Artifact On Nature and Learning

[Star Wars Legacies]

Technical Information​

Type
Author

Origin
Purpose

Holo-Recordings
Vollen Shai; Marina Giulestei
Coruscant; Brighthome
Instructional; Critical

_

.
On Nature
and Learning

Millennia ago, In the last months of his life (though he did not know it), Councillor Vollen Shai had begun to record musings, thoughts, lessons and lectures down into holo-format. While by no means comprehensive, the various discussions within wandered through various topics and styles, some dialogic, others lengthy speeches of the kind he had been ribbed about in the past. Other times poetry, verse, stories, memories.

While no obvious themes come to the viewer, his once apprentice Marina Giulestei discovered the recordings after the Councillor's death. It is her commentary that acts as a coda to the pieces contained within, offering a more comprehensive and systematized re-reading to provide a more complete metaphysical and instructional picture formed from their joined images of thought.

Whether done with future generations in mind, or simply for her own reading, few who have seen it since are certain. But if nothing else they offer a glimpse into the world before the Empire, and the possibility of seeing ones way out of it. Either way, the final volume dubbed 'On Nature and Learning' by Marina, rests now somewhere unknown.


Structure: The actual piece itself is quite small, a rectangular box with playback that activates with a touch. But within it lies a small compartment, containing the paired kyber crystals of Vollen Shai and his late partner Cala Nevas, recovered from the surface of Ruusan. They still hum with energy even now.

Content: The first set of recordings feature a seemingly arbitrary collection of notes, topics, teachings, and musings on matters both grave and light. They present no structure or codification in and of themselves, and instead offer some insights to and understanding of the man who recorded them.

The second set is marked by a greater degree of intensity and lucidity. Here we find the majority of what might be considered instructive and critical speech, wherein Vollen's intention in taking them down seems markedly different, as if something has happened in his life that is forcing him to speak.

The third and final set is quite the opposite. Philosophical, theological, and at times less than purely sensible, there is a calmness to these recordings not found elsewhere, a purpose known to the author but not to the viewer.

And finally, there is the coda. Almost as long as the three sets that precede it, Marina Giulestei's concluding remarks to the recordings act both as an introduction to the larger set, as well as an ending point for her own interaction with them. It is telling though that her reading offers one way of grouping the recordings together, but leaves open the possibility for more. She laments that, should there have been more time, perhaps she would have added her own thoughts, and brought it together into a holocron. It is there the recordings stop, never to be completed.