Chapter 5 The History of Tython

Rayleigh watched with fascination as they approached the planet. The continent they ventured towards seemed to be one of the larger ones on the planet, and as they got closer to ground level, Rayleigh could see a massive fissure. A ravine tens of kilometers wide and longer than he could imagine was placed between a set of enormous cliffs. It was like the Grand Canyon but stretched out for kilometers and far deeper. The base of the canyon was a sprawling forest, and the edges of the cliff were littered with waterfalls that fed into a river along the length of the ravine. This seemed to be their destination.

They eventually reached a massive metal platform that stuck out from the surrounding greenery. It was placed next to one of the many waterfalls in the valley between the cliffs and appeared to be a makeshift landing pad. Next to it was a smaller, van-sized speeder craft.

After landing, the pair of Jedi took their time to slowly flip the switches and disable the ship and engines. Compared to when taking off, the same switches took three or four times longer to flip, showing the pair's reluctance to get off the ship and face what was to come. After the last switch was flipped, the pair shared a glance and a sigh and unbuckled themselves.

As if reaching some unspoken agreement earlier, Master Viz went to the back of the ship to open the loading bay door while Master Drista helped Rayleigh off his seat and assessed him for another moment.

Despite having seen the pair lightly argue about his fate, the small child had neither become worried nor flustered. The Twi'lek Jedi seemed relieved at this. If Rayleigh easily became emotional, that was something that would soon be used against him. His placid state was very becoming of a Jedi, and his behavior was better than many younglings he'd seen in the past.

This was not a coincidence, of course. The Player Character 'Rayleigh Rush's backstory was defined in detail by the lore-knowledgeable Player and Red before the character's creation. The current Rayleigh didn't care if he was sent away or kept around. He was told he would not be returning to Mallaray and that acid-drenched planet, so anything that came after that was infinitely better. He was the perfect seed that any Jedi would happily accept into the Order.

The loading bay door opened and an elderly human woman stood next to a pair of Zabraks, one with red skin, the other with brown. All of them wore the same type of robes. They had some hover dollies to lift the ship's cargo out of the loading area and into the transport to be taken back to the campsite.

The Twi'lek Jedi led Ray off the ship, where he was quickly noticed. The brown-skinned Zabrak openly displayed a frown of disapproval while his red-skinned counterpart looked more than a little amused at the child's presence. The human woman gave him a quick glance before returning her focused stare to the Iktotchi Jedi. From prior experience, she knew which of these two would have been responsible for this.

Master Drista then walked Rayleigh around the ship, out of earshot of the remaining Jedi. He pointed at the massive waterfall and said, "Those falls feed into the Great Tythos River, which runs the length of the canyon. Though it looks quite nice right now, Tython is prone to severe weather anomalies called Force Storms. It was only recently that they became infrequent enough to explore. However, they still occur regularly. On this whole planet, only this canyon is relatively safe. The dangerous winds and rain pass over the cliffs without affecting the valley between them all that much."

Dangerous was putting it mildly. Force Storms did not always follow physical laws. Bolts of lightning strong enough to tear through stone rained down by the thousands. With or without rain, the temperature could fluctuate from far below freezing to far above boiling in moments. Tornados with winds strong enough to twist and rend steel to shreds would rake from one end of the horizon to the other. The land would shake violently and the seas would raise towering waves that swallowed anything they passed over. Navigation equipment of any kind would completely fail, and often things that could not be accurately described would occur. Some, like Master Meed, believed such tall tales were caused by the storms invoking some kind of illusion, while others, like Master Viz, believed that things like wormholes appearing and gravity fluctuating during a Force Storm could actually happen.

During periods of frequent Force Storms on the planet, the surface of Tython was rendered inhospitable and almost completely devoid of life. However, when the Force Storms receded, the planet's lush greenery would immediately return, rendering the planet an almost idyllic paradise once more. On the surface, at least.

How the planet was capable of changing so much was unknown. The Hyperlane that led to the planet was prone to collapse. The Tythos Star System that Tython was a part of did possess other hospitable planets, but none were inhabited due to the unreliable nature of the Hyper Lane that granted access to the Star System. Should the Hyperlane show signs of collapse, they would have only a few days to evacuate or be stranded. Laws had been passed long ago to prevent settlers from inhabiting those worlds, and with the planet's access being lost so many times, much of the Galaxy and even the Jedi had forgotten about this place.

Rather than participate in the argument Master Dyanameez was having with Master Viz, Jedi Master Drista started explaining some of the histories of Tython to Rayleigh.

According to Master Drista, Tython was where the Jedi originated from. This planet was the home to the first multi-species Order of Force users. There were other Orders consisting solely of a single species elsewhere in the Galaxy, but they never achieved the size or history of the Order that was born on Tython.

Over thirty-seven thousand years ago, ships from this world departed and journeyed to many other worlds. They spent a thousand years scouring the Galaxies for races with members attuned to the Force and called to them. Those races answered the call and entered the ships, where they were suspended until the ships returned to this world.

When the many races disembarked, they found that the planet was empty. The ships, the Tho Yor, had no pilots or even apparent internal technology, and no one was there to meet them upon their arrival.

There were eight Tho Yor that left this world and a single Tho Yor that remained. The eight that left returned to the ninth, and then spread out across the world. The various races departed the Tho Yor and settled on this world, determined to learn its secrets and discover the mysteries within. Over the course of a thousand years, the various races had learned the secrets of the Force from this world and each other and reunited into a single Order, the Je'daii.

Temples devoted to studying specific aspects of the Force were built around the nine Tho Yor. In those days, young Padawans learned the basics at the Padawan Kesh, the youngling Je'daii Academy. When the Padawans were ready, they would become a Journeyer. One by one, they would seek out and train at the eight other Temples created around the other Tho Yor and learn the ways of the Force each specialized in. They would trek through the harsh and dangerous forests and regions of Tython and many would die along the way. Only after obtaining recognition at all eight Temples would they graduate from the rank of Journeyer to the rank of Ranger.

Je'daii Rangers would commune with the Force and seek their own enlightenment from Tython. They would learn for themselves that which could not be taught. Once their understanding of the mysteries of the Force reached a certain level, they could receive the rank of Master and teach others at one of the nine Temples. The Je'daii Master with the highest attainments in their Temple's specialty would receive the rank of Temple Master. The Je'daii were led by these nine Temple Masters similar to how the Jedi Grandmaster leads the Jedi today.

By the time Master Drista finished his brief history lesson, Master Dyanameez had also finished her discussion with Master Viz. The will of the Force was not something to be ignored lightly, especially on Tython, but endangering a child was also not something they could simply allow.

A settlement was reached after multiple points were exchanged and argued. Let the child decide.

Master Dyanameez approached Rayleigh and stood before him. Master Drista didn't know the agreement that was reached, but he wisely chose to abandon Rayleigh at that moment rather than stand between him and the strongest Jedi on Tython.

Though the human woman's hair was closer to grey than brown, the lines on her face were not deep enough to distinguish her true age. On Earth, no one would guess her age was above the mid-forties, but as a Jedi, she could have just as easily been sixty, seventy, or eighty with such an appearance.

Master Dyanameez was in charge of this expedition, so nothing was approved of without her say. She was trusted enough by the Council to lead this Archeology Team and would not jeopardize that trust without ample justification.

Unlike Master Viz and Drista, Master Dyanameez did not bend down to match Rayleigh's eye level when she addressed him. She stood tall and imposing before him and stated, "I am Master Lisarra Dyanameez. Do you know why you're here?"

Although the Jedi almost glowed with authority, Ray felt she was completely different than Mallaray. He wore authority like an overly stretched shirt, and it was uncomfortable for everyone around him when he exercised that authority. This woman wore it differently. Like it was meant for her. Like she earned it. Because of this difference and the fact that she didn't raise her voice, Ray didn't flinch back or recoil like when Mallaray yelled at him.

Ray answered honestly, "I don't know." Though Ray heard the exchanges between Masters Viz and Drista, he didn't understand the terms they used or what they referenced. He didn't know it was his Psychometry that Master Viz valued, and that was why he ignored protocol and took Rayleigh directly from the planet.

Master Dyanameez nodded, sensing no deception from the child. Master Viz had told her the same, but she wanted to see what the child thought. Whether he stayed or was sent to Coruscant was her decision to make, and she wanted to make sure Master Viz had not made any promises to the child contrary to that.

Having gotten that out of the way, she explained, "You were chosen by the Force to train as a Jedi."

This was a common belief among the Jedi, that being born with a sufficiently high midichlorian count indicated that they had been chosen by the Force to be trained. This was also used to justify taking children from their families if the families refused to give up their children. It was the will of the Force for the children to be trained, and the Jedi were taught to follow the will of the Force.

Master Dyanameez continued, "However, Jedi are trained on Coruscant, not Tython. Coruscant has trained every Jedi in the Galaxy for the last several thousand years." There were some Jedi who took and trained Padawans independent of the Temple on Coruscant, but such a thing was incredibly rare. When a Jedi intended to take a Padawan, they found that Padawan among the graduated Initiates on Coruscant. Taking a Padawan from elsewhere was highly irregular and simply not done except in the strangest of circumstances.

"Coruscant has hundreds of Masters, the best training facilities in the Galaxy, and is completely safe. As long as you devote yourself to training there, you will become a Jedi. You can make friends with other Initiates your own age." Her tone was light and had a trace of happy reminiscence to it, making it sound like a golden place to live and grow up in. Then her tone changed. "Tython is completely different. There are no children here because Tython is not safe. Tython is not a place for leisure or rest. Tython is a continuous test. If you remain here, you will have to work very hard to find peace and be tested constantly, while at the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, you can have true peace and train in peace to learn how to protect the peace of others. On this planet, there are things worse than you could ever imagine and there are things we cannot protect you from. If we encounter such a thing, your life may end."

Master Dyanameez did not need to embellish the facts. Tython was filled with thousands of deadly species, which would give fully trained Jedi Knights trouble. There were once species on this planet that even Jedi Masters ran for their lives from. Those were supposedly hunted to extinction, but nothing could be certain. Even without factoring in those species, the Force Storms and unpredictable weather make this planet extremely dangerous. Direct exposure to a Force Storm would kill an untrained youngling faster than the Acid Rain of Monasta.

She continued, "If you are not trained on Coruscant, then you may never become a Jedi Knight. Without receiving the standard youngling training, it is unlikely you will be selected as the Padawan of a Jedi Knight, even if you can pass the Initiate Trials. None among those on Tython can take you either."

Their team received approval to come to Tython and conduct their studies, but if any of them took a Padawan, their approval would be revoked, forcing them to leave. If even one of them left, their team would likely be disbanded and permission to remain on Tython would be denied, forcing all of them to leave.

"In fact, anything you learn on Tython would count against you when it comes to being selected by a Jedi."

The controversial nature of Tython's history made gaining permission to study here complicated. After all, Tython was not just the birthplace of the Jedi. It was also the birthplace of those who would later become the Sith. How could the Council allow lessons from such a world to be imparted upon a youngling?

"If you wish to stay here, I'll be in charge of your training. We cannot provide the same level of training as the Temple on Coruscant, so you would have to work much harder. And even if you complete your training, you will likely find yourself at a dead end. On the other hand, if you wish to train with those your age at the Jedi Temple, I'll instruct Master Viz to take you to Coruscant, where you can receive the training you deserve. Otherwise, you can stay here. The choice is yours."

Jedi Master Dasee Viz did his best but was unable to hide his displeasure. He agreed that Master Dyanameez would offer him the chance to stay or leave, but he didn't think she would pile on the negatives of the planet while extolling the positives of Coruscant. How could anyone choose to stay after hearing all of that? He wasn't happy, but he remained silent. It wasn't like she was misleading him. Every word she said was true. He couldn't take Rayleigh as an apprentice, and it was unlikely others on Coruscant would either, so this really was a dead end.

That didn't matter much to him. Many Jedi lived and died without changing the Galaxy as a whole. He firmly believed that the difference Rayleigh could make for the Jedi would be greater if he spent time here than if he trained as a Knight and spent the remainder of his life as another of the thousands of nameless Jedi aimlessly wandering throughout the Galaxy, guided blindly by the Force.

Were it any other naïve child, they would be easily manipulated into making the 'wise' decision they were led into making. Rayleigh, of course, was not a naïve child, he was a Player Character and his sealed Metaknowledge could influence him when it came to making choices, especially when it came to making choices others attempted to manipulate him into making.

Little Ray didn't understand much of what the elderly woman explained, but he understood enough. He asked, "That Temple is in a big city, right?"

Master Dyanameez nodded. "Indeed, one of the biggest cities in the Galaxy."

Little Ray frowned. "Then I want to stay here. This place is beautiful. I don't like cities."

The Jedi Master was momentarily taken aback by that. Master Viz had explained the peculiarities of Monsata. It was difficult to imagine a more dreary place than an acid-scorched city populated by countless prejudiced inhabitants. From a certain point of view, she could completely understand disliking a city. But it was still better to be trained in a city rather than a forest. Jedi were civilized. They could not act like wild monkey men.

Master Dyanameez was about to try and dissuade him but stopped herself. Would anything further she had to say change such a simple sense of reasoning? No. She already said all that was needed. The choice was made. Perhaps he would change his mind in the future, but it was not her way to ask the same question twice, hoping for a different answer.

