The Almas Academy Council was a satellite administrative body subservient to the Council of First Knowledge. A seven member Council, these Jedi Masters were appointed to govern the Jedi Academy on the planet Almas, within the Cularin system. The academy itself was the prototype for a new kind of academy that the High Council had designed: a Ranger Academy. Jedi Rangers would serve as a localized peacekeeping entity capable of overseeing entire systems or sectors depending on size, with a Watchman serving as the academy's headmaster. Organized around this notion, the Almas Academy experiment was considered a success and after the Clone Wars the Order began modelling other satellite academies around this plan.
Organization[]
Founded in 122 BrS, the Almas Council was founded to guide the curriculum at the Academy. Comprised of five of the leading instructors and the Headmaster, the Council met in a torch-lit stone chamber at the summit of one of the academy's towers. Meeting annually, the Masters discussed not only curriculum and teaching methods, but reviewed the status of the Sith ruins on the other side of the planet and proposed Jedi who were ready to take the Trials of Knighthood. Arranging themselves around a long table, the Headmaster took up the seat at one end, while a seventh seat was reserved for visiting dignitaries or representatives from the Council of First Knowledge.
Under the administration of Headmaster Nerra Ziveri, the Council members were each given a title specific to their department. The Chief lightsaber instructor was known as the Master of Lightsabers; the Master of Wisdom oversaw the administration of the Academy's library, while the Master of Medicine ran the medical facilities. The Master of Visions was a seer or prophet who was specially assigned to teach meditation and Force skills, while the Chief Instructor was in charge of all other courses offered at the Academy. During the Clone Wars, the High Council assigned an emissary to Almas, overseeing the practices of the Council and ensuring that they remained within the Order's orthodoxy.
In the wake of the war, several key changes were made. Other academy councils were modeled around the Almas Council, taking the titles and positions used here and codifying them. The emissary was removed from the Council but the seventh chair was given over instead to the Master Ranger, a Jedi who was tasked with the overall assigning of duties to Jedi Rangers and maintaining the Order's representation throughout assigned space. The Headmaster of the Academy became the Watchman of the star system, splitting their duties between the Academy and the local governments and ensuring that a strong bond was maintained between the Jedi and the people. While Initiates were no longer trained at the Academy, the Council still oversaw the testing of all newborns within the system, and served as an induction point should a parent wish to drop off their child to enter into the Order. Adults and adolescents were also welcome to apply at the Academy, receiving basic testing before being sent to Ossus for future training.
Members of the Council[]
| Name | Species | Date of joining | Date of leaving | Role | Replacing | Replaced by | |
| Janos Vih'Torr | Bith | 122 BrS | 107 BrS | Headmaster | N/A | Bren Corsh | |
| A student of Sith culture, Janos Vih'Torr had dedicated his life to researching the Ruin-era Sith Empire. A respected archaeologist and scholar, Vih'Torr was dispatched by the High Council to monitor the abandoned fortress of Darth Rivan on Almas. Mapping the area surrounding the fortress and studying the ruins extensively, Vih'Torr's early work made up the bulk of the Order's knowledge on Rivan's workings on the planet. When the academy was founded and Vih'Torr placed at the head of its administrative council, the Bith directed the Council's attention away from Almas and to the neighboring world Cularin. On the primary world of the Cularin system, the Tarasin natives were engaged in a violent conflict with the Trade Federation. Dispatching agents to end the conflict, Vih'Torr gave praise to Jedi Rannek Navaro and Goran Baobab when the ended the war in 119 BrS after six months of negotiating. Vih'Torr assisted politically when colonists began to build up a city around the Academy; the Headmaster believed that the city would be able to help supply the academy and create a good environment for the students to begin actively training as peacekeepers. Under Headmaster Vih'Torr's administration, the city of Forard was established and policed by Padawans training to be Jedi Guardians. Vih'Torr became one with the Force in 107 BrS and his body was cremated on the academy pyre in a ceremony attended by the entire academy population and the entire Forard city government. | |||||||
| Graeme Sallian | Kiffar | 122 BrS | 89 BrS | Psychometric | N/A | Sherveen Frey | |
| Graeme Sallian first arrived in the Cularin system while a Padawan under the tutelage of Avvin Sekel, a fellow Kiffar and psychometric. Having been summoned to investigate the mysterious death of Master Tan Qornah in 153 BrS, Sallian's testimony as to the nature of Qornah's death at the hands of Padawan Kibh Jeen were vital to the Order's reaction to the threat. Decades later, Sallian chose to return to the world, as he had long been fascinated with the fortress he had only visited briefly. Becoming close with Master Vih'Torr, Sallian was offered a seat on the newly convened Academy Council and accepted, taking on the roles of an instructor at the facility. Crafting classroom experiences which would enhance the seldom-studied art of psychometry, Sallian's students took excursions to the fortress on the far side of the world to hold the rocks and debris that surrounded it in a test of their new-found abilities. Sallian was highly-respected at the Academy, and his passing left all students and staff with a heavy heart. | |||||||
| Silus Aban | Human | 122 BrS | 114 BrS | Weapons Master | N/A | Vosh Danodel | |
