Private Grave Robbers

[Lirka Ka]

That was the way of Sithdom. To strive for more, to scrape and fight and claw their way forward and built that reputation grown from the skulls of a million dead. But there was a difference between Eira Dyn and Lirka - Eira’s desire to become a Sith of dreadful renown, while Lirka in those dark corners of her mind merely desired to be Sith. To finally join the ranks of those whom she had served for decades, to be recognized.

Yet, it would never be enough. For Lirka’s hunger was boundless, much like the war machine she fed.

Eira spoke wisdom, and truth. A reasonable person very well may have agreed with the Acolyte - it was unfortunate that Lirka Ka was many things, but reasonable was not one. No matter what functional veneer she wore, Lirka was a madwoman. The Jedi were the ancient foe of the Order, but it was a foe Lirka would never desire destroyed. She craved the eternal conflict of light and dark, yet the Jedi were a distant thing to her fractured mind. Lirka’s reality was one of judging specters, and shadowy assassins that lurked waiting in the corners. Her very form had been built to perpetuate the infighting of the Sith - albeit, rarely used before her being stranded. Lirka had been designed to kill Sith, after all.

Lirka spoke calmly, and plainly. There was the vaguest hint of amusement behind her words

“You know Acolyte…I think the Eternalists might call your talk of camaraderie and unity among Sith heretical.”

The Sith, and Lirka’s, desire to kill each other really did just make for the best punchlines. It was an ironic thing really, for heretical ideas and Lirka moved in tandem. The once Sephi had even, unseriously, preached Sith unity on Besberra before being stabbed. She gave the girl’s theory a laugh - evidently she disagreed.

“Your order eats itself alive, Acolyte. It is simply their way. There is no trick of the Jedi there.”

Now down upon the floor. Lirka was thankful the old stones didn’t give out under her bulk. Feeling the glow of plasma against her back for a time before the shield rescinded in hope the intruders had been destroyed. Rising from the ground with a huff Lirka was reminded why she hated tombs so much.

Evidently, this must have been a regular Sith activity. The acolyte seemed undaunted, with an exaggerated gesture forward the beast spoke again. Lirka had proven to herself she was not quite made for tomb raiding, at least in this form.

“Lead the way, my Sithy compatriot. Let us find a bounty of plunder great enough that the Dyarchs themselves will be jealous.”

And finally, the mask had slipped enough for Lirka to abandon the formality of titles.

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Oricon
Attire: Assassin Gear
Equipment: Vibro-daggers, Vibro-sword, blaster pistol, Mask
Tag: Lirka Ka

Eira scoffed and shrugged her shoulders, "the whole Sith can consider me a heretic and unworthy of my rank, but unless they can take the power away from me, I will continue to do as I please. I will rule as I desire and I will ensure rebellions are crushed in a manner befitting weak traitors." Eira spoke with venom, a fury that she would not be someone to cross. That there was little tolerance for those who dared to try and betray her. To Eira, it was either you succeeded in that attempt and kill her, or they would suffer the most painful deaths possible.

Loyalty was something that Eira held up above all else. She wasn't even sure she understood why it mattered so much to her, all Eira knew was that she was not someone who let it be twisted in a weapon against her without punishment.

"If that were true, then we would not be here." Eira pointed out, "the Order does not encourage cannibalism, that is a futile concept that would kill us millennia ago. It promotes strength over everything else. There is a difference between the two." Eira countered, it was something she had learned from her meeting with Darth Carnifex surrounding the One and the way it worked for the Sith in concept.

Gesturing at the tomb around them, "take this tomb. If it was about slaughtering all those who dare to pillage this place, then why the traps? The tests? Simply make it collapse upon those who enter past a certain point. In fact, ensure tombs were never made so the history died with those killed so the knowledge could not be shared. It is a test, designed to weed out those too weak and challenging the worthy to demonstrate their power, to show that the true tenets of the Sith code are continued."

"To bring the bonds that the Jedi attempted to place upon us, once, long ago. That we fight for a true freedom in the Force." Eira stated, there was some part of her that was a zealot when it came to the ways of the Sith, but she truly believed that the Sith were not the simplistic description that Lirka had given them. That they should and could be more than a group that constantly betrayed one another.

"Ensuring that strength is continued and that a leader can never feel comfortable is necessary. Look at how the NJO has stagnated and cannot cope in fighting us. They have allowed their leadership to get complacent and stagnation was taken over the whole Order." Eira mentioned, there was a reason that those in charge needed to feel the heat underneath them, the willingness from the newer Sith in attempting to strike them down.

