Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Religion is the Oldest Weapon

Cameron permitted himself a small chuckle. "Yes, I suppose you could say I have had a varied life. Creature of pleasure, Inari. Life is too short to do other than that which you actually desire." That, of course, did not mean there weren't often less favorable things that had to be accomplished in order to reach a state of pleasure. It was a reality that some were less-than-adept at understanding.

At the mention of Amore arriving on Exocron at the bidding of her mother, Cameron nodded. Now it was all falling into place. From positioning herself to takeover KDY to sending her daughter into the unknown to, ultimately, live as a Goddess, Silencia seemed to be constantly plotting. Cameron was not surprised, and he could not deny that a large part of her allure was her ability to...casually manipulate those around her with a silent grace.

However, the most interesting part of Amore's story was her ascent to the Pantheon. Specifically, Cameron found the fact that the other living God of the time merely allowed it to happen. The Sith Lord suspected Inari very well could fathom the reason. Silencia would not send Amore to a planet without knowing...everything there was to know about it first. This means that Silencia judged the power there not to be a threat to her daughter. A friend...relative perhaps? Cameron allowed his curiosity with it all to end there. It was not his place to question such things. "Glory..." Cameron smiled briefly at Amore. "The deed is everything, the glory is naught. You succeed everyday you draw breath in this role...and with every new follower you add to the fold. There are not many that could make such a claim in less than three decades of life, myself included."

Allowing a natural pause to pass between them, Cameron asked the only obvious question he had. "So. My mind. What is it you would have me do, Inari?"
 
A smile grew on her lips once more, demured by what she believed to be praise from the man. Inari had an inkling that he didn't speak well of people very often, scrutinizing as he seemed. His words also reminded her of the precarious pedestal upon which she stood. How easy it was for her in particular to topple. She was not courageous or wise like Neth, nor was she powerful and strong like Jacen. She assumed the only thing keeping her steady on this path was the fact that Neth allowed it.

Surely anyone wanting her seat at the top would find little challenge in taking it.

Thank you didn't seem the right thing to say here, so the false Goddess chose not to remark. Instead she focused on the path they traveled; they were making way down a wide set of open-faced stone spiral stairs. If one were to look over the railing they would see, at the very center bottom, the glow of the Moross Flame. That was their first destination for this quiet evening promenade.

Amore's slippered feet barely made a sound as she descended the steps. Around them the night grew darker still as they lost the light of the moon, exchanged now for burning candelabras sitting within stone recesses of the wall following the staircase.

"I am a kindred of peace," the woman began, "and the only weapon I employ is one unseen. Sheathed in warm smiles and kind words," Inari's face held a certain sort of levity that came when one spoke in tongues. Clearly she knew that a man like Cameron didn't take those sorts of things seriously, and she supposed she would never expect him to. But these were the duties of Inari the Reviver - to be kind, caring, gentile, compassionate, considerate, warm, understanding, welcoming, nurturing, enlightening, and all those other things that people normally might expect from a Jedi ... except she wasn't a guardian of peace so much as an envoy.

Inari did not shed blood of the innocent or even the guilty in the name of serenity.

Inari was serenity - she was the embodiment of all those things the Jedi fought to protect.

"But I cannot guide all the things I stand for in ignorance. I need someone to help me know and see and understand what I am yet blind to. You strike me as an honest man," Inari said this with an odd expression on her face. Sith and honest in the same sentence?

"I need that honesty, and your wisdom and experience. I value it greatly."
 
Cameron's own footfalls were heavier than Amore's. However, the Sith Lord had been forced to learn the subtlety of moving quickly and silently despite his size. That, of course, had been ages ago. The habit had simply never worked its way out of his system, and he was satisfied with that. Though he could often be found on the battlefield facing a foe head-on, it was not quite his preferred realm. Cameron much preferred the challenge of slipping in and out of the shadows, taking down his enemies before they could even fathom the possibility.

As for Amore, Cameron, like anyone, could plainly see that she had a rather disarming personality about her. The Sith Lord surmised there was scarcely a need for her to utter more than a soft-spoken, innocent request for knowledge before it was offered. Paired with that level of gentle intensity was Amore's self-awareness. She seemed to be fairly well aware of her capabilities even if she did not openly admit such. Beyond that, Cameron presumed she was also very cognizant of her weaknesses. The Sith Lord expected such from one raised by Silencia.

