Arkadia Calimondra

"Your whole society. It looks orderly. But it runs on chaos." "Your perceptions are sharp Jedi. I knew they would be. You’re learned, in your day’s journey, what I would have spent a lifetime learning&mdash;how to forge an effective society under one person."

- Kerra and Arkadia discussing the society she created

Arkadia Calimondra was a a female Human Sith Lord who was the eldest daughter of Lord Chagras, and sister of Dromika and Quillan. She ruled a region of the Grumani Sector known as the Arkadianate, which was governed according to a philosophy of ordered chaos which involved rotating her subjects in different jobs to keep them perpetually distracted. Those living on her capital, the icy world of Syned, were expected to be familiar with a wide variety of professions and prepared to be appointed to any particular job at any given time. In 1,032 BBY, Arkadia invaded and annexed the Dyarchy world of Byllura, which was ruled by her younger siblings, and took them under her custody. Her conquest was inadvertently assisted by the efforts of Jedi Knight Kerra Holt and the mercenary leader Jarrow Rusher who had fought of the Dyarchy's attempts to assimilate them into a Force-induced mental thralldom.

Following the battle, Arkadia attempted to win over Kerra and Jarrow by providing them with refuge at her capital city of Calimondretta; intending to keep the student refugees aboard their ship Diligence as her new subjects. Later, she tried to persuade Kerra to assassinate her grandmother, Vilia Calimondra, supposedly because she believed that Vilia had her father murdered. Vilia would later, while neither confirming nor denying that she had killed Chagras, note that Arkadia herself was an equally likely suspect. When Holt refused, Arkadia had her imprisoned, intending to extract information from her and then kill her. However, Narsk Ka'hane, an independent operator for several Sith Lords, secretly freed Holt while Rusher helped destroy much of the complex to ensure they and their refugee charges' escape from the Arkadianate.

Rise to power
"Your whole society. It looks orderly. But it runs on chaos." "Your perceptions are sharp Jedi. I knew they would be. You’re learned, in your day’s journey, what I would have spent a lifetime learning&mdash;how to forge an effective society under one person."

- Kerra and Arkadia

Arkadia Calimondra grew up in the Calimondra family during the Republic Dark Age, a period when various Sith Lords controlled large areas of the galaxy. The Calimondra family was one of these powerful Sith dynasties and ruled the Grumani Sector in the Outer Rim. Her father was the Sith Lord Chagras who ruled the Chagras Hegemony, one of the feuding remnants of the New Sith Empire which had sparked the Fourth Great Schism in 2,000 BBY. Her grandmother Vilia Calimondra who occupied a managerial position as the family matriarch. Due to the competing claims of seven children, she devised an armed contest known as Charge Matricas whereby the heir that conquered the most territory would inherit her vast holdings. Beginning in 1,066 BBY, the Charge Matrica lasted several decades and laid waste to large areas of the Outer Rim. This conflict when one heir alonge&mdash;Chagras&mdash;emerged victorious; heralding a shaky peace which depended on the cooperation of his nephews and nieces. Chagras became the titular ruler of a Sith dynasty known as the Chagras Hegemony, which bordered his mother's empire.

In 1,040 BBY, Chagras was killed during an attack involving nerve gas, which led to the collapse of the Hegemony into several warring factions. This coupled by rival Sith Lord Xelian waging war on the Chagras Hegemony brought about a second series of conflicts known as the Second Charge Matrica, which was fought among Vilia's numerous grandchildren. Following the death of her father, Arkadia established her own state known as the Arkadianate with her capital being Calimondretta, a new settlement on the frozen planet of Syned. She saw herself as a benevolent autocratic dictator and implemented a policy of continuously rotating her subjects in different jobs throughout their lives. For example by 1,032 BBY, the Herglic mother Seese had worked in at least five different occupations including teaching, algae-processing, metallic reclamation, as a tactical officer on Arkadia's flagship New Crucible, and a tour guide on Calimondretta. She justified this policy on the rationale that it instilled flexibility and versatility among her subjects by providing them with experience in different lines of work. However, it was designed to prevent the emergence of any potential domestic threats to her rule since it kept even her most skilled subordinates perpetually preoccupied with new assignments.

In contrast to most of her contemporaries, Arkadia was seemingly open to dialogue and criticism when the situation was in her favor. Unlike other Sith Lords who neglected the social welfare of their subjects, Arkadia invested substantially in providing extensive social services like education, food, and even clothing. She established several schools throughout a realm known as Promisoriums, which were open to individuals of diverse species and also boasted extensive dining facilities. Under Arkadia's regime, students would work to become as versatile as possible so that as adults they could contribute to her state. This contrasted with her cousins Daiman who exploited children as forced laborers and Odion who had all the children in his realm imprisoned in a series of planet-sized orphanages known as cloisters.

Her capital Calimondretta was known to import large stocks of food to sustain its population. Arkadia also implemented a policy of making her subjects wear bright clothing alledgely under the pretext of helping them become more "noticeable and memorable" individuals. The Arkadianate was also comparatively more enlightened than other Sith states since it did not utilize violence in coercing people into work. Despite its positive aspects, the Arkadianate still remained an authoritarian dictatorship centered around the personal philosophy of its titular ruler Arkadia Calimondra.

Annexing the Dyarchy
"Hold it. Look, whatever the boy once was&mdash;he isn't now. I saw what your people did to the Dyarchy ships. I know he was a rival. But he's not a threat to you now. You don't have to kill him." "Kill him? Of course, I'm not going to kill him! I'm his sister."

- Kerra and Arkadia discussing the latter's relationship to Quillan

By 1,032 BBY, Arkadia had turned her attention to the Dyarchy, a small Sith principality centered around the planet Byllura. The planet was nominally ruled by her younger twin sibblings&mdash;her brother Quillan and her sister Dromika&mdash;but real power actually lay in the hands of their Krevaaki Regent Saaj Calician. The two Sith twins had powerful mental telepathic powers which they used to enthrall the planet's population into mindless slaves. Under the guidance of Calician, Quillan had created an organic mental telephatic network spanning the entire planet with a network of enslaved Celegians serving as conduit points to relay the twin's commands. Due to its secluded location, the Dyarchy remained isolated from other developments occuring within the Grumani Sector and the wider galaxy. By that year, Calician had also assembled a fleet of newly-constructed battleships known as the Dyarchy Fleet for an invasion of the rearward systems of the Daimanate, the state ruled by Xelian's younger son Lord Daiman.

Following the collapse of the Bactranate, the Jedi Knight Kerra Holt and the Brigadier Jarrow Rusher fled to Byllura aboard the modified troopship Diligence, which carried over a thousand student refugees who had escaped from the Battle of Gazzari. The Bothan spy operative Narsk Ka'hane was contacted by his true master Vilia Calimondra, whom assigned with the task of monitoring Kerra's movements. Through unknown means, Vilia had been aware of Kerra's exact location. She also assigned him to work for Arkadia Calimondra since she needed the services of a "specialists. Narsk would participate in Arkadia's military invasion of the Dyarchy.

During their brief stay on Byllura, Kerra inadvertently helped destabilize the Dyarchy by overpowering Calician and kidnapping Quillan; causing the break down of the Dyarchy's mental telepathic network which triggered a mass uprising on the planet. Bereft of one of its twin "strongmen", the highly-centralized Dyarchy was unable to function since there was no one to give instructions. His sister Dromika had descended into a comatose state and Calician lacked the means to communicate with his fleet of battleships. The Dyarchy Fleet's warships were captained by Celegians and were intended to operate as an organic extension of the twin's planet-bound command. Without its centralized leadership, it could not function. This scene of chaos enabled Akadia's fleet to enter the Byllura system and easily wipe the fleet and occupy the capital city Hestobyll with minimal resistance. Arkadianate forces freed the enslaved Celegians and imposed a military occupation which heralded a transition to Arkadianate rule.

Narsk was present when Arkadianate soldiers executed the deposed Regent Calician who calmly accepted his demise. He later presented these findings in a report to his employer Arkadia who justified Calician's death due to his role as the mastermind who manipulated the twin's powers. During the battle, Arkadia's fleet also intercepted the Diligence and made contact with Kerra and Rusher, offering to provide help and shelter to their refugee passengers in exchange for handing over Quillan. The Diligence accompanied Arkadianate's war fleet back to her capital of Syned and the two parties formally met each other on the frozen surface on the outskirts of her capital Calimondretta.

The Jedi Woman
"This isn’t a concentration camp, Kerra. It’s civilization. An enlightened community, which will welcome your refugees."

- Arkadia during a conversation with Kerra

During this meeting, Arkadia met Kerra and Rusher, the two de-facto leaders of the Diligence. Arkadia stated that she was here to help and offered to give shelter for the refugees aboard the Diligence. She also requested that Lord Quillan of Byllura be handed over to her custody. Kerra was initially apprehensive until Arkadia revealed that Quillan was her brother and professed to care for the well-being of her younger brother. Kerra and Rusher quickly produced Quillan, who remained in a semi-catatonic state, and was accompanied by the teenaged Sullustan girl Tan Tengo and one of Rusher's mercenaries: the Duros Beadle Lubboon. Arkadia then took her visitors on a tour of her capital city Calimondretta. Syned had been recently colonized and Arkadia's city had been built within a series of connected ice calderas.

Compared to other Sith worlds like Darkknell and Byllura, Calimondretta and its citizens appeared to be more affluent and well-maintained. During the tour, Arkadia praised her guests for "making history" by helping her to bring about the defeat of the Dyarchy. She complimented Kerra by remarking that she was a destabilizing factor wherever she went in Sith Space. She also attributed her recent victory to its leader Quillan's dependence on using a physical linkage to maintain his power, since that linkage could be attacked. While touring Calimondretta's streets, Kerra also had a brief reunion with the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane, whom she had overpowered and subsequently helped to escape during an earlier mission to Darkknell, the capital of the Daimanate.

Kerra and Rusher learnt that Narsk was an independent operator who had been working for several different Sith Lords, and that he was "currently" working for Arkadia. Narsk also gave a brief report of the ongoing Arkadianate occupation of Byllura. He also revealed that Quillan's twin Dromika still remained on her mountain top home but was now under Arkadianate custody. Arkadia remarked that she had arranged for the twins to separated permanently due to the strong Force connection between them. With Dromika free from the domination of her twin brother Quillan, Arkadia expressed her hope that she could now have a better life. Arkadia also justified the execution of Regent Calician on the basis that he had been the mastermind who manipulated Quillan and Dromika to further his own grandiose ambitions of galactic domination.

Arkadia complimentated Kerra for inadvertently helping the Arkadianate cause by being a destabilizing force wherever she went in Sith Space. Narsk demands to have his stealth suit returned to him. She then allowed her to go on a tour of Calimondretta with the Herglic tour guide Seese. During the tour, Kerra became acquintated with ordinary life within the Arkadianate. While she liked Arkadia's socially progressive policies and the absence of violent coercion within her domain, Kerra felt uncomfortable about the former's policies of rotating people through different occupations throughout their lives. Meanwhile, the Sullustan student Tan was completely bought over by Arkadia's charismatic personality and "utopian" society particularly its well-run Promisoriums. Due to her impoverished background growing up in the Daimanate, Tan had little exposure to other parts of the galaxy. At one point, the teenaged Sullustan gave Arkadia a hug, which pleased the Sith Lord but caused Kerra to wince.

Arkadia saw this as an opportunity to promote a favorable image of her realm by inviting Tan to tell her friends aboard the Diligence about the supposedly ‘good life’ waiting for them in the Arkadianate. Arkadia also sent one of her Twi'lek assistants Warmalo to help Rusher replenish his stock of food for the refugees. Rusher himself was surprised by the wide variety of food available within the Arkadinate. Sensing that the Twi'lek had outlived his usefulness as a cargo worker, Arkadia had him reassgined to a new position as the director of metallurgical operations on Syned. When Kerra queried on whether the Twi'lek had any training in metallurgy, Arkadia merely replied that Warmalo had the same grounding she expected from all her people. She added that he had been working on the same assignment for three months and thought he could do more.

Arkadia justified her rotational policies on the pretext that she liked to instill the traits of flexibility and versatility among her subjects. She also claimed that constant revival was needed to ensure that a Sith Lord's rule lasted forever. Kerra quickly recognized that her policy of rotating everyone was an insurance policy that preserved her rule. Her more skilled underlings never became rivals because they were always having something new to do in order to maintain their place in society. While, Arkadia offered sanctuary to all the refugee students on Syned, Kerra still did not trust the Sith Lord. She sensed that Arkadia wanted to utilize her services in return for guaranteeing the safety of her student refugee charges. In the case of Rusher however, Arkadia was not interested in recruiting mercenary groups like Rusher's Brigade because she regarded their thinking as too narrow. Finally, Arkadia departed to prepare for a meeting at her museum in Calimondretta.

