#galaxy education services ranking

[ferusaurelius]

Turian Culture Meta - Ferus Style

Yeah so -- ready to descend into crazyland? 

We’re gonna dive into some meta thoughts I have about what sort of cultural educational and military system would produce the interesting client-state relationship between the turian Hierarchy and the Vol Protectorate.

Disclaimer: The opinions of the author (me) are naturally my own and are not intended to argue for or against anyone else’s ideas. This is not even intended to be an interpretation of canon, in point of fact. Canon doesn’t have much to say about things that actually interest me. -shrug-

This is my ‘plausible’ version of conceptual options and social structures that canon either glosses over or fumbles entirely. Because it’s just not interested in these ideas, really ... BUT I AM. :D

If you find any of these concepts compelling? Fantastic, please liberate them! Go and use them in any or all transformative work with or without attribution.

I really Do Not Want to be the only one writing this stuff, so... be welcome!

Full post (long) underneath the cut.

The Situation

The turian Hierarchy makes first contact with the Citadel some 1000 years after the volus have drawn up the Unified Banking Act (300 B.C.E.) and have a thriving economic network of colonies after discovering FTL travel. The volus in point of fact have more than a millennia of advanced experience in working with multi-species ventures and are a pillar of the galactic economy long before the turians finish off their brutal Unification Wars.

If you took just the game’s on-screen hints as fact, none of this is evident in the galaxy by the time Shepard encounters volus on the Citadel. They’re treated as a sort of minor curiosity in comparison to the turian characters -- whether because of the mask, or just because economics is “less interesting” in a AAA-shooter. OH WELL.

Another interesting element is that the volus are “accepted” as a protectorate of the Hierarchy around 700 C.E., shortly after the Krogan rebellions.

To my mind, this is translation for: the Hierarchy’s war economy in the aftermath of the Krogan rebellions would have collapsed without the intervention of volus administrators, economists, logicians, and other bureaucratic types. What the Hierarchy DOES have of a peacetime bureaucracy was likely or nearly entirely trained and reformed by the Vol Protectorate’s extremely professional civil service. Fight a series of wars and warlords in the colonies for around 1000 years while someone else is running the galactic banking system ... and you’re probably woefully behind the curve in that area, just saying.

When you’ve “elevated” one warlike species (the Krogan) and then been surprised that they’ve gone on to aggressively contest the rest of Citadel space, it even seems likely/possible that this was a grand strategic bargain on the part of the Citadel species to avoid the turians becoming a “second” Krogan incident.

A values-driven and rules-based collectivist civil society that managed to transition to a peacetime footing without an accompanying economic collapse would be a much more stable galactic force ... plus you get the opportunity to fill in C-Sec ranks, develop a galactic security fleet (employing turian Dreadnoughts), and use those related tasks and duties to bring turians (an otherwise very militaristic society with a historical doctrine of total war) into better compliance as galactic citizens. In essence: the Vol Protectorate gives the Hierarchy something to protect rather than conquer.

Naturally, turian cultural perspectives on the purpose of the Hierarchy and the relative values of the culture probably run the gamut from the more imperialistic Unification and pre-Unification end of the spectrum to the more socially/galatically communitarian version of the Hierarchy, itself, as a participant in creating civil society within the Milky Way.

When in doubt? I prefer to view individuals on a spectrum or continuum of different possible viewpoints -- and to prefer that a full spectrum of interpretations be available to my characters. So that’s the type of environment I’d use as backdrop for, say, a fic.

Education (Given: The Situation)

Which takes us back to the Hierarchy’s mandatory service culture and boot camp at age 15, with mandatory service from age 15-30.

“Public service” as opposed to private industry is more a matter of organization and aims than it is a limitation of ‘choices.’ Take, for instance, the example of ‘national’ industries owned by a state. Any state-owned enterprise might conceivably count toward ‘public service’ citizen credit. These enterprises could include everything from arts museums and public art projects (ala the Works Projects Administration of Roosevelt Depression-era US policy) to industrial fabricators, dockyards, and other collectively owned and operated institutions.

Note that I also don’t equate state-owned industry to CENTRALLY-PLANNED industry! You might, in a turian society that prizes both individual accountability AND public service, have for instance a federated system of local control within a centrally-organized public works or other department.

Fair warning: this is my professional bureaucrat side talking. There are MANY aspects of infrastructure, particularly public works infrastructure, that are site- and context-dependent. Central planning of these features quite literally doesn’t work outside of administration and funding (which you WANT organized in larger packages if possible, to secure the best possible loan terms). 

I also imagine that a public service-oriented society would work on incorporating the economic fates of its outer colonies into the trading lanes and patterns of the central Hierarchy (in order to secure greater loyalty and collective bargaining power, alongside the Vol Protectorate’s economic management engine).

So what would education in a “man-of-action”/”public service” society look like? I’d think more a system of apprenticeships and practical qualification or on-the-job (OJT) training and certification where available! 

A boot camp experience is usually important both for training in values and standard procedures, so it’s less likely to vary appreciably between any one place and another beyond basics related to climate and environment. I’d expect boot camp training to be purposely standardized -- individual accountability doesn’t necessarily lead me to conclude that turians would be keen to judge themselves on anything other than “demonstrated merit” (and testing would be ONE part, but probably not the most significant -- outside of genuine performance on practical tasks, and the ability to produce measurable results!).

Pre-boot-camp education would likely be designed to expose juveniles to as many professions as possible -- there’s a bit in the codex about the turian respect for “knowing one’s place” and finding a comfortable place where the individual best serves the community (rather than individual prestige or economic gain). This would also track with turians being ‘poor’ entrepreneurs (i.e. less inclined to start their own businesses for profit, or with less opportunity when they’re in State-mandated service) ... and account for some of the distrust of ‘merc-born’ turians who chose to opt out of the traditional Hierarchy structure.

I’d also expect a classical turian education to include emphasis on health, community values, and being able to communicate in a general way with their volus partners/collaborators in areas that are less often viewed as strengths of turian culture (aka: economics and business, anyone?).

If turian culture is truly militaristic and communitarian, both, and formed around a sort of military hierarchy, that society will also be shaped by what doctrine views as effective deployment of force and possible missions and required capabilities In military terms, this would be defined both by a theoretical ‘ideal’ force structure and various desired concepts of operations.

Military Doctrine (Given: The Situation)

So, what capabilities would be valuable for the turian Hierarchy to provide to the galaxy? What are its internal needs? What are the needs of its closest allies and partners?

We already know (or suspect) that Dreadnoughts are one sign of military status. These immense warships are required to secure and hold space stations and other important remote outposts, alongside the smaller cruisers, frigate wolfpacks, and other space Navy-type forces.

We can also consider C-Sec (civil and criminal investigation on the Citadel, security for ports, anti-smuggling operations, etc.) as a separate civil branch and outgrowth of skills are learned and taught within the Hierarchy and something of a stereotypical (and desirable!) turian job outside of Hierarchy space.

Other valuable services provided by the Hierarchy include staffing and operating a force (32 fleets!) large enough to secure not just Hierarchy space but also to protect the Citadel. Turians canonically value combined arms and disciplined maneuver warfare, decentralized command-and-control, and are also the primary military arm and security force for the rest of the galaxy.

In summary: the turians are so good at staffing and maintaining fleets that the rest of the Council species seem to prefer handing these civil functions over to the turians in proportion to their relative expertise and cultural strengths.

All of the above implies that turian culture would need to be an extraordinarily flexible (structurally) society, if individually somewhat set and rigid in expectations and values for fulfilling assigned duties.

I’d believe that assignments, once given, were equivalent to anyone else’s ultimatum! I’d also imagine that turians would find it VERY personally important to seek out roles where they could fulfill all potential assignments to the best of their individual abilities, and that ‘finding’ that place/role in society would be akin to a life path.

Amateurs Study Tactics

A short aside that warfighting ability, alone, at least on an individual level, is a minor strength in comparison to building an effective collaborative combined arms force. The organization required at an individual level? Not much! Just personal training and supply.

Problems mount as soon as the force expands in size, complexity, and desired mission capabilities. I could see volus economists and logicians, as well as military scholars, being the preeminent organizers and administrators of turian force structures. I could see the volus economic influence being a quite effective force multiplier for the turian Hierarchy, in terms of creatively organizing fleets and their sub-units into autonomous mission-capable interchangeable “parts” which all know how to work together and communicate to achieve complex adaptability and integration of vastly different forces, hardware, and weapons systems at a variety of scales (from galactic, to orbital, to low-orbit, to planetside ground).

Which leads us to ...

Professionals Study Logistics

This is just the study of the application of “effective force.” What makes a force effective? It needs to be supplied with personnel and materiel such that it can accomplish its assigned mission -- preserve the capability of the force through the supply of the necessary tools at the right time, alongside the ability to maintain, repair, replace, or rotate those tools as needed.

A force that has been improperly positioned (is too far forward of supply lines, or too far in the rear to be applied at the right time) is by definition an ineffective force. It is unavailable to accomplish the mission.

There’s a long, rich tradition of economists studying the choice behaviors of nations seeking war, the application of deterrence, and the conditions of victory and defeat on a multitude of different battlefields in different historical and cultural contexts. We get just about NONE of this (barring some high-level generalizations) in Mass Effect, proper!

If we did, we might have seen a bit more nuance in illustrating the Vol Protectorate as not just the economic backbone of Citadel space, but also the preeminent experts in military grand strategy and supply. They’re likely the most closely associated Citadel species and have the most experience collaborating with turian systems of organization! The volus would be just as good at turian military history as turians are, if not BETTER observers and critics on the logistics/economics side, in terms of patterns of thinking and history!

At some point I’m going to have to write the “lessons learned” memo on the First Contact War from the point of view of an eminent volus logistician and economist (ala Thomas Schelling).

Because I’m a nerd, and if the FCW was a failure due to logistics and supply errors? You can just BET the volus were kept out of the First Contact loop as a some sort of power play on the part of less-qualified frontline personnel... no, they’re not salty about that, why do you ask?

-

HATE ME YET? Yeah, I can’t stop thinking about this stuff, either ... and now you know why my fanfiction is the way it is. :D

[larimar]

neildegrassetyson

October 1, 2024 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Happy 100th Birthday, President Jimmy Carter. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Born around the same time that Edwin Hubble discovered that the Milky Way was one of countless galaxies in the known universe. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

One of the politicians I like! Here are a few facts about this incredible man!

