Post by Darth Exolus on Jan 2, 2021 22:00:17 GMT
Character glossary & Relevant groups;
Tale I - THE DARK LADY
High orbit, Malachor V, 38 ABY.
Achor, the mother sun of the Malachor system rose up high, shining through the splintered penumbra of its fifth host planet in a thousand points of light. In the old days of the Sith Empire, Malachor V's once-verdant plains and purple-capped mountains were a welcome sight for the weary lane jockeys and troops returning home both. Once the lush world had been struck down to its core by the Mass Shadow Generator, very little green things that grew were left down the now-arid canyons of the world. Now Malachor V was considered a dead world, with unstable gravitational storms of sickly green lashing angrily across its sky unabated. Indeed, those who walked upon its rocky surface felt a deep sense of unease, of a cold whisper in the air, whistling through the canyons and mountains, balefully calling out for a reprieve never to find them.
About her upper atmosphere lay a network of enormous orbital factories, chewing up the countless derelicts of a bygone age that littered the planet's local space for a great number of centuries. To navigate was done so at the peril and skill of pilots, and today was no less dangerous a task than any other, as a lone Action IV transport lumbered its heavy hull about the cracked, battered warships of a bygone era. Escorted by the red-on-gray TIE Interceptors of the Union's secret police, the Stinky Bantha laid in a course for the surface, near a particularly-large continent, heaved away from its neighbors by a vast chasm, where the planet had ejected its crust so very long ago. Faint wisps of clouds passed by the aged vessel, converted for inconspicuous ferrying of important individuals. It would not look out of place on any world, drawing as much attention to itself as any other old freighter.
Sailing close to the desolation of Malachor's beaten surface, the Bantha picked out several spots of faint light, high above the landmasses, as sunlight streaked through the shattered, but still active core of the world, spewing up great rivers of molten metal. Sunk deep within the dirt, Malachor's architecture had evolved from once quaint cities and modest farming complexes, into mountain retreats, cave dwellings that were anything but modest. Since the new Renaissance under the self-styled Emperor Zsinj, the Tsisj of Korriban flocked back to the older, neglected worlds to carve out new dynasties for themselves. In Malachor V's case, this was both figurative and literal. For all the pinpricks of light, all the glittering regalia and ornamentation plucked out of the core, Malachor V was not a world considered bright. Foreboding perhaps, and a little dreary, those who built these new temples of wealth were quick to recognize folly, as House Sarûs - a minor noble family claimed the ancient Sith stronghold of the Trayus Academy as their new estate. Gutted and derelict, it made a fine skeleton upon which to build their grand mansion. Heritage and history were bywords for prestige, even in the lower echelons of Sith society. So did House Sarûs elevate themselves from high commoners, to low nobles, delving into the earth below the Academy, finding new veins of silver ore. Thus a silver star became their heraldry. This same star fluttered on flags blown about, as the Bantha lurched its aged frame down into the crevasse cut close to the Trayus Mines.
The main loading ramp yawned open, several figures disembarking, surrounding a robed figure, hidden beneath hood and helmet. Behind him strode a lanky umber-red and nasty-looking protocol droid, while all around him marched the Supercommandos of Darth Reaver's secret police. There was much hubbub at the private dock of House Sarûs, with any member of the family worth anything to society gathered here to great their important guest. Sju-mûn Sarûs, patriarch of the family tugged and fussed with his collar, while his immediate family waited nervously by his side.
"Stand up straight my sons. Let him see you are noble lordlings now, mind your manners and ensure the girl keeps her wretched whore mother out of sight. I do not wish to sully a high Lord's sight of our fine abode with the reek of a commoner," Lord Sarûs boasted, corralling his sons directly beside him, as a foul chill spread across the landing pad, mingling with the choke of Malachor V's eternal lightning storms, "you see? He is a man like you and I. Be not afraid, be strong!"
As the masked man approached, Sju-mûn bowed neatly at the waist, his sons and retinue both following suit after, each either bending the knee as per their station, saluting as demanded of their rank or prostrated themselves before him. The Sith Lord glanced leftward and right, before breaking into a stride, past Sju-mûn, who swiftly followed, saddling up beside his fellow.
"Ah... Kwuso sosû sosûtirtsu iw Âdzâd... I do hope I pronounced that correctly my good Lord. I have been indulging myself with new learning - as a noble should," he informed, excusing his stilted accent and weak pronunciation of the high tongue of the Sith, "you must forgive me, many of my... Servants speak Basic alone, and so it behoves me to speak it in kind."
"Have you brought your House entire to escort me to a cell, Lord Sarûs?" came Âdzâd's curt response, neither slowing in his gait, nor inclining his head to face him. For but a brief moment, Sju felt his throat dry up, the silence of Malachor's canyons stealing the very words from his neck. It was not an unreasonable thing to ask, as uncomfortable as it would be to answer. When the Clan Lords had heard the heir of House Âdzâd was to be temporarily exiled home, so very many tripped over themselves to take him, and gloat to his insufferable kinsmen over their captive. Many had been reduced to bitter seething once House Sarûs had won the honor. Yet Sju-mûn was no fool, he knew how this game was played, even if the pompous windbags above him had forgotten.
"Your query is understandable Lord Âdzâd, I fear all of my humble household may seem quite like a cell to you, given its recent history," Sju quipped, matching pace with the Sith Lord, almost plodding into his path while rubbing and folding one hand over the other, to quell his nerves, "but no. Quite the opposite in fact. Those wretches on Korriban? Let them stew with the thought that they shall never mock and jeer your presence in their dungeons. I am not so dim-witted as to take cheap, petty pleasure in scorning you. No. You, my good Lord, noble Lord Âdzâd, Darth Exolus! If you would do me the honor are to be the guest of honor, in celebration of my new marriage to the heiress-apparent to House Iab'âras."
"As you wish," Exolus agreed, continuing on his stride, the doors of House Sarûs - Trayus Estate, swung open, revealling newly-tiled interiors, recently-painted walls and lavish ornamentation, a far cry from the drab stone-grays and harsh reds from its former life. It was much too bright and gaudy for the eyes, yet the guest of honor seemed to care but a little, following his nose through the enormous main hall, which by now had many of its decorative pillars removed or replaced. New passageways had been dug out, each leading down a sweeping crescent hallway. West - as Sarûs described it held every manner of opulent stateroom, converted libraries and luxury facilities while east was the Trayus Crescent, a cavernous half-moon corridor, rebuilt into a ballroom and Lordly chamber of unmatched splendor.
Their trip down those halls, though brief were filled with an unending barrage of grand statements and gestures of subservience, of praise to the mighty son of Adas' blood, come to Malachor as part of a host, not a prison procession. Beside himself with joy as they banked right, through another set of large wooden doors, Sarûs noted that he should have liked to host many of the Lords who no doubt bit their tongues after having lost the right to take Exolus under their 'care'. He noted regrettably that they would be dining with lesser nobles, and some modestly-wealthy common folk. He took the cold demeanor of Darth Exolus for an unflappable stoicism worthy of a king, and not for the lack of interest in his bluster that it was. Even Exolus' escort were growing weary of it, breathing silent sighs of relief, as their egress through another chamber led to a growing din of merriment. They had entered the ballroom, to a scattered gathering of at least five dozens men and women, each literally catered to with refreshments from smartly-dressed servants.
It was here that the secret police relinquished their care of Darth Exolus to Lord Sarûs, who warmly guided Exolus to his grand family table at the head of the room, with his sons offering to take his cloak. With but a stern caution that no hand was to touch Darth Exolus from his droid companion, the children hastily took their seats by their father's left side, while his daughter took his right, beside a beautiful young example of a Sith Lady. Grasping her hand as he approached, Sju bid the woman rise to her feet, and curtsy for the Sith Lord.
"My Lord, may I present my new wife, Ashû-Lhmu, daughter of Lord Etel-Enmul, Clan Lord of House Iab'âras," introduced Sju, "my love, you have the distinct honor of addressing the most noble Lord Kmâ-Aruoi, heir-apparent of of the Sith'ari El-Saqir's House Âdzâd."
Ashû gave him a second curtsy, rattling all manner of gold ornamentation either hanging from her face, or pierced into it as she did so. She had clearly been tattooed recently, for among dotted pigments on her cheeks and eyes, faint black lines scored across her brows where hair would have grown on a human, much like was done to Twi'lek slaves to make them more palatable for their owners. The comparison was not lost on the Sith Lord, who was given a seat of high honor at the head of the table. So very many foods imported and native were spread out before him, each upon silver platters, each arrayed by silver dining tools and silver goblets. All pressed with the seal of House Sarûs.
"My sons, Lord Âdzâd, Su-Vanû and Su-Erût. Trueborn by my lovely Ashû... We eloped seven years ago after my first taste of riches in the silver mines. We fell hopelessly in love with one another and we were unofficially wed on Ziost," Sju explained, explaining a strange discrepancy in his children's age, and his wife's - for a new marriage would not have so quickly produced trueborn sons and bastards were often considered unsavory creatures in Sith society - even the noble ones, "alas, my poor eldest daughter Sil-Kagi bears the face of Sur-Haga, her mother. That was a marriage arranged by my late father and her late father decades ago."
Sju roused his sons from their room-gazing and fidgeting with a reassuring hand upon each shoulder. There was no need to be nervous, as they had been the entire day in the leadup to this feast. Their father had spoken at length of the importance of this day, and the greater importance of their guest. This was all for the family. To perform a great service for the highest of the Clans, earn their respect and favor for little more than lodging the scion of their family - at least until some gormless aliens many systems away decided he was welcome back. So little effort. Surely such a deed would be worth the stewardship of Malachor itself.
"Oh... I like... I like your helmet! It's very scary!" commented Su-Vanû, poking a fork in Exolus' direction until his mother lowered his arm, though his twin sibling egged him on with a nudge and a nod, "are you trying to scare people? Is it stuck to your head? Is that why you didn't take it off? Are you playing like Darth Vader?"
"Yes! Are you pretending? I like to pretend I'm Marka Ragnos, and cut off Simus' head! But Mama tells Su-Vanû not to stretch his clothes by sticking his head under when I cut off the head..." added Su-Erût, swiping his knife around like a blade, until he too lowered it, after a stern look from Ashû, both giggling away in their chairs.
"My, my! Boys... Too many questions all at once! Do you not know the tithe collected from House Kj'âlig by House Âdzâd? That is from Lord Âdzâd's father, a... A going away present when he left Korriban long before you were born! Is that not so my Lord?"
"They are but children. Let them be curious while they still have their youth," Exolus replied, still as a statue, brushing off the ply of questions from the youths as exactly that - youthful exuberance, " it is as your Lord father says, this was a tithe given to me by my father almost a century ago, as I injured my face as a young man."
"I read about your family in our history books..." Sil-Kagi chimed in from the far end of the table, "House Kj'âlig's treasure. It's that mask, isn't it? Made by Alû-Sha Kj'âlig. The Countenance?"
"Girl! You assume too much of the prattle you waste your empty head on in that library!" snapped Sju, glancing down the table at Kagi, before he gestured to Darth Exolus, "I believe the good Lord knows his family better than some third-rate fictionist spinning tall tales..."
"She is correct, Lord Sarûs," affirmed the masked Sith, who shared a different opinion on the matter than the girl's father, who scowled still at her - fiercely, until she shrunk down into her seat, stretching out her arm toward her mother who then squeezed it for comfort, "do not take stock in what rumors you hear about the chroncling of my family's history. Not all of it is fanciful. Your daughter is possessed of a keen intellect, to remember such facts. Sil-Kagi, was it? Knowledge is the key to bending the stars, to teach you the patience of stone, when others around you test that patience. Never lose your desire to learn more. It can mean the difference between intelligence and wisdom."
"I see... You have great insight Lor-Oh! About time!" started Sju, cutting himself off from the topic, as a steaming ewer was delivered to the center of the table by a serving man, "excellent, excellent. We shall have to discuss books and novels some other time, the Krauwa has arrived. My Lord, my dear wife's family graciously-shared their famed cooking with us when we were wed. I had batches made especially for the ocassion. I do hope you will enjoy it!"
"Interjection: The Dark Council has decreed Darth Exolus be permitted a strict diet of pre-determined rations, of which he has already partaken of," the ever-hovering protocol droid chimed in, nodding his head toward a tall bottle of pale spirit laid across from Sur-Haga, "Addendum: However, Darth Exolus is permitted to attend formal events at his meatbag host's discretion and consume a maximum of three alcoholic beverages, and one calorific tre-"
"Impudence! You shall set that bottle down now, before I have your fingers plucked from your hand, dim woman! The servants, should he demand it will be the ones to serve it to him if, and only if he demands it!" snapped Sju, harshly while cuffing his former wife on the wrist, away from the alcohol intended to be stretched over to Exolus, who seemed entirely nonplussed, "you bring shame to my House yet again with this doddering lowborn etiquette!"
Darth Exolus met Sju's gaze, eyeing him curiously. The sum total of several seconds were enough to unsettle the patriarch of House Sarûs, feeling a faint mist of sweat build upon his brow. Worry set in, and so it bred a fear. Fear that he had done something wrong. His former wife had surely displeased the Sith Lord somehow, with her oafish lowborn gesture. His own anger was palpable, written as plainly upon him as the nose on his face. Yet it was not her that Âdzâd glared at from behind his mask. It was him. That was how and why Sju knew to be afraid. He would blame him for this. He permitted the wench to sit with them at the table, rather than keep her safely anon with the servants. That was it. That had to be it.
"Yâik qi'tan j'us tajtizi sis riyiyazûtijasi nwi wohniri djhona?" questioned Exolus brusquely, shocking the fearful Sju into a violet-tinted blush that was aught but embarrassed - his bride merely gave an awkward smile at her husband's reaction, while his former covered her face in knowing dismay. Kagi meanwhile caught a chuckle in her throat, burying it down before her father's wrath might be exacted upside her head for such tittering, at such a crass remark. The table grew the bud of a stunned silence, until Lhmu-Ashû uttered a small giggle of her own, wondering if perhaps this was a joke of some sort.
"I... I am afraid My Lord has me at a bit of a disadvantage... I don't speak any of the noble tongues of our people..." she apologized, quick to bow her head - either for not understanding Korriban humor, or for not understanding the language in general. Her two sons were equally as confused, having yet to grasp the linguistics of Kittât. Whirring forward, the rust-red droid gave off an electrical buzz from its vocabulator, approximating the sound of a cough, to divert Lhmu's attention to him.
"Approximal Translation: Darth Exolus has queried your thoroughly-annoying mating partner as to why he spoils his trophy wife, and scorns a former wife and child clearly worthy of more respect than a brooding thug like himself has to offer," HK-77 explained, quite matter of factly. Aghast at the confirmation, Sju barely managed to muster a squeak of babbling, strung-out half words, still unsure if what he heard was indeed what he heard. Lhmu looked rather sheepish at the droid's explanation. She had no fault in this matter, nor had her sons. All the same, Darth Exolus affixed his eyes onto Sju, once he thumped his fist down upon the table.
"I... I have welcomed you gracious, as an honored guest into my home, and you insult me? You go so far as to insult me, and my family as well?!" hissed Sju, gripping his textured cutlery so very tightly, his wrists and fingers tinged a faint purple, and the tips of his well-manicured fingers dug small half-moon pits into his palms, "I do not care whose son you are Lord Âdzâd, I will not suffer such slights against my wife in silence, especially in front of my children. What in stars do you take me for? A simp? A meek simp?!"
"No Lord Sarûs. I take you as you appear to have taken me; for an imbecile, like those you choose to shower with vain wealth and pleasantries. I tell you this, I have neither the will nor the patience to bandy foul words and shallow, coddling deeds with a posturing, lumpen oaf such as yourself," Exolus warned, frigidly, "I take you for what you are; a lustful creature who adores the vapid respect of men like him. You revel in the belittlement of the common folk from whence you came."
"You w-"
"I have had my share of it from men and women - Lords lofty and low, I will not suffer it from you - you, who came from nothing, and will return to nothing when you die," continued the still-calm and collected Sith Master, "your credits, your silver mines? They mean as much to me as the cruel words and glib remarks that roll off your tongue."
"You dare? You would dare?!" Sju screeched, lifting his voice to the volume of the music and the hubbub, earning many concerned looks as he threw himself to his feet, "you have slighted my name and my honor twice... Why... Why... I should take your head for this and drive it on a pike to send back to your mother!"
"If a pound of flesh is what you crave for my truths, then take it. Take it and be done with it my Lord," Exolus challenged, quite unimpressed with his threat, even going so far as to slide his hand down to his side, producing a metal pipe which he laid upon the table before Sju, gesturing to the device that sat there now, "take my weapon and cut me down where I sit. Return my corse to Korriban. You may be unhappy with the results."
His mouth quivered. Darth Exolus had called his bluff. Unperturbed by the idea of his head being removed, Sarûs' throat dried up, words escaping him in spite of his racing mind fighting for ones to say, to challenge him. Instead, he felt an uneasy cold grip about him, empty and haunting as Malachor itself. Half-frozen in disbelief, half-riddled with rage, Sarûs at last broke his silence, cursing in High Sith. He discovered some excuse or another to vacate the table for the time being, leaving it in complete silence while he marched off down the halls to brood in his stateroom, spitting and cursing the entire way. There came a still about the remaining occupants at the table for the next few minutes, until Ashû quietly excused herself in pursuit of her husband, spiriting away the two boys to leave Exolus alone with Sju's first family. The three shared an understanding hush about them while they ate, until the evening hours came, and they too departed for their quarters.
