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| Jedi Order | |
|---|---|
| Organizational information | |
| Title of leader |
Jedi Grandmaster |
| Governing body |
Jedi High Council |
| Headquarters | |
| Official language(s) | |
| Affiliated organizations | |
| Beliefs | |
| Holy text(s) |
Jedi Code |
| Deities | |
| Historical information | |
| Date of founding | |
| Planet of founding | |
| Other information | |
| Notable members | |
| Era(s) | |
The Jedi Order was an ancient monastic peacekeeping organization unified by its belief and observance of the Force, specifically the Light Side of the Force. The Jedi were the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic and became the most famous of the various groups that relied on the Force for their power in their time. Led by a series of Jedi Councils, the order grew over the millenna despite facing many trials, most often threats from the Sith.
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The Jedi Order was founded during a schism within the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi. Ten thousand years following the conclusion of the Unification War, many things began to change within the Jedi Bendu when a corrupt bureaucrat named Fillorean was elected Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. He had his own beliefs about the past and wished to shape the Jedi Bendu Order into the order that he desired it to be. The Jedi Bendu challenged the legality of many of his actions, and he vowed to end the threat to his rule as Chancellor. Through a great deal of manipulation of the Jedi Bendu Council of Masters, he was able to place Zoz Appenkee into the seat of High Master of the Jedi Bendu. High Master Appenkee also agree with Fillorean's views, hence his appointment.
Appenkee spent years amending the Jedi Bendu prayers and the history of the formation of the order, offering what he claimed to be evidence from worlds such as Ossus about the discovery of the Force of Others, which became known simply as the Force. Therefore, the Jedi Bendu followed him, believing themselves to have been wrong for so long. However, two Jedi Bendu Masters on the Council of Masters disagreed with and objected each step of the way. These Jedi Bendu were Zios Malachor and Adena Qel-Droma. They were able to convince one hundred fellow Jedi Bendu of what was happening and they formed a non-violent resistance movement.
Shortly thereafter, the order was renamed the Jedi Order. The Jedi began to fight back against the resistance movement, attempting to expel the non-believers from their order. The Supreme Chancellor resulted to somewhat violent means, attempting to forcibly arrest the one hundred loyalists for treason. Qel-Droma attempted to make a stand against him and his men, though she came to realize that the insurrection was pointless and would achieve nothing. Shortly thereafter, Malachor and many other of the loyal Jedi Bendu disappeared. Qel-Droma was kidnapped by the Supreme Chancellor’s men and put into a cryogenic sleep and sent out into the Unknown Regions.
With the Jedi Order firmly established as the new guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, the Jedi Order adopted the history believed by Fillorean about the discovery of the Force. Along with the Order of Dai Bendu, the Followers of Palawa and the Chatos Academy, as well as the galaxy’s most renowned philosophers, priests, scientists and warriors, the Jedi Order led a conference on Tython where they created the code and philosophies of the order. Many members of the Dai Bendu, Followers of Palawa and Chatos Academy joined the Jedi Order, while others chose to remain in their respective organizations.
Some of the galaxy’s citizens did not agree with the reforms that their protectors were making, preferring the old way of the Jedi Bendu. Because the Jedi did not wish for their younger members to know anything about the old ways in case they became influenced by them and reverted to the old practices, the voices calling for the reforms to be squandered were silenced through unorthodox and sometimes violent means. This led to many small civil wars on some planets that the Jedi had enclaves on.
The aftermath of these small wars led to the invention of the lightsaber. Through the use of advanced, off-world technology, the Jedi were able to literally freeze and focus a laser beam on a hilt and use it as a laser sword. This invention was used to take the planet Ossus out of the hands of mercenaries and smugglers by force. When the planet was, as the Jedi said, liberated from these people, they founded a philosophical school known as the Great Library where they further defined the ways of the Light Side and the Dark Side of the Force, as well as the Living Force and the Unifying Force. When that happened, the basics of the Jedi Order were, for the most part, firmly solidified.
Three thousand years after the foundation, a series of thousand year-long conflicts known as the Pius Dea Crusades broke out throughout the galaxy. The conflicts were initiated by the Pius Dea cult, a group of religious fanatics, upon the election of Supreme Chancellor Contispex, who himself was a member of the Pius Dea. When this happened, the Pius Dea sanctioned several crusades against rival alien sects. Contispex’s successors for one thousand years were also members of the cult, so they had the full resources of the Galactic Republic while ruling it as a theocracy. The crusades ended one thousand years after they ended when the last Pius Dea chancellor was quickly, and violently, removed from office. The tensions from the fallout of the crusades began a rift between the Core Worlds and the Rim Worlds that would last for thousands of years.
