Jedi Academy Aurochs

The official logo of the Jedi Academy Aurochs.

The Jedi Academy Aurochs are the official esports team of The Jedi Academy. Members from the Academy are recruited into the Aurochs to represent the community both in fighting ability and in good sportsmanship. The Aurochs compete in TFFA and Duel matches against other teams in JKA. They are one of the few competitive teams in JKA that still adhere to a fighting style unreliant on poke. The JAA also took an active role in contributing back to the Academy and to the entire JK3 community. As such, the Aurochs comprise the very best that the Academy has to offer.

What is an "Aurochs"?

An aurochs (Bos primigenius) is an extinct European mammal of the Bovidae family. Julius Caesar wrote of the great black bulls in an account of the Black Forest..."They are but a little less than Elephants in size, and are of the species, color, and form of a bull. Their strength is very great, and also their speed. They spare neither man nor beast that they see. They cannot be brought to endure the sight of men, nor be tamed, even when taken young." The name was picked by the player Luke Skywalker, who would later on go to found Jedi Praxeum, and is derived from the Final Fantasy X team: the Besaid Aurochs. The reason why Luke picked this name is unknown, though. The word "aurochs" is both singular and plural and can also be thought of as a collective, individuals forming a greater whole.

Origins and History

The Hydroball Team

The first Academy team to carry the name "Aurochs" was originally created by Luke Skywalker and (SKX) Dark Blade as a casual Hydroball team at the Academy. Who the original players were and how active the team was at that time is unknown today. All that is known is the team eventually fizzled out with the arrivial of JKA.

Aphex's Aurochs

Late in 2003, Aphex created the first version of the Aurochs as they are today. He invisioned a team of Academy members that could go out and compete against other clans in Duels and TFFA while representing the Academy as a place of learning. Aphex wanted the Aurochs to spread word of the Academy to various players in JK3 that didn't know about it and would profit from its wide range of educational material.

The Aurochs were an instant success in the Academy and the team practiced fairly often, participating in all aspects of JKA such as no-force, full-force, capture the flag, and all-out FFA competitive events. The team took on a number of clans and played in some tournaments, but unfortunately the records of those matches have been lost.

Midway through 2004, Aphex joined the US Army and was unable to lead the Aurochs any more nor fulfill his duties as an administrative member of the Academy. He turned over control of the team to Jaiko D'Kana, a 'Jedi Academy Trainer' at the Academy. Jaiko was unable to do much for the slowly retiring team because of various issues in his life and the inability of his internet connection to join game servers. The Aurochs fell into inactivity and the team faded away for a few months.

The Return of the Aurochs

On October 10th, 2004, then 'Jedi Academy Knight' at the JA Tido wrote to Jaiko to allow Janus, a former Aurochs and then a Knight as well, to take lead of the team and make it active again. Jaiko readily agreed and passed the responsibility to Janus. Janus laid a new foundation for the Aurochs and Tido constructed a new website to reflect the changes. The Aurochs took a design similar to the Academy's with the leader of the team being the "Master Aurochs", the leadership advisors being the "Master Auroch Mentors", the ranked members at the Academy who were involved being the "Mentors", and the rest of the team being "Aurochs". The team grew quickly by attracting many players, most notably Kain, followed shortly by Masta, both of whom would later on become some of the core players of the JAA.

Janus couldn't remain as the leader of the Aurochs because of issues in his life and eventually because he had to put down the title of Jedi Academy Knight, making him ineligible to lead the team anymore. Janus passed the title of Master Aurochs to 3th, padawan of Aphex and a Knight at the time. This would mark the beginning of the greatest era of the Jedi Academy Aurochs.

The Era of 3th

Not long after 3th took charge, the team realized the current system wasn't working smoothly. It became apparent that the Academy's design wasn't proper for a team and the Aurochs were suffering inactivity problems in the upper ranks just like the Academy was. Also, the Aurochs were caught in a tough debate about whether to recruit a team to win or recruit a team to allow more people to participate despite the outcome. It was believed that the team could accomplish both objectives and a dual-team system was drafted for the Aurochs. The Aurochs became two teams: the White Team and the Green Team. The White Team represented the top-skilled players and were to play against the toughest clans/teams. The Green team consisted of Aurochs that were considered "up and coming" and were to play intermediate level teams/clans. The hope was that both teams would be active, play opponents of their skill level, and the Aurochs would have a system that constantly improved players to the next level. The design worked well for the White Team and it went on to become competitively successful in JKA. The Green Team, however, never became motivated enough about their matches and made little effort to improve or even participate.

Conflicts With The Academy

The Aurochs suddenly found themselves in a tough situation when teammate Sauce, back then a member of WoV was suddenly banned from the Academy for making a sarcastic remark about laming on the Wovian clan's forums. Despite efforts to talk with the administrative leaders of the Academy, namely the 'Jedi Academy Council' (JAC), the Aurochs could not help their friend whose intentions were not meant to be serious. From this point on, the Aurochs and JAC had trouble getting along with one another. Situations arose frequently where the JAC disapproved of the Aurochs. The team felt like they were being targeted and that the Academy was being hostile towards them.

The Aurochs went into debate amongst themselves about seperating entirely from the Academy. Many felt that they were not welcome at the JA and that the Council, for whatever reasons, might destroy the team they had come to enjoy being a part of. On the other hand, most Aurochs didn't want to become a clan and liked representing the ideals and comradery they enjoyed as members of the Academy. Most of the team agreed that the best course of action was to remain a part of the JA, but start preparing incase their fears about the Council were true. After this, the Aurochs began moving their website to their own domain and started acquiring their own game servers.