The Jedi Temple of Almas was constructed by the Jedi Order following the rediscovery of the planet Almas and the ancient Sith fortress there. Establishing the academy as a chapter house from which Jedi could monitor the fortress and protect it from Sith zealots and adepts who might seek to use its powers, the academy quickly grow into an unorthodox place of learning. Because of the nature of the clans on the world, Forceful natives had to be taken for training at a later age. The curriculum eventually grew to allow any older Force-sensitives to obtain a place at the academy, in addition to practicing other strange rules, like system quests which took Padawans ranging across the system as part of their training. Following the Clone Wars, the Order reevaluated their training methods. Using Almas as a template, all academies scattered across the galaxy would house Rangers, or Jedi who would remain attached to a designated system and patrol it. The headmaster of the academy served as the system's Watchman and sat at the head of the academy's local Council of Masters. Despite no longer taking in any new students who had not already begun training on Ossus, the academy still hosted lessons for Rangers, Padawans, Knights and Masters alike.
History[]
Rediscovery of Almas[]
This school is already far different than any other Jedi Academy in the galaxy. We risk too much making any other changes.
—Master Devan For'deschel addresses the Council at the start of the Clone Wars.
When the noted explorer Reidi Artom rediscovered the Cularin system in 197 BrS, she initially held off on informing the Jedi Order of her discovery of an ancient fortress on the world that would later be identified as Almas. Doing her own research of the strange ruins, Artom was able to discover that old systems records detailed a battle between the Jedi Order and an ancient cult, and she assumed that the ruined fort must be from that era. After reporting her finds to the Republic Senate, the Jedi High Council would eventually take notice of the reports of the discovery and dispatched members of the ExplorCorps to reconnoiter the ancient Sith stronghold. Arriving in 153 BrS to conduct research, the team was led by the noted Jedi Master Tan Qornah. Accompanied by twelve others, including his Padawan Kihb Jeen, Qornah sought to identify the source of the dark side emanations stemming from the world.
The world itself was steeped in mysteries; the strange kaluthin grasses that covered the ground gave off an ambient glow which cast a hazy aura around the planet. Far from the binary stars at the heart of the system, Almas was provided only a minimal amount of solar light and relied primarily on the eerie glow of the kaluthin. The Jedi were curious to find that the grasses covered the world completely, except for a near perfectly circular desert which had formed around the ancient ruins. Qornah and the other Jedi had learned from Temple records that the planet had been occupied by the Sith Empire during the New Sith Wars and that Dark Lord Darth Rivan had established a fortress there to conduct research. Despite Qornah's confidence in his own skills to withstand the corrupting effects of the fortress' dark side lure, his student was not as strong of will. Padawan Jeen, under the sway of the dark side, lured his Master away from the rest of the group as they approached the entrance to the fortress. When Qornah had his backed turned, Jeen struck the Jedi down with his lightsaber and entered into the darkness of the ancient structure. Sensing the growing darkness, the rest of the Jedi team evacuated, leaving Qornah and Jeen unaccounted for and presumed lost.
Meanwhile, alone in the dark, Jeen studied the ancient teachings of Darth Rivan and learned to know the Sith ways. After months of study alone in the fortress, Jeen emerged and found his former master's ship left behind by the other Jedi. Departing Almas, Jeen hoped to raise an army with which to strike out against the Jedi High Council and the Republic. As Jeen was scouring the asteroid belt beyond Almas, a team of Jedi sent to recover Qornah and Jeen came across the Zabrak Jedi Master's body at the mouth of the ancient fortress and immediately summoned psychometrics from Coruscant to analyze the scene of the homicide. Upon studying the body and the surrounding areas, the Jedi experienced visions of the murder and quickly alerted the High Council of the disturbing developments. The Jedi were too late to stop Jeen however, as the fallen Padawan had already amassed a large army of pirates and rebels in the asteroid belt and began a brutal assault on the planet Genarius. Over the next several years, Jeen launched dozens of assaults on the world, destroying towns and raiding floating cities before disappearing into the void after each attack, leaving no hints to his identity. Commanding a large fleet secretly bank-rolled by the Sith Lord Darth Sinuptor, Jeen was able to overwhelm the weak planetary forces of the Cularin system.
