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| Patriots | |
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| Historical Information | |
| Founding Date |
7 ABY, as the Children of Light |
| Reorganization | |
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- "We hold back the night. Our lives before theirs. Let justice be done though the heavens fall."
- — The Oath of the Edge.
The Patriots are the Force-users of the Jade Empire. Many hold rank in the diplomatic corps or various branches of the armed forces, while others serve as sheriffs on lawless worlds like Trevel'ka and Faran's Hold. Patriots can be found throughout the Unknown Regions, from the underbelly of Celesta to nameless shadowports.
Their methods are strict, drawing from the Sai'mrai traditions of the Jade Worlds, but their tactics vary. Some combat-oriented Patriots use K4 Barrakut Combat Arms Suits or lightsabres, while others prefer the kiai'ta sword or some variant of pistol. A few serve as starfighter pilots.
Since their creation, the Patriots have focused on identifying candidates with marginal, limited Force-sensitivity and training them to their maximum potential. This has improved with the assimilation or 'polite conquest' of Celesta, a world where Force-detecting technology is associated with long tradition. As a result, though the Patriots can field only a handful of truly powerful individuals, their ranks of very low-level Forcers have swelled to hundreds or thousands. Exact numbers are a matter of speculation.
Though Darksiders can be Patriots, it is considered bad form for a Light-oriented Patriot to fall, and conversion to the Light is recommended.
No prejudice is enacted against Darksiders in Patriot-controlled territory. However, any Force-user who commits a felony is shipped to the Forcer prison on Armitage.
Origins[]
The Jade Worlds had their own Force-using traditions, going back for millennia. One of the last true masters of those arts, Akemi Nakamura, was asked to train the Shau'ghun's young daughter, a prodigy named Halla Kitani Kaijus. She and her fellow 'Children of Light' became the Jade Worlds' equivalent of Jedi. Later, when Lyn-Char Beorht, Ember Rekali, Brembla Kol and Ashin Varanin came to the Jade Worlds, they instructed Halla and some of her associates in the Jedi way.
After the collapse of the Isen Star Empire, dozens of Force-sensitive nobles fled to the Jade Sector, to remain there while the sector was ruled by the Black Star Confederacy and then the Kartanin Dominion. Others lived on colonies composed of Jadeworlders and citizens of the Sandian Imperial League, as well as the Kingdom of Halcyon. Meanwhile, nascent Force-users began to turn up during the rebellion that overthrew the Uul'ba-Rai Imperium. Generally, these were slaves, captives from many Unknown Regions civilizations; also generally, their connection tended towards the Dark Side.
When the Jade Worlds declared independence and united with the Rai Republic, Shau'ghun Halla Terrablade saw the need to provide a structure for the various Force-sensitives under her rule, especially those in the Shau'ghunate Guard. The result was the Patriots, a semiformal organization branching out through the armed forces, the civil service and the private sector. This organization has since come under closer scrutiny and control.
The Patriot organization also includes any Force-sensitive members of the Templar or the Halcyon Monks. It includes a very few Jukre Star Sailors. Its ranks have swelled with several years of recruitment on Celesta and Kro Var.
Procedures and Ranks[]
- "The Jedi and the Sith focus on the world-shaking prodigies. We're interested in the housewife who can stir a cup of caf if she focuses real hard. And you'd better believe the Jedi and the Sith have no idea how to train someone like that to her full potential."
- — Fadin Kurn, public interview, 15 ABY
Once, Patriots were divided into four levels. Now, there are no ranks beyond those of the military, law enforcement, bureaucracy and diplomatic corps. To join the Patriots is to be fast-tracked towards one of those paths. A weak Force-user, instead of achieving substandard performance in a variety of traditional skills, is often trained in a more specialized field. Diplomats are taught to detect falsehood with the Force; pilots are taught to use the Force in flight. The Patriots have always embraced specialization and cooperation, a model which Ashin Varanin stole and applied to divisions of the Central Command Operatives.
Force-sensitive government employees are required to undergo basic Force training, a course of meditation designed to ensure that nascent Force-users are no threat to themselves or others. This class is encouraged for any Force-sensitive JE citizen or permanent resident, and proves a potent recruiting tool.
High-level training takes place in a classified location: Loki Station, which has been relocated more than once in response to the defection of senior Patriots such as Varanin and Siriss Cortann.
Loki Station, home to top-secret research and high-level Patriot training.
The vast majority of Patriot sheriffs have capabilities similar to a midlevel Jedi Padawan. However, after extensive research on Jedi mind tricks - aided by Jedi such as Varanin, Beorht, Kol and Rekali - the Patriots have isolated the brainwaves associated with mental manipulation, illusion and so forth. Any Patriot who is outfitted with a Command Tactical Implant has built-in alarm programming: the implant will detect mental influence and alert the nearest control node, as well as the Patriot.
