Private Dead Men Tell Some Tales

[AMCO]

[Source: Sergey Vasnev]​

Time-worn stone overgrown by blackened roots and gnarled trees; on any other world, its ties to the Dark Side and the shadowy reaches of the Netherworld would have made it a gathering place for those attuned to such things and a place to dearly avoid for the rest.

This was not any world, however, this was Dromund Kaas, and on Dromund Kaas even the storms that raged above reeked of the Dark.

It was no surprise, then, that the Dark Councillor had this cursed place all to himself - almost, anyway.

A thoughtful look on his refined features, Adrian eyed the strange apparatus before him, an egg-like cage of blueish steel perhaps twice his height and a quarter as wide, which in turn was connected to an array of different objects, some technological, some mystical, and some utterly inexplicable. It could not have been easy for his subordinates to bring all this through the small hallway that had led to the tomb...

... but then, what was their purpose if not to facilitate his will even, nay, especially when the going gets tough?

"Yes, yes, this should do it. You said you were interested in the noble art of Necromancy?"

Kalanda Tishire​

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

She had never been afraid of death. If anything, she was curious of death. She had watched it unfold before, played a hand in dealing it out, and now she sought to control it. Was it possible? Certainly so, she had heard tales from her mentors on Dathomir of how to raise the dead. Was it bad to do so? Well, yes and no. By learning to control death, she hoped to master it, or at least come closer to embracing another step in the cycle of the force. She had read of old Nightsister matrons phasing into another form of life, retaining their forms within the force, and living on through life as undying spirits. Maybe it was her mental trauma leaking out, or maybe she could just use a distraction from her current heartbreak; but she very much wanted to learn necromancy.

Now, the steps she had taken to get here on the other hand....well that was more of a leap of faith than a solid step forward. She had heard the stories about Adrian, as well as some of the more questionable experiments he might have been apart of; not to mention his...tendencies to entertain numerous interested parties at the same time. He was certainly a curious man, but it was typically the quirky people who harbored the greatest secrets. Standing now in his lab, she could see this was likely to be true. Her eyes fixated on the strange device he seemed to be fiddling with, wondering what on her it could be, though she assumed she would learn in good time. "I'd very much like to learn, yes." She replied, her arms crossed as her eyes looked to study the aura of her potential mentor. He seemed calm, almost unnervingly so, but it suggested he was in his element; which was good, typically when Sith grew agitated it was a cue for the witch to flee. "If it helps, I know a bit about severing the soul, and manipulating life energies. I just...don't know how to shove it into a body." There really wasn't a good way to say you wanted to learn how to animate the dead, now was there?

AMCO

 

[AMCO]

Nodding to himself, the Sith Lord seemed quite satisfied by her answer. "An excellent starting point, Ms. Tishire - depending on what it is you seek to accomplish the most difficult part may already be in the past." Finally turning away from his devices, he met the witch's eyes, smiling softly.

"Since I don't know exactly where you are, let's start with the basics - animation comes, very roughly speaking, in three tiers of difficulty. First and simplest is the reanimation of a body as a simple tool." Strolling over to a line of metal boxes by the side of the tomb, he opened one, revealing a puff of icy air and a perfectly preserved corpse. With a casual wave of his right hand and a short incantation, the body rose again...

... and proceeded to stare blankly ahead, seemingly devoid of initiative.

"Quick and dirty, but nothing special. I imagine such a spell would be a simple matter for one already knowledgeable in more complicated arts."

Unless Kalanda protested, he would send the quite naked human male back to its coffin and sever the animating spell with a slash of his fingers.

"More complicated still is the infusion of a corpse with an animated spirit, whether one drawn from the Nether, the soul of another, or even a faux-soul constructed from fragments of other spirits... and most complicated of all is the transference of soul into another, already inhabited body. There are a lot more things to consider, after all, including a living body's natural resistance and the current inhabitant."

Kalanda Tishire​

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

It seemed that her answers were to his liking, which was good given how much she wished to have his assistance in this project. Adrian moved away from the strange devices, and moved towards a metal box, only to force a body to arise from it. Kalanda watched his hand motions, looking as to how the man directed the force into the creature and beckoned it on-wards. "Interesting." She had seen similar works done on Dathomir, but this wasn't like what the matrons used. Rather, this was something else entirely.

She ignored the fact that the specimen was nude, instead focusing on the stiffness of the muscle and any visible change in the physique or internal changes within the subject; there were not many that she found. It seemed more to be some version of puppetry with the force, simple but effective, just as Adrian said. "We had something similar on my world, but it wasn't quite the same as this. Still, it was enlightening, thank you for that show casing." Watching as the power was cut loose, Kalanda concluded that her observation was correct. It was like puppet working.