| Silus Aban, a Human from the war-torn world of Bogden, was originally assigned to Almas to serve as security detail to the researchers inspecting the dark fortress of Darth Rivan. When the Council was formed at the Almas Academy, Aban was invited to join as a member, becoming an instructor in the art of specialized weapons usage. The students that sought out Aban's courses were interested in wielding different weapons in the interest of keeping the peace. Stun batons, clubs, quarterstaffs, and nun-chucks were all among Aban's specialties. During the Tarasin revolt, Aban met with Tarasin refugees and offered them hospitality on Almas. They went on to establish a permanent settlement several hundred kilometers from the Academy, maintaining contact only to send the every fifth child to the Order for training. Aban ventured to Tilnes, one of the two moons of Cularin, to secure several crystal caves valuable for the manufacture of lightsabers. After signing documents with representatives from Cularin, Aban was killed when his ship's controls were fried by atmospheric radiation and caused his ship to spiral out of control into the planet below. | |||||||
| Mohandai Sorenn | Kel Dor | 122 BrS | 102 BrS | Archivist | N/A | Tonnil Singh | |
| A respected archivist from Coruscant, Mohandai Sorenn had served as one of the High Council's premiere specialists in Sith histories and rituals. To this end, Sorenn was invaluable to the Almas Academy's research into Darth Rivan's machinations on the planet. As his antiox mask allowed him to move around Almas with more ease then his fellow Jedi, Sorenn spent a great amount of time outside the hermetically sealed academy building. Puzzled by the lack of doors or openings, Sorenn was frustrated that the Order had failed to inspect the fortress when they originally drove Darth Rivan of the world several centuries back. Not letting this get in his way, Sorenn conducted several tests on the walls of the ruins, attempting to locate an opening but none of the research was ever conclusive. Sorenn was responsible for establishing the Academy Library, a multi-level facility within the heart of the academy building. Sorenn's library consisted of a single level of Stacks, a holocron vault and a large database of holographic training programs used to educate students at the academy. Sorenn became one with the Force after several long years of dedicated service to the Order, and the Academy. | |||||||
| Yui Madine | Human | 122 BrS | 122 BrS | Medical Examiner | N/A | Maki Maverick | |
| The first born of a noble house on his homewrold Corellia, Yui Madine had been given to the Order by his family after they had been rescued from an assassination attempt was foiled by the intervention of the Jedi. Growing up on Coruscant, Madine felt robbed of his birthright and was constantly reprimanded for his air of entitlement. When his predilection for healing was discovered, his Master decided to send him to work with the MedCorps to humble him. When Madine was assigned to Almas, he felt that he was being relegated to work that was below his stature as a healer. Tasked with assisting the Jedi researchers, Madine was quickly surprised to learn that the assignment on Almas would be far more dangerous then he originally believed. Several members of the team were brought back to the academy with not only physical ailments but also having suffered mental assaults. Madine quickly worked to setup a state-of-the-art medical facility at the research center to keep up with the attacks suffered while investigating the fortress. Learning to counter the effects of the dark side on a Jedi mind, Madine was a valuable asset to the fledgling academy that developed on the world. When the academy building was completed, Madine quickly began assigning the oldest students duties within the medical center; maintaining a staff of three droids to assist in the most advanced operations. Sitting on the Council, Madine was valued for his medical prowess but was not otherwise liked by the other Jedi who saw him as selfish and standoffish man. Despite this, he had a good rapport with students that strove to learn from him; going so far as to have an elite following of some of the brightest medical students of the generation. Truly gifted, Madine was not just an excellent medical expert, but a keen teacher with a knack for targeting his students' faults and giving them the tools to better themselves. | |||||||
| Ulas Tokani | Chadra-Fan | 122 BrS | 102 BrS | Head Instructor | N/A | Tiali Vermetter | |
| Aspiring to sit upon the High Council, Ulas Tokani reminded himself that being mindful of the will of the Force was the key to being a good Jedi when he was sent to Almas. The diminutive Jedi had a powerful presence at the fledgling academy, using his profound knowledge of psychokinetic abilities to craft a curriculum for the Academy's Force-training courses. A favorite among his students, Tokani was quite personable and maintained good relations with all of his peers, even the loner Master Madine. Tokani took his position as head instructor quite seriously, but could always be seen with a smile and ready with a laugh during lessons when witty students stimulated his mind. When Master Danodel joined the Council, Tokani was quick to befriend the lightsaber virtuoso and the pair could often be found debating after sparring lessons. Tokani was most beloved for his course titled the Introduction to Advanced Psychokinesis during which he took students out into the surrounding fields of kaluthin and demonstrated his abilities in pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, hydrokinesis, and electrokinesis. When Tokani died twenty years after taking his seat on the Council, the entire academy mourned, with representatives from the High Council and Council of First Knowledge coming from Coruscant to pay their respects. | |||||||
| Vosh Danodel | Human | 114 BrS | 91 BrS | Lightsaber instructor | Silus Aban | Unie Zorabos | |
| Stern, thickly muscled and balding, Vosh Danodel was a mountain of man and a fierce lightsaber wielder. Appointed by the Order's Battlemaster, Danodel's arrival on Almas was a whirlwind affair, with many on the Academy staff disappointed in Coruscant's choice. The faculty on Almas was tight-knit and were atrabilious in the face of this new-comer. Gruff and terse, Danodel was an intimidating presence and did not appreciate any fanfare. Not one to stand for tense moments, Master Tokani quickly cracked Danodel's hardened shell and the two became unlikely friends. Among his students, Danodel had a very firm standard for what he expected out of them, and was sure to keep his distance from them outside of scheduled classes. When he was not teaching, Danodel was training, savaging a straw and burlap dummy that he maintained in his spartan quarters. Each day he would rebuild his dummy and then pummel it into tatters using a wooden training saber. In 98 BrS Danodel abruptly left the Academy and Almas without a word to anyone. While many on the Academy staff believed that he had quit and left to pursue life beyond the Order, Danodel soon returned with two prisoners and a corpse. Reporting to the Council, Danodel explained that he felt a surge of dark side energy within the asteroid belt and decided to pursue it. Finding a group of cultists that called themselves the Believers, the interrogation that unfolded at the Academy revealed that the cult venerated the Sith fortress and sought to destroy the Jedi. Speculating that the group found their origin in Kibh Jeen's failed domination of the system, the Council pledged to be watchful for more cultist activity and destroy the Sith in whatever incarnation it appeared. | |||||||
