Gorman Vandrayk

Gorman Vandrayk spent his formative years on the Arkanian homeworld of Arkania. As a male member of the Arkanian Offshoot sub-species, he rose to prominence in the time leading up to the Great Sith War. Vandrayk was recognized as an exceptionally promising and decorated university student who demonstrated remarkable aptitude in biology, engineering, and cybernetics. Immediately after graduation, he was recruited by Adascorp, the leading Arkanian biotechnology corporation, where he began working in their corporate laboratories. Around 3996 BBY, Doctor Vandrayk spearheaded the initial study of the exogorths, a mysterious species of colossal space slugs discovered in various locations throughout the galaxy, as part of a secret Adascorp initiative known as Project Black Harvest. Vandrayk led a scientific team inside a dormant exogorth, examining its brain and uncovering the secrets of the species. They learned that exogorths traveled between star systems in search of nourishment, entering a state of hibernation while harnessing the solar winds to reach their destinations. Vandrayk eventually mastered the ability to communicate with and control the minds of the exogorths. He also discovered how to accelerate their reproduction, increase their size, and equip them with hyperdrive implants. Vandrayk theorized that, under proper control, exogorths could efficiently refine ore and other raw materials.

Following his exogorth research, Vandrayk presented his findings to research director Artonian Dobonold and Argaloh Adasca, the Sixth Lord Adasca and head of Adascorp. Adasca was intrigued by Vandrayk's discoveries regarding the destructive capabilities and reproductive potential of the exogorths. He believed that controlling these creatures could greatly benefit Adascorp during the ongoing Great Sith War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. Upon realizing that Adasca intended to weaponize the exogorths, Vandrayk decided to disassociate himself from the project and immediately left the room. This briefing marked Vandrayk's final interaction with Adascorp, as he breached his contract and fled in a junk-hauler named The Last Resort. Pursued by Adascorp, who had placed a significant bounty on his head, Vandrayk at some point engaged with a notorious slaving ring known as the Crucible. There, he encountered Jarael, a young Offshoot who had been enslaved in the Crucible and had worked as a slaver for several years before deciding she had had enough. Vandrayk aided Jarael in escaping her life in the Crucible, and she became his loyal companion, vowing to protect Vandrayk as he aged and his mental abilities declined.

Vandrayk and Jarael eventually established a residence in Junk Junction, a dilapidated area of the Lower City on the planet Taris. They selected this location due to its size and openness, which allowed them to conceal The Last Resort. The Offshoots set up traps within Junk Junction's debris piles to discourage visitors and disguised The Last Resort as their home by surrounding their ship with tents and awnings. Known locally as "Camper," Vandrayk spent his days tinkering with droids and The Last Resort, modifying the ship so extensively that he lost track of the changes he had made to its systems. Among Vandrayk's modifications to The Last Resort were secret smuggling compartments known as "Camper specials," capable of concealing multiple individuals. Vandrayk and Jarael sustained themselves by selling Vandrayk's inventions for food, while Jarael worked as a day laborer at a Kedorzhan reclamation plant. Although they intentionally avoided the local swoop gangs, Vandrayk became known in the Tarisian underworld for converting old escape pods into shipping containers for covert transport. On one occasion, at the request of small-time Snivvian hood Marn Hierogryph, Vandrayk assisted in hiding wanted criminal Zovius Mendu within a crate of dried dreeka fish destined for Corellia. During this period, Vandrayk also created a shockstaff that Jarael used as her personal weapon.

In 3964 BBY, the Padawan Massacre occurred in Taris' Jedi Tower. An entire class of Jedi Padawans was murdered by their Jedi Masters, except for Human Zayne Carrick, who was accused of the killings. After escaping with Hierogryph, labeled as his "accomplice," Carrick became Taris' most wanted person. Remembering Vandrayk's assistance to Zovius Mendu, Hierogryph brought Carrick to Junk Junction, seeking Vandrayk's help once more. However, their arrival triggered one of Vandrayk's traps, provoking Jarael, who attacked and injured Carrick with her shockstaff. As Hierogryph pleaded with Vandrayk for assistance, a law enforcement ship searching for Carrick, carrying Constable Noana Sowrs and several Jedi Masters from the Jedi Tower, discovered The Last Resort. Vandrayk immediately rushed to The Last Resort's cockpit and launched the ship with Carrick and Hierogryph aboard, escaping into space.

