Dominion Crystals Are Forever | SO Dominion of Erinar

["Templar"]

//: OPEN //:
//: Erinar //:
//: Attire //:
//: Objective I - First Come First Served //:

​

Templar felt it. A pull, long before she knew of the world. A surge, sharp and potent, echoed across the void like a whisper. One moment she stood beneath the quiet sky of another place… the next, the whisper guided her here. Erinar.

Emerging alone this time. The Relic lifted her head, taking in the landscape that stretched before her. A world carved from fire itself. The horizon glowed with molten light, rivers of lava snaked between the obsidian plains. Ash drifted like snow. Soft, but burning. Settling onto her hooded cloak in layers. The air tasted of metal and volcanic gas, hot enough to sting even through her helmet's filter.

A deep rumble pulsed beneath Templar’s boots. The planet breathed. Boots crunching against brittle rock as she walked slowly. A molten bubble rose beside her. Pushing up from a lava pool. It expanded, glowing hotter until it burst with a wet hissing pop. Sending droplets of molten stone around. Templar only watched. Her head lifted up, attention shifting ahead. She felt them. Other force signatures. Faint, but present. She did not seek them out. Not yet. Instead the Relic followed the hum. The deeper resonance calling from beneath the ground’s crust.

As she walked, something unusual caught her eye. Color. Not the harsh reds and oranges of lava. Nor the charcoal-dark ground. It was something softer. Stranger. Alive. Templar slowed, tilting her head. A patch of color clung to a rock ledge where the heat rippled most violently. Kneeling down as she approached, obsidian dust sliding from her knee plates.

There growing impossibly against the planet’s volcanic molten environment was a volcanic flower. Its petals thin and translucent like glass, glowing with inner embers. Veins of gold traced through each petal. Pulsing ever so faintly with the heat, as if the flower borrowed fire from the planet itself.

A miracle in a place where nothing should survive.

Templar extended her right hand. The glove brushed the petals lightly and carefully. Plucking the flower with gentleness. She lifted it closer to the rim of her helmet so she could study its structure. Its glow. Its quiet defiance.

With her other hand, Templar reached behind her back. Leather creaked softly as she retrieved her journal. Weathered, hand-stitched with its edges charred from past journeys. She flipped to a blank page. The flower was laid carefully between its sheets, pressed gently as the journal closed. Later Templar would sketch it, document it, record its miracle.

Just as Templar was about to stand, another faint shine caught her attention. Something was glinting beside the flower she had just plucked. Half-buried in soot and ash, the object would’ve been easily overlooked. The Relic reached out and brushed the debris aside with the back of her glove.

A crystal. Small. Barely the size of a pebble. Yet unmistakably unnatural in its perfection. Templar picked it up. Turning it between her fingers. Even through the glove she felt a subtle warmth, as if the crystal held its own tiny furnace within. Its surface was smooth and glass-like. Faint veins of molten gold ran through its interior, shifting like trapped embers. When she tilted it, the veins pulsed. Dim, rhythmic, alive.

A sound stirred against her palm. A vibration. A hum so soft it was barely a whisper. The size of the crystal wasn’t strong enough to be dangerous, but the energy within it was unmistakable. Raw. Concentrated. Waiting.

Templar studied it a moment longer before slipping it carefully into her journal, nestled between reinforced pages beside the flower. The leather creaked as she secured it. Her head tilted slightly the other way.

‘…Perhaps,’ she thought, ‘Master likes crystals…?’

Despite her situation, the thought lingered. She would present Master with a bigger rock. ( Spencer Varanin )

Templar stood once more. The heat wind stirring ash around her boots. Looking toward the deeper plains. Toward the low pulsing hum of the crystals calling below. The deeper resonance ahead pulled her onward. Adjusting her cloak, she continued walking.

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx | TAG: Korran Dorn | Irina Jesart​

The tunnels burned with heat.

Aerik moved through the haze, each step slow and deliberate. The air was thick with ash and the deep vibration of molten stone. The machinery above had gone quiet, leaving only the pulse of the planet itself. It rolled beneath his boots like a slow breath.

The words spoken to him lingered in the air. They were not a challenge or warning. They were the kind of truth that did not need to be answered. Power like this could not be mastered. That did not mean his betters would not try. They knew a stronger truth.

Aerik did not reply at first. Pervasive heat pressed close, and the glow from the molten channels reflected across the walls. The Force here was ancient, patient, and indifferent to those who sought to claim it.

The pup exhaled once and let the thought settle.

“Then it decides,” he said under his breath.

The chamber widened before him. Catwalks stretched high above, their frames warped by time and heat. Several tunnels opened into the rock ahead. Each carried its own current, some strong, some faint, all feeding the same pulse that filled the cavern.

Something on the surface of the rock wall caught his attention.

A mark had been burned into the stone near the entrance of the second tunnel. The shape was precise. The edges still shimmered with faint red light. He reached toward it but stopped before his fingers touched the surface. The warmth rising from it told him enough.

It had been made recently.

It had been made for him.

Aerik stood. The mark faced the tunnel where the hum of the crystals grew stronger. Their rhythm filled the air, deep and steady, calling to those who could feel their song. He knew what waited down that path. He also knew who had taken it.

The pup looked toward the other tunnel. Its air was still. The sound of the crystals there was distant, but deeper, almost lost. It led away from the deeper heat, away from the pulse that filled the chamber. That was where he turned.

He started walking without a word. The stone carried the faint echo of his steps, then swallowed them whole. The heat followed him for a while before it began to fade. The walls cooled, and the light from the molten flow behind him dimmed until it was gone.

He did not look back. The mark on the floor would cool soon and lose its glow. The message had been received. That was enough.

The air ahead was still and heavy. The ground here did not hum. It listened. Aerik could feel the quiet settle around him, thick and deliberate. It would hide what needed to be hidden. It would lead away those who might have followed the stronger trail.

