Ember Rekali

"Maybe I don't take it seriously enough. Face to face, I've killed thirty-eight people in my life, and though I could say all of them deserved it, I know it's not true. A lot of them were just trying to do their job.  Now throw the Jedi thing out of the equation, and what does that make me?  An assassin.  A government assassin - except I don't work for a government.  It's terrifying."

- Ember Rekali, Jedi Knight, prior to the Xenovore War

Raised by Detori, Ember Rekali lived a dangerous and largely directionless life, experiencing great loss and pain in the process. Under the tutelage of a redeemed Lyn Beorht, he has changed his path and become a Jedi. He is now a member of the Jedi Order and has been given the status of Jedi Knight. He spent eight years inside a temporal distortion, and is now a Jedi Master in all but name.

Asanis' Detori
Born in the Anari Alliance, Ember Rekali (4 BBY) became aware of his Force-sensitivity at the age of twelve. At fourteen, he was recruited by the Detori Order and trained along with many other children. La-Reia Beorht was one of his teachers; he also knew Kishkumen.

When the Sith Empire conquered the Anari Alliance, the children were captured, and spent a substantial amount of time destroying SE containment facilities. They were eventually placed in the care of Sith Knight Iara Clane, the governor of the Anari Sector.

Beorht's Detori
Lyn-Char and La-Reia Beorht tracked down the children and took them from Clane's custody. Lyn's plan was to turn the children and his sister to the Light Side of the Force while using them as a weapon against local darksiders. He did not, naturally, say so, but many soon realized what the self-declared Jedi Knight was doing, and how he was approaching the Dark Side. Ember resisted but was defeated; Lyn saved his life and offered to train him.

Lyn slipped closer and closer to the Dark Side as Ember - and Ember's girlfriend, the Dark Jedi Brembla Kol - approached the Light. Eventually, they reached a point where Ember was closer to the Light than Lyn, and his conscience more sensitive. The Padawan started to question: how he should repent of his misdeeds; whether Lyn was a suitable Jedi teacher; and whether the Detori were doing the right thing or not.

He did not get the time to come up with answers to those questions. The Detori's methods had attracted the attention of rogue NR Admiral Cabbal Noir, who showed up in orbit with a Star Destroyer. Negotiations stalled, and Noir attacked. All of the Detori were killed or captured; Ember, Lyn and Brembla Kol were among the latter. They were imprisoned in the Star Destroyer 'Lastwatch'.

Shortly thereafter, Iara Clane ambushed Noir's 'Lastwatch'. Few got out alive: Noir, Brembla Kol and others were believed lost. Ember and Lyn evacuated in time, although they nearly died trying to rescue Detori children from their cells before the ship was destroyed.

Redemption
Picked up and unexpectedly released by Clane's forces, a repentant Lyn set out to find the path of the Jedi again, and Ember chose to go with him. The two men were on the border world of Bo'Riyo when an earthquake devastated a small continent, and helped as much as possible with the recovery effort. Ember and Lyn found some measure of self-respect and redemption in their work. Eventually, Ember asked Lyn to teach him again.

After about three months, Ember and Lyn left, searching for the Jedi Council. They made it to Kothlis before running into Ashin Varanin, who had been kidnapped by the Cult of Shadow. They helped her escape, during which time Ember rebounded from Kol quite badly and developed a powerful crush on Ashin. She did not return his feelings, which was just as well: while trying to leave Kothlis under the radar, they were prompted by the Force to go in different directions. Ember, for his part, left Ashin and Lyn to go to Onderon.

Onderon's Jedi enclave was just being organized when he arrived, and Ember found himself helping the other Jedi build it. Dazzled by the Jedi - a group of people he had never encountered before - he took to his training with a light heart and a sense that this was where he belonged. Among his usual tutors was Master Araya.

Some time into his training, he received a long-distance comm message from none other than Brembla Kol. It said little, only that she and Lyn were in the Jade Worlds and that she wanted him to be there when she told Lyn she was alive. Immediately, Ember took a courier and headed for the Unknown Regions.

The Jade Incident
Arriving at Joy, Ember queried the surface for any information on Lyn or Brembla, and was instructed to go to the orbital defense station. He was met by Admiral Jita Hangetsu and her two guards. Hangetsu told him everything - how the Guard had detained Reia without telling Lyn, and that she was on Armitage. Needless to say, Ember did not like the idea, but before he could do anything about it, Kishkumen's trap was sprung. One of Hangetsu's guards - in reality one of Kishkumen's adepts - attacked Ember, knowing that Ember would sense the attack before it happened and react in a way that seemed like the Jedi moved to attack first. Security camera footage later narrowed that gap down to 1/10 of a second - far too short a time for the guard to have 'reacted' to Ember's 'attack' - but in that time, Ember came under fire from both the imposter and the real guard, who believed that Ember had attacked the Admiral. He destroyed their primary weapons, but the Admiral held a blaster to his head. Jedi reflexes being what they are, he got the drop on her and Force-pushed her. The guards attacked with their sidearms.



