[background=I've stumbled across a translation of a translation of a translation in Rave's notes, along with her annotations. If any of this is accurate, it's groundbreaking - about [/font][background=twenty-seven thousand years old[/font][background=, if I'm interpreting the Tho Yor dates correctly. Roughly speaking, 26,000 BBY is around 10,000 ATY (After Tho Yor).[/font]
[background=Most of these observations have to do with a Je'daii Ranger named Lanoree Brock or Bock. I'm fairly familiar with the Je'daii philosophy thanks to my encounters with Spencer Varanin, but I've never found a source that gets so in depth on the context around them and the abilities they had. Brock was nothing special, but she still managed things that modern Jedi or Sith would have a good deal of trouble duplicating.[/font]
[background=Did you know that the Tython system had over fifteen settled planets and moons? Some were terraformed, others had domed colonies. I’ve only been through there once or twice, but Mara spent some time there on a rescue op. I should ask her for her background sensor data.[/font]
[background=There’s a passing mention of A’nang, ‘Last of the Tython Kwa’ - the gatekeeper of the diamond-shaped holocron that Chloe found a few years ago.[/font]
[background=Also worth noting that Aurebesh symbols already existed in 25,500 BBY -- and in a specifically Rakatan context. Have we been using the Rakatan alphabet all this time?[/font]
[background=Brock traveled on something called the Great Journey. Apparently the Je’daii went from Padawan to Journeyer to Ranger to Master, a four-rank system. Journeyers traveled alone or with partners, between the big temples on Tython. Hundreds of kilometres, even thousands, by vehicle or on foot. Each temple, of course, had its own specialties. [/font]
[background=Lanoree Brock had a knack for alchemy, but was also noted as being decent with illusions; she was an illusionist’s daughter. She could make illusions that lasted for a century, protecting secret caverns with images of rockfalls. Nowadays, the only way to make permanent illusions is to use Fallanassi techniques, I’m told.[/font]
[background=There’s a side note about the ancient Cathar religion - observations of a rite. A circle of them meditated around an image of their god, painted on the ground. Something called ‘smoke snakes’ rose from the ground in response to their meditation, and danced in the circle. I suspect we’re looking at some kind of conjuration, like a Sith smoke demon but far more innocuous. I should talk with some Cathar.[/font]
[background=Brock could use the Force to remain sober and alert while drinking moonshine.[/font]
[background=There’s quite a bit here about alchemy. The Je’daii forbade using alchemy on sentients, but they were pretty phlegmatic about other stuff that the Jedi would shun. The standard exercise for ongoing alchemical study was to grow and expand a brainless lump of living flesh, starting with your own cells. At one point, Lanoree was shot in the chest, and merged her alchemical lump clone with her injury to save her own life. She learned from a Cathar Master named Dam-Powl, who dabbled in secret, forbidden alchemy. Specifically, Dam-Powl alchemically altered a Twi’lek criminal named Tre Sana. The alteration walled off his mind utterly to all telepathic intrusion - except from Dam-Powl. Epicanthix with a back door, effectively. [/font]
[background=There are some very dangerous things here about Gree hypergates and the explosive power of certain kinds of dark matter. The Je’daii were very serious about the superweapon-level consequences of messing with this material; I won’t discuss it.[/font]
[background=Far more useful for most Jedi would be discussion of the Je’daii martial arts instructor Tave deflecting and redirecting Force-pushes -- Force-punches, really, as much projected fighting as a more passive push.She could send them back at their creators, solely in the realm of Control; no overt Force powers involved. Now there’s a terrifyingly useful skill.[/font]
[background=There was a man named Osamael Or, an explorer who was lost on Tython in the Old City’s Gree undercity in around 35,000BBY. Osamael Or’s journals were discovered and preserved for at least nine millennia. Wouldn’t that be a thing to have. Lanoree Brock was able to take only one; the owner of the rest eluded her. The Old City, incidentally, may be older than the Gree. Kwa, perhaps.[/font]
[background=There’s one more thing of note. It concerns a one-of-a-kind training tool created by Master Kin’ade of the Stav Kesh temple. I’ve included the text of the fragmentary account as relevant. Fascinating stuff. Rave made some notes on duplicating it, but she hardly ever trained in anything but alchemy, so it was of limited use to her except as a salable curio.[/font]
The sphere glows, hums, shines. It darts up past Kin’ade’s horned head and hovers high up, drifting left and right as if looking at the views. It is the size of a human’s head...and then larger...and then smaller again, fistlike, hard. It flits from place to place and glides. It is smooth, and glimmers like a fluid, hard and spiked with countless protuberances. There are so many contradictions to the sphere, it is so ambiguous, that when it attacks, it takes Lanoree a few moments to figure out what is happening. By then her leg is bleeding and her arm aches, and the other students are in disarray.
