Zødiac

Zødiac
Saber	Duals, Single Staff
Style	Style Info.
Affiliation(s)	The Jedi Academy, Grimclaw, Sedith
Gender	Human Male
Location	Lithuania, Kaunas
Master	Sazabi
Padawans	Ace, Legion

• ~The code of the Sedith have no bounds at all, for without bounds, we are more closer to the force than any other force sensetive out there.

This is the outcome of Zødiac's phylosophy after the his first period in the Academy.

The Beginning

The first time Zødiac started playing at all was somewhere at the end of year 2006, although he did not start at multiplayer. His ambition to become a jedi started when he played a Star Wars game at his friends house. Though their he had many limitations. He could not control the jedi completely and he rarely felt any freedom in the game. Thats when he started looking for another game, that which would allow him to control his player/jedi completely. It took him a few days to find a game called "Jedi Academy". Analyzing the game pictures he decided to download and play the game. He was amazed and overjoyed that he had practicly complete control in the game. The story was good, the gameplay was awesome, the graphics were great. The perfect game if you want to be a Jedi. Although all good things come to an end and he finished the game. He finished in every difficulty except "Jedi Master". It took him long enough but at the beginning of year 2007 he completely finished Single Player mode. After that, he deleted the game. After 5 months, right in the middle of year 2007 he installed it again and finally discovered Multiplayer Mode and begun his true path as a Jedi.

Before The Jedi Academy

• ~The Sith are aggressive, they always attack first, never caring for their action or the consequence, if they lose, they call you a noob. Well... the most noobs that come are usually the Sith because the Sith do not care about the game rules, or unwritten ones.

This was Zødiac's past. He started playing on solo mode. Right from the start, he made his model look like a black guy, not that he is black himself, but that his head is practically bold, he got the idea from the upcoming Star Wars game called: The Force Unleashed. Though, during his time in single player, he looked very different. But in the end, he decided to look just like he used to before he started Multiplayer mode. Anyways, Zødiac was more a theory guy right from the start. A few days of game play, and he knew practically everything he had to know about the game for that time. He studied saber advantages and disadvantages. That’s why he chosen to take the Double bladed saber as his main weapon. For as read, that saber was the most powerful of them all but was also referred as the "Noobstaff". He did not get it why, but it didn’t matter, he was happy with what he had for that time. He used to create maps, full of bots and started his own massacres. At first, it was very hard to keep up with the ranks, but as days passed, he started to have total domination among the bots. He was always first in the score board and always by an impressive lead. It didn’t take long for him to get bored, so he decided to check out the online play. As a reminder, Zødiac did not update his client, so he saw the servers which were running on the old version of the game. And even the servers were half dead and barely active, Zødiac decided to call those servers his home. For the fact, that the servers might have had some bad players, but mainly everybody was good there. Lack of active players and activity really had a toll on the servers, but it kept the community solid and friendly. Though Zødiac had his moments of shame and depression there. The first day Zødiac ever came to the servers, he first visited the FFA servers, but as he fought, he noticed that his way of thinking that the Staff is the strongest and can beat everyone started to crumble. It was that time when he noticed the first Single saber player. Which owned Zødiac like hell. Nothing personal he said, but Zødiac could not get it out his mind. How could a single saber beat staff? He kept his questions and feelings inside for a time. Zødiac never had a normal nickname. His intention was to create a back-up nick. He wanted to name himself his original nick, but since he was still a noob, he decided to create another nick, and change into his original when he becomes very strong. At first, he was a pure FFA player, until one day he took on the single saber. Too slow. He did not see what made every single saberist so good, so he decided to change into duals. Changed his appearance, his nick to Deez. At first, he was very bad at duals, but with time, he started to win a couple of fights. It didn’t take long for him to get at the single saber again. From then on, he started to train on the single saber like crazy. He choose his saber color as violet, for to him, it meant speed, accuracy. He had his crazy thoughts about many things. He trained day and night. He started to get how the single saber works. Though the process was very long. Eventually, it all lead to the fact that Dominus (he changed his nick after duals again) left the game once again. At beginning of 2008 he started playing again. Strange, but then, he became stronger than he has ever been. It was then, when he started to form his philosophy, that in order to win, you have to use everything you can and know. Thus it leads him into the first meeting with the exploits. As he progressed with the single saber, he started to use various exploits and cheats more often. He knew so many ways to win, that he started to get invincible. Though, it didn’t take long for him to get bans for his actions. Then he realized that he must control all of his actions to a reasonable state. In other words, he decided to not overdo with exploits and cheats. He started to play clean, though many exploit and cheat habits were burned in him, and there were moments when he could not control himself. The day came when he was noticed by a clan. The clan was called Cyrus. The original clan died a long time ago, but since it was rebuilt, the staff of Cyrus decided to add some new and powerful players. Dominus was included. Though he changed his nick once again, so they would not find out who he is. He changed his nick to Shen. Strange, he did not do it intentionally, but after some time, he found out, that Dominus meant domination. Shen meant god. Those who knew this and told him that, gave him a strange impression of himself. Once he joined the clan Cyrus, he got the rank of Saber Master. He started to think that he is now a master. Although, before that, he thought that he is the one who needs a master. That was when he stumbled upon a community called: The Jedi Academy. He liked the idea of having a padawan. But since he got the rank and became a master (that’s what he thought), he left the idea of joining that community behind. Although, he still got a master. His first master was called King. But he was poor as master, all he did, was taught him more exploits and more ways to use them. Days passed and Shen embraced the ways of exploits, and to top it all, he finally figured out how to create his own force mode character. He removed the textures of his face and hands and became the one with the force (that’s what he thought he was). He became the only player on all of those servers that had such a model, because, as time passed, the secret of that model disappeared. Shen figured out how to make himself look like that all by himself. He started to get noticed by all, but he started to figure, that he still has allot to learn and that King wont teach him anymore. So he joined The Jedi Academy. The first thing he did, was write an application in the "Looking for a Master" topic. When he wrote his application, the first day he received a reply from a player called SaZ, claiming that he is from Zødiac's country. They contacted each other, and thus, Zødiac began a new, fresh period of his game play.

