Ko Bas


Ko Bas was a male Caarite, who worked for the Metatheran Cartel trade alliance during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. Bas had responsibility for overseeing operations at a secret Cartel base on the moon Tilnes in the Cularin system. Around 21 BBY, the Believers Sith cult dispersed a test batch of a virus fatal to Caarites in the Tilnes facility as part of a plot to weaken the Cartel. Bas survived exposure to the contagion and instead of being killed was transformed into a violent, raging mutant being. Two weeks after the release of the virus, a team of Believers ventured to the Cartel base and four of their party were killed and eaten by Bas. Shortly thereafter, a team of freelance agents entered the facility to follow up a distress signal emanating from the base. Bas attacked the operatives but was defeated by them.

Biography


Ko Bas was a Caarite male who worked as a bureaucrat for the Metatheran Cartel trade alliance during latter years of the Galactic Republic. Bas was responsible for the running of a secret base operated by the Cartel beneath the surface of the moon Tilnes in the Cularin system and held the position of Overseer of Cartel Operations, Tilnes Special Detachment. Bas maintained an office in the base, within which he kept a set of personalized stationary that bore his name. Around 21 BBY, the Cartel technician Celis Bol was requested to prepare some bean juice for Bas. Angered at being given such a menial task, Bol surreptitiously spat in the juice that the technician had put together for him. Bas detected the impurities in his juice via a purifier and Bol's pay was docked as punishment.

Four days after the incident with Bol and the bean juice, the Believers Sith cult secretly placed an explosive device laden with a virus fatal to Caarites within the ventilation system of the Cartel Tilnes base, close to the location of Bas' office. The cultists desired to use their pathogen to weaken the influence of the Caarite-dominated Metatheran Cartel and saw the Tilnes base as a suitable location to test their viral weapon. Bas was in his office when the bomb was detonated and the force of the explosion hurled him against the far side of the room, leaving a blast outline in his shape imprinted against the wall. The virus quickly spread throughout the base, infecting Bas and his colleagues, resulting in the sudden demise of the majority of the facility's inhabitants. By a fluke of fate, Bas and two other Caarites, "U" and "G," were not killed by the virus and were instead mutated into enlarged violent, raging beings, retaining little semblance of their old selves.

Trapped inside the Cartel facility, Bas and the other two mutants fed off the decaying corpses of the Caarites struck down by the virus. They piled up all of the bodies except those in the front area of the base into a large room at the south side of the facility that had a markedly lower temperature that the rest of the structure, so as to slow the rate of decomposition. The trio largely stuck to the deeper regions of the base and avoided the main entrance to the base. Despite their efforts to preserve the bodies of the deceased Caarites, over the following days the mutants' food supply became increasingly scarce.

Two weeks after the dispersal of the anti-Caarite virus, a group of six Human Believers ventured to the Metatheran Cartel base on an assignment to survey the results of the release of the contagion. Bas ambushed their party and killed three of the slower members of the group, though the Believers Aris and Osia fled and escaped from the mutant. Bas then proceeded to consume the corpses of the fallen cultists.

Three hours after the arrival of the Believers, a team of freelance agents arrived at the Cartel base to investigate a distress signal sent out from the facility. Just as they entered the base, Bas killed and ate another of the Believers at the far side of the room where he was storing the Caarite cadavers, tossing aside without a thought a silver case carried by the Believer that contained a fresh sample of the anti-Caarite virus. The operatives eventually made their way to Bas' location; the mutant was taken by surprise by their arrival and attacked in a rage but was defeated by them.

Personality and traits


Prior to exposure to the anti-Caarite pathogen, Bas was a devious, double-crossing, social-climbing individual. The virus triggered substantial and grotesque physical changes to his body, causing him to grow in stature to 2.5 meters in height and the top half of his body to become thick and strong and his arms to be lengthened. He developed claws similar to those of a rancor, a species of predatory reptomammal, while his head became elongated. His mouth widened, causing his smile to have the appearance of a hungry grin. His transformation left him angry, hungry, and demented, with little brain capacity remaining and beyond all reason. Despite his maddened nature, he retained some affinity for other Caarites and was marginally less hostile to Caarites than to non-Caarites. Bas was of greater physical prowess than the similarly mutated Caarites "U" and "G."

Talents and abilities


Bas was proficient in martial arts and the use of simple blaster pistols. In addition to Basic, he could read and write the languages Caarite and Filordian, though after his transformation following exposure to the anti-Caarite virus he retained an understanding of only Caarite.

Behind the scenes


Ko Bas was created by Morrie Mullins and appeared in Caaried Away, a roleplaying adventure released in March 2003 that formed part of the Metatheran Caution trilogy of the Living Force campaign. In the adventure, the player characters role-play as the freelance operatives that encounter Bas in the Cartel base on Tilnes and the choices made by the players can influence Bas' actions and decisions. If the player characters decline to investigate the stricken Cartel base, Bas eventually escapes from the facility and makes his way to a landing bay in Tilnes' spaceport, resulting in loss of life and bringing him into a confrontation with the player characters. The adventure suggests that the players can employ a variety of strategies for fighting Bas, either attacking him directly or combating him from a distance with blaster, grenade or Force-based attacks. It is possible for the player characters to then incapacitate or kill the mutated Caarite.

Bas' level of fighting prowess in his encounter with the freelance agents is dependent upon the roleplaying experience tier of the player characters. If the players are in the lower roleplaying tier, Bas is fatigued, poisoned and injured from his fight with the last Believer that he attacked immediately prior to the arrival of the freelance agents, suffering a broken arm. He is too worn down to run at the player characters but hurls rocks and bones and strikes at them if they come to close. If the players are in the middle roleplaying tier, Bas is still fatigued and not capable of running but is not poisoned. If the players at in the upper roleplaying tier, Bas is merely slightly winded from his fight with the Believer and otherwise is in good strength. Bas focuses on attacking the player character who he deems to pose him the greatest threat.

Appearances

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