Raptor Duk-Val

Born on Corellia to a CorSec officer and a municipal power plant worker, Raptor's life was unusual from the very beginning. A breakdown in the magnetic containment shield at the power plant exposed his mother to a burst of radiation, altering the genetics of the child she carried. At birth, it was discovered that his genetic code for growth and aging resembled something more appropriate for Bothan, Sullustan, or Wookie. As such, he has aged much slower than a normal human. He appears to be a young twenty-six, but is actually nearly a hundred. However, these aging characteristics would not manifest themselves until puberty. As such, Raptor Duk-Val, born Victor Falconi, managed to enjoy a 'normal' childhood. He played with other children, went to school, and shared time with his family. Training with his father showed an aptitude for marksmanship and martial arts, and organized youth athletics also showed tremendous natural talent. He entered CorSec's preparatory school at the age of fifteen. Unfortunately, his parents were soon killed in a freak speeder accident. After the funeral, instead of staying with friends of the family, he left Corellia, striking out on his own. For five years, he hopped from planet to planet, system to system, performing an odd job here and there for money, food, shelter, or transport. The growth changes were now in full effect, and his youthful, appearance aided him in his chosen profession of thievery, pickpocketing, and scamming. At twenty-one, he met someone on the Smuggler's Moon of Nar Shaddaa that would change his life. While working as cook in one of the moon's many cantina's, he spotted a hard-looking man drinking in a corner. Something about the man intrigued the young Falconi, who approached him. The stranger, a discharged Old Republic soldier turned bounty hunter, was initially cold to the young man's overtures, but after a small demonstration of Falconi's skill and the youth's sheer persistence, began to answer his questions. Soon, the two became friends, and the trooper took Falconi as his apprentice. For five years, Falconi learned as the trooper's understudy. He learned military tactics, survelliance and intelligence tacicts, hand-to hand combat, and covert operations, along with some skills unusual to a bounty hunter, such as negotiation, diplomacy, and bartering. The trooper also taught Raptor the Old Republic ideals, such as honor and justice, and how they applied to the bounty hunter trade. At the end of this five-year period, Falconi became a full Hunter. For the next ten years, the two worked as a team, succeeding more often than failing, and building quite a reputation. They became known as the Bear and the Falcon, with the trooper's grizzled, bearlike appearance and Falconi's name having to do much with the label. However, on a botched mission in the Outer Rim, the trooper, now an old man, was killed. Disheartened by this loss, Falconi, still appearing to be barely twenty years old but nearly forty, left for the Corporate Sector, working solo. Several jobs gained him credits and started on another name for himself. On one such job, a snatch-and-grab mission for a corporation against one of its rivals, Falconi stumbled upon a great find. Rummaging through several of the developmental labs, he found a helmet with highly advanced capabilities. Marveling at it, he took it with him and studied it, determining everything it could do, and set about acquiring the right equipment to complement its abilities. More jobs and more credits allowed him to do this. Owing to the helmet's slighly hawkish appearance and his own name, Falconi changed his name to Raptor. A bird of prey. Another windfall soon came his way. Hiring on briefly as a mercenary, he joined a group heading out to deal with a bothersome pirate band that had been harassing CSA shipping. The resistance proved much stronger than expected, but Raptor's knowledge of tactics, learned so long ago from the old trooper, proved useful in carrying the day. He was offered a position with the mercenary unit, but declined. Instead, he took his share of the loot and the pirate's damaged Corellian Gunshp, captured in the raid. Using nearly his entire store of credits, he had the ship repaired, updated, and modified extensively. A state-of-the-art slave system, auto-targeting gun turrets, substantial internal modifications, and a complex automation system allowed him to fly the 120-meter long ship by himself, with a 15-droid crew. Thirty years had passed since he had entered the Corporate Sector. He had build quite a reputation there, but was relatively unknown outside the CSA and the surrounding area. Falconi, aka Raptor, was now seventy, but still appeared to be in his mid-twenties. At this point, the Old Republic was on the verge of collapse, and the Empire was on the rise. Sensing potential for lots of business, Raptor left the Corporate Sector and returned to the Core systems. He took many small jobs, slowly rebuilding up his credit store, which had been depleted by the refitting of his Gunship. He stayed in the background throughout the Civil War, the collapse of the old Bounty Hunter's Guild, and only started to move to the surface after the death of the Emperor. He took control of the scattered, unruly Hunters and formed a new Bounty Hunter's Guild, based on Dantooine. He enlisted the aid of a Togorian, Marrak, and started a weapons store, which became quite successful in its own right. Since his return to the Core, he has participated in several high-paying jobs, replenishing his accounts with credits. His reputation has grown, and now is one of the premier Hunters in the Galaxy. Raptor is slightly shorter than an average human, standing at 1.72 meters (5'9"). He has jet-black hair and piercing black eyes. His features are attractive by human standards, appearing to be a mere twenty-eight years of age. Both eyes and face can present a cold, hard, unreadable visage to his enemies and targets, or a warm, friendly appearance to his few friends. He typically wears a suit of customized, experimental Ghost battle armor that has been modified with the mimetic features from Chameleon armor. He still wears the helmet he acquired in the CSA. Alternatively, he dresses in a long-sleeved grey tunic under a black vest, black pants, and knee-high black boots. A conservative black suit is his other choice. He always carries a pair of hold-out slugthrowing pistols strapped to the small of his back and his right ankle. A BlasTech A280 heavy blaster rifle and a BlasTech DL-44 heavy pistol are his weapons of choice.