Taz Merot

Taz Merot was a male.

Star travel and salt
Born on, the Arcona homeworld, Merot journeyed offworld in his late teens, taking a job aboard a freighter with the intent of seeing the galaxy. His youthful idealism was rewarded only briefly, however; the company he had joined suffered major losses within the next half year and went bankrupt shortly thereafter in the confusion of the. Unable to find work due to his inexperience, he was reduced to performing odd jobs in the. By the age of twenty, he was addicted to salt and living in destitution.

Purpose
Having spent all his savings and exhausted the slim good will of the populace, by 46 ABY Taz was a loathed barfly around and banned from the. In that year, a approached him, chiding him for wasting his potential and letting himself sink into such degradation. When Taz blamed his circumstances, the Ho'Din offered him the chance at a new, purposeful life among the stars, on the condition that he commit to abandoning his salt habit. Through repeated suggestion and eventually light coercion, Taz at last sullenly agreed.

His first month away from Abregado-rae was spent only in detoxification, with his new Ho'Din custodian refusing to allow him access to anything remotely salty or even flavorful, forcing the miserable Arcona back to sobriety. After that month, though, the Ho'Din presented Taz with the truth. He was Kleesh, a Warden of the Sky, and he had detected that Taz was a Force sensitive. Initially intrigued by this revelation, imagining himself becoming a, Taz quickly realized that the tightly controlled life of a Jedi was not for him. Instead, he heard Kleesh out about the Wardens, learning their mission and way of life. By the time the tale was complete, Taz was sold and became Kleesh's apprentice.

They traveled together for nearly ten years, masquerading in whatever guises suited them; a pair of mechanics aboard a, a navigator and his student with a freighting company, a pair of turbolasers technicians onboard a smuggling ship, and many others. Always they found time for Kleesh to teach his student to harness and control the Force, especially in the use of the Wardens' martial art. They were able to cripple several nascent pirate attacks by taking the pirates down in spaceports before the attacks could be launched.

Alone among the stars
In 56 ABY, Kleesh pronounced his apprentice's training complete. Following the custom of the Wardens, they parted ways, each to patrol space on his own. Taz did just that, wandering the galaxy in solitude for two decades, foiling crime when he encountered it and occasionally taking jobs in support of smuggler crews, as he, like most Wardens, believed that governments could not justly interfere with space travel.

After many years of travel, however, Taz desired to take an apprentice of his own, seeking both companionship and the chance to pass on his skills. He had no success finding a suitable Force sensitive, though, as the Empire had long since begun training its s, and between them and the Jedi Order a number of potentials had been claimed. Not until 76 ABY, twenty years after completing his own training and long after having fully mastered the arts of the Wardens, did someone finally catch Taz's eye.

While having a drink on, Taz was suddenly distracted by a disturbance in the Force. Moving to investigate, hoping he had stumbled upon an unseasoned adept he could teach, he instead was startled to discover a competent-looking adult woman and a young man who was clearly her companion. Worse, she looked across a crowded marketplace, fixating her attention directly on him. Fearful that he had bitten off more than he could chew, the Arcona fled back to a ship.

But flight did not save him for long. He had the unsettling sense that he was being tracked, and barely managed to avoid his pursuers in a series of narrow escapes on, , , , and. Worse, Taz could not shake the feeling that the woman's eye was on him even when he knew she was not physically nearby. Hoping to lose them in the confusion of the spaceports of, the Arcona instead found himself herded into a trip, with the young man and his gold lightsaber on one side and the woman on the other, crackling between her fingertips. Resigning himself to the reality of having been outmatched, he conceded to have a drink with his pursuers and explain.

Two for the price of one
A bit startled when the woman used telepathy to clear out the bar, Taz nonetheless rallied enough to identify himself as a Warden and explain the group's function. In turn, the woman introduced herself as Valadi and her companion as Keltrayu, her apprentice. Valadi was intrigued by the description of the Wardens, and asked if she and Keltrayu might accompany Taz on his journeys. A group of three was unusually large for the Wardens, but between Keltrayu's potential and Valadi's obvious power, the opportunity was too interesting to pass by.

As they traveled, Taz was surprised to discover he had little to teach Valadi. She expressed enthusiasm for learning the Wardens' method of channeling the Force into their martial arts, but was already such a proficient hand fighter herself that she and Taz were far from evenly matched; he had the distinct impression that he was simply giving her more weapons. She did, however, help him develop some skills at telepathy, expanding beyond a danger sense for immediate peril and helping him get a better understanding of those around him, including their future plans.

Keltrayu was another matter. Though the boy had clear potential, he was mostly untrained, and Taz wondered if he might not become a Warden himself. Untrained in combat, Keltrayu studied martial arts from both Taz and Valadi and eventually began to develop an eclectic style based on both of theirs. Though she permitted Taz to teach Keltrayu the Wardens' style, Valadi nonetheless kept him carefully in line with her own views of the Force, leaving the Arcona feeling somewhat stymied.

Despite this difficulty, however, the three were a ruthlessly effective crime-fighting team. Valadi's precognitive abilities enabled her to see many threats coming long before they materialized, and the trio was able to eliminate several dangers far away from innocent people or prying eyes. In their fourteen months together, the three were only involved in two pirate attacks; in both cases, all the pirates died, and all the Wardens emerged completely unscathed.

Nishi
In 78 ABY, "Valadi" announced that she and Keltrayu would be going their own way, jumping ship back at Eriadu to retrieve their shuttle. Taz offered Keltrayu the opportunity to remain with him and train to become a Warden instead, but the Human politely refused, opting to remain with his master. However, after a moment's pause, Valadi offered the tantalizing hint that perhaps Taz should see what had to offer.

The Arcona had spent enough time with the mysterious Force master to trust her unusual premonitions, and so he took a few jobs that eventually brought him to. There he arrived at Mos Espa in time to encounter a group of -employed mercenaries transporting a cargo of slaves. Outraged, he attacked the group, using some of Valadi's mind tricks to create a distraction, enabling him to get close enough to take down the entire group. In the process of freeing the slaves, he found that one of them, a girl named Nishi Mes, was a Force sensitive.

Explaining the Wardens and their mission to her, Taz had no trouble in convincing Nishi to become his new apprentice. Together, the Arcona and the Twi'lek boarded the next freighter out of the spaceport and set off across the stars.