Rukil

"You are marked, upworlder. Even my dim old eyes can see the mantle of destiny that cloaks you. Perhaps old Rukil knows you better then you know yourself."

- Rukil to Revan

Rukil was a Human male who lived in an Outcast village, located in the Undercity of the planet Taris. He had lived a large portion of his life in the village as an Outcast, condemned with his father and grandfather because of their part in a rebellion against the wealthy nobles that ruled Taris, to live forever in the bedrock levels of the ecumenopolis. There Rukil's father and grandfather began searching for the Promised Land, a rumored paradise underneath the Undercity with droids to care for all of their needs. Rukil continued the quest of searching for the fabled paradise, so that he could lead his people to a better life. As the years went by, however, fewer of the Outcasts believed his tales of the Promised Land, and by 3,956 BBY, when the village was led by a male Human named Hendar, Rukil's apprentice, Malya, who continued his work because Rukil was too old to do it himself, was the only one who truly believed him. By this date, Rukil was over a hundred years old and was referred to by the younger Outcasts as "Rukil Wrinkle–Skin". Around this time, Malya went missing while searching for the Promised Land, and Rukil asked for help from the amnesiac Revan during Revan's search for the Jedi Bastila Shan after the Attack on the Endar Spire.

Early life
"I am old - I have lived a hundred years in the Undercity, cast down into the darkness. I know the legends and history of our people - and now you must learn it, too."

- Rukil talking to Revan about the history of the Outcasts

Rukil was a male Human born on the ecumenopolis world of Taris, before the year 4,056 BBY. Early in Rukil's life, in the year 4,056 BBY, a rise in pollution poisoned the oceans of Taris causing the planet's only source of food to be greatly damaged. As a result, a famine swept the planet and the rich nobles kept all of the food for themselves, leaving the poor people to die of starvation. The poor people, including Rukil's father and grandfather, rebelled against the nobles and plunged the planet into a civil war. However, the rebellion was routed by the nobles, killing millions of people, and the rest of the rebels were taken prisoner. Due to the fact that the prisons on Taris could not hold them all, the nobles sent the remaining rebels to the Undercity at the bottom of the cities of Taris. Rukil's father and grandfather and their family, including Rukil, were among those sent down to the depths of Taris, becoming the first of many Outcasts who were exiled to the Tarisian Undercity.

After being exiled, both Rukil's father and grandfather dedicated their lives to seeking out clues to finding the fabled paradise called the Promised Land and recording them in their journals. The Promised Land was said to be a self-maintained colony beneath the Undercity, with droids that took care of everything that the inhabitants needed. Like his forbears, Rukil also sought out the near-mythical paradise, gathering clues as to where the Promised Land was located. Rukil's hope was to find the paradise to bring his people comfort and free them from their bleak existance in the Undercity. Sometime after the exile to the Undercity, Rukil's grandfather and father went missing and died in search of clues for the location of the Promised Land, leaving their journals lost in the ruins of the Undercity. As the years went by, fewer and fewer people believed Rukil's stories about the Promised Land.

Later years
"Rukil's the oldest man in the village. The kids call him Rukil Wrinkle-Skin, but he's a kind man. He used to tell me the greatest stories when I was a little girl."