Shrugging her shoulders, she noted that Lirka was getting more comfortable around her, it was a good thing. Eira wanted those around her to lower their guard. "I doubt there will be anything that we find that will do that here. But I am sure we will find something that will please Carnifex if nothing else."

Eira walked forward, her eyes scanning for trip lines and any other trap indicators as she walked around. Spotting a pressure plate, Eira reached out to prevent Lirka accidentally walking on top of it. "Another trap. Good to see we are heading in the right direction." Eira shifted to her knees gracefully as she began to defuse the trap to prevent them from having to avoid another deadly hazard.

 

[Lirka Ka]

There was that hint of defiance in young Eira's voice that made Lirka grin beneath her helm. The sort of sithling that was willing to forge their own path, regardless of the opinion of her fellows. As they walked, Lirka had come to realize she found herself moderately fond of Eira Dyn certainly a rarity for many of the Sith in the order. Venom and stubbornness were traits Lirka often held in high regard, though, it was a good thing Lirka had yet to fully grasp the extent that loyalty played in the Acolyte's heart.

Loyalty was something Lirka respected very little. Not surprising, considering the many flags she had flown before finding herself back into the service of Carnifex and the myriad of souls she had double-crossed, backstabbed, or simply lied to. Yet, Lirka found herself on common ground with this Acolyte regardless. Ultimately, Lirka's own beliefs were heretical to the Eternal Rule of the Kainate - being good at your job came many boons, most of which being able to get away with things like that.

"Such is the right of the Strong. I understand, Acolyte."

Lirka pondered the girl's words on cannibalism...letting out the softest chuckle to herself as she remembered the feeling of Carnifex's flesh in her teeth, and his blood rushing down her throat. Yet she still offered the rare respect of actually considering her words, it had certainly become valuable to pry into the various thought processes of the Order. Little notes for the future as Lirka continued down the dark path of power.

"Sometimes, to be strong you must cannibalize the weak - take what is theirs, and make it a part of yourself. You mention this tomb, I believe it exists not to share power as you say but because many of your lot are too prideful to fade into obscurity. It's not an unadmirable trait, admittedly. But I can see your meaning...you mention true tenants, Acolyte: elaborate, if you would be so kind. You must understand the specifics of your order as lost on me, and false tenants and true tenants get lost in the muddle."

Oh how Lirka loved to lie. She simply needed to prod deeper into this would-be-darth and understand her way of thinking. Were she to be an ally or a foe? Lirka noted the girl's focus on the Jedi once more. It was an interesting thing, and one she admittedly had not noticed all that much when dealing with the many Dark Siders of the order. Perhaps that is why Lirka found herself fascinated.

Lirka gave the girl a shrug the longer she continued, speaking with something close to indifference.

"You must understand, Acolyte. The machinations of the Jedi are rather insignificant to me. I will kill them when the gong of war is sounded, their politics are meaningless. A leader is a leader, their names, their tenure, all irrelevant to me."

She followed it with a humorless laugh when thinking about Carnifex and his amusement. It was something she had chased plenty a time, and gained less than she'd like - the last time had been when the brand had been emblazoned upon her head.

"Ha! Were it so easy, Acolyte. Were it so easy. Perhaps bring him a couple hundred heads and give him some worship, it might do just as well."

She thought rather highly of the man, but that didn't stop her from making a few snide remarks every now and then. Lirka stopped dead in her tracks as the Acolyte reached out. Impressive.

"You have experience in disarming traps, Acolyte?"

Another prod.

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Oricon
Attire: Assassin Gear
Equipment: Vibro-daggers, Vibro-sword, blaster pistol, Mask
Tag: Lirka Ka

Eira shook her head, "the weak hold nothing significant or worth taking. If they did, they would not be weak. There is a difference in a dangerous opponent or a threat to the path of power and those too weak to deserve life." Eira did not see those beneath her as worthy of much consideration. That even their ability to breath was too much of a gift. She would rather dispose of them and let the bodies rot in the earth for plants to take nourishment from.

Since that was all they worth. Plant food.

"You are only forgotten when no one speaks your name." Eira stated, a quote she had heard somewhere once. Her sharp eyes turned over to Lirka, there was a smirk behind her mask. She knew what the other being was doing, Lirka was trying to learn from Eira. Gain information on the secretive assassin. It was amusing since it came late into their conversation so one would assume she would be less on guard but the guard was never dropped with Eira. She tilted her head to Lirka.

