Celeste Morne

"She had dreams once. Dreams of hope. Dreams of possibilities. Dreams of light. Now there are only nightmares. [...] Now...life is pain."

- Karness Muur

Celeste Morne was a Human female who was a Jedi Master serving in the Jedi Covenant's agency of Shadows. As such an agent for the Covenant, the records of her identity were erased from Jedi Order rolls so that she would give her whole effort in service to the Jedi cabal. She consented to the Jedi Covenant's singular mission to prevent the rise of the Sith largely because she had lost her home and family ties in the Great Sith War.

In 3,963 BBY the Covenant assigned Morne a mission to retrieve an ancient Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman created by a Sith Lord of the old Sith Empire, Karness Muur, and to kill Jedi Padawan fugitive Zayne Carrick. However, in the course of this mission she came to doubt Carrick's culpability in the Padawan Massacre of Taris, for which he had been blamed by the members of the First WatchCircle of the Covenant.

As she fought through the obstructions to her mission, including the unexpected outbreak of the rakghoul plague on the planet Jebble, and her own doubts about Carrick, Morne fell under the possession of the Muur Talisman. In order to protect the galaxy from herself, Morne allowed Carrick to seal her in Dreypa's Oubliette. She would remain there in stasis until 19 BBY, when the Sith Lord Darth Vader obtained the oubliette and released Morne.

She emerged haunted by the spirit of Karness Muur and discovered that the Sith ruled the galaxy in the new era she found herself in. Enraged at this discovery, Morne dueled Vader and used the Muur Talisman to force him into retreat. For about nineteen years afterwards she lived secluded on a desolate moon until Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa led a Rebellion mission to recover Morne.

Early career
"I couldn't have selected a better agent."

- Lucien Draay



The devastation left in the wake of the battles of the Great Sith War shaped Celeste Morne's early life. After the destruction of Ossus in 3,996 BBY, Morne's family became homeless and wandered the galaxy for years until eventually falling apart. However, Morne found herself a new family when she joined the Jedi Order and became a Shadow for the Jedi Covenant, a secret organization within the Order devoted to stopping the resurgence of the Sith in the galaxy following the end of the Sith War. The Covenant erased Morne's identity from Jedi Order rolls so that she would dedicate herself solely to the Covenant and thus, Morne gave her whole life's effort towards her role as a Shadow for the Covenant, fulfilling missions aimed towards recovering and sealing away Sith relics before they could cause any danger to the galaxy. Among Morne's accomplishments as a Shadow were the destruction of the last copy of the Epistle of Marka Ragnos and the recovery of Jori Daragon's amulet and the Eye of Horak-mul on behalf of the Covenant.

In 3,963 BBY, the three seers of the Covenant's First WatchCircle, Xamar, Feln, and Q'Anilia received a vision of widespread destruction caused by the Muur Talisman, an artifact created by the ancient Sith Lord Karness Muur, which could transform certain beings into mindless mutants known as rakghouls that the user of the Talisman could control. Four Humans also appeared in the vision, former Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Cade Skywalker, although the Covenant members did not know the identity of latter three. In response to the vision, Lucien Draay, another member of the Covenant's First WatchCircle, contacted Celeste Morne and gave her the task of finding the Muur Talisman on Taris and killing Zayne Carrick. Unbeknownst to Morne, the First WatchCircle of the Covenant had the year before acted on an earlier prophecy which had led them to believe that one of their own Padawans would fall to the dark side. Thus, in what would come to be known as the Padawan Massacre of Taris, they killed the students to prevent the presumed return of the Sith.

However, Lucien Draay's own apprentice, Zayne Carrick, escaped. To prevent the Covenant from exposure, the WatchCircle placed the blame for the Padawan Massacre on Carrick and ordered his elimination. Both Carrick and the Talisman were now on Taris, putting Morne in the position where she would be able to end two threats to the Covenant simultaneously.

Taris
"I thought I knew all the Jedi on Taris, but I've never seen you&hellip;" "For which I count myself lucky."

- Zayne Carrick and Celeste Morne

In the Tarisian Undercity, Celeste Morne came to the aid of Sector Constable Noana Sowrs under attack by rakghouls. Ever since the Muur Talisman was lost on Taris these deformed, mindless mutants dwelled there and could transmit a namesake plague through their bites. Morne killed all of the rakghouls before they overwhelmed Sowrs, but discovered that Sowrs had become infected with the rakghoul plague. Consequently, she was forced to cut Sowrs down as she mutated.