As Adrian explained the next set of techniques, Kalanda tilted her her, lips pursed with curiosity. "Now, how do you bind the spirit to a corpse so it operates on it's own? My matron did something similar to make a guardian once, but I never figured out how she bound it. I could only assume it was a ritual she had done before hand, but I was unable to understand how it worked." She looked to Adrian, smiling ever so slightly as she felt a budding sensation of excitement. It had felt like forever since she got to talk about medical stuff! "Would it be possible to some me the next tier?" She asked, her voice full of excitement.

AMCO

 

[AMCO]

This one was not content merely to deal in the mindless dead - good, he found them a quite dull subject himself, even if he had to admit they made excellent cannon fodder. That, however, was a task he would gladly defer to lesser Sorcerers; men and women so utterly devoid of potential and so thoroughly indoctrinated they considered raising mindless husks for the Legion an honour, or at least were willing to pretend.

"There are many methods of raising the dead, both as empty husks..." A nod towards the now reclosed coffin. "... and as something more. As tends to be the norm, more formidable examples tend to require greater preparations or a greater expenditure of resources, for example blood sacrifices."

Directing her attention towards the strange egg-like device near the centre of the chamber, he smiled wickedly.

"There are, however, ways of circumventing that rule. With the proper techniques and or equipment, one could, for example, rip a demon from the deepest, darkest reaches of the Netherworld and bind it to a corpse, which will in all likelihood be far more capable than it was in life."

Twisting his fingers in the direction of the cage, hidden glyphs but begin to shine with mystical power, a ritual circle appearing beneath it even as strange machinery burst to life. ""Coincidentally", the site we currently occupy has a thinner veil than most. The imprint of ancient death, you see."

Kalanda Tishire​

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

She felt like she was in medical school once again. It was only now that Kalanda wished she had brought a note pad, but she had a good memory as well. Though she was going to need to actually practice this knowledge somewhere. She'd figure something out, she always did. Maybe she'd try and open that clinic she had been dreaming of for so long.

"I'm guessing the price for summoning varies based on what you are trying to pull off." She mused, watching as the man moved to the strange device he seemed so fond of. She was curious as to what it actually did. His fiddling with the object and explanation seemed to fill in the blanks that occupied her mind. "What you're suggesting sounds rather dangerous. I can't imagine the entities in the neither world would be too kind to be shackled into a mortal prison." She only touched at the neither world here and there, lacking a knowledge of what entities lingered within. "Can the creatures you pull forth vary based on what planet you are on? You said the fabric here is thinner, I imagine that would attract certain entities to dwell within this area."



AMCO

 

[AMCO]

Nodding as if admitting to her point, Adrian chuckled amiably. "Oh yes, I imagine they would be quite outraged - assuming, of course, that they were able to be outraged. Therein lies the trick, for even lesser spirits too strongly associated with a specific concept and incapable of straying particularly far from it will do if one simply seeks to create a potent but simple warrior."

Smiling softly at her following question, he eyed her with approval. "Yes and no. Location is important, make no mistake, but it would be a mistake to think of the Nether and realspace as parallel planes..." With a twist of his hand and an exertion of will, a pair of illusions appeared, one a grey sheet and the other a swirling mess of colour. "... connected, yes, but the former is... less tangible, more malleable. Infinite and ever-shifting."

Turning back towards the egg-like device, he dismissed the illusion even as a snap of his fingers made it hum audibly.

"This particular place, at this particular moment, borders on a confluence of sorts. For the purposes of this demonstration, place your hand on the steel, feel the energy flowing through it." Should she follow his instructions, he would smile warmly before continuing. "Very good - now envision an emotion; nothing complicated, nothing muddled. You want simple, you want primal. Fear, perhaps, or anger."

If everything worked as intended, she would lure an aligned spirit to her... and the device would do the rest, pulling it across and ensnaring it.

Kalanda Tishire​

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

Adrian had a strange sense of humor it seemed, which was fine with Kala, her humor was just as bizarre. "Ah, so it's about knowing the limits of the subject. Not that far removed from surgery. Seems logical." She remarked at his explanation, wondering what spirits she was going to have to shackle to get what she wanted; though that was going to have to wait to find out.

His explanation of the netherworld made sense to Kalanda as well, it was a reflection of the force after all, it's properties would vary and be ever changing; the ichor wasn't that different after all. "I imagine there are ways to distort it at times, though perhaps requiring great effort? Like the gateways that supposedly allow access?" She inquired, looking to the device that Adrian motioned to, feeling that he was hinting to something akin to what she was asking. His later explanation answered the question for her. It hummed with a tone that felt familiar to her, though the memories attached to it was far less than pleasant. Mother. It greatly unnerved her that this device brought memories of her crone of a mother, but that was something she'd rather not embark upon thinking.

