Yaddle (Powerstaark)

Yaddle was a renowned Jedi Master who was the same species as the legendary Jedi Master Yoda. She served on the Jedi Council for nearly three centuries before perishing during a mission on Mawan.

Early life
Yaddle was the same species as Master Yoda and was thus gifted with a naturally long lifespan. For every five years that passed her species would physically only age one year, though mentally they could age as fast as any species. Yaddle started her training at twenty years old, which was physically only about four for her species, and like virtually all Jedi she was trained by Yoda. Yaddle was physically only eight when she was promoted to Padawan though she had been training for nearly two decades. She became the Padawan of Polvin Kut.

By the time Yaddle was fifty (ten for her species), she and her Master were dispatched to the planet Koba, located in the Colonies region of space. They had been sent to liberate the planet from the Advozse warlord known as Tulak, who held the planet unlawfully in his tyrannical grip. Polvin Kut had planned to enlist the assistance of a small resistance movement, who were angry with Tulak's exploitation of the people of Koba. However, the two Jedi were betrayed by Tulak's spies within the Koban resistance before they had even reached Koba's outer moon. Tulak, who had come up against the two Jedi many times before and held a deep hatred for the Jedi Order, set up an ambush for the two peacekeepers. The Advozse madman used his vast amounts of Koban slaves as warriors against Kut and Yaddle in a Koban gorge. Polvin Kut, who was not as completely impervious to the dark side as most Jedi, had been tracking Tulak for decades after the Advozse murdered his family. Surrounded by Tulak's slaves and soldiers, who were brandishing primitive axes and blasters, Polvin Kut let revenge affect his reactions, and, more importantly, his judgment. In an vain attempt to kill Tulak, Kut left himself open for attack, and was killed and beheaded by Tulak's slaves, leaving his Padawan Yaddle alone against dozens of vicious fighters.

Imprisonment
Yaddle was captured and imprisoned in a chamber deep beneath the ground by Tulak, and subjected to various forms of torture. However, the green-skinned Padawan did not give in Tulak's torture, refusing to tell him when the next Jedi would arrive to challenge the brutal Advozse warlord after many interrogations. Yaddle simply replied that Tulak's reign of terror would end. Tulak, furious that Yaddle was not buckling under torture, decided to keep Yaddle as a hostage, even though she would not submit to his questioning.

After reaping everything and everyone he could from the planet, Tulak decided that he had had enough of Koba, and prepared to make his way to another world, leaving his trusted marshals to watch over the remote planet. All of Tulak's previous attempts at breaking Yaddle had proved unsuccessful, and his original plan to exploit Yaddle's young naivety had failed. Rather than killing his captive, Tulak cruelly imprisoned Yaddle for life in her underground pit, in case she ever became useful as a hostage in the future.

Tulak soon forgot of Polvin Kut's young apprentice, although the people of Koba did not. Yaddle's wardens taunted and jeered Yaddle through a gap in the ceiling in order to gain favor with Tulak's marshals. Yaddle stayed in solitary confinement in her underground prison for almost a century, and her only source of provisions were the wardens, who sent down baskets of fruit and vegetables for a time, however as supplies on Koba ran low, the wardens became so preoccupied with their own survival that they slowly forgot about the "One Below". Yaddle's existence became the stuff of legend, and although a few pitiful beings continued to send food down the shaft as a sort of ritual, Yaddle relied on the Force for survival.

During her many decades of isolation, Yaddle reflected upon the lessons of her late Master again and again—she embraced and eventually achieved unity with the Force. Many vicious predators wandered into Yaddle's cave, and she had to learn the art of combat—an aspect of the Force she had little experience in—for survival, using a simple wooden stick to defeat vicious creatures several times her size. She became known as the "One Below" by the Kobans.

Escape
Yaddle had resigned to the fact that she could not escape, and had come to peace with herself, when she was presented with an opportunity for escape. Large shifts in the planet's mantle had caused powerful earthquakes all over Koba. The impoverished people of Koba, still recovering from Tulak's tyrannical reign, were not prepared for such natural disasters, and could do nothing to stop the remains of their once-spectacular civilization fall to pieces. An earthquake caused a minor avalanche in Yaddle's pit, and for the first time in almost a century, the Jedi Padawan saw daylight. Yaddle's happiness at finally escaping did not last long. She sensed suffering and despair all around her—what had remained after the various famines and plagues had now been decimated by the earthquakes.

Yaddle had long since forgiven the past generations of Kobans who had acted as her jailers, and she felt deeply sorry for the people who were suffering because of Tulak's oppressive time in charge. She provided as much help to the Kobans as she possibly could.