He rested one hand against the wall and let his focus steady. The faint vibration of the world moved through his palm, weak but constant. It was a rhythm he could follow. It was enough to mask another.
A pressure gathered at the edge of awareness. It was not the sharp pull of the crystals but something deeper, quieter, and old. The kind of presence that did not call for obedience yet still compelled movement.

Aerik turned toward the sound.

“This way,” he said, his voice calm and certain. “The current shifts here.”

No glance followed the words. The Force would guide those who needed to follow and lose those who did not. Steps carried forward into the shadowed passage until the heat of the cavern gave way to cooler air. The echo of molten breath faded behind, leaving only the pulse of the earth, uneven but insistent.

One gloved hand found the wall. The rock was warm to the touch, the vibration faint but alive. Energy stirred within it, slower than the crystal song yet heavy with meaning. The current winding through this path felt different like it was drawn from something older and deeper.

Silence thickened around him. Not emptiness, but a stillness that listened. The path seemed to wait.

A moment passed before movement resumed. Each step carried further from the heat and sound above. Behind, the mark left in the stone would soon cool and vanish. Its purpose was complete. The new current pulled onward, patient and steady, and Aerik followed where it led.

 

[Lina Ovmar]

Tags: Srina Talon | Gerwald Lechner​

---

Lina felt the whispered song in the shadows before she appeared, her command of the darkness was one that Lina could not help but admire. Yet despite all her admiration of the Empress's abilities, the muscles in her shoulders still tightened, lips forming a thin line as she addressed the rising hum in the room before turning her attention to Lina.

There was no incline in the volume of her voice, yet Lina still felt the sharp edge as she was reminded of who sat in the throne that Empyrean had vacated. She gave a small incline of her head in response. "My apologies, Empress." she said softly, as not to interrupt the rest of her speech. She listened, eyes roving over the projected image, before lifting them back to Gerwald as he spoke.

Caught between the Empress and her hound, her words would have to be careful, her arguments sound. She took in a breath and exhaled slowly.

"I don't disagree on any particular point, save one." she began. "The Blackwall is a cage for those without vast influential power and waystones, it hems them in, preventing outside communication and trade. By design, or as a by-product it doesn't matter, what matters is that there is danger in keeping a boot pressed so heavily against the backs of the subjects who are the very foundation of this Order." Her gaze flicked back to the holoimage as she studied it for a beat longer, thinking.

"Force Storms are inherently difficult to control, even with the power of the Erinar Diamonds behind them, a fleet could be launched beyond where it is intended. We could however, let the force storms run wild within the storm and use them to conceal hypergates just inside. It would allow us to launch defenses and attacks at will but also, perhaps allow trade for those less able to do so at present. We still control who passes in and out but we extend it to a wider audience. It would give our more volatile warlords the opportunity to vent their aggression beyond the Order's boundaries. It might avoid more casualties like those at Atrisia and Fivune."

Sith were meant to fight, to test each other and push one another to new boundaries, but there came a point where such skirmishes no longer served the greater good of the Order.

 

[Veyran Solis]

Soah Ty’Jyn​

Veyran felt that familiar tension in the air, the deliberate stillness of a predator waiting for its moment. The corner of his mouth curved faintly. Soah hid well, but she still hadn’t learned that the Force gave her away long before her footsteps ever could.

He straightened slowly, the residual energy from the Erinar Diamond still crawling across his skin like static. The shards around him hovered in fractured suspension, trembling in the air with restrained power. As he turned toward the far side of the chamber, his gaze cut through the haze, the shimmer of heat, the faint outline of movement where the shadows bent unnaturally.

“Little kitten.” he murmured, his voice echoing through the molten chamber, low and smooth. “You came after all.”

He stepped forward, unhurried, the molten glow painting his armor in liquid crimson. Every motion carried the calm of someone utterly at home in chaos. The ground cracked faintly beneath his boots, each step stirring embers from the floor.

Her crouched form came into view then the amber glint of her eyes, the ripple of dark markings shifting across her skin. She was working the crystal, careful, controlled, her focus like a blade’s edge.

He paused a few paces away, watching her with the faintest flicker of amusement, moving to gather his own for the taking.

“Don’t worry yourself. I’m not here for a second round, not yet anyway.” he said, voice edged humor and a blade’s edge. “ Let’s call a truce for now, at least until these diamonds are secured.”

 

[Soah Ty’Jyn]

Interacting with: Veyran Solis

​

The low hum of the cavern swallowed her breath.

Soah's claws retracted with a soft scrape as she eased the final fragment of the crystal into its containment case. The glow dimmed when sealed, but its heat still pulsed faintly against her palm. She snapped the lid shut, sliding the case into her satchel. That was when the fine fur along her neck rose.

The Felacatian's head turned, her braids sliding against her damp skin as amber eyes locked onto the figure emerging from the haze. Veyran. His presence burned in the Force like a scar that refused to fade. The faint shimmer of the oppressive heat couldn't hide him not from her.

A low growl built deep in her chest, barely audible over the rumble of magma below. Her stance stayed crouched as her tail flicked once behind her before stilling again. She didn't trust him, he was a predator who smiled before he bit, waiting for any advantage or hint of weakness before he attacked like a rabid Kathhound on the hunt just to make people bleed.

Still, the crystals were too unstable to risk a fight. Not here. Not yet.

So without breaking her stare, Soah secured the satchel to her back and straightened, the sentient ink writhing as it still clung to her like a second skin. The oppressive heat shimmered around them in a way that turned he space between into a mirage of danger and restraint.

Her nostrils flared as the Acolyte drew in a slow breath as she tasted the air, inhaling the sulfur, the heat, and beneath it, the dark musk that was uniquely his.

And while her expression was all but flat, only the slightest cant of her head gave any indication to her thoughts as amusement flickered in her mind.

"So you survived."

Amber eyes narrowed as she caught the molten reflection of him through the haze as she slowly stood up.

"Truce it is," she replied after a tense moment, the edge of her voice more warning than agreement.

"And next time…" she let the words linger with promise, and the very rare ghost of an upward twist at the right corner of her mouth, "I'll make the mark match."

