Risstenni was a female Wookiee who lived on the planet Cularin during the time of the Clone Wars. Circa 21 BBY, Risstenni's son, Chywarra, was abducted by the Wyrd, a group of Tarasin Force witches. They took him to the extinct volcano Cloud Mountain, where they placed him inside the Hand artifact, a Force-imbued statue that allowed its controller to draw power from the artifact's occupant. Risstenni traveled to Cloud Mountain in search of her son and was captured by the Wyrd, who offered to let her take Chywarra's place inside the artifact. She accepted, entered the statue, and was killed during a Wyrd ritual. She was transformed into a dark side spirit and, in her new form, encountered a group of agents that had come to Cloud Mountain to search for her and Chywarra.
Cularin, the planet on which Risstenni lived
Risstenni was a female Wookiee who lived during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. At some point, she mated with another Wookiee and gave birth to a son, Chywarra. Circa 21 BBY, the family became residents of Kiirloor, a Wookiee settlement that had been established on the planet Cularin following the death of the Wookiee Jedi Master Kirlocca. However, the Wyrd, a group of Tarasin Force witches that lived on Cularin, opposed the presence of the Wookiees at Kiirloor. One morning, two months after the establishment of Kiirloor, the Wyrd kidnapped Chywarra and planned to draw power from him using a hand-shaped Force-imbued statue known as the Hand artifact. The Wyrd hoped this would allow them to cause the inactive volcano Cloud Mountain to erupt and destroy Kiirloor.
After waking up to find Chywarra missing, Risstenni began looking for him. After a while she found a toy ryyk blade that belonged to her son, and she left it in a tree near Cloud Mountain to act as a sign for anyone who tried to follow her and Chywarra. She continued searching and sighted Chywarra being carried up the side of Cloud Mountain by a member of the Wyrd, so she climbed up the volcano and began looking for her son in the tunnels inside the mountain. Eventually, she discovered a large cavern that served as the headquarters of a Wyrd enclave that was located inside the mountain, and she began observing the Tarasin inside the chamber. However, she overheard some Wyrd members talking about how Chywarra had survived a session inside the Hand artifact; angered, Risstenni rushed out to attack the Tarasin. The group's leader, Xinishia, told her that they would kill Chywarra if she tried to fight them, and she then used the Force to compel Risstenni to sit down. Xinishia offered to let Risstenni take Chywarra's place inside the statue during the Wyrd's next ritual. Risstenni agreed, as she could not see any other way to save the life of her son.
The Tarasin allowed Risstenni to say goodbye to Chywarra and then helped her into the artifact's thumb. The Wookiee scratched at the interior of the device, but she was unable to climb out because it was made of a highly polished smooth material. When the Tarasin began their ritual, Risstenni was overcome with a feeling that something inside her was trying to tear her body apart, which caused her to pass out. The device drained her life force and killed her, transforming her into a dark side spirit. When Risstenni came to, she discovered that she had changed form and could move through the side of the statue. She thought about going to get help, but she did not want to leave her son, so she decided to remain within the enclave. The Wyrd ignored her in her new form and allowed her to listen to them discussing their plan; thus she learned of the witches' plan to destroy Kiirloor.
When the Wookiees of Kiirloor discovered that Risstenni and Chywarra were missing, they sent representatives to ask Mother Dariana of the Tarasin Hiironi irstat if she knew who was responsible for the pair's disappearance. Dariana sent the Heroes of Cularin, a group of freelance agents who operated in the Cularin system, to investigate the matter, and they traveled to the tunnels inside Cloud Mountain. Risstenni approached them while in the guise of a ghostly humanoid, then worked out how to manifest herself and appeared to them in the form of a Wookiee. She spoke to the agents and explained to them how she had died. She then begged them to rescue her son and warned the agents that it was dangerous for them to continue traveling through the tunnels. However, while she was talking to them, a Tarasin Force ghost attacked the agents, with the aim of preventing them from interfering in the Wyrd's plans. Risstenni responded by entering combat with the spirit and allowed the agents to confront Xinishia and the other members of the Wyrd.
Risstenni was furious when she overheard the Wyrd members inside Cloud Mountain discussing how Chywarra had survived a session inside the Hand artifact, which made her want to tear Xinishia's limbs out. The Wookiee didn't want to agree to Xinishia's proposal that she take Chywarra's place inside the statue, but she agreed to it because it seemed the only way to save Chywarra, and because there were too many Wyrd members for Risstenni to fight by herself. She was also afraid that the Wyrd would use their Force powers to take control of her body again, as when Xinishia used the Force to make the Wookiee sit down. Risstenni hoped that she would be able to survive long enough for help to arrive. Following her death and transformation into a dark side spirit, Risstenni was not filled with rage like most other dark side spirits were, because she had died sacrificing herself to save her child.
Risstenni was created by Ed Gibson and appeared in From the Trees, a Wizards of the Coast role-playing adventure that formed part of the Living Force campaign. In the scenario, the players role-play as the Heroes of Cularin. It is possible for them to decline Dariana's call to help the Wookiees of Kiirloor; such a decision causes the player characters to never meet the spirit of Risstenni. If they do accept the assignment when they first encounter Risstenni, it is possible for them to attack her before she manifests herself into the form of a Wookiee. They can then destroy the spirit by using the Force power Force Light. If the player characters do speak to Risstenni and decide not to proceed further into the tunnels of Cloud Mountain, she is understanding and considers it more important that they warn the Wookiees of Kiirloor about the Wyrd's plan than that they rescue Chywarra.
If the player characters make their way to the Wyrd enclave's headquarters, they are confronted by Xinishia and the Wyrd, who try to make a deal with them whereby the Wyrd frees Chywarra and lets the players leave the enclave unharmed if, in return, the player characters promise to convince the Wookiees to relocate Kiirloor. If the player characters agree to the demand, as they leave the chamber, Risstenni defeats the Wyrd spirit that she had been fighting and thanks the player characters for saving her son. Risstenni remains close to Chywarra for the rest of the adventure, and it is then possible for the player characters to suggest that Chywarra enroll at the Almas Academy, a Jedi academy located on the planet Almas. If he chooses to do so, Risstenni's spirit accompanies him to the academy.