Citadel

The Citadel was a training facility for the Order of Keltrayu located aboard the Sith Star.

Origins
Originally few in number, the handful of Novices of the Order of Keltrayu were housed in the crew dormitories of the Sith Star and trained wherever Rin Sakaros happened to fancy on any given day. Their academic instruction was conducted by educator droids, with their Force training led by Rin, her brother Tariun, and the single full Centurion, Keltrayu.

When the Order grew into the dozens of Novices, however, Rin began to desire some more organized and standardized training for her disciples. Following the Great Liberation, at Rin's instruction a large part of the Sith Star 's center was gutted and redesigned, including a large section of the hangar bay. Though this severely reduced the Star's fighter capacity, the resulting hollowing of a large portion of the ship created a vacant space in which Rin and Tariun had built the training facility they envisioned for their Novices. Due to its protected nature in the core of the ship and the fact that the Order's Centurions were the foremost warriors of the Golden Empire, the facility came to be known as "the Citadel".

Design and features
The Citadel was designed as a large oval, to fit inside the Sith Star without barring passage on either side, above, and below.

Dormitories
A large dormitory complex of two floors occupied one end of the oval shape, and featured segregated housing for male, female, and other Novices. Dormitories were usually shared among four Novices, though students of larger species might be given fewer roommates. Bedrooms were small, consisting only of bunks and refreshers, with some closet space for uniforms.

Most work was done in common areas, which included desks and computer terminals for doing homework, as well as a kitchen area in which service droids prepared and served meals to the Novices. Notably (and uniquely aboard the Star), the area was not staffed with maintenance droids; Rin Sakaros insisted that her Novices take personal responsibility for the cleanliness of their living and eating areas, both to ensure they had the skill and to instill in them a sense of humility and responsibility.

The dormitory had a small but well-stocked library, staffed by a single librarian droid known as L-4D. Nicknamed "Elf" and "Forty" by the Novices, the droid was often responsible for assisting Novices in their studies and helping them find information, and regularly complained to Tariun Sakaros and Eskol Kaartinen of being overworked.

Decorations in the dormitories were fairly spare, though Novices were allowed to decorate their own bunks and the surrounding area with pictures or other expressions of their various interests. Common areas had simple but curving and elegant architecture. The main entrance to the dormitories was dominated by a flowing fountain. The second floor's main common area had a holomap of the entire Golden Empire, which Novices could consult for astronomy homework or just observe for fun.

Classrooms
Along one length of the oval ran a series of academic classrooms, staffed with educator droids, and occasionally organic instructors from the Centurion Corps. Most classrooms featured holoprojectors and a semi-circular arrangement of long tables, allowing all Novices to face inward toward their teacher and at each other.

Novices had daily instruction in the sciences, civics, mathematics, Orhyo, Sith, and history; senior Novices also studied politics and economics.

Training rooms
The center of the Citadel was dominated by a wide variety of physical and Force training areas. At the very heart was a half-kilometer track, which could be programmed with a variety of obstacles, or just used as a straight running track. Since the floor was entirely flat—though the track had a polyurethane surface to avoid joint wear, it was perfectly level with the surrounding floor—the track and its center also served as a location for group warm-ups and exercises, as well as a meeting place for all Novices to receive instruction or speak to their teachers, Tariun, or Rin.

Numerous training rooms ringed the track, and more were set off to the side of the oval opposite the classrooms. Most of these were for the practice of lightsaber combat or the Force, though there was also a sizeable matted room for Var Shek and other hand-to-hand combat training. Training areas were staffed with a number of training droids, as well as mechanical repair stations for droids damaged during lightsaber or Force practice.

The area opposite the dormitories, at the other end of the Citadel's oval, was a huge obstacle course which could be programmed with any number of obstacles.

Centurion training deck
The third, smaller floor of the Citadel, which was exclusive to Centurions and others of higher rank, was a much more intense training environment. Though Centurions could train in the lower levels at will, the upper level had training droids which could be set to much higher and more dangerous sparring levels, as well as obstacle courses with potentially lethal obstacles and a large dueling ring for Centurions to pit their skills against one another without Novices observing. All Centurions were required to complete a course on their Training Deck at least once a year. The Centurions gave it the tongue-in-cheek nickname "the funhouse".

Security and other features
Seeing her Centurions as the future of her Empire's security and peace, Rin Sakaros went to great lengths to protect them. The Citadel's walls were made of hull-level armor plating, and the lone main entrance (on the obstacle course side) was a heavy, hydraulic door which could only be accessed with a code. Only the Sovereign and members of the Order could come and go at will; anyone else needed an escort, and such permission was very rarely given.

Emergency escapes into other areas of the ship did exist, but were wired so as to explode outward, and thus were for one-time use. The Citadel was protected with flame-retardant foam in case of fire, and had two medical droids on staff to treat serious injuries as well as minor ones and illnesses. Two Massassi warriors guarded the entrance at all times, and a small cluster of security droids were stationed inside to repel any invaders.

Aside from the above-mentioned facilities, the Citadel also featured a few rooms devoted to various extracurricular pursuits, such as a mechanical shop and a "garage" with working starfighter pieces and a few flight simulators. The main training field could take on yet another role and serve as a stage when Novices decided to put on a play or musical.

The Citadel had a hyperwave transceiver, which the Prefect could use to contact Centurions in the field, if he did not wish to use the one near the Sith Star's bridge. On very rare occasions, Novices were also allowed to contact their birth families with this device.

Ceremonies
All Novices were promoted to Centurion status within the Citadel, and most components of Centurion exams also took place in its various training rooms.

When Centurions were killed in battle, their caskets usually lay in honor between the entrance door and the ellipse for a period of one to three days before being transported to Keltrayu's Tomb for final interment. During periods of official mourning for fallen Centurions, the banner of the Order's Emblem which hung in the main lobby of the dormitories was replaced with a gray banner.

In 149 ABY, when two Massassi died defending the Citadel alongside Te`net Organi, Eskol Kaartinen, and Vos'elk'eetash during the Battle of the Sith Star, Kaartinen allowed them to lie in honor inside the Citadel along with the eleven Centurions killed during the Battle of Dolomir. Kaartinen had their names inscribed in the Citadel's main door.