Private On Dark Matters

[Lirka Ka]

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When Lirka had first been placed into her job at the Ministry of Order, she had been less than enthused - insulted even. Being a seasoned veteran like herself, the very notion of subsuming her grand work as the Slavemaster General into the pretty veneer of legal "policework" brought a shudder to her wretched form. Yet, times had changed. Transience was an important aspect of the eternal struggle and as much as Lirka had a penchant to mope and seethe, she had come to enjoy one aspect of her new position quite a lot: access to files on the various people populating this Empire. What good was a police-state if they couldn't have accurate predictors for could-be-criminals?

Really, Lirka just used to feed her rather unfortunate habit of stalking anyone or anything she found interesting.

Few things were more interesting, and dangerous, to Lirka than wayward dark-siders. Which one Vakhari Korden had fallen right into that category. The girl had plenty going for her even without that fact. Lirka always enjoyed fleshcrafters, those monsters who created their own beasts. Too much time around the Sith alchemists had made her long for the simpler things in science, the twisting of genetics, the mutation of flesh into a form most suitable, none of this...sorcerous gibberish that the Force Dead brute could only minorly grasp.

Lirka had kept a cautious, yet uncharacteristically kind, approach to this newest of potential allies. After her last bout on Anoth with Serina Calis when she had made an attempt to figuring out a wayward dark-sider - it had ended rather poorly. She kept a knife close this time, and a tone infinitely more casual. For the inklings of Rhand existed in this Arkanian, and while by most metrics Lirka loathed the Sorcerers and their wretched ilk - anyone with an inkling of interest towards the Dark was a rare thing in this Empire. Biases would have to be cast aside for once in Lirka's long, hateful, life.

She had picked a meeting place most discreet, the looming black brick that was her dungeon ship Shackles of Ambition Lirka's base of operations as much as it was her mobile laboratory for all the miserable matters of keeping her foul form from dissolving. It was a miserable, chaotic, place. The air hung heavy with the sorrow of "prisoners" tossed in cells for the mere crime of existing, or looking like suitable meatstock for Lirka's own ventures into fleshcraft. Yet, the meeting chamber itself was a pitifully dull thing of black iron. Merely a desk, some almost humorously large chairs for the two of them, and drab, clinical lighting.

Lirka kept herself as the focus of the room, the metal goliath sat herself down. Glowing slit lenses locked towards the door as she eagerly awaited the arrival of this Vakhari girl. Already strumming over the possibilities in her mind...Rhandites, such a horrible thing. And yet perhaps they were just what this Empire needed...

 

[Vakhari Korden]

Tag: Lirka Ka

Little did the Arkanian expect to be almost snatched up from her current little workshop, the Kainate troopers having a dwindling patience as the strange woman skittered about her laboratory like a rat. After some pushing they had finally gotten her and some things she desired to bring aboard their vessel.

It didn't seem like it had taken too long, perhaps due to her insistence on always making sure her brain was thinking on something new. With the woman snapping out of her self-made daze as the transport had docked within a larger ship, the blankness and drab of the place didn't offend the newest visitor of the day.. She in fact loved the soulness clinical-like lighting.

Though, she couldn't help but squint at corners and crevices, seeking out any signs of unsterile filth. It took a trooper again to move her onward to combat against her sporadic attention, eventually finally arriving where she was supposed to be.

The troopers under Lirka give their commander a nod before shutting the door behind Vakhari, with the woman of the hour herself raising a brow. It had been explained that she was brought here to speak with one 'Lirka Ka' , yet with her being rather fresh to the Order as a whole.. She had no idea what this was really about or who Lirka is.

With at least now being able to say she knows what they look like- somewhat?

From an outward glance Vakhari hardly looked intimidating, being small in stature and petite in build. Looking rather funny one could say as she approached and took a seat in the chair much too large for her size.

"You must be Lir-"

A faint garbling screeching could be heard, Vakhari looking confused as she began to search through her things, soon finding the source of the noise... A fleshy lump that was imprisoned in a medical grade jar.

Vakhari snaps her fingers a few times, alerting something else in her bags that came to life. A quadrupedal droid bearing a human skull sprang forth.

"M0rtis, please terminate this."

