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Lightsaber

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this was the traditional Jedi weapon, used much like a sword. It consisted of cylindrical handle in which sophisticated circuits channeled a beam of light through a series of jewels, which modulated the blade's size and amplitude. It was considered one of the Jedi students' final challenges to construct their own lightsaber. Many Jedi Masters stressed the lightsaber as a true test of their apprentice's progress, for the lightsaber's power was great. A true Jedi Knight only uses the lightsaber for defense, never attack, and there was a great deal of patience involved with learning this. Some Masters also used the lightsaber as a way to get their apprentices to focus their minds on the Force, for it took a great deal of skill to wield one. Many Jedi Masters held that the lightsaber was the true Jedi's weapon because, while it could easily take the life of another being, it forced the wielder into close proximity to their opponent. This meant that a Jedi who was forced to kill another being had to look them in the face during battle. A blaster or other ranged weapon eliminated this personal link, giving the wielder the chance to alienate them from the death they caused. The mechanics of a lightsaber were simple, although the application of them took great skill and concentration. A novice Jedi Knight could create his first lightsaber in about a month. A trained Jedi Master could, in a hurry, construct one in a few days. Note that the Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice indicates that a Jedi is given his lightsaber on his first day of training. Every lightsaber contained these basic components: a power cell, a handgrip, an activation plate or stud, a safety switch, a blade-length adjuster, an emitter matrix, and recharge socket, a lens assembly, at least one focusing crystal, a power conduit, and an optional belt ring. When activated, internal power cells create photoelectric energy which is focused through one, two, or three multi-facted crystals. In the lightsabers of the Jedi Knights, these crystals were found in nature, a task which requried the Jedi to focus their concentration on selecting a stone which would focus the energy and not explode. While ancient Jedi used all manner of crystals, most Jedi obtained crystals from the planet Ruusan, until these deposits were destroyed during the Battle of Ruusan. More often than not, the Jedi Knights of the Old Republic used crystals from the planet Ilum, which emitted blue or green blades. The Sith, however, used synthetic crystals formed in incredibly hot ovens, using their emotional control of the Force to assist in the formation of the stone. These Sith crystals generated a red blade which had the unusual strength to cleave a normal lightsaber blade in two. Jedi Knights of the New Republic era did not know of the Ilum deposits, and so many of them discovered other sources of crystals which produced a wide variety of blade colors. The energy was formed into a tight, parallel beam of coherent packets. These packets are emitted through a positively-charges, continuous energy lens which projects the packets away from the lightsaber. The packets are almost immediately attracted back to the lightsaber by a negatively-charged, high-energy flux aperature, and then continually recycled to create the glowing blade. The packets are recycled by a superconductor back into the power cell for re-energizing. The entire process is completely contained. No energy is lost, since the light in the blade is recaptured. No heat is generated, either. The only energy loss occurs when the blade strikes an object. When Obi-Wan Kenobi began teaching Luke Skywalker how to use his father's lightsaber, Kenobi began by showing Luke the basic body positions used by the Jedi. There were seven attack positions, and four defensive positions. Each attack or defense position flowed into the next, creating a smooth, continual motion. To perform them all in sequence takes concentration, skill, and stamina. The Jedi Masters who taught lightsaber combat to the Padawans of the Old Republic often started out with minimally-powered training blades, and spent much of the early training period in discussion rather than fighting. Among the lessons taught to Padawans was that, during any lightsaber combat, the first rule was not to fall down. This lesson, like many others within the training of a Jedi, had meaning outside of lightsaber training.