Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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[member="Cedric Grayson"]

More out of reaction than anything else Cenric's training saber ignited a second time, batting away the Jedi Knight's weapon.

He was startled for a moment, but spoke quickly. "I don't have much of a 'history' really."

There was a stutter to his tone, as if he had been surprised by the movement of his own body. Lorrdians were naturally instinctive humanoids, reading others body language and reacting to it without really thinking. They were natural mimics, moving with someone and communicating with them on their own terms. It was what made them fantastic diplomats.

"My father was a Soldier for the Republic." He shrugged, taking half a circled step. "My mother a farm girl."

He was proud of his family, though they were far from famous. "I grew up hearing about the Jedi from my dad, when I turned of age I headed off world to Sullust. I just barely passed the tests, the other students joked I have more willpower than potential."
 
Good. You're as quick as I thought.

The blade's crackled against one another, Cedric's own having been batted away with ease. The smile on the knight's face was enough to see that he was pleased. "That's more than a history," the smile grew. Cedric's words were warm. "Your father was a soldier, and I'm guessing he was a good man too. Your mom sounds the same. Remember your roots Marus, they'll keep you sane." He held the lightsaber in two hands now, once more adopting that initial defensive pose. "As for potential and willpower," he shook his head. "They go hand in hand. Your potential is what you make it out to be. The force is your companion, and you should look to it for advice, but your destiny is your own."

For a moment, he wondered how his own life might have been had his origin been so humble. No doubt it would have been easier, though he suspected the difficulties of life would have found him in other ways. The Graysons had always been cursed with the cloud of prophecy and destiny surrounding their family as far as they could remember.

It was likely that they would never know peace.

"Alright, aside from your history," the blade twisted in Cedric's hands as he began to slowly circle Marus. "What all do you know of the order off the top of your head?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

Cenric gripped his blade a bit tighter, watching the Knight carefully. "Not much, just what my dad told and what I read in the Archives."

He had never really been the best student, but when left to his own devices with resources at hands he picked things up rather quickly. Since he had quite a bit of downtime without an official Master Cenric had spent a bit of time within the Archives. Admittedly most of what he had read was about battles, fighting techniques and individual tales from Jedi Master's, but it was enough to clue him in to most of the recent history of the order. At least he thought so.

"The Jedi are in separate Orders right now. The New Jedi Order, the Silvers, The Jedi Order." He was sure there were more, but he couldn't quite name them off the top of his head. "They all work together, but each have different ways of doing things."

He took another step to the side. "The New Jedi Order is more militant in nature. Founded to fight the One Sith."

That he was sure about, Master Talith's memoirs had been rather detailed in that respect.
 
"They did. Things have sort of melted together these days," Cedric affirmed. "I try not to think of them as separate entities anymore. The key to defeating the Sith once and for all is unity; something that we are severely lacking in." The knight's brow furrowed as he spoke. "Though you're correct. The NJO was designed to defeat the One Sith, now they're the Galactic Alliance's praetorians, more or less. They didn't plan for what would happen after the One Sith fell, and you can see the impact of that in their flagging influence."

There was no opinion in Cedric's words. He just spoke facts as he perceived them. "The Silvers sought to fight as well, but they don't have the teeth for it. Theirs is an order founded on an oxymoron: Jedi that choose a peaceful existence over the defense of the galaxy. Recently they've come to understand that error, but at a great price. The Silvers will be one of the last bastions of freedom, should the Sith grow, but their backpedaling will only save them for so long." He paused, mentally running through a scenario in which he might disarm Cenric.

"And these that called themselves the order's namesake? Consumed by nepotism. Afraid to give up their positions to preserve unity, just as the Silvers, and just as the others. The Jedi are divided because we each have too much individual power, and no one taught us how to let go of it."

He took a step forward. "That is why we've failed so far. Our orders have grown comfortable in their cradles of powers. It's why I didn't go to any of them for help in this. We have to take action Cenric - someone has to act like the Jedi we all claim to be."

Whatever else he intended to say was drowned out by the swing of his blade. Cedric's weapon fell in a heavy handed arc that would have bisected an opponent from shoulder to hip, had it been at full power.

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

His lightsaber came up to meet Cenric's, clashing with his blade as a second hand wrapped around the first. The weight of the blades was nothing, but the impact sent a jarring shake through the Padawan's arms and shoulders. Still, he kept himself steady.

"Then act." It was an incredibly naive thing to say, but that was what he was.