When the situation evolved beyond the control of the local system's governments in 146 BrS, the Jedi High Council was contacted with rumors that the leader of the assault of Genarius was the lost Padawan Kibh Jeen. Dispatching the Iktotchi Jedi Master Syrena Reukli and her Ruurian Padawan Baku Roosh, the High Council tasked them with eliminating Jeen through whatever means necessary. Infiltrating the system without Jeen's knowledge, Reukli and Roosh organized the system's disparate forces together and forged an strong alliance between different planetary factions and mercenaries with ships capable of out-maneuvering the ships of Jeen's ragtag army. When Jeen launched his next assault, he was taken off guard when the planetary forces launched a strong counter attack. On the bridge of his capital ship, the Hoard Raider, Jeen surrounded himself with Sith artifacts and hoped to crush the Cularin system's forces once and for all. As he sat in a deep trance, trying to enter into battle meditation, Reukli and Roosh stormed the bridge and shattered his concentration. Attempting to defend himself, the former Padawan failed to out-duel the experienced Iktotchi and was cut down amid his treasure trove of artifacts. As Jeen lay on the deck, wheezing his last breaths, Roosh heard the man utter "always too there are; no more, no less," before he expired. Reporting this in their final report, the High Council began to suspect that the Sith had managed to survive their alleged demise through adopting a Rule of Two.
Damming the darkness[]
In the wake of the destruction wrought by Padawan Jeen, the High Council decided that a Jedi presence would be required on Almas to safe-guard the Sith fortress and prevent any other disasters. In 142 BrS, four years after Master Reukli put down Jeen's insurrection, the High Council funded the construction of a small Jedi outpost on the planet. Tasked with monitoring and studying the ancient Sith fortress and the machinations of the Sith that had been conducted and unleashed on the world, the outpost was small and house a small team of ten Jedi Knights. Making up the team were Jedi archaeologist Janos Vih'Torr, a Bith who specialized in Sith culture from the Ruin-era Sith Empire; ExplorCorps researcher Kael Garoon, a Hortek assigned to study and interact with the local Tarasin natives of nearby Cularin. Edbr Vasch and Giles Chinelo were Miralukan Jedi Shadows who sought to neutralize the power of the academy and render the dark side effects inert; Reki Manten, a Mon Calamari archivist was tasked with searching out artifacts to add to the Temple Archives on Coruscant; Silus Aban, Shiv Jerikko, Bara Kolzaar, and Anakin Eclissu were Human Knights trained in the traditional forms of defense and served as the defenders of the academy. The only Master-Padawan pair to join the founders of the outpost were Avvin Sekel and Graeme Sallian, two Kiffar who had visited Almas before and used their psychometric abilities to implicate Jeen in the murder of his master.
Ten years after their arrival, Manten and Vasch disappeared into the Sith fortress and were found a decade later by Jedi Sallian during an annual inspection of the fortress' outer walls. Noting that the fortress remained a potent nexus of dark side energies despite the efforts of Masters Aban and Jerikko, Vih'Torr made a recommendation to the Council of First Knowledge that a formal academy be established on the world to keep the darkness at bay. In 122 BrS the Almas Academy was officially recognized and a new facility was built over top of the original outpost and fitted with all of the accouterments of a fully-functioning Jedi academy. Appointing Vih'Torr as Headmaster, Coruscant allowed the Almas Council to begin taking in students from the region to train as Jedi. As the new academy building opened for students, the academy Council was convened by Vih'Torr and were faced with their first challenge: a growing conflict was escalating on the planet Cularin between the native Tarasin and the Trade Federation over the rights to the world's natural resources. After waiting to decide to intervene, the Council eventually dispatched Jedi Knights Rannek Navaro and Goran Baobab in 119 BrS to put an end to the fighting. After six months of fighting and negotiating, Navaro and Baobab saw the Cularin Compact agreed to by both sides and the formation of the Cularin system government.
