Character
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Tessari Keln is a young Kuranu woman with lavender-purple skin, long blue-black hair, and the pale eyes characteristic of her species. Her irises are a very light blue, distinct against the whites of her eyes but entirely lacking pupils. Fine features and a relatively slight build make her youth readily apparent despite Tessari's insistence that eighteen is quite definitively adulthood.
She normally wears her hair long, occasionally incorporating small braids or metallic clasps when she needs to keep it out of her way. Her clothing tends toward practical layers rather than traditional Jedi robes. Neutral fabrics, fitted trousers, boots, utility belts, and light protective pieces allow her to move freely while still giving her somewhere to put the assortment of tools and devices she inevitably decides she needs.
Tessari is considerably more particular about environmental protection than most Jedi. When circumstances demand it—or when her imagination convinces her that circumstances demand it—she has a prototype isolation suit of her own design. Rather than using a conventional enclosed helmet, a reinforced collar containing filtration and atmospheric equipment works with miniature emitters to project a nearly invisible containment envelope around her head. The field extends beyond her hair, isolating her completely from the surrounding atmosphere while leaving her face unobstructed.
At least, that is what it is supposed to do.
Tessari has yet to subject the prototype to the sort of testing that would justify her confidence in it.
INVENTORY
- Simple training lightsaber
- Comlink
- Datapad
- Compact personal toolkit
- Assorted electronic components and spare parts
- Personal sanitation supplies
- Prototype environmental isolation suit
- Several pairs of gloves for circumstances that Tessari insists are completely different
PERSONALITY AND BELIEFS
Curious, intelligent, and adventurous, Tessari has the unfortunate distinction of genuinely wanting to experience the galaxy while being deeply uncomfortable with much of what the galaxy is covered in.
Like other Kuranu, Tessari possesses an unusually strong aversion to germs and contamination. She knows perfectly well that not every dirty surface represents mortal peril. Knowing this does remarkably little to make her want to touch one. She keeps herself and her belongings meticulously clean, dislikes sharing food or drinks, and has an impressive ability to notice when someone has touched something of hers without permission.
Tessari refuses, however, to allow that discomfort to dictate the limits of her life.
She wants to explore. She wants to learn. She wants to become a Jedi. Unfortunately, Jedi seem inexplicably fond of caves, ruins, wilderness, ancient artifacts, communal training equipment, injured strangers, muddy planets, and telling students to trust the Force when Tessari would greatly prefer they trust proper sterilization procedures.
Her solution is usually adaptation rather than avoidance. Gloves can be worn. Equipment can be cleaned. Filters can be improved. Something unpleasant can be endured when someone genuinely needs her help.
Tessari has an inventive streak and enjoys understanding how things work. When confronted with a practical problem, her instinct is frequently to build something that solves it. Whether the resulting invention is adequately tested before Tessari begins relying upon it is another question entirely.
Despite her particularities, she isn't withdrawn. Tessari is curious about other people, enjoys conversation, and can be surprisingly playful once comfortable. She has the confidence of someone who has recently been recognized as an adult and intends to make absolutely certain everyone else recognizes this development as well. She dislikes being treated like a child, although bouts of enthusiasm, stubbornness, impulsive decisions, and absolute certainty about things she has only recently learned occasionally undermine her argument.
The Jedi appeal to Tessari less as an institution than as an ideal. She believes possessing the ability to help someone creates an obligation to at least try. The New Jedi Praxeum offers her the opportunity to discover what being a Jedi means without requiring her to already have that answer.
STRENGTHS
Inventive — Tessari has an aptitude for technology and problem solving. She enjoys taking devices apart, understanding their workings, modifying existing equipment, and constructing solutions of her own. A lack of formal engineering credentials has never prevented her from behaving as though she has them.
Observant — Tessari pays attention to her surroundings. Part of this comes from curiosity and part from a lifelong desire to know precisely what she is about to touch. Small details, changes in an environment, and things that seem out of place tend to catch her attention.
Determined — Fear and discomfort do not automatically stop Tessari. She might complain, improvise elaborate precautions, or spend twenty minutes disinfecting herself afterward, but when something genuinely matters she can force herself through situations she would much rather avoid.
Eager Student — Tessari genuinely enjoys learning. She asks questions, experiments with new ideas, and approaches her Jedi training with enthusiasm rather than obligation.
WEAKNESSES
Contamination Aversion — Tessari's Kuranu aversion to germs is considerably more than a preference for cleanliness. Unfamiliar environments, bodily fluids, spoiled food, visibly unhygienic individuals, and certain forms of physical contact can cause genuine distress. She can overcome that reaction when necessary, but doing so requires concentration and effort.
Untested — Tessari is eighteen, inexperienced, and only beginning her journey as a Jedi. Enthusiasm and intelligence cannot substitute for experience, however frequently she behaves as though they might.
Prototype Means Finished — Tessari has a troubling tendency to consider a device ready for practical use once she has successfully made it function. Reliability testing, redundancy, extended trials, and asking someone more qualified to inspect it are apparently steps for people who lack confidence.
Technological Crutch — When presented with a problem, Tessari's first instinct is often to reach for a technological solution. Jedi training is beginning to confront her with situations that cannot be repaired with a hydrospanner, isolated behind a containment field, or improved by adding another sensor.
Still Eighteen — Tessari desperately wants to be taken seriously as an adult and can become defensive when she believes someone is dismissing her because of her age. This occasionally makes her more determined to prove herself precisely when accepting help would be the wiser choice.
HISTORY
Tessari Keln did not spend her childhood preparing to become a Jedi.
She grew up knowing that she was different from many of the beings around her, although being Kuranu provided considerably more immediate concerns than whatever strange intuition occasionally warned her about something moments before it happened. Tessari was far more interested in machinery. Devices made sense. Components interacted according to understandable principles, failures had causes, and almost anything could theoretically be improved if someone was willing to take it apart.
She was frequently that someone.
Her childhood became littered with dismantled appliances, modified personal electronics, unsuccessful experiments, and devices that technically worked despite adults insisting that this was not the same thing as being safe. Tessari learned quickly, particularly when allowed to learn through experimentation.
Her sensitivity to the Force emerged more gradually. Moments of intuition became increasingly difficult to dismiss as coincidence. Objects sometimes seemed to be exactly where she needed them. She reacted to things she should not yet have perceived. Occasionally Tessari simply knew something without being able to explain how.
Eventually, there was no reasonable way to pretend nothing unusual was happening.
The discovery came late enough that Tessari was able to participate in deciding what happened next. She wasn't being surrendered to an Order as a small child or told that her entire future had already been decided by an ability she barely understood. Instead, becoming a Jedi became a choice.
The New Jedi Praxeum offered something that appealed to her: somewhere to learn what the Force actually was, what she could do with it, and what sort of Jedi she might become without requiring her to already know.
At eighteen, Tessari arrived as a student.
She brought clothes, tools, several projects she absolutely intends to finish, more sanitation supplies than anyone should reasonably require, and the certainty that Jedi training couldn't possibly be as strange as some of the stories made it sound.
Then somebody mentioned training outdoors.