Vur Tepe, or the Forge was one of nine temples of the Je'daii Order located on the verdant world of Tython. A large metal structure, the temple at Vur Tepe was located along the mouth of an active volcano along the Tythos Ridge. A place of study, students learned the ways of the Force through metallurgy and the construction of tools and weapons. After the Force Wars which ravaged Tython, the Je'daii abandoned the temple and the world for millennia.
When the philosophers and scholars from across the galaxy first arrived on Tython, they were brought forth from the stars on giant pyramidal constructs called the Tho Yor. These nine massive ships scattered across the planet and landed in separate locations, releasing those held within to settle the planet. The Tho Yor themselves would serve as the very foundations for these travelers' new homes and places of study.
The Tho Yor looms over the Forge.
One of these Tho Yor deposited its passengers on the slopes of an active volcano along the Tythos Ridge. The Tho Yor remained aloft in the sky looking down at the volcano as the early Je'daii Order established a massive metal and stone temple on the lip of the active caldera. A monument to the art of metallurgy, the students of Vur Tepe would craft their weapons in the fires of the volcano; the bottom of the temple formed an interior dome which harnessed the heat from the flowing lava to power the forges. The temple itself, a rust-colored zigurrat which rested on four sheer support walls, was crowned with several barrel-shaped smokestacks that belched out smoke created in the fires of the Forge.
Within the halls of Vur Tepe the Je'daii focused on practical applications; focusing on the ways in which the Force could be applied to create or improve physical things. The temple enjoyed a good working relationship with neighboring Anil Kesh, the Temple of Science. The technology in the temple enabled the early Force-users to imbue their katana with the Force and make the material extraordinarily strong and razor sharp. The Je'daii Temple Master, the Je'daii who served as steward of the facility and oversaw its functions, instructed students in the finer points of craftsmanship and encouraged new discoveries. In 25,793 BBY Master Tem Madog, a Cathar, was the Temple's overseer.
The Jedi Order revamped a surviving forge to assist in the crafting of modern lightsabers during the Cold War.
After the Sacking of Coruscant by the Sith Empire in 3653 BBY ended the Great Galactic War and turned the public opinion of the Galactic Republic against the Jedi Order, they departed the ruins of their Temple and returned to their recently rediscovered homeworld. There, the Jedi discovered many ruins of the ancient Je'daii, among them the temple of Kaleth, as well as Vur Tepe itself. Over the next decade, the Padawans of the Order would travel to the remaining forges and craft their lightsabers as a final rite of passage before achieving the rank of Jedi Knight.
During the Flesh Raider uprising around 3643 BBY, the apprentice of Jedi Master Orgus Din pursued Din's former apprentice, the Dark Jedi Bengel Morr, to the Forge, and faced the Nautolan Morr in a duel. Around the same time, the Twi'lek Nalen Raloch was exposed to the Fount of Rajivari and went insane, attempting to destroy the Forge. Raloch was stopped by the young apprentice of Jedi Master Yuon Par.
Although the Jedi Forge was first revealed in The New Essential Chronology, author Daniel Wallace stated in 2005 that the concept was already developed for a future source yet to be revealed. This was clarified in 2021 on Twitter by Leland Chee to be a reference to content that was never released, but was hinted at in Star Wars Tales 23.
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Explorer's Guide
- Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi 0
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- Nexus of Power