Devan For'deschel (Jedi Renaissance)

Devan For'deschel was a female Human Jedi Master who served the Jedi Order during the Golden Age of the Jedi. A skilled swordsmaster, For'deschel served as the Mistress of Lightsabers at the Ranger Academy on Almas from the time of the Clone Wars, until after the end of the Hutt Offensive. As a member of the Almas Council, For'deschel had decision-making power over the operation of the academy and the assignments taken by the Rangers stationed within the Cularin system.

Early life
A Force-sensitive Human female, Devan For'deschel's parents were prisoners serving time on Kessel who violated prison rules and conceived a child. Turning the girl over to the Jedi Order for training in the ways of the Force, For'deschel received her formal education at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant where she was trained in a clan for the first decade of her life. Placing well in the Temple Apprentice Tournament, For'deschel was selected by Jedi High Councilor Mace Windu; a great honor for any Jedi. Humbled by Windu's choice, For'deschel worked to make sure never to disappoint, honing her body and practicing a stern discipline within the Force. Having constructed a teal-bladed lightsaber for herself on Ilum, For'deschel used the blade to great effect during her training, going toe-to-toe with the renowned lightsaber virtuoso that was her master and honing her abilities in Form V, Djem So. When his duties on the Council caused For'deschel's training to become slightly peculiar compared to other Padawans, For'deschel opted to take on missions alongside other Master-Padawan teams so that she could continue to grow and gain experience.

Completing her training in 33 BBY, For'deschel underwent and passed her Trials of Knighthood and humbly took on the rank of Jedi Knight. Setting out to become a Guardian, For'deschel was sent to the Cularin system as an envoy of the High Council, inspecting the experimental Academy on Almas to ensure that all Jedi being raised there were suitable of the title Knight. Well-liked on Cularin and Almas after just a few months visit in 32 BY, For'deschel promised to return within the near future after she filed her report with the High Council. When For'deschel attempted to retun in early 31 BBY, she made a frightening discovery: the entire system seemed to be missing with no sign of destruction or orbital shift. Befuddled, she and a team from the Exploration Corps attempted to locate the wayward system or at the very least discover what had happened to it. Part of an ongoing investigation, For'deschel took on an apprentice in the meantime after visiting the Coruscant Temple during the Apprentice Tournmanet. Training a young Human girl named Lexia Ginorra, For'deschel chose her for her charm and ability to distract her opponents with what seemed to be mere words, but were really an enhanced form of a mind trick.

Mistress of Lightsabers
Throughout the Separatist Crisis' early years, For'deschel pushed Ginorra to strive for success while studying at the chapter house on Kamparas. In 24 BBY, For'deschel dispatched her student to oversee the dismantling of a crime syndicate which was operating near Kamparas. During the mission, Ginorra's ship was shot down over Kamparas and she was later captured by the criminals and taken aboard their ship. Frightened and pushed to her limits, Ginorra slaughtered her captors with the Force and fled into the jungles, fearful of Jedi reprisal. Learning of the massacre, For'deschel searched the jungles around the ship for weeks but eventually had to call off the hunt as her Padawan had seemingly gone to ground, fled offworld, or succumbed to wounds and died in the dense jungle.

When the Clone Wars erupted in 22 BBY, the High Council immediately elevated For'deschel and other skilled Knights to the rank of Master and made her a general within the newly formed Grand Army of the Republic. Serving on the front lines, Master For'deschel was attacked by a Jedi Killer droid, losing an arm to the mechanical menace. Replacing her arm with a prosthetic, her skills with a blade were not diminished, though the High Council did not want her to return to active duty immediately. Initially disappointed, For'deschel was otherwise occupied when the Cularin system reappeared after its decade-long disappearance. The first Jedi to set foot on the planet Almas after its return, she found all of its residents in the same condition as they were when the planet disappeared; to them time had not passed since ten years prior. Overjoyed to have the system back, For'deschel was deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Master of Lightsabers Kirlocca, the venerable Wookiee Jedi who had led lightsaber instruction at the academy for decades. Appointed to replace Kirlocca by the Order's Battlemaster Cin Drallig, For'deschel took up the mantle of Mistress of Lightsabers and took her seat on the Almas Council to assist in the governance of the Academy.