Grievous (Powerstaark)

General Grievous, formerly known as Qymaen jai Sheelal, was a Kaleesh General who was trainsformed into a cyborg by the Confederacy of Independant Systems. Trained by Darth Tyranus in the art of lightsaber combat, Grievous bore great hatred for the Jedi Order and the Republic and became a brilliant General and notorious Jedi killer during the Clone Wars.

Early life
Though he would achieve his greatest infamy as the cyborg General Grievous, Qymaen jai Sheelal was originally an organic Kaleesh, a the reptilian nativs of Kalee, a world torn by famine and war. For generations, Kalee had been assaulted without respite by a technologically superior insectoid species, the Yam'rii (referred to by the Kaleesh as the "Huk" or "soulless bugs"), who coveted the Kaleesh as slaves. The conflict between the two species was known as the Huk War.

Sheelal's father, seeking a useful outlet for his son's anger, taught him how to handle a slugthrower rifle. The young Sheelal proved himself an excellent marksman with a mind as finely honed as any weapon; by eight years of age he had already become an expert sniper with more than forty Huk kills to his credit. By the age of twenty-two, he had slain so many Huk that the Kaleesh people considered Sheelal a demigod.

Sheelal's closest comrade was a fellow Kaleesh warrior and mercenary Ronderu lij Kummar. According to legend, his relationship with this wild and skilled swordswoman had its beginnings in a dream, in which Sheelal saw himself slaying a wild mumuu in the Kunbal jungle with Lig swords. So taken was he with this vision that he set out in his mumuu hunting mask to kill one in reality, but instead of finding a mumuu in the jungle, he saw Kummar. He realized that the slayer in his dream had not been himself, but the woman standing before him in a karabbac mask and wielding twin Lig swords. The two of them were, therefore, considered living manifestations of the cryptic Kaleesh parable Sheelal, or The Dreamer/The Dreamt One.

The bond between the two Kaleesh was very strong, and they became partners in war against the Huk. Kummar taught Sheelal to wield a sword, and in turn he introduced her to the Czerka Outland rifle. Both clad in masks, Kummar with her karabbac skull and Sheelal with his mumuu skull—inherited from his father, who had died fighting the Huk—became legends, twin demigods blessed by their ancestors. Together they mercilessly cut through the Huk invaders in countless campaigns.

However, in one engagement on the beaches of Kalee, the two of them were separated. Kummar died violently on the Huks' barbed shears, and her body vanished into the Jenuwaa Sea. Sheelal, unable even to retrieve her from the waters, was driven to despair and a horrible psychotic depression. Inconsolable, he set off on a dangerous journey across the ocean to Abesmi, an island-monolith far from the mainland. There, he beseeched the gods to raise her from her watery grave just so he might see her one final time—but the gods remained silent.

Sheelal did what he could to bury his grief. He ended up taking ten wives and siring thirty children, but none of them, spouse or child, seemed to be able to fill the void Kummar's death had left in him. Eventually, he realized that it was his destiny to mourn for her as long as he lived. With this realization, Qymaen jai Sheelal cast off his old identity, adopting a name more appropriate to a being destined to grieve forever, and, even more terribly, who was determined that he would not do so alone. He would be Grievous, as well as heart-broken, for the rest of his life.

Becoming a cyborg
Gathering to his side a group of equally bloodthirsty Kaleesh elite, the Izvoshra, and adopting the title of khagan, Grievous became a warlord and managed to force the Huk from Kalee. But his bitterness did not end with that triumph, and he pushed them further back, storming their colony worlds. His attacks and mass destruction of entire Huk planets ensured Kaleesh victory until the Huks turned to the Galactic Republic for help. Jedi Knights, sent to stop the war, sided with the Huks, and hefty fines and embargoes came down upon the Kaleesh. Kalee ended up in poverty, and hundreds of thousands of Kaleesh starved and died.

The arrival of San Hill, Chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, brought an opportunity to Grievous. Hill saw Grievous's potential as an IGBC "collections agent", and in exchange for his services, the Banking Clan offered to take on Kalee's massive debt, thus helping his people overcome the effects of the embargo. Grievous felt disgust at the notion of being a glorified leg-breaker for a soulless megacorporation, but he understood what the agreement would mean for his people, and besides, there was something in this innate warrior that needed to keep fighting—if not the Huk, then someone, somewhere. Eventually he agreed, taking command of the Clan's private army of droid enforcers.

