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> Sith Holocron Decision
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Special Virtual Council Session, R.Y. 21,105
Transcript
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Classified Masters Only
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: Atton, welcome. That's everyone, we can start now.
Councilor Atton Rand: Bao-Dur, is there an agenda for this meeting? I didn't see one.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: I did not create one. This meeting is...more sensitive than most. I believe it is time we discussed what to do about the Sith holocrons.
Councilor Mira: After what happened to Atris, we should destroy them.
Councilor Juhani: Agreed.
Councilor Brianna: Atris was...bitter. After Surik and Katarr I don't think she was ever right, afterwards. It left her vulnerable.
Councilor Visas Marr: The Sith seek weaknesses in those they would corrupt. But can anyone say for sure we have no weaknesses?
Councilor Mical: It is true that the Jedi often seemed surprised by which of their fellows fell. But then perhaps those who weren't surprising got help in time.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: The past might offer insight. Why did the old Order not destroy the Holocrons?
Councilor Mical: I've encountered a few justifications over the years. Sometimes the author talked about the possibility of the holocrons being a crucial tool in a future conflict with the Sith, or about the importance of insight into one's enemies. Occasionally they mentioned understanding how people fall to the Dark as the key to turning them back. Unspoken, I think, was that the old Archivists would practically have drawn on anyone who suggested destroying any kind of knowledge out of principle. It was very much against the ethos that developed over time.
Arren Kae - Brianna's mother - was on the old Council before her exile. According to her holocron she wasn't sure when the policy of keeping Sith holocrons had been made, only that it predated her by a long, long while. I've gotten the impression that the old Order did not make a habit of addressing longstanding traditions without some sort of crisis to force reconsideration, so the policy may have been mostly inertia whatever the reasons for the original decision.
Councilor Brianna: ...I really should stop putting it off and make time to talk to her, shouldn't I?
Councilor Bastila Shan: It is your decision, Brianna. But we should endeavor to stay on topic.
Councilor Brianna: You're right, please continue.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: It's alright, Brianna. Were there any other reasons the old Order did not destroy them, to anyone's knowledge?
Councilor Bastila Shan: I recall being taught that they are unusually durable. Is it possible the old Order couldn't destroy them, so they archived them instead?
Councilor Visas Marr: The holocrons I have seen are all unusually dense with the Force, light or dark. I suspect it is an integral part of the process of creating one. The act of the creator leaving an imprint of their mind on it, perhaps.
Councilor Mical: Unusually dense? That sounds a bit like a description I read once of the old force-imbued blades used by the ancients, before saber technology was discovered. Supposedly those can stand up to lightsaber strikes after the process, like a cortosis blade. I guessed it was some permanent variant of a force barrier technique worked into the metal.
Councilor Juhani: Sounds useful.
Councilor Bastila Shan: Perhaps, but there is a reason the practice died out. Lightsabers are much faster in the hand than metal blades.
Councilor Juhani: Hm. Point.
Councilor Atton Rand: So maybe the old Order wasn't able to destroy the things? It's hard to imagine a heavy turbolaser not being enough.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: If we vote to destroy them, I may have some ideas. But one step at a time. Are there any other reasons the old Order may have avoided destroying them?
Councilor Visas Marr: There is one. I am uncertain what effect succeeding would have on the ghosts of the Sith who created the holocrons.
Councilor Atton Rand: Wait, what?
Councilor Visas Marr: To a strong enough connection, distance means nothing in the Force. When a Sith - or a Jedi - leaves behind an impression of themselves in a holocron, that would create a permanent bond. Sith spirits are normally only found in their tombs where they have gathered sufficient power to manifest, but I am concerned that one could use the destruction of such a connection as power to break that rule and incentive both.
Councilor Bastila Shan: Force bonds are not to be underestimated.
Councilor Visas Marr: No, they are not. Although the risks could be managed, if the destruction were to occur without any sapients nearby. A star system's distance should be adequate. Sith spirits are difficult to combat, but they have limited power to manifest and tire quickly.
Councilor Mira: Could one just wait for a good target to drop by and possess them? I would rather not fight any reincarnated Sith Lords in the body of some poor trader or asteroid miner.
Councilor Visas Marr: ...I am uncertain. I cannot rule it out. A spirit's presence is obvious nearby, but that would mean being within its range of influence. Unwise, if it exists.
Councilor Juhani: This is all speculation.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: Juhani has a point. So, let us weigh the other side of the scale. Why should we destroy the holocrons?
Councilor Mira: As long as those things exist, they present a risk. We can do our best to protect them, but there are no guarantees. Some clever and foolish initiates could gain access under our noses and fall before we noticed. Enemies could raid the planet and take them all, allowing them to fall into who knows what hands. One of us, thinking we were too wise to fall and needing knowledge in a desperate moment, could turn out to be tragically wrong and turn against the others.
Councilor Visas Marr: They are twisted hatred made manifest, and will never stop trying to drag anyone around them down into the same mistakes their creators made.
Councilor Mical: Holocrons have the ability to choose what they reveal to students according to what their creator would have done; I don't think the Sith would reveal anything useful to a Jedi unless they were convinced the Jedi was fallen already, or well along the process.
Councilor Visas Marr: You are correct, they would not. And attempting to fool one would be to court a true fall.
Councilor Atton Rand: Can Sith sense the things?
Councilor Mical: There are stories of Jedi who followed the Force to find lost holocrons.
Councilor Brianna: We should probably assume that Sith could do the same, then.
Councilor Atton Rand: So wherever we keep them, no matter how well hidden, we have to assume we're painting a target on it for the Sith.
Councilor Bastila Shan: Not a pleasant thought.
Grandmaster Bao-Dur: No. Very well. Everyone please consider the issues and do your own research, if you wish. We'll have a vote when everyone is ready.
