Search the Community

The following text is transcribed from the holorecording of a madman found in the insane asylum on Empress Tet. While the man’s claims are dubious at best, including that of being a member of House Ahalya, it seems a third party has been distributing this recording over and over across the galaxy. Great care should be taken when dealing with those who somehow acquired the recordings. “Why do we serve it? That has been my question ever since I arrived here in this untouchable void. While my reasons for finding it and studying it are easy to understand, the question of why I serve it continues to haunt my thoughts, and only my dreams have provided answers to this damnable question. Ever since my apparent death on Nar Shaddaa when the Sith attacked, I rededicated myself to the pursuit of knowledge instead of conflict. It was why I went into hiding after Nar Shaddaa. The house and the Jedi had become too encased in the battles against the Sith, and I needed space from the fighting. I had not become a Knight to deal death, no matter how justified and necessary it was. I became a Knight for Knowledge and Defense against the Darkness. And in my susceptible state, I gave into the belief that I needed to go into hiding. It was during this time I began to hear whispers of some unimaginable knowledge, found only in the void between the stars. My training instantly taught me to suspect the Dark Side at work, but the whispers could not be ignored. .The promise of untold knowledge lured my interests more than my concerns, and in that, I began to dig around the galaxy for more information. This ‘Temple’ as the spacefarers had called it, was an elusive target, but eventually my investigations bore fruit. On Mon Cal, I was approached by a man who named me a ‘fellow disciple’ and said that my efforts had attracted his attention. He led me to the place known as the Temple, and introduced me to the cult that worshiped the entity known as the Spider. My first footsteps gave me enough indication that something malevolent was at work, but my thirst for knowledge overcame my fears. Slowly, but surely, I went through the trials they set before me. I studied the scriptures they presented me, and made my own notes about their contrary teachings. I meditated in their chambers that held no air and no light. And I subjected myself to the visions. The visions were confusing at first, but enlightening as time went on. Visions of a thing gazing down over the galaxy, pulling at threads of fate like a professional Dejarik player. Visions of flesh sprouting from walls, wires coiling around my feet, and eyes staring from the darkness. Remains of Knights, lost to the eons of time, squirming as their very marrow sampled upon by the miniscule creatures. Nerfs being fed, only to have their stomachs pumped out in grotesque fashion. Rancors fleeing womp rats, and dragons swimming amongst the nebulae. And though these visions weakened me, they did not break me. The other Disciples I spoke with were not what I expected. Where I expected fools and half-sane simpletons, I found scholars who desired to push the boundaries of knowledge. I was in a circle of not only my peers, but my superiors as well. Musicians, scientists, engineers, and even xenobiologists walked the halls of the Temple. And while I only spoke with them occasionally, what little i gleaned proved enlightening and further enticing. The leader of the whole organization was a suave, sophisticated man of higher science and lore, and his talks about the boundaries of the Force intrigued me further and further. My first several meetings with him I cannot remember, for in his mastery of the Madness, he has learned to erase even the best of memories. But eventually, I gained his trust, and he allowed me to remember. The greatest of cult leaders do not measure up to his charisma, and the scientists of kamino do not fully understand his intellect. Of course, my fear of the Dark side prevented me from going all the way at first, but I came to understand the nature of the universe in the Temple soon enough. Ideas like the pointless dichotomy of the Force were given up in exchange for higher truths. It was here, when I was finally broken out of the lies that I had been taught. It was here when I finally unlearned what I had learned. I had become a true disciple, and my name had changed to Disciple Cralaus. Disciple of the Crawling Chaos. I learned how the Force was not a benevolent being like my house foolishly believes. The Force is not caring, but insidious beyond measure. Like Ants farming aphids, so does the Force farm us: We breed, grow, expand, die and repeat. We are born of it, and will return to it. With each birth, we give it hope. With time, we pupate and grow, becoming a more nourishing meal. With each death, we give it sustenance. There is no light and dark, only those that believe such illusions exist to justify destruction. And with destruction, it feeds on what is lost, and then breeds more life, so that its food source does not dry up. This is what I believe to be the Force. And in time, I began to view the Force as the Spider, the thing the Temple both worships and despises. We know the true darkness that haunts the universe. We know the Madness we draw from it, and in turn, learn of it. But why do we worship that which harvests us like nerfs at slaughter? The answer, my friends, is to know how to defeat it. The Spider creates destruction. It feeds the galaxy lies to keep it from fully unifying. It is the cosmic thing that fears order and justice, much like how a predator fears a band of coordinated hunters. It gives the gifted few powers beyond reason not to help fly under one banner, but to create numerous banners for the galaxy to fight over. It sows chaos with each life form it breeds, and it feeds on each life the chaos destroys. We are chained to this great hideousness. But if we hope to break free from it, we must be under one banner. The sith, for all their draws towards chaos, understand the nature of breaking free from chains and slavery. But they lack stability and now, after Nar Shaddaa, they lack cohesion and strength. However, the Jedi are no better. For though they have the stability to unity the galaxy, and the backings of the governments, they are incapable of seeing themselves separate from the whole. Only madmen can see what must be seen. The Spider has both Sith and Jedi in its web; The Sith cannot fight it, and the Jedi cannot see it. So that is why we, the Temple, worship the Spider. We will come to know it better, and in time, discern a weakness to break it. And should that weakness take the form of eliminating all life, or by several all life from the Force, then we shall do it. If madness must be made flesh to study the Spider better, then we shall do it. If we must break a thousand minds to manifest its tendrils, then we shall do so. We shall save the galaxy from what the galaxy cannot perceive.

