Revanchist

"Do not heed the words of the Jedi Council. The Republic will fall if we do not act now. Already the Mandalorians have taken three systems along the Rim. They will only grow more powerful with time. Come stand with me. We will use our might to help the Republic in its time of need. Join Revan and I. Together, we will battle this menace."

- Malak

The Revanchists, also known as the Jedi Crusaders, were a renegade faction of the Jedi Order who assisted the Galactic Republic during the Mandalorian Wars. In 3964 BBY, the movement was founded by the Jedi Knight Revan, who wished to take a more proactive role against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. Under Revan's leadership, the Revanchist Jedi went against the Jedi Council's wishes and participated in scouting missions on the Outer Rim. In the following year, Revan uncovered the truth of the Mandalorian's genocide of the Cathar people. Although the Jedi Council did not give the Revanchists their full support, they begrudgingly allowed the Revanchists to join the Republic Military under the banner of a Republic Mercy Corps.

During the war, the Revanchists, under the leadership of Revan and his friend and fellow Jedi Knight Malak, led the Republic to victory in numerous battles. In 3960 BBY, the Jedi ultimately defeated the Mandalorians at the war's final battle at Malachor V. However, most of the Revanchists that were not killed during the battle fell to the dark side of the Force over the course of the next year. These Jedi followed Revan and Malak, now the new Dark Lords of the Sith, under their new Sith Empire. The two Sith Lords declared war on the Jedi Council and the Republic, initiating the Jedi Civil War. Three years later, Darth Malak was defeated by Revan, who was redeemed by the Jedi Council, and Malak's Sith Empire was defeated at Rakata Prime.

The Mandalorian Wars
"Several years ago, when the Mandalorian threat first arose, Revan and Malak were eager to journey to the Outer Rim to defeat the enemy of the Republic. But the Council felt it best if we moved with care and caution. The true threat, the Council feared, had not yet revealed itself. But Revan would not be dissuaded. Charismatic and powerful, it was inevitable many of the Order would flock to Revan's seemingly noble cause. Malak was the first to join his closest friend. Others soon followed, many of our youngest and brightest, intent on saving the galaxy from the Mandalorian threat."

- Zhar Lestin

In 3964 BBY, during the Outer Rim skirmishes between the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and the Galactic Republic, a young and charismatic Jedi Knight named Revan moved throughout the Jedi Order, arguing his case for Jedi intervention in the war. At the start he was considered a lone voice among the Jedi, although he eventually gathered something of a following. The first Jedi to join his cause was his closest friend Alek, who aided Revan in the recruitment of Jedi to their cause. The Revanchists, who were also known as the Jedi Crusaders, began to gather and scout the looming Mandalorian threat on the Outer Rim without the Jedi High Council's support, as the Mandalorian and Republic fleets battled ineffectually within the neutral Republic frontier.

On their way to the Outer Rim, Revan and his Jedi stopped on the planet Taris in hopes of recruiting more Jedi from the local Jedi temple. While there, Alek, Revan's longtime friend and honorary apprentice, attempted to recruit a Padawan named Zayne Carrick. After Alek rescued Carrick when the Padawan was freefalling in the Tarisian cityscape after a failed attempt to apprehend the Snivvian black marketeer Marn Hierogryph, the two had a conversation about the war, in which he tried unsuccessfully to recruit the Padawan. Carrick mentioned that the Jedi Masters on Taris, especially his Master Lucien Draay, did not think the Jedi should be involved in the Republic's war with the Mandalorians, and that the Masters taught him and his fellow students that the Jedi were supposed to defend the Republic against the Sith. Alek told Carrick that sometimes one had to enter the darkness to save the light, and then stated that the Sith threat was dealt with decades ago.

While Revan went to investigate events on Onderon and its moon Dxun, most of the Revanchists, including Alek, were captured on the planet Suurja before its fourth battle by the Neo-Crusaders. They were taken to Flashpoint Station, an abandoned Republic research station that the Mandalorians had captured. The Revanchists became test subjects of a sadistic Mandalorian scientist named Demagol, who was attempting to divine the source and nature of the Jedi's Force abilities, hoping to negate and/or replicate them. The Revanchists were rescued by fugitive Jedi Zayne Carrick&mdash;who had been framed for the Padawan Massacre of Taris by Carrick's Master and Revan's associate Lucien Draay&mdash; and Mandalorian turncoat Rohlan Dyre, who had come to rescue the female Arkanian offshoot Jarael. The group of Revanchists headed back to Republic space with the unconscious Demagol.

Later on the planet Cathar, as they were searching for evidence of the Mandalorian's slaughter of the Cathar people, Revan, Alek, and their followers felt the deaths of thousands on Serroco as the Mandalorians rained nuclear warheads on the surface of the planet Serroco. A short time later, Revan, along with the Republic admiral Saul Karath and the Mandalorian leader Mandalore the Ultimate, was invited to bid on the exogorth superweapons that the Adascorp leader Arkoh Adasca was selling. Alek, who had been instructed by Revan to take this potential threat "out of the mix", represented the Revanchists in place of Revan, who remained on Cathar to find evidence of the Mandalorian's massacre of the Cathar people.