Over the next decade, the academy grew moderately while the city of Forard was founded around the academy building as more and more colonists flocked to the system for employment and research. As the city flourished, the academy continued to gather support from locals in the system and came to build a strong working relationship with the system government and the Colonial Council of Cularin. After the death of Headmaster Vih'Torr, leadership of the academy was turned over to Bren Corsh, a researcher who directed all students to turn their attention to study of the Sith history of Almas. Governing the academy's twenty students, Corsh saw fit to begin hiring locals as guides for the Jedi as they made treks out into the desert surrounding the ancient fortress. Additionally, working off of the research conducted by Master Garoon over a decade in the past, students were encouraged to seek out the Tarasin immigrants living in the surrounding grasslands. During Corsh's tenure, a Jedi task force traveled to Tilnes, a moon of Cularin that was home to a mysterious chasm called Kaernor's Smile. While many locals believed it to be tainted by the dark side of the Force, the Jedi determined that its streak of unexplained starship crashes were actually caused by minerals in the canyon walls that interfered with starship systems and controls.
It wasn't until Nerra Ziveri took the reigns of the academy that it truly began to flourish. Under the Twi'lek's leadership the academy grew in size, taking on a few dozen new students a year. To bolster the academy's student population, Ziveri petitioned the Council of First Knowledge to allow the school to accept initiates who were older then then the Order typically accepted. The reasoning behind this was a cultural one; the native Tarasin were extremely close-knit and reliant on their social structures within their tribes. Fear prevented Tarasin elders from sending their youths to the academy, and this troubled Ziveri deeply. When the Council on Coruscant grudgingly accepted this new rule, Ziveri quickly sent word to the Tarasin irstats that their children would be able to enter the academy at an older age and maintain a relationship with their native culture. Even with Ziveri making important changes to the study methods, many believed that Tarasin Padawans would not graduate and the "Jedi fad" would disappear. As this did not happen, the Cularin irstat council decided to send a Force adept and Tarasin religious leader, Mother Missira, to become the resident irstat leader of the Almas Academy. Over time the less-restrictive age policy evolved into allowing adults from any species into the academy, which brought in added scrutiny from Coruscant. To ensure that the experimental academy remained legitimate, the Council of First Knowledge assigned a Jedi Master to serve as an inspector. The emissary from Coruscant would conduct a yearly audit of all student activity, review their mission logs and scrutinize all candidates for knighthood. Any promotion in rank was required to be sanctioned by Coruscant, and new initiates were approved by the Council. Occasionally, Jedi Masters were sent to serve as visiting instructors and inspections were conducted on the Sith fortress.
While some Coruscant Jedi wondered at the wisdom of building the academy so close to the Sith fortress, Headmaster Ziveri believed that the best way to study ways to combat the dark side was by keeping it within sight. As a constant presence, the fortress was a reminder to students that the dark side loomed eternally, and needed to be kept in mind. To this end, Ziveri introduced the practice of an annual retelling of the tale of Kibh Jeen's fall into darkness. This cautionary tale became a hallmark of the academy's instruction on controlling the darkness within oneself, eventually evolving into a dramatic production carried out by older students. Modifying the way the learning process was carried out further, Ziveri kept the students in the group learning environment longer, and created the practice of sending students on Jedi quests across the system and surrounding sector. These quests were not always accompanied by another Jedi, giving young students unprecedented freedom in how they conducted themselves away from the supervision of their mentors. Ziveri also saw the expansion of the structure's dormitory facilities to better accommodate the growing population and unique housing arrangements of the Tarasin. As Tarasin Jedi began patrolling the system and the academy was seen as functional, if not experimental, in the eyes of the Council of First Knowledge, Ziveri became compelled to break through the dark side that permeated the Sith fortress. Traveling to the edifice alone in 21 BrS, Ziveri succeeded in penetrating the aura of Darth Rivan and experienced a vision. Returning to the academy, Ziveri summoned his former Padawan, Lanius Qel-Bertuk and appointed him to the office of Headmaster. Leaving abruptly, Ziveri disappeared on one last mission and never returned to Almas or the Cularin system.
