Arva Sessren

Arva Sessren
Biographical information
Homeworld	Arkania
Physical description
Species	Arkanian
Gender	Male
Height	1.75 meters
Hair color	White
Eye color	Black
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Old Republic era
Affiliation(s)	Jedi Order Ospion Guardians
Masters	Violet Tempest Mask

“If the dark side helps us achieve our aims, then I welcome it.”―Arva Sessren

Arva Sessren was an Arkanian male Jedi Knight during the Alsakan Crisis. Born on Arkania, Arva was the youngest of five children. His father and older brothers would frequently beat him, and the beatings became worse after his mother left their family. No longer wanting to be a member of his family either, Arva eventually fled to work on a moisture farm, where he dreamed of fleeing Arkania for a better life.

Hoping to make his dream a reality, Arva fled Arkania, but he was captured by Trandoshan slavers on Kashyyyk. However, he was purchased by a Jedi Knight, who had bought Arva in order to free him. The Jedi Knight trained Arva in basic combat techniques until the slavers located them and attempted to recapture Arva. The Jedi Knight told him to flee to Ossus, where he was accepted into the monastic Jedi Order for training.

Arva was trained by Jedi Knight Violet Tempest prior to the conclave on Ossus that broke the Jedi Order apart. After the schism during the conclave, a number of Jedi left the Order and founded a new organization, the Ospion Guardians, which Arva also joined. While an Ospion, Arva encountered his mother, but he was criticized by his Ospion master, Mask, for refusing to kill her. Nevertheless, Arva became an Ospion Knight, though he did not want to be an Ospion once the order began falling to the dark side of the Force.

Biography

Early life

“I’m the young one. Always the young one. Even when I was born, a small and defenseless babe, on Arkania, I was the young one.”―Arva Sessren

Arva Sessren was an Arkanian male born on the planet Arkania to Kara Sessren and her husband. The youngest of five children, Arva almost died during his birth. His mother abandoned him and his four brothers when he was five years old, leaving them in the custody of their father, a swoop racer and drunkard who would beat Arva and his siblings. Because of this, Arva was never able to love his father as he did his mother.

His brothers, feeling that he would always hold them back, regularly beat Arva, and his father never seemed to care. Arva had few friends as a child, and, making matters worse for him, his eldest brother ran away and his father became too drunk to notice or care. Hoping to escape the torment of his family life, Arva fled to find work on a nearby moisture farm, where water was collected for sale. The boy would frequently dream of escaping Araknia, hoping to join the starships he would often watch in the sky.

Having developed a curiosity about the vessels, Arva, yearning to stow away aboard one, attempted to board a ship that had landed on Arkania. However, the ship he chose was crewed by Trandoshan slavers, who kidnapped Arva so they could sell him as a slave.

Becoming a Jedi

“My master told me to run, to flee for Ossus, to train as a Jedi. I never saw him again.”―Arva Sessren

After being captured, Arva was purchased by a Jedi Knight. The Jedi Knight had purchased him after recognizing Arva's sensitivity to the Force and decided to bring him to Kashyyyk, where the Jedi Knight began training him in the use of melee weapons such as vibroblades.

Months into Arva’s training, during which time he came to embrace his new lifestyle, the Trandoshan slavers located Arva and attempted to recapture him, hoping to sell him once more. The Jedi Knight instructed Arva to flee for Ossus, the headquarters of the monastic Jedi Order, and become a Jedi Padawan. Heeding the Jedi Knight’s advice, Arva stole a ship and traveled to Ossus, where he was identified as being Force-sensitive. The Jedi Order decided to train him, so he was placed under the tutelage of Jedi Knight Violet Tempest. As his training began, Arva felt happiness for the first time in his life.

Schism

“I must confess, it was only leaving her guidance that made me think twice about leaving the Order.”―Arva Sessren

In 13,000 BBY, the Alsakan Union attacked the Galactic Republic and captured its capital world of Coruscant, beginning the Alsakan Crisis between the two galactic governments. The Jedi Order, particularly Jedi Grandmaster Banik Kelrada, attempted to negotiate with both sides, but the leader of the Alsakan Union, Lharra, was assassinated on Ossus, with Kelrada being the prime suspect. Kelrada called a conclave on Ossus to discuss the situation. The conclave was interrupted when Kelrada dueled Jedi Master Edo Tesu, whom Kelrada branded a traitor for launching an unauthorized mission on Alsakan, and arrested him.

