Lorus

**Lorus** (/'loʊr.uːs/ *LOHR-oos*) was an Anzat former Jedi Master and member of the Lost Twenty who was active from the Draggulch Period onward. A Jedi Shadow during the latter half of the New Sith Wars, Lorus served the Jedi Order with distinction during the Galactic Republic's darkest days. He was notable for his academic interest in preserving the culture, history, and language of the ancient Sith species. Inspired by the strength-glorifying teachings of the Sith, he was outspoken in his belief that the Jedi Order needed to return to the precedent set by the Jedi Lords of the New Sith Wars era and take control of the Republic in order to reverse its decline and combat the growing shroud of the dark side. He eventually left the Order during the Golden Age of the Old Republic on account of ideological differences. Despite his study of the dark side, Lorus remained true to the light side and his Jedi teachings long after his separation from the Order.

As a Jedi Shadow tasked with hunting down Sith artifacts on the Sith Worlds, Lorus developed an academic interest in the society and history of the ancient Sith species. He eventually came to view the Jedi Order's policy of destroying the vestigial remnants of the Sith civilization as an intentional defacing of a sentient species's culture and a desecration of history, bringing him into constant conflict with the Council of First Knowledge. He was only permitted to persist in his defiance due to his steadfast dedication to the light side and his desire to emulate Odan-Urr, a renowned Draethos Keeper of Antiquities who had engaged in deep study of dark-sided artifacts from the Sith Empire while remaining true to the light.

Lorus's personal study of Sith teachings, coupled with his knowledge of the Order's history, led him to conclude that the decline of the Order during the last years of the Great Peace of the Republic could be countered by its members taking a more active role in the politics of the Republic. As such, Lorus called for the emulation of the Jedi Lords, those Jedi who had taken control of the Republic and led it to victory over the Brotherhood of Darkness during the last century of the New Sith Wars. However, his views were condemned as being too extreme and in violation of the checks the Order had instituted on itself during the Ruusan Reformation. The resultant ideological differences, coupled with Lorus's refusal to capitulate to the Council's instructions to destroy relics of the ancient Sith, led him to invoke the Right of Denial and ultimately leave the Order as one of the Lost Twenty.

## Biography

### Early life

The Anzat who eventually adopted the Sith name of Lorus was born on his species's homeworld of Anzat around 1744 BBY. Though much of Lorus's early life prior to his entry into the ranks of the Jedi Order was a secret known only to Lorus himself, he was believed to have cultivated an early academic interest in the study of the Force from a young age. While the Anzati were a mildly Forceful species by nature, Lorus exhibited an above-average Force sensitivity manifested in his heightened ability to perceive the wordless murmurings of the Silent Voices in the Anzat upper atmosphere. Dissatisfied with traditional Anzati explanations for the Silent Voices and the Force in general, Lorus resolved to leave his homeworld and pursue instruction in the Force some time after completing his early martial training on Anzat.

### Early perambulations

Lorus left Anzat during the era of the New Sith Wars, a series of protracted wars between the Jedi Order and New Sith that spanned the breadth of the galaxy. After several millennia of peace following the eradication of the reconstituted Sith Empire of the Inter-Sith Wars period, the Sith had reemerged in the form of Jedi-turned-Sith Darth Ruin in 2000 BBY. In the centuries that followed, a multiplicity of related Sith threats had continually battered the Galactic Republic and its Jedi protectors without respite, leading to the Republic's gradual decay and the Order's growing inability to answer to concerted Sith invasions.

Like many of his people, Lorus was a skilled assassin and spy on account of his early training among the Anzat elders. He soon found work and plentiful supplies of Forceful soup among the various Sith factions present in the galaxy, and his Force sensitivity and Anzat instincts made him a readily valued commodity in the eyes of his Sith masters.

## Personality and traits

### Physical appearance

As an Anzat, Lorus manifested many standard near-Human traits in addition to the broad nose, facial proboscises, and grayish skin of his species. However, while many Anzati appeared nearly indistinguishable from baseline Humans, Lorus exhibited a more "alien" appearance akin to the feral subspecies of Anzat found on Kiffex. His gaunt and sunken features, sharp predatory facial profile, and pale gray skin coloration additionally drew comparisons to the Umbaran species.

## Skills and abilities

### Lightsaber combat

As a Jedi Shadow—a specialized branch of Jedi Sentinel—Lorus was trained in the basics of conventional lightsaber combat from a young age. However, as many Shadows eschewed use of lightsabers due to their specialization's need for stealth and emphasis on unconventional warfare, he did not pursue advanced instruction in its use until late in the New Sith Wars. During the lead-up to the Republic Dark Age, Jedi numbers waned, and those Jedi who remained were forced to shoulder increasingly greater responsibilities on the battlefield. Lorus came to study the advanced canon forms of ligthsaber combat in great detail during this time, displaying an aptitude for the Soresu and Ataru forms in particular. As a long-lived Anzat and experienced Jedi Shadow, Lorus was possessed of great patience and focus. Form III suited his temperament perfectly, empowering him to wear down an enemy's resolve through stout defense before intensifying his attack at the ideal moment through Form V techniques.

Following the Ruusan Reformation and end of the New Sith Wars, Lorus continued his study of the lightsaber despite resuming his traditional Jedi Shadow responsibilities. Prior to his exit from the Order over ideological differences, he was widely considered one of the finest duelists of the early Golden Age period. He carried a standard yellow-bladed Sentinel's lightsaber during this time, though he was forced to surrender this weapon to the High Council after invoking the Right of Denial. He constructed a second in the years that followed that served as a suitable replacement, though he eventually reclaimed the first after breaking into the ruins of the Jedi Temple during the height of the Imperial Period.

### Force powers

Over his millennia-spanning lifespan, Lorus encountered and mastered a variety of Force powers related to a multiplicity of traditions and specializations. In the days of his youth, he focused primarily on the concerted study of light-sided Force powers traditionally associated with the Jedi Shadow specialization, including Force stealth and Force cloak. The use of these powers, refined over countless missions in the New Sith Wars period, in large part enabled him to hide in plain sight among the general citizenry of the galaxy, unobserved by all but the most powerful Force users. In the years following the Ruusan Reformation and his departure from the Order during the Golden Age of the Old Republic, Lorus studied unconventional stealth-based Force powers alongside the furtive Sorcerers of Tund, adding unorthodox abilities like Force mask to his repertoire.

### Linguistic ability

Due to his early upbringing on Anzat, Lorus was a native speaker of the Anzat language, though his centuries of study among the Jedi Order allowed him to cultivate near-native fluency in Galactic Basic Standard. He was equally fluent in the ancient Sith language and related Massassi dialect on account of his academic interest in preserving the society and culture of the Sith species. Despite its status as a dark-sided Force nexus, Thule served as an occasional residence for Lorus on account of its population's high percentage of native Sith speakers. Courtesy of his extended tenure on Tund among the Sorcerers of Tund, he also possessed advanced conversational ability in Tundan and was familiar enough with the language to develop a Tundan-to-Anzat translation of the poem "The Gleam of Kiirium."

## Equipment

### Armor

In his tenure as a Jedi Shadow serving during the New Sith Wars, Lorus frequently worked undercover in his attempts to ferret out furtive Sith plots across the galaxy. As a result, his need for secrecy necessitated that he eschew the traditional dress of the Jedi Order in favor of more natural civilian clothing appropriate for the areas in which he worked. However, towards the war's latter days, the dwindling numbers of active Jedi available to defend the Republic meant that many members of specialized branches were forced to take on increasingly greater responsibilities on and off the battlefield. As a result, Lorus found himself more frequently in combat zones on a host of contested worlds. He embraced the use of heavily decorated Jedi armor over which he wore a silver-lined black robe similar in appearance to the ancient Qel-Droma robe. During the Republic Dark Age, he employed a set of authentic *beskar'kandar* acquired during his time among the Mandalorian Preservers.

### Weapons

During his tenure as a Jedi Shadow, Lorus opted for the use of silent, unobtrusive, and easily concealed assassins' weapons over the traditional Jedi lightsaber. As an avid admirer of the ancient Sith species, Lorus made frequent use of the traditional Sith shikkar dagger and Massassi forearm-mounted lanvarok for assassination missions. During the latter days of the New Sith Wars, he reverted to the use of his Jedi Sentinel lightsaber after pursuing renewed instruction in the Seven Forms.

## Bibliography

* *Darth Bane: Path of Destruction*
* *Darth Bane: Rule of Two*
* *Jedi Academy Training Manual*
* *Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force*
* *Labyrinth of Evil*
* "Right of Denial" on Wizards.com
* *Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith*
* *Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Fall of the Sith Empire*
* *The Dark Side Sourcebook*
* *The Essential Guide to Warfare*
* *The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force*
* *The New Essential Chronology*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ *The Dark Side Sourcebook*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *The Essential Guide to Warfare*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The New Essential Chronology*, p. 31
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 *Labyrinth of Evil*, chapter 22
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 *The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force*
6. ↑ *Jedi Academy Training Manual*
7. ↑ *Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force*
8. ↑ *Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Fall of the Sith Empire*
9. ↑ *Darth Bane: Path of Destruction*
10. ↑ *Star Wars: Jedi vs. Sith*
11. ↑ *The New Essential Chronology*
12. ↑ *Darth Bane: Rule of Two*
13. ↑ "Right of Denial" on Wizards.com

## External links

* Lorus on Wookieepedia, the *Star Wars* Wiki