Teachings of Heresy

The way of the Sith is based on strength, and strength, upon power. It is a long-held and oft-proved adage that knowledge is power, and thus whichever Lord retains the most knowledge in theory has the most power. Bane's Rule of Two sought to enhance this tradition by leaving one Master with all the knowledge of all the Masters since him, who would recruit apprentices of equal or greater strength in the Force who could better use the knowledge when it came their time to be the Master.

This failed, because of a deep and tragic flaw in the Sith Order that went back many millenia... the Sith do not share knowledge, because the Sith do not share power.

What they fail to grasp- what blinds them, and cripples future generations- is that knowledge that is not shared and known has no power. It is, in essence, the same as censoring it to horde it without propagation of its students. And when the one or two that hold it die, the teaching is forever lost, no matter their personal successes over their enemies. Worse, the memory of the teaching will be passed down in myth and legend, distorted beyond recollection, and sought after in vain.

A Sith by Palpatine's time might spend his entire life researching a single secret to pass on... and it might have been common knowledge in the days of the lofty, vaunted Ancient Sith. A technique valued for its efficiency might be at the most minimal and pathetic of it's potential standards, but held as the greatest power of the Dark Side because its reclaimers do not know any better. This is not their fault, nor is much of their weakness as compared to the ancient paragons of the ideal; they might have every ounce of the power the ancient had and be, excusing their natural intelligence from the equation, as stupid as a rock.

What is their fault is that they continue the fault, and that they make it even worse; Palpatine no longer even bothered pretending to fully teach his pawns, his 'apprentices', by the time he tried to replace Vader. If the tools of the modern Sith are the most basic of the ancient, the tools that the modern Sith give to their acolytes are the most basic of the opening tenants. If they could get away with simply teaching lightning, telekinesis, and choking, they would.

It is a pity. There are tiers within the Force... levels at which the basic becomes the profound. Where life can cause untold death, and where death can bring life to a barren world. There are two keys to these tiers: knowledge, and control. It doesn't matter how much raw Force power one has, if all one can do is Push something and hurl it across the room, then that is all one can do. It takes precision to instead take a minuscule amount of the power for it and Push something specific instead. A button in a sealed control box a few rooms away. A beating heart in someone's chest to pop with a simple gesture. A star to send into a supernova simply by striking at its core, many worlds away.

Bonding, lightning, telekinesis, the basic ties of life, Healing... the many arts and teachings of the Force have manyfold more billions of combinations and effects than could even be imagined. It is all in vain, however, if the knowledge is lost on how to do it. It is akin to comparing an open heart surgeon with a laser to a caveman with a rock. The caveman can bash, and that is all that the caveman can do. The modern Sith manipulate those without the Force, and manipulate the Jedi... but they do not manipulate the Force. They do not truly use the Force. And their vaunted 'power of the individual' is crippled by their disposing of the individuals who would seek the power.

There remain some who know the ancient ways. Ghosts of Ancients and of long dead Sith of more recent eras of the Sith. It is to these the moderns turn when their flawed and lacking teachings fail them, and they often do learn new moralities and abilities from them, but the ghosts themselves are no longer free to pursue their paths. Even possession will simply lead to another death, and most recognize that no matter how strong willed they are plunging into the void repeatedly would drive them out of any sanity they had.

Even these are mostly failures, however; the teachings of the Sith that are remembered are tools to destroy. To manipulate. To create weapons to destroy.

But the nature of the Force is life... and therefore to create.

The Jedi, too, in their long debate and war with the Sith, have lost almost all ability to let go and simply make. They cleave the limbs from and kill those they see as criminal. They judge others and end them... and they forbid their students from marriage or procreation, because the emotions invoked by loss and death and passion might lead them down 'a destructive path'.

To understand the Force, one has to first be fully self-aware. To justify one's actions or trivialize those of other's for one's gain or beliefs is to deny the self and others; this is where most Sith and Jedi fail from the beginning. But there is more, of course.

To understand the Force, one has to know that it is life. It is an energy field generated by all living things; it binds us, penetrates us, and pulls the galaxy together. And to take a life is to kill part of the Force. In the short term, war and death may strengthen a Force Sensitive's power through conflict, but it always ultimately weakens them.

To understand the Force, one must recognize it has a will, and that it is governing the actions of those who use it, or more often, serve it. The Force prefers balance, because living sentients and their beliefs and doctrines have driven it insane, quite literally. The Unifying Force is the Force when in balance, the Light Side seeks to preserve lives and justice and good, and the Dark side seeks to unify through strength and power, no matter the cost.

But until or unless all life dies, the Force is eternal. Having three minds at war for all eternity with only one will to govern the actions of its sensitives is a weakness.

Relying on a flawed Force is a weakness.

Relying on flawed knowledge is a weakness.

Relying on disposable pawns whose knowledge is stymied and further corrupted is a weakness.

Relying on any one single credos or belief is a weakness; you embody the strength of what you are allowed to believe, rather than your own.

Darth Traya was closest to the truth of the Force when she used the light side to corrupt and betray, and the dark to heal and unite; but she hated the Force, and she chose to try to destroy what she did not wish to understand.

I long ago chose a different answer, and I have barred myself from all but study; apathy is death, but I am not complacent, and my works are ever in motion. I do not kill, and I do not create. I teach, but nothing living learns; I learn, but I am dead, a wraith living only through the Force. I am part of the Force; one day it will be a part of me.

And so, through the long ages as the children's children's children of the many reincarnations of the Sith teachings rise, I bide my time and wait, offering no aid, and seeking none in return. I watch. I watch Empires rise and fall. I watch billions upon billions of beings be born and die, stars ignite, stars explode. I am not yet so old that I have lived through a single complete cycle of either, though I have seen technology and the Force be used to end one prematurely. And I sequester myself silently in my solemn sanctum, always seeing, never seen.

Why would a dead man care about temporary Empires and Republics when pursuing more eternal conquests?

Yet here, too, does the flaw occur- I have knowledge, lifetimes of knowledge, millenia of knowledge... and I have not shared it. All of my perspectives, my teachings, my powers, they are vulnerable in that I am the only one that have them. And so comes the question- do I pursue my goal? Or do I reveal myself and spread them?

History has shown me what occurs on both ends, but the future is always in motion.