Kar Vastor

Kar Vastor, a native of the Korun species, began his life in what appeared to be a typical manner, yet he demonstrated a stronger connection to Pelekotan (the Korun term for The Force, literally translating to "jungle mind") than most. The Summertime War irrevocably altered both Kar's destiny and that of Haruun Kal. At the young age of fourteen, Kar Vastor witnessed the brutal massacre of his entire family by jups, also known as jungle prospectors. The circumstances of Kar Vastor's escape remain shrouded in mystery, with conflicting accounts among the Korunnai and Kar's own reluctance to discuss the event.

Vastor found himself abandoned in the perilous jungle, devoid of weapons, grassers, akk dogs, human contact, and essential supplies. For the vast majority of beings, such a situation would signify a death sentence. However, Kar defied the odds and survived alone for over a standard year.

Within the jungle's depths, he honed his remarkable Force powers, albeit at the cost of losing his ability to communicate through normal speech, as most sentient beings do. Mace Windu later speculated that Kar's survival came at a price: the exchange of his humanity for Pelekotan power.

It is plausible that Kar unearthed the Jedi starship that transported the Korun ancestors to Haruun Kal within the jungle, utilizing its armor to construct his signature weapon: vibroshields. These shields, a design unique to Kar, resembled shield-shaped vibro-axes. The sonic generators powering the shields were hermetically sealed, rendering them impervious to the jungle's metal-consuming molds and fungi. Furthermore, the starship armor's superconductive properties ensured uniform temperature, making the shields impenetrable even by a lightsaber blade.

Kar Vastor ascended to the position of lor pelek, embodying the roles of jungle master, shaman, witch doctor, wizard, and demon. In Korun lore, the lor pelek represented a figure of immense power and inherent danger. Kar Vastor lived up to this reputation, exhibiting the jungle's unpredictability by dispensing both life and death, gifts and wounds. Certain Korun narratives depicted the lor pelek not as a being, but rather as Pelekotan incarnate: the embodiment of the "jungle mind." Despite remaining Human, Kar Vastor became the embodiment of the jungle's darkness.

During the Summertime War, Kar Vastor established a clan known as the Akk Guard. Kar and the Guards excelled in both unarmed and melee combat, as well as the utilization of the Force. Lacking formal training, their Force usage lacked finesse, relying instead on natural instincts, resulting in aggressive and untamed Force powers.

Thirty-five years before the onset of the Clone Wars, Jedi Master Mace Windu visited the Koruns, sharing tales of the Jedi Order. Kar Vastor may have been among those who heard these stories, leading him and the Akk Guards to emulate Jedi Knights. Upon acceptance into the Akk Guard, initiates would construct their own shields, mirroring the Jedi's practice of building their own lightsabers. This ritual marked the Akk Guards' transformation into a dark imitation of the Jedi. They prioritized instinct over training, harnessed anger and aggression as sources of power, and employed their shields as offensive weapons, contrasting with the Jedi's reliance on serenity, defense, and the use of their lightsabers as shields.

Kar and the Akk Guards utilized their vibroshields to deflect blaster bolts and projectiles, mirroring the Jedi's techniques. This skill may have stemmed from the accounts of Jedi training shared by Mace Windu.

Vastor's experiences in the jungle shaped his perspective on Tan Pel'trokal: Jungle Justice, a Korun cultural practice involving the punishment of capital crimes. Vastor would send all captives taken during the Summertime War into the jungle without weapons, clothing, or provisions. Due to the impossibility of surviving the jungle to recount the experience, the Balawai falsely assumed that the Korun invariably executed their captives, further intensifying the conflict.

Kar identified as a member of Ghôsh Windu. He considered himself the last surviving member until his dỏshalo (clan brother), Mace Windu, revisited the planet. The Summertime War had gradually decimated the entire clan.

Despite every Korun's inherent ability to wield the Force, and Kar Vastor and the Akk Guards' near invincibility, the Korunnai faced a gradual defeat in the war. Their reliance on the jungle as their habitat meant that the jungle's fungi, capable of devouring nearly all metals, prevented the Korunnai from effectively utilizing technological weaponry and equipment. They relied on slug rifles, while the Balawai wielded blasters. The Summertime War also devolved into a war of extermination, with enemies targeted on sight, regardless of age or condition. While the Balawai could shelter non-combatants within the city, the Koruns lacked any means of protecting their own. However, as the name suggested, the Summertime War would pause during seasons like autumn and winter, and so the Korunnai still had time to recover.

As the Clone Wars erupted, the Balawai aligned themselves with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, gaining access to increased supplies and technological advancements: battle droids, vulture droids, De-Orbiting Kinetic Anti-emplacement Weapons (DOKAWs), and gunships. Despite Kar's capabilities and leadership, the Korun suffered significant losses and faced potential extinction.

The arrival of Jedi Master Depa Billaba altered the course of events. Appointed by the Jedi Council to liberate the system, Depa fought alongside Kar Vastor, his Akk Guards, and the Korunnai. Her mastery of the Force and the seventh lightsaber combat form, Vaapad, shifted the momentum of the war. The Korunnai revered Depa as a goddess and their sole source of hope. However, with each victory and each kill, the jungle's darkness and the horrors of war began to corrupt and torture Depa. Depa's mastery in Vaapad furthered the corruption as she channeled her inner darkness to be the weapon of light.

Consequently, the actions of Korun combatants grew darker, both in reality and in the stories, and the Balawai retaliated in kind. Collaboratively, Kar and Depa coined the term "Upland Liberation Front" to designate their fighting force. This tactic proved effective in confusing the enemy, as the Balawai continuously attempted to decipher the Front's tactics and attack patterns, efforts that proved futile due to the absence of any genuine Upland Liberation Front. The Front served merely as a scapegoat for every attack; the Korun fighting force consisted solely of Humans scavenging for supplies and struggling for survival.

Eventually, the Separatists retreated, abandoning the planet to the Balawai. However, they continued to provide the Balawai with weapons and equipment. The Korunnai could not celebrate while the Balawai remained. Consequently, Depa remained with the Korunnai, fighting alongside them and disregarding any orders from the Council. Determined to teach her Master a lesson of war and its darkness, Depa and Kar set up a terrifying scene to draw Mace Windu to the planet.

When Windu came, Nick Rostu, Chalk, Lesh, and Besh were sent to meet him. However, Mace was captured by Balawai commander Colonel Geptun. Geptun interrogated him, then released him in exchange for three thousand credits. Mace had to, as part of the release deal, try to stop Depa's atrocities against Balawai. Unknown by Mace, Geptun had monitored his lightsaber's frequency so that his satellites would tell him whenever Mace turned on his lightsaber. This meant that the Colonel could track him as he met with the Korunnai.

Mace was saved from an ambush by Nick and his companions, and so joined them to find Depa. They had a brief fight with gunships, one of which Mace destroyed. This unlocked a blood fever in him. Not long after, Lesh died of fever wasps. Chalk and Besh were infected. Nick realized that Kar might be able to save Chalk and Besh. They took a Balawai outpost, put the two in suspended animation, and sent Nick off for Kar. Mace stayed as a guard. When a nearby volcano erupted, Balawai children called for help. Being a Jedi, Mace saved them. More Balawai came, in steamcrawlers. Mace tried to negotiate the release of children and the abandonment of the outpost, but the Balawai were desperate. Just as Mace was near success, Kar and the Akk Guards came.

The superhuman skill and strength of the Korun easily killed the Balawai. Kar entered the bunker, and Mace found himself struggling with blood fever. Kar used his Force powers to effectively show Mace his dark side. Then Kar killed a child who had been attempting to kill Chalk and Besh. The Korun took the survivors prisoner.

However, Mace and Nick later freed the prisoners and followed after, reaching a camp. Kar cornered them too late—a gunship had already taken the Balawai to safety. Kar and Mace had a brawl, ending with the Jedi Master falling into unconsciousness.

Mace arrested Depa and got her parole in exchange for her agreement to leave with him. Kar took Mace's lightsaber. This allowed Mace to track Kar through the Force.

Depa did not meet Mace—she sent Kar. By that time, Geptun had found a Korun base. Kar and Mace joined forces to stop the Balawai. Mace used his natural resources and allies to repel the militia. Kar and Depa hijacked a gunship. Mace, Chalk, and Nick took another. In the skies, the group saved the Halleck by tricking the droid fighters to turn on themselves. Then they broke into the Ministry.

Geptun demanded surrender. Mace gave it, and Nick found Geptun's signal at the Ministry of Justice; Mace knew that he was at the Washeteria. They went to Washeteria and convinced the colonel to deactivate the Vulture droids. Kar attempted an assassination, but Mace and Nick survived. Chalk, however, was killed soon after taking the Ministry.

Kar and Depa went wild, burning Pelek Baw and slaughtering civilians. Mace, Nick, and Geptun returned to the Ministry to stop Kar and Depa.

Mace called the clones on his aid. Kar and Akk Guards killed many, but Nick proved himself a skilled fighter with a gun by taking out at least three Akk Guards. Mace and Depa dueled, during which Mace was wounded just as Depa returned to the light. Realizing what she had done, she nearly committed suicide before Nick shot her lightsaber out of her hand, and she collapsed into a coma.

Later, an Akk Guard by the name of Iolu's slashed Nick's stomach, and the young Korun collapsed, leaving Mace and Kar to duel. Geptun was in the control room. Mace gave a warning threat to Kar, but the lor pelek defied him. With a cry of sleep when you're dead, Kar charged Mace.

Mace was able to sidestep the attack, seeing how Kar was strong, young, fast, and could eventually beat him on his best day, and this was one of his worst. Instead, he used the Force to snag one of Iolu's shields that was lodged above Nick's head. He sent it whizzing at Kar, and the weapon sliced right through Kar's, cutting through both wrists and embedding itself in his chest, less than a centimeter short of his heart. Kar Vastor collapsed with surprise on his face, though he survived to be placed in custody.

Vastor was taken to Coruscant, and was held in the Jedi Temple. His wounds were healed and his hands were saved, though he was placed in detention within the Temple. He was later charged with crimes against civilization, a category that had not been invoked since the time of the Great Sith War.

Following his incarceration, Vastor became an instrument of Blackhole. Subjected to Blackhole's meltmassif treatment, he was manipulated as a host body for the warlord, tasked with capturing Leia Organa from "wild" Melters and assaulting Luke Skywalker. He gained freedom from Cronal's influence when he aided Skywalker in establishing communication with the Melters, beings who utilized the meltmassif for their physical forms. Skywalker then succeeded in severing Cronal's connection to the meltmassif.

Despite his lack of affinity for the Jedi, he held Luke Skywalker's assistance in high regard and expressed his gratitude. He subsequently aided Nick Rostu and Aeona Cantor in their pursuit of Cronal.

Vastor was an immensely tall, extremely muscular bald man. He had dark skin and needle-sharp teeth; Nick Rostu estimated that Vastor massed twenty kilograms more than Darth Vader.

Abandoned to the perilous jungles of his homeworld during his youth, Vastor endured by drawing upon the jungle's inherent darkness, which fueled his extraordinary power. A consequence of this was the loss of his ability to speak in a conventional manner, resulting in growls, grunts, or roars, and the use of the Force to convey his intentions during conversations. Despite lacking formal training, he exhibited exceptional Force abilities. Mace Windu himself, following a battle with Vastor, asserted that the latter's raw Force power rivaled that of Yoda or Anakin Skywalker. He also possessed the ability to heal through the Force, as demonstrated when he treated Liane Trevval and Besh after they were bitten by fever wasp larva.

Vastor also possessed incredible physical strength and lightning fast speed and reflexes for a man of his size, which made him an excellent hand-to-hand combatant. He was trained in the use of vibroshields and bladed weapons, making him a frightening opponent in battle.