Puzzle Pieces

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Cerita, please ensure that the fertilizer contractor delivers the next shipment on time.

In answer to your question, I'd recommend speaking with Shule's Workshop, the Yavin office (such as it is). They're better at teaching these things than I am. But I can give you an overview, yes. Jal Shey crafting arts have three more-or-less standard effects, though they share broad principles suitable for extrapolation.

• Their armors are generally crafted to soothe contention in nearby people, at least if you get them in conversation. These generally come in three grades -- neophyte, advisor, mentor, equivalent to apprentice, knight, master.
• Their belts are traditionally imbued so as to help the wearer resist Dark Side-related mental and emotional influence. These generally come in two grades - standard, and mentor.
• Their gloves are traditionally imbued so as to help the wearer perceive her surroundings through improved intuition. These generally come in two grades - perception gloves are the lesser, meditation gloves are the greater.

Broad principles:

• Traditionally, it's always clothing. Nobody knows why. These principles work fine for making amulets or even odder creations; I've heard that Shule's Workshop partners with your clan to produce sniper scopes, of all things.
• Jal Shey crafting focuses on creating or countering mental or emotional influence on the wearer, and sometimes nearby people. This may depend upon the direction of the wearer's focus to some extent.
• Stunningly, and almost uniquely among crafting arts, Jal Shey creations can be used to their full effect by non-Force-sensitives.

More to come. Must check the trees.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

The trees ended up taking the bulk of the day.

Thank you for taking care of the errand to do with Mara. My niece is

Your comparison with Cerean Kasha stones is quite apt. Kasha stones, large and small, clear the mind and obliterate distractions better than most pharmaceuticals, and without side effects. I find them compatible additions to many complex creations. Kasha stones, of course, can be quite large -- amber discs bigger than a humanoid's head -- or cut down for use as lightsabre crystals. The nature of their inscribed patterns is a source of ongoing fascination to me. Like Jal Shey garments, Kasha stones can be used by non-Force-sensitives. The patterns are thousands of years old, attributed to a sage called Bi-Dar Tyunda, who founded the Cerean planetary government.

I'm experimenting with extrapolations and interpolations of the patterns, variations on stone composition, Velokite double-slit work and interferometry, etc., trying to deconstruct and reverse engineer the kasha stones down to first principles. It fascinates me that an entire crafting tradition, clearly Force-attuned, should be focused on the production of a single kind of item for thousands of years. The Kasha stones are one of the Cerean culture's greatest accomplishments, though the Cereans don't boast of them.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

No, you're quite right about the ramifications of a Dark Side-oriented Jal Shey crafting effort, and the risks of reversing direction on some of those traditional effects. [member="Seydon of Arda"] mentioned the same thing. Fortunately, I'm not in that sort of business anymore. Just as fortunately, most perversions of Jal Shey arts could be countered by something as simple as wearing a classic Jal Shey belt and knowing your way around mental defense.

Thank you for the samples of Tashai talismans. I don't spend enough time with the qo'saarai on Tash-Taral. A general appraisal and attached notes to follow:

• Water seeker talisman - exactly what it says on the tin, and one of the most useful things you can carry on Tash-Taral. Like most of the boneheaded alchemical creations one encounters, there's no reason for this particular talisman to work the way it does, except that someone, somewhere, believed it should work that way. I've invested some time in trying to duplicate water seeker talismans, with imperfect results.
• Bond tracker talisman - read the attached file carefully before using these. I've managed to use them as components in larger projects, mainly to orient and aim more profound effects. Bond tracker talismans are nothing more than a primitive, ritualized way of detecting Force bonds between, for example, Sithspawn packmates. Like water seekers, bond trackers aren't especially Dark-oriented. Tashai scrimshaw craftsmanship can be used by Darksiders and Lightsiders alike, though most of them are superstitious frontier folk.
• Poncho - what you've found is an assassin's garment. It conceals the Force presence of its wearer, though it's only strong enough to hide non-Force-sensitives. I've also found it mildly helpful when I'm applying variations on Force stealth techniques. Only the Tashai would make a Force stealth poncho, but there you have it.
• Scrimshaw knife - be very careful with this kind of knife in the future, please, especially when it comes to packaging and shipping. It's alchemized with pelko bug venom in a way I haven't fully analyzed yet. Suffice it to say, you don't want to look at it wrong. Tashai talismans don't always work as expected.
• Ocarina - now this is a find. Tashai spirit ocarinas are multipotent Force locii. They can have purported or real spiritual effects, like summoning and warding off Sithspawn, blessing children, or recalling the life energies of the recently dead for the use of the community. They're also purported to affect the weather, and some of the qo'saarai swear by them.

