Mission One-Post Ritual: The Sunshard [open to any Forcers, any years, any worlds]

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

What is a one-post ritual?
Every once in a while I set up a reasonably public thread where a Force ritual is available. To participate, you just toss in a post or two.

Why do you say 'any years, any worlds'?
Because this time, the ritual is asynchronous (not happening to everyone at the same time). It's something you could have found records of in a holocron, a library, a teacher's training, anywhere. And as you'll see in a moment, where you chose to do this ritual matters.

So how do I participate?
Just write a one-post vignette of when (what Chaos year, if you like) and where (what planet) you did the ritual. My post below is an example.

What's the Sunshard ritual in simplest terms?
Pick a world and a small object that mean something to your character. At sunset, meditate about that world's sun. Sacrifice/destroy the small object with a lightsaber, then open that lightsaber's casing to expose the crystal to the last of the sunlight. The ritual instils that specific sun's light into the crystal of the lightsaber. To a lesser or greater degree, the lightsaber's color shifts toward that specific sun's color, and the lightsaber will forever burn brighter and hotter while under that specific sun's light.

---

826 ABY
VARUNDA IX
THE UNKNOWN REGIONS

Commander Ashin Varanin, Jedi Knight, age twenty-six, climbed the forest crags as twin orange suns sank into the trees. She'd hoped to reach the summit, but the suns were sinking too fast, and her bad knee was far too sore. She picked a likely boulder to catch her breath, to rub her knee, and to do what she'd come up here to do.

She'd found the full Sunshard ritual in two sources, and references to it in three more, all separated by parsecs and languages and centuries. The oldest scrap was ten thousand years back or longer. Sith had used it to claim ownership of worlds; Jedi had used it to solemnize being made Watchmen of a system; other meanings and other lores abounded, so far as she could tell.

The ritual needed only two components: a lightsaber and a small object with personal value. She'd brought a delicate shell-bead bracelet that her parents had sent from New Cov when she became a Knight. Losing it was a wrench, but wasn't that the point of sacrifice, giving up something of worth for something more? Varunda Nine had been Ashin's home for years, and she felt deep in her bones that her life and this world had a connection that stretched far into the future. Varunda Nine meant a great deal to her and it would mean, eventually, more. Why not here? Where else - even New Cov, even the academy - had ever truly been home like this?

She ran through the ritual in her mind's eye, activated her sky-blue lightsaber, and called on the Force as deeply as she ever had. She tossed the bracelet in the air and slashed it to ash. As the twin suns fell beneath the trees, she opened the casing and let the light warm the crystal.

The Force surged: the lightsaber thrummed in her grip. The blade blazed - not blue, not anymore, but the brilliant yellow-orange of the last of the sunlight here, on the world that she'd made her home.

 

[Tilon Quill]

895 ABY
Ahto City

Manaan's sun Pyrshak cast cool yellow over the ocean and brought up warmer, deeper hues in the rippling waves. Out there, on an evening like this, a terrified twelve-year-old Tilon had floated beside the Progenitor itself, among Jedi pilgrims and Shasan adepts. There were Selkath swimmers out there now. One beckoned for Tilon to come in. From here on the edge of the megastructure, Tilon couldn't see who that was. Saresh with the quick backstroke, Murchi the climate engineer?

He'd wanted privacy for this Sunshard ritual. The Order of Shasa did something similar with their blades, and they'd encouraged their resident young Jedi Knight to try it. A natural step, they'd said. What they hadn't mentioned was how difficult the choice would be: do this on Manaan, back at his father's hermitage on Pagodon, or at the Jakku enclave where he'd learned to be a Jedi?

Or even the thin, weak, greenish-brown light of Ziost, the world that changed everything?

That one had stuck with him. Ziost was Sith-controlled now, but he'd thought deeply about going back somehow. In the end, he'd opted to commemorate Ziost the best way he could.

Sitting on the edge of Ahto City, feet out over the water, Tilon took out a scrap of knotted cloth: the black Sith robe he'd worn the night he was rescued.

He breathed in Pyrshak's majestic yellow and held it. He ignited his saber's blue blade and dropped the cloth into it. The keepsake flared to smoke in the sea breeze. As the horizon split the sun into half reality and half reflection, he turned off the saber again. He untwisted part of the saber's casing and held up the crystal in its housing. Pyrshak's light hummed in there, refracted in warm green.

The refraction lingered long after nightfall. When he snugged up the casing seals again and pressed the stud, the blade had that same green. It felt like daytime — daylight on Manaan.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

846 ABY
Tatooine
The Jewel

Enyo had already left to hunt for those that had desecrated her sister's home, the promise of riches had spurred the younger woman to the pursuit of Veles and his female companion. Yet, she had remained. She had started to go through her sister's remaining belongings, packing them carefully so they could be transported and not fall prey to any more raiders seeking secrets of the Jedi. As a Master of the Order, and eldest, she had a duty to those gone... and she wanted to make sure some part of her family survived. It was during this search she found some of Corvus' writings, hastily scrawled as though taken during dictation. Perhaps they had been, revealed to the younger Raaf by the holocron of Kenobi she had found.

They mentioned something called the Sunshard Ritual and how to perform it, some ability to infuse the essence of a sun into a kyber crystal so the blade of a saber would burn all the stronger.

Now, she sat on the roof of the homestead, gazing out towards the suns of Tatooine as they crept closer and closer to the horizon. She wasn't quite meditating, just lost in thought as she rolled the recovered saber of her sister through her hands absentmindedly. Was this the price she had to pay? Was it even worth it anymore? The anger at discovering this private sanctuary disturbed had eased, replaced by melancholy as she awaited... something. She knew what she was going to do to the Alliance, to the Jedi that had cast her sister aside once she was gone and no longer needed, was justified. She was just continuing the plan... just no longer with Isolda and Reverance. Kaine was a far more effective ally, and he would allow her the ability to have her revenge... in time. It would take a long time...

But did she even want it... was it worth it? She didn't know and wouldn't for some time. The Alliance was going to attack the One Sith soon, begin the process of shattering their power over the Core. Rolling the hilt of the saber in her hands, enjoying the soothing feeling of it, she could feel the Solari at its heart and the other crystal that gave it its violet hue, trying to soothe her and her thoughts.

The locket she had recovered from her destroyed home on Lorrd, the one revealing her true parents... and the added pictures of Corvus and Melori lay beside her on the abode's roof. She had thought to try this ritual her sister was going to do, but it required sacrifice. She had thought to sacrifice the locket... but she couldn't. She couldn't throw that attachment away. No, something else she had found as she packed had constricted her heart even more.

One of the dresses, violet like their shared eyes, had been in the closet of her bedroom. The wrapping still on them. It was silly really, but she shouldn't have been surprised that Corvus never wore what they had bought together. Their first time as sisters... before the galaxy had been torn apart by Akala and renewed war. The package containing the dress floated in front of her, and with a thought she ignited her sister's lightsaber. Violet mixed with the setting suns of Tatooine, their reddish and orange hues mixing with purple for an arboreal effect not often seen on the desert world. The beam stabbed through the package, through a symbol of that first sisterly bonding, and stayed there to burn a hole and ignite the fabric.

Through the charred remains of the dress, as they burned in her grasp of the Force, she continued to just look out towards the suns. Hands, on their own accord, deactivated the saber and opened the casing to expose the crystals to the Force and the suns' warmth and essence.

Two tears, reflecting the setting suns of Tatooine, reflecting the setting of her sister's life and this homestead, fell onto the crystals as they glowed with the captured light.

And then more fell to join them...

 

[Coren Starchaser]

857 ABY
Kattada
The Colonies

Commander.

Jedi Master.

Warrior.

Coren Starchaser had been many things throughout his life. And in the recent decade, he’d been more than he cared to be. He was not some of the things people saw in him by choice. And reflecting back on what he’d been known as, and what life had thrown at him, he wasn’t exactly happy with the way life turned on. With the way he handled Mishel and Romi Jade. With the way he was for his children, all of them.

It was what prompted his move to Kattada, away from Alliance, and the wars. He was part of the Concord now, but even that didn’t feel like home. This was to be his new home. Or one of them. Watching the sun, it was close to setting.

It was time.

The holocron had laid out the Sunshard ritual for him. A lightsaber, a sunset, a personal item.

He had his saber, the sunset, and the Jedi Crusader medallion he had been gifted by Omai Ren, the Grand Marshall of the Alliance. He had earned this as part of the New Jedi Order from Sullust. And it had haunted him ever since the fall of Coruscant at the hands of the Sith Taeli Raaf. A new angle, a new path for Coren was laid ahead of him.

