Desha Marad was an Arkanian Jedi Master of the old Jedi Order who lived over two thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. After he and his companions departed the Order, they fell to the dark side over millennia of isolation. Marad helped begin the Nightmare War on the Golden Empire and was the author of many of its worst atrocities.
Biography[]
The scholar[]
Born on Arkania in 2,049 BBY, Desha was identified as a Force adept in infancy and surrendered to the Jedi Order. He spent much of his youth at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, but demonstrated a proclivity for science typical to Arkanians, and spent part of his youth at the Jedi Academy at Obroa-skai as a result. Eventually he became the Padawan of a Bothan Jedi Master.
Marad preferred the use of the Force to that of the lightsaber in combat and got along well with his Master, a Jedi Consular. Marad trained in Makashi, prizing its grace and artistry, as well as its emphasis on self-control. As a Padawan, Control became his strongest discipline of Force powers. His master had to occasionally guide him to study Sense and Alter powers more fully to ensure Marad remained well-rounded and able to perform the field duties of a Jedi Knight.
Marad was knighted in 2,025 BBY and immediately began work as a Jedi Researcher, specializing in biology. He studied advanced scientific theories and paired these latest innovations with the knowledge in the Jedi Archives. He was particularly interested in midi-chlorians and the scientific nature of the Force's reality.
Loss[]
In 2,020 BBY, the Jedi High Council invited Marad to consider taking a Padawan learner of his own. After considering the idea for some time, the Arkanian finally agreed and selected a Mirialan as his apprentice. The two traveled for the next three years, as the Council of First Knowledge had given Marad its blessing on his study of midi-chlorians. During this period, Marad and his Padawan visited Arkania, but while Marad learned much from his fellow Arkanians, he was unsettled by their arrogance and feeling of natural superiority.
In 2,017 BBY the two Jedi were assigned to a diplomatic mission on Ando. During the conference, a group of Aqualish pirates attacked the diplomatic center. Marad acquitted himself well, coming through the fight unscathed, but his Padawan was killed with a blaster shot to the back of head. Though devastated, Marad resisted the temptation to kill the pirates, apprehending them instead and delivering them to the Republic for justice.
For some time Marad buried himself in his work and research. He visited Khomm to research the nascent cloning techniques with which the Khommites were experimenting, and was one of the few Jedi to journey to Kamino and Lur. He wondered how the process of cloning would affect midi-chlorians if a Force-sensitive was cloned, though like most Jedi he felt it would be unethical to proceed with an actual experiment. Marad began to isolate himself more from the active affairs of the Jedi Order, preferring to spend hours or even days in the Archives or other libraries on Republic worlds. While he was obedient to the ethical obligations of the Jedi Code, many others in the Order felt Marad was not so much as Jedi who happened to be a scientist as he was a scientist who happened to be a Jedi.
Elevation[]
In 2,012 BBY, five years after the demise of his first Padawan, Marad took on a second, an Ithorian. He continued to perform research on behalf of the Jedi Order and made substantial contributions to the Archives. His study of the midi-chlorians and how they influenced a Jedi's connection to the Force were some of the most in-depth work in the field until the coming of Darth Plagueis twenty centuries later.
Marad's Ithorian apprentice shared his master's scientific leanings and intended to become a Jedi Researcher himself. In 2,003 BBY, the two were attending an advanced bioengineering conference on Ralltiir when a riot broke out down the street protesting an unrelated issue. Marad sent his apprentice to do crowd control while he himself waded into the thick of things, using the Force to hurl back violent protesters and his lightsaber to take the hands off those who attacked him. Eventually he apprehended the instigators who had started the riot and turned them over to Ralltiir's law enforcement. However, he later discovered the body of his apprentice, who had been mobbed and stabbed to death.
Though he grieved the loss of a second apprentice, especially one so close to Knighthood, Marad moved on more quickly than he had the first time. He returned to his work, leaving some Jedi to feel he lacked basic compassion while others held him up as the embodiment of the tenet, There is no emotion, there is peace. The year after his second apprentice's death, the Jedi Council, in respect for Marad's lifelong pursuit of knowledge and his contributions to the Archives as well as his ability to process and move on from emotional attachments, invited him to take a more demanding form of the Jedi Trials. The Arkanian passed without difficulty, and the Council bestowed on him the rank of Jedi Master.
