Searching the Archives (see note)

[Green Ranger]

It was quiet in the Tython Grand Archives...though that was nothing out of the ordinary. It could hardly be classified as silent, however. The background hum of hushed murmurs, the muffled clumps of shoes on hard stone floors, the irregular beeps of the immense digital archival system fillled the chambers with a life all of its own. Filtered light flooded the chamber, a mix of natural lighting from the skylights and the calm glow from countless consoles, archive datacards and the ambient glowpanels giving the great chamber an almost ethereal aura. In its own way, the archives thrummed with a force all of its own. It was the power of knowledge.

And yet...there was some odd...something that didn't fit. A powerful smell filled the archives, like a wet dog wrapped in a blanket. It was not far from the truth. It was the distinct odour of a Jawa. Master Ixxil was accessing the Archives.

The strange rodent-like Jedi Master had all but claimed one of the private study chambers for his own. The floors were littered with various machinery, all crudely disassembled. Archive datacards littered numerous shelves and desks. Several discoloured cushions formed a crude pile in a corner. Amongst them sat the hooded, cloaked form of the diminuitive Jedi Master, meditating quietly.

Note: Use this thread for ICly approaching senior members of the Order regarding any information on planets, species, Force techniques or other information. This is an attempt to make searching for canon information more involved in the RP. Any member of the Order can answer your questions!

 

[Denzein]

Lecchamemnon didn't miss much in his domain of dataslates and desks. He watched people coming and going from his personal research chamber, a large room with a tinted glass wall that afforded those inside a view of the entrances to the classified and restricted sections of the archives, as well as the main entrance itself. It had a single door that showed a green light when the Lore Master was inside, signalling his willingness to help any who ask.

The room itself was crammed with dataslates, so many that they took up almost every surface with teetering stacks of thousands of terabytes' worth of knowledge. The Lore Master preferred it this way, hating a tidy room. To him tidiness was the mark of emptiness, and there was nothing he disliked more than an empty mind. Besides, a few of the slates were his personal files, and he didn't want to accidentally plug them into the archives by clearing them out with the rest by mistake.

Or at least, that was his excuse.

He sat there now, pondering a slate that was not only ancient but classified well beyond the reach of most masters and knights. It was truly fascinating ancient history, knowledge that by rights should have been forgotten millennia ago. Being Lore Master was not without its perks.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

A disturbed presence approached the archives. Sure, its general demeanor had been reasonable. Perhaps even Jedi-like, in that it had unwittingly faced down a Sith Lord and landed six hundred fifteen sentients, including the Prime Envoy and another Jedi Knight, safely in the midst of what was determined in the hours afterward to be a Force Storm.

The memories, however, were only seven hours old. The Jedi hadn't even had the chance to process Andreus' paperwork yet, so fresh were the events in question. Those memories told the tale of the harrowing touchdown in every chilling detail. Such detail, in fact, that a Jedi Master could undoubtedly replicate the cockpit voice recording simply by reading Andreus' mind.

Councilor Galak had tried to calm the pilot on the flight from Coruscant to Tython, but the memories would not subside. Now, with the Councilor in a meeting of the Jedi Council, presumably to address the same events that had brought one Andreus Makaryk to Tython in the first place, the prospective padawan wandered into the Archives, seeking information on what had affected him. Master Malak had explained he was Force-sensitive on the way here. But what did that mean?

His training as a commercial line pilot, especially, influenced his thinking with one chilling question.

Is there anything I could have done, that I did not do?

He had lost seven of his passengers today. The philosophy that had made his own occupation so safe over the centuries stated that no accident should happen twice. If he had done something wrong, if he had missed something, he had to find out what, before any omissions he might have committed cost even more lives.

The revelation that he was Force-sensitive, especially, blew this question wide open, and he came to the Archives seeking information on any Force abilities that might have been able to help him stabilize his spacecraft only hours earlier. He had landed in weather well below the safe minimums to land--only eight hundred feet of runway visibility with a crosswind component of seventy-two knots at touchdown. The full speed of the gust had been over eighty knots.