She cast it aside, planning to muse on it later, instead focusing on what Adrian was asking of her. "Right, emotions. I can do that." She spoke, her words stained with a bit of anger at the lingering thoughts of her mother. Putting her hand on the device, Kalanda let those thoughts stew there, leaking through the suppressed memories she had held onto for many years, the anger started as a slow stream, and began to grow into a rushing river. Whatever spirit Kalanda was going to conjure was unknown to the witch at current, but it would most certainly be attracted to the raw fury that pulsated from the young woman.

AMCO

 

[AMCO]

Nodding at her comparison to surgery - what was a bound spirit but a particularly rowdy subject? - and again at her questions concerning the nature of the Netherworld, Adrian's reply was characteristically cheerful. "Quite right, though not easily. That strange realm still has substance, of sorts, just of a less, ah, constant kind than what we are used to in realspace. Think powerful spirits creating a "domain" or their own."

As much as he would like to expand further, they had matters to attend to... and he would be lying if he said his understanding of that place was in any way shape or form complete or faultless; he understood more than most, perhaps, but there were others who knew far more...

... the so-called Chaos-God of Gluttony, for one, but then Darth Voracitos was not one most would be comfortable seeking out... for good reason.

Watching patiently as the witch followed her instructions, he knew her feelings to be muddled, at first. Soon anger surged to the forefront, however, increasing in intensity until the runes adorning the cage began to glow a soft red. After a while, the air stirred somewhat, as if rippling with unfelt heat, and something appeared within - a vaguely humanoid shape the colour of freshly-spilt blood, a figure which promptly screeched in fury.

Outraged at its imprisonment? No, not that clever. Furious that it lacked the ability to lash out at others in its fury? Sounds about right.

"Ah, rage incarnate. A good choice, for a project such as this - more difficult to bind than some, perhaps, but single-minded enough that it can be easily guided towards a specific purpose, typically violence."

Kalanda Tishire​

 

[Kalanda Tishire]

The explanation was to the witches liking. Perhaps she would take to studying this new field that was starting to capture her attention. "Fascinating." She had always been captivated by the wraiths of Dathomir, but now it seemed she could access her own source of spirits whenever she wished; with proper precautions of course. She would need to get a hold of some texts to study, probably have to 'borrow' some when no one was looking. Which reminded her, she needed to look up the penalty for 'borrowing' Sith texts about binding. It probably wasn't a good thing.

As Kalanda channeled her rage into the device, the reaction it gave back startled her. Watching as the runes lit up, and a clear presence entered the room, the witch pulled her head back, grinning at this new discovery.

Adrian had called it 'rage incarnate', perhaps a manifestation of rage that had found her a desirable source of the emotion. Funny, it reminded her of fishing in a way, though this was by far dangerous. She watched it within it's new confines, absolutely amused by what she had done with the man's help. "So, what do you do with this thing now?" She asked, curious what the fate of this entity would be. Surely there was a use of such a creature, though what that usage could be Kalanda could only know. "You said you can use it for violence, so perhaps some sort of defense, or a combative entity to use in the field?" The later of the two wasn't exactly what the witch was wanting to entertain, but she would need to be more open minded if she wanted to master this level of sorcery. "I imagine each spirit has it's own uses for one reason or another?" She inquired, hoping she wasn't becoming too annoying with the questions, but she desperately wanted to know.

AMCO

 

[AMCO]

Waiting for her to ask away, Adrian's gleaming smile made it as clear as can be that he did not resent them being asked - quite the contrary, he had always found curiosity an admirable quality in others, especially fellow Force Users and doubly so as pertains to its more academic pursuits.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was perfectly capable of waxing poetic about, say, psychoreactive mechanics for hours.

"Quite right, for every purpose a tool." Nodding towards the furious being they had imprisoned, his tone was downright chipper. "That one is primal, violent, best used for exertions of brute force but not powerful enough to fuel truly powerful artefacts or the like. I would bind it to a corpse to create a potent if simpleminded guardian or contain it within a receptacle and unleash it when threatened..."

Smirking wryly, his eyes flickered to the witch for a long moment. "I think we'll try out the former for now, as the latter is easier to mess up in the field; it is, however, absolutely devastating against forceless soldiers... except the Force Dead, against which it would be all but useless."

"More generally, spirits can be used directly, consulted for information, used as spies, used to fuel Talismans, and much, much, more."

Kalanda Tishire​