Darth Azazel

"Rage, passion, aggression. These emotions make one powerful, but only a weakling dose not control them."

- Darth Azazel

Darth Azazel, also known as Kuro Zorn, Kyle Reen, Markus Lito, Willom Dran, and Gron Brego, was a extrodinarly powerful Sith Lord born in prelude of the Separatist Crisis in 44 BBY. He grew into adulthood during the Clone Wars and experienced the violent, bloody war between the Republic and CIS firsthand. A brilliant military strategist and tactician considered by many to be the equal of Grand Admiral Thrawn, he also developed his own unique view of the New Order and constructed a elabroate plan to destroy Palpatine-both his body and his spirit-take his thrown, and remake the Empire in his image. To begin this plan Azazel first used the Force to transfer his spirit into the body of a Human replica droid-allowing him to live forever, rid himself of his deformed appearance and possess incredible physical power alongside his mastery of the Force and lightsaber combat-which were two things the Sith Lord craved above all else. Although this attempt almost failed and Azazel nearly died during the process, he emerged form the process in his new body, which had been tailor made by a elite team of Imperial scientists to Azazel's exact specifications. Azazel later killed the scientists, both to keep the operation secret and to test his new abilities.

The second part of his plan involved the Spartans and the massed bulk of the mighty Imperium Army which, combined with a massive fleet of Imperial II-class Star Destroyers and Corruptor-class Battlecruisers he had been secretly assembeling in the Deep Core since the Clone Wars, Azazel planned to engage Palpatine on bord the Death Star II, kill him, and then use his fleet and supersoldiers in combination with the Death Star's power and the Imperial fleet to crush the Rebels and remake the Empire as he saw fit. However he never had the chance to complete his plan, as at the very moment he arrived in the Endor system for his "meeting" with Palpatine the Rebel Alliance had began their attack. Azazel attempted to infiltrate the Death Star during the battle to engage Palpatine, but failed to reach him before his own apprentice threw him down the reactor shaft. Denied his chance to kill the Emperor and assume control of the Empire, Azazel escaped the Death Star just as it detonated, vowing to one day complete his ultimate goal.

After escaping the second Death Stars destruction Azazel fled to the deep core world of Asuras III, where he begin construction on the Galaxy Crusher, a massive Eclipse-class Star Dreadnaught. Azazel also kept a close eye on the Imperial world of Byss, knowing that if the Emperor's spirit would show up anywere that it would be Byss, were he kept his labs and clone bodies. By the time Palpatine emeraged once again in his first clone body the Galaxy Crusher had reached near full construction, although rather then risk his entire fleet and amy engaging Palpatine, Azazel chose to allow the New Republic to do the dirty work, while he helped from the shadows and used small fleets of his Corruptors to weaken Imperial lines, allowing the New Republic forces to break though. During the Battle of Pinnacle Base Azazel used the Grevon, a Imperial-II-class Star Destroyer equipped with a cloaking device, to observe the battle. He used the Force to observe Luke SkyWalker during his final battle with Palpatine, ready to step in if the Emperor acturally killed SkyWalker. However this was proven unnecessary, as Luke and Leia managed to defeat the reborn Emperor by combining their power.

Sastified that Palpatine had been destroyed and believeing the Sith Lord to finally be dead, completely dead, Azazel finally put the last part of his plan into motion and attacked the New Republic. Useing the military's weakend state after the short war with the reborn Palpatine to his advantage, Azazel combined his massive fleet and the power of the Galaxy Crusher, the superiority of his supersoldiers and his mastery of militay tactics and the Force to crush the New Republic defenders. By 16 ABY Azazel had occupied over four hundred planets and their associated star systems and resorces and converted them to Imperium rule. However he did not win every world though mear military might but also though his use of his Delta spec-op troopers and skill at manipulating people and events to his advantage to stow seeds of conflict and war in various cultures and militaries, in order to weaken planets prior to invasion and purging. Azazel was also unique among other Sith Lords in the way that he treated his underlings. Though he viewed any non Spartan as worthless once they had served their purpose, he turely cared for the men and women he had artifically created using his own hands and though he raised them as soldiers using exceptionally harsh techniques, Azazel felt true pain every time he sacrificed one of his "children" for what he believed to be the greater good. He also ruled his Imperium with a iron fist just as Palpatine had done, and enforced martial law on all his planets, although in place of utilizing genocide, rule by fear and the other techniques Palpatine had utilized, Azazel ruled his minions fairly and justly, though the Imperium still resembled a fascist government, with military leadership, heavy-handed propaganda, the centralized organization of society for Total War, and the requirement for a person to serve in the military and gain considerable experiance and commendation in order to earn the right to have a say in the government.

