wingsandsword
Legend
I am a big Star Wars fan. I also hate the idea of midichlorians. I am also as a GM, the kind who loves continuity and don't feel I can outright ignore the mentions in two movies of these little particles, much less blood tests to see the potential to use the Force. However, I wasn't anywhere nearly as bothered by the "force detector" devices from the Jedi Academy novels, and I came up with a way to reconcile all of this so that I don't have to ignore movie canon, but I don't have to like it either, and offer this explanation to other Star Wars GM's.
Midichlorians and Detecting the Force
The Force is an energy field that surrounds and binds all life and the entire galaxy together. For most of its existence, the Jedi were sufficient to acknowledge that the Force existed, to plumb the depths of how to use it and sense it, and were content with the idea that the existence of the Force could not be reconciled with science.
However, in the last century of the Old Republic, there was a movement to try and quantify the Force. New theories, combined with new discoveries lead the Jedi and Republic scientists to think they had finally "scientifically" determined the nature of the Force.
This theory was the "midichlorian", a particle that was created by the metabolic processes of lifeforms, and naturally occurred in all living things, but flowed from beyond life to saturate the entire galaxy with the Force. The theory went that some living beings had far more midichlorians, and thus were far more sensitive to the Force as well as could learn to manipulate their production of midichlorians to affect the world around them.
The theory was backed up by the discovery of the thaissen crystals. These naturally occurring crystals from the planet Mimban glowed very faintly in the presence of a force-sensitive being. It was an inanimate object that showed a distinct physical reaction to the presence of the Force. The idea of using thaissen crystals as a scientific test of Force aptitude quickly became popular. However, these crystals were quite rare, and only small quantities could be mined.
The Jedi Order was in a compromised position. After the Russan Reformation 1000 years before, they had officially changed their policy such that they would no longer take apprentices after early childhood (pre-Ruusan Jedi often taking apprentices into their teens and sometimes twenties). The reformed Jedi believed that training from early childhood would develop more discipline and less potentially dangerous emotional attachments. However, in a galaxy of trillions of sentient beings, with only 10,000 Jedi to search, this was a very difficult proposal since Force-Sensitive beings are remarkably rare (one in a billion by some estimates). With countless billions on every single core world, much less the colonies and rim, the Jedi assertions that they find all the Force sensitive children of the Republic was dubious at best. The Jedi made frequent exceptions for children later in childhood, but slowly became more strict with the maximum age they would accept a child, and the numbers of the Jedi fell as all too often force-strong potential apprentices were found but they were too old according to current Jedi doctrine. By the time Qui-Gon Jinn found Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine in the Galactic Year 3, there were only 4,000 Jedi, and the new thaissen crystal devices were the only thing keeping the numbers that high.
By this time, a portable way of using thaissen crystals had been devised by the Jedi. Since all attempts at making a device to use the crystals became bulky and required complex computations, it was impractical for the Jedi, who frequently travelled with nothing more than their robes, lightsaber and utility belt. Finally, an invention was created which let Jedi carry their test with them. Each Jedi comlink had a tiny quantity of thaissen crystals in a slot on the bottom, and each comlink came with a small testing tray for a blood sample. The tiny amount of crystals would react, albeit poorly, to the blood sample. This information would be weak, easy to get a false positive, and such tests already required significant computations. Thus it was a part of the Jedi's comlink, where the raw data could be transmitted to a larger computer which would perform the detailed analysis. The number of reactions of the crystals to a single millileter of blood varied from around 1000 in the typical being, to around 7000 to 10000 in most force sensitive beings. This reaction became known as the "midichlorian count", because it was assumed that the midichlorians in the blood were reacting to the crystals. However, because of the ease of erroneous results from such a small sample reacting to such a small quantity of crystal, many secondary tests would later be used to confirm the results of the test.
Some Jedi even in the height quietly disagreed with the midichlorian theory, although proponents of the "Living Force" doctrine, such as the outspoken Qui-Gon Jinn, were fervent supporters of the midichlorian concept.
After the Jedi Purge, Palpatine himself also wanted to deal with the issue of force sensitive beings in the Galaxy. Whereas the Jedi wanted to take them for training as part of their order, Palpatine knew that the Jedi were the only real threat to his power. By ensuring that every force sensitive being in the Galaxy was turned to the Dark Side, or killed, he could eliminate that threat. Thus, the crude blood tests of the past were not sufficient. He ordered a vast quantity of thaissen crystals mined and a far improved method of using them developed. He also needed a foolproof way of ferreting out hidden Jedi, as he knew from his own deceit how a force user could even hide in plain sight.