| Bren Corsh | Human | 107 BrS | 85 BrS | Headmaster | Janos Vih'Torr | Nerra Ziveri | |
| Following the death of the first Headmaster of Almas, Bren Corsh was dispatched from Coruscant to take over the administration of the facility. To start off his career with a strong impression, Corsh approached the citizens of Forard with an offer of employment. Sending Jedi into the desert surrounding the Sith fortress with guides that would navigate the sands while maintaining a safe distance from the dark side wellspring, Corsh sought to test the radius of the dark side pall that seemed to stem from the ruins. Corsch believed that the best way to build a Jedi with a true respect for the evils of the dark side, was for them to experience its power and give them the opportunity to make the choice to give in or maintain their Jedi neutrality. Corsh governed the two dozen Padawans of the academy for two decades, training them to seek guidance from the Force and not to fear the dark side but rather see it for its deficiencies. His most lasting lesson was one in which he reveled in the idea that the Jedi create, they grow, and they adapt; the Sith on the other hand rot as ruins and can only affect things that happen upon their remnants. | |||||||
| Tiali Vermetter | Iktotchi | 102 BrS | 82 BrS | Head Instructor | Ulas Tokani | Tanner Lysscol | |
| After Master Tokani passed, the Almas Council requested that another Master be sent from Coruscant to serve as his replacement. When Master Tiali Vermetter arrived she was welcomed by all 27 students and the nine instructors of the Academy. Vermetter was an exception to the generalization that Iktotchi were somber, introspective individuals. A vibrant personality, Vermetter had a loud, barking laugh and was highly mischievous; she would often play jokes on her colleagues and on the younger students using her talents in the Force. This ranged from using her ability to masquerade as others through illusions or manipulating light to make herself invisible. An unusual Jedi, the other faculty members did not know what to make of her at first, but slowly grew to respect her unique talents and appreciate her wisdom on the Council. Never one to suffer formalities or traditions, Vermetter gained the ire of the more sober minds on the Council, and was considered to be a fool by Master Danodel. After Headmaster Corsh's death, Vermetter instantly connected with Master Nerra Ziveri and was reluctant to retire from the Council only four years after his arrival. However, Vermetter was recalled to Coruscant in 82 BrS to serve as Watchman on her homeworld as part of a way to ease tensions between the Iktotchi people and trade interests in the system. | |||||||
| Tonnil Singh | Anx | 102 BrS | 59 BrS | Archivist | Mohandai Sorenn | Darryn Ardmore | |
| Considered to be somewhat of a rogue, Master Tonnil Singh was once a member of the ExplorCorps who decided to abandon his post and travel around the Outer Rim in search of new knowledge. An old colleague of Headmaster Corsh, Singh was invited to use Almas as a base and catalog his years of findings in the library of the late Master Sorenn. Welcoming the opportunity to preserve his research and archive it, Singh happily obliged the invitation and settled on Almas. Considered eccentric by his colleagues, Singh was quick on his feet for an Anx and could often be found within the academy's recreation stadium playing shockball with his students after classes. As an instructor, Singh encouraged his students to use the equipment in the library to its fullest potential; he would often create puzzles for his students to solve using the resources within the Stacks. On the Council, Singh offered a unique perspective on teaching and his approach to Jedi doctrine was far more liberal then any other member of the Council. Singh would often travel abroad with students, exposing them to the wider galaxy beyond Almas in an early version of what Master Ziveri would later develop as official Quests. These long journey missions would revolve around students solving one of Singh's puzzles and using the answers to determine their destination, their assignment, and other important information necessary to success. | |||||||
| Unie Zorabos | Sullustan | 91 BrS | 64 BrS | Lightsaber Instructor | Vosh Danodel | Mannis Pesqui | |
| When Master Danodel died suddenly during his daily practice routine, Unie Zorabos was dispatched from Coruscant to succeed him. Zorabos had been a Padawan of the late swordsman and, while he matched him in prowess with a sword, Zorabos did not share his master's demeanor. A stout individual, Zorabos was by-the-book and stern, but was also invested in interpersonal relationships with his students. Zorabos took a vested interest in each and every member of the academy's student body and was determined to see them achieve greatness. Scheduling extra practice sessions, Zorabos was demanding and tough, but was thought of as the most caring of the Academy staff. Zorabos became popular outside the Academy grounds as well; he would often visit local dojos and give lessons in his spare time, training many civilians the basics of self-defense and physical wellness. On the Council, the Sullustan was highly attuned to the local system's needs and the desires and expectations of the small folk. Concerned with the Order's reputation, Zorabos often dispatched Padawans to Cularin and Genarius to meet with city governments and locals in order to build a strong connection with those towns on a personal level. | |||||||
| Sherveen Frey | Human | 89 BrS | 65 BrS | Master Seer | Graeme Sallian | Goran Baobab | |
