Faction One Punch | Sith Eternal

[Alina Tremiru]

Voss was a planet with a complicated background, but that wasn't the reason Alina was here today. Her ship broke through the clouds as it landed in one of the vast forests far from any sign of civilization. It was the forest she was after. The dangers within. The threats. They'd be a perfect trial for what it was she wanted to teach. And what she wanted deeper within would likewise be of use.

Once the ship landed Alina stepped down the ramp into the small clearing. Those she was to teach would have either been picked up, or found a way here that didn't involve her. No matter which way it was, she'd wait until they all arrived. The training they were to be involved with wasn't something she wished to repeat herself on. She stood tall, shoulders square, golden eyes scanning around.

Now she just had to wait.

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Ishani traipsed through the forest, very much aware of the unknown dangers lurking in the undergrowth. So far her track record with wilderness expeditions and survival trips had been… interesting, but only because she found other people to work with and help her fight off the encroaching wildlife. Voss was no different.

She spotted a figure up ahead and hazarded a guess that it was Alina. The vampiress had taken on a new style since the last time they had met, going from punk-goth to baroque, though there was something of the pirate rogue in the tilt of her hat and the cut of her dark jacket.

Ishani neither went out of her way to make noise nor tried to hide her approach as she entered the clearing. She regarded Alina with a nervous wave and a “What’s up?” that was perhaps a bit too casual, given the circumstances. Here Ishani was but a student, and Alina the master. A certain amount of respect was due… perhaps more, given that Alina was a vampire and all.

Apart from that, there wasn’t much to do but wait around to see if anybody else showed up.

Alina Tremiru​

 

[Kalt Bruq]

Kalt was thoroughly fascinated by the history surrounding Voss. Not only was it a crucial battlefield between the Sith and Republic thousands of years ago, but further again by the Zakuulian Eternal Empire not long after. And yet since it has been relatively unimportant. The native Voss were considered to be powerful force users, having created a place of power known as the "Shrine of Healing". Sounds like Jedi-chit but thankfully it was destroyed in the Zakuulian invasion. Surely such a place might have some lingering Dark Side energies from it's destruction? Maybe an artifact or two that might be useful or could be twisted to his or his master's purpose.

That was why he assumed they were here after all. Kalt had descended to the planet on Sanguis' ship, emerging with her and a number of others. From what he knew this would be another training exercise, to prove their worth among other Acolytes. Kalt had a datapad out, most of it filled with notes on the world. Things that might be useful in the coming exercise. He studied it for most of the trip and continued to do so as he stood with Sanguis, awaiting the details necessary to proceed. He'd likely recognize a few faces, such as Ishani's. He gave her a wave before burying his head back into his datapad.

[ Alina Tremiru Ishani Dinn ]​

 

[Rax Tremira]

He would do nothing but exhale as he exited the craft shortly behind Alina. He was vaguely positive the other intended to kill him, unsure of why she had gone from relatively caught up in other devises, to suddenly training them almost daily. Not any sort of regular training, but it was good for him. He wondered if she realized that his movements were becoming more fluid... His advancement at times caught him off guard, and he made decided to hide it in a sense. He knew how Alina took to him, as did the others at times .A loose cannon, and a blood thirsty one mongrel beyond that. He couldn't, nor would he try to deny it. He had grown up scraping up food together, beating up others in his situation for table scraps; and just to survive.

Alina had changed him, and veered him away from being... A darker version, of what he was today. Though she couldn't reprogram him (unless she could). He would always remember the gutter, and the darkness he saw there would follow him until he died; as would his ghosts, and sins. As she stood still, in her stoic manner, he himself would sit, then lean back on his right elbow, still on the ramp. Letting his right foot hang from it as he exhaled aloud. No matter what Alina had on the table for them, he would be ready.

His eyes trailed to the woman that approached them, not having actually met this one before. By his reaction, it was obvious he was unsure about her briefly, only relaxing when he glanced up from his sitting position and saw Kalt Bruq offering the other greetings. As such, he continued his relaxed posture, tainted, but more so green hues peering at what was a new person to him; trying to take stock of the other.

