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Sirra is a female Kiffar recruited into Clan Odan-Urr of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Abandoned on Nar Shaddaa by her parents due to her telepathic abilities growing far beyond her control, she made a living hunting, scavenging and surviving among the undercity while listening to the thoughts of the dispossessed lurking there. This ended with the coming of Collective troops hunting for Force sensitive individuals to experiment upon in their campaign to exterminate anyone with a strong connection, but their efforts were thwarted by the Jensaarai Ka Tarvitz. Having never encountered others with her abilities, Sirra accepted an offer to follow the Jensaarai and learn how to control her powers. Since that time, she has served as an apprentice, training to focus and enhance her abilities.
Character History
Down Into a Sunless City
Sirra was one of a multitude of Force sensitive children to be born in the backwater reaches of the galaxy, beyond the reach of the Jedi or other factions. Her connection was a strong one from birth, and while most individuals typically required their true power to be unlocked through training, Sirra's abilities blossomed from an extremely young age. Gifted in the various forms of telepathy, her mind reached out to others barely a year after her birth, probing the thoughts of her parents and pushing into the minds of others. While this was initially seen as a promising sign, her powers developed at an astounding rate, and what at first looked to be innocent experiments soon grew far beyond her control. Sirra's intrusions began to torment others, unintentionally bringing fears to the forefront of their thoughts or leaving painful marks in her efforts to connect with them. More than once such acts drew unwanted attention, or left minds damaged after forcefully delving into their innermost impulses.
With little money for themselves and no way to halt these developments, her parents were left with no alternatives beyond killing or abandoning Sirra. Even with her lasting effects, neither parent could bring themselves to end her life. Instead, they abandoned her in the undercity of Nar Shaddaa, departing from her life never to be seen again. Barely old enough to walk and with little comprehension of her surroundings, for most children, this abandonment would have been a death sentence. Yet Sirra learned and adapted, hiding from those she sensed with ill intent and scavenging food from wherever it could be found. Through instinctive use of her powers and sheer fortune, she was able to escape those who might have killed or enslaved her, but also hid from any family who might have taken her in. Thoughts of killers and the predatory instincts of animals were her tutors, teaching Sirra what was required in order to survive in the lightless depths of the planet. Left to raise herself, Sirra gradually descended deeper into the corroding tunnels beneath Nar Shaddaa's surface, searching for the most isolated areas of the city to call her home.
Lost Beneath a Steel Sky
Even as Nar Shaddaa itself was undergoing reconstruction, the bones of the old planet encompassing city served as its foundations. Broken monuments of ferrocrete and half destroyed tunnels still stood, allowing for those reclaiming the planet to use as the starting point of their new durasteel jungles. As Sirra gradually traveled deeper into the planet, she found more of these monuments to the past. Occupied by only the most desperate of the planet's downtrodden masses, it was a dangerous place to live. Creatures of all forms lived down there, from small colonies of hawk bats to surviving bands of Gundarks which prowled the region, along with stranger entities things left behind by other species. These had found shelter among the lowest regions of the planet, and the scavengers down there continually fought for survival against encroaching bands of predators.
Crime ran unchecked in the undercity, and without any source of light save for the distant neon of city lights far, far above them in the occasional cracks of the overhead levels, those there were forced to hunt among pitch darkness. People died in droves, with overpopulation kept in check only by constant infighting or the predators than any unified measure. These were the people that Sirra would learn the most from in her thoughts, as she hid in the darkness and used her telepathy to overcome the sightless depths about her. From them she learned of weapons, images of better places, and the nature of conflict on Nar Shaddaa. It was little different to those of the beasts which stalked such places, and to Sirra that seemed to be little more than an overcomplicated version of their simplistic system of predator and prey. As time went by, she began to view her world as simply being that: One where those ill-fated enough to be caught in a moment of weakness or to draw the attention of more powerful beings served as a mere food source for those better than them. While she felt no joy in this knowledge, it simply seemed to be the way of things there.
