The open space beyond the viewport of his personal chambers held the masked man's gaze for a few long moments as he sat and pondered on the state of affairs. The Ouroboros Crisis was over, his master was dead, and he had emerged from it all as the second half of the new Tsis'Kaar. Quite the eventful year really. His gaze shifted to the chessboard sitting on the table beside where he sat currently, the game seemingly in progress. Most of the dark pieces had been committed to surrounding the light Queen and taking her out of action, the final blow delivered by the dark King and a dark Bishop.
He plucked the light Queen from the board and inspected the piece for a moment, rolling it around in his fingers. For a brief moment he thought that he had glimpsed another figure in his chambers, out of the corner of his eye. The hooded form of the queen. And yet a glance in that direction and a probe in the Force sensed nothing. Nothing but his own mind playing tricks on him after his victory, he supposed.
The Queen had seemed unassailable and invaluable to his opponent, with the ability to move and strike wherever and whenever she wished. And yet she had been baited and slain by the actions of a mere Bishop and a seemingly vulnerable King. He set the piece aside as it no longer had a place on the board, a board full of Pawns and Knights. His gaze then set on the other two prominent light pieces on the board, the King and a Rook.
The Parasite and the Weed.
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It was all in place and ready to kick off the moment that he gave the signal, a plan that had been decades in the making. The Tsis'Kaar cells and assassins were ready to enact their attacks upon the wider Sith Order but for Jutrand Alisteri simply couldn't risk leaving it up to chance. He had to ensure that the preparations and execution went off without a hitch and therefore he couldn't just trust it to more agents of the Tsis'Kaar. His Squires and cultists, loyal to him alone rather than to his master or the Inquisition, were in their positions in the Jutrand system already as the Senate meeting began and eagerly awaited the signal to begin.
The bombs were in place and their charges were set to go off at the simple click of a button, sending much of the capitol district into a flurry of explosions and chaos. Empyrean himself was attending the meeting and several Squires had been chosen to go after him themselves if he happened to survive the bombs, which he undoubtedly would. Really he just needed to cement the Tsis'Kaar as the ones behind the attack so assassins would be his weapon of choice in that regard. Supposedly the 'emperor' even had a wife lurking somewhere from what he had heard, but his informants had yet to locate her so he could only hope that the bombings would be good enough to convince Empyrean and the Sith Order of who was to blame for it all.
His master was about to launch the deadliest attack on the inner workings of the Sith Order seen yet and she had no knowledge of the plan herself. But of course the various Tsis'Kaar forces that Alisteri had given orders to didn't need to know that he wasn't acting on her wishes as he had claimed. No one would be the wiser and he knew that Carnifex and Empyrean would relish the chance to finally put Darth Ophidia in her place no matter how bold and out of character for her the attacks would be.
Alisteri gave the signal, a signal that spread across the secret and encrypted communication channels of the Tsis'Kaar. A signal that made city blocks ignite in flame and carefully situated
snipers and assassins put an end to their designated targets all across Sith Order space. Jutrand was burning, the Malsheem had been assaulted, and just like that the Ouroboros Crisis had begun in earnest all by some clever manipulation and years of careful planning. It was cathartic to see it all finally come to fruition.
"Well then...it's about fething time."
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Both were surrounded by Pawns, the King secure and seemingly insurmountable without carving through his army of Knights and Bishops that kept him safe. The Rook was stalwart and distant in a field of Pawns that would have to die before he could be reached, but no fortress was impenetrable. He would find the cracks in both formations and lay both the King and the Rook low as he had done the Queen before them. But such things were for later, as his turn had been ended and the play was in the hands of the light pieces for now.
At that moment a knock sounded on the door to his chambers and drew his focus away from the board. "They have gathered and await your address, Darth Strosius." The voice on the other side of the door called out, knowing better than to enter without being invited. "Thank you. I shall be out in but a moment." He waited until the footsteps away from the door were distant before he rose from his chair. Clad in his new ornaments and flowing robes, he left the board and the game in progress as he strode to the exit of his chambers and stepped out into one of the many halls running the length of Bailiff Station.
His walk down the hall was silent and solitary, the rest of the station's inhabitants waiting for his arrival in the main atrium. A crowd assembled all for him, something that had become far more common as of late despite his hesitance to draw such assemblies. He could appreciate the extra time to himself as he mused on what was to come. On what he intended to do this very day even. On what had transpired already.
On what had gone right, and what had gone oh so terribly wrong.
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Alisteri grunted as he felt the flesh in his stomach knitting itself back together in time with the bloody stump of a right hand starting to reform into a proper appendage once more, a now empty blood bag dropping from his mouth to join the pile of them at his feet. Adeline had been a more vicious opponent than he had expected but damage to his person was secondary to what she had robbed from him. She had thrown off his plan and forced him to flee, with the additional issue of the Mors Mon and Empyrean's presence ensuring that he couldn't simply return to finish the rituals later or draw assistance from Malum. He just had to hope and pray that the relic had gotten enough charge to do its job.
His hand trailed down the obelisk before him, an ancient artifact that he had uncovered on Krayiss Two many years ago and had retrieved from the depths of the library-temple there in more recent times. It had been dormant and stewing in the Dark Side for what must have been a century at least and yet the relatively minor bit of power channeled into it by the Lorekeepers on Alvaria had been enough to awaken it from its slumber.
The runes lining its surface pulsed with a sinister red glow as he ran his uninjured hand over them, the only source of light in the dark cargo bay of the Shikkar-class corvette that he had made his escape on. It was the key to victory, the one thing that he had hedged all of his bets upon. It simply couldn't fail. Not when they were so close to a breaking point.
Alisteri perked up as his damaged mask's commlink clicked to life, with him quickly donning it once more to accept the message. :"Knight Inquisitor, we are nearing the end of our emergency hyperspace jump. Where is our next destination?": The voice of the ship's captain was clipped and formal, straight to the point as usual for a member of the Inquisition. "Set course for Faldos, we must regroup with the rest of the Inquisition fleet and spread word that Empyrean himself is on the march. After that..." He spared one last glance at the artifact before turning away and heading towards the exit of the cargo bay.
"We head for Fiviune."
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Thankfully, for the most part, his play against the Queen had gone mostly according to plan and had resulted in her demise and thus a temporary yet very important victory. One that could not be understated nor ignored. Between the official end of the Ouroboros Crisis, although there were still some holdouts and cells of the Tsis'Kaar that weren't content to be reincorporated back into the Sith Order, and his own ascension to Sith Lord there was so much to be celebrated.
He briefly paused before the door at the end of the hall, the one that led to the main atrium where his much of his cult and the Inquisition had been gathered to hear his address. His first address as something more than a mere lower ranking Sith. No longer a Knight nor Acolyte but rather a fully realized and hard earned Sith Lord. Something that he had dreamt of for many long years. The masked man took a breath and rolled his shoulders before finally opening the door with a simple wave of his hand. One step through the threshold and the chatter of the audience beyond was silenced almost instantly as all eyes in the room turned to regard the entrance of their leader.
To the Inquisition he was their Lord Inquisitor, once one of the most dedicated and deadly of them that now served as their leader. To the Tsis'Kaar that had flocked to his banner, the various assassins, Lorekeepers, and agents, he was the eldest heir to Darth Ophidia and had served as her enforcer throughout his time under her shadow. To the Order of Wonosa he was their High Priest, their savior and liberator that had led them since the fall of the Sith Empire. But to all gathered and in the wider Sith Order he was primarily known as,
Darth Strosius.
He strode past the assembled group on the balcony overlooking the atrium, a collection of his closest and most trusted. Exarch Salneva Limont dipped in a deep bow, offering her High Priest a small smile as his masked gaze caught her own for a moment. Maximillian Thalassis, ever the petulant youngster, held his head high and refused to turn his eyes away as the Sith Lord passed. He was still so prideful and stubborn, but he was also still young and with plenty of room for improvement. Principales Skep Klar offered the masked man a nod and a small salute, wearing his own mask made of a neutral expression and a steely gaze. He still held doubts but one so practical could hardly deny the results that the Sith Lord had achieved for them.
Assorted Lorekeepers, Battlelords, and high ranking Legionnaires made up the remaining handful of figures on the balcony and they all offered bows or salutes respectively as the Sith Lord strode by. Finally the masked man reached the end of the balcony where a pulpit awaited him, overlooking an atrium full of his followers. From the Sith Asssassins and Lorekeepers tucked away in the corners of the room to the Inquisition Troopers and Legionnaires standing at attention in ordered columns, all stood with bated breath as the gauntlets of their leader clutched the sides of the pulpit and his masked gaze swept over them.
"Sith." Through both the speakers arrayed around the room and the assistance of the Force, the voice of Darth Strosius filled the air as rushing water filled an empty basin. For once he saw no nobles or traitors scheming against the Sith Order, no self proclaimed 'gods' or kings posturing about, no enemies of the Sith met his gaze for the first time in so long. For when he looked upon the crowd before him and thought of those on Faldos and Formos that were listening to his address as well, he saw only Sith. As it should be.
"You have gathered because there has been a victory in these recent days. A victory that will serve as the first of many more to come in the future. For with the death of Darth Ophidia, the first step towards the liberation of the Sith has been taken!" Darth Strosius raised his hands as he spoke and clenched them into fists to punctuate his statement, with a chorus rising up from the crowd in return. The members of the Tsis'Kaar did not join in, for they were unaware of why the chorus chanted a single word. Yet every member of the Sith Lord's cult knew it by heart and every trooper of the Inquisition remembered it from their subliminal indoctrinations under his watch.
Hundreds of fists raised in the air to mirror Darth Strosius as the cry of "WONOSA!" rang out in a choir of zealotry and loyalty. "WONOSA!" Cheered the Squires and Battlelords, much to the confusion of the Assassins and Sith Inquisitors around them. "WONOSA!" Called every voice of the soldiers assembled in their orderly rows regardless of what armor they wore and what banner they bared. "WONOSA!" cried the civilian populations that listened to the speech from their homes on Faldos and Formos. The cries silenced as Strosius held up a hand rather than a fist, the crowd resuming their solemn and still stance as though they hadn't moved at all.
"Around you stands true Sith! Not the minions of selfish Lords that act only to see more favor from their tyrant masters! Not the cowards and traitors that would leave the Sith Order to crumble and die if their own survival was guaranteed! No, for today we are surrounded by Sith and Sith alone!" His fists slammed down on the pulpit, his grandiose words more than a match for the roaring cries that had just been silenced.
"While our foes would consider us beaten and cowed without the Lady of Shadows, here we stand united and emboldened as never before! The weak links and those unwilling to fully serve the Sith have been culled in the flames of the Ouroboros Crisis, burned away and leaving us stronger than we ever when while stifled and leashed by her will!" His master had been one such weak link. Unwilling to do what needed to be done, so stuck to her own ways. He would not make the same mistake.
"The first shackle has been broken!"
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Alisteri dropped to his knees as he panted and silently assessed his wounds. Even without the aid of the Force, Darth Ophidia had proven to be an even more mighty opponent than he had anticipated. And once the obelisk's aura had flickered and died her full power had been staggering to fight against. Without Malum he doubted that he would have been able to face her and survive, let alone actually fell his master. Yet as impossible as it had seemed her headless body lie only a short distance behind him, the wounds from their lightsabers still smoking in the dark chamber. They had done it.
Her last words still swirled in his mind as he felt her presence in the Force dissipate. Her last act had been some sort of Force power, some sorcery that he didn't know or recognize, but her ritual had been cut short by their blades regardless. Still he could almost see her hooded form in the corner of his eyes as he recalled her last lesson. «This is the truth, whole and unfiltered...» He stood and shook off his wounds as well as the fatigue that had set into his body after the exhausting duel.
Before the relief and, dare he say, excitement could set in from their victory over their master, he felt something else wash over him. The Force had returned during their duel. His eyes widened and his gaze snapped over to the now unlit and inactive obelisk, its power drained and the field suppressing the Force vanishing in an instant. His sword clattered to the ground and every curse he knew flew from his mouth as he ran over to the relic to try and see if it was truly drained. He reached out with both a hand and his presence yet felt nothing in the obelisk respond as it would have done had it still had some sort of charge. It was empty, useless. «Two there shall be, and only two. A master and an apprentice; one to embody the power, and one to crave it...»
That meant he'd have to rely on Empyrean and Malum's deal actually coming to fruition rather than striking down the self proclaimed 'emperor' with the relic still active. Only Ophidia would die this day, and they'd still have to suffer the rule of that walking corpse. His hands balled into fists as wrath and rage coursed through his body and swirled around his presence in the Force like a storm swirling about its eye. If the obelisk had just a bit more charge, if they had just been a bit faster in slaying their master, they could have lured Empyrean in and slain him as well. Perhaps they'd even have a shot at going after Carnifex as well.
"Damn it!" Alisteri punched a sizable dent into the floor next to the relic, just barely missing it as his mind was briefly clouded by frustration at it. Could it not have held on just a bit longer? Why must he continue to suffer the existence of his foes even after striking down his master? Had he not earned a true victory? Had he not done enough?! He clutched his mask as he seethed in rage before throwing his head back and letting out a Force Scream that echoed across the entire fortress and sent waves of fury through the Force.
