Jedi Order (ESW)

The Jedi Order, also referred to as the Knights of the Light, were a monastic order dedicated to studying and preserving the Force, specifically the. They were founded in 11,374 BBY during the years of the Republic, and maintained operations throughout the tenure of the Republic government. The Jedi Order also spawned the orders of the Sith and the Dark Crusaders. The Jedi Order went through four periods of near annhiliation to the hands of the Sith. Once during the, during the , during the and during the Great Galactic War.

Formation
The Jedi Order was founded during a Republic peace conference on, the system, in 11,374 BBY. Republic officials were negotiating a truce with the Tython government, and factions of the opposing forces conceived the initial idea of the Jedi Order. The idea was to create a liaison between the galactic government and the Tython system. The idea became grander in scale when the Republic soldiers involved proposed to the Tythonian's that it should be a non-exclusive agreement.

The Republic set it in motion by paying for the construction of the Ashta Matha Monastery, Ashta Matha meant "peacekeeper" in Tythonian. The monastery housed eight Sangha (enlightened sage) monks and up to 300 Muni (sage) monks. The river was built next to the revered Tythonian river Kreyoto, which meant "peaceful tide". The monks maintained a large communications grid in order to remain in contact with the system's people and the Republic government. The government would often call upon the monks to settle disputes.

Lightsaber
During their many raids, and liberation missions, the galaxy at large started to call them Knights and Crusaders. This led the Ashta Matha into changing their name to the "Knights of Light". A few years later, they changed it to "Jedi Knight". Jedi meant "Crusader" in Tythonian Basic. They each utilized an energy staff as their primary weapon. The energy staff consisted of an electrical charge that would shock the adversary into submission. With the advent of the assembly line, s became the primary form of protection galaxy-wide, over that of the sword or staff.

The Jedi Knights discovered a large crystal cave on Tython and utilized the crystals energy to form a solid beam of light. The focusing of the crystal's energy created a physical bar of light that became super hot and full of energy. The Knights discovered that the bar could cut through almost any object, except other forms of energy, like s or s. Though the bar could not cut through through, or absorb a blaster bolt, it could deflect it. The Sangha monks, now called Jedi Masters, taught the Muni monks (the mainstream Knights) how to deflect the bolts with the newly created weapon. The "lightsaber" replaced the electric staff as the weapon of the Jedi Order by 8,936 BBY.

Schism
The complete seperation of the Jedi and the Sith occurred in. After the invention of the lightsaber, the Jedi Order split into two distinct factions that advocated to different ideologies. One, the traditionalists, wanted the Jedi to remain in its current role where it had thrived for many millenia. The other faction believed that the Jedi would have been better served to take a more militant role in galactic affairs.

The dispute became so intense that they eventually called to arms. The Jedi and the renegade faction eventually battled on many battlefields, including inside the Ashta Matha Monastery. The result of the battle was the crippling of the renegade effort, after 70% of their forces were killed in that battle, as well as the destruction of the Jedi Monastery.

The newly christened "Dark Crusaders" fled the planet for an unknown destination. The Jedi also abandoned their homeplanet in favor of the world. The Jedi built a new monastery on the system, and expanded upon the blueprint of the original monastery designs, by adding a massive library and archive wing. The wing would be known as the. The library would encompass every aspect of learning, from Republic history, to history about a minscule system in the. The library stored every document throughout the course of Republic and galactic history, from the to the founding of the Jedi Order to the present day. It held the most sacred of Republic and Jedi documents and arifacts, including holograms and holocrons. The Jedi wanted it to become the authority on galactic history and the definitive repository of that history. The library was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Galaxy.

The Jedi established a second location, or academy, on Coruscant in 5,000 BBY during the Great Hyperspace War. This was to stay closer to the Republic capital, have a better handle on galactic affairs and to protect the senators from the threat of the Dark Crusaders during the war. Coruscant was attacked by the Crusaders, but the group was repelled, and their threat was essentially extinguished once they went into hiding soon thereafter.

Ossus Destruction
The vast amounts of information the library contained were sorted in various different ways, depending on age and importance. Most of the data was contained on reader tapes and holographic media, although some of the more ancient knowledge was stored on traditional paper scrolls and books. Although the ancient books and scrolls was eventually translated onto electronic forms, the Chamber of Antiquities preserved the ancient writing for historical purposes.

The library also held knowledge forbidden to the Jedi, which the Chief Librarian had decided to keep. The Jedi Master's reasoning was that all knowledge—even knowledge of evil—would be useful in the defense of justice. Only those who had been approved by the Jedi Council, as well as Odan-Urr, were allowed access to these holocrons, and even then they were only permitted to do so under strict supervision.

During the height of the in 3,996 BBY, Dark Crusaders, led by, visited Ossus to recruit new members to their cause. While there, he entered the Chamber of Antiquities, slaying Odan-Urr to get to one of the holocrons. Afterward, Ossus became a battlefield for the Jedi/Republic army, which eventually defeated the Dark Crusader/Sith Empire. Meanwhile, a supernova was threatening to devastate the planet. Exar Kun tried to gain access to the library before the destruction of Ossus, but was prevented by the collapse of the foyer leading to the library. After Ossus had been evacuated, the supernova's shockwave damaged the system severely.

