Religion and Philosophy

"*In the light, there is a darkness and in the darkness, a light. It is the way with us all. Be a prisoner of neither Bogan nor Ashla. Strive to live in balance, it is dangerous to do otherwise. And the danger is there—always.*" ―Ketu
Religion is very important to every Codian citizen, it may infact be the most important part of their lives.

## The Celestials

The Celestials are the holy figures of Codian philosophy. The Celestials are divine beings who are powerful and highly honored in the Kingdom. Celestials guide the people of Codia and guide the gifted ones (force users). Each Celestial embodies certain virtues that are defined in the three aspects of the force.

The Celestials are:
**Ashla:** also commonly known as the light side of the Force, she is the Celestial aligned with honesty, compassion, mercy, self-sacrifice, and other positive emotions.
**Bogan/Boga:** alsoknows as the dark side of the Force, he is the Celestial who aligns with darker emotions such as fear, anger, hatred, and aggression.
**Bendu:** Bendu is the only Celestial who is rumored to have taken physical form and resided on the planet which the ancestors left. He is considered the most powerful Celestial and represents the center of the Force, between the light side and the dark side, Balance.
## Force Users

in the Codian Faith, people born with an affinity for the Force are considered decedents of one of the three Celestials, it is believed they inter-married with the ancient ancestors and the children born from them obtained great power. today many of these people exist and are considered no greater than any other citizen.

## Priests/Diviners/Seers

Priests, Diviners and Seers are the religious authorities of the Codian Religion.

**Priests:** Teach from the scripture weekly.

**Diviners:** Pray over you, grant blessings and offer religious advice for the people.

**Seers:** Are rare and very powerful force users, they are born without eyes and can see into the past, present and future. it is rumored they keep the Fifth book of the scripture hidden in a secret temple where only seers can access, and that the book contains their rules for what they can and cannot speak of.

## Scripture:

The Codian Religion only has one book, it is called the Je'daii Scripture. it contains all the History, wisdom and philosophy of the Je'daii and the ancestors, it is considered inerrant.

These are overviews of each book:

### Book I: Early History

"*Observing the world around them, they saw two Celestials in the one sky—light Ashla , dark Bogan—and they understood the dual aspects to the Force, light and dark. The light defined the dark as the dark did the light. When balance was not maintained, Tython reacted to the imbalance with severe storms and quakes. And so the travelers defined themselves, ever seeking a balance. They became the Je'daii, a Dai Bendu term meaning "*mystic center.*" Only through the harmony of balance could the Je'daii maintain a peaceful world.*"
In the year 36,453, the Tho Yor—eight great pyramid ships that were scattered across the galaxy—called out to the inhabitants of the planets they were located on, including Ando Prime, Kashyyyk, Manaan, Ryloth, and Dathomir. Through the Force, the Tho Yor convinced the Force-sensitive sentients around them to board the starships, and the pyramid ships then departed the planets upon which they had sat for so long and set out into the galaxy. The Tho Yor then traveled the galaxy, gathering Force-sensitives of many other species, so that by the time the eight ships journeyed into the Deep Core together, they carried members of the Wookiee, Selkath, Twi'lek, Miraluka, Iktotchi, Cathar, Devaronian, Noghri, Sith, Talid, Zabrak, Mirialan, Human, Sullustan, and Krevaaki species, as well as the species later known as the Koorivar. The eight Tho Yor traveled into the Deep Core to the planet Tython, where a ninth and far larger Tho Yor awaited them as it floated above a pinnacle of stone. The arrival of the Tho Yor was heralded by an immense Force Storm that swept over the entire planet, and the eight Tho Yor first gathered around the ninth Tho Yor before scattering themselves across the planet.[3]
The Tho Yor Arrival, as the event came to be known, saw each Tho Yor deposit their passengers at their final destination and remain there, with some of the ships burying themselves in the landscape while others remained floating in the sky. The Force-sensitive pilgrims immediately realized that Tython was uniquely strong in the Force, and the pilgrims—known collectively as the Tythans—soon realized that they had been brought to Tython in order to study the Force and to learn to control and master the abilities it granted them. However, Tython's beauty came with dangers, and the pilgrims' lives became a constant form of moving meditation on the Force, rather than sitting in silent meditation. The pilgrims also realized that Tython itself reacted violently with Force Storms and quakes to imbalance between the light and dark sides of the Force, which they named Ashla and Bogan after Tython's two moons: the bright satellite Ashla, and the dark moon of Bogan. The pilgrims therefore formed the Je'daii Order, taking their name from the language of the Dai Bendu monks of the Talid species: combining the words *je*, meaning mystic, and *dai*, meaning center.

The philosophy of the Balance became essential to survival on Tython, as harmony and balance between Ashla and Bogan maintained the peaceful beauty of Tython and prevented the chaos and destruction that came with imbalance. Over the next thousand years, the Je'daii built the Je'daii Temples, cities and centers of learning and healing that each centered around one of the Tho Yor. Padawan Kesh, the Je'daii academy, was established by the year 36,019 BBY, when Nordia Gral was serving as Padawan Kesh's first Temple Master. Around that time, Master Gral helped develop the tradition of the Great Journey, a pilgrimage across Tython to each of the Temples that all Je'daii would take upon graduating from the rank of Padawan to Journeyer. However, as the years passed, the Je'daii began to have children who were not Force-sensitive, and it eventually became clear to the Tythans that the planet was not safe for those who could not touch the Force after the city of Aurum was destroyed. Therefore, during the second millennium after the Tho Yor Arrival, a second migration occurred: all Tythans who were not Force-sensitive were made to leave the planet, even if it broke up families, and the non-Force-sensitives settled first on Ashla and Bogan before spreading out to the other worlds of the Tython system.
### Book II: Era of Peace

Despite the services the Order provided to the other Settled Worlds, the existence of the Je'daii on their isolated world of Tython became a thing of legend. It wasn't until the reign of Queen Hadiya of Shikaakwa that a full-blown conflict erupted between the Order and the non-Force-sensitives that shared the star system. In a system-wide conflict known as the Despot War, Queen Hadiya led her army against Tython in a series of campaigns in 25,805 BBY. Despite massive casualties on both sides, the Je'daii Order was able to vanquish Hadiya and her forces and return the balance to Tython. While balance was indeed restored, turmoil festered on Tython just twelve years later when the Je'daii Order found the wreckage of the first ship to enter the system since the Tho Yor brought their ancestors to the world. The ship, of unknown origin, crashed on Tython in area known as the Rift, close to the Temple of Anil Kesh, and the mass deaths sparked a Force storm of proportions not seen since the arrival of the Tho Yor. Representatives of the Order investigated the crash site and encountered a sole survivor: a mysterious man named Xesh who carried a bizarre weapon known as a Forcesaber.

In 25,793, the forces of the Rakatan Infinite Empire invaded the Tython system. Skal'nas sought to reverse his species's gradual loss of control over the Force by acquiring the Infinity Gate said to exist on the planet Tython, and his forces attacked the space station Fury Station on the edges of the system before capturing both of the gas giants Obri and Mawr. The Rakata and their Flesh Raider soldiers attacked Tython, but were repelled by the Je'daii Order; the Infinite Empire fell back to the forest world of Ska Gora and conquered it before establishing their main command post there. By the end of the first year, the Je'daii had allied themselves with the forces of the Settled Worlds, placing Je'daii Master Rajivari in command of the joint forces. The Order also constructed Forcesabers, the Dark side weapons of the Rakata, and armed themselves with the weapons as they recalled the insane Daegen Lok to lead them in battle as Lok had foreseen.

### Book III: The Force Wars:

In the ensuing decade, the balance of the Je'daii Order was shattered. Two splinter groups emerged, one which held the Ashla as the main power of good in the universe, and another whose members found power only in the Bogan. In a tumultuous conflict known as the Force Wars, former allies were pitted against each other and all that the Je'daii Order had become was torn asunder.

In 25,783, the war had raged for nearly a decade, leaving the planet a ruined waste. The light-siders, led by Je'daii Masters Rajivari, Garon Jard, Cala Brin and Ters Sendon, founded a new group known as the Jedi Order and deemed that they would only use their powers for the protection of the weak and disenfranchised. From this group, Master Rajivari broke away and formed a dissident group of dark siders. Building an army of dark side monstrosities, Rajivari and his followers seized the Temple of Kaleth and attempted to defeat the Jedi Order. Following the defeat of Rajivari's forces and other dissidents like him, the Je'daii Order was finished, the Jedi Order standing in its place. Having witnessed the destructive power of the dark side first hand with the ruination of their homeworld, a large group of Jedi set out from Tython to settle other worlds far from the Deep Core, eventually establishing a headquarters on the far-flung world Ossus.

### Book IV: Philosophy

"*There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.*
There is no fear; there is power.

I am the heart of the Force.

I am the revealing fire of light.

I am the mystery of darkness

In balance with chaos and harmony,

Immortal in the Force.*"*

―The Je'daii Code
The Je'daii Order's primarily philosophy is that of the Balance—because of Tython's intense reactions to imbalance in the Force, we Je'daii strive to maintain personal balance between the light and dark sides of the Force. This philosophy is also inspired by Tython's Celestials: bright Ashla represented the light side of the Force, and the dark Bogan represents the dark side. In Je'daii philosophy, we acknowledge the fact that there is always a light within darkness, and darkness within light, so that it is impossible for one to ever be truly free of either. Unlike the Jedi Order, Je'daii are encouraged to give into the temptations of both the light and the dark, as we believe it is necessary to embrace both in order to learn more about the Force. We Je'daii view living on Tython as a near-constant meditation and study of the Force, and the Great Journey was intended to expose young Journeyers to the various disciplines and arts that were studied at each temple.

The ancient Je'daii Order developed their own code, which illustrated the primary tenets of the Order's philosophy, and was taught at all of the Temples across Tython. Because of Tython's proclivity for Force Storms, the Je'daii took it upon themselves to police their ranks for those who fell out of balance, and they exiled those who were out of balance to Tython's moons. Those who delved too deep into the dark side were exiled to Ashla, where they were instructed to meditate on the light side and the bright moon of Ashla. On the other hand, those Je'daii who clung to the light side over the Balance were sent to Bogan, where they meditated on the darkness of the moon to bring themselves back into balance. Exiles on Tython's moons received regular deliveries of foodstuffs, and they were kept separate from other exiles by their cuffs and the sentry droids that patrolled the moons.

## End

The ancestors have passed down these scriptures from generation to generation are are held in the highest regard by all citizens, Jedi and Sith alike are regarded as Heretics to Codians, to lean to far towards the light or dark is considered a great offence and will be punished by law. to learn more about these scriptures and to deepen your understanding. please visit your local Diviner at any Je'daii Temple in your area.