#eldritch jedi maybe

[purple-goo-writes]

Sudden urge for more Eldritch nonsense

[somestorythoughts]

Not really eldritch Jedi

So this isn’t exactly an eldritch jedi headcannon but it’s in the vicinity:

Part of force sense-perception-clairvoyance is seeing people/living things on another plain of existence. And on that plain the more force sensitive you are the less part-of-the-natural world you look.

It only takes a small amount of small sensitivity to start looking Other, just little things slipping you into your species' version of the uncanny valley. It takes more force sensitivity - though not jedi level - to be able to see on that plain but once you can that’s it. There’s no kinda see it kinda can’t, you see it or you don’t and you see it all the time. That’s how you see, everything on two plains of existence at once, and only people with no force sensitivity look exactly the same on each plain.

And on that plain of existence jed, sith, and anyone comparable looks eldritch to everyone. And remember, there are a lot of sentient species in the galaxy. Pulling off “everyone looks at you and sees something beyond the laws of nature” is a bit harder than it is in a world where everyone’s human. 

That is what jedi are trying to hide when they hide their force presence - or rather, what they’re trying to make look less eldritch. Hiding your force presence becomes less “shield” and more “make my body on the other plain look more like my body on this plain” because sure, it’s possible to completely hide that Other body from view to fellow force sensitives and can be useful because it completely prevents you from being perceived, but nothing says “force user!” like the complete absence of that body so you want to be careful when you do that.

And as a bonus because it’s fun, the clones can see everyone on that plain too. No one knows why. The Kaminoans don’t know it’s a thing and probably wouldn’t have been able to make it happen if they had known, and while some clones are force sensitive enough to see this on their own that doesn’t account for all of them.

Turns out that the Force - which it should be noted is something like sentient but not something like people and thus does not think in the same way - basically went “you are made for force users and you can’t see them? why? that won’t work.” And just gave all the clones the ability to see that particular plain of existence without doing anything about their force sensitivity. 

The clones, when they meet the jedi, have no idea that not everyone sees that way. It takes months before the Jedi learn that the clones can see them at which point all the jedi freak out a little because HOW??? Meanwhile the clones are like “wait that’s not normal???” (this of course leads to force sensitivity tests and when they show that not all of the clones meet the usual baseline for that perception everyone is only more confused).

[broitsf-ckingfreezing]

Finally writing my own Star Wars fanfic.

Featuring: Eldritch Jedi exploration while still maintaining aspects of their culture and traditions that we all know and love.

[blackat-t7t]

The first Mandalorians were the Taung species, and the Taung were originally native to Coruscant

I think that could be a fun jumping-off point for an Eldritch Coruscant Guard story

Something to do with an Old God of War, maybe, and spilt blood that finally, finally drips low enough to touch the barren earth, far below the layers of glass and steel and concrete that stack on top of one another, like layers of rock hiding fossils from different ages

Taung blood. Impure, because there are no pure Taung anymore; yet Taung nevertheless, for some of the genes persist within populations in Mandalorian space, hiding in people that are otherwise Human (also called Zhell, the other species native to Coruscant)

A God of Change Through War, whose eternal adversary is a God of Sloth, Consumption, and Stagnation. And what else would such a war god see in corrupt, complacent senators?

The Force is clouded on Coruscant, smothered by the Sith darkness spreading like plague over the planet. Even the Jedi, who are called "the Force make physical", can't fully sense it though the fog. But gods are contained within the Force, as all things are, and they aren't so easily obstructed. The struggle between light and dark is a war too, neverending. The war god may care only for battle and bloodshed, may not care which side is victorious, but the Force tilts everything towards balance, and the Sith Lord has pressed it too far.

Old ghosts of Taung Mandalorians long gone- the Dha Werda Verda themselves- prowl the surface of the planet, far below the vaunted skyscrapers. They appear to other warriors- other Taung- other Mandalorians, linked to them by the universal soul of the Manda- and whisper to them of glorious battle: kote, darasuum kote.

The words are a chant that all clones know, like they know the beating of their hearts: one of the few pieces of Mandalorian culture Fett deigned to share with them. One of only a handful of songs given in its original form, in Mando'a, without the words twisted out of true to fit the clones' service to the Republic. The clones of the Guard never learned the true Dha Werda Verda chant. That was a privilege reserved for the Nulls and Alphas, and the commandos favored by Mandalorian trainers. But they heard it, in passing; heard the beat, even if they couldn't make out the words. And now when they wake from dreams with those words ringing in their heads- Dha Werda Verda a'den tratu, Manda'yaim kandosii adu- they know the meaning in their bones.

The god, the ghosts- they're reaching up from the planet's surface, though the levels of construction piled like layers of stone, like ages of time; feeding on blood and blaster smoke and all the traces of war. They're wrapping their claws around the only beings they can touch and urging them to fulfil their destiny: to go to war.

[stealingpotatoes]

hello there!!!!!!!! im back!!!!!!!!!!! :D hru? how have u been? feelin' good? i hope so!!!!!!

anyways, in my mind, ahsoka has died three times i think (mortis arc, sith temple - rebels and the sea in ahsoka) and i think its funny to imagine tl4j's reactions to that

but even FUNNIER to imagine their reaction to cal, who has died hundreds (maybe even thousands) of times!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lmao.

ur opinion???

have a good day/night!!!!!!!!

~Jamie :D

huge agree on ahsoka dying 3 times and while cal dying imo is just ludonarrative dissonance, it WOULD be really funny if he had and tl4j was made up of two cockroach undead jedi, an eldritch skywalker, and also Ezra <3

[aprill-99]

I love the characters whose perceptions of their own powers and abilities and personalities are all completely fucked by their own context.

