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 Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:52 am
Meditation for attunement
19
Between ataru and niman, she was struggling. While ataru was more appealing, she worried about her physical stamina not matching her talent with the Force. No doubt she could channel the Force, with practice, to do great things, but she also worried about not having the energy to work her powers after a bout. Which left only one. Niman. The diplomat's form, often practiced by those who avoided the battlefield altogether. She supposed it made sense; she would be able to incorporate her powers into her fighting. But would her lightsaber skills be enough to ensure her survival? She worried that, without enough practice, she would be found wanting in actual combat.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:55 am
Meditation for attunement
20
She battled internally for a time. Niman did make sense. It was supposed to be simple to master, so she could have more time to focus on her Force training, but she just wasn't sure about the limitations of the form. She saw herself going into combat with mighty opponents. What if their physical prowess outmatched her own? There was no easy answer. Physically, she simply was not a match for other fighters. Which meant that her only options were to train doubly hard in lightsaber combat, or use the Force to dominate the battlefield. Her only real choices, then, were ataru and niman, and of those two, niman seemed most likely. Of course, she would try them out before making a final decision, but so far she thought that her logic seemed sound.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:58 am
Meditation for attunement
21
So she needed to learn how to use the Force to augment her physical abilities. That was easy enough. Speed and jump were some of the first abilities taught to the younglings, as they were incredibly useful for a variety of applications. Vyntyr could --and should-- certainly work on them, as her body allowed. Perhaps, through practice, she could master her deficiencies and become a stronger and more able warrior. All it would take is time, and time Vyntyr had plenty of. She decided that she should not ignore her lightsaber training in the future, as she needed to be well-rounded on the battlefield.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:02 am
Meditation for attunement
22
For now, though, Vyntyr could focus on the Force as her main area of study. Younglings were expected to grasp the basics of lightsaber combat, and were to be trained further by their masters, when their apprenticeship began. Vyntyr felt that focusing on her strengths now would make her more likely to even get brought on as an apprentice, instead of spreading herself too thin now and not making the cut. When the time came, having a strong grasp of the Force could see her through her trials as well as, if not better than, being a more capable lightsaber combatant. Not to say that she wouldn't train with her lightsaber, just that she would not make it the focus of her training.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:05 am
Meditation for attunement
23
First on the training agenda was mastery of self. Vyntyr needed extensive meditation on the subjects of who she was and what exactly it was that she wanted out of this life. Not only her personal, physical goals, but her metaphysical ones as well. What was it that she needed to make herself whole? To make her happy? It was one thing to say that she wanted to be a powerful Jedi. But what did that really mean? It could be read any number of ways. What did being a powerful Jedi mean to Vyntyr? What was power to a Jedi? Lightsaber prowess? Agility? Intellectual achievements? Powerful manifestations of the Force? Or just a deep, philosophical knowledge of the Force and the nature of the Jedi's place in the galaxy?
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:08 am
Meditation for attunement
24
Vyntyr supposed that all these things made for a powerful Jedi. Certainly there was no one way to measure the strength of such a person. But what would make her powerful? What would set her apart from her contemporaries? Could she be the next Battlemaster of the Order, renowned for her flawless lightsaber combat expertise? Perhaps not. A great philosopher, perhaps, dedicating her life to understanding the Force and its mysteries, passing her knowledge down to future generations? A possibility, to be sure. Could she be the next Grandmaster of the Order? Respected by all as a wise and powerful master? Could be.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:11 am
Meditation for attunement
25
Or was it a simpler calling that spoke to her? Could she be happy, laboring in obscurity as an archaeologist, perhaps? Or a historian, bent on discovering and preserving secrets and stories of times long since past? A diplomat, venturing to new and exotic planets and meeting strange cultures, spreading the influence of the Republic? A general in the Republic Army, leading her troops into glorious battle? Or even simpler still; a soldier. One of many faces in a sea of battle, fighting the constant battle for peace in the galaxy, preparing for the day that the treaty falls, and the entirety of the galaxy is swallowed in a mighty and incredible war?
