What I’ve come up with so far are the Eili Starancers.
The Eili are a group in between the Jedi and the Sith; they follow parts of the ideology of both. They seek peace and harmony, seek to be a force of good, similar to the Jedi, but they don’t forsake emotion and power just as the Sith don’t. They’re a group who act pretty much like an Eilistraeen would; trying to be kind, trying to end violence with quick violence, pursuing song and dance, etc.
The way I envision them is that they are Sith in origin (in some ways the Sith are the drow of the Star Wars universe anyway). Now, the Sith embrace their emotions to draw strength from them. The way I can see the Eili (yes, yes, it’s a lame shortening of Eilistraee) starting is that they enhance their emotions through music and dance, thus drawing power from that. But unlike most Sith they seek peace and happiness and when the first ancient Sith empire was born they were driven into hiding, becoming a rebel faction in a way.
Their rebellion failed, but the group and their religion continued to exist. Here I’m thinking that an ‘Eilistraee’ character could’ve been the founder of the religion who survived as a force ghost or such. Now in the setting of this MMO they stand between the Sith and the Jedi, trying to find peace but not forsaking violence when needed, drawing strength while trying to do good. And singing and dancing of course.
It wouldn’t be exclusively Force-users I don’t think, I can easily see other kinds being drawn to the philosophy as well (similar as to Jedi and Sith to begin with really).
I’ve also been putting some thought into a ‘Code’ for them, similar to the codes the Jedi and Sith have:
[center:ostt7gyi][i:ostt7gyi]There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force.[/i:ostt7gyi]
- the Jedi Code
[i:ostt7gyi]Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.[/i:ostt7gyi]
- the Sith Code[/center:ostt7gyi]
I’ve tried to take those and construct something in which both the Jedi and the Sith could see both things they agree with and things they do not (and thing they’re indifferent towards), something that fits with Eilistraee’s credo. What I’ve come up with so far is this:
[center:ostt7gyi][i:ostt7gyi]We sing of strength, for it brings peace.
We sing of passion, for it brings love.
We sing of kindness, for it brings harmony.
We sing of merriment, for it brings joy.
The Force is the melody that frees us.[/i:ostt7gyi]
- the Eili Code[/center:ostt7gyi]
To explain, “strength”->“peace” is basically saying “end violence with swift violence” and defend the weak and all that. By being strong you can defend those who can’t defend themselves and put a quick end to those who would threaten peace. Interesting here is that the Sith particularly pursue strength while the Jedi seek peace, so if something the Sith seek can achieve something the Jedi seek we’ve nicely muddied the waters between them.
“passion”->“love” means that we are passionate then others can see this and get to appreciate that which we are passionate about. It also refers to the connection that you’re generally passionate about love and passionate when in love. And yes this is probably the weakest line of the lot, but I wanted to get “love” in there because it’s very strongly a positive (and thus good) emotion (and thus something the Jedi eschew).
“kindness”->“harmony” refers to always needing to be kind to others, for then they’re more inclined to be kind to you and such harmony between all is achieved. This is something a Jedi might agree with, but a Sith would scoff at (but isn’t directly against their code).
“merriment”->“joy” refers to trying to promote happiness. This line is a bit tricky because it’s basically saying the same thing twice (“merriment” and “joy” being closely related words), but I couldn’t think of anything better (and came from a form where I originally had “we seek to be merry so that all can know joy”). I think a Jedi would scoff at this (for themselves at least as happiness is very much an emotion) and the Sith wouldn’t have any objection to it as such.
The last line about the Force freeing us is very close to the last line of the Sith Code (as they’re supposed to come from the Sith), but with some distinct differences. For one it refers to “we” instead of “I”. And secondly where the Sith seek to be free from the bonds of life or such, here it’s more freedom from oppression. And though Jedi don’t seek freedom themselves (but oneness) it thus could still be something they could agree with.
I also had a line in there originally about “tolerance” and “freedom”, but decided that it was already getting too long and was just repeating things anyway (the “tolerance” now being more in the “kindness” and the “freedom” in the last sentence).
I also chose the form of “we sing…” because I wanted to refer to music in there. And combining that with the “melody” I put in the last line one might infer that they “sing” by using the Force. And while I wanted to I decided not to put anything in about food or dance since I could find no place to fit it naturally.
So in short they seek to ‘convert’ the Sith by convincing them that they can find strength in other emotions than hate, fear and anger, that they don’t have to be destructive and can be happy living in peace. And at the same time they try and convince the Jedi that following one’s emotions doesn’t mean they can’t live in peace and harmony with the Jedi Order. In essence, for the Eili there is no light and dark side to the Force, but to them “the Force is life” and has no color beyond that.
I think that this way you get a group that functions a lot like the Eilistraeens do in D&D; seen as betrayers by their ‘kin’ (the Sith) and distrusted by the ‘good guys’, where they can be attacked by both sides. They’re a group making their own way, eternal underdogs in the face of these much larger powers, finding their joy and their strength in song and dance. I can totally see them developing lightsaber combat forms based on dancing, the emotion that dance evokes in them fuelling their Force powers.
A fairly unique approach to the whole Star Wars universe I think.
And yes, I probably spent [i:ostt7gyi]way[/i:ostt7gyi] more time thinking about this than I should.
But let me know what you think.
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Shir'le
(still pissed at ralstore)