The Felacatian's lips curved in a flash of sharp teeth before she turned, melting back into the cavern's shadows. She'd come for what she'd been looking for...

But next time...

She'd make him bleed even more.

~ Exit thread ~​

 

[Helix]

Objective I
Tags: Lirka Ka /OPEN​

Helix nodded, seeming to find that answer satisfactory. In truth, he intended to outlive all of them. Critically, Helix had spent the bulk of his efforts chasing permanency and stability more than power. If the universe ended as Lirka posited it would, Helix knew one thing for certain.

He'd still be there, floating in the void, kept safe by a bubble of his own impenetrable self-importance.

"Of course I posit victory. It is the only possible outcome." He replied smoothly. And it was. Anything Helix could not defeat, he could outlast.

"Once upon a time, I'd have bored you with the calculations and how I derived them, but I am rather more than a collection of numbers now. I feel it in the depths of my self-given soul. That is enough for me." Said the colony.

He shook his head, incensed at the idea of himself ever growing complacent on his laurels. He had overcome too much and succeeded against impossible odds too many times to fade away into history as a bloated, feeble priest-king. No, he was different than the rest.

He would not be defeated by victory so easily.

Lirka, bless her, had her view of things, and he mostly agreed. Helix thrived on conflict, challenge, and danger, however. Those things prompted strength and ingenuity, and he could scarcely imagine a universe without them.

"True, I suppose that's getting a little ahead of myself. There are certainly no shortage of obstacles to face in the here and now." He stopped to place one hand on the wall, sprouting countless fine, vibration-sensitive cilia from his fingertips. He concentrated, listening along the corridors for movement. Even the beat of a heart would do. It was hard to filter out Lirka's clanking footsteps, but not impossible.

"Hopefully others will see value in these baubles." He said, retracting his arm from the wall. "I certainly do not, but shiny rocks are always of value to someone."

 

[Matteo Guo-Yian]

​

Closest friend: Lunaria Talon
Short: Jorryn Fordyce
Chaperones?: Quinn Varanin | CT-312

Matteo had noticed the ramp-up in difficulty for their missions as well. It could be a punishment, it hadn't been their fault they ran straight into a demented Sith Lord with a horde of the undead, but that didn't matter too much to the Jutrand Academy. They hadn't been as successful as they should have been and the Dread Empress herself aided them in the end.

"I noticed that too, yeah. Maybe something in the air?" It would explain why breathing was so difficult here. It reminded him of Brosi and the choking, toxic atmosphere there.

The fact that his own Master and Luna's mother found it necessary to intervene still filled him with... perhaps not shame, but an emotion that was closely adjacent to it.

He promised to keep her daughter safe and promised too that he would never tell Luna this. But in the end there had been too much. It had made him train harder, fiercer, Luna might have noticed that too. The way he had been carving through training droids like they were paper. Over and over again in the training yard.

Until his hands bled and his body was covered in tracks of sliced wounds that were healing badly as his energy was running out.

It was ironic that when they were younger it was Matteo who told Luna that she shouldn't work so hard. That training until her feet bled wasn't the right way to handle it. Only for himself to take up that same tactic later on in their lives. But shame was a powerful motivator, it pushed him forward to be better, stronger, to be worthy of being the Knight of the Empress.

"Lots of shuttles." Matteo muttered in response, bumping her hip with his as they passed the crevice. Luna approached the new figure first and Matteo approached with caution behind her.

"Matteo." The young man announced right after 'Artemis' used her false identity again. He was so used to it at this point, it didn't even make him blink anymore.

"If you are, we can work together." Then putting his hand on Artemis' shoulder, a gentle squeeze there. "But if you are here to be an obstacle, know that we do not frighten easily and will take the battle to you without hesitation."

 

[Jorryn Fordyce]

// Lady Jorryn Fordyce //
// Objective // Research //
// Focus // // Lunaria Talon // Matteo Guo-Yian // Quinn Varanin // CT-312 //

---

---

Static greeted the datapad of the Echani as she tried to locate the source of the Erinar diamonds, the technology failing as often as it gave a decent reading. There was no rush in the footsteps of the Echani, allowing herself time to heed caution into the pools of lava that licked as the heat shield she wore.

Despite its strength, sweat still managed to grow on her brow, and she regret forgoing a more practical suit to deal with the environment.

The back of her wrist dragged the sweat away and glanced the glow of the magma away from her eyes, there was little else the planet offered besides ash and magma. She let out a sigh presuming she would go the march alone without any assistance, yet against the molten surface stood a figure, hands raised in a greeting.

A pleasant surprise, apparent enough of the Former Lord Inquisitor's face.

Jorryn returned the glance with unease, not quite accustomed to be greeted on such a competitive ground. Truthfully, she had expected to fight any that she had not already been familiar with, yet this girl at least had the decorum to not instantly attack her. The tunes of youth caressed the Echani's ear, and it was then she knew why the girl hadn't jumped to attack her.

Compared to the youthful Sith Jorryn grew up amongst, she supposed that it was a welcome change in the new Sith Order, though the male that followed resembled the Sith of her generation. Bold and honest, a warning that fell not only from his lips but it the way that he carried himself. The silver-haired Sith noted the way that he took the girl by the shoulder.

A comfort of some kind?, Jorryn mused to herself. Or a warning to not approach?

The difference mattered little to the Echani, instead she simply offered a smile, and allow a serpentine tongue to forge this alliance.

"Artemis and Matteo, a pleasure." A soft smile took her lips as she gave a small bow, the tone giving more relief than her face would. "I might admit a bit of relief that you have the sense not to attack me immediately," Jorryn allowed herself a sigh, if not but to remove some of the heat building against her. "This planet is brutal enough without having to worry about other Sith slaughtering each other for a stone."

A hand pulled a mask with the force, the air growing more decrepit as she strayed from the shuttle. Loathe as she was to wear one, it may be needed sooner than later. The Echani drew nearer to the duo, observing the body language of the pair carefully as she looked them over.

