Path of the Open Hand

The Path of the Open Hand, remembered as "the faithful" by the Ro family, was an extremist missionary order and cult that existed on the planet Dalna during the High Republic Era. Led by Elecia Zeveron, also known as "The Mother," who claimed to be a prophet, they believed that no one should use the Force, especially the Jedi Order. They believed that using the Force was abusing it and would cause death and disaster throughout the galaxy.
In 382 BBY, the Path and the Mother came into possession of a living weapon she named the Leveler that preyed upon Force-sensitives, as well as the Rod of Seasons, which could control it. After the creature hatched, she convinced the Path it was an agent of the Force and was doing the Force's will when it killed those who used it. Afterward, the Path, at the direction of its Guide Marda Ro, began to expand their reach by traveling the galaxy in their flagship the Gaze Electric, including to the holy moon Jedha. At the same time, the Mother manipulated the Eiram and E'ronoh War in order to come into possession of an Eirami poison and make the Jedi out to be villains so that public opinion would be turned against them.
On Jedha, the Path's other leader, Werth Plouth, known as "The Herald," petitioned for the Convocation of the Force, a council of different Force-affiliated groups, to be disbanded and for all of its groups to stop use of the Force. After the Convocation rejected his petition, the Herald incited a crowd outside the Convocation Chambers against the council and Force-users while Yana Ro, Marda's cousin, deployed the Leveler into the crowd, the effects of the creature on Force-sensitives turning the enraged group into an all out riot. The riot spread to the Second Spire, where a treaty between Eiram and E'ronoh was to be signed. This, along with intervention by the Brotherhood of the Ninth Door at the direction of the Path, caused both parties to attack each other and began the Battle of Jedha. This had been the Mother's plan, and she attempted to make the Path appear to be the heroes by helping and healing people during the conflict, but many still blamed them and their healing house there was destroyed. In the aftermath, the Mother claimed the Herald had acted alone in causing the conflict and did not represent the Path.
Several different groups of Jedi traveled to Dalna after the battle to investigate the Path. At the same time, infighting began between the Mother and the Herald, but was ended by Marda Ro, who had become even more convinced that using the Force was evil after joining the mission to the legendary Planet X to obtain more of the Nameless, the Leveler's species. She reorganized the Path there into a subgroup called the Path of the Closed Fist, declaring war against the Jedi. In a devastating battle that became known as the Night of Sorrow, the Path then fought the Jedi that had already come to Dalna and many more that arrived for support, killing many of them with the Nameless. However, the Path was defeated by the Jedi with the help of a united Eiram and E'ronoh. After the battle, Marda discovered that the Mother had been lying about her prophetic visions and had been hypocritically using the Force, so Marda killed her using the Leveler. Taking the Path's flagship, the Gaze Electric, Marda kept her faith but began a new plan to take down the Jedi, founding the Nihil. Another descendant of the Path known as the Elders of the Path eventually formed, containing Path members that had escaped or survived the Night of Sorrow.
==Description==
===Philosophy===
The Path of the Open Hand was an extremist cult whose fundamental belief was that no one with Force-sensitivity should use or manipulate the Force. They believed doing so abused and hurt the Force, disrupting the balance of the galaxy itself. Furthermore, the Path believed that the Force would always seek to balance itself: in their opinion, if one used the Force to save lives, at least that many lives would be taken away somewhere else in the galaxy. In effect, any use of the Force would create unforeseen consequences. These beliefs developed into inherent resentment and antagonism towards the philosophically opposite Jedi Order, the most prominent group in the galaxy that used the Force. They believed that the Jedi were the source of much of the misfortune and peril in the galaxy because they thought they used the Force constantly, selfishly, and with abandon and brought it out of balance.
With that in mind, if a Force-sensitive did join the Path, they would need to suppress their connection to the Force and refuse to call upon it. Another critical part of this belief was that no one should have access to Force artifacts and weapons or use their powers. Because of this they had a subgroup called the Children that "liberated" or stole these items to be held by the Path for safekeeping. The other main belief of the cult was that they should provide for each other as the Force would provide for them in return. The members of the cult often supported each other without asking for anything in return but would also willingly give to non-members as well. They referred to the acts and resources that they gave to each other and outside people as 'gifts freely given.' They often used this tactic to recruit members, giving those that were suffering gifts and support in the hopes that they would join in the cult's comfort and security.The High Republic: Convergence
The Force icon was a symbol comprised of three wavy blue lines that the Path of the Open Hand used to represent the Force. They marked their faces, usually their foreheads, with brikal shell blue paint in the shape of the icon, wearing it every day. Path members also usually wore plain gray robes with occasional blue or brown accents. The Children wore green and gold robes. The name of the cult stemmed from its gift given freely beliefs, believing that they should always extend and open hand to others, instead of a closed one that took selfishly. Because of this belief, most of its members lived on a communal compound on the planet Dalna, where they operated self-sufficiently.
