The Jedi Order

Central to the Jedi philosophy is the Jedi Code. It outlines everything that a Jedi is, providing them guidance on everything from their training to their lives to their deaths.

The Jedi Code can trace its beginnings back to the earliest days of galactic civilization, when the Je'daii first discovered the Force and meditated on it on Tython. That first version, known to modern Jedi as the Old Code, is largely known only in a historical context. However, a small sect of Jedi known as the Knights of the Old Code ascribe to it.

Jedi Master Odan-Urr, perhaps the most influential Jedi in the history of the Order, transcribed the new version of the Mantra that forms the basis of the entire Jedi Code. While later Masters would add further tenets and guidelines to the Code, Odan-Urr's Code formed the basis for over a thousand generations of Jedi Knights.

The key portion of the Code was a five-line Mantra. The refined version published by Odan-Urr and transcribed by Homonix Rectonia during the Early Manderon Period is the best-known and the one taught to apprentices in the Jedi Temples.


Though more extensive explanations can be found elsewhere, the main thrust of the Jedi philosophy is compassion and detachment. Jedi are expected to work for the good of the galaxy and the betterment of others, to be selfless and eschew attachment to both material possessions and to other sentients. Theirs is not to rule, but to guide.

The Knights of the Old Code reject the new versions and retain the first edition that predates Master Odan-Urr, believing the newer Code to be dehumanizing, unnatural, and unbalancing to the Force as it focuses too much on the Light Side.

Their more mainstream ideological counterparts claim that's not a bug, it's a feature. They believe the Jedi Code exists to define an ideal, an unobtainable perfection and purity that they nonetheless strive for.

A Jedi's instruction begins as soon as they are identified as being Force-sensitive, though they are often not removed from their homes until they are around ten or twelve years old. While in training, the apprentices are allotted two weeks a season in order to return home and visit their families. A large number of mothers leave their infants and toddlers to be raised among the Jedi, a tradition dating back to the days of the Old Republic, but it is not the Jedi's preferred method. They have found that while leaving prospective Jedi with their parents can theoretically increase risk of Dark Side influence, being raised normally has a tendency to increase a Jedi's resilience and provides them with a support network invaluable to the individual and background skills invaluable to the Order.

The Jedi Order is organized into a series of ranks, though they are not like those of a military organization.


The iconic blade of the Jedi, the lightsaber is as much a symbol as it is a weapon. While they are given lightsabers upon being promoted to senior apprentice, Jedi train with nonlethal lightsabers since they join the Order. They are taught to respect the weapon's power as well as what it represents.

A Jedi crafting his first lightsaber is a special moment in his life. The source of the crystal varies - most retrieve one from the wild and cut it themselves, while some refine a pre-cut crystal and others synthetically grow one. They personalize their lightsabers, crafting handles unique to them and meditating on the crystal in order to attune it to their selves and the Force.

The Jedi is typically issued whatever he might need, paid for from the Order's coffers. Jedi are permitted personal possessions, but accumulation of such is not encouraged for fear of becoming attached to those material goods. Apprentices are allowed very little of their own, to teach them to live without material desires.

To that end, Jedi are issued robes in the colors of their Academy. Dantooine Jedi, by far the most numerous, wear brown and tan robes in the classic style of Jedi Knights since time immemorial. Yavin Jedi wear black and brown, while Dac Jedi wear white and blue robes. The robes are made of a coarse, sturdy cloth, rather more uncomfortable than normal clothing. They are stifling and uncomfortable in hot climates and a bit too breezy in cold climates, being ideal for neither. They do, however, allow a Jedi maximum freedom of movement; the discomfort is a deliberate thing, as a Jedi should seek his pleasures not in luxuries of the material world but in enlightenment and service. By the time they are Knights, most Jedi don't even notice the discomfort.

A piece of equipment standard to nearly every Jedi is their utility belt. Commonly made of leather and armorweave, it is a sturdy, rugged thing with several pouches and attachment points located along its length. Though almost as unique to each Jedi as his lightsaber, when issued they have certain standard components - a three-day supply of food capsules, a condensing canteen, a medpac, a vibroblade, a tool kit, a spare power pack, a spare energy cell, a glow rod, a comlink (50-km overland or up to low orbit), and an Aquata rebreather.

The standard starfighter of the Jedi is the Pantha-X, a fighter directly descended from the venerable T-65 line. Nearly as versatile as the Jedi themselves, the fighters are often the subject of extensive modification and upgrades as individual Jedi customize them to suit their needs. The Order typically assigns the Jedi an R9 astro droid to assist with flight operations, and only rarely mind-wipes the droids once they begin establishing a rapport with the Jedi pilots.

Not all Jedi are starfighter pilots, and indeed most who trained outside of Yavin IV or the Graveyard never learn to fly them. Some who do learn find they simply do not prefer to make hyperspace journeys cooped up in a small cockpit, and like to make better use of their time. Those Jedi are instead allotted the use of a Corellian Consular-class corvette or other class of shuttle to take them to their destinations. Antarian Rangers crew the Jedi fleet, operating much like the navies of governmental powers but in exclusive service of the Jedi Order.