Before - Legends Descent Into The Dark (EU, Yoda 300 years before TPM)--*Complete* Replies 7/31- Link to EotD posted!

Thanks for the PM. I forgot that this would be in the Before the Saga board. Great start, love descriptions of the village and Yoda's drunkenness.

 

It's not that I'm lurking, it's just that I can't find anything else to say apart from BRILLIANT!!!
Anyway, I'm finding Yoda a much more likeable and down to earth character here. It seems in the films he's got so much weight on his shoulders and he's so serious (granted the situations warrant this) but he doesn't really have the time (or the legs!) to get out and enjoy himself. That's why I think you've really captured the Yoda we all want to see, but for reasons other than him being 300 years younger. He's got life!

You have a very good grasp on Yoda who is the favourite character for many of us. Good job.

 

So Yoda didn't just happen to cross paths with the Sith....they came looking for him.

Disturbing.

 

Great writing once again Sounderwan. I would've posted before, but I haven't been home and I got behind on posts. It is neat to find out more about Yoda and his, quote on quote, dark days. A drunk Yoda, priceless! I look forward to more Yoda. You write him so well. Nice job.

 

Hi! *sheepish grin* Umm...you guys didn't start posting just because I made the 4 post comment did you? Thanks. That was really nice of you. But...4 readers is still a lot, frankly. I've seen some, what I call, "lonely fics" where there is a total of 1 post other than the author's. I appreciate the sentiment, but if it's not your thing to post, don't worry, I still love you! That being said, welcome !

A little bad news. There will be no post today. Two reasons. First, my Beta has spoken with some really smart editor-type people who have given her some...guidelines...that should help me become a better writer. In the interests of providing you with a better product, I'm going to get trained up. So...there will be a short delay while I work on that (maybe a day or two at the most). I'm not sure how much will change, but we'll see. Second, I must be the only person here who hasn't finished HP! Have to do it! Driving me insane!

Cobranaconda: Thanks, dude! I wasn't disheartened... (I was actually kinda kidding around 'cause I'm trying this new thing where I post something witty or profound at the top before I answer people individuall.) You do make an excellent point about visiting the Before the Saga Forum from Saga. Don't worry though, I'll probably never write anything Beyond.

Ragozy: I saw that you were doing some advertising for me... Thanks, hon. You're my favorite lady on TF.N

DARTH-DIABLO: I would like to point out that things are being described from Yoda's point of view with respect to what he's experiencing. That becomes important later, btw. You'll get to see what the Council thinks in about 2 or 3 posts.

Darth_Scroobius: *hands Scroobius his Jedi Master of the day badge* Great observations. Plus you used "vergence in the Force" in a sentence!

For the record, I don't always comment either. If a writer is getting lots of responses, I don't take too much time to write 'cause s/he is getting lots of incouragement. It's the "lonely fics" I feel like posting a little comment to. I love all comments, btw but if you don't post any, I'll still write.

jpauln:I'm glad to see that Yoda could compose himself when needed (there were a few times when trying to sneak into my house as a teen that such a trick would have come in very handy You and me both, buddy. You and me both.

aldocassidy: Yay!! Happy you could make it over. Glad you're enjoying so far.

filmsaboutghosts: Thanks! I'm so happy you dropped by. I like Yoda this way too. Sadly, we're also going to see the Yoda we know and love show up, too...

Arcalian: Oh, yes. It gets much more disturbing later....

Darth-Lutgerous: I love the quote unquote dark days thing! That's so funny! Was the double entendre intentional?

 

Didnt Realize that you had already begun Souderwan. I havent been back to the old thread since it was completed, jsut noticed today that you psoted this one a while back.

I like the Story so far. It is interesting to see how Yoda was when he was a bit more youthful.

 

Wow - being lurking for some days, didn't have time to post - but back again daily.

Dear Souderwan, OF COURSE there are many more readers out there. About a dozen of friends of mine follow your Yoda-novel (like they did with FotS). They aren't even members on tf.net or know how to post. So don't worry!!

updated pdf:
"Descent into the Dark", by Souderwan - pdf, 22pg, 160KB

 

Just wondering if that Yaddle chracter will show up here?

Keep up the good work!

 

Souderwan,

Great start using one of the most popular Jedi characters, (if not the most powerful in the future anyway).