First Period In The Jedi Academy

• ~A Jedi, would naturally be patient, nice, respective, helpful

The first day at the Academy was very hard on him. The idea of leaving not only his old clan, but the friends, community and game play he got used to in the 1.00 version did a job on him. For him to connect to TJA servers, he had to update his client and enter a whole new world of severs and players, which was very new to him. Back then Zødiac at start was still known as Shen. The training with SaZ started immediately. Compared to King, SaZ's training took him into a whole new level. Training methods, tactics, movement, exercises. All this was very new to him. Eventually Zødiac was able to keep up. Only later he renamed himself to Zødiac, thus completing his transformation into the light. SaZ thought him how not to exploit, and to forget his past ways. Eventually, Zødiac was able to let go of everything he held dear in the old servers and became fond to the new ones, in other words, Zødiac adapted to the new system. Meanwhile, he started to show his first results in combat. His skills were growing very fast, as for his attitude, it begun to change. Zødiac lost his Pub-rat attitude, became patient, helpful, polite respective. He began his transformation to Jedi-hood. Not only Zødiac was active in the servers, but in the forums as well. He showed great enthusiasm and potential for a while. It didn’t take long for him to realize his dream on becoming a JAK. Zødiac completely forgot his old ways and found new friends that would help him stay that way. Zødiac disappeared for a week or so at the end of summer. When he returned, he had changed. Zødiacs skills went down a little, but it was allot for him. He could not stop in realizing that all his effort went down the drain in a week. This was the main reason why he suddenly changed his style into duals. Stupid, yet interesting move to make. He had to learn a completely different style from scratch. His master Saz was disappointed in him, for making such a drastic decision and tried to pull Zødiac back into the single Saber, yet he did not show any interest in single anymore. Something happened then, they’re relationship suddenly came to a stop. Meanwhile, Zødiac immediately started his dual training. Without having a dual master, learning duals was near impossible. He started to look around for people who might know something about duals. He spent his days in pubs looking for a master willing to teach him at least the basics. His skills were growing little by little, as he started to gather simple tips. He noticed that straight attacks with duals would usually end up by his own death. So he started to use his defense and learn how to counterattack, thus putting the main foundation to his style. He finally started to realize how duals work. A TJA member Cuthalion helped him in looking for a dual master, although in vain, but still it’s the thought that counts. Mainly, Zødiac started to show progress after he met Trey and he showed him the dual delay. After that, he started to addend to Dash'es classes. He noticed that yellow stance and duals are very similar, different, yet similar. He combined the knowledge of what he learned in class, and started using it with duals, thus making Zødiac's dual style a rare one indeed. After that, he started combine other knowledge of other styles and combine it with duals. Many things unlocked some of duals secrets, some of those things just were a waste of time and health on duals. Anyways, he started to get what is what and how to control his 2 sabers. After style combination, many long nights and thoughts, unfortunaly, little by little he started to come back into his old self before the academy. He started to exploit again, cheat with duals. But it was not for win or loses. He wanted to see the difference of clean and dirty fighting. Nobody knows how it happened, but he created his own twisted philosophy about the game, that he won’t be bounded by any unwritten rules, he started to think that if there are exploits, they are for a reason and there is no real reason for him not to use them. Though, the influence of the academy also had its toll. He also stated, that this doesn’t mean he will use those exploits, but nobody forbids him for using them. Exploits are there and nobody is going to change that. Sedith. According to Zødiac, a Sedith is neither a Jedi or a Sith. It’s a player that can play clean and exploit without any hesitation but also control itself. It’s not about clean or exploit fighting that defines a player, it’s the capability of controlling those 2 factions to your needs that shows the real strength of a fighter. His fighting style changed, though he rarely ever uses any exploits. At the very point he finished his philosophy, he met a guy named Icarus from a dual clan called Myth. He invited Zødiac to join his clan.

