Born to an average and reasonable family in urban Onderon, Tel was orphaned at the age of 15 as a result of an attack. The teenage boy was left for dead, forced to remain in the company of his parent's bodies until he healed. The event traumatised him, and he was shortly kidnapped by a crime lord to act as a slave. During this time, he meditated on the events of his past, ultimately realising that the culprite of his life-changing disaster was, in fact, a Sith. This caused him to grow a deep hatred for the Sith on the whole.