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V'yr Vorsa is a Neti Jedi Master, a lecturer at the Praxeum, and a former tactician and general. She serves as a councilwoman, and Elder of Clan Odan-Urr.
Ancient by human reckoning, Vorsa is more than three-hundred and ninety years old and has spent most of her life in the Jedi Order, first as a scholar and archivist, then as an accomplished military leader. Devoted to the teachings Living Force, she is steadfast and strong in her convictions and loyal to her allies. Her firmly rooted influence on Odan-Urr has become a source of wisdom and knowledge to many generations of Jedi.
Character History
Early life
Sprouted from a seed sometime around 350 BBY on the forest planet of Myrkr, Vorsa had spent most of her early life on her home world, as yet unaware of the life that awaited her among the stars. Hardly anything is known about these early years of her life except that it was during this time that her Force powers likely manifested. What else is known is usually kept quiet by her trusted confidantes who seem content to keep such stories for themselves. Being a rather private individual, Vorsa keeps the stories about her people from outsiders, Jedi or otherwise.
Introductions
Sometime around 280 BBY a group of Jedi arrived on Myrkr in search of the elusive flora they used for study and medicinal purposes. The small group searched for days in the forested area Vorsa called home at the time, but it was only when they took samples and much-desired sap excretions from Vorsa’s own branches and vines that an interesting interaction developed. Annoyed at the intrusion, but curious as to who the intruders were, Vorsa’s contorted her body into an intimidating visage of a large humanoid tree. Showing no hostile intent to the startled group, Vorsa spoke to them in her native tongue, requesting answers to questions none of them understood. Despite their momentary surprise, the Jedi’s calmness reassured her as to their benevolence. Little more is known of this interaction, especially since the destruction of the Jedi Archives rendered such in-depth research moot, however, the eventual result was Vorsa joining the Order in due time. It is not apparent if this first encounter was the one that bid her leave her ancestral home, or if she did so at some later time. The first relevant and comprehensive information on Vorsa’s life only begin in the year 229 BBY on Coruscant, thus it is likely that Jedi had visited Myrkr multiple times in their efforts to bring the Neti into their fold.
The Jedi Order
Padawan Vorsa constructing her lightsaber, 229 BBY
Even though she was already in her seventie, Vorsa was little more than a child by Neti reckoning. She had spent most of her time exploring her planet or communing with nature, knowing very little of life. She was an innocent child, thus she was deemed to still be of an appropriate age for training in the Jedi Order. They welcomed her with open arms.
Already proficient in Galactic Basic at the time of her arrival, Vorsa still found acclimating to life in the Jedi Temple fraught with hardship. Her initial introduction demonstrated her strangeness to the other younglings and teachers. She was a form-shaping, botanical creature in the presence of flesh-and-blood aliens she had never seen before. Out of a subconscious need to fit in, over time she instinctively took on a humanoid, child-like shape and left her true form behind. This instinctive decision would shape her mindset throughout her life as she remained in her humanoid form for long periods of time. Many Padawans found her a curiosity and object of admiration early on, but as her appearance gradually resembled her natural form less and less, they seemed to lose interest. As years passed, eventually, she had come to look no different from a human, bar her hair, eyes, and skin tone. With time she came to think of herself as humanoid as well, nearly completely adopting her new look. It was a rare instance to see her in any other form in those days.
Never an excellent student, nor gifted in any particular area of study, just like most of her comrades, Vorsa never truly excelled in any particular field nor drew too much attention to herself through her deeds. Not one for popularity contests or for being teacher's pet, Vorsa simply looked to her studies and training as her main focus. Through her dedication, she developed various skills, such as independent deduction from facts or a method of relatively quickly taking in relevant information and applying it, qualities her teachers found to their liking. Social interactions, on the other hand, came slowly and with difficulty. She found herself out of sorts when interacting with other younglings, being both older and somehow equally less experienced than them in social circles.
Despite her shortcomings, Vorsa excelled at teaching her fellow Jedi, mostly about nature and how to properly care for living things in the wild. But, she was also a slow learner, a trait her species exhibited regularly, especially in areas related to human or near-human relations, biology, psychology. Her own species was vastly alien by comparison and relating to short-lived races seemed an impossibility. As the years passed, seeing her friends grow old and die was particularly painful as she had grown attached to them over time, but eventually, with study and understanding, she slowly grasped the notion that they were one with the Force, and so with her in spirit.
Though her Initiate and Padawan decades came and went with several different teachers and masters, once she became a Jedi Knight in 154 BBY, she looked for ways to be useful to the Order. Not particularly adept at combat, at first, she chose the more natural course and became an archivist and librarian, teaching students, and by extension herself, in many, many fields of study. She always had her head dug into books, holocrons, and archive data, vastly expanding her knowledge of the Force and other topics she found relevant. Force research, xenosociology, military tactics, and history became her main studies for a long while, and interaction and cooperation with her peers pushed her to develop her social skill more, developing into a competent negotiator and level-headed colleague. History especially was a topic that interested, and yet also appalled her. There was beauty and wisdom in history, as well as cruelty and fear. Vorsa learned about the wars of the past and the horrors they brought many millions. It pained her that such suffering existed and to think of a future that would involve any.
To her dismay, a century later, during the Clone Wars necessity required her to leave the safety of her libraries and archives and move her abundant knowledge and skill into the field to fight alongside the Clone troops of the Galactic Republic. That was when it all went wrong.
