Private Beneath the Quiet Crown || Dark Council

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Vigfjall
TAG: Quinn Varanin | Darth Caedes | Lirka Ka | Taeli Raaf

Jutrand never rested. The city lights stretched across the horizon in every direction, rising into the night like veins of fire and metal. Towers climbed toward the clouds. Skybridges carried endless streams of movement. The pulse of the planet beat against the glass walls of the Obsidian Spire. It was the sound Gerwald Lechner had lived with since the day Empyrean and Srina Talon placed this home in his hands. The gift had been offered as reward for loyalty and trust. It had become the center of his life. It anchored the Second Legion. It shaped the work he carried forward.

The interior of the Spire reflected the world around it. Light from the city bled through tall panes of blackened glass and settled in faint lines across the floor. The corridors hummed with quiet power. The central hall waited with purpose, prepared for the first full gathering of the new Dark Council. This room had held commanders and envoys, but today carried a different weight. The council had changed. Srina Talon had strengthened it.

Quinn Varanin now stood among its members.

Darth Caedes had been elevated.

Lirka Ka had risen to claim her place.

Taeli Raaf remained constant.

Together they would shape what came next.

A broad table of obsidian occupied the center of the chamber. Its polished surface caught the movement of the city lights and scattered them in dark reflections. Banners of the Spire hung above, marking the space as Gerwald’s domain. Beyond these walls the Second Legion maintained its watch along the contested borders between Sith space and the High Republic. Within this room, the work of the council would decide how far that reach would extend.

One seat carried uncertainty. Darth Malum of House Marr had withdrawn from view, leaving a silence that stretched longer than it should. Gerwald accepted that absence only because the Empress had not yet acted, but the void it created could not remain untouched forever. A council could not move with empty space in its circle.

The hall filled slowly as the members arrived through the upper lift. Their presence changed the air. It settled with new weight. It steadied with new expectations. Gerwald moved from the head of the table toward them. This was his home. They were under his roof. The greeting belonged to him.

He stopped at a point where the light from the city framed the approaching figures. His voice carried through the hall with calm strength.

“Welcome to the Spire. I am glad you arrived.”

There was no ceremony in his tone. No excess. Only the steady presence of the Dread Wolf offering recognition to those who had entered his home.

He returned to the table once the final arrival stepped inside. The reflections across the stone shifted as he took his place. The chamber felt ready.

The council had gathered.

The work would begin.

 

[Lirka Ka]

TAGS - Quinn Varanin Gerwald Lechner Taeli Raaf Darth Caedes

Councillor Ka. It had an odd ring to it. The words almost felt unnatural as Lirka rolled them around into her mouth. It was only reasonable, of course, that one of her stature would claw her way to where she stood today. A veritable mountain of broken skulls to ferry the Once-Sephi to ascension - yet despite all that. A simple mantra rung in her head. Lirka Ka knew no fear.

Except of course, those moments she was afraid. The sort of animalistic caution that came with a new environment. Lirka was an odd one out of this little gathering, while she would brazenly declare herself as Sith as the greatest of Darths. That wasn’t a particularly popular outlook on life. So when she approached the Jutrand spire, she did it with the careful nigh-mechanical steps as if she were a tactical droid. Armor polished, a freshly woven half-cape flowing at her side. A shiv or several hidden in some of the great multitude of compartments across her “Second Skin” as she called it.

She wasn’t exactly on home turf anymore. She was in the den of Gerwald Lechner even if they were, on paper, a gathering of equals. She knew painfully little about where the Dread Wolf stood as a variable - other than that he was important. Which was about as useless of an aspect as anything considering they all were now.

Letting paranoia subside into nothing but a festering kernel in her black hearts, there was work to done. She had been a wild card pick, but it would pay to remind them all that not long ago (at least in Sephi timeframes) she had been a Grand Moff. Lirka entered the room was clawed hands clasped behind her back, and the heavy metallic footfalls of her suit against the floor.

She moved with purpose, taking in every detail. Opening her mind to eventually recount where this would end up in her calculus. It was ironic in a way, to be greeted with such lack of ceremony or excess. For Lirka had that certain obnoxious Sephi flair for ceremony in her still, and the fledgling and blood soaked Dzara she had been so crucial in founding reveled in excess.

So uncharacteristically, she showed no ceremony, nor excessive opulence like she would have. A blank face to approach a new battlefield. In the past, she may have bowed in greeting. But who did Lirka Ka need to bow to now but the Empress and the Primordial Darkness beyond? Her words were sharp and succinct.

