As those of you who keep up to date on galactic events are aware, the Jedi have supposedly returned.

Usually, on TRF, we keep our deep dark plots away from the Force. That's not to say the Force plays many roles, and appears many times, but to actually tamper with the Force itself doesn't usually appeal for most outside of the star wars archetypes we're used to from the films (Redemption, Despotic Power Mongering, War, Moral Conflict.). That is because the Force is a bit too black-and-white for most of the really in-depth TRF writers, it can tell good from evil no matter the propaganda that gets smeared over something and to most that's no fun at all.

However, as I discussed with Simon, the introduction of the Jedi Corps changes things somewhat. Nearly all force-users, from the most villainous Sith to the wisest of the Jedi, share a certain perspective of the Force - namely that although it can be used as a tool, it is somewhat above mortals, otherworldly.

It is important this distinction be made, not just for the users of the Force but for the galaxy. As the Force is connected to all living things, anything that damages or disrupts the Force could have dire consequences for everyone. The Empire perhaps doesn't grasp this, or doesn't care. The Jedi Corps, their new tool, is a very new and dangerous take on the Force.

According to what Simon said, they are force-users. Apparently not as powerful as a Sith or Jedi individually, but powerful enough that a group could contain a stronger opponant. They use the Force, but not as some sort of grand tradition or part of a personal quest - they tame it, for use in the Empire. To try and tame the Force is dangerous.

If my understanding of this Jedi corps are correct, they place the Empire before the Force. The Force is not just a tool, it is a possession - it belongs to the New Order now. To do such a thing disrupts the natural order, as it places mortals above a power that creates them.

There are several ways this could be handled. The most boring way is to argue that the Force is not a conscious entity nor impacted by conscious or abstract thought, and thus so long as it is carefully researched and used sparingly, there should be no imbalance. To say this isn't very Star-Wars-esque would be just the start of it, as it would also be the waste of a perfectly good story opportunity, not to mention pretty much the final rejection of the nature of the setting.

Personally, I have a much more interesting proposal, and one that sounds like it might be what would happen in the Expanded Universe if such an event was to occur. This attempt at subjugating the Force causes the Force to imbalance, and the flow of it to become damned. Much like light passing through a prism, the trapped force shatters from one pure beam of life into the individual entities again.

This is a slow process, however. It would take time for the imbalance to build up and get to such a scale to stop the Force, the Jedi corp would have to be in operation for years before the effects would begin to become noticeable to the common person. At first, only those entities strongest in the Force - dead Jedi, mystics, and so forth - would possess the individual strength of character to exist seperate from the whole. Even that would take years. But if the balance is not restored, the Force itself could be stopped and broken under the weight of it's manipulation, and the very essence of life would be at risk.

Now, of course, this is not the sort of thing that one person can just declare is happening. The Force is a huge part of our setting, and the ramnification of these events could affect every faction. However, the opportunities it would create - especially for the relatively inactive but recently resurgent force-using writers - could be epic in scale. Any opinions?

rofl

I disagree with your whole premise... the idea of the Force being life is a Jedi ideal. The Sith manipulated the Force and used it as a tool for centuries during the time of the Sith Order, without any such disturbance.

Not to say that your idea couldn't happen, or that it isn't interesting (it reminds me of the Dust in Pullman's 'His Dark Materials'). But I don't know that we have the knowledge of the Force to say "this is what is happening".

I think, in terms of us being a Star Wars RPG, changing the nature of the Force would hurt us (as a board). People who come here want to play the Jedi they see in the movies and the Sith they see in KotoR. Taking the Force to a level like that would move us too far away (imo) from Star Wars...

That being said, I like the premise.

Demos, perhaps you have some point in that the way the Force is shown in movies is prefferable, but also we must aknowledge that the way the Force is portrayed also suggests such an occurance.

My point earlier was that the Sith have manipulated the Force for ages, but at the same time they did not subjugate it. They used it, they fought for it, but the Empire is trying to break it - to take command of it, to control it not in part for their own uses but as a whole, to crush a last vestiege of resistance and rob dissenting forces of a great power.

The Force gives out prophecies and Legends, and certainly, the Force has been imbalanced before. The Sith, with all their traditions and rituals, keep the Force just within the imbalance to keep disaster at bay, but the Jedi Corps apparently make no such distinction. It is very much of the nature of the Force for this to happen, not only as a result of the Force being disrupted, but as a way the force might try to right itself.

It won't hurt the setting or the Force, if anything, it'll make them better by providing something people can write about. Assuming the problem is eventually resolved, it is unlikely to get bad enough to have a seriously detriminal effect on people's abilities, and frankly I think it's important to continue to promote the image that the Force is not a static, unchanging thing.

The Force has always been a tool, I think. It's just a tool that people treat in different ways. Imagine the Force is a hammer. The Jedi polish their hammer, gild it with gold leaf and keep it in a beautiful display case, rarely using it expect on special occasions. The Sith think the hammer is great. They don’t revere it as much, but they’re certainly proud of it and make sure it – and the extra spikes they added onto it – get treated with some respect. They’re also pretty protective of their hammer and probably would get pretty pissed if you stole it. The Jedi Corps, on the other hand, look at their hammer and see… a hammer. It gets the job done, but it’s nothing special. They can always buy another one.

Anyway, tangent aside….

If I'm understanding what the Jedi Corps are, then the effect wouldn't be on the Force directly. Correct me if I'm wrong here, but these Jedi Corps are using the Force in a gray area, not for good or evil per say, just to help themselves. The consequences this could have IC are that a lot more people begin to wake up to the Force, in a manner of speaking. The pilot who just can't get that record time starts using the Force to improve his reflexes, the shockboxer starts adding a little extra power to his punch. Little things, but things that trivialize the use of the Force. If that makes sense.

Hrm... I actually don't mind Dolash's idea just because it would be a cool plot that would probably get the whole galaxy involved. I think Dolash's interpretation of the force is kinda like the Life Stream from FFVII, and the new Jedi Corps is Shinra. At first, drawing on the essence of life for self benefit doesn't have any outward affect, but slowly things begin to suffer. Flowers loose their vibrance, the birds chirp is just more reserved, and children are getting more sickly on birth.

I just like the idea because EVERYONE cares on this. GC and Jedi for life, the Sith because they're being hampered and their powers restricted, and TNO because they're profiting from it. They might even try to find some way to isolate it as a 'Force Weapon' or something.

You do realize the galaxy has more then three groups, right?

I know... but I don't know how the BDE and Union would react. Nor do I know what Vinda would do. Good and evil are easy to predict. What lies in between, on the other hand, is much less predictable...

With regards to the Jedi Corps:

They are not using the Force in any sort of "gray area". They are using the Light Side of the Force to aide their ideals. In this, they are no different from the Jedi. They use the Force to enforce a set of principles: the only differencce is that these principles are not those of the Jedi Council, but those of the Empire.

The Jedi Corps. see themselves as preserving law, order, and justice, exactly as the Jedi do. They simply preserve a different set of laws. Therefor, the Jedi Corps. are not acting of the Dark Side or any such thing... they are simply acting.

They use the Force as a tool, in the same way the Jedi do.

It's a cool idea, and good for RP'ing, but it wouldn't really work in conjuction with all the history of star wars. Like Demos said, the Sith have been using it as a tool for just as long as the Jedi have been using it as a guide. Jedi Corps would essentially be Sith without the pure evilness, just using the Force for what they need to get done.