The Fall of the Rakata Pt.2

The final reason for the Infinite Empire's fall was a series of viruses and their carries which eventually came to be known as the Force Plagues. The exact details on how the plagues worked and spread remains obscure, but recent scholarship into the Sith biological experiments of Darth Tenebrous and Terrak Morrhage reveal some insight. These plagues were thought to have originated from the Tython system. Specifically, they were thought to have been created by the ancient Je'daii order as a way of defending against their Rakatan invaders.

A Note on the Tython System:

Tython was an ancient and mysterious planet. Before the Je'daii had founded their Order (circa. 36,400 BBY), the planet was ruled by a host of ancient species. The planet was thought to have been inhabited by the Celestials at some point in the past, although the exact dates are unknown.

Many historians suspect that before the War in Heaven, the Celestials heald Tython as just another planet in their empire. Many suspect that the Celestials actually built the planetary system using their powerful Cosmic Turbines. Evidence for this is the fact that the conditions of life appear to be perfect on each planet in the Tython system. Most planets are located unnaturally close together in the habitable zone of the star Tythos.

The planet (or dwarf planet if the IUA has anything to say about it) Sunspot, while not habitable, has a thin atmosphere that made it possible to set up a small mining colony in the days of the Je'daii Order. It is very rare for planets this close to their star and their other neighbors to have any sort of atmosphere. Additionally, Sunspot appears to have been a rogue planetoid that had been somehow captured by the gravity of the star Tythos.

The second planet, Malterra, is also small and hot, but with a thin atmosphere. Strangely, Sunspot and Malterra orbit so close together that their gravitational wells strongly affect each other. It is highly unlikely that the precision necessary for this formation is natural, as their orbits appear to be too perfectly calculated.

The third planet, Nox, is close to Tythos as well, but it has an incredibly dense atmosphere. Under most natural conditions, this would cause a runaway greenhouse effect rendering Nox uninhabitable. However, Nox's atmosphere has an incredibly high albedo rendering the surface cool. Additionally, the constant cloud cover causes rain to be almost constant on the planet, rendering it possible for life to grow.

Krev Coeur, the fourth planet, has an atmosphere with normal density. Its close proximity to Tythos means that it is still very hot and inhospitable. However, strange life forms are able to dwell in complex underground cave networks. Underground plants can use both chemosynthesis and photosynthesis to support large ecosystems.

Tython is the fifth planet from the star Tythos. It is habitable and has a climate much like that of Corellia, except a little hotter on average. The most unusual thing about Tython is that it is incredibly strong in the Force. This latent power cannot be tapped into directly, but it has an interesting effect upon the native flora and fauna. Additionally, it was considered dangerous for non Force sensitives to live on Tython as they could be harmed by the planets violent outpourings of energy.

Kalimahr is the sixth planet, but its actual distance from Tythos makes it as habitable as an average third or so planet. It orbits close to Tython, but it orbits in such a way that the two planets gravity wells very rarely affect each other. Stranger still, Tython has two moons and Kalimahr has three. Just one moon is unusual for a rocky planet, but so many in such close proximity is practically unheard of.

Shikaakwa is the seventh planet. It has a thick atmosphere and massive oceans that trap heat and regulate temperature. Ska Gora is the eighth planet. It has an unusually dense atmosphere that contains a very high percentage of carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide traps heat causing the outer planet to be warm. Additionally, the thick atmosphere causes the native trees to grow to massive heights. All eight of these inner planets are rocky, a virtually unheard of phenomena. Additionally, their ability to support life cannot be a coincidence.

There is one more rocky planetoid located at the edge of the system called Furies Gate. It is frigid and lifeless. Between Furies Gate and Ska Gora are two large gas giants. This part of the system is less unusual, but it is still strange that there are only two and not far more gas giants.

The Je'daii and Rakatan Invasion:

The saga of the Je'daii order is another story that is too long to tell, but it's ending can be summarized. The Order used the light and the dark sides of the Force in balance. They viewed the dark side, or Bogan, as the embodiment of power but no control. Similarly, they viewed the light side, or the Ashla, as controlled but passive. They believed that powers were neither good nor evil, but good or evil came from how they were used. Similarly, asceticism and hedonism are both stupid ways of life as one should strive to live a life of discipline and virtue instead.

However, this outlook has been criticized heavily by the Jedi who saw it as a weak and promiscuous version of Jedi morality while its adherents are one step away from becoming insane from the dark side. This debate has been taken up again in recent years between the more liberal older generation of Jedi who believe that a Jedi should serve the Force in its entirety versus the more strict younger generation who see the dark side as a dangerous cancer in the Force and so to serve the Force, one should eliminate it. The older generation values freedom while the younger sees themselves as reforming an order of hippie grey Jedi. However, with the rebuilding of the Order in the aftermath of Darth Krayt's purges, the Jedi reformers have taken the upper hand as they completely shun the dark side. Whichever side is right at the end of the day and which is responsible for the atrocities of the Sith is irrelevant, as the important thing is that they learn from history. The point of this accolade is to show both how intertwined the Jedi and Sith and by extension the light and dark sides of the Force are, and to demonstrate that the cycle of reformation, stagnation, and tragedy is a continuous.

