Jura Ostrogoth, a Human male, was a Sith Order member, specifically an acolyte. He served during the tumultuous period of strife following the Great Galactic War. Born on the Inner Rim planet of Chazwa, Ostrogoth spent much of his adolescence on the icy Sith academy world of Odacer-Faustin, training to become a warrior and leader within the Sith Empire. The Sith training regimen was harsh, especially at the Odacer-Faustin Sith academy under the oversight of the withdrawn Sith Lord Darth Scabrous. Early in his training, Ostrogoth suffered an assault and public shaming by Sith apprentice Mannock T'sank, but was rescued by Zabrak acolyte Scopique. Scopique's seemingly kind deed was actually a calculated move to gain control over Ostrogoth, later exploiting him to infiltrate Darth Scabrous's tower. Students on Odacer-Faustin whispered rumors that Darth Scabrous was kidnapping Sith youths, either using them for horrific experiments or preparing them as his successor. Scopique, wanting to uncover the truth, coerced Ostrogoth into entering the tower from which Lord Scabrous managed the academy and report back his findings.
Ostrogoth discovered that Scabrous was indeed conducting experiments within his fortress, attempting to create an elixir for immortality. The young Sith found that Scabrous's endeavors had failed, resulting instead in a virus that destroyed living tissue and transformed the dead into cannibalistic monstrosities. Ostrogoth met his end when Scabrous, in desperation, threw the first of his creations—the recently deceased Wim Nickter—out of the window of his tower. Ostrogoth was caught in the path of the reanimated Nickter's body, and was thrown out the window alongside it. The young man perished from the fall of over a hundred meters. Nickter's body, still animated by the virus despite the fall, immediately began consuming the remains of Jura Ostrogoth. Despite his death and disfigurement, Ostrogoth's body was reanimated as a flesh-eating monster by Scabrous's disease. The Ostrogoth creature went directly to the academy dormitory, where it attacked and infected Scopique. The Zabrak managed to decapitate Ostrogoth before suffering a similar transformation into an undead creature.
Jura Ostrogoth, a Human male, originated from the planet Chazwa, a cold world situated in the Orus sector within the Inner Rim. Ostrogoth's birth occurred during the concluding years of the Great Galactic War between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. This conflict concluded in 3653 BBY, resulting in an Imperial victory over the Republic and its Jedi Order, leading to the establishment of a fragile peace between the two warring factions. While the Republic focused on recovery, the Empire sought to exploit the situation and expand its already substantial forces. To achieve this, the Sith continued to recruit Force-sensitive youths into academies where they would master the dark side of the Force and evolve into warriors and leaders within the Empire. Ostrogoth, identified as Force-sensitive, was dispatched to a Sith academy located on the frigid planet of Odacer-Faustin. The ancient training grounds on Odacer-Faustin were under the control of Darth Scabrous, a secluded Sith Lord who exerted his power from within his tower, a massive structure that served as the academy's central point. Scabrous encouraged intense competition among students to foster strength, creating an environment of violence and fear for the less skilled Sith Acolytes. Jura Ostrogoth experienced this firsthand upon his arrival on Odacer-Faustin in 3649 BBY. Recognizing the dangers he faced as a newcomer, he adopted a low-key approach to adapt to the academy's culture. However, this strategy proved ineffective when, on his third morning, a larger and older Sith apprentice named Mannock T'sank struck Ostrogoth between the shoulder blades while he was making his bunk. The blow knocked Ostrogoth to the floor, leaving him breathless at T'sank's feet. The older apprentice demanded that Ostrogoth lick his tauntaun dung-covered boots, but Ostrogoth refused. This defiance enraged T'Sank, who punched Ostrogoth in the face with full force. The young acolyte lost consciousness, only to awaken completely naked and tied to a dormitory bunk. T'Sank had stuffed a dirty rag deep into Ostrogoth's throat, preventing him from speaking or screaming and nearly causing him to choke to death. Mannock T'Sank laughed as Ostrogoth cried in fear, but he was soon knocked unconscious himself when the Zabrak acolyte Scopique ambushed him from behind with a blow to the head. Ostrogoth believed Scopique was there to rescue him, but the Zabrak chose to delay untying him, instead using his holocam to record the beaten and humiliated Ostrogoth. Once satisfied with the footage, Scopique removed the rag and released him. It was only when the Zabrak pocketed the video that Ostrogoth realized the act of compassion was merely a ploy to gain leverage.
