Ulaz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scalpelofmarmora) wrote2018-01-05 11:35 pm
scalpelofmarmora) wrote2018-01-05 11:35 pm
Entry tags:
Drift Fleet Application
OUT OF CHARACTER:
Name/Handle: Q
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
9_in_japanese; discord – starsoverhyrule#6201
Reference: TF (2)
Other characters: none
IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Ulaz
Character journal:scalpelofmarmora
Series name: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Canon notes: from the end of "Shiro's Escape"
Species: Galra
History:
An exact history for Ulaz is currently (and maybe permanently) impossible. However, a basis for his history is possible with information from what is known about the Galra and the Blade of Marmora.
Ulaz lived under the thumb of Zarkon’s reign and he became disillusioned at an early age with the Galra Empire. While the exact method is unknown, he was recruited to the Blade of Marmora, where he activated and received his luxite blade and from there, training in fighting and medical knowledge. He was implanted into the Galra military system, where he worked for Galra as a medical technician.
At some point, he - like others in the Galra military - took notice of the prisoner Shiro, called Champion by other Galra prisoners. He had enough access to the prisoners and had been watching enough that he knew things about Shiro's character. Even knowing this much could imply that at least part of his job was working with Haggar and the druids given that Haggar took credit for what had been done to Shiro.
News of the Blue Lion being found on Earth reached the Galra fleet. Ulaz, likely tracking vital information into the cruiser he was stationed on, found out about this. In a clearly planned opportunity, Ulaz knocked out the Galra assigned to assist him and destroyed the drones when Shiro was brought into one of the experimentation rooms. Following this, he implanted the location of the Communications Base Thaldycon into Shiro's arm and released him, telling him that the Blue Lion had been found on Earth and that his planet was in danger. When Shiro asked why he was doing it, Ulaz replied "You give hope."
Then he fled, with the explosives that he had rigged prior to entering the experimentation room going off, covering both his and Shiro's escape.
Eventually Shiro's memory of this event came back and he insisted the team go to the Thaldycon system. There they found a system filled with xanthorium clusters - giant crystals that, when disturbed, explode. The others wanted to leave, but Shiro insisted on staying.
Their wait in the Thaldycon system was short as Coran suddenly announced there was an intruder in the castle. The paladins rush to meet him, Lance finding him first. The intruder dodged Lance's gun fire, leaping to avoid it, leading Coran - who was watching the events unfold via camera - to comment of the intruder, "He's faster than an angry klanmüirl! But he can jump like a sprightly globinheffer!" The intruder encountered Pidge second, leaping over her and attempting to continue his run through the castle until she fired her Gatling hook at him. He caught it then began to drag Pidge along with him. He went passed Hunk and encountered Keith, dodging him, knocking his sword from his hand, throwing Pidge at him, and throwing him before Shiro arrived. The intruder drew his luxite sword, aiming it at Shiro while Shiro had his activated hand aimed at the intruder.
This was when the intruder stepped back, removing his hood and mask, revealing himself to be Ulaz. Shackled at Allura's insistence, Ulaz told them about the outpost, hidden in a pocket of space time directly in front of the xanthorium clusters. Flying straight for the xanthorium cluster, the castle entered the space time pocket, revealing the Communications Base Thaldycon. Using the Red Lion, Shiro, Hunk, Pidge and Keith went with Ulaz to the outpost. Ulaz explained the reason why the Blade of Marmora – a Galra based resistance movement - was against Zarkon, "We thought expanding the Galra Empire would bring stability. We learned too late, a tyrant doesn't seek stability, only power."
Not long after arriving on the base, the Robeast formerly known as Prorok arrived. Initially they tried to remain hidden in the space pocket, but the Robeast began firing at them through the space pocket, necessitating Voltron to attack it and eventually revealing the Castle and the Communications Base. Ulaz took off in a shuttle craft, appearing to abandon the battle field. However, he returned when Voltron was in dire straits about to be sucked into the Robeats, flying his shuttle craft right into the mouth of the Robeast. From inside, he opened another space pocket, turning the Robeast inside out, destroying it and presumably killing himself.
