Katarine Alysabeth Ryiah is a
Force-sensitive human female who served the Jedi Order before The Great Jedi Purge. Due to her specialization as a Jedi Investigator, a role that relied on withholding her identity, she spent most of her early life undercover and never rose to galactic prominence.
Katarine was born into the noble house of
Demesne on her mother's side, while her father's family had renounced their association with one of the ancient houses of the galaxy. Her parents were loving people who adored their children and hoped to have a large family. As an infant Katarine was cared for by servants and accustomed to a fine life. This changed when the family was targeted by a Dark Jedi Cult called The Followers of Gemini. Lady Sinistra, leader of the cult, believed that Katarine and her twin brother Daxium fulfilled an ancient prophecy, allowing the cult to rise to power in the galaxy and grant Lady Sinistra immortality. To harness this prophecy, Lady Sinistra abducted the children when they were infants. The Jedi maintained a list of confirmed Force-sensitive infants, particularly their identities and locations, so they knew of the twin's existence. When it was discovered the Dark Jedi cult had kidnapped the children, a team of Jedi was sent to rescue them. The Jedi rescued the children, but the cult members were successful in killing the twin's parents, leaving them orphaned. The children's grandmother, Isaline, an ex Jedi who had taken the Barash Vow, was called to take the twins and raise them on the forest preserve world of Usina. During this time both Katarine and her twin brother Daxium played and enjoyed being normal children. The twins grew closer and eventually, they formed a Force Dyad. Their grandmother knew that as Force sensitive children they were destined to eventually join the Jedi, but she tried to stall this as long as she could because the twins were so close and The Jedi forbid attachments. After a second kidnapping attempt by the Followers of Gemini however the grandmother knew it was time to send the children to the Jedi. Isaline traveled to Coruscant with both of the children, intending to give them over and allow them to start training.
After testing both of the twins the Council determined that both were highly Force sensitive, but Daxium had a volatile temper that made him dangerous. This combined with the fact that the dark cult was still at large lead to the Jedi Order deciding to separate the twins, believing it would be more difficult for remnants of the cult to find them if the twins were not together.
Katarine was sent to a small Jedi enclave on Corellia, while her twin brother Daxium was adopted by a Hapan noble family. The twins were distraught and did not want to be separated, and planned to keep in touch with each other, but the Jedi Code at the time forbade attachments for Katarine. Daxium was also highly jealous that Katarine would get to be trained in the ways of the Force while he would not. This would later become a source of contention between the twins.
As a Jedi padawan Katarine trained in several different enclaves. At the Corellian enclave she met a young girl named Zesh and the two quickly bonded. While Katarine served as a Jedi padawan she focused her skills into becoming a Jedi Sentinel. She soon specialized in detective work and started to accompany Jedi Investigators on assignments. She specialized in criminal investigation and spent a lot of her time in the criminal underworld on assignment. Katarine felt at home in the criminal underbelly and soon earned a reputation due to her unorthodox way of doing things
After facing her trials she ascended into the rank of Jedi Knight and decided to put her investigative skills on hold so she could focus on teaching. As a Jedi Knight she trained several young students to knighthood, including Mist Mayweather, Aden Lothiar, Elion Corsair, James Terran, Phylis Alince and Zana Manto. She would continue to train other students and aid in the training of students at the Coruscant temple during this time. Eventually Katarine opened a small enclave on Dagobah, and helped to train a select few students in the boggy terrain. Here she taught students how to track and Psychometry, the ability to sense the memories of other beings by touching objects that they had come into contact with. Katarine also used this time to develope exceptional agility, even furthering her ability to move quickly by regularly performing training climbs and long runs with her students. Her group of students became expert trackers and scouts. Each student would go on to utilize these skills after their knighthood.
When her students had finished training Katarine closed the enclave on Dagobah and traveled back to Corellia. The planetary police body, CorSec was suffering from internal corruption. The police commissioner reached out to the Jedi for help and Katarine was placed undercover to identify the leaks in the system. She entered the CoreSec Academy as a rookie cop and worked her way through the program.
