Brider Surriss

Biography

Childhood

Brider Surriss was born on the planet Iridonia, six years before the Treaty of Coruscant, fourteen years out of twenty into the Great Galactic War.Touched strongly by the Force with incredible talents of healing and influence since infancy, she was found abandoned outside Iridonia's small Jedi Enclave, an environment in which young Surriss thrived.

	A young Brider meditates in the Iridonian Jedi Enclave.

The Sacking of Coruscant in 0BTC/ATC prevented Surriss being sent to the Coruscant Temple to learn from the collective wisdom and guidance of the Jedi Order — for even at the age of six, Masters of the enclave were finding themselves with little of the Force left to teach her (save for combat, at which she was never to excel — she remained incapable of anything save defence throughout her life) and were concerned they could no longer provide adequate care and guardianship for her — and the newly reclaimed ruins of Tython were as yet too unsafe for a child.

Upon arriving on Tython ten years after the Sacking (and Treaty) of Coruscant, Surriss was formally apprenticed to Master Yuon Par, who had been preselected as a creative and supportive Master for her. However, due to the unusual circumstances, Surriss had not yet met any of the Masters of Tython. Upon being greeted by Master Syo Bakarn, she formed an instant and mutual connection with him.

Later Life

Despite Par remaining her formal teacher, Bakarn would be Surriss’ mentor and parental figure from that day forward until his death, and she would continue to honour him through the rest of her life.

After the “death” [see: Senate-Jedi controversies of the first century ATC] of her beloved mentor Syo Bakarn, who she referred to as her father, Surriss' relationship with Grand Master Satele Shan quickly became a close and valued one — indeed, some manuscripts survive of her addressing Satele as “Mama,” a term that has been used among Jedi for time immemorial to refer affectionately to a beloved mentor. For some decades after Surriss' accession to the Jedi Council, the two worked together as co-leaders of the Jedi Order, its living Grand Master and its living Barsen'thor.After Grand Master Satele's peaceful death in the year 32ATC (believed to be the result of a serious illness first documented in the year 22ATC, when the Grand Master was 61 and Surriss was 28), Surriss was her unquestioned successor, becoming the Grand Master at the age of 39 — exactly the same age as Satele herself had been upon her own ascension.

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This image, found on a pottery sherd on Tython, is the first known concurrent depiction of the Grand Masters Satele Shan and Barsen'thor Surriss, further evidence to the theory they were alive at the same time. Additionally, this image also implies that at the time of the depiction, Shan was the more aged of the two, adding further detail to the murky historical timeline of the ancient Jedi Order.

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Having regarded herself since the age of seventeen as living on borrowed time, the first Barsen'thor to be awarded the title antemortem, Surriss lived an unexpectedly lengthy life of service, rejoining the Force forty-one years after the Peace of Yavin (of which she is remembered as a principal architect), having lived for seventy total years.

Legacy

Surriss left a legacy of cooperation and unprecedented and courageous bridge-building (also referred to, specifically in the context of Surriss, rift-mending) throughout the galaxy, and a return to idealistic orthodoxy among the Jedi Order — to which she also imparted what became the tradition of the “Padawan braid” or “Padawan beads”.

Surriss' legacy, like that of any significant figure, is not without its controversies. Court-martialled over her expulsion of Republic military forces from Ilum, a world sacred to the Jedi because of its pure kyber core, her passionate defence of Jedi religious practices in the face of what she saw as injustice led to upheaval in the heart of the Republic — and, despite her title of'Rift-mender,' a deep division between the Republic's armed forces and the Jedi that has yet, after millennia, to be fully healed. While it is generally accepted today that Surriss was led by the will of the Force — or, to some, by sincere belief in her actions and principles — and was widely accepted in her time too, many in the Republic were deeply displeased with her doctrine and practice that “Co-existence brings reform [within the Sith Empire], not reform co-existence”.

Whatever her legacy, Surriss is regarded as one of the beings throughout history most gifted with tutaminis, being able to shield alone entire armies from blasterfire, and from missile bombardment with assistance. She is also described as having had an aura in the Force of rare strength, imparting a subtle influence towards paths of kindness and mercy upon those in her vicinity, regardless of their usual capacity to sense the Force.

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