Return of the Witch

[Cathul Thuku]

Malastare Narrows. The first time she ever set foot on Malastare since Clan Lok purchased IGR. She avoided Malastare for the past five years like the plague but hopefully her inroads at developing real estate and at doing land reclamation in Alliance space would redeem her to the eyes of the Malastarian Council, and hopefully allow her to build a secondary home on Malastare, where, despite the troubles in the Core, it still remains an affordable location. But she also brought her second apprentice to Malastare to commence initial Force-training. So long as she doesn't train people in explicitly dark-sided powers, training a Force-user in Alliance space is fair game. While her new apprentice arrived to the location where Cathul's secondary home on Malastare would be built, the dawn of a new practitioner of light-sided Force-powers would await. It was going to be built on an one-acre plot of land, where she decides she can just get, well, quite a lot of home for her money.

"Welcome, apprentice. I hope that the travel to Malastare hasn't been too rough on you?"

[member="Geloyra Malleus"]

 

[Geloyra Malleus]

In such a short span from leaving her home on Endor, where her memories of loss and pain had at one time threatened daily to unravel her, she had been accepted into the Jedi Order; where she began to understand what role she would play in the galaxy, to finally arriving on Malastare where she was to meet her Master; the one that would develop her into a balanced Force user. She was unsure what was expected of her, but her Father had installed in her the 'never give up' mentality which she believed would help her reach success. Being a late addition to the Jedi Order, she was years behind those of her age, but what they lacked in knowledge she surpassed them in experience. They had the training, but she had the skills to survive. The peers she had would never understand her, or she they, since in terms of civilized worlds; Geloyra was an outsider looking in. She was not as educated as some of those in her group, but she was smarter than them in some capacity. In particular, she had the natural ability to solve problems at a haunting speed. She lacked the combat training skills her group possessed, but she was a fast moving thinker; so instead of using physical strength to best her sparring partners, she used her mind to outwit them.

Her only struggle, was commanding the Force.

She possessed a couple of abilities such as telekinesis and the art of movement, but those in her group possessed more abilities and Geloyra always felt she was chasing them. Despite this, she never gave into discouragement or allowed certain darker emotions take hold. She once had a bout with the darkside, though at the time she didn't know what happened, she vowed never to go down that path. However, there was always a lingering thought buried in her mind that kept resurfacing; 'You tasted the darkside of the Force, how sweet it must be to indulge in it once more.' When she thought of that terrifying day, one half of her feared what she nearly became, while the other half poked and prodded her to fully give herself over. She was not conflicted, or even living a life of struggle, she was young and unsure of herself. She needed to be molded and reshaped.

Stepping out of the shuttle, she saw her Master standing there. "No, Master, the trip was quite refreshing. I never dreamed that I would enjoy space travel. It seems so peaceful." Up until the day she paid a ship's captain enough credits to usher her off Endor, she had never been exposed to space flight; or the ensuing coldness that came with it. By the time she reached the Jedi Temple on Sullust, she practically fell in love with flying through the stars. Geloyra now discovered she had another passion in life; flying.


[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Your peers would always talk about how Jedi shouldn't do certain things, most notoriously the no-attachment and no-possession rules. But what if I told you that most of these restrictions stem from a text that isn't technically part of the Code? The Teyan Apologia is often conflated as being part of the Code itself even though it really isn't"

Hmmm, my new apprentice was a little short on Force-skills? I myself was in a similar situation. I used to have a limited spellbook at first but now I have a more extended range of Force-powers than ever before, she thought, upon sensing her new apprentice for what knowledge of the Force she had, and also get a feel for her in the Force. The most common violations of the Teyan Apologia pertained to the age of taking Padawans and the # of Padawans a master could take, because all major Jedi Orders understood that species capable of producing Force-sensitives age at different rates, and all major Jedi Orders found that the mortality rates of Knights and Masters were too high to renew the supply with one Padawan at a time. But the Silver Jedi Order as she knew it was entirely funded by corporate contributions of Jedi-owned corporations. One of Ugohr's new recruits called for the same to be made by the NJO, in which case Aurora Industries and IGR would bear the full amount of the NJO's upkeep, estimated to be roughly 70% on Aurora and 30% on IGR.

