Post by Darth Xaos on Aug 19, 2019 0:56:31 GMT
Rule of Brotherhood
Evil never dies. This warning was first uttered by an unknown Jedi Master, but these words have been forgotten by the modern Jedi. The Sith shall never die. This promise was first uttered by the Dark Lord Marka Ragnos, and his words have not been forgotten. While the Jedi of today look fearfully towards the Knights of Ren, they have failed to see the return of an elder darkness.
Founded not long before the Obsidian Union, the initial membership of the New Sith Brotherhood consisted of ancient Sith rescued from a carbonite tomb, recruits from allies among the Krath cults and Eternal Empire, along with various Dark Jedi and Force User recruits. Darth Xaos organized these disparate Dark Siders into a New Sith Brotherhood, based on the post-Rule of Two visions of Darth Plaugeis and Count Dooku. Named for Exar Kun’s Brotherhood of the Sith, they seek to restore the ancient days when the Sith were a sizeable ruling class in the galaxy, rather than a conspiracy of two.
Though Darth Bane’s legitimacy in the lineage of Dark Lords is acknowledged, the Brotherhood’s position is that the purpose Rule of Two was fulfilled and transcended during the reign of Plagueis, rather than viewing the Rule of Two as an expression of immutable truths as Bane himself did. Because Sidious went against this change, the Brotherhood’s recognized line of succession goes from Plagueis to Tyranus to Xaos, bypassing Sidious and Vader. While the wider galaxy may believe that the Sith died at Endor, the Brotherhood hardly views the death of two heretics as meaning the death of the Sith.
And it is in more than merely expanding their numbers that the Brotherhood believe they have surpassed Bane’s teachings. Under the Rule of Two, betrayal was not only accepted or encouraged, it was mandatory. But the Brotherhood believes that it is betrayal that has kept the Sith from claiming their rightful place as the galaxy’s rulers. Rarely, they argue, have the Jedi actually defeated the Sith; far more often have the Sith defeated themselves through internal betrayal. With the Sith united in loyalty under a Dark Lord, they can at last overthrow the Jedi for good, and restore the Balance of the Force, which has been marred by the Jedi having persisted for so long after the Force removed their mandate to rule, in favor of the Sith.
In the absence of the Rule of Two, a new Rule of Brotherhood has been proclaimed, which reads as follows:
The Sith are united in their Force-given purpose; to knowingly undermine the cause of the Sith is to stand without our Brotherhood.
The Dark Lord is the living manifestation of the Force’s will, all Sith are united in loyalty to the Dark Lord and to each other.
When Sith make war upon each other, the only victors are our enemies.
Those who take up the ways of the Sith but do not acknowledge the Rule of Brotherhood or its Dark Lord are not Sith, but heretics and thieves that must be extinguished.
An Apprentice is the responsibility of their master, any action of the Apprentice is an action of the master.
The Obsidian Knights
While the Sith Brotherhood intends to one day openly rule the galaxy, for the moment they recognize the value of secrecy, and they hide behind another name: the Obsidian Knights. Ostensibly a more organized revival of Dooku’s adepts, the Knights lead the Union’s droid armies into battle. In public the Brotherhood wears titles associated with the Obsidian Knights instead of their true Sith ones; though some do choose to use their Sith names in public, as this is easily explained as being in continuity with the tendency among some old Confederate commanders to use a nom-de-guerre such as “Grievous” or “Enigma.” Under his public persona of Rakshesh Dawnstar, Darth Xaos leads as the Lord-Commander of the Obsidian Knights.
Training
One regard in which the Brotherhood is near-indistinguishable from Bane’s Order relates to the potential lethality of its training techniques. As Sith have done since time immemorial, their Apprentices must face real danger in training so that they may truly learn to draw on the Dark Side’s power. An Apprentice is assigned to either a Sith Knight or Master upon joining and study under them until they demonstrate firm knowledge of the fundamentals of either one of the Sith’s ancient Dark Paths or the ways of a recognized allied Dark Force tradition. Though each Sith Apprenticeship is unique, all include three basic milestones: the Sacrifice, Bleeding a lightsaber crystal and the Knighthood Trials.