===Militant transformation===
In time, the once peaceful Path would become a militant faction under the leadership of Elecia Zeveron—aka "the Mother," who urged her followers to take up arms against the Jedi in the name of the Force—and Guide of the Open Hand Marda Ro, who would reform the Path into the Path of the Closed Fist when she believed the dream of "an open hand" had failed. Older members of the Path became willing to sacrifice themselves as one last "gift given freely" and a living shield, while even the young trained for battle instead of farming. Indeed, whereas the Mother once promised to Axel Greylark that the Path was not a violent people and only detested those who "abused" the Force, an enraged Mother quickly ordered the execution of his mother, Kyong Greylark, when his usefulness ran out. Jedi Knight Gella Nattai suspected that people who tried to leave the Path would be executed on the charge of treason. Members of the Path who acted as warriors became known as Path soldiers and Path guards.
Even before the formation of the "Closed Fist" under Ro, the Mother's leadership established a militant Path eager to combat the Jedi and their supposedly tyrannical rule over the Force. One pamphlet distributed by the Path in that time spoke of fighting evil and the need to oppose "unnatural" practices, urging fellow Dalnan residents to join the coming battle. As mentally noted by Child member Yana Ro, the writing made a change to the core Path tenet: while it still mentioned the freedom of the Force, it also made reference to establishing justice and purity within the Force, which Yana took as a sign that the Path was eager to fight. Indeed, the language of "evil" and "tyranny," clearly written in reference to the Jedi Order, concerned her, as did watching the once moderate Elder Dinube spread words of condemnation and judgement towards those who would ignore the "plight" suffered by the Force. His words made no reference to the gifts given freely the cult had once prided itself upon.
The Path's internal language also changed, with names like "brothers" and "sister" being applied to cult membership. The Mother also preached that the whole galaxy was in crisis thanks to the Force-usage of the Jedi and those akin to the Order, further claiming that the Republic and HoloNet could not be trusted. Instead, she urged her followers to stay vigilant and spread the "truth" themselves. Shortly thereafter, Ro formally transformed the cult into the Path of the Closed Fist, urging its membership to protect and liberate the Force together instead of falling to internal division. Nonetheless, the Mother's corruption and Ro's rise to power would culminate in the cult breaking apart amid its new militant focus, with the so-called Closed Fist forming in the name of waging war with the Jedi: as Ro put it, they would deliver change by force with a closed fist instead of open offerings. Losing much of their influence over the cult, the Elders, meanwhile, remained dedicated to the "Open Hand" and abandoned Dalna as Ro's new faction waged its war.
===Organization===
The Path of the Open Hand was led by a Council of Elders and a Herald, who presided over the council. Elders were the wisest and usually oldest members of the Path, who helped guide the other members. Eventually, many years after its founding, the Path would get an additional leader in the form of a Mother, who led the Path with visions of the Force and managed to secure control of the cult for herself. The Mother also founded and presided over a subgroup of the Path called the Children, who traveled across the galaxy to steal Force artifacts and bring them back to the Path compound. Youngling members of the Path of the Open Hand were called Littles and were watched over by the Elders and members that they chose. Marda Ro would be named Guide of the Open Hand with the Mother's blessing.
The Path's corruption into the Closed Fist created a degree of strife within its ranks; whereas Ro formed the Closed Fist and would be joined the Herald and the Mother, who both clung onto power by joining her effort, the Elders of the Open Hand escaped the Battle of Dalna, abandoning the Closed Fist in the name of the Open Hand: as Elder Yulon Onning put it, the chaos of the battle represented something other than the Open Hand he believed in. Indeed, he found that he had lost all power over his supposed followers, although at least one Path guard, a Sakiyan Path member, and a grouping of shuttles remained at the Elders' disposal. Still, while he hoped to see the Path win the battle, he no longer saw its members as belonging to the same group as he. During the battle, Path enforcer droids also turned on organic Path members, including an old woman who did not wish to fight but instead find her granddaughter. Path members who took part in the battle did so in the name of the Closed Fist according to chants overheard by Axel Greylark, but Kyong Greylark, even after Axel reported on what he had seen amongst its ranks, thought that only some of the Path had morphed into the new group.
