Terran Saul was a male Ky`Knomi Centurion of the Order of Keltrayu. Considered by his siblings to be the greatest master of Makashi and one of the best swordsmen in the Order, he became one of the Shest Minor Seven in 142 ABY.
Biography[]
Before the Order[]
Terran was born in 89 ABY on Tyras, the son of a famous operatic virtuoso who had performed at the Samayus Palace of Opera and a landscape artist famous for designing the layout of the new governmental headquarters' expansive gardens. He was raised with an appreciation for finesse and artistry and a meticulous attention to detail. Terran was also taught to create beauty, and that the rewards of prestige and acclaim for skill were just as important as monetary considerations.
Raised around music, by the time he was an adult Terran had a perfect ear for the pitch of almost any instrument. After completing his education, he took a job at the Samayus Palace of Opera, tuning the instruments. Both his parents were disappointed with what they perceived as lack of ambition, but Terran felt sure that he was supposed to be there.
He was still there when the Golden Empire and its emissaries arrived onworld in 114 ABY and convinced Tyras to join the Empire. While touring Samayus later that year, Queen Rin Sakaros and her entourage sensed Terran's presence, and the Sith queen sought him out in the underlevels of the Palace. A bit startled, the young man nevertheless retained his composure and greeted her respectfully. He was, however, much more surprised when she invited him to join the Order of Keltrayu, sensing the power of the Force in him. Realizing immediately that this was the source of all the subtle suggestion that he remain in his seemingly dead-end job, Terran accepted the appointment.
The highest art[]
Patient, unassuming Terran Saul was quickly on good terms with the other Novices, although he was closest with Sato Raltharan, the only one near his own age. For the same reason, he was actually closer with many Centurions than with his fellow Novices, particularly Eskol Kaartinen, Te`net Organi, and Melnanooin. It was the latter who introduced him to the second lightsaber form, Makashi, in his first months in the Order. When Melnanooin was killed some months later by Zhin-Vel, Terran mourned her death along with the rest of the Order, but unlike many of his fellow Novices, he did not think of Makashi as obsolete. Indeed, he found it far more refined than the other four forms taught to Novices, graceful and elegant, combining function and artistry. Though he did not enjoy the prospect of killing, he felt Makashi was superior even in this: a single, fatal lunge through a vital organ seemed much more artistic than the hacking and slashing of other forms.
The only form of "art" which appealed to him more was the Force. Having experienced its effects for himself, Terran was greatly impressed by the subtle, almost gentle way the Force could direct events. At the same time, with sufficient focus and training, it could be a vessel of great and terrible power. Committing himself to its study, Terran spent far more time in meditation than most of his siblings, trying to learn the ways of the Force by immersing himself in it. Though this reflective attitude was a poor fit with Tariun Sakaros, Rin herself occasionally joined him for meditation, helping the Ky`Knomi to understand how the Force both controlled his movements and obeyed his directives.
When he was not studying the Force or lightsaber technique, Saul was working to learn new languages. He quickly picked up the mechanics of Sith, though he disliked the guttural, harsh tongue and spoke it only when necessary. He also devoted himself to learning the intensely complex Orhyo, and conversed as often as he could with native speakers, especially fellow Novice Chindal.
Centurion service[]
It took twelve years for Terran to achieve the rank of Centurion in 126 ABY, at the age of thirty-seven. However, by that time he was already one of the best duelists in the Golden Empire and undisputed as the Order's Makashi expert. Given his eloquence and meticulous attention to detail, Terran was often sent as a member of negotiating parties, sometimes in the company of the younger Chindal and Corr Shaasa. He also served in numerous law enforcement operations, and his keen Force perceptions allowed him to perceive his surroundings and any hint of danger or deception. At least once he served as a Praetor in charge of a group of Centurions.
From 131 ABY to 133 ABY, Terran served as Consular Aide to the Consul of Mezlagob. This was followed by four years as a Praetor-Instructor aboard the Sith Star, teaching both telekinesis and Force sense to Novices of the Order. During this time, the Queen herself occasionally consulted Terran to corroborate her visions, and he continued to hone his own powers, sparring with other Centurions and practicing telepathic communication and mind tricks. He was also a strong influence on the Kasci Novice Jira Seezhli, who opted to study Makashi after witnessing a demonstration of Saul's dueling prowess against three other Centurions.
After the Conquest of the Chiss Ascendancy in 137 ABY, Rin Sakaros made Terran the Consul of Sposia, where he served until 140 ABY. In the following months, he accompanied Sorrik on negotiations to pacify a brewing civil conflict on Shel Du and was instrumental in the capture of a Chiss terrorist cell on Naporar.
Final years and death[]
In 141 ABY, the Vagaari captured Tenupe, murdered the Centurion and Consul Tesshen Manytrek, and sparked the Vagaari War. Terran saw little front-line action, but was one of Rin and Tariun's advisors on policy relating to the former Chiss Ascendancy, the territory of which was taking the brunt of Vagaari attacks. When the Ssi-ruuk attacked the south of the Empire, Terran was one of the Centurions who remained with Tariun and Eskol Kaartinen on the Vagaari front. He advised the Phoenix Prince not to bring massive retaliation against the Chiss when they rebelled, a strategy Sakaros eventually adopted.
