Osibom of Wemod

Sir Osibom of Wemod OM was a male Mineti poet from the planet Wemod, most famous as the author of the heroic poem "The Fall of Keltrayu". He subsequently became the first Poet Laureate of the Golden Empire (a position created for him), installed in 114 ABY and serving until at least 140 ABY, as well as the recipient of numerous awards for poetry from member worlds of the Golden Empire for "The Fall of Keltrayu" and later works.

Early years
Osibom was born on Wemod in 80 ABY, the fourth of six children. At the time, his homeworld was still controlled by the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob. Osibom's father was a public notary, while his mother stayed home with her children. Though his father was paid fairly well for the economy, Wemod was not a wealthy planet, and the burden of six children meant that the family had little to spare.

Attending public school, Osibom found himself out of step with the heavy emphasis on indoctrination that the Tetrarchy required on every member world. At home, however, he and his siblings were able to develop fluency in both written and spoken Orhyo, the common language of the Tetrarchy, by private tutoring with their father. Osibom was the most artistically inclined of the six, which left him even more out of step on the generally hard-nosed, practical Wemod. After finishing school at age sixteen, he spent four years living at home to keep his family's costs down and working as a clerk at a weapons factory, writing in his little spare time.

Military service
In 100 ABY, war broke out between the Tetrarchy and the Golden Empire, and Wemod was one of the first planets "liberated" by the Empire. Seeing no other way out of his situation and grateful to Rin Sakaros for helping his planet shake off the yoke of the Tetrarchy, he volunteered for service in the Empire's military.

Though the war was difficult and all recruits were gladly accept, military instructors found that Osibom was barely fit for service, and certainly not for the actual business of war. Consequently, he was assigned to combat service support duties that kept him as far from the front line as possible. The Battle of Tizgo V, however, was so massive in scale that thousands of support personnel were deployed along with the ten thousand soldiers. At that battle, Osibom witnessed from a distance the aftereffects of the self-sacrifice of the Centurion Keltrayu, and later learned from other soldiers that the man had likely saved both Rin and the Empire's army from devastation.

Struggling artist
After completing his military service in 102, Osibom moved to Telacia to attend the Grand University of Arts and Letters there, completing his degree in Literature in 105 ABY. He remained there for close to a decade, writing pieces for various journals and newspapers to pay his bills. However, he nursed a desire to write something grander, and had been so struck by Keltrayu's sacrifice at Tizgo V that he quickly decided upon it as his subject.

The work that would eventually become "The Fall of Keltrayu" endured many false starts before the real beginning in 111 ABY, as well as innumerable revisions in its development. Osibom was convinced that it had the potential to become his opus, and thus constantly changed his mind on wording and turns of phrase. Coupled with his need to earn an actual income, Osibom spent two years before the work was finally completed to his satisfaction.

Having spent so much time on the poem, and convinced as he was that the final product was a work of genius, Osibom refused to debut it for anyone less than Rin herself. This audacity kept him from reciting it for another year, as personal and public access to the queen was rare for common citizens, and most government officials who might have aided the process considered Osibom's attitude extremely arrogant. However, in 114 ABY, word reached Osibom that Rin would be attending an art show on Tyras. Spending what money he had saved on passage to that world, Osibom snuck into the art gallery, intending to speak to Rin himself. He was apprehended by the Royal Guard, but caught Rin's attention enough that she permitted him to perform his work.

Eternal glory
The recitation of the poem took close to twenty minutes, and was initially followed by a stunned silence, which briefly left Osibom unsure how his work had been received. However, Rin herself was so moved that she wept and was unable to speak briefly. When she recovered herself, she removed her veil to kiss Osibom's cheek and thank him, both of which were unprecedented actions that shocked the audience even further than Osibom's boldness in confronting Rin in the first place.

Pleased, Osibom offered Rin the poem as a gift, and she had it inscribed on the monument to her late apprentice on Keliso. She also created the position of Poet Laureate of the Golden Empire, with an impressive annual stipend, and gave Osibom the post for life. She additionally awarded him the Order of Merit Third Class.

Suddenly surrounded by adulation and financially secure, Osibom spent the remainder of his career composing other literary works, sometimes at the request of the state for special occasions. He also traveled extensively to recite "The Fall of Keltrayu" or his other poems and prose, and to give lectures at universities. He spent much of the initial years of his stipend on his siblings and parents, ensuring they too were secure. He was a popular speaker at poetry readings at his alma mater on Telacia, and always a welcome guest of the Royal Court on the Sith Star.

Osibom married in 119 ABY, and had three children of his own.