plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

Order 66😭

Fck Sidious.

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

Hey have we considered that the reason that one guy in the Prequels was really chill about offering some Jedi death sticks isn't some massive conspiracy that the Jedi are all doing massive amounts of drugs, or even that he didn't realize they were Jedi, but instead that arresting people for non-violent drug offenses is fucking evil and the Jedi aren't cops? And the people of Coruscant generally know that as long as they're not killing people the Jedi aren't actually interested in fucking them over?

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One way or another, they're getting a varactyl...

Everyone's always worried about the Disaster Lineage being a bad influence on the Shatterpoint, as if Kanan didn't turn into a wolf and Ezra didn't have a gunsaber. Influence goes both ways.

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Most of the time I have an irrational antipathy and disinterest in Boba Fett but then every once in a while I go on a spiral about his fucked up childhood because it's a mindscrew and nightmare. Imagine being little kid growing up on a farm and all the farm animals look exactly like you and sound exactly like you and you watch them all get branded and sent to the slaughterhouse. And you're alone for weeks on end with only these not-brothers for company but you're not allowed with them, you just watch them. You watch them eat and train in rows upon rows and your dad tells you they're just cattle and they're exactly the same as you except they're not, because your dad says so. They're his clones and also you're his clone and the only reason you are a person is because your dad decided he wants a legacy and also it's the only reason you exist and also you don't want to be cattle like them. You exist to be his son and it's the only thing that makes you not cattle. And you're like. six.

Jango Fett is like the opposite of Darth Vader because Darth Vader is redeemed by his son but Jango Fett is made so much worse by every single decision he every made with Boba.

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It's kind of wild to rewatch parts of the Clone Wars and just. remember what canon is. Because I'm unnerved all over again by the Valorum part in TCW where he and Yoda are talking about Sifo-Dyas, and Valorum says point-blank that Sifo-Dyas was assigned his mission regarding the Pykes without the Council's knowledge. The fact that the Senate can completely and totally bypass the leading body of the Order and tell a Jedi to do something really makes it clear that the Order has no power compared to the Senate, in a very unsettling way.

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🥰

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It occurs to me that Lower Decks is the first series to really make explicit what was implicit on Deep Space Nine but never really said outright, namely that the Dominion War was fought largely by a bunch of people who'd joined Starfleet to catalogue alien fungus and spatial anomalies, not save the Alpha Quadrant.

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There are no trash takes on Jedi philosophy, there is contextual analysis.

As may be obvious from the title (humorous--I have gone through several common misinterpretations myself), this is about that infamous scrap of poetry,

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.

And the other version,

Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the Force.

I've seen quite a few interpretations of these along the lines of "the second version is reasonable but the first version is crazy and stupid," so here's why I think both versions are actually communicating the same idea, and the wording doesn't really change the meaning much at all.

So just like I did in my post about "do or do not there is not try," let's start by asking some questions to establish context before we look at the text itself.

Is it THE Jedi Code or just a mantra? Legends says it's the Code, canon says it's a mantra. The fact of the matter is that no matter what, it's really a scrap of poetry which couldn't encompass the entire philosophical basis of a culture even if it was trying, so we'll consider it a mantra.

Does the fact that it's a mantra rather than THE Jedi Code mean that we can't get anything deep or meaningful out of it? Of course not. Just because it's not the whole of or a full explanation of Jedi philosophy doesn't mean it's just a nice sounding string of words.

Who is saying this to who? This mantra is often used to focus a meditation, with the first phrasing used by adults in the culture, while the second phrasing is more often used by children.

What were George Lucas' inspirations for Jedi culture that relate to this mantra? (borrowing from this post) A combination of christianity, buddhism, and his interpretations. I'm not an expert in any religion, and definitely not in buddhism, but I know enough to know I'm about to make some sweeping generalizations, so take this with a grain of salt. Disclaimers aside, this mantra, and the way it is phrased, indicate it is being inspired more by buddhism. The way christian texts, specifically the Bible, are written typically goes "here is a story about people doing something, and here is how big G god and/or Jesus reacted." There are metaphors sprinkled in, but they are mainly there to clarify for readers. Buddhist texts on the other hand (and lots of other eastern belief systems as well, like daoism, hinduism, etc. It's an important note that these belief systems don't necessarily conform to the western idea of what a religion is, and often their original languages don't even have a word which is equivalent in meaning to "religion") use metaphor in often deliberately contradictory ways, to make the reader think about things which are difficult to express in words alone. The ongoing struggle to reconcile contradictory descriptions is the point. This doesn't mean those texts can be interpreted however a reader would like. There may be multiple right interpretations, but there can also be wrong interpretations.

What the mantra does NOT mean:

"There is no ___ …" =/= "The experience of ___ is fake news."

"There is no ___ …" =/= "___ is not a useful concept."

"There is no ___ …" =/= "We should totally ignore ___ and pretend we've never heard that word before."

