Tirj

Tirj was a  of the. Born in the decades before the, he became a historian in the and traveled the galaxy as a scholar. When the Wars began, Tirj joined a group of other Jedi in leaving the Order in search of a tranquil life, but a technological glitch resulted in centuries of torment for the Jedi, which turned them to the dark side and drove them to begin the Nightmare War.

The love of learning
Tirj was born on in 2,030 BBY, the son of Herglic merchants. He was two years old when he was identified as a Force-sensitive by the Jedi Order and taken to the for training. There he developed a love of reading and learning about history, both the history of the Jedi Order and of the Republic at large. He spent a little over a year at the on, which only increased his enjoyment of history. As a child he was often self-conscious about his size, as he towered over not only most other s, but even some full-grown Jedi Knights.

When he became the Padawan of a Jedi, Tirj was initially uncomfortable away from the Temple which had become his home. As they journeyed on missions for the Order, however, Tirj began to enjoy travel and discovering new cultures—both those simply new to him, and those newly admitted to the Republic and previously unknown. Tirj elected to follow his master in the study of, as it suited his great size and strength.

Knighted in his mid-twenties, Tirj immediately became a. He traveled through the Republic and beyond, including two trips to the. He had a special interest in the history of the early Republic and the precursor governments of the galaxy. He also studied the conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, especially the, the , and the s.

Departure and desolation
In 2,000 BBY, the Sith Lord emerged and, with fifty defecting Jedi Knights, inaugurated the New Sith Wars. Tirj feared for the future; his study of the Sith had shown him how often they and the Jedi had come into conflict through the millennia. He doubted that the Jedi could do anything to permanently eradicate the Sith, even if they were victorious in this particular war.

Tirj was still struggling with his doubts when he heard of a group of like-minded Jedi who had resolved to leave the Order—not defecting to Ruin's cause, but moving beyond the Jedi vs. Sith conflict all together. Intrigued, Tirj sought out this group, which included the esteemed Jedi Masters Ador Hentral and Merita Ot'kyn. They agreed to Tirj accompanying their party. Wuluro, a Jedi who had also asked to join the group, wondered aloud where they could possibly go that would deliver them from the wars of the Republic.

It was Tirj himself who supplied the answer. Returning to the Gree Enclave and using the contacts he had established there, he procured a from the ancient days of Republic expansion. It would allow the Jedi to direct themselves into the unknown and freeze themselves in stasis until they arrived at a suitable world. The others endorsed the plan, and the ship launched from Coruscant.

The error occurred not long after the initial departure. The stasis system malfunctioned; while the bodies of the Jedi remained frozen and immobilized, their minds woke up. Trapped in conscious paralysis for twenty-one centuries, they slowly descended into terror and rage at their helpless anguish, which led to madness and ultimately succumbing to the dark side.

Berserker behemoth
When the Jedi came out of stasis at Kizav in 148 ABY, Tirj had no hesitation about massacring the native Skavik, killing some with his lightsaber but crushing others with his bare hands. When Ador Hentral and Desha Marad schemed to enslave the Skavik and turn them into an army, Tirj proved difficult to restrain, as his lust for slaughter and his enormous physical strength were enough to overpower several of his comrades together. Ultimately, Hentral and Karshi Saan managed to speak restraint into his mind.

After exterminating the population of Awpierh, Tirj took part in his army's initial forays into the Golden Empire. His size and strength, coupled with his inability to plan, made him a natural choice for frontline warfare. After the death of Sacco Vyrak during the Defense of Daispin, however, his sanity began to unravel further. He alternated between berserker fury and listless apathy, sometimes deaf to the words of others and other times erupting into rage at the slightest provocation.

While on Kizav after the deaths of Kasavo Shei and Karshi Saan, Tirj was drawn into an argument with Wuluro and Meerto Adrimbani. The Mon Calamari ranted and screamed and both of them, waving her lightsaber, and though Adrimbani hissed and threatened back, Tirj just stared. But when Wuluro slapped him, his temper snapped and he grabbed her domed head in his huge hands, crushing it to pulp in a second before she could react.

Hentral and Marad became leery of Tirj's total unpredictability, and they had no objection to Voara Culee leaving him as the rear guard during the Battle of Quadia. While in the midst of fending off the Golden Empire's counterinvasion, the Herglic became embroiled in a duel with Luna Raquelsei, Selish Anteran, and Axelia Solios. Though he broke Solios's arm and gave Anteran and Raquelsei mild injuries, his blind rage and the loss of his lightsaber against Solios's gauntlets exposed him to danger, and Anteran  his arm an instant before Raquelsei cut his throat. He collapsed, choking to death. He was still twitching a moment later, but when Anteran stabbed him through the head, he stopped twitching.

Powers and abilities
Due to his height and size, Tirj possessed physical strength vastly greater than that of most other species even without the aid of the Force. He specialized in Shien, and though he devoted comparatively little time to swordplay, he was often able to batter smaller opponents into submission. As a Dark Jedi, Tirj rarely made use of outward Force powers, preferring the visceral feeling of slaughtering his enemies by hand. However, his anger often accelerated into.

Appearance and personality
At 3.10 meters (10'2") tall and at least 2 meters wide, Tirj was large even for a Herglic. His flesh was dark gray over his entire body, and his eyes were so dark they were nearly black.  As a Jedi he wore the traditional attire of the Order, though he wore his tunic sleeveless after falling to the dark side.  He carried a  with a green blade.

During his service to the Jedi Tirj was a gentle intellectual, preferring study and learning to violence or active peacekeeping. He was fascinated by the earliest known galactic histories, and considered his research trip to almost a personal holiday. He was personable and friendly, and able to develop contacts with even the xenophobic.

As a Dark Jedi, Tirj was aggressive and ruthless, enjoying carnage and the thrill of using his physical power to slay smaller beings. His sanity unraveled further after his comrades began dying, and he experienced long periods of ennui interrupted only by homicidal mania and nightmare-filled sleep.