LIGHTSABERS

[Jaysin Castyr]

LIGHTSABERS

"This was the formal weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. More skill than simple sightwas required for its use. An elegant weapon. It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster or a fusioncutter—but to use a lightsaber well was a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary."
---Obi-Wan Kenobi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• OVERVIEW
  
• HISTORY
  
• MECHANICS
  

SOURCE: Wookiepedia

[Jaysin Castyr]

OVERVIEW

Designed for elegance in combat as well as for ceremony, the lightsaber aka "laser sword" by those unfamiliar with it, was a distinct weapon, the very image inextricably bound to the mythos of the Jedi Order and their polar opposites, the Sith. The lightsaber is synonymous with the Jedi Order's values to uphold peace and justice throughout the galaxy. This perception endured, despite the many conflicts with lightsaber-wielding Sith and Dark Jedi. The weapon itself consists of a blade of pure plasma energy emitted from the hilt and suspended in a force containment field. The field contains the immense heat of the plasma, protecting the wielder, and allowing the blade to keep its shape. The hilt is almost always self-fabricated by the wielder to match his/her specific needs, preferences, and style. Due to the weightlessness of plasma and the strong gyroscopic effect generated by it, lightsabers required a great deal of strength and dexterity to wield, and are extremely difficult and dangerous for the untrained to attempt using. However, in the hands of an expert of the Force, the lightsaber is a weapon to be greatly respected and feared. To wield a lightsaber was to demonstrate incredible skill and confidence, as well as masterful dexterity and attunement to the Force.

[Jaysin Castyr]

HISTORY

*ORIGINS

With the formation of the Jedi Order after the Force Wars, ceremonial weapons became an integral part of the order. For millennia afterwards, the Jedi used bladed weapons like swords, as lightsabers had not been invented yet. The first lightsabers came into being when Jedi combined advanced offworld technology with a forging ritual, learning how to "freeze" a laser beam. By the time of the Duinuogwuin Contention around 15,500 BBY, their studies and researches with this "frozen blaster" technology yielded success; they developed a method to generate a focused beam of energy that arced circumferentially back to its source, creating a controlled energy circuit and leading to the first portable high-energy blades. However, these preliminary lightsabers were highly unstable and inefficiently guzzled power from a belt-mounted power supply; they could only be used for a brief duration before overheating. As a consequence of these flaws, the first lightsabers were little more than ceremonial objects, seldom worn, and much less utilized.

*REFINEMENTS

The extreme lack of stability that plagued the weapons early designs were gradually corrected through the ages, and the cumbersome and rarely used siege-weapons gave way to elegant and much more commonly used lightsabers. However, while these archaic lightsabers were far more stable than their ungainly predecessors, they still suffered from energy consumption issues, still requiring the belt-worn power pack of previous generations. The power-cable tended to restrict the wielders movements in battle and prevented the usage of force-powered and long range telekinetic saber combat. However, despite the shortcomings, the highly stable blades granted them a superior advantage in hand-to-hand combat against heavily-armored foes, and saw a great deal of use during the period of the Hundred-Year Darkness.

*SITH DEVELOPMENT

It seemed the Dark Lords of the Sith Empire were ultimately responsible for the advancement of lightsabers, replacing the belt-mounted power pack with a power cell within the hilt. An internal superconductor was introduced, which transferred the returning looped energy from the negative-charged flux aperture back into an internal power cell. With this modification, the power cell would only expend power when the energy loop was broken, such as when the lightsaber cut something, solving the power supply problem. According to the Tedryn Holocron, the Sith also created the schematics for the first Double-bladed lightsabers. Wielders of these original modern lightsabers include Karness Muur, a Dark Jedi who had wielded an archaic lightsaber, but later switched to a curve-hilted modern lightsaber. The Sith crew of the Omen were also equipped with modern lightsabers. Muur also appeared to have been one of the Sith Lords to establish the tradition of wielding lightsabers with synthetic lightsaber crystals, which was maintained until its resurgence in 3,653 BBY. However, this tradition was disregarded by Exar Kun during his reign, as he and his followers opted instead to continue using their Jedi lightsabers in combat, though at least one follower used a lightsaber with a red crystal. However, this tradition was reestablished by the Sith acolyte Haazen and the Dark Lords Revan and Malak. Despite advancements in lightsaber technology apparently pioneered by the Sith, most Dark Lords of the era spurnd the use of lightsabers in favor of Sith swords.

*JEDI ADOPTION

With Naga Sadow's invasion of the Republic in 5,000 BBY and the subsequent start of the Great Hyperspace War, the technological innovations pioneered by the Sith Empire were brought to the Republic and the Jedi. However, the majority of Sith forces held to the use of Sith swords, while the Jedi continued to use the protosabers, as they had not yet had time to adapt and implement these new designs. With the Sith defeat at the end of the war, modern lightsabers were adopted by the Jedi order. By 4,800 BBY they were almost universally utilized by Jedi. During the Great Sith War, Jedi converts who flocked to Exar Kun continued using their Jedi lightsabers, disregarding the tradition lain down by the original Sith Empire. However, other innovations entered their ranks, with Kun who modifyed his lightsaber into a double-bladed lightsaber, using schematics from a Sith holocron. While Exar Kun's insurrection ultimately failed, he did introduce the double-bladed lightsaber to the Jedi, and it began to see relatively widespread use during the period leading up to the Jedi Civil War.

*JEDI CIVIL WAR

The Jedi Civil War was a conflict started by former Jedi Revan and Malak in the aftermath of the Mandalorian Wars. During their conflict against the Mandalorians, Revan and Malak were turned to the dark side and invaded the Republic, at the head of their own Sith Empire. Revan waged war against the Republic for several years, attracting numerous rogue and Dark Jedi to his cause. When he resurrected the Sith under his own banner, Revan observed the tradition of using red-hued blades laid out by the original Sith. Many of his followers followed suit, and red lightsabers became recognized as the mark of a darksider. Double-bladed lightsabers also saw common usage among the Dark Jedi and Sith Lords. The usage of red lightsabers continued among the surviving darksiders after the fall of Revan's Empire. This era saw a surge in the usage of personal energy shields by armed forces, rendering blasters partly obsolete. As blaster usage experienced partial decline due to the shields, melee weapons such as swords became more common. In order to make the weapons more durable, almost all weapons of the era were created using cortosis woven into the blade, allowing them to stand up against lightsabers.

*GREAT GALACTIC WAR

In 3,681 BBY, the resurgent Sith Empire invaded the Galactic Republic. The conflict culminated in the Sacking of Coruscant in 3,653 BBY. This forced the Republic to sign the Treaty of Coruscant that led to the Cold War. During the years of these two conflicts, the Sith Empire's warriors and inquisitors almost uniformly wielded lightsabers instead of Sith swords. As with the Sith of Revan's Empire and the Empire of the Sith Triumvirate, red blades were customary for Sith to wield, solidifying the red lightsaber as emblematic of the Sith. Another typical design feature on Sith weapons was the usage of dual-blade guards. The Jedi continued to wield lightsabers, and some Jedi adopted the dual-bladed design as well.

*SITH REBIRTH

Eventually, the Republic managed to reclaim its lost territory. During this period, lightsaber usage and technology remained largely unchanged, although it should be noted that the usage of naturally formed crystals from Ilum became almost universal among Jedi, causing the variety of lightsaber colors to drop, as the vast majority of crystals that formed on Ilum took on either a blue or green hue. It is notable that during the reign of Kaan, Sith apprentices were provided with stock lightsabers rather than having to create their own. After the institution of the Rule of Two, this policy was reversed, and apprentices had to create their own lightsabers, although synthetic crystals were often provided. However, a notable exception to this rule was Darth Maul, who self-fabricated the four synth-crystals required for his saberstaff after several days of nonstop work. Maul considered the creation of the crystals he used as a mark of Sith superiority over Jedi. When the Clone Wars began, Jedi lightsaber's experienced a change in focus. Rather than being created as a meditative exercise, heavy-duty lightsabers built to stand up to the rigors of war became the norm. Also, the war saw the reemergence of a rare lightsaber long thought lost; the Darksaber. Stolen from the Jedi Temple by the Mandalorians several millennia prior, the weapon had been passed down the line among the warriors, eventually coming into the possession of Pre Vizsla. Vizsla wielded the weapon against Obi-Wan Kenobi in a brief duel.

