Unreviewed Shōmyō Ridge

[Mishel]

Shōmyō Ridge​

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To create a place that would mirror Moorwood Watch, and be between the town of Baruungat and the Jedi Temple.
• Image Credit: ChatGPT, Sora
• Canon: N/A
• Permissions: N/A
• Links: Jedi Temple of Monastery, Baruungat, Sochi Ru, Maya Carrick

SETTING INFORMATION

• Structure Name: Shōmyō Ridge
• Classification: Jedi Training Compound / Healing & Dueling Sanctuary
• Location: Monastery, near Baruungat
• Affiliation: Jedi Enclave of Monastery
• Accessibility: Accessible via river path from Baruungat or the Petalturn Trail from the Temple of the Sacred Lotus. It is not hidden but shrouded in morning mist and quiet natural beauty. Entry is welcome to all aligned Force users, students of the Lotus Enclave, and those seeking peace or education. Only the Ru Dojo’s inner chamber and Carrick sanctuaries are restricted to initiated students.
• Description: Shōmyō Ridge is a terraced sanctuary carved into the flowering slopes between two sacred sites. Built with an ethos of renewal, it is a place where duelists learn grace, and healers learn strength. Stone paths lead from water gardens to cherry-blossom courtyards, and every step echoes with intention. Home to House Carrick and the Sochi Ru Dojo, Shōmyō is a space for students who carry the burdens of others and must learn to shoulder them with clarity.
  
  The compound also produces the calming Tisane of the Seven Petals, a local tea steeped in tradition and emotional clarity. The gardens around Shōmyō yield various Force-aligned herbs, fruits, and vegetables such as moonberries, fireplums, jade peppers, and snowroot lotus. A spring-fed lake below the ridge, known as Mirror Lake, provides fresh silvercrabs and whisperprawns, prized for their taste and subtle healing properties.
  
  The Ridge is also home to Monastery Ridge-Orbaks, sturdy and empathetic creatures adapted to both rainforest and mountain terrain. They are cared for by students and used for meditation rides and ceremonial travel.
  
  Shōmyō maintains a thriving barter relationship with Moorwood Watch, which sends ice, lumber, and stone in exchange for Shōmyō’s tea, fruit preserves, and dried lake fish.

POINTS OF INTEREST

• Basin of Quiet Flame: A ceremonial fire surrounded by seven smooth, singing stones. Used for silent reflection, vows of endurance, and conflict resolution through presence.
• Wisteria Walk: Covered stairways connecting all levels of the compound, draped in blooming vines. Benches and shrines line the path, often used for reading, writing, or quiet prayer.
• Common Field: A soft moss courtyard between dojo and dormitory. Used for breathwork, outdoor healing rites, and daily community meals.
• Meditation Gardens: Tiered flower terraces cultivated with herbs used in teas, remedies, and aromatherapy. Pollinator-friendly, fragrant, and sacred to the House traditions. Used for silent walks, plant tending, and daily meditation.
• Ridge Stables: Tucked along a wind-carved outcrop below the main temple halls, the Ridge Stables house the enclave’s Orbaks, noble, surefooted creatures revered as both companions and teachers. These gentle, towering beasts are kept not as mounts, but as partners, trained to carry young initiates through narrow switchbacks and fog-shrouded paths that weave through Shōmyō Ridge. Each stall is constructed from local cedar and reinforced with carved stone, blessed by the elders and marked with protective glyphs of balance and grace.
  
  The stables double as a place of reflection, where students groom and care for the Orbaks under the guidance of the Stablemaster, a quiet Mirialan who speaks more to the animals than to people. In storms or snowfall, the Ridge Stables glow softly from within, not just a shelter for beasts, but a place where many young Jedi learn patience, trust, and humility.
• The Shōmyō Healing Pavilion: Carved into the mountainside beneath the cascading trails of the Ridge, the Healing Pavilion is a sanctuary devoted to restoration and renewal. Designed in harmony with the land, its curving halls open to mineral springs, wind-chimes tuned to healing frequencies, and gardens fed by mountain runoff.
  
  Staffed by Jedi Healers, herbalists, and practitioners of Shōmyō, the ancient breath-chant traditions native to the region — the Pavilion serves as both infirmary and spiritual refuge. Pilgrims, students, and even offworld travelers sometimes arrive seeking care or clarity. Treatments blend bacta-based medicine with natural remedies: poultices of blue-leaf moss, meditation steeped in resonance chambers, and energy work focused through kyber-aligned crystals.
  