First Jedi Purge
All the Jedi moved to the temple located on Coruscant after the destruction of Ossus, many of the artifacts and items located in the Ossus temple, inlcuding many things from the Great Library were transplanted into the Coruscant temple. Soon after the Great Sith War, a succession of short lived conflicts arose. The were finished by Jedi Knight  on. Almost immediately afterward the began, this time the Jedi were devoid of Revan's help, as he was on the attacking side. Near the end of the war Revan defected back to the Republic, and defeated the Sith and his former apprentice.

Following that, the Sith returned yet again in the, from 3,955–3,954 BBY until 3,951 BBY. This purge saw nearly the entire Jedi Order disappear from the galaxy; the Order publicly disbanded and most of the survivors were killed by the Sith.

A former Jedi known as the, who had been cut off from the Force and exiled by the Jedi Council after joining Malak and Revan, sought out the remaining councilors who were in hiding, in an attempt to form a group to defeat the threat of the Sith Triumvirate, who were threatening to annihilate the Jedi completely. As she traveled the galaxy in search of the hidden Jedi, the Exile trained several of her companions in the ways of the Force. She found on,  on  and  on. The three former Councilors then met with the Exile once again on Dantooine. They decided to once again exile her, as well as sever her completely from the Force, as they felt she was a threat to all living beings around her. As they attempted to,, the Exile's mentor, killed them, and after revealing herself as the third Sith Lord, Darth Traya, she left the Exile on Dantooine. The Exile's revival corresponded with the Sith attack on the Republic, and she traveled to to fight the Sith Lord. The Exile defeated Nihilus on his flagship above Telos, before traveling to Malachor V to kill Traya and, the two remaining Sith Lords.

Eventually, the group of individuals the Exile trained, known as the Lost Jedi, would, as Darth Traya prophesied, come together to re-establish another Jedi Order. Apart from them, who were yet to become true Jedi, there were only two known Jedi left in the Republic space by the end of the Battle of Telos IV—, and.

Galactic War & Ruusan
Around 300 years after the purge, the Order was struck another devastating blow, as the Sith returned. The Sith went for the victory very early on and attacked Coruscant. The Sith planned on sacking Coruscant and essentially forcing the Jedi and the Republic to surrender. The sacking of Coruscant failed and the Sith were forced to retreat with only the semi-destruction of the Jedi Temple to use as a morale boost. The Sith eventually lost the war to the Republic and were forced into hiding again.

Nearly a millenia and a half later in 2,000 BBY, the Sith started what many believe was their last gasp effort to destroy the Republic and the Jedi. The lasted one thousand years, the last century of which was known as the. The war concluded on with the destruction of all, but. The victory for the Republic came after sacrificed himself to destroy nearly all the Sith, by causing  to activate his. The marked the end of of the Sith according to many historical sources, including the Jedi archives. The war also caused the, which gave more power to the Senate, and caused the disbandment of all military in the Republic and Jedi Order, as well as caused the Jedi Order to change several traditions.

Tython
Tython was the birthworld of the Jedi Order. The system became the home of the first Jedi Monastery, back when the Jedi were established as the Ashta Matha. This world was established as the foundation of the Order because the Tythonian Monks (which knew of the Force to a limited extent) merged with a portion of the Republic military as part of a peace agreement between the two factions after a full-scale war. The world would remain the headquarters for the monastic order, from 11,374 BBY until the Schism of 7,000 BBY, when the Dark Crusaders split from the mainstream Jedi Order.

Tython was located in the Deep Core, but was removed from galactic politics, which occurred on Coruscant. Ashta Matha's role during this time period was that of liberators or crusaders. It was this role that caused them to be known for their current demonym, the Jedi Knight, instead of being known as a Tythonian.

The Jedi abandoned this location in 7,000 BBY because of the Schism, and because their monastery was razed to the ground. Tython was reestablished as a Jedi Academy location sometime after 7 BBY.

Ossus
The Jedi abandoned Tython in 7,000 BBY because of the Schism that caused the Dark Crusaders to leave the order, the Jedi felt that the conflict had tainted the grounds of the planet with the dark side forever, and they also left because their monastery was razed to the ground. The Jedi moved to the Outer Rim world Ossus, to keep track of the Dark Crusaders that left known space, and to protect the new settlers and unstable governments on the burgeoning Outer Rim. The Jedi were even commissioned to scout out new worlds, help establish settlements on those worlds and map routes to the.

The Jedi created an archive wing complete with a library. The Jedi created it in hopes of learning from past mistakes, and to help teach the padawans or apprentices better. They wanted the library to be known as the definitive repository of knowledge and lore. They went to great lengths to obtain the founding documents of Jedi Order and the Republic from the government, and collected holocrons from all over the galaxy. They even created a vault for forbidden knowledge, which showed their dedication to collecting all forms and levels of knowledge. The library was soon dubbed the "Great Library of Ossus" and one of the "Seven Wonders of the Galaxy".

The role of being the main sanctuary of the Jedi Order was extinguished in 5,000 BBY when the Jedi built a temple on Coruscant land given to them via the Republic government. The Republic gave it to them to fulfill their perceived need of protection and to fulfill the request the Jedi wanted (more involvement in political affairs). Not long after its completion the Dark Crusaders invaded Coruscant only to face defeat. The Jedi also favored the location because the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was built on a strong that strengthened their bond to the  and enhanced their serenity, contemplativeness and calm.

The Ossus temple was destroyed by a supernova created by Exar Kun in 3,996 BBY during the Great Sith War. Many artifacts in the temple, including the library, were brought to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Coruscant
After the destruction of Ossus, and the transplanting of the many artifacts into the temple on Coruscant, the temple officially became the headquarters for the Jedi Order.