His hands shook as he finally started taking breaths to steady himself and let his anger roll off of him like tides sweeping sand from the shore. A sigh, hissed between clenched teeth and hotter than a candle's flame, left him as he reluctantly stood and stared at the obelisk before him. For all his rage it had done what he had intended for it to do. His master lie slain, the forces loyal to himself and Malum had pulled back already and awaited further orders, and no great breaches of the fortress had been made as per Malum's deal with Empyrean.
Even as his body still quivered with barely suppressed anger the masked man turned to face his fellow apprentice and reluctantly nodded to the communications terminal that their master had been sat behind before they entered into the chamber. "I suppose we must send the ceasefire order...let's just hope that Empyrean remains true to his word." Without the obelisk to silence the Force they had no other options after all. No method of slaying the Lord of the Eternals. But it had worked and had proven itself valuable as a weapon against the powers that be. A weapon that could level the playing field and make the seemingly insurmountable Lords into opponents that could indeed be beaten. A weapon that could become the salvation of the Sith themselves if used correctly.
His weapon. «Everything else is an illusion.»
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"Our place in the Sith Order has been secured against all odds! The arrogance of the Eternalists and the Kainites in their desire to reestablish the status quo has ensured that their gaze is upon us no longer. Let them look outwards, towards expansion and the enemies that fill the galaxy. While they hunt for glory and conquest we shall secure our victory and make our will into the foundation of the Sith Order, when they finally look back upon all that they have claimed they shall see no allies or armies there." That had been his master's greatest mistake. The ability to implant spies, turncoats, informants, and assassins almost anywhere she wished and yet what had she done with them? She had waited and bided her time until an opportunity would arise out of the blue, but Darth Strosius knew better.
An opportunity had to be made and the existing implants had to be spread. Why get one or two high ranking generals on the payroll when half of their armies could be on your side instead? Why waste time bickering and making plays in Sith politics when the very worlds in play could be loyal to you in secret? His master had been content to have a few handfuls of influential agents but Stroisus had seen how little ground was made after the initial betrayal had went off, back when the Tsis'Kaar emerged during the warlord period.
He wouldn't settle like she had.
Where she had cells of informants he would have units of spies, where she had key figures in her pocket he would command the allegiance of the thousands beneath them, where she had a network he would have legions to call upon when the time came for another 'Ouroboros Crisis.' One that would be aimed at destroying the rulers of the Sith Order and all that they had tainted in order to remove their stain and free the Sith from their horrid legacies, just as the last had been aimed at felling the Pale Assassin. One that would not falter in liberating the Sith Order from its tyrannical masters.
"No instead they shall see our banners hanging from their thrones, our armies standing ready to meet their loyal pawns, our fleets stalwart and defiant against them, the entire Sith Order ready to pounce upon them and tear their throats out for their treachery!" Darth Strosius paused and reeled himself in, his gestures having grown just as fanatical as his speech. His hands clutched the pulpit once more as he composed himself and continued. "They, and all who would follow them into damnation, will be crushed beneath the might of the true Sith. Their regimes and holdings will topple underneath the weight of the Dark Side's most fervent and loyal servants, we who would deny their wretched claims to Sithhood and usher unto them the deaths that their selfish tyranny has earned."
The masked man spread his arms wide, his robes flowing with the movement. "From this day forward our work towards liberation, towards Wonosa, begins in earnest! Now and forever more we are bound by the parasites no longer! We fight for justice for the fallen, for revenge against the Lords that have commanded the deaths of our brave brothers and sisters. We fight for the future of the galaxy, one destined to be ruled by the Dark Side itself! We fight to unshackle the Sith from pride and tyrants forever!" Cheers rang out from the crowd as Darth Strosius bellowed out their orders.
"WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we march to purge Jutrand of it's false emperor and his throne!" "WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we begin our work to rid the ancient worlds from the gaze of the Malsheem and its horrid master!" "WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we fight for one purpose and one purpose alone, we fight for WONOSA!" Orders that would carry them forward into an age without the Tsis'Kaar, an age where opportunity and triumph waited to be seized by those bold enough to work towards them.
An age of Sith.
"For the Sith Order!" "For the Sith Order!"
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OOC: My boy has finally become a fully fledged Sith Lord! Thank you everyone for helping to keep Chaos fun and exciting and allowing me and my weird cultist Sith a place in it, I'm so very glad to have gotten this far in his story and I hope to continue writing him and providing a neat character for everyone to enjoy!
Special thanks to all those who have threaded with me and especially the good folks of the Sith Order for allowing me to write with you! If you actually read all of this then I thank you so very much for your time and I sincerely hope that I made something worth reading. Thank you all and have a very good rest of your day!
He plucked the light Queen from the board and inspected the piece for a moment, rolling it around in his fingers. For a brief moment he thought that he had glimpsed another figure in his chambers, out of the corner of his eye. The hooded form of the queen. And yet a glance in that direction and a probe in the Force sensed nothing. Nothing but his own mind playing tricks on him after his victory, he supposed.
The Queen had seemed unassailable and invaluable to his opponent, with the ability to move and strike wherever and whenever she wished. And yet she had been baited and slain by the actions of a mere Bishop and a seemingly vulnerable King. He set the piece aside as it no longer had a place on the board, a board full of Pawns and Knights. His gaze then set on the other two prominent light pieces on the board, the King and a Rook.
The Parasite and the Weed.
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It was all in place and ready to kick off the moment that he gave the signal, a plan that had been decades in the making. The Tsis'Kaar cells and assassins were ready to enact their attacks upon the wider Sith Order but for Jutrand Alisteri simply couldn't risk leaving it up to chance. He had to ensure that the preparations and execution went off without a hitch and therefore he couldn't just trust it to more agents of the Tsis'Kaar. His Squires and cultists, loyal to him alone rather than to his master or the Inquisition, were in their positions in the Jutrand system already as the Senate meeting began and eagerly awaited the signal to begin.
The bombs were in place and their charges were set to go off at the simple click of a button, sending much of the capitol district into a flurry of explosions and chaos. Empyrean himself was attending the meeting and several Squires had been chosen to go after him themselves if he happened to survive the bombs, which he undoubtedly would. Really he just needed to cement the Tsis'Kaar as the ones behind the attack so assassins would be his weapon of choice in that regard. Supposedly the 'emperor' even had a wife lurking somewhere from what he had heard, but his informants had yet to locate her so he could only hope that the bombings would be good enough to convince Empyrean and the Sith Order of who was to blame for it all.
His master was about to launch the deadliest attack on the inner workings of the Sith Order seen yet and she had no knowledge of the plan herself. But of course the various Tsis'Kaar forces that Alisteri had given orders to didn't need to know that he wasn't acting on her wishes as he had claimed. No one would be the wiser and he knew that Carnifex and Empyrean would relish the chance to finally put Darth Ophidia in her place no matter how bold and out of character for her the attacks would be.
Alisteri gave the signal, a signal that spread across the secret and encrypted communication channels of the Tsis'Kaar. A signal that made city blocks ignite in flame and carefully situated
snipers and assassins put an end to their designated targets all across Sith Order space. Jutrand was burning, the Malsheem had been assaulted, and just like that the Ouroboros Crisis had begun in earnest all by some clever manipulation and years of careful planning. It was cathartic to see it all finally come to fruition.
"Well then...it's about fething time."
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Both were surrounded by Pawns, the King secure and seemingly insurmountable without carving through his army of Knights and Bishops that kept him safe. The Rook was stalwart and distant in a field of Pawns that would have to die before he could be reached, but no fortress was impenetrable. He would find the cracks in both formations and lay both the King and the Rook low as he had done the Queen before them. But such things were for later, as his turn had been ended and the play was in the hands of the light pieces for now.
At that moment a knock sounded on the door to his chambers and drew his focus away from the board. "They have gathered and await your address, Darth Strosius." The voice on the other side of the door called out, knowing better than to enter without being invited. "Thank you. I shall be out in but a moment." He waited until the footsteps away from the door were distant before he rose from his chair. Clad in his new ornaments and flowing robes, he left the board and the game in progress as he strode to the exit of his chambers and stepped out into one of the many halls running the length of Bailiff Station.
His walk down the hall was silent and solitary, the rest of the station's inhabitants waiting for his arrival in the main atrium. A crowd assembled all for him, something that had become far more common as of late despite his hesitance to draw such assemblies. He could appreciate the extra time to himself as he mused on what was to come. On what he intended to do this very day even. On what had transpired already.
On what had gone right, and what had gone oh so terribly wrong.
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Alisteri grunted as he felt the flesh in his stomach knitting itself back together in time with the bloody stump of a right hand starting to reform into a proper appendage once more, a now empty blood bag dropping from his mouth to join the pile of them at his feet. Adeline had been a more vicious opponent than he had expected but damage to his person was secondary to what she had robbed from him. She had thrown off his plan and forced him to flee, with the additional issue of the Mors Mon and Empyrean's presence ensuring that he couldn't simply return to finish the rituals later or draw assistance from Malum. He just had to hope and pray that the relic had gotten enough charge to do its job.
His hand trailed down the obelisk before him, an ancient artifact that he had uncovered on Krayiss Two many years ago and had retrieved from the depths of the library-temple there in more recent times. It had been dormant and stewing in the Dark Side for what must have been a century at least and yet the relatively minor bit of power channeled into it by the Lorekeepers on Alvaria had been enough to awaken it from its slumber.
The runes lining its surface pulsed with a sinister red glow as he ran his uninjured hand over them, the only source of light in the dark cargo bay of the Shikkar-class corvette that he had made his escape on. It was the key to victory, the one thing that he had hedged all of his bets upon. It simply couldn't fail. Not when they were so close to a breaking point.
Alisteri perked up as his damaged mask's commlink clicked to life, with him quickly donning it once more to accept the message. :"Knight Inquisitor, we are nearing the end of our emergency hyperspace jump. Where is our next destination?": The voice of the ship's captain was clipped and formal, straight to the point as usual for a member of the Inquisition. "Set course for Faldos, we must regroup with the rest of the Inquisition fleet and spread word that Empyrean himself is on the march. After that..." He spared one last glance at the artifact before turning away and heading towards the exit of the cargo bay.
"We head for Fiviune."
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Thankfully, for the most part, his play against the Queen had gone mostly according to plan and had resulted in her demise and thus a temporary yet very important victory. One that could not be understated nor ignored. Between the official end of the Ouroboros Crisis, although there were still some holdouts and cells of the Tsis'Kaar that weren't content to be reincorporated back into the Sith Order, and his own ascension to Sith Lord there was so much to be celebrated.
He briefly paused before the door at the end of the hall, the one that led to the main atrium where his much of his cult and the Inquisition had been gathered to hear his address. His first address as something more than a mere lower ranking Sith. No longer a Knight nor Acolyte but rather a fully realized and hard earned Sith Lord. Something that he had dreamt of for many long years. The masked man took a breath and rolled his shoulders before finally opening the door with a simple wave of his hand. One step through the threshold and the chatter of the audience beyond was silenced almost instantly as all eyes in the room turned to regard the entrance of their leader.
To the Inquisition he was their Lord Inquisitor, once one of the most dedicated and deadly of them that now served as their leader. To the Tsis'Kaar that had flocked to his banner, the various assassins, Lorekeepers, and agents, he was the eldest heir to Darth Ophidia and had served as her enforcer throughout his time under her shadow. To the Order of Wonosa he was their High Priest, their savior and liberator that had led them since the fall of the Sith Empire. But to all gathered and in the wider Sith Order he was primarily known as,
Darth Strosius.
He strode past the assembled group on the balcony overlooking the atrium, a collection of his closest and most trusted. Exarch Salneva Limont dipped in a deep bow, offering her High Priest a small smile as his masked gaze caught her own for a moment. Maximillian Thalassis, ever the petulant youngster, held his head high and refused to turn his eyes away as the Sith Lord passed. He was still so prideful and stubborn, but he was also still young and with plenty of room for improvement. Principales Skep Klar offered the masked man a nod and a small salute, wearing his own mask made of a neutral expression and a steely gaze. He still held doubts but one so practical could hardly deny the results that the Sith Lord had achieved for them.
Assorted Lorekeepers, Battlelords, and high ranking Legionnaires made up the remaining handful of figures on the balcony and they all offered bows or salutes respectively as the Sith Lord strode by. Finally the masked man reached the end of the balcony where a pulpit awaited him, overlooking an atrium full of his followers. From the Sith Asssassins and Lorekeepers tucked away in the corners of the room to the Inquisition Troopers and Legionnaires standing at attention in ordered columns, all stood with bated breath as the gauntlets of their leader clutched the sides of the pulpit and his masked gaze swept over them.
"Sith." Through both the speakers arrayed around the room and the assistance of the Force, the voice of Darth Strosius filled the air as rushing water filled an empty basin. For once he saw no nobles or traitors scheming against the Sith Order, no self proclaimed 'gods' or kings posturing about, no enemies of the Sith met his gaze for the first time in so long. For when he looked upon the crowd before him and thought of those on Faldos and Formos that were listening to his address as well, he saw only Sith. As it should be.
"You have gathered because there has been a victory in these recent days. A victory that will serve as the first of many more to come in the future. For with the death of Darth Ophidia, the first step towards the liberation of the Sith has been taken!" Darth Strosius raised his hands as he spoke and clenched them into fists to punctuate his statement, with a chorus rising up from the crowd in return. The members of the Tsis'Kaar did not join in, for they were unaware of why the chorus chanted a single word. Yet every member of the Sith Lord's cult knew it by heart and every trooper of the Inquisition remembered it from their subliminal indoctrinations under his watch.
Hundreds of fists raised in the air to mirror Darth Strosius as the cry of "WONOSA!" rang out in a choir of zealotry and loyalty. "WONOSA!" Cheered the Squires and Battlelords, much to the confusion of the Assassins and Sith Inquisitors around them. "WONOSA!" Called every voice of the soldiers assembled in their orderly rows regardless of what armor they wore and what banner they bared. "WONOSA!" cried the civilian populations that listened to the speech from their homes on Faldos and Formos. The cries silenced as Strosius held up a hand rather than a fist, the crowd resuming their solemn and still stance as though they hadn't moved at all.
"Around you stands true Sith! Not the minions of selfish Lords that act only to see more favor from their tyrant masters! Not the cowards and traitors that would leave the Sith Order to crumble and die if their own survival was guaranteed! No, for today we are surrounded by Sith and Sith alone!" His fists slammed down on the pulpit, his grandiose words more than a match for the roaring cries that had just been silenced.
"While our foes would consider us beaten and cowed without the Lady of Shadows, here we stand united and emboldened as never before! The weak links and those unwilling to fully serve the Sith have been culled in the flames of the Ouroboros Crisis, burned away and leaving us stronger than we ever when while stifled and leashed by her will!" His master had been one such weak link. Unwilling to do what needed to be done, so stuck to her own ways. He would not make the same mistake.
"The first shackle has been broken!"
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Alisteri dropped to his knees as he panted and silently assessed his wounds. Even without the aid of the Force, Darth Ophidia had proven to be an even more mighty opponent than he had anticipated. And once the obelisk's aura had flickered and died her full power had been staggering to fight against. Without Malum he doubted that he would have been able to face her and survive, let alone actually fell his master. Yet as impossible as it had seemed her headless body lie only a short distance behind him, the wounds from their lightsabers still smoking in the dark chamber. They had done it.
Her last words still swirled in his mind as he felt her presence in the Force dissipate. Her last act had been some sort of Force power, some sorcery that he didn't know or recognize, but her ritual had been cut short by their blades regardless. Still he could almost see her hooded form in the corner of his eyes as he recalled her last lesson. «This is the truth, whole and unfiltered...» He stood and shook off his wounds as well as the fatigue that had set into his body after the exhausting duel.
Before the relief and, dare he say, excitement could set in from their victory over their master, he felt something else wash over him. The Force had returned during their duel. His eyes widened and his gaze snapped over to the now unlit and inactive obelisk, its power drained and the field suppressing the Force vanishing in an instant. His sword clattered to the ground and every curse he knew flew from his mouth as he ran over to the relic to try and see if it was truly drained. He reached out with both a hand and his presence yet felt nothing in the obelisk respond as it would have done had it still had some sort of charge. It was empty, useless. «Two there shall be, and only two. A master and an apprentice; one to embody the power, and one to crave it...»
That meant he'd have to rely on Empyrean and Malum's deal actually coming to fruition rather than striking down the self proclaimed 'emperor' with the relic still active. Only Ophidia would die this day, and they'd still have to suffer the rule of that walking corpse. His hands balled into fists as wrath and rage coursed through his body and swirled around his presence in the Force like a storm swirling about its eye. If the obelisk had just a bit more charge, if they had just been a bit faster in slaying their master, they could have lured Empyrean in and slain him as well. Perhaps they'd even have a shot at going after Carnifex as well.
"Damn it!" Alisteri punched a sizable dent into the floor next to the relic, just barely missing it as his mind was briefly clouded by frustration at it. Could it not have held on just a bit longer? Why must he continue to suffer the existence of his foes even after striking down his master? Had he not earned a true victory? Had he not done enough?! He clutched his mask as he seethed in rage before throwing his head back and letting out a Force Scream that echoed across the entire fortress and sent waves of fury through the Force.
His hands shook as he finally started taking breaths to steady himself and let his anger roll off of him like tides sweeping sand from the shore. A sigh, hissed between clenched teeth and hotter than a candle's flame, left him as he reluctantly stood and stared at the obelisk before him. For all his rage it had done what he had intended for it to do. His master lie slain, the forces loyal to himself and Malum had pulled back already and awaited further orders, and no great breaches of the fortress had been made as per Malum's deal with Empyrean.
Even as his body still quivered with barely suppressed anger the masked man turned to face his fellow apprentice and reluctantly nodded to the communications terminal that their master had been sat behind before they entered into the chamber. "I suppose we must send the ceasefire order...let's just hope that Empyrean remains true to his word." Without the obelisk to silence the Force they had no other options after all. No method of slaying the Lord of the Eternals. But it had worked and had proven itself valuable as a weapon against the powers that be. A weapon that could level the playing field and make the seemingly insurmountable Lords into opponents that could indeed be beaten. A weapon that could become the salvation of the Sith themselves if used correctly.
His weapon. «Everything else is an illusion.»
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"Our place in the Sith Order has been secured against all odds! The arrogance of the Eternalists and the Kainites in their desire to reestablish the status quo has ensured that their gaze is upon us no longer. Let them look outwards, towards expansion and the enemies that fill the galaxy. While they hunt for glory and conquest we shall secure our victory and make our will into the foundation of the Sith Order, when they finally look back upon all that they have claimed they shall see no allies or armies there." That had been his master's greatest mistake. The ability to implant spies, turncoats, informants, and assassins almost anywhere she wished and yet what had she done with them? She had waited and bided her time until an opportunity would arise out of the blue, but Darth Strosius knew better.
An opportunity had to be made and the existing implants had to be spread. Why get one or two high ranking generals on the payroll when half of their armies could be on your side instead? Why waste time bickering and making plays in Sith politics when the very worlds in play could be loyal to you in secret? His master had been content to have a few handfuls of influential agents but Stroisus had seen how little ground was made after the initial betrayal had went off, back when the Tsis'Kaar emerged during the warlord period.
He wouldn't settle like she had.
Where she had cells of informants he would have units of spies, where she had key figures in her pocket he would command the allegiance of the thousands beneath them, where she had a network he would have legions to call upon when the time came for another 'Ouroboros Crisis.' One that would be aimed at destroying the rulers of the Sith Order and all that they had tainted in order to remove their stain and free the Sith from their horrid legacies, just as the last had been aimed at felling the Pale Assassin. One that would not falter in liberating the Sith Order from its tyrannical masters.
"No instead they shall see our banners hanging from their thrones, our armies standing ready to meet their loyal pawns, our fleets stalwart and defiant against them, the entire Sith Order ready to pounce upon them and tear their throats out for their treachery!" Darth Strosius paused and reeled himself in, his gestures having grown just as fanatical as his speech. His hands clutched the pulpit once more as he composed himself and continued. "They, and all who would follow them into damnation, will be crushed beneath the might of the true Sith. Their regimes and holdings will topple underneath the weight of the Dark Side's most fervent and loyal servants, we who would deny their wretched claims to Sithhood and usher unto them the deaths that their selfish tyranny has earned."
The masked man spread his arms wide, his robes flowing with the movement. "From this day forward our work towards liberation, towards Wonosa, begins in earnest! Now and forever more we are bound by the parasites no longer! We fight for justice for the fallen, for revenge against the Lords that have commanded the deaths of our brave brothers and sisters. We fight for the future of the galaxy, one destined to be ruled by the Dark Side itself! We fight to unshackle the Sith from pride and tyrants forever!" Cheers rang out from the crowd as Darth Strosius bellowed out their orders.
"WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we march to purge Jutrand of it's false emperor and his throne!" "WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we begin our work to rid the ancient worlds from the gaze of the Malsheem and its horrid master!" "WONOSA! WONOSA!" "Today we fight for one purpose and one purpose alone, we fight for WONOSA!" Orders that would carry them forward into an age without the Tsis'Kaar, an age where opportunity and triumph waited to be seized by those bold enough to work towards them.
An age of Sith.
"For the Sith Order!" "For the Sith Order!"
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OOC: My boy has finally become a fully fledged Sith Lord! Thank you everyone for helping to keep Chaos fun and exciting and allowing me and my weird cultist Sith a place in it, I'm so very glad to have gotten this far in his story and I hope to continue writing him and providing a neat character for everyone to enjoy!
Special thanks to all those who have threaded with me and especially the good folks of the Sith Order for allowing me to write with you! If you actually read all of this then I thank you so very much for your time and I sincerely hope that I made something worth reading. Thank you all and have a very good rest of your day!