Prince Zuko for example: The guy goes around like “wow is me. I am such a failure of a Fire Bender” for three whole seasons of television.

Babe, no. It’s just that the only 3 people on the entire planet who are better at it than you all live in your house.

Obi-Wan Kenobi only thinks he’s a less powerful Jedi because his constant companions are essentially the demigod descendants of an Eldritch Horror running the galaxy. Everyone knows else, including the Eldritch Horror Spawn, think you’re in the top 10 to ever live.

I could go on, but the main point is that I live for the moments when a character who is constantly down on themselves off-handed mentions something the other characters know to be near impossible and have their Elle Woods moment when questioned.

“What, like it’s hard?”

Yes, yes my guys, gals, and non-binary folk. Yes it is hard.

You’ve just trained yourself to think that you had to succeed at everything right up to the lines of the impossible and perfect because you spent a lifetime watching very particular people calmly go skipping right over it.

You are now hyper-competent and should maybe look in to getting some therapy before we all inevitably turn to you to survive the on-coming End of Days.

[thecoffeelorian]

Firstly...yeah, it's been 8 months since I did this last, I know...however, as I knew this story/giant plot bunny is by no means over, naturally, I would have to add a second chapter sooner or later. So...without further delay or excuse-making, I think I finally have it.

Title: Come Little Children

Chapter: 2 of 3

Characters: Omega (The Bad Batch), Mother Talzin (The Clone Wars)

Premise: If every Force-sensitive has an equal chance of becoming Jedi or Sith...then, perhaps, could every dead Force-sensitive have an equal chance of influencing the living...?

Special Notes: I took faint hints from the first two seasons plus an echo or two from 'Tales Of The Empire' to put this all together. Maybe I'll toss Asajj Ventress in here later for some added variety, maybe I won't. Either way, I hope I can still hold everyone's attention, if not also gain a few new readers in the process of continuing this story.

Previous Chapter: ->Click<-

Previous Story: Overwatch

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At first, neither one of you dares to speak, let alone move. There seems to be a stalemate between you, at least in this curious red realm, so perhaps it’s only fair that you think your next few moves over as carefully as you’re able.

This is also the very first time that the two of you have ever met, so naturally, you just might have to make sure you don’t end up trying anything that you’ll end up regretting later. Especially not when you have zero ideas of what this stranger is capable of, never mind what she could do to you without thinking twice about it.

Once you see the way she barely moves a hand to try and grab you, though...you're jumping backward without a second thought, the nerves of all your past abduction attempts waking up in a single heartbeat.

“Don’t!” You push as much strength into the word as any other thirteen-year-old can, if only to prove to this stranger that you will not be her next target.

That you are not going to be grabbed by her, taken to any secondary locations by her, or utterly made to disappear from the world because of her.

Time itself has already taught you just how to stay alert, and now that you’re once again in unfamiliar surroundings, you might have to recall these lessons one more time in order to make it out of here safely. To your greater surprise, though—or your shock, maybe, it's not too much of a stretch to consider both—she merely lowers her arm in a sort of amused silence, both acknowledging you and examining you with no more than a single look.

“What—what's so funny? What did I do?”

It's what you HAVEN'T done that interests me. Riddles, you think to yourself, almost with a shudder. I ask questions, and I get nothing but riddles in return...why is that?

“ ‘Haven't done’? What—what do you mean by that?”

Your powers, child. You’re certainly of the right age to start manifesting them, if not everything else.

“My powers…? What would I need powers for?”

Allow me to demonstrate. Do you see those remains before you?

Your shock grows ever so slightly as this arcane being indicates a half-gone skeleton not far from where the two of you stand, the remnants of its bones just barely visible from beneath the red sand.

“Well, yes, but what does that have to do with—” —Hush. Let me show you.

It’s here that this eldritch creature, this woman, smiles the smile more befitting a crocodile or other predator, the same smile you’ve only ever seen on the bounty hunters hired to steal you away—then, without any further hesitation, begins to chant over that skeleton. It's a strange language all right—kind of raspy and sing-song-ish all at once—but barely three seconds into this, something else even stranger happens.

“What. The. Kriff...?!” Without any visible effort, this woman needs only to raise a hand over the skeleton and continue her arcane chants before—Maker help you, this has to be a nightmare—before the bones begin to rise and re­form themselves back into as close a body as they can, all the while enveloped in a haze of bright green light. A body that starts to regain some of its more discernible features, like a full head of wavy black hair and matching arched black eyebrows.

Almost like they're turning into—there's no other word for it—what’s left of a fallen Clone Trooper.

“Who is that? What happened to them?”

The woman has gone annoyingly silent now, and to your greater hesitation to interact further with her, isn’t even smiling this time. Instead, she’s just watching you in almost the same manner that Nala Se used to watch you, like—like you’re a walking, talking experiment again, and she considers herself nothing but an observer of your growth and development.

“Um, didn’t you hear me? What’s going on? Tell me what’s going on!”

Why do you wish to command me, a woman long dead and unreachable from your realm...when it would be so much easier to command those newly gone and still present in your own?

“Command…? What do you mean by that?”

