I tried (once again) an creative approach to SW fic : basically, it's someone with Force powers on Earth.

In your opinion, would this work ? What are the potential turn off issues ?

DWH EDIT: Resource threads can discuss generalities, but are not about discussing your story in particular- I encourage this discussion to continue, but let's keep the discussion on a broader level. Thanks!

 

Interesting thus far. I think it would work. I myself toyed around with the idea of sticking the Jedi and Sith Orders on Earth as archaic and ancient occults/sects and how they might interact and influence history and modern times. Lets just say that the Sith adapted rather well and the Jedi not so much and mythical figures such as Merlin and Morgana le Fay were members of either Order.

 

It could definitely work, in fact I've pondered something along those lines in the past.

Questions I would ask include:
1. Why this person has Force powers when no one else on Earth does? (Or do they?) Is this person native to Earth, or are they from the SW galaxy (even if they don't know it)? Do normal humans even have midi-chlorians? If so why haven't we discovered them, or do scientists already know about them but think they're something else? Eg. perhaps midichlorians are a sister-species to our mitochondria, but mitochondria developed a different function, lost their connection to the Force, still react to the Force but are just much less prolific, or something else along those lines. It could also be that Force sensitives were more common on Earth at one time, but that some kind of disease, witch hunt type of activity, etc. largely wiped them out.

Or it could be that our inability to use the Force is entirely external. I was toying with an idea once that Earth has some kind of natural bubble, like a Ysalamir field that covers the entire planet... either artificially or just naturally. And the humans who live there are all the descendants of Dark Side fugitives/prisoners who were dumped there millennia ago and have since forgotten their origins. I still like the idea but it wouldn't work for this situation because it prevents a character from using the Force on Earth, under normal circumstances--it only allows for a 'regular' human to discover they're Force sensitive after they leave the planet.

2. If the rest of Star Wars is also real, then why do we have movies and so much other media detailing it? Where did they come from? Are the movies/EU accurate? Is all of it accurate or just some of it? Could it be that only the movies, only the EU, or only elements written by certain person(s) are accurate? Eg. only what George Lucas came up with is 100% accurate, or only another writer's ideas are 100% accurate, to the point that maybe not all of Lucas's ideas are. Or maybe nobody got everything completely right, though I'm not sure what the fun would be in that.

4. How would these person(s) have such accurate information? Are they consciously aware that they're writing about reality? Is it an infinite worlds thing (though as a disclaimer, that excuse isn't usually as logical as it sounds)? Did they experience the SW universe first hand? Are they using the Force, and if so, are they doing it on purpose or is it some kind of "Force fart" phenomenon they just happen to be able to pick up on?

5. Are any/all of the cultural/artistic/architectural similarities between some Earth cultures and SW cultures more than just superficial? And if so which side influenced the other? How and when did contact between these cultures take place? Possibly the most obvious being the resemblance between anceint Egypt and some aspects of the Sith.

The Egypt/Sith thing is also my personal favorite. Did you know that the ancient name for Egypt, the word they used for their own country, was 'Kemet'? That means 'black land'. From what I recall, archaeologists believe the name referred to the silt deposited by the Nile, but who says it wasn't actually a reference to the Dark Side?

 

I would say here that you can use the minimalist approach and have them use Force powers as they would use surnatural psychic powers of the more ''conventional'' kind.

As for the numbers of Force users on Earth, the EU give an example. There are millions of worlds in the Republic, the Sith and the Jedi agressively prospect even the crummiest candidates, and there are at best thousands of Jedis at the same time (Remember Luke, in Jedi Academy, came up with a whopping 20-30 candidates for Jedi School. Maybe he shoudl have hired more than three person to scout the whole Galaxy, but I'm disgressing here)

Granted, Earth is more populated than many EU worlds, but it's by no means a stretch to consider that if Force existed on Earth, there would be around 1 or 2 proto Jedis by century.

 

Don't forget there are some planets and races who are full of Force-sensatives. The blind Muralaki, for example, use the Force to see and some are strong enough for further training. Then there are all the witches on Dathomir, every single one of them strong enough to manipulate the Force as good as a Jedi. So you don't have to limit your number of sensitives on Earth to just a few simply because only a tiny fraction make up the total galactic population in the EU.

Mayla I like your "Earth is a Darksider Prison" idea. Wish I came up with it first.

 

All lore indications about the size of the Jedi Order point out to a (relatively speaking) rather tiny organization.

An wxample.
he Clone Wars, ''most of the Order'' was on the battlefield, leading clone troopers. There was eight million Kaminoan troopers. According to Essential Warfare, the smallest unit under Jedi officer was the regiment (2000 soldiers). It was the Jedi Commander.

