Teras Kasi Archive
Thread: History of the Teräs Käsi
The order of the Teräs Käsi is a secret organization born from the belief that near infinite power, regardless of the intention behind it, should not go unregulated. The Teräs Käsi - bluntly, did not trust the Jedi to police themselves.
The Teräs Käsi was founded thousands of years ago, during the last of the great wars between the Light and the Dark. The final decisive battle between the two great forces occurred in the Pacanth Reach, devastating the planet of Palawa itself. The victory was attained, but at momentous cost to the civilian population. The Jedi Council, deeply saddened by the outcome of the events, nevertheless deemed it 'acceptable losses'. The battleground was not one of the Order's choosing, the evil had to be stopped, it was one planet against thousands - there was no choice.
The civilians that survived the battle saw it differently.
The meager handful of survivors relocated to the nearby world of Bunduki. The remaining Palawan concluded that so much force, so much power - in the hands of one people, regardless of how well intentioned and regulated. They vowed never to let happen to others what had happened to them. They began the study of the mind over the body, how to master self from without and within. They forged themselves to be a force capable of dealing with Jedi, should the need arise. It took generations to conceive and implement the plan, but the Teräs Käsi martial arts were born.
Since that time, the order has grown strong. During the heights of the Old Republic, the exact number of Teräs Käsi masters is unknown - but the number was estimated to be from several hundred up to slightly more than a thousand. Of course the number of Teräs Käsi practitioners are considerably less during the reign of Palpatine and his Empire. During the era of the New Republic, the order is growing again, but has yet to fully recover.
About the Teräs Käsi
Although not they quite as all-powerful and versatile as the Jedi arts, the practitioners of Teräs Käsi are formidable in their own ways.
There is one basic fundamental difference between the two schools. Instead of drawing on the Force for power, Teräs Käsi users draw on the power from inside themselves. By using the power from within, they are able to have more control and fewer restraints. Since practitioners of Teräs Käsi draw from what is inside, they become what they are. Unlike the Jedi, since the Force surrounds and penetrates all life - which has good and evil, so there are light and dark sides of the Force.
A master of Teräs Käsi must be able to command their own bodies in addition to learning the external arts. As such they are able to ignore pain, control disease and poisons within themselves, focus on injured areas and accelerating their own healing, and summon great strength to release it in one blow. The Teräs Käsi are also exceptionally attuned to the ebb and flow of the Force - if not actually out and out Jedi material. This attuned nature of the Teräs Käsi not only allows them to be aware of Jedi and Force Users, but also makes them exceptionally resistant to uses of the Force.
Mastery of the teachings of Teräs Käsi also imparts one additional benefit - a long life span. Not immortality - no matter how long you live, how far you run, you can't escape the hand of death forever. However, a master of Teräs Käsi can live several hundred years - and many of the order often do so.
Operating in secret, even beyond the notice most Jedi (it is unknown if the Jedi Council knew or suspected of the existence of the group) the Teräs Käsi have set up a network of temples and training facilities. These facilities are scattered throughout the galaxy, often hidden in plain site - small monasteries and temples are the order's natural appearance.
With this network, they watch the Jedi. Mostly they are unneeded, but when one steps out of line, the Teräs Käsi are there.
Occasionally there are beings able to cross over between the two groups, masters both versed in the Jedi arts and the ways of Teräs Käsi. These individuals are extremely rare, however. Although it may seem a conflict of interests - the watcher in the very order they watch - but what better place to monitor and observe than from within.
Then the purge came. The order, although not targeted by Palpatine, was also caught up in the madness of the destruction of the Jedi Order. However unlike the Jedi, who were in the public eye, the Teräs Käsi managed to avoid the near total extermination the Empire meted out. Unfortunately the very secretive nature of the Teräs Käsi that saved them from extermination left the few survivors adrift and without resources.
The destruction of the Teräs Käsi may not have complete, but it was crippling. Only a handful of Masters survived - more than the Jedi order, but not by many. The Teräs Käsi have survived adversity before - have had to deal with persecution and extermination before. As a precaution against the destruction of the order, the Teräs Käsi was segmented into cells, much like a guerrilla war might be fought. Eventually, one or two branches of the order would survive.
