Cedric Grayson
Ashlan Kaiser
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: The Black Library serves the purpose of storing lost knowledge from past eras: locking away artifacts and tomes that could lead to corruption, creating a hidey-hole for Darius and his allies, and providing a home port/base of operations for the Jedi Shadows of the late Jedi Order with a mystery story to go along with it.
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- Canon: N/A
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SETTING INFORMATION
- Nexus Name: The Black Library
- Nexus Alignment: Light
- Location: The Black Library was carved into the center of an asteroid hidden within the Chiloon Rift.
- Affiliation: The library was once a location employed by the Jedi Shadows, but has since been lost to time. Its existence is unknown to the greater galaxy as a whole, save for the droids that take care of it, and the sole Jedi Knight that calls it home, Darius Sedaire.
- Size: Medium. Though the Nexus' power can be felt throughout the facility, its direct influence is focused on the library itself.
- Accessibility: The Black Library was one of the Jedi Order's best kept secrets. Few within the order itself even knew of the facility's existence, and only members of the Jedi Shadows were ever allowed to visit it. Given its small size and position within the Chiloon Rift, the library has gone unnoticed for centuries. Finding the asteroid that contains the facility alone would be extremely difficult without prior knowledge as to its location. Gaining access to the facility's hangers is another matter entirely. That all being said, if one were to find the place, there's nothing saying they blast their way in at the risk of damaging the knowledge held within.
- Security: The Black Library is not a military installation. The majority of its caretaker droids have basic defensive functions, and the library is garrisoned with a handful of archaic combat droids, but it contains little else by way of security measures. The library's primary defense is the difficulty in finding it and the troublesome nature of the Chiloon Rift.
- Description: The nexus at the heart of the Black Library was born several centuries ago. It was created by a number of Jedi Sages with the express purpose of purifying the Black Library, a facility that had previously served as a depot of forbidden knowledge by a fallen Sith Lord. After many years of arcane rituals and the presence of numerous Jedi Masters, the nexus was finally born at the facility's heart.
NEXUS EFFECTS
The Nexus within the Black Library is rather dissimilar to other nexuses of its ilk. Its ties to the Ashla are evident, but they produce different results than one might expect. The Nexus serves as its own gatekeeper. It scours the soul of those that would enter the library, searching for the slightest hint of self-doubt or corruption in the hearts of its visitors. If it should find the individual lacking, various things will happen. The lightest of consequences is the doors simply remaining closed. If one forces their way through, they will find themselves assailed by the temple's defenses.
Users of the Dark Side will find their abilities severely suppressed as the Light Side's presence falls upon them like a tidal wave. The greater the corruption, the greater the wave. This can range from a simple uncomfortable feeling , to a full temporary deafness to the force all together. Encouragement to leave and a strong sense of malignancy in the back of the skull will follow as the library attempts to remove the intruder. The same issues will afflict non-force users as well. If the intruder still pushes onward, the caretaker droids are expected to be able to deal with the severely hampered individual. This process has been put in place to keep those with dark intentions or hearts that could succumb to the terrible secrets hidden within the library from entering. These defenses can be temporarily lowered should the Master of Shadows deem it necessary by conversing with the spirit of the Nexus, though the Nexus may not always comply to the master's wishes.
Aside from scouring the souls of its visitors for corruption, the library's Nexus empowers those it deems worthy. It provides a sense of homeliness to those within, inspiring confidence and pleasant feelings within its occupants. It also suppresses the negative energy that lingers within the many forbidden tomes and artifacts it houses. Within its vaults, a Sith Lord's blade that corrupts all around it becomes little more than a well kept weapon. A cursed book that whispers into the mind of its readers will find itself deafened. Helms of dread and armor of plagues will be rendered little more than archaic pieces of metalworking.
With this aura, such items can be kept without fear of corrupting those within the library. They can be studied to find weaknesses and flaws within the spells and weapons denizens of chaos make use of, without any danger to those looking them over.
POINTS OF INTEREST
The Library: The center of the facility, the library is a massive chamber that houses the many tomes and data-slates held within the facility. This is the area expressly guarded by the Nexus, and contains knowledge from all corners of the galaxy dating back to the library's inception. Anything from a treatise on Chiss mating habits to documentation on the origins of the Sith Order can be found here. Knowledge is graded on a scale from A to D, A being information that posses no danger, and D pertaining to information that only masters with incorruptible hearts should ever be allowed to look upon.
