A male Kaleesh named Qymaen jai Sheelal was born during the midst of a near-constant Kaleesh war against the Yam'rii of Huk, an insect species from the same system. Earlier, the Yam'rii had ruthlessly invaded many planets in their sector, plundering their resources and selling their inhabitants as slaves. The Kaleesh became a victim of their enemies, technologically superior to their race. Sheelal's father taught him how to use an Czerka Arms Outland rifle. By the age of eight, he had killed at least 40 enemies. In time, the Kaleesh began to view him as a legendary figure.
A statue of Grievous during his days as a Kaleesh warrior, holding a decapitated enemy's head, a Skrilling species.
Decades before the Clone Wars, Sheelal—who had the ability to excite and motivate his people—led them in a ruthless war against the Yam'rii, becoming one of his people's greatest military leaders and earning a bloody reputation. Qymaen jai Sheelal eventually took on the name "Grievous" and ascended the ranks quickly becoming a warlord. Grievous turned his attention to the stars, and began to embark on conquests beyond his planet throughout space, toppling nations, killing kings, and murdering legends. He continued to fight against the invading Yam'rii for years, traveling and fighting alongside a team of personal bodyguards known as the Izvoshra.
In time, the Kaleesh forces drove the Yam'rii from their world with Grievous's renewed ferocity and determination, but then unexpectedly their enemies asked for help from the Republic. When the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order had intervened and sided with the Yam'rii, hundreds of thousands of Kaleesh died from starvation, which led Grievous to develop a personal vendetta against them.
Dooku, Count of Serenno, and Darth Sidious, his Sith Master, saw potential in him. Grievous' hatred for the Republic and the Jedi drove him to join the InterGalactic Banking Clan as an agent. His request to have his loyal Izvoshra bodyguards was rejected, with IGBC droids instead replacing them as the forces at his command, which he despised. When Grievous demanded a more intelligent bodyguard, Dooku ultimately commissioned the creation of the IG-100 Magnaguards. He was formidable in his activities and soon became one of IGBC's most valuable assets. By then, his actions had attracted the attention of Dooku, who had important plans for him.
Grievous chose to undergo cybernetic upgrades, and over time, Grievous introduced profound changes to his cybernetic body, gradually trading his biological parts for upgraded mechanical ones. Grievous claimed to view his cybernetics as improvements over a weaker organic form. Furthermore, Dooku betrayed Grievous by sabotaging his shuttle and causing it to crash, destroying the majority of his organic Kaleesh body that remained. All the same, later historical work doubted the idea that Dooku was involved as a manipulator in Grievous's transformation: at the end of the day, Grievous had chosen to become a cyborg and thus was not really a victim to some greater design.
Grievous as a cyborg warrior
A brilliant tactician, Grievous served as the Supreme Martial Commander of the Separatist Droid Armies for the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. He was recruited by Count Dooku to join the Separatist Movement. Despite not being Force-sensitive, Grievous, using his cybernetics and skills in Lightsaber combat, served as a Jedi hunter for the Confederacy and killed many Jedi. The Kaleesh cyborg was ruthless as he invaded planets and fought Jedi in the Clone Wars, during which he was feared by the Galactic Republic. Grievous also maintained a personal fortress on Vassek 3, where he kept a pet roggwart named Gor, but the creature was killed by Jedi Kit Fisto and Nahdar Vebb when they infiltrated the lair.
On one occasion, Grievous invaded a Jedi temple on the planet Ledeve, where he encountered a Force vision in which voices mocked him for cutting away his organic self: according to those voices, Grievous had replaced any connection he had to the Force in a meaningless crusade to destroy the power he failed to understand. Instead, they claimed, Grievous was someone who thought he understood a new power he had found in cybernetics, yet the voices declared he was small and would never grow beyond that. Grievous was enraged by what he heard and ordered his orbiting Providence-class Dreadnought to bombard the temple, which Grievous took as a victory over the voices because they burned just as easily as anything else. However, a blue light then escaped the temple. In 19 BBY, days after he became the Separatist Head of State after his mentor in Lightsaber combat, Count Dooku, was killed in the Battle of Coruscant, Grievous was killed during the Battle of Utapau by his nemesis, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi.
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