The Essential Guide to Force Exile/Zeyn Kraen

Born to Nate and Ana Vondar Kraen in 4 ABY, Zeyn never knew his father, who perished in the Battle of Yanibar while Zeyn was still an infant. He was raised by his mother and his uncles and aunts, who also trained him in the ways of the Force. In particular, his Uncle Sarth and Aunt Cassi, who Nate had died saving, felt particularly responsible for Zeyn. However, Zeyn wanted nothing else but to live his own life and not dwell in the past.

Zeyn preferred to live in the moment and seek good times. His half-Lorrdian heritage helped him to read and utilize nonverbal communication, and he was always good at masking his own feelings. While his mother was uncertain of how to teach him to use his Force talents, his Uncle Selu and Aunt Milya trained him alongside their own son Ryion and an orphaned Wroonian girl named Ariada. However, though Zeyn was an attentive student, he was always somewhat aloof from his instructors.

When the time came, Zeyn elected to follow in the footsteps of his father and join the Yanibar Guard, serving in the Elite Guardians. In 16 ABY he joined a team of three other potential Elite Guardians including Ryion, Ariada, and their leader, a Twi'lek named Qedai. Their trainers worked them hard, teaching them in the ways of the Force as well as providing military and intelligence skills that they would need. Zeyn's specialty was infiltration and intelligence-gathering.

One of the hardest challenges for the trainees was being captured by Jalsinnare Mercenaries in 19 ABY while on a training exercise out in Yanibar's desert. After detecting their presence, Qedai led the others in an evasive journey, but their efforts were ultimately fruitless. They were captured after Qedai refused to abandon an injured Ariada. Brought to a Jalsinnare ship, they were shown holos of the capture of the Yanibar Guard's orbital facilities, as well as the death of prominent Force exile leaders, including Master Selu Kraen. The Jalsinnare ship was equipped with Force-dampening ysalamiri, so Zeyn was unable to warn his friends.

They were then interrogated harshly for several weeks on end in order to determine the location of the Yanibar colony. The Jalsinnare made use of a device which would prompt users to think they were experiencing their worst fears. The rough treatment seemed to have no effect on Zeyn, who bore everything with the same unflappable demeanor, even though he was full of turmoil underneath his placid exterior. Afterward, it was revealed that the entire capture-and-imprisonment experience was an elaborate test devised by the Yanibar Guard&mdash;the Jalsinnare Mercenaries had been recruited into the Yanibar Guard prior to this test, but that had been a highly-classified secret. The attack on Yanibar was a deception designed to help break trainees or push them toward the dark side. Zeyn, like the rest of the team, was unhappy with the Elite Guardian leadership for subjecting them to the ordeal, though he accepted that it was effective. Like the other trainees, she never spoke of what the interrogation device made her experience.

It was later revealed that their escape, evasion, and interrogation training had been moved up because they had been selected for a top-secret mission pending successful passing of the test. They were assigned to train as competitors for the reinstated Pan-Galactic Games, held on Coruscant. Each member of the team was assigned to compete in two different events and had to train for both alongside their other studies.

Zeyn's events were doubles wave-dancing alongside Qedai and turbo-skiing. He much preferred turbo-skiing, but was kept hard at work training for both events. The preparation was grueling, but Zeyn and the rest of the team persevered. They won their events handily at a local sector competition and received the right to represent Yanibar on Coruscant in 22 ABY at the Galactic Games.

However, after arriving on Coruscant, tension arose between Qedai and Zeyn. His stubbornness clashed with her hot temper during a wave-dancing practice session. Assigned some time away from practice to calm herself down, Zeyn approached her after being urged to by Ryion and apologized for his part in their argument. He did enjoy himself on the turbo-skis, posting a good opening run in the first round. He became overconfident in his second run, though, and was eliminated after mistakes cost him large amounts of points.

That evening, he was summoned to a team meeting organized by their chief trainer, Morgedh clan Kel'nerh and Ryion. Morgedh chastised them for their lack of unity and told them to settle their differences. Zeyn apologized for his arrogance and stubbornness and the team was able to move forward.

The next day, Qedai and Zeyn went out and performed their wave-dancing routine, earning a third-place medal. It was the only medal won by the Yanibar team and Zeyn was proud of what they had accomplished. He was also in favor of changing the leader of the team to Ryion based on Qedai's recommendations.

They returned to Yanibar and completed their training. For their two years of required military training, Zeyn did not go with the natural choice of serving with YGI. He had a desire to balance out his skills, so for his mandatory military training he served with the Yanibar Guard Marines. He was put through basic training while under strict orders not to reveal his identity or Force powers. It was a humbling experience, being treated like just another potential soldier, but Zeyn maintained his good cheer and carefree nature throughout the training, graduating at the top of his class. Most of his disciplinary infractions were for laying pranks or telling inappropriate stories about the instructors and being caught. While he was certainly capable of being disciplined and ordered, Zeyn preferred to live on the edge, enjoying life and simply not letting negative circumstances affect him.

By 26 ABY, Zeyn and the rest of team were fully-qualified and cleared to handle missions offworld, which was just as well, as the Yuuzhan Vong invasion had begun to threaten the entire galaxy by that point.

Appearances

 * Force Exile IV: Guardian
 * Deception on R'alla
 * Champion of Yanibar