Celeste Morne

"When you go hunting&mdash;send a hunter."

- Lucien Draay

Celeste Morne was a Human female who was a Jedi Knight serving the Jedi Covenant as a Shadow. As 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 Covenant's cause to prevent the rise of the Sith, which meant that only a few of the Covenant's members knew of her existence. She consented to this life of entire dedication to the Covenant's mission because she lost her home and family ties in the Great Sith War.

In 3,963 BBY the Covenant assigned her a mission to retrieve an ancient Sith artifact known as the Muur Talisman and to kill Jedi Padawan fugitive, Zayne Carrick. However, in the course of this mission she doubted Zayne's culpability in the Padawan Massacre of Taris and encountered the rampant Rakghoul plague, caused by the Muur Talisman, infecting the Mandalorian invasion force on Jebble.

As she struggled through the obstructions to her mission and her own doubts about Zayne, Celeste fell under the possession of the Muur Talisman. In order to protect the galaxy from herself, Celeste allowed Zayne to seal her in Dreypa's Oubliette, where she would remain until 19 BBY, whereupon the Sith Lord Darth Vader obtained the oubliette and released Celeste.

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

- Lucien Draay

After the destruction of Ossus, Celeste's family became homeless and wandered the galaxy for years until they fell apart. However, Celeste found herself a new family when she became a Shadow for the Jedi Covenant, a secret organization within the Jedi Order devoted to stopping the rise of the Sith in the galaxy following the end of the Great Sith War.

The Covenant erased her existence from Jedi Order rolls so that she would dedicate herself solely to her mission of finding and disposing Sith relics. She was known to have destroyed the last copy of the Epistle of Marka Ragnos, and recovered Jori Daragon's amulet and the Eye of Horak-mul on behalf of the Covenant.

Around 3,963 BBY a member of the Covenant's First WatchCircle, Lucien Draay, contacted her and gave her the task of finding the Muur Talisman on Taris, as well as eliminating former Jedi Padawan, Zayne Carrick. Unknown to Celeste, the year before, the First WatchCircle of the Covenant had acted on a prophecy, which led them to believe that one of their Padawans would fall to the dark side and thus they killed the students to prevent the return of the Sith. However, Lucien Draay's Padawan, Zayne Carrick, escaped, and to prevent the Covenant from being exposed, they placed the blame of the Padawan Massacre on Carrick. Zayne was now on Taris, so Celeste was in a perfect position to end two threats before the Covenant feared they would come together.

In the Taris Undercity, Celeste Morne came to the aid of Sector Constable Noana Sowrs under attack from rakghouls, deformed, mindless mutants which spread the Rakghoul plague with their bites. She managed to kill all of the rakghouls before they overwhelmed the former officer. However, Celeste discovered Sowrs was bitten and infected with the Rakghoul Plague and she cut Sowrs down as she mutated.

Shortly afterwards, Zayne and his companion, Marn "Gryph" Hierogryph, rushed passed her, chased by another horde of rakghouls, which she also quickly dispatched. The duo followed Celeste in the hopes that she would lead them offworld. However, she soon realized Zayne's identity, but not before they had fallen into a cavern occupied by Mandalorians, who had just acquired the Talisman. She strapped on a jetpack and flew after them to complete her mission.

In pursuit of the Muur Talisman
"I've got a job to do...and it just got a lot harder!"

- Celeste Morne

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

From her hiding place, Celeste 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 Zayne and Gryph in order to follow Pulsipher, but Zayne found Celeste and informed her that the Mandalorians were planning a raid on Alderaan.

Gryph, disguised as a Mandalorian, convinced Celeste and Zayne to pretend to be his captives - Joam and Hettie Hierogarl, the Taris Techno-Terror Twins - in order to allow the trio to pass the guards and enter the Ice Citadel turned temporary War Forge and center of the Mandalorian invasion force. Inside, Celeste determined that Zayne should warn Alderaan about the upcoming raid and and she would retrieve the Talisman. However, Gryph accidentally discharged his weapon causing a cave-in, which sent him careening down to a lower level of the War Forge, and alerted the Mandalorians from the Mar'eyce to their presence.

Before Celeste and Zayne could be taken hostage, one of the guards transformed into a Rakghoul, forcing the other guards to fire on their former comrade. Afterwards, the other guards also transformed into Rakghouls and Celeste noted the contrasting characteristics of these Rakghouls in comparison to the Rakghouls of Taris. These Rakghouls used weapons against Celeste and Zayne and appeared smarter and organized. After destroying them, Celeste and Zayne tried to find a way out and ran onto a balcony where they discovered that Jebble was not just a local War Forge or training center, but a staging area for invasion with all the recruits from the Outer Rim present about to become infected.

After sliding down the mountainside to escape, Zayne informed Celeste that the his Jedi Masters and Covenant members had framed him for the Padawan Massacre of Taris. Celeste pretended to be ignorant of the secret Covenant within the Jedi Order, though she ruined her feint when she let slip its' name - which Zayne had not mentioned to her. He realized that she had knowledge of the clandestine sect, though fortunately for Celeste he continued to remain unaware of her connection to it.

