Force Paths

For Force Powers see The Force section

The Je'daii Order
In the year 36,453 BBY, the Tho Yor—eight great pyramid ships that were scattered across the galaxy—called out to the inhabitants of the planets they were located on, including Ando Prime, Kashyyyk, Manaan, Ryloth, and Dathomir. Through the Force, the Tho Yor convinced the Force-sensitive sentients around them to board the starships, and the pyramid ships then departed the planets upon which they had sat for so long and set out into the galaxy. The Tho Yor then traveled the galaxy, gathering Force-sensitives of many other species, so that by the time the eight ships journeyed into the Deep Core together, they carried members of the Wookiee, Selkath, Twi'lek, Miraluka, Iktotchi, Cathar, Devaronian, Noghri, Sith, Talid, Zabrak, Mirialan, Human,[3] Sullustan,[5] and Krevaaki species,[4] as well as the species later known as the Koorivar.[6] The eight Tho Yor traveled into the Deep Core to the planet Tython, where a ninth and far larger Tho Yor awaited them as it floated above a pinnacle of stone. The arrival of the Tho Yor was heralded by an immense Force Storm that swept over the entire planet, and the eight Tho Yor first gathered around the ninth Tho Yor before scattering themselves across the planet.[3]

The Tho Yor Arrival, as the event came to be known,[4] saw each Tho Yor deposit their passengers at their final destination and remain there, with some of the ships burying themselves in the landscape while others remained floating in the sky. The Force-sensitive pilgrims immediately realized that Tython was uniquely strong in the Force, and the pilgrims—known collectively as the Tythans—soon realized that they had been brought to Tython in order to study the Force and to learn to control and master the abilities it granted them. However, Tython's beauty came with dangers, and the pilgrims' lives became a constant form of moving meditation on the Force, rather than sitting in silent meditation. The pilgrims also realized that Tython itself reacted violently with Force Storms and quakes to imbalance between the light and dark sides of the Force, which they named Ashla and Bogan after Tython's two moons: the bright satellite Ashla, and the dark moon of Bogan. The pilgrims therefore formed the Je'daii Order, taking their name from the language of the Dai Bendu monks of the Talid species: combining the words je, meaning mystic, and dai, meaning center.[3]

The philosophy of the Balance became essential to survival on Tython, as harmony and balance between Ashla and Bogan maintained the peaceful beauty of Tython and prevented the chaos and destruction that came with imbalance. Over the next thousand years, the Je'daii built the Je'daii Temples, cities and centers of learning and healing that each centered around one of the Tho Yor.[3] Padawan Kesh, the Je'daii academy, was established by the year 36,019 BBY, when Nordia Gral was serving as Padawan Kesh's first Temple Master. Around that time, Master Gral helped develop the tradition of the Great Journey, a pilgrimage across Tython to each of the Temples that all Je'daii would take upon graduating from the rank of Padawan to Journeyer.[4] However, as the years passed, the Je'daii began to have children who were not Force-sensitive, and it eventually became clear to the Tythans that the planet was not safe for those who could not touch the Force after the city of Aurum was destroyed. Therefore, during the second millennium after the Tho Yor Arrival, a second migration occurred: all Tythans who were not Force-sensitive were made to leave the planet, even if it broke up families, and the non-Force-sensitives settled first on Ashla and Bogan before spreading out to the other worlds of the Tython system.[3]

Era of peace

Despite the services the Order provided to the other Settled Worlds, the existence of the Je'daii on their isolated world of Tython became a thing of legend. It wasn't until the reign of Queen Hadiya of Shikaakwa that a full-blown conflict erupted between the Order and the non-Force-sensitives that shared the star system. In a system-wide conflict known as the Despot War, Queen Hadiya led her army against Tython in a series of campaigns in 25,805 BBY. Despite massive casualties on both sides, the Je'daii Order was able to vanquish Hadiya and her forces and return the balance to Tython. While balance was indeed restored, turmoil festered on Tython just twelve years later when the Je'daii Order found the wreckage of the first ship to enter the system since the Tho Yor brought their ancestors to the world. The ship, of unknown origin, crashed on Tython in area known as the Rift, close to the Temple of Anil Kesh, and the mass deaths sparked a Force storm of proportions not seen since the arrival of the Tho Yor. Representatives of the Order investigated the crash site and encountered a sole survivor: a mysterious man named Xesh who carried a bizarre weapon known as a forcesaber.[7]

The Force Wars

In the ensuing decade, the balance of the Je'daii Order was shattered. Two splinter groups emerged, one which held the Ashla as the main power of good in the universe, and another whose members found power only in the Bogan. In a tumultuous conflict known as the Force Wars, former allies were pitted against each other and all that the Je'daii Order had become was torn asunder. [8]

In 25,793 BBY the war had raged for nearly a decade, leaving the planet a ruined waste.[9] The light-siders, led by Je'daii Masters Rajivari, Garon Jard, Cala Brin and Ters Sendon, founded a new group known as the Jedi Order and deemed that they would only use their powers for the protection of the weak and disenfranchised. From this group, Master Rajivari broke away and formed a dissident group of dark siders Building an army of dark side monstrosities, Rajivari and his followers seized the Temple of Kaleth and attempted to defeat the Jedi Order. Following the defeat of Rajivari's forces and other dissidents like him, the Je'daii Order was finished, the Jedi Order standing in its place. Having witnessed the destructive power of the dark side first hand with the ruination of their homeworld, a large group of Jedi set out from Tython to settle other worlds far from the Deep Core, eventually establishing a headquarters on the far-flung world Ossus.[10]

The Je'daii's successor group, the Jedi would ultimately go on to defend the galaxy for millennia to come. The Galactic Republic made use of the Je'daii Order's Bendu symbol, particularly during the Clone Wars, and Emperor Palpatine of the Galactic Empire—the Republic's successor state—instituted a six-spoked Imperial crest reminiscent of the Bendu symbol.

The Jal Shey
The Jal Shey order was considered one of the oldest Force-using traditions as early as 3,000 BBY. By the time of the Jedi Civil War, they were known to be widespread and items crafted by them could be found across the galaxy. They were nomadic by nature and did not settle for long in any particular place. Instead, they searched for places that could improve their understanding of the Force. Yet the Jal Shey were not only scholars and observers of the Force; they also participated in the life of the society in which they operated, using their knowledge to help improve the lives of beings around them. The Jedi largely considered them just another Force-using sect comparable to the Zeison Sha. Following the Great Sith War, they roamed the galaxy and were regarded as militant, but retained their philosophy of viewing the Force intellectually rather than spiritually.

The Mabari, an order of warrior knights that lived on the planet Zolan, eventually developed from Jal Shey teachings. The Jal Shey remained in existence circa 19 BBY, during the formation of the Galactic Empire. Roly Melusar, commander of the Imperial Commando Special Unit, at one point considered dispatching his Imperial commandos to hunt down other Force-users besides Jedi; his list included the Altisian Jedi and Jal Shey.

Hierarchy

The Jal Shey categorized themselves into three different classifications. Mentors were known for their intelligence and understanding of the Force and were considered an equivalent to the rank of Jedi Master. Peet Sieben was one known Jal Shey mentor. Advisors were assigned to diplomatic missions and could be encountered throughout the galaxy. Neophytes were new acolytes who studied with mentors until they were ready to accept investigative and diplomatic missions of their own.

Philosophy

The Jal Shey were considered especially adept at diplomacy, negotiation, and spirited debate. Jal Shey could be found acting as negotiators in disputes ranging from simple arguments to negotiated settlements of great complexity, including wars. They were regarded as particularly skillful at diplomacy and comparisons were made between Jedi and Jal Shey negotiators. With the use of the Force, they could often catch their opponents off guard, allowing them to keep any potential opponents off-balance.

The Jal Shey recruited Force-users from a variety of worlds and species, but they were selective, choosing only those who they believed would accept the Jal Shey way of life and contribute to their scholarly and diplomatic efforts. Individuals they saw as tainted with the dark side and those who presented an affinity for combat were typically not selected. They were not known for being particularly numerous.

They did not consider themselves tied to one location, but instead moved from one destination to the next in search of places that would improve their understanding of the Force. Examples of things that the Jal Shey studied included dark side nexuses, the history of certain species, and other Force traditions.

Many Jal Shey learned basic lightsaber techniques for defense, but they rarely specialized in them. Unlike the Jedi, the Jal Shey shunned physical pursuits, preferring to hone their understanding of the Force, negotiate settlements, and produce Force-imbued items.

Due to their lack of emphasis on physical exercise or combat, they preferred to use their desire and talents to create armor, belts, and other items to augment their own Force powers. The Jal Shey eventually learned how to produce items that not only enhanced the abilities of the creator when worn, but would benefit any who wore or wielded them. Even robes created and worn by Jal Shey could provide a positive benefit to the wearer. Jal Shey perception gloves or meditation gloves were worn during meditation and served to augment the user's awareness, while both regular Jal Shey belts and the more effective belts worn by mentors could provide one with mental fortitude against the dark side of the Force. The light armor worn by Jal Shey was, like the Jal Shey themselves, described as having an aura of dignity and competence, and did not restrict the use of Force powers by the wearer. There were multiple types of armor, depending on the rank of Jal Shey, and each successively higher rank was more beneficial to the user than that of lower ranks.

