A problem that I often deal with is How well known is the Church of the Force? I typically play in the time period of the original Trilogy (-10 BBY to +2 ABY roughly) when the Empire is in full swing. I tend to go with the idea that the Jedi were villainized for a long time leading up to Order 66, so after they became a forbidden subject there was little reason to bring them up. But the Force as a religion, how prevalent do you see this as a cultural aspect in the Galaxy? Do you make it so that everyone knows what the Force is, at least in concept? Or only certain cultural groups have learned of it?

Just curious as to how widespread you have NPC's have knowledge of the Force in your games.

knowledge of the force during the imperial era and after is very inconsistent due to Palpatine cracking down on anything jedi related

he left several groups that use the force or believe in the force alone if it was politically convenient or they were small enough or they didn't have anything he wanted provided they kept neutral, such as the bardottans and the kel dor native tradition

on the other hand, anything that is slightly similar to jedi teaching or directly jedi related is crushed. and most of the galaxy knew little of the force from the beginning, and knew most of it throufgh the lens of the jedi

as for religions, he also made them illegal because some of them believed in the force, but this decree was little enforced by the imperials. the church of the force specifically was forbidden and hunted more seriously due to them believing in the force, having teachings very similar of jedi and advocating the jedi order resurrection to bring balance to the force

Going by their wookieepedia article, they seem to have been very obscure. More an underground cult than an actual church. I gather most people wouldn't have heard of them.

On 10/31/2020 at 9:23 PM, micheldebruyn said:

Going by their wookieepedia article, they seem to have been very obscure. More an underground cult than an actual church. I gather most people wouldn't have heard of them.

That's been my interpretation as well. They likely operated in the background while the Jedi Order existed, possibly even working as sort of a support network for the Order, but becoming less and less prominent as the Order became more and more intertwined with the Republic Senate.

Of course, when the Empire took control and pretty much outlawed the Jedi and their beliefs, the CotF went underground to avoid Imperial persecution. It's only after the Empire's defeat that they start to come out of the woodwork, and probably even by the time of Episode VII they're still something of a fringe group; better known than they were prior to the Fall of the Republic, but probably still not widely known across the galaxy.

Then, for what it’s worth, in the season premiere of The Mandalorian , Peli Motto did say, “Thank the Force,” upon seeing that The Child was alive and well.

11 minutes ago, Nytwyng said:

Then, for what it’s worth, in the season premiere of The Mandalorian , Peli Motto did say, “Thank the Force,” upon seeing that The Child was alive and well.

You've also had the Rebel Alliance using "may the Force be with you" for years, so in the SW 'verse using the term of "the Force" may be akin to the usage of "god" in thinks like "thank god!" in relief or saying "god bless you" after someone sneezes. Granted, the Alliance may well have used that particular phrase to be intentionally subversive, a way of reinforcing to their fellow Rebels that the Empire doesn't have total control of their lives.

As a long-standing atheist, I use the term "god" fairly often (usually attached to some form of profanity) in spite of not believing in any particular version of an imaginary man living up in the sky.

1 minute ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

You've also had the Rebel Alliance using "may the Force be with you" for years, so in the SW 'verse using the term of "the Force" may be akin to the usage of "god" in thinks like "thank god!" in relief or saying "god bless you" after someone sneezes. Granted, the Alliance may well have used that particular phrase to be intentionally subversive, a way of reinforcing to their fellow Rebels that the Empire doesn't have total control of their lives.

I’d always sort of seen the Alliance using it as being symbolic/subversive...adopting a phrase of well-wishing from a bygone era.

2 minutes ago, Donovan Morningfire said:

As a long-standing atheist, I use the term "god" fairly often (usually attached to some form of profanity) in spite of not believing in any particular version of an imaginary man living up in the sky.

Right there with ya.

Just pointing out its use in that sort of generic way...that the Force as a fairly well known object of worship seems to be something of a thing.

On 10/31/2020 at 12:51 AM, Archlyte said:

A problem that I often deal with is How well known is the Church of the Force? I typically play in the time period of the original Trilogy (-10 BBY to +2 ABY roughly) when the Empire is in full swing. I tend to go with the idea that the Jedi were villainized for a long time leading up to Order 66, so after they became a forbidden subject there was little reason to bring them up. But the Force as a religion, how prevalent do you see this as a cultural aspect in the Galaxy? Do you make it so that everyone knows what the Force is, at least in concept? Or only certain cultural groups have learned of it?

Just curious as to how widespread you have NPC's have knowledge of the Force in your games.

I think you have two separate things here.

1) The Church of the Force. This is a specific group, that may never have been large, and was specifically repressed, and so probably reasonably unlikely that random people know about it.

2) Knowledge of the Force. In this I tend to differ from many others, and feel that many people would have knowledge of the Force, although they would likely not admit to it. My reasoning is generally that there is ~25,000 years of galactic history with the Force, and the Empire of Emperor Palpatine only begins at 19 BBY. So anyone that is 30+ as of the Battle of Yavin was alive and thinking when the Jedi were a thing and the Force was "legal". I'm sure people went to school, and I'm sure something related to the Force was instructed, as part of history if nothing else. There would be no reason that Republic era schools would not teach about the Jedi. Stalin couldn't suppress undesired knowledge in the USSR in his 30 year reign as people that were alive before just knew better. Didn't mean they talked about forbidden subjects where they could be heard, but they did talk about them, and yes, sometimes they got shipped to the gulag as a result. Taken as a whole it is inconceivable to me that in a galaxy with quadrillions of beings on thousands of worlds that in only 19 years knowledge of the Force could be eliminated.

Almost completely right there with @RickInVA about this. Specific cults, churches and what not may just be local organizations, and even if they have reached that "interplanetary" size, they may not be that well known in the general public.

However, the one thing I do keep wondering about myself is this. The Force ought to be rather well-known in general. 25.000 years of Republic history including some form of Jedi, Sith, other traditions, their predacessors, and only 19 years to wipe the slate clean.... No. People must know about the Force. But RickinVa gives us a USSR example. A single state on a single planet. In that light, would Republic Era schools teach about the Jedi? I guess they would if those schools were on Coruscant. Corellia, Alderaan, and far more planets. But would they on Kel Dor? Wouldn't they teach about the Force as a part of the tradition on the Baran Do Sages instead of about the Jedi (specifically)? Would other, local, schools teach about the Force, or the Jedi as a Force-using organization? And what if a planet with its own traditions and Force-organization later joins the Republic, coming in contact with the Jedi? Would their own teachings prevail and lessons about the Jedi still only be a footnote?