Private Red-Hot World

[Shath Kharole]

"How far back can you remember? Just your mortal life, or have you assimilated memories along with your power?

"Do you intend to keep up your leadership of this fleet? What part does it play in your plans for godhood?

"What is your opinion of the Sith?"

 

[Onrai]

“My earliest memories go back countless tens of thousands of millennia, when the spawns of the Soulworm tormented the galaxy you call home. Typhojem, Ooradryl, Gorog, and Mnggal-Mnggal.” She shuddered. “The earliest experiments born from the womb of Otherspace… I know of them and how they were formed. Of the monstrous rites of the Kashi Mer. Of those worshipped by the Five. Of the heretical books wielded by those cultists who seek to invoke blasphemous dark gods who are no longer able to grant their supplication.”

“They have served me since before my ascension.” She said in response to his second question. “I provided for them then, and provide for them now. I answer their prayers to the best of my power. For as long as is required, they will serve until their service is no longer needed and they may finally enjoy the peace long denied to them.” So many Sith-Imperial veterans were under her command, across two Empires and multiple decades of galactic voyages. They were loyal to her because she was loyal to them, and no reason was there for her to change that dynamic anytime soon.

“The Sith… They are but a very heterogenous people. I would know.” She chuckled. “Some desire dominion over all of reality. Some possess ambitions of godhood. Others are merely satisfied with fulfilling their desire to innovate and Experiment. Some merely find the darkness an end in itself. Whether they wish to supplicate themselves in devotion to any deity is a choice for them to make.”

Shath Kharole

 

[Shath Kharole]

Any number of Onrai 's comments could have spun off into new conversations, and still might. Just now, Shath opted to focus on the Sith: the part that had the most direct relevance to the Forerunners' operational realities.

"So what makes them all Sith, if their methods and motives are so diverse? What do they share — skills, rituals? What does the term Sith signify?"

 

[Onrai]

"A singular goal, of putting the galaxy under their control for the most part." She said. "They share skills, rituals, codes, and in theory would cooperate with one another. In practice, of course, that doesn't happen." She pointed out. "The Sith are as the Soulworm, constantly devouring themselves in a cycle without end. They grow strong as the Jedi grow weak. They fall to infighting, collapse, and the Jedi eradicate them - or so they believe. Then it begins again." She sighed, disappointed at having witnessed the cycle occur at least twice.

"In theory, anyone who follows the tenets of the Sith Order as established many thousands of years ago would be considered a Sith. There are countless forms of Sith thought, ranging from those believing in full orders to those who believe there should be but two Sith at any given point in time."

Shath Kharole