Master Rank Discussion

[Captain Untouchable]

Hmm. Okay. That just seems like a really weird way of doing it; I'd have expected us to sit down and say "Okay, Barton is probably going to think this, while Navaria might suggest that," so that we know what we're aiming for.

I mean, personally, my character wouldn't have anything to weigh in with. It wouldn't be in his nature to contribute, because he's so stoic, silent, and basically has no experience whatsoever with this side of things. Does that mean I either have to have no input, or be uncharacteristic in order to weigh in at all?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Alright then... if you have an idea for how you want to see the Jedi evolve as a faction, post a summary of said idea

[Navaria Tarkin]

Of course you have input duh

It is just the last time we tried to plan things ahead of time, things fell apart. Seriously. Having anything set in stone at such a fledgling stage of things might do more harm then good. I rather just RP it out for a change and see what happens.

More people might want to say something, but the majority thus far want to just simply RP it out. That is usually what we do after everyone has their say. I know for the longest time, since the idea of the Jedi running amuck, we wanted to keep things rather loose and free. So OOC yes, you have a say. But what happens IC is really for the characters to decide - at least how I would like to see it. Things can always be hashed out in here, but frankly - Navaria has no opinion until see hears what the other Jedi have to say ... and to say I would do so and so, and I would this and that would be better served in RP then doing double work

Talking about at length kinda kills the stories

[Captain Untouchable]

*shrug* Whatever, then, if that's what people want to do.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Dude, post your thoughts. You wanted to share ideas and hammer out what we're gonna do with the groups future, so share Nav and I aren't the only ones with a say in what happens here.

[Navaria Tarkin]

My post was my opinion it is not law. And if you would have read it thoroughly, I said to share your thoughts and that in the end, just discussing it IC might not be the majority.

So ... please don't take differing opinions personally. We all can't agree on everything.

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm not taking anything personally; if the majority of people want to have things evolve IC, then that's fair enough. Don't mistake me backing down for being offended.

[Navaria Tarkin]

And what I am trying to say is that what might seem to be the case, might not be in the end, and should still offer your opinions. Things could change. Nothing is set in stone XD

[Dasquian Belargic]

Alrighty, then. Thoughts, everyone else?

[Captain Untouchable]

I was hoping to spark some healthy discussion, is all.

The only thought I had was that it might be cool to have a Watchman for each Alliance Sector (there are seven, I think), maybe with a Grandmaster to supervise over things. Watchmen can be Knights or Masters; figured that gives us more flex of who gets to be in charge. Plus, we already have one for Corellia anyway. Purely an idea I like for the novelty: no idea how practical it would be.

I'll go with whatever; I'm just nervous about going in blind. A lot of my threads seem to die because people aren't sure what is meant to be happening.

[Droo]

I'll get some of my thoughts down here after Autumnwatch.

[Droo]

Okay, I have a guest tonight and consequently I won't be able to prattle on as much as I might like to here but my immediate thought on this matter is this: whatever we go with in the end, I'd like it to be far removed from anything we've seen in the Star Wars movies or the expanded universe.

Based on my limited knowledge of EU stories, I may be wrong in my assumption that nothing quite like the setup we have in our little roleplaying world, with the state of the Jedi, the Wheel, the Empire and the Rebellion, has ever happened before so we are liberated from any neccessity to adhere to tradition. Is there any need for Ye Olde Jedi Council?

That said, it's a wasted opportunity not to establish some kind of infrastructure within the Jedi community simply because it will spark conflict and story. Personalities are bound to clash and then there is the question of what will be the Jedi's first order of business? I think I'm stating the obvious here so I'll move on.

In brief, I think what will dictate how the Jedi collective will operate depends on the principles of the Jedi themselves. Our characters, given their varied backgrounds, histories, and tutilage in the ways of the Force, have vastly differing opinions on what makes a Jedi and what a Jedi should do and what is best for the group as a whole. Instead of homogenising the group under one linear infrastructure, we could accomodate the various methodologies and ideologies of its members.