Shortly afterwards, Zayne Carrick and his companion, the fugitive Snivvian crime-lord Marn "Gryph" Hierogryph, rushed past her, fleeing from another horde of rakghouls, whom Morne also quickly dispatched. From there the duo followed her in the hopes that she would lead them off-planet and provide a route to their friends on the spaceship Moomo Williwaw. Despite Morne's disdain for their company, Carrick and Hierogryph accompanied her as she continued to navigtate the Undercity and engaged in conversation where Morne soon learned Carrick's identity. However, she placed the Muur Talisman's priority above the fugitive's arrest, and continued her search, but soon afterwards the group fell into a cavern occupied by Mandalorians, who had just acquired the Talisman themselves.

Jebble
"I've got a job to do&hellip; and it just got a lot harder!"

- Celeste Morne

So that they would not lose sight of the ancient Sith artifact, which was now in the possession of Mandalorian Neo-Crusader and former scientific intern Pulsipher, Celeste Morne, Zayne Carrick, and Marn Hierogryph stowed away on board the Mandalorians' ship, the Mar'eyce, which was destined for the planet Jebble.

From her hiding place, Morne tried to convince Pulsipher to throw the Muur Talisman out of the airlock by using a Jedi mind trick, but he resisted. At that moment she witnessed the Talisman attach itself to Pulsiper's arm and kill one of the Mandalorians from his team. Once the Mar'eyce landed near the Mandalorian staging area on Jebble, she tried to separate herself from Carrick and Hierogryph in order to follow Pulsipher, but Carrick found Morne and informed her that the Mandalorians were planning a raid on the planet Alderaan.

Marn Hierogryph, disguised as a Mandalorian, convinced Morne and Carrick to pretend to be his captives&mdash;Joam and Hettie Hierogarl, the so-called Taris Techno-Terror Twins&mdash;to allow the trio to pass the guards and enter the Ice Citadel, which had been turned into a temporary war forge and the center of operations for the Mandalorian invasion force. Inside, Morne decided that Carrick should warn Alderaan about the upcoming attack while she retrieved the Talisman. However, Hierogryph accidentally discharged his weapon, causing a cave-in which sent him careening down to a lower level of the citadel and alerted the Mandalorians from the Mar'eyce to their presence.

Before Morne and Carrick could be taken hostage, one of the guards transformed into a rakghoul, forcing the others to fire on their former comrade before transforming into rakghouls themselves. Morne noted the evolved characteristics of these rakghouls, which could use weapons and appeared smarter and more organized in comparison to the rakghouls of Taris. After defeating the rakghouls, Morne and Carrick tried to find a way out of the citadel. In the process, they discovered that Jebble was not just a local war forge or training center, but a staging area for invasion. Thus, all of the Mandalorian recruits present from the Outer Rim were about to become infected by the rakghoul plague.

Sending out communication
"We've waited long for your report agent&hellip;"

- Lucien Draay

After sliding down the mountainside to escape, Zayne Carrick informed Celeste Morne that the Jedi Masters and Jedi Covenant members had framed him for the Padawan Massacre of Taris. Morne pretended to be ignorant of the Covenant's existence, but her lie was exposed when she let slip its name&mdash;which Carrick had not mentioned to her. He realized that she had knowledge of the clandestine organization, though fortunately for Morne he remained unaware of her connection to it.

Before Carrick contacted his friends on the Moomo Williwaw, Morne contacted Lucien Draay to inform him about the impending invasion of Alderaan and the rakghoul plague. Draay ordered her to stop the attack and to kill the fugitive Padawan. Morne questioned the order to kill Carrick, but Draay reminded her of her family's past and of the Sith War. While Carrick's back was turned, she activated her lightsaber to kill him, but stopped when he made contact with the Mandalorian commander Cassus Fett, currently in route to Jebble with transports for the invasion, to warn him and his troops off-planet about the plague. Morne realized that Carrick was trying to save both citizens of the Republic and Mandalorians, which made it difficult for her to justify killing him while he performed such a selfless act.

After completing the transmission, Zayne Carrick, followed by Celeste Morne, went to rescue Marn Hierogryph from the War Forge. Hierogryph, however, was safe and currently examining the Covenant financial records that Pulsipher obtained where he discovered for himself that Morne was an agent for the Covenant. Once Carrick reentered the War Forge, rakghouls ambushed him and brought him to Pulsipher's lab, where the Mandalorian scientist restrained the former Jedi Padawan and interrogated him regarding the further secrets of the Talisman which Pulsipher now utilized to control the rakghouls. Pulsipher also suspected that Carrick had other companions, but he refused to reveal Morne even when Pulsipher threatened to encase him in a nightmarish Sith artifact known as Dreypa's Oubliette. His interrogation was interrupted when the Talisman detached itself from the Mandalorian and the rakghouls turned on Pulsipher, killing him. At this point Morne and Hierogryph entered and found Carrick, under attack from the Muur Talisman itself, because of the Talisman's allure to Force Sensitives. Morne attempted to pry it away from Carrick, but he protested, suggesting that he might be able to stop the plague from spreading if he controlled the Talisman. Instead, Morne ordered it to come to her, informing it that she was a Jedi. The Talisman released itself from Carrick and attacked Morne, binding itself to her neck. Morne encountered the spirit of the Talisman's creator, Karness Muur, who informed her that he was the future and that she was under his power. When Morne managed to climb to her feet, she discovered that she commanded the rakghouls.