The mantra is not realy a set of advice on how to act. It's a set of statements about Existance. And I do mean capital E, philosophical, epistemological, weird, deep, think-y, Existence.

Temperature Metaphor

You know the first time someone tells you as a kid that cold isn't real, it's just the absence of heat and you're like… "but I'm touching something right now and it feels cold???" It sounds wild the first time you hear it, but as you think about it more, maybe learn about it a second time in science class, get some more context about how molecules work, etc. it begins to make more sense. It gets easier to grasp, until eventually the knowledge feels intuitive--especially if you're a STEM person who thinks about it a lot. We still talk about cold as a concept, because it's useful to us as well--lack of heat can have damaging effects on our bodies after all, and a cold drink is great on a hot day--and it's more efficient to say "cold" than it is to say "lack of heat." But there are some situations, like developing refrigeration or air conditioning, where it is not just useful but essential to think of temperature as it really is--heat exists, cold doesn't--and thinking of it colloquially can only hold us back (if this isn't actually intuitive to you, that's fine, it's just a metaphor--you could also think about dark being the absence of light, vacuum being the absence of mass, any number of things mirror this).

Probably the easiest like to get one's head around, imo at least, is "there is no ignorance, there is knowledge."

Taken hyper-literally it would mean "why seek out knowledge ever when everyone already knows everything?" But if we say knowledge is to heat as ignorance is to cold, then we can understand the real meaning--knowledge is real, where ignorance is only the name of an experience.

The Whole Mantra

This is the way the Jedi are understanding of emotion, ignorance, passion, chaos, death, etc. They are introduced, as children, to the idea that whilst they may feel all of these things, what they are actually experiencing is the lack of the other things--peace, knowledge, serenity, harmony, the Force. That's why they start with the "___ yet ___" phrasing--it introduces them to the first steps of understanding:

They can feel emotions, yet peace is still real and out there to reach for no matter how overwhelming those emotions may be at the moment,

They can feel ignorant or unknowledgeable, yet knowledge is out there to find,

They can experience passion (meaning suffering or pain in this context), yet know that serenity will return to them,

They can find their surroundings chaotic, and yet look for the harmony in the noise,

They can understand that death happens, yet be comforted by the fact that the person dying is still as much a part of the Force as they ever were.

Eventually they move onto the full mantra:

They will always feel emotions, but if they always reckon with those emotions and pass through them they can always return to a place of peace,

If they feel ignorant, they must seek out knowledge, rather than acting rashly. Also, their own knowledge is not the limit--others may hold knowledge in places they consider clouded,

They may experience suffering and pain--it may even feel like a good thing--but there is no wisdom in pain, it is the distraction from serenity, which is where truth can be found,

No matter how chaotic the world appears, it is actually a part of an underlying harmony that makes up all the patterns and the beauty in the world,

Death is not an ending, no matter how much it may look like one. It is a natural transition back into the Force, the place all life comes from.

A Jedi youngling is someone for whom this understanding is an essential part of the culture they are being brought up in.

A Jedi Padawan is someone who is beginning to learn to apply this understanding outside the confines of the Jedi temple, in a world where not everyone shares it.

A Jedi Knight is someone who has learned to apply this understanding on their own, without supervision.

A Jedi Master is someone for whom this understanding has become intuitive and automatic, no matter their surroundings.

All this is to say,

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Tears of the Nameless, George Mann

Just. This is it. All over this book we see Reath struggling with his fears and over and over again we see that the answer is not suppressing it.

That's what the Jedi Order is. Accepting your feelings and mistakes instead of letting them control you, but not on your own. They are the literal definition of a support system.

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Me, reading about baby Mace's childhood:

(Star Wars: The Glass Abyss | Steven Barnes)

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TARKIN SEEING VISIONS OF ALL THE PEOPLE HE MURDERED WITH THE DEATH STAR RIGHT AS HE'S ABOUT TO DIE ON IT INCLUDING THE ROTTING CORPSES OF KRENNIC AND BAIL AND BREHA AND CASSIAN AND JYN AND SAW AND ALL THOSE OTHERS???? OH SHIT THAT'S THE NIGHTMARE FUEL I'M HERE FOR WITH THAT ASSHOLE

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There is really gonna end up being some kind of discourse/argument about the whole “I like using and seeing special words for tf body parts in fics” vs “I don’t like it” and before that happens I just wanna say, from the bottom of my ♥️, Is Not That Deep

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FIC: Where Angels Fear To Tread

>> Chapter 1: The Detritus of Empire >> Chapter 46: The Inevitable Present

Rating: T Characters: Plo Koon, Commander Wolffe, the Jedi Council, assorted Jedi & Clone side characters, a whole bunch of OCs Chapters: 46/? Fic Contains– star warstrek crossover, a whole lotta culture clash, discussion of genocide and war and other Clone Wars-typical topics, Jedi culture/worldbuilding, and the authors playing fast and loose with both canons.

THEN: In the midst of the Clone Wars, a newly-minted Jedi Knight vanishes, suspected of defecting. But the woman brought back to face the Council is not Knight Tulin, but an officer of an extragalactic organization that calls itself ‘Starfleet’. Curiosity, and a determination to rectify the mistake, drive Plo Koon to take the lost Commander Chester under his wing. But between Republic Intelligence’s sinister interest in their extra-galactic visitor, the growing Separatist determination to capture her for themselves, and the good Commander’s own determined escape attempts, keeping Chester alive is hard enough–let alone getting her home. NOW: In the horrific wake of Order 66, a badly injured Plo Koon stakes his survival on one last desperate hyperspace jump, to a mysterious anomaly that might offer hope for him–and for what little remains of the Jedi Order. For Captain Diane Chester, Plo’s arrival is confirmation of all her fears. Now, she’s got to keep the Empire’s grubby hands off the Alpha Quadrant with only one ship, one Jedi, and that greatest Starfleet tradition–a hell of a lot of showmanship.

…

As of today, we return to the current timeline! Plo wakes up in another galaxy after surviving Order 66...

We have also reached not quite 220k words published, and not quite 320k written. Guess we're heading for 400k, probably XD

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DOR'SHAN LOOKS!

CELEBRATING THE WEEKEND with the kids of Dor'shan 😎

Continuing with INKTOBER!

So, what do the kids of Dor'in get up to on the weekends? I often ask myself that question, so here are some of their many adventures. Part of a series of Dor'Shan Looks exploring that subject. Enjoy!

@plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows has been updating The Keldeorin'yaa Conlang Dictionary and there are MAAAANY words in there now that work as names. Here are the ones I used this time:

GESINYA - "Aurora." / LAO - "Rain." / AN - "SIX" (Remember that character from 'Blossom?' Likely her birth order number in the family.) / GAN - "Three." Likely his birth order number in the family. / TOL - "Meteor." / YOIVU - "Omen." (PROBABLY A NICKNAME) / DIDI - Short for "Didibit", which means "little thing." Meant as a pet name for small children (PROBABLY A NICKNAME). / AGAL - "STICK, TWIG" (PROBABLY A NICKNAME) / HASSAO - "Sky" / NAWA - "Wing." / RIAM - "Snow." / KUBIKUK - "Murmur, mumble." Somehow I think the former would have been the intention.

YANSSIGIR - These are, "Whaleseal; the largest predator in Dor'in's oceans, a cold-adapted diving predator with grasping claws on its front flippers, reaching up to 15 M in length."

You can see preserved specimens of all of Dor'in's marine life at The Dor'shan Oceanarium.

Many thanks to @plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows for the Keldeorin'yaa Conlang Dictionary. Read it here -

keldeorinyaa conlang dictionary - Google Sheets

Hugs, all!

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

[plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows]

I want to wrap Maten and Maksoh up in soft blankets and keep them safe omg <33333 And I'm dying over Khuloone, that's a hilarious nickname! I'm trying to figure out what the closest equivalent in English is and failing - it's not quite like naming yourself 'Sexy' but the vibe is close?? XDDDD

Three possible translations for "I remember" --

kviamao na -- 'to remember, recall' + the intentional particle

kvitsuamao na -- 'to commemorate' + intentional particle

kvitsuamaliyeh na -- 'to commemorate' in ongoing verb form, + intentional particle

I'm leaning toward the latter two - they have more of the 'bearing witness to past atrocity' connotations than kviamao, which is more like "I remembered where I put my keys!" XD

(no need for a pronoun; the intentional particle kinda does the job here.)

DOR'SHAN LOOKS

BACK - TO - SCHOOL!

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER!

That means Inktober is upon us 😍 Anyone have anything planned?

What a wild and crazy August and September it was! Feels so nice to be back at it.

As usual, I have integrated a number of words from the KELDEORIN'YAA CONLANG DICTIONARY... This time, as name choices.

keldeorinyaa conlang dictionary - Google Sheets

@plokoonsdisapprovingeyebrows IS (I THINK you said anyway) compiling a list of common words that are also common names. I tend to pick my own, if they feel like they would work. The ones used above are -

TAMA - "Flower"/ ITTAO - "Frost"/ MATEN - "Hope"/ MAKSOH - "Dream"/ ANN - "Sky"/ KHULOONE -"Cute, charming; refers to inanimate objects or people you would like to date." A nickname - and if he kept it, clearly the guy thinks he is HOT. KOOSSI - "Nectar." The nectar they collected was once used for "Forcing the Force;" it was outlawed generations ago, and the powers-that-be put many of its clanspeople to death for heresy at the time. They have never forgotten this. Even their speeder license plates reflect this. They display the equivalent of "CLAN KOOSSI - Je Me Souviens" (I remember). Like Quebec license plates, here in Canada.

Do check out the dictionary! It's the bestest! Sometimes when I am needing a little decompression I will camp out there and just read a bit. Thanks, Eyebrows!!

Hugs, all!