Igni Irae
[member="Tegaea Alcori"], [member="Laira Darkhold"]
Given their divergent life experiences, both girls approached matters from different angles. Elpsis' father had been a Sith. However, he had not turned good. He'd been a monster and died as one. She was the spawn of him forcing himself on her mother Coryth Elaris, whom he had also sadistically tortured and infected with Sith Poison. Siobhan had ripped his spine out and sent him to the Netherworld, where Elpsis had achieved some catharsis by beating the crap out of him.
And the Kerrigan-Alcori clan had spent many years fighting Sith. Siobhan had been possessed, Tegaea tortured by one. So in short, she was not inclined to believe in redemption. To her, Vader had not atoned for his sins by saving his son. It did not wash the blood away. Bottom line, when she saw Sith, she shot them. She did not sit them down and ask them to explain themselves.
Was the Dominion good? Probably not. It's led by Jedi, after all, she thought. She'd sensed Mara's very palpable fear of being punished for 'heresy'. But how much of their authoritarian, reactionary nature was due to circumstance and Tephrike's long isolation and how much due to malevolence? After all, Firemane had dealt with the Eldorai and the Qadiri, even uplifted them to an extent, and neither of whom had been nice sorts.
Perhaps Mara sensed that one was sceptical. She was not inclined to suddenly let this go. "I can show you on a map," she said determinedly. "They have their base in a castle. It is a cursed place. They sustain themselves through the toil of slaves."
"You can show us," Elpsis patted Mara on the shoulder. "Laira...can you access the datapad over there and bring up the pictures Mum sent us?" she would have done it herself, but it was a bit awkward to play with a computer screen when you could not see anything on it.
"Thank you," Mara said gratefully. "Have you fought many Sith?"
"A bunch of them. Killing them is kind of the family business. Heavy risks, but it's less me sleep easier knowing that there's a couple monsters less to hurt innocents. Fought a Dark Lord level Sith Lady twice. Burnt her lung. That was fun." The part where Elpsis lost an arm had been less fun. Her left arm itched slightly. Phantom pain was a thing.
"You must be very brave."
Elpsis looked a bit embarrassed, coughed. "Yeah, well, just doing my part. Anyway, after you've shown us, there's something important we gotta do. There's a lot of diseases your people would not know of and I don't want you to go catch something and get sick. So we need to administer..."
"Vaccination," Mara interjected. "Yes, I understand. The Dominion has such things as well."
xxx
Nyssa would, ironically, take offence if she was compared to the 'cultist Sith', as she referred to them rather disparagingly. To her, they were poseurs, fakes and thieves who had appropriated and bastardised the culture of her ancient, proud people. They had desecrated Korriban and the other Sith worlds and now had the gall to claim that they were true Sith. This was one of the many reasons why she did not affiliate with any of the 'Sith' groups.
"I see the poseurs did not even have the decency to pick a proper Sith as their icon. No, it had to be Palpatine's attack dog. Another human. Are you sure they're not Lost Ren, ma'am?" she asked contemptuously. "Can we eradicate them?" she asked half-seriously. A woman could dream, after all.
She would be alright with killing Jedi, as well. Both would be ideal. Being a Red Sith who had been raised on stories about the Old Republic's campaign to eradicate her people, she did not trust or like Jedi one bit. She hoped Elpsis was not too trusting just because their captive was cute and had innocent doe eyes. She frowned slightly. "The Death Troopers are a secretive lot. Evasive. Closed cult. Could not discover anything concrete yet. Seemed upset about missing the action - not that there was much to miss. You don't trust them."
It was phrased as a statement, not a question. It was difficult to run a campaign when you felt the need to look over your shoulder. This she knew as an experienced soldier. Others might argue that this could be a peaceful first contact, but Nyssa was inherently cynical. She would never trust Jedi.
xxx
The Council was in uproar when Mahtara arrived. This was supposed to be the place where the wisest of the Jedi Masters determined the will of the Force in peaceful communion and saw to it that said will was executed. She had yet to see this happen.
"We must enter negotiations with these outsiders," one of the Jedi Masters declared.
"Have you lost your mind? They are emissaries of darkness. Demons made flesh, animated by the Dark Side. We must resist this incursion."
"And they appear to have technology far in advance of ours. Would you have the faithful die for nothing?"
"Better to die on your feet than serve evil on your knees.Do you even know for certain their technological terrors are so advanced? Machines cannot overcome the will of the Light" a radical Master thundered.
"We must attend to reality, not fantasy, my friends. If life has survived beyond Tephrike, there may be more Jedi. Moreover, who is to say that the star people will not extend aid to the Sith or the heretical rebels if we turn them away? Then our enemies will multiply and our worst fears will become reality."
"So you would choose cowardice over..," the Master never got to finish this train of thought as the Battlemaster entered. Her arrival was heralded by her two guards, who each carried a halberd.
"Enough." Her voice was strong enough to carry across the entire room. "Some battles are fought by a clash of blades, others through subtler means. Consider this: It is almost certain that the Vaderite barbarians and the rebel heretics have spotted the starships in Tephrike's orbit. We cannot afford to think in parochial terms. When our forebears proclaimed that no life existed beyond Tephrike, they were operating on the best of information they possessed at the time. Their decrees shielded our world from the darkness that engulfed the Galaxy. But it may be the will of the Force that we enter into contact with the outside world once more. We will treat with these outsiders and learn their secrets for the betterment of the Dominion."