==History==
===Origins===
Sometime by 483 BBY, The Path of the Open Hand was founded by a man named Sachar Rold, who had once been a member of the Guardians of the Whills but left them when his belief conflicted with their ways. He was cast out by them and attempted to find himself within the Force. He was led away from his former priesthood by a vision of bright blue light that led him to the planet Dalna, which was free of war and suffering. There, he founded the Path of the Open Hand. The cult developed a compound on the planet, utilizing its caves. They lived self-sufficiently there, with the members supporting each other and living off the land.
Many years later, a woman named Elecia Zeveron from the Core Worlds arrived at the Path as a refugee, like the rest of the Path. She was welcomed into and subscribed to the cult and slowly learned their ways. Eventually, Zeveron supposedly had a vision—just like Sachar Rold—of a blue light. However, she claimed the light she saw was in the form of a messenger made of pure Force. She said that it taught her how to 'share life' and listen and be one with the Force, so much so that one day her small garden had bloomed overnight. The Path began to believe that her harmony with the Force was so pure that it flowed out of her and into anyone around her. Because of this and more visions that she appearently continued to have, she was allowed to help lead the Path, despite not qualifying as an Elder. The Path came to believe she had been sent by the Force to guide them.
She took the title of "the Mother" and officially became one of the Path's leaders, taking the position of leadership from "the Herald," Werth Plouth, who agreed to let her take control and remained their Herald. In time, however, he would desire to take back control of the Path. She worked alongside the Council of Elders. Everyone who was part of the Path listened when she spoke, young Littles and Elders alike. In secret, however, the Mother was a skilled con-artist who freely used the Force herself, using mind tricks to get her way and lying about receiving visions because it could guarantee her power. Zeveron's anger stemmed from how her sister, Oliviah Zeveron, had been taken into the Jedi Order as a child, but her own Force abilities were not strong enough for the Jedi to consider her. Insulted, the Mother clung onto the anger she felt towards the Jedi well into her adult life, believing they had not taken her seriously and developing a plan to usurp control over the galaxy via the Path to enact her revenge.
Under her leadership, the cult would greatly grow. The Path would also maintain ties with numerous other groups, including a group of pirates the Mother would provide information about good raiding spots to in return for loyalty and wealthy backers whom the Mother had convinced to enrich the Path. Evidence also existed that the Mother used the Path as cover for a smuggling operation, which, in turn, helped to enrich the cult. Eventually, the Mother had a vision of a great ship for the Path to travel across the galaxy and spread their message throughout the galaxy. The Path began its construction, and named it the Gaze Electric. The Mother founded a subgroup of the Path called the Children, who she presided over. The Children traveled off of Dalna and stole, though they claimed liberated, Force artifacts so that they would not allow people to use the Force. They did so by any means necessary, and often resorted to espionage and violence.
At some point, Axel Greylark, the son of politician Kyong Greylark and of the distinguished Greylark family, was cut out of his inheritance after a series of misdeeds. He resorted to smuggling for money and at one point was sent to the Path to smuggle ship parts for the Gaze Electric to them for Ney Madiine. He had stayed because they did not worship the Jedi like the rest of the galaxy, having lost his father in an incident that he blamed the Jedi for. At one point he subscribed to their belief that the Force would be free, but eventually fell out of it. However, he stayed with the Path because of the Mother. She had taught him to remember the pain within him every time he would start to forget his father and become the Greylark his mother wanted him to be, eventually had learning to need and use the pain. She eventually sent him back to Coruscant, close to the Galactic Senate because she realized he'd be more helpful there, but whenever she needed him, he returned, answering her every beck and call.
===Growing influence===
Sometime before or duing 382 BBY, As the Path of the Open Hand is described as developing a presence on Eiram and E'ronoh before the events of Phase II novel The High Republic: Convergence, they must've done so before 382 BBY. the Path of the Open Hand expanded their reach to the planets Eiram and E'ronoh, which were in the Dalnan sector along with Dalna, exploiting their war to recruit people who wanted to escape it, their militaries' drafts, and the poverty and suffering they were experiencing. Many young people joined in the hopes of a better life, and continued to promote the cult on the planets as the Path expanded. They also welcomed and recruited refugees who came to Dalna to escape the war.
The war between Eiram and E'ronoh provided a degree of chaos that the Path and Mother would be able to thrive within, with the Mother also able to enrich her coffers via the conflict and direct those proceeds to the Path. At some point, the Mother, and thus the Path of the Open Hand, also provided aid to the planet Eiram and its Queen, Adrialla. She requested nothing in return at first, but then asked for her to manufacture poison from the planet's poisonous Blue scorpions. Queen Adrialla did develop the poison, also with the hopes of Eiram using it in the war, but after a failed mission where it failed, she stopped manufacturing it and refused to give any to the Path.
