Obtainer of Rare Antiquities
In all of the missions Ren Sogan had undertaken, this one - so far - might have held the record for the safest and most expeditious. No hostile inhabitants, no territorial animals, not even the spare booby trap laid behind.
The planet of Ruusan had been barren for almost 2,000 years, the lifeless crater whirling through space as if it had always been devoid of life. Rock and dust lay untouched by sentient hands for countless generations, and were it not for the winds and tectonic forces that kept on their indiscriminate business, the planet might have laid dormant for the rest of its existence.
Indeed, very few (if any) in Ren’s time found it worth their while to explore such a broken, ravaged world. There were bits and pieces of civilization left behind, but most constructions had been completely and fully destroyed by the Sith’s catastrophic Thought Bomb. What was left, if it had not already been picked clean, was thought to be desecrated beyond informative analysis.
At least, that was the common understanding. But in a long-forgotten corner of the planet, the Valley of the Jedi sat for generations. Lying in wait. Teeming with power and knowledge.
After a thousand years, the existence of the Valley had mostly been lost to the pages of history. It was a well of trapped Jedi and Sith souls released by Kyle Katarn some 900 years ago. On all accounts, though, the power of the Valley remained, a nexus of force energy that could imbue one with unimaginable strength. Given the danger of such a place, it was no wonder that Masters Skywalker and Katarn kept the Valley’s location a closely-guarded secret, a secret that had lain dormant in restricted Jedi archives for generations. As such, it was inevitably lost to time, its connection with Ruusan forgotten. Only in dated, half-broken archival databases did any trace of the site remain.
Still, historians find a way. Months of collaborative research with Master
Kassogtha Cthylla
- a collaboration that confirmed the academic benefits of Ren’s newfound membership in the New Jedi Order - helped to piece together the nexus’s nature and yielded the planet Ruusan as the Valley’s location. In hindsight, Ren had to admit, it was an obvious place to look. The Thought Bomb was indeed a prime candidate for creating the soul well that the Valley was known for. Still, the past Jedi’s hesitance to seek out and rediscover such a place of power was understandable. It took a bit of PR work to even convince some of his contemporaries that an expedition was worthwhile. Finding the Valley, some argued, could potentially open it to darker forces, allowing them to capitalize on its power.
Still, Ren couldn’t allow himself to back down. If it meant running through red tape or taking extra precautions, he would do it. He wished he could say it was from a good place, a desire to protect the Valley from its inevitable discovery by Dark Jedi. But in truth, the mystery of the site called out to him like a siren’s song. He hungered to find it, to uncover it, to reveal a part of the galaxy lost to time. And so Ren asked Master Cthylla to join him for an expedition to the planet.
And the ease that the two Jedi hitherto experienced in traversing the broken plains of Ruusan only served to confirm the worth of their search. It seemed (to Ren, at least) that the universe wanted them to find it, to seek it out.
On all accounts, there was only one clear path to the Valley, a path through an underground construction site that held a lift to the surface. To their great fortune, the site still seemed to hold minimal power; the elevator that brought them down to the facility carried them smoothly enough, though the light above them flickered in and out rapidly, illuminating then concealing the rusty durasteel of the cramped ancient lift.
Standing to the left of Master Cthylla, hands on his hips, Ren couldn’t stop his eyes from parsing every part of the elevator, as dull as the sight was. Though five years had passed since his first archaeological venture, the feeling of walking through history never got old. The Imperial Remnant must have thought this construction a routine undertaking, but hundreds of years later, what they left behind could do nothing but amaze the Jedi Knight. Every once in a while, he would flash an excited glance toward Kassogtha, though it was hard to parse her feelings on the matter, given the handful of eyes and mouths that covered her.
After ten minutes or so, the elevator suddenly grinded to a halt, a loud screech of metal filling the space that made Sogan wince. Slowly, the lift’s doors peeled open, revealing a long, dimly-lit corridor leading into the facility.
