Jorus Merrill
is mek bote
Hey there. This is very much a niche interest, but it's something I love, and folks have suggested this. So I'll add this to some of the guides that've been written, here and in faction forums, on good ways to write specific skills and abilities.
Instinctive astrogation involves using the Force with gut instinct. It can be done with sublight flying, hyperspace travel, or even other kinds of navigation, and it's a traditional skill that even crops up among untrained Force-sensitives sometimes. Let's go through some precedents and see what's possible.
Experienced (Includes untrained Force-sensitives with special knacks, as well as Knight-level Force-users)
Now, centering a character's entire skillset around such a marginally useful ability is very fun, but it's not for everyone. For one, it's time and effort your character hasn't put into other abilities. Jorus has lost an awful lot of fights as a result. For another, it's so 'out there' that, when you go to write it, how to do it isn't as obvious as describing lightning and telekinesis. I don't have any 'thou shalts' for it; write it how you see fit. From a couple years of this, though, I've got some suggested 'thou shalt nots' to keep you out of the ranks of the powergamers. There are situations, especially consensual situations, where some of the following might be appropriate if done right, but by and large, here are the rules to which I try to hold Jorus:
Most of the above will get you reported, with just cause, if you do it in a high-handed way. 'So what's the point of this if I'm not using it to get the upper hand over my enemies?' Well, frankly, there are plenty of things you can do by developing a specialization in instinctive astrogation.
Instinctive astrogation won't win you many fights, but if any of the above sounds like your cup of tea, I'd strongly recommend getting your Force-sensitive character some kind of grounding or experience in this particular ability. It's one that shows up pretty commonly as a knack for untrained Force-sensitives, so as long as you have the right IC justification, training isn't especially necessary, though it helps. Members of the Jedi Academy network of enclaves (and the Underground) can be assumed to have access to this kind of training if they want it, like through supervised access to the Merrill-Blake Star Map or its creators. Jorus Merrill, Chloe Blake, Vaudin Miir and Vassara Raxis, among others, are skilled in instinctive astrogation and often willing to teach. Frankly, though, instinctive astrogation is often the hallmark of the solitary, and is best learned through experience, wherever that leads you.
Instinctive astrogation involves using the Force with gut instinct. It can be done with sublight flying, hyperspace travel, or even other kinds of navigation, and it's a traditional skill that even crops up among untrained Force-sensitives sometimes. Let's go through some precedents and see what's possible.
Experienced (Includes untrained Force-sensitives with special knacks, as well as Knight-level Force-users)
- Kyp Durron successfully navigated through the Maw, a cluster of black holes, at sublight speeds. Durron was a prodigy who had spent a good chunk of his life using instinctive navigation in the lightless spice tunnels of Kessel. His navigation of the Maw was considered very difficult to duplicate by trained Jedi, and he was completely exhausted afterward. He also wound up somewhere he didn't expect.
- The rebels Dena and Erling Tredway, once they embraced their Force-sensitivity, used instinctive astrogation to find new bases for the Alliance.
- The Force-sensitive pirate Tron Nixx could find new routes through dense asteroid fields with ease.
- Gav and Jori Daragon were hyperspace explorers who didn't know they were Force-sensitive. They took blind jumps by instinct, trying to find new stable routes. In desperate circumstances, they wound up making a blind jump all the way from Empress Teta to Sith territory, and rediscovered the Sith.
- Luke Skywalker found his way from Hoth to Dagobah, a pre-determined destination, using the Force.
- Yoda found his way to the uncharted planet of the Five Priestesses entirely with the Force.
- The Jedi ace Saesee Tiin, with immense risk, performed a hyperspace slingshot maneuver around the planet Yinchorr. This incredibly precise microjump allowed him to get very quickly from one side of the planet to the other.
- The Duinuogwuin 'star dragons' and the Oswaft routinely aimed long and short hyperspace jumps by instinct.
- When escaping an ambush by Thrawn, Luke Skywalker made a blind jump on instinct, with very little time to do it, and didn't run into anything.
Now, centering a character's entire skillset around such a marginally useful ability is very fun, but it's not for everyone. For one, it's time and effort your character hasn't put into other abilities. Jorus has lost an awful lot of fights as a result. For another, it's so 'out there' that, when you go to write it, how to do it isn't as obvious as describing lightning and telekinesis. I don't have any 'thou shalts' for it; write it how you see fit. From a couple years of this, though, I've got some suggested 'thou shalt nots' to keep you out of the ranks of the powergamers. There are situations, especially consensual situations, where some of the following might be appropriate if done right, but by and large, here are the rules to which I try to hold Jorus:
- Don't use instinctive astrogation for dickery. 'Ha! My entire fleet makes a precise microjump to a point directly behind YOUR fleet!' No.
- Don't use it to facilitate metagaming. 'Oh yeah? Well, I instinctively astrogate my way directly to your secret base. It takes me a while, but boy howdy, I find your secret base all right. No, I didn't have IC reason to believe you had a secret base in this specific area, why do you ask?' No.
- Don't use instinctive astrogation to make yourself an unstoppable dogfighter and know your enemy's every move. Kyp Durron, an astrogation prodigy, was still just a good dogfighter as an experienced Master - and an experienced snubfighter pilot.
- Don't use instinctive astrogation for instantaneous escapes. Hyperdrives take at least a few seconds to warm up, even if you're making a short blind jump to get yourself out of trouble (which is a time-honored use for instinctive astrogation). You can get away (assuming you're not interdicted), but you'll probably get hit in the process.
- Don't use instinctive astrogation to try setting up hyperspace collisions for one-shot kills.
Most of the above will get you reported, with just cause, if you do it in a high-handed way. 'So what's the point of this if I'm not using it to get the upper hand over my enemies?' Well, frankly, there are plenty of things you can do by developing a specialization in instinctive astrogation.
- Finding new places to build secret bases.
- Signing on with major corporations or governments to help find new hyperroutes.
- Reasonable strategic and tactical maneuvers, like making precise jumps from the outer reaches of a system.
- Following people through hyperspace even when you don't have a homing beacon on their ship. Tread lightly with this kind of thing.
- Improved survivability in, say, dense asteroid fields.
- Making safe blind jumps when necessary, like if you're in a starfighter whose astromech is out of useful coordinates.
- Navigating speeders, boats, etc., or finding new paths on foot.
- Finding shortcuts around blockaded routes.
- Getting safely from point A to point B in the middle of a fleet battle, a meteor storm, or a dense crowd, assuming you're not a primary target.
- Exploring. Finding cool new things in the middle of nowhere. Getting your name on some Codex-submitted worlds as the one who discovered or rediscovered them. Learning to love the universe.
Instinctive astrogation won't win you many fights, but if any of the above sounds like your cup of tea, I'd strongly recommend getting your Force-sensitive character some kind of grounding or experience in this particular ability. It's one that shows up pretty commonly as a knack for untrained Force-sensitives, so as long as you have the right IC justification, training isn't especially necessary, though it helps. Members of the Jedi Academy network of enclaves (and the Underground) can be assumed to have access to this kind of training if they want it, like through supervised access to the Merrill-Blake Star Map or its creators. Jorus Merrill, Chloe Blake, Vaudin Miir and Vassara Raxis, among others, are skilled in instinctive astrogation and often willing to teach. Frankly, though, instinctive astrogation is often the hallmark of the solitary, and is best learned through experience, wherever that leads you.