James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 76th governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975, and a Georgia state senator from 1963 to 1967. Carter is the longest-lived president in U.S. history and the first president to live to 100 years of age.

Carter was born and raised in Plains, Georgia. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 and joined the U.S. Navy's submarine service. Carter returned home after his military service and revived his family's peanut-growing business. Opposing racial segregation, Carter supported the growing civil rights movement, and became an activist within the Democratic Party. He served in the Georgia State Senate from 1963 to 1967 and then as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1975. As a dark-horse candidate not well known outside Georgia, Carter won the Democratic nomination and narrowly defeated the incumbent Republican Party president Gerald Ford in the 1976 presidential election.

Carter pardoned all Vietnam War draft evaders on his second day in office. He created a national energy policy that included conservation, price control, and new technology. Carter successfully pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, and the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. He also confronted stagflation. His administration established the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Education. The end of his presidency was marked by the Iran hostage crisis, an energy crisis, the Three Mile Island accident, the Nicaraguan Revolution, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In response to the invasion, Carter escalated the Cold War by ending détente, imposing a grain embargo against the Soviets, enunciating the Carter Doctrine, and leading the multinational boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He lost the 1980 presidential election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, the Republican nominee.

After leaving the presidency, Carter established the Carter Centre to promote and expand human rights; in 2002 he received a Nobel Peace Prize for related work. He travelled extensively to conduct peace negotiations, monitor elections, and further the eradication of infectious diseases. Carter is a key figure in the nonprofit housing organization Habitat for Humanity. He has also written numerous books, ranging from political memoirs to poetry, while continuing to comment on global affairs, including two books on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Polls of historians and political scientists generally rank Carter as a below-average president, though scholars and the public more favourably view his post-presidency, the longest in U.S. history.

[thunderclaw100]

Cause of Death:Deactivation after disrespecting the control brains in their room.

Lux is a weird one out of the bunch because he tends to do things his own way and put the empire second to him. Even his tallest, Magnus pointed this out and thought Lux was just one of those drones who needs a bit more time in the education plug. His training was a challenge one, and many irkens described how unpleasant it was while working alongside this drone. Lux as a habit of causing a disturbance during his time in the academy.

He’s only ever made two good friends. One irken being part of the guards, who has been placed on one of the empire’s concurring worlds, and the other being a good service drone, stationed on Foodcourtia. Lux wants to make it up to the ranks of becoming an elite and later picked by the tallest as one of the invaders. He was granted after taken his final test assessment. This soldier was determined to shape his destiny in more ways than one. Lux believes that he is meant for greatness.

His fellow Irkens kept telling him that there is no other being greater than the almighty tallest. With that said, Lux had some private audience with tallest Magnus has him under watch for a while. Despite letting Lux have the rank of an elite. He is still unsure about his intentions. For the next couple of years. Not long after tallest Spectra’s death. Lux and a small team of elite soldiers were orders to be on an impossible mission. One that is on a planet, inhabited by monstrous beings known in the galaxy. The irkens are after their food supplies and equipment gear.

This is a suicide run, giving to Liz and his team as one of tallest Magnus test to see if any of his soldiers are worthy of remaining in his arm. Losing Spectra has turned the leader cold and gruesome. Treating his subjects as nothing more than disposable toys at this point. Lux was willing to prove to his tallest that he’s as worthy to live than any other. Sonya just like what he did during his training days….he cheated his way into completing his mission.

As well as getting his team killed in the process. Lux exit this test with a new found promotion as head of tallest Magnus’s strategic team. He sure loves bossing people around while getting things done at the same time. Most of his co-workers already don’t like him and are distant from Lux’s blabbering and flex of his new position. The drone was obviously trouble but got away with a lot of things just because he’s in good terms with their leader and the generals. When Magnus died, and Lux became the new tallest.

He personally believed that his predecessor must have put in a good word of him to the control brains since he was chosen so soon after their leader’s death. Lux went through the measuring process. Healed in a few days. Fired EVERYONE in personal staff and hired new ones who don’t look ancient and in need to retire. Tallest Lux has so many plans for his ruling as tallest that it consumed his own being. One thing he did was to increase production in the manufacturing of battle robots, tanks,laser canons,and other things.

Tallest Lux is the reason why the Irken empire and the planet jackers were having their first war and it had to end with a treaty being made for them to come to an agreement when it comes to taking selective planets. This kind of behavior left a bad mark on the empire because ever since their pak enhancement and technology at its highest. There shouldn’t have been any casualties on their part.

Tallest Lux got wind that there are a few escapees, tying to leave the planet, but he had them all detained before setting them up for an execution. Only one of the Irken’s remain alive due to pleading to offer up other irkens who have betrayed him. New rules were put into place and the tallest was making it clear that he will not take any mercy on to those who try to play him for a fool. Lux proceeds in his dominant reign for another few decades, until it came to an end after he made a horrible decision that made the Irken race lose face. One that is never to be taken lightly.

The control brains has summoned him to their chambers to discuss the issue. The tallest denies all claims and argues back and forth with them. The three brains came to their own conclusion that Lux is a defective and has to be deactivated. The tallest refuse this fate and made a break for it.

It wasn’t much of an escape for him but the tallest was able to get someone done before being captured and forced to be deactivated right in front of other spectators and control brains. He laughed as they did it. A laugh all too familiar years later. Lux’s memory is washed away and never kept into the collective. Most irkens don’t even about him now. That or they do not wish to speak about him. They were already looking forward to their next leader, who is in fact a better candidate than her predecessor.

*EXTRA*

•Lux believes that all other species should be wiped out and only their kind should exist.

•He likes all kinds of snacks and foods.

•He monologues in his head sometimes.

•He visited the smeetery twice in his life. He wore the most royal-like expensive kind of wardrobe ever custom made in the empire.

•Lux is the least favored tallest in history.

•Lux does at the age 130.

•The control brains slipped up when they took Lux’s pak and only destroyed his body/DNA. This made it into the future generation of smeet,and Zim carries his defectiveness later.

•Unlike others. He didn’t get his ocular

implants until he started his surface training.

•Tallest Magnus sees him as an entertainment.

•Lux cheated his way to the elite ranks.

*DIALOGUE*

“I’ve never broken the rules, but I’ve become powerful enough the make new ones.”

“His death was an accident. Yours won’t be!”

“You were supposed to study this planet. Learn of its people and see if there’s anything valuable for the empire. Not slacking off.”

“A hurtful truth is better than a comforting lie”

“You can’t get rid of me. I’ll come back and make you all pay! Mark my words and I’ll see you in hell!”

[kiranpatil1996]

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[devinschumacher]

What Is Search Intent?

Search intent is what someone is looking for when they use a search engine (like Google.)

It is also referred to as user intent, or keyword intent.

Search intent is their primary objective — the purpose for why they’re using Google. That purpose can be various different things — directions to a restaurant, reviews for a pair of shoes or even information about a famous person.

There are 4 general types of search intent — we’ll cover this in a second.

But first, there is one thing we need to be very clear about.

Search intent is not the same as search query.

Search Intent ⁠— What they are looking for when they use Google

Search Query ⁠— What they type into Google

These two things don’t always line up. Ideally they should, which is what Google aims for.

The 4 Types Of Search Intent

There are 4 basic types of search intent.

Informational

Navigational

Commercial

Transactional

source: backlinko Informational

Informational search intent is when an individual is looking for information. This might be about something simple, or something that is rather in-depth.

Good search query examples include:

“NBA scores”

“Who is Donald Trump?”

“Directions to LAX airport”

“How do cryptocurrencies work?”

Informational queries are considered more “Top of the funnel” keywords. They are terms that people search when they are new/early in their buying journey.

Informational queries are a great opportunity to educate potential consumers about their issues, while giving them a first impression with your brand.

If you can help answer some of the questions people have at the top of the funnel, you will have an opportunity to nurture that relationship down through their buying journey and potentially sell them something at the end.

Navigational

Navigational search intent is when someone is looking for a specific website/webpage. Instead of typing the specific URL, they simply Google search it.

Good search query examples include:

“Twitter”

“YouTube login”

“SERP Co SERP University”

If someone is looking for a Brand’s specific property (like Twitter) or URL (like the login page) there is not much value in a keyword like that. You have already done the hard work of getting your brand in the consumers mind.

Commercial

Commercial search intent is when someone is researching a product or service to buy. They are looking at reviews and comparisons — they are weighing up their options.

Good search query examples include:

“Netflix vs hulu”

“Samsung galaxy s10 review”

“Best chinese food in los angeles”

These can be seen as “Middle of the Funnel” keywords.

A consumer is already educated about their PROBLEM, and fairly knowledgable about some of the potential solutions on the market – the products & brands that can help them solve their issue.

Many times these are even “Bottom of the funnel” keywords – because the people searching them are actually quite close to making a purchase decision. For example – if you are searching for “Best chinese food in los angeles” you might be in your car, hungry, ready to eat and just waiting for the first 4 star reviewed place to pop up so you can click “get directions”.

Transactional

Transactional search intent is when someone knows what they want to buy and is ready to make a purchase. They’ll enter a search query into Google, trying to find a place to buy.

Good search query examples include:

“Buy iphone 11”

“NBA league pass coupon”

“Converse chuck taylors cheap”

These are often called “money keywords” and are referred to as “Bottom of the funnel” or “high buyer intent”.

Why? Because the people searching these have basically already decided in their mind that they what they want to buy, and they are ready to pull the trigger.

Why Is Search Intent Important For SEO?

Search intent is important because Google (and other search engines) value it when ranking webpages.

Google’s own mission statement confirms this.

Our mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

The key word there, is useful.

Google wants its search results to be useful, to actually be what people are looking for. They want search queries and search intent to match.

They even have an entire section about search intent in their search quality evaluator guidelines.

Google also released this report — How Intent Is Redefining The Marketing Funnel.

It’s an interesting read. It really shows you how much Google values what search users are looking for.

If anything, simply ranking for your keywords, showing up on SERPs is not enough. What good is it being ranked #1 on Google, if it’s not what they’re looking for?

Traffic is nice, but it’s not really worth anything on its own.

It has to translate to something.

