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May The Invisible Hand Be With You - (Star Wars CK2-Style Quest)

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Stroth said:
That may actually be the single longest thing he has ever said to anyone.

Also probably the closest he'll ever come to calling her powers bullshit.
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The funny thing is at this point it's literally impossible to tell whether anything going Ciaran's way was just because of good luck and instincts or because of "good luck and instincts."

aoirann said:
Most likely make the Jedi a part of the System now instead of the indepenant group that can go above Republic laws and customs like they've been for centuries. But an actual part of the System. Not subservient and beaten down.
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Pretty much this. I'll get into more details during the next turn prologue but this is the long and short of it.

Skywalker_T-65 said:
ah, right

Sorry, busy times trying to get a job that will actually work me and catching up on my own writing.

...stat boost is fine, I think.
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That's fair, I totally get where you're coming from. And understood about the bonus.
 
Dr. Snark said:
The funny thing is at this point it's literally impossible to tell whether anything going Ciaran's way was just because of good luck and instincts or because of "good luck and instincts."
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The fact we can fuck with probability even harder than a normal Force User thanks to Shatterpoints does add to the mystery.
Dr. Snark said:
Pretty much this. I'll get into more details during the next turn prologue but this is the long and short of it.
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This'll probably be interesting, wonder how they'll go about it, and how much of everybody's touch (mostly Ciaran and Palpatine's since the contents of the law were mostly decided between us, if by proxy) can be seen in the final product.

I do find the part about mandatory psychiatric evaluations to be very promising because a lot of Jedi could really do with some goddamn counselling. Specially all those teenaged Padawan Commanders.
 
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065tdsa said:
I do find the part about mandatory psychiatric evaluations to be very promising because a lot of Jedi could really do with some goddamn counselling. Specially all those teenaged Padawan Commanders.
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This could lead to the rise of the oft-neglected Jedi Counselor, adding a third homonym for things having to do with the Jedi (Consular and Councillor). On the other hand:
"Lie down on the couch and tell me about your mother," the analyst began.
"I have no recollection of her. I've been with the Jedi ever since I can remember."
 
Barondoctor said:
"Lie down on the couch and tell me about your mother," the analyst began.
"I have no recollection of her. I've been with the Jedi ever since I can remember."
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An hour later at what is technically a meeting of the Jedi Council, in that all of the Masters have been physically dragged into the council chambers: "Alright fuckers, I've got some issues to discuss."
 
Dr. Snark said:
The funny thing is at this point it's literally impossible to tell whether anything going Ciaran's way was just because of good luck and instincts or because of "good luck and instincts."
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I feel that given the time taken and limited amount she can use it most of the time its just good luck and instincts just if you ever called her on it then she'd smug and lie.
 
Dr. Snark said:
The funny thing is at this point it's literally impossible to tell whether anything going Ciaran's way was just because of good luck and instincts or because of "good luck and instincts."
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Yeah, advanced shatterpoint techniques turn that whole "There's no such thing as coincidence" thing from a philosophical musing on the nature of the Force to a joke that you are probably the butt of.
 
Stroth said:
An hour later at what is technically a meeting of the Jedi Council, in that all of the Masters have been physically dragged into the council chambers: "Alright fuckers, I've got some issues to discuss."
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So you're proposing that the Jedi Counselor meet the Jedi Councillors, at least one of whom is probably a Jedi Consular?

Now I want to see if one of the Jedi Councillors (perhaps the Consular) can get some training in psychology and become a Jedi Consular Councillor Counselor.
 
Barondoctor said:
Something New​

I took more pictures and made sure all the data had downloaded and checked through the files to see if I could make anything be of value without being able to understand the Bendu-monk-like language of the ancient Jedi. After a bit of searching, one of the files seemed to be a map. It took a bit, but I eventually pieced together our location and where we came from. Somewhat deeper in the mountains the map indicated a temple along the ridge, near a volcano. "Darra. Would you agree this place is safe for habitation? I think so. No pests, thanks to the Jedi Door. It's stood for thousands of years without anybody maintaining it. Probably would be good to get an engineer out here just to check things. There's another temple on our way back we should probably investigate."