"Your first activity for today is to learn Force-sense. Please close your eyes; try to look for weaknesses in me in the Force"

[member="Geloyra Malleus"]

 

[Geloyra Malleus]

Geloyra was shocked to learn that some of the lessons taught to her by the Jedi teachers were in fact, overreactions. What were they afraid of? What was wrong with falling in love or pairing yourself with another? And possessions, which she believed was a misused word anyway, couldn't be that bad. She knew Knights and Masters that owned their own starships or droids, and though these were mechanical in nature, they were still owned by them. Was her Master referring to something greater, such as a possession of great fortunes like credits? But that couldn't be it, her Master owned a magnificent and beautiful home. There was alot she didn't fully understand, but she was young and filled with many questions. Geloyra decided that patience would be her greatest asset right now, and over time all the answers she sought would be presented to her by her Master or through the trials and errors of galaxy life. She noted to herself that she would seek out this Teyan Apologia and read for herself what the teachers at the Temple refused to reveal. She didn't want to be just a Jedi, she wanted to be an informed and highly educated Jedi; though she understood that craving to much knowledge at once could lead her down a path that very few ever returned. Patience she reminded herself.

"Yes, Master."

Geloyra closed her eyes, conditioning her mind to expel any and all distractions that circled and clouded her mind. Usually before attempting a lesson she would take several minutes, sometimes up to an hour, to meditate. She didn't have that luxury now, which she suspected that there was an underlining meaning to this lesson; sometimes the galaxy doesn't wait for you to be ready, you need to ready when the galaxy hurls a challenge in your direction. Taking small intakes of air and slowly dispelling them, she reached her mind out through the Force attempting to connect and scan her Master. The first two attempts produced nil results, but on the third try she began to sense something about her Master; a potential weakness perhaps. Geloyra was unsure what she was 'reading' but it appeared her Master had a love for something called alcohol. Geloyra didn't know what alcohol was, but she could sense her Master was being poisoned by it; or at least she seemed to enjoy it. Geloyra made a mental note to ask later about this thing called alcohol.

Slowly retracting her senses back, she looked at her Master and asked, "Master, some in the Order refer to you as a witch. I've met some witches back on my home planet of Endor and have always been fascinated by them. Is it possible, Master, that I can learn witchcraft from you despite being a Jedi?"


[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"It's funny that you mention witchcraft: using the Force to create one's own alcohol is the main spell I have that I would readily associate with witchcraft as you mean it, and also I can make objects heavier or lighter. Neither of those spells rely on the dark side of the Force, and witchcraft as I practice it can mostly be done by light-siders: however a good understanding of a spell's mechanism, that is, understanding what the Force does to the spell's target when you cast the spell, is important. Sometimes it can even negate alignment requirements, and you were always taught that Jedi were to use the Force for knowledge and defense"

What she didn't suspect was that making objects heavier or lighter required the Higgs vev to be locally higher or lower than normal. But to even understand what a Higgs vev is, requires graduate-level notions of particle physics and hence of quantum field theory. Also mind tricks, Force-fear and Force-stun under knowledge-as-power were mostly about targeting particular areas in the target's brain, which depended on the desired effect; Cathul knew as much about neuropsychology because of her past as a therapist but that dark-sider patient removed her ability to do therapy all of a sudden. These things would be way over most Jedi's heads, but not only she sensed that her apprentice may actully have the brainpower required to use the Force that way, she seems to have rather generous amounts of computational power in the sense Cathul usually means it in the context of Force-usage.

