[Solved] (NJO) (Druffin) Self-Discipline

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Druffin: Lesson III: Self-Discipline

“The undisciplined let their circumstances rule their mind and spirit, pulling them this way and that, blown by the winds of their surroundings. You must choose to rule your mind and spirit with your own will, regardless of the hardships you face.” 

— Jedi Knight Aemos Suurm-Xachus

[Partial fragments of a holo-journal recovered from wreckage on Ator Hollos, believed to belong to the Jedi initiate Druffin; translated from Talzzi to Galactic Standard Basic]

First entry

Fractured leg and broken vocodoer; a crash landing and Master Katarn lost to some local gang: What a disastrous start to my Jedi path!

The flight from Sullust to Ator Hollos was pleasant enough and a chance to get to know my fellow students. They mostly seem like a good bunch. Shit got real though when we tried to land on Ator Hollos. Massive storms, ion discharges; not to mention Master Jin-Wa’s projectile vomit…

I don’t understand what happened with Master Katarn though. From everything I’ve seen and heard he could have defeated those crooks single-handedly. I dunno … was he worried about us? There is that Twi’lek kid … and Meego seems like he’d be pretty useless in a fight … but - even Jedi aside - Katch, Lyra, the Kaminoan, all seem like they can handle themselves. 

Whatever. Noko is assuring us to “trust in the Force”. Back home, we trusted in ‘the force of arms…’

Master Aemos, at least, led us unerringly on the day-long march to the monastery that Master Skywalker suggested. The march was painful with my leg but helped by crutches that Jamidua cobbled together for me. He seems a good sort - raised in the jungles of Haruun Kaal  - a ‘tree-boy’ I heard Lyra call him.

The monastery itself is a mess, cobbled together in what looks like half a dozen architectural styles. We all spent the first night all camped out together in a large mess hall, but I’ve now chosen for my room a cell in one of the monastery’s highest towers. It’s austere and bit far from the other quarters but it catches winds from the valley so is a bit cooler - not as cool as I’d like but hopefully we can improve that with a bit of tech…

Second entry

I thought I’d be writing here more often - but it’s been a hectic week. We made a salvage run back to The Godspeed. Some supplies have been stolen - presumably by those that took Katarn but there was no sign of them. If the gundark we encountered on the way there is common then that’s probably no surprise.

Most importantly, we got the parts to trade with the monastery Jawas to fix my vocoder. I’m still pissed Noko insisted on a “diplomatic” solution. I don’t think humans get how debilitating no vocoder would be for me. Still, I guess it worked out this time and the Jawas are going to fix me up a cooling unit.

Its also a relief no one took my nesting cocoon. Asa, who seems to be an all round handy man, helped weld some supports in my room so I’ve now got nesting cocoon in place and am finally sleeping well.

Speaking of not sleeping well, we were all woken by screams from Lyra. She seems a troubled one…

Third entry

We’ve started lessons proper now - meditation, history, combat skills, as well as lightsaber drills - or “self-discipline “ as Aemos is its on calling it. I’d hoped that my familiarity with the sen-wanto spear would translate into these lessons but it feels awkward with my larger frame. 

Another fruitless search for Master Katarn yesterday. I unloaded on Noko about it today and I feel a bit guiltily. She took me by surprise on the look out and all I did was complain.

She took it well though and maybe some good has come of it. We found a teeny lizard that I’ve adopted. I’m going to call it “Bacta”. Like me, it seems happy with the cooler temps from the cooling unit the Jawas delivered.

• See also: Lesson: The Force

Fourth entry

Jun and Aemos had a big argument about the old Jedi Order today. It did prompt an amazing revelation from Aemos: turns out I’m not the first of my people to train as a Jedi! 

He showed me a holo - tantalisingly short - from the dying days of the Republic, of a Talz protecting the Supreme Chancellor! ‘Foul Moudama’ was his name apparently - although moudama simply means ‘wanderer’ in Talzzi… Aemos said the holo fragment is all the Order knows about Foul, with so many records of the Jedi erased. 

