Cara Vell

Cara Vell was a female Twi'lek Jedi Master hailing from the planet Ryloth. Discovered on her home planet by Master Eska Mi when she was ten, she was taken to the Jedi Council to face the tests to become a Jedi. Although the majority of the Council believed she was too old, she passed with flying colours and trained under Eska Mi and Volo Varell.

Her training passed fully into the hands of Master Varell after Eska Mi's untimely death when she was thirteen, and trained with him until she attained the rank of Jedi Knight at the age of nineteen. One year later, Varell died, and Vell decided to stay on Coruscant to continue her training independently, attaining the rank of Master at 25 and briefly having a place on the Jedi Council.

Vell encountered her future apprentice Bolo Artel on one of the moons of Rothus. She trained him up until the Clone Wars, when he became a Jedi Knight, and fought in the war against the Separatists on the planet Balla Prime along with Master Fallack. Having already attained a great age, she played a secondary role in the war and graciously accepted death at the hands of her clone troops when Palpatine issued Order 66.

Early life
Cara Vell was born to Fallen Jedi Messati Vell and his wife, Elena. Vell spent her first few years on a remote farm on the planet Ryloth along with five brothers. Out of all her siblings, Cara was the only one who acquired Force powers from her father.

When Cara was ten years of age, Human Jedi Master Eska Mi nearby. Cara, having never seen any sentient species other than a Twi'lek before, was shocked and curious. After attaining Messati Vell's permission to take Cara to Coruscant, Eska took her on board his ship and vowed to train her as a Jedi.

Jedi Training
Cara was taken straight to the Jedi Council, who assessed her Force potential. Impressed, they allowed Vell to be trained. Volo Varell, a Mirialan who served on the Council and without a Padawan, offered to train Vell, but the rest of the Council agreed that the self-taught Master would not be suitable alone. Eska Mi, who had assumed that he would be chosen as Vell's Master, offered to teach the child with Varell. Varell and the rest of the Council agreed, and the pair of them began her training.

Cara Vell was a fast learner, quickly absorbing the knowledge passed down to her by the two wise Jedi. However, in 83 BBY, when Vell was thirteen, Eska Mi died in a speeder crash while chasing an assassin through the highways of Coruscant. Distraught, Vell swore to make her dead master proud and doubled her efforts to become a Jedi.

Vell was finally given the rank of Jedi Knight in 89 BBY, when she was ninteen. Immensely proud, her master took her on one final mission to Cato Neimoidia where she further proved her skill.

Jut one year later, in 80 BBY, while Vell was on a mission to Ord Mantell, Vell heard of Varell's death at the hands of the crime lord Seeki Taxijic Viture while on Taraxis. Once again distraught, Vell returned to the capital and attended her other master's funeral, secretly vowing to stay on Coruscant to complete her studies and to become a Jedi Master.

Vell was true to her word, and attained the rank of master five years later, and was briefly given a seat on the Jedi Council. Vell took her Jedi duties seriously, rarely venturing from the capital and spending a lot of time in the Jedi Archives, becoming friendly with fellow Jedi Jocasta Nu, taking on her position as Keeper of the Archives for a few months when Nu was sent away on a mission to Tallus II.

Meeting Bolo Artel
Several years later in 39 BBY, Vell was asked to journey to the distant planet Rothus in response to a distress signal from a mining colony. Once there, she encountered the infant Bolo Artel in a cave on one of the planet's many moons. The child, barely five, had slain six miners with nothing but his abnormally large teeth.

Concerned for the infant's health, Vell took the Human child aboard her ship and had him looked at by her personal medical droid, CC-909. The droid diagnosed Dialosis disease, an extremely rare paralitic infection that gave the host an insatiable craving for blood, making them like vampires. Watching him closely day and night, Vell watched Artel use advanced Force powers, pulling food and water towards him telepathically. Convinced that he would make a great Jedi, she took him to Coruscant and presented him to the Council. They, too, were impressed and, although he was too old, allowed Vell to train him in the ways of the Jedi. Pleased, Vell brought him up as her own, forming an emotional attachment with the boy which he apparently shared.

Due to Artel's unusual condition that made it difficult for him to associate with others, Vell commenced his training mostly in private, spending the majority of their time together on Coruscant while also venturing out to the Vamillion Sector, an area of space which Artel would return to years later.

Vell's pupil was raised to the rank of Jedi Knight in 20 BBY, less than a year before the Battle of Geonosis and the start of the Clone Wars conflict. Soon afterwards, Artel openly attacked a youngling, Opa Choi, in broad daylight in the grounds of the Jedi Temple. Vell, ashamed at what her pupil had done, was one of several onlookers who separated them. Vell watched as Opa Choi, a young Togrutan, was taken to the Temple Hospital in an ambulance while Vell, still snarling and completely consumed by his bloodlust, was carted away to a detention cell.

Meeting with Artel several times over the following days, Vell petitioned for his release. Artel visited Choi in the hospital and explained his actions, apologising profusely. The pair became friends and Artel swore to take Choi as his apprentice less than a week before the Battle of Geonosis.

Artel was in too bad a condition to take part in the Battle of Geonosis, so Vell and his new apprentice, Opa Choi, stayed with him as the Clone Wars began. When he recovered, Vell supported Artel's request to let he and Choi train in peace, far away from the war. The Council, however, denied it and forced him, and his padawan, to join the war. In the meantime, Vell was assigned to the planet Balla Prime, a Separatist outpost with little fighting going on, along with fellow Jedi Prestor Forelle.

Balla Prime
The fighting was, indeed, limited on Balla Prime, and Vell spent the majority of her time in the command centre with Forelle, honing her Force powers. She took part in one offensive, to take the Separatist outpost atop Jar Jar's Fist, but the attack was unsuccesful and the minor system stayed in Separatist hands.

Death
Vell was 71 when Palpatine issued Order 66. Instead of fighting, she accepted her fate and allowed her clone troopers to kill her with dignity.

Legacy
Cara Vell was long remembered as a great Jedi in the Archives. Her clone troops, impressed by her meekness when they had killed her, erected a plaque at the foot on Jar Jar's Fist with her name inscribed upon it. Ironically, her former apprentice Bolo Artel struck down the plaque when he stormed Jar Jar's Fist as part of the Fourth Hutt Army sometime after 4 ABY.

Personality and traits
"This plaque commemorates Jedi Master Cara Vell, a woman who was brave and strong, even at the end."

- The plaque placed at the foot of Jar Jar's Fist by Vell's clone troops

Cara Vell was a kind person, always helping others. Having lived in a primitive farm for many years, technology continued to amaze her, even as she grew older. She had a motherly air, was loyal and brave to her friends, and was very wise, accepting death as transforming into the Force. Though not much of a fighter, she was fairly skilled with a lightsaber and had potent Force abilities.

Powers and abilities
Cara Vell was skilled in lightsaber combat, but she was almost unrivalled in her knowledge of the Force. Bolo Artel continued to be impressed by her skills even as he attained the rank of Jedi Knight, convinced that he could never rival her Force powers.