Leaving the Order[]
For the next two years, Marad used his new authority as a Jedi Master to consult the restricted holocrons of the Order, pursuing deeper knowledge of the Force. He was preparing a report on his latest findings when word first reached the Jedi Order of the emergence of Darth Ruin. Marad was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of war, though he was willing to follow the commands of the Jedi Council and fight if it was required of him. Before it came to that, however, he began to hear rumors of dissension in the Council itself.
Masters Ador Hentral and Merita Ot'kyn, pacifists who believed in the Jedi as a protective rather than militant Order, objected to the idea of bringing the entire Order to bear in a strike against Darth Ruin and his followers. Unable to convince the Council, they had resolved instead to leave the Order—not to face Ruin in their own way, but to be free of the conflict all together. Knowing there would be no peace or opportunity for learning among the Jedi while the Sith existed, and assuming the conflict would not be resolved in his lifetime, Marad asked to accompany the departing Jedi.
Mad scientist[]
The Herglic Jedi historian Tirj, also part of the group, purchased a sleeper ship to transport them away from the Republic. Its archaic hyperdrive would transport them more slowly, and its stasis system would keep them frozen until they arrived at their destination. Marad settled himself into stasis, eager for the opportunity to expand his knowledge away from violent conflicts.
Not long after its departure, the ship experienced a malfunction. While the stasis system paralyzing the bodies of the twelve Jedi worked perfectly, it allowed their minds to awaken. Trapped in darkness, able to communicate only through telepathy, the Jedi were gradually overwhelmed by the horror of their situation. Each gradually slipped into insanity and the dark side of the Force.
Mass production[]
The Dark Jedi finally landed at Kizav in 148 ABY. They loosed themselves on the native Skavik, slaughtering hundreds. But Marad, like Ador Hentral, retained enough vestiges of sanity to see potential in the Skavik beyond target practiced. The two reined in their colleagues and sent Sacco Vyrak and Karshi Saan to forge an alliance with the Skavik queen instead. Obtaining ships and weapons from their conquest of Awpierh, the Dark Jedi crammed as many Skavik aboard as possible and set their slave army on the Golden Empire.
Marad was on the front lines for the first campaign, and was captured on holovid during the devastation of Dolomir. He conducted some cursory experimentation on alien species he found, but his first major contribution to the war came when Sacco Vyrak was killed in a duel with Aria Nikina during the Defense of Daispin. A handful of Skavik managed to escape, bearing Vyrak's headless corpse back to Kizav. Most of the Dark Jedi were enraged at what they saw as a useless gesture, but Marad saw potential.
Using cells harvested from Vyrak's dead body and the swamps of Kizav as a nutrient-rich liquid medium, Marad began to grow clones of the dead Anzat. Using his knowledge of both biology and the Force, he compelled the clones to grow to maturity in only weeks. Ador Hentral assisted, implanting Vyrak's memories in the clones while simultaneously rendering them submissive and obedient to the Reawakened themselves, while Karshi Saan helped to focus their minds to ward off clone madness.
The result, though less than Marad had hoped for, was still encouraging to the Arkanian. The clones were largely instinctual creatures, capable of speech but not sufficiently intelligent to express complex thought or plan strategy. Moreover, they possessed strong combat skills and Force-based precognition, though they were unequal to Vyrak himself. Since they were dangerous and obedient, Hentral pronounced them perfect and deployed them at Rykar. All twenty-three clones were killed, but they took down three Centurions and wounded several more.
Marad wished to focus more on the cloning process, developing versions closer to the original Vyrak, but his colleagues insisted on more clones rather than better ones. Though vexed, Marad quickly channeled his focus into the challenge of simultaneously guiding the growth of so many clones at once. He was annoyed when subsequent "generations" of clones displayed more physical abnormalities, but his efforts to avert the changes in later generations were unsuccessful. The death of Karshi Saan at Awpierh made production all the more difficult, as Hentral and Marad had to pick up the telepathic slack.