The blade ignited, and the medallion was melted.

One of the Wayseeker, of the promise to protect the worlds he could. Be it Kattada, or the worlds he began his journey on decades ago, in the Sanctum. Coren was returning to the roots, to what he wanted to be, not who he was forced to be.

The future was as bright as the sun of Kattada for Coren. As open and free as the sea on Kattada.

At sunrise, the lightsaber would ignite. Formerly a dark blue, blade of a warrior, now a return to the watchman, the yellow filling in, creating a teal, almost aqua blade.

It was time.

 

[Brooke Waters]

880 ABY
Dathomir
Outer Rim

Life was never easy, was it? It wasn’t. And the blonde had thought she found herself in the Jedi. Young and trained on a number of worlds. The Jedi pulled her in after she had lost her family. Even at this point, Brooke did not know where her future was going to take her. But what she knew was that the Jedi were not the answer.

The dark side was always there. It was a part of life, it was a part of her. The Jedi sought to temper that.

But while she was training on Savareen, learning more about the galaxy and its depths, she stepped away from the Jedi, became a bounty hunter, and used her skills to gain her small wealth. A starship, a sailboat, and galactic contacts. Even if there were parts of her youth that she regretted how she made her gains.

The Witch Mother on Pamarthe found her, and brought her to Dathomir. A lost Jedi, turned bounty hunter, but forever a daughter of the seas. The interest in a way of life that did not hinder one side of her, but let her run as free as the sea interested Brooke, and caused her to travel to the world of Dathomir in her late teens.

At the age of 20, she sought to dedicate herself. And what better way that to modify the anchor to the Jedi Order she saw the lies in. Peacekeepers that were more warriors. Beings who would helps others by restricting who they were. Before her was that promise of the Jedi, a holocron, containing knowledge from her late Master on how to combat the darkness. Beyond that, the red sun of Dathomir was setting over the sea.

Her blue blade cast purple light now as she struck at the holocron, once, twice, thrice.

Contemplating the sun. She had her blade open, the blade that would serve as a reminder of her past, but would symbolize her growth as the next morning the color would be a violet-blue, almost indigo. The blade recast into a spear, representative of the Blue Coral Divers.

 

[Inanna Harth]

Alderaan's sun had seen the planet's birth, destruction, and rebirth. It warmed Inanna's skin as she stood outside the ship with Serena asleep in her pouch.

They had brought the baby to meet her grandmother, now resettled in Maranatha. Things had taken a turn after her long lost brother arrived, claiming he had been stranded on Zaathru for the past couple centuries. Inanna and Cato would drop Serena off with her namesake and then go investigate the mysterious planet. But first, there was something Inanna needed to do.

She held up two rings lined with dark teal stone. One was larger than the other, meant for a man's and a woman's fingers respectively. The wedding bands of her first marriage. She'd hung onto them both after Hal died, out of grief and survivor's guilt and good ol' sentimentality.

Fitting the rings around the sun, she lowered her hand, holding them in place with telekinesis. Her lightsaber ignited, and with one swing she destroyed the binding rings. She felt Serena wriggle a bit, but the baby didn't awaken.

Inanna opened the panel of her lightsaber, exposing the crystal within to the rays of Alderaan's sun. It was already yellow, but after the Sunshard ritual, it would be paler, softer. She had moved on from her survivor's guilt, as best as she could anyway.

 

[Cortana Jade]

900s ABY
Jakku Jedi Enclave

As the blazing sun dipped towards the horizon, casting long shadows across the desolate landscape of Jakku, Cortana found herself above the heart of the subterrenean Jedi Enclave. The sands whispered tales of forgotten battles and Jedi rituals, a fitting backdrop for the Sunshard Ritual she stumbled upon -- There wasn't any classes going on at the moment, so she clenched her boredom with the most minimal piece of reading she could find in the storage facility...one blurb led her to another and here she was.

Her core flexed in her sleeveless bandeau top as she lengthened her stride to climb the next dune, though the heat wasn't near what it'd be like during the day.

Her unruly hair danced in the dry breeze as she clutched a small, worn trinket in her calloused hands. It was a relic from her past, a piece of junk that held more sentimental weight than anyone could fathom. She'd never known her Aunt, she'd gotten as much detail from the stories her father told -- She was once their Erenada, their Queen...until her death. This trinket was hers. However, to defy the sanctity of the moment, Cortana tossed the object onto the hot sand, a gesture both dismissive and defiant.