Kalt Bruq Ishani Dinn Alina Tremiru

 

[Oran Khan]

Oran walked from the forest's edge stretching his arms - round and round as small chitionous plates grated against each other before he finally ceased. A fanged smile greeted the others gathered, and he offered a small two finger wave to those who made eye contact with him before he found hi ways to his seat. Pulling on a small barb on his belt, a small piece of raw meat was left - and he tugged at it until it came free.

Now sitting and eating the flesh, he idled and waited for the lesson to begin - blood trailing down his clawed digits as he ignored the others in favor of his small meal; likely collected on his time within Voss's natural environment.

 

[Quinn Varanin]

//: Alina Tremiru //: Oran Khan //: Rax Tremira //: Kalt Bruq //: Ishani Dinn //:

Frustration rested on Quinn’s brow as she exited the small craft used to bring her to Voss. For whatever she was to Alina, the Lord decided against the pair of them traveling together. The Echani Princess’ ire could be felt miles away. She moved through the trees, coming across the small gathering of Alina and the apprentices. Everyone seemed to have arrived before her.

Arms crossed in front of her red dress, Quinn walked past Alina without saying a word to the Vampiress. She took her place within the grouping and waited to see what they were going to be learning. Quinn wondered if she was going to be summoned to help with the tutoring.

Since returning to the Empire, Quinn donned the platinum silver hair Alina would have remembered when they were younger. But, unfortunately, no one was familiar, and the princess kept to herself, for the most part, simmering with her frustration.​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

There were few times Alina felt thankful that she couldn't feel the emotions and intentions of others. It was a skill she imagined to be incredibly useful for all manner of things. Yet as she watched the last of the group arrive through the trees, she felt relief. It wasn't hard to tell Quinn Varanin was upset with her choice. In truth, she didn't like the choice either. But Alina had dove too deep into the Sith to change overnight. And the paranoia it brought wouldn't be so easily shattered.

Her gaze shifted to the group, lips thinned. She could talk to Quinn about this later.

Most here she recognized. The Vong was the only exception. Her eyes narrowed in study for a moment before she stood straight. Shoulders squared. "Good. Now that we're all here, we can get started. The purpose of today's exercise is simple enough. On the other side of this forest is a temple from a time long past. We'll go there, find what's inside, and utilize it for ourselves and the betterment of the Sith. In exchange, I will teach you how to survive." She stepped forward then, towards the group. A heavy weight suddenly erupted from her. Oppressive, twisted.

The Force would be ripped from the air around all of them, save for Quinn. "The Force is a powerful weapon. But what will you do if you cannot use it? It is never gone, even now. You will hand over your lightsabers. From this point on, until we reach the temple, you will not use the Force to influence anything but yourselves. Make yourself strong. Fast. Or be eaten by the creatures that inhabit these woods. Channel your power inwardly, in everything you do, and you'll survive."

She stayed where she was, holding out her hand. Presumably for their lightsabers as requested.

"Work together or don't. But if you think that I won't know if you use the Force, be ready for me to strike you down myself. Your trial begins now."

Oran Khan | Rax Tremira | Kalt Bruq | Ishani Dinn

 

[Rax Tremira]

Again with this!? As she was still explaining, but after she had stripped them, he reached his hand out to a rock; nothing... It didn't even wiggle. It didn't matter, his body had become hardened against most conventional means of attack, not like he was afraid of some damn wildlife... Unless there were Rancors here, and even then he wasn't going to be afraid, but a creature like that did demand a certain amount of caution. In any case, after his failed attempt, he would stand and let his hands move to grasp on the collar of his robes. He glanced over, noting Oran Khan enjoying his meal, and would stare rudely for a few moments as Alina ended.

His hands clapped together loudly, looking between this small gathering of kinsman, and women; for anyone interested in particulars.

"Exciting.. May I ask if you'll accompany us Alina? You mentioned working together or alone? If we're making our own decisions, then we should stay together as a group. Let Kalt lead, he is a smart man..."

He said, up-nodding in Kalt Bruq 's direction. Where he was a hammer, Kalt was a scalpel. Rax could understand that. The others, well, he simply didn't know them. Though he was sure there would be much to learn from the group. In a sense he felt as though he would excel in such a training. Without the Force he was... Well, simply strong; being able to channel the Force into himself to supplement that muscle mass only made him more suited to be walking around without a saber... speaking of which.