During her training with the other cadets Katarine couldn’t help but be impressed by the police agency. CorSec had an impressive arrest and conviction record and was among the finest law enforcement officials in the galaxy. She quickly excelled through the program, setting many of the agencies records during her training. After graduating from the academy she became a beat cop and eventually she was promoted to homicide detective. This promotion meant a great deal to Katarine, who was seriously considering leaving the Jedi to pursue police work full time. She was assigned to an older officer, Penhall who became her partner. The two grew close as they worked together and Katarine found a fast friendship in her fellow officer. Kat found Penhalls charm, humor and unwavering good heart as a welcome relief from others in the galaxy. As she continued her investigation into CorSec Penhall eventually discovered Kats true identity, but he swore to keep it a secret so she could weed out the corrupt cops working in the agency. Penhall would latter be killed in the line of duty, devastating Katarine but allowing her to take down the corrupt officer Fuller. After she closed her investigation Kat resigned her position in CorSec and returned to the Jedi. Her attachment to Penhall deeply troubled her and she sought to refocus on the Jedi path. She joined the temple on Coruscant and focused heavily on training a handful of new students during this time.
Due to her commitment to training and the need for more high ranking Jedi during the Clone Wars, Kat was Mastered at the young age of 18. She was called to the front lines of the Clone Wars shortly after obtaining her new rank. As a young master she faced many challenges on the battlefield and quickly found that she did not excel at leading armies like most Jedi did. Katarine yearned to return to her investigation assignments and when the opportunity presented itself she always volunteered for assignments that took her off the battlefield. The Clone Wars was taxing however and many Jedi were called to the front lines. It was a difficult time for Kat, as she tried to become a better tactician and warrior. She was not in her element and was often overshadowed by great Jedi generals of the time.
Eventually Katarine would cross paths with her twin once again when she was on an assignment in the criminal underworld. Reports of a serial killer had reached the ears of the Jedi Council and Katarine was dispatched to investigate the crimes. She was all too happy to leave the battlefield, though felt a pang of guilt knowing that she was needed on the front lines. She traveled to the casino planet of Cantonica to meet with the medical examiner and discuss the victims. The examiner her showed her that each victim was carved with an intricately done etching of dark runes that were only visible in some light. The markings looked familiar to Katarine but she could not be certain where she knew them from. She began her investigation into the markings and followed leads all over Cantonica, until she finally came face to face with her twin Daxium. Katarine was astonished to learn that Daxium had envied Katarine for being able to train with the Jedi and despised her for turning her back on her family. Left with no other option, he had ran away from his adopted family and tracked down Lady Sinistra so he could learn the ways of the darkside. Katarine tried to talk sense into her brother, but she quickly realized his killing spree was a trap to get her to Cantonica. He took her into custody, using muscle from the rest of the Followers of Gemini. The cult held Katarine captive for months, torturing her and carving the same dark runes on her. Their leader, Lady Sinistra, was missing and the cult suspected Jedi involvment in her disapearance. The brutal questioning continued but Katarine refused to give any details on where the Jedi kept prisoners of that calibar. Finally, enraged at his sisters refusal to break, Daxium threatened a group of children and Kat's resolved wavered. She agreed to take Daxium to
Black Marsh Prison, a secret prison where the most dangerous criminals in the galaxy were kept. Daxium and Katarine traveled to Naboo, and decended into the inky depths of the swaps to the prisons secret location. Lady Sinistra was indeed locked in the depths but Katarine made one last bid to pursuade her brother to leave the cult. A fight broke out and Daxium managed to push Katarine into the carbonation chamber. She remained in the depths for over a century until the
cataclym of Naboo broke the prison and sent those emtombed to the surface. Katarine was rescued and taken to Theed General Hospital, where she battled hybernation sickness for three long years. When she was healthy enough she traveled to the New Jedi Order to start learning this strange new timeline she found herself in.