Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
Intent: A means of taking a shot at killing the Dark Lord of the One Sith, and probably screwing up everything for everyone, including us, regardless of success or failure. This project, and the range of potential outcomes, have been discussed with a One Sith faction administrator.
Development Thread:
Taurannik Codex obtained [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Taurannik Codex completed
Mirr obtained and examined (farsight artifact)
Preliminary groundwork
Primary development thread: Dream A Little Dream Of Me (41 posts, ongoing for other purposes)
Phobis device development:
Model: N/A
Affiliation: Personal
Modularity: The Deicide Oculus could be compared to a gun. Once targeting is complete, it can 'fire' different kinds of 'bullets.' The Deicide Oculus was intended to be used with Force Drain or a Phobis Device, though other kinds of mental/metaphysical influence could be projected along a trapped bond.
Production: Unique
Material: Alchemized terentatek leather (concentric spheres of primary mental maze), alchemized terentatek tusk/tooth/claw/bone (interstitial mazes/structural supports, Tashai bond tracking talismans (pending approval)), durasteel (secondary mental mazes), thaissen crystals (Lightbringer sensor nodes), nullification resin plates (shielding for Lightbringers), Nightsister blood (used in alchemy), Lotek'k blood (used in alchemy)
Description: The function of the Deicide Oculus is as follows:
The first design priority is the mental maze's ability to trap someone who attempts to actively perceive it, its contents, or its immediate surroundings. Even basic mental mazes tend to draw in the unwary; the Deicide Oculus is not just challenging but malicious. Escape is possible, after many hours or days, but not likely. This is due to a variety of factors and tactics:
In terms of mental and/or spiritual 'bullets' to be 'fired' along the Force Bond from proximal to distant target, the most direct is Force Drain. Force Drain resonates well along bonds; some interpretations of it focus entirely on exploiting and consuming bonds in a chain reaction. As shown during Palpatine's rule of Byss, it also has the benefit of being able to be applied spirit to spirit, not necessarily requiring a visible, tangible Force manifestation.
The other potential 'bullet' is the item which is contained within the heart of the mental maze: A fully functional Phobis device. When subjects resist the maze's call to greater dissociation from their bodies, they remain highly vulnerable to the device, and are driven to seek refuge in the trapped condition that the maze aims to produce. In direct proximity to the Phobis device, unreasoning terror leads to madness in very short order. The concentric spheres of terentatek leather serve to insulate the operators from the device, as well as to keep it insulated from detection until it is too late: Any farsight-style attention or other concerted Force effort to discern the Oculus' contents will trap the viewer long before the device is discovered. Ideally, after distant subject A is trapped in such a way, and exposed to the Phobis device in something like a resonating amplification chamber, the bond to distant subject B will become the means to apply the full power of a Phobis device to the mind of subject B.
The very serious liability of this strategy should be obvious: It involves putting the Oculus' operators in direct contact with a distant but very powerful Force-wielder, while containing the mind of another very powerful Force-wielder, and while avoiding, staving off, or trapping others who have bonds to the original trapped target. Insofar as the Oculus is a metaphorical gun, it is, in a sense, capable of being turned on its owner. It is audacious, precipitous, and insanely risky. A best-case scenario for such a reversal would see the operators trapped in the Oculus, in direct proximity to a Phobis Device. A worst-case scenario could see the operators annihilated. Other possible outcomes include drawing the united attention of one of the most powerful Dark Side organizations in two thousand years, potentially through burning out their Dark Marks. Likewise, as the intended target of this device is a high-ranking priestess of Vahl, the Dark Lord may not be the only mindbogglingly nasty entity awakened. Handling it is difficult enough as it is; terentatek leather resists telekinesis, and even Masters find their eyes watering and their minds warping if they stare at it too long, to say nothing of what might happen if they step too close while incautious.
To sum up, then, this is nothing more than elaborate way to make a vanilla mental maze, and use a powerful bond to affect a distant enemy. Though its execution is complex and has multiple redundancies, the concept is simple and stands on a firm historical foundation. It may very well kill all who use it, or drive them mad.
Development Thread:
Taurannik Codex obtained [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Taurannik Codex completed
Mirr obtained and examined (farsight artifact)
Preliminary groundwork
Primary development thread: Dream A Little Dream Of Me (41 posts, ongoing for other purposes)
Phobis device development:
- Tomb of Styrak located
- Phobis development
- Phobis development (crashed, event reward: Phobis competency for Spencer)
- Phobis development
Model: N/A
Affiliation: Personal
Modularity: The Deicide Oculus could be compared to a gun. Once targeting is complete, it can 'fire' different kinds of 'bullets.' The Deicide Oculus was intended to be used with Force Drain or a Phobis Device, though other kinds of mental/metaphysical influence could be projected along a trapped bond.
Production: