A series of short stories that all have to do with Revan and his legacy.
Mainly born out of hype for the KOTOR Remake they just announced.
THE PATH OF REVAN
Part I: Vaner
3,935 years before the Battle of Yavin
“…Of course, it was around this time that a rising star in the Jedi Order was beginning to garner attention, both from his peers in the Order as well as members of the Republic.”
He sank back in his seat, exhaling deeply as he tapped his fingers against his desk, a nervous tick he had developed since he was a teenager. The teacher did not seem to notice, continuing on with the lecture without interruption.
“Very few know the actual name of this particular Jedi. The media referred to him as ‘the Jedi’s crusader’ while the Order itself branded him as ‘the Revanchist,’ a name which was eagerly adopted by his followers. It was not until after the Jedi had learned of the tragedy that befell Cathar that the galaxy came to know the name of Revan.”
He had heard it all before. Every history course he had taken while growing up had covered this particular topic. While he shouldn’t have been surprised, given how fresh it was in the public’s shared memory, it did not make it any less surreal. After all, how many could say that they had to listen to a lecture about a man whom they had never known, a man who they had never met.
A man who had been their father.
“It was not long before Chancellor Cressa rewarded Revan’s accomplishments by naming him Supreme Commander of the Republic Military, a move which would have been controversial under any other circumstance but was unanimously accepted by the Senate. With his newfound role, Revan proceeded to….”
He stopped paying attention to the lanky Muun professor as they continued to drone on. He did not need to take any notes because he already knew what he was going to write for their report. It would be the same thing he had always written. He practically knew them by heart at this point.
When the lecture had finally concluded and class was dismissed, he was the first one out the door, making swift strides towards the campus grounds. Byblos was a beautiful city world and he was more than grateful to have been admitted into its prestigious university, though a part of him couldn’t help but wonder if his name had anything to do with it. Very few knew that he was the son of Revan, but enough of them knew that he was the son of Bastila Shan, Grand Master of the Jedi Order. The faculty had insisted that his name and family had bore no influence in being selected by the academy—after all, there were plenty of students with the surname of Shan that bore no relation to him—but he couldn’t help but have his doubts. The whispers of his peers certainly never went unnoticed; he could hear them talking about him behind his back, arguing that he only got in because of his mother or pointing out that he was spending his life here rather than the Jedi Temple….
He would have been lying if he had said it didn’t get to him. A day didn’t go by where he wondered if things would have been different had he been born to parents who weren’t powerful Jedi, or if he had been born with Force sensitivity and trained as a Jedi. Instead he was, pursuing a degree in political science and a career as a politician, living a more or less ordinary life. He didn’t go on adventures that spanned the galaxy or defeat evil megalomaniacs, and he certainly did not know how to even hold a lightsaber, let alone summon one to his hand without even touching it.
It wasn’t as if he wished that were the case. He was perfectly happy with the way things were now; his mother had even encouraged him to explore himself, to be his own individual rather than be beholden to his family’s legacy.
He just couldn’t help but wonder what his father would have thought of him, if he were to see him now.
He could already hear his mother say: “He would have been proud of you.” And it was probably true. After all, she had known Revan whereas he didn’t. Others he had met who had known Revan had said similar things to him while he was growing up, though a part of him wondered if they had truly meant it.
Of course they had, he tried to tell himself. Why would they have lied to you?
Although, if his history lessons were anything to go by, Revan had not been the most perfect man the galaxy had known….
“Vaner!”
Snapped out of his thoughts, Vaner Shan came to an abrupt stop and turned around to see a familiar face quickly approaching him. She slowed down as she got close to him, stopping just a few feet away from him. Slightly out of breath, she brushed her dark hair back and stared at him with worried blue eyes.
“I tried calling out for you as you were walking out,” she said. “I guess you didn’t hear me….”
Vaner sighed. “I’m sorry, Iden. I just… have a lot on my mind.”
“I understand,” she said softly. From anyone else, the words would have rung hollow. However, Iden was one of the only people he had told the secret of his parentage to and the only one who had believed him. Perhaps it was because she could relate to what he was going through. While no one in her family were known to be Jedi, she nonetheless came from the distinguished Vanicus family, which had produced many influential figures over the course of the Republic’s history. Her grandfather had been Orley Vanicus, a war hero who had fought in the Great Sith War, and her own father was a leading member in the Galactic Senate. It was likely because of this legacy that she had joined Vaner in pursuing a political career; she had even admitted to him that it was partially because of pressure from her parents that she was even attending the University of Byblos.
“You know it’s not too late to change paths,” he had said to her once, holding her in his arms as they stared at the stars.
“I don’t think I ever could,” she had replied. “I’m already halfway down this path. Might as well see it to the end.”
He applied a gentle kiss to her hair. “And what end will that be? Supreme Chancellor, perhaps?”
She snorted. “Don’t tempt me. You don’t even want to know what I would do with that kind of power.”
He chuckled lightly. “I guess I’ll just have to run against you to ensure the safety of the galaxy.”
She rubbed her cheek against his. “Promise?”
“Promise.”
He came out of the memory to find Iden still staring at him. She was closer to him now, her small hands resting on his shoulders as her blue eyes gazed into his brown ones. The campus grounds was pretty much deserted this late at night—the history classes were always the last ones to let out—which meant they pretty much had the grounds all to themselves.
She leaned in closer to him, her breath warming his face.
“I’m sure your father would be proud of you.”
Everything else seemed to fade away as their lips joined together. Wherever his current path took him, he was grateful that it had intersected with hers.
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