Content that doesn’t satisfy search intent won’t last long at the top. Google is big on user signals, like bounce rate and dwell time.

Best Practice

Find Out What Search Intent Type Your Keywords Are

Analyze The SERP Ranking History Of Your Keywords

Optimize Your Content For User Experience

Analyze The ��People Also Ask” Box

Analyze Top-Ranking Pages

Don’t Forget About Commercial Pages

Find Out What Search Intent Type Your Keywords Are

Some of your keywords intent will be obvious — “buy converse chuck taylors” is clearly transactional. Alternatively “how to write a poem” would be informational.

The clue is in the wording.

Here’s a graph of keyword “modifiers” that’ll help you identify search intent.

source; ahrefs

If your keyword features one of these modifiers, its user intent should be clear.

Another easy way you can uncover keyword intent is to investigate the SERPs.

Now, obviously, the top results for your keyword are going to satisfy search intent. How could they not? You can’t rank that high without doing so.

Type your keyword into Google and observe the results — we’ll use “best seo tool” as an example.

Each top result is a piece of content about the best seo tools. People who type this search query into google are researching. They want to find out what the best option is.

This suggests a commercial intent.

But if we look at the results for “backlink checker” we get different results.

The results are all actual tools, not content write-ups about “what is the best tool.”

The search intent here is clearly transactional.

Another thing to look out for on results pages are SERP Features.

SERP features are special results that appear on results pages — usually at the top or side of the page.

They act as a way for search results to be more in-depth, and enticing to click on.

There are 4 main types of SERP features.

Rich Snippets

Paid Results

Universal Results

Knowledge Graphs

The on-page SEO post covers SERP features in-depth, you can read more there.

Use this graph to help you match the SERP feature with keyword intent.

source: ahrefs

The Beats headphones example from above clearly has a transactional intent.

Using these methods (observation, modifiers, SERP analysis) should be enough to discover search intent.

Takeaway: Use observation, modifiers or SERP analysis to uncover search intent.

Analyze The SERP Ranking History Of Your Keywords

The reality is that SERPs are always changing. You can analyze it to uncover user intent, but it’s just one snapshot in time.

You need to look at the SERP ranking history of your keywords.

To do this, we’ll use Ahrefs’ Keyword Explorer tool.

Enter your keyword into the tool, and scroll down to the “SERP position history” section.

The example in the image (how to write a resume) show extremely consistent results. This tells us that the current SERP ranking is authentic. Search intent is clear.

Compare that to the results for “mercury.”

The ranking history is highly variable, always changing. It’s hard to gauge keyword intent from this.

On the other hand, this presents an opportunity. Google hasn’t found the right results it wants. You can shoot up the rankings with the right strategy.

Most results are going to be somewhere in-between the two examples above.

Take “notre dame” for example.

In these instances, you’ll want to focus on the consistent results. In the above example, it’s the green and purple lines.

These will give you the best idea about user intent in moderate cases.

Takeaway: Use ahrefs Keyword Explorer tool to analyze your keywords SERP history.

Optimize Your Content For User Experience

User experience is extremely important when it comes to your content. How do you think Google discovers search intent?

User signals.

Google watches what search users do — when they click on a result, do they stay there? Or do they leave instantly?

Bounce rate, click-through rate, pogo-sticking, dwell time — these are all measurements Google tracks, and use to determine search intent.

If your content is not optimized for user experience, you’re bounce rate is going to be high, dwell time low. You’re not going to rank very well.

There are 4 things we are going to address to improve user experience.

Minimize Popups

Avoid Small Font Sizes

Use Subheadings

Don’t Forget Videos & Images

Minimize Popups

Popups can be extremely intrusive, absolutely ruining the user experience of your content.

It’s best to just avoid them altogether.

However, exit-intent popups are fine.

Exit-intent popups are popups that appear when you move your cursor to exit the page.

They are naturally less intrusive than all other forms of popups.

Avoid Small Font Sizes

Really small font size can absolutely ruin user experience. How can you expect someone to read something they can’t see?

No but seriously — look at how hard this is to read.

Now compare it to this — a much larger font size.

Much easier to read.

So what size do you want to use?

According to a 2016 study, 18 points font size. In pixels that’s 24.

The truth is, there are lots of studies/research saying all sorts of font sizes. The main constant however, is avoiding a size that’s too small.

Test out your font size yourself. Ask yourself, “is this hard to read?” Show it to a family member or friend.

Use Subheadings

Subheadings make your content easy to navigate, easy to understand.

Like chapters in a book, the content is sliced and diced into different sections.

Pro tip: combine subheadings with a table of contents for maximum content navigation.

Don’t Forget Videos & Images

Videos and images are a great way to increase your contents readability.

They do this in 2 ways.

Break up walls of text

Show information through an effective medium

Long walls of text are very hard to read — images and videos act as a way to break them up.

Images are also highly effective as a way to show information.

Here are 4 statistics backing this up.

Our brains process images 60,000x faster than text (source.)

It only takes our brains 13 milliseconds to process images (source.)

90% of the information processed by the human brain is visual (source.)

80% of humans remember what they see, opposed to 10% of what they hear and 20% of what they read (source.)

The age-old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true.

And as far as videos go, they’re a whole bunch of images. They work even better.

Takeaway: Optimize your content for user experience by minimizing popups, using the right font size, using subheadings, images and videos.

Analyze The “People Also Ask” Box

The “People Also Ask” box SERP feature is a goldmine for content ideas.

These are actual questions people want answers to when they type your keyword into Google. This is more than just analyzing the SERP results to uncover user intent — these are SPECIFIC questions.

Adding these questions to our content will help satisfy search intent greatly, skyrocketing you up the rankings.

Look at how I’ve covered some of these questions for “search intent” in this post.

NOTE: Not all questions (from the box) should be used.

When you click on the questions, more and more will appear. They tend to become more random and irrelevant as the list goes on.

Focus on the questions at the top.

Takeaway: Insert questions and answers from the “people also ask” box into your content.

Analyze Top-Ranking Pages

Nothing helps you optimize your content for search intent like looking at who’s winning.

Google tends to want a very specific type of content when it comes to keywords.

Check out this example — “on-page seo.”

Notice anything? All the top-results are actionable guides. This is the specific type of content to make for this keyword — this is the content that satisfies search intent.

Ahrefs actually has a case study about this keyword (on-page seo.)

They had originally created a study for their on-page seo post.

It didn’t rank well. What was wrong?

They didn’t satisfy search intent. All the top-results were actionable guides, so they redid the post.

Doing this resulted in a 3,100% increase in traffic.

source: ahrefs

The post now ranks top 10.

Looking at the top results is not just for uncovering search intent. It’s also useful for discovering what type of content Google wants.

Takeaway: Take content ideas from the top-ranking pages for your keyword.

Don’t Forget About Commercial Pages

It’s not all just about content — you also need to optimize your commercial pages.

Lots of Google searches are looking for these commercial pages. Someone might be trying to buy something, or wanting to sign-up for a free trial. Maybe even just get a quote.

Here’s an example — “nike roshe.”

No content results, all commercial pages.

If you want to rank for this keyword, don’t make a blog post. Make an e-commerce product page.

Now you’re probably thinking… “Duh, of course commercial pages would come up for a search query like that.”

True — a product name google search is most likely going to result in pages to buy said product.

But not always.

Take “air fryer” for example.

See that? Content results.

Never presume. Always research search intent. If you don’t, you might spend days on a piece of content that doesn’t have a snowballs chance at ranking.

Final Thoughts

Search intent is the reason why people use Google — the primary objective. It can be to buy something, to get directions to somewhere, or even just information on something.

It’s so important for SEO because it’s important to Google. They care about what search users want. Knowing how to optimize for it is crucial.

In this post we covered all you need to know about search intent.

Canonical attribution: https://devinschumacher.com/search-intent/

[galaxyedubangalore-blog]

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[galaxy-educational-services]

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[sith-shenanigans]

Spheres of Influence - Ancient Knowledge

To the engines of memory, that record and consume.

Probably the sphere we know most about canonically—though it should tell you how low the bar is that, if I recall correctly, it’s the only sphere mentioned by name in the pre-Zakuul game dialogue. (And it’s called, for some inane reason, a pyramid. Okay.) But there’s fairly solid context for what it does and why it rates a Council seat, which puts it ahead of several others.

Held by Darth Arctis, at least in name, until the last third or so of Act III, then Thanaton (for about one Kaggath-length), then Imperius/Occlus/Nox. (Or one of the smattering of inquisitors who have wandered off and acquired a non-canon title, who are valid and the Sithly lights of my life, but too varied to list.)

In Sith Society:

The galaxy is built on the ruins of older histories—pasts that faded to myths, myths that faded to legends, legends lost to the mist. Sith in the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge seek out and research rituals, Force artifacts, and writings that vanished into history. Having the best grounding in the field, they’re also on the forefront of new ritual, though (to their great annoyance) dominion over healing and body-affecting alchemy belongs to Biotic Science instead. (This doesn’t stop them from researching it, but it makes it difficult to gain official status by doing so.)

They tend to be hands-on in their expeditions—even Darths frequently engage in fieldwork, if they don’t lock themselves in their laboratories for months at a time instead. More than rage, or hate, or even pride, their common drive is obsession; their politics are as likely to be over arcane academic disagreements as over power plays, their specialties are specific and intense, and when they tip over the edge, they’re the ones standing before the altar and calling forth Powers Sapiens Weren’t Meant To Know. Usually, they’re also the ones cleaning up after—after all, if they don’t, Mysteries will, and then no one will get to see the research paper.

In Secular Administration:

The Sphere of Ancient Knowledge directly controls and works closely with the Imperial Reclamation Service—as well as its academic counterpart under the Science Bureau, the Division of Imperial History. They share power over the Bureau of Education with the Sphere of Sith Philosophy and its Ministry of Culture; stunningly, this has led to cooperation far more often than rivalry, and the spheres generally retain a surprisingly stable working relationship. A large fraction of the Empire’s universities are ultimately controlled and administrated by Ancient Knowledge.

The sphere also approves and oversees the construction of tombs, and holds responsibility over the cremation or interring—depending on rank—of the less-honored dead. The latter rarely attracts any Sith attention, since deceased Imperials generally do not contribute very much to a power base, but there’s the occasional display of spiritual duty in ensuring the dead are brought home.