If there was any way of using the Force to navigate or stabilize such harrowing conditions, he wanted to know. He feared, however, that in this age of advanced avionics, the Jedi had become too dependent upon them, and forgotten those secrets.

Darth Oseth had left him a message. Andreus Makaryk had flown through one Force Storm.

It would happen again.

(Edit/OOC: For continuity reasons, would prefer Master Ixxim respond, as everyone else would be in the Council chambers right now...)

 

[Green Ranger]

The huddled form of the Jawa Jedi Master stirred slightly in frustration - a calm that permeated from every pore of a Jedi Master seemed beyond his grasp lately. His mind slowly turned over recent events continuously, struggling to find solace in the Force. The past few years he had noticed it more and more, and yet was still unable to find reason why it was so. More and more, the Dark Side was clouding his powers.

He stirred again slightly, his frustration building up. Calm, calm, he repeated to himself in a vain hope that the words would penetrate through to his subconscious. It was no use. He knew the true catalyst behind his increasing unease, but couldn't face it. Every time he closed his eyes, those reasons played back in his mind like a holovid, over and over again.

He stood up with a sigh. He would try again later. His powers were slipping, and unless he found a way to center himself again, he quietly feared they would disappear altogether. Most of all, he feared what the Council would say were they to find out, and that fear was affecting him most of all. The Archives...the Archives needed attending to. Maybe by helping others he could discover the secret. Searching blindly had availed him nothing.

The diminutive Jedi Master walked out slowly into the main chambers of the Archives. Even through the fog of his own muted senses, he felt the presence of a wild power, riddled with confusion. A newcomer, maybe. He began walking slowly towards the source. Before long, the small Jedi soon stood besides a sentient being, who hadn't seemed to have noticed his approach - human, or near-human at least.

He looked up at the man and tugged at his pant leg softly. He said nothing for now - let the man's actions and assumptions speak for his character.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The meandering maelstrom of mental turmoil smelled something. Something that vaguely resembled wet, musty blankets. At first, he disregarded the smell; the flashbacks to his own recent trauma simply overwhelmed his olfactory senses. The official investigation into what had happened had just started--but it could not be conducted quickly enough to put Andreus' mind at rest. Andreus was a burdened man; the loss of seven of his passengers nibbled at his conscience. Not just nibbled, consumed, really.

Something pulled on his pant leg. He looked down to see a Jawa staring up at him; the Jawa must have sought him out. He looked back down at the Jawa, but found himself unable to articulate what it was he sought, assuming the Jawa even worked here. Quite probably; why would anyone else look for him? Andreus did not doubt that he looked in need of assistance. Yet, he knew not what wisdom to seek. Only a question.

He closed his eyes. The flashbacks roiled back, made far worse and more intense by the presence of this Jawa. He had no concept what telepathy was. It wouldn't matter. His Force signature reacted with violent intensity, though with no conscious input from Andreus.

The cascading failures, the master alarm warnings, all came back.

"WHAT THE KRIFF WAS THAT!?" Explosive decompression...

NO 1 REPULSORLIFT FAIL
NO 2 REPULSORLIFT FAIL
AUTOPILOT DISCONNECT
AUTOTHROTTLE DISCONNECT
OXYGEN MASKS DEPLOYED
NO 1 HYDRAU EMPTY
NO 2 HYDRAU EMPTY
NO 3 HYDRAU EMPTY
NO 4 HYDRAU EMPTY

"Casino three-niner-one, declaring emergency! No repulsorlift, no hydraulics! She doesn't respond to controls!"

Andreus' eyes flipped back open. He tried to stop it, to spare the image of his artificial horizon going way out of limits. The screams of his (more experienced) first officer as the spacecraft flipped over, and the chilling reports to traffic control about his condition still haunted him.

"Approaching VMO!"

"Fifty thousand feet!"

"Forty-three thousand!"

"Thirty-six thousand!"

"He just entered a huge spiral dive..."

