Current name: Lord Bayes
Birthname: Daq'irr'inrokini (Qirrin)
Age: 32
Species: Chiss
Former rank: Sith lord, head of Research Facility 8 in the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge
Current rank: Bureau of Research initiate

Physical descrition

"I'm a Chiss who happens to be a Sith, not the other way around."
-- Lord Bayes

A fragile, balding Chiss with a weary and constantly frowned face doesn't look like a proper Sith lord. Bayes prefers lab coats and ordinary clothes to pompous robes, doesn't emanate a powerful aura, and few have ever seen him wield a lightsaber. That look contrasts sharply with his manners: Bayes has a habit of pinning his visavis down with a long, calculating stare, and his voice is usually cold and cynical. That doesn't mean he's emotionless: Bayes can easily slip into excitement when discussing science, or into anger over others' perceived stupidity when talking about society.

Public bio

Before the invasion, Lord Bayes was a relatively well-known figure among the scientists of the Sith Empire. He was a Sith who made a swift career in the Darth Nox's Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, serving as the head of one of their research facilities. In that capacity he had been experimenting with the Force for some 2 years before the whole Sphere crumbled along with the Dark Council itself.

Though Lord Bayes managed to avoid public scandals and accusations and never intentionally hid, he effectively ceased to exist as a person of interest. Left without any resources, Bayes lost any hope to be able to continue his life's work. Public records may show that recently he became an employee of some obscure research facility in the Outer Rim. What a bitter failure.

Full bio

//Disclaimer: I'm not sure how to define 'public knowledge'. Bayes' early period of life may be unknown due to the Chiss isolationism, and some of his further activities would've been classified. But some of the Bureau members used to have high-rank access, and after the Invasion any data could've leaked. With that said, Bayes himself doesn't care much for concealing any information.

1. CHISS SPACE

Daq'irr'inrokini was born on a Chiss world Csaus, a domain of House Inrokini - a Ruling Family which was responsible for scientific and technological advance of the Ascendancy. After receiving basic education, a Chiss would usually go to college at the age of 10 and come of age at 14. Qirrin was no different. Since his early age he had developed a keen interest in cognitive sciences, and in the Chiss society a future scientist had a pretty straightforward way ahead of them. However, a seemingly minor event in college tweaked the course of entire Qirrin's life and research.

Duting a routine, textbook experiment involving some intelligense tests and quizzes, Qirrin's test subjects showed marginally better results than other groups - by 13%. In any other culture this would've gone unnoticed, but Qirrin himself, his superiors and peers went out of their way to find the source of a possible mistake. Soon enough it turned out that Qirrin forgot to make his experiment double-blind (a forgivable mishap for a mere college student): his knowledge of the test results influenced the performance of his test subjects. That was a classical, well-known psychological phenomenon, but it could never produce deviations higher than 5%.

When you rule out all of the impossible options, you're left with the correct answer - however improbable. After multiple hypothesis testing Qirrin's group came to a conclusion that Qirrin was Force-sensitive and was using some kind of rudimentary, subconscious mind influence. Naturally, that shaped the course of Qirrin's further studies: when he applied to a prestigious academy on Sposia at the age of 14, he had already planned out his experiments with the Force.

Soon enough two things became clear:

A) The Chiss Ascendancy lacked data for building a proper, consistent theoretical model of the Force. No matter how he tried, Qirrin wasn't even able to understand how his own talent worked; he had to conclude that mind influence worked on the sheer force of will - which is, scientifically speaking, a total mumbo-jumbo.

B) Despite that, a proper scientifical approach could let any Force user, no matter how weak, achieve amazing practical results - as effective as those of the most powerful Jedi or Sith. For instance, Qirrin developed a method that he named Long Term Mind Influence. The idea was crude and simple: it was based on a fact that most Force users could use telekinesis to some extent. Qirrin deduced that though moving large objects required great power and experience, anyone could manage a few weak but precise hits on molecular level. In this case, he used this method to enhance chemical reactions that produced dophamine in subject's brain. After hearing a Force User's order, the subject would suddenly feel joy and happiness. Though it didn't guarantee the order would be carried out, this method had a long-term benefit: after a few times the subject's organism would develop a reflex. Thus, taking orders from that particular Force user would make them feel rewarded. Of course, large-scale application of LTMI would require one to study the neural biology of most sentient species, but when was researching other cultures anything but fun for a Chiss?