You’ve never really ‘commanded’ anyone in the whole of your young life, truth be told, so it’s nothing short of crazy that such a thing could ever be suggested to you. Moreover, in the worst times of danger, it was more often you being commanded to duck your head, to watch your step, and any other instruction meant to keep you from harm. Why, then, would anything else ever be considered as effective? Don’t you miss him, my dear girl…? The brother you just happened to lose some time before they brought you here, and have mourned ever since? “That’s really none of your—” —Don’t you ever wonder just how much you could punish the ones who took him from you? Your next witty response dies in your throat before you can speak it, and with it, you feel yourself go still from shock. She knows. Your feelings of anger and jealousy have been very faint, indeed—maybe just barely manifesting themselves once or twice, because you’ve never been the type to seek out revenge against others—yet still manifesting just the same, and she knows. So much so that any and all courage you might have had before seems to fade away in a heartbeat, leaving you as little else than one scared girl in dire need of an escape hatch. Ah-h-h, so you have thought about it. Don’t be ashamed. You haven’t been the first girl to feel such things, you know. In fact, I’d say it’s perfectly natural. “But why…?” And yet...this woman, this creature, as frightening as she is...hasn’t exactly attacked you yet. There haven’t been any sudden use of blasters here to stun you, no binders to force your hands together, and certainly no droids about to make sure you don’t try to run away. “Why are you showing me this? What’s this got to do with me…?” In fact, if you didn’t know any better...you’d almost think she wanted you to ask her such questions without any second thoughts. Like she had suddenly become your teacher out of nowhere, and so nudged you into becoming what you hoped was a fairly decent student. Or, at least, that’s the feeling you finally receive after this woman’s latest round of silence: Because, child...I am a Nightsister, and so are you.

[mamuzzy-creates-stuff]

E for ALL the ships! Please (:

E - Do you have any favorite headcanons for this ship?

For ALL THE SHIPS!!! You really gave me a homework, love <3 But I really enjoyed writing this little compilation.

Let's see...

-- OrdoMaze --

My favorite thing about them is how they try to understand each other's functioning and motivations in life and usually this leads to conversations that can result in passionate arguments or potential fist fights and then hatesex.

Books are usually a topic they usually don't agree.

Maze is rigid in a way that he wants to feel the accomplishment that he worked very hard for a specific reward or something that is not obtainable in a military, such as: books. Eventually, the free-books available are not enough and sometimes he wants to read something other than dry information from the Jedi archive (free library pass from General Zey).

"Pirate it, then." Ordo shrugs, he doesn't understand why Maze is doing ethical dilemma over getting stuff he needs.

And then Ordo will never hear the end of it how artists, writers, content creators are working hard to tell their story, and is it harming for the creative industry to "just pirate" while not being compensated for it.

"I pirate it for you? So you won't have to feel bad for not compensating them because only I was involved in the... crime" Ordo offers, a sincere gesture to make his boyfriend happy.

Ordo will never hear the end of it but also won't understand the contradictions why morals and being a law-abiding citizen are even question here, when Maze works illegally in a low-level pub as a dishwasher with fake id and has a secret bank account so he would be able to properly pay for his books.

-- OrdoEcho --

Ordo is devastated that he can't express his love toward Echo through sharing food, because Echo is picky as fuck when it's about edibles created by natborns. So he keeps red ration bars - Echo's favorite one-, in his snack-pouches so he can surprise Echo with it~

-- OrdoEchoMaze --

Ordo and Maze is that kind of couple who are getting together and breaking up every two weeks. Maze started dating Echo when they were in this break up period and Maze decided that maybe he deserves better, more understanding and sensitive boyfriend (meaning, not the Ordo-kind of sensitive). Ordo almost killed Echo in jealousy.

-- FoxFives --

Fox and Fives' favorite datenight is going gambling, cheating their way though the games and get away with it, rewarding themselves with greasy junk food at Coruscant's low-level street carnivals, kissing in public to freak out people who think they are twins, and then soaking in naked in a public bathhouse.

-- FoxThorn --

This is an AU were Commander Fox joins later the Guard, reassigned from the fronts. And some eldritch occurences are involved too.

While Thorn was in sleeping-coma, he wasn't sleeping entirely. He heard Fox's every words who was thinking loudly while sitting at his bed or walking around the room. Fox needed someone to talk who wasn't hostile to him and who is better company for that than someone who can't mouth back?

I like the idea that Fox either shared the ideas how he will break this curse on Thorn. But sometimes he just shared that he misses the frontlines, he misses his men, he misses when he was actually knew what he was doing.

-- TEcho --

Tech and Echo first meeting was actually happened much earlier. Tech followed an interesting bug into the ventshaft, which in the end, collapsed under him and he landed in the mess hall, more precisely, in Echo's lap. (yeah. I know. I know. cheesy as fuck shut up) Echo immediately fell in love with this weird guy who protected the bug with all his life.

-- KalWalon --

Kal is shortking and Walon uses this as an advantage when he wants to piss off Kal. He actually has to bend down a bit if he wants a kiss from him.

"Beg."

"What now?"

"Beg for that kiss."

Walon realized too late that it wasn't the usual "Kal is deaf from all those explosions"-what. Kal headbutted Walon on the chin.

[tennessoui]

Hey Kit I am once again working my way through your AUs and this time I fell in love with your Fae!Anakin au. Oh my god itss sooo good!!! Can I ask how Qui-Gon and the council reacted to meeting Faenakin for the first time?

what a timely question!!

fae!anakin befuddles the council as he is made of both the will of the Force and a headache of the worst possible ills. marriage is forbidden by the jedi code and obi-wan kenobi is an exemplary jedi but now he's? married? to this....creature person? who is both gentle and unassuming and also incredibly uncanny and frightening?

how would the council even deny fae!anakin his jedi? fae anakin is very adorable with his fluttering wings and tilted head and happy smiles towards his husband, obi-wan, but he's cold eldritch terror to those who pose a threat to his relationship with his husband

as for qui-gon, he didn't expect his apprentice to find a fae and agree to marry him (in order to find his way back to civilization/qui-gon's location) but like. who can argue with the Force? may serve as a lesson to his former padawan - not only to tell qui-gon about these sorts of things but also to maybe think before promising allegiance to a strange creature forever.

but you know. not as if fae!anakin will ever let obi-wan be put in that position with another creature ever again. fae look after their own

[writerbuddha]

Just a question. I want to make a fic about the first Jedi and his disciples before Disney gets the drop on me. I'm only familar with disney canon. What miracles are associated with the buddha and the bodhissatva and what way can I characterize the philosophy of the force in buddhist terms?

