Draiko Ziratai/3

"Get in. We need to talk.” “There's not enough room for me and your ego."

- Draiko Ziratai and Surun

Draiko Ziratai (/draɪˌkoʊ ziːrˌɑːˌtaɪ/; DREYE-koh ZEER-ah-teye)&mdash;commonly known by the Basicized version of his given name "Draco"&mdash;was a Force-sensitive Human male from Thule who served the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a Dark Acolyte during the Clone Wars and the Galactic Empire as both Military Executor and Governor-General of Thule during the Imperial Period.

Draiko Ziratai was a member of the family of the same name, an ancient Sith-Human bloodline known for its Force-sensitive members' outspoken support for the various iterations of the Sith Empire. Though trained from youth at Thule's Sith Arts Academy, Ziratai was significantly less ambitious than many of his fellow students and eschewed participation in the power games of his peers in favor of the academic study of both the Force and conventional military strategy. Like most of the residents of Thule, Ziratai was aware of the continued existence of the Banite Sith and considered himself a follower of the Sith religion.

With his homeworld's absorption into the Confederacy of Independent Systems at the start of the Clone Wars, Ziratai came to serve the nascent Confederacy military as one of Count Dooku's Dark Acolytes, often working in conjunction with Confederacy Intelligence or directing armies in the field. With the Declaration of a New Order, Ziratai was enfolded into Palpatine's senior Dark Side Adepts, assigned the titles and positions of Military Executor and Governor-General of Thule, and charged with safeguarding his homeworld in its capacity as a redoubt and Sith resource world, a post he held even after the Empire's collapse and the Emperor's death.

Behind the scenes
Draiko Ziratai was envisioned by the author as being a complete overhaul and rewrite of his first Star Wars Fanon article, a profoundly terrible self-insert OC named Drewika Ziratae. As a challenge, the author attempted to preserve certain hallmark elements of the original character that contributed to its overpowered Marty Sue characterization while making the character both more believable and more compliant with established Legends canon.