"Uhh, yeah, sir, he's inverted..."

"Definitely out of control..."

He tried, unsuccessfully to spare his mind the image of his spacecraft spinning six times and diving fifty thousand feet before he could recover it. So violent was the flashback that Andreus had no doubt that this Jawa was subjected to it as well--he tried to hold it back. But he couldn't. Yet, the flashback held the context to the question he needed answered, with a clarity he could not hope to convey in words--at least not within the next three hours.

He didn't even want to relive the storm that had risen up and followed him, trying to kill him. The initial explosion and dive was quite enough.

Mercifully, the vision stopped long enough for him to ask a simple question, the question that haunted him, the question that cast doubt upon him, imprecise though it may be.

"Is there anything I could have done, that I did not do?"

 

[Syn]

Matsu slowly walked as she came from the hanger she had been in a training room with Adonia on Coruscant, her friend had impressed her with those techniques and she knew she would have to learn something equally as impressive as she walked and looked at a datapad with basic knowledge. She had found two techniques that would be sure to impress as she walked but she would have to practice and together they would both be trained at the same time as she walked and entered he archives looking for the nearest attendant and as she walked she smelled something but decided to try and ignore it as she walked and remembered that one of the jedi masters was .................... was.......... was a Jawa who worked down here and she knew if anything he would be able to help as she walked and went towards the smell keeping her face impassive and internally fighting the smell that invaded her nostrils as she came to a private chamber and took a seat as she slowly sat down and reamined passive looking around with her eyes but not turning her head.

 

[Green Ranger]

The Jawa's orange eyes looked up at the man, unblinkingly - mainly because they were in fact hidden behind polished gemstones, as was the custom for Jawas. He spoke quickly in a squeaking voice, a heavily accented version of Huttese, one of the more common languages for the well-traveled.

["A question? Asked by many in many places at many changing times. Asking such questions, a burden is this on the mind. This one thinks something of badness happened to the one not of the sands. Doubting is a great enemy for those of the sand and those not of it. Beware! Thinking of such things is of danger to many. Think of things of less darkness is the suggestion of the one of the sand - the one who is Ixxil. Of the Jedi he is, and spoken with a memory that is seeing many things. "]

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Slowly Dartel strolled into the archives. He was always struck with awe when walking in. He loves the sheer look of it and how massive it truly was. He found himself pondering a deepening thought. He huffed slightly and walked to the nearest datapad to start his findings. ’I don’t know if I would like to know this answer, but I need to know for myself, truly so I can be at peace with it.’ The truth was he had no idea where to search or where to start looking, all he could find were battle logs against the sith. Dartel was wondering if he was related to that sith, and if it would be a past to be aware of.

 

[Denzein]

Slowly Dartel strolled into the archives. He was always struck with awe when walking in. He loves the sheer look of it and how massive it truly was. He found himself pondering a deepening thought. He huffed slightly and walked to the nearest datapad to start his findings. ’I don’t know if I would like to know this answer, but I need to know for myself, truly so I can be at peace with it.’ The truth was he had no idea where to search or where to start looking, all he could find were battle logs against the sith. Dartel was wondering if he was related to that sith, and if it would be a past to be aware of.

The Lore Master's datapad shut off with a click. He sensed... Another lost soul wandering into his archives. His research could wait for a few minutes at least, long enough to help this one. He stood, the door to his private chamber hissing open as he swept through it.

It was a simple task for Lecchamemnon to track the Jedi down, searching aimlessly near the entrance. He walked over quietly, not wishing to disturb the tranquility of the archives unnecessarily. He stopped a respectful (and formal) metre or so away.

"Is there something you need help with?"

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Dartel was semi-lost in thought and quickly brought back to reality when somebody spoke to him. It was master Lecchamemnon who always seemed to sneak up on Dartel. “Is there something you need help with?” simple words, but Dartel wasn’t sure how to answer, so he asked something else on his mind first.

“I caught something else as I was looking for what I wanted… These Sith Lanvaroks, it says that there might be holocrons on how to make them… what is the Jedi’s response to such technologies?” Dartel spoke softly as there was no need for loud speaking, it also allowed for him to remain clear minded.

 

[Denzein]

"I am surprised that a padawan such as yourself even knows of the Lanvarok's existence, they are not weapons usually considered by right minded Jedi."

A Sith Lanvarok... That took him back. He knew of them and their mechanisms, the way they sliced and tore flesh from bone. The lanvarok was a disgusting weapon, one conceived by the evil for purely evil deeds. Lecchamemnon frowned slightly, fixing the padawan with his gaze. He had to nip this curiosity in the bud now, before it grew into an actual corruption.

"The Lanvarok is a tool of evil, something of which no good can ever come. It is a weapon designed not simply to kill, but to agonise also. The Jedi stance, as you put it, is that they should be destroyed on sight, along with their makers. I hope you weren't planning on using one yourself, padawan."

Lecchamemnon was the only one aware of the hypocrisy he was preaching, save perhaps the Grand Master himself. It was necessary, unlike the forgotten device this padawan had stumbled upon.

The galaxy would do well to forget the Lanvarok's very existence.

 

[Symbiot Spider]

"I am surprised that a padawan such as yourself even knows of the Lanvarok's existence, they are not weapons usually considered by right minded Jedi." Dartel could feel a shift in the air around him, Master Lecchamemnon was upset about this. Dartel quickly had to explain himself before this issue got too far out of his control.

"I was simply doing some... reading and it came up and I couldn't find a complete record of it... I understand that I am a padawan, and I respect my rank and superiors, but that also doesn't mean I should be unread, in fact, I find it a perfect reason to be well read. Like yourself becoming Lore Master, the knowledge didn't just come after the title I assume, and again I mean no disrespect."

"The Lanvarok is a tool of evil, something of which no good can ever come. It is a weapon designed not simply to kill, but to agonise also. The Jedi stance, as you put it, is that they should be destroyed on sight, along with their makers. I hope you weren't planning on using one yourself, padawan."

“I mean no disrespect to the Jedi way; I was just looking into a specific Sith warrior and stumbled upon it while on the Sith records, and before that gets taken out of context too, I was looking up Darth Maul… I was wondering if he was an ancestor of mine… it pains me to know somebody of my kind could be the cause of some nasty events, turning to the dark side for example. I just can’t wave a desire to know if I am related to him not only through a homeworld connection, but through blood. It haunts me sometimes when I think about being connected to him like that.” Dartel was still able to hold his composure but he could feel himself beginning to slip inside the newly chilled air. “Honest Master Lecchamemnon that’s why it came up, but now something has my attention.” He just realized something the old master said. “If a Lanvarok or anything similar is frowned upon and needs disposal than why do some Jedi use blasters or explosives? Wouldn’t they fall under the same category? I mean they could cause agony just the same, right?”

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

The Jawa's orange eyes looked up at the man, unblinkingly - mainly because they were in fact hidden behind polished gemstones, as was the custom for Jawas. He spoke quickly in a squeaking voice, a heavily accented version of Huttese, one of the more common languages for the well-traveled.

["A question? Asked by many in many places at many changing times. Asking such questions, a burden is this on the mind. This one thinks something of badness happened to the one not of the sands. Doubting is a great enemy for those of the sand and those not of it. Beware! Thinking of such things is of danger to many. Think of things of less darkness is the suggestion of the one of the sand - the one who is Ixxil. Of the Jedi he is, and spoken with a memory that is seeing many things. "]

"Something of badness, indeed..."

Andreus paused for a moment. His flashback had been so violently severe that he supposed he expected this Jawa Jedi to see it as well. As Andreus had not the slightest clue of what he was looking for in the Archives, this presented a bit of a problem. His desire was to prevent such from happening again, but he did not know what to look for. Apparently, the Jawa didn't, either.

