Private Goddesses and Monsters [Onrai]

[Darth Carnifex]

He sat cross-legged amidst the encroaching gulf, His mind attuned to the fluctuations of the Force as the tide ebbed and flowed between the Dark and the Light. He had spent the majority of His time in deep meditation, only breaking His pattern to allow Himself to be subjected to the routine inspections of the prison staff. They injected Him with modified doses of ixetal cilona to dull His connection to the Force, not realizing that the chemicals were rendered inert once they entered His bloodstream. Grafted to one of His organs was an Empyrean Gland, a bioengineered organ that nullified anything that would adversely affect one's connection to the Force. Their advanced scanners could not differentiate the gland from any other organ within the Dark Lord's body, allowing it to bypass undetected.

The Dark Lord never let on that He could use the Force after the injections, allowing them to revel in their false perception that He was at their mercy. Nor did He act the cowed prisoners, He held Himself high and acted and spoke with the same authority He would have if He were speaking among His own subjects. Nothing seemed to bring the Dark Lord to heel, not prolonged lack of nourishment, sensory deprivation, or even sensory overload. He withstood everything His jailors had to throw at Him, and eventually, their efforts to subdue Him dwindled to non-existent.

So He was allowed to remain in His solitude, meditating in silence.

But this time was different.

His senses perked up, attuned to a far greater bandwidth of perception than the sensors monitoring Him could detect. Something was breaking through the barrier between this world and the next, imperceivable to all but the Dark Lord. He didn't move, didn't make any motion that would draw attention to Himself. He merely opened His eyes and allowed His body to relax. He then separated His conscious thought from His physical body, projecting an astral replica of Himself out from His body so stand before the being that was making the crossing.

"I had wondered if you'd come."

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

Laughter.

That was the only thing Onrai would have verbally expressed had she chosen the magnanimous route of wisping herself through the excuses of defenses that the Ashlans had put together in an attempt to chain the twice-Emperor in his domain. As a sliver of her form, an avatar, manifested within the seemingly impervious prison to meet the spirit of the Dark Lord, she was surprised - no forced neutrality in the Force. Of course there were optical defenses, which she of course worked to ensure saw only the same thing they had already seen through the powers of illusion, the foremost skill manifested during her time as a mortal.

“Doubts. Your foresight’s been lacking, Kaine, to question such a thing as that.” She said jestfully. Her form hovered but mere inches above the ground before his own. “I had wondered what your reasons were for allowing this to happen. Still they remain enigmatic - but I am still such a child when it comes to denying the linearity of time.”

She observed Kaine’s form, the solid black features of her avatar masking curiosity and confusion. “Since the end of the Empire we have been pursuing separate paths. Fitting, it seems, that once more they cross as I find myself maneuvered to the realm of the Maw to further the finality of the universal goals.” She said. A tad enigmatic, but understandable.

“Your niece as well has been an excellent compatriot in the move towards those aims. It was she who advised me of the Maw as a place to conclude the journey. I have given her my thanks and that which she deserves.”

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Cousin," Carnifex corrected, "First cousin fourth removed." The intricacies and winding branches of the Zambrano family tree were an enigma to many, but the Dark Lord had no difficulty in navigating its twisting paths and remembering every member attached to it. "Mori is a bright child, very insightful. She understands more than most in the galaxy and knows who she is and where her path leads, but that does not erase the fact that she is still a child. The Maw are ravagers of the highest order, their flame burns bright. But a bright flame can be snuffed out all the same. We shall see how much this flame consumes before fading to darkness."

The Dark Lord had deep connections with the Brotherhood, nominally counting Himself among its number. However, the many disparate parts of the Brotherhood quarreled with one another and the overall objective of the Maw was to inflict chaos and destruction, distinctly separate from the nation-building the Dark Lord and His companions were apparently interested in. Nonetheless, the Brotherhood's ultimate aims aligned with that of the Dark Lord's, and thus they were allies.

Tenuous allies, but allies.

"And the Empire is never truly gone, Vanessa. It exists in one form or another across the galaxy, through memory, veneration. and fear. Many across the former territories of the Empire hold secret allegiance to the fallen government, acolytes that will spread their devotion to their children, and their children will spread it to their own. Generations of loyalists cultivated beneath our enemy's noses. Some will be destroyed, that is unavoidable, but many more will escape completely unnoticed."

