Vul Isen

"I am a scientist. It is my nature to question. Unthinking obedience is fine for a warrior, but a scientist must question&mdash;or be worth nothing."

- Vul Isen

Vul Isen was a Force-sensitive Givin male who served the One Sith as a scientist. Born into the One Sith on Korriban, his talents did not lie in combat, but in science, so he was never given the coveted "Darth" title. Isen worked extensively with bioweapons, and was experienced in committing genocide and ruining planets with such toxins. He found no sorrow or regret in these actions, thinking of it as a sort of game.

In 137 ABY, after Darth Krayt ordered the massacre of the Mon Calamari species, Isen was posted to the planet Dac, to work alongside overseer Darth Azard in speeding up the extermination of the Mon Calamari. Tension ran high between Isen and Azard, who felt that the Givin was a lesser Sith for not having a Darth name and disliked his inquisitive nature. Because Krayt wanted only the Mon Calamari and not any of the world's other inhabitants targeted, Isen was unable to use his experimental viral organisms which would reduce the planet to a desolate swamp world. Instead, he turned to ancient Sith lore and alchemically engineered a Sea Leviathan, the first of its kind adapted for underwater use. Isen and Azard hoped the beast would help them eliminate the remaining pockets of Mon Calamari as quickly as possible.

Scientist
"I was born on Korriban, too, Lord Azard. I'm as much a Sith as you. Not every one of us is called upon to be a warrior&mdash;or to earn the title of "Darth." Knowledge and skills such as mine also serve the One Sith. You'd do well to remember it." "We may all be One Sith, Isen, but we are not all equals."

- Vul Isen, and Darth Azard

Vul Isen was a Force-sensitive Givin male, who lived over a hundred years after the Battle of Yavin. He was born on the One Sith stronghold planet of Korriban, and was inducted into the One Sith, along with many other Sith born on the world. However, Isen's field of expertise was not combat, but rather science. Thus, he was not given the Darth title awarded to the most skilled of the One Sith's warriors, for which he was looked down upon. After leaving Korriban, Isen did not carry a lightsaber or wear the dark robes worn by the Sith warriors, instead donning a uniform similar to that worn by the Sith's military officers. Isen became very knowledgable and skillful in his chosen field, and he became an expert on exterminating or pacifying species who resisted the Sith's rule. Isen engineered various destructive organisms that could eradicate masses of life and reduce planets to swamps, though he did not get a chance to properly try out many of these.

Unlike the sort of warriors who looked down on him, Isen was not unflinchingly obedient towards the One Sith's leader, Darth Krayt, and he had no qualms about questioning orders that did not make sense to him; he felt that as a scientist it was his duty to question everything. In 137 ABY, Krayt initiated the Massacre of Mon Calamari, ordering all members of the Mon Calamari species on the planet Dac to be either killed or put into slave labor camps, as punishment for working against the Empire. Many Mon Calamari fled into the depths of the planet's oceans, though, and Isen was tasked with using his knowledge to help eliminate them more quickly. Darth Azard, a Quarren Sith Lord, was posted to Dac to oversee the extermination, and Isen worked directly under him.

The Sea Leviathan
"We draw upon the Force. We bend it to our will. Follow my mind into the abyss, Lord Azard. Touch upon the mind that is waiting there&mdash;sleeping, not yet aware. Imprint our minds, our will upon it and then&mdash;command it to awake! It hungers. It rises. It comes!"

- Isen and Azard awaken the Sea Leviathan

Because Krayt wanted only the Mon Calamari removed, and not the Quarren or any of Dac's other native species, Isen would not be able to release experimental viral organisms to wipe out all life on the world, so the Givin consulted several other, high-ranking Sith about how best he could speed along the process while ensuring only the Mon Calamari were targeted. Darth Maladi, Krayt's foremost scientist and torturer, was thoroughly unhelpful, refusing to share her knowledge with him. Darth Wyyrlok, Krayt's most trusted advisor, suggested Isen look to older Sith lore, and to explore the possibility of adapting a Leviathan&mdash;alchemically bioengineered Sithspawn created by Dark Jedi that predated the Sith&mdash;for use in the sea. The creature, when completed, would be able to eliminate the remaining Mon Calamari on Dac. Though semi-sentient, the Leviathan would absorb the life energies of those it killed, becoming sentient and driving it to think like a Mon Calamari, enabling it to better locate their hiding places. Isen spent weeks engineering the creature in the gaping, underwater Soheras Trench, reaching the trench via an Imperial Aquatic Terrain Armored Transport, until the first Sea Leviathan was ready&mdash;all it needed was a spark of the Force to awaken it.

Isen and Darth Azard traveled together to the Trench in a transport. Azard was one of those who felt that members of the One Sith who had not earned the Darth title were lesser than he, and he disliked Isen's lack of complete obedience to Krayt's rule. As the transport traveled, the two talked, with Isen stating that he'd rather have been able to just kill off the entire planet. When they reached the edge of the abyss, Isen and Azard used the Force together to awaken the creature, imprinting their minds and wills upon the creature and providing it with its orders. The first Sea Leviathan rose from its place of slumber and went straight for a nearby enclosure of enslaved Mon Calamari, sucking up the captives' life energies. Isen explained the process of absorbing the life forces, though Azard had doubts about it, fearing that the Leviathan may start to think like a Mon Calamari too much, and attack the Imperials. Isen was confident that this would not happen, and managed to dissuade Azard.