The basic idea was that the first Jedi is basically a wandering Gautama Buddha and his disciples were basically the Eight Bodhisattva. Manjushri is known for his kindness and wisdom. Guanyin is kind and compassionate. Vajrapani is strength and protection incarnate. Maitreya is prophesized to bring balance to the force. Ksitigarbha swore to save everyone in the galaxy no matter how evil and no matter what it costs her and I don't really know much about the rest. Might even toss some characters like Sun Wukong and other buddhist associated characters.

The intent is to make the first jedi a real larger than life figure. God's amongst mortals who would make any other force user look like a joke. Yet also make them suprisingly human in that the first jedi just wants to help people and comfort them and doesn't want to use such powers in the first place for violence.

I also want to play around with the first sith and portray them as Eldritch abominations and monsters who feed of the weak and oppressed. Maybe they would be the Mara analogue in this telling.

Oh, this is intriguing! I love this concept!

Buddhism and Miracles

The Buddhist view on miracles, wonders, magic, superhuman powers is a quite complex one. There is a threefold distinction of Buddhism: the Buddhist science of the mind, Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist religion. The miracles of Gautama Buddha are belonging to the realm of Buddhist religion: it is proposed that through mental training one can achieve miraculous powers, as the basis of "miracles" is perfect control over one's own mind, like goldsmiths making the gold pure and workable, so they can use it to create wonderous things. The Buddha was reportedly manifested the ability to walk on water, to read other people's minds, to fly through air, to heal the wounded with his will, or growing a tree full of flowers and jewels out of his toothpick, calming down a raging elephant that attacked the village he visited, and so on. However, such miracles are all subordinate to the one true, genuinely miraculous power that one must strive for: the ability to guide people according to their mental development, for their own good, using suitable methods to fit these people.

It must be noted that in Buddhist mythology, miraculous powers are regarded as potential off-shoots of practice. Through mental training, one can develop the capacity to concentrate the power of the mind. But it's crucial to understand that in Buddhist thought, these abilities aren't dependent on the cultivation of wisdom and compassion: in stories, it's not just possible, but actually quite common for someone to gain such powers without any significant, or even meaningful spiritual and psychological progress. For this reason, the Buddhist view on these miraculous powers - should they exist at all - is that if you have them, that's a sign that you're making progress, but you mustn't brag about or reveal them, unless it's absolutely necessary. And unless you're fully awakened, these supernormal powers have a way of engendering supernormal defilements. The Buddha, like most most spiritual or religious teachers of the East, warned against those individuals who display miracles to attract people to their traditions, because there is a good chance that they're tricksters led by greed, or that their holiness is on shaky grounds.

The wholesome and unwholesome use of miracles

There is a story about the fifteen days of the miracles demonstrated by the Buddha, all performed in response to the relentless claims of six ascetics who claimed, the teachings of the Buddha are invalid, as they possess mystic powers far grater than him. The Buddha outdid every single miracles the ascetics were able to produce. Since such display of special powers was done in order to arouse or strengthen faith - which is, in Buddhism, refers to trust or confidence in the Buddha's path of practice and one's own potential for enlightenment - the performance of the fifteen miracles was a wholesome act. And likewise, there's the story of Khema: she was a young, extraordinarily beautiful queen, who was clinging on physical beauty. When she met the Buddha, he was able to read her mind, and he manifested a time-lapse of a young and even more beautiful woman, aging it to middle age, old age, very old age, then to dust. As a result, Khema realized the true, impermanent nature of the object of her attachment. This is another example for the wholesome use of miracles.

In Star Wars, this can be likened to Master Yoda using the Force in Episode V to rise Luke Skywalker's x-wing out of the swamp: this "miracle" was demonstrated to arouse trust and confidence in Jedi teachings and in his apprentice's own potential to become a Jedi. You can see that Jedi Knights are demonstrating their abilities only "for knowledge and defense" as Yoda said.

When it comes to unwholesome uses of miracles, we have the story of Pindola Bharadwaja, who was one of the Buddha's first disciples. It's said that one day, a wealthy merchant, who didn't believe in the existence of the extraordinary powers of holy men, challenged them: he suspended a beautiful and expensive sandalwood alms bowl from the top of a really high bamboo pole, and said, the master who can get it down, can keep it. Pindola Bharadwaja, who progressed very fast in his mental training, and attained several miraculous powers as a result, stepped forward. He rose into the air easily and took the bowl. The people were in awe, but their excitement alerted the Buddha who arrived to the scene. He broke the bowl into pieces and said, he is very displeased by the public display of such miracles, likening it to prostitution that is done for the sake of cheap delights.

That's because this miracle wasn't performed to benefit others, it didn't arouse trust or confidence in the Buddhist path and in one's own potential for enlightenment. It was done to impress and to show off, thus, it was distasteful. In Star Wars, this can be compared to Anakin Skywalker using the Force in Episode II to fly a fruit through air in order to impress Padmé - he even admits, "If Master Obi-Wan caught me doing this, he'd be very grumpy."

