The Force Always Says Yes [Star Wars]

[Hyenanon]

Nerim will be a master when Tetha calls him "Master"

Click to shrink...

My inner Tetha read that and said "lewd." and my inner Nerim read that and said "wha?"

 

[Hyenanon]

Chapter 64: Of Course Not Me​

Nerim walked with the two of them towards the medical ship, which was in the process of disgorging the Mandalorians, all fully armored—and carrying blasters. In the distance beyond it, over a metal fence, he saw what appeared to be a large crowd of people of a multitude of different races rushing around and setting up equipment.

"Who are they?" He asked.

Aesha rolled her eyes. "Press. Unfortunately we can't just kick them off the planet."

"Press?"

"Yeah. Ever since word got out, the planet's been full of holonet reporters. It hasn't helped calm tensions at all..." She tilted her head. "Although, it's something of a double-edged sword. I think we're a little better behaved now that we know the Galaxy's eyes are on us."

Nerim blinked, just now remembering that realization he had back on Utapau, talking to Tetha's father. That people could feasibly hear about his antics. "Uh, what exactly is the story?"

"Mm? That's what they're trying to find out," Aesha shrugged. "We haven't released any information beyond the fact that we're sheltering Mandalorian refugees on behalf of a Jedi friend we owe a life debt to."

"Oh," he said quietly, walking alongside her. Then he suddenly stopped and grabbed her arm, wrenching her around to him. "You called me a Jedi?!"

"Yes."

"To the media?!" He grimaced.

"Yes."

"I'm not a Jedi!"

"Yes you are," she said flatly.

"I was exiled! It's illegal to claim to be a member of the Order when you're not!"

"We didn't say you were a member of the Order," she replied calmly. "We just said you are a Jedi friend."

He slowly raised his hands to his head, grabbing his hair. "You can't be a Jedi without being a part of the Order!"

"Nerim, nobody in the Galaxy uses the word that way," she said dismissively, crossing her arms.

"It's true," Tetha agreed, shrugging. "I mean, even the Order refers to Dark Jedi as...well, Jedi. Of a Dark variety."

"Wh—But I'm not a Dark Jedi!"

"Correct. You're a normal Jedi," Aesha nodded.

"I'm not a normal Jedi!"

"Okay. Sheesh. You're an exceptional Jedi," she grinned toothily. "I thought you were more humble than that. Now c'mon."

"I—you—I'm on—The Order will—" He stuttered, as Aesha continued to walk forward one plodding mechanical step at a time. Tetha moved up alongside him and placed a hand on his back, gently pushing him to move forward with her.

When they arrived to the head of the crowd, they saw Jarroa standing a few feet across from one of the Mandalorians, a similarly tall and imposing Human, who had taken his helmet off and was holding it under his arm. Behind the Mandalorian stood, in almost military formation, the vast bulk of the refugees. Behind Jarroa, a few other old Cathar, as well as his wife and brothers.

Aesha gestured for Nerim to walk between the two of them, and then she scampered to her father's side. So Nerim did as he was beckoned, standing between and slightly to the side of either of them, close enough that if they reached their arms out he would be able to touch them both. Directly across from Nerim, a few dozen feet away, was the metal fence, behind which stood a large crowd of reporters and observers.

Finally, Jarroa spoke. "Welcome to our world, Mandalorians. I am Elder Jarroa, and today I speak for the people of Cathar."

The Mandalorian nodded. "Thank you. My name is Laren Cadron. Before you stands Clan Jae'Narkraata."

Jarroa spoke evenly. "It is our solemn duty to provide safe harbor for those in need, cultures fleeing persecution. And it is our honor to assist our Jedi friend—"

Nerim quickly raised his finger. "Not a member of the Order!"

"—But I will speak plainly, Mandalorian," Jarroa continued. "Not all Cathar are happy for you to be here."

"All of us are," Cadron replied laconically.

Jarroa exhaled through his nose and smirked. "Our people have held a deep animosity for one another for four thousand years. It will not be easy to smooth over. The Republic's charter on sentient rights prohibits us from hindering your people's movement, but I suggest we both work to minimize uncontrolled contact. To that end, we've constructed camps a ways outside our City Tree to house your people, which you may run autonomously."

"More than reasonable," Cadron nodded. "Fear not, we don't seek to overstay our welcome, or learn dependence. Our culture is that of nomads, not refugees. But if I can ask..." The Mandalorian looked to the sky, as sparse and golden clouds shimmered and swam across the horizon. "...Why here, of all places?"

Jarroa followed his eyes to the sky. "We have asked ourselves the same question. You would struggle to have gone any farther across the Galaxy for aid."

Nerim put his hands behind his back. "Because no one else said yes."

Both men turned to him.

"I don't necessarily blame any individual systems that refused," he clarified. "To say yes when crisis calls is to invite all strife known to sentient kind. It is to place at risk comfort, and prosperity, and safety. It even risks our legacies. A great number of virtues are put at risk for those who say yes, but there is one virtue which belongs to them alone, and that is honor. Honor belongs only to those who step into the arena, and if this world is to be the arena, then we must at least take hold of this one virtue. In this moment it belongs to us alone."

For a moment the two men stared at him, and then the Mandalorian stepped forward and offered his hand. Jarroa took it, and they shook.

___________________________________________________________________________________



From the City Treetop at night, the Mandalorian encampment spread like a conspicuous lattice of golden lights on otherwise shadowy indistinct grasslands around the great tree. Nerim leaned against the railing of the balcony and let the cool autumn winds blow across him, sapping him of heat just enough to make him want to crawl into bed. He had had trouble sleeping lately, but there were a few things that helped.

Tetha placed an arm around him and leaned next to him. "Hey, you're already getting tired?"

He nodded. "It's nice being back on Cathar. I can't wait to sleep in one of the beds here again. I only got to sleep in one once. The rest of the nights I spent here were on a dusty temple floor." Then his eyes flicked up in recollection. "If you count passing out, I guess the last was a bed. A hospital bed. I preferred the temple floor..."

She smiled. "Well before bed, c'mon, you should see this."

Tetha pulled him into the living room, where Aesha, Arwain, and Jianno sat, laughing and trading stories. They had finally swapped Arwain from the dinky Saarkanian wheelchair to a proper hover chair; not without much complaining from Arwain, who greatly enjoyed insisting on being pushed around by anyone she could bother into doing it.

Upon seeing him enter, Aesha raised her hand. "Nerim! The CoCo District Edition just dropped!"

"Cool," he looked between them. "What's that?"

Aesha scoffed. "The biggest HoloNews channel in the Galaxy!"

He blinked. "Did the Saarkanian Sharks win the bolo-ball regionals?"

"Nerim, c'mon! They're talking about us! The Jedi Watch segment has a biography on you!" She laughed, holding up the datapad.

He looked at the screen the way a man without a face mask would look into a furnace while it was running full bore, with squinted eyes and an expression of pained endurance.

"The Rogue Jedi Who Ended A 4000 Year Feud," Jianno repeated the title sarcastically. "A little premature."

"They say that like it's especially impressive because of the length," he frowned. "I figure it would get easier the farther we get from the genocide."

Arwain read her own datapad, much less animated than the others, but relaxed and happy. "Dark Jedi suspect transferred to Jedi Order custody. Hm. Do you suppose she'll tell them about the lightning thing?"

Nerim shrugged. "What'll they do, double exile me?"

Aesha stood up and handed him her datapad as she paced through the room, servos softly whining in her legs. "This will work to our advantage. A suspect in Fae Coven's murder apprehended, slave liberation on Boonta, feel-good reconciliation story with the Cathar and Mandalorians...Surely this will affect the trial. Even Vseyav Irmat may make a comeback, at this rate!"

Nerim scrolled down, seeing an image in the article, and his breath caught in his throat. It was rather theatrical, with Cadron and Jarroa shaking hands, but standing just behind them was what he, for just a split second, mistook for Fae Coven. Only, it was him, standing with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed, smiling, in exactly the way he remembered her doing.

He looked up, and caught Arwain's eyes, as she placidly rested her head on her hand. "She told me not to let you get into politics, y'know."

"I'm not!" He defended himself. "I'm just...doing things!"

"I'm sure that's what she said moments before becoming Grand Master," Arwain waved her hand dismissively.

"You don't just fall into being Grand Master," Nerim rebuked. "And I'm not involved in any of this! Look, it's just...vague speculation using my image!"

The article, blessedly, did not have much information on him. Jedi as a rule refused interviews, especially on the subject of other Jedi. Or, er, other former Jedi. The only individual they could find for an interview was an Ithorian on Raxus Secundus who he vaguely recalled as the owner of the diner he and Aesha visited, and who only reservedly claimed that Nerim was a charming young man who liked burgers and saved him from a terrorist attack.

"Likes burgers, fantastic, put that on my tombstone," Nerim rubbed his forehead.

Aesha pointed at him. "They were good burgers!"

Tetha frowned slightly. "You took her to a diner?"

The Cathar grinned smugly. "I took him."

"I should've shot you when you started running out of the opera house!" Nerim scowled, pointing back at her.

"Opera house..." Tetha raised an eyebrow. "Opera house into diner? What kind of order is that—"

Jianno groaned in disgust. "These articles are kriffin' awful. Taming the savage Mandalorian heart? I'm gonna claim Mandalore and start scorching planets." She looked up at Aesha. "No offense."

Aesha shrugged. "Listen, it's pageantry, but it'll be good for all of us. It'll even start rehabilitating the Mandalorian image!"

"Mm, see, we don't like that," Jianno tossed the datapad onto the couch. "Every time a Mandalorian starts being 'redeemed' in the eyes of the masses, they expect us to act like soft, pudgy little civilians, and the moment they see we're still warriors, they freak out ten times worse than before. They feel betrayed that we still exist. It's worse than being an outsider."

Aesha frowned and thought for a moment. "Hm. I can see where you're coming from, yeah...But rest assured, we won't be claiming any sort of taming."

"Better not," Jianno nodded curtly, taking a drink from a small glass canister of green liquid. "Y'know, we had a vote on whether or not to mutiny on the medical ship and scatter before we could be stranded planetside on Cathar and corralled onto a reservation."

Arwain raised her head at that. "What? Really?"

Jianno nodded. "Yeah. I told Laren I'd rip his balls off if he screwed everything up the moment we got off Boonta. After enough screaming they ended up listening to me."

Arwain thought for a moment, and then shrugged, impressed. "You know, maybe I'm glad you went to that ship instead of ours for the flight."

Jianno lowered her drink. "I'll tell you right now, the number one priority of everyone in the camp is to get their hands on hyperdrives ASAP. Nobody wants to be grounded."

Nerim crossed his arms. "Even if you get ships, you won't be able to fly them in Republic Space until your legal status is resolved. But I don't wanna make a Mandalorian feel cornered. We should at least get some ships on the lot so they know they aren't trapped."

Aesha tilted her head. "That's the problem. Cathar isn't going to pay for ships for all of them—at least not yet. Maybe if we get sick enough of them, but I'd rather not get to that point. We're going to have to find some way to fund them."

"That's the problem," Jianno said. "Without ships, Mandalorians don't make money. We can perform subsistence just fine, but we don't do petty employment. Can't even hunt here, because it's all nature reserves and law-abiding citizens on Cathar."

Nerim put a hand to his chin. "Well, if there's one thing the Republic is good at, it's throwing money at problems. They could potentially give us aid. We'll need a back up though."

Tetha looked ruefully down at the floor. "We're kind of down a ship, also," she said quietly.

Nerim frowned. They hadn't managed to collect the Lucky Worm on the way out, and it was too dangerous to go back now—besides, it would probably be stolen off the lot by the end of a week without check in, which had already come and gone. "I'm sorry."

She looked back up and nudged him with her elbow. "It's not your fault."

Arwain stretched her arms out over her head and yawned, the yawn interrupted by a cringe of pain. "We can brainstorm tomorrow," she said, placing a hand lightly over her wound. "We're going to be here for a while, so we'll have to adjust our sleep schedule to Cathar time. Ought to get to bed now."

Nerim continued thinking, his leg anxiously bouncing in place. Whatever readiness he had carefully cultivated for bedtime, he had definitely lost it at this point. "Think I might have to do an all-nighter for a full reset."

Arwain shrugged. "If you must. Just make sure to take care of yourself, Padawan. Remember to meditate," she said, and then turned to Jianno. "Jiannooo, push me."

To Nerim's utter shock, instead of telling Arwain to pound sand, Jianno tiredly sighed and stood up. Even Arwain seemed surprised, and Jianno put a hand to the back of her chair and silently began pushing the floating chair forward. They both waved as they exited the room up the stairs.

Nerim turned to Tetha. "What about you?"

She shrugged neutrally. "If you're staying up, I will too."

Aesha leaned over to them, bending down to their height. "I know a good place to get caf."

"Can royalty do all-nighters?" Tetha asked skeptically.

"We have to," she chuckled. "Besides, I want to get to know you better!"

Tetha's eyes narrowed.

 

[TroubleFait]

Why are they all so cute!

 

[Hyenanon]

Why are they all so cute!

Click to shrink...

My one weakness(?) as a writer: Any character I lay my hands on can only last so long before I turn them cute.

 

[Psyentific]

I think I figured it out; it's a scheme. All the worst jedi stay in the temple, the good jedi go out and fix problems ("will of the force"), and the really good jedi get "exiled" so they can't come back to the temple (bad jedi warehouse) and get messed up by the bad jedi. They have to stay out there doing jedi stuff and unfucking plotlines, forever. Was this Grandmaster Coven's plan? I don't think it was intentional...

Nerim will be a master when...

Click to shrink...

It was rather theatrical, with Cadron and Jarroa shaking hands, but standing just behind them was what he, for just a split second, mistook for Fae Coven. Only, it was him, standing with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed, smiling, in exactly the way he remembered her doing.

Click to shrink...

I take it back, Nerim is already a master. He'll be a master when he looks in a kriffing mirror!

 

[TroubleFait]

Fae Coven is trolling him from beyond the grave.

 

[Hyenanon]

I think I figured it out; it's a scheme. All the worst jedi stay in the temple, the good jedi go out and fix problems ("will of the force"), and the really good jedi get "exiled" so they can't come back to the temple (bad jedi warehouse) and get messed up by the bad jedi. They have to stay out there doing jedi stuff and unfucking plotlines, forever. Was this Grandmaster Coven's plan? I don't think it was intentional...

Click to shrink...

Joke or not, there is a grain of truth in this! Assigning problem Jedi to Temple duties is a good way to keep them under your thumb without taking the step to throw them out unmonitored into the Galaxy either as a Knight or an Exile. The Temple is also largely made up of Jedi not in the prime of their life, by necessity, since younglings stay there to train and old people can't take on as many missions as they once did. But also, we rarely ever see any of the bad Jedi as they're going around poking their noses into things and making stuff worse in the wider Galaxy. Most Star Wars media only brings them up when the protagonists stumble upon the aftermath of their fuckups. Or, y'know, it's Darth Revan.

I take it back, Nerim is already a master. He'll be a master when he looks in a kriffing mirror!

Click to shrink...

"That's not how it works, I need to be ordained, or...or something! I think! Hold on," *cracks open The Jedi Path*

Fae Coven is trolling him from beyond the grave.

Click to shrink...

He does kind of deserve it! He should also read her book more thoroughly.

One of the interesting things about The Jedi Path in the edition we got it IRL (which actually postdates this story) is that it only has a small handful of segments written by Fae Coven herself, most of it having been written by various Masters throughout the timeline leading up to the movies. Of the things she wrote down with her own hand, one of the only pieces of advice she gives is "Listen to your Master, even if their teachings seem to contradict the Temple," which seems bizarre to every other in-universe character that reads it.

Really makes you think...

 

[Psyentific]

The best advice anyone could give about The Force is "Everyone else is wrong. Trust your gut."

 

[Underdog]

How old is Nerim anyways? And how long was he an official jedi for? A bit more than a year? I'm allways really bad at remembering ages in Star Wars. I somehow had in mind that he was like 14, but that seems wrong.

 

[Hyenanon]

How old is Nerim anyways? And how long was he an official jedi for? A bit more than a year? I'm allways really bad at remembering ages in Star Wars. I somehow had in mind that he was like 14, but that seems wrong.

Click to shrink...

I was never super clear with the passage of time, the year this story began taking place in, or the ages of any of the characters. I believe I mention at the very beginning of the story that Nerim is somewhere in his 15th year, and then a bit more than a year passes between then and him getting exiled. Some time passed on Saarkane while waiting for the Boonta mission to start up, as well. At this point he's probably around 17 or 18

 

[Underdog]

Thanks for the answer, that makes sense. I allways lose track of ages in Star Wars cause Padawan seem like kids or teens but are often like 20 or so.

 

[Hyenanon]

Chapter 65: It Was Her Idea​

Nerim raised his head, looking nowhere in particular as the sounds washed over him. He wasn't sure what instruments were playing. A piano, soft and pleasant drums, deep lulling strings, and something brassy.

"What is this?" He asked.

"It's cinnamon," Aesha answered.

"No, not the—" Nerim looked down at his drink, which he had already half-drained. He was never quite sure when something was going to be carbonated, but this wasn't. It was smooth and sweet, cold and yet a little spicy, with a hint of a pleasantly bitter aftertaste. He liked it more than soda. "It is quite good. But I meant the music."

"Oh. Well, that's a complicated question, actually," Aesha snickered, taking a bite of a cookie. Tetha looked at it longingly, still not cleared for solid food. "Most people call it sway. Nobody can agree if it's a subgenre of b'ssa nuuvu or the other way around."

"I like it a lot," he smiled.

Aesha crossed her arms, amused. "You liked the neoclassical symphony, too. You have the music taste of a little old man."

"No I do—"

"And what's wrong with that?" Tetha leapt to his defense.

Nerim blinked. "Wait, do I?"

Tetha glanced to him blankly, and then tilted her hand side to side.

"I liked the thing that Rodian kid played when we sparred!" He argued.

Aesha cut in excitedly. "When did you first realize the other was Force Sensitive?"

Tetha rested her chin on her hand. "The moment I laid eyes on him," she said dreamily.

He flushed. "I was hunched over a counter eating a bantha burger, how spiritual could I be?"

"Likes burgers," Aesha snickered.

"Tsst!" He mimed a zipping motion at her, causing her to laugh harder.

Tetha smiled. "Well? When did you realize?"

He thought about it for a moment, taking a sip from his bendy straw. "I'm not sure my conception of Force Sensitivity really works like that. Everyone is Force Sensitive, to some degree or another. It was more like a gradient of realizing you were stronger and stronger with it."

Aesha stopped laughing, her mouth open in surprise. "So that's why you said that, back at the diner. That I'm already using the Force."

Tetha raised an eyebrow. "Is that true? Is she Force Sensitive?"

"I mean, yes, that's what I said. So is everyone here," he shrugged. "But her natural aptitude is about the same as mine. You have way more than both of us."

"What?" Aesha reared back in shock.

"Is that true?" Tetha asked simultaneously, leaning forward in confusion.

"Yeah," he placed the cup down. "I think sometimes you people underestimate just how much training I've done. I spent every moment of every day since the very same afternoon that I was born in a training facility. Every active Force User I've ever met has been much more naturally powerful than me. But the Brotherhood, the Syaniids, they uh...no offense, but they were amateurs. They had a couple years of remedial training from other late bloomers, at best."

"No offense?" Tetha's nose wrinkled with a challenging smirk. "Are you counting me in that group of amateurs?"

Nerim frowned tightly. "Not exactly. I mean, you trained in fencing and things from a young age, too. And you had actual, proper training in the Force...Albeit, from a Sith."

"A what?" Aesha's eyes widened.

"A Sith holocron, to be clear," Nerim raised a hand in a calming gesture. Then he sat up straighter. "Oh, right. A holocron is a type of—"

"I know what a holocron is," Aesha said, staring at Tetha in awe. "You received Sith training?"

Tetha took a long sip of her drink, placing it down and then gently dabbing her face with her napkin, before replying "Yep."

"So you know Revanchists were nothing like that!" Aesha smiled hopefully.

Tetha's brow furrowed. "Uh, my understanding was that Revanchists were big time Sith."

"No!" Aesha whined feebly, dropping her head onto the table.

Tetha looked genuinely confused, turning to Nerim. "Were they not?"

"It's complicated."

Aesha heaved a big sigh. "The saviors of my people are not Sith..."

"How do you explain the whole Darth Revan thing?" Tetha asked, bewildered.

"I-it was a ploy! To destroy the Sith!" Aesha hastily replied.

Again, Tetha turned to Nerim. "Is that true?"

"It's complicated."

Tetha turned back to Aesha. "I'm pretty sure he was a Sith Lord, at least for a while."

Aesha clenched her fists. "She was the one who saved the Jedi Ord—wait, he?"

"She?" Tetha mirrored her abject confusion. Both women stared at each other with complete noncomprehension. They turned to Nerim.

"It's compli—you know, let's just agree that none of us here are Sith and move on," he rubbed his forehead.

The table was quiet for a moment. Aesha warmed her hands on her cup, and spoke. "Nerim, if I'm Force Sensitive, then could you train me?"

"For what purpose?" He asked, eyes narrowing. "If this is about—"

"I want to have mental defenses," she quickly clarified, "So the Jedi cannot read me, or fluster me, during the trial."

He leaned back. "Oh. I see. Hm..." He thought for a moment. "That's doable. But, actually, I find the most effective form of mental defenses to be of Mandalorian make."

Aesha's lip curled in slightly visible disgust. "Mandalorian techniques?"

"What? You don't like Mandalorians? They're your neighbors, you know." He teased.

"Well, I just..."

"You're going to like them by the end of this," he grinned smugly.

___________________________________________________________________________________



"Alright, give it a shot," Nerim said, nodding to Tetha.

They were all three sat on cushions on the floor of the penthouse that had been gifted to the former-Jedi. Aesha was sitting in a proper (and entirely too tense) seiza with her hands on her knees and her eyes closed, ready for any attempts at mental intrusion.

Tetha raised a hand towards her head, and spoke lowly but firmly. "Open your eyes. Look at me. Now."

Aesha's eyes opened, pupils shrunken.

"Sway is a subgenre of jatz," Tetha commanded.

"What th—augh!" Aesha raised her hands to her head, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "That is awful! My mind got all...slimy..."

"Hm," Tetha hummed. "Not my best work, but still, she's no pushover."

They heard a door open and close upstairs, and a pair of uneven footsteps. Arwain appeared, leaning over the loft, with messy bed hair and bleary eyes. She looked down at the group. "Who's using Force powers down there?"

Nerim frowned deeply. "Why are you walki—"

Another door slam, and Jianno's voice boomed from somewhere unseen upstairs. "Why the hell are you walking?!"

Arwain pouted. "I am no mundane sentient, I am a Master of the Force! I'll heal however quickly I damn well please!"

Tetha cupped her mouth and called up to her. "Go back to bed, granny!"

Arwain's eyes suddenly opened and focused like a targeting computer. "Oh, you are dead—"

Jianno appeared and slapped a hand over Arwain's mouth, and leaned in and said through grit teeth "If you tear your stitches open, I am going to lose it."

When Jianno removed her hand, Arwain went back to pouting. "But I hate the chair. It was funny at first, but I feel like such a tool carrying on with that thing."

Jianno didn't respond, grabbing Arwain by the shoulders and carefully leading her back out of sight. "Student! You better not be teaching Jedi techniques to anyone who asks!" She called.

"I'm not!" He called back. "It's the Mandalorian method!"

"You what?!" Jianno's voice replied.

Nerim winced. "Oh stars. Now we're both in trouble."

Aesha looked up at the loft, snickering, while Tetha silently raised her hand again. Aesha shuddered, and then whipped around, focusing directly on Tetha's eyes. "Hey! I wasn't ready!"

Tetha half-smiled. "You're going to have to always be ready."

Slowly, Aesha nodded, and Nerim stretched his arms out. "Remember the beat," he said. "And the meaning. The beat and the meaning are more important than the words. You're producing a counter-signal that overrides the mind trick, not directly fighting the mind trick itself. If you directly grapple the mind trick, you're already letting it into your mind in the first place."

"Okay," Aesha said confidently. "Hit me again. And after this, we could do some lightsaber training," she joked.

Nerim looked at her. She wasn't joking. "There's no way you got that thing working."

"She has a lightsaber?" Tetha asked.

"Well, no, it's not working yet," Aesha placed a hand to the back of her neck. "But...if I'm Force Sensitive...?"

"Not every Force User needs a lightsa—"

"Yes they do," both women responded simultaneously.

"Yeah..." He sighed. "But this isn't Force training! This is Mandalorian training!"

"In regards to the Force," Aesha said flatly.

"Technically distinct!" He replied seriously. "I am not performing a schism!"

Tetha cocked an eyebrow. "Did you and Arwain ever have that talk about the word technically?"

"It's just—I—" Nerim ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "You two don't understand. This is one of our greatest taboos, as modern Jedi. You don't split up the Order. You don't start making unaccountable Jedi."

Aesha scoffed. "Then they shouldn't have exiled you."

"She's right," Tetha said, with only slight begrudging. "They're the ones who split you off. You either follow their rules, or you leave the Order. It can't be both. And they decided for you."

"It's not like we're completely separate, that's not possible," he argued. "They're still the Knights of the Republic, and I'm a Republic citizen. In a way, exile is more like a...demotion, than a casting out."

"Uh, no," Tetha shook her head firmly. "That was a casting out. I was there. They do not treat this like an amiable parting. They castigated you, disavowed you, and told you to leave and never come back."

Aesha nodded. "Perhaps you should learn something of being a Republic citizen, then. We believe that rights and responsibilities go hand-in-hand. Honor and oathkeeping. Rules and reward. You can't have one without the other. They can't cut you off and make you follow their rules, treat you as dishonored and expect you to upkeep their oaths, strip you of your rights and demand you keep following their responsibilities. That's unfair! No one should be treated like that."

Nerim looked down. "The Jedi Order isn't exactly in the business of shoulds."

"They should be."

He looked up. They both awaited his answer. He closed his eyes, opening himself the Force. Hey, Force, what should I do? He asked.

Yes.

He jumped, opening his eyes. Did you just...?

He looked between the two of them again, and sighed. "Okay."

Aesha gasped in excitement.

"But I don't have a lightsaber to teach you with!" He clarified.

Tetha leaned over. "Wait, doesn't Cathar have a lightsaber crystal cave?"

Aesha's excitement melted into frustration. "Ugh. Yes. The Jedi Order has a Knight and some Educorps Jedi Servicemen stationed there, now. Apparently they want to study it. And keep it under lockdown, implicitly."

"Ah. Well, it looks like synthetic is our only option, again," she shrugged.

"Great," Nerim rubbed his temples, "They'll see me with a red lightsaber training a group of Force Users. That'll convince them for sure. To bomb us."

"Fae Coven had a red lightsaber," Aesha pointed out.

"And not all synthetics are the same color," Tetha added. "Machina told me that his was a sort of pale red, almost pink. He never understood what made them change."

"Hm..." He considered it, looking down at his green skin. "Maybe I'd look good with a pink lightsaber."

Aesha restrained a giggle.

"W-well okay, nevermind!" He pouted defensively.

"I didn't say anything bad! It'd look nice!"

Arwain's voice called from above again. "I think a pink lightsaber would suit you, Padawan!"

"Okay, nevermind," he said flatly and with more conviction.

Tetha frowned. "Don't let them bully you! I think it'd look great."

"Let's just—" He sighed and stood up. "Let's drop it. I'll get another caf and then we can train more."

He moved to the kitchen, and Jianno trundled down the stairs. "He'd rock it," she said, walking out the door before he could respond.

 

[TroubleFait]

Fear the terrible Sith Darth Nerim and his stylish pink lightsaber that goes so well with his green skin! Fear him, he should be stopped!

Yeah, that piece of Jedi propaganda is never going to take.

 

[Hyenanon]

Fear the terrible Sith Darth Nerim and his stylish pink lightsaber that goes so well with his green skin! Fear him, he should be stopped!

Yeah, that piece of Jedi propaganda is never going to take.

Click to shrink...

Arwain would and has argued with Nerim for hours on what his Sith Blif name would be. Darth Nerim simply would not do. Her most recent suggestion is Darth Frustratus but she changes her mind often.

For the record he thinks Darth Exodus would be cool. Arwain's unsure if that one's taken, though, and they can't consult the forbidden archives anymore to check.

The Council would have a collective anyeurism if they listened in on the conversations these two have while training.

 

[Amrynel]

He moved to the kitchen, and Jianno trundled down the stairs. "He'd rock it," she said, walking out the door before he could respond.

Click to shrink...

The more I think about it the more I want/hope to see Nerim with a neon pink lightsaber. Not red, not pale red, not almost pink.

BRIGHT NEON PINK.

It's about 70% "defiantly cool and fabulous" and 30% "just to see the look on the Order's faces" at this point.

 

[waffelmeister]

I'm really torn between him getting a perfectly clear lightsaber now, because instead of dominating it into submission with anger, he just asks it nicely to cooperate and it says yes, or Motherfucking Purple like Mace Windu's.

 

[SirRolandTheFrank]

I vote for Windu Purple or Jaina Solo magenta, they're both pretty colours.

 

[Psyentific]

"Technically distinct!" He replied seriously. "I am not performing a schism!"

Click to shrink...

MASTER NERIM HAS DONE IT AGAIN!
"But I'm not a Master!"
Starting a maybe-schism not-a-schism is a Rite of Mastery! All the best masters have contentious teachings and secret disciples!

 

[Hyenanon]

Chapter 66: The Time Has Come​

The days came and went peacefully, for once. What strife there was with the refugee situation was largely contained and made up for within the same few weeks. Eventually Arwain was up and walking again, and Jianno split her time between managing the clan and reuniting with her lost family members, and helping Nerim and Arwain prepare for the future.

Nerim taught Tetha and Aesha the Jedi ways, while Tetha taught Nerim and Aesha a larger perspective. Even Aesha had a surprising amount to teach the two of them, in turn, as a royal and lifelong navigator of the 'mundane' Republic. From time to time, Arwain pitched in, providing extra context and guidance, otherwise content to act as an assistant in the coexistence of Mandalorians and Cathar.

It soon became apparent that it would take the Republic at least a year to sort out their status. In the meantime, Jarroa and Aesha expected a summons to the courts of Coruscant at any time, to get their trial underway. It had been kicked around from court to court, challenged in pre-trial time and time again. It soon became apparent that the buck would likely only stop in the Supreme Court, as it was the only one qualified to handle a question of such fundamental nature as what truly constituted the difference between the Jedi and the Sith.

Technically, Nerim wasn't really involved with all that. The case was specifically whether Aesha was in unlawful possession of Sith materials or not, and whether Chey-Linn had violated her rights or not. Nerim's battle with Chey-Linn was a matter the Jedi handled internally, with his exile, and was already settled. But he would likely be called in as a witness, at any rate. He wasn't looking forward to it. He liked his life as it was now. It consisted of waking up next to Tetha, eating food that was actually good, providing diplomatic assistance where needed, and training and teaching in equal measures. He could think of little else to ask for.

At some point, he realized, Jarroa was aware of his training of Aesha. Whatever emotional processing the chieftain had to have done was already completed by the time Nerim noticed, and he maintained a cautious yet reverent attitude. Reverence of the Jedi was an integral part of Cathar cultural and religious heritage, and when it came to be that he had to choose between his daughter and the Jedi Order, it was without question that he would choose his daughter—but not without great pain, both for himself and for the wider Cathar population. Who were they to be loyal to, now?

It seemed, then, of great coincidence and fortune that an obvious solution would fall into the laps of the Cathar: Just pin it all on Nerim, the rogue Jedi who fought to save her. All the hopes and anxieties of the Cathar began to fall on him. Whether a citizen took the side of Aesha or the Order, it could be agreed he was the fulcrum of the matter, and to credit or blame. Whether a citizen was hopeful of Mandalorian coexistence or dreaded it, they could agree it was Nerim's fault. But over time, it became apparent that there was more to be hopeful for than to dread, and he received more smiles on the streets than sneers.

Somehow, to his great chagrin, Arwain managed to avoid most of the limelight. She had a strange knack for disappearing when big events happened, it seemed. It was hard enough to get her involved in official business, let alone the general zeitgeist. But despite her teasing and words of warning, she never showed Nerim anything but support.

Eventually things would level out, as they usually did. When months passed and the news became less fresh, both positive and negative reactions got less intense. But no matter how often he tried to clarify, it seemed he was fated to be referred to as their Jedi.

After a time, Jarroa even requested him to take on an official role, becoming his Knight. Knight was a term on Cathar for a high ranking member of the honor guard, and while it was inspired by their experiences with Jedi Knights, it had been in use for four thousand years in a secular manner. So it wouldn't be proclaiming him to be a Jedi Knight. But he would be a Knight who was a Jedi. The implication (and the headache) didn't pass him by, but he eventually agreed to it—he needed some sort of job, after all, and he liked Cathar well enough, and most of all, he didn't want to disappoint anyone.

Officially, he was to act as one of Aesha's bodyguards should the need arise, but she rarely traveled with any sort of entourage around Cathar itself, let alone guards. Mostly, he was now expected to act as a more official liaison between the Mandalorians and Cathar, and to train the other honor guard in matters of close quarters combat. He saved the lightsaber lessons for Aesha, though.

The Cathar Knighthood, interestingly, did not have a uniform. Apparently the Knights were usually selected from noble families, who would wear their own particular armors and outfits. At this point, Nerim seriously considered committing to the bit and wearing old Jedi robes while insisting he didn't know why people were referring to him as a Jedi Knight. Regrettably, he was more sensible than his Masters. He had no doubt Arwain or Fae would have gone for it.

That entire mess lead to this particular moment, where Nerim, wearing the tree-bark brown flared breeches and shirt of the Cathar System Defense Force, sat impatiently in the meeting room making very audible tap-tap-tap noises with his shined boot on the marble floor. At least it was brown.

"Nerim? You okay?" Aesha asked, more curious than concerned.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he muttered.

Aesha sat to his left, and Tetha to his right. Across from the group sat Arwain, and she and Tetha looked at each other. Then Tetha looked to him. "Like a 'we're gonna die' bad feeling, or a 'this is is going to be so boring' bad feeling?"

"That's the weird thing. It's both."

"I don't feel either," Tetha said, shifting her seat to be a little closer to his. "Arwain?"

Arwain thought for a moment, and didn't say anything. The tap-tap-tapping kept tapping.

Aesha leaned forward onto the table. "I get the exact opposite impression. I feel like things are about to move forward a lot. In a good way!"

"Yeah, I kind of got that feeling too," Tetha agreed.

Arwain's eyes narrowed as she stared aimlessly at the table. She still didn't speak.

They all suddenly looked to the door, and a moment later it opened, and Jianno stepped in. The Mandalorian stopped, her eyes scanning the faces that had all turned in her direction. "It is so creepy when you do that," she complained.

"Sorry," Arwain chuckled, gesturing for Jianno to come sit by her.

She did, and then scanned the faces in the room a second time. "Okay. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I think," Aesha shrugged.

Nerim drummed his fingers on the table, his foot still tap-tap-tapping. "I wonder if it's going to be good for you guys and bad for me?"

Tetha frowned. "There's nothing that could be so good for me and so bad for you at the same time that the Force would warn us about it."

Aesha leaned over and grinned. "I can think of a few things for me."

The door opened again, and Jarroa walked in, as well as several others. He raised an eyebrow as he entered, nodding to Aesha. "Always surprises me to see you show up on time," he said backhandedly.

"Pfft!" Aesha crossed her arms. "Nerim insists on being early to everything."

Nerim looked over the entourage as it entered. One was a Muun, a very tall and large-headed species known for their natural arithmetic skills and their homeworld's incredible wealth, where volcanoes spewed liquid gold. He smiled and waved gently as he appeared almost to float by, his feet stepping lightly under his expensive and expansive robes. Another was a Cathar woman, in sharp business blazer and pencil skirt from the Coreward regions that looked rather odd on a Cathar, who usually eschewed anything that interfered with a long gait. The last was an Ortolan, a short round and obnoxiously blue elephant man wearing a hat that seemed by all means to be a velvet box atop his head, and a colorful yet formal suit.

"Thank you kindly for the warm welcome, everyone!" The Muun spoke with a nasally voice, grinning with painful sincerity and placing his hands together. Nobody had greeted him yet. "My name is Weeno Pappino, at your service!"

The room was only quiet for two seconds, but they were an exceptionally painful two seconds. The Ortolan hefted up his suitcase and slammed it on the far end of the table. "Yeah," he said tiredly, his voice buzzing like a kazoo. "I'm Jethro Geiger. We have a court date."

"Hold on, who's—" Tetha stopped and blinked. "That's an incredible name."

"Thanks," Jethro kazooed flatly.

"Who's this?" Tetha finished, looking to the Cathar woman standing behind him.

The Cathar smiled and adjusted her spectacles—which made Nerim realize that she was wearing spectacles. In retrospect it didn't surprise him that it caught Tetha's attention; glasses were quite rare. "Hi! My name is Kiseti Kara! I'm Mr. Pappino's assistant."

"Yes!" The Muun enthusiastically agreed, sitting down in a chair that was too small for him. "I figured it would be appreciated to have a Cathar face attached to the case. Ooh, that rhymed."

Nerim turned to Aesha and whispered. "Is this your legal team?"

She shrugged and half-smiled. "Best in the biz. Jethro won a defamation case with a settlement so large the defendant had to sell a small planet to pay for it."

Nerim reared back in shock. "They owned a planet? Who was the defendant?"

Pappino waved happily.

The room was quiet for a moment again. Nerim swallowed. "Uh, I'm sorry, it was you? And you're on the same...?"

"If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em!" The Muun grinned.

"Who'd you defame? What'd you say?"

Jethro clicked the clasps of his suitcase, his featureless black eyes reflecting the ceiling lights. "My partner is not at liberty to repeat what he said, that's kind of the whole point, now can we move on?"

Jarroa nodded, spreading his hands on the table. "Let's."

The Ortolan began retrieving various knickknacks from his suitcase, culminating in a holoprojector which acted as a whiteboard. He handed it to Kiseti, who set it down and turned it on, flipping through the screens at his command until they reached the one he wanted, a simple date written in plain aurebesh, three weeks from now.

"They really waited until the last second to give us a date, which means we don't have a lot of time to prepare," Jethro stroked his trunk. "But that's fine, we've done most of our prep already. As a recap, we think we have a pretty solid case."

"There's little the Jedi can do to obfuscate Chey-Linn's ghoulish behavior," Pappino added in. "But there is one teeny tiny gigantic gaping hole of uncertainty..."

Kiseti moved to the next slide, which unlike its minimalist predecessor, appeared to be a wall-sized bulletin board of insanity, far more words than Nerim could read, all connected to each other with holographic string. Jethro placed his suction-cup-tipped fingers to his temple. "Yeah. We're at a huge disadvantage with the core issue of the case, which is what counts as a Sith or not. Even assuming we have an argument of equal salience, the mere fact that we're not Jedi and they are will give it much less weight when presented."

Pappino jumped in again. "We do have an edge in that Aesha's alleged crime is, well, a criminal matter, meaning it requires a standard of no reasonable doubt to prove. Meanwhile, the Jedi Order's alleged crime is a civil matter, it only requires a preponderance of evidence."

"Really, we don't need to chase the moving goal of upending the entire fourth branch of government. We don't have to pin all our hopes on one big argument, we just have to lay down a foundation of reasonable doubt, let the little things do the heavy lifting."

Jethro moved over to the hologram and pointed to one particular knot of concepts, and continued. "Another big problem to go along with that. In a case like this, the people you associate with have a very outsized impact on the argument. And we have, to my knowledge, an actual Sith in this room."

"Not a Sith!" Tetha's eye twitched.

"I don't care," Jethro sighed with a buzz. "Regardless, one of the cornerstones of this case—like any case—is to avoid shooting ourselves in the foot. So we've been working to minimize the number of witnesses who can be called to testify against us, especially on the matter of Meetra Taranni, or Tetha Rhissa, or whoever you are."

"My name is just—"

"Doesn't matter," Jethro waved, and the slide changed to a list of various legal terms. "We've been working pretty hard to make sure nobody who knows about you can testify against you. Clarifying that hearsay is non-admissible, yadda yadda, we've more or less made it so that no one can testify to Tetha's status as a Sith. With a glaring exception, that being Mr. Nerim," he said, pointing.

"Me?" Nerim blinked. "That would be bad. I'm probably the one capable of the most damning testimony."

"Yeah. You'll have to testify that she was in possession of Sith artifacts, without a doubt, and trained in the Sith Order's ways. And that she's Aesha's close friend. What better proof that Aesha is a Sith than that she associates with them? And there's not many options to get you out of screwing us like this," Jethro shrugged.

"There is one!" Pappino raised one finger, which was itself as long as Nerim's forearm.

"Ahem," Tetha crossed her arms. "My name is Tetha—"

Jethro switched to pointing at her. "I said it doesn't matter, because whatever your last name is, you're about to have to change it, lady."

Tetha blinked. "What?"

"Spousal exemption," Jethro shrugged. "That's what we got."

"That's all we got!" The Muun added.

Tetha slowly turned bright red.

"Sorry, what?" Nerim asked blankly.

Arwain finally broke her silence, breaking out into poorly contained giggles.

Tetha scowled at her. "What's so goddamned funny about us getting married?"

"Not—Not that—" Arwain kept laughing.

Aesha grinned sheepishly, obviously already aware of this strategy. "Surpriiise! Congrats, you two!"

Tetha awkwardly tapped the tips of her fingers together. "Uhm, I uh, well—ah, if—I mean if we have to make some sort of exception to—exemption, y'know..."

"Huh?" Nerim furrowed his brow.

"Nerim, you're getting married to Tetha," Jarroa clarified firmly.

Nerim looked blankly between the faces in the room, suddenly very confused. "Are we not already?"

Tetha's jaw dropped.

Arwain dropped forward onto the table cackling. "That's what I was laughing at!"

"Nerim you idiot!"

 

[waffelmeister]

Why does it feel like the Force is eating popcorn? How do I even know what it feels like for the Force to eat popcorn? Where did the Force even GET popcorn?

 

[Cloud Hunter]

> 4th branch
What are the other three branches of government?

 

[Psyentific]

Nerim looked blankly between the faces in the room, suddenly very confused. "Are we not already?"

Click to shrink...

I died laughing.

 

[Hyenanon]

> 4th branch
What are the other three branches of government?

Click to shrink...

afaik in the EU it's always been something of a legal fiction maintained both in- and out-of-universe that the Republic has three branches of government, and the Jedi Order have maintained this quasi-governmental special status. After the Ruusan Reformations, the Jedi Order was subjected to a strict reduction in its autonomy, where they were no longer holding the position of "Knights who are commissioned by the Republic but the Republic has no control over", and were now firmly subject to checks and balances from the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, but also had wide ranging policing powers and operated in a legal capacity. In my story I thus refer to the Jedi Order as the 4th branch of government, the "sacral branch" in poetic terms, but unless I'm forgetting something I was unconsciously drawing from, I think I'm the only one who does this. On the rare times the post-Ruusan era Republic's governmental structure is commented on in EU works, it was always referred to as just having three, and the Jedi Order's relation to it all is very unclear, beyond the fact that the Chancellor can apparently appoint someone to the High Council if he wants--which very much sounds like something an Executive would do to another branch of government.

One could also joke that there are only three branches of government, "legislative, judicial, and Jedi", since the executive has very few functions in the post-Ruusan Reformations era. The Supreme Chancellor is basically just a public speaker at this point and I don't think they've actually used that ability to mess with the Council.

Edit: Also this all sorta brings up the fact that the Republic does totally have an official state religion but nobody in the EU ever likes to comment on it for some reason lol

 

[Psyentific]

Out of character, it is a setting conceit that the lasting galactic-scale polities boil down to "Jedi Republic" and "Sith Empire" and "Hutt Cartel". However, in-setting, that's because you need a force adept of your own to stop an enemy force adept from destroying you. Of the sentients that can reliably fight force adepts and win, the Hutts don't care anymore and the Mandos are destroyed.
In lieu of (or occasionally, augmentation of) a real military, the Jedi are the unstoppable violent force backing the Republic as a state. Attempts at Republic-scale disruption are also disturbances in the force, which provokes a (republican red?) lightsaber to cleave the problem until it is no more.

 

[Celer]

This is amazing. Perfect. Beautiful. Fanfic-tier nonsense. I love romances.

 

[Hyenanon]

the Jedi are the unstoppable violent force backing the Republic as a state. Attempts at Republic-scale disruption are also disturbances in the force, which provokes a (republican red?) lightsaber to cleave the problem until it is no more.

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: This is how everyone outside the Republic has seen Fae Coven for the past 800 years

And it's a large part of the reason the Hutts don't fuck around so much anymore

 

[TroubleFait]

Edit: Also this all sorta brings up the fact that the Republic does totally have an official state religion but nobody in the EU ever likes to comment on it for some reason lol

Click to shrink...

I don't really agree. Anyone is free to have whatever religion they want, so long as the Jedi don't think it's the Dark Side. And even then, sometimes they'll let you be, if you're not a danger to the wider galaxy.

So the Republic has religious enforcers, but I wouldn't say they have a state religion.

 

[Hyenanon]

I don't really agree. Anyone is free to have whatever religion they want, so long as the Jedi don't think it's the Dark Side. And even then, sometimes they'll let you be, if you're not a danger to the wider galaxy.

So the Republic has religious enforcers, but I wouldn't say they have a state religion.

Click to shrink...

I view it sort of like how plenty of European monarchies still have state religions (even religions particular to their state, with their head of state being their head of religion), but have so many protections for minority rights that in practice they are fairly similar to secular democracies. Like it's quite rare anyone thinks about the fact that the UK is explicitly a Christian nation with a peculiar denomination centered around veneration of their monarch as a spiritual leader because it's just not...relevant, at all, in 99.9999% of daily life. IMO the Republic is kind of similar. You're very unlikely to ever meet a Jedi, one might not even visit your planet for decades at a time. Jedi practices are like pageantry to the average citizen, like the world treats the UK's royalty. Except if the UK's royalty were made of people with swords who do actually slice bad guys up, and also Morgan le Fay was real and still trying to take over.

 

[SirRolandTheFrank]

Edit: Also this all sorta brings up the fact that the Republic does totally have an official state religion but nobody in the EU ever likes to comment on it for some reason lol

Click to shrink...

iirc there are some books where Jedi Order is referred to as the Holy Order, first mention being in a 1978 comic book per wookiepedia (holy shit, the fandom wikia site sucks so bad), but you're right. Honestly, religion is something criminally underrepresented in SW media, especially given that supernatural obviously exists - the worst thing is, it's teased all the time.

In SWTOR (and Legends in general) there's a giant fuckoff Dark Side Temple on Dromund Kaas which was built by Vitiate for all the rival Sith Lords that he's murdered (including a Lightsider heretic!), where their spirits are tethered and rest mostly unmolested, as is the case for all other Sith Lords; Space Satan literally built a huge mausoleum to his enemies in accordance with his people's customs, just how crazy is that? And it's just never mentioned again, no one remarks upon it; Sith player characters can murder other Sith left and right, in gameplay or cutscenes, and they're just left to rot. The only other mentions of Sith culture in the entire videogame is that Sith Lords have the decency to follow Korriban Academy rules (and punish their apprentices for breaking them), and also Kaggath, which is slightly ritualised Might Makes Right that all Sith culture apparently boils down to, somehow (as if such a society could last a hundred years, let alone thirty thousand). SWTOR even features like, the only actual portrayal of a Sith family (and mentions of another) through Lord and Lady Grathan and their son - Sith Warrior character was born into a noble family, but it never gets mentioned outside of a throwaway line or something.

And it's all absolutely horribly, terribly, lame! I want to know all the minutiae of SW societies, their beliefs and culture, but all I keep getting is laser sword fights! For something a bit more obscure than SWTOR, there's Pius Dea: it must've been hugely important to the galaxy, and even more influential to at least some of its peoples, but literally the only thing known about it is that it was speciesist and it had a Goddess who encouraged wars of conquest, and Jedi were fine with coexisting with it for a while until they didn't and had a several centuries long schism.

Wouldn't it be fun if e.g. there was a near-human species that still revered the Pius Dea Goddess by the prequel era, just in a way unrecognisable at first glance due to how much divergence and evolution of belief and practice happened over ten thousand years - so much so that even they no longer are baseline human? Alas! most people prefer sword fights to fantasy anthropology.

 

[Hyenanon]

iirc there are some books where Jedi Order is referred to as the Holy Order, first mention being in a 1978 comic book per wookiepedia (holy shit, the fandom wikia site sucks so bad), but you're right. Honestly, religion is something criminally underrepresented in SW media, especially given that supernatural obviously exists - the worst thing is, it's teased all the time.

In SWTOR (and Legends in general) there's a giant fuckoff Dark Side Temple on Dromund Kaas which was built by Vitiate for all the rival Sith Lords that he's murdered (including a Lightsider heretic!), where their spirits are tethered and rest mostly unmolested, as is the case for all other Sith Lords; Space Satan literally built a huge mausoleum to his enemies in accordance with his people's customs, just how crazy is that? And it's just never mentioned again, no one remarks upon it; Sith player characters can murder other Sith left and right, in gameplay or cutscenes, and they're just left to rot. The only other mentions of Sith culture in the entire videogame is that Sith Lords have the decency to follow Korriban Academy rules (and punish their apprentices for breaking them), and also Kaggath, which is slightly ritualised Might Makes Right that all Sith culture apparently boils down to, somehow (as if such a society could last a hundred years, let alone thirty thousand). SWTOR even features like, the only actual portrayal of a Sith family (and mentions of another) through Lord and Lady Grathan and their son - Sith Warrior character was born into a noble family, but it never gets mentioned outside of a throwaway line or something.

And it's all absolutely horribly, terribly, lame! I want to know all the minutiae of SW societies, their beliefs and culture, but all I keep getting is laser sword fights! For something a bit more obscure than SWTOR, there's Pius Dea: it must've been hugely important to the galaxy, and even more influential to at least some of its peoples, but literally the only thing known about it is that it was speciesist and it had a Goddess who encouraged wars of conquest, and Jedi were fine with coexisting with it for a while until they didn't and had a several centuries long schism.

Wouldn't it be fun if e.g. there was a near-human species that still revered the Pius Dea Goddess by the prequel era, just in a way unrecognisable at first glance due to how much divergence and evolution of belief and practice happened over ten thousand years - so much so that even they no longer are baseline human? Alas! most people prefer sword fights to fantasy anthropology.

Click to shrink...

One of the things I think a lot of people overlook even in the movies themselves are the lines "hokey religions," "demanded by the gods, it is," and "your gods demand it".

Like, it's obviously not an obscure subject for the actual people in-universe that religions exist, including ones with deities, and everyone is aware there are many of them and they don't all have to do with Jedi and Sith. But this is very rarely touched upon in expanded media, and when it is, it's usually in the form of alternative Force Orders. Which makes sense, the Force is a key concept in Star Wars and like I mentioned earlier on Boonta it also makes sense that Force Users would be instinctively drawn to religious institutions. But when it comes to how religions operate beyond Force training it's a desert. We barely know the names of, like, three Mandalorian gods.

Ironically I feel like both Jedi and Sith go almost equally unexplored in their spiritual and religious beliefs. We get to see Jedi spiritual mentorship more often, of course, and the Jedi Path book is specifically about Jedi beliefs whereas the counterpart Book of Sith is a lot less focused or coherent as it's an amalgamation of non-Sith texts and contradictory Sith beliefs from thousands of years apart. But when authors get their hands on specific Sith characters, they rarely emphasize their spiritual beliefs. I never played SWTOR in depth, only read some of the comics, and I have many titanic problems with the canon it establishes, one of the biggest being how it portrays the Sith as just sort of mindlessly rising over and over into these effective titanic galaxy-spanning empires somehow despite lacking any competent leaders and every single individual within it having an utter lack of faith or interest in the system.

In part this is because Sith are bad guys, and heinous lies are a part of being a bad guy, so authors are tempted to have Sith that don't actually believe in their espoused religion and are just using it as a way to manipulate their apprentices, with no greater belief than the desire for more power. When we get more complicated Sith, it becomes...well...more complicated, like with Darth Revan, and unclear exactly how Sith-y they ever were. Darth Tenebrous, who appeared during the Saarkane Arc, pretty firmly is established to have no particularly spiritual convictions, and believes that the Sith are a hokey religion and he thinks he's simply Built Different; he even names Damask "Plagueis" as a joke because he doesn't view their Sith relationship as real or spiritually significant. Palpatine, of course, is established as a heretic that thinks the Rule of Two is imbecilic. Even Bane, who made the damn Rule of Two, is a cynic and did not intend for the religion to continue on as he instructed his apprentice.

I kind of like that the Sith are portrayed as going through cycles of zealousness and cynicism, where some of them do truly believe it and others don't--but we never actually get to see the ones who do! It's a persistent source of frustration for me. Someone oughta do something about that...