Early Life(44 BBY-to-3 ABY)
"Only the strong survive...the weak are left behind to become the dust of history. Always remember that."

- Azazel to Jai Skirata

Darth Azazel was born in 44 BBY at a small, remote Moisture Farm in the Dune Sea of Tatooine. Even as a infant, he inspired fear. Ugly and malformed, he was abandoned by his parents to die in the harsh desert sun. However a roving band of Mandalorian raiders, calling themselves the Sand Kings, happened accross his parents farm, slaughtered his family and ranshacked their home, taking anything of value. Their ruthless leader, Baal 'Kas Zorn, found the child crying in rage. Most of the Mandalorians, too, thought the infant should die, though Baal, a Force-sensitive, recognized the potential power in the child. He named him Kuro and raised him as his own son.

As Kuro grew and learned the Mandalorian fighting arts and culture, he quickly surpassed the other members of the clan in intelligence, strength, and skill. Everyone in the clan except for Baal hated and feared him for his inhuman looks and great abilities. Kuro did not understand their fear, but hardened his heart against it. Moreover, he strongly believed the principle that Baal and his clan lived by, that only the fittest, the toughest, most ruthless and pitiless, tested by hardship, would, and should, survive. On the day of his rite of passage into manhood, the seventeen-year-old Kuro killed twenty-five armed Mando warriors useing only his bare hands and Force lightning, which shocked and frightened the other clan members and caused them to hate Kuro even more.

On the day of his rite of passage, Baal brought the young Kuro to a old cave whose entrance became blocked by a cave-in, trapping them underground. After a week of wandering without food or water, they found the remnants of a ancient Sith vessel of a strange design. While exploring the ship, and finding a ancient Sith holocron and lightsaber in the process, Baal told Kuro that he believed him to be a conqueror whose coming he had seen in a dream nearly a decade before as a young man, and that Kuro was destined to overthrow the Emperor of a dark Empire and become the true and only ruler of the galaxy. Then Baal died from lack of nourishment, and Kuro, barely holding on to life and unknowingly drawing heavily on the Force to sustain himself, vowed to take vengeance on this dark Emperor and claim his destiny. A week later he finally made it back to the surface, the holocron in hand, and managed to find his way back to the Mandalorian camp, only to discover that Loka, one of the more power hungry Mandos among the Sand Kings, had taken Baal's posistion as leader of the clan and convinced the other Mandalorians that more wealth and opportunity for work lay beyound what Tatooine had to offer and left the camp in runins, taking the clans Carrack-class light cruiser with him and leaving Kuro stranded in the Dune Sea.

However Loka had left a considerable amount of supplies and equipment behind in his haste to leave the desert planet behind and using various salvaged parts Kuro managed to build a functioning speeder bike. He used this to make his way to the Anchorhead space port. It was here, in the local cantina, that Kuro met Guri for the first time. Highly attracted to her, and believing her to be a normal human woman, the young man approached her and offerd to buy her a drink with a few credits he had pick pocketed from a passing spacer before entering the cantina. Guri, although only at the cantina to deliver a package to a business partner of her master, accepted the youths offer as a experiment, wishing to see how male and female humans interacted with each other in regards to romance and dating. Half way though their conversation Xizor's partner, a Rodian, showed up and upon seeing what ever was in the package Guri handed him became angry and treatend to shoot her. Although Guri was more than capable of defending herself against the angry bussinessman, Kuro got to him first, breaking the Rodian's arm and snapping his neck all in one smooth movement. Impressed by the way Kuro had handled the alien Guri offerd to take him back to Black Suns headquaters on Coruscant. Kuro, still hoping to find out more about Guri, accepted, realizing also that if he could get a job with one of the largest and most wealthy criminal oganizations in the galaxy he would likely be able to make more than enough money to start his campaign to become ruler of the galaxy.

As a agent of Black Sun Kuro undertook various missions for Xizor, including the assassination of many of the crime lords enemies. Xizor would also commonly pair up Kuro and Guri, sending them on missions together. It was during this time that Kuro both discovered that Guri was a droid and began a relationship with her, which was purely physical in nature. At the time of Xizor's death in 3 ABY Kuro was at a Imperial recruitment center on Corellia attmping to enter the Imperial Navy and thus was not present at Xizor's castle at the time of its destruction. Kuro was accepted into the Imperial Naval academy within a month after the death of Xizor and advanced to the rank of Captain within half a year, a amazing feat. By the time of the Battle of Endor Kuro had gained command of the Crimson Reaper, a Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, and a staggering amount of medals and commendations for exceptional service to the Empire as well as a great deal of combat experience fighting Rebels and other foes of the Emperor. It was during this time that Kuro began to train in several martial arts including Teras Kasi and the Echani combat methods. He also began schooling himself in the Sith arts and lightsaber combat, using the ancient holocron he had found on Tatooine as a teacher and guide.

Apprenticeship to Darth Mantis(5 ABY-to-11 ABY)
"Azazel...you are unlike any Sith Lord I have ever known. You utilize the dark side with a skill and power surpassing all those before you...and yet I sense no lasting rage or anger in you...no hatered of the Jedi...and now it seems you have defeated even me..as well."

- Darth Mantis to Azazel, after being stabbed though the chest by the new Sith Lord

Despite having schooled himself in the Sith arts though the ancient Holocron and becoming quite skilled in lightsaber combat, it was not until 5 ABY that Kuro would acturally learn to fully control and manipulate his power. After the Battle of Endor, Kuro retreated to the Deep Core world of Asuras III, the uncharted planet where he had been secretly building his army. Kuro realized that even with the considerable fleet he had managed to accumulate and the superiority of his Spartan soldiers he simply did not have enough military power to begain his homicidal campaign against the galaxy. Rather than start a fruitless assualt against the sentient species of the galaxy with his still relatively small force, Kuro demonstrated patience not common among Sith Lords and left his fortress world in search of Darth Mantis, a Sith Master who Kuro believed to be living on Korriban. Leaving the construction of his army and fleet to his second-in-command, Va'lar, Kuro left Ma'meen and headed alone to Korriban.

Upon his arrival on the harsh, arid surface of Korriban, Kuro was immediately attacked by half a dozen Imperial Sovereign Protectors who were under the control of Darth Mantis's powerful telepathic abilities. Mantis, who had sensed Kuro's presence the moment he arrived in the system, had been greatly impressed by the power he sensed and had prepared a ambush to test Kuro's power and combat abilities, in order to judge weather he had the capability to become a Sith Lord. When Kuro managed to kill three of the elite Imperials within the first few seconds of the fight, Mantis swarmed the young man with a mass of battle droids and five Dark Side Adepts. Due to the superhuman abilities of his HRD body and already exceptional skill in martial arts and considerable skill in lightsaber combat, Kuro managed to destroy every last one of his foes and emerage from the ambush alive. After the battle Kuro, victorius but suffering from several injuries, was approaced by the Sith Lord and offered power beyond his wildest dreams if he swore his loyalty and skills to Mantis's campaign against the Jedi. Kuro accepted, pledging his allegiance to Mantis and the Sith Order, although secretly he planned to kill Mantis after he had learned everything possible from him pertaining to the Force and the Sith arts.

