Sev'rance Tann

Sev'rance Tann was a female Chiss Dark Acolyte and General in the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

She was favored by Count Dooku as both a strategist and powerful Force-user. Sev'rance served often on the front lines in the early days of the Clone Wars, breaking the usual precedent of the "hilltop general" and providing a counter to the Jedi, who also led from the front.

Biography
Both Tann and her lover, the bounty hunter Vandalor, had been retrieved from Chiss space on behalf of Palpatine. It was believed that Thrawn was the one to arrange for her to enter Palpatine's service, possibly in order to allow her to escape a dangerous situation on Csilla.

It is said of her that once when she was a young student at the Chiss Academy a professor challenged her to turn a group of creatures, said to be un-trainable, into an army. Tann accepted the challenge; she began by choosing one of the creatures to be her General, to whom she taught several rudimentary commands. When this general and his men laughed at her, she had the general put to death in front of the troops and had a new general take his place. From that point on the creatures followed her orders without question and she was given high marks.

Until her death early in the war, she served as the top military officer in the Confederacy, holding more personal sway with Dooku than even General Grievous. Tann reported to Dooku personally, and Dooku's high opinion of her may suggest that she outranked Dooku's other Dark Acolytes prior to her death. Since the Force was unknown among the Chiss of her homeworld at that time, Dooku likely trained her personally.

Tann first publicly appeared on Geonosis as an escort for Dooku. As the Battle of Geonosis began in earnest, Tann led a unit to clear a canyon path that served as an escape route for Dooku. On this mission, she met the young and eager Padawan Stam Reath, apprenticed to Jedi Master Echuu Shen-Jon, and there followed a short battle between them, concluding with Tann slaying Reath. She used Echuu’s pain at the loss of Stam to escape the field.



Shortly after the battle, Dooku dispatched Tann to the Kaer Orbital Platform near Tatooine to rebuild the droid army shattered at Geonosis. Using the resources and machinery of the abandoned InterGalactic Banking Clan facility, Tann built a new droid army and defeated investigating Republic General Jor Drakas before leaving the platform for Tatooine. On Tatooine, Tann parlayed with Boorka the Hutt for information on a new Republic weapon system in exchange for disrupting the Republic spaceport that had moved in on Hutt trade. After establishing a base in the Mos Osnoe area, Tann crushed the Republic and Jedi forces protecting the spaceport, erected a Confederacy fortress in its place and subjugated the local populace that supported the Republic. Pleased with her work, Boorka informed Tann of the Republic's Decimator weapon being built on Eredenn.

Sev'rance and her droid army descended upon Eredenn, crushing Eredenn Station and the two Decimator test sites, and capturing the Decimator technology. With the vehicles in stow, Sev'rance led her forces to the moon Alaris Prime to acquire the activation codes required by a failsafe system built into the weapons. After defeating the Wookiee forces in the Battle of Alaris Prime, Dooku ordered Sev'rance to the Sarapin system in order to capture the volcanic world of Sarapin, home to an important power production center.



Sev'rance slipped through the tight security network of Sarapin and, using the newly acquired Decimator, captured the world for the Confederacy, killing General Drakas in the process. Victorious, Tann left Zian Finnis to defend Mount Corvast, and left Sarapin.

A counterattack finally came in the form of Echuu Shen-Jon and his new Padawan, Naat Reath. Together they scored victories over Sev'rance's forces, before she was able to capture Naat and take her to Krant. Echuu followed, seeking revenge for Stam and desiring to rescue Naat. Sev'rance, upon her fortress being breached, issued an ultimatum. She told Echuu that he would face her alone, or she would execute Naat. Echuu agreed to face Tann and killed her in a brief duel, rescuing Naat and ending a major threat to the Republic. Tann's actions, however, drove Echuu extremely close to the dark side of the Force, and he left the Republic and Jedi Order to meditate on his actions.

Shortly after Tann's death, her lover, Vandalor, was killed by Anakin Skywalker on Metalorn.

Traits
Tann had blue-black hair, which she kept long. She wore a black outfit resembling Dooku’s, complete with a flowing black cape. She carried a yellow-bladed lightsaber and used a combat form similar to Form II.

Tann was incredibly loyal to Dooku and, as evidenced by her many victories, was an accomplished strategist. Perhaps the result of her Jedi abilities but whatever the reason Tann seemed to have been able to foresee her enemy's moves and respond to them in turn.

Behind the scenes
Sev'rance Tann was voiced by Paula Killen in the game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.

In Clone Campaigns, General Sev'rance Tann is identified as the leader of the Separatist Droid Army; thus, it seems to have been established that Grievous inherited the position of Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies from Tann upon her death on Krant at the hand of Jedi Master Echuu Shen-Jon. However, no other source has given Tann the title.

Tann's line, "So we meet again, Jedi Master. It seems there isn't a Padawan you possess that I cannot take away from you" (quoted above) appears to be a reference to a similar line spoken by Rene Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark: "Dr. Jones. Again, we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away."

Audio clips
[[Media:tann.ogg|Hear Sev'rance Tann]] (Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns) [[Media:tann2.ogg|Hear Sev'rance Tann 2]] (Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns)

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns