Nim Pianna was a Tholothian female Force-sensitive being who belonged to the Jedi Order. During the Republic Era, she underwent training as a Jedi Padawan under the tutelage of Jedi Knight Rael Averross. In her initial year of instruction, her mentor focused on improving her lightsaber combat abilities. In 48 BBY, Pianna and Averross were assigned the task of safeguarding the Advent, a freighter carrying food supplies, from potential attacks by pirates. When a mutiny erupted among some of the Advent's crew, Averross led Pianna into a battle against the mutineers' droids within the ship's cargo hold, where she was hit by a slicer dart during the conflict. The [nanotechnology](/article/nanotechnology] within the dart caused the Padawan to lose control of her body and turn against her Master. To prioritize the mission of rescuing the remaining loyal crew of the Advent, Averross made the difficult choice to kill Pianna.
The Jedi Council conducted investigations and ultimately cleared Averross of any wrongdoing in Pianna's death, though some members of the Jedi Order still questioned his actions. For years following the Advent incident, Averross continued to mourn his Padawan's death and was subsequently dispatched on a lengthy mission to the planet Pijal in the Inner Rim to act as lord regent for the world's Princess Fanry. While serving as regent, he discussed the ill-fated Advent mission with Jedi Master Dooku during a visit to the planet Coruscant. As time passed, Averross began to view his efforts in preparing Fanry to become a constitutional monarch as a means of compensating for the errors he had made with Pianna.
Nim Pianna, a female Tholothian, exhibited Force-sensitive abilities from an early age, having been born around 62 BBY. During the Republic Era, she embarked on her Jedi training as a member of the Jedi Order at the Jedi Temple situated on the planet Coruscant in the Core Worlds. In 49 BBY, Jedi Knight Rael Averross accepted Pianna as his Jedi Padawan. During their instructional period, he was known to playfully tease his Padawan, often using dry humor to provoke her. In their initial year of working together, Averross aided Pianna in honing her lightsaber combat techniques.
In 48 BBY, Pianna and her Master were charged with the protection of the freighter Advent, whose mission was to deliver [food](/article/foodstuff] to a star system experiencing a famine. While aboard the Advent, the Jedi maintained a close watch on the ship's external sensors due to concerns about potential pirate activity in that specific sector of space. A mutiny broke out amongst some of the Advent's crew, who, with the assistance of reprogrammed droids, began killing loyal members of the ship's staff.
Despite standard mutiny protocols dictating that securing a ship's bridge should be the first priority, Averross instead decided to secure the Advent's cargo bay, believing that the mutineers would attempt to solicit aid from pirates. Pianna and her Master, utilizing their lightsabers, engaged the mutineers from an elevated platform within the cargo hold. During the ensuing conflict, she was struck by a slicer dart fired from an enemy droid. The [nanotechnology](/article/nanotechnology] within the dart caused her to lose control of her actions and attack her Master. Averross made the agonizing decision to kill Pianna in order to prioritize saving the remaining loyal crew members of the Advent from the mutineers. Immediately after the Padawan's death, he successfully regained control of the Advent until Galactic Republic personnel arrived.
Following the incident, the Jedi Council convened hearings to investigate the breach of mutiny protocol that had resulted in Pianna's death. During these hearings, Dooku, Averross's former Jedi Master, testified before the Council in defense of Averross's actions aboard the Advent. After reviewing hologram recordings of the incident, the Council ultimately concluded that Averross was justified in prioritizing the lives of the Advent's remaining loyal crew members over his student's life. Mace Windu, a Jedi Master, authored the official report released by the Council regarding Pianna's death, which exonerated Averross. The datapad-accessible hologram of the incident on the Advent was maintained as a file available to members of the Jedi Order, and several Jedi examined the footage in the aftermath. Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi Master, reviewed the footage on several times and ultimately concluded that Pianna's death could have been prevented if Averross had adhered to mutiny protocol.
Following the hearings, Averross received an extended assignment on the planet Pijal located in the Inner Rim, where he was to serve as lord regent. Still grieving Pianna's death, he dedicated himself to preparing Fanry, the Pijali Princess, to become the constitutional monarch of her world. Averross viewed his dedication to Fanry as a way to atone for his mistakes with Pianna. The regent sought out stimulating hobbies to distract him from his grief, including riding Pijal varactyl. In 42 BBY, during his tenure as lord regent, Averross and Dooku reminisced about Pianna's death while in the Galactic Senate Building on Coruscant and discussed the latter's defense of the Knight before the Council. Dooku offered to share a bottle of Soulean brandy in Pianna's honor, but the regent declined.
Over time, Averross shared several stories about Pianna and the circumstances of her death with Fanry. The regent took great care to control every aspect of the princess's life to protect her, fearing he would fail another student, which resulted in the young girl feeling socially isolated and unappreciated. Eventually, Fanry came to believe that Averross's actions as lord regent were never intended to help her succeed, and she resented being viewed as a replacement for Pianna in his eyes. By 40 BBY, the details of Pianna's fate were not widely known outside the Jedi Order. Before departing on their mission to Pijal, Jinn informed his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi, about Pianna's death and his disapproval of Averross's handling of the situation.
Having heard numerous accounts of the fate of Averross's Padawan, Fanry orchestrated an assassination attempt on herself using a slicer dart, the same weapon that had once taken control of Pianna, to instill fear in her lord regent. Days later, after staging a revolution and seizing absolute power during her coronation, the young monarch vowed to herself that she would not share Pianna's fate of dying due to Averross's shortcomings. When the revolution ultimately failed, Averross was consumed by guilt, feeling he had failed Fanry as a teacher, which he saw as his second failure as a mentor. Around 23 BBY, Dooku dispatched Asajj Ventress, his recently recruited Sith assassin, to investigate the location of his sister Jenza. After Ventress located Jenza, the latter recounted Dooku's conversation with Averross about Nim Pianna on Coruscant years prior.
Nim Pianna and Rael Averross had a good working relationship in combat as a Padawan. She placed her trust in her Master's judgement, and he cared for her deeply in return. The pair had a friendly social relationship in which they joked with each other. Pianna felt betrayed when Averross killed her, having retained her emotions when a slicer dart controlled her physical actions. Following Pianna's death, Averross grieved deeply for her loss. In his report on the Padawan's death, Windu noted that Pianna would have wanted Averross to prioritize saving the lives of the rest of the Advent's crew during the ship's mutiny, reflecting that it was a Jedi's duty to be selfless. At the time of her death, Pianna appeared to be young.
Nim Pianna used a lightsaber with a green blade in battle.
Nim Pianna made her debut in a hologram in Master & Apprentice, a 2019 novel penned by Claudia Gray. In an interview, Gray explained that Averross's motivation for mentoring Fanry was driven by his failure to save Pianna. The author also believed that Averross's inability to properly process his guilt and heal after his Padawan's death rendered him incapacitated. Gray stated that it was important for the novel to include at least one unsuccessful partnership—Averross and Pianna—among the several other Master and Padawan relationships that were ultimately successful in the student completing their training.