Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike and on pre-existing subs about another homegrown Force group. This tradition will play an important role in Kyriaki's and Elpsis' storylines.
Image Credit: Here. Here. Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Dominion of Light, Jedi Inquisition, Mace Windu Thought, Windian Jedi Order, Disciples of the Vader, Banite Sith, Prosperity Quarter, Vitiate, Inheritors of the Light Father, Covenant of the Piercing Flame, Wound in the Force, Jacen Solo, Ben Solo, Castle Maysaf, KEC, Darth Eisen, The Valkyrie's Diary, Kyriaki, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Jedi Cassius, Nexus City, Ausrine Redoubt.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Tradition Name: Illuminated Path of the Light Father. Followers of this tradition are called the Inheritors of the Light Father.
Tradition Type: Revolutionary Schismatic because they are a heretical offshoot of another Force tradition, pursuing a revolutionary agenda. Also Warrior and Monastic.
Tradition Focus: Physical/Sensory, Spiritual. They are a martial and deeply spiritual cult, but focus on striking their enemies through stealth and subterfuge rather than raw power.
Influence: Minor. The Illuminated Path of the Light Father is presently limited to Tephrike, a remote, barely known planet. Unlike its main competitors there, it is an underground sect, not the state religion of a dictatorial state.
Orientation: Light-leaning. Followers of the Illuminated Path strive for justice and righteousness, but they operate in a war-torn hellhole largely under the thumb of totalitarian tyrants, where pacifism, and honour are suicidal. They have strict rules against the dark side or the murder of the innocent, but use subterfuge and assassination to strike against evildoers.
Influence Area: Limited to Tephrike, but they do not exercise rulership or other forms of political control. The Illuminated Path is a clandestine underground group and secret society that has to operate in the shadows.
Symbol: A stylised white Vader helmet. This is a deliberate inverse of the symbol of the Disciples of the Vader. The Vaderites are not amused. Some of the sect's more flamboyant assassins like to leave a calling card behind that displays the symbol.
Description: The Illuminated Path of the Light Father is a Force tradition limited to the remote, obscure world of Tephrike, a war-torn hellhole divided between riven factions. The followers of this tradition started out as a schismatic splinter group of the human supremacist Disciples of the Vader. In contrast to them, the Illuminated Path rejects human supremacism in favour of equality and believes in the Light. The Light Father they refer to is the redeemed Vader. The guiding values of the Path are secrecy, self-discipline, duty and resilience.
They strive to rid Tephrike of the tyrannical regimes that have led it to ruin, but do not field armies or navies. Instead they use subterfuge, guile and manipulation. In short, it is a tradition that venerates the Light, but has to resort to methods ironically similar to those of the Banite Sith, as that is the only way for them to survive. The group is all about the long game.
The path is followed by the Inheritors of the Light Father. Indeed the engimatic founder and leader of the sect, the so called Illuminator, is regarded as the creator of this tradition. Rather than publicly broadcast their identity, the acolytes of the Illuminated Path obfuscate their true beliefs and identity, for they often have to live among the enemy, doing their best to sabotage the Sith and the Windian Jedi and undermine their power. The tradition is a martial one, but its symbol would be the silent dagger in the night, not the axe or broadsword.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Membership: Essentially limited to Tephriki due to the obscurity of the Path. Some members are born into the sect, for unlike certain ancient iterations of the Jedi, the Illuminated Path does not expect its disciples to be chaste. However, many are recruited from outside. The sect is small in number and very picky when it comes to choosing its acolytes.
Prospective acolytes are vetted very thoroughly and must perform trials that test their skill, commitment and dedication. A trial may be about retrieving an item that is of value to the sect, eliminating one of its foes and may place the neophyte in a situation where they can seemingly advance themselves at the expense of another or do the right thing and bear the consequences. The final trial will eventually involve being exposed to a nexus similar to the dark side cave Luke had to enter on Dagobah. The trials are a bit manipulative, but the sect wants to make sure its members are committed. People attracted by the Path tend to live on the fringes of society. Experiences of persecution, injustice and oppression are all but universal. Dark and light exists in everyone, and so while it is a Force tradition, a Non-Force-User can follow the tenets of the Illuminated Path too and become an active agent of the revolutionary process to overthrow the reign of darkness. Strictly speaking, there is no rule that says a Non-Force-User cannot become one of their leaders.
Motives: Protection of the victims of slavery, genocide and tyranny, preservation of knowledge of Tephrike's true past, and, ultimately, the destruction of the planet's tyrannical regimes, especially the Dominion of Light and the Disciples of the Vader.
Rules and Teachings:
Peace is a lie, there is only Focus.
Through Focus, we gain Discipline.
Through Discipline, we gain Unity.
Through Unity, we gain Victory.
Through Victory, our chains are Broken.
The Force shall free us.
The Light will conquer the Dark.
This is the code disciples of the Illuminated Path of the Light Father are taught. It represents a deliberate inverse of the Sith Code. This reflects their origins as a Sith heresy that turned away from the dark side and abandoned the Sith tenets, but didn't embrace Jedi teachings either. To these adepts, the world is a dark and a grim place. Peace is a lie, because there is always discord, strife and corruption. Even in times of peace, there is structural violence, inequality and oppression. The light and dark will always be in conflict. But this it not supposed to be a justification for nihilism or sociopathy. Rather it is a rallying cry for action. This gives an adept focus. They must steel themselves and achieve self-mastery to gain discipline.
Through focus and discipline, the followers of the Light can band together and achieve unity, for it is only through organisation that change can be achieved and evil fought by mobilising the oppressed. This gains them victory over their foes, the servants of the dark. This breaks the chains of the darkness and its manifestations - slavery, oppression and tyranny. The use of 'we' in the place of 'I' is important. The Sith Code is all about breaking the chains on oneself and putting others in chains to achieve egotistical self-exaltation. By contrast, the code of the Illuminated Path is a revolutionary statement focused on collective action against injustice. This makes the code a call to break the chains imposed by tyranny. Through this action, the Force sets them free, and the light conquers the dark. But it is a cycle, so victory is never everlasting. That is why the Inheritors must always be vigilant.