With Qel-Bertuk now at the helm of the academy, the Human Jedi Master was tasked with resolving all of his former Master's unresolved affairs. This included finding positions on the academy staff for Jedi that Ziveri had invited to teach at the academy, such as Master Klis Joo. To assist him in his duties as Headmaster, Qel-Bertuk purchased a droid called E1-6RA to serve as an administrator for the academy. Continuing his predecessor's practices of sending students on quests, the academy's curriculum was expanded to included non-Forceful skills, reflecting Qel-Bertuk's training as a Sentinel. By this time, Cularin's local affairs were largely governed by the Trade Federation, having exploited loopholes in the Compact meant to keep them out of the system; and Riboga the Hutt's Organization. This came to an end when the system's government was finally successful in petitioning the Galactic Republic for membership; Lavina Durada-Vashne Wren was elected Senator of the entire system and represented its citizens in the Galactic Senate.
As the Cularin system was quite isolated, the Academy attracted some Jedi who thrived in meditation and introspection. In Year 4, the business conglomerate known as the Metatheran Cartel performed illegal activities on Cularin, but was discovered by locals. The Cartel blamed one individual manager, Velin Wir, for the crimes, and sent a new envoy, Thurm Loogg, to ask for permission to remain in the planet. Governor Barnab Chistor of Gadrin left the matter up to a vote. Several Padawans of the Almas Academy, along with E1-6RA, attended to the celebration, but abstained from voting, although many people had thought that the Jedi Order were going to vote as a block. Later that year, the Almas Academy sent representatives to the SoroSuub Anniversary celebration on Genarius. There, several diplomats and Jedi Consulars were asked to mediate a conflict between Miim Te'Suub of the SoroSuub Corporation and Thurm Loogg of the Metatheran Cartel.
The Blink[]
As conflict began to return to the galaxy, a cult of dark side users known as the Believers began operating on Cularin. While the academy was aware of them, the staff was powerless to stop them as they were diffuse and spread across the system. When Force Adepts began implementing a plot to destroy the kaluthin that provided Almas with an atmosphere in an attempt to drive the Jedi out of the system, the Academy's faculty began to take notice. Dispatching Jedi to put an end to the Believers' efforts to wipe out all life on the world, the Jedi located fallen Jedi Kosa-Yin Hadu and his master, Kin-Ya Dosun and drove them offworld. Later, the Believers attacked a recital at the academy and captured a Padawan learner who they held hostage. When the Jedi retaliated, they warned the surviving Believers that if they did not disperse they would be destroyed. The Jedi would later recover an ancient artifact known as the Pulas from the Believers and send it to Coruscant for safekeeping.
In Year 5, the event later known as the Blink occurred. The leader of the Believers, Len Markus, unearthed the Sith weapon known as the Darkstaff in the asteroid belt beyond Almas. After it possessed Markus, the madman attempted to fly to Almas and destroy the Academy there. While the Jedi were unaware of this impending threat, the Sith fortress itself manifested the will of the dark side of the Force and launched its own attack on Markus. From the spire of the fortress, a burst of Force lightning emerged and hit the staff as it entered into the planet's atmosphere on board Markus' ship. The attack on the Darkstaff created an anomaly in time and tore the entire Cularin system from the time stream. From one moment the Cularin system had been midway through the fifth year that followed the Great ReSynchronization of the Galactic Calender; the next they were in the Year 13. Members of the Academy, as well as everyone present in the system, felt nothing as the Cularin system was brought eight years forward in time. With the Darkstaff weakened, Markus retreated from his approach and went off to harass the planet Caarimon. Meanwhile, at the academy, no members of the staff or student body were aware of the time jump and remained unconcerned, not having experienced any signs of a disturbance. It wasn't until a few hours after the Blink that Jedi Knight Devan For'deschel arrived on the world and was amazed to find everyone alive and unaffected. Convening the Academy Council in an emergency session, For'deschel explained that the system had been considered missing for the past eight standard years, and detailed the events of the Separatist Crisis and the impending conflict.