Personality:
For the most part, Ulaz comes across as a very serious figure. He's never seen with a smile on his face. His position as essentially a rebel fighter has made him more aware of the hardship in the world and less affected by such frivolity. He did after all spend some time involved with Haggar's druids who were responsible for maiming Shiro and potentially other prisoners in the Galra Empire. He also speaks seriously of the Blade of Marmora and their mission, using this as the reasoning behind most things that he does.
The interesting dichotomy and more subversive side of his nature comes in where Shiro and Keith meet Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora. Almost immediately Kolivan tells them the decision to reveal the Blade of Marmora’s location was not an idea approved by the Blade of Marmora, solely being a decision on Ulaz’ part, leading Kolivan to call his fallen teammate a fool for having given them that information. Kolivan even continues to say Ulaz was always breaking orders and doing what he thought was best.
This relays several interesting characteristics about Ulaz.
He continually uses the Blade of Marmora as the reason for what he does to justify it to himself, however he continually puts them in jeopardy of being discovered by Zarkon, first by giving Shiro the Thaldycon base location and releasing him, which did lead to the Prorok Robeast finding the Thaldycon outpost by accident though it was not capable to realizing its discovery, and second by giving Voltron the location of the Blade of Marmora headquarters.
So while dedicated, he’s actually forcing the Blade of Marmora more out into the open which, when they teamed up with Voltron, did bring the shadowy organization into a more prominent view in front of the Empire.
I think there is also a side that he doesn’t agree with the method of hiding in the shadows and doing the work in secret. As an individual transplanted into Zarkon’s ranks - living and acting as a member of Zarkon's vast army, not hiding but in plain sight gathering information - he has a distinct perspective of the war. It’s possible that he felt the Blade of Marmora would be put to better use having more of an active role.
Whether or not this is the case, he is clearly unafraid of Kolivan and continually challenges his orders, as Kolivan said he had a habit of this. This shows that he thinks they are on a more equal level where he can push back, evidence seen in that both Kolivan and Ulaz seem to be older Galra as both are no longer the bright shade of purple most Galra are and having white hair but also they are both seen wearing suits with a shoulder guard, something no other member wears. He also has less reason to be afraid of Kolivan, clearly having been allowed to break rules multiple times with no or minimal consequences, so Ulaz was willing to keep pushing his luck.
There is a very faint sadistic side in Ulaz that seems to be in most Galra. This is not only seen in his fight with the younger paladins on the castle, but also in the Blade of Marmora itself. Cue the brutal Trials of Marmora, where the initiate endures increasing numbers of foes, having to defend themselves with the hopeful goal of activating their luxite blade, which presents a dagger inactivated. In fact, Kolivan tells the paladins the Trials of Marmora leads to one of two things: knowledge or death. Ulaz surely would have endured this to gain his status as a Blade and he may have participated in testing others.
Despite Ulaz’ serious, stark nature, there is also an indication that he still does understand what the war is being fought for. The exact reason he gave Shiro for why he was helping escape from the Galra was "you give hope", showing that he is aware "hope" is important in the war they are fighting. It seems to me that he has more faith in the legend of Voltron than others do, considering he partially picked to free Shiro because the Blue Lion had been located on Earth and he breaks many rules to give Shiro the best chance of using Voltron to help fight the war, saying because of Shiro they are closer than they have been before to winning the war. The fact that he felt it more important to kill himself by allowing a Robeast to eat him than allow Voltron to be destroyed spoke louder than anything he could have said.
Abilities:
Medical:
It is generally accepted that Ulaz has some form of medical training. The reason for this is because he is first seen in Shiro's flashback of his escape where he was in one of the Galra's experimentation rooms. It is doubtful he would have been in the room if he was not accepted by the Galra as someone with the necessary training. First, he was living undercover as mentioned before. Second, Ulaz's presence in the experimentation room, wearing one of the Galran medical officer uniforms, likely would have caused more commotion as he would have had to retrieve one from somewhere on the ship.