Followers of this tradition believe strongly in the duality of the Force. Light and Dark are real metaphysical forces, not metaphors or just sources of power. And it is the dark side that is ascendant, for the balance of the Force has been tipped towards it. The galaxy's pain reverberates through it. The natural flow of the Force has been disrupted, tainting it. Every wave of tyranny and oppression pushes it further towards destruction. In the eyes of the followers of the Light Father, this calamity constitutes a cataclysmic wound in the Force.
Similar to the Windian Jedi, they view the Gulag Virus as a machination of the dark side. Where they differ is that from the point of view of the Inheritors, the Windian Jedi are evil, too. The taint is so strong that these false Jedi do not recognise their evil, for the dark side clouds everything. The Inheritors view themselves as preserving the candle of the Light, whilst surrounded by darkness. But this means they think and act strategically. From their point of view, the conflict they are engaged in is not only one of nations, armies and ideologies, but also a cosmic one. Should the disciples of the Illuminated Path come into contact with the greater galaxy, they would conclude that galactic events have fully validated their beliefs.
The followers of the path of the Light Father revere Darth Vader, but not as the Sith Lord. After decades as the Emperor's enforcer, he turned on his master and creator and sacrificed his own life to save his son. In the eyes of the Inheritors, his penance continued in death, for he was charged with guarding the gates of Chaos for all eternity. The Light is not the quick, easy path that promises instant reward. Redemption is a life-long process of penance. The cycle of light and dark continued after his death. The sect teaches that Palpatine was the second incarnation of the Mad Emperor Vitiate, who was defeated by the Jedi Exile and the redeemed Revan with the aid of their companions. In their view, history is defined by cycles of light and dark.
But whenever the light grows complacent, darkness rises and the galaxy is drowned in evil. Just as Vitiate had done, Palpatine exploited a Force Wound caused by cataclysmic mass deaths orchestrated by his followers. This enabled his spirit to cheat death and once again menace the galaxy. Not content with merely conquering it, he sought the power to alter reality itself, and refashion the universe in his image. The shadow of his rule would spread across the entire universe. All life would be absorbed into his consciousness and become an extension of his will. To this end, he corrupted Vader's grandson Jacen, who was opposed by his twin Rey.
These beliefs inform the philosophy and the praxis of the Illuminated Path. History is an eternal cycle between light and dark - and the darkness is ascendant. The Force itself is wounded. The Jedi have been tainted. There is hope, but victory will not come through inaction - or a one in a million shot. There is no singular chosen one to set things right. Victory over injustice requires cunning, calculation, sacrifice and, above all, self-discipline.
The tradition is rather strict about enforcing its rules. Followers must protect the secrets of the sect and hide their true identity, while often hiding in plain sight. It is not uncommon for a new disciple to shed their identity by taking on a new name. The punishments for betrayal are draconian. Indeed, agents may be issued suicide capsules so that they can preserve the secrets of the faith and protect their comrades from exposure in the case of capture - since they will definitely be brutally tortured by the Vaderites or the Windian Jedi. There is no tolerance for padawans with chosen one delusions, drama queens or 'maverick' cowboys who can't follow orders.
In contrast to some Jedi sects and certain other lightside traditions, the followers of this faith are not pacifist. Indeed, the faith has formed networks of assassin to strike at evildoers and their collaborators. It is within the purvey of the Light to carry out peremptory strikes. If one can kill an individual rather than a thousand than this is righteous. They categorically reject the idea that followers of the Light must remain passive and wait for the forces of evil to strike at them while the latter perpetrate atrocities.
The path of righteousness does not include giving free passes to truly vile and horrible beings. However, such actions must be carefully considered, as they could easily expose the group or put innocents at risk. The faith teaches that the disciples must be protectors of the innocent and the downtrodden. But this must be balanced with realism. Tephrike will not be freed overnight, and foolhardy action can put more innocent lives at risk than it saves. Overall, they can be characterised as militant and ascetic.
The adepts believe in redemption, but see it as a continuous journey rather than one moment of atonement and instant forgiveness. In their view, it takes the form of lifetime penance in order to overcome the darkness. An atoner must always be vigilant against temptation, lest they succumb to their evil habits. Those who strive to redeem themselves get one chance, but it is their only one. The Inheritors take an extremely dim view of the revolving door policy. Someone who claims they want to atone but then succumbs to evil again is regarded as lost forever and must be eliminated. The journey is ended by death, but the longer one atones, the better. The Inheritors believe that after death, sinners enter an intermediate state for expiatory purification. Wise Force ghosts guide them to enlightenment. The spirits of evil beings end up in Chaos, a place of darkness and torment.
To the Illuminated Path, preservation of knowledge is pivotal. They will stress preserving Force-related knowledge, but don't limit themselves to it. Instead they empathise the importance of information that will not only allow the people to rebuild civilisation, but reclaim the past that isolation, war and deliberate distortion by tyrannical rulers have stolen from them. The future can only be built if the past has been reclaimed from the darkness of ignorance.
Unlike some old Jedi traditions, the Illuminated Path does not require - or even encourage - its members to be chaste. But an adept's first and foremost attachment must be to the cause. If a relationship strengthens this bond and makes the adept more dedicated because now they have another thing to fight for, it is good. If, however, the adept prioritises their personal desires and attachments over the greater good, it is harmful. As the sect teaches, Vader's love for his son made him turn on his evil master, but his narcissistic, selfish obsession with Padmé contributed to his descent into evil. Every Inheritor must be ready to put the mission first. The tradition looks very poorly upon materialism, greed and desire for material wealth. In short, it is no place for megacorp owners with lavish villas and luxury yachts. Of course, at present no such individual has applied to join this obscure Force tradition, but it is doubtful that any would make the attempt - with good reason. They would be expected to forsake easy living and material wealth.
Reputation: All but unknown outside of Tephrike because the planet has been totally isolated for several centuries. Firemane recently discovered the planet and conducted a brief campaign against the Dominion, but did not encounter followers of the Path. Within Tephrike, the Dominion and the Vaderites have a very negative opinion of the sect, whose members they see as heretics. The Vaderites want to wipe them out and the Dominion's view is not much better, though it has occasionally tried to use them as pawns or temporary allies of convenience. But all in all the Dominion regards them as misguided at best and heretical anarchists at worst. The Republican Guard is radically anti-Force-User, which colours their opinion. They do not really know or care about differences between Force cults. Moreover, to a degree the Illuminated Path recruit their members from a similar pool of recruits. This can make them competitors, though the Guard is a lot bigger.
Individual cells have grudgingly cooperated at times, but also clashed. Opinions among ordinary Tephriki vary, depending on where they live. Some regard the Inheritors as noble, but many see them as terrorists or heretics. In Vaderite territory, the Inheritors draw their support from the disenfranchised aliens and other under classes. This is no surprise since the Sith regard aliens as lesser beings. The human middle class is far less likely to back the renegades. A good number of Tephriki dismiss them as a fabrication. Overall, the sect keeps a low profile and does their best to minimise any insight outsiders might acquire about them. The disciples of the Illuminated Path are no stranger to muddying the waters by spreading disinformation.
Openness: Incredibly secretive and selective. The Illuminated Path of the Light Father is limited to Tephrike, where it is followed by the sect called the Inheritors of the Light Father. Tephrike is a hellhole of a planet where the Dark Age never ended. The Dominion of Light, a totalitarian Jedi theocracy, and the Disciples of the Vader, a human supremacist Sith cult, both brutally persecute followers of this tradition. Meanwhile, the Republican Guard, a revolutionary vanguard movement, is less brutal, but regards all Force-Users as suspect and bans Force use. For this reason followers of this path live a life of secrecy. Those who hide in plain sight must live double lives and obfuscate their true beliefs.
Others life in safehouses and secret outposts, trying to do some good or mitigate evil. In the world they live in, there is always the very real threat of denunciation by one of the secret police's informers. Caution and suspicion are vital traits for survival. If need be, the disciples of this Path will use memory rubs to remove knowledge of their presence or activities from other beings. The followers of the Light Father live in the shadows, instead of operating in the public eye and wearing distinctive robes. Indeed, many Inheritors live double lives, walking among the foes of the sect in order to undermine them from within. They may be forced to undertake actions they find morally disagreeable to preserve their cover and serve the greater good in the long run. They prefer to use assassination and subtle manipulation to deceive and pit their enemies against each other achieving their desired ends. All this means is that the sect is reluctant to reveal itself.
Potential recruits and acolytes are watched carefully and thoroughly tested before an agent of the sect reveals their true identity. To mitigate the risk of betrayal, the believers utilise a system of clandestine cells. A failed recruit for say an assassin unit such as the Covenant of the Piercing Flame who failed their training but can be be of use to the sect in a different position may suddenly forget details that could otherwise compromise the group after being subjected to memory alteration. This is manipulative, but the Inheritors cannot be too careful. Whereas Jedi and Sith might concentrate on earth-shaking prodigies, they overlook candidates with marginal, limited Force-Sensitivity or shuffle them off to dead-end jobs. The Illuminated Path identifies these overlooked individuals and aims to train them to their maximum potential. A weak Force-user, instead of achieving substandard performance in a variety of traditional skills, is trained in a more specialised field.
Strictly speaking, even a Non-Force-User can follow the Path. For example, this applies to some of their assassins. If Inheritors of the Light Father come across beings whose goals they consider morally compatible with their own and, more importantly, consider competent enough, they may attempt to contact them. However, it is very likely that they will uses disguises, aliases and other forms of obfuscation. The credo of the Path is to take a long view of things. They have survived for years on a war-torn hellhole of a planet and will not jeopardise that.
SKILLS INFORMATION
Characteristic Equipment: Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike. Even amongst the Windian Jedi Order and the Disciples of the Vader, only a few very senior leaders own a lightsabre. For many Force Users on the planet, a lightsabre would be akin to a holy relic. The disciples of the Light Father lack the resources of the larger orders. The Force-Imbued or alchemised blade is the traditional weapon of a Force User on Tephrike and the Inheritors are no different in that regard.
However, swords like that attract attention, and so an adept of the sect will typically be just as - if not more proficient - in using an easily concealed pistol, a sniper rifle, or a garrote, Monofilament wire, Slicewire, vibro stars, multi-weapon or poisoned-tipped Zenji Needles. They do not wear identifiable uniforms. Instead their typical attire consists of civilian clothes, stealthy armour such as Shadowsuits or, if they are say on an infiltration mission, stolen enemy uniforms or armour or Jedi or Sith robes. A Taozin amulet is a typical piece of equipment.
The tradition's origin as a Vaderite heresy is reflected by the fact that they have a thing for stylised masks. These may be worn for ceremonial purposes or on a mission to conceal the adept's identity. It is also a way of mocking the Vaderites since it resembles the mask their acolytes receive upon graduation. This has the convenient side-effect of muddying the waters when an agent carries out an operation. The Inheritors do not have identifying symbols of membership such as tattoos or trinkets because that would make it easy for outsiders to detect them. For obvious reasons, that is a situation the sect would like to avoid at all costs. It will be more common for the followers of the Light Father to don the apparel of Disciples of the Vader or Windian Jedi or disguise themselves as 'mundanes'.