There are few united principles in Tashai scrimshaw craftsmanship. Some commonalities:

• Crafting processes and uses are governed by superstition
• Crafting materials are virtually always from Sithspawn (tusks, bones, hide, etc.)
• Survival is a priority
• Crafting processes can be used by Lightsiders or Darksiders
• Also note that a few of the resulting items can be used by non-Force-users

I suppose one could also claim that the spastic, schizophrenic, unsystematized, highly individualized nature of Tashai craftsmanship is another commonality: rely on Tashai artifacts to be frustrating and internally inconsistent. They work, in the end, because their creators believed they should work, and as a result -- like most products of the 'I want a flaming sword' school of alchemy -- they don't work very well.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

The Ithorians? I could write a book. The nature priests form one of the most capable, unassuming, internally consistent Force traditions in the universe. Their presence is a major reason I'm on Varunda IX, and one of the reasons I once operated out of the Kyrikal system. They have powers of healing, both physical and spiritual, as well as plant cultivation. They can even partially or fully heal Force severing, in their gentle way, and that's an ability that's virtually unique to them. The Jedi may have appropriated every Force technique at one point or another, but most have been forgotten again, and this is generally one of them.

As far as crafting goes, I think it's a matter of learning to see with new eyes -- seeing what's there, rather than what one expects to see. I firmly believe their processes for tending and breeding plants are a powerful but extremely subtle analogue to alchemy. I'm experimenting with these processes. I intend to understand how the Ithorians can enhance their Force connection with trees and plants, and likely even enhance the trees' sensitivity as well. As of yet I haven't studied bafforr groves in any comprehensive way, but I'm looking into it. They don't li The grove hive minds are notoriously shy.

As a general rule, none of the artifacts and items associated with Ithorian culture have Force properties so far as I can tell. Insofar as the Ithorian nature priests can be considered a crafting tradition, their products are entirely living. The natural next step, of course, is to determine what proportion of that influence remains in their creations after death. Many Sithspawn provide useful crafting materials. I suspect certain kinds of Ithorian-raised wood could be used for similar, if subtler, purposes, retaining the unique characteristics of the living tree. This is a major focus of my research. I'm also experimenting with exposing young trees to shredded Jal Shey garments and powdered Kasha stone via their mulch. Some of these trees are themselves Force-sensitive. We'll see if they bear fruit, so to speak.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Alright, Cerita, if you insist. Though honestly this art is twenty or thirty thousand years old, and I'm far from the leading expert. The Je'daii were the first to make them, so far as we know; they'd been using them for perhaps ten millennia when they first encountered Rakatan Forcesabers. Let me address your questions point by point:

• Yes, a Force-imbued blade can only be used to its full power by its creator. It's the same sort of idea as with a lightsabre, but more so. I once took a roundabout method, very convoluted, to make one that could be used to its full potential by a specific person who had a strong Force bond with me. Half as a gift, half to see if I could pull it off. I didn't learn as much as I'd hoped. This is easily the greatest limitation of Force-imbued blades. One can only have so many creations for one's own use. Force-imbued blades simply cannot be made for others unless they are deeply involved in the creation process. They're unsellable and unprofitable...in their standard form, and in most, but not all, derivations.
• Yes, the visual aura effects vary widely. Flames, lightning, indistinct nimbus, traditional colors -- any number of things. The Force responds to our personalities, and nowhere more directly than in the crafting of a Force-imbued blade. If you are silly, your blade will be silly. If there's something special about you, your blade may show it. My brother carries a rapier -- the weapon I mentioned earlier -- whose aura is reminiscent of hyperspace light, for reasons that should be obvious.
• Yes, Force-imbued blades can banish spirits. It's important to realize, though, that a ) this ability is proportional to the strength, will, purity, etc. of the wearer, and b ) this is also an ability held by lightsabres, if one is focusing enough on the Light Side of the Force. It was a meeting of lightsabres that Luke Skywalker's Padawans -- yes, Padawans -- used to banish and destroy Exar Kun, along with what seems to have been a nascent communal expression of Force Light. I'd remind you that Kun was one of the most powerful Dark Side spirits in recorded history; he killed Luke Skywalker in moments when Skywalker was at the height of his powers. That said, the ability of Force-imbued blades -- or any such integral combination of metal, crystal, and personality -- to affect spirits is a highly useful one, and one that deserves further study.
• Yes, the Force imbuement increases cutting power, though nothing like a lightsabre. I've seen such blades score durasteel plating. This, too, is a useful property if it can be isolated. Dagora-Kel's masterpiece Ha'rangir manages to combine Force-imbuement with high-level alchemy such that it can chop through beskar.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Thank you again for the heads up regarding my niece and the auction. Since you delivered the Ankarres Sapphire to me, I've been able to make the following observations. Please convey this memo to Mara along with the sapphire.

• Healing properties: The sapphire is cut to the specifications of a lightsabre crystal, and has been for a very long time. For testing, I installed it in a simple lightsabre I use for those purposes. I was gratified to note that the crystal did not burn me, which is telling. I then proceeded to cut myself in simple, controlled ways while the sabre was activated and deactivated, and measured healing rates. Activated and deactivated states produced the same result: a constant level of accelerated healing. The rate further increased as an Ithorian priest focused on a healing process.
• Later, I removed the crystal from the lightsabre, noted the same results, and entrusted it to the Ithorian priest in question. He used it for two weeks, both actively and passively, in the course of his normal healing duties at a hospital in New Habat. He reported a lower incidence of infection and improved success in difficult surgical cases. He also performed double-blind testing with other doctors, and verified the same results. This tells me that the crystal can heal regardless of if its presence is known, let alone used for various kinds of focus.
• The crystal bolsters the physical processes of my body. Age, as you know, is catching up to me, but I find myself stronger and somewhat more dextrous in the crystal's presence. It has been a pleasant interlude.
• Legend boasts of the crystal having 'many more' powers. So far I have not uncovered them. If I find more between now and delivery, I will write up a second note for you to convey to my niece.
• Yes, I believe the Ankarres Sapphire to be fully equivalent to a Healing Crystal of Fire, though not to the assembled group of crystals. The crystals have not been together in years, so it's safe to say the sapphire is on par with the most powerful healing artifacts in the universe.
• No, I still have no idea how the sapphire was made, or by whom. 'Ankarres' is not a word whose etymology I can trace with accuracy. Neither psychometry nor flow-walking gives me any information: the sapphire has had too many owners over too many millennia. At present, I don't believe my experience with Light Side crafting is sufficient to allow me to duplicate it on any scale. I've made several attempts, none of which have any greater benefit than increasing the size and density of scabs. Some things, perhaps, were simply not meant to be duplicated. On the other hand, I'm told that Rianna Organa once made a duplicate of a Healing Crystal of Fire, so perhaps I'll be able to sort out something along those lines if I study more healing-related Force artifacts.
• Yes, I fully believe the sapphire could be shattered and worked into a Force-imbued blade. I doubt, however, that an artifact of such power could be convinced to direct its burning to the enemy and its healing to the wielder. I find it more likely that the hypothetical sapphire blade would heal the wounds it dealt. That would make it an implement of torture, and the sapphire would burn the wielder comprehensively as a result.
• Yes, I believe the legend is correct: it would be possible to reverse the sapphire's burning property so that it would only harm Lightsiders. However, I have no wish to experiment in this direction, certainly not in combination with the previous item.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Gesaril carving? Well, if you insist.

The Gesarils are a strange race. Two metres tall, six limbs, each hand/foot with only two digits, heavily clawed, huge tubular ears like sea anemones that give their heads a T-shape. They use the Force in ways commensurate with their limited intelligence: basic, small-scale telekinesis and telepathy are common to all Gesarils, and they have a paranoiac's skill in divining the Dark Side. They use their telepathy for limited communication with offworlders. They can also divine the Force...history, I suppose you could say...of a starship, whether it's experienced the Light or the Dark, regardless of who's currently or most recently aboard. It's a rudimentary form of psychometry, I believe, and it may influence their choices in crafting materials. As such, it should be considered as a part of their crafting tradition.