Sleeping in the shadows of crumbling buildings, the screams of those found by rival gangs became Sirra's cradle songs, which accompanied fitful dreams with vague hints of the future. She would see hints of life-threatening moments days in advance of when they would take place, or dream of a murderer's mind long before they might become a threat to her. While Sirra typically avoided the other sentient races down there however she could, such glimpses of possible futures became one more weapon to call upon when needed. As she grew, these came to assist her as she hunted for feral animals to take as her food, or lives to claim as they attempted to take her kills for themselves. Such efforts rarely ended well, and gangs would find themselves beset by either predators that Sirra could summon to her position or have their members picked off, one after the other. Such was the case with what would become known as the Bloody Eighth incident. Regarding Sirra as an easy plaything to exploit, a gang known as the Bloody Hand chased her into what remained of the city's eighth district in the Corellian sector. Armed to the teeth with a variety of blades and even spare blasters, they sought to hunt her down and take the girl captive. In the sixteen hours that followed, their members were gradually whittled down to a fraction of their number, each picked off one by one, never to be seen again.
Those few who caught sight of her gave Sirra the mocking nickname of "Spider" for her habit of scaling the buildings to raid hawk-bat nests for meals. Those who survived that night gave her a new name: The Ghost of the Eighth.
The Coming of Giants
While Sirra lived as she always had among the undercity, in late 34 ABY she began to notice changes among its populace. Familiar minds were abrupted elated with joy, departing from the undercity never to be seen again. Others were joining them as well, strangers whose thoughts exported visions of figures woven into metal and their hands replaced with weapons which projected light. They sought the strongest of those there, taking them away one by one to impossible places that Sirra knew could not hope to ever exist. Yet as more came and went, her idle curiosity soon diminished into mere boredom, and she continued to go about her daily business. Their absence simply meant that she had less competition to concern herself with, and with fewer mouths to feed, that simply meant more for her.
Unknown to Sirra, the departure of these individuals meant something far graver than she ever could have realised. The Collective had come to the Smuggler's Moon in search for recruits. Searching for those who would not be missed, it actively sought out the strongest of the most desperate individuals, taking them as fodder for their armies of fanatics or as test subjects for cyborg experimentations. Having yet to officially announce their opposition to the Brotherhood, the Collective's agents hid in the forgotten places of the galaxy, setting up recruitment posts in locations like Nar Shaddaa's undercity in order to build their armies. For several years this would continue, as the undercity was gradually robbed of its gangers and those too desperate to ignore an opportunity to leave their squalor. Yet on the last of these occasions, the Collective returned in force with a new recruit in mind: Sirra herself.
Through those they had recruited, the Collective's leaders had come to know of the strange individual in the undercity who could delve into the minds of others. Recognizing her as a potent Force user without the training or protection of larger factions, a strike team of combat cyborgs was dispatched to capture her along with a second objective. Sirra recognised the team for the threat they posed almost as soon as they arrived, and swiftly withdrew deeper into the more dangerous territories of the undercity. Knowing that her blades would likely never penetrate their armour, she attempted to dissuade them from pursuit by drawing them into hazardous terrain, before using other means at her disposal to force them back. For the next three hours, Sirra led them on a chase through the forgotten parts of Nar Shaddaa, wounding some as decaying masonry fell upon them and killing others as she summoned packs of gundarks to their position. Yet even as others were called away to deal with some nebulous threat, she could not wholly halt them. Slowly but surely, the cyborgs herded her toward the main access elevator to one area of the undercity, eventually downing her with a series of stun blasts.
Partially conscious, Sirra fought to push her paralyzed limbs into life even as the cyborgs closed in. Before they could fit an explosive collar about her neck, another figure arrived reeking of blood and ash. A gigantic figure in tarnished purple stormed free of the elevator, badly wounded and partially on fire. Even slowed by his wounds, the new arrival was nevertheless able to behead one cyborg with his opening strike before barreling into the two remaining members of the team. The other fell after several consecutive blows, severing the cyborg's head in two before he turned on their leader. Yet whatever strength drove him onward was fading fast, and even as he battled against the final one of their kind, he was steadily overwhelmed. Their fight led them away from Sirra as her body slowly regained feeling, and as he was beaten into submission then disarmed, the yellow blazing sword he carried landed near her. Something about the weapon called to her, reaching into Sirra's mind in a manner that she thought impossible. Guided by half-heard commands, she picked up the weapon and turned upon the cyborg leader. Her strike bisected him in one blow, cutting him from forehead to groin from behind.
