Kaliv

"If this is all a game, and we're the players, then Kaliv is the drunk who flips the table, shoots everybody playing and then claims victory."

- Hereson describing Kaliv to Salovan.

Kaliv was a cyborg crime lord active during the Great Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, as well as the Cold War that followed. Known throughout the galaxy for his ruthlessness and his seemingly endless list of contacts and associates, Kaliv had friends among every party in the galaxy, including the Republic, the Sith, the Mandalorians and the majority of gangs and crime networks.

Early life
Born at some time around 43 BTC (Before the Treaty of Coruscant), Kaliv began his time as a criminal on Nar Shaddaa, where he made a living as the bouncer for a Hutt. From the aes of 16 to 23, Kaliv got into good graces with other Hutts and criminals, working multiple roles from typical grunt to security adviser to 'street tactician'. Finally, at the age of 26, Kaliv overtook the power of his former Hutt employer and had him killed, taking over his assets and finances.

Kaliv soon expanded his influence, though this cost him allies. Recruiting more usual gunslingers instead of trained mercenaries, Kaliv became more and more powerful as time went on. This angered one Mandalorian clan, who were double-crossed by the crime lord, and later tried to kill him in a cantina on Nar Shaddaa. Kaliv was struck in the face by a blaster, and one of his gang members began experimental surgery on him, replacing the entire left side of his face with cybernetics, including metallic skin, a red camera-like eye and steel teeth. Kaliv later had the Mando clan wiped out with a suitcase bomb, and left Nar Shaddaa to make more profit.

Befriending the Sith
In 28 BTC, the Sith re-emerged and began a brutal war against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. Kaliv noticed that the Imperials were consistently winning battles, and so resolved to make allies among the Empire and the Sith. Travelling alone to Dromund Kaas under a psuedonym, Kaliv began a year-long campaign of bribery, corruption and blackmail, and he eventually became an official asset for both Imperial Intelligence and the Chiss Ascendency. However, he kept this a secret to his gang, instead telling them that he travelled to Dromund Kaas to recruit more criminal allies.

Many noticed Kaliv had lied to them when the crime lord began targeting Republic assets. Kaliv's crime fleet attacked Republic merchant convoys, and his spies assassinated Jedi and notable Republic figures, the most famous being the brother of future Supreme Chancellor Dorian Janarus. Due to his wealth, multiple gunslingers, smugglers, bounty hunters and mercenaries joined Kaliv's gang, and soon Kaliv was hiring some of the galaxy's most dangerous men and women.

Dromund Kaas
27 years after the war began, Kaliv moved his operations to Dromund Kaas, making a headquarters in Kaas City and holding the gang's starships at a nearby spaceport. During this time, Kaliv tried to bribe a Chiss Senator, and this went well for many months, until the Chiss learned that his uncle had been killed by one of Kaliv's men years before for not giving the gang extra weapons from the Ascendency. In response, the Senator told Kaas City authourities of Kaliv's slum hideout, and troops were sent to take down the gang.

At the same time, Kaliv recruited an unlikely criminal: a 13-year-old boy named Salovan. Kaliv was skeptical, until Sal managed to steal the crime lord's blaster right in front of him without being noticed. Sal later proved his worth when during the attack on the hideout, he sniped a radio operator who was about to relay the location of the hideout to more troops. Kaliv let the young Salovan join the gang, tasking him with finding Kaliv's ship, an XS Light Freighter, in the nearby spaceport, while the gang prepared to leave the now unwelcome Dromund Kaas.

Kaliv travelled with Sal, the astromech droid T4-O6, the Mirialan pilot Calara, a Zabrak bodyguard named Jorak and the Twi'lek gunslinger Hereson on the freighter out of Dromund Kaas, with Kaliv deciding to travel to Coruscant, after hearing that the Republic are paying privateers who fight the Empire. However, the gang instead arrived over Coruscant to see chaos: the Empire had launched an enormous attack over Coruscant, destroying the Jedi Temple, killing the Supreme Chancellor and ruining the planet surface. Kaliv decided it was best to stay, knowing that money could be made by making himself a power on the crippled-yet-bustling world.

Gaining Influence
Kaliv and his gang occupied an abandond apartment complex in Coruscant's lower levels and turned it into a stronghold, before beginning a short campaign against Imperials on the planet, killing soldiers and handing out Imperial supplies to the locals. Due to this, Kaliv was seen as a hero, and dozens joined the gang. Over the course of three years, Kaliv became a superpower of Coruscant's underground, with many members, like Sal, Hereson and Jorak, becoming important members, as Sal was now one of the gang's best shooters, despite his age.

Unbeknownst to Kaliv, Calara was having second thoughts. Finally seeing through the cyborg's lies and ruthlessness, Calara began working against Kaliv in secret, destroying goods she was meant to transport and giving away information on the gang to other gangs on Coruscant like Black Sun. Eventually, Kaliv learned of this, though Calara fled into Coruscant's mid-levels before Kaliv could do anything. Hereson and Sal, both learning of Kaliv's crimes, went after Calara themselves to protect her, causing further strife in the gang.

