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Rise of the Empire eraRebellion eraNew Republic eraNew Jedi Order eraLegacy era

Nostradamus Zaarin was a military officer of, at different points in his life, the Galactic Empire, New Republic, and Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Born to Grand Admiral Demetrius Zaarin of the Imperial Navy, he was raised as a loyal Imperial citizen and joined the Navy, following his father's footsteps. He rose through the ranks as a result of the power vacuum left by the deaths of the Navy's top officers aboard the Death Star at Yavin IV, and reached the rank of lieutenant in 2 ABY. When his father tried to overthrow the Emperor and went warlord, Nostradamus stayed loyal to the Empire and fought against his forces. By the time of the Battle of Endor, Nostradamus was stationed on Coruscant, his homeworld. After hearing of the loss at Endor, his views of the Empire were greatly changed—which eventually caused him to defect to the New Republic in 6 ABY.

As a former Imperial officer, he joined the New Republic Defense Fleet, and fought in several conflicts. Those included fights with various warlords during the Imperial Civil War, the rise of Thrawn and reborn Palpatine, as well as the Empire Reborn campaign. As the Yuuzhan Vong War began in 25 ABY, he was a Rear Admiral in the Defense Fleet. After seeing much action during the war, experiencing both victories and defeats, Nostradamus continued serving the new Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, being promoted to Vice Admiral in the Galactic Alliance navy. He was promoted to admiral shortly before the Lost Tribe of the Sith emergence, during which he saw little action. After the mess with the Lost Tribe and the dark entity Abeloth ended, he was promoted to chief of naval operations under the new government of Wynn Dorvan.

However, Nostradamus still was disillusioned with the Alliance, seeing the rising corruption and bureaucracy. He believed he could fix it. So in 45 ABY, he executed a military coup against the government of Dorvan. Creating a "Reformed Alliance Government", which was mostly a military junta, he declared himself the new leader of the reformed Galactic Alliance. Most planets refused to recognize this change, viewing him as a military dictator, and pledged allegiance to Dorvan's in-exile government. The two regime were often called Galactic Alliance-Coruscant and Galactic Alliance-Dac, after their capitals. Nostradamus' short-lived government was overthrown by a Jedi and special forces strike team, which killed many of his officials and arrested him. Found guilt of numerous charges, he was executed in 46 ABY.


Biography[]

Early life[]

Nostradamus Zaarin was born to Imperial officer Demetrius Zaarin and his wife eighteen years before the Battle of Yavin. He was born on Coruscant, the Imperial capital, one year into the of the Galactic Empire. At the time of his birth, his father was a rising officer in the Imperial Navy, and intended for his son to eventually join it's ranks as well. Nostradamus' mother was a Coruscanti noblewoman that mainly married Zaarin for his status, and did not really care about young Nostradamus. This resulted in his upbringing by various tutors and, during his earlier years, babysitters, as his mother was unwilling to look after him while his father wanted to but was frequently away on military service. Nostradamus started seeing the elder Zaarin less and less as he grew older, as his father was rising up the command chain of the Imperial Navy and, eventually, dedicated all of his time to the Navy. Nostradamus understood his father's work, as his Imperial tutors taught him the intricate internal workings of the Empire (his father made sure of this; wanting his son to grow up as a patriotic Imperial citizen).

Legpalace

The Imperial Palace, which he frequently visited.

Admiral Zaarin's plans were successful, and Nostradamus grew up with loyalty to the Empire. He lived a life of luxury, as the son of an admiral, on Imperial Center. This increased (and as did his visits to the Imperial Palace) as the elder Zaarin was promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral by Emperor Palpatine in 2 BBY, when Nostradamus was sixteen. As a teenager, he was interested in politics and military affairs. His father made sure that his son's tutors also taught him science and mathematics extensively, as the elder Zaarin was a big proponent of technology. He hoped his son would go on to invent some kind of amazing piece of technology. However, Nostradamus did not have the interest his father did in science and thus he did not attempt to pursue and technological-related activities. However, he did like the idea of joining the navy like his father and becoming a high ranking officer. He used his family's resources to study military history extensively on his own time, and learned about various wars and conflicts in galactic history.

As he neared the age of eighteen, when he could join the navy, the younger Zaarin met Palpatine during a visit to the Imperial Palace. The Emperor wanted to see the son of one of the twelve men he promoted to Grand Admiral, and talked with the young Nostradamus in his palace. At first, Nostradamus was very nervous, however, as the Emperor acted calmly and encouraged him to speak more openly, Nostradamus told Palpatine about his opinions on current galactic politics and the Imperial military. Of course, he did not say anything that openly defied the Empire, but he did criticize some of the Empire's policies, and present better ways of getting the particular issues handled. The Emperor did not care about the fact that he criticized the state, but was more focused on Nostradamus' political thinking. Palpatine did not expect this kind of political knowledge from a teenager, and was impressed. The Emperor mentally made a note to keep track of the young Zaarin's progress as he joined the ranks of the Empire, and the two eventually ended the conversation.

To Nostradamus, the talk with the Emperor he had on that day was life changing. He had viewed the Emperor as a mysterious, and probably a very tyrannical, figure. However, after talking with him, Nostradamus viewed the Emperor as a wise and calm ruler, and developed a deep respect for the galactic dictator. In his opinion, the Empire and the galaxy were in good hands. His motivation to join the Empire increased, and after his eighteenth birthday, he joined the Imperial Navy.