The flight was brief. The Last Resort had not flown in years, and the ship quickly lost power after exiting the planet's atmosphere. As patrol ships approached, Vandrayk restarted the ship, evading pursuit by flying into the Taris system's asteroid belt. The ordeal overwhelmed Vandrayk, who collapsed from exhaustion, fearing that Adascorp had returned for him. The next day, the group traveled to the rogue moon, an unusual planetoid within the asteroid belt constantly bombarded by meteorites. It was the last location where Carrick and his fellow Padawans had been together with their Masters before the massacre, and Carrick hoped to uncover more about the events that led to the killings. Vandrayk dropped off Carrick and Jarael on the rogue moon's surface and then moved the ship to the moon's far side, as The Last Resort lacked functioning shields and would soon be destroyed if it remained in its current position. Carrick soon discovered the remains of T1-LB, a bulk-loading droid that had accompanied the Jedi Masters on the rogue moon and might hold clues about what had driven the Masters to kill their students. Shortly after finding the droid, Carrick and Jarael were cornered by the Masters and law enforcement, who had tracked them to the moon. Vandrayk and Hierogryph rescued their companions just in time, firing on their pursuers and escaping with Carrick, Jarael, and T1-LB in The Last Resort.

Once The Last Resort was safely away, Vandrayk began repairing T1-LB, who Carrick believed held crucial information in its holographic memory. The extensive damage to the droid made accessing the memory difficult, so Vandrayk completely upgraded and restored T1-LB. He added a higher-class processor, a vocabulator, and a holographic projector to the droid, which had previously been a fifth-class drone without the ability to speak. After restoring T1-LB, Vandrayk accessed a holographic recording of the droid's final moments, revealing that the Masters had killed their students after experiencing a Force vision that they believed depicted one of their Padawans causing the return of the Sith and the fall of the Jedi Order. T1-LB then relived his destruction at the hands of Master Lucien Draay and entered a distressed state that Vandrayk was forced to calm down. Moments later, The Last Resort was caught in a tractor beam, captured by the Oroko, a ship belonging to Valius Ying, a local bounty hunter recognized by Hierogryph. Once aboard, Hierogryph negotiated with Ying to free himself, Vandrayk, and Jarael, on the condition that Carrick be handed over to collect the sizable bounty on the former Padawan's head on Taris.

Carrick agreed to surrender himself to allow Vandrayk, Jarael, and Hierogryph to escape. However, instead of abandoning him to his fate, the companions devised a plan to rescue him. As Ying brought Carrick down to Taris, Hierogryph bribed the Oroko's first mate to release The Last Resort into Taris' orbit. Vandrayk modified one of The Last Resort's environment suit with a modified helmet and an audio recording to disguise Jarael as the Sith from the Jedi's vision, intending to disturb the Jedi Masters. Jarael then entered the Jedi Tower wielding Carrick's lightsaber, which he had left on the Oroko, under covering fire from The Last Resort. Jarael arrived just in time to rescue Carrick, and together, the group escaped Taris in The Last Resort.

Now carrying wanted fugitives and running low on supplies, Vandrayk and The Last Resort stopped at the Republic mining world of Vanquo. There, they planned to evacuate a local mining camp by simulating an attack by the Mandalorians, a warrior culture in conflict with the Republic. Vandrayk hijacked the camp's distress channel, while Jarael, impersonating Jedi Master Q'Anilia, one of the Jedi Masters hunting Carrick, informed the miners that the Mandalorians had landed on Vanquo. Influenced by Carrick's Force abilities and T1-LB's actions, the miners panicked and fled, leaving the camp and its resources to the crew of The Last Resort.

However, while the group loaded supplies, the Mandalorians genuinely attacked Vanquo. Jarael, still carrying Carrick's lightsaber, was mistaken for a Jedi and captured. Carrick had to restrain Vandrayk from pursuing her. Vandrayk was overwhelmed by shock and grief and had to be carried to The Last Resort by T1-LB, who fought through Mandalorian invaders. Reaching the ship, they were overtaken by a Mandalorian captain attempting to steal the vessel. T1-LB grabbed the ship's loading ramp as The Last Resort took off, and the group narrowly climbed aboard before the ramp was raised.

