#the jedi were not created to be the perfect religion

[antianakin]

I watched Dune: Part Two over the weekend, and I came to realize something: Anakin Skywalker has a lot in common with Paul Atreides, and none of them are good.

Funnily enough, I was also making comparisons between Dune and Star Wars when I saw it this weekend, but more positively. Not necessarily specifically between Paul and Anakin, but in the ways the two stories subverted the Chosen One storyline.

In Star Wars, Anakin is the Chosen One and it IS a good thing, but it's not INEVITABLE unless Anakin chooses it. He HAS to make the choice to be a good, balanced, selfless person in order to achieve the perfect prophecized ending. It is impossible to achieve it through brute force of will or selfish agendas.

In Dune (based purely on the story in the films, I have not read the books so I cannot speak to what the story was in there if it's different), Paul is the Chosen One by design of other mortal people around him, he is the Chosen One because they CREATED a Chosen One through specific breeding and manipulation of cultures and religions. They literally achieve their prophecized ending through brute force, Paul becomes a messiah by forcing himself to ride a sand worm, by killing and defeating the opposing forces on the planet, by using Fremen as weapons in a holy war, by drinking poison and coming out of it alive. The subversion here isn't in how the prophecized ending is achieved, but in how it was CREATED and the fact that achieving it is a BAD THING.

Anakin chooses to DEFY his destiny out of selfishness while Paul chooses to GIVE IN to his destiny out of selflessness, and then they both end up villains as a result. Both of them made their own choices, but were also manipulated onto this path by forces they couldn't control and people they should've been able to trust. They're both left feeling like they're out of choices and so the only one left is the one they KNOW is bad.

But I find myself somewhat more able to sympathize with Paul because he tries SO HARD throughout the entire film to keep this from happening, he knows exactly what's going to happen if it does, and in the end, he's just outplayed basically. He'll never be a match for the greater forces at play until he becomes one of them, and at that point he's lost in every way that matters. It's a completely lose-lose situation for Paul the way I saw it. Even with the visions, Paul has had multiple visions come true before he has the one about the holy war, and has a lot more reason to believe that it's true due to Jessica's training. And it felt like when he drank that poison that some part of Paul almost literally did die, that someone else came back to life in some ways and that's part of the whole tragedy. He's almost possessed by the powers around him by the time he declares himself Emperor.

The same is DEMONSTRABLY not true for Anakin. Anakin walks into the darkness with his eyes open and his head held high because he believes HE ALONE will benefit from it. There's no selflessness in this choice in any way shape or form. He has had ONE VISION come true that we know of before he gets the dream about Padme and the Jedi notoriously do not believe visions to be all that trustworthy to begin with, so all of his training tells him that just because ONE vision came true still doesn't mean that THIS one is true and even if it were, he can't trust that any action he takes to keep it from happening will actually have that result. But he's selfish and greedy enough to try anyway, to discard everything he's ever been taught, for power. He convinces himself that doing this makes him a hero, that murdering the Jedi, down to the last child, makes him a hero. There's no evidence that doing what he's doing will save Padme, or that Padme would even WANT him to do this to save her. He's not truly outplayed, he had all the tools at his disposal to make the better choice in that moment in Palpatine's office, he's just not a good enough person to make it. He IS a match for the greater forces at play in terms of power, he and Mace could've EASILY killed Palpatine together if only Anakin had chosen the better path. He just... chooses not to because it doesn't benefit him to do so. Anakin could've won, in every way that mattered. He only loses because he makes the stupidest choice imaginable.

Dune is a political sci fi epic about how people in power will literally create messiahs for the people they intend to subject as a way to consolidate their own power.

Star Wars is a children's cautionary tale wrapped in an space opera adventure about how letting your fears control you will bring about your own destruction, and only kindness and selflessness will save the world.

It's not exactly a secret that Lucas was inspired by Dune when coming up with Star Wars, so I find it really interesting to look at the similarities and differences in how they each approached their Chosen One storylines.

[writerbuddha]

Just a question. I want to make a fic about the first Jedi and his disciples before Disney gets the drop on me. I'm only familar with disney canon. What miracles are associated with the buddha and the bodhissatva and what way can I characterize the philosophy of the force in buddhist terms?

The basic idea was that the first Jedi is basically a wandering Gautama Buddha and his disciples were basically the Eight Bodhisattva. Manjushri is known for his kindness and wisdom. Guanyin is kind and compassionate. Vajrapani is strength and protection incarnate. Maitreya is prophesized to bring balance to the force. Ksitigarbha swore to save everyone in the galaxy no matter how evil and no matter what it costs her and I don't really know much about the rest. Might even toss some characters like Sun Wukong and other buddhist associated characters.

The intent is to make the first jedi a real larger than life figure. God's amongst mortals who would make any other force user look like a joke. Yet also make them suprisingly human in that the first jedi just wants to help people and comfort them and doesn't want to use such powers in the first place for violence.

I also want to play around with the first sith and portray them as Eldritch abominations and monsters who feed of the weak and oppressed. Maybe they would be the Mara analogue in this telling.

Oh, this is intriguing! I love this concept!

Buddhism and Miracles

The Buddhist view on miracles, wonders, magic, superhuman powers is a quite complex one. There is a threefold distinction of Buddhism: the Buddhist science of the mind, Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist religion. The miracles of Gautama Buddha are belonging to the realm of Buddhist religion: it is proposed that through mental training one can achieve miraculous powers, as the basis of "miracles" is perfect control over one's own mind, like goldsmiths making the gold pure and workable, so they can use it to create wonderous things. The Buddha was reportedly manifested the ability to walk on water, to read other people's minds, to fly through air, to heal the wounded with his will, or growing a tree full of flowers and jewels out of his toothpick, calming down a raging elephant that attacked the village he visited, and so on. However, such miracles are all subordinate to the one true, genuinely miraculous power that one must strive for: the ability to guide people according to their mental development, for their own good, using suitable methods to fit these people.

It must be noted that in Buddhist mythology, miraculous powers are regarded as potential off-shoots of practice. Through mental training, one can develop the capacity to concentrate the power of the mind. But it's crucial to understand that in Buddhist thought, these abilities aren't dependent on the cultivation of wisdom and compassion: in stories, it's not just possible, but actually quite common for someone to gain such powers without any significant, or even meaningful spiritual and psychological progress. For this reason, the Buddhist view on these miraculous powers - should they exist at all - is that if you have them, that's a sign that you're making progress, but you mustn't brag about or reveal them, unless it's absolutely necessary. And unless you're fully awakened, these supernormal powers have a way of engendering supernormal defilements. The Buddha, like most most spiritual or religious teachers of the East, warned against those individuals who display miracles to attract people to their traditions, because there is a good chance that they're tricksters led by greed, or that their holiness is on shaky grounds.

The wholesome and unwholesome use of miracles

There is a story about the fifteen days of the miracles demonstrated by the Buddha, all performed in response to the relentless claims of six ascetics who claimed, the teachings of the Buddha are invalid, as they possess mystic powers far grater than him. The Buddha outdid every single miracles the ascetics were able to produce. Since such display of special powers was done in order to arouse or strengthen faith - which is, in Buddhism, refers to trust or confidence in the Buddha's path of practice and one's own potential for enlightenment - the performance of the fifteen miracles was a wholesome act. And likewise, there's the story of Khema: she was a young, extraordinarily beautiful queen, who was clinging on physical beauty. When she met the Buddha, he was able to read her mind, and he manifested a time-lapse of a young and even more beautiful woman, aging it to middle age, old age, very old age, then to dust. As a result, Khema realized the true, impermanent nature of the object of her attachment. This is another example for the wholesome use of miracles.

In Star Wars, this can be likened to Master Yoda using the Force in Episode V to rise Luke Skywalker's x-wing out of the swamp: this "miracle" was demonstrated to arouse trust and confidence in Jedi teachings and in his apprentice's own potential to become a Jedi. You can see that Jedi Knights are demonstrating their abilities only "for knowledge and defense" as Yoda said.

When it comes to unwholesome uses of miracles, we have the story of Pindola Bharadwaja, who was one of the Buddha's first disciples. It's said that one day, a wealthy merchant, who didn't believe in the existence of the extraordinary powers of holy men, challenged them: he suspended a beautiful and expensive sandalwood alms bowl from the top of a really high bamboo pole, and said, the master who can get it down, can keep it. Pindola Bharadwaja, who progressed very fast in his mental training, and attained several miraculous powers as a result, stepped forward. He rose into the air easily and took the bowl. The people were in awe, but their excitement alerted the Buddha who arrived to the scene. He broke the bowl into pieces and said, he is very displeased by the public display of such miracles, likening it to prostitution that is done for the sake of cheap delights.

That's because this miracle wasn't performed to benefit others, it didn't arouse trust or confidence in the Buddhist path and in one's own potential for enlightenment. It was done to impress and to show off, thus, it was distasteful. In Star Wars, this can be compared to Anakin Skywalker using the Force in Episode II to fly a fruit through air in order to impress Padmé - he even admits, "If Master Obi-Wan caught me doing this, he'd be very grumpy."

Bodhisattvas

Bodhisattva can mean anyone who vows to become enlightened in order to relieve the suffering of all beings, but there are also celestial Bodhisattvas, who are realized beings, inspired by the wish to attain complete enlightenment, and have vowed to be reborn in the world to help all living beings. They're deity-like beings, however, it should be noted that these Bodhisattvas are representing our potentials.

Guanyin - or Avalokitesvara or Chenrezig - is enlightened compassion, Vajrapani is the powerful energy of enlightenment that can be utilized to do many good things, Manjushri is the enlightened wisdom. I think the most important ability that these Bodhisattvas are said to possess, is that they're able manifest themselves in hundreds or even thousands of bodies simultaneously.

In this essay of mine, I examined Jedi teachings and how the Force works - these are, on the fundamental level, identical to Buddhist philosophy. I hope it will help:

Māra and the Dark Side of the Force

In Buddhism, although Māra is depicted as a god or demon, he is an aspect of the mind and the heart: the inner experience of all forms of attachment, greed, hatred, and delusion, everything that interferes with and puts to an end our spiritual practice. His "armies" are sensual desire, discontent, hunger and thirst, craving, laziness, fear, indecisive wavering (doubt), restlessness, longing for the transitory things in life (gain, praise, honor, and fame), and praising oneself and belittling others. His three "daughters" are thirst, delight and desire.

When Māra is discussed as an external being, he is said to reside in the highest heavenly realms of cyclic existence, thus, he enjoys long life, power, privileges and pleasures. But it must be noted that he is, like any other being, subjected to Karma, birth and death, and there are stories that gave a closure to him as an external entity: he ends up being a Buddhist himself. So, if you wish to draw an analogy with Māra in a complex and intriguing story you draw up, I suggest to use the Son as his Star Wars counterpart. He embodies the dark side of the Force, but he is also the mosaic of the light side and the dark side just like all living beings in George Lucas' Star Wars universe.

The story of Devadatta as a potential inspiration

If you would like to use Buddhist stories as inspiration for the Sith, I recommend you the story of Devadatta, the Buddha's enemy. In the Theravada tradition, Devadatta, who was one of the disciples of the Buddha, attained several miraculous powers through mental training, but no wisdom and compassion. His miracles convinced a crown prince, Ajatasattu, that he is a great teacher. But Devadatta became obsessed with his own skills and sought fame and power, declaring, he should be the one who leads the Order of Buddhists and not the Buddha. Even though his miraculous powers began to fade as his mind became clouded by such afflictions, he started to preach his own teachings, claiming, they're from the Buddha himself.

The Buddha warned him that he is on the path of self-destruction but Devadatta was relentless. Long story short, he was so consumed by greed that he eventually convinced prince Ajatasattu to kill his father, the king, and usurp the throne, while he assassinates the Buddha. As an attempt, he unleashed a raging elephant, but it was calmed by the loving-kindness of the Buddha, and his other attempts failed as well. Although Ajatasattu took the throne, the public was so resented of Devadatta that he was forced to withdraw his support. After this, he tried to cause a schism in the Order, but his followers were won over by the Buddha. Devadatta eventually died of sickness, his bad mental state supposedly ate into his physical health, however, in his final moments, he realized his mistakes.

The story of Devadatta, in my opinion, is an ideal inspiration for the first Sith, if we go with the notion that the Sith were Force-sensitives who left the Jedi Order. This is in Disney canon, I think. If we go with the fact that according to George Lucas, the Sith ruled the known universe before they destroyed themselves, we have a more complex situation, because that would imply that the first Jedi started out as a Sith apprentice or a Sith Lord, like Gautama Buddha started out as a prince living in luxury, and not a great spiritual teacher, or that the Sith were able to gain control over the galaxy, like Darth Sidious did, with the difference that there wasn't an Emperor, but many warring Sith Lords who all sought to rule the whole galaxy.

[thehollowprince]

There is no ignorance, There is knowledge

I was on TikTok last night at work and came across a video calling out how many Star Wars "fans" were complaining about the "wokeness" being introduced to the franchise, specifically citing Lizzo's glorified cameo in a single episode. Putting aside that this is a franchise has a wise and powerful character played by a freaking muppet, the TikToker (?) rightfully called out how so many of these fans never seem to actually interact with any Star Wars projects. Their opinions seem to be based entirely on their own perception of clips and images taken from the internet and pop culture.

Hence, the title, because oftentimes, consumption of the source material usually clears up any confusion as to what this franchise has always been about. With Knowledge, we diminish Ignorance

I was reminded of this yet again this morning when I got home and checked my recommendations from Google and was greeted with this monstrosity.

I know I shouldn't get worked up because this is Screenrant, and literally anyone can post anything to it. There doesn't seem to be any vetting process to this website and what it publishes. But I've been seeing more and more Jedi slander over the last few years, and I just can't keep my mouth shut (metaphorically speaking).

So let's just break this piece of garbage down.

Naturally, it's not a complaint against the Jedi unless we call them child abductors, right? Putting aside the fact that I have never seen so many incorrect statements strung together in a row like that (and this is just the first paragraph), it really emphasizes the point I'm trying to make here.

There is no perfect system in any of Star Wars, no matter what faction you're a fan of. The Jedi are no exception to this.

The Order does not kidnap nor indoctrinate children. At least not more than any other religion, political group, revolution, educational system, etc. How the Jedi refill their ranks isn't any different than how the Mandalodians recruit their foundlings or how the Clones were created by the Kaminoans. The Jedi find Force-sensitive children and (with their guardians permission where applicable) and offer them a chance to not only hone abilities that can be dangerous without proper training, but an opportunity to be a part of what is a generally revered organization throughout the galaxy, bringing peace to all those they can.

This has been explained multiple times by multiple people within multiple supplemental entries of Star Wars materiel, but there is a reason that the young are chosen to be trained instead of adults. The entire purpose of the Jedi's order is to teach their students empathy and compassion (despite what this author insinuates, saying the Jedi are "without emotion or passion") so that they don't become tyrants like the Sith or other more militant factions throughout the Galaxy.

In fact, once again in complete contradiction to what this author says, the Jedi once filled their ranks with many adult initiates, but such recruits fell to the Dark Side at a much more commensurate rate. It was because of these constant droves of Dark Jedi that the current practice of only accepting students younger than a certain age or maturity became more pronounced.

But let's move on.

Say it with me now:

"The Jedi never forced any member of its Order to forsake their heritage!"

As a matter of fact, there are multiple examples of Jedi who not only explore their birth heritage but embrace it.

Both Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano, as Togruta, incorporate both a Togruta sash and an akul tooth headdress into their Jedi attire

Shaak Ti actually took her padawans to her home planet for their training

Plo Koon was both a member of the Jedi High Council and the Baran Do Sages, a Force-sensitive order on his home planet

Oppo Rancisis was the son of the Blood Monarch of Thisspias and kept in contact with the royal family

A'Sharad Hett wore the traditional coverings of a Tuskan Raider

Both Luninara Unduli and Barriss Offee bore traditional Mirialan tattoos

Tarre Vizsla, the creator of the Darksaber, wore his Mandalodian armor during his time with the Order

Ki-Adi-Mundi was married!

Depa Billaba wore the marks of the Chalactan Adepts

And numerous other examples!

There has never been a tenet of the Jedi that prohibits their members from either learning of their culture (in fact, it's encouraged to do so) or to seek out their family or people. The only thing the Jedi have ever been pretty strict about in this regard is the formation of attachments. Specifically, the unstable emotions that come with such attachments and how those Jedi will do anything to retain them (i.e. Anakin Skywalker.)

This next one is a real doozy.

I have never read such garbage in my life. That's like saying, "How dare you not teach these children to be racist to their classmates because that's their family's culture!"

Once again, I understand that I shouldn't get upset because this is Screenrant, and they will post whatever click bate bullshit will get you onto their site. Rage-farming is the word, and I'm sorry to admit that I fell for it. It just infuriates me that so many people, or at least the most vocal ones, are so adamant about tarnishing the Jedi. All while usually loving characters like Vadar or Maul or any of the Mandalodians, who canonically do much worse than the Jedi ever did.

Are the Jedi perfect? No. But throughout STAR WARS, they've done the best they can within the confines of a horrific situation that they were forced into. They don't deserve this prolonged smear campaign because they don't meet the ever changing and often unrealistic standards that some people want.

Note: Sorry for the small text, but I wanted people to be able to differentiate between my words and the article.

[galaxyofhair]

The Real Issue with Luke in TLJ

I don't want to get marked as ~one of those~ Star Wars fans, but I do have an issue with the Sequel films that I think would not have been fixed, even if the films were made to be truly 'good.'

The issue with Luke Skywalker's depiction in TLJ was not that he was depressed, or that he succumbed briefly to the darkside or any of that---been thinking about this one alot and realized that this was never my issue with the character.

My issue was always that they gave up on Luke's goth aesthetic, and had him return to Jedi orthodoxy.

Luke being goth was cool, but also important

In ROTJ, when first released, Luke's cool new black outfit signified a couple of things:

One, it was a representation of his development as a Jedi. Luke had lost a hand in battle, and learned the terrible truth of the father he had in Vader. His outfit not only represented his status as a well trained jedi warrior, but it also represented the impression that darkness had left on Luke. While he was warm and happy with his friends, he was also savvy in the face of danger, and emotional in the face of darkness.

Two, it was part of the larger vibe of that film: which was a darker and more gothic descent into the dark side. ROTJ has a creepy side. Where TESB depicts the force as mysterious and wonderous, ROTJ depicts the force as dualistic, fickle, and dangerous. Palpatine enters the stage as the perfect evil wizard character, showing Luke (and the audience) the effects of mixing the force, desire, and power. Luke's outfit thusly reflects this descent into darkness, and the overall more dark-fantasy tone of the film.

Three, later films and series would add a further context to Luke's outfit: Luke's outfit is not orthodox, even to other Jedi. The Clone Wars, the Jedi Purge, and the years spent under the empire have created a generation of bokken Jedi whose outlook is much, much darker than their predecessors. In a way, many of these jedi survivors seem to live in perpetual mourning, the destruction of the order being the great defining event of their generation.

So Luke's outfit is not just a swanky choice from Hot Topic, but it's a symbol of his jedi journey, and the kind of jedi that he is in comparison to those who came before him.

Obligatory Legends Canon Insert

I promise not to harp on this too long: Legends canon was filled with holes and issues, and overall its probably better that the majority of it is gone---but there were some good points in there that are worth noting:

Luke's Jedi Praxeum in Legends Canon was an extension of Luke's own journey as a Jedi: rather than simply recreating the order as it was, Luke's order recruited padawans who were much like Anakin had been: Older than the old order's standards, brash, adventurous. Luke didn't forbid them from having connections, and partners even. For all the reasons that Anakin betrayed the order of old, Luke's order had learned and adapted, and thrived because of it.

In the past, my favorite comparison used to be that Luke is sort of like the Martin Luther of the Jedi religion: He had found some critical flaws in the religion he was following, and led a reformation which created an essentially new order, wholly separate from the order of Anakin and Obi Wan's day.

The Warrior and Teacher

I don't want to harp too long on "OoOoO Legends Canon did it better" it's done, and all we can do is try to move forward and make future projects good. But that is sort of the crux of my issue.

I could absolutely see a version of events in which Luke's history of fighting, and his close encounters with the darkside lead Luke to become a hardened teacher, who became increasingly merciless to his students as he got older. I can absolutely see how Ben resembling Anakin, and Luke by extension, would get under his skin---and I could be sold on Luke having a moment of weakness, briefly allowing the darkside to guide his actions purely because he had let his guard down.

What I can't get behind is the idea that Luke had listened to his father's story from people like Obi Wan, Yoda, and Ahsoka---all of whom had long reevaluated their beliefs following the Purge---had experienced the darkside for himself, had been trained as one of the bokken Jedi, took all of that experience and learning and returned to the Jedi's flawed orthodoxy.

This comes with a visual cue in TFA and TLJ, being Luke's brown and tan jedi robes in both the present and in the past---but it was also an implication of some of the dialogue in TLJ and in the Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett.

Like, how could he see and hear all of that, but then only learn it once his own order had failed? Maybe that's one of those things where its a complex enough story that it can't be told in reference---I would want to see it directly.

How would I fix this?

5-7 years on from ROTJ, we see Luke is laying the foundation of his own temple, one that he appears to be running entirely on his own, with only some assistance from Ahsoka.

While I am not a big fan of fixing films through context, I would find ways to depict a few pivotal events that would mark Luke's journey:

A reduced version of the Jedi Praxeum which is not a training ground for new jedi, but a sanctuary for jedi survivors. It would have to be within the first 4 years of ROTJ, and given that the Galactic Civil War doesn't end until 5 ABY, it's likely that the first meeting of this praxeum would be to discuss the end of the empire. You could depict the praxeum as being fundamentally broken: Many of the jedi who survived the rise of the empire have ended up as gothy as Luke, Ahsoka, and Baylen---e.i. not truly jedi. With the vast variety of views and attitudes present in the traumatized survivors of the war, Luke and Ahsoka eventually disband the council of the praxeum, and return to the drawing board.

Depict Luke's order as making changes, and learning from the past. Even if it means watching Luke give up his badass goth look, Luke's order needs to be fundamentally different from the jedi who came before---if his order is to be flawed (and it should be) then it needs to be flawed for new reasons. Luke being a perfectionist with a lot of war trauma would be a good well to pull from for that.

The downfall of Luke's order is complicated: It's not that he was an orthodox fool who couldn't learn from the past, it's that his order was flawed for its own reasons, fragile in its infancy, and beset by tragedies on all sides, finally killed by a fearful mistake.

Rey's new order, given her unique upbringing under Luke and with the guidance of Luke's ghost, represent a more perfect expression of his life's work.

This is, for me, the first part in a larger thought I want to write about goth jedi, but its a good start. If I think of anything else, I'll come back and edit or something.

[foggysirens]

love the jedi to bits but uhhhh they and their teachings are not infallible and having characters question and contemplate those innate truths of the star wars universe does not mean you hate them!

[spideyanakin]

sunrise (c.k)

summary - jedi! reader, after order 66, you hid as a Mandalorian bounty hunter. You thought Cal hadn’t survived, but you’re proven wrong when you come face to face with him.

back to main masterlist

cal kestis masterlist

part 1, nightcall

"This might sound weird but, would you like to grab a drink after?" Your question seemed to take him aback a little, but he quickly cleared his throat and answered.

"I finish in um.." he looked up to the makeshift clock he remembered having to fix the day before "An hour?"

"Perfect. Leaves me time to-" you looked at the man you were holding by the arms, not wanting to say ‘yeah this gives me time to put this guy under carbonite and store him in my ship’

"Nevermind. I saw there was a bar not far from here? Would there be alright?"

"Yeah it's not bad." He shrugged.

"Alright, well I'll see you in an hour."

"See ya." He looked at your figure disappear back into the maze of hallways.

Cal didn't understand one bit of what had just happened, but an hour later and he stood in front of the bar in question, watching as you walked up to him.

After a short and almost awkward greeting, you sat at a table for two.

You weren't even surprised when Cal ordered blue milk. It had always been his favorite, even back then. Somehow in the few minutes that you had seen him he almost hadn't changed one bit. You recognized the guy you left and thought was dead after the purge.

"So how did you come to work as a scrapper?"

"It's um, a very long story." You nodded. You knew he wouldn't open up so easily, especially when he didn't know who was behind the helmet.

You kept sensing how he was on his toes - trying to figure out if you had a bounty on him or some other twisted reason you wanted to grab a drink with him.

A new silence fell upon the two of you. You somehow couldn't stop staring at him and you were scared that he caught up on that. You didn't know how he would react to you, especially since you were all dressed in your Mando armor.

When the waitress came by you thanked her, and to Cal's surprise you didn’t remove your helmet when you brought the drink to your lips. You simply loosened the edge by pressing a button on the side, it revealed a little of your skin as you leaned to drink.

All he could see from you was the color of your skin - which wasn’t enough for his curiosity.

"You never take off your helmet?"

"No."

"Why?"

"This is the way." You replied, dropping your cup back down and fully facing Cal again.

"Mandalorian religion is pretty strict huh?"

"Yes. But I am greatful." You smiled a little under the helmet. "The purge left me a foundling." That was more information than you had ever told anyone, but once again Cal knew more about you then anyone else. He knew who you were under the mask, even if he didn't know it yet. He was probably only the third or fourth person alive in the entire galaxy who knew your face.

"I'm sorry but what is this?" Cal asked out of no where, making you blink. "Do you have a bounty on me or something?"

You shook your head, of course this was weird.

"No- I um- You seemed like someone nice. I don't have many friends around the galaxy. Mostly enemies." You stuttered out.

"Oh." That seemed to weird him out even more, and create even more tension in between the two of you.

"I'm sorry - maybe I shouldn't have asked to grab a drink so suddenly." You dropped the cup, ready to pay, stand up and leave.

