Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
[SIZE=11pt]OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Intent: Velok’s next book.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Image Credit: N/A[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Links: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Velok the Younger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Girawn, Sion, Calypho: Pain as Guide and Servant[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]To Pass Unchallenged: The Legacy of Alema Rar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Naddists and the Krath: A Retrospective[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Sorcery Deconstructed: The Case for Clarity[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Let the Worthy Prevail: Breaking the Lock of Egalitarian Power[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Universal Foundation[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Proper Way to Corrupt a Jedi[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Book of Anger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Weakness of Inferiors[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Creation of Monsters[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Dark Side Compendium[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]GENERAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Media Name: Commentaries on the Sidious Compendium[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Format: Book[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Distribution: Scattered; available in any serious Sith academy or library.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Length: Long (~150,000 words)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Description: This book collects Velok’s many feelings about Palpatine’s Dark Side Compendium, which comprises The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors, and The Creation of Monsters.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]SOCIAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Author: Velok of Toola, called Velok the Younger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Publisher: Self[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Reception: This wouldn’t be the first time Velok has waded into controversial waters, but the Commentaries come equipped with special hubris. Velok disagrees with or disdains a good portion of the Compendium, which ranks among the most infamous and influential Dark Side scholarship. Reception is...mixed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]CONTENT INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART ONE: THE BOOK OF ANGER[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Only a being of extreme privilege would need to spend a million words explaining how to get angry about anything. Having taken the requisite ninety-six hours to read The Weakness of Inferiors alone - ninety-six hours that I will never get back - I believe Palpatine was just such a being.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“He was a wealthy human male of unmatched power and prestige. The great wrongs of his life were visited on his distant ideological predecessors thousands of years before. His persecution complex, like most, was without foundation. What did the Jedi ever do to him, personally, except serve and protect? Fail to recognize his potential as an infant, perhaps?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“This level of dissociation from reality requires an unusual mindset, to say the least. Palpatine contents that his mindset correlates directly with his extreme strength. I would contend that his assertion remains deeply unproven after several hundred thousand words.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Anger for its own sake is the mark of a spoiled child in search of someone to blame.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Despite the presence of outliers like Palpatine, I have observed a minor but real correlation between power in the Dark Side and the lessons typically associated with lack of privilege. Many of the most effective Darksiders fit the pattern of deprivation, true injury, or at least needing to work for a living. Consider Skywalker, Maul, and Durron, all slaves; Lumiya, a pilot and multiple amputee: Bane, a mining laborer with an agonizing parasitic infection; Vectivus, a somewhat more white-collar mining professional; Traya, an amputee; Sion, a physical wreck; Null, a blacksmith; Snoke and Alema Rar, horrifically scarred nonhumans working within a humanocentric culture; a significant fraction of Jerec’s cabal; Talzin the self-made; and Vitiate himself, who some sources call a dirt-poor illegitimate orphan. In short, I believe children of privilege - Palpatine, Dooku, the Krath - have been the exception rather than the rule since the Old Sith Empire fell, at least so far as effectiveness goes.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Consider, too, the flaws that privilege brings to the table. Look at the myopic quirks of the noble Calimondra family’s many kingdoms. Daiman, Odion, and many of their cousins could have benefited from a more grounded upbringing or a good swat on the posterior. Examine the utter worthlessness of the Tapani Sector’s noble adepts, perhaps the longest uninterrupted Dark Side tradition and yet the least accomplished by far. And think of the thousands upon thousands of wasted hours -- years of his life -- that Palpatine spent on this gargantuan book series that almost nobody was allowed to read.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Beyond all that has come before, I reserve my greatest contempt for his unproven and nonsensical association between the Force and certain thoracic and abdominal parts of the humanoid body. These regions, he believed, contained a 'vital gate.’ This moronic and unscientific assertion demonstrates Palpatine's dedicated history as a liberal arts major. Certain physiological practices and visualizations can help unlock thought processes and states of mind in some cases, varying species by species. There is no special power in the abdomen. For proof, I suggest considering the powerful human or near-human Force users who lacked that portion of their bodies. Empatojayos Brand, who killed Palpatine permanently, was one such. Maw and Simus were two others. Consider also Palpatine's own Shadow Droids. Alternately, one could simply examine the extensive medical literature on meditation. Perhaps Palpatine could have spent less time smoking strange flora with obscure cults, and more time learning from ‘inferiors’ with scientific credentials.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I'll concede that The Book of Anger holds some value for the serious student. Most of that value lies in the practical: the creation of synthetic lightsaber crystals through furious meditation, for one. His inconclusive treatise on creation of Force Storms also has worth, within reason. Recall that, on least one occasion, he killed himself by accident with such a technique.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART TWO: THE WEAKNESS OF INFERIORS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine required one point five million years -- excuse me, words -- to outline his opinion of other people. I am underwhelmed.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I must concede that Palpatine was eminently qualified to speak on the topic of political power. I have little scholarly or practical grounding that would let me speak to the bulk of the political content in The Weakness of Inferiors. Nevertheless, I have my own thoughts on leadership and influence.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine argues for a balance of fear and awe. I find more practical application in the human scholar Ma’kavel, who said that a leader should seek to be both feared and loved. The mammalian mind tends to separate all other beings into 'like me’ and ‘the other.’ A frightening leader who can be trusted to be on one's side will reap discretionary labor, the portion of effort that an individual gives of their own desire and initiative.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine spends perhaps a quarter of a million words contending that all power comes from outside the weak, whom he defines tautologically and without consistency. While it's demonstrably true that the popular will is always being shaped by ideological and commercial efforts, he errs by imagining that 'the weak’ have no potential for self-directed, collective power. He might think differently if he had lived to see spontaneous groups of civilians tearing down his statues, or ever experienced a revolution he did not orchestrate. His inductive reasoning is only generalizable to the Republic, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and certain constituent parts.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine had little experience with serious failure, as much by chance as by design. His life was an exercise in post hoc ergo propter hoc: he had found success, therefore success had come because of his own efforts. This is the philosophy of a naive fool.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“As with The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors shines when it abandons the theoretical in favor of the practical. Perhaps ten percent of the volume has a direct bearing on using the Force to influence minds, individually or en masse. Palpatine was a pioneer of insidious personal influence and sustained, large-scale, imperceptible battle meditation. Read between the lines, and this book also offers pointers on the sustained, large-scale, imperceptible Force Drain that he exerted on the entire population of Byss.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Like most politicians, he should have hired a ghostwriter.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART THREE: THE CREATION OF MONSTERS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Another million and a half words, but finally, matters of substance. I have remarked that Palpatine's best work hinges on the practical, notwithstanding his pretensions. The Creation of Monsters is by far his most grounded contribution and, despite its unfinished state, his most valuable.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine’s chrysalide process remains the gold standard to my mind, but is criminally underused. I know of only two modem examples: the humanoid kerra kesh of Sekalus (debatable) and my own rancodins. The galaxy has better biological alchemists than me, several in fact, but I remain a pioneer in resurrecting this technique. Through experience, I have filled various gaps in the manuscript's account, as follows…”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I consider the chrysalide rancor the finest Sithspawn ever created. Pound for pound, it had a decisive and demonstrable advantage over apex military technology. I'm quite proud of my rancodins, but they're little more than a derivative, a chrysalide rancor with enhanced performance in water. Conceptually, they're no different from yet another Empire creating yet another Star Destroyer or suit of stormtrooper armor. However, I choose to emulate objectively superior designs rather than those I find aesthetically and ideologically appealing. Nobody ever admired a warty chrysalide on an aesthetic level -- which perhaps explains the technique’s pack of popularity.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I find the Shadow Droid an elegant, even inspiring concept. Take one severely injured fighter pilot, empower him with the Force to enhance his reflexes and so forth, place his central nervous system in a droid casing, give him freedom. Palpatine saw it as a way to recycle his disposable TIE pilots. I see it as the most accidentally ethical thing he ever did.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“The Imperial Sentinel project justly produces feelings of revulsion in any sensible adult. Depravity for its own sake is not a mark of advanced intelligence. The great question, though, is whether and how to use this extensive body of research as a springboard for radically different creations. Doctors have similar debates over data gleaned from butchers’ atrocities. I take the view that the Imperial Sentinel project was inexcusable, but I find the resulting information adaptable to radically different projects, and use it as such.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“It is not often that I pause to examine the ethical side of a matter. I offer the following suggestion for those who, like me, live with a certain moral disengagement. In questions of ethics, identify what kinds of behavior you find contemptible, and act accordingly. You would be surprised how robust a set of practical, individualized principles you may develop.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]HISTORICAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Velok has long and contemptuous familiarity with the Compendium. Collecting his notes and putting thoughts to paper proved unexpectedly easy. His commentary wound up as his longest book by far. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Unlike other works, he made this one broadly available, at least within the small world of Sith education and scholarship. He even shipped copies to the librarians of various Sith academies.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Intent: Velok’s next book.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Image Credit: N/A[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Links: [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Velok the Younger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Girawn, Sion, Calypho: Pain as Guide and Servant[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]To Pass Unchallenged: The Legacy of Alema Rar[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Naddists and the Krath: A Retrospective[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Sorcery Deconstructed: The Case for Clarity[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Let the Worthy Prevail: Breaking the Lock of Egalitarian Power[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Universal Foundation[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Proper Way to Corrupt a Jedi[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Book of Anger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Weakness of Inferiors[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]The Creation of Monsters[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Dark Side Compendium[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]GENERAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Media Name: Commentaries on the Sidious Compendium[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Format: Book[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Distribution: Scattered; available in any serious Sith academy or library.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Length: Long (~150,000 words)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Description: This book collects Velok’s many feelings about Palpatine’s Dark Side Compendium, which comprises The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors, and The Creation of Monsters.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]SOCIAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Author: Velok of Toola, called Velok the Younger[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Publisher: Self[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Reception: This wouldn’t be the first time Velok has waded into controversial waters, but the Commentaries come equipped with special hubris. Velok disagrees with or disdains a good portion of the Compendium, which ranks among the most infamous and influential Dark Side scholarship. Reception is...mixed.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]CONTENT INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART ONE: THE BOOK OF ANGER[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Only a being of extreme privilege would need to spend a million words explaining how to get angry about anything. Having taken the requisite ninety-six hours to read The Weakness of Inferiors alone - ninety-six hours that I will never get back - I believe Palpatine was just such a being.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“He was a wealthy human male of unmatched power and prestige. The great wrongs of his life were visited on his distant ideological predecessors thousands of years before. His persecution complex, like most, was without foundation. What did the Jedi ever do to him, personally, except serve and protect? Fail to recognize his potential as an infant, perhaps?”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“This level of dissociation from reality requires an unusual mindset, to say the least. Palpatine contents that his mindset correlates directly with his extreme strength. I would contend that his assertion remains deeply unproven after several hundred thousand words.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Anger for its own sake is the mark of a spoiled child in search of someone to blame.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Despite the presence of outliers like Palpatine, I have observed a minor but real correlation between power in the Dark Side and the lessons typically associated with lack of privilege. Many of the most effective Darksiders fit the pattern of deprivation, true injury, or at least needing to work for a living. Consider Skywalker, Maul, and Durron, all slaves; Lumiya, a pilot and multiple amputee: Bane, a mining laborer with an agonizing parasitic infection; Vectivus, a somewhat more white-collar mining professional; Traya, an amputee; Sion, a physical wreck; Null, a blacksmith; Snoke and Alema Rar, horrifically scarred nonhumans working within a humanocentric culture; a significant fraction of Jerec’s cabal; Talzin the self-made; and Vitiate himself, who some sources call a dirt-poor illegitimate orphan. In short, I believe children of privilege - Palpatine, Dooku, the Krath - have been the exception rather than the rule since the Old Sith Empire fell, at least so far as effectiveness goes.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Consider, too, the flaws that privilege brings to the table. Look at the myopic quirks of the noble Calimondra family’s many kingdoms. Daiman, Odion, and many of their cousins could have benefited from a more grounded upbringing or a good swat on the posterior. Examine the utter worthlessness of the Tapani Sector’s noble adepts, perhaps the longest uninterrupted Dark Side tradition and yet the least accomplished by far. And think of the thousands upon thousands of wasted hours -- years of his life -- that Palpatine spent on this gargantuan book series that almost nobody was allowed to read.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Beyond all that has come before, I reserve my greatest contempt for his unproven and nonsensical association between the Force and certain thoracic and abdominal parts of the humanoid body. These regions, he believed, contained a 'vital gate.’ This moronic and unscientific assertion demonstrates Palpatine's dedicated history as a liberal arts major. Certain physiological practices and visualizations can help unlock thought processes and states of mind in some cases, varying species by species. There is no special power in the abdomen. For proof, I suggest considering the powerful human or near-human Force users who lacked that portion of their bodies. Empatojayos Brand, who killed Palpatine permanently, was one such. Maw and Simus were two others. Consider also Palpatine's own Shadow Droids. Alternately, one could simply examine the extensive medical literature on meditation. Perhaps Palpatine could have spent less time smoking strange flora with obscure cults, and more time learning from ‘inferiors’ with scientific credentials.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I'll concede that The Book of Anger holds some value for the serious student. Most of that value lies in the practical: the creation of synthetic lightsaber crystals through furious meditation, for one. His inconclusive treatise on creation of Force Storms also has worth, within reason. Recall that, on least one occasion, he killed himself by accident with such a technique.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART TWO: THE WEAKNESS OF INFERIORS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine required one point five million years -- excuse me, words -- to outline his opinion of other people. I am underwhelmed.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I must concede that Palpatine was eminently qualified to speak on the topic of political power. I have little scholarly or practical grounding that would let me speak to the bulk of the political content in The Weakness of Inferiors. Nevertheless, I have my own thoughts on leadership and influence.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine argues for a balance of fear and awe. I find more practical application in the human scholar Ma’kavel, who said that a leader should seek to be both feared and loved. The mammalian mind tends to separate all other beings into 'like me’ and ‘the other.’ A frightening leader who can be trusted to be on one's side will reap discretionary labor, the portion of effort that an individual gives of their own desire and initiative.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine spends perhaps a quarter of a million words contending that all power comes from outside the weak, whom he defines tautologically and without consistency. While it's demonstrably true that the popular will is always being shaped by ideological and commercial efforts, he errs by imagining that 'the weak’ have no potential for self-directed, collective power. He might think differently if he had lived to see spontaneous groups of civilians tearing down his statues, or ever experienced a revolution he did not orchestrate. His inductive reasoning is only generalizable to the Republic, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and certain constituent parts.” [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine had little experience with serious failure, as much by chance as by design. His life was an exercise in post hoc ergo propter hoc: he had found success, therefore success had come because of his own efforts. This is the philosophy of a naive fool.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“As with The Book of Anger, The Weakness of Inferiors shines when it abandons the theoretical in favor of the practical. Perhaps ten percent of the volume has a direct bearing on using the Force to influence minds, individually or en masse. Palpatine was a pioneer of insidious personal influence and sustained, large-scale, imperceptible battle meditation. Read between the lines, and this book also offers pointers on the sustained, large-scale, imperceptible Force Drain that he exerted on the entire population of Byss.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Like most politicians, he should have hired a ghostwriter.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]PART THREE: THE CREATION OF MONSTERS[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Another million and a half words, but finally, matters of substance. I have remarked that Palpatine's best work hinges on the practical, notwithstanding his pretensions. The Creation of Monsters is by far his most grounded contribution and, despite its unfinished state, his most valuable.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“Palpatine’s chrysalide process remains the gold standard to my mind, but is criminally underused. I know of only two modem examples: the humanoid kerra kesh of Sekalus (debatable) and my own rancodins. The galaxy has better biological alchemists than me, several in fact, but I remain a pioneer in resurrecting this technique. Through experience, I have filled various gaps in the manuscript's account, as follows…”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I consider the chrysalide rancor the finest Sithspawn ever created. Pound for pound, it had a decisive and demonstrable advantage over apex military technology. I'm quite proud of my rancodins, but they're little more than a derivative, a chrysalide rancor with enhanced performance in water. Conceptually, they're no different from yet another Empire creating yet another Star Destroyer or suit of stormtrooper armor. However, I choose to emulate objectively superior designs rather than those I find aesthetically and ideologically appealing. Nobody ever admired a warty chrysalide on an aesthetic level -- which perhaps explains the technique’s pack of popularity.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“I find the Shadow Droid an elegant, even inspiring concept. Take one severely injured fighter pilot, empower him with the Force to enhance his reflexes and so forth, place his central nervous system in a droid casing, give him freedom. Palpatine saw it as a way to recycle his disposable TIE pilots. I see it as the most accidentally ethical thing he ever did.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“The Imperial Sentinel project justly produces feelings of revulsion in any sensible adult. Depravity for its own sake is not a mark of advanced intelligence. The great question, though, is whether and how to use this extensive body of research as a springboard for radically different creations. Doctors have similar debates over data gleaned from butchers’ atrocities. I take the view that the Imperial Sentinel project was inexcusable, but I find the resulting information adaptable to radically different projects, and use it as such.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]“It is not often that I pause to examine the ethical side of a matter. I offer the following suggestion for those who, like me, live with a certain moral disengagement. In questions of ethics, identify what kinds of behavior you find contemptible, and act accordingly. You would be surprised how robust a set of practical, individualized principles you may develop.”[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]HISTORICAL INFORMATION[/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Velok has long and contemptuous familiarity with the Compendium. Collecting his notes and putting thoughts to paper proved unexpectedly easy. His commentary wound up as his longest book by far. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=11pt]Unlike other works, he made this one broadly available, at least within the small world of Sith education and scholarship. He even shipped copies to the librarians of various Sith academies.[/SIZE]
