Kirlocca, a distinguished male Wookiee Jedi Master, dedicated his life to the Jedi Order as an instructor of lightsaber techniques. He served during the concluding decades of the Galactic Republic. Growing up on the planet Kashyyyk, Kirlocca became a Jedi at a young age and underwent training at the Almas Academy on Almas within the Cularin system. Eventually, he rose to the rank of teacher at the Academy, where he imparted his knowledge to numerous students.
Around 31 BBY, Kirlocca and the Almas Jedi faced a series of trials due to the growing influence of the dark side of the Force in the Cularin system. This was largely caused by the emergence of the Believers, a formidable Sith cult. While Kirlocca led a Jedi excursion into the desolate Almas Wasteland, several Jedi members of the group succumbed to the dark side. They betrayed the Wookiee and the rest of the team, and Kirlocca barely managed to survive. Later, Kirlocca retrieved the Pulas, an ancient Sith artifact, from a Sith fortress on Almas. He then contributed to the effort to transport the relic to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, preventing it from falling into the Believers' hands. Approximately ten years later, during the Clone Wars, Kirlocca met his death while battling the Dark Jedi Raik Muun on the liner Luxury. His death was widely mourned throughout the Cularin system, and festivities were organized to honor his life.
During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Kirlocca, a Force-sensitive male Wookiee, was born on the planet of Kashyyyk. Kirlocca began combat training at a young age to defend his homeworld. As a child, he shattered his first ryyk blade, the traditional weapon of his people, while saving a playmate's life. Around 56 BBY, still considered young by Wookiee standards, Kirlocca journeyed to the Almas Academy, a Jedi training institution on Almas in the Cularin system, to join the Jedi Order. Despite being older than most Jedi trainees, the Academy's Twi'lek headmaster, Nerra Ziveri, recognized Kirlocca's strong connection to the Force and accepted him.
Kirlocca specialized as a Jedi Guardian, a combat-focused Jedi specialization. Over the years, he became highly skilled in lightsaber techniques. He mentored several Jedi Padawans and eventually became a Jedi Master, appointed as the Almas Academy's Master of Lightsabers. In this role, Kirlocca taught lightsaber usage to the Academy's students. He also instructed basic Force exercises and oversaw aspects of the Jedi Trials, prerequisites for students to achieve Knighthood at the end of their training.
During his time at the Academy, Kirlocca taught numerous young Jedi and became close friends with the headmaster, Lanius Qel-Bertuk. Kirlocca taught lightsaber techniques to A.J., one of the few students he trained in dual lightsaber combat. He also took a special interest in Nek Lawsirk, a Zabrak student, believing he would have accepted Lawsirk as his Padawan if he were still taking personal trainees. After Raik Muun, another Jedi student, developed a romantic interest in Lawsirk, Kirlocca deemed her unfit for Jedi life and expelled her from the Academy, as it went against the Jedi Order's doctrines. Muun blamed Kirlocca for her expulsion and vowed revenge against the Almas Jedi before leaving the Cularin system.
Around 31 BBY, unauthorized construction by the Thaereian military and the [Metatheran Cartel](/article/metatheran_cartel] in the tunnels beneath the moon Tilnes caused a series of groundquakes. Sensing a disturbance in the Force, Kirlocca and Lanius Qel-Bertuk assembled a relief team and went to Tilnes to help those affected. As they traversed the moon's rocky surface, they encountered Osten Dal'Nay, a rogue Thaereian officer, and the Heroes of Cularin, a group of freelance agents investigating the quakes. The group was under fire from Thaereian pursuers as they emerged from a cave. Kirlocca helped the freelancers fight off the Thaerians and helped Dal'Nay escape. Qel-Bertuk placed Dal'Nay under Jedi protection, and the officer later founded the Cularin Militia, a loyalist force opposing the Thaereian military's presence.