“A pleasure, to be certain.”

Indeed. There was work to be done. And an Empire in flux to begin to mold. The Galaxy shifted rapidly around them, the transience of Darkness manifesting again. Now it was time to guide the hands of the worthy to reach out and grasp the vast opportunity laying before them.

 

[Taeli Raaf]

Gerwald Lechner Quinn Varanin Lirka Ka Darth Caedes
​

It would be from that shifting pattern of light from the cityscape that was Jutrand reflected off the table into dark reflections that a raven of shadow would emerge, eyes a glittering amethyst. A ruffle of its feathers before it fluttered over to the seat that had been reserved for the raven's master, then it shifted into the image of Darth Arcanix, the Lady of Secrets, although small wisps of shadow continued to rise from her form.

It may not have been her intention to miss this first gathering of the enlarged Dark Council in person, but as her image turned to address the host, it had been unavoidable. "My apologies, Gerwald. There is an experiment occurring in the Styx system that is at a critical stage and requires my personal attention and I was already enroute when your invitation arrived."

As Quinn would know, being her apprentice and now elevated to very near the highest echelon of power within the Sith, Taeli was a woman constantly on the move to oversee one operation or experiment after another... if she wasn't at home with her family. Not that she was about to offer details on her work to the gathered, not yet, as while she had trust towards Gerwald and Quinn, the other two members now among them required caution. Caedes was someone she looked forward to working with, and it had long been her desire to directly speak with the King of Korriban at length about partnership and alliance. Perhaps that would grow out of this first meeting.

It was Lirka, resplendent in her armor, that urged extreme caution and watching. She was still unconvinced of their actual dedication to the Sith teachings, and her association as a member of what she called the Trouble Triplets gave her further pause. But perhaps Srina foresaw something else in elevating Lirka among their number than was immediately obvious. Either way, she would wait and see and continue cordially for now.

 

[Darth Caedes]

D A R K
C O U N C I L​

Darth Caedes entered the chamber without escort or announcement, without the ceremonial trappings so often associated with Sith of high station. His silhouette cut a clean and simple figure, the folds of his dark cloak settling around his shoulders comfortably and whispering as they dragged against the spire's obsidian floor. No armor need adorn him, no gilded ornament to declared his rise, nor trophy, nor rank badge. Power (of the kind he was most familiar) needed no heralding. The Force moved with him, quiet yet immense, pulled tight around his frame like a second skin and lurking at his heels like a mighty guardian beast. It stirred at his presence; subtle, coiled, and attentive.

He had not left the Jutrand system in months. War had kept him here, as had been his duty: extinguishing pockets of resistance along the Blackwall, reinforcing what the Empire could not afford to lose, and (more privately) strengthening his bonds with the Empress Srina Talon and with his love, Revna Marr for whom he devoted every free moment. In the aftermath of recent campaigns, this most austere chamber felt strangely still. Its silence pressed against him, cloying, its polished surfaces reflective of a city forever reaching, forever devouring the horizon. It reminded him of his home, on Coruscant—though the comparison was one riddled with resentment. In recent days, Caedes had allowed himself to wax nostalgic over his old home, and for a time when the Sith ruled from the core and announced their mandates onto the galaxy from its center-most point. Now, as in more ancient times, the Sith clung to the galactic outskirts and ruled from the secrecy of their own dens, powerless to halt the growth of rival contenders or the mewling Jedi and their Light sided lies.

Korriban's King approached the table with the patient certainty of a being long accustomed to command. Though, admittedly, his domain had never spanned such a breadth as it did now. The administrative burden of managing an entire Empire was broader than his preferred territory, true; less elegant and less intuitive than the mysteries of the Force he so preferred to lose himself within. But the Empress and her highest Council had called him upwards to serve, and so he was here.

He passed Lirka Ka with a faint nod, her armor broadcasting the presence of a threat, perhaps. Arcanix's shadowed avatar earned a brief, assessing glance; the Lady of Secrets Taeli Raaf preferred the interplay of sorcery to more mundane solutions, typically what Caedes would characterize as an over-reliance on, or over-use of the Force... though he respected her, nevertheless, and the depth of the well she drew from. He let his golden gaze wash over Quinn Varanin without the tells of familiar expression, witnessing her, though affording her no specific greeting. And finally, his eyes found the Dread Wolf Gerwald Lechner whose invitation had brought them together, here, today. The man was a warrior he'd fought beside, and a Sith who understood both the weight of violence and the underlying purpose beneath it. Caedes inclined his head once in recognition to him, a wordless acknowledgment between predators who had bled on the same fronts.

