Naga Sadow-Week3

I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid.

This article was originally created as an entry for a Tenth Great Jedi War competition and is not official DJB canon content. It is preserved here for historical purposes only.

I see the contestants are making their way out onto the starting grid.

This article was originally created as an entry for a Tenth Great Jedi War competition and is not official DJB canon content. It is preserved here for historical purposes only.


Crozier of the Shaman Elders
Artifact Information
Name:	Crozier of the Shaman Elders
Material:	Petrified wood
Length:	5"
Width:	2'
Constructed:	Unknown, estimated at Pre-Harakoan
Ownership
Creator:	Early Harakonid shaman
Current Location:	Honunom Desert, Owyhyee
[Source]

The Crozier of the Shaman Elders was an artifact unearthed on New Tython when disturbances in the Force during the recent war resulted in severe atmospheric anomalies that alerted the feuding Jedi and Dark Jedi warriors to its existence. The symbolic staff was originally created thousands of years ago by the native population as a sign of office for their religious leaders that was principally carried during their seasonal harvest rituals. Through its continued use, over the centuries the crozier slowly picked up residual traces of Force energy from the more Force-sensitive of the early shamans of the Harakoid tribes, and it eventually became imbued with the very power of the elements that the natives had long believed it had held.

Unfortunately, the frequent conflict between the Harakonid tribes led to the crozier being greatly coveted, for the tribe who controlled the weather would always be guaranteed to flourish, whilst the other tribes struggled during natural disasters such as plague and famine. The knowledge of how to use the crozier was lost when the Harakoan elders who guarded its secrets were killed by younger tribesmen who longed to wield its power for their own tribes. Finding themselves unable to control its power, with the crozier only causing violent storms and fierce gales in their hands, the young pretenders cast the staff aside and it was forgotten.

Description

Physical Appearance

The crozier, at first glance, looks like a long, crooked, staff made from a golden wood native to New Tython known as O'koa wood. It is pockmarked with tiny blue gems, which shimmer intermittently when the staff is used. The wood itself is unusual- while it appears natural from a distance, closer inspection confirms that the wood is as hard as solid rock and about as durable, which is perhaps why it has survived unscathed for so many years. The small crystal hanging from the tip of the staff was added by one of the earliest shamans to own the staff as a focal point for the user's Force energy; it was carefully carved from a sapphire found in one of the gemstone mines scattered across the mountains of Milil'ea and encased in a surround of burnished gold.

Function

The crozier has a limited ability to control the weather. When the Force is channeled into it in the correct way, it can cause fluctuations in the local weather system. It was always used by the Harakoids to generate beneficial weather, such as rain during a dry time. Thus, when a Force Sensitive touches it, they feel a peaceful warmth emanating from it. However, while the light side may yield positive results, the Jedi feared for what would happen should a darksider get their hands on the artifact and abuse it- the staff has the potential to unleash many kinds of devastating weather effects such as tidal waves, devastating thunderstorms and hurricanes. The level of control that the staff provides over the local ecosystem is limited only by the power of the user and their imagination; snowstorms can be brought to arid desert or blazing heatwaves to frostbitten tundra.

History

Creation

The Crozier of the Shaman Elders was originally just a sacred staff used ceremonially by the ancient Harakonids, the predecessors of the modern Harakoans, in rituals to summon rain to feed their tribes' crops. However, continued use by Force-Sensitive shamans gradually imbued the crozier with weather-affecting properties due to the residual effects of continued Force usage. After over a hundred years of use as a sacred staff, it reached its full potency, able to accurately summon whatever weather was desired by the Force-Sensitive shaman who held it. The crystals were added near this point by a particularly adept shaman. They were carefully inlaid in the wood using the Force, and were intended to glimmer and sparkle whenever the crozier was used for its intended purpose.