The droid's lights flicker a few times, like how when a droid normally speaks, yet this seemed to be something only Vakhari herself could hear.

"It doesn't matter- Just- The nearest airlock or toilet, and quickly."

Soon 'M0rtis' would wander off, jar clutched within his claw.

"Apologies, you must be Lirka Ka, correct? You wished to speak with me about something?"



​

 

[Lirka Ka]

​

Once a slaver, always a slaver they said. And for matters of such grim importance as their meeting today, Lirka felt little compulsion to offer the meager creature comforts she might have given to a lesser being to soothe their nerves. She had much higher expectations for Vakhari Korden than she did the usual lot of legionaries that drew her eye.

And now those slit-like eyes, glowing green in the bleak semi-dark of her office, looked upon her quarry with fascination. Immediately Lirka began taking her mental notes, putting aside what she deemed important enough to consider for the future. Small, unassuming - though Lirka had learned the hard way that size was not everything when dealing with the esoteric. Exceptionally sporadic, the mark of a genius she chalked it up to.

The brief interruption before their exchange could begin made the once-Sephi’s brow raise. Truly fascinating. Lirka certainly had never been so bold as to keep some of her work on her person like that - well, long as one didn’t count all the meat beneath her armor as “her work”. Another note, though Lirka decided not to mention it for the time being.

“I am she.”

She looked the Arkanian over once, twice, and a third time before speaking again. Plain and matter a fact, the true darkness of their meeting was something to be coaxed out - just like the grim enlightenment Lirka had found when she had learned the ways of Rhand.

“That would be correct, Vakhari Korden. You see I am, officially at least, a representative of the Sith-Imperial Ministry of Order. Our criminal predictive models put a note on you as a wayward Dark Sider with a position not currently disclosed with the wider Sith and their institutions.”

Lirka placed her wrists to the table, clicking the metal clawtips of her fingers against one another as she spoke.

“Unofficially, a Dark Sider would never actually be prosecuted by the ministry. No, their note is the same as mine. You see, you have caught my eye. I too am a flesh crafter, admittedly more of a hobbyist than anything. Yet far more importantly - I too am a wayward thing, one of the lot that has fallen outside the Order and their beliefs.”

The first crumb laid out. While Lirka was confident that this room was not wire-tapped by the wider empire, she rarely dared to speak the name of Rhand unprompted. All she needed to do now was see if the girl nabbed onto the bait, to see that there was a meager kindred between these two strangers meeting in odd circumstance.

 

[Vakhari Korden]

Tag: Lirka Ka

"I do suppose it is true, while I may use the dark I can't say I find myself fully seeing Sith ideals.. I was taught in a place tucked away from everything, finding my place between occultists and engineers. There was never a code to follow when it came to what we made and used- Things like that just don't matter for what we did."

Vakhari had learned in a cold environment, where things such as socializing was just wasted time.

"Ah but that isn't too interesting.. For me I simply like to craft destruction. I can never fully explain why I like it, and that isn't even to hide secrets."

It would seem Lirka had gotten a bite, learning more as Vakhari continued on.

"We all tend to think, most of the time we think too hard. I believe that is my issue, I can't help but overthink. Perhaps the easiest way to describe it is that I just like it, to watch something or someone be destroyed by my own creation."

An admission of guilt, signed and sealed- Well, if she did feel guilty.

"It is always lovely to meet another who sculpts! It is all only a luxury though, no matter how much I sculpt someone to be a next model- It will never stop the decay of the universe."

She undo's her mask, letting Likra see her full face now.

"Do you think that by the end, the universe will be birthed anew? And those who stood the test of time would get to live it all again?"

It was something she pondered from time to time, a thought she wished to share. ​

 

[Lirka Ka]

Patiently, Lirka listened. She strummed over every word out of Vakhari’s mouth. Lirka had also learned the hard way time and time again about being rash - patience was a virtue gained in ancient age like hers. Briefly did she raise her palm, a small gesture of reassurance.

“The Sith are a useful lot. Yet, their beliefs inaccurate to the true way of things. They are blinded by matters of Jedi and Sith, Republics and Empires.”

​

Heretical words. Though Lirka welcomed heresy into her heart openly, the Primordial Dark demanded change - be it physical, or ideological.