Her description of him was, however, perhaps a touch inaccurate. "Honesty. This I can do. However, it is imperative I ensure you are aware honesty and truth are not always one and the same. The only truth I know is the Force. Practically everything else in life is the manifestation of sentient beings, flawed by nature. It is not my intent to deceive you, but you should be aware I am quite adept at deception." Amore's response to Cameron's frank statement would be very telling. The Sith Lord understood the complexity of his statement. It was very honest...perhaps more so than one might expect, but was there deception in his honesty? In that particular instance, no, but it was not a terribly rare occurrence. Cameron suspected that Amore had been warned to be careful around Sith in general by now anyways.

Layers upon layers. Was the risk worth the reward?
 
The gentle patter of her footsteps came to a steady, silent halt. Inari paused at a landing on the stairwell, slowly turning her head to regard her walking companion. He was a bit eerie to behold in the dark light there - his pale eyes stuck out like beacons, his teeth flashed with his words. The woman wondered, momentarily, if he had ever a chance to be anything other than exactly what he was. Sith was such a fitting title.

Cogs turning, ponderous gaze casting towards the nearest candelabra where it caught the light of the flame just as her own red hair seemed to reflect it, glowing like a crown of hellfire. After a time she came to smile softly, "No wonder why you keep the acquaintances you have."

Silencia was a Master of deception and she was not want to allow just anyone know the dark truths she built her life upon. Quietus on the other hand was as blunt as a sledgehammer but had the mind and awareness to know when she was being lied to. She always knew.

Inari said no more, pressing on down to the bottom of the stair well. It was very hot down here and the chambers brighter. Rounding a final landing, Inari came to a doorway where the roaring of the Moross Flame seared at skin and eyes. She entered the circular room where the very tops of the flames licked at the air.

"This is the Moross Flame. The presence of a living God will keep it burning always," Inari recited the words from their book while Amore recalled her first visit to the flame. This was where Soliael had given her a copy of the book and she commence her own understanding of Moross and its pantheon. The woman could remember the feel of the pages under her fingers and the first time she read of the Goddess Inari the Reviver. Never had she fathomed one day becoming this bastion of power and hope.

"
 
Cameron allowed his stride to stop when Amore did so. The weight of her gaze seemed heavy with contemplation and, perhaps, a touch of muted concern. The Sith Lord was fairly well accustomed to similar reactions over the course of his life. In truth, his own actions as well as the actions of others had shaped him into precisely what he was today. Still, Amorella's comment on the acquaintances he kept was true enough. Cameron did find himself naturally drawn to certain...personalities.

When Amore resumed her original pace, Cameron smiled thinly to himself as he followed. The increase in heat was certainly noticeable and the somewhat sudden onset surprised the Sith Lord momentarily, but he gave no outward indication of discomfort. Following Amorella through a doorway into the circular room containing the Moross Flame, Cameron looked on with mild intrigue. The words were quite familiar to Cameron as he'd only just finished reading a heavy portion of the Book of Moross.

As the Sith Lord gazed into the burning flames, he posed a question to Inari. However, when he spoke, the Sith Lord's voice was almost quiet. It carried the usual strength of his deep baritone, but it was almost as delicate as a whisper. "What troubles you, Amorella?" It was as if the greater concern behind the weight of his words could only be formed in finesse. The reflection of the orange flames danced in the silver pupils of Cameron's eyes as he stared into the depths of the representative fire that fueled the Moross Crusade.

@[member="Amorella Mae"]
 
Inari turned a curious gaze to the man, her soft smile having remained since offering it to him on the stairwell.

"Do I seem troubled? I am not," the woman replied, "simply weighted with thoughts of many things. Good things, mostly."

It occurred to her that she hadn't made an entry into her journal, and that always seemed to help lift the weight from her mind. That and writing letters. She'd been so occupied with seeing to the needs of Moross that she'd forgotten about her own. Perhaps once Soliael returned she would make way back to Aing-Tii for a short time to continue her studies. They had been very beneficial so far.

"Sometimes I am visited by pilgrims at my alter with burned hands. When I aske them what happened they tell me they come to the flame to beg for the approval of the Gods. People so willing to grasp at fire for faith... or perhaps at faith for fire. It's startling."
 
Cameron's gaze remained seemingly fixed at the heart of the fire before him, but he heard every word uttered by the diminutive woman at his side. A thin smile did play on the Sith's lips. Perhaps his perception was, in fact, off. The struggle against his inherent stubbornness was an ongoing one, but he tended to prevail. "You seem quite troubled, yes." For a brief moment, the dark-skinned Sith considered several things. Ordinarily, he did not permit himself to burdened with the issues of others. Cameron Centurion did not suffer the internal machinations of society lightly.

