Force Academy
This is still being cleaned up and edited. Thank you for your patience!
June 19, 1999
Founder: Andrew Watson (also known as the "Force Master")
http://www.forceacademy.co.uk/
Alongside the same year of the Jedi Academy. The Force Academy was also created. The Keeper has not been apart of this community and can only rely on the wisdom and texts found within their saved history and through deep research in their database. As such The Keeper will rely heavily on exerts and texts of the Master that ran The Force Academy in hopes to remain true to their characters without bias or watered down lore.
Lord Ediolon a long standing member of the Force Academy has, in particular, been of great service in the following documentations below.
Alongside the same year of the Jedi Academy. The Force Academy was also created with a few rough starts. Like any new community the founders struggled with their Administration and after a few mistakes the founder asked a friend (Moore) to help.. Moore corrected a few Administration hiccups and also started the first handful of lectures.
Moor’s lectures can be found at:
http://www.forceacademy.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Moor
“Lord Moor is a follower of witchcraft, suggesting a largely metaphysical Dark Side including skills and Force powers. His ideas revolve around strength of mind to manifest the Dark emotions. He preaches an age old theory of Darkness, a deeply mystical Dark Side. It leads the way into the idea of examining the self and understanding the emotions of the self.”
-Kissed by Shiva
presented in 2005
Over time and further building of the Force Academy. Various Aspects came into light
The Light Aspect
The Shadow Aspect
&
The Dark Aspect
Other subjects were open for conversation and educational purposes but the three aspects were the focused paths and were controlled by their own own, unique set of leaders.
(Jedi) Force Academy Light Aspect : Fene & Jedi Knight G
(“Who were the Light Aspect leaders - In Order - Did they follow a ‘Dynasty?’ If so what were they? What were some of the success’s, failures?”)
(Shadow Jedi) Force Academy Justin Tallant AKA Shinobi
(“Who were the Shadow Aspect leaders - In Order - Did they follow a ‘Dynasty?’ If so what were they? What were some of the successes, failures?”)
Force Academy (Sith) Dark Aspect
The First Dynasty
Lead by: Moore
It could be said that the Dark Aspect at Force Academy took it’s roots from the Order/Society of the Moon founded by a man named Malevicum. The Black Coven supplied the First Dynasty Teachings based off of the history and artifacts of the Black Coven. One of the Force Academy members outline a summary concerning this subject which can be viewed below.
The Order of Eight and the Society
Written by: Azadun
http://www.forceacademy.co.uk/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=7788&p=94534&hilit=azadun#p94534
Once upon a time there were people in Germany who studied witchcraft. Some by themselves. Some together with others. Over time networks developed and people exchanged knowledge. Among the more known scriptures, the most famous was "Der Hexenmond". The unknown author claimed that witchcraft came from the time when angels still walked the Earth. This was before God punished them for sharing divine knowledge and drove them from heaven.
This grimoire became famous quickly. It was a pure form of knowledge and the teachings in the book lead to great power and success. There was as much debate on the magickal theory presented as there was on the true nature of the gift. Based on the story presented, people began developing their own interpretations based on their beliefs. Some believed that all witches are descendants of the angels before the fall. Others believe that it is a spiritual link, that we are related in soul, or indeed the reborn souls of that era. Some believed it was just a metaphore. And some believed that it was proof that we were indeed as dark in origin as the church made us out to be.
Covens grew in size and culture began establishing itself around different versions of the Hexenmond. While all covens thought their version to the be right one, some of the more darwinistic covens started fighting over it. Not so much as to subjugate the others as much as to prove their truth to themselves. How to explain this best. Some of you may have heard of the term Gottesurteil. I'm not sure what it's called in English. A divine ruling, I believe. When knights for example had a disagreement, they would dual or joust. The idea was that God would support the knight who is correct and grant him victory. In that sense, this competition between some the covens was similarly honor based, giving themselves to competition to prove through the Gottesurteil that their belief was indeed the purest. Competitions could vary between matches, but later grew more dire in the sense that magickal skirmishes were supported where basically one coven invaded the territory of another and used magick on its members and sometimes their allies and families. But overall these were still times of honor and surrenders were excepted.