The man deemed himself a protector, to be sure, though his charge couldn't be described as a damsel. She was the one with the courage to reveal herself to begin with, unsure if Jorryn represented friend or foe. Matteo had been there to reassure her, a metaphorical and literal hand on her shoulder.

"I like you." The flash of a smile curved her cheeks in response to Matteo Guo-Yian 's words, before the mask lifted itself to obscure Jorryn's features. "It's not everyday I get to meet an honest Sith, so I'll match you. My name is Jorryn Fordyce, Lady of the Sith, and working together to procure a few specimen of Erinar for all of us seems beneficial"

White hair still strayed from the edges of her mask, protected by the heat shield she wore upon her arm. As death roiled between them, the Echani returned a glance towards the datapad.

"I suspect that we may be a touch later than the others, though..." A dramatic pause let the words sink in as she hoped a solution would magically present itself. "Technology is hardly my specialty, so I haven't been able to make much use of the signals to locate the diamonds."

The mask aimed its way towards the lava falls and downwards slopes that resembled a path to the netherworld, a click of the tongue acknowledging the Echani's realisation.

"I suppose it makes more sense that these diamonds would be further down, amongst the depths of the industrial excavation." The loathing to delve any further into Erinar was clear despite Jorryn's face being hidden away, the datapad being set away in a pouch. "And I suppose that you two would prefer to have the stranger lead the way instead of falling behind you?"

The willingness was clear in Jorryn's voice, even if the preference was all but nonexistent. It was clear that Erinar hardly fit Jorryn's preferred locale, but such sacrifices were necessary for innovation.

And the pair she found herself with could prove to be interesting.

 

[Ellissanthia]

Location: Erinar Diamond Cave - Erinar
Thread Objective: First Come First Served
Mission Objective:

• Capture Erinar Diamonds.
• Explore the cave.

Tag: Kito

“I am not a Si—”

The words were silenced in Ellissanthia’s throat. The fire came, and her gaze widened, violet-hued irises reflecting the onrushing inferno. The Undine extended her right arm, tapping into the Dark Side to open a temporary channel in the flame, sparing her from full immolation. And yet, the fire was a living, rolling thing, controlled by a powerful pyrokinetic Shaper. The rebuffed flames roared around, with some coming near her head in a blistering shroud.

Her face shield flared to life and shimmered, deflecting the blast. However, the sheer thermal transfer was immense. Ellissanthia cried out as a wave of agonizing heat flashed across her face. The ends of her hair crisped, and her left eye seared with pain, vision blurring into a watery mess. She choked, the air suddenly an oven blast that scorched her throat.

She staggered back a step as the shock and disorientation came over her. The bodysuit had saved her life.

And in its wake, she was all the more furious.

“You’ll pay with more than just the rock!” Ellissanthia howled, her voice came coarse and ragged, cerulean features contorted by a pain that was swiftly subsumed into rage. The Undine pointed her left hand towards Kito’s chest from just over 9 meters away, index and middle fingers locked together to focus her intent into a single, vicious point. A violent, earsplitting crack sounded out as an explosion of ultra-compressed air detonated from her fingers in the form of a narrow, concentrated beam.

A Force Push, focused into a telekinetic lance.

A shockwave ripped through the air as the compressed air column accelerated forward at supersonic velocity, carrying enough kinetic energy to shatter a durasteel barricade!

Spoiler: Loadout

• Eclipsed Veil
  
  • Miscellaneous Equipment
    
    • FAE/U-01 "Serenity" Anti-Signal Field System
  • Accouterments
    
    • Red Accents
    • Eclipse Sect Symbol - Left Shoulder
• Storm Kiss
• Supernal Infusion Vials
• SHIVA Vials
• Siqsa-S1 Semiautonomous Seeker Obscuration Canister (2)
• Spirit Anchor Talisman
• Seer Stones

 

[Varin Mortifer]

FIRST COME FIRST SERVED​

He delved deeper. Passing by some ores that held quiet whispers but not for him. Those were reserved for others. He needed this crystal to talk with him and him alone. He would have to avoid fighting for the most part on his end. He doubted he would survive a collapsing cavern of molten rock. As he pressed on the heat rose and the oxygen grew heavier, though he was accustomed to lower dosages of oxygen from his training the air felt….heavier here.

That's when he heard it. Like a being entranced by a siren’s song he heard a melody. He continued down the path, stepping over small lava veins and taking on small corners that most dwellers would cower from. The song was not necessarily a sound of music, but a hum of familiarity. A beat that struck the very core of his nerves as he drew closer. His heart began to beat a hard steady thrum as he drew closer.

Ahead of him was an opened cavern. Almost naturally made. His eyes looked upon its walls as the glittering pieces of gems revealed themselves and disappeared like spectres in the night. As he rounded the corner he saw a silhouette of a mountain of a man. His armor bore the marks and blemishes of battles uncountable. His gauntleted hand, ladened with blades, rested upon the wall as the figure stared at the crystals.

“.....Who…who are you?”

Varin spoke quietly, his voice bounding off the walls and returning back to him.

The figure did not turn to meet his gaze. But instead spoke with a voice deep enough to sound as if tectonic plates moved the very core of the planet itself.

“Have you forgotten me already?”

Varin’s eyes widened as he dropped his mace to the floor bending on one knee to face the floor. Kneeling almost like in worship to a god itself.

“...Father.”

Varin’s breath caught.

“But…you..I saw you-”

Lord Mortifer’s head slowly turned to the boy. His crown of blades ablaze with the fires of death itself. Varin drew silent and quickly averted his gaze to the floor. Sweat building over his brow.

“Forgive me father, for speaking out of turn.”

Lord Mortifer’s heavy foot fall echoed among the chamber as he stepped closer.

“...Arise, Varin. You seek power here, don’t you?”

Varin pulled himself to his feet as he answered.

“I seek a diamond. I have passed many but one calls me here. One knows me, of our home. Father.”

The phrik helmet’s eyes brightened like embers as Lord Mortifer stared into him.

