Lit Beyond the big two: lesser Force traditions in the GFFA

I have just read about the Grey Paladins on wookipeedia and was wondering what the paladins actually do besides being combat monsters?

 

Their article mention that "[...]the Gray Paladins held to the radical philosophy of minimal dependency on the Force." but all the non force skills they mention training are all combat oriented, did they train in anything else?
Also what were their philosophical and worldly role? The jedi see themselves as the keepers of peace and do that by being highly versatile wuxia kensei wizard marshal diplomat but how the Grey Paladins are presented in the wook' so do they only seems to be created to be badass and they do it by being wuxia kensei gun-fu masters.

 

So it is time to see how WotC present SW most well known non-sith dark side tradition: the nightsisters of Dathomir.

The qutes are taken from Dark Side Sourcebook pages 81-83

Gethzerion is the only nightsister whose stats are given as an example and she is a combo of Force adept (level 7), and dark Force witch (level 10).

Interestingly so do they not mention that the nightsister tradition was continued with the new nightsisters under Tamith Kai. Instead they just appear in 'The Shadow Academy' section on pages 108-109:

Tamith Kai was a Force adept (level 3) and dark Force witch (level 5).

Thoughts
As with the Findsman and the Sorcerers of Tund (even if I forgot to mention it in my post about the sorcerers) something I miss is presentation of their Philosophy, Tradition, Force Powers and maybe some feats specific for their tradition. I also miss at least a comment, if not feat, about that the witches of Dathomir don’t just use the Force as the jedi and sith but really treat it as magic with chanting and gesticulating.

That they don’t mention Tamith Kai and the new nightsisters in the nightsister section is a bit surprising and a bit stupid to me.

I also think that a small comment on what technological level the witches were on would be nice so a GM or player know what to outfit their dark side witch with.

From a GM:s perspective so would it also be nice to see some suggestions on how to use the nightsisters in a adventure or campaign.

 

Just wondering: What do people think of the Imperial Knights from the Legacy- comics?

 

I liked them well enough, except for the "if you join them the only way to leave is death". They were a nice addition to Legacy and it was good to see Imperial force users that weren't darksiders.

 

With some exceptions, I found them to be pretty annoying. They seemed to embody all the worst aspects of the OJO; the arogance, the dogmatism, and being latched onto a questionable government....maybe that was the point.

 

I did not mind them, though would have favoured for there to be less of them, so the ones with interesting personalities could come through more.

 

Outside of the Jedi / Sith, the Nightsisters rank the highest when it comes to force abilities in my opinion, and Mother Talzin would not fall under any "lesser" category, considering she is equal to, if not greater than Sidious in knowledge and ability.

 

I have the slightest of slight suspicions that you may not be entirely without bias here, Mother_Talzin.

 

It not just about Force abilities but also about influence and the witches have minimal influence outside of Dathomir.

 

I don't know about that, Talzin influenced the Sith pretty heavily which resulted in some galactic events. Not only did she teach Sidious about darkside magicks, but she gave him her son, Maul, as an apprentice. Ventress and Savage also worked for / with the Sith. Talzin also sent her Nightsisters across the galaxy as assassins. Talzin was even considered the Great Mother by a cult that worshipped her. Dathomir is their base of power, but this ancient culture has helped shape galactic events behind the scenes.

 

The Matukai adepts has some class features that represented Force powers/technique: Resistance to Disease and Soft to Solid
Resistance to Disease/Poison/Level 2: “the Matukai adept learns to purge illnesses and poisons from his body before they can harm him.”
Soft to Solid/Level 5: “Matukai adepts spend much time learning the way their bodies move and function, mastering the ability to make normally soft parts of their body become increadibly rigid and tough.”

The matukai adepts are also associated with the Body Adjustment feat -
Body Adjustment: "You are able to adjust your internal temperature to better withstand harsh environments."

I have not found who illustrated the Matukai tradition.



Thoughts
Overall I like the Matukai, it is a wuxia martial art tradition that feels different from the jedi, even if I personally would have liked to see a bit more talk about other things than how badass they are in a fight.

“Though the majority of Force-users throughout the galaxy were Jedi” maybe it is just me but I have hard to see this. I have no problem with that the jedi order being the larges Force-using organisation but that the majority of all the galaxy’s Force-users were jedi, is a bit hard for me to swallow.

“some other organizations, such as the Sorcerers of Tund, were allowed their autonomy provided they did not sink into the dark side of the Force”, this makes it sound like the jedi order in later ages were not allowing other organizations any autonomy and that is not an impression I have not got nor like. Has that been established in earlier canon or something new for Hero’s Guide?

I find the way the author give us the reasons for why the matukai did not ally with the jedi – “Some felt that the Jedi way of teaching the Force was both elitist and ineffectual. Other thought they could do a better job training students than the Jedi Order could” – while not giving us the thoughts of the jedi or explaining how their training was elitist and ineffectual. And then later saying “[Luke’s order] was more open to new ideas and training methods than the Old Republic Jedi had been” paint both the old orders, pre- and post-ruusan reformation, in a bad light while showing no bad sides of the matukai. But then again maybe I am just oversensitive after having read too many World of Darkness books that blame everything on westerners while ignoring the problems that existed in those other parts of the world before the coming of the white man.

Something I would have liked to known is how the matukai have changes throughout the centuries, after all it was over a thousand years ago they were formed and both jedi and sith have gone through some notable changes in that time, and they have scriptures which should make change a bit harder.

When it comes to the wen-shen do I imagine it as something like a naginata, glaive, guandao or a sovnya, not the halberd looking thing the illustrator made. Also, is not any kind of long weapon* that you spin around your body a rather stupid idea to have as your signature weapon in a world were much of the travelling is done on vehicles with not to broad corridors? Would not something like a three-section staff or something that can expand/shrink be a better idea?
*may it be polearm, staff, sword or any other kind.

From a player/GM perspective so would it be nice to also have suggestions on how to use the matukai adept class to create your own Force tradition/s and/or how to multiclass in a thematic way.

While we are looking at it from a gamer’s perspective so am I surprised that after all the talk about the matukai teaching making it possible for people with low Force-sensitivity to be able to master the Force are all the “basic” Force-feats – Alter, Control and Sense – among the requirements needed to have to be able to take levels in the Matukai adept prestige class. Also I am a bit confused too why they also consider the Spellcaster feat a requirement but I guess that it could symbolise the need for the matukai adept to do katas to focus his inner Force before using Force-abilities/skills/techniques.

To my understanding so do the matukai tradition appear in KotOR II, or rather items with its name on them appear. I have not played the game so I don’t know how those items fit/don’t fit with how the matukai are described in Hero’s Guide.

Any thoughts or comments?

 

This guy is going to be one of the beginner game characters in Force and Destiny and to me he don't look like a jedi. Do people think he will belong to an already existing Force traditon or a new one?

 

Some of tCW's nightsister consept art

from http://starwars.tumblr.com/tagged/concept-art



from http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/clone-wars/nightsisters

 

Cool depiction, looks like a Nightbrother. I hope they return to the EU, post-SOD, along with the Nightsisters. There are some slaves in the first Marvel SW comic for 2015 that could be Nightbrothers as well, its difficult to tell, as they may simply be Iridonian Zabraks.

 

Do we know in which part of Unknown Regions the Blazing Chain pirates are based? The wook' only says Unknown Regions and that is a rather large area, I find it a bit like saying that the Capon gang was based in U.S.A..

 

They are nomadic, so I guess really pretty much everywhere, though at least the initial group encountered Sith after the Great Sith War, so those should have been close to ancient Sith Space.

 

I took it to mean that they were nomadic within a area, like how many pirates were nomadic but keept within the Caribbean

 

I guess this calls for one more instance of Gamiel's awesome fanon?

 

I am actually working on that, I just want more ground to work on before I really begin to creat.

 

Can't wait to read it, whenever that is. I enjoy working from your concepts, too.

 

Has there been a discussion as to whether the Sunstar Shadowstone from Endor tapped into the Force as its source of power? Logray was a shaman and Morag was a witch, and both used magic. Could it be similar to how Nightsisters tap into the Force with their magicks?

 

Mother_Talzin, I am working on an extensive fanon post about that and the abilities or Force users all around Endor, with an extensive focus on Logray, Teebo and Morag. And yes, it is very similar.

Not sure if you know, but the gem was eventually destroyed. In Shadows of Endor, it was presented as "weakened", which is an explanation I am not satisfied with, so I am err...basing a 100-150K word story on how it weakened and more. Serious obsession here. XD

 

P.S. The thread is located in the Fan Fiction subforum; there are other interesting traditions of Force users listed as well, it was January's discussion topic. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

 

Gamiel If you're still taking requests, your touch on the Knell of Muspilli who would amalgamate with others and become the Sorcerers of Rhand would be very interesting to read.