Dueling academy

Dueling academies were a form of martial arts school that arose in the Galaxy well before 1000 BBY, but had roots as far back as the reign of Xim the Despot, before the rise of the Old Republic.

The academies promised to teach their students the secrets of melee fighting and physical and mental perfecting techniques. Most claimed ancient pedigrees and links to hidden philosophies. In their heyday, prior to the Battle of Ruusan, they became social and political forces, with students adopting the ethos of an academy as a personal belief system. Some academies (without the approval of the Jedi Council) even claimed to have access to Jedi secrets.

The schools entered their decline during the Rise of the Empire era, as the desire to emulate the Jedi and chivalric orders of old fell by the wayside. Palpatine's propaganda machine linked the academies to the weaknesses of the Jedi, and by the end of the Clone Wars, all but one had closed.

Some duelists claimed that the Jedi Order was merely the largest and most successful of the academies.

The popularity of the lightfoil amongst the Saber rakes in the Tapani sector was probably originally connected to the academies.