For six long years Mantis trained Kuro in the dark side of the Force and thaught him how to master and control his abilities. Mantis also trained Kuro extensively in all seven forms of lightsaber combat, and was pleased when he took to the aggressive and mentally challenging form of Juyo with exceptional ease. Though he took to the physical part of direct combat with a skill and quickness that rivaled that of Mantis himself after only one years worth of training, Kuro had trouble learning to utilize telekinesis and Force lighning, which was somthing that Mantis insisted he learn, stating that a true Sith Lord was a master of all things, physically, mentally and in the Force. However despite his difficulty with mastering and fully controlling his power in the Force, Kuro eventually overcame his shortcomings and mastered his potential in the Force, shocking himself and Mantis when he unleashed a wave of dark side energy during his last training session, which was so massive and powerful that it wiped out the entire ancient Sith city buried underground where Mantis had been training Kuro and collapsed the entire unground network of tunnels leading to and from it, leaving a crater nearly one-thousand meters in diameter. After this Kuro sensed that he had learned everything he needed from Mantis and decided that his Master had outlived his usefulness and attacked him, easily swatting aside Mantis's attemps to defend himself and dispatching him with a single thrust through the heart. After sharing one last word with Mantis's body, the newly born Darth Azazel returned to Asuras III and his preparations for war.

Personality and traits
As a boy Kuro Zorn was endlessly more intelligent then the other members of his clan, had a insatiable desire for knowledge, a love for the written word, and was constantly talking, reading, learning from everything and everyone and eager to share his knowledge with anyone who would listen. This boy was quickly replaced by a aggressive, merciless, and cunning young man, both due to the exceptionally rigorous physical and mental training he was put though as both Baal's and Mantis's personal apprentices and that, as a member of the Sand Kings, he learned the hard way that only the strong and capable survive and thrive.

By age twenty-two Kuro, then working for Black Sun, begain to see all other beings as flawed weaklings, as virturally no organic could match his intelligence and skills. This belief was futher reinforced after he discovered that he was Force-sensitive and, during early training under Darth Mantis, demonstrated seemingly limitless power in the Force. This belief of extrem superiority to all beings, combined with his disgust with the constant war and galactic conflict, led to Kuro dreaming of a "New Race", who would be perfect in all ways and would not possess what he saw as flaws, such as strong emotions wich might led to conflict with one another, and the existence of a galactic society consisting of a rigid rank structure, in which each being, genetically engineered to serve a exact purpose, would happily perform their assigned duties with no desire for advancement or personal gain and would work together flawlessly, in a manner similar to a hive of insects. However his narcissistic belief of superiority and greatness, combined with the fact that he saw his Spartans as perfect despite their numerous flaws and psychological problems, would eventually lead to Azazel's and the Imperium's defeat and the massive reforms that followed. In the end it was Azazel's failure to see any of his opponents as dangerous or capable of actually causing him harm that would lead to his downfall, as this made him often careless and overly aggressive.

"He's exceptionally intelligent, ruthless, methodical, and devout in his belief of a new galaxy...ruled by his "New Race". Add to that his power in the Force, skill at creating massively powerful weaponry, command and leadership skills, and the tactical superiority of his supersoldiers and it would not surprise me if he managed to wipe out the entire galaxy with in a year, max. Please! You must act! Before it is to late!"