“Shall we, Master?” Sogan inquired, failing to hide a grin.
The planet of Ruusan had been barren for almost 2,000 years, the lifeless crater whirling through space as if it had always been devoid of life. Rock and dust lay untouched by sentient hands for countless generations, and were it not for the winds and tectonic forces that kept on their indiscriminate business, the planet might have laid dormant for the rest of its existence.
Indeed, very few (if any) in Ren’s time found it worth their while to explore such a broken, ravaged world. There were bits and pieces of civilization left behind, but most constructions had been completely and fully destroyed by the Sith’s catastrophic Thought Bomb. What was left, if it had not already been picked clean, was thought to be desecrated beyond informative analysis.
At least, that was the common understanding. But in a long-forgotten corner of the planet, the Valley of the Jedi sat for generations. Lying in wait. Teeming with power and knowledge.
After a thousand years, the existence of the Valley had mostly been lost to the pages of history. It was a well of trapped Jedi and Sith souls released by Kyle Katarn some 900 years ago. On all accounts, though, the power of the Valley remained, a nexus of force energy that could imbue one with unimaginable strength. Given the danger of such a place, it was no wonder that Masters Skywalker and Katarn kept the Valley’s location a closely-guarded secret, a secret that had lain dormant in restricted Jedi archives for generations. As such, it was inevitably lost to time, its connection with Ruusan forgotten. Only in dated, half-broken archival databases did any trace of the site remain.
Still, historians find a way. Months of collaborative research with Master
Kassogtha Cthylla
- a collaboration that confirmed the academic benefits of Ren’s newfound membership in the New Jedi Order - helped to piece together the nexus’s nature and yielded the planet Ruusan as the Valley’s location. In hindsight, Ren had to admit, it was an obvious place to look. The Thought Bomb was indeed a prime candidate for creating the soul well that the Valley was known for. Still, the past Jedi’s hesitance to seek out and rediscover such a place of power was understandable. It took a bit of PR work to even convince some of his contemporaries that an expedition was worthwhile. Finding the Valley, some argued, could potentially open it to darker forces, allowing them to capitalize on its power.Still, Ren couldn’t allow himself to back down. If it meant running through red tape or taking extra precautions, he would do it. He wished he could say it was from a good place, a desire to protect the Valley from its inevitable discovery by Dark Jedi. But in truth, the mystery of the site called out to him like a siren’s song. He hungered to find it, to uncover it, to reveal a part of the galaxy lost to time. And so Ren asked Master Cthylla to join him for an expedition to the planet.
And the ease that the two Jedi hitherto experienced in traversing the broken plains of Ruusan only served to confirm the worth of their search. It seemed (to Ren, at least) that the universe wanted them to find it, to seek it out.
On all accounts, there was only one clear path to the Valley, a path through an underground construction site that held a lift to the surface. To their great fortune, the site still seemed to hold minimal power; the elevator that brought them down to the facility carried them smoothly enough, though the light above them flickered in and out rapidly, illuminating then concealing the rusty durasteel of the cramped ancient lift.
Standing to the left of Master Cthylla, hands on his hips, Ren couldn’t stop his eyes from parsing every part of the elevator, as dull as the sight was. Though five years had passed since his first archaeological venture, the feeling of walking through history never got old. The Imperial Remnant must have thought this construction a routine undertaking, but hundreds of years later, what they left behind could do nothing but amaze the Jedi Knight. Every once in a while, he would flash an excited glance toward Kassogtha, though it was hard to parse her feelings on the matter, given the handful of eyes and mouths that covered her.
After ten minutes or so, the elevator suddenly grinded to a halt, a loud screech of metal filling the space that made Sogan wince. Slowly, the lift’s doors peeled open, revealing a long, dimly-lit corridor leading into the facility.
“Shall we, Master?” Sogan inquired, failing to hide a grin.
