Private Asleep in the Orchard

[Aeris Lashiec]

Greetings, Master Quill.

I am not usually one to reach out unless it’s important. Late fees, overdue returns and the likes, but just this once there is something I have been thinking about for a while now that I can’t seem to stop thinking about on a daily if not hourly basis. From our brief interactions on Manaan I felt that you might be someone who would at the very least understand. Perhaps you could give me a good take on the matter or just tell me straight to my face what is wrong.

What I am meaning to say is that it’s taking a lot out of me to rid myself of this feeling that we have lost our way again. I was still a child when the masters on Ossus used to grumble over their scars in secret when they thought the younglings couldn’t hear. We constantly heard them through the metaphorical grapevine as they shared intimate stories of the war and what they had done between each other. Some bad, some good, and they spoke of how with each day that the Republic grew increasingly desperate to win, us younglings would all be paying the same price if things didn’t change.

I have been fortunate enough to avoid war to any greater extent, or at least so it feels like when I look at the rest of my Order. My conscience is burdened by the lives that I have taken but soothed by the fact that I gave them repeated chances to stand down before I was left with no choice but to end their lives in self-defense. I always told myself that as a Jedi it is my duty to accept and to protect. At the point where we are now as an Order, the New Jedi Order, I think that sometimes we’d do well to remember that. After all,

Passion for a cause, no matter how righteous, is not peace.
Knowledge without understanding is ignorance.
In knowledge there is a harmony to be found.

The Jedi Code for as simple as it is has plenty of interpretations for this exact reason. Far be it for me to determine what is the right and wrong with a personal take on such a vague piece of sacred scripture. But, I struggle to find the part where the core tenets are the result of violence. Peace, knowledge, serenity, harmony, and the all too mystical force; these are the natural state of the galaxy and what we should all strive to accomplish. And yet when I look at how my order is acting, what I see in these actions that my brethren and sisters have taken as of late — the ones that put children in graves — is emotion. I see ignorance and misguided passions, chaos and most of all death.

If we continue like this it’ll be hard to keep to the claims that we are protecting the light when we are so hellbent on keeping it to ourselves and those that we deem worthy enough to feel it. If salvation is the dead bodies of an entire school of misguided youth, then what truly separates us from the ones we claim to protect others from? How do we come back from this?

Yours,
Aeris Lashiec, Archivist.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Aeris-

I read your letter carefully. Some thoughts-

I feel the Jedi tradition places far too much emphasis on state of mind. Evil committed while emotionless or tranquil is still evil. I'm not saying that all violence is evil by any means, but there's a consistent trend throughout our history of defaulting to maiming or lethal violence. When the only tool you think you have is a lightsaber, every problem looks like a thing in need of cutting.

I share your sentiments: when one's target is, essentially, a high school, one should at minimum bring nonlethal options to the table. That's a matter of basic sapient judgment.

Bear with me as I try to sort out some thoughts on the just war, specifically jus in bello - the just conduct of war.

Consider the principle of discrimination. Target combatants, don't target non-combatants. Do child soldiers under duress count as combatants? To all too many Jedi, the answer is unquestionably yes, with no allowance for things like nonlethal options. The misguided Jedi who tried to kill me recently was spitting zealot talking points about how sparing young Sith was wrong.

There's also the principle of military necessity. Attacks must focus on legitimate military objectives. I accept the necessity of erasing Sith materials as much as possible, and Sith academies are often reasonably well-defended. Firebombing a Sith library in a facility that trained young teenagers, however, is too far.

And the principle of discrimination also covers things like accepting and respecting surrenders - a far cry from the NIO's 'no quarter' ethos. I'd also argue that the Jedi aren't always terribly interested in not mistreating prisoners of war. Surely we can do better than shackling in collars. At minimum we need a comprehensive solution. I'm unclear that the Galactic Alliance has a systematic approach to imprisoning Sith. I'm unclear the Alliance even takes Sith prisoners. Any insight would be welcome.

Aeris Lashiec

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Jend-Ro Quill

Master Quill,

It is true. The absence of emotion in the face of terror — emotional or physical — is not a sign of bravery or a just cause. I quite enjoyed what you said about the lightsaber and the effect it has on one’s mindset, and I will be sure to pass that along to anyone else that might be willing to listen.