Although the work was difficult, and the resources had been almost depleted, the people of Koba were inspired to continue rebuilding their broken world by Yaddle's spirit and dedication. They built a bridge in Polvin Kut's name over the gorge he had been killed in, in honor of the late Jedi Knight. Yaddle became the savior of the Koban population, but she refused to accept any honors or rewards. She worked with the children of Koba, teaching them what she had learned as a Jedi Padawan.

Tulak's grandson, Kalut, had replaced his grandfather as warlord, and had come to Koba to claim his inheritance. Kalut was even more ruthless than his grandfather, and intended to take whatever was worth taking from the devastated planet, and then leave it for good. He fired upon the villages, destroying much of what the Kobans had rebuilt. Kalut and his fellow Advozse soldiers arrived at Yaddle's village, disgusted at the poor condition the villagers were in. Deciding they would be useless as slaves or warriors, Kalut stole the Kobans few valuables. Although the Kobans were too weak to fight, Yaddle was not. She challenged Kalut, and when he refused to leave the Kobans in peace, Yaddle engaged him in a duel. Yaddle, using only the wooden stick with which she had honed her combat abilities during her imprisonment, defeated and killed the Advozse dictator, liberating the Koban people.

Council Member

 * "Doubt I will always have, strict Jedi tradition this is not. But the path to the dark side is not one Yaddle will travel I think. The Council speaks with many voices; I am but one. To the fold you are welcome."


 * ―Yoda, granting Yaddle the rank of Jedi Master and a place on the Jedi High Council

When Yaddle returned to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the Jedi Council determined that she had achieved unity with the Force and that she did not need any additional training. The Council proposed that Yaddle be elevated to the position of Jedi Master, and offered a seat on the Jedi Council, even though she was still a Padawan. Master Yoda, feeling that it was against the Jedi Code, was the only Council member against Yaddle's elevation. However, knowing he was outnumbered, Yoda backed down, and allowed Yaddle to join the ranks of the Jedi Council.

After becoming a Jedi Master, Yaddle went on to train dozens of Padawans for three centuries, including Oppo Rancisis. Rancisis, a Thisspiasian male, was a shrewd tactician and a practitioner of Battle Meditation, and eventually joined Yaddle on the Council. Yaddle was loved by all younglings who frequently went to her for comfort or advice.

Yaddle was eventually appointed as the head of the Librarians' Assembly, working with curator Ashka Boda to maintain the Jedi Temple's vast collections of various holocrons, scrolls and Sith artifacts, as well as gathering and studying new books and artifacts to increase Jedi learning. Under Yaddle's leadership, the assembly increased the collection, and made several important discoveries.

When not at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, Yaddle stayed at the auxiliary Jedi training center at Kamparas, offering important lessons to initiates who did not live at the Temple full time.

Yinchorri Uprising

 * "Much time I have spent in the Jedi Archives. The journels of Tharence Wo are little known, but contain an important fact—the Yinchorri share with the Hutts and a few other species a specific trait...immune they are to mental manipulation by the Force."


 * —Yaddle shares her insight on dealing with the Yinchorri threat

Yaddle was part of the council who sent a number of Jedi to the Yinchorri system to deal with the troublesome Yinchorri. Yaddle's knowledge of the journals of Tharence Wo, which contained the little known fact that the Yinchorri, like the Hutts, were completely immune to mental manipulation by the Force. Several teams of Jedi were sent to the Yinchorri system to deal with the crisis, including many Council members, but Yaddle stayed behind with some of the less military-minded Councilors, including her former Padawan Oppo Rancisis, Quermian Master Yarael Poof and Grand Master Yoda.

With many of the Jedi Councilors gone, and with the Yinchorri being manipulated by a third party, the Jedi Temple was attacked by a group of Yinchorri. The Yinchorri warriors killed Temple guard Jude Rozess, however when they advanced further they found a group of over dozen Jedi wating for them, with their lightsabers drawn. Yaddle, weilding an orange Lightsaber, helped defeat the vicious invaders.

After the Yinchorri were all killed, Yaddle went to further study the holocron of Tharence Wo, as the teams of Jedi had not discovered the Yinchorri commander center which they were searching for. Tharence Wo mentioned a fourth, unknown world; a lifeless rock named Uhanayih known as "within world" in the Yinchorri tongue. Yaddle, as well as Tharence Wo, had previously assumed the world to have only mythological meanings. However, with the command center still unfound, Yaddle began to wonder if the name was used literally, and that the command center might have been inside the fourth planet.

She told the Jedi Council of her suspicions, but they were interrupted by a message from Master Mace Windu. The teams of Jedi had located the hiding place of the command center, and Yaddle's theory was correct; the Yinchorri headquarters were located inside a lifeless world close to the Yinchorri sun. The Jedi on Yinchorri were successful, but the mission was not without its losses. Padawan Theen Fida, Knight Lilit Twoseas and Councilor Micah Giett had all perished on the mission.