The spectral form of Carnifex approached Onrai, bright glowing eyes taking note of His former companion's shadowy form. "I see you have pushed your pursuits to their limits, Ingrid did not embellish." He shifted gears slightly, changing the topic to something that carried over from His brief conversation with the Eternal Empress. "Have you come into contact with the thing Ingrid refers to as Eina? What can you tell me about it?"

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

“She is.” Onrai said solemnly. “Still the flagellation of her former love burns brightly upon her back. Hopefully what she has been given through the ashes of Typhojem will give her what she needs to move forward.” The unnatural entity shimmered a bit. “My forces have been moved to Maw space. Most of the military of the Empire has come along.” She said, pondering how to approach the situation.

“The Empire will return again, in some form or fashion. The loyalty of those who serve me has been proof of such. Many of whom served decades ago or or who were born to those who do. Still they serve, still they follow my aims, and still they continue push forward my agenda.” Expansion within Maw space would prove difficult considering the ever-present warlordism, but the decades of perpetual drilling, of ultrasurvivalism within Onrai’s own forces, and the long-term accruement of military equipment and resources over her entire existence ensured she was better than most in her preparation.

“She was there with me when I slayed them. The Dreadnought, now resting as a hulk in the void, was the key. Ooradryl and his spawn were not prepared for the power of hypermatter tearing apart their plates and destroying their flesh.” Onrai held out her hand as a form manifested within it, a shivering cube coated with rounded golden scales that seemed to weep red liquid from between them in perpetuity - liquid that did not fall from her hand. “She saw me devour their life forces, the first stage of the evolution. And in exchange, she was given the power of the Night Spirit after her final resting place was disturbed. I have heard of Eina, but have not directly contacted it. My last interaction with Ingrid was when I removed the trace of my presence from one of her servants. There was no Eina then.” She dropped the cube as it appeared to dissolve into nothingness upon impact with the ground.

“Ingrid’s power is that of one of the dead gods who once called Otherspace their ‘laboratory.’ This Eina is likely a creation of her own, splintered from a preexisting entity and crafted as a herald or a servant. She has certainly further exerted her powers in reshaping the servants of her dominion than I have.”

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"A shame."

Carnifex did not elaborate on why He brought Eina up, nor did He elaborate on any plans He had formulated involving her. Those would remain safely with Himself, no others would know of what He had sent hurtling into motion until it was too late. Until then, He would pace Himself to ensure that every piece of the puzzle fell into alignment at the exact point in time it needed to. Not one aspect of His plan could be misaligned, otherwise, everything would fall apart.

"Still you speak of these creatures as if they were gods, Vanessa. I had thought you would have moved beyond such superstition. It poisons the mind." The Dark Lord was not a creature of religious faith, He had never believed in such things. But He was resourceful, He was cunning. He knew how to prey upon the religiosity of others to further His goals, knew what buttons to press to whip up an entire population into a religious fervor. The Empire had used the religion of Typhojem as a method of control over its own citizenry. Those who had built the religion knew it for what it was, leaving those who bought into the religion ensorcelled by falsehoods and misdirections.

It was something He still played upon within the Kainate, building Himself and His family up to be divine entities that were worthy of worship by the myriad of minions He had accrued over His long life. He cared little for them, using them as He needed and discarding them when their usefulness had run dry. The sanctity of life was a hollow concept, the Dark Lord could always fashion more servants should He require them.

"But what do you plan to do, Vanessa? I know what my cousin has planned for the galaxy, but she has yet to speak about her partnership with you."

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

"They were, Kaine, at a point in time. No longer, however. You know as well as I do that 'gods' are not immutable. They can be destroyed or subsumed as easily as any other being with the right application of tact." After all, Onrai was most familiar with the deception Kaine had instilled on Panatha, the cult of the Kainate in order to claim the Zambrano family were gods, demigods, and other beings of divinity in order to sustain the loyalty of those closest to his heart. She had never even so much as paid lip service to his alleged divinity as Emperor, though she still acknowledged the power structure with her in a position subservient to him in the Sith hierarchy.

"I offered your cousin power, and she ended up accepting." She said. "It was the least I could do for a wayward soul such as herself. As for my own aims - the door to the realm of creation still lurks just out of reach. I will open it, and from there will grasp upon the whole of creation. Weave myself within the fabric of the universe so it may be affected as I wish. Then I will have accomplished what none, not even the primordials, were able to achieve, and may rest in my achievements as a caring deity to my supplicants."