All that aside, the Gesaril crafting tradition is almost worthless. The Force is used in the crafting process, but only minimally present in the final product most of the time. They carve wood, primarily, into masks and statuettes. The best and most Force-attuned carvers' products can be imbued with the same emotion felt by the creator at the time of creation. That's it: that's all that Gesaril crafting does. It makes pieces of wood into primitive artworks that feel like emotions.

In combination with other arts, however, it may prove interesting. Nobody has yet turned a Gesaril carver loose on a Force-sensitive tree, mixed in Ithorian horticultural arts, or attempted other combinations in any serious way. It may yet turn out that Gesaril carvings are the seeds of creations to rival the Helm of Ieldis or even the Phobis Devices. The power to affect moods and emotions should not be underestimated, not in terms of creation nor in terms of marketability.

A word of warning if you seek out the Gesarils. Purify your heart and take a new ship. When they sense the Dark Side, they collectively telekinesce ships into uncontrolled crash-landing.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Felucia, ahh, Felucia.

You're right: Velok did have a research facility there, and that was where I worked as his assistant. We made the Akure Leviathans there. Felucia is an...inspiring world. It makes you afraid in all the right ways.

Yes, the Felucian shamans have a crafting tradition; yes, it was implicitly approved by Master Shaak Ti, who lived among them during the Jedi Purge. Like some other primitive Force-related crafting arts, the Felucian variant can only be used by the Light Side...at least, traditionally.

Felucian Skullblades are the most well-known creations of this tradition. Their crafting process is highly suggestive of usable implications. Various creatures native to Felucia have, within their bones and teeth, naturally occurring Force crystals (with which Velok was known to experiment). The bones and teeth are the crafting material. The end result is a large, awkward weapon, a close technical parallel to a Force-imbued blade, capable of blocking lightsabres and blasterfire. Interestingly, rancor bones can be used as well, but only the bones of Felucian rancors. This suggests that the crystals may appear through a variety of environmental or parasitic factors. Skullblades are used by Felucian shamans for ceremonial and combat purposes. Chieftain staffs, as it happens, have similar functionality, and shamans' horns may also.

In the end, you can mark down Felucian Skullblades as a less powerful, biologically sourced variant of Force-imbued blades, with a note to further examine the mechanisms by which Force crystals grow inside living beings. This is a research direction that may have implications for combining Force crystals and related crafting arts with living trees, for example.

Do not go to Felucia without being a Lightsider. You will be killed and fed to a sarlacc. The shamans believe that all Darksiders corrupt the jungle's Force balance by their presence, and they're probably right.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

You have a point: I should start introducing you to Holocron crafting, at least the theory of it. It takes a Master to make a Holocron in most cases; Darth Bane failed spectacularly. This is almost the quintessential light-and-dark crafting art; only the lightsabre exceeds it for ubiquity. You'll have many exercises to do before you can create your own Holocron. For now, it's important to note that many of the integral principles are generalizable to other projects. The two most important principles have to do with growing crystalline lattices through the Force, and imbueing those lattices with information. And information can take widely varying forms.

The most interesting implication, when compared with the Felucian tradition and Force bladesmithing, is that I see no reason why holocrons cannot be Force-imbued for defensive purposes.

My own holocron is off to do its dirty work, or I would test the hypothesis. If I'm correct, a holocron's creator could potentially alter the design in such a way that the item could channel the Force like a blade. Despite a Holocron's inherent fragility, such a device could banish spirits and resist blasters or lightsabre.

Nor, in the end, is there any reason why organic crystals, within static living beings, cannot be made into low-capacity holocrons. And if combined with some derivation of the Sapphire or the crystals of fire, the implications get downright interesting.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

She does surprise me. Don't be jealous: as far as I know, the closest she's ever come to a crafting art is that boy she moons over, the one with blue blood and orange eyes. For a girl worth...oh, hundreds of billions...she's really not very materialistic. I believe she acquired the thing solely to keep it out of the wrong hands. And no, I don't mind what she traded for it. I didn't realize she'd paid enough attention to my stories that she could guess the riddles, but clearly I was wrong.

So we return to the Ankarres Sapphire, at least for the time being. Irreplaceable and unique, so sampling is out of the question, to say nothing of re-cutting. Sympathetic links will have to do for the moment, not that those can ever be very efficient without actual quantum entanglement. Crystallography-related arts offer few clear-cut answers, so to speak. Perhaps I should search out Organa.

But I have a hard time believing she has secret knowledge, for all her power -- and she is powerful. Stronger than me, certainly. Underestimate her at your peril. No, I suspect her expertise comes from study of the other crystals that have played such a role in Jedi traditions. There was a time when every Jedi was issued a healing crystal; did you know that? And then there are the various properties ascribed to lightsabre crystals. Some of the unique crystals are so old that nobody knows whether their stranger properties are naturally occurring or the product of some forgotten art. Jedi crystallographic Force-crafting -- wouldn't that be priceless? And yet at some level I suspect that may have been an actual technique. Not for Ilum or Adegan crystals, but for things like the Ankarres Sapphire, the Healing Crystals of Fire...the alternative is to believe that there are worlds with huge deposits of such crystals, which is fundamentally silly. No, at some point, someone accidentally or deliberately made these.

Using skills that no Jal Shey or Sith alchemist now knows.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

I'm not sure we can take crystals back to first principles, Cerita, but you're right: we should at least look for commonalities. We might even be able to make an attempt at sorting them into 'probably natural' and 'possibly artificial' - the effects, not the crystals themselves. Yes, a conceptual separation has value here. And yes, once we formulate a list of suspects, we can start reconstructing whatever ancient art might have brought them about. Capital suggestion.

I find it odd that pontite crystals reduce negative emotions and absorb heat. That's two kinds of energy taken, by some reckonings. Nevertheless, I doubt every pontite adegan crystal in existence is the result of tinkering. This is likely a natural effect.

Bane's Heart? The electrical effect? Lightsabres can be charged with lightning and so forth, so thought I've never seen one in action I have no real reason to doubt the Bane's Heart does what legend says. This is a candidate. The same goes for Firkrann.

The plethora of unique crystals that make sabres only usable by their creators? That's an interesting property. I could see some kind of Force-bond happening naturally, but such a black-and-white division could only have come from a Jedi. Only the Order works in such absolutes.

Dantari crystals? No, the reduced-Force-fatigue effect is probably not intentional. They're actually faunal in origin. Nurtured by the proximity of the Enclave, perhaps, even after all these years.

I've never seen the Heart of the Guardian in action, and legends conflict. I can't speak to that.

Hurrikaine? The cold aura is a myth, but they're certainly better against energy fields. I'm not sure if that's a quality of sabre physics or of the Force, but I suspect the former.

The Kaiburr? Ask me when you're older.

The Healing Crystals of Fire aren't accessible. Please don't do anything precipitous.

I'm operating on the assumption that the Ankarres Sapphire is artificially Force-augmented.

Kasha we know; that's a crafted thing.

Lignan...oh my. If lignan was intentional...but I doubt it.

I'm interested in the process by which Lorrdian gemstones gain their properties. Some kind of species-wide Force-steeped osmosis, perhaps, like someone took a snapshot of a civilization and imbued it in their stones.

Qixoni, now...Qixoni does so many things that I think it's more likely than lignan to be artificial in origin, though the volume of qixoni crystals in history is a strong counterpoint.

Solari is a similar story. An odd nuna, the solari crystals. Rare and quirky and judgmental enough to be created.

Upari...deeply ambiguous. May have to come back to these, experimentally.

Let's leave aside living crystals like rainbow gems and tsils, to say nothing of shards. Let's also leave aside the crystals that only improve cutting power, blade definition, etc. -- that's always struck me as more of a physics issue than a Force thing. So: it sounds like you have your work cut out for you. Sell whatever of mine you need to sell, and get me some...firkrann, hurrikaine, Lorrdian gemstones, qixoni, solari, and upari, for starters. Then we'll see what we can see.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Nightsister talismans, so far as my experiments reveal -- and I am reckoned an Elder among witches -- have no direct Light Side correlates. Many of them are of such a character that correlation would be unlikely at best. In hopes that I'll eventually find a way to translate some of their abilities into Allyan methodologies or higher-quality Light Side traditions, though, I'll list the Nightsister artifacts here, with notes on their implications for potential Light Side adaptation. My records have further information.

