Razak's Roughnecks

12th Advanced Recon Clone Detachment

First campaign appearance: Shards of Honor 5.5 "Between the Panels"

Source credits at bottom of sidebar

This special unit of clone troopers received advanced training, possibly from the Template himself. Members refer to each other as “Apes”, usage being affectionate or exasperated depending upon circumstance. During their training, they were instilled with directives regarding their clone brethren that may not have been taught to all of the ARCs.

Among other duties, members of Roughnecks were most likely of all clone troopers to be detailed to protect VN Ysadora.

Current roster includes:Captain Rico, Msgt. Jenkins, Sgt. Brutto, Cpl. Doc, Cpl. Goss, Pvt. Hicks, Pvt. "Paperboy" Higgins, and Pvt. Sparks, all led by Major (formerly Capt.) Razak. Former members of note were Dono, who’s returned to his main squad (one of two squads trained by Yeager Lexics as Drop Marines) and Hudson, who was killed by Palpatine’s “Final Solution” during the Twilight.

These are the leaders of the Beskar Aran.

Composition

Manpower

minimum size 8, maximum size 12

Equipment

Weaponry

Training

Roughnecks ranked Sergeant or above have undergone ARCTrooper training administered by previous ARCs; Roughnecks of Private or Corporal rank are currently training. Captain Razak was one of the generation of clone troopers elevated and trained up by Spar

Probably the last remaining ARCs in the Galaxy. These delightful gentlemen are all that is left of the ARC Detachment. Fun at occasional barbecues set up stealthily in the Dendarii jungle while waiting for Rebellion Base Security to figure out where the hell we all went.

— VNY's notes, approximately 5 Selona 12721

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VNY's notes:

I love these wacky lads.

I spent a few years trying to convince them to call me by my name. Sometimes I thought they were still addressing me as "Commander" purely to be contrary, but in retrospect I recognize that they were looking for a comfort level: treating an outsider like a peer was a little too much chaos in an already chaotic galaxy. Yeager could be a guy they addressed by name: he's a clone too, a soldier, a cousin if not a brother. "Lord Danar" did not invite familiarity, so addressing him according to Tapani social protocol worked great for all sides of the interaction.

But me? The Jedi padawan who would not pretend to have more experience and wisdom than they had? The one who was delighted to sit with them and eat popcorn and critique the godawful plot devices in Jedi Quest, who socked Illiana Turosin in the breadbasket for trying to sexually taunt them and then spent twenty minutes lecturing her on an "only 'yes' means 'yes' and by the Force you will respect it" definition of consent?

The Roughnecks had no idea what the hell to do with me.

(They had no concept of "adopted older sister". Of course. Or of a friendship that did not come pre-defined by externally assigned roles.)

So every time I took too much distance out of our interactions, they resorted to the familiar ways of plonking it right back into place. And that definitely included going out of their way to be contrary. (It was both things at once.) It stung a little, honestly, but I dealt with it by only reminding them once every month or two that I'm "Vanya". ("Yeah, we knew that, Commander, thanks," Hudson once said and patted me on the head.)

All that got jettisoned on my side, of course, when Twilight fell. They were terrified and grieving and trying to not show it to anybody, to be rocks of stability. They did not need a friend. They needed a Jedi ... but the closest they could get was me. I stopped trying to define our relationship at all, backed off, let them define by actions and followed the lead they set out: be a pastor, be a reassuring voice, be a resource, tell 'em I love 'em and give 'em goalposts to achieve and keep bringing home more signs of hope. And otherwise, shut up about it.

My reward for that, years in, is that they're great people. All of the TCs are! They have had the space and the support they needed to decide who they are, and how to deal with the galaxy, and how to be whole adults instead of compressed shadows. I am so proud of all of them: the Beskar Aran, the ones who have changed careers to civilian pursuits, the ones who switched military structures to serve in other fields of government in and out of the Tapani Sector, all of them.

Every once in a while, we run into someone who thinks they are all "my" clones. That is not how it works. The Roughnecks, all of the former 257th Clone Detachment, every TC in the galaxy who might have a use for clergy services in any way: I'm their Jedi. That is my privilege and their right.

Natunda
30 Relona
12730

Type

Special Forces

Overall training Level

Elite

Parent Formation

257th Clone Detachment

Used by

• Beskar Aran

Ranks & Titles

• Captain
• Lieutenant
• Master Sergeant
• Sergeant
• Corporal
• Private

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Duane Capizzi, Jeff Kline, Pat Allee, and Richard Raynis wrote Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, a CGI animated series based on the 1959 novel Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. It was in homage to the character portrayals in this series that we invented the core members of our ARC unit.

James Cameron, David Giler, and Walter Hill wrote the script for the live-action movie Aliens, from whom we borrowed Hudson, Hicks, the Nostromo, and at least one Very Special Halloween Night session in which the PCs noped their way through the endless night.

No infringement on the copyrights of either property is intended or implied.