Dark Jedi and Weirdness

After the Battle of Ossus, Pall believed that he had practically won the war. He was almost right. About six months before the battle, the Black Legions began to mass produce blasters and distribute them to their troops. The effect was immediate. The blasters were far more efficient than the pulse-wave blasters that the Republic was forced to rely on, and while blasters were still often outperformed in lethality by rapid fire projectile weapons, there were several factors that contributed to their overall better efficiency.

First of all, blasters cut through kevlar and other projectile-resistant materials like a lightsaber through butter. This rendered most forms of protective armor practically moot. A brigade armed with blasters would easily defeat a brigade armed with rapid fire projectile firearms given that both wore the same protective armor. Remember, up until this point the most effective weapons to get around heavy armor (besides of course explosives) was the tri-blaster and pulse-wave blaster. However, both were unreliable and used up their ammunition quickly. The blaster was more accurate and efficient.

However, the primary reason that blasters helped Pall was because of indirect effects. Not only could blasters be sold to the highest bidder, but when the new technology entered the battlefield previously unallied nation states were quick to side with the Black Legions not only to get their hands on the technology, but also to prevent the technology from being used against them. Now of course, once the blaster was released, everyone began to reverse engineer and mass produce them, including the Republic. However, the initial shock of the blaster caused the Legions to gain several key systems. This, combined with the alliance surge, caused the Legions to gather unstoppable momentum. This momentum was soon bearing down on the Core Worlds.

Even with the string of victories won by the Black Legions, it was thought that Coruscant was impregnable. Coruscant was simply too deep into the Core to launch a hyperspace invasion without taking several more heavily guarded worlds. However, the Republic had not learned from Kuat not to underestimate Pall's tactics and abilities.

Three Dark Jedi leaders went on the expedition. Months before the battle, Pall planned out his attack strategy. He, Dreypa, and Syn sought a way around the Core. After spending days in meditation, Pall believed that he had found a route. The route chosen would cut through the then unknown Koornacht Cluster with the fleet stopping at the planet J't'p'tan, then cut through a maze of densely packed stars to reach the planet Prakith, then cut again through a maze of stars to reach Tython, then finally launch an attack on Coruscant from the jump point of Tython. This route, needless to say, was incredibly hazardous. Most admirals would dismiss the plan outright, but Pall trusted in the Force to show him the way, and these planets were the centers of a shatterpoint faultline that bisected the Core. If it could be pulled off successfully, they could take Coruscant, then carve through the Republic from the inside.

Pall was committed to it, and for months in advance he mapped out the route. He, Dreypa, and Syn were the main ones to scout out the lane in these early days. They landed on J't'p'tan where they made contact with the native Fallanassi sect with whom they tried to form an alliance with.

A Short History of the Fallanassi:

The history of the Fallanassi is mostly unknown as they are a very secretive people. However, historians have been able to construct their origins as well as significant events in the history of their order using what fragments are available.

In the present era, if the Fallanassi are known at all, they are known as a peaceful organization that uses the power of the 'White Current' (a fancy name for an aspect of the Force) to project illusions to hide and avoid conflict. However, they did not always have this peaceful reputation. Indeed, the Fallanassi were one of the many dark side cults that sprang up following the exodus of the Followers of Bogan. One, or perhaps many, ships fleeing the Tython system crash landed on J't'p'tan, and from these survivors sprang up a dark side cult whose members focused on using the power of projecting illusions. These Followers apparently loss access to their technology by unknown means, but many hypothesize that a series of conflicts or engine malfunctions caused their ships to be unusable, and they just didn't repair them. These Followers developed into the Fallanassi.

The Fallanassi developed a primitive hunter-gatherer society. It is believed that their illusion-casting powers intensified at the expense of all others as a survival mechanism. They became devoted to the 'White Current' which they believed to be the source of all their illusion-based power.

A Note on the White Current:

The Force works in mysterious ways. While this is a truism, there are some mysteries that are more well explained than others. The relationship between the Fallanassi's view of the Force and the Jedi's view is one that is still mysterious.

It is known that some people are born with certain aptitudes for learning how to use the Force. For example, some with a particularly high number of certain midichlorians have a greater access to the Unifying Force. This grants them the shatterpoint ability, which is a very advanced form of the standard precognition ability.

Others have a certain aptitude for telepathic-based power, sometimes even exclusively. Most Jedi biologists do not believe that this aptitude is due to midichlorians, rather, most believe that it is due simply to certain structures in the brain. It is believed that those with a greater sensitivity to telepathy are able to learn Sith Sorcery more easily as most sorcery is based around mental manipulation. For example, in surviving notes from the writings of Darth Bane, he states that he believed Darth Zannah to have a greater aptitude for sorcery at the expense of her ability to directly channel the Force in the form of Force Lightning. Usually, there natural aptitudes are minor, much like one's natural aptitude for mathematics or music, but over time they can become truly bizarre. For example, the Iktotchi are, as a species, are not Force sensitive, (note: their average midichlorian count is higher than normal, but not high enough to meet the qualifications of being Force-sensitive) and yet they have natural precognitive and telepathic abilities.

Sometimes Force sensitives are born with strange powers as well. For example, the human Jedi Master Corran Horn was born into a family that had a natural aptitude for telepathic, specifically illusion-based, powers, but he could not use telekinesis to any great extent under most circumstances. Although after his death his brain was unable to be dissected, much to the dismay of some Jedi scientists, his descendants have volunteered to undergo regular brain-scans. These finds strongly hint that his family is born with an extreme form of this natural aptitude for sorcery and illusion.

It is hypothesized that the Fallanassi are the result of this trait evolving in a human population. This would explain why the Fallanassi are so devoted to illusions but seem incapable of using their abilities for telekinesis. The Fallanassi however, do not believe that they are using the Force. Jedi who have studies them report however that they are indeed using the Force, just under a strange appearance. The Jedi believe that due to the Fallanassi Order's unusual powers, they see the Force in a very strange light.

Another ability that hints to this correlation is energy manipulation. Corran Horn and his descendants were able to use the Force to absorb and deflect energy with incredible efficiency. Similarly, the Fallanassi specialize in energy manipulation but only in the form of camouflage, that is to say the bending of light. They are able to use their abilities to create mirages that seem real even to most scanners. A Sith with similar extreme natural aptitudes was Aleema Keto who lived circa. 4000 BBY and who fought in the Great Sith War. (Aleema Keto will be further elaborated on in a future chapter.)

Therefore, most Jedi believe that the White Current is not a separate aspect of the Force in the proper sense, rather it is simply how the Fallanassi see the Force, that is to say, they see the Force this way because they have inherited natural aptitudes that restrict their use of the Force beyond illusions and energy manipulation abilities.

Back to the Fallanassi:

The early history of the Fallanassi is mostly unknown, but records indicate that they do have a strong connection to the Sith. Circa. 12,800 BBY, a small fleet of Sith ships full of refugees somehow managed to navigate out of Sith Space in an attempt to escape the endless warfare of the Hathor Heresy. These Sith eventually made it to Republic space where they pleaded the Republic to take them in and give them a place to live. However, the Jedi were afraid of them and their fierce dark side auras, and so the Jedi persuaded the leaders in charge to drive them away into the Deep Core, or at least that's the official story.

At the time, the Republic was locked in the Fifth Alsakan Conflict. This conflict was not much of a war and more of a period of hostility and stupidity that lasted well over three hundred years. (circa. 13,050-12,700 BBY) Interwoven in this long conflict was the Fourth (13,050-13,000 BBY) and Fifth (12,850-12,700 BBY) Azure Conflicts, a series of rivalries between Anaxes and Coruscant/Alsakan. During this age, the Republic had effectively split into two, and sometimes three, factions (East and West Republic, and sometimes the confusingly named Northwest Republic) who were technically at war, but due to shared economic interests, everyone ignored this war. In fact, most of the Republic's infrastructure and bureaucracy was shared. The East, West, and Northwest Republics were in effect one government with two or three heads that constantly bickered. This, as expected, caused a bureaucratic nightmare that lasted for centuries. Many believe that the Sith were driven away not because they were a perceived threat or due to religious prejudices, but simply because the Jedi believed that the Sith would be hired by one side or another as a Force-sensitive anti-order. And so, to keep things perfectly balanced as all things should be, the Jedi preemptively struck and forced the Sith into the Deep Core where they were never seen or heard from again.

These Sith somehow found the Fallanassi. Perhaps they sensed their connection to the Force and followed. When the Sith arrived, the two groups eventually became one culture which continued to exist in a primitive state for thousands of years. The humans and Sith used alchemical techniques to create human-Sith hybrids, but eventually the Sith bloodline died out as there were so many humans that the Sith genes were too widely dispersed. After a few thousand years, the Fallanassi became more technologically adept through unknown means until they were able to leave J't'p'Tan. However, most chose not to, and technology remained a small part of their lives. The Fallanassi did not come into contact with the Republic at large until thousands of years later circa. 8,000 BBY.

The 'Bedlam Spirits:'

The beings who would come to be known to drunken spacers as the Bedlam Spirits were born Fallanassi adepts sometime before 8,000 BBY. Their names were Tilotny, Cold Danda Sine, Horliss-Horliss, and Splendid Ap. (Attentive readers will notice that they are named after Sith gods, which emphasizes the fusion between the two cultures.) There was a fifth named E'lon M'ust whom we will see in a moment. They were some of the first Fallanassi scouts who came into contact with the Republic. While exploring, they were known to have used their illusion-based powers to become wealthy. This attracted attention to themselves, and they were pursued by the Jedi and teams of bounty hunters.

