No other small group of Jedi have been as influential and as contributed so much to the Jedi arts of combat healing, and self development as the Order of the Black Phoenix. Started by seven highly talented and unorthodox Jedi Knights, the clan would later have twenty four members at most, much smaller than most other clans, yet be among the most powerful, if not the most powerful group of Jedi from Earth. Always going against convention, and constantly working towards advancement and a clearer awareness and understanding of the Force, the Black Phoenix Order continued to make important contributions to the Jedi cause and their arts, and kept on doing so up until they would dissapear into obscurity at the end of the Jedi War, to the dismay of just about the entire Jedi Order, because of the all the knowledge that would suddenly vanish with them.

There is much that could be written about this illustrious clan, however the focus of this work is on lightsabre fighting, and so we will stick with that. It is most likely that the reader well knows the high level of prowess that the Jedi of the Black Phoenix had when it came to lightrsabre combat; they were phenominal masters of the weapon. Many have likened them to the Wu Dang school of Chinese martial arts when it comes to sword fighting. The clan brought forth a vast amount of knowledge, research, study, and skill to the art, and no group had created as many high level styles and forms as they have. A great number of their styles were so advanced, few Jedi outside the Order could even hope to learn them fully, much less master them. Because of this, and because of how lethal the styles could be, their arts were raerly taught to others, and the few they shared with the majority of other Jedi tended to be simplified in some form or fashion to make it easir for other Jedi to learn. But even those "watered down" versions proved to be amazing.

To this day, people still are looking for any of the swordplay books that were written and kept by the Black Phoenix. Their grand archive remains something of a holy grail for Jedi researchers, healers, scholars, and of course, swordsmen. Each style they created is considered a treasure in it's own way, and one can spend a lifetime just reasearching and studying one of them and gain much from its practice. From the elegant and sophisticated, yet simple Noble Jedi Sword, the ferocious and powerful War Blade Style, the swift and deadly Knight Skill Spear Set (and the lost "mother" form it sprung from, the Master Skill Spear Set), to the graceful and magical Flying Angel Sword, and the legendary and highly sought after Living Blade, each style is a testiment to the Order's skill and insight.

It should be noted that even though the members of the Order created styles that others studied, they highly stressed self development and personal expression. They didn't want others who studied these arts to simply copy their movements step by step and blindly think that was all there was to it. Indeed, these forms were mostly developed simply because the created fought that way, and put down their favored techniques and skills, charting them down into a series of forms and sets that would make up their personal style. Others would study them to see where the creator of that style was coming from, and use them to develop their own selves, insights, and combat skills, and later develop a style of their own. Even if they didn't create their own full style later, they'd still do things their own way, at a high level. It's no wonder there were so few members of this clan at a time; it was for all accounts a clan of masters.

While many people are used to using the term "form" as a lightsabre style, the Black Phoenix had a different conotation. With them, the term "form", or as they called it, a "set", was one of the various sequences of movements that would make up a style. Usually, a style would have about three of four sets, though others may have more, and others less, depending on the one who created it. One will note that this goes along with the chinese martial arts way of thinking, and indeed, the original founders were skilled in chinese martial arts, trading knowledge back and forth with the Wudang during the Great Jedi War. This is also the reason why the majority of Black Phoenix sword styles are one handed rather than two handed like the stereotipical lightsabre style. Chinese swordplay tends to be one handed; note the arts of the Wudang Jedi have the same trait. There have been a few critisisers of swordfighting with single grip; that holding a lightsabre with two hands is better and offers more stability and a greater advantage, especially against someone using a single grip. Of course, one only has to see the success of the Black Phoenix against the Sith they fought against, to see that opinion proved wrong.

Every style had it's own flavor. Some were made strictly for the battlefield in mind. Others tended to be made for dealing with a large number of opponents at once. There were also many that were designed to increase the power and vitality of the practisioner while at the same time protecting him/her against their many foes. Still, it should be said that just about all the styles can be used for health and energy building benifits, again following the characteristics of chinese sword and martial arts..

As stated above, most of the styles and forms that they created were lost when the Order vanished from the public eye. However the names of a great many of them, as well as their characteristics, are still known thanks to past accounts. And a few styles still are known of and used today, thanks to the Order sharing them with others during the war. True, they are somewhat simpler versions, but they are still at a higher level than most styles used today. I will venture to discuss these styles at length, both those still known as well those still hidden. The hidden ones still deserve mention, for despite their inacessibility they have carved a place for themselves in Jedi history, and struck those who have seen them in use with much wonder and amaizment.