Around 382 BBY, over the course of weeks and months,The High Republic (2022) 10 agents working for the Mother were active across the holy moon of Jedha, where the Mother worked Jedha City to her own ends without being physically present. Her agents stole holy artifacts for sale on the black market in order to fund the Path. The greater Path was unaware of the activities on Jedha.
===Fanning the flames===
In 382 BBY, the Mother tasked Serrena, a Kage woman who was a member of her Children, with inserting a program chip into a starfighter that was to be used by E'ronoh's Princeess Xiri A'lbaran, which would take control of the ship and force it to randomly fire and then explode in the hopes of prolonging the Eiram and E'ronoh War. However, the starfighter was instead used by Bly Tevin, but still caused a skirmish with Eiram that ended up causing A'lbaran to crash land on Eiram, though she survived. Serrena operated out of an abandoned building of the Brushlands of E'ronoh with her partner, fellow Kage and Path member Abda. Though she had failed, Serrena later intercepted an EX droid containing a message of two Jedi Masters, so she informed the Mother that the Jedi had arrived in the system. However, due to Serrena's failure, the Mother contacted Abda without her knowing inviting her to work for her directly and become one of her Children.
Later, Serrena confronted Queen Adrialla of Eiram aboard the Galactic Republic Longbeam cruiser Paxion, where a peace summit was being held to end the war, confronting her about her breaking her deal with the Mother to manufacture poison for them. Adrialla refused to start up production again, even when Serrena threatened that the same thing that had happened to Tevin and Princess A'lbaran could happen to her son, Prince Phan-tu Zenn. Serrena was shot with a blaster by Adrialla's wife, Odelia, but escaped in an escape pod and returned back to Abda.
Meanwhile, Axel Greylark was sent to the system to represent his mother, Kyong Greylark, who was now one of the Republic's Supreme Chancellors, at the summit. He stopped at a saloon on Lorta on his way there, where he was met by Binnot Ullo, a member of the Path. Ullo told him that the Mother missed him and cared about him and also had a job for him. When he was reluctant, Ullo told Greylark that it was more than a job, but a purpose. The Mother wanted Greylark to keep track of the Jedi in the system, but he didn't immediately understand why. When he arrived, he found himself assigned to the protection of Princess A'lbaran and Prince Zenn, who had agreed to marry in order to end the war. Using his droid, QN-1, he reported back to the Mother on all of their doings and travels before the weddings, especially on Jedi Knight Gella Nattai who had been assigned to protect the couple along with him and developed an infatuation with. In one E'roni town, Nattai was confronted by a woman named Kala and told her that fighting for peace was useless, and that the Jedi were changing this for the worse out in the galaxy. After shooing her away, Marshal Iana Percei explained that she was parroting the teachings of the Path of the Open Hand, explaining to Nattai the cult's beliefs as well as arrival and recruitment efforts on E'ronoh.
===Making waves===
In the city The Rook, where Path of the Open Hand members were advertising the cult, Abda also met with Binnot Ullo, who warned her that the Mother wasn't happy because the Jedi looked like war-ending heroes and Queen Adrialla was allowed to think she could get off without keeping up her end of the bargain, telling her that she needed to make up for Serrena's failure. He then gave her a vial of Eirami poison and told her not to miss before leaving and Abda headed back to the brushlands. Angry at her for failing, and being emboldened by being chosen by the Mother to be one of her Children, Abda secretly put the same poison in Serrena's blaster wound while treating it, killing her. Later, Abda attempted to use the poison kill Princess Xiri A'lbaran in her bedroom of her palace, but had the poison pickpocketed off of her by Axel Greylark before she arrived in the room. When she did sneak in, she found herself in the room empty-handed and facing Jedi Padawan Enya Keen, who detained her.
Afterward, Axel Greylark corresponded with the Mother, who told him to not worry about the end of the war and instead allow the wedding to continue, take out Abda, take out Gella Nattai, and bring the Mother back the poison while the Jedi were distracted. Greylark snuck into Abda's cell and injected her with the poison, killing her. As he hoped, blame was assigned to reactionary E'roni terrorist Viceroy Ferrol rather than Greylark. Greylark had deliberately left an invitation puck in the cell that he used as an excuse to bring Nattai to Ney Madiine's fighting ring, the Rusty Rancor, on the Hesperys Station. He dropped Nattai into the fighting ring, planning to leave her there to die, in exchange for information against Ferrol from Madiine that he could use to incriminate the Viceroy for the entire conspiracy. Madiine gave him the information, but Greylark could not bring himself to leave Nattai behind due to his connection and feelings for her, disobeying the Mother's orders.