War and trial[]
When the Clone Wars erupted across the galaxy, dark tidings arrived on the lips of Master Darrus Jeht. Ordering all able-bodied Jedi to report for assignment in the Grand Army of the Republic, Jeht reported that the Council and Padawans would be permitted to stay at the Academy and he himself would take up a position on the staff to assist in training them for war. If losing staff was not bad enough, the Academy saw an increase in conflict between itself and the Believers cult. Learning that the Academy was understaffed, the Believers launched an assault on the Fortress, overpowering several of the Jedi guards and sacrificing others within the crypt of Darth Rivan. Attempting to create the abominable Battlelords of the Sith, the Believers performed the ritual sacrifice and ultimately failed to produced Battlelords and instead imprisoned their own Force essences within the fortress. Those not affected fled, leaving the bodies of the Jedi and cultists behind. When Qel-Bertuk raided the fortress and recovered the bodies, they quickly learned of the ritual using archived data of the process and set to restore the victims' Force essences to their rightful bodies.
When Darrus Jeht returned from Coruscant with a new mission from the Chancellor, Qel-Bertuk was furious to learn that the Supreme Chancellor demanded all Jedi report to the front lines. Standing by the rest of the Council, Qel-Bertuk removed the crystal from his lightsaber and turned over the hilt to Jeht, invoking the Right of Denial and refusing to go to war. While several dozen Padawans and Knights joined Jeht, the Academy remained opened, with Master Felanil Baaks assisting in the rearmament of the Council and senior Padawans. With Almas under Republic blockade for the last year of the war, the Jedi remained cut off from the galaxy, only allowed to leave if they were ready to take up ranks in the army. Two weeks before the conclusion of the war, Shadow Collective Acolyte Garth Ezzar was tasked by Darth Tyranus to lead an assault on Almas and wipe out the Academy there and all of its occupants. Approaching the planet, Ezzar docked with the Republic Star Destroyer blockading the planet and swiftly cut through its crew with the assistance of assassin droids and Collective soldiers. Reinforced by pirates and mercenaries hired by the Collective, Ezzar took the ship down the gravity well and landed just outside of Forard to launch his invasion. As they landed, the ships launched concussion missiles at the unsuspecting city, wiping out large chunks of the town and taking out the communications array. The Academy's shielding protected it from bombardment, allowing the remaining Jedi to prepare for the assault. Rallying around the Council Masters, the Padawans and remaining Knights who had rebuilt lightsabers stood at the Academy's defense and were joined by civilians who bore arms and the droid police force.
Meeting the ground assault at the edge of the Academy grounds, Qel-Bertuk ordered the Academy's ships to launch and take down the main flagship over the Academy. As Ezzar's ship crashed on the outskirts of town in a fiery ruin, his army clashed with the Jedi outside the Academy. Having superior numbers, the Jedi were forced back but had superior skill and cut swaths through the invaders. As Ezzar arrived on the scene, determined to kill Qel-Bertuk and For'deschel during his rampage, he came first upon the Mistress of Lightsabers in a courtyard outside the dormitories. Detailing what his pirates planned to do with the Jedi younglings before they died, Ezzar hoped to provoke For'deschel into a rage but she kept her Jedi calm and engaged him in a fierce duel. Believing that he had the upper hand, For'deschel allowed Ezzar to severe her robotic arm to build up his confidence. Her plan worked, and in a crucial moment Ezzar let down his guard and found himself impaled upon his opponent's lightsaber. With Ezzar dead, the invasionary force faltered. Qel-Bertuk rallied the Jedi and quickly drove off the remaining pirates and mercenaries all the while suffering few casualties themselves. With the Academy largely intact, the Jedi worked to restore peace to the city and reestablish contact with the outside galaxy.