During this period, the most notable of the Teräs Käsi masters came to the spotlight - Arden Lynn. As one of the last remaining masters of Teräs Käsi, Arden was cornered by Vader and offered a chance at survival - provided that she assassinated key members of the Rebel Alliance. The plot failed, and presumably Arden Lynn was executed by Palpatine for her failure - although this is conjecture, since no records of her, her execution, or her current status existed when Coruscant was taken by the New Republic. Owing to the resourcefulness of the master turned mercenary, she very well may have successfully eluded the Empire after her failure.
Thanks to Arden Lynn's attempt on his life, Luke Skywalker is fully aware of the existence of the Teräs Käsi order. He may not know all of the details, but he has put together enough to know that the Teräs Käsi could be invaluable on rebuilding the Jedi Knights. Their perspective on the original order of Jedi Knights, plus their unique insight to the ways of the Force could be very useful indeed. As such, Master Skywalker is actively seeking the order and it's members.
The Teräs Käsi, however are not eager for this contact. They realize that the Anakin/Vader paradigm had finally done more than tip the balance of power between light and dark. It had freed the Jedi Knights of the protocol, rituals and methods that had suffocated them and slowly rendered the order less and less effective. To impart the old knowledge and old ways upon the new order would be to unnecessarily shackle them. They must learn their own way - right or wrong.
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history is fun ain't it
nikolai wrote:
I swear, we have this post once a week.
Yes, this has been repeated to high heaven
The order of the Teräs Käsi is a secret organization born from the belief that near infinite power, regardless of the intention behind it, should not go unregulated. The Teräs Käsi - bluntly, did not trust the Jedi to police themselves.
The Teräs Käsi was founded thousands of years ago, during the last of the great wars between the Light and the Dark. The final decisive battle between the two great forces occurred in the Pacanth Reach, devastating the planet of Palawa itself. The victory was attained, but at momentous cost to the civilian population. The Jedi Council, deeply saddened by the outcome of the events, nevertheless deemed it 'acceptable losses'. The battleground was not one of the Order's choosing, the evil had to be stopped, it was one planet against thousands - there was no choice.
The civilians that survived the battle saw it differently.
The meager handful of survivors relocated to the nearby world of Bunduki. The remaining Palawan concluded that so much force, so much power - in the hands of one people, regardless of how well intentioned and regulated. They vowed never to let happen to others what had happened to them. They began the study of the mind over the body, how to master self from without and within. They forged themselves to be a force capable of dealing with Jedi, should the need arise. It took generations to conceive and implement the plan, but the Teräs Käsi martial arts were born.
Since that time, the order has grown strong. During the heights of the Old Republic, the exact number of Teräs Käsi masters is unknown - but the number was estimated to be from several hundred up to slightly more than a thousand. Of course the number of Teräs Käsi practitioners are considerably less during the reign of Palpatine and his Empire. During the era of the New Republic, the order is growing again, but has yet to fully recover.
Although not they quite as all-powerful and versatile as the Jedi arts, the practitioners of Teräs Käsi are formidable in their own ways.
There is one basic fundamental difference between the two schools. Instead of drawing on the Force for power, Teräs Käsi users draw on the power from inside themselves. By using the power from within, they are able to have more control and fewer restraints. Since practitioners of Teräs Käsi draw from what is inside, they become what they are. Unlike the Jedi, since the Force surrounds and penetrates all life - which has good and evil, so there are light and dark sides of the Force.
A master of Teräs Käsi must be able to command their own bodies in addition to learning the external arts. As such they are able to ignore pain, control disease and poisons within themselves, focus on injured areas and accelerating their own healing, and summon great strength to release it in one blow. The Teräs Käsi are also exceptionally attuned to the ebb and flow of the Force - if not actually out and out Jedi material. This attuned nature of the Teräs Käsi not only allows them to be aware of Jedi and Force Users, but also makes them exceptionally resistant to uses of the Force.
Mastery of the teachings of Teräs Käsi also imparts one additional benefit - a long life span. Not immortality - no matter how long you live, how far you run, you can't escape the hand of death forever. However, a master of Teräs Käsi can live several hundred years - and many of the order often do so.
Operating in secret, even beyond the notice most Jedi (it is unknown if the Jedi Council knew or suspected of the existence of the group) the Teräs Käsi have set up a network of temples and training facilities. These facilities are scattered throughout the galaxy, often hidden in plain site - small monasteries and temples are the order's natural appearance.
With this network, they watch the Jedi. Mostly they are unneeded, but when one steps out of line, the Teräs Käsi are there.
Occasionally there are beings able to cross over between the two groups, masters both versed in the Jedi arts and the ways of Teräs Käsi. These individuals are extremely rare, however. Although it may seem a conflict of interests - the watcher in the very order they watch - but what better place to monitor and observe than from within.
Then the purge came. The order, although not targeted by Palpatine, was also caught up in the madness of the destruction of the Jedi Order. However unlike the Jedi, who were in the public eye, the Teräs Käsi managed to avoid the near total extermination the Empire meted out. Unfortunately the very secretive nature of the Teräs Käsi that saved them from extermination left the few survivors adrift and without resources.
The destruction of the Teräs Käsi may not have [been] complete, but it was crippling. Only a handful of Masters survived - more than the Jedi order, but not by many. The Teräs Käsi have survived adversity before - have had to deal with persecution and extermination before. As a precaution against the destruction of the order, the Teräs Käsi was segmented into cells, much like a guerrilla war might be fought. Eventually, one or two branches of the order would survive.
During this period, the most notable of the Teräs Käsi masters came to the spotlight - Arden Lynn. As one of the last remaining masters of Teräs Käsi, Arden was cornered by Vader and offered a chance at survival - provided that she assassinated key members of the Rebel Alliance. The plot failed, and presumably Arden Lynn was executed by Palpatine for her failure - although this is conjecture, since no records of her, her execution, or her current status existed when Coruscant was taken by the New Republic. Owing to the resourcefulness of the master turned mercenary, she very well may have successfully eluded the Empire after her failure.
Thanks to Arden Lynn's attempt on his life, Luke Skywalker is fully aware of the existence of the Teräs Käsi order. He may not know all of the details, but he has put together enough to know that the Teräs Käsi could be invaluable on rebuilding the Jedi Knights. Their perspective on the original order of Jedi Knights, plus their unique insight to the ways of the Force could be very useful indeed. As such, Master Skywalker is actively seeking the order and it's members.
The Teräs Käsi, however are not eager for this contact. They realize that the Anakin/Vader paradigm had finally done more than tip the balance of power between light and dark. It had freed the Jedi Knights of the protocol, rituals and methods that had suffocated them and slowly rendered the order less and less effective. To impart the old knowledge and old ways upon the new order would be to unnecessarily shackle them. They must learn their own way - right or wrong.
Note that anything the devs make up could be considered EU, since SWG is a Lucasarts product and gets Lucasarts approval for content.
The stuff in this thread is literally fan fiction, however. Somebody made it up and posted it on a web page because he thought it sounded cool, and frankly it is kinda cool but it's still inaccurate.
Message Edited by Atama on 11-17-2004 08:29 PM
From the first chapter of Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (2001. Michael Reaves):
"Using the momentum of the forward thrust, Maul dived over the collapsing droid before him, flowing smoothly into a shoulder roll. He came up twirling his lightsaber overhead, then stepped down solidly into the teräs käsi wide stance called Riding Bantha. Even as he did the movement, part of him was monitoring his body's state. His breathing was slow and even, his pulse elevated by no more than two or three beats per minute from its resting rate."
Although Teräs Käsi is not mentioned In The Phantom Menace (1999), Darth Maul's acrobatic fighting style may have influenced Michael Reaves to write Maul in as a Teräs Käsi expert in DMSH.
But it is Steve Perry ( "Shadows of the Empire", Bantam 1996) who I credit as the Father of Teräs Käsi. Perry's fanaticism for martial arts is evident in his novels, which include the Matadora series ("The Man Who Never Missed", 1985; "Matadora", 1986; "The Machiavelli Interface", 1986; "The 97th Step", 1989; "The Albino Knife", 1991; "Black Steel", 1992; and "Brother Death", 1992) which is centered around martial arts liberation fighters. As far as I have been able to determine, Perry is most recently involved with the Indonesian martial art Pentjak Silat. If Perry were to write a series on Teräs Käsi, I feel that it would resonate very strongly with the Matadora series.
Not that this list below is complete, but the timeline here should give you an idea of how Teräs Käsi came to be part of the Star Wars universe:
- May 1996. Bantam: Shadows of the Empire in which Zan and Zu Pike, twin sisters and Teräs Käsi artists, work for Prince Xizor - though the main story is not about the Pikes or Teräs Käsi. In this printing, Teräs Käsi appeared as two words in lowercase with umlauts and in italics: teräs käsi.
- Jun 1996. West End Games: Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook.
- 1997. LucasArts Entertainment Company: Masters of Teräs Käsi (video game). Ironically, this game is not a very credible source for unique information about Teräs Käsi because the backstory seems to serve as a rather poor excuse to get famous Star Wars characters in a Tekken-like battle arena: "Arden Lyn, an assassin and a master of Teräs Käsi, has been sent by the Empire to eliminate most of the higher-profile Rebels. The Rebels respond in kind, learning the lost fighting art in the process. The characters include Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, Boba Fett, and of course, Darth Vader." -- Jeff Gerstmann, GameSpot review (12/03/97)
- Jan 2001. Del Rey: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter mentions a good number of Teräs Käsi moves and characterizes Darth Maul as a Teräs Käsi practitioner.
- 2002 (?). HoloNetNews.com, vol 153 issue 55. Includes a sports article on the Teräs Käsi tournament in Aslaja, Bunduki, wherein tournament fighter Phow Ji defeats Teräs Käsi fighter and Jedi Knight Joclad Danva, and kills another tournament fighter, Dux Pike, father of Zan and Zu. Several Teräs Käsi moves are mentioned, as well as other Teräs Käsi fighters.
- Aug 2002. WotC: Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, offers a brief description of Teräs Käsi and identifies the Jedi Anoon Bonara as a master of Teräs Käsi. In this printing, Teräs Käsi appears as two words all lowercase with umlauts: teräs käsi.
- May 2003. LucasArts: Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). Though offering nothing in the way of history, Teräs Käsi finds new life in the gaming community when Noh Dojo (now TKO) spawns the first Teräs Käsi Masters.
- Jun 2003. Wizards of the Coast (WotC): Hero's Guide. At about the same time SWG is released publicly, Hero's Guide is released with details on developing Teräs Käsi skills for SWRPG characters. The guide offers a little history, and states that whether the Followers of Palawa created the martial art is unknown. In this printing, Teräs Käsi always appears as two words with initial caps and umlauts: Teräs Käsi.
SO LETS ROCK!!!!
What I'm tired of is people posting this stuff over and over again, claiming that this is real TKA history that is part of continuity, and demanding that developers change TKA into some totally unbalanced profession just so that it conforms to what they think continuity shows TKA to be. I'm not saying that you're doing this, but these kinds of threads do fuel this. Look at all of the "TKA should hunt Jedi" or "TKA should use the Force" or "TKA should be equal to Jedi" threads that refer to this stuff for justification. In fact, this very week a post was made stating that TKA should hunt Jedi using the exact same information you posted in this thread.
I'm tired of the TKA forum being polluted by misinformation. I don't mind this stuff being discussed, because it's cool stuff, but there should always be a disclaimer that this isn't continuity.
i dont care what is canon and what is not. truth is there are so many 'dimensional timelines' in canonical values from different mediums books,games,movies etc that no one is actually right or wrong and if you need other authors to dictate your gameplay to you in an virtual environment you control that is very sad imho.
lets face it the teras kasi fall into a catagory somewhere along with these other organisations:
* The Sith: the second most powerful mystic force in the Galaxy, the Sith base their powers around the philosophy of the ancient and extinct alien society of the same name, focusing on personal power and competition over the good of the society.
* The Monks of Shimura: ascetic monks who study the bare-handed form of combat known as Ka.
* The Monks of Aiki: a recent sect (founded in the last decade) based on the Shimurans by a former Jedi, the Aiki also study Ka, incorporating various weapons techniques, but with less emphasis on ascetism.
* The Shadow Dragons: an evil order of sorcerous assassins.
* The Witches of Dathomir: a matriarchal order of sorceresses from the planet Dathomir.
* The Tyia: a group that teaches introspection, control, and non-interference.
* The Teepo Paladins: A small group of mystics who focus their control into the use of blaster weapons.
* The Baadu: A near-mythical sect of sorcerors who view themselves as guardians of the balance of the Force, as true neutrals who preach non-interference except to restore their sense of 'balance'.
There are too many more smaller groups, often restricted to a single planet, that can be mentioned here. Of the above, only the monks of Shimura are granted the same priveledges and respect as the Jedi in cases of malfescience. At least, in theory, for no Shimuran has ever been accused of commiting a crime.
blah blah blah