Public Star Wars: Episode X: Duel of the Fates

[Sinrebirth]

STAR WARS

EPISODE X

DUEL OF THE FATES


The iron grip of the FIRST ORDER has spread to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Only a few scattered planets remain unoccupied. Traitorous acts are punishable by death. In order to suffocate the unrest that defeated EMPEROR PALPATINE, the mysterious SUPREME LEADER has silenced all communication between neighboring systems. Led by POE DAMERON, the Resistance has planned a secret mission to prevent their annihilation and forge a path to freedom...​

A rich tapestry of stars, reaching beyond all we know.

A world, surrounded by a dock.

Kuat.

Two sharp points of a space station enclose us as we drift backwards into the glowing rectangular entrance of a docking bay.

A First Order transport, a TIE Marauder, touches down; a wide platform descends, revealing a variety of droids.

A black-grey BB unit carefully splits off from the group.

The graphite BB unit swerves to avoid all manner of labour droids, scraping BB's spherical side against the wall. His head tilts down, checking a scuff in his paint, revealing orange beneath. It's BB-8, deep undercover.

He lets out his almost signature 'uh-oh' beep and rotates the orange scuff beneath his head.

---
Coruscant, the First Order Capitol War Room

A clawed hand reaches into a silver tureen of baby shaaks, huddling together for warmth. We follow the squealing animal into the mouth of Lord Gherlid, a nonhuman with razor teeth that ruled much of the northern quadrant.

He sits at a table of Galactic Warlords - tribal, wealthy, coated in elaborate robes and stolen jewels.

Chancellor Hux speaks to them, nostrils flared at the smell. Nine years ago, he wouldn't have had to put up with these... aliens. But then again, without them, taking advantage of the chaos caused by the galactic uprising against the return of Emperor Palpatine, there would not have been a First Order left. It had been ridiculous to assume that all of the galaxies' species would unite behind a single call from Lando Calrissian. As many took advantage of the chaos, carving out fiefdoms in those difficult early days, only to find the First Order was not dead, merely humbled...

"I assure you," he continued. "The stolen Destroyer will be found. Our probe droids are scouring the galaxy as we speak."

Lord Gherlid, his mouth full, burped. "A Dreadnought just slipped through your fingers, Hux. Your words don't inspire confidence."

"A lone signal won't be difficult to fine," Hux said stiffly. "Our transmissions blockade has silenced millions of systems." Of course it had, and it was the main reason why the First Order had managed to retain supremacy - with communication cut, the galaxy had no way to even speak to each other. The First Order knew how to fight without the HoloNet, having spent decades in the Unknown Regions without such a thing. The ill-coordinated, hopeful masses? Not so much.

"You can silence planets, not people. There have been uprisings. We must not allow the seeds of revolution to take root." Gherlid huffed, and Hux responded swiftly, expecting as much, and looking to leverage this into an advantage.

"The First Order will punish those who defy your rule. Submit your youth for conditioning. They will teach their elders the rule of law."

Jor Nult, a nasty-looking dreadlocked Weequay - the Hutt representative - wagged a finger. "Its Skywalker they believe in, not the law. She's become a symbol of hope."

Raykar Shen, the Harch representative - a spider-like offshoot of the Aqualish, that ruled whole sectors of the Outer Rim. "The people believe she will destroy you, Hux - and your Master."

He seethed, remembering the voice of the man who had spoken to him in the days after Exegol, who had taken command of his successes, and returned Hux to being only the second most powerful person in the galaxy. Palpatine, Pryde, all of the other First Order leaders, dead.

But not him. Hux sneered at Shen.

"Kylo Ren is no Master, certainly not mine."

​

 

[Sinrebirth]

Mustafar.

Millennia ago, the Mustafar system was... reorganised.

The Sith needed the planets in an entirely different alignment, to draw upon fault-lines in the Force.

To access... the other side.

Some called it the World Between Worlds... others, simply, the 'Light',

But the Force resisted the intrusion of the then-Dark, and the Sith Temple there in the rock was abandoned...

Until Lord Vader built his own castle upon that fault-line, to reach through Death to his lost love...

He failed, of course, for even the Chosen One could not break the rules of existence and use the darkness to resurrect the dead...

