Darth Nemesis

"Only through battle can we grow stronger, but said battle is nothing unless it is against an opponent who forces you to evolve."

- Darth Nemesis

Darth Nemesis, known as Ravyn while a slave, was an infamous who lived before, during and after the  and its resulting. He was well-known for his unusual but fair sense of honour and preference for powerful opponents, believing that victory over such individuals would help him become the strongest warrior in.

Born to fight
Born 3,697 BBY to unnamed parents on, the boy that would become Darth Nemesis was sold into slavery by his parents, and was eventually bought by the head of an illegal pit-fighting syndicate. By age five, the had become a  gladiatorial sensation, named "Ravyn" by hordes of cheering fans. The boy was undefeated in the arena, and could perform such feats as twenty-foot jumps into the air and slicing Rancor arms to ribbons with only one slash. This was because Ravyn was a very powerful, using his hate, anger and his species' traditional war-like demeanor to power his abilities, but also practicing great control over these powers and his emotions.

One day, whilst assigned to the arenas of, Ravyn found he was to be pitted against a massive creature similiar to the Gorog. When he asked what 'powerful idiot' had been able to convince the s to unleash their most destructive beast in their most important stadium, his overseer pointed out a robed sitting in the VIP box some distance away. Ravyn swore to make the horned humanoid pay, but proceeded to fight the beast anyway. However, the boy was forced to dodge and run from the beast multiple times, as no matter how much damage he inflicted, neither his swords nor his staff could even scratch the beast. However, as the monster crushed a large section of the arena wall and flooring, Ravyn suddenly had an idea: coaxing the beast into attacking him, Ravyn was able to trick creature into destroying the floor beneath its own feet, sending it hurtling into a massive water-filled cave half a mile below. For good measure, Ravyn cut several viewing screens from their posts and threw them into the water, electrocuting the leviathon and finally killing it.

Ravyn, however, was not finished. In an act of defiance, he used the massive piles of rubble fallen from the arena's sides during their fight to leap up into the VIP box, where he attempted to behead the Daveronian. The Zabrak was shocked, however, when his blade hit nothing but air and was cut to peices in seconds by a red-bladed the red-skinned humanoid had drawn from his robes. Another few seconds and Ravyn was kicked from the box into the arena, with the Daveronian following after him. Ravyn's 'sponsor' seemed pleased at the boy's determination and ingenuity, stating he thought it impossible for a nat like him to succeed. Enraged, Ravyn launched himself at the humanoid, only to be effortlessly bereft of his sword and sent flyign with a kick from the Devaronian.

Refusing to back down, Ravyn called upon the Force, and repaid the Devaronian's kick with a telekinetic blow that would normally have crushed boulders. The Devaronian did indeed go flying, but seemed unperturbed. The two engaged in battle once again, Ravyn growing angrier and more powerful the more taunts and jeers his opponent threw at him. At one point, the Zabrak was able to steal a second lightsaber from his foe's belt, and was at last able to meet him sword-to-sword. It was not enough, however, and, though Ravyn fought well, the superior Devaronian defeated him with a burst of lightning that inexplicably appeared from his fingertips, though it took an impressive amount of power to defeat the young warrior.

Almost burnt black by the electric storm and completely exhausted after facing two incredibly powerful opponents, Ravyn still refused to accept defeat, trying in vain to stand up and continue the fight. The Devaronian's claims that he had won fell upon deaf ears, with Ravyn insisting that the fight was not over until one of them lay dead, even if it was himself. His enemy laughed heartily at this, commending the warrior for his martial code and unfaltering confidence even in the face of certain doom. The Devaronian told Ravyn his name: Darth Curze. Curze explained to Ravyn how he could perform the amazing acts of agility and offence he had displayed all hsi life, and offered to teach the boy in the ways of an dedicated to war and developing such power, an order that was soon to be at war with the entire galaxy, a war where Ravyn could prove his mettle against warriors as powerful as Curze, if not more: the. Ravyn accepted without a second thought, and as his first act as a Sith Apprentice, slaughtered every last Geonosion, off-world spectator and gladiator who had witnessed his fight against Curze with the lightsaber he had acquired from the Sith.

Becoming Sith
For over a decade, Ravyn trained under Darth Curze, and the two shared a symbiotic master-apprentice relationship. However, unlike his time as a slave, Ravyn was eager to learn from his master and treated him as a true superior, the old warrior having earned both Ravyn's respect and awe. Combat training was harsh, unpredictable and so physically taxing that on several occasions even Ravyn's Zabrak body found it difficult to cope. The Sith Master used every possible means to train the apprentice, from assigning him droids programmed to try and kill him at random intervals, to holocrons, to entering physical combat with Curze and other Sith hopefuls. Curze was impressed with Ravyn's dedication to such activities, relishing battle as a man might enjoy fine food and ladies, or a farmer might rejoice at the prospect of rain.

Several times, the apprentice requested his master take him to the most dangerous planets and civilisations available so that he might test his skills against the environments, creatures and sentient warriors of that system, to which Curze agreed, and taught himself all kinds of Sith powers in what little spare time he had. Curze also taught his apprentice many languages, and Imperial politics, and subjects of engineering, including how to build lightsabers. Curze also taught the Zabrak his own personal code, which being inclined to independence, dueling and fights to the death, was willingly assimilated by Ravyn from an early age.

By age twelve, the Zabrak had mastered much of his power and most forms of lightsaber combat, easily perfecting those involving the duel and double-bladed lightsabers, as Ravyn found both comfortingly familiar to his old combinable duel swords from his time as a gladiator. On the eve of his thirteenth birthday, Ravyn was summoned by his master to a special chamber within on, where Curze forced the student to fight him again. This time the battle was far more intense, destroying half the tower inside and out, and although Ravyn was again defeated, his master decided he had progressed far enough to move on to the 'advanced' stages of his training in how to harness the. Ravyn was ritually adorned with Sith tattoos on the spot, and began immersing himself in ever more dangerous and advanced dark side powers with or without his master's consent, including and other infamous Sith powers.

The Great War
When the between the Republic and the Sith began three years later, Ravyn and his master were chosen to be part of the vanguard that would attack the Republic head-on. the two were present for the, the , and, though Ravyn was not present for the Tingel Arm Campaign launched by the Republic, Curze later described it to him. In each of these battles, both master and apprentice became concerned that the Sith Empire's 'glorious war' was not the up-front matter they had believed it would be. Instead the two became disgusted as they watched defenseless diplomats shot down by turbolasers, traitors to the Republic flying their banners without having seen any battle since time, and enemy campaigns ended by treachery in space over honourable surface combat.

However, Ravyn was able to at last taste true war during the Fall of. After a brief argument with Lord, Ravyn was assigned to the rear of the station exactly opposite the site where the two Sith would land their. There he initially found only republic troopers, who he cut down with minimal effort. However, there were not only the two Jedi encountered by Ravyn's fellow Sith. There was a third Jedi, a  by the name of Diu-Su'ka. The two engaged in a brief conversation regarding war and a sentient's range of conduct in such conflicts before engaging in an earth-shattering duel that saw much of the hanger destroyed. Eventually, Ravyn emerged triumphant but heavily scarred, having suffered severe burns to the back thanks to an exploding canister. His own ship destroyed in the battle, Ravyn did not relish the idea of traveling in the same ship as Vindican. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find Vindican dead and his fellow warrior Malgus now in charge of the ship. The Sith gave Ravyn passage on his own Interceptor, and the two congratulated each other on their first Jedi kills&mdash;both of them masters of their arch-rival.