Azarl finds Thalos interesting as he came from an alien race, the Vudans, in which the Sith found many Force-sensitives. Their enslavement by the Sith and combat with the Republic reduced the number dramatically, to a point where Azarl's abilities proved rare.
"I would imagine Thalos resisted," Azarl says, slowly, to be understood. "Vudes resisted and lost. Maybe Thalos recovered and developed, after thousands of years. Vudes remains primitive, as Ascar says."
Let's just say I had a good feeling about it," says Ascar to Xavier.
"As for Thalos and the Sith- oh indeed. Few remember, but it is on record; the Sith tried to invade Thalos, long ago, during one of their wars with the Republic. The Jedi came in on the side of Thalos. And so, despite their isolationism, they know of the Republic and the Jedi- though they seemed rather fuzzy about the details when I was there. They assumed the Jedi ruled.
"But that's a mistake the Jedi never make. With their powers of prediction, they try to adapt, to prepare, to advise- but not to control. Of course, if the Jedi had any sense, they would disengage from politics altogether- it's a waste of their time, trying to protect all those people. But at least they don't try and steer the course of the galaxy themselves.
"But on Thalos, all must be harmonious, and that needs control. And from their earliest days of technological ascendancy- in which respect they are impressive- their Seers soon found that trying to maintain harmonious control over the stars was utterly beyond the capacity of any of them. There were just too many variables. So a sacred act came down- the Harmony would be confined to Thalos itself, and no-one was to leave. That is the cause of their isolationism. Where the Jedi see an uncontrollable galaxy and decide to advise what political structure exists, the adepts of the Harmony on Thalos saw a disharmonious galaxy and ran away from it to control something smaller.
"And indeed, stalemate becomes their issue. Now, they know of the difficulties of prophecy. Even with the most powerful, it is not always clear. They can adapt a little. They weigh up the importance of the prophecy against the amount they know of it and make as informed a decision as they can.
"But what happens if a prophecy is made about which they know very little and about which the stakes are as high as they can be- the survival of Thalos itself?"
"Well if it comes to survival then it can push people to do things they other wise wouldn't do," Xavier responds. "If you think your world is doomed it might even force you to take drastic conventional methods. What was this prophecy Ascar? And is it what caused Adelmo to want to take power?"
Xavier looks over to the Seer. If Eller thought her homeworld was on the line perhaps that would drive her to help Adelmo. It could also explain why Eller seems so frustrated with purpose and the galaxy's seemingly chaotic nature. She is out of her comfort zone. Existing in a world that limits input to maintain better control. To make things always work together towards harmony.
"In fact,m" says Ascar, "for most of the population of the world, it has led them to do precisely nothing. You ask me what the Prophecy is- well, that is part of the issue. They have virtually no idea. They know it is Doom to Thalos, and they suspect it comes from outside. But all they have ever managed to get as explanation is some vague geometric shapes that could mean anything.
"The whole future of their planet dependent on how they respond to the prophecy- but they can't make any sense of what it is. So how can they act?"
Xavier thinks for a second and throws out a speculation to Ascar, "Is that the reason Adelmo is hunting down Sith Artifacts. To try and find whatever it is that is from the prophecy to try and claim it or destroy it before someone else can? Or perhaps find something to counter the doom from the prophecy?"
Well, Ascar will answer the first point first.
"No, you don't understand what I am saying. You are thinking as you would, not as they would. They do not act in ignorance, and they dare not make such an important decision that could affect their world without knowing what will happen. But they can't know what will happen.
"So they don't act."
"It's not accepting their fate," says Ascar "It;s precisely because of their fate that they don't act- they feel the wrong move will seal it. The last thing they will do is accept it. Their entire culture has become geared to fighting it. It's been going on for decades.
"They know there are two broad approaches they can take, though the details vary wildly. They can dig in, turn Thalos into a fortress, seal out the danger. Or they can open up, end the isolation, discover the threat. Either move will take enough resources to make changing their minds impossible. The debate is never ending.
"And so to solve it, they turn back to the Force- their harmony. They strive for more information. They are desperate for it. They analyse and they sense and they reach and they feel and it all goes on and on, back to the same inability to decide.
"But on a planet where you are born to be what you are, perhaps all you need is the right person. Their Harmony will provide. They could not sense out the answer they sought- but they did sense that perhaps the right people to solve it were coming soon. So. No decision. Just await the ones that can give the perfect answer."
"Well, their powers of prediction are not so poor as to get something like that wrong.
"Two colours of hair for the Ladies of Thalos. Those who are blonde are masters of using the Force to affect the physical world around them. Those with black hair embody the passive aspects of the Force; intuition and prediction.
"But rarely- very rarely indeed- one is born whose hair is purest white."
"So Ademlo was born and predicted chosen. She was raised under the conditions to make a choice that would decide the fate of their world. Except because of their harmony Adelmo will make the right choice because she was the right person. An interesting way to grow up. One with a lot of responsibility. Are her main Agents also chosen ones like Eller and Kitai? Or are there any other that were their champions?"
"Adelmo made her choice quickly. You asked before how she was able to persuade the likes of Katai to her cause. Well, this is how. The entire culture of the planet had demanded that Adelmo provide the answer- that gave her the social sanction to speak the unspeakable and do the forbidden. Enough people listened.
"It is the curse of the Kreel- those with white hair., They embody all aspects of the Force in one, masters of all. But this is not harmonious; the symbiotic split of the blonde and lack haired ladies is easy to see. Power is not meant to be concentrated. They have long known that the Kreel are drawn to disharmony. To rely on them is playing with fire, but the Assembly on Thalos thought it had no choice. They thought they could control her, so she was encouraged- to train, to grow, to think. To act."
"I am still not quite sure you understand their ways, Xavier. They didn't train her to be what they were not. They trained her the exact same way they trained everyone else. They just expected her to solve what they could not. A gift from the harmony. It is what she was told all her life
"So, that is more or less where I came in. When I arrived, the planet was still riven between which of the two ways to go. And Adelmo- young, but growing in power rapidly, already a Lady, skilled in all areas of the Force, was coming into her time when she was meant to come up with a solution.
"I came to the planet as a respectful visitor, as I did with all such cultures. But Adelmo was the only interesting one there. All I did was give her what she wanted- information abut the galaxy outside her home. It's hardly my fault that their society was too inflexible to deal with the consequences of such information."