The IGBC kept its promise, alleviating Kalee's deficit and resuscitating its trade. In exchange, Grievous became an extremely effective enforcer. It was through his efforts that the IGBC aggressively collected overdue credits from Ord Mantell and seized Phlut Design Systems when the company defaulted. But he found he missed the comforts of his former life—he wanted his old elite, the Izvoshra, but apart from himself, the Banking Clan would not hire Kaleesh. He would have to make do with droids, but, having no confidence in the IGBC's basic battle droids, he demanded more intelligent models to take the place of his elite. With Count Dooku's permission, Hill consented and began production on the IG-100 MagnaGuards. Grievous, at first, was disgusted with the droids because they were completely mindless. He soon demanded they be reprogrammed to watch him in combat and learn how to fight like his old comrades in his elite Huk-killing team several years before.

Soon, however, Grievous learned that the Huk had vandalized sacred Kaleesh burial grounds on the colony worlds, and that the Republic had done nothing. This news reawakened his desire to act directly in defense of his people, so he abandoned his contract with the Banking Clan and returned to Kalee to avenge the desecration. San Hill was far from pleased. He considered ordering Grievous's assassination, but he feared the vengeance the Kaleesh would take if he survived. Instead, Hill conspired with Poggle the Lesser, the Archduke of Geonosis, and with their mutual allies, Darth Sidious and Count Dooku, to arrange Grievous' permanent servitude.

On Kalee, Grievous and his Izvoshra boarded his troop shuttle, Martyr. They set off to resume the Huk War, unaware that Dooku, Hill, and Poggle had planted an ion bomb aboard, and rigged Grievous' pilot seat to enable remote-guided ejection. The resulting explosion sent the Martyr plunging into the Jenuwaa Sea. Dooku's remote command ejected Grievous from the wreck at the last moment, but all his Izvoshra perished in the crash. His body, hemorrhaging and in shock, was dragged from the water, and Dooku used the arcane Sith heart stun technique to keep him from succumbing to cardiac arrest while en route to Geonosis. It was then that Dooku first planted the idea that the Jedi themselves were responsible for this attack in Grievous' mind. Then, MagnaGuards dragged him to a nearby shuttle, where FX-series medical assistant droids worked to stabilize his condition during the journey. Dooku, in the meantime, traveled to his homeworld of Serenno to retrieve one more important component in his plan.

Grievous had suffered near-fatal injuries, rendering the body that had survived many battles useless, or so he was told. Planted evidence pointed to a Republic plot. In truth, Grievous once again proved his resilience, and additional injuries had to be added after the crash to make his body as broken as was claimed. San Hill repeated his proposal, including a promise to replace Grievous's broken body. Desiring vengeance against the Galactic Republic and the Huk, he agreed on the condition that his mind would not be tampered with.

Dooku provided blood from the frozen body of Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas as a means of keeping Grievous's body alive during his transit to Geonosis, where Poggle the Lesser and his Geonosian scientists implanted his brain and eyes into a duranium alloy body reminiscent of a Krath war droid, complete with LX-44 robotic legs. His vital organs were housed in a synthskin gut-sack impervious to vacuum. The Geonosians would also alter his brain against his wishes, both to trim away disturbing memories—while enhancing his rage centers—and to enhance his equilibrium, allowing him to better employ his newfound agility. Internal implants were also placed in his eyes to sharpen his vision and to protect them from the vacuum of space. While the midi-chlorian-rich blood of Sifo-Dyas may have played a critical role in maintaining Sheelal's life, Grievous saw it as a personal failure that the transfusion did not also give him a degree of sensitivity to the Force. To San Hill and his allies, however, the experiment was a phenomenal success. Qymaen jai Sheelal had become General Grievous in form as well as spirit.