- Shaleena talking to Revan about Rukil

Eventually Rukil became too old to undertake his own field research, so his apprentice, Malya, a young woman Outcast, did his research for him, recording any clues she found in her own journal. As Rukil grew older the village younglings began to refer to him as "Rukil Wrinkle–Skin," and nearly everyone else ceased to believe in the Promised Land save for his apprentice. He told stories of the Promised Land to children, who usually laughed at him, but one Outcast named Shaleena would use the stories to make her stay in the Undercity seem less dark, even though she did not fully believe in them. In 3,956 BBY, the village was lead by a Human male named, Gendar, who viewed Rukil as a nice old man clinging to an illusion. Another important figure in the community at the time was Igear&mdash;a shopkeeper who hoarded anything of value he could get his hands on&mdash;who was afraid of Rukil's search for the Promised Land. Igear thought that there was some truth in Rukil's stories and feared their discovery as they would make him lose his importance in the village. By this date, despite the adverse conditions he lived in, Rukil had survived for a hundred years in the Taris Undercity and was the oldest member of the Outcast village. His age caused him to confine most of his movements to the south side of the village, but he was still able to keep busy by helping other members of the community to have a better life. By this year, Malya had been missing for some time when the Undercity began to see an upsurge in activity from so-called "up-worlders"&mdash;those from the Lower City, Middle City and the Upper City&mdash;subsequent to the Attack on the Endar Spire. The increase in activity was caused by the crash-landing of several Repulbic escape pods from the Republic cruiser, Endar Spire, with the increase in "up-worlders" being various factions looking for the escape pods and the people they contained. Rukil was worried about the fate of his apprentice and looked for someone to go and search for her.

The arrival of Revan
"Please, up-worlder - will you help an old man? Will you seek out my apprentice in the Undercity? Her name is Malya. I must know of her fate, whatever it may be. I must know what she... found."

- Rukil asking Revan to find his apprentice

After the Attack on the Endar Spire, the amnesiac Revan and the Republic officer Carth Onasi crashed in an escape pod into the Upper City of Taris and after recovering, they searched for the Commander of the Endar Spire, the Jedi Bastila Shan. The search took Revan and Onasi to the Undercity where they looed for the Republic escape pods hoping to find Bastila. During their search, they encountered Shaleena, who told them about Rukil and his stories about the Promised Land. The two of them sought out Rukil and talked to him. Rukil wondered and spoke out loud about whether Revan and Onasi had come to aid him, or to bring him false hope and lead him away from the true path. Rukil's statements confused Revan, and Rukil did not trust Revan enough to tell him the whole story about his search for the Promised Land. However, Rukil tole Revan about his missing apprentice and presented Revan with a quest to find her, bring back the tale of her fate, and tell him what she had found. Revan later located the corpse of Rukil's apprentice in the Undercity, and near her body he found her journal.

Malya's journal
"I have collected many clues hinting at its location; the journal of my apprentice provides yet more information. But still there are too many pieces missing from this puzzle."

- Rukil to Revan after the discovery of his apprentice's journal

After finding that Rukil's apprentice was dead and discovering her journal, Revan and Onasi, along with their new companion, a young female Twi'lek named Mission Vao, returned to Rukil with the journal. Rukil took the news of his apprentice's death with sadness, but he also had hope due to the information contained in the journal. After Revan successfully completed this task, Rukil entrusted him with his entire plan of finding the Promised Land. Rukil told Revan of the history of the Outcasts from their rebellion against the rich nobles to their present condition. He also tells Revan and his companions about his father, grandfather and lastly his lifelong search for the Promised Land, and the fact that his apprentice's journal did not include all the information he needed on the location of the Promised Land. After telling Revan these things and returning the journal of his apprentice to Revan for safekeeping, Rukil requested that Revan and his companions to begin to search for the journals of Rukil's Father and grandfather. While Rukil was hopeful when seeing the journal of his apprentice, when the Outcast merchant, Igear heard about it he was very worried about the discvoery of the Promised Land. He approached Revan asking him if Rukil had told him about the legend of the Promised Land. Igear then proceeded to offer Revan a reward if he would bring the journals to him, so that he could destroy them and keep the Promised Land from being discovered. However, Revan gave Igear his refusal, with Igear still offering to reward Revan for the journals, and informing Revan that Rukil could not pay him.

Journey to the Promised Land
"We must part ways here, up-worlder. I sense your destiny is yet to be chosen, but the destiny of my people is at the end of the long journey ahead of us."