Darra blinked a few times. "Oh, sorry, right, you were talking. Sorry. My mind kept sticking on the Old Code and comparing it with the new one. It's..."

I nodded. "It allows for Jedi to be people who have feelings, while still maintaining that the Jedi way is to not be controlled by these feelings, instead of denying the presence of feelings. I have to imagine it would make the old Jedi more in tune with the rest of the galaxy."

I marked the location of the volcano temple on the map in my datapad.

"We...I didn't bring enough supplies for an extended archaeology expedition, Riphath. The fact that we're bringing back the five lightsabers from probably the New Sith Wars era...wait...five. We need to go back to Fort McSith on our way back. Unless I miss my guess..." Darra trailed off.

I looked at the aged but elegant-looking lightsaber hilt I'd found earlier. "Vee Eff, from the New Sith Wars." I paused, my eyes staring up into the sky as I mentally paged through everyone it could be. "You think this lightsaber belonged to Valenthyne Farfalla?" I asked, returning to the outside world. "The circlet probably does too. It seems like the sort of princely style he was known for."

"He's said to have lead a team that attempted to eliminate the last two Sith Lords in the galaxy. If we can find the attack cruiser they landed here with...well, we might be able to find more information on the others, and instead of bringing back just some lost lightsabers we're bringing back Valenthyne Farfalla's lightsaber and some others, along with information on the group Farfalla assembled to try to take out Darth Bane. We learn more about the people who went after Bane, who knew more about him, maybe we can find something to use against the Sith who followed his teachings," Darra elaborated.

I blinked.

"I spent a lot of time in the library when I had my previous set of prosthetics. I learned a few things," Darra explained.

I laughed. "Seems like about the only thing you need me for is to make sure nothing sneaks up on you."

"I wanted someone I trust watching my back, and there's nobody I trust more than you," Darra said.

I froze, and then probably went pink. "...Of the people who could go on this sort of trip with you?"

"You gave me my arm and leg back. You've been with me ever since I've been using them to do worthwhile things for the first time since...since then," Darra told me.

I blinked a few more times. My emotions were a mess. "It's...you...I..."

Darra smirked at me. "Voorpak got your tongue?"

I laughed. "I've been glad to be part of it."

A brief search around Fort McSith found a long-abandoned Paladin-class corvette, Aurebesh letters on the side calling it the Justice Crusader.

I gestured to the locked boarding ramp. "After you," I said.

Darra blinked twice, then her eyes closed and she walked up to the boarding ramp, her left hand tracing along it and gesturing at certain points. As she completed her circuit, the boarding ramp dropped down. "Just a matter of finding the bolts and popping them open," she said with a grin. "Should be easy enough to lock it back up when we're done."

We explored the Justice Crusader and I finally decided it would be better to just video everything. After isolating the circuit for the ship's computer, I collected a data dump from it and from anything else we could find. "Well, I had a choice in undergrad: introduction to holography or introduction to archaeology. A couple of buddies were going into holography and that made the choice for me. I really should see about learning more of the past, because apparently it keeps coming up...or in the case of this Sith stuff, never quite being as gone as we'd like."

When we walked back towards the campus of the Tython Jedi Temple, I hit a few buttons on my data collection devices to transmit a copy to my ship. The Watchers would want this stuff. I had no doubt the archaeology people would go crazy for it.

We presented our findings to the Council, who seemed intrigued at the structure we described and how it had been secured. They were also extremely interested in the lightsabers and circlet.

"We shall study your findings. If the lightsaber is indeed Farfalla's, perhaps the other owners can be identified with the data and we can learn more about the New Sith. Thank you for your investigation," Master Rogan said.

I went back to my guest house and was surprised to find Master Rogan knocking on my door about an hour later. He seemed to have something on his mind, so I invited him in.

"Thank you," Jedi Master Rogan said. "We're going to have to investigate that volcano structure, perhaps in a week or two. You and Darra worked well together and we may have you go investigate that soon. Speaking of you and Darra...you've only seen her continued growth, so when I say your connection to her was a focal point of Council discussion on attachments and relationships...the way the two of you bring out the best in each other was instrumental in convincing the Tython Council to be a bit more open-minded on the subject."

I blinked. "Things really do seem different here from the Coruscant Jedi. I doubt I'd have gotten such a warm reception from them."

Rogan smiled. "We're here on Tython because we had philosophical differences from the Coruscant Jedi. This is just more of those differences coming to light over time. Chief among them, at least from what I imagine to be your point of view, the Tython Council is prepared to try out the idea of allowing attachments and relationships. Both parties should declare themselves Luwoban before the Council. It's an old Dai Bendu word meaning, well, partners." He had a bit of a roguish grin on his face which suggested it had certain other connotations and I was reminded again that he seemed to have an interest in ensuring Darra and I would be close.

I realized that if they were familiar enough with old Dai Bendu words to use them as a means of formalizing relationships, they probably would be able to translate our findings fairly quickly. If I wanted the Watchers to get an edge, I would need to move quickly.
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I can't imagine her reaction to knowing where Riphath's true allegiance lie. Darra could very well Fall from the revelation. The last thing we need is giving Palpatine more bodies to throw at us.
 
Cheetar said:
What are the new laws?
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Way back when the turn first began, I had an exchange with Dr. Snark about what the 'Jedi Reform Laws' consisted of:
Publicola said:
@Dr. Snark, can you define what these restrictions would look like?
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Dr. Snark said:
Some notable ones being debated:
-The Jedi Temple will be actively patrolled by GAR troops. While the Senate isn't planning on going as far as forcing troops to be stationed inside the Temple, the army's presence would be much more noticeable in the area.
-All Jedi military officers would undergo mandatory psychiatric screening. Anyone who fails will be immediately stripped of command, non-negotiable.
-Information on the activities of Jedi should no longer be kept solely within the Temple. The affairs of the Order are the affairs of the Republic.
-All Jedi would be accompanied by a representative of the Republic in any significant diplomatic or military endeavor. Said representative would have the right to override any decisions the Jedi in question would make.
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Publicola said:
Huh.
  • Patrols around the Jedi Temple -- definitely Palpatine anticipating Order 66 and the murder of younglings. I wouldn't mind if the patrols were police presence, rather than military. Might be possible to amend this bit so it's a matter of law enforcement (which should help tamp down on riots/protests)
  • Psychiatric screening -- YES PLEASE. We want more of this. Psychiatric screening might reveal unstable (potentially fallen) Jedi before they fall, as well as potentially traitors like Pong Krell. Also, it goes without saying that the Jedi are terrible at dealing with psychology, especially since they've had a thousand years since a real military conflict. Now, given that this is politics, we may have to oppose this one as well and reach a 'compromise' so this one is enacted into law while some others are removed, but we should certainly try to arrange its passage.
  • Shared information -- someone has Order 66 on his mind. Much easier to hunt down the Jedi if you know where the Jedi are to be found. On the other hand, this massive invasion of privacy might lead to a breach between the Jedi and the Senate, which would be a very good thing since it'd cut out the bureaucracy and political responsibility of the Order, and allow it to actually pursue justice on their own accord rather than act as agents of a corrupt central government. But that's risky, since there's no guarantee the Order would reject this measure (though a proactive Coruscant faction might...).
  • Republic representative with veto power -- this one might be a benefit in disguise. The problem is that, the final authority would be that representative -- which means they're probably corrupt, or appointed by a corrupt body, and with no guarantee of actual competence. On the other hand, this reform would more clearly establish that the Jedi are acting as subordinate agents of some other group, so more criticism would target the Senate's representative rather than the Jedi for bungling the work, whether military or diplomacy. Likewise, it would probably grate on many Jedi, to be back-benched so blatantly, to be placed as subordinate to some random politician. Anything that creates more separation between the Jedi and the Republic is in my books a good thing.
So: mostly negative, but a mixed bag with some positives and some silver linings to bad reforms.
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The last interlude does explicitly mention that the 'mandatory psychiatric evaluations' were kept in the final law (yay!) but we're given few details about the rest. I am somewhat concerned about this:
aoirann said:
Most likely make the Jedi a part of the System now instead of the indepenant group that can go above Republic laws and customs like they've been for centuries. But an actual part of the System. Not subservient and beaten down.
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Dr. Snark said:
Pretty much this. I'll get into more details during the next turn prologue but this is the long and short of it.
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During the New Sith Wars a thousand years ago, the Jedi were pretty thoroughly integrated into the political system -- they led armies, governed sectors, and (given the centuries-long war footing) had often assumed responsibility as Supreme Chancellor (over the last four hundred years before the Battle of Ruusan, every Chancellor was a Jedi).