Sorry I haven't posted lately but just got back from being underway for a few days myself.

Don't worry about the lack of posts so far, I'm sure that it will build as your story progresses.

As for the future of this story, "cloudy it is, much pain and suffering I see", to quote a more recent Yodaism.

 

Hey everybody. Sorry about the delay in posting. I'm getting a little tutoring on writing styles and rules of writing from my Beta who has been in contact with some real-world editor types. The next post is finished and is going to be reviewed. I expect to post it around 7 p.m. board time.

Zandoran_Celix: Thanks for joining us! Hope I can live up to expectations. I'm glad you like the younger, more vibrant Yoda. I like him, too (although he does seem to be a little full of himself...)

Baby_Death_Star: A dozen!! Wow...I had no idea. Thanks. You just made my week!

BTW, because of you, I've garnered RL readers. I have four or five friends who hate to read online, so they go to your links and print the story out so they can read it. Thanks for that.

DARTH-DIABLO: Yaddle will make an appearance.

DarkLordRising: Glad to see you, buddy. How was the underway? You can PM me with the details...where are you stationed, what kind of ship, etc...

Glad you're liking the story so far. Hopefully, the cloudy future will lift a little for you all with the next post. See you in about 9 hours!

All: If there are any of you who would rather get a PM notification from me when I update instead of using active notifications, let me know and I'll make a PM list. BTW, if you've noticed, I now update the title to indicate when the story's been updated for those of you who use the active notifications.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peace.

Migru younglings were playing in the wide, open field with reckless abandon. Surrounding the outskirts of the meadow, bending trees swayed in the gentle breeze under the calidity of the setting twin suns of Migruna III. As one of the smaller younglings tripped and rolled helplessly down a moderate slope of green, the older migru chuckled in amusement. When the child finally came to a stop, she joined in the laughter.

Sitting in his favorite chair, several meters away, and above, Gandol watched the scene with genuine pleasure. He listened to the sound of his breathing join the wind as he sipped on the cool glass of kriva juice he held in his strong hands.

The miners were leaving the mountain to return home. Nearly a hundred migru plodded from the distant hills, each carrying a small bundle. The community of Prime Village gathered along the sides of the main road to greet their friends and family. The stall and shop owners, as had been their custom for hundreds of years, left their places of business unattended and the children ceased their play.

Prime Village was enjoying the end of another peaceful day.

Fire.

A beam of particle energy ripped the sky apart. The migru never saw it. The atmosphere burned away. Fires erupted. Hundreds of migru burst into flames and died within moments. Those were the fortunate ones.

Others, who were inside their huts, began to roast alive, trapped in the inferno. Those who had not yet left the mines were crushed under the mountain?s collapse. The vagrant mysteries of the Force allowed many to survive even this. For these poor souls, death would have been welcome release. Their stunned eyes watched as the energy plunged into the heart of their village. Gandol?s tree-home vaporized. Lungs, too seared with superheated air to ever work again, failed to allow their owners to scream. Energy, the color of Yoda?s blade, burrowed into the planet with deadly precision. Eyes, too filled with horror to cry, were blinded by the light. Hearts, too weak to continue beating, managed to break as the very ground beneath the planet shook itself asunder.

Then, as suddenly as it began, the beam was gone.

All on Migruna III were gone?

Yoda?s eyes popped open. His hands were clammy and sweat poured from his forehead. His heart pounded in his chest like a blaster cannon stuck on automatic fire. Fear gripped him. Drawing on the power of the light, Yoda closed his eyes and centered himself, utilizing his hundreds of years of Jedi training to bring him calm.

He searched the walls of his ship in the Force and found nothing out of the ordinary. The room was cramped, as it always had been. Yoda pondered why the Order would even consider further reducing the size of the Jedi Interceptor ships to small one-man fighters. His ship had proven useful and one-man fighters were too small to carry their own hyperdrive engines. He couldn?t imagine having to rely on a hyperdrive ring to ensure his safe return home.

Yoda frowned.

He was distracting himself from his fear, rather than confronting it. This was not his way. The vision had come to him, unbidden, with startling clarity. He had been meditating during his return to Coruscant. He was searching the currents of the Force for any signs of the dark void he had detected the day before. He floated in the river that he knew the Force to be, confident that he would be guided to his quarry. Instead, he had found a visceral vision of apocalypse.