"I am very interested in making sure this 'something of badness' does not happen to me again. I am told that I am Force-sensitive, though I honestly have no clue of the significance of that. I'm simply wondering how this alleged 'Force' might reliably be used to, among other things, find a place to land in thick fog, visibility of a few hundred feet at best, and hundred-knot crosswinds stirred up by a Dark Lord. As traumatic as the experience was, I think I might have gotten lucky the first time..."

 

[Denzein]

“I mean no disrespect to the Jedi way; I was just looking into a specific Sith warrior and stumbled upon it while on the Sith records, and before that gets taken out of context too, I was looking up Darth Maul… I was wondering if he was an ancestor of mine… it pains me to know somebody of my kind could be the cause of some nasty events, turning to the dark side for example. I just can’t wave a desire to know if I am related to him not only through a homeworld connection, but through blood. It haunts me sometimes when I think about being connected to him like that.” Dartel was still able to hold his composure but he could feel himself beginning to slip inside the newly chilled air. “Honest Master Lecchamemnon that’s why it came up, but now something has my attention.” He just realized something the old master said. “If a Lanvarok or anything similar is frowned upon and needs disposal than why do some Jedi use blasters or explosives? Wouldn’t they fall under the same category? I mean they could cause agony just the same, right?”

The Lore Master did not smile when the padawan unknowingly stumbled upon the point he had been making, but his frown did fade. His next few words would save this learner from a potentially gruesome fate simply because in a way they were what the padawan wanted to hear.

And they said he was a stick in the mud traditionalist...

He decided against rising to the padawan's crude attempt at baiting him, instead cutting through the chaff of conversation to the two points. First the boy was wondering whether he was related to Darth Maul, and second that he was confused as to why Jedi freely used blasters yet frowned upon the Sith Lanvarok. He would address them both, seeing as each were potentially worrying for the padawan and the Jedi as a whole.

"Have you any evidence that you are related to Maul? If so, let me see it and I will ascertain the truth for you. If not, you should stop senselessly wondering if the impossible has for some reason occurred. It does not do for a Jedi to dwell on things in the past that are both irrelevant and meaningless. Follow my example, young padawan, if no-one elses. Not even I delve into the history of the Sith simply out of curiosity."

He paused for a moment, as if considering his next sentence. In reality he was allowing the padawan to take in everything he had just said, but he didn't want to discourage the boy.

"As to the Sith Lanvarok, there is one very good reason why we Jedi frown upon them so, yet use other missile weapons with apparent enthusiasm. It is because it is the Sith Lanvarok," He said, stressing the Sith heavily so the padawan might get the point. "We consider it distasteful to use anything the enemy has conceived. Their blades, their lanvaroks, even some of their Force techniques are considered unwholesome by the vast majority of Jedi. A Sith Lanvarok is out of bounds, padawan... But a Jedi Lanvarok? If such a thing were constructed I'm sure there would be no issue with it."

 

[Symbiot Spider]

Dartel had a lot to think about now, he was ignorant to the obvious fact against the Lanvarok and its creator versus on of a new design. He felt sheepish and very much the fool, but it was his mistake to make and he decided to learn from it. "Now I see the point you were trying to make about the Lanvarok, Master, thank you. As to the Sith member being a relative, the only information I have is that he came from the same homeplanet. My issue is knowing what he was capable of and what he did, and if that were in me for being the same species and moreso if I was the same lineage." Then it occurred to Dartel that the Lanvarok lesson could be applied here to. "But even as you said Master, if I were of the same capabilities and strengths, that doesn't mean I will make the same decisions, right? Thank you for your time Master I will be on my way now."

 

[Xyrael]

The relatively young girl known as Saia entered the revered Archives in a rather hesitant manner, offput by the size and the vastness of the place. She had not visited the Archives often, too busy she had found herself with philosophy classes. However, she had found herself reading several books of Jedi history, particularly from the ancient recordings of the Cold War between the Sith Empire and the Old Republic. She had a particular question in mind, a question inspired by a lack of knowledge and the piqued interested therein, rather than any real interest in the subject itself. She bit her lip, though; she did not know where to begin. She was curious if a Master would be knowledgeable of the subject.