| Slight and reedy, Master Sherveen Frey's connection to the Force was considered tenuous at best. Squeaking through the academy on Coruscant based solely on interest from a well-respected Master, Frey's clairvoyant skills were openly questioned by her peers. High-strung and demanding, Frey dismissed all rumors of her capabilities and in turn many dismissed her. Attending Master Sallian's funeral, Frey approached the aging Headmaster Corsh about a position on the Academy's staff and was appointed at once. Corsh later came to regret his rash promotion without verifying with the Council of First Knowledge, but allowed Frey to remain on the Council due to her organizational skills. A perfectionist, Frey reorganized the curriculum that Sallian had left behind and quickly began educating her students in the ways of Farsight. Despite her dubious abilities, Frey proved that her teaching abilities were quite good, and many of her students who were predisposed to experience visions tested well when asked to control them. | |||||||
| Nerra Ziveri | Twi'lek | 84 BrS | 21 BrS | Headmaster | Bren Corsh | Lanius Qel-Bertuk | |
| When Nerra Ziveri arrived at the Almas Academy after traveling from Coruscant, he was determined to transform the school from a small outpost to a highly-productive training ground for Jedi. A proponent of teaching the doctrine of the Living Force, Ziveri was deeply in tune with the planet, the inhabitants, and the Force while in the Cularin system. As the Academy came under review by the Council of First Knowledge and was critiqued for being located so close to the Sith fortress on the planet, Ziveri felt that it provided a constant reminder to students of the dangers of the dark side. Every year, he recounted the tale of Kibh Jeen and his bid for control of the Cularin system to the students to keep all students aware of the perils that they would face as they grew in the Force. Building off of Master Singh's journey missions, Ziveri codified the Quest; sending each student on an extra-system mission annually to test their skills on solo missions in the greater galaxy. Under his administration, Ziveri was able to convince Coruscant that taking on some older students from the native Tarasin community would benefit the Order. Ziveri was later permitted to expand the scope of this policy of taking more mature students, bringing in teenage Wookiees and Twi'leks before eventually opening the academy to all applicants. Because of this exemption to the Order's age policy, and because of a lack of masters, Ziveri also extended the time students stayed in the group learning environment and diversified the training in alien cultures. The Academy grew more rapidly in only a few years then it had ever in its history. Considering this success to be the will of the Force, Ziveri took Lanius Qel-Bertuk as his student and began grooming him to eventually succeed him. Ziveri was convinced the Sith fortress was important to the future of the galaxy and attempted to probe its dark side aura. When he succeeded in penetrating the aura of the ancient ruins, Ziveri said his farewells to Qel-Bertuk, whom he made the new Headmaster of the Academy, then left the planet and disappeared on a mysterious mission, never to be seen again. | |||||||
| Maki Maverick | Human | 83 BrS | 61 BrS | Mistress of Medicine | Yui Madine | Zuk Inkari | |
| A healer at the Halls of Healing on Coruscant, Master Maki Maverick was one of Ziveri's masters when he studied as an Initiate at the Jedi Temple. When Ziveri was made Headmaster on Almas, Maverick was excited to take Master Inkari's place as Chief Healer and took a shuttle to the Cularin system. Upon arriving Ziveri appointed Maverick as the first Mistress of Medicine, a unique title he hoped would catch on at other academies to denote their difference from the Chief Healer on Coruscant. Quick-witted and loud, Maverick was atypical for a healer and like most Jedi that found themselves attached to the experimental academy, she was not the most typical Jedi serving in her era. | |||||||
| Tanner Lysscol | Human | 82 BrS | 54 BrS | Chief Instructor | Tiali Vermetter | Huff Rubarts | |
| When Master Vermetter departed Almas, the Trade Federation swept in once more and took over all legal trade in the Cularin system. Tanner Lysscol, arriving three months after his predecessor's departure, was assigned to Almas not only for his profound knowledge of the Force but also his experience in negotiating treaties with trade conglomerates like the Federation. Sitting down with the local planetary governments and the Neimodian representatives from the Trade Federation, Lysscol was able to hammer out terms; though he remained wary of the Federation's intentions and scoffed at their blatant exploitation of loopholes in the Tarasin Compact. While the negotiations were largely farcical, Lysscol strove to safeguard as much of the Compact as he could before the Federation completely exploited the systems resources. For the Jedi, the Federation would not impact their daily life because of the kaluthin which burrowed deep into the soil on Almas, making it a cost-prohibitive venture to dig into the planet for what little extractable material existed there. When Riboga the Hutt set up a black market in the system half a decade later, Lysscol saw himself pulled between balancing the activity of the Trade Federation and dispatching Jedi to deal with Riboga's presence on Cularin and Genarius. | |||||||
| Goran Baobab | Human | 65 BrS | 33 BrS | Master of Visions | Sherveen Frey | Dashara Fel | |
| When Master Frey passed away in her sleep, the Academy staff maintained their Jedi detachment, but none could honestly say that they grieved overmuch for the strange woman. Ziveri was excited to promote Goran Baobab, a recluse, to the new position of Master of Visions. Not only was Baobab a well-respected prophet, he was also one of the two Knights that had negotiated the Tarasin Compact two decades prior. Welcoming Baobab back to the system, Ziveri hoped that the hermit-like Master would attract other Jedi to the system to meditate and hopefully teach. A member of the highly-influential and ancient Mandanian House Baobab, the Human was the primary counsel for Master Lysscol and praised the man's work during the Trade Federation's return to the system. Much to Ziveri's liking, Baobab's presence did invite others to the Academy, creating an atmosphere similar to a monastery as silent Jedi wander the corridors that encircled the Academy building in deep contemplation. | |||||||
| Mannis Pesqui | Bothan | 64 BrS | 29 BrS | Master of Lightsabers | Unie Zorabos | Kirlocca | |
