Telosian Jedi Academy

The Telosian Jedi Academy, also known as the Telos Polar Academy, was situated within a mesa in the polar region of Telos IV, making use of the abandoned Telos Polar Irrigation System. Jedi Master Atris, who was a Jedi historian of the Jedi Order and the founder of the Academy, repurposed the facility. The building was designed to be fully self-sufficient, equipped with all the necessary facilities to maintain its operations independently. The interior of the Academy featured a blue-gray color scheme and resembled the water distribution network of Coruscant, the capital planet of the Galactic Republic.

The Academy's mesa was connected to the Telosian shield network's power grid, allowing it to generate a protective shield. The facility included a hangar capable of housing a light freighter. Additionally, it contained storage rooms, a [prison](/article/prison-legends], living quarters for personnel, a private meditation chamber for Atris, and a Jedi Council meeting chamber. This chamber was circular, with seats arranged around a gray rock pillar on yellow and red carpets. The mesa itself was a squat, black structure, wider at its base than at the top, the Polar Plateau, which was covered in snow. The Academy's entrance was located on the southern half of the plateau, and four black towers were positioned around the mesa to form a perimeter.

In 990 BBY, Telos was a Jedi world and a hub of information on which Jedi Consulars undertook their researching and teaching responsibilities. The training academy on Telos specialized in data collection and analysis at the time, and had input locks that were the envy of scholars. However, they were only accessible to Jedi.

The Academy's construction was carried out in utmost secrecy following the bombardment of Telos from orbit by Darth Revan's Sith Empire in 3958 BBY. It was envisioned as a refuge for the Jedi Order in the event of the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine falling. Telos was chosen as the location, partly with the expectation that the Sith would avoid targeting the same world twice. However, prior to the war, it had served as a place where Jedi who had failed their training would continue to serve the galaxy as farmers and laborers. Throughout the Jedi Civil War, which Revan's Sith waged against the Jedi and the Galactic Republic from 3959 BBY to 3956 BBY, Jedi holocrons and other historically significant materials and relics were secretly relocated from Dantooine to Telos. According to Jedi historian Tionne Solusar in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force, a historical compendium created in 40 ABY, Jedi Master Atris also amassed a collection of Sith holocrons at the Academy around 3956 BBY. without the knowledge of other Jedi, delving into forbidden knowledge of the Force's dark side in hopes of finding a way to defeat the Sith from within.

In 3956 BBY, at the height of the Jedi Civil War, the Dantooine Jedi Enclave Council anticipated the Enclave's destruction and organized an evacuation. Though the warning was late, several senior Jedi Masters and Knights escaped the impending attack by Revan's Sith Empire and aided Atris in transferring Jedi artifacts to Telos.

During the Jedi purge that followed the war, Atris distanced herself from the other Jedi, blaming their passivity and reluctance to actively confront the Sith threat. Following the deaths of most Jedi Order members at the disastrous conclave on Katarr around 3952 BBY, Atris resolved to revive the Order. She gathered several Echani daughters of the renowned Echani General Yusanis, known collectively as the Handmaiden Sisters, at the Academy, and made them swear never to undergo Jedi training, even if they possessed Force-sensitivity.

Atris then instructed them in rigorous mental exercises designed to resist Force-based influences. The Handmaidens were intended to protect the Academy from the dark side's influence, and they were tasked with dealing with any Jedi who showed signs of succumbing to it, including killing them. Atris was the sole individual whom the Handmaidens fully trusted, and she was the only Jedi residing within the Academy. The Jedi historian never trained any apprentices in the ways of the Force there, as the location remained largely unknown.

Furthermore, Atris had never taken on a Padawan before, as Meetra Surik pointed out to one of the Sisters upon arriving at the Academy. While the surviving Jedi Order members were aware of the secret training facility, they believed Atris to be dead and the Academy to be in disrepair.

In 3651 BBY, a Handmaiden Sister stole the Ebon Hawk, the ship used by the exiled Jedi Meetra Surik, from Telos' Citadel Station. The Hawk was transported to the Academy's secret hangar on Telos. From Restoration Zone RZ-0031 on Telos, engineer Bao-Dur accessed a landing pad's computer panel to assist Surik in locating her lost ship. While the Jedi Exile noted that the Telos Security Force could only confirm that the Hawk was absent from all sanctioned landing sites on Telos, Bao-Dur deduced that the ship might be at an unapproved, shielded location. The engineer then discovered that power was being diverted to supply a shield covering a small mesa in the polar region, confirming a subtle anomaly in the planetary shield network's power grid. Despite an orbital camera showing empty lands, the Exile's mentor, Kreia, suggested further investigation, believing the lead to be their best chance of finding the Hawk. Consequently, the group traveled to the polar region via a shuttle from the nearby military base.

During their passage through the snowy polar region, the shuttle was shot down by pursuing HK-50 series assassin droids and crashed on the Polar Plateau. Although the Exile and her group survived, Bao-Dur was knocked unconscious, and the crew was confronted by three HK-50 units. Having detected nothing of interest at the icy mesa, the droids questioned why the Exile had come to the remnants of the Telos Irrigation System before attacking her. However, the Exile and her group destroyed the HK-50s and sought refuge, leaving Bao-Dur behind as they entered the secret Academy's entrance.

While two Echani Sisters examined the crash site, the Exile's group reached the Academy's entrance chamber below and were confronted by three other Sisters.

Surik recovered the stolen Ebon Hawk, but upon securing the vessel, she promptly departed Telos and left Atris behind. Even when the three surviving Jedi Masters, Zez-Kai Ell, Kavar, and Vrook Lamar, learned that Atris was still alive and planning to restore the Order, the Telosian Academy held little significance for them or their plans. Instead of reviving the Order on Telos, they opted to convene in the rebuilt Jedi Enclave on Dantooine, hoping to confront the Sith threat when it finally emerged.

Atris's belief that the Sith would not attack Telos a second time proved incorrect. Darth Nihilus arrived with his fleet above Telos, seeking to feed on the Force energy of the Jedi he believed resided at the Academy. However, Surik thwarted Nihilus's plans by defeating the Sith Lord aboard his flagship, the Ravager, thereby preserving the Academy's structural integrity. By this time, as part of Meetra Surik's training, Kreia had exposed Atris's corruption and descent into the dark side, prompting the Jedi Master to acknowledge her own dark nature before departing for Malachor V to complete Surik's training. Shortly after, Surik, fresh from her efforts to drive the Sith away, arrived at the Academy and was attacked by Atris in the Academy's Council chambers. However, Atris was defeated and, contrary to her expectations, was spared by Meetra Surik in the aftermath of their duel. Recognizing the flaws in her actions, Atris decided to leave the Jedi, seeking to find her true self in doing so. Atris then revealed Kreia's location to Surik, directing the exiled Jedi to confront her mentor on Malachor V while she remained within her chamber of Sith holocrons.

Under Kreia's guidance, a new Jedi Order was later established by Surik and her followers, and the Telosian Academy continued to be maintained during the Cold War between the Republic and the resurgent Sith Empire.

Around 3643 BBY, an individual affiliated with one of those factions dispatched a companion to Telos IV to explore the secrets of the Academy, and the facility's caretakers permitted the party to study the building in return for a donation. With help from the caretakers, the crew uncovered a Jedi weapon that had been created by Atris.

In 990 BBY, the Jedi Order utilized the structure as a satellite training academy specializing in data collection and analysis. Alongside the Kamparas and Obroa-skai Jedi academies, the Telosian Academy was recommended to Jedi Initiates with an inclination for science by Jedi ace and New Sith Wars veteran Crix Sunburris in his writings in the Jedi guidebook The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force. However, by 53 BBY, the Telosian Jedi Academy was no longer operational. Jedi Master Tahl convinced Grand Master Yoda to have the last of the holocrons from the time of the Jedi Civil War transferred from the "old Academy" to the Coruscant Jedi Temple. At Tahl's request, she accompanied fellow Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn on his assignment to Telos IV, where the Noorian retrieved the Telosian Academy's holocrons from an archive on the planet with temperature-controlled packing. Tahl then departed for the Landor system alone to rescue Stieg Wa from pirates at Master Yoda's behest.

The Sith Lord Darth Sidious noted in his stolen copy of The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force that the Telosian facility was one of many Jedi sites he had uncovered during the Great Jedi Purge. Sidious remarked that the book itself revealed the academy's location, saving the Galactic Empire time as they hunted Jedi younglings. Later, by special arrangement with the organization, the Empire allowed members of the Bounty Hunter's Guild to train on three properties formerly used as Jedi chapter houses. The three facilities' locations were a closely guarded secret, being known only to Guild members and a select faction of Imperial officers. As annotated by bounty hunter Boba Fett in his book The Bounty Hunter Code, specifically his copy of the Bounty Hunters Guild Handbook's Imperial edition, the locations were Telos, Kamparas, and Bogden 3.

Although Jedi Master Atris hoped to eventually train Jedi at the Academy, it was only inhabited by herself and six young Echani warrior-women known as the Handmaiden Sisters. Atris secluded herself here after the disaster at the Conclave on Katarr, where Darth Nihilus killed over a hundred of the remaining Jedi Order members by draining all life from the planet to satisfy his hunger for Force-energy. While Atris meditated with her vast collection of Sith holocrons to unlock the secrets of defeating the Sith, the Handmaiden Sisters rigorously trained in both fighting techniques and mental disciplines to close their minds to Force-based influences, rendering them almost Force-blind, unable to use it even if they were Force-sensitive.

Obsidian Entertainment created the Telosian Jedi Academy for their 2004 video game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. The Jedi Academy was later referenced in Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare's 2011 massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, as a potential location for players to assign their companions in the optional quest "Telosian Jedi Academy," which was later removed from the game.

In The Sith Lords, if the player chooses the non-canonical dark side path, the conversation options with the Academy's inhabitants differ during the initial visit and upon Surik's return after the Battle of Telos IV. During her battle with Atris, Surik can choose to either kill the Academy founder or save her from the dark side before learning of Kreia's intentions and departing for Malachor V.

There are also some differences with the game and, hence, the fate of the Academy itself if the player chooses the non-canonical path of a male Meetra Surik. In it, prior to Surik's arrival at the Academy in the wake of the Battle of Telos IV, the former Handmaiden Sister Brianna arrives. Enraged, Atris duels her, eventually subduing the Handmaiden with Force lightning just as Surik arrives to confront the former Jedi Master. At the end of the game, Kreia still gives a number of predictions, however instead of predicting a future for Mical, she instead states that Brianna will take up Atris' post of Jedi Historian.