Think of the four Houses of Hogwarts, and you'll be along the right lines. Something like that would promote a healthy spirit of competition and team rivalry within the group, too. I'll muse over this more and come back to it when I have a bit more time.

[Navaria Tarkin]

I must say, I'm kinda digging where Droo is going with this ...

[Ilias Nytrau]

What he said. And... what she said.

This is the summation of my 'weighing in' thus far.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I'm getting a little deja vu about this idea.. I'm sure it's been brought up before, but we just didn't feel that the faction was far enough along - or rather, all close enough together - to actally begin to illustrate the divisions.

Either way, I like the concept. Until the Rebellion transforms into the Republic, or at least begins to get itself on equal footing with the Empire, I can't imagine there being a 'stable' Jedi faction. Though I like the Watchmen idea, I suppose this is why I have difficulty seeing it materialise yet - as it would either require physically splitting the group, to send each Jedi to their planet, or if they were working out of the Wheel, splitting their focus/energies in a way that seems like it would create a lot of chaos in itself

We already tried to put down on a planet with Vortex, and as is symptomatic of the galaxy we are currently playing in, we were almost discovered there - so it seems natural to me that we keep with the moving base of operations, at least for now. I think there is still a lot to be explored with the Wheel, and if nothing else it allows us a certain amount of freedom in where we can go, what we can do and who can find us, since we are travelling with the Rebels (i.e. new members can come into the fold by acquiring ship co-ordinates, rather than having to explain how they knew about the super-duper secret base hidden from the Empire on some random planet )

[Captain Untouchable]

The Watchman thing doesn't mean they have to be constantly off doing stuff, Jen: Yoda was a Watchman for example, and he spent almost all of his time on Coruscant. And at least two sectors - Alderaan and Corellia - aren't "Rebel Territory". If shizzle went down in their sector then sure... but yeah. The idea mostly came from echoing the Alliance Council, if we decided to have close cooperation between the groups, or whatever.

I'm a touch confused by Droo's idea. Are we talking about taking the Jedi Order that we've spent ages trying to bring back together, and then chopping it up? To follow your Hogwarts analogy, each "House" would have members of different personalities and philosophies... is that like the difference between a "Jedi Guardian", "Jedi Sentinel", "Jedi Consular", etc? Or were you thinking more of them being rival, self-contained political factions? Is this separate to any kind of leadership, or are you envisioning an umbrella Council or similar that consists of the "Headmaster" and "Teachers"?

I think there is still a lot to be explored with the Wheel, and if nothing else it allows us a certain amount of freedom in where we can go, what we can do and who can find us, since we are travelling with the Rebels (i.e. new members can come into the fold by acquiring ship co-ordinates, rather than having to explain how they knew about the super-duper secret base hidden from the Empire on some random planet )

I just had a thought regarding that, actually. Has anyone seen Warehouse 13 (or Supernatural, for that matter)? The gist of the show is that freaky stuff happens, and then the characters turn up under the assumption that something paranormal is responsible for it. What if we had something similar - a couple of Rebel Intelligence officers who trawl through news feeds (both modern and immediately after the Purge), trying to spot weird stuff that might imply someone with Force powers? Tionne recently had a run in with an Iquisitor on Coruscant which might catch their eye; that sort of thing.

[Droo]

I have to admit, I haven't given the issues of leadership and infrastructure much thought. Instead, I'm simply musing over what I'd like to see in terms of story and character so feel free to point out any flaws in the idea, I'll do as much in just a moment.

Basically, if we imagine our characters are suddenly embroiled in this IC discussion entitled "Where Do We Go From Here?" then we'll immediately discover one thing: no-one agrees. It is a problem for our characters but a blessing for us. Conflict. Diversity. Uncertainty. We ought to take this feature of the Jedi and put it under the microscope, in the spotlight, dress it up in a neon catsuit and parade it around town.

