Kopecz

Kopecz was a male Twi'lek who lived during the New Sith Wars. In his native language, Kopecz's name translated to "philosopher," and was popularly given to males of his species. A Force-sensitive from the planet Ryloth, Kopecz became a member of the Jedi Order, and trained for a number of years. Over time, Kopecz became increasingly disillusioned with the Order, and eventually rejected their philosophies for the ways of the dark side. With the Sith ascendant across the galaxy, Kopecz defected, believing that they offered the best chance to build a stable galaxy. During his time as a Sith, he struck up a fierce rivalry with Qordis, a Human Dark Lord. As a Sith, Kopecz became well respected by his comrades for his practical nature and formidable skills, becoming a source of authority and mentor for others in the Sith ranks. He also came to be well regarded by those on the other side of the conflict. The Jedi Lords Hoth and Valenthyne Farfalla both had a manner of respect for Kopecz.

Fights between Lords in the same vein as that between Kopecz and Qordis were common among the Sith, as each individual Lord sought sovereignty over all others. It was during this time that a charismatic Dark Lord named Skere Kaan formed the Brotherhood of Darkness, where each minor Lord would be elevated to the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, and all would pool their resources into one united front. With the Sith at war with both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi, Kaan realized that infighting between fellow Sith Lords would only result in defeat from within their ranks. Recognizing both men as assets to the Sith war effort, Kaan appealed to Kopecz, as well as Qordis, to join his new Brotherhood. Both accepted Kaan's offer, and the newfound equality that the Brotherhood professed was enough to maintain an uneasy truce between the two. In 1006 BBY, the three Dark Lords planned to retake Korriban, the ancient homeworld of the Sith, to reestablish the ancient Sith Academy there where future Dark Lords for the Brotherhood could be trained. In a fierce ground battle led by Kaan, Qordis, and Kopecz, the Sith were victorious against the Jedi and Republic; the aftermath saw Qordis remain on Korriban to oversee the Academy's reopening, where he would also serve as headmaster. Kopecz, however, remained with Kaan to continue the war against the Republic.

Kopecz was one of the Sith Masters present at several battles during the New Sith Wars—though the Brotherhood promised equality as Dark Lords, in practice there were always Masters who took up the roles of leadership, conveying orders between Kaan and the other Dark Lords. Kopecz was one such leader, serving as a commander of the Sith forces. Kaan's leadership was marred by several defeats, and many within the Sith ranks believed that it was only Kopecz's abilities as a military commander which prevented the Sith from being routed in several battles. During the Battle of Phaseera, Kopecz had control of all military units on the world, including the Brotherhood's specialized unit of Gloom Walkers. An incident broke out in that unit, when Gloom Walker sergeant Dessel knocked his commanding officer, Ulabore, unconscious and assumed command of the squad. Dessel had acted with the intention of saving his squad from a suicide mission that Ulabore had accepted; under Dessel's command, the Gloom Walkers disobeyed specific parameters set for their mission, but nonetheless successfully completed it with minimal casualties. Despite the success of the mission, Kopecz was charged with overseeing disciplinary action against Dessel for his actions. However, he sensed the power of the Force within Dessel and also reviewed his file, which had various accounts of the Human's seemingly amazing feats. Kopecz opted not to court martial him and instead took him to Korriban, where he told the Human soldier he was to be trained as an apprentice with the capability of becoming a Sith Lord. In response, Dessel assumed the name Bane—Bane of the Sith.

Kopecz was one of the Dark Lords present at the First Battle of Ruusan, when the Brotherhood launched a surprise counterattack against the Republic forces that had been performing hit-and-run strikes on the Sith-occupied world of Kashyyyk. During the battle, he flew his Sith Buzzard starfighter and was aided by the battle meditation that Kaan provided from aboard the Sith Destroyer Nightfall. While engaging enemy fighters, Kopecz sensed the Republic pilots were being aided through the Force. Realizing that there must be a Jedi Master using battle meditation somewhere aboard one of the capital ships, the Twi'lek detected the source and flew into the hangar bay. Infiltrating the ship, the Sith Lord slew all in his path, reaching a chamber where he discovered a female Cerean Jedi Master deep in meditation, guarded by two Selkath Padawans. Killing the aspiring Jedi and the Master restored the Sith advantage and turned the tide of battle their way, resulting in the eradication of the Republic forces.

In the second of the battles for Ruusan, the Republic sought to reclaim the planet from the Sith. Unable to achieve victory in just one skirmish, their offensive was finally successful in the third battle; Kopecz was responsible for informing Kaan of the Sith defeat, when the Jedi Order's Army of Light revealed itself for the first time. The battle also revealed the location of the elusive Lord Hoth, the leader of the Army of Light and the only commander that seemed capable of solidifying victories against the Sith forces. Kaan moved the majority of the Brotherhood of Darkness to Ruusan, calling all the Force-sensitives under his command, save the strongest apprentices on Korriban who had not yet completed their training.

The Sith then engaged the Republic in two more offensives on Ruusan, but it soon became apparent to Kopecz that their forces were drastically outnumbered, thanks to the addition of Hoth's Jedi army. When planning the Sixth Battle of Ruusan, Kaan originally intended for Kopecz to lead a flanking maneuver to attack the Jedi. This was before the return of Darth Bane—the apprentice had left the Brotherhood of Darkness, assuming the abandoned "Darth" title, and survived two attempts on his life by Sith Lords Kas'im and Githany under Kaan's orders. Kopecz had supported these attempts due to a fear of Bane's powers and his ambitious intentions. Upon his return, Bane accused Kaan of being too merciful, proposing that the Sith forces, instead of circumventing the forest in which the Jedi were hiding, destroy it completely. Kopecz and the other Sith Lords agreed to the plan, and with Bane leading them, they unleashed a massive firestorm on the forest, inflicting heavy losses on the Jedi forces.