Seeing the big man fight … it drives me to nail my training and build on the legacy of “The Wanderer”…

Fifth entry

I finally cornered Aemos for a private chat. Ever since he fixed that observatory, I’ve barely seen him for a week. I explained my struggles - the disconnect from what he keeps lecturing us on self-discipline and my own experience - and I think we made a breakthrough. 

Aemos says he is a member of Hybolan royalty (which does explain a few things!). For him, duty to protect and lead his people always came first. That endures even after being ejected from Hybola - and he says is still there, taunting him to restore the monarchy and what he sees as the true Hybolan way. Now, as a Jedi, he has to choose again and again to subsume that duty to, as he put it, “protect and lead this Jedi Enclave”. 

That I can understand a bit more. I’ve spent my whole life working for the collective - for my family to have enough to eat; for my people to be freed from the mines; to end the occupation of my world. It was always putting those struggles first - rather than personal whims.

Here on Ator, I’ve felt…amputated from that. It’s so focused on the individual - self-control; self-discipline; self-sacrifice. 

I think what Aemos is saying is for me, though, is to subsume that collective Talzzi struggle to a greater one - the greater collective of the Force. 

Seeing, observing and accepting my impulses to get back to Alzoc and rejoin the tribe - that won’t go away - but not letting it distract - or corrupt even - this calling to the Jedi.

Does this even make any sense? At least I can understand why Aemos often seems so cranky!

Sixth entry

Yesterday was one for the journal, alright! What began as a pleasant foraging trip turned into a furtive scurry back home. Together with Marv and Itacil, I found an ancient mural depicting some kind of primordial conflict on Ator Hollos. Itacil even received a vision in the Force. We three regrouped in my cell to try and make sense of it all. I think the battle and vision must be connected to the strange sickness affecting the animals here - the gundarks we found on our first week, the deformed creatures Meego and the groundskeeper encountered, the rabid orlugg that bit Brik. Something is rotten about this place.

Speaking of rot, we did encounter one of Katarn's captors. Master Jun insists that I should keep that quiet and not frighten the other initiates. He seemed pretty furious about it all, even though he was trying to hide it.

• See also: Lesson: The Cave of Knowledge

Seventh entry

I don't know how, but somehow Marv and Itacil found out today is my birthday. They arranged for all the initiates to surprise me super early in the morning - they even brought some nectar wine they'd been working on with Ma-Riki as a special treat! Most of the masters were there too - only Aemos didn't make it - and some of the Jawas even turned up.

I think the biggest surprise though, was how moved I felt by the experience. I expected to feel homesick, instead I felt ... dare I say it, at home. We could barely all crowd into my room.

Of course, the morning quickly turned into a mutual debrief and speculation session. I had the strangest dream overnight - a women in blinding white spoke to me, clear as day, warning of corruption on the planet and a fight against a great enemy. Of course, it turns out we all shared the same dream! After all that has happened so far - the crash; the lessons; the clash with the villagers - it seems we may finally have the chance to find out exactly what is going on here on Ator Hollos...

Build notes

This post is a bit different. I wanted to show progression of time of my Jedi character, a bit like how in a video game you accumulate items over time. It was all partly inspired by the idea of a nesting cocoon.

A nesting cocoon, you ask?

The “nesting cocoon” is a deep cut. Back in 1993, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina gave us some of the first background information on the Talz cantina denizen Muftak. Rather than the icy world we now know as Alzoc III,according to Muftak, “if I have dreamed truly, it is a cool, wet world, with wide, rich jungles beneath a deep indigo sky.” His friend Momaw Nadon described Muffak’s dreams as “racial memories, no doubt, to guide you when you emerge from your cocoon."

Have Talz cocoons ever been mentioned again? No! But looking at this opalescent ballgown piece from Frozen, I saw an opportunity to revive the Talz cocoons as their preferred sleeping arrangements, no doubt nicely insulated from the now icy caves of home!

Here are the six images as a comic panel - can you spot all the progressions?