Stav Kesh (Jedi Renaissance)

"You have the morning to perform breathing exercises, acclimatize to the altitude. After lunch your training begins. This afternoon, Force breathing.''" "''Breathing? I thought this was the Martial Arts temple."

- Master Tave and Dalien Brock

Stav Kesh, the Temple of Martial Arts, was one of nine Great Temples of the Jedi Order located on Kato Zakar continent of the verdant world of Tython. A temple-city fashioned from stone and metal, Stav Kesh was built on the slopes and peak of a mountain in the Ice Giant Range and it sat above where the Tho Yor pyramid ship that had brought the first pilgrims to the Ice Giants in 36,418 BrS was buried in the mountainside. Originally constructed by the year 35,984 BrS, Stav Kesh was rebuilt by the Jedi Order and once more became one of the stops along the Great Journey that all Jedi Journeyers took. Its instructors and Temple Master taught martial arts, weapon combat, and other forms of combat to all who came to the Temple.

Description
"Your first training session in Stav Kesh is almost at an end. This evening you will prepare food, scrub the kitchens, and then return here to clear the training yard of snow and mud. You might also visit the Tho Yor and meditate for a while. Meditation is a part of fighting. Centering yourself, finding and ensuring your balance."

- Master Tave, instructor during the last generation of Je'daii students.

Stav Kesh was a large stone temple-city located in the Ice Giant Range, a range of mountains on the continent of Kato Zakar on the planet Tython. The Tho Yor pyramid-ship that brought the first pilgrims to the Ice Giants in the year 36,418 BrS buried itself in the mountains, and the Je'daii Order built their own temple structures nearer the summit. The primary parts of the Temple were two large complexes built into the side of the mountain, with flat tops and sides that slanted down the mountain, and a cylindrical tower rose on the northern side of the temple proper. Open courtyards for combat training took up much of Stav Kesh's upper exterior. Sandstone buildings were constructed all the way up the mountain's slope, forming buttresses and cliffs of smooth stone, and windows and balconies dotted the surface of the mountains. A waterfall ran down the face of the temple and through the city, and an incredibly long staircase ran from the plains below to the top of the temple. Canvas window shades and pennants of dozens of colors were also a common sight, and the Force had a particularly strong presence at Stav Kesh. A significant cave system existed beneath the Temple which was warmed by magma lakes, and the Je'daii maintained hydroponic gardens there where they grew fruits and vegetables.

Je'daii Order
"No one can fight without balance."

- Temple Master Rupe

In 36,418 BrS, philosophers and scholars from across the galaxy first arrived on Tython in the age of the Infinite Empire. They were brought forth from the stars on giant pyramidal constructs called the Tho Yor before these nine massive ships scattered across the planet and landed in separate locations, releasing those held within to settle the planet. One of the Tho Yor traveled to the Ice Giant Range, a range of mountains on the southern continent of Kato Zakar, and deposited its passengers before burying itself in the mountainside. By the year 35,984 BrS, Stav Kesh&mdash;the Temple of Martial Arts&mdash;had been constructed by the Je'daii Order, as the pilgrims called themselves, and it was one of the nine Je'daii Temples that had been erected around or near the seven other Tho Yor and the ninth and largest Tho Yor. By that time, the Je'daii had established the tradition of the Great Journey, which saw young Je'daii known as Journeyers travel the surface of Tython and visit each temple. Stav Kesh's inhabitants developed the martial arts form known as Alchaka while training to perfect their martial arts abilities and their connection to the Force; many Je'daii jokingly claimed that Alchaka had been developed simply to keep warm at Stav Kesh. Weapons training was another discipline taught at the temple, and Stav Kesh tested the weapons developed by Vur Tepe, the Temple of Metallurgy, before they began being mass-produced. Ilias Rupe was the Temple Master of Stav Kesh around the year 27,952 BrS, and Temple Master Vor'Dana became Temple Master sometime before 25,977 BrS. Vor'Dana was still Temple Master by the year 25,962 BrS, and sometime during Vor'Dana's time as Temple Master the Je'daii fought and killed thirteen Sand Assassins in the Great Hall, a structure built deep in the mountains.