“You draw close to the dark side here. These diamonds bear the makings of the dark side of the force itself. Volatile, power, promises. Things the dark side will allow, gift to you and even take.”

Lord Mortifer’s gaze fell upon a single crystal embedded in the wall ahead of them. Crimson yet pulsing like the heart of the infernal caverns themselves.

“Are you prepared for any sacrifice that this crystal would demand?”

Varin was silent for a moment.

“...I have to be.”

Lord Mortifer stepped to the side outstretching his hand towards the crystal.

“Then take it. But know this, nothing is ever free when dealing with the dark side, son.”

Varin stared at the crystal, its heart beating in tandem with Varin’s. The siren song growing louder as he stepped closer. His finger stretched out towards the crystal as the air vibrated around him. Smoke and fire licked up his shoulders as he spoke to the crystal, demanding it come to him.

The crystal would respond. A harmonious vibration responded to his force signature as the wall that held the crystal in place released its grip around the object. Crumbling away like old hardened dust. The diamond drifted towards him as he watched it, stopping just within a hand’s reach. Varin took a moment to admire the crimson hue that would erupt an orange burst within its center. The crystal was alive, it had chosen it’s master. Gently Varin plucked the crystal from the air. The heat hissed on his palm, but the heat did not bother him. He rubbed his thumb gently on its face.

Power. But not free. The cost is yet to reveal itself.

He would make his way out of the caverns, plucking but one more crystal for his master. A gift that he would soon find a way to turn into something worthy of Revna Marr

{Exit Thread} ​

 

[Irina Jesart]

Tags: Korran Dorn Aerik Lechner​

The song drew them deeper, the heat growing more intense. Her companions slowed, struggling with the weight of the containers they bore between them, sweat rolling from beneath their hairlines, their breathing laboured. In contrast, Irina was comfortable, she still bore the same sheen of sweat the raiders did, yet beyond that it did nothing to slow her down.

She trailed her fingers along the warm stone, almost certain that he was on the other side of the cavern wall.

"Where are you going?" she murmured to herself. She had half expected him to follow, maybe she'd even hoped for it. But if he had, then they would be in competition for the same thing. Perhaps they still were.

The tunnel forked again, and again she rested her hands on the stone to feel where the song was loudest. They took the right fork, following the natural pull down until it came to a sharp end. The path vanished, dropping sharply away as the cavern opened once more, revealing a vast lake of lava beneath them.

Irina didn't hesitate, stepping off the ledge to drop smoothly to the lakes shoreline below, bending the force around her to slow her descent.

 

[Korran Dorn]

INTO THE FLAMES

Tags: Aerik Lechner | Irina Jesart

The foundry’s silence was deceptive.

Beneath the groaning pipes and slow hiss of cooling vents, Korran could still hear the heartbeat of the world. It throbbed through the molten channels, through the rock that surrounded them, through the air itself. The rhythm was changing, faintly, but enough to be noticed. The Erinar Crystals were not calm. Their song was shifting, drawn by movement deeper in the tunnels.

He stood upon the grated span above the fissure, still as carved obsidian, watching the heat shimmer in waves across the chasm. Aerik’s presence moved below, steady, measured, deliberate. A welcome change from the noise of lesser Sith who mistook motion for strength. Korran followed his progress through the Force rather than sight, feeling the younger man’s path wind downward toward the cooling veins of the mine.

Good, he thought. He learns to listen.

And yet… there was another rhythm beneath the surface.

A second current of will, soft and persistent, trailing along the same depths. Korran turned his head slightly, eyes narrowing as his senses traced it. She was moving again, the girl, Irina. Her touch on the Force was careful but bright, threading through the molten dark like a single thread of light through smoke. She was deep within the caverns now, moving parallel to Aerik but guided by a different melody.

He could almost hear her reaching, that same patient curiosity that marked her as something other than the common breed of Sith acolyte. Her presence brushed against the song of the crystals, and the crystals answered. The air near Korran’s gauntlet grew hotter, the pulse of the fissure quickening as if the entire foundry exhaled.

“She presses too far,” he murmured. The words were quiet, but the molten air carried them away in ribbons of sound. “The song is not hers to command.”

Korran descended from the catwalk, each step heavy with restrained intent. Sparks rose where the metal trembled under his boots. The closer he drew to the lower tunnels, the clearer Aerik’s trail became, not through sight, but through the distortion he left behind. The Force around him had begun to bend, not in resistance but in recognition. The planet’s rhythm was folding around him now, weaving his movements into its ancient breath.

At the split where the tunnels diverged, Korran paused. One led downward into the greater heat, where Irina’s resonance glowed like a coal beneath the rock. The other stretched into the cooler dark, where Aerik’s signature had begun to fade. Not disappear, but dull, as though he’d learned to let the Force carry him unseen. The boy was learning to mask his flame. To walk in silence.

Korran’s gaze lingered between the two paths, feeling the tension between them, one singing, one silent. “Two young flames drawn to the same forge,” he said under his breath. “One seeks to master its song, the other to escape it. Both will burn.”

The heat shifted again, not from the fissure this time, but from somewhere far below. The Erinar Crystals pulsed once more, harder now, their rhythm erratic. The disturbance sent a dull tremor through the metal supports, scattering dust from the rafters above.

Korran exhaled through his nose, the faintest trace of a smirk, “Impatient things,” he muttered, turning his gaze toward the dark. “Even the stones grow restless.”

He stepped forward, following the same path Aerik had taken, the molten glow dimming behind him. Each footfall echoed softly against the rock before fading into silence. The air grew cooler, heavier. The noise of the foundry receded until all that remained was the steady pulse of the planet, slow and patient, the kind of stillness that listened.

Somewhere deeper, Irina’s presence shifted again, faint but deliberate. She was still moving, still chasing the song that wasn’t hers.

Deeper They Went, Into the Flames.​

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx | TAG: Korran Dorn | Irina Jesart​

The air grew colder as the descent continued.
Heat no longer pressed against armor or skin. The molten breath of the upper tunnels gave way to stillness, the kind that carried its own weight. Ash clung to every surface, dulling the faint glow that leaked from the walls. The sound of machinery was gone. Only the pulse of the planet remained.

