Aleema Keto

"I'm enjoying our contest, but I'm winning too easily. Perhaps I want you to be stronger. Perhaps I'd like to be conquered."

- Aleema Keto

Aleema Keto was the the daughter of Lady Magda Keto and niece of the elder Lord Keto, and also the cousin of Satal Keto. She and Satal co-founded the dark side Krath secret society, and together succeeded in overthrowing the Tetan monarchy just prior to the Great Sith War. As she progressed down the path of the dark side, she became the lover of Ulic Qel-Droma and the senior ally of Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun.

Biography


The son and daughter (though not siblings) of the then-rulers of Empress Teta, Aleema and her heir-apparent cousin Satal were next in line for the throne of the Empress Teta system. Bored and spoiled, she, Satal, and some of their aristocrat friends formed a secret society called the Krath, so named after a fairy-tale magician-god. The cousins learned much from their tutors about the ancient Sith Empire which instigated the Great Hyperspace War in 5,000 BBY, so much so that they were compelled to explore the history further on their own. The Keto kids planned and took trip to the Galactic Museum on Coruscant, in search of more knowledge of the Sith. In the museum, they perused a hall dedicated to Sith history and managed to steal a book of Sith lore, only to find that they could not understand the ancient text. Dejected, they went back to their hotel and while scanning the news reports heard about dark side adepts in Onderon who were terrorizing the populace with their dark powers. Intrigued by this new knowledge, the pair traveled to the war-torn planet onboard their royal yaht with hopes of locating any Sith affiliate who might aid them in unlocking the secrets of the book. They arrived on Onderon to find a massive battle taking place between Republic forces and the Naddists. Their ship was shot down and crashed in the capital Iziz, where they just barely escaped the explosion into the streets. After spending some time showing their acquisition around and inquiring about the Sith, they were finally brought before Onderon's monarch: King Ommin.



Curious about the ancient Sith text, Ommin was pleased by these two potential Sith initiates and so agreed to help them. Satal openly expressed his aprehension, fearing that the old king did not possess the knowledge they sought. All that changed however when King Ommin worked his dark magic on Satal, rendering him ill and opening Aleema further to the dark side. Ommin then showed them his prized collection of Sith amulets, one in particular which allowed them to read Sith writings. The decrepit king agreed to give Satal the amulet, but under one condition: he must be allowed to take a copy of the spellbook for himself. They acquiesed, and while a scribe transcribed the text, Ommin showed them the captive Jedi Master Arca Jeth hung on a wall, and suffering heavily under Sith magic. But as Ommin leaned close to taunt Arca, a team of Jedi Knights crashed the royal palace to free him. Ommin was caught off guard as his forces were soundly defeated by Arca's rescuers. The Jedi quickly triumphed, and just as Ulic Qel-Droma smashed Ommin's durasteel exoskeleton to incapacitate him, the ancient spirit of Dark Lord Freedon Nadd appeared. With Republic forces and Jedi Knights now in complete control of the city, Nadd realized Ommin had failed; instead, he convinced Aleema and her cousin that they held the key to building a new Sith Empire and that he would guide them. Eventually, the Jedi freed Arca Jeth and Ommin was slain by Qel-Droma.

Trouble for the Republic


Aleema and Satal then fled Onderon with a collection of ancient Sith artifacts and texts, and used them to become proficient in Sith sorcery. Now the way was clear for the Krath to immediately began plotting their rise to power. Armed with her new Sith knowledge, Aleema was instrumental in bringing down their parents, the legal rulers of Empress Teta, terrorizing them with horrible images of Adegan eels and vile lizards. The Krath were successful in staging their political coup, and wasted no time unifying the worlds of the Tetan system under their heel. However, the citizens of the Empress Teta (specifically Koros Major) rebelled against their new Krath rulers. So, a joint Jedi/Galactic Republic battallion was sent to deal with the usurpers. Aleema and Satal were more than prepared for the Republic, and took up command from a space station orbiting Koros. But even as the Republic forces emerged from hyperspace, the Krath met them head on. Aleema used her sorcery to create illusions of space grazers to fool the fleet during the Battle of Koros Major, almost forcing its panicking commanders into retreat. However, the Jedi Nomi Sunrider saw through the deception, her Battle Meditation allowing the Republic forces to ignore the terrible apparitions. Drawing upon the sum of her powers, Aleema created a mass illusion to conceal a screen of Chaos fighter suicide bombers launched by Satal. Although Sunrider was able to distract and defeat Aleema, the Republic detachment was forced to withdraw, leaving the Krath in complete control of the system.

Seducing a Jedi


Some time later, Aleema and Satal used Krath war droids disguised as servitors to attack the conclave on Deneba, where the Jedi had gathered to discuss the Krath threat. During the assault, Master Arca Jeth was slain, and his student Ulic Qel-Droma swore revenge on the Krath. He soon after attempted to infiltrate the capital world of Empress Teta system. Aleema sensed his great strength in the Force and wanted to turn him to the dark side. During a skirmish in Koros Major, she let Ulic "save" her from a fake assassination attempt and took him as her lover to win his trust. However, her cousin Satal was jealous and suspicious, and had Qel-Droma interrogated and tortured in the dungeons of the Iron Citadel. Despite his denying that he was a Jedi spy, Satal injected Ulic with a Sith poison that would ensure his fall to the dark side.