But all that changed when a young coven emerged, following the dark belief that we were effectively, the ancestors of demons. Of royal demons no less, as the fallen angels are referred to: the nobility of hell. They began mixing infernal magick and demon worship into their witchcraft and fought with their neighbors for dominance. They did not accept honor surrenders and they fought not only with curse and tears, but brought violence and fought with blade and blood as well. The only surrender they accepted was an oath of fealty to their ruler. Written in blood. Witnessed by the spirit world. Woven by magick.
It didn't take long before several of the other covens banded together against the black coven and formed the Order of Four, under the sign of the four divine heavens, North, East, South and West. Later this was also called the Order of the Sun.
To help calm the violence that had grown among this network of covens, but also to acquiesce some of the darwinistic circles who enjoyed the emerging brutality, the order institutionalized competition by sword with armor.
The black coven, under the sign of the Zenith, or solar eclipse, formed it's own Order and referred to the overall society as the Order of Eight. Four houses of the sun, as the other covens had founded their Order of Four, but also four Houses of the Moon. These were the secret houses that worked to undo the Order of Sun.
This was an interesting time. Also culture wise. The Order of the Sun required all members of the larger Society to register with them. Those who didn't were respected as independent but would need to fend for themselves if trouble arose. And were also not given access to the rapidly growing library of the Order of the Sun.
Malevicium, who lead the Black Circle and Order of the Moon, sent many of his followers to infiltrate the Order of the Sun. To manage this culturally, he had to adapt some rulings. From there came his rulings on fighting with blade and armor.
He stated that all Children of the Moon served the darkness. This was their highest mission. Some served best in secret, gather information and executing missions as spies. As such, deception became a prized virtue. There was a time and place for open battle, but otherwise, it was time to apply deception. To train one's skills both magickal and with sword was prudent. To hide one's skills and abilities was mindful. Hence wearing armor was considered appropriate.
~*~*~*~
Additional Information added between Moore & Lord Ediolon
The original difference of the houses, was only a cultural one. The house of the south studied Egyptian witchcraft, the west traditional European. The north followed the Nordic trail of the wise women. The east studied the craft in connection with chi.
Later the houses expanded their knowledge over time to include other elements. I belonged to the house of the south for a while. I studied Astrology, chaos magick from Babylon, worked with animal spirits as well.
The other was the elemental alignment. The east was air, a house of scholars who sought knowledge. South was fire, those who go to war. West was water, the healing element and north was earth, the judges and governance.
The order itself only lived for maybe 10 years before it was dissolved and live returned to decentralized cabals under the name of the Society.
There was some talk of sun and moon, but M was then defeated 5 years ago for the second time and that basically broke the backbone of any further resistance.
The cabals more or less returned to their previous state. The house of the north was the largest and most cabals follow a Celtic cultures still.
The houses were dissolved when the order became the society. The houses dissolved into dozens of simple covens, each deciding on their own how much of the culture they retained.
~*~*~*~*~
Concerning the Der Hexenmond by Moore from the thread linked above.
“Der Hexenmond is like the Golden Flees. No one knows if it was real. Our line of witchdom is based on a verbal tradition if you remember. The Order later changed the verbal teachings as they evolved into new directions. So the original source is lost to us.
The same reason there is no website of the Order. Not only because it was secretive, but because it was believed that the craft must be taught verbally. Which is still the tradition today as Sith. For twenty years later, there is still no one book that teaches the apprenticeship comprehensively.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
“The first dynasty was the age of storytellers. Their gift to us is the lore upon which our aspect was built. They established the first council, and built the lecture hall as a place to teach. And so they began to gather around them those who shared their dreams and visions. They spoke of destiny, and promised power to the chosen. And those who believed themselves to be among the chosen crowded around to hear these tales of power. The first dynasty spoke of that which divided the awakened from the unawakened, and taught the chosen to regard themselves as wolves among sheep. They taught of the armour with which the awakened warrior should cloth himself to manipulate those who were not awakened. They taught of the sword of focussed emotion rising through the body with which the awakened warrior could cut his way in the world of the unawakened. Yet in their teaching, the first dynasty gave birth to schism. Perhaps in drawing a visible distinction between the awakened and the unawakened, they sowed the seeds of jealousy. Perhaps they grew too complacent, and too arrogant about their elite status. Seeing a caste of scholars emerging within their council, they dismissed them as mere bureaucrats, incapable of anything other than mundane knowledge. But men and women were emerging who hungrily devoured all that they could learn, who cast their net wide in their search for power. They were not among those selected by the first dynasty to be taught in secret, perhaps because they were too headstrong, too stubborn to accept the doctrines that were being taught. Yet here were seekers who had taught themselves, and were intent upon carving a path of enlightened action in the world. And so when the first master sought to stand down as head of the council, and sought to appoint an unknown student of his own as the new chair, this caste of scholars responded with disdain, and seized control of the council for themselves.”
-Richard Francis Irvine
written in 2009
Second Dynasty
Lead by: Satelle
“Satelle was the second, and many of her ideas are displayed at theFatum Operandi. Self understanding is broken down into more levels than just spirituality by looking at the self as a whole—physical, mental, emotional, and how these fit together as well as external influences on the self among others. Efficiency and pragmatism come into the scope: reflection, analysis and improvement. Satelle doesn’t neglect the metaphysics, and I would guess she feels they were a factor in balancing and improving the whole, but they aren’t the emphasis as before.”
-Kissed by Shiva
presented in 2005
“The second dynasty brought to the fore their hunger for knowledge. Like those who preceded them, they retained the search for power, but were active in seeking this power in worldly forms as well as through internal potency. In place of the strength of the warrior, they spoke of the power of the mind, unbounded. In place of destiny, the second dynasty spoke of purpose. In place of lore, they spoke of reason. The second master moved swiftly to establish a council which emphasised the diversity of paths walked within the aspect, and the council declared the importance of this diversity through public meetings and proclamations. Yet the uneasy peace between those who shared the world view of the first dynasty and those who shared the priorities of the new order could not be maintained for long. The conflict emerged as a public feud, known as the archetype wars, fought through words and actions which became increasingly more bitter and vindictive. As it became clear that the visible axis of power had shifted from the old path of the chosen warrior to the new intellectual and political order, those who held to the old ways withdrew, leaving the new council to rebuild amid that which had been torn down and laid bare. And rebuild they did, starting the work of constructing a library of knowledge and a place of self-development, gathering learning and teaching materials from far and wide, and forging a community of those who demanded self-awareness. Their vision was truly epic, but as the project grew, it became clear to the second master and those of her council that the vision had outgrown the boundaries of this place. The foundations upon which the second dynasty built had outlived their usefulness, and they vacated their council seats to continue their work elsewhere. And so, having seen off the remains of the first dynasty, the second dynasty themselves withdrew, leaving silence. Few remained to take their places on the council. And so when one knight declared himself the third master, took the chair of the council for himself, he did so unopposed. This knight had been an early supporter of the vision of the second dynasty. He had gained his place on the council when they had first seized power from the old order, and had impetuously fought for its corner during the archetype wars, before becoming increasingly disillusioned and departing to walk his own path. As one of the few who remained active after the departure of the council of the second dynasty, he was able to create anew.
-Richard Francis Irvine - written in 2009
Third Dynasty
Richard Francis Irvine
Richard Francis Irvine came third. Now I feel it quite likely he would never willingly permit me to describe his Dark Side. Dark aspects are unique, and it is impossible for one to understand the other. Emphasis is placed upon conflict being the means to destroy weaknesses in one’s understanding and opinion, and from the ashes constructing something better and stronger. His is a world largely of philosophy.