"Very well. Master Viz will arrange your quarters. I suspect you're hungry. We'll get you something to eat and introduce you to everyone." She no longer addressed him harshly. Tython was a test for all Force users, so that introduction was something of a test as well. If he wasn't willing to stay after that, it just meant he wasn't meant for Tython. Now that he had passed her test, she was willing to treat him more kindly.

The two Zabrak Jedi completed the loading of the supplies into the transport, but there were at least two trips required to empty the ship's cargo hold, so the group waited for them to return. Master Drista had already taken apart the Ship's Med Station display, so he could be seen fixing it to avoid more awkward conversations.

Master Dyanameez decided to use her free time to explain to Rayleigh what they were doing there.

"Our team is here to study the Jedi of the past and learn what has been forgotten. Even to those who once called themselves Tythans, this planet held uncountable mysteries, and even now, we have barely scratched the surface of what this world can teach us."

She lightly gestured at the Iktotchi Jedi and stated, "Master Viz is responsible for cataloging and documenting everything we discover on Tython." She then pointed at the Twi'lek, pretending to be busy, and stated, "Master Drista is responsible for maintenance and keeping us up and running. We would not last a week without him."

"Masters Scoffmo and Meed, those two you saw earlier, along with myself, are members of the Jedi Exploration Corps. I am, in fact, the head of the Jedi Exploration Corps. Our team only consists of the five of us, and we are usually busy. Since you're here now, we'll keep you busy too."

Considering the size and historical importance of Tython, anyone would find it unusual that their team was so small. There were three reasons for this. The first is that the Jedi Temple could not really care less about what happened on Tython. The Jedi Council was rather hypocritical in the sense that they would acknowledge that the Jedi had changed since the Order first began, but they stubbornly chose not to change further and would ignore any evidence of why they should change. Unless their team discovered something of truly great importance, it was unlikely their findings would be found anywhere but the deepest sections of the Archives, accessible only by Jedi Masters of the High Council who would likely never have reason to access them, to begin with.

The second reason was more personal. Each of them had a reason for being there that was not fully aligned with the Jedi doctrine. They sought Tython due to disagreements they had over the current Jedi practices. In a sense, they were the misfits and outcasts of the Jedi.

The final reason had to do with the Council of First Knowledge. The Jedi Order had a very strict process of teaching its Younglings and Padawans. Tython was believed to have caches of Holocrons that others could find and use to learn the ways of the Force, ways not entirely approved of by the Council of First Knowledge.

It was because of this that only Jedi who had passed their Knight Trials were allowed to perform research on Tython, and only if they did not have a Padawan. The Jedi Service Corps had tens of thousands of Force-sensitive members who could easily come to this world and perform tasks and gruntwork, but there was a chance one of them would find a Holocron or learn something they were not meant to be taught. The risk was unacceptable, and since most members of the Jedi Service Corps and Exploration Corps were failed Younglings, there were very few who qualified to come and assist in this team's archeological venture.

Master Dyanameez did not explain all of this, of course. She merely commented on some of the day-to-day activities their group performed and why they were there.

She asked, "Do you have any questions?"

Rayleigh did have a question. He'd had it ever since they landed. "Do you know what happened when Master Tabolin stepped out of the tower?"

The old woman stared at him for a moment before smiling and starting to chuckle. She asked, "Master Viz didn't stop the story there, did he?"

Rayleigh nodded gravely, as if this was the most important thing in the world.

She answered, "Did Master Viz tell you that Master Tabolin was a master of Shatterpoint?"

Ray nodded.

"Well then, did he tell you how, earlier, before reaching the castle, Master Tabolin encountered an injured giant eagle?" Ray nodded again.

"Good. Shatterpoint is a gift that allows a Jedi to see fractures, like broken glass. Not just in things like stone walls, but also in events and the choices we make. When Master Tabolin saw that eagle, he saw such a Shatterpoint, which was why he healed the eagle. When a Jedi uses the Force to heal, the Force enhances our own life force and then we impart it onto another. This is something that a Dark Side user can never do. Dark Side users do not give, they only take. After healing the eagle, Master Tabolin formed a small connection with it."

"So, when Master Tabolin stepped out of the tower and fell from a height no Jedi could ever survive, he spread out his arms as if to fly. It was then that the giant eagle he had healed spotted him from the air. It gently grabbed Master Tabolin's arms with its talons and flew him to safety."

From there, she continued the story.

All younglings received their first lessons in the Force through stories. Plenty of the stories really happened, but she had her doubts about some of them. Many had to be embellished at least a little. The altered stories rang true to the heart of the Jedi Code and taught it through actions rather than words. Every youngling would hear at least a thousand stories by the time they took their Initiate Trials, and every one of them had a favorite.

