H i s t o r y
I was the High Priestess of the Cult of Petra, I was born Force-altered within the womb of my Mother. The woman that carried me was a Dathomiri Sorceress, Petra Cavataio; my father, a Sith Master, Xander Starkiller. I had been the short of a brief relationship of the two individuals powerful enough to alter my existence while still in my mother’s womb, giving me far more power than I had intended to originally have. Fifty years into my life, I had still defined myself as an eternal student of the Force and Witch studies.
By then, I had already been the mother to Gemma, Mira, Mirus, Celeste, adoptive mother to Dharma Decuir; stepmother to Rufus and Xaviero; mate to Blade Peacecraft. The once heir of all, I had become to serve Ma’dri as her High Priestess and continuing my training still with the exact same desire I had the day I had completed my Trial by Fire.
I am a firm believer of Dathomirian animals and its nature, always hungry for knowledge that trained every day with my spells and powers. While combat had never been my strong side, I trained within that field as well. As the year progressed, I have taken upon training other Witches, within my own claim and outside it…
Beautiful Creatures
Lauda was born and raised on Dathomir, daughter of Petra Cavataio and Xander Starkiller. While still in her mother’s womb, her DNA had been manipulated and her Force sensitivity manipulated and heightened. In the first years of her life, she had been given five slaves to tend to her needs growing up, with the number slowly decreasing as the years went on. She was somewhat shielded from the outside world, most of her interaction with family and their slaves or servants as well as natives of their planet. The outsider she saw most in those early years was her father who would visit her. Ever since she had begun to understand the world around her, Lauda was a curious child, wanting to know about the things around her and all that was to come for her. She began to read at an early age after which she was given books of her own and her very own bookshelf in her quarters after which her desire for knowledge only continued to grow.
From the very start, her favorite story was one of how the Witches came to be what they were, that of Allya, and what she had taught the natives upon her arrival to Dathomir. It made her curious about powers as well, so much that it was one of the most often asked questions to Ma’dri. She wanted to learn to use powers and spells, be like her family, and achieve all that she could. Perhaps even more.
At the age of five, Lauda had been introduced to her training. On the very first day, she was taught several spells and told from Ma’dri about the future of her training, that unlike other Witches and Jai of their world she would also learn to use powers, not only chant. The presence of both of her parents only resolved the little Witch to keep going, learn all that was given to her and begin growing in all that she would become someday. Her sister Serva had tested her skill before the day was over and as a special memory, her Pa’tre tucked her in and gave her a Sith Amulet that would someday strengthen her connection to the darkside, when the time had come for it. It was also that very day that Lauda’s future devotions towards the things around her began to show as she felt was changing the weather around them, the girl’s concern for what it was doing to nature making her plead with her mother to make Serva stop. The very next day, she continued training with Ma’dri alone, learning additional Force Powers, along with spells.
As with the beginning of her training, Lauda was given full access to the scroll chamber within the Morte Stronghold which is where she continued her stories right after. A year after her training had begun, she learned additional spells. Follow the chants learned, Lauda focused herself on practicing what she had been taught. A whole year would pass as the little one practiced the learned skill before she would memorize additional spells. Much like her normal days, Lauda spent those two playing with rancors, even healing one of them from injury during a playdate), studying from the Book of Law and Book of Shadows where she found two different spells from her spellbook and even met a Nightsister with whom she had been able to practice her Shield spell for the first time to defend herself and at last when her new friend had been attacked, Lauda had applied Force Comprehension to learn an advanced form of healing, in order to heal the woman’s leg. To repay the debt, the Nightsister offered to make her a Nightsister, but the teenager had refused because she was a witch of the Morte clan. The offer remained for the future…
While her Trial by Fire had been the first day of her training, it would be far from being her last. From the day after, Lauda had started her own training diary, studying and sleeping in meditation and so much more. She would not only learn spells but also Force Powers which make a Spell and a Sith out of her, and that was what Lauda would become. The girl didn’t mind it, in fact, Lauda loved it. Lauda was never published, unlike some of her siblings, she just loved to make her parents proud, trained, and practiced. In her own mind, she grew with the knowledge she took in. It was part of her just as breathing had been.
