While mastery of the lightsaber can only be achieved through diligent tutelage by a master instructor, this Compendium reveals a few of the secrets of the craft of lightsaber construction and provides guidelines for the creation and wielding of lightsabers by members of the Dark Brotherhood.

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The powerful yet elegant weapon of the Jedi Knights for thousands of years, these swords of power use blades of pure energy to cut through nearly any animate or inanimate object. By tradition, most lightsabers are built by their users as part of their Jedi training. They can be built in a few days if there is an emergency, or take up to a month or more to construct and fine-tune.

Seemingly simple in design, a lightsaber has a handle about twenty-four to thirty centimeters long that is usually hung from a belt. Inside are a power cell and multifaceted Adegan crystals or jewels (usually one to three) that focus the energy from the power source and release it through a concave disk atop the handle, where it appears in a tight and steady colored beam of light and energy about a meter long. When they are activated, lightsabers hum with their coursing energy. Although considered archaic by some, lightsabers can be powerful weapons after their users undergo extensive training.

A saber with a single jewel has a fixed amplitude and blade length. Those with multiple jewels can alter their amplitude and change the light blade's length by an exterior control being rotated to vary the distance between jewels. The emitted beam arcs back from its positively charged continuous energy lens to a negatively charged high-energy flux aperture set in the disk atop the handle. The power amplitude determines the point at which the beam arcs back, setting the blade's length ("Star Wars Encyclopedia").

Lightsaber Technology

Lightsabers tend to follow a similar basic structure, although many are very individualized by their Jedi builders. While the pure energy blade has no mass, the electromagnetically generated arc wave creates a strong gyroscopic effect that makes a lightsaber a distinct challenge to handle. Operating on the complex principle of tightly controlled arc-wave energy, it requires focusing elements made from naturally occurring crystals that cannot be synthesized. A lightsaber must be assembled by hand, as there is no exact formula for the crucial alignment of the irregular crystals. The slightest misalignment will cause the weapon to detonate on activation (Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary).

Guidelines to Dark Brotherhood Members

Before reaching the rank of Dark Jedi Knight, a member must pass one last test - construct his/her first own lightsaber. While training with a lightsaber may begin much earlier, members of the Dark Brotherhood may only construct, carry, and wield a lightsaber when they reach the rank of Dark Jedi Knight. At this level a Dark Jedi is not considered powerful enough to create a lightsaber design completely from scratch. That is why they are to choose from the design modules provided by the Office of the Herald within the Dark Forge on Eos. Those designs, called Standard Lightsabers are simple, safe and easy to construct, however caution and great precision is still required during the process. Eos Dark Forge offers many thousands of Standard Lightsaber designs, which allows you to design a unique standard one.

With reaching the rank of Battlemaster/Archpriest your powers and knowledge will be strong enough for you to construct your own, unique design of a lightsaber. Within the Dark Brotherhood all own designs by members are called Custom Lightsabers. Custom Lightsabers are usually much more complex than the Standard one which makes them better and stronger, but also much more difficult to construct. To ensure the safety of the Custom Lightsaber design; each single will have to be presented to the Herald for approval.

Finally the members of the Dark Brotherhood who will reach the rank of Warlord/Pontifex will have the saber mastery to create a second Custom Lightsaber and wield it at the same time. However only members with rank of Dark Side Adept and above will be allowed to design and possess the most powerful Lightsaber - a Lightstaff. Using the two bladed Lightsaber requires great skills and focus, therefore only the strongest Jedi in the Brotherhood can use them.

The Golden Lightsaber

The only way to obtain the Golden Lightsaber is to receive it as an award from the Grand Master or Fleet Commander himself. This will be awarded to members with the greatest dedication to the Dark Brotherhood, who serve above any call of duty. Even many of the Grand Masters, who led the Brotherhood, have not received the Golden Lightsaber. It is the most elegant and the most deadly Lightsaber within the arsenal of Dark Brotherhood. The construction process of the deadly golden beam emerging from a golden handle is one of the best kept secrets of each Herald.