Sal, Hereson and Calara resurfaced alongside Black Sun, led by the brutal pirate Raan, who was angered by Kaliv's growing power. Declaring war against Kaliv, the cyborg turned to another crime group, the Migrant Merchant's Guild, and soon Coruscant's underworld was thrown into a bloody street war, which lasted for two years: Black Sun, aided by Sal, Calara and Hereson, against Kaliv's gang and the MMG.

Winning and Losing
At first, Black Sun struck hard and well. First was a crippling raid on Kaliv's hangar in the compound, damaging Kaliv's ships and speeders and seemingly taking the life of Jorak (though he was later revealed to be alive, albeit scarred). Then, the MMG's co-founder, the Togruta Yetra Polk, was killed by Hereson and Sal during an infiltration of MMG territory. Things got worse when a twentieth of Kaliv's men went rogue and tried killing Kaliv for a bounty, only for the rest of the gang to gun them down. With recruitment dropping and Black Sun close to destroying his powerbase for good, Kaliv knew that he would have to try something radical.

Kaliv tasked Jorak to attack the main Black Sun compound with just ten men, hoping to sabotage the entire base. The Zabrak and his team managed to penetrate the security, planting explosives throughout the base. In the succeeding explosions, hundreds were killed and countless stores of weapons, armour and supplies were destroyed, plunging Black Sun into chaos. Kaliv now had the reprieve he was hoping for, and the war began to turn to his favour after almost two years.

War's end and Calara's execution
In 5 ATC, the War between Black Sun and Kaliv came to a sudden end. Black Sun's leader, Raan, grew sick of the war and his constant losses, and so gave up Calara to Kaliv in exchange for peace. Sal and Hereson killed Raan and went after Calara, but Kaliv got to her first, and the cyborg soon prepared to punish the Mirialan. In front of Sal and Hereson (both hidden) and few others, Kaliv executed Calara with a blaster, before spreading the word that Calara was a double agent killed by Black Sun, and that the war would keep going, though Kaliv wouldn't fight it. Through unknown means, the crime lord fled from Coruscant.

Meanwhile, Sal and Hereson attacked Kaliv's compound alone, killing Jorak (who sincerely believed that Kaliv's propaganda was truth) and stealing Kaliv's ship alongside T4, who had witnessed the execution of his creator. Sal and Hereson made it their mission to avenge Calara, and Hereson suspected that Kaliv would go back home: to Nar Shaddaa.

Old Friends
Upon arriving on Nar Shaddaa, Kaliv contacted his old Imperial allies, hiding himself with Imperial Colonel Haga in his stronghold and making Imperial soldiers search for Sal and Hereson, who Kaliv suspected were following him. One Imperial officer almost killed the pair at a spaceport, though he was stopped when a rebel paramilitary group named the Blue Sceptre began a planet-wide conflict against the Empire. As Kaliv frantically searched for Sal and Hereson, the pair started making friends themselves, both among Hereson's former friends in the criminal underworld and among the Blue Sceptre.

For the next year, Kaliv shifted between multiple hideouts on Nar Shaddaa, constantly trying to evade Sal and Hereson, who now had themselves a following hoping to gain a Republic bounty on the head of the cyborg. Kaliv's allies were being picked off one-by-one, and he knew he would likely meet his end, though he still tried to bring his former subordinates down, including exploding a bomb in a busy market. However, the plan failed: Kaliv's end was nigh.

Death
Hereson and Sal finally attacked Colonel Haga's stronghold with the aid of some of Hereson's former allies, with Sal instantly killing Haga after breaking into the Colonel's office. Kaliv, who was inside as well, begged for mercy, promising never to interfere with their lives again. Hereson reminded Kaliv that he had shown no mercy to Calara, before shooting the cyborg at point-blank range, ending his life for good.

Personality and traits
Kaliv had two sides to his personality. One side to it was that of a ruthless, heartless, bloodthirsty crime lord who didn't let anything stop him from gaining power. This definitely showed during his alliance with the Empire, and later when he tried to kill Sal and Hereson by detonating a bomb in a civilian market. Kaliv was feared due to his willingness to go to any extreme possible, and it was often this intimidation that inspired loyalty in his gang.

However, Kaliv also had another side to his personality, which only seemed to surface when he lost his power. As shown by his exploits on Nar Shaddaa, Kaliv was a coward, who became both paranoid and panicked when his life was in danger. His desperate pleas for mercy to Hereson astounded Sal, who had thought of Kaliv as cold and emotionless, and Kaliv also presented the traits of a sociopath in this sense, often doing unthinkable things in order to save his own skin.

Physical characteristics
Kaliv was a hulking man, with broad shoulders, a tall stature and a sturdy mixture of muscles and fat. This was due to him being a cyborg, and also due to his past job as a bodyguard and grunt for a Hutt crime lord. His face was split between the left side, which was entirely cybernetic, and his right side, which was still organic. He had dark skin, green eyes and a shaved head, and his cybernetics were steel, with a red eye socket and multiple layers of casing.

Kaliv often wore several outfits, including a Bantha fur coat, padded fighting gear and even an Imperial uniform at one moment in time, that being when he was practically homeless and broke while hiding on Nar Shaddaa. Kaliv also carried his own blaster with him at all times, a blaster Sal destroyed upon Kaliv's death. It had a short barrel, rusty paint and a red laser, and was powerful, but quite inaccurate.