Original Use

The crozier was originally used to summon rain in times of drought. The first shamans to make use of it had no idea of its full potential. It began life as a simple wooden staff, carved from O'koa wood by the shaman of a small Harakonid tribe to serve as a focus for a rain-making ritual. After the annual ceremonies carried out with the staff produced heavy rain three years in a row, the tribe that possessed it began, understandably, to worship its abilities. In times of need the crozier was brought out and the chief tribal shaman would preform a ritual that centred around the crozier, calling upon the other members of the tribe to raise their voices in prayer and pointing the crozier at the sky. Almost every time, the result was a perfect rainstorm that year, and the success of the rituals encouraged the shamans to use the staff more and more whenever the tribe was troubled by unusual weather. As each shaman that used the staff labored tirelessly day and night to bring their people rain, the staff began to absorb their goodwill and Force residue, gaining its power. It was handed down from shaman to shaman until at last it reached its full potential and would bring rain without fail. The Harakonid shamans who used it spoke of being able to "feel" the weather around them.

By this point, the crozier had developed a dedicated following- it was treated like a holy relic, carried in ceremony wherever it went and guarded ferociously due to the power it held. This developed into a primitive religion surrounding and worshipping the crozier- only the most powerful shamans were allowed to use it, and it was called upon often to produce the perfect conditions for crop growth. These two factors- the power of the shamans, and the crozier's regular use- worked together to greatly amplify the potential and ability of the crozier due to the build-up of Force residue in the wood.

The Fall and Abandonment

After a few hundred years of the crozier's use, the shamans of many Harakonid tribes began to forget their Force abilities. Some believed this to be due to the increasing levels of Sonance that the Harakonids had developed with the native wildlife; others believed the blame lay at the hands of rival tribes who coveted the Crozier of the Shaman Elders and had slain the elder shamans before learning how to handle the artifact. Whatever the true reason, in time the crozier was shunned- the Harakonids subsequently found that it failed to work repeatedly. This was not because the artifact itself had lost any power, but because shamans who were no longer Force-sensitive were now attempting to use it, failing to understand how it had been controlled in the past. Despite this loss of prestige, the crozier still had a few dedicated followers, who sealed the relic in a remote cave near the edge of the Honunom Desert, hoping one day to find another shaman who could use it to full effect. That day never came; an inter-tribal conflict led to the deaths of the followers who had hidden the crozier, and the location of the cave was lost.

The cave where the abandoned crozier was rediscovered.

Rediscovery

After the Knights of Odan-Urr arrived at New Tython, they heard rumors of the crozier from the native population, in the form of stories handed down by the Harakoan population through oral tradition. The Knights dismissed them as mere rumors, but recorded them along with any other stories they heard about the tales and myths of New Tython. As the Jedi began to accept redeemed Dark Jedi into their ranks, including spies, the massive influx of Force presence spreading across the planet caused the artifact to stir. This led to unnatural snowstorms in the Honunom Desert on New Tython's largest continent of Owyhyee. The Jedi noticed these, and sent a team to investigate. The team discovered the Crozier of the Shaman Elders deep in a cave on the edge of the Honunom Desert, surrounded by a howling blizzard. Due to rising tensions with the Dark Brotherhood, the team were unable to carry out a thorough investigation of the crozier and did not want to risk moving it from the cave in case it fell into the wrong hands. However, they spent several days feverishly studying the staff. Most of what they learned came from the primitive depictions that had been carved into the stone walls and their rudimentary experiments with channelling the Force into the crozier, but before any more detailed findings could be recorded, the tensions with the Dark Brotherhood reached new heights and the team was called back to Menat Ombo.

The Potential of Darkness

During the Invasion of New Tython, some of the more astute and powerful Dark Jedi of the Dark Brotherhood sensed the presence of the artifact, and a team was dispatched to retrieve it in the hopes of winning favour with the Dark Council. The crozier was discovered in the same cave at the edge of the Honunom Desert, and following a short battle with the Harakoan warriors assigned to guard the cave, secured by the team. Eager to discover the full potential of the artifact swiftly and intending, if possible, to turn it against the Jedi in battle, the Dark Council ordered the team to discover the true power and use of the artifact without removing it from the cave. A camp was established within the cavern and the Dark Jedi began to study the crozier, hoping to find out how they could turn its powers to work for the dark side.

