“After I return to Ossus, I plan on opening diplomatic channels with the Alsakan government in the hopes of coming to some sort of cease fire. It's my hope that you and their leaders will be able to sit down and negotiate, as I do not believe that a war is inevitable.”―Jedi Grandmaster Banik Kelrada explains his intentions to Supreme Chancellor Relana Isolde Tanoor[src]
The Meeting on Ord Mirit was a brief diplomatic summit that took place in 13,000 BBY on Ord Mirit between Supreme Chancellor Relana Isolde Tanoor and Jedi Grandmaster Banik Kelrada; the meeting was held in the wake of the Battle of Coruscant, the conflict that started the Alsakan Crisis. After the Alsakan Union took control of Coruscant from the Galactic Republic during the battle, the Jedi Order attempted to begin negotiations between the two sides in the hopes of preventing any further bloodshed.
At the beginning of this peace process, Kelrada opted to first meet with Chancellor Tanoor on Ord Mirit. During the meeting, the Grandmaster was able to convince the reluctant Supreme Chancellor to attempt to hold off a Republic counterattack against the Alsakans. Despite this, she was concerned that she would not be successful, as her military advisers were already planning to attack the Alsakans and wanted to avenge the loss of the capital. She did, however, support Kelrada's attempts.
In the days that followed, Kelrada met with Lharra, the Vicar of the Alsakan Union, and persuaded her to end the war, but she was assassinated by her own advisers who wished to prevent the conflict's end. The Jedi Order was implicated in the assassination, and the Order's efforts to prevent further conflict failed. The war continued until 12,999 BBY, ultimately ending with the Alsakan Union's defeat in the Battle of Alsakan.
History[]
Prelude[]
“Our intentions are peaceful. We want to stop destroying life in the name of urbanization.”―Lharra explains why the Alsakan Union took control of Coruscant[src]
In 13,000 BBY, the Alsakan Union successfully launched an invasion of Coruscant, taking control of the planet from the Galactic Republic.[1] This attack prompted the year-long Alsakan Crisis. The goals of the Alsakan leadership were to terraform the planet and restore it to nature, which was dictated by their religion;[2] the city-planet had offended their religious beliefs thousands of years earlier, fueling their desire to fix what they viewed as an extreme lack of nature on the planet.[4] Because the Republic's capital was in the hands of the enemy, the Galactic Senate relocated to Ord Mirit, where the Republic leaders began planning a counterattack.[3]
The Jedi Order hoped to prevent any further bloodshed. While the Order did not have any ties to either government, the Jedi High Council did believe that the takeover of Coruscant violated galactic law. In an effort to achieve the goals of ending the war and transferring Coruscant back to the Republic, Grandmaster Banik Kelrada decided to speak with the leaders of both governments in an effort to convince them to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict.[3]
The meeting[]
“My military advisers are planning a counterattack on the Alsakan home front. I will hold off for as long as I can, but I can only wait so long before action is demanded of me.”―Supreme Chancellor Relana Isolde Tanoor[src]
In the days after the Battle of Coruscant, Kelrada traveled to Ord Mirit, choosing to speak with Supreme Chancellor Relana Isolde Tanoor before meeting with the Alsakan Vicar Lharra. When Kelrada arrived, Tanoor immediately rejected any suggestion that she should delay a counterattack, as she believed further conflict was inevitable due to the Alsakan's actions and the desire of the military to seek revenge. Kelrada, however, disagreed with the inevitability of all-out war, emphasizing his desire to end it. Though she did acknowledge that Kelrada and the Jedi Order, who did not answer to the Republic, were free to seek a diplomatic solution, she did not believe that peace would be possible.[3]
Despite her reluctance, the Chancellor did agree to attempt to hold off a counterattack in the hopes that Kelrada would be successful. However, she believed that she would only be able to do so until the pressure from her military commanders for a counterattack became too great. Kelrada was unable to promise that the Jedi Order would aid the Republic if the peace talks failed, as the Jedi were not officially allied with either of the governments, but Tanoor still agreed to hold off the counterattack for as long as she could.[3]
Aftermath[]
“We did it for Shalharra. She will welcome us.”―Asru, one of the aides of Lharra, after assassinating the Vicar[src]
In the days following his discussion with Chancellor Tanoor, Kelrada was able to secure a meeting with the Vicar Lharra in the Jedi Enclave on Ossus. During the meeting, Kelrada learned that the Vicar’s advisers had misinformed her about the living conditions on Coruscant, and that this information had led to her desire to restore the planet to its natural state. Lharra agreed to attempt to stop the war once Kelrada told her the truth, but she was assassinated by her advisers on Ossus before she could do so. In order to destroy the evidence, the advisers chose to become martyrs for their cause and crashed their vessel into the Jedi Enclave, killing thirty-one Jedi.[2]
Legacy[]
“...our Vicar has been brutally murdered by the Jedi. Obviously this treachery must be dealt with as it is a possibility that they could try to ruin our union even further.”―Van Tien[src]
Kelrada's efforts to prevent further conflict proved unsuccessful following the assassination of Lharra. The Jedi Order held a conclave at the Jedi Enclave following the Vicar's assassination to determine its next course of action.[5] Having been unknowingly manipulated by Jedi Knight Sarina Lightell during the conclave,[6] Kelrada accused Lightell's husband, Jedi Master Edo Tesu, of treason and arrested him.[5] Lightell freed him from prison and killed him later that night. When Tesu's body was discovered hanging from a tree the next morning, Kelrada was falsely accused by a number of Jedi of committing the crime. This led to a schism in the Order and,[7] following a congregation of the Jedi who left the Order, the creation of the Ospion Guardians.[8] These Ospion later became the Dark Jedi of the Bogan, a dark-sided sect during the Hutt War twenty-one years later.[9]
As the Jedi Order dealt with their own internal problems, the Alsakan Union appointed Elder Van Tien to be the interim Union leader while the search for a new Vicar was underway.[10] Van Tien launched a series of assaults against the Republic. Two of these three assaults ended in failure for the Alsakans, leading to an assassination attempt against Tien that ended with him taking his own life.[11] A cease fire was put into place following the battles, but it was ultimately broken and the war continued until the Republic defeated the Union during the Battle of Alsakan in 12,999 BBY.[12]
Behind the scenes[]
The Meeting on Ord Mirit was role-played in a thread called “Desperate Times” on TheStarWarsRP.Com. The thread was role-played on April 13, 2008 by role-players Brandon Rhea and Brent Krajewski. The events of the thread were role-played within a period of roughly fourteen hours and took only seven posts to complete.[3] Shortly after it was finished, the thread was followed by one called "Meeting the Vicar," which contained the assassination of Lharra and the subsequent bombing of the Jedi Enclave.[2]
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Ticking Revolution on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Meeting the Vicar on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 Desperate Times on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ The History of the Alsakans on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jedi Conclave on Ossus on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ Judgment on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ Of Phantoms and Traitors on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ Assembly of the Faithless on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ History of the Dark Jedi on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ Revenge and Retaliation on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ Revelation on TheStarWarsRP.Com
- ↑ History of the Republic on TheStarWarsRP.Com