Kirlocca later led a camping trip with Jedi Masters, Knights, and Padawans to the Almas Wasteland, a harsh [desert](/article/desert-legends] region, to teach advanced survival skills. As the Jedi settled for the night, Syr Tal-Soten, an Ithorian Knight, arrived with unexplained wounds. Kirlocca had the other Jedi tend to his injuries. During treatment, Tal-Soten was overcome by a dark side presence from a Sith fortress in the Wasteland, recently occupied by the Believers Sith cult. The Ithorian denounced Kirlocca, claiming a vision that Kirlocca would betray the Almas Academy and the Jedi Order, and then attacked him. Several other Jedi were similarly affected by the fortress' dark aura and turned on Kirlocca. Only Synred Vols, a Sullustan Master, and Misha Quor-Din, a Human Padawan, defended him. Vols sacrificed himself to hold off the fallen Jedi, allowing Kirlocca and the others to flee. Kirlocca and his group fled across the desert, pursued by their attackers.
After an attack on Remembrance Hall, a museum, by the Believers, Lanius Qel-Bertuk recalled all Jedi in the Cularin system to the Almas Academy. When Kirlocca's expedition didn't respond, Qel-Bertuk sent out search parties. The fallen Jedi eventually caught up with Kirlocca, who sent Quor-Din to hide while he made a final stand in a clearing. Surrounded by fallen comrades, Kirlocca fought defensively with two lightsabers against Tal-Soten, Trevon Rey, and Seeth'tal, attempting to avoid harming them. The Heroes of Cularin, who had joined the search, found Kirlocca and aided him. With their help, the fallen Jedi were subdued. Exhausted, Kirlocca collapsed and was taken back to the Almas Academy to recover.
After the incident with Kirlocca's camping class, the Jedi drove the Believers from the Sith fortress and placed it under guard. Kirlocca led a team of Jedi researchers into the fortress and discovered the Pulas, a powerful Sith artifact unseen since the Ruusan campaign during the New Sith Wars. On their return to the Almas Academy, they were attacked by Believers but successfully defended against them, preventing the artifact's theft. During the first night the Pulas was held at the Academy, the Believers made another unsuccessful attempt to seize it. Lanius Qel-Bertuk arranged for the artifact to be transported to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant for safekeeping. To prevent theft en route, the Jedi hired 250 starships, placing a Mandalorian iron box on each, with only one containing the Pulas and the others acting as decoys. Kirlocca oversaw the loading of the boxes, assisted by the droid administrator E1-6RA. He handed the boxes to the starship crews from a repulsorsled on the outskirts of Forard, a city near the Academy, where the ships were docked. When the Heroes of Cularin arrived to take off, Kirlocca greeted them and gave them their Mandalorian iron box, then left to assign the rest. The operation was successful, and the Pulas was safely transported to the Jedi Temple.
Shortly after shipping the Pulas off Almas, Lanius Qel-Bertuk agreed to an interview about the Believers. Kirlocca also offered to meet with the reporter, and the Jedi hosted an audience in Qel-Bertuk's chambers at the Almas Academy. With a translator droid present, Kirlocca discussed the threat the Believers posed to the Cularin system and highlighted the successful mission to Coruscant.
After the criminal Len Markus seized the ancient Sith artifact known as the Darkstaff, the temporal effects of the staff caused the Cularin system to disappear from the galaxy for ten years. The system reappeared around 21 BBY during the Clone Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Many Jedi from Almas were called to fight in the Republic's Grand Army. Lanius Qel-Bertuk and Kirlocca remained as the only resident Jedi Masters at the Almas Academy, overseeing the training program with a reduced staff of Jedi Knights. Devan For'deschel was also assigned by the Jedi High Council to assist Kirlocca and Qel-Bertuk during this transition.
Concerned by the recent events, Kirlocca spent much time meditating. Qel-Bertuk sensed a disturbance in the Force, which he and Kirlocca discussed. Kirlocca was uncertain how the disturbance would be resolved, and he continued to meditate, writing about his concerns in his personal logs. Kirlocca sensed pain from the Tarasin people on Cularin, a sentient species, and believed the dark side was growing stronger among the Almas Academy students. He was also concerned by rumors that a fallen Jedi had joined the Believers.
