Ashin Cardé Varanin
Couple bodies in the garden where the grass grows
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
GENERAL INFORMATION
SOCIAL INFORMATION
FORMAT INFORMATION
CONTENT INFORMATION
Part One: Principles of Intent
In simplest terms, the Way of the Monolith is a Sith derivative of the classical Jedi form called Force Affinity. Affinity is a physical/spiritual 'stance' that emphasizes patient defense. The Way of the Monolith twists Affinity's patience and endurance into a defensive but solidly Dark Side approach to Force combat. When Ashin gets figurative, the student of the Way is a mountain, a fortress, or even a lighthouse defying the ocean's fury. Cold fury and patient revenge are the foundations of stalwart, rock-solid defiance. The enemy breaks himself against your strength, wears himself down into frustration, starts making mistakes.
Part Two: Principles of Action
Naturally, practicing this philosophy requires a dominant focus on some variety of defensive Force use. Ashin's specialty is Force Protection, a classical full-body damage mitigation and prevention technique related to Force Weapon and various kinds of Force shields. However, any Force-user who is skilled in defensive techniques - Matukai powers, tutaminis, even mental defense - can apply the Way of the Monolith thoroughly.
Like the classical forms, the Way is meant for circumstances when one's only or primary weapon is the Force. Its principles can bolster armed combat, but using the Way to its full potential means relying on the Force instead of a sword, lightsaber, or firearm. In this respect it draws directly from the classical forms.
Ashin derived the Way's physical stances and weight-shifting movements from military hand-to-hand. She first learned it half a century ago as a young Jedi and a military officer, and has remained competent. She also drew on the broad martial arts expertise of her wife,
Spencer Varanin
, a master of Echani combat.
The Way's physical elements are simple, rooted, and well-balanced. Compared to the classical meditative Force forms, the Way offers practical, stable movement on uncertain terrain. While not especially agile, it permits fluid and straightforward transitions of weight balance between grounded stances. The Way is much closer to being physically practical in a ysalamiri field, as an unarmed combat style, than a classical Force form would be. However, this would be a last-ditch option. The Way's primary methodology is Force-based combat.
Part Three: Principles of Decision
The Way of the Monolith teaches students to guard their freedom of choice and not be provoked. The practitioner needs to develop a thick skin in more ways than one. The perfect time for a decisive counterattack might be five minutes away, or five years. To that end, Ashin teaches the principle of choosing to lose a battle or lose face rather than escalate before the moment is right. Victory is more important than offense or pride. The Way of the Monolith aims to armor the mind and spirit. The Way is not just how to become resilient and even indestructible, but when and why.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Ashin learned the basic principles of Force Affinity as a young Jedi, and Affinity itself after becoming a Jedi Master. She was always cognizant of the classical forms' stagnation, incoherence, and limitations. When she relapsed to glitterstim addiction and the Dark Side circa 849 ABY, she began to despise what she had tolerated. Her own approach to Force-based combat had always, Light or Dark, been heavily influenced by the principles of Affinity. Now she began to systematize her work in hopes of developing something truly special: the first serious new Force form in five thousand years.
Ashin wrote the bulk of this book between 852 and 858 ABY, during her stolen lives as Director General Ajira Cardei (her cousin) and Captain Ashin Karrde (one of her clones). It went unpublished after she died in 858. When she returned to mortality in 864 to avenge and reverse her wife's death, Ashin finalized some details and turned the holobook manuscript over to the instructors aboard the Pomojema.
She named the Way and the book after the Monoliths, Vitiate's apex Sithspawn that roamed the snowy waste of Ziost. She chose the name because of the Monoliths' endurance and survivability, and also because - unlike the animals that lent their names to the Jedi lightsaber forms - the Monoliths were unnatural products of Sith arts. The name invoked the creation of something new, strong, resilient, and unsettling.
- Intent: To codify Ashin's longtime approach to using the Force as a primary focus in combat, a new Force form.
- Image Credit: N/A
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Ashin Varanin, Monolith
GENERAL INFORMATION
- Media Name: The Way of the Monolith
- Format: Holobook
- Distribution: Scattered (available in various high-end Dark Side libraries)
- Length: Long
- Description: A holobook with a golden glow instead of the usual blue, this is a complete instructional manual on what Ashin calls the Way of the Monolith (a callback to the traditional lightsaber forms' 'way of the...' appellations). Like most of the ancient Force forms that preceded it, the Way of the Monolith can be considered a Master-level martial art of the mind and spirit, relying on stances, mindsets, and principles. In more grounded terms, it is a comprehensive way of using the Force as one's primary weapon and tool.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
- Author: Ashin Varanin
- Publisher: The Pomojema, a mobile Dark Side academy of higher learning.
