Character Profile: Larsus Ulle news

Larsus' was born to a middle-class family on the planet of Kuat, several years prior to the Battle of Yavin. While still a very young boy, Ulle's family was captured by slavers while taking holiday on another world and was traded into slavery on Tatooine, where his mother was separated from them and sold to another interested party. The rest of the family was purchased by a volatile and often violent used-speeder-salesman that forced them to do the mechanic work on the used speeders and to "acquire" new merchandise for the shop.

Around the age of 17 (and just after the events on Endor) the family's slave-master took an unsavory interest in Ulle's younger sister...who was only 14 at the time. The ensuing scuffle caught the attention of Ulle's father and older brother, who rushed to the defense of their loved one. The consequences that resulted in confronting their slave master in such a way would be capital punishment but the alternative of turning a blind eye to the plight of their family member was not acceptable. Ulle's father ended it, killing the slave-master by wresting the man's own blaster pistol from him, then sticking the cold barrel down his throat and pulling the trigger. The scene was horrible but the daughter was largely unharmed...shaken and afraid...but unharmed. Now there was only one choice if they wanted to survive: flee!

Without another thought, the quartet grabbed up simple provisions, the blaster only recently used, and stole the fastest speeder in the shop. They quickly made out for the empty expanse of desert; anywhere that was far away from the gangsters that would end their lives once the body of their master was discovered. After a full day's travel, the group happened upon a cave. Half buried in the sand, it seemed the perfect hiding spot to avoid the heat of the twin suns and collect themselves, for now. But only a family not born on Tatooine and confined their entire stay to their slave quarters would be so unwise...

The night that followed would burn itself forever into Ulle's memory; would define and shape him into the man he is. The screams rang out, the older brother urgently woke the rest and pleaded for them to rise quickly and run. His frightened yells were drown out by a roar that rocked the walls of the cave and shook Ulle to his core. Out of the shadows, two large eyes stared down at them, the small light of their lantern glinting off of the dark spheres. A slit opens, revealing teeth as large as Ulle himself and a low purr...as if the creature knew it already had won...reverberated from the belly of this enormous beast. There was no more time; run or die. The beast started at them and in an instant, Ulle's brother and father were gone. It wasn't poetic or glamorous, not the kind of deaths you read about or see in holodramas and it offered no time to say goodbye or even realize what had happened.

In the next moment, a shot rang out and the creature grunted. The blast from the laser pistol glanced off the creature's nose, more an irritant than a wound. As Ulle started to run, he saw her, his 14 year old sister standing alone with the blaster in one hand, barrel still smoking. There wasn't fear in her eyes, no fear for this beast...she had already been saved from her monster the day before. She turned her head to Ulle and bade him to run, then fired another untrained shot at the creature, missing it entirely but distracting it nevertheless. Then, a swipe of the claws took her, her small body tumbled through the air and that was the end. Her brave soul was extinguished. Tears flooded through Ulle's eyes and his legs burned as he ran. The thundering steps of the beast shook the ground behind him but she had given him the time he needed. With a single leap, he bounded into the cockpit of the speeder, quickly engaged the engines and began to maneuver away from the cave. The demon continued pursuit but was too slow to keep up, eventually returning to it's home and leaving Ulle for the desert. Once free from the threat of death, Ulle collapsed in the speeder and wept until emotion and exhaustion became overpowering and a restless sleep settled on him.

The next morning Ulle awoke but he was not the same person. Something inside him had transformed as he slept, a cold, calculating precision and reason had replaced the teenage angst and optimism that had filled his spirit before. He knew what he had to do and he felt no emotion at all, save perhaps hate. This thing from the cave, the beast that had so swiftly killed his family, was going to die. Starting the speeder back up, he returned to the cave and parked it near the mouth. Slowly, he climbed out of the speeder and removed his tattered shirt. There was something about feeling the cool air of the cave on his bare chest that emboldened him and steeled him for the coming fight. He took a deep breath, inhaling the air of the cave. Looking down, he saw the blaster that had been flung across the cave as his sister was taken from him, blood stained the handle. It was a small bit of fortune that Ulle wouldn't ignore. He walked into the cave, with nothing but the pistol to do his work. It was swift, swifter than even Ulle had anticipated. The creature awoke with a start and with deft movements, Ulle dodged each of the monster's strikes, firing precise shots with the pistol along the way. One shot struck the left eye, the creature became enraged and began flailing in any direction, knocking boulders loose from the walls at times. The rocks offered a way for Ulle to win and he climbed upon them until he almost level with the head of the animal. Blind in one eye, it didn't see Ulle leap from the rocks but it felt him land it's head. It began to shake in an attempt to fling Ulle from it's scaly spine but the determination produced by Ulle's hate for this thing gave his grip an inhuman strength and he withstood the throes. Ulle pointed the blaster at the crown of the monster's skull and began to fire, hitting the same spot again and again. The monster yelled and moaned but eventually the shots pierced bone and it was over. It's hulking mass collapsed onto the sandy floor of the cave, it was dead. Ulle had his revenge.

He ripped a tooth from the maw of the animal as a trophy and a warning. He knew he needed to return to town as his supplies were gone but he no longer had any fear for thugs and gangsters. So return he did and the the gangsters took note. They lined up to block his speeder and corner him, expecting the boy to climb out whimpering and begging. Instead they were greeted by a warrior with the tooth of a Krayt Dragon slung around his neck , the blood still fresh upon it. An uneasy feeling settled on them and they shifted were they stood, not sure if they should attack or retreat. Ulle disembarked the speeder and only offered a cold stare. It was enough, the thugs knew better... They gave way to Ulle and disbanded their mission; the boy was not someone they wanted to tangle with.

The story of Ulle's encounter with the dragon spread quickly, reaching the ears of an informant of Boba Fett's who was stationed on Tatooine. Having only barely recovered from his own encounter with the Sarlaac and with no members of his own clan to fight with, the first steps of unification andstengthening the Mandalorian people was made. He met with Ulle and expressed his desire to rebuild the Mandalorians and to return balance to the galaxy and emphasized that someone like Ulle was an asset and appealed to Ulle's loss, explaining that the Mandalorians were family, beyond just bloodlines. Ulle, having no family or home to return to, accepted the offer and was grafted into the Mandalorian ranks. Fett gifted him a spare set of armor and for a time Ulle used it as it was, painted in the famous green, red, and yellow colors that were synonymous with Fett himself.

Over the years, as more Mandalorians were united and with them, more advances in Mandalorian tech, Ulle eventually built his own Basilisk War Droid. As part of this process, he returned to Tatooine and to the cave that changed his life. He found there, the bones of the creature he slew and he bolted them to the armor of his war machine. With it, he now finally painted his armor to match the terrifying image of his war droid. A skeletal dragon with a skeletal rider...both creatures already dead. The ensemble became an image of terror to enemies of the Mandalorians, some even fearing Ulle more than Fett himself. And while Ulle's loyalty to Fett and the Mandalorians is unquestionable, there is still a hollowness in Ulle's heart that bodes ill for any at the end of his pistol's barrel.