Scopique used the footage as leverage over Ostrogoth throughout their time at the academy, reminding him that he could expose an "unflattering side" of Ostrogoth if the Human ever crossed him. Despite the initial hardships, Ostrogoth persevered and remained on Odacer-Faustin for four more years. He trained in lightsaber combat under Sith Blademaster Shak'Weth, eventually becoming a skilled duelist. By 3645 BBY, Ostrogoth had adapted to life as a Sith student and was relatively unfazed by the daily violence and ruthlessness. Around this time, rumors began to circulate about Lord Scabrous and his activities within his tower. Scabrous often tested his pupils to weed out the weak, once even releasing unakki eye spiders into the academy, resulting in the deaths of two students. During Ostrogoth's fourth year, three students disappeared from the academy. Ostrogoth's classmate Mnah Ra'at developed various theories, mostly involving Scabrous abducting acolytes to train a successor or use them for alchemical experiments.
During a morning lightsaber training session, Ostrogoth witnessed a practice duel between Wim Nickter, a relatively unskilled student, and Rance Lussk, arguably the academy's most talented acolyte. Lussk's challenge surprised his classmates, as it seemed unlikely to enhance his already considerable prestige. The outcome was predictable: Lussk easily defeated Nickter. News of the event spread quickly, becoming the main topic of gossip. Ostrogoth briefly discussed it with his classmate Kindra while walking from the library to the dining hall, but found it uninteresting, assuming Nickter had simply retreated to the infirmary or his dormitory to recover. It wasn't until he reached the dining hall that he learned Nickter had disappeared. Scopique and his companion Hartwig informed Ostrogoth that Nickter had gone to the infirmary after the duel but vanished, similar to the other missing students.
Ostrogoth remained unconcerned, but Scopique was determined to investigate. The Zabrak had been considering Mnah Ra'at's theories and believed they might hold some truth, and was determined to uncover what was happening within Lord Scabrous's tower. When he tried to force Ostrogoth to help, the Human became enraged and jumped from his table. Ostrogoth grabbed Scopique's throat and squeezed hard enough to rupture cartilage. As Ostrogoth held Scopique, the latter quietly threatened to show the video of his humiliation to the entire student body if Ostrogoth refused to assist him. Ostrogoth understood the threat and released Scopique before storming out of the dining commons to wander the Odacer-Faustin campus. Still angered by his classmate's ultimatum, Ostrogoth ducked into a small alcove and reflected on the beating he had taken from Mannock T'Sank years prior and the position it now put him in. The memory only fueled his rage, driving him to focus his anger in the Force before unleashing bolts of Force lightning into the rock wall. He resolved to uncover the information Scopique desired, but only if he could find a way to use it against the Zabrak.
Over the next few days, the academy saw an unusual number of visitors. Jura Ostrogoth overheard the academy's hangar technician Pergus Frode mention two bounty hunters who had arrived and entered Scabrous's tower, but never returned to claim their ship. The following morning, after lightsaber training, Kindra told Ostrogoth that a Whiphid and a young girl had also entered the tower, but hadn't come out. Seeing an opportunity, Ostrogoth hid behind a ruin facing the tower's entrance and waited for someone to emerge. Soon, the Whiphid exited alone, and while the door was still open, Ostrogoth slipped inside. He took the tower's turbolift to the top room, which opened into a large, darkened laboratory. Hiding in the shadows, Ostrogoth saw Darth Scabrous standing beside the young girl, both watching a caged Human thrashing on the laboratory floor. Ostrogoth realized the caged Human was Wim Nickter. Half-naked, Nickter was covered in blood and sweat, with six tubes surgically inserted into his vertebrae. The tubes connected to a machine operated by Scabrous, pumping an alchemically-created elixir into Nickter's body.