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:13 am
Meditation for attunement
26
Yes, she thought. That did not seem so bad. Something about the simplicity of the soldier appealed to her. The clear lines between good and evil. Between right and wrong. Yes, something about it just seemed right, and she felt like that was the way she was meant to go. She could become a powerful warrior and make her mark in the history books by carving out an era of peace in the annals of time. Even if her name was not remembered, her actions would be. Was that what it meant to be powerful, then? To be remembered? To live forever in the pages of history, even if your flesh was gone?
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:17 am
Meditation for attunement
27
Many powerful Jedi had come and gone, certainly. She could think of several off the top of her head, even so far back as the return of the Sith Empire, and masters like Grandmaster Satele Shan and her master, the Battlemaster of the Order Kao Cen Darach. They both stood against the full might of the Sith Empire, and though Kao Cen Darach was struck down in the war by Darth Malgus, Satele Shan became one of the most powerful Jedi of her time, and later defeated Malgus on Alderaan. Vyntyr looked up to Satele Shan quite a lot, actually. She had been a capable warrior, who was incredibly powerful with the Force, much as Vyntyr wanted to be.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:19 am
Meditation for attunement
28
So Vyntyr knew what kind of a Jedi she wanted to be; a warrior, at home on the battlefield. What she needed to know next was what she needed to do to get to that point. What was it that she needed to practice, to learn, to become that sort of Jedi? Mastery of the Force was a no-brainer. Lightsaber combat, she admitted, was important, too. Military strategies could come in handy, and studying other successful soldiers could give her ideas and insights into battle. She'd need to know about the weapons she'd be fighting against, and also about her opponents. But who would be her enemy?
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:22 am
Meditation for attunement
29
Sure, she could train to fight against Sith --who didn't?--. but Sith, admittedly, weren't all that common in Republic space. No, most of what you'd see would be blasters and vehicles. Well, the best tool against a blaster, next to a shield, is a lightsaber. She'd need to work on her blaster deflection. The most effective tool against vehicles was tougher. Explosives and artillery came to mind, but neither of those were exactly common in a Jedi's arsenal. So lightsabers? Maybe not against all of them. So that left the Force. Well. That was a tough proposition. How would you best use the Force against a vehicle?
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:25 am
Meditation for attunement
30
Against something like a swoop bike, one could just as easily use their lightsaber to cut a stabilizer as they could use the Force to destabilize it manually. But against something else? How does one defend against artillery? Get out of the way, of course. But something else; a TIE fighter? A tank? How can someone fight something like that? Sure, if you get close enough, you might disable it with your lightsaber. But something that big would be dangerous. Not to mention time-consuming. But what alternative was there? You couldn't just charge it and hope for the best, could you? You needed a plan. You needed a heavy weapon. Artillery.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:28 am
Meditation for attunement
31
That's what the Jedi didn't have. They had footsoldiers. They had crowd control. They even had special operations teams; black ops, if you believed the rumors. Jedi who could blend into the shadows and strike from nowhere. but what artillery did the Jedi have? None. There were no easy ways to destroy tanks, no safe ways to pound enemy defenses from a distance. Vyntyr's mind was filled with images of Jedi being overrun and massacred by tanks, blast cannons raining destruction as ships flew by, safe in the skies, far outside the Jedi's reach. There was a hole in the Jedi offensive.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:31 am
Meditation for attunement
32
Her visions began to swim and then solidify. She saw the battlefield, soldiers spread across it, Jedi fighting some nameless and faceless force. And then she saw a ship crash, falling from the sky. A swoop bike was launched haphazardly into the air, spinning out of control until it and its rider separated, each falling to a painful landing with the red earth of some war-torn terrain. A tank crested the hill, blasting powerful missiles toward a squad of Jedi, engaged in battle against armored soldiers. The missiles turned away, flying into the distance. And then she watched as the tank lifted into the air... And exploded. It was ripped by some unseen force into two pieces, and each piece was thrown back at the enemy.
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Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:34 am
Meditation for attunement
33
What was that? What could be causing this turning of the tide? Was it some sort of secret weapon? Some new tool of the Republic? No. As she searched the battlefield for the cause of this destruction, she saw a lone figure, garbed in white. As the figure was approached by a TIE fighter, blasting a path of destruction toward the figure on the hill, the figure merely raised their hand and made a fist. The ship imploded, crushing in upon itself and halting suddenly in midair. As the figure swung their fist downward, the ship slammed into the dirt at their feet.
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