Revelation on Cathar
"They were beaten! You didn't have to do it! One of you knew, but you didn't listen! I don't know your name&mdash;but I take up your cause. I will not remove your mask until there is justice&mdash;until the Mandalorians have been defeated once and for all. So swears&hellip;Revan!"

- Revan, after the vision of the Mandalorians slaughtering the Cathar

Sometime after the Adasca affair, the Taris Siege, and the bombardment of Jebble, the Jedi Master Lucien Draay, a member of a secret Jedi cabal called the Covenant, was appointed to the Jedi Council. Draay claimed recent Republic intelligence reports indicated there was a blow to the Mandalorian's plans of conquest, seemingly by an insurrection in their ranks. He stated that the "interventionist" path sought by Revan was wrong both for the Jedi and the Republic. The Council approved Draay's motion which ordered the recall, or even detention, of the Revanchists. After Alek, who was going by the alias "Malak" in order to avoid the warrant for his arrest, testified against the Covenant on behalf of the fugitive Jedi Zayne Carrick, he was sent back to Revan and his Jedi with a final warning. He went under protest, telling the Arkanian female Jarael that he would remain "Malak" until there was an end to the war's suffering.

When Malak arrived on Cathar, the Jedi Master and High Council member Vrook Lamar and a group of Jedi went to the planet to confront Revan, Malak, and the Revanchists. Lamar and the Jedi told Revan that the Mandalorians were not worth the Jedi's aid in the war, and ordered the Revanchists to disband permanently. During the discussion, Revan found and picked up a helmet, when some light shone on it, all the Jedi experienced a vision of the Mandalorians driving the Cathar out to the sea. They witnessed a Mandalorian female, who had owned the helmet now in Revan's hands, pleaded with Cassus Fett, Mandalore's primary strategist, to spare the Cathar, arguing that they had been beaten. However, Fett was intent on gaining revenge for what the Cathar had done to them during the Great Sith War, and ordered the Cathar's genocide.

After the vision ended, Revan became enraged, shouting that the Mandalorians did not have to kill them, since they were beaten, and that while the Mandalorian female recognized this, the other Mandalorians refused to listen to her. He then donned the mask, swearing to take up the Mandalorian female's cause and not remove the mask until the Mandalorians had been defeated. Although the truth of what happened on Cathar was known, the Jedi still did not give Revan and Malak their full support. However, Revan managed to organize the Revanchists under the banner of a Republic mercy corps. The Jedi Council allowed Revan, Malak, and the Revanchists to participate in the Mandalorian Wars. Both Malak and Revan were promoted to the rank of general. The revelation of what occurred on Cathar also convinced many more Jedi to join the Revanchists.

The final battles
"Revan and Malak were heroes, the great saviors of the Republic."

- Dorak

The Revanchists quickly became vital to the Republic's war effort. Revan and Malak proved to be capable commanders in the field and swiftly rose through the ranks, with Revan's tactics and Malak's righteous fury unmatched. Revan, who had been given full operational control of the Republic's forces, used his newly found authority to spearhead the Republic war effort and under his leadership, the all–but–defeated Republic Navy began to push the Mandalorians back. However, at some point during the Mandalorian Wars, Revan and Malak found a Rakatan Star Map in the ancient burial mounds near the Dantooine Jedi Enclave. After successfully passing the "trials" set for them by the guard droid that had been left behind by the so called "builders," they were given access to the Star Map. Moments before they went beyond the door that led to the dark side artifact, however, Malak warned Revan that stepping beyond this threshold would mean that they could never return to the Jedi Order. Whether or not Revan considered this, or even cared, as he paced in front of the sealed door is unknown; but if he had any doubts, he swiftly cast them aside. At some point during the latter part of the Mandalorian Wars, during the Kanz Disorders, the Revanchists raided an isolated slave colony on Lorrd II, the second moon of Lorrd. They freed the slave population on the moon. However, this was not done out of a sense of justice, rather, this was to acquire Lorrdian gemstones for use in lightsaber construction, because the gemstones were imprinted with the Force. It was said that the Lorrdian gemstones allowed the wielder to anticipate a sentient being's actions.

Later during the wars, in the year 3961 BBY, Revan found another Star Map on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. Sometime after he found the Kashyyyk Star Map, Revan discovered the ancient Sith world of Malachor V, which was considered taboo to the Mandalorians. On its surface, Revan was quickly assaulted by the destructive dark side energies that permeated the world, yet through the strength of his will, Revan was able to withstand the dark power without succumbing to it. Soon thereafter, Revan stumbled upon the Trayus Academy, an abandoned training center built by the ancient Sith Empire. While unearthing the planet's buried secrets, Revan learned the location and significance of the planet Korriban, the homeworld of the ancient Sith species.