He took his seat, folding into the chair opposite the gathered council, opposite the Dread Wolf. He felt no need to fill this space with unnecessary noise. These people were not his friends, not even (perhaps) his allies. They would be his peers, his rivals, and, until unity seemed to rest naturally on those within his Order, even his opponents. His gaze moved from face to face with deliberate calm, taking the measure of each gathered here.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

WEARING: This
WEAPONS: Ferrum Solus | Blodmåne | Strømafbryder
SHIP: Vigfjall
TAG: Quinn Varanin | Lirka Ka | Taeli Raaf | Darth Caedes

Gerwald remained standing as the chamber settled allowing the quiet to stretch until it carried weight. He did not hurry the moment. The opening breaths of any gathering mattered especially when power was present and still deciding how it would settle. The Obsidian Spire held the silence easily. Its walls had been raised to contain decisions rather than display them, and they did so now without effort.

Beyond the glass the city never slowed. Jutrand moved in layers of light and traffic and distant sound, a living mass pressing outward in every direction. Gerwald had never wanted a fortress that sealed itself away from that motion. Power that depended on isolation weakened over time. The Spire stood within the city rather than above it, and the constant movement beyond its walls served as a reminder that influence had to be exercised to remain real.

Lirka Ka drew his attention first, not because of her armor or the weapons concealed within it, but because of the restraint she imposed upon herself. She moved as someone who had learned to survive hostile rooms by offering nothing that could be seized too early. Her lack of ceremony was deliberate. Her posture remained closed without turning defensive. Gerwald did not see bravado in her bearing. He saw calculation shaped by experience. She had declared herself without embellishment and then stopped. That choice mattered. He met her gaze once and inclined his head. It was an acknowledgment and nothing more. Approval would come later or not at all.

Taeli Raaf shifted the balance of the room in a quieter way. Her projection introduced a subtle sense of distance no matter how precise the image. Gerwald regarded the construct without diminishing it. Distance did not imply disengagement. Her apology had been brief and practical. The explanation matched it. He understood work that demanded attention regardless of summons and could not be paused without consequence. The Wolf did not mistake divided location for divided loyalty.

Darth Caedes entered without need for recognition. Gerwald felt his presence before he looked, the Force around the man was drawn tight and controlled rather than displayed. Caedes did not rely on ornament or armor to announce himself. He did not need to. There was familiarity forged through shared purpose in violence rather than alliance. Their eyes met briefly across the table and a quiet understanding passed between them. Nothing further was required. Some things lost their meaning when spoken aloud.

Only then did Gerwald rest his hand against the obsidian table. The stone was cool beneath his palm. The surface caught the city lights and fractured them into slow moving reflections shaped by the angle of the glass. He let his awareness move through the room, noting posture and stillness, watching where attention settled and where it drifted. This was the first time these figures had stood together in this configuration and it showed. No one had claimed the space yet, though that would not last.

He did not look toward the empty seat. The Dread Wolf did not need to.

“ Quinn Varanin is late. We will proceed without her. What is said in this room stays in this room. We are not here to posture or rehearse loyalty. We are here to decide direction. Speak plainly. Disagree plainly.”

Gerwald withdrew his hand from the table and allowed the silence to return. He did not fill it, but watched instead.

He watched how Lirka held herself after the words settled, whether her focus sharpened or closed further. His gaze looked to Taeli’s projection for any sign of adjustment beneath its steady exterior. HIs attention moved to Caedes without looking directly at him, aware of how presence alone could shift a room even in stillness.

This was not a gathering meant to reassure. The Empress had expanded the council because the galaxy did not wait for consensus. Borders strained under pressure. Structures weakened as new forces pushed against them. Gerwald felt that pressure constantly, not as anxiety, but as weight. He had carried similar weight most of his life. This was simply more of it.

The Spire remained quiet around them, its walls absorbing the moment without judgment. Outside the city continued its endless motion unaware of the decisions that would ripple outward from this room. Gerwald preferred it that way. Power did not require an audience.

“The addition of Firefist changes how we operate. It is no longer a place we test and withdraw from but a place we hold, supply, and defend. At the same time the Blackwall continues to expand. If Firefist is permanent what purpose does it serve?”

Gerwald withdrew his hand from the table and said nothing more. He wanted to see how this new council would respond.

It was a test.