• Talisman of Age: Makes you look young for a short time, even with advanced Dark Side corruption. At first glance I have no interest in this, but only at first glance. Though this one would be very difficult to adapt to the Light Side, I think, the idea of physically reshaping someone with Dark Side corruption is highly relevant to my current project. The problem is twofold: selfishness is woven into the thing, and the transformation is temporary. Consider this a subset of Talismans of Transformation, a frustrating category.
• Talisman of Counterspell: I have relatively high hopes for this one. Reflecting Dark Side abilities back on their wielders is something that even Master Yoda used, to great success I might add. I suspect this technique isn't more widely used for two reasons: Jedi don't know about it, and they learn too many over-impressive techniques to add this to their repertoire. Jumping the power-to-artifact gap requires an avenue. Maybe something to do with Jakobeasts...
• Talisman of Finding: Artifact version of a blood trail...but in reverse, using the target's blood rather than a remote sample of your own. Jedi use the blood trail. Perhaps the Talisman of Finding isn't inherently evil. How would I know?
• Talisman of Resurrection: Both in intent and in execution, this is probably the most explicitly dark item in Nightsister culture. It's necromancy, pure and simple, and necromancy of an especially malevolent sort.
• Talisman of Transformation: This includes Bolma, Brackaset, Burra Fish, Eollu, Raven, and other variants. Intuitive from a Dathomiri lens, but fairly incompatible with Jedi and Sith techniques. No known parallels in other traditions. Interesting for its effects on living flesh and bone, but unlikely to be adaptable to the Light Side.
• Totem of Familiars: For the summoning of spirits. Irrelevant.
• Nightsister crystal ball: Amplifies precognition and farsight at a high level. Irrelevant.
• Nightsister Force crystal: Amplifies Dark Side abilities. Irrelevant; there are better and less limited power sources.
• Water of Life/Font: Can physically reshape, to be sure, but this is the sort of thing we're trying to UNdo. I've spent enough time working with spirit ichor to know that adapting it to the Light is a fool's errand.
• Key of Exile/Chamber of Banishment: Conceptually similar to a Control Web, with the interesting addition of a holocron-style activator. I think the Jal Shey arts give enough opportunities for emotional and mental influence that the Control Web principles are redundant, but I may look into this further.
• Nightsister armor: Standard low-to-moderate coverage boobplate. Don't ever let me catch you wearing something that ridiculous.
• Carnage beret: Useless.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Note to self: examine uplift possibilities for Gesarils. End goal: surgical training.

Crystals. Of non-unique variants, identified firkrann, hurrikaine, Lorrdian gemstones, qixoni, solari, and upari as potential candidates for having been influenced by Tradition X. Main criteria were effect-based. Further notes to follow.

Firkrann. Unique properties related to electrical discharge. Lightsabre blade containment fields function in such a way that blades can be charged with lightning, comparable to a high-powered stun baton. Lightsabres can serve as focus objects and channels for Force lightning without harm coming to the internal components. Firkrann crystals draw upon the wielder's Force signature to give the blade a constant charge, right between the cycling field energizers and straight through the emitter aperture's magnetic field stabilizer. No harm comes to the circuitry. Needless to say, this is odd. I've consulted with engineers on the subject and the best they can offer is that the Firkrann's lightning charge couldn't get to the blade without the Force strengthening the apparatus and allowing the charge to somehow skip...

Attached mathematical notes. It's easier to conceptualize it in those terms. Suffice it to say, Firkrann crystals simply shouldn't work. The terrifying thing here, of course, is that Firkrann crystals are from Rafa V.

The home of the Sharu.

If Tradition X has pre-Republic roots, Sharu roots, that's a problem. Just think about the few remaining life-crystals from that planet, and their Force/technological origins. Intelligence drain, life extension...grown on biotech trees that scientists still don't understand...and then compare it with the Mindharp's ability to erase and restore and entire species' memories. We don't want to play with the Sharu.

Hurrikaine. 'Good at penetrating defenses' has, so far as I can tell, generally translated to 'more disruptive to energy fields.' I'm not prepared to speculate as to the mechanism, though all my measurements suggest it's comparable in some ways to the Firkrann. The great ambiguity lies in evaluating which sorts of defense-related effects are compromised, the extent to which tradition holds true, etc. At the moment, my tentative hypothesis is a Force-related static charge in the containment field, like a lesser version of the Firkrann. The interesting thing here is that Hurrikaine crystals are biological in origin. That, I did not know. They're actually a body part of a sentient species. There are Felucian implications I'll re-examine, but unless we start looking at Huricane's natives as a product of Tradition X -- a stretch -- Hurrikaine crystals are off the suspect list.

Lorrdian gemstones. I did some further digging into the history of Lorrd, and here is the first concrete evidence for Tradition X. The Lorrdian gemstones were deliberately created by Force-sensitive Lorrdians during their uprising in the Kanz Disorders, around five millennia ago. Implicitly Light-side oriented. I need to know more. Fortunately, my brother married a Lorrdian.

Qixoni. Naturally occurring, sadly, unless the Jedi who discovered them also tampered with them. Might have something to do with the deaths involved in the supernova that created them. Shelving this one as a subset of natural, but non-biological, Force crystals.

Nightsister Force crystals/crystal balls. Derivative nonsense, but weak evidence for a Tradition X.

Solari. Clearly not unique, but very nearly so. Ancient Jedi treasures, strong Light Side effects. Considered weak evidence for the ancient existence of Tradition X or an equivalent within the Jedi Order prior to 4,000 BBY. Found only on Sacorria and Rhen Var, which have little in common and are not near each other. That, too, is weak evidence but evidence nonetheless.

Upari. Now this is fascinating. Why is it found in orbit? Why only in orbit of forest worlds? Something to do with biomass or tree spirit influence? What Jedi traditions allowed Jedi Masters to get multiple effects out of it, around 5,000 years ago? More to the point, what WOOKIEE traditions enabled Wookiees to use specific cuts to increase the crystal's power? This is strong evidence of Tradition X having a Jedi connection. Alternately, it is comparable with the Kasha stones, in that specific cutting/etching techniques amplify certain effects.

Current working hypothesis: there is no one Tradition X. Cereans, Lorrdians, Wookiees, and possibly Sharu, not to mention ancient Jedi, seem to have developed crystallographic Force traditions independently. This means there could be as many as five canons which I can uncover, compare, and blend to find first principles.

 

[Velok the Younger]

From the desk of Rave Merrill
New Habat outskirts
Varunda IX

Thaissen crystals...ahh, the joys of Mimban.

Kaiburr shards are useful in their way, especially in the actual Circarpous system, and Lumiya was known to have a crate full of them. When the Kaiburr Crystal itself is brought to the Temple of Pomojema, I do not believe there are any Force artifacts that can match its power. I have my suspicions as to its current ownership, but if I'm right, the keeper has held it in security for many years. But the Kaiburr -- the full Crystal, or the assorted shards -- is much less interesting than Mimban's other crystals, the humble thaissen.

Thaissen crystals, of course, lay at the heart of Palpatine's Force detectors. They radiate a gentle glow in the presence of a Forcer or Force disturbance -- red in the presence of a Darksider, blue in the presence of a Lightsider. The crystal must be very close to the subject or disturbance in order to produce this effect. It's long been considered a curio. Much to my surprise, Silk Holdings up and capitalized on a concept I'd long wanted to try. See, the thing that makes thaissen crystals almost totally unique is that they're one of very few substances that turn the Force into...reality. Specifically, light. So Silk went and made fuel cells. Photoreactive box with a thaissen crystal and a little bit of Force artifact in it. Very very basic. They get about 45% of the yield of a standard fuel cell, they're pricey...but they literally run forever.

I have rather a lot of ideas to do with thaissen crystals. The Ankarres Sapphire turns a Darksider's proximity into heat; a comparable effect. More to explore.