Mandalorian Knights
As a member of the Jedi High Council, Dorjander Kace became the highest ranking Jedi to openly pledge his support for Jedi intervention in The Mandalorian Wars. Unlike those who followed Revan, however, Kace believed that the Jedi were on the wrong side of the conflict and so swore allegiance to Mandalore the Ultimate and The Mandalorians along with a small number of like-minded volunteers

The Order of the Temple of Mandalore
Established on Dxun (moon of Onderon) in the basement of the old Ommin crypts and Freedon Nadd's tomb (see Sith of Note), these Force cultists are skilled in healing and protection arts and unique force rituals. Recently reformed by Nimrod the Crusader, they are now an extension of the Military arm of The Mandalorians under Nimrod the Crusader on Naboo.

The Ysanna of Ossus
Born from the survivors of the Cron Supernova's effect on Ossus (see The Great Sith War), the Ysanna survived through sheer mettle and the luck bestowed to them by their Jedi bloodline, on a devastated planet with a caustic atmosphere, full of electrical storms, and the danger of fierce predators. They eked out a simple existence as hunters and gatherers, while remaining aware of the ancient task bestowed upon them by their ancestors - to protect the secrets of the Jedi.

Rejoining the galaxy

Shortly after the return of Emperor Palpatine (see Sith of Note) in 10 ABY, Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar arrived on Ossus in search of ancient Jedi artifacts. They soon came upon the Ysanna, who attempted to kill the two intruders. The fighting between the two groups came to a halt with the arrival of Imperial forces led by Executor Sedriss QL. The Ysanna fought back, defeating most of the Dark Troopers and stormtroopers, leaving Skywalker and Solusar to deal with only Sedriss and another member of the Dark Side Elite.

The battle had turned in favor of Skywalker and Solusar, when Sedriss took the young Ysanna Jem hostage and backed against the inert Ood Bnar, a tree-like Neti Jedi Master who had been dormant since the Battle of Ossus. Suddenly coming to life, Bnar attacked Sedriss and killed the Dark Jedi along with himself.

Okko, the tribe's chief and greatest shaman, allowed Skywalker to take Jem and her brother Rayf to train as Jedi, but was reluctant to introduce the rest of his people to the new Jedi teachings. However, the Ysanna would not remain isolated for much longer, as the Empire now knew of their whereabouts, and confrontation was brewing. Jem died on New Alderaan, Rayf was killed on Onderon, and Okko and two others were later trapped in carbonite by the forces of Palpatine, who was seeking to use the tribe as a means to halt the genetic decay of his last clone.

At the same time Skywalker and Solusar explored Ossus, the Dark Jedi Travgen was hiding on the world. He had been present on Ossus since 9 BBY, after escaping the Jedi Purge. Travgen hid from the intruders, and thus escaped their notice. He had already enslaved several Ysanna tribes by this time. The fate of Travgen and his subjects is as yet unknown.

After the planet was opened to the general public, the world once again teemed with life. The Ysanna were now the hosts of a great number of archaeologists, historians, and all forms of academicians from all over the galaxy who studied, scrutinized, analyzed and discovered new things about Jedi and Sith history.

Society and culture

Their Jedi heritage of knowledge and wisdom lost through generations of hardship and ignorance, the Ysanna degenerated into superstition. Their use of the Force diminished to nothing but simple tricks performed by unintelligible wizards, known to them as Ysanna magic. Their superstition built upon the remaining Jedi and Sith artifacts left on the world from its speedy evacuation. The Ysanna wizards used various Sith masks in battle to intimidate their enemies, and when protecting the Jedi ruins from trespassers, graverobbers, tomb raiders, or anybody that would walk on their sacred ground. They had a polytheistic religion.

Despite their drastically lessened knowledge of The Force, the Ysanna managed to preserve some Force techniques that were lost to the Jedi Order (see Force Paths) over the millennia, including the ability to form Force Ghosts.

Sorcerers of Tund
The Sorcerers of Tund were a largely reclusive, secretive group of an ancient order of Sith mages notable for their concealing outfits. The Sorcerers were highly skilled in deception, illusions, and shapeshifting. They rarely ventured off Tund, and were known to be driven mad by their explorations of the Force.

