The Guardians call on the Breath to aid in the growing of crops and the healing of the sick and injured. Also, Guardian Elders rely on the Breath to provide them with visions that tell them the appropriate path for the society as a whole to follow.

 

Each year, tens of thousands of Kashi pledge for a position among the Guardian hierarchy, but only a select few, often less than a handful, have the innate ability to access the Breath. At each level of Attainment, Kashi initiates learn more of the lore and powers of the Breath. But most Guardians find that they have a limit to their understanding and control over the Breath, and therefore at each stage of advancement there are fewer and fewer remaining candidates.

 

The Kashi Mer maintain an isolationist policy, refusing to even speak with off-worlders (though they do have space-travel capabilities, including light-speed engines and craft). Those outsiders who believe the Kashi will accept them and teach them about the Breath usually find themselves locked in the depths of a dank cell for the rest of their lives for daring to utter such sacred words.

 

A few Guardians have been exiled over the centuries, sentenced to wander the galaxy world-less until they die. Some of these individuals have turned to evil ways, using the Breath for self-gain and the destruction of others. Those travelers who have encountered such ex-Guardians have no desire to ever enter the same parsec as one of their kind.

 

Shortly after the Great Schism, an heirloom of the Kashi monarchy is stolen by young Force student Reda Jalooz. Several months later, she returns claiming she?s discovered a dark secret about the relic and asks for forgiveness. Very soon thereafter, the Kashi system suddenly supernovas. The cause of the supernova is lost to history.