The years had progressed and she had learned so much; and while Lauda had been aware of what was going on with her father her bond with the material family grew far stronger. These were the people she saw each day, those were the people she learned from each and every day. Just before Lauda would enter her teenager years, Ma’dri selected Serva to test her, to see what she had learned over the years past. She chose to do this by taking her out in the desert for which the girl took a single bottle of water and a small blade. The rest began almost immediately as they had exited the stronghold.
Beautiful Chaos
After her thirteenth birthday, the brunette began to change but she was also never going to be a typical teenage girl. Her curiosity had focused on her books, rancors, and family; never feeling the need or wanting to look at the Jai around her. Something about them didn’t interest her at the time that Lauda simply buried her head in her books, progressing her skills just as she felt her parents had wanted to. It had been years since her training had started, both as a Witch and a Sith. Ma’dri kept up with her progress and taught her new things constantly. Along with her regular Master-Apprentice sessions, Lauda was given access to the scroll chamber where all the spells were available to her and began memorizing them early on, even before her own lessons started. And just before her fifteenth birthday, she would have her Trial by Ancestors.
At the age of eighteen, Lauda left Dathormir for the first time - to visit her Pa’tre, in the Outer Rim, just as he was learning a new ability. She was offered to learn a few things from him and due to her nature of always being hungry for more, the teenager agreed easily.
Into the Woods
At twenty-one, Lauda had an understanding of a great many things except one. That was when the Sith Master Cameron Centurion arrived in her life. He was older, powerful, versatile in a great many things, and caught her eye all too easily. Lauda though would have never made that first mood. Cameron chose to do it, chose to seduce her. It wasn’t long before their brief relationship began; his work often kept him away from her but he came back to her for a while.
Then, Lauda learned she was pregnant, a discovery that shocked her. She was young, especially in the eyes of her world. Still, she considered it a blessing, as the growth of the Cavataio line. And there was a power she felt within her like she had never felt before. Nine months later though a lot of pain and risk, her firstborn, Gemma, came into the world. Though their relationship ended months ago, Lauda learned with the birth of their daughter that Cameron had much more to him than he originally let on. First of all, the way he was a father who fascinated her just as much as it scared her of what kind of mother she would be.
Several years passed since those events, Lauda grew plenty in that time and on what would probably be a completely ordinary day, her father came to Dathomir to see her, bringing her little brother Alistair with him. Until it was time for the boy to rest, the tow bonded, shared a meal and Lauda taught her brother a few things, such as what a word in Dathomirian meant and why she didn’t live with him and Pa’tre.
Sanies Robur. Lauda had been twenty given when she actually got a chance to talk to her Ma’dri’s slave. He was skilled in weapons combat. As always, the young woman was eager for knowledge, hungry to learn more but something in the man’s provoking made Lauda learn something about herself as well. She hated someone angering her, in the oddest way that it appealed to her. Nobody ever did such a thing except Ma’dri who could, but as a man did it, this stirred feelings the brunette didn’t know she had. Two months later, Lauda knew she was pregnant, she had invited Shery deWinter to Dathomir; where the two engaged in small talk. Lauda would meet baby Asteria, gain a few valuable tips about her pregnancy, and finally, reveal the reason why she had invited the powerful Sith Mistress to Dathomir - the two would share a meal together after which Shery would teach her several Force Powers.
In the months to come, Lauda’s family grew by another two. While her parents had more children but not with each other, Lauda herself had two more children, twins, Mira and Mirus, with the slave Sanies. Two more lives depended on her now. For a Morte Clan Witch, the experience was smooth enough, with the five slaves assigned to each of the twins to help her; making it far easier than an average mother would have it. Despite the two having a slave for a father, Lauda permitted Sanies involvement in his children's’ lives.
At some point, Lauda would spend time with her younger sister Ancilla, who had the same father as her twins.
