OrbaLin

I have a bad feeling about this…

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"There's three of us and one of you, Jedi. What exactly do you think you're going to do?"
"What I do best. Give a lecture."

―Lourna Dee and OrbaLin^[1]

OrbaLin was a Ugor male Jedi Master and Jedi archivist who lived during the High Republic Era. Serving aboard the Starlight Beacon space station, OrbaLin led the autopsy of a Hutt trader whose corpse had been found on a derelict starship after a Nihil attack. Later, OrbaLin represented Starlight's Jedi at the Valo Republic Fair while Marshal Avar Kriss was off fighting the Drengir, and fought Nihil raiders during their attack. Due to the largely formless nature of his species, OrbaLin wore an environment suit in order to function in environments tolerable to humans and near-humans.

Biography[]

OrbaLin, a male Ugor, was the first member of his species to ever join the Jedi Order.^[1] During the High Republic Era, he became a Jedi Master^[4] and the resident Jedi archivist aboard the space station Starlight Beacon.^[3] He was able to duplicate himself to appear in multiple places at once.^[5] At the station's dedication ceremony, OrbaLin encountered recently elevated Jedi Master Elzar Mann and had a conversation with him, although Mann found him boring.^[1] Later, OrbaLin oversaw the autopsy of a Hutt^[3] who had been found on a derelict starship after a Nihil attack^[6] alongside Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh and her Padawan, Imri Cantaros.^[3]

While the autopsy was ongoing, OrbaLin assured Master Estala Maru that they were following strict quarantine procedures. However, he found that the attack had not been what killed the Hutt; instead, its systems had seemingly been infected by a root system. As OrbaLin reported the findings to Maru, the Hutt's corpse exploded, releasing the sentient carnivorous plants known as the Drengir, who proceeded to attack the station.^[3] The attack was eventually thwarted when Knight Keeve Trennis, on the planet Sedri Minor, used a mind trick on the Drengir hivemind to momentarily force them into a galaxy-wide retreat.^[7] In the aftermath, Starlight's Jedi Marshal Avar Kriss led a campaign against the Drengir across the worlds in the Outer Rim under threat, making an alliance with factions of the Hutt Clan led by Myarga Anjiliac Atirue.^[8]

During the lead-up to the Republic Fair on Valo, OrbaLin came to represent the Starlight Beacon in Kriss' stead while she was off fighting the Drengir, to the private disappointment of Mann, who had hoped to see Kriss.^[1] Via his duplication,^[9] he was also present at the assault on Mulita under Kriss to take down the Drengir's Great Progenitor. While that battle ended in success, the concurrent Valo Republic Fair came under attack from the Nihil pirates,^[10] and OrbaLin's Valo duplicate teamed up with the journalist Rhil Dairo to reach the Starlight Pavilion and try to send a distress signal during the chaos.^[1]

Before they could send the distress signal, OrbaLin and Rhil were attacked by Lourna Dee and some of her underlings. OrbaLin fought the Twi'lek marauder and her compatriots among a display of priceless historical Jedi artifacts. The archivist lectured the attackers on the artifacts while throwing the same artifacts at them and simultaneously wielding his lightsaber. The Ugor managed to defeat them through a combination of boring them and skillful use of his blade. After defeating Lourna and her fellow Nihil, OrbaLin and Dairo sent the distress signal.^[1]

DeeShotOrabLin-THR2021-15 — Lourna takes her revenge on OrbaLin.

During the Destruction of Starlight Beacon, Dee took her revenge on OrbaLin by shooting him through his glass dome, leaving his body on the floor as his form spilled out.^[11] While she assumed her foe was dead, OrbaLin's formless nature ensured he survived and he slipped away.^[5] Nevertheless left with injuries because his form had not been centralized as one body when he was shot,^[9] in addition to general side-effects to his many duplications, OrbaLin was left with a mental damage and found himself trapped behind the stormwall.^[5]

Personality and traits[]

An Ugor male, OrbaLin wore an environment suit in most locations in order to maintain a humanoid form, using pseudopods to animate the suit and to move. His true form was green and amorphous. He enjoyed bursting into lectures about historical subjects and the artifacts he looked after, although Master Elzar Mann considered him capable of boring the wings off of a Drethi.^[1] The archivist was insistent on the importance of proper procedure, but also somewhat witty, interrupting Cantaros complaining about how disgusting he found the autopsy to point out that the Padawan had had a good question regarding the causes of the Hutt's death. He was stoic in the face of danger, reacting to a Drengir attack by telling Maru that the station's quarantine measures were about to be tested to their limits.^[3]

While he was able to duplicate himself,^[9] each duplicate did not have awareness of the other's actions: as one OrbaLin was busy in the assault on Mulita,^[10] another was part of the Valo Republic Fair and suddenly found himself fighting the Nihil.^[1] Despite the presence of an OrbaLin at both,^[9] the Mulita Jedi were unaware of the Nihil attack until they were informed about it.^[10] His many duplications,^[5] combined with the injuries sustained by Dee while his form was not centralized,^[9] left him with mental damage.^[5]

Powers and abilities[]

OrbaLin was experienced in the use of Force powers such as telekinesis, as well as lightsaber combat. When his environment suit was breached during a fight with Nihil, the archivist used the amorphous nature of his true form against his opponents to a considerable advantage.^[1]

Furthermore, OrbaLin was masterful at weaponizing lectures on historical artifacts. When cornered by Lourna Dee and two other members of her Tempest at the Valo Republic Fair, the archivist engaged the marauders in combat while lecturing them about Jedi artifacts he threw at them. By boring the pirates with historical details of arcane Jedi technology, OrbaLin disoriented his attackers and gained the upper hand.^[1]

Equipment[]

OrbaLin wore a white environment suit with gold detailing and brown gloves and belt, and a domed blue helmet with two breathing tubes.^[3] The suit had a compartment in one sleeve for OrbaLin's short, green-bladed lightsaber.^[1] During the autopsy, he rode a one-person repulsorlift platform with an attached control panel.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

"We built it into his story that he was duplicating himself. […] Again, we might return to those moments. But that's exactly what he was doing, he was trying to be in more than one place at the same time, and it did not go well for him."

―Cavan Scott^[9]

OrbaLin first appeared in the fourth issue of the comic book series Star Wars: The High Republic, written by Cavan Scott.^[3]

The comic's eighth issue contains an apparent continuity error with Scott's novel The High Republic: The Rising Storm regarding OrbaLin's whereabouts: the novel depicts OrbaLin as present on Valo for the Fair, representing the Starlight Beacon while Avar Kriss is off fighting the Drengir on Mulita.^[1] The High Republic (2021) 8, however, depicts OrbaLin participating in the battle on Mulita at the same time.^[10] Scott admitted that this was a mistake,^[12] and said he had come up with an in-universe explanation for the error to be revealed in future media.^[13] This was later given in The High Republic (2023) 4, revealing that OrbaLin was capable of duplicating himself, thus explaining how he was in two places at once.^[5] In an interview, Scott said that OrbaLin was inspired by bond-twins Terec and Ceret, which was why he split himself into two bodies.^[9]