The cyborg project was funded by San Hill to create a military leader that could counter Count Dooku's growing political influence in the Separatist Movement, although he presented the finished General Grievous as a twisted gift to Dooku. Though taken aback by his appearance, Dooku was pleased, and bestowed upon Grievous the title "Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies," planning to use him in his efforts to conquer the Republic. He presented him with his first lightsaber, the weapon of Sifo-Dyas.

At first Grievous was disgusted by his new droid body and took Dooku's appointment as Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies as an insult. He slaughtered his MagnaGuards present in defiance, exclaiming that he was not a droid. He further rebelled by still displaying some of his Kaleesh heritage by adorning himself and his MagnaGuards with masks and cloaks in styles closely resembling those found amongst his people. Grievous, however, would soon come to highly respect both Dooku and Sidious, considering them the Confederacy of Independent Systems' only "necessary" political leadership.

Grievous bore a great hatred for Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray, tolerating him only because he was vital to the Confederacy's success. Gunray was arrogant and cowardly, and questioned Grievous's leadership. He treated Grievous like a typical mindless droid even after being told that was not the case.

The beginning of the war
Grievous was first let loose in the Geonosian catacombs during the Battle of Geonosis where he safeguarded the Separatist Council from Jedi and clone trooper companies; he left none alive to tell of his existence. Dooku, impressed with the general's performance at Geonosis, trained Grievous in the art of lightsaber combat, which Grievous took to at a rapid pace.

Learning all the seven classic forms of Jedi arts Grievous quickly surpassed all the other apprentices of Dooku in terms of individual combat. Despite his obvious prowess, and the time and resources expended to creating him, Dooku still viewed him as second to the Chiss general Sev'rance Tann. It was only after Tann's death one month after Geonosis that Grievous truly began to come into his own.

The General revealed
Six weeks after the Battle of Geonosis, Grievous made his first puplic appearance on the planet Hypori where his tactics resulted in the obliteration of an entire Republic task force. The general cut down Jedi Master Daakman Barrek as he attempted to request reinforcements from the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who were meanwhile fighting on Muunilinst. With six other Jedi—Tarr Seirr, Sha'a Gi, Aayla Secura, K'Kruhk, and Jedi High Council members Ki-Adi-Mundi and Shaak Ti—trapped in the remains of a downed Acclamator-class transport, Grievous ordered his B2 super battle droid troops to stand down, effectively surrounding the Jedi. The general addressed the trapped Jedi, stating that he would grant them a "warrior's death" and lying in wait for them to move. Once Padawan Gi ran screaming into the unprotected open, Grievous jumped on him and killed him. The general then propelled himself to the top of the transport and as he climbed inside he split his arms allowing him to hold four lightsabers. Shaak Ti heard his arms splitting thanks to her montrals and warned the other Jedi just before Grievous leapt down at them.

After a flurry of swordplay during which the cyborg proved capable of fending off all five Jedi at once, Grievous attacked Mundi who leapt onto a metal pipe and fired a Force Push down at him. Though Grievous couldn't block the Force Push due to him not having any connection to the Force, he realised Mundi's intention in time to leap out of the way. He landed on the wall and propelled himself back at the Jedi whipping up a cloud of dust as he landed.

K'Kruhk attacked first but Grievous easily fended him off before slicing Tarr Sierr in half as he leapt at him. Then he stabbed K'Kruhk in the belly before being attacked by Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura and Ki-Adi-Mundi. Grievous leapt over the three Jedi and then grabbed Secura in his foot and hurled her into the wall. He fended off Ti and Mundi before kicking Mundi aside and attacking Ti. The Togruta Jedi Master managed to hold her ground against Grievous for about a minute before Grievous disarmed her and kicked her into a pile of rubble. He then turned towards the last Jedi standing, Ki-Adi-Mundi. The Cerean returned his stare without flinching.

Grievous leapt forwards and quickly overwhelmed the exhausted Mundi but was stopped from killing him by the arrival of recently promoted Captain Rex and a group of 501st clone troopers. The Clones distracted Grievous long enough to get the wounded Mundi, Secura and Ti into their gunship and then fled. Grievous watched them leave feeling satisfied that he had defeated seven Jedi in one day even though he only actually killed three of them; K'Kruhk survived thanks to his Whiphed healing trance.