Faction Issue # 1: A Question of Balance [NJP + Open to All Jedi]

[Kitter Bitters]

Location: New Jedi Praxeum on Chalacta


The desert valley surrounding the New Jedi Praxeum was quiet in the early hours. Not silent. Chalacta's wind moved constantly through the canyon, slipping between weathered stone formations and carrying thin trails of sand across the valley floor. Somewhere in the distance, the sandstone walls groaned beneath the heat of the rising sun. The Praxeum itself sat farther back against the rock, its pale stone walls almost disappearing into the surrounding landscape.

Out here, however, there were no walls. No training remotes. No practice sabers. Only students, sand, and stones. They had been arranged in a loose semicircle across the valley floor, each student given enough space that they would not interfere with the others. In front of every participant rested a collection of stones.

Some were hardly larger than a thumb. Others were broad, awkward chunks of rock that looked heavy enough to require both hands to lift. None of them matched. That was intentional. The task appeared simple enough. Using only the Force, each student was to stack the stones. There was no required height. No prescribed order. No demonstration of the "correct" method. They had merely been told to use every stone placed before them and build until nothing remained upon the ground.

For some, the smallest stones would likely prove easy. A gentle pull through the Force, a little concentration, and the rock would rise obediently from the sand. The larger stones presented another problem entirely. Yet weight was only part of the lesson. Smooth stones shifted. Flat stones tempted the student into choosing the easiest foundation. Jagged stones refused to sit comfortably upon anything. One badly chosen placement could send an entire tower collapsing into the sand.

The desert wind did not help. A stronger gust swept through the assembled students, catching robes and hair alike before scattering another veil of sand across the training ground. Still, the stones waited. There was no race. No prize for the tallest tower. No punishment for failure. Only a simple instruction left hanging in the dry Chalactan air.

Stack the stones.

Perhaps more importantly, discover what happened within yourself when they refused to stay where you wanted them.

Join the New Jedi Praxeum today! ​

 

[Kuhbee]

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Location: Chalacta
Equipment: Translation Droid | Lightsaber | Jedi Robes |
Tags: Open

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Kuhbee settled cross-legged in the sand, staring at the collection of stones in front of him with considerably more suspicion than the exercise probably warranted. The first few rose easily enough, trembling slightly as he guided them into place. The next was larger, uneven, and apparently determined to ruin everything.

His brow furrowed. The stone shifted. Kuhbee immediately steadied it through the Force, tongue poking slightly from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. Slowly, carefully, he lowered another stone on top.

For three glorious seconds, the tower stood.

Then the entire thing toppled into the sand.

Kuhbee stared at the rubble. "Grarrii Arggiii!!"

<I don't like this lesson> the translation droid wheezed from the cubs belt.

 

[Katarine Ryiah]

"Never Hide Your Heart"
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Katarine Ryiah sat beneath the shade of a rocky outcrop overlooking the training grounds, one knee drawn loosely toward her chest as she watched the students below struggle with their stones. Some approached the exercise with patience, carefully lifting each piece through the Force and setting it into place. Others were already discovering that frustration was an excellent way to send several rocks tumbling back into the sand.

Normally, Katarine might have been watching with the critical eye of a teacher. Today, she was smiling. Actually smiling.

There was something almost embarrassingly giddy about her lately, and she knew exactly who was responsible for it. Ellion Corsair . After centuries of loss, exile, mistakes, and ghosts that refused to stay buried, somehow Eli had wandered back into her life and made everything feel new again. She had nearly forgotten what it felt like to be this happy. She felt absurdly young, as though she were falling in love for the first time instead of rediscovering someone her heart had never truly stopped belonging to.

Leaving New Genesis had been considerably harder than she cared to admit. A rather large part of her had wanted to remain there with him and forget the rest of the galaxy existed. But the New Jedi Praxeum mattered. So Katarine had come to Chalacta to oversee the training, to help nurture something she genuinely believed could become important for the scattered Jedi.

Her smile faded only briefly. Deep beneath her happiness was the constant reminder that everything was not fixed. The biot remained inside her. Even now, the Devil's foul blood coursed through her system, an unwanted presence she could feel with every passing day. Eventually, she would have to return to Him. She knew that. Whatever temporary freedom she had found could not last forever.

But that problem belonged to another day. For now, Katarine watched one of the students finally balance a third stone atop the others. Her green eyes brightened. The smile returned immediately. For perhaps the first time in centuries, Katarine Ryiah looked genuinely, undeniably happy.

Tags: Open For Interaction​

 

[Daro-Gah Renada]

“You can say that again,” Daro echoed the young wookiee’s sentiments as his own rock stack came crumbling down just a half second later. He took a second to wonder what the consequences of chucking a few of the rocks as far as he could would be, but he decided against actually doing it. Since choosing to return to the Jedi after the latest Purge and death of his late master, Daro had made an effort to keep a lid on his impatience, frustration, and extraordinarily high level of teen angst. Still he refused the Jedi robes in favor of his technician’s uniform but that wouldn’t make him any less of a Jedi.

“But that’s part of the lesson, I think.” He sighed in the direction of the Wookiee youngling he was sat next to. “We were told to stack stones but being a Jedi is never that simple, is it? It’s good practice but there’s got to be a deeper meaning here. There always is with these lessons.” He remembered from his last stint with the Order. As he spoke, Daro turned and looked at the Instructor sat beneath the shade. He was almost sizing her up, comparing her to his late master.

“Let’s try it again, maybe we’ll figure it out.” He’d almost turned back to his stones before turning back to the Wookiee. “I’m Daro-Gah by the way. You can just call me, Daro. What’s your name?”

Tags: Kuhbee
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