8 000 000 soldiers means 4000 regiments = 4000 commanders

4 regiments made a legion/brigade. A legion was under a (presumably junior) general. Let's call him a brigadier general. There are thus 1000 brigadiers generals.

4 brigades made a corps, led by a general. There are thus 250 generals

4 corps made an sector army, led by a Senior General. There are thus, hmm, 60ish Seniors generals.

2 sector army made a system army, led by a High General. There are thus 30 of them.

4000+1000+250+60+30 = 5340 Jedi officers, maximum. Let's add a thousand of Jedi General doing spec force work.

If we take the best possible interpreation of ''most'' of the Jedi Order (50% +1), that would make the total effective of the Jedi Order well below 15 000, non including initiates and trainees. And they have a million of worlds to recruit from.



And bear in mind that those are maximum numbers, considering that Jedi Generals were killed with their troops. (Seeing the action from all sources, it's highly doubtful, and presumably the Jedi General of a wipe unit was soon affected to a newly batched unit)

 

Yeah the Jedi Order was stated, I think in ANH Novelization by Obi-wan, to be about 10,000 strong at the end days of the Republic and that's just an estimate given.

However that doesn't mean there aren't ten times as many sensitives in the galaxy. There is no mandatory screening (Anakin and Palpatine would have been found otherwise) and the Jedi can only be in so many places at once to notice someone who is sensitive. So I imagine a lot of sensitives go unnoticed by the Order and become too old to train by the time one does notice them.

 

So let's assume that we can have Jedi and Sith on Earth. And that the population of force sensitives make them a pretty big group. Where do we put them. I would think that they'll be around for thousands of years, fighting each other, engaging in battles all over the world. In putting them within these world views, I have a small question to ask. Would the Jedi and Sith be more like court wizards, vying for power in politics and fighting each other on the battlefield at the same time. Or would the Jedi be more like Taoists? Hermits that enjoy fishing more than politics? Because if you look at where the Jedi philosophy came from, Taoism, you'll find that the biggest mistake they made was to walk so closely with the senate.

 

I think the plot needs to find a subtle and clever way to link the biology of Earth to that of the 'Galaxy far far away'. As the original story was 'a long time ago', Earth life could have been seeded by descendents of the Empire/Rebellion. Or humans could have been introduced as part of a subversive colonisation program. The 'sci' in 'sci-fi' is complex and should be comprehensively dealt with to be convincing.

 

There was one cancelled novel (the name of which I have forgotten) that proposed that humans had time-travelled from Earth (in our future) to colonize the SW galaxy in its distant past. It's not exactly my favorite explanation, but given how inextricably the history of humans and other real-life species are linked to Earth I do have to admit that it manages to clear up a lot of things that SW-to-Earth explanations have a hard time explaining sufficiently, whether they be related to language, popular culture, fossil ancestors, etc.

 

Well in a story I'm working on, my main character is an OC from Earth who is a fanfic author who took up a challenge to write someone else's OC with their permission in which they have dinner together. She gets pulled into the SW universe and eventually makes it back to Earth. That part of the story is done. However, I'm working on the sequel in which she discovers that Earth is now part of the SW universe. Apparently, a long time ago, but not in a galaxy far far away, Jedi were trapped on Earth by some Sith and were cut off... the Sith leader at that time had found out a way to cut a planet off from the Force with a Force Barrier. However, the barrier weakened over the millennia and one man on Earth got a vision and made that vision into a certain series of movies, and those movies inspired many fanfics. These authors did not realize they were actually channeling what was going on in another part of their own galaxy. Earth is in the unknown regions of the GFFA in my telling.

 

Nice way to explain Star Wars in Star Wars there.

For me, explaining why there are humans on Earth and in the GFFA I go with the Stargate SG-1 approach. Humans on Earth are the second evolution of that species in the Milky Way or seeded by the Ancients (Celestials). The same applies to the rest of the humans across the universe. A device, forgot what its called, was used by the Ancients to seed each galaxy with life and the evolution of that life is predetermined by some genetic program which includes the eventual evolution of their own species. Kinda combines Evolution Theory and Creation Theory in one. Anyway, it explains why Earth is genetically tied together, can still be the Human homeworld, and have humans in another galaxy.

Using the SG-1 explanation ends up making the Celestials an evolved version of humans. Heh Palpatine and the Empire will love that theory.

And the great thing about the SG-1 explanation? The Ancients have Force-like abilities and can ascend to a higher existence, body disappearing act and all! So yeah, it fits perfectly.

I love Stargate.

 

If I wrote star wars, it would be futuristic. Agreed?

Maybe humans migrated after a post apocalyptic event and/or alien invasion to earth, to a far away galaxy. And settled there. Star wars happens a few hundred years from now.

 

I love stargate too. I just hated the way they dressed in Stargate.