Eight thousand years following the initial foundation of the order, dozens of Jedi Knights began practicing the arts of the Dark Side of the Force. The Jedi Council learned of these practices and immediately began debating what the Jedi Knights were doing. The practitioners of the darker powers were firmly adamant in protecting their powers, so they began trying to convince many other Jedi to join their quest for eternal life and galactic bliss. However, the others were not convinced and tried very hard to distance them from the situation. Because the practitioners were firmly convinced that their way was the true way of the Force, the arguments turned into conflict. Finally, the rogue Jedi were exiled from the Jedi Order and Republic space by the Republic military, as were their teachers. At that moment, a war for the Force began.
Retreating to Ziost, the exiled Jedi raised an army of Dark Side abominations. These zombies were made in the earliest stages of the war, though even with the army of abominations the Jedi were able to constantly push the exiles back. The animalistic army was easily overwhelmed by the power of the Jedi Order, but the exiled Jedi continued to refuse to surrender. By the second half of the war, the Dark Jedi were in a state of despair. They were vastly outnumbered and saw no way of winning their war against the order that abandoned them. However, they refused to surrender and pooled all their resources into creating the most fearsome creatures ever seen. Supported by monstrous creatures, such as the Leviathan and the Silan, the Dark Jedi armies were reinvigorated. Armies fled in terror from the abilities of the Leviathan to suck the life out of their enemies. However, under the combined efforts of the Jedi and the Republic, the exiles were pushed back. The Dark Jedi made their final stand on the world of Corbos. Infighting, along with the bombardment of the Jedi and the Republic, led to the surrender of the last of the Dark Jedi.
After their defeat on Corbos, the surviving Dark Jedi were rounded up by the Republic Military. Stripped of their weapons and their armor, the Dark Jedi ended up being at the mercy of Republic justice. Although many member-worlds of the Republic wanted public executions, the Jedi Council was inclined to banish the rogue Jedi into the unknown in hopes that, with time, they would end up seeing the error in their ways. On the plains of a barren world, the exiles were herded onto unarmed transport ships. Several fighters accompanied the ships to ensure the departure of the Dark Jedi from Republic space. The Hundred Year Darkness had ended, and the Jedi had weathered their first great schism, though the rewritten history of the Jedi Order reflected it as the second great schism, the first being the schism led by Xendor Taral that had actually been a schism within the Order of the Jedi Bendu.
Two thousand years later, two Republic hyperspace explorers named Dav Daragon and Jori Daragon came across a mausoleum on Korriban while charting new hyperspace routes in the hopes of paying off enormous debts. On Korriban, they came across the descendants of the Dark Jedi exiles, the descendants making up the Sith Empire. Their arrival coincided with the death of the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith, Marka Ragnos. The two challengers for his crown, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, were in the midst of a duel for mastery on the threshold of his tomb. When they landed Gav and Jori were captured and brought to Ziost for interrogation. After learning of the forgotten Republic, Sadow began an invasion of the Galactic Republic. However, Jori managed to deliver a warning to Empress Teta of the Koros system. Though the empress was skeptical, her Jedi councilor Memit Nadill, as well as his Jedi companions Odan-Urr and Ooroo, advised her to take the threats seriously and alert Coruscant to the impending invasion. Odan-Urr had had a nightmarish vision of the death of Ragnos and a war against the Republic, so he knew the threat was credible.
Empress Teta and the three Jedi Masters traveled to Coruscant to voice their concerns to the Galactic Senate. However, they did not take them seriously and decided to take no action. Days later, Teta and the Jedi arrived back on Koros where Jori Daragon, no longer in the hands of the Sith, burst into Teta’s chambers and told them that she had seen the great Sith Empire and that they were on their way to attack the Republic. Nadill learned as much about the Sith Empire from Daragon as he could, and then traveled to Coruscant in an attempt to rally the support of the Jedi Council. Shortly thereafter, Sadow deployed his fleets and invaded numerous Republic worlds simultaneously, including Coruscant. The Jedi played a major role in the defense of Coruscant, and Nadill led a team of Jedi Knights during the battle. On Kirrek, Ooroo and Odan-Urr led a defense of the planet. The Republic emerged victorious on Kirrek, though it came with the sacrifice of Ooroo. The Republic and the Jedi also launched a massive counterattack on Coruscant and defeated the Sith.
When the Great Hyperspace War was over, Odan-Urr founded the great museum city on Ossus. Stored within its countless libraries and vaults were ancient Jedi artifacts gathered by his fallen master Ooroo, as well as Sith artifacts collected from the wreckage of their invasion fleet. The Sith artifacts included a Sith Holocron that Odan-Urr had found on a derelict Sith vessel near Koros Major. This led to the growth of the libraries, archives and academies on Ossus. The Jedi also oversaw a ceremony that saw the Koros system renamed to the Empress Teta system in honor of the leader that had played a pivotal role in the war against the Sith.
Six hundred years later, an ambitious Jedi Apprentice named Freedon Nadd was denied Knighthood by his Jedi Masters. Desiring to know why what he considered a travesty happened, Nadd spoke with Jedi Master Matta Tremayne who challenged him to prove to her that he was worthy of being a Jedi Knight. Nadd saw such a challenge as a threat, so he attacked and killed Tremayne. Furious at the Jedi Masters for making him kill Tremayne, Nadd sought out the Sith because he felt that they were the only ones who could readily accept his apprenticeship and teach him the true powers of the Force. Nadd discovered Naga Sadow in suspended animation on Yavin IV and woke him. Sadow trained Nadd in the ways of the Dark Side, and when the training was complete Nadd killed his master and went to Onderon in hopes of rebuilding a stronger Sith Empire. Nadd declared himself the leader of Iziz and exiled all criminals from the city. Some of the exiles survived and organized themselves into an army, declaring war against Nadd. Despite his power, Nadd could not stop them and the war continued even after his death.
Onderon suffered through the legacy of Freedon Nadd as a cult known as the Naddists that were devoted to his memory wreaked havoc on the people of the planet. When Jedi Master Arca attempted to move Nadd’s remains to Onderon’s moon of Dxun, the Naddists, led by Onderonian King Ommin, attacked and managed to capture the Jedi Master and the remains of the fallen Sith. Ommin then fled to the city of Iziz, though shortly thereafter the Republic Military converged on the planet and attacked and devastated the city. After the battle, Nadd’s remains were finally taken to Dxun and sealed in an armored tomb.
Four hundred years after the time of Freedon Nadd, a talented and curious Jedi Knight named Exar Kun learned about the Golden Age of the Sith and traveled to Dxun where he found the tomb of Freedon Nadd. The spirit of Nadd corrupted Kun and the young Jedi immediately surrendered himself to the Dark Side of the Force. After first traveling to Korriban, Kun traveled to the fourth moon of Yavin and took over the ancient fortresses of Naga Sadow. By doing so, he enslaved the Massassi race to further his ambition and his plans. While in the fortresses, Kun destroyed Nadd’s spirit and claimed to be the true heir of the ancient Sith legacy which had been thought to have been extinct.
Shortly thereafter, the Jedi Council assembled to discuss the growing powers of the Sith and the Dark Side. During the meeting, the Jedi were attacked by the Krath, a secret order beholden to the Dark Side. Jedi Master Arca was killed while saving his student Ulic Qel-Droma, a distant descendant of Adena Qel-Droma. Not long after, Ulic infiltrated the Krath in an attempt to destroy them from within, but the Krath suspected that he was a spy and injected him with a Sith poison that caused him to fall to the Dark Side and become a Krath general.
It did not take long for Kun to hear about the danger that Ulic possessed to him. In order to end the threat to his plans, Kun traveled to Cinnagar to kill Ulic. However, their fierce and brutal duel was interrupted by the spirit of Marka Ragnos who commanded them to cease their fighting and to form an alliance with one another. Once united together, the two waged war on the Republic and the Jedi Order, kidnapping numerous young Jedi from Ossus in order to turn them to the Dark Side. Kun stole a Sith Holocron and murdered the Jedi Master Odan-Urr while Ulic defeated Lord Mandalore, the leader of the Mandalorians. With their leader defeated, the Mandalorian Crusaders agreed to join the Sith.
Ulic led the Krah and Mandalorians forces to Coruscant where he hoped to lay siege to it. However, the Jedi managed to defeat the invaders and capture Ulic. When Kun heard of his comrade’s capture, he traveled to Coruscant to rescue him. He arrived when Ulic was facing trial in the Galactic Senate and Vodo Siosk-Baas attempted to stop him. However, Kun killed him as well as the Supreme Chancellor. Kun then ordered every Sith disciple to hunt down and assassinate their former Jedi Masters.
Shortly thereafter, the Sith Lords located Naga Sadow’s flagship and laid waste to Ossus. The attack left Ossus uninhabitable for long periods of time, though people were able to survive for a few hours at a time. During those time periods, the Jedi desperately retrieved as many artifacts stored in the Great Library as they could. Knowing he could not save everything, Ood Bnar buried several priceless artifacts before the Sith arrived. Kun and Ulic set foot on the surface often to take anything that the Jedi had not removed. While there, Cay Qel-Droma, the brother of Ulic, attacked his brother and was struck down. When Ulic stared at his brother’s body, he collapsed and realized what he had done. Nomi Sunrider then cut off Uluc’s connection to the Force, and because of that Ulic surrendered to the Republic and led the Jedi to Yavin IV.
Knowing that the Jedi were coming for him, Kun committed a ritual which took the life from every Massassi on the planet to separate his spirit from his body and bind it to the temple. The Jedi forces in orbit bombarded the planet and obliterated the temple complex below. The Jedi forces also made their way to Onderon and liberated it from the forces of the Mandalorians. After many years, the Great Sith War had come to an end.
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