Some of the bodies of the Kabeen hive mind are bred to use the Force in simple ways.
Techniques[]
- "Our rule is, if you want to learn something, give something. I'll teach what I've learned if you care enough to have something to teach me. Ror is the same way. That's how we keep people from just accumulating power for power's sake. Oh. And you have to teach us first."
- — Kalo-Kaa to a high-level class.
Many Patriots prefer updated versions of traditional swords, using songsteel, energy fields, or darksaber technology.
The Patriots have no set weapon. Popular choices include the curved kiai'ta and shorter makizash, the jiann, the lightsabre, the Guard Naval Blaster, and the Blooddrinker. Other Patriots focus on using their Force skills with their specific job, such as heavy gunnery or hand-to-hand combat. Some train in commando hand-to-hand; some in esoteric martial arts. All major styles of combat have representatives in the Patriots, and some Patriots do not train for combat at all. The influence of Akemi Nakamura and other representatives of the Jade Worlds' ancient Force tradition has coloured Patriot education to a high degree.
In 17 ABY, the Empress and her Patriot bodyguards visited the neutral, pretechnological world of Kro Var and trained with the Shapers; they brought back and shared many insights on elementalism, predominantly Air and Fire. Many Shapers have since joined the Patriots, and it is believed that many Patriots have trained on Kro Var. Since the planet is now a member of the Jade Empire, this traffic is frequent.
In an effort to provide a more complete syllabus, Patriots are sometimes sent to visit other Force-using groups beside the Shapers. These are known as Outriders. One prominent example was Sergeant Kalo-Kaa, who accompanied a Jedi research group to learn from the Baran Do Sages on Dorin in 17 ABY. He rotated out of the group and was replaced by Brembla Kol-Rekali, who joined them for their trip to Dathomir. Meanwhile, Kalo-Kaa returned to teach what he'd learned.
One ability peculiar to the Patriots, first taught to high-level Patriots by Ember and Brembla Kol-Rekali, is the blood trail. Dathomiri Nightsister in origin, it has been adapted in certain circumstances to allow the Empress, for example, to always be able to find her children. This ability was kept highly classified: for a time, only the Kol-Rekalis and the Imperial couple knew that the Empress used it; to this day only the most experienced and loyal Patriots are taught it. Furthermore, the Empress and Emperor have a blood trail on each other and on the imperial children. These blood trails are located on the scalp under the hair.
The blood trail technique was traded to the Tak Council, along with hassat-durr, in exchange for the knowledge of creating Watchers.
The use of the blood trail is an open secret among the Shau'ghunate Guard and the higher levels of the Jade Empire.
Notable Members[]
Sheriffs[]
- Sergeant Kalo-Kaa (male Kartanin)
- Officer Hiro Masamune (male human)
- Alliera
Shau'ghunate Guard[]
- Sergeant Das Phelleps, Household Guard (male human, former Isen noble, former head of security, Jedi Temple)
- Sergeant Fadin Kurn, Household Guard (female human/Decuri hybrid, former Isen noble, on special assignment)
- Lieutenant Tirkatirro, Household Guard (male Raka Kiri)
- Sergeant Korturi, Household Guard (male human)
- Sergeant Hiero, Household Guard (male human)
Jade Empire Armed Forces[]
- Commander Lukiel Miisa, Navy (female human, former Isen noble)
- Lieutenant Commander Calakmuul, SpecOps (female Joyite)
- Lieutenant he'Shotarr, Navy (male Joyite)
- Lieutenant Keito Nakayama, Medical Corps (male human)
- Specialist Hokkra, Team BLACKFRIAR (male Joyite)
- Lieutenant Matsutoshi Tugawa, Navy (male human)
Diplomatic Corps and Government Service[]
- Earl Matthe'i Salphoris, Representative of the Isen Sector (human male, former Isen noble)
- Sensei Akemi Nakamura, Patriot trainer
- Adjutant Morruko, Diplomatic Corps (female Joyite)
- Emperor Braily Terrablade
Former Members[]
- Colonel Siriss Cortann, founder (female human), defected
- Colonel Karak Ror, Intelligence (male human, former Isen noble), deceased
- Empress Halla Terrablade, founder (female human), cut off from the Force
- Jedi Knight Commander Brembla Kol-Rekali, founder, retired and deceased
- Jedi Knight Lieutenant Commander Ashin Varanin, retired and defected
- Jedi Master Lieutenant Ember Rekali of the Jedi Council, retired