Twenty-five thousand years before the birth of Luke Skywalker, a band of noble Jedi formed the Knighthood and built the first Jedi Academy on Deneba. It was a place to teach the Jedi ways and expand the knowledge of peace and tranquillity throughout the galaxy. From the day of it's inception until it's destruction during the Clone Wars, it was the heart of the Jedi Knighthood. Supported by the Old Republic it had many resources available and trained numerous honorable Jedi; such as Nomi Sunrider, and Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma. The methods gradually changed over the millenia, moving from a collegiate environment to a bording school to a careful organization designed to maximize output of Jedi and train them from birth.

Getting Accepted

As mentioned earlier, becoming a Jedi is never easy. It takes years of hard work and an indomitable will. The first step in becoming a Jedi Knight is undergoing Force Sensitivity tests. In the early years of the Republic until the resurgence of the Sith, these tests involved a Jedi Acolyte (non Force Sensitives and lowest ranking Apprentices who act as assistants, advisors, etc. to the Knighthood) assigned to the applicant's home system (or nearest system) briefly meeting with the candidate to ascertain his belief's and reasons for wanting to join the knighthood. The Applicant is then given tests designed to measure the possibility of Force Potential (these tests are designed to rate the likelihood of Force Potential, the only way to be sure is through the Force) and behavior in high stress situations (such as the questions Dekker asks while interviewing suspected replicants in Blade Runner). The Acolyte then sends a recommendation based on the test results to the nearest Jedi Praxeum (Small teaching instillation consisting of one to ten Jedi Masters who report directly to the Academy). After a Master reviews the reports he may take interest in the candidate and invite him to visit the Praxeum. There the Master uses the power Sense Force Potential to determine if the aspirant is gifted enough to wield Force Powers (is he Force Sensitive?) and then gives the aspirant a Quest to prove his worth to the Knighthood. This can be as simple as a riddle (Such as a Zen Koan or ?How many apprentices does it take to change a glow rod?? depending on the Master) or, more often, a long, arduous journey filled with danger and temptation. Regardless of the method, the Quest should be a journey of self discovery and humbling insight. If the candidate returns successful (as determined by the Master.... there are often hidden objectives to be accomplished during Quests) he is admitted into the Praxeum.

After the resurgence of the Sith, the Jedi took pains to scour the galaxy looking for children with Force potential, often recruiting them as early as six months into their life. This method hoped to avoid the danger of fear and anger becoming a major parts of a childs psyche and potentially driving them towards the Dark Side. Older candidates were refused on grounds that they were too much of a risk of turning to the Dark Side without the careful upbringing. Initially, many Masters argued against this form of teaching, saying that evaluating each candidate's ability to deal with the Dark Side in the forms found in daily life was essential to the development as a person and as a Jedi. Nevertheless, a noticable drop in the number of Jedi turning to the Dark Side was observed over the next hundred years and the program was instituted formally some three thousand years before the Clone Wars. In this time the Master and Padawan learner method was formalized, with no Masters allowed to have more than one pupil at a time, except in generalized classes at low levels.