On Eiram, Greylark went with Prince Zenn to investigate the facility where the poison was being made, and managed to steal three vials of the poison before getting stung by a blue scorpion. After Greylark woke up, he realized how horrible the effects of the poison were due to his sting, and decided not to send them back to Ullo and the Path. Then, Ferrol attempted to kill Greylark for framing him, but Greylark stabbed him first, though he left QN-1 behind after hurriedly fleeing the scene, which Nattai found along with the many correspondences with the Mother stored in the droid's databanks. However, Greylark had said nothing that had incriminated the Mother or the Path of the Open Hand directly.
While a massive storm hit Eiram's capital city, Erasmus, a mentally unstable Greylark strapped the poison to three detonators and placed them on the three towers that make Eiram's protecting dome that was protecting them from the storm to destroy the poison. Nattai found Greylark on one of the towers using the Force, and asked him why he didn't leave her to die when he was ordered to by his master. Greylark said that the people he was working for were 'free of the Jedi', alluding to the Path. The explosives then detonated, bringing down the towers and unleashing the storm upon the city, as well as forcing Gella to save both herself and Axel, who then explained that he knew he couldn't reach the archived poison, so he created enough chaos to draw attention to what he did and expose the Queen. Greylark was arrested for his crimes, and placed in prison, where the Mother sent him a message telling him the Jedi were at fault for what happened to him, and that she had not forgotten about or abandoned him.
===Jedi on Dalna===
Also in 382 BBY, the Mother tasked the Children in retrieving the Force artifact the Rod of Seasons from the Hynestian royal family on the planet Hynestia Prime. Their mission was successful, and they successfully retrieved it and brought it back to the Mother. In the aftermath, the queen of Hynestia asked the Jedi Order to help find and return the artifact, and Jedi Master Zallah Macri and her Padawan, Kevmo Zink, were sent to investigate the theft. When they arrived on Dalna, Zink eventually met Path member and caretaker of the Littles Marda Ro. They were immediately enthralled with each other, but Ro repressed her feelings and told Zink to leave to her anti-Jedi beliefs and seeing him use the Force, which was taboo to the Path. However, she eventually invited him and his master to visit the Path compound, with the hope of changing his mind and beliefs. During the visit, Macri and Zink inquired about the Path possibly having artifacts, but Marda insisted that they only had some stored on the subterranean levels and did not steal them.
At the same time, a hyperspace prospector named Radicaz Dobbs, but who went by the name Sunshine, brought the Mother an egg of a creature called the Nameless from a mysterious paradise planet. In return, she welcomed him into the Path and sent him to find the location of the other two rods that were part of a set with the Rod of Seasons. He eventually located the Rod of Daybreak on the holy moon Jedha.
Soon after, a freak storm caused the Path's compound and the caves both beneath it and part of it to flood. Marda found Zink and urged him to come help them. He agreed, his master staying behind to help the city, and went with Marda to the compound where the Elders were escorting people to shelter above ground. However, Marda discovered that members of a Kessarine family that was part of the Path and had several newborn children were trapped in the caves below. Zink went with Marda through the cave system to find them, but felt the presence of something in the caves that felt like the dark side of the Force. He held back the flood waters while Marda saved the family, though him doing so made her uncomfortable. Three days later, after the members of the Path were forced to all sleep together in a storage barn, the Path held a grand harvest feast which boosted the Path's morale and included the Elders doing a harvest dance.
===Romances===
Meanwhile, Yana Ro had decided that she wished to leave the Path and Dalna and run away with her girlfriend, Kor Plouth, the daughter of the Herald. The Council of Elders and the Mother were upset by her decision but did not try to stop her. The Mother only asked that she complete one more mission with the Children before she left. The Herald told Marda Ro of what Yana had said to the Council, which greatly upset her. She confronted Yana and tried to tell her that Dalna and the Path were their home, and she was making a mistake by leaving. But Yana said that Path's ideology was wrong and the Force didn't care about them, stating that she had made up her mind.
