Jedi High Council

[Matt]

Dewbecca stood in the council chambers alone, pondering a great many things. The jedi order was having one of the biggest crisis in it's long history but Dewbecca was determined for the jedi order to reign supreme once all this over.

Dewbecca had had a whirlwind year to say the least, this time last year he was a respected master not on the council, now he was the grandmaster of the order at least for the time being, Dewbecca's first act as master was to call a meeting where a few important subjects would be udner discussion.

Dewbecca took his seat and waited for his fellow masters.

 

[Ols]

Cade Varr, the one time apprentice of Dewbecca, entered to council chambers to see his former master already there. The past few weeks did seem so surreal to him, at first the death of the Alsakan Vicar, the arguement of Keldrada and Tesu, the apparent suicide of Tesu and the Schism in the order. Then all of a sudden Keldrada had been arrested and here Cade was, a master with a seat on the council. But he had been given the responsibility and he would do his best to uphold it. He bowed out of respect to the newly appointed Grandmaster, "Master Dewbecca," before stepping to the side and standing before a seat; his seat.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Colm Lorian, jedi master and newly appointed member of the council strode into the chamber. He was confident and proud of his new position in the Jedi. Underneath he was nervous. Colm was not as experienced as other council members, he was out of his element.

He wore his Jedi robes, his lightsaber hanging from his belt. He bowed slightly to master Dewbecca, "Good day master Dewbecca." He found his seat and sat. There were twelve seats for the masters of the order, but not all would be filled.

 

[Matt]

"Hello Master Cade, Master Colm and may I pass comment on how early you both are...Though I am not one to comment considering I turned up 45 minutes early for my very first meeting so your not as bad as me"

Dewbecca said this with a smile before his tell tale wookiee chuckle escaped his lips before he fell back to his jedi reserve....cursing his stupid nature to laugh at his own jokes.

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"Would you have preferred that I was late?" Colm responded. Obviously it was normal for new masters to be early.

 

[Matt]

"No, I would of been forced to throw you off the nearest cliff I am afraid"

Dewbecca said this deadly seriously before slight smirk across his face.

"Now, Who else are we waiting for?"

 

[Ols]

Cade gave friendly laughs to Dewbecca's jokes, recognising his dry wit as he spoke the latter. He then swallowed and opened his mouth to respond to the question, "Masters Huang Karasu and Tian Velvar are who we await, Master," the honorific master still came, by force of habit, but there was nothing wrong in showing respect to the elder wookiee grandmaster.

 

[Cyril Khan]

Whenever a deadline was set down, there was one Jedi who always followed it. Tían Velvar was one of the strictest Jedi in the Order. He never arrived late to anything; if anything he would come early. Even so, he always attempted to come at the designated time. As he entered the room, he spoke no words. He marched directly to his seat and took a seat. He was not at the point to lead any conversation with a new grandmaster present. He did wonder if he was voted out just because he followed the pacifistic side of the Jedi Counselors too much.

Being a pacifist Jedi, Tían did not have his lightsaber with him. While many believed the sword to be a tool, this councilor believed that the Force was the only correct tool. He did have a green lightsaber that matched the counselor class, but he rarely carried it. The robes he wore to this occasion were his infamous white robes. Many of the members of the Order thought this contradicted his personality; when Tían did speak, it was often filled with sarcastic comments and insulting humor. His normal disposition seemed fairly dark as he took every little action around him seriously. Even though he was a pacifist, he often was the last to forgive any insolence, insubordination, and especially acts of war.

 

[Matt]

Master Dewbecca bowed his head to Master Tian, Tian being one of the longest serving masters was a source of great knowledge and wisdom which Dewbecca had had many conversations with in the past, now that they were all here bar one Dewbecca felt it prudent to iron out the details of the meeting before it begun proper.

"Thank you all for coming, I have brought us here today to address several of the important issues in the galaxy, the republic and alsakan war and the split of our order"

It still hurt Dewbecca a great amount when speaking off what had happened, with so many jedi leaving the order, with estimates now over 200 leaving, it reduced the jedi's strength and shook everyones beliefs down to there core.

 

[Ols]

"We have a tough choice before us indeed," Cade said, carefully, "we have not made any call to arms in this war, and not aided the Republic. I think if we do not declare a kind of allegiance to them soon, they may seek aid elsewhere, or think to abandon us altogether. But if we do send out a call to arms, then it would seem we go against our pacifistic ideals, and indeed better judgement for such rash action. And, it would not do for our new grandmaster to commit to a war so soon after his election to the post. We have lost hundreds of knights to this schism, one that was brought to light because of this very inaction of which I speak. We need to make a choice, and unfortunately we find ourselves between a large rock and a very hard place."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

"I do not believe that we must commit the entire order to the republic. I don't believe this is a conflict that must be resolved by throwing away the young and inexperienced of the order." It seemed like the majority of the order thought that the entire order would have to commit to war. Colm knew that most of the battle had been above the planets, where the Jedi could do little. The Jedi could work towards peace in this conflict and use force where necessary.

"The Jedi are peace keepers, we can work towards peace between the two. Although we all know the easy course of action."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

((ahem?))

 

[Will]

Huang Karasu entered the chambers of the Jedi council. ''I apologise for my lateness.'' He held his black, leatherbound book under his arm. He placed it upon the remainingh chair's armrest. ''We must not be the first to draw the blade of agression. Do we know who our castaways fight with or for?''