With one threat out of the way, she rounded on the other intruder. Whatever their feud had been, she had sensed nothing from him besides caged fury and a desire to see the cyborgs dead. For all she knew, he was no better than they had been. She broadcast her thoughts into his, only to be repelled again and again. Yet as she advanced, the sword held high above her head, his defenses fell. They guided her to an area in his thoughts, reacting in a manner she had never seen before in another living being. In an instant, she saw memories from decades past. These were older images of a boy younger even than her, terrified of his powers as they constantly threatened to overwhelm him and destroy others nearby, and risking just that with every passing day. The boy was taken by figures clad in the skins of metal animals, trained and taught, his face coming to mirror the person she threatened. Seeing his fear at that time, and his actions mirroring her own lack of control, Sirra realised he was offering her the same opportunity to learn how to better harness her powers.
Though uncertain, the stranger answered with crude images and emotions to reinforce his point, proving that his own abilities were of a similar origin if different in nature. Upon seeing this, and knowing of the blame others would place on her for drawing the cyborgs to their homes, Sirra accepted this offer with some hesitation. He managed to stand, barely retaining the strength to limp away from the fight, and guided her to the elevator.
And The Sky Was Full of Stars
The journey to the surface took far less time than Sirra would have ever imagined. Having clung to the lowest reaches of the city for as long as she could remember, the sight of intact corridors, working lights, and a relatively well-fed population seemed almost too surreal to be believed. Yet all throughout this, she stayed by the stranger's side, following him as he led her further up into the city, occasionally offering more images of the world beyond. By the time they reached the surface itself, the sun was high in the sky. The sight was blinding to someone who had not witnessed anything brighter than a handheld glowrod for almost a decade, and Sirra clawed at her eyes as she tried to come to terms with what she beheld. Painful tears streamed from her eyes and, even after the stranger offered a set of polarized goggles to block out the sun, it was difficult to behold the world about her. Nevertheless, the stranger was able to guide the two of them toward an awaiting ship before blood loss finally took its toll and he collapsed. The ship's two occupants rushed out to meet him, and Sirra delved into the thoughts of each. One was old, with a tired determination fuelled by duty above all else, but kind-hearted and driven to help others. His insectoid face betrayed no emotion, but she could see a humble generosity to his nature. The other one, a barrel-shaped thing of pure metal, gave no thoughts of its own and offered only incessant beeping. The stranger remained conscious long enough to explain the situation to the two of them and issue an order before he slipped into a healing coma.
Sirra watched as the metal thing departed for another part of the planet, while the insect man helped to carry the stranger onto the waiting ship. She was uncertain at first, but when he offered for her to follow, Sirra sensed no falsehood in his offer. Within the hour, she was rewarded with the sight of stars for the first time in her life, and the experience of leaving a planet's atmosphere before the ship entered hyperspace. This sense of wonderment kept Sirra enraptured, questioning what else she had missed while struggling in the darkness, but in time a sense of panic began to take hold. The only minds on the ship were the comatose thoughts of the stranger, the insect man piloting the ship, and a prisoner taken from the group who had tried to capture her. Throughout her life, Sirra had been constantly surrounded by the telepathic background noise of hundreds if not thousands of creatures, from insects to other sentient species. With their absence, Sirra's world had become one of unnerving silence. This clawed at her, quickly become more traumatic than even the pursuit by the cyborgs. Realising her discomfort, the insect man offered his own thoughts to focus upon, and offered up memories of others like the stranger who rescued her. For the next several hours she was given visions of such people acting as peacekeepers, diplomats, and healers, sometimes soldiers when required. It granted Sirra far better grounding as to just what she was expecting to find, and allowed her to see a first true glimpse of Force users who had mastered their powers.
In spite of the insect man - whose name she would later learn to be Essik Lyccane - and his memories, Sirra's introduction to the Jedi Praxeum proved to be far more difficult than anyone would imagine. Surrounded by strangers and constantly struggling to communicate with anyone, Sirra was perpetually on edge, and frequently unable to simply comprehend her new environment. Even when several tutors made an effort to reach out to her, their very ideologies conflicted with her basic visions of what life was like. She was unable to accept the code they offered against all that her life had shown her, and struggled to understand its more complex lessons. Within a matter of months, Sirra was driven to attempt several escapes from the Praxeum, succeeding in hiding among the wilderness more than once for a time. While the Jedi Masters of the Praxeum would inevitably find her, such periods were the only occasional respite she was given, as the surrounding forests at least offered a world she could more easily comprehend.