“On quite the contrary, I find the isolated communities of the Galaxy very interesting. Especially one that can birth an individual of your…unique set of skills.”

And any who walked the dark path offered another piece to the grand puzzle of belief. Another potential theological dive, another through line for Lirka to draw between all the dark places of the Galaxy till all understood the boundless grasp of that Darkness Primordial.

“Yet, it is your ability to think that makes us more than beasts - no? We think, we learn, we evolve into something more.”

Lirka certainly was a thinker. It was those long long decades with little more to do than think that had driven her to brink of madness, and yet had brought her to dark revelation all the same.

“Destruction is a tantalizing thing to the overthinker, isn’t it? It’s so…simple. So pure. What is there to think on the path of destruction, one must simply do. Even easier for us crafters, we merely must mold the flesh, not even bring the blade down ourselves.”

Quite the prattler, Lirka was. Yet, as Vakhari Korden spoke of the end. Lirka’s interests were steeled, yes. This girl had already begun to take the steps down the path, even if she didn’t know it yet.

“It is not our place to stop the end-of-all-things. But, I too have pondered that which you ask. No. The end is merely that, the end. There will be no rebirth, no grand recreation for the unfortunate immortals to suffer through again. A simple return to nothingness.”

While the Arkanian may have dropped her mask, for now Lirka did no such thing. The woman would have to be content with speaking to a blank-faced helm of marred and hastily repaired metal.

“Yet, there are those who wish to speed along the end…tell me girl have you ever heard of Rhand?”

Even now, Lirka couldn’t help but speak that wretched place’s name with reverence.

 

[Vakhari Korden]

Tag: Lirka Ka
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“Yet, there are those who wish to speed along the end…tell me girl have you ever heard of Rhand?”

Lirka would get her answer immediately before Vakhari even opened her mouth, for there was no spark in the girl's eyes, no excitable expression. What was painted upon the canvas was the typical stare, the average mild raising of the brow. She was in thought, and she could not recall hearing about such a person or place.

"I cannot say the name rings a bell."

The way Lirka had spoken the words, it was clear to Vakhari that Lirka had an energy about this topic.

"I couldn't agree more, all I have seen so far has led me to believe that the Sith spend more time fighting over theological texts with their counterpart. I will say however that both fuel the decay of all things, Sith tend to be more upfront about their destructive tendencies where as the Jedi are led to believe they are doing a righteous act by slaying those who do not follow their doctrine."

No one was exempt, but it mattered not on what was considered good or evil.

"I believe we all contribute to the end of all things, for in those times the yawning void cares not what we consider good or evil."

Lirka was an interesting individual, the two seemed to agree on a lot of things so far.

"On the subject of your interest in isolated places, I come from Yalara. Learned at an academy there that teaches the occult, I wouldn't say the place is normally welcoming... And the mistress of the place is an odd one. A Sangnir lich, she is part of the Order I think?"

She taps a rhythm on the table, thinking over everything.

"I learned a lot, I was part of a guild of crafters that call Yalara home. The 'necrotechs' is the name, skilled in the art of modifying the undead along with themselves with technology. Most at the academy don't dive deeply into the politics or debates between Jedi and Sith, our time is spent learning. Some like the head mistress seem to tap their minds into the stars to look for knowledge or find strange beings."

Vakhari waves her hand while shaking her head.

"But enough about that, sorry I tend to carry on. I am interested in whatever this 'Rhand' is, person? Place?"
​

 

[Lirka Ka]

For once, ignorance was a useful thing. Rhand was a distant, odd, world. Yet holy nonetheless. A footnote in the history of the dark side but to Lirka, unparalleled in importance. The site of revelation, the first place where the Galaxy had come to understand the true darkness that dwelled beneath reality.

“I’m not shocked. It is not a place the Sith would speak of.”

Though, Lirka quickly quipped in a correction. A self styled theologian, she would rarely tolerate a disparaging of that most important of work.

“The battle of theology is an important one. It is the brawl of understanding by which we come to understand our world…of course, a biased one. The biggest star destroyer is what determines popular belief at the end of the day.”

