The Forge.

[Wei Wu Wei]

One early morning, on a tall hill a couple clicks away from the main Jedi Compound, Wei Wu Wei stood amongst stone, wood, and durasteel. He had not visited his fellow Jedi in quite some time. He had been drawn inexorably towards a goal the Force directed him to achieve. Research provided the barest descriptions of the materials, the shape they should take. The Force filled in the rest. The Force, that eternal power that pervaded the entire galaxy desired only one thing: Balance. The Jedi served as agents of the Force, preserving and creating Balance across the galaxy. This structure would help the Jedi do that job better.

In his palm he held an empty bowl. Empty, like him. Free of all emotion, all passion, his mind silent, he simply was. In his other hand, he held a small wooden rod. He placed the side of the rod on the rim of the bowl and traced the rim slowly. Because the bowl was empty, it produced a single clear, pure sound that resonated into his very bones.

With the coming of the sound came the presence of the Force. The energy that surrounded him, that bound him, became part of him. It connected him to the trees, the rocks, the creatures of the forest, and even across the great distance, his fellow Jedi.

The power of the Force flowed into his mind. It made impressions on his senses, gave him purpose, and guided his thoughts. As his hand moved around the rim of the singing bowl, the Force moved around him, guided by his will and the intentions visited upon him. The materials shifted in response to that power, molding, bending, shaving, shearing into the shapes called for by that invisible blueprint.

In his mind, it was real. In this place, it was becoming real. Foundations of stone arranged themselves in a grid square. 4 pillars of shaped stone bent towards the center, but stopped short of touching. Wood separated along its grain into planks and formed walls. Durasteel bands wrapped around them, holding them fast. More durasteel seated into the soft stone, received the walls, and held them fast. In the center, a low table settled--a workbench and altar. On one side of the table, the furnace found its home.

Shelves found homes on the walls, ready to hold the compounds needed that would become lightsaber crystals.

Last of all, the two large paneled doors donned their hinges, found their niches, and swung closed.

The sun shone on the structure as the stone, wood, and metal setlled, and became solid; like the Force, eternal.

It was finished.

It was The Forge.

[Karkoon]

He had often walked the desolate mineral fields of Orax; through the methane geysers and oceans of mercury. It seemed so trivial now. This new world, Ossus, was so alive in ways that his homeworld could never be. Trees, grass, and animals dotted the cliffs and hills of this world. It was so easy to lose himself in it. A need for rare separation from the carbon based lifeforms brought him out here, away from the camp, but his relentless curiosity kept him taking step after step, even after he told himself only one more. One hundred steps ago. Just when he thought he was satisfied, a new insect or animal would startle and run.

A backward glance could not reveal the camp. It was lost from sight behind the curve of hills and stalks of trees. Then movement caught his eye. A long legged, antlered creature darted out. He instinctively tried to connect to the holonet to identify the creature, but instead of a rush of knowledge he was greeted with a proximity warning that he was out of range of the connection. Perhaps he was becoming too reliant on the ease of access to information. No matter. He would survey the land with his own eyes and experience it new and fresh, and not through the eyes of those who came before.

Walking after the beast, his large metal body clanged against tree limbs and off rocks, his heavy footsteps crushing grass underfoot. The creature teased him, darting off just as it came back into sight. Leading him further and further into the wild. Finally it bounded off completely, disappearing into a grove of trees. Stopping in his tracks Karkoon resisted the urge to follow the creature into the grove. He should be getting back to the camp. Activating the tracking marker for the camp, he swung around to return, and in the movement he noticed something that stood out between the trees. A structure.

There were natives on the planet, however this did not appear to be one of their domiciles. Taking a closer look, Karkoon crept forward, right up to the paneled doors that sat at the front of the building. Fearing nothing, he raised a hand, and carefully, calculating every centimeter of movement, knocked his fist against the wood in a fashion that did not reduce it to splinters.

