The Songstress Reborn
- Intent: The original intent of this submission was to create the personal holocron of the 'Dead' Sith Lord Darth Aria and to create a cconcrete object for Ariealla Vareldi's obssessions, which would take place over a number of threads and provide a prize of sorts to encourage her growth even in the absence of formal instructors. The intent remains much the same, however it's uncertain if it will become a long-term goal yet.
- Image Source: Here
- Canon Link: N/A
- Restricted Missions: N/A
- Primary Source: N/A
- Name: Holocron of Darth Aria
- Manufacturer: Darth Aria/Ariealla Vareldi
- Affiliation: Darth Abyss and Ariealla Vareldi
- Modularity: No
- Production: Unique
- Material: Darkside-imbued crystal matrix and weathered, blackened, alchemized metals
- Classification: Sith Holocron
- Size: Handheld
- Length: 0.1 m
- Width: 0.1 m
- Height: 0.1 m
- Weight: 0.5 kg
- Sith history
- Sith code
- Basic framework for manipulation of the force
- Instructions in the use of jar'kai and saberstaffs
- Instructions in the use of emotion to fuel darkside energies
- Mostly true autobiography of Darth Aria
- Philosophy of the Sith and Aria herself
- Advanced Meditation and emotional focusing
- Assassination techniques
- Aria's secret identity
- Force Drain
- Force Suppression
- The knowledge of the existence of transfer essence (but not lessons in preforming the act)
The holocron of Darth Aria actually contains three levels of knowledge it is willing to share, dependent on their proficiency in her previous lessons. Each layer is separated from the others by a 'quiz' of sorts, a test to see if they are indeed worthy of greater secrets. This is in part to protect the greatest secrets laying inside the depths of the holocron, and partly to seduce others to her way of thinking by encouraging them to study her words in great detail.
The first level is easily accessible, simply by applying a gentle amount of force into the object. Darth Aria, in full regalia and mask, appears as the holocron's keeper to greet the user either as a sith or jedi, whichever side of the force was used to awaken her. She then offers basic instructions in how the force is manipulated, as well as the lessons of history one can expect to learn from the Sith. As a scholar in her time, almost all of the holocron's lessons come in the form of history lessons, learning directly from the past. Promise and talent shown will prompt the holocron to offer the lessons of the Sith Code, as well as Aria's preferred forms of lightsaber combat, jar'kai and saberstaff. This is also when the holocron offers instructions on feeling one's emotions and using them to preform even stronger force acts.
The next level drills the user on their previous lessons, and once satisfied the user will be allowed access to an autobiography of Darth Aria that is.. mostly true. Additional lessons more focused on Aria's personal philosophy of the force are accessible, namely in the necessity of both light and darkness in the galaxy, each to fuel the other. More advance meditation techniques and methods of focusing one's emotions become accessible. The final thing this level holds is lessons in assassination techniques, for which Darth Aria was particularly famous for.
The final level is guarded by a rigorous testing, drilling the user on everything thus learned with the test requiring a consistent stream of force energy that can only be produced by Master-level force users for such an extended period of time. However, once the test is completed, the entirety of the holocron is laid free for the user. Aria will, at this point, reveal her identity as 'The Songstress', an ancient sith lord, and reveal the existence of both Tulak Hord's ritual of body possession and by extension Transfer Essence. No lessons in preforming the ritual are provided, however. Additionally, all of the previous lessons are taught without a hint of secrecy, including a genuinely true account of Aria's life from her memory, to more personal anecdotes in sith history. The last useful information contained in the holocron is the basic concepts of her most notorious skills, Force Drain and Force Suppression, though the latter is more reluctant to be taught to 'Jedi'. It notes that to properly understand each ability they must be used, to some degree, on the student, and that it cannot really be taught in any traditional sense.
Strengths:
- Massive Library: The holocron of Darth Aria contains most of her passion, Sith History. As such, it details everything she knew in life, along with everything she ever taught her students.
- Personal Journal: Deeper secrets include a detailed autobiography of Darth Aria herself, detailing everything she could remember of her life.
- Sith Secrets: The absolute deepest part of her holocron reveals her true identity, along with her most powerful teachings bar the ritual for which she transfers bodies.
- Aria's guidance: While the keeper seems uninterested in force alignment, it does seem to hold vested interest in training valuable sith of all sorts. To that end, it will attempt to appropriately tempt and seduce jedi to the order of the Sith, without destroying them completely from the knowledge they gain.
Weaknesses :
- Null Fields: as a force artifact, nullifaction fields can render it inoperable.
- Secret identity: The true identity, and her deepest secrets, are contained in the holocron behind its defenses.
- Aria's Skillset: Though providing a basic framework from which to develop darkside powers, Aria's holocron is extremely limited in capability given Aria's skillset, leaving gaps in potential lessons. For instance while the holocron will explain the ways in which force lightning is applied, and what fuels it, there is very little instruction in its actual usage.
- Force Required: the force is required to even use this artifact.
DESCRIPTION
Darth Aria was, in her time, a Sith Lord of the Sith Empire that challenged the Republic and sacked Coruscant and was among those rewarded greatly for said sacking. Sometime after the assault on the Jedi Temple of Coruscant, she created her personal holocron to contain her wealth of knowledge, as a scholar is want to do. However, the process was quite long for her, being someone not of the alchemist sort, during the time of which the Empire was suffering greatly under its own strain. Even so, she managed to create this surprisingly open minded holocron. As part of her own personal philosophy, the holocron's gatekeeper only cares about one thing: The affiliation with the Sith. It will do everything in its power to seduce them to their way of thinking, without stepping out the bounds of their approved lessons.
It also holds another warning to 'Masters' who unlock its darkest secrets. Should anyone unlock the entire holocron, they are warned never to divulge the information within, as the author considers the entire process that revealed this information a binding contract. The real Aria will hunt them down and kill them, should word of their attempt to reveal her identity show, not that anyone would ever believe them. The Gatekeeper will request a full identification, and treats them like an honored student.