Thus the Force Detectors were created. Mining all the thaissen crystals that could be found, the crystals were ground to powder and placed in thin sheet-crystal paddles with hyper sensitive light sensors and the paddles connected to a bulky computer pack that performed the needed calculations. This refined version was even able to read the emissions of the crystals to determine if a subject had been tainted by the Dark Side, although it could only be used at extremely close range, and the hundreds built were a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands the Emperor wanted. Instead of dutifully scanning every child born in the Empire (like he wanted), Imperial Intelligence (and thus the Inquistorus) had them available to scan any prisoners, and they were distributed around the Empire for use as needed. By the time of the Battle of Yavin in the Galactic Year 35, the Empire believed it had virtually extinguished the Jedi, and Palpatine's growing cadre of Emperor's Hands and Dark Side Adepts (a.k.a. the Prophets of the Dark Side), and Soveriegn Protectors meant that his need for finding more potential apprentices had been met, so the Force Detectors fell into relative disuse. They would not be found and used widely again until the aftermath of the Reborn Emperor's campaign in the Galactic Year 45, when they were rediscovered in secret Imperial interrogation chambers on Coruscant that were uncovered in the damage to the city that had been unleashed. They had their last major use as tools of the Jedi Praxeum founded by Luke Skywalker, as a method of verifying potential in the Force.
However, midichlorian theory was largely lost and forgotten after the Jedi Purge. Sith tradition didn't hold to midichlorian logic, and while Palpatine may have couched discussions of the Force with midichlorians when talking with Jedi, his own beliefs appear to have been quite different. With the loss of most Jedi archives of the time (with the only surviving records to be the files of the Chu'un'thor from several centuries before, or Holocrons also predating the Ruusan reformation), the midichlorian doctrine of the Force lost prominence, especially since Luke Skywalker's instuction from Masters Kenobi and Yoda appear to have completely omitted this detail (it is possible it was considered too esoteric to be conveyed in the highly condensed training program Master Skywalker recieved).
Is the midichlorian hypothesis true? There is certainly no definiative answer. Even when the Jedi were at their peak, with thousands around the galaxy and an entire Republic to research it the theory could never be conclusively proven or disproven, evidence could be found in either direction. However, after the Jedi Purge, and the reformation of the Order after the founding of the New Republic the theory slipped into obscurity.
Midichlorians and Detecting the Force
The Force is an energy field that surrounds and binds all life and the entire galaxy together. For most of its existence, the Jedi were sufficient to acknowledge that the Force existed, to plumb the depths of how to use it and sense it, and were content with the idea that the existence of the Force could not be reconciled with science.
However, in the last century of the Old Republic, there was a movement to try and quantify the Force. New theories, combined with new discoveries lead the Jedi and Republic scientists to think they had finally "scientifically" determined the nature of the Force.
This theory was the "midichlorian", a particle that was created by the metabolic processes of lifeforms, and naturally occurred in all living things, but flowed from beyond life to saturate the entire galaxy with the Force. The theory went that some living beings had far more midichlorians, and thus were far more sensitive to the Force as well as could learn to manipulate their production of midichlorians to affect the world around them.
The theory was backed up by the discovery of the thaissen crystals. These naturally occurring crystals from the planet Mimban glowed very faintly in the presence of a force-sensitive being. It was an inanimate object that showed a distinct physical reaction to the presence of the Force. The idea of using thaissen crystals as a scientific test of Force aptitude quickly became popular. However, these crystals were quite rare, and only small quantities could be mined.
The Jedi Order was in a compromised position. After the Russan Reformation 1000 years before, they had officially changed their policy such that they would no longer take apprentices after early childhood (pre-Ruusan Jedi often taking apprentices into their teens and sometimes twenties). The reformed Jedi believed that training from early childhood would develop more discipline and less potentially dangerous emotional attachments. However, in a galaxy of trillions of sentient beings, with only 10,000 Jedi to search, this was a very difficult proposal since Force-Sensitive beings are remarkably rare (one in a billion by some estimates). With countless billions on every single core world, much less the colonies and rim, the Jedi assertions that they find all the Force sensitive children of the Republic was dubious at best. The Jedi made frequent exceptions for children later in childhood, but slowly became more strict with the maximum age they would accept a child, and the numbers of the Jedi fell as all too often force-strong potential apprentices were found but they were too old according to current Jedi doctrine. By the time Qui-Gon Jinn found Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine in the Galactic Year 3, there were only 4,000 Jedi, and the new thaissen crystal devices were the only thing keeping the numbers that high.