- Broca Nu attempting to convince Chief of State Mon Mothma of the need to take drastic action against Kuro Zorn's growing empire

As Darth Azazel Kuro was unique when compared to other Sith Lords;in that he rarely strayed from his calm, indifferent demeanour and remained silent during combat, focusing on destroying his foes rather then taunting them and using psychological warfare, although when in control of a situation Kuro would often pause to verbally harass his opponent(s) and employ torture, and on several occasions displayed obvious sadistic pleasure when purging a world. In these instances, he was also shown to possess a dry, cynical sense of humor and clearly enjoyed laughing at the expense of others. Normally soft-spoken and emotionally quiet, with a professional military outlook on life, Kuro considered the many trappings of civilian life as useless inventions, such as overly comfortable seating and flashy clothes and speeders and the use of droids or assistants for tasks that could be accomplished easily with little effort. Kuro's belief that all species were flawed weaklings led to a complete disregard for all sentient life, be it Human, Wookiee, Mon Cal or other. This disregard for organic life surpassed that of even Palpatine's hatred for nonhumans, more so due to the fact that Kuro believed Humans to be flawed beings as well, deserving nothing more than death.

Powers and abilities
"I don't think there was ever anything you couldn't do, as long as you set your mind to it."

- Baal 'Kas Zorn's Force ghost to Azazel



Even before transferring his spirit into the body of a HRD, Darth Azazel was highly superior, both physically and mentally, to most humans. However the most prominent of his abilities thoughout his natural life was his highly above average intellect. Even at a young age Kuro had a understanding of genetics, robotics, engineering, cybernetics, cloning and applied chemistry that rivaled that of most expert scientists with years of experience in their respective fields, and by the time he started work on the Spartans he had made advances in these fields and others that most other professional scientists could scarcely comprehend. Azazel was a genius at inventing weaponry, viral and biological agents for warfare, and had great skill at engineering spacecraft and personal armor systems.

Growing up with the Sand Kings-and trained by the former Mandalore himself-Kuro learned all the skills he would require for warfare and personal combat. Trained by Baal in martial arts and hand-to-hand combat, sharpshooting, small-arms weapons and vehicles, stealth maneuvers, communications, and electronic-hacking, Kuro quickly became a exceptionally powerful and astute fighter at a early age, mastering each lesson and becomeing a nearly unstoppable dervish of destruction. A prime expamle of his skills was during his time in the Imperial Navy, during a assualt on a large Rebel base on Zhotta 3. After being trapped on the remote outer rim planet for more than a three days after being shotdown by a w-165 planetary turbolaser guarding the planet, Kuro, with only a small handful of wounded Stromtroopers at his disposal and still waiting for reinforcements, led a ingenious attack on the Rebel base, using his Stromtroopers to cause a destraction while he infiltrated the base, planted thermal dets on the facilitys main reactor, and shot his way out of the complex, killing more than four dozen heavily armed Rebel soldiers and than destroying the entire base by setting off the thermal charges. Kuro's Stormtroopers were all killed in the attack but he himself managed to survive, snipe off the remaining Rebels and escape the planet in a stolen X-Wing fighter. Kuro showed-although a expert shot and extremely proficient with most ranged weapons-,from his first training sesson and onward, a extraordinary gift for martial arts, particularly Teras Kasi and the Echani combat methods and by age twenty he had become a virtually peerless master, capable of defeating a dozen armed assailants with in seconds and, later in life, would come to prefer hand-to-hand and close quarters combat over long-range assualts and sniping.

Azazel was a remarkable swordsman and fencer and possessed incredible skill in all seven forms of lightsaber combat, though he preferred Juyo, Djem So, and Makashi. He could switch fighting styles at a whim, keeping his opponents guessing as to what his next move would be as the Form II attacks they had just defended against could suddenly change to Form VII. Azazel would also mix martial arts into lightsaber combat, using kicks, punches, chops, elbows, and knees in combination with his blade in a fury of blows that could cut down all but the most skilled lightsaber dualists in seconds. After transferring his life-energy to his HRD body his strength, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, dexterity, and coordination were enhanced to such powerful levels that only a Jedi Master or Sith Lord-with their physical abilites augmented though the Force-was capable of lasting against him in hand-to-hand or blade-to-blade combat. In his HRD body Azazel possessed enough physical strength to lift three tons over his head with supreme effort, could run and move at speeds exceeding 80KPH(50 mph)-although using the Force he could augment his speed to even higher levels-had reflexes fast enough to dodge even rapid-fire blaster bolts, and had limitless reserves of stamina, allowing him to exert himself at peak capacity for hours, days, or even years on end with out feeling anything more than boredom. Azazel's dexterity and coordination were also enhanced to the point that he could manipulate, control, and move duel lightsabers-or vibroblades-at speeds so fast they became impossible to track by eye for most species. He could also flex and bend his limbs at angles that would cause injury in most humanoids, and could rotate his waist, knees, wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles and neck a complete 360 degrees and was fully ambidextrous. His eyes also hid advanced sensors providing him with low-light, infrared and telescopic vision.