Responsibility
As the twins came of age, they were given their Trial by Fire then learned additional spells. Much like she had her own Trial, Lauda would summon Serva to test her children. But as wild bull rancors of Dathomir went, Petra sent Lauda and Serva to solve the problem. Separating and enlisting their other siblings, the sisters went out to deal with the situations. With the two bull rancors on her path and a group of Witches behind her, and with her Mother’s rancor Destra, Lauda was forced to kill one of the wild Rancors but while showing mercy to the animal, the other witnessed the event. Approached by the other bull rancor, Lauda comminuted with the male by using Spell of Communication. That same night, a bond was formed between the Witch and her companions. Pervicax, as the rancor as announced himself, became her friend soon after and with Destra’s acceptance part of their herd. The bond between the Witch and the rancor would only continue to grow from that moment on, to the point where he truly became Lauda’s best friend and would forever remain that.
Anna Sachae, originally having been one of Ma’dri’s slaves, became more important in the family as the young girl was to be claimed by the Superior Mother, and would be introduced to Lauda who wished to meet the stranger and welcome her into the family. The two spent the afternoon together in which Lauda had Anna meet Pervicax. While originally terrified, Anna ended up meeting her own future companion the same day.
Then a young girl had wandered into the Morte Clan land, only aged seven. Lauda could not help herself, instantly loving the girl who introduced herself as Dharma Decuir. Both she and Serva instantly took the girl under their wing and began to train her, and due to how much affection Lauda showed the child, she adopted her as her own, and Dharma was given a second name Lauda’Caelum Cavataio, from then on known as La’Ca. It was obvious though from the very beginning that the child was quite unique and gifted in the Force as Lauda put it simply. There were those who feared the child within the clan due to her talents but Lauda would have none of herself and her views were mimicked quickly by both Mira and Mirus who accepted La’Ca as their sister, Mira opening up to her even more than her twin brother. Early on, the girl began to explore relationships similar to the way Petra did in the family like the Cavataio, such things were easily accepted.
Soon after, a man crashed on Dathomir and ended up being hunted by Witches. Along for the hunt, Lauda and Serva helped the other Witches while trying to keep little La’Ca in check during her play with the large rancor Frags. The foreigner Loque ended up in the stronghold where Lauda acted as his hostess and the two engaged in a brief conversation that ranged from pleasant to unpleasant, and back and forth.
Lauda traveled to Corellia, where she met a Jedi Master with whom she exchanged words as well as a meal, only to find out more about him, as well as where he came from. The Jedi Master’s brother attacked the two and after a struggle, Lauda took the man’s life with a spell. She easily justified what she had done by the fact that the murdered man had hurt her and the Jedi who had been with her through that entire time, she had taken a liking to the Jedi though on the trip back to Dathomir with him, the two ended up with a fight, allowing her to see she had been mistaken him in his ways, as well as her views on outsiders which had somewhat changed that days, without her even fully realizing it.
Years passed Lauda’s role of simply being a student changed. Her role in the family began to further, where she was no longer just a member of the family and her mother’s third child of Dathomir but also, along with Serva, helped her when it came to the family and clan. Due to the Unification of the clans, Lauda found herself doing more work on behalf of the clan and family, talking on the role of the second in command along with her sister far more as time progressed. Then as the Sith Emperor arrived, Lauda recognized an old fling, Cameron Centurion, as Ma’dri sent her out to greet the man and give him a tour of the planet. Along with her other duties, Lauda traveled along Dathomir due to the new role, she had reached a group of nightsisters at one point, offering them help in rebuilding their home where she had even met Olivia Black, who had returned to Dathomir after being away for many years. The young woman had been a Singing Mountain Clan native and was given a chance to speak privately to Lauda, when she had shared this information. With the help of Pervicax, the two traveled to the Mountain. Soon after, Lauda also met Alita Halcyon, a Sith Knight, with roots to the Witch home planet.
Once in a Lifetime
During an ordinary day, Lauda’s routine of any day; the Witch met a Jai; Blade Peacecraft, which had dueled one of the younglings with her natural instinct to protect the animals rising. However, the more she spoke to the man, the more the Witch felt attracted to him, to the point of going further with the man, which was uncharacteristic to her in so many ways. Spending time with him, Lauda learned how he trained other Jai, and then Blade had cooked for her. The conversation took a certain path, they ended up talking about the subject of claiming where Lauda confessed her desire to claim him. Hesitant at first, Blade returned to the important subject, accepting her offer after to see just how serious she was.