"No- no it's alright." He awkwardly shuffled on his chair again and cleared his throat. "I um- I don't get to see Mandalorians often."

"I get that."

To your surprise, conversation flowed like a waterfall after that. It truly was like you had never separated, as if you had always kept in touch and the Empire hadn't brutally separated you.

You were giggling as you walked Cal back to his job. The tension had fully disappeared and your mind was quick to think of a way to talk to him somewhere private - somewhere where you could tell him who you truly were, and fix what had been broken.

"Hey um-" Before you could speak up, Cal spoke his thoughts. "Do you think we could see each other again? I mean, I don't have many friends either." He jumped a bit on his heels and made a full stop as he was in front of his work place.

"Are you free tomorrow?" you smirked under your helmet.

"Yeah - I finished at 7"

"I'll come at 7 then." You smiled.

"Good. I can introduce you to Prauf and we can take the train down to my favorite part of the city." He smiled, a certain joy in his voice you had missed hearing so much.

"That would be amazing"

~

Cal hadn't expected to reveal his Jedi secret to Prauf the next day. But one thing led to another and he had to save the poor guy's life. Tension had taken over his shoulders and seeing your bright Mandalorian armor was somehow the only thing keeping him from exploding in stress.

He didn't know how or why, but somehow seeing you suddenly fixed every single one of his problems.

But he quickly shook his head and tried to tone down the happiness of meeting you again. He didn't know who you were behind that shiny helmet - and he still didn't fully trust you.

But why did he feel so comfortable around you?

He didn't have much time to dwell on these feelings because you were quick to bring his mind onto another subject. Making small talk on the train accompanied by Prauf who often chimed in.

What you didn't expect was the train to get controlled.

4 storm troopers made you evacuate the wagon, and Cal felt his entire body stiffen.

But so did you.

You tried to think of every way they could have found you, or maybe they were here for Cal, or maybe there was another lost Jedi in the train with you. You weren't sure who they were searching for, but you didn't like the fact that their commander got out of her ship, inspecting every person in your wagon.

Next to you, Cal was blaming himself for having used the force hours prior.

The rain was pouring down and you were grateful for your armor. Your lightsaber felt hot agains't your hip. It was hidden by a multitude of clothe layers.

What you didn't expect was Prauf speaking up, your stare frantically shifting to Cal who was reaching for his own saber.

All you remember was screaming when she ran her lightsaber through Prauf. Cal was quick to fight back - and you didn't have a choice.

You pulled your saber out just like Cal had done seconds prior, and the fight had started.

The shock on Cal's face when the two purple blades lit up the space was enough to distract him for a second - but you were quick to knock out the man that had taken a hold on him.

Of course they had seemed happy about the fact that they were about to catch not one, but two Jedi's. But you and Cal knew better.

And that's how the fight started - you both fought and climbed as the train kept moving and storm troopers kept coming for you -trying to find a way to escape alive.

Cal was confused and raging at the same time. How someone dared to take and use your light saber was outrageous. It didn't even cross his mind that it could be you under there, because you were gone.

You had been ripped away from him and now someone dared to take your weapon and use it.

All he could think about was how it should have been buried along with you. It was your lightsaber, and yours only. He never thought he would ever see it again - especially not in the hands of a Mandalorian bounty hunter.

And that's all that clouded his mind, even when the both of you were saved Cere and Greeze.

You rolled onto the ship, pressure dropping away from your shoulders as you watched the ship's door close back and create a wall between you and the swarm of storm troopers that wanted nothing more but your heads on spikes.

You wobbled yourself to stand - taking a long and needed breath as you tried to process what had happened.

Your eyes fell on Cal who was taking his spirits back as well. You quickly scanned for wounds but he seemed fine.

What you didn't expect was him pounding at you the second he was up.

Cal didn't waste a minute to shove you agains't a wall "Where did you get this!?" Anger was filled every bit of him "Where did you get this light saber?" Your head spun for a second, but you quickly blinked the shock away.

"I think you know where." Your words weighted in the space around you. Cere and Greeze didn't understand one bit of what was happening, watching the scene with wide eyes.

Cal dropped his hold on you and took a step back, question filling his pretty traits.

With a shaky breath you took all your courage. Slowly placing your hands towards your helmet and pressing a side button. It made a release noise until it was fully loose - making you able to remove it.

Your hair fell all over the place when you did. Cal didn't understand right until you opened your eyes to meet his.

It took him a second but when it did everything clicked in place.

It was you.

you.

Y/n.

"Y/n."

It was your eyes, your beautiful hair color, and all those traits Cal liked so much about you.

Your hair style was different, but it suited you just as well. He frowned when he noticed the battle scar across your eye and a few other small marks that came with order 66 and the life you were following.

The way you looked as a child melted into the way you looked now and Cal had no doubt that it was you.

His childhood best friend was standing right in front of him.

He didn't even have to time to register it that you both crashed into a comforting hug. You were both tearing up, comfort filling every bit of you.

"How?" He sniffed onto your shoulder.

"It's a long story."

"I have all the time in the world when it comes to you"

[shabre-legacy]

I posted 6,851 times in 2021

675 posts created (10%)

6176 posts reblogged (90%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 9.1 posts.

I added 2,784 tags in 2021

#swtor - 583 posts

#my ocs - 393 posts

#self reblog - 333 posts

#my darlings - 307 posts

#randomreblog - 302 posts

#shameless self-promotion - 272 posts

#shabre legacy - 259 posts

#star wars - 161 posts

#jedi - 89 posts

#leikael shabre - 85 posts

Longest Tag: 130 characters

#i might have decided to have lesh (consular) and zari (quizzy) as co-commanders of the alliance in the shabre storyline im writing

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Look at this amazing art by @marlynata. Leita Naberrie attending her first imperial formal event as Darth Vader’s Daughter after leaving the rebels. She looks so pretty. The newly introduced Lady Vader is already causing quite the stir.

52 notes • Posted 2021-02-18 17:41:11 GMT

#4

An AU where Vaylin’s suffering on Nathema is loud in the Force, so much so that a younger powerful Jedi, doing something (maybe like research or something idk yet) on the far edge of the outer rim near to Nathema hears her and follows the sound. Finding the poor girl trapped and suffering, they can’t walk away and it doesn’t matter who she is. She needs help. So they rescue her and carry Vaylin to Tython where she is able to heal and recover in peace surrounded by the Force and people who care and help her find herself past what her father taught her. When Senya shows up to rescue Vaylin. She’s not there and Valkorian is furious that the perfect weapon he was trying to create is missing. But when the Invasion happens later, it all gets messed up and nothing goes according to his plan because when Thexan and Arcann face a line of Jedi, there standing with the others, saber drawn. Strong, confident, and free is their sister. 

58 notes • Posted 2021-01-07 23:31:06 GMT

#3

Because I am seeing this stupid idea pop up again, let me be very clear. MANDALORIANS ARE NOT EXCLUSIVLY HUMAN!!!!!!!! 

They can be human, but they have also been Wookie, Mirialan, Zabrak, Twi’lek and every other race of the galaxy. To be Mandalorian does not mean to be born on Manda’yaim or in Basic, the planet Mandalore. Even the exclusively human community of the planet as seen in clone wars was a fairly recent invention occurring a within the few hundred years prior to the clone wars as anti-alien sentiment pushed out those Mandalorians (even those born on Manda’yaim) who were not human. There are a few theories on where that came from and why it developed/was eventually effective. 

What is known is that the original Mandalorians were the Taungs. A species that settled the planet of Manda’yaim under the leadership of Mandalore the First. This is where the people took their name. When they opened their culture to those they adopted from other species, they established themselves as a culture, creed and religion. ANYONE from ANY SPECIES who was adopted as a Mandalorian by a Mandalorian, who proves themselves and lived by their laws and traditions, specifically the resol’nare (six actions in Basic), WAS MANDALORIAN and their children, regardless of species of birth was MANDALORIAN BY BIRTH.

If you want to talk who is considered Mandalorian, at least know what the basic requirements are generally considered to be according to known Mandalorian lore and don’t make up stuff to justify the clone wars BS

90 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 16:43:03 GMT

#2

So if you play a female smuggler that marries Corso, and you take over Zakuul and rule as Empress, and you don’t romance anyone else and resume your romance with Corso as soon as you find him again, then technically... technically farm boy Corso Riggs can be Emperor Consort of the Zakuulan Empire (which at that point consists of most of the known galaxy) and I just find that idea to be really funny.

99 notes • Posted 2021-03-27 02:21:08 GMT

#1

I know a lot of people seem to imagine the Mandos as very distant from each other, a lot like american society is in regards to physical touch. But honestly, even among groups where removing their helmets under certain circumstances is allowed (you’re among your family, or you’re in camp, or not on duty, or whatever) this is still a people who spend a significant amount of time in their armor and a large portion of that time with their faces covered. I think that would lead to a very physically affection people. 

Like Mandos in a group always shoving each other lightly or slapping shoulders and backs when they’re heading out. Just grabbing the shoulder of someone nearby and using them to stabilize you as you adjust a boot, or taking naps, and falling asleep during transports leaning on whoever happens to be next to you. hugs and just lots of casual touch. It’s so easy and casual and there’s so much that it tends to bother imps or anyone who’s not used to being around mandalorians when they start traveling or spending time around them. 

372 notes • Posted 2021-02-06 01:02:28 GMT

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[tros-for-dinner]

Like, okay, I need to talk about trauma a second

I’m reading The Body Keeps the Score right now - it’s a pretty comprehensive book about PTSD and trauma, and treatment of trauma-related mental illnesses and, like, I just keep thinking about Kylo (Ben)

In one sentence: Kylo is a deeply traumatized man and I can’t stop thinking about it.

As a general rule I don’t care about the ancillary materials, but “absentee parents” and “being left with droid caretakers that tried to kill him” is trauma - he didn’t have someone to comfort him and his usual caretakers weren’t safe. He probably started acting out, as what happens to kids that go through that. He was also deeply empathetic (metaphorically represented by being strong in the Force) so every lie that was told to him, every time someone feared him because of his ancestors, every time someone tried to use him because of his family - those are all wounds, too. Then, maybe because he was acting out, maybe because he was a deeply religious kid, he goes to live the ascetic life with his beloved Uncle Luke.

And I know this is my own headcanon, but knowing what I now know about trauma: he was still suffering the emotional effects of trauma. The fear, the mistrust, the anxiety, the anger - his fellow Force-sensitive students (and Luke) could feel those emotions. In the Jedi tradition, you either shut that shit down or you’re assumed to be on the road to the Dark Side.

Here’s the problem: the fear, the anxiety, the anger triggered by the pain of trauma can’t just be meditated away. It’s fight/flight instinct; it’s literally the oldest, most sub-conscious part of the brain reacting to the memory of pain and trying to prevent future pain. You can’t control it. You can’t reason with it. You either heal it or it controls you.

Luke can feel that his methods aren’t working but he hasn’t been trained in psychology so he has no idea how to fix this problem. Luke is deeply afraid of the Dark Side, and he was taught that emotions - a deeply-rooted function of the brain - are inherently ‘evil’ and cause self-destruction for the Jedi. Luke has a “all or nothing” “either I do it all or I’m a failure” mindset so he starts feeling despair at the bitter taste of failure. One night, out of pure fear, he takes an uninhibited look into his nephew’s mind (notably, without his consent) and sees how bad things could be in the future. For an instant, he honestly considers killing Ben to prevent that future from happening.

Here’s a question: what would you do if you woke up to a trusted, beloved family member pointing a loaded, safety-off shotgun at you, and you could feel without a doubt that they were definitely ready to kill you?

You would feel abject terror. Wounds from trusted loved ones can be the most painful, and this was a wound that eclipsed every other in Ben’s life. He escapes, and then falls into the hands of Snoke.

(I hate how the ancillary materials totally erased Ben’s agency by making Snoke influence his mind even before he was born. Grooming from a young age? That would have been fine. But as it is, it’s a supernatural element that oversimplifies and makes unbelievable a story that could have been more powerful.)

In my mind, Snoke doesn’t even have to be Force-sensitive: his gift is that he can tell what people wants, and he controls those people by promising what they want (and getting his victims just close enough to what they want so they keep coming back for more).

So he sees Ben and sees the perfect mark: someone who believes they’re inherently a bad person (drowning in shame, an instinct that is extremely self-isolating), enraged with pain, who has been indoctrinated into black-and-white thinking by the culture/religion he grew up in.

Snoke promises Ben 1. respect (i.e. a form of connection in which you don’t have to be vulnerable) and 2. power (which appeals to Ben’s helplessness).

All of us wear different “hats” depending on the situation we’re in: at work, we wear Customer Service or Manager hats. At home, we wear Caregiver or Partner or Roommate hats. Walking out to our cars in the dark, or taking the bus in a bad neighborhood, we might swagger with a Don’t Fuck With Me attitude. We hide or reveal parts of our personality depending on the tools we need in the situation.

Ben creates a persona to hide his shame, protect himself from vulnerability, and deaden the part of his conscience that objects to being part of an organization that is hurting people like his family was hurt. This persona is named Kylo Ren, and it uses the mask and robes like a magic spell to summon the gravitas and influence of his ancestor. But most importantly, the mask and robes shield him from the outside world as protection, but also to hide his shame and any emotions that aren’t ‘acceptable’ (’acceptable’ being anger, mostly).

The thing about shame is that it separates us from the people around us, preventing us from making meaningful connections. This is devastating to the human mind, because humans survive in groups (and our brain evolved to seek groups out). Bringing shame out into the light in the presence of someone you trust is usually enough to exorcise it.

Kylo doesn’t have anyone he can trust, and he is drowning in shame. He is totally isolated and knows he’s nothing but a weapon in Snoke’s hand. Snoke cultivates his shame and isolation because it makes Kylo easy to control. But then, totally by happenstance, Kylo meets Rey.

I hear people talk about ‘the power of love’ and I used to think it was total bullshit. I realize now that’s because visual media usually simplifies ‘love’ into ‘physical attraction’. In reality, love contains a spectrum of elements that are essential to a healthy, functioning mind. Specifically: a place you feel safe (a place where you feel trust, where you feel genuine connection, where you feel wanted, where you feel heard and seen and understood). The entire spectrum of intimacy (emotional, physical, and sexual) spans this need for a place to feel safe and known.

So Kylo meets this girl and a couple of things happen. 1. he realizes he isn’t actually alone. There is someone in the whole of the galaxy who might be his equal. 2. Totally inadvertently, Rey exposes his deepest shame (that he can’t live up to the legacy, that he is hurting himself for nothing) and brings it out into the light.

And, like, all of that would be disrupting enough, but then something even more important happens. See, Snoke built the expectation in Kylo’s mind that if Kylo cut away everyone who loved him, Kylo would be stronger, would be more powerful. Kylo gets the opportunity to cut away his father in the most final way - to kill him - and he takes the opportunity.

As soon as he kills Han - the very second after he ignites his saber - he realizes that Snoke was lying. It didn’t make him more powerful, it just makes things worse.

So while he’s reeling from that realization, his mind instinctively reaches out for connection, for people who might understand. I once read a meta that the Force Skype scenes in TLJ are initiated when Rey feels lonely, which I totally 100% buy into, but I’d suggest the connection happens when both of them are feeling lonely or hurt.

As far as I’m concerned, they bridged their own minds - Snoke took credit because he knew that would be devastating to Ben. Ben and Rey experience emotional intimacy and through their connection, they both start to heal a little from their individual traumas.

I went on a bit of a tangent there but here’s what I’m trying to get to: trauma doesn’t just go away. You don’t just flip a switch, forget about the past, and move on with your life. If you don’t heal, then that trauma and the damage to your brain persists. It takes time and an enduring safe place to heal. So I’m sitting here, trying to imagine what that healing could look like in-universe. And I’m just thinking about the fact that Episode 9 could have been about healing. They gave Rey the gift of healing. The moviemakers had a love story all wrapped up in a bow that could have been a metaphor for the healing power of love. They had all these traumatized characters that could have experienced healing. We, the audience, could have experienced the healing power of catharsis.

And in conclusion, I’m just thinking about Adam Driver performing this incredibly relatable character and TLJ’s Reylo and Luke&Rey plotlines being what they are - and just feeling deep gratitude. 

[hellowkatey]

Febuwhump Day 20

Prompt: Betrayal

Read on AO3

Shattered... (from a Certain Point of View)

Never in Rex's short life did he think he would ever betray his Jedi. None of them. Not General Kenobi or Skywalker. Certainly not Commander Tano. To follow orders was part of his programming, but not only that. He would follow his leaders to hell and back if they asked him-- if he considers Umbara or Zygerria and Kadavo hell, then he truly did. The Jedi have become honorary brothers in his mind. They put their lives on the line right next to him and the others, most of the time more-so. They've saved his life more times than he can count, only to be rivaled by the number of times they've gotten him into trouble.

They earned his respect. His friendship. And the respect and friendship of the other men.

Which is why, when the hooded figure shows up on the holo and utters a phrase Rex has never heard before, but suddenly just knows what to do...

"Execute Order 66"

He feels a part of him snap into place, and another part of him shatter into pieces.

"Yes, Lord Sidious," he replies, a surge of adrenaline and anger coursing through him. The door behind him opens, and Rex tightens the grip on his blaster.

But when he hears her voice...

"Rex!"

So familiar, tugging at memories so fond.

"It's Anakin."

Another name he knows too well. Too closely. The hand holding his helmet begins to quiver.

"I feel like something terrible has happened."

Something terrible is about to happen. It's the strangest sensation. Like his mind has been split into two and both sides are fighting for dominance. One side is telling him to draw his blaster and shoot Ahsoka Tano before she has a chance to do a thing. He's a quick shot, and if he misses there are guards at the door.

Good soldiers follow orders.

The other side is screaming at him. Pleading him. No! This is wrong! You can't do this!

His helmet slips from his grip and clatters to the floor. She's still standing behind him, and he can hear the confusion in her voice as the commlink tones of the other troopers begin to chime in.

"Rex?"

He knows the sound of blasters being aimed far too well. The two guards have received their orders. In a moment Ahsoka Tano will be dead. Rex draws in a breath. The mere thought of that as a truth, makes his entire body feel numb.

"No," he says firmly, but the shake in his voice is undeniable. He turns around, taking in the sight of the two troopers with orange and white painted helmets ready to fire. "I'll do it,"

"Rex? What's happening?"

He doesn't even remember picking up both his blasters before he's raising them, both pointed straight at her head. Staring down barrels, Rex finally looks at her. Looks her in the eye. All he can see in her big blue eyes and young face is the look of utter confusion and alarm. A kid! She's only a kid!

"Stay back!" he yells. His hands have never shaken like this before but now they won't stop. He's taken countless lives in this--this war for the Republic. Or for the Separatists? Who is winning now? Was anyone ever winning? He has no idea. What he does know is his hands have never shaken and he hardly ever misses a shot, but right now it is looking like both of these things are his reality. A part of him is frustrated and a part of him is praying to whatever higher power that may be listening that he misses this shot, please. "Find him," he says, feeling that his free will is quickly being overtaken. Like a parasite invading his brain, the good memories of Tano, Skywalker, and Kenobi are being pushed out by force. "Find him. Fives."

He can't take it anymore.

"Find him!" he screams and then fires his blaster wildly in the wrong direction. It's all the warning she needs. Ahsoka bolts into action, moving faster than his eyes can even perceive. Faster than he can react to her body slamming into his and cracking the back of his head into the console. White-hot pain flashes through him and he crumbles to the ground with black spots dancing before his eyes.

Execute Order 66, the shrill voice echos in his mind. Kill the Jedi. Good soldiers follow orders.

He groans, pushing through the haze of pain and blaster shots to get back on his feet. He hears his name being called, sounding faraway, but he can feel that it's near.

Rex starts to fire again. And again. Not really knowing where he's aiming, just knowing that he needs to kill the Jedi.

And when she disappears, the urge only grows.

__________

They search the ship. Tirelessly. Frantically. Like nothing else has mattered this much the entire war.

Except it has. Everything has been an uphill battle and we have done it every time with the help and guidance of the Jedi.

He grits his teeth. Nearly slams his fist into the wall of the lift he's in. Their orders are to execute her.

When have the orders of this Lord Sidious ever mattered before?

Rex's shoulder slams into a doorframe he wasn't paying attention to. He hisses at the blunt pain, shakes it off. A squad of troopers passes him in a steady jog.  Headed to their sector. They will find her if they have to tear this ship apart.

He starts to run, but is caught by troublesome droids blocking his path. He slams into one, taking an opportunity to kick it.

"Hey! Hey, out of the way." The droid seems to laugh at him, and he has half a mind to run his blaster through it instead. Then the blast doors shut around him, locking him in the hallway. "Are you cross-wired?"

A holographic Commander Tano appears from within the droid. "Rex. I think I know what's happening. I saw your report on Fives,"

Fives. Rex's entire body shutters at the remembrance of his death. How he fell limp in his arms.

"It isn't your fault." There's a surprising amount of sympathy in her eyes to be looking at the man who just tried to murder her. "You were programmed. Your mind was altered to do this when you were very young. I can help you."

Good soldiers follow orders.

You were programmed.

The hologram dissipates. His eyebrows slant. Another surge of anger from a place deep with him. He points the blaster at the droid as if it could tell him anything of use. "Where is she?"

"I'm right here," as he turns, a burst of electricity shoots through him, and the world goes black.

__________

The sound of battle wakes Rex up better than any alarm. His heart is already pounding with adrenaline, but when he opens his eyes he finds he is much less prepared for battle than his body seems to be.

His head is pounding. Lights too bright. He tries to process what's going on around him.

Medbay. Lights in medbay. Blasters. Stretcher. Injured? Lightsaber.

Lightsaber. Ahsoka.

Rex pushes through the wave of nausea and finds himself on the receiving end of an endless stream of blaster shots. He'd be more blaster wounds than man if it weren't for Commander Tano crouched at the end of his bed, the bright blue of her lightsabers moving at an impossible speed. She blocks every single blast with perfect precision, but Rex realizes none are being aimed back at the troopers.

The troopers are trying to kill her. He reaches for his guns as a blast manages to strike her shoulder and she staggers back. He aims them as she screams for the droid to respond, her energy obviously waning.

Rex remembers the last time he picked up both his blasters. They were pointed at his Jedi. Armed to kill. But the feeling is suddenly gone from his system. The voice no longer echos in his mind.

He aims. He shoots. This time, he doesn't miss.

Four brothers cry out as his shots hit as they always do, their bodies falling as the door finally shuts. In the sudden silence of immediate ceasefire, Commander Tano turns around and looks at him with those big blue eyes. Her young face is full of confusion and alarm..,. but also hope.

And to see her look at him with hope is the worst possible way she could have looked at him because. when he looks at her all he can see is the reflection of his own betrayal. She shouldn't be staring at him with such concern, moving toward him instead of running away.

His hands start to shake again. He's still pointing his pistols at her, but his fingers aren't even on the triggers. He is just too shellshocked to know what to even do right now. If she ignited her sabers and took him out, he wouldn't blame her in the slightest.

She should hate him. She should kill him. She has every right to that.

Instead, she asks if he is okay.

No, I am not okay... but hearing her voice calms him. Snaps him out of the haze of waking up to such a shock, and he slowly lowers the blasters.

"Yeah. Yeah, kid, I'm okay."

The pounding in his head begs to differ. He reaches up to the source, feeling a thick bandage on the side of his head. You were programmed.

They put a chip in his head to control him when they needed him. To control all of the clones.

"I was framed because I know the truth... the truth about a plot. A massive deception... A sinister plot in the works against the Jedi!"

Shame courses through him at the judgment he cast upon his friend. The disbelief at what he was saying. Fives knew. Fives was right.

"It's in all of us. Every clone."

Every clone.

It sounded crazy at the time. He thought Fives had lost it the way he'd seen countless other brothers descend into madness.

"It's bigger than any of us. Than anything I could have imagined."

Now Rex sees it. The entire plan in action with no way of stopping it. The clones have their orders to kill their Jedi, and he knows for a fact that on their own, the Jedi don't stand a chance against their battalions of thousands.

"I just wanted to do my duty... The mission... the nightmares... they're finally... over"

Fives' last words hit him like a speeder to the stomach. All this time they were put here not to fight and die for the Republic, but to act as sleeper agents until they were needed. Mere pawns created for Lord Sidious's master plan that Rex doesn't even fully understand. What scenario constitutes a purging of an entire religion? It's a war crime at the very least. Their duty was always what they were told to do... but no more. He is tired of being a pawn. He doesn't have anything forcing him into obedience hidden within his mind.

Now, he has a new duty. To stay by Commander Tano's side, and try to stand by those who fought alongside them the last few years. Good soldiers follow orders, but better soldiers do what's right.

[sandu-zidian]

Hello! I doubt many people are gonna read this, but I decided to finally post on here about my Star Wars planet! I wanted to create a planet that was based off of Asian culture, specifically, Chinese culture. Star Wars does a lot of things right, but I don’t think diversity in world-building is one of them. I’m not an expert and I’m pulling off of my own experiences as much as I am research. I posted about it on Insta a while ago, but lowkey Tumblr is much more suited for very, very long posts. So, get ready for a lot, and I mean a lot of info under the line!

General Info:

Area: Mid-Rim

Size: mid-size 

Population: 2 billion 

Geography: One large continent surrounded by water, with croppings of islands on the coasts. Mountainous in the northern and western regions of the mainland, with plains spread across the rest.

Climate: temperate, slightly humid. But northern mountain ranges get very cold. 

Capital: Zhongjing, resided in the middle of the continent, next to a large river that cuts through the city from north to south. Is surrounded by plains (though you can see the northern mountains on a good day)

Geography:

Northern Mountains: 

The northern mountains of Nassora’s large continent spans the whole northern side. Climate is quite cold, spending much of the year around and below zero degrees. Original settlers in this area stuck to the mountain base and the ocean.

