Roark Garnet

"Aw, Roark never could take a joke."

- Devon Fuller, as quoted in Cynabar's Droid Datalog, v.4.7.1

Roark Garnet was a Human male who worked as a smuggler during the Galactic Civil War.

Biography
"Here's another fine mess you've gotten yourself into."

- Hawk Carrow to Garnet aboard the Regina Cayli

Roark Garnet was a Human male born sometime between 28 BBY and 24 BBY. He operated as a smuggler during the Galactic Civil War. He had a sister, Neena, who become a famous gunslinger. Garnet was disowned by his parents over his decision to become a smuggler, who believed that he was gallivanting around the galaxy. Garnet acquired a ship, a HWK-290 light freighter named the Moldy Crow, and traveled the stars operating as a free-trader. However, he struggled to make ends meet under the oppressive regime of the Galactic Empire. While he dreamed of making one large deal and retiring, the truth was that his main expenditure was bribes to Custom Inspectors. Eventually, his operating expenses forced him to take out a loan of 25,000 credits from the crime lord Grappa the Hutt.

At some point, Garnet entered a relationship with the daughter of Jackson Farseeker, a retired Imperial captain. The union produced a daughter, Jill, but Garnet lost contact with the family. After his sister Neena was killed by the Tiss'shar gunfighter Uul-Rha-Shan, he inherited her stock light freighter, the Dorion Discus. With a second ship to his name, Garnet used the Moldy Crow to pay off his debts to Grappa the Hutt.

In 3 BBY, Garnet obtained a P2-series astromech droid from fellow smuggler Devon Fuller in exchange for a sum of credits that Fuller owed him. Garnet believed he had the better end of the deal until the droid misunderstood the smuggler during a battle with Imperial ships and lowered his vessel's deflector shields. Garnet ended up spacing the droid. Garnet vowed to have words with Fuller if he ever ran into him again. Garnet still had not caught up with Fuller by 1 ABY, although Toria and Callin reminded Fuller of Garnet's interest in him through postings on Cynabar's Droid Datalog. Around 1 BBY, Garnet sold several GY-I information analysis droids to the University of Rudrig in the Tion Hegemony. The University paid for the droids using credits from tuition fees and donations, and Garnet liked the fact that he could make a run without interference from Imperial Customs.

At some point in his career, Garnet was aboard an Imperial bathysphere with some Imperial personnel in the atmosphere of a Jovian gas giant. A altercation occurred on the vessel, pitting Garnet against the Imperial crew and causing the bathysphere to lose control and plunge deeper into the gas giant. Garnet managed to subdue all but one Imperial, and the two wrestled for control of the vessel. The Imperial elbowed Garnet away from the wheel, gaining the upper hand, and arrested their descent while attempting to stabilize the bathysphere. Garnet wrenched control of the bathysphere back from the Imperial when he noticed a a huge gray lifeform above them, and avoided a collision by centimeters. Suddenly, the bathysphere's repulsorlift engines failed, exposing Garnet and the Imperial to the full gravity of the planet. Although the Imperial was stunned and believed that they were doomed, he directed Garnet to the craft's repulsors at the smuggler's insistence. Garnet managed to fix the bathysphere's repulsorlift to avoid being crushed to death. Upon returning to the bathysphere's control room, he heard the Imperial change the setting on his blaster. Realizing the temporary truce that had manifested itself during the stabilization of the bathysphere was over, Garnet drew his own weapon and leapt through the doorway shooting.

Garnet once encountered the female bounty hunter Jana Jarel, engaging her in lightfight. Garnet was wounded by Jarel, but managed to dodge a subsequent blaster bolt. Garnet also fought against four Imperial stormtroopers, and managed to dodge blaster fire from all of them.

During the Galactic Civil War, Garnet and his co-pilot Hawk Carrow made an unscheduled delivery to the planet New Bakstre in the Cassander sector of the Outer Rim Territories. During the delivery, Imperial Customs cruisers forced the Dorion Discus to crash into a forest on the surface. The Regina Cayli, an M-class Imperial Attack Transport, was dispatched to investigate the crash. Deploying stormtroopers, they discovered Carrow, who had been wounded in the landing, and took him back to the Regina Cayli. Garnet subsequently infiltrated the vessel through an open and unguarded landing ramp, freeing his co-pilot from the ship's infirmary. Escaping from the ship, Garnet and Carrow had to figure out a way off the planet as the Dorion Discus had been disabled in the crash. Garnet suggested returning to the Regina Cayli and stealing the transport.