Scabrous's actions were torturing Nickter, who was trying to knock himself unconscious or commit suicide by slamming his head against the cage. He died shortly after Ostrogoth arrived, but his body was quickly reanimated by the fluid Scabrous had created: a virus that fed on living flesh and reanimated the dead. Scabrous had intended to achieve immortality, but instead created an undead Sith teenager. Ostrogoth watched as Nickter's body broke free and attacked Scabrous, tearing away part of his face before being thrown into a shelf of beakers. While Ostrogoth was distracted by the young girl fleeing into the turbolift, the Nickter creature attacked again. Darth Scabrous used the Force to hurl the monster toward Ostrogoth. The acolyte was hit by the flailing corpse, and both fell backward into a viewport, breaking through the transparisteel and falling over a hundred meters to the snowy ground. The impact killed Jura Ostrogoth, mangling his body, breaking his neck, and crushing his skull.
Immediately after the bodies landed, Nickter's corpse rose again to feed on Ostrogoth's remains. Ostrogoth's broken bones had punctured his skin, and his face was pulp, but the Nickter creature devoured what it could. The acolyte's body was tossed aside when the monstrosity found a new target in Mnah Ra'at, but was soon reanimated when the virus took hold. The newly-born Ostrogoth zombie dragged itself to the academy dormitories and lay down in Scopique's bunk. The Zabrak found the corpse and initially thought it was a prank, but the Ostrogoth creature attacked. Scopique avoided the first attack, leaping into the ventilation fixtures. Hanging from the vents, he armed himself with a fixture and decapitated the corpse. Despite this, Ostrogoth's body continued to function, grabbing its head and throwing it at Scopique. The head bit down on the Zabrak's arm, tearing through flesh and muscle to the bone.
Scopique tried to pry the head off, ripping hair and slamming it against the floor. He eventually succumbed to the virus, dying and being reanimated. Within thirty minutes, a group of students found Ostrogoth's severed head and destroyed body before being killed by Scopique.
Jura Ostrogoth's upbringing on Chazwa made him more resistant to Odacer-Faustin's cold temperatures. Despite the challenges he faced, Ostrogoth adapted to life at the academy, though he never grew accustomed to the ashy smoke from Darth Scabrous's tower. The culture of the Odacer-Faustin Sith academy fostered cold ambition in Jura Ostrogoth, a mindset he didn't initially possess. He initially wanted to avoid attention, but his plan backfired, leaving him beaten and embarrassed by Mannock T'sank and Scopique. After four years, Ostrogoth became a typical Sith student: averse to relationships, easily angered, and preoccupied with peer approval. Like other students, he avoided friendships and ate alone. He avoided gossip and was skeptical of Mnah Ra'at's theories. Despite his cold exterior, he allowed a limited relationship with Kindra. He took his Masters' lessons to heart, saving his darker emotions for strategic use. Though his peers saw him as having the "survival instincts of a hungry dianoga", he saw himself as weak, broken, and incomplete.
The past embarrassment haunted him, both in memory and Scopique's threats. Ostrogoth despised the Zabrak for the attempted blackmail and nearly strangled him when Scopique tried to use the video to force him to infiltrate Darth Scabrous's tower. Despite his anger, Ostrogoth knew he had to comply to prevent the video's release. As expected of a Sith student, he planned to use the knowledge of Scabrous's activities against Scopique. He was unsure if he would kill his classmate, but the decision was never made, as Ostrogoth died before returning with the information.
Jura Ostrogoth was considered a top duelist in his class, alongside Rance Lussk, Nace, Scopique, and Mnah Ra'at. He could also cast Force lightning, usually reserved for Sith Masters. After his death, Scabrous's virus allowed his body to survive high-speed impact trauma, brain damage, profuse bleeding, and decapitation. Even when decapitated, the Ostrogoth zombie could function and accurately throw its own head at Scopique.
Jura Ostrogoth debuted in Red Harvest, a 2010 Star Wars horror novel by Joe Schreiber. Red Harvest was a prelude to Death Troopers, Schreiber's first Star Wars novel, published one year prior. This remains Jura Ostrogoth's only appearance in canon.