The main interest of this area is the fishing and lumber industry. Large forests span the surrounding areas and mountains. As sea villages, fishing was also the main source of food, making it an obvious trading item. With the abundance of wood, making homes and boats was easy. Hunters also venture into the forests, killing elk and bears for meat and fur. Traditional clothing of this area is layered with dense fur and thick hide.

Flora: large pine trees, grass and wildflowers during the short summer season. May see some winter fruit, but not much.

Fauna: large bears (white and brown fur), elks, hares, owls, small rodents, white tiger (found between the Western and Northern mountains)

Western Mountains:

The western mountains are hot and humid, similar to a jungle climate. A river, the XiJiang (西江), flows through the mountains, hugging the base, flowing from north to south. With large areas of marshy land, Nassorans found a specific type of grain that thrives in this climate: rice. Many Nassorans in the western area planted rice and used water buffalos to help work the fields. Other plants bore fruit, which grow in flatter areas in groves. The subtropical climate of this area also makes it a perfect place to grow spices. Salt mines are also abundant within the mountains. Food in this area consists of spicy food to help combat the heat. Another common plant found is bamboo, which is useful for making paper.

A large river runs parallel to the mountain, separating the cities close to the mountain from the mainland. Bridges will be built later, but this forced villages and cities to be pushed closer to the mountain, where hot weather gets trapped between the mountains and the river. This causes a large layer of fog to fall over many cities.

Flora: rice, fruit, large trees with vines, spices, bamboo

Fauna: monkeys, large birds, cranes, water buffalos, monkeys, tiger

Plains:

The large plains spread from the center of the continent to the south and east. By far the largest area on the continent, the climate here is mild and temperate compared to the west. But humidity and heat increase as you travel further south. Two rivers occupy the plains: Gui He (龟河), the winding river that branches out, one headed for the Capital and one headed into the plains, and Yu He (玉河), which is further north. Small lakes also crop up in this area, making for good sources of water outside the river.

Because of the flat area, early Nassorans in this region were nomadic, using domesticated horses to herd cattle. Eventually, they settled down as they discovered farming. Nassorans grew vegetables, fruit, and grain. Other plants grown are cotton and indigo down in the southern plains. Hills pop up every so often in the mostly flat area, and small pockets of woods can be found closer to the east. Outside of farming areas, tall grass spans the area, and gives a very idyllic landscape. Pockets of sugar cane can also be found near the lakes in this region.

Flora: fruit trees, grain, cotton, smaller trees, tall grass, sugar cane

Fauna: horses, cattle, chickens, small birds, rodent animals

History:

Pre-Space Travel:

Nassorans were groups of nomadic settlers spread across the continent. Plain residers herded cattle on domesticated horses, and used the large areas of flat land to build farms, harvesting grain and eventually cotton. Were the first to settle into villages. Groups living in the northern mountains moved around a lot more, eventually moving south as the colder climate became harder to reside. Some stay in the north near the ocean. Groups living in the western mountain ranges found a wet, temperate climate, perfect for growing rice and spices.

After a couple hundred years, trade was established between these three areas, and eventually, a governing body formed to connect the trade routes and eventually, the people. A man named Huangwei (皇位) crusaded across the continent, uniting the people under one flag, and established a monarchy under his family. Later, he is coveted as the ‘messiah’ of the Nassorans, for his reign brought prosperity to the land. They say he opened the Spirit World and connected it to the Mortal World.

After almost 1000 years, a group of space travelers found Nassora. Intrigued by the majority-water planet, this group of sentients descended onto Nassora. The Nassorans, fascinated yet terrified, welcomed these foreigners. Many wondered if they were immortals. But after seeing a couple die of disease, the rumor died quickly. With the introduction of intricate technology, Nassorans quickly adapted to the new opening of the planet to space.

Post-Space Travel:

After the introduction of space travel, many changes quickly opened up. 

Rapid advancement in technology: as foreigners came, Nassorans quickly picked up new theories and inventions which were disseminated across the continent. Fishing, which was very important in the north, became much easier. Agriculture became much more efficient. With the new influx of information, more and more Nassorans began to develop mathematical and scientific skills to do their own research. Many even went off-world to learn from other planets. Over time, the imperial capital of Nassora, Zhongjing (中京) will develop into the technological center of Nassora, surrounded by agriculture.

Increased trade: With new planets discovering Nassora, trade between them increased significantly. To keep up with this, Nassora had to quickly adapt their agricultural industry to keep up with demand. Farms grew, more workers were needed. Eventually, Nassora found itself as an impressive agricultural planet.

Dissemination of Nassoran religion and clothing: Nassorans were one of the first Jedi. With many of their people supposedly “Blessed” with these powerful gifts, Force-Sensitives were incredibly dear to Nassorans. When rumors of a new religious group surrounding FS began to pop up, many were interested to meet others similar to them. With them, they brought ancient religious texts (as many FS were monks living in HuangDi’s temple, thanking him for their gifts) and their style of clothing. While the Jedi today are very different to Nassorans in regards to religion, the foundation of the Jedi philosophy was Nassoran, and their clothing is still reminiscent of traditional Nassoran clothing.

Increased planetary involvement: Nassora’s relationships with other planets led to the increasing need for Nassora’s involvement with other planets in order to ensure they benefit. However, this also went vice versa. Other planets began to encroach into Nassoran life, as one of the few large agricultural planets in the region. Superior weapons and power meant Nassora could do little without invoking outright physical conflict, or even war.

Increased diversity and conflict: with the influx of new species onto the planet, many Nassorans were wary. But most people were curious and excited for such a development. However, with their lack of intellectual prowess and seemingly strange lifestyle, many off-worlders were condescending and outright discriminatory, holding their superior technology as a sign of their superiority over the Nassorans. They treated the Nassorans as lesser, and this led to many conflicts between individuals, and eventually the governments.

As tensions between Nassora and other nearby planets rose from the treatment of Nassoran people and political tensions, a woman called Meng Xiao Gen began to plan a revolt. After a year of planning, the group Shadow Hand, which was made of a large number of Nassorans, launched a continent wide attack against the off-worlders, essentially driving them off the planet. The government, while not involved in the planning, did little to stop it. With no connection to the group, other planetary governments could do nothing against them without seeming the aggravator. 

After this event, Nassora closed its borders to all off-worlders that were not traders. Even then, traders were confined to a few cities, unable to leave their assigned room/house. Nassorans were allowed to leave, but could not bring back a foreigner. Most Nassorans at this point didn’t want to leave, and were content to be almost isolated. Unless for trade or family reasons, no Off-Worlders were allowed onto the planet. The Jedi, who were closely tied to Nassoran’s religious temples, were also driven off. Most FS from this time on are taught within the temples or by private tutors, if their family was wealthy enough.

After a couple of centuries of isolation, Nassorans became even more wary of off-worlders. The amount of animosity towards anyone that did not look or dress or talk like Nassorans were at an all time high. As the Republic’s power grew and Nassora’s prowess waned, the government found it was high time to reconnect with the greater galaxy in hopes of rekindling planetary relations. Now much more technologically advanced, the worry was less about being seen as lesser, and more about Nassoran people’s ire and xenophobia.

Era of the Republic:

Nassora officially joined the Republic 245 BBY, one of the most recent additions to the Republic. In a couple of years, the planet opened its borders, to the wariness of the people. Slowly, entering and leaving the planet began to increase, as more came for job opportunities and tourism, for the elusive agricultural planet was a mere shadow to many. In the Senate, Nassora has one Senator, dominated by the wealthy and noble Yan family, who are very closely tied to planetary politics as well.

Nassora’s political stance was to keep the Republic as far from their planetary politics as possible. They disliked laws that forced Nassora to be more involved than it already was. They were also at odds with the banking clan, as they tried to integrate themselves into the galactic banking system, only to find themselves blocked at seemingly all avenues. From a galactic view, Nassora was still a developing planet, despite their technological advancements from limited connections to the rest of the galaxy. 

When Nassora first opened up and the first off-worlder tourists came passing through, misunderstandings plus the tense climate around letting off-worlder into Nassora led to some violent first couple of months. Off-worlders and Nassorans alike were attacked, and protests began against letting off-worlders into their shops and their towns. Many Nassorans announced their fear of history repeating itself. Slogans like “Never Again” and “Leave us Be” became popularly used. Eventually, the government was forced to step in to quell the protests. After five months of tension, politicians like the Yan family pleaded for the people to be understanding, showing their support of opening borders by publicly mingling with off-worlders. Protests stopped, but tension lasted for another year or two.

Nassora, being a largely agricultural system, was sought after for trade opportunities. However, the government was still cautious of trusting new planets that wanted to trade with them. After opening their borders, their textile industry boomed. The quality of their cloth from well grown cotton and the mix of technology meant that many wealthy elites craved new quality clothing. However, the importance of clothing in Nassoran culture made it very hard for anyone to get their hands on it. Many wealthy planets tried very hard to make pleasing deals for it. Nassora won’t be so easily persuaded however, and is a constant battle. 

After opening up, the Jedi Order began to resurface in Nassora. Many came on pilgrimages, to see where the foundations of the Jedi religion came from. Some came to seek out new initiates, only to be rebuffed most of the time. There are a handful of times when the Jedi came with a diplomat in order to settle trade disputes. Overall, the Jedi, while open to Nassora, found that the people were just as wary of them as they were everybody else. With each new generation of Nassorans, the xenophobic nature began to dispel as young children became used to seeing off-worlders.

In the years leading up to the Clone Wars, the Nassoran government saw an increasing number of cases of corruption within the Republic. One such instance was the Invasion of Naboo in 32 BBY. Nassorans were horrified at the encroachment of the Trade Federation into Naboo, and the Republic’s lack of help. Nassorans applauded Nabooians’ strength, as they fought off the invaders themselves. Increasing instances of such encroachment and no help from the Republic led to increasing bitterness and hatred to the Republic. In 22 BBY, Senator Yan Ruwei pulled Nassora out of the Republic alongside the CIS, though became an independent system rather than join. The Nassoran people were tired of such galactic politics, and were glad to begin looking inwards once more.

Era of the Empire:

In 19 BBY, the Republic dies, and the Empire rises. With a direct connection to the Jedi, the Empire seeked to control what information about the now dead religious group was known. But Nassora was not under Republic or Imperial jurisdiction. So, after establishing power over the Senate and current Republic planets, the Empire began its crusade over independent systems. Planets such as Mandalore and Lasan were under heavy attack, and Nassora made its way onto that list. In 17 BBY, the Empire began it’s invasion. The Invasion of Nassora lasted 2 years, ending when the capital was taken. Much of Nassora’s beautiful plains and farms were razed in the fighting. In the next years, as the Empire established firm control, Nassorans got to rebuilding. 

Under Imperial control, the Empire usurped the monarchy, placing a governor and Moff to keep the government under their control. The former senator was brought back, under a very tight leash. In order to try and destroy everything tied to the Jedi, the Empire also began razing Shenist Temples. Many monks and locals tried to protect them, but were unsuccessful. After the slaughter of a group of Huangdi Blessed children, receiving Blessed tattoos became forbidden. Their five large festivals also ceased, leaving a generation of Nassorans uneducated to a large part of their heritage and culture.

Nassorans became increasingly angry and bitter under Imperial rule. Rebellion ranged from small inconveniences towards Imperial troops and officers to outright fighting. A small rebel cell began growing in the years after Invasion. But because of their small size, they were limited in scope of their attacks. Many Nassorans were also against hurting their own planet and people more, for fear that the Spirits would become angrier than they already were. Despite the struggles, the rebel cell stayed strong against Imperial power. Some Nassorans chose to join the larger Rebellion at hand or travelled to Lothal or Mandalore. Others chose to help both the local rebel cell and larger alliance by providing supplies and local help whenever they could. The government also began preparing for war, and attacked after the Liberation of Lothal.

War lasted for years. When the Emperor died, Imperial forces began falling apart. In a couple of months, Nassora finally drove off the last Imperials from their planet. In celebration, the people immediately began rebuilding their temples, and started giving facial tattoos to the children who were never given the honor. Many of these children were now adults, age 18, who were born right before and during the Invasion of Nassora. Senator Talira returned from her place in the Alliance to help restore Nassora to its former glory. Eventually, she’ll become the PM. Nassora will not join the New Republic. However, they will have fairly good relations with the governing body, who leave them to their own devices for the most part.

Culture

Language:

Nassora’s standard language is called Nassu, using the common written language and plain dialect. All three regions, before unifying, had their own dialect. Trade made it so that all three dialects had similar grammar usage. Close trading connections also forced writing to be standardized very early on, even though dialect stayed mutually unintelligible. 

The foundation of the language is from a set of pictograms, which associate a pictorial with a morpheme. Ideograms are characters in which the pictorial describes abstract ideas. The most common form of logograms in the language is the radical-phonetic compounds, in which the first part of the character indicates meaning and the latter half indicates pronunciation. This latter half allowed Nassu to grow it’s vocabulary significantly. The rebus-principle is also incredibly important to the development of Nassu. (i’m not a linguist, especially not one for a barely explored set of languages). Despite Nassu being used by all citizens, as it is the standard, usage of dialect is still very prominent between locals. The further you get from the capital and the plains, the more you will hear dialect being spoken.

After the first opening of Nassora, basic became a common language as well, and continued to have minor influence even during its isolation given the need to keep up governmental and trade relations. Basic became even more common after joining the Republic, as more off-worlders began entering the system and even staying, though Nassu is still much more common, enough that many off-worlders learn the language to ease their stay.

Nassorans take much pride in their culinary diversity. The different regions have different food staples that dominate their eating habits. However, some habits are common across the whole planet. Food is a sign of love and work ethics. Every family will always meet for at least one meal, usually lunch or dinner. This communal eating habit fosters both familial and friendly connections. During large celebrations and festivals, communities will come together for large potlucks where communal food reserves are redistributed among the community. During the four large festivals, the Royal family will redistribute part of the government surplus as a sign of goodwill and generosity. This will pass from hand to hand: Emperor to Princes to Ministries to communities to families. Because of this tradition of communal eating, lots of effort goes into preparing meals that sometimes take the whole family to do so. It is a time of bonding and a time of rigorous work, and therefore exemplifies many of the values Nassorans believe in.

Cuisine:

Cuisine varies by region. In the North, seafoods are staples in their diet. It is common to find lots of stews and sometimes rice noodles, which did not appear in northern cuisine until after trade was established with the rest of the planet. Root vegetables are also quite common. In the West, the humid climate fosters heavy use of spice as a way to alleviate heat in the body. Grains are especially prominent with rice, beans, and seeds playing a major part in the food’s taste and texture. In the South, abundance of large open fields means the growth of vegetables and other plants. Meats are also prominent, as some semblance of semi-nomadic life still features in cuisine. Bread is a particularly unique feature of Southern style food, as grains are mulled into flour. Congee also features heavily with the abundance of grains. 

Art/Architecture:

Art features heavily in Nassoran society, marking temples and prominent government buildings. Basic understanding of Nassoran art is very simple: artists and musicians focus heavily on nature, emphasizing peace, harmony, and balance. Ink paintings are a common focus, as the unpredictability of the medium allows the artist to focus less on replicating what they see and replicate what they feel. Religious artwork is much more detailed, focused on depicting deities and spirits in grandiose ways. Statues and sculptures of spiritual figures dominate temples.

Ethnic instruments used by Nassorans are always handmade. Luthiers focus on the intricate beauty of each instrument as creators of balance and harmony. Oftentimes, luthiers focus on spiritual understandings of balance to help create the best instruments possible. While other instruments and musical styles have entered Nassoran culture, traditional instruments, acting as spiritual items in many ways, are not to be tampered with.

Old architecture in Nassora is heavily reliant on timberwork. Wooden posts and beams are used to hold up roofs, with walls separating rooms. Architectural features are the emphasis on symmetry, use of open enclosed spaces (courtyards), and horizontal emphasis (spread horizontally vs growth vertically). Unlike more Western houses, Nassoran homes feature large compounds. Buildings facing the door are the most important, with the side buildings being less important, and buildings facing away from the large doors as the least important. Guardian statues are also common, and can range from the Shangshen to personal spirits. Most buildings feature tile roofs, though the yellow tiles are reserved for Imperial buildings built for the Emperor. Imperial buildings also feature many roof details that signify the Emperor’s spiritual and political legitimacy. Religious temples follow similar features, with side buildings set as living quarters and the shrines for deities and spirits in the center of the building. Offerings are often scattered around the floor, and mats are set in place for prayers and meditation. 

Race/Ethnicity:

Nassorans are a near-human species. Most are unsure where the Nassorans came from, as they evolved so similarly to humans, and yet had no connection to them during most of their development. 

Despite the common understanding of biological differences between the millions of species in the galaxy, Nassorans group all of them as off-worlders/foreigners, guaididui (怪敌对). The first off-worlders were hostile in their confrontations, and Nassorans, with inferior technology, were unfortunately treated quite unfairly. In response, Nassorans developed a deep distrust of foreigners that carried into their isolationist period. When they opened themselves up and joined the Republic, Nassorans were quite upset about this. They believed that doing so would be asking for off-worlders to exploit them again. Fortunately, that was not the case. In the 200 years after opening up, increase of tourism and flow of people in and out of Nassora meant that the understanding of other species changed rapidly, especially by young Nassorans who travelled and studied in other planets during this time period. By the time the Clone Wars hit, Nassoran’s xenophobia had already broken down significantly. Nassora was often sympathetic to the CIS and independent worlds, respecting the strive for independence and control over what happens to the people of these planets. Leaving the Republic was a sign of returning to the planet’s people versus the whims of other planets.

When the Empire took over Nassora, interrelations with other species in the rebel alliance pushed Nassora to break down their racial understanding even further. Friendships and relationships formed out of working side-by-side. During this period, Nassoran’s marriage norm also began shifting as interspecies relationships became more common. Families began accepting species into Nassoran culture rather than just coexisting with them in separate bubbles.

Economy: 

An agricultural based system with a budding technology system, Nassora is a very good place for investors to get involved with new tech businesses. However, most of Nassora’s trade is taken up by food supplies from grain to fruit to vegetables and non-perishables. Nassora became a hotspot for relief supplies during the Clone Wars for both sides, especially for CIS planets.

Although Nassora has large farms run by some corporations, Nassora’s deep connection with nature through their religion means lots of regulations are set in place to check corporations. Because of this, Nassora relies more on horticulture and family farming surplus. Alongside these regulations, horticulture is still very prominent in smaller communities, who sell their surplus to companies or the government to sustain themselves. It is not uncommon to see large farms next to small horticulture fields.

The largest industry in Nassora by far is textiles. With large areas of plains and very good climate, it is very easy to grow cotton to make string and cloth, alongside the abundance of indigo and dyes in the region. Much of the textile production is family-based and oftentimes the family also work as tailors and have close relations with cotton farmers. There are some textile factories, but stringent regulations means it is much harder to profit lucratively. Production of Nassora’s high quality cloth means that selling it to other planets is very lucrative. In most places, only the wealthy can afford the high price Nassoran cloth is set at.

The intersection of textiles and technology has led to many interesting experiments. Researchers have been able to successfully blend cloth and technology together to create clothing strong enough to protect the wearer from immediate harm of a knife or one blaster shot, though this type of clothing can’t withstand extreme force. The creation of cloth that can create shields have also been in the works. Most prototypes feature the cloth as a set of fans that when put together, can activate a small shield to protect the user. However, such technology is kept very tight-lipped, especially around off-worlders.

Government and Politics: 

In the early ages, Nassora was a monarchy/empire. The Emperor held most of the power, distributed among the princes. Some power was allocated to the Court and Ministries, but all worked under and took orders from the Emperor.

Royal Family- it was common, even encouraged, for the Emperor to take on concubines on top of his Empress. The inner palace, run by the Empress, housed all the concubines and consorts (higher level concubines) and ran the inner workings of the Palace. 

Princes that were of age would have palaces in the Capital, though most resided outside, taking on roles of governors of far reaching territories. Only the Crown Prince would reside in the Capital, taking over smaller responsibilities in Court. The good use of having princes take on governmental roles was to minimize any political fights for the throne, though even this didn’t stop tumultuous political periods between princes fighting for the throne.

The heir of the throne is not decided by birth. Instead, it is based on the merits of the prince, and the will of the Emperor. Whoever the Emperor thought would be the best fit for the throne would thereby be the Crown Prince. This style of lineage allowed for infighting to be much more common, as ambitious princes fight for the Emperor’s favor, pushing to be the best. During these early years, princes, like the feudal age, held small armies to help protect their area of governing.

Court and Ministry- the court is made of Ministers who commence everyday to debate over new laws and judicial cases. The Ministers involved in Court are usually high ranking in their respective Ministries with seniority. The process for gaining a Minister position is extensive. Candidates are highly educated, and usually come from wealthy families. After extensive background checks on their political affiliations and any criminal offenses, they then take an entrance test. If they pass the entrance test, they then meet for interviews. Finally, a candidate is chosen. The court will usually debate laws and regulations that pass either from the Emperor, Ministries, or a Minister. On some days, large cases that need the court to preside over will take place, though these are few and far between.

The Ministries are organizations that work under the Emperor. They have specific tasks and goals to fulfill. Examples are: Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Religion, etc. They will often work independently or conversely with each other. These Ministries regulate whatever it is the Emperor has tasked them with. Ministry of Justice will deal with criminals; Ministry of trade with domestic and interplanetary trade, Ministry of Religion coordinating with monks and shamans. (they’re basically agencies)

Other groups- 

The Royal Guard is the group of elite soldiers that protect the Palace and Emperor. They work within the bounds of the Palace grounds, though will often work with Capital Patrol and even other areas if they are called upon. The leader is often a Commander or General.

The Capital Patrols are controlled by a General. They police within the Capital boundaries and are supposed to be neutral in any political fights. They serve the Emperor and the people. Over time, the Capital Patrols and Royal Guard will consolidate under the Ministry of Defense.

After the Revolt of Shadow Hand, the leader Meng Xiao Gen, takes on the role of Prime Minister, a new government official created in order for the government to reconcile and appease the people, showing that they are hearing their cries and will make changes. Under her rule, Nassora flourishes.

Over time, the position of Prime Minister and the courts and Ministries began gaining power, and the Emperor’s control waned. After a very turbulent time where two princes fought for the throne as their father died, the Prime Minister at the time instigated massive restructuring of Nassora’s government. The courts became a legislative body, and the Prime Minister gained immense power. Elections were set into place, and a constitution was written. This is known as the Great Restruction. The day the constitution was ratified became a planetary holiday.

When Nassora joined the Republic, the government once again shifted, though significantly smaller this time. Nassora decided to only send one senator, who is chosen by the Prime Minister and Emperor. The role becomes insignificant after they leave, but makes a revival when the Empire takes over. 

During Imperial reign, the Empire established a governor, which took the role of the Prime Minister. The current PM had little power, and left office after his term was over. No re-election was called, and the Imperial governor took over the Nassoran government. The senator role had little power, as it was seen as mostly a figurehead position. It was a lazy show of compromise, even though in the heart of the Empire, Coruscant, the senator has little power.

Nassorans, in general, are very nationalistic. They dislike any planetary intervention from outside such as the Republic and the Empire. Even as a member of the Republic, Nassora pushed for less Republic intervention into planetary affairs. Their ire for outside forces spreads to their interactions with other systems. Nassora is a staunch defender for independent planets and is willing to lend hands for groups that wish to take more control over the policies of their own planets.

Kinship and Family: 

Nassorans follow a bilineal descent line and focus heavily on the extended family. In most cases, Nassoran families live either within the same roof, or in the near vicinity. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews are common figures in a person’s life, and Nassorans will find that their support system to be quite extensive within the family. Because Nassorans follow a bilineal, descent of both the mother and father pass through their children. Last names of the married couple are not exchanged for one or the other, and the child takes the last name of the parent who has the higher prestige or class status. Mixed children (where one parent is an offworlder) will always take the name of their Nassoran parent, although this fluctuates depending on where the family is settled and how closely tied they are to Nassoran culture.

The notion of ‘blood’ ancestry is not necessarily biological either. Oftentimes, close families are seen as part of the extended family. Family friends virtually adopt each other into their system of kinship. It is not uncommon for families to adopt a recent orphan of a family friend. In this instance, the distinction between the adopted and biological child are virtually nonexistent.

Within the nuclear family, wife and husband both hold significant roles in order to keep the household functioning. This more egalitarian system meant that gender roles, stereotypes, and ideology were much less pervasive in a person’s identity. Other identifiers like class status and Blessed status feature more prominently than a person’s gender.

As a system, kinship is one of the most important social groups one is a part of. In many ways, kinship dominates a person’s social life. Large family gatherings and dinners are common. Festivities and holidays together are mostly with family. While friends are an important part of a person’s life, family is by far the most dominant feature. Because of this, the family is often involved with marriage. Families spend much time nagging and helping members find proper partners to build a life with. For the most part, same-sex marriage was easily integrated, as the understanding of gender in Nassora is much more fluid and not a prominent identifier for the people.

 What is most contested in the realm of kinship is the importance of children and marrying off-worlders. The large feature of family means that legacy and continuing the descent line is invaluable to the family. Passing down traditions and one’s gifts is part of the process of life. To not want children, adopted or through labor, seems impossible. Miscegenation (in this case, to off-worlders) is also harshly stigmatized. Nassora’s history with off-worlders created a common belief that off-worlders are untrustworthy and will abuse you. After opening up and joining the Republic, Nassora’s stigma and miscegenation continuously comes into conflict with changing ideals of the youth as mingling with off-worlders becomes more and more common. The era of the Empire forced Nassorans to face growing intersections with other species, forcing marriage norms to change alongside changing understandings of race.

