Mari San Tekka, a hyperspace prospector and member of the San Tekka clan, was a Force-sensitive human female. While journeying with her family at the young age of six, San Tekka developed the unique capability to pinpoint the Paths, which are unconventional routes through hyperspace. This ability brought considerable wealth and recognition to her family. However, she was eventually captured by Marchion Ro's family, who exploited the Paths she generated for their own gains. Asgar Ro, Marchion's father, began utilizing these Paths after assuming control of the Nihil criminal syndicate, a practice continued by Marchion following his father's death. By this time, San Tekka, having lived for over a century, was confined to a medical pod aboard Ro's flagship, the Gaze Electric, still under the delusion that she was working as a prospector. However, when Ro imprisoned the Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm, San Tekka managed to communicate with him telepathically, gradually regaining awareness of her circumstances without Ro or Doctor Kisma Uttersond realizing it.
Born into the San Tekka clan of hyperspace prospectors around 352 BBY, Mari San Tekka was a human female. Being Force-sensitive, at the age of six, while traveling with her family, Mari's latent abilities manifested, granting her the power to perceive Paths, which are unusual hyperspace routes. This talent became the source of great wealth and fame for the San Tekka family for many years during the period known as the Great Hyperspace Rush. Unfortunately, this fame came at a steep price: sometime between approximately 350 BBY and 330 BBY, Mari was abducted by an Evereni individual named Ro, a member of a family who held a long-standing resentment towards the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order, and they exploited her abilities for their own purposes. The rest of the San Tekka clan presumed her to be long dead. By 331 BBY, the Nihil pirates had confined San Tekka to a medical capsule located aboard their flagship, the Gaze Electric. Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro put her to use in the same way his father Asgar had done, calculating Paths for his benefit. Mari was under the impression that Ro was selling these Paths to the Galactic Republic. Ro intentionally kept Mari's existence a secret from the Nihil pirates whom he ostensibly commanded, presenting himself as the sole source of the Paths. Aside from Ro himself, only Doctor Kisma Uttersond and the hired crew of the Gaze Electric were aware of Mari's presence.
Around that same year, Ro orchestrated the Great Hyperspace Disaster as a key element of his larger scheme against the Republic and Jedi Order. This involved the destruction of the freighter Legacy Run after it narrowly avoided colliding with a Nihil Stormship in hyperspace. As debris from the starship Emerged randomly throughout the Outer Rim Territories, Ro forced Mari to calculate the future Emergences, resorting to shocking her to break her out of a trance, despite Uttersond's warnings about the potential for fatal consequences. Despite her mental confusion, Mari willingly performed the calculations.
While investigating the disaster's origins, Jedi Master Avar Kriss and Jedi Knight Elzar Mann journeyed to Naboo to meet with the current leaders of the San Tekka clan, Marlowe and Vellis. Upon hearing Kriss's description of the unusual hyperspace phenomena, Marlowe and Vellis immediately recognized the telltale signs of Mari's abilities. However, they withheld the truth from the Jedi, although they pledged their family's assistance. Mann sensed their deception, but Kriss advised against pressing further, believing it would be unproductive at that time. After the Jedi departed, Marlowe and Vellis discussed the possibility that Mari might still be alive, perplexed as to how such a thing could be possible.
The Nihil exploited Mari's Emergence calculations during the ensuing chaos, which enabled the Republic and Jedi to deduce that the pirates possessed the ability to predict these incidents – an ability the Republic and Jedi had also acquired through a navidroid array engineered by Keven Tarr. To conceal the true size of the Nihil forces, Ro sacrificed one of the Nihil's three Tempests at the Battle of Kur. Around the same time, Lourna Dee's Tempest captured Jedi Master Loden Greatstorm during a raid on Elphrona. Greatstorm was brought before Ro, who imprisoned the Twi'lek aboard the Gaze Electric under brutal conditions designed to inhibit his ability to use his Force powers.
For nearly a year, Greatstorm endured torture at the hands of Uttersond, acting under Ro's orders, which made it difficult for him to think clearly. However, he managed to establish a telepathic connection with Mari, although he couldn't be certain if she was even real. This psychic link gradually allowed Mari to become more aware of her surroundings, even as she continued to calculate Paths for Ro.