 

[Ols]

"We do not, as yet, Master Huang," Cade replied quickly, "but we know they will seek solace from the Republic; they are their biggest threat, aside from us of course. If they side with the Republic, we immediately have a big problem, as they may force us to become the exiles. But I do not propose some mad march to war, with padawans and younglings being put into harm's way. I belive in the ideals of the Jedi, of course, for if I did not I would not be here, but we need to cement the allegiance of the Republic, not just to our cause, but against theirs; they will only undermine us, threaten to corrupt our students and try to eradicate us," he took a deep breath and voiced something he had considered of late.

"I have a proposition of how to do this, one I have oft forund myself meditating one; it is not a course of action I think is good, or idealistic, or proper for the Jedi, however it will serve our purpose, it will secure allies and it will be helpful for the safety of our young. I suggest, rather than some foolish call to arms and the Jedi Order marching to war, a similar, yet subsidised version; a crusade. From our ranks, a number of knights, and masters, only those who are willing, and who have our permission, will go together to aid the republic. They will not be Jedi Knights, but Jedi Crusaders, not sent as part of our order, but with our blessing. The order therefore has no obligation to join battle, but at the same time it will strengthen the ties with republic, it will show us acting decisively, and it will give tasks to the knights and masters itching to help the republic.

It is also the only we can try to bring about a quick peace; something tells me the republic, especially since the Coruscant invasion, will want no other kind of peace than an unconditional surrender from the Alsakans, and they will not give that and the longer we wait the more systems amy join either side and prolong this war. We can act now, and try to fight for peace, and pressure both sides both politically and forcefully to agree to one as best we can. It will also force our so called 'faithless' to seek solace with the Alsakans, one they will be reluctant to do after their mistrust of Jedi thanks to the Vicar's death, and a tense relationship that may fracture upon the weaker side's war effort.

I ask none of you to march on this crusade, and I request Master Dewbecca does not, as the grandmaster it would not be fitting. It is a gruelling and grim task, one I will volunteer to undertake if we can come to a conclusion of discussions upon it." He held his breath and awaited the scolding answer he was expecting. It was not going to be a popular course of action, although he would take no knight with him who did not want to go, and no padawan no matter how enthusiastic would come; it would fracture the order more, and weaken their numbers. But at the same time they had to do something.

 

[Matt]

"The call to arms in this situation is something I cannot condone my friend, the jedi order can be and are warriors but we must remember our true calling, our true calling is to peace itself where we must though our powers use them to ease tensions and help those in this galaxy, furthermore this could cast a splinter action in the order causing even more of our kind to fall to different paths. War is a thing ripe with raw emotions, anger, hatred, death. Those things a seem familiar to everyone here as many off our kind let these emotions guide there judgments"

Dewbecca paused for a moment as his translator droid caught up with his speech, Cade's words were full of wisdom but Dewbecca could not allow something like this to take place.

"The march to war is something we jeid have done in the past and something that I foresee happening again but when there is still a chance for peace then I see no reason to follow it."

 

[Cyril Khan]

"The path to peace does not go without emotion." Tían finally spoke up to the rest of the council. He was more pacifistic than most others in many ways. However, in some of his choices and actions he seemed hypocritical, but he was not; sometimes violence is inevitable, and not reacting to such chaos would result in more chaos. "'Emotion, yet Peace' is the first line of the code. The path to peace can be messy, but it must be taken still. If war is necessary to restore peace to the galaxy, then so be it. However, we all must remember what is important: Who are we, and what do we believe in. Challenging evil will always be difficult; it can destroy the wholest man and corrupt him. Emotion will be present if such roads are taken; we must remember to never let the dark emotions control and never forget the dignity we must show to all life. If battle is the only route to end this galactic chaos, we all must be ready to face the mental challenges."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Colm leaned forward in his seat. Resting his chin on his knuckles he waited until Master Tían finished. "So what is it then? Sanctioned forces or no force at all. I think those are our choices. Even if we sent only a handful of Jedi, would it be enough?" It was clear that the statements were made, now was the time for debating the decision.

 

[Matt]

"Both of you make good points but until the alsakan's show that they cannot and will not have peace then I see the path set before us is a simple one. We must try and mediate between the republic and the alsakan's if they will allow it."

Dewbecca paused again for a moment, thinking deeply on his next words, what he was about to say was very important to both himself and the order as a hole.

"In the past jedi have been rife with inaction against many of the threats we have faced in the past, I will have a discussion with the Republic's officials when they will see me, from there we can talk to them, get there opinion on how the situation is progressing and advise them on the path to peace, if like many here they feel war is the only way to achieve this....Then the jedi will lend there aid"

Dewbecca looked around at them all for a moment...Before continuing .

"Is that acceptable to everyone?"

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Colm nodded in agreement, "I agree with Master Dewbecca."

 

[Cyril Khan]

((I assume this is after the meetings in the story board; if not, I'll fix it))

"That is completely acceptable" Tían nodded to the newly appointed grandmaster. If fact, he would have preferred it no other way. As a pacifist, he new went to battle unless there was no other choice; if the option was inevitable. However, he did not shy from actual conflict as many people stereotyped pacifists to do. He did what was necessary to maintain peace, and if combat was necessary for this goal he would do it. But at the moment diplomacy was still open, and he would not falter from this path until it had been completely shut away.

"However," the master spoke carefully. "I do not think this will be easy. After talking with the new Alsakan leader, peace will only come if they can get Coruscant from the deal. I also doubt that the Republic will agree to such a term. I cannot see how we can please both sides without taking sides. I foresee a future conflict with one, unless diplomacy is handled with much care. However, until the first of our blood is drawn - not counting the Vicar's incident - we all must remain impartial, regardless of the foolish demands of both factions."