Jhon Cordatus

Jhon Cordatus was a   who served as the  and a member of the  in the. He was born on in 957 ABY and became the  of  Jayda Hal. After a number of years, Cordatus was promoted to Jedi Knight after training in the ways of a, despite his stronger proficiency for the reception and interpretation of visions and dreams.

In 981 ABY, Cordatus was part of a Jedi team that assisted Imperial forces in Imperial territory in the hopes of rescuing the Princess of Oro Prime, a planet that had a decade-long feud with the nearby planet Ardos that had kidnapped the princess. Cordatus was able to rescue the princess, but his actions in attacking Ardosian forces prompted an explosion that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and led to a war between Ardos and Oro Prime.

After a year-long exile for his actions, Cordatus chose to become a and studied under Sage Master Errand Khoss. He was elevated to the level of Jedi Master and taught a number of classes in the Sage Halls of before becoming one of the leaders of the Sage Halls. Khoss later died and was succeeded by Bratak Dar, who later disappeared in Imperial space. Cordatus interpreted visions and disturbances in to mean that the  had returned and assumed control of the Empire, and, when he was proven correct and Dar did not return, was elected to the High Council and became Sage Master.

Cordatus served as a High Council member for a number of years. In 1,011 ABY, he received a vision that the Sith were finally preparing to launch a war against the and the Jedi, allowing the Council and the Galactic Congress to prepare for war. After the resignation of Valafar Lamartine, Cordatus became interim Chief of State of the Alliance, an office he held until a new Chief of State was elected. Following the bombing of the Jedi Temple on and the departure of Grand Master Lecchamemnon, Cordatus became Grand Master of the Jedi.

Early life and training
Jhon Cordatus was born on in 957 ABY. His father and mother were both nineteen year old s when he was born. From the time he was boy, Cordatus showed an ability to receive and interpret visions and dreams from, which allowed him to predict possible futures and see things that were happening in the present. He also had an interest in the powers and philosophies of the Force, although he was less talented in combat.

His parents hoped that he would become a, but Cordatus wanted to serve under a who could teach him to be a warrior in the art of lightsaber combat. It was his goal to use his abilities with visions in battle against enemies of the and the. The had some reservations about granting this request, as they were concerned about an eleven year old boy having strong desires to learn the ways of combat, but they agreed to allow him to do so. He was assigned to Jayda Hal, a  Jedi who took a more moderate and less-combat oriented approach than Cordatus had wanted but who nonetheless possessed strong skills with a lightsaber.



Cordatus trained with Master Hal for a number of years, during which time he learned to hone his skills with a lightsaber. He later reflected that her most important teaching was that a Jedi's strength came through the character and convictions with which they used a lightsaber, not through physical and combat strength alone. After many years together, he felt he had learned this lesson well, though in truth he did not yet fully grasp or understand the concept.

In 977 ABY, when he was twenty years old, Master Hal agreed that Cordatus was ready to face the. He doubted if he was ready, but he faced the Trials after she reassured him that he was. Cordatus passed the Jedi Trials and became a Jedi Knight, and he felt proud that Master Hal and his parents had put their faith into him at that point.

Mission to Ardos
Four years later, the Jedi were called upon to help resolve tensions between two planets, Ardos and Oro Prime, in the Empire, which was still allied with the Galactic Alliance and the Jedi at that time. The two worlds had been faced with deteriorating relations for the previous ten years, and Ardos captured the princess of Oro Prime and held her hostage in exchange for a number of demands. One such demand was the disestablishment of the Oro Prime planetary militia, which the Ardosians believed was planning to attack Ardos. As the Imperial government had been unable to resolve the matter, it requested that a small group of Jedi assist Imperial forces in solving the situation.

The Jedi and the Alliance were hesitant to involve themselves in the internal military affairs of the Empire, but they nonetheless agreed to assist in an Imperial-led operation aimed at rescuing the princess. Cordatus volunteered to be a member of the strike time, hoping to use his combat skills against real opponents.