Bodhisattvas

Bodhisattva can mean anyone who vows to become enlightened in order to relieve the suffering of all beings, but there are also celestial Bodhisattvas, who are realized beings, inspired by the wish to attain complete enlightenment, and have vowed to be reborn in the world to help all living beings. They're deity-like beings, however, it should be noted that these Bodhisattvas are representing our potentials.

Guanyin - or Avalokitesvara or Chenrezig - is enlightened compassion, Vajrapani is the powerful energy of enlightenment that can be utilized to do many good things, Manjushri is the enlightened wisdom. I think the most important ability that these Bodhisattvas are said to possess, is that they're able manifest themselves in hundreds or even thousands of bodies simultaneously.

In this essay of mine, I examined Jedi teachings and how the Force works - these are, on the fundamental level, identical to Buddhist philosophy. I hope it will help:

Māra and the Dark Side of the Force

In Buddhism, although Māra is depicted as a god or demon, he is an aspect of the mind and the heart: the inner experience of all forms of attachment, greed, hatred, and delusion, everything that interferes with and puts to an end our spiritual practice. His "armies" are sensual desire, discontent, hunger and thirst, craving, laziness, fear, indecisive wavering (doubt), restlessness, longing for the transitory things in life (gain, praise, honor, and fame), and praising oneself and belittling others. His three "daughters" are thirst, delight and desire.

When Māra is discussed as an external being, he is said to reside in the highest heavenly realms of cyclic existence, thus, he enjoys long life, power, privileges and pleasures. But it must be noted that he is, like any other being, subjected to Karma, birth and death, and there are stories that gave a closure to him as an external entity: he ends up being a Buddhist himself. So, if you wish to draw an analogy with Māra in a complex and intriguing story you draw up, I suggest to use the Son as his Star Wars counterpart. He embodies the dark side of the Force, but he is also the mosaic of the light side and the dark side just like all living beings in George Lucas' Star Wars universe.

The story of Devadatta as a potential inspiration

If you would like to use Buddhist stories as inspiration for the Sith, I recommend you the story of Devadatta, the Buddha's enemy. In the Theravada tradition, Devadatta, who was one of the disciples of the Buddha, attained several miraculous powers through mental training, but no wisdom and compassion. His miracles convinced a crown prince, Ajatasattu, that he is a great teacher. But Devadatta became obsessed with his own skills and sought fame and power, declaring, he should be the one who leads the Order of Buddhists and not the Buddha. Even though his miraculous powers began to fade as his mind became clouded by such afflictions, he started to preach his own teachings, claiming, they're from the Buddha himself.

The Buddha warned him that he is on the path of self-destruction but Devadatta was relentless. Long story short, he was so consumed by greed that he eventually convinced prince Ajatasattu to kill his father, the king, and usurp the throne, while he assassinates the Buddha. As an attempt, he unleashed a raging elephant, but it was calmed by the loving-kindness of the Buddha, and his other attempts failed as well. Although Ajatasattu took the throne, the public was so resented of Devadatta that he was forced to withdraw his support. After this, he tried to cause a schism in the Order, but his followers were won over by the Buddha. Devadatta eventually died of sickness, his bad mental state supposedly ate into his physical health, however, in his final moments, he realized his mistakes.

The story of Devadatta, in my opinion, is an ideal inspiration for the first Sith, if we go with the notion that the Sith were Force-sensitives who left the Jedi Order. This is in Disney canon, I think. If we go with the fact that according to George Lucas, the Sith ruled the known universe before they destroyed themselves, we have a more complex situation, because that would imply that the first Jedi started out as a Sith apprentice or a Sith Lord, like Gautama Buddha started out as a prince living in luxury, and not a great spiritual teacher, or that the Sith were able to gain control over the galaxy, like Darth Sidious did, with the difference that there wasn't an Emperor, but many warring Sith Lords who all sought to rule the whole galaxy.

[errantindy]

Welp, having a hard time finishing the Star Wars Hunters book Battle for the Arena. I really liked the world building of the planet of Vesparra, like…a tourist trap version of Nar Shaddaa. All the fun of Hutt lawlessness without most of its extreme 'downsides.' Podracing, Huttball, and Hunters with gambling and clubs and music…just an illicit Disney World.

The writing was…rather meh though. Rieve's story was a bit of teen drama about her uncertainty, extreme self doubt (perhaps spurred by the Force and her inner dark side)…but it started to drag in the teen drama side of things. Someone is either gaslighting her or hunting her…and Rieve just…keeps on with things. I like that Hunter fights are her day job and making that pretty normal because I love the verisimilitude of there being punch clock jobs in a galaxy far, far away…but she's also a Star Wars protagonist and needs to be a bit more proactive. Perhaps her distrust of authority figures and that no authority figure really had helped her before is a part of not asking for help…but again, she's Force Sensitive Star Wars protagonist she needs to do things actively.

And…look, this is two years after Endor, I like that Rieve doesn't understand her powers, that eldritch feeling of untrained Force Sensitivity. But look, there is a galactic wide fame guy with Force powers. Every story doesn't need Luke and the rest of the Skywalker clan, but stories where he could and perhaps SHOULD show up and he doesn't without adequate explanation are odd. If yer havin' problems with your uncontrolled Force powers, maybe…just maybe, you should try to get in touch with the Jedi the New Republic has plastered over every holochannel since Endor. Send a message to the NR to care of Luke Skywalker, I'm pretty sure somebody would forward it along for you.

[ayaitch]

So, I was thinking that I never use this space to talk about my fanfics. Other fanfic writers go on about their stories and they look like they're having so much fun. I wanted to try it out, even though I mostly cater to an unpopular rarepair, so can't expect a lot of engagement with my stuff. But I'll talk about my WIPs anyway.

Walk Unafraid - My oldest and saddest WIP that haunts me daily. An Ikkotah/Chekkatah origin story. I was raised on too many Disney movies though where as soon as they confess their love and kiss, that's the end of the story. So as soon as they confessed their feelings and kissed, my brain decided that was the end. But it is not supposed to be the end! I have loose ends that need to be tied up and a resolution to reach.

Unnamed WIP for Ikkotah and Chekkatah origin story - Yes, another of my favorite pairing. But this time, they start off as rivals! I had a thought that maybe Chekkatah was kind of in a Kotallo position at one point. Brought in by Tekotteh and mentored like a son (though they are basically the same age, I'm still thinking about how this works), and Chekkatah being very full of himself because of it. Ikkotah, from podunk, backwater Cliffwatch, is unimpressed, and always assuming the worst about Chekkatah's behavior. As I write it, it's very Pride & Prejudice-y.... For better or worse.

Lothrats in the Walls (Working Title) - This is predominantly a Kalluzeb get-together fic, but in an eldritch horror setting. I don't know if I can pull off horror, as much as I love reading it. Zeb, Kallus, Kanan, and Ezra go exploring in some ancient pre-Jedi Order Jedi ruins on a deserted planet/moon/something. I'm not very well-read on the old ways of Star Wars lore, so a lot of this is just fun ideas from my head that I'm dabbling in.

These are the only serious WIPs I have at the moment. I have three non-serious ones: Ikkotah and Aratak romance pre-Nemesis; a part 2 of an earlier Kalluzeb fic (Fulcrum Kallus and Zeb interacting on small adventures); and a mini Ikkotah and Chekkatah adventure after Chekkatah has become a Marshal. I have technically one more WIP, but is very unseriously being worked on, which is very outside my usual fandoms.

I love all these ideas, but I'm just stuck in a rut, feeling like my imagination has failed me. Anyway, this was kind of fun, getting my thoughts out in the open.

[somestorythoughts]

Eldritch Clone Troopers Again

I’m gonna revisit the Clones-Become-Something-Other idea but this time it’s not because of the Jedi.

The galaxy is, to put it bluntly, really fucking big. There’s a lot of weird not-understood-by-any-or-many stuff in it. And sure, the Force is all-encompassing and omnipresent, but that doesn’t mean everyone understands it the same. That doesn’t mean it’s the same everywhere.

Imagine if, by the end of the war, there’s at least 5 different kinds of Other/Eldritch SOMETHING going on with the troopers because they just keep running into the batshit weird stuff.

What doesn’t kill you changes you and all that.

And the changes spread somehow. Spread like a song, from veteran to shiny, from battalion to battalion. The shinies change to match their brothers, brothers who do not find something to change them find themselves matching their brothers. Like a disease some say, because they’re scared and they don’t know what’s happening and change can be terrifying and it’s up to their brothers to say it’s alright, we’ve got you, metamorphosis isn’t easy but it will pass. The changes spread like a song and when they hit other battalions that have their own song they don’t go further there, because they’ve already got their favorite tune and it’s not about to change, so they compare songs and cheer or tease about each other’s lyrics and melodies, and maybe trade tips, but they don’t trade songs.

No one knows who changes first.

Maybe it’s the Wolfpack, and oh they will never hear the end of the jokes, jokes that must be either run with or hated, because a hurricane brought on land forced them to shelter in an abandoned temple for long enough to be noticed. Those people were shapeshifters once, skin changers and berserkers, and their deities (deities are not representations of the Force but they’re the next best thing, beings made of the Force without being the Force made Flesh, and thus not bound to mortality, though they are not everlasting) remember and miss the days when they had worshipers who took the forms of animals and sang in chorus.

Each member of the Wolfpack can take the shape of a canine. Give it some time, and it seems like every canine in the galaxy is represented somewhere by a clone trooper. There’s bleedover between their two skins now, eyes that are not a human’s but not their creature’s either and thus don’t fit into either face, teeth too sharp and too many for a human and paws with just enough fingers to grasp. These troopers have a taste for raw meat now, for the hunt, and sometimes they laugh and chase their brothers around Coruscant and sometimes they hunt droids and generals, and sometimes they bring down creatures three times their size and feast. They howl and bark and cry together, a sound that shouldn’t harmonize but somehow does, and together they sing.

The 501st and the 212th will never agree who’s fault this was or who gets the credit, depending on who’s talking. It surprises no one that they change together, it would have been more of a shock if they’d each become something separately. They can’t agree on what it was that changed them either. They agree only on the planet. Maybe it was something in the water, which was drinkable but ran golden in every light, maybe it was the ruins, whose stones made their jedi wobble without knowing why, maybe it was the planet itself. The planet that was awake, and watching, and listening. The planet that felt the beat of the troopers’ feet when they danced and tasted the blood they shed and who knows the logic of a planet? 

They’re growing now, these troopers. Growing thorns in place of nails and flowers in place of eyes, and their blood flows thick like sap. There’s green on their lips now, chlorophyll that tolerates the rations but practically purrs in the sunlight, and whenever there’s the slightest chance the troopers strip down as much as they dare and soak in the sunlight, relish in the heat and light on their green-tinted skin and the ferns that curl along their scalps, the petals growing around their wrists and the algea growing between their toes that relishes the cool of water. They love to dance in the sunlight and their footsteps sign their names where they step, leaving new leaves and budding flowers in their wake.

The 327th plays host for one month to a flock of something that isn’t a phoenix or a firebird, but those are the only words they can think to apply. No one knows how they got on the ship. But their general says they’re peaceful and friendly besides, and radiating light in the force like a star (and aren’t they made of fire in the same way, they are not candleflame or forest fire or lava but starfire) and they make the cold of space warm, so the men grow to relax around them and are sad to see them go. They don’t take all of their warmth with them.

Spill their blood and it’s scalding hot, searing rock and metal and burning holes through fabric, raising blisters on the skin of anyone who doesn’t match their boiling heat. They could shower in icy water and fill the room with steam, indeed water sizzles when it lands. One trooper, with too much time and the right material, finds out that yes he can fry an egg on his hand and that’s a funny story but it’s also the least of what they can do, because these men can dance in a forest ablaze and fear neither heat nor smoke, can walk over lava and stare into suns, the suns that their eyes resemble because they’ve turned into stars. These troopers burn and shine and to compare them to distinct lights is much less of a metaphor than it was before.

Coruscant latches her teeth into the Coruscant Guard and there’s nothing they can do about it. That planet is a different kind of war than their brothers are facing but they’ve got casualty lists nonetheless and it takes no less persistence and skill and luck to survive it. There’s darkness in the city, pushing at the light of the Temple, and there’s light in the Guard but it’s the darkness that seeps into their blood, pulsing through them with each beat of their heart and each inhale.

It’s hard to look at the Guard now. They’ve become creatures of blood and shadow, muscle and bone, and death is just a word now because they know their bodies like no one else and they can simply knit themselves back together. The shades in place of their skin cover but do not hide the flesh beneath, the roll of organs, and where their eyes should be are pits or flickering streetlights or something moving that can only be glimpsed. Their minds seep along each other like oil on water, touching without merging, and it doesn’t make them safe it doesn’t fix the problem, but it keeps them from ever being alone, keeps any more of them from dying at the hands of those they protect, and that’s no small thing. The Guard tends not to speak much, but they tap constantly, tap and drum their words and tunes and the constant pulse of their shared heartbeat, their shared blood.

The SCUBA troops are the ones that bring the ocean into play. They catch the notice of an old god-goddess-divinity in a deep ocean, someone that isn’t really awake but instead the divine equivalent of half-asleep and half-dreaming and, much like a human just awake enough to not properly be asleep, makes a vague change to their dream without thinking about it.

These troopers don’t walk so much as flow; somehow they always look like they’re moving through water. Gills carve through their skin and salt water feels like coming home but fresh water is almost as good and aside from their gills only a few of them become like fish, only a few find their fingers webbed or learn they can grow tentacles at will, but all of them can swim through any water like they were made for it, can see through it clear as day, can laugh and dance on a ship in a thunderstorm without fear. And oh their dreams, they find their brothers in their dreams, bring them out of the choppy dark of nightmares and into the soothing calm of sweet dreams, they dream of things that are long gone and things that might be and things that could have been but never were, things that are known and things that cannot be understood.

Slowly, they grow to see the changes in their other brothers, their family, and it’s always a shock but it’s a good kind, oh you’ve changed to tell me how, how do you find it, it’s like unexpectedly meeting an old friend you haven’t seen in years but in minutes you’re sharing everything that’s happened since you met. And these changes, they don’t make the troopers force users but they give them a bit of awareness, enough to see who’s changed, to see the fingerprints of the force in the galaxy.

Some of them return to Coruscant and the Guard’s constant armor is as almost as much to keep them in the “proper” shape as it is to protect them and they above all know how to hide, so it takes sometime to see those fingerprints of change on them but they do and oh you’ve changed too what on earth did you run into to make that happen you’re supposed to be safe from the craziness here and one of the Guards laughs. It sounds like choking and cracking bones and hysteria.

Palpatine dies within a week. The war ends soon after.

When the clones rejoice, there are those who can change their skin and those with flowers for eyes, those burning with plasma and those who bleed uninjured and those who could walk the depths, all side by side and celebrating together as family does. Some of them are singing songs with harmonies that can’t be matched, some are dancing in a way that leaves clover behind them, some are shining in effusive joy, some are drumming out their pulse in accompaniment to the singing, and some are dreaming this for the little brothers awaiting them on Kamino. See your brothers in joy, see what you can become, we’ll be there to get you soon.

[azurecanary]

The amount of people who say that playing as a Jedi in DnD should be playing them as Wizards is wild to me given that kinda misses the whole point of playing a Jedi

Even playing a Force Wielder, something like Eldritch Knight or DS Sorcerer works much better

But Jedi are very specifically about their code, or in this case, their oath

Therefore, they should obviously be played as Paladins, specifically Oath of Devotion or Oath of Ancients, with maybe a brief dip into Sorcerer

[wantonlywindswept]

CC Batch Aurek: Abregado

one | two

this fought me so hard but HEY through the power of Maybe-Force-Maybe-Eldritch Shenanigans i have decided to improve the outcome of the 104th v the Malevolence.

not by a lot, but still.

---

Nax knew it wasn't his place to question his superior officers, but they seemed very worked up over something that was easily verified.

"--in the Abregado system when we lost contact--"

Nax stepped away from the communications room to pull up his comm, leaving the Council and the Chancellor to debate whether his brothers were worth rescuing. It was still early into second shift, which meant that most of first shift had probably only just made it to sleep, which mostly meant--

"I swear," Rex growled, "On Prime's fucking cock, if this isn't an emergency--"

"Commander Wolffe might be in trouble," Nax blurted, because Rex tended to keep his threats. "Can you, uh, check on him?"

