Kala Wren

"Given half an hour, Kala Wren could take a lump of metal and a worn-down old vibrohammer and give you back a blade capable of cutting the tail off a horax. She's the best damn smith in Enceri, and worth every credit she charges."

- Ezgi Deshra

Kala Wren was a human female Mandalorian, who lived during the final decades of the Galactic Republic. Born just outside of Enceri, a small town in the northern regions of Mandalore, Kala was the youngest of her parent's six children. As a child, she took a keen interest in her father's metalsmithing profession, and spent a lot of her free time around their family forge, the Iron Circle. As a result, in addition to her broader education, Kala's father—Anutai Wren—began to teach her the family trade, even passing down the closely-guarded secrets of forging beskar iron.

After emerging from the trials of her verd'goten as a legal Mandalorian adult, Kala took on the role of her father's formal apprentice, helping him craft armor, weapons, and other items for their shop to sell. The Iron Circle prospered under such an arrangement, and with time came experience and skill, transforming Kala's proficiency into artistry. It was during this time that she became acquainted with Edeema Deshra, befriending the soldier-for-hire while she modified Edeemaa's Mandalorian gauntlets. Eventually, after many years of working together, the day finally came when Anutai chose to entrust ownership of the Iron Circle forge to his daughter, leaving her now as the foremost metalsmith in the Enceri region.

In 32 BBY, Kala received a visit from her old friend Edeema, who commissioned a full suit of beskar Mandalorian armor for her daughter. The job led to a budding friendship with the then sixteen-year-old Ezgi Deshra, one that would last for years in its own right. It was Kala's relationship with Ezgi that prompted her to allow an offworlder in Ezgi's charge—one in the midst of a guided tour of Mandalore—to have a look around the Iron Circle forge. She discussed the cultural significance of beskar iron with the tourist, but in accordance with tradition, refused to disclose any specifics or demonstrate any part of the beskar-forging process.

Personality and traits
Kala Wren had a warm and easy-going nature, able to make friends with the same ease that she made weapons. She possessed a vibrant, youthful energy throughout most of her life, and even as grew older, the few conceits to time she allowed as she aged were a few stray wrinkles around the edges of her eyes, and the faint presence of some well-earned laugh lines. Though she didn't make use of her martial talents often, given her line of work, Kala was nevertheless a strong and reasonably skilled fighter, who favored a powerful war hammer in close combat.

A human female, as an adult Kala stood at a height of 1.73 meters, and typically weighed around sixty-three kilograms. She had short black hair, brown eyes, and bronze skin. Kala possessed a wide frame, strengthened from years of working metal, with brawny arms and callused hands. Despite her strength, her figure retained the overall softness of simple mass acquired naturally rather than sculpted, lean definition, leaving her with a round face, large breasts, and full hips.

Kala was an avid holofilm fan, owning more than three hundred films, some of which dated back to a time before the Ruusan Reformations. A hobby she eagerly picked up from her mother, Gera, by the time Kala was seventeen, she could nearly recite the entirety of "Aurek for Audacity" from memory alone, and there was an entire shelf covered in "Ramikad" memorabilia at her Enceri home.

Behind the scenes
Kala Wren was created and developed by writer Mia Mesharad for her 2017 online tour piece, " Welcome to Mandalore ." As a classically trained Mandalorian metalsmith, Wren is able to provide a prospective that Ezgi Deshra—the reader companion and de facto main character of the piece—was unable to, offering in-universe exposition and commentary on beskar 's important place in Mandalorian society from the point of view of someone intimately familiar with the subject.

Appearances

 *  Welcome to Mandalore