Marda Ro and Kevmo Zink grew ever closer, even developing romantic feelings for each other. Marda was especially enchanted by his stories of Jedha and their Convocation of the Force, a council in which matters of the Force were debated between members of different Force religions. Marda decided that the Path should have some sort of representation on the council, and that she should be the one to be it. Now having heard of Yana's plans to leave, she also hoped that her cousin would come with her and leaving Dalna would be enough to placate her wish to leave the Path. She hoped that she and Yana could leave with Zink and his master for Port Haileap and then they could go to Jedha from there. During one of their conversations, she let it slip that the Children had been to Hynestia, where the Rod of Seasons had been stolen from. However Zink's master Macri spotted them kissing, and reminded her Padawan about the Jedi's rules on attachments.
===A changing path===
Marda Ro presented her idea to represent the Path on Jedha, to the Council of Elders, the Herald, and the Mother, even including that it would be a way for Yana to stay with the Path. During the meeting, the Mother held the egg, which all the others thought only to be a jewel in a pillow on her lap and stroked it ominously. The Council and the Mother rejected Marda's idea, explaining that Jedha would be a distraction from the Path. One Council member was also concerned that two Evereni such as Marda and Yana, a species which had a notorious reputation in the galaxy, would stand out in a place like Jedha. Even though the Herald expressed that he thought it was a good idea, and Ro insisted that she could guide the Path on Jedha despite distractions and noise, The Mother told her that they didn't want any Path presence on Jedha, and her decision was final. However, Marda noticed that the mother was acting on her own wants, not the Force's or for the Path, but she attempted to rationalize it as simply a misspoken word.
The Mother's decision was likely because of her secret activity via her thieves and other minor agents on Jedha. Later, Yana Ro and the rest of the Children were given a new mission, which would be Yana's last. The mother sent them to the planet Thelj to an artifact called Jedi Tears from the Graf family compound on the planet, Sunshine Dobbs flying them there in his ship. However, The Mother had alerted the Grafs of the Children's arrival with the intent for the clan to kill them. The Children were ambushed and all but Yana were killed by the Graf forces and security. Yana, now having lost her girlfriend Kor Plouth, who was one of the children killed, confronted Dobbs. He agreed to take Ro back to the Path compound on Dalna so that she could meet with The Mother about the incident.
Marda and Zink eventually decided to just be friends due to the Jedi's no attachment rule, and the two said their goodbyes when Marda said that she had not been allowed to leave yet. He lamented how strange it was that over all the days he had never gotten to meet the Mother, but Marda just suggested that the Force had kept them apart. After she left, Master Macri and Zink staked out the ship port to see if the Path and the Mother were smuggling in items to Dalna. But when the two only saw Yana and Dobbs come return to the ship dock from their mission, the two Jedi decided that they were going in to the Path compound and searching the caves that night.
Marda met Yana before she could reach the Mother or the Elders, curious as to how the mission went. Yana explained that the Mother had betrayed her and the Children and gotten Kor killed so that she could get new Children that didn't ask many questions. She insisted that the Mother was a grifter and a liar was wasn't truly following the Force. Marda helped Yana washed up, but refused to believe Yana and maintained her faith in the Mother and in the Force. However, Yana managed to convince her to leave with her after she confronted the Mother, despite Marda's faith not wavering.
===The Leveler===
When Yana went down into the caves to speak with the Mother, she discovered Jedi Master Macri and Padawan Zink inside of the Mother's listening room, Macri holding the Rod of Seasons. Macri asked her what other artifacts they had stolen, but Yana told them that they were trespassing and needed to leave. Then the Mother arrived, sharing Yana's sentiment and told them that they had liberated the artifact while warning them that their 'abuses' of the Force would cause a reckoning. Macri declared that they were taking all of the artifacts with them and bringing the Mother into custody, but she refused and picked up her 'jewel'. The Herald and his retainers then arrived and attacked and shot at the Jedi. Macri and Zink quickly gained the upper hand, Macri managing to disarm most of them, until the Mother screamed and dropped the egg, which burst open and produced a newborn member of the Nameless species, that the Mother would name the Leveler. The creature flung at Macri and clung to her arm, turning her into a stone-like husk and thus killing her. The Leveler reached for Zink next, briefly grabbing his leg before he kicked it off and ran from the chamber. The Mother declared that the Force had given them a gift and had protected them while Yana grabbed the Rod of Seasons in a flurry. The Herald then asked her about her mission, Yana telling him that she hadn't secured the artifact and they needed to talk.
Marda prepared to leave Dalna behind and travel the galaxy with Yana, saying goodbye to the Kessarine family that she had befriended and saying she might be back. While she did however, she heard a strange scraping sound that she followed into the tunnels until she found an injured Kevmo Zink, who keeled over and could barely speak. He managed to tell her that what was happening to him was related to the Force and that the Mother had done it, before his body turned into the same stone-like husk that his master had been turned into. Marda took his lightsaber and descended deeper into the Path's caves, her heart broken.