Gender and Sexuality:

Nassoran understanding of both gender and sexuality are quite fluid, unlike the rigid binaries seen in many other planets. Bilineal descent and fluid division of labor meant that gender roles were not emphasized. In turn, understanding of gender has a lack of gender norms and therefore, lack of gender ideologies. It isn’t uncommon to see women and men owning land, depending on prestige (emphasis on age and Blessing). Because gender norms are lacking, the emergence of gender fluidity was accepted very easily. Unlike in other cultures, gender doesn’t play a significant role in a person’s status, nor does it play a significant role in someone’s identity. In Nassu, gender identifiers describe a person as either ‘female leaning’ (ten), ‘male leaning’ (tan), and ‘neutral leaning’ (zong). Because of the fluidity of gender, sexuality is also very fluid. Words identifying someone’s sexual preferences do not exist in Nassu, meaning that partners of any gender are acceptable. 

Sexuality is also not defined in Nassoran culture. While it is understood that females have the reproductive system, adoption as another form of creating a family means that pregnancy is not emphasized as much. Polygamy and polyandry were common when horticulture was the dominant way of life (contained mostly in the Southern Plains), as sharing land among a community was more common. Marriages were the most common way to secure ties to land. To this day, communities still practice polyamory and the government recognizes it as a legitimate form of marriage.

Religion: 

The religion that the vast majority of Nassorans follow is called 栓神教 (shuangshenjiao), or shenism in Basic. Nassoran’s religious beliefs are intrinsic and powerful, and play a significant role in how Nassorans connect with the world.

Nassora’s religious beliefs are very based around this fundamental idea: the universe is a dynamic cycle of energy between two imposing realms; the spirit world and the mortal world. The movement of energy/qi creates the dynamic flow of life and death from one realm to the other. Equilibrium between these two realms is ideal for prosperous lives and a healthy world.

Spirits and Immortals- A Look at the Mythology of Shenism

Shenism creationist story is similar to many other religions as a creation from chaos type. For eternity, the universe was filled with Chaos, a mere abyss. The four Shangshen, who lived within the Chaos, gained enough power to harness the Chaos into energy, forming it into the two realms that are vaguely denoted as the “sky” and the “earth”, though these descriptions are not necessarily accurate. The Mortal World, or the “earth”, and the Spirit World, or the “sky”, began a back and forth ebb and flow as the chaotic energy embeds itself into the foundations of both realms. Mythology predicts the eventual breakdown of qi back into chaos as balance is lost, before being harnessed again. This cyclical cycle of chaos and cosmos is unique to Shenism.

Shenism mythology uses Spirits (神) and Immortals (仙) as dieties. The jobs of the Spirits are to maintain proper flow of energy (qi) through the two realms.  Immortals are former humans that gave up their mortality to help the Spirits work efficiently. While the two types of dieties seem very similar, Immortals differ from Spirits by controlling the complex weavings of qi within man-made society. Spirits focus on the natural world instead.

The story that follows the Creation story is of Huangwei (皇位), the first Immortal. At birth, Huangwei had immense powers to manipulate his surroundings. At age 24, he set on a quest of enlightenment and self-actualization. On his journey, he united all parts of the world, and at the end of his journey, ascended to immortality as he connected to the spirit worlds. He opened a large bridge between the Mortal and Spirit Worlds, bringing a time of peace and prosperity.

As an Immortal, Huangwei became Huangdi, and is one of the most important figures in Shenism mythology. Huangdi is the tie between the two realms and grants mortals supernatural powers that mirror his to help guide Spirits. Oftentimes, Blessed under Huangdi are often recruited as shamans, working as Spirit guides during festivals and important religious ceremonies.

The four main Spirits (Shangshen 上神) that guide the movement of energy are as follows:

Dragon Spirit (龙神): In power during the Spring, the Dragon harkens the beginning of the year with growth and a clean slate. Unlike dragons in other religions, the Nassoran Dragon is deeply tied to water and its vital part to the cycle of life. During its height of power, the Dragon blesses the land, starting the cycle of growth physically shown with the rising temperature and blooming flowers. The dormant energy of the turtle goes from ice to water. The Dragon’s temple is in the East, right next to the coast.

The Dragon also begins blessing children with strength and flexibility. Children blessed and confirmed by the Dragon’s largest temple are known to be very malleable to hard situations, and are often strong warriors. 

Phoenix Spirit(凤凰神): The Phoenix follows the Dragon, moving into summer. Unlike the dragon, the Phoenix is represented by fire and energy. The Phoenix continues the flow of energy as crops begin growing. The energy must be in constant motion in order for the proper flow of light, dark, and rain to produce the best crops. The Phoenix’s temple is in the north, nestled in a small cropping of mountains to the west of the ___ River.

Blessed children of the Phoenix Spirit are known to be graceful and clever. They often take on more creative jobs. Blessed of the Phoenix Spirit are the most likely to be found in multiple realms of jobs, as their defining traits are malleable for many fields.

White Tiger Spirit (白老虎神): The White Tiger brings harvest season. During this time, the fiery energy begins to settle as the temperature cools. The energy flow goes into an ebb, as the White Tiger begins to regulate it after the Phoenix. During this time, families and groups come together to celebrate the good harvest, or pray for a better harvest the next year. Oftentimes, the White Tiger is seen as the ‘judgement spirit’, as a bad harvest signifies that the spirits are angry, and are punishing the mortals. The White Tiger Temple is in the west, deep in the Wang mountains (王山).

Children blessed by the White Tiger are known to be passionate and morally inclined. Most of these blessed children become public servants or work on bettering the lives of other people, though some who are more academically inclined go into research and university work.

Tortoise Spirit (乌龟神): The end of the harvest season brings winter. The Tortoise Spirit brings the energy to a dormant state, where it allows the world to settle down and recuperate. The winter season is a time of stillness and retreat. The Tortoise Spirit Temple resides in the southernmost tip of the continent

Children Blessed by the Tortoise Spirit are known to be level headed and determined. They can be stubborn at times, or be stalwart figureheads to help support people around them. Tortoise Blessed either enter very stable jobs or enter very fluid jobs, where they act as the center.

There are plenty of other spirits, but they all are minor compared to these four. These spirits are called xiaoshen (小神). Other spirits work with the Four shangshen during their height of power alongside Immortals. These spirits are also seen as animals, and have smaller shrines connected to the larger shangshen temples. Individual families may also have altars for these xiaoshen as personal spirits that watch over their household and family members. The concept of malevolent spirits does not exist within Shenism. Spirits have duties to push and pull the energy that binds the universe together. As a core understanding, balance must also mean that both good and bad exist. Spirits that bring famine and war, while bring bad events, must be treated with respect in order to keep the universe in balance. Mistreatment could lead to malformation of the spirit and may cause more harm than good. 

Beliefs, Values, and Real Life Repercussions-

A core understanding of Nassoran religion is balance. There must be balance within all aspects of life: between duty and personal ambitions, family and individual desires, selfish and selfless. The best and most well-rounded people are those who can balance all aspects of their life and live within the middle. To Nassorans, unbalance in one aspect of life should be noted and rectified. Unfortunately, the first off-worlders were lacking in balance, and refused to change. To this day, Nassorans still look down on off-worlders as unbalanced and therefore lesser. Understanding of off-worlders shifted to be more complex over time, but the sentiment stands the test of time.

Daily prayer is not common in Shenism. Nassorans practice Shenism through their actions and thoughts. The Blessings of the Spirits are everywhere, and therefore everything should be cherished from the smallest ant to the most important of people and objects. However, it is common to see small altars within a familial compound for a family spirit that protects the family from harm. Nassorans will pray when life-changing events happen, such as marriage or birth, and during the Season Festivals.

The four Shangshen enter and exit the Mortal realm at the end of a season. For each changing of Spirit, Nassorans celebrate the work the previous spirit has done and hope for the next Spirit’s prosperity to begin. The names of each festival are as follows: Spring’s End (春尾节), Summer’s End (夏尾节), Autumn’s End (秋尾节), and Winter’s End (冬尾节). All four Temples will be open for prayers, and on sunset of Season’s End, the four temples will simultaneously ring their temple bells, opening their realm to the Spirits. In the Huangdi temple, disciples will begin the Ritual of Bridges in order to facilitate easy change of hands. It lasts from sunset to dusk, when the full moon appears.

Festivities start the week before the public Ritual, filled with food and family. If a family is unable to travel to the four large temples for prayer, they will usually congregate at a local temple or within their own homes. During the ritual, families meditate, hoping to connect with the spirits as they pass by. 

Special delicacies are eaten specifically for certain festivals. Winter’s End: sticky rice, congee, warm chicken broth. Spring’s End: fruit deserts, rice balls, chicken’s feet. Summer’s End: sesame treats, spicy noodles, sugar hair. Autumn’s End: apple cider, cake pastry (aka moon cakes), bamboo wrapped rice.

A major part of Nassoran religion is the connection between mortal and spirits. Blessed children are Nassorans blessed by the Shangshen, lending them a unique connection to the world that shapes their personality. The Blessed are designated by their tattoos. While designs are up to families and the Blessed child, the color of the tattoos are fixed. Yellow for the Dragon. Red for the Phoenix. White for the White Tiger. Black for the Tortoise. The only other people with Blessed tattoos are those blessed by the Huangdi. These children have black and white tattoos, and are the only ones whose tattoos also show up on their bodies like the hands and feet, signifying their unique connection to the Qi. 

Though Blessed face lots of opportunities, it can become limiting, as not all Blessed fit into these personality boxes organized by spirit. However, Blessed also have a unique position in society, where they are usually held to a higher standard and are thought of more highly in general, even though they only make up a small portion of the population (37%). This created a unique set of prestige within Nassoran culture. Status is often determined by whether or not one is Blessed, even if merits also play a significant role in gaining prestige as well.

Shenism plays a significant part in establishing the foundations of the Jedi Religion. Much of the basic principles of the Jedi such as the Force and Balance can be traced back to Shenism. Use of the Force has ties to Shenist Monks following Huangdi, who would use their deep connection to Qi (or the Force) for rituals. Even the lightsaber can be traced back to Nassoran weapons, though the significance of the lightsaber and kyber crystal are different.  Although the Jedi Religion has changed significantly since Nassora isolated itself, the two religions are still deeply entwined together. Within the 200 years that Nassora was in Republic jurisdiction, Jedi re-established relations with Shenism, encouraging pilgrimages to Shenist temples for younglings as a way to educate them on the beginnings of Jedi religions. This tie with the Jedi meant that it wasn’t uncommon for Jedi consulars to oversee any diplomatic work between Nassora and other planets. 

Unfortunately, when the Clone Wars began, relations between Shenists and Jedi began to fray as the Jedi became generals in a war. Shenists berated the group for turning their back on the spiritual, warning of their lack of balance within the qi/Force. Nassora’s secession from the Republic didn’t help the situation. By the time the Clone Wars was coming to an end, Nassorans lost much of their respect and trust of the Jedi.

If you have gotten to the very end, wow. Thank you for taking the time to read this very lengthy post!

[defensefilms]

Defense Films Names His Top 5 Favorite Rappers

In All It’s Infinite Glory And Magnanimity, Defense Gives You His Top 5 Favorite Rappers. 

5. 50 Cent 

To this day, when you need a playlist for a MMA class and the group is hella diverse, you’re not really sure which way to go with it, pop in that 50. Can’t go wrong with Get Rich Or Die Trying (the original), or even that G-Unit Beg For Mercy.

That run from late 2002-2005/06 was unlike anything you’ll ever see again. That was a perfect situation where there was organic support from fans and there were people at a business level, mainly 50, that knew how to turn it into the wave that it became and industry has been trying to replicate this ever since.

While most people remember is the numerous scandals, beefs and controversies of that time but it was the music that moved the audience. For all the ways 50 Cent’s success mirrors ruthless American capitalism, his debut album is low key one of the most inspiring albums you’ll ever listen to. 

It’s a foxhole mentality on wax. It’s me-versus-you type thinking. It’s someone has to lose and I’ll be damned. It’s who ever has to get hit, is gonna get hit. 

See the first time I listened to it, it was about “In Da Club”, “Wanksta”, you know the more palatable records that got on radio and all that but the more I listened the more I realized, it was actually built on the backs of songs like “Patiently Waiting”, “Many Men”, “Back Down”, “Don’t Push Me” and “Gotta Make It To Heaven”. On one side it’s as motivational as you can think of but it’s not the wacky kind of naivé motivational talk because it’s willing to get it’s hands dirty and go in to much grittier ideas. 

Like his predecessors, 50 pulls off the trick of balancing easy-to-listen-to records on a foundation of graphic and aggressive songs.  

Recommended Songs: Maybe We Crazy, When It Rains It Pours

4. Jedi Mind Tricks

I’ll give you props if you know who these man are but they are legends. Point blank. Violent By Design will forever rank as one of the great group albums in hip-hop history.  Vinny Paz, Jus Allah and producer/DJ Stoupe The Enemy of Mankind, gave hip-hop a shockwave they weren’t ready for, especially back in 1999.

Hip-hop as a business wasn’t ready to market a group, whose themes were rooted in topics like government control, military warfare, covert control tactics, religion and psychological warfare. To have all that in one bundle wasn’t something that big time A&R’s were ready for. 

Had they started this group in 2010, they would have walked in to a business landscape that was far more suitable to who they were as an act and as MC’s. 

Even with that JMT still enjoyed a lot of notoriety and they definitely succeeded in establishing their following, despite the odds. 

While Violent By Design may serve as the magnum opus of their body of work, their run really starts in 1997 with the Psycho-Social, Biological & Electro-Magnetic Manipulation Of Human Kind. 

Yes guy, that’s an album title. You gotta think now, I was in high school the first time I heard this and I was very into conspiracy theories and nonsense, so this album hit me right between the eyes. The idea that someone could use the medium of hip-hop in this way was crazy and the album would have been more than 10 years old when I first heard it.

No, the hip-hop historians among us will argue that Wu-Tang were a better and more influential group and I’d tend to agree, I can also bust back and say, “these dudes took Wu-Tang’s formula and gave it a whole different edge.”

 I’ll break it to you like this, Wu-Tang gave the world swordsmanship and the first projectile weapons like bow and arrows, spears and the likes. Jedi Mind Tricks gave the world gun powder, advanced modern explosives and semi-automatics. You see what I mean?

Recommended Songs: Untitled, Retaliation Remix

3. Jay-Z

No top rappers list is complete without my man. The only reason he ain’t higher is because, I rate a rapper more highly if they’re in the prime of their musical abilities. If this were an all-time list he’d be way way higher. 

Beginning with Reasonable Doubt is really the only place to start when it comes to Jay. The production, the skits, the way every sentence was so tightly wound together, the word selection and sentence construction. It’s remembered as an album of hits because of tracks like “Cant Knock The Hustle”, ”Feelin It” and “Brooklyn’s Finest” but Reasonable Doubt was really defined by “Dead Presidents”, “D’evils”, “Politics As Usual” and “Can I Live”. 

The first batch of songs gave the album some relatability, as far as depicting club vibes and nightlife glamour because that second batch of songs were all built on darker themes like betrayal, jealousy, greed, blind ambition and deception. That combination of themes as well as the production to match each one is why that album will always rank high among a certain listenership. 

With that being said, never make the mistake of thinking Jay or any man is perfect. There’s like a 3 album run where there’s moments of dope-ness but not a truly complete album. 

Still with that, songs like “Imaginary Player” and “Where I’m From” will rank among his best songs.

It’s only when you get to The Blueprint can you start to see Jay perfecting the art of crafting, whole, complete albums that bump from start to finish. The Blueprint was near perfection in this regard. “U Don’t Know”, “Heart Of The City” and “Momma Loves Me” will rank as his best efforts and yeah, I skipped a few.

The Black Album replicated the Blueprint’s listenability, while also dealing in topics that created an album that sounded very personal to Jay. 

All told, the best parts of his catalogue are so strong that there is no denying his place on my list.

Recommended Songs: Dead Presidents, I Love The Dough

2. Action Bronson

I cannot for the life of me fathom how this man doesn’t get the love but the real ones know. 

The mixtape download era (2010-2017 give or take), had many unlikely success stories. An overweight white guy, who grew up cooking in his parents deli/eatery, turned pro-chef then turned rapper, is beyond unlikely. Only the internet could allow this man to succeed and thank the hip-hop gods it did.

From 2012 to about 2018, Action was one of the only constants in my playlist. I still remember where I was the first time I heard “Brunch”. His catalogue starting with the Tommy Mas produced, Dr Lecter and boasting full collaborations albums along side Statik Selektah and the Alchemist, and of course the classic Blue Chips series. This man’s prime will be underrated. 

If you’re going to take one chapter of Bronson’s art and study it, it’s going to be Blue Chips 1 and 2. Both are thematically perfect without ever trying to be. Which is what allowed Party Supplies to make production choices that grabbed you from the jump. From the first time you hit play on the opening of Blue Chips 1, you’re hit with the sound of falling shards of glass and a violin sound that makes the opening song un-skippable. The songs themes are also a perfect introduction to the man himself. Debauchery, expensive taste, hedonism, revelry, unabashed pleasure-seeking, drug use and just enough self-depreciation that you felt you were along for the ride rather than just a fly on the wall, turning your nose in disgust. It was a perfect mixtape, at a time when mixtapes were at a crazy dumb high standard.

It’s not so much that a rapper made punchlines about food, that would be an over-simplification and really missing the trick. It’s that he made everything he said sound like the dopest thing ever and the most underrated trick about his music is that he made grown man rap without needing to be thuggin’. A rare feat. 

Bronson has since gone on to establish himself as a content creator/producer/food review guy but man, what he accomplished as a complete body of work is nothing short of astonishing.

Recommended Songs: Midget Cough, Bonzai

1. Headie One

So it’s late last year. I’m hanging with my boy Phil and Brown, we had just finished some content and Phil says “yo listen to this”. He proceeds to play Golden Boot and it hasn’t stopped bumping since. 

A UK rapper with a lyrical nous and wit that rivals even legends like Jay-Z, but rapping over trap and drill beats. What Headie One is doing is not the norm and I’m talking in terms of his lyrics, sentence construction, word selection, metaphors, he does it all and like all the greats, he makes it look easy. 

His collaboration with RV definitely helped mold him, with both the “Sticks and Stones” and “Drillers and Trappers” mixtapes giving you an idea of what Headie offers as a lyricist. He compliments RV’s brash, aggressive boasts with slightly less obvious but incredibly witty boasts of his own.

His discography though really starts to peak with 2018′s “The One”. That’s where Headie begins find a sweet spot between his lyrics, production and the themes of his songs. A mixtape like this can only exist via independent release because outside of the aforementioned “Golden Boot”, ain’t none of those songs getting any radio play especially in a country as “conservative” as England. Even in a genre saturated with gangsta/trap, “The One” stands out for what he accomplishes lyrically.

Headie would follow that by releasing “The One Two” in June of 2018 and he ascends even more in what he’s able to accomplish with the words.

 The track “Banter On Me” should be in an all-time list somewhere for being the wittiest track of all time. The song is literally just Headie finding new and innovative ways to boast, call out and bait his foes. Hip-hop/Rap has plenty of beef songs that weren’t really direct call outs to any known public figure but were still definitely taking shots at someone. 50 cent’s “Wanksta” and “Officer Down” are some examples of such songs I can think of. Those did not really have the kind of wit Headie displays here. The constant streams of alliterations, double meanings, puns, metaphors, inferences and innuendos is just astonishing. There’s a real mastery of language at play here. The song is a lesson in language, no textbooks. 

Headie has since released his debut album along with additional tracks for the delux version of the album. His debut studio release “Edna” does what studio releases are supposed to do. “Parle-Vouz Anglais” and “Aint It Different” will standout and are difinitely the most palatable songs as far as radio play. Those are the 2 songs I’d play for first time listeners. 

Recommended Songs: Hard To Believe, Dues, Zodiac

[swellwriting]

A NEW ORDER - Part 1

- Knowledge meets Power -

Warnings: None.

A/N: Okay so hear me out, this chapter is a lot I know, and it’s necessary to set up the story in future parts!! I promise we will meet Mando soon I just had to get the story building out of the way. Also, I know there’s sexual tension between The Senator and Luke, trust me it serves a purpose (conflicts later on and such). I’m not just trying to sexualize everyone’s favourite Space Twink for no reason lmao.

Summary: Leia & crew visits Chandrila, The Senator meets Luke, books are read, plans are made, Jedi training takes place, young Ben Solo is cute, The Senator leaves Chandrila to start her mission to go to the bounty guild in the Outer Rim.

Word Count: 3.8k   Series Masterlist    Part 2

The New Republic is thriving, and you could not be more proud. Working with the Rebellion to help bring down the Empire, saying goodbye to the Old Republic, issuing the peace treaty with the Galactic Empire which was now in non existence (aside from the parts of the galaxy that remained out of reach of the New Republic where loyal Imperialists fled to hide) and demilitarizing according to the act that was issued following the treaty. 

It was work that made you feel good, confident, the kind of politics you flourished in, knowing that you were on the right side, there were no Palpatine’s rising to power, no Empire in the shadows, just plain politics working just the way they should.

It would probably make you sound insane if you were to tell anyone you were growing bored with it, well maybe there was one sole person who could understand.

“Leia!” You exclaimed as your long-time friend walked into the room. You were in Hanna City in Chandirlla, in the empty building that was sometimes the capital building for the Republic, sat in a large meeting room at a long empty table. Though you were sat alone almost every seat had books in front of it.

“I think you read a little too much,” Leia teased as she sat in the seat beside you and picked up one of the books you had taken from the Republic’s large library of books recovered from the Old Republic.

“I don't think there’s such a thing, with a galaxy so large there’s so much to learn and if we ignore the past history is bound to repeat itself.”

“And what’s your interest in the pasts of the Jedi?” She asks flipping open one of the books which contains the Jedi code.

“I think perhaps it’s an outdated religion, but I could see a resurgence if perhaps more force-sensitive people were to come forward and be willing to work together to create a new and improved Jedi Order, separated from the Republic this time.”

“So not politics related? You must be bored.”

“That’s an excellent way to put it, I feel as if I have achieved everything I aimed to with the New Republic, helping to build it into what it is today and seeing the Empire fall from power. I want to move onto other things.”

“You sound exactly like Luke, I really need to introduce you two,” she teases, knowing you have asked her countless times, then she turns to leave the room.

“You should, I’d love to meet him and see what he’s like. My strength with the force is minuscule but given what he’s accomplished, I’m sure he could teach me a few things.”

“I’ll tell him to come to meet you,” she says, her back still facing you as she leaves the room.

“Leia wait, when? Also, what are you even doing here? The New Republic’s capital was moved to Hosnian prime, you know that? There’s nothing here for you?”

“That’s not true, you’re here and you are the only person high up in the New Republic who will listen to me about the rising threat of the First Order, though small I still don’t trust them ever since they left their wing of the New Republic, they have been lurking in the shadows since, probably growing in the sess pool of the Outer Rim.” Spoken like a true princess.

“True yes, and I understand your concern but there’s nothing I can do besides sending your informative report to those above me, again.”

“And will you, again?” She asks and she has this sly smile, you know you can’t say no to.

“Of course, I’ll send them the report until their datapads crash and their trash compactors are filled.”

“See, that’s why I came to Chandrila! I did live here at one point too if you haven’t forgotten, Ben was born here, we like to visit.” She teases you further, knowing you meant no judgment in your question. You’re walking beside her, down the barren hallways of the fancy building. Hallways that were once bustling with people but the ever-rotating capital stays true to its promise, it is not solely on one planet, travelling from different places in the systems.

“So when do you think you can introduce me to your brother? I'm not all that busy right now, there are no elections coming up, I can travel whenever, wherever.”

“Can you walk outside?” She quips and leaves you standing there confused as she leaves the building, you follow her after a moment, doubling up your steps to catch up with her until the sunshine and the bright purple skies fill your eyes.

You follow her to the familiar-looking Millenium Falcon that’s parked in the Senate houses hangar bay, the ramp is down and you can see Chewy with a four-year-old Ben Solo on his shoulders trying to fix or adjust something on the Falcon.

Han is sat in the grass with Luke standing in front of him talking about something in-depth that looks like it’s boring Han because his head shoots up when he sees the two of you approach.

“Senator!” Han exclaims standing up and dusting himself off.

“Solo!” You say with a cheesy smile as he wraps you in a hug getting some of the dirt he failed to wipe off on your long yellow and white dress.

“I'm Solo too!” Ben yells from the top of Chewy’s shoulders.

“And how is my favourite Solo doing today.” You ask as you look up at Ben.

“I'm great!” He yells with a bright smile from you calling him your favourite.

“Luke, this is our good friend, the one I was talking to you about before we got here.”

“Hi, I’m Luke.” He says with a smile as he walks up to you, offering his hand to shake. You can instantly see the resemblance between him and Leia but Luke smiles different, perhaps a bit more cheery than Leia usually is.

“Hello.” 

“You’re the one Leia mentioned, you can uh, feel the force right?”

“Yes, but as I was telling her it doesn't mean much I don’t have a lot of control over it.” You try to undermine yourself, not wanting to make a big deal of it, something you kept secret for so long was now less taboo and it was hard to get used to even talking about it without it feeling wrong or strange.

“But you want to learn?” He asks and his voice is gentle, he seems kind and he gains your trust too soon.

“I’d like to yes, but I’m afraid I’m rather new to this whole thing, it was something I really kept to myself as I focused on politics and the New Republic.”

“But now her focus is on rebuilding a better and new Jedi Order.” Leia cuts in revealing your plans before you even properly had made them. You open your mouth but close it as no words manage to come out, trying to explain yourself.

“Well I'm new to this too, the teaching aspect, but I can try my best,” Luke assures you with a smile, he is quite sweet.

“Then you can teach me!” Ben yells as he runs to his uncle’s feet.

“Someday sure buddy.” Luke pats Ben’s hair as he looks up at his uncle with total admiration.