During this troubled time, the t'salak, a Force-sensitive creature of unknown origin, was discovered on Cularin and captured by the Tarasin of the Jaraana irstat. The Almas Jedi sought to study the creature to find a way to destroy or contain it. Mother Morad'Ka, the matriarch of the Jaraana, allowed the Jedi to take the t'salak, and Kirlocca sent his former student, Nek Lawsirk, to retrieve it. Unbeknownst to Kirlocca, Raik Muun, now a Dark Jedi, had returned and captured Lawsirk, taking the t'salak herself. Muun disguised herself as Lawsirk and staged attacks and extortion attempts against Cularin's inhabitants to discredit the Jedi Order.
Kirlocca received word of the attacks and a recording from the Office of Peace and Security of Muun intimidating people in a cantina while disguised as Lawsirk. Concerned by Lawsirk's actions, Kirlocca suspected the t'salak was responsible for the Jedi Knight's madness. The Wookiee sent a protocol droid to summon the Heroes of Cularin to a Jedi enclave on Cularin. Speaking via a holoprojector, he tasked the agents with finding Lawsirk and the t'salak. The Heroes of Cularin couldn't recover the creature but learned that Muun had been impersonating Lawsirk and freed a team of biologists she had imprisoned. The agents returned to the Jedi enclave and reported their findings to Kirlocca, who was deeply concerned by Muun's return and requested their services again once the Jedi had tracked her down.
Shortly after, Sentient Beings Opposing Violence convened a conference in the Cularin system to discuss controversial Jedi traditions, such as recruitment policies. The meeting was held on the liner Luxury in orbit of Cularin's molten moon Rennokk. Kirlocca and a Jedi delegation attended to represent the Order. Raik Muun plotted to disrupt the event, using the powers of the t'salaks to enrage the Jedi into attacking Sentient Beings Opposing Violence, then using a recording of the attack to discredit the Jedi Order. Muun released several t'salaks aboard the Luxury, and Kirlocca and two Jedi Consular Padawans defended the delegates from the creatures. The t'salaks used their Force abilities to enrage the SBOV delegates into turning on the Jedi. Kirlocca and the Padawans struggled to contain the t'salaks and their maddened victims, fighting a long and furious battle.
Kirlocca suffered many wounds and relied heavily on the Force, but he was exhausted by the prolonged fight. Having lost contact with the Luxury, Lanius Qel-Bertuk dispatched the Heroes of the Cularin to the vessel. Just as the agents arrived, one of the Padawans, enraged by the t'salaks, stabbed Kirlocca through the chest, killing him. Soon after, the Heroes of Cularin defeated the t'salaks and thwarted Muun's plans.
Kirlocca was loved and respected by many in the Cularin system, and his death on the Luxury saddened many. Others in Cularin's criminal underworld celebrated his death, as the loss of such a powerful Jedi Master weakened the Jedi's influence. Remembrance ceremonies were held, and a funeral was held to celebrate his life. As part of the event, non-lethal combat competitions were staged to honor Kirlocca's excellence as a combat instructor, which Barnab Chistor, governor of Gadrin on Cularin, hoped would be held annually.
During Kirlocca's funeral, there was disagreement about whether the celebrations reflected his wishes. Some Almas Jedi believed he wouldn't have wanted any festivities, while others thought he would have wanted merriment to provide respite amid the Clone Wars.
Kirlocca's death left the Almas Academy in need of a new lightsaber master. The Almas Jedi attempted to recruit Vhiin Thorla, a Twi'lek Jedi Master, but she declined. Instead, the Jedi High Council appointed Devan For'deschel as the Academy's new Mistress of Lightsabers until a permanent replacement could be found.
Kirlocca was a master of Form I and a fierce warrior, using his Wookiee heritage to his advantage, but he was careful not to give in to his species' fighting rage. He also had a strong connection to the Force.