Enter Amorella's comment about the pilgrim that was obviously an idiot. However, rather than laugh or radiate disgust, the Sith Lord contemplated the value of the comment. It went deeper than just being startled by the existence of religious zealots. How many times had Cameron nearly died in his life-long quest for continued power and knowledge? How many lives had he willingly sacrificed to a brutal end all for the betterment of his own connection to the dark side. His God was the Force. It was his Almighty, his salvation. He served his only master with undying loyalty, and he never questioned its guidance. Was that so different from any one of the countless Pilgrims residing within the very Temple he now occupied? The one quintessential difference was that Cameron knew his faith resided only in himself. He prayed at no relics or monuments.

"Do not suffer the fallacies of others." Naturally, Cameron was not necessarily implying that Amorella did suffer their fallacies. "That situation represents the imperfection of life...rather perfectly. Do you give attention to those willing to injure themselves for said attention, or do you deprive them of that which they crave? An individual may elect to stop engaging in the activity or escalate their efforts. Regardless, there is little you can do to passively control this. More to the point, as a Goddess, you should care...not at all." Slowly, Cameron turned his head to face Amorella. "There is a difference between not caring and not acting, however." She could be Inari the Reviver; Lover of All without necessarily truly taking on the burdens of the population. Cameron could only imagine that would grow to be...quite exhausting.

Realizing that his mind was not Amorella's, however, Cameron added one final comment. "Pay me no mind, child." Casually, his eyes turned back to the fire and a somewhat somber expression slipped over his features. "Merely the ramblings of an old man with a past darker than his skin."
 
"I do not wish to control it," Inari replied, "I do not wish to do anything with it."

There was nothing to do for it anyway. How could she deny a zealot his burned hands while others threw their whole lives on the expansion of the Crusade? Inari's healing powers were spared only on the deserving - the woman offered quiet words of wisdom and the skills of her Healers and Medics. No more, no less. Not only did this contain the strain on Amore's abilities, but it lessened the amount of exposure as well.

Divinity was a precious thing.

Her mortal pension for care and concern, however, came amply, if not carefully controlled itself. Amore was naturally a caring type, so she was of course troubled by the damage these zealots would rend on themselves. But that was neither here nor there, and Neth had told her that this was only a small taste of how far the devout would go for their faith. Amore resigned herself to accepting this, no matter how unsavory it was.

"That is quite dark," the woman propped a brow at his, a quick smile lighting her features not so unlike the mischievous glance of Quietus he knew so well, "you might favor the Aesirs Erebos and Aatrox?"
 
Cameron briefly turned his head and offered Amorella a tentative smile. The Sith Lord could tell that his time amidst the Moross Crusade was going to be...different. That, however, did not mean it would be particularly good or bad. While he understood and often preached the need for balance in life and the Force, he was never so foolish as to think himself understanding of the more congenial way of life. Yes, he studied the Jedi and their past arduously in his youth, but he would never really know what it was to be one that saw life in such a...caring manner. Fortunately, his role was not to do so. His only role in life was to be precisely who he was, and he did so with continuous vigor across the ages.

In regards to Amorella's statement, Cameron paused for thought. The dark-skinned Sith had made his own silent, mental choice prior to accepting this audience. Further more, he had every intention of traveling to the hall of his chosen in the morning. "Destruction and Deception..." Silence lingered for several more seconds as the Sith Lord's mind went to another place, another time. When he returned to the present, Cameron oriented his body such that he was completely facing Amorella. Words faltered for only the slightest of moments as he realized just how similar she was to her mother in the warm light of the fire. "I was a creature of chaos, of uncontrolled destruction once. I suppose I still retain a great many of those traits. However, time and experience has...matured my understanding of such things." Cameron almost said it had tempered him, but that was wildly inaccurate. His wrath was infinitely more fierce now than it had been in his younger years. The difference was...he carefully selected when and how to use it. "I learned of other ways to manipulate the galaxy around me with considerably little effort from myself."

Managing a thin smile, the Sith Lord summarized his point. "Erebos does not engage my interest. Aatrox however... Well, let's just say I can readily identify with the personality and the desire." A thought reoccurred to Cameron in that instance. "I'm sure a follower of Aatrox at the side of Inari will be all too interesting to those incapable of looking past the surface."

@[member="Amorella Mae"]
 

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