When the team arrived on Ardos, they infiltrated the compound in the middle of the night. They were discovered during the infiltration, leading to a firefight between the Ardosians and the strike force. Cordatus and the Jedi moved to the front lines of the team, thereby protecting the Imperial forces, before they split up to complete separate objectives. Jhon was tasked with locating the princess, and he fought his way to where she was being held and ultimately rescued her.

As Cordatus would later claim, his success in finding the princess led him to become over-confident and prideful during the remainder of the mission. As he was fleeing with the princess, he threw his lightsaber at a group of Ardosian soldiers with the intention of having it boomerang back to him, but the blade also hit the facility's power generator that stood behind the soldiers. This sparked a meltdown in the facility, forcing the team and the Ardosians to evacuate. Because of the short meltdown time, however, there was not enough time to warn the nearby population. Although the team and the princess were safe, the ensuing explosion killed hundreds of civilians and injured thousands more.

The result of the incident was an Ardosian declaration of war against Oro Prime, as Ardos believed it was a deliberate attack meant to create mass destruction on Ardos. The war that followed claimed the life of the Princess of Oro Prime when an Ardosian soldier slit her throat. The Imperial military ultimately intervened and ended the conflict.

Becoming a Jedi Sage
As a punishment for his actions on Ardos, the Jedi Council placed Cordatus under arrest. He began feeling guilt and sorrow for his actions, and he could detect the disturbances in the Force for every death that occurred as a result of the war. The High Council considered permanently exiling him from the New Jedi Order, which he felt they would have been right to do, but instead he was exiled for only one year and sent to work in a Jedi mine.

During his exile, he went through a period of self-doubt and self-pity, and he considered leaving the Jedi entirely. He felt he had failed in learning Jayda Hal’s instruction about how a Jedi’s strength came through the strength of character and conviction rather than combat prowess alone, a painful lesson for him.

Cordatus' exile ended after one year and he chose to return to the New Jedi Order, realizing that his self-punishment would only lead him towards the. Cordatus came to believe that a Jedi’s life was one continuous mistake with which they could learn and grow from. To that end, he chose to leave the path of a Jedi Guardian and become a seer, a prophet, and a sage, which his parents had hoped for him to begin with.

In order to hone his abilities to see and interpret visions and dreams, Cordatus began training in the Sage Halls on under Errand Khoss, a High Council member and the Sage Master of the New Jedi Order. He was able to learn how to channel his relatively untapped abilities into more detailed and accurate interpretations of visions and dreams. Khoss also suggested that Cordatus train in the Hall of Healing as a, which Cordatus accepted; he believed it would help him forgive himself for the suffering on Ardos and Oro Prime, which it ultimately did.

In 994 ABY, Cordatus was elevated to the level of and became a teacher in the Sage Halls. Khoss felt that the new Jedi Master had a talent for teaching, and the Sage Master believed that Cordatus’ self-forgiveness and self-transformation on Ardos made Cordatus a good choice for working under him in the administration of the temple. Cordatus continued to teach classes and occasionally trained students one-on-one, all while overseeing a number of healing trainees in the Hall of Healers.

Election to the Council
Five years after Cordatus’ elevation to Jedi Master, Khoss became ill and passed away from natural causes. When the Councilor knew he would die, he requested that the High Council choose Cordatus as his successor, despite his short tenure as a Master. Because the Council was wary about Cordatus due to the events on Ardos, they instead chose Master Bratak Dar to become the next Sage Master and Jedi High Council member. Cordatus respected that decision as he felt that Dar was a capable Jedi, and he understood the Council’s reservations about the Ardosian incident.

Cordatus continued to work in the Sage Halls under Dar until 1,002 ABY, when Dar was sent on assignment into Imperial territory to assist Imperial forces in a sensitive operation. However, Dar never reported back, and he was not heard from by the Jedi High Council again once his previously routine correspondences ceased. The Jedi investigated his disappearance but they could not reach a conclusion about what had happened.

