity of Nar Shaddaa, in a moldering temple of some kind. Lit by simple braziers and strange orbs of ethereal green light, his surroundings looked as though they hadn't seen the sun in more than ten thousand years. The wound he'd thought mortal had instead been reduced to a large but strangely well-healed scar that stretched across his abdomen, and as he rose from the altar where he'd awakened, he found his entire body felt forty years younger, filled with renewed vigor. Before he could investigate his unfamiliar surroundings, Harik was approached by an alien draped in deep scarlet robes, who resembled the stories of the Evocii that once inhabited Nal Hutta and its moon. Mother to the child he'd rescued, the Evocii mystic explained his restoration as payment for the kindness he'd shown to her son, but offered no other answers to his questions before rendering him unconscious once more with only a finger's touch. Awakening back on the surface of Nar Shaddaa, with no trace of the Evocii or notion of how he'd come or gone from their hidden enclave, Harik instead reveled in his latest conquest: death.

A fresh start
"I realized I'd been chasing after something all those years, something Mandalore could give back after Lasan had taken it away: a home. Family. Belonging. It's a powerful thing to know oneself. I knew pretty quickly that I wanted to be with Cyayu, and knew I wanted to be Mandalorian."

- Harik Ulorade

Viewing his replenished youth as an Ashla-born miracle, Harik ceased his involvement in gladiatorial pursuits and instead sought out new, interesting, and pleasurable experiences with which to fill his days. He spent the better part of two years on Zeltros, occupied with nothing but the beauty of the planet and its people. He sunned himself on the shores of Vaynai, drinking wine by the barrel, and braved the bitter cold while climbing the Triplehorn mountains of Alderaan. Over the next decade, Harik chased every desire, large or small, burning through his accumulated wealth until the need to at last work again brought him to Ord Mantell. While looking for work at a local Bounty Hunters' Guild canteen, Harik met a young Mandalorian woman by the name of Cyayu Ulorade, who had recently overcome a life-threatening illness. The two drank and talked together for several hours, and the fondness with which the human woman spoke of Mandalore intrigued the Lasat.

Traveling to the Mandalorian homeworld with his new friend, Harik soon fell in love with the culture he discovered there, and in time, he fell in love with Cyayu, as well. The two were eventually married, and Harik was welcomed into her clan. Harik settled down in Keldabe with his new wife, though the couple continued their work with the Bounty Hunters' Guild, frequently teaming up to pursue more challenging targets for the larger rewards they yielded. In the years that followed, Harik and Cyayu also adopted three young children orphaned by Iaco Stark's madness, in addition to an injured gurrcat that Cyayu rescued from a defunct circus and rehabilitated. They looked after their growing family in turns, trading responsibilities between home and offworld hunts, until their children were grown and their gurrcat had become a healthy old house pet.

It was during these years that Harik became acquainted with a number of his fellow Mandalorians from around Keldabe and beyond, including Edeema Deshra and her daughter, Ezgi. Harik and the Deshras became close friends, working on a number of jobs together, and spending many an evening drinking together at the Oyu'baat cantina.

Personality and traits
As an adult Lasat male, Harik Ulorade stood at a towering height of 2.3 standard meters, and typically weighed around 140 kilograms, mostly on account of his muscular form. He possessed green eyes and violet-colored fur, and accumulated a vast array of scars over his long life. Unlike many Lasat males, Harik maintained a shaggy head of hair throughout much of his life after leaving Lasan, complete with a full beard he kept meticulously trimmed.

Well known for his boisterous personality and jovial nature, Harik accrued a reputation for being a generous friend and an honorable warrior. Though courageous in battle, he always sought to inflict the minimum in bloodshed and humiliation, no matter his foe. While he enjoyed the sport of two strong competitors engaged in honorable combat, and never once lost in a fair, one-on-one bout, the Lasat found that he disliked the solitary lifestyle of a gladiator, missing the company of others whom he could trust and fight beside.

Equipment
While serving in the Lasan High Honor Guard, Harik owned a suit of Honor Guard armor, and possessed a traditional bo-rifle that he modified to his personal specifications. He surrendered both items after his exile, and relied upon a variety of weapons from across the galaxy in his subsequent journeys from world to world.

After becoming a Mandalorian, Harik wore a custom suit of Mandalorian armor, commissioned for him by his wife, Cyayu. Harik's armor was forged by Enceri forgemaster Anutai Wren, father of Kala Wren, using a beskar–carbon alloy that resulted in plates that were lightweight but incredibly resilient. Painted in earthen tones, the plates of beskar were worn over a black bodysuit, together with a multi-pouch utility belt, and a scarlet-colored kama. By the start of the Clone Wars, Harik had taken to wearing a large, crimson cloak, edged in fur. He wielded twin, custom-made blasters, that could come together to form a blast staff not unlike the bo-rifle he once used as a Honor Guardsman.

Behind the scenes
Harik Ulorade was conceived and developed by writer Mia Mesharad for her 2017 online tour piece, " Welcome to Mandalore ," combining her love for Zeb of Star Wars Rebels, Mandalorians, and boisterously big characters with good hearts. He returned in a significantly expanded role in Mesharad's subsequent story, " The Nar Kreetan Job ." Mesharad envisions Harik's booming speaking voice portrayed by either the renowned voice actor Chris Sabat, or the equally talented Jamieson Price.

Appearances

 *  Welcome to Mandalore 
 *  The Nar Kreetan Job