The Ruusan Reformation was specifically and directly intended to strip all political power from the Jedi Order, making them agents of the Galactic Senate. They were forced to disband their military forces, forfeit the right to wear armor, act under the direction of the Republic Judiciary, etc. In short, the Jedi Order became the premier law enforcement agency of the Republic -- no more, no less.

What little 'independence' the Jedi have, was the result of a thousand years of working around the legal restrictions that had been placed on them by a well-meaning democracy. The fact that the Jedi mostly stayed out of the Outer Rim -- and did nothing about the booming slave trade -- for that thousand years, is a direct consequence of the Senate's preference for defending and protecting the Core and Colonies.

This is why the Jedi are considered pawns of the Senate, why dislike for the Republic corresponds to dislike for the Jedi, why 'Separatist' so often means 'Sith' in the prequel trilogy era.

The main worry I had with the 'Jedi Reform Acts', was that Palpatine would use them to bring the Jedi Order even further under the Senate's thumb. I agree the Jedi need oversight, and that there are a lot of issues that need fixing, but reducing their independence seems like the wrong way to go about things.
 
Publicola said:
Way back when the turn first began, I had an exchange with Dr. Snark about what the 'Jedi Reform Laws' consisted of:





The last interlude does explicitly mention that the 'mandatory psychiatric evaluations' were kept in the final law (yay!) but we're given few details about the rest. I am somewhat concerned about this:


During the New Sith Wars a thousand years ago, the Jedi were pretty thoroughly integrated into the political system -- they led armies, governed sectors, and (given the centuries-long war footing) had often assumed responsibility as Supreme Chancellor (over the last four hundred years before the Battle of Ruusan, every Chancellor was a Jedi).

The Ruusan Reformation was specifically and directly intended to strip all political power from the Jedi Order, making them agents of the Galactic Senate. They were forced to disband their military forces, forfeit the right to wear armor, act under the direction of the Republic Judiciary, etc. In short, the Jedi Order became the premier law enforcement agency of the Republic -- no more, no less.

What little 'independence' the Jedi have, was the result of a thousand years of working around the legal restrictions that had been placed on them by a well-meaning democracy. The fact that the Jedi mostly stayed out of the Outer Rim -- and did nothing about the booming slave trade -- for that thousand years, is a direct consequence of the Senate's preference for defending and protecting the Core and Colonies.

This is why the Jedi are considered pawns of the Senate, why dislike for the Republic corresponds to dislike for the Jedi, why 'Separatist' so often means 'Sith' in the prequel trilogy era.

The main worry I had with the 'Jedi Reform Acts', was that Palpatine would use them to bring the Jedi Order even further under the Senate's thumb. I agree the Jedi need oversight, and that there are a lot of issues that need fixing, but reducing their independence seems like the wrong way to go about things.
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Hold on there, and let me clarify some things.

To put it bluntly, there's not much that can be done about reducing the Order's independence to at least some degree after the Massacre even after the Tarkin fiasco. That scared the shit out of damn near everyone given how bad that was, and not without reason. But - and this is a big but - bear in mind that the initial draft basically had a clause that said "every Jedi is getting a government stooge following them around that can override their decisions basically whenever they feel like it." The new laws are not going to be like that. Less "subservience and restrictions," more "cooperation and support." If that makes sense.
 
JAGwin said:
*Base blows up seconds after Ciaran and the Silencer finish escaping*

Ciaran: *Glares at the Silencer*

Silencer: "It wasn't me!"