Their holy book is a tome called 'The Word of the Light Father'. It tells the story of Vader's redemption. In truth, it is based on a 'Galactic Civil War for Dummies' type book, which was found by Vaderites during the Netherworld Event. Their most sacred relic is what they believe to be the burned, disfigured helmet of Vader. It is undoubtedly a replica, but then this applies to all manners of ancient artefacts in the Galaxy. Adepts who are granted the honour of seeing the mask and meditate before it sometimes claim that it speaks to them. They seek it out when they feel the pull to the dark.
Notable Force Skills: Prominent Force skills are abilities that focus on combat, stealth and concealment. Every acolyte must learn the basics of how to conceal their Force auras from other Force-Users, or project a false aura to mask their true alignment, as well as how to shield their minds from mental intrusion. A degree of familiarity with mind tricks and other forms of Force Persuasion, Telekinesis and Force Flash are also common. Tapas is an important skill since their main sanctuary lies in the arctic regions of Tephrike. Overall, this tradition focuses more on cerebral or precise applications of the Force that are helpful for assassins and clandestine operatives than raw destructive power. It is a martial cult, but a Inheritor is more likely to use telekinesis to surgically break an opponent's knee or take them out with a blood-choke than summon a massive Force wave that could cause needless carnage. More advanced disciples are likely to be able to use the Force to turn invisible, sway, confuse or frighten other beings, alter or otherwise manipulate their memories or summon illusions.
In keeping with their emphasis on secrecy, senior practitioners may cultivate the 'slippery presence' in the Force pioneered by Alema Rar, a Dark Jedi whose skill enabled her to become intensely forgettable and very difficult for other Force Users to notice outside combat. A select few of the most advanced Inheritors are able to use alchemy to alter their appearance, but this is a restricted skill, and the rare ability of Shatterpoint. While in some ways more spiritual than many Jedi or Sith orders, the followers of the Illuminated Path approach the use of Force abilities in a similar manner. As a result, songs, incantations and the like are not part of the tradition. If they are employed, that is due to individual preference rather than a matter of dogma.
Notable Force Limitations: The followers of the Illuminated Path of the Light Father - the Inheritors - do not ban lethal Force abilities. Such a stance would be unrealistic considering they are an underground movement on a war-torn planet dominated by tyrants with legions of supporters. The followers of this tradition must use secrecy, subterfuge and assassination to survive. However, use of the dark side of the Force is prohibited. A teacher of this tradition will not teach say Drain Life, Necromancy, Force Lightning or Sith Sorcery. They do not consider the Mask technique to fall under this prohibition. The Illuminated Path is determined to fight evil, but focuses more on guile and precision than raw power.
Telekineticists of this Path are very unlikely to be telekinetic savants who drop buildings on people or chuck tanks through the power of their mind or demonstrate similarly grandiose feats of strength. While this sect does produce formidable illusionists, it is not the type of group to cultivate mentalists who can summon illusions so potent to say conceal entire armies or fleets from an enemy's gaze or conversely summon illusionary legions. Such dramatic feats of power wouldn't fit with their methods and the knowledge is not easy to come by anyway. Thus their manipulations are on a smaller scale.
MEMBERS
The Illuminator (NPC) - An enigmatic figure said to be the founder of the tradition and leader of the Inheritors. Only a few have ever met them in person. Most have only ever seen a hologram of a person clad in a sealed mask and an all-white suit of armour. Their voice is modulated by an electronic speaker inside their helmet, leaving their gender ambiguous. Certain remarks made by the Illuminator imply that they are an alien who participated the Prosperity Quarter Uprising against the Sith. But they have also called themselves a 'child of Chios, a child of Prosperity Quarter, a child of every land the Vaderite have drenched in the blood of the innocent, of every massacre they have perpetrated," further adding to the ambiguity.
The Illuminator is almost certainly non-human. They are rumoured to be a powerful mentalist and telepath. The Illuminator has been declared dead multiple times, but always seems to have resurfaced, always wearing the same suit. Some claim that the Illuminator is a group of individuals rather than one person. Others believe that it used to be a single person, but that the original holder of the title has since perished and now the Illuminator is just a projection used by a collective.
Rufus Operative (NPC) - A Zeltron cloned by the Dominion of Light to serve as a spy and honey trap. Theoretically, the Dominion believes that lust is sinful and the path to the dark side, but governments regularly go against their stated, lofty aims to do subversion. He was raised for this very reason to utilise charm, sensuality and various facades to prey on the psychological weaknesses of his targets and gather information. Family units are 'bourgeois' since everyone is a child of the state, so the profession name of the Zeltron was originally 'Operative' within the bureau, but to everyone else he was 'Assistant'. His street name was Rycann Assistant. It was not clear what they assist but people knew to avoid him. He was a chameleon, tailoring his personality, appearance and history to his target to ensnare them.
However, Rufus rebelled and deserted, growing tired of being manipulated. His training makes him not only a honeypot but a great infiltrator, as he knows the methods and protocols of his makers. It helps that many of his activities were hidden from the Jedi High Council. Rufus has the good looks and talents typically - and stereotypically - associated with Zeltrons, but uses pheromones strategically. He has a remarkable talent to hold up a mirror to his interlocutor. His personality is confident, suave and flirtacious, but secretly is also a bit troubled by why he was created and what he does now.
Quake (NPC) - the name is an alias she assumed during her life in the underground. Quake is a Cathar and a hardened warrior type. She is a refugee who fled the tyrannical regime of the Vaderites. Lacking formal training, she was self-taught in the Force as a rebel and loner until she was recruited by followers of the Illuminated Path. Quake has a past with the Republican Guard. The vanguard revolutionary movement fought the tyranny of the Sith and the Dominion, so she tried to join them despite its harsh stance on Force Users.
Initially this alliance worked out. The partisan commander she served under was wary of Force Users, but came to trust her since she had not been tainted by Sith or Jedi teachings. Besides, the situation was desperate. However, a fanatical commissar discovered her secret. She was destined for the asylum, so she escaped. On the run, she lived a life as an outlaw and vigilante. In terms of personality, Quake is very much a crusading knight. The Illuminated Path has given her purpose and acceptance, so she has embraced its doctrine. She follows the Light and believes that the Sith, the Dominion of Light, and even the Republican Guard, have fallen from grace. Those who will not repent must be destroyed for the good of all life.
Ruqaiya (NPC) - a Mon Calamari female and an independent who was a renegade. As a Mon Cal Force user, she would be distrusted by all major groups on Tephrike. She was trained by the Dominion, but suffered from discrimination due to its anti-Mon Calamari policies. Under the pretext of creating 'ethnic harmony', the Dominion carried out a campaign of cultural genocide to 'assimilate' the Mon Calamari. She was taken away by the state to be raised under oppressive conditions. As a neophyte Jedi, she always had to be the most zealous to prove her devotion, but suffered from discrimination. As a neophyte, she was given tasks such as going diving for mines and wreckage because she could breathe underwater.
She was injured in a skirmish with partisans, but then herself accused of being a rebel collaborator. To many of her own people, she was a traitor. Ruqaiya was observed and eventually approached by one of the Inheritors. Instead of assassinating the 'heretic', she joined them. She has been taken in and trained by the Covenant to serve as one of their agents. As is typical for her species, she can stay underwater for an indefinite period of time and is an excellent swimmer. On one mission, she used her skills as a swimmer and diver to smuggle explosives onto a Dominion water ships to blow it up.
Caylis Dre'nayr (NPC) - a Bothan member of the sect. She was one of the victims of the Vaderites' oppressive, xenocidal policies. After arriving at a camp on one of the death trains, she was forced to join a so-called special commando. This is a slave labour unit comprised of prisoners who were forced to dispose of the bodies of murdered inmates. They were given slightly better treatment than other inmates, but could not resign or refuse their orders. Those who disobeyed were murdered.
They were also forced to help captors deceive prisoners who had been condemned to death or medical experimentation. Many of the special commandos were routinely murdered by the Vaderites, who believed they knew too much, and replaced with new arrivals. The time in the camp left Caylis traumatised. She and some of her comrades were able to acquire writing materials and record what they had seen and endured. Out of five authors, only Caylis survived. She helped plan an uprising in the camp, but it failed.
It is claimed that she was saved by the Illuminator, who awakened her Force potential. She feels a fierce hatred for the Vaderites and has taken it upon herself to ensure the story of those who were condemned to be murdered in the camps does not die with them. But it is not enough to preserve their memory; they must be honoured through action. Her involvement in the special commando causes her a lot of guilt, though she would have been killed if she had refused. Due to her past, Caylis is extremely distrustful of humans and former Vaderites who claim to have seen the light. She requires them to perform visible acts of penance.
Iris Matsoukas (NPC) - Iris is a human female soldier who served the Vaderites until her desertion and subsequent defection to the Inheritors. She was conscripted into the military and fought for the Sith in many engagements during the Netherworld War. She was even allowed to join the Party. But she has seen the futility of the war and the senseless power plays. A big reason for her defection was the murder of her mentally ill cousin, whom the Vaderites had labelled as 'life unworthy of life' who was a 'drag on the state'.
She was also involved in a massacre against 'dissident' villagers. This caused her to snap. Her family still lives in Sith territory and she has cut ties with them. They consider her a race traitor. Thus she now seeks redemption for her past deeds. Though she cannot feel the Force, Iris believes she is guided by it. As a result, she takes the spiritual aspects of the sect seriously. While she is committed to the teachings of the sect, Iris does not bow and scrape before Force wielders. She has first-hand experience of their fallibility, after all. She keeps up with the magi through determination, planning, preparadness and by going to the gym an awful lot. Back when Iris still served the Sith, she was a scout trooper in a mountaineers unit and rose to the rank of sergeant. She was the sniper of her squad and is a very good shot.
Dassashk (NPC) - one of the more unusual followers of the Illuminated Path, for he is a Trandoshan mercenary and big game hunter. He is a Non-Force-User, but his species has formidable combat and hunting skills. Dassashk worships the Scorekeeper and treats his kills as prizes dedicated to her. Many think this is a weird religion, but the Inheritors are ironically open-minded about it. His comrades have apparently decided that he is just worshipping Ashla in his own, idiosyncratic way and that it would be wrong to forbid that.
After all, his faith seems to motivate him to rid the world of evil people. Dassashk looks down on Trandoshans who act like thugs and only fight easy targets. He seeks out dangerous prey, and the Covenant can provide that in spades. The more dangerous the prey, the more points the hunter receives from Lady Scorekeeper. He has taught his fellow cell members a lot about trapping and tracking. It was he who brought Quake into the fold.
Dmitris Gallakos (NPC) - a human male and a deep cover agent embedded in the KEC, the praetorian guard and secret police of the Humanist Imperium. He works in Hygiene Institute of the KEC Stormtrooper Corps, where he has designed programmes for water purification and vermin extermination. His colleagues in the KEC respect him for his technical expertise. He has worked with KEC bigwigs on the technical aspects of mass murder in death camps to 'cleanse' Humanist society of 'undesirables'. He has conducted negotiations with private businesses to supply the KEC with cyanide-based pesticides. Officially, it is used to disinfect barracks. He knows better.
Secretly, he is horrified by what he has witnessed. And he has discovered no one in the Imperium cares. On some level, every Imperial citizen has a general idea of what's going on, but no one talks about it. But they reap the benefits. His family is conservative and ardently nationalistic. If the government does 'unpleasant' things, that is surely only the doing of a few bad apples who act without the Leader's approval. Besides, the 'xenos Jedi' and the 'Xenos Guard' do far worse.
The indifference of most of his peers and the need to maintain a double identity has left him withdrawn, troubled and suspicious. Gallakos has done what he can to derail killing operations by citing technical difficulties and sometimes outright sabotaging his product. Moreover, he secretly documents and reports on atrocities. Once he was able to provide information that enabled rebels to sabotage a deportation transport. But a lot of his work boils down to documenting crimes he cannot say for certain anyone will avenge. He has provided intelligence for both the Inheritors and the Republican Guard.
Makani Scribe (NPC) - a Cerean male and the leading lorekeeper of the Illuminated Path. He has compiled a codex of actual historical information which none of the three main groups on Tephrike find palatable...for different reasons. It's actually pretty accurate, though it has some idiosyncracies since many primary sources are unavailable to him or have been corrupted. Moreover, many contradict each other. But he strives for accuracy. Makani largely does his own thing and is fixated on recovering and safeguarding the knowledge needed to one day rebuild civilisation when the Dark Age ends. He takes a holistic view instead of limiting his enquiries to Force arcana. However, he also advises on matters of the Force and does a bit of intel screening on candidates. Makani used to be a scribe in the Dominion of Light who found the truth very different from what he'd been told. He has kept his 'profession' name because it encapsulates his purpose.
Astrae (NPC) - a Force-Sensitive human female and one of the 'old guard' members of the group, which makes her one of its leaders. Prone to cynicism and with a stubborn, independent streak, she was originally trained as a Sith acolyte of the Disciples of the Vader, but rejected the terrible crimes she was ordered to perform. Having been put through an indoctrination programme, she fled when she started noticing missing time. Astrae used to be part of Lord Salus' insurrection, which aimed to change the Imperium from the inside. However, she has come to the realisation that the only way to change the Humanist system is to tear it down and build something better upon its ashes. Having grown tired of the rampant misogyny of many male Vaderites and their belief that women are somehow lesser, she has shaved her head and often wears a mask. She has a cybernetic arm from her time with the Disciples. Astrae has potent Sense abilities and a knack for discerning the true alignment of another person. This makes her a good choice for vetting potential recruits and unmasking hidden moles. As she is human, she is able to pass among Humanist society with greater ease than the alien members of the sect.
Onaconda (NPC) - a Rodian male and a cell leader among the sect's assassins. He is from Prosperity Quarter. The name is darkly ironic because it is a ghetto for 'lesser beings'. His mother worked in a sweatshop owned by Imperial war profiteers, his father was sent to a forced labour camp. The conditions were so appalling that he grew sick and perished, for he was denied medical attention on the grounds that a sick xenos was a 'useless eater'. His sister was murdered for being a teacher in an underground school. It tried to counter the Sith's efforts to eradicate the culture of the inabitants and provide the children of the quarter with an education. The police shot her in the middle of a lecture in front of the terrified schoolclass, then hung her body from a lamp post. Onaconda was adopted by a Vaderite officer as a 'pet'. The Rodian survived, not the least due to his talent as an actor. Rodians are renowned for their vibrant theatrical tradition. The Vaderites enjoyed minstrel shows and liked to make aliens stage theatrical plays that pandered to stereotypes by 'proving' the aliens' inherent inferiority to mankind. They enjoyed forcing the actors to humiliate themselves and their people.
Onaconda was good at playing his part. Many bigwigs attended the plays. Eventually he started to use his position to gather intelligence for the resistance. He joined the rebels during the rising and became known as an assassin. In the aftermath of the ghetto's destruction, Onaconda got involved with the Inheritors. He is a skilled dramatist, assassin and spy. Out of respect for his dead sister, he has tried to carry on her work by preserving lost Rodian cultural heirlooms as well as using confiscated currency to support an underground press.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The outbreak of the Gulag Virus had a profound impact on almost every inhabited world in the Galaxy. Galactic commerce came to an end, billions died from the plague and many more due to internal strife. Galactic governments collapsed and many planets succumbed to anarchy. The repercussions for Tephrike were extreme. The planet's fragile democracy had already been under fire due to racial and social tensions. Moreover, the planet was highly dependent on galactic trade. Things turned from bad to worse as the survivors warred amongst themselves.
Tephrike's small Jedi enclave tried to impose order and fight the darkness, but ended up becoming the very evil they fought against, while insisting that they were righteous. Influenced by a debased, warped interpretation of the old Jedi code, they sought to bring the planet under the control of a radical Jedi theocracy, the Dominion of Light, which took totalitarian control to new heights. Inevitably, there was opposition. Heretical Jedi turned on their masters and declared a dark crusade, forming a Sith cult that worshipped Vader as a god and believed all Force blind should be enslaved and treated as chattel. Both cultist factions were opposed by the Republican Guard, a secularist faction that drew a lot of its support from aquatic aliens, escaped clone slave-soldiers and Yuuzhan Vong.
Like most Sith movements, the Vaderites were founded by a schismatic Jedi. As the Jedi grew corrupt and sought to impose their vision on society, some grew drunk on power. One of them was Cade Seward. Thrust into command at a young age, he fell to the dark side. A vision convinced him that Darth Vader had chosen him as his champion to eclipse the light. For Vader had experienced apotheois and was now a Dark God. Indeed, the Gulag Virus had been a machination of the dark side to cleanse the Galaxy of weakness. Cade chose the name Darth Menace and was able to assemble an army that became a serious threat to the Dominion. His dark crusade was halted at Palmyra, Tephrike's old capital. But victory came at a staggering cost for the Dominion, for the city was turned into a cursed, dark side nexus.
But the Vaderite threat did not vanish. The Sith managed to carve out their own state. It was built upon a foundation of slavery, human supremacism, and tyranny. Humans who professed faith into the Vaderite religion were coopeted as a new middle class and given preferential treatment. They became the soldiers, officers, administrators and technicians of the new regime and were organised in the Humanist Party, a political machine responsible for the promotion of Vaderite ideology. Meanwhile, aliens were enslaved, confined to ghettos or exterminated. Human supremacism was enshrined in the Vaderite's Sith ideology, for there could be no place in the New Order for those deemed weak, mentally or physically 'defective' or 'racially inferior'.
Taking the Sith's obsession with rule by the strong to its logical extreme, the Disciples dispensed with more rational means of promotion by allowing a Sith to challenge his direct superior to combat to the death. The rationale behind this was that any man who could not physically defend his position did not deserve to hold it. The Sith remained at war with the Dominion and the Republican Guard, seeking to bring all of Tephrike under their jackboot.
The Illuminated Path of the Light Father came into being as the result of a schismatic movement among the Disciples that arose shortly before the Netherworld Event. At the time the arbitrary, tyrannical rule amd warmongering of Supreme Leader Hyperion had destabilised the empire. Two heretical movements arose. A group of cultists had discovered what they believed to be 'a sacred text' from the Jedi. Said text was actually a 'Galactic Civil War for Dummies' sort of book, which told the story of Vader's redemption. Thus one group proclaimed that since Vader had embraced the Light, it was their duty to do so as well as the true disciples of the Chosen One. In doing so, they would finish what he started by bringing balance to the Force. Darth Eisen, a powerful Vaderite supremo who had fallen out of favor with the Supreme Leader, knew of these 'Light Sith', but did not alert his overlord about them. Hyperion had used him as a scapegoat for military setbacks and the Dominion's bombing of Vaderite cities. Eisen believed he could use the heretics to his advantage. However, they soon eluded his control.
The other group claimed that since Vader had fallen to the light side, Palpatine was the true Dark Lord and it was their duty to destroy the false Sith. Civil war ensued. Hyperion hoped to pit both factions against the other, but the leader of the 'Light Sith', Darth Krieg, was able to rally a number of rebellious slaves to his cause by promising them freedom and better living conditions. In the end, Impaler was slain in a duel. The Sidious zealots were purged and Krieg took control. As a sign of his conversion to the new way, he renamed himself Lord Salus. He sought to reform the Sith from the inside and impose liberalisation from above. But many Sith resisted his attempts to overturn the old ways. Some, such as Eisen, went into exile, but others ostensibly swore fealty to the new regime and tried to undermine it. At no point did the 'Light Sith' exercise total control.
The Light Sith were soon embroiled in a war with the Dominion, becoming co-belligerents of the Republican Guard. The Dominion was pushed to the brink. But the de facto alliance was an uneasy one as both sides despised the other. Moreover, a number of Vaderites who had bent the knee to the new régime had not really changed their ways. This soured the accord even more, as did the Guard's policy of rounding up Force-users in communities it managed to liberate. Soon sporadic fighting had broken out. The chancellor who had supported the deal was toppled by the Guard after their failed attack on Fortress Purity, a major Dominion citadel.
This left Salus vulnerable and he was murdered. Eisen had used the chance to return from exile, but events overtook him. Radical Light Sith and freed aliens took over Prosperity Quarter, an alien ghetto, and parts of Adlerberg. The revolt was led by Commander Ci Nath, a Gungan freedom fighter. For a while freedom reigned. However, Darth Furcht, a bloody-minded despot and Grand Commander of the KEC, invaded the city. Emancipated slaves fought on to the death, knowing what fate awaited them. The Sith had to level parts of Prosperity Quarter through firebombings and artillery bombardment. Some of the fiercest fighting occured at the Altar of Vader, a Vader temple built to resemble a massive Vader mask. In defiance of their oppressors, the rebels had hoisted their flag above it. The enraged Sith threw their legions at it.
The Republican Guard had advised its cells against backing the uprising, rightly believing it was a lost cause, but many partisans disobeyed the order. Exhorted by Furcht to show no mercy and kill anything that moved, the Stormtroopers, humanist militias and Sith systematically murdered over a hundred thousand civilians and captured resistance fighters. Men, women and children were butchered. The Sith even murdered patients in their hospitals, along with the staff caring for them. The Sith expected these atrocities to break the morale of the defenders. However, the ruthless massacres only stiffened their resistance and it took months of heavy fighting for the Sith to regain control over the city. As the fighting dragged on, the rebel forces and the civilians faced serious shortages of food and water. They were able to launch breakout attempts to acquire supplies, but the shortages played a role in their eventual defeat.
Furcht became the new Supreme Leader. Finally an order was given to stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians after the new dictator realised it was decimating the slave population that was the backbone of the Sith economy. One of the humanist militia commander was executed not for committing war crimes, but for 'stealing the property of the Imperium', as the valuables he had stolen from civilian homes were supposed to be delivered to Furcht, but he had kept them for himself. But the bloodletting did not stop there. Furcht's inauguration sparked a series of brutal purges to weed out the disobedient and the faithless. Copies of the 'holy text' of the 'Light Sith' were publicly burned. However, the heresy did not go up in flames with them. The few Light Vaderites who had survived the purge linked up escaped slaves and other dissidents. Forced into hiding, they went underground, vowing one day return from the shadows.
Soon there were whispers about a secret cult. The sect came to public attention when slicers affiliated with it hacked into the Sith's communications systems. Daily propaganda programmes were interrupted by the broadcast of a figure who called themselves the Illuminator. Clad in an all-white version of Vader's armour, this figure denounced the Vaderites, calling for armed resistance against the forces of tyranny. The broadcast was accompanied by a series of coordinated strikes against military targets and infrastructure. Astrae, a rogue Sith, emerged as one of their field agents and made a name for herself. An enraged Furcht ordered the secret police and the army to strike back, sparking a wave of massive round-ups and executions. The Inheritors had struck a blow against the Sith, but also overreached themselves. Their losses were severe. But this had a learning effect.