Given their divergent life experiences, both girls approached matters from different angles. Elpsis' father had been a Sith. However, he had not turned good. He'd been a monster and died as one. She was the spawn of him forcing himself on her mother Coryth Elaris, whom he had also sadistically tortured and infected with Sith Poison. Siobhan had ripped his spine out and sent him to the Netherworld, where Elpsis had achieved some catharsis by beating the crap out of him.
And the Kerrigan-Alcori clan had spent many years fighting Sith. Siobhan had been possessed, Tegaea tortured by one. So in short, she was not inclined to believe in redemption. To her, Vader had not atoned for his sins by saving his son. It did not wash the blood away. Bottom line, when she saw Sith, she shot them. She did not sit them down and ask them to explain themselves.
Was the Dominion good? Probably not. It's led by Jedi, after all, she thought. She'd sensed Mara's very palpable fear of being punished for 'heresy'. But how much of their authoritarian, reactionary nature was due to circumstance and Tephrike's long isolation and how much due to malevolence? After all, Firemane had dealt with the Eldorai and the Qadiri, even uplifted them to an extent, and neither of whom had been nice sorts.
Perhaps Mara sensed that one was sceptical. She was not inclined to suddenly let this go. "I can show you on a map," she said determinedly. "They have their base in a castle. It is a cursed place. They sustain themselves through the toil of slaves."
"You can show us," Elpsis patted Mara on the shoulder. "Laira...can you access the datapad over there and bring up the pictures Mum sent us?" she would have done it herself, but it was a bit awkward to play with a computer screen when you could not see anything on it.
"Thank you," Mara said gratefully. "Have you fought many Sith?"
"A bunch of them. Killing them is kind of the family business. Heavy risks, but it's less me sleep easier knowing that there's a couple monsters less to hurt innocents. Fought a Dark Lord level Sith Lady twice. Burnt her lung. That was fun." The part where Elpsis lost an arm had been less fun. Her left arm itched slightly. Phantom pain was a thing.
"You must be very brave."
Elpsis looked a bit embarrassed, coughed. "Yeah, well, just doing my part. Anyway, after you've shown us, there's something important we gotta do. There's a lot of diseases your people would not know of and I don't want you to go catch something and get sick. So we need to administer..."
"Vaccination," Mara interjected. "Yes, I understand. The Dominion has such things as well."
xxx
Nyssa would, ironically, take offence if she was compared to the 'cultist Sith', as she referred to them rather disparagingly. To her, they were poseurs, fakes and thieves who had appropriated and bastardised the culture of her ancient, proud people. They had desecrated Korriban and the other Sith worlds and now had the gall to claim that they were true Sith. This was one of the many reasons why she did not affiliate with any of the 'Sith' groups.
"I see the poseurs did not even have the decency to pick a proper Sith as their icon. No, it had to be Palpatine's attack dog. Another human. Are you sure they're not Lost Ren, ma'am?" she asked contemptuously. "Can we eradicate them?" she asked half-seriously. A woman could dream, after all.
She would be alright with killing Jedi, as well. Both would be ideal. Being a Red Sith who had been raised on stories about the Old Republic's campaign to eradicate her people, she did not trust or like Jedi one bit. She hoped Elpsis was not too trusting just because their captive was cute and had innocent doe eyes. She frowned slightly. "The Death Troopers are a secretive lot. Evasive. Closed cult. Could not discover anything concrete yet. Seemed upset about missing the action - not that there was much to miss. You don't trust them."
It was phrased as a statement, not a question. It was difficult to run a campaign when you felt the need to look over your shoulder. This she knew as an experienced soldier. Others might argue that this could be a peaceful first contact, but Nyssa was inherently cynical. She would never trust Jedi.
xxx
The Council was in uproar when Mahtara arrived. This was supposed to be the place where the wisest of the Jedi Masters determined the will of the Force in peaceful communion and saw to it that said will was executed. She had yet to see this happen.
"We must enter negotiations with these outsiders," one of the Jedi Masters declared.
"Have you lost your mind? They are emissaries of darkness. Demons made flesh, animated by the Dark Side. We must resist this incursion."
"And they appear to have technology far in advance of ours. Would you have the faithful die for nothing?"
"Better to die on your feet than serve evil on your knees.Do you even know for certain their technological terrors are so advanced? Machines cannot overcome the will of the Light" a radical Master thundered.
"We must attend to reality, not fantasy, my friends. If life has survived beyond Tephrike, there may be more Jedi. Moreover, who is to say that the star people will not extend aid to the Sith or the heretical rebels if we turn them away? Then our enemies will multiply and our worst fears will become reality."
"So you would choose cowardice over..," the Master never got to finish this train of thought as the Battlemaster entered. Her arrival was heralded by her two guards, who each carried a halberd.
"Enough." Her voice was strong enough to carry across the entire room. "Some battles are fought by a clash of blades, others through subtler means. Consider this: It is almost certain that the Vaderite barbarians and the rebel heretics have spotted the starships in Tephrike's orbit. We cannot afford to think in parochial terms. When our forebears proclaimed that no life existed beyond Tephrike, they were operating on the best of information they possessed at the time. Their decrees shielded our world from the darkness that engulfed the Galaxy. But it may be the will of the Force that we enter into contact with the outside world once more. We will treat with these outsiders and learn their secrets for the betterment of the Dominion."