The Gray Jedi Order

"Balance of The Force is neccesary for the universe. Without balance, everything falls apart&hellip;we are charged with maintaining this balance, which is why we realize the truth: there is no light and dark side of the force, just the force itself&hellip;"

- Dade Leviathan

The Gray Jedi was a branch of the Jedi that broke off in 132 BBY to form their own order. They originally sympathized with The Potentium Jedi, however their views were much different. The Gray Jedi believed in balance, not only in the Force, but in every other aspect of the galaxy as well. Just like Jedi, they wielded lightsabers and used both light and dark sides of the Force. They believed that there was no light side or dark side to the force. The believed there was just the force and that to use both light and dark powers was the basis for true balance in yourself.

Incarnation
"There is no dark without light, there is no good without evil. Such is the way of the world. There is no dark side, nor is there light side, there is only the force. Thus the Gray Jedi believe, and such shall we live&hellip;"

- Dade Leviathan

In 132 ABY, two groups broke off of the Jedi, The Potentium and the Gray Jedi. Both groups were similar, and very different. Whereas both groups believed that there was no light side or dark side to the force, that's where the similarities ended. The Potentium Jedi believed that there was no such as evil, whereas the Gray Jedi knew it existed. The Gray Jedi however believed that evil is necessary to a certain degree. If evil was exterminated, then the Jedi would have nothing to fight. They would grow complacent and and dormant in their abilities. Thus, this would allow evil to come back even stronger and completely wipe out the Jedi. If however evil was allowed to win, then the galaxy would be plunged into darkness. The Gray Jedi couldn't allow either of these outcomes to happen. Thus their solution was to make sure that both sides stayed on a level playing field with each other.

At the beginning, there were only about six Gray Jedi. They included Jedi Knight Jonah Kass, Jedi Master Derak Ja'huni, Jedi Padawan Arla Kress, Jedi Knight Tera Byysta, Jedi Knight Arlac Thene and Jedi Master Leor Danal. Because of their views, they were ostracized from the Jedi and in 132 ABY, they all finally left coruscant and the Jedi for good. Together, they seeked out Dade Leviathan who was a self-exiled Jedi Master. Dade was known to them through Leor Hal who was the one of the leaders of the Potentium movement at the time. Finding Dade Leviathan on Dagobah, they began to speak of their beliefs in the force. They soon found out that they had the same beliefs with Master Leviathan, and there and then, decided to make an order of their own, with Dade at the head.

Zonama Sekot
"A living breathing planet&hellip;I find it unbelievable, but at the same time it explains how this planet is able to move about the galaxy at will&hellip;"

- Derak Ja'huni

After travelling the galaxy as nomads, the Gray Jedi finally chose Zonama Sekot as the homeworld of their order in 83 BBY. When first arriving on the planet, the six other Gray Jedi did not believe Dade Leviathan when he said that the planet itself was a sentient being. They learned quickly, however, that they were very wrong. The planet's sentient mind, calling itself Sekot, spoke to the Gray Jedi, telling them that it also believed that same way as they did about the force. It showed them how the planet itself had amazing, if untrained, force powers and how the planet itself could build living, breathing ships. Without a second thought in their mind, the Gray Jedi chose to make this planet their permanent home.

Traveling to the mountains of the planet, Dade Leviathan and the Gray Jedi decided to make camp in the large mountains. They later found a large cave in the mountains that extended down into a glacier. The natives simply called it the Dragon Cave. The Gray Jedi would later use this cave in the trials that a Gray Jedi Genin must complete in order to reach the rank of Knight.

Upon gaining the respect of the native residents, the Ferroans and the Langhesi, the Gray Jedi were able to get their help to build a secret temple in the valley behind the large mountain range. The temple was simple, yet elegant. While lacking in the grandeur of the Jedi temple on Coruscant, the Gray Jedi Temple was beautiful in its own right. It was built of one hundred percent natural elements from the planet itself. These elements made it so the planet was literally a living organism as well as a building. This allowed for great security for the Gray Jedi, as they could make sure that none but their allies would be able to get in.

Rise of the Force Guardians
The Gray Jedi at first were one big group. However, many decided that they could do more good with different sects that did different jobs. Thus, in 68 BBY, about 15 Gray Jedi formed the first sub organization of the Gray Jedi, the Force Guardians. The Force Guardians dedicated themselves to studying the force in all its splendour and figuring out new and exciting ways to use the powers of the force.

The Force Guardians became the first true sages of the Gray Jedi, contemplating on the force almost all of their time. For all questions regarding the force, the rest of the Gray Jedi began relying the Force Guardians more and more. Finally in 50 BBY, the Force Guardians became an official sect of the Gray Jedi.

The incarnation of the Force Guardians spurred other members to think of ways to make different sects. In 28 BBY, a group broke off and made what they called the Inner Flame. The Inner Flame was a sect of Gray Jedi that believed the strongest way in combat was with raw power and what they called their inner fire. The inner fire was what the Inner Flame called the mixture of their anger, calmness and passion. They believed a balance of these three allowed for you to become the strongest warriors alive. They were very much right. In 26 BBY, the Inner Flame was made an official sect of the Gray Jedi and they changed their title name to the Fire Warriors.

