Chu'unthor

The Jedi training vessel Chu’unthor (named for the Cerean word for “academy”), the brain child of Cerean Jedi So-Rowan and Human Jedi Ivixa Delbaeth, was built in orbit around the planet Abhean by Republic Fleet Systems 500 years before the Battle of Yavin.

Her primary function was as a spacefairing academy for groups of Jedi apprentices, and she operated under the command of a number of other Jedi Masters before crashing on the planet Dathomir 100 years later. The Academy onboard the Chu'unthor produce several powerful Jedi, including Ainvar ul-Esca, but she also pursued a mission of diplomacy and exploration, negotiating a truce on Qualtrough and making first contact with the Elathan.

The ship was immense: Two kilometers long, one kilometer wide, and at least forty meters tall. A command pinnacle in the center of the ship housed the majority of the non-jedi crew, with the sublight and hyperdrive engine array mounted directly aft of it. The Chu’unthor could accommodate 10,000 Jedi students, with hundreds of exercise and lightsaber sparring rooms to hone each student's concentration, form, and body. Workshops were provided for the construction and maintenance of lightsabers, while meditation chambers gave both student and master a place to contemplate the nature of the Force and further their mental discipline. A medical wing contained hundreds of healing and hospital rooms used to teach Jedi healing arts to young students, both for use in the aftermath of battle or accident, and to aid the physically or mentally impaired. The ship contained its own extensive library with texts covering the myriad of Jedi teachings, advanced and theoretical science tomes, historic annals, literature from across the galaxy, and encyclopedias covering the galaxy's languages, art, and culture.

To alleviate the sense of confinement and banality that can be experienced while traveling for long durations in a spaceship, the Chu’unthor had wide corridors with high ceilings, while many rooms had transparisteel domes or expansive viewports. The effect created was very much like the Great Temple on Coruscant, rather than a simple starship. Classes were often held within these rooms, open to the stars, reminding the padawans that a Jedi was obligated to serve the galaxy at large, not to use his gifts in selfish ends.

400 BBY, a mere century after its launch, the service of the Chu’unthor was cut tragically short when she crashed into the exile world of Dathomir, home to force "witches" descended from the fallen Jedi, Allya. The damaged Chu’unthor was surrounded by the witches on their rancor mounts. A group of Jedi (including Yoda, Gra’aton, and Vulatan) were sent to attempt a rescue of the vessel's crew and passengers, but were stopped by the Witches of Dathomir. After Yoda saved the life of Rell, a young witch, the two were able to negotiate a settlement. The Chu’unthor and its library would be abandoned on Dathomir, but the Jedi were free to leave. Yoda asked Rell to hide the ships record disks until a young Jedi Knight came, who would free her world from the Nightsisters, a group of witches who had enveloped themselves in the Dark Side of the Force.

During the Clone Wars, a second ship by the name Chu'unthor served as a mobile academy headed by Master Djinn Altis.

Nearly three centuries after the first Chu'unthor crashed, Luke Skywalker came to Dathomir, fulfilling Yoda's prophecy. He had found records mentioning the rescue mission of 300 years earlier on the planet Tola, and arrived with Prince Isolder, who was searching for Han Solo and the kidnapped Princess Leia. After locating Leia through the Force, Luke and Isolder discover the Chu’unthor, and begin to understand the purpose of the rescue mission. After defeating the Nightsisters and Warlord Zsinj, Luke is given records and a holocron from the Chu’unthor, which he adds to his collection for the Jedi Academy he will establish on Yavin IV.