"Hello?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

The knocking reached Wei's ears and pulled him somewhat out of his empty state. He went to the door. He pushed it open and was pleased to find the door swung open easily. Upon further inspection, Wei found that the door could open inwards or outwards, and there was a place for a bar to be set across the door if necessary.

"Hi! I didn't expect anyone to come out here so soon! I suppose you must have already been out in the forest somewhere."

The Force Cripple considered the droid closely. "You're...Karkoon? The Shard student?"

[Karkoon]

"I am." Came his reply, his voice metallic and devoid of emotion as it was processed through the droid's vocal modulator. His golden optic lenses were focused downward on the much smaller humanoid, and the past him, into the interior of the structure. He could not determine the purpose of the building. Only that it was not a simple shelter. There was no sleeping or eating areas that he could see. It reminded him more of a shrine; a structure found in some cultures, usually as a symbol of a religion or a place to pay homage to ancestors. One example of the strange customs of the carbon based lifeforms. Orax had no structures, and no religion.

"I am afraid I do not know who you are, sir."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Wei Wu Wei. Jedi Knight, member of the Jedi Council."

Wei didn't usually set much stock by titles, but some people did. He often found that if he wasn't up front about it, some of the more impressionable newcomers quickly got embarrassed by the informal way they acted around him. Truthfully, he didn't mind because just as often people would get very stiff and formal around him.

"What brought you all the way out here, Karkoon?"

[Karkoon]

"It is an honor to meet you, Councilor Wei."

The bow that followed was mechanically excellent, and involved a perfect fold at the waist that was impossible for most, but effortless with a droid body.

"I chose to lose myself in the forest. The nature of this planet intrigues me. In comparison, Orax is a desolate wasteland. This world is bright and full of life. It's aura is bright, like yours."

Shard naturally see, sense, and communicate within the electromagnetic spectrum, which required his suit to see and translate sensory information back to him. He sensed more than he saw, using the force to color the world around him and give it detail. Everyone he met was surrounded in an aura. Sometimes it was bright, light, heavy, or dark. Each was different from all the others, and seen through the spectrum they could be quite beautiful. Wei's was bright at it's edges; a beautiful tapestry of color, further accented by the darker colors that streaked and spotted it.

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Thank you," Wei said. "I am glad to meet you, too."

The Force Cripple wasn't sure what to make of the statement concerning his aura, but decided to keep the detail for the future. "You can think of the Jedi, as well as the planet Ossus, as a focal point of Light Side Force energy. This structure, simple though it may be, serves to further focus that energy to help a Jedi build lightsaber crystals and following that, a functional lightsaber. I understand it lacks certain elements of its ancient predecessors, but for lack of a better term, I am calling it the Lightsaber Forge."

"How goes your training, Padawan?"

[Karkoon]

Karkoon looked past the Jedi Knight into the structure again. Devices foreign and strange were set up throughout the room, but he had to admit, now that he had been so informed, it did resemble a forge of sorts. A forge replaced with an altar and the smith's hammer with technology far beyond what the primitive blacksmith could have ever dreamed. Regardless, it seemed so strange a thing to require it's own forge.

"Would a lightsabre be better constructed in a dedicated factory, in order to avoid manufacturing errors, defects, and to create the most optimum configuration?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"Well, the dilithium batteries, the emitters, the focusing lenses, the casings, yes. These can me factory build. The crystals, though, those are the real trick. In days long past we would simply mine the crystals on planets like Ilum, where the Force was strong and they grew on their own. As it is, we do not have that access anymore, so we must grow the crystals ourselves. I have the materials, and with the kiln, as I call it, we can grow crystals in a day or so, rather than over hundreds of years. And, I suspect that depending on the Jedi that forges it, the crystal may differ in quality and in other unique ways."

Wei stepped outside the newly constructed building and found the only crate still unopened. "And furthermore," he said as he lifted the container, "merely putting all the pieces together doesn't mean the lightsaber will function well--or at all! The Force guides the hand of the Jedi, making sure the crystal, the emitter, and the focusing lens aligns in the proper fashion to create a strong blade that will last a Jedi nearly his whole life."

