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Jedi Knight T'ish Keth

Name: T'ish Keth

Age: 54

Species: Kel Dor

Appearance: This Kel Dor stands at the taller end of the scale - measuring in at a rather respectable six feet and four inches tall - the usually willowy figure of his people not to be found in this toned wall of muscle, years of intensive training lending him a quite obvious physical difference between he and his brethren with his broad shoulders and muscular physique lending a visible bulk uncommon in others of his species; as far as the rest of him is concerned, he is quite average, the usual organs and body wrinkles of the Kel Dor in all the correct places, his skin a rather crimson hue and his dark eyes with there unique silver iris obscured by the usual eye-goggles of a Kel Dor off world. 

His tusked breather mask, however, is perhaps his most treasured possession after his lightsaber, the triangular object inscribed around the edge with Kel Dorian runes by the Baran Do Sages of his homeworld; although the actual meaning would make no sense in Galactic Basic, it is both a blessing on him and a curse upon his enemies. 

Clothing wise, he is a traditionalist and a minimalist, wearing the cream and brown robes of the Jedi Order he dedicated his life to almost every moment. The only time this changes is in open battle, as opposed to a one-on-one duel, altered clone armour protecting his torso and vulnerable extremities. 
Force Abilities:
Basic Abilities: Is fully capable in all the basic abilities of the Jedi, though does no excel at any one in particular.
Control Pain: Through thorough meditation and bodily exercises, as well as digging deep into the Force, T'ish is able to control his own pain. Whether a saber cut, a blaster burn, or a broken bone, this Kel Dor is able to keep on fighting when others would have succumbed long before.
Battle Precognition: Most helpful for combining with the natural heightened reflexes of the Kel Dor, the ability to predict an adversaries movements before they even realise can only be a good thing.
Force Comprehend: Saves having to have a translator droid hovering around your head!
Force Valour: Using the Force to enhance his already considerable abilities, this Knight is able to push his body above-and-beyond what it would usually be capable of. Although it gives him an edge, it is also draining on body and mind once battle is ended and requires time to recover from.

Non-Force Abilities:
Lightsaber Combat: Combat with the chosen weapon of the Jedi is somewhat of this Knights forte, his skills with a blade far exceeding that of his force capabilities; throughout his early training, as well as his Trials, this was quite obvious to his Master as well as his peers. Like most Jedi he became quite proficient in Form I (Shii-Cho) during his early years, but gradually moved on toward more specific goals with his training in mind. 

This specialised - and far more focused - training, saw T'ish begin a personal task of bending Form VI or Niman to his will.

Being both a warrior and a scholar, this scion of the Keth family had studied Jedi records and history as thoroughly and as far back as he possibly could. Names of great Jedi were commonplace, but the name of Exar Kun - arguably the greatest duelist of his era - struck a chord with the young Kel Dor during the time he was only beginning to find his feet. Of course, his studies also showed him what the temptations of the Dark Side and ones own arrogance could do to a being, something he was determined would not happen in his own case.

Decades of study and training followed, focused far more on the blending of lightsaber movements and skills than those force techniques which were supposed to accompany a Niman practitioner in combat, T'ish giving his blood, sweat and energy in his quest to master the Sixth Form...a quest which continues to this day.
Unarmed Combat: As with most Jedi, T'ish initially learnt the basic movement and forms of unarmed combat prescribed to by the Jedi Order, delving deeper into the archives and questioning his instructors in order to discover and attempt to learn other forms of martial arts from various worlds and cultures; not an expert in any specific art, he can nonetheless defend himself in a proficient way should he become disarmed.
Single Mindedness: Once he has found something to latch his mind onto he will not stop, sometimes to the detriment of himself or others, pursuing it with the precision and perfection of a obsessed craftsman at work.
Black and White: The Kel Dor as a species have always viewed 'the law' as an extremely simple thing, leading them to have their own firm sense of what is right and what is wrong. Being equally as unimaginative, though profoundly influenced by his time serving the Order, he nevertheless has managed to rile others on more than one occasion with his choices.
Competent Pilot: He is an adequate, but not especially skilled, pilot, able to fly fighters and small craft without finesse but also without trouble.
Warrior-Scholar: Somewhat of the archetypical warrior-monk, T'ish combines his almost possessive study of lightsaber combat with a rigorous and focused regime of texts, as such he has gained great knowledge in many things and wisdom beyond his current years. Whether he chooses to actually use any of it is another matter.
Focused Meditation: Meditation is a daily occurence for this Jedi, having become almost a necessity by now, it has allowed him to hone the force powers that he commonly uses on his own body, as well as giving him a somewhat isolationist air in the company of others. Truly, when not training, he spends more time within his own mind than anywhere else.

