Oh No. Another Potentium Thread

Is Vergere's theory of the Force something that would have gained credence just by itself. Or did it require the Yuuzhan Vong war and the Rediscovery of Zonama Sekot to increase its influence within the NJO. (A bit like Christinity needed the crumbling of the Roman empire to turn it into a mainstream religion)

 

People want their kewl powerz without consequence.

 

It took the war. In peace, Luke and Jacen wouldn't have felt the same questioning of their beliefs, Vergere would have had less credibility, and they would have been free to sit and meditate on it a while, explore the full ramifications, before accepting it and putting it to use as they did. You'll notice also now that things have calmed down, they're backing away from the philosophy, realizing that whatever their intentions when they accepted it, it is not currently working well as implemented by the New Jedi Order.

 

As a side note, your analogy to Christianity is seriously flawed, as it was already the dominant religion for several centuries prior to the fall of the Roman Empire; it was, in fact, proclaimed as the official state religion before the empire fell - though it may have been on the decline at that point, it was most certainly still the dominant power of the entire European area, and also certainly had not yet fallen.

Basically, the only reason that the Jedi adopted the view they have is because it was expedient in the war. Not because the war let them get away with it, but because they believed it was necessary to win the war.

- Keralys

 

While we're on the topic, I'd like to bring up some new info WotC brought to the table with their Jedi Counseling feature.

Q: Jacen Solo and Vergere (from the New Jedi Order era) appear to have learned some secret that allows them to avoid being corrupted by the dark side. In game terms, it seems that they're avoiding gaining Dark Side Points. How would you address this?

A: I believe that the optional rule outlined above is particularly well-suited to this philosophy of the Force. Still, even with that rule in place, it would seem that Jacen and Vergere have unlocked some truth that allows them to avoid corruption even more than this rule would allow. Thus, you may consider adding the following feat along with the "Resisting Temptation" optional rule:

New Feat: Disciple of the Unifying Force

You have begun to understand the deeper nature of the Unifying Force, challenging many of the concepts of light and dark common to more conventional Force-users.

Prerequisites: Wisdom 15, Alter, Control, Force Mastery, Force-Sensitive, Sense, See Force 10 ranks, Force level 12th, character cannot be dark. Additionally, this feat is available only to characters who have studied with someone who already has the feat (in the New Jedi Order era, only Vergere or Jacen Solo) or, at the GM's discretion, who have been isolated for an extended period without access to other Force-users (as Vergere was during her half-century of captivity with the Yuuzhan Vong).

Benefit: You gain a +4 Force bonus on Will saves to avoid gaining a Dark Side Point (see above). If tainted, you also receive a +4 Force bonus on Wisdom checks to avoid becoming dark and a +4 Force bonus on Fortitude saves to avoid the debilitating long-term effects of the dark side.

 

One could almost draw a comparison between that and the use of atomic weapons to bring the Second World War to a more expeditious close. The Swarm War period could be seen as being in some ways analogous to the onset of the Cold War, with the morality and even validity of atomic weapons being brought into question.

 

I never meant the Fall of the Roman Empire, I meant the decline. Whenever Rome was struggling (plagues, wars and the like) after about 100ad, Romans would see the Christians piety and would convert in greater numbers than in times of peace and prosperity. If the roman empire had remianed prosperous and there was a sudden fall then Christianity probably would have remained a small offshoot of Judaism.
(i was going to use facism wouldn't have gained in hold in germany if it wasn't for the depression, but I think everyone's sick of the Nazi comparisons in star wars at this point)

 

Two more ideas:

1) Why didn't this idea take hold during the Clone War? Surely information on the Potentium existed. There were some who felt the Dark Side was the only way to win the war so...what happened to this lost philosophy?
2) Is it possible that another reason that the philosophy held water with Luke was because Luke, having started almost from scratch, places a lot of weight on the wisdom of Old Republic Jedi?

 

1. The believers in the Potentium were sent away before the begining of the clone wars so there was probably no one around at the time to push the potentium theory. The Jedi were also very set in their ways and there was no 'forceless' vong to challenge their thinking.

 

This is still a deeply flawed understanding. For one, the "fact" that during times of greater peace and prosperity the Romans were less likely to convert to Christinaity - the biggest gains of Christiniaty were in the decades of resurgence following the end of the civil wars of the third century, and during the economic boom following the reunification of the empire under Constantine. Also, part of the reason that was to happen was because of the fact that, during the civil wars of the third century, many of the emperors were former generals who focused only about military issues, and didn't care about religion one way or another.

 

Alright fair enough. i just did some checking and it turns out you're right, (my evidence was pretty limited), however Christianity still would not have become popular if it wasn't for Rome adopting it because through Rome it spread it to the barbarian tribes which populated the rest of Europe.

 

Kyptastic:

The Potentium was not exiled so long before the Clone War that surviving Jedi hadn't experienced them, hadn't dealt with them. I would think someone like Qui-Gon (sure, he's dead, but someone like him) would be interested in this schismatic view of the Force.

 

Agreed, but in the Clone wars the Jedi didn't have the same problems the NJO had against the Vong. The OJO was supported by the Republic, and they had a clear idea of who the enemy was (droids are known no to be alive and therefore have no force signiture, while the sith obviously had a darkside prescence).
The NJO had the problem with seeing something that was obviously alive, but was absent from the force, which is something they had all been taught was impossible. By taking the view of the Potentium the jedi were able to move past that problem to coherently fight against the vong.