Erana Ryess

Erana Ryess was a female Twi'lek Jedi alive in during the days of the Old Republic. Born in the midst of the Great Galactic War and living through to the eventual cold War between the Galactic Republic and the resurgent Sith Empire, Erana trained to become a Jedi Knight first on Coruscant, and later on the Jedi homeworld of Tython following the Sacking of Coruscant. Becoming a popular face for the Jedi while serving the Republic on Coruscant, Erana was one of the first few Jedi to re-enter galactic society following the Order's near-extinction in the War.

Early life
Born on Ryloth in 15 BTC in the middle of the Great Galactic War, Erana was discovered by Jedi Knight Satele Shan, who was fighting the Empire on the planet when she came across the young Twi'lek and her infant sister, Seesa. Erana's parents, hoping their children would avoid the on-going war, let Shan take the siblings to Coruscant to train as Jedi, the pair becoming some of few Jedi siblings.

During her time at the Temple, Erana was taught by the Cathar Yulic Namex, a Jedi Master who had fought in the war for many years, before retiring to duties at the Temple following a failed Republic project to join the criminal underworld into a united force, which Namex commanded. Erana soon became known among her fellow Initiates for her stern and assertive attitude, which put many of the children off from befriending her. Due to this, Erana often clung to Seesa, who did the same to her older sister in turn.

The Sacking of Coruscant
When Erana was fifteen, news arrived that the Empire had opened negotiations with Republic delegates, and that an armstice was being signed on the planet of Alderaan. As this was taking place, half of the Sith armada arrived over Coruscant, with a Sith landing party decimating the Jedi Temple and the entire planet paralyzed by the sudden strike. As the brave Jedi Knights and Masters fought against impossible odds, Master Namex was tasked with evacuating as many Initiates and Padawans as possible, including his class.

During the flee from the Temple, Erana reunited with her frightened sister, and a dozen or so Initiates escaped the Temple alongside Namex, his Padawan and a group of privateers who Namex had befriended earlier in the War. Two of the other Initiates, the Miraluka Jarn Walon and a Human named Vidril Vesal, would later become close friends to Erana, though not for some time.

Rebuilding the Order
The Jedi around the galaxy and those who escaped Coruscant convened on the covert space station named Kurano Station, hidden in the Deep Core. Erana and her sister soon talked to Jarn and Vidril for the first time, just as news arrived that the armstice had been signed, though it was entirely in the Empire's favour. Named the Treaty of Coruscant, it forced the Republic to pull it's military from outlying worlds, to admit defeat in the War, and for it to be subject to Imperial surveillance. While some of these policies would later be abolished, the Republic suffered nonetheless.

Stranded on Kurano Station without a home, and with the Republic blaming them for losing the War, the Jedi Order decided it was time to find a new home, away from the Republic, the Empire or the galaxy itself. Jarn accidentally located the world of Tython while scanning through the Station's near-ancient database, Tython being a Deep Core world and the original home of the first Force users. While Tython was searched for by Satele Shan and other Jedi, Erana spoke with Jarn and Vidril about their current situation, with Erana often arguing with Vidril, who was being endlessly pessimistic. Erana befriended Jarn, but viewed Vidril with contempt.

Becoming a Padawan
After two years of searching, Tython was finally discovered and it's hyperspace lanes re-opened. The Jedi moved all of their Order and it's resources to the planet to explore it and build a new Jedi Temple. During the building of the Temple, Erana was one of many Jedi sent out to explore Tython, and was led in this task by Satele Shan, who had personally discovered Tython. Shan took a liking to the young Twi'lek, and when the primary expeditions ended, Satele took Erana as a Padawan. Jarn became the Padawan of Gnost-Dural, the Kel Dor tasked with restoring the Jedi Archives, and Vidril became the Padawan of Master Namex, who had returned to a more active role in the Order.

Diplomacy and forgiving Vidril
When Grand Master Zym perished on a failed mission into Imperial space, Satele became the Grand Master of the Order. Because of this, Erana was soon travelling with her Master around Republic space on diplomatic ventures. Visiting multiple Republic worlds, Erana became a common face among politicians, military members and Republic citizens, and her stern attitude began to lower as her skill in diplomacy increased.

When she was on Tython, Erana began talking to Vidril again, and the two reconciled over their past arguments. While Vidril was still pessimistic about the Order's future, he at least accepted that there was some hope for the Jedi to come out on top, something that at the least satisfied Erana.

