Darca Nyl

"There are places in the galaxy that are grand and important. Where actions and decisions create fate and write history. The majority of us ... we never see those places. Our names will not be remembered in the days to come. But we still have our stories."

- Darca Nyl

Darca Nyl was a Human mercenary who, after falling in love with a woman named Teril, retired and settled on an unknown planet in the Outer Rim Territories. Darca bore numerous deep emotional scars throughout his life, especially after his wife died in childbirth and a deranged Dark Jedi killed his son. Taking up a lightsaber given to him by a dying Jedi, Darca went on a anger-filled quest to find and kill his son's killer. Along the way, he encountered various groups of people who assumed he was a Jedi and who were in need of his help. Although he eventually confronted and defeated the Dark Jedi, his encounters with various others along the way spurred him to begin a life dedicated to aiding the helpless.

Mercenary life


At some point in his life, most likely as a young man, Darca joined a mercenary corps in the Outer Rim. He served for many years, jumping from cause to cause to support the highest bidder. After many engagements, Darca's body was marred by battle wounds, and he had become a respected member of his mercenary group. With his hard-earned experience, Darca did not experience battle stress and was notoriously calm before missions. At some point during his mercenary career, Darca joined a crew which served the purpose of an air battalion. Darca's men were equipped with jetpacks and dropped from transport vessels in the heat of battle to harass and disable enemy ships. Darca had made friends with several men in his group including two recruits, D'Lew and Garrett, who respected Darca for his nerves of steel and fearlessness in battle.

Life as a mercenary was dangerous work, and in one particular assault, the ship that Darca and his crew were aboard was hit by a lucky shot. Darca's battalion, including D'Lew, were instantly killed. Darca immediately sprung into action and ordered the only remaining member of his squad, Garrett, to abandon ship. Evacuating the dying vessel, Garrett and Darca scoured the battlefield in hopes of joining up with another battalion. Unfortunately, a stray laser bolt struck Garrett's jetpack and he fell from the sky. Diving desperately, Darca was able to grab Garrett mere meters from the ground.

This event would do more to shape Darca's future than he realized. With the pointless deaths of the men that he had grown to like, Darca became disillusioned with the mercenary life. On a stop off in a backwater cantina, Darca met a beautiful woman named Teril. Darca was completely smitten and immediately fell in love with her. Teril encouraged Darca's doubts, and he decided to leave his old life behind him.

A new life


Leaving the chaotic city life behind them, Teril and Darca relocated to the abandoned frontier. Buying a patch of land, the two began to build a new life. Darca took up life as a farmer, and the couple built a house on their new land. Happy with their new life, the two of them decided to start a family. Teril became pregnant, and the two were overjoyed. However, the perfect life they had envisioned was not to be. Complications happened during the birth, and although she gave birth to a beautiful boy named Neas, Teril did not survive.

Darca was devastated. He buried his wife in a grove near their house and tried to hide his despair for the good of his son. However, Darca was not able to completely hide his grief. On several occasions, Neas encountered his father grieving over holograms of his dead wife. Neas tried to comfort his father, and this led to the two having more of a friendship than a father and son relationship. Darca continued to maintain his farm and taught his son the tools of the trade. The two continued in this fashion until one day when a starship crashed unexpectedly near their land.

A life destroyed


Seeing the smoke rising from the crashed starship, Darca ordered his son inside. Grabbing a shovel and a blaster just to be safe, Darca made his way to the flaming wreckage. Arriving at the site, Darca was surprised to see a wounded man lying in the cockpit. Darca tried to help the wounded man, but the man was desperate to deliver an ominous message. He was a Jedi Knight that was transporting a dangerous Dark Jedi to trial on Coruscant. Giving Darca his lightsaber, he revealed the dangerous being's name, Lycan.

Realizing that Lycan was probably headed for his home, Darca ignited the lightsaber and began a mad sprint back to his house. Arriving at the house, Darca was too late. Neas lay dead in the middle of the house, a victim of a force attack from Lycan. Darca's life was now completely consumed by hate. Determined to have revenge, Darca buried his son, packed up all he needed, and burned down his house and the rest of his possessions, symbols of a life that no longer existed. He purchased a ship in town and started to pursue Lycan.

Quest for revenge
Darca Nyl's pursuit led him to an inhospitable, colonized planet in the Outer Rim rich with ore, where he soon came in contact with Samuel, the owner of the planet's mining facility. Samuel mistook the lightsaber-wielding Nyl for a Jedi after he ended a conflict between Samuel's men and a boy accused of conspiring in the kidnapping of Samuel's daughter Leddar.

Samuel revealed that Lycan had already left the planet a week earlier on a supply ship, but he wouldn't reveal the destination unless Nyl helped him get his daughter back. The kidnapper was Samuel's former partner Royce, who held a grudge against him for signing the ownership of the planet solely to himself, although Royce had helped him find the planet and the ore. Darca Nyl accepted the deal and ventured with Samuel outside the facility in protective suits to find Royce. After a brief fight they managed to disarm Royce and rescue Leddar. As Darca led Leddar back to the spaceport, she asked if he was a Jedi. Awed by the look that people gave him when they believed him to be a Jedi, Darca lied and told the girl that he was indeed a Jedi. With the rescue of his daughter, Samuel finally revealed that Lycan was heading for Molavar. Then, as Darca was leaving, Samuel asked if Darca was going to leave the "slime". Darca then told them "I'm taking Leddar back where it's safe and warm. You two can fight it out if you like. Live a short life of hate and revenge, ignore what's important... I don't care.", and threw his gun to them. Samuel almost immediately recognized his own greed and selfishness, and ran to his daughter, embracing her and asking for forgiveness. Royce however, picked up the gun Darca had tossed to them, and tried to shoot Samuel. The gun however, was not working. Royce panicked and ran into the wastelands. Leddar, over her father's shoulders, smiled gratefully at Darca, who presumably remembered his own family. The kidnapping and resulting reunion of Leddar and Samuel was most likely where he started adopting his Jedi persona.