A successful experiment; a model Academy[]
By the time communications were restored on Almas, the war had come to a screeching halt. The first transmission received was an emergency broadcast from the Coruscant Temple ordering all academies shuttered and their students and faculty to make hast to Coruscant for a Conclave of historic proportions. Wary of the High Council's intentions, the Almas Academy did comply and shutdown as the entire student body was escorted to the Coruscant Jedi Temple. At the Conclave, a new Grand Master was revealed as well as a reformed Jedi High Council with a more liberal approach. Grand Master Tomac Moorcé shocked the crowd by drawing attention to the Almas delegation gathered at the back of the Great Hall, motioning Master Qel-Pertuk to the podium at the center of the room. Standing beside the new Grand Master, Qel-Bertuk listened in amazement and wonder as Moorcé explained that the experimental nature of Almas had been a success and that certain facets of its curriculum would be the foundation for a new academy system. While the Almas Academy would no longer accept untrained pupils, the new Grand Academy on Ossus would have a specialized Acolyte Academy that would take over the training of any Jedi above the average age restriction. Meanwhile, academies like Almas would transition into Ranger academies, serving as a base and a training ground for Jedi Rangers that would be assigned to specific systems. The Headmasters of these academies would serve as the Watchman of the system while the satellite Councils would continue to oversee the education of these Rangers and any visiting Jedi seeking more advanced knowledge in the Force.
When the faculty of the Almas Academy returned, they did so without their students or Headmaster Qel-Bertuk who had been reassigned to a clandestine mission. Under the leadership of Worma Triblen, the Academy began to restructure its curriculum to better serve the Knights and Masters coming to take up the rank of Jedi Ranger. Converting the dormitories that once house younglings into rooms more appropriate for older Jedi, the academy underwent several more renovations to prepare it for its new function. Within a year of reopening, the Academy was hailed as a model for a successful Ranger Academy and was the focus of several studies conducted by archivists and historians from Ossus coming to detail the transitional times as the Order underwent a grand renaissance.
Layout[]
The Almas Academy was constructed over the original, temporary outpost building used by the Jedi during their investigation of the Sith fortress. A circular building, the original building of the Academy was modeled on similar architecture to the Coruscant Jedi Temple. A stone facade, its smooth face was windowless and featureless save for several bronze gutters running from top to bottom. Separated into two drums: the academy and the temple. The base of the building contained the academy's classrooms, refectories, gymnasiums, and dormitories, its walls ending in a flat rooftop. In the center of the roof was the smaller, drum of the temple. At the heart of the academy drum, a central courtyard was established using stone-lined walkways, potted plants, benches, and the ever-present kaluthin. The temple drum was a labyrinth of stone hallways and corridors, leading to meditation chambers and ritual halls. Two towers adjoined the temple, both situated flush against one another on the north side of the building and standing only s few meters taller then the central drum. The Council tower was crowned with the conference room of the Almas Council and also contained the quarters of the faculty, the communication center, Operations Planning Center, and a refectory. The Tower of Wisdom contained the five levels of the Academy Library, the holographic training center, the holomap room and the medical wing.
After the first major renovation to the Academy building was completed, an octagonal courtyard was erected around the central building and eight, three-story structures were erected at each face. Seven of these buildings contained dormitories for the students; each one designed to hold a different age group of students and learners. The western building contained the new main entrance hall of the academy, and featured a large fountain at its heart. The entrance hall contained administrative offices where non-Jedi could meet with academy staff, and a chamber that contained the appropriate breathing apparatuses needed for traveling outside the academy. All of the outer buildings were connected to the central building by sealed hallways, keeping out the toxic air from the atmosphere. With the student dormitories moved out of the central building, the medical wing was moved into the old housing block and expanded with new technologies and practice labs. Several years later, a mulit-level hangar was added onto the southern face of the temple drum, housing the Academy's new fleet of land and space vehicles. Following the Clone Wars, several renovations followed the transformation of the complex into a Ranger Academy. Several additions were built into the octagonal courtyard to house more classrooms, expand the living quarters, and accommodate the greater Jedi presence on the planet. Guest facilities were moved out of the temple drum and into the courtyard, and a new series of kitchen gardens were enclosed within rooftop greenhouses.