You bring Luke inside the Chandrila Senate House and into the meeting room where you have laid out all the books. The ceilings are tall and the walls are smooth stone as daylight pours in through the windows. He follows you in silence. You are too star-struck to talk to him and he finds you far too intimidating to say a thing. Outside when surrounded by his family he felt at ease, you were but a newcomer to him, a stranger asking him for guidance but in here you were like a princess in your palace, quickly maneuvering down the halls, your long dress flowing behind you, posture perfect and steps calculated as if the entire planet was watching you. 

He wondered if that was you unconsciously using the force or if you really just seemed to flow through space like that as if the wind existed just to move your dress as you walked.

“This is a lot of books,” he says as he enters the room behind you and picks a few to look at them, “I have been looking for some of these for a long time, do you think I can borrow them after you’ve read them, or had a droid upload them?”

“Oh,” You say flatly by accident.

“Oh?” He asks.

“I've already read them all actually, that one there I’m reading a second time, the Jedi code, for I think it’s important when building new rules to take a look at the old ones and see what needs changing, so you can take all of them if you’d like.”

“You are writing new rules?” He asks as he flips through the pages of the Jedi Code.

“Yes, I tend to approach things such as this by learning as much as I can, I wrote everything important into my notebook, I can have a droid input it onto a datapad for you if you’d like a copy of that as well?”

“Sure, has Leia mentioned my plans to you?” He asks, confused why you seem to be organizing so many things together to help create a new system and new rules and teachings for a new age of Jedi all on your own.

“No, I just became bored with the New Republic, so this was like a side project I took on, it was meant to be a much smaller thing but I couldn’t help myself.”

“It’s brilliant, I mean, you put a lot of work into something that I’ve been thinking about doing for years. I want to create a new order of Jedi like there was before like my father was in but better.”

“That’s exactly what I was thinking! For what I lack in skill I make up for in knowledge if you need any help I’d be happy to lend a hand in any way I can.”

“Well I can teach you the ways of the force, strengthen your control over it, help you find a lightsabre of your own, and you can share some of that knowledge with me?”

“Perfect!” You exclaim as you take the book from his hands and put it down beside your notebook, taking a seat and offering him the seat beside you. He sits and moves close to you to see what your reading as your fingers trace up the page and over your delicately inked words. It was rare for someone to still use ink and paper when datapads were much more easily available and common.

“So here are a few rules I think need changing, to be more modern. I for one think The Jedi Order should be it’s own sperate entity from the New Republic while also working with them given they are the government in the galaxy, but separate to avoid and repetition... of last time.”

You explain and he nods as you flip the pages to a list of rules that you marked as outdated.

“What’s this rule you rewrote?” He asks and your face heats up as you know exactly which rule it is.

“Oh, yes that one. Well Jedi’s were all strictly ordered under celibacy in the past, and though I agree that not forming attachments is very important to the way of the Jedi I do think Celibacy is unimportant in that factor, as long as there are no attachments involved….” you prolong the last words as you look up from the paper to find he’s already looking at you. His cheeks are flushed pink and his eyes are a bit wide as he nods his head slowly.

“Yeah, I think… I agree with you. Yes,” he manages to get the words out and you can’t help but feel your face heat up at the whole conversation topic.

“Okay, good.” You agree as Luke stands up abruptly. 

“So tomorrow, I’ll meet you back here and we can start your training?”

“Okay, I’ll be here right in the morning after breakfast.”

“Good, um wear something a little less-” Luke tries to explain but can’t find the words as he looks you up and down, your lightly coloured dress that shows your collar bones and shoulders, it puddles at your feet and is tight on your waist, taking over his thoughts

“Less?” You ask, unsure what he means and he quickly stutters to correct himself.

“No, not less. I meant um, wear something less regal, more um, something fit for agility if you have anything… like that”

“Oh, of course,” You say as you both stand in the room awkwardly facing each other, faces hopelessly red, you can feel the nerves flowing between you through the force, neither of you addresses this as he quickly nods and then rushes out of the room.

You stand there for a moment, chest heaving as you catch your breath and calm yourself, thinking over and analyzing each word of the conversation and the dynamic which turned so awkward once you both were alone.

“I can feel the sexual energy in the room, so either you’re going to sleep with my brother or you enjoy reading these books a little too much,” Leia says as she enters the room loudly.

“No, kriff no, Leia I just, we were just. I'm not sexually attracted to books.” You blurt out.

“But you are to my brother.”

“What! No, I ...we were talking about rules and such.”

“That sounds like foreplay when it comes to you.”

“Leia!” You shout covering your face with your hands.

“Relax, I don’t mind, he needs a woman in his life.”

“I'm not trying to sleep with your brother or do anything besides help him bring a new Jedi Order in place and learn the ways of the force from him, nothing more.”

“Personally I think you need a little something more but if you’re fine being married to a library of books I won’t judge, regardless Ben is adamant that you need to have dinner with us, so could you part with your books long enough to eat something?” She asks and you nod, fanning your face briefly as you follow her out the door and to the nice house just outside the capital that they lived in when Ben was first born.

-

Being the Senator of Chandrila meant you never really left, it was convenient when the New Republic was based here but now you just travelled to Hosnian prime whenever they called you to a meeting or connected through holo tech.

You much preferred the quietness that lingered when the Capital of the city was so empty, your council and the few droids that kept the Senate House looking so pristine were the only people still here, aside from the residents.

In the following days, you trained with Luke and discussed the future of the Jedi. Before you knew it he was giving you a lightsabre of your own that used to belong to Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han said he got it from a friend who bought it off a scrapper after the Death Star was destroyed. You had read about Obi-Wan Kenobi and you were glad to have such a respected Jedi Master’s lightsabre, one that was almost lost forever.

It was the last night before your friends were going to leave Chandrila, you were confident in your skills and Luke had a good understanding of the route you two were going to take with this.

“So whats next?” You ask as you sit in the meeting room with Luke once again.

“There’s still a lot of planning to be done, we need to decide on a planet to home the school, a safe location.”

“Any places in mind?”

“Well, I have to do some travelling to find a place, there are also more books and things that I need to track down. But we mostly need students and that’s where I thought you could come in.”

“You want me to find the students?”

“For most of your life you were hiding the fact that you could feel the force, I think you know what it’s like and you are best suited for recruiting, plus your political side makes you hard to argue with. A lot of these people will be children, very young.” He pauses as he senses your nervousness at such a grand task, doubting yourself and your abilities. “I sense so much light within you, so much hope and kindness that I believe you are best to tackle this. If you want to that is.”

“No of course I do! I’d gladly take that job! I’ll take a break from my political duties with the New Republic and with the help of my pilot droid I’ll track down the future students!”

“I have a feeling, though I hope it’s not true, Han had suggested it and ever since I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“What is it?” You ask as you grab his arm, his tone turning more serious.

“You are a competent fighter and stronger with the force than I thought you would be. If I didn’t have faith that you could do this I wouldn't let you but I think the best way to track these children down is to follow rumours, the problem is that the remnants of the empire will also be following these rumours, tracking down these children, putting bounties on them. So you should go to the bounty guild, the one in the Outer Rim and see how many you can get information on. You may run into a bounty hunter or a few while tracking down these kids so be careful. Then when you find them bring them back here in secrecy, this is your planet I’m sure you can keep them safe here until I establish a place for the school.”

“Okay, I’ll follow any intel I can get and I’ll contact you on the holo transmitter I gave you.” You confirm, pointing the holo transmitter you gave him in his hands.

“Great, I’ll keep you updated too and once I find a planet suitable I’ll join you?”

“Okay,” you say and then smile at him, it felt good, this plan felt good. You had a surge of confidence fill your bones, he believed in you and that meant so much.

“So does this make me a Jedi now?” You tease as he gets up and goes to leave the room.

“I grant you the rank of Jedi Knight,” he jokes, though he is being serious the words feel funny on his tongue, being a teacher and a Jedi Master will be weird.

“Jedi Knight, Senator of Chandrila, member of the New Republic, I like all these fancy titles I have.”

“Well, they suit you,” he compliments as he looks over your appearance again, you still have on a fancy dress, it’s light blue and purple which resembles the sunsets on Chandrila, your light sabre is strapped to your thigh under your dress perfectly concealed if not for the high slit in your dress which makes it visible. His eyes trail up your long legs, admiring you before meeting your eyes and then nervously looking away before forcing out a cough. “I better go.”

“Talk to you soon,” you say as you had already said goodbye to your friends earlier. You watch as he walks away, haste in his step as he boards the falcon, picking up Ben who was stood on the ramp waving to you ecstatically. The Falcon doesn't fly away for a few minutes until it reopens again and Luke walks out, his droids close behind him.

You walk down the steps meeting him halfway, Luke runs up to you almost bumping into you.

“Take my droids with you, R2 can help with flying and computers and Threepio can help you with translating and keeping you company.”

“I am fluent in over six million forms of communications!” The tall golden robot says matter of factly.

“I will take good care of them,” you say with a wide smile before closing the space and wrapping your arms around Luke, encasing him in a grateful hug, “thank you.”

“It’s no problem, I wish I could give you more.” He says casually, you notice the holo transmitter is strapped to his belt, keeping it close to him. You were glad to be building this new Jedi Order with Luke, you couldn’t imagine trying to work with anyone else, he was a great teacher, a gentle soul, a bit foolish but strong with the force. 

It gave you hope, this mission should be a breeze! You watched the Falcon fly off and then went to your room to pack up some things and load your ship. You had a Star Yacht, which technically was one of the Chandrila Star Ships but you had total clearance to take yours used for travelling from Chandrila to Hosnian Prime anywhere in the galaxy as you saw fit, no one was going to question your flight plans anyways.

You had a pilot droid which was modelled after the one of a kind droid L3-37 which belonged to Lando Calrissian and got a bit of fame from freeing the slaves on Kessel. When you found the model which only resembled the original droid you had to have it, though none of the personality was shared you were still glad to have a one of kind pilot droid with a personality of her own. You considered hooking her up to the falcon to take what bits of L3 that were integrated when the original droid died, but decided L3 was better off as part of the Falcon, resurrecting droids wasn’t your strong suit anyway. Your droid, L8-39 was a calm droid, precise in her piloting and hated her nickname L8 because she was in fact, never late.

Your ship was just meant to be a travelling ship, a yacht in every sense of the word. There was a bedroom compartment not much less than your actual room in the Senate House, it had a small kitchenette, storage, lots of guest space, a lounge room and was built for comfort and elegance with its shiny chrome exterior.

Though it had a strong shield there were little to no offensive procedures in place, you packed your blaster, your lightsabre and some other handy things that remained after the demilitarization act and decided with your fancy ship, L8, Threepio and R2 you were more than capable.

- Part 2

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[gabriel4sam]

Rex, Duke Consort of Mandalore

Order 66 breaks the galaxy and everything Rex ever knew. Desperate, grieving Cody, Obi-Wan, his General, his brothers lost because of the chip, he takes Ahsoka and runs to the only place with a chance of standing against the Empire: Mandalore. Mandalore and its Duchesse.

Under the cut, a fic for the awesome @wrennette  

You really should read  her work with Rex, Cody, Obi-wan and Satine, because i’s a delight!

The Republic burned.

The Republic burned and Rex and Ahsoka ran from their men, who had gone in a few seconds from searching for Maul with them in the Outer Rim to trying to murder the former Padawan.

The Republic was no more.

The Jedi were no more.

Desperate, feeling himself responsible for the young Tortuga, even if she insisted it was the other way, Rex only thought of one way to turn.

Mandalore.

Mandalore….Why choose Mandalore?

Well, it was one of the only worlds he had visited that wasn't somehow on fire at the time. It was backed up by all the Neutral party subsisting. It was strong, it was very much not the type to open the door to a tyrant from another world.

And more important, it was the only world where he knew personally the leader.

As the long way to the planet passed, Rex asked himself numerous times if he was right. Would Satine even remember him? It had been almost one year ago and so much had come to pass in that time.

In his memory, she was a moment of pleasure, a harbour. Of course, there had been other pleasures. Since the moment Cody and Obi-Wan had become an item, he had been invited in their bunk regularly, and there had been other experiences. But that night, that single perfect night, Satine, Cody, Obi-Wan and him, was a clear memory, a warm coal against the shadows of war.

Perhaps it had been different for her. Perhaps Cody and he had just been a kinky game between Obi-Wan and herself, a naughty night with sex toys...

No, he didn't really believe it. He knew that what Cody and Obi-Wan had, that had been real, had been love.

That's why the idea that one of the two had probably killed the other hurt so deep. He had tried to com them once, before Ahsoka and he had to throw away their comms and there had been no answer. If Cody had killed Obi-Wan, his eyes empty, with that damn sentence on his lips like the brothers who had tried to kill Ahsoka.... good soldiers follow orders. What did that even mean?

Or if Obi-Wan had killed Cody in self-defence?

The Commander had always been just one step behind the Jedi, guarding his back, after all. And all over the galaxy, vode had killed the Jedi that had their back to them. Next to him, Ahsoka was sleeping, exhaustion having finally beaten her, after days where she had been almost delirious, Seeing and Feeling things Rex couldn’t guard her off.

He touched carefully the bandage on her shoulder. Blood stained it, but it was dry. He examined the stain. No, it didn’t seem it had started to bleed again. The memory came back, the noise his brother’s had made when Rex had put a blaster charge in his skull, to save Ashoka’s life.

He had been a shiny, without a proper name yet.

With a sigh, Rex put his head against the shuttle wall and regretted to have no religion. Now would have been a good time to pray. How did people find religion? Did they just pick one they liked? If so, he would choose one where the world make kriffin sense and the thrice damned Sith burned in the afterlife, and where brothers found each other again. And if that particular religion didn’t exist, he was half ready to create one!

They arrived on Mandalore in the middle of the night.

It was....ok, it was an administrative mess. People can't exactly arrive in orbit in a stolen shuttle and ask to speak with the planetary leader. But Rex spoke to someone who spoke to someone who spoke to someone and two hours after they were escorted by guards armed to the teeth to the palace.

“Aren't you pacifist now?” Rex asked, nearing the end of his patience, and eying the blaster of the leader of their escort, a petite woman who had not deigned to offer a name or to take his helmet down to salute them.

“We are no easy prey,” the woman answered and even with the helmet Rex could hear the teeth in her grin, an impressive trick.

He didn’t have to fear Satine’s reaction. She was as he remembered, she was more even, bigger than life, strong, decisive. That woman had fought all her life to make the galaxy a better place, her life a long line of tasks, each as momentous as possible, from the bettering of Mandalore to the Council of Neutral systems. She had made horrible mistakes, she had taken the wrong roads sometimes, but her heart always had been in the right place. Satine had never despaired, never renounced and she wouldn’t now, at the darkest hour. She bore that new mantle with her usual grace.

Mandalore opened his arms to all people fleeing from the Empire.

Mandalore opened his arms to the surviving Jedi.

Mandalore opened his arms to the vode with disfunctionning chips.

The clones trickled down slowly, grim-faced, and placed themselves under Rex’s command. Every day, the captain consulted the list of new arrivals. Cody and Obi-Wan were never on it.

The Jedi were even fewer. After a time, Ahsoka started to bunk with them. She was the only one of them who turned her back on the vode. Even if it hurt, Rex understood.

On the holonet for a few days, the images had been easy to find. Troopers suddenly turning against their Jedi, shooting them in the back. The desperate few parades the Jedi had the time to do, so surprised a first blaster shoot easily slipped past. And then so many others, even when the Jedi were down, the body twitching with it.

After a few days, the images disappeared. Someone smarter in the new Empire command had probably understood video of Jedi gunned down by thirty time their number, in the back, weren’t such good propaganda.

Satine offered two places on her Council, one for Rex, representing the vode deserting and running to Mandalore, and one for Master Knol Ven'nari, a Bothan female Jedi Master the few surviving Jedi had elected as their leader.

One day, a shiny who had been on the Negotiator manning communications, arrived in a stolen fighter. He had heard Rex’s message, relayed by Mandalore on every channel. He came with only his armour on his back and a tale of another Jedi, gunned down by his troops.

“I don’t think General Kenobi had the time to understand,” he said, as nicely as he could, when he saw the expression of Rex. Master Knol Ven'nari, seated next to Rex, growled low, what Rex had quickly learned was an expression of mourning in Bothan.

“Commander Cody made them use a very big calibre. No time to suffer with such a wound. And then the fall from the cliff… It went very quick.”

“And Cod- Commander Cody?”

“He was called to the Imperial Center. Apparently, Vader wanted him to lead his personal legion. Vader’s fist. They…hem, they were your men, sir. The 501th. But his transport was caught in one of the last pocket of resistance. I mean, one of the last, apart Mandalore. The transport exploded.”

Rex told it to Satine and Ahsoka himself. Satine thanked him very politely, and then asked him to leave. Ahsoka wailed in his arms for hours and he finally let himself cry too.

That night, he dreamed of them. They were in bed, the three of them, Obi-Wan between Cody and Rex, smiling, laughing. Rex was covering Obi-Wan’s bellies with hundreds of kisses. Then the laugh stopped and when Rex straightened up to look at him, there was blood everywhere, from Obi-Wan’s throat to Cody’s hands.

Every day, new refugees arrived.

“The Empire will come,” Bo-Katan whispered to her sister, when they were watching another long column exiting a ship and Satine nodded, her soul weighted by all her dead dreams.

“Oh, I know. The Empire will not let anything free. And offering refuge to those fleeing it will only put us higher on the list of targets.”

“This could be the end of Mandalore,” Bo-Katan remarked, as they observed Korkie working with Ahsoka and two young Mandalorians, handing out cups of warm soup. The first stopping place of the refuge were the medics, Mandalore really didn’t need some strange of outbreaks of little known virus right now, but nobody said they had to do it with empty bellies.

Satine took her sister gauntleted hand in her bare one.

“Then, I’m happy you’re here with me. If Mandalore must burn against the Empire, we’ll give it an end worthy of songs.”

Bo-Katan gripped her hand in return.

Mandalore was pacifist, officially, but Mandalore remembered the old ways. It didn’t need long to arm the planet to the teeth, probably less than would have made Satine comfortable. Soon, Mandalore was ready for a siege.

“It’s like even children had cache of weapons,” Satine remarked to Rex. They had listened all morning to her closest advisors preparing for what would probably be the first wave of the Empire attack and then she had asked Rex for her arm and took him for a stroll in the palace whose purpose he couldn’t understand.

“Your Highn-“he stopped himself. Pacifism had been her dreams and now she was probably the only Mandalorian not wearing plastoid. He didn’t know what words to offer.

She snorted.

“You should call me Satine. It would be strange not to, with our past,” She said and it was the first time they acknowledged what had happened, half an eternity ago. That one, perfect night, the four of them on the Coronet.

“If we are using our first name, can I convince you to wear armour? That would really make everyone in your immediate entourage happy.”

“No.”

“Pretty sure your sister would even smile.”

“She hasn’t in ten years.”

“Best reason to help her, then.”

“Still no.”

She touched his hand and he closed his mouth, already open for an answer.

“I didn’t ask you for a walk together for a discussion about my security. The stars known I have enough of that with Korkie and my sister. I have a mission for you. It will be a difficult one. That chip you told us about in your debrief….”

“Yes?”

“The medics need one of your brother. Alive, with the chip working.”

“To dechip him?”

She grimaced.

“Not like you think. The Empire is too big. We’ll lose. Nobody is saying it, but the minute they have finished to put out fire left and right, the full might of the GAR, ex-GAR I should say, will fall on Mandalore. It’s only a question of time. We’re strong, and armed, but we’re also the only one in the Neutral Systems. At the end, it won’t be enough. We will resist first, we’ll make it costly for them, but at the end…We need a way to destroy the chip still in the skulls of your brothers. The medics extracted some chips malfunctioning on the brothers who joined us at your call, and they designed a prototype, a sonic weapon. But we need a functioning chip to be sure. ”

Rex wanted to throw up. He let her arm go, took a few steps away from her. What had he been thinking, talking about that damn chip? All natural born were the same, even the ones speaking of friendship and equality of rights.

“Are you saying…. No. No, as much as I want the Empire down. I can’t help you design a weapon to kill all my brothers.”

He trembled, furious. He wanted to strike her. He thought of his brothers, enslaved and brainwashed, eyes empty, and Satine had probably never been in such danger, because he could have throttled her.

His anger probably was open on his face, still, she marched to him and put a hand on his cheek, despite his instinctive movement away.

“I want to save them,” she whispered fervently, “Yes, there is a risk, there is always a risk in medical experimentation, but I want a weapon that will make them free, not a weapon that will make their heads explode. I want to see the chips die in their heads and your brother picking up their weapons and turning on the Empire. We can’t rescue them and de-chip them one at a time. There are too many of them. I want to make them free, legion by legion, hundred by hundred…I want to rescue every single one of the victims of the Sith. Help me, Rex. For all those we can’t help anymore. I want to see Palpatine burn, the stars forgive me, burn, him and his shadow enforcer with that red saber. I want to see Palpatine down and spit on his corpse and then, Obi-Wan and Cody’s souls will have peace.”

She was beautiful like that, the fire of her soul in the open, calling for the blood of those who had destroyed the world and their lost ones. Rex felt the world titling on his axis. Adrenaline was still burning in his blood and he reacted before thinking and took her mouth in a brutal kiss, that wonderful, extraordinary woman.

It was like a spark falling on gasoline.

One instant, they were standing in a hall of the palace, the other Satine had opened the closest door, locked them in a small room, still kissing.

They had endured high level of stress those last days, those last months, something had to give and they came together violently.

Satine couldn’t touch him, too much armour in the way, but she kissed him hard, with an edge of desperation, opened his codpiece herself. He rucked up her skirt until he could touch skin, then swore remembering his gauntlets and took them down, almost trembling. He was hard, as he hadn’t been for months, too stressed, too exhausted, and now his dick was curving towards his belly and so hard it almost hurt.

There were pearls of sweat in the hollow of her throat and he swiped his tongue to taste them, then bit down once, probably harder than was protocol with a lover still so unknown.

Satine ran her nails on his neck in answer and they bit each other in another hungry kiss. He was tearing her underwear off her before really thinking and she hoped on a table.

They fucked like that, Satine still dressed to the last button of her dress, Rex with only his codpiece opened, and he saw her grimace when he entered her. He stopped, suddenly remembering he had saw Obi-Wan use his mouth first on her their only time together, and cursing his inexperience. That night, more than one year ago, had been his only experience with a human woman, and he wasn’t sure two nights with a Rhodian female once qualified.

“Don’t stop!” She protested, urging her from her legs around him.

In her eyes, darker than usual, he saw the same despair of something, of a moment without weigh on their shoulders. He kissed her again, deep and hard. That, he knew how to do. He kissed her again and again as he started to move and he fucked her on that table, Satine nails hard on his neck, her voice encouraging. It was less about pleasure and more about need. He came too fast, muffling his groans against her lips and observed with keen eyes when she made herself come with her fingers, swearing silently to himself to remember the way she did it.

It startled him to realize he hoped for another time. He remembered Cody had used his mouth on her, too, when Rex had been busy with Obi-Wan. He wanted to try that, another day, if he lived to ask.

Ten hours after, he left Mandalore with nine brothers, all volunteers. Ahsoka had wanted to come with them, but he had refused.

“If we have to kill some vode to kidnap another, we want to do it ourselves.” The former Commander had protested and he had hugged her hard, until she had relented and hugged back, as hard.

“Take care of the vode here and the Jedi, ok? They need someone helping them connect again. We’re gonna need to be united.”

“They know it’s not your fault,” Ahsoka answered him. “You know the Jedi know. It’s just…”

“It’s difficult and perfectly understandable. But they still need to be battle ready. War is coming for us. We’ll deal with trauma later, if there is a later.”

He hugged her a second time.

“And take care of the Duchess, too,” he added, not watching her face as he entered the shuttle.

If he had looked at Ahoska, he wasn’t sure he would have the strength to leave. For how much he liked them, he didn’t really know any of the brothers that had joined them. He didn’t even really know Satine. He only had Ahoska and she only had him. He hoped she could herself connect with the other surviving Jedi, if he didn’t came back.

For the end of their lives, the ten brothers of the strike team would refuse to speak about this mission, ever. No debriefing, no questions, no tender asking would ever make them tell the tale of that particular part of their lives.

Whatever had happened, it ended like that: a fortnight after leaving, they came back, all alive if a little burned in some case. Rex dropped off three sedated brothers from the 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps into the waiting arms of Satine’s medics.

The Duchess had come to the medical compound at the news of their arrival. She saw his face and wisely didn’t ask questions, only took him back to her apartment. This time, they got as far as finding some softer surfaces before her underwear lost its fight against Rex’s fingers. He knelt on the carpet and did his best with his mouth, but was sure that one or twice, that had been too much for her, his fingers and mouth too insistent. He took her against the arm rest of a sofa, still half in armour, Satine cursing in a language he had never heard of her, asking for more.

After, he cried, without a word, the horrors of this particular mission pouring in his tears, and Satine never asked, just stayed there, with him, and for that, in that second, he adored her, for her compassion, her strength, for more than the memories of a late night during the war.

For Satine, not for the memories of Cody and Obi-Wan who tied them together.

She didn’t let him go to the barracks that night and he slept in her bed, a bed even bigger that the one she had on the Coronet, round and with a high head of wood forming the Kryze sigil. He didn’t even know bed so comfortable existed.

The sleep was good, deep, the morning not so much, when he saw the bruises on her hips, her thighs, and realized he had done that, fucked her with his armour still on and bruised her.

“This is nothing,” she insisted after his babbling, horrified excuses. On her fair skin, the bruises seemed as black as the empty void between the stars. The inner thighs were particularly marked and he remembered how hard he had taken her, searching in her body some absolution.

“No, no, Duchesse, Satine, this isn’t… I hurt you!”