He approached Aayla, unclipping his own and resting it in her hand.

"It has sharp edges, careful with it..." He said, a wild smirk dotting his lips before he turned away. And looked towards the group.

Though, he was more than content going alone. Death or Life, as far as he was concerned; he carried a grim reality of it; you either tried and died, or you didn't.

This time, he went to lean near Quinn Varanin , pretending to be looking somewhere else, then deadpanning to the little lady with interest. He didn't say anything though, he just watched her to see what her reaction would be.

Ishani Dinn Alina Tremiru

 

[Ishani Dinn]

Kalt's wave was returned. The Devaronian seemed like a pretty cool dude, based on Ishani's couple of encounters with him in the past.

Once everyone was gather, Alina explained the rules to them. Ishani suppressed a groan as she realized what they were in for. She supposed she was better prepared for it compared to the others—after all, she was a Chaldean. She had grown up being prepped by her family, community, and culture to one day sever her connection to the Force entirely. Its absence was nothing new to her, though she was hardly happy about the terms of this trial.

One of the other acolytes, a boy with a gross-looking eye, was the first to hand over his lightsaber. He came across as ill-mannered and disrespectful for no discernible reason, staring at the Vong as he devoured raw meat and then getting up in the blonde girl’s personal space, practically leering at her. Ishani was shorter than Quinn by several inches, so she didn’t think he was just picking on the weakest, littlest-looking one there. Maybe the two of them knew each other?

Ishani approached Alina. “I don’t have a lightsaber, I have a sword.” She summoned the weapon from the Netherworld and held it out sheepishly. “Are you still going to confiscate it? Because I think it will automatically go back into its pocket in the Netherworld if it leaves my hand… has to do with the way it’s made.”

Alina Tremiru Rax Tremira Kalt Bruq Quinn Varanin Oran Khan​

 

[Kalt Bruq]

Kalt listened intently but still seemed to be distracted by the information on his datapad. Surely if they were heading into this forest, they should know about this vicious pred— Just as he was about to get into the article detailing the species, his datapad dropped into a nice puddle of mud as his connection to the force was cut. The effect was quite harsh. And while he didn't have the same visual response to it as he had when it first hit him, he doubted he would ever get "used" to it, only prepared to do what he needed when it happened, as per his training. There was no point in protesting, as much as he wanted to.

"Feth" He said, looking down at hid datapad, now half submerged into gooey mud. He reached down and attempted to recover the device. He then tried to fling as much dirt of off it as possible, before resorting to sweeping it off with the back of his left hand. The state of his datapad was about the same as his demeanor. While he was distracted, it only took him a few moments to put the pieces together on what he did actually hear. No force abilities, and no lightsaber. And while they could inwardly enhance their ability, Kalt had no such ability. As much as he could recognize the finer points of being physically capable as a Sith, it was harder to focus on such efforts when he found others so much more interesting.

He looked around at the other individuals in their group. As annoyed as he was with this situation, he wasn't going to miss people's reactions to it. For scientific purposes of course. Most had expressed some reaction to it. Kalt was surprised to see that Ishani didn't seem to have too much of a reaction to it. Or at least, she had gotten over it before he could look. The same with the blonde Sith that he was not familiar with. Kalt assumed that was Quinn? The rumored rival of Darth Sanguis. If what little he knew was true, he could assume that she was a Knight and therefore above this training exercise, which might explain things. Still, he was a little curious as to the history between her and his master. Perhaps there was something useful to learn but he would have to be careful. Kalt was exceedingly interested in the presence of a Yuuzhan Vong among their number. Although he didn't notice his arrival, too immersed in his data to care, he had a fascination similar to what a scientist would have to a new test species. Extra-galactic invaders would surely have a number of interesting secrets to learn.

Kalt was volunteered to be the lead by Rax. "While I appreciate the gesture, I think I tend to overspecialize in the very things we don't have as options right now." He said to Rax, suggesting that someone else should take the role of leader for this little expedition, assuming Sanguis wasn't just going to do that.

[ Rax Tremira Alina Tremiru Quinn Varanin Ishani Dinn Oran Khan ]​