"Take Electric Judgment, for example. If you can solve for your target's Maxwell equations in your head, you can do Electric Judgment my way. Maxwell's equations tell you which properties the electromagnetic fields have. But you will tell me about Sith Lords and how they seemed to be able to use Electric Judgment (the Sith call it Force-lightning even though the mechanism is the same) sometimes without even any knowledge of electromagnetism whatsoever. For this reason most people think Electric Judgment is an offensive Force-power, but I use EJ mostly for non-combat purposes. Electric Judgment can be used for recharging a lightsaber, soldering wires or defibrillating patients, or other low-powered utilitarian uses. The main advantage of understanding the mechanism behind a Force-power is that you can use no more power than absolutely necessary, enabling hauntingly arbitrary levels of precision in your use of the Force, but the main drawback is that it makes intense intellectual demands on the caster. Nevertheless I trust your brain is rather well-trained, but I'll come back to EJ at a later date"

[member="Geloyra Malleus"]

 

[Geloyra Malleus]

Geloyra was fascinated by her Master's explanation of witchcraft, though it varied from what she witnessed by some back on Endor. When she was younger, she had been out on a hunting expedition and saw a group of dark dressed woman with exotic headdress swaying and chanting. This caught her attention further. After some time watching, she noticed that this group had performed some sort of ritual that raised a dead body from the ground. A mixture of awe and fear coursed through Geloyra's body. She never spoke of this to anyone, but later as she was studying at the Temple library on the topic of Sith, the word necromancy popped up. Geloyra assumed that this spell of necromancy would be associated with the Darkside and forgot about it until now.

Most of what she had learned about witchcraft that day in the library bordered on the nature of the Darkside, and yet, her Master was explaining a different aspect all together. "Master, in regards to witchcraft, is it possible to learn and create spells that are heavily infused with the Lightside? For example, could I enact a spell to revive a dead plant or tree? Or in your case with alcohol, create a spell that heals rather than destroys? And what about necromancy, is that forbidden?"

Her Master was right, her mind was well-trained and eager to learn; which at times could change thought courses quickly. Geloyra had never seen first hand what her Master referred to as Electric Judgement but she had seen through holovids Sith using what both her Master and the teachers called Force Lightning. As it was told by her Master, learning such an ability for recharging purposes, especially in equipment that could save lives, was appealing. Geloyra wanted to save the galaxy, not destroy it but in order to do so; she must learn to defend herself.

"Master, I respect your decision to come back to EJ at a later time but I'm curious. Can a Jedi use it to defend themselves in the same manner as a Sith uses it to attack and inflict pain?"

Geloyra raised her hand before her Master could reply. "Forgive me, Master. As you say, EJ for a later time."



[member="Cathul Thuku"]

 

[Cathul Thuku]

"Plant Surge may be what you're looking for. Although I don't know how to use it, I know it is a light-sider thing. Oh and necromancy is a big no-no for light-siders. Dark Transfer is the spell necromancers use to revive people, and even that is known only to a few high-level Sith Lords so that's out of your league for a while. As for using Force-alcohol in combat, I used it to fermentate the glycogen reserves inside sentients so that it would make them drunk in combat. A little dangerous when used to that end, since the resulting alcohol goes directly into the target's bloodstream, acute alcoholism can incapacitate or even kill the target. But I also used it to brew my own beer, wine and other such things"

While such a deluge of information would be daunting to handle for most Jedi, Cathul knew that she was capable of absorbing and processing that much information, and to respond to it in a manner that makes sense. She understood that Geloyra's curiosity was higher than normal. But that was testing her ability to provide for the knowledge her apprentice wants.

"Back to Electric Judgment, yes, it can be used for defense. However, using it for defense is more power-intensive than to use it to recharge a lightsaber or for defibrillating patients. Perhaps it is of no surprise to you, but the main Force-instrument someone can have is its brain. I like you as a Padawan because you are very agile, very fast, very powerful mentally, and that you actually can use the Force for knowledge. You already found that all too many become Jedi with the aim of flying around the galaxy, with a lightsaber or two, and who amount to being mostly Force-using bounty hunters because they see it as a ticket for fame. I know you like me as a master because I can challenge your mind in ways most Jedi would never dream of doing. But we have one weakness in common: if an enemy used a weapon that could fry a person's brain, our ability to use the Force is numbed. The main thing that all too many Jedi lack is self-awareness: you have seen the classical tale of the overconfident Padawan taking on Sith Lords too many times and get pawned for it"

[member="Geloyra Malleus"]