So I would really appreciate your input on this character's background.
So...this guy, Rasmus, is a Koov, a race of peaceful empaths, and an Arbitrator, which is an almost religious sect of interstellar diplomats. Koovs try to live in balance with nature and spiritual harmony and totally abhor violence.
The Arbitrators are kind of like a cross between monks and Jedi (without powers) in that they are a pseudo-religious "calling" devoted to this mission to prevent conflict around the galaxy.
Names are subject to change, FYI.
There was this world called Ungoliant, home of the Dharshika, a great ancient spacefaring race of merchants. They were neighbors with a race called the Vanalathi, but the Vanalathi's aggression led the Dharshika to segregate and isolate them on a small moon where overpopulation and starvation ran rampant, breeding Vanalathi resentment and hatred of the Dharshika.
The Dharshika were stuck by a plague that decimated their civilization. A hardline sect of Vanalathi took advantage to seize their homeworld. These are Dharshika-hating fanatics who believe the plague was a divine punishment and now believe they are carrying out the gods' will by trying to wipe out every last remnant of the Dharshika.
So where Rasmus comes in is, he came as an Arbitrator to Ungoliant and ended up witnessing the plague, holding dying children in his arms, etc. All of which, as an empath who soaks up other people's emotions and pain like a sponge, was intensely upsetting for Rasmus and may have driven him a little mentally unstable.
Rasmus sent some weird video home in his reports, where he kind of went on this rambling tirade and made his colleagues think he'd gone a little nutty and it was time to bring him home. But he ignored the call to come home and continued helping out in refugee camps.
The refugee camp he was at was the target of a raid by Vanalathi militia sent to kill everyone there. Seeing these orphaned children and other people he was trying to care for being murdered, Rasmus had a psychotic break and basically fell back on primal instincts and acted like the hunter-animals the Koovs descended from. With cat-like reflexes and retractable claws and all the natural weapons Koovs have disavowed, he slaughtered the Vanalathi militia by himself, including ripping one's throat out with his teeth. When he snapped out of it, he was horrified by his own actions. He ended up being removed from the Arbitrators (not so much as a punishment, since he was defending the refugees) but because they thought he was mentally compromised by his last mission.
Rasmus kind of said "screw you all then" and felt he was treated unjustly and took his family to this primitive jungle world where they live a "purer" life among the natives. Rasmus is having dreams of a lost city on this world which he believes contains a mythical cure for pestilence. He's become a bit obsessed with preventing any more plagues and also believes he can save this developing civilization from going down bad paths he sees in everyone else, even if this means manipulating them for their own good.
In a bit of an overzealous attempt to gain their trust, he slipped a toxin into the drink of one of the village elders, then miraculously cured him, with Rasmus justifying all this by saying he had this under control the whole time and the man was in no true danger.
I'm debating whether this last bit is too far and makes the reader lose any sympathy for Rasmus or if he's still somewhat understandable as a slightly crazy guy trying to do something good in...dubious ways
So...this guy, Rasmus, is a Koov, a race of peaceful empaths, and an Arbitrator, which is an almost religious sect of interstellar diplomats. Koovs try to live in balance with nature and spiritual harmony and totally abhor violence.
The Arbitrators are kind of like a cross between monks and Jedi (without powers) in that they are a pseudo-religious "calling" devoted to this mission to prevent conflict around the galaxy.
Names are subject to change, FYI.
There was this world called Ungoliant, home of the Dharshika, a great ancient spacefaring race of merchants. They were neighbors with a race called the Vanalathi, but the Vanalathi's aggression led the Dharshika to segregate and isolate them on a small moon where overpopulation and starvation ran rampant, breeding Vanalathi resentment and hatred of the Dharshika.
The Dharshika were stuck by a plague that decimated their civilization. A hardline sect of Vanalathi took advantage to seize their homeworld. These are Dharshika-hating fanatics who believe the plague was a divine punishment and now believe they are carrying out the gods' will by trying to wipe out every last remnant of the Dharshika.
So where Rasmus comes in is, he came as an Arbitrator to Ungoliant and ended up witnessing the plague, holding dying children in his arms, etc. All of which, as an empath who soaks up other people's emotions and pain like a sponge, was intensely upsetting for Rasmus and may have driven him a little mentally unstable.
Rasmus sent some weird video home in his reports, where he kind of went on this rambling tirade and made his colleagues think he'd gone a little nutty and it was time to bring him home. But he ignored the call to come home and continued helping out in refugee camps.
The refugee camp he was at was the target of a raid by Vanalathi militia sent to kill everyone there. Seeing these orphaned children and other people he was trying to care for being murdered, Rasmus had a psychotic break and basically fell back on primal instincts and acted like the hunter-animals the Koovs descended from. With cat-like reflexes and retractable claws and all the natural weapons Koovs have disavowed, he slaughtered the Vanalathi militia by himself, including ripping one's throat out with his teeth. When he snapped out of it, he was horrified by his own actions. He ended up being removed from the Arbitrators (not so much as a punishment, since he was defending the refugees) but because they thought he was mentally compromised by his last mission.
Rasmus kind of said "screw you all then" and felt he was treated unjustly and took his family to this primitive jungle world where they live a "purer" life among the natives. Rasmus is having dreams of a lost city on this world which he believes contains a mythical cure for pestilence. He's become a bit obsessed with preventing any more plagues and also believes he can save this developing civilization from going down bad paths he sees in everyone else, even if this means manipulating them for their own good.
In a bit of an overzealous attempt to gain their trust, he slipped a toxin into the drink of one of the village elders, then miraculously cured him, with Rasmus justifying all this by saying he had this under control the whole time and the man was in no true danger.
I'm debating whether this last bit is too far and makes the reader lose any sympathy for Rasmus or if he's still somewhat understandable as a slightly crazy guy trying to do something good in...dubious ways