The Vaults: A series of heavy vaults guarded by ancient watcher droids lies below the library. It is here that artifacts of great importance or great danger are kept. The vaults can only be accessed by the Master of Shadows and any individual he or she gives access to. Anything from Seeds of Rage to ancient treaties can be found here. The Nexus' source can be found at the deepest level of the facility under heavy guard.
Living Quarters: The Black Library's eastern wing is comprised entirely of full living quarters. Each apartment is host to a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. These facilities are all interconnected by the Black Library's BRT and have full access to the holonet. Approximately forty apartments can be found within the living quarters.
Library Command: The closest thing the Black Library has to a command deck, Library Command is home to the facility's BRT unit as well as the terminals that control its security measures. It is here that long-range communications are usually carried out to the greater galaxy. The Master of Shadows will likely conduct any meetings here as well.
Hangers: Standard landing hangers. The twin hanger bays are large enough to accommodate a number of star fighters and two vessels of a corvette's size each.
Training Halls: The facility was redesigned with Jedi occupants in mind. As such, attaching training halls was a must. The halls themselves are rather large and contain facilities designed to test both a user's combat meddle, as well as instruction in the force. In later years, the halls were modified to combat training with blaster rifles and other ranged weapons to accommodate for the non-force users aboard.
Fitness Center: A standard fitness center with a pool/jacuzzi combo attached. We can't have our scholars getting fat now, can we?
The Master's Wing: A handful of rooms to the library's northern section are blocked off from all, save for the Master of Shadows. These rooms have passages leading to every part of the Black Library, and contain private sparring chambers, living quarters, and a meditation chamber. It also provides direct access to the lowest level of the vaults via a private elevator, and it has been rumored that certain vaults can only be accesses through this elevator, though such rumors are unconfirmed.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Black Library was once home to a Sith Lord, whose name has been wiped from record, that paid allegiance to the Brotherhood of Darkness. This individual in particular was quite a bit more nasty than the rest of his ilk, having made a habit of transforming the inhabitants of worlds he conquered into mindless Sithspawn. A sorcerer of great power, the Sith Lord waged war on the Galactic Republic, shattering many worlds beneath the weight of his warped and unholy armies.
After many years of conflict, a sect of the Jedi Shadows found the coordinates to his private home within the Chiloon Rift. Alongside a handful of Sages, the Shadows set forth to destroy the Sith Lord's source of knowledge. The strike force described what they found within the library as a living hell.
Sentient creatures were warped beyond recognition. Slaves were sacrificed in grand rituals to summon beasts from the beyond. The women were treated as cattle for breeding, the men as sources of blood for arcane rituals. The bones of thousands littered the library, and facility itself seemed look upon the intruders with a malice unmatched by any mortal creature. With great effort and the force's favor, the strike force was able to best the Sith Lord in his own home. The cretin was cut down for his crimes, his greatest servants slain for the crime of being an affront to the natural order.
The slaves were freed, the knowledge locked away, but the corruption remained. Realizing that they did not possess the means to reliably destroy the nexus, the strike team chose to remain behind in hopes of purifying this horrible place. Over the many years, they slowly brought about a shift within the library, though the blood of the past is not washed away so easily.
After the Battle of Ruusan, the Jedi Shadows sent aid to their lost brethren. When they arrived, they found many of their comrades dead, but those that remained assured the new arrivals that things within the library had changed. The heart of its power had been scrubbed clean by the efforts of the deceased, all memory of its former owner cast aside.
It was then that the Jedi Shadows wiped all knowledge of the Black Library's existence from public records. They turned the forgotten facility into a repository for all the spoils of war they had come to possess. Over the many years, the Black Library served as a place of peace and learning for members of the Shadows, as well as a hub for their operatives in the Rift's region of space.
In time, the Black Library was modified with living wings, as well as a population of caretakers droids and a supercomputer to maintain them. Despite these upgrades, the library's population declined. Many of the Jedi Shadows were slaughtered during the onset of Order 66, and those that remained soon left the facility to join the reborn New Jedi Order at the dawn of the New Republic. Due to unfortunate circumstances, all members of the Shadows that knew of the library's existence were killed before they could spread their knowledge.
Thus, that Black Library has sat uninhabited for centuries, its caretaker droids working diligently as they await the return of their Jedi friends. The Nexus itself has reached out into the void a number of times in hopes of finding the lost Jedi.
It was only by chance that an errant Jedi Knight happened to fly close enough to make contact with the Nexus centuries after it had been abandoned...
