A Sith Faction Idea

[Sebastian Blood]

While I am not in the position for this character to lead a Sith faction, I would like to see where the board is at and what the thoughts are.

I have explored many Sith factions thus far and find them in my opinion lacking that fire that is Sith. I understand the desire to keep infighting out, but that is what Sith are. Now I am not suggesting the only thing missing in Sith factions is infighting, but it all stims from the major theme of the Sith which are Sith are rulers and only the strong rule.

Say that once again, Sith are rulers and only the strong rule. I want that as a focus.

A faction not concern with what their subjects think of them. Where lords are lords because they haven't been defeated and replaced. Where the Sith way is all that is concerned on all aspects.

Now before you jump on me saying things like, "well not all Sith are like that" or "That will only bring the faction to an end with the strong preying on the weak." I say to this the factions that be need to remain, they have their purpose and provide a need, but for me and others I have talked to, they want the Dark Sith.

I offer one thing solved in this faction and how to do it. Infighting, I know, back to infighting. I am not saying it will be a faction constantly killing each other. There are rules incharacter and OOC everything is discussed and planned. Planned chaos if you will.

The one rule Sith can not kill Sith. So back to Sith, Sith are strong so you prove a Sith is weak they are not Sith. Weak does not mean a simple, "well I can beat you so I am stronger." This ideal is only true among lower Sith. Should you want the role of a Lord's spot, you challenge not only them, but their whole force in Kaggath.

Murder is not forbidden, but from an OOC stand point that doesn't mean we are just going to go Willy nilly with it. We rule by fear, not respect. Jedi want respect. You like cannibalism? Strike fear in our people and go for it. You are a Darth huntress type and need to consume a massive amount of people to craft a new body? We will accommodate.

Basically a Sith faction for those wanting to truly write Sith who crave power, but not promote peace among themselves. You want leadership here you must be prepared to fight to keep it and watch your back.

Thoughts, concerns, ideas are fully welcome, but u ask you approach it like an adult. If you think it won't work, be respectful in your approach. Thank you.

 

[Vrak Nashar]

That's literally how TRE does it.

We have a Council that leads the faction, but those council members can be deposed and power can be attained throughout the faction by claiming and challenging others(as long as it doesn't hamper the overall objective of the faction). Several of our members are actively doing so in their own stories right now and I've heard from some others that plan to do so when they get to Knight(something they're just waiting on story for).

TRE encourages infighting, political games, and all around scheming between members. Several people even plan to kill Vrak, lol.

More info on how to actually gain power on the Council here.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

That's similar to how the Ascendancy does it, but our council is more of a nebulous concept between all Lords.

But the ambitious can still plot to overthrow any Sith Lord if they have the resources and the drive.

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

 

[Darth Abyss]

If that's what you think about the current sith factions on the board, then man you really don't know much about these factions.

First of Abyss while holding ties to TSA is an independent sith Lord, and in many regards other members of that faction (and I assume the TRE members as well) are also. Almost every Lord with power holds his own realm somewhere, maybe just a fortress, maybe a city and maybe even a planet or two. That's their own strength, their power that they use once the day comes they fight each other again. Factions only serve the purpose of establishing a temporary system to unit these individuals, once the faction disassembles it's everyone for themselves. At least IC. Also every sith faction I have seen during my time on chaos had some sort of challenge system that allows for the strong to flourish without endangering the faction as a whole. Because in the end that's what infighting is. Sure it's fun and very sith, but a smart sith knows when to raise his weapon against his peers and when not. A sith that lacks that ability won't live long.

OOC a faction that is only about letting the strongest rule simply won't happen, because no one is gonna put up wih that as a new member. Why join a faction that literally aims at belittling your newly made sith apprentice?

As for good and evil that is as you said a matter of perspective. Trust me when I say that both current major sith factions have members that are pure evil without seeing themselves as the heros. Only because you a part of a faction you don't have to have your character completely abandon his personal alignment. I mean in a good pen and paper campaign a good GM can even find a way to make a chaotic evil and a lawful good character work together, so a collection of various evil and neutral characters should be able to do so as well.

[member="Darth Ragnarok"]

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Vrak Nashar"]

I admit In regards to RE I could not find a spot that fully broke down code of conduct if you will. So I admit I don't know as much as I would like.

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

With all due respect and I do not try to offend with my words, but I disagree. TSA in my opinion is a great faction that is well managed and the people are very respectful writers and they do fill a need people want on this board, but as I mentioned it wasn't dark enough Sith wise for my needs.

This is merely me seeing if anyone else desires the same. In TSA there is order and a stability, I would liken to a brotherhood of the Sith meets galactic Empire. A very good faction, but I aim for something more chaotic.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

First, I rather enjoy your insight you have provided lately to my threads, they are very enlightening.

I would also like to mention as I feel in the OP it is being skipped over, I do not dislike other factions for them not qualified to be Sith Factions.

I would like to make a distinction with your post the IC and OOC behavior would not be the same. A new Sith is not going to be picked on or not feel welcomed OOC, but IC holding their hand won't happen. I would compare it to the Sith Warrior and Inquisitor in SWTOR. Your character is far from treated with respect which makes your character grow with hatred and thus power and eventually takes power from those that looked down on him.

If done right I believe it would be a hard, but fun faction to write in. Though, I do agree with you my idea could be done very very wrong.

 

[NightSister]

I think it could work as a minor faction. Majors, as a general rule, have IC reasoning to want to be as open and inclusive as possible. This to me (I might be misinterpreting?) sounds more like while they're not averse to new people, they're not actively recruiting, and they would make it fairly hard on new blood.

Which is fine, it could work and it sounds interesting. It'd probably not work as a major faction, but that's not to say it wouldn't work altogether.

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Darth Ragnarok"]

The problem with chaotic is that it's ultimately moronic: people who just want to watch the world burn don't tend to band together with a view to achieving it, because they want everything to die. That's not ideology, it's not coherent philosophy, it's psychological anarchism. It doesn't make for a coherent worldview, and while you could build a Faction around it, it's not one that'll amount to much. You'd accrue enemies everywhere, because nobody allies with the faction that wants everyone else dead.

The invariable issue with 'chaotic' Sith is that they're insane: they're a corrupted version of what they should be. Sith, first and foremost, believe in the strongest ruling, because that ensures order and stability within the society they rule. The ones who prey upon everyone aren't fit to rule: they're psychopaths. Sith are pragmatists: they'll do the dark or 'evil' thing because it needs to be done. They're the people who would kill a man to put an end to the danger he poses, and won't blink at the need. They'd destroy a planet infested with a plague to stop it spreading. They'd raze a planetary surface because failing to do so would mean more dire cnsequences.

Be honest, though: the 'dark and chaotic' Sith aren't the kind you'd want forming a government, or holding power of any sort. They'd slaughter wantonly, with little regard for anyone, and that's fine if you're aiming to cause chaos, but you'd also be thought of as a mad dog who needed to be put down before they bit someone. That's not Sith.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Tirdarius"]

As always, well said, can't say I disagree with any of it.

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Darth Ragnarok"]

It strikes me that you're looking to generate a faction that's essentially the 'crazy bad guy' faction. That's honestly fine: those can be entertaining. But they're not Sith. It's more of a Dark Jedi Cult sort of thing: lacking political aspirations, and focusing on the damage they can do, rather than on what they can build and sustain.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Tirdarius"]

Ya, kind of? I mean Ragnarok is named that because his desire is to watch the Galaxy burn, but I think making a faction off that isn't the ideal way. I get most of of my idea from SWTOR Sith Empire. Where there is a sense or order and all are loyal to the top as the top is the most powerful, but the lords are also playing shadow games trying to weed each other out.

Problem is the top requires you to be massively powerful to remain there or will be replaced a lot. That is a major flaw in my idea. Mainly I am looking at all this from a story aspect that it gives the faction a dangerous feel.

At the same time this isn't a post looking for people to help me make it, just feedback and love what I am getting. Ragnarok is or was building to this, but I am seeing the flaws you guys are revealing so may need to rethink my plans lol.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Tirdarius"]

Also think like the One Sith under Rev. Where they were conquers and a force to be feared as you never knew when they would do something like destroying Alderaan or consume millions for Huntress Alchemy.

 

[Kenrath]

opcorn:

 

[Darth Carnifex]

But the One Sith still operated on a system where cooperation was encouraged alongside political ambition, and the infrastructure of conquered worlds was improved and maintained with Imperial Law enforced on new citizens.

[member="Darth Ragnarok"]

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Darth Carnifex"]

You are right, but in their case they were one Sith and imperial and the imperial side was really the only side that focused on that, not saying the Sith didn't. Though I only use the OS for the example of how it would behave in war, ie destruction of Alderaan and killing millions of innocent people for the period of power.

Mind you, I am not suggesting a faction of mindless slaughter, but the threat to be present.

Also, I am loving the feed back and reconsidering this idea based on what I am reading here.

 

[Darth Abyss]

[member="Tirdarius"] As always I find myself disagreeing (or not, the word is a little to strong for what I actually think lol.) with your opinion on what the sith should be. I think first we should all get rid of the idea of the "real sith" because quite honestly there isn't a right or wrong here. The sith code is the one piece of ideology that all sith share throughout the ages, and due to its nature it can be interpreted in various ways. A mindless brutish warlord with no desire beyond endless war can be as faithful to it as a shady politician type working behind the scenes, depending on the message you see in that seven lines of text.

Also chaotic individuals aren't automatically as you describe them. Abyss for example most certainly is somewhere in the chaotic department, even if I'm not sure if he's evil or just neutral. The key is that he is self serving, and that no empire and no other group holds his personal interest back, because why wear chains you don't have to carry? Ultimate power is what those sith with a strong desire for order and stability seek, but Ultimate freedom is what Abyss is after, the ability to defy nature and reality itself and not some strong government. Yet you don't see him going around randomly murdering people for no reason. Chaotic doesn't equals stupid, as even a chaotic character can be a smart and collected individual that is simply uncaring for anything but him/herself.

[member="Darth Ragnarok"] As for your proposition of a faction I, as player of an actual chaotic sith character, don't get why I would ever throw my character in such a faction. What is the advantage I gain from openly showing myself to those that sooner or later will be enemies anyway instead of doing my own thing and slaughtering them without a faction that tells me how and when to do it, best case scenario in a situation where I clearly got the upper hand? There is a reason Abyss isn't a faction leader despite me trying to start chaotic factions every once in a while: Chaos and order are opposites, and even the most chaotic focused faction in the end still tries to impose some sort of order. I would personally advise you to give your character a clear idea of agenda but to work with the existing faction. After all sith, as Tid already said, are pragmatist, and honestly what is more pragmatic than using a order focused group to your own chaotic gain?

Edit: Wow that got a lot longer than I planned lol.

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

You're not wrong about the nature of a chaotic character, but I do feel that tends to detract from the nature of the Sith: the ones that are purely out for themselves ultimately end up corrupted. The order and stability imposed by Imperium counteracts the corrupting nature of Sith ideology, because it provides a sense of structure and a sense that this is where I am supposed to be. Take that away, and all bets are off: you become a wild card. Absolutely nothing wrong with that OOCly, but ICly, it's one of the most dangerous positions to occupy that I can imagine, truth be told!

 

[Darth Abyss]

Well Abyss is a wild card and no one (important) has tried to kill him yet. I think that an adherence to order can be quite as corrupting and damaging to the sith ideals than chaos. It leads to a lack of individual power and creativity. The strength of the sith is not their unity, but to combination of their individual abilities. Enforcing strict rules upon them diminishes the potential for evolution and adaption in the long run, and a sith apprentice that does not grow into his/her own lord but into whatever the empire meant to be, is no lord at all.

But yeah I guess we have talked about this like a million times by now lol, and I actually always enjoy reading your perspective on this, mainly because it's so widely different from my own.

[member="Tirdarius"]

 

[Teynara Jeralyr]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

I disagree, honestly: individual creativity and power are best exercised within a structure, because they have purpose, which they don't necessarily have alone and on your own. But I don't feel like strict rules are necessarily what we apply: the rules are the people, not for the Sith themselves, because the Sith don't live by the rules. Their power places them above the rules, but they therefore impose them upon others, because that's how the stability of the system is maintained. The problems come from when they take that sense of exceptionalism and turn it against each other, rather than focus it outwardly, on their enemies. That causes the whole thing to fall apart: when one sees themselves as bigger than the game.

And, yeah, it's always good to have these discussions, buddy Helps us articulate our views better in RP, and it's always good to get the other side.

 

[Sebastian Blood]

[member="Darth Abyss"]

I believe your last sentence answered why someone like abyss would be in a faction. The word I would describe is pawns. Take Ragnarok, as of right now he wants to end the chaos. He believes by causing chaos and destruction it gives opportunity for rebirth. As he evolves this desire will become a more Galactic scale. So his purpose for a faction are pawns to accomplish said destruction.

Though as I am reading and thinking, this may not be the best course of action.