| When Mannis Pesqui took up the title of Master of Lightsabers, the Academy's students were well-prepared to meet the Bothan's expectations. Having excelled under the tutelage of the late Master Zorabos, the older students so impressed Master Pesqui that he commended them as the best swordsmen and women of their graduating class Order-wide. One of his first official actions as a member of the Almas Council was to make a report to Coruscant commending the efforts of the Academy staff in providing a strong learning environment. This high praise earned the Academy a hike in funding from Coruscant, and Master Ziveri used these monies to expand the Academy building with the addition of eight dormitory buildings and the refurbishing of the central Academy building. Pesqui quickly became a favorite on the Council, and was considered to be a noble and wise being. | |||||||
| Zuk Inkari | Zelosian | 61 BrS | 20 BrS | Master of Medicine | Maki Maverick | Miran Denan | |
| A young healer, freshly elevated to the rank of Master after a decade of service to the MedCorps, Zuk Inkari was a field surgeon and took the appointment to the Almas Council in stride. As Master of Medicine, Inkari looked to Headmaster Ziveri with reverence and was pleased with the great amount of freedom he was given in his scholarly pursuits. Expanding the sciences at the Academy, Inkari took a keen interest in the preservation of the kaluthin and assisted in the founding of a research facility outside the city of Forard devoted to the study of the strange plant. | |||||||
| Darryn Ardmore | Arkanian | 59 BrS | 15 BrS | Master of Wisdom | Tonnil Singh | Ti-Amun Tiro | |
| Master of Wisdom Darryn Ardmore was the classic Arkanian Jedi: part scientist, part scholar, and part eccentric. Along with fellow newcomer to Almas, Master Inkari, Ardmore helped to cultivate the basic science programs offered at the Academy into a bold new vision of how the study of the natural world should be taught. Spending great amounts of time at the fledgling research facility on the outskirts of Forard, Masters Ardmore and Inkari worked with scientists from around the galaxy to parse out the secrets of the kaluthin, all the while involving students in their research. Ardmore was popular on the convention circuit that cycled through the Cularin system; attending galas and showcases to lecture about the advancements the scientists of the system had made in the field. A favorite of interviewers, Ardmore was frequently asked to appear on the HoloNet's most popular science-oriented web-series, Wild and Weird Worlds of the Rim and spoke frequently of the oddities and mysteries of the Cularin system. | |||||||
| Huff Rubarts | Mirialan | 53 BrS | 31 BrS | Chief Instructor | Tanner Lysscol | Tak Oldin | |
| Huff Rubarts, a traditionalist trained by Master Epriaziar T'un, was a most-unwanted appointment to the Almas Council. Given the role of Chief Instructor, Rubarts was doctrinaire and did not approve of the experimental curriculum's growing dominance at the academy. Hoping to turn back the tide of Ziveri's extremist policies, Rubarts insinuated himself into the classrooms of all his colleagues and began following critiques of their methods and their "dangerous streak of reckless lecturing." Butting heads with Master Pesqui on a daily basis, the Bothan banned Rubarts from entering his classroom during a lecture and notified the Council of First Knowledge of Rubarts' behavior. The Council censored Rubarts, but the Mirialan retained his position at the Academy; using his own classroom as a pulpit to espouse his beliefs that the other instructors were practicing illicit training methods. The accusations eventually came to a head in 43 BrS when Pesqui dispatched Jedi to hunt down and eradicate a group of slavers that had begun operating as part of Riboga's criminal Organization. Outraged that the Bothan was advocating assassination and aggression as a means to an end, Rubarts drew his lightsaber and barred the Jedi from leaving the Academy hangar to carry out their assignment. Pesqui disarmed Rubarts and pinned him against the wall before Headmaster Ziveri arrived to escort the Mirialan to his office. After taking several weeks to meditate in private, Rubarts was allowed to return to his duties and kept a low profile at the Academy over the next decade, resigning himself to focus on his teaching and learning to stay out of the affairs of his peers. Absent for many Council meetings Rubarts allowed his Deputy Chief, Master Tak Oldin, to attend in his staff and tend to much of his duties as Chief Instructor. When Rubarts became one with the Force, Oldin was instantly appointed as his successor. | |||||||
| Dashara Fel | Human | 33 BrS | 4 BrS | Mistress of Visions | Goran Baobab | Alzo Jurahi | |
| The student of Master Baobab, Dashara Fel was an obvious choice to succeed her former mentor as Mistress of Visions. Hailing from Corellia, Fel was considered a sycophant by some, but Master Ziveri saw her for what she truly was: a zealot with a flare for the dramatic, but a true prophet just like her mentor. Suffering from visions on a constant basis, Fel had taken control of her second sight, allowing it flick past her eyes at almost all hours of the day without giving in to bouts of sickness or fainting. Despite this, her mind struggled to cope with the deluge, making her appear spastic, twitchy, and unstable. Keen on gaining recognition for her gifts, Fel's visions ranged from the mundane to grandiose in nature; one moment she would see her next meal in a vision, then it would be followed with the images of her colleague's death. Seldom holding classes, Fel took to her chambers for weeks on end, scrawling out records of each vision and striking the ones without meaning and attempting to connect those which were most important. Despite years of dedicated and detailed recording, Fel's visions never amounted to a groundbreaking revelation she so desperately sought as compensation for her constant torment. At the end of her rope, after a serious bent of fasting she was sure would bring about the vision of her career ended in nothing more then a prediction of the next day's weather, Master Fel flung herself from her chamber window, ending her tormented life and becoming one with the Force. | |||||||
| Tak Oldin | Teevan | 31 BrS | 1 BrS | Chief Instructor | Huff Rubarts | Rayfe Rollan | |
