Scour the Galaxy! - Force Sensitives in Hiding

[Valkyr 3]

This is just a thread to ask some players/GMs where in the galaxy they would hide/originate their force sensitive characters? For instance, it's fairly unlikely for someone to hide on Byss, but they may have eked out a living in a sector of space further away from the Empire, for example CSA space.

 

Thought or suggestions?

[StrikerB13 6]

Nar Shadda, this point is brought up in kotor 2, there is literally so much life there that it will hide most force presences.

[Oden Gebhac 445]

Alderaan, before its destruction.  Barab 1, the Barabels were usually fierce allies of the Jedi.  

 

Edit: I've always been of the mind that the destruction of Alderaan was far more pre-meditated than a test of the Death Star or as an example to keep other systems in line.  Destroying Alderaan for hiding Jedi could make a very neat plot point for a campaign.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Oden Gebhac

[Vixen Icaza 317]

My groups mentor is a mon Cal that hid on her own planet. Yes it has a heavy imperial presence, but it is a water world and she can always hide out in the depths if she needs to.

[Jereru 171]

Ohhh I love the Alderaan idea. I can picture a campaign starting in media res with the padawans warned by the Force and running against the clock to board a ship and flee the imminent destruction (having to choose who to warn about, or whether to). Trepidant! I once ran a one-shot Saga game about fleeing bombarded Taris with Revan and wouldn't mind being in the player's side this time (in case my GM is reading this )

[Ghostofman 8,319]

Nar Shadda, this point is brought up in kotor 2, there is literally so much life there that it will hide most force presences.

By that reasoning Coruscant itself would be plausible. Someone down in 1919 who keeps to himself could probably hide out for decades. There's actually some neat options here. Imagine a Jedi in a deep cover law enforcement assignment to break up an organized crime family when O66 went down. Instead of trying to run the risk trying to get offworld, he just keeps rolling with his cover, and eventually becomes the shadowy Kingpin of the 12th Ward.

[venkelos 568]

It's possible, but the number of people looking will be less, on NS. Coruscant is home to the Emperor, his Inquisitors, his sorcerers, such as Khadan the Dark Prophet (whose farseeing prowess surpassed even Palpatine's), and possibly some other Emperor's Hand-analogues, any of which might make repeat, concerted efforts to sense something amiss, or just watch the future for critical events that betray such people's presence, and root them out prior. NS is populous, but controlled by the Hutts, and unless the Emperor sends a coterie of sensors to the Smuggler's Moon, they'll probably stay hidden, and the Hutts actively pay Palpatine exorbitant sums NOT to poke into their personal affairs. Hiding out in Imperial City is certainly possible, but there are just far to many self-interested, loyal, or Force-sensitive people around to as easily remain undetected. My opinion, of course.

[StrikerB13 6]

It really all depends at what point during the empire your campaign is taking place, if it's immediatly after order 66 then coruscant may be a possibility if it's a jedi sentinel who is hiding at the lower levels and keeping to himself, and probably during the time of the original trilogy when they had assumed most jedi dead and you could sneak down there but there was definitly a period where the entire empire was on a witch hunt for jedi so again it depends on when your campaign is 

[Donovan Morningfire 10,200]

Provided they don't make frequent (or any) use of their Force powers and don't go about brandishing lightsabers, a Force-sensitive could quite possibly hide anywhere in the galaxy, from the depths of Coruscant to the remotest regions of the galaxy.

 

That being said, the Inner Rim and Outer Rim are probably better places for a Force-sensitive, particularly an Order 66 survivor to go hide out as the Imperial presence isn't quite as strong or as omni-present as it would be closer to the Core Worlds.  For instance, Kanan in Star Wars Rebels was generally able to keep his identity as a former Jedi a pretty tightly held secret for the fifteen years between RotS and Spark of Rebellion, and even after the events of Spark of Rebellion it wasn't a broadly known thing; it's likely that had Kanan headed for a different world and away from Lothal, he probably would have vanished from Imperial scrutiny.

 

Obi-Wan Kenobi, a galaxy-famous Jedi Master, was able to hide out on Tatooine for almost two decades with nobody seeing him as being anything more than a hermit or "crazy old wizard" with nobody remarking on how his surname was the same as the legendary Jedi General and that he seemed to show up about the time that Order 66 went down.  Then again, he kept a low profile and didn't go around openly displaying his Jediness until after he'd taken Luke under his wing and thus had answered the call to a new adventure (and possibly impress upon Luke just how dangerous a lightsaber could be in the hands of a skilled wielder).