"He can fly now? Great. What can't this demonic mandroid do?."

- Broca Nu

Although Kuro showed extraordinary power in the Force, it was not untill he was fully trained by Darth Mantis that he learned his true potential. As Azazel Kuro was a master of virtually all Force powers and abilities-despite his power being diminished slightly by the strain of transferring his spirit to his new body-and had enough telekinetic power to rip apart a fleet of Imperial I-class Star Destroyers, showing no strain when doing so. Later in life, after killing Mantis and declaring himself Darth Azazel, he begain to practice and experiment with levitating himself via the Force and by 14 ABY was capable of true flight. While it was never discovered how he accomplished it, Azazel could propel himself through a atmosphere at speeds fast enough to break the sound barrier and leave a sonic boom in his wake. Although this was thought to have required strong concentration, as every time he was observed utilizing flight he visibly needed to focus, he used this ability with such ease that many rumors arose among the Jedi concerning his ability to fly, among them that he had built some type of small, compact, and extremely powerful repulsorlift engine similar in function to a repulsor pack into his HRD body, although his ability to fly in a vacuum and at such incredible speeds suggested that he derived this ability though the Force rather than technology. Azazel was a master of Force Concealment and could hid a entire planet, fleet, or army from prying eyes, and demonstrated great skill with this ability from a young age, though it was not until his training under Mantis that he fully mastered it. Azazel had great skill at manipulating and projecting Force lightning, and could either produce a minor shock to stun a target or exert enough power into a constant wave powerful enough to vaporize a entire crowd with in seconds. Azazel also had great telepathic and mind control abilites, although these abilites were somewhat weak when compared to his other skills, and was a expert at using the Force to predict the future, allowing him to manipulate events and battles like a Dejarik grandmaster.

Legacy
After he discovered that he was infected with the incurable MK-33 Techno Virus, Azazel came to the realization that he would not be able to last for more than a few months at the most, and set about to construct a holocron. Azazel had never been very skilled at the secret art of building a Sith holocron, and had much trouble in his first attempts to make his own. Although this most likely would have led to extreme anger and frustration with any other Sith Lord, Azazel managed to control his emotions and focus on the task of weaving together the delicate internal workings and crystals that were required in order for a Sith Holocron to function properly. This ability to control and restrain himself would work in Azazel's favour, as after he finally managed to successfully build his holocron and record his life's work in it, the techno virus claimed his life.

Behind the scenes

 * Azazel is a nod to the yellow-eyed demon Azazel (Supernatural) from the CW TV series Supernatural (TV Series). The character Azazel is my favorite TV villain and I got a lot of ideas for my Azazel's personality and motives from him.
 * I also got a lot of ideas for Darth Azazel form Frankenstein, the doctor, not the monster, and Dean Koontz's version of Frankenstein.
 * The character Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series also played a part in influencing my work on this article.
 * Lord Voldemort also played a part in my research for Azazel's personality.
 * I originally intended Darth Azazel to be Darth Acheron (a river in hell for those who deny justice).
 * Azazel's lightsaber color was originally intended to be silver but I eventually changed it to crimson.
 * In the first version of this artical I had Azazel's height as 2 meters, which I later changed to 1.92 meters.
 * The picture of Azazel on top of the infobox is acturally Nom Anor.