Vandrayk immediately charged the cockpit, attacking the Mandalorian with Jarael's shockstaff and gaining the upper hand before throwing the intruder into the cargo hold, where T1-LB immobilized him. Vandrayk took control of The Last Resort and fled into hyperspace towards Mandalorian Space, tracking a homing device in Jarael's bracelet. Hearing they were headed into Mandalorian territory, the Mandalorian offered to help, introducing himself as shock infantryman Rohlan Dyre. He revealed Jarael was being taken to the Flashpoint Stellar Research Station, where the Mandalorian biologist Demagol was experimenting on captured Jedi to determine the source of their abilities. Despite Dyre's belief that saving Jarael was impossible, Vandrayk and Carrick refused to abandon her.

Carrick devised a plan. Reaching Flashpoint, Carrick posed as Dyre's prisoner and was taken to Demagol's bunker, while Vandrayk and Hierogryph hid from a Mandalorian search party in a special compartment. Once Carrick was back in Demagol's office, Dyre incapacitated the scientist and freed Carrick, who donned Demagol's armor. As "Demagol" and Dyre walked outside, the Mandalorian station received a holographic message from Hierogryph, posing as a Republic admiral. Carrick used the Force to attach scavenged Vanquo mining charges to the camp's solar shield generator and captured Republic ships. "Admiral" Hierogryph set off explosions, causing chaos and scaring the Mandalorians into fleeing. Jarael and the other Jedi were saved. Reunited, Vandrayk and the crew of The Last Resort left Flashpoint and headed back towards Republic space.

After surviving the events at Flashpoint, the crew of The Last Resort traveled to Telerath, a banking world, to retrieve a sum of money in one of Marn Hierogryph's bank accounts, which had been frozen after the Padawan Massacre. As Hierogryph couldn't leave the ship for fear of arrest, Vandrayk disguised himself as "Baron Hyro Margryph," a wealthy recycling magnate whose account had been mistakenly frozen due to his name's similarity to Hierogryph's. Despite Vandrayk mistakenly leaving the document with the thirty-digit account access code on the ship, he surprised everyone by remembering the code. Suddenly, a pair of Ithorian bounty hunters emerged and kidnapped their banker, Arvan. Vandrayk and Jarael, along with Carrick and Hierogryph, gave chase. Hierogryph recognized the hunters as the Moomo Brothers, known for their incompetence. Vandrayk had to drop out of the chase after fainting. While the Moomo Brothers escaped with the banker, Carrick recognized the Moomos' prisoner as his father.

Knowing the banker's true identity as Carrick's father significantly heightened the stakes for the group. Consequently, they devised a strategy to rescue Arvan Carrick from his imprisonment on the Moomos' vessel, the Moomo Williwaw. By having Vandrayk impersonate Carrick, the crew of The Last Resort successfully manipulated the Moomos into engaging in infighting, creating an opportunity for Carrick and his father to escape. After safely escorting Carrick's father onto The Last Resort, they managed to retrieve their funds and promptly departed. In 3963 BBY, with Carrick embarking on his own mission to clear his reputation, the crew of The Last Resort collectively decided it was time to disband. With this goal in mind, the group journeyed to the planet Ralltiir, where Vandrayk discovered Hierogryph attempting to sell some of his inventions as fine art—after Hierogryph promised him a share of the profits, Vandrayk permitted the Snivvian to continue. Eventually, Vandrayk and Jarael left the two fugitives on Ralltiir, where Vandrayk presented Carrick with a pair of personally crafted phrikite vambraces before their separation. As a gesture of reciprocity, Hierogryph gifted Vandrayk and Jarael a crate of hyperdrive components that their ship desperately required. However, the package contained an unexpected and dangerous surprise: an HK-24 assassin droid, dispatched by Vandrayk's former employers at Adascorp, had secretly boarded the crate and launched an attack once The Last Resort entered hyperspace.

