A Different Kind of Introduction

[Ignatius]

A U R U M
Je'daii Forges

Walking through the city, The buzzed haired man made his way quickly through the streets. Making his way up to and through the Je'daii Temple grounds. His clothing a bit ragged as he started to walk past me. Zechiel was a man who I had met a couple times, but afterwords, only saw for a few moments here and there. The man I had garner a respect from as he had a... disability as we say. Blind in the eye, but always ever seeing with the force. Even more so being a Ranger of Stav Kesh. The sect of people within the Je'daii order who trained heavily upon Martial arts, Weapon usage, and a mix of fighting and self defense.

However, the man was headed quickly down to the forges as I was. Stopping him for a moment with a call of his name, he turned around to face me.

"Ignis. It has been quite some time since we have talked. What do you inquire of me?"
"Strange you are headed to the forges. Never thought you for the hammer and anvil type."
"Oh! Thats right. You are Emberfall's head Student. Will you relay a message to her for me?"
"That would be an honor. Lay it on me."

​

​

About ten minutes later, I was standing in the middle of the forges. The blistering heat of the room causing me to sweat a little with my clothing wanting to stick to my skin. However, Emberfall stood in front of me. Mastersmith, and Master of the force. She was the leader, the Council member who was tasked with teaching others the ways of the hammer and anvil. She had her hand on her hips. Thick Valkyri accent playing out as she spoke to me.

"So we are going to have a new student, and Zek stated that the person skipped Padawan?"
"Yes. Just stated that the person is a Jawa, and that he is ready to learn."
"Will you go to the hanger to meet him? Don't want the new student to get lost in the maze that is the halls of the temple."
"Yes ma'am."

Gathering my belongings, I changed my clothing to be more presentable. More so just putting on a clean shirt and my nice vest. I always carried my sword around with me, so I tightened the straps on my belt as I walked towards the hanger. Wanting to meet this new student who was told to us to be gifted with metals. If that meant metallurgy, pyrokinesis, or even Mecha duru, Then by all means. I welcome it.

As I walked into the hanger, I looked around to see if I could find this Jawa.

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

Thasiktux could be found just outside the shuttle playing with what seems to be engraving burin. He'd be making artistic drawings on what seems to be an ornate gold ring. He'd clearly be very good at what he's doing.

 

[Ignatius]

Looking about, I saw one particular Jawa who was by his lonesome. Or her lonesome? Not sure if they had males and females honestly. To confirm the testament of Zech. I reached out through the force to feel his presence. Untamed, but there. Quite powerful for someone so small. It perplexed me how a being of such small stature and frame could hold the power of the force at it's fingertips. Either way, I took a moment to calm my nerves. Then walked over to the being.

At first I noticed he was tinkering with something. Holding a burin, I knew he was engraving something. A sign of his usage with metallurgy and knowing how to correctly engrave into softer metals with the tool. Generally used for copper, gold, or metals that have been annealed, I could see why Zech would look highly upon this being. Standing well over the own creatures height, I didn't know if I should lower my stature to meet his eyes, or to stay at my own height because lowering myself would seem disrespectful. For now, I just stayed standing.

"You the new student that is being sent to the forges?"

Very simple question, but every conversation needed an Ice breaker.

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

"That is correct," Thasiktux would say, with an uncharacteristically low-pitched voice for a Jawa. Ignis, being a former Sith, would instantly recognize this as being the early stages of dark side degradation. It would be a deep bass voice with a certain boom to it.

"I'm to assume you're the head of Vur Tepe, or whatever that thing's called? My recruiter told me you required an expert in metal refining."

 

[Ignatius]

The being surprised me completely with a understanding of the Basic language. The deeper tone the creature carried was typical of a dark sided user and matched his signature. Darker in nature than others who were here, but not as dark as I had once been. It meant that this Jawa might be able to have a better fighting chance of reaching our form of a balance within the force. Looking over the clothing that the Jawa had, it seemed to be made of more course material for withstanding harsher environments. As well as hiding their frames. No one really knew what a Jawa looked like under their hoods.

However, I was a little flattered when asked if I was the leader of the Vur Tepe. I chuckled lightly and shook my head.

"No. Just the head Student of my Mentor Thorv Emberfall. She is waiting for you at the forge and asked me to see you to her. With you being new, she didn't want you getting lost in, as she put it, 'The maze that is the halls of the Je'daii Temple."

Indicating to the doors that would lead out of the hanger, and for him to follow me so I could lead him to the forge, I decided to ask another question of the being.