The Clone Wars
Jedi Knight Vorsa during a simulated combat training session, 22 BBY
During the Clone Wars, Vorsa found a new purpose, one where her knowledge of history and military tactics would count for more than just theory. She wasn't particularly fond of leading Clones into battle, but it was a necessity at the time. She told herself that it was for the survival of the Republic and that she needed to protect those who had no way of doing so themselves. The war dragged on and more and more Jedi were needed to lead the army.
As a Jedi General, she fought on several major battlefields such as the battles of Kashyyyk, Duro, Coruscant and, most notably, Jabiim. Her encyclopedic knowledge of ancient battles, and studies of tactics and warfare she conducted over the centuries, became a boon to the Order. These were the origins of the general she became for Odan-Urr nearly sixty years later.
At the time, everything Vorsa knew of life came from books or holocrons, and though she saw the war as abhorrent, in more ways than one she was animated with the opportunities it had presented. She started to matter in the grand scheme of things and, slowly, she became more and more prominent as, battle after battle, the Republic pushed the Separatists back.
Order 66
Jedi General Vorsa during the battle of Jabiim, 19 BBY
Order 66 was issued when Vorsa was negotiating relief supplies for refugees on Jabiim, a recently liberated world whose inhabitants held nothing but ill will towards the Jedi, mostly due to the actions of Anakin Skywalker. Vorsa was chosen as a secondary envoy and diplomat in peace talks due to her tact and knowledge of xenosociology at the time. The attack came when Vorsa was in talks with a city official. Clone troopers entered the chamber with the intent to inform her of “an escalating situation”. It was only her superior awareness and instinct that saved her head. She defeated the Clones that attacked her but failed to stop them killing the delegate. Soon, Vorsa found herself hunted across Jabiim.
The Imperial Era
The Jedi Purge
The Jedi Purge left Vorsa's life, and what she knew of the galaxy, in shambles. For centuries, the Jedi were a constant, an immovable point for her to latch onto for safety and comfort, and now they were all but exterminated. Left alone in the galaxy, and facing the horror of Darth Vader's blade, Vorsa sought far and wide to find a home again. She found many places insecure against Imperial prosecution, even such planets as Kashyyyk which was nearly perfect for a Neti to hide in. Again and again, Vorsa eluded capture, but battle after battle her will had been eroded and she simply wanted to root and forget about the galaxy for a time.
It was on planet Shili, where she crash-landed after an intense dogfight and escape from multiple systems, that she nearly met her end. As the overwhelming loss and months of flight took their toll on her body, an Imperial garrison confronted and defeated her in combat, pelting her with blaster fire, leaving her broken in body and spirit. During the fight, Vorsa fell to her apparent death down a cascading waterfall and into jagged rocks below. The body was never found prompting an investigation by the Inquisitors, however, no traces of her were found on the planet. Likely deducing that the Jedi had perished and been consumed by the aggressive fauna of the planet, she was left for dead.
New Repubic era
A Home on Shili
It was the year 4 ABY when Vorsa finally regained consciousness enough to comprehend her surroundings. For twenty-four years she had been in forced hibernation, slowly healing from the physical wounds received at the hands of the Imperials. The Force made her body whole, but her spirit remained utterly broken. Realizing her presence in the Force could attract unwanted attention, she suppressed the urge to reach out and find what was left of the Jedi. Utterly alone and in the dark as to her situation, she spent three more years in melancholy and introspective thought, piecing together the events that led her to a life of misery.
Not all was as bleak as she thought, however. Her stay on Shili brought with it a return to a forgotten time, one where she would feel the wind in her branches, the grass underfoot, a time where she would experience the presence of nature like a mother's embrace and she could enjoy the constant clamor of life's many and varied forms. Slowly she leaned into those feelings, the unremembered truths of her heritage, and rested on the Living Force for sustenance and hope.
Five more years passed before she awoke again, but where before she had been one tree among many in a forest, now she was a single tree in a small forest garden, tended to by an aging Togruta and his village. Utukaan, the elder of the village, often came to the garden to work and spoke to the plants and animals, and she felt, to her most of all. Somehow the old man knew of a presence in his garden, emanating from the old tree, but he could never prove it. His stories remained only stories as Vorsa feared reaching out and connecting to another living creature in such a way again. The fear of loss overtook her waking thoughts even as the gardener's presence rejuvenated her spirit more than she cared to admit.
Things remained thus for a time and Vorsa got to know her keeper, his family, and Clan, and the goings on in the area. She learned through his talks that they had been there for centuries, he and his people, and that they tended to the forest and kept in touch with nature. This pleased the Neti so much that more than once she had intended to reach out and converse, in such desperate need was she for interaction, but she stopped herself every time. Instead, she found a different way, in tending to the garden with Utukaan. Where his crops had been dying, she watered them from her roots. Where the weeds ate at the healthy herb, she starved them of water. In a way, she had found her connection, and she was content, until a fateful night when a young girl found her branches a comfortable bed for a nap.
Fateful meeting
A fateful meeting on Shili, 15 BBY
A'lora Kituri was but eight years old when she found her way into Vorsa's garden and fell asleep under her branches. She was the daughter of one of the hunters from Utakaan's village, a place Vorsa had become attached to with time. It was a lazy day to be sure, but a perilous night soon followed and the Akul were on the prowl. In spite of her better judgment, Vorsa cradled A'lora with her branches and leaves so that she may sleep without fear, but the howls of the beasts and the oncoming sounds of night woke the girl. Unsure as to what to do with the vulnerable girl, Vorsa reacted instinctively — for the first time in nearly forty years she had spoken to another being, and she felt liberated by the unshackling of past traumas which had prevented her from doing so earlier. The fear of being found left her in an instant when she saw the young girl's panicked expression. Cradling the youngling in her branches until morning.
Character Gallery