“I remember asking for more, for harder, didn’t I?”

He rolled over on the bed, got out of it, still naked, searching for his clothes.

“I won’t be the way you use to punish yourself,” he spat, but her hand hold him back.

“I have some bacta cream in the bathroom,” she said and he recognized it as some sort of peace offering.

He hesitated for a second, searching her gaze, then abandoned his black on the floor. He followed her into the bathroom, examining the bath, more a pool than anything, the walls of precious mosaic. She saw his expression.

“Too pompous?”

“Perhaps a little strange, after the barracks.”

He put the cream on her himself. Every bruise he covered in cream and then bandaged, to stop the cream from soiling her clothes, was an apology.

“Would you still want me in your bed, if I don’t keep my armour?” He asked after, because they had never talked, just fucked violently, and he wasn’t sure if she wanted pleasure, some sort of memories of Obi-Wan by proxy, or simply human contacts. He didn’t even know what he wanted, apart from a moment of reprise.

She touched his cheek and, feeling bold, he kissed her palm. She didn’t answer his question directly, instead she asked another question:

“I have a dinner with some Separatist Senators tonight. There are some parts of the Separtist Space that the Empire haven’t seized yet, they could be good allies. I would be happy if you came with me.”

“Am I some sort of message for them?” He hated politics. Cody had been so much better at it. Once again, the intensity of the loss closed his throat.

On tiptoe, she kissed him and he answered. It was slow, hesitant, and very different from the other kisses they had shared the two times they had come together. They were still totally naked, save for her bandages, and he grew hard, and broke the kiss because he really wasn’t in the mood for the demands of his libido.

“Can’t it be both? I don’t have the luxuries of making decisions only for myself. Everything I do engage Mandalore too. Can’t I want you by my side because I appreciate your company, and also because having the representative of the clones at my side will help?”

He had a small laugh and he asked another question, instead of answering:

“I made the medics swore they wouldn’t test the sonic weapon on my brothers without me. Will you come with me?” And it was perhaps cruel of him to ask it, because she would possibly assist to the death of the three vode, but he wanted, he needed someone to bear that weight with him, and Ahsoka had enough problems trying to find a place in the small Jedi settlement, after leaving the Order.

Satine nodded.

“Then I will come to your Separatist party with you.”

 Rex didn’t know Master Knol Ven'nari. He had never heard of her when the Bothan had arrived on Mandalore, coming in answer to the Duchess’s message on the Holonet. In fact, he had never meet any Bothan before. The races were numerous in the Republic, but less in the GAR, and the few Bothans had worked in counterintelligence service, a part of the army Rex preferred to have as less contact as possible: they were even worse than the politicians.

Ahsoka had come to Rex, when the small Jedi contingent had elected Master Knol Ven'nari as their leader and briefed him, something he appreciated, even if the Jedi would probably have think less nicely about it  with the tension between their two groups.

“She’s quite a legend,” Ahsoka had said, “She came rarely to the Temple, never took a Padawan, but every Initiate knew of her work in the Outer Rims. She’s the Fire Eater, you know.”

“Tell me it doesn’t mean what I think it mean,” Rex had grumbled, “It’s already complicated enough to keep up with Jedi who don’t play with fire!”

Ahsoka’s face had become chagrined.

“I’m not sure she want to work with the vode, you know. She is one of the survivors because she wasn’t with the troops when Order 66 was enacted.”

Rex had nodded, grim. He was sure the surviving Jedi and the few free vode needed to work together, in coordination with Mandalorians, but he couldn’t exactly force the Jedi’s hands. He could even understand their reluctance. Rex’s vode had still a chance to be rescued. For the Jedi…. Perhaps they could still rescue a few others, but at the end….

At the end, the Jedi had been the victims of the genocide and even with brainwashing, it was difficult for the Force Users to see the vode, the same face who had shoot their brethren in the back.

Master Ven'nari and Rex had ignored each other pointedly until the day after he had come back from kidnapping vode for the study of the chips. When he left Satine’s wing of the palace that morning, he had a message in his comm’, inviting him for breakfast, in a small cantina near the Jedi’s barracks.

A neutral ground, smart.

He send a message to the clones’s barracks, because he had imposed a rule that every clone on Mandalore should check up every fourteen hours and he respected the rules he issued for his men.

Master Ven'nari was already there. A second of hesitation. Was he supposed to salute or would it be worse? He was in armour, he couldn’t exactly hope she would miraculously forget who he was. On a side node, he really needed to find clothes that weren’t armour, uniform, or his blacks.

When she turned to him, he bowed, as a Jedi did to another and he saw a nuance of surprise in her eyes. She bowed to him in return and there was a strange moment where they pretended to be busy with the selection of pastries but were in fact studying each other. He had seen her on Satine’s Council, even if always on the other side of the room. She was shorter than him, with a nice chestnut fur and a deep, throaty voice and this close, he was surprised by her scent, animal and musky.

They seated down, her with some sort of infusion and amethyst eggs, whatever that was, and Rex with caff and the only thing he recognized in the food list: spicy sausages.

He hoped he wouldn’t make a fool of himself and the Duchesse at that Separatist party. They probably wouldn’t serve spicy sausages.

On the other side of the small table, the Jedi Master was observing him with piercing brown eyes. Strangely, it made him think of Obi-Wan. Jedi mannerisms transcended species.

It was the Jedi who fired the first volley.

“Captain Rex. Young Ahsoka has told all of us numerous things about you.”

“Did she, Master Ven'nari? Don’t forget that she’s very young. It would be unfair of the Jedi to reproach her our friendship, when it had only become so strong because she was exiled from your Order.”

She smirked, like she could appreciate the hit.

“Nevertheless,” the Bothan started again, “Ahsoka has now found back her people.”

“And no one is more happy for her than myself,” Rex affirmed, even if a possessive part of him protested that the Jedi had let her go and were not worthy to have her back.

“Are you? Or do you fear we will hurt her again?”

The question surprised him. He observed the Jedi Master who endured the close inspection with grace.

“Commander Tano is a good being,” he said finally, “and not only because she always fought valiantly at our side. She’s a good person, compassionate, smart, and caring. I deeply respect her. I killed brothers for her and will do it again if circumstances don’t give me a choice. If you ask me to walk away from her, I will respectfully tell you to fuck off, Master Jedi. Not because I think she can’t be happy with Jedi, but because I wouldn’t trust with…I wouldn’t trust with one of my vode a person trying to separate her from people who love her and want to protect her.”

He hadn’t planned to tell all of that. He had probably shattered every possibilities of Jedi and vode working together. He was so, so bad at it, Cody, Cody should have been there, he would have known…

A chuckle interrupted his self-recriminations. The chuckle slowly became a booming laugh and Master Knol Ven'nari soon was laughing so hard she hold on to the table, to Rex’s infinite surprise.

When she was calmer, she gave him a smile, and oh Stars, the Bothans had really, really sharp teeth.

“Captain, I think we’ll be fine. I ask that clones continue to respect the Jedi barracks as a no go-zone, and we’ll give you the same curtesy. Nevertheless, the Mandalorian troops have offered us the possibility to train with them, to prepare for the invasion who will come. And we’ll be happy if the …you say the vode, right, if the vode came too.”

“Gener-, eh, Sir, we’ll come.”

“Good. And now, you should try my eggs.”

“Sir?”

“Please, just call me Master, or Ven’nari. Kerch Kushi will be in your little Separatist Party. In fact, he’s the leader and his voice is deeply respected. It is really important you impress him. His specie only eat this particular food. Bloody inefficient, if you ask me; a shortage would kill of them, what was evolution thinking? They have a saying that other sentients eating amethyst eggs are people who can be trusted.”

“How do you know about the party?”

“Even if the Jedi Order demonstrated a terrible blindness those last years in mistaking the Sith for a simple power hungry politician, intelligence gathering had always been one of my specie forte and was, sometimes, one of the things I did for the Order. You’re quite the gossip right now. People know you’re invited by the Duchess herself. And that you left her apartment in the morning.”

Rex eyed her plate. He understood it was a peace banner she offered him, in helping him prepare for the Separatist meeting.

And it was terribly important, too: big chunks of Separatist space were still independent from the Empire: if they joined Mandalore and the Council of Neutral systems, their chances against the Empire would be better.

The eggs still looked horrible. Purple and…moving. Food shouldn’t be moving, in Rex’s opinion.

“Is there a polite way to eat that stuff?” He asked. He wouldn’t be defeated by food. Peace was worth the food poisoning.

She gave him her cutlery and coached him until he ate the repulsive thing in a way that would impress the Separatist leader. He was grateful, but still thought she could have refrained from stealing his spicy sausages.

After, a fragile truce between the Jedi leader and himself in place, he went to visit his poor vode in the lab. The three of them were still only repeating their numbers like a mantra and refused to give their names. Rex wasn’t sure if that was because they thought they were prisoners of war, or because they didn’t remember they had once chosen names for themselves.

They were calm, if they didn’t see Jedi or free vode. Then, they went berserks, yelling traitors and trying to escape the cells to harm them.

“Sir, you should leave,” one of the scientists finally insisted, “You’re only making them furious and we prefer to not sedate them.”

“Remember that-”

“We won’t test the weapon without you. We’ll message you, but it isn’t ready right now. The Duchess insisted we do another round of simulations before we test it on the subjects.”

“You should say, on humans,” Rex growled and the other man, a head taller than Rex, took a step back.

The Captain wasn’t in the mood to feel guilty about that.

He spend his day in the clone barracks, reading everything he could about the Separatists he would meet soon. Preparation. Preparation couldn’t give him a head for politics, but it could help, certainly. Also, when he was working, his mind busy, he didn’t think too much about the three prisoners vode calling him traitor, about Obi-Wan’s body probably still in that natural pool on the bottom of that cliff, about Cody’s death, about General Skywalker’s fate he still ignored, about his own men under Vader’s command, or the probable failure of their resistance effort.

After, he cleaned his blaster and his armour, even if he couldn’t go with them to the dinner. He examined his helmet, the Jaig eyes, then went to find his brothers.

“Does one of you has paint?”

When he left for the party, his armour was drying. He had kept the blue marks. It was what had formed him and he didn’t pretend it wasn’t him, but he had highlighted every blue part in gold, for revenge.

He thought he would find the Separatist senators making small talks with the Councillors of Satine, with everybody seeming talking about some simple stuff and in fact having three other meanings in the sentence that he would be the only one not understanding.

Instead, he found them in half circle around a hover chair. Standing next to the chair, Satine’s face was red, frowning, her mouth unhappy. She seemed ready to bite and he was sure she had been yelling at people when he had entered the room. Next to her, her sister had the same expression.

As one, the fifty person in the romm turned into his direction when he entered.

“Eehrr… Is this a bad time?” Rex asked, feeling like a small animal in a speeder’s headlights.

“Captain,” Satine said, reaching out with her hand, advancing a few steps in his direction and he came to her naturally, as if he had been taking his orders from her for a long time. He kissed her hand, as he had seen people do and to his surprise, she put her other hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort and familiarity she only had with Korkie and Bo-Katan in public.

“Captain, Voe Atell, of the Separatist Senate, brought here tonight what she called a gift for you, in a demonstration of peaceful intentions. We were having…”

Satine searched for words, something Rex had never seen her do before.

“We were having a discussion about the simple fact that she was in position to make you this gesture and the ethics of her choices.”

In the Duchess’ voice, there was steel, hard, unforgiving and furious. That was a woman who would go to war, a Mandalorian in everything, wearing silk or not. Rex had never found her more attractive but he was beginning to feel suspicious.

Next to the hover chair a green-skinned, horned woman was cringing and Bo-Katan came just behind her, as if she wanted to be sure the other wouldn’t run.

“Come, Captain,” Satine encouraged and she led him by his hand to the hover chair.

“He was a prisoner of Wat Tambor, who disappeared in the Fall of the Republic, and he was then – ”

Satine was still speaking but Rex didn’t understand a word anymore, the sound of blood rushing to his ears covering everything.

Emaciated, bald, covered in cybernetic implants, his eyes haunted, a vod was in the chair. He had a pale smile when he saw Rex’s expression.

“CT-1409 reporting for duty, Captain” he said, his voice a pale drizzle.

“Echo,” Rex whispered and in the silence of the room, it sounded almost like a sob.

 The Empire attacked. It was only a question of when, after all, not of if. Grim faced around the holoprojector, the Duchess’s Council watched the first image of Taris under attack. The first reports arrived only one hour ago and it wasn’t looking good.

“It’s only the beginning. They will pick one by one every member of the Neutral Systems and then end their quest with us,” Satine said, her mouth a rigid line. She was wearing grey that day, from her shoes to the strange thing on her head that was either an avant-gardist tiara or a hand grenade and the only spot of colour was the red paint of her lips. To Rex’s eyes, it looked like blood.

“It’s a good way to break our alliance,” one of the advisers, whose name Rex had already forgotten, answered, “We don’t have enough troops to protect at the same time Mandalore and the 1,500 star systems of the Neutral Systems.”

“We still have to try,” Master Ven’nari intervened, “the former Separatist will never join an Alliance which doesn’t defend his members. The Jedi are ready, your Higness.”

Satine had a pale smile.

“We thank you for that, Master Jedi, but my sister will only lead Mandalorians troops in this for now.”

As everybody began to protest, she raised a hand.

“The courage of the Jedi and the vode isn’t in question. But we still don’t have a functional weapon against the chip. Exposing Jedi to chipped soldiers of the former GAR would be particularly dangerous for the Jedi, who would have to kill to survive, instead of the prisoners than the Mandalorians could perhaps make. And for your men, Captain Rex, it would be cruel to send them to affront their brothers right now, when perhaps in a few days, we’ll have a way to free their minds.”

It was very strange for Rex to stand on a balcony and see others march into battle. As he stand with the rest of the Duchesse’s Council and watched the first Mandalorian troops embark, he felt like reality was distorting itself even more. Then, to add to the strangeness of the day, he was cornered by Ursa Wren, the new Minister of Finance. She was a short woman with black hair and skin the colour of freshly polished brass and she wore armour, like every Mandalorian in the Council apart Satine.

“Sir?” He asked, because the day was strange enough without ex-Death Watch people leading him into dark corners. He understood Satine’s decisions to bring all Mandalore together in those dark times but groups who had tried to murder the Duchess before made him want to reach for his blaster.

“I’m new in this posting, as you knew, Captain.”

“…Congratulations?” Rex offered because he didn’t know what else to say. What did he knew about Finance, frankly?

“And your brothers and you will be one of my first projects. Perhaps not the most urgent tactically speaking, but it should have been done the moment you arrived to ally yourself with Mandalore,” she continued, as if he hadn’t spoken.

“Sir?” Rex was beginning to feel himself ill at ease.

“I understand you’re a busy man, but I suppose you have a second.”

“Not exactly, Sir, we haven’t reformed a new command structure yet.”

“You should do it, then, and send me someone who can speak for all of you.”

“Sir with all respect, but for what exactly?”

“To negotiate your pay.”

“Our – what?”

“There will be back interest, of course, for the money you should have received from the moment you came to Mandalore.”

“But, I…Sir. M’dam. The vode aren’t in the habit-“

“Of getting paid?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“We aren’t the Republic, Captain. You’ll led your brothers to fight for Mandalore against the Empire?”

“Yes, sir, of course.”

“Then you’ll be paid, as every soldier should. Send me you second, Captain, my services are already working on opening all of you bank accounts.”

And she left him there, perhaps without realizing the shock she had given to his system.

Rex sat down on a nearby bench. From there, he could see the ships readying for depart, without him and his brothers because it had been deem cruel to pitch them against their chipped brothers when they had another solution for now. And now they were getting paid.

After a time, he stood up and went in search of Ahsoka. He needed a friend in that moment.

His comm’ biped a location in answer of his question and he went to the medical wing.

Ahsoka was sitting on Echo’s bedside. The clone had refused the bacta tank he needed, because it felt too much like getting stashed again like a tool in a drawer, so the medics were doing it the old ways. Longer, but more easy to handle for Echo. He was snoring like a motor and Ahsoka working on a datapad when Rex entered the room.

He sat next to her and they stayed a moment in silence, comfortable with each other, observing the sleeping man. After a time, she hold out to him her datapad.

“Still no news about Skyguy,” she said and Rex put his arm around her shoulders, quickly scrolling the list of newly confirmed Jedi’s deaths. Most of them he didn’t recognize, but as always, it was long. Most of them listed a death in the first hours of Order 66 but some of them were more recent. Some Jedi were still alive, lost in the galaxy, and he hoped a few of them found their ways to Mandalore. Every hour, Mandalore still broadcasted, in every way possible, its message to offer a safe place for Jedi, or for everyone else fleeing the Empire.

“Skywalker’s too stubborn to die like that. You’ll see, one day a ship leaking fuel and flying with too much missing parts to be capable of it in theory will arrive on Mandalore, and he’ll be in it, to join our merry band of rebels,” Rex affirmed. He couldn’t believe General Skywalker was dead, he couldn’t. Not when they had already lost so much people. The spies of Mandalore had reported than Vader, that mysterious Sith helmeted in black and murder, had the mission to track and kill the surviving Jedi but Rex knew his General. Anakin Skywalker wouldn’t let a Sith defeat him. His Jedi General was probably busy rescuing other Jedi all across the Empire and would soon lead them on Mandalore. If only he contacted them, Rex and Ahsoka could go help him.

They stayed together a long moment, exchanging the latest news. When Ahsoka found so natural that the clones were paid, he realized how deep the usual dehumanizing the clones had suffered on the hands of the Kaminoan and then most of the Republic had ran. Yes, they were getting paid. It was normal. They always should have been payed.

After, he went back to the clones’ barrack. He was the highest ranking officer free of his chip and had naturally assumed command but if they were starting anew, was it right for him to give orders like that? There wasn’t a room big enough in the barracks for the three hundred and twenty nine clones on Mandalore right now, so they gathered outside on a shuttle platform.

Rex had searched on his datapad for voting procedures and he felt giddy. Whatever would happen after, they would have that. Their leader elected. Their choices. He insisted in his speech that no clone was forced to stay in the fight. They weren’t slaves anymore.

“Yeah, but if Mandalore lose against the Empire, we’ll be decommissioned as malfunctioning. I’m fighting. Vive the Duchess! Death to the Emperor” One of his brothers remarked and soon, they were all yelling “Vive the Duchess!!”

Rex was elected as their Captain and Sinker, a former Sergeant of the 104th, was elected as his second. After another long discussion all clones put the Kryze’s sigil on their armour, most of them on their shoulders. Some were only wearing that spot on colours on white amour, other had kept also their former colours, some, like Rex, had kept their former colours and added new as a message. But it felt important to add the Kryze’s sigil.

Vive the Duchess.

The planetary leader they choose to follow, instead of the one enslaving their brothers.

Vive the Duchess.

Rex decided he would show it to her. Satine wasn’t exactly the armour biggest fan but he was sure she would happy to hear about their elections, even if it was probably an amateur one. They hadn’t been alone since that last morning after their night together and he felt perhaps a little daring when he entered the private wing but he wanted to share that joy.

On the third hallway, he found an old trap door opened on the floor and wet traces leaving the service tunnel under the palace. Rex followed the wet traces on the floor. Whatever it was, it shouldn’t be there. And if someone had penetrated that part of the palace, it could only mean one thing.

He started to run, as if a murderous Grievious was behind him. At the same time, he activated his comm.

“Attack on the Duchess. I repeat, attack on the Duchess.”

He found two bodies on the threshold of the apartment, wearing Mandalorian armour in Kryze colours. Satine’s bodyguards. He didn’t even stop to check if they were alive, barrelled into her private rooms. He almost tripped over a body, big reptilian being, covered in blood, probably hurt by the bodyguards, and rushed to the bedroom, from where he could hear the sound of a fight. Satine had succeed in disarming her opponent, a thin human or near human in Mandalorian armour, and the attacker had improvised in putting his hands around her neck.

Rex didn’t dare shoot him so close to the shoulder and he simply charged into the fray.

Rex’s shoulder caught the attacker under the arm and the Captain threw him over his shoulder. The other was fast, trained, and understood Rex would shoot him at the first occasion, so he stayed too close for that. They fought violently, trashing the room. The unknown assailant was good and Rex recognized some of his movements, but the build was too thin for a brother, and he was too small. Rex finally succeed in pining him under him, using his superior build, and he took his helmet down.

“Let me see your fa-“

A surprised yelp escaped him when the face was free. It was his own. Or well, it had been, a few years ago.

“A cadet!” He swore.

“My name is Boba Fett,” the young man yelled, apparently outraged to be mistaken for a common clone.

In his surprise, Rex had loosened up his grip and the younger man used it. He freed himself, stabbed Rex in the joint of the armour on the hip, and started his jetpack, breaking the window and escaping. Swearing, Rex put his hand on the knife protruding between two parts of the armour, when a bip alerted him.

Boba Fett had left a bomb as parting gift.

Satine was already up, her clothes in disarray, blood on her temple. She was the one who guided him. He was still too shocked by Boba’s presence to make the good choice: he would have tried the window and it was way too high.

The moment they were piled up in the bath tub, the bomb exploded. The blast still was a shock but the bath tub was strong enough. It cracked but succeed in protecting them. When Rex lifted his head, the apartments were a ruin and a fire was starting in the bedroom but they were, more or less, intact.

He turned to the woman who had just saved his life, just after he saved her. She was breathing really fast and she was really close, her grip strong on Rex’s hand.

Another inch and Rex kissed her. No like he had done the other times. Not in passion that famous night with Satine, Cody and Obi-Wan. Not in the crazy lust and violence he had shared with her since the fall of the Republic. It was hesitant, a search of comfort. Their mouths slipped against each other, came back, tried again. Satine made a noise than Rex couldn’t have identified for all the blasters in the world against his head. She pushed herself up, threw a leg over his for a better angle. A second of hesitation, then she took his lower lip between hers and tipped his head up with a hand under his chin. He opened his mouth and felt a shock when their tongues touched and just at that instant, a whole squad of Mandalorian armed to the teeth flew into the ruined rooms.  

Later, after Rex was bandaged and Korkie had hugged him just after hugging his aunt, to Rex’s intense surprise, the Duchess was installed in Bo-Katan’s rooms, since the other Kryze’s sister was away leading troops against the Empire.

Rex had difficulties leaving. What if another bounty hunter succeeded? The Empire offered a small fortune for either of the Kryze’s sisters, the faces of the Council of Neutral Systems politics an army. The Captain had chewed out the head of the palace security team, even if it wasn’t his place to do it. The words “better response time when I was two years old” had been yelled.

He was sitting on a couch and composing in his head a message to Sinker to bring two brothers as new bodyguards for the Duchess when the door of the bathroom opened. Satine’s face was bear of make-up, she was only wearing a dressing gown. Bare of any regalia, she had never seemed more human, accessible, but the way she stood still commanded respect, even with the spot of bacta on the side of her head.

“Your Highness”, Rex stood up.

“I really think you should call me Satine when we are alone. Not only you shared my bed, you saved my life,” she gently chided.

“Satine,” he corrected. He lifted a hand in an impulsive moment and before he could stop himself, he touched the side of her head, gently turning it to inspect the bacta bandage.

She pushed her head into his hand and he cupped her neck, marvelling at the golden hair, so soft and silken. Kissing her seemed natural after that. Her lips were soft, fresh. It was slow, very chaste for a long time. She curled her arms around him, bringing him closer. She smelled like soap and she was warm, and alive, alive in a world where almost everybody he knew was dead or missing. In that moment, he didn’t care that their liaison was probably ill-advised and perhaps a way to cling to their dead, in memory of Obi-Wan, Cody and that night more than a year ago.

In that moment, only Satine counted.

They never went to Bo-Katan’s bedroom, because that would have felt like a violation. But, even more practical than her sister, Bo-Katan was royalty, and her couch would have been enough for a squad of clones to sleep comfortably, big enough for the two of them.

They needed that, after that close escape. Something soft like the skin of Satine’s legs, which Rex explored. The two last times had been hard and fast, still dressed for her, still in armour for him. Now, he discovered those legs that seemed without end, miles and miles of pale skin that he kissed and explored, as gentle as he ever had been. And the breasts! How sensitive they were. They were fascinating and Satine made the most delicious noises when he played with them. She was patient, letting him discover, caressing his shoulders, his back. Around them, the palace slept and they could have believed they were the only ones awake on Mandalore. Then finally, he found the wet secret of her sex between her legs. Here too he took his time. The female human body was still an ongoing mystery for him. Three times with Satine, especially with how this three times had gone, a pleasant orgy the first time and violent sex the other two, three times like that didn’t teach a lot of things. The last time, he had taken better attentions to her body, but he was still an apprentice, and ready to learn more.

Curious, he rubbed her wet folds, cataloguing her reactions, a choked moan.

“Am I being a tease?” He asked, rubbing her thighs from his other hand and parting her folds with his fingers.

“A little, but I don’t care,” she whispered.

His fingers explored. The lips of her sex, that little nub that made her mewl every time, the opening of her vagina. Curious, he leaned down and licked. The taste was strange, new, but not strange enough to stop him and he licked that little nub. Satine was panting, her hands crisped on his shoulders.

“I don’t know if I will be good enough to make you come like that,” Rex confessed.

“That’s ok,” Satine said, “take your time. Practice make it perfect.”

“Are all human women bare here? It seems strange since male have some pilosity.”

“No, we have too. And I have, most of the time. I just needed to try something new.”

Rex leaned down again and this time he tried to push a finger into her. He caressed, he licked, he let her nails mark his skin. She never directed him, let him explore her body to his heart content until finally, he found a combination of acts that pushed into orgasm. He wouldn’t have been prouder if he had defeated the Empire all by himself.

She needed a moment to calm, then she pushed him firmly until he was seated against the back of the couch and crawled on his lap. The sensation of his cock filling her up, so wet, so tight, so warm, had Rex bitting his lips to stop himself from coming too soon. She rode him leisurely, slowly, easily, with so many kisses and caress.

He pressed kisses on every part of her skin he could and he vowed, once again, to kill every menace to that woman.

 They tested the sonic weapon on a misty morning. Ashoka had offered to come as moral support but Rex had politely declined. If it had been him, eyes empty and a puppet, he would have wanted the less people possible seeing him like that. He even tried to stop Satine from coming, despite the promise he had extracted of her before to witness the experiment on the three clones prisoners.

Trying to make a Mandalorian change their mind…. Meteors had been known to be more ready to change their course!

Just Satine, Echo and Rex himself, and the scientists themselves, of course, and it was already too many people seeing his brothers like that, foaming at the mouth and trying to break their manacles to brain Rex, yelling that word, Traitor, again and again.

The weapon wasn’t really much what Rex had expected, meaning it wasn’t exactly portable.

“How do you want us to take that thing in battle?” He had asked the chief scientist, when they had been presented with some machinery the size of the room. The transmitter itself was almost as tall as Rex.

“It wasn’t exactly easy, Captain,” the other had frowned, “The Kaminoans had years to perfect their chips and the brain is a fragile organ. If we had more time-”

“But you don’t,” Satine had stopped him, “If you take the time normally needed by such a project, the Emperor will have conquered all the known universe three time before you have a prototype.”

Rex had taken her words like a kick to the ribs.

“You’re really not sure it will work,” he said the scientist, and it wasn’t a question.

The other had passed a hand on his bare skull. He seemed ten years older than when Rex had meet him the first time, only two months before.

“We did more than our best,” the man responded to Rex, “Don’t think we didn’t work so hard because they’re clones than we would have for, eh natural born I suppose would be the word. This thing, the chip, is a horror which should have never left the pages of a horror novel. All the neuro-scientists of Mandalore have worked on nothing else for the last two months, around the clock.”

“Do it. No need to prolong it. Just test it.” Rex said, and he observed how the man looked at Satine, searching for confirmation.

“The Captain’s words are the only one you should listen, when it comes to his brothers,” and the scientist nodded and scrambled behind a consol.

It wasn’t an impressive show light, like Rex had somehow expected. He didn’t even hear anything. He saw some lights on the side of the machinery, but it was simply an indicator.

The first brother went down hard, convulsing like he had touched a live wire.

“Stop, stop!!!” Rex yelled, struggling with the lock of the cell, trying to reach his brother. He didn’t even know his name, he hadn’t meet the other before Order 66, and the only thing the other man had given them since he was prisoner was his matricule, but in that second, that man was every lost brother, he was Cody, he was Fives, he was Hardcase, he was every brother still in the Empire’s clutch, he was every brother who had died under the Republic’s banner, he was even every cadet of Kamino who Rex would probably never see, never rescue.

“Don’t enter when it’s-”Someone shrieked, but it was too late, Rex was in the cell, reaching for the other, and then he knew no more.

He came back in the infirmary, a Star Destroyer firing all batteries behind his eyes, and Ashoka sleeping in a chair next to his bed.

“What?” He croaked and she jumped on her feet, her sleep light.

“How are you feeling?”, She said, leaning down on him.

“What the kriff happened?” He tried to sit down but his body refused even that simple order.

“You went into the weapon’ emission.” Ahsoka said, her montral white almost grey with retrospective terror, and for a second, Rex didn’t understand.

Weapon? What weapon? Then it all came rushing back. The chips, the experiment.

“The vod?” And he saw the answer on his friend’s face. She took his hand and Rex let that small part of comfort, even if he wasn’t sure he deserved it.

“They thought we would lose you too. What were you thinking…”

“I was thinking my brother needed help.”

“All your brothers need help. That’s why they’re trying to do in the labs!”

“Well, it isn’t very effective!”

“It’s still the only idea we have!”

Rex closed his eyes.

“Couldn’t you…I can’t open my eyes without wanting to hurl.”

Her hand touched the side of his head and he let out a careful breath as pain receded. He hadn’t realized how much of pain he was until it stopped.

“Eh,” he said, “and with the Force-“

“Don’t you think we thought about it? Every Jedi on Mandalore went to meditate in the labs.”

“Oh, I-“

“No, we didn’t tell you. It’s still complicated to see a vod for most of them. But we had to try.”

“And?”

“You would be the first to know. But we can’t even feel the chips. It’s like there is nothing here.”

Rex stayed silent a long time then he started again:

“They can’t have understood. The Jedi.”

“When they were killed, you mean? No, they can’t have sensed the chip coming online.”

Rex turned to see the window. It was night outside.

“Have I been unconscious more than a day?”

“Just teen hours. They say they will have another protocol to try in three days. And the Duchess, she asked to comm her when you-”

“No. Don’t tell her I’m awake. Not now.”

He patted her and hand closed his eyes, pretending he was trying for sleep; and Ahsoka had the compassion to pretend she didn’t know what he was doing. Somewhere between thinking about that brother whose name he would never know and thinking about Obi-Wan’s last thought, when Cody had gunned him down, Rex’s lies become a truth and sleep took him.

    The second brother used for testing died too, but not as quickly as the first.

There were sixty wonderful seconds of lucidity before he took his last breath, and Rex had the time to learn his name, a last whisper, a last act of defiance against the Empire. “I am Harpoon,” the poor guy choked out, shaking against Rex and Rex felt those words piercing him like a lightsaber in the heart.

The chief scientist himself was crying, not full sobs but almost there. All around the round, the neuroscientists had misty eyes, as they try to pretend they didn’t watch Harpoon die in Rex’s arms.

Rex refused to feel a kinship for the man and his team, no matters how the fate of the entire galaxy, and the fate of all his brothers, hinge on those people works. He couldn’t, even if he was the one who had delivered Harpoon to them like a sacrificial lamb.

“Use the data,” Rex spat to him, “Go to work. That kriffin thing must work…”

“Sir…”

“Go the kriff to work! If you fail ….Go the kriff to work!”

Because if they failed, the world would slowly suffocate under the Emperor’s grip, and the blood of those three brothers on Rex’s hands would have been in vain.

They buried him at dusk, a funeral so different that was usual for a vod. To rest in the earth, that was something for natural born, something for rich people, in Rex and his brothers’ minds, but Satine had offered a spot in the palace necropolis, and poor Harpoon would march away between kings and queens and other Mandalore princes and so other many titles that Rex couldn’t even read some of the tombstones.

“His life was worth as much as any of them,” Ahsoka had said, her smaller hand holding one of his in a show of support and it was an effort not to dig his fingernails in her flesh, between the grief and the anger and the ache of lose. It was a brother’s death, amongst thousands and thousands of brothers’ deaths, but Rex felt like that one was particularly unfair.

Sixty seconds of freedom.

That night, he searched for Satine.

Not for sex, nothing was more far away from his mind that sex, but he wanted…He didn’t know.

Companionship.

A presence.

Someone who had known Cody and who wasn’t the vode, because Rex was leading them and would have felt like a terrible officer if he had made them carry his grief and his doubts, on top of their own, and someone who wasn’t Ahsoka, whose family had been gunned down by Harpoon and his brothers, no matters how unintentionally.

He found her crying and he hesitated. Would it be intrusive to go to her? Whatever had pushed such a strong woman to tears, was Rex the person to help, burdened as he was by his own grief?

At the end, his feet choose for him. He sat down next to her and took her hand and she pushed her face against his shoulder. It wasn’t like women crying in holodramas. It was messy and noisy and her face was red and wet and Rex wished to kill those responsible for those tears. Something that probably would have horrified Satine, but it still would have feel good, in Rex’s opinion, to put their heads; whoever they were, at her feet.

He put one of his arms around her and made some calming noises, or what he imagined were calming noises. He was so out of his comfort zone. The only person he had ever regularly comforted was Cody every time Obi-Wan did something stupid, or when the numbers of lost vod was higher than usual; and alcohol had been their usual motto in those circumstances. He felt under armed for the mission of helping her in her pain, but he would never have left her alone, unless she asked.

“Bail Organa is dead,” she told him later, when she had cried every tear in her body.

“I met him once,” Rex said, “tall guy, Senator, was stubborn as hell?”

“Yes. Yes, that was him. He was my friend. For years. I was a guest to his wedding, I….He was my friend.”

“What happened?” Rex asked slowly. It was a strange discovery that offering his shoulder to her pain made his own easier to bear. The grief which had clouded his brain for weeks hadn’t disappeared; and Harpoon was still in his mind, but trying to help her helped him….

“He tried to come to Mandalore and his ship was blasted down when they tried to pass the blockade between the Core and the Council of Neutral Systems.”

“What…but…” Rex spluttered. He had meet Organa on Christophis, and it was a smart man, not a man who would ran away to such a dangerous path without reason, when he had been safe on Coruscant.

“It doesn’t make sense. Why did he do such a thing?”

The usual calm mask of politics was already covering her face and Rex couldn’t stop himself, took her hand, as he tried to stop that. He wanted Satine as she was when they were alone sometimes, when it was late and she was tired, he hoped for the woman who had cried in his arms. Her hand turned in his, their fingers entangling themselves.  

“He send a message,” she continued, “before leaving Coruscant. To warn me of his arrival. He said….he said he had an important piece of information.”

“What piece?”

“That’s the problem, Rex, I don’t know. Whatever it was, it was something so important, so game changing that Bail wouldn’t let a message carry it. And now, I fear that secret is gone with him.”

   Third time apparently was the charm, like in old fairytales.

“My name is Droid-Breaker,” his brother said, once he had stopped puking after the chip had died inside his skull and Rex had taken him into his arms, like Droid-Breaker was Cody reborn. The poor guy looked sea sick for a few days, but every test possible under the sun was inflicted on him by the medics, and also a few which were invented for the occasion, and it was a complete success, minus the vomiting.

Droid-Breaker was free, he would stay free. He described to Rex the moment the chip had started working, stripping him of his humanity, and how it had seemed natural at the time. How there were no questioning orders, not even the possibilities of question. How even killing the Padawans they were in charge of forming to working with clones, since their Masters were dead, had been normal.

After, Rex had spent the night in Satine’s arms. No sex, just the comforting warmth of another human being and a tender voice in his ear, repeating how much human they were. How Mandalore wouldn’t find peace until every clone brother was rescued, until every Kaminoan was brought to justice.

It was, of course, easier to say than to do.

The process for freeing clones’ minds worked, but the machine was enormous, and fragile, and difficult to operate. They needed three days just to put it apart, then back, into a ship, and there were, so, so many rules about what the ship could and couldn’t do, to not disturb the fragile engine.

Like go into hyperspace more than a fleeting moment.

“The specialist are working around the clock to find a better way. To miniaturize it, or to reduce the size even a little bit, and to make it less complicated, quicker, or whatever they can. Something to use more easily on a battlefield,” Satine was telling her sister via holo. Bo-Katan’s dark circles under her eyes were particularly unflattering in the transmission’s colours, but despite the exhaustion, she still seemed ready to rear apart everybody who suggested she could need help leading the troops. And from the reports Rex had read, she was good, very good at it.

The red head was doing her usual evening report to her sister and the Council, and every word from Satine about the chip and its solution were making her frown a little harder.

Satine was continuing: “But there are no certitude it would work. It’s already miraculous they found something in only a few months.”

“It would be too late, even if it was week and not months,” Bo-Katan admitted, “Send the ship and your enormous engine, or Taris will fall in days.”

“I’m going,” Rex decided, totally forgetting in a moment than in front of the Council, he could have put it perhaps a little less like an order, and more like a request to the Duchess, but still, Satine nodded, and gave to the vod all they wanted for their trip to Taris. The Jedi contingent even proposed help, which Rex refused, phrasing it diplomatically enough. Some day, he was sure they would have to work together, but if the machine didn’t work on a big scale enough, and they all died, he preferred to know the Jedi on Mandalore, as a last rampart.

Not that it would be enough against the entire Empire’s might.

Their survival was quite dependent on the quality of Mandalore neurologist work. There was not even the silver of a chance, if they couldn’t turn some of the vod back into human, and not puppets doing Palpatine’s bindings.

Before going, he hugged Ahsoka on last time, made her swore she would protect Echo, then made Echo swear to protect Ahsoka, the best way to be sure one of the two wouldn’t try to sneak on the ship.

He didn’t have private farewell with Satine, there was no time. When he was leaving the Council, he saw her hesitate, something she rarely did in public, then she took of one of the fresh lilies adorning her crown, and offered it to him, despite their audience.

Rex kept it into one of his belt pouches, even when it was dried, during what would be known in galactic history as the great Taris’ siege, an episode which would be studied for centuries, and would offer Rex a place in the list of great generals of the Republic.

Sometimes, during sleepless nights only rhythmed by the noises of heavy artillery, he carefully took it out and kept it on his open hand, careful, so careful of the dried flower. He wasn’t sure why.

It was so useless in a war, a flower.

It was like a promises than not all there was to know of the galaxy, of life, was war.

For weeks, him and Bo-Katan, the clones and the Mandalorian, pushed back against the Empire, using the machine, which had been nicknamed the Anti-Kamino by the vod, to break attacks, stealing clones from the Empire’s ranks when they arrived close enough from their position, mounting their own attacks to extract whole squads, who were then either going back to Mandalore to reinforce its defence, or put to work under Rex. No one of them took the choice, given to all of them, to sit this war out, to go into the Unknown regions, far away.

Rex had never been prouder.

Slowly, they started to push back. The Empire had understood something strange was happening with the clones send against the Mandalore’s troops, and they were clearly experimenting with the range of Rex’s countermeasures.

The fight took to the sky, to space. Across all the Neutral territories, the Empire and the troops under Rex and Bo-Katan’s commands played a strange game of cat and mouse.

They could never pin down long enough the Empire troops in a sector to free all the clones, and the Empire could never do enough damages to defeat them definitely before the Anti-Kamino came online.

After two years, they had arrived to a strange stand-off, troops watching troops across a line, and nobody putting a toe across it. What had once been the Galactic Republic was now halved, one part still in the hands of Palpatine, and the other, which had been nicknamed the Surviving Republic, in the hands of a hastily elected Senate, sieging on Mandalore. Satine, after a terrible row with her sister via holo communication than half the troops had did their best to pretend they hadn’t heard, had renounced her throne…and promptly be elected Mandalore Senator, because Mandalorians were contrary beings. They had tried to assassinate her a few times, and now that she was letting power go, all of them wanted her to exercise it. Her people had nicknamed her the Last Duchess, because they didn’t want her strip of her title, and because, well…she would be the last. Whoever her heir was, her nephew, children who would perhaps come one day, they would inherit the Kryze estate, but no throne, no title.

“You should go back to Mandalore,” Bo-Katan said to Rex one morning after the morning debrief.

“We aren’t making progress, they aren’t making progress. Something new needs to be done, but I have no idea what. Go see my sister. If the war isn’t the solution, perhaps she will find something.”

And for the first time in two years, after countless late nights conversations via holo, where Rex and Satine had talked about everything, from the war to their most secret dreams, where they had talked and talked and talked and talked, where they had confided to each other things they had never told a soul before, not even Cody, or Obi-Wan or Bo-Katan, where they had talked about everything but what they were or they could be to each other, Rex and Satine saw each other in real life, on a land pad in front of the Palace, which had become the Surviving Republic Senate.

And Satine threw herself into his arms, in the less thought-out instinct of a life always politically examined before every move.

And Rex kissed her, and it was like every promises untold by that dried flower had been kept.

They were married only two hours after, no pump, no fanfare. Just Ahsoka and Echo and an officer of the law, and Bo-Katan via holo, pretending she wasn’t crying, and Rex, captain, clone, slave, freedom fighter, General of the Army of the Surviving Republic, became Duke Consort of the Last Duchess of Mandalore.

  Nothing passed the frontier.

Nothing.

On either side, ships armed to the teeth waited, watchful, and dangerous guard dogs.

On his side, Palpatine schemed and raged for the part of the galaxy which had escaped him. His plans were supposed to be perfect. He was supposed to have everything, everyone, every life in his grasp, and the Chosen One as his attack Sith. Instead, half of what had been the Republic was still resisting, led by that woman, and by clones, his own flesh weapons! And the Chosen One! Broken and burnt by that thrice-damned Kenobi. Oh, Darth Vader was still terrifying, even more, but a broken tool was still broken even repurposed, and he would have been more useful beautiful, clearly Anakin Skywalker. He would have sold better the Jedi’s betrayal, when now most people saw them as martyrs.

And the chip!

What a failure….Half the Kaminoan scientists had had their neck broken by Vader, but nothing seemed to protect the clones’s chips from that Mandalore-made machine, whatever metal, holo-plastic, or whatever idea they had, was tested to shield their helmet.

Palpatine raged and planned, and on the other side of the frontier, Satine raged against the impossibility to see fall the man who had burnt half the world down, and indirectly killed so many, and her dear Ben, the Mandalorian temper only cooled off superficially by her silks and her pacifism. She raged and she planned, and her Senator’s colleagues could only be swept off by her convictions, by the fire in her voice.

But still, nothing passed the frontier.

“It’s definitely a Rhodian stand-off,” Bo-Katan had said one day sadly to Rex, and she had been surprised realizing he didn’t know the term.

“It’s when a goddam confrontation has no issues. The Empire can’t try to destroy us, we would steal their clones-“

“-not stealing, Bo-Katan, we aren’t objects.”

“Sorry, we would liberate the clones, but we don’t have the fire power to destroy them either. I’m surprised you don’t know the term, with all your Kamino war training.”

“We were supposed to die if necessary, if you listen to our training. Our destruction was never a problem, so, no Rhodian stand-off, just suicide missions.”

“…I really hope there are one or two Kaminoans alive when, and I say when, we take Kamino. I want to wreck their long-necks myself.”

“Well, get in line.”

And time passed. Mandalore and its Surviving Republic stopped playing the message asking for people to join them, because every ship crossing the line was destroyed and its passengers lost. It has been the first serious quarrel between Satine and Rex. Rex, thinking of all his brothers trapped on the other side, hoping that one day their chip would stop working, wanted to continue broadcasting, thinking his brothers ferocious enough to find a way to cross the frontier. Satine took every ship trying to cross and destroyed as a shard thrust into her heart. At the end, she prevailed, and they slept separate for two weeks until Echo finally had enough and pleaded Rex’s case with Satine, and Satine’s with Rex.

Echo had thrived up, once he had left his medical bed. He could have let the horrors of what had happened weigh on him, but instead he seemed ready to live for all the vod who couldn’t.

Instead of the first message, conceived in the first days of Rex’s presence of Mandalore after the fall of the Republic, they played messages of hope, for those on the other side of the line. One day, the Empire found the way to block every communication, and their side stopped learning what was happening in the Empire.

And time passed. Rex hadn’t before experienced time outside of war and was surprised how this long waiting war could leave place for long stretches of life.

Mandalore and its allies prepared for the final confrontation which would, fatally, happen one day. They conceived and built ships made to house specifically Anti-Kamino machines, which could take the only way to free the vode through hyperspace for more than micro-jump, the only way. They trained an army from every planet, every space station, every colonies. All united, the vod and the Mandalorian acting as instructors.

Everybody understood that the day the Empire would come, it would be all or nothing. They understood that on the other side of the frontier, the same preparation was happening. Armies amassing. Weapons built. Research on the chip, trying to counteract the Anti-Kamino.

But during all of that, life happened.

Korkie grew up and took his place as the Kryze’s heir. He wasn’t interested in politics, told every time his aunt he would never try to be elected as Mandalore Senator, which despair her, but he was making Rex and Bo-Katan proud in his efforts for the coalition. He met a young woman of Taris and they had a beautiful, and quite accidental, boy, and no plan to marry, which made Satine go pale in the name of protocol.

Life happened.

Ahsoka was made a Knight, not that she needed it in Rex’s opinion, she was the best of the whole Jedi contingent. She was taking long diplomatic missions all across the Surviving Republic, like all Jedi, coming back to the roots of their Order. Helping that mismatch of cultures that was the new Republic found a unity, without renouncing their individuality. She was a ferocious warrior when time called for it, but seeing her helping people reach compromise, promoting peace in their little corner of the galaxy, Rex remembered that Jedi should never had been Generals. It had been the first step of the end, for everyone. Seeing her hold the floor in public meeting, she was much more Obi-Wan’s Padawan in those moment than poor General Skywalker’s, whose fate they had never known. And he saw Satine in her, too, her influence on the young Tortuga, and Padme Amidala’s whose death had been confirmed long before the balck-out of communications.

Life happened and time passed, and Rex and Satine’s marriage, not exactly destined to succeed in most people opinion, only grew stronger, not a simple link to the people they had loved and lost together, but a love standing itself, without the crutch of the past.

Life happened and Echo married one of Satine’s advisor. Echo cried during the wedding. They had adopted five war orphans, and had a little girl, named Fives. Rex was sure it was asking for her to be a rule-breaker, but if she had even a tenth of their dead brother’s tenacity, he was sure she would grow up glorious.

Life happened and Droid-Breaker, the first clone freed because of the Anti-Kamino, was killed in a stupid speeder accident. The funeral broke Rex’s heart and he was surprised to find in him new well of griefs, when he thought everything had been used.

Life happened and Rex could say his sister in law was one of his best friends, Korkie was the son Satine and him had decided to not try to conceive, and his surviving vod were happy, and Ahsoka was thriving.

Life happened and the Mandalore scientists finally cracked down the secrets of the accelerating aging, giving Rex and the vod numerous years more.

Life happened and ruling a planet was more work than Rex would have ever thought, and Satine and him were so, so busy.

Days could happen without Rex thinking of Obi-Wan and Cody, to busy helping prepare the Surviving Republic for the coming attack; too busy helping his wife govern Mandalore, too busy with his surviving vod.

It saddened him.

It made him feel guilty.

But he had married a woman who had lost almost her entire family to murder, and Satine understood grief, and how it mutated with time, to give people a chance to live, and she helped the best she could.

Life happened and Rex and Satine let go a little of their pain, and built an army, and a life together.

Then, it happened.

Ten years after the fall of the Republic, seven years after their wedding, refugee started to cross the border, bringing with them the news of the Emperor’s ultimate demise.

Vader had killed him.

Nobody was very clear about the why and the what and the how. Some told Vader had done it to seize the throne. Some told he had done it to protect Jedi children. Some told he had done it for so many reasons, that there was only one way to know.

The ships of the Surviving Republic crossed the frontier and entered an Empire in chaos.

And Rex and Ahsoka were on them.

     “Talk to me, my love,” Satine asked and Rex had a pale smile, his eyes fixed on the small blue silhouette of his wife. The holotransmission didn’t do justice to the light in her eyes.

“You listened to my report, the same as the rest of the Senate.”

“I listened to our best general’s report. I want my dear husband to discharge a part of his pain on my shoulders.”

The smile of Rex became a little more real, then turned sour.

“This is horrible, cyare. People squeezed of their last credits, Moffs a little less than the most violent warlords, democracy’s corpse on the floor in every system. To put that into shape, even in a shape like it was in the decaying last times of the Galactic Republic, it will be years. I thought our people had difficult years, preparing for war like we did, but this was nothing to what I saw here…And the people! A lot of them are no more than wolves, ready to sell their neighbours for the smallest advantage.”

“Ten years of tyranny can’t change the sentient nature like that. I refuse to believe people’s nature is evil.”

“Ahsoka said…well, she said a lot of Jedi aphorisms, but I think she meant that Sidious’s presence warped people in this corner of the galaxy.”

“If this that, the good news are that they will get better.”

“And we will help, won’t we?”

“Well, we spend ten years building strength, time to put it in use. We will repurpose the troops and I’m pretty sure our scientists can find a way to use packs of energy of canon for a better purpose.”

Rex had a gesture like he wanted to touch the small silhouette, even if he knew Satine wasn’t there.

“You should go to sleep,” she said tenderly, “Coruscant will be the biggest trial for your expedition.”

“But the answer to a lot of questions.”

“That, too.”

They stayed in silence a long moment, uncomfortable together for the first time in years.

“I could-“ Rex started.

“You could-“ Satine started at the same time.

An awkward laugh, shared. Rex felt his heart squeeze painfully. He hated to be far away from her. Those three months since they had passed the frontier had been the longest they had been separated since their wedding.

“I will check what happened to them,” Rex said finally, “if the Empire has records. To be sure the reports were true.”

“And you’ll bring their remains home if possible,” Satine completed.

“Of course, I will.”

No more words where needed. There were only two people who could be those They.

Cody and Obi-Wan. Lost love. Bloodied flowers of their memories.

Other, of course, were shards in their hearts. General Skywalker, for example, whose fate Rex would check in third, and Ahsoka probably in first. A lot of brothers, of Jedi.

Rex had already put his greedy hands, his grateful hands, on Kix and Bly, who had been in one of the units trying to resist to the progression of the Surviving Republic Forces in the mess of the decaying Empire.

Those two had been promptly dechipped and even Bly’s tears once he had remembered his General couldn’t stop Rex’s joy to have brought back a few more vod’s home, even if they didn’t know yet the way Mandalore could be home.

Ahsoka had personally rescued a good chunk of other clones, but those two were the only ones Rex had known personally before Order 66. Ahoska had also killed two Inquisitors in their third battle, asked for ten hours on a lost moon and burnt their bodies. Rex hadn’t asked questions, yet, because she needed to be at the top of her game, but he would have sworn her reactions meant she had knew the two of them, or only one, before. Once she would be home, she could be sure he would corner her about that.

Jedi.

No matters the generation, they really needed help to admit their grief.

He knew the other expeditions, led by Master Ven'nari for the second ones, and by a bunch of officers formed by Rex and Bo-Katan for the others, had also encountered resistance, but minimal. The Empire was disintegrating too fast, it was every Moff for himself, and Rex was sure their expedition wouldn’t ever face real danger. The carrion feeders were too busy stuffing themselves.