Ciaran: *Glare intensifies*

Silencer: "Okay, maybe it was me."
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More like:

Ciaran: *Glares at the Silencer*

Silencer: "Not me."

Ciaran: *Glare intensifies*

Silencer: "Maybe me."

Marla said:
I can't imagine her reaction to knowing where Riphath's true allegiance lie.
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I can't imagine what possessed you to quote the entire omake.
 
Hindsight, on news of a Death Star hijack... I'd not be surprised if Palpatine may be way beyond peeved. If I go on this video for any demonstration;



But frankly, when you think of all of our most recent actions in hindsight. He's probably going to feel that in 'response', we've made more than one 'nudge' against him. To the point of becoming an ever increasing avalanche of 'trainwrecks' that'd likely need an 'estimate'.

Then again, out of all of his frothing anger issues, the only 'good' news to Palpatine, is that the Star Destroyer wasn't destroyed per see... But borrowed and 'donated' to the Chiss, who are strictly (if infuriatingly) neutral. Over a possible 'worst case scenario' of another enemy.

Just means however, that depending on context. We'd probably need to start being on a watch-out for an impending counter PR manuveurs, or 'inquisition' on our charities, and other avenues in a way/manner designed to cripple, and neuter our interests. And that's likely assuming the 'best' case scenario of him being blindsighted by us having The Forge for a "YoRHa Drone invasion" force. Or him possibly panicking enough to accelerate his plans if he ever likely learns of the increasing avalanche of 'knives' we've been hoarding/collecting in the dark.

-

If anything, it might be serious enough, that there's a chance that Palpatine 'could' in a more 'ideal' situation, start making moves to try and nudge the Jedi against us, or at least the overly zealous, under a improvised 'try to kill two birds with one stone' sort of scheme. That, or for all I know; start making investments on 'counter inquisition' on developing Anti-Crime Syndicate measures.
 
That depends on Palpatine knowing who did that. He might see us in some of the actions but he can't know if it is not something else afterall there are a lot of other things he has to pay attention to and I don't think he realizes the extent of our organization.
 
Okay guys new secondary goal. Let us raise the Silencer's social skills to the level we can send him to high society balls on his own and actually be welcomed.
 
adaer said:
...The hell? Why would that be a thing? They were shifting into a law enforcement/SWAT sort of role, right? Those groups should and do wear armor, since those are, y'know, dangerous jobs.
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It's to promote a more peaceful mindset. The Jedi version of law enforcement is diplomacy first, espionage second with violence as a reactionary measure. Wearing armour says 'I'm geared up for a fight' which the Jedi try to avoid intentionally provoking others. Besides I think back then the Republic thought the Judicial Forces (the former Jedi led Army of Light) would act as the main force for peacekeeping while the Jedi would be rarely called upon.

Several centuries later, corruption and budget cuts reduces the size and influence of Governmental Departments, the JF is little more than a shadow of what it was and the Jedi are called in to plug the gaps, which they see as nothing wrong. Eventually the Chancellors rely too much on the Jedi Order to get things done as the Republic assembles more of a voluntary confederation (with members blatantly violating laws because Coruscant can't enforce anything). By then the Jedi should have looked into rearming, but several generations have passed and nobody considers it due to the peacekeeper mentality. After all the Sith are gone, there's nobody who can challenge them.

prince84 said:
Okay guys new secondary goal. Let us raise the Silencer's social skills to the level we can send him to high society balls on his own and actually be welcomed.
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I don't think he'll want to do. He's more the type to hang out with the outcasts of society (smugglers, criminals, bounty hunters) mainly because he gets to keep his armour on.
 
Void Stalker said:
39 Martial + 44 Lore makes for a lethal character. She is tied with Grevious for martial and only 1 behind HK and 2 behind Thrawn (and he can't use his full martial for combat)
Asajj as 37/45 Martial/Lore is likewise a very lethal foe.

Edit- missed the rival boost to martial so Asajj is 39 now, nice! (+4 boost currently)

Edit 2- Also two more interludes, planet of new beginnings and end of savagery
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Don't know when or how it happened but as of writing this Ciaran currently has 39 Martial + 46 Lore, pretty much making her our strongest fighter.
 
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