folkooc | July TFLN Time

Let me rephrase that. Anakin is part of my family. We agreed on that, and worried over the rest of our family, who was there in Trench, together. And of course even family is entitled to privacy.

I told Kylo I would be pleased to call him family as well - it seems arbitrary to me to exclude him - but I left it in his hands. He didn't want it. I can't really do more than hold out my hand.

I know it's hard. But to remained focused on what you truly cannot change gains you nothing.

Okay. That makes more sense.

[guess who reads that part about holding out hands and twitches violently]

All you can do is try. No one can force someone to do something they don't want to do. I know what I believe my potential is, but it needs help from someone else and he's not here.

No, you can't. Not in any meaningful way.

Must it be that person, specifically?

We may not have a Jedi Master here, but the most common way a Knight become a Master was by teaching their own student until they were ready for Knighthood. There's two here, and Padawan Kenobi was on the cusp of his Knighting.

I understand if the answer is, yes. Anakin Solo offered to help me finish my training - and he helped - but I wanted very much for the one of the survivors of the Purge who had been first teachers, to be the ones to Knight me.

Yes, unfortunately.

[because she's going to turn Kylo Ren back to the Light if it's the last thing she does]

So you could train me? And so could he, if he was willing? Most of that history, we never got on Jakku. We'd heard bits and pieces about the fall of the Republic and Jedi, the Empire, the Rebellion, and the New Republic, but I didn't get the whole story until I left.

Traditionally, under the old Order, any Knight may take an apprentice. But we're hardly in a position where tradition can be followed to the letter. Kanan wasn't formally Knighted when he took me on.

I suspect Obi-Wan would not be willing to commit to more than casual practice together as a peer, without a formal Knighting. And, to be honest, before he tried, I think there's some things it would probably be best if he had a chance to sort through.

One of Cal's teachers Knighted him, but I don't know his position on trying to teach, himself.

I have taught, informally. I've taught meditation and lightsaber forms, and I tried to counsel Jaina in a limited way, since she was so young. But I'm three months into Knighthood. That is *awfully* quick to be taking full responsibility for a padawan.

I know that's a lot of hedging. I genuinely think, particularly at first, you'd be best off trying to learn from all of us here. We've all had many teachers, to some degree or another. And then, if you're sure you want to put the work in, maybe we can come up with a way to acknowledge that commitment. And if that means focusing on studying more with someone in particular, that's fine, too.

Does that make sense?

Yeah. It does. I guess we'll just figure everything out as we go, then?

Yes. My first master, Kanan Jarrus, often said we were learning things together.

So. When do you want to start?

That's a good way of looking at it. Luke had mostly cut himself off from the Force, but he had ancient Jedi texts just sitting there. I'm ready when you are.

I see. Well, that's not good news. On the other hand, as far as I know, every Jedi that survived the initial purge did that for a while.

Maybe not Master Yoda. Him I'm not sure about.

I'm got some stuff scheduled to follow up on at Kuma Lisa, tomorrow morning. I can block out some time in the afternoon, though.

They had to, right? Darth Sidious could have used it to track them. What was he like? I've heard legends, but legends aren't the same thing. The afternoon is fine. I could use the work-out after lunch anyway.

Not cutting yourself was riskier, certainly.

I'd think Luke would be the better person to ask. I only talked to Master Yoda a few times. Times important to me, but Luke's the one who got some intensive training from him.

I'm told he could be hilarious. That he liked to teach the younglings at the Temple. He walked me through parts of my first Trial, where I found my first kyber crystal. But I knew him, he was very sad, although I think he tried to keep that from a little the first time we talked. But later, he was more frank. He was so terribly aware that my training being entirely without the safety of the temple meant I was more likely to be a danger to myself and the people around. Even aside from bringing the Empire down on us.

I wasn't planning on a workout, at least not a physical one, not right off the bat.

Then how did you fight? By my time, he wasn't in the mood to talk about anything. Other than that he thought the Jedi should end. I can't imagine what it must've been like, growing up in the temple, surrounded by other Force-sensitive younglings. Maybe back then, I would've been found early. But, very sad...it sounds like that was a very sad time to live in. Maybe I'll try to get there early and run a few laps. I like the cat bakers probably more than I should.

Most Jedi didn't fight, not directly, under the Empire. Even Kanan and I had some conflict about how much to involved with the military operations of the Rebellion. He hated the idea of being a soldier again.

He much preferred smuggling, intelligence work, mercy missions. That sort of thing.

He'd been a soldier before being a Jedi? Those are all good things to do, especially with an Empire looming over you. It's hard, making a difference when there are so many people focused on keeping things a certain way.

No, he was a Jedi first. The Jedi - if they were capable of being in the field - served as officers in The Clone Wars. He was a Commander in the Grand Army of the Republic.

The entire war was orchestrated by Palpatine and his then apprentice to set up the Jedi to be wiped and to accumulate political power. To get people to believe him when he said an Emperor was necessary to keep order.

Well, I assume those were Palpatine's motives all along. It fits the facts. I have no idea what Dooku thought they were doing.

Doesn't leading troops in war sort of go against the fact that the Jedi were supposed to be peacekeepers? There weren't any soldiers who could've taken that part? Ohhh. But, did the Jedi know who he really was at the time? Because if they did, that would explain a lot. Dooku? Who was he?

Let me start from the top, I guess. Sorry if you know some of this stuff already.

Sheev Palpatine was a Senator from Naboo. His Sith name is Darth Sidious. I have a Sith name for his master, but I don't know how or when Palptine became a sith, or when exactly he killed his master.

When he was Senator, as far as the general public OR the Jedi were aware, he was an ordinary politician, not particularly Force sensitive. He took advantage of a political crisis centered around Naboo - that he almost certainly manufactured at least part of, given his first (I believe first) apprentice's, Darth Maul's involvement.

That crisis got him elected Chancellor. The Jedi became aware when Maul attacked the Jedi were trying to help resolve that crisis, that the Sith were one 1) around at *all*. The Jedi Order had believed, for the last about 1000 years, that the line of Sith were extinct. But 2) they had no idea Palpatine was Maul's master. Again, as far as they know, he's just some guy who is now the legally elected leader of the people and Republic that they are sworn to serve.

With me so far?

I didn't know any of this already, really. Just that Palpatine was Sidious and he rose to power when the Jedi were thought untouchable and all-powerful. I am.

[He stares at that text in consternation for a solid minute.] Untouchable? All-powerful? Who's saying things like that? [It sounds like a warped version of Imperial propaganda, to him.]

The Jedi are a living people and culture with something like 30,000 years of history. We have been many things, but at the end of the day we're just people.

[Except when they turn into pure spirit, maybe. But Ezra's been a ghost in the Force. He still felt mostly like a person, and even less able to affect anything around him.]

Palpatine served as Chancellor of the Republic for two full terms. He should have stepped down at that point, but by the point crises were popping up all over the Republic. System had started to withdraw - they got called Separatists. The Senate extended his terms of office.

Dooku was a former Jedi Master. He'd left the Order a while before, I know that much. My understanding is a full Master leaving was rare and notable, but anyone is free to go, if they wanted. There was no reason, for a long time, to assume he was up to wrongdoing.

At some point, Sidious recruited him, in secret. Publically, Dooku became the face of the Separatists. I'm still a little unclear on the flashpoint that started the war, but I think everyone was meant to be. Right as violence was breaking out, the Jedi stumbled across an army of cloned soldiers that had secretly created to serve the Republic. Which had, for centuries, not had a standing army. The Seperatist also already had a droid army, ready to go.

Luke. He said that at the height of their power, they allowed the rise of Darth Sidious and trained the one who'd be responsible for their destruction--his father. By my time, the Jedi are legends. Not just because Luke saved his father, though that's huge. Did Dooku give any reason for why he left? One that's known of, at least? If it is that unusual, why didn't anyone keep track of him? It seems like leaving would be a good way to have all of the skills, but also be able to explore the Dark Side on his own. So when the clones showed up, the Republic figured they might as well use what they had available? Or was that another thing set up by Sidious, too?

It's easy to second guess in retrospect. And I definitely question calling that time period 'the height' of the Jedi Order's power. Did Luke ever tell you what he thought we *should* have done? Actionable specifics?

[He's yet to have anyone give him a satisfactory answer, and he doesn't have one himself.]

You could also say that the Senate elected Sidious and gave him all these political power, gave him ultimate command of the army that wiped out most of the Jedi.

And as far as I can tell, Anakin was a victory lap. Icing on the cake. Maybe he could have defeated Sidious, toe to toe, when Sidious revealed himself, if he hadn't sworn himself to Sidious instead. But we can't know for sure.

I don't know why Dooku left. Obi-Wan might know something more - Dooku was his master's master. And I just told you - Jedi are free to put that life aside and make their own path. What kind of tyrants would that make us, if we spied on every Force user with some training in the galaxy?

The origin of the clones is a little murky. A rogue Jedi Master may have involved at the beginning, or maybe that was a front. Sidious *certainly* had a hand in them from early on. The clones had chips in their brains that subverted their free will when active. That is how the majority of Jedi died in the initial Purge. Turned on by people they trusted to have their back. I haven't seen one active, don't know exactly how it works.

But I've sat with a trooper in recovery after he had his removed. The chips are real.

No. Just his perception, I guess. He was sad. And angry. He did something he shouldn't have and it sort of caused what he didn't want to happen. You could. I'm sorry, I really don't know that much about history. I don't know. So far as I know, there are only four Force users in the galaxy. Me, Luke, the General, and someone else on the Dark Side. But there have to be more. I had no idea I could use the Force until I was backed into a corner. That's disgusting, to put a chip in someone's brain to control them. But the First Order does disgusting things, too, they take babies and raise them to be Stormtroopers. I guess every source of evil wants to stop free will, no matter what kinds of awful things they have to do to get there.

July TFLN Time

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

sorry for the delay, feel free to drop!

No worries!

Thanks!

Re: Thanks!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject