Jedi Tower

The Jedi Tower, also referred to as the Tarisian Jedi Temple or Taris Academy, was one of the many satellite centers of Jedi education all over the galaxy. It was located in Patrol Plaza on Taris.

Layout
The Jedi academy on Taris was a tall structure with a circular base and a long tower stemming from its center. It rested on the top layer of durasteel structure; part of the no longer in use superstructure of the city. The abandoned area would later be the keystone for the Taris rebels and their plan to retake the Tower.

The Tower was reached by a narrow walkway that traversed the canyon separating the structures. The bridge had several pillars running along its center. Bounty hunter Valius Ying would walk 'fugitive' Zayne Carrick across the bridge to the jeers of the gathered crowd.

Running parallel to the tower was a slimmer tower that held the turbolift that ran to the peak servicing all of the floors of the tower. Connected to the tower-proper by several hallways; the turbolift tower had a radio antenna at its peak. The very last stop for the lift was the hall connected to the Council Chambers. A droid waited at the entrance and preformed retinal and full-body scans; checking identity and if they possessed any weapons.

Base and hangar
Inside, the first layers of the circular base consisted of several classrooms and the dormitories for the Padawans. The Tower was equipped with many droids that were used for moving holoprojectors and other equipment. The halls often led to small open chambers and meditation lounges where the Jedi seers could focus on their visions.

The center ring of the base of the tower served as hangar and landing pad. Used to dock Taris Jedi shuttlebuses and various other cruisers, the hangar was staffed by several bulk-loader droids. The base encircling platform had several berths built under the canopy of the upper levels, each leading into the Tower itself.

Council Chambers
The Council Chambers were similar to its counterpart on Coruscant, yet it lacked windows and had only five chairs. The walls had a grey and red design built into it and the chairs were in a similar color scheme. The ceiling was made of transparisteel and allowed light to shower the room in the day, and moonlight to bath it by night. It was in this chamber that the council member, the members of the First WatchCircle executed their Padawans on the grounds that they were protecting the Galaxy from the Sith. Zayne Carrick, the only Padawan to escape would flee this room and dove down the turbolift tower to escape from the landing pad.

After the apprentice's bodies had been removed by droids, Valius Ying brought Zayne before the council to be judged; though Ying would be the only one to die. After hearing the real story of the massacre, the accused apprentice was rescued from certain death when Arkanian Jarael shattered the ceiling and absconded with the Jedi prisoner.

After repairing the ceiling, the council was pulled off Taris because their superiors felt they were making the situation worse. With the Jedi gone, the invading fleet of Mandalorian warriors were free to make it their headquarters. Converted into a holocomm strategy center, the chairs were filled with machinery and the sunken floor covered in holoimages.

The room would be left empty when the Mandalorians fled, though the chamber was destroyed when Marn Hierogryph detonated explosives in the lower levels.

History
During the Mandalorian Wars, the Jedi Tower's Masters included Feln, Q'Anilia, Raana Tey, Xamar, and Lucien Draay, who was its head. The members of the First WatchCircle, a branch of the secret Jedi Covenant used this as their base of operations as they searched for the Sith treasure, the Muur Talisman.

Draay was the only one of the five Masters stationed at the Tower not to be a Jedi Consular, and he served as the academy's head. It was unusual for a Jedi academy to have so many seers in one place because of the shortage in candidates; something the Coruscant Council was suspicious of. The masters were forced to disguise their movements in the Covenant by helping with Taris' crime and other issues.

Abandonment and take over
The Jedi Tower of Taris was most notable as the site for the Padawan Massacre of Taris before the climax of the Mandalorian Wars. In 3,964 BBY, following Zayne Carrick's second escape from the academy, the Masters were recalled to Coruscant by the Dantooine Enclave, resulting in the Tower being abandoned. Raana Tey envisioned that the Temple would be destroyed by the Sith, possibly with the help of the Mandalorians.

During the First Battle of Taris, the area around the Tower took heavy damage, but the structure itself appeared to still be stable. It would later become the headquarters of Cassus Fett.

The resistance forces on Taris planned a mission to kill Fett by toppling the Tower with explosives placed at its base. Members of the mission to destroy the tower included Zayne Carrick, Shel Jelavan, Raana Tey, Gadon Thek, and Marn Hierogryph, along with members of the Hidden Beks. Carrick, Jelavan, and Tey would infiltrate the Tower to confirm Fett's presence, Thek would control the detonator, and Hierogryph would run the comlink connecting the two groups. However, at about the same time that Carrick learned that Fett had left, the main resistance base came under attack, and the plan was abandoned as the Beks rushed back to the fighting.

However, Thek and Hierogryph remained behind to extract Carrick and the others. They arrived in time to rescue Carrick and Jelavan, but Tey did not survive. When Carrick suddenly tried to rescue her, she attempted to cut herself free from the Tower, where she had become trapped. Seeing the raised weapon as an attack, unarmed, and too far away to help by any other means, Hierogryph detonated the explosives at the Tower's base. The Tower collapsed, taking Raana Tey with it.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 0: Crossroads
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 1: Commencement, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 2: Commencement, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 4: Commencement, Part 4
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6
 * The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 16: Nights of Anger, Part 1
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 20: Daze of Hate, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 24: Knights of Suffering, Part 3