Empatojayos Brand (Jedi Renaissance)

"Cease fighting, it is not the Jedi way. Reflect, meditate and question yourself when you arrival at a complicate question such as who is right and who is wrong. You might surprise yourself and discover the flaw in your own thinking."

- Master Brand brings an end to an argument between Padawans at the Taris Academy.

Empatojayos Brand was a male Keed Jedi Master who served the Jedi Order as a General during the Clone Wars. Following the Order's move to Ossus and the academy world of Tython, Brand was appointed to the rank of Master and took a seat on the Council which oversaw the administration of the chapter house on.

Early life
"Hey Jayos, you need to decide what kind of Jedi you want to be. The kind that is strong and force of power in the galaxy, or the ones like Oafy-Wan here who get pushed around and throw tantrums when they lose."

- Initiate Bruck Chun pressures Brand into remaining silent during his reign as Temple bully.

Born to parents on the planet Keedad, Empatojayos Brand was orphaned when his parents were trampled to death in a shockball stadium stampede. Having been determined to be Force-sensitive at birth, the Jedi Order sent out scouts to retrieve the three standard years old boy and bring him to the Coruscant Jedi Temple for training in the Force. Sorted into an Initiate clan, Brand bonded with his fellow Initiates such as Aalto Morituri, and Juroango Reeft. While calm in meditation, Brand' good-nature was often marginalized by his friends, specifically Chun, who often tormented fellow Initiate Obi-Wan Kenobi. Following Chun's death during an accident at the Temple Brand distanced himself from many members of his clan and became closer to Initiate Reeft. Practicing lightsaber combat together, Brand found that martial arts were therapeutic but not the field in which his Force-abilities manifest the strongest. Following the Apprentice Tournament, Brand was selected for further training by High Council member in 43 BBY. Working alongside the wise Jedi, Brand enjoyed his exposure to the inner-workings of the Librarians' Assembly as they operated within the Temple Archives and consolidated new knowledge and wisdom within the Order's collective databanks.

Having a fulfilling apprenticeship, Brand engaged in the Trials of Knighthood in 32 BBY and was knighted by the High Council. Jedi Trials and became a Jedi Knight after the Battle of Naboo in 32 BBY. He would be Yaddle's last apprentice; as the wizened Jedi would perish in 26 BBY on her final mission. Mourning Master Yaddle's loss, Brand refrained from taking his own Padawan during this time and dedicated most of his time to missions assigned by the High Council. One such mission was an assignment in 22 BBY, which involved Brand working with Jedi Bultar Swan and Chellemi Chuovvick in the Sepan sector to negotiate a peace to the long-running Sepan Civil War. The conflict between the worlds of Dimok and Ripoblus was so deep-running that it took months to establish a tenuous peace through negotiations and treaties. Despite the effort, fighting began anew as soon as Brand and his sister Jedi departed the sector.

Clone Wars
Only months later, war broke out on the planet Geonosis, as Jedi and the Galactic Republic's new clone troopers were dispatched to that world to rescue the captured Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi from Count, leader of the secessionist Confederacy of Independent Systems. Brand flew a into battle while a strike team led by Master Mace Windu}} dealt with infiltrating the planet. Upon arriving at Geonosis, Brand and his squadron joined with Master  to stop, an ally of Dooku, from deploying a chemical weapon called trihexalon onto the surface of Geonosis. Brand and his wing intercepted Toth's fleet above Geonosis. Between Brand and the other Jedi the squadron was able to destroy Toth's Hex Deployers, then defeat the Sabaoth Destroyers that Toth brought in as reinforcements. The [[pirate Nym and allied ships arrived shortly thereafter in support of the squadron; with their help, Toth's plans were waylaid and Gallia was able to kill him.

Geonosis turned out to be the opening battle of the galaxy-wide Clone Wars, and in the war Brand became a General in the Grand Army of the Republic. In 22 BBY, Brand and his clone troopers went to, a mineral-rich world that the Confederacy had occupied. The battle for the world lasted twelve days and was ended when Brand led his battalion to the dormant volcanic ranges that offered cover for the Separatist forces commanded by Major. Brand ordered concussion missile strikes against the rock formations, removing the Separatists' cover and creating a storm of shrapnel that sliced through the mining village of, destroying many of the battle droids stationed there, as well as four hundred unaffiliated miners. Treetor surrendered, and Bassadro was retaken for the Republic.

Climb to prominence
A decorated war hero, Brand was ecstatic when he received a call from Coruscant commanding him to return to the Jedi Temple for a Conclave. Secretly departing company with his clones for fear they may pose a threat due to the warning he had received from Master Windu, Brand made his way back to the Temple where he learned the truth of the war, the Sith and the future place of the Jedi in the galaxy. As the Order called for volunteers to assist in the rebuilding of Ossus and Tython, Brand eagerly agreed to scout Tython's wilderness and record what he found. With the urging of the Council of Judgment, Brand agreed to take on as Padawan the orphaned Zett Jukassa and to take him with him to the ancient homeworld of the Jedi. During the journey Brand began his education of Jukassa by beginning to explain the history of the Order and the discovery of the Force in full detail. While under Yaddle's tutelage, Brand had focused on the history of Tython and the Force Wars which had ravaged the planet. Intrigued by Brand's intense knowledge of ancient warfare and the Order's origin, Jukassa was eager to touch down on the wild world and restore the planet to its former glory.

Touching down near the abandoned Jedi Enclave on the eastern coast of the planet's largest continent of Talss. Lying in the shadow of the Tythos Ridge, the enclave had been deserted since 580 BBY and its roof had all but collapsed. Searching the old enclave with several other Knights and Padawans, Brand and Jukassa were the first of the Jedi to make contact with scouts from the nearby city of Kalikori. Gathering the other Jedi, Brand introduced the team as members of the Order and asked to be taken before the Matriarch of Kalikori. Impressed that the stranger knew of their customs, the scouts escorted the Jedi up the mountainside and into the city which was carved into the caverns of the mountain. Inside its massive main entrance, the Jedi were awed by the enormity of the city, which records showed began as a simple village on the mountainside. Greeted by the wizened Matriarch, the Jedi explained that the Order wished to relocate their major training grounds to the planet and rebuild their massive temples which dotted the world millennia in the past. Intrigued, the Matriarch pledged her greatest scouts and architects to assist in the Order's mission in exchange for a treaty drawn up between the city and the Jedi ensuring that the city would maintain its sovereignty on the planet over its territory.

Setting out from Kalikori after a week of residing in the Matriarch's company, the group carved their way through the jungles until they came across the ruins of the once mighty Kaleth. Having been preserved for centuries by the Twi'leks of the nearby mountain city, the ruins were not so badly overgrown as other areas of the region which had once been inhabited. Marking the coordinates the team moved on to temple to temple, sending them back to their ship which automatically sent out the information to Coruscant via a tight beam signal which would only be deciphered by the Jedi at the Temple there. After nearly three months of travel, Brand's team had located the ruins of Kaleth, Vur Tepe, Akar Kesh and Anil Kesh. While all of the temples would require an immense amount of reconstruction, Brand's work was done so far as it came to finding them. As construction teams rendezvoused at Kalikori to begin compiling material to begin the project's second phase, laborers were flown across the Deep Ocean from the Free Cities of Thyr continent and the realms of men on Srednata Zemlya to complete the mason work and other construction needs. Brand agreed that while droid work would have been quicker, the Order needed to establish a good relationship with the native Tythans quickly and efficiently.

With construction well underway and the location of all nine Je'daii Great Temples discovered, Brand and the other teams of Jedi scouts were called to the continent of Srednata Zemlya and the ancient fortress of Dol Guldor which had been reconstructed to serve as the home of the Builder Corps and the Council of Site Preservation and Construction. Arriving in the ancient place, Brand and the other Jedi were given new missions by Master Mezera Heepia who hoped that they might assist in scouting out other worlds for Jedi use. Agreeing, Brand and Jukassa spent the next six years searching out ancient Jedi sites and reporting their coordinates back to the Council on Tython. At the conclusion of their specific mission in 13 BBY, the Jedi pair traveled back to Tyhon where Brand began extensive work for Kaleth, living and traveling among the Free Cities gathering cultural and historical accounts of the world, as well as building connections with the people there and the Jedi Order. Brand quickly came to the conclusion that the Free Peoples would tolerate the Jedi claiming the world as their own so long as the Free Cities were never brought under Jedi governance. Otherwise, the residents of the western coast of Thyr were largely pleased with the Jedi co-habitation of the world; it saved the Cities from having to amass weapons of war because the Jedi had outlawed all conflict and were powerful enough to enforce it. Allowing Jedi diplomats to settle disputes between cities saved cities from economic struggles and helped to keep the peace. Jedi also brought knowledge, which helped spread the spirit of renaissance to the Free Cities and saw a boom in theaters, libraries and academic institutions across the continent.

Brand soon became well known across Thyr and was welcomed in port cities as he compiled notes about the customs there to add to the Archives. As an incentive to come and talk to him, Brand offered the Free People gifts from Kaleth which included samples of great tales or stories on the rise and fall of planetary governments. These stories held great value among the simple people of the Free Cities and delighted many children with each passing recitation. In 3 BBY, Brand deemed Jukassa ready to undergo the Great Journey to each of the Great Temples of Tython. Once Jukassa had set off on his final quest as a Jedi Journeyer, Brand stayed at the Masters' Retreat to complete a detail work compiling his notes on the religions of the Free Cities.

Powers and abilities
Empatojayos Brand received his initial training at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, ensuring that he possessed a standard understanding of the Force, and its applications. Having achieved the rank of Knight, Brand was also proficient with a lightsaber, having crafted one himself and imbuing it with a blue crystal discovered in the caves of Ilum. Developing his skills as a Counselor,

Brand received some of his training in the ways of the Force from Master Yoda as well, including that of telekinesis.