Djinn Altis

"Every student is obliged to make one-thousand-eighty major mistakes. The sooner you make them, the sooner you will not have to make them anymore. Thinking there's a list of mistakes is mistake number four."

―Djinn Altis^[2]

Djinn Altis was a male Human Jedi Master who served the Jedi Order during the waning years of the Galactic Republic. During the Clone Wars, Djinn headed the Altisian Jedi sect, a split faction of Jedi who did not follow the Jedi High Council but continued to serve the Republic.

Biography[]

Early life[]

A Force-sensitive Human male, Djinn Altis was discovered by the Jedi Order at an early age and instructed in the ways of the Force at the Coruscant Jedi Temple. Attaining the rank of Jedi Knight, Djinn Altis began to develop a philosophy that differed from the Jedi High Council's interpretation of the Jedi Code. Believing that individuals of any age could be trained in the ways of the Force, Altis also had disdain for the rule regarding the amount of Padawans a Jedi could take. Most radical of all was his belief in the institution of marriage, believing that attachments should be encouraged among Jedi as long as they were kept in check. Despite his somewhat radical beliefs, Altis ascended to the rank of Jedi Master, and at some point discovered a young Callista Masana on the world of Chadra.^[3]

As a Master, Altis opened a mobile academy called the Chu'unthor sometime around 35 BBY, aboard which he taught his beliefs to all those who would listen. Believed by some to be a wise instructor and by many more to be a crazed old heretic, Altis gathered a following of pupils who came to be known collectively as the Altisian Jedi by the Coruscant-trained members of the Order. There, he educated his students in not only the techniques taught to mainstream Jedi, but also powers thought of as arcane or heretical; such as the ability to preserve one's consciousness after death by transferring it to an inanimate object. Hiding the ship in the clouds of Bespin, Altis married a local Bespin woman named Margani, encouraging his acolytes to do the same.^[1]

The Clone Wars[]

When the Clone Wars erupted between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, Master Altis and his followers granted aid to the Republic and the Order which cast them out. Among the Jedi who fought alongside the Republic were Masana, Geith Eris, Ash Jarvee, and Altis himself. Altis, who believed the Force had called upon him and his students to help defend the Republic, had a shaky relationship with the Council during the war, agreeing to help as long as they were not forced to give up their beliefs. Setting out aboard the Wookiee Gunner, the Altisian Jedi sought to bring humanitarian aid across the Outer Rim Territories. During one such mission to Yarille, Altis and his compatriots were summoned by the Force to aid a young Republic Intelligence agent Hallena Devis who was stranded on JanFathal. Combining forces with a Padawan named Ahsoka Tano and Torrent Company, Altis and Tano were able to extract Devis with as little bloodshed as possible, though to Altis's horror, he found that the clone troopers often demonstrated a ruthless nature. During this time, Altis also met with Tano's master, Anakin Skywalker, offering refuge should the High Council ever expel him for his secret marriage to the Senator of the Chommell sector, Padmé Amidala.^[1]

Following the conflict on JanFathal, Altis and his people returned to their original mission to Yarille and were horrified by the destruction wrought there in their absence. Rejecting the war, Altis and his people set out to end it as soon as possible.

The Dark Times[]

When Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of the Republic issued Contingency Order 66 to the Grand Army of the Republic, declaring all Jedi to be traitors to the New Order, the Jedi Order was effectively destroyed and the Altisians went underground. Because they did not often work side-by-side with the Grand Army and its clones, most Altisians survived the initial attacks and were able to rendezvous on Bespin. Altis remained in contact with several surviving Jedi, including Masters Plett and Iri Camas.^[4] In time, he was contacted by the Mandalorians, who despite their age-old feud with the Jedi Order had taken in several survivors on their homeworld. Altis dealt with a man named Kal Skirata, and was able to bring Kina Ha and Arligan Zey back to the Chu'unthor, though a young Jedi named Scout decided that she'd rather stay with the Mandalorians.

Legacy[]

Though Altis would not live to see it, his student Callista Masana would go on to use his training to preserve her consciousness for decades, and ultimately meet the founding members of the New Jedi Order.

Behind the scenes[]

The reference to Altis's death on Dathomir is based on a somewhat confusing passage in Darksaber where Luke refers to the original Chu'unthor as though it was Altis's ship. His "maverick" behavior is largely a retroactive continuity fix to explain why Callista's Jedi training differed from the norms established in the prequel trilogy.