Despite resistance from Jarael and T1-LB, the HK-24 managed to overpower Vandrayk. However, another clandestine passenger emerged to save the day—Demagol, disguised as Rohlan Dyre, who had been concealed on the ship since Flashpoint, revealed his true identity and destroyed the droid. Vandrayk's health was rapidly deteriorating, and "Dyre" made an attempt to treat the aging Arkanian, but could do little to alleviate Vandrayk's delirium and weak pulse. As Vandrayk lay incapacitated on The Last Resort, Jarael piloted the ship to Arkania, hoping to find someone who could provide him with medical assistance. To circumvent Arkanian prejudice against Offshoots, Jarael disguised herself as a pureblood Arkanian and bribed a physician to help her diagnose Vandrayk. However, Adascorp recognized their former employee's genetic signature from the sample Jarael provided and seized the opportunity to reclaim Vandrayk. Lord Arkoh Adasca, Argaloh Adasca's grandson and the new leader of Adascorp, brought Jarael aboard his flagship, the Arkanian Legacy, and promised to help Vandrayk if Jarael would lead them to him, an offer that Jarael accepted. Vandrayk finally awoke on The Last Resort only to receive a holographic message from the Arkanian Legacy featuring Jarael at Adasca's side—realizing that the corporation he had evaded for years had finally located him, he lost consciousness once more.

Upon arriving on the Arkanian Legacy, Vandrayk was immediately taken away by an Adascorp medical team. Adasca informed Jarael that Vandrayk's weakness stemmed from a pathogen known as "Balinquar's Virus," which Vandrayk supposedly contracted during his time in the Adascorp corporate laboratories. The virus was a fabrication—Vandrayk's actual ailment was caused by molds and allergens circulating through the air on The Last Resort, from which he quickly recovered upon boarding the Arkanian Legacy. Once his health improved, Vandrayk discovered that he was being detained until he completed the exogorth project he had initiated many years prior, and that Jarael would be held as collateral to ensure his cooperation.

Adasca intended to leverage Vandrayk's expertise to finally realize his grandfather's ambition of using the exogorths to benefit Adascorp. Adasca invited representatives from all factions involved in the ongoing Mandalorian Wars to the Arkanian Legacy, intending to auction off control of the exogorths to the highest bidder and elevate Adascorp to a galactic superpower. To achieve this, Vandrayk was compelled to assist a team of Adascorp scientists in implanting a large number of exogorths near the star Omonoth to bring them under their control, in preparation for Adasca's sales presentation and demonstration for the interested parties. After completing the task, Vandrayk retreated to his control station's spacesuit storage closet and contacted Jarael, who was still being held on the Arkanian Legacy, via her locator bracelet. Jarael informed Vandrayk about the events unfolding on the ship, including the presence of Zayne Carrick, while Vandrayk revealed to Jarael that Adascorp had been actively working to eliminate the Offshoot population for years. Their conversation was cut short when Adasca arrived, and the head of Adascorp tore the bracelet from Jarael's wrist, threatening to use her as a test subject for Adascorp plague designers if Vandrayk refused to continue cooperating with his plans.

However, Carrick, who was present as a prisoner of Republic Navy Admiral Saul Karath, devised a scheme to thwart Adasca. In collaboration with Republic pilot Carth Onasi, Carrick instigated a battle between the Republic and Mandalorian contingents, creating a diversion that allowed Lucien Draay and the Jedi to advance on Adasca. After Vandrayk, still on the command station, received an enthusiastic message from Carrick informing him that Jarael had been freed, Vandrayk initiated his plan to dismantle Adasca's exogorth initiative. First, Vandrayk transferred the station's controls to one of his own computers, effectively locking out the other scientists, and then overrode the HK-24 droid guarding him, instructing it to destroy the station's airlock. While Vandrayk was safely protected in a spacesuit, he had slashed large holes in the other suits aboard the station, sealing the fate of the Adascorp scientists.

Vandrayk then remotely piloted The Last Resort out of the Arkanian Legacy's docking bay and toward the control station, boarding the vessel and using it to transmit a message to the Arkanian Legacy. Vandrayk mocked Adasca over the Arkanian Legacy's comm system, before commanding the exogorths to devour the ship entirely. Vandrayk then sent a message to Jarael, explaining that this would be their final farewell—Vandrayk intended to take The Last Resort and lead the exogorths away from civilization and into Wild Space, then remove their implants and allow them to revert to their natural state. Remarking that he was thinking clearly for the first time in years, Vandrayk bid his final goodbye to Jarael, who escaped the Arkanian Legacy before its destruction.