Nobody really knew how the Aurek batch worked--including, apparently, Aurek themselves--and while the lack of tangible evidence drove Coric up the wall, it was already proven that they were somehow connected. 

Admittedly, the 'proof' came in the form of Rex getting incredibly drunk, predicting how his adopted batchers were feeling, and then comming them to prove it, so it was slightly suspect. But the only one he'd gotten wrong had been Commander Fox, who'd spent a good fifteen minutes threatening them with discipline and dismemberment for interrupting his work, which had only resulted in Rex grinning dopily at the holo.

There was a short pause on the other end of the call while Rex presumably did his mystical feely powers banthashit, but the sharp intake of air told Nax all he needed to know.

"General Koon called asking for reinforcements in the Abregado system," he reported without prompting as he heard the familiar sound of armor being hastily donned. "The comm was cut off, and we haven't been able to reestablish communications. They were after intel on that new Sep weapon."

"Then the survivors don't have long," Rex said grimly. His voice became clearer, shifting from a wrist comm to helmet speakers. "I'll go mobilize a squad; tell the General to meet me in the hangar."

"Yessir."

Nax cut the call and made his way back to the communications room. 

"--absence of distress beacons indicate that his fleet was--"

"Sirs," he interrupted, standing at sharp attention, "At least some of the 104th has survived. Captain Rex is currently assembling a rescue team in the hangar."

There was a brief moment of utter silence. Then:

"Rex," General Skywalker breathed. 

"Oh," General Kenobi said. He covered his eyes with one hand. "Oh, of course. I hadn't even thought about asking Cody."

"I'll lead some of the gunships over to the Abregado system to pick up the survivors," Skywalker announced, a new determined set to his shoulders. "Admiral Yularen will stay the course to keep watch on our supply lines, and we'll catch up as soon as we've retrieved the Wolfpack."

"I'm sorry," the Chancellor interjected, "But where is this intel coming from? Anakin, I know your heart is in the right place, but we cannot risk resources on the mere chance that there could be survivors."

"It's not just a chance," Skywalker said firmly. "Rex knows that at least Commander Wolffe is alive. And even if it's just him, any witnesses to how the weapon works would be worth it."

"You're basing this off the word of a clone?"

All five Jedi turned their attention to the Chancellor, radiating judgment. Nax smirked from behind the safety of his helmet.

"No offense intended to your Captain, of course," the Chancellor said hastily. "But, Councilors, you must see that this is an unwise decision--"

"No, Anakin has a point," General Kenobi interrupted, stroking his beard. "If Captain Rex says that Commander Wolffe is alive, that definitely means there are survivors out there."

"And how does the Captain know that?"

"It has to do with their batch," Kenobi explained. "They are a very unique group of clones--my own Commander Cody is part of it as well--"

Permission implicitly--if not expressly--given, Skywalker slapped the button to disconnect the call before he could be told otherwise, and immediately headed out of the comm room. 

"Snips, go with Rex, get the rescue team going ASAP. I'll follow you in the Twilight. Admiral Yularen, we have new orders..."

Nax watched them go, a tight knot of tension loosening in his chest. He pulled up his comm again.

"The Commander's on her way, sir," he reported. "You'll take the squad and depart ASAP; General Skywalker will catch up in his ship."

"Understood. We'll be underway as soon as Commander Tano gets here."

"Captain, if you can..."

Nax hesitated, the words sticking in his throat, because it was a stupid request, but--

"I'll do everything I can to find your batchmates," Rex promised gently, his voice losing its crisp edge. "If they're alive, we'll bring them home."

Nax exhaled shakily.

"Thank you, sir."

He didn't know if the Jedi always had their best interests at heart--and was almost positive that the Senate didn't--but Nax knew that he could always depend on his brothers. That they would look out for each other, even if no one else cared.

(Only thirty troopers made it out of the destruction. Only thirty, out of six hundred, remained of the 104th Battalion. 

But two of them were Sinker and Boost, and later, if Nax wept out of relief and selfish joy that at least they survived, he knew that his brothers understood.)

[stealingpotatoes]

star wars etc tags masterpost!!!

realised i've been slowly amassing a load of sw tags that aren't AUs so can't go on the AU masterpost but should be noted SOMEWHERE! so...

TECHNICALLY CANON-ISH STUFF ??? sometimes

eldritch skywalkers (actually exploring the fact the skywalkers are half/quarter Force)

luke's jedi academy (what it says on the tin)

^^ merricaldemy (merrin & cal jfo helping out!)

skywalkers & naberries (luke & leia w padmé's family post-rotj!!)

force ghosts (on the tin!)

mand'alor din djarin (ok maybe this isn't ""actually""" canon but its canon to me)

GROUPS/DYNAMICS

naboo handmaidens (self explanatorily padmé's handmaidens)

jedi temple (ok less a group, but yep. tcw jedi in the temple!)

disaster trio (tcw protagonists)

other lineage groups: mace-depa-kanan-ezra, yaddle-jaro-cal

space twins (luke & leia)

aunt soka (ahsoka being the twins' aunt)

handmaitwins (the handmaidens and luke & leia)

skywalker family (most/the whole fambly together!!)

the last (4) jedi (ahsoka, cal, luke and ezra! basically subsect of the luke academy stuff)

tl4j mandos (Din & Sabine!)

cal^2 (besties Cal Kestis & Kanan Jarrus/Caleb Dume)

aaand all ships are under their normal ship names, im not listing them here loll