The Jedi Knight smiled. "A well-built lightsaber is one of the man hallmarks of a fully-realized Jedi Knight. It shows in a an outward way the solid, balanced mindset at the innermost foundation of all Jedi philosophy and policy."

On that note, Wei decided to repeat his question. "How is your training going, Karkoon?"

[Karkoon]

"I believe I understand." He said at last, after a pause in Wei's explanation. "A unique result is the goal, not the most optimal configuration. It is an experience, and a test. Not simply the construction of a weapon. It sounds intimate and romantic."

It was something new to ponder. To him, the idea of a perfect weapon seem to far outweigh the idea of a unique one. As Orax's Protector he had used whatever weapons he could get his hands on; usually ripped from the dead hands of those who threatened his people. Polearms had been a favorite; a weapon with reach, that he could throw, and easily maintain and repair with the scrap metal stripped from equipment and starships left behind when the poachers and illegal miners fled the planet.

"I have no means of comparison. I believe my training is going well. I am learning much among the Jedi. Their code, ethics, and creed. I have no master, but I continue to learn regardless. I build with my hands and defend the camp with my spear. I am useful."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. It would take time for Karkoon to understand that the Jedi were what was perfected, but the lightsaber was only a reflection of that. There was no hurry.

"No master? We are short on those lately." Wei was currently without a pupil. He had to admit, he'd been most preoccupied with the Forge in the last few months. He called in many of the meetings from around the galaxy, if he picked up his comm at all. The tension between a mission for the Force--and by extension the Jedi--versus his personal need to build the Forge gave him some grief in the dark hours of the night when he laid his head down to rest. Perhaps now would be a good time to get involved in the community again.

"Well, let's see what you know so far. You said you've learned some about the Jedi Code. Tell me what you have learned."

[Karkoon]

"The code of the Jedi is about control at the cost of self. Sacrifice is at it's core. A choice to become an object of protection, righteousness, and virtue while also giving up your vices, interests, and individuality. It is a steep cost, not to be taken lightly, but one that is difficult to abscond. One must weigh their humanity." He raised one hand, as if holding a heavy object in it, his hand bobbing with it's weight. "Against the reward that is a protected and peaceful galaxy." His other hand was likewise raised. Like the arms of a scale his hands raised and dipped until the second one fell.

"It's a choice I've already made once, and no doubt will again. I know what it means to be a protector. The Jedi are something very similar, yet different. They are more than just guardians of the flesh. They also guard the spirit and the soul. I do not know if I possess either of those things. They are quantifiable and abstract. I do not need them to protect the virtue of others. That is what I believe it means to be a Jedi. It means that I can be the shield that staves the end of the galaxy, whether it be mortal men or the supernatural. At any personal cost.

I still have much to learn, I realize. My thoughts are not yet cast in stone."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "Well, I think it might do to start with the Jedi Code itself."


There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no chaos; there is harmony.
There is no death; there is the Force.

Some in the past have criticized reducing all of Jedi thought down to 5 lines, but I prefer to think of it as distilled wisdom. After all, when you're locked in combat with a Sith Lord and need to remain centered, you won't have the time or headspace to think your way through the hundreds of volumes written on the topic over the centuries."

Wei considered. Did this silicon life form experience emotion the same way most carbon-based life forms did?

"Consider the first line. There is no emotion; there is peace. Are there any emotions you feel strongly?"

[Karkoon]

The golden light of his optic lenses bored into Wei, unmoving and unblinking. His mind was elsewhere, digesting Wei's words and considered his answers to them.

"I feel a gnawing need to protect the weak; and great joy in the wonders of this planet; but also I feel... lonely. I think you call it 'homesick'."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei nodded. "It's important to understand your feelings and why you feel them. It will help you manage them, so they don't get away from you. Though you are a silicon being within a droid body, you are not a droid. You cannot stop feeling. So you accept your feelings. You embrace them. You understand them. Last of all, you lay them to the side."