By the time Qirrin graduated, the Chiss Ascendancy had already established diplomatic connections with the Sith Empire. It wasn't unheard of for a Chiss to beome an Imperial agent or even a Sith. Despite the Ascendancy's policy of isolationism, some power groups felt that the events in the rest of the galaxy should never be ignored: the Republic and the Sith Empire could easily become a threat. Qirrin believed that the same sentiment could be applied to the Force: building a proper model of the Sith and the Jedi ways could one day save the Ascendancy from their careless, religious approach.

That's how Qirrin started his lifelong field experiment: at the age of 20, he left the Chiss space to become an apprentice at the Sith Academy on Korriban.

(Qirrin couldn't resist a little tongue-and-cheek gesture and started calling himself 'a future Darth Bayes', assuming a name of an obscure ancient scientist no one but the Chiss has ever heard about).

2. KORRIBAN

Upon his arrival on Korriban, Bayes was shocked by the contrast with the Chiss society. The hierarchy seemed anything but logical, and the mystical attitude of his peers and superiors was anything but reasonable. By the Chiss standards, Bayes was relatively smart, but in no way special. On Korriban he started to feel he was surrounded by idiots. There were tombs with allegedly ancient spirits, but no one tried to understand whether or not their immortality was real, let alone reproducing the effect. There were incredibly talented students from all corners of the Galaxy, but the methods of teaching them were mostly based on rituals, and never on actual understanding. Combined with the barbaric tribal approach to everyday life ("you win or you die") the whole Sith project seemed like a colossal waste of valuable resources.

Soon enough Bayes found out that despide his fragile complexion and relatively weak connection to the Force he could easily fulfill any of the Masters' tasks. For instance, when Bayes was tasked with retrieving an amulet from an area infested with tuk'ata, the hard part was to retrieve a manuscript describing those hounds' biology. The rest was easy: he simply walked in, and the horrendous hounds dropped dead. For a Sith, this would require a tremendous amount of energy - to produce, say, a Force storm. For a scientist, it was a simple matter of slicing one blood vessel with telekinesis. After that Bayes felt terrified of what an actually powerful Sith could do with proper education. The task of developing a rational theory of the Force became a matter of survival not for just the Chiss, but for the whole galaxy.

3. APPRENTICE

After a few such accomplishments Bayes got the attention of Lord Renning - one of the few Sith on Korriban who were dedicated to actual Force studies instead of power struggles. Lord Renning was trying to understand the nature of the tuk'atas' connection to the Force. Soon enough Bayes became his apprentice - and was pleasantly surprised to discover that despite his initial impression there was actual Sith science. It also helped that an aging and obese Master didn't value combat training much: his weak apprentice felt great relief after Renning cut him some slack regarding the physical training routine.

It was under Lord Renning's leadership that Bayes developed a general plan for his further studies. He concluded that theoretical researching the Force consists of 7 major areas:

* Mind manipulations
* Telekinesis
* Large scale manipulations
* Essence manipulations
* The nature of Force sensitivity
* Storing the Force in inanimate objects
* Time manipulations.

The consistent theory would require to combine all of these areas into one simple explanation. That's when the actual work began.

The first two areas proved to be relatively simple. Bayes learned that the Force behaved akin to a magnetic field which could be manipulated via the user's thought impulses - the closer to the object, the stronger it manifested. That was the basis for pretty much all practical uses of the Force: moving objects, electrifying the atmosphere or generating shields. Mind control turned out to have a similar principle: it all boiled down to manipulating electrical charges in one's brain. What bothered Bayes was the fact that all of it could be done intuitively, without proper understanding of the mechanism - even a delicate procedure of rerouting brain signals. This implied some kind of a mediator within the body itself - the one which received electrical signals in the form of thoughts and altered the field. It was that mediator that Lord Renning was trying to find in tuk'atas. However, such a hypothesis contradicted the possibility of creating Sith amulets - in other words, making inanimate objects generate the "Force field" and manipulate it.