| Deputy Chief Instructor under Master Rubarts, Tak Oldin could not have been more different from his predecessor. A robust and earnest young being, Oldin favored Ziveri's leadership and approach to Jedi training and believed it superior to the mainstream methods. Quickly restoring the trust between the Academy's faculty and the Office of the Chief Instructor, Oldin worked tirelessly to promote more and more Jedi to visit Almas and see for themselves the great work being done by Ziveri's academy. When Ziveri disappeared suddenly, Oldin was quick to step in to his friend Lanius Qel-Bertuk's office and make it known that he hoped to help preserve Ziveri's legacy. Personally welcoming Jedi Klis Joo to Almas, even Oldin was skeptical of the Duros' decision to run for the vacant office of mayor and cautioned Jedi involvement in elected positions. Despite his reservations, Joo proved herself as a worthy leader and assisted her whenever he could. | |||||||
| Kirlocca | Wookiee | 29 BrS | Year 14 | Master of Lightsabers | Mannis Pesqui | Devan For'deschel | |
| Arriving at the Almas Academy at a young age for his species, Kirlocca was the oldest student ever accepted to the academy at the young age of 122 standard years old. However, when Headmaster Nerra Ziveri tested the boy, he was discovered to be extremely strong in the Force and was accepted promptly. Kirlocca had a ferocity that came out when he fought, but he refused to give in to his people's fighting rage, which he thought was too close to the dark side, nor did he give out war cries in battle, fighting instead in an eerie silence. Watching Kirlocca's prowess with a lightsaber had been described as being "like watching water flow over the falls." Upon attaining the rank of Master Kirlocca remained within the Cularin system, serving with distinction. As an instructor, Kirlocca felt the best way to impart what he knew was through martial training, helping the younger to direct their energies through lightsaber combat. Traveling to Coruscant to meet with the Order's Battlemaster, Kirlocca was appointed as the Master of Lightsaber in the wake of Mannis Pesqui's funeral. Always one to listen, Kirlocca often answered students' questions with simple but baffling answers, and was determined to kill whomever he considered was violating the will of the Force. Kirlocca dismissed Intiate Raik Muun from the Academy for falling in love with another student. On Almas during the Blink, Kirlocca found himself and the Academy suddenly in a galaxy at war as representatives from Coruscant descended on the world with more questions then answers as to the mysterious happenings on Almas. Finding the galaxy at war, Kirlocca refused to go to war, invoking the Right of Denial and remaining at the Academy to teach. As the Clone Wars took many of his colleagues and students far from Almas, the Wookiee organized a group of Padawans and Knights to accompany him on a meditative retreat into the Almas Wasteland. During the trip, the group was attacked by a group of Jedi who had been psychologically tortured by the dark side forces working in the Wastelands. Subduing their maddened allies, Kirlocca was able to return the mad Jedi as well as his students to the Academy safely. At the end of the first year of the war, Master Kirlocca attended a peace conference organized by the Sentient Beings Opposing Violence Foundation. Boarding the Luxury, the ship aboard which the talks would take place, in orbit around Rennokk, Kirlocca and his fellow Jedi were attacked by Raik Muun, the student the Wookiee had dismissed years earlier. Muun hoped that by releasing two vicious t'salaks aboard the ship, she would turn the Jedi mediators into crazed killers, so as to discredit the Order. While the creatures did attack Kirlocca and his companions, the Jedi remained calm in the face of death, killing the beasts and succumbing to his wounds peacefully. | |||||||
| Lanius Qel-Bertuk | Human | 21 BrS | Year 16 | Headmaster | Nerra Ziveri | Worma Triblen | |
| In 21 BrS, Ziveri suddenly made Qel-Bertuk a Master, as well as the Headmaster of the Academy, before disappearing on a mysterious mission. Qel-Bertuk continued Ziveri's policies, even the experimental ones that some frowned upon, such as the Quests. He also increased the student's lessons in areas not directly related to the Force, believing that "A Jedi should know as much as possible about everything," reflecting his studies as a Sentinel. Master Qel-Bertuk had a great talent for discerning the future, something Grand Master Yoda commented upon when visiting Almas. He sensed the disturbances associated with the return of the Sith and the growing strength of the dark side before others. He began to spend more time in meditation trying to discern the source of the disturbance clearly, which was a detriment to his teaching duties. In Year 4, Master Qel-Bertuk felt a disturbance in the Force coming from the nearby planet Cularin, which he correctly assumed was related to recent disappearances of people from the cities of Gadrin and Hedrett. Assuming that he and his Jedi were too famous on Cularin to be effective as investigators, he sent the droid E1-6RA to search for some independent agents who would perform the research. These so-called Heroes of Cularin would go on to preform many historic deeds for the Jedi, acting as something of a vigilante group on behalf of the Jedi Order. The missing people had really joined the Cularin resistance to find proofs of the illegal acts of the Metatheran Cartel on the planet and expel them from the system, something they eventually achieved with the assistance of the Heroes and the Jedi. Following the Cularin system's disappearance and reappearance eight years later, Qel-Bertuk assisted in the readjustment of the Academy to a galaxy changed by nearly a decade of events the Academy had not experienced. When representatives from Coruscant outlined the build up to the Clone Wars, Qel-Bertuk and many on the Council rejected the call to arms issued by the High Council, invoking their Right to Denial and turned in his lightsaber rather then become a General. With the Academy's staff greatly diminished, Qel-Bertuk struggled to properly defend the Sith fortress from the efforts of the Believers cult, which made attempts to wrest control of the ruins from the Jedi. Stationing 20 Jedi at the fortress at a time, the fortress was still breached by cultists and several Jedi were killed or wounded in the defense of its ramparts. When the Clone Wars ended abruptly, Qel-Bertuk gathered the entire population of the Academy to travel to Coruscant and receive judgment from the Order's highest court. Much to Qel-Bertuk's surprise, his academy was to be used as a model for all other academies around the galaxy, but he was asked to step down as headmaster so that he might serve the Council of First Knowledge in a clandestine assignment. | |||||||
