Maldor Mecetti
Darth Trigonus
""Hey, don't order my student around," Jasper snapped. "You will not be using him as a pawn for whatever it is that you're trying to gain here, sir."
A smile tugged at the edges of Maldor's mouth. Although this entire encounter had been an irritating obstacle from the outset, it now promised a certain degree of entertainment.
It was always interesting to see the serene Jedi unsettled, and by something so simple as people daring to seek wisdom from outside the confines of their order.
"It was not an order," Maldor corrected the Jedi, "but an invitation. And what I am trying to gain here is knowledge. Understanding. Perspective. Things a Jedi should value, but which have apparently been lacking in the current generation. War has made you polarized, close-minded... and afraid."
He shook his head at the statement of this being 'just rocks.' "You might as well say the Universe is 'Just Atoms' and seek no further clarification or knowledge. I can not believe you are so incurious."
"Truth is what you define it as, and understanding comes from forming your own perspective. Petty squabble or not, the Sith kill millions to extend their own lives... sacrifice the many for the few. You can't live between both worlds, not without going mad. Now, I see no reason to waste my time any further..."
Maldor blinked at the man. "So you invite me to form my own perspective, and then condemn my perspective in subsequent breaths. You are rife with propaganda and too-little open-mindedness. The polarization of the force has created countless wars over the millennia. And suppression of knowledge has not prevented the Sith from rising, again and again, over the many ages of mankind.
You have cut them down, over and over. Bathed in blood. Engaged in countless acts of violence while pretending to hold your head in solemnity over the necessity of it all.
But you do not question the necessity of it all. You have such Fear of the Dark that you refuse to let light shine on this information. You contaminate your own Light Side with this fear, creating a darkness at its core which will perpetuate violence forever."
But the Jedi had another concern, also born of fear.
""You have a weapon under that cloak," Jasper stated. "You stand like a fencer. Your shoulder keeps moving like you want to grab your blade. Am I correct?"
Maldor chuckled. "I am a Tapani Sector noble, Mister Jedi. Fencing is in our blood, and like a Jedi, I always stand ready to draw my blade in defense. Or is that privilege to be kept from anyone but those of the authorized religious devotion?
I thought only the Sith had Inquisitors?"
"What do you hope to gain with this re-found knowledge?"
The Padawan was much more curious than his master, and much less afraid.
The true answer to the youth's question was simply 'Power,' but Maldor was a politician and a man with more than two brain-cells to rub together, so he knew better than to give that reply.
"Before the Jedi, young one, there was the Je'daii. A people in balance with the Force, who explored all of it. They were at peace. Their peace lasted for ten-thousand years.
Then extremist groups arose.
Some for the Light, some for the Darkness. Both of them, mistaken in their extremist philosophies. They each sought supremacy rather than peace. Conformity to their way of thought, their methods of action. And they have been at war for nearly thirty-thousand years.
I think it's time for these religious crusades to end. It is time for supremacy and exclusivity to end. The Force belongs to everyone, but it has been taken from them by jealous and fearful censors for too long.
I think rediscovering the secrets of balance in the force is the road to understanding.
And I think understanding is the road to peace."
Jasper Kai'el
Braze
A smile tugged at the edges of Maldor's mouth. Although this entire encounter had been an irritating obstacle from the outset, it now promised a certain degree of entertainment.
It was always interesting to see the serene Jedi unsettled, and by something so simple as people daring to seek wisdom from outside the confines of their order.
"It was not an order," Maldor corrected the Jedi, "but an invitation. And what I am trying to gain here is knowledge. Understanding. Perspective. Things a Jedi should value, but which have apparently been lacking in the current generation. War has made you polarized, close-minded... and afraid."
He shook his head at the statement of this being 'just rocks.' "You might as well say the Universe is 'Just Atoms' and seek no further clarification or knowledge. I can not believe you are so incurious."
"Truth is what you define it as, and understanding comes from forming your own perspective. Petty squabble or not, the Sith kill millions to extend their own lives... sacrifice the many for the few. You can't live between both worlds, not without going mad. Now, I see no reason to waste my time any further..."
Maldor blinked at the man. "So you invite me to form my own perspective, and then condemn my perspective in subsequent breaths. You are rife with propaganda and too-little open-mindedness. The polarization of the force has created countless wars over the millennia. And suppression of knowledge has not prevented the Sith from rising, again and again, over the many ages of mankind.
You have cut them down, over and over. Bathed in blood. Engaged in countless acts of violence while pretending to hold your head in solemnity over the necessity of it all.
But you do not question the necessity of it all. You have such Fear of the Dark that you refuse to let light shine on this information. You contaminate your own Light Side with this fear, creating a darkness at its core which will perpetuate violence forever."
But the Jedi had another concern, also born of fear.
""You have a weapon under that cloak," Jasper stated. "You stand like a fencer. Your shoulder keeps moving like you want to grab your blade. Am I correct?"
Maldor chuckled. "I am a Tapani Sector noble, Mister Jedi. Fencing is in our blood, and like a Jedi, I always stand ready to draw my blade in defense. Or is that privilege to be kept from anyone but those of the authorized religious devotion?
I thought only the Sith had Inquisitors?"
"What do you hope to gain with this re-found knowledge?"
The Padawan was much more curious than his master, and much less afraid.
The true answer to the youth's question was simply 'Power,' but Maldor was a politician and a man with more than two brain-cells to rub together, so he knew better than to give that reply.
"Before the Jedi, young one, there was the Je'daii. A people in balance with the Force, who explored all of it. They were at peace. Their peace lasted for ten-thousand years.
Then extremist groups arose.
Some for the Light, some for the Darkness. Both of them, mistaken in their extremist philosophies. They each sought supremacy rather than peace. Conformity to their way of thought, their methods of action. And they have been at war for nearly thirty-thousand years.
I think it's time for these religious crusades to end. It is time for supremacy and exclusivity to end. The Force belongs to everyone, but it has been taken from them by jealous and fearful censors for too long.
I think rediscovering the secrets of balance in the force is the road to understanding.
And I think understanding is the road to peace."
Jasper Kai'el
Braze