Fighting:
Ulaz is also a skilled physical fighter, as are all Blade of Marmora members. He managed to get on the Castle of Lions briefly undetected and gave four of the five paladins the slip even with their weapons. It was only Shiro who had any luck but that's because Ulaz recognized him. Ulaz also implied that his abilities are so good that when Allura argued about him being on the ship, he said "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."
Sword:
While never really seen using it aside from blocking an attack by Keith and drawing it in an initial attempt to attack Shiro, the Blades of Marmora have a culture around sword fighting. In fact, their entire initiation – the Trials of Marmora – requires activating a sword which is then kept with them.
Espionage:
While the exact length of time is unknown, Ulaz was a spy with Galra military for some time. He must have been trusted by the army because he was allowed into the room with Shiro. He had also obtained the information that the Blue Lion had been found on Shiro's home planet of Earth.
Piloting:
He's seen piloting a shuttle craft and had to have a method to get off the Galra cruiser he had been on.
Augment Skillset: Lab support augment
Sample: TDM
Addendum - additional information not in original app
- Krolia told Keith that the Galra had been sending teams out of find the Voltron lions for some time. Two such teams had made it to Earth, the first being Krolia's and the second was the reason she left. She said was going to report back to the Blades to stop Earth from being searched. It is quite possible Ulaz or one of his informants was aware of the Blue Lion's location and it was only because the information was picked by a major ship that he used the information
- The Galra have been confirmed to be warrior race. They have a philosophy known as "palen-bol" or "the enlightening pain". The essential thought is pain to make one smarter. This seems reflected in the Trials of Marmora, fighting with initiates and potentially injuring them with the overall goal to activate their blade, but the continually use of the phrase "you are not meant to go through this door" in Keith's trial. Each time he went through the door, there were more and more combatants for him to face, leading him to eventually admit "maybe I wasn't meant to go through the door"
- Based on information from season 8 and the appearance of a certain character, Ulaz may be old enough to have seen Daibazaal before it was destroyed, which would make him over 10,000 years old
Name/Handle: Q
Contact:
Reference: TF (2)
Other characters: none
IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Ulaz
Character journal:
scalpelofmarmoraSeries name: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Canon notes: from the end of "Shiro's Escape"
Species: Galra
History:
An exact history for Ulaz is currently (and maybe permanently) impossible. However, a basis for his history is possible with information from what is known about the Galra and the Blade of Marmora.
Ulaz lived under the thumb of Zarkon’s reign and he became disillusioned at an early age with the Galra Empire. While the exact method is unknown, he was recruited to the Blade of Marmora, where he activated and received his luxite blade and from there, training in fighting and medical knowledge. He was implanted into the Galra military system, where he worked for Galra as a medical technician.
At some point, he - like others in the Galra military - took notice of the prisoner Shiro, called Champion by other Galra prisoners. He had enough access to the prisoners and had been watching enough that he knew things about Shiro's character. Even knowing this much could imply that at least part of his job was working with Haggar and the druids given that Haggar took credit for what had been done to Shiro.
News of the Blue Lion being found on Earth reached the Galra fleet. Ulaz, likely tracking vital information into the cruiser he was stationed on, found out about this. In a clearly planned opportunity, Ulaz knocked out the Galra assigned to assist him and destroyed the drones when Shiro was brought into one of the experimentation rooms. Following this, he implanted the location of the Communications Base Thaldycon into Shiro's arm and released him, telling him that the Blue Lion had been found on Earth and that his planet was in danger. When Shiro asked why he was doing it, Ulaz replied "You give hope."
Then he fled, with the explosives that he had rigged prior to entering the experimentation room going off, covering both his and Shiro's escape.
Eventually Shiro's memory of this event came back and he insisted the team go to the Thaldycon system. There they found a system filled with xanthorium clusters - giant crystals that, when disturbed, explode. The others wanted to leave, but Shiro insisted on staying.