As Exolus came to understand from the brief conversation before her leaving, Sarûs was not as cold and unfeeling toward her in the past. He loved wealth and status over all other things in life. He had none to begin with, only a single-minded determination to acquire both. Through happenstance, luck or a combination of both, his prospecting discoveries led to his status and wealth rising astronomically in weeks. His lust for the adoration of the masses simply ate at him more. Certainly their marriage was once of convenience, her Lord father desired much the same as Sju, as any Clan Lord of any noble house would. Wealth often begat the means to acquire power, if not show outwardly the impression of it. Power, real or imagined was what kept the nobles noble, and the common folk beneath them. Understanding little separated the two, Exolus had long-since abandoned any notion of being the ruler his mother so-desired, cruel despot or not.
When Sju had left, events of the day quickened, as if the congregation knew the atmosphere had soured, staying only as long as was necessary to maintain appearances, and then left. In the end, Darth Exolus was among the last to depart, having sat in stillness for a time. It was not difficult for him to find his own way to the stateroom prepared for him, and as he closed the door behind him, he took to the carpeted floor by the window, and fell quickly into a meditative state. Sju had allowed him to remain a guest, yet made provisions to ensure he would never be within sight of Exolus if it could be helped. All was utterly quiet, until a rapid footfall sounded outside of his room. When he rose, and passed through the door, Exolus emerged somewhere that was clearly not Malachor V.
Unknown Location, Date Unknown.
The cold halls of Malachor were replaced with somewhere sticky, and humid. The air itself was hot and dense, the walls themselves perspiring with summer condensation. Darth Exolus glanced both ways, noting an identical set of halls that both peeled off in the same direction, and again in the opposite. He first glanced a troupe of men in military dress wander past at the end of the hall, and so did he follow, turning a corner to head in the direction he thought to be westward - where the main point of traffic to the central chamber of the Trayus Estate ought to have been. Instead, he found a hive of activity, with an enormous projected seal of a many-spoked sigil, glowing a pale lime green.
Without the faintest idea of where he was, Exolus assumed his body had given out, as it occasionally did, drifting off to sleep. Yet for all that he tried, all he could muster to wake himself, he did not open his eyes in the room on Malachor. He remained in this strange place. It reminded him a little of Kaas City, from his vague recollections of having visited the metropolis, wreathed in jungle growth and reclaimed green spaces. The architecture was much the same, but cold, clinical. Devoid of the trappings the Lords of Dromund would bring to it, when they seized the city back from the beasts and ghouls left behind when the last Empire fell. Then, he noticed something out of place.
Amidst the people who merely passed him by with a wide berth, or swiftly-bowed to him in their curious clothing, one woman, dressed in grays and blacks wandered seemingly-unnoticed by the crowds, even as she brushed past them, or weaved about their paths. She vanished down a new hall, down a flight of stairs. Suspecting he had been lured into someone else's mental landscape, Exolus followed. At the bottom of the stairs laid another hallway, quite different to the one he'd arrived in. This one was decorated with a crimson flag at either end. The mark it bore was familiar to him. It was the Sith Empire's heraldry from after the Hyperspace War, though he couldn't be certain which incarnation it was, for the flag had altered itself many times. There, he espied the woman in dark, idly pacing side to side down the hall slowly. Then, she turned, and noticed him.
"Well now! This is most interesting, most peculiar indeed! Flesh and blood, here in this place... And it can see me too? How quaint, how very, very quaint!" quipped the strange, honey-haired woman, glancing Exolus up and down briefly, "yes, yes... You don't appear to be one of those drifting specters that come in now and again, but here you are! As real and as breathing as the day is long, and suns come up!"
The woman laid a hand upon Exolus' arm, just to make certain he was as real as she seemed to hope he was. Satisfied that he was a living being, she clapped to herself happily, taking a few steps back, to respect his personal space. Quickly, she brushed down and off any phantom particles that may have landed upon his shoulder with a quick rub to his robes.
"Oh but look at me here, fussing like this! You'll have to pardon my sudden interjection upon your uh... Dilly-dallying, you see these moments are so infrequent... So... So..." she trailed off, fighting for the correct word to describe the situation she and Darth Exolus found themselves in now, "sporadic! Yes! Sporadic! Sporadic and mysterious, and often I find myself utterly, utterly alone! Come, come! You simply must tell me where we are, ah... When we are too!"
"I do not know." came his markedly-short reply, receiving a furrowed set of brows from this newcomer.
"Oh bother... That's a touch disappointing. Too bad then!" huffed this strange lady, throwing her arms up, to let them clap back down at her sides, "you see my dear fellow, I had hoped to chance that by your out of place garb, that this was sometime after the Jedi Civil War - now it won't mean much to the likes of you but my favorite husband happened to live during those times the poor old dear... Our love and our family just... Simply wasn't meant to be..."
"I do not know because I am not certain when we are, though the where? This place reminds me vaguely of Kaas City," extrapolated Exolus, judging the flags and the buildings, but little else for he had none other to go on. He has visited the planet of Dromund Kaas but once in his lifetime, and found it thoroughly unmemorable. The odd, fair-haired woman paced back and forth, humming to herself. Despite clearly being somewhere between the ages of twenty to forty, she behaved in some ways like a child. Her marching step came to a halt suddenly.
"Interesting, you may very well be correct, on the money I should think too! Most of this architecture seems a little too new for how dated it must seem to you, or perhaps not? You're a very difficult man to read," she informed, flapping her hand about in the general direction of Darth Exolus' hooded head, "and I don't just mean with that gaudy metal thing upon your face. This place, not too unlike Dromund Kaas you say? You would know more than I on that front, given what's covering up your head."
"Explain..." probed Exolus, tucking one arm under the other.
"Explain, hmm? No good? Am I not articulating myself well enough for you? No matter! Let's start with the easy part; that mask you're wearing. It's from this time. I can tell - don't ask me why. It has that kind of... Dark smell about it," the woman informed, pointing at Exolus' helmet, "that is the mask of a Sith Lord, is it not? Are you perchance him? A son? Cousin thrice removed? Previous owner? Oh, what am I raving about? Of course you aren't! How could you be?"
"You would appear to know much more about me than your words suggest, however I know nothing of you. Have you a name, or are you but a haunting spirit of this place? If you would tell me, then I may be inclined to share with you whatever it is you think I know," offered the robed Sith Lord, proposing a simple trade of introductions in exchange for information. This appeared to delight the blonde woman, who was likely all too eager to share stories. Indeed, at those words she stretched a rather unnatural, wide grin about her face, wriggling her arms in elation.
"Hoh, names! Names, names, names... To tell you the truth, I have had more than I'd care to count over the years... So many so that I've forgotten! Your point though, isn't lost on me my good man, but for the sake of brevity..." she continued, extended her hand out for the Sith Lord to shake, in both greeting and agreement to their deal, "why, I suppose you can just call me 'Narae'. It seems to be the one that's stuck most in this recent breath of freedom I'm enjoying right now!"
"I am called Exolus, Narae," greeted Exolus in turn, shaking her hand briefly, "you mentioned freedom a moment ago. Is this place your prison?"
"Of fate, circumstance, time and loneliness, yes you could call those a sort of prison. This here, hmm?" Narae answered, motioning around the room, "not my jail. In fact, this would all appear to be coming from your head. It is what released me from my doldrums elsewhere. Or... At least, if not in your head, then perhaps an echo, a memory etched into that mask? It is said that such objects steeped in the Dark take on such things from their owners. Cast very long shadows they say."
"You are touched by the Force Narae. I sense it in you," Exolus observed, "are you a Jedi, a Sith or something else?"
"And you are a purveyor of old things and dark wisdoms 'Exolus', I sense that in you," Narae quipped swiftly back at him with a titter, "You are of the Sith. The very old kind that walked under red suns before the galaxy knew what the word "Sith" meant. In any case, what I know about you is entirely irrelevant to the where and when we are... But perhaps the why... Do historians and enthusiasts of hidden lore make a habit of leaping across time and space?"
"I could ask the same of inquisitive strangers, Narae."
"Aha! How droll! I take your meaning Sith... Yes, yes I have been known to flit about here and there, though not by my own volition, knowledge and certainly not my own devices. Brief glimpses through the cracks in the wall you might say," Narae smiled, again baring a queer, toothy grin, "it isn't the first time this has happened, and I expect it not to be the last. But listen! Do you hear that? Something is about to happen. Perhaps it might give us both some insight into the where, the when and the why. Let's take a look and see!"
Narae took Exolus' wrist, and pulled him forward with a curious strength, closer and closer still to an antechamber down a fresh new hall, but one dark and foreboding. It crissed and crossed its way down until expanding, opening out into a meditative chamber at the center of which stood a man, wreathed in purple lightning, conversing with a hooded woman who bore a mask like Exolus'. Narae raised a finger to her lips, shushing Darth Exolus before he could comment, pointing toward the duo, each poised to strike at one another, with the electrified male pacing back and forth.
"That was remarkably-quick thinking, buying Cineratus out from under me. I knew you'd be here after claiming his loyalty eventually... A lesser Sith would run off and hide under a rock, but it is apparent you are no lesser Sith..." commented the greying man, face lined with both age marks and fading tattoos as he held up his hand to halt the woman in her stride as she began her final approach, intent on violence, "that's close enough. Have you come to settle the score with me?"
"You took something important to me, and now I have deprived something of importance to you. We appear to have 'settled the score', as it were," the masked woman replied, referring to this 'Cineratus' individual, "this madness can all stop here. It doesn't have to end this way... Sith against Sith for no good reason."
"Yes, of course. You're correct. Now, you could flee, leave our Order behind and start again elsewhere. Find yourself a new lover, raise a family perhaps?" mocked the man, chuckling to himself, bemused as the woman's lightsaber snap-hissed to life with a flash of purple, "but no... No... You would always be the one who fled in cowardice, and I would be the one who let you slither away... It would eat at us both always. You're also correct in other other aspect; It ends here, and this time I will make certain to dispose of your corpse personally, Lord Kallig."
"As you wish, Darth Thanaton. If your desire is to keep tearing our Order apart at the seams with this childish excuse for invoking the Kaggath, so be it," Kallig mused, disappointment ringing out from her mask, "if you'd set what Zash had done aside, looked past your own orthodoxy, we could have bettered the Empire together, you and I. Strengthened what it means to be Sith. So remember this, as you die - you chose this."
"That is... Darth Nox. My father's ancestor. Is this the residual memory of the mask you spoke of Narae?" Exolus commented from his sideline view of the two Sith, who now engaged in a furious flurry of red and violet, striking at one another with a dancer's grace, "this troubles me. In all of a century there have been no flashes like this. Let us say I do not believe you are entirely-blameless in drawing me here, to this place."
"Then let us say for argument's sake that you're right. I am some criminal to draw you in here to your own mindscape and do... What, exactly? I can no more leave this place than I can cut out my own heart," Narae rebuked, placing a hand over her chest, as if to emphasize her point, "it's becoming clear to me that this... This window into your mind is of someone else's making. I'm just a spectator pulled in along for the ride. You're here because you want to be here. Someone is plucking at your mind, but you're the one playing the tune!"
Narae inclined her head toward the furious battle, in which the masked Sith - Darth Nox, lashed at her former, temporary master Darth Thanaton with a brilliant white lightning, which he easily redirected into one of the statues surrounding his meditation chamber, "I know your kind... Oh, what did they call you in the day and age we're in right now? Purebloods? I think that was it... You Purebloods did seem to enjoy a rousing round of executions, and what better place for a highly Lord of the Purebloods to be than at one of his family's most important executions? This is the place where she died the first time."
"Let us say I no longer wished to be here? Let us say I wished to find the one behind my being here," Exolus went on, turning his attention away from the battle - a foregone conclusion when Thanaton seared Nox' body with a peculiar Sith magic, "and then let us say that I would be willing to find you a way out of here in exchange for identifying the one responsible?"
"Let's say I did for a moment. Let's then say for the sake of it that I have all of the answers you assume I must have. Oh, would that I did my good Lord, would that I did! But this is the Sith Empire. Do remember that because I'm simply the first person you met, that I may not be here to rob you of your independent thought," rebuffed Narae, seemingly as in the dark about the perpetrator to this dream, "see, that's why this entire place is a façade of Coruscant. We can't have any Sith artists getting ideas that aren't decidedly Sith now can we?"
Immediately, Narae gasped. An idea struck her, a moment of clarity. She tugged insistently at Darth Exolus' sleeve, "Will you not walk a while with me? I'd like to show you something," requested Narae, hoisting her shoulder up, tucking her arm neatly around Darth Exolus', leading him away, down passages entirely alien when compared to the structure they were in before, "ah... There's that look. I can see it even beneath that ghastly helmet, this place doesn't look quite so out of place does it? Shall I say then, that I do indeed have the answers you no doubt seek; Is this a dream? Is it really in your head? What exactly is this place? Who brought us here? And just who is Narae?"
"Go on."
"Good gracious, you're so stolid... What am I to do with you? I know!" Narae tittered again, snapping a finger, "I will tell you what I know, but I too have a bargain to strike. I have some questions for you if I may be so bold!"
"You may."
"Look around you for starters. The architecture wouldn't look like it didn't belong on a Coruscanti facade, would it? All you Purebloods wandering about proudly in your golds and purples and greens should answer the most pertinent question of where - the Sith Empire of course!" continued Narae, merrily dragging Exolus along past some striking depictions of the Great Hyperspace War, "have you ever seen art or great literary works from your people dating back before the Daragons made history on your soil? Ah-ah! I know I said I'd ask you the questions, but I'll stop you there - you haven't!"
"Most of it was lost in war," Exolus filled in, unable to recount the particulars or the numbers, but the loss of most of the great works was a tragic loss for Sith historical preservation.
"And there's the rub! Anything before and anything after were unmistakably-derivative, did you know that?" Narae probed, emphasizing the decorative sculptures, "your kind were quite unoriginal long before the Golden Age of your Lord Ragnos. Come, come this way. I'll show you what I mean!"
With all the grace of a dancer, Narae leapt up an invisible step, bringing with her the Sith Lord with uncanny strength, through the wall itself which melted away, running down itself like water to reveal a bare room, hanging in black and only a singular pedestal featuring, upon which sat a familiar pyramidal object. It was joined by a long metal cylinder, projecting a dim violet beam, and that was joined again by a strange museum of objects both contemporary and historic, phasing into reality as Narae walked her guest through an endless phantasmal corridor.
"You seem speechless. That's reasonable. Why should I have all these goodies in my possession after all? They're that girl Nox' goodies. What is there to be said about all these trinkets other than to deride them? Quite a boring collector this Nox is... Rakata here, Rakata there. This is Rakatan, that is Rakatan. Rakata, Rakata, Rakata! To think that your people spent the blood of a generation hounding these savage beasts from Pesegam, and generations after obsessing still! My question to you, Darth Exolus... Why? So many people to speak with. To share knowledge with. Reason, understanding and companionship. Why did you copy the work of those who came before? Those who sought to conquer and destroy your people?"
"This world... Disappoints you?" Exolus replied, with a question of his own.
"Yes, indeed! That is my eternal disappointment! How astute of you to notice. If not your kind deriving from the Rakata, then they from the Kwa, and the Kwa from the Architects, and they in turn from their own masters! What is the definition of culture if it keeps repeating, and you tear yourselves apart?"
"The repeating pattern has not escaped my notice. It will continue for as long as things live and die. We survive. We remember."
"And that is my point! I'm merely giving commentary on what my eyes see, Species after species becoming a slightly-different kind of society than the ones they replaced. So easily do they devote themselves to their liberators, or to bask in ignorance, without truly seizing the fruits of their own hard-won freedom. There is no unity. They are not as one. Do you not see? No? I think you will. Let me show you what I mean."
Narae waved her hand, projecting a rippling approximation of the long-dead Darth Groznii as he appeared in his final years, as Exolus had known him. Haggard, twitching and about a moment's notice from throttling the next person to utterly displease him by breathing too loudly, or standing improperly. He approached a throne, clutching his badge of office tightly, rolling the hilt about in his hand as a second man approached the throne, to take a knee - that was Darth Inferno, before he was Xaos, before the Brotherhood, when Exolus was but a mere apprentice. Narae gauged Exolus' reactions carefully, easily reading his expression from under the mask.
"Repetition Darth Exolus... It would seem that that's the foundation of the galaxy. Invention begets imitation. It repeats itself, over and over and over again. Stagnation follows... And inevitably war breaks out. If not between tribes, then between Light and Dark, and once again the galaxy falls into Chaos, and I glimpse out of my prison at what you all wrought," she explained, pointing out Inferno raising up his lightsaber to cut down Groznii in view of many co-conspirators to end him, "yet no-one ever breaks the cycle. Not one of you is truly united as one. Not even over something so loathsome a united hatred. And yet... For all I've fought to understand the why, all I've fought to be with them all again... One by one they all abandoned me. Even my own children turned on me! I cannot bare it! I wept for I was so alone, I wept because of what you all had, and I did not... And you squandered it all away mimicking those wretched Architects again and again!"
Drying her wet eyes, Narae chuckled at her own foolish display of emotion, wiping Groznii and Inferno away with but a blink. Her outburst had changed the locale to one of rolling, angry pale storms, swirling between them. Sniffling, her smile returned, eyes bright with joy once again.
