The Dark Voice

Dark Jedi Philosophy 101: On War

Dark Voice Serial Writer Timeros
There is no glory in war.
            The truth of this statement seems self-evident. After all, who could possibly wish upon themselves the horrors and destruction of warfare? Gazing once upon the desecration of Caamas or the annihilation of Alderaan would make these things patently obvious to any prospective warlord. And yet, time and time again, we see men and women throw caution to the wind to move down a path best not traveled at all.

The young and gullible think themselves ready for the battlefield, only to die amidst the muck and the grime of warfare, a living Hell that defies the imagination of all who have not personally experienced it. Vast armies march to the field to return decimated and broken. What once seemed glorious then turns to horrifying as appalling wounds render once-brave soldiers into something less than men, cripples that never again contribute to society. War, from the point of any rational man, is amongst the greatest evils the Galaxy has to contend with…something to be avoided except on the direst of occasions, when the threat is imminent and the need is absolute.

Not so for those who walk with the Dark Side. For a Dark Jedi, war is never a transient thing but a constant, a defining factor of their lives. Conflict is the only absolute within the Dark Side. Whether it is intriguing among one's peers, struggling to control one's powers, or one Clan fighting another, clashes are commonplace within the Brotherhood.

We, after all, reject the false choice between good and evil, but instead recognize that in the end, all things are built upon power and the courage to use it. We reject the hedonist imperative, that foul principle of those who would defend the weak, and revel in suffering. After all, are we not better than the weaklings whom we crush beneath our heels? Does not the very fact that it is them suffering rather than us show their unworthiness? Weakness is to be punished, not rewarded. And those who would defend the weak are weakest of all.

The Galaxy only seems cruel to the weak and undeserving…those who cannot touch the Force. It is our prerogative to cull those who cannot understand this basic truth, and to force those who do into our service. Their desires are meaningless, their decisions worthless without the threat of force to back them up. Coercion is, in the end, the true currency of the Galaxy, the foundation upon which all of society rests.

To the Dark Jedi, one should always recall, there is another objective of war beyond the culling of weakness: power. For power, all those who ever experienced it know, rests upon a zero-sum foundation. One cannot grow in political might without taking it from others. One Clan cannot expect their holdings within taking those holdings from the rest of the Brotherhood, the Republic, or some other group. This is a pure and simple truth even the Jedi do not deny. After all, the old Jedi Order kept the numbers on their Council strictly limited, and Republic had only so many seats to protect the power of its members. Even the former Grand Masters of the austere Star Chamber find themselves losing in influence as members are added, each vote meaning less and less in the greater whole, for as the roar of the mob grows, each voice in the crowd means less and less.

And so, to protect one’s own station a Dark Jedi may –nay, must- do anything that is within their power to do so. Anything less is an affront to their position, one that the one ousting them is certain not to repeat.

And thus, conflicts abound within the Brotherhood. Even daily life is full of violence…one need only check the Antei Combat Center, always filled with those eager to prove their worth, to realize that.

Those of a more tender mindset abhor this, considering it an affront or an unnecessary waste of potential resources…these are fools. We thrive on conflict. It sustains us, nurtures, us, feeds us. And indeed, counted among us are no less than six-hundred Clanned Dark Jedi, many possessed of a terrible power. Although details are hard to come by it is quite possible that we are far stronger than Skywalker’s so-called ‘New Jedi Order’, despite the fact that we remain hidden, while his disciples can move freely and openly through much of the Galaxy! In this lies the ultimate proof of the superiority of our ways. And so, we must be prepared for war, for one is looming in the distance.
War, to the Dark Jedi, always is.
And always will be.