So what I propose is a system which allows our characters to blossom as individuals while at the same time establishing a foundation of order. If our characters were presented with a pressing issue and were asked to debate it out, we discover the side of the fence on which they fall, the principles most dear to their hearts, and the kind of Jedi they wish to become. There won't be so much diversity of opinion that we can't round them up into neat groups of Jedi sub-divisions, amongst those with whom they identify, under a banner which accurately expresses who they are as Jedi. It sounds a bit lah-di-dah, but it's pretty straight forward really and in terms of how the divides work, well, terms such as Consular, Sentinel, and Guardian wouldn't be far off the mark.

And as for leadership, off the bat I would say each of these groups elects for themselves some form of leadership, whatever best suits them; one group might have one person, another two, while another group might elect an entire mini-council for representation, but whatever form of leadership each group decides upon, each would get only one vote in the grand scheme of things. Suddenly you have an ocean of clashing opinions whittled neatly down to two, three, or four.

Now, the immediate flaw in this scheme is that perhaps we don't have that many roleplayers around to have each of these "Houses" effectively represented, and consequently, the sense of cultural diversity amongst the Jedi falls flat.

Disclaimer time: what I am not proposing is divides amongst the Jedi which are so vast they become counter-productive to the groups operation, think of it as more of a cultural divide than anything, for colour and fun. All Jedi still have the same basic principles in the end, to survive and to protect and to be good people.

And stretching the Hogwarts analogy a little further here, just because a Jedi belongs to a certain group doesn't mean they would be segregated from the other groups, not at all. They would all still train and socialise together, just like Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy go to the same potions lessons and share the same Great Hall, but at the same time there's that sense of rivalry(although in fairness, in their case they pretty much hate each other).

In my case, there's Loki, who's ideology as a Jedi is pretty much that of a samurai: discipline and pride, with an emphasis on physical combat. There will be Jedi who are much more passive and those who are more laid back, there will be those who emphasise the use of Force powers in combat sooner than the use of a lightsaber, and so on... In this way, we may also begin to see how a system of training can unfold for padawans, those from the group with which Loki is associated may oversee lightsaber combat training while masters in another group might be responsible for training telekinesis and the like. While the setup is, in essence, quite simple, it can be used as a foundation to build upon without homogenising our Jedi.

[Captain Untouchable]

I'm gonna jump on the intregued bandwagon with this.

If I'm understanding you correctly (I'm gonna go with KOTOR class terms for want of a better alternative), Jedi would sorta gravitate towards the "class" that suits them best. People with samurai beliefs would head towards the "Guardians"; people with a more philosophical, Bhuddist perspective would go for the "Consulars"; and then the 'we should be protectors of law and order' people would go for the "Sentinels", or whatever. Then they'd all teach the rest of the Jedi the stuff they're good at: Guardians might run Lightsaber classes; Consulars teach you how to levitate rocks while standing on your head; Sentinels teach you mind tricks and tracking, etc.

Am I getting the gist of it right?

If so, I really like this idea, and am behind it 100%. It settles issues like the differing opinions of Jenny's three characters nicely, and is a pretty easy structure to work with.

The only question would be of at-the-top leadership. Would we have a triumveritae (love that term) with a representative from each 'class'? Or would we have that, plus a "Grandmaster" at the top of the pile for convenience? It might make sense to have Navaria as a Grandmaster, and then (picking the first member of each class that comes to mind) Drin, Tionne and Daria as the Guardian/Sentinel/Consular triumveritae, or something.

Triumveritae. It deserves saying more times. And possibly a little dancing.

[Tionne Thanewulf]

Tionne wishes to sit in her respective throne, smoke her pipe and be snide in the face of danger.

Also, the latter is what she will teach her students.

But yah, I like the idea.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I like all of what Droo has suggested.

I have always envisaged Daria taking a position of leadership, to be honest - see 'Years From Now...' - but I wouldn't force it on her without support from the rest of you guys.

Fortunately, I would be able to have a character in each 'group' - Corell is undoubtedly a Guardian, and Barton's sense of morality makes him a clear-cut Sentinel in my mind