- Reception: To the Jedi, it's a perversion of a classic art. To many modern Sith, it discounts offensive skills and mindsets to a disturbing degree. More than one has called it cowardice. It's not a popular book.
FORMAT INFORMATION
- An interactive multimedia holobook: text accompanied by mobile holograms in two and three dimensions.
- The holograms show stances, abstract diagrams, and practical examples involving various Force techniques.
CONTENT INFORMATION
Part One: Principles of Intent
In simplest terms, the Way of the Monolith is a Sith derivative of the classical Jedi form called Force Affinity. Affinity is a physical/spiritual 'stance' that emphasizes patient defense. The Way of the Monolith twists Affinity's patience and endurance into a defensive but solidly Dark Side approach to Force combat. When Ashin gets figurative, the student of the Way is a mountain, a fortress, or even a lighthouse defying the ocean's fury. Cold fury and patient revenge are the foundations of stalwart, rock-solid defiance. The enemy breaks himself against your strength, wears himself down into frustration, starts making mistakes.
Part Two: Principles of Action
Naturally, practicing this philosophy requires a dominant focus on some variety of defensive Force use. Ashin's specialty is Force Protection, a classical full-body damage mitigation and prevention technique related to Force Weapon and various kinds of Force shields. However, any Force-user who is skilled in defensive techniques - Matukai powers, tutaminis, even mental defense - can apply the Way of the Monolith thoroughly.
Like the classical forms, the Way is meant for circumstances when one's only or primary weapon is the Force. Its principles can bolster armed combat, but using the Way to its full potential means relying on the Force instead of a sword, lightsaber, or firearm. In this respect it draws directly from the classical forms.
Ashin derived the Way's physical stances and weight-shifting movements from military hand-to-hand. She first learned it half a century ago as a young Jedi and a military officer, and has remained competent. She also drew on the broad martial arts expertise of her wife,
Spencer Varanin
, a master of Echani combat.The Way's physical elements are simple, rooted, and well-balanced. Compared to the classical meditative Force forms, the Way offers practical, stable movement on uncertain terrain. While not especially agile, it permits fluid and straightforward transitions of weight balance between grounded stances. The Way is much closer to being physically practical in a ysalamiri field, as an unarmed combat style, than a classical Force form would be. However, this would be a last-ditch option. The Way's primary methodology is Force-based combat.
Part Three: Principles of Decision
The Way of the Monolith teaches students to guard their freedom of choice and not be provoked. The practitioner needs to develop a thick skin in more ways than one. The perfect time for a decisive counterattack might be five minutes away, or five years. To that end, Ashin teaches the principle of choosing to lose a battle or lose face rather than escalate before the moment is right. Victory is more important than offense or pride. The Way of the Monolith aims to armor the mind and spirit. The Way is not just how to become resilient and even indestructible, but when and why.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Ashin learned the basic principles of Force Affinity as a young Jedi, and Affinity itself after becoming a Jedi Master. She was always cognizant of the classical forms' stagnation, incoherence, and limitations. When she relapsed to glitterstim addiction and the Dark Side circa 849 ABY, she began to despise what she had tolerated. Her own approach to Force-based combat had always, Light or Dark, been heavily influenced by the principles of Affinity. Now she began to systematize her work in hopes of developing something truly special: the first serious new Force form in five thousand years.
Ashin wrote the bulk of this book between 852 and 858 ABY, during her stolen lives as Director General Ajira Cardei (her cousin) and Captain Ashin Karrde (one of her clones). It went unpublished after she died in 858. When she returned to mortality in 864 to avenge and reverse her wife's death, Ashin finalized some details and turned the holobook manuscript over to the instructors aboard the Pomojema.
She named the Way and the book after the Monoliths, Vitiate's apex Sithspawn that roamed the snowy waste of Ziost. She chose the name because of the Monoliths' endurance and survivability, and also because - unlike the animals that lent their names to the Jedi lightsaber forms - the Monoliths were unnatural products of Sith arts. The name invoked the creation of something new, strong, resilient, and unsettling.
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