Before Zayne contacted his friends in route from Alderaan, Celeste contacted Lucien Draay to inform him about the impending invasion of Alderaan and the Rakghoul plague. Lucien ordered her to stop the invasion and to kill the fugitive Padawan. Celeste questioned the order to kill Zayne, but Draay reminded her of her family's past and of the Sith War. Whilst Zayne's back was turned, she activated her lightsaber to kill him, but stopped when he contacted Cassus Fett to warn him about the plague. Celeste realized that Zayne wasn't just trying to save the Republic worlds, but Mandalorian ones as well, making it difficult for her to justify killing him while he performed such a selfless act.



After completing the transmission, Zayne went off to rescue Gryph back at the War Forge and shortly thereafter Celeste followed. She managed to find Zayne, restrained by Pulsipher, and under attack from the Muur Talisman itself. Celeste attempted to pry it away from Zayne, but he protested, suggesting that he might be able to stop the plague from spreading if he controlled the Talisman. Instead, Celeste ordered it to come to her, informing it that she was a Jedi. The Talisman released itself from Zayne and attacked Celeste, binding itself to her neck. Celeste encountered a vision of the Talisman's creator, Karness Muur, who informed her that he was the future and that she was under his power. When Celeste managed to climb to her feet, she discovered that she commanded the rakghouls.

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

- Celeste Morne

It quickly became obvious what was happening to Celeste. She became corrupted by the Talisman and began to use its power to manipulate the Rakghouls into killing the Mandalorians and cause further infection on Jebble. Zayne was appalled by her indifference as the Rakghouls tore the soliders apart; the recently returned Gryph then revealing to him that Celeste was an agent for the Covenant and for Krynda Draay, Lucien's mother. Celeste became enraged at them for questioning her devotion to the Draay family and the Covenant and turned on them. As she prepared to deal with them, Zayne informed her that she was only assisting the Sith, the faction she and the Covenant had sworn to protect the Galaxy against by expanding the growing Rakghoul army. Celeste managed to break free from the Talisman's control long enough to ask that Zayne strike her down. However, he found he could not kill her; remembering that another solution to their problem existed...

Zayne took Celeste to Pulsipher's laboratory to have her temporarily sealed inside Dreypa's oubliette, which would contain the Muur Talisman's influence. Celeste willing did so and asked him to take her to the planet Odryn, into the Sanctum of the Exalted using her key. She hoped that there, Covenant researchers, experts in Sith artifacts, might be able to help her. Before sealing the oubliette, Celeste told Zayne that she believed that he had not killed the Padawans of Taris and ordered him to reach Krynda Draay in order to stop the corruption of the Covenant. After closing the oubliette, Zayne and Gryph managed to make their way to higher ground, but became surrounded by Rakghouls before the Moomo Williwaw, carrying Jarael, Alek, Rohlan, Slyssk, Shel, and the Moomo Brothers, made a timely arrival and rescued them.

However, Zayne was not yet ready to leave, insisting that they return and retrieve Celeste. Just then, Cassus Fett's fleet arrived in the system. At first Zayne believed them to be landing, but they instead fired nuclear warheads onto the surface, destroying the citadel with Celeste still inside. He was devastated at the loss of Celeste, but felt motivated again to stopping the Covenant. The first course of action would be to travel to Odyrn and use the key Celeste had given him, and Jarael would pose as Celeste to gain access to the Sanctum.

Emergence from stasis
"How long? How long were we...was I...inside?"

- Celeste Morne

However, Celeste was not dead, but still in stasis inside the impregnable oubliette, where she remained for almost 3,950 years until around 19 BBY. 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 Uhumele. The captain, Schurk-Heren, planned to sell the oubliette and Celeste to Fane Peturri, however Peturri informed the Sith Lord Darth Vader of the deal. Without hesitation, Vader sliced open the oubliette and Celeste awoke, disoriented and confused, along with the Muur Talisman still attached to her and the presence of the spirit of Karness Muur. Upon questioning Peturri, she learned that the Sith, not the Mandalorians, had overthrown the Republic and now ruled the galaxy. In her rage upon this discovery she engaged in a duel against Vader who told her to embrace her anger, fear, self-loathing and the dark side.

Personality and traits
"Zayne, leave murdereena alone."

- Marn Hierogryph

Celeste's constant dedication to the Covenant's goals and her visits to many of the galaxy's nastier places formed a rough personality. She found the presence of Zayne and Gryph highly annoying and regularly threw them insults. However, Celeste began to doubt her orders when she witnessed Zayne go out of his way to protect Cassus Fett's Mandalorian Army from the rakghoul plague.

Behind the scenes
Celeste is the Spanish word for a light blue color.

'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.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Vector
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Exalted
 * Star Wars Dark Times: Vector
 * Star Wars Rebellion: Vector