The Darrow sphere attacks and then retreats, rises and falls, fires darts of light, and impacts against flesh. One moment it seems intent on killing them all, the next it drifts away, glowing an almost serene shade of blue as it seems to contemplate the views.
It sweeps toward Master Kin’ade, who performs an Alchaka move and kicks the sphere aside.
“Concentrate,†Kin’ade says. “Don’t panic. Don’t get flustered. Let the Force flow with you, sense the sphere’s movement. Know its intent.â€
The Darrow sphere sweeps behind [Lanoree] and delivers a paralyzing charge to her leg.
The Wookiee manages to get a hit in with one heavy fist. But perhaps the sphere let her, because she cries out as the hairs on her arm stand on end and her fist sparks and sizzles.
“Enough,†Master Kin’ade says. She performs a graceful gesture with her hand and the sphere sinks to the ground, fading until it is almost transparent. Lanoree has the impression that it is still of its own mind, and that Kin’ade is barely controlling it at all.
“This is the Darrow sphere,†Master Kin’ade says. “I created it myself to help student training here at Stav Kesh, and this is the only one.â€
She nods at where the sphere came to rest, and Lanoree is not surprised to see it gone.
“Where is it?†Dal asks.
“There,†Kin’ade says. “Or perhaps not. Are you too trusting of your senses, Dalien Brock?â€
There follows a blindfold exercise that ends about as you'd expect.
[background=Most of these observations have to do with a Je'daii Ranger named Lanoree Brock or Bock. I'm fairly familiar with the Je'daii philosophy thanks to my encounters with Spencer Varanin, but I've never found a source that gets so in depth on the context around them and the abilities they had. Brock was nothing special, but she still managed things that modern Jedi or Sith would have a good deal of trouble duplicating.[/font]
[background=Did you know that the Tython system had over fifteen settled planets and moons? Some were terraformed, others had domed colonies. I’ve only been through there once or twice, but Mara spent some time there on a rescue op. I should ask her for her background sensor data.[/font]
[background=There’s a passing mention of A’nang, ‘Last of the Tython Kwa’ - the gatekeeper of the diamond-shaped holocron that Chloe found a few years ago.[/font]
[background=Also worth noting that Aurebesh symbols already existed in 25,500 BBY -- and in a specifically Rakatan context. Have we been using the Rakatan alphabet all this time?[/font]
[background=Brock traveled on something called the Great Journey. Apparently the Je’daii went from Padawan to Journeyer to Ranger to Master, a four-rank system. Journeyers traveled alone or with partners, between the big temples on Tython. Hundreds of kilometres, even thousands, by vehicle or on foot. Each temple, of course, had its own specialties. [/font]
[background=Lanoree Brock had a knack for alchemy, but was also noted as being decent with illusions; she was an illusionist’s daughter. She could make illusions that lasted for a century, protecting secret caverns with images of rockfalls. Nowadays, the only way to make permanent illusions is to use Fallanassi techniques, I’m told.[/font]
[background=There’s a side note about the ancient Cathar religion - observations of a rite. A circle of them meditated around an image of their god, painted on the ground. Something called ‘smoke snakes’ rose from the ground in response to their meditation, and danced in the circle. I suspect we’re looking at some kind of conjuration, like a Sith smoke demon but far more innocuous. I should talk with some Cathar.[/font]
[background=Brock could use the Force to remain sober and alert while drinking moonshine.[/font]
[background=There’s quite a bit here about alchemy. The Je’daii forbade using alchemy on sentients, but they were pretty phlegmatic about other stuff that the Jedi would shun. The standard exercise for ongoing alchemical study was to grow and expand a brainless lump of living flesh, starting with your own cells. At one point, Lanoree was shot in the chest, and merged her alchemical lump clone with her injury to save her own life. She learned from a Cathar Master named Dam-Powl, who dabbled in secret, forbidden alchemy. Specifically, Dam-Powl alchemically altered a Twi’lek criminal named Tre Sana. The alteration walled off his mind utterly to all telepathic intrusion - except from Dam-Powl. Epicanthix with a back door, effectively. [/font]
[background=There are some very dangerous things here about Gree hypergates and the explosive power of certain kinds of dark matter. The Je’daii were very serious about the superweapon-level consequences of messing with this material; I won’t discuss it.[/font]
[background=Far more useful for most Jedi would be discussion of the Je’daii martial arts instructor Tave deflecting and redirecting Force-pushes -- Force-punches, really, as much projected fighting as a more passive push.She could send them back at their creators, solely in the realm of Control; no overt Force powers involved. Now there’s a terrifyingly useful skill.[/font]
[background=There was a man named Osamael Or, an explorer who was lost on Tython in the Old City’s Gree undercity in around 35,000BBY. Osamael Or’s journals were discovered and preserved for at least nine millennia. Wouldn’t that be a thing to have. Lanoree Brock was able to take only one; the owner of the rest eluded her. The Old City, incidentally, may be older than the Gree. Kwa, perhaps.[/font]
[background=There’s one more thing of note. It concerns a one-of-a-kind training tool created by Master Kin’ade of the Stav Kesh temple. I’ve included the text of the fragmentary account as relevant. Fascinating stuff. Rave made some notes on duplicating it, but she hardly ever trained in anything but alchemy, so it was of limited use to her except as a salable curio.[/font]
***FRAGMENTARY ACCOUNT BEGINS***
The sphere glows, hums, shines. It darts up past Kin’ade’s horned head and hovers high up, drifting left and right as if looking at the views. It is the size of a human’s head...and then larger...and then smaller again, fistlike, hard. It flits from place to place and glides. It is smooth, and glimmers like a fluid, hard and spiked with countless protuberances. There are so many contradictions to the sphere, it is so ambiguous, that when it attacks, it takes Lanoree a few moments to figure out what is happening. By then her leg is bleeding and her arm aches, and the other students are in disarray.
The Darrow sphere attacks and then retreats, rises and falls, fires darts of light, and impacts against flesh. One moment it seems intent on killing them all, the next it drifts away, glowing an almost serene shade of blue as it seems to contemplate the views.
It sweeps toward Master Kin’ade, who performs an Alchaka move and kicks the sphere aside.
“Concentrate,†Kin’ade says. “Don’t panic. Don’t get flustered. Let the Force flow with you, sense the sphere’s movement. Know its intent.â€
***
The Darrow sphere sweeps behind [Lanoree] and delivers a paralyzing charge to her leg.
***
The Wookiee manages to get a hit in with one heavy fist. But perhaps the sphere let her, because she cries out as the hairs on her arm stand on end and her fist sparks and sizzles.
“Enough,†Master Kin’ade says. She performs a graceful gesture with her hand and the sphere sinks to the ground, fading until it is almost transparent. Lanoree has the impression that it is still of its own mind, and that Kin’ade is barely controlling it at all.
***
“This is the Darrow sphere,†Master Kin’ade says. “I created it myself to help student training here at Stav Kesh, and this is the only one.â€
***
She nods at where the sphere came to rest, and Lanoree is not surprised to see it gone.
“Where is it?†Dal asks.
“There,†Kin’ade says. “Or perhaps not. Are you too trusting of your senses, Dalien Brock?â€
***FRAGMENTARY ACCOUNT ENDS***
There follows a blindfold exercise that ends about as you'd expect.
