The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Hasla Almani

Like her brother, Hasla Almani’s early life is largely a mystery, given the difficulty of finding accurate data on one of the trillions of displaced sentients during that era of turmoil. Her homeworld and familial lineage are unknown-recovered records seem to indicate that she herself did not know either of these. What is known was that she grew up in the slums of Darlyn Boda, Darlyn Boda, where her older brother Jahlel took care of her. They survived by begging, and apparently Hasla had some means of finding flimsi with which to record a crude journal. As both of the Arkanian children were mildly Force-sensitive, they were found and taken in by a group of Matukai Adepts, who brought them back to their enclave in Darlyn Boda’s wilderness. Hasla, a lonely child, was distrustful of the Matukai initially and made little headway in her training, unlike her brother, who excelled in their disciplined lifestyle. She found the regimen distasteful and despised her instructors.

On one occasion, in her teens, she was chided by a particularly stern trainer and was incensed by it. Gathering a few small belongings, she fled back to the city of Darlyn Boda, but soon found it less than desirable as well. After several days of wandering the streets, hungry, displaced, and forced to fend off attackers, she was rescued by her brother, who had disobeyed Matukai regulations to retrieve her. Jahlel brought her back to the Matukai enclave, where she was soon transferred to his training group once he was recognized as a Matukai Adept. She progressed slowly in her training, but Jahlel encouraged her to persevere.

One day, Jahlel returned from an errand to the city with a woman named Milya Tayrce, a Jedi Knight, who had come to urge the Matukai to join with several other groups of Force users. While the Matukai leader, Bolfwé Grysloth, considered her request, Milya was placed in Jahlel’s training group alongside Hasla and the two worked well together. However, when Milya felt Grysloth was taking too long to make a decision, she challenged him to a duel. Grysloth defeated Milya and Jahlel stepped in to defend her, only to be beaten down by Grysloth. Upon seeing her brother fall, Hasla rushed to his aid, but was also knocked aside by Grysloth. At that point, Milya revealed that none of the three of them could have stood against Grysloth alone-they only had a chance if they worked together, just as the Force users could only survive the oppression of the newly formed Galactic Empire if they joined together. Grysloth saw her point and ended the duel, agreeing to take the Matukai to join the other Force exiles.

However, before they left, the Empire attacked the Matukai settlement. Hasla helped defend the enclave, hoping to buy time to escape, but the superior numbers and firepower of the Empire forced them back. Grysloth was slain by an Imperial Inquisitor and the rest of the Matukai began falling back to a ship which had arrived to evacuate them, flown by one of Milya’s companions. Hasla reached the ship safely, but her brother, Jahlel was gunned down by Imperial fire after saving Milya. Hasla was devastated, but one of the ship’s crewmembers, Spectre, kept her from running back to his body.

Hasla later participated in the effort to take over the Imperial prototype ship Griffin, which was ultimately successful. As such, she was one of the few members of the Matukai to settle down on the world of Yanibar as part of the new community. Under the training of one of the few remaining Matukai Adepts and out of respect for Jahlel’s memory, she eventually attained the rank of Matukai Adept and became one of the leaders in the Matukai community on Yanibar.

Appearances

 * Force Exile III: Liberator
 * Hand in Hand