Ussej Padric Bac (Imperial Era)

Ussej Padric Bac was a human male who served as a Jedi Knight during the last days of the Galactic Republic. He was trained by Jedi Master Adi Gallia and was knighted shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars. His time during the war was spent in largely diplomatic functions on behalf of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, but his faith in both were shaken after the battle-tested Gallia was killed by the renegade Sith Darth Maul and Savage Opress in a war-adjacent battle that he felt never should have happened.

Ussej escaped Order 66 and went into hiding on Nar Shaddaa, leveraging the knowledge he gained of the criminal underworld in his diplomatic times to create a new life for himself. He took on the name Jon Cordatus and the persona of a former Separatist spy, taking on espionage jobs against crime syndicates and the Galactic Empire.

Early life and training
Ussej Padric Bac was born on Alderaan over ten years before the Naboo Crisis. From a young age he was identified as Force sensitive and taken into the Jedi Order. As a youngling he trained, as all Jedi did, under the guidance of Jedi Grand Master Yoda, learning his earliest lessons in the Force and what it meant to be a Jedi during a time of peace. Shortly after the Naboo Crisis, he became the Padawan learner of Jedi Master Adi Gallia, a member of the Jedi High Council, and she trained him to the rank of Jedi Knight which he attained before shortly before the outbreak of the Clone Wars.

As Gallia’s apprentice, Ussej had a somewhat unique Jedi training. Master Gallia had a reputation for aggression but without flare, often criticizing privately to Ussej about the more outrageous actions of other Jedi, like Anakin Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Master Gallia was also known for her political savvy and her deep connections within the Galactic Senate, particularly the representatives of the Core Worlds. She passed her deep understanding of the Galactic Republic’s many complexities onto Ussej, who spent a great deal of time with members of the Senate learning the political maneuverings and dark underbelly of the Republic’s government. Many of his diplomatic assignments and research was into the criminal underworld, as the Republic attempted to keep the five syndicates at bay during the growing threat of the Separatist Crisis.

Clone Wars and Order 66
"What are you doing?''" "''Good soldiers follow orders."

- Ussej Padric Bac and his would-be clone killer during Order 66

As more of a diplomat, Ussej largely sat out the fighting of the Clone Wars, but was occasionally drawn into battle. He believed in the Republic’s mission against the Separatists at first, but ultimately became disillusioned after his former master was killed on Florrum when she and Master Kenobi confronted Darth Maul and Savage Opress. Having seen Gallia valiantly fight against the Separatists, he could not fathom the idea that his old master was killed during a fight against renegade Sith in a pirate stronghold. As the war went on, Ussej viewed it more as a chaotic tangle of deceptions that was ripping the galaxy apart—a fact not lost on him once he escaped the execution of Order 66 and the betrayal of the clone army.

Having escaped his would-be killers, Ussej fled to a place he had come to learn much about during his time with the Senate: Nar Shaddaa, the true heart of the underworld. There he adopted the name Jon Cordatus and assumed the persona of a former Separatist spy, a cover he felt would do well to explain away his deep knowledge of the Republic. And having become disgruntled with the Old Republic himself, his faux political leanings would help cover his own feelings toward the Old Republic and the, in retrospect, inevitable rise of the Galactic Empire

HIs Jedi past buried, the now-Jon Cordatus took on many missions on behalf of underworld clients to run espionage operations against their enemies. He gained a reputation in some circles for being willing to take any job, with a mercenary mindset of no allegiance to anyone. The Hutts, the Crymorah syndicate, Black Sun, even the Empire&mdash;he would take any job that he felt would not compromise his already compromised moral code, as long as it allowed him to continue to exist in the shadows of Nar Shaddaa and the dark corners of the galaxy far from the prying eyes of the Imperial government and its Jedi-hunting Inquisitors.

Behind the scenes
This version of Ussej Padric Bac, based on the role-playing character of the same name, was created by Brandon Rhea for a Dungeons & Dragons campaign set in the Star Wars universe. His alias, Jon Cordatus, is based on Jhon Cordatus, another character by Rhea.