Lord Renning himself possessed a few amulets, and during their lessons he showed them to Bayes and described how they worked. Most of them were used to enhance one's natural abilities, working as simple amplifiers. The rituals needed for their creation turned out to be pretty simple, despite the cryptic and nonsensical explanations about "the dark powers". Of course more powerful amulets required more effort, but Bayes once again quickly proved that effectiveness is not about power. That was the day when Lord Renning's field laboratory exploded.

Bayes simply created three very weak amulets, each of which enhanced the Force power by fractions of a percent. Then he positioned them in a triangle so that every amulet would serve an the Force source for the next one. Soon enough Bayes thought that he should've paid more attention to his physical training, especially his speed of running. Of course it turned out that powering up had its limits - but the limit was only the tension that the amulets' material could endure.

Eager to prove his usefulness to the Dark Council, Lord Renning reported the results despite his initial reaction (quote, My lab, you filthy--, unquote). After finding a reasonably strong material for the amulet system (namely Electrum) Bayes dubbed this simple system "The Red Triangle" (a tip of the hat to the Gree, whom Bayes always looked up to) and calculated that it could easily level a city.

That's when Lord Renning and his apprentice first got the attention of Darth Nox, the newly appointed head of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, and were invited to Dromund Kaas for further research.

4. DROMUND KAAS

//OOC: here I might be messing with timing of some events a little bit. Given the chaotical nature of SWTOR timeline, I hope you'll forgive me for some liberties.

Pretty soon upon his arrival on Dromund Kaas some rumors about the haunted Dark Temple caught Bayes' attention. With his master's permission, he ventured there to test his hypothesis about the Sith spirits. Understanding the concept of "essence" (soul or spirit) was one of the biggest roadblocks for Bayes. Chiss scientists understood the nature of mind perfectly; the same was mostly true for the rest of the galaxy - after all, it was a civilization that managed to create artificial intelligence. No theory anyone had come up with so far accounted for a mystical 'essence'. Therefore, "Sith spirits" must've been non-sentient imprints, only able to produce standard pre-recorded reactions. However, after thorough examination of the possessed Bayes had to admit that he can't explain what he's seeing without introducing the concept of actual spirits.

Soon his studies were put to an end: the Dark Temple was declared to be cleansed by someone, and then announced a restricted area (there were rumors that the order was issued by the Emperor himself). However Bayes gathered enough data to be able to ask right questions. He started gathering data on every Sith who's ever attempted to achieve immortality. It's not that Bayes became fascinated by the prospect (though of course he wouldn't mind it); he simply saw a chance to fill the blanks in his theory of the Force. The "essence" and the "body mediators" were pretty much the only areas that remained completely unexplained.

Meanwhile Lord Renning was attending to other matters: on Dromund Kaas he was approached by Darth Baras. The Dark Lord didn't know or care much about Renning's research, treating him just as a glorified tuk'ata handler. Renning, being a true Sith in spirit, saw this as his chance to step up and gladly agreed to help accomodate some tuk'atas in Baras' citadel on Corellia. Sadly, this turned out to be his downfall: when Baras was defeated by the Emperor's Wrath, all his former associates fell out of grace. Renning was sent back to Korriban, reduced to a mere tamer that Baras took him for.

Luckily for Bayes, by then he had made enough intriguing discoveries for his superiors to vouch for him. Technically, he was still an apprentice to Renning. In fact he was all but running his own small team of researchers, undertaking daring expeditions into the unknown reaches of the-- libraries. Oh well, actual science can be pretty anticlimatic.

One of the most promising discoveries Bayes made was a classified document mentioning the work of some Darth Drear who seemed to be experimenting with the nature of life itself (seeking immortality, of course). Some years ago his legacy was discovered by Darth Scabrous on the planet Odacer-Faustin not far from Korriban and Ziost - but it looked like his experiments failed and never became public knowledge. What intrigued Bayes in this case was Drear's mention of particular cells that he held responsible for communicating with the Force. Whether or not his theory was correct, Bayes made sure to gather every possible little piece of evidence about Drear's work.