OPENING FILE: Title: An invitation to an initiate To: Silas Rook, formerly of Nar Shaddaa. From: UNKNOWN. Attempting to locate the source of transmission. Tracking… Tracking… Tracking… … ERROR: Unable to track source of message. Running scan of message. No viruses found. Message appears to be an older form of communication, capable of limited interaction. Open Message? REPONSE: Y/N? REPONSE: Y Opening Message … Favored child, It pleases me greatly that this message has finally made it to you. Whether you accidentally intercepted this message by yourself in the depths of space, sought it out after hearing rumors by your companions of late, or even inherited this message from one less wise than you, it pleases me greatly that you have received this message. Should you wish to dive deeper in the realms of knowledge further than any other being of your kind, investigate this message fully, and discover the secrets in it that will provide a stepping point for domains beyond comprehension and sanity itself. Ask the right questions, and your journey will be revealed. However, should you surrender and think these words are beyond your mental being, then I implore you to pass this message along to either your peers or to a stranger. This is my sole command of you. And should the knowledge here become too much for your fragile mind… SPREAD IT However, know that in doing so, you will be passing up on powers that few have ever tasted, let alone grasped. But remember this: once knowledge is gained, it cannot be ungained. Secrets cannot be hidden once revealed, and once you have begun your investigation, only deeper portions await you. To step backwards is impossible, and you can only step forwards from here. This serves both warning and promise. Greater delights await those who investigate. QUERY: Who are you? A scholar of the deepest realms of knowledge. A recent initiate in our order called us ‘surveyors of the furthest edges of reality’. I once hailed from New Alderaan, but that was a lifetime ago. I am simply known as Fla’algth, Disciple of the Flailing Wires, keeper of the Temple of the Spider, and student of the Madness. Like many of my peers, I believe that our teachings should spread in the wider galaxy, and have taken to the use of technology to do so. Whether or not my methods succeed is to be seen. QUERY: What is the Flailing Wires? It is a unique insight into the realm of Madness that I have discovered. Like all the others who have sought out and discovered the Temple of the Spider, I have peered into the Madness and discovered powers and knowledge beyond the normal bounds of our reality. The Flailing wires, both grotesque but beautiful, is the way that the Madness first made itself present to me, those years ago on that cargo ship when we passed by my home. And when I arrived at the Temple, the wires followed me, strangled me, and enlightened me. It is through them that I send this message to you. ATTENTION: FURTHER QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED QUERY: What is the Temple of the Spider? It is both the location of our order as well as the order I belong to. We are dedicated to delving the depths of knowledge of the Great Spider itself, and understanding all of its aspects. QUERY: What is the purpose of the Temple? To house those who worship and study the Great Spider and the Madness. We who call ourselves ‘Disciples’ and ‘Chosen’ are not widely accepted in the galaxy, and the Temple is our sanctuary from those who fear what is impossible to understand. QUERY: Where is the Temple of the Spider? ERROR! QUERY NOT WITHIN MESSAGE PARAMETERS QUERY: How can I find the Temple? ERROR! MORE QUESTIONS MUST BE ASKED BEFORE THIS ANSWER CAN BE GIVEN! QUERY: What is the Great Spider? The Great Spider is that which we both worship and loathe. The Great Spider is the Keeper of the Madness, the Devouring of the Madness, and the Madness itself. It is that which waits and eats and breeds. Both its creator and ender, it is stuck in time, and yet beyond timeless. It has existed before life first walked, and will exist beyond life’s end. We are its students and its prey. It is our teacher and our destroyer. To know the Great Spider is to know the Madness. You are asking the correct questions, child. I look forward to enlightening you further and further. ATTENTION: FURTHER QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN UNLOCKED QUERY: What is the Madness? It is what we seek to understand. Some believe it to be an unhealing wound in the Force. A lingering pestilence that some believe to be the dark side incarnate. Others believe it's the Light revealing its true self, and a mirror of the physical force acting in reverse. A method for the Light to punish those who have disrupted the balance. Others believe it is a facet of the Force that is not fully understood, neither light nor dark, but something grander. I am of this final group, believing the Madness to be something beyond light and dark. That said, you may come to believe differently in time. If you wish to discover, all you need to do is to study. QUERY: How can I begin to study? Favored Child… … … You already have begun.