Active Jedi
Erana became a Jedi Knight five years after the Treaty of Coruscant (5 ATC), and was sent out to Coruscant by Satele to serve as a Jedi representative to the Republic Senator, Dorian Janarus. Erana got on well with Dorian, who was, to her, the best man for the job. Her loyalty showed when, only a few months after being given her new job, Erana was forced to rescue the Chancellor from an assassin during a Senate meeting. Satele tasked Erana with finding the culprit, and the Twi'lek traced the assassin back to the Hutt-controlled world of Saluecami. However, the lead was false, and Erana was captured by an Imperial commando team.

Erana was taken in custody to an Imperial space station codenamed Station Hord, named after the ancient Sith Tulak Hord. Barely days into her imprisonment, however, Erana was rescued by none other than a small armada of pirates and smugglers, led by a young but skilled gunslinger named Salovan, who revealed that he had learned of Erana's capture by hacking the Imperial Navy's communication lines, and hoped to receive a reward for returning Erana to Coruscant. Despite opposing Sal's selfish reasons for the rescue, Erana agreed to travel back to Coruscant with the smuggler.

Sal received his reward, though revealed that he wished to stay on Coruscant, and got into Erana's good favours after killing an Imperial informant who was trying to finish the job of the commando team. Erana and Sal soon ended up working for the Strategic Information Service (SIS), the Republic's lead intelligence bureau. The SIS learned that Sal used to be the member of a gang led by Kaliv, a crime lord who plunged Coruscant's underworld into a street war barely a year after the Treaty of Coruscant. However, Sal revealed that he had fought against Kaliv during the street war, and agreed to help the SIS in finding and arresting Kaliv's former associates. Erana helped Sal in his quest, seemingly charmed by the charismatic smuggler.

Vidril's Return
At the same time that Erana had become a Knight, so too had Vidril, who had been sent to the crime-ridden world of Hutta undercover to watch Imperial activity outside of the Republic's borders. However, Vidril didn't return, nor did he send any form of message to the Order or the Republic, for three years. As time wore on, Jarn arrived on Coruscant as well as a Jedi ambassador to the Senate, following his appointment as a Jedi Consular. Sal and Erana entered a romantic relationship, though Erana ended it after a few months, anxious of breaking Jedi rules. After two years since Erana's knighthood, Sal left Coruscant, returning to space.

Sal returned to Coruscant a year later, carrying both Vidril on his ship and a Twi'lek gunslinger named Hereson, who was actually a Republic War Hero, having served in the Freelancer Corps: the criminal alliance that Master Namex commanded. Hereson had helped fight the Empire during the War, and so was seen as a hero by the SIS and Chancellor Janarus. Vidril returned with some interesting news: that he and Sal were half-brothers, revealed through a blood-test and some family history, but there was also a half-sister (Sal's full-sister) who had been born inside the Empire. Knowing Vidril's force-sensitivity, there was a chance she was a Sith, meaning they had to find her.

Helping the Vesal family
Erana and Jarn aided Vidril and Sal in their quest to track down their other sibling, though Erana received news shortly before the brothers set off towards Imperial space. Her sister, only a new Jedi Knight, had been taken prisoner by a Sith Lord while protecting a defecting Imperial governor in Deep Space, and no news had been heard since, either of her being alive nor dead. When Vidril and Sal set off, Vidril got into an argument with Erana about the risk of the mission, with Vidril remarking You already have a sister!. Jarn revealed that Seesa had gone missing due to the Sith, and asked Vidril to find any leads on her disappearance while he was gone.

Vidril and Sal returned to Coruscant two weeks later, after going to Taris, Dromund Kaas and Tatooine on their hunt. They returned with their apparent sister, heavily sedated by a Sith Lord on Tatooine after she went rogue from the Empire: she was an Imperial Cipher Agent. To Erana's dismay, Vidril heard no news of Seesa's capture, and soon Erana grew suspicious of the Vesal sister, Ciniriel, thinking she might know.

Personality and characteristics
Erana was more than decisive and stern, even for a Jedi. Taking some traits from her Master, Satele Shan, Erana was quick to take opinions on matters and reluctant to be convinced otherwise. Commanding when she had to be but overall an optimist, her personality confused many, who couldn't tell whether she thought life was horrible or okay. Erana was also quite argumentative, and while she was often good in debates, she tried to avoid them, sticking closely to the Jedi Code, which she was heavily devoted to, even abandoning her relationship with Sal just to stick with the Order's rules.

A female Twi'lek, Erana had yellow skin with tiny, diamond-shaped patches of brown on her lekku and bright, yellow eyes. Her face was near-flawless, and even Vidril admitted that Erana was beautiful. Often wearing a brown and yellow tunic of Jedi-make, Erana also wore a silver headband, the only possession she was given to by her mother when she was taken from Ryloth.