Garnet later reconnected with his daughter, Jill, and was traveling aboard the Dorion Discus with her, her grandfather Jackson Farseeker, and the bounty hunter Tantos Dree. After leaving the planet Thorgeld, the Imperial Customs Frigate Assessor attempted to conduct an inspection of the vessel. Jackson Farseeker advised caution, and Dree made it clear that if the Imperials caught him aboard the Dorion Discus, then he would see to it that Garnet would suffer. Jill recommended hiding Dree by dangling him out of an airlock tethered to the ship. Dree dismissed the idea and headed to the gunnery bay while Garnet attempted to bluff the Assessor, claiming that they were carrying a priority cargo bound for the Imperial base on Markon IV. The Assessor crew did not believe Garnet and started firing at the Dorion Discus; Garnet evaded the incoming fire long enough for Farseeker to plot a course and jump to lightspeed.

Sometime later, Garnet and was working with a Wookiee co-pilot named Nagraoao when they crash-landed on the planet Tatooine. Nagraoao was wounded in the crash, and Garnet attempted to cauterize the Wookiee's wound with his blaster since the bacta tank and all the medical supplies were destroyed in the crash. Nagraoao complained about Garnet's suggestion.

Garnet once visited a planet in a trinary system. He got involved in a speeder bike chase with a stormtrooper through a canyon. After unsuccessfully trying to shake his pursuer, they traded blows by slamming their vehicles into one another. As they raced through the canyon, both Garnet and the stormtrooper collided with obstacles. The stormtrooper was killed, while Garnet suffered injuries from a fall.

While piloting the Dorion Discus, Garnet encountered several strange pyramidal ships, and was attacked by them. The resulting damage was so severe that it took Garnet several days to repair it, although the fusion generators were left with an odd pinging sound. On the ship's next voyage, Garnet took his Wookiee companion Nagraoao along. The ship encountered a meteor storm, causing more damage to the Dorion Discus. The fusion generator failed, and the two were lucky that the system's magnetic bottle did not follow suit. Garnet and Nagraoao repaired the damage, but several of the pyramidal ships that had attacked the Dorion Discus previously appeared around the vessel.

At some point, Garnet engaged a failed Jedi, Jimbo Kinnison in melee combat. Garnet wielded a club, while Kinnson was armed with a lightsaber. He was involved in a battle with the four Imperial TIE/LN starfighters. Despite having already lost his wingmen, Garnet managed to dodge fire from all four starfighters, then destroy them all in turn.

After learning that his companions Hawk Carrow and Nagraoao had been captured by the Empire and incarcerated in the spice mine on Kessel, Garnet took the Dorion Discus to rescue them. Once in the Kessel system, the Dorion Discus was intercepted by a Star Destroyer and searched. Garnet claimed to be transporting food and spare parts to Kessel, and offered the naval officer in charge of the inspection a bribe. The officer accepted Garnet's bribe, and allowed the Dorion Discus to go about its business.

On the planet Xerxes, in the Core Worlds, Garnet intended to enter a weapons shop located on the planet, but was being hunted by the local police. Believing that there may be ambush waiting for him inside the shop, Garnet staked the place out for an hour. Unable to determine whether or not security forces were laying in wait for him, he attempted to convince a local citizen to enter the establishment for the sum of twenty credits.

Garnet once met an eight-year child by the name of Jimmy Marbels who was searching for his brother, Johnny. By this point, Garnet was wanted in seven star systems on the charges of "pillage and rapine," although the smuggler contended it was merely a misunderstanding between himself and intolerant Imperial officials. Marbels asked to fly Garnet's ship, to which the smuggler replied in the negative.

Garnet once incurred a debt of 10,000 credits to a being named Mogroch. Mogroch sent a Muur after Garnet, who used its tentacles to choke Garnet while warning him he had two days to pay his debt.

While searching for information on the location of Jackson Farseeker, Garnet visited a cantina where the bar was tended by members of a hive-minded insect species. After using a pile of credits to jog their memories, the insectoids told him that Farseeker had been in the bar less than seven hours previously in the presence of a tentacled alien whose species they did not know.

