Oakie Dokes

Oakie Dokes
Biographical Information:
Died:	18 BBY (Disappeared)
Descriptive Information:
Species:	Swokes Swokes

Oakie Dokes was a Swokes Swokes artist living on Coruscant during the Fall of the Republic. During the Clone Wars, her macabre art garnered widespread acclaim due to a shift in public sentiment as the war ran its course. However, following the Declaration of a New Order, Dokes' art was labeled "degenerate" and confiscated, and the artist herself disappeared sometime in 18 BBY.

Biography

Oakie Dokes was born and raised on the Swokes Swokes homeworld of Makem Te. Her parents operated the vastly successful Dokes Schinga Ranch, and Dokes stood to inherit a large fortune from their estate.

Dokes was sent to Coruscant in 33 BBY to represent her family's ranch in the Galactic Livestock Exposition. However, she was enamored by the luxuries she encountered during her stay in Coruscant's upper levels. She quickly ran her family's funds dry after spending lavishly on jewels. Fearing to return to Makem Te and face her family's wrath, she retreated into the depths of the Coruscant Underworld and took up art as a means to cope with her depression. While Dokes' initial paintings were pictures of livestock or simple still life scenes, her style took on a more frenzied appearance and darker subject matter the longer she stayed in Coruscant's Gutter.

Content with developing her artistry on dead vermin, Dokes did not paint her first dead sentient until 32 BBY, following a chance encounter with a dead street urchin outside of her home. Later that year, she had her first big break with the painting Fall of the Aristocrats, which depicted the assassination of Senator Connus Trell. It was around this time that Dokes became a regular fixture at the Ritzenbacher Auction House in the Upper City.

By 22 BBY, Dokes had become a semi-regular patron of the Uscru District's Outlander Club. Bartender Bufon Taire considered her a freeloader, whereas his assistant Ganwick Tragg happily gave Dokes free drinks. When Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker arrived at the club in pursuit of Zam Wesell, Dokes was present at the site of their speeder crash. After the Jedi dragged Wesell out of the club, Dokes snatched up Wesell's severed arm, planning to make it into a sculpture, but was approached by the con man Dannl Faytonni before she could entertain the idea further. After meeting Faytonni's partner Achk Med-Beq and quickly ascertaining the pair were scam artists, Dokes pretended to agree with their ruse and led them back to her house, abandoning the severed arm in a trash receptacle on her way out of the Outlander Club.

After the trio arrived at Dokes' home, a heated argument ensued between the two men, which escalated into a brief scuffle that saw Dokes' newest painting knocked from its easel. When Dokes returned to the room, she allowed the pair to leave; however, Med-Beq tripped over Dokes' latest subject and Faytonni readily left him behind. Dokes seized the opportunity to incorporate Med-Beq into her newest painting. However, her Pacithhip landlord entered her home unannounced to collect outstanding rent. Dokes killed him with a bolt gun and painted the aftermath in another piece called Dirt-Love, which was later purchased by Faytonni.

During the Clone Wars, Dokes' output increased dramatically, as did public consumption of her work. Her paintings regularly sold for tens of thousands at Ritzenbacher's. During this period, she began to devote more of her time to bone-based sculpture. The passage of the Security Act and its increasing escalation in enforcement over the course of the war rendered it more difficult for her to acquire bodies for her art.

In 19 BBY, she attended a showing of Squid Lake at the Galaxies Opera House. She was working on her magnum opus, The Lovely Axe, when Palpatine gave his Declaration of a New Order address in the Senate. In the months that followed, the newly-formed Galactic Empire began to crack down on what was deemed "degenerate art", and Dokes lost many of her former clients and, consequently, most of her income stream.

She was captured by Imperial agents in 18 BBY, and her existence struck from public record. However, she found brief employment under Gurdun, a freshly appointed Imperial officer and connoisseur of her work.

Personality and traits

Dokes was gruff and unapproachable to most individuals; she was deliberately so to humans. This was mostly a result of her stilted command of Basic. These poor social skills led her to being targeted by con men such as Dannl Faytonni and Achk Med-Beq, though she was never swindled. Her interactions with other Swokes Swokes tended to cordial and pleasant in comparison.

Raised by the one of the wealthiest ranching families on Makem Te, Dokes had a penchant for luxury. Upon arriving on Coruscant, she emptied her family's accounts in a matter of months on expenses such as resort stays, designer dresses, and jewelry. Like most Swokes Swokes, she embedded jewels near her vital organs as a sign of wealth.

Dokes enjoyed the riches brought in by her art, but remained insecure in her artistic ability. She looked down on those who complimented her work as "flatterers" or as simply trying to extort her for her wealth. She was always on the hunt for more opportunities to hone her craft; during the Battle of Coruscant, she searched for corpses and body parts to add to her collection.

Though her homeworld joined the Confederacy of Independent Systems early in the Clone Wars, Dokes herself was apolitical. She was annoyed by increasing Republic security and surveillance in the lower levels not because she found it unnecessary, but because it interfered with her work. Despite its humanocentric policy, Dokes had no issue swearing fealty to the Empire after hearing her homeworld had already done so. Likewise, she happily embraced her new job as personal artist and aesthetician for Gurdun following her appointment, even though the other Imperials she encountered viewed her with disgust.

Appearance

Oakie Dokes looked typical for her species. She was short and stout, with pale, flabby skin and thick legs. She had a tail early in life, but had it docked prior to leaving Makem Te. She was considered a "beauty queen" by Swoken standards.

She often wore elegant cocktail dresses to allow for freedom of movement and signal her riches to other sentients.

Appearances

• Attack of the Clones
• Revenge of the Sith
• "Field to Fight Club: A Nuna's Tale"
• "Schutta: The Tale of Ayy Vida"
• "An Arm and a Leg: The Artist's Tale"
• "The Lovely Axe: The Last Tale of Oakie Dokes"