Liberties

Liberties

Here is an idea where liberties are taken and frankly not given back. This is a world where Cerasi survived Mawat’s assination attempt. Obi Wan never went back to Jedi. Instead he continued to help rebuild Melidaan and continued to follow the Force.  Every so often the Force would send him out into the galaxy to meet other Force Sensitives, and adopt them. This is a world where Obi Wan learns to own his attachments instead of repressing them. In addition every force sensitive that was active in the outer rim is eventually drawn to at least stop on Melidaan. Light or Dark; Sith, Jedi, and everything in between. Up to and including Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious in their alter egos. No one thinks to tell the Jedi High Council.

I picture Xanatos showing up, first because of his obsession with revenge against Qui Gonn, then after hearing Obi’s story being like ‘now we are truly brothers’. He is batshit insane and cheerfully vows not to sell Obi or any of Obi’s people into salvery every time he arrives but he is a genius for creating/managing resources and Obi would do anything for his chosen people, even reluctantly spending time with the man that is at the center a good chunk of his trauma. 

Things get even weirder when Feemor is reunited with his lineage brothers. Frankly all of them need so much therapy. 

At some point they (by they I mean the Young government in combination with the various Force users that pop in and out of their lives) create a school for force sensitives on Melidaan, just called The School. It is semi secret in that knowledge of it never quite reaches general knowledge in the core worlds but not through any actions on the part of the people involved. In that time Obi-Wan discovers something interesting. While about 90% of force users can use either side of the Force without issue, the evil comes from the actions not the side of the force, the other 10% is restricted to Dark or Light with the other side being akin to an addiction.  Exclusive dark side users are less common, due to an inherent recklessness that tends to get themselves killed, but they do exist. 

Something nobody knows is that Yoda and the Master that trained him were both within that small percentage restricted to use of the Light side. He has assumed that his reaction to the dark is a commonality of all force users, not a restriction that he has. 

Of the Sith of this time, in the years before Plageus died, Palpatine is the first to find his way to their out of the way little planet. It was mostly an accident, with the force subtly guiding his fingers to put in the wrong coordinates for a hyperspace jump. Though Palpatine does fall into the 90% that can use either side, he has been using the darkside almost exclusively for decades. Users of the darkside, particularly Sith, tend to see the force more of a servant than a teacher. Thus the Force, semi sentient, has to be much more subtle when dealing with Sith. 

Palpatine is somewhat confused as he lands, for once listening to the force as it presses him forward. He had been headed for a vacation on Naboo.  At this time he is still a part of the current senator’s retinue, a few years away from being a senator himself. The people in the space port barely look at him before directing him up to The School.  It is generally assumed that any strange, unknown visitors looking vaguely confused about where they were have something to do with the Force and should be dealt with by Obi Wan. To be fair, this policy has only been wrong twice. 

Palpatine is politely, but firmly, loaded into a transport and dropped off at the school.  None of his questions were answered along the way.  He spent a bit of the ride sort of wondering if he was being abducted, why he wasn’t more concerned or angry about that fact, and rationalizing following this weird feeling in the Force to its conclusion. 

He is brought to Obi Wan’s office, as the head of the school. Obi Wan asks him if he prefers direct questions and answers or complicated politic conversation. At Palpatine’s surprised look,  Obi Wan goes on to say that they want people to be comfortable and he doesn’t have a preference.  Normally Palpatine would enjoy political back and forth but by this time his curiosity is piqued. The first question that Obi Wan asks is if Palpatine is aware of his own force sensitivity.  This serves to shock Palpatine into stillness, the only other person to clock his force sensitivity had been Plageuis many decades before. He had even managed to hide it on Coruscant from the High Council of the Jedi.  