With years, Rex understood how love was more than what he had had with Cody and Obi-Wan. It was love, really, but it never had the time to blossom, like what he shared with Satine. To build itself, months after months, years after years, trials fought together after trials fought together, grief shared and long nights of pleasure.

The Empire had taken the possibilities of growing like that from Cody and Obi-Wan, a simple line in the long, long, long list of its crimes. And now Rex hoped for closure, in bringing if possible remains on Mandalore. They already had a shared stele in Mandalore necropolis, where Ahsoka, Satine and himself went regularly. It was between the one they had put for Padme Amidala and Anakin and their dead before birth child, and between the one of Fives, those two empty too.

Soon, perhaps, bones could sleep here.

When they left hyperspace in front of Coruscant, all defences were down, and all channels sending a message which could be summed by “Please don’t shot.”

Certainly not redacted by a brother.

“I am Senator Mon Mothma,” a regal-looking woman with hair as red as a setting sun, had said in answer to their communication, “I have been designed by the remains of the Senate to handle the transition, until elections can be prepared.”

“Seems too easy”, murmured one of the officers in Rex’s ears, and Rex was totally of the same opinion. At his right, he could feel the tension in Ahsoka. They had seen so much horrors in their long crawl across the former Empire to believe things could be as simple on Coruscant.

“I’m very happy for you,” Rex said, “But, Madam, we’ll still check. Starting with the security bands of the throne room on the last day of the Empire.”

“They will wait for you in the former Palace, General”, the Senator answered, “and all explanations you could feel necessary.”

“Not vague at all…”

“Some things, you have to see to believe. I awaits you in the Senate rotund tomorrow. Something tell me you would need more time than that, but we need to move swiftly, if we want to reduce the blood shed to a minimum in other parts of the Republic.”

“Was that a menace?” Rex asked, once the communication was cut, “I can never tell, with politicians.”

At the same instant, the terminal beeped with the coordinate of Palpatine’s palace and Rex swore.

“That son of a bitch…The Temple.”

Ahsoka’s fangs seemed even sharper than usual in her anger.

“I almost regret he’s already dead,” she growled, and it was so different than her usual Jedi calm than Rex insisted for a long hug before embarking into a shuttle, despite her protests. Finding answers about dead friends and dead enemies was good, but not at the disadvantage of alive friends. He didn’t let her go until he felt her body posture relaxing a little, despite her protests than she was an adult, now.

Rex left three shuttles full of Mandalorian armed to the teeth right next to their ones, right in front of the former Palace, former Temple, whatever it should be called. No brothers, they had all stayed in orbit. Despite the progress of the Anti-Kamino, Rex didn’t want to take the risks of brothers having to fight brothers.

“Stay there,” he said to them, “Knight Tano and I will do a first reconnaissance.”

The men didn’t even protest. They had long renounced to force their General to stay safe. Rex was sure he was responsible for half the grey hairs in his second’s fur, and Ahsoka for the rest of them!

They entered the Temple side by side, the Jedi and the vode, the Knight and the Mandalorian General, Rex and Ahsoka, coming back from their long exile to mourn their dead, half prodigal children coming home, half refugee. It was fitting, in a way. They had fled alone, at the end of their world, started together on their new life. Whatever closure they would found there, they would do together, two vod in a way different but no less precious than the link shared with the other clones of Jango Fett.

The Temple was deserted.

“Feel something?” He asked Ahoska and her gaze had this vacant flavour meaning she was checking on things he couldn’t see.

“Death,” she said, then she frowned, hesitated, and added “And renewal. This way, come.”

He followed.

The structure was the same as it had been during the time of the Order but the decoration was Palpatine in all his glory: creepy, full of lore of the old Sith and with way, way too much red.

“If the Order wants to come back to Coruscant, it would perhaps be more hygienic to burn the whole thing down and starts afresh,” Rex remarked at the third dismemberment tapestries. “Do dead Sith release evil germs or something?”

Ahsoka didn’t answer. Her steps were firm, her path unwavering. The Knight leading, Rex following, they went further. Everybody had deserted the Palace, once the Emperor dead, and the tactician part in Rex’s brain hoped it meant there would be no utter idiot ready to burn the world to maintain the crumbling Empire. With the troops amassed to fight Palpatine, they would fight if necessary, but a peaceful transition would be such a fresh balm on the wounds of the people, already decimated by the Clones War and then the dictatorial reign…

Rex’s heart would have beaten twice the usual rhythm if he hadn’t long ago learnt to master the rush of adrenaline. It was not only the possibilities of danger, perhaps still lurking in the hallways, since they didn’t know the number of Inquisitors who had been formed. It was memories. He could almost see Obi-Wan just out or reach at a corner, he could feel under his lips the caress of facial hair, and smell that damn after shave Cody had started to put on, the Force only knew why.

In what had been the throne room, and long before the Room of the Thousand Fountains, two silhouettes were waiting for them, grey and white, one of them using the other as a crutch and Rex needed a minute to be sure his eyes were correctly working.

He only started to believe, really believe, when Ahsoka threw herself in their arms, with so much strength they ended on the floor in a pile.

There would be tears, later. Swearing, so, so much swearing, because despite all the progress Rex had made to handle emotions in a positive ways since his wedding, when he had decided Satine couldn’t do all the emotional work in their relationship, he would have to resort to anger to handle such a revelation. Ten years, and not a word. And lost in his feelings, he wouldn’t care than for almost seven of those years, communication had been impossible between them and the Empire.

Satine, Satine herself would have to take him by the hand one day, to guide him to the apartments of the Mandalore Palace which Cody and Obi-Wan shared with the twin they were raising. Beautiful, wonderful twins, the reasons Vader had killed the Emperor and succumbed to his wounds, to stop him to pit them, one against the other, because Palpatine only needed one.

Obi-Wan would need to tell him the tale of the life of their little family, in the farthest island of Alderaan, a lot of time, before the reality of their survival would really touch Rex.

Cody would need to tell him the tale of that last fight, Vader against the Emperor, Obi-Wan and Cody himself crushed on the floor by the power of the Dark Side, unable to rescue the twins. He would need to tell him again and again the terrible revelation of the identity of Vader for Rex to admit what had become of his General.

Satine would need to tell him, again and again, that the love he still found in his heart for them wasn’t a betrayal of their vows, and that she could share him, if he could share her.

And Rex would need to tell the tale of his life, of how he had become the last Duke Consort of Mandalore, for the two other men to learn him.

All those conversations, all those moments where the four of them believed it was too late, their fate couldn’t be intertwined again, all the work needed to learn each other again. All of that would come later.

For in that moment, Rex scrambled to help Ahsoka, Cody and Obi-Wan of the floor, crying in his helmet like he never had, scrambling for his communicator on his belt at the same time, because Satine needed to know, right now, Satine needed to share that joy.

There would be much work, for the work of Jedi, Duchesse and vod is never really done.

But there, there, all of them crying at the same time, Ahsoka and the three men in pile on the floor, Satine’s fuzzy in image, crying and already yelling orders for a ship at someone outside of the communicator image….. That moment repaid everything.

[tonystarkbingo]

Tony Stark Bingo Party Prompt Meme

http://generatorland.com/usergenerator.aspx?id=25057 -- we took tags from this random generator and then made up more detailed prompts from them. These prompts are open use, even if you’re not participating in the bingo, but please tag us if you write one, we’d LOVE to see what you did with it! nonsense + everyone is gay + denial : Tony+harem - Tony, while an incorrigible flirt, does not believe that anyone actually likes him, let alone as many as do. They come up with increasingly ridiculous ideas to ask him out or at least let him know they like him, while he innocently thinks they're all just such awesome friends superpowers + bodice-ripper + sad Stuckony - something set in the Regency(ish) era but with secret superpowers as an added bonus. Let’s of angst over trying to hide their secret powers, and wanting to save people without revealing themselves and also cause they’re gay. clones + nighttime + wishes Coulson/Strange (StrangeAgent? AgentStrange? DrAgent?) - Coulson ends up spending the night in the NY Sanctum. Some of the artifacts happen to be particularly sensitive to subconscious fantasies... and isn't it lucky that cloning himself happens to be one of Strange's powers? cruising + flashbacks + bad boys Winteriron possible future Stuckony - small warning for drinking mention - Tony is driving around to distract himself so he doesn't get drunk. He gets in an accident because he is not actually in a state to drive. The accident is comparatively harmless, the flashback to his convoy being attacked in Afghanistan is less so. When Tony wakes up in the hospital he learns that the person who dragged him from his car to safety is one James "Bucky" Barnes, resident motorbike riding bad boy heartthrob and friend/visitor of Steve "regular ER customer" Rogers, who's his hospital roommate. room service + lifeguards + sharing Tony is a lifeguard who takes his job very seriously. He's attending a convention-slash-training seminar at a posh uptown hotel, but then there's a knock at the door. He opens it to find two room service carts, both with order slips on them that indicate they're actually destined for another room. Rather than call the obviously harried and beleaguered bellboy back, he pushes them down the hall himself and knocks on the door... which is answered by none other than the hot beefcake fellow-lifeguard that's been distracting Tony all day. They end up sharing the enormous amount of food... and then maybe some more. :wink: overthinking + pity sex + customer service Tony just turned 40, he's been friends with Bucky and Nat for forever, and they'd been each other's marriage backups for the longest time, like, if they weren't married at 40, they'd marry whoever wasn't married either in their little trio. Only, two years prior, Buckynat became husband and wife and so he's having a little pity party on his floor at the Tower, drinking virgin mojitos and seriously consider a particular customer service to cheer himself up in one way or another - might as well get an orgasm, as shitty and sad as it may be, it's his birthday ffs - but then Bucky and Nat appear in his elevator, and they pull him off the couch he's been sprawled on for three hours, and Nat is the first to kiss him, and he's too stunned to react much but when he does question wtf is happening, Bucky shushes him and Tony lets him. The next morning he is evidently convinced it was all just pity sex, or a kink of theirs or whatever.... certainly nothing to do with the fact that they've been courting him forever and got tired of waiting for him to step out of ObliviousStarklandia. Of course not. wolves + romantic friendship + wigs Okay, so, someone has been doing an excellent job of hiding his baldness from someone else, with whom he's been in a long term best-friends-but-in-love not-quite-relationship. He's got an elaborate series of wigs, and over the years he's gradually been replacing them with slightly more grey ones so that someone else doesn't realise. Aaaand then someone gets bitten by a werewolf, and when he shifts for the first time he is completely bald and the secret is out. accidental relationship + butt dialing + warlocks Tony Stark is not happy with today's mission, not like there's an occasion to enjoy dealing with magic. But now he's in a relationship with Bucky, which is not bad, that man is gorgeous, but this is not the way. He's ranting about it to Jarvis and doesn't realize that he sat on his phone nor that he dialed the other supersoldier in the team until he hears a muffled laugh beneath him. He's going to kill that warlock smuggling + fear + road-trip okay, a Star Wars AU. Farmboy Peter is fleeing from stormtroopers who found out his parents were Jedi. He runs into smuggler Tony and they take off in Tony's ship for an extended road trip in space. possession + loving marriage + gardens & gardening Pepperony, Morgan insists there's a spirit possessing the garden because she's seen the plants dancing. Turns out they've accidentally created sentient plants and Tony is like nope, call somebody else, I do mechanical engineering and they call Dr. Cho to fix it. The marriage is in there somewhere I promise  idiots in love + bonding + resurrection Ironhawk - Clint tries to get Lucky back after he goes over the rainbow bridge, but he can’t actually read latin and ends up bringing back Tony from the 18th century.  And poor Tony gets Clint as his guide to the 21st.  Shenanigans and eventual fluffy ending improv + cultural appropriation + shield maidens After the Battle of New York, Tony's interviewing Thor about Asguardian tech and learns that they have all kinds of shielding devices, and gets interested in trying to replicate what Thor describes just in case aliens decide to pay a call on Earth again. Thor, for his part, is kinda shocked that Earth doesn't have any such shields, though on the other hand it is Midguard, so. You know. Tony gives it a shot and a couple weeks later he's launching the satellites into orbit for a preliminary test of the shields. He intends to test them with SI tech developed from seized Chitauri tech, but before he can get the chance an alien army shows up, guns blazing and very mad about something. The shields hold, thankfully, and the aliens send a strongly worded letter informing him that he has infringed upon their religious and cultural traditions by putting the Stark logo on them. Their planet was visited centuries ago by time-travelers that greatly influenced their culture, religion, government, etc. These time travelers carried devices with that same Stark Logo on them. The Stark Logo has become a complex cultural symbol over the centuries, and they don't appreciate him using it on war tech, even if on shields. Eventually, they figure out that the time travelers' tech was Tony's tech, and agree to leave in peace, but only after Tony spends a terrifying couple of days trying to improvise his way through a diplomatic disaster with an alien power. vampire family + slapstick + loss WinterIronWidow: So, Natasha's been a vampire for a long time, and she's lonely, so she decides to take on some mates, enter established relationship WinterIron. She vampirises them, which leads to Tony having fits about GARLIC and my god, I'm ITALIAN, you horrible woman!  And Bucky's like "I'm... CATHOLIC?? OM-- I can't even say G-- now??" awkwardness + chatting & messaging + shyness Tony doesn't understand why everytime Bucky comes into the lab, Dum-E tends to drop whatever he's holding and go hide in his charging station. Dum-E's always a bit clumsy and silly but this is more than usual and Tony's worried that Dum-E doesn't like Bucky or something like that. Anyway after much discussion, with JARVIS as translator and go-between, it turns out that Dum-E has developed a bit of a crush on Bucky's fancy robotic arm. Which ends up of course being a hilarious & awkward situation for all involved. candles + explosions + blind date tony gets bullied by pepper to go on a blind date to get out of his funk, she insists that this Matt Murdock character is the perfect date and Tony will like him. reluctantly tony goes to fancy restaurant and meets Matt Murdock and they hit it off instantly the little snarky assholes. they have a nice dinner by candle light and it's all going so well up until dessert when they order some kind of chocolate lava cake which was tragically not cooked properly and ends up exploding on both of them and bam they fall in love and live happily ever after skeleton puns + reincarnation + deus ex machina A snap, that was all it took to snuff out something so bright amidst the rubble of what was once New York City, and, with Tony gone for good, the living seem rather, well…dead. Until, one day, someone they all thought long dead returned to them, a blue cube glowing in his grip and a sweet promise of a new beginning dripping from his lips. But of course, no new beginning comes without a price laundry + tenderness + dialogue “I hate laundry,” Morgan declared after trying to refold her sweatshirt for the seventh time. “Me too kiddo,” Tony whispered back, sneaking a glance over his shoulder to Pepper who was putting clothes into the wash. “But that’s why we do it together. It gets done and we don't have to do it alone.” world domination + paranoia + everything hurts Tony knew what was coming, he knew. He’d seen the future and he knew. The Kree were coming - why would no one believe him? Not his husband, not the team, not even his own son. He kept convincing them they had to suit up and defend the planet and Steve and Peter kept telling him that a engineering professor from Cal Tech can’t do that, that this suit he talks about is only in his delusions. But he’s not paranoid. Or crazy. Or any of those other words. He is Iron Man. He just has to convince everyone else. feels + useless lesbians + Santa's workshop Toni doesn’t think anyone could accuse her of overflowing with Christmas spirit. That hasn’t stopped the rest of the Avengers from turning the “festive cheer” dial up to eleven, and Toni thinks she might just have to spend the whole next month hiding in her workshop. (Hey, she let DUM-E wear a Santa hat – that has to count for something.) Too bad Jamie Barnes – cyborg superassassin extraordinaire, Captain America’s best friend, and Toni’s big gay crush – has gotten the exact same idea. Now the rest of the team thinks they’ve got a “thing,” and Toni can’t decide which is worse: putting up with the Avengers’ not-so-subtle attempts at matchmaking, or spending all her time with the woman she loves and who she is absolutely, 100%, totally certain doesn’t reciprocate. Getting through this holiday season without having her heart broken might just take… a Christmas miracle. shapeshifting + secret organizations + nurses “C. Barton - Orderly.”  That’s what his tag said.  But only a very few people knew exactly what kind of hospital Saint Natalis actually was, and just how busy they could be during the full moon. kissing games + pirates + book stores Tony always thought that the shop had a mind of its own. The books were one thing, whispering their secrets to patrons who managed to find their way to it. Jarvis always did warn him not to touch any of the artifacts. The "DO NOT TOUCH" signs plastered all over the crates. So maybe it was his fault that he managed to summon 'Buccaneer Barnes' after touching the shiny pirate sword. "Let's play a game. If you win, I'll help you put all those runaway monsters that jumped out of the books. If I win, you owe me a kiss. Whatdaya say Stark?"

[forceprojecdin]

The Ultimate Achievement of the ST Is It Succeeded At Making The Mythological Messiah Archetype Female For The First Time In A few Thousand Years

I’ve been reflecting on the Sequel Trilogy now that it’s over, really trying to boil down one clear statement of what it really means. What did it actually do? What is it’s big achievement? Like, really. Without all the noise of fan gripes, and controversial details. Once the one big sweeping success if it? Well, it’s ultimately that one of the world's biggest mythologies succeeded beyond anyone’s wildest imagination in creating a female messiah figure, for maybe the first time in thousands of years. One that resonated enough to be a 2 billion dollar intro film and grew into a successful trilogy that means something to girls everywhere. You can not overstate that. That is it’s single greatest achievement. Anyways, below is smoothing along these lines that I wrote to some of my Star Wars friends a few days ago. It will be my last SW blog in a while. I’m pretty exhausted from all the new content and fan reactions, but I wanted to make one last post that would sum it all up for me.  After a few days of reflecting on the blog I wrote about the STs (yes, not just TLJ) deconstructionism as symbolized in Anakin's/Luke's broken saber, and Rey reconstructed yellow-reyed saber, I've concluded they succeeded in the best way they could have. And it already happened in The Force Awakens. The deconstructed male messiah saviour lead archetype was successfully reconstructed into a female in the arguable most successful franchise of all time. Her lineage is secondary to that. The new Rey of light is a female. End of story (for me). For me. Goal achieved. And she has everything she needs inside her. And the ending yellow saber has a greater connotation of new en-light-enment achieved to light the way forward. If Star Wars is to follow it’s path, it must keep pushing along these lines. Not regressing as it did with Rose in The Rise Of Skywalker.

That's why it's actually good that the alleged Force Ghosts were replaced with audio Rise. Those Jedi would have stolen the spotlight from her at that most crucial (cru-ciform) moment.This new light is about the girl. Her name is 'Rey Skywalker'. The new messiah archetype is for once, in the past 4000+ years, finally a female. I don't say that lightly.

Anyhow, I've spent a few days making sure that's my final opinion. And btw, if Dominic Monaghan is campaigning for a director's cut, as a friend of JJ Abrams I would say that means there is some truth that JJs vision wasn't fully released (to some degree). Although, Dom thinks the film needs more him at the expense of Rose, which is so mind numbingly ignorant I can’t even... Anyways, I'm not agreeing with any side of fandom that's wants a directors cut for their bias - I just want this JJs true full vision, for good or ill.  My gut has told me the movie was too short from the get go. I feel it in my gut that JJ may have wanted more in it. It seems to messy for him. His movies are always tight

Christmas day is the longest night of the year. The Winter Solstice. Jesus is light symbol, and that’s why that day was chosen for his birth.  Days start getting longer and lighter after that. It was a pagan holiday for the same reason, birth of the sun. The last shot is the new pop Jesus in a Middle Eastern desert. They yellow saber is the colour of the sun. Can you see the light? People may ask, what does this mean for the Jedi? The real question is, what does this mean for the Saviour of The Light archetype. The yellow light-saber was a perfect reflection of the single most important shot in all of the Disney era SW: Rey catching the saber in TFA instead of Kylo.  In one single stroke they succeeded in giving one of the world's biggest mythologies a female messiah figure that resonated enough to be a 2 billion dollar film and a movie that meant something to girls everywhere. You can not overstate that achievement. You might say that other franchises in the past occasionally had a female lead (Like Alien or Hunger Games), but none a messiah archetype figure in an actual global mythology that even spawned a registered religion (regrettably on the latter point).

The Son (sun) is female. Time for a little break but I’ll see you all here soon, The Clone Wars is coming! Din

P.S. As for giving everyone the feeling they have that power too (Rey as a nobody from nowhere really is a great idea), they needed to show Finn using The Force more fully towards the end. Instead of yelling "Rey" all the time, they should have said something visually about him. If there is truth to the claims that JJ shot that and was in his supposed 3 hour cut, that's the one thing I want to see the most

[minervacasterly]

Mothers of Destiny: The concept is nothing new in sci-fi or fantasy. It's almost expected. It has its roots in ancient myths, including Judeo-Christian tradition that in turn borrowed from pagan lore.

In almost every space opera or other popular sub-genre of sci-fi there's this prophecy of a chosen one or a super being who'll bring humanity into a golden age of prosperity or defeat the forces of evil. Such is the case with #StarWars, Dune and Terminator. Shmi Skywalker, Jessica Atreides and Sarah Connor are perfect examples of both. Shmi couldn't explain to Qui Gon Jinn how she got pregnant with Anakin. The Extended Universe (now known as Legends) left it clear that it was Plagueis was behind his conception and not the Force as it was alluded in the Prequels. The new canon however points the finger to Darth Sidious. Fellow geeks shouldn't be surprised of either result given that it was also alluded to in "Revenge of the Sith." Regardless of what s/l you choose to follow, the end result is an immaculate conception that parallels that of the Christian tradition with Mary & Jesus, Coatlicue & Huitzilipochtli in the Aztec tradition, and Isis & Horus in the Egyptian tradition.

Unlike these prophesized saviors however, Shmi Skywalker's son ends going off script with him aiding in the Jedi's destruction, giving into temptation into what turned out to be an alternative version of Jesus being tempted by the devil with this galactic Jesus accepting the dark lord's offer. George Lucas was heavily inspired by various religious myths, one of them being the biblical tale of Jesus. One can't help but wonder if like some modern fantasy authors, he wanted to use this messianic trope only to turn it on its head? If that's the case, it ends up making Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader) character arc more tragic.

But Lucas didn't solely base his messiah turned villain in myth. Prior to reading Joseph Campbell's "The Hero's Journey", he also binged on other classical works, namely sci-fi masterpieces. One of them was none other than Dune by Frank Herbert. The saga has -since the author's untimely death- been continued by his son Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Spanning more than tens of thousands of years, Dune like Star Wars is a space opera that's centered around one family: the Atreides. What makes this family special is their bloodline. They, as many other prominent families in this masterpiece, are the product of selective breeding. The minds behind all of this are none other than the highly evolved sisterhood, the "Bene Gesserit", whose goal is to create a supreme being who will bring a golden age of universal enlightenment. However, blinded by their greed and giant egos, they were unable to foresee that their chosen one would be born a generation before to one of their own. Lady Jessica Atreides is a concubine of the powerful Duke Leto Atreides, ruler of the planet Caladaan. Fearing his popularity, the Emperor sends him to Arrakis (Dune) where he gives him complete control over that fiefdom and with it, charges him with the great responsibility of dealing with the Fremen threat. Much to his chagrin -as well as the ire of the Atreides' mortal enemies, the Harkonnen clan- Leto's popularity grows. After his assassination, his son and concubine escape into the desert where they are adopted by the Fremen population who see in Paul Atreides, their long awaited messiah.

Like in the tale of Ishmael from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, Paul and his mother are cast off into the desert by the emperor's favorites. As the two are about to die, they find themselves saved by the god of the desert, shai hulud, the sandworm, the physical manifestation of the Fremen's god. The spice this gigantic creatures produces triggers Paul's dormant abilities. Yet, as we later learn throughout the first novel, it is through Jessica's training that Paul is able to achieve the greatest feats and come face to face with his destiny, nearly becoming all-knowing.

Frank Herbert said in various interviews how he was fascinated with desert religions and myths so it should come as no surprise how Jessica and her son's ordeal mirrors that of Ishmael and his mother Hagar, or that of Isis and Horus. In Egyptian mythology, Isis was the sister wife of Osiris. Osiris was one of the most powerful gods and as a result this attracted the envy of their brother Set. Unable to withstand any more of his brother's achievements, Set killed Osiris. Distraught by her lover's death, Isis ran away with pieces of Osiris flesh which she used on herself to fall pregnant with their son. Months later she gave birth to Horus who became the most celebrated god in Egypt; considered by some the most powerful.

Isis passive resistance against her evil brother Set parallels that of Lady Jessica. As a devoted servant of the Bene Gesserit, she, like so many of her sisters, can control her body's chemistry to choose whether she'll have a son or a daughter. Tasked with giving her lover a daughter who'll be married to the Harkonnen heir, she disobeyed her order and instead gave the Duke his long awaited male heir. This, along with Leto's popularity, sealed his fate. But like the Egyptian mother goddess, Jessica chose to keep his memory alive through his son and heir, using her skills and vast knowledge to guide her son towards his destiny.

Lastly, we have Sarah Connor. Since the first Terminator, she has appeared on many promos with the words "mother of destiny." She certainly is a mother of destiny. But what makes her character so special and in many ways more enduring than the other two is that Sarah Connor started out as your everyday girl. A college student struggling to make ends meet. Living with an extrovert roommate, a pet iguana and stuck in a job she hates. All of a sudden the unimaginable happens and she can't deal with it. Her reaction is one most of us would have id faced with that situation. She doesn't want to be mother of the future. "I can't even balance my checkbook!" -She yells at Kyle Reese but like the aforementioned chosen mothers, she has no choice in the matter. In the end, she gives herself entirely to her destiny, devoting herself to shape her son into the perfect leader for mankind.

While it was their sons who were chosen to lead their people into victory or free them from the forces of evil; their survival and strength is owed in large part to their mothers.