Afterlife of the Force

The Afterlife of the Force was a descriptive term used for the plane of existence all souls would experience after death. Contrary to a belief once held by the Jedi, this realm was open to anyone whether or not they possessed Force sensitivity. It was a non-physical location that could be given the appearance of a three-dimensional space depending on the perception of a being that entered the realm.

The Afterlife was divided into five planes that existed independently from the level of existence occupied by the living. The Circle was the birthplace of new souls. The Otherworld was the realm closest to the Living World, and the space where all deceased souls entered after the cessation of physical existence. The Netherworld was a purgatorial space on the outer edges of the Otherworld. The Overworld was the destination of all souls who completed their cycle of physical incarnations. The final space was The Oneness, where all souls gathered into a mass of energy after the completion of conscious existence.

Description
The Afterlife consisted of five separate extraphysical planes that existed on a coterminous yet independent level with the Living World.

The Circle was the center of the Afterlife where all new souls were created. This space was separated from the other planes by an impenetrable veil that functioned as a protective barrier to keep it pure from the contamination of the realities and complexities that existed in the other realms.

The Otherworld was the plane after death where spirits at peace with their deaths returned and resided after the shedding of the physical body. It was a large realm divided into many “areas”. The Garden of the Two Worlds served as a bridge between this realm and the Living World. The process of reincarnation was determined and administered here. The Universal Archives, where the researchers and historians called “The Recorders” worked, was located in the Otherworld.

The Netherworld served as limbo for those souls who were conflicted at the time of death, or for living souls who suffered a spiritual trauma that split their souls into one or more pieces. This phenomenon was extremely rare, but did occur in the case of Anakin Skywalker soon after his transformation into Darth Vader.

Chaos was located at the center of the Netherworld.

The Overworld was the destination realm for a soul that completed its journey across lifetimes and was ready to become a purely spiritual being. After the cessation of incarnation and reincarnation, a soul would be offered several options. The first was complete absorption into the final realm of the Afterlife called The Oneness. Another option was joining the ranks of workers who made the realm beyond death function. A completed soul could become a Recorder, Archivist, or Counselor. If the being achieved a high level of spiritual perfection over the course of lifetimes, they were offered a rank within The Ascended. A completed soul might also decide to simply exist within the Overworld. A rare option was undertaken by a few maverick souls; they decided to return to the cycle of life and death several more times in order to learn something more about the Living World so they could better serve in the Afterlife once they returned to the Overworld.

The Oneness was the final plane of the Afterlife, where all souls merged together in one pulsing energy mass. The conscious souls of every individual who ever lived merged into one group consciousness that possessed the highest known form of intelligence. This entity was capable of interaction with living beings, particularly certain individuals who tapped into the Oneness to better serve the will of the Force.

Early understanding
The Afterlife was created in conjunction with the universe. It existed as a non-physical counterpart to the space occupied by the physical realm, which came to be known as The Living World after intelligent and self-aware beings emanated from The Circle and began to shape their environment. Five levels were created that would serve various functions in the Afterlife by a group later called “The Overseers” by certain Force users.

For many centuries certain trained individuals who could breach the hidden barriers that lay between the Two Worlds allowed communication between the living and dead. One group, a nomadic tribe called The Whills, used rituals that enabled the deceased to interact with the living in a direct fashion. It was commonly understood by most civilizations there was life after death, which made it possible for all souls who passed away to retain their identities once they crossed into the Afterlife.

The earliest school of thought was that a Netherworld indeed existed, and that a fully trained Jedi could consciously will their minds to attain an identity after death, and to completely dissolve their physical bodies. These tenets and the practice of “disappearance” were recorded in several influential texts including The Book of Eternity, the final volume of instructional tomes known as the Jedi Codices.

Belief in the Afterlife was abandoned as galactic society progressed. Many civilizations left behind their various belief systems in favor of immediate concerns in daily life. The religious orders that supported a belief in the realm after death began drifting away from their knowledge of the Afterlife. The Jedi took a particular stance against the focus upon some kind of physical existence after death. They began emphasizing the importance of the Living Force while teaching that any focus upon immortality was the domain of the Sith. The Jedi Council forbade any forms of communication with the Afterlife. It became standard practice for any Jedi to accept that life was a process, and death was simply the end of that process.

General belief and knowledge of the Afterlife was abandoned by 1000 BBY.

Rediscovery
Over the next several centuries, knowledge of the Afterlife was generally considered a myth. Many beings used ancient methods of spirit communication like boards and mediums for recreational purposes.

The Whills were the last true believers in life after death. Their shamans had gathered together written materials over the centuries about the nature of post-life existence and how the cycle of birth/life/death operated. A Jedi Master, Aduman Nical, and his padawan, Chevor Mikayzd, rediscovered the secrets of Force immortality when they journeyed to Vouroso in 480 BBY and consulted with a Whills shaman called Aneris. This particular shaman gave Aduman The Book of Eternity, which had disappeared ten thousand years earlier from Ossus. Nical and Mikayzd passed on what they learned by recording holocrons which contained the essentials of knowledge about the Afterlife, but did not include any teachings about Force immortality since that practice was in conflict with the Jedi’s views on seeking to exist past death. Teachings about retaining conscious identity after death were handwritten into four books by Nical. The Whills holocrons were stored within the Jedi Archives, while the Force immortality tomes were placed in the Temple of Iziaka on Xaan Doro.

Qui-Gon Jinn became the first modern Jedi to rediscover the secrets of Force immortality and the Afterlife. He first became aware of the holocrons made by Nical and Mikayzd soon after the death of his fellow Jedi and companion, Tahl. His research into the possibility of life after death led to his discovery of the holocrons and sent him on a journey to his birth world where the last Whills shaman resided. After his death, Jinn was able to retain his identity, which enabled him to interact with the physical universe and instruct Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda in the art of Force immortality and the Afterlife during their respective years of exile after the fall of the Galactic Republic.

The new age
When Luke Skywalker revived the Jedi Order, he learned the means of Force immortality from Kenobi, Yoda and Jinn, with supplementary lessons provided by Nical and Mikayzd. The Astralic soul counselor Meaithe Akam did much to rekindle an interest and understanding of the Afterlife for the general population in addition to her advisory role for learners in the New Jedi Order.

Appearances

 * Another Reality
 * Between Worlds
 * Prisoner