presented in 2005
The third dynasty was an age of confrontation. A emphasis was placed on the continual and brutal confrontation of the self, of everything that the individual took for granted or held dear. The truth was to be demanded, and the layers of pretense with which each person clothes themselves were to exposed at all costs. Illusions were to be laid bare, and all available aggression was to be brought to bear in this work of demolision. The individual was to become awakened, and for fear anybody was left asleep, enough noise was made to wake the dead. This was a passionate age when passions were recognised as yearnings for growth, and these yearnings for growth were to be sated. The third dynasty burned brightest at times of conflict, and conflict was everywhere; councils fought, were disbanded, and were rebuilt. The pragmatic truce with the light aspect which had been upheld by both the first and second dynasty was set aside, and dark went to war with light to expose the hypocrisies that they believed ran rampant. More than once the light council were dealt serious blows, leading to resignations and recriminations, through the attacks of the dark council. Rumours circulated that some within the light council had studied under teachers of the dark council. They were considered contaminated, an enemy within, a source of suspicion. Dark students were tested in conflict, and some developed grudges against their teachers. But through all of this conflict, an atmosphere of growth was not only promoted, but demanded. Great destruction was wrought, but in place of that which was destroyed, new creation could begin. This was a time of beauty in creation, violence in destruction, and persistence in rebirth. Yet while the aspect was full of life in times of conflict, the life began to drain from it in times of peace; and the months of explosive action became less frequent and the months of silence increased. The third master grew increasingly distant from the community; at first through a period of enforced absence, following a decision of the Inner Council to ban him from teaching publicly after a series of particularly vicious attacks; then through a more self-imposed distance, as he sought greater withdrawal in pursuit of learning, finally going to study in a monastery. In his absence, one of his students assumed the chair, and took control of the council. He did not satisfy himself by mouthing other people's words, but brought with him new ideas and a new vision.
-Richard Francis Irvine
written in 2009
Fourth Dynasty
Lead by: Noel Vock
The Fourth Dynasty leader was “Noel Vock, a character who respects the aspect of human nature working better in others and the idea of your pack helping you achieve your inner understanding. Here you find team work, self preservation, self promotion, self improvement, and taking into account both the mystical and the mundane.
-Kissed by Shiva
presented in 2005
“The fourth dynasty recognised that the strength of the wolf is the strength of the pack. Whereas his teacher had been a strong individualist, the new master understood the resistance of the phalanx, the efficiency of a single unit acting as one. Whereas his teacher had promoted conflict, he promoted mutual loyalty and a strong sense of solidarity. In place of isolation, he encouraged unity, and saw great strength in this unity. This dynasty was the shortest in its lifespan, although its influence is ongoing. It met an ironic end as the head of the council was overthrown and replaced silently by one of his students who perhaps had a different idea of his role within the pack”
-Richard Francis Irvine
written in 2009
Fifth Dynasty
Lead Under Kissed by Shiva's
The fourth dynasty recognised that the strength of the wolf is the strength of the pack. Whereas his teacher had been a strong individualist, the new master understood the resistance of the phalanx, the efficiency of a single unit acting as one. Whereas his teacher had promoted conflict, he promoted mutual loyalty and a strong sense of solidarity. In place of isolation, he encouraged unity, and saw great strength in this unity. This dynasty was the shortest in its lifespan, although its influence is ongoing. It met an ironic end as the head of the council was overthrown and replaced silently by one of his students who perhaps had a different idea of his role within the pack
-Richard Francis Irvine
written in 2009
Interregnum
During the interregnum, in whichEmma Syncler managed the affairs a leader would otherwise handle,Richard Irvine
Sixth Dynasty
Lead by Khaos
Seventh Dynasty
Draconas
[fill in history]
To date the Force Academy frontpage quotes
“The Force Academy, founded in 1998 (conflicting dates) is one of the first and oldest Jedi Communities on the internet. We are a collaborative community initiative, that studies the ineffable which we call the Force.” - “The FA is home to many students of the Force, who mainly align with one of three Aspects: Light, Dark or Shadow. Each Aspect emphasizes different methods, tools and approaches to the Force, for both the Community and the Individual - resulting in a variety of spiritual paths. We welcome those who choose to follow one of the three Aspects as well as those who prefer an alternative road, regardless of religious, cultural or ethnic background.”