When Bayes turned 25, he received condolenses and congratulations about his promotion to the rank of Lord. It turned out that Lord Renning became one of the first casualties of the war with the Revanites - he bravely died defending Korriban from the Jedi strike team invasion. Despite his claim of being 'a future Darth Bayes', the Chiss never payed much attention to the Sith rankings and power struggles. He figured that in order to optimize the Empire, he needed to concentrate on his theory - and then he'd probably spend some five years assuming power or changing the whole society in such a way that assuming power would no longer be necessary. Of course no one told him he wouldn't have those 5 years.

In the next 2 years Bayes and his 'Research facility 8' continued studying, experimenting and testing. He made lots of contacts in the Sith scientifical circles, often working together with the Sphere of Biotic Science, the Sphere of Technology and the Bureau of Research.

The invasion put an end to everything.

The whole Dark Council crumbled. Darth Nox, effectively Bayes' CEO, was proclaimed a traitor (and possibly killed). Bayes lost his position, his facility, but, most importantly, his clearance and access. All he could do for the next 5 years was lay low, keep notes and struggle with apathy. He put out a few desperate calls hoping to come across the resistance (there were rumors that at least the Bureau still existed somewhere), but these attempts weren't even thoroughly planned - despite all of his knowledge and training, Bayes' own brain still turned out to be his worst enemy and effectively shut down his attempts to get his act together.

That was until, 5 years later, he received a message from Doctor Derene Tuleen, CEO of some schmancy dodgy enterprise. Or so he thought :)

That's where the backstory ends... and the story begins.

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[lord bayes' journal]
[clearance level: bureau of research. access granted. decrypting...]

[introduction: a later insert intended to introduce some kind of structure and possibly serve as a foreword for future publications and/or lectures]

For a brief moment, let's forget everything that we've ever known about the Force. Imagine a new Jedi code: there's no emotion, there's no peace... No Light and no Darkness. It's easy if you try: after all, these are only concepts within our mind. Imagine a world where the only things that exist are objective, observable facts supported by evidence.

Ah, what a beautiful image that was. Why don't we let it linger a little bit. After all, it was the very galaxy that any scientist lives in - just our regular galaxy, but devoid of any aberrations and biases through which our brain likes to view it. Off with the sunglasses - we're not afraid to stare at the sun, no matter how painful it is.

Indeed, deconstructing beliefs is one of the most painful things that can happen to any of us. Do you remember how you cried into the pillow when it finally became obvious that fairy tales were lies? No matter how old you were - six, eleven or sixteen - that pain was so crushing that your brain decided that it would never, ever let this happen to you again.

Thus the Jedi, the Sith and all other mystics of the Force were born.

In the realm of evidence things either exist or they don't. The Force, for instance, is a scientific fact: it has been demonstrated over and over again, for thousands of years. The only problem is that any fact can be easily misinterpreted - especially by those who are still captivated and deluded by fairy tales and a religious mindset. That's why from now on we should completely discard "Force the Almighty" as a category of philosophy. Let's pretend we haven't even heard about any Codes or Orders. There are certain observable facts and certain individuals who are capable of demonstrating verifiable effects using an unexplained entity which we may as well call "The Force". What we should do is examine this phenomenon just like we would test any other unexplained data: observations, hypotheses, thought experiments - and, finally, actual experiments that will return us a definite "true/false" result.

[earliest materials: structure of research]

First stage: gathering data. At this stage we shouldn't aim to collect every possible legend about the Force users' abilities. First we must explain things that do most definitely happen. This alone should provide us with a) enough knowledge to achieve practical results (combining/inventing new Force abilities); b) a theory that can later be tested, expanded and corrected. On the other hand, we should deal with broad categories to make sure that full explanation of every next category contributes significantly to the theory.

After pouring through archive data and - mostly - events that can be observed first-hand - I devised a following roadmap.

1. Telekinesis.

This seems to be the perfect place to start. Moving physical objects can be measured in any possible way, which means we can devise formulae and make mathematical predictions. If telekinesis is understood, we can easily use that knowledge to reverse-engineer most of the practical Force abilities.