History

Sorcerers of Tund were founded on the planet Tund by banished pure-blooded Sith priests after the Sith had acquired the technology and dark side lore of the ancient Rakata around 28,000 BBY. This pure-blooded Sith society, spoken of in whispers throughout much of the galaxy, combined science, ontology, and magic. Convinced by their Rakatan interactions that all sentients are Force-sensitive, the Sorcerers of Tund proclaimed the omnipresence of the Force ("the Unity") that illuminated the deception of dualities and multiplicity.

The early Jedi viewed the sorcerers as merely another Force sect, much like the Jal Shey or Zeison Sha. But following the Restoration—and reign of terror by Karnak Tetsu, who led the sorcerers in the years following the Great Sith War—the Jedi Order would often try to "convert" the Sorcerers, attempting to convince them to use the Force without any of their trappings of magic and mysticism. However, they were unsuccessful, and eventually the Jedi contented themselves with making sure the Sorcerers did not descend into the dark side. Unsurprisingly, the sorcerers were reticent in accepting outlanders, believing that only true Sith can grasp their truth. On one occasion, however, they welcomed the few remaining Massassi and Kissai, descended from outcasts much like themselves.

During the waning years of the Galactic Republic, numerous crises forced the Jedi to abandon their surveillance of the Sorcerers of Tund, which caused them to miss the destruction of the Sorcerers. In 22 BBY, Adler Roty claimed to be a Sorcerer of Tund. The last known disciple of the group was Rokur Gepta, a Croke who joined the group, learned all their secrets of power, invented a few of his own, and when he felt that there was nothing more to learn, killed the others and all other life on the planet with his electromagnetic torpedo. Gepta would repeatedly come into conflict with Lando Calrissian during the early years of the gambler's career, eventually dying at his hands, thus seemingly eradicating the order.

Sorcerers of Rhand
The Sorcerers of Rhand were the absolute rulers of the twelve stellar clusters known as the Nihil Retreat, which surrounded the Perann Nebula in the Unknown Regions. The sorcerers called themselves Rhandites and believed in the One Truth: "Only power is real, and the only real power is the power to destroy. Existence is fleeting. Destruction is eternal." For them, destruction was the will of the universe. They called this the Way of the Dark.

The Way of the Dark was the cornerstone of the Rhandites. They saw destruction as a permanent change in the structure of the universe. Through this destruction a void was created, an absence of life. The void was the foundation of truth. The sorcerers recognized neither the light or the dark side of the Force. In fact, they did not speak of the Force; for them there was only the Dark.

Furthermore, the Rhandites believed that the only relevant feature of the Dark was its response to the will of a properly trained being in line with the Way of the Dark. The Dark set being against being, star against star. It was the hidden energy of the cosmos. The greatest power of the Dark known to the Rhandites was the ability of Darksight. Darksight was the ability to create the future by looking at all the possible outcomes and choosing the one that suited the user best, though the outcome was not guaranteed. Part of its success was determined by the user's alignment with the Dark. Only through destruction could one ally themselves with the Way of the Dark.

The Rhandites originated from a merger between three different sects—the Kanzer Exiles of Lord Ravager Korman Lao, who practiced mental enslavement, and who built the Temple of Korman Lao near the Valtaullu Rift, the Knell of Muspilli, an ancient death cult from the Gunninga Gap who used the Taurannik Codex to summon apocalyptic gods from beyond the gap, and last the Warriors of Shadow, a priestly sisterhood of Taung who were defeated by the Battalions of Zhell in Coruscant's prehistory and who fled to the Unknown Regions to win atonement by meditation and insight. The three faiths came together on the planet of Rhand in the ruins of a dead species, and from the union, the Sorcerers were born.

The Knell of Muspilli
The Knell of Muspilli was a death cult that was originated in the region known as the Gunninga Gap in the Unknown Regions. Sometime before the destruction of the artifact known as the Taurannik Codex in 100,000 BBY, the Knell's cultists transcribed the Codex's contents in hopes of calling forth apocalyptic deities from beyond the Gap.[3] At one point during their history, the Knell battled the Warriors of Shadow, a sisterhood of Taung cultists, above a moon in the Unknown Regions.[1] The two cults eventually merged along with a third philosophical school, the Kanzer Exiles, over the course of thousands of years on the worlds of the Nihil Retreat region.[3] The Knell reemerged around the time of the Clone Wars around 22 BBY, at which time they continued to claim the ability to summon apocalyptic deities from beyond shadows.