Instead of fighting or trying to resolve the situation, Ember ran, stole a Tanto, and set course for Armitage, planning to meet up with Lyn. Meanwhile - as Kishkumen had hoped - Hangetsu called in another Jedi to negotiate with Ember, knowing he was innocent. Since Lyn was away trying to meet with Reia, she called Ashin Varanin. Either Lyn or Ashin would have suited the Dark Lord's plan: both, after all, were on his list of soon-to-be-murdered Jedi, thanks to their outwitting of him and his cohorts on Kothlis.

The remaining events are shrouded in history. Ember survived and his Jade World record is clear. After the deaths of Lyn and Reia, Ember returned to the Jedi Order and was advanced to the rank of Knight. His rougher edges were smoothed out.

Education
"What kind of Jedi do I want to be? Now that's a good question. You're presuming I want to be a Jedi.  So consider this.  Everyone has their own tack on being a Jedi - they push the envelope, discard what doesn't fit them.  So many do it that there's no baseline.  On the other hand, from what I can tell, the old Jedi Order was unflinchingly rigid.  We're a whole different animal today.  We've fixed a lot of the problems of the old Order, but we've replaced them with new ones."

- Ember Rekali, private logs

Ember spent the next few years traveling the galaxy, learning esoteric Force techniques from the Fallanassi and the Duinuogwuin, among others. He continued his service as a Jedi in the process. He attempted to learn from the Jal Shey, but was not permitted to.

He found a temporary home with the Keetael and completed several Ube-tel before returning to his duty as a Jedi Knight.

He also trained with a Warden of the Sky.

Return to the Jade Worlds


Shortly after returning the the Jade sector, Ember was captured by a breakout of Darksiders from a high-security prison. They attempted to turn him back to the Dark Side using Sith poison. He resisted until a rescue party of Jedi and Tak Lords arrived, a group that included Brembla Kol. To allow his friends to win against Siriss Cortann's people, Ember fought Kishkumen. The Dark Lord, however, was not interested in victory: his objective was to secure Cortann and her followers. Cortann escaped, joining the Cult of Shadow. Still fighting the poison, Ember took an injured Brembla to get medical help.

Two weeks later, Ember proposed to Brembla and she accepted. They were married in a private ceremony by the Empress herself. They honeymooned on Kunli for a week; Ember and his bride were en route to the second half of their honeymoon when they encountered a Cold Digester Vessel and were captured. They fought their way to the main engineering suite and disabled the ship for JEAF capture.

The Kaloskagathia Option
Several weeks later, they decided to join the Kaloskagathia expedition and were subsequently trapped in an Extragalactic Star Cluster. Ember, originally the mission's Jedi advisor, eventually joined the JEAF and became a Lieutenant. He served with distinction as helmsman, and trained the onboard Patriots to Level Three. After the conclusion of the Xenovore War, Ember devoted himself to learning more about the Force and training Force-sensitive ex-refugees.

Upon returning to the galaxy, Ember and Brembla celebrated their thirtieth birthdays at the same razorski resort where they had celebrated their honeymoon. They resigned their commissions in the JEAF and planned to return to the Jedi Order at the behest of Ashin Varanin.

Return to the Warp


Before they could do so, however, Kishkumen and a small group from the Cult of Shadow made it through the JEAF blockade on the breach point and entered the cluster. Ember and Brembla pursued them; the hyperspace window closed behind, trapping them inside again.

The two ships landed on a habitable world and a protracted war began, a war with only one rule: nobody harms the spaceships.

The Force
Form V: Shien / Djem So

Form II: Makashi

Ember's Force skills function on a base of Dathomiri techniques mixed with Jedi lore. He can communicate very well with animals.

(Jedi/Sith equivalent: Animal Friendship)

He is and has always been especially proficient at physical enhancement (improved by his training with a Warden of the Sky), and due to his Dark Side past he is conversant in Form V: Shien / Djem So. On the other hand, he hates violence and would far rather avoid it if at all possible. Careful, thoughtful and defensively minded, he is the perfect candidate to learn Soresu.

From the Fallanassi, Ember learned the ways of the White Current, culminating in his ability to use Force Immersion, as well as creating credible illusions of people or starships. As Ember is a Knight, not a Master, he can only use these abilities for short amounts of time.

(Jedi/Sith equivalents: Force Cloak, Force Concealment.)

From the Duinuogwuin, he acquired the ability to navigate and sense direction unerringly, especially in deep space, and increased the range to which he could sense and communicate nonverbally.

The Keetael turned him into a skilled hunter.

The combination of his Force skills result in a Jedi who is preternaturally skilled in hiding, hunting, infiltration and traveling. He will occasionally act as a courier for the Jedi Order or the Jade Empire.

Ember's use of the Tak-crafted jiann called War Song follows the combat pattern laid down by the Empress, Halla Terrablade. Similar to Form IV: Ataru and Sokan, the style emphasizes split-second aerial maneuvers.

Other
Detori training being what it was, Ember knows something of many kinds of weapons and vehicles. He has also used a flight simulator extensively and has logged hours in small starfighters. He spent several years as the helmsman of the Kaloskagathia, and temporarily commanded a Xenovore Hunter Ship.

He can speak Basic, Draethos and at least one Dathomiri dialect; he can also understand Huttese, but his Rodian has slipped horribly.

Tired of violence, he is very fond of the idea of negotiation, and has had some experience with it while helping restore a section of the planet Bo'Riyo after an earthquake. The restoration has taught him the basics of construction work; he is a capable electrician.