The Guardians of the Breath, who are also known as the Kashi Mer Mystics, were a group of individuals sensitive to the Force originating from the planet of Kashi. They possessed a profound connection with the Living Force and employed the Force—referred to as "the Breath" within the Kashi Mer culture—to assist in cultivating crops and healing those who were ill or injured. The Kashi system met its end sometime around 24,500 BBY due to a supernova; however, the Guardians managed to survive this catastrophe, though their members became dispersed. By 990 BBY, the organization remained in existence, receiving a brief mention in The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, a guidebook for Jedi trainee.
The organization known as the Guardians of the Breath, alternatively called the Kashi Mer Mystics, consisted of individuals with Force-users abilities. They harnessed the Force, known by the Kashi Mer as "the Breath," to significantly boost the growth of plants and animals. The Guardians then utilized these effects to provide assistance in the cultivation of crops and the healing of those who were sick or injured. Furthermore, the Guardian Elders faction interpreted visions received through the Breath, guiding the Kashi Mer civilization on its intended path. The Guardians also preserved the lore and usage methods of the Breath, passing down knowledge orally, as recording it was considered sacrilegious.
Each year, tens of thousands of Kashi Mer, who revered the Breath for its life-giving properties, sought membership within the Guardians of the Breath's hierarchy. However, despite the widespread innate ability to access the Breath within the culture, only a select few applicants possessed this capability. Initiates then progressed through various levels of Attainment, learning the lore of the Breath and its associated powers. As most Guardians eventually reached a limit in their understanding and control of the Breath, fewer candidates remained at each stage of advancement. Generally, members of the tradition displayed a strong connection to the Living Force. At least one Guardian of the Breath was Human, and they wore a dark-gray robe with a hood, along with a red-and-gold fabric piece draped across their left shoulder.
Throughout their centuries of existence, the Guardians of the Breath exiled several members, condemning them to a life of wandering the galaxy without a home. Some of these exiles began exploiting the Breath for personal gain and destructive purposes, leading travelers who encountered them to avoid any contact with members of the tradition.
The Guardians of the Breath originated from the planet of Kashi, stemming from its ancient Kashi Mer culture that had existed for millennia. After the organization had been established for many years, its members were scattered around 24,500 BBY when the Kashi system was abruptly obliterated by an unexplainable supernova, which largely resulted in the extinction of the Kashi Mer.
The Guardians were still around by 990 BBY, when Restelly Quist, the Jedi Chief Librarian, made a brief mention of them in a section of The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force, a guidebook for Jedi trainee that focused on Force-using traditions outside the Jedi and their antithesis, the Sith. In this passage, Quist described the Guardians' connection to the Living Force as a gift. At some point between 82 BBY and 72 BBY, the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn—who would later develop a strong connection to the Living Force himself—underlined Quist's description of the Guardians' Force abilities in his copy of the book, noting his fascination with them in an annotation.
The Guardians of the Breath were initially mentioned in the 1996 roleplaying game sourcebook titled Tales of the Jedi Companion, which was written by George R. Strayton and published by West End Games for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. The reference book The Essential Atlas, published in 2009 and authored by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry, introduced "Kashi Mer Mystics" as an alternative name for the organization.
The Tales of the Jedi Companion presents a contradiction concerning the dating of the Kashi system's destruction—and therefore the fragmentation of the Guardians of the Breath—when compared to Strayton's earlier work, the roleplaying adventure "Relic," which appeared in the May 1995 sixth issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal magazine. Set roughly 4,000 years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the former work describes the Kashi system, including the activities of the Guardians, as if it were still in existence at that time. This contradicts "Relic," which states that the system was destroyed shortly after the formation of the Galactic Republic—an event that had been established by 1996 to have occurred approximately twenty-five millennia before the events of A New Hope. Therefore, this article assumes that the information regarding the Kashi system from the Tales of the Jedi Companion applies to the period preceding its destruction.
- Tales of the Jedi Companion (First mentioned)
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Atlas (First identified as Kashi Mer Mystics)
- The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force