The Jedi Order
The Jedi Creed
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force.
The Jedi Order is based on a connection to the Force, a mysterious power few can master.
The Jedi use the Force in service to the galaxy as Peacekeepers of the Republic. This makes them a combination of diplomat, warrior and counselor.
They may be called in to mediate disputes or pursue pirates. Their battle skills are legendary.
The members of the Jedi Order are not limited to any specific species. The Jedi have been major players in galactic events, upholding
the Republic and defending freedom for millenia.
Their specific abilities include:
- Telekinises - moving objects with their minds
Precognizance - seeing things before they happen
Empathy - the ability to read the emotions of others
Healing - the ability to aid healing is a rare jedi gift
Alter Mind - influence weak minded individuals
Sense - to feel attack or danger, even to the extent of piloting through the dangers of hyperspace at great distances.
A Jedi's Prime Weapons: The Force itself and a lightsaber. A device consisting of a handle, power source and crystals which create a beam of apparent light, capable of cutting through nearly any object. With it and the Force they can deflect blaster fire and often take down heavily armed opponents without firing a shot. The first weapon however is the jedi's skills as a mediator, which they use to defuse fights before they break out.
The Jedi Ranks:
Younglings (the youngest children)
Padawans - younglings are also called this, when they are being trained up until their learner status.
Padawan Learners - A true Padawan is chosen by a Jedi Knight to be their individual Apprentice. They are usually trained to knighthood by the one master.
Knights - a Jedi Knight has passed the trials and is ready for regular missions on their own. They may take an apprentice, who will call them 'Master.' But officially, to everyone else, they are a Knight.
Masters - A true Master has been granted the rank by the Jedi council, usually on the successful training of an apprentice to Knighthood.
Council Members - There are twelve, some permanent and some temporary. The rank is always held by a master, at the very least a Knight who is master to a Padawan.
The Greatest Enemy
The Jedi's greatest enemy is the Dark Side.
The Jedi's ability and desire to serve is based in the light. This means they don't act on emotion, but on the feelings and warnings the Force sends, combined with wisdom handed down through the ages and practical experience. This is passed on from Master to Apprentice. While emotions may influence what they do, they do not allow emotions, especially the negative ones, to control them. To tap into fear, anger and hate is to risk the dark side. It is a path to quick power. But those who take the dark route are quickly overwhelmed by it, so that they forget the good they meant to do and only think of adding to and maintaining that power, no matter the cost.
The Jedi's Warning:
Fear leads to Anger
Anger leads to Hate
Hate leads to Suffering
Beware the Dark Side Jedi!
Ancient
Ossus
The world of Ossus was a full of life. It became the center of learning and knowlege for the Jedi. Great libraries were built and many jedi studied there. But during the Great Sith War, Exar Kun used Sith power to destroy the nearby Cron Cluster of suns. The shockwave wiped out the planet and many jedi treasures were lost.
After the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of the New Republic, the Jedi Academy of Yavin IV was lost. The Jedi returned and built a new one on Ossus.
Long ago, the Jedi Order's primary home was a world called Ossus. This world was destroyed by an attack by the Sith, Exar Kun, who destroyed an entire star to wipe them out.
During this time, jedi could begin training even when they were adults and Master's were known to take on more than one apprentice.
The Old Republic
Dantooine
The Dantooine enclave existed from before the Sith War and after the Mandalorian Wars. It was home to many jedi knights, students and their masters. During the Jedi Civil War, many jedi who had fallen but were seeking redemption were drawn there. It's existence was not well known, but it was destroyed by Darth Malak. This led to bitterness on the part of their surviving Dantooine neighbors, who blamed the jedi for the collateral damage. In addition to the loss of life, many of the artifacts from Ossus had been housed there.
After the Sith War, the Jedi made new rules for their order.
They began accepting only the youngest Children, to prevent attachments that could override Jedi neutrality or lure them to the Dark Side.
They shifted to a one Master to one Apprentice approach. This gave one student the benefit of practical experience with one master. Usually, the Master chose the apprentice rather than have them assigned.
To become a Padawan Learner, one must be accepted by the age of 13 (for human students at least.)
After the age of 13, a human Learner was considered too old and shifted to the agricore, where they would be taught to use the Force to help grow crops and feed the hungry.
However, for other some species - togruta for instance - the average age of acceptance was 16.
After the Luke Skywalker defeated the Emperor and saved Anakin from the Dark, he was the last jedi.
This meant he had to make some changes to restore the Jedi Order. He only had a short amount of training and whatever information he could find to rebuild the order.
He chose a group of Force Sensitive individuals he had encountered and began to train them. They were all adults.
He established a new facility on Yavin 4.
After enough adult Jedi were trained, Luke gradually moved the training focus to younger and younger ages. They often began as young as nine.
Note: This is my playlist, but not my videos, I've just gathered them in a playlist for easy reference.
Reputation and Facts
The Jedi reputation was important, for without it, there ability to support the Republic was crippled. Taking sides (which the Separatists from the Republic saw them as doing) takes away the trust they would need to be seen as a neutral mediator. Jedi who fell to the Dark Side tarnish the reputation for compassion and fair play they need to defend against accusations that the Order is a threat.
A Jedi is a Keeper of the Peace, not a soldier. Drawing the lightsaber and going into battle is a last resort.
Jedi are not executioners. They will not kill an unarmed prisoner.
Jedi do not take sides in conflict, but stay neutral in order to mediate. They do not use the Force to sway one side or the other.
At the time of the Clone Wars, there were only 10,000 jedi in the galaxy.
