Thane Viszla

Thane Viszla

Title: None
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Occupation: Soldier of Fortune
Profession: Mercenary
Homeworld: Mandalore
Organization: Independent
Ship: None, yet

Appearance

Unarmored

Standing a few inches above six feet, with a broad-shouldered and thickly-muscled build, Thane Viszla could be considered by human standards to be a fairly imposing presence. He has short, thick black hair that extends down to a close-cropped beard upon his lower face. Steely dark grey, indeed nearly black eyes peer out from a face that is square jawed and weather-worn, carrying a tanned complexion and the faded lines and creases of a few small scars here and there. He looks like he's seen a few decades, at least, but his bearing remains confident, carrying the relaxed-but-ready air all too common to soldiers of fortune and hard-bitten veterans of a great many battles.

Thane is not wearing his armor at the moment, even if he does technically remain armed. His upper body bears a close-fitting sleeveless black shirt, over which an equally-sleeveless and equally-black bantha-leather vest is pulled over, though usually left unfastened. A padded brace is worn around his left elbow, and fingerless gloves cover both his hands. His legs are covered by a loose-fitting pair of grey cargo-pants, tucked into a sturdy pair of durasteel-toed combat boots. A thick equipment belt is draped around his waist, from which hangs a few pouches for various tools and instruments, and most notably a heavy blaster pistol slung on his right hip, with a vibrodagger sheathed across the small of his back, and a smaller vibroknife strapped to the outside of his right boot. His right knee is padded for a quick drop to a kneeling firing position if need be. It appears that even out of his armor, Thane Viszla is a fellow that likes to remain ready for a scrap.

Personality

Outwardly, Thane Viszla is pretyt much what you'd expect from a veteran mercenary: Gruff, blunt, and laconic. Those that get to know him a bit better will find that he is also a man of his word, fairly perceptive, and carries a sardonic sense of humor. He strictly upholds both the letter and the spirit of his contracts, all while holding to his own personal code, which ties into both the Resol'nare and the Canons of Honor held so dear by Mandalorian society. He is disciplined, reliable, and generally quite trustworthy up until someone tries to double-cross him.

Still, Thane has been away from Mandalore a long time (save for brief visits home to his mother or siblings), and he sometimes worries that he's "softened" a bit as far as Mandalorian culture is concerned. It may be a baseless belief, but that doesn't change the way he feels. Ultimately, loyalty is very important to Thane, and he is unfailingly so to those that keep to their contracts, and to those that are loyal to him. He's a very good friend to have, but a difficult nut to crack to get to that point, because he certainly doesn't trust easily and he doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve. He's gained and lost a lot of friends and loved ones over the years, and that's left plenty of emotional walls that have built up over that time.

Background

Thane Viszla is the son of Rann Viszla and his wife Adri Viszla (formerly Wren), born on Mandalore just a few years before the Battle of Yavin. Like many Mandalorians, Rann Viszla made his living as a mercenary and bounty hunter, often spending many months apart from his family while roaming the galaxy as a hired gun. While young Thane idolized his father, it was his mother that was the primary caregiver for Thane and his two younger siblings, and both she and especially his maternal uncle, Korl Wren were the ones that truly gave Thane his education in the ways of the Mando'ade, including his early lessons in combat training. But the Empire still ruled Mandalore along with the rest of the galaxy, and Clan Viszla played a large role in helping to keep things that way. Clan Viszla had long been viewed as a "hardliner" Clan within the politics of Mandalore, and even had given birth to the renegade Mandalorians known as the Death Watch, but not all of the Clan followed the Death Watch, which fell into decline near the end of the Clone Wars.

Those that had not followed the Death Watch insured their survival by throwing their full support behind the newly-formed Galactic Empire, and in the process many of them seemed to become politicians more than warriors...a path that Rann Viszla did not agree with, making him something of an odd man out within his own Clan. Rann passed his disdain for the new politics of Clan Viszla on to his eldest son, in those brief but treasured times at home with his family between jobs. Meanwhile, Thane received the normal education accorded to those on Mandalore, and excelled at athletic pursuits (considerably more so than academic), which he greatly enjoyed. Thane was in many ways a typical Mandalorian child...rough-and-tumble, but dutiful, and as the eldest child in his family learned responsibility for his two younger siblings early, though he tended to get by more on simply being big and strong rather than particularly charismatic.

Unfortunately for Thane and his family, the rise of the Empire in many ways made the Mercenary business more complicated, and often more dangerous. While Rann was a skilled warrior, the high-risk assignments he undertook often meant he had to spend a good chunk of his credits on repairing weapons and armor...or even himself. Eventually, it took its' toll, and when Thane was nearing his teenage years, Rann ended up taking a serious wound that left him with a poor-quality cybernetic leg and a permanent limp that all-but-ended his career as a Mercenary. For the next several years, Thane's family struggled somewhat without Rann's income to support them, but they managed to eke by. Still, as soon as Thane turned 17, his father passed onto him his suit of Mandalorian Armor and Thane knew it was his own time to make his way in the galaxy, so he left Mandalore and began the life of a mercenary, like his father before him.

Work in Progress/To Be Continued

RP Hooks

Old Allies: Thane has fought for plenty of causes for plenty of different employers, and he usually hasn't been completely alone in those fights. Pilots might have once flown air support for missions he was on, soldiers might have fought alongside him. He's even temporarily been members of smaller mercenary companies for a while, and while they always seemed to eventually break up, there may be survivors that are still favorably inclined towards Thane. Or it may be as simple as Thane and someone else fought on the same side, even if they didn't know each other personally.

Old Enemies: The flip side of the coin...maybe a character fought on the OTHER side of the battle from Thane. Maybe they met face-to-face, or maybe they didn't. Thane doesn't tend to take these things personally...all part of the job, after all...but that doesn't mean others are so forgiving....

Acquaintances and Employers: Over the course of 25 years Thane has worked for a lot of people and traveled around the galaxy a great deal. He's served crimelords (particularly Hutts), governments (mostly the New Republic, but a couple of times even the Empire before it went into full retreat), shady (and not so shady) politicians, businessmen of both the legitimate and "perfectly legitimate" variety, and even been bodyguard to an occasional celebrity (being big and intimidating helps a lot with that. Basically he's seen and done a little bit of everything for just about every side of the fence.

Likewise, Thane's probably met plenty of blastersmiths, mechanics, pilots, repairmen, bartenders, or any multitude of the type of folks that might be hanging around the types of employers listed above. Basically, it's not too implausible that virtually any given person could have crossed paths with Thane in the past, present, or future, depending on where he's working.

Mandalorian Without A Cause: Thane's Mandalorian origins are publicly known, and while he tries to cling to the trappings of his homeworld he's felt more and more removed from it with each passing year. It's not homesickness exactly...Mandalorians aren't given to such sentiment...but more a feeling of isolation, whether warranted or not.