Destination, Molavar
"It's . . . personal."

- Darca on why he was pursuing Lycan

Darca Nyl's pursuit was interrupted when the crew of the ship which was supposed to take him to Molavar turned against him. As a skilled mercenary, he managed to incapacitate them, but the ship spun out of control and despite Nyl's attempt to straighten the ship ,it crash-landed on an unknown planet. Now fully adopting his Jedi persona, Darca rescued the band that had tried to betray him from the ship's explosion.

After two days of wandering around on the seemingly uninhabited planet, he finally stumbled upon a woman named Jaren and her brother Ament, who were being chased by a man on a speeder bike. He cut the speeder bike in two with the lightsaber, but let the man escape even though Jaren protested his decision. Jaren revealed that she was a negotiator on the planet, and had been chased away when she tried to sue for peace between two warring parties. Darca agreed to protect the two on their way back to Jaren's hometown in exchange for information on how to get offworld.

The following night Nyl's emotional difficulties finally caught up with him when Jaren showed him a trick related to the Force-strong nature of Molavar's atmosphere: Darca poked the ashes of the campfire and the fire conjured an image of his son. Upon seeing the image, he was compelled to face his feelings of guilt and rage. When Jaren tried to question Darca about the face in the fire, Darca stormed off, denying that he knew the person. As Darca went to be alone, Ament recognized the guilt in Darca and sympathized with him.

Trying to get back to the fire, Darca was set upon by a bear-like creature; he killed the monster, but was shocked to see that another one of the creatures was about to attack Jaren. As Darca raced back to the campsite, Ament began to attack the beast with a rock. Darca believed that he had no chance of defeating the monster, but Ament's ferocity and rage overcame the beast. Shocked at Ament's unbridled fury, Darca used the fire trick and learned that Ament was actually a mass murderer, prone to bouts of uncontrollable rage, and that Jaren had helped him escape from prison. Still playing the role of a Jedi, Darca Nyl turned Ament and Jaren over to the bikers who were chasing them earlier, who were able to show Nyl where he could get a ride to Molavar.



Arrival on Molavar
On Molavar at last, Darca learned that Lycan had killed several people in a local casino and stolen a ship. Joining a convoy led by a Molavaran called Tooth, Darca finally found the abandoned ship in the middle of the Molavaran desert. Spotting Lycan's tracks in the dust, Darca began to pursue Lycan once more, though he began to run low on food and supplies in the harsh wilderness.

Several days into his trek, Darca came upon the homestead of an elderly couple named Byrom and Ensa. Ensa revealed that she had encountered Lycan at their moisture farm and he had been heading for the mountains. Before leaving, Darca tried to settle a dispute between Byrom and the local crime boss, Magon. Unfortunately, Darca inadvertently brought the fury of the entire crime family down upon the couple. Darca wanted to aid the two in defending their home, but his desire for revenge was too great. Every day he waited, Lycan got farther away, and so Darca abandoned Byrom and Ensa to their fates. However, soon into his journey, Darca was afflicted by guilt. He tracked down Tooth and his caravan and convinced them to help Byrom and Ensa defend themselves from Magon. Darca returned with the party and saved the two from certain death. Byrom and Ensa were grateful, but Darca was now a week's travel behind Lycan.

Showdown


"And sometimes, even when they seem blackened and burnt... when they appear to hold no light, hope, or chance of redemption&hellip;when there appears to be no possible outcome but an ending... they continue. Lycan said to me, "Men are not driven by altruism." I'll prove him wrong."

- Darca Nyl

Luckily for Darca, Lycan did not seem to have a final destination and was walking around in circles through the Molavaran mountains. Darca quickly caught up with him and was desperate to bring the fight to the murderer. However, Darca knew that he was no match for Lycan one-on-one and set up a trap for the killer. Seeding an underground cave with mines, Darca was prepared to lead Lycan into the cave and kill them both.

The plan did not go as expected. As Darca attacked the Dark Jedi, Lycan used the Force to shatter two of Darca's ribs. Sprinting back to the cave, Darca was hotly pursued by Lycan. Aided by the Force, Lycan quickly caught up with Darca and Force pushed him into an underground pool. Climbing out of the water, Lycan Force grabbed Darca's lightsaber and revealed that he had been waiting for him. The crash in the starship had given him amnesia, and he demanded to know who he was. Darca revealed to the murderer who he was, and Lycan regained his memories. Glad to have his memories back, Lycan prepared to execute the wounded Darca Nyl. However, it was in this moment that Darca activated the mines. Darca was prepared to die in the cave, but a vision of his wife and son made him reconsider. The cave collapsed and a large stone fell from the ceiling and crushed Lycan into the dust. With his last ounce of strength, Darca was able to escape from the cave and make it back to the spaceport.

In Darca's travels, he had found the satisfaction that comes from helping the less-fortunate. He had found something to live for. To honor his dead family, Darca decided to start a life of aiding the helpless.

Personality and Traits
"You remind me of him, a long time ago. Angry. Guilty. Struggling with yourself, you carry it so long, it turns into whatever you're chasing."

- Ensa, commenting on Darca's similarities to Byrom