The Jedi Creed
Founders: “The Big Three”
Relan Volkum, Streen & Mitwra
August 6th, 1999
August 6th 1999 The Big Three created the “Jedi Creed” Mitth's had skills in webmastery and understanding Jedi concepts from Star Wars. Relan was good at summarizing Jedi spiritual concepts and philosophy, and Streen's skill in Jedi learning experience and Jedi website awareness made them a powerful team that produced a successful community. The Jedi Creed became a place where many great and well-known Jedi today learned from. It began to expand as a realistic group which could be practiced in the real world. The term Jedi Realism came from this idea.
In 2001 things changed quite drastically. March 6th, 2001. BBC’s published the article “The Gospel According to Luke (Skywalker)” onto their website. It was quite a tongue lashing towards the online Jedi movement and the Jedi Creed was it’s main target. The results lead to an overrun of reporters visiting the site and speaking with it’s members and leaders for quotes and interviews to add into their own news. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1204829.stm
This was a time of trial in that the leaders came together and had to decide how to respond to the overwhelming onslaught that took over their community. The subject split down the middle. While Streen and Tionne (Another head leader of the Jedi Creed at the time) were enthusiastic about the attention. They felt this was a great opportunity to get the Jedi Community represented and known more publically while Relan and Mitth were against the idea and pleaded for a plan of retreat. In the end the later was decided. E-mails were deleted, information was locked and put behind doors and the members scattered, discouraged by all the attention and onslaught of misrepresentation of their beliefs and views.
“The incident though had a lasting effect on the website. Because the members attempted to get away from all of the attention, the Jedi Creed was never updated again, the discussion forum was ignored, and its domain name was eventually sold to the highest bidder. Mitth, Streen, and Relan also agreed to separate and go their own paths.” ~Relan Volkum
“Temple of the Jedi” Also known as “Jedi Temple”
[Archive/Not Active] Website: http://archive.jedifoundation.com/jeditemple/
[Archive/Not Active] Forum: http://jeditemple39003.yuku.com/directory#.U4J-vvldU2w
Founded by: John Olorin
Year 2000
Note: The Yuku Forum Boards they used for community communications was on Yuku.com. It’s founders date being in the year of Jul 1 00 11:42 AM.
John Olorin ( Also known as Olorin, the Curator, and (for various purposes) Darth Bane) created what was called the “Red Group” originally a traditional correspondence course offered via email. Lessons were emailed to students and assignments emailed back to him. No discussion board originally. No web site.
Eventually, the correspondence course died out - people were more interested in group interaction. So the Red Group of the Temple of the Jedi was formed on a discussion board (an ezboard at the time). The web site eventually followed, thanks to Streen. Ari Luxhert (sp!), Ogion (his late RL twin), Steffan, and others were involved in creating the discussion board training group and brought ideas from other sites such as the Force Academy. Text-based RP was part of the training and practice portion of the effort.
The hope was that the Jedi Temple would serve as a confederation of related but independent training and discussion groups. The Council would consist of representatives from each of the affiliated groups; ideally each group would be able to appoint or elect that representative from among its teaching masters. The Red Group and the Phoenix Group were the two founding learning groups. Later additions included the Blue Group (run by Chris-Tien Jinn), the White Group (run by Steffan Kaarde), the Green Group, and the Dragon Group.
Olorin also established a Jedi Library, which gathered some materials but it did not gain as much attention as other competing collections of the time.
Chris Tien Jinn, had been active in the Jedi Academy since 1998 and became a student of John Olorin during the correspondence study phase of the Red Group. She was promoted twice (to knight and master), served on the Council, took over the Blue Group’s training. She later became the leading host and developer of the temple’s website. Students in the Blue Group included Opie Macleod, Demetrius Vorak, and Jax, among others.
The Phoenix Group went through some reorganization and returned as the New Phoenix Group, still under the direction of Ari Luxhert but with assistance of her graduated students.
Pressures to unify the Jedi and standardize training and ranks lead to aborted attempts to merge the Jedi Temple with other groups from 2003 to 2005, when the Jedi Temple moved to Second Life and created a training simulation there. Shortly thereafter, the Jedi Temple was merged into the New Order of the Jedi, and Chris-Tien was one of the charter members of that 3-D simulation training and Roleplay community in Second Life.
Several students of Chris-Tien Jinn moved on to the Institute of Jedi Realism and became involved in the in-person Jedi Gatherings.
