Approved Lore The Holocron of Cotan Sar'andor

[Cotan Sar'andor]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To flesh out a tool for training and teaching that Cotan has in his posession, that he relies on for his continued progression in the Force.
• Image Credit: Link
• Canon: N/A
• Links: N/A

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Holocron Name: The Holocron of Cotan Sar'andor; "Cotan's holocron" for short, though he normally calls it "Kha'rii's holocron" after his old master, and sometimes the "time sink" given how old it is and how much history it contains.
• Alignment: Light Side.
• Origin: Originally created by a Jedi Historian, and since has been passed down, master to apprentice, in a line of descent from the original creator.
• Affiliation: Cotan Sar'andor, The Jedi Praxeum.
• Gatekeeper: The gatekeeper of the holocron most often takes the form of a Rishii Jedi Master, identifying itself as Kha'rii. However, it has shown the ability to take numerous other appearances of various Jedi, who have all owned and added to the holocron over its history; based on the gatekeeper's own admission, it was programmed to primarily take the appearance of the last being to own and contribute heavily to it prior to the current owner, as a way of remembering all those who had used it in the past, a duty the gatekeeper takes quite seriously. The gatekeeper seems to have a personality of its own, separate from the appearances it takes, similar to how other programmed intelligences can develop their own personalities as time goes by and they aren't regularly memory wiped.
• Description: While intended by its original creator as a historical record and a personal memento for his Padawan, as time has passed and numerous owners have added to it the holocron has become a teaching tool for numerous topics central to the practice of being a Jedi. Its various owners have been known to utilize it both as a teaching aid, to make up for their own shortcomings in topics that they feel their Padawans should know, and also as a sentimental keepsake, as the gatekeeper takes on the appearance, and accurately replicates the personality of, its various owners.

DEFENSES

• Accessibility: The holocron activates easily with the concentrated focus of a Force-sensitive being upon it; however, the holocron is able to sense the alignment, strength, and general skill level of a user, and will tailor its presentation (or lack thereof) of its information in response to what it senses from the user.
• Security: The holocron's only security measures are in how it presents information; all of the information within it will be presented openly to a Master, or suitably experienced Knight, who is at least nominally committed to the Light Side of the Force. For Padawans and inexperienced Knights, however, some information will be withheld, considered too advanced and dangerous to learn. For those who sit more neutrally within the Force, the holocron will still teach them, though it will attempt to guide their actions and sway them towards the Light. Should somebody aligned with the Dark Side attempt to access the holocron, however, the gatekeeper will rebuff them and refuse to teach them if they shouldn't change their ways, using the philosophical arguments it contains during the little time it will be willing to communicate with the user to deny their requests and attempt to change their path. However, a sufficiently strong and knowledgeable Force user of the Dark Side can prove able to directly rip the information they wish from the Holocron.

CONTENT INFORMATION

• Detailed information, capable of giving instruction to a high level on all seven main forms (barring Vaapad, of lightsaber combat, including basic maneuvers, philosophy behind the forms and prominent practicioners, detailed sequences with various different types of weaponry, and various design specifications based on what certain forms might require in a lightsaber.
• Similarly detailed information on the three styles (Fast, Medium, and Strong) that were developed and practiced in the early days of the New Jedi Order, before they rediscovered the original lightsaber forms.
• An in-depth history of the Jedi and their actions throughout galactic history, from their founding (including some information on the earlier Je'daii) through the time of Darth Krayt's Sith Empire; recent additions have been made to recount more recent galactic events, as well as to draw attention to various contradictions throughout the history, due to the various contradictory records of earlier times.
• A list of previous owners of the holocron, with imprints of their personality, memory, and any biographical knowledge they might have recorded into the holocron.
• Information on how to create and add to holocrons.
• Explanations and guided instruction on numerous Force powers that have been used by past Jedi who accessed and added to the holocron, from mundane abilities such as basic telekinesis and sensory abilities, through more esoteric powers, such as Force Sight and Force Stealth, among others.
• Diagrams and instruction on how to create lightsabers, both of the standard type and various variations.
• Carefully-guided instruction from the gatekeeper on Jedi philosophy, including topics such as: Presentations and analyses of the Jedi code, both the more ancient variation and the modernized version penned by Odan-Urr; Lectures on the three primary specializations of Jedi and how they function; Information on the role of Jedi in the galaxy, and how to fulfill that role while remaining true to themselves; and, lastly and perhaps most dangerously, how Jedi philosophy relates to that of the Sith, with detailed comparisons and various arguments and refutations presented in favor of both sides, with the intention of guiding the user in combatting the Sith and protecting themselves on a more ideological level.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Cotan Sar'andor's holocron is far, far older than he is, being an artifact that was passed down, master to apprentice, in a long line before it ever made it to his hands.

It was originally crafted long ago by an elderly Jedi Historian, who was nearly finished training his last Padawan. Having done quite a bit of work to uncover the records of ages past for the Jedi, even despite the contradictions between various records, he decided he wanted something hopefully a bit more permanent to contain the knowledge than the usual databanks, memory cards, or even old books. So, instead, he crafted a holocron to contain the full record of his life's work, as well as a strong imprint of his own personality—as, knowing that he was old, and his Padawan quite young, he wanted to ensure that his Padawan would have a ready source of guidance and wisdom from his old master, like the man's previous Padawans had been able to take advantage of. And so it was that, at the end of his life, he passed the artifact on to his former learner, since become a knight, rather than letting it be catalogued into the archives along with so many other holocrons.

This knight kept the holocron with her for a long time, using it as a source of comfort and guidance, but also still as a learning and teaching tool; while at that point it held nothing more than history, it was still helpful to herself and her own learners. Eventually, she learned how to add onto it, and began to do so, starting the expansion of the contents to what it now contains. She also learned how to subtly reprogram the gatekeeper; while its baseline personality would always be a mirror of its original creator, it was now altered to replicate, for the majority of functions, the appearance and personality of the last being to own it, prior to its current owner.

Thus, when this master's former Padawan opened the holocron for the first time after she died, and saw her face, they were quite surprised and delighted.

This cycle of inheritance continued for centuries, Jedi after Jedi adding to the holocron, recording what information they deemed most necessary to fill in the gaps that it held, until it gradually became a record of information similar in scope to many of the other holocrons the Jedi possessed. This practice continued to its most recent previous owner, a Rishii Jedi Master named Kha'rii. His most notable addition to the holocron was on methods of teaching, as well as how to offer general guidance and counselling to others, and especially to one's students (information that Cotan has needed to access multiple times, owing to his definite lack of experience in training others).

Before Cotan and Kha'rii's ill-fated mission to Atrisia, which saw Kha'rii's death and Cotan's capture, he saw fit to pass the holocron on to his student, who was nearing the time to take his trials to become a Jedi Knight. While the holocron was confiscated after Cotan's capture, it had a powerful effect on one of his guards, who was an equally young apprentice of the Dark Side. This acolyte was asigned to extract what information they could from the holocron, such that it could be used to gain power, or to try and break Cotan as a prisoner; instead, the holocron's gatekeeper was able to sway the apprentice from this path. While not completely turned to the path of a Jedi, it did foster in this young man a wish to leave, and who better to leave with than the Jedi Padawan who could vouch for him to the Jedi, if it came to it?

So it was that the young acolyte broke Cotan free and returned the holocron, and the pair attempted their escape. Unfortunately for the turncoat apprentice, Cotan was the only one who made it out of the ensuing fight, returning to his duties as a Jedi, and the unbroken chain of the holocron's ownership managed to continue. Since then, he has been using it mainly as a training tool, utilizing the benefit of many master's combined experience to better himself and his abilities—though he has had a few opportunities to use it as a teaching tool, and should his association with the Jedi Praxeum continue, he'll likely have many more.