- Rukil to Revan when leaving to go to the Promised Land

Revan found the journals of Rukil's father and grandfather in the Undercity sewers and brought them to Rukil who was hesitant at first to even look at the journals. Rukil finally looked at the journals and pieced together all of the information contained within them, at last discovering the location of the fabled Promised Land. He then greatly thanked Revan for his help, and rushed off to tell Gendar that he had discovered the location of the Promised Land. Gendar was skeptical at first, but when Rukil shows him the evidence he had found in the journal, Gendar believed Rukil. After Gendar saw the infromation, he stated that although the journey to the entrance of the Promised Land would take many weeks and also be very dangerous, involving the crossing of areas of the Undercity infested with the twisted mutants known as Rakghouls, they had plenty of supplies and would leave that night. After their brief discussion, Gendar left to prepare the villagers for the trip to the Promised Land, leaving Rukil to talk to Revan. Revan offered to come will Rukil and the other Outcasts to protect them from the dangerous Rakghouls, but Rukil refused his help saying that one secret of the Promised Land was that those who entered could never returned. Rukil also told Revan that he sensed that Revan's destiny was still before him. So after giving one last goodbye and thanking Revan, Rukil and the other Outcasts left for the Promised Land leaving Revan and his companions at the Outcast village.

Personality and traits
"The oldest man in the village. He is a kind soul, but I am afraid he is growing weary of this world. He dreams of escaping, of finding a better world."

- Gendar, the village leader, talking about Rukil

Rukil was a male Human with brown eyes and light-colored skin. At one point, he was viewed by many of the Outcasts as a man of wisdom, until many stopped believing in his tales of the Promised Land. In 3,956 BBY, Rukil was a very old member of the Outcast Village, in spite of the harsh conditions of that desolate place. He was over a century old at this date and was balding with gray hair on the sides of his head. Like his ancestors, he cared deeply for his village, a trait which manifested itself in his obsessive search for the Promised Land, and his helping of the other Outcasts in order for them to have better lives. Rukil was more of an adventurer in his younger days, searching throughout the Undercity sewers as well as other parts of the Undercity, looking for clues pertaining to its location. As he reached old age, Rukil became known as an eccentric, continuing to tell tales of the Promised Land to the young people of the village, particularly Shaleena, who spoke of him fondly despite not quite believing his stories. His eyesight also became extremely weak with his advanced age. By the time of the destruction of the Endar Spire, Rukil had become quite cryptic in his mannerisms, and stayed in the south side of the village because moving around too much was hard on his bones. He talked to himself at times and was viewed by the many of the Outcasts as a kind old man. For most of his life, he placed his hope and energy into finding the location of the Promised Land.

When Rukil encountered Revan, he could see a "mantle of destiny" surrounding him, and later said that he could sense that Revan's destiny was yet to come.

Behind the scenes
Rukil first appeared in BioWare's video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic as a member of the Outcast village who gives a quest to find the missing journals about the Promised Land. For completing this quest by bringing the journals back to Rukil the player received light side points. In the game, Rukil has the ability to sense the future destiny of others, which was a trait of those who are Force-sensitive. Rukil was later mentioned in entries for Gendar and Malya from The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, a [2008]] book published by Del Rey and written by Stephen J. Sansweet and Pablo Hidalgo.

Alternate stories
"All I have worked for is destroyed! All the hopes and dreams of my father and grandfather before him turned to dust! Begone, up-worlder - I have only curses to speak at you!"

- Rukil if the player gives the journals to Igear

While the storyline included above was one option that the player may choose, an alternate to the story presented above happened if the player chose to sell the journals to the Outcast merchant, Igear instead of turning them over to Rukil. Igear destroyed the texts out of greed, and he hoped to ensure that the Promised Land was never found so that the other villagers will continue to depend on him and his store. If the player made this choice, they will receive 100 credits, or more if they can persuade Igear. However, as a result of this act Rukil was outraged and cursed Revan before running off, and it also gave the player dark side points.

The player could also already have collected all of the journals before speaking to Rukil letting the player give Rukil the journals more quickly, or they may have met up with additional non-player character party members and have different characters with them when they speak to Rukil. The player can also take the quest and then never fulfill and leave Rukil and the villagers stuck living in the village. However, it is not necessary for Revan to do anything with Rukil at all, since going over and talking with him was the player's choice.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Notes and references
Rukil Rukil