Mission A Challenge to the Sith and Those who Claim to Know Them (open puzzle)

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

To all who claim knowledge or heritage of the Sith:

Too many stagnate in past glories with no thought to the future, and yet too few temper ambition with any understanding of what came before. In truth there is no necessary contradiction: work from the past to seize the future. Many have claimed the Sith Worlds. Few have understood them.

This is a contest that any may win, from acolyte to lord, from marauder to alchemist, from outcast to lapdog, from orthodox to apostate - even from Sith to commoner, for who are we if we cannot defeat a challenger on home ground? No empire, fortune, reputation, bauble, or title will avail you here. Stand or fall on the basis of your will and wits alone. Those victorious will earn a treasure trove in my keeping, and I have treasures without equal.

Send me the names of nine worlds. This is your course:
Begin at the Daragons' split. Two steps, and only two, will bring you where the Dark Lord who best understood the bond between agony and visions achieved his final understanding. Turn back to the dying star and leap onward, if you have the strength, to one who stands among the Five. Take one step, beware and brave the crimson light, then fall to where Onderon's doom was born. From acid-drenched cities, dare to make the crossing and pay your respects to Nadd's right hand. Now you face a final choice between master and apprentice. Choose the first and leave the second in the cold.

Signed,
Ashin Varanin
900 ABY

CLAIMANT (INDIVIDUAL OR TEAM OF 2-3)	AFFILIATION	CURRENT SCORE OUT OF NINE
Darth Arcanix	Sith Order/Self	2/9 9/9
Darth Kentarch	Self	1/9 4/9 6/9 8/9 9/9
Todblaz Graker	Self	1/9 3/9 8/9 9/9

OOC RULES

• You're welcome to include your guess template here (where everyone can see it) as part of whatever IC post(s) you choose to make, or private message it to me.
• Gaps are fine, but all worlds you guess must be in order to be marked correct. So if the sequence is ABCDEFGHI and your guess is AB___EFHGI, your score would be 5/10 (because you missed C and D, and H and G were out of order).
• The contest will be open for one week or until someone gets a score of 9/9, whichever comes first. EDIT: Since Taeli Raaf just dominated out the gate, and having found a happy consensus with our victorious arch alchemist, I'll leave it open for the week to see who can match her score.
• If multiple claimants get 9/9 within an hour of each other, that'll count as a tie. Those and all other ties will be resolved with a truly nasty extra question.
• You're welcome to update your guesses, but do so with a new post/message rather than by editing, please.

Guess template:

CLAIMANT: (Character or characters, individual or team of 2-3.)
AFFILIATION: ('Self' or 'Independent' are perfectly fine.)
WORLD 1:
WORLD 2:
WORLD 3:
WORLD 4:
WORLD 5:
WORLD 6:
WORLD 7:
WORLD 8:
WORLD 9:

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

In her office aboard the Pomojema, Ashin slurped caf in an undignified way as partial or complete responses began to come in. Fastest out of the gate by a mile was Taeli Raaf , Darth Arcanix, master alchemist and no stranger to the Pomojema herself. Arcanix nailed the challenge in two attempts before Ashin's caf cooled. She eyed the timer — would another match that kind of performance? Within the hour, or even within the week? Would the treasure hoards be sufficient?

Ashin's instincts whispered no, yes, maybe.

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

Few indeed — only Darths Kentarch and Arcanix and a solitary commoner — braved my simple challenge and persisted to triumph. The triplet fears of failure, shame, and hard work are potent weaknesses within so many who call themselves Sith. Thus we see the brittle hollowness of pride.

---

Taeli Raaf , Darth Kentarch , and Todblaz Graker received the following:

• A Krath Omensight Mask
• A Ring of Cold Rites
• A Marrow Talisman
• A Jen'itsukut knife
• The location of Bristlebark Cave, a remote Dark Side nexus on Naboo