Valik
Professor of Alchemy
Science and the Force had been Valik's two greatest alys for as long as he cared to remember. The laws of nature, of what materials were made of, how creatures sustained themselves and improved, how an object reacted when hit by a force. How to bend those laws, to make materials stronger than they should be, to make life evolve in ways more sinister and cunning than ways progress intended, to create an energy where there was none, that was the power he held with Sith Alchemy. It was an unnatural thing, one that he had used to directly and indirectly murder thousands, perhaps millions of sentients.
It was a great gift, a wonderful ability all told, but overtime Valik had come to be reliant on it. When it used to be he'd find dozens of solutions to problems now he could only find three or four, taking the easy way out. He needed to broaden his horizons, expand his talents. Slicing and engineering, while not focuses of Valik's, came relatively easily to him, perhaps more-so than alchemy, though he put more effort into the latter. He needed to find a new way to build, a new way to fascinate himself. Ignite that spark that was there when he first began building. Barely any research was needed to find what he was looking for, he knew the place he needed to go but had avoided it for quite some time. Now it was time to finally act against his miscomforts, and do something that would finally help him.
So to Zenoma Sekot Valik went. An amazing little Fringe world, filled with the Yuuzhan Vong, or "Children of Yuuzhan" as a droid once translated for him. Rumor had it they once captured Coruscant and nearly took over the galaxy with biological machines, but any recordings of history before the Gulag plague were sketchy at best. Regardless of past accomplishments or failures, one part of the old story was true. The Yuuzhan Vong had nothing resembling modern technology, instead using a method called 'shaping' to alter a being's biology to suit their purpose. Not unlike alchemy itself it toyed with the concepts of what was 'conventional' and retooled nature to serve it's purpose. Unlike Sith Alchemy however the talent had nothing to do with the Force, or at least none of the Force was used. Theoretically anyone could learn shaping, but the Yuuzhan Vong themselves and many of their creations didn't exist as far as the Force was concerned. It wasn't that they weren't Jedi or Sith, even those who could not feel the Force had it, but the Yuuzhan Vong were some kind of aberration, not existing in the Force at all. Neither could they be sensed, pushed, or mind tricked by the Force, only able to be affected indirectly from it.
Which, admittedly, was why Valik had stayed away from them in the first place. It was odd for him that his greatest weapon was nearly useless, and rather than find creative solutions he had let his fear dictate him. A mistake unfitting of the Sith Lord he was. In the back of his head he knew that cutting oneself off from his msot important resource would force him to use his mind, to adapt, to become more resourceful, but he still put this off, but no longer. Feeling blind and naked he walked the wild surface of the living planet, unable to feel the life around him yet seeing the trees, men, and their living tools he smiled. Valik was considered by most who knew him a dangerous man, but when he was done here learning the local's secrets, he'd be a much more dangerous man indeed.
It was a great gift, a wonderful ability all told, but overtime Valik had come to be reliant on it. When it used to be he'd find dozens of solutions to problems now he could only find three or four, taking the easy way out. He needed to broaden his horizons, expand his talents. Slicing and engineering, while not focuses of Valik's, came relatively easily to him, perhaps more-so than alchemy, though he put more effort into the latter. He needed to find a new way to build, a new way to fascinate himself. Ignite that spark that was there when he first began building. Barely any research was needed to find what he was looking for, he knew the place he needed to go but had avoided it for quite some time. Now it was time to finally act against his miscomforts, and do something that would finally help him.
So to Zenoma Sekot Valik went. An amazing little Fringe world, filled with the Yuuzhan Vong, or "Children of Yuuzhan" as a droid once translated for him. Rumor had it they once captured Coruscant and nearly took over the galaxy with biological machines, but any recordings of history before the Gulag plague were sketchy at best. Regardless of past accomplishments or failures, one part of the old story was true. The Yuuzhan Vong had nothing resembling modern technology, instead using a method called 'shaping' to alter a being's biology to suit their purpose. Not unlike alchemy itself it toyed with the concepts of what was 'conventional' and retooled nature to serve it's purpose. Unlike Sith Alchemy however the talent had nothing to do with the Force, or at least none of the Force was used. Theoretically anyone could learn shaping, but the Yuuzhan Vong themselves and many of their creations didn't exist as far as the Force was concerned. It wasn't that they weren't Jedi or Sith, even those who could not feel the Force had it, but the Yuuzhan Vong were some kind of aberration, not existing in the Force at all. Neither could they be sensed, pushed, or mind tricked by the Force, only able to be affected indirectly from it.
Which, admittedly, was why Valik had stayed away from them in the first place. It was odd for him that his greatest weapon was nearly useless, and rather than find creative solutions he had let his fear dictate him. A mistake unfitting of the Sith Lord he was. In the back of his head he knew that cutting oneself off from his msot important resource would force him to use his mind, to adapt, to become more resourceful, but he still put this off, but no longer. Feeling blind and naked he walked the wild surface of the living planet, unable to feel the life around him yet seeing the trees, men, and their living tools he smiled. Valik was considered by most who knew him a dangerous man, but when he was done here learning the local's secrets, he'd be a much more dangerous man indeed.