The ritual's rules echoed in her ears, a mix of archaic chants and whispers carried by the wind. Drawing her lightsaber with an almost careless flourish, she ignited the blade, its humming energy contrasting with the eerie silence of the desert. The harsh glow illuminated the dunes.

As the sun kissed the edge of the horizon, Cortana closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The Force enveloped her like a familiar but elusive friend. In that moment, the brash exterior softened, giving way to a vulnerability that few witnessed. The trinket, now a mere silhouette against the sand, symbolized a piece of her past she was ready to release. With a swift motion, she brought the lightsaber down, cleaving the trinket in two. The fragmented pieces scattered, swallowed by the voracious appetite of the Jakku sands. The lightsaber, still humming with energy, became a conduit between Cortana and the last vestiges of daylight.

She unsheathed the lightsaber's casing, exposing the crystal to the dying sunlight. The air seemed to hold its breath, as if the very desert awaited the fusion of ancient ritual and modern technology. The crystal absorbed the sun's fading rays, and a subtle, ethereal shift in color began to ripple through the lightsaber blade.

The once harsh, white glow softened, adopting hues of amber and gold, mirroring the colors of Jakku's dying sun. The ritual worked its magic, binding the essence of that specific sun into the very core of the lightsaber. Cortana's eyes snapped open, and she beheld the transformed weapon in her hands.

Heuahhh

"No waaayyy" she threw her voice in hushed, but excited disbelief.

A grin tugged at the corners of her lips as she admired the blade, now a testament to her connection with Jakku and the Force. The lightsaber burned brighter, hotter, echoing the defiance and resilience ingrained in the very sand beneath her feet. With an air of nonchalance, Cortana sheathed her weapon, the sun now forever a part of her, captured in the fiery glow of her personalized lightsaber. In the fading light of Jakku's suns, she walked away, leaving the ritual behind, a rebellious Jedi with the desert's spirit etched into her very soul.

 

[Julius Sedaire]

It had been a while since he had taken the lightsaber out of it's case, or meditated. It came back like riding a bike, and only with minor struggle. As he sat on the cliffs of one of the floating mountains near the Temple, he sighed. Memories faded and wasted his thoughts as he watched the sunset over the other jags of mountains. Most often, unlike other times, the faces of his old friends came back to him. Jorus Q. Merrill and Coren Starchaser getting back to their roots, becoming the men they were meant to be so long ago it felt embarrassing almost.

He had tried time and again to be a proper Jedi. Joined various orders. Played at being a Master and even Grandmaster for a time, as that was what Corellia and the Green Jedi had needed. While his heart would always beat in time with the fiery sun of Corellia itself, it wasn't his choice to ever be those versions of himself. So closing his eyes, he left his mind to drift.

The One Sith losing Corellia. The alliance with the Squib and fighting with them, and apparently space whales as an excited Coren jabbered later. Here a smile broke out on his face, and he sighed happily at the memory of the Wayseeker so animated in asking him questions about them. Or the memory of Tessa cursing in a very Jorus like fashion as she worked on yet another ship he had wrecked or mangled.

As the light began to fade, Julius stepped forward and stood up at the same time. Flicking the switch on his newly modified and repaired lightsaber (years in a case had not been kind to the internals) he flipped the beskar diamond of his own armor and the chain with his wife's into the air. A silvery blade tinged the same green as the oceans below flicked out and kissed the diamonds, hissing as it came into contact, flaring and sputtering. Smoking, the twin bits fell to the soil below smoldering, twisted and burnt, destroyed beyond all usefulness or recognition.

Julius still fairly surged and screamed in the Force, a roiling storm of emotions, before he smiled softly on the blade that so reminded him of his home.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

For those who might be interested in a second post...

Later, perhaps much later, your sunshard ritual had consequences. Maybe the borrowed light of your world's sun was a comfort when you were far away and lost. Or you faced desperation on your world, and your saber's brighter light and hotter blade unlocked some door or turned some tide - or gave away your location. Or your saber brought the feel of home, and that turned your course away from what might have been. Maybe you simply remembered a world you're fighting to save, or to rule.

A true ritual makes a difference. What difference did yours make?