Possession
"I can feel the change inside me. Please, Zayne&hellip; end it now."

- Celeste Morne

It quickly became obvious what was happening to Celeste Morne. She became corrupted by the Talisman and used its power to manipulate the rakghouls, sending them to kill the Mandalorians and cause further infection. Zayne Carrick was appalled by her indifference as the rakghouls tore the soldiers apart. Hierogryph revealed to Carrick that Morne was an agent for the Covenant and Lucien Draay's mother Krynda Draay. As the duo questioned the nobility of her devotion to the Jedi cabal Morne's anger grew until she was ready to strike them both down.

However, Carrick was able to help Morne see the dire consequences of her actions. By expanding the growing rakghoul army she was assisting the Sith, the faction from which she and the Covenant had sworn to protect the galaxy. Morne managed to break free from the Talisman's control long enough to ask that Carrick strike her down. However, he found he could not kill her, remembering that another solution to their problem existed.

Zayne Carrick took Celeste Morne to Pulsipher's laboratory to have her temporarily sealed inside Dreypa's Oubliette, which would place her into stasis and contain the Muur Talisman's influence. Morne willingly did so and asked him to take her to the Sanctum of the Exalted on the planet of Odryn. She hoped that Covenant researchers and experts in Sith artifacts there might be able to help her. Before he sealed the oubliette, Morne told Carrick that she believed that he had not killed the Padawans on Taris and asked him to tell Krynda Draay about the true version of the Padawan massacre in order to end the Covenant's corruption.

After closing the oubliette, Carrick and Hierogryph managed to make their way to higher ground, but rakghouls surrounded them. Just in time the Moomo Williwaw, carrying the duo's friends, female Arkanian Jarael, Jedi Knight Alek Squinquargesimus, Mandalorian Rohlan Dyre, Trandoshan ship pirate Slyssk, Human female Shel Jelavan, and the Ithorian bounty hunters known as the Moomo Brothers, rescued them.

However, Carrick was not yet ready to leave, insisting that they return and retrieve Morne inside the oubliette. Just then, Cassus Fett's fleet arrived in the system. At first, Carrick believed that the ships were about to land, but they instead fired nuclear warheads onto the surface, destroying the citadel with Morne still inside. Zayne Carrick was devastated at the loss of Celeste Morne, but felt newly motivated to stopping the Covenant. The first course of action would be to travel to Odryn and use the key Morne had given him, with Jarael posing as Morne to gain access to the Sanctum. Upon discovering that their agent had in fact not returned to Odryn with the Muur Talisman, Lucien Draay and Covenant member Jedi Master Feln believed that Zayne Carrick killed her.

Emergence from stasis
"How long? How long were we&hellip; was I&hellip; inside?"

- Celeste Morne

However, Celeste Morne was not dead, but still in stasis inside the impregnable oubliette, where she remained for almost 4000 years. The oubliette was first discovered by ice miners on Jebble and passed by blood and trade through many hands until, by twist of fate, it came into the possession of the crew of the smuggling vessel Uhumele in 19 BBY. The captain, Schurk-Heren, originally planned to sell the oubliette to the crime boss Haka Hai on planet Mimban. After being double crossed and tortured by the crime boss, the crew fled and made a second attempt to sell the oubliette, this time to historian Fane Peturri on a moon; however, Peturri had informed the Sith Lord Darth Vader of the deal, who seized control of the oubliette before the transaction was completed. Without hesitation, Vader opened the oubliette and Celeste Morne awoke, disoriented and confused, with the Muur Talisman still attached to her neck and the presence of the spirit of Karness Muur. Upon questioning Peturri, Morne learned that the Sith, not the Mandalorians, had overthrown the Republic and now ruled the galaxy. In her rage, she engaged in a duel against Vader, who told her to embrace her anger, fear, self-loathing and the dark side.

Eventually Vader disarmed Morne and offered her the chance to become his apprentice. Karness Muur encouraged Morne to hand over her life so that Vader could unleash the power of the Muur Talisman. Morne knew two choices lay before her: give in and use the power of the Talisman to defeat Vader and lose her soul in the process, or let Vader claim the Talisman and let loose its horror upon the galaxy. She choose the lesser of two evils and used the Talisman to transform Fane Peturri, all of the stormtroopers, and the only human member of the captive crew of the Uhumele, Crys Taanzer, into rakghouls, while in the meantime the remaining crew of the Uhumele escaped. Finding himself overwhelmed by Morne and the mutant warriors Vader retreated to his shuttle in defeat.

Morne now lay stranded on the moon with only the mutant rakghouls and the enraged Karness Muur, who once again had his plans dashed. Although she realized that there was likely no escape from her condition she felt content that Muur was also a prisoner until the possible day when she would encounter another being.

Galactic Civil War
About twenty years later, Vader's thoughts drifted back to Celeste Morne, wondering if she was still alive and if so what had the many years of solitude done to her mind. Hoping to use her as a weapon against the Rebellion, currently engaged in a war with the Sith-led Galactic Empire, he sent a convoy to investigate the moon. Although the convoy found Morne, she reached out with the Force and transformed the pilots and stormtroopers into rakghouls, causing the ships to crash. When Vader received notification that the conveys were lost he ordered a former Rebellion spy currently in Imperial custody, Wyl Tarson, to send a message through the Rebellion's spy network.

After receiving a message concerning a 'secret Imperial weapon abandoned on a moon,' Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, both members of the Rebellion, lead a team of rebels to investigate. Upon landing, the rakghouls under Morne's control attacked the rebels and dragged Skywalker and Organa to the ancient ruin where she stood ready to strike. Morne and Karness Muur recognized Skywalker and Organa's Force sensitive heritage, leading Muur to realize that an opportunity to escape and unleash his power on the galaxy had come.

The past twenty years of seclusion on the dark moon, along with the taint of the Muur Talisman and the whispers of Karness Muur had driven Celeste Morne insane. She had forgotten much of her past life and Muur fostered in her a hatred of Vader and the Jedi, who she thus believed had abandoned her. Therefore, since she believed that Skywalker was a Jedi, she proceeded to attack him.

Personality and traits
"She's devoted, Zayne, not evil. Just like—" "Just like you."

- Celeste Morne and Zayne Carrick

Celeste Morne's constant dedication to the Covenant's goals and her visits to many of the galaxy's nastier places were central to the formation of her rough personality. She found the presence of Zayne Carrick and Marn Hierogryph highly annoying and regularly threw insults their way. However, Morne began to doubt her orders when she witnessed Carrick go out of his way to protect Cassus Fett's Mandalorian army from the rakghoul plague. Eventually morne was wise enough to discern the truth from Carrick's actions and fully believed that he was innocent of any crime, thus forgoing the indoctrination of the Covenant. She demonstrated her new trust in Carrick when she gave him her key to the Covenant's secret storehouse for Sith artifacts and placed her safety in his hands.

Morne's devotion to the Covenant also fostered a hatred of the Sith. She became quickly enraged when, upon emerging from the oubliette, she discovered that the Sith ruled the galaxy and thus her mission had failed. When she realized that she was no match for Vader in a duel she expressed her loyalty to the good of the galaxy when she sacrificed the condition of her soul by tapping into the power of the Talisman in order to prevent Vader from claiming it for his own.

Powers and abilities
Members of the Jedi Covenant viewed Celeste Morne as a young, but loyal, talented and amazing Jedi Master who had proven herself through many successful missions in the dangerous recovery of Sith artifacts. Morne would demonstrate her proficiency in lightsaber combat and Force abilities such as telekinesis against many rakghouls, stormtroopers, and the Sith Lord Darth Vader. However, Vader overpowered Morne in the duel between them and she needed to use the Talisman to force the Sith Lord into retreat. In addition to the abilities she possessed as a Jedi, Celeste Morne was able to access the powers of the Talisman once it became available to her. With the Sith artifact Morne could transform certain species into mutants known as rakghouls and direct the creatures according to her directions. The spirit of Karness Muur, who resided within the Talisman, deemed her a suitable host for himself, but Morne did have enough willpower to momentarily resist the corruption of the Talisman.

Behind the scenes
Celeste is a name derived from the word caelestis of Latin origin, meaning "heavenly".

'Celeste' and 'Morne' both appear in the random name generator for the Jedi Exile in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.

The character Celeste Morne was created for the role of heroine of the Star Wars Vector arc.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Vector
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Exalted
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Turnabout
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 32: Vindication, Part 1
 * Star Wars Dark Times: Vector
 * Star Wars Rebellion: Vector
 * Star Wars Legacy 28: Vector, Part 9
 * Star Wars Legacy 29: Vector, Part 10
 * Star Wars Legacy 30: Vector, Part 11

Notes and references
Celeste Morne