Tushini Mountainchilde was something of an oddity. His mother, Sazha Azure-Dracon, was a Teepo Paladin who was considered something of a radical, as she questioned why there ever was the fissure between the Jedi and the Teepo. As she journeyed around the Republic, she meet Reuben Mountainchilde, a Jedi Knight who also questioned the splintering of the Jedi Order. They soon found themselves bumping into each other on world a thousand lightyears from were they had last seen each other. In a short time, they became traveling companions.
Thier relationship was a source of must displeasure with thier superiors, who felt them to be traitors. They didn't really care, and continued thier wandering. Over the years, they picked up others who wished to see a united order of Force users, who's beliefs were all encompassing of the Light. The most noticeable of these a former Shimuran monk who could not find an objection to technology for the sake of objecting to technology that improves while not softening life.
From this adoptive family, Tushini Mountainchilde learned the ways of the Force. When he first requested the title of Knight from the Jedi order, he was rejected as a heretic, and the same with the Teepo. The Shimura would not allow him into the temple, and he could not find the Aiki. So, he gave himself the title of Defender, and continued his travels, helping the poor, the oppressed and the voiceless.
When he was a young child, he had especially strong prophetic abilities. He had a re-occurring vision of a young man who would turn against the Jedi, and hutn them. The man would rediscover and study the ways of the Sith, and in doing so, would be sheathed in a wall of flame, that when it died out, left the man shrouded in a suit of Darkness-black armour.
Just before the Clone Wars, Tushini was so driven by this image, that he arranged for masters of the various Orders and Schools to meet. How he was able to this is a mystery, but there are tales of false pretences, a free bar, and a little help from a Senator from Corellia. This is were he gave his speech of Many Joined Hands, where he begged those present to help heal the wounds caused by the bickering and fighting of the past. While little was done by those assembled, word did reach the lower levels of the various groups. Tushini soon found himself surrounded by several scores of fellow "misfits".
During the Clone Wars, The Order of the Many Joined Hands volunteered to serve the Republic as a specialist unit. It was during this time, where, at age 98, that Tushini Mountainchilde was killed during an artillery barrage while leading a rescue party. In remembrance, the members of the Order dropped thier old designations of Knight, Paladin, and Monk (or thier equivalents), and took his old title, Defender.
While perhaps the smallest of the Jedi Orders, it was one of the ones most feared by Palpatine's Jedi Hunters, as they were trained in a wide number of fields, and highly dangerous combatants, equally at home with a blaster, lightsaber, or the martial art of Ka (among others). In the end, less than four hundred beings were members of the Order of Many Joined Hands, but they devoted thier last days to recording all that there was to know of Force teachings, and safely storing these libraries across the galaxy, along with caches of small arms and light vehciles, along with items of high intrinsic value. The last of the Defenders is believed to have been Kivin Dreamwalker, the grandson of Tushini Mountainchilde, who formed some of the first guerrilla cells that would go on to become the Alliance to Restore the Republic. It is sad that history has only a handful of mentions of thier work that survived the War....
The Defenders continued as wanderers. Where ever the more "noble" and elder schools of Force use feared to tread, or feared to soil their hands, one would find the Defenders. They did not advertise thier presence, and rarely gave names, but rather they just slipped in, solved the problem, and got out.
The paths of the Order of Many Joined Hands and the Stardrift Folk often crossed and ran in parallel. Many of thier students came from the Folk, who's distrust of those who are planet-bound reflected on the Jedi. The Folk often used the term "the Stellar Winds" as a synonym for the Force. Rumors of a last apprentice to the Order living with the Stardrifters remain....
Any non-Darkside Force abilities are acceptable for those who follow the teachings of Master Mountainchilde. They can be found with any weapon, ranging from blasters to lightsabers to lightwhips and Force Bows. They are typically good pilots, learned, and in very good physical shape. ("If the mind is a Temple, then the body is the Garden. Only when they are both strong can either one be used to the best effect.")
However, they are not a philosophical as the Shimura. They are doers as well as thinkers.
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