Eventually the Vaderites' Ministery of Propaganda reported that the Skyhammer Fleet had levelled the rebels' base in an air strike and that the Illuminator had been killed by a Force demon summoned by Furcht. The body was presented by the Propaganda Ministry's war correspondents. However, after a period of silence the Illuminator resurfaced again, making periodic propaganda broadcasts. Neither the tone nor their appearance had changed, but the KEC came to realise that the sect had altered its strategy. Whereas it had once focused on propaganda of the deed, now it concentrated on ideological subversion, sedition and infiltration. It targeted ghettos, where it spread subversive literature and helped smuggle the disenfranchised out, as well as Sith academies. They also became adept at exploiting turf wars between the Sith warlords. However, government persecution also led to a schism. A group of radicals split from the sect, believing that the new gradualist approach was ineffectual. They soon turned to extremist terrorist tactics, which gave the Sith ample fodder for propaganda. Some Inheritor branches became vigilantes, focused on meting out justice.
Repeated government crackdowns exterminated many cells, but could not destroy the sect. The Vaderites came to suspect that the Inheritors were being backed by the Dominion. Indeed, for a while the Jedi Shadows considered them a useful pawn. However, the ideologues of the Windian Jedi Order also viewed their message as subversive, since it put the Dominion's claim to be the sole bastion of light into question. Their teachings were also at variance with orthodox Dominion beliefs. The assassins of the Illuminated Path did their part by conducting assassination missions meant to increase tensions between the Dominion and the Vaderites.
Initially the sect had an unofficial safe haven in certain remote Dominion provinces far from the centre, but this changed when their influence was found to be dangerously unorthodox and it became clear they were trying to recruit among the Jedi. For a while the Inheritors were able to exploit turf wars between different departments of the Dominion's government. They were even able to frame prominent Jedi and government officials as closeted Sith. However, the Inquisition was able to insert a mole and eliminate a cell of the Path in a Jedi enclave, including a senior Master of the cult. However, when Jedi Inquisitors ambushed what appeared to be the Illuminator, it turned out to be an illusion.
Privately, Jedi Cassius, leader of the Shadows, came to suspect that the Illuminator was a group of people instead of one person, or perhaps even just a projection. However, it suited both the Dominion and the Sith governments to have a convenient bogeyman they could use as a scpaegoat. Since they had never bee put down for good, the battle against their crimes must never end. Indeed, some citizens came to suspect that the Inheritors did not exist at all, but had in fact been invented by one of the powers. Though opposed to the Republican Guard, the Inheritors tried to avoid contact with it. They set up an underground railroad of sorts to help fugitive Force-Sensitives escape the Guard's grip. However, the Guard was useful because it was fighting the Dominion and the Sith. Moreover, the rogues only had limited resources. Nonetheless, the Inheritors became targets of opportunity for a fringe cell that got wind of a meeting. Jedi, Dark Sith, Light Sith - they were all oppressors of the common people. Given how much death and destruction magi had caused, this analysis was actually understandable. Thus the Guard cell planted a suitcase bomb.
The Inheritors retaliated against this attack, but their response was measured. They continued to aid fugitives from Republican Guard territory. The clandestine cell system made it difficult to stamp out the entire sect, but also created coordination issues. Their small numbers, lack of significant resources or an external patron meant that there were limits to what the Inheritors could achieve. Both the Sith and the Dominion still had strong support networks among their subject populations. A few dramatic acts of resistance would not foment revolution. The rebels had to always be on their guard against denunciation.
Ergo they were forced to focus on the micro-scale and play a long game. Though the motives and aims of the Inheritors were different, their methods came to bear a strong resemblance to those of the Banites. Darth Guile had once compared the Sith to a malignant cell, too small to be discovered by scans or other techniques, but capable of spreading silently and lethally through a system. Initially the victim did not feel right, then it fell ill, and ultimately succumbed. Though they would not have phrased it in such terms, the Inheritors sought to apply similar methods and exploit the hostilities between their foes. Subterfuge rather than direct combat had become their weapon of choice. They created a hidden sanctuary in Tephrike's polar region. Far away from civilisation and virtually inhospitable, it was an ideal hideout.
When outsiders arrived in Tephrike's orbit, the Inheritors took notice, as did their foes. Some Vaderites wondered whether the Scion of the Vader had returned. In truth, the outsiders were part of Firemane's exploration corps. However, their coming was still fortuitous because the outsiders soon ended up embroiled in war with the Dominion. The Sith rejoiced when the space people bombed Nexus City and levelled the Jedi Temple. In response to Dominion betrayal, Firemane entered an alliance of convenience with the Republican Guard and launched a punitive expedition. It ended with Fortress Purity, a major Dominion fortress, being seized by the allied forces. The Grandmaster, whose paranoia and fanaticism had sparked the conflict, was assassinated by the Council. However, the Dominion reorganised under new leadership.
Then, while it was in the process of pulling out from Tephrike, Firemane bombed Castle Maysaf. Furcht and many members of the Vaderites' Grand Council of Humanism perished. The Sith's attempt retaliate by assaulting the Firemane flagship with demons could not prevent Maysaf's destruction. The Inheritors never crossed paths with the space people. Indeed, some of their people inadvertently perished in the conflagrations. However, their foes being dealt a bloody nose please them. Some Inheritors began to wonder whether the time had come to play a more active role. A few advocated trying to make contact with the space people, mistakenly believing them to be a light sided power. Recently, agents of the Illuminated Path have started to take an interest in a young Vaderite called Kyriaki, rumoured to be the clone of one of the 'star people' from outer space. She has been placed under observation to assess her suitability as a recruit.
Last edited:
