Name: Akaara Shillis
Species: Togruta
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Faction: Jedi Order
Rank: Jedi Knight
Master: None
Captive? Yes
Appearance:
Akaara stands at about average height for a Togruta, at 1.65m. Her species' somewhat savage appearance, with brightly coloured skin colourings and sharp, carnivore teeth, goes in contrast with her otherwise calm, temperate and collected personality. Akaara gives off a particular aura of peace, hardly ever moving around with particular speed or raising her voice. Generally clad in the long, slightly conservative robes that betray her as one of the Jedi Order's more scholarly members, there is definitely an austere note to her comportment that contrasts heavily with the traditionally exuberant nature of her species' appearance.
Notable Characteristics of Species:
The Togruta abhor solitude. They are inherently a tribalistic people, and to be separated from one's 'tribe' is an uncomfortable experience. Akaara is no different; as her tribe she adopted the Jedi Order, and the extended amounts of time that she spent on Coruscant, in the depths of the Archives, were her way of staying close to this extended family that she had built up. The species is also carnivorous; they can consume only meat, and both their digestive system and teeth are designed for this. Furthermore, the montrals (often mistaken for lekku) that grow out of their head are not, as with the Twi'lek, extensions of their brain, but are used for echolocation and other sensory based activities - another hang-over from the species' days as a tribal hunting society.
Flaws:
Bookish to the last, Akaara's long-standing research in the Jedi Temple means that she has relatively little experience on open combat missions (though she was sure not to let her combat skills slip per se). She is much more comfortable amongst knowledge than in the thick of battle. Her love of knowledge is her second flaw; only time can tell to what limits Akaara will go to acquire new information and understanding of the Force and of the galaxy. The destruction of the Jedi Temple devastated her on a deeply personal level due to it also involving the decimation of her beloved Jedi Archive; if there is any hint that the knowledge contained therein was preserved it was likely that she would stop at nothing to reacquire it.
Skills:
On a personal level, Akaara has surprisingly developed interpersonal skills for someone who has henceforth spent the vast majority of their life amongst the Jedi Archives. She took great pleasure in teaching classes of younglings on the rudimentaries of the history of the force, the history of the Jedi Order (with occasional tasteful omissions) and the various lightsaber forms. She also was known to give occasional counsel and advice to both padawans and other knights who were about to embark on missions, mostly about the terrain of the land they were about to visit and any threats they could reasonably expect. She continues to possess this reassuring quality; it has become even more essential in captivity, and with the knowledge of the Archives potentially lost, Akaara knows that she is perhaps one of the foremost authorities left on various aspects of Jedi behaviour.
As far as lightsaber combat is concerned, Akaara wielded a blue single bladed lightsaber (since lost or confiscated, presumably) and was most proficient in Form I: Shii-Cho, taking the most basic of lightsaber forms and adapting it artfully to be competitive. She was also in the process of making inroads towards learning Form VI: Niman before the Temple attack.
Force capabilities:
Traditionally consular by occupation, Akaara possesses a modest range of force powers, including mid-level telekinesis, mild healing powers, and, most important for her, a higher resistance than most to Dark Side mind attacks, built up with occasional exposure to less than savoury objects that she acquired in service to the Order. Her own penetrative mind powers are also not insignificant.
Biography:
Akaara was born on the Togruta capital Corvala on their home world of Shili, where she was discovered at a young age by a passing Jedi Knight through routine screening processes. She only has vague memories of Shili; dense, humid forests and soft, fragrant grasslands interspersed with the comfortable hum of speeders outside and the way the planet grew smaller and smaller into a green speck as the shuttle left en route to Coruscant and the Temple.
The Temple became the young Togruta's one and only home from that moment onwards. She displayed considerable intellectual aptitude from a young age, and was apprenticed to an Ithorian Jedi Archivist called Masa Kurrub as a padawan after around ten years as a youngling. By that time Akaara had already developed a reputation for her austere behaviour and impressive learning, and she was a frequent visitor to the Jedi Archives and at times abrasively perceptive questioner of elder Jedi. Soon, she was able to discuss some of the finer points of the Force's application, history and Jedi philosophy. Kurrub encouraged her to expand her abilities, and she travelled with him throughout the Republic collecting various artefacts of worth.
The transition to Jedi Knight was relatively smooth; Akaara was relieved at the prospect of being able to pursue her learning in a more undisturbed and self-motivated context. She nonetheless undertook several missions to collect important force objects, and along the way learned an impressive amount of diplomatic skill; on one occasion negotiating the handover of several ancient lightsabers from a Hutt spicelord. Akaara had been increasingly on the path towards a more outward facing career as a Jedi diplomat when the growing menace of the Sith forced her deep into the Archives in the search for lost or forgotten knowledge that might expose some fundamental weakness in the Order's enemies.
Akaara was teaching a class of younglings when the Sith attacked. Putting herself between their troops and her students, Akaara fought off the Sith from a narrow chokepoint deep in the Archives for a relatively sustained time as her students took the opportunity to disperse as best they could and escape the annihilation. She was eventually, however, knocked unconscious when a Sith Lord entered the fray and brought down a holodeck shelf on top of her, knocking her out cold. When she awoke, she was no longer in the Temple.
The loss of the Archives was immediately known to her - it felt like a gaping void in the Force; even more than the deaths of all those who had given their lives in defence of the Temple. For a few days in captivity Akaara was catatonically silent as she processed the information. Now, however, she has been roused to action by her duty to her Order, and to the padawans and younger Jedi for whom this experience has made them fundamentally question their faith in what side of the Force is correct.
Personality and/or Motivation:
Fundamentally resolute to the point of stubbornness, Akaara is motivated by a desire to see the Jedi survive this next ordeal. They are the only family she has ever known, and she is unwilling to let their traditions, customs and philosophies (which she knows a good deal about) die out in this instance. She has taken it as her duty to be a beacon of hope and calm for the padawans and other, less stable Jedi onboard the ship while she awaits rescue. What she will do to facilitate their escape, however, is less certain.
The Togruta is also motivated by a desire to know the extent of the destruction of the Jedi Archives, and whether any of the information contained therein survived - either captured by the Sith, or within other, older, hidden temples around the galaxy.
Player’s long term goals:
- Find out what happened to Akaara's ex-master.
- Aid in recovery/discovery of lost/new Jedi knowledge.
- Provide a figure of inspiration (or perhaps dissatisfaction?) for captive Jedi.
- Avoid romance at all costs!
Relations:
Final Point - Secrets:
In the days leading up to the Sith attack, Akaara had become increasingly interested in the history of the Jedi's main adversary and had begun research outside of the Temple in the seedy underbelly of Coruscant in order to glean more information about their beliefs and philosophies. Ostensibly, this interest is purely academic; she displays no hint, inwardly or outwardly, of being in any way anything but fanatically loyal to the light side of the Force.
