Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike.
Image Credit: Here. Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike, Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Mahtara, Jedi Inquisition, Yuuzhan Vong, 400-Year Darkness, Firemane Industries, Netherworld Crisis, The Valkyrie's Diary, Darth Eisen, General Aruunzeb, Mezha Krazhmir, Synorostad, Camp Progress, Tranquility, Windian Jedi Order, Adlerberg, Hope Falls, Liberation Corps, Rock Breaker Corps, Kyriaki, Camp Sanctuary Refugee Facility.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Organization Name: Shades of Duskfall - that is their name for themselves. Called "The Swamp Vermin" by the Vaderites.
Classification: Underground movement.
Affiliation: Republican Guard, Tephrike, Popular Front, General Aruunzeb.
Organization Symbol: N/A. The Shades are an informal, clandestine group and thus do not have an established, universally recognised symbol.
Description: Tephrike is a war-torn planet divided between riven factions where the Dark Age never ended. The planet lives in a twilight age of famines, mass displacements, war, genocide and ecological destruction. Vast swathes of land have been devastated by war, and natural disasters. Large portions of the population are impoverished and live in ruined cities or refugee camps, when they are not being conscripted outright to support the war effort. The Disciples of the Vader, a human supremacist Sith cult, and the Dominion of Light, a repressive Jedi theocracy, have both erected totalitarian states that have crushed civil liberties and seek to exert total control of society. The Republican Guard is a rebel organisation on Tephrike that stands in opposition to the Force cults. The members of the Guard see themselves as the vanguard of the common people, but also pursue a radical anti-Force User agenda and often resort to terrorist methods. It is in many ways a grey organisation, but then both of its foes are evil.
The Shades of Duskfall are associated with the vanguard revolutionary movement, but not a military organisation. Their purpose is to save lives of people persecuted by the Dominion or the Vaderites, as far as it is feasible. This applies in particular to victims of genocide and political repression. The Shades organise fake IDs, provide hideouts in the forests, swamps and mountains and sometimes organise escape attempts from Vaderite ghettos or Dominion penal colonies and 'closed settlements'. The virulently racist Vaderites call them the 'Swamp Vermin' because of course they do.
In Dominion territory the Shades aid people accused of 'heresy' and 'bourgeois nationalism', while in Vaderite territory they support so-called 'racial mongrels and parasites'. The Dominion persecutes the heretic, and the individualist, while the Vaderites have condemned aliens, especially Twi'leks, Mon Calamari, and Bothans, to death or enslavement. Yuuzhan Vong are butchered by both. The Shades take the secret testimonies of survivors of the Dominion gulag and Vaderite concentration camps. Sometimes they smuggle supplies or guns. A couple female Shades sew fake IDs into their skirts to save lives or hide smuggled guns in loaves of bread. They bribe secret policemen and inquisitors with liquor and cigarras. It is incredibly dangerous work.
Those involved in it can expect torture and execution. Many Shades are rather young and attrition rates are high. The group looks for cunning and resourceful recruits with good survival skills and common sense. Saving the downtrodden is romantic, but those recruits who make the Shade will have to endure scenes of horror because trying to save everyone will only result in everyone's lives being placed in jeopardy. The group seeks professionals who can keep a cool head in a crisis, not daredevils who want to play hero and cannot keep their temper in check. Some of their agents will have to hide in plain sight for an extended period of time, living under the jackboot.
The risk of betrayal and denunciation is always present. By necessity, group is very decentralised in order to limit the risk of discovery. This obviously makes larger-scale coordination difficult. The rebels are poor and the lion's share of their resources must go to the war effort, so funds are scarce. And the Guard would rather save people who can be useful to it because they have useful skills or information. It is very paranoid about being infiltrated by enemy agents.
Furthermore, the rebels do not want Force-Users in their ranks unless they agree to be permanently stripped of their preternatural abilities. Certain Shade cells are less discriminatory, but they risk punishment from the Republican Guard if the rebels find out about this. And some cells only focus on members of a certain species. People rescued by the Shades may still die during the perilous trek or from disease in a hideout in the swamps or from a drone strike when the 'forces of order' bomb a 'terrorist nest'. Still, the Shades do what they can.
The Shades are often forced to steal food and other essentials. Such robberies are often the only choice other than starvation, though some cells are more well-supplied. Friendly peasants may provide food, but it must often be stolen from farms, shops or supply depots meant for Vaderite or Dominion soldiers. The Republican Guard does not have much of an air force, so its ability to airdrop food supplies, counterfeit money etc. is extremely limited. Sometimes the Harpies manage to airdrop vital supplies against all odds.