The Krath
The cult was formed by a clique of bored youths of the Tetan nobility, influenced by Naga Sadow and his apprentices and led by Satal Keto, the heir-apparent, and his cousin Aleema. They named the cult after a magician-god from the fairy tales of their childhood. For some time, the Krath secret society was of little note and played no major part in Tetan politics. All this changed shortly after the Naddist Uprising on Onderon. The catalyst for this change was the influence of the spirit of the former Dark Lord of the Sith Freedon Nadd (see Sith of Note), who took an active interest in Satal and Aleema. He became their Master and progressed them quickly down the path to darkness, teaching them many of the secrets of the ancient Sith.

Fuelled by the ambition of the dark side, the young aristocrats began plotting their rise to power. Aleema and Satal engineered a military and political coup in 3,997 BBY, encasing Lord Keto in carbonite and murdering all nobles and guildsmen opposing them. They created a new order on Empress Teta, replacing the previous governmental institutions with the monolithic rule of the Krath, based on the ruthless oppression of all dissent. A minor civil war broke out, as certain Tetan factions chose to rebel, but the Krath proved victorious thanks to Aleema's magical talents, despite an attempt to intervene made by the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.

Fearing to lose the initiative, the Krath then seized the opportunity when the Jedi assembled en masse on Deneba, sending in Krath War Droids—powerful war droids designed for the task of slaying Jedi—disguised as servant droids. These attacked the Jedi, killing Arkanian Master Arca Jeth. This in turn made his apprentice, Ulic Qel-Droma, determined to infiltrate and destroy the cult.

However, Aleema came to know of Qel-Droma's intentions. Against the advice of Satal, she inducted the powerful young Jedi into the Krath, sensing his great Force potential. She eventually succeeded in converting him to the dark side, making use of her womanly wiles. The jealous Satal then attempted to have the rogue Jedi assassinated, but he was himself killed by Qel-Droma, who took his place as co-ruler and warlord of the Krath.

Shortly thereafter, the planet was visited by Exar Kun, who desired to destroy those who could potentially impede his own ascension to that of Dark Lord of the Sith. To this end, he attacked the two darksiders, but was interrupted by the spirit of the millennia-old Dark Lord Marka Ragnos, who advised them to ally instead of competing. Thus was formed the new Brotherhood of the Sith, with Exar Kun (Sith of Note) as Dark Lord. The Krath,—under the rule of newly-christened Sith Lord Qel-Droma—became an integral part. So began The Great Sith War.

This signaled the beginning of the true greatness of the Krath. Within six months, the Tetans had conquered large territories and imposed several defeats on the now-strained Republic military. Qel-Droma's alliance with the Mandalorians led by Mandalore the Indomitable further strengthened the cult's influence.

During this same period, the Krath order constructed a number of temples upon many of the worlds they invaded and seized during the Krath Holy Crusade of the Great Sith War. Such temples were renowned for their extraordinarily deep taint by dark side energies, and the guards fortunate enough to have been chosen for duty at these temples were granted the use of Holy Battle Armor, which only served to increase their reputation as fanatics. Many cynics, however, dismissed such fervor, noting that guard duty was oftentimes the safer course of action when compared to the casualty rates wrought by participating in the Krath's numerous military slave raids.

However, as its military campaign met increasing and determined Republic and Jedi resistance, the Krath/Sith alliance began to fall apart due to internal tensions; Aleema began a campaign of more or less open infighting, causing Qel-Droma's capture by the Jedi and murdering his Tetan supporters. Once freed by Kun, the rogue Jedi retaliated by sending Aleema on the mission that would prove her doom. When Qel-Droma was eliminated by the Jedi Nomi Sunrider and Kun was defeated by a combined Jedi armada and presumed dead, there was no one left to lead the Krath, and the cult quickly fell apart from internal strife.

Those few Krath that survived the end of the Great Sith War were scattered across the Outer Rim, mainly in the regions around Korriban. Some Krath eventually joined old Sith settlements, while others continued to exist on their own, delving into depths of the dark side. During the following decades, Jedi and Republic forces occasionally clashed with these isolated pockets, who no longer had the benefit of ancient Sith teachings or access to the technology left behind in the Empress Teta system.[1]

During the time of the Cold War, a proxy conflict between the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic, some riddled ancient scrolls were discovered, presumably made by Krath cultists. Eventually, someone decided to solve the riddles and find what was written in the scrolls.[2]

Sebban Keto would later quietly re-establish the Krath in Cinnagar, several thousand years after the deaths of Aleema and Satal. Palpatine studied the Krath teachings in his search for mastery over the dark side. Leia Organa Solo learned about the Krath while using a knowledge-filled Jedi Holocron.