(Practical task: large-scale Force applications. How did the ancient Sith blow up stars? The answer is obvious: the same way we blow up crates. The problem of scale might be a very useful thing to solve, but it has little to none impact on the theory)

2. Mind control.

This describes a wide range of Force illusions, mind tricks et cetera. Given that our civilization knows perfectly how the brain works, being able to reproduce it in the form of artificial intelligence, understanding mind control is just one step away from understanding telekinesis.

3. The nature of Force sensitivity.

After we've learned what exactly the "black box" (a force user) can do, for further steps we need to look inside that box. This means that at the third stage we must figure out how exactly the Force (whatever it is) is able to interpret orders from a person's brain into physical actions, and also what physical carrier ensures that the Force is present and acting.

(storing the Force in inanimate objects is another topic that borders this one. Cracking one of these mysteries might as well mean cracking another)

4. The nature of life.

Sith and Jedi spirits, switching bodies and "drinking" life is what bothers me the most (almost). First we should understand the exact nature of these events (such as, are the spirits actually sentient). If the data is to be interpreted like it usually is, that will mean that in addition to the Force itself we must measure and explain a certain "essence" that constitutes life, as regular biology doesn't acknowledge "life" as an entity - only as a convenient term to describe a number of well-known chemical processes.

5. Time manipulations.

I don't even want to start on this one. Literally, my brain screams in horror and disbelief every time anyone mentions a "vision of the future". I can't even start to describe how many possible laws of physics would be brutally violated if any information could travel back in time. Any actual precognition authomatically means that causality doesn't work as it always does (events leading to their consequences, not the other way around). Of course, I've trained myself never to discard evidence, and some Sith have proven, once and again, that they do have actual glimpses of future events. The only slack I will allow myself is to delay this area of research. Hopefully, by the time I get to it I will be armed with enough knowledge to crack this mystery.

[there are a few more text files on this datapad. an impatient reader can quickly look them through and find out that lord bayes is currently at the 3d stage of his experiments; the latest notes states "reminder: bring the plan of experiments to the friday meeting; if possible - start them right at the meeting"]

[a less impatient reader would notice that descriptions of past experiments are available, but they'll take some time to decrypt. let's look at the status bar:]
[next directory: field of research no. 1. suggested experiments. theory. training excercises]
[awaiting decryption...]



[Stage 1. Telekinesis]

Whenever an object moves, a physical force applied to it, without exceptions, can be analyzed to the point where we have particular objects that transmit the impulse and basically push the objects. If a Sith can move a rock with the power of his mind, that means his mind triggers a reaction in the outside world that can be deconstructed and measured, or at least calculated. My experiments must start with measuring every single parameter, from temperature to radiation, in a room where a Force user practices.

Task 1.001: Standard measurements.
Results: There are no deviations whatsoever compared to the control group (in this case - a hydraulic pole lifting the same rock). The statistically marginal fluctuations resulted from the Force User's unstable performance: the subject fail to apply exactly 1N of force throughout the whole experiment. Too bad I have to deal with sentient beings instead of mechanism. Oh well, I chose the path of cognitive science by my own accord knowing the difficulties.
Additional observation 1: Force users tend to maintain eye contact with their object. Hypothesis 1: this is a requirement for the Force to transfer. Hypothesis 2: this is an optional choice which helps subjects psychologically, possibly allowing them to concentrate. How to test: repeat the experiment with an eyefold.

Experiment series 1.002: If we can't measure anything, let's measure how the rock itself behaves. This can give us some ground for speculation. This time we'll take several different objects to see if changing their parameters influences the results. And let's add the eyefold to the mix.
Results: The eyefold proved that eye contact makes telekinesis easier for the subject, but after a few iterations they were able to perform just as well. Now to the actual data. My hypotheses of conductivity, density or shape were disproved - stone, wood and metal are moved almost identically. After a few combinations I was able to isolate the parameters that actually do influence the impulse: mass and distance. Lighter objects and those closer to the subject, can be moved easier. This leads me to putting forward a general 'field' hypothesis. If the Force manifests as a field, like magnetism does, I would expect certain numeric predictions to come true: this means I'll just take the formulae for the strength of a magnetic field and apply them to my case. Let's see how this works out!

[added a few days later]

I still can't believe it - it worked! I did it - I actually proved a hypothesis! I didn't just disprove one of my own ideas which is always a thing to be proud of (for a scientist), I made a prediction which worked!

The Force is a field. All right, let's not jump to conclusions: in *certain cases* the *effects caused by the Force* *behave* like a field, and in *these cases* said effects can be--- no, I still can't believe it-- CAN BE PRECISELY CALCULATED using the magnetic field formulae! Square root from the distance, you silly acolytes! Your basic square root from the distance!

All right, I don't expect that anyone will be as excited as I am. After all, the Sith are after practical results. Build them a superweapon - and they'll praise you. Bring them a formula... Well, I know anatomy too well to start picturing things. I could do without such vivid imagery.

[added at a much later date]

By the way, this all means that we are dealing with some particles or forces that can't be measured with our standard equipment. Whatever actually transports the Force, the experiments failed to detect the carrier. Well, let's remember that for later and focus on what we already know. I guess it's time to deduce certain possible practical effects and propose training excercises for future Sith who will, hopefully, leave their superstitions behind and follow the rational path.

The goal is simple. If moving large object requires more energy (in whatever form it manifests), the key to power is precision. The first task that every student must perform on a daily basis is moving an 1x1 cm cube with a mass of 10 gram, lying on a table next to a ruler. The student should learn to move it by exactly one centimeter. Given that effectiveness fades with distance, this excercise should be repeated for every centimeter of that ruler.

Only after the student gets the feeling of the exact amount of effort they need for 1-centimeter steps, they can proceed to changing direction, weight, speed, distance and all other parameters. By an analogy with musicians, I'm calling this excercise "playing scales". Now I make sure to play my scales every day.

And now for the best part. Precision is the key to the molecular level. Once you've learned to intuitively measure you force, you can move the tiniest object almost without effort. That means that from now we're limited only by our creativity. Want a chemical reaction? Molecular telekinesis. Want an enemy dead? Let's slice a tiny blood vessel. Need a lightning? Let's polarize some particles a bit...

I've already made some progress myself, and the only obstacle is concentration - as with eye contact, it's a bit hard to imagine the desired result. Re-reading my old chemistry and biology conspects helps a lot. In a way, I believe this might be the key to a lot of abilities that are considered to be special disciplines. But why doesn't every Force user use this powerful tool? I believe the answer is the same: mindset (and lack of "playing scales"). To truly imagine a molecule move under the pressure of a particle field, to issue that mental order (for now it's irrelevant who or what carries it out) you probably have to be a scientist, definitely not a mystic.

[awaiting further decryption...]


[2. Further practical experiments. Mind control.]

Experiment series 1.138
The notion that manipulations with the Force on the molecular level depend on one's mindset turned out to be easily proven. I used the following steps:
1) Taking a number of acolytes and roughly measuring their Force potency by tasking them with moving the same object as fast and far away as they could. Not the most precise measurement, I admit, but so far we have no insight on how our connection with the Force works.
2) Dividing acolytes into two groups: the test group would "play scales" and study the basics of natural sciences, while the control group would continue their regular practices and excercises.
3) Giving all subjects the same simple task: boiling a glass of water. Technically this is achieved by moving molecules.
4) Introducing additional parameters. One of the experiments checked the importance of concentration; I created a distracting environment (loud noises, crowds of assistants). Another one used a microscope with a large screen that allowed subjects to actually see and better imagine the processes they're influencing. As expected, the last group showed the best results.

I believe I can safely add historical data to my own conclusions: multiple reports of Jedi Healers suggest that dealing with objects at least as small as cells has been a matter of skill, which can be mastered and taught to at least some extent.

Therefore, so far I can state that the ability to use the Force depends on at least two parameters.
1. Force sensitivity. So far it's a black box; we can't measure it save for rough tests with telekinesis. That'll be the topic of stage 3 of my experiments.
2. Concentration. This parameter can be influenced and, best of all, trained. This looks to be the focus of most Jedi meditational excercises. Too bad I have no direct access to their base of knowledge - but the Sith use similar principles.