Modern Knowledge

Two separate investigations have been carried out to discern the true powers and potential of the crozier; the first by a Jedi science team, and the second by a team of Dark Brotherhood scientists and Dark Jedi. As the crozier was lost hundreds of years ago and only recently rediscovered, all that is known about it is taken from the oral traditions of the Harakoans and the written reports from the little time that the Jedi and Dark Jedi have spent studying it.

The Journal of Master Balbuda

Our recent expedition to the Honunom Desert was more successful than I could have hoped. Reports of snowstorms in the middle of the desert from travelling Harakoans suggested that some kind of Force artifact was affecting the local climate, but to actually discover that artifact... I only wish our team could have spent more time in that cave with the staff.

Alas, I am getting ahead of myself. To begin: in a cave partially submerged by unnatural snow we located a strange crozier, seemingly carved out of wood, but as hard as stone and studded with thousands upon thousands of miniscule blue gems. Upon entering the chamber in which it stood, I could sense the build-up of Force energy around it, and discerned that the staff was causing the atmospheric changes which had produced snow outside.

We do not yet know exactly how the staff works- it seems to be a native Harakoan artifact which has slowly gained the potential to focus the Force over time- but it seems to respond favourably to our particular talents. With careful application of the Force, we were able to stop the snowstorm and replace the clouded skies above with bright sunshine, as they should be. However, this did not provide a great challenge- it seems likely from the cave paintings scattered around the walls of the chamber that the staff can control and manipulate the weather to produce anything from rain to great winds, but we could not find out (in our short time there) how to create rain with the staff.

If, once these tensions with the off-worlders have eased, we can retrieve the staff and study it in greater depth, think of the potential benefits; we could ensure prosperity for the Harakoan farms all year round with the correct application of sunshine and rain to grow their crops. We could also use the staff to prevent any potential natural disasters that might strike the planet and better safeguard the people from harm.

I am getting excited just writing and thinking about the potential of this artifact... I only hope it will still be there once the current troubles are over.

Balbuda.

Sadowan Field Report

--BEGIN RECORDING--

The Sadowan research team envisaged using the crozier to subject enemies to harsh storms.

My lords. We have been studying this staff for several days now, with little progress. It seems almost without doubt that the staff affects the weather in some way- the cave in which it was discovered was surrounded by an almost perpetual snowstorm, which seems to have abated now that we have removed and begun studying the artifact. In addition, the cave paintings which we discovered along with the artifact show clear signs of humanoid figures gathered together for some kind of ritual using the staff, with signs of weather phenomena over their heads. Without more prolonged study and my usual equipment, I cannot form a conclusive theory on how to make use of this device- in the field, I can offer only mere suppositions on how it should be operated.

Without doubt, the staff responds to the Force. We have experimented by funnelling our powers into it, and the sensors outside the cave have picked up wild fluctuations in the local climate in response. On one occasion, my Apprentice got a little too excited and pushed too much energy into the staff- the response was a sudden and very loud thunderstorm, complete with lightning bolts which almost incinerated several of the workers.

Think, my lords, of the potential uses of this weapon. If we can discern how to control it accurately, it could be used to bring devastating thunderstorms down on enemy forces before engage them, or to summon dreadful hurricanes to destroy them without any artillery expenditure. The elemental might of nature, while clearly not as powerful as the Dark Side, gives us an excellent weapon to turn against the Jedi.

I wish to counsel further study in a controlled environment, preferably back on Sepros, before the staff is used in this way- if we do not master every aspect of this device before utilising it, it could work against us.

I will report again in a few days, my lords.

--END RECORDING--

Trivia

The Crozier was created by Clan Naga Sadow for the Week 3 Wikipedia Event in the Tenth Great Jedi War.
The display image for the Crozier was created by Mirado Pepoi L'eonheart.