Gale Lionheart

Gale Lionheart
Biographical Information
Race	Coruscanti
Homeworld	Coruscant
Mother	Yvonne Skye
Father	Alfred Lionheart
Spouse	none
Siblings	Edgar Lionheart (older brother)
Children	none
Born	Year -3 Day 7 (28)
Imperial Service
Branch	Imperial Army
Positions	Imperial Army - Second Lieutenant
Prior Service	none
Awards	[IABG-H]

Gale Lionheart is a bulky Coruscanti male. He is a fierce CQC expert and warrior. Gale was born to a martial family with a long history of serving in the Senate Guard and later developed Storm Hijkata based on their teachings. He has lightly tanned skin, crewcut dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a tall, imposing figure. As a trained martial artist, Gale has spent his youth dedicated to honing his martial skills and networking among other socialites in the Military District of Coruscant.

He is currently a Second Lieutenant for the Imperial Army, serving as a member of the Ruby Taskforce and a Rank and File Officer of the Stormtrooper Corps.

Background

Lionheart Legacy

The Lionheart Family is a martial family that served as dedicated members of the Senate Guard for the past seven generations. They are experts in body refining techniques, which forge the human body to peak physique.

Children start private tutoring and instruction from a very young age to educate them on many of the unique aspects of the Lionheart Family. While assigned a personal tutor by the main family, parents were mainly in charge of early childhood education, significantly impacting their children's educational quality and content. Most children would follow in the specialties of their parents. In contrast, others would diverge completely onto other paths, spurred by rebellious youth or ambitious parents who sought to escape their bounds.

At nine, all children enrolled in the Star Dragon Academy in the Military District of Coruscant. Each nine-year-old group enrolled in a detached class with a Lionheart-family-specific curriculum, a collaborative effort between the Star Dragon Academy instructors and the Lionheart Family Elders. From combat hand signals, tactical leadership, basics of slicing and anti-slicing protocols, nutrition, and pharmacology to xenobiology, the educational philosophy was to instill understanding and comprehension over rote memorization to equip each member of the Lionheart Family with a high level of intellectual adaptability.

Outside their enhanced courseload, the Lionheart Family would instill a strict training regiment of rigorous physical conditioning, sparring exercises, and combat drills to form a strong foundation. Retired veterans serve as drill instructors, training these children in Hijkata, intermediate spear techniques, and blaster weapon proficiency.

After the first year of general courses, each child's talent is excruciatingly analyzed, tested, and observed. Then, children are placed into three primary programs: Martial, MilTech, or General Studies. Exceptional children, referred to as Candidates, are paired with a Lionheart Elder for exclusive mentorship to push their combat techniques into the realm of mastery. Operating on a strict meritocracy where only ability is considered, children can rise or fall in their standing within their family based on their selection. Candidates, upon graduating Star Dragon Academy and reaching adulthood, are eligible to start their own branch families and are often given respectable roles and positions within the Lionheart Family. The others are left to return to their original families and start their careers outside the Lionheart Family, with those in General Studies often ending up in low-level civilian industries.

Family History

While relatively small, the Lionheart Family still commands a respectable private security company with several subsidiaries in Pharmacology and Pharmaceuticals, Weapons Manufacturing, and Logistics. The central private security company, Lionheart, is controlled by the main family, while a branch family controls each subsidiary. The heads of each branch family, upon retirement, or highly regarded family members are hired as part of an Advisory Council to serve as Elders, the core of Lionheart. Executive power and the majority share of all businesses are held by the Head of the main family, who currently is Gale's father, Alfred Lionheart. Alfred Lionheart is an unconventional Head of the Lionheart Family, initially starting as an orphan of a distant branch family. His wisdom and intelligence far exceeded those of other Candidates during his youth, and the previous Head of the Lionheart Family adopted him. While his combat foundations were lacking, Alfred Lionheart succeeded in mastering his movement techniques, Steps of Wind, and he married Yvonne Skye, heiress to a rival martial family, to have enough military prowess and force to quell discontent among his other siblings.

As Head of the Lionheart Family, he merged the Lionheart Family and the Skye Family. Adopting the corporate hierarchy of the Skye Family, Alfred Lionheart then centralized the previously loosely associated federation of branch families into a single organization, forming the current hierarchical structure and systemized training regiment. Despite vastly upheaving centuries of family history and rules, he maintained a strict meritocracy that the straightforward and honest Lionhearts accepted begrudgingly. After a vast improvement in the efficiency of training and an accumulation of wealth previously unfathomable, the Lionhearts fully embraced the new ways as tradition.

Gale's mother, Yvonne Skye Lionheart, was the crux of the unification process of the Lionheart and Skye Families, ending long-standing grudges and ushering in a new age of prosperity for both families. Despite the polar opposite martial and cultural philosophies, Yvonne Skye Lionheart became a quickly beloved figure among both parties, seeking avenues of collaboration and cooperation. The critical change was the introduction of a novel squad formation that integrated the strengths of the strong-armed Lionheart front liners and the highly mobile skirmishers of the Skye Family to form a formidable squad composition. Alfred Lionheart and Yvonne Skye gave birth to two children: Edgar Lionheart and Gale Lionheart. Edgar Lionheart was meticulously trained and raised by Alfred Lionheart to be a formidable martial expert, and Edgar Lionheart's genius enabled him to reach mastery over Hijkata very quickly. With a titanic frame fueled by bio-enhancers and aggressive genetic enhancement therapies, Edgar Lionheart quickly dominated the younger generation and became the Primary Candidate of the Lionheart Family.

On the other hand, the younger Gale Lionheart was generally left to his own devices and raised by Yvonne Skye. Training extensively in the secret techniques of the Skye Family since childhood, Gale demonstrated far more extraordinary martial talent and intellect than his older brother. However, Yvonne Skye silenced all who witnessed Gale's brilliance and obscured him into secrecy, retreating to Skye Dragon Academy to become its Dean. Despite being relegated to an auxiliary and powerless situation, Yvonne Skye maintained her intricate network of social connections and grew monstrous off-shore accounts.

Hidden tensions grew between the two internal factions, as Yvonne Skye desired hegemony over the Lionheart Family, with Gale Lionheart as a much worthier successor.

Martial Disciple

Gale Lionheart's earliest memory was with a private tutor who endeavored to teach him Galactic Basic. He spent much of his early life with servants and tutors, who catered to his needs and tirelessly instructed Gale in etiquette, fundamental subjects, and martial skills. His daily life consisted of physical training, being tutored, and undergoing holistic gene therapy to temper his body further.

His martial instructors instilled an aggressive stasis between life and death, pushing Gale's physical and mental limits to forge a solid and robust foundation for the basis of his martial arts. The Skye Family's gene scientists and pharmacologists drilled a chemical and biological battery of restructuring and reforming his cells through carefully formulated genetic factors mixed with medicinal herbs and bacta delivered with microscopic precision.

The Skye Family's ancestral home housed a gigantic subterranean training complex with densely covered bioscanners, holographic projectors, and a modularly shifting interior. Dense shields and vast layers of armored duracrete encased the training complex, scrambling multi-spectrum and long-range scanners and built to withstand direct bombardment with bunker busters. A byzantine maze of deadly traps and checkpoints restricted access, and the family only knew of the training complex's existence.

Here, Gale spent most of his childhood locked away from the rest of the world, and his mother, Yvonne Skye, deceived the Lionheart Family by stating that he was infirm from health issues stemming from failed genetic enhancements. The modular training complex was a vast sparring ground that could simulate different environments and dynamically shift its interior, introducing a wide range of training opportunities. Yvonne used this core mechanic to improve Gale's mobility and flexibility drastically, instilling the ability to maneuver and vault during combat effectively.

After several years of refining his combat proficiency, Gale integrated into a commando squad, practicing combat formations and group ambush techniques. The Skye Family's doctrine centered around mobile units of commandos that coordinated across fast-paced tactical strikes; Gale focused on directing these elite groups, maintaining broader operational oversight, concise coordination and communication, and precise orders. As the units operated with very high degrees of autonomy, an exceptional level of battlefield awareness and infantry command was crucial, and his instructors cultivated a near-fifth sense in Gale when it came to analyzing, deducing, and responding to enemy movements and tactics.

When he was nine, his father cut his training short just as he reached general proficiency in his infantry command and mastered the basics of the Skye Family's combat techniques. He forced him to attend the Star Dragon Academy as a part of the Lionheart Family's tradition, where the new challenge was maintaining an image of weakness yet highlighting his intellect in the Academy's worst program, General Studies.

Coruscanti Socialite

At the Star Dragon Academy, Gale Lionheart's learning pace was exceptional and was consistently at the top of his class with perfect grades. However, he was not known for his physical prowess or combat techniques. Instead, he won his duels with cunning and strategy, often turning the tables on his opponents with unexpected knockouts and dirty tricks that were ambiguously legal moves at best.

Despite being in the inferior General Studies program, Gale's academic success made him the most promising member of his class. He impressed his mentors and earned the begrudging respect of his peers, proving himself time and time again in various martial tournaments. Gale received the ire of the entire academy, however, for his aloof and languid attitude. He deliberately distanced himself from his peers and instructors, spending most of his time socializing with other youth in the Military District or reading in the library. He surprised his instructors and peers with his ingenuity and resourcefulness in evading hard work, rarely showing up for class unless it affected his scores.

Instead, he was known for drag racing late at night through the lower levels of Coruscant with other young socialites on modified swoops. Gale exploited the Skye Family's military channels to acquire restricted components to construct one of the swiftest swoops in the underground racing scene. While he performed basic maintenance himself, his lacking technical skills were supplemented by relying on the Skye Family's elite Sappers to upgrade and repair his swoop.

After nine years of breezing through the academy's courses and refining his speeder piloting skills, the remaining three years of the Academy were dedicated to gaining practical experience. He opted to immediately leave the Academy and return to the Skye Family, working as an anonymous member of its commandos. Within the Skye Family's Fog Commandos, he put his skills to the test in the field and quickly proved himself as a capable fighter, eventually promoted to leading a Infantry Section himself at the age of twenty four. As a Section Leader, he led several high-profile assignments, including a daring rescue mission on Alderaan.

While he worked as a Fog Commando, Gale maintained a presence on Coruscant as the scion of the Skye Family. Thus, when the Skye Family was invited to Alderaan to receive payment and thanks for the successful rescue mission, he was sent as their family's representative. Here, he smoked his first Alderaanian cigar and gained his crippling addiction to the wonderfully pleasant smoking experience. On Coruscant, Gale would frequent cigar shops and even travel to Alderaan himself in search of adding to his growing collection of carefully cured and stored Alderaanian cigars.

Retiring from the Fog Commandos at twenty eight after a decade of service, Gale was offered the opportunity to serve the Galactic Empire as a new officer. Jumping on the chance to be apart of the Imperial Army, Gale immediately left Coruscant to head to the Imperial Academy on Prakith.

Imperial Service

Imperial Academy

Gale Lionheart entered the Imperial Academy on Prakith and started the Imperial Basic Training Academy course for new officers on Y25 D12. He was assigned to and mentored by TO Surizal Jakohr. He graduated with honors and joined the Imperial Army as a Second Lieutenant. During his time at the Imperial Academy, Gale participated in the Cherokee Partie during his New Years break, demonstrating his remarkable luck much to the chagrin of the other participants.

Imperial Army

Gale arrived to the Ruby Region as its newest Stormtrooper officer in the late first quarter of Y25. He actively participated in multiple military operations alongside his peers, providing his expertise as an asymmetrical grounds warfare expert in training new Stormtrooper recruits and personally leading veteran Stormtroopers on combat missions. A bout of sickness left him decommissioned for a short period during his active service, but Gale returned to full service after recovery.

Combat Techniques

Storm Hijkata

Requiring keen perception to infer enemy moves, Storm Hijkata excels at redirecting and counterattacking, focusing on ramping up an individual's momentum to empower their strikes and enhance their agility. The art utilizes explosive unilateral directional movements to propel the practitioner in a perpetual state of rotation, demonstrated as a wild fury of powerful kicks, swings, jumps, and gravity-defying acrobatics.

Advanced proficiency in Storm Hijkata yields combat effectiveness by inferring an opponent's movements and properly leveraging their strength against them. With unwavering balance and fluid adaptability, The practitioner can comprehensively deflect and redirect enemy attacks, sapping away at an enemy's strength and empowering the practitioner's momentum. Unwavering balance, fluid adaptability, and relentless momentum are combined to form a powerful close-quarters combat technique that sports great flexibility, variation, and, most importantly, powerful attacks.

The core of Storm Hijkata lies in its doctrine over body movement collated together as the Tempest Movement Technique: the practitioner's ultimate goal is to have precise control over their bodies, allowing for the intricate application of force to maintain and increase their momentum. The martial art integrates powersuits and repulsor lift generators into its movements and forms, serving as bursts of speed and power as necessary.

A critical aspect of Storm Hijkata is "touch," where the practitioner reduces threatening enemy attacks into sources of additional momentum and speed. The most essential "touch" technique involves rotating and shifting the body along the path of enemy attacks, incorporating enemy momentum into their own. As simply following along the path of enemy attacks in a linear fashion creates easily predictable and exploitable weaknesses, the practitioner applies the "touch" technique to multiple points in varied sequences. This results in a smooth yet unpredictable deflection and dodge pattern reminiscent of the wind, hence the name of the movement technique.

There are two standard offensive approaches in Storm Hijkata. The first offensive approach relies on pure strength and is excellent in dueling settings, leveraging the additional momentum into powerful finishers. Within this approach is Storm Hijkata's most recognizable move, Heart Strike, in which the practitioner transfers all their strength and momentum. Heart Strike is a powerful finisher and can even break through military-grade armor, often paired with crushgauntlets and vibroknucklers to enhance lethality.

The second offensive approach is far more esoteric and complex to master, rarely being seen in the galaxy. Instead of singular heavy strikes, the practitioner opts for a flurry of sharp cuts, wielding vibroblades, nanoblades, or lightsabers to deliver a relentless cyclone of rapid slashes. The practitioner prioritizes maintaining their velocity and momentum rather than expending it, adding to their evasiveness and offensive potential.

Storm Hijkata is an excellent martial art for skilled elites but thoroughly mediocre in a novice's hands. New practitioners should solidify a foundation in the Tempest Movement Techniques, incorporating it with basic CQC techniques, before mastering Storm Hijkata.

Modified Sky Dragon Spear Technique

Other practitioners traditionally train the Sky Dragon Spear Technique with a hastae, a shorter one-handed spear. The technique highlights litheness compensating for hardness, demonstrating incredible flexibility and mobility to exert domination and control during battle. Light and fleet footwork ensure speed and balance; masterful coordination is necessary for proper positioning.

The standard style adopts vibro-spears, leveraging their lethal spearhead to significant effect by heavily incorporating strikes. The practitioner sequences dynamic and fluid strikes into a deadly cyclone of attacks. The style favors explosive bursts of offense, attacking universally across all dimensions and excelling in one-on-one duels. With enough endurance, the style is also a tool of slaughter in battlefield engagements. The Skye Family circumvents the high exhaustion rate of the Sky Dragon Spear Technique by limiting its use to brief engagements or supplanting endurance through advanced stims and bio-enhancers.

Defense is also an integral aspect of the technique, incorporating blocks and parries that subtly integrate force across multiple movements and points of contact to reduce the opponent's momentum as necessary. The main highlight of the defensive element of the technique depends on the basic spear technique of circling. Circling involves twisting the opponent's weapon in a rotation to disarm their attack or weapon entirely. The practitioner's ability to perceive and analyze the opponent is crucial, requiring precise manipulation, accuracy, and excellent timing to wrestle control from the opponent.

Out of all the primary spear forms, the most common and well-known, piercing, has minimal presence. When utilizing piercing, the technique relies on faster attacks to disable and impair an opponent quickly, aiming to cut tendons and joints rather than pierce through an opponent.

Gale modified the technique and its usage of hastae with a vibro-lance or vibro-spear instead. Due to his larger frame and greater strength than most other humans, Gale can easily wield a normally two-handed spear with one arm. He can heighten the technique's lethality with a longer weapon with greater reach and range. Furthermore, Gale dramatically increases his endurance with a specially manufactured Dragonfang Bio-Enhancer, a secret formula of the Skye Family.