Opinions:

Biotic Science: Rivalry. The claim that alchemy is their domain alone makes them nearly impossible to work with long-term, though the odd scholarly collaboration still happens.

Defense of the Empire: Respect. Every world that falls to the Republic is a history lost—and so much has been lost already.

Expansion and Diplomacy: Neutral. Really only relevant when a world with a Force tradition is discovered, or when negotiations need to be opened with one of the galaxy’s lesser powers. Whether they’re allies or interference is entirely circumstantial.

Intelligence: Neutral, leaning towards suspicion. Secretive, self-important spies, but generally uninterested in anything that happened more than a decade or two ago. If they have to involve themselves, you probably did something stupid. Let them and Mysteries fight over who can be the better conspirators, but stay out of the way—the enemy of your enemy is still a nosy bastard.

Laws and Justice: Neutral, leaning towards respect. While they can be inconvenient, they at least keep the population of rogue Sith down, and dead renegades usually don’t break into your library. They’ll also bargain for old legal texts, sometimes—precedent is a holy word where they’re concerned.

Military Offense: Low-grade annoyance. What will it take to get those meatheads not to tromp their soldiers through important sites?

Military Strategy: Neutral. Tacticians as much as personal combatants, even among the lower ranks. Some see more value in history and ritual than others, but they at least understand the worth of information.

Mysteries: Bitter mutual hatred. Artifact thieves and suppressors of information, constantly overstepping their bounds. Any alliance is temporary and unstable, unthinkable except in the direst of circumstances.

Production and Logistics: Cautious respect. Anyone who’s organized a conference can tell you how important bureaucracy really is. If you ever want to organize a conference again, stay on their good side—now if only they’d be more reasonable about letting relics through customs…

Sith Philosophy: Close association and/or cordial rivalry. Fellow scholars, whose priorities are generally in the right place—except the Culties, who are less scholarly and more vividly insufferable—and usually amenable to negotiating an informational exchange. Still, best not to let them get there first. And keep them away from the historically important heresies.

Technology: Cordial rivalry. Informational exchange is necessary, but anyone who unearths lost technology will quickly have to beat them off with a stick. Still, their mandate is parallel enough for some cooperation.

[1/12]

[cienie-isengardu]

axelzp replied to “The Bad Batch”:

I think most people take issue with Omega and TBB due to concerns over whitewashing. Also, what do you have against the explanation of the biochips? Personally, I always thought it fit Palpatine's controlling nature better than the idea of clones just getting a command from some random guy in a hood, telling them to kill the Jedi.

First off, I apologize it took me so long to answer. I tried to explain my reasoning in a short and coherent way as possible, but apparently the years of frustration about this issue needed more space to be properly addressed. So, in advance, sorry for text length.

From all TCW changes done to star wars, the chip-in-brain is one of my top 3 reasons to dislike the whole TV show, despite many of its good moments. I understand why authors chose this sub-plot that allows them to separate the visibly individual "good" clones (thus making them more likeable for the audience / marketing) from the “bad” that kill the Jedi but frankly, I find it a cheap and kinda problematic excuse. Clones were victims regardless of which version people will accept but I really despite the idea that Jedi were their beloved generals and commanders - so beloved that clones actually had nightmares about killing them waaay before Palpatine ultimately won which undermines the whole point of Order 66. 

Jedi could never expect clones to shoot them in the back because they were used to their unquestioned obedience from the start of war. It was common knowledge, repeatedly mentioned in sources like “Jedi Trial” that clones were “bred to war, bred to discipline, bred to obey without question the orders of the powers that paid for their services”. Clones were made that way by genetic manipulations and years of intensive training; an indoctrination that makes clone troopers believe they have obey, no matter what cost.

Some sources, like Clone Wars Adventures’ “Orders” outright show us the mindset of clones:

and We’ve got nothing but each other ad our orders.

Because of that worldbuilding, I prefer Legends take on clone obedience and the Jedi approach to the problem than what TCW created. I talked about it more here, but the general sense is that I feel cheated by the idea of chips that turn people into some “programmed” machines because in such way, TCW erased the Jedi & Republic part in abuse & enslavement of clone troopers, while at the same time giving an unrealistic idea that Jedi were so liked / respected when most of clones did not have any special bond with them. And this is less about if Jedi were good military leaders or not and more that as generals/commanders they didn’t interact that much with common troopers. Because the chain of command doesn’t work like that. I’m willing to buy the close(r) bond between Anakin & 501st because frankly Darth Vader himself from the start was built as someone with better relationships with common troopers / “normal” officers than with most of the high ranking officers presented on screen. I’m pretty sure some other Jedi were caring and liking clones (and vice versa) but it is impossible for generals to know and be so close to all of their troopers.

Above everything else, Legends created an interesting situation in which the Jedi Council / Order knew clones would follow orders no matter if those were right or not and were aware how dangerous it could be yet they still didn’t do anything about it, because the obedience of clones were beneficial for them. Jedi not only took for granted their obedience, they mistook it for respect.

Which really speaks a lot about Jedi's own moral failing and/or lack of understanding the difference between those two terms.

In the Legends sources, there was no need for chips, really, when from the start Kaminoans tinkered with clone genome, created the effective system of “proper” education to mold clones into obedient soldiers and Republic wasn’t really interested to undo the damage done by such indoctrination. 

Before TCW brought the chips and “nightmares haunting clones” there were officially established Contingency Orders for the Grand Army of the Republic: Order Initiation, Orders 1 Through 150. A guideline for unexpected and/or critical situations, so the Great Army of Republic [GAR] would know how to proceed - especially when troopers were given contradictory orders. The orders (also known as Clone Protocols) weren’t secret and there is a big chance that Jedi knew it, if someone bothered to learn the manual. The whole formula of Order 66 was described as:

"In the event of Jedi officers acting against the interests of the Republic, and after receiving specific orders verified as coming directly from the Supreme Commander (Chancellor), GAR commanders will remove those officers by lethal force, and command of the GAR will revert to the Supreme Commander (Chancellor) until a new command structure is established."

And here how the scene played in the RotS novelisation:

That concealed compartment held a secure comlink, which was frequency-locked to a channel reserved for the commander in chief.

Kenobi nodded and spoke to his mount, and the great beast overleapt the clone commander on its way down into the battle.

Cody withdrew the comlink from his armor and triggered it.

A holoscan appeared on the palm of his gauntlet: a hooded man.

"It is time," the holoscan said. "Execute Order Sixty-Six."

Cody responded as he had been trained since before he'd even awakened in his creche-school. "It will be done, my lord."

The holoscan vanished. Cody stuck the comlink back into its concealed recess and frowned down toward where Kenobi rode his dragonmount into selflessly heroic battle.

Cody was a clone. He would execute the order faithfully, without hesitation or regret. But he was also human enough to mutter glumly, "Would it have been too much to ask for the order to have come through before I gave him back the bloody lightsaber. . . ?"

The order is given once. Its wave-front spreads to clone commanders on Kashyyyk and Felucia, Mygeeto and Tellanroaeg and every battlefront, every military installation, every hospital and rehab center and spaceport cantina in the galaxy.

So there is really no “random hooded guy” calling clones to kill Jedi but Chancellor himself using an appropriately secured military channel with confirmation of his identity to issue a legal order in a critical situation (an opportunity created by the Jedi Council themselves who went into the Senate building to kill Palpatine). So why the clones shouldn’t listen, when the order came directly from the Supreme Commander of the Great Army of the Republic? 

Of course, the movie (and novel based on it) alone has this weird addition like “yes my Lord'', what I personally consider as the cinematic way to show the switch from Chancellor Palpatine to Emperor Darth Sidious. Still, I’m willing to give some benefit of doubt about the modification made by Kaminoans and if Order 66 could trigger anything hidden in clone subconscious. But even if there was something, it didn’t erase their personalities or changed the way clones behaved like it happened in The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch.

One way or another, the Order 66 worked out because clones “have no malice, no hatred, not the slightest ill intent that might give warning. They are only following orders”. Which I guess comes down to how clone troopers were presented - or maybe rather how they were seen by other characters in the Legends. As more detached, combat pragmatic, toned down, to some degree isolated from the outside world, less individual. Regardless of what Jedi or Republic citizens thought about clones, it did not make them any less human beings.

And here comes the paradox of The Clone Wars. The TV show made great effort to humanize clones by presenting them as very individual, outstanding people which in itself is a great thing. The names, the tattos, the different paintings of armours, visible variety of behaviour. All great to make the audience see clones as human beings, to get emotionally invested into them, because the more likeable clones were the better for marketing the story (and the cynical part of me thinks it really comes down to making money, isn’t it?)

But this effort became also the trap and the inhibitor chips is the excuse to make such loved, caring and brave characters into the detached clones gunning down the Jedi in Revenge of the Sith. 

The things that irks me a lot about this situation is the feeling like fans started care for clones because they were made into different type of characters than what they were (similar like Anakin’s movie characterization was thrown out of the window, to make him more suitable for fans who wanted the badass typical male hero instead of introverted, conflicted and traumatized young man). The clones get the visible individuality to make them the heroes we should root for, but then there is the “magical” switch that will cut down their heroic deeds because now they are “bad” and stormtroopers can’t have any personality. Which is just… frustrating. 

Don’t get me wrong, I adore how clone troopers get more visible individuality (even if sometimes if felt too exaggerated), but the “not standing out from the group”  was something that kept clones alive on Kamino and I can see why it was used as coping mechanism (the safe option) during the war. I regret that The Clone Wars didn’t show the transition from AotC nameless troopers into such individuals and how much it happened thanks to Jedi, what may help to build the feeling of supposed strong bond between Jedi and troopers. Because frankly, when we met TCW!clones, they already have names, different colors and marks on armor plates and helmets and for all we know, they could create their own “culture” without Jedi influence.

The final part of why I hate the chip-in-brain sub-plot is how it changed clones. Because even if that was a means to force clones into killing Jedi & ensure that Order 66 will be carried on no matter what, it shouldn’t change them into bullies toward their own brothers. But now in The Bad Batch, the clones don’t speak between themselves, are aggressive toward others and generally act like assholes for no real reason. And yeah, I get this may be a cinematic metaphor for a change from “good” republic soldiers into “bad” imperial stormtroopers and most likely something along the way “Republic/Jedi gave you individuality, Empire takes that away” but frankly, Republic did not give anything to clones. It did not acknowledge their human right, didn’t have any plan for their future, didn’t pay for their service or more expensive medical treatment for that matter, did not teach them they could - should - make their own choices.

Now clones are cheering for the Empire because inhibitor chips! They are assholes, because inhibitor chips! They shoot their *beloved* Jedi generals because of the chips! 

And in a way, I get this resolution, the chips make it clear clones were victims. But even without them, they were victims from the start. Except now clones are “programmed” while in Legends the senate (a power paying for their life) officially and legally renamed Republic into Empire and clones were glad for still having a purpose in life. The war ended (thus their usefulness), but they were still needed - still wanted - instead of being put down or closed at Kamino or whatever. I can see why the uncertainty of the future made clones cheering up for the Empire. And frankly, I personally prefer them not caring for the political change (because why should they? It never was their job to *judge* the rightness of their superiors) instead of being “programmed” like some droids and playing the role of fodder to kill for the “good guys”.

Dunno, if I explained properly my issue with inhibitor chips, it just feels to me as not really convincing and a too risky concept in the bigger picture of the things and the fact that Jedi just like that ignored this suspicion matter of Tup and Fives and biochips doesn’t help either. Like I said, I understand why the chips were introduced to the story, as the excuse in the change of clone troopers’ behaviour but at the end of day, Legends worldbuilding will always make more sense to me. I don’t need overly done differentiation of clones to care for them as an individual human beings (and it kinda seems to me like that, clones suddenly became fan favorite when every looks or act differently but not when the AotC literally presented them as an army created to blindly obey Jedi/Republic) and I don’t blame them for sticking with Empire because what better option they had, considering their upbringing and the pathological system in which they lived all their life?

Dunno, I’m biased and may just have allergy to TCW in general.

As for Omega, I’m not really surprised about this concern, especially after seeing TBB’s version of padawan Kanan (that if not for A) some basic knowledge about his backstory and B) Depa Billaba calling him by name, I would probably never have figured out who he was supposed to be). But for Omega alone, I don’t mind her look, because I’m used to Legends!Jango’s biological family in which his mother and sister were both blond haired women and frankly, some “defective” clones (including Rex?) apparently could be blond too, so it seems like Jango’s genome has a recessive gene somewhere for that color of hair. I try to hold my judgment about Omega and her appearance until the full backstory will be revealed because there is still a chance that Fett’s DNA was mixed with someone else's (still I hope Omega is not force sensitive…). I mean, Hunter has heightened senses while Wrecker has almost supernatural strength and both traits seem to be not really human, so who knows what Kaminoans really did with them.

 I understand people’s emotional response to Disney’s approach to characters and their visual look, especially since it isn’t the first screw up in New Canon (the models for characters in general and New Mandalorians especially). I’m totally okay with people’s criticism of that matter and demanding from Disney more diversity and respecting the already established ethnicity of certain groups. I’m aware I may not be sensitive enough to that matter as some other people (even more with barely watching TV shows to have any current and up-to-date comparison to trends in cartoons) and I’m pretty sure more qualified / invested fans already wrote or will be writing soon great metas about that. But the thing that irks me is hearing people saying that Omega *can’t* be Jango’s clone - I don’t like this sort of exclusion based on someone’s look alone. She may not look like Fett or other (male) clones but it is not something Omega chose for herself and does not erase her connection to the rest of the Bad Batch. Being angry at Disney/creators for her look is a different matter I don’t have any problem with.

[chopper-witch]

A Sense and A Feeling: Selcouth

Selcouth (adj), archaic: unusual or strange

-----------------

WC: 4k+

Characters: reader, Wrecker, Hunter, Crosshair, Tech, Shaak Ti, Nala Se. 

Reader is AFAB, gender-neutral, sometimes referred to with feminine terms by other characters (girl in this specific chapter, for anyone needing that warning); no specific description. 

Warnings: some angst, self-deprecation on behalf of the reader, fighting

A/N: I promised myself I would make this less than 3k words. I lied. 

I make Shaak Ti look kind of mean but I promise I love her and it won’t stay like that. Also forgive the initial attitude of TBB, but it’s explained :( 

(Story masterlist)

Prologue // Next 

-----------------

14:1:10 (FIRST MONTH, TENTH DAY, 21 BBY), TIPOCA CITY, KAMINO

Drenched in sweat but soaked in frustration, you pull yourself as far away as possible from everyone else when a break is called.

The room is chittering with conversation; clones complimenting and teasing one another, Jedi of higher ranks noting technique changes the padawans they have with can use, padawans excited to be training with clones and even being on Kamino. And there you stand, in the one corner completely abandoned, shoving your weaponry angrily into its holster, blissfully ignored save the few glances your way.

"May I please be dismissed, Master?" You eventually ask, glancing towards the Jedi Master who dragged you here in the first place.

"Of course. Make sure you are on time for your meeting with Nala Se later."

You aren't a child who needs minding and reminding, yet she still acts like you are so. As if you didn't still get shoved through a Jedi Knight's worth of training (despite it being completely useless more often than not).

As soon as you exit the training room, all the tears of anger and sadness, and frustration begin to fall freely.

Shaak Ti is some kind of sadist, you've concluded. Forcing you to do training exercises with the Clones and Jedi who come to Kamino when she knows you can't use a lightsaber and don't use a blaster. When she knows you were never trained in either, or even combat, due to your status. When she knows the Jedi never even let you do combat training. And while the weapons you do have can be immensely effective against both sabers and blasters, the limitations she places on your use of them prevent you from properly defending yourself.

So you make a fool of yourself every. single. time.

Ancient weaponry older than their sacred lightsabers turned useless because you simply aren't allowed to use them.

The Council of Reassignment, as they call themselves, decided not to send you to the regular Service Corps like other failed Jedi. And unlike others, you didn't even have the option to return home. So you were not sent to archaeology or research or education or exploration. No, like the sadist every damn Jedi is, they sent you to the Medical Corps.

A mean trick and a cruel reminder that you failed as Jedi. In the Service Corps, at least you would be surrounded by other failed Jedi as well as those who passed. Everyone was either a Jedi or someone with advanced knowledge from somewhere across the galaxy in the Medical Corps. There were no other failures, only reminders of your own.

And the Jedi sent you, a scared, sorry 10-year-old who was watching her entire life crumble before her off to it.

"You may not have the skills to be a Jedi," Windu had said when telling you of the Reassignment Council's decision. "But you will do good learning medicine, not archiving or exploring or even educating. Learning to heal and help is a much better use of your particular skills."

What particular skills? They never told you. You never could figure it out, either.

Now, with the war, they've moved you to Kamino. Away from the decent life you tried to create on Coruscant. Said you would do best teaching the clones medic skills the Kaminoans could not teach, not wanting to admit that every other Jedi in the Corps was overwhelmed still from the Battle of Geonosis, sacrificing you and your life so an actual Jedi Medic would not be pulled away.

Sadists.

You rip your necklace off and stare at the crystal a moment. You were able to find a damn kyber crystal but not build a lightsaber? How stupid you must be.

How much of a failure.

You throw it as hard as you can against the wall.

It doesn't shatter. It never does and never will. You've even tried to toss the kyber in the depths of Kamino's dangerous oceans, only for it to end up laying on your bed.

"Stupid kriffing Jedi!" You cry before kicking the wall too.

"Woah, pretty sure the wall didn't do anything to you."

Your head snaps to face whichever clone decided to interrupt your valid, albeit childish, tantrum to find one that is unfamiliar to you entirely. He sounds enough like a clone that he must be one, but he doesn't quite look like one. Either way, your necklace is dangling from his hands as he stares at you with concern etched into his half-tattooed face.

"This yours?" He asks, holding up the artifact by its cord.

You are tempted to just let him keep it. It's useless hanging around your neck and only a reminder of what could have been. The call for it is always there, however, and it's one of the only items you were able to bring with you when you were sent off 8 months and some odd days ago.

Without a word or even another glance to him or the others who have caught up, you snatch your necklace back and begin to run off down the hall. Away from the clones, away from the Jedi, just away.

"What was that about?" Crosshair hums.

Hunter shrugs. "I have no idea. I've never seen a civilian in here."

"That could not have been a civilian as the gem in the necklace they took back was a kyber crystal, which Jedi use for their lightsabers," Tech points out. "It's very possible they are one of the Jedi who failed out. Though I was not aware any were on Kamino."

Hunter waves him off but files that fact to the back of his mind. "Let's go check on Wrecker."

———

Nala Se has requested you meet in a viewing room of an operating theater, rather than her small office or one of the many medical rooms she has brought you through. An odd place to meet, but the change of location is nice. Being anywhere new is nice in the repetitive, haunting white halls of Kamino.

"Why are we meeting in this viewing theater instead of a private room?" You ask the second you walk through the door.

"Because a clone recently got severely injured in an explosion, and I wish you to watch the surgery with me for some time," Nala Se explains, gesturing towards the viewport.

You glance out it and down to see one of the aberrant clones (well, he must be given that the Kaminoans do not allow anyone else to receive medical treatment here, and he doesn't look precisely like a clone) laid out on an operating table, various medical droids working on stitching and layering replacement skin and even some muscle to the exposed area of the left side of his face. Based on how the medical sheets are placed, it is clear that most of his left side has already been worked on.

A rare procedure typically reserved for people who have experienced muscle atrophy as bacta is not particularly effective at helping regrow unexposed tissue.

As for the injury, it seems rare as well. It isn't an injury type you've ever seen before. The wound seems to seep into its edges rather than a clean-cut or a jagged rip.

"What happened?" Your fingers touch the glass and mentally trace the edges of the wound. "That doesn't look like a standard explosion wound."

You've seen hundreds, if not thousands, of explosion wounds, especially at this point in the war. Before it, still a dozen or so. A couple of Jedi making critical errors, engineers from throughout Coruscant during your training, and a young girl who was the sole survivor in her family during a speeder accident. 'Accident.'

One of the droids lifts the skin around his eye to remove the ruined one and add a cybernetic one instead. Something you assumed would be first on the list of things to do. Still, after looking at the exposed muscle again, a blinded eye can wait while exposed muscle can go gangrenous and deadly within hours.

"Experimental chemical detonation. He set it off wrong."

"Will he be okay?" You ask, taking note of the way these medical droids complete surgery. "If it was chemical, it must have damaged more."

Despite having the technology, the Jedi frequently still used people to complete many procedures with droids attending instead of the other way around. It's why the Jedi wanted someone who had already worked with both Jedi and non-Jedi to help teach the clones, so in the event, even their field equipment wasn't working, they could still save lives.

"Yes, he will. His batchmates were quick to remove the acid and debride the skin."

As the droids continue to layer muscle and skin, you finally ask, "Why is he not in bacta?"

"Due to his unique genetic structure, I have opted to start with a base of synthetic skin and muscle. It will aid in his healing when we place him in the bacta tank."

"Reduce his healing time by a week and a half, if not two?" You hum.

Nala Se tilts her head ever so slightly in shock. "Yes, that is what the medical droids estimate as of right now."  

"But increase scar tissue by 35%, give or take. And risk conflict with muscle and joints, but you mentioned his specific genetic defect, so I assume this will benefit him."

Despite working with you almost every day for the past 8 months, the clone scientist sometimes forgets how good you are at your specialty. It’s all the Jedi would allow you to do, besides what you would sneak away to learn, so you hope you are at least good at it. 

"33.2%. And the synthetic tissue is synthesized based on his DNA."

"Why is this something we are not doing with other clones then? Since they are, well, clones?"

"It is not cost-effective nor cost-efficient. We can just place an injured clone in bacta, whereas this is cost and time consuming to the point where —"

The rest of her words fade as your fingers curl in frustration.

Sometimes it is easy to forget this is all for war, and these men are slightly less expendable alternatives to battle droids. They need more maintenance and service, so to speak, and it costs more to toss them than it does to service them when they are hurt in battle.

That's all you hear every time someone discussed money.

That these living souls are objects.

But if these men are bound to serve with no choice, then the question should be about their health and the time it takes, the amount of the soul's time, not the cost to the entity binding them's and the time it takes of the Army's. It shouldn't sound like what Master Allie said to you when the training medic droid that had worked with you on most of your lessons for six years finally broke down. It shouldn't sound like her explaining that it makes more sense to just get a new one rather than waste precious hours and resources trying to restore the one that should have died years ago. These are people, not machines.

You may hold resentment towards much of what the Jedi did to you as they raised you, but the Medical Corps always made their values clear. And those values bled onto and infected you.

It is not about peacemaking and protection, as much of the Order focuses on. Whether filled with failed Jedi or Masters, all of the Corps built their core values around a different line of the Jedi Code. The Medical Corps drilled one line into your head over and over:

'Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy.'

How do those Jedi Generals, the ones in charge, ones like Stass Allie, the Master in command of the Medical Corps, look at this war and not feel guilt over violating their own code.

Nala Se calls your name, and your thought is broken.

"Yes, Nala Se?"

"After this incident and several others, we have decided Experimental Clone Force 99 will require an on-site medic. They are a reckless bunch, and we cannot afford to lose their unique… qualities."

Your spine straightens, and you glance over your shoulder. "And you want me?"

"You have excelled at every lesson I have given you. You are not a traditional Jedi, so you are not bound by the same rules. And despite the outward distrust and anger you show, I know you care deeply for others." Trying to avoid her gaze, you look back out the viewport. "I would give you training in their specific DNA and needs, seeing as each of them do have slightly different healing factors than their brethren as well as each other."

You look back to the aberrant clone.

On-site means off Kamino.

Off Kamino means away from the Jedi.

An opportunity you never thought you would be given has just been hand-delivered to you, away from the world that has kept you trapped so long and into the unknown.

But into the war as well. Into the cycle of death. Into everything you have been raised to be against.  

"Okay," you reply, looking back towards Nala Se. "I'll do it."  

"Shaak Ti will introduce you to them in four days sometime after dinner to give CT-9902 plenty of time to wrest." At the sound of Shaak Ti's name, you clench your jaw involuntarily. "For now, I will send over their genetic profiles and information about their individual aberrations that we have expanded upon."

"Let me know if you need me before then." You head towards the door, more than aware of how Nala Se likes to end her interactions. "I having training sessions all four days."

———

Two hours later, likely once the surgery finished, and Nala Se had checked over the clone before leaving him to be minded by some medical droids, the files are sent over to you.

"CT-9901," you read aloud, intrigued to learn about this 'experimental' group after months of regular clones. "Given name, Hunter." His photo pops up next, and of course, it's the one who stopped you in the hall. Of course it is. "Unbelievable."

You quickly scroll through the others to look at the rest of the overview of each, and just as you should have suspected, it's the group you embarrassed yourself in front of with a stupid tantrum. Save the one placed in a coma in the medical theater.

At least you've gotten that part over with.

01…02…03…04…

"Where is CT-9900?"

Clones come in batches of five, you've learned. Numbers 0-4 then 5-9. If this is a clone force built around the number 99, then where the hell is their starting number?

With a shrug, figuring you will find out later, you slide the files to the briefing console in the middle of the room and continue to rotate through them, grabbing one of the many snacks you begged to be shipped in from Coruscant and they, for some reason, complied with.

Probably to keep you somewhat sane given that you are giving medic lessons nearly every day to identical-looking human male soldiers who have never seen another human female before. Teaching them and putting them in their place every single day can drive anyone insane.

However, they all have good hearts, and the Kaminoans do provide them with an extensive knowledge base. Knowledge is different than experience, still, and that's what you're supposed to be helping medics with. Experience. Practice, as it is more formally put in medical terms, you mentally muse as you crunch into the moss chip, which, if made on Coruscant, typically comes coated in a second layer of seasoning. (Note: the Coruscanti flavoring is one of fruit-flavored sugar.)

Especially after watching in horror as a few demonstrated what the prior instructors taught them. It was not wrong, per se. Just… dangerous. Unsanitary. Potentially lethal without the proper theory to lay the base. To be fair, those instructors were warriors and bounty hunters strictly, whose medic experience lay in practice only, no theory. And whose practice lies solely in battlefields and broken down starships, not sterile labs and examination rooms.

A hard reset was necessary for the clones' medic educational course.

Strange. You crunch on another chip and almost laugh. You never realized just how much these chips were associated with the horrors of those first few weeks. 

You click through the batch's files and continue to snack on one of the few things keeping you grounded, sane, and mindful, as Shaak Ti would hope.

———

Awkward is not a strong enough word to explain the feeling caught in the air when the boys of Clone Force 99 finally trickle into the officer's office converted to hold small, important meals. You're already sat with your back to the door on one side of the table and dressed in your Medical Corps uniform, whites slightly crumpled from a day of lessons and Medical Corps insignia fraying from continuous use. Shaak Ti is standing off to the left side.

So the clone force shuffles into the other side of the table.

You take note as Hunter sits first, followed by Wrecker and Tech at almost the same exact moment, with Crosshair sitting down last, yet shoving himself between Hunter and Wrecker. It's as if he refuses to admit he is the youngest, technically, and asserts his dominance by putting himself ahead of Wrecker and Tech when possible.

There is an uncomfortable silence that settles in the room once they have sat. Clone Force 99 does not like outsiders. They barely like other clones, forget an actual outsider from another planet entirely.

You've never been particularly good at making beyond surface connections to get you by. No one has ever really like you when you've tried, so you just gave up eventually.

There is probably a joke to be made about this somehow.

Four defects walk into a bar…

But you just stare at them from across the table, mentally begging to be anywhere else. You don't do awkward first meetings.

This is the way out of here, you remind yourself. Just make it work. Maybe they won't be so bad.

"Wrecker, I am glad to see you up," the General says to break the silence. "I assume a few days’ rests has done you well?"

"Yeah!" He laughs. "I'm feeling ready to get back into it!"

"Give it at least another day, so your eye is no longer covered." She unthreads her hands and gestures to you. "This is the Medic from the Jedi Medical Corps Nala Se had spoken to you about that will be joining you from now on. Their name is (____)." Tech raises his brow at the distinct lack of the last name. Every Jedi they have heard of has two names, at minimum. "And (____), this is Clone Force 99. Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, and Hunter." She gestures from left to right at the boys.

Not that it wasn't painfully obvious from their looks and attitude or anything, even if you hadn't looked at the file.

"Well, I will leave you all to get acquainted," Master Ti announces, knowing full well that you will be uncomfortably silent with her in the room. She's seen in time and time again. The way your posture changes and mood shifts the second a Jedi walks into whatever room you are in.

The door slides shut.

"You're the girl we saw yesterday morning," Tech offers as a beginning.

"I'm an adult, not a child. Don't refer to me as such," you instinctually snap back.

Silence.  

Hunter decides to speak after a few seconds. "You seemed pretty upset."

Of all the things they choose to discuss, your mood yesterday is genuinely the focus? They are about to bring you into the battlefield, and they are more concerned about a bad day than your skills?

"Are we really going to converse about my mood yesterday when I'm here to prevent that?" You cynically chuckle.

All of them follow your gesture to Wrecker, who still has a bacta patch and wrappings covering half of his head and shoulder.

"Prevent me?" Wrecker meekly asks.

"Injuries that lead to significant damage and possible death," Tech whispers to Wrecker before turning to you with an indignant tone. "And I'll have you know I'm a perfectly competent medic."

"Passable, you mean." You lean forward, threading your hands together and pressing your forearms to the table. From what you can tell, Tech likes a challenge, though he will never admit it. All of them do in different ways, so this is how you decide to first challenge Tech. "You debrided his skin properly, but the delay between acid being splashed on the skin and doing the debriding is what caused it to be so serious. Additionally, there was enough leftover that some of the muscle fell away while the skin stayed. That's why it's shaped the way it is. You're lucky it didn't eat his skull and other bones."

"Technically —"

"I've been training to be and have been practicing as a medic for longer than you've." You sweep your hand to gesture to all of them. "Been alive. I know what I'm doing and know it better than you. So I'm here, by request of the Kaminoans --"

Wait, Hunter thinks. The Kaminoans? Not the GAR, not the Jedi?

"-- to treat you all and prevent the need of such medical intervention. Or, if necessary, do it on the spot."

"During or after our missions?" Crosshair challenges.

"Whenever you suka decide to get yourself on the verge of death?"

Tech tilts forward. "That means bitch in the near-dead language of —"

"Shut up!" Crosshair and Hunter demand at the same time.