Cenric understood little when it came to the terms of war, of what it meant to be in battle or the resources that were required. For him a war was just a story, one that he wanted to experience, that he was even eager to join, but it was still just a story. He had no idea what it took to build an army, to create a force capable of taking on the Empire. It was simple for Cenric. If someone wanted to fight then they should fight, and Cedric seemed more than inclined.

The Padawan slid back slightly, disengaging his blade from the Knight's. "Fight."

"Strike against the Sith. Show what you...we are capable of." He shrugged. "Others will come if you do."

That was how it had always worked in the stories.
 
"If only it were so simple."

The cyan blade flashed as it fell toward Cenric once more. It seemed to be an imitation of the first strike - until Cedric shifted his arms. Rather than fall downward, as it had looked to be doing initially, the blade traveled in a sidelong sweep aimed to catch Cenric in the ribs. "Wars require ships, weapons, and men to use them. It sounds fantastical in the stories, but those who have experienced it are rarely eager to do so again." He understood the youth's excitement. Cedric had felt similarly during his own training.

He had learned the lesson of war rather quickly back then.

"That being said," Cedric's voice was labored as he swung, "I agree with you. I've already started assembling an army of sorts, though we haven't exactly decided what to call it yet. Rebel something."

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

This time Cenric wasn't fast enough.

The conversation had distracted him, attempting to learn more of his new Masters methods and intent pulling his attention. When Cenric's wrist flicked and the blade changed direction the Padawan was too slow to catch it and suddenly he felt a swipe of the low power blade across his rib. A stinging pain shot up his side and a curse echoed from his lips, his free hand instantly covering the wound as he took a few leaping steps away from Cedric. "Kark."

He said more to himself than the other man before pulling himself back up, angling his blade to prepare for what he thought would be an immediate follow up attack.

"Alliance." Cenric added, half biting his tongue to stifle the pain. "Like the one before the plague."

There were scant few histories about what happened before the Gulag Plague, but a few stories made it through. Tales of the Rebel Alliance and their fight against the Empire were famous even as far out as Lorrd. Things like that were not easily forgotten within the galactic consciousness.
 
Others might have pulled back after striking the padawan. Cedric was not so gentle.

He pressed forward, all sense of purpose to his blade seemingly lost. His slow, deliberately powered strikes were replaced with a flurry of fast two-handed blows that Cedric tended to only utilize in real combat. Then again, this contest was as real as any. Cedric aimed to test his newly christened padawan's limits before he ever let the boy near a battlefield.

"Don't let the talking distract you. You have to learn to let your body move before your mind has a chance to plan in situations like these. The Sith are going to goad you into speech during battle. You'll respond at one point, eventually. We also have to try and talk them down when we fight them. Many Sith have never been exposed to any other way of life. I've seen some cast away their lightsaber when they learned that the Jedi weren't the monsters their masters brainwashed them into believing we were. If you can keep a conversation with me, and fend off my attacks, then you'll be ready for the war."

The knight cracked a competitive grin as his blade fell upon the padawan.

"And that name," the blades crackled, "I like it. People will get behind it."

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

Cenric nodded. "I'll have to practice."

He was more than willing to admit that he had a lot to learn, even when it came to using a lightsaber. The weapon was one of elegance, different than a sword and pretty much anything else that existed in the galaxy. It was a tough thing to master, though he liked to think he'd done pretty well so far.

A frown touched his lips for a moment. "So...if we're not based out of these walls..."

Cenric was already using the term 'we'. When he identified with something he took to it quickly, another trait of Lorrdians. He naturally mimicked and blended, something that often made others rather uncomfortable. Adapting quickly was good, but only if people wanted you to adapt.

"We're do we operate out of?" He asked. "A ship?"

It seemed most likely.
 
"Something like that," Cedric snickered. "We've multiple outposts, though our current command quarters lie on Ruusan. That's subject to change as we continue to move forward," he explained. clearly rather pleased with talking openly about his work.

He paused, "As for practice?" A brow was lofted. "You'll be getting more than enough, but before I can teach you to fight like a Jedi Knight, you must think like one. It's a lesson that I ignored as a padawan, and my arrogance cost me dearly."

A hand gestured toward the dueling ring. Cedric's lightsaber went out.

"There is old lore I want you to read up on. It's come to my attention that our current situation is quite similar to a long lost threat, and one I've done a great deal of research on. Have you heard of the Sith Lord Darth Revan?"

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

Cenric shook his head. "No."

