Valiri

Valiri was a male Skrilling Jedi Knight who served the Jedi Order during the final decades of the Galactic Republic.
==Biography==
===Early life===
Like most Jedi of the era, Valiri did not remember his own initiation into the Jedi Order as he was but an infant at the time. Looking back on the circumstance under which he was given to the Order, Valiri inferred that his parents, whom he never tried to locate, were probably found looting by Jedi and thus offered their child to the Order in exchange for their own freedom. His earliest memories were that of the beautiful Coruscanti sunset as seen from the Jedi Temple, his home from early childhood. Growing up in the Temple, Valiri passed through the Temple's academy in a clan, eventually coming of age to be selected as a Padawan. Distancing himself from many of the typical Skrilling traits, he re-channeled the natural Skrilling skill to beg and transformed it into a diplomatic expertise. He refused to lie in this case, and he swore to never use the traditional defensive vomiting on any of his adversaries. He considered the act of vomiting on an enemy as soiling for both he and his target. Successfully passing his Trials of Knighthood, Valiri was given the rank of Jedi Knight by the Jedi High Council.
===Knighthood===
Pursuing independent study on the path of the Jedi Sentinel, Valiri aspired to join the ranks of the Jedi investigators. During his studies, Valiri befriended fellow Knight Constanten, and they often practiced sparring together in their spare time. Recognized as a well-trained Jedi, a learned diplomat, and a skilled investigator, Valiri was contacted by Jedi Master Lanius Qel-Bertuk, the Headmaster of the experimental academy on Almas. In need of instructors, Qel-Bertuk was willing to accept Valiri as a teacher despite the Skrilling not being a Master. While Valiri did not know Qel-Bertuk, he eventually accepted the offer, becoming a well-respected member of the academy staff.
Like many investigators, Valiri used his talents to become a great recruiter for the Order. Working with the Acquisition Division, the Skrilling's impressive diplomatic skills aided in convincing the parents of newborn Force-sensitives that the correct thing to do was to give their child to the Jedi Order.
When the unrest between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems erupted into the full-scale conflict known as the Clone Wars, Valiri invoked the Right of Denial when the High Council on Coruscant ordered all Jedi to take up military ranks in the Grand Army of the Republic. Remaining on Almas where many of the Jedi had also refused the call to arms, Valiri continued to perform his regular duties within the Cularin system. Soon after the start of the war, the Almas Council assigned Valiri to protect the ancient fortress of the long-dead Sith Lord Darth Rivan. Because the Order had only recently regained control over the complex, the Council wished for a large task force to assemble around the fortress while an exploratory team researched the contents of the building without being disturbed. Fearing a possible attack by the dark side sect known as the Believers, the Council assigned Valiri and five other Knights to guard the entrance to the fortress. Stationed at the south entrance with Jedi Constanten, the two friends kept watch over the darkened doors while the research team of about fourteen Jedi conducted their studies inside.
As they stood guard, the Dark Side Adept Phylus Mon created a sandstorm to cover the approach of his minions. A raiding party of ten attacked the fortress, with a group sneaking up and killing Constanten. Refusing to vomit on the attackers even after seeing his friend fall, Valiri was able to observe the attackers and study their fighting styles. He judged that the Barabel bounty hunter Yerj was probably smart and dangerous, and the Spiner, Nalz, was wise to remain out of range for a lightsaber and at the same time in range for his own spine attack. He also considered that the Wookiee and the Trandoshan, who were insulting each other during the fight, were probably more a danger to each other than to their prey.
Eventually, the raiders defeated the Jedi guards, with Valiri and Constanten barely alive, and the other four Jedi dead. The other Jedi's ability to see, and make contact with these two hindered by the sandstorm prevented any attempt for reinforcement arrival. The raiders entered the fortress to perform a Sith ritual, during which Phylus Mon decided to use both Valiri and Constanten and transform them into Sith battlelords along with four of his own slaves, and one of his allies. Unfortunately, something went wrong with the ritual and the Force-essences of the prospective Battlelords were ripped from their bodies. They remained alive, but their souls were stored in a crystal that Mon took with him when leaving.
Soon after, Master Qel-Bertuk organized at least three search teams to investigate the fortress and find those responsible for the attack, as well as to locate the missing Jedi. The search teams found all the "empty" bodies and took them to the Almas Academy where the Jedi began to analyze their unusual state. An accidental manipulation by Jedi librarian Oden Malksch led to Malksch's Force-essence possessing one of the bodies, Karae Nalvas's, and later discovering the location where Phylus Mon was keeping the crystal with the stored essences. Master Qel-Bertuk decided to send a team there to destroy the crystal and release the Force-essences, which would then return to their respective owners. The empty bodies were available for the team if any of them wanted to emulate Malksch and "borrow" one of them during the raid to Phylus Mon's headquarters. The attack on Mon's base went successfully, and Valiri's Force-essence was returned to his body. Shortly thereafter, the Skrilling Knight was able to return to active duty in the Cularin system.
==Physical description==
Valiri was a stout, 1.7 meter tall Skrilling with mottled gray skin. His Jedi robes and general attitude gave him an elegance beyond most of the other Skrillings.
==Behind the scenes==
One player character in A Mon Alone can, at a certain point, enter this non-player character's body and use Valiri's statistics until his essence can be freed (which means Valiri's essence re-enters Valiri's body and the PC's essence returns to the PC's unconscious body), or until Valiri's body is killed in action. The text explains that some of the final scenes are so dangerous that they could easily kill the player characters.
==Appearances==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Almas residents
Category:Jedi instructors
Category:Jedi Sentinels
Category:Males
Category:Post-Ruusan Jedi Knights
Category:Skrillings