Second Period In The Jedi Academy

Zødiac didn’t join the Myth clan. Apparently, the clan was at the edge of collapsing, and there weren’t so many good dualers out there anymore. He started to look for more masters/skilled players. It all ended up in a total waste of time. After 2-3 months. Zødiac came back to the academy. He started training immediately. Slowly, he started to improve again. He became known in the academy as the "Dualer". Actually he was the only active dualer around and also one of the rarest dualers ever. Even from the beginning, Zødiac showed that his style will have a very strong connection to the 2 sabers most powerful ability: defense. In other words, he became a passive dualer. Mostly dualers are known for their ability to pressure the opponent into doing mistakes, while his tactic involved much footwork than actual offensive fighting. He picked up many exercises, training methods to help improve himself. Eventually, after he red the KoP dual style, he wanted to write his own. More and more people started to join the academy. Allowing him to train more against various players. The time came, when he realized that he was at that point where he no longer needed any supervision or guidance from a master helping him master duals. He was at that point where he knew he can learn everything else by himself. After Zødiac got into tip-top shape, he took a padawan named w00p00. He later renamed into Ace Wile, but is known as Ace. Too bad he became inactive too soon, although, having real life issues he abandoned the game too. Somewhere at the end of the year, he came back. With his relationship with SaZ renewed, he enthusiastically started to improve his game play. He has nearly mastered his own game style, knows its weaknesses, advantages and mistakes. That was the main reason that powered him to train some more. Even though he lacked the control he had over duals in the first period, his skills in the second improved greatly and he was able to take on the better players. After near perfecting his passive game play, he decided to put some of aggressive game play into his style, thus making him stronger than ever.