The aims were true, after all. That she had not determined how to break such a barrier was of course not made plain.

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Then we share aims, as it were. It is a goal I seek as well, as does Solipsis, the Worm Emperor, and many others." It was amusing how many Sith all held the same ambition, although their vision for a renewed galaxy differed quite a bit from Dark Lord to Dark Lord. "To recreate the galaxy in one's own image. A tantalizing goal, but how many are truly on the cusp of achieving such ambition? Very few." The Dark Lord had no delusions about His own efforts either, He knew just how far He and His allies were from achieving what they wished.

For decades, He and Taeli Raaf had poured copious amounts of manpower and resources into tracking down and uncovering anything and everything that could aid them in their dark mission. They had plumbed through the secrets of Lothal, recovered a shard of the Mortis Dagger from Tython, uncovered the ancient tomb of Tor Valum on Remnicore, and had even traveled through the mystical realm of Mortis. Though they had obtained many pieces of the puzzle, they hadn't yet unlocked the power necessary to complete their tribulation.

"Perhaps if you were to pledge yourself to me again, we could discover the secret." Not that He expected Vanessa to do so, but the offer was placed there nonetheless. "And perhaps you could return to me what you have taken."

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

“It is a goal most Sith want.” She said. “Unfortunately everyone has their own idyllic vision of the galaxy and it so often conflicts with everyone else’s.” It was fair to point out that for the most part, all parties involved were desiring of either a pantheon of the one - that or had goals that would have led to a War in Heaven were they all to achieve their ultimate aims. In doing so they would likely lead to the destruction of the very galaxy they sought dominion over, antithetical goals ensuring none would ever be satisfied by the resulting actions. Yes, it was a good thing the ambition remained upon but the few within reach to achieve it.

The slaying of the abominations within the voids of Otherspace, beings that had seen the corruption of the universe, known the fall of the Celestials, and who had hoped to once more make the galaxy their charnel laboratory - it had been a fortuitous opportunity to slay them. She had created a servant from their remains, though the spirit’s link to the crystalline body had not been permanent and she stood like a golem in storage. But it was with the power of the dead beings she was able to successfully tear open boundaries from one plane of existence to another, as she had upon Demonsgate or other locations.

At Kaine’s offer, she chuckled. “Supplication again? Come now, Kaine, a girl has to grow out of the shadow of those who were above her eventually. Or in my case, become the shadow. I still care for you - I’m not sure if the body you have can let you care back, if at all - But it would not make sense for me to submit to your authority when I have evolved so prolifically. I’m not even sure what it is I have of yours that you want - unless it is the former Sith Imperials, and those serve me of their own free will.“

She pondered for a moment. “There is perhaps an alternative. I am the one with the power of the primordials. Perhaps if you were to devote service to me, a change comparatively in the relationship since our time together when I first met you in the Empire those many decades ago, then we could cumulatively work as one to solve the secret of entrance into that domain. I do have but one means of granting you the same power theoretically which your cousin has received, but such rituals to achieve it will not be the easiest sorts.” She said. “What do you think?”

Onrai

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"The girl," The Dark Lord dropped the subject of Vanessa bending the knee to Him as quickly as He brought it up, an avenue quickly abandoned once it became unviable. As for the girl He was speaking of, He was of course referring to Sasmay Cull . During the conflict on and around Dromund Kaas, His counterpart Demiurge became aware of an entity in the star system that projected similar energy to their own. Having investigated the manner before fully leaving Dromund Kaas to the deprivations of the Ashlan Crusade, Demiurge deducted that the entity had in fact been the subject of Project: Darkkoninn.

Both disparate halves of the Dark Lord possessed the full knowledge of Project: Darkkoninn, as they had been a single individual when it was created. The project had ended unsatisfactory and had been shelved within a Sith holding facility, only to be ransacked by Mandalorian raiders and destroyed. The entity had been assumed destroyed in the process, a casualty of Mandalorian barbarism, but neither half of the Dark Lord had realized that the entity had endured.

Now that her existence had been re-discovered, the Dark Lord felt very possessive over what He had created.

What was rightfully His.