"What made you interested in joining us? Very rarely do we see others of your species here. Normally they are vagabonds or traders. Not beings who wish to be trained in the force."

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

"Pure self-interest to be honest. I could've considered joining the Sith Order, but being public enemy number 20 after having stolen Sith artifacts and having smuggled weapons to resistance fighters on I don't remember which planet made that impossible. Moreover, my distaste for Sith makes me not much of a team player. Most of them have skin thinner than a gold leaf and are so easy to manipulate it's funny."

Pause

"Jawa are not naturally force sensitive. I was born near a dark side force nexus. That makes me so attuned to the Dark Side of the Force. I decided to join your order because I'm not a fan of the whole power is everything charade the Sith play. I just want to make nice metalwork and loads of money. Force training is useful."

 

[Ignatius]

Born around a Dark sided Nexus, and thus given the power of the force. So was he labeled as just a being who absorbed the force, or was there some other reason he was given this power. Opening the door out of the hangar and letting the being continue to speak as we walked through it, I was quite curious about it. Even when he spoke about the Empire and becoming an enemy to the populace. It made me a little shifty around him. If he was an enemy, then why come here? Our entire idea was about balance in the force and learning to accept and overcome your demons and sins. We didn't discriminate between people, but we do have to be careful on who we take in. It could lead to the Sith, or otherwise to attack us. We had already been attacked once. I would hate to have to be in that situation again.

Despite this, I led him through the various hallways. Leading out into the main courtyard that we would have to pass. Other students were moving along their way. Barely numbering in the dozens. While we were still growing, most were attending other planets on their trials at the moment.

"Quite the story you have there. I see you work with softer metals, is there anything else you tend to work with?"

If I could gauge the amount of knowledge he had about working with metals, then we could either improve upon his already expanded knowledge of it, or even learn from him as we sometimes are told new sources, or new ideas of what could be accomplished through the force, through technology, or even older ways that have been lost or near forgotten.

"Do you have any questions you have for me before you see Emberfall?"

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

"Yes I have many questions. What will be my duties around the Order?"

 

[Ignatius]

One of the most common questions for any newcomer. The duties and responsibilities of being within the Je'daii Order. However, he seemed to skip over my previous question of what metals he worked with. I'd let it slide and just move on with the conversation as I almost lived and breathed the words that I spoke to the Jawa.

"Everything is self sufficient to you. If you want to create a weapon, talk to someone about it, and they will get you the tools to do it. If you want to learn about Martial arts, or how to talk to animals, or even create new technology, speak to the Master of that specific field, or you can speak to the Steward and they can also aid you in whatever it is. Otherwise, the goal of being here is of your own."

Continuing across the courtyard, I had to shorten my walking pace to match the frame of the smaller being walking beside me. There was a curiousness about how he could work with hot metals. Some required so much physical force to move the metal, that I am sure his smaller frame would be difficult to do such a task in. Likely the reason he worked with smaller metals and why I saw him engraving something in what looked to be gold.

"As a member of the Order itself, you are asked to be respectful of others, of course, but that you do your best to reach a balance within the force, and to learn all you can. Knowledge is the source of all power within the universe. The more you know, the more powerful, or more able you can become. You are free to come and go as you please. I myself travel across the galaxy searching for relics of the past, and thus have free ability to go about as I please. Now so do you."

Taking a simple moment to pause to let my words sink in, I went ahead and asked again.

"You said you had many questions? Anything else?"

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

"None. Let's see this master of yours."

 

[Ignatius]

What changed his mind from wanting to ask many questions, to none at all? I guess he was just tired of my spouting of words. While I could garner emotions from people through the force, it was difficult to do this with him. It was as though his signature was different. I couldn't find any emotions upon him. Once more, a mystery along with his face. Nodding my head to him, and keeping my mouth shut, I just simply walked along to lead him towards the forges. It took a moment, but we got there fairly quickly.

Knocking on the door a couple times, I opened it for him to walk in, and left it open for him to follow as well. Proclaiming that we were here over the sounds of a hammer hitting on metal.

"Emberfall, We have guests."

Walking past some belt sanders, and around the corner to see the rather large Valkyri woman as she hammered away on a small piece of metal. Likely the project that she was working on for fixing one of missing parts of the powerhammer we just got handed down to us. While we had various others to work with, there was nothing wrong with having more than what we had so then more students could work on their projects at the same time.

She looked up from her project. Using the tongs to thrust the piece into a quench tank right next to her. Moving the piece about to prevent air bubbles along the surface. Her voice rang out over the hissing.

"Welcome. I see you brought the new student."

Taking a moment to remove the piece from the tank, setting it back onto the anvil with her hammer, she walked over and politely bowed towards the being. A sign of a hello as well as a welcome.

"Thorv Emberfall, Master of the Forges for the Jedaii Order. Glad to have you with us. I am sure that Ignis already answered some questions you had. However, if you have any more, I am more than welcome to answer."

She reached out her hand during her introduction to grab a towel with the force. Wiping away the soot from her hands as she must have grabbed something that had leftover residue from the forges.

"You are more than welcome to use the forge whenever. Just take care of the forge and try not to break anything and I will be happy. I was told that you already knew some Metallurgy. What do you normally work with?"

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

[member="Ignis Imura"]

Part of the reason why Ignis was utterly unable to get a read on Thasiktux's signature was because he was so good at hiding it. Like Darth Sidious during the end of the Republic era, he was completely able to keep his inner force signature hidden to all but the greatest masters. This served him remarkably well in his career as a smuggler and master thief, being able to lure unsuspecting Sith into confrontation and then overwhelming them with pyrokinesis and force lightening.

As Thasiktux would arrive in the room with Master Emberfall, his two flaming red eyes would focus on the master.

"As for the questions I have, I would like to have a map of the forges in order to know where is where. As for my experience, I spent a decade and a half of my adult life working as a Jawa scavenger. I can work with any metal in existence, though I specialize in bullion of various sorts. I made quite a fortune smuggling phrik and cortosis under the Jedi's noses. That being said, I will begin my work here by crafting myself a new lightsaber. My current weapon is a hand-me-down from my teacher on Tatooine, and I require a more modern weapon tailored to my fighting style."

 

[Ignatius]

I looked over the being. He spoke about being able to work with just about any metal you could name. While I am sure that he hadn't quite had the change to work with metals that were allocated to just the company that created it, I wouldn't doubt he had his experience. I was kind of interested in the skills and abilities this man had. As many who worked on forges, they had their setups different. Built for their specific needs and wants. While Emberfall kind of had it the same way, it was moreso built to be open and allow movement for various students. Holding well over a dozen students working at the same time. She nodded as I expected from her. We both knew that getting used to a new environment could take some time. A map or a layout would be more than helpful.

​"That is not a problem. I will record all the information you need on a datapad for you. While I do that, Ignis, will you show him our spare tools and where we keep our materials so he can work on his lightsaber?"
"Yes ma'am."

Nodding her welcome once more, she headed over towards my right into the back room. It was more so an office, but built to be larger so that if a student fainted during the creation of force imbued items, they could be simply taken into some place safe to rest. There was even a couch and a couple tables for others to sit at. However, the Jawa wouldn't be able to see those from the split second the door was open, and becuase they were around the corner.

Turning around to face the being, I indicated to his left. Another door was closed at the moment, but flicked open with a little bit of force persuasion.

"It seems like you already have tools you need, but should you require something you do not have, we have various extras for you to borrow and use at your convenience. As well, all of the metal sheeting or ingots you require are in here. Towards the back we have sword and weapon blanks, as well as an entire cabinet that house parts for lightsabers and even crystals should you need them."

As I walked towards the door, I stopped for a second and pointed to my right. A lone machine that was kind of hidden in the corner but still plugged in and operational. In fact, it was likely the youngest machine in the room. It was a Crystal generator. Much like the ones used by the Sith, or even Jedi depending upon the circumstances, it allowed one to create a synthetic crystal to be used in a lightsaber.

"if you feel that our crystals are not adequate, you are more than welcome to create your own, or take an existing one and add upon it with the crystal generator. I am not sure how you work, if you work alone or if you like an extra hand, but I am more than able to help you create it while Emberfall is-"
"Done with the format for all of the machines, quench tanks and everything else you might need."

I shook my head with a smirk as Emberfall ended my words to interject that she had gotten done. She was a fast worker when it came to just about anything. She could forge out an ingot of metal into a full fledged sword in less than an hour and a half. I could barely match her with two hours time. And mind you, this is complete fabrication. Not ending just when the blade is completed with a full or half tang.

"As Ignis stated, should you require aid, we are no more than a few steps away."

[member="Thasiktux"],

 

[Thasiktux]

"I will be soon crafting my new lightsaber. I'll be creating a synthetic crystal and be using phrik alloys in the hilt. I require use of any crystallography facilities you have. I am sure Ignis can lead me there."