Taeli Raaf Coren Starchaser Brooke Waters Inanna Harth Cortana Jade Julius Sedaire

 

[Brooke Waters]

882 ABY
Unnamed Moon
Edge of Sith Space

Beyond the Jedi and beyond the Sith there were other beings. Helping others was important and being the Farseeker of her Clan meant that she searching the galaxy for homes for the Blue Coral Divers, and she’d report her findings back to the Clan Mother regarding worlds that didn’t work out for her clan. This was her main task now.

But it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows. The Witch had found a world, not too far from the Sith Empire. And she had found that it wasn’t quite far enough. Not for her, not for her people. The blonde had seen the small encampment, the beings were being guarded by Red Blades.

Sith.

Brooke was hiding, observing from her vantage point, a small hillside on the volcanic island, watching from between the trees. The beings were on their knees. What she didn’t expect was the other side of the hill. The blue blade. They had come running down, weapon out. Seeing the being, the Witch grinned. She approached, and her hand was on the activation switch for her saber. She’d felt it.

The weapon called to her.

She was not of that life. The blade stayed dark as she ran down. There were beings here, they needed to be freed. Sliding down the grassy hillside, she called on the Force. The Sith and Jedi were engaged in the fight and already throwing the Force at one another. A whisper and a spell, a bubble of protection over the group. Her indigo blade now ignited as the Sith and Jedi were locked in their battle.

“Enough!” She shouted, and a trio of tentacles came up from the ground and grabbed the Sith warriors and Jedi Knight. To prevent the fight from harming the innocents, the tentacles pulled down to the ground, locking the trio in place.

A breath to calm her voice and she pointed to the trapped beings. Another wave of her hand and the binders came off. “My ship.” She pointed in the direction of where her Mon Calamari shuttle was landed. With the Force struggling against her bindings, she whispered another spell.

And with that the Jedi and Sith collapsed, unconscious but very much alive.

This was not her fight, not any longer.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The Jedi were the keepers of peace and justice in the Old Republic.

In the High Republic they were explorers and protectors.

In the Galactic Alliance? They were warriors and military commanders.

In the Levantine Sanctum? They didn’t have any established role. They simply were.

As a Wayseeker, Coren knew that he had his new role. He was an explorer, a keeper of the peace. A teacher, and instructor. When the Sith came calling on a world, such as the ones who he found here on Makai. The world was a former CIS world, back when his cousin was in charge and leading that group. It still meant that he had to come calling here, as it wasn’t far from the Levantine Sanctum.

Looking up, he saw the Sith, a pair of them coming for him. He knew he had to chase them away. As the aqua blade ignited, he felt the peace in his hands. The peace in his mind. Deflecting a swing, and countering. The Wayseeker threw the Force forward and knocked one Sith down. All he needed to do was fight them back.

He was not that warhorse any longer. He was not the warlord of the Jedi.

He was a Wayseeker, a Sentinel.

“You will be leaving this world.” It was not of him to pursue them. Coren was here to protect. Another swing of his lightsaber was going to remove the saber hand of one of the Sith.

 

[Yennic Zhan]

Location: Prime Jedi Conclave - Ahch-to
Objective: Sunshard Ritual
Year: 902 ABY

Sat in the grounds of the temple, Yennic watched the sun of Ahch-to slowly sinking towards the horizon. The nesting porgs were calling put to their mates returning home from fishing in the turbulent waters around the island. One wet bird waddled past Yennic and briefly pecked at the large dried seed that the Jedi had brought here from Zelos. It was almost as large as the bird who continued to inquisitively peck until it heard the call of its own mate and left Zhan to her ritual. The woman opened one eye and watched as the little creature left her, able to smell the aroma of freshly caught and partially digested fish on its breath.

As the sun began to set the Jedi saw the scene darken and her night blindness set in, now it was just her and the force. Her blade activated in front of her, hovering a few inches off of the ground and with a gesture it spun like a clock in front of her, slicing through the ancient dried seed and destroying it. Once it came to rest again the master used the force to dismantle the hilt and the green crystal floated up in front of her, bathing in the last rays of the sunlight that hit its faceted surface. In her force sight she could see it glowing more brightly than before as she lowered it back down and watched the hilt components form up around it and one by one click back in to place.

The blade cracked back to life and with a gesture of her hands in the air she brought its blade closer to her face. The change would be almost unnoticeable had this not been her weapon for more than two decades, the hue had shifted ever so slightly from the deeper green she was familiar with.