The Force has greatness in store for you, Maia. Your actions will bring about the downfall of a great and terrible Sith blight, the likes of which even the warlike Darths and fell sorcerers of the Sith Empire should tremble to behold!
—Coshal Cuyvalsa predicts Maia's future
Maia Kyss was a female Sephi Jedi who reigned as the first and only queen of a short-lived Jedi monarchy on Guudria during the New Sith Wars.
Biography[]
Before the Throne[]
Maia was born on Thustra, the Sephi homeworld, and surrendered to the Jedi Order as an infant. She successfully completed her Initiate Trials at the Kamparas Jedi Training Center, and at the age of twelve she was chosen as a Padawan by the famed Jedi Prophet Coshal Cuyvalsa, who proclaimed that Maia's actions would bring about the defeat of a great Sith threat. The two were very close and spoke often of Maia's destiny as a Jedi. However, Coshal was killed when Maia was nineteen. Feeling adrift and abandoned by the Force, Maia did not return to Coruscant, but instead wandered the galaxy, seeking purpose.
She encountered Bras Kozondo, who said he had been left in similar circumstances. Bras told her of Guudria, an out-of-the-way world where they could reinvent themselves. Maia could tell that Bras was infatuated with her, and though she had no such feelings for him, she agreed to the plan and they began their journey to Guudria, picking up Jirdo Yushari, a survivor of the Jedi Medical Corps, along the way. The three landed on Guudria in 1,395 BBY and found the natives unfamiliar with the Force. Able to use their powers at liberty, they decided to create a monarchy to help solidify Guudrian society into something manageable; as the strongest and most skillful, Maia became queen.
Uneasy Lies the Head[]
Over the next nine years, the three "Jedi" used their powers to expand their control to thirty-seven villages. They established their own headquarters near the "Cold Lands", a hilly region the Guudrians associated with danger and death, to prove their own power over superstition. Maia enlisted the Guudrians to build a castle, Kharkûskyat, as her own headquarters, and took the son or daughter of one leading member of each village to form her personal guard. The Guudrians were taught to treat the Jedi like gods, a notion which became solidified when Jirdo created the Church of the Jedi. The Jedi allowed the import of technology, and used it to improve the lives of their subjects, but strictly controlled access to the planet.
Over time, Maia found herself uneasy about the Cold Lands—she felt quiet, almost subconscious hints in the Force, trying to advise her. Bras and Jirdo confessed to having the same experience, which all three dubbed "the Whispers". The Whispers at first seemed benevolent, helping the trio deepen their hold on the Guudrians. However, after several years, the guidance became clearer and more like instruction. Maia began to suspect that an individual presence was responsible, rather than the Force as an entity. However, desire to preserve her power combined with desire to protect her subjects from what she suspected was a malevolent presence, and she counseled her comrades to obey. Maia began to feel she had a renewed chance of fulfilling her special destiny.
Relations between the triumvirs strained after several years. Maia remained queen, but Bras and even Jirdo occasionally balked when she treated them like subjects. Maia, meanwhile, felt that Bras had not gotten over his attraction to her, and shot down his increasingly pushy advances; she also felt Jirdo was the weak link in the trio. Feeling she could not fully rely on either of them, she accepted more counsel from the Whispers instead.
Downfall[]
In 1,386 BBY, Tirien Kal-Di, Narasi Rican, and Zaella Sabir landed in Marekka, one of the Guudrian villages. Maia was initially unaware of their arrival for weeks, learning of it only when the Whispers revealed it to her. She took Bras and Jirdo to Marekka and confronted the group, but found their powers more than a match for hers. Over the next few days, Maia employed various strategies against the village, but Tirien rebuffed her at every turn. Bras advised violence each time, and eventually snapped and tried to kill Barka, son of the village's boss, Mukka, against Maia's explicit instructions.
Feeling her control slipping and the Whispers' increased anger, Maia met with Tirien, asking him to trust her and leave Guudria in her care. When he refused, she succumbed and went to the Whispers in the Cold Lands, willingly learning new dark side powers. Feeling at once enhanced and deprived, she returned to Marekka and unleashed her new powers on the villagers, but Tirien, Narasi, and Zaella repelled her attack, and Tirien cut off her left hand.
Maia fled back to the Whispers, but in her absence, Bras had sacrificed her guards in a Force ritual that allowed the Whisperer—in truth the spirit of the Sith Lord Chelshgodrû Brokkodd—to possess him. Empowered by Brokkodd's substantially greater Force abilities, Bras overpowered the weakened Maia, raped her, and murdered her with her own lightsaber.
Tirien, Narasi, Zaella, and Jirdo (who had defected) discovered Maia's body some hours later. After defeating Brokkodd, they burned Maia along with the corpses of her guards.
Powers and Abilities[]
Though trained only as a Padawan, Maia was the most powerful of the three companions who conquered Guudria. She specialized in Makashi, though she was not skillful enough to challenge Tirien Kal-Di and showed signs of being outmatched even against his sixteen-year-old apprentice, Narasi.
Appearance and Personality[]
Maia had the tall, slender build common to Sephi, with lilac skin, platinum blonde hair, and dark eyes. Even as Queen of Guudria she continued to dress as a Jedi, though in silk and satin rather than roughspun. She carried a curved-hilt lightsaber with a green blade, a relic from the days when she sought to become a Jedi Consular.
Maia believed that she had a special destiny to defeat the Sith, a belief strengthened and encouraged by her own master. When her master died, Maia came to believe she could carry out that destiny by protecting Guudria, which she sensed was in danger. She sought to be a benevolent dictator, genuinely believing she knew what was best for the Guudrians, though over time she became jealous of her power and convinced of her right to rule.
Behind the Scenes[]
Maia's destiny to bring about the downfall of a great Sith—and her belief in her destiny—was partially inspired by the story of Andor Vex in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.
Appearances[]
- Sins of the Father (Indirect mention only)
- Moments of Truth
- Revenge of the Jedi (Mentioned only)