THE TEPPO JEDI

The Teepo Jedi Order was founded approximately ten thousand years before the Fall of the Republic. They are a small, but fanatical branch of the Jedi Order. They were founded about the time that personal energy weapons became small enough to carried in a holster for prolonged periods, yet still have enough throughput to compete with explosive slugs as far as damage potential goes (actually, these old blasters were about the size of modern carbines, but only had the range of a pistol and the energy levels of a sporting pistol). The Twi'lek Master Nars Teepo began carrying one of these as a standard sidearm.

Nars Teepo had a very odd view of life for a Jedi Master. He did not feel that traditions should remain static. He believed that the Jedi should change with the times and adopt blaster weapons. Shunned by the majority of the Jedi Order, who believed that he was falling into the path of the Dark Side, Nars lived his life as hermit and wanderer, while continuing to develop applications and techniques for the application of the blaster.

Several of his friends refused to sit by and let him get lost in the Darkness. When they eventually found him, they found not a master of darkness, but a master of the blaster. His fanaticism got the better of some of them. He could not be swayed from his beliefs, but instead made several new converts to his ideas. With this influx of students, the Teepo Order was founded in a far corner of the galaxy, and ignored by the traditional Jedi Order for several centuries.

The Teepo still kept the title of Jedi, but they preferred Paladin to Knight, to further themselves from the Jedi Order. Their training emphasized being able to hit the target any time, under any conditions. This training became so extreme, that many more fanatical Paladins took to wearing a flight or blast helmet with a blast shield welded over their face, preferring to use the Force to locate their opponents through the Force rather than their own, "inferior" senses. The most fanatical Masters, eventually took to wearing a blindfold at all times, or even blinding themselves. Their training also emphasized a two-blaster technique, with the mastery of this technique being a sign of great distinction among the Teepo. In a parallel to the traditional Jedi, Master where required to build their own blasters, and it was a sign of advancement when a Paladin could do so.

Then came a period of darkness in the galaxy. Over the centuries, the Teepo had engaged small Sith uprisings, criminal families and pirates, but never openly acnologing their Jedi heritage. The Clone Wars changed all of that. The Teepo stood alongside the frces of the Jedi and the Republic, turning the tide in several battles through their unconventional tactics. These years resulted in a fissuring of the Teepo Order. Many of the more fanatical members went into seclusion, fearing the breakdown of the Republic that was already occurring. Others felt that the Teepo had neglected their tradition of change, and were demanding that the Teepo Jedi and traditional Jedi Orders rejoin. They were no better prepared to face Vader and the Emperor's lesser Dark Jedi hunters. Today, only a few with the knowledge of the Teepo's existence remain. Since the Teepo had already gone into seclusion before, they were better able to hide themselves, but even they where overwhelmed by the Empire's might.

Teepo Tenets and Code:

Along with following the Jedi code, the Teepo have some additional basic rules:
  1. Never draw your blaster without first being drawn upon first.
  2. Aggression is the Dark Side. It should never be consorted with. Be at perfect peace before acting. Even if it means being killed. (It is said some Paladins died without even moving a muscle, simply because they could not control their anger.)
  3. Never use a lightsaber. (This is one of the things that caused some younger Teepo Paladins to break away from the Order after the Clone Wars, as they had seen just how much skill it took to master this beautiful and powerful weapon, and how much more useful it is than a blaster when the work gets up close and ugly.)

    Along with these rules, there were some unstated regulations that the Teepo followed. They never use heavy pistols, automatic blasters or long arms. They never carry a concealed weapon. They never were armour of any kind (except blast helmets, see above).

    Useful Skills for the Teepo

    Obviously, the Blaster skill replaces Lightsaber, with the same replacements being made as far as Repair and Engineering skills go. The Teepo used the Force ability Blaster Combat in conjunction with it. They also usually studied the Control ability of Calm and the Sense abilities of Blind Sense and Danger Sense. Most of them were Ambidexterous.

    Most Paladins carried a pair of blaster pistols of commercial manufacture. These were usually the best that they could find, balancing accuracy, range, ammunition consuption and power. Typical models in current production would be the BlasTech DL-18 and the Merr-Sonn M-44 and M-434 (if they could be afforded).

    Return to the Temple

    The Teepo were origionally designed by Peter Skanes (spezbaby@surf.seascape.com), and used here with permission.

    This page hosted byGet you own Free Home Page
    Click Here!