In the silence that followed Obi wan explained about this being a school for force sensitives that felt they had nowhere else to go.  Members of the Jedi Order that had been expelled or relegated to a corp due to lack of being chosen, Knights and Shadows who felt disconnected from the Order. There were also Force sensitive that had been exiled from their own planets due to their force sensitivity, escaped slaves, and more than a few that were there because the force said they should be. Obi Wan has pamphlets, which he hands over to Palpatine. Obi Wan went on to explain that Paplatine was free to explore his sensitivity here as long as the rules were followed:

No action that would deliberately cause permanent or long lasting injury to anyone on the planet, defined as any injury that cannot be healed in 48 standard hours, be it physical, mental, emotional, or psychic. The creation of soul wounds are never permitted on the planet as they are almost always permanent. 

Unless agreed to previously, do not approach students or teachers of this school off this planet. Some may not be comfortable with their connection to The School being public knowledge.

As it is possible for members of this school to end up on different sides of a conflict, if one member recognizes another it is courtesy to ignore the other if possible. If not, then the courtesy of a quick death. 

Any technique that will change the environment or the Force on the planet toward either the Dark or the Light will only be performed only with the permission of the School Board and the Planetary government.  The only exception will be 4 specially dedicated areas:

An area on the West side of campus dedicated to the Dark

An area on the East side of campus dedicated to the Light

An area to the South that is dedicated to combining beginner to mid level Dark and Light techniques that is open to anyone.

An area to the North dedicated to combining advanced Dark and Light techniques that requires special authorization.

The use of these areas is predicated on the results of what is effectively a Force Allergy test to ensure that the being falls into the 90% that can use either side without harming themselves

All experimental techniques used on this planet that have a test subject must have a written waiver from the subject stating that they agree to the test, with full knowledge of the potential risks and no coercion to the part of the testor.  

Experimental techniques that have a greater that 75% chance of one of the following must be pre approved by the School Board and the Planetary Council:

Changes to the environment, the Flora, the Fauna, or the Force lasting more than 1 hour

Death

A soul wound

Permanent or Long Lasting injury, as defined above. 

Acceptance of responsibility of any and all beings created or changed through the Force

Avoid Building 15, for the thing it houses is an abomination even to itself. Unless, of course you discover how to give it the release of death. Then please contact the administrator of facility management. 

All of these rules were written into a contract that was enforced by the Force itself through a humanoid conduit.  Apparently one of the Light and Dark mixed techniques that was discovered was for a Force Sensitive to tie themselves to a planet becoming an avatar of the Force on that planet. This avatar can then enforce a force based contract, and can remotely wipe the memories of breaches of contract depending on the severity. 

By the time Palpatine leaves he is not sure how he was convinced to sign the contract but he is glad he did. He is also mentally revising all of his empire plans to make sure this planet, which he finally determines is Melidaan, is protected at all costs and is now central to the reconditioning of initiates and padawans of the Jedi when the time comes.  He will later bring Plagueis to the school as well, with similar results. Though they do continue their more objectionable experiments, they are kept carefully off Melidaan.

For a decade this continues. Light and Dark agree that Obi Wan, and through him his new people, are precious and should be protected at all costs.  Just before TPM starts Obi is drawn to Tattoine, into the slave quarters. He is not a stranger to this planet or nearly any planet on the outer rim but he has never been to this outpost, these slave quarters before.  The Force ensures that he meets Shmi and Anakin two week before the Naboo delegation lands. The Force, so much clearer after a decade of being listened to, whispers that this boy is to be a younger brother and student to him but not yet. They must wait.  He is just as eloquent in this life and explains the Force and his feelings to Shmi, backed by Anakin. 

When Qui Gon Jinn arrives two weeks later Obi Wan is introduced as Ben, a friend of the family. Jinn does not recognize Ben as the student he once left behind. In fact he does not ever realize that he and Anakin are not the only Force Sensitives in the room. Anakin is a bit worried because the Force is saying that he needs to go with the Jedi, but he also wants to go with Obi Wan. Obi wan tells him quietly that just because the Force says go with the Jedi, it doesn't mean he will have to stay with the Jedi forever. 

There is no attack from Maul, as he is intercepted by Obi Wan. The two have a brief chat about what brought Maul to the planet. No one who knows him questions Obi Wan showing up in strange places. Maul is there to find an unfortunate being that had managed to steal from one of Maul’s Master’s smaller holdings. They hadn’t gotten away with much, but had taken a small statuette that he had been planning to donate to Obi Wan’s school for study. 

After the Naboo delegation, Jinn, and Anakin leave the planet, Obi Wan and Maul trek back to Mos Espa.  They find the Ill fated thief, whom Maul sticks in a prison cell on his ship, retrieves the stolen artifact, as well as enough money to buy Shmi Skywalker’s freedom. They do the latter and Maul drops Shimi and Obi Wan back off on Melidaan, where Obi Wan announces that Shimi is the mother of their newest kin to Nield, Cerasi, and a visiting Xanatos. 

Everyone just kind of rolls their eyes and goes back to what they were doing, baring Xanatos.  This was far from the first time that Obi Wan had adopted someone, or increased their family abruptly. The darksider wanders over and begins to flirt, heavily, with Shmi. 

Side Note: I picture Shmi to be about early 40’s at the time of TPM.  If Xanatos had lived he would have been 37, so it could have worked. 

Obi Wan assures Shmi that Xanatos wouldn’t hurt her and would stop if she wanted him to. Thus assured she starts to flirt back, is slightly awkwardly because social norms for a slave are very different from that of freepeople.  

Obi wan announces he is going to their new brother and leaves, going back to Coruscant for the first time since he arrived at Melida/Daan.  He arrives as Qui Gon Jinn is proclaiming his intention to take Anakin as a Padawan. The entire council is surprised when a redhead in his twenties just wanders into one of the most secure chambers in the temple, and not through the front door. In reality every Jedi learns as an initiate how to sneak around in the temple, even into the council chamber. It was a bit of a rite of passage to prank the council chamber at least once when in the Creche. Obi Wan certainly remembers.

None of the Jedi in the room recognize him.

So Obi Wan appears, looking amused and like he had just happened to wander into these highly protected chambers that even other Jedi don’t always have access to. The High Council of the Jedi are looking at each other like ‘Da fuq?’ Anakin lights up and runs to hug Obi Wan, calling him Ben. Jinn peers at Obi Wan, having only barely realized he was actually a person when they met in Shmi’s home, whom he doesn’t recognize. 

Side Note: I sort of head cannon Jinn, when separated from his mountain of trauma and trauma responses, is almost an oblivious scientist type, think Wayne Szalinski from ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’. In his element he is a prodigy, but he also would wander around only partially dressed because he had an idea, or in Qui Gon’s case he was distracted by something to do with the Living Force. Still an asshole, but mostly out of obliviousness or his pile of trauma rather than maliciousness.  

The council tries to find out who Obi Wan is or how he got there but he is enigmatic. He just says he is here to pick up his kin, Anakin, if it was time. He directs this as a question toward Anakin, ignoring the council. Anakin gets thoughtful and says that the Force says it is not time yet, but that Ben could come with them until it is.  Obi Wan nods but continues to dodge any attempt to get more information out of him about who he is, making pithy comments. 

Just before the tension this is causing could erupt, the large doors of the council chamber slam open, startling everyone. Quinlan Vos, dragging Bant Eerin, bursts into the room at speed. As soon as they cross the threshold he drops Bant’s hand and practically jumps on Obi Wan with a loud cry of “OBI”. Bant looked at them like she couldn’t believe that he was here. Quinn had been to Melidaan, as had most of the Shadows. In fact, of Obi Wan’s temple friends, it is Bant who he has not had a chance to speak to in person in a decade. She is Temple Bound as a healer.  

Obi Wan grumbles fondly about how Quinn gave his identity away. He had at least four more pointed answers, designed to make Qui Gon Jinn burst a blood vessel. Why yes, Obi Wan is slightly bitter about the whole abandoned in a war zone, why do you ask?

It isn’t until Bant sobs Obi Wan’s name that anyone realizes who is standing in the chamber. Qui Gon get even more agitated seeing the padawan he abandoned being clung to by the shiny new prophecy child he found.