Dash Starlight
| |
| Dash Starlight | |
|---|---|
| Saber | Single |
| Style | Yellow Purist (Clean) |
| Affiliation(s) | The Jedi Academy |
| Gender | Male |
| Location | The Netherlands |
| Padawans | _Muro_, Drogan Draconite, Zuka, Sho Koon, DrunkenJedi, Laziana, Johauna |
Dash Starlight is a Jedi Academy Trainer who utilizes the Yellow Single Saber stance and was taught as a Padawan by Jedi Academy Council member Virtue. He became the first Jedi Academy Knight to be instated after the Staff purge. Several months later he became a Jedi Academy Trainer and achieved the rank of Jedi Academy Master before his retirement a year later. He made his return to the JAK+ after four years and is currently teaching Basic and Advanced Medium Stance classes.
The Early Days
Dash Starlight joined the Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy community in August, 2004 after a friend got him interested in the game. Dash Starlight regularly visited public JA+ servers with Hellmouth and the Angels HQ being amongst his favorites. He was met with criticism right off the bat due to his playing style. This was because Dash Starlight enjoyed using the medium stance, which wasn’t appreciated by everyone.
During this time he met a player nicknamed Padawan who turned out to be Jaina D'Kana. She told Dash Starlight about the existence of the Jedi Academy after he expressed his interest in enhancing his lightsabercombat abilities with a focus on the medium stance. He then discovered a place with a most special atmosphere and a vast amount of knowledge and skills.
During his early days in the Jedi Academy, Dash Starlight received help and training from various people. Majno was assigned as his 'Big Brother' to help him find his way around the community and to teach him some basics. He also learned from other friends like Lancer007, PlooKoon, illian D'Kana, Jaiko D'Kana, Jaina D'Kana, Virtue, Carda Jowol, JK13, Dacascos and many others. He teamed up with both Kenny Jowol and Majno as training partners.
Dash Starlight took his time to get familiar with the Jedi Academy before looking for a master. He decided to contact Virtue concerning padawanship, because he could play during the weekends only and was therefore missing a lot of classes. Under the tutelage of Virtue, Dash Starlight started developing into an effective medium stance purist, but also learned about movement, Force and basic gunning.
Knighthood
On April 23rd, 2005, the Purge took place. This happened, because the listed JAKs, JATs and JAMs had become less active over time and were no longer at the top of their games. All JAK+, with the exception of the Council, got their ranks reset to Student. Students were then toggled so they could initiate their Jedi Knight Trials and Dash Starlight was one of them. He was one of the first batch of students, which also included current Jedi Academy Master Setementor. After a retrial, Dash Starlight became a Jedi Academy Knight on June 17th,2005 and was the first Knight after the purge.
Dash Starlight remained an active player on public servers. He regularly visited public duel servers to hone his skills and to gain experience fighting styles that were a rare sight inside the Jedi Academy. He continued playing on public JA+ servers as well, which included Hellmouth, the Angels HQ, NJO and JLG. Although he never actually joined any of these clans, he had a lot of friends there and came by frequently.
Promotion to Jedi Academy Trainer
Dash Starlight was promoted to the rank of Jedi Academy Trainer together with Setementor on January 9th, 2006. He has taught the following classes over the years:
- Basic Medium Stance
- Medium Stance Basics (Beginner)
- Welcome to the Jedi Academy! (Beginner)
- Medium Stance (Intermediate)
- Public Fighting Strategy (Single Medium Stance)
- Public Medium Stance (Advanced)
- Force Training: Neutral and Light (Beginner)
- Force Training: Neutral and Dark (Beginner)
- A Christmas Special
Jedi Academy Trainer Laziana and Dash Starlight joined forces holding the 'Welcome to the Jedi Academy!' class together as they each had ideas about helping out new JAS finding their way around the Jedi Academy.
He organized the Fifth Anniversary Tournament in honor of the Jedi Academy's fifth year of existence. This tournament was held in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast in order to go back to the game that the Jedi Academy had started with. It launched on June 11th, 2007, which was the exact date five years after the Jedi Academy's creation. The tourney saw a good number of old members participating mixed with newer members who had focussed on Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. The tournament was won by Kain.
Becoming a Jedi Academy Master
Again together with Setementor, Dash Starlight was promoted on April 23rd, 2009 to the rank of Jedi Academy Master. Their profiles had actually been closed prior to their promotion as a joke, which caused some stirr in the Jedi Academy at that time. No permanent damage was done, however, and Dash Starlight much appreciated seeing friends stand up for him.
Retirement
Dash Starlight retired due to personal reasons on July 2nd, 2010. He continued to play Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy and remained active both on the Forums of the Jedi Academy as well as on its servers. He became a JARadio DJ holding a classic Rock 'n Roll show titled 'The Jukebox' which still runs today. After a year of retirement, Dash Starlight essentially became inactive during 2012 and played, at most, once a month. This lasted until late 2012 when he decided to return to the game he had enjoyed for so many years. He discovered even less servers and players were around than a year ago, but also felt fortunate to still have a chance to play, duel and interact with others in a game that was nearly 10 years old.
It was during this era that Dash Starlight discovered the Order of Fairness. He got to know quite a few of its members and enjoyed playing there so much that he eventually joined the community. The JA was inactive at this point, and Dash Starlight felt good being part of an active community again. His stint with OoF lasted for around two months of time, but continued to be active on the OoF server as well as on other public servers.
Return of the JAT
In early March, 2014, there was a sudden rise in activity in the Jedi Academy. It saw new people signing up and being active on the servers as well as the return of (many) old members. In response, Dash Starlight asked for reinstatement as a JAT on March 7th to be able to teach classes again. He put up a Basic and an Intermediate Medium Stance class which are still being taught on a weekly basis today.
Playing Style
As a medium stance purist, Dash Starlight focuses on it and uses it nearly exclusively. His style is based around taking full advantage of the sabering system to cause intentional knockbacks or parries. This closely resembles Virtue’s style.
Dash Starlight believes that Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy contains a number of bugs that can be used to enhance one’s performance as the game was rushed for release. He chooses to avoid these exploits, however, because he thinks it gives the user an unfair advantage over an opponent and that it would alter the gameplay and thus break the gaming experience.