The Jedi Knight stepped into the door and looked out over the landscape. "You say you have a gnawing need to help the weak. A compulsion, some might say. As Jedi we do help the weak, but sometimes the weak must help themselves. Can you lay aside your desire to help someone so they can learn how to take care of themselves?"

He gestured at the planet. "This place is beautiful, and steeped in millennia of Jedi culture. It's well worth admiring. But what if you become attached to the planet? But if you were asked to leave and never return to fulfill your duties as a Jedi, could you leave without wistfulness? It would be like your desire for your homeworld, where you were grown."

Wei closed his eyes and took a deep breath to clear his own head as his own attachments flicked across his memory--Chariss, his home, the furniture shop, his in-laws and their sandwich shop. He let it go. "If it helps, remember that the Force connects us all. Its energy surrounds us, and binds us as the Masters say. Let go of your attachments, those strong feelings that keep you stuck in the past, or anxious for the future, and the entire galaxy--and all eternity--opens to you like a blossom in the sun."

Wei smiled. "If you want, I can help you find that peace."

[Karkoon]

"I protect the weak. Those who cannot do so themselves. My people were preyed upon by poachers, and sold off world as jewels and minerals. I myself was taken, and if not for the will of the force I would have never experienced the circumstances that provided me with this body. Only with it was I able to return to Orax and drive off the poachers. My very life, and this suit, are a gift and I will not hesitate to give it. Yes, for the weak, but even those who are capable can be shown how to be stronger. I can be an example to everyone regardless of origin or creed.

Yes this planet is beautiful. Yet there are other worlds out there just as beautiful, or interestingly different. I am very excited to see this galaxy for all that it contains. My... knowledge thirst? Curiosity, is strong. Even a boring, hostile planet is worth my protection. Most would consider Orax to be that very thing. I do not miss Orax so much as I am afraid that it will not be adequately protected without me. I raised new warriors, the Iron Knights, to protect the fields of their ancestors, and the Alliance offers their protection. I know it is foolish to fear for their safety now. I do not want any of my kind to have to experience the horror of being harvested and sent halfway across the galaxy to a fate unknown.

I thought I had found peace here, in these forests, in the quiet and with the animals. Is there a greater peace to be found?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei smiled. Karkoon may be further along the path of peace than he had realized. Then again, how old was Karkoon? How did that translate into human maturity? He would have to know.

"Perhaps. I feel I must know you better before I go too much farther. After all, there is no ignorance; there is knowledge. To help you, I must know you. Otherwise, how can I help you achieve Balance?"

Wei sat on the hewn stone steps and motioned for Karkoon to also sit. It struck him after the fact that Karkoon might not feel a need to settle down or get comfortable, being what he was.

"I'm afraid I know little of your species. I'd like to know more about that, and about you in particular. How old are you, for example? How did you choose your droid body? That kind of thing."

[Karkoon]

Karkoon followed suit, but rather than sit on the steps he opted to rest his much larger body on the ground by carefully crossing his legs and dropping his bulk to the grassy dirt. His fingers, carefully articulating, reached down and plucked a single blade of grass from the earth. In his mind he was making the calculations. Converting solar years on Orax to the Imperial calendar that most of the civilized galaxy observed. "It is a long story."

"I am approximately five hundred and twelve galactic years in age. That is but a moment in the lifespan of my species. We live for thousands of galactic years if left undisturbed. To you that may seem an incredible life span, but understand that the Shard do not live like carbon based lifeforms. Our lives are long and uneventful. We simply exist among ourselves. We have no wants or dreams. We wish only to commune with each other and grow. Perhaps with many millennia we might have achieved more on our own. Science calls it evolution. Instead we have been interrupted in the gestation of our species by outside forces, and our destiny forever changed."

"That is how I came into possession of this body. The mineral rich world of Orax is a tempting thing, and it was not long before miners and poachers began to darken our skies. They ripped minerals indiscriminately from the ground, and had no idea that they were harvesting sentient beings. We have no means of communication with other species. We communicate on a electro-mangnetic spectrum. I could not cry out as I was ripped from the my family's ancestral mineral pools and taken away. I had not yet discovered my radiant core; the force. It was not until I had been bought and sold many times that I finally found my new voice and called out, just as I was to be cut into a gaudy gemstone."

"However, instead of being shown pity I became an experiment. A man desired to make a better droid by overcoming the limits of artificial intelligence. He reasoned that a sentient crystal with the appropriate sensor suite and housing matrix would be a better intelligence than could ever be created artificially. After many prototypes this suit I wear was created. A final product. Durable with thick armor plates to hide delicate servos that allow even the most gentle of motions, articulate fingers that can hold any manner of weaponry, and enough power to punch through duracrete and bend durasteel. In their hubris they expected me to be a willing pawn, but once I was installed I broke free. This unstoppable weapon they created lived up to it's expectations."

"I returned to my world only to discover things had become much, much worse. Orax had caught the eye of the Empire, and they constructed many mining facilities that employed slave labor. I destroyed many of their facilities and liberated thousands, but they struck back just as hard. I could not do it alone. I raised up my own army, the Iron Knights, using their own droids and machinery to mimic my own droid body and create inferior but functioning suits for my brothers and sisters. Together we threw the Empire off our world and stood vigil against repeated attempts to once again take advantage of our rich mineral world. Eventually the Alliance pushed into our system and gave the planet it's protection. I remained for several more years until I traveled to Ossus at the insistence of my father."

"And that is how I came to be here, so that I may further explore my radiant core."

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei raised his eyebrows as he heard the story. Wow! What a resume! The Jedi Knight looked out at the horizon as he ingested the information. Long lives? No dreams or wants? Karkoon was half Jedi already! So, he might not have to explain "There is no passion: there is serenity."

"Let's set aside the Jedi Code at the moment and focus on the Force, or as you call it, your radiant core."

Wei found his singing bowl and a small canteen of water. "Please understand, Padawan, that this lesson is going to be largely metaphorical. Like all metaphors, this one is not perfect, but it is the best I can find."

Wei held up the transparent canteen. "The Force is rather like water. It can be found nearly everywhere in some concentration or another. Like water, the Force moves throughout the galaxy. It collects in places, like here on Ossus. Tython is another ancient place where the Force has been strong. On the Dark Side, planets like Korriban and Dathomir. The Dark Side is where the Force has been corrupted, usually by Sith, who bend a part of it to their will and hold on to it so tenaciously that they continue on. The Sith built structures to capture and direct the Force. This can cause problems within the galaxy. The Force want Balance, and seeks to remove these areas of Unbalance. That's where Jedi come in."

Wei held out the bowl. "A fully trained Jedi is like this bowl. Empty of anything that might cause them to twist the Force to their will and corrupt it. When a Jedi is empty of emotion, passion, ambition, the Force can flow easily and grant the Jedi power such as strength, foresight, and resilience. Jedi allow the Force to guide them, so that Balance can be achieved more easily."

Wei looked over at his silicon student. "How are you doing with all this so far?"

[Karkoon]

Karkoon was quiet for several minutes, his hard body standing motionless. The glow of his optic lenses betrayed no thought. Over the sound of nature one might make out the mechanism of the droid body clicking and whirling beneath it's thick armor plates. Although the human had said only a few sentences, there was much to process and understand. The carbon based lifeforms communicated differently, and he was afraid to miss something in this metaphor. It seemed so elegantly simple, there had to be more. He could not find more, either because he was failing to grasp the language, or because he was looking for something that did not exist.

