STAR WARS: RETROSPECTION- Learner

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

From one of the many hallways built into the magnificent structure of the Temple, Myraline could see that the sun was setting. She sighs, realizing that it had been another day of failure and stress. Her difficulties with her Padawan had increased as of late; her relationship with the stubborn girl had reached a breaking point. But it was a decision she could not make alone.

“Master Yoda, I don’t know what to do,” Myraline says, calmly despite her distress about the matter. “Rianna becomes more and more troublesome with each passing day. I can teach her nothing in the ways of diplomacy, in the ways of the law, in the ways of the Force...”

“Not all Jedi seek knowledge,” Yoda reminds, the diminutive Grandmaster walking steadily alongside her. “Skill, prowess, seeks these things your Padawan does. Many do, in these times. Not knowledge.”

“But it can only lead her to destruction!” Myraline declares. “The quest for greater skill is a popular path, but with the anger that I have sensed within her... it cannot bode well for her. Her frustration with myself, with her inability to progress on her own... it will only feed that anger. She cannot be taught to tame it if she will not allow herself to be taught anything at all!”

“Given up on your Padawan, you have?” Yoda asks. “Unlike you, Myraline. Dedication, you have, for many things. Should not your Padawan be one of these?”

“Attaining knowledge is not the same as giving it,” Myraline sighs. “Her stubborn behavior has put a block on my ability to educate her in the ways of the Jedi. She will not progress under my passive hand. She needs a firm Master, whereas I need a shapeable Padawan.”

“Passive, you are not,” Yoda says. “Passive you were not with the Hutts. Stubborn, you yourself were! A success, that mission was, only through your steadfast diplomatic efforts. Bribery and threats swayed you not. This firm mind, applied it must be to her training! Success you will have, Myraline, if you choose to help her in her quest for skill. Open up to you, she may. May the Force be with you.”

Myraline sighs as the wizened Master hobbles away. “And with you, Master. Thank you.” But despite Yoda’s words of advice, Myraline is unsure of herself. Master Yoda does not know Rianna Xi as she does.

The sun lowers below the horizon and is gone, taking the light of day with it.

-

Welcome to “Learner,” an episode of the new Retrospection games! As an episode of this series, “Learner” will be a very personal plotline, exploring events involving the player’s character. Going off of Ushgarak’s ever-popular Star Wars role-playing game, these mini-episodes occur in game-play’s past. In this case, it will explore the incredible time when, believe it or not, the murderous mistress Rianna Xi was a member of the Jedi Order, training to become a portal for the Light of the Force to shine through into the Galaxy. Or something like that.

Rianna Xi, now a member of a group of Dark Jedi that have banded together for survival, is a woman filled with anger and ready to kill on a whim. But she was not always so violent and irritable, though she tended to lean toward it. Even in her brief tutorship under the infamous Nume Rand it can be seen that she does not take being bossed around lightly- something that goes back to the friction she experienced with the Jedi Knight Myraline Kiros, her former mentor. Though Myraline’s end by Rianna’s hand is well-known amongst the Dark Jedi she has traveled with- namely Rand- little is known about her time as a Jedi Padawan, prior to her short occupation as a fully-fledged Knight. This moment in time will examine her relationship with Myraline and the miniscule things that built up to the breaking point and led Rianna to choose the Dark Side of the Force as her ally and weapon.

The time period is set in 37 BBY- five years before the Battle of Naboo and the events of The Phantom Menace. Rianna, at the young but tumultuous age of 16, has been in training under Myraline Kiros for three years and accompanied her on many diplomatic missions. But the young Padawan strives for the glory and prowess of a Jedi Swordsman, not for the political styling of a Jedi diplomat. Her frustration and anger are of concern to Myraline, but the Jedi Council is confident that Rianna will learn to deal with these... eventually.

-

At this point, I will need to know which, if any, predictive power the players will be using before the game starts. Once the plotline is in motion, you can’t make use of these abilities. As a reminder, your available predictive powers that you may have taken are:

Dreams. Using this gives you a small chance that the Force will have given you insight into what is to come in the upcoming story, giving you a chance to better react and deal with these events.

Foresight. This is better than Dreams- it represents you actually spending time to navigate the future to deliberately try and get warning of upcoming events. It can give far more clear and comprehensive visions than Dreams.

Instincts. The power of the Living Force gives you no warning about the future at all, but makes you more likely to do things right once you get there. A successful use of Instincts will give you a certain amount of re-rolls to use during the story, which you can use whenever a die roll goes badly to get a better result.

If you have Foresight, forget using Dreams. Foresight is better. The real choice, though, is whether you’re taking the future-predicting abilities of the Cosmic Force or the here and now Living Force.

If you want to, you may reduce your Force rating by one for the story to get +1 on your prediction roll. The Force power Augury also gives a bonus to these rolls. If the upcoming storyline is dramatically relevant to you, you get +4 to that roll, but you will not be told in advance.

If you wish, you may reduce your force rating by one for the story to get +1 on your prediction roll. The Force power Augury also gives a bonus to these rolls. If the upcoming storyline is drastically relevant to you, you get +4 to the roll, but I will not tell you that in advance.

-

Special Rules for this one. This is some time before Rianna is the killing machine that the Dark Jedi know her to be. As such, she will operate with a Lightsaber skill of 12. She is greatly skilled for such a young age, but she still has much to learn. Additionally, a -1 penalty is applied to all other skills, including Force ratings and Combat. I would also restrict Dark Side Powers, but... you don’t have any! So that’s that.