It was ironic really, Vakhari Korden did not know of Rhand yet she was already so close to the Way of the Dark. Dangerously close. Yet for now Lirka listened to the talk of Yalara - she was unfamiliar with the world though it certainly sounded like the sort of miserable place that fell under the umbrella of Lirka’s preferred tourism destinations. Of course, machinations of the occult and the meandering of academies were well beyond the stature of a Sith-Imperial like herself. Especially one so detached from politics. Lirka had been a Grand Moff after all, politics ran in her blood.

“A fascinating world. I will add it to my future research - the machinations of the necromancers among the Order are a distant thing to me. I am force dead, as I am most certain you have already noticed. Yet - what a better way to be unburdened in the manner of belief. I believe what I believe, unclouded by the Force. A small reminder that I speak with wisdom, girl."

Lirka thought highly of herself, that much was obvious. Though far more importantly, it dealt with matters of Rhand, and a hope that she could impart her wisdom of that horrible place upon this girl and for once someone in this damnable Empire would actually listen to what she had to say.

"Rhand is a planet, but that is an understatement of its malevolence. It is planet, people, and belief. A hidden place, far in the Unknown Regions locked away in the Perann Nebula. A world that preaches annihilation and destruction, for it was upon Rhand where the evil that rendered Csilla to dust would gather - an evil I was among. For you see, Rhand is home to a sect of Sorcerers. The aptly named Sorcerers of Rhand."

Lirka's tempo began to rise, and with it so did her person. Rising from the chair as the ever so slight hint of madness etched into her words - it was to be expected, how many people could say they were a part of the marauding force that destroyed a planet?

"The words they preach are not dissimilar to your own. The clarion call of the End-of-all-things. The Dark. Only power is real, and the only real power is the power to destroy."

She spouted out the mantra effortlessly, evidently, Lirka had spent plenty of time among these sorcerers. And it was true, so many long years locking herself away on that world to drink of the foul knowledge locked within its ancient vaults.

"It's beautifully simple is it not? Such a thoughtless way of life, devoted so utterly to death. Devotion to the act of destruction, all life is made to destroy, a siren's call for people like us. The thinkers. The makers. More addictive than the purest of spice from the most pristine of mines. They wax of the power granted in destruction, by the Darkness that stands beyond the Force itself. Their long lives are devoted to bringing about the death of all life till their Darkness claims them. As they rot, as they wither away, as they dissolve into something that should not exist."

Her hands slammed to the table, a zealot's ecstasy oozing from that mask. A believer, once again walking the cusp of revelation. So many memories of boundless cruelty flashed before her mind, all the suffering that had taken Lirka down the path of the Rhandite.

"Look out, Vakhari Korden. Look beyond the veil, do you see it? That darkness, inching closer with every microsecond, that darkness that claws at the edge of your being, dragging you down into nothingness? The darkness that pits star against star? The holy name of Rhand has been invoked. Can you feel it? Can you feel that Darkness beyond Darkness?"

Her slit-like lenses glared with unblinking intensity as the fires within her rose. So much for casualness.

 

[Vakhari Korden]

Tag: Lirka Ka

It was clear that this subject was admired and held dear by Lirka, the slave master's short sized visitor had naery an expression upon her pale face as Lirka sung in reverence about Rhand, and the holy destruction that was taught by these mysterious sorcerers far away from populated space... Sounded close to Yalra in some ways, though the cultists there were far more concerned with the cosmic and the will of their goddess to bother with destruction.

At first it seemed like the snowy woman showed no signs of interest, oddly soulness as Lirka preached about a grand darkness that swirled around her, and how she should look and listen. The world turns blank around her as she envisions it- as they envision it.

This being- this spawn of evil that had bonded itself within Vakhari. It rarely spoke, but always listened. Were they truly separate? Or was it a deep seed of foulness that seemed to keep the girl distanced from death?

"It's beautiful."

The words escape her mouth, shaken yet soft. What appeared to be signs of disinterest was the opposite, the girl becoming so swept in through, so enamored by this destined darkness.

"Perann nebula.. There is no way any vessels within the Order normally travel there, suppose I might have to make this trip myself."

Another topic of interest was some things Lirka had mentioned earlier, and with her own intrusive desires taking over, Vakhari would place down a plain looking tome down upon the table. She scoots it gently over to Lirka, watching.

"What do you see?"