After the destruction of the forest, Kopecz commented on Bane's channeling technique, stating it felt as though Bane's teeth were in their throats. Kopecz and the other Dark Lords feared Bane's power; and the Twi'lek made the Human aware of it. Kopecz then mounted his flyer and took off for the battle, which he expected to result in a victory for the Sith. However, the intervention of gunships bearing the colors of Jedi Master Valenthyne Farfalla and the reinforcements he had brought from the Republic and the Jedi Order forced the Sith to retreat.

Following their defeat, Kopecz learned of Kaan's new plan: to create an ancient Sith weapon called the thought bomb that destroyed every Force-sensitive in the vicinity, and wipe out the Jedi once and for all with it. The Twi'lek questioned Kaan's sanity, for the latter believed that the combined power of the Dark Lords would be enough to survive the ancient Sith ritual. As he sat in the cave where Kaan had his minions gathered in preparation of the bomb, Kopecz encountered the newly ordained Dark Lord Githany and her apprentice Darovit, who immediately turned around and fled with the boy after hearing from Kopecz of Kaan's purported madness. Kopecz also recognized Kaan's lunacy, but he was nevertheless coaxed into joining the other Dark Lords in creation of the thought bomb by Kaan, who was manipulating them all through the Force. However, when the congregation finally began to chant, Kopecz regained his senses. Fearful of the effects of the bomb, he realized that it would destroy the entire gathering of Sith as well as the Jedi. Kopecz knew that by this time the Jedi would have the caves surrounded, and that one way or another, he would not survive. He decided instead to join the Sith warriors who were ordered to defend the caves and fight with them.

Kopecz arrived above ground in time for the final battle, where he became critically wounded, though he continued to fight until the end. The Sith had lost to the combined forces of the Army of Light and the Republic, who were under the leadership of Valenthyne Farfalla, and most of the regular Sith troops surrendered instead of being killed. Kopecz refused to submit, despite the Jedi's apparent victory; the Twi'lek made this clear when he confronted Farfalla, and refused to be taken alive. Spurning all help, Kopecz offered to reveal Kaan's plans in exchange for the promise of death in combat. Upon Farfalla agreeing to those terms, Kopecz informed him of the thought bomb and the madness Kaan had descended into. Honoring his word, Farfalla then engaged Kopecz in lightsaber combat—the injured Dark Lord was no match for his freshly arrived opponent, and was slain.

Kopecz was tall and muscular—the soldier Dessel believed him to be the largest Twi'lek he had ever seen. Kopecz was deeply mistrusting of the other powerful Sith Lords in the Brotherhood of Darkness. Although he agreed to join the Brotherhood, he was always suspicious of its founder, Kaan. Kopecz recognized that Kaan sought to control the Sith while believing himself to be their leader, and Kopecz regularly reiterated Kaan's own promises of equality within the Brotherhood back to him. The Twi'lek also shared a mutual animosity with Lord Qordis—both had been rivals before joining the Brotherhood. This became evident when Qordis told other Sith Masters at the Academy to cease the preferential treatment of the apprentice Kopecz sent him, Bane.

Having been initially swayed by the word and manipulations of Kaan, Kopecz became a voice of dissent as the war on Ruusan progressed, irritated by Kaan's repeated assurances that victory was close at hand, only to endure more skirmishes and battles with the Army of Light. Kaan repeatedly used the Force to curb this attitude and keep Kopecz in line.

Kopecz also displayed a lustful desire for females of other species. He made note of the renowned beauty of many of the female Dark Lords of Kaan's brotherhood, and was frequently captivated by their physical presences; this was particularly the case with the Jedi traitor Githany. Even the mere sound of her voice affected Kopecz, just one of many traits that led Kopecz to consider her a perfect example of Human female beauty.

Kopecz was a powerful and respected warrior, with a considerable sense of honor, wishing to die in actual combat, rather than as a thrall of Kaan in creation of the thought bomb. He feared the strange new powers Bane had brought into the midst of the Sith and chose to fight the last of the Army of Light face-to-face rather than being a part of the thought bomb Kaan intended to wield against the Jedi. Kopecz believed in the strength of the Sith, choosing to die fighting rather than slowly passing away from the injuries he sustained during the final battle. In battle he was merciless; Kopecz cut down his enemies without consideration of their lives, only being concerned with Sith victories on all battlefronts.

Kopecz was known amongst both the Jedi and Sith as being strong in the Force. Coupled with this strength, his willfulness meant Kopecz was difficult to manipulate with the Force, as Kaan discovered when he tried to sway the Dark Lords to his ideas. He was an able pilot, flying a Buzzard fighter during the First Battle of Ruusan, and was proficient with speeder bikes, one of which he operated during Ruusan ground battles. Kopecz considered his own skill with a lightsaber as impressive, so much so that he felt it beneath him to engage two Selkath Padawans in a duel. Rather, he displayed his mastery of the dark side when he Force Choked one of the Padawans to death, and killed the other with a blast of Force lightning. He was able to sense the potency of the Force in others, such as when identifying the potential in the Gloom Walker sergeant, Dessel.

Kopecz first appeared in the Dark Horse Comics series Jedi vs. Sith, written by Darko Macan and drawn by Ramón F. Bachs. Within the comic, Kopecz serves as an antagonist to Kaan, being the voice of dissidence and malcontent within the Sith ranks. In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, which recounted many of the events of the comic, author Drew Karpyshyn expanded on the background of the character, as well as his history with Bane, the main protagonist of the novel.

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