"The entity you took with you from Dromund Kaas. Over thirty years of age, one-seven-seven-point-eight centimeters tall, weighing around eighty-eight kilograms. Brown hair, red eyes, tanned flesh. That creature is something that belongs to me, Vanessa, it is my property." The Dark Lord's voice, having been so emotionless and steady, had suddenly taken a dangerous edge. Through His astral form, He stared down at the shadowy figure that once held the countenance of Vanessa Vantai; now twisted beyond all recognition.

"It is to be relinquished."

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

"I see."

Sasmay Cull had of course been nothing more than an initial irritant, having attacked one of the corvettes Onrai had initially sent to the territory of the Maw in order to determine what exactly would be necessary to develop the wild and untamed regions of space in the name of the Void Irregulars. She had been captured, and after some initial interactions, the twice-false goddess had taken her on as a promising apprentice, seeking to mold her into an effectual Force user. And here it was, like at least one other before her, where she turned out to be some sort of failed experiment the former Emperor had put together. Cast off through circumstance into the void of the galaxy.

"You are of course speaking of the girl who, in her frigate, fired upon and attempted to harm my servants, who was captured by said servants, and whose life is now mine. Another failed experiment cast to the wastes, waiting for such a time as to be scavenged for resources." She spoke. The imposition of Kaine's ethereal form had done nothing to phase the entity, and in fact she sought to restrain herself from chastising him for the unnecessity of the gesture given the ability of all involved parties to act against one another would not result in so much as anything. "You know as well as I do that possession amongst the Sith lasts only for as long as one still chooses to possess that which is his or hers. Whether an object, a throne... or an Empire. She has been worthless to you but may yet be useful to me once she has been suitably trained." She uttered, clarifying her intent for the wayward woman.

"I will let her know of the apparent circumstances behind her creation, and of your desire for her aliyic return. I have no reason to force her to engage in a path she does not wish to pursue. What goddess would I be if the choice to serve was not there, after all?"

Darth Carnifex

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"It is the birthright of the strong to rule, and the destiny of the weak to suffer. Those without power exist to serve those who possess it. These are the fundamental truths of the Sith." Domination and power were the only means of authority that the Dark Lord understood, that of imperium and subjugation. That was how He ruled over His own subjects, through undiluted authority. The concentration of power was essential to the strength of the Sith, to spread it too thinly was to dilute authority. To share that authority with the lesser beings of the galaxy was tantamount to self-annihilation.

"That is the difference between you and me, Vanessa. I do not delude myself with illusions of benevolence. You will return the experiment to me or you will suffer the consequences." There was no obnoxious grandstanding, no obscenities of what the Dark Lord intended to do with Vanessa if she failed to live up to His demands. There was only the ice-cold, razor-sharp, surety that the Dark Lord would take what He wanted; one war or another.

He did, however, add on a single caveat after His demands had been given.

"I will not command you a third time." Command, not ask, command. The Dark Lord of the Sith did not come to others begging for scraps from their plate, He commanded others to acquiesce to His wishes and would back those commands up with tangible strength. Many had believed that they could bargain, that they could barter, with the Dark Lord like He were some common merchant. Their presumptuousness was made an example of, for the Dark Lord's knowledge of cruelty was unmatched in the galaxy.

His astral form waited and watched.

To see what this former companion would do.

Onrai ​

 

[Onrai]

“Indeed.” She said. “Which is why the Empire we both knew has long since collapsed into the abyss. Yet history has always showcased time and time again that the persistent application of pain leads to rebellion. And rebellion leads to loss.” She pointed out what was an unquestionable truth - every Sith Empire had for the most part sought to mold itself around the same exact framework, yet the end result had always been the same: eventually someone ended up rising up to conflict with them, and they fell. Insanity was the definition of following the same circuit repeatedly.

“Offering succor earned me the loyalty of legions. Legions who remained loyal to me as empires rotted away and who still serve me now. Pleasure is a better means of ensuring loyalty than pain.” She said. “As is, I cannot give Sasmay to you. You are in a prison by choice and could not receive her - and I am not sending her here. When you choose to leave this place, then you may ask of me once again.”

The former Vanessa was one of the few in the galaxy who was willing to resist Kaine. She had lost and regained that which she possessed innumerable times. Power. Resources. Her own innate power as possessed after the destruction of the primordials was something that could never be taken away at least. She gave no illusions or suggestions of fear or worry.

“Is there anything else we have to discuss, or shall I leave and wait for news of your inevitable escape?” Sasmay would need to learn sooner rather than later.

Darth Carnifex