Roth Sov'rai

The Vrai clan of Bothawui had once been a prominent part of the planetary government. Roth's father had been part of the Bothan Independent Treasury. But when the Bothan government began consolidating departments it viewed as corrupt and inefficient, Roth's father lost his job, as did others in the Vrai clan, and the clan lost the high social status it had previously enjoyed. Because of this, at a very young age Roth's family placed upon him the pressures of restoring the Vrai clan to prominence once more.

Roth took one of the few paths available to meet that expectation. In basic training at the Bothan Martial Academy, Roth strived to be the best he could be, motivated both by the ingrained desire to restore the pride of his clan and the typical Bothan culture of competition and brutal individualism. Like their feral ancestors, Bothans were very egotistic and territorial, and this primal factor led to Roth graduating top of his class, a brilliant leader. While most Bothans devoted their ambition to politics, Roth devoted his to military strategy and warfare.

After graduating from the Bothan Martial Academy, he was recommended by his instructors to an officer training program at the famed Academy of Carida, where the best of the Republic's planetary defense forces were trained. Here he faced prejudice from the Humanocentric students of the Core elite, many of whom had reached the Academy out of family connections rather than merit. This infuriated Roth, and drove him to humiliate them by becoming a more adept strategist than them. It also disgusted him to see the corruption, decadence, and prejudice which had taken over the heart of the Republic. When he graduated from Carida, he joined the Republic Judicial Forces, serving in and eventually commanding a Special Task Force in Wild Space. However, he found the task of tracking down smugglers and eradicating pirates mundane, and longed for more.

After the Battle of Naboo, disillusioned with the weakness of the Republic in its inability to properly deal with threats and defend itself, he retired from the Judicial Forces, becoming an instructor at the Bothan Martial Academy. This greatly disappointed his family and clan members, who had hoped that he would use his well-earned fame to seek a position of political authority on the Bothan Council. Due to his experiences with the Republic bureaucracy and his own stubborn pride, Roth viewed himself as above the game of politics, and thought of politicians as emasculated imbeciles. Nonetheless, the Vrai clan was able to regain some of its past honor because of Roth's prominence, and passed the mantle of their favored son onto younger members who were more interested in pursuing politics.

Few outside of those he met and Bothan military students knew of him before the Clone Wars, but those who did respected him for his brilliance. During his spare time, he became a grandmaster at dejarik. During a session with an anonymous player via HoloNet, he was recruited by Count Dooku, who he had known and fought alongside during the latter's days as a Jedi. He eagerly accepted, using the opportunity to increase his fame and fulfill his desire to be immortalized with great tacticians of old. He was granted the rank of Admiral, and commanded a fleet at Geonosis, buying time for the Separatist retreat. During the wars, he even earned the begrudging respect of General Grievous, though Roth secretly despised the General, viewing him as nothing more than a trumped up war droid and desiring his position as Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies.

Though as self-centered and egotistical as any Bothan, and commanding with the brutality he viewed as necessary to fight any war effectively, he believed in the professed cause of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Roth genuinely believed that because the Galactic Republic's unwielding and bloated bureaucracy did not sufficiently provide for the needs of its constituents, it should be overthrown, paving the way for a more benign, libertarian galaxy under the CIS, one without the foolish, bickering politicians of the Galactic Senate. Roth's stubborn personality often put him in direct opposition to the commerce guild tycoons of the Separatist Council, who he viewed as little better than the Republic Senators. He scorned them in their ignorance of the ways of war. Believing that droids were no subsitute for live officers, the bridge of his command ship was entirely crewed by living beings rather than droids. Roth chose to crew his bridge with species that had historical experience with naval warfare, such as Quarren, Givin, Ishi Tib, Sullustans, and Aqualish.

While the Republic media painted him as nothing less than a barbaric alien savage during the war, Roth was not without honor. He had a deep respect for the Jedi Knights of old, but believed that the Order had abandoned its strong, militaristic past and was blind to the injustices of the Republic it served. His enemies were treated without mercy, but those who surrendered would suffer no ill will from him.