*JEDI PURGE

With the Great Jedi Purge, lightsabers were outlawed. To further hinder surviving Jedi, Palpatine had many of the sites where Jedi traditionally collected lightsaber crystals razed or quarantined, and placed strict sanctions on any crystals available on the market that could be used on such, such as Corusca gems. Jedi were forced to refrain from drawing their lightsabers during this era, as openly displaying their traditional weapon would only draw attention. Ultimately, the only individuals permitted to wield lightsabers were Palpatine's own Dark side servants, such as Darth Vader or his Shadow guardsman, to name a few. As the widespread outlawing of these weapons made an already rare artifacts now almost impossible to find save in the hands of surviving Jedi, Jedi hunters would often collect the weapons as proof of kill, either turning them over to the Empire or keeping them as trophies. Most of Palpatine's servants and disciples, such as his Hands or his Dark Side Elite, favored the simple standard lightsabers. However, other affiliates, such as the Emperor's Shadow Guard or certain members of the Royal Guard, favored more specialized weapons, such as Lightsaber pikes. One of his Hands, Lumiya, wielded a lightwhip. Imperial engineers also found a way to mass produce lightsabers, though these weapons still had to be assembled by hand. These lightsabers were created on Kamino for the Imperial saber guard and the Starkiller clones, and called for the mass importing of special crystals for them. The crystals in question were likely synthetics, due to the red coloration common to most, though the weapons supplied to most of the clones featured silver blades. Similar mass produced lightsabers were provided to the Sa Cuis clones. When Luke Skywalker set about constructing his lightsaber, he based the design off of schematics supplied by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Notably, he was forced to use a synth-crystal for his weapon, as he lacked any knowledge of the sites where Jedi traditionally gathered crystals, most of which having been razed anyway. The resulting crystal possessed a green coloration, due to Skywalker's meditations upon it during it's formation. When Skywalker's reformed Jedi Order arose, many of the original crystal sites would be reclaimed, but early apprentices would rely on synth-crystals. During Skywalker's brief apprenticeship to Palpatine, he was forced to replace the green crystal in his lightsaber with a red one, though he would quickly switch back after escaping the Sith Lord. Notably, Palpatine did not force his other disciples to wield red lightsabers, but as they were mere Dark Jedi rather than true Sith, he may have felt that the tradition did not apply. He himself wielded a trophy lightsaber with a blue coloration at this time.

*DARK RESURGE

After Palpatine's final death, there remained several dark side cults and groups either formed by surviving Dark Jedi. A notable group were the Reborn. Due to the large number of Dark Jedi within the Reborn, supplied by a special cloning method that granted Force-sensitivity, Desann was forced to manufacture lightsabers for the group. This resulted in a notable innovation in lightsaber construction techniques, as beforehand lightsaber manufacturing was impossible due to the non-uniform nature of the crystals, which required painstaking, individual fine-tuning. These manufacturing processes also appeared to have been applied by the Disciples of Ragnos, a Sith cult formed by Desann's apprentice, Tavion Axmis, and surviving members of the Reborn. Also, as all the lightsabers were identical assembly line creations, they all utilized red crystals. While the development of lightsaber-manufacturing techniques was a significant advancement in lightsaber technology, the Jedi, as well as most other Force-using traditions, kept to the old methods where lightsabers were self-fabricated by students in order to individualize the weapons, and test the abilities of the adept in question. Many years later, as the Imperial Remnant recovered in strength, they also formed a new Force Order; the Imperial Knights. The Knights were noted for their self-fabricated weapons, although they all followed the same design and used silver crystals in their weapons. This helped individualize their weapons but still mark them out as Imperial Knights. Emperor Roan Fel eventually formed an alliance with the Sith, led by Darth Krayt. While the Empire and the Sith worked together, the Sith turned on the Empire and usurped the throne, causing a civil war within the Empire. The lightsaber construction methods of the Sith differed from the Jedi and Imperial Knights in that many of their lightsabers were apparently constructed from a material similar to the Yorik coral used by the Yuuzhan Vong. They also utilized synthetic crystals, in observance of tradition.