===Taking to the stars===
Meanwhile, Yana revealed to the Herald that the Mother had conspired with Sunshine Dobbs and had killed his daughter, Kor. She suggested they kill the Mother before the creature grew stronger and more Jedi arrived, warning them that they would since Zink had run off and her creature couldn't stop the entire Jedi Order. The Mother agreed with Yana that they could not protect themselves there on Dalna, and decided that it was time that they go to the Gaze Electric and leave the planet. The Elders then arrived, having heard much noise, and the Mother told them that the Leveler was a miracle the Force had given them that she had seen in a vision. Sunshine Dobbs told them that he could get many more of the creatures from a planet in Wild Space and raise an army of them for the Path. The Herald also told the Elders that they were going to begin their transition to the Gaze Electric immediately, adding that the Leveler needed time to grow away from enemies and then it could be a match for the Jedi and the Path would carry on.
All of this overwhelmed Yana, who was shocked that the Herald did not care more about his daughter's death, and that he and the Mother seemed to be in some sort of struggle for power over the Path. She started to leave, but the Leveler followed after her attracted to the Rod of Seasons that she held. She quickly hid the rod and the others did not realize that she had it, so when it followed her, the Herald declared her its champion. Yana accepted the duty and said that the Force had chosen her, hoping that she would eventually get to see the Mother's death. Marda then arrived and saw the scene, including the calcified Master Macri. The Mother told her that their use of the Force had brought the Jedi's death and claimed the Leveler was an agent of the Force. Marda believed her and said that they needed to stop all that abused the Force. She also told her that they would be taking to the Gaze Electric, the Mother deciding that Marda would be the Path's Guide, and Marda realizing they needed to go to Jedha.
Later, on the Gaze Electric somewhere in space, the Mother asked Dobbs about there being another rod like the Rod of Seasons, and he confirmed that the Rod of Daybreak was on Jedha but was in a vault controlled by the Jedi and very inaccessible. The Mother suggested that they could do anything with the Leveler and told Dobbs to go to Jedha an prepare for their arrival by telling everyone who they were and alerting them they would not be stopped.
Meanwhile, Yana spoke with the Herald and the two mourned Kor together. They both decided that they needed to avenge her by biding their time until they could take the Mother down and make her pay, refusing to accept her exploitation of the Force for her personal gain. He also told her to corral her cousin, since her belief and guidance was so strong that the entire Path would follow her. Yana then later saw Marda, who the Mother had been allowing to have more leadership. She had changed her face paint to no longer be three wavy blue lines across her forehead, but three lines down her face and over her eyes. She explained that she no longer wore them as gentle symbol but as one that cut through her eyes and illuminated the truth of the Force. Marda said that it was new day for the Path because they were in the stars and because of the Leveler, and that she would not be caught unaware again, resolving to serve the Force and make it free.
===Dissolution===
====Closing the Hand====
After the Mother secretly engineered the Battle of Jedha to disrupt the peace between Eiram and E'ronoh, the Path used the sudden fighting on Jedha as proof of its beliefs: members of the Path alleged that the Jedi Order's use of the Force had been balanced out by the re-opening of the war. The Path also unleashed the Leveler onto the streets of Jedha. After the battle, the Path returned to Dalna, where the Path prepared for a coming battle instead of returning to a life of farming. As such, crops were left to rot where they stood. The Jedi connected the violence on Jedha to the Path, with news of the Path's involvement spreading across the stars, to which the Mother responded by claiming the Herald alone was to blame. The incident also served to reopen the war between Eiram and E'ronoh, just as the Mother wished. In failing to end the war, the Jedi and Republic had seemingly only brought about more strife, all while the conflict would generate chaos that the Path could use to its benefit. While a large degree of anti-Path sentiment was encountered first hand by Marda Ro due to the violence on Jedha, the cult still had allies on Dalna.
In the Battle of Dalna, the Path, reorganized into the Path of the Closed Fist, warred with Jedi and anti-Path Dalnans. For the battle, the Path was aided by enforcer droids and Nameless collected from Marda Ro and Dobbs's mission to Planet X. The Nameless, however, preyed upon Jedi and Force-sensitive Path members alike, even if those Path members did not even know they had a connection to it or, per their beliefs, refused to use it. Encountering the husked remains of Path members, Marda initially tried to convince herself they were active Force-sensitives hiding in plain sight who deserved their fate, even if deep down she was horrified by what she had unleashed. Meanwhile, the Mother sent Littles Boolan and Utalir out with thermal detonators to supposedly drop rocks upon the Jedi, although she actually intended to destroy the Path alike. With that, she would have an apparent disturbance created by the Jedi and become a tragic figure. When Marda learned of the Mother's actions from Yana and Boolan, who escaped into the night repeating the Path mantra, Marda officially turned on the woman she had once idealized.
====Breaking the Fist====
The enforcer droids eventually began cutting down Path members and Jedi alike, while the Elders abandoned the Closed Fist in the name of the Path of the Open Hand. Marda, meanwhile, killed a Nameless that nearly feasted upon Utalir and, with the Herald, attacked the Mother, who killed the Herald but was captured by the Jedi. Marda then wiped out the Nameless with the Mother's explosives, but the Leveler managed to survive. The battle ended with the arrival of the united militaries of Eiram and E'ronoh, who put down the Path's remaining forces, and the explosion set off by Marda, which inadvertently collapsed the entire cave network. After the battle, Marda executed the Mother for her lies and use of the Force by ordering the Leveler against her. She managed to escape Dalna with the Leveler and the Rod of Seasons aboard the Gaze Electric, from which she began of a new plan to free the Force. Meanwhile, Yana made out with the Rod of Daybreak, which she kept hidden from Marda upon realizing her cousin would not abandon the Path's ways.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Dalna, remembered by the Dalnans as the Night of Sorrow, intelligence that came to Jedi Master Silandra Sho established that the Path was dissolved. According to what Sho learned, the remnants of the Path that were not taken into custody by the Jedi Order returned to the Gaze Electric, which then vanished into hyperspace. Fel Ix, who had been on a mission for the Mother before being held prisoner by the Jedi Padawan Rooper Nitani, Sky Graf, and Dass Leffbruk, reunited with his family on Batuu. The family then intended to travel to Atalia, where Fel Ix lived before joining the Path.The High Republic: Quest for Planet X
===Descendants===
Eventually the Path of the Open Hand split into many descendant groups, with one being the Elders of the Path, a group that shared the Path's belief that using the Force was wrong and resided on Trymant IVStar Wars: The High Republic: Chronicles of the Jedi in 232 BBY.Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of The High Republic Adventures (2021) 1, which depicts the Elders of the Path living on Trymant IV, to 232 BBY. Tromak, who was one of the Path of the Open Hand's littles in 382 BBY, was a member of the Elders of the Path's Council of EldersThe High Republic Adventures (2021) 1 around 232 BBY. According to members of the Elders' order, the Nihil marauder group had grown out of their order before being cut out.The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower Indeed, the Nihil were guided by members of the Ro family, descendants of Marda Ro. A few former Path of the Open Hand members, such as Alirya, also had joined Marda's efforts. Marda made it clear her new organization was not to be a religion, however.
When Kufa, a member of the Ro family, reunited with her cousin, the Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro, on Rystan in 231 BBY,Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of The High Republic: The Rising Storm to 231 BBY. she remarked that he was returning to "the Path" by meeting with her. Her ship that she had arrived in shared a name with the cult, being named the Open Hand. He was there with the hope of retrieving the Great Leveler, which was now frozen in the ice in the The Shrine beneath Golamaran, having been brought there by their ancestors long ago. When he asked, she said that there weren't many of "the faithful" left, which she said was apparent due to the prominence and strength of the Jedi. She reaffirmed the belief of her and the faithful that the Jedi were guiding them to destruction, telling him that they had known it on Jedha and on Dalna, but also admitted defeat and said the Jedi could no longer be stopped. She asked if he was there to bring them hope and 'reopen the Hand' by delivering the message. He insisted that he was not a prophet, but she said that the best prophets found the Path by being lost. The fallen Jedi Azlin Rell believed that the Path of the Open Hand lived on, though was just called the Nihil instead, and referred to the Nihil as the Path. The Jedi Knight Reath Silas was unsure if it was an affectation or if it was some deep insight that Rell had.The High Republic: Tears of the Nameless
==Behind the scenes==
The Path of the Open Hand cult was created for Phase II of the Star Wars: The High Republic multimedia project. The cult made its first appearance in the 2022 young-adult novel The High Republic: Path of Deceit but was first referenced in the 2021 novel The High Republic: The Rising Storm as "the faithful" and simply "The Path." Artist Grant Griffin did several rounds of artwork for the "Force cult" characters.
==Appearances==
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Force-based organizations