"Therefore to be a Jedi is to sacrifice self for the good of all?" He said at last, only his head moving slightly clockwise, like a canine canting it's head. If that was indeed the concept that Wei was trying to communicate, than it was the same mantra that Karkoon already lived his life by. Although he had moments of weakness, like not wishing to leave his home. He would never have done so, to leave the planet he had fought so hard to free, if not for the insistence of his father. Looking back on it he could see the wisdom in the words that had shaken him free of his stubborn roots and allowed him to flourish elsewhere in the galaxy. Here.

"I have read about Monks on the holonet. Individuals who have dedicated their lives to a deity icon through sacrifice of luxuries, isolation in remote locations, or strict adherence to a limiting creed. Are we synonymous with these Monks, but in place of an unproven deity we worship this force. No. Worship feels like the wrong word. There are no churches in the camp. Something similar, yes?"

[Wei Wu Wei]

"I agree, worship is a little toostrong a word. We just notice the Force and how it moves, and sometimes it notices us. It aids us when need be. But the Force just is. And so are we, we if we are Jedi well."

It sounded ridiculous, but Wei couldn't think of any better way to put it than being. To just be. Like the trees. The grass. The planets in their orbits. To be as real, as solid, as inevitable as the turning of worlds. To be the Force, and act as its agents. It was hard to explain. Truthfully, it really just had to be experienced.

"We'll work on it."

[Karkoon]

Karkoon became silent again; contemplative. He had thought he had a good grasp of what the force was, back when it was his radiant core. Then it had been a part of him, something that made him unique and special. A rarity among his people. He had been able to grasp that wholeheartedly. It had put the power in his hands. He had been the source, the conduit, and the controller. Now it was revealed that it was a force beyond himself, a metaphysical force in the sky like a deity, but not a deity. Worship replaced with respectful coexistence. A positive symbiotic relationship between this force and the user.

"What does the force get in this exchange? Surely it does not give it's power for free."

[Wei Wu Wei]

"It gets Balance, which is what the Force is always trying to achieve. I can imagine to some people it may sound heartless, but the Force pays no respect or favoritism to one being or another. It wants Balance. Sith upset that Balance when they bend the Force to their will. It is our jobs as Jedi to confront these Sith and correct the Balance whenever necessary--as many times as necessary--until we achieve that goal. Other than that, the Force wants nothing. We try to be like the Force--wanting nothing but perfect Balance."

Wei looked about for the bottled water he had brought with him earlier. Between the efforts of building the Forge and the conversation with Karkoon, he was parched.

[Karkoon]

"I know that is not how balance works, but I suppose from a metaphysical, or spiritual, outlook I understand your meaning. A balance of whole. As if balancing the harmonies of a flesh body, and this darkside is a disease; a malignant tumor that perverts the whole. I apologize if my understanding of disease is incorrect. The Shard do not suffer from disease. Our only natural predators are time and hunger."

Flesh people were so very different. Thankfully he had his connection to the holonet to keep him informed, even if he was without that connection in this moment. The databands within the droid body were capable of storing data, and he was able to access them when he desired. It was truly a technological marvel, as he understood it. The suit gave him so many advantages and the only disadvantage it could ever pose was be without it after becoming dependent upon it. He knew that, should he ever leave it, he would be a defenseless piece of quartz once again. Such a bleak reality, and one that his people were completely satisfied with.

How could they not. They had never known anything different.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei looked at Karkoon and scratched at his stubbly chin. "Suppose we use you as a representation of the Force. You want to feel balanced. If I am a Sith Lord, I want to control you to my own means."


"I might try to restrain you and keep portions of you to myself. I might try to impose my will upon you to make you do what I wanted, no matter what the cost--to myself, to you, or to others."

Wei paused. "As a sentient being, and as a being who once rescued people from imprisonment and slavery, I believe you can imagine very well the desire to be free to move comfortable and to be at peace. When the Force has that, we call that Balance. I find that when the Force has Balance, so do we."