Rooting out the resistance
"So long as I obey, neither you nor Lord Krayt has any reason to doubt me." "So long as you obey and succeed, I will not."

- Isen, and Azard

Darth Azard already had a target in mind to set the Sea Leviathan on. Earlier that day, an Imperial Acklay Battle Fortress, the Sea Lion, had been attacked and disabled by a group of Mon Calamari Rangers, part of the resistance against the Empire on Dac, while tracking a group of refugees. Azard ordered Isen to send the beast towards the refugees' location, so as to draw out the Rangers and defeat them in one swift blow. Isen was impressed with Azard's plan, and began to execute it immediately.

The Leviathan, followed by Isen and Azard in their transport, soon found more Mon Calamari and absorbed their life energies. However, Isen allowed one of the Mon Calamari to escape, so that he or she could inform the Rangers that the Imperials were coming for them; a Mon Calamari defeat, Isen felt, was inevitable, but he felt it would be easier to finish off the Mon Calamari if they swarmed into the same locations, rather than having to hunt them down individually. Isen remarked to Azard that he would be glad when the extermination had reached its end, stating that he preferred breaking the will of a species as it had more artistry to it. This started a minor confrontation with Azard, who told the Givin that true Sith only cared about carrying out Krayt's orders. Azard also voiced his contempt for a member of the One Sith that was not a Darth, and his discontent with Isen's inquisitive nature.

The Leviathan eventually found the refugee camp, and the Rangers came out as Azard thought. But the Rangers attacked Isen's transport instead of the Leviathan. Isen thought they were fools to do so since their weapons couldn't penetrate the transport's shields. But he then noticed the Leviathan was in trouble: Imperial Knight Treis Sinde had commanded a large number of devilsquid to attack the Leviathan. When Azard and Isen saw this, they ordered for their fighters to be launched to deal with the Rangers while they attacked the squid. But when the shields were lowered to launch the fighters, one of the Rangers sacrificed herself by raming her Krakana into the hangar, causing a chain reaction that destroyed the transport. The Leviathan, meanwhile, had been overpowered by the squid, and was dragged into the squids' lair and devoured.

Isen and Azard managed to survive the destruction of the transport. When Isen saw Azard had been wounded and was pinned down by rubble, he used Azard's lightsaber to free him, much to the Quarren Sith Lord's surprise. Isen said they were all members of the One Sith, and that rescuing a fellow Sith would be what Darth Krayt would want. The two then swam back to the surface.

Personality and traits
"To be honest, Lord Azard, I'll be glad when this extermination is completed. I prefer breaking a population's will. There's an artistry to that."

- Vul Isen

Born on Korriban and indoctrinated in the ways of the One Sith from birth, Vul Isen was not destined to become a warrior, but rather a scientist. He was naturally inquisitive, never accepting what he was told without proof, and often questioning the decisions and orders of his superiors. Isen believed that this attitude and way of being was integral to his success as a scientist. It did him no favors with other, more warlike Sith, unflinchingly loyal and unquestionably obedient to Darth Krayt, who believed Isen was not a true Sith.

Isen was trained in genocide, and was adept at annihilating or pacifying entire populations. He saw it as something of a game, and took pleasure in his work. He felt that exterminating a species was less enjoyable to simply breaking their will, which he thought was a more subtle task. Despite this, Isen worked extensively with viral type organisms that could wipe out entire planets and significantly alter their environment, and he liked to experiment with these organisms&mdash;on actual populations. He took great excitement in Darth Azard's plan to take out the refugees and the Mon Calamari Rangers in one fell swoop, and found the concept of the Leviathan's ability to absorb sentients' life energies fascinating, even as he watched his beast reduce masses of Mon Calamari to nothing but empty shells.

Isen was also quite talkative, unlike the reticent and taciturn Azard, with whom he spent much time on Dac. He often spoke of his preferences; detailed his plans, and how he formulated them; mocked other individuals, even his superiors, who had annoyed him or were incompetent; and outlined the capabilities of his creation, the Sea Leviathan.

Though he was not destined to be a warrior, and did not carry a lightsaber in his service for Krayt's Empire, Isen was still able to wield the Force. Along with Darth Azard, he invoked the Force on Dac to awaken the Sea Leviathan, sending his mind into the abyss where it was located and imprinting his will upon it. As they did so, a tangle of Sith lightning engulfed them. Isen's main skills lay in science, and he engineered a number of experimental deadly toxins in his time. He was also able to use Sith Alchemy to create a Leviathan, altered for use in the sea, though the idea was not his own, stemming instead from Darth Wyyrlok, an expert in Sith lore.

Behind the scenes
The character of Vul Isen was created by John Ostrander for the Fight Another Day story arc of his Star Wars: Legacy comic series. Isen appeared in the first part of the arc in January 2009, and subsequently appeared in the Dark Horse Comics online preview of the second issue. In both issues, he was illustrated by Omar Francia.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacy 32: Fight Another Day, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 33: Fight Another Day, Part 2