During his lifetime, Vandrayk conceptualized a machine known as the Vandrayk Generator, which he was unable to build because it would require a form of energy that did not yet exist. The Vandrayk Generator remained a mere concept for several centuries, until the era of the Cold War, when it was finally constructed by Doctor Tharan Cedrax, a renowned scientist and technologist who built the device to display at a symposium hosted by the Lumenatus Club, a secret society of scientific geniuses. However, instead of showcasing the Vandrayk Generator, Cedrax had a change of heart and used the core of the device to enhance the sentience of Holiday, his holographic assistant and companion.

By 3964 BBY, Vandrayk had become a reclusive, curt, and straightforward individual who spent his days tinkering with droids and engaging in self-talk, constantly fearing that Adascorp would eventually find him and always prepared to flee at the slightest hint of danger. Even during his time at Adascorp, Vandrayk was known for overlooking minor details and frequently failing to complete the projects he started. Vandrayk often interacted with criminals to support himself and Jarael, but he harbored little affection for those he encountered. He particularly despised Marn Hierogryph, whom he referred to as "Snout," considering him a lowlife. Vandrayk also harbored distrust and disdain for the Mandalorians, especially Rohlan Dyre. Affected by the allergens in The Last Resort's air filtration system, Vandrayk's mental and physical state gradually deteriorated after he left Taris. Vandrayk's memory began to fail him, and he often struggled to recall the modifications he had made to various systems on The Last Resort—but he still retained the ability to remember long number sequences, such as Marn Hierogryph's bank account access code on Telerath.

Vandrayk was fiercely protective of Jarael, his constant companion, and she reciprocated his protectiveness—Vandrayk tracked Jarael using a locator bracelet she wore on her wrist and was willing to confront the Mandalorians himself to rescue her when they captured her on Vanquo. Vandrayk's immediate reaction upon realizing that Jarael had led Adascorp to him was to faint. Although he loathed "the Company," his need to safeguard Jarael was his vulnerability, and Adascorp successfully coerced him into resuming work for them by threatening her life. Vandrayk was captivated by the exogorths, studying them despite knowing the Adascas' intentions for them. Vandrayk's interest in the creatures was purely scientific, and he desired nothing more than to allow them to "be what they were." Vandrayk detested the entire Adasca lineage, and that sentiment extended to anyone associated with Adascorp, including scientists who held the same positions he once did. Ultimately, Vandrayk made the difficult decision to leave Jarael behind for the greater good, entrusting her care to Zayne Carrick, for whom he felt a deep affection. Vandrayk had white skin, white hair, and blue eyes.

Vandrayk was celebrated for his talent in the fields of biology, cybernetics, and engineering even before completing his university studies, and he was widely recognized as a brilliant scientist during his years at Adascorp. After fleeing Adascorp, Vandrayk spent his time tinkering on The Last Resort—Vandrayk possessed extensive knowledge of various types of droids and technological systems. Although many of his creations during those years were unsuccessful, Vandrayk managed to construct items such as Jarael's shockstaff and Zayne Carrick's phrikite vambraces. Vandrayk was exceptionally skilled with droids. After Carrick discovered the shattered remains of T1-LB on Taris' rogue moon, Vandrayk completely restored and upgraded the droid, a feat that Carrick considered to be the work of a "miracle worker." Vandrayk remained a skilled pilot even in his advanced age and, when his mind was clear, was capable of planning and executing intricate schemes. Vandrayk became susceptible to fainting spells as he aged, but he was still agile enough to attack and subdue Rohlan Dyre with Jarael's shockstaff after Jarael was abducted on Vanquo.

The character of Camper made his debut in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Commencement, the inaugural story arc of John Jackson Miller's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series, released in 2006. Vandrayk was conceived by artist Brian Ching, who illustrated the majority of the Commencement arc. Early in the creative process, Ching presented drawings of Camper and Jarael that differed from the established appearance of Arkanians in previous Star Wars media—this aligned with the overarching theme of segregation that Miller intended to explore, leading to the creation of the concept of the Offshoots. Camper's full name was not revealed as "Gorman Vandrayk" until Knights of the Old Republic 17, and subsequent issues delved into his backstory. In addition to Ching, Vandrayk was illustrated by Dustin Weaver, Harvey Tolibao, and Bong Dazo during his Knights of the Old Republic tenure.