Doctor Urzelda Krosinth was a female Arkanian scientist who lived during the New Sith Wars. She was a secret collaborator of Valin Aresh, the lord of the Supreme Modality, and the only non-Human in his orbit. She owed her favored position to both her genius-level intellect and her willingness to employ it without reservation in Aresh's cause.
Biography[]
Early life[]
An Arkanian with only one doctorate is about as useful as a Human with only one leg.
—Urzelda Krosinth
Born on Arkania in 1,473 BBY, Urzelda distinguished herself even among her fellow Arkanians as an intelligent girl and a quick learner. She received doctoral degrees in biology, molecular genetics, and cybernetic engineering. Not content with that, she pursued training with both industry and academia to secure qualifications in neuroscience and biological engineering. She received voluntary cybernetics in her hands to improve manual dexterity, and underwent genetic enhancement to improve her metabolism and her eyesight; all three were of her own design.
Despite general recognition of her achievements and intellect, Urzelda felt herself stunted on Arkania; while she agreed that her people were the galaxy's most advanced species, she disdained her colleagues' interest in tinkering for the sake of it, without achieving anything. She sought to leave an indelible mark on the galaxy, pushing her genius to its utmost ends to change the world.
At some point, she met the Sith Lord Valin Aresh. Despite his Humanocentrism, Aresh was impressed by Krosinth's genius and lack of any moral qualms with employing it. For her part, Urzelda was stunned to find not only a peer intellect, but one in a Human who could give her the opportunity to pursue her dreams almost without limit, and the two became partners.
Collaborators[]
Krosinth supervises the growth of a Vanguardian
Urzelda built Aresh's cybernetic left arm for him, but her greatest contribution to the Supreme Modality came when she and Aresh successfully cloned Eviar Seldec, producing the first of what became the Dark Vanguard. She had a fondness for the first clones, particularly First Aurek, whom she affectionately called "Firstborn", to his annoyance. Despite those feelings, she had no hesitation to modify and tweak subsequent Vanguardian generations to adjust traits.
Aresh personally invented the first flash learning protocol, but once it was successful, Krosinth was able to upgrade and improve it many times over. She felt she could engineer programs to train clones in Force skills and lightsaber combat, but Aresh refused to let her try.
Seldec, Aresh's apprentice, shared both his master's Humanocentrist views and his begrudging acknowledgment of Krosinth's indispensable genius. For her part, Urzelda was far less impressed with Seldec than Aresh, but respected his strategic and tactical abilities.
The Nikodon experiment[]
In 1,386 BBY, Seldec was killed by Kenza Rowkwani, and First Aurek became Commander of the Dark Vanguard. Urzelda was pleased with her "firstborn"'s ascent, though she recognized that he had to keep her at a distance to set an example for his subordinates.
Aldayr Nikodon was captured only months later, and taken to Valin Aresh's palace for corruption. Urzelda expressed some interest in the experiment, though she had less in Aldayr himself; Aresh allowed her only infrequent contact with Aldayr, but she did not hesitate to seize such opportunities, as he was a rare captive audience who was not already in the know about her work and the extent of her genius.
Some months into his captivity, Aldayr came to her and allowed her to improve his cybernetic arm. She perceived his inexperienced attempts to seduce her with some internal disdain, and wound him up for her own amusement, but finally allowed him to have sex with her, though partly just to continue winding him up by discussing using other slaves the same way to add data to her experiment. She was infuriated when Aldayr killed ten growing Vanguardian clones that same night, though more for the lost opportunity to see how her recently-refined flash learning protocols worked on the finished product than for any attachment to the clones as people.
After Operation Liberator, a genuinely distraught Urzelda demanded that First Aurek and First Cresh, along with their brethren, avenge the death of First Dorn.
Skills and abilities[]
Krosinth was acknowledged as a genius even by her fellow Arkanians. She held doctorates with honors in biology, molecular genetics, and cybernetic engineering, with research qualifications in neuroscience and biological engineering. She was a skilled enough cyberneticist to not only build Valin Aresh's cybernetic arm from scratch, but also to upgrade Aldayr's with less than half an hour of work and only general familiarity with Republic technology.
Urzelda was able to vastly improve Valin Aresh's flash learning systems, and could alter Vanguardian clones in subtle ways to produce variations in not only size and strength, but temperament and intelligence. She designed the cybernetics in her own hands, though she had a droid perform the surgery, and outlined her various genetic enhancements as well.
Appearance and personality[]
Urzelda Krosinth had the tan skin, white hair and eyes, and four-clawed hands common to all Arkanians. She usually wore her hair up in a bun or ponytail to keep it out of her face while she worked. She often wore a toolbelt of scientific instruments, and sometimes walked with a walking stick for style. She had a fit, comely build, owing largely to having altered her own genetics to maximize metabolism.
She's like a hot, Forceless Kai Latra.
—Aldayr Nikodon's thoughts on Urzelda
Urzelda's primary motivation in life was to employ her genius in ways which would alter the galaxy—not merely cosmetically, as her species had in creating Arkanian Offshoots and Quermians, but in a way that would change the galaxy forever. She was so detached from the consequences of her work that she was nearly amoral, and had no hesitation to partially grow sentient clones to see what she could do with them, then terminate them when her experiments were concluded.
Aurek sensed her vague amusement. That was how all her emotions were, he reflected—vague.
—First Aurek's thoughts on Urzelda's emotional range
She generally exhibited little in the way of emotion, apart from investigative mania when her intellectual drive was engaged. Her only known emotional attachments were to Valin Aresh—for whom she had what she called a "love of the mind", though she had no desire for him physically—and the first few of the First Rank Vanguardians, whom she thought of as her "sons". First Dorn's death during Operation Liberator provoked a rare, powerful emotional response from her—grief and rage that nearly equaled First Aurek's own.
Appearances[]
- Behind Enemy Lines
- The First Cut (Indirect mention only)