A plain looking tome with a simple lock on the front, said lock able to be twisted to open the book up. If Lirka indulged Vakhari in her little study and examined this tome to provide feedback, she would see that the pages were all blank. No markings, no ritualistic symbols.. Nothing. ​

 

[Lirka Ka]

​

The girl’s lack of expression ultimately bothered Lirka little. She did spend most of her days within the blank-faced helm atop her head - expressions were a powerful thing. A window into thought, and thought was something to be kept hidden in the dangerous, backstabbing, lands of the Sith.

Yet, the thought remained within Lirka’s mind that perhaps she had misjudged Vakhari Korden and instead now hurled herself into the fires of heresy alone. But, Lirka had learned patience in her long life and today she would be patient. It was a lot to drop on someone immediately, but it was the overwhelming nature of it that had made the call of Darkness so tantalizing to Lirka in the past. And finally, response.

Lirka’s words hummed out in agreement and warning.

“Yes. It is beautiful. But it is dangerous, nigh unfathomably dangerous.”

She let the warning hang in the air for a moment before continuing, an extrapolation upon her scorn for the Sorcerers and their ilk. A hand that attempted to guide to the path of grim enlightenment

“You would be correct. None enter the Perann these days. You may make the pilgrimage as did I: Rhand is not what it once was, it has evolved into a place marred by war. Its vaults of knowledge a broken and maimed thing, not unlike the Sorcerers themselves. Yet remember this, Vakhari Korden, the Sorcerers lied.”

The fire in her chest grew some, a theologians passion igniting.

“It is the Great Lie, a deception on the nature of Darkness. The arrogance of mortality manifest. They will say there is power in their Dark, that destruction can herald power the likes of which the Sith can only dream of. This is not true. There is no power in Primordial Dark. Just survival, just the knowledge that you can fight inevitability and become something more.”

Lirka had fallen for the lie once, long ago. It had heralded her into a savagery even beyond what she currently possessed. Perhaps she could offer fair warning, perhaps she could not. She would at least attempt to share all she had learned in her long years regardless.

Yet, her eyes were drawn to the tome now placed in front of her. The girl as of right now indulged Lirka in her prattling, so would she indulge her. A quick twist of the lock, and the blank nothingness was opened up to her. For a time Lirka stood there, in silent contemplation.

“What do I see?…”

Beneath her mask, she grinned.

“Nothing. But there is something in nothing. Perhaps you think I am insane, seeing things that are not there. Truth is madness to some. Enlightenment is not gained by those not willing to indulge insanity.”

 

[Vakhari Korden]

Tag: Lirka Ka

"Nothing out of the ordinary so far then, it is indeed true that there is something to nothing."

She takes a vial off her belt, uncorking it before letting a single drop of blood land upon a page. Instantly like tendrils of some abyssal beast stretching out, words and symbols leaking out like water over the pages. It was nonsensical, unreadable.

"While you see if you can read whatever is there and tell me if you feel anything, I would still like to discuss the place and people you spoke of..

Vakhari seemed to have had a data pad kept within her robe, she had begun typing in whatever she was witnessing when it came to how someone who is force dead reacted and felt to her tome.

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“It is the Great Lie, a deception on the nature of Darkness. The arrogance of mortality manifest. They will say there is power in their Dark, that destruction can herald power the likes of which the Sith can only dream of. This is not true. There is no power in Primordial Dark. Just survival, just the knowledge that you can fight inevitability and become something more.”

"Assuming we are having a passionate but civil discussion on this, I raise the question- what if it is both? That it is through the power of destruction and the dark that the strong partake in survival and become something more? Thus we become dark incarnate and not only force others to fight for survival but also the life of the galaxy itself?"

She continued to log what she was seeing as she spoke on.

"Imagine it is like this, you cannot have one without the other."

Vakhari pauses her typing to raise a finger, gesturing for Lirka to not butt in just yet.

"Because they are one in the same, through power we find survival and through survival we find power."

The girl nods her head, smiling a bit before continuing her typing without needing to look down.

"This is just my theoretical mind you, I don't have intent to offend."

Keeping to a show of her good will, Vakhari shows what all she has logged so far. Nothing within spoke of their current conversation, just filled with her observations on Lirka and her interaction with the tome.

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