Each step followed a rhythm not his own. The vibration beneath the stone grew heavier and slower, as though something vast and buried moved just beyond reach. The crystals above sang brightly. Their resonance was alive with the touch of another. The sound here was different.

Older.

It did not sing, it remembered.

A quiet pressure gathered along his senses. The Force in this place shifted beneath the surface like water beneath ice. Its current did not pull upward toward the song but downward, spiraling into the deep.

The pup followed.

The path narrowed, bending into stone that glimmered with veins of black glass. Every vein pulsed faintly with light running through it in waves that rose and fell with the rhythm of the world. When Aerik’s hand brushed the wall, the vibration moved through his glove and into bone. It was not power.

It was a pulse.

The air thickened as the tunnel sloped further down. The deeper he went, the quieter the Force became as if it no longer needed to speak. The stillness was complete.

Somewhere far above a surge rippled through the ground. The crystals reacted first. Their bright rhythm broke into uneven bursts. Even at this depth the shift carried through the rock. It struck like a heartbeat that missed a measure. Whatever Irina had reached had awakened something restless.

Aerik paused, steadying his breath until the pulse matched his own again. The disturbance faded, but the quiet that followed felt changed, charged with expectation.

His mind pressed against hers. They had not spoken in quite some time, yet the familiarity of her presence had not diminished.

<< “Be careful. You might break something.” >>

The tunnel opened into a wide pocket of stone. The ceiling arched low and was covered in narrow fractures that glowed like embers under the surface. The walls were slick with condensation, and the air was sharp with the scent of metal. Beneath the sound of dripping water came another vibration. This time it was slower and deeper than before.

Kneeling, he pressed a hand to the ground. The Force flowed upward through the rock. It was not bright or violent, but steady. This was the true current. The one buried beneath the song of the crystals. The one that had called him here.

“The world breathes beneath the fire,” he said under his breath.

It was not revelation or prayer, only recognition. The surface heat and the bright song above were a layer, a skin. What lived below it was something else entirely.

He rose and continued forward. The hum followed him, growing softer as he walked, until it was little more than a whisper behind each step. The glow of the molten veins above no longer reached this far. The dark ahead seemed to wait.

The Force did not pull, it guided.

Aerik followed where it led.

 

[Veyran Solis]

Soah Ty’Jyn​

A laugh slipped out of him soft, amused, like a blade drawn and sheathed without ceremony. It echoed off the molten walls, teasing the heat into brighter tongues. He let it hang between them, low and unhurried.

"Surprised?" he asked, not looking at her but watching the way the shadows peeled around her like water parting. Her silhouette folded into the cavern's seam with the lithe, practiced motion of someone who never meant to be caught. For a long heartbeat he simply watched the darkness swallow her, the amber flash of her eyes the last thing to go.

When she was gone, the smile stayed, half predator, half indulgence. He turned back to the fractured field of crystals, the cutter tool at his hip cold and precise in his grip. The device hummed to life, a bright line of searing blue that bit into the Erinar like a tongue of light. He worked with a surgeon's patience, guiding the blade along natural fault lines, feeling the diamonds answer the incision with a terrible, beautiful keening. Sparks danced across his gauntlet; the air smelled of ozone and singed stone.

Shards loosened, settling into his prepared containment, small, humming canisters that drank light and muffled resonance. Each crystal pulsed against the casing, desperate and furious, and Veyran let the Force taste them through the thin skin of his gloves, measuring their appetite against his own.

When the last fragment clicked into place, he exhaled. The cavern seemed to draw breath with him, a pause weighted with incandescent hunger. He brushed a smear of dust from his sleeve, slipping the cutter back into its holster. For a moment he stood very still, the molten glow painting his features in a slow wash.

"Keep the heat warm for me." He murmured not to her, but to the stones, and then, like smoke drawn into a gutter, he melted away. The light bent and the air shimmered. His outline blurred against the haze. One heartbeat he was there, the next he was no more than a dark suggestion moving up the tunnel, leaving nothing but a faint echo of laughter and the faint scent of ash behind him.

Thread Exit​

 

[Lirka Ka]

That was perhaps one of the stranger parts of the beast-called-Lirka-Ka: Sith were rather obsessed with eternity, holding onto existence in some form or another. Lirka was guilty of it too, in her own foul, foul, way. But she understood her longevity served only to witness the end. Rhand birthed many an odd belief in its time.

She’d fight against the grasping pull of the Primordial Darkness till she could no longer - for Lirka understood to battle against oblivion was merely delaying the inevitable. And delaying the inevitable was more than enough to keep her plenty chuffed.

“I do not mind calculus. Though I am certain ours shall be plenty different.”

Lirka’s “calculus” as she called it was certainly another…quirk…of the Once Sephi. It was far more than mere equation, it was the many moving pieces of Sith existence flashing in front of her mind. The great Dejarik Board of the Empire they called home, and the intricate web of the worthy, the weak, and most importantly of all: whoever could benefit Lirka’s self-centered existence the most. Like dear Helix - even if she did expect the Colony to slip a knife in her back eventually. But that’s what true friendship was all about.

“Yet, victory lays at the end of a road paved with failure. We shall find many obstacles in the days to come. Some we shall beat. Others, will beat us down while we lick our wounds. There is a stubborn tenacity that comes with walking the path of the Worthy - as I am certain you can understand.”

They were both, after all, just gears in the great machines that had grown far, far, beyond their meager existences. Soldiers marching to their own drums now. There was a certain age that came with that freedom, and a certain observance towards the trends. Victory corrupted, it was the nature of it.

Lirka understood that victory would always be temporary, a time to gorge oneself in pride and gluttony till struggle would return, and one would scrape and scrap through muck and mire again. She had done it plenty of times now, and she’d do it plenty more in the future whenever the day came where her foundations crumbled again.

She shrugged her shoulders with the mechanical churning of her suit. Value was a funny thing sometimes.

“If they want it-“

She gestured around, as if to speak to the entire Sith Order itself.

“-We should have some for ourselves. You know the value of a good stockpile, I’m certain. Bartering tools, or the chance to operate with this newfound power without too many…unneeded…eyes. If nothing else, whatever we take today stays out of unpredictable hands. It would certainly be a shame if poor Nefaron lost his home to fancy rocks, after all.”

Because if anyone would be the one to torch Anoat. It’d have to be her. Nobody else would do it for good reason.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Tags: Aerik Lechner Korran Dorn​

Irina waited at the lake's edge, listening to the crystal's song, feeling the thrum of the planet's heart beneath her feet while the others climbed down. She itched to scout ahead, but she was responsible for their lives, and she would see they made it through this all in one piece if she could. Instead she contented herself with watching the magma's swirling patterns and basking in its heat.

The peace was disturbed as the ground shook beneath her feet, drawing her gaze upwards as the cavern's high ceiling trembled, shaking stalactites free. Several fell into the lake, forcing her to take several steps back as the lava swelled under the new weight, breaking its banks, bubbles swelled and popped sending molten drops hissing onto the stone.

She looked up, scanning the ceiling above the climbing raiders watching the pointed stone tremble but not fall. As the tremor stilled she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding.

Aerik's presence brushed across her mind as he reached for her.

<< "Be careful. You might break something." >>

She smiled to herself.

<< "Are you worried about me or the crystals?" >>

Her response was teasing, but her heart warmed to hear him again, to feel him closer than he had been in some time. She had missed having a friend. The final set of boots hit the ground behind her and she turned to regard them for a moment before leading them around the lakes edge to the only exit on the other side.

They were getting close, she could feel it.

 

[Korran Dorn]

SILENCE

Tags: Aerik Lechner | Irina Jesart​

The descent had gone quiet.

The foundry’s roar was a memory now, its molten heartbeat dulled, replaced by a stillness that pressed against the edges of thought. Korran moved through that silence like a shadow drawn through the veins of the world. The air no longer shimmered with heat; it hung heavy and cold, the taste of ash and old iron coating his tongue. The deeper he went, the more the world seemed to exhale, a long, slow breath that carried the weight of centuries.

He could still feel Aerik ahead of him. The apprentice’s presence had thinned but not vanished; it pulsed in rhythm with the quiet vibrations that moved through the stone. The boy had learned restraint, to listen rather than demand. The lesson had taken root.

But it was not Aerik who stirred the cavern’s unrest.

Korran stopped mid-step as the pulse beneath his boots skipped a measure, a ripple coursing through the deep as if the planet itself had flinched. The Erinar Crystals far above flickered in response, their energy spilling through the Force like shards of fractured light. Someone had touched them, not clumsily, but intimately.

He closed his eyes and reached outward.

There. A thread. Faint but deliberate. A presence moving through the molten dark, weaving itself along the same deep current Aerik followed, but from another path. Irina. He remembered her presence from the surface: sharp, quiet, too self-contained for her age. That same precision bled into the way she moved through the Force now. She wasn’t clawing for power like so many apprentices. She was listening. That was why the cavern tolerated her. For now.

“She’s still moving,” Korran murmured to the darkness, voice low and edged with something that might have been respect. “Even the fire hasn’t burned her away.”

The Force around him rippled again, softer this time, like the sigh of a sleeping beast. He could sense the dialogue between the two young Sith: one reaching through the current above, the other answering from below. No words, only awareness. Old threads, not severed but waiting.

He descended further, his hand trailing along the glassy black wall. Beneath his palm, the vibrations shifted, slower now, deeper, as if the planet’s pulse had begun to sink inward. The temperature fell with it, and the faint gleam of molten veins turned to dull crimson lines that looked almost like scars.

“The world breathes beneath the fire,” he echoed quietly, Aerik’s words, though spoken to no one. “Yes. But breath can turn to flame if drawn too deep.”

He reached the next ledge and paused. Ahead, the tunnel widened into open dark. The Force pooled there, not swirling or raging, but waiting. Its silence was too complete to be natural. Something ancient was listening.

Korran did not ignite his blade. He didn’t need light to see. The Force painted the chamber in currents and outlines, the distant pulse of Irina’s path, the steady hum of Aerik’s descent, the deep vibration of the world’s heart turning just beyond reach.

A faint tremor rippled through the ground once more. Dust drifted from the ceiling in lazy spirals. Korran’s gaze lifted.

“So… the children find the current,” he said under his breath, almost a whisper of amusement. “Let us see which one the dark remembers.”

He moved forward, slow and deliberate, the cold breath of the earth curling around his armor. Behind him, the faint glow of the fissure faded completely.

Ahead, the silence waited.​

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx | TAG: Korran Dorn | Irina Jesart​

The tremor rolled through the ground. Dust fell from the ceiling in thin trails that vanished into the dark. The vibration carried more than movement. It carried her. The echo of Irina's presence brushed against his thoughts for the first time since they had parted. The contact was light, uncertain, but close enough to draw a quiet breath from him.

Her words reached through the Force, warm and teasing.

<< "Are you worried about me or the crystals?" >>

A faint smile formed. The corners of his mouth shifted as his reply passed between them.

<< "Take your pick… both have their own value." >>

The connection faded, but the warmth of rekindled friendship lingered, threading through the air like heat after lightning. He waited a moment longer, feeling the pulse of the crystals steady above. When the rhythm calmed, he turned his attention forward again.

The tunnel pressed deeper into the stone. Air moved slowly here, carrying the scent of ash and metal. The glow from the molten veins dimmed until only a faint shimmer marked their path through the walls. Each step brought a softer sound from the earth, less hum and more breath, as if the planet itself exhaled.

The Force shifted. The vibration beneath his boots grew uneven, turning from rhythm to whisper. It was not warning or welcome. It was direction. The current that had guided him downward began to turn, sliding along a curve that carried him toward a hollow space deeper in the dark.