"I hold doubts that you do not understand the Order, Lirka. I do not see someone with your knowledge of the Sith, the political machinations of them and the awareness of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of an ally who could easily become an enemy but not understand the tenets that I speak of." Eira revealed that she had been reading Lirka very well in this moment, she saw it as a chance to keep herself shrouded in shadows while painting the picture of Lirka that she had seen up until now. "But bold attempts to hide such understanding. It might have worked on someone who does not work within deception and trickery as much as I do."

Sighing, "and that mentality is oft the way of thinking of those in the Sith. Believing themselves above such understanding." Eira was disappointed in the warrior, "to defeat an enemy, you must understand them. Know them better than you know yourself. See through them so that you can strike at their core and dismantle them swiftly." Eira stated, her hatred of the Jedi was a blinding issue with Eira. "Belittle them as gnats and they will linger, grow strong once again. Think about how there was a Sith empire, the One Sith, so dominate that the Jedi could not match. But it crumbled, the empire fell and the Jedi rose in power, having remained in significant power ever since. Even being a superpower does not mean we can underestimate the Jedi."

"The vermin will always find a way to survive and wait to come back."

Analysing the trap, Eira's light touch and nimble fingers were able to get an idea on what sort of trap this would be. "Desiring to know more of the skills I might or might not have, are we Slavemaster General?" Eira asked with a smirk behind her mask, finding the disarming trigger and making sure she prevented the trap from activating as silently as she could so that Lirka could not see or hear the fact the trap had been disarmed.

Taking a couple steps back, "how about you test how good my skills are, general?" Eira gestured Lirka to lead the way.

 

[Lirka Ka]

Lirka pondered her words briefly before continuing, their debate continuing on in this dead, musty, ruin. Perhaps to some extent, Lirka wished to impart some little fragments of her own twisted wisdom onto Eira Dyn

“My profession compels me to disagree. The weak always have something work taking, they are almost comparable to simple raw materials. Be it themselves, or their possessions. A thing to be used to further our ends.”

They were not dissimilar in looking down upon the weak. But where Eira saw plant food, Lirka saw tools to use and pieces to push along the metaphorical game board of Sith politicking. Not an entirely out of place belief for a slaver - it was her profession to prey upon those who couldn’t resist, after all.

“It is true. Shall we weep for the poor sod this place was built for? I don’t believe I know their name.”

She spoke in that unserious, joking tone that lost none of her usual coldness. The dry humor of Sephi kind. Eira was wise, though Lirka did not hide her intentions particularly well. She always sought information, for information was the lifeblood of the politicking of the Empire she found herself in. It was important to get an estimation on who might be a friend, and who would be likely to join her long list of foes.

“Do I deceive you? I do not think so. You must understand, as difficult as it may be for the youthful mind, I have walked among the Sith - among Carnifex, for decades. Of course I have gained a modicum of understanding, I can differentiate an Eternalist, from a Tsis’Kaar, from a Kainite. Can note who are from the old order, and who are newer faces to me: like yourself.”

Lirka was one of the more frustrating kinds of liars. She would simply keep lying when finally caught rather than admit deception.

“So what knowledge of tenants am I hiding, Acolyte? Shall I spout off your Order’s code? It is a thing that is rather open to interpretation, if I do say.”

Lirka was a rather theologically minded monster. Made sense why she had fallen into the cult-like murderers of the Kainate.

Lirka gave the girl’s philosophy a nod of agreement, it wasn’t an inaccurate summary for sure. After all, Lirka was here digging up whatever knowledge she could from her fellow. A rather enlightening experience about some of the faces of the Empire, most certainly.

“Knowledge is power, as they say. Yet, do not let yourself be blinded by preparations for the unworthy. A knife to the neck, a fist to the jaw. Both work just as well on the unworthy.”

Only the force knew how many “unworthy” foes Lirka had dispatched in such a way during her long life. She almost admired the girl’s hatred for the Jedi foe, even if Lirka did not share the same zeal. It was a shame really, this little Acolyte almost understood some of the same grim truths Lirka had reached upon Rhand.

“I am aware of the rise and fall of the One Sith, and the various shapes of the Jedi foe. What you describe as the rise of vermin, is merely the cycles of Primordial Darkness. Empires rise, and they fall. The light ascends, and the dark rescinds, and vice versa. Such is the nature of things.”

Always prattling something, that was Lirka’s natural state. The madness of the Nihil Retreat had never really left her, even after all these years.

Her next question was met with a shrug.

“Call me curious, I suppose.”

Taking the Acolyte up on her offer, Lirka took a step forward. Using her blade to give the trap she had been working on a tap, letting out a mechanical noise of approval.

“Impressive.”

What an odd bundle of skills these Sithlings are. With that, she began to trudge along with the careful steps of a giant trying not to stumble onto another would-be-deathtrap.

