Juyo Berserker

Of the 6 Career Skills, choose 3 to get a free rank. Of the 4 Specialization Skills, choose 2 to get a free rank.

Warrior Career Skills: Athletics, Brawl, Cool, Melee, Perception and Survival

Juyo Berserker Specialization Skills: Coercion, Discipline, Lightsaber and Melee

A Warrior begins play with a Force rating of 1

In the latter days of the Jedi Order, Padawans studied six forms of lightsaber combat, ensuring familiarity with all. Few Jedi, however, were trusted to study the seventh, the highly restricted Juyo form. The Juyo Berserker is a Warrior who fights with this dangerously aggressive and ferocious manner of lightsaber combat. A Juyo Berserker could have formal training in Form VII, but the specialization can also apply to a self-taught fighter who harnesses natural rage and ferocity to overcome foes with an all-out offensive.

While Juyo is undoubtedly an aggressive form of combat by the standards of the Jedi, it nonetheless requires at least the modicum of control necessary to wield a lightsaber effectively and—relatively—safely. Compared to the other lightsaber forms in use by the Jedi in the latter days of the Republic, however, Juyo is reckless. Walking this fine line is not dissimilar from the way in which Juyo practitioners balance dangerously close to the dark side of the Force.

While a Juyo practitioner may appear calm, the form requires intense emotions to fuel its rapid, unpredictable, powerful strikes. Some Juyo Berserkers—particularly adherents of the Jedi Code, which calls for tranquility and detachment—conceal the emotions raging below the surface. Others, including Sith, fully embrace the anger that drives Juyo and grants it power, snarling like frenzied animals as they lay into their opponents.

For Force sensitives in the age of the Empire, it is all too easy to give in to frustration, anger, and hate when forced into a confrontation. They might unknowingly find themselves mimicking the Juyo style. These sentients might be aware of the conflict raging within them—the struggle between unbridled emotion and stability—or they might remain dangerously ignorant of the path to the dark side of the Force.

A Juyo Berserker focuses on offense nearly to the exclusion of all else. This approach leaves the Berserker vulnerable should an opponent find the opportunity to counterattack, and so a Juyo practitioner must match the foe’s skill in pure ferocity. Juyo fighters particularly risk being overwhelmed by greater numbers; a Berserker must be able to lay about with the blistering relentlessness of many Warriors—or of the deadly predator from which the form draws its name.

Jedi who practiced Juyo were careful to balance inner darkness with the tranquility offered by the light side of the Force. It was in this way that Mace Windu developed the Vaapad variant, a form that allowed him to channel his inner darkness toward positive outcomes, to harness his anger without allowing it to control him. For Warriors bereft of the doctrines of the Jedi this balance is difficult. Without it, a tragic outcome could be all but inevitable.

Potential Backgrounds

  • Avenger: A Juyo Berserker is a likely candidate for the avenger background, since the Juyo fighting style focuses the sort of aggression that vengeance often inspires. This character may have an unresolved personal vendetta that fuels the anger they channel as part of this art. The Juyo Berserker may have even turned to this style specifically in order to seek personal vengeance. Once this goal is accomplished, they are well equipped to perform similar services for others, and a Juyo Berserker might channel their anger for good.
  • Crusader: A naturally passionate character, the Juyo Berserker treats any task as a personal crusade. This character may have learned martial techniques with the intention of using them for change, channeling anger back toward whatever caused it in the first place. Taking on a particular cause helps this character to focus. However, a Juyo Berserker who commits too fully to a cause risks succumbing to that passion and the temptations of the dark side of the Force.
  • Mercenary: A Juyo Berserker who fights for credits has learned to channel anger, bringing it to bear in situations when anger does not come naturally to the character. This requires a high level of control and is a good start to the training of a Force-sensitive Warrior.
  • Military: A Juyo Berserker with a military background has learned a degree of emotional control as part of training. However, the specific skills of the Juyo are likely to have originated outside of the organization, or perhaps the character served with a special, elite group of soldiers.