Their wait in the Thaldycon system was short as Coran suddenly announced there was an intruder in the castle. The paladins rush to meet him, Lance finding him first. The intruder dodged Lance's gun fire, leaping to avoid it, leading Coran - who was watching the events unfold via camera - to comment of the intruder, "He's faster than an angry klanmüirl! But he can jump like a sprightly globinheffer!" The intruder encountered Pidge second, leaping over her and attempting to continue his run through the castle until she fired her Gatling hook at him. He caught it then began to drag Pidge along with him. He went passed Hunk and encountered Keith, dodging him, knocking his sword from his hand, throwing Pidge at him, and throwing him before Shiro arrived. The intruder drew his luxite sword, aiming it at Shiro while Shiro had his activated hand aimed at the intruder.
This was when the intruder stepped back, removing his hood and mask, revealing himself to be Ulaz. Shackled at Allura's insistence, Ulaz told them about the outpost, hidden in a pocket of space time directly in front of the xanthorium clusters. Flying straight for the xanthorium cluster, the castle entered the space time pocket, revealing the Communications Base Thaldycon. Using the Red Lion, Shiro, Hunk, Pidge and Keith went with Ulaz to the outpost. Ulaz explained the reason why the Blade of Marmora – a Galra based resistance movement - was against Zarkon, "We thought expanding the Galra Empire would bring stability. We learned too late, a tyrant doesn't seek stability, only power."
Not long after arriving on the base, the Robeast formerly known as Prorok arrived. Initially they tried to remain hidden in the space pocket, but the Robeast began firing at them through the space pocket, necessitating Voltron to attack it and eventually revealing the Castle and the Communications Base. Ulaz took off in a shuttle craft, appearing to abandon the battle field. However, he returned when Voltron was in dire straits about to be sucked into the Robeats, flying his shuttle craft right into the mouth of the Robeast. From inside, he opened another space pocket, turning the Robeast inside out, destroying it and presumably killing himself.
Personality:
For the most part, Ulaz comes across as a very serious figure. He's never seen with a smile on his face. His position as essentially a rebel fighter has made him more aware of the hardship in the world and less affected by such frivolity. He did after all spend some time involved with Haggar's druids who were responsible for maiming Shiro and potentially other prisoners in the Galra Empire. He also speaks seriously of the Blade of Marmora and their mission, using this as the reasoning behind most things that he does.
The interesting dichotomy and more subversive side of his nature comes in where Shiro and Keith meet Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora. Almost immediately Kolivan tells them the decision to reveal the Blade of Marmora’s location was not an idea approved by the Blade of Marmora, solely being a decision on Ulaz’ part, leading Kolivan to call his fallen teammate a fool for having given them that information. Kolivan even continues to say Ulaz was always breaking orders and doing what he thought was best.
This relays several interesting characteristics about Ulaz.
He continually uses the Blade of Marmora as the reason for what he does to justify it to himself, however he continually puts them in jeopardy of being discovered by Zarkon, first by giving Shiro the Thaldycon base location and releasing him, which did lead to the Prorok Robeast finding the Thaldycon outpost by accident though it was not capable to realizing its discovery, and second by giving Voltron the location of the Blade of Marmora headquarters.
So while dedicated, he’s actually forcing the Blade of Marmora more out into the open which, when they teamed up with Voltron, did bring the shadowy organization into a more prominent view in front of the Empire.
I think there is also a side that he doesn’t agree with the method of hiding in the shadows and doing the work in secret. As an individual transplanted into Zarkon’s ranks - living and acting as a member of Zarkon's vast army, not hiding but in plain sight gathering information - he has a distinct perspective of the war. It’s possible that he felt the Blade of Marmora would be put to better use having more of an active role.