Shortly after Dar’s disappearance, Cordatus began having visions and dreams that were stronger than he had felt before, to the point where he could not initially interpret them. He also felt a shift in the Force that created a number of disturbances, none of which the Jedi could understand at first. Cordatus withdrew from his teachings in order to study his visions, and he ultimately realized that the had returned for the first time in nearly nine hundred years and had taken control of the Empire.

He reported his interpretations of the visions and disturbances in the Force to the High Council, along with his belief that Dar had been killed by the Sith in Imperial territory. The Order’s Prime Envoy, a High Council member and a member of the Galactic Congress, reported Cordatus’ findings to Congress. The ordered a covert operation into Imperial territory, where the operatives confirmed the findings.

Due to his successful interpretation of the events, the High Council elected Cordatus to succeed Dar as Sage Master and Councilor. He took over the administration of the Sage Halls of Empress Teta, overseeing all training and matters related to seers, prophets, and sages, as well as the Hall of Healing. He also became the chief interpreter of visions and dreams in the New Jedi Order.

Training a Padawan
Cordatus served on the Council for a number of years following his appointment. During that time, he was sent by the Jedi Council to an orphanage in the slums of, where the Council had asked him to meet a young girl who lived there. Upon his arrival, Cordatus was told that the girl, Andraste, did not have family who visited her, and that she had been involved in incidents with other children at the orphanage.

When he met Andraste, she was under the impression that he would call her crazy, as she had been labelled as such by those at the orphanage. The Sage Master sensed her to the Force, recognizing that the incidents she had been involved in were as a result of the Force manifesting itself within her. Despite sensing she had an uncertain and clouded future, he chose to offer to bring her to Empress Teta to be trained as a Jedi. She was hesitant at first, but he was able to convince her, using her affection for flowers to tell her about the rich environment surrounding the Sage Halls where she would be able to live.

Andraste traveled with Cordatus to Empress Teta, where she was accepted by the Council for training. All of the Council members recognized that she had darkness within her, but helping her overcome it was why the Sage Master chose to train her as his Padawan. As they began training, Cordatus taught her many aspects of a Jedi's life and the philosophies behind them, including the Eightfold Path to Transcend the Dark Side, which were central tenets he believed a Jedi was wise to follow.

Despite Cordatus' training, Andraste believed that she had a chaotic monster within her, one that continued to cause her to do harm to others. While on Empress Teta, she attacked a group of Padawans and nearly mutilated them. Fearing that this was because of an inherent darkness within her, she left Empress Teta and Cordatus behind, ultimately joining the Sith.

Looming war
In 1,011 ABY, Cordatus saw a vision that told him Darth Aevum, the Dark Lady and Empress of the Sith, had been killed and succeeded by her apprentice, Darth Judicar. Based on what he had seen in his vision, Cordatus relayed to the High Council that Judicar was much more eager for war than his late master, suggesting that a war between the Galactic Alliance and the Empire was soon to come. Per a Jedi Council request, and the approval of Chief of State Valafar Lamartine, Cordatus addressed the Alliance Congress about his vision and requested that Alliance intelligence operatives be sent to confirm his vision. The vision was ultimately proven correct.

As preparations for war continued, Chief of State Lamartine unexpectedly suffered a near-fatal heart attack. His father had died of a heart attack around the same age, so, concerned for his own health, the Chief of State chose to resign from office and focus on other aspects of his life, including his health. Standard transitional procedure was for the Prime Envoy to become interim Chief of State, but then-recently appointed Prime Envoy Bacilla Kane was unable to fulfill the role due to other commitments. The Jedi Council elected Cordatus to assume the temporary posting in her place, and Cordatus assured the Congress that his goal was to oversee a transition to a new Chief of State, not to remain in power or coordinate military policy.

The looming threat of the Sith caused stress amongst members of the High Council, as well as a desire amongst some members to remove any hint of the dark side from the Jedi. One such case was when Battle Master Augustus Primus Leonus walked in on a fight between a group of Jedi where emotions so as anger were in use. Two Jedi, Kalen Conner and Kelly Cross, were called before the High Council. Grand Master Beric Kanasur deemed that Conner would restart his Jedi training, whereas Cross would face immediately exile from the Order due to her use lashing out in anger against Conner during the fight. Cordatus protested the decision, as they were not given a chance to defend themselves, but the decision stood and Cross chose to leave. Cordatus, however, requested that she meet him on.

In the aftermath of the Council session, Cordatus continued working on the transition to a new administration when a number of Jedi requested a meeting with the High Council. Because Cordatus was still a member of the High Council, he attended the Tython-based session via hologram, where a group of Jedi issued a vote of no confidence against Grand Master Kanasur and Prime Envoy Kane. Although Cordatus would have preferred it not have happened, he did not object when it was issued. The Grand Master, Prime Envoy, and the Battle Master&mdash;the latter a close friend of the Grand Master&mdash;all stepped down. Lore Master Lecchamemnon became Grand Master, while Cordatus remained Sage Master. Further promotions saw Daisuke Sonam Fuyu become Battle Master, Virzivil Axgar become Prime Envoy, and Nuju Leafskipper become Lore Master.

It was not until after the vote of no confidence that Cordatus was able to meet with Kelly Cross on Coruscant. When they met, Cordatus offered to propose to the new High Council that she be allowed to re-enter the New Jedi Order, pending additional training that would help her to control her anger. Cross accepted the offer.

Soon thereafter, an Imperial attack on the The Will of the Force, the flagship of the New Jedi Order, led to the vessel's destruction. In the aftermath, Cordatus used his authority as interim Chief of State to call an emergency session of Congress. After consulting with military advisers, Congressional leaders, and the High Council, the Sage Master requested that Congress declare war against the Empire, a resolution that Congress approved. Furthermore, to ensure that the Jedi were not left without a defensive vessel, Cordatus issued Executive Order 9287, transferring command of an Alliance military vessel to the New Jedi Order. The ship was re-christened Light of the Force and replaced The Will of the Force as the Jedi flagship.

Recovering from destruction
Once a new Alliance administration was chosen, Cordatus relinquished the position of Chief of State and returned to Empress Teta. While there, he attended a meeting of the Jedi Council via hologram where a former Jedi turned Sith, Aÿisha Remy, stood before the Council on Coruscant seeking answers for why Jedi she had known were killed at the hands of the Sith. Unknown to the Council, Remy had smuggled a proton bomb inside of her lightsaber. Although Cordatus attempted to convince her to remain with the Jedi and seek redemption, she chose to leave the Coruscanti Temple and left her lightsaber behind. Once she left the temple, the bomb exploded, killing the Jedi Council members in attendance&mdash;Battle Master Fuyu, Prime Envoy Axgar, and Lore Master Leafskipper&mdash;and destroying the Coruscanti Temple. Cordatus and the Grand Master, who also attended via hologram, were left unharmed.

Cordatus remained on Empress Teta, and from there he helped the Grand Master coordinate the rebuilding of the Jedi leadership and deal with the aftermath of the bombing. He met with Zsaekriel Dtoahfre'Vuun, an who briefly served as their  after their former leader, Bellatrix La Rogue, was killed in the Jedi Temple bombing. Dtoahfre'Vuun chose to join with the New Jedi Order in order to fight against the Sith, and he was appointed as one of two Battle Masters, with a focus on offensive combat, and given a seat on the Jedi Council.

In addition to Dtoahfre'Vuun, Bektar Vor Tulon was chosen to serve as the second Battle Master, and he was placed in charge of defensive combat and security. As Cordatus prepared to travel to Coruscant to meet with Vor Tulon, who was overseeing the damage assessment on Coruscant, the Sage Master sensed that Andraste, his former apprentice, was on Empress Teta. He found her outside the Sage Hall grounds, where she told him of how she had become a member of the Sith leadership but that she had kept the security of Empress Teta a secret from them.

Although Andraste was insistent that she was a bad person who would surely bring harm upon others, Cordatus told her what he had always believed&mdash;that whatever her flaws, she was a good person. Before she chose to leave, the Sage Master sensed that she was pregnant. Cordatus allowed her to leave, reminding her to hold on to the good things in her life in order to find redemption.

Cordatus left Empress Teta aboard the Light of the Force once Andraste was gone, and he arrived on Coruscant to meet with Vor Tulon and assess the rubble of the Jedi Temple for himself. Cordatus gave Vor Tulon approval to begin rebuilding the Jedi Temple and increase security there and at other Jedi locations. They also began discussing increased security for Alliance worlds, for which Cordatus gave Vor Tulon approval to begin pursuing.

Upon the completion of the meeting, Cordatus returned to Empress Teta aboard the Light of the Force. During the return trip, he briefly entered a training class designed to better Jedi fighting abilities led by Dtoahfre'Vuun. Cordatus knew that the methods the former Imperial Knight planned to use would be more intense than what the Jedi were used to, so he entered the class via hologram in order to assure the participants that he had full confidence in Dtoahfre'Vuun.

The Jedi continued to train and rebuild in the aftermath of the bombing, while the Sith turned their attention towards the s, who occupied space that the Sith wanted for themselves. In order to claim it, the Sith issued an ultimatum demanding that the Mandalorians vacate the territory or be destroyed. In order to save their civilization, the Mandalorians chose to leave, and the Alliance offered them worlds to settle on in Alliance territory. A treaty was put together to formalize this, and Cordatus was chosen to sign for the Alliance, as neither the Chief of State nor the Grand Master could attend on short notice. The Sage Master traveled to Tython, where he met with Mandalore the Indomitable and the two signed the treaty.

Becoming Grand Master
Cordatus met with the Grand Master after the signing of the treaty, where Lecchamemnon informed him that he was stepping down as leader of the Jedi. As the most senior Jedi left on the High Council, Cordatus rose to the position of Grand Master. Ebberla Daw was appointed Sage Master and Adalii Jenarian became Lore Master, completing the appointments of new High Council members.

When the new Council was in place, Cordatus and most of the other Councilors traveled to Coruscant, where a candlelight vigil was held at the ruins of the Jedi Temple in honor of those who were killed in the bombing. Hundreds of thousands of Jedi, civilians, and political and military leaders attended in order to pay their respects. Recovery crews continued to work during the vigil, and Padawan Urufu Nekkare was rescued from the rubble during the service, giving hope to those in attendance.

Personality and traits
During his time as a Jedi Padawan, Cordatus was focused on being a Jedi warrior, wanting to fight against the enemies of the Jedi using skills with a lightsaber rather than skills with the Force. He had the ability to sense the currents in the Force, suggesting he would be fit for the role of a sage, but instead he wished to use that ability in battle against his enemies. These abilities caused him, by his own recollection, to become arrogant and over-confident in his own skills.

It was not until the war between Ardos and Oro Prime that he realized the negative traits that dominated his personality. Through his exile and his training upon his return to the Jedi, he came to realize what his master had taught him years earlier, namely that the strength of a Jedi came not through defeating enemies on a battlefield, but through the strength of their character and the convictions with which they wielded the blade of a Jedi. The self-doubt that he felt over his actions in sparking the war led him to ultimately believing that the life of a Jedi was one continuous mistake, and he could use his faults and failures to learn and improve himself. These realizations led him to becoming a Jedi sage and, ultimately, the Grand Master of the New Jedi Order.

The evolution of his views about the Jedi also led him to being a proponent of forgiveness and understanding amongst the Jedi leadership when he was on the High Council. He did not believe that exiling Jedi was appropriate except under the most extreme circumstances, and he opposed arbitrary exiling of Jedi without accused Jedi having a chance to defend themselves. One of his core beliefs in this same regard was that of redemption and the goodness of human nature, which he saw as something that was inherently good. While human nature could be corrupted, he also believed it could be redeemed.

As a teacher, Cordatus taught what he called the Eightfold Path to Transcend the Dark Side. He believed that those who followed the dark side could be redeemed, but that it was even more important to teach Jedi students what he saw as the proper way to live the life of a Jedi and, through it, avoid corruption and inspire goodness in other beings. This philosophy included such concepts as Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration, Right Intention, and Right Understanding. Cordatus stressed, however, that these concepts and philosophies were not rules, but rather ways for a Jedi to avoid the dark side while living naturally and true to themselves in order to do what they knew was right.

All of his philosophies, particularly as a High Council member, related to what he referred to as “the Way,” namely the Way of the Jedi. He taught that commitment to the Way meant giving up selfish desires and showing a willingness to help those in need, including those who had fallen to or were struggling with the dark side. He also felt it was important to teach Jedi to follow the Way in a manner that suited their particular life and needs, as well as the lives of all beings.

It was critical to Cordatus to remind the Jedi, particularly his fellow High Council members, to follow the Way after the war broke out between the New Sith Imperium and the Jedi and the Alliance. He saw the Jedi involvement in the war not as a militaristic endeavor, but as an extension of their duty to protect the people of the galaxy. He recognized, however, that being a Jedi in a time of war could be difficult and cause conflict within themselves, but that they could remain strong individuals if they held true to the Way.

Despite his many strengths, he did view one flaw within himself, and that was himself. He believed that the greatest flaw of all beings was themselves, namely the corruption that they could inflict upon themselves. Cordatus, for example, was once full of pride, which resulted in the deaths of others. He would later teach that thoughts like pride could consume a Jedi, and that all Jedi, himself included, had to work to avoid it.

Powers and abilities
Cordatus viewed the most important ability of a Jedi to being one who was able to overcome themselves and be a better person for it. The evolution of his abilities from a Guardian to a sage was as an extension of this belief. He had trained as a Padawan to become a duelist, but after the war between Ardos and Oro Prime he chose to become a sage. By the time he was the Sage Master, he was looked upon by his fellow Jedi as a master of the Force.

As Sage Master, one of his roles was to be the Chief Healer in the Hall of Healing, located in the Sage Halls of Empress Teta. He had the abilities of a healer, though he did not see himself as the best healer of his time. His ability to detect the currents of the Force also led him to being the Council’s interpreter of visions and dreams, roles that he fulfilled when he first saw the return of the Sith and the death of Darth Aevum in visions.

Behind the scenes
Jhon Cordatus is a role-playing character created by role-player and fan fiction author Brandon Rhea for Star Wars Legacies, the fifth and current role-playing timeline on TheStarWarsRP.Com. The character was posted on the website on,.

When developing the character, Rhea chose to use what he called an "obligatory tragic past for a Jedi" by creating the deaths on Ardos, which the character was responsible for. Rhea wanted to show that the character once had a desire to find adventure and excitement as a Jedi but later had to face the consequences of that choice in order to become the Jedi he currently is in the role-play. It was also to give Cordatus' teachings about Jedi philosophy a backing in the character's own experiences. According to Rhea, he did not want the character to have "learned philosophy in terms of just having it taught to him," but rather "he needed to learn it through the result of his own actions," thus giving his teachings more weight.

The character was well received by Rhea's fellow role-players. One role-player, Quill, enjoyed that there was a coherent story. HunterOrdo enjoyed the character as well, while wishing that Cordatus had started as a Jedi Padawan in the role-play in order to see all of the events of the biography unfold and how the character would react to them. Constantine noted that he believed it was rare to see a well-written Jedi character on the website, so he was pleased with Cordatus' profile. Laurent Bastien also enjoyed the character and felt that the writing style was very personal.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Legacies