"Oh goodness me... Look at myself! Pardon my outburst, I am always alone you see. Once I was not, and all were with me... But my family is gone, long-dead after having abandoned me. That is why I crave these moments. Why I ask all I meet why the galaxy is as it is. What is it that drives your kind Darth Exolus? What unites your... Obsidian Union?"
"Conflict is integral to every galactic civillization. Especially ours," Exolus responded, "Even pacifists will come to blows given enough time. The Force it seems, would appear to guide all who struggle and grow. Who dominate, as the weak cruelly dominate. It is said that if one has a quality, no matter how vile it may seem, then let it define you. We are as one, brothers and sisters under one banner, and one will..."
"But?" probed Narae, expecting more as Darth Exolus trailed off.
"But. The will of the Sith is not the absolute will. I despise the Force, for it controls us all in some cruel and unfeeling means to achieve Balance, regardless of how many are sacrificed," he continued, "the weak suffer, and the strong slaughter one another over small things like invisible lines dividing the galaxy up into systems and worlds. If there is one will, then it should be ours, and if not ours, then the Force must bend to serve it... Or die. It is the root of all conflict and derivative culture Narae, and because it cannot think, feel or know, it can only act, and that is abhorrent to me."
"How very interesting. Subvert the Force? Can such a thing be done? Do you not know the machinations of those who first commanded that great Sky River?" questioned Narae, looking up above to the stars that hung overhead, "kill it? Do you even know how? You are seeking to unify all things by, oh what is it those Corellians call it? Levelling the Huttball playing field? Noble. Oh yes, very noble... But I wonder what will happen if you cannot find a way? That is a question to answer another day. I have more to show you rather than tell you. I think you'll like this next part. I can feel whomsoever is commanding this dream of yours... It's oh-so close to your heart!"
Leading Exolus through the foggy vistas, past standing pools of water, faint greenery began to come into view. More and more. Thicker brush and dense tree networks quickly settled in around them with each step that covered more than just the length of their shared gait. For reasons beyond his understanding, Exolus was bidden to walk left, while Narae right. She vanished off into the distance, until Exolus found himself in the middle of an overgrown gully, at the foot of an enormous, ancient edifice that much-resembled the ziggurats of Yavin IV. But this world was not Yavin IV. This was one Exolus was quite familiar with. Though it was teeming with life, there was something deeply-wrong with the world. He knew it well. A choking, crushing feeling of oppression and terror lingering at the edges of life. One that ate at the very spirit if it was allowed. He stood before one of the Grand Edifices of Nathema.
Grand Edifice, Nathema, 1,089 BBY.
Alone and left to wander closer, Exolus noted that the enormous structure did not look as dated at it should have in his memory. The stone was barely-eroded, and a path had been cut, winding out back into the forests behind him. This was a world after the explosive bloom of life had returned to its surface, but clearly a great many centuries before Exolus stood on it, and turned the planet into a colorless chaos once again. Even before his time on Nathema, it was still rife with imported wildlife, and dotted here and there with pockets of the Zealots; the one-time guardians of the long abandoned Sanitarium. He could sense their presence - something he found odd for a vision, or dream or whatever this stroll through his own memories was. They were each huddled inside the structure, chanting and praying over a literal abyss, where once a Force-fuelled machine of cataclysmic power once rested.
Exolus tread halls old, but still familiar to him. They had changed little since their foundations were laid, and sat just as still and silent as they had when life left Nathema. Perhaps a few enthusiastic grave-robbers or adventurous Dark Jedi came here once, but they either perished to the horrors of Nathema herself, or were picked apart by the crazed cultists. He passed by several, praying to grotesque steles of old gods, though his presence went unnoticed as before. He knew where he was, and roughly when now, but again the why concerned him. What message was being sent here? Who sought to trap him here in memory? He continued on, snaking through the bowels of the Edifice, until that familiar stairway down to the pit loomed. Curiously, the contents of said pit tugged at him, as it had - relative to his own perspective, almost a hundred years prior.
Narae poked her head out from behind a serpentine statue, waving Exolus over to come and join her. He chose to stand beside her, until she insistently pulled him in behind it with her, seeing little point in arguing with her oddities at this point. Exolus simply decided to go along with the woman's strange quips and quirks, as she pointed, There, a trio of Kissai clad in the garb of the Zealots spoke with lanky green, insect-like creatures unlike anything he had ever seen. Exolus fixated upon it, from behind the crumbling pillar, only for Narae to tug him back behind it, "Careful... Wake the neighbors! Unlike last time these conjurations might spot you, as I found out. Had to do a bit of running through the jungle! What do you make of those strange things? I've never seen anything quite like them... Except perhaps for those Killiks."
"I have never seen those creatures before," Exolus admitted, "never when I was here, never before and never since. But this place... This is wh-"
"Oh hush if you don't know. Just look," insisted Narae, peeking out. An ancient-looking protocol droid translated a series of shrill clicks and trilling whines from the green alien, into a tongue Exolus could understand, "...And his most noble Grandprogenitor sends his prayers of mourning. The events past have pained him deeply. It is his wish that you know the actions of a few cretins do not speak for our kind as a whole. Thus he swears upon the holy names of the Baen'Zohna that the parties responsible will be found and punished for the good of the Varlian Star Empire and the Zealots both. Void-tampering is n-"
"Well color me confused!" Narae interrupted, turning to face Exolus while speaking over the unaware 'Varlian', "Zealots! Nathema! Bayeeen-Zohn... Ben-Zahn... Oh forget it! Curious to me, but familiar to you?"
"Nathema is the name of this planet. I came here a century ago. The Zealots attempted to break me by training me," explained the Sith Lord, pointing out the dark-clad figures conversing still with this peculiar 'Varlian' insect, "instead, they created me. I broke them all to my will, and robbed this world of its light a second time."
"How ominous, killer of worlds, shackler of people..." Narae commented, waving at the Varlian and its Zealot companions until she was satisfied they could not see her this time, taking off down the stairs, "ominous, and yet... For all this place confuses me, that pit... Down there, just there... It calls to me. Familiar somehow... Are you quite certain you haven't just conjured up a vivid dream and brought me along for the ride Mr. Kmâ-Aruoi!"
"You know my name. My name before I was Exolus. I never told you, and you know little enough without having it explained to you..." he probed, breathing slowly through his mask, in dull rasping huffs, "you read my thoughts to know this. Yet you know nothing of Nathema, but on the same hand you can feel that?"
Exolus stopped in his tracks following Narae down the stairs. She took once step and froze in place, for the Sith Lord was pulling her back through the Force. Chuckling nervously to herself, Narae turned as best as her body would allow, firing off another one of her unsettling grins, until she was launched toward Darth Exolus, who clamped a hand around her mouth. She grumbled, squeaked and groaned in his grip, wrestling to loosen his clenching fist from her. Now Exolus probed into her mind... And what he saw elicited a most strange reaction from the Sith Lord. He did what few had ever seen or heard him do.
Darth Exolus laughed.
"I believe I understand now... How clever. How very clever indeed!" chortled the Red Sith, looking around the room, after unceremoniously-tossing Narae before the mouth of the great pit that led down into a well of nothingness, pulling and wrenching at them both. Cursing to herself, and belittling Exolus for his rather rude and rough treatment of a lady, the blonde brushed a few dust-caked locks down, tossing them behind her head with a scowl.
"It is not a common technique Narae, but I now know what has happened here. Someone, or something has drawn me into the past for reasons which I do not yet know," started Exolus, joining Narae by the chasm before the abyss, peering down into it with familiarity, "In times long ago, Jedi and Sith lost themselves to the past. Whether it be a fixation on history, or an inability to let go, those that commanded the ability to Flow-Walk across time itself through the Force... Eventually they succumbed to their wants. Some others used it to torment and torture their hated enemies, showing them past traumas they could not correct, tempting them with things they could never grasp. It drove many to the point of insanity. Someone is attempting to do the same for me... But you? I also think I understand why you are here Narae."
"At last... Some answers! I've been beside myself with curiosity!" huffed the woman, insisting Exolus tell her what he knew, rolling her hand expectantly, "well? Out with it then!"
"Look down there first. Into the pit. What do you see? What do you feel?" he asked, again pointing down to the pit. Narae obliged, rolling her eyes as she cast her gaze down to the depths. Her breath caught in her throat when she looked, truly looked. He could see a measure of concern in her pale grey eyes. He could feel a disquiet gathering around her, and the more he pawed around at her foremost thoughts, the more he came to know.
"I feel... I feel... Huh... That is most peculiar. This gap in things. It is so familiar to me, yes. Yet I feel as though I should fear it... Even though it is nothing," she replied, quieter than before, as if a pang of worry had suddenly come over her, "it is quiet in there. Utterly devoid of anything. I feel it pull at me...? Calling me... To return? No. No! No I will not!"
Exolus' hand found the back of Narae's neck, and pushed her down, breathing noisily into her ear, "Look down. What. Do. You. See?"
Narae gazed. She saw nothing. Nothing for a great long while, having forgotten the buzzing conversation taking place not ten feet away from them, as history flowed on in spite of them. There, in the darkness, she saw a mirror, of shimmering, water-like black glass. She could see herself, hair shimmering, silver-white eyes lighting up the inky ocean around her. She was more radiant than she appeared. An ideal, internalized image of herself. How she felt, but not how she was. Yet she could see Exolus too, in the mirror, his hand around her neck... And her eyes widened. In an instant, fresh familiarity took her. Exolus was not a man standing beside her, but a thousand lidless, unblinking black eyes ringed in cloying emptiness, gazing back at her.
"I see you..." Exolus announced, his many eyes shifting to the side. Narae cried out as her lovely visage melted away from her like water, revealing her true self... With but two silvery stars peering out, "the mirror cannot perceive it, but I can feel the exquisite terror... Of what you truly are!"
Narae flung herself back, groping at her face... Her fair features had returned, though her heart was beating like a drum, "Tch... A conjurer of tricks as well I see? Who exactly are you Darth Exolus, and how is it you claim to know me?"
"I know you, as you know yourself. That place which made you, also made me," he sneered, no more than a man in a mask to her sight again, "I am of the chaos from whence you supped an eternity ago. I am the dark thirst you slaked, the bright hunger that you fed. I am that which bears no name... And against any other foe, I would be helpless... But you, wrought by grief, by fear... Here, at a gateway to the font which created us both, where our power is equal..."
Exolus planted a foot to the woman's back, and with a singular shoving kick, pushed Narae into the pit, sending her screaming out of time, out of sight, and out of mind, and Nathema slowly started to bleed away as a result, like paint running from a sodden, oily canvas, "Return to the void that made us, and trouble me no longer dark mother."
Villa Solis, Terephon, 37 ABY
Hapan architecture was not something Exolus professed himself to be familiar with. When the walls of Nathema fell apart, like a crumbling façade painted atop where he stood now, he could but look around. He was in some kind of high-society building, a personal residence by the looks of things, and yet the only other person in what should have been a bustling estate, was a single woman seated on a throne. This was not Narae. This was someone else. Behind folds of cloth about her entire body, Exolus could see a criss-cross of implants and wires, showing the marks of extensive cybernetic augmentation. She gestured at him with two fingers, making the slightest of movements in his direction.
"Welcome, Darth Exolus. I must say, you've dashed my attempts to probe your mind for anything I can use to persuade you in the conversation I had planned for us," announced a voice from this new locale entirely unfamiliar to Exolus, "alas, we shall have to have our little talk now. Please, sit..."
Exolus found a high-back chair sail its way to him from across the room, bumping into his lower back once its journey was complete. He placed himself upon it, no more than ten feet away from this new woman who had gone to some considerable effort to bring him here. This was not his mind now, this was her own. Much as he tried to look into it, this place was a locked door to him, with no visible means of entry.
"I've had quite the time you know, trying to get you here," explained the shadowy female, baring two vividly-green eyes down upon him, "you are not an easy man to snag for conversation, and I couldn't very well reveal myself and speak to you in person you understand. Introductions are in order I think. You are Darth Exolus, Sith Lord and boogieman to the Alliance. And I... Am Lumiya, the true Dark Lord of the Sith."
"A bold claim. By what right claim you the mantle?" Exolus queried.
"By might. By succession. By my own convictions. My tutor was Vader before his turn to the Light. My existence known to Emperor Palpatine, the previous Dark Lord, and not your has-been Dawnstar," quipped Lumiya, stretching her cloth cowl out in a smile, "surprised? I know your precious Master well enough to know who and what he is behind the little masquerade he puts on for the fools on Hosnian Prime. I suppose you're wondering why I didn't pull my little stunt on him instead of you?"
"You strike your enemy where he is weakest, not where he is strongest, and the Dark Lord is the strongest among our number," Exolus acknowledged, "so you come for one of his twelve right hands. To kill or coerce. Which one is it Lumiya?"
"It would be an awful waste to kill a man with your talents," she scoffed, dismissing the former with a wave-off, "no. I'm here to strike a deal with you. All I need is for you to listen to what I have to say. If you don't like my offer, we can part ways, and I'll find another who will."
Exolus sat back in his chair, spreading out his arms in a gesture of understanding, allowing her the opportunity to discuss the terms of her bargain. He would hear her out, her terms at least, though he was not of the mind to accept any offer she put on the table, no matter how tantalizing it may be. His vision was clear, and his plan moving forward clearer still. His destiny was with the Obsidian Union, among the Brotherhood. To deviate from the path he saw before him, all that time ago was to invite folly, and change the outcome. This was nothing more than a courtesy for someone so dogged as to go to these lengths just for an audience. Her ability to tap into the Flow-Walk if nothing else, was intriguing.
"My spies told me you were a thoroughly-unpleasant villain, not unlike my former master... But here I find that you don't mince words. Good. That'll make things far easier," Lumiya settled, pressing her fingertips together, "I'll make it brief for you then. I want to make an exchange. I give you something you want, and in the future, at some point, I will ask for a favor in kind. As it happens, I believe I can offer you exactly what you want - control over the Force, if I'm not mistaken?"
"I believe a mistake has been made here, but by whom I wonder?" spurned Exolus, resting both hands upon the arms of the seat. Lumiya uttered a faint laugh at his quip, nodding in her amusement.
"How long I wonder, before your fellow Sith find your single-minded adoration for your Dark Lord an obstacle? How many of them do you suppose will willingly give up the Force if you are forced to kill it should you find the solution you're looking for - which I assure you, I can provide you with? Do any of them even know of this horror you're capable of?"
"Do you?"
"Aha... Spoken like a true Sith enigma. I confess, you are something of a mystery to me. But that is exactly why I sought you," Lumiya related, rising up from her seat to slowly plod down the flight of stairs, "they say you are in more than one place at once. That you are many Sith under a single guise. I do not believe that. I think you are something else. I believe you possess the same ability to skirt death that Palpatine once had. That is why I offer you this bargain. I have need of it in the future."
"And what of you, Lumiya? Are you prepared to give up the Force? If you offer me all this power and knowledge that you believe you have that will sate me, then what will stop me from turning it upon you?" Exolus asked in response, still completely-certain of himself and his goals. Lumiya approached him slowly, clearly unarmed. He could sense her intent was not hostile, nor did her movements betray any shred of deception, as if she were poised to jab a blade into his neck when she crossed the distance between them.
"I will most likely be long-dead by the time you figure it out," she enlightened, stopping just short of Exolus upon his chair, "so you have nothing to lose. Your friends in the Obsidian Union will conspire against you sooner or later, when they recognize the threat you are to them. To the power they will not easily give up. Certainly, you may be able to kill the Force, but you cannot control it. All the same, my offer still stands to you. I will give you the knowledge you seek, and in return, you will perform a favor for me, when I ask you, without question."
Lumiya extended her hand, seeking to seal this agreement she had proposed. Darth Exolus rose from his seat, peering down at her hand, wrapped in cloth and wires, seemingly-contemplating her offer. Slowly, he raised his own gloved, four-fingered wrist, and brushed Lumiya's aside, much to her disappointment. She uttered a sigh. A pointless rejection of her offer. Such was unshakable loyalty to a lost cause. She made to turn away, to return to her throne and cast Exolus out of this mindscape, when his fingers coiled about her wrist, pulling her back, though she attempted to wrest herself free.
"A one-time offer I'm afraid. I will not offer it again. You've missed you chance Darth Exolus, I will find ano-"
"What is it you desire, Lumiya? What is it that you want exactly?" he asked, tugging her arm further back, until she could finally tear herself away from him, rubbing at her wrist.
"Nothing quite as dramatic as you, Sith Lord, I seek three things. First of which is revenge, and once I have it, I will work toward my true goal, stability under a Sith Lord, and the ordered peace that will follow..."
"Peace is a lie," Exolus recited, cold and certain, "and the Sith Lord you want to make this for you... Not you, but... An apprentice? Caedus? Oh, you have been clever..."
"You-"
"Do not worry Shira Brie... Your apprentice is known to us. He is a useful lightning rod for us, even with the false second master you have him serve," gloated Exolus, circling around the glowering Lumiya, who sneered back at him with contempt. From her wrist, she manifested a long cord, from which a yellow beam extended. Snarling, she brought it crashing down upon Exolus, cleaving an enormous, smouldering gash from shoulder to hip, throwing his body face-down, leaving him wheezing, close to death. She rolled him over with a foot, clenching her lightwhip's hilt tightly.
"Even if it is true, and you have discovered Palpatine's secret to cheating death... I will make you beg for it before I am through with you here. You chose to serve your doomed master, over a far simpler and more expedient solution," Lumiya hissed, cracking her whip across Exolus' back, melting the fabric, leather and flesh into a horrid, congealed mess of the three, "and now I'll make you burn for it."