But the castle remained, and then the world was tamed by the self-proclaimed Dark Lord of the Sith as he pursued the reborn Darth Sidious, some ten years ago...

It is on this world he has laboured.

Researched.

Grown even more powerful, hidden by the darkness...

Today

The terrain is obsidian-like, black and reflective. Jagged mountains spike in the distance.

A cloaked figure in tattered robes rises.

It is him, bearded and weary. He checks the stars for navigation, climbs over a rock precipice...

... to reveal Vader's abandoned castle in the distance.

A drone droid, VX-20, floats just behind him.

"Stay here."

A forgotten, decrepit cathedral. Crumbling. Pieces of structure litter the ground, untouched for decades.

He lights his red crossguard lightsaber, holds it up as a torch. Tiny creatures scurry at the disturbance.

A haunting wind blows against his cheek, chilling him.

"Leave me alone."

"This is where the dark path leads. An empty tomb."

Luke Skywalker's voice...

... haunting his nephew like a spirit.

"Where did your path lead? You're a ghost."

"I know what you're searching for. Your Masters promised you strength, but you feel hollow."

"Soon I will be more powerful than any Jedi. Even you."

"Are you sure?"

He snaps, spins and swings his lightsaber at empty space. With a billow of cold wind, Luke's spirit is gone, but yet -

"Go home, Ben... go home to Rey..."

Kylo is shaken. But on the altar beyond, the artefact he came here to find...

A Sith Holocron.

 

[Sinrebirth]

Coruscant.

The scintillating jewel at the heart of the galaxy.

Well.

Former, anyway.

Since the fall of the Empire, the once-capital of the galaxy had fallen hard, notwithstanding that it was among the first worlds to rise up against the Empire after Endor, and that it fought a year long civil war without any aide from the New Republic, which didn't care to help the world which had oppressed the galaxy free itself from it's own oppressors.

In some ways, the Rebels forgot that the first world to be taken by Palpatine was Coruscant.

That they were lied to, fed a relentless tide of fear via the news of the Clone Wars, a terror which saw the people abandon right after liberty after choice in favour of some phantom spectre of security. They had been manipulated for thirteen years by the then-Chancellor.. how could they have not embraced the tales of the Jedi Rebellion? How could you expect them to refuse to grant unlimited power to the man who had, by all accounts, saved them from the genocidal General Grievous, the depredations of Dooku, or the terror attacks masterminded by Admiral Trench?

And when they rose up, finally having realised the truth?

Nothing.

They were abandoned, while the New Republic freed the rest of the galaxy.

The Battle of Jakku didn't save Coruscant... the end of the war simply condemned it.

For a time, Grand Vizier Mas Amedda ruled a rump Imperial state, with no powers to speak of; no notable military presence, no trade deals, no reparations... nothing. The criminals, well, they moved in with glee to ravage those hundreds of millions trapped on-world, and in short order the old capital became a failed state. By the time the New Republic Centrist Party, and later the First Order, offered to restore the world to glory, Coruscant welcomed the chance. Their teenagers joined the hungry military machine of Snoke in droves. On Coruscant, Hux and Phasma didn't need to steal children; they were handed over, with joy and tears.

Much like everyone else, the people of Coruscant grew to regret their decision, especially when Hosnian Prime was destroyed.

This wasn't Order, this was blind rage, given shape by madmen like Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux.

So when word spread that the galaxy was in uprising, Coruscant too joined the fray, much as it did thirty-one years ago.

But the First Order was ready.

They had been preparing.

For a year, they had worked the galaxies industries to create a second Mega-class dreadnought, of the same design of the Supremacy, capable of being both command centre, battleship, and shipyard all in one.

It arrived.

Coruscant fell as quickly as it rose.

The Supremacy was reborn.

 

[Sinrebirth]

During the Events of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

The blaster bolt slammed into his chest.

He felt his feet almost lifted off the floor as he flew back, slammed into the decking, sliding between the rows of troops with a squeal of fabric as he went. His cane remained in his hand, such was his surprise.

It was strange, what one paid attention to when one was shot.

It didn't hurt as much as he had expected, but then again, it wouldn't, would it?