The Qua plague[]
Charg, having departed Awpierh before the Order of Keltrayu attacked and killed Saan, brought intriguing news, gleaned from interrogation of the Laq Centurion Nairasho. The Dark Jedi were able to learn much about the Order, including the identities of those who had killed Vyrak and Kasavo Shei. However, more useful was the knowledge that Queen Rin Sakaros and her niece Rayne Turgachia were part-Qua, and there was a full Qua Centurion among the Order's ranks. And best of all, a lethal Qua plague was kept in the Ministry of Health building in Quadia's capital.
Marad outlined his plan to Hentral, who personally oversaw the Battle of Quadia. While many of the invading Skavik were slaughtered by the Romasi Sector Fleet, and three Centurions killed Tirj, Voara Culee and Charg successfully broke into the Health facility, killed the scientists, and stole the sample of the disease before the battle group was forced to flee. When they brought it back to Marad, he studied it carefully with both scientific tools and the Force, then began to replicate it. He was able to weaponize the disease, and the remaining Dark Jedi turned it against the Empire.
The first stage of the plan succeeded; in a sham assault, Te`net Organi was exposed to the Sickness, and carried it back to the Sith Star, where he infected Rayne. However, Tarzg Sav'lir and Jadian Star prevented Rin from exposing herself, and the Dark Jedi had seriously underestimated her wrath. While Marad was still growing more Vyrak clones, trying to refocus on the process now that his disease was at work, the Prime Fleet appeared at the edge of the Kizav system and Rin used the Force to make Kizav's primary go supernova. The star's explosion incincerated every planet in the system, and Marad died along with every other living thing still on Kizav.
Powers and abilities[]
Considered even by fellow Arkanians to be of above-average intelligence, Desha Marad had an analytical mind and a gift for understanding large quantities of information quickly. He sought to understand all things in the world as purely scientific phenomena, even the Force. He was able to influence midi-chlorians to a degree even as a Jedi.
As a Dark Jedi, Marad delved into manipulations of both the midi-chlorians and biological structures which bordered on alchemy. Using only basic technology and the Force, he was able to nurture single cells to full maturity as clones in mere weeks, though this accelerated pace did nothing to slake the biological decay which accompanied his projects.
Marad's swordmanship was considered above the norm by the Jedi, but he preferred to outthink his enemies rather than engage them directly whenever possible. As a result, though his study of Makashi gave him a slight edge in duels with adepts of other styles, he was not as talented in lightsaber combat as his colleagues Sacco Vyrak and Vev Nar.
Appearance and personality[]
Like all Arkanians, Desha Marad had white hair and eyes, and his skin was tan.Unlike many of his brethren, he had no cybernetic enhancements; he had been raised by the Jedi, and considered such changes unnatural intrusions into the Force and interference with midi-chlorians. He was 1.80 meters (5'11") tall. Unlike many other Makashi stylists, he used a straight-hilt lightsaber, and it bore a green blade. He did not bother to change the focusing crystal after his arrival at Kizav.
Marad was a devoted scientist and examined most things in life through the lens of critical, objective analysis. He was not given to outward expression of emotion, and though he genuinely mourned his two Padawans, he was able to detach himself from that grief and move on. He was fascinated with the biological aspects of the Force, especially inherited genes versus seemingly spontaneous occurrence of Force sensitivity. Though he served his missions for the Jedi Order diligently and to the best of his ability, he sometimes viewed them as occasional interruptions to his real work, rather than being of great value in themselves. His objectivity left many feeling he was cold and aloof, but also enabled him to analyze all sides of a dispute with impartiality.
Marad's fall to madness and the dark side took a different form than that of most of his colleagues. Whereas many of the Dark Jedi became ruthless murderers, drunk on the feelings of anguish and terror in their victims, Marad's madness was both more subtle and more dangerous. He had moments of extreme temper and violence, but his insanity was usually manifested as pure psychopathy and the complete absence of anything resembling a conscience. He did not necessarily enjoy the sufferings of his victims or experiments, but was indifferent to them, as if they were merely the results of experiments rather than the conscious expressions of thinking beings. His cold ruthlessness brought him closer to the amorality of the Sith, as opposed to the manic rage and fear of his Dark Jedi comrades.