Zannah Lyles-McKie

From TFC Galactopedia

Categories: Current Main Cast | TFC Episode 1 | TFC Episode 2 | Jedi | Smugglers | Lemorians | Fox

Zannah Lyles-McKie by Avran Farlek

• Full Name: Roxzannah Lahrena Lyles-McKie

• Known By: Zannah Lyles

• Alliance: Freelance Agent, Smuggler, Jedi Knight

• Rank: Captain, Jedi Knight

• Homeworld: Lemoria Prime

• Species: Lemorian (Alopex lagopus)

• Age (EpI): 27; (EpII): 29

• Sex: Female

• Assignment or Location: (EpI): Yag'Dhul Station, smuggling run. (EpII): USS FELIX

• Born: 1773 (Janus Ager Calendar)

• Location of Birth: City of Turashene, Lemoria Prime

• Parents: Aerion Lyles (aka Darth Drakkon) and Candas Touras-Lyles-Sonnay

• Education: General schooling from tutors on Lemoria Prime, plus basic Jedi training done in secret. Imperial Flight Academy; dropped out in third year for family reasons. Commanded Home Defense Fourth Squadron at the rank of captain based upon transcripts from time completed at the Academy (later Fourth defected to join an Alliance faction and became Angel Squadron, but Zannah was not with them). Continued Jedi training at the colony and informal academy on Thantella II, connected with Daktian Jedi. Fled when an attacking force of Jedi Hunters destroyed the colony. Completed training and attained the rank of Knight under the tutelage of Sovereign Azuka Kain of Daktia. Took up smuggling after the main crisis died down in order to support herself and keep moving.

• Marital Status: Mated (not a matter of public record); Mate Sen McKie was a snubfighter pilot by profession, currently working as a legitimate cargo pilot.

• Offspring: One female, Karina McKie

• Created By: Zannah

Background:

Zannah grew up on Lemoria Prime as a member of the royal family with a younger twin sibling Snow Lyles and little brother Tigre Lyles. Aerion Lyles' relationship with his mate, Zannah's mother Candas, had been arranged by their parents with making a strong alliance the only consideration, and was characterized by strained tolerance even at the best of times. Asria Fellon-Touras, then Queen Mother, had begun to suffer bouts of forgetfulness and to show increasingly poor judgement. It was not long before was judged ill-fit to continue as ruler, and the Aristo Council determined it was time for her daughter-heir Candas to assume the throne. Before Candas could become Queen Mother, however, she was required to take a mate-consort, and have the match prove fertile before a coronation could take place. Aerion Lyles, her third potential mate, was the first successful match, and was recognized as mate-consort. Possessed of too strong a male personality for the matriarchal system that governed their world, Aerion grew increasingly frustrated with his lot in life. Unbeknownst to his children and the rest of Lemorian society, though known to his mate, Aerion was a former Jedi Knight. As Knights went, he was not terribly strong. He had the basics and could fight with a lightsaber, but would never progress beyond the level he of Knight. He had left the Order at a summons from his parents, and returned to his homeworld to lead a new life. Though the Jedi Council disapproved, no move was made to prevent Aerion from returning to his kin.

Candas disapproved of her chosen mate, feeling Aerion's Jedi status was the source of his arrogance (i.e.: his wanting to be treated as an equal). The final battle that split Zannah's parents was over whether or not Aerion would be allowed to pass his Jedi knowledge on to his children. He had defied a Jedi envoy once before already when they had come to take the elder of his twins to the Jedi Temple for training, refusing to give up his oldest child. He defied them again a second time when they sent an inquiry concerning his later born son. Aerion passed on what he could to his two sensitive children in the form of small games and simple exercises, to Candas's fury. Aerion left after a terrible fight, deciding it was better to leave than endure the helplessness of his situation and the constant indignity from his mate. His twins were six years old when he left. Zannah's mother said nothing to her cubs about their father's strange behavior. When an appropriate period of separation had been observed Candas took a new mate, Seran Sonnay. Zannah, though an intractable and troublesome child, was next in line for the Crystal Throne. Through the next spate of years while civil unrest plagued the galaxy, Lemoria rode the storm out quietly, neither causing nor contributing to the conflict. Most Lemorians preferred to simply ignore the conflict rather than become involved. When the new government rose to power, Lemoria Prime publicly supported the Empire. In actuality, the world remained as neutral as possible in the conflict. The general policy was one of quiet, good behavior in hopes of being left alone.

Young Zannah, however, had ideas of her own, and instead of attending finishing school after graduation from her tutored studies, she rebelled against her mother's plan to make her a lady and instead hacked her tutor's computer, accessed her transcripts and applied to the Imperial Flight Academy on Coruscant. Her gender would likely have led them to turn her away, but her skills (aided unbeknownst by the edge her Jedi powers gave her) were enough that an enterprising commander decided to give her a chance. So, at age seventeen Zannah became a cadet in the Imperial Flight Academy. She did well, placing high in her class, though not at the very top. Late in her third year, she encountered her missing father, who now proved to be a full-fledged Dark Jedi and more powerful than ever before. It was a confrontation she barely survived. A miscalculation on his part led him to underestimate her, however, and in one last spate of desperation, her vibroblade struck home in his heart, killing him almost instantly. Though the injuries she sustained in the fight healed, the encounter left her scarred emotionally as well as physically.

After the incident, Zannah decided to cut her ties with the Academy. She never graduated, but returned home to Lemoria Prime instead. She wanted to at least try to reconcile things with her family, and to see if there was more to this "Force thing". She had received very basic Jedi training from her father as a child. That training had been furthered by one of her tutors (a friend of her father's and a Jedi Knight himself by the name of Tabris Thorodin) under the pretense of teaching her sparring and gymnastics. But Zannah needed to know more, enough to escape her father's Dark Side temptations. Contrary to her mother's wishes, Zannah refused to go back to aristocratic life. Instead she joined the Home Defense Force and was given the rank of captain and command of the Fourth Squadron based on her transcripts and a letter of recommendation from her sergeant at the Imperial Academy.

In the two years she spent with them, her squad was essentially her family, though she still maintained a minimum of contact with her mother. Her time away and career choice had not improved their relationship. Working with the Home Defense Force kept her in close contact with much of the behind-the-scenes action in the capital city's spaceport. Between that and the squad's tendency to hang out in less-than-savory dives, Zannah built up a small but reliable network of contacts, some legit, some decidedly less so. Her closest friend in the HDF ended up being Sen McKie, a hotshot pilot in command of another squadron. Their initial friendship got off to a rocky start (it was closer to outright hatred in the beginning), but love is a very strange thing and circumstances ended up catapulting them into each other's arms. They decided to make the arrangement permanent, to their squadmates' delight, and her mother's utter horror. That move got them both kicked off planet and any public record of the mating quashed. Zannah found herself unofficially exiled, as her mother desired to keep the entire affair from becoming yet another scandal. For all intents and purposes, the heir to the throne had simply vanished (amidst a fair amount of mourning from the common populace, who had liked their spunky, defiant princess), and the younger twin, Snow, would now take her place.

Now rootless, Sen and Zannah sought shelter on an out of the way rim world. Years earlier Zannah's Jedi tutor had trusted her with knowledge of a hidden Jedi enclave on a little known planet. This same tutor helped hide the young couple from the Queen Mother's guard when the two were declared exiles rather than allow them to be forcibly deported at random. He reminded Zannah of the enclave and urged her to seek refuge there and finish her training. Using one of her more trustworthy contacts, Zannah managed to get the two of them to the backwater world of Thantella II. The Jedi there, consisting of several small family groups, welcomed the refugees. The community was very small and close knit, working together to survive and helping each other as much as possible. Of the thirty or so residents of Thantella II, only about half were Force-strong, and only one of those was a Master. The rest consisted of several Knights, half a dozen partly trained adults and young adults, and a few small children with potential.