While Kerra remained aloof and suspicius of Arkadia, Rusher by contrast was completely taken in by Arkadia’s personality and utopian policies. He revealed that the Arkadianites had offered to provide a big icecrawler to transport the Diligence and all its passengers to Calimondretta, where they would be given refuge. He also argued that they should remain on Syned since they lacked any knowlege of reliable hyperspace routes that would allow them to travel back to the Republic safely. Kerra then criticized Rusher for her willingness to work for different Sith Lords. This led to a heated argument between the two erstwhile allies with Kerra arguing that Rusher should put his energies into working for the people. Rusher responded that he had to care for the lives and well-being of his crew and passengers. One of Arkadia’s Citizen Guards then interrupted their conversation to summon Kerra to participate in a meeting at the museum. Meanwhile, Rusher was instructed to wait outside for a meeting at Arkadia’s Museum. Brigadier Rusher is instructed to wait outside once he had finished work with the Arkadianate engineers. Kerra sensed that Arkadia had not asked for anything yet but has only given in. Before leaving for the meeting, Kerra instructed Rusher to look after the kids and his crew.

Personality and traits
Arkadia Calimondra was considered a charismatic and unorthodox leader by the standards of Sith Lords during the Republic Dark Age. Unlike most of her other relatives in the Calimondra family, Arkadia was known for her sense of logic which even attracted the admiration of her nominal opponents like Jedi Knight Kerra Holt and the mercenary leader Jarrow Rusher. Unlike her cousin Lord Odion, Arkadia was not given to carelessly listening to her emotions but instead preferred to resolve a problem through reasoning. She inherited these traits along with her frank and direct personality from her grandmother Vilia Calimondra, the family matriarch who had been responsible for initiating the protracted Charge Matrica conflicts among her descendants.

Arkadia was also a skilled and reassuring communicator who was able to induce a comfortable atmosphere while garnering their respect. Even her erstwhile opponents Kerra and Rusher had to concede that she had a serious and direct demeanour. Arkadia also had a friendly and approachable personality which caused some to lower their guard. The teenaged Sullustan refugee Tan Tengo liked her personality and reformist educational policies to the extent that she gave the Sith Lord a hug, which caused Kerra to wince. She also almost managed to convince her Jedi adversary Kerra that the society she had created was better than anything else in Sith space. However, Kerra was unwilling to trust her since she recognized that all Sith Lords including Arkadia herself crave power and domination at all costs. Despite her positive traits, Arkadia was still not above using anger, hate, murder, and other "dark side" emotions when the situation arose. One of Arkadia's true talents was deception. At her first meeting with Kerra, she pretended to genuinely care about the wellbeing of her younger brother Quillan&mdash;the former ruler of the Dyarchy which she had formally annexed. During a family Bequest session, Arkadia continue to maintain this charade by verbally agreeing to transport the adoloscent to a safe location in her grandmother's empire. In reality, Arkadia planned to assassinate both her grandmother and younger brother for the purposes of avenging the death of her father and to remove a rival claimant respectfully. However, this plot fell apart due to Kerra's unwillingness to serve as her pawn and the Bothan spy Narsk Ka'hane switching Quillan's nerve gas-laden repulsorlift chair for a different one.

Powers and abilities
Arkadia was skilled in the use of a double-bladed lightsaber, as well as Jar'Kai. Her weapons could be connected to each side of a staff and disconnected from it, if she wished it. Besides being skilled in lightsaber combat, Arkadia also was knowledgeable about contemporary galactic politics and economics, as shown when she concurred with her grandmother's assessment that corporations were valuable to the Sith war effort and should not be easily destroyed.

Behind the scenes
Arkadia Calimondra first appeared as a point-of-view character in John Jackson Miller's 2011 novel Knight Errant, where she plays an antagonistic role in the third section of the book as a 'benign' autocratic dictator. She plays a lesser role in the Knight Errant comic series though she has made cameo appearances in two issues of the Deluge story arc, which ran from August 17 to December 21, 2011. She was also briefly mentioned in passing in Star Wars: Knight Errant 15: Escape, Part 5, which debuted on October 10, 2012.

Appearances

 * Knight Errant
 * Star Wars: Knight Errant 6: Deluge, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knight Errant 10: Deluge, Part 5
 * Star Wars: Knight Errant 15: Escape, Part 5