The Sacrifice
In ancient times, to join the Sith, one had to kill a loved one at the behest of the Order. The Brotherhood regards this particular version of the Sacrifice as an archaic one; a product of the feudal blood feuds of the first Sith Empire that, while serving some revised use under the Rule of Two, requires adaptation to keep its original intent in modern days. While the Brotherhood’s Sacrifice still requires a death, it is one designed to sever a political, rather than personal connection. The target of the Sacrifice not only need not be a loved one, it is ideal if the Apprentice already dislikes the target, as this will hasten their advancement in the Dark Side. But the primary point is not the nature of the Apprentice’s personal relationship to the victim, instead the victim is one who belongs to an enemy faction to which the master determines that the Apprentice would be mostly likely to defect should they ever lose faith in the Sith. It is only after this pre-emptive bridge burning that most Obsidian Knight recruits first learn that they have joined the Sith and are granted a Sith name.
Crystal Bleeding
Jedi lore keepers and secular historians have long lost the secret of why Sith wield red-bladed lightsabers and where such Kyber Crystals can be aquired. Popular theories range from the Sith possessing some Kyber synthesizing process to red Kyber only being found in Kinrath eggs. But the truth behind a Sith’s weapon is far more personal and unnerving. Kybers are naturally aligned to the Light and individuals who wield the Dark Side are at a disadvantage when using a lightsaber with a crystal in its natural state. It is for this reason that the pre-Sith Dark Jedi orders often eschewed the use of lightsabers in favor of melee weapons enhanced by the Force. But it was the Sith who first discovered the art of Bleeding a lightsaber crystal. By breaking the crystal’s resistance to the Dark in extended contest of wills, a Sith may pore pain and aggressive feelings into the Kyber thus realigning it. It is usual for a Master to assign a quest to precede the Bleeding; often this quest consists of killing a Jedi to acquire their crystal for the ritual, which may also be the Sacrifice in some instances.
But, what is even less known, is that not all Bled crystals in fact turn to a crimson hue. If the Sith killed someone to acquire the crystal then it almost always turns red, however, if the Kyber was already owned before its possessor came to the Sith or was acquired another way, something else might occur. In those unusual cases where a Bled crystal does not turn red, it most often retains its original blade color, though the crystal itself will develop dark veins or other signs of Dark Side influence. But, rarest of all, is a crystal that turns purple upon being Bled, which is the only recorded way a purple Kyber has ever occurred.
A handful of Jedi over the millennia have learned to reverse the Bleeding process; a red crystal that has undergone this cleansing ritual turns a silvery-white while others retain their color but lose the marks of Darkness.
Knighthood Trials
When at last an Apprentice’s master determines that their student has absorbed the basic lessons of the Sith way, they send the Apprentice on a Trial quest. This will be a test of the Apprentices abilities the likes of which they have never faced before; if Sith training is dangerous then Sith Knighthood Trials are deadly. An Apprentice will either succeed and then be recognized as a true Sith, subject only to the Dark Lord, or they shall die. Once recognized as a Knight of the Sith, they will begin to walk their Dark Path in earnest and are expected to train Apprentices themselves. It is only after completion of the Trials that a Sith may be addressed by the title of Darth.
Sith Masters & the Dark Council
While the passage between Apprentice and Knight is initiated and recognized by a teacher, it is the Force itself that does so for the transition from Knight to Master. Once a Sith has proven that they have taken their first steps upon one of the legendary Master Paths, then they become known as a Sith Master. Despite this elevation, Masters have no more inherent power over their fellow Sith Knights than they did before. Though this new seniority does mean the Master is much more likely to be placed in command of specific operations, so it is still far more common to see a Knight deferring to a Master than the other way around. Additionally, all Sith Masters are guaranteed a spot on the Dark Council, an advisory body to the Dark Lord. A Sith Master will not only commonly hold powerful position within the Obsidian Union, but often holds their own outside power that exists independently of it.
Evil never dies. This warning was first uttered by an unknown Jedi Master, but these words have been forgotten by the modern Jedi. The Sith shall never die. This promise was first uttered by the Dark Lord Marka Ragnos, and his words have not been forgotten. While the Jedi of today look fearfully towards the Knights of Ren, they have failed to see the return of an elder darkness.
Founded not long before the Obsidian Union, the initial membership of the New Sith Brotherhood consisted of ancient Sith rescued from a carbonite tomb, recruits from allies among the Krath cults and Eternal Empire, along with various Dark Jedi and Force User recruits. Darth Xaos organized these disparate Dark Siders into a New Sith Brotherhood, based on the post-Rule of Two visions of Darth Plaugeis and Count Dooku. Named for Exar Kun’s Brotherhood of the Sith, they seek to restore the ancient days when the Sith were a sizeable ruling class in the galaxy, rather than a conspiracy of two.
Though Darth Bane’s legitimacy in the lineage of Dark Lords is acknowledged, the Brotherhood’s position is that the purpose Rule of Two was fulfilled and transcended during the reign of Plagueis, rather than viewing the Rule of Two as an expression of immutable truths as Bane himself did. Because Sidious went against this change, the Brotherhood’s recognized line of succession goes from Plagueis to Tyranus to Xaos, bypassing Sidious and Vader. While the wider galaxy may believe that the Sith died at Endor, the Brotherhood hardly views the death of two heretics as meaning the death of the Sith.
And it is in more than merely expanding their numbers that the Brotherhood believe they have surpassed Bane’s teachings. Under the Rule of Two, betrayal was not only accepted or encouraged, it was mandatory. But the Brotherhood believes that it is betrayal that has kept the Sith from claiming their rightful place as the galaxy’s rulers. Rarely, they argue, have the Jedi actually defeated the Sith; far more often have the Sith defeated themselves through internal betrayal. With the Sith united in loyalty under a Dark Lord, they can at last overthrow the Jedi for good, and restore the Balance of the Force, which has been marred by the Jedi having persisted for so long after the Force removed their mandate to rule, in favor of the Sith.
In the absence of the Rule of Two, a new Rule of Brotherhood has been proclaimed, which reads as follows:
The Sith are united in their Force-given purpose; to knowingly undermine the cause of the Sith is to stand without our Brotherhood.
The Dark Lord is the living manifestation of the Force’s will, all Sith are united in loyalty to the Dark Lord and to each other.
When Sith make war upon each other, the only victors are our enemies.
Those who take up the ways of the Sith but do not acknowledge the Rule of Brotherhood or its Dark Lord are not Sith, but heretics and thieves that must be extinguished.
An Apprentice is the responsibility of their master, any action of the Apprentice is an action of the master.
The Obsidian Knights
While the Sith Brotherhood intends to one day openly rule the galaxy, for the moment they recognize the value of secrecy, and they hide behind another name: the Obsidian Knights. Ostensibly a more organized revival of Dooku’s adepts, the Knights lead the Union’s droid armies into battle. In public the Brotherhood wears titles associated with the Obsidian Knights instead of their true Sith ones; though some do choose to use their Sith names in public, as this is easily explained as being in continuity with the tendency among some old Confederate commanders to use a nom-de-guerre such as “Grievous” or “Enigma.” Under his public persona of Rakshesh Dawnstar, Darth Xaos leads as the Lord-Commander of the Obsidian Knights.
Training
One regard in which the Brotherhood is near-indistinguishable from Bane’s Order relates to the potential lethality of its training techniques. As Sith have done since time immemorial, their Apprentices must face real danger in training so that they may truly learn to draw on the Dark Side’s power. An Apprentice is assigned to either a Sith Knight or Master upon joining and study under them until they demonstrate firm knowledge of the fundamentals of either one of the Sith’s ancient Dark Paths or the ways of a recognized allied Dark Force tradition. Though each Sith Apprenticeship is unique, all include three basic milestones: the Sacrifice, Bleeding a lightsaber crystal and the Knighthood Trials.
The Sacrifice
In ancient times, to join the Sith, one had to kill a loved one at the behest of the Order. The Brotherhood regards this particular version of the Sacrifice as an archaic one; a product of the feudal blood feuds of the first Sith Empire that, while serving some revised use under the Rule of Two, requires adaptation to keep its original intent in modern days. While the Brotherhood’s Sacrifice still requires a death, it is one designed to sever a political, rather than personal connection. The target of the Sacrifice not only need not be a loved one, it is ideal if the Apprentice already dislikes the target, as this will hasten their advancement in the Dark Side. But the primary point is not the nature of the Apprentice’s personal relationship to the victim, instead the victim is one who belongs to an enemy faction to which the master determines that the Apprentice would be mostly likely to defect should they ever lose faith in the Sith. It is only after this pre-emptive bridge burning that most Obsidian Knight recruits first learn that they have joined the Sith and are granted a Sith name.
Crystal Bleeding
Jedi lore keepers and secular historians have long lost the secret of why Sith wield red-bladed lightsabers and where such Kyber Crystals can be aquired. Popular theories range from the Sith possessing some Kyber synthesizing process to red Kyber only being found in Kinrath eggs. But the truth behind a Sith’s weapon is far more personal and unnerving. Kybers are naturally aligned to the Light and individuals who wield the Dark Side are at a disadvantage when using a lightsaber with a crystal in its natural state. It is for this reason that the pre-Sith Dark Jedi orders often eschewed the use of lightsabers in favor of melee weapons enhanced by the Force. But it was the Sith who first discovered the art of Bleeding a lightsaber crystal. By breaking the crystal’s resistance to the Dark in extended contest of wills, a Sith may pore pain and aggressive feelings into the Kyber thus realigning it. It is usual for a Master to assign a quest to precede the Bleeding; often this quest consists of killing a Jedi to acquire their crystal for the ritual, which may also be the Sacrifice in some instances.
But, what is even less known, is that not all Bled crystals in fact turn to a crimson hue. If the Sith killed someone to acquire the crystal then it almost always turns red, however, if the Kyber was already owned before its possessor came to the Sith or was acquired another way, something else might occur. In those unusual cases where a Bled crystal does not turn red, it most often retains its original blade color, though the crystal itself will develop dark veins or other signs of Dark Side influence. But, rarest of all, is a crystal that turns purple upon being Bled, which is the only recorded way a purple Kyber has ever occurred.
A handful of Jedi over the millennia have learned to reverse the Bleeding process; a red crystal that has undergone this cleansing ritual turns a silvery-white while others retain their color but lose the marks of Darkness.
Knighthood Trials
When at last an Apprentice’s master determines that their student has absorbed the basic lessons of the Sith way, they send the Apprentice on a Trial quest. This will be a test of the Apprentices abilities the likes of which they have never faced before; if Sith training is dangerous then Sith Knighthood Trials are deadly. An Apprentice will either succeed and then be recognized as a true Sith, subject only to the Dark Lord, or they shall die. Once recognized as a Knight of the Sith, they will begin to walk their Dark Path in earnest and are expected to train Apprentices themselves. It is only after completion of the Trials that a Sith may be addressed by the title of Darth.
Sith Masters & the Dark Council
While the passage between Apprentice and Knight is initiated and recognized by a teacher, it is the Force itself that does so for the transition from Knight to Master. Once a Sith has proven that they have taken their first steps upon one of the legendary Master Paths, then they become known as a Sith Master. Despite this elevation, Masters have no more inherent power over their fellow Sith Knights than they did before. Though this new seniority does mean the Master is much more likely to be placed in command of specific operations, so it is still far more common to see a Knight deferring to a Master than the other way around. Additionally, all Sith Masters are guaranteed a spot on the Dark Council, an advisory body to the Dark Lord. A Sith Master will not only commonly hold powerful position within the Obsidian Union, but often holds their own outside power that exists independently of it.