Lady Sheylira

Lady Sheylira
Born and raised on Coruscant to a modest, working-class family, 'Shey' was sensitive to the Force from birth. Knowing that her Grandfather was a Jedi who had turned to the Sith and was now feared dead, her parents were afraid they would lose her in the same way and thus hid knowledge of the Force from her. Sheylira spent her childhood helping her older brother and father with the family's small cargo transport business, completely unaware of her connection to the Force. By age 12, she began serving as co-pilot and navigator, and was already an adept pilot. Many times on their travels Shey found herself accidentally calling upon her "gift" of foresight and unnatural reflexes to get them out of trouble with pirates and crime syndicates and hostile corporations.

It was on a run to Tython that Shey and her father were approached by a Jedi master who took notice of her unusual "gift". Although many in the Jedi Order considered her to be too old to be trained, the Master felt strongly that Shey would do well and could adapt. At the insistence of the Jedi Master, she reluctantly agreed to stay with the Jedi and live an isolated life within the order's accelerated training program. Her time as a Padawan learner was very difficult for her, for the other Jedi did not trust her or have faith in her abilities the way her master did. Although she had considered leaving the order many times, it was an insatiable lust for knowledge that kept Sheylira from leaving the Jedi. Many of the Council Members and Masters were aware of this trait in her, and that combined with her personal view that the Force was itself neither Light nor Dark, but rather a reflection of the user's intent made them very uneasy.

Finally, after a great deal of deliberation and convincing by her master, the Jedi Council quietly granted Sheylira the rank of Knight. At her Master's request, she joined him in the service of their elite intelligence gathering group known as the "Shadows". Now 23 standard galactic years of age, Sheylira was sent out under deep cover on her first mission: to investigate the hostile takeover of the government of New Tibannopolis on Bespin. Upon learning that those responsible for the takeover were a group of Sith cultists, Shey was ordered to infiltrate the group's ranks. Having learned at a young age how to talk comfortably with anyone, Sheylira quickly managed to get herself inducted into the Sith group as an initiate to their academy. Fascinated by their teachings of a whole different aspect of the Force, Shey learned even more quickly from them than she did the Jedi. Her power grew stronger and stronger, and soon she attracted the attention of the order's Arch Lord. Realizing there was more to her than she let on, the Arch Lord began putting her through an increasingly difficult series of trials. She would be sent out to visit ancient tombs plagued with old spirits, solve Force puzzles, infiltrate Jedi libraries, and finally tests in combat with fellow students. Shey had easily defeated every one of her opponents, but had not yet taken one of their lives, as she was still a Jedi Knight. As her final trial as initiate, Shey was pitted against one of the order's best instructors. The Arch Lord was now certain that Shey served the Light side, and he ordered the instructor to kill her during the test. During the long fight, Shey was badly beaten, her body cut, bruised and burnt. Watching the instructor smash the young woman in combat, the Arch Lord began laughing at her, telling her that she was a foolish young 'Jidai' for thinking she could get away with spying on him. It was when the Arch Lord nodded to the instructor to finish his student off that something "snapped" within Shey's mind... She became filled with hatred for them... she pulled herself to her knees with all her strength and lashed out at the Sith, projecting lightning from her hands onto his body, striking him down. Sheylira had just killed her teacher and did not appear that she was going to stop with just him. Grinning and cackling with delight, the Arch Lord stopped the young woman as she turned her attention to him. "Good! Good!... Now that you have finally embraced your emotions, rise to your feet and become my apprentice!", the Arch Lord loudly proclaimed. With her power and knowledge growing at a frightening pace as apprentice to the Arch Lord, Sheylira quickly broke off all contact with the Jedi and embraced her new life as a Sith. Knowing that she finally had a chance at learning as much of the Force as she desired, Shey realized that she was happy for the first time in her life.

Rising quickly within the ranks of the Sith cultists, Sheylira fought and won many duels and battles. She gained very few friends along the way, but made a great deal of enemies. On the evening after being appointed the rank of "Sith Lady", Shey was inspecting the guard detail at the entrance to the order's base on Tatooine when they came under attack by a rogue Mandalorian clan. With the base nearly empty, and only a few soldiers and a young Sith Apprentice at the gate with her they were greatly outnumbered. As soon as the first thermal detonators were thrown, Sheylira force-pushed the soldiers behind the base's blast doors and sealed them inside. Allowing the young apprentice escape, the clan focused their attention on their goal: bagging a Sith. Eventually overcome by the overwhelming numbers of Mandalorians, Sheylira's body lay burnt and bleeding on the desert sand. Arriving shortly after the marauding force left the scene, the Arch Lord himself recovered the body of his dieing student, kept her alive with the Force and placed her into a bacta tank aboard his ship. Seeing an opportunity to create an even more deadly instrument of power, the Arch Lord placed Shey into a Force-induced trance before she would awake in the tank. He suppressed her natural memories and made her believe that she had grown up studying at the Sith Academy on Korriban. Now convinced that she was "Darth Soliidus", the Arch Lord's personal assassin, Sheylira was sent out into the galaxy to bring fear and death to the order's enemies.

to be continued...