The Histories went back far, but Revan had been thousands of years ago. Even Jedi in the Old Republic had known precious little about the man. Cenric himself hadn't been granted access to archives dating that far back, and digging information like that up would have been a struggle for him.

"Did he attack the Order?" Cenric asked, genuinely curious. "Shatter it like the One Sith did?"

The One Sith had never really divulged the name of their Dark Lord, but the damage they had inflicted upon the Jedi in this age had been rather severe. After the One Sith had attacked the Jedi became much more splintered, Silver Jedi, New Jedi Order, half a dozen others that Cenric had earlier listed.

He assumed that Revan had done the same once.
 
"He would have, had he not been drawn back to the light in the end," Cedric began to explain. "But that is how his story ended. It is his beginning that holds the lesson," he paused, his gaze searching the padawan for a sign of...something. He wasn't quite sure exactly what it was yet.

The histories were an enigma to most, but not to Cedric. The Graywall's access to the Black Library had rendered every text intact, every piece of history that had developed over the centuries secured. It was this pool of knowledge that Cedric had pored over for many years, extracting every bit of knowledge he could about the forgotten past. In his eyes, the preservation and understanding of history was one of the Jedi Order's top priorities, even if the heart of the order had been shattered.

"Revan was a controversial figure," he continued, "He was an extremely talented Jedi Knight. A hero of his age. He was also prideful and impatient." The knight snickered, "A conflict arose that we now call the Mandalorian Wars. It is not the first time the Mando'ade rose up against the Republic, but it was the bloodiest. The Jedi Council sensed something awry about this war, and forbade its knight from participating. Revan, prideful as he was, denounced the council's decision. He saw the suffering of the people, and marched off to defend them," the knight sounded sympathetic

"The Jedi were instrumental in saving the Republic, but lost their way in the process. They came across some dark entity out at the edge of the galaxy, and that entity changed them forever. I do not yet know what it was that corrupted Revan and his followers, but I know what followed. Revan's heroes turned around and burned the Republic to cinders. It was only the work of a handful of lucky Jedi Knights that stopped him," he paused, "I will grant you access to my private records. I want yo uto learn of Revan. I want you to learn why he did what he did, how he operated, and how his decisions affected the galaxy forever after. I ask this of you, because we walk a similar path."

A quiet sigh fell from his lips. "We have no council to guide us, but we cannot sit by and refuse to act. We must crusade against the Sith as Revan did against the Mandalorians, despite our peers desires for placidity. You understand that we can;'t just roll over to Sith expansion. That being said, we cannot allow the darkness we fight to infect us without our realizing. You have to watch over me, just as I have to watch over you. We'll check each other, keep one another safe. In that, you're as much my partner as you are my padawan."

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 
[member="Cedric Grayson"]

Cenric listened carefully, nodding his head as his Master spoke.

The concept of following in the path of a Sith Lord made him uncomfortable, more so than he would have liked to admit. He understood the concept, and if what Cedric said was true then perhaps it truly was the way, but there was still something that put him ill at ease about the whole thing. His only knowledge about the Sith came from what he had read in the Archives, and most of that had been...unpleasant. He frowned for a moment, glancing away from the training field and towards the students that were still arrayed on the patio.

"I understand." He said calmly.

Keeping Cedric in check, how in the hell was he supposed to do that? The Jedi Knight was stronger than him, had a better understanding of the force and could likely outwit him in half a second. Sure he had tricked the man in lightsaber combat, but beyond that? It seemed impossible. A frown touched his lips for a few seconds, but eventually he decided that it wouldn't do him any good to argue.

If Cedric had faith in him, then he would embrace his role.

"I'll learn." He told the Jedi Knight. "Everything I can."

It would mean more than just standing at Cedric's side, it would mean more than just sitting in the archives, but that was why he had come to the Jedi in the first place. He was here to fight, to bring those who deserve it to Justice. Nothing else would do.
 
"I know you will," Cedric said honestly. "I've got faith in you Marus. That sense of duty is something many Jedi are sorely missing these days. I have no doubts about the impact you'll make," that was the most important thing of all, wasn't it? Making an impact.

"Now," the knight turned from the dueling arena. "I believe this session is over. Gather your things and meet me by the spaceport around midnight. We'll be heading for Ruusan from there," he paused for a moment, looking back to meet the padawan's gaze. "Don't be late."

With that, the knight took his leave, thoughts for the padawan's first initial lesson already forming in the back of his mind.

[member="Cenric Marus"]
 

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