Zannah's training progressed, and both she and her mate put in their share of chores and manual work (and there was a lot of it, because the colony was low tech to try and prevent unwanted detection). Through the Jedi Master who ran the colony, Zannah learned of another Jedi group on the world of Daktia and its sovereign Azuka Kain. Several months into their second year on Thantella II, their daughter Karina was born. Only a few months later, Jedi Hunters found the enclave by tracking one of the smugglers who made their regular supply drops. The Master stood his ground during the attack, trying to draw as much attention away from the others as possible. He died for it, overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Despite the diversion, less than ten of them made it off planet with the help of the smuggler Rillista Candron. Zannah and her small family were among those who escaped. No one else survived.

Aboard Candron's ship were two Knights, one nearly trained adult, two child potentials, and four Force-blind individuals, two of them adults. The older of the two Knights was injured in the battle and died not long into the journey. The single surviving Knight led the smuggler on the twisting, seemingly random path through hyperspace that eventually brought them to the planet Daktia. Though deeply saddened by the loss of those on Thantella II, Sovereign Azuka Kain took in or helped find places for the surviving refugees. Most of the group went their separate ways on the planet, finding new niches to settle into. Kain finished Zannah's training himself over then next several months. He also learned of her true heritage, but did not press the matter. Still, the events on Thantella II made her wary of staying in one place for two long. When her daughter was a little over a year old, Zannah worked a deal on a pair of somewhat decrepit, but still functional starships using funds drawn from accounts her mother did not know she could still access.

Thus, after a few months tinkering, Zannah began her smuggling career. Her mate took their daughter with him since they reasoned Zannah was more likely to be hunted of the two of them, but he stuck to simple cargo hauling. While not as lucrative as smuggling, it was steady work and not quite as dangerous. Plus he lacked the edge the Force gave Zannah when dealing with clients. Smuggling is not a business that promotes making very close friends, because a 'friend' may well sell you out one day if the price is high enough. Rather, Zannah cultivated her network of contacts and acquaintances, and made the rounds of such places as Port Haven, Ord Mantell, and Nar Shaddaa. So Zannah struck out on her own, playing a constant game of hop-skip with the Imperial Jedi Hunters, always staying one step ahead of them. She severed as many ties as possible with her home planet in hopes that the rest of her family would not be bothered. Independent and rebellious she might have been, but she had seen first hand what happened to people- or even worlds- associated with the Jedi, and had no wish to call that down upon her kinsmen.

After Zannah's unexpected covert involvement in the altercation between the Galactic Empire and the United Federation of Planets, Zannah was given living quarters and a job of sorts as a security and "cultural consultant" on board a Starfleet vessel, the USS FELIX. The captain of the ship, Marc Xavier, became the first of Zannah's Jedi pupils; Xavier's adopted daughter, Perdia Detami, was the second. Zannah is currently a civilian security expert on board the FELIX and frequently joins away teams from the vessel when dealing with threats from her native Far Galaxy.

Physical Description:

Zannah Lyles-McKie is a pure white furred Lemorian (arctic fox) with a mane of unruly black hair that falls to her waist when unbound. Her hair is usually braided while she is working. Her eyes are a warm brown, a shade or two off from the color of good Corellian brandy. She stands roughly 5'5" tall not including her ears. Her build is slender and on the rangy side, tending towards long and lean despite her relative shortness. She is usually seen wearing her worn blue spacer's jumpsuit belted at the waist and scuffed black calf-boots.

Extras:

Zannah Lyles' lightsaber:

Character Notes:

Zannah is a compassionate person by nature, devoted to her family and the Jedi. She prefers not to fight if she does not have to, but will gladly tear your face off if pressed too far. She is generally relaxed, has a fair command of diplomacy and a good sense of humor. She treats most people with an extreme of courtesy especially at first. Her main downfall is her lack of faith in herself, her curiosity and a tendency to poke her nose where it doesn't belong. Her greatest longing remains that her family will one day be reunited and able to live without fear.

NOTE: Darth Zannah (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Zannah), also known as "Rain", was a character who first appeared in the graphic novel Jedi Vs. Sith (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi_vs._Sith) in 2002. TFC's Zannah has been a Cast Member here since 1998, and has been playing her said named character since 1993, predating "Darth Zannah" by about nine years. There is NO relation between these two characters.

TFC Canon