Discussion of TimeLines

Alright there was a big "discussion" at the last LJO meeting discussion whether or not certain things worked well with the current cannon. I believe the Cannon is what we make it and if the allies/enemy's of the LJO agree then we can set our own timeline and evade this " vader/palpetine rule of 2 and order 66" crap.

I think you sort of have to respect some general ideas, but have to sort of be flexible with the film canon to accomodate the game. I touch on that in a scene in my Episode II of my graphic novels. (see the biography thread for uncropped version)


The gist is that while Vader and his goons may have killed off the jedi, that the force itself is immortal. And thus there will always be people that will discover a connection to the force, though some may not be aware of it and some might realise what it is but without guidance will use it for bad. But some people, will find info of the jedi ways, and secretly train and keep its practices going. It's actually more realistic to think that the pockets of jedi just went underground rather than being 100% whipped out, waiting for the time when they could restore the order to its full glory and opening confront the forces of darkness.

TBH i think making a StarWars MMO in this timeline wasn't such a smart idea, especially when they have made Jedi as a starter class. However i have to admit when i get into character and begin RPing i tend to forget about the current timeline and believe this is some new Jedi Order set well away from the Galactic civil war with a new Sith empire rising (SITH').

I think we should be flexible with the timeline we have ATM. No doubt to make this work we may need to bend the cannon to what we make it ourselves.

Ok I'm mixed on this lol

I think we should try and "accept" cannon to date as such, so we know the events of Epidoes, 1, 2, 3 and 4 are essentially "set in stone", which bases us around the time of the Empire strikes back,
now obviously Hoth itself is a repeatable heroic and therefore kinda falls flat, (could be fun RPing through it a little tho with a jedi heavy group with some rebel support (we could play it as a we're there to help the last get out) but that aside I would say we use that as a "jumping off platform"

one thing I would like to work out is who wants to RP a 40+ year old who might have been a part of the order (however I would ask that they not make their story that of being a great master or on the council...) and which jedi have been trained in hiding by others, or are self made (Kyle Katarn style) I personally think that character and character history will be the biggest driving force behind this.

With the Death Star being destoryed that could be used as the event that "draws" up back out of hiding, seeing a solid victory against the Empire without the Jedi's help (based on the fact that the Emperor managed to turn alot of the general public against the jedi with the events of episode 3.

so personally my idea would be to have anyone who wants to play a "pre emp jedi" would need to work out how they avoided order 66 (profession changes can be helpful as "key events") and that now they see a true chance to return democracy etc is why we'be drawn together for the order.
any "post emp Jedi" i would hope would work out reasons/event why they are force sensitive, how they develloped, etc

so that we'd have our own "cannon starting point" to get moving on from, only thing that may disrupt us is any additional content (personally I'd love the battle of endor (in space lol) but the ground part could make a good instance if done right i guess)

there was 19 years that occurred from the time of Ep 3 and Ep4, so you don't need to be over 40.

But as I said, it's more realistic that the jedi were not completely wiped out. In history when people have tried to wipe out a civilisation or group, some always survived, or at least the memory of them always survived. Also when civilsations go through dark and oppressive times they will look to the past for legends to inspire them.

The Empire had some pockets opposition from the very start, so those people that hate the empire, or later grow to hate them, would then start to see inspiration in the past jedi as legends representing a better time.

This might in turn lead to a jedi revivalism. If the events between Ep 3 and 4 had been a few centuries then the new jedi would be those inspired by the mythical texts of the old jedi. Like how in medievil Britain there was interest in King Arthur as inspiration (the real Arthur dates back to Roman times) and the knights of the garder tried to revive their romanticised version of the Arthur legends.

However, as I said before, the lifespan of the Empire is rather short, so many people would have remembered the jedi first hand and it is possible given the vastness of the galaxy (or whatever portion of it our films take place) that not all were killed. How quickly did the rebellion start? It suggests the the empire was never in control of the entire galaxy (former republic). Even the republic never controlled all the planets for that matter (ex Tatooine). So there are places to hide in exile.

Granted Yoda does imply all the jedi died when he says "the last of the jedi will you be". This clearly is an opinion that SWG clearly breaks from.

But you could then say that we neo-jedi/pseudo-jedi aren't real jedi cause we never graduated from the jedi temple or had official instruction from an official master (who were wiped out save two) and we're either self-taught amateurs or padawans that had to complete their training without a master. As yoda says "only then a jedi will you be", so everyone else might have trained the best they could but never had a certifed master make it official. So when he said "last jedi" this could be interpreted to mean "last official jedi" and not precluding the possibility of not-quite-jedi-yet running around.

Also if we again use Yoda's words, he later suggests that Leia is a jedi too even though she has not trained at all. Implying someone can be a jedi and not even know it, simply cause the force is strong with them. And if you go with this line of thought, then it is quite posible that other people have a jedi within them waiting to come out.

So to sum up, our jedi are either padawans that never completed their official training, since the temple was destroyed and masters killed, and had to make due best they could, but never got certified. Or they are people who were born strong with the force and became aware of it and working alone with whatever texts they could find or working with other similar people, or even under some uncertified jedi master who had received incomplete official training, learnt the arts as best as they could.

warhorse wrote:there was 19 years that occurred from the time of Ep 3 and Ep4, so you don't need to be over 40.

ahh sorry I meant more a Jedi Master, as I remember it (guessing) Anakin is around 25ish at Episode 3, and the youngest member on the council and only a knight.
you could possibly pull off a Jedi Knight under that age but obvioulsy the younger the character the lesser chance there is of them being a Knight in my opinion.

(how old was Obi Wan when he became a knight?)

also both Obi Wan and Yoda "twist" the truth slightly when talking to Luke, they tell the truth "from a certain point of view" which allows it to be opened up to interpretation, and in the expanded universe there are people like Kyle Katarn who are "self made jedi". there are the lost 20, and in the Yuzahn Vong war there is Vergier (however it's spelt) that is supposidly a Jedi, there is more than enough scope for jedi to have survived.
Also in the book set just after the events of episode 3 it recounts how some of the Jedi banded together and Vader's initial hunting of them.

whilst I think we're ok to 'invent' our own Cannon i think we need to keep it within the realms of star wars, if we end up with half of our order made up of Jedi Masters from the order portrayed in episodes 1-3 then I think personally it'd be a little boring.
Part of the fun of this is adapting it a little, (i.e. in the EU Luke Skywalker gets married, and some of the others too)

I think the key thing to remember is to try and create a strong character that is easy to 'play' and that can be developed with realative ease

yeah the master title seems used much differently in the game. the films suggest that you start off as a youngling: one learning the basics. then you can be a padawan, a apprentice to a master jedi. then you take the trials and become a knight. but they don't explain how one becomes a master. though the padawans all call their mentor "master", does this mean there are that many masters? or are some just knights and being called "master" as just a salutation of respect.