Four years later in 22 BBY, another sect began practicing its beliefs. Founding its beliefs in the principle that a warrior should be as flexible as water and just as unyieldling, the Water Warriors were born. They believed that to be the best warrior, you did not draw on your inner fire, but you drew on your inner calmness. Making your mind like moon or water, or in regular terms, making it so you observed everything around you and reflected it back. They beleived a good warrior could block their opponents moves perfectly, because the perfect warrior would see his opponent's attacks coming before they hit.

At the same time, the Force Guardians themselves had broken in half. One half wanted to be the perfect balance between intellect and power, whereas the other half wanted to study the force one hundred percent of the time. They broke into the two sects, the Wind Sages which focues on un armed combat and a perfect mastery of the force and the Ice Sages which focused on perfect mastery of the force, but didn't delve into combat very much. All three sects, the Water Warriors, Wind Sages and Ice Sages were made official in 20 BBY. This would mark the system that the Gray Jedi would have for the rest of time. A system where four sects made up the whole order.

Ranks
Around the time of their initial incarnation, the Gray Jedi decided that they needed to further set themselves apart from the Jedi. They proceeded to come up with an almost completely different ranking system. Whereas theJedi had only three ranks, the Gray Jedi had six. The Gray Jedi deemed that each rank should be broken down into two seperate ranks, thus making it so the ranks more deserved their title. Even the names of the ranks differed from the Jedi. Over the years, the Gray Jedi gained the reputation of having a tougher and more involved training regime than the Jedi themselves.

Genin was the title given to the lowest ranking Gray Jedi. A Genin would learn from a master as soon as they were old enough to begin training. Whereas the Jedi trainined younglings in larger classes called clans, the Gray Jedi believed that one on one teaching from an early age fostered greater respect, and mastery of skills. Also, the Gray Jedi prized companionship above many other things, and having a master since the days of being a youngling would easily foster a close bond between the Genin and their master.

Gray Knight was the first level of knight, and given to a Genin who had successfully completed the Gray Jedi Knight Trials. A Gray Knight was one of two levels of Gray Jedi Knights, and was almost an introductory rank into the full rank of Knight. A Gray Knight could not go on missions alone, as they had to be accompanied by another Gray Jedi of the same rank, or higher. After two years of training and missions, a Gray Knight would be able to take the test to elevate from Gray Knight to the full title of knight, which was called a Silver Knight.

The Silver Knight was able to go on missions by himself, and he showed completely mastery over the skills he was taught during his time as a Genin. After about 5 years as a Silver Knight a reasonable amount of missions, he would be eligable to take the test to raise to the first level of master.

Chunin was a variant of either a Gray Jedi Master or a Silver Knight. The Chunin took on the responsibility of a Genin, training him or her until they were able to take the Gray Jedi Knight Trials. To become a Chunin one had to show amazing mastery of their skills, and good technique at teaching skills. Only the best Silver Knights and Masters became Chunins.

A Gray Jedi Master was the first level of the rank of Master. When Silver Knights had served for at least five years and gone on a reasonable amount of missions by themselves, they were eligable to take the test to pass from Knight to Master. The Gray Jedi Master Trial was very similar to the Knight Trial, however it involved a lot more skill to complete. If the Silver Knight passed the trial, he was granted the rank of Gray Jedi Master. This was the first rank of master. Those who were exemplary masters were allowed the honour to take the test to become a Jonin.

Jonin was the highest level of master that you could reach. Only Jonins were allowed a seat on the Council, and they were regarded with the utmost respect. The only person in all of the Gray Jedi that got more respect than a Jonin was the Kage, or Grand Master.

Kage was the term that the Gray Jedi used for the Grand Master. They believed Grand Master was too god-like in terms, and they decided to use a different term for the most powerful and revered member of their order. The Kage was reffered to simply as "The Kage, or just simply "Kage." Another Kage was not elected until the present Kage either stepped down or died.

A Force Genocide
"A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine until he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi Knights. He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi, speaking of Anakin Skywalker to Luke Skywalker

In 19 ABY, the Empire was formed underneath Supreme Chancellor Palpatine which was the disguise of Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. Using his apprentice, Darth Vader, he almost totally wiped out all of the Jedi.

The Gray Jedi were not exempt from this extermination. While it was much harder to find them, many Gray Jedi fell under the blade of Vader as well. The Gray Jedi were forced to fire up the massive hyperdrive on Zonama Sekot and blast off into un-known territories of space.

In The Shadows
The Gray Jedi were forced to operate in secret for the next 19 years, until the Battle of Yavin. Once the Battle of Yavin was over and the first Death Star was destroyed, the Gray Jedi deemed it was once safe to start reappearing. However, they didn't fully reappear openly until around 14 ABY during the Disciples of Ragnos crisis. Coming in and out of the woodwork of the galaxy, they added just enough help to the Jedi for them to triumph over the disciples and destroy the cult.

For the next 150 years, the Gray Jedi operated from inside the shadows, with very little people knowing of their existance. Even Luke Skywalker didn't know of their existance, although he heard whispers and had encounters of his own that suggested of their existance. However, the first Jedi to know of the truth of the Gray Jedi's existance was Kol Skywalker in 130 ABY when the Kage of the Gray Jedi, Dade Leviathan helped fight off sith during the Massacre at Ossus. Dade, however, was clothed in silver and blue robes with a black mask that resembled a Krayt Dragon's skull. Kol Didn't find out that it was the legendary Gray Jedi until Dade's mask got ripped off in a duel with one of the sith lords right before Kol was killed.