  For many, this is the final stop on the Ridge’s ascent, where not only wounds are mended, but old griefs soothed, minds quieted, and spirits steadied.
• House Carrick – Restoration & Endurance
  
  • Dormitory: Silver Cross Hall
  • Library: The Greenlight Codex
  • Learning Center: The Circle of Renewal
    
    • Focus: Advanced Force healing, trauma response, field medicine, emotional re-centering
    • Description: Located on a gentle ridge between the Jedi Temple and the town of Baruungat, House Carrick’s halls are lined with living vines and crystal-lit corridors. It’s quiet, but never silent—there is always movement, breath, and presence. Candidates in Carrick learn not just how to heal others, but how to carry what others leave behind.
      
      House Carrick is not assigned at entry. It is a study-away program offered only to students who were not accepted into House Pyne, Locke, or Merrill, and who then undergo a three-phase application—observation, stillness, and service.
      
      Students who thrive here are compassionate, durable, and unflinching. Their strength lies not in resistance to pain, but in what they do after it.
      
      House Carrick’s halls are quiet and deeply alive—fragrant with herbs, softly lit by crystal sconces, and wrapped in woven tapestries from the Sacred Lotus. Dormitories feature thermal stone beds, silence domes, and recovery alcoves with biometric light attunement. Students study in gardens, treat in triage simulators, and sleep beneath crystal-chimed ceilings.
• Ru Dojo – Measured Grace
  
  • Warden of the Line
    
    • Forms Taught:
      
      • Form II: Makashi – Precision, control, and elegant footwork under pressure
      • Form III: Soresu – Defensive redirection and energy conservation
      • Form VII (Juyo, selectively) – Emotional centering through motion; channeled intensity as internalized discipline
    • Special Training:
      
      • Threadwalking – Students move in tight, mirrored proximity drills to master distancing and redirection through subtle shifts
      • Breathbound Intervals – Dueling through breath control cycles to reinforce pacing and poise under stress
      • Proxy Duel Reflections – Form analysis via sparring against droids tuned to student weaknesses; always followed by introspective journaling
      • Mirror Meditation – Students practice Makashi against their own mirrored forms in shallow reflective water chambers to observe alignment breakdowns
      • Harmony Checks – One-on-one evaluations where students are asked not only if they can win, but why they want to
    • Philosophy: “Let the duel begin before your weapon moves. Let it end before your opponent falls.”
• The Hollow Bloom Descent: A final trial path for Year 8 students of House Carrick. This secluded ravine of terraces, pools, and shaded chambers guides students through a descent into personal empathy and reflection. They bring a symbolic offering tied to unresolved pain, meditate in the Stillwater Basin, and confront personal memories in the Bloom Chamber. Here, they do not climb out of shadow—they enter the wound to understand it. Each graduate receives a kyber-touched lotus seed to carry forward.
• The Tisane House: A low, mist-ringed pavilion near the orchard edge, the Tisane House is where Jedi artisans craft the Tisane of the Seven Petals — a calming herbal tea revered for its clarity-enhancing properties. Students and visitors alike are welcomed here to take part in the steeping ritual: seven petals, each representing a principle of the Jedi Code, are added with intention, not haste. Drinking the tisane is an act of centering, often paired with evening meditations or post-lesson reflections. The brew is mildly euphoric but non-addictive, known to open the mind to visions or dreams when consumed before sleep.
• Silverblossom Terraces: Stepped gardens carved into the slope below the main compound, these terraces produce rare Force-sensitive flora. Some plants, like moonberries and snowroot lotus, are harvested at night under specific phases of the moon to retain their potency. Others, such as jade peppers and fireplums, require sunguided meditation or warm touch to bloom. Healers, agriculturists, and alchemists work alongside students to preserve these living gifts. It’s not uncommon to see younglings whispering to their plants, as empathy often yields the strongest harvests.
• Mirror Lake: Fed by glacier runoff and subterranean springs, Mirror Lake rests in a quiet hollow below Shōmyō Ridge. Its surface remains smooth even in wind, and those who meditate beside it often claim to see not their reflection, but visions of the past — or futures not yet decided. The lake is home to various fish, and crustaceans, such as the silvercrabs and whisperprawns, both of which are harvested respectfully by trained gatherers under the Enclave's sustainability rites. Their meat is used in temple cuisine and healing broths, prized for properties that bolster cell recovery and mental lucidity.
• The Stillgarden: Nestled at the halfway mark along the Veiled Crossing, the Stillgarden is a contemplative space inspired by ancient Jedi and Shōmyō monastic traditions. Rather than sand, it uses smoothed river stones, moss-lined paths, and silverleaf foliage that responds gently to the presence of the Force. Water flows in thin, melodic rivulets between patterned stone beds, and tall windchimes crafted from hollowed snowroot branches sing softly with the breeze.
  