Personality/Motivation: T'ish has ever sought to become a great warrior, constantly strengthening himself internally and sharpening his outward technique, sometimes neglecting the study of the Force that was in fact the entire point of Niman in the first place! Nevertheless, he is well read and contains an almost innate sense of compassion for others - something very hard to see behind his few words, strong moral direction, and limited but important personal goals.

Some within the Order see his behaviour and attitude actively going against what the Jedi stand for, and it is very likely that this is the reason - in spite of his advanced humanoid age - that he has never been offered the rank of Master. The truth is that he has never been anything but loyal to the Jedi Order, to the principles which they uphold, and to the Light Side of the force as a whole...although he has never really seemed to care much for any of the former either, except to advance his own studies.

In short, he is a blunt, sometimes aggressive, but usually emotionally distant being. He is loyal to his friends, and even warm to those that might get close enough to him to see, impossible to distract from his duties once he has began them, and said by more than one of his superiors to be a credit to the Order.

Initiate

It eventually became known to T'ish Keth that, on the day of his birth, a conflict arose when his parents - a middling Kel Dor merchant and his loving wife - saw that their child was 'gifted' with the silver irises which foretold an affinity to the Force and all that this entailed. On the one hand they were pleased, happy that the Force had given them a healthy and strong son, but on the other hand they realised what this meant for their child...and what it meant for them. His father, who's own great-great-grandfather had been a Jedi, was of the opinion that the boy should be sent to the Baran Do and inducted into their Order of indigenous force users on Kel dor; his mother was the one who decided in the end, clearly the more dominant of the pair, telling her husband that only with the Jedi would he be able to learn all that he needed to know and more in a secure and structured environment. Even at this point in time the Baran Do were seen as somewhat backward, like eccentric weather wizards, by the majority of Kel Dor. Nevertheless a message was delivered to the sages that such a child had been born, as was custom and tradition.

Little was his father to know that a long-range message had also been sent to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the Jedi Council responding with a swiftness that surprised everyone, the arrival of a Rodian Jedi only three weeks later causing some previously withheld emotions to come to the surface of both father and mother. The Jedi presented himself as Falak Doo-Tarr, a Jedi Knight and Consular who had been nearby when the message was relayed to him, who immediately set about conducting a series of tests upon the child to verify his sensitivity to the Force. While the presence of silver irises should have been enough, it never hurt to be sure, and sure enough the child was attuned to the Force that bound all things together. Mother and father were given two more weeks to spend with their child, before he was taken away and began his life in the ranks of the Jedi Order.

The time ultimately had to come, and for baby T'ish the beginning of the path was set in millenia old stone. 

Like all new Jedi Initiates he was raised until he was old enough to join a clan, in his case when he was around three or four years of age, joining the infamous Tra'cor clan where he would take his first footsteps toward Knighthood. Many claimed that there was really nothing to the clan system, but when it came to the Tra'cor clan this was certainly not the case, each child selected more for what they might become than what they currently were; that is that they would grow to be solitary individuals, hard workers and keen to learn, but also aloof of their peers and withdrawn from others around them, or so it was said. Joining him were four Humans, two Rodians, a Wookiee and a Trandoshan - a rather small clan when compared to others, but just the way the growing Kel Dor imagined he might one day like it.

Years moved forward and the process of turning a Youngling into a fully fledged Jedi began to mould T'ish, his particular interest coming from his lessons in Shii-Cho and the theory behind lightsabers and there applications. As for his use of the Force, it was clear by the time he reached maturity that he was firmly connected to the Force and yet only really able to produce results in its use that met required standards - no more and no less. Most of his time was spent studying his copy of The Jedi Path, which he was known to keep under his pillow, but mostly the section on the forms of saber combat.

When it came to the Initiate Trials he passed, but barely, his lack of skill in the Force very nearly seeing him fail - only his own stubbornness and extreme focus saving him from being sent to the Service Corps, the only one of his clan that would have received that fate. It was also at this time that Falak Doo-Tarr, the very Knight that had bought him to the Order many years ago, observed the Initiate and his internal conflict, seeing that in spite of an underlying anger ready to come out, he kept his cool and remained calm rather than giving in to rashness and loss of control over oneself. He also recognised that there was potential here, potential to pass down his teachings on the internal side of the Force to another, another who may well have the strength of character to learn them. Oh, and the fact that he was larger and more robust than all the other children in his clan - with the exception of the Wookiee - probably didn't hurt either.

Padawan

By the time that Master and Padawan were ratified by the Council, and a few years thereafter sent on their first mission together into wider space, Falak had already began teaching his young apprentice all he could. This process of exchange began with the views of the Rodian on the relationship of the Force, impressing on his Padawan that it was an energy to be harnessed and used to strengthen ones own body and mind at every opportunity through meditation and focus during combat training. Throughout this time he also held up examples of historical Jedi, educated his charge in languages, history, navigation and piloting, and generally encouraged his usually silent apprentices leanings toward deep and intense meditation partnered with a functional skill-at-arms.

Their first mission took place in 57 BBY, T'ish being sixteen at the time and not yet having constructed his own lightsaber, both going into what was supposed to be a simple case of restraining one set of miners from massacring the opposition in an asteroid belt where minerals had been discovered. What they encountered when they got there were two large factions ready to kill one another, Falak setting about bringing the two sides to a peaceful resolution without conflict...something that did not go down so well with the mostly Human miners. Instead, ignorant and filled with bloodlust, the larger group of miners decided to attack anyway, and on protesting Falak was attacked and forced to resort to the use of his saber to escape.

Though perhaps a rather mundane event for the Jedi Knight, and with an unsuccessful result at that, it saw the Kel Dor Padawan only become more engrossed in forging his own weapon and learning to wield it. By this time he had already visited the Jedi Archives tens of times, each time spending nearly days poring over tales of daring Jedi exploits, swordsmen engaged in duels, and more-or-less every story that seemed in one way or another to go against what a Jedi was supposed to be. Not that this mattered to him! His studies had guided him to the tale of Exar Kun, and his venerable master, and sparked something - something that would become a lifetime obsession for T'ish - which would see longer hours of mediation, focus on training only increasing, and a request to his Master that he be allowed to construct his own saber.

Following the request it would be five years, five long years of remaining calm with the situation and instead dedicating himself to sinking deeper into the living force through exercises and meditation, before he was allowed to build his own weapon.

T'ish had now been with his Master for a little over eight years, and in that time Falak had taught him as much as he could in as much detail as he could, and when it came to the Force and its applications the Rodian was somewhat of an expert on the more esoteric side of using ones own body to channel it. With guidance and short but frequent lessons the Kel Dor learnt to let go, to feel the energy within his own body, and to use it to his advantage in situations of conflict, Falak becoming more impressed and yet more concerned about his Padawan with every lesson. He could tell that his apprentice was not interested, as he was, in finding a balance between diplomatic and less diplomatic uses of the Force, that T'ish desired knowledge that would benefit him in the heat of battle yet also remain cool under extremes both in combat or out of it. The disconcerted Rodian did his best, and was rewarded with a keen and apt student who eagerly learnt and swiftly adapted, but also one that he feared may go that one step too far in his search for perfection in the martial ways of the Jedi.

So, at the age of twenty-one, T'ish constructed his second lightsaber; having already constructed a rudimentary and rather coarse weapon during his time as an Initiate, but, ever seeking perfection in all things, he concentrated for several days to form the finest hilt and blade that he could to replace it - replacing what he considered as a mere training tool with what he held to be a true weapon of a Jedi Knight. From there his path toward martial perfection truly began, already internally prepared, but until that moment unable to fully fulfil his motivations of becoming a swordsman of renown within the Order.

With lightsaber in hand, and with his Master coming and going during many following years due to errands from his superiors judged to be too hazardous for his student, T'ish spent this time in the Temple training with as many talented duelists as he could find time to spar with, this period also clearly reinforcing his introverted and even isolated nature. Though some instructors initially refused to teach him, stating any number of reasons, they each eventually consented and over the next twelve years he fought tooth-and-nail to gain experience - experience in a training situation, but experience nonetheless - in each Form of lightsaber combat. 

In the end he realised that he could not master them all, or at least not with the time currently given to him, and so settled on Form Six, known as Niman after the classical style of duel fencing; this initial interest would bloom into a life-long obsession over mastering, or at least becoming proficient, in each form of lightsaber combat and even going so far as to request special instruction in Jar'Kai (as opposed to the familiar 'Jar'Kai' tactic) after reading it in one of his many texts of reference and study.

By the time he was thirty-three years of age he had been apprenticed to Falak for nearly seventeen years, far longer than most pairings of master and apprentice, and it was only really during this period that he would travel with his master to engage in anything other than non-violent actions in remote or Outer Rim territories. Thus far he had learnt much from Falak, able to engage in sustained meditation for a week or more, able to judge the actions of another before they even knew themselves what they were about to do, as well as being able to understand a language and hold back pain that would surely overwhelm others. Yet this was not all that Falak had to teach him, and he was far from done with the Kel dor, even after so much time.

The first true taste of combat for T'ish would come during the latter most phase of the Andoan Wars, he and his master sent to make their own judgements and then assist the faction that they found to be in the right on this occasion. Once they arrived in the Lambda sector, it was quite clear that the Andoan Free Colonies were clearly being oppressed by the Spiverelda, and both Jedi did their best to put an end to the conflict in the favour of the Aqualish colonists. This was something that the Spiverelda - the eventual victors of the war - could not allow, and the pair were soon assaulted by a group of hired mercenaries who boarded their shuttle.

It was the first time that the Kel Dor used his skills for actual damage, decapitating an Aqualish traitor, and was a memory that would haunt the Padawan for years to come. At the time he had little to think about, and after clearing the thugs from their vessel they escaped back to colony space. The eventual outcome of the conflict was demilitarization by the Republic, a favourable outcome as far as it went, but real combat had both shaken T'ish and urged him to increase his focus in equal measure.

The isolated Battle of Baltizaar, almost six years later (33 BBY), saw the pair accompany a Jedi strike force in combat against a force-using cult known as the Bando Gora. This cult had been marked for death in the past, but no-one had ever managed to eradicate them, an attack and possible takeover of the planet Baltizaar prompting the Republic to send a task force of the Jedi Order to either eliminate the cult or at least drive it away from the planet. It was during this conflict that T'ish fought other users of the force, as well as coming to terms with the killing of others for a greater good, Falak having taught his apprentice (of over two decades!) All he had to teach, even the use of Force valour which served him so well in the fight against the cult.

Ultimately the Bando Gora were driven from the planet, though not destroyed or their power broken, leaving three Jedi captured and more than a dozen dead or severely wounded. T'ish found his master coughing up his own blood, impaled and getting weaker by the moment, the Jedi Consular just not made t or trained for severe combat. He died in the arms of his apprentice, but not before confiding in him that he had nominated him for the Jedi Trials, dying a contented death in the full knowledge that his Padawan would become a Knight.

Knighthood/Clone Wars

Eleven years would pass before the First Battle of Geonosis, and the beginnings of the Clone Wars, a dark cloud looming over T'ish and the entire Jedi Order. During these years he did indeed attain the rank of a Jedi Knight - demonstrating endurance, affinity with the Force, above-average skill in lightsaber combat and generally excelling in all he did. Upon his completion of the trials and the hardships to come, there was no question that a new Jedi Guardian would now serve the Order, moving toward the specialist post of Peacekeeper as the Clone Wars commenced. 

Due to his duties in this position T'ish spent most of his time at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and in the general vicinity around the Temple and the Senate building, working both as personal security for particular senators as well as taking part in more general policing within the Order and beyond the confines of the majestic Temple walls. Thanks to his specialisation in saber dueling, his mastery of Form Six only increasing with his advance in years, he was always occupied with helping to solve disputes, training younger Jedi, or spending time continuing to improve himself.

However, his time was not all taken up in the Temple and on Coruscant, the Council requesting him to partake in a number of missions off-world. While he had been absent from Geonosis, for example, he was to take part in a number of the major battles of the conflict - promoted on more than one occasion to acting Jedi General - including participating in the battles of Krant, Jabiim and flying a starfighter in the Republic defeat of the Battle of Duro. More minor missions would include a more diplomatic one to his homeworld of Kel Dor, reassuring his planet that the Jedi would do all they could to defend the planet in the case of invasion, T'ish visiting the Baran Do but spending little time with them before returning to Coruscant.

[I'll leave this open for anyone who fancies adding to my history, as a relationship, friendship, whatever. If no-one does, then we can safetly assume that T'ish would return from Kel Dor and continue to serve the Jedi Order in a policing and combat capacity until Operation: Knightfall.]

Secrets:

Inner Conflicts: Due to his species' innate sense of right and wrong, as well as his dedication to martial training, T'ish is regularly plagued by internal conflicts of various sorts. Most recently, he had been pondering once more on the path that was taken by the once-Jedi Exar Kun, how letting in some of the Dark Side clearly enchanced his prowess with the lightsaber, but also led him down a path to his own destruction. Such thoughts are dangerous to a Jedi, even more so in the current climate - so uncertain as the future is, and clouded by the very same Dark Side - and the Kel Dor swordsman does his very best to keep such thoughts under wraps and to himself.

Relations:

Falak Doo-Tar: Rodian Jedi Master, Former Master.
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