While mastery of the art of the Lightsaber duel can only be achieved through diligent tutelage by a master instructor, this Compendium reveals a few of the secrets of the craft of Lightsaber construction and provides guidelines for the creation and wielding of Lightsabers by members of the Brotherhood.

Lightsabers - The powerful yet elegant weapon of the Jedi Knights for thousands of years, these swords of power use blades of pure energy to cut through nearly any animate or inanimate object. By tradition, most Lightsabers are built by their users as part of their Jedi training. They can be built in a few days if there is an emergency, or take up to a month or more to construct and fine-tune.
     Seemingly simple in design, a Lightsaber has a handle about twenty-four to thirty centimeters long that is usually hung from a belt. Inside are a power cell and multifaceted Adegan crystals or jewels (usually one to three) that focus the energy from the power source and release it through a concave disk atop the handle, where it appears in a tight and steady colored beam of light and energy about a meter long. When they are activated, Lightsabers hum with their coursing energy. Although considered archaic by some, Lightsabers can be powerful weapons after their users undergo extensive training.
     A saber with a single jewel has a fixed amplitude and blade length. Those with multiple jewels can alter their amplitude and change the light blade's length by rotating an exterior control to vary the distance between jewels. The emitted beam arcs back from its positively charged continuous energy lens to a negatively charged high-energy flux aperture set in the disk atop the handle. The power amplitude determines the point at which the beam arcs back, setting the blade's length ("Star Wars Encyclopedia").

Lightsaber Technology - Lightsabers tend to follow a similar basic structure, although many are very individualized by their Jedi builders. While the pure energy blade has no mass, the electromagnetically generated arc wave creates a strong gyroscopic effect that makes a Lightsaber a distinct challenge to handle. Operating on the complex principle of tightly controlled arc-wave energy, it requires focusing elements made from naturally occurring crystals that cannot be synthesized. A Lightsaber must be assembled by hand, as there is no exact formula for the crucial alignment of the irregular crystals. The slightest misalignment will cause the weapon to detonate on activation ("Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary").

Sample Lightsaber design - Interior

Sample Lightsaber design - Exterior (shroud emitter)

Sample Lightsaber design - Exterior (bell emitter)

Guidelines for Brotherhood Members - Building a Lightsaber is one of the threshold tests for Dark Jedi initiates. Accomplishing the impossibly fine alignment task proves their Force sensitivity. While training with a Lightsaber may begin much earlier, members of the Brotherhood may only construct, carry, and wield a Lightsaber when they reach the rank of Dark Jedi Knight. A specially-modified Lightsaber may only be constructed and carried by a Krath Archpriest/Obelisk Prelate/Sith Battlemaster, two single lightsabers may be wielded by members of at least Krath Pontifex/Obelisk Primarch/Sith Warlord rank, and the ominous double-bladed saber may only be carried by a Dark Side Adept or higher who has mastered the intricate art of double-bladed fighting.