By this time, a portable way of using thaissen crystals had been devised by the Jedi. Since all attempts at making a device to use the crystals became bulky and required complex computations, it was impractical for the Jedi, who frequently travelled with nothing more than their robes, lightsaber and utility belt. Finally, an invention was created which let Jedi carry their test with them. Each Jedi comlink had a tiny quantity of thaissen crystals in a slot on the bottom, and each comlink came with a small testing tray for a blood sample. The tiny amount of crystals would react, albeit poorly, to the blood sample. This information would be weak, easy to get a false positive, and such tests already required significant computations. Thus it was a part of the Jedi's comlink, where the raw data could be transmitted to a larger computer which would perform the detailed analysis. The number of reactions of the crystals to a single millileter of blood varied from around 1000 in the typical being, to around 7000 to 10000 in most force sensitive beings. This reaction became known as the "midichlorian count", because it was assumed that the midichlorians in the blood were reacting to the crystals. However, because of the ease of erroneous results from such a small sample reacting to such a small quantity of crystal, many secondary tests would later be used to confirm the results of the test.
Some Jedi even in the height quietly disagreed with the midichlorian theory, although proponents of the "Living Force" doctrine, such as the outspoken Qui-Gon Jinn, were fervent supporters of the midichlorian concept.
After the Jedi Purge, Palpatine himself also wanted to deal with the issue of force sensitive beings in the Galaxy. Whereas the Jedi wanted to take them for training as part of their order, Palpatine knew that the Jedi were the only real threat to his power. By ensuring that every force sensitive being in the Galaxy was turned to the Dark Side, or killed, he could eliminate that threat. Thus, the crude blood tests of the past were not sufficient. He ordered a vast quantity of thaissen crystals mined and a far improved method of using them developed. He also needed a foolproof way of ferreting out hidden Jedi, as he knew from his own deceit how a force user could even hide in plain sight.
Thus the Force Detectors were created. Mining all the thaissen crystals that could be found, the crystals were ground to powder and placed in thin sheet-crystal paddles with hyper sensitive light sensors and the paddles connected to a bulky computer pack that performed the needed calculations. This refined version was even able to read the emissions of the crystals to determine if a subject had been tainted by the Dark Side, although it could only be used at extremely close range, and the hundreds built were a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands the Emperor wanted. Instead of dutifully scanning every child born in the Empire (like he wanted), Imperial Intelligence (and thus the Inquistorus) had them available to scan any prisoners, and they were distributed around the Empire for use as needed. By the time of the Battle of Yavin in the Galactic Year 35, the Empire believed it had virtually extinguished the Jedi, and Palpatine's growing cadre of Emperor's Hands and Dark Side Adepts (a.k.a. the Prophets of the Dark Side), and Soveriegn Protectors meant that his need for finding more potential apprentices had been met, so the Force Detectors fell into relative disuse. They would not be found and used widely again until the aftermath of the Reborn Emperor's campaign in the Galactic Year 45, when they were rediscovered in secret Imperial interrogation chambers on Coruscant that were uncovered in the damage to the city that had been unleashed. They had their last major use as tools of the Jedi Praxeum founded by Luke Skywalker, as a method of verifying potential in the Force.
However, midichlorian theory was largely lost and forgotten after the Jedi Purge. Sith tradition didn't hold to midichlorian logic, and while Palpatine may have couched discussions of the Force with midichlorians when talking with Jedi, his own beliefs appear to have been quite different. With the loss of most Jedi archives of the time (with the only surviving records to be the files of the Chu'un'thor from several centuries before, or Holocrons also predating the Ruusan reformation), the midichlorian doctrine of the Force lost prominence, especially since Luke Skywalker's instuction from Masters Kenobi and Yoda appear to have completely omitted this detail (it is possible it was considered too esoteric to be conveyed in the highly condensed training program Master Skywalker recieved).
Is the midichlorian hypothesis true? There is certainly no definiative answer. Even when the Jedi were at their peak, with thousands around the galaxy and an entire Republic to research it the theory could never be conclusively proven or disproven, evidence could be found in either direction. However, after the Jedi Purge, and the reformation of the Order after the founding of the New Republic the theory slipped into obscurity.
