Iriana Vael
Character
IRIANA VAEL
“The Force does not abandon the lost. People do.”
NAME: Iriana Vael
SPECIES: Tholothian
AGE: 54
SEX: Female
HEIGHT: 5’10”
WEIGHT: 150 lbs
EYES: Amber-Brown
SKIN: Deep bronze
HAIR: None (Traditional Tholothian cranial tendrils)
FACTION: Independent / Formerly New Jedi Order
RANK: Jedi Master
FORMER PATH: Jedi Consular
SPECIALIZATION: Jedi Shadow
WEAPON: Single-bladed lightsaber (silver-white blade)
VOICE: Calm, low, measured
THEME: Wandering Seeker / Keeper of the Lost
APPEARANCE
Iriana Vael carries herself with the composed dignity of an elder scholar and the quiet vigilance of someone who learned long ago never to fully relax. Age has softened neither her beauty nor her presence. Fine lines rest near her eyes and mouth, earned through decades of travel, grief, and contemplation rather than bitterness. Her robes blend traditional Jedi garments with layered travel leathers, hidden pockets, and muted armor plating beneath flowing fabrics.
Unlike many Masters who settled into temple life, Iriana looks like she belongs on forgotten hyperspace lanes and rain-soaked frontier worlds. Her silver-white lightsaber hangs low on her hip, worn smooth from use rather than ceremony.
Her eyes are observant. Searching. Always searching.
PERSONALITY
Patient. Compassionate. Intensely perceptive.
Iriana listens more than she speaks, and when she does speak, her words carry deliberate weight. Years as a Consular cultivated diplomacy and emotional restraint, but her years as a Shadow sharpened those traits into something quieter and more dangerous. She notices fear quickly. Isolation even faster.
Though still deeply aligned with the Light Side, Iriana has grown critical of the Jedi tendency to abandon what cannot be easily saved. She believes too many Jedi become “lost” not because they fall, but because nobody continues looking for them once they disappear into darkness, exile, shame, or war.
She has little patience for rigid orthodoxy, but she is not rebellious for rebellion’s sake. Her defiance is rooted in compassion.
Above all else, Iriana fears abandonment.
HISTORY
Born on Tholoth, Iriana Vael was identified as Force-sensitive at an early age and entrusted to the New Jedi Order. From childhood she displayed exceptional emotional intuition and a gift for mediation. She gravitated naturally toward the Consular path, preferring archives, diplomacy, and healing over combat drills.
As a Padawan and later as a Knight, Iriana became known for resolving disputes peacefully and navigating dangerous negotiations without violence. Masters within the Order viewed her as a future instructor, archivist, or Council advisor.
Then came Uvara Nyshara.
Uvara was assigned to Iriana shortly after her knighting. The young Padawan was brilliant, impulsive, fiercely curious, and the first Gorathi ever to become a Jedi. The two became deeply close during years spent traveling the Outer Rim resolving Force-related disturbances and recovering forgotten Jedi relics.
During an investigation into disappearances near the ruins of an Jedi temple hidden deep within the wilds of Vorsha'ka Prime, an uninhabited forest world long lost to records, Master and Padawan were ambushed by a rogue Nightsister coven operating beyond the edges of known space. The attack was swift and catastrophic. Their adventure seeking escorts were butchered, and Uvara separated from Iriana during the retreat.
Iriana searched relentlessly for weeks.
When she returned to the Order seeking support, she was advised to let her Padawan go.
The Council believed Uvara either dead or irretrievably corrupted. Resources, they argued, could not be spared chasing ghosts through hostile territory.
Iriana obeyed publicly.
Privately, something inside her fractured.
She abandoned the Consular trajectory almost entirely and immersed herself in the clandestine disciplines of the Jedi Shadows. Investigation. Infiltration. Hunting dark side cults. Recovering forbidden knowledge before others could exploit it. She became relentless in tracking rumors of fallen Jedi, missing initiates, and Force-sensitive disappearances across the galaxy.
Years passed.
Though she never found definitive proof of Uvara’s fate, Iriana repeatedly encountered evidence that the galaxy was filled with forgotten survivors: failed Padawans in hiding, children overlooked by the Order, former Jedi consumed by shame, and wanderers teetering dangerously close to darkness.
When she finally attained the rank of Master, Iriana requested an indefinite leave from the New Jedi Order.
The request was granted.
Since then, she has become something halfway between myth and rumor among Force circles. Some call her a savior. Others call her an enabler unwilling to let the dead remain buried.
Traveling aboard an aging courier vessel known as the Wandering Light, Iriana leads a loose network dedicated to locating and protecting what she calls the “Lost Jedi” — not merely fallen Jedi, but anyone the galaxy or the Order has abandoned.
Some she guides home.
Others she hides.
And a rare few she hunts before darkness claims them completely.
Deep down, however, one search still eclipses all others.
Uvara Nyshara.
ABILITIES
- Exceptional Force Empathy
- Advanced Meditation Techniques
- Force Concealment
- Skilled Investigator and Tracker
- Jedi Shadow Tradecraft
- Lightsaber Form VI: Niman
- Moderate proficiency in Form III: Soresu
- Strong resistance to Dark Side manipulation
- Extensive knowledge of Force cults and occult traditions
- Expert negotiator and interrogator
SHIP
Wandering Light - A heavily modified courier vessel outfitted for long-range exploration, hidden refugee compartments, advanced sensor masking, and extensive archival storage. Though old and weathered, the vessel is meticulously maintained and carries decades of recovered Jedi records and artifacts.
“Somewhere in this galaxy, there are people waiting for someone to keep searching.”