Jedi Ruin
The Jedi Tower, also referred to as the Taris Academy, was a satellite academy for Jedi training built in Highport on the Outer Rim world Taris. It was used by the Jedi Order prior to and during the Mandalorian Wars, a conflict between the Galactic Republic and the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Isolated from other structures by a skybridge, the Tower was a tall, tapering building with the Council chamber at its pinnacle. Adjoining the main structure was a smaller, vertical tower that contained a turbolift to access different levels of the Tower via walkways between the two. Surrounding the base of the Tower was a landing area staffed by labor droids.
In 3964 BBY, the Tower was operated by the First WatchCircle of the Jedi Covenant who killed their students in the Padawan Massacre of Taris. Nevertheless, one of the Padawans—a Human named Zayne Carrick—escaped the Masters' trap and was forced to flee offworld with the Snivvian Marn Hierogryph after both were framed as the culprits of the Massacre. The Masters were recalled to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when their efforts to track Carrick down failed, with the Padawan even contacting them to say that he would track down and kill each Master until his name was cleared.
The Mandalorians, led by Cassus Fett, later invaded the planet and took the Tower as their own. Carrick returned to Taris to assist Hierogryph and the Taris Resistance in their plans to assassinate Fett by blowing the Tower up with the Mandalorian inside. The Togrutan Raana Tey, one of the First WatchCircle and still wanting Carrick dead, provisionally cooperated with the former Padawan and Shel Jelavan in their planned role of infiltrating the Tower prior to detonation to determine if Fett was still inside. Simultaneously, however, the paranoid Tey intended to kill Carrick before he could kill her as he had warned. When the plan was enacted, Carrick discovered that the Mandalorian leader was not in the Tower, and was confronted by Tey. They dueled until Jelavan intervened, wounding Tey with her brother's lightsaber. Gadon Thek, a swoop gang leader helping the Resistance, and Hierogryph arrived to evacuate them on Thek's swoop bike, but Tey became stuck and used her lightsaber to free herself. Perceiving this as a threat, the Snivvian prematurely detonated preset explosives, and Tey was killed in the destruction of the Tower.
History
The Jedi Tower was located in Highport on the Outer Rim world Taris. The foundation of the Tower was part of a disused atmosphere control complex that once recycled the polluted air in the deeper Tarisian streets to remove the contaminants. A ventilation shaft ran vertically down from the storage level of the Tower into the foundations, where other shafts opened out to the exterior and the Lower City. The atmosphere control complex was set away from the nearby residential buildings and other structures, necessitating the construction of a skybridge for access. The skybridge, which spanned the gap between a Highport plaza and the base of the Tower, was wide enough to later accommodate a Mandalorian artillery cannon and was adorned by a colonnade consisting of six individual columns. Those using the skybridge arrived at an entrance to the Tower that went below the landing area above.
On the floor above the skybridge entrance was the landing area where shuttlebuses and airspeeders landed. The apron was staffed by labor droids to assist in the loading and unloading of cargo. At night, the landing area was illuminated by red, conical lights. A garden plaza was located on the same level. Several bays for keeping vessels in were arrayed below the Tower with one of these leading through to a doorway to the storage area inside the Tower base.
The storage area was normally staffed by LB-series bulk-loading droids coordinating the supplies for the hangars below and had three open shafts leading down to the landing area. Jedi Padawans played hiding games in the room, packed with crates of varying sizes. An access hatch to the ventilation shaft from the foundations was set in the floor of the storage room and was kept locked. At the back of the room was a turbolift which ran all the way up a slim, vertical tower that was connected to the tower-proper by five walkways. A spire was installed atop the turbolift tower and shone a red beacon from its tip at night.
There was a room used to brief students on their assignments that was equipped with a holoprojector in the main tower. A meditation room used by the seers of the First WatchCircle had access from one of the walkways off the turbolift tower.
The very top of the main tower was occupied by the Council chamber. It was similar in layout to its counterpart on Dantooine, though it lacked windows and had only five chairs. The walls had a gray-and-red design built into it, and the chairs were adorned with a similar color scheme. The ceiling was made of transparisteel and allowed light in during the day. Lightsabers were not permitted to be worn while in the Council chambers except on special occasions such as Knighting ceremonies. A pair of racks for stowing lightsabers sat to the side of the room.
After the Council had withdrawn from Taris, the Mandalorians were able to set up their base of operations for their takeover of the planet in the Council chamber. Tactical holograms were projected on the floor, and the Council's seats were taken up by the nomads' equipment.
Alternative Names
Jedi Tower, Taris Academy
Type
Catacomb
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Related Report (Primary Locations)
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