The Force Wars were one of the reasons why staunch Jedi Orthodoxy got going in the first place. The wars began with the Rakatan invasion of the Tython system circa. 25,793 BBY. When the Rakata invaded, their presence caused a series of weather anomalies to rip across the planet Tython. The Je'daii were able to repel the invaders, but the effect of their presence triggered a debate on the use and limits of certain dark side powers.

There was already a brewing conflict long before the Rakatan invasion, but their presence was the catalyst that turned debates into open conflict. The Followers of Bogan sought to withdraw from the Order. Meanwhile, the Je'daii Orthodoxy saw them as dangerous heretics. They moved to arrest the Followers of Bogan and war broke out. However, a faction was growing within the Je'daii that led to another group schisiming with the Orthodoxy. This group saw the Followers of Bogan as the dangerous but logical conclusion of the flawed teachings of the Je'daii Order. This group called themselves the Jedi Order, a name which means 'purified' or 'true Je'daii' as they were devoted to the light side only. An observant reader should note the obvious and frightening parallels to the Celestial War in Heaven.

The war raged between the Je'daii and the Followers of Bogan. However, the Je'daii saw the Jedi as heretics as well. This led to the Je'daii fighting a two front war and they were annihilated. Many of the survivors fell to the dark side and were taken in by the Followers of Bogan. However, most survivors chose to side with the Jedi believing that they were right all along after seeing the collapse of the Je'daii Order, although of course many survivors did not see it this way as they only sided with the Jedi because they saw the Jedi as the lesser of two heresies. The Followers of Bogan and the Jedi went to war in the first true clash of light and dark in ages. In the end, the Jedi had superior numbers, teamwork, and experience and so the Followers of Bogan were decimated.

However, a small band of Followers survived, but the Jedi were unable to hunt them down as the Rakata descended for a second invasion circa. 25,783 BBY. The Jedi fought the invaders, but in the end it was a hopeless fight. The Rakata left the Tython system as a series of burned out husks orbiting the star Tythos. However, this victory would be like swallowing a parasite for the Rakata as when they left, they took with them the Force Plague.

The Followers of Bogan were able to board massive generation ships and escape to the distant planet Ossus, a trek that took almost a century. The Jedi remained behind on Tython, but it was clear that there was no use surviving in their hellish post-apocalyptic land and so they evacuated to Ossus as well. When they arrived, the two groups again went to war, but that's the story for another day.

The Force Plague:

When it became clear that the Followers of Bogan were losing, they devised a plan to create a secret weapon. This weapon would be a virus that was supposed to strip its victims of the Force. It was the culmination of thousands of years of Je'daii alchemical, biological, and midichlorian research. It took years to take its final form, but even then, it had a major problem. The virus, when infecting its victims, could not sever powerful Jedi from the Force. It only worked on incredibly weak individuals, which rendered it moot as weak individuals could not use the Force anyway. Another defect was that the prototype virus was unable to mutate across species.

When the Rakata invaded, the Followers recognised the futility of unleashing it against the Jedi, especially since the Jedi were fighting to prevent everyone's extinction. In desperation, the Followers engineered the virus to infect the Rakata. The Rakata left, and this slow-acting virus was able to spread across the Infinite Empire without hindrance.

The virus worked by mutating midichlorians into 'maxi-chlorians.' Maxi-chlorians are a strange mutation that appears as a large, bloated midichlorian. Strangely, they do not allow their host access to the Force as they seem to close themselves off from the flow of life energy between the host and the midichlorian. If all or most midichlorians turn into maxi-chlorians, the target is effectively severed from the Force.

The virus did not infect the Rakata directly, as their midichlorians were able to become infected, but were powerful enough to recover. However, when a Rakata female would conceive, the embryo would not have this privileged protection. Since the virus was already in the female's body, it would migrate to the embryo and turn all its developing midichlorians into maxi-chlorians. Within a few generations, most Rakatan children born could not feel the Force. This, combined with the massive death tolls suffered by the Rakatan warrior caste led the the collapse of the empire.

As the virus's effects became apparent, the Rakata slowly lost the ability to wield their technology. Every level of the once-great empire disintegrated. Any Rakata left were forced to adapt. Most became primitives. A few were able to redesign their technology and flee to the unknown regions, but these small confederations that formed were unable to ever return the glory of the Infinite Empire. All that was left of their once mighty civilization were their many works of engineering such as the Star Forge.