The next morning, Tesu was found hanging dead from a tree in an Ossus courtyard. Kelrada was once again accused of assassination. Sarina Lightell, Tesu’s wife and true murderer, left the Order. Disgusted by what they perceived as their leader’s actions, a number of other Jedi, including Arva, left the Order as well. In the days that followed, Arva and the others joined the Ospion Guardians, a faction founded by Lightell and a number of other former Jedi who hoped to be the true guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy.

Arva Sessren without his cloak.

In the days that followed, the numerous individuals who had left the Jedi Order congregated on the Clouded Dawn, a Republic warship that was lent to the rogue Jedi for the purposes of the meeting. During the meeting, it was decided that the goal of these former Jedi, who began to call themselves the Ospion Guardians, would be to fix the Jedi Order. Arva attended the meeting, but, because he had only been a Jedi Padawan, did not play a large role in the group’s decision making. Despite his lack of input, those at the meeting also decided to ally with the Republic, as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Relana Isolde Tanoor, was the sister of Linora Tristan Tanoor, one of the Ospion leaders. Arva volunteered to travel to Alderaan for a diplomatic mission with the Republic, but his inexperience with such matters prompted the leadership to turn down his request.

Following the meeting, Arva began training under an Ospion Knight known only by the nickname Mask. During his training, Arva encountered his mother, who claimed that she had not left him by choice. She also told him that the rhymes she taught him as a child had always held the location of where she would be. While Arva did want revenge due to how she had treated him, he chose not to kill her, much to the disgust of his master. Instead, Arva let her leave and told her that he would seek her out in the future. Despite his master’s disgust, Arva completed his training and became an Ospion Knight. Although he was a full-fledged member of the Ospion Guardians, he did not feel comfortable in the order after Mask instructed him to kill his mother.

Once the Alsakan Crisis ended, with the Alsakan Union surrendering in the wake of the Battle of Alsakan that destroyed the planet Alsakan and its government, Arva believed that the Ospion were turning towards the dark side of the Force. Arva was initially enthusiastic about embracing the dark side, but he came to no longer want to be an Ospion if they were to fall to the dark side.

Personality and traits

“Perhaps I should kill you. Or in some way punish you, as I'm sure my Master wishes. Yet I cannot kill my own kin and blood, especially not my own Mother, especially not after you've shown no regret.”―Arva Sessren

Other members of the Jedi Order and the Ospion Guardians felt that Arva had a shy personality, having been the youngest of five siblings and not receiving much attention prior to his acceptance into the Jedi Order. Due to this, Arva preferred to remain hidden in public places. He also chose to wear a hooded cloak whenever possible, obscuring his face and body from being seen.

Arva felt that he had a sense of honor, as well as a perception of what was right and what was wrong. However, this changed once he defected to the Ospion Guardians. Prior to the schism, the Jedi Order had initially deemed him to have a stable personality, and he avoided violence because of this whenever possible. He instead would try to use peaceful discussion, using violence only when peace failed.

As a Jedi, Arva considered himself an optimist, and he respected political power. He was eager to please others, often working to please those more powerful than him. As an Ospion, however, Arva developed a more cynical personality. He fell into a state of depression and physical illness after leaving the Jedi Order.

Powers and abilities

“You weren't weak, Arva, I was weak.”―Kara Sessren

Arva was seen as reasonably strong in his use of the Force by his peers. When Arva used the Force to complement his physical ability, his skill in lightsaber combat increased. Because he was beaten at a young age, Arva possessed agility, becoming very light and quick on his feet after having learned to avoid his family members. He was able to avoid most fights because of this as well. Arva felt he could hide emotions in body language well. He also believed himself to have considerable skill with melee weapons such as vibroblades. Despite this, he was not as confident of his skills with a blaster.

Arva had what was seen, by his peers, as reasonable intelligence, and he could assess most situations to a reasonable degree. Despite having a higher intelligence, in combat he preferred to avoid contests of strength, preferring to rely on the Force. Arva felt that his overall stamina was relatively high, but he had difficulty when facing enemies who utilized a strong physical attack. Possessing what was also considered by his peers to be a relatively high charisma, Arva's master believed him to have good dexterity. His wisdom was also deemed by the Jedi Order to be reasonable for someone of his age.

Behind the scenes

Arva Sessren was a role-playing character created and played by Thomas Rattim on TheStarWarsRP.Com, an active Star Wars role-playing website owned by Steven Alldis. Arva was Rattim’s first Jedi role-playing character, but the character was replaced by Rattim’s second Jedi character, Krisa Hayema. Rattim was away from the boards for a week when the Conclave on Ossus thread was role-played, but administrator Rowan Grimes, the creator and role-player of Sarina Lightell, gave Rattim permission to act as if Arva had been present at the conclave and had chosen to join the Ospion.

Sources

• TheStarWarsRP.Com (First appearance)