The narrow corridor opened without warning. The chamber ahead stretched wide, carved by nature but changed by something deliberate. Smooth lines cut through the rock, marked by symbols worn nearly invisible by time. The air felt heavy. Cold water dripped from the ceiling and struck the floor in slow intervals that echoed through the silence.

He stepped closer, eyes moving across the carvings. They were older than the foundry above. Older than the Order that mined this world. Even through erosion, the design carried intent. The markings spiraled inward toward a circle set into the ground, no larger than a doorway, sealed by glassy black stone.

Kneeling beside it, Aerik placed a hand against the surface. It was cool to the touch. The vibration within it moved slow and deep, the same current that had drawn him here. The Force clung to it like memory, not alive but not forgotten.

He closed his eyes and listened. The crystals above hummed faintly, their bright song distant and thin. Beneath that, the pulse of this place carried a lower tone, the foundation that supported all the rest. The difference between sound and silence. Between fire and the breath beneath it.

This was not the same power that sang through Irina's path. Hers was flame. His was root.

The quiet thickened. Something behind the stone responded to his touch, not opening, but stirring. The faint vibration in the floor deepened, rolling through the chamber like the first breath of a storm. The air grew warmer, the scent of metal sharper. The Force pressed close around him, curious but restrained.

He drew his hand back and rose to his feet. Whatever slept beneath the glassy seal was not meant to be disturbed lightly. The current had brought him here for a reason, but not to claim it. Not yet.

The path he had followed had reached its end, but the resonance it revealed spread outward, connecting this hidden chamber to the one above. Two threads of the same current, divided by purpose.

A faint smile crossed his face as the ground steadied again.

"Be careful," he muttered into the stillness. "You might wake something you cannot quiet."

Aerik studied the seal. He reached back to Irina.

<< "I think I found something interesting." >> He let the image of what he saw press into her mind. << "You're right above me. Do you see anything similar?" >>

 

[Spencer Varanin]

//: "Templar" //:
//: Attire //:
​

---

Spencer did not show up at random places in the galaxy. More often, she remained at the edge of the galaxy, listening and waiting for a moment she needed to intervene.

Today, though, it was different. The Relic she had brought in from the cold seemed to have been summoned by something through the Force. Quite often, the Echani also heard these callings, but typically ignored them. The calls were tempting, usually offering power to the listener, but with that power came a price.

She watched the girl leave her estate, the place where she was the safest. The call was strong, and the Master knew she couldn't ignore it.

Instead of letting the Templar wander headfirst into something dangerous, the Mother gathered herself and waited. Her focus was on the girl as she traversed the galaxy to the planet of raining ash — there, she could feel the others; they were kin to her youngest, who she also felt in the vicinity.

While Spencer trusted those there, she didn't know how they would respond to her as the Relic child. Sighing softly, she wrapped herself in the white cloak and stepped forward. As she did, time and space wrapped around the Mother, jumping her through to the shadow of the Templar. Slowly, she stepped out as she did with her other favored child when the woman sought guidance.

As she materialized, she heard the girl's delicate thought; she thought of her Master in this moment, searching to bring her a gift. Stepping forward, she allowed her presence to be known to the masked girl, who leaned forward from behind her and whispered.

"I do." A smile curled at her lips as she pulled back and drew back the white hood from her head. Her amber eyes took in the rest of the crowd; it seemed they were all here for these crystals. There had to be something special about them; she could feel a little bit of their power, but she wanted the apprentice to be the one to explain it.

Her observations were necessary; they were key to her training. Looking back at the Templar, she tilted her head, her eyes flickering to the package she held.

"Found another flower for your garden, my dear?"

 

[Darth Hydra]

TAG: Darth Strosius Vakhari Lutris Valaine Valentine Trayze Tesar​

Hydra nodded.

"Indeed a warrior is only so good as his weapons. It would be foolish of me to be obstinate and cling to the old ways of bled kyber crystals taken as trophy from defeated Jedi when a more proficient crystal is readily available for harvest."

Upon Darth Strosius introduction of his companions, Hydra felt suddenly grateful for his efforts to ingratiate himself with other Sith. It was remarkably fortuitous that upon his first attempt at doing so he should make the acquaintance of Darth Strosius who was now providing material benefit to his current mission.

Hydra was no fool to go stomping around unfamiliar territory, like a young buck full of the rage of the dark side without any of the discipline needed to contain it. If working together in a group brought greater chances of success than he would be a fool to refuse it.

"Charmed." Hydra said bowing to Strosius companions as a group.

One of the members elected to address him directly from the outset. Hydra was surprised but not displeased. One of his purposes in accompanying this mission was after all to establish contacts among other Sith. She seemed… bubbly.

Hydra knew not to take that for granted, if she had been invited to speak at the Korriban Academy as she claimed, then she would be accomplished in her field.

"Lady Vakhari. I regret until recently I have been something of a recluse. Should you however decide to accept Korriban Academy's invitation and hospitality, I would be glad of the honour to be your host or guide should you need one."

Hydra was of the belief courtesy, decorum and politeness were essential components of discipline, as well as crucial to the smooth running of society even, perhaps especially Sith Society. Part of the reason he had lived as long as he had is he did not easily seek conflict with other Sith.

"The ability to wage war is much hampered by lack of knowledge to heal ones wounded warriors. I have great respect for those who heal our wounded so they may be of further service. Even if it is only in their experience to be passed on to others, a trained warrior is a valuable resource not to be discarded lightly."

Hydra disciplined his mind from thinking of the last time his life was saved through the arts of healing. Though that had been with magics not surgery. Hydra dismissed the consequences of that event from his mind with effort.

"Indeed let us press on." Hydra studied the wall for a few moments, hands clasped behind his back, then nodded. Taking a running start he leaped off. He grabbed onto the wall halting his descent a moment, before dropping a few metre's and so again slowing his descent as he dropped a few metre's at a time down the wall.

Landing in a slight crouch knee's bent he fastidiously dusted off some of the dust and debris that he had collected on his hand and robes. Waiting patiently for the others to arrive.