Nothing's Like Before
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To create for my own RP purposes the successor to the First Order’s Imperial Knights.
- Image Credit: Vectors from Adobe Stock, Google, Vecteezy. Midjourney for emblem creation. Assembled and completed in Photoshop, final touches in Photoshop, by me. The guild's formal rank set was created by Fedhog, and hosted on Kuro-RPG.
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Organization Name: Commonwealth Guild of Force Users
- Classification: Organization | Force Order
- Affiliation: The Commonwealth
- Organization Symbol: A crown and laurel resting inside of the first order's old hexagon, while small 'sun rays' are on the outside of the hexagon. Within the laurel wreath sits the Guild's emblem; a circle with nine points, resembling a compass with the arrow always pointed to the North. A small orb that represents Dosuun rests beneath the old First Order hexagon wherein an eight-pointed flower rests centermost, with six smaller semi-circles etched within the hexagon.
- Description: The Commonwealth Guild of Force Users was created to oversee and manage the many Force Users within the Commonwealth. Rather than find themselves in conflict as to whose philosophy or ideology would reign supreme. These groups came together to create an overseeing, regulatory body to ensure that all Force Users within the Commonwealth had a place to study, learn and engage with their abilities safely. Steering away from the dogmas of the Jedi and the Sith, taking comfort in Balance. Understanding that one cannot be without the other, and ultimately realizing that they served the people of their nation.
- Headquarters: Dosuun* | Kingdom of Dosuun
- Domain: The Commonwealth, so far includes:
- Notable Assets: Includes but are not limited to the following:
- Dosuun:
- Mephout
- Needan
- Seoul:
- Hierarchy: The Commonwealth Guild of Force Users, or quite simply the Guild’s hierarchy is as follows:
- The Archons: There are at minimum three Archons, two serve as “First Archons” while the other is the “Grand Archon.” These Archons represent the Circle, and indeed the Guild when meeting with the Secretariat and the High Queen/King. Archons are chosen from among the Circle of Grandmasters and serve three-year periods before they must step down and allow another to serve.
- The Circle: The Circle of Grandmasters, simply called the Circle meets periodically to discuss what each order has learned with regard to the Force. They go over techniques for teaching, and charity projects they have undertaken and often use these meetings to hold each other accountable. The Circle is composed of grandmasters of each Force Order/Group within the Commonwealth.
- The Vanguard: New orders (called Radiants) sprang forth from the creation of the guild. The Guild determined that each new order would have three leaders appointed, as voted by each order’s members. These leaders would be part of the Council of the Vanguard, or simply the Vanguard. The Vanguard answers to the Circle and often has an individual Grandmaster that they report.
- The Radiants: As the Guild grew and members from different systems and their force orders/groups met. New ideas began to formulate and many wanted to make their ideas a reality. Because these orders would be made of members from various systems, the guild made them a priority, while working with member worlds to ensure that each system could still maintain its own orders/groups. These new orders would be referred to as the Radiants. Three members, as voted or appointed by these Radiant Orders become members of the Vanguard, who report to the Circle.
- The Radiants: As the Guild grew and members from different systems and their force orders/groups met. New ideas began to formulate and many wanted to make their ideas a reality. Because these orders would be made of members from various systems, the guild made them a priority, while working with member worlds to ensure that each system could still maintain its own orders/groups. These new orders would be referred to as the Radiants. Three members, as voted or appointed by these Radiant Orders become members of the Vanguard, who report to the Circle.
- The Archons: There are at minimum three Archons, two serve as “First Archons” while the other is the “Grand Archon.” These Archons represent the Circle, and indeed the Guild when meeting with the Secretariat and the High Queen/King. Archons are chosen from among the Circle of Grandmasters and serve three-year periods before they must step down and allow another to serve.
- The bulk of the Guild’s members are the numerous groups, and orders who often work solely within their homeworlds. As the Guild has grown more of them have transitioned from these cultural orders or groups, and have taken up positions with various Radiant Orders. In an effort to prevent smaller orders from having little to no members, all members wishing to be part of a Radiant Order must spend a minimum of four years with their homeworld’s order. Aside from Radiant Orders, there are groups that have specific roles within the Guild. Each of these groups answers directly to the Circle of Grandmasters and has its own leaders that are appointed by or voted upon by members of those groups. These typically smaller and more niche groups are referred to as Worthies or the Valiants. Each personified, initially, a moral value, and while each group still holds to those roots they’ve since grown beyond this.
- The Guild’s rank structure is partially inspired by the Commonwealth’s own Imperial heritage and is as follows:
| Novitiate | Padawan |
| Knight 3rd Class | |
| Knight 2nd Class | |
| Knight 1st Class | Knight |
| Commander | |
| Knight Commander | |
| Grand Commander | Master |
- Membership:
[IC] Much like its predecessor, the Commonwealth conducts Force sensitivity tests amongst its own population. It is then up to the person or the person and their parents to decide how they wish to proceed. Children who join the Guild will simply find that they will transfer schools to a Guild-funded or associated academy that can help guide the child in understanding their abilities. Children may elect not to join and request to have their sensitivity information sealed until they come of age. From there it is up to the parents to decide how to best work with their child when it comes to their sensitivity. Later as adults, one may join the Guild and such a person will be taken to a Guild academy that works exclusively with young adults and older persons wishing to join.
[OOC] This is mostly for my own shenanigans but I am happy to work with whoever wishes to make a character that has been associated with the Guild or works/worked with the Guild.
- Climate: The Guild has for all its good intentions, problems. Conflicts stem mostly from personal issues that spill into meetings and events. Lack of communication or perhaps the way things are communicated can be misconstrued. All that being said, those working within the Guild still find that in spite of this there has been a lot of good in that the exploration of different techniques and philosophies have always been supported. Although, there are a lot who wonder if the Guild doesn’t have more insidious goals, as whispers of an internal watchdog group have begun to spread.