His leg wound? Now that had hurt. After all, he hadn't any body-armour over that.

Did Pryde really really think he would turn up with such a feeble excuse? He was basically telegraphing what he had done, aiding the scum in their escape from the Steadfast and lamely turning up like a wounded vornskr.

Others came and collected him, ferrying him from the bridge, and he feigned unconsciousness for the time being, just about forgetting to drop the cane. It was efficient, at least, he wryly thought.

But it would be, wouldn't it? These were his troops. His program, enforced by Captain's Phasma and Cardinal, had moulded thousands of children into First Order Stormtroopers. Yes, his influence had been reduced in the past year since Supreme Leader Snoke had died... but it would never be entirely undone. He still had many men and women who had no inkling of how he was derided among High Command, and so followed his orders to the letter.

In short order, he'd be ferried from the Steadfast, and he would resume his command of his troops...

If he was lucky, Pryde, Kylo Ren, Palpatine... the whole lot of them, they would be undone and he would rule.

Chancellor Hux.

It had a nice ring to it.

 

[Sinrebirth]

Also during the events of Episode XI: The Rise of Skywalker

"I know what I have to do," Ben Solo admitted, his voice tremulous, his face wet from the Kef Bir rain; hair pressed to his brow. "But I don't know if I have the strength to do it.

Han raised his hand to Ben's cheek. Ben remembered it exactly. Rey had been right; he hadn't been able to shake the memory of the warmth of his father's palm, the calluses at his fingertips, the acceptance in his eyes.

You do," his father said.

Han Solo still believed in him. So had his mother. So had Rey.

Ben raised the handle of his lightsaber, just like he had on Starkiller Base, the last time he'd seen his father. Except this time...

"Dad...?" he said, suddenly small. Vulnerable. Right.

Han Solo smiled. "I know."

Ben turned, and launched the lightsaber into the air. It sailed in a high arc, far above the wreckage, and disappeared into a haze of ocean spray.

When he turned back, the memory of his father was gone, and Ben Solo was alone in the middle of the sea.

He knew what he had to do. Somehow, he would find the strength to do it.

Kylo Ren was dead.

As he turned aside, he didn't see that a hand caught the lightsaber hilt.

None of them did.

 

[Sinrebirth]

Welcome to Star Wars: Episode X: Duel of the Fates

Nine years have passed since Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

The galaxy may not look like what you expected.

The armada that went to Exegol, yes, it thrashed the Final Order, and decapitated the leadership of the First Order. Uprisings on Endor, Corellia, Jakku, Thyferra, Coruscant, Kuat, Lothal, Tatooine - they all happened, yes.

But that wasn't the end of things.

Chaos bred opportunity, and the First Order was given a chance - a chance to deploy what they had spent a year preparing - a complete communications black-out. Within days of the Battle of Exegol, the armada scattered, returning to defend homeworlds that were now isolated and exposed prey.

But that lack of galactic community... the inability the galaxy had to speak... it didn't stop the whispers of hope; of the story of Rey spreading...

Nor the rumour that Kylo Ren was not dead.

In nine years, the Supreme Leader has not been seen by the galaxy at large...

Until now.

---​

Character Sheet

Name:
Age: The game is set ten years after the Episode VII and VIII, and nine years after Episode IX
Species:
Homeworld:
Affiliation: First Order, Resistance, Unaligned
Force Sensitivity: Y/N.
Personal Effects:
Personal Starship (if any):
Personal Weapon:
Bio: I will merrily accept a link to a Wookieepedia article for Canon and Legends characters.

---​

The Rules

1. All sheets to the GM for approval first!
2. Kylo Ren and Hux are non-player characters.
3. Let the fun Begin!
4. All sheet will have an intro before it goes up!
5. This is a cinematic game. In that, the show must go on, and actors can and will be recast. Missing two TAGs without prior notice returns your character to the GM.
6. This is a ONE CANON game. Characters from Legends will be accepted. For the purposes of Legends, this series is set 11 years after Crucible. Please take it that NuCanon post-Endor started after Dark Empire III: Empire's End.
7. I do not impose Force levels in the strictest sense, and I will expect Force use to exhaust