A/N: This fanfic is based off of Godfrey Reggio's movie, POWAQQATSI. It basically shows how the constant changes to the galaxy exploit the natural order of the galaxy, in both good and bad ways. It displays how many evil ways of life exploit and destroy the peaceful lives of the cultures of the galaxy, ruining hard work and polluting religions of the galaxy. It also shows some good changes that bring the galaxy back to a feeling of peace, but cannot entirely restore the old order of things.
However, this isn't a story of despair. In the end sequence of the poem, it's told that the old ways, while weaker than before, often still exist in Star Wars, and continue to cling to life, and perhaps people can see this poem as a call for compassion, a reflection of the same plea for simple cultures to be spared as in Reggio's movie. It's basically a story of hope, a popular theme in Star Wars.
Life in Transformation in a Galaxy Far, Far Away
The beauty of life without conflict. Complete peace and harmony. Diversity and democracy. Individual liberty.
Lots of cultures. Lots of pluralism. No prejudice.
Isn't it significant that Cerea is largely unspoiled? That the Cereans who live there value nature so much?
Sand People tribes. Jawa junk collectors.
Naboo. Artistic humans. Proud native Gungans. Water-based technology and cities.
Kaminoan cloning geniuses.
Mon Calamari. Quarren. Ocean home. Calamari idealism. Dreams of the future. Optimism. Sunlight. Peace. Voyaging among the stars. Quarren conservatism. Memories of the past. Pessimism. Darkness. Aggression. Staying in a familiar home. Often at war, but always making up for it.
Pau'ans and Utai. Cooperation and interdependence. Peaceful bureaucrats ruled humble servants.
Wookiees bringing the hunt of the day home. Ewoks doing the same.
There's a handsome Togruta and a beautiful Twi'lek. Watch out for the bugs of Geonosis.
A fat but smart Besalisk runs a classical diner on Coruscant.
Humans lead the military of the Galactic Republic.
Worship takes place in many forms, too.
Cereans protect nature and learn the spiritual discipline of sword fighting.
Wookiees and Ewoks also show reverence for the natural world and their trees.
Togrutas walk barefoot to keep in touch with the Living Force.
Naboo and Gungans pray to their pantheon of gods.
Ithorians are making fresh new life for every one they killed in accordance with the Law of Life.
Mirialans bow their heads in worship to the Unifying Force in their temples. Kiffar nurture their beloved families and pass on the power of the Force to their children.
Sand People defend their sacred wells. Skakoans pay homage to the Albino Cyclops. Sullustans see death as the Eternal Sleep.
Yoda directs the Jedi Order in all its affairs. Qui-Gon plays the maverick. Obi-Wan fully submits to the Force. Mace offers stern rebukes and wisdom.
Humans worship in a variety of ways.
But then things start to change.
The Sith reemerge. Dooku and Qui-Gon call for changes within the Jedi Order. The Confederacy of Independent Systems offers an alternative to the decaying Republic.
Neimoidians barter for lower taxes. Koorivar introduce commercialism. Gossams and Muuns get mean with money. Skakoans make war technology.
The Clone Wars take place. A Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, the Chosen One, becomes one of its poster heroes. He, Obi-Wan, and Padawan Ahsoka Tano follow in the footsteps of Qui-Gon. The HoloNet is transformed into Republic propaganda. The CIS has its own propaganda, the CIS Shadowfeed. The Sith undermine the Jedi.
Duchess Satine of Mandalore speaks out against the Clone Wars. So does Barriss Offee.
Numerous Jedi turn corrupt and become dark. Sora Bulq. Depa Billaba. Pong Krell. Anti-Jedi sentiment.
The war ends. The Jedi are almost entirely gone. The CIS and Republic have both lost. The Sith have triumphed, and can redesign the galaxy in their own vision. The new Galactic Empire has won.
The Chosen One is now another Sith.
Classical things are gone. They are replaced with box-like, rectangular things.
Imperial Holovision. The annihilation of corruption, rather than its redemption. Disappearing people. Guards everywhere. Moffs and Grand Moffs. Dictatorial rule.
Vader choking hundreds of Imperial officers. Stormtroopers butchering innocents with him. Emperor Palpatine concealing himself in the Imperial Palace.
TIE fighters. Star Destroyers.
A fledgling Rebel Alliance.
The Mon Calamari are no longer peaceful ever again. They have gone to war forever. They are the soul of the Alliance.
Two human-dominated militaries fighting for control of the galaxy.
Luke Skywalker learns about his Force instincts from Obi-Wan and Yoda.
Leia Organa leads the Rebels to victory.
The Rebel Alliance wins. The Empire falls.
But does the galaxy truly recover?
Let's find out.
Aliens are bitter toward Rebel humans as well as Imperial ones for their crimes against alien-kind.
A New Republic is created. It intends to fix the faults of the old one.
Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Empire of the Hand. The Empire almost recovers. The so-called "destroyed" Sith Emperor is back. The Dark Empire. The Emperor is vanquished.
Technology more terrible than the Death Star.
World Devastators. The Galaxy Gun. The Sun Crusher.
A New Jedi Order. More righteous prigs dictating how the galactic citizens will submit to their providence.
More lightsabers. More Jedi-Sith violence. More Jedi mind tricks.
A Jedi Academy on Yavin 4.
The dark side Shadow Academy. Its attempted destruction of the Jedi Academy.
The Diversity Alliance. Aliens versus humanity. The near-genocide of humans.
Humans and aliens start to learn to work together.
The Yuuzhan Vong invade.
The biotechnology. The terraforming. The Embrace of Pain.
The Yuuzhan Vong are defeated after another horrible war involving the Jedi.
More trials come. A Skywalker descendant brings the Sith back to the galaxy. An old, bloodthirsty, murderous woman named Daala. Ruling the new Galactic Alliance.
A New Sith Order ravages the galaxy. Classy and beautiful things are almost non-existent. The galaxy is a technological terror of war.
And yet, not all people despaired at the changed galaxy.
A fair and unbiased government. A new fighting spirit in so many species. The indifference of the Clone Wars is replaced with the love of the New Age.
Palpatine is gone. So is Vader. So is Darth Bane's old Sith Order.
Adaptation to changing circumstances has improved.
Nerf burger with hubba chips. Attachments. Certainty of purpose. Corruption mostly a thing of the past.
Freedom and justice returned. Certain points of view.
A ravaged but time-tested galaxy, braver than ever before.
Many Powaqqatsi's there have been in history, many transformations in life.
And the things of old did not cease to exist.
Calamari and Quarren continue to co-exist to the best of their ability. So do Pau'ans and Utai.
Ithorians continue to live by the Law of Life.
Mirialans and Kiffar, though rarer than they once were, carry on with their reverence for the Force and their devotion to their families.
Wookiees, Gungans, and Ewoks still hunt for their prey and protect their families and tribes.
Togruta and Twi'lek. Cerean and Naboo. Kaminoan. Sand People and Jawas.
Humans continue to dominate the galaxy and rule it with a fair hand.
It will never be the same as it once was in the galaxy, what with "improved" technology for more and worse war. But now, they are united in spirit against the forces of darkness like never before.
Love in heart, love is life.
Transition can be bad. But transition can be good, too.
Powaqqatsi
(An entity, a way of life, that consumes the life forces of other beings in order to further its own life)
