EU-Fic/History/The Jedi Order

The Jedi Order

by Darth Raptor

Introduction

The Jedi Order is an ancient and pan-galactic society devoted to the light side of the Force, its philosophical study and practical applications. While they are scarcely understood, phenomena traditionally ascribed to the Force are repeatable and independently verifiable. Nevertheless, the Order adheres to a mystical philosophy and a dogmatic code of morality and conduct. For this reason, scholars and historians have traditionally classified the Jedi Order as a Force cult; one of the so-called "true religions", or those centered on an unscientific study of the very real phenomena known as the Force. The legendary virtue and heroism of its members combined with its undeniable history of applying the Force both safely and effectively (a history not shared by competing philosophies) have helped to make the Jedi Order the galaxy's dominant Force cult. Their interpretation of the Force is generally accepted as "correct" by the galaxy at large. Due to its role in the foundation of the Galactic Republic and its function in the defense and maintenance thereof, the Jedi Order enjoys considerable power and influence within the Republic Authority, while remaining technically independent of said government. The Jedi have a standing mandate to explore the galaxy, defend the Republic from external threats, expand (through peaceful means) its sphere of influence, mediate domestic and international disputes, recruit from among the citizenry, regulate the study, knowledge and practice of Force-related abilities and to enforce law and order within Republic territory; a mandate that has not been altered since the Republic was established over twenty-four thousand years ago.

History

Unfortunately, the precise origins of the Jedi Order have been lost to prehistory. Jedi scholars and secular archaeologists alike have posited a great many competing and hotly-contested hypotheses on the matter. Most probably, the Order cannot trace its beginnings to any one philosophy, religion or group in any one era or location. Instead, they were inspired by a great many groups of prehistoric Force magi like the Chatos Paladins and the Dai Bendu Monks. Indeed, the eponymous, eight-spoked roundel of the Order of Dai Bendu has come to symbolize galactic unity and features heavily in both Jedi and Republic iconography.

The modern and mature form of the Jedi Order predates the Galactic Republic by at least two thousand years and archaeological evidence points to an Order that is more ancient still. The first indisputable accounts are those of the Force Wars of Tython, a nigh-mythical, Deep Core planet where scientists and philosophers from across the galaxy gathered to study the Ashla, or light side of the Force. An inevitable conflict arose between the Jedi and those who became corrupted by the Bogan, or dark side of the Force. Due to an appalling lack of contemporary evidence and an abundance of contradictory accounts, the Force Wars are (understandably) dismissed by most secular and even Jedi scholars as the genesis of the modern Order. Instead, those who maintain that they actually occurred consider them a precursor to the First Great Schism, an interstellar war between the Jedi and their sworn enemies; the various groups of dark side magi.

The First Great Schism was itself part and symptomatic of the Unification Wars. The pre-Republic Jedi were defined by their violent opposition to dark side witches and heretical sects of their own cult. Thus, the Jedi quickly became known as chivalrous heroes; the saviors and protectors of peace-loving peoples throughout the galaxy. It was as much by the cruelty and barbarism of their enemies as it was by their own merits that they acquired this reputation. The Jedi were in a perfect position to unite the Great Powers of the Core and their allies against the Anti-Unification Alliance and its barbarian pawns. They did so, and found that while numerous, their enemies were as disorganized as they were dissolute. What began as an alliance of necessity for the survival of civilization would eventually become the Galactic Republic. With the Jedi to stand vigil as the eternal guardians of peace and justice, the future of civilization was assured.

Recruitment, Training and Placement

By law, membership in the Jedi Order is voluntary. Individuals suspected to possess potential are identified at birth by routine medical tests. In eukaryotic species, this is done by performing a count of midi-chlorians per cell. An individual's midi-chlorian count is positively-correlated with latent Force abilities, but a battery of further tests are required for confirmation. These tests are performed by the recruiting Knight or officer of the Inquisition. If the presence of genuine ability is confirmed, the individual is, with the written consent of their legal guardians, inducted into the Jedi Order at the age of seven.

Training takes place in one of two ways; the first is for Knights of Master level to take on the initiate as their personal apprentice. The second is for the initiate to attend a Jedi academy or praxeum. Apprentice Jedi and academy students are called Padawans and, in addition to their studies, serve their masters and/or the Order itself as pages until they reach the legal age of majority for their species. Padawans old enough for military service act as squires in the direct support of Knights in the field, or begin to assume the responsibilities of their occupational specialty. Republic law mandates that they receive a full primary and secondary education in addition to their martial and occupational training. Most also complete a baccalaureate-level tertiary education or better.

Occupational placement is partly determined by the needs of the Order and partly by the talents and temperaments of the individual Padawan. Squires under the charge of a Knight can only become a Knight, while academy-trained Padawans have a wider range of specializations available to them. Jedi that pursue a less generalized career can begin their specialized training as early as fourteen and as late as eighteen. All Jedi carry lightsabers and have some degree of martial skill, even if they never see combat.

Knights

The martial arm of the Jedi Order, the Swift Sword and Invincible Shield of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Knights are the finest warriors in the galaxy. While masters of swordsmanship and known for their gleaming, plastoid body armor, Jedi Knights are savants at battle in any medium. Infantry, armor, aviation, marksmanship, reconnaissance, infiltration and special forces; Jedi Knights can do it all and do it better than even the most gifted Force-blind individual. Knights-errant act on their own or with/in support of other Knights-errant. Others are dispatched on missions by the Temple, either alone or in support of Republic military operations.

Still others serve in the Armed Forces of the Republic on active duty; with most of these being special forces or naval aviators. As one would expect, many Knights move on to occupy command roles. These are the Jedi Generals and their powers of telepathy and precognition have allowed them to lead the armies and fleets of the Republic to victory time and again. Jedi Generals are specialists in battle meditation, a skill that allows them to coordinate and inspire their troops to an extent that would otherwise be impossible.

Apothecaries

Apothecaries are masters of alchemy (Force-assisted, trans-elemental chemistry) and psychometabolism, making them physicians and pharmacologists without peer. While a Jedi Apothecary cannot do anything that modern medicine cannot, they can do so anywhere and at any time. This makes them invaluable on the battlefield or at the scene of an epidemic or natural disaster; especially in circumstances of critical time or scarce resources. Apothecaries are also employed in planetary terraforming and reclamation efforts. In addition to their preternatural abilities, Jedi apothecaries are almost always fully-trained biologists or conventional physicians.

The Temple

The Temple is the guiding light of the Order and Temples of various sizes and dispositions can be found on most worlds in the Republic. The primary role of the Temple is to coordinate and support Knights in the field and to liaise with the Republic Authority and local governments. Understandably, very few Temples can maintain a permanent cadre of Jedi. Instead, these facilities are staffed by lay servants, Force-blind acolytes who are the lifeblood of the Order's organizational bureaucracy and support infrastructure. The size of a Jedi Temple depends on the world's relative importance and can range from humble shrines sequestered in the alcoves of government buildings to the ecumenical Temple on Coruscant, a virtual city unto itself.

Those large enough to warrant a permanent Jedi detachment often double as academies, archives or headquarters for the Council and Inquisition. Knights assigned to a Temple specifically to ensure its security are called Templars. Specialist members of the permanent compliment are styled and self-styled by a range of names varying by local tradition, specific function and personal preference. These Jedi serve a much more intellectual role, and can be known as scholars, scientists, philosophers, magi, priests, monks and numerous other academic and mystical titles. The same is true for the individual Temples and their leaders.

In addition to its intra-Order support functions, the Temple provides valuable social services to their local communities. On less developed worlds, the Temple can take on an almost missionary disposition, providing food, clothing, medicine and education to worlds outside the Republic or on the fringe of its effective influence.

The Inquisition

Almost all Jedi and their acolytes are seen as saints; intrinsically noble and honorable servants of light, the guardians of peace and justice. While those on the wrong side of the Order's attentions would disagree, to the galaxy at large, the Jedi are almost universally revered. Conversely, no one likes the Inquistion, not even most Jedi. Some respect it, others fear it, still more hate it, but fondness for the organization is not something that is found outside its walls. Even after twenty-four thousand years of tireless service, the Inquisition is merely tolerated by the Republic. Tolerated and accepted as necessary to contain the very real dangers of the dark side of the Force.

The Inquisition serves to regulate the knowledge, teaching and practice of the Force. By Republic law, all religions are protected and dark side cults are no exception. Alternative beliefs in the Force are tolerated by both the Jedi and the Republic Authority. Alternative practices are not. Jedi Inquisitors and their subordinate agents hunt down and prosecute the myriad groups of practicing witches, heretics, schismatics and apostates. The Inquisition is also responsible for the discovery and surveillance of potential Jedi recruits. While the Order prefers to have Knights or less odious specialists do the actual recruiting, it is almost always the Inquisition who is first to learn of a potential initiate. Those whose person or guardians refuse to join the Order are thoroughly yet discreetly monitored by the Inquisition for the rest of their lives.

The Inquisition is also the internal police and judiciary of the Order, which prefers to handle its problems internally. Particularly infamous and egregious offenders are usually remanded to Republic custody.

The Grand Master

by Darth Hoth

The Grand Master of the Order of the Knights of Jedi was the supreme leader of the Order and the ruler of its estates. Elected by the acclaim of the High Council for an indefinite period, he typically served for life – the honour of an appointment was often viewed as too great to relinquish, although there were rare exceptions, such as when Grand Master Hermann, Lord Hoth resigned his position in favour of the Prince Valenthyne of the House of Farfalla upon leading the doomed “Charge of the Ten Thousand” upon the heretic Lord Kaan’s lines at Ruusan. A Grand Master frequently appointed his successor; although such a statement was formally only a recommendation to the High Council, strong custom required this body to honour such requests – not one exception has been recorded to this rule.

In his duties, the Grand Master represented the Order before the Supreme Chancellor and President of the Galactic Republic and was required to report to him, as part of the intricately regulated relationship between the State and the Order Militant; while many Grand Masters resented this mostly ceremonial function and in practice dealt with the Republic Authority through the Diplomatic Service and their own appointed Ambassadors, as better befitted a de facto independent polity of the Order’s importance, several formed cordial relationships with the Chancellors of their time, reporting to them in person as tradition had originally had it and becoming their close advisors. One notable such relationship was that of Grand Master Ferdinand, Lord Yoda and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, in the twilight days of the Republic.

In addition to such functions, the Grand Master was the undisputed ruler of the Order, with its myriad Knights and their fiefs and protectorates. He was the Supreme Commander of the Order’s formidable military forces, and all its soldiers where required to take an oath of allegiance to him in person, above and beyond their pledges of fealty to individual Knights or Masters, as were all true members of the Order upon knighting. Only he, together with the High Council, had ultimate jurisdiction over the full Knights and Masters of the Order, except in such cases when the Senate of the Republic chose to exercise its legal prerogative over them – something that happened rarely, but was not unheard of; a famous example would be the trial of Ulic Qel-Droma, the Prince of Koros. Furthermore, he was in ultimate control of the much larger, non-militant segments of the Order’s organisation and bureaucracy, such as the Mission, and through its Synod, the Church of the Living Force Triumphant, which tended to those of the galaxy’s adherents to the religion of Jedi who were not themselves Force-sensitive. Finally, the Grand Master ruled the Estates of the Order, or the states under its direct control (as opposed to those held by its vassals), most famously its throneworld, the library-fortress of Akkara in the Coruscant Sector.

While the Grand Master’s power was great in absolute terms, his influence was greater still. His word carried a weight greater than that which the purely economic and military might of the Order – though arguably a Great Power in and of itself – would have supported. To most of the quadrillions of adherents to the Living Force faith, he was a quasi-religious figure, and they tended to obey his suggestions when they were voiced. In addition, the dual status of many prominent knightly families as kings and nobles in their own right, many ruling prosperous Core and Colonies worlds, ensured that the Order never stood without political allies. (In fact, since these princes and lords of Jedi were as bound by vows of fealty as their non-landed Knight-Brethren, it is arguable that many of these polities were, in fact, vassals of the Order rather than strictly independent powers.) One should also take note of the immense “soft power” carried by the Grand Master personally, as opposed to that of his office; only the most prestigious and powerful members of the Order would be considered for this most exalted position. This, combined with the authority of the rank as such, meant that in many instances, official orders were not required for his will to be carried out. It is thus no wonder that political science traditionally held the Grand Master to be the second most powerful single individual in the galaxy.

However, few Grand Masters chose to exercise their powers in full – understandably so, as their myriad duties would then have either swamped them or slowed down the workings of the Order. A few very energetic leaders, such as the aforementioned Lord Hoth, have the proven exceptions, but overall much of the Grand Master’s power was delegated to his immediate inferiors. For example, day to day rule of the throneworld was accorded the Marshall of Akkara, widely considered the Order’s second most powerful man, and the Synod rarely required his direct participation. The Lord Captain General usually tended to the Order’s forces, while the Lord Chaplain monitored its more monastic subdivisions. Notably, the Inquisition led a quasi-autonomous existence under its own leadership, headed by the Grand Inquisitor; relations between this organisation, much different in character from the pomp and circumstance of the Order proper, and the central authority was sometimes strained, although there are examples of amiable relationships between Grand Inquisitors and Grand Masters, such as that of Lord Yoda and Mace, Lord Windu in the last days of the Order.

The High Council

by Darth Hoth

The Tribunal of the Grand Conclave of the Order of the Knights of Jedi, often colloquially referred to simply as the High Council, was the presidium of the rarely assembled Grand Conclave, a mostly ceremonial body that comprised, among others, all the Chapter Masters of the Order and was rendered impractical already in the early days of its development due to its rapid expansion. It ruled the affairs of the Order and served as an advisory board – as well as a mechanism of check and balance – to the Grand Master of the Order.

The High Council had twelve members, in addition to the Grand Master, who chaired it. Four members qualified by their office: the Marshall of Akkara; the Lord Captain General of the Soldiers of Jedi; the Lord Chaplain of the Cloistered Orders of Jedi; and the Grand Inquisitor of the Inquisition of the Knights of Jedi. These were its most powerful and influential seats, second only to the Grand Master himself, and their vote carried weight disproportionate to their numbers; in particular, the Grand Inquisitor, though often not well liked, wielded great influence. The other members were great Masters appointed by their peers, always men of past heroic deeds and ancient knightly lines, rarely ones not past their first century in age. Such an appointment was usually considered the pinnacle of achievement in the Order, indeed one of the greatest honours in all the galaxy, and it was construed as a great insult – a heresy, almost – when Dooku, Count of Serenno refused to accept a seat on the Council when appointed; such insolence was unheard of, and the incident likely played a major part in his later renouncing his vows and leaving the Order.

The High Council served as the supreme authority of the Order, monitoring and aiding the Grand Master in the exercising of his rights and duties, both in the governance of the Order and its estates. It controlled the Order’s treasury and operational budget, as well as its foreign and domestic policy, and exercised rights of oversight of the Order’s own armed forces. Most prominently, the High Council appointed the Grand Master (though often at the recommendation of his predecessor) and was the only legal authority with the right to depose him; however, this required unanimous acclaim, and this particular privilege was never utilised by an independently functioning High Council. The High Council also served as the supreme judicial authority of the Order, convening as a court to sentence egregious criminals within the Order; in such cases, the Grand Inquisitor would serve as prosecutor, with the Grand Master and the other senior members judging and the lesser appointment filling the function of a jury. On rare occasions, such criminals were instead deemed to fall under the jurisdiction of the Republic Authority proper; this caused resentment among more independently minded Knights.

Generally, however, the High Council did little to interfere in the locally run Chapters of the Knights Jedi, which were broadly self-governing within a federative structure not entirely unlike that of the Galactic Republic itself. To an extent, this was due to the voluntary coordination efforts of the Chapter Councils themselves – lesser entities modelled on the High Council, frequently controlling Jedi activities in areas roughly equivalent to (though rarely entirely contiguous with) Republic Sectors – but the High Council also allowed them a great degree of independence and rarely interceded over minor deviancies; they were, however, theoretically mere administrative subdivisions, not governments in and of themselves, and the High Council did reserve for itself the right of intervention in cases of outright disloyalty and heresy, as it did against Chapter Master Assad, Lord Kaan and what would eventually become the Brotherhood of Darkness. Notably, the Inquisition’s parallel structure also monitored the local Chapters.

In addition to its governmental and judicial functions, the High Council served a religious role within the Order and its subservient Church by claiming pre-eminency of interpretation of religious texts and commandments, most prominently the Code of Jedi itself, a massive collection of regulations and codes of chivalric conduct, many archaic and other seemingly arbitrary or contradictory (such as the ruling from 28,044 BrS that Knights of Jedi should wear only homespun robes, or the more recent commandment from 24,582 BrS that Knights should not eat fish more than once a week; both were more or less uniformly ignored). It could not change these commandments – this required the formal convention of the Grand Conclave – but the material was ambiguous enough to allow for differing interpretations, depending on climate. Doctrinal conflicts were rare, but nevertheless occurred; for example, the expulsion without persecution of the schismatic Potentium sect caused much resentment within the Order, both among its detractors and its supporters.

The High Council and the Grand Master were in theory supposed to complement and aid each other, and in practice, this was often their relationship. As such, the division of power between them remained fairly unimportant for the greater part of their history. There were, however, times when a Grand Master and his High Council found themselves working at cross purposes, such as during Lord Hoth’s crusade against the Brotherhood of Darkness. The High Council disagreed with Hoth’s aggressive strategy, refusing to grant him the forces he required; Hoth in turn then drew upon the Knights-Vassal and their forces, whose allegiance was ultimately to him and over whom the Council had no direct authority. By far the greatest schism was instigated by Grand Master Ajantis, Lord Revan, millennia earlier, when he and his supporters collectively resigned from the Order after a similar dispute, effectively splitting it in twain. In the time since, additional checks on the Grand Master’s power have been instituted.