By the year 25,767 BrS, the Temple Master of Stav Kesh was a Talid named Lha-Mi; one of the Je'daii Masters at Stav Kesh, the Zabrak Dava Kin'ade, developed a machine known as the Darrow sphere several years before that. The Darrow sphere, a predecessor to the later training remote used by the Jedi Order, was a small sphere that acted as a sparring partner for trainees and delivered stun charges on contact. The sphere saw significant use at Stav Kesh, and one of Kin'ade's students nicknamed the sphere "Je'daii's bane." In 25,767 BrS, the Journeyers Lanoree and Dalien Brock arrived at Stav Kesh, and they joined a group of Journeyers who were already being trained by the Temple's instructors. During one training session with the Darrow sphere, Dalien Brock&mdash;who was only tenuously Force-sensitive and in fact despised the Force itself&mdash;tried to use a blaster against the sphere when he became fed up with it, and several trainees were almost killed in the chaos when the unskilled Brock opened fire aimlessly. Brock lied about the event when questioned, but despite his sister's protests, the Masters at the Temple could sense that Brock would never be a Je'daii and did not want to be one. The two spent several weeks at Stav Kesh before departing, and Dalien was trained separately by Master Tave when the other Journeyers were instructed by Kin'ade in the use of Force weapons. On the last day that the Brocks and several Journeyers spent at the temple, they were shown a demonstration fight between Lha-Mi and Tave in the Grand Hall before they were made to fight each other in practice bouts. Tave and Lha-Mi were still serving at Stav Kesh by 25,758 BrS, when Tave oversaw the training of three Journeyers&mdash;Sek'nos Rath, Tasha Ryo, and Shae Koda&mdash;in the courtyards atop Stav Kesh.

Upon arriving at Anil Kesh, it was necessary for all Journeyers to undergo an orientation of sorts which provided them with the skills they needed to endure the high altitude of the mountain-based Temple. The Je'daii Temple Master, the Je'daii who served as steward of the facility and oversaw its functions, would see that all students practiced safely and met goals on time. The Temple served the Order for millennia and the education received here was vital to a Je'daii's survival. When the Infinite Empire invaded the Tython system, many Je'daii were pulled from their posts at the academy to contribute to the war effort. Those who remained behind were young and eager to learn how to fight and join their brethren on the battlefield. Following the defeat of the Rakata, Je'daii stationed at Stav Kesh were stranded after the continued fighting of the Force Wars decimated most life in other regions of the world. Unable to escape the southern most continent, the survivors founded their own new cities along the coast of Kato Zakar. Over time the ruined structure of Stav Kesh was forgotten and abandoned, remaining largely preserved high in the mountains.

Reconstruction
Many millennia removed from the Force Wars, the Jedi Order saw itself weakened after a near fatal alliance with the Galactic Republic drew them into a deadly war. On the brink of extinction the Order appointed a new Grand Master, the Purpilian Tomac Moorcé, who would reinvigorate the Order and begin a new chapter in its history known as the Jedi Renaissance. Sending scouts to Tython, the High Council ordered an exploration of the ancient ruins of the Je'daii temples with the intent of rebuilding them and using them to bolster the existing Jedi academy system. Searching the mountains of Kato Zakar, the Builder Corps and the Council of Site Preservation and Construction eventually located the largely intact Temple and used ancient schematics and new technology to draw up plans for the Temple's rebirth.

As work was underway on Tython, the High Council selected the Kel Dor Jedi Master Stara Zagoro to serve as the Temple Master for the facility. A reclusive figure among the Order, Zagoro had been trained by the Baran Do Sages and was a skilled martial artist. Because of his diverse background in different fighting styles, the High Council found that Zagoro would be the ideal fit for their new academy of martial arts. Involved in the Temple's construction to ensure that the correct facilities were built to accommodate his students' needs, Stav Kesh received many new modern conveniences as well as larger combat decks and meditative walkways in scenic locations across the mountain. Designing the curriculum to incorporate fighting techniques not traditionally taught at any Jedi academy, Stav Kesh was meant to introduce Journeyers to Baran Do techniques or Matukai combat, Zeision Sha weapon usage and various other arts from martial orders. As the first group of Jedi Journeyers arrived on Tython at the end of Year 17, Stav Kesh's slopes were free of snow and welcoming to its first students of the era. A center of learning, the Temple quickly became a favorite destination of Jedi Knights and Masters eager to find new ways of surviving in combat scenarios. Home to many different teachers from different belief systems, the Temple housed a multitude of weaponry and training equipment. Boasting a large array of droids confiscated from the Confederacy of Independent Systems, these droids were used to test a Journeyer's combat efficiency and familiarity with the moves they were learning.