It was only after meeting Blade and realizing her feelings with him that Lauda learned from Serva whom he was already claimed by. It was only after meeting Blade and realizing her feelings with him did Lauda learn from Serva whom she was already claimed by; her mother ended being the woman warfare which the young woman knew exactly what she needed to do because her feelings were extremely close to her, and before the day was through, Serva revealed to her the history of their mother, one of which Lauda knew nothing about - the story of Winter Widori who was the last woman to have such an impact of Petra, before Anna. Her big sister feared history repeating itself and enlisted Laude to make sure they were ready in case their mother fell down the same dark path again. As if she had known, Ma’dri came for a visit again. Once Ma’dri gave her permission though, Lauda was free to visit and spend time with Blade. She would claim Blade soon after, then along to being a mother to her own children, she would be stepmother to Rufio and Xaviero.
Celeste Cavataio would be born to the new couple soon enough, their first daughter.
Priestess to the Superior Mother
With all the changes taking place, her mother sought up a union with the Sith Imperium; and with Sith Imperium, making Serva Morte Clan Ma’tri and Lauda Priestess to the Superior Mother. The new role would have been joyous for the young Witch if Serva wasn’t to make their brother Nox a target cast him out of the claim as her first ct as clan mother.
When La’Ca when finally revealed her desire to go back to her own family, the Decuirs, Lauda gave her her blessings; the child was set off back to her own clan, forever to be considered a part of the Cavataio family, a member of the Morte clan and very dear to the Cavataio hearts. Lauda had spent first some time with one of her times with Ma’dri’s slaves. Kari. As her mother called upon a young Witches to train them as well, as a trial with Pervicax; her plans changed, she would help, by other Witches. As part of duties, she helped Ma’dri train younger Witches, including teaching them how to bond with Rancors of their herd, much to her pleasure since Lauda enjoyed her times with the Herd, her Pervicax more than any of them. Her duties included accompanying the Superior Mother in meetings with outsiders, while versed in certain aspects of socializing with outsiders, negotiations such as the ones with the Sith over Hapes, Lauda left for Petra to lead, learning in the process.
Soon after, young Nessarose deWinter, at thirteen, would arrive on the planet, with Lauda continuing her training after it had been started by the girl’s Aunt Isobel Dessel. Unable to show her the Book of Dathomir as per their culture, Lauda instead used her own spellbook to teach the young girl; before venturing into the wilderness with Pervicax to further Nessa’s training of spells. Sometime after, Lauda met Gareth Darkhold the younger, upon his visit to Dathomir. Her own flame and friend, Cameron Centurion, would come to the planet to see their daughter and discuss more relevant topics. On such occasions, Lauda acted as the Priestess tending to her guest, while making a deal with him that she would teach them more of the Witch’s culture while he would teach her more Force Powers. Not long after, Lauda would take Il’Sirus Fiore as her student, and soon after continue Nessarose’s training.
Much time afterward, as the Cult of Petra flourished, Lauda became a High Priestess within it… TBA
Beautiful Darkness
Life resumed on Dathomir, in the times of old. The Witches had flourished under the rule of the Superior Mother and their world had peace but as time passed, Serva had warned Lauda once of the impending darkness within their Ma’dri. Lauda did not believe her. Not until the day she had lost her life at her hands, as did the rest of them. In the afterlife, she had peace and happiness with Blade, united together, and unburdened by many of her issues.
Then, Petra chose to restore her life, chose to rip her from the depths of her happiness.
For a time, this had broken Lauda’s spirit, being taken from Blade. She secluded within the once ruined home he had built for them, restoring it. She spoke to him, even when he wasn’t there though she knew her spirit was with her still, in her memories she had achieved the ability to communicate with him, to keep him at her side to an extent. In the end, Blade had been one to help her recover, restore her mind completely. With the hell of her only love, Lauda returned to her studies, found new Witches to train with, and finally returned to her family. Though her life became more that of solitude, she returned to her own self again, remembered what was important; who was important, and devoted her life to her family and studies once again.