Atris was a Human female who served as a Jedi historian, and later as a Jedi Master and Jedi Council member during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. She was deeply committed to the Order and was a fierce adherent of the Jedi Code. But Atris’ faith in the righteousness of the Jedi wavered when her personal hero, Meetra Surik, turned her back on the Council to join rogue Knights Revan and Malak and their faction of Jedi during the Mandalorian Wars. Atris chose not to go to war, but this decision left her bitter and conflicted.
When Surik returned to face the Council’s judgment after the devastating events of the Battle of Malachor V, Atris was the first to condemn her, suggesting that she had fallen to the dark side just as Revan had. Over time, Atris grew to hate Surik for complicating her black-and-white view of the Jedi, the Sith, and the Force. During the Dark Wars, Atris called a secret Jedi convocation on the Miraluka world of Katarr in an attempt to find the threat that was stalking the Jedi. She then leaked knowledge of the conclave’s existence in the hopes of drawing out the Sith. She succeeded, but with dire consequences; Darth Nihilus devastated the surface of the planet, wiping out all life on Katarr, including the Jedi gathered there.
However, Atris survived, and she remained in seclusion, surrounding herself with Echani Handmaidens who could not feel the Force. She planned to rebuild the Jedi Order, and established a Jedi Academy in the old irrigation system on Telos IV. However, she was heavily influenced by the many Sith holocrons she had collected in her efforts to find and understand the Sith. The holocrons fed her bitterness, and she slowly and quietly fell to the dark side, consequently becoming the new Darth Traya, the Queen of Betrayal. Per the machinations of her mentor, Kreia, Surik and the new Darth Traya confronted each other once more on Telos, where Surik convinced Atris to turn away from the dark side. Atris then remained in the Jedi Academy, waiting to be judged for her actions by the new Jedi Council.