[New directory]

All reports of mind control have three common points: some of them hint at what the principles are, and others raise interesting questions. Generally, the rules are as follows:

1. A person can be forced into an altered state of mind when they would execute the Force User's order.
2. There is a possibility of long-term mind control; some reports suggest that subjects could be forced to "rethink their life", and others point at memory wipes.
3. Droids can't be influenced, which points either at some connection with "the essence", or at an oversight on the Force users' part.

Experiment series 2.001:

1) Verifying statement 1. Mind-controlled subjects must have all of their vitals monitored, especially those dealing with brain activity.
2) Checking the limitations of statement 2. The easiest experiment is ordering a person to perform a certain action (let's say making a mark on a wall) every day. Let's see how long they're gonna last.
3) Testing theoretically possible approaches to mind control. From cognitive sciences and artificial intelligence research we know several principles of the brain's work. Things that should be checked include at least manipulations with electrical charges in the neurons and influencing chemical reactions on the level of hormones.
4) Using the assistance of cybernetics specialists, we should figure out what circuits in the droids' brains are responsible for decision making, and reroute those circuits telekinetically.

Results:

Mind control seems to be the only area of research where the Sith tradition of using slaves proves to be useful rather than a waste of resources. In most cases, for a civilization that creates artificial servants specifically designed for executing orders it's incredibly stupid to retreat to slavery: any sentient being is highly motivated for independence, and to subdue them one should go to great lenghts in psychological violence, with uncertain results. A slave is always less effective and reliable than a droid, given that most of the tasks they are used fore are easily performed by droids. I sincerely believe that a natural brain, given its talent for learning, can be used a thousand times more effective than for primitive labor. However, experiments on actual people are a rare case where slavery provides the very thing any scientist can dream of - unlimited subjects.

However, these tests mostly tell us what we already know. A mind can be reprogrammed with any number of methods, and the Force just provides us with a way to directly influence cells and charges at a distance - which is your basic telekinesis.

Experiments with droids, though, turned out to be most insightful. It turns out that reprogramming a droid is even easier than influencing a living being: we know perfectly how their brain is structured, because we created it. Given a manual and proper understanding of circuits programming, one can easily reroute charges so that a droid would execute any command we need.

The question stands: why wasn't it possible before?

The answer, I believe, lies in the same approach that has plagued Force studies over the years. Our mind is the perfect tool for communication. It is attuned in such way that the tasks most difficult on the cellular level (say, "increase adrenaline level in your partner") are authomatically translated into the terms we easily understand ("frighten that person") and carried out with precision. However, our brain did not evolve to communicate with droids. It doesn't intuitively understand how to reprogram a droid. In this way, the Force is not unlike managing our own body. When I raise a hand, I apply a very precise amount of physical force to several points of my body. This can be calculated and reproduced, but I don't even think about it: my subconciousness does all of the micro-management. The same is true for the Force: to "reprogram" a person, the Force User only has to imagine a "duel of wills", while the actual action is performed at the level of neurons.

To master the Force, we must deconstruct our actions. Step one: understand precisely all of the manupulations we're performing. With mind control, this means studying most species' neurology (a difficult task, but not a one requiring special talents); then applying the needed effects "manually". Only after several successful attempts we can switch back to heuristics, training our brain to perform the same Force excercises authomatically, without our conscious analysis.

This finally leads me to the first field where I don't have a consistent hypothesis: the very nature of Force sensitivity. We've managed to reproduce and measure several effects, treating the source of this power as a "black box". We even have some insight into the work of the said box: we know that at higher levels brain treats the Force the same way as it would treat any other task, dealing with images, mindsets, imagination and will. What we haven't found yet is the instrument - the very entity that constitutes the Force field or allows the brain to interact with it.

[end of document. Next diary entries bear recent date stamps and the Bureau of Research logo]


[Stage 3]

Today's experiments showed that Darth Drear was, most likely, wrong - and gave some further insight into what we're looking for. Thankfully, for the first time in five years I don't need to think and act alone - members of the Bureau, namely Lord Jon'nas, Lady Arleen and lady Kenzi, agreed to help me and shared their own theories and experiments. How refreshing it is to finally have a well-balanced argument!

But I digress. Here's what I wrote just before today's events:

<Like I stated before, at this stage of my experiments I need to find the mediator. Of course, the most obvious idea is that the Force is biological in its nature - after all, droids can't feel or use it, and even among people it is likely to manifest in families and unlikely to be a common trait. This suggests that there is a "Force Gene", or rather a set of genes - or else Force Sensitivity would have only two possible states, "yes" an "no". Also, I expect to find an organ, a cell or a chemical reaction that directly interprets neural signals into the commands for the Force - cells or reactions being more probable, because an organ would've been discovered by now. Darth Drear's failed experiments with immortality also suggested some cells. It is most likely that these cells are what generates the Force field itself - then it makes perfect sense that it is centered around a "sensitive" living being.

However, there's one catch: Sith amulets. If they work like we believe they do, this means that the Force can be stored in an inanimate object. Obviously, a gem has no living cells in it - but there are reports of gems enhancing someone's abilities, creating illusions, emanating powerful rays, storing spirits et cetera. All right, let's not get to the spirits just yet. A supposedly sentient being, alive or not, adds a whole another level of complexity - and we're already knee-deep in unsolved problems.

Anyway, it can be deduced that an amulet does just that - enhances natural abilities. I myself was able to channel the Force to such an amplificator, creating a system which could bounce initial energy back and forward until it reached critical levels. The question is: can an amulet work *without* someone triggering it?>

My test was simple: I created a basic defensive amulet, which had stable and measurable effect. It consumed heat energy directed into it, thus shielding the bearer; I could always say whether or not it worked by its temperature increase. Now I had to test it in a huge hangar to make sure that no one influences the results with their own abilities. The test would include four shots from a weak laser at the amulet:

1. In the hands of a force user
2. In the hands of a non-sensitive
3. In the hands of a sentient droid
4. Locked in a simple mechanism.

Depending on the results, one of the following would be correct:

A) Test case 1 is successful, others fail. Conclusion: the Force is created by cells/tissues exclusively found in Force users.
B) Test cases 1 and 2 are successful, others fail. Conclusion: the Force is created by all living things, but in non-sensitives those cells/tissues are so scarce that they can only be triggered by an enhancing amulet.
C) All test cases succeed. Conclusion: if biology has anything to do with the Force, it's only a way of "communicating" with it. The very source of the Force is authonomous and can be found either in the amulet itself, or everywhere in the surrounding air.

Of course, there are two more cases: all tests could fail (that would just mean my amulet broke... not quite a scientific conclusion), and the worst case could happen if only the last one failed. That would mean I have to crack the problem of consciousness before going further... But luckily, it didn't happen.

Results: all four shots gave me roughly the same temperature increase. This means we're going with C) - probably accompanied by bitter complaints from Darth Drear, had he been still alive.

But now we need to go further. Another quick test with Lord Jon'nas today served as a hint for the future direction. My colleague was kind enough to demonstrate a certain kind of what he calls "illusions" - though I quickly proved there was nothing illusionary about them. Using some photo-emulsion and an "illusion" of a sheet (partially black, partially transparent-red) I clearly showed that photons that travel through this "illusion" behave exactly the same as they would if said sheet was completely "real". The flimsiplast covered by this emulsion didn't become lighter - which means the "illusionary" sheet blocked photons at certain wavelengths. The metaphor about "bending light" turned out to be pretty correct: for the upteenth time in my life I was witnessing a Force user manipulate particles without even realizing the delicacy of his work.

This occurence, along with my previous thoughts and experiments, makes me more and more certain that a particle is exactly what I'm after. For one, to allow for such precise manipulations (healing, mind control, bending light) an instrument should be at least as tiny as an object it's applied to. The more I think of it, the more it becomes clear that no "biological" hypothesis could include an object so small. Then again, the first time I discovered exactly how the Force manifests it did so as a field. All other entities with similarly wonderful properties can be traced to quantum level: light consists of photons, electricity consists of electrons... What does the Force consist of - and how do we find it?

As now we've logically proven it possible to concentrate the Force in an object instead of a living being (practical results will probably follow once we've learned more), I believe the way to strip everything but the very Force particle is possible - given time and, of course, a lot of brainstorming.

At this stage I'll be glad for any input from the colleagues who were following my thoughts and experiments. Stage 3 might turn out to be quite a long phase.