Do not think me mad, even if the doctors around me declare it so. Do not declare my sanity is non-existent, but instead listen to these words. Listen, listen to these words on this holocron, and make a judgment of my sanity for yourself. My name is [redacted]. I was born on Naboo, within the city of Theed, and while my heritage was neither Human nor Gungan, I felt Naboo as always my home. I was a member of the Jedi Service Corps, within the ExplorCorps, from the years [redacted]. While many of my peers would think me a washout, I held no shame in my occupation. Of the service corps, I held an invigorating position, and my placement often put me on the same level as some Jedi knights, despite not being as skilled in the Force. My tasks were often helping chart out courses into Deep and Wild space, finding new routes between major spacelanes, creating shortcuts that the republic could use. My findings were never published publicly, but instead kept strictly for military use, so that smugglers could not make use of my discoveries. In the year [redacted], I was granted the rank of captain, and my very own ship, a [redacted] that bore the name [redacted]. Sleek, sturdy, and capable of taking up voyages that could last an entire year, I was very proud of the vessel. Under my command including 100 technicians, 50 navigationists, 2 other so called ‘washouts’, 65 droids and 4 doctors. All members of the [redacted ship name] were well trained. I only carried 8 greenhorns, and during the voyage I would oversee some of their training. In addition to our normal crew, we carried 1 Jedi Seeker, a Nautolan named [redacted]. [redacted] and I were good friends, and while he went on to become a knight of the Jedi order, he never lorded over me his accomplishment. He was a humble and dedicated individual, and never wavered in any of his duties. His role was only to advise me and help deal with any potential dark sided threats, but given my ship experience, we often became lax on that and instead focused our discussions on philosophy and politics. Our maiden voyage was to explore sectors [redacted] to [redacted]. The reason for this was because several smugglers had been captured, ranting and raving about a new star system they had discovered. Their data droid provided us with coordinates, but the smugglers' stories themselves made me curious. Or rather, the lack of stories. They were blubbering messes, and believed to be suffering some kind of psychological disease. My mission was to explore the region their droid had shown, to gather biological samples, and to ensure that no one else was in the system. The journey to the system took us about [redacted]. During that time, my friend and I discussed the potential of what a psychological disease could do if an outbreak took hold on Coruscant. Our discussions turned towards philosophy, and how the Jedi code meshes with subjects such as diseases and madmen: If all life is sacred, are we going against the Force eradicating diseases? If the Force is sentient in the manner of that some believed, was fighting disease going against its will? Are cures inherently good just because they save life, or are they good because we deem it so? What of the madmen that this potential disease creates? If the disease is natural, then are madmen as how the Force intended them to be? Is madness something to consider in the realm of the light side? Is there such a thing as a genuinely mad Jedi? Does a madman’s death affect the cosmic force on a whole? Should enough madmen die, would the cosmic force suffer in the end? What would that effect look like? My friend, a staunch traditionalist, was a worthy verbal sparring partner in these discussions, but in the end we were both left unnerved with our conclusions. He pondered in the Jedi council even debated these subjects like we have, and if they had, what conclusions they came to. I on the other hand was more liberal, and while concerned about our conclusions, I was more excited than anything else. The pursuit of knowledge always made me this way, a reason why I was assigned to the ExplorCorps. System [redacted] was an elusive target, but once found, my friend and I both felt something was off. Not as well trained, I would've defected to my friends' conclusions about the force, but here we were in agreement separately. The force here felt stale and old. While the Force was still here, it did not feel correct. I wondered if the Force here was the reason for the smuggler’s condition, but my friend assured me that was unlikely. The system had 7 celestial objects circling a black hole with the approximate size of a medium mass orange-yellow star. However, much to our confusion, this black hole had a much larger than average accretion disk, providing light and heat across the system. Of the celestial objects, two were gas giants, with numerous small moons, three were micro planets, and two were planets within habitable levels. Our discoveries made me ecstatic to say the least. The fact that the black hole here had two planets that could provide life would be a discovery of the ages. My joy became almost enrapturing when we discovered radio signals coming from both planets. While the signals were garbage for the most part, it did seem to indicate that intelligent life may have existed on these worlds. My friend was not so eager. Being more attuned to the Force, he knew something was off. Had I been more attentive, I would’ve noticed he had become nauseated just being in the system, but my focus was on the potential archeological ruins on the habitable planets. To cover more ground, my friend and I led two different teams. He would take a team to the first planet that was further away from the black hole, a seemingly near-water world, with temperatures and land mass like Lamaredd. I would lead a team on the closer planet, a more tectonically active world that, while it had a thin but breathable atmosphere, sensors indicated a tunnel system underneath the surface. We both took along protective equipment, remembering the possibility that a disease may have originated here.