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

Night has come to Coruscant, but that does not necessarily mean sleep.

Rianna, you are restless. You did not think it possible that the last mission could have been more boring than the mission before it, but alas, you were mistaken. The world of Alpilia is of little importance to the Galaxy and of no importance at all to you. While you found the Alpilian Monks to be slightly out of the ordinary at first, they proved to be just as dull, if not duller, than the mineral miners. At the least the miners were threatening to put up a fight. But no, Myraline had to talk the angered workers down and establish peace talks.

As a result of your mentor's success, you have a great deal of energy that you would greatly seek to unleash. And what better way than duelling practice against the other Padawans? It not only allows you to get some of your frustrations out, but it also lets you show off just how much better you are than the other Padawans...

You have wandered into the courtyard that the Padawans use daily as a duelling arena. Several Padawans are milling about, challenging each other to matches, boasting about prior victories or excusing past defeats. Many of the Padawans are older than you are, but this does not deter you. A few Jedi Masters are supervising to ensure that none of the duels take a wrong turn.

Rianna will use Dreams, as it's the only predictive power she has...

She will approach the nearest Padawan, not caring who she fights but just wanting to do something.

"Care for a quick duel?"

The Padawan turns to see who has challenged him, but upon seeing you, grimaces.

"Oh, Rianna... um... sorry, but you roughed me up pretty bad last week. I was hoping to practice against someone more in my range... sorry again."

Many of the Padawans, now realizing that you are in their midst, shuffle away from you. Except one.

"I hear you're looking for a challenge?" he asks. This one is Foghren, a young man of about twenty-one and a skilled Padawan learner. You remember him having a very lanky frame when you first met him, but he has filled out through much hard practice. "I can give you one."

"You can try, you mean..." Rianna replies.

Foghren is actually quite formidable. Master Rand has trained him well.

Once it is established that a match has been placed, all the Padawans clear out to the edges of the courtyard, giving the two of you space to begin. The courtyard has numerous wooden benches and planters holding a tall breed of willow tree.

Foghren reaches for his lightsaber, stepping back. "Are you ready, then, little one?"

"I'm rarely ever not ready." Rianna responds, drawing her lightsaber.

So it begins! To the duel thread!

Rianna finishes the practice duel victorious! Your only complaint is that it did not last long enough, Rianna. Foghren is impressive and certainly a worthy adversary, but today he has proved to be less notable than you would have thought. Triumph is yours.

"Well done," he says, smiling despite having your lightsaber at his throat.

There is not a great deal of applause. The other Padawans were rooting for Foghren.

"Thank you." Rianna replies, stepping back and putting away her lightsaber. She is annoyed with the other Padawans but also pleased with her victory, even though it seems no one else is.

"Practice a bit harder, and maybe we can have a rematch someday." she calls out, smirking, as she heads towards the exit.

There is one other person who seems pleased with your victory, stepping from the sidelines with a slow clap. His sharpened teeth produce a wicked grin, dampening the friendly appearance the smile is meant to provide. The green-skinned Nautolan has his tendrils tied back by three black bands, and he wears a dark set of Jedi robes.

"Master Rand, it appears I have lost," Foghren says to his Master. The proud Padawan does not bow his head, but his congratulatory smile has faded.

Master Rand halts his applause, though the smile remains.

"It is of no consequence, my pupil," Rand says to Foghren, placing a hand upon his shoulder. "Rianna Xi is a prodigy. Few can begin the path to mastering this noble weapon at such a young age." Rand calls Foghren's weapon to him from the ground and hands it to the Padawan, admiring the fact that it slightly resembles his own lightsaber.

Rand eyes Rianna as she steps out of the arena.

"It was the most challenge I've had in a while. Much better than most of the other duels I've had lately..." Rianna says, pausing and glancing over at the rest of the Padawans.

"Hello, Master Rand."

"Hello, Rianna," Rand replies, allowing his grin to fade slightly into a smile that does not bare his naturally sharpened teeth. "That was quite impressive for someone so young. Soon enough you will be challenging fully-fledged Knights to practice with you."

"Thank you." Rianna replies, not saying anything about his comment on her being skilled enough to challenge Knights to practice with - if Myraline would let her, if she had her way, she would be doing so already.... "I do like to practice with my lightsaber."

"So I have noticed," Rand says. "I have my doubts, though. You are apprenticed to Myraline Kiros, yes? She is no swordsman. How did you come about such training?"

"So far I still mostly train with Master Myraline. She does her best." Rianna replies, implying that she doesn't think Myraline's best quite cuts it but not wanting to criticize her Master in front of another.

"Her best is not enough, if you seek to become a master of the lightsaber," Rand says. "That stays between us, of course." Rand squeezes Foghren's shoulder in a fatherly way, still smiling. "I wouldn't want Myraline to believe I think less of her simply because she prefers to be diplomatic and academic. This is a time of relative peace, and such knowledgeable Jedi are needed. But there will always be a place for the Jedi warrior in the Galaxy. Violence is eternal."

"Myraline wishes that I would try and study diplomacy and the Force more, but I don't believe she would hinder me where my skills lie. I'm sure we will be able to make some sort of arrangements when it's needed."

"Foghren and myself will always be willing to a lend a hand when the time comes," Rand says. "Isn't that right, Foghren?"