Nicair Claden
The Iron Heart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kUB_YtrkZc
The War of the Iron Will
It was long in coming, but it was challenging for Nicair to acknowledge that the time had finally arrived. The Sociph soon to be under his command had been trained both by himself and other select instructors. His native people were untempered iron filled with impurities. It was his task to forge them into something stronger, to hammer out the weakness and lack of discipline. The training he put his select few guard through was considered hellish by any imagining.The Sociph weren't physically predisposed to cardiovascular endurance. They were durable and could take any beating sent their way, but he needed warriors that could be his bulwark against the encroaching tides. Loyalty, as much as the Sociph were able of such a thing, took respect and consistency to breed into them. His guard would follow him into combat and protect him, if for no other reason than he promised them glory and a challenge. For this he borrowed the old Sociph term Qer'rus meaning Iron Soul. In millennia past the Qer'rus were an order of warriors that viewed the paragon of the Sociph race, Qerak, as a conqueror of self. An unstoppable force of will. His warriors needed this view and this mentality if just to survive the training Nicair put them through.
His original view of his own species was far different than what he had learned of them through careful study and integration. They were a proud people with more willpower than they knew what to safely do with. Independence and freedom mattered to the Sociph more than anything else, their slaves didn't count as Sociph. They valued metal and its forging more than the lives of their slaves. It was the give and the destroyer of their people. Without their iron they wouldn't have survived but with it, they almost wiped themselves out on more than one occasion.
It took him time to adjust to their ways. When doing business, a Sociph would stand almost nose to nose with their business partner to show what trust they were capable of. While seated their eyes would be fixed on the other's to show focus and attention, unclouded by thoughts of malice or deceit. Though, a Sociph could lie just as easily as tell the truth, but it was a practice the species had developed in order to function. Though Nicair, while a Sociph himself, didn't necessarily feel discomfort at someone being that close, his training and vigilance sent warning signals the first time a Sociph closed that distance. He broke a couple of the other man's ribs on approach. He apologized.
When a Sociph feels they feel fully and extremely, their anger is rage and their affection is passion. There are no half measures for their kind, as is evident by the myths and legends of old civilizations brought low by their passions the Tarish speak of in their huddled masses.
Nicair's brother [member="Jack-ei"] helped him become more accustomed to their ways. The Sociph were treacherous, deceitful, and dangerous. But this didn't mean they had no culture, no society, no rules. They were an enigma, and Nicair was to be their new ruler.
His army was in place alongside technology adjusted with Mandalorian armaments. He was to lead a people that did not want to be led, a people who felt distaste for everything that was not them, and a people who would more than likely hate him for what he was about to do. But it was time for the Sociph to enter the galaxy, and they needed a ruler with an iron heart to do so.