| Miran Denan | Chalactan | 20 BrS | Year 13 | Mistress of Medicine | Zuk Inkari | Gila Yarg | |
| A spiritual woman, Miran Denan arrived on Almas as a well-renowned healer and activist. Heir to spiritual leadership on her homeworld, Denan refused her title among the Adepts of Chalacta and opted instead to serve as a Jedi. The Mistress of Medicine, Denan preferred to use arcane and lost healing arts and opposed the over-reliance on medical technology that pervaded the medical field. Installing great healing crystals within the walls of the Academy's medical ward, Denan wore a grand necklace of healing stones around her neck and taught her students the ancient ways of mending the wounds and ailments of others. Discouraging the use of supplements and medication, Denan ground her own herbal and homeopathic remedies herself and spoon-fed the bitter concoctions to her patients. While the medicine may not have gone down smoothly, Denan's methods had a profound effect on the Academy's health. In a galaxy where illness was rare and medical technology growing rapidly every year, Denan was able to pass on an important lesson to her colleagues and her students alike: the old ways are not always the wrong ways, and a reverence for some traditions should be maintained, even at an experimental academy. | |||||||
| Ti-Amun Tiro | Khil | 15 BrS | Year 25 | Master of Wisdom | Darryn Ardmore | Unidentified | |
| An instructor at the Almas Academy for fifteen years, the Khil philosopher Ti-Amun Tiro was appointed Master of Wisdom when his good friend and mentor, Master Ardmore, became one with the Force. A devotee to the ancient philosophies of the Jedi, Tiro's staff of archivists and instructors were eager to provide their students with an education on the long history of the Order. After the Blink, Tiro struggled to come to terms with the High Council's demands that the Jedi become Generals for the Republic. When Headmaster Qel-Bertuk called a meeting of the Council, the Coruscant envoy, Master Darrus Jeht, announced that the High Council was recalling most of the Academy's instructors to the Jedi Temple where they would be assigned ranks in the Grand Army of the Republic and lead clone troopers against the Separatist Droid Army. Furious by the High Council's decision, Tiro stormed out of the chamber in protest. Following his outburst, Tiro turned over his lightsaber despite being permitted to remain on Almas to teach. With his faculty reduced to nothing, Tiro worked tirelessly to maintain all of the classes in the absence of assistants before breaking down and delegating some work to the few inexperienced Jedi Knights that remained in the system. When the war concluded, Tiro retained his seat on the Council, reinvigorated by the new High Council's favorable disposition towards the Almas Academy and was pleased with the changes that went into affect. While the Academy no longer taught young students or accepted applicants, the transformation into a Ranger Academy was good for the system and the protection of the Sith fortress. Engaging in research to be compiled in the new cultural archives at Kaleth on Tython, Tiro assisted in the training of new staff to handle the influx of Jedi seeking cultural training with the Tarasin natives. | |||||||
| Alzo Jurahi | Lorrdian | 4 BrS | Year 31 | Master of Visions | Dashara Fel | Unidentified | |
| Alzo Jurahi was a graduate of the Almas Academy, having studied under Masters Baobab and Fel before taking up the rank of Master of Visions himself. A pacifist, Master Jurahi did not carry a lightsaber and felt that Jedi who used their weapons too eagerly were hypocrites to the Jedi Code's tenants of peace. As a member of the Almas Council, Jurahi did not see eye to eye with the Masters of Lightsabers as he believed their lessons poisoned the minds of students. After the Blink, Jurahi grew grim to realize that while they Cularin system was gone from the galaxy, the stirrings of war had gone untended and now the galaxy was faced with the Clone Wars. When Master Darrus Jeht arrived from Coruscant bearing orders from the Jedi High Council, Jurahi gathered with the rest of the Council within the conference chamber to receive their marching orders. To Jurahi's dismay, all excess personnel at the academy were to report to staging areas throughout the galaxy to gain membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. Already a man who disdained fighting and viewed Jedi who "did their thinking with their lightsabers" as the greatest threat to the galaxy, Jurahi was mortified by the demand. He quietly resigned himself to the unchangeable orders, growing grim over the next several years of war as his colleagues and friends died in the conflict. When the war ended abruptly, Jurahi grudgingly traveled to Coruscant to attend the Conclave and receive news of the Order's future. Given hope by the new High Council and their more progressive agenda, Jurahi retained his seat on Almas and assisted in the transformation of the Academy into a Ranger Academy. | |||||||
| Rayfe Rollan | Zeltron | 1 BrS | Year 47 | Chief Instructor | Tak Oldin | Unidentified | |
| A Zeltron who had grown up as a priest in the Temple of Love on Zeltros, Rayfe Rollan had been given a new lease on life by studying at the Almas Academy. Journeying a long way from his days as a boy in the Temple's pleasure dens, Rollan was a master illusionist and proficient in understanding and manipulating the minds of others. Handsome and muscular, Rollan was a difficult instructor, not only testing his students' Force abilities daily, but testing their ability to comply with the Order's ban on lusting. Indeed, both Padawans Raik Muun and Athan Merasska were expelled from the Order for attempting to bed their instructor and deluding themselves into believing that he was leading them on with signals of interests. Rollan was both kind and generous, using his talents with the Force to encourage his students and draw the best from them. After surviving the tumult of the Clone Wars, Rollan was happy to retain his position on Almas, befriending the many newly appointed Rangers that operated within the system and making himself available to them for guidance and assistance. When the Cularin system gained Republic representation, Rollan involved himself with the fledgling system government and became a close adviser to Senator Lavina Wren, offering guidance and advice on a political and personal level. Master Rollan carried on in this capacity throughout the aftermath of the Blink and the Clone Wars until the appointment of Watchman Triblen after the war. | |||||||