The past minute alone has taught you more about them than their files ever could.

Hunter, the leader, desperately trying to keep everyone together while being constantly overwhelmed by, well, everything. Crosshair, the cynic, questioning everything about everyone, yet loyal to his batch, nearly to a fault. Tech, the library, half-listened to unless specifically requested to talk, struggles with compulsive behavior despite his seemingly serious nature. And Wrecker, the one still half-doped up and injured, unusually resistant and sensitive to criticism, filled with so much positivity that negativity makes him crumble.

It is also so transparent they are newer to the field. They handle new and stressful situations is not uncommon for those who have not been in the field for long. If you recall from the file correctly, the war may be nearing a year, but this batch has only been in service just over three months.

Who gives a single shit about their mutations when they can create such a storm just in the presence of someone new. What terror they must make on the field, even if they are new themselves.

"Are you sure you'll be able to keep up?"

"Cross…" Hunter warns, knowing precisely where his brother is leading. Not that he doesn't agree, per se, but that doesn't mean he's going to verbalize it. They're a lot to handle, and regular clones struggle to keep him, forget some Medic who has likely never seen combat, regardless of who assigned them.

You lean back. "Why? Cause I'm just a poor little medic? A poor little medic who sits inside all day?"

Tech looks nervously between you and Crosshair. Of all the things he had as likely to happen, an altercation of any kind, especially physical, breaking out was the least likely. It's slowly becoming the most potential as he takes in all the information.

"Or are you extra terrible and think it's because I'm not a man?"

Crosshair shrugs. "The regs can barely keep up with us, forget some healer who has probably never even seen real war. There was also a reason a man was chosen to clone for the Army. Doubt you can keep up and will get yourself killed."

Well, he may not be entirely wrong, you internally sigh. But I will not be proven a failure again.

"Yeah, okay."

Before anyone has a chance to stop you, you've slammed Cross's face into the table, hard, a crunching noise reverberating throughout the room. Wrecker reaches to grab you and prevent you from doing further damage. Still, you've begun dragging Crosshair under the table by his ankles, looping your own around his to do so. It's easy, seeing as he is disoriented by the sudden and unexpected onset of head trauma, and he is significantly lighter than his brothers.

There are benefits to being trained precisely what injuries do the most damage, even if it is meant to learn how to properly look for the best way to heal someone.  

You release him once he is entirely under the table and peek beneath. "I wouldn't be too worried."

The other three stare in shock as you get up and stalk off. It all happened so fast and unexpectedly they could not even attempt to stop you.

"Oh, yeah," you smile, not that they can see, as you stand in the open door. "Nice meeting you all."

The door slides shut behind you.

"I like 'em," Wrecker states.

That's how The Bad Batch found out that the failed-out Jedi with major minor emotional regulation issues was to become their personal Medic.

-----------------

Next

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Tags: DARKANGEL4121 

[rebelsofshield]

Whether it was intentional or not, the way Mandalorian history and culture has been presented in Star Wars television is really fascinating.

You essentially have this really rich and storied history of a group of people that have a detailed culture that celebrates warrior prowess but also honor and family loyalty. It has good aspects, but it tends to lead to lots of people getting killed both on the sides of the Mandalorians and their enemies frequent dustups. It gets so bad that Concord Dawn, a Mandalorian colony, got blown to shreds and the surface of their homeworld is so battered by centuries of infighting that it is barren and cannot sustain life.

So you have this visionary young woman, Satine Kryze, who comes along and decides that she is going to change the entire thing from the bottom up. A new culture that values peace, education, and art over traditional Mandalorian values. This of course pisses a lot of people off, including her own sister, and leads to another war, but through some manner the pacifists win. Mandalore remakes itself.

This period in Mandalorian history is so wild and fascinating. It’s essentially a centuries long cultural norm being uprooted in the most drastic manner possible. It makes little choices like the presence of cubism, an art form that values reconstruction of images by forcing new and different perspectives, in Satine’s new Mandalore so creatively intriguing. In some ways it seems to be working. Sundari as shown in The Clone Wars, for a period of time, seems safe and has a thriving infrastructure. There’s education. There’s a healthy populace. There’s lots of cubes. So many cubes.

There’s just subtle things wrong. The economy is a wreck due to Satine’s pacifism and neutrality making it impossible to trade with the different warring parties in The Clone Wars and corruption is rampant. As much as Mandalore wants to change for the better, it may simply have just traded one bad system for another. It is also very clearly articulated, accidentally or not, that Satine’s Mandalore is overwhelmingly white. We see in Star Wars Rebels or The Mandalorian that Mandalore is a racially diverse people, but the New Mandalorians in Satine’s government are all mostly white. It’s a strange design choice that likely occurred behind the scenes as later media strove to diversify what was essentially a side story in The Clone Wars, but it is indicative of the fact that Satine’s government has intentionally tried to sweep away aspects of Mandalorian culture. The Protectors, various other clans, and eventually Death Watch all exist as extensions of Mandalorian rule that have fractured out from the galaxy and aim to separate themselves from Satine’s new government.

Death Watch is a complicated beast in and of itself. You have this organization that advocates for a return to Mandalorian traditionalism, but does so in explicitly violent ways. Domestic terrorism is their modus operandi and when we see them they have zero qualms murdering civilians, Mandalorian or not. Their respect of the tradition is expressed solely through violence and carnage. It’s a polar opposite reaction to Satine. It’s interesting that when we meet the Protectors in Rebels they clearly brand Death Watch as traitors. Although both subcultures honor the tradition, one went out of its way to reinstall it through violence and the other was content to offer its services when needed to those in need, as seen in the Kanan comic series.

Yet even then there’s complications in Death Watch. We have people that are flawed but seem ultimately honor and duty bound in their ranks like Bo-Katan Kryze, and as seen in The Mandalorian, Death Watch was also active during The Clone Wars protecting civilians from Separatist forces. It’s a messy organization that likely meant different things to different people, which is ultimately why it was so easily repurposed by different malevolent forces for destruction.

Regardless, there’s a reason why Death Watch so easily took over Mandalore in The Clone Wars and its people were so willing to accept this dangerous way of life back into the fold. You can only do so much to rewire centuries of cultural history in a few decades. However, through a mess of different factions and factors (Satine’s mostly well intentioned introduction of the Jedi into Mandalorian affairs, Death Watch and Maul’s coup, the rise of Palpatine’s Empire/Order 66), Mandalore is ultimately robbed of its freedom and put under the arm of the Galactic Empire. The warrior culture reemerges as a form of resistance to tyranny, but it results in more wartime, more subjugation, more opportunism by the people’s worst individuals, more of their cultural artifacts plundered, and even greater suffering.

We may not know what exactly transpired on Mandalore between Bo-Katan’s rallying cry in Star Wars Rebels and the scattered and battered covert we see in The Mandalorian, but it certainly wasn’t great. A culture that even in the worst throws of war against the Empire stood proud in their rebellion and insurrection has been reduced to underground nomads. Faces are no longer allowed to be shown to others, an apparently new cultural tradition that drastically changes the makeup of the clans, and most seek work as mercenaries or bounty hunters. New clans are formed with former family houses forced to co-mingle given their greatly reduced numbers. Moments of action or resistance are greeted swiftly with pushback and violent retribution. The chain reaction of Satine’s upending of Mandalorian history has cascaded to arguably their most desperate point in the people’s history.

That’s wild. Mandalorians have never officially appeared in any Star Wars film, but they arguably have a more defined and nuanced cultural history at this point than another other group in the franchise. Yes, even the Jedi. It has been fascinating to see them evolve over the course of the last decade, and honestly I can’t wait to see what other complicated futures Dave Filoni, Jon Favreau, and the rest of the team cook up. I would say that I hope things look up for them, but that’s probably not gonna happen.

[maaruin]

The Institutional Problems of the Jedi Order

Preface

I think it is time to finally write this post. These ideas have been going through my head for some time after reading some Jedi discourse. But I should preface this with: even though the Jedi made mistakes, this does not mean Palpatine’s genocide of them was justified. It only means that he saw certain flaws in the Order that he could exploit. I suspect that without these flaws, he probably still would have managed to take over and persecute the Jedi, but much more of the Order would have survived.

For this post, I am mostly using the prequel movies with a bit of lore added from the old Expanded Universe. I’m not using The Clone Wars, because its depiction of Anakin’s fall to the dark side is different from the movies. And I’m not using the new Disney Canon, because I don’t know what has been retconned so far and what hasn’t.

Depending on how we count, I think there were either two or four major flaws. I’ll number them as four, but the first three could be grouped together.

1. The Jedi Order is a religion but isn’t organized like one

The Jedi are a religion. They are a group that believes certain things about the universe and practices a way of life that fits with these beliefs. But they are also entirely organized as “Jedi Knights” who are “guardians of peace and justice in the [old] republic”. This is… odd. The entire religion is basically made up of full-time professionals. Or rather, monastics.

If you want to study the Force and use it, you have to become a monk, basically. And more than that, to be accepted you need to already have a special talent in using the Force. Actually, you can’t even do that, they only take toddlers, so your parents have to decide if you should join this religion and become a monk. (Or maybe the Jedi Order just takes all Force sensitive children no matter what the parents think, it’s not entirely clear.)

A normal religion isn’t organized like that. Normally most members of a religion are normal people with normal jobs with varying levels of devotion. They participate in the practices of the religion in a way that fits into their daily life. Then there are religious professionals like priests who work to make it possible for the normal followers to practice this religion. And then, in some religions, there are monastics who dedicate their life to practicing the religion, generally apart from the normal believers. The Jedi only have the last group.

That alone would make them much easier to target and wipe out. But it is even more like that. The entire Jedi Order is integrated into the institutional framework of the Republic. All of the higher ranked Jedi (we will talk about the lower ranked later) basically work as special police and special diplomats for the Republic. “and” not “or”, all of them must fulfill both roles. And, when the Clone Wars start, they all become officers in the Republic military.

Now, in principle I don’t think religious institutions working closely with the state and fulfilling important roles for it is necessarily a problem. But if this is the only way this religion can be practiced, the practice of this religion will become poor in variety and closed off to most people who would be interested in participating.

2. Slavery in the Galaxy

There is slavery in the Galaxy Far Far Away. It is illegal in the Galactic Republic, but it is widely practiced in the planets of the Outer Rim, which might or might not be members of the Republic. The Jedi know that slavery is bad. What should they do?

Well, as much as a like the image of a hundred Jedi waltzing into the Hutt Cartel and killing/arresting them all, that probably wouldn’t be the best idea and cause much more chaos and harm than it solves, at least in the short run. But there are alternatives besides doing that and mostly ignoring it. For a start, here are two:

Establish underground railroads to smuggle slaves to freedom or assist on already established ones. Jedi mind-reading and precognition abilities will be very helpful in such endeavors.

Assist in organizing and fighting in slave revolts. One Jedi can turn the tide on the battlefield and if they are respected diplomats, the can help the slaves in finding supporters.

But this isn’t what the Jedi do because they are preoccupied with their role in the Republic. Qui-Gon says to Anakin that he didn’t come to Tatooine to free slaves. Which is true, he was sent to assist the government of Naboo against the Trade Federation, not the slaves on Tatooine against the Hutts. And why was he sent to Naboo and not Tatooine? Because Chancellor Valorum decided that resisting the Trade Federation was in the interest of the Republic, but freeing slaves wasn’t.

As mentioned in part 1 the number of members of the Jedi religion is smaller than it should be and integrated into the Republic in a way that leaves little room for it to act independently.

3. The Clone Army

Suddenly, an army for the Republic conveniently appears in time when the Republic is about to go to war after centuries of peace. This army is made up of, for all intents and purposes, slaves. Slaves that have been bred to be especially obedient. The Republic is expecting the Jedi to serve as officers in this army. What should the Jedi do?

Serve as officers, because the clones would suffer more without them?

Refuse to serve because that would mean supporting the introduction of slavery into the Republic?

Throw their political weight around and demand the clone troopers be freed and given Republic citizenship and in addition demand an end of the clone production in return for serving in the war?

Serve on both sides of the clone wars because the Republic obviously doesn’t have the moral high ground anymore and if their service in the Republic army leads to less suffering, their service in the Separatist army will do so as well?

There are probably more options. The Jedi decided to pick the one that reduced the suffering of the clones in the short term, but by doing that squandered the opportunity to take a stance against the creation of the clone army. And we don’t even see meaningful discussion within the order about this choice. This is, I suspect, because the Jedi are so used to their role as enforcers in the Galactic Republic that the alternatives weren’t really on the table.

(Palpatine’s plan was counting on the Jedi to behave this way when he planned Order 66.)

4. Dealing with emotions (the problem with Anakin)

While the Jedi Order may not demand it’s members to be emotionless, it does demand that they keep their emotions under very strict control. Nonetheless, almost all the Jedi we see do seem to be emotionally well adjusted. Obi-Wan, Yoda, Qui-Gon, Mace Windu, all of them seem to have little trouble with this demand.

Anakin, on the other hand, has a lot of trouble with it. He often has emotional outbursts through Episode II and III, then shortly afterwards walks back and apologizes. Curiously, this isn’t the case in Episode I. There he is actually quite good in dealing with his emotions. In other words, his time in the Jedi Order made his ability to handle his own emotions worse. Much worse, actually.

I think the reason for this is that whenever he feels something, other Jedi tell him that this is not right. It starts with Yoda in Episode I. “Afraid are you? […] Fear is the path to the dark side... fear leads to anger... anger leads to hate.. hate leads to suffering.” Criticisms like this no doubt continued all the way through his training until, by the time of Episode II, every time he feels an emotion he is angry at himself for feeling that emotion, which leads to more emotional instability, not less.

But why is this a problem Anakin has and not for the other Jedi we see. Maybe it is because he started his training later than is normal for a Jedi. But I suspect it is something slightly different: The Jedi who go through their training either find a way to handle their emotions in a way the order approves of, or they are sorted out. In the Expanded Universe there is a so called Jedi Service Corps where Jedi who fail their training go to work as farmers, explorers, educators or medical assistants. These jobs are, however, seen as lesser and going there is considered a failure. This is unfortunate, I think the Jedi could do much more good in the galaxy if the best of them were able to work in different fields instead of all being stuck with warrior-diplomat. Nonetheless, the Service Corps actually mitigates one of the flaws the Order has to some extend, if it works like I suspect. If the Jedi don’t have a way of dealing with emotions that works for everyone, the next best thing is to only pick the ones that can handle it and put the rest somewhere where they are useful and can’t do damage. Certainly not ideal, but an understandable adjustment.

But anyways, Anakin wasn’t sorted out. It is never confirmed in the movies, but I would suspect they made an exception for him. Yoda already made an exception for him when they decided to train him at all. And because he was the chosen one, I think they thought that his potential would be wasted if he only got to be in the Service Corps. If we ignore the Service Corps and only go off the movies, my criticism still stands: Yoda recognized that Anakin might not handle Jedi training well and he should have stuck to his guns and refuse Anakin to be trained within the Jedi Order.

Why are the Jedi like this?

Personally, I like to explain these flaws of the Jedi Order historically. Now, the EU doesn’t really fit with the theory I have. Because in games like KotOR and SWtOR the Order seems very similar to the Order in the Prequels. On the other hand, other sources say that this structure of the Jedi Order is a product of the Ruusan Reformation which happened after the end of the last Sith War a thousand years before Episode I.

To defeat the Sith at the end of that war, all Jedi were brought together as one army, no matter what they had done before. They didn’t really defeat the Sith (the Sith were deceived by Darth Bane to destroy themselves), but they thought they did. They thought they almost single-handedly saved the Republic from destruction.

Because of this, they rebuilt the Jedi Order in a way that was explicitly integrated into the institutions of the Republic. They built it in a way that made the fighting Jedi the core of the Order, other forms of being a Jedi were downgraded to the Service Corps. Because many Jedi had fallen to the dark side in that war, they taught a very strict form of emotional control and only trained force-sensitives from birth. And because they were so linked to their role as enforcers for the Republic, the neglected many other things Jedi should do, like helping slaves free themselves.

A better Jedi Order

No matter if this is how it happened, I do think the Jedi Order could be different (better). Here is how I would change it:

A Jedi Laity: Every living being is connected to the Force, so let them participate in practices that serve this connection like Jedi meditation. They may never be able to move things with their mind, but that’s not the point.

Jedi who serve the people should live among them: Jedi priests, Jedi healers, and yes, even Jedi knights should not form their own community but instead be in the same community as the Jedi laity.

Monasteries for the monks: Jedi who fully want to focus on their connection with the Force could still live in monastic communities.

Don’t completely integrate into the state: Working with the Galactic Republic could still be a thing, but the Republic should never depend on the Jedi and only a minority of Jedi should serve the Republic directly.

Help people everywhere: Because they are not completely bound to the Republic, many Jedi can decide how they will serve the people in the galaxy. Some might decide to help the slaves in the Outer Rim.

A Variety of Emotion: Not every Jedi will be as capable of controlling their emotions as the others. If there is a large variety of ways to be a Jedi, I suspect that most of them could still find their place to fit into the Order.

Allow adults to join: With adults it is much easier to determine if they would make a good Jedi and what way of being a Jedi would suit them. If there is a Jedi laity, they can be trained as children to some degree before they decide if they want to join.

Would this Jedi Order have fallen to Palpatine’s manipulation? I don’t know. But I think it would have been harder for him. If most Jedi didn’t serve in the Republic military and weren’t in a small number of Jedi temples, Order 66 would have claimed much less of the Order. (Probably 10%-20% instead of >90%.) Jedi would find it much more easy to hide in the population and the laity could help carry on the Jedi traditions in secret. Anakin might have been more emotionally well adjusted and not fall for Palpatine’s manipulations. (On the other hand, in a more open Jedi Order like this, there might be more people who could be turned, so who knows.)

Well, this is my contribution the Jedi discourse. The Jedi aren’t evil, and they certainly didn’t deserve genocide because of this. But as the Prequels depict them, they have certain tragic flaws in the way they are organized that Palpatine could exploit.

(Maybe I’ll make a shorter Part 2 about how Luke deals with this.)

[anderwhohn]

Anonymous asked: [ 🏭 ] is your muse happy with their job or career path? why or why not? (for Shepard!!)

💌 headcanon meme (pt 3) [ meme - accepting ]

While Isabela had never wanted to go into the military in her youth, she did want to get into science and engineering like her parents. However, when they both failed to return home from work one day, her entire life was changed as she eventually found herself presumed orphaned, and eventually found herself joining up with the Tenth Street Reds despite being just a kid at the time.

Izzy joined the Alliance for the sake of warm food and a soft bunk, and spent much of her early service honing her skills in engineering and infiltration, while also trying her damnedest to fill in the gaps in her knowledge from a lack of proper education during her formative years. Her time spent with the Reds proved useful when she joined the N7 program, rising through the ranks in special ops. It was her N status that enabled her to get the officer training she wanted to have fewer people above her in the chain of command, as one of the only people she would ever listen to without too much fuss was Anderson.

In addition to her combat training, Izzy also learned everything she could about every aspect of engineering that she could. She is fully capable of handling most starship, shuttle, and ground vehicle repairs, as well as many other engineering tasks. This has always been what made the Alliance worthwhile in and of itself, besides getting off the streets, especially since she never has agreed with their whole "humanity first" attitude that was common among the brass.

Joining the Council Spectres, however, brought with it the promise of freedom from the Alliance - contrary to whatever Udina and the Alliance themselves seemed to think - and Izzy was quick to make the best of the situation as she distanced herself from the Alliance at the first opportunity. It's also why, after being brought back to life by Cerberus, one of the first things she did was return to the Citadel in order to speak to the Council and ensure she had her Spectre status available to her.

Especially since that status was needed to gain access to her encrypted files and security protocols in her apartment on Intai'sei, where she stored copies of all of the evidence on the Reapers, as well as spare gear, a large sum of credits, her accounts information from Barla Von for the rest of her credits, etc., all of which had been left to Garrus, Tali, and Wrex - her closest, most trusted friends in the galaxy - in the event of her death.

Because of various potential divergences regarding ME3, and my personal preference not to follow canon because Izzy would not willingly turn herself in to the Alliance after returning from the galactic core, I'm going to cut this off here. Suffice it to say that as much as she bitches about the Council, she finds working for them a lot better than dealing with Hackett any day.