It also makes me glad to hear I am not alone in my assessment of the situation. I can’t claim that I have read or even understand the so-called ‘Conduct of War’ despite it having been such a constant throughout my life, but from what you shared it seems to be about the sanctity of life even if that is what we lose the most in conflict. Perhaps this ignorance in and off itself is good proof of what we as an order would do well to read up on.

And I would say that children put under duress due to a fear of failure count as combatants only to such an extent that they are more afraid of the aftermath than they are of the current situation. If you will forgive my wording on the matter, I consider the situation to be similar to a starved stray that has been backed into a corner. These children are naturally distrustful of any hand that is extended towards them because every other hand that has reached out to help them has then also beaten them to the ground. We as an Order cannot allow ourselves to be another one of said hands, it goes against everything that I have been raised to believe. It goes against the mere idea of being a decent individual.

I understand war is hell, but we are Jedi. This war that we are fighting is starting to look a lot less like our own and more like the war of someone else. I refrain from mentioning it around my friends at the t emple, but our fight is not with the Alliance. The struggle we endure is — and always has been — within ourselves. To assume the color of a map is indicative of our success in not destroying the dark but keeping it at bay is such a foolish notion that it is almost laughable.

After all, this is the second Alliance that I have been a part of. It wears the same name, has the same banner and capital, but houses different people. As far as taking prisoners go I must admit that I am woefully uneducated on the matter. A naive part of me wishes that it was obvious that we would take them prisoner. Ideally we would send them to the Order to allow them a chance to be rehabilitated. But then the question becomes if we as an order are above the court of law. For children, I would say yes. They do not know better. For adults, I would say the courts have a place.

But even then I also know that there are problematic members of my Order who only see two things in the force: the light and the darkness that its shadows cast. These are the same people that are too blind to see the pillars that prevent the light’s path to begin with.

I apologize for the rants I leave you with, these questions that we are discussing are things that have been weighing on my mind for a very long while now. As much as I want to say that I would turn to someone within my own Order for all of this, I much more prefer a third-party opinion on the matter, they are more often than not more truthful.

My questions for you in turn is this: What does it mean to be a Jedi, and where do you see our faith going? Are we on the right path or am I correct in my fears that we are veering off the road?

Yours,
Aeris Lashiec, Archivist.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Aeris-

We've been blessed to find holocrons over the past few decades. They've helped us see past the veil of the Gulag Virus and the Dark Age in so many ways. But as an archivist, I suspect you already understand that holocrons are subjective cultural artifacts that lack context. Between that and their uneven availability, all sorts of Jedi have - in good faith - very different understandings of Jedi priorities through history.

So what does it mean to be a Jedi? I have no idea if a coherent, universal answer is even possible. Where is our faith going? I don't know that it's going anywhere. It's a Jedi tradition, not a Jedi evolution. Even the counter-culture reformist types are just playing out very old disputes from ignorance. What we see now is nothing new. It's recurred several times since I was a Padawan.

As for what the right path is - I do not know. All I can do is point out elements that are wrong, and hope we evolve from there. See my above comment about evolution.

Quill


Aeris Lashiec

 

[Aeris Lashiec]

Jend-Ro Quill

Master Quill,

While this brief exchange of ours has not provided me with the answers I sought it has been one that has given me more than plenty of ideas on how to proceed in my search for said answers.

You are correct in your assumptions about my trust in the validity of holocrons. I have more often than not found that the archaeological societies of the galaxy as a whole and the historical documents they have uncovered are a far better source of information. They have a certain lack of bias. At least where credits weren’t involved.

And as for where we as a Jedi Order are going, I have meditated on the matter and suspect that I will require even further more if I am to find my answer. The connections to our supposed past are there but the origins of said beliefs seem fractured at best. Perhaps as time passes we will know more, but until then I will have to continue my exploration.

Should you ever come by the temple on Coruscant I would be more than happy to meet face-to-face again and have a good talk on our findings. Maybe over a cup of Batuuian tea? Although, given recent events I suppose that such a visit wouldn’t be happening for a while.

Regardless, I wish you good fortune until the next time we meet.

- Aeris Lashiec, Archivist.

 

[Jend-Ro Quill]

Aeris Lashiec

I wish you good fortune and I look forward to whatever way forward you discover.

One final thought - I think the NJO hardliners have succeeded at something very important. They've created a false dichotomy. Something to consider.

-Quill