Terentateks were large, powerful creatures whose diet consisted primarily of Force-sensitive blood. Often found in locations where the dark side was strong, terentareks would hibernate for millennia until awakened by the strengthening of the dark side. They were fierce combatants, possessing tough hides and poisonous claws.
Source: The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic (Art: Arnie Jorgensen; 2011)
First Appearance: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
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We have to spend the night on Tatooine, because when we get there it’s pretty late. The Czerka office is closed, the only thing open is the cantina. I saw Carth and Canderous head off in that direction. I told Carth I’d lock the ship down for the night. I know how to do that, at least, even if I can’t actually fly the thing.
I closed the engine vents almost as soon as we landed. I don’t want to be grounded here for an hour trying to clean them like last time. I want to get Griff the tach glands and go. No idea which planet I want to go to next. Manaan or Korriban. I don’t really know anything about either planet. I’d been on Tatooine before - not for long, but I’d been. And everyone’s heard of Wookiees and knows they’re from Kashyyyk. But Korriban is in the opposite direction from the planets I did my scouting on, and Manaan’s closer to the core than I’ve ever been. (I know, it’s hard to believe I never went to Coruscant. I never needed to. It wouldn’t have been cost effective to the Republic to bring us in that far just to send us back out to the Outer Rim. No, our orders got transmitted.) I don’t know much about either planet. If I didn’t know about the Star Maps, I wouldn’t know anything about them.
I reach into my back pocket for my datapad - maybe there’s some information in there that I didn’t pay attention to - and I find a second datapad. There’s mine, which all things considered is in pretty good shape. And the other, which has moss growing on it, a cracked screen - I forgot I’d picked it up on Kashyyyk when we fought the Great Beast. This, a circlet, and a lightsaber. Right.
Well, I’m not doing anything right now, and it’s too early to go to bed. So I curl up in the engine room. Might as well read it.
It’s a personal journal, belonging to one Guun Han Saresh. It goes back a long time, at least twenty years before the final entry. From what I read, I know Guun Han was a prideful man. Which isn’t surprising, because there’s a number of references to his wealthy Tarisian family. Even Jedi training can’t quell the ego of little rich kids, it would seem. His father commissioned the circlet for him. It has benefits, so says Guun Han, but no Dark Jedi could ever take advantage of those benefits. If nothing else, it’s cute, the circlet. Modest, but sort of fashionable? I mean, what would I know about fashion, I’m usually happily covered in dirt, but I think it’s cute. I’ll give it a shot when I face Malak. I think I’m a light side Jedi. I’m a nice person, if that means anything.
Guun Han’s journal also talks about the war with Exar Kun. Exar Kun was well before my time, I was just a kid when the war ended, it didn’t really concern me. But Guun Han was living it. He talks about friends and fellow Padawans leaving the Order, following Exar Kun to the Dark Side. Guun Han fought in the war, and helped to rebuild when it ended. The journal starts to get interesting when it talks about an animal called the terentatek. He doesn’t say much about what they are, or much of anything about them. Only that they killed Jedi and the Jedi set out to kill them in turn. I have no idea when they stopped or how many they killed when they sent Guun Han to look for more.
Not just Guun Han, though. He mentions a bunch of times before the terentatek even comes up, his two best friends, Duran Qel-Droma and Shaela Nur. The Council sent the three of them off together, apparently on the grounds of their devotion to the light. Which didn’t do anything to help Guun Han’s ego.
But he also mentions a bond between the three of them, a lot like the bond Bastila and I have, I guess. He talks about knowing what the others thought, felt, dreamt about, and that they knew the same about him.
And from there it sort of… devolves. As the entries go on, Guun Han starts to sound angrier, and he’s a lot less verbose. He also starts to sound a tad paranoid. He acts like he was the leader of the group but I get the feeling Duran and Shaela felt differently.
The last entry feels quite derailed and angry: “Duran and Shaela have given in to their passion for each other, and are doomed to fall to the dark side. I tried to warn them against expressing their love, but they called me arrogant and accused me - ME! - of being the one on the dark path. I left the fools on Korriban.” His first mistake. “But I am not about to abandon the mandate given me by the Jedi Council. I will destroy the terentatek wherever I find them. I have heard rumors such a beast may exist in the Shadowlands of Kashyyyk.” Must be the Great Beast. “I shall go there and slay the beast, proving that I do not need either Duran or Shaela with me to defeat these creatures!” And his last mistake.