The Third Period In The Jedi Academy

The third period had a tremendous affect to Zødiac. Not only it took about 3 months, but it also was the most beneficial and important of them all. Mainly, his second period contained the time part from December to January. So the third period started right at that point when the winter holidays ended, and even tough Zødiac had to stop playing, he did not. He kept on training, exercising and improving himself. Ace has abandoned the game, Kaldør was nowhere in sight, the only true friend he had was SaZ, but he wasn’t too active as well. So Zødiac was technically alone again. Many new players came and went by; he started taking every dualer he saw as a trainee. His ambition to teach led him to give out tips, ways of improving to everybody who needed it. He was not sure why, but he felt he had to find or reform something out. A new player named Kain Sol entered the server, he started training him a little, giving tips, showing exercises. Later on he became Cuthalion’s padawan. After that, Zødiac still showed Kain Sol some new ways of training, awaiting his approval. And right after that, many new and old players started joining the servers. This led that Zødiac had people he could train with. His skills were growing, not as fast as before tough. He was practically at a stop of improving, because he didn’t know what to improve. After he met Sauce and got totally destroyed by him, he took his tips and advices. He did not use them well enough until later. He started looking for sparring partners because he realized that he will not improve if he will go the same full as before. He started losing more, but he tested out many things. Movement, attack ways, approaches. This led him to start creating his own Master Hood concept. It was mainly a way to define and simplify the whole training, to actually recognize whether you are good or not, and what you need to improve in. Zødiac’s skill suddenly started to grow again, and then the big changes began. In the middle of the third period, he took a new player called TuyeRe as his second padawan. In fact, all his padawans showed some abilities that he lacked. TuyeRe mainly used Hurricane aka Buzzsaw. TuyeRe showed the ability and the will to learn everything, tough in the end he left the game because of connection problems, Zødiac still trains him occasionally. DarkDaemiser was Zødiacs wanted pupil. Dark was a dualer when he came to the server. Zødiac trained him everything he had time for, but eventually in the end, when the time came to choose a master, he chosen Cuthalion over Zødiac. This led him to his second mental breakdown after the time he first took duals. He started to think that all he has ever known is useless, that he is a bad teacher, that all this training is all in vain; he will never beat the top ranked players with duals. This led him to stop every training activity and just be an annoying bitch over the servers. Eventually he learned that it will not change the fact, that he may not be a good teacher as he hoped he would be. That was the main reason why he started to keep all his ideas and tips to himself. Even though he might have not been, but he felt alone, misunderstood, used. This was also the catalyser that weakened his relationship with Cuthalion. He also thought that his skill was too low to actually be a master to anyone. This was the breakdown that eventually led Zødiac to become a more closed person, yet more serious. After that, Ace and Kaldør finally returned to the game. Ace has impressed Zødiac with his grown skill with duals. Ace has become more patient and eager to learn, tough do to Zødiac’s fault, he might have left the game again later. He did not have a lot of time to spend on padawan training because of real life problems and situations. This was also the main reason why he was late to reply to Solitude’s letter concerning the staff position. Zødiac applied for the staff, concerning himself with the holocron project. The return of Ace made Zødiac believe in himself again. The return of Kaldør meant the new era of the Grimclaw’s. They decided to keep the family tags on, even if the family only had 2 active members. So eventually, dead or not, the Grimclaws finally stood high and alive. Even though Kaldør left again, Zødiac still kept the tags on, as a promise to not let the family die. The time came when Zødiac was on his way to improvement once again. His timing, movement, accuracy stared to show up in many fights. He started to change names occasionally to stay incognito. At that time, Shogun, his good friend from the pubs has summoned him to join his JA+ clan. Having no exact reason why not joining, Zødiac joined the Knights of Darkness clan, which was later renamed to Jedi Exiles. He slowly started to rise up in the ranks there, and eventually the Jedi Exiles became his second home next to TJA. Although, JE might have been the main reason for Zødiacs upcoming relapses in the game. While playing base and JA+ at the same time, his skill has become unstable very hard to control. He had difficulties adapting himself very quickly in the base and JA+ envirourment. This led him to some relapses in the game, meaning like from nowhere he could lose all focus, skill and everything he had learned. Right after he joined Jedi Exiles, he started to notice that his skill was increasing in an interesting degree. He could beat players with his non-exploit style which other dual exploiter could not. This led him to think that it’s time to fill in his gaps and maybe join ESL. That’s why he started looking up 5 Dual Masters for personal 1 session training sessions. His intention was to get the answers to all questions he had left, and finally maybe take the mantle of a Dual Master. Although, after some time, his quest for perfection came to a sudden stop, because all the 5 Dualers instantly became inactive. In the Jedi Exiles clan, he met a guy named Legion Master, which was very eager to learn duals. Zødiac trialled him in many various ways, asking questions, getting to know him better. Eventually, in the end he was led to believe that Legion Master might be the one to surpass him, so he did not hesitate and promised him to take him as his padawan, as soon as he gets the rank in the clan to actually have one. The clans democracy did not allow him to have any padawans, or train anyone fully. This was a big problem. The week he met Legion had been also special for another reason. Zødiac had his biggest relapse ever. Although, when it ended, he was stronger than ever. It’s something after going to the gym. If you work too hard, you will strain yourself, but after you heal, you will be able to lift up higher weights. The same thing happened to him in the game. He started using the advices given to him by Sauce, which led to the fact that he sometimes totally dominated the whole duel server. The week after that is considered the closure week of the third period. Zødiac was promoted to staff, he immediately made Legion Master register and made him his official padawan. He released his Sedith Holocron, and in the end, he understood what he really needs to do to become a true Dual Master.

Sedith

Its Zødiacs own philosophy based on the idea that there should not be such things as good and bad, but the ability to understand and control both sides brings humanity to perfection and that what makes a Sedith. Including his philosophy, he also mentioned that it includes a whole new system of training, master/padawan relationship changes and other stuff.

Padawans

His first padawan was a player firstly known as w00p00, later he renamed himself to Ace Wile aka. Ace. At the end of the second period, he took a player called TuyeRe as his second padawan. Zødiac is more a theory guy, than an practical demonstration kind of guy. Although he tries to make as many demonstrations as he can. He invented his own methods of training, improovement and exercising yourself. Zødiac thinks that 2 padawans are enough, he doesnt plan on taking more, ever. Although he made an exection and took Legion Master as his third padawan. Another thing, just because he is considered a master to his students, he likes to consider himself as only an average-skilled player.

Families

In the first period of the academy, Zødiac met a player named Kaldør. They formed a family called Grimclaw, which wasn’t a really big success. Kaldør left the game for a long time and Zødiac was the only one carrying the Grimclaw name, in order to pass it down, he had to train a player. Because of the circumstances, that rarely anybody wants to be thought in duals made the family die. Yet, things have been discussed, it has been decided that the Grimclaw's will never die as long as they both keep theyre tag's on. So eventualy it all happened that Kaldør and Zødiac are the 2 founding fathers of the family, the family that WILL NOT DIE.

Fighting Styles

Single

At first, Zødiac was a single saber user. He used hybrid style. He used red style ground and aerial attacks to pressure the opponent, then yellow counterattacks to make fast hits. He isn’t afraid to add some of the Sedith style he developed, meaning he can add some forbidden moves and tactics at any time. Although, his lack of instinct, carelessness got the better of him. Now his single skills are off-balance and very unstable, yet his yellow skills have improved greatly, but yet again, this doesn’t make him a good single user.

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Duals

Dual style is also known as the Jar'Kai saber form.

• ~In actuality, the use of Jar'Kai predates the invention of the lightsaber. With the two single blades, a wielder who could maintain a strong offense, as two blades could keep an opponent wondering which one to shift towards to defend against. One of the blades in the wielder's hands was used for attacking while the other one was used for defending, such as parrying, or for more offensive purposes. It is also useful against more than one user as one blade can only be in one place at one time. However, it is not without its weaknesses. A user of Jar'Kai who lost the offensive was at a disadvantage to a single hilt user, especially a powerful one. The use of two blades prevents the user from putting all his weight behind a defensive block, thus weakening one's defense considerably. A physically stronger opponent could simply batter a Jar'Kai user until their guard finally gave way and when using dual sabers. With two single blades, it is also harder to control as the non-dominate and dominate hands have to be used in unison. If not careful or trained properly the use of two lightsabers will only hinder your performance.

Firstly, Zødiac followed the KoP developed style of dual fighting. Later on he dropped that style and started to develop his own. After much struggle, he developed his passive dual style. He is also a user of a saber form called Form II: Makashi "Way of the Ysalamir" or "Contention Form".

• ~ After Form I's proliferation as a lightsaber combat technique, Form II came about as a means of lightsaber-to-lightsaber combat. It was described as being very elegant, powerful, and requiring extreme precision, allowing the user to attack and defend with minimal effort, while his opponent tires himself out, often wielding the blade one-handed for greater range of movement and fluidity. The form relied on parries, thrusts, and small, precise cuts—as opposed to the blocking and slashing of the other forms. Form II countered sun djem, the goal of early Form I masters, by being well trained in prevention of disarming and weapon destruction.

His main foundation to these styles is the from "Zero"

• ~Form "Zero", while not an actual form of lightsaber combat per se but rather an ethical principle, was the idea that Jedi should know when to use their lightsaber and when to find an alternative means of solving a problem. This idea was defined by Jedi Master Yoda to address the need of the Jedi to restrain themselves when tempted to use "aggressive negotiations," and instead use another well-developed Jedi skill, such as the Jedi mind trick. This was a form used to arrive at a solution without resorting to violence.

Although, he tries to perfect his own style called the Sedith Dual Style. Involving defensive as well as aggressive game play. Nothing lasts forever, his fighting style keeps on chaning and improoving, so there is no actual description about his fighting style. Although, he is very determined, even when the situaion is hard, he doesnt like to give up. Hes always willing to listen, take tips and advices. He also is one of the rarest dualer types out there user: The Short Saber User. Instead of using both long sabers, he uses 2 vertically challenged sabers for offence as well as defense. This might sound crazy, but he thinks that that might be the purest form of duals ever. The short sabers are considered for training purposes ONLY.

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Staff

He knows the basics with staff, and could easily get out of trouble using it. He is also developing a new style called Stinger-Staff. It involves something similar to Staff+Single ,but he does not give much information about it. He uses simple attacks like advancing scissors and areal scissors to cut his opponent to oblivion.

The Look

Zødiac is also known as the "Silver Guy". The skin he uses is a custom one, it deletes the textures the face and hands, leaving him only with his clothes. It looks like in a way he has been touched by the force, or you can see the force itself inside of him. This is a very rare skin model, and he doesn’t like sharing it. He likes to have a unique look. He also stated that it’s the official Sedith model. It represents his close connection to the force, as well as his attitude not to be known too well by anyone. That he would like to stay anonymous.