Lit Red Sith darkside inclination: Genetic or Cultural?

What I'd really like to see is a whole series of Robert E. Howard-inspired, pulpy "Savage Axe of Adas" books, or graphic novels.

 

LOVE that name!

Ulicus, you made me fall in love with Adas' conquering and how he was the Vader of his time.

 

I'd like to see anything Star Wars written in the vein of Robert E. Howard.

 

Given the large amount of rules and restrictions followed by the jedi to avoid falling to the dark side, and seeing how many of them fell anyway, I think it fair to assume that most of the first discoverers of the force turned to the dark side, so it is not unusual that the force based culture of the Sith was dark side.

Especially given that their home planet had harsh environmental conditions.

 

Is the Star Wars so screwed up that most who discover the Force turn evil?

 

Worth noting: It is possible for a species to have a heritable disposition (not all heritable traits are 'genetic') towards the dark side. The Vahla possess such a trait.

This does not appear to apply to the Sith. Neither the Massasi or the Kissai (the closest the SAGA rules get to stating 'Sith') possess a dark side oriented species trait similar to the 'dark side stigma' afflicting the Vahla.

 

Though even here it seems mostly cultural what forces most of them into the Dark Side, as they clearly still have the free will to just be whatever they want to be, it just happens that most of them are members of a pretty insane fire cult and apparently just somewhat more susceptible to the Dark Side once they come into contact with it.

 

I think it might be interesting to see what Callista's dark-or-nothing force sensitivity would be like on a larger scale.

 

I wonder if Adas is the first Red Sith to use The Force.

 

I don't think it's especially likely that he was the guy who invented Sith magic or the alchemical processes involved in the forging of his axe. Evil Never Dies suggests he rose to power in an era in which Force use was already practiced by his people.

 

I didn't get that impression from Evil Never Dies. Where did it give you that impression?

 

Adas being the first Sith to use the Sith would be a BIG deal, and worth mentioning.

Instead, all we get is:

"Raised from his youth as a chosen being due to the charcoal pigment of his skin, Adas demonstrated great intelligence, fighting prowess, and a tremendous aptitude for Sith magic. With his alchemically forged battle-ax, Adas led the bloody unification of Korriban's disparate nations and became its undisputed world ruler."

It's not outright impossible that Adas also created Sith Magic and alchemy, but that's certainly in no way implied or hinted at. If someone wrote a biography of, say, Tony Hawk that pointed out that he "demonstrated a tremendous aptitude for skateboarding" you wouldn't think he was the guy who invented it, also.

 

Makes me wonder how the Red Sith discovered The Force. Any idea, Ulicus?

 

No, the game text is quite specific. "Whether they know it or not each member of the Vahla species is forever bound to the dark side of the Force. Vahla must spend 2 Force Points to reduce their Dark Side Score by 1." That is completely irrespective of their cultural background whatsoever. A Vahla raised on Coruscant among the Jedi who has never known any fellow members of her species is still inherently tainted.

Vahla may resist this stigma of course, but the species as a whole has a vulnerability towards the dark side that they cannot break.

 

I'd call that game text really bad writing.

 

Force sensitives are born all the time. Formal training isn't a necessary requirement to begin actively using the Force.

And their prehistoric contact with the Anzati may also be relevant.

 

I was talking the Red Sith that used The Force without having been trained. How did they discover The Force? Force-sensitives are indeed born all the time, but it's rare that they, on their own, discover The Force.

 

By accident, via a gradual philosophical process that lasted millennia, through introduction by the Anzati, by a dark celestial descending from the Heavens to shower them with bloodsoup and manna, etc, etc. Take your pick.

 

Through Son maybe? Still, since Evil Never Dies is largely just legend and has already been contradicted since, I still say Adas.

 

Yeah. Sometimes I wonder how the jedi even arose in the first place, at least if you take the PT jedi and their beliefs at face value.

 

If I had the opportunity to rebuild the EU from the ground up, I'd likely cast the Jedi as a breakaway sect that eventually emerged from the Sith (or another dark side organisation), rather than it having been the other way around. The notion of Sith/dark side philosophy as something the early Jedi outgrew as they came to understand just how limitless, ineffable and powerful the Force truly was just... works, for me.

Far more than the typical "paragons fallen from grace" angle, at any rate.

 

But isn't Anakin supposed to be the first darksider-turned-lightsider ever?

Anyway, the TPM novelization gave me the impression that the Jedi and Sith formed at the same time.

 

Eh, I confess I'm very fond of that notion, too... but the EU has enough pre-Anakin examples of redemption (albeit not quite as impressive) that it's become clear to me that I'm not that bothered if it's not the case, and Yoda was speaking more poetically.

Yeah, I was including the novelisations in the "EU" bracket.

 

Jedi philosophy seems to predate the discovery of Force use to some extent, so it doesn't surprise me that the SW equivalent of Daoists or Stoics would coalesce into the Jedi. Especially when they're all conveyed to the same planet by mysterious starships.