Garnet attempted to enter the Contumely Club, but was blocked by a Wookiee bouncer named Urartu. When Garnet tried to explain that he was supposed to meet someone inside, Urartu's translator, a small creature sitting on the Wookiee's shoulder, informed him that no Humans or droids were allowed in the club.

Garnet was once incarcerated in a detention cell and attempted to persuade a droid named M-3PO to strangle the sleeping guard with a feather boa. M-3PO fretted over inflicting harm to a living being despite Garnet's protestations that he wasn't really attacking the guard since he was asleep. The droid's worrying woke the guard.

While visiting Spee, Garnet was accosted by a lizard-like alien who offered to act as Garnet's guide during his time on the planet.

Garnet once stole several Elegance message droid from an Imperial depot near Obas. The smuggler used the droids to contact wary clients as they were a secure method of communications, and as only outlying Imperial garrisons were equipped with Elegances, Garnet assured that no one intercepted them by using phony transponder codes. Garnet later wondered if a Wanderer Scout Surveyor, stripped of its scouting and medical subroutines, could store hidden data such as smuggling routes within its computer matrix. Around 1 ABY, Garnet submitted several comments to Cynabar's Droid Datalog regarding his experiences with various droid models, including the GY-I information analysis droid and the Elegance message droid.

During his career, Garnet had several encounters with Tax Inspector Mothra. During one meeting, Mothra believed that Garnet was smuggling and wanted to inspect his ship. Garnet, however, pretended to have contracted a phony ailment on Lockest IV known as Merthian lung infection which he stated was rarely ever fatal. Mothra beat a hasty retreat, leaving Garnet and his co-pilot Hawk Carrow, to be about their business. Garnet later encountered Mothra again, only to find that he had been promoted to Associate Governor. Revealing he was aware of Garnet's earlier deception, he told an aide to watch the smuggler closely.

While visiting a bazaar, Garnet kept losing comlinks and wondered why the natives were kleptomaniacs to a local merchant. The merchant replied that it was not the natives who had stolen the devices, but the lizardflies who nested in the cliffs above Outreachial, many days travel from the market.

Some time prior to the Battle of Endor, Garnet visited the forest moon of Endor. While there, one of the native Yuzzums named Joh Yowza sneaked aboard Garnet's ship looking for food. Yowza became trapped aboard the vessel when it left the moon. Garnet discovered the stowaway and took a liking to the alien, especially his singing. The smuggler nicknamed Yowza "Furball," and the Yuzzum helped Garnet out by performing menial chores around the ship such as cooking and cleaning, all the while learning Basic. During a layover on Nar Shaddaa, Yowza wandered away from the ship and was attracted to the music emanating from a local tapcafe. The alien subsequently joined the band.

During the Galactic Civil War, Garnet and Carrow were contracted by Alliance to Restore the Republic operative Selnia Harbright to transport medical supplies from Droecil to the Calus system aboard the Dorion Discus. During the loading operation, stromtroopers entered the docking bay, forcing Garnet to take off with Harbright aboard, which had not been part of the initial contract. On route to the Calus system, Garnet decided to take a shortcut through Keller's Void. The Dorion Discus hyperdrive cut out in the middle of the Void as its sensors detected an asteroid field that was not on any charts. Garnet requested that Harbright man the topside gun while he and Carrow shut down some of the main systems to inspect the hyperdrive.

As Garnet and Carrow worked to repair the Dorion Discus, pirates under the command of Black Jack attempted to capture the vessel. Harbright assisted the pair in stopping the pirate's attempt to spacejack the freighter and delivered the supplies safely to the Alliance on Calus.

Personality and traits
Roark was cocky and brave like most smugglers. He never left his friends or companions in trouble, and wasn't afraid to confront even the Galactic Empire, when someone close to him was in trouble.

Has a stash of Wroonian ale.

Due to Garnet's experience repairing vessels, he once managed to increase the sublight speed of his ship by removing a faulty hydrovalve that had been reducing power to the engine couplings.

Roark passed the Driver Education course.

Behind the scenes
Roark Garnet was one of several "example characters" used to illustrate character creation and gameplay in the first edition of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.