I don’t know anything about terentateks, but I know the one we apparently took out was not a one-person job. Guun Han was an idiot for thinking he could take one out on his own. But my thoughts keep drifting to Duran and Shaela. I don’t know why, I have only third-person information about them. Maybe I’m just getting anxious about the whole love thing. Who do I trust about this? Out of the four people I’ve talked to about it, three of them are very vehemently against Jedi love. Master Zhar wasn’t vocally vehement about it, but he tried to steer me away from it. Bastila’s… well, been Bastila about it. And Guun Han felt strongly enough about it to leave his friends behind. Jolee’s the only one who’s been cool about it. And I don’t know what his motivations are or where his views come from for sure. I just have hunches. I don’t think he would actively try to mislead me or hurt me, but I don’t know a whole hell of a lot about him. I don’t know. I just don’t know. I don’t like not knowing. And the first thing I want to know is more about these terentatek things. I just killed something that maybe wasn’t a natural predator, not if there’s also one on Korriban and they’re still the same animal.
“Rena?” Bastila comes in. I didn’t even hear her. “Are you all right?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah,” I say, “Just got a lot going on in my head. I’m okay.”
She looks sideways at Guun Han’s datapad. “What are you reading?”
I put it away. “Nothing. Just a datapad I picked up.” She’s got a feeling coming off her, that wasn’t the only question she came in here with. “You’re curious about something?”
She sighs shortly. “Am I so transparent?” she says, coming further into the engine room. I stand up and lean against the engine. “I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, considering our bond. Yes, there is something I would like to ask, if you'll permit it.”
“Yeah, sure, go for it,” I shrug.
“In our time together I've been watching you.” Oh, really, because I’m--? “No, not because I’m attracted to you, honestly, Rena, and I would prefer not to joke at the moment.” Okay, no problem. “You are a true servant of the light, you follow the tenets of the Jedi Order despite the lure of the Dark Side. And with so little training. For me it has always been a constant battle. Don't you find it difficult at all? You make it seem so easy. Or is that only an illusion?”
I shrug again. “I don’t know, I guess I don’t think about it much.”
“You don't?” she repeats, “Sometimes I find that it is nearly all I can think of. I have never found the Jedi training easy to master.” She sighs and leans on the wall. “I've always struggled for control over my passions. I've always been too quick to anger, too quick to get involved.” I can believe that. “My instructors constantly berated me for it. I've often dreamed that I might be able to confront Darth Malak myself. I dream I can use all this power I have to kill him and stop all the death and destruction. I just think about all the evil that the Sith have caused and I... I get so furious! Yet we are told that these feelings are the path to the Dark Side.”
“Well, we might disagree on the love thing, but we definitely agree there. Anger leads to hate, hate is definitely the Dark Side,” I say, “But, I don’t know, if that’s what it would take to take out Malak, then maybe it would be worth it. That kind of evil…”
“But what comes next?” she interrupts, “After using all that power, would you decide to impose your own view on the universe? The Dark Side corrupts your very thoughts! The very thought that I could become as evil as Malak… I just can't fathom it. It just doesn't seem possible! How could I…?” Then she stops. Completely changes her train of thought. “No, wait.” What? “I'm sorry. I shouldn't even be asking you this. The Jedi teachings are clear - who am I to question them? And even worse, who am I to try and make you question them?” She shakes her head and starts to leave. “These are dangerous thoughts, the indulgence of a vain mind.” She turns now to the entrance, before briefly turning back. “Please, forget I ever mentioned this. I’m sorry.” And she leaves.
Well, that was very confusing. Sounds like Bastila’s got her own demons in her head to deal with. Weird as it sounds it makes me think of Guun Han. He thought he could use all the power of the Force to take out the terentatek himself, and look where it got him. Dead on a world far from home. All that pride gone to waste. It just killed him.
Mimzy Morrowlight_ commission by AldoMartinezC
“new facebook Page
www.facebook.com/AldoKromnzArt…
Art commission created for Erik, he created this character who he plays with in SWTOR.
Mimzy Morrowlight mother of Minxy, character who I painted before. you can check it out here kromnz.deviantart.com/art/Minx…
The beast represented in the picture is based on the Beast of Marka Ragnos, which its in the Game.
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Please visit the artist’s pages at DeviantArt, Facebook, Instagram, ArtStation, his blog and his portfolio at aldomartinezvfx.com.
I needed some practice for realism, so might as well do it with Star Wars! So, have a WIP fellas.
Felt like doing a series of portraits of the many multiple characters in SW (including some of my favs). Humans and humanoids this time, because I REALLY need the practice, and so, I chose the some characters that would sit outside of my comfort zone (seriously Luke and Ahsoka were surprisingly harder than I thought).
Also doodles of animals to balance out the stress of drawing *gasp * realistic people.