People who manage to escape camps and ghettos often suffer from malnutrition and have little more than the clothes on they happen to be wearing. Constant wear and tear often turns these meagre possessions into mere rags. They often bear the scars of torture and need medical aid that is not necessarily available. The Shades have used the forests to set up family camps for escapees, particularly those who are too young or old to fight. Thus they provide havens for noncombatants - temporarily, at least. To their enemies these are terrorist nests. People are put to work as seamstresses, craftsmen, cooks, field medics and so on. This is a way for escapees to contribute to the rebel movement. Some may find their way into 'Free Tephrike'.
Necessity has forced some cells to make unorthodox alliances the Republican Guard's central leadership would disapprove of. They have worked with corrupt officials, outlaws and criminal gangs. Indeed, the line between valiant rescuer and self-interested smuggler or bandit can get more than a little blurry. Ironically, one of their most reliable agents is a Hutt masquerading as a stereotypical gangster.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Headquarters: Tephrike is the planet they are based on. However, they do not have a fixed headquarters on it.
Domain: The Shades operate exclusively on Tephrike. They are an underground organisation and do not lay claim to any territory. They operate within the territory of the Greater Sith Imperium and the Dominion of Light, two repressive dictatorships that are deeply hostile to them. The aim of the group is to assist and save the lives of people persecuted by both regimes. An example would be political prisoners of the Dominion or 'racial enemies' of the Vaderites, such as Twi'leks who face certain death in ghettos or camps.
This means the Shades must operate in the shadows. Society in both nations is deeply hostile to them and the risk of discovery is very real. They maintain secret hideouts in the deep forests and swamps. Sometimes they will receive aid from peasants, but oftentimes they will have to carry out robberies to acquire the food, medical supplies and ammunition they need to provide for themselves and the people under their protection.
They have sent guides into Vaderite ghettos to escort people into the forest, and provided false IDs and help clones trying to escape Dominion indoctrination. Their scouts search the roads for escapees or deserters in need of aid. They also carry out raids to protect their mission, targeting low-level collaborators, administrators, and members of the police force and militia. Within Vaderite territory, members of the alien auxiliary police force that does the bidding of the human supremacist Vaderites are particularly hated. For this reason the Shades mete out swift justice when dealing with traitors and suspected collaborators.
Within their hideouts, escapees are put to work. Refugees who are skilled workers set up workshops, working as seamstresses, blacksmiths, cobblers, tailors and so on. Moreover, camp inhabitants are provided with food by hunting, cultivating the land or fishing. The Shades cooperate with Republican Guard partisans, but relations can be tense. Several partisan groups require escapees to be combat ready and provide weapons, supplies or information if they want support or even try to conscript escapees. This has led to tension. The rebels are a morally grey group, not knights in shining armour.
The Shades live a difficult, dangerous life. The rebels and their charges must move from one place to another, as the risk of betrayal is real. Oftentimes they will have to steal the supplies of peasants or small-scale towns people to survive - which may mean stealing from people who are also victims. Their hideouts may just be simplistic shelters made from branches and logs. They cannot always count on the support of common people, even those suffer under the regime. For example, Mon Calamari hate the Dominion for its brutal repression of their people and Twi'leks despise the Vaderites because they are slaughtered and enslaved by them. But both might refuse to aid or denounce the Shades because they know that they will be brutally punished if they are suspected of aiding them.
Notable Assets: The Shades operate a network of safe houses, as well as hideouts and underground or underwater shelters in remote forests and swamps on Tephrike. Many of these locations are improvised, though some are more permanent. However, necessity forces the Shades to always be on the move, so none of these installations are really permanent. Family camps have set up for escapees who are too old or young to fight.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Hierarchy: The structure is very decentralised and horizontal. It is organised by geographical region or settlement. The Shades have a clandestine cell structure to minimise the risk of discovery. In many cases the hierarchy ends at the level of a camp. Some groups can get as large as several hundred people living in semi-permanent bases, but many are smaller and lead a nomadic existence. They are aided by local helpers outside of the group who know little. The level of coordination and cooperation between these groups varies, not the least because close ties also increase the risk of discovery.
The Shades are less a less formal organisation and more a franchise of like-minded individuals, groups and cells. There are also cells that take the name without being linked to each other. This has unfortunately led to problems when criminals and traffickers claimed to be Shades in order to get victims to trust them. Suffice to say actual Shades respond very violently when they come across such unscrupulous impostors.
Membership: The Shades are not a formalised group and rather dispersed. As such recruitment is decentralised and based on cell. They are reluctant to recruit anyone who has not proven themselves reliable. Most members are aliens, and they tend to be of specific sorts which can blend into Dominion of Vaderite settings to reduce the risk of exposure. While the rebels do have human members, the Republican Guard has a strong suspicion and bias against humans. The Shades accept some loyal ones who have proved themselves, but only in the lowest positions where they cannot get in the way. This applies in particular to Shades operating in Vaderite territory.
It is not the kind of group one applies to join. One is sought out or ends up with it by circumstance. More than a few Shades are people who were saved or otherwise aided by the group. Officially there are no Force-Sensitives. Broadly speaking one differs between Shades who live in the underground and those who hide in plain sight and try to help people while ostensibly being obedient subjects of their tyrannical rulers.
Climate: Cooperative, tight-knit, but with a strong siege mentality. Operating underground in hostile territory with little outside support, the Shades have to be able to rely on each other. There is no room for idleneess. Everyone must pitch in. Those capable of doing so work as couriers, hunters, and smugglers. Those too old or young to do so find work in the hideouts as cooks, seamstresses, tailors, mechanics and so on.
Exposure will mean death for an entire cell, so the punishments for betrayal are draconian. Justice is swift. Field agents tend to have a low life expectancy. They must rely on guile, cunning, and courage to survive. The Shades must balance idealism with practicality. They want to save lives, and provide safe havens for noncombatants persecuted by evil regimes, but the risk of discovery is constant, they have scarce resources and can only save so many. For every group that manages to pull off a daring rescue, there are many who are hung from lampposts. For every camp that is able to endure for many years and evacuate its people to friendly lines, there are those that are wiped out in a drone strike.
Communication with other groups is irregular. Some Shades have Villips or Ghostwave transmitters, but many must make do with primitive comlinks or even radios. Often they have to communicate by courier. Using children as couriers is quite common. All this means self-reliance is crucial because they can expect little support from the outside. Most of the people in the Shades' hideouts are non-combatants, especially women, the old or sick or children. People with essential skills for survival, such as fighters and skilled workers, occupy a higher status than those without them because they are essential. Profits like food, medication and arms are typically treated as the collective property of a camp, not a single craftsman. The fighters obtain the food and protect hideouts, while the noncombatants pursue useful occupations that can help the group.
Carpenters are needed to provide accommodations and workshops, shoemakers repair shoes and saddles, tailors and seamstresses mend clothes damaged from wear and tear and medics take care of the sick and wounded. Couriers smuggle messages in and out. Shades who are literate take the testimonies of those who have witnessed atrocities or endured torture at the hands of the Dominion and the Vaderites.
Reputation: Both vilified and idealised. To the Dominion they are dangerous anarchists and criminals who spread heresy and crime. To the Vaderites they are swamp vermin. Opinions among common people vary. While the Shades are saviours for many oppressed...the same oppressed may have a less rosy opinion. Both the Dominion and the Vaderites are known to carry out disproportionate reprisals against those suspected of aiding the rebels. A common Twi'lek peasant may turn a Shade in out of fear of being murdered or deported otherwise. Moreover, the Shades carry out raids to steal supplies.
The Republican Guard broadly supports the Shades, but is also wary of having to provide for people who may not be able to contribute to the cause. There has been tension when some Shades have refused the military's requests to provide manpower, as this would mean exposing the vulnerable escapees among their group. Others are more forthcoming when it comes to providing armed detachments. Some partisan groups require escapees to be combat ready and have a weapon. However, for many people fleeing persecution or slavery the Shades are a vital life line - and often their only one.
Curios: Obvious curios are not practical for a clandestine group like the Shades. They wouldn't want anything which might make them recognisable when they're undercover. Instead they have different coloured cloth or ribbon in a pocket which they can show so they can recognise each other. There is no uniformity in that regard.
Rules: The most important rule is to maintain secrecy. Betraying one's fellow Shades, especially agents, couriers and smugglers risking their lives, is a death sentence. This applies even more so to betraying a hideout for the vulnerable, such as the elderly, young and sick. Field agents are expected to carry a cyanide capsule because the threat of exposure, capture and torture is very real. There is also a strong prohibition against putting the group in jeopardy through foolhardy action. Their job is to save lives. This is more important than killing an imperialist. This has led to tension, such as when partisan cells try to push the Shades' members into aggressive action or individual members want to get revenge for the injustices they have suffered.
Opposition to the Dominion and the Vaderites is an article of faith. Suspected traitors get a quick trial that, if they are found guilty, will end with death. Officially Force Users, even unaffiliated ones, cannot be brought to a hideout because the Force is a curse that will corrupt them. Some Shade cells are more liberal though and will make allowances for Force-Sensitives with no affiliation to Jedi or Sith or very young ones, such as Younglings or Padawans trying to escape.
Everyone in a camp must pitch in and contribute. All able-bodied adults must perform guard duty. If they cannot fight or hunt, the group will find other work for them. Someone has to cook, knit, mend clothes or take care of the sick and wounded and teach the young, after all. Everything manufactured in a camp is the collective property of the group as a whole, as opposed to that of a single craftsman. For this reason there are strict rules against hoarding or stealing from a comrade. Punishments for these crimes include being given unpleasant, menial jobs, having one's rations reduced, being exiled or, in particularly bad cases or times of great shortage, executed.
Goals: Rescue the downtrodden and provide aid and save haven for them. Document Vaderite and Dominion atrocities. Support the efforts of the Republican Guard to overthrow the tyranny of Force Users. These are the overall goals. How they balance them is another question. There are cells that prioritise saving lives and protecting noncombatants, but also some more closely interwoven with the rebels' war effort.
MEMBERS
Kinrath (NPC) - this is a code name. Her true name is Oekrau, but only few know it. She is a Zabrak operative of the Republican Guard and the Shades of Duskfall. She has worked for both for many years. As a child, she was spirited away by the Shades, having lost most of her family. This earned them her loyalty. Kinrath is laconic and never says one word more than is needed. She can be characterised as someone driven not so much by ideals or a higher cause, but by a mix of selfish and selfless.
Selfish in that she wants revenge and reward, selfless in that she wants to help destroy the Vaderites, which will help save many people. As a Zabrak, she can move a bit more freely among the Vaderites than say a Twi'lek or Mon Calamari. To the Vaderites all 'xenos' are lesser beings that are inferior to mankind, but they regard Zabrak as close enough to human to give them some limited freedoms if they 'know their place' and abuse other xenos for them.
Kinrath is a prudent, and when the situation merits it, ruthless woman who will not hesitate to eliminate suspected informers or frame them so that others do it for her. She has a lot of experience running rescue and sabotage operations. Recently she was stationed at Hope Falls, a 'model xenos settlement that is actually a glorified slave camp. There she built up a network of contacts, including in the Public Force, a Vaderite police force whose rank and file is composed of non-humans and is responsible for repressing the natives. She provided aid to some Twi'lek workers who wanted to escape...for a price in form of the locations of grain and ammo caches that had been hidden by corrupt officials.
She is not interested in personal profit, but the rebels are not a gallant knight in shining armour. The Republican Guard is fighting a war for survival, and so those who seek its aid must be able to offer something in return. She will not make them do something suicidal, but it must show they can provide something of value or contribute. This has rubbed more idealistic Shades the wrong way, but she has little time for those.
Filippos Siskakos (NPC) - Sikakos is not only one of the few human Shades, but a Vaderite soldier. For this reason he is distrusted by many of his comrades, but his commitment to the cause is genuine. Born the son of a schoolmaster, he grew up in a conservative environment that emphasised obedience and Imperial patriotism. Drafted into the army, he served well. However, though a member of the Humanist Party, Sikakos grew disillusioned with its policies, especially once he saw how non-humans, particularly Twi'leks, Nautolans and Mon Calamari were treated. Initially Sikakos justified the round-ups as a necessary security measure to protect the human species from terrorists. He viewed 'excesses' as the doing of the KEC and a few bad apples that were not representative of the army's conduct.
Now he knows how deeply complicit the 'honourable' army is in the Vaderites' genocidal project. It has left him with deep feelings of shame and guilt. He is eternally frustrated by the fact that most of his fellow Imperial citizens simply do not care. His attempts to alert his superiors about mass killings were met with indifference. Sikakos is not a frontline soldier, but serves in a rear echelon role in a garrison. This has given him greater freedom of action. A mechanic by trade, he is responsible for the smooth running of a workshop. That has allowed him to requisition Twi'leks and other persecuted as workers.
By arguing that he is performing essential work for the military, he has deliberately accepted more assignments than his workshop can handle and employed a greater number of Twi'lek workers than is merited. He has gone to great lengths to protect them and their families. When he heard of a imminent deportation, he 'simulated an army operation' by putting on his armour, grabbing a rifle and guarding the entrance of the enterprise with a friend to make sure those inside would be protected. He has also helped them escape to the partisans. Sikakos secretly works with Kinrath. He writes a diary where he expresses his feelings and secretly documents Vaderite atrocities he has witnessed.
Iskho the Hutt (NPC) - all Hutts are greedy, sleazy slug-like creatures with a predisposition to be gangsters. There are no honest Hutts. It is essentially hardwired into their genetic code to become crime lords and slavers. That is what the stereotype says. Many live up to it, but no sentient species is a monolith. Iskho is a Hutt who panders to traditional Hutt cliches to fool people. Like any Hut crime lord, she holds court entertained by exotic dancers and surrounded by sycophants and Gamorrean and Weequay thugs. She has pet kath hounds to feed people who cross her to.
She has the attitude of an amoral gangster. It is, however, an elaborate ruse. Her dancers and thugs are actually freely with her and act as spies. She punishes people who try to take advantage of the dancers very harshly. Few would suspect a Hutt of working with a revolutionary vanguard movement that wants to free the downtrodden. The Dominion and the Vaderites both despise Hutts, viewing them as parasitical leeches. But the black market helps keeps their inefficient economies running. Corrupt officials on both sides use the shadow economy to line their own pockets and profit from the war that is tearing the planet apart. However, corruption also works to the rebels' advantage. Ishko's mannerism are derived from gangster holovid cliches. She has a collection of crime drama movies.
Ishko has acquired an encyclopaedic knowledge of escape routes and safe houses. The logistics of moving illicit goods or slaves do not differ much from those of secretly moving fugitives to safety. Or of arranging for a shipment of food, books, cultural heirlooms or medical supplies to disappear and mysteriously end up in a ghetto or a secret hideout for fugitives in the swamps. Like apparently all Hutts, she is massive and heavy but she has good strength for her size and can thus actually defend herself. One of her arms is a powerful cybernetic prothesis. She is fluent in written and spoken Basic, but exclusively speaks Huttese in public because that is expected of any self-respecting Hutt. One of her favourite tricks is to invite clients to a drinking session and get them drunk so that they let down their guard, while she only drinks heavily diluted wine.
Tarran and Tyrran (NPC) - a pair of Twi'lek twins who provide a safe haven in the Brackenmere Marsh for Twi'leks and other non-humans persecuted by the Vaderites who have managed to flee into the swampy forestland. They are the youngest of ten children - and the only survivors of their family. Their focus is on particular on women, children, and elderly persons. The twins were rescued from a Vaderite medical facility where they'd been subjected to 'testing'. Their rescuer was an old member of the group who was one of the few surviving first Shades and a member of the original Duskfall settlement. Their saviour adopted the twins so they grew up working with the Shades.
Now she has passed the torch, and they have picked up where their surrogate parent left off - saving people, protecting the downtrodden. Tarran is the leader of the group, with his sister Tyrran as second in command. The twins see their principal mission as saving the lives of their people, not engaging in direct combat against the Vaderites. To this end they encourage Twi'leks and other oppressed who live in ghettos and slave settlements to escape and join them. Moreover, they execute Vaderite collaborators, including one man who lived in their girlhood village and was once close to the family. The twins believe that the group needs to be feared if it has any chance of surviving in such a hostile environment.
Tarran frequently sends guides into ghettos to escort people into the wilderness. He is a respected figure among the inhabitants of the camp, but also authoritarian. He frequently gives speeches before the entire assembly, often breaking down in tears at the fate of the Twi'leks. Tyrran is a bit more millitant, but her brother manages to dial down her desire for revenge. She has considerable organisation skills. Tarran has plans for creating a network all across Vaderite lands. Their scouts constantly search the roads for Twi'lek escapees in need of protection. Despite some opposition, the pair has never wavered in their commitment to protecting refugees. This has resulted in the foundation of a mobile community in the wilderness, where people are organised into workshops and professions according to their skills.
They have even set up a primitive infirmary, school, and courthouse. The group cooperates with other partisans, and carries out on attacks on Vaderite auxiliary police and local farmers suspected of killing fugitives. They have blown up railroads and bridges that are used by the Vaderites, but this is mainly to save Twi'leks, Togruta and others who are at risk of being killed. Their focus is on saving lives, not fighting a war. This has led to tensions with more militant partisan groups, but they do what they can.
Babur (NPC) - there are idealistic Shades who are committed to saving as many persecuted people as they can, especially particularly vulnerable ones such as children or the elderly. There are Shades who adopt a more ruthlessly pragmatic attitude based on what benefits the Republican Guard. And there are Shades like Babur, whose main motivation is personal profit. The decentralised nature of the movement is a necessity in order to ensure its survival, but also provides opportunities for unscrupulous characters since there is little oversight. Babur is a Mon Calamari, but a sketchy one. He has found there is plenty of opportunity for graft if he is careful. He pays lip service to the ostensible ideals of the group, but runs his crew more like a crime gang. Outwardly he is charming, but it is the charm of a snake oil salesman. He likes to be called 'Uncle' for his friendly manner, which is a cover for demanding 'extras' be it money or supplies from the refugees.
Babur will help people, and has been known to take risks other Shade leaders would shy away from. He also engages in fraud and coercion and those who cannot compensate him are liable to end up working in exploitative conditions. He does have a soft spot for his fellow Mon Calamari though. Indeed, he is a bit of an ethno-nationalist with some rather bigoted views. For this reason, he treats his kin better. This has helped him continue his illicit activities.
Kraylin (NPC) - a Cathar who was part of a 'bad batch' of clones created and later discarded by the Dominion. This particular clone batch was considered aberrant. And so they were all ordered to attend a location so they could be 're-educated' and thus brought back into the embrance of Ashla. This one, perhaps ironically, had been showing independent tendencies and managed to evade the net, eventually linking up with the Shades. Kraylin identifies as gender non-binary, and goes by they/them pronouns, though they have various fake identities.
They serve in a reconnaissance role, which encompasses organising clandestine meetings, staking out a location and examining it for entrances and exits and potential hideouts, among other tasks. Moreover, they keep an eye on the movements of the security forces, and informers. All these are crucial tasks, especially when a rescue needs to be organised or a cell has to move or carry out a raid. Fugitives will rarely deal directly with Kraylin, but the Cathar is the one who makes sure they have a place to safely meet with a representatives of the Shades or can be provided with an escape route. Kraylin is a capable operator who is respected by their peers. The Cathar has a knack for noticing things others might miss and anticipating dangers. They get 'hunches' about situations that tend to be spot on. However, Kraylin strongly denies that this has anything to do with the Force and attributes it to intuition, training and luck. Their cell has accepted this explanation, and not prodded them about it further.
Ishva Narod (NPC) - Gungans are commonly stereotyped as dim-witted and clumsy. After all, that is how Jar Jar Binks behaved, so surely all Gungans must be the same. Just like all Wookiees are fixated on honour and all Zeltrons are licentious. Somehow, humans are allowed to be diverse. Stereotypes are, however, just that. Ishva is one of the few surviving members of the original Shades - the inhabitants of the original Duskfall who took up arms when the Dominion turned their home into a wasteland and called it peace. She has not forgotten, or forgiven. But now her days of fighting are behind her. Her mind is sharp, but age and a hard life in the maquis have taken their toll. She oversaw the transition of the Shades into a group of infiltrators and smugglers with a mandate to help those trying to escape the tyranny of Force Users.
Today, Ishva has an administrative role, trying to coordinate the various cells of Shades and bring a measure of organisation to the decentralised, clandestine network. That includes terminating cells that have strayed too far from the group's principles. The Shades do not have a singular leader, but she is the closest thing to one. In that role she has to strike a balance between the interests of the Republican Guard and the need to help the downtrodden. She is not on good terms with Odoh Senks, a fellow Gungan and the firebrand leader of the rebel insurgency. Ishva is the surrogate parent of Tarran and Tyrran, two Twi'leks twins she rescued during an early raid on a Vaderite 'medical facility'. There the pair had been subjected to barbaric medica experiments. Their parents were dead, so Ishva essentially raised them as her own. Now the pair has picked up where she left off.
Humayun (NPC) - a Mon Calamari captain who uses his boat to transport fugitives and much needed supplies across the waterways and through the swamps. His name sounds close to 'human', which has earned him a few lumps and a lot of mockery from the Vaderites. Humayun is an idealistic sort who treats his work like running an underground railroad for escaped slaves. He is personally brave, and compassionate, but also firm in his convictions. He is connected to General Aruunzeb, a Mon Calamari community leader turned military leader. Like him, Humayun experienced his people's subjugation at the hands of the Dominion, which has displaced or incarcerated thousands of Mon Calamari.
His skills reside more in his charisma, nautical expertise and knowledge of smuggling routes than his fighting prowess. In his own words, he knows the seas and rivers, the shapes of the coast, where the rocks and shoals lie. He knows hidden coves where a boat can land unseen and he knows a people's army protects the people or it is no people's army at all. This has brought him in conflict with Republican Guard members who use more ruthless tactics. However, Humayun has braved storms and hostile seas to deliver vital supplies to those in need or evacuate retreating partisans and sympathisers. He has helped many Mon Calamari, but also other victims of tyranny, escape to safe hideouts in the remote corners of Tephrike.
Humayun is of low birth, but an autodidact who studies to educate himself. He is a quick thinker and a canny strategist with a very practical intelligence. Early in his career as a smuggler, Humayun saved a besieged Dominion fortress by delivering smuggled onions, kelp and other foodstuffs to the starving soldiers. The Jedi general rewarded him for his services, but also cut off the four fingertips at the knuckles from Humayun's non-dominant hand because smuggling was against the law and a good deed does not wash out the bad. Humayun has greatly regretted helping him since the Jedi went on to destroy Mon Calamari settlements for refusing to bend the knee.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
"Duskfall is wherever the oppressed find refuge." ~anonymous Shade
"We cannot simply hide ourselves. We must do something for our people. We cannot sit in the bushes and wait until the wolf comes for us. We must send people to the ghettos to save Twi'leks, and anyone else oppressed by the humies." ~ Tarran
The outbreak of the Gulag Virus sent Tephrike spiralling into chaos. Cut off from the rest of the Galaxy and ravaged by the plague, the planet experienced famine, isolation, technological regression and civil war. The federal government collapsed, giving way to warlords and gangs. The local Jedi enclave tried to restore peace, but their benign intentions turned evil over time and they created an oppressive totalitarian theocracy with a strict caste system. Their dominance was soon contested by Sith cultists, who preached a mixture of Vader worship, human supremacism and enslavement of non-humans. They created the tyrannical Imperium, governed by the Disciples of the Vader.
The Republican Guard rose to oppose both of these factions. In contrast to its enemies, the Guard idolised the Old Republic and the Rebel Alliance, though it is also influenced by the Imperial Remnant. It was also staunchly opposed to Force-users, viewing the Force as a disease and blaming it for the calamities of the past few centuries. Originally it was started by remnants of Tephrike's pre-collapse government, nativist parties of aquatic aliens and deserted Dominion clone troopers.
Though officially committed to democracy, in practical terms wartime exigencies turned the rebels into a military junta. While it depicted itself as the army of the people and defender of the downtrodden, its tactics were ruthless. Terrorist bombings, torture, forced requisitions and extrajudicial executions were par for the course. Yet it was the lesser evil compared to its foes. The common people, especially the poor and marginalised, were caught in the middle of the destructive war.
Once upon a time, there was a settlement called Duskfall on the world of Tephrike Located close to swamps, it ran trading and basic manufacturing. It was laid to waste by the Dominion of Light a couple decades before the present following a rebellion against the tyrannical regime. Initially the survivrs fought as partisans in the swamps, earning their name. If Duskfall could not be reclaimed, it would become their rallying cry. Their knowledge of the swamplands served them well as irregular fighters, but attrition took a bloody toll on them. However, over time they morphed into their current form. First they were absorbed by the Republican Guard, a revolutionary vanguard movement that staunchly opposed the tyranny of Force users. The rebels saw their skills better used for other tasks, before an incident changed everything.
Led by the fanatical General Kennobi, the Dominion initiated a campaign to subdue independent Mon Calamari communities, destroying those that refused to submit. Many Mon Calamari were deported to closed settlements or detention centres away from their homelands. The partisans needed a group whose members had the skills of smugglers and infiltrators. Their mission was to guide and evacuate groups of Mon Calamari fleeing persecution, as well as infiltrating the closed settlements and 'vocational training centres' they had been relocated to in order to help people flee. To this end they cooperated with a partisan army led by General Aruunzeb, the former mayor of a Mon Calamari town that had been destroyed by the Dominion. The Shades evolved into a better organised and cell based group, which spread with a mandate to help people across the war-torn planet. This was not popular with everyone and the more militant of the group drifted to more aggressive partisan units that wanted to take the fight to the enemy.
But as one of the partisans who embraced the new course put it, Duskfall was not a fixed place. It existed wherever the oppressed would find sanctuary from those who would place them in chains. Their familiariy with the swamplands, the forests as well as their smuggling and survival skills would help them save people and elude the Vaderite and Dominion authorities. While the Shades did fight against Dominion or Vaderite troops, they emphasised providing safe havens. However, there was a never resolved divide between idealists who wanted to help the most vulnerable and pragmatists who focused on those who could be of use to the Republican Guard. Some would only accept fugitives who could bring them weapons, ammunition or information, turning away who could not contribute. This obviously discriminated against the most vulnerable. However, life in the underground was hard, and the rebels were fighting a war for survival.
The decentralised nature of the Shades' network meant that different cells utilised different methods. Supplies were not easy to come by. Some farmers in the countryside secretly supported the rebels, but to provide for themselves the Shades also resorted to robberry and intimidation. Moreover, they hunted and fished. A Hutt called Ishko became an unexpected ally, using her smuggling connections to move essential foodstuffs and medical supplies as well as help fugitives escaped; sometimes by making the transports as slave convoys. Sometimes the camouflage worked to well, as rebels targeted the Hutt under the belief that she was an evil gangster.
Some cells worked together with the Rock Breaker Corps, a special unit of sappers and saboteurs who specialised in clandestine operations. Shades cooperated with them to carry out raids to destroy critical infrastructure and free prisoners. The original Rock Breakers were a group of Vaderite concentration camp inmates who had escaped imprisonment and certain death by digging an underground tunnel. Shades helped fugitive Togruta, Gungans and Nautolans flee the Chios genocide enacted by the fanatical Sith Lord Darth Lachesis. The fugitives told horrible stories of the atrocities committed in an extermination camp the Vaderites had built upon the ruins of a Togruta town on the island. However, the rebels could not liberate the island, only save some of those the Vaderites had targeted for extermination. And they paid a high price for their aid.
The chaos caused by the Netherworld Event was an opportunity and a problem for the Shades. The mass raptures resulted in inmates being able to flee Dominion or Vaderite concentration camps as many of the guards had vanished. However, the mass dislocations stretched the resources of the Shades thin. Moreover, as the Republican Guard's grand offensive against the Dominion ground to a halt and casualties mounted, more and more Shades were drafted to fight. Even fugitives the group had tried to help were conscripted against their will. Some cells were virtually stripped of able-bodied members or went rogue because they considered the way they were being used a betrayal of their mission. When the offensive failed, some fleeing Republican Guard rebels wound up with the group, going underground. A number of fugitive refugees were guided to Camp Sanctuary with the help of certain Shades. Certain Shade cells were active in the Prosperity Quarter uprising, working alongside rebellious slaves and, controversially, Light Sith.
The Republican Guard high command had forbidden its partisans from participating, knowing the rebellion was doomed, but some rebels defied this order. The uprising was brutally suppressed, but some of the downtrodden were able to escape with the help of the Shades. An operative called Humayun used his boat to evacuate fugitives during the fighting. Some of the Shades in the city wound up being among those who were deported to Hope Falls, the Vaderites' 'model xenos settlement'. They soon regrouped and set up a small cell, though it pursued a harsh, pragmatic course. A Zabrak operative called Kinrath eventually became their leader. They built ties with the local smuggling networks and managed to infiltrate the corrupt Public Force, a collaborationist auxiliary police established by the Vaderites to keep the alien population under the yoke.
Some fugitives would find shelter in the Brackenmere Marsh, a swampy forest that played host to a camp run by two Twi'leks siblings called Tarran and Tyrran. Initially the majority of the refugees were escaped Twi'leks, but the camp's residents soon included, among others, Cathar, Nautolans, and Mon Calamari who had managed to flee into the wilderness. Vaderite terror campaigns had wrecked entire villages, but much was left behind. Much of the building material and some household goods could be salvaged, so the rebels foraged. But they also engaged in banditry and armed robberies to survive. Aside from humans, Zabrak and Gamorreans who collaborated with the Vaderites and had betrayed or murdered Twi'leks were also among the group's targets. The group was forced to live a semi-nomadic existence, as Vaderite clearing operations often forced them to relocate their camp on short notice as they moved across the primeval forest.
Recently, a KEC task force headed by Lachesis came to Hope Falls to crack down on smuggling and carry out a brutal campaign of confiscation of grain and other agricultural products. The settlement had fallen behind on meeting the state's oppressive quotas. The Vaderites naturally did not care that many of the natives would starve to death. Shakka, Twi'lek slave of a young Sith called Kyriaki, and her cousin Firith were able to arrange clandestine meeting with Kinrath. Their goal was to escape together with Firith's wife and son. Shakka had helped her mistress uncover a smuggling ring headed by the corrupt, thuggish Public Force commander, and had access to many of the files that detailed his hidden caches. After they had proved they could offer useful intel, the Shade cell agreed to help the fugitives. To cover the escape, they arranged an explosive distraction to keep the security forces busy. However, Shakka's comm link had been tracked, and so the fugitives were pursued. Firith's wife Lena and his son were able to escape to safety, but he died and Shakka was recaptured.
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