The Shroud

"I do look forward to sparring again - so to speak. I'll see you around."

- The Shroud

The man known only as the Shroud was a Human male who was a legendary freelance spy active years before the Galactic War between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. After a lengthy career that included acts such as the Great Czerka Datacrash, he eventually went underground and was widely considered a myth by the year 3640 BBY, when he was approached by the Hutt Cartel.

Biography
The organization, constructed by Shroud by the year 3640 BBY was quite remarkable. He employed numerous battle droids of various design as well as many trusted lieutenants of several species. The Shroud and his men installed listening outposts on every major battlefield of the Galactic War, from Balmorra and Taris to Corellia and Hoth. The listening devices allowed Shroud to spy on any communications in the area, including those of the Empire and Republic, and were usually installed in extremely hard to reach locations, so that in case of discovery the listening devices could not be dismantled easily. In addition to the listening posts, the Shroud deployed MCR-99 reconnaissance droids to every planet he considered notable, including such closely guarded worlds as Tython and Korriban. In addition to his main base of operations on Nar Shaddaa, Shroud had his lieutenants posted at several hidden bases, spread from the capital worlds such as Dromund Kaas and Coruscant to the supposedly secret prison planet Belsavis. The bases' entrances were obscured and the inner workings possesses multiple levels of lethal defense systems, to the point of redundancy.

The Shroud was hired to spy on the Republic and the Empire by the Hutts in the lead-up to their invasion of the planet Makeb, but the Shroud soon discovered weaknesses in both governments that would allow him to attack their capitals by launching dreadnaughts straight into Coruscant and Dromund Kaas. Using his significant funds, The Shroud bought both a Harrower-class dreadnought and a Valor-class cruiser, and planted hyperspace beacons inside Kaas City and Galactic City.

One of Shroud lieutenants, Evie Bo, was horrified by the Shroud's plan and fled to the Empire, taking a number of the Shroud's specially-designed EV2 discreet reconnaissance macrobinoculars with her. News of Bo's defection also allowed the Republic Strategic Information Service's Agent Deena Riss to learn bits of Shroud's plans and procure another copy of the special macrobinoculars. Riss on the Republic side and Darth Mortis on Imperial side recruited the best agents available to track down Shroud's lieutenants and fold his plans.

When the Shroud first discovered intruders in one of his secret bases, he was extremely underwhelmed, even encouraging the opposition to continue their search for him, confident that it wound end in vain. However, as Republic and Imperial operatives discovered more of Shroud's listening outposts and bases, he grew more and more aggravated with their actions, to the point of direct taunts over the holocomm. Eventually, the Shroud was tracked to his largest and best protected base, located on Nar Shaddaa. In his personally designed control room, the Shroud made a stand and at one point during the fight employed holographic duplicates to confuse his enemies. Eventually, the Shroud was defeated and the attacks on Coruscant and Dromund Kaas were stopped. Confident of their success, the Shroud's pursuers left his body on the floor and departed his lair to rendezvous with their respective mission controls. The Shroud, however, escaped certain death by putting one of his duplicates in his place at the last moment. He made a taunting holocall to Deena Riss and inflicted his punishment on the defector Evie Bo. The Shroud interrupted her conversation with Darth Mortis and whispered a single word - "asunder" - that triggered the neural scrambler secretly implanted in Evie's brain. She remained completely healthy physically, but all of her memories and personality were gone, leaving her a blank slate to be used by the Empire and preventing her from revealing any more of the Shroud's secrets. Despite the failure of his plans, the Shroud continued to oversee his extensive spy network in the galaxy.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: Rise of the Hutt Cartel