- "Honestly, what's the point of creating rules if you don't follow them?"
- — Sildan Polark
Moff Sildan Polark can be considered one of the most powerful men within Oremin. While he doesn’t carry with him the instant respect usually attributed to others that are as highly placed as he is, there can be no denying that running Oremin through its day-to-day operations would be far more difficult without him.
Polark has dedicated himself fully to seeing that Oremin runs smoothly. His approach is strictly by the book. He doesn’t bother to hide his annoyance when someone goes against procedure and is quick to chastise the offender. The only one exempt from this verbal abuse is Reng Kasr himself.
Despite Kasr sometimes deviating from procedure, Polark has come to find some deep respect for the founder of Oremin. In Polark’s mind, anyone who can juggle the many, many duties that Kasr undertakes and still make it look easy, as Kasr does, is worthy of some serious respect.
Concurrently, Kasr completely trusts Polark to run all matters pertaining to the daily operations of Oremin, unsupervised. There is an unsaid understanding between the two that has never needed to be voiced. Kasr allows Polark to perform his duties as he sees fit and Polark knows that Kasr is the unquestioned law.
There have also been hints that Kasr and Polark have known each other since Polark’s days on Anaxes, but neither man has felt inclined to confirm or deny this. It remains a source of gossip around Oremin and something that not even Kasr’s closest friend, Jer Roviditian, knows the answer to.
Appearance[]
Polark has an aristocratic face that has lent itself well to his administrative duties. Some could describe his face as ‘haughty’ but he is more of a by the books man than arrogant. His black hair is now mostly gray with only a few strands of black standing out in his impeccably well-groomed hairstyle. His eyes are a faded turquoise and his face is slightly gaunt and tired looking from several stressful decades of running a smooth administration.
His body is thin, but not to the point of seeming skeletal. He wears the uniform of an Imperial Moff with pride and it seems to fit him like a glove.
History[]
Early Life[]
Born on Anaxes, Sildan Polark felt no need to partake in the proud naval tradition that was usually attributed to the families on Anaxes. The Polark family had the distinction of being some of the ‘old blood’ of the planet, which is to say that they could trace their naval service well back into the beginnings of the Galactic Republic itself, to say nothing of the Empire.
Several members of Sildan’s family had already enrolled in the Galactic Republic Academy or were already officers in the fleet. As one of the younger siblings, he was under enormous pressure to fulfill his rich heritage. He did enroll in the academy, but instead of undergoing the officer program, he chose instead to seek training as a member of the Republic government without consulting his family.
Polark proved himself to be extremely gifted in his administrative duties. He could quote procedure like others quoted holo-movie lines and there wasn’t a loophole or dead law that he didn’t know about. However, two factors conspired against Sildan ever achieving greatness in the eyes of the galactic public.
Sent Away[]
His family, ashamed that Sildan had not undertaken a naval career when they discovered his actions, used their considerable influence to see to it that he was sent to an out of the way sector to preserve the honor of their family name. Sent to the Voladu Sector, Sildan labored under that region’s governor and proved himself though hard work, eventually becoming a top aide.
The second factor that kept Sildan in obscurity was his total lack of a political drive. More interested in procedure than politics, Sildan would have likely remained an aide if not for getting noticed by an officer of the newly established Empire. That officer was none other than Reng Kasr. Kasr noticed right away that Polark was far more competent in his duties than the incompetent governor he was serving. Kasr, on good terms with the Emperor at this point, saw to it that Polark was recognized for all of his hard work. A few days later, Polark was named Moff of the Voladu Sector.
If Polark had had the inclination to work on this promotion, it was quite possible that he could have been named Grand Moff. However, Polark took the promotion in stride and continued running the Voladu Sector without bothering to try his hand in the Imperial court. It should be noted that under Polark’s rule, the Voladu sector suffered only a miniscule amount of crime or Rebel activity.
Joining Oremin[]
However, as was usually the case, outside influences soon saw to ruining Polark’s good fortunes. A few years after Kasr’s trial, Polark was ousted from his Moff position by a greedy bureaucrat who knew how to manipulate the power driven system of Palpatine’s Empire. Upon Polark’s departure, crime and Rebel terrorism made a tremendous leap up.
Kasr had his eye on many in the Empire and Polark was no exception. Once news reached him in Jorzan that Polark was no longer Moff of Voladu, he ordered Jer Roviditian to bring him to Oremin. There, Roviditian convinced Polark to take charge of Oremin’s day-to-day operations. Never one for politics, Polark agreed, not because he saw Kasr’s vision to be superior to that of Palpatine, but because he saw running Oremin as a unique challenge.