 

[Green Ranger]

Ixxil paused in thought for a moment - he was uncertain of the nature of the question - perhaps the prospective student wished to learn of specific techniques within the Force, but that was not information the Jedi Master would divulge readily to any stranger.

["So to be using the Force of many to be aiding the one not of the sand to becoming a pilot of greatness, is it?"] The Jawa queried. ["To weather the weather of darkness conjured by a Lord of the Dark? Things such as these are beyond the asking of many, even the ones of the Jedi. This one of the sand cannot advise of much, for the flight of craft of space is not this one of the sand's point of strongness. Indeed, for remembering that the Force of many is within us all, the one not of the sand would be in wisdom to remember. If such storm is to be raging around the self of one, one must become the center of calmness - to see into the still eye of a storm, and not to be opposing the nature of such a thing. For it is Jedi to find calm in things, and not to be of opposition to things not of our control."]

Ixxil decided to take the time to give the student a glimpse into the nature of the Jedi - perhaps by understanding the core natures of the Jedi, he would find the answer he sought. If the young man was searching for something more specific on Force techniques, he would have to live with his curiousity until he was deemed fit to serve as a Jedi. Some information flowed more freely then others.

 

[Andreus Makaryk]

Technically, Andreus had sought information on which specific Force techniques he should study. But because he had no clear starting point from which to form a question, perhaps he had not made himself clear. Nevertheless, he stopped to consider the Master's words before opening his mouth, which proved to be a wise course of action indeed.

He could read between the lines. Though the Jawa had undoubtedly intended he had not yet proven himself worthy of the information held by the Archives, he had unwittingly given Andreus an idea of where to take the lessons he sought. Those lessons would have to come from his own Master.

Andreus didn't have a problem with remaining calm in the middle of a storm--that's what pilots such as himself were trained for, after all. The thought struck him that the only way to find the answers he sought, was to actually fly into one with his Master, and then shut off the instruments that pilots relied upon. At that point, Master Avara would more or less have to teach him at least the beginnings of what he sought--and he could direct his studdy from there.

He just had to find a place known for storms, yet not particularly known for the Dark Side he kept hearing about.

Kamino.

"Thank you, Master." The would-be padawan quietly turned around and left, having divined the answer he sought from the Jawa who had closed the Archives to him.

 

[Guardian Six]

Yuma entered the archives after a long day of class, his intentions were to find an informative holocron that would allow him to meditate and grow his force strength. He could barely move a pebble without his hands, and he could barely toggle a light switch, if he was to become a powerful Jedi Master he knew he would have to grow stronger. But Yuma knew that is wasn't entirely about strength, but how you used the force. Unfortunately for him, optimism wasn't enough, he had to find help in order to learn more about the force. He approached one of the study masters and asked his question.

"Master," he began, "I would like to know how to increase my strength in the force. I can barely move a pebble or a light switch, is there anything that can increase my strength in the force?"

 

[Green Ranger]

Kara Vaalki had been studying in the archives for some time, poring over the countless accounts of the Sith over the millenia. With the inevitable war on the horizon and the increasing presence of the Dark Side clouding the minds of the Jedi, she had decided the best course of action was to learn the patterns of her enemy in the past; knowledge in itself was strength in times of darkness.

She raised her head from the holoscreen, glancing over her shoulder at the latest interruption - one of many Jedi Apprentices (or Padawans, she supposed. That old title of the Old Order had never really sat well with her) had approached her for guidance. It was an age-old question asked by so many - few found the true strength in the Force without guidance.

Kara stood up, turning around to face the Apprentice, the barest hint of a crooked smirk on her features.

"Answering that question is far more complicated than you realize. So we'll start with the basics - why do you want more? Is it a feeling of inferiority? Perhaps lust for power? Maybe you are growing impatient with your lack of progress, hmm? Well, what is it? Speak up. I'm in the middle of something, you know."