Though calmed by the Force, Yoda?s hands shook as he rose unsteadily from the mat on the cold durasteel floor of his ship. He walked to the cockpit area, two meters away. When he arrived, his heart no longer pounded and his hands no longer shook. Looking out the main viewscreen, he lost himself in the roiling blue-white cloud of hyperspace. He felt her approach but said nothing.

?Master Yoda, what?s wrong??

?Nothing.?

?Please?tell me. Help you, I could.? Yoda turned to look at her and for the first ti

 

Ummm...you are forcing me to enjoy and like a character that I usually have no use for! I am glad that you decided to bring this stiff Jedi Master to life! Yoda has a real life with problems and issues--he even gets distracted. Very interesting!

 

Are the Sith goign to destroy Migruna to turn Yoda???

 

Poor Yoda, that was quite a disturbing dream. He is definitely having attachment issues in more ways than one and sounded very Anakin like in his statement -

?Stop this, I will,? Yoda whispered into her ear. ?More powerful in the Force than I, none are. Find the cause and stop it, I must.?

The beloved master is walking on a very dangerous path.

 

Nice post Sounderwan. It is very interesting to see Yoda have a vision and worry for Migruna. This is quite the opposite of Yoda in ROTS who told Anakin to accept the possible loss of someone close. Then, I couldn't believe that Yoda snogged (pure HBP) Rizza, which is completely against the Jedi ways. And yes, the double entendre was intentional in the last post. Great job!

 

Brilliantly atmospheric, I knew the pleasantries couldn't last much longer

You're in your element writing dark and moody pieces, and this is shaping up to be no different.

Which I'm very glad about

 

Yet another great post Souderwan!

The destruction of Migruna III was vivid and horrific, especially in contrast to the idyllic (even cliched) scene that preceeded it. "Lungs, too seared with seared with superheated air to ever work again, failed to allow their owners to scream." -what an intense, physical image! It made me clutch at my chest in echoes of sympathy.

I wondered what could happen to Yoda that would be so horrific that he would turn to the dark side. And then I had another, more horrible thought. The beam of particle energy was the "colour of Yoda's blade". Please don't tell me that this is foreshadowing! *pleading look*

I loved the phrase "the vagrant mysteries of the Force" which nicely summed up the random cruelty of life and nature.

?Two hours alone, we have,? she whispered in Yoda?s ear. Her mouth closed gently around the very tip and she smiled as she blew softly against his skin. ?Use it wisely, we should."

I loved the interaction between Rizza and Yoda. I can just hear her sassing him, and then tempting him. Their interaction is so dynamic and real!

I can't wait for the next post! Thank you so much.

 

Wow, amazing description of that dream. For some reason it reminds me of those old videos they took to observe the impact of a nuclear bomb, where the houses pretty much vaporize in front of your eyes.

 

Hello all. Stand by for the next entry, which follows this little diversion to respond to all of you who've posted since the last update.

Anakins_Force: If I can make one person see the potential I see in Yoda then I'm happy! The Yoda I loved was the Yoda from ESB. Agreed, the Yoda from the PT needed a good kick in the butt. I guess destruction of a 25000 year-old Order would count as a kick in the butt!

Arcalian: Interesting question....(I am being intentionally evasive ).

jpauln: I love that you notice similarities between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Regarding the path he's walking...well...remember the title of the story.

Darth-Lutgerous: Yoda snogging!! I love the way you put that! Yeah...Yoda definitely is a little different, I think.

Cobranaconda: Me? Dark? Naahh!! Thanks.

mithrissa: Always happy that my beta chooses to drop a line. Not to give too much away, but the color of the beam may, indeed, be a bit of foreshadowing... I'm so happy that you like the Yoda/Rizza interactions. I really enjoy writing them.

aldocassidy: The fact that my writing brought that image to your mind is great! It was a documentary on the Bikini Island testing that inspired that scene.

Ok..enough blabber...on with the show...

 

--------------------------------Vergence--------------------------------------------------------------

The durasteel doors to the Jedi Council chambers were shut. Yoda stood before them with his hands clasped behind his back, his eyes closed, and his face impassive. His rock-still position hid his disdain for where he stood. The doors were tall, even for species of average height. For Yoda, they were two slabs of mountainside that parted to reveal a massive estuary into which the currents of the Force flowed, often unbeknownst to its residents. He revered the chamber, but he despised it as well. The reverence for the history of the room--the disdain he felt was for those who occupied it.

The Jedi Council was a midi-chlorian club. Millennia ago, one earned a position on the Jedi Council through years of service and demonstration of phenomenal control of oneself and the abilities granted by the Force. The Jedi had understood that true power had nothing to do with the gifts naturally given, but with the ability to grow beyond those gifts.

Two hundred years prior, an astute young Jedi Healer named Callista Blade had discovered the existence of midi-chlorians and recognized the correlation between midi-chlorian count and Force-potential. While no direct causal effect was ever discovered, before long, this one biological fact became the primary deciding factor in selecting new Jedi students for training.

Yoda thought of the many times he?d seen worthy padawans go unselected by Jedi Masters simply because the youngling?s midi-chlorian count was too low. He made it a habit of selecting the undesirable students for training as often as possible and took great pride in watching his students dismantling the more gifted students in lightsaber practice.

As he stood there, impassive, he considered how much the Jedi Council had come to reflect the prejudices of the Order. Elevation to the Jedi Council had become a matter of biological caprice. Having not experienced any real challenges since the Sith War, the Jedi Order relied, not on skill or mastery of the Force in selecting Jedi Council Members, but on the number of microscopic organisms in one?s cells.

They had been hounding him for over two hundred years to join the Council. He would have been their pride and joy he was sure?the being with the highest midi-chlorian count on record. The very thought of joining them made his stomach lurch. They were little more than the pawns of the Republic. He did his best to hide his contempt when he was before them.

They were sycophants.

They were weak.

They were everything he hated about what the Order had become.

The doors suddenly opened and Yoda opened his eyes. His face became an inscrutable mask as he strode into the room.

They were also his leaders.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

?Do you believe this void to be a Vergence in the Force?? Master Tulook?s pallid pink eyes bored into Yoda. His triangular-shaped wrinkled skull was cocked slightly in what passed for a quizzical look among the Arcona. His recent addition to the Council after years as a Jedi Archivist did not hinder his voice in the chambers.

Yoda shrugged slightly. ?An absence of the Force, a more apt description would be.? Yoda looked around the room. ?Like a black hole, it was. From its horizon, nothing escaped. Spoke to me from its center, someone did. Unable to locate him, I have been.?

A loud snort came from the direction of Jedi Master Fanzeh, the Klantooinian. ?It seems to me that this void you refer to had more to do with kriva juice than the Force.?

Yoda scowled and the olive-skinned humanoid straightened slightly in his chair. Fanzeh?s eyes, which were set deep into his skull and hidden under the large wrinkled brow ridge, locked with Yoda?s. The bottom row of his jagged teeth moved upwards and slipped seamlessly under the split jowls of his upper lip. Finally, Master Fanzeh looked down.

?Drunk on kriva juice, I was,? He turned his back on Fanzeh, ?when bought you from the Hutts,

 

Wow, Souderwan ... fascinating chapter. Just astonishing seeing Yoda doing/feeling all that he later will held against Anakin ... love, posession, attachment. And he will say these feelings will lead to the dark side ...

So he might have experienced that path ... ahh! The possibilities!

And it was great to witness his first moments on the Council!


updated pdf:
30pg, 3 chapters, 123KB

 

Great chapter Souderwan. This story is really heating up. I see a bit of Qui-Gon's defiance in the younger Yoda. There's some interesting paralell's with Obi-Wan demanding Anakin be trained and Yoda wanting to train Rizza only this time the council did not relent.
Top notch work . Keep it up

 

We see now why Yoda shaped the Order the way he did. Of course, it led to an entirely different set of problems.

 

Hey Souderwan, sorry it taken me so long to see this story, it looks great, I've just seen the first post, looks great, I'll post tomorrow when I've read it through, great story !!

 

I'm loving the 'James Dean' Yoda

The council seems a little wiser than he's giving them credit. It will be interesting to see how he contributes in the council's decisions as he travels on this dark journey.