After a failed attempt by Nomi Sunrider and her cohorts to rescue Qel-Droma, Satal again questioned Ulic's loyalty and attempted to assassinate him. The vengeful former Jedi repelled the attack, and then struck Satal down in anger. As a result, Aleema took Ulic as her official partner, and they became the new co-rulers of the Krath. Six months later during the Great Sith War, the pair, along with the Dark Lord Exar Kun and their Mandalorian allies, waged war on the Republic. During an assault on Coruscant, she betrayed the now-Sith Lord Qel-Droma and allowed him to be captured by the Jedi. However, he was rescued by his Sith Master Exar Kun soon after, just as he was facing the Inquisition for crimes against the Republic. Although she feigned affection for him once he returned, Mandalore the Indomitable made Ulic aware of Aleema's treachery, and although outwardly unaffected, he began planning his revenge.

Endgame


Near the end of the Sith War, Qel-Droma thus sent Aleema and the traitor Jedi Crado to attack the important relay station at Kemplex IX in the Auril Sector. The idea was to lure the combined Galactic Republic/Jedi fleet out into the Cron Cluster, where it could be destroyed. Her dark side power was greatly augmented by the use of certain Sith weapons, one of which was the ancient starship used by Naga Sadow when he eluded the Republic in the Denarii system. After Exar Kun taught her how to harness the Corsair's power, Aleema intended on using Sadow's crystals to rip the core from a star, and hurl it at the fleet. Although she succeeded in destroying most of the starships, she failed to control the power she wielded, as Qel-Droma had deliberately calculated; she, the betrayer, was now the betrayed. The liberated solar core ignited the cores of the surrounding suns, and created an intense, multi-star supernova, which engulfed three Auril systems and later the planet Ossus. Caught in the blaze, Aleema and Crado were killed along with their Jedi pursuers Dace Diath, Shoaneb Culu, and Qrrrl Toq, as Qel-Droma and Kun had planned.

Personality and traits
Aleema Keto was a rather priveledged youth, having grown up as royalty amidst the aristocracy of Empress Teta. To this end she was bored with the normal goings-on of high society, and sought to amuse herself by dabbling in the lore of Sith magic. She showed quite a thirst for forbidden knowledge, and so travelled with her cousin to Onderon soley for the purpose of unearthing the mysteries of the Sith. She was naive to the fact that the dark side had a corruptive nature, and would surely twist and corrupt her.



As a Sith sorceress, Aleema had a penchant for treating individuals as worthless inferiors, often devising cruel punishments for subordinates who tried her patience. Her mean streak culminated with the death of her uncle, when she had Lord Keto lowered into a vat of molten carbonite. Her short-temper was displayed again when she burned tutor Korus alive for simply spilling a drink on her. She was not above using her powers to horrify and terrorize those around her.

Aleema was sneaky, cunning, and conniving, not above using deception and manipulation to further her goals. She used her womanly wiles to seduce Ulic Qel-Droma (who was already on a path to the dark side), and then further manipulated him into ultimately murdering her cousin. The way was now clear for Aleema to govern the Krath exclusively, and with Ulic by her side she became even more brash and arrogant, fully believing in the strength of her powers. Her dishonesty was further realized when she betrayed Qel-Droma to the Jedi, but when he returned, she resumed her romantic deceptions. Her naivety was again obvious, as she wasn't aware that Mandalore had warned Ulic of her treachery. It would prove her undoing, since Ulic's own deception ultimately ended in Aleema's demise.

Powers and abilities


Even before becoming a Sith witch, Aleema showed a considerable connection to the Force. She endured the strong dark side energies emanating from Onderon, seemingly energized by them, while her cousin Satal was stricken with malaise upon feeling the same power. Aleema also had a propensity for Precognition, demonstrated on numerous occaisons where she displayed a vague awareness of how immediate events would unfold. She was able to calm Satal's fear of impending doom whilst abord the Krath Enchanter, telling him "keep steady, we are going to live!" When they finally touched down, Aleema instinctively knew that they were in the right place. Her Force sense was also up to par (more so than Satal's), being able to sense the strong dark side aura emanating from Onderon, and the strong dark side presences of both Ulic Qel-Droma and Exar Kun.

Her real talents however laid in the ancient arts of Sith magic. After receiving instruction from both Freedon Nadd and King Ommin, Aleema developed a unique connection with the dark side that she developed into quite the reckoning force. When performing her magical incantations, an aqua glow of dark side energy shone over her right eye. Her greatest ability was in creating illusions, something she mastered to a high degree. With Sith magic Aleema preferred conjuring apparations usually of Adegan eels or other hideous lizards, but she was not limited here either. In the past she created mass illusions of space grazers and giant starships, and also used her illusory talents to conceal her cousin's Chaos fighters' assault on the Galactic Republic fleet. She was not all-powerful, however. The Jedi Knight Nomi Sunrider was on more than one occasion able to pinpoint Aleema as the source of the deception, and assault her mind directly, an attack she was not prepared for and could not withstand.



To amuse herself, Aleema would often torture her lackeys with her magic, turning technology into vile organic perversions or serving guests with platters of severed heads. When swords were raised against her, she brushed off the attack saying to Satal, "Tell me, Satal – what warrior can stand who believes his sword has ceased to be a sword?" She then turned her adversiaries weapons against them, transforming their swords into snakes that proceeded to attack the attackers. She was also able to project concentrated blasts of pure dark side energy, even without the use of a Sith amulet.

From Exar Kun she learned to harness the dark side through Naga Sadow's ship technology with her sorcery, and used it to destroy the Cron Cluster. Her overconfidence in this newfound abilitiy was her undoing, just as Ulic Qel-Droma foresaw; the ensuing supernovae consumed her as well since she was not able to fully control the dark power of Lord Sadow's vessel.

Behind the scenes
Aleema may have been an ancestor of Clone Wars-era Jedi Serra Keto, and also of the darksider Sebban Keto, who tried to re-establish the Krath millennia after her death.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords