Saadoon-Kauldi

"When does a smuggler know he's good? The day you have a face-to-face meeting with Saadoon-Kauldi and leave with your mind and limbs intact."

- Karl Mathieu Ancher, smuggler legend, tycoon and friend to Saadoon-Kauldi.

Saadoon-Kauldi was a dragon-like Kadri'Ra slave who was released by members of the Twi'lek Badawzi family. Out of gratitude, Saadoon-Kauldi became the indentured servant of the Badawzis, who treated him with respect. After a time, Saadoon-Kauldi parted from the Badawzis in good terms. Saadoon-Kauldi became a crime lord dealing with spice. Instead of motivating his subordinates and peers with fear, he did so with respect.

During his career as a criminal, Saadoon-Kauldi noticed the activity of slavers and turned his resources to free as many slaves as he could. Due to this, former slaves became his willing followers, increasing his power and influence; but slaver guilds opposed to Saadoon-Kauldi and lobbied to put a bounty on his head. After suffering several assassination attempts, the increasingly paranoid Saadoon-Kauldi moved to the Socorro system. He lived there in an orbiting starship, surrounded by allies such as the Black Bha'lir and Abdi-Badawzi.

Origins
Saadoon-Kauldi, the Kadri'Ra, was born in Arapia, the homeplanet of the immigrated Kadri'Ra species. At some point, Saadoon-Kauldi was enslaved. He was later released from his yoke by the Badawzi family, a powerful and influential clan of Twi'lek merchants from the planet Ryloth.

Having nothing to offer his saviours, Saadoon-Kauldi then considered himself indentured to the Badawzis, as it was his only way to thank them. The Kadri'Ra served the Badawzis for years, and the Twi'leks always showed him a respect he had not known as a slave. Eventually, Saadoon-Kauldi decided to leave their service and begin his own business.

Creating his own business
His commercial venture was a criminal empire. Saadoon-Kauldi managed to grasp control over certain pre-existing spice runs; hired all the staff he could need, including smugglers; and commandeered spice processing facilities and shadowports. Through drug trafficking, he became a respected up-and-comer crime lord. He based his real power in alliances with other criminals instead of using fear like most crime lords did. He continued increasing his crime empire and obtained assets in the Arapia system. He had at least five thousand direct agents working in gambling; laundering; smuggling, including drug trade and gunrunning; and usury.

While working with some smugglers, Saadoon-Kauldi boarded a slaver galleon. When he saw the state of the slaves, he lost his temper, butchered the slavers and set all the slaves free. Most of the former servants swore loyalty and service to Saadoon-Kauldi, suddenly increasing the Kadri'Ra's influence and range. Saadoon-Kauldi decided to respect his newly-indentured serfs the same way he had been respected by the Badawzis. He believed his followers would remember that gesture.

Understanding that he could expand more his power by liberating more slaves, he decided to temporarily stop any smuggling operation and dedicate all of his resources to the abduction of slaver ships. This maneuver allowed him to emancipate a great number of slaves, many of whom followed their saviour. During one of those operations, he unshackled hundreds of slaves from an Imperial garbage pontoon; one of those slaves, Guzald the old Devaronian, decided to serve and follow Saadoon-Kauldi as closely as possible.

One certain slaver guild, comprehensibly unhappy with Saadoon-Kauldi's attitude, coerced its contacts, including Imperial officers, to take measures about this. They offered an official, substantial reward on Saadoon-Kauldi's head, but he gave no attention to it. Once Saadoon-Kauldi considered he had released enough slaves, and they had become his most powerful ally in sheer numbers, the crime lord returned to drug smuggling.

A chance to change airs
Saadoon-Kauldi became an important crime lord and reduced his public appearances. After several assassination attempts on him, including at least one in Arapia, he grew increasingly paranoid. The Empire was also actively trying to enslave Saadoon-Kauldi again. As a Kadri'Ra, Saadoon-Kauldi would not stop becoming larger for as long as he lived, and he was reaching seventy-five meters of length. This made him harder to hide.

A Twi'lek crime lord by the name of Abdi-Badawzi, whose great-grandfather had been released at the same time as Saadoon-Kauldi if rumours were to be heard, and whose family had been on friendly terms with Saadoon-Kauldi since then, began asking Saadoon-Kauldi for advice in his venture to expand criminal influence outside Socorro. At the same time, Abdi-Badawzi added Saadoon-Kauldi to his contact network, and discovered the Kadri'Ra's worries.

Pret Swain, manager of the Socorro-based Caelli-Merced Syndicate, a manufacturer of illegal and semi-legal technology, approached Saadoon-Kauldi soon afterward and offered to sell him a very cheap bulk cruiser to use it as his mobile, secure habitat. The ship was named Merkel, a customized Action V transport from Corellian Engineering Corporation: Black helm for stealth, hidden weaponry and, as soon as he bought it, adapted to Saadoon-Kauldi's specific needs.

Life in Socorro
Saadoon-Kauldi then allied with Abdi-Badawzi. This allowed Saadoon-Kauldi to settle in the orbit of the planet Neftali, in the Socorro system. Abdi-Badawzi had sent Swain to sell Saadoon-Kauldi the ship precisely for that reason: The Twi'lek wanted an important, nearby ally supporting him, because he would then obtain greater influence and could expand the borders of his criminal empire to areas where Saadoon-Kauldi could protect him.

As soon as he settled down over Neftali, Saadoon-Kauldi contacted with another local criminal group, the Black Bha'lir, a syndicate offering "coverage" to members in trouble. As the Bha'lir was opposed to slavery, Saadoon-Kauldi soon allied with them. The Socorran pirates, famous for their integrity, also allied with Saadoon-Kauldi. The Kadri'Ra developed many other contacts, including the Socorran government, whose Navy was ready to attack anyone approaching the Merkel uninvited.

As Saadoon-Kauldi became a public figure in the Socorran system, several rumours about him appeared. People said that Saadoon-Kauldi had been kidnapped from Arapia and transported as a slave, something that made him sympathetic to Socorran eyes. There were similar rumours about Abdi-Badawzi.

Abdi-Badawzi then offered Saadoon-Kauldi an interest of one-third of Ethra Brewery, a lucrative business that were sole manufacturers and distributors of the popular drink known as Socorran raava, the characteristic crystal bottles in which it was sold, and Zsajhira berries tea, a coveted luxury in the Inner Rim Territories. This corporation was interested in quality, even bringing Ibhaan'I shamans to bless the drink. "Ethra" was the Socorran word to say "three", and in fact Ethra had a third partner, the Corellian tycoon and retired smuggler Karl Mathieu Ancher. Abdi-Badawzi wanted a business partner from outside Socorro to improve the extra-system contacts of Ethra. As Socorran wells could not be bought because of local traditions, Ethra brought water from Neftali, which was Saadoon-Kauldi's base.

Saadoon-Kauldi made efforts to expand his organization. Caelli-Merced Syndicate agreed to pay him money for every export they did. However, Saadoon-Kauldi earned more money by acting as a mediator among criminal groups, stopping gang wars and other unwanted situations. When talking to others, Saadoon-Kauldi used his native Kadri'Ra language and required a translator, commonly his indentured servant Guzald.

Circa 10 BBY, smuggler Saylor "Marji" Marjan owed money to Saadoon-Kauldi. The Kadri'Ra sent two agents, Toob Ancher and Fahs Oxsor, to Arapia to collect the money. As Ancher and Marjan had been friends, Marjan convinced Ancher to smuggle a sizeable consignment of spice to the Elrood sector, a run that would allow Marjan to earn enough money to pay the debt and get a profit. Ancher did so, but the supposed profit was not enough to cover Ancher's expenses, as his ship was damaged during the run. Saadoon-Kauldi did not kill Marjan for this, but Ancher did not forgive Marjan either.

Saadoon-Kauldi discovered that the Galactic Empire was directly responsible of the dwindling number of Kadri'Ra in Arapia. Understanding the burden of his people, Saadoon-Kauldi became a supporter of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. He regularly sent weapons to the Alliance, using Caelli-Merced as his middleman.

Around 1 ABY, nineteen-year-old promise of piracy Drake Paulsen lost his father and mentor Kaine Paulsen. Saadoon-Kauldi offered young Paulsen a job, but too many other underworld factions were doing the same, including Abdi-Badawzi, Jabba the Hutt and Black Sun. Paulsen initially rejected all of them, and finally joined the Black Bha'lir.

Paulsen and his allies, the Wookiee Nikaede Celso and the smugglers Thaddeus Ross and Tait Ransom then assassinated Izzat, a treacherous Twi'lek who had been involved in the murder of Paulsen's father. Unfortunately, Izzat had been working for the Empire at that time, and the Empire posted very big bounties for the four criminals. The Black Bha'lir jumped to help these people, as they were members of the Bha'lir. Saadoon-Kauldi, an ally of the Bha'lir, offered to lodge Ross and Ransom for a time.

Personality and traits
Saadoon-Kauldi was intelligent, shrewd, stealthy and cultured, and he used all of these traits when creating his criminal empire. He had low technical abilities and was a sub-par pilot. He was also an untrained Force-sensitive. Saadoon-Kauldi was said to reward efficient employees with money and favours, and to forgive employees who failed him once. Many Corellian smugglers living in Socorro wanted to work for him.

Saadoon-Kauldi was respected among criminals, and sometimes admired as if he were a member of the Royalty. The Hutts, who were as long-lived as the Kadri'Ra, were known to have good opinion of Saadoon-Kauldi. This person had no enemies among the criminals, except for the slavers, and was well regarded even by certain law enforcement agencies.

Saadoon-Kauldi made several alliances that sustained his power and influence. He believed in respecting the people he dealt with, even if he was in superiority of conditions. This gave him several satisfactions, such as the Socorran Navy offering to send their ships should he ever needed his help. As Saadoon-Kauldi was a little paranoid after several foiled assassination attempts, he rarely left the range where the Socorran Navy could be useful. In fact, he rarely left the orbit of Neftali.

Although Saadoon-Kauldi could speak many languages, he refused to speak Galactic Basic Standard. The Galactic Empire was trying to obliterate the Kadri'Ra language. and, as a protest, Saadoon-Kauldi used only that tongue. As this was a difficult, rarely learnt tongue, Saadoon-Kauldi commonly resorted to a translator, his servant Guzald. Any person wanting an audience with Saadoon-Kauldi was free to bring his or her own translator of Kadri'Ra.

Increasingly big and more restless, Saadoon-Kauldi wanted some permanent roots as of 0 ABY. As he would continue growing, eventually the Merkel would not be big enough to contain him. Some Socorrans believed that, when that happened, Saadoon-Kauldi would go to the frozen surface of Neftali and disappear inside some cave.

Behind the scenes
Although Saadoon-Kauldi was described in great detail in RPG supplement The Black Sands of Socorro, he has yet to appear in any narrative source. He was only mentioned in passing by a character of the tale A Bitter Winter.