Surun

Surun (/'sʊər.ʌn/; SOOR-uhn) was a Force-sensitive Dathomiri Human female from Dathomir who served the Nightsisters as a shadow killer, the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a member of Confederacy Intelligence, the Galactic Empire as a Sith witch, and the Zann Consortium as a mercenary affiliate.

A shadow killer specializing in assassination and espionage, Surun joined her elder Nightsister Saato, one of Count Dooku's original Dark Acolytes, in service to the Separatist cause during the Clone Wars. Though she spent the first year of the war as Saato's lieutenant serving in the capacity of Deputy Director of Confederacy Intelligence, Surun informally took over her sister's role as Director after the latter's death at the hands of Anakin Skywalker before being replaced by Draiko Ziratai. She continued to serve the agency until her coven's massacre during the battle of Dathomir in 20 BBY. She abandoned the CIS cause soon thereafter, returning to Dathomir to bury her dead kin before striking out on her own.

With the end of the Clone Wars, Surun joined a number of other fellow Nightsister shadow killers in service to the Imperial Security Bureau following the start of the Imperial Period. She eventually ascended to Dark Side Adept for her Force sensitivity and trained as one of the Empire's Nightsister Sith witches. However, the ongoing Imperial oppression of her Dathomiri kin began to weigh heavily on her mind, eventually leading her to abandon the Empire. Surun spent the remainder of the Imperial Period opposing the Empire's occupation of Dathomir and imprisonment of her Dathomiri kin, fighting under fellow Nightsister and guerilla leader Silri.

Surun joined Silri in the Zann Consortium sometime after the Battle of Yavin as payment for the crime syndicate's aid in driving the Empire off Dathomir. She continued to serve the Consortium for the remainder of the Galactic Civil War and well into the years that followed. Though the details of her actions never came to light, her decision to intervene in Silri's plans to unleash a carbonite-frozen Jedi Civil War-era Sith army on the galaxy prevented a large-scale crisis from occurring in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, thus likely saving countless lives from Silri's planned campaign of conquest.

Behind the scenes
Surun, originally titled "Sarana," was a character created by the author after a Fall 2018 playthrough of the Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption campaign raised questions about what specifically happened to Silri's army of frozen Jedi Civil War-era Sith soldiers. As a fellow Nightsister would logically be the only other member of the Consortium Silri could conceivably trust with the secret location of the army, the author decided to make the character a Nightsister with enough scruples to consider stopping Silri's plans for domination, thus explaining the absence of any further mention of the army in Expand Universe canon.

The original "Sarana" article was voted "Best Neutral-alignment Force User" in the Fourteenth Star Wars Fanon Wiki Awards. However, though many of the details of her life were retained, the author began refactoring the character slightly in February 2019, changing her allegiance during the Clone Wars from Republic to Confederacy, recasting her as Saato's adjutant in a CIS intelligence agency, removing her tenure among the Trandoshans, and generally making her more Legends lore-compliant overall.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption