Ashin Varanin
Professional Enabler
Update FAQ - Feb 2016
Q: Can a high-level White Current practitioner just walk up to anyone and cut their throat without being seen or detected? Or be walking two paces behind them and not be detected?
A: That's never happened in canon, ever. At that point, I think it's probable that other senses would kick in for most PC's, even just your standard 'got a bad feeling about this,' or pebbles shifting or whatever. The White Current isn't a license to godmode.
Q: Can the White Current hide/replicate ships/buildings?
A: Yeah, if you're at a high enough level...but don't expect your coverage to be perfect, and do expect to have to spend time and effort ritualizing it.
Q: Can White Current be used on the fly or off-the-cuff like other Force abilities?
A: To some extent, but most large-scale White Current techniques are more ritualized, take longer, and require more focus. So yeah, someone who really knows the White Current could disappear at the drop of a hat, but would usually need some time and unbroken attention to do something large-scale.
Q: What can see through White Current illusions or otherwise tell that something's off?
A: Vong. Force Sight (when actively used). Probably high-ranking Miraluka. Other White Current users (mainly when actively using the White Current).
Q: Is it cheating or in poor taste to do X?
A: If you have to ask...
Original Post
Qualifications: I've written an illusionist since 2002 and read every novel that ever involved the White Current.
What Is The White Current? Who are the Fallanassi?
To perceive the White Current is to be aware of the deepest currents of the Force, the kind that involve patterns of reality and planets and ecosystems and galaxies. Functionally, it acts almost like Vongsense: It can be compared to another part of the spectrum of the Force. The Jedi and Sith traditions can't detect the White Current in use, let alone interact with it. It can be used for illusions and mentalism, but cannot be used for physical enhancement, telekinesis, energy manipulation and so forth. A Fallanassi (the matriarchal though not wholly female organization that has a monopoly on the White Current) cannot 'use the Force' per se, but her illusions are second to none. The Fallanassi migrated from J't'p'tan to Pydyr eight hundred years ago, but in the intervening centuries many have returned. A small subset of Force users can be taught to perceive and eventually use the White Current (comparable to the 3% of Sith who can learn Sith Magic). Virtually all Fallanassi register as negative to most standard tests of Force sensitivity. To determine if one is capable of learning to perceive the White Current, a Fallanassi will use 'current-scribing,' by which they write permanent letters in the Current (within a wall, for example). If, after a period of special meditation, a candidate can perceive the words, they can begin to learn the White Current.
What Can I Do? What SHOULD I Do?
The efforts of a Fallanassi elder or a group of Fallanassi elders, in several canon sources, can accomplish amazing things. Their home cities are frequently undetectable by any sense or sensor. They can make illusory fleets, imprinted so deep in the fabric of reality that there is no way to tell that they're not real, not even with Force instincts. They can make illusory plagues so powerful that entire worlds, person by person, begin to manifest physical symptoms and even die if they believe they've been infected. A Fallanassi illusion made Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy undetectable for years during the Yuuzhan Vong War. That illusion did not require constant meditation. White Current illusions are long-term things, if set up properly. The ability known as Immersion can temporarily make the user not only invisible but undetectable by the Force, hearing, sensors, droids and so forth.
Clearly, most White Current applications are very, very overpowered for an RP scenario. So let's talk about a baseline of what should be able to be accomplished.
Note that any actual Fallanassi, or their direct, long-term students, will generally be better at detail work, and perceiving flaws in others' detail work. Also note that all White Current users, when touching the White Current, have some kind of a general sense when the White Current is in use. However, to see past another's White Current illusions requires high sensitivity as well as full immersion into the Current, and often an equivalent level of skill between caster and subject.
Knight-level with low experience/specialization, or heavily specialized, well-trained Apprentice
This is an appropriate level for a Knight whose specialties lie in other directions, or a generalist.
-Basic, short-term invisibility
-Hide Force presence, except against Masters
-Minor illusions
-Perceive current-scribing
-General sense of the White Current in use, when touching the Current
Master-level with low experience/specialization, or a specialist/Fallanassi Knight
At this level, some or all of the following are possible. For example, Jaxton Ravos and Ember Rekali can go invisible, adjust their features, and/or hide their Force signatures. As another example, Ashin Varanin has long experience with the White Current, can perceive it in use or see through many illusions, but cannot use it herself. There is room for variation here.
-Doppelganger (singular, short-range)
-Significant illusions
-Full Immersion, short-term (ten minutes or less), often leading to unconsciousness: Undetectable, and can see through many White Current effects.
-Current-scribing
-Putting someone to sleep
Master-level and experienced (Examples: Tahira Solo, Nohemi Allaneh, Luke Skywalker)
This is the highest level a non-specialist can attain, and an appropriate level for a young specialist/Fallanassi Master-level practitioner.
-Current-scribing
-Putting small crowds to sleep
-Large, complex illusions
-Doppelganger (multiple)
-Full, temporary Immersion on self and/or another, or on a small starship such as a fighter (comparable to a cloaking device)
-With sustained effort, setting up a long-term illusion over a location, such as making a Jedi Academy appear to be ruins
-Can see through many White Current effects
Master-level and experienced specialist (Examples: Je'gan Olra'en (deceased), Aleidis Ijet Zrgaat)
At this level, one is either a Fallanassi or has made immense sacrifices for this kind of specialization. For example, Je'gan was mediocre at energy manipulation and physical enhancement, and his telekinetic and healing abilities were low-Padawan level. Je'gan was an apostate Fallanassi elder and a pretty good benchmark for the upper limit of what's feasible in an RP scenario.
-Current-scribing
-Perceiving the White Current in use by peers or those less skilled
-Putting large crowds to sleep
-Illusory fleets, armies, etc
-Setting up a long-term illusion over a location, such as making a Jedi Academy appear to be ruins
-Full, temporary Immersion on himself and on a group of others
-Hiding the Force presence of a group, including Masters
-Creating illusory environments
-Full, temporary Immersion on a large starship
-Can see through many White Current effects
Other Illusions:
Mentalism (Major examples: Corran Horn, Tirdarius)
Mental illusion is difficult against peers but effective against others; for example, a Master specializing in mental illusion can deceive Knights and many Masters. Some species are immune to such effects, such as Hutts, Toydarians and Epicanthix. At the very highest levels, some mentalists choose to spend a great deal of time uncovering ways to use mental effects on those species, with a degree of success.
Pros: Mental illusion leads easily into other mental effects, such as instilling horror, insanity, mind control or healing. It is also easy to learn, by deriving it from a standard mind trick. Fundamentally, it IS a mind trick.
Cons: Perceivable only by minds successfully touched. However, when excessive amounts of energy and focus are involved, as demonstrated by Corran Horn on Corkrous or by Alema Rar's 'slippery presence', a large illusion can be seen by all, as an image impressed into the fabric of the Force. This is not unlike the White Current in some respects.
Bent-Light/Photokinetic Cloaking (Major examples: @[member="Cira"] (secret), @[member="Coryth Elaris"], @[member="Zaiden James-Greyson"])
This was a lost art among Jedi and Sith. Currently, virtually every user of bent-light illusion is either a Disciple of Twilight or a high-level student of Je'gan Olra'en (e.g. Coryth Elaris, Aleidis Ijet). Major exceptions include Asha Seren, Reyven Samoth and Zaiden James-Greyson.
Virtually all uses of bent-light illusion involve concealment of self. When combined with a Force-presence nullification technique such as Qey'tek meditation, White Current techniques, or Art of the Small, bent-light illusion can protect the user from all visual and Force detection, even infrared detection.
At the highest levels, bent-light can be used to create non-concealment illusions, though generally only small-scale. Disciples of Twilight also have proprietary techniques, some of which involve accumulating light around targets to make them easier to spot in the dark. Other uses might involve night vision. However, the vast majority of bent-light techniques involve simply visual concealment, itself very difficult and usually a high-Knight or Master-level technique.
The undisputed master of bent-light illusion on the board is secretly Cira, an experienced Master who specializes heavily and is a Disciple of Twilight. Other top-tier bent-light specialists include Master Coryth Elaris.
Pros: Visible to droids. Perceivable by everyone. Can form a foundation to eventually learn Force Light.
Cons: Flaws and mistakes are easier to commit and easier to spot, especially with complex illusions. Generally a Master-tier power.
Sith Magic (Major example: Aleema Keto)
As with all Sith Magic, these very rare illusions require both the rare gift for Sith Magic and specialized training in the specific spell involved.
Pros: Tangible, deadly; these illusions can kill.
Cons: Spot a flaw and the illusion stops being convincing. Requires the very rare gift for Sith Magic. Generally a Master-level power.
The Case of the Croke (Major example: Rokur Gepta)
Pros: Tangible.
Cons: A species-based power. Good luck learning THAT. (Je'gan tried. Didn't work.)
Special Case: Doppelganger
Doppelganger is the ability to project an illusory duplicate of yourself, generally over the short range but sometimes (as in the case of Luke Skywalker projecting himself to Leia while in Palpatine's thrall) over interstellar distances. Doppelganger can be achieved through mentalism, White Current, bent-light (for an extreme expert, and only over short range), and Sith Magic.
Special Case: Force Phantom
A special power created by Darth Vectivus; consult the Wookieepedia page, as it contains a high level of detail. It is easily the rarest technique discussed here, as only three canonical Sith ever learned the closely guarded technique (Vectivus, Lumiya, and Caedus) and the One Sith had access to Vectivus' holocron but dismissed it as worthless. So far, the only known user of this power on the board is Ashin Varanin, who was custodian of Vectivus' holocron for several years, and her skill with it is minor compared to Lumiya. Additionally, ANY long-range use of a Vectivus-style Force Phantom, as thoroughly depicted in canon, requires a very powerful Force nexus, and will exhaust the most powerful Masters.
How Does The White Current Measure Up?
Droids and automated sensors can be fooled by the White Current just as well as by bent-light illusions. Bent-light illusions can fool Vong, whereas the White Current cannot. White Current illusions can, in some cases, endure or become permanent, unlike any other kind of illusion; this is done by high-level practitioners who can take places or items 'with them' when they use full immersion. Additionally, where every other kind of illusion requires a combination with Qey'tek or Art of the Small to achieve stealth to eyes AND the Force, the White Current can easily combine undetectability with a hidden Force presence. Unlike bent-light and Sith Magic, White Current illusions aren't especially susceptible to 'spot-the-flaw''. Unlike bent-light, White Current illusions feel very natural to the Force: an illusion of a person (including a Force-user) will still feel like a person to Jedi senses.
Sources To Read Before Seriously Writing the White Current
Q: Can a high-level White Current practitioner just walk up to anyone and cut their throat without being seen or detected? Or be walking two paces behind them and not be detected?
A: That's never happened in canon, ever. At that point, I think it's probable that other senses would kick in for most PC's, even just your standard 'got a bad feeling about this,' or pebbles shifting or whatever. The White Current isn't a license to godmode.
Q: Can the White Current hide/replicate ships/buildings?
A: Yeah, if you're at a high enough level...but don't expect your coverage to be perfect, and do expect to have to spend time and effort ritualizing it.
Q: Can White Current be used on the fly or off-the-cuff like other Force abilities?
A: To some extent, but most large-scale White Current techniques are more ritualized, take longer, and require more focus. So yeah, someone who really knows the White Current could disappear at the drop of a hat, but would usually need some time and unbroken attention to do something large-scale.
Q: What can see through White Current illusions or otherwise tell that something's off?
A: Vong. Force Sight (when actively used). Probably high-ranking Miraluka. Other White Current users (mainly when actively using the White Current).
Q: Is it cheating or in poor taste to do X?
A: If you have to ask...
Original Post
Qualifications: I've written an illusionist since 2002 and read every novel that ever involved the White Current.
What Is The White Current? Who are the Fallanassi?
To perceive the White Current is to be aware of the deepest currents of the Force, the kind that involve patterns of reality and planets and ecosystems and galaxies. Functionally, it acts almost like Vongsense: It can be compared to another part of the spectrum of the Force. The Jedi and Sith traditions can't detect the White Current in use, let alone interact with it. It can be used for illusions and mentalism, but cannot be used for physical enhancement, telekinesis, energy manipulation and so forth. A Fallanassi (the matriarchal though not wholly female organization that has a monopoly on the White Current) cannot 'use the Force' per se, but her illusions are second to none. The Fallanassi migrated from J't'p'tan to Pydyr eight hundred years ago, but in the intervening centuries many have returned. A small subset of Force users can be taught to perceive and eventually use the White Current (comparable to the 3% of Sith who can learn Sith Magic). Virtually all Fallanassi register as negative to most standard tests of Force sensitivity. To determine if one is capable of learning to perceive the White Current, a Fallanassi will use 'current-scribing,' by which they write permanent letters in the Current (within a wall, for example). If, after a period of special meditation, a candidate can perceive the words, they can begin to learn the White Current.
What Can I Do? What SHOULD I Do?
The efforts of a Fallanassi elder or a group of Fallanassi elders, in several canon sources, can accomplish amazing things. Their home cities are frequently undetectable by any sense or sensor. They can make illusory fleets, imprinted so deep in the fabric of reality that there is no way to tell that they're not real, not even with Force instincts. They can make illusory plagues so powerful that entire worlds, person by person, begin to manifest physical symptoms and even die if they believe they've been infected. A Fallanassi illusion made Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy undetectable for years during the Yuuzhan Vong War. That illusion did not require constant meditation. White Current illusions are long-term things, if set up properly. The ability known as Immersion can temporarily make the user not only invisible but undetectable by the Force, hearing, sensors, droids and so forth.
Clearly, most White Current applications are very, very overpowered for an RP scenario. So let's talk about a baseline of what should be able to be accomplished.
Note that any actual Fallanassi, or their direct, long-term students, will generally be better at detail work, and perceiving flaws in others' detail work. Also note that all White Current users, when touching the White Current, have some kind of a general sense when the White Current is in use. However, to see past another's White Current illusions requires high sensitivity as well as full immersion into the Current, and often an equivalent level of skill between caster and subject.
Knight-level with low experience/specialization, or heavily specialized, well-trained Apprentice
This is an appropriate level for a Knight whose specialties lie in other directions, or a generalist.
-Basic, short-term invisibility
-Hide Force presence, except against Masters
-Minor illusions
-Perceive current-scribing
-General sense of the White Current in use, when touching the Current
Master-level with low experience/specialization, or a specialist/Fallanassi Knight
At this level, some or all of the following are possible. For example, Jaxton Ravos and Ember Rekali can go invisible, adjust their features, and/or hide their Force signatures. As another example, Ashin Varanin has long experience with the White Current, can perceive it in use or see through many illusions, but cannot use it herself. There is room for variation here.
-Doppelganger (singular, short-range)
-Significant illusions
-Full Immersion, short-term (ten minutes or less), often leading to unconsciousness: Undetectable, and can see through many White Current effects.
-Current-scribing
-Putting someone to sleep
Master-level and experienced (Examples: Tahira Solo, Nohemi Allaneh, Luke Skywalker)
This is the highest level a non-specialist can attain, and an appropriate level for a young specialist/Fallanassi Master-level practitioner.
-Current-scribing
-Putting small crowds to sleep
-Large, complex illusions
-Doppelganger (multiple)
-Full, temporary Immersion on self and/or another, or on a small starship such as a fighter (comparable to a cloaking device)
-With sustained effort, setting up a long-term illusion over a location, such as making a Jedi Academy appear to be ruins
-Can see through many White Current effects
Master-level and experienced specialist (Examples: Je'gan Olra'en (deceased), Aleidis Ijet Zrgaat)
At this level, one is either a Fallanassi or has made immense sacrifices for this kind of specialization. For example, Je'gan was mediocre at energy manipulation and physical enhancement, and his telekinetic and healing abilities were low-Padawan level. Je'gan was an apostate Fallanassi elder and a pretty good benchmark for the upper limit of what's feasible in an RP scenario.
-Current-scribing
-Perceiving the White Current in use by peers or those less skilled
-Putting large crowds to sleep
-Illusory fleets, armies, etc
-Setting up a long-term illusion over a location, such as making a Jedi Academy appear to be ruins
-Full, temporary Immersion on himself and on a group of others
-Hiding the Force presence of a group, including Masters
-Creating illusory environments
-Full, temporary Immersion on a large starship
-Can see through many White Current effects
Other Illusions:
Mentalism (Major examples: Corran Horn, Tirdarius)
Mental illusion is difficult against peers but effective against others; for example, a Master specializing in mental illusion can deceive Knights and many Masters. Some species are immune to such effects, such as Hutts, Toydarians and Epicanthix. At the very highest levels, some mentalists choose to spend a great deal of time uncovering ways to use mental effects on those species, with a degree of success.
Pros: Mental illusion leads easily into other mental effects, such as instilling horror, insanity, mind control or healing. It is also easy to learn, by deriving it from a standard mind trick. Fundamentally, it IS a mind trick.
Cons: Perceivable only by minds successfully touched. However, when excessive amounts of energy and focus are involved, as demonstrated by Corran Horn on Corkrous or by Alema Rar's 'slippery presence', a large illusion can be seen by all, as an image impressed into the fabric of the Force. This is not unlike the White Current in some respects.
Bent-Light/Photokinetic Cloaking (Major examples: @[member="Cira"] (secret), @[member="Coryth Elaris"], @[member="Zaiden James-Greyson"])
This was a lost art among Jedi and Sith. Currently, virtually every user of bent-light illusion is either a Disciple of Twilight or a high-level student of Je'gan Olra'en (e.g. Coryth Elaris, Aleidis Ijet). Major exceptions include Asha Seren, Reyven Samoth and Zaiden James-Greyson.
Virtually all uses of bent-light illusion involve concealment of self. When combined with a Force-presence nullification technique such as Qey'tek meditation, White Current techniques, or Art of the Small, bent-light illusion can protect the user from all visual and Force detection, even infrared detection.
At the highest levels, bent-light can be used to create non-concealment illusions, though generally only small-scale. Disciples of Twilight also have proprietary techniques, some of which involve accumulating light around targets to make them easier to spot in the dark. Other uses might involve night vision. However, the vast majority of bent-light techniques involve simply visual concealment, itself very difficult and usually a high-Knight or Master-level technique.
The undisputed master of bent-light illusion on the board is secretly Cira, an experienced Master who specializes heavily and is a Disciple of Twilight. Other top-tier bent-light specialists include Master Coryth Elaris.
Pros: Visible to droids. Perceivable by everyone. Can form a foundation to eventually learn Force Light.
Cons: Flaws and mistakes are easier to commit and easier to spot, especially with complex illusions. Generally a Master-tier power.
Sith Magic (Major example: Aleema Keto)
As with all Sith Magic, these very rare illusions require both the rare gift for Sith Magic and specialized training in the specific spell involved.
Pros: Tangible, deadly; these illusions can kill.
Cons: Spot a flaw and the illusion stops being convincing. Requires the very rare gift for Sith Magic. Generally a Master-level power.
The Case of the Croke (Major example: Rokur Gepta)
Pros: Tangible.
Cons: A species-based power. Good luck learning THAT. (Je'gan tried. Didn't work.)
Special Case: Doppelganger
Doppelganger is the ability to project an illusory duplicate of yourself, generally over the short range but sometimes (as in the case of Luke Skywalker projecting himself to Leia while in Palpatine's thrall) over interstellar distances. Doppelganger can be achieved through mentalism, White Current, bent-light (for an extreme expert, and only over short range), and Sith Magic.
Special Case: Force Phantom
A special power created by Darth Vectivus; consult the Wookieepedia page, as it contains a high level of detail. It is easily the rarest technique discussed here, as only three canonical Sith ever learned the closely guarded technique (Vectivus, Lumiya, and Caedus) and the One Sith had access to Vectivus' holocron but dismissed it as worthless. So far, the only known user of this power on the board is Ashin Varanin, who was custodian of Vectivus' holocron for several years, and her skill with it is minor compared to Lumiya. Additionally, ANY long-range use of a Vectivus-style Force Phantom, as thoroughly depicted in canon, requires a very powerful Force nexus, and will exhaust the most powerful Masters.
How Does The White Current Measure Up?
Droids and automated sensors can be fooled by the White Current just as well as by bent-light illusions. Bent-light illusions can fool Vong, whereas the White Current cannot. White Current illusions can, in some cases, endure or become permanent, unlike any other kind of illusion; this is done by high-level practitioners who can take places or items 'with them' when they use full immersion. Additionally, where every other kind of illusion requires a combination with Qey'tek or Art of the Small to achieve stealth to eyes AND the Force, the White Current can easily combine undetectability with a hidden Force presence. Unlike bent-light and Sith Magic, White Current illusions aren't especially susceptible to 'spot-the-flaw''. Unlike bent-light, White Current illusions feel very natural to the Force: an illusion of a person (including a Force-user) will still feel like a person to Jedi senses.
Sources To Read Before Seriously Writing the White Current
- Black Fleet Crisis, especially Tyrant's Test. Before the Storm and Shield of Lies are also important.
- Fate of the Jedi: Vortex