On Sirra's final attempt to flee for good, she was met not by one of the Jedi, but the stranger who had rescued her - someone she would come to know as Ka Tarvitz. While still distrustful of others, Tarvitz was one of the few that she could "speak" with, ironically due to his own limitations in telepathic power. Tarvitz's limited skills aligned more with her crude language of memories and internal images than the more complex abilities of others, while his efforts to protect her had been the closest she had ever come to an act of true kindness. Realising the source of her problems in accepting the Jedi code, Tarvitz opted to instead use the teachings of the Jensaarai in their place, conveying the basic tenants of his order through life examples and thoughts. He used it as a starting point to show the difference between aggression and outright hatred, and prompted those most compatible with the Jedi's beliefs. Through this and several hours of efforts, he was slowly able to convince Sirra to return to the Jedi and learn to better control her powers.
Tarvitz's presence helped Sirra substantially in more readily accepting the lessons that the Jedi offered, even if she struggled to accept their ways entirely. With his occasional visits and training her as a "Sometimes Apprentice", she was able to more easily adapt to her environment. While still reclusive and struggling to connect with other Padawans, she was at least able to more readily trust those she trained with, and saw them as fellow learners rather than bitter competition. Further introductions to those who had brushed with the Dark Side, risking falling entirely to their baser instincts and self-service, helped to then further express the meaning behind the Jedi teachings, and just what they guarded their practitioners against.
Physical Description
Unusually short and notably slim for her age, Sirra's pale skin carries the telltale markings of someone who has spent much of their life without ever seeing the sky. While her body is notably athletic it still retains signs of once having been malnourished, and her features indicate an emphasis on pragmatism above all else. Sirra's hair is kept continually cropped short and is rarely in any state besides untidy, while the dark creases about her hazel eyes gives her a notably cynical quality to her otherwise youthful appearance. Both of her cheeks carry the three striped tattoos of clan Vel, but the skin about them is subtly scarred, indicating several fruitless efforts to remove them from Sirra's features. Her body retains a number of small scars, ranging from shallow cuts from daggers to bite marks from hawk-bats. Both hands are notably calloused and their skin thick, a reminder from having to scale the ruins of her home in search of food.
Sirra's clothing is typically based upon practicality over any aesthetic benefit. Lightweight, durable and with no shortage of pockets, they typically consist of very dull and earthy colours which can easily blend into her surroundings. She has only recently begun experimenting with wearing items with any degree of bright hues or noted colour, but is still cautious when it comes to anything which might draw too much unwanted attention to herself.
Personality
Equipment
Weapons
Having long associated bright light sources with possible danger and risk of discovery, Sirra has abandoned the use of a lightsaber. Having never found the energy swords to her liking, she instead opts to carry a variety of weapons which can more easily counter other Force users and benefits her existing skills. Throwing knives are among her more reliable choices, as they have proven to be both effective in melee and close range engagements. Silent, reusable and easily concealed on her person, their versatility has made them an excellent item in almost any environment. These are backed by a pair of blasters. The first of these is a DL-44 pistol for close range use against heavily armoured targets, with reliability and accuracy which makes it effective in bringing down opposing soldiers with single shots when required. Yet the more powerful of these items is a Bowcaster, fitted with plasma bolts. This has been refitted and reworked for human hands, with an auto-cocking mechanism which rapidly readies the bow for the next shot and a stripped down build which makes it far less cumbersome to carry.
Yet the most mysterious addition to her arsenal is a dagger forged from Sith Alchemical methods, allowing the blade to both deflect blaster bolts and even parry strikes from lightsabers. This was gifted to Sirra by Tarvitz upon hearing of her opposition to using lightsabers, but its exact origins remain a mystery to anyone but the Jensaarai.
Armour
The armour Sirra dons, when drawn into battle, emphasizes speed and silence above all else. Favouring the ability to quickly and easily move behind enemy lines over the heavier plating of assault troops, her outfits resemble her civilian clothes in many basic elements: A substantial number of pouches and secure pockets, ruggedly constructed and designed to blend into her surroundings. However, these take it to a new level, using camouflage and limiting the amount of skin exposed below her neck. Light plating is fitted into key points across the chest, thighs, and forearms, each strong enough to block a blade if not a blaster bolt, while plating across the knees and elbow allows for easier movement while lying prone. The addition of a thermal cape serves to help further conceal her body while also retaining heat, giving her an edge when sitting in ambush positions.
Powers and Abilities
Scout
The Force