In the year 3960 BBY, Revan forced a final battle with the Mandalorians over Malachor V. Revan dueled Mandalore the Ultimate on the planet's surface, but learned from his defeated enemy that the Mandalore had been influenced by a group of Sith to attack the Republic. After he defeated Mandalore, he forced the surviving Mandalorians to surrender, ordering his forces to dismantle their weapons and Basilisk war droids. Revan also denied the Mandalorians their fallen leader's ancestral mask, denying the vanquished force the right to choose a new leader. Revan condemned the Mandalorians to perpetual exile, causing many to become bounty hunters, bodyguards, and mercenaries. Revan and Malak followed Mandalore's instructions to the planet Rekkiad, where they discovered the tomb of the Sith Lord Dramath the Second. From the Sith's Dramath the Second's datacron, the pair learned of the "true" Sith Empire, and left Mandalore's mask in the sarcophagus while they departed for this new enemy. However, Revan and Malak were broken by the Sith Emperor, who sent the pair back to the Republic to prepare for his invasion. Revan and Malak would break free of their conditioning, but they were still corrupted&mdash;they established their own Sith Empire and rediscovered the ancient Rakatan superweapon known as the Star Forge. With the exception of Meetra Surik, the Human female who would later be known as the Jedi Exile, most of the Revanchist Jedi who survived the battle became Sith, serving the empire of their former leaders. Revan and Malak, who had each taken the "Darth" title, declared war on the Jedi Council and the Galactic Republic that they once sought to defend.

Legacy
"Despite the Mandalorians' brutal aggression, the Council decreed that no Jedi should take part in the fight. As the war grew worse, however, a splinter group of rebels formed within the order, determined to rally to the Republic's defense. The splinter group was led by Revan and Malak. Joining Onasi and the rest of the Republic's troops, Revan and Malak turned the war around."

- Jedi Master Gnost Dural reflects on the Revanchists' involvement in the Mandalorian Wars

Shortly after Revan redeemed himself by defeating Malak and his Sith Empire, he left for the Unknown Regions to search for the reconstituted remnants of the Sith Empire, which both he and Malak encountered after the Mandalorian Wars. Approximately three centuries after Malak's death, the True Sith Empire that Revan went to battle launched an attack on the Republic. This ignited a war that lasted for decades until the Sith Emperor signed a treaty with the Republic. Images of members of the Revanchist organization were featured in two holodocumentaries produced by the Kel Dor Jedi archivist Gnost-Dural for the Jedi Archives.

Members
The Jedi who joined Revan experienced regular interaction with the Republic military, sharing the mess halls, battleships, and front lines. While the Revanchists were hailed as heroes by the Republic and its citizens, some of those Jedi abandoned the war when they saw how thoughtlessly Revan approached the dark side. Others were spies that were commissioned by the Jedi Council to report on Revan and his Jedi's actions. When Revan set off to challenge the invading Mandalorians, Revan's closest friend Malak was the first to join his cause. The Jedi Master Arren Kae, who had trained Revan, joined her former Padawan in his war effort against the Mandalorians. The Jedi Cariaga Sin, Nisotsa, Talvon Esan, and Xaset Terep were all recruited by Malak, along with Meetra Surik, the human female who would eventually come to be known as the Jedi Exile. Other Jedi who were a part of the Revanchist organization included Cale Berkona, Ferroh, Duqua Dar, Acaadi, Voren Renstaal, an Ithorian Jedi, and the Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell's Padawan.

Apparel
The Revanchists typically garbed themselves in traditional Jedi robes, which they supplemented with armor plating, similar to that worn by the Republic's soldiers. Double-bladed lightsabers were in great vogue amongst the Revanchists, with many of the renegade Jedi taking advantage of the increased kill power afforded to them by the weapon's twin blades.

Behind the scenes
The Revanchists were first mentioned indirectly in BioWare's 2003 Xbox and PC video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, as part of the backstory for the events in the game. The organization were featured prominently in the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series, written by John Jackson Miller and published by Dark Horse Comics. The group was first identified as such in "The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition," which was featured in the comic series' fifteenth issue. Further details on the Revanchists were featured in Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force and the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide. The organization received two separate entries in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, under the names "Revanchists" and "Jedi Crusaders." Images of Jedi affiliated with the Revanchist organization were featured in the eighth and ninth entries of the Galactic Timeline, an online video series created to elaborate upon the background for the upcoming PC video game Star Wars: The Old Republic. The entries, titled The Jedi Civil War and The Mandalorian Wars, respectively, are available through The Holonet section of The Old Republic official website.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 0: Crossroads
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 8: Flashpoint, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 10: Flashpoint, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 14: Days of Fear, Part 2
 * "The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition" – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 15: Days of Fear, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 18: Nights of Anger, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic: Daze of Hate
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 22: Knights of Suffering, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
 * "Galactic Republic Defense Ministry Daily Brief KD0092" – Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 24: Knights of Suffering, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 28: Vector, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 29: Exalted, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 31: Turnabout
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 32: Vindication, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 35: Vindication, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 42: Masks
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 46: Destroyer, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 47: Demon, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 48: Demon, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 49: Demon, Part 3
 * The Betrayal of Darth Revan
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * The Old Republic: Revan
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Timeline 8: The Jedi Civil War
 * Timeline 9: The Mandalorian Wars
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic
 * Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd
 * Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd