Mandalorian Mystic
Acy’ra’be’kal
(The Valley of Blades)
(The Valley of Blades)
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION- Intent: To make a Force Nexus that is unique to Mandalorian culture and actively supports the Mandalorian experience on Chaos.
- Image Credit: Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/stay night screen capture, image from imagr.
- Canon: N/A
- Links: Hexes for Nexus
- Nexus Name: Acy'ra'be'kal (The Valley of Blades)
- Nexus Alignment: Other (Nether/Manda)
- Location: Gargon
- Affiliation: Mandalorians
- Size: Medium - An area that can be renewed/realigned but not destroyed, can be expansive and powerful.
- Accessibility: A remote valley, inaccessible by air - it can be reached only by several days hard overland travel on foot - no mechanised transport can easily make the journey. It is possible for a regiment or more of soldiers on foot to reach the site, as was demonstrated in the past, but as was also demonstrated the valley is highly defensible.
- Description: A steep sided, narrow pass of dull terracotta sandstone, carved with graven images of ancient Mandalorian battles across every surface - battles from the past overlaid with more recent conflicts. The floor is coated in a layer of mixed dust and the ground remains of the offerings of ages past, worn to nothing by the weather. Beneath the carvings lie weapons ancient and modern, beskad, kad, swords, blasters, gauss rifles - some stuck in the ground, some stacked neatly, some thrown into a heap. Alongside these are more personal reminders of the deceased, such as holocrystals, photographs and paintings of the dead. The air carries a terrible but beautiful sense of bittersweet loss and purpose.
Note: This nexus does not attempt to define the nature of the Manda, the Force or the Netherworld of the Force. It is deliberately non-specific as to how the blessings function, other than that they are related to the Force.
The Valley of Blades has been a site of remembrance for untold ages, so long that the fabric of reality has worn thin between the land of the dead and the land of the living. Between the Mandalorian Oversoul (the Manda) and the physical world.
1) Aay'han: Anyone in the Valley cannot help but feel the sense of terrible loss, yet singular continuity of the Mandalorian philosophy. The sorrowful peace of remembrance of deaths which an individual has come to terms with, or the angry feelings of grief yet to be expunged. This varies from person to person, but many report the echoing of marching boots, the sound of a final volley of gunfire, a faint word or moment of praise from a loved one or family member who has now merged with the Manda for those who are (or sometimes were) Mandalorian. Those who have forsaken the Manda find themselves flooded with waves of emotion - sadness, bitterness and betrayal are foremost among them. There is no peace or vengeance for them here, only unrest and the pressure to leave. Note: This is purely a roleplay effect, decided upon by player characters.
2) Ven'runi: Those who stay overnight, performing the ancient Mandalorian rituals of remembrance (or simply sitting in thought, sometimes even sleeping - Mandalorian culture isn't big on precise rules for these things) report vivid dreams and visions of those they have lost. No one has ever been able to tell if these visions are 'real' or if they represent 'Force visions' (as many Jedi and Sith claim). But it is a known fact that these visions can often lead to discoveries about self and the past that would otherwise remain hidden. Note: This is purely a roleplay effect, decided upon by player characters.
3) K'oyacyi: People who offer ritual preparation for a day or more before a significant battle report finding themselves 'blessed by the Manda' - cynics on all sides claim this is nothing more than the use of the Force, but scholars and experts have argued at length, pointing out that non-Force Sensitive individuals have manifested such blessings. These blessings take the form of unexpected luck, heightened awareness or bolstering of mental will at key moments. They are always subtle, but are capable of changing the outcome of a conflict. They never take the form of overt effects. Note: Mechanically, they are Force effects and are detected and blocked as Force effects, as with the effect of any Nexus. They resonate of neither light nor dark however, having most in common with the Netherworld of the Force.
POINTS OF INTEREST
E'tad Kal - the only part of the site deemed 'original' by purists (of whom there are few) - the seven blades are exactly what the name would suggest, seven beskad shoved roughly into soft stone and dirt until half their length is buried. They are said to be the original seven beskad of the nameless, yet eternally remembered defenders who held the pass against all odds. Archeologists and historians scoff at the idea, pointing out that the site was levelled by orbital bombardment at least once in history. But even those without Force Sensitivity can feel the near-sacredness of this place in a culture without a concept of the sacred, and any Mandalorian would point out it doesn't matter if they're the same beskad, or ones added yesterday - it's what they commemorate that matters.
Taab'echaaj'la - the only site in the valley which shows any sign of life, the 'Marching Away' or 'the Dead' is half a hostel, half a retirement home and one hundred percent a residence for the elderly Mandalorians who, often lacking anyone to remember them, choose to take up the role of guardians of the valley. It is a small area of cleared land with several stone vheh'yaim erected in the lee of a rocky windbreak. Anyone who wishes to visit the valley or stay for a while without harming the place is welcome to camp here, but while the expectation that such visitors will bring supplies is never spoken, those who do not find the guardians deeply unhelpful.
Taap be Tome'tayl - the places of memory is a generic name for the many, many markers of rememberance left by families, loved ones, enemies and friends alike for the fallen. There is no special requirement to travel to this place to remember a loved one, no special magic in doing so. But to do so is a memory the living do not easily forget, and so the memories of those they loved are held in their hearts and minds. Each marker is different, as unique as the person it represented, and there are billions of them, and more beside turned to dust beneath twenty thousand years of a galaxy at war.
Ta'raysholan Verda - no one knows who carved this life-size mural of one thousand warriors standing as sentries over the valley, but it is said anyone who takes the empty spot where the one thousand and first warrior should stand and stands an all-night watch will gain the power to see that which cannot be seen by normal senses.
Ut'reeyah Kurshok - a carved stone doorway leading to nowhere. Those individuals who possess Force Sensitivity report it to be highly active, laying credence to the claim the site is nothing more than a Force Nexus. But no one has ever been able to determine what the door does or where it leads.
SECURITY
Medium
The Valley of Blades is 'merely' guarded by elderly Mandalorians who have come here to spend their last days. History has shown, time and time again, that this reserve of cunning and firepower, alongside the inaccessible nature of the valley can turn aside even significant assaults.
However, there is no orbital cover and no shielding - landing troops may be difficult, but the valley has been bombed to rubble in the past, only for the Mandalorians to return and begin the process all over again.
You cannot kill an idea, after all. But you can blow it to bits.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
It is unknown when the Valley of Blades was first founded - or even if the story behind it's origin is true. It is said that in this valley on Gargon, seven Mandalorian warriors - Taung in some stories, other races in others, held this high pass against an army of foes so large that their death was certain. These Mandalorians had no cause except their own, no reason to fight except to protect fleeing refugees and family members. When they fell, it is said they did so without memory - an act which left them without identity. The stories of the origin all vary here - some place the founding well in the time of the Taung, when the warriors fought with a belief in the Akaanati'kar'oya, while others place it after the time Mandalore the Indomidable, when the more secular philosophy of the Manda had begun to be introduced. Regardless, they all agree that for any Mandalorian to die without being remembered is a poor fate, and that the refugees were emboldened by the stand of the seven and the enemy weakened enough that when they stood and fought, they smashed their nameless foe. Upon returning to the valley, they recovered the beskad of the fallen warriors and planted them in the ground as the best marker the could - the best memory they had of the fallen.
The Valley of Blades has not always been popular in Mandalorian culture, but it has always existed, often unseen, sometimes ironically unremembered. The families of a deceased Mandalorian who wished to remember them well would take the time to travel to the Valley and place something there as a memorial - not for the fallen, but for the living, to hold the memory of the dead in their hearts, so they were never truly gone as long as the living lived or the valley stood.
During the Gulag Plague the location of the Valley became lost to the Mandalorian people and with numerous crisis points on their hands no one ventured into the formidable mountains to search for an ancient legend. It was only during the Netherworld Crisis that the site may have become 'active' at all - what records survive from the site and its effects prior to the Gulag Plague record supernatural events, but belief in such mysticism has waxed and waned across all galactic societies and so none can report the 'truth' of the valley.
During the purges under Ra the Undying, a group of desperate refugees - not all of them Force Sensitive - ventured into the mountains, only to be guarded to the safe harbour of the valley by what they believe to be the visions of the dead. Others skeptically claim that it was simply Force Sensitivity, and others still that the Force is the Manda. The truth is uncertain and will remain so, but what is known is that after Ra's disappearance the survivors returned to report their discovery and, over time, Mandalorians of all creeds - and none - have made their way to the Valley to see for themselves.
Some left disgusted, some in awe, some distinctly unimpressed. But some - the old and infirm with few family to support or remember them - stayed, forming a new body of guardians that mirrored the ancient traditions of the place. Others returned with newcomers, people suffering from great loss who sought solace in the memory of loved ones and the certain knowledge that all Mandalorians are one within the Manda.