 

[Eira Dyn]

Location: Oricon
Attire: Assassin Gear
Equipment: Vibro-daggers, Vibro-sword, blaster pistol, Mask
Tag: Lirka Ka

Eira tilted her head as she thought about the fact that slavery was an option in using the weak. It was a sensible path to take, "slavery does make use of them but I would argue that the best option they hold is as plant food. They are a profitable labour force but that does not make them the best labour force." Eira pointed out, she was demonstrating the desire to be right in her claim while also giving credit to the well made point that Lirka had mentioned as well. It was a difficult line to walk but Eira tried her damnedest to follow it.

Shaking her head, "best not to mess with the dead. The Sith are known to possess others in order to enact their will even after death. Continue the mocking and they might possess you out of spite. Make you a slave to their will." There was a cold but teasing tone to Eira's own modulated voice, demonstrating a similar sense of humour as the Slave Master had given.

"If you can differentiate a Tsis'Kaar from a Kainite, then you know more about the tenets than most Jedi. Than many Sith." Eira pointed out, "you surrender too much information that demonstrates deeper knowledge to lie to me." Eira stated, not beating around the bush in the game of lying, she was hiding her knowledge with a blunt, aggressive front to Lirka. Focusing on the other being to avoid surrendering an answer herself.

Disagreeing, Eira shook her head, "power is power. Knowledge is just a weapon, like a blade, or the Force. It is how one wields just a weapon that can grant them power, but there are plenty who claim to hold knowledge but use it incorrectly and gain nothing." Eira spoke of a couple of people she had crossed paths where they believed themselves clever and Eira had been less than impressive in their skills.

"I believe there comes a day where it is either the Sith who rise for the final time in full power or we will be broken into a fractured mess. All things come to an end, even the cycle of empires rising and falling. We must be prepared for that day so we can break the cycle to our advantage."

Chuckling, "good to know you trust my skills." Eira spoke with a smirk behind her mask, stepping forward, her eyes continued to scan for any further traps as the descended to the bottom of this tricky temple.

 

[Lirka Ka]

In Lirka's own twisted worldview, she might have respected Eira Dyn more had she merely spat back in Lirka's face that she was wrong. Yet, Lirka saw no immediate disdain for her work. It was a valuable trait to find in Sith these days. Regardless, Lirka took the opportunity to sprinkle in another crumb of the cruelty of what guided her world.

"Yet, Acolyte. Is labor the point?"

The perpetuation of suffering. That is what the Once-Sephi craved, it was holy work - making the conditions so that the worthy could be tested and the unworthy destroyed. Her foul work was merely just one piece in the wider sadism she practiced for the sake of her dark masters. In humor, Lirka brought a claw to where her chin must've been in her helmet, clicking the thing against the marred beskar plate as she pondered the girl's talk of the dead.

"Well. I do believe you have more to worry about than I. I truly doubt there are Sith spirits that would, or could, enter the void of my being. Though I do welcome them to try."

While deeply unserious, there was a modicum of truth sprinkled in with Lirka's words. She had less understanding of spirits than she would like, and any little experiments she could coax from the Galaxy when she was out on the field? Well, those were just the benefits of her job.

For a time, Lirka stood there in silence. Letting Eira's words hang in the air, Lirka had been caught in a lie: for all intents, she considered digging herself a deeper hole - it was a thankful thing that the metaphorical coin had flipped once again, and Lirka decided to speak with something that resembled the truth close enough.

"A Kainite normally doesn't want me dead, a Tsis'kaar wants me dead. It is a simple differentiation to know."

Though with that little humorous tone towards Lirka's unfounded paranoia, she let her tone go cold, and serious.

"I am a theologian, in a sense. I was being coy enough about it, Acolyte. But I am asking you what you believe, obviously you hate the Jedi: we all do. Yet, beyond that. Our order is built upon a mishmash of ideologies, the Galaxy is built upon even more. Some hold dark truths, others merely the ravings of charismatic madmen."

As Eira spoke of power, Lirka spouted off another mantra. Her tone as if she was reading something off of a book.

"Only power is real, and the only real power is the power to destroy. What do you make of it, Acolyte? You speak of the End, I am well familiar with the concept. The End-of-all-Things is an assured point, you speak of preparations: how? The end of the Jedi?"

It became a quick barrage of questions. Lirka had a fascination with ideology. She followed behind the youth, the ideologies of the Acolytes had become an even more pressing matter to Ka. It was their beliefs that would form the foundation of the next order, when the Dark decreed that the time for transience had come once more.