  The garden’s layout follows a shifting spiral that subtly rearranges over the seasons — a reminder that clarity is not static, and stillness can exist even in transformation. Jedi come here to practice walking meditation, emotional decluttering, or to commune with the elements in solitude. During snowfall, the Stillgarden transforms into a silent, silver sanctuary where even breath feels sacred.

SECURITY
Medium: The hope is that there will never be a need for a security rating higher than this for a peaceful, and quaint place as Shōmyō Ridge.

• Perimeter Early Warning System:
  
  • Subtle, Force-attuned sensor pylons camouflaged along the Veiled Crossing and forest paths.
  • Detects movement, energy signatures, and emotional spikes (especially fear, anger, or malice).
  • Peacekeeper Guard Rotations: Members of House Carrick and visiting Jedi Knights serve as non-lethal peacekeepers, focused on de-escalation and protection of the enclave’s non-combatants. A rotating corps of 6–10 Jedi-trained defenders is always present. Typically a visiting rotation of Obsidian Guard, another 6-10 aid in these patrols.
  • Village Watch: Civilian-led, coordinated with Jedi instructors. Maintains local patrols and assists with wayfinding and minor disturbances. Often Force-sensitive but untrained.
• Concealment Field: Low-emission environmental cloaking field obscures the Ridge from aerial scans and most conventional sensors. Does not prevent direct visual identification.
• Emergency Containment Protocols: Localized Force-based wards embedded in the architecture of the Sochi Ru Dojo and House Carrick’s training halls. Temporarily seal interior areas in the event of dark side corruption or threat intrusion.
• Defensive Shield (Limited):
  
  • A compact, single-structure energy dome can be raised over the Healing Pavilion or the Ridge's central campus in the event of bombardment or chemical/biological threat. Used rarely and never preemptively.
• Kyber Wardstones: Planted at key ley points along the garden terraces and Mirror Lake, these naturally attuned kyber stones amplify the presence of the Light Side and ward against Sith alchemy or corruption.
• Internal Alert Network: Simple chime and glowstone system signals color-coded alerts for staff and students, no blasters or weapon caches are openly stored outside House Carrick or the Watchtower.
• Aerial Patrols: Thranta riders monitor outer trails and patrol high above the village.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Established during the Second Expansion Phase of the Lotus Enclave, Shōmyō Ridge was founded by Mishel Kryze and a circle of allied instructors. Conceived as a companion to the austere Moorwood Watch, it offers a path centered on empathy, reflection, and the subtler harmonies of the Force. Here, lightsabers are often exchanged for sutras, breathwork, and healing arts, allowing students to cultivate strength not in combat, but in connection.

The Ridge is dedicated to the legacies of Sochi Ru, a master of poise and patience, and Maya Carrick, whose compassion endured through war and shadow. In honor of their teachings, the compound was carefully designed to flow with its surroundings: mist-ringed gardens, river-walks carved into ancient stone, and terraces planted with Force-sensitive flora. Its quiet beauty has drawn not only students, but seekers from nearby Baruungat and pilgrims from across the sector.

Shōmyō Ridge lies along the Veiled Crossing, a mountain passage that weaves between the lowland rainforests and the high Middaleth Mountains, where the great Jedi Temple of Monastery rests. Between the Ridge and the Crossing lies a small, close-knit village, a sanctuary where artisans, farmers, and Force-sensitive families have quietly lived since the Ridge’s founding. It is here that the House Carrick training wing and the Sochi Ru Dojo were built, both embedded in the village as living parts of its daily rhythm. Many of the villagers assist in caretaking the land, growing sacred crops, and guiding young Jedi toward balance.

Shōmyō Ridge is more than a place of learning, it is a living testament to what patience and peace can build when given room to root and rise.