Deep inside the glass room within his mind, Rayleigh watched every interaction and made numerous guesses and theories. He wasn't surprised at how cult-like the Jedi were. There were cults on Earth that promised to grant their believers superpowers in exchange for believing in their doctrine. A cult that could reliably follow through with such a promise would have extremely devoted worshippers.

At least the Jedi had some justification for being cult-like, and better still, they didn't have a creation myth or force their members to believe in any form of God.

Rayleigh was tempted to close the General Chat Room and open the Jedi Chat Room, but refrained from doing so. He felt it was a bad idea for some reason and guessed that it was some piece of Metaknowledge telling him to stay out of the Jedi Chat Room. He could choose to ignore it but felt doing so would be foolish in the long run. If you couldn't trust yourself, who could you trust?

Besides, he still learned bits and pieces about the Jedi from the General Chat. From what he could see, there were other Players who shared his opinion and were happy to voice their complaints to everyone.

[Lord_of_Madness: The kool-aid is watermelon flavored. Does anyone else want some kool-aid?]

[Ninja_Lord: Our kool-aid is pineapple flavored. But seriously though, if I have to hear one more time about how great the First Hokage is, I am going to burn this village to the ground.]

[Bone_Wizard: At least you have a Clan to talk about! At the Orphanage, they worship the Hokages more than any Church I've seen worship, Jesus! If the First or Second Hokage came back from the dead, they'd get straight up ****** by the matrons!]

[Lord_of_Madness: He said a bad word.]

[Doctor: I'm guessing he meant they would aggressively hug them.]

[Lord_of_Madness: Struggle Snuggle.]

[Swordsman: What's a Hokage?]

[Ninja_Lord: Who is the Head of the Jedi?]

[Swordsman: The Grandmaster.]

[Ninja_Lord: Nice Title. Hokage is like that. It translates to "Fire Shadow." All the heads of all the different ninja villages get titles that end in "Shadow."]

[Lord_of_Madness: But isn't your village called Leaf Village? Why is your head ninja called Fire Shadow?]

[Ninja_Lord: Why indeed...]

When someone in the Chat requested specific information, someone would usually try to fish for some information from them in exchange for answering their question, but there were many trolls.

Most could guess how the Wizard and Warrior Classes operated, but no one understood what a Jedi was yet since the Jedi in the General Chat weren't giving anything useful. There was a similar problem with Hunters, Ninjas, and Pirates. No one outside of the Classes had any clues so far about what superpowers those classes granted their Players. The only things people could guess about the Ninja class were the ability to disguise themselves, walk on water, and use hidden weapons. The Ninjas had not shared anything concrete yet.

[Alchemist: I'm not sure I would have agreed to play this game if I knew how much brainwashing these Classes have to endure.]

[Swordsman: Do they make you put your hand over your heart every day at school and recite your allegiance to your village, government, and God, to a flag?]

[Ninja_Lord: Ah, the homeroom Pledge of Allegiance. That takes me back. And no. This village is much weaker than the U.S.A., so it has to use even stronger brainwashing methods to prevent turncoats. The village is only a hundred years old, but we already have our own Mt. Rushmore. The giant faces of every one of our Hokage are carved into the cliff next to the village so we can see their ugly mugs every single day.]

[Swordsman: Nice. The Jedi Order is apparently thirty thousand years old.]

[Lord_of_Madness: Where did you learn that?]

[Swordsman: Not on Coruscant. Learn anything useful over there?]

[Lord_of_Madness: Only the flavor of the kool-aid. Us little kiddies are sorted into one of the dozens of Clans and I can't tell who is a Player and who isn't. I have to stay in Character Mode like a good little brainwashed dip**** or else I'm gonna rip off someone's arm and beat them to death with it.]

[Alchemist: Same here, though not the arm thing. I tried asking some questions a four-year-old probably shouldn't ask and had to jump back into Character Mode when I got grilled on why I asked that.]

[Ninja_Lord: Yeah, we're probably going to have to stay in Character Mode most of the time since Ninjas are too good at catching liars and suspicious behaviors.]

[Lord_of_Madness: At least we have each other.]

[Alchemist: *Barfs*]

[Ninja_Lord: *Barfs*]

Even while their character acted completely naturally and did what a four-year-old should do, their inner selves could still use the Chat Room and keep themselves occupied. The best they could do was find ways to get stronger and then start their training as soon as possible. Now that Rayleigh had been accepted into the group, he hoped his own training would start soon. The sooner he got stronger, the better.