As part of his ongoing machinations, Ro promoted Udi Dis, a Force-sensitive Talortai navigator, to his personal crew. In this capacity, Dis learned about Mari's existence. However, the Tempest Runner Pan Eyta, Dis's former superior, exploited the fact that Dis had once been addicted to reedug to uncover some of Ro's plans. Although Ro had forced Dis to discard his stash, Eyta arranged for Dis to obtain reedug stolen from the Reekrider Cartel. While under the influence of the drug, Dis recorded a taunting holomessage for Eyta, in which he revealed Mari's existence. Ro later took Dis to Rystan, where he was killed after Ro used him to observe the effects of the Great Leveler on Force-users. Upon Ro's return to the Nihil base on Grizal, he was confronted by Eyta, who had shown the recording to Lourna Dee and Zeetar. In a moment of carelessness, Ro publicly confirmed the existence of "the Oracle," but, angered by his mistake, he still took care to conceal Mari's name from the pirates. This incident prompted Ro to attempt to kill Eyta on multiple occasions, although the Dowutin ultimately escaped the Second Battle of Cyclor in an escape pod, swearing revenge on both Ro and Dee for their betrayal.
The Jedi eventually located the Grizal base, and Greatstorm managed to escape captivity during the assault. He found Mari aboard the Gaze Electric, but she informed him that she was already fading away and urged him to go to his Padawan, Bell Zettifar, who was participating in the attack and had sensed his old Master. Before Greatstorm departed, Mari thanked him for bringing her back to awareness and showing her the way.
As part of the Gravity's Heart gravity-well projector project in the Berenge sector, Ro permitted Tempest Runner Lourna Dee to take Tekka in her stasis pod to the space station. In reality, Dee, the station's creator, a scientist named Chancey Yarrow, and their secret benefactors in the Graf family intended to deceive Ro into granting them access to Tekka so they could extract her knowledge and independently create a version of the Gravity's Heart. Unbeknownst to them all, Ro did benefit from the project, using the research established by it to begin develop of the "stormseeds."
Ro dispatched Tekka to the Gravity's Heart with Uttersond and under the supervision of his agent Nan. However, Tekka, who was becoming increasingly aware of her surroundings but realized she was beginning to die despite Ro's efforts to prolong her life, began to use the Force to summon Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh, who also possessed a seemingly inexplicable connection to hyperspace, to her location. She intended to give the Jedi Knight the last Path she would ever devise. As the Republic and Jedi besieged the Gravity's Heart and destroyed it, Rwoh encountered Tekka as the woman finally passed away, receiving the Path before destroying the stasis pod to ensure the ancient woman could rest. News of Tekka and how the Nihil had exploited her spread throughout the galaxy via the HoloNet.
Tekka's death deprived the Nihil of their ability to generate new Paths, although Ro possessed a backlog of Paths she had been forced to find before her death. Nevertheless, without Tekka to provide new Paths, the Nihil's Path engines became less reliable. While using a Path sometimes worked as intended, other Nihil ships would explode during the attempt. In the aftermath of the Battle of Galov, with the Nihil continuing to suffer heavy losses against the Republic and Jedi, Tempest Runner Zeetar inquired of the Eye whether he still possessed the Paths. Ro promised to send him what he had so the remains of Zeetar's Tempest could return to the Great Hall. Despite these losses, Ro achieved a significant victory over the Republic by destroying Starlight Beacon and unleashing the stormseeds into hyperspace, declaring the Nihil territory independent.
By 232 BBY, Mari San Tekka was a human female in extremely fragile physical condition, having been kept alive far beyond a normal human lifespan. She was mentally disoriented and lacked awareness of her surroundings, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Ro routinely tortured her to force her to calculate Paths, and believing that he was selling the data to the Republic. However, Mari's awareness improved after meeting Loden Greatstorm, and she thanked him for the impact his presence had had as he escaped the Gaze Electric, telling him that it was okay to leave her behind.
Mari San Tekka possessed a unique Force-powered ability to sense Paths, unusual routes through hyperspace that were inaccessible to ordinary travelers. She could calculate these Paths even while trapped within the mental fog that kept her unaware of her status as a prisoner. Despite having no formal training, she was also able to use telepathy to connect with Loden Greatstorm after he was imprisoned aboard the Gaze Electric.