|
Legends Article This page contains information from the Star Wars Legends continuity and may not be supported by the Dark Brotherhood.
|
Jaspen Kraitus is a Human male Force Adept and a self-styled Jedi Knight. He was born with the power of Third Sight and has been forced to carry the dark stain of being Marked his whole life. He was discovered by Sejj Beriss when he was a boy and briefly trained in the Jedi Arts, until Beriss was brutally murdered by Trevarus Caerick. Jaspen has since wandered the Galaxy alone, doing good where he can as a "Jedi", despite being shunned by the Jedi Order proper as a darksider.
He was drawn to the Orian system for reasons he did not completely understand near the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War in late 29 ABY. In early 30 ABY, after he learned the Dlarit Corporation was being manipulated by a dark side cult, and teamed up with a group of Jedi stranded in the system by the war to unmask the darksiders and free the system from their oppression.
Biography
Early life
Jaspen spent his life trying to make sense of his past, chasing leads and dealing with whatever Dark Jedi and cults he came across. He hated the dark side, and just hoped that one day he would come across the darksiders who could explain to him what he was: and undo it.
Following the threads
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Jaspen continued on his endless journey. Neither a soldier, nor welcome among the knights of the Jedi Order, he was unable to help fight on the front lines, but did what he could to aid those on the war ravaged worlds he visited willing to accept his help. However, on many worlds he found himself cursed by all sides: spurned by Jedi as a darksider, yet simultaneously hunted as one by the Vong themselves and Peace Brigade sympathisers. Overall, life changed little for Jaspen, forever the outcast, just trying to uphold the light.
Toward the end of the war he found himself drawn to the little known Orian system, home to the Dlarit Corporation mining guild. He didn't know why he had come, only that the Force had led him there. What he found haunted his thoughts: refugees shut out of the city proper, forced to endure poverty and go hungry. But his bigger worry was the overwhelming dark pressure on his mind that told him something about Orian was simply wrong.
He befriended a former Jedi turned Bounty hunter Aisha Qifaxa, who he hired to help him get to the bottom of the dark presence he sensed pervaded the system. However, in early 30 ABY, while on route from Seng Karash to San Korinar for a meeting with Aisha, Jaspen came across a criminal wanted poster for a Trevarus Irad Caerick: bearing exactly the same tattoo as Jaspen. After years of searching, Jaspen believed he may have tracked down the man he was searching for: the man who could answer him once and for all the question: "What am I?".
Revelations
Events took a turn for the worst when Jaspen was assaulted a thief in the Miner's Daughter bar in San Korinar, where he had arranged to meet Aisha. After killing the thug with his lightsaber, he was accosted by a woman named "Stacia" who cautioned him against pursuing the man in the wanted poster. She warned him to quit acting like a Jedi in public, or leave the system if he didn't want to be hunted down by the Dlarit Corporation's secret police.
Jaspen grew worried when Aisha didn't show up to the meeting. Later, upon sensing her plea for help through the Force, he tried to hurry to the spaceport in the Upper City to find her, only to run into a squad of commandos from the Dlarit Special Operations Group. Rather than give himself up, he fled to the outskirts of the city–running into a dead end at a well known suicide spot: "Death's Edge". Surrounded by DSOG operatives, Jaspen made the only choice he had: he jumped. However, instead of falling to his death in the crushing gases of Amphor's lower atmosphere, he was saved by an unknown power. After passing out, he awoke, safe, back in a trash heap in the streets of San Korinar. He had no idea how he had got there.
Sensing Aisha to still be in danger, Jaspen resigned himself to using his "gift" to stare into the Force and locate her. Heading to a public transit station, he opened himself and saw the threads that laced the inhabitants of the system together: and the masses of dark shadows crawling everywhere. Gazing into the essence of the Force, he felt his mind being dragged into a black hole and passed out. He awoke to the sight of a woman on the ground before him: strangled to death–by his own hand.
Before Jaspen could react, alarms went off and the station was evacuated. When he emerged from the refresher stall, he came across Aisha and her new master. Forced to fight him against her wishes, he had no choice but to engage the Zeltron girl in battle. Although Aisha was competent with her bloodshine blade, Jaspen's unique style and accessory "shoto" short lightsaber gave him the upper hand.
Macron then interrupted the two and dueled Jaspen with a single lightsaber. The Sith used Dun Moch to taunt the young man and a Force Crush to wrack him into unconsciousness, easily besting him. Just as her new master seemed about to land the killing blow on the now-helpless Jaspen, a team of other Jedi who had been stranded in the system by the war arrived–having come to save Aisha themselves.
Across the system on Tarthos, Tsainetomo Keibatsu activated the station's emergency systems, buying Macron the distraction he needed to escape–taking Aisha with him–leaving Jaspen with the ragtag collection of stranded Jedi Knights.
The Order of the Shield
Having confirmed the presence of darksiders operating in the system, and at least some masquerading as officers of the Dlarit Corporation, Jaspen joined forces with the stranded Jedi–who were prepared, albeit reluctantly, to put aside their reservations of him bearing the Mark. Cut off from the rest of the Jedi Order by the Vong War and the tight restrictions on transport and communication placed on refugees by the Dlarit Corporation, they formed the Order of the Shield and began planning how to unmask the true conspiracy behind the Dlarit Corporation, and eradicate the dark side threat.
Trivia
Jaspen Kraitus will feature prominently in a Clan Feud planned for Clan Naga Sadow for after the Ninth Great Jedi War (most likely early-to-mid Summer 2009). He made his first appearance in the Ares Rising run-on in February 2009.
Jaspen was created by Trevarus Caerick and a close friend from real life to involve him in Star Wars stories without being a Dark Sider.