Joining the Empire[]

Around the time Nostradamus entered the Empire, the Battle of Yavin occurred—in it, many of the best officers and other personnel of the Imperial Navy were killed. This left a massive vacuum in the Navy that needed to be filled. Nostradamus was sent to the naval academy on Anaxes, where he began training as a naval officer. Having been taught various sciences from a young age benefitted him here, and having a Grand Admiral as his father was also very useful. Trainers had higher expectations for him than other cadets, and he largely met them, though not too outstandingly. Nostradamus demonstrated an interest in political science, and seemed to be knowledgable when it came to training in tactics and battle strategies, as his instructors noted. Performing generally good in the eyes of his instructors, Zaarin graduated the academy with the rank of ensign, and was assigned to the crew of the Voyager, an Imperial II-class Star Destroyer.

Upon hearing of his son's graduation from the academy, Grand Admiral Zaarin was glad, and decided to later assign his son to his task force, in the Outer Rim Territories.

Rising through the ranks[]

Nostradamus2

Nostradamus as an officer around 2 BBY.

Nostradamus served well aboard the Voyager. The Star Destroyer was ordered to put down a Separatist holdout in the Outer Rim, which was successful. Ensign Nostradamus was a navigator at the time, and helped lead the vessel to the planet where the uprising was occurring. An orbital bombardment put a quick end to the revolt. His career had taken a upward swing, it appeared, as it was beginning. In the following months, the Voyager was assigned to patrol various shipping lanes to protect shipping from pirate attacks, a task which Nostradamus found boring. Around this time, he was transferred from navigation to ship's gunnery crew, and became a gunnery officer. After that change, he no longer found fighting pirates "boring". The crew of the Star Destroyer was transferred to the Core Worlds in early 2 ABY. There, they carried out exercises with other vessels for several weeks.

However, the ship was soon assigned to a special task force called the Outer Rim Expeditionary Fleet, which had the assignment of mopping up various small pro-Rebel Alliance uprisings that broke out in more isolated sectors of the Outer Rim. Zaarin found this much more existing, as the Voyager even got to serve alongside the Executor, the Super Star Destroyer of Darth Vader. During this time, for his actions, Nostradamus was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and was transferred to his father's fleet, serving aboard his personal Star Destroyer. This went on for the rest of the year, and Nostradamus rose up to the position of the ship's chief gunnery officer. However, to his annoyance, the fleet saw little action, as Grand Admiral Zaarin, for the most part, went on expeditions and missions to recover technology or something else he needed for his various TIE-related projects. Nostradamus was no pilot, and it did not interest him.

In early 3 ABY, Nostradamus was acknowledged as a good gunner, and was transferred for service aboard the Executor. Initially, his father was against it, but realized that this advancement would be good for his son, and allowed it. Nostradamus himself was excited for the appointment, having dreamed of eventually serving on Lord Vader's personal flagship. During his time as a gunnery officer on the Executor, he took part in the Battle of Hoth and the chase of the Millennium Falcon through the asteroid field. The only time during those engagements he got to shoot at something was at asteroids during the pursuit of the Falcon. Rumors among the crew said that the success at Hoth was the end of the Rebellion, and Nostradamus was a bit disappointed that most of the fleet did not get to take part in any real fighting. However, the news he received a couple of months later shocked him.

Test of loyalty[]

In 3.5 ABY, Nostradamus received news that his father betrayed the Empire, having declared the foundation of a new government and attacking Vader's forces during a campaign in the Outer Rim. Grand Admiral Zaarin's traitorous fleet continued an insurgency against the Empire. The Imperial Security Bureau detained Nostradamus aboard the Executor, and sent him to the ISB's headquarters on Imperial Center. There, they interrogated him extensively, however, did not get what they were looking for. The ISB determined that Nostradamus had no knowledge of his father's plans to betray the Empire, and that he was loyal to the Empire. The Emperor, remembering meeting him several years ago, intervened and kept the ISB from doing harm to Nostradamus. Darth Vader arrived and determined the same thing after a brief interrogation, and afterwards, to prove his loyalty, Nostradamus volunteered for an assignment to fight against the Grand Admiral's forces. Vader, surprised, accepted this, and having him a posting as a gunner on the Majestic, one of the Emperor's personal vessels, as they knew Zaarin was planning a coup against him.

When Zaarin attacked the Majestic at Coruscant, Vader and the other loyalists were absent. Nostradamus, as a gunner, destroyed many of Zaarin's attacking TIE fighters, and damaged several of his other vessels. However, that did not stop him: the Majestic was heavily damaged, and Zaarin's troops boarded the vessel, capturing it with the help of a former Emperor's Hand. Nostradamus avoided capture by the Grand Admiral's soldiers by hiding in the more isolated parts of the ship. When Vader and his fleet arrived and defeated Zaarin's forces, Nostradamus joined into the battle with one of the Star Destroyer's guns, firing at Zaarin's ships. After the Grand Admiral fled, Vader and Palpatine commended Nostradamus for his actions, and awarded him the Imperial Medal of Loyalty. He was then assigned to Vader's temporary flagship, which was used in pursuit of the rogue admiral. They confronted him, and destroyed the remains of his forces, during which Nostradamus destroyed several enemy fighters.

With the Zaarin insurrection over, Vader told Nostradamus that he could consider himself trusted and reliable by the Empire. The younger Zaarin was stationed on Imperial Center after that point, as the gunner on one of the planet's many orbital defense stations.

Warlord era[]

Personality and traits[]

Skills and abilities[]

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