Shortly thereafter, Sorrik requested reinforcements in the southern theater, and Kaartinen dispatched several more Centurions to aid him, including Terran and the newly promoted Atrelle Sovex. Both were assigned, along with five others, to the massive invasion force commanded by Breek Zagrev and directed at the Ssi-ruuvi production and entechment center on Shest Minor.
In the tumultuous battle that followed, the seven Centurions were deployed in the thick of the action to assist the Royal Army cohorts in the most intense of fighting. The Sev'laya Cora Convarion was the first Centurion to die, killed in an explosion. By early afternoon of the first day of battle, several cohorts had massed for a concerted attack on a critical Ssi-ruuvi defensive position. Terran united with his younger brother Syuug, driving their way into the heart of the battle droid formation. Attempting to protect Syuug against a withering hail of gunfire, Terran was cut down by a series of blaster shots. Syuug perished shortly thereafter.
Legacy[]
Many Centurions remembered Saul as the Order's most naturally talented seer until Azalyn Kass`l joined their ranks. Jira, even after her own appointment as Makashi Praetor, continued to consider her skills inferior to Saul's.
Powers and abilities[]
Held by Rin Sakaros to possess of one of the most powerful connections to the Unifying Force in the Order of Keltrayu, Terran Saul was subject to receiving visions with greater regularity than most of his siblings, especially after training to harness them voluntarily. Like all Centurions, he was given extensive training in telekinesis and telepathy, and he was capable of moving tanks and starfighters with the Force. In terms of raw, midi-chlorian-borne power, he was considered the most powerful member of the Order until the coming of the Chiss Novice Vos'elk'eetash.
A devoted adherent of Makashi, Terran was also one of the foremost duelists in the Order. From both long, devoted practiced and his strength in the Force, he was able to compensate for Makashi's traditional weakness against multiple enemies, and indeed could duel three other Centurions simultaneously. In 137 ABY, Blademaster Kieran Sapphire believed that, aside from the Sakaros siblings, only the two Soresu experts Tesshen Manytrek and Eskol Kaartinen could defend themselves indefinitely Saul's swordplay, and only the Zyked Rajj-Yo and Sapphire himself could overcome him.
Despite his prowess with a blade, Saul was not invincible. His insistence on artistry and finessed, elegant strikes led him to disdain more savage, ruthlessly aggressive styles of swordsmanship. While his skill allowed him defeat most adherents to such tactics, he was unable to match the ferocious Rajj-Yo's chaotic, manically intense fighting style. Though he trained to deflect blaster fire, Saul was also constrained by Makashi's ineffectiveness against that danger, and it was ultimately blaster fire that claimed his life.
Preferring grace over brutality, Terran was a poor fit for Var Shek, the Sith martial art which was the standard for Centurions. Rin Sakaros taught him Echani instead.
Appearance and personality[]
At 1.96 meters (6'5"), Terran was among the taller Centurions of the Order of Keltrayu. He had the same broad but lightly-muscled build of all Ky`Knomi, and long fingers. His flesh was green-yellow in color, and he had copper eyes. He usually dressed in the uniforms of the Order, although Rin Sakaros allowed him to wear a black robe in place of the black cape when he was not in the field. He carried a curved-hilt lightsaber with an orange blade and a slightly longer-than-usual hilt, to accommodate his long fingers.
Raised to prize grace and artistry in all things, Terran disliked hurried movements or an emphasis on power over precision, though he could move quickly when necessary. He especially disliked Shii-Cho and Form V, which he viewed as substituting intensity for skill. He viewed both lightsaber combat and the study of the Force as the highest possible forms of artistry. While he excelled at lightsaber combat, he had no particular enjoyment of killing; instead, it was the artistic nature of dueling and the challenge of fighting strategy which appealed to him.
Many Centurions found Terran to be somewhat ethereal and "overly artsy". Despite his skill with a blade, not all Centurions relished the prospect of having him at their side in a battle, suspecting that he might be too concerned with elegance to be savage if the situation merited it. Rajj-Yo in particular disliked Saul, and the feeling was mutual, although Terran's feelings were closer to disapproval than animosity. More diplomatic Centurions, such as Chindal and Corr Shaasa, had a more positive view of their Ky`Knomi brother, considering him an expert at forging compromise and a keenly insightful man, well-attuned to small fluctuations in mood or temperament.
Though he sometimes seemed remote, Terran was also a helpful and patient instructor. His students sometimes found his meticulous attention to detail frustrating, and thought that he himself was impossible to please. In later life, however, many admitted that his demand for perfection helped them transcend barriers they never imagined they could. In his free time, when not meditating or otherwise studying the Force, Terran enjoyed all forms of art from many different cultures, and painted occasionally. He also studied architecture, having a particular fondness for interesting buildings created amidst intriguing landscapes, as he felt they combined natural and sentient-made art into a form superior to either alone.