 

With midichlorians pretty much being put on the far back burner in regards to canon, it's quite possible that there's no standardized blood test that would reveal a potential Force-sensitive to the Empire by way of an unusually high midichlorian count.  Or it could be that such a thing does exist, but that the Emperor largely figures that if there's no Jedi around to train the next generation of Force-sensitives, then flagging such children and tracking them isn't worth the time; for the most part, he's won and is quite possibly starting to slip from being the cunning chessmaster that toppled the Jedi Order and usurped control of the galaxy, allowing his grand victory to ultimately defeat him.

Edited April 27, 2015 by Donovan Morningfire

[Ghostofman 8,319]

 Coruscant is home to the Emperor, his Inquisitors, his sorcerers, such as Khadan the Dark Prophet (whose farseeing prowess surpassed even Palpatine's), and possibly some other Emperor's Hand-analogues, any of which might make repeat, concerted efforts to sense something amiss, or just watch the future for critical events that betray such people's presence, and root them out prior.

I'd agree with you, if the movies did...

One of the failings of "Foresee" as it appears in the movies is it's pretty much worthless. How often have Yoda AND Palpy been able to see more then just "umm... somethings' gonna happen.....and... it's gonna... be.....good....for...me?... kinda?... I think?" I honestly think half the time the whole "I have foreseen it!" line was less of an actual prediction and more about the force user trying to come up with a way to get others to do what he wants.

 

And "Sensing" another force user, even one of a completely opposite alignment from you, is clearly not as easy as it sounds. So far the only successful sensing of a force user you see in the films is Obi and Vader, who knew each other very very well, and Vader and Luke, who also had a thing going on. The rest of the time it's Jedi Masters having slumber parties with Sith Lords and 9-year-old boys and not knowing much of anything without a blood test. (Ok... that went to a weird place)

 

So factoring in all that, it's possible to hide out on Coruscant. And might actually be a decent place to hide, as it's one of the last places anyone will look for you. One of the nice things about hiding out at a Sith Capital is they are so busying watching each other, they won't have time to look for you.

[venkelos 568]

Well, I try not to limit myself to the films; I find much of the prequels don't fit with the originals, and didn't care for whole chunks of them, and I DO still use other sources. In those, Papa Palpatine and Khadan are two of the grandest farseers in existence, and they can plan their long, convoluted plans out years ahead of time, with a great deal of accuracy cobbled from marathon sessions of seeing, sometimes with acolytes assisting, or just doing it repeatedly, in order to test veracity. If Palpatine couldn't accept some of the things he saw, and wanted to play Greek myth ("I can defy my destiny, IF it is something I don't want to happen!"), Khadan warned him, and the Emperor chose not to listen. In KOTOR, Kreia puts them both to shame in her abilities to see the past, the future, the elsewhere, and communicate over distances. Much of this is non-Lucas novels, and a game that I'm not certain on the canonicity of (KOTOR isn't listed as canon, but "all new stuff IS canon", and the SWTOR mmorpg is still being supported, which does draw from that source of material, plus, it's so far back, even Disney can't fear it'll ruin much of their "cameo the old cast just long enough to be ale to put them on the box, oh, and a clone of Darth Vader!" movie. (As a note, I'm actually looking forward to the movie; I'm just a bit scared, Star Wars being a lot of my childhood, and all, and I'm bitter about the EU dying, but being replaced by stuff equally as wtf, like the aforementioned possible clone.Not a race of Force-immune fleshcrafters, I grant, but still.)

 

Statistically, almost anyone could hide almost anywhere, for almost any amount of time. The Empire is HUGE, and no matter how big, it's military has limits; they might not be as hilarious as 40K, and its "this issue", but yeah, many worlds will have just enough troops to insure order, and if you can willingly stop being a special snowflake, you are probably fine. The problem happens when either you get tired of the corruption, and know that, with your great power comes a great responsibility to not let the weaker suffer (and ***** you, Spider-Man), or someone else finds out what you can do, and THEY decide that you need to do something, either for the good of all, or their own ends. Then, you end up using powers, lightsabers, and giving away your carefully hidden ass every time.

[Pac_Man3D 445]

@venkelos: 'canonicity' is a great word.

[Valkyr 3]

 The Empire is HUGE, and no matter how big, it's military has limits; they might not be as hilarious as 40K, and its "this issue", but yeah, many worlds will have just enough troops to insure order, and if you can willingly stop being a special snowflake, you are probably fine. The problem happens when either you get tired of the corruption, and know that, with your great power comes a great responsibility to not let the weaker suffer (and ***** you, Spider-Man), or someone else finds out what you can do, and THEY decide that you need to do something, either for the good of all, or their own ends. Then, you end up using powers, lightsabers, and giving away your carefully hidden ass every time.

Hehe, I like all the sentiments here (especially mourning particular parts of EU), but I suppose it could roll the other way, with a player character being such a huge prick (i.e. dark side), that the Empire just needs to deal with them (if a player is inclinded this way).

 

Oh, and I realised I didn't actually lay out my own example so here it is:

 

A member of the Jedi Order during TCW has a falling out with council (either personally, due to separatist sypathies, or over the ethos of fighing in a galactic war) and leaves the order. Fleeing to Corporate Sector space (probably playing to those sympathies) they hide out on the relatively lawless Ocsin colony of Saclas (by EotE times anyway) and are essentially stuck there once Order 66 travels out.

 

This character would probably be a mentor if I could ever scrape together a group to GM and the initial stages would probably involves PC's getting into some serious trouble with the Empire and the mentor (having forseen said particular event/s) has traveled to whatever planet they're hiding out on and saving their bacon, and things procceed from there and etc...

[player546410 1,130]

 

So factoring in all that, it's possible to hide out on Coruscant. And might actually be a decent place to hide, as it's one of the last places anyone will look for you. One of the nice things about hiding out at a Sith Capital is they are so busying watching each other, they won't have time to look for you.

 

We have one Legends examples of this in Coruscant Nights.

[Jereru 171]

 if I could ever scrape together a group to GM

 

Count me in

[Valkyr 3]

@Jereru You don't happen to live in Australia do you?

[Jereru 171]

Actually, about the opposite part of the world, Spain. But I could travel, you know... plus now is SuperRugby season...

[Ebonwarlock 11]

I think Nar Shadda is a pretty bad place to hide personally. I mean it is teeming with life so detection may be hard but being the Smuggler's Moon and the hub of trade for Hutt space I'd warrant there is a LOT of people who'd be looking to collect on the Imperial Bounty placed on force users. One little slip up which reveals you and then its either call the Imperials or perhaps even worse, the Hutts. I'm sure the Imperial attention a hiding Jedi would bring down on the Cartels wouldn't be viewed lightly by any criminal organisation.

[DevonDs101 2]

 

Nar Shadda, this point is brought up in kotor 2, there is literally so much life there that it will hide most force presences.

By that reasoning Coruscant itself would be plausible. Someone down in 1919 who keeps to himself could probably hide out for decades. There's actually some neat options here. Imagine a Jedi in a deep cover law enforcement assignment to break up an organized crime family when O66 went down. Instead of trying to run the risk trying to get offworld, he just keeps rolling with his cover, and eventually becomes the shadowy Kingpin of the 12th Ward.

 

That was my background in a recent game. I liked the hiding among the shadows of the underworld idea.

[cyberknightsteve 86]

 

@venkelos: 'canonicity' is a great word.

 

Canon/canonicity is a great word, if you have a totalitarian mindset.

 

[cyberknightsteve 86]

Jedi could make use of places strong with the force. The dark side side cave on Dagobah helped mask Yoda's presence for example. You could use this anywhere in your games as a GM. Some planets include Yavin, Onderon, Dxun (technically a moon), Korriban Tython and Illum (those would be under high imperial surveillance though) Dantooine, Kashyyk, Oricon etc.

[Pac_Man3D 445]

@venkelos: 'canonicity' is a great word.

 

Canon/canonicity is a great word, if you have a totalitarian mindset.

Man, you really got the advantage of me there. But you should see the Stalin wallpaper in our bedroom. Glorious.

[Decorus 672]

Ilum has an active imperial mining operation so they can make super weapons.

[Zar 152]

Nar Shadda, this point is brought up in kotor 2, there is literally so much life there that it will hide most force presences.

By that reasoning Coruscant itself would be plausible. Someone down in 1919 who keeps to himself could probably hide out for decades. There's actually some neat options here. Imagine a Jedi in a deep cover law enforcement assignment to break up an organized crime family when O66 went down. Instead of trying to run the risk trying to get offworld, he just keeps rolling with his cover, and eventually becomes the shadowy Kingpin of the 12th Ward.

Some say there is a vigilante force user with a droid arm on Coruscant that strikes every so often when the Empire becomes too oppressive in the lower levels.