- Reputation: The ideal poster child of balance and order, the Guild’s reputation has made them something of a darling to most citizens. They are the answer to those who are Force Sensitive and wish to explore their abilities and not be held by the dogmas of the Jedi or the Sith. Unaware that there are conflicts within the Guild itself.
- Curios: From unique lightweapons, Force imbued armor and accessories there are a number of curios that a member of the Guild might carry. An easy way to distinguish them is that much of their armor will usually resemble the more antiquated stories of Galidraan. Often taking up more ‘fantasy-like’ appearances, perhaps the key feature to look for is that all members of the Guild will have their own personal droid that is no bigger than the human hand with a small camera for its single ocular receptor in the middle of its body. They are often referred to as ‘little light’ by many members and typically name themselves or have their Guildee name them. You’ll scarcely find a member of the guild without one. Perhaps, however; the most notable giveaway that you've encountered a member of the guild is their compass. Everyone will have a compass that largely resembles the Guild's emblem, the centermost portion hosts a number of coordinates with the northernmost being Dosuun and other coordinates around it are set to various other member worlds. These are each supposedly imbued with the ability to always direct the member to what they desire most.
- Rules: Much like the First Imperial Knights before them their creed would ultimately be maintained. They would not become beholden to the dogmas of the Jedi or the Sith. They understood that the Force was a tool to be used and it would not occupy the foremost of the Guild’s philosophy. Rather they would uphold the ideas of balance and order, thus allowing dark and light side ideologies to remain within the Guild. On the understanding, of course, that both were necessary to maintain balance.
- They maintained their creed, life before death; with the understanding that all life was valuable. Knights should not risk their lives or that of others needlessly. Saving the life of one innocent is not worth the cost of ten. Strength before weakness; understand that at some point in life all men are weak. Weakness is simply an opportunity for growth. They understand that strength does not make one capable of rule, rather it makes one capable of service. Journey before destination that while accomplishments are good, they will not always be remembered. What will be remembered was how one lived.
- Life Before Death
- Strength Before Weakness
- Journey Before Destination
- Goals: The Guild’s primary goal is to ensure that every Force Sensitive who so chooses to join its ranks is well cared for and looked after. That these persons are able to explore their abilities. While expansion is not their primary goal, it has been a byproduct of their very nature of being or rather having become the authority within the Commonwealth on Force Sensitives.
There are no notable PCs or NPCs that I am aware of, however; those who had Imperial Knights with the First Order are welcome to explore stories with the Guild. If that person so chooses their characters would automatically be part of the Guild. Again this is up to the individual writer.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The First Imperial Knights had been a little-known organization, still shadowed in some regard by the Knights of Ren. Based out of Gawain, Dosuun the Knights never gave up their mission or their cause. Their service to people and the state, and so they continued with their work. Training those force sensitives who wished to be trained.
While much of the galaxy continued its wars. The Knights focused on themselves, on their work, and on those that they served. As Dosuun transformed and prepared for what they felt was the imminent arrival of the Eternal Empire. The Knights had to reinvent themselves if they were to recruit the numbers necessary to face the Eternal Empire. Upon Dosuun’s creation of its new identity as the Dosuunian Commonwealth of Nations, the Knights realized that they could go beyond their homeworld’s borders.
Much like the Armed Forces, each member world maintained its own unique Force order. The Dosuunian Knights wished to expand their influence and work alongside each unique order while offering them the option of joining. Eventually, each order would join the knights but felt that perhaps the name knights didn’t quite fit everyone. Various names were put up in the proposal, such as Aes Sedai, Planeswalkers, Stormlight, and Vigilant Order, but none of them found any favor. Most ended up as the butt of jokes whilst this ‘council of force users’ had convened.
Neither Jedi, nor Sith, or any other flavor of the light or dark side as such dogmas were well in the past for the Knights and the other force orders. After much discussion between at least three different conferences of ‘councils’ a consensus had been reached when it came to naming the overall force order that would help manage the many different force user groups within the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Guild of Force Users, or simply the Guild.
The Commonwealth Guild. It was simple, and it didn’t imply anything more than each order or group of force users within the Commonwealth belonged to it. Signifying their willingness to interact with one another, educate each other, and share in one another’s cultural traditions when it came to how they viewed the Force.
By the mid-880s Dosuun's transition to the Commonwealth was complete, and as such so did the Guild complete its transformation. The Guild initially worked to serve as a network or umbrella for all the different orders, as much as it still does to this day. However, as these different force orders and groups started to get to know one another. Several began the idea of working together and forming unique orders within the Guild. This inadvertently made the Circle more than just a body of Grandmasters who convened every now and then. This resulted in the creation of the Archons who would then speak with the Secretariat on behalf of the Circle and the Guild as a whole.
What ended up happening was that while most systems continued to maintain their own orders, the Guild’s authority began to amalgamate into a regulation of those orders. Grandmasters began to appoint something akin to a “first officer” to lead their orders while they were away. As new orders began to spring from the interconnectivity of these orders. The Guild had to find a way to manage them and keep tabs/control over them, as to make sure that the Commonwealth as a whole did not suffer from a ‘rogue’ Force User.
Soon enough, the Guild simply became the authority on Force Sensitives within the Commonwealth. This a notion that most non-Force Sensitives are rather okay with, and they like the idea that their Force Sensitive friends and family have ways of exploring their unique talents and abilities. Orders that predated the creation of the Guild have not always been keen on the idea of bowing to an authority such as the Guild. However, even to this day, the Guild as a whole continues to learn and grow, doing what it can to ensure autonomy while regulating itself and those who find comfort and security in its existence.