Whether or not this is the case, he is clearly unafraid of Kolivan and continually challenges his orders, as Kolivan said he had a habit of this. This shows that he thinks they are on a more equal level where he can push back, evidence seen in that both Kolivan and Ulaz seem to be older Galra as both are no longer the bright shade of purple most Galra are and having white hair but also they are both seen wearing suits with a shoulder guard, something no other member wears. He also has less reason to be afraid of Kolivan, clearly having been allowed to break rules multiple times with no or minimal consequences, so Ulaz was willing to keep pushing his luck.
There is a very faint sadistic side in Ulaz that seems to be in most Galra. This is not only seen in his fight with the younger paladins on the castle, but also in the Blade of Marmora itself. Cue the brutal Trials of Marmora, where the initiate endures increasing numbers of foes, having to defend themselves with the hopeful goal of activating their luxite blade, which presents a dagger inactivated. In fact, Kolivan tells the paladins the Trials of Marmora leads to one of two things: knowledge or death. Ulaz surely would have endured this to gain his status as a Blade and he may have participated in testing others.
Despite Ulaz’ serious, stark nature, there is also an indication that he still does understand what the war is being fought for. The exact reason he gave Shiro for why he was helping escape from the Galra was "you give hope", showing that he is aware "hope" is important in the war they are fighting. It seems to me that he has more faith in the legend of Voltron than others do, considering he partially picked to free Shiro because the Blue Lion had been located on Earth and he breaks many rules to give Shiro the best chance of using Voltron to help fight the war, saying because of Shiro they are closer than they have been before to winning the war. The fact that he felt it more important to kill himself by allowing a Robeast to eat him than allow Voltron to be destroyed spoke louder than anything he could have said.
Abilities:
Medical:
It is generally accepted that Ulaz has some form of medical training. The reason for this is because he is first seen in Shiro's flashback of his escape where he was in one of the Galra's experimentation rooms. It is doubtful he would have been in the room if he was not accepted by the Galra as someone with the necessary training. First, he was living undercover as mentioned before. Second, Ulaz's presence in the experimentation room, wearing one of the Galran medical officer uniforms, likely would have caused more commotion as he would have had to retrieve one from somewhere on the ship.
Fighting:
Ulaz is also a skilled physical fighter, as are all Blade of Marmora members. He managed to get on the Castle of Lions briefly undetected and gave four of the five paladins the slip even with their weapons. It was only Shiro who had any luck but that's because Ulaz recognized him. Ulaz also implied that his abilities are so good that when Allura argued about him being on the ship, he said "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already."
Sword:
While never really seen using it aside from blocking an attack by Keith and drawing it in an initial attempt to attack Shiro, the Blades of Marmora have a culture around sword fighting. In fact, their entire initiation – the Trials of Marmora – requires activating a sword which is then kept with them.
Espionage:
While the exact length of time is unknown, Ulaz was a spy with Galra military for some time. He must have been trusted by the army because he was allowed into the room with Shiro. He had also obtained the information that the Blue Lion had been found on Shiro's home planet of Earth.
Piloting:
He's seen piloting a shuttle craft and had to have a method to get off the Galra cruiser he had been on.
Augment Skillset: Lab support augment
Sample: TDM
Addendum - additional information not in original app
- Krolia told Keith that the Galra had been sending teams out of find the Voltron lions for some time. Two such teams had made it to Earth, the first being Krolia's and the second was the reason she left. She said was going to report back to the Blades to stop Earth from being searched. It is quite possible Ulaz or one of his informants was aware of the Blue Lion's location and it was only because the information was picked by a major ship that he used the information
- The Galra have been confirmed to be warrior race. They have a philosophy known as "palen-bol" or "the enlightening pain". The essential thought is pain to make one smarter. This seems reflected in the Trials of Marmora, fighting with initiates and potentially injuring them with the overall goal to activate their blade, but the continually use of the phrase "you are not meant to go through this door" in Keith's trial. Each time he went through the door, there were more and more combatants for him to face, leading him to eventually admit "maybe I wasn't meant to go through the door"
- Based on information from season 8 and the appearance of a certain character, Ulaz may be old enough to have seen Daibazaal before it was destroyed, which would make him over 10,000 years old