They were known to have bought top of the line bulletproof white armor as illusions could not stop firearms. Additionally, fearing death, they dove deep into their Sith heritage and any dark side teachings that they could find. The power that they sought was the power to transcend death and inhabit other bodies, but their training was incomplete as a result of the difficulty of their quest and a spacefaring accident. They attempted to travel to the Force-rich world of Bedlam, but they accidentally jumped too close to the infamous Bedlam Pulsar, and their ship was damaged by radiation, which gave each one a lethal dose. E'lon was the most powerful, and as such he overpowered the others and was able to escape in a pod equipped with a dimensional drive, but the others were not so lucky. Their ship crashed on Bedlam where their bodies remain to this day. Ap died in the crash while the other three were able to escape the wreck only to die some time later, likely due to radiation sickness. Archaeologists have uncovered their remains and stories only recently.

However, due to their dark side training, they were able to transcend death in the form of Force ghosts. These vengeful spirits have been driven to madness over the years, and may remain to this day. According to legends, their illusionary power is so great that they can appear to warp reality, trick their victims into believing that they are dead, and even fool people into believing that they traveled back in time to the day when the spirits originally came to Bedlam. These meddlesome spirits were eventually destroyed by a team of Jedi Force-Ghostbusters who annihilated them with the Force Light ability.

E'lon escaped and crash-landed on a nearby, uninhabited planet. The planet's primitive natives venerated him as a god, but he died a short time later. Millenia later when the planet was discovered by the Republic at large, the natives relayed this story to the explorers. The explorers were fascinated and decided to name the planet after the legend, and thus the planet came to be known as M'ust. The primitive natives were then named after their planet, and thus are known as M'usts.

However, E'lon was able to transcend death in the form of a fiery spirit. The native M'usts would often sacrifice their prisoners of war to this fiery god who would drain them of their life force. However, E'lon was in reality gathering energy and looking for a suitable host for that he could complete his ritual and gain a new, stolen body. This finally worked thousands of years later (circa. 3 BBY) when the Jashwik freedom fighter Cody Sunn-Childe, who was naturally very powerful in the Force, was sacrificed. It was then that E'lon attempted his ritual, but he was only partially successful. By then, his memories and consciousness was so eroded and corrupt that it didn't 'download' properly. Instead, Cody inherited his powers and his dark and twisted personality.

Cody later went on to learn to use his illusionary powers for good. He was able to discover an ancient Celestial Monolith (long story) in which he hid until circa. 3 ABY when the Empire found and killed him. However, his journal was recovered which gave historians access to this tale.

Back to the Dark Jedi:

Pall, Syn, and Dreypa arrived on J't'p'tan where they spent months learning from the Fallanassi. They originally wanted to form an alliance with them and bring them into the Black Legions, however this did not work. In fact, things turned violent before the Dark Jedi left. According to Pall's disgusted and snarky commentary, it seems that Dreypa had an affair (to put it mildly) with the high shaman's daughter. The shaman found out, and the entire Fallanassi sect turned against the Dark Jedi ruining any chance of an alliance. Pall writes that he would have killed Dreypa on the spot had it not been for his much-needed battle meditation ability.

After the route between the four planets is secure, Pall gathers his forces. The Black Legions let up on the front line and withdrew a large number of warships. On the surface, it seemed that the Legions could not get past the fortress worlds of the Core and Inner Rim. In reality, they were just letting up on the attack to collect their ships. These chosen ships were transported via little-used hyperspace routes to a rendezvous point. They then, guided by Pall's shatterpoint astronavigation ability, jumped to J't'p'tan. However, things were not well and good. When the first ships emerged in the space around J't'p'tan, the Fallanassi, still pissed, began an attack. Now, the Fallanassi technology was on the whole not very advanced and they did not have many warships. Pall's fleet was forced to fight back. He had originally intended to just disable their vessels and run, but then the rest of the Fleet emerged and saw their flagship engaged in a duel to the death. The rest of the fleet opened fire. The Fallanassi were annihilated.

Pall again contemplated committing suicide by leading the Fleet into a nearby star, but decided that it was too late. He then led the Fleet to Prakith. In the aftermath of the Fallanassi-Black Legions 'War,' surviving Fallanassi reformed their order and became devoted to extreme pacifism. They also developed a passive-aggressive nature towards all members of the male sex.

Pall then led his forces to regroup over Tython, then finally to Coruscant.