A third slap of her whip almost tore Exolus' torso apart, but again she kept lashing, mutilating his body painfully, though she heard no cry of agony, nor any anguished plea to stop. The body had long-expired. However, to her shock, it rose up again, mangled and cut to cauterized ribbons, catching her next whip swing by the wrist again, while the rattling voice of a near-deceased Exolus croaked from his throat, "Burn? What a limited imagination..."
"You are nothing more than a cursed man in a mask Darth Exolus, and one day that will get the better of you! For it will not get the better of me!" Lumiya seethed, struggling with her foe, who surely should not have been this agile, never mind mobile enough to stand, Lumiya grunted, until she swung her free fist at the Sith Lord, striking his steel mask, bloodying her knuckles in the process. Twisting her arm, Exolus forced the lightwhip from Lumiya's grip. With his own free hand, he groped and grasped at the edges of his helmet, ripping it from his face, to reveal nothing behind it. His robes fell to the floor in a heap, which a panting Lumiya stomped on with a boot, to ensure he was gone. Her concern only grew when Exolus' voice rung out in her head.
"Then look upon me Baneite. Pretender. Heretic... Look upon me and know what I did to myself..." he taunted, driving the image of the mask into Lumiya's mind, only this time, when it fell from his head, she beheld a terrible visage of unblinking eyes, and corpse-like flesh beneath, "now... Think of what I could do to you."
Obsidian Union - A Neo-Confederate State unrecognized by the Galactic Senate. Staunchly anti-slavery, the Obsidian Union and its Galactic Liberation Party enjoy immense popularity from the Mid-Rim to the Outer Rim, with many disenfranchised star systems offering support, if not outright allying with the Obsidian Union. It is ostensibly-ruled by Clone Wars CIS veteran Rakesh Dawnstar, who is in fact the leader of a new breed of Sith. Publicly-known as the Obsidian Knights, this order of Sith are in truth, the New Sith Brotherhood. They differ from their contemporaries and peers thanks to a deeply-personal veneration of the Dark Side, through the Revelations, a series of guiding doctrines that shape their orthodoxy and interpretation of the Sith Code. The Brotherhood are not religious zealots nor are they fundamentalists, and view other Sith Orders, past or present as heretical. Neither do the Brotherhood believe in an ideological war against the Jedi, but make no reservations for Jedi Knights who defend the Union's sworn adversaries - the political demagogue of the Galactic Alliance.
Darth Xaos/Rakesh Dawnstar (human male, originally Noghri) - Formerly Darth Inferno, current Dark Lord of the Sith, alias Rakesh Dawnstar, First Consul of the Galactic Liberation Party, a political freedom fighting, anti-imperialist movement. Count Dooku's acolyte following the loss of his apprentice, Savage Oppress. Xaos is a Sith Wraith capable of inhabiting the bodies of the deceased.
Darth Reaver/Calen Dareg (human male) - Founder of the Obsidian Union's Secret Police (CUSP), current de facto leader of the Mandalorian Ash'ad and ace starfighter pilot. Master of Sith apprentice Uros.
Darth Kairos/Tora Venaris (human male) - Appointed as one of the youngest members of the Dark Council, master to Sith apprentice Amorata. Rendered physically blind in battle, utilizes Force Sight for vision. Current Supreme Commander of the Stellar Navy.
Darth Indra/Sela Dax (Epicanthix female) - High Inquisitor in the Obsidian Sith's Inquisitorius branch. Master to Sith apprentice Rennex. Serves under Grand Inquisitor Darth Corvus.
Darth Corren/Malfa Odex (Pa'un male) - High Inquisitor in the Obsidian Sith's Inquisitorius branch.
Darth Exolus/Kmâ-Aruoi Âdzâd (Sith male) - Member of the Dark Council. Uses a variant of Essence Transfer to occupy dozens of host bodies simultaneously. Also currently inhabits the body of Sith King Adas.
Darth Camael/Kara Tobrias (Fallanassi female) - Cyborg and member of the Dark Council. Head of the Union's technology & research division.
Darth Venom/Jacen Vuld (Korun human male) - A maverick and explorer, member of the Dark Council.
Darth Unrivas (Gen'dai male) - Formerly Darth Unrivaled, member of the Dark Council and one of the rare Force Sensitive examples of his species. Presumed dead, later returned to service.
Darth Lucifer/Râ-Gûsu Chahjdow (Massassi male) - The Red Warrior of legend. The foremost lightsaber duelist in the Sith.
Apprentice Uros/Sommen Greysun (human male) - Member of a generational family of Obsidian Sith. Nephew to Darth Calbor, aka Sett Greysun.
Apprentice Amorata/Lamiya Mere (Miraluka female) - An expert slicer and former criminal from Katarr.
Apprentice Rennex/Gelim Braul (Zeltron male) - Once a card shark on Zeltros, Rennex was brought to the Order by Darth Indra.
Apprentice Rayden (Echani male)
Apprentice Strigus (Zelosian male)
HK-77 - Assassin droid in service to Darth Indra.
Xao'kai (Rakata male) - Former Rakatan Predor, current prisoner of the Obsidian Union.
Kenelm Cosinga Palpatine (Half-Human, Half-Umbaran male) - Leader of the Confederate Union Secret Police (CUSP), son of Emperor Palpatine and Sly Moore. Husband to Kendal Malina, a former Jedi Knight and current member of Sith Intelligence. Their daughter was kidnapped and believed murdered by slavers from Jakku.
Doctor Telsin Drobin (Arkanian male) - Genius researcher, archaeologist and chief Sith scholar from Chandrilla. Multiple doctorates in xenoarchaeology, history, linguistics and xenoanthropology.
Commandant Barquom (Echani male) - Elite member of the Union's Secret Police, master of Teras Kasi.
Grand Admiral Kana Kuran (human male) - Protégé of Giliad Pelleaon, brilliant strategical mind and military tactician, commander of the Union's flagship, Righteous Fury.
Rear Admiral Brendol Hux (human male) - Commander of the Union Third Fleet, former naval officer of the Galactic Empire and father to intelligence double-agent Armitage.
Baneite Sith - The enduring legacy of Darth Bane though extinguished with the deaths of Darths Vader and Sidious. This tradition was kept alive by Vader's acolyte Shira Brie, known as the mysterious Dark Lord Lumiya. She embodies the principles of the Rule of Two, taking an equally-enigmatic apprentice named Darth Caedus. The Baneites are venerated by a Sith cult called the Eternal, and Lumiya is their leader, using and manipulating them to influence galactic powers in a grand game of dejarik.
Lumiya (human female) - Last remaining Banite Sith, considered an apostate to Obsidian Sith orthodoxy. Secret leader of the Sith cult known as The Eternal.
Darth Caedus (unknown) - Lumiya's secret Sith apprentice.
New Republic - The ailing successor state to the Old Republic and Galactic Empire it became, the New Republic elects a capital world to seat the Galactic Senate every four years, and likewise a Supreme Chancellor. Previously, Leia Organa-Solo served in this position, but abdicated her role due to her familial association with Darth Vader. The New Republic - simply called The Republic still encompasses most of the known galaxy from the Deep Core to portions of the Outer Rim, but its navy is taxed in patrolling and policing such a diverse number of worlds.
Lanever Villecham (Tarsunt male) - Supreme Chancellor of the New Republic.
Tel Kudran (Ithorian male) - Vice-Chancellor and majordomo to the Supreme Chancellor
Drey'lye (Bothan female) - Senator of Bothauwi
Vorlais Timp (Thisspiasian male) - Senator of Thisspias
Cha Niathal (Mon Cala female) - Co-Senator of Dac - believed dead, actually captured and cloned.
Gron Marrab (Quarren male) - Co-Senator of Dac - believed dead, actually captured and cloned.
Allistor Reeth (Koorivar male) - Representative of Codia
Pooja Naberrie (human male) - Senator of Naboo
Boma (Gungan male) - Representative of Otah Gunga
Wedge Antilles (human male) - Legendary X-Wing pilot, and leader of Rogue Squadron. Serving in the New Republic Navy as Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.
Kel Stazi (Duros female) - Leader of Renegade Squadron.
Han Solo (human male) - infamous smuggler and General within the New Republic, Han is also Prince-Regent of New Alderaan by marriage to Leia Organa.
Thracken Sal-Solo (human male) - First cousin of Han, and leader of the nascent Five Worlds Alliance.
Chiss Ascendancy - Once a private, insular society, the Chiss Ascendency - later the Empire of the Hand is all but integrated with the nascent Fel Empire. Since the near-extinction of the Ni'Novian Ascendency - a competing force for dominance, and the death of Darth Trivas, the Chiss have slowly declined in solitary strength, with many of their Aristocra joining with the Fel Empire.
Lerh'anda'reth/Handar (Chiss male) - Aristocra of Reth, from the Chiss Ascendancy.
Oras'arula'nurodo/Sarulan (Chiss female) - Aristocra of Csilla, from the Chiss Ascendancy. Distant relative of Thrawn.
Imperial Remnant/Fel Empire - A burgeoning state, and the consolidation of most major Imperial Remnant factions, the Fel Empire, ruled over by Jagged Fel, the first Emperor of this new government, the Fel Empire represents the best of the Galactic Empire, while aggressively stamping out the policies and practices that earned its predecessor such noteriety. Capitaled at Bastion, the Fel Empire is engaged in lockstep combat with a rival Imperialist state, who are slowly gaining more power from mysterious benefactors and shadowy arms contracts.
Jagged Fel (human male) - Emperor of the Imperial Remnant, son of Imperial fighter ace Soontir Fel
Jaina Solo-Fel (human female) - Empress-Consort of Jagged, founder of the Imperial Knights
Willem Soontir Fel (human male) - Son of Jagged and Jaina, and Prince of the Fel Empire
Supreme Commander Giliad Pelleaon (human male) - Veteran of both the Republic and Imperial navies. Current Supreme Commander of the Fel Empire's Navy
Moff Turr Phennir (human male) - Imperial veteran and Regional Moff of Bastion.
Alessi Rutill (Twi'lek male) - First Captain of the Imperial Knights
Treis Sinde (human male) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
Reyas Efram (Zabrak female) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
Tcho-Kel-Hosk (human female) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
First Order - Once part of Palpatine's Contingency Plan, an effort to continue the Empire after his ultimate demise, many of the Empires chief naval officers chose to enact Operation Cinder; a destructive blitzkrieg of scuttling and asset denial, while they fled to parts unknown. The First Order, so-named by the chief decree of Operation Cinder, is led by the enigmatic Snoke - a disciple of Darth Sidious during his tenure as Emperor. The First Order conscripts children from dozens of Outer Rim worlds, numbering in the millions to indoctrinate them into their impressive military. The First Order does not operate from any one planet, but rather the mobile battle station, Starkiller Base, and has many strongholds across the galaxy, including Ord Ramada and Ilum. Under Snoke's command are violent and reckless dark side acolytes known as the Knights of Ren, founded by the deceased Ren of Athus Klee centuries ago.
Supreme Leader Snoke (unknown male) - Leader of the First Order, and former servant of Darth Sidious. A powerful, enigmatic giant, Snoke is believed to have been cruelly-experimented on by the late Emperor.
Allegiant-General Ernic Pryde (human male) - First Order commander of their now-infamous Death Squadron Attack Flotilla.
Rear-Admiral Arnistan Pryde (human male) - Representative to the First Order, and commander of the 7th Attack Flotilla, nephew to Ernic Pryde.
Admiral Armitage Hux (human male) - Commander of FO Finalizer, and double agent for the Obsidian Union
Captain Scyre Phasma (human female) - Commanding officer of the First Order's notorious death squad, the 313th Legion, better known as "The Liquidators".
Kylo Ren (human male) - Leader of the Knights of Ren. Formerly Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, who defected to the First Order with the Jedi Crusaders.
Kontos Ren (human male) - Cyborg Knight of Ren. Most of his internal organs were replaced after losing a duel to Darth Nagol
Neivar Ren (human male) - Knight of Ren. Lost his lower jaw in a duel against Jedi Knights
Sark Ren (human female) Knight of Ren. A Force-sensitive member of the First Order Stormtrooper Corps trained as a Knight of Ren.
Vidia Ren (human female) - Formerly Darth Vidia, a treacherous member of the Sith who defected to the First Order.
Santir Ren (human male) - A particularly-bloodthirsty example of a Knight of Ren, Santir's armor is adorned with the bones of his kills.
Jedi Order - Reorganized by Grand Master Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Order experienced a new renaissance of enlightenment and discovery in the thirty years since the fall of the Empire. Skywalker decentralized the Jedi Order, by founding new - and re-founding old Jedi Praxeums on several worlds, scattering the Jedi's true numbers from would-be foes, while maximizing the potential of the Jedi Knights as a peace-keeping force. The Jedi are immensely-wary of the Knights of Ren and the Obsidian Sith.
Kyp Durron (human male) - Outspoken Jedi Knight. Considered a paraiah, and famed destroyer of both the prototypes for the Sun Crusher and Death Star.
Luke Skywalker (human male) - Legendary Jedi Grand Master, who defeated the Baneite Sith with his father, Anakin Skywalker. Husband to Mara Jade Skywalker, and father to Ben Skywalker.
Mara Jade Skywalker (human female) - Jedi Master, and former Imperial Inquisitor. Ordered to kill Luke Skywalker by Emperor Palpatine, eventually fell in love with him and married.
Ben Skywalker (human male) - Jedi Knight and promising starfighter pilot, flying as a member of the new Red Squadron.
Alema Rar (Twi'lek female) - Troubled and quiet, Alema struggled to cope with the loss of her sister during the Yuuzhan Vong war.
T'raa Saa (Neti female) - Long-lived Jedi Master and leader of one of the Praxeums.
Eldan-Urr (Draethos male) - Current Barsen'thor of the Jedi Order, and descendent of the codifier of the modern Jedi Code, Odan-Urr, Eldan-Urr is a ferocious duellist, and master of all seven forms of lightsaber combat.
K'Kruhk (Whiphid male) - Venerable Jedi Master and survivor of Order 66.
Kyle Katarn (human male) - An unconventional Jedi Master and part-time smuggler. Married to Jan Ors. Master to Rey Cosinga.
Rey Cosinga (Palpatine) (human female) - A brilliant mechanic and starship pilot from Jakku, Rey was purchased from slavery by Kyle Katarn and trained as a Jedi. In actuality, the daughter of Obsidian Union Secret Police leader Kenelm Palpatine, and granddaughter of Darth Sidious.
Zsinj's Sith Empire/The Red Sith - The original inhabitants of Korriban, survivors of a great genocide by the Old Republic thousands of years ago. The Tsisj, as they are called in their native tongue, are a red-skinned sentient species empowered by the Dark Side. Long-lived and xenophobic, they have endured the eons, serving under many different Empires. Their decline from power since the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY has been a slow, plodding one. In recent years they have seen a resurgence, under the heel of Warlord Zsinj, self-styling himself as the Sith Emperor. In spite of Zsinj's pomp, his Sith Empire commands both a respectable portion of ancient Sith Space, and the largest private armada in the galaxy. In truth, the Sith Empire is merely an extension of the Obsidian Union, ruled by a literal puppet King.
Warlord Zsinj (human male) - De facto leader of the Sith Empire and former Imperial Warlord. Purveyor of Sith artifacts.
Grand Moff Avellian Regus (human male) - Zsinj's preeminent naval officer, and executive officer of his Star Dreadnaught, Iron Fist.
Grand Moff Maximillian Seerdon (human male) - Son of the infamous Chandrillan officer Kohl Seerdon, commander of the Vaiken-class Star Destroyer, Gargantua.
Admiral Edwyn Smytus (human male) - one of Zsinj's oldest-serving officers, and commander of the Imperial Ninth Fleet's flagship, the Vaiken-class Star Destroyer, Titanic.
El-Sâqir Âdzâd/King Sekar Adas (Sith male) - Ancient Sith King and fabled Sith'ari. Resurrected through invasive Sith Alchemy procedures. His body was invaded and claimed by Darth Exolus.
Qiysûr-Râ Âdzâd/Kasir Adas (Sith female) - Current matriarch of House Adas and prisoner of war.
Kvâ-Urûi Âdzâd/Karui Adas (Sith male) - Eldest son of Qiysûr-Râ, Sith Alchemist.
Ibet-Tef Het/Ibeth Hekk (Massassi male) - Patriarch of House Hekk
Ma'ak-Di Chahjdow/ Pakad Sadow (Sith male) - Patriarch of House Sadow
He-Hadâ Krûkush/ Hedar Kressh (Massassi female) - Matriarch of House Kressh
Mût-Ndu Rakuos/Mudun Ragnos (Sith male) - Patriarch of House Ragnos.
The One - A small Sith sect distinct from the Brotherhood and Baneites, The One operate from the lost Deep Core world of Had Abaddon. They believe that there exists only "One" Sith - the Sith Order itself. Though they do not subscribe to the doctrines of the Baneites, The One still operate on the rule of the strong. Masters are butchered by apprentices to ensure only the strongest of their Order thrive. Their leader is known simply as the Dark Man, as glimpsed in through visions by Darth Caedus.
The Dark Man/Darth Krayt/A'Sharad Hett (human male) - The leader of The One. His true identity is unknown to the galaxy, but it is correctly-believed by many he was once a Jedi Knight. Hett fell to the Dark Side when he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, and encased within their Vonduun Crab Armor as a form of torture. Krayt's anger allowed him to dominate his Vong captors, and slaughter them. Fellow prisoners Welk and Lomi Plo became some of his first conscripts.
Darth Wyyrlock (Chagrian male) - A Chagrian One Sith Master.
Lomi Plo (human female) - An acolyte.
Welk (human male) - An acolyte.
Kell Douro (Anzat male) - A Sith Assassin working directly under Wyyrlock.
Vergere/Darth Manavex (Fosh female) - A former Jedi who adopted the Yuuzhan Vong's biotechnology for the One's use after her fall to the Dark Side.
Darth Xaos/Rakesh Dawnstar (human male, originally Noghri) - Formerly Darth Inferno, current Dark Lord of the Sith, alias Rakesh Dawnstar, First Consul of the Galactic Liberation Party, a political freedom fighting, anti-imperialist movement. Count Dooku's acolyte following the loss of his apprentice, Savage Oppress. Xaos is a Sith Wraith capable of inhabiting the bodies of the deceased.
Darth Reaver/Calen Dareg (human male) - Founder of the Obsidian Union's Secret Police (CUSP), current de facto leader of the Mandalorian Ash'ad and ace starfighter pilot. Master of Sith apprentice Uros.
Darth Kairos/Tora Venaris (human male) - Appointed as one of the youngest members of the Dark Council, master to Sith apprentice Amorata. Rendered physically blind in battle, utilizes Force Sight for vision. Current Supreme Commander of the Stellar Navy.
Darth Indra/Sela Dax (Epicanthix female) - High Inquisitor in the Obsidian Sith's Inquisitorius branch. Master to Sith apprentice Rennex. Serves under Grand Inquisitor Darth Corvus.
Darth Corren/Malfa Odex (Pa'un male) - High Inquisitor in the Obsidian Sith's Inquisitorius branch.
Darth Exolus/Kmâ-Aruoi Âdzâd (Sith male) - Member of the Dark Council. Uses a variant of Essence Transfer to occupy dozens of host bodies simultaneously. Also currently inhabits the body of Sith King Adas.
Darth Camael/Kara Tobrias (Fallanassi female) - Cyborg and member of the Dark Council. Head of the Union's technology & research division.
Darth Venom/Jacen Vuld (Korun human male) - A maverick and explorer, member of the Dark Council.
Darth Unrivas (Gen'dai male) - Formerly Darth Unrivaled, member of the Dark Council and one of the rare Force Sensitive examples of his species. Presumed dead, later returned to service.
Darth Lucifer/Râ-Gûsu Chahjdow (Massassi male) - The Red Warrior of legend. The foremost lightsaber duelist in the Sith.
Apprentice Uros/Sommen Greysun (human male) - Member of a generational family of Obsidian Sith. Nephew to Darth Calbor, aka Sett Greysun.
Apprentice Amorata/Lamiya Mere (Miraluka female) - An expert slicer and former criminal from Katarr.
Apprentice Rennex/Gelim Braul (Zeltron male) - Once a card shark on Zeltros, Rennex was brought to the Order by Darth Indra.
Apprentice Rayden (Echani male)
Apprentice Strigus (Zelosian male)
HK-77 - Assassin droid in service to Darth Indra.
Xao'kai (Rakata male) - Former Rakatan Predor, current prisoner of the Obsidian Union.
Kenelm Cosinga Palpatine (Half-Human, Half-Umbaran male) - Leader of the Confederate Union Secret Police (CUSP), son of Emperor Palpatine and Sly Moore. Husband to Kendal Malina, a former Jedi Knight and current member of Sith Intelligence. Their daughter was kidnapped and believed murdered by slavers from Jakku.
Doctor Telsin Drobin (Arkanian male) - Genius researcher, archaeologist and chief Sith scholar from Chandrilla. Multiple doctorates in xenoarchaeology, history, linguistics and xenoanthropology.
Commandant Barquom (Echani male) - Elite member of the Union's Secret Police, master of Teras Kasi.
Grand Admiral Kana Kuran (human male) - Protégé of Giliad Pelleaon, brilliant strategical mind and military tactician, commander of the Union's flagship, Righteous Fury.
Rear Admiral Brendol Hux (human male) - Commander of the Union Third Fleet, former naval officer of the Galactic Empire and father to intelligence double-agent Armitage.
Baneite Sith - The enduring legacy of Darth Bane though extinguished with the deaths of Darths Vader and Sidious. This tradition was kept alive by Vader's acolyte Shira Brie, known as the mysterious Dark Lord Lumiya. She embodies the principles of the Rule of Two, taking an equally-enigmatic apprentice named Darth Caedus. The Baneites are venerated by a Sith cult called the Eternal, and Lumiya is their leader, using and manipulating them to influence galactic powers in a grand game of dejarik.
Lumiya (human female) - Last remaining Banite Sith, considered an apostate to Obsidian Sith orthodoxy. Secret leader of the Sith cult known as The Eternal.
Darth Caedus (unknown) - Lumiya's secret Sith apprentice.
New Republic - The ailing successor state to the Old Republic and Galactic Empire it became, the New Republic elects a capital world to seat the Galactic Senate every four years, and likewise a Supreme Chancellor. Previously, Leia Organa-Solo served in this position, but abdicated her role due to her familial association with Darth Vader. The New Republic - simply called The Republic still encompasses most of the known galaxy from the Deep Core to portions of the Outer Rim, but its navy is taxed in patrolling and policing such a diverse number of worlds.
Lanever Villecham (Tarsunt male) - Supreme Chancellor of the New Republic.
Tel Kudran (Ithorian male) - Vice-Chancellor and majordomo to the Supreme Chancellor
Drey'lye (Bothan female) - Senator of Bothauwi
Vorlais Timp (Thisspiasian male) - Senator of Thisspias
Cha Niathal (Mon Cala female) - Co-Senator of Dac - believed dead, actually captured and cloned.
Gron Marrab (Quarren male) - Co-Senator of Dac - believed dead, actually captured and cloned.
Allistor Reeth (Koorivar male) - Representative of Codia
Pooja Naberrie (human male) - Senator of Naboo
Boma (Gungan male) - Representative of Otah Gunga
Wedge Antilles (human male) - Legendary X-Wing pilot, and leader of Rogue Squadron. Serving in the New Republic Navy as Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy.
Kel Stazi (Duros female) - Leader of Renegade Squadron.
Han Solo (human male) - infamous smuggler and General within the New Republic, Han is also Prince-Regent of New Alderaan by marriage to Leia Organa.
Thracken Sal-Solo (human male) - First cousin of Han, and leader of the nascent Five Worlds Alliance.
Chiss Ascendancy - Once a private, insular society, the Chiss Ascendency - later the Empire of the Hand is all but integrated with the nascent Fel Empire. Since the near-extinction of the Ni'Novian Ascendency - a competing force for dominance, and the death of Darth Trivas, the Chiss have slowly declined in solitary strength, with many of their Aristocra joining with the Fel Empire.
Lerh'anda'reth/Handar (Chiss male) - Aristocra of Reth, from the Chiss Ascendancy.
Oras'arula'nurodo/Sarulan (Chiss female) - Aristocra of Csilla, from the Chiss Ascendancy. Distant relative of Thrawn.
Imperial Remnant/Fel Empire - A burgeoning state, and the consolidation of most major Imperial Remnant factions, the Fel Empire, ruled over by Jagged Fel, the first Emperor of this new government, the Fel Empire represents the best of the Galactic Empire, while aggressively stamping out the policies and practices that earned its predecessor such noteriety. Capitaled at Bastion, the Fel Empire is engaged in lockstep combat with a rival Imperialist state, who are slowly gaining more power from mysterious benefactors and shadowy arms contracts.
Jagged Fel (human male) - Emperor of the Imperial Remnant, son of Imperial fighter ace Soontir Fel
Jaina Solo-Fel (human female) - Empress-Consort of Jagged, founder of the Imperial Knights
Willem Soontir Fel (human male) - Son of Jagged and Jaina, and Prince of the Fel Empire
Supreme Commander Giliad Pelleaon (human male) - Veteran of both the Republic and Imperial navies. Current Supreme Commander of the Fel Empire's Navy
Moff Turr Phennir (human male) - Imperial veteran and Regional Moff of Bastion.
Alessi Rutill (Twi'lek male) - First Captain of the Imperial Knights
Treis Sinde (human male) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
Reyas Efram (Zabrak female) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
Tcho-Kel-Hosk (human female) - Young squire of the Imperial Knights
First Order - Once part of Palpatine's Contingency Plan, an effort to continue the Empire after his ultimate demise, many of the Empires chief naval officers chose to enact Operation Cinder; a destructive blitzkrieg of scuttling and asset denial, while they fled to parts unknown. The First Order, so-named by the chief decree of Operation Cinder, is led by the enigmatic Snoke - a disciple of Darth Sidious during his tenure as Emperor. The First Order conscripts children from dozens of Outer Rim worlds, numbering in the millions to indoctrinate them into their impressive military. The First Order does not operate from any one planet, but rather the mobile battle station, Starkiller Base, and has many strongholds across the galaxy, including Ord Ramada and Ilum. Under Snoke's command are violent and reckless dark side acolytes known as the Knights of Ren, founded by the deceased Ren of Athus Klee centuries ago.
Supreme Leader Snoke (unknown male) - Leader of the First Order, and former servant of Darth Sidious. A powerful, enigmatic giant, Snoke is believed to have been cruelly-experimented on by the late Emperor.
Allegiant-General Ernic Pryde (human male) - First Order commander of their now-infamous Death Squadron Attack Flotilla.
Rear-Admiral Arnistan Pryde (human male) - Representative to the First Order, and commander of the 7th Attack Flotilla, nephew to Ernic Pryde.
Admiral Armitage Hux (human male) - Commander of FO Finalizer, and double agent for the Obsidian Union
Captain Scyre Phasma (human female) - Commanding officer of the First Order's notorious death squad, the 313th Legion, better known as "The Liquidators".
Kylo Ren (human male) - Leader of the Knights of Ren. Formerly Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, who defected to the First Order with the Jedi Crusaders.
Kontos Ren (human male) - Cyborg Knight of Ren. Most of his internal organs were replaced after losing a duel to Darth Nagol
Neivar Ren (human male) - Knight of Ren. Lost his lower jaw in a duel against Jedi Knights
Sark Ren (human female) Knight of Ren. A Force-sensitive member of the First Order Stormtrooper Corps trained as a Knight of Ren.
Vidia Ren (human female) - Formerly Darth Vidia, a treacherous member of the Sith who defected to the First Order.
Santir Ren (human male) - A particularly-bloodthirsty example of a Knight of Ren, Santir's armor is adorned with the bones of his kills.
Jedi Order - Reorganized by Grand Master Luke Skywalker, the Jedi Order experienced a new renaissance of enlightenment and discovery in the thirty years since the fall of the Empire. Skywalker decentralized the Jedi Order, by founding new - and re-founding old Jedi Praxeums on several worlds, scattering the Jedi's true numbers from would-be foes, while maximizing the potential of the Jedi Knights as a peace-keeping force. The Jedi are immensely-wary of the Knights of Ren and the Obsidian Sith.
Kyp Durron (human male) - Outspoken Jedi Knight. Considered a paraiah, and famed destroyer of both the prototypes for the Sun Crusher and Death Star.
Luke Skywalker (human male) - Legendary Jedi Grand Master, who defeated the Baneite Sith with his father, Anakin Skywalker. Husband to Mara Jade Skywalker, and father to Ben Skywalker.
Mara Jade Skywalker (human female) - Jedi Master, and former Imperial Inquisitor. Ordered to kill Luke Skywalker by Emperor Palpatine, eventually fell in love with him and married.
Ben Skywalker (human male) - Jedi Knight and promising starfighter pilot, flying as a member of the new Red Squadron.
Alema Rar (Twi'lek female) - Troubled and quiet, Alema struggled to cope with the loss of her sister during the Yuuzhan Vong war.
T'raa Saa (Neti female) - Long-lived Jedi Master and leader of one of the Praxeums.
Eldan-Urr (Draethos male) - Current Barsen'thor of the Jedi Order, and descendent of the codifier of the modern Jedi Code, Odan-Urr, Eldan-Urr is a ferocious duellist, and master of all seven forms of lightsaber combat.
K'Kruhk (Whiphid male) - Venerable Jedi Master and survivor of Order 66.
Kyle Katarn (human male) - An unconventional Jedi Master and part-time smuggler. Married to Jan Ors. Master to Rey Cosinga.
Rey Cosinga (Palpatine) (human female) - A brilliant mechanic and starship pilot from Jakku, Rey was purchased from slavery by Kyle Katarn and trained as a Jedi. In actuality, the daughter of Obsidian Union Secret Police leader Kenelm Palpatine, and granddaughter of Darth Sidious.
Zsinj's Sith Empire/The Red Sith - The original inhabitants of Korriban, survivors of a great genocide by the Old Republic thousands of years ago. The Tsisj, as they are called in their native tongue, are a red-skinned sentient species empowered by the Dark Side. Long-lived and xenophobic, they have endured the eons, serving under many different Empires. Their decline from power since the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY has been a slow, plodding one. In recent years they have seen a resurgence, under the heel of Warlord Zsinj, self-styling himself as the Sith Emperor. In spite of Zsinj's pomp, his Sith Empire commands both a respectable portion of ancient Sith Space, and the largest private armada in the galaxy. In truth, the Sith Empire is merely an extension of the Obsidian Union, ruled by a literal puppet King.
Warlord Zsinj (human male) - De facto leader of the Sith Empire and former Imperial Warlord. Purveyor of Sith artifacts.
Grand Moff Avellian Regus (human male) - Zsinj's preeminent naval officer, and executive officer of his Star Dreadnaught, Iron Fist.
Grand Moff Maximillian Seerdon (human male) - Son of the infamous Chandrillan officer Kohl Seerdon, commander of the Vaiken-class Star Destroyer, Gargantua.
Admiral Edwyn Smytus (human male) - one of Zsinj's oldest-serving officers, and commander of the Imperial Ninth Fleet's flagship, the Vaiken-class Star Destroyer, Titanic.
El-Sâqir Âdzâd/King Sekar Adas (Sith male) - Ancient Sith King and fabled Sith'ari. Resurrected through invasive Sith Alchemy procedures. His body was invaded and claimed by Darth Exolus.
Qiysûr-Râ Âdzâd/Kasir Adas (Sith female) - Current matriarch of House Adas and prisoner of war.
Kvâ-Urûi Âdzâd/Karui Adas (Sith male) - Eldest son of Qiysûr-Râ, Sith Alchemist.
Ibet-Tef Het/Ibeth Hekk (Massassi male) - Patriarch of House Hekk
Ma'ak-Di Chahjdow/ Pakad Sadow (Sith male) - Patriarch of House Sadow
He-Hadâ Krûkush/ Hedar Kressh (Massassi female) - Matriarch of House Kressh
Mût-Ndu Rakuos/Mudun Ragnos (Sith male) - Patriarch of House Ragnos.
The One - A small Sith sect distinct from the Brotherhood and Baneites, The One operate from the lost Deep Core world of Had Abaddon. They believe that there exists only "One" Sith - the Sith Order itself. Though they do not subscribe to the doctrines of the Baneites, The One still operate on the rule of the strong. Masters are butchered by apprentices to ensure only the strongest of their Order thrive. Their leader is known simply as the Dark Man, as glimpsed in through visions by Darth Caedus.
The Dark Man/Darth Krayt/A'Sharad Hett (human male) - The leader of The One. His true identity is unknown to the galaxy, but it is correctly-believed by many he was once a Jedi Knight. Hett fell to the Dark Side when he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, and encased within their Vonduun Crab Armor as a form of torture. Krayt's anger allowed him to dominate his Vong captors, and slaughter them. Fellow prisoners Welk and Lomi Plo became some of his first conscripts.
Darth Wyyrlock (Chagrian male) - A Chagrian One Sith Master.
Lomi Plo (human female) - An acolyte.
Welk (human male) - An acolyte.
Kell Douro (Anzat male) - A Sith Assassin working directly under Wyyrlock.
Vergere/Darth Manavex (Fosh female) - A former Jedi who adopted the Yuuzhan Vong's biotechnology for the One's use after her fall to the Dark Side.
Tale I - THE DARK LADY
High orbit, Malachor V, 38 ABY.
Achor, the mother sun of the Malachor system rose up high, shining through the splintered penumbra of its fifth host planet in a thousand points of light. In the old days of the Sith Empire, Malachor V's once-verdant plains and purple-capped mountains were a welcome sight for the weary lane jockeys and troops returning home both. Once the lush world had been struck down to its core by the Mass Shadow Generator, very little green things that grew were left down the now-arid canyons of the world. Now Malachor V was considered a dead world, with unstable gravitational storms of sickly green lashing angrily across its sky unabated. Indeed, those who walked upon its rocky surface felt a deep sense of unease, of a cold whisper in the air, whistling through the canyons and mountains, balefully calling out for a reprieve never to find them.
About her upper atmosphere lay a network of enormous orbital factories, chewing up the countless derelicts of a bygone age that littered the planet's local space for a great number of centuries. To navigate was done so at the peril and skill of pilots, and today was no less dangerous a task than any other, as a lone Action IV transport lumbered its heavy hull about the cracked, battered warships of a bygone era. Escorted by the red-on-gray TIE Interceptors of the Union's secret police, the Stinky Bantha laid in a course for the surface, near a particularly-large continent, heaved away from its neighbors by a vast chasm, where the planet had ejected its crust so very long ago. Faint wisps of clouds passed by the aged vessel, converted for inconspicuous ferrying of important individuals. It would not look out of place on any world, drawing as much attention to itself as any other old freighter.
Sailing close to the desolation of Malachor's beaten surface, the Bantha picked out several spots of faint light, high above the landmasses, as sunlight streaked through the shattered, but still active core of the world, spewing up great rivers of molten metal. Sunk deep within the dirt, Malachor's architecture had evolved from once quaint cities and modest farming complexes, into mountain retreats, cave dwellings that were anything but modest. Since the new Renaissance under the self-styled Emperor Zsinj, the Tsisj of Korriban flocked back to the older, neglected worlds to carve out new dynasties for themselves. In Malachor V's case, this was both figurative and literal. For all the pinpricks of light, all the glittering regalia and ornamentation plucked out of the core, Malachor V was not a world considered bright. Foreboding perhaps, and a little dreary, those who built these new temples of wealth were quick to recognize folly, as House Sarûs - a minor noble family claimed the ancient Sith stronghold of the Trayus Academy as their new estate. Gutted and derelict, it made a fine skeleton upon which to build their grand mansion. Heritage and history were bywords for prestige, even in the lower echelons of Sith society. So did House Sarûs elevate themselves from high commoners, to low nobles, delving into the earth below the Academy, finding new veins of silver ore. Thus a silver star became their heraldry. This same star fluttered on flags blown about, as the Bantha lurched its aged frame down into the crevasse cut close to the Trayus Mines.
The main loading ramp yawned open, several figures disembarking, surrounding a robed figure, hidden beneath hood and helmet. Behind him strode a lanky umber-red and nasty-looking protocol droid, while all around him marched the Supercommandos of Darth Reaver's secret police. There was much hubbub at the private dock of House Sarûs, with any member of the family worth anything to society gathered here to great their important guest. Sju-mûn Sarûs, patriarch of the family tugged and fussed with his collar, while his immediate family waited nervously by his side.
"Stand up straight my sons. Let him see you are noble lordlings now, mind your manners and ensure the girl keeps her wretched whore mother out of sight. I do not wish to sully a high Lord's sight of our fine abode with the reek of a commoner," Lord Sarûs boasted, corralling his sons directly beside him, as a foul chill spread across the landing pad, mingling with the choke of Malachor V's eternal lightning storms, "you see? He is a man like you and I. Be not afraid, be strong!"
As the masked man approached, Sju-mûn bowed neatly at the waist, his sons and retinue both following suit after, each either bending the knee as per their station, saluting as demanded of their rank or prostrated themselves before him. The Sith Lord glanced leftward and right, before breaking into a stride, past Sju-mûn, who swiftly followed, saddling up beside his fellow.
"Ah... Kwuso sosû sosûtirtsu iw Âdzâd... I do hope I pronounced that correctly my good Lord. I have been indulging myself with new learning - as a noble should," he informed, excusing his stilted accent and weak pronunciation of the high tongue of the Sith, "you must forgive me, many of my... Servants speak Basic alone, and so it behoves me to speak it in kind."
"Have you brought your House entire to escort me to a cell, Lord Sarûs?" came Âdzâd's curt response, neither slowing in his gait, nor inclining his head to face him. For but a brief moment, Sju felt his throat dry up, the silence of Malachor's canyons stealing the very words from his neck. It was not an unreasonable thing to ask, as uncomfortable as it would be to answer. When the Clan Lords had heard the heir of House Âdzâd was to be temporarily exiled home, so very many tripped over themselves to take him, and gloat to his insufferable kinsmen over their captive. Many had been reduced to bitter seething once House Sarûs had won the honor. Yet Sju-mûn was no fool, he knew how this game was played, even if the pompous windbags above him had forgotten.
"Your query is understandable Lord Âdzâd, I fear all of my humble household may seem quite like a cell to you, given its recent history," Sju quipped, matching pace with the Sith Lord, almost plodding into his path while rubbing and folding one hand over the other, to quell his nerves, "but no. Quite the opposite in fact. Those wretches on Korriban? Let them stew with the thought that they shall never mock and jeer your presence in their dungeons. I am not so dim-witted as to take cheap, petty pleasure in scorning you. No. You, my good Lord, noble Lord Âdzâd, Darth Exolus! If you would do me the honor are to be the guest of honor, in celebration of my new marriage to the heiress-apparent to House Iab'âras."
"As you wish," Exolus agreed, continuing on his stride, the doors of House Sarûs - Trayus Estate, swung open, revealling newly-tiled interiors, recently-painted walls and lavish ornamentation, a far cry from the drab stone-grays and harsh reds from its former life. It was much too bright and gaudy for the eyes, yet the guest of honor seemed to care but a little, following his nose through the enormous main hall, which by now had many of its decorative pillars removed or replaced. New passageways had been dug out, each leading down a sweeping crescent hallway. West - as Sarûs described it held every manner of opulent stateroom, converted libraries and luxury facilities while east was the Trayus Crescent, a cavernous half-moon corridor, rebuilt into a ballroom and Lordly chamber of unmatched splendor.
Their trip down those halls, though brief were filled with an unending barrage of grand statements and gestures of subservience, of praise to the mighty son of Adas' blood, come to Malachor as part of a host, not a prison procession. Beside himself with joy as they banked right, through another set of large wooden doors, Sarûs noted that he should have liked to host many of the Lords who no doubt bit their tongues after having lost the right to take Exolus under their 'care'. He noted regrettably that they would be dining with lesser nobles, and some modestly-wealthy common folk. He took the cold demeanor of Darth Exolus for an unflappable stoicism worthy of a king, and not for the lack of interest in his bluster that it was. Even Exolus' escort were growing weary of it, breathing silent sighs of relief, as their egress through another chamber led to a growing din of merriment. They had entered the ballroom, to a scattered gathering of at least five dozens men and women, each literally catered to with refreshments from smartly-dressed servants.
It was here that the secret police relinquished their care of Darth Exolus to Lord Sarûs, who warmly guided Exolus to his grand family table at the head of the room, with his sons offering to take his cloak. With but a stern caution that no hand was to touch Darth Exolus from his droid companion, the children hastily took their seats by their father's left side, while his daughter took his right, beside a beautiful young example of a Sith Lady. Grasping her hand as he approached, Sju bid the woman rise to her feet, and curtsy for the Sith Lord.
"My Lord, may I present my new wife, Ashû-Lhmu, daughter of Lord Etel-Enmul, Clan Lord of House Iab'âras," introduced Sju, "my love, you have the distinct honor of addressing the most noble Lord Kmâ-Aruoi, heir-apparent of of the Sith'ari El-Saqir's House Âdzâd."
Ashû gave him a second curtsy, rattling all manner of gold ornamentation either hanging from her face, or pierced into it as she did so. She had clearly been tattooed recently, for among dotted pigments on her cheeks and eyes, faint black lines scored across her brows where hair would have grown on a human, much like was done to Twi'lek slaves to make them more palatable for their owners. The comparison was not lost on the Sith Lord, who was given a seat of high honor at the head of the table. So very many foods imported and native were spread out before him, each upon silver platters, each arrayed by silver dining tools and silver goblets. All pressed with the seal of House Sarûs.
"My sons, Lord Âdzâd, Su-Vanû and Su-Erût. Trueborn by my lovely Ashû... We eloped seven years ago after my first taste of riches in the silver mines. We fell hopelessly in love with one another and we were unofficially wed on Ziost," Sju explained, explaining a strange discrepancy in his children's age, and his wife's - for a new marriage would not have so quickly produced trueborn sons and bastards were often considered unsavory creatures in Sith society - even the noble ones, "alas, my poor eldest daughter Sil-Kagi bears the face of Sur-Haga, her mother. That was a marriage arranged by my late father and her late father decades ago."
Sju roused his sons from their room-gazing and fidgeting with a reassuring hand upon each shoulder. There was no need to be nervous, as they had been the entire day in the leadup to this feast. Their father had spoken at length of the importance of this day, and the greater importance of their guest. This was all for the family. To perform a great service for the highest of the Clans, earn their respect and favor for little more than lodging the scion of their family - at least until some gormless aliens many systems away decided he was welcome back. So little effort. Surely such a deed would be worth the stewardship of Malachor itself.
"Oh... I like... I like your helmet! It's very scary!" commented Su-Vanû, poking a fork in Exolus' direction until his mother lowered his arm, though his twin sibling egged him on with a nudge and a nod, "are you trying to scare people? Is it stuck to your head? Is that why you didn't take it off? Are you playing like Darth Vader?"
"Yes! Are you pretending? I like to pretend I'm Marka Ragnos, and cut off Simus' head! But Mama tells Su-Vanû not to stretch his clothes by sticking his head under when I cut off the head..." added Su-Erût, swiping his knife around like a blade, until he too lowered it, after a stern look from Ashû, both giggling away in their chairs.
"My, my! Boys... Too many questions all at once! Do you not know the tithe collected from House Kj'âlig by House Âdzâd? That is from Lord Âdzâd's father, a... A going away present when he left Korriban long before you were born! Is that not so my Lord?"
"They are but children. Let them be curious while they still have their youth," Exolus replied, still as a statue, brushing off the ply of questions from the youths as exactly that - youthful exuberance, " it is as your Lord father says, this was a tithe given to me by my father almost a century ago, as I injured my face as a young man."
"I read about your family in our history books..." Sil-Kagi chimed in from the far end of the table, "House Kj'âlig's treasure. It's that mask, isn't it? Made by Alû-Sha Kj'âlig. The Countenance?"
"Girl! You assume too much of the prattle you waste your empty head on in that library!" snapped Sju, glancing down the table at Kagi, before he gestured to Darth Exolus, "I believe the good Lord knows his family better than some third-rate fictionist spinning tall tales..."
"She is correct, Lord Sarûs," affirmed the masked Sith, who shared a different opinion on the matter than the girl's father, who scowled still at her - fiercely, until she shrunk down into her seat, stretching out her arm toward her mother who then squeezed it for comfort, "do not take stock in what rumors you hear about the chroncling of my family's history. Not all of it is fanciful. Your daughter is possessed of a keen intellect, to remember such facts. Sil-Kagi, was it? Knowledge is the key to bending the stars, to teach you the patience of stone, when others around you test that patience. Never lose your desire to learn more. It can mean the difference between intelligence and wisdom."
"I see... You have great insight Lor-Oh! About time!" started Sju, cutting himself off from the topic, as a steaming ewer was delivered to the center of the table by a serving man, "excellent, excellent. We shall have to discuss books and novels some other time, the Krauwa has arrived. My Lord, my dear wife's family graciously-shared their famed cooking with us when we were wed. I had batches made especially for the ocassion. I do hope you will enjoy it!"
"Interjection: The Dark Council has decreed Darth Exolus be permitted a strict diet of pre-determined rations, of which he has already partaken of," the ever-hovering protocol droid chimed in, nodding his head toward a tall bottle of pale spirit laid across from Sur-Haga, "Addendum: However, Darth Exolus is permitted to attend formal events at his meatbag host's discretion and consume a maximum of three alcoholic beverages, and one calorific tre-"
"Impudence! You shall set that bottle down now, before I have your fingers plucked from your hand, dim woman! The servants, should he demand it will be the ones to serve it to him if, and only if he demands it!" snapped Sju, harshly while cuffing his former wife on the wrist, away from the alcohol intended to be stretched over to Exolus, who seemed entirely nonplussed, "you bring shame to my House yet again with this doddering lowborn etiquette!"
Darth Exolus met Sju's gaze, eyeing him curiously. The sum total of several seconds were enough to unsettle the patriarch of House Sarûs, feeling a faint mist of sweat build upon his brow. Worry set in, and so it bred a fear. Fear that he had done something wrong. His former wife had surely displeased the Sith Lord somehow, with her oafish lowborn gesture. His own anger was palpable, written as plainly upon him as the nose on his face. Yet it was not her that Âdzâd glared at from behind his mask. It was him. That was how and why Sju knew to be afraid. He would blame him for this. He permitted the wench to sit with them at the table, rather than keep her safely anon with the servants. That was it. That had to be it.
"Yâik qi'tan j'us tajtizi sis riyiyazûtijasi nwi wohniri djhona?" questioned Exolus brusquely, shocking the fearful Sju into a violet-tinted blush that was aught but embarrassed - his bride merely gave an awkward smile at her husband's reaction, while his former covered her face in knowing dismay. Kagi meanwhile caught a chuckle in her throat, burying it down before her father's wrath might be exacted upside her head for such tittering, at such a crass remark. The table grew the bud of a stunned silence, until Lhmu-Ashû uttered a small giggle of her own, wondering if perhaps this was a joke of some sort.
"I... I am afraid My Lord has me at a bit of a disadvantage... I don't speak any of the noble tongues of our people..." she apologized, quick to bow her head - either for not understanding Korriban humor, or for not understanding the language in general. Her two sons were equally as confused, having yet to grasp the linguistics of Kittât. Whirring forward, the rust-red droid gave off an electrical buzz from its vocabulator, approximating the sound of a cough, to divert Lhmu's attention to him.
"Approximal Translation: Darth Exolus has queried your thoroughly-annoying mating partner as to why he spoils his trophy wife, and scorns a former wife and child clearly worthy of more respect than a brooding thug like himself has to offer," HK-77 explained, quite matter of factly. Aghast at the confirmation, Sju barely managed to muster a squeak of babbling, strung-out half words, still unsure if what he heard was indeed what he heard. Lhmu looked rather sheepish at the droid's explanation. She had no fault in this matter, nor had her sons. All the same, Darth Exolus affixed his eyes onto Sju, once he thumped his fist down upon the table.
"I... I have welcomed you gracious, as an honored guest into my home, and you insult me? You go so far as to insult me, and my family as well?!" hissed Sju, gripping his textured cutlery so very tightly, his wrists and fingers tinged a faint purple, and the tips of his well-manicured fingers dug small half-moon pits into his palms, "I do not care whose son you are Lord Âdzâd, I will not suffer such slights against my wife in silence, especially in front of my children. What in stars do you take me for? A simp? A meek simp?!"
"No Lord Sarûs. I take you as you appear to have taken me; for an imbecile, like those you choose to shower with vain wealth and pleasantries. I tell you this, I have neither the will nor the patience to bandy foul words and shallow, coddling deeds with a posturing, lumpen oaf such as yourself," Exolus warned, frigidly, "I take you for what you are; a lustful creature who adores the vapid respect of men like him. You revel in the belittlement of the common folk from whence you came."
"You w-"
"I have had my share of it from men and women - Lords lofty and low, I will not suffer it from you - you, who came from nothing, and will return to nothing when you die," continued the still-calm and collected Sith Master, "your credits, your silver mines? They mean as much to me as the cruel words and glib remarks that roll off your tongue."
"You dare? You would dare?!" Sju screeched, lifting his voice to the volume of the music and the hubbub, earning many concerned looks as he threw himself to his feet, "you have slighted my name and my honor twice... Why... Why... I should take your head for this and drive it on a pike to send back to your mother!"
"If a pound of flesh is what you crave for my truths, then take it. Take it and be done with it my Lord," Exolus challenged, quite unimpressed with his threat, even going so far as to slide his hand down to his side, producing a metal pipe which he laid upon the table before Sju, gesturing to the device that sat there now, "take my weapon and cut me down where I sit. Return my corse to Korriban. You may be unhappy with the results."
His mouth quivered. Darth Exolus had called his bluff. Unperturbed by the idea of his head being removed, Sarûs' throat dried up, words escaping him in spite of his racing mind fighting for ones to say, to challenge him. Instead, he felt an uneasy cold grip about him, empty and haunting as Malachor itself. Half-frozen in disbelief, half-riddled with rage, Sarûs at last broke his silence, cursing in High Sith. He discovered some excuse or another to vacate the table for the time being, leaving it in complete silence while he marched off down the halls to brood in his stateroom, spitting and cursing the entire way. There came a still about the remaining occupants at the table for the next few minutes, until Ashû quietly excused herself in pursuit of her husband, spiriting away the two boys to leave Exolus alone with Sju's first family. The three shared an understanding hush about them while they ate, until the evening hours came, and they too departed for their quarters.
As Exolus came to understand from the brief conversation before her leaving, Sarûs was not as cold and unfeeling toward her in the past. He loved wealth and status over all other things in life. He had none to begin with, only a single-minded determination to acquire both. Through happenstance, luck or a combination of both, his prospecting discoveries led to his status and wealth rising astronomically in weeks. His lust for the adoration of the masses simply ate at him more. Certainly their marriage was once of convenience, her Lord father desired much the same as Sju, as any Clan Lord of any noble house would. Wealth often begat the means to acquire power, if not show outwardly the impression of it. Power, real or imagined was what kept the nobles noble, and the common folk beneath them. Understanding little separated the two, Exolus had long-since abandoned any notion of being the ruler his mother so-desired, cruel despot or not.
When Sju had left, events of the day quickened, as if the congregation knew the atmosphere had soured, staying only as long as was necessary to maintain appearances, and then left. In the end, Darth Exolus was among the last to depart, having sat in stillness for a time. It was not difficult for him to find his own way to the stateroom prepared for him, and as he closed the door behind him, he took to the carpeted floor by the window, and fell quickly into a meditative state. Sju had allowed him to remain a guest, yet made provisions to ensure he would never be within sight of Exolus if it could be helped. All was utterly quiet, until a rapid footfall sounded outside of his room. When he rose, and passed through the door, Exolus emerged somewhere that was clearly not Malachor V.
Unknown Location, Date Unknown.
The cold halls of Malachor were replaced with somewhere sticky, and humid. The air itself was hot and dense, the walls themselves perspiring with summer condensation. Darth Exolus glanced both ways, noting an identical set of halls that both peeled off in the same direction, and again in the opposite. He first glanced a troupe of men in military dress wander past at the end of the hall, and so did he follow, turning a corner to head in the direction he thought to be westward - where the main point of traffic to the central chamber of the Trayus Estate ought to have been. Instead, he found a hive of activity, with an enormous projected seal of a many-spoked sigil, glowing a pale lime green.
Without the faintest idea of where he was, Exolus assumed his body had given out, as it occasionally did, drifting off to sleep. Yet for all that he tried, all he could muster to wake himself, he did not open his eyes in the room on Malachor. He remained in this strange place. It reminded him a little of Kaas City, from his vague recollections of having visited the metropolis, wreathed in jungle growth and reclaimed green spaces. The architecture was much the same, but cold, clinical. Devoid of the trappings the Lords of Dromund would bring to it, when they seized the city back from the beasts and ghouls left behind when the last Empire fell. Then, he noticed something out of place.
Amidst the people who merely passed him by with a wide berth, or swiftly-bowed to him in their curious clothing, one woman, dressed in grays and blacks wandered seemingly-unnoticed by the crowds, even as she brushed past them, or weaved about their paths. She vanished down a new hall, down a flight of stairs. Suspecting he had been lured into someone else's mental landscape, Exolus followed. At the bottom of the stairs laid another hallway, quite different to the one he'd arrived in. This one was decorated with a crimson flag at either end. The mark it bore was familiar to him. It was the Sith Empire's heraldry from after the Hyperspace War, though he couldn't be certain which incarnation it was, for the flag had altered itself many times. There, he espied the woman in dark, idly pacing side to side down the hall slowly. Then, she turned, and noticed him.
"Well now! This is most interesting, most peculiar indeed! Flesh and blood, here in this place... And it can see me too? How quaint, how very, very quaint!" quipped the strange, honey-haired woman, glancing Exolus up and down briefly, "yes, yes... You don't appear to be one of those drifting specters that come in now and again, but here you are! As real and as breathing as the day is long, and suns come up!"
The woman laid a hand upon Exolus' arm, just to make certain he was as real as she seemed to hope he was. Satisfied that he was a living being, she clapped to herself happily, taking a few steps back, to respect his personal space. Quickly, she brushed down and off any phantom particles that may have landed upon his shoulder with a quick rub to his robes.
"Oh but look at me here, fussing like this! You'll have to pardon my sudden interjection upon your uh... Dilly-dallying, you see these moments are so infrequent... So... So..." she trailed off, fighting for the correct word to describe the situation she and Darth Exolus found themselves in now, "sporadic! Yes! Sporadic! Sporadic and mysterious, and often I find myself utterly, utterly alone! Come, come! You simply must tell me where we are, ah... When we are too!"
"I do not know." came his markedly-short reply, receiving a furrowed set of brows from this newcomer.
"Oh bother... That's a touch disappointing. Too bad then!" huffed this strange lady, throwing her arms up, to let them clap back down at her sides, "you see my dear fellow, I had hoped to chance that by your out of place garb, that this was sometime after the Jedi Civil War - now it won't mean much to the likes of you but my favorite husband happened to live during those times the poor old dear... Our love and our family just... Simply wasn't meant to be..."
"I do not know because I am not certain when we are, though the where? This place reminds me vaguely of Kaas City," extrapolated Exolus, judging the flags and the buildings, but little else for he had none other to go on. He has visited the planet of Dromund Kaas but once in his lifetime, and found it thoroughly unmemorable. The odd, fair-haired woman paced back and forth, humming to herself. Despite clearly being somewhere between the ages of twenty to forty, she behaved in some ways like a child. Her marching step came to a halt suddenly.
"Interesting, you may very well be correct, on the money I should think too! Most of this architecture seems a little too new for how dated it must seem to you, or perhaps not? You're a very difficult man to read," she informed, flapping her hand about in the general direction of Darth Exolus' hooded head, "and I don't just mean with that gaudy metal thing upon your face. This place, not too unlike Dromund Kaas you say? You would know more than I on that front, given what's covering up your head."
"Explain..." probed Exolus, tucking one arm under the other.
"Explain, hmm? No good? Am I not articulating myself well enough for you? No matter! Let's start with the easy part; that mask you're wearing. It's from this time. I can tell - don't ask me why. It has that kind of... Dark smell about it," the woman informed, pointing at Exolus' helmet, "that is the mask of a Sith Lord, is it not? Are you perchance him? A son? Cousin thrice removed? Previous owner? Oh, what am I raving about? Of course you aren't! How could you be?"
"You would appear to know much more about me than your words suggest, however I know nothing of you. Have you a name, or are you but a haunting spirit of this place? If you would tell me, then I may be inclined to share with you whatever it is you think I know," offered the robed Sith Lord, proposing a simple trade of introductions in exchange for information. This appeared to delight the blonde woman, who was likely all too eager to share stories. Indeed, at those words she stretched a rather unnatural, wide grin about her face, wriggling her arms in elation.
"Hoh, names! Names, names, names... To tell you the truth, I have had more than I'd care to count over the years... So many so that I've forgotten! Your point though, isn't lost on me my good man, but for the sake of brevity..." she continued, extended her hand out for the Sith Lord to shake, in both greeting and agreement to their deal, "why, I suppose you can just call me 'Narae'. It seems to be the one that's stuck most in this recent breath of freedom I'm enjoying right now!"
"I am called Exolus, Narae," greeted Exolus in turn, shaking her hand briefly, "you mentioned freedom a moment ago. Is this place your prison?"
"Of fate, circumstance, time and loneliness, yes you could call those a sort of prison. This here, hmm?" Narae answered, motioning around the room, "not my jail. In fact, this would all appear to be coming from your head. It is what released me from my doldrums elsewhere. Or... At least, if not in your head, then perhaps an echo, a memory etched into that mask? It is said that such objects steeped in the Dark take on such things from their owners. Cast very long shadows they say."
"You are touched by the Force Narae. I sense it in you," Exolus observed, "are you a Jedi, a Sith or something else?"
"And you are a purveyor of old things and dark wisdoms 'Exolus', I sense that in you," Narae quipped swiftly back at him with a titter, "You are of the Sith. The very old kind that walked under red suns before the galaxy knew what the word "Sith" meant. In any case, what I know about you is entirely irrelevant to the where and when we are... But perhaps the why... Do historians and enthusiasts of hidden lore make a habit of leaping across time and space?"
"I could ask the same of inquisitive strangers, Narae."
"Aha! How droll! I take your meaning Sith... Yes, yes I have been known to flit about here and there, though not by my own volition, knowledge and certainly not my own devices. Brief glimpses through the cracks in the wall you might say," Narae smiled, again baring a queer, toothy grin, "it isn't the first time this has happened, and I expect it not to be the last. But listen! Do you hear that? Something is about to happen. Perhaps it might give us both some insight into the where, the when and the why. Let's take a look and see!"
Narae took Exolus' wrist, and pulled him forward with a curious strength, closer and closer still to an antechamber down a fresh new hall, but one dark and foreboding. It crissed and crossed its way down until expanding, opening out into a meditative chamber at the center of which stood a man, wreathed in purple lightning, conversing with a hooded woman who bore a mask like Exolus'. Narae raised a finger to her lips, shushing Darth Exolus before he could comment, pointing toward the duo, each poised to strike at one another, with the electrified male pacing back and forth.
"That was remarkably-quick thinking, buying Cineratus out from under me. I knew you'd be here after claiming his loyalty eventually... A lesser Sith would run off and hide under a rock, but it is apparent you are no lesser Sith..." commented the greying man, face lined with both age marks and fading tattoos as he held up his hand to halt the woman in her stride as she began her final approach, intent on violence, "that's close enough. Have you come to settle the score with me?"
"You took something important to me, and now I have deprived something of importance to you. We appear to have 'settled the score', as it were," the masked woman replied, referring to this 'Cineratus' individual, "this madness can all stop here. It doesn't have to end this way... Sith against Sith for no good reason."
"Yes, of course. You're correct. Now, you could flee, leave our Order behind and start again elsewhere. Find yourself a new lover, raise a family perhaps?" mocked the man, chuckling to himself, bemused as the woman's lightsaber snap-hissed to life with a flash of purple, "but no... No... You would always be the one who fled in cowardice, and I would be the one who let you slither away... It would eat at us both always. You're also correct in other other aspect; It ends here, and this time I will make certain to dispose of your corpse personally, Lord Kallig."
"As you wish, Darth Thanaton. If your desire is to keep tearing our Order apart at the seams with this childish excuse for invoking the Kaggath, so be it," Kallig mused, disappointment ringing out from her mask, "if you'd set what Zash had done aside, looked past your own orthodoxy, we could have bettered the Empire together, you and I. Strengthened what it means to be Sith. So remember this, as you die - you chose this."
"That is... Darth Nox. My father's ancestor. Is this the residual memory of the mask you spoke of Narae?" Exolus commented from his sideline view of the two Sith, who now engaged in a furious flurry of red and violet, striking at one another with a dancer's grace, "this troubles me. In all of a century there have been no flashes like this. Let us say I do not believe you are entirely-blameless in drawing me here, to this place."
"Then let us say for argument's sake that you're right. I am some criminal to draw you in here to your own mindscape and do... What, exactly? I can no more leave this place than I can cut out my own heart," Narae rebuked, placing a hand over her chest, as if to emphasize her point, "it's becoming clear to me that this... This window into your mind is of someone else's making. I'm just a spectator pulled in along for the ride. You're here because you want to be here. Someone is plucking at your mind, but you're the one playing the tune!"
Narae inclined her head toward the furious battle, in which the masked Sith - Darth Nox, lashed at her former, temporary master Darth Thanaton with a brilliant white lightning, which he easily redirected into one of the statues surrounding his meditation chamber, "I know your kind... Oh, what did they call you in the day and age we're in right now? Purebloods? I think that was it... You Purebloods did seem to enjoy a rousing round of executions, and what better place for a highly Lord of the Purebloods to be than at one of his family's most important executions? This is the place where she died the first time."
"Let us say I no longer wished to be here? Let us say I wished to find the one behind my being here," Exolus went on, turning his attention away from the battle - a foregone conclusion when Thanaton seared Nox' body with a peculiar Sith magic, "and then let us say that I would be willing to find you a way out of here in exchange for identifying the one responsible?"
"Let's say I did for a moment. Let's then say for the sake of it that I have all of the answers you assume I must have. Oh, would that I did my good Lord, would that I did! But this is the Sith Empire. Do remember that because I'm simply the first person you met, that I may not be here to rob you of your independent thought," rebuffed Narae, seemingly as in the dark about the perpetrator to this dream, "see, that's why this entire place is a façade of Coruscant. We can't have any Sith artists getting ideas that aren't decidedly Sith now can we?"
Immediately, Narae gasped. An idea struck her, a moment of clarity. She tugged insistently at Darth Exolus' sleeve, "Will you not walk a while with me? I'd like to show you something," requested Narae, hoisting her shoulder up, tucking her arm neatly around Darth Exolus', leading him away, down passages entirely alien when compared to the structure they were in before, "ah... There's that look. I can see it even beneath that ghastly helmet, this place doesn't look quite so out of place does it? Shall I say then, that I do indeed have the answers you no doubt seek; Is this a dream? Is it really in your head? What exactly is this place? Who brought us here? And just who is Narae?"
"Go on."
"Good gracious, you're so stolid... What am I to do with you? I know!" Narae tittered again, snapping a finger, "I will tell you what I know, but I too have a bargain to strike. I have some questions for you if I may be so bold!"
"You may."
"Look around you for starters. The architecture wouldn't look like it didn't belong on a Coruscanti facade, would it? All you Purebloods wandering about proudly in your golds and purples and greens should answer the most pertinent question of where - the Sith Empire of course!" continued Narae, merrily dragging Exolus along past some striking depictions of the Great Hyperspace War, "have you ever seen art or great literary works from your people dating back before the Daragons made history on your soil? Ah-ah! I know I said I'd ask you the questions, but I'll stop you there - you haven't!"
"Most of it was lost in war," Exolus filled in, unable to recount the particulars or the numbers, but the loss of most of the great works was a tragic loss for Sith historical preservation.
"And there's the rub! Anything before and anything after were unmistakably-derivative, did you know that?" Narae probed, emphasizing the decorative sculptures, "your kind were quite unoriginal long before the Golden Age of your Lord Ragnos. Come, come this way. I'll show you what I mean!"
With all the grace of a dancer, Narae leapt up an invisible step, bringing with her the Sith Lord with uncanny strength, through the wall itself which melted away, running down itself like water to reveal a bare room, hanging in black and only a singular pedestal featuring, upon which sat a familiar pyramidal object. It was joined by a long metal cylinder, projecting a dim violet beam, and that was joined again by a strange museum of objects both contemporary and historic, phasing into reality as Narae walked her guest through an endless phantasmal corridor.
"You seem speechless. That's reasonable. Why should I have all these goodies in my possession after all? They're that girl Nox' goodies. What is there to be said about all these trinkets other than to deride them? Quite a boring collector this Nox is... Rakata here, Rakata there. This is Rakatan, that is Rakatan. Rakata, Rakata, Rakata! To think that your people spent the blood of a generation hounding these savage beasts from Pesegam, and generations after obsessing still! My question to you, Darth Exolus... Why? So many people to speak with. To share knowledge with. Reason, understanding and companionship. Why did you copy the work of those who came before? Those who sought to conquer and destroy your people?"
"This world... Disappoints you?" Exolus replied, with a question of his own.
"Yes, indeed! That is my eternal disappointment! How astute of you to notice. If not your kind deriving from the Rakata, then they from the Kwa, and the Kwa from the Architects, and they in turn from their own masters! What is the definition of culture if it keeps repeating, and you tear yourselves apart?"
"The repeating pattern has not escaped my notice. It will continue for as long as things live and die. We survive. We remember."
"And that is my point! I'm merely giving commentary on what my eyes see, Species after species becoming a slightly-different kind of society than the ones they replaced. So easily do they devote themselves to their liberators, or to bask in ignorance, without truly seizing the fruits of their own hard-won freedom. There is no unity. They are not as one. Do you not see? No? I think you will. Let me show you what I mean."
Narae waved her hand, projecting a rippling approximation of the long-dead Darth Groznii as he appeared in his final years, as Exolus had known him. Haggard, twitching and about a moment's notice from throttling the next person to utterly displease him by breathing too loudly, or standing improperly. He approached a throne, clutching his badge of office tightly, rolling the hilt about in his hand as a second man approached the throne, to take a knee - that was Darth Inferno, before he was Xaos, before the Brotherhood, when Exolus was but a mere apprentice. Narae gauged Exolus' reactions carefully, easily reading his expression from under the mask.
"Repetition Darth Exolus... It would seem that that's the foundation of the galaxy. Invention begets imitation. It repeats itself, over and over and over again. Stagnation follows... And inevitably war breaks out. If not between tribes, then between Light and Dark, and once again the galaxy falls into Chaos, and I glimpse out of my prison at what you all wrought," she explained, pointing out Inferno raising up his lightsaber to cut down Groznii in view of many co-conspirators to end him, "yet no-one ever breaks the cycle. Not one of you is truly united as one. Not even over something so loathsome a united hatred. And yet... For all I've fought to understand the why, all I've fought to be with them all again... One by one they all abandoned me. Even my own children turned on me! I cannot bare it! I wept for I was so alone, I wept because of what you all had, and I did not... And you squandered it all away mimicking those wretched Architects again and again!"
Drying her wet eyes, Narae chuckled at her own foolish display of emotion, wiping Groznii and Inferno away with but a blink. Her outburst had changed the locale to one of rolling, angry pale storms, swirling between them. Sniffling, her smile returned, eyes bright with joy once again.
"Oh goodness me... Look at myself! Pardon my outburst, I am always alone you see. Once I was not, and all were with me... But my family is gone, long-dead after having abandoned me. That is why I crave these moments. Why I ask all I meet why the galaxy is as it is. What is it that drives your kind Darth Exolus? What unites your... Obsidian Union?"
"Conflict is integral to every galactic civillization. Especially ours," Exolus responded, "Even pacifists will come to blows given enough time. The Force it seems, would appear to guide all who struggle and grow. Who dominate, as the weak cruelly dominate. It is said that if one has a quality, no matter how vile it may seem, then let it define you. We are as one, brothers and sisters under one banner, and one will..."
"But?" probed Narae, expecting more as Darth Exolus trailed off.
"But. The will of the Sith is not the absolute will. I despise the Force, for it controls us all in some cruel and unfeeling means to achieve Balance, regardless of how many are sacrificed," he continued, "the weak suffer, and the strong slaughter one another over small things like invisible lines dividing the galaxy up into systems and worlds. If there is one will, then it should be ours, and if not ours, then the Force must bend to serve it... Or die. It is the root of all conflict and derivative culture Narae, and because it cannot think, feel or know, it can only act, and that is abhorrent to me."
"How very interesting. Subvert the Force? Can such a thing be done? Do you not know the machinations of those who first commanded that great Sky River?" questioned Narae, looking up above to the stars that hung overhead, "kill it? Do you even know how? You are seeking to unify all things by, oh what is it those Corellians call it? Levelling the Huttball playing field? Noble. Oh yes, very noble... But I wonder what will happen if you cannot find a way? That is a question to answer another day. I have more to show you rather than tell you. I think you'll like this next part. I can feel whomsoever is commanding this dream of yours... It's oh-so close to your heart!"
Leading Exolus through the foggy vistas, past standing pools of water, faint greenery began to come into view. More and more. Thicker brush and dense tree networks quickly settled in around them with each step that covered more than just the length of their shared gait. For reasons beyond his understanding, Exolus was bidden to walk left, while Narae right. She vanished off into the distance, until Exolus found himself in the middle of an overgrown gully, at the foot of an enormous, ancient edifice that much-resembled the ziggurats of Yavin IV. But this world was not Yavin IV. This was one Exolus was quite familiar with. Though it was teeming with life, there was something deeply-wrong with the world. He knew it well. A choking, crushing feeling of oppression and terror lingering at the edges of life. One that ate at the very spirit if it was allowed. He stood before one of the Grand Edifices of Nathema.
Grand Edifice, Nathema, 1,089 BBY.
Alone and left to wander closer, Exolus noted that the enormous structure did not look as dated at it should have in his memory. The stone was barely-eroded, and a path had been cut, winding out back into the forests behind him. This was a world after the explosive bloom of life had returned to its surface, but clearly a great many centuries before Exolus stood on it, and turned the planet into a colorless chaos once again. Even before his time on Nathema, it was still rife with imported wildlife, and dotted here and there with pockets of the Zealots; the one-time guardians of the long abandoned Sanitarium. He could sense their presence - something he found odd for a vision, or dream or whatever this stroll through his own memories was. They were each huddled inside the structure, chanting and praying over a literal abyss, where once a Force-fuelled machine of cataclysmic power once rested.
Exolus tread halls old, but still familiar to him. They had changed little since their foundations were laid, and sat just as still and silent as they had when life left Nathema. Perhaps a few enthusiastic grave-robbers or adventurous Dark Jedi came here once, but they either perished to the horrors of Nathema herself, or were picked apart by the crazed cultists. He passed by several, praying to grotesque steles of old gods, though his presence went unnoticed as before. He knew where he was, and roughly when now, but again the why concerned him. What message was being sent here? Who sought to trap him here in memory? He continued on, snaking through the bowels of the Edifice, until that familiar stairway down to the pit loomed. Curiously, the contents of said pit tugged at him, as it had - relative to his own perspective, almost a hundred years prior.
Narae poked her head out from behind a serpentine statue, waving Exolus over to come and join her. He chose to stand beside her, until she insistently pulled him in behind it with her, seeing little point in arguing with her oddities at this point. Exolus simply decided to go along with the woman's strange quips and quirks, as she pointed, There, a trio of Kissai clad in the garb of the Zealots spoke with lanky green, insect-like creatures unlike anything he had ever seen. Exolus fixated upon it, from behind the crumbling pillar, only for Narae to tug him back behind it, "Careful... Wake the neighbors! Unlike last time these conjurations might spot you, as I found out. Had to do a bit of running through the jungle! What do you make of those strange things? I've never seen anything quite like them... Except perhaps for those Killiks."
"I have never seen those creatures before," Exolus admitted, "never when I was here, never before and never since. But this place... This is wh-"
"Oh hush if you don't know. Just look," insisted Narae, peeking out. An ancient-looking protocol droid translated a series of shrill clicks and trilling whines from the green alien, into a tongue Exolus could understand, "...And his most noble Grandprogenitor sends his prayers of mourning. The events past have pained him deeply. It is his wish that you know the actions of a few cretins do not speak for our kind as a whole. Thus he swears upon the holy names of the Baen'Zohna that the parties responsible will be found and punished for the good of the Varlian Star Empire and the Zealots both. Void-tampering is n-"
"Well color me confused!" Narae interrupted, turning to face Exolus while speaking over the unaware 'Varlian', "Zealots! Nathema! Bayeeen-Zohn... Ben-Zahn... Oh forget it! Curious to me, but familiar to you?"
"Nathema is the name of this planet. I came here a century ago. The Zealots attempted to break me by training me," explained the Sith Lord, pointing out the dark-clad figures conversing still with this peculiar 'Varlian' insect, "instead, they created me. I broke them all to my will, and robbed this world of its light a second time."
"How ominous, killer of worlds, shackler of people..." Narae commented, waving at the Varlian and its Zealot companions until she was satisfied they could not see her this time, taking off down the stairs, "ominous, and yet... For all this place confuses me, that pit... Down there, just there... It calls to me. Familiar somehow... Are you quite certain you haven't just conjured up a vivid dream and brought me along for the ride Mr. Kmâ-Aruoi!"
"You know my name. My name before I was Exolus. I never told you, and you know little enough without having it explained to you..." he probed, breathing slowly through his mask, in dull rasping huffs, "you read my thoughts to know this. Yet you know nothing of Nathema, but on the same hand you can feel that?"
Exolus stopped in his tracks following Narae down the stairs. She took once step and froze in place, for the Sith Lord was pulling her back through the Force. Chuckling nervously to herself, Narae turned as best as her body would allow, firing off another one of her unsettling grins, until she was launched toward Darth Exolus, who clamped a hand around her mouth. She grumbled, squeaked and groaned in his grip, wrestling to loosen his clenching fist from her. Now Exolus probed into her mind... And what he saw elicited a most strange reaction from the Sith Lord. He did what few had ever seen or heard him do.
Darth Exolus laughed.
"I believe I understand now... How clever. How very clever indeed!" chortled the Red Sith, looking around the room, after unceremoniously-tossing Narae before the mouth of the great pit that led down into a well of nothingness, pulling and wrenching at them both. Cursing to herself, and belittling Exolus for his rather rude and rough treatment of a lady, the blonde brushed a few dust-caked locks down, tossing them behind her head with a scowl.
"It is not a common technique Narae, but I now know what has happened here. Someone, or something has drawn me into the past for reasons which I do not yet know," started Exolus, joining Narae by the chasm before the abyss, peering down into it with familiarity, "In times long ago, Jedi and Sith lost themselves to the past. Whether it be a fixation on history, or an inability to let go, those that commanded the ability to Flow-Walk across time itself through the Force... Eventually they succumbed to their wants. Some others used it to torment and torture their hated enemies, showing them past traumas they could not correct, tempting them with things they could never grasp. It drove many to the point of insanity. Someone is attempting to do the same for me... But you? I also think I understand why you are here Narae."
"At last... Some answers! I've been beside myself with curiosity!" huffed the woman, insisting Exolus tell her what he knew, rolling her hand expectantly, "well? Out with it then!"
"Look down there first. Into the pit. What do you see? What do you feel?" he asked, again pointing down to the pit. Narae obliged, rolling her eyes as she cast her gaze down to the depths. Her breath caught in her throat when she looked, truly looked. He could see a measure of concern in her pale grey eyes. He could feel a disquiet gathering around her, and the more he pawed around at her foremost thoughts, the more he came to know.
"I feel... I feel... Huh... That is most peculiar. This gap in things. It is so familiar to me, yes. Yet I feel as though I should fear it... Even though it is nothing," she replied, quieter than before, as if a pang of worry had suddenly come over her, "it is quiet in there. Utterly devoid of anything. I feel it pull at me...? Calling me... To return? No. No! No I will not!"
Exolus' hand found the back of Narae's neck, and pushed her down, breathing noisily into her ear, "Look down. What. Do. You. See?"
Narae gazed. She saw nothing. Nothing for a great long while, having forgotten the buzzing conversation taking place not ten feet away from them, as history flowed on in spite of them. There, in the darkness, she saw a mirror, of shimmering, water-like black glass. She could see herself, hair shimmering, silver-white eyes lighting up the inky ocean around her. She was more radiant than she appeared. An ideal, internalized image of herself. How she felt, but not how she was. Yet she could see Exolus too, in the mirror, his hand around her neck... And her eyes widened. In an instant, fresh familiarity took her. Exolus was not a man standing beside her, but a thousand lidless, unblinking black eyes ringed in cloying emptiness, gazing back at her.
"I see you..." Exolus announced, his many eyes shifting to the side. Narae cried out as her lovely visage melted away from her like water, revealing her true self... With but two silvery stars peering out, "the mirror cannot perceive it, but I can feel the exquisite terror... Of what you truly are!"
Narae flung herself back, groping at her face... Her fair features had returned, though her heart was beating like a drum, "Tch... A conjurer of tricks as well I see? Who exactly are you Darth Exolus, and how is it you claim to know me?"
"I know you, as you know yourself. That place which made you, also made me," he sneered, no more than a man in a mask to her sight again, "I am of the chaos from whence you supped an eternity ago. I am the dark thirst you slaked, the bright hunger that you fed. I am that which bears no name... And against any other foe, I would be helpless... But you, wrought by grief, by fear... Here, at a gateway to the font which created us both, where our power is equal..."
Exolus planted a foot to the woman's back, and with a singular shoving kick, pushed Narae into the pit, sending her screaming out of time, out of sight, and out of mind, and Nathema slowly started to bleed away as a result, like paint running from a sodden, oily canvas, "Return to the void that made us, and trouble me no longer dark mother."
Villa Solis, Terephon, 37 ABY
Hapan architecture was not something Exolus professed himself to be familiar with. When the walls of Nathema fell apart, like a crumbling façade painted atop where he stood now, he could but look around. He was in some kind of high-society building, a personal residence by the looks of things, and yet the only other person in what should have been a bustling estate, was a single woman seated on a throne. This was not Narae. This was someone else. Behind folds of cloth about her entire body, Exolus could see a criss-cross of implants and wires, showing the marks of extensive cybernetic augmentation. She gestured at him with two fingers, making the slightest of movements in his direction.
"Welcome, Darth Exolus. I must say, you've dashed my attempts to probe your mind for anything I can use to persuade you in the conversation I had planned for us," announced a voice from this new locale entirely unfamiliar to Exolus, "alas, we shall have to have our little talk now. Please, sit..."
Exolus found a high-back chair sail its way to him from across the room, bumping into his lower back once its journey was complete. He placed himself upon it, no more than ten feet away from this new woman who had gone to some considerable effort to bring him here. This was not his mind now, this was her own. Much as he tried to look into it, this place was a locked door to him, with no visible means of entry.
"I've had quite the time you know, trying to get you here," explained the shadowy female, baring two vividly-green eyes down upon him, "you are not an easy man to snag for conversation, and I couldn't very well reveal myself and speak to you in person you understand. Introductions are in order I think. You are Darth Exolus, Sith Lord and boogieman to the Alliance. And I... Am Lumiya, the true Dark Lord of the Sith."
"A bold claim. By what right claim you the mantle?" Exolus queried.
"By might. By succession. By my own convictions. My tutor was Vader before his turn to the Light. My existence known to Emperor Palpatine, the previous Dark Lord, and not your has-been Dawnstar," quipped Lumiya, stretching her cloth cowl out in a smile, "surprised? I know your precious Master well enough to know who and what he is behind the little masquerade he puts on for the fools on Hosnian Prime. I suppose you're wondering why I didn't pull my little stunt on him instead of you?"
"You strike your enemy where he is weakest, not where he is strongest, and the Dark Lord is the strongest among our number," Exolus acknowledged, "so you come for one of his twelve right hands. To kill or coerce. Which one is it Lumiya?"
"It would be an awful waste to kill a man with your talents," she scoffed, dismissing the former with a wave-off, "no. I'm here to strike a deal with you. All I need is for you to listen to what I have to say. If you don't like my offer, we can part ways, and I'll find another who will."
Exolus sat back in his chair, spreading out his arms in a gesture of understanding, allowing her the opportunity to discuss the terms of her bargain. He would hear her out, her terms at least, though he was not of the mind to accept any offer she put on the table, no matter how tantalizing it may be. His vision was clear, and his plan moving forward clearer still. His destiny was with the Obsidian Union, among the Brotherhood. To deviate from the path he saw before him, all that time ago was to invite folly, and change the outcome. This was nothing more than a courtesy for someone so dogged as to go to these lengths just for an audience. Her ability to tap into the Flow-Walk if nothing else, was intriguing.
"My spies told me you were a thoroughly-unpleasant villain, not unlike my former master... But here I find that you don't mince words. Good. That'll make things far easier," Lumiya settled, pressing her fingertips together, "I'll make it brief for you then. I want to make an exchange. I give you something you want, and in the future, at some point, I will ask for a favor in kind. As it happens, I believe I can offer you exactly what you want - control over the Force, if I'm not mistaken?"
"I believe a mistake has been made here, but by whom I wonder?" spurned Exolus, resting both hands upon the arms of the seat. Lumiya uttered a faint laugh at his quip, nodding in her amusement.
"How long I wonder, before your fellow Sith find your single-minded adoration for your Dark Lord an obstacle? How many of them do you suppose will willingly give up the Force if you are forced to kill it should you find the solution you're looking for - which I assure you, I can provide you with? Do any of them even know of this horror you're capable of?"
"Do you?"
"Aha... Spoken like a true Sith enigma. I confess, you are something of a mystery to me. But that is exactly why I sought you," Lumiya related, rising up from her seat to slowly plod down the flight of stairs, "they say you are in more than one place at once. That you are many Sith under a single guise. I do not believe that. I think you are something else. I believe you possess the same ability to skirt death that Palpatine once had. That is why I offer you this bargain. I have need of it in the future."
"And what of you, Lumiya? Are you prepared to give up the Force? If you offer me all this power and knowledge that you believe you have that will sate me, then what will stop me from turning it upon you?" Exolus asked in response, still completely-certain of himself and his goals. Lumiya approached him slowly, clearly unarmed. He could sense her intent was not hostile, nor did her movements betray any shred of deception, as if she were poised to jab a blade into his neck when she crossed the distance between them.
"I will most likely be long-dead by the time you figure it out," she enlightened, stopping just short of Exolus upon his chair, "so you have nothing to lose. Your friends in the Obsidian Union will conspire against you sooner or later, when they recognize the threat you are to them. To the power they will not easily give up. Certainly, you may be able to kill the Force, but you cannot control it. All the same, my offer still stands to you. I will give you the knowledge you seek, and in return, you will perform a favor for me, when I ask you, without question."
Lumiya extended her hand, seeking to seal this agreement she had proposed. Darth Exolus rose from his seat, peering down at her hand, wrapped in cloth and wires, seemingly-contemplating her offer. Slowly, he raised his own gloved, four-fingered wrist, and brushed Lumiya's aside, much to her disappointment. She uttered a sigh. A pointless rejection of her offer. Such was unshakable loyalty to a lost cause. She made to turn away, to return to her throne and cast Exolus out of this mindscape, when his fingers coiled about her wrist, pulling her back, though she attempted to wrest herself free.
"A one-time offer I'm afraid. I will not offer it again. You've missed you chance Darth Exolus, I will find ano-"
"What is it you desire, Lumiya? What is it that you want exactly?" he asked, tugging her arm further back, until she could finally tear herself away from him, rubbing at her wrist.
"Nothing quite as dramatic as you, Sith Lord, I seek three things. First of which is revenge, and once I have it, I will work toward my true goal, stability under a Sith Lord, and the ordered peace that will follow..."
"Peace is a lie," Exolus recited, cold and certain, "and the Sith Lord you want to make this for you... Not you, but... An apprentice? Caedus? Oh, you have been clever..."
"You-"
"Do not worry Shira Brie... Your apprentice is known to us. He is a useful lightning rod for us, even with the false second master you have him serve," gloated Exolus, circling around the glowering Lumiya, who sneered back at him with contempt. From her wrist, she manifested a long cord, from which a yellow beam extended. Snarling, she brought it crashing down upon Exolus, cleaving an enormous, smouldering gash from shoulder to hip, throwing his body face-down, leaving him wheezing, close to death. She rolled him over with a foot, clenching her lightwhip's hilt tightly.
"Even if it is true, and you have discovered Palpatine's secret to cheating death... I will make you beg for it before I am through with you here. You chose to serve your doomed master, over a far simpler and more expedient solution," Lumiya hissed, cracking her whip across Exolus' back, melting the fabric, leather and flesh into a horrid, congealed mess of the three, "and now I'll make you burn for it."
A third slap of her whip almost tore Exolus' torso apart, but again she kept lashing, mutilating his body painfully, though she heard no cry of agony, nor any anguished plea to stop. The body had long-expired. However, to her shock, it rose up again, mangled and cut to cauterized ribbons, catching her next whip swing by the wrist again, while the rattling voice of a near-deceased Exolus croaked from his throat, "Burn? What a limited imagination..."
"You are nothing more than a cursed man in a mask Darth Exolus, and one day that will get the better of you! For it will not get the better of me!" Lumiya seethed, struggling with her foe, who surely should not have been this agile, never mind mobile enough to stand, Lumiya grunted, until she swung her free fist at the Sith Lord, striking his steel mask, bloodying her knuckles in the process. Twisting her arm, Exolus forced the lightwhip from Lumiya's grip. With his own free hand, he groped and grasped at the edges of his helmet, ripping it from his face, to reveal nothing behind it. His robes fell to the floor in a heap, which a panting Lumiya stomped on with a boot, to ensure he was gone. Her concern only grew when Exolus' voice rung out in her head.
"Then look upon me Baneite. Pretender. Heretic... Look upon me and know what I did to myself..." he taunted, driving the image of the mask into Lumiya's mind, only this time, when it fell from his head, she beheld a terrible visage of unblinking eyes, and corpse-like flesh beneath, "now... Think of what I could do to you."