The Old Jedi Order had a vast treasury, donations from grateful people. They were not funded by the Republic and were forbidden by their mandate to take part in any profit making enterprise.
It was common for the Jedi to hitch rides free of charge throughout the galaxy. But it was not a galactic law and the Jedi never pressed this issue, but accepted the gift when offered.
The Jedi were not above using deceit to accomplish a mission. They would go undercover to infiltrate criminal gangs and bring them to justice.
The Jedi do not take orders, although they do answer to the Supreme Chancellor and the Senate out of loyalty to the Republic. They accept requests for help.
Due to the limited number of jedi, they are sent on journey missions to assigned sectors, to seek out hotspots where minor trouble could flare into big trouble. They seek to restore justice in these areas as best they can.
There are 3 Jedi Pillars of Jedi Strength.
- Knowledge
- The Force
- Self-Discipline
The Temple
The Jedi have had numerous bases, but the main Temple is on Coruscant. Until the days of the Galactic Empire, the temple was home to the youngest initiates to the eldest.
Children were accepted be trained at birth or up to age two years, with the rare exception such as Anakin Skywalker. They were given up with their parent's permission.
The Temple district is home to the dorms, library, inner gardens, hangars and more.
The Jedi Council is comprised of twelve members, who share their knowledge, experience and wisdom and guide the Jedi Order in it's peace keeping efforts throughout the galaxy.
The Jedi Fall and Resurrection
The fall of the Jedi came about through deception.
Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious manuevered his way to the position of Supreme Chancellor. So, unbeknownst to the jedi, they were answering to the sith. He instigated the
Clone Wars with the help of former jedi Count Dooku.
This lead the jedi away from traditional role of Peace Keeper and put them at the head of armies. The day the war broke out on Geonosis, many jedi were killed. Many more died
in battle and their reputation was tarnished. Those with who followed Count Dooku's separatists due to legitimate grievances no longer considered them neutral.
The Jedi knew, even before it happened, that the darkness was gathering against them. They believed in a prophecy about a "Chosen One" who would bring balance back to the Force.
This, they believed was Anakin Skywalker. When he fell, the Order was all but destroyed.
But he left behind a legacy: twins, strong in the Force and hidden away by Obi-Wan and Grand Master Yoda, in the hopes that one day, they would rise as jedi and challenge him and the Emperor.
When Luke Skywalker was drawn to Obi-Wan Kenobi, he began his training, completely unaware of his Father's true fate. When Kenobi was finally killed by Vader, he went on to join the Alliance to Restore the Republic and their found his sister Leia raised as Princess Leia Organa.
He and Leia were totally unaware they were related.
Obi-Wan's spirit appeared, urging Luke to go to Jedi Master Yoda to finish training.
Sensing the danger, and aware of who Luke was, Vader set a trap, baiting it with his friends. He and his friends escaped - not without losing one to a bounty hunter - but Vader revealed his true identity.
Having confronted his mentor's, Luke went on a mission for the Alliance, only to discover his Father was there and could sense his presence. Luke went to him.
After over twenty years of unchallenged rule, Palpatine underestimated the Skywalkers.
When Luke refused to break as his Father had when confronting Dooku, Palpatine tried to kill him. Anakin suddenly turn on him, simultaneously killing the Emperor and returning to the light.
The Force was brought back to balance, and Luke became the first of the new Jedi Order.
Afterward
The Jedi Academy
The Jedi Academy was founded approximately six years after the Emperor's Death, months after the Clone was killed. It was settled on Yavin IV, a moon in the Yavin system, that had been home to the Alliance when it took on the first Death Star battle station and won it's first major victory over the Empire.
After an unexpected skirmish with the former master of the place, Sith Lord Exar Kun's ghost, the Academy became the home to the new, growing group of jedi. Due to the urgent need for Jedi, Luke started the program with adults but gradually worked his way back to younger and younger ages, until a new Jedi Order was fully formed, if not well organized.
Yavin IV when it was a Rebel Base
The Jedi faced major events after the restoration of the New Republic.
Cloned Emperor Palpatine's Clone brought full scale war to the galaxy, doing his best to capture the Skywalker family and convert or kill them.
Exar Kun and Yavin 4 Yavin 4, being a rebel base, seemed ideal for the new academy until Exar Kun's spirit appeared to Kyp Durroon, a young man who had a thirst for revenge against the Empire. He lured Kyp over and used him to attack Luke. In the end he was destroyed by Luke's students, but not before Kyp used an Imperial Weapon to destroy Carida's star, wiping out a whole solar system.
Kueller This student of Luke's left after his family was killed and turned to the Dark Side. He attempted to overthrow the Republic and destroyed the population of his home planet before he was stopped.
The Shadow Academy One of Luke's first students, Brakiss was an imperial plant. Luke attempted to convince him to stay in the light but failed. He founded the Shadow Academy to train students in the Dark Side. Eventually they attacked the Yavin 4 academy. They lost.
The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion These extra galactic aliens not only worshiped pain and death but were unreadable in the Force. This left the Jedi limited in their ability to fight.
Civil War Conflict between Corellia and other Republic systems threatened and then broke out into war. At this time, Jacen Solo, grandson of Anakin and son of Leia and Han, was lured to the Dark Side by Lumiya, the sith Adept trained by Vader. Made leader of the New Republic Armed Forces, he wreaked havoc and eventually was killed by his sister. His actions tarnished the reputation of the Jedi Order.
Imperial Remnant Academy In spite of the differences of opinion between the former Empire and the New Republic, a Jedi Academy was also established in Imperial space.
The Yuuzhan Vong