Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force (Star Wars)

PART ONE
HISTORY AND HOLOCRONS
RECORDED 40 A.B.Y.
AUTHOR: TIONNE SOLUSAR
 
The Jedi Order was founded more than twenty-five thousand standard years ago, at the same time as the formation of the Galactic Republic. Although the origins of the early Jedi remain mysterious, ancient texts indicate that they not only shared abilities to manipulate the energy field we call the Force, but were also compelled to use their powers selflessly to help others. This practice became a key foundation of the Jedi Order.
 
However, as long as there have been Jedi, there have been those who have been tempted to use the Force for selfish and even nefarious purposes; Jedi drawn into the negative side of the Force known as the dark side became referred to as Dark Jedi. Approximately seven thousand years ago, a conflict between Jedi and Dark Jedi led to the latter fleeing to the far reaches of space. Shortly afterward, a few of these Dark Jedi—known as the Exiles—managed to return to Republic space in an attempt to destroy the Jedi. The effort failed, and the Jedi learned that the surviving Exiles had conquered the people of the Sith system and proclaimed themselves Sith Lords.
 
For nearly two thousand years, the location of the Sith system remained unknown to the Jedi, while the Sith Lords were unable to find their way back to Republic space. The Sith’s eventual return initiated what became known as the Great Hyperspace War. It was during a subsequent conflict—the Sith War, which occurred more than four thousand years ago—that the Sith triggered the explosion of ten suns, causing a shock wave that ravaged the original Jedi Temple and the Great Jedi Library on Ossus. Research has revealed that the Jedi rescued only a fraction of the materials from the Great Jedi Library, and that these items were brought to Exis Station before they were eventually transferred to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
 
Fortunately, all was not lost on Ossus, as the planet’s remote location, dry atmosphere, and native Ysanna—descendants of the Jedi who remained on Ossus after the cataclysmic disaster—helped preserve many ancient scrolls and books that remained in the ruins of the library. These texts, along with all known Jedi-related data that survived the Clone Wars, are now held at the new Jedi library on Ossus.
 
Contemporary Jedi also have two very unusual resources on the history of the Sith: The Lundi Series, recorded lectures of Professor Murk Lundi, who was by most accounts a better teacher than researcher; and the Wavlud Manuscript, which was recovered from the personal effects of Ingo Wavlud, a suspected Sith sympathizer from the world of Byss. Although The Lundi Series frequently fails to cite specific sources and some data appears to have been invented by Lundi to boost his academic reputation, the heavily annotated Wavlud Manuscript not only corroborates many of Lundi’s findings but also provides previously unknown information regarding the Darth title and the Sith Lord Darth Sidious.
 
THE HOLOCRONS
 
The most precious and significant sources of Jedi history are held in Jedi Holocrons. Both compact repositories of knowledge and interactive learning devices, Holocrons employ patterns of organic crystals and hologrammic technology to simulate conversation with long-dead Jedi “gatekeepers,” whose teachings infuse particular Holocrons. With few exceptions, Jedi Holocrons are cubes that can easily be held in one’s hand. Evidently, Holocrons are partially powered by the Force, as only Force-users can activate them; once activated, anyone—even non-Force-users—can communicate with the gatekeepers. However, not all data is readily accessible, because Holocrons are engineered to detect students’ abilities in order to hold back elements they are not prepared to know.
 
In addition to the exotic Holocrons, Jedi utilized standard data tapes for some educational aspects. Data tapes lack the archival qualities of books, scrolls, and Holocrons, but it is most fortunate that some have survived, as they’ve provided many details about the training of Jedi during the Old Republic era. Nearly all of the existing tapes were recovered from a single source: the wreck of the Chu’unthor, a mobile training academy for groups of Jedi apprentices, which crashed more than three centuries ago on Dathomir.
 
Records also indicate that the Jedi Archives on Coruscant once held a collection of Sith Holocrons, most of which were pyramidical and—because they housed information that was dangerous in the wrong hands—off limits to the majority of Jedi. Like Jedi Holocrons, Sith Holocrons implement restrictive mechanisms to detect whether a student is prepared to receive certain knowledge. The Sith’s hologrammic simulacra can exert only verbal influence, but allegedly attempted to corrupt otherwise innocent beings and draw “students” down the path to the dark side. The Jedi Order’s earliest known awareness of Sith Holocrons dates back to the end of the Great Hyperspace War, when one was recovered from an abandoned Sith ship by the Jedi Odan-Urr. Odan-Urr kept this Sith Holocron for nearly a millennium before it was stolen by the Jedi Exar Kun, who used it to learn many secrets of the Sith. It is also highly probable that at least one Jedi with the knowledge of Holocron construction was among the Exiles who proclaimed themselves the first Sith Lords.
 
Although the Jedi once regarded Sith Holocrons as tools and not evil entities, the devices are embodiments of temptation to those who hope to achieve power by way of arcane knowledge. During the Clone Wars, the former Jedi Count Dooku—at the time, one of only twenty Jedi Masters known to have renounced the Jedi Order—stole at least one Sith Holocron from the Archives on Coruscant and also acquired the Sith Holocron of Darth Andeddu. Like Exar Kun, Count Dooku became a Sith Lord; while it is conceivable that the respective experiences and personality traits of both individuals guided their paths to the dark side, the possession of Sith Holocrons certainly directed their courses as well. Records do not reveal the fate of the Sith Holocrons used by Exar Kun and Count Dooku.
 
Various databases and eyewitnesses testify that the Jedi Archives on Coruscant held scores of Jedi Holocrons. Unfortunately, the ancient technology of the Holocrons, as well as the majority of the devices themselves, may be lost to time. Because Holocrons have been such a significant resource in the creation of this record, descriptions of noteworthy Holocrons precede a detailed time line of events in Jedi and Sith history.