| Darrus Jeht | Arzon | Year 13 | Year 16 | Coruscant Emissary | N/A | Charlena Unic | |
| A student of Coruscant, Darrus Jeht had received training on Almas during his apprenticeship and became good friends with Lanius Qel-Bertuk, the future Headmaster of the Academy. When Jeht returned to Almas at the start of the Clone Wars, it was as Emissary of the Jedi High Council, bearing marching orders for the Academy faculty and older students. Assigned to oversee the transfer of all battle-ready Jedi from Almas, Jeht was received coolly and disliked by many on the Council for his ill-tidings. Once the transfer was done, Jeht was assigned to remain on Almas, assisting in the training of the remaining students and the teaching of battlefield operations and wartime philosophy. Taking the seventh seat on the Council, Jeht's time on Almas was interrupted by brief stints abroad on campaigns in neighboring systems and sectors. After a treacherous battle with dark sider Asajj Ventress, Jeht took time off from teaching to seek guidance from his old friend, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Assigned the flagship Maelstrom, Jeht was personally assigned by the Chancellor to return to Almas and collect all remaining Knights and Padawans and taking the to the planet Kromus to destroy the Separatist threat there. When he returned to Almas, many Jedi refused, including the entire Council, invoking the Right of Denial. Forcing his colleagues to turn over their lightsabers, Jeht left the planet under blockade and took what Jedi who would join him to destroy the Separatist weapon. The battle at Kromus turned sour however, and Jeht made the costly decision to orbitally bombard the planet, destroying the weapon as well as the entire world's population. | |||||||
| Gila Yarg | Tarasin | Year 13 | Year 29 | Mistress of Medicine | Miran Denan | Unidentified | |
| The first Tarasin to sit on the Almas Council, Gila Yarg was honored by the distinction but unwilling to let herself be remembered as anything but a strong instructor and wise leader. As Mistress of Medicine, Yarg continued Master Denan's work of incorporating traditional medicine into the Academy's lessons, encouraging the use of healing crystals and herbal salves over chemicals produced in a lab. Because of her sudden appointment to the Council, Yarg was able to remain on Almas rather then be forced into war, something Yarg was thankful for as she found the war to be a perversion of Jedi tenants and morals. When the war ended, Yarg continued in her capacity at the Academy as it transitioned into a base for Jedi Rangers for the next thirteen years before accepting a position at the medical facilities of Mahara Kesh on Tython. While reluctant to leave Almas, Yarg was excited to work on Tython, a world steeped in the Force and more wild then her homeworld of Cularin. | |||||||
| Devan For'deschel | Human | Year 14 | Year 54 | Mistress of Lightsabers | Kirlocca | Unidentified | |
| The first to return to Almas after its reappearance in the wake of the Blink, Devan For'deschel was assigned to investigate the disappearance of the system and its occupants for the better half of the last decade. Finding the Jedi on Almas to be unchanged from eight years prior, For'deschel's investigation was cut short by the death of Kirlocca and her appointment as his successor on the Academy Council. When much of the staff was sent to fight in the war, For'deschel understood the High Council's decision, but largely disagreed with the Order's participation in the conflict. Despite being permitted to remain on Almas, she was not spared from the trials of war; the esteemed Master lost her arm to a droid during the early stages of the conflict, replacing it with a prosthetic. When Darrus Jeht returned to Almas to take the remaining students and faculty to war, For'deschel drew her lightsaber and refused to allow his to take those would not willingly go, invoking the Right of Denial. Near the end of the war, the Shadow Collective launched an assault on Almas, with an attack led by Acolyte Garth Ezzar. While many of the Jedi were unarmed after invoking the Right of Denial, For'deschel and other staff members had built new weapons and drove off their assailants, with For'deschel personally slaying Ezzar. After the war concluded, For'deschel and her comrades on the Council were commended for their actions during the war by the new High Council and permitted to retain their control over the Academy as it transitioned into a Ranger Academy. | |||||||
| Worma Triblen | Arcona | Year 16 | Year 65 | Headmaster | Lanius Qel-Bertuk | Unidentified | |
| Appointed to the Council on Almas by the Council of First Knowledge, Worma Triblen was a veteran of the Clone Wars and a Shadow who had investigated the Shadow Collective extensively during the war. Wary upon his arrival and saddened by the removal of Headmaster Qel-Bertuk, the Academy Council quickly found Triblen to be an ally. Rallying the Council to prepare for the transition of the Academy into a center for training Rangers, Triblen proposed that the curriculum focus on teaching cultural sensitivity by using the Tarasin as educational tool. In addition to his duties as Headmaster, like all leaders of Ranger Academies Triblen was appointed as the system's Watchman. To this end, Triblen split his time between overseeing the courses taught at the Academy and advising the Cularin system's government. As Rangers began to arrive on Almas, Triblen divided their training between guarding the Sith fortress, patrolling the system, and studying the Tarasin. | |||||||
| Charlena Unic | Tarasin | Year 16 | Year 57 | Master Ranger | Darrus Jeht | Unidentified | |
| Replacing Master Jeht after he was deposed as a member of the Council, Charlena Unic was a graduate of the Academy and a native to the system. Appointed as the first Master Ranger, Unic was given the freedom to create a brand new program for the academy using the foundations established by Headmasters Ziveri and Qel-Bertuk. Taking the basic outline of Ziveri's Quests to begin, the rank of Jedi Ranger was designed to serve as a patrolman of a set system. To this end, Unic assigned her new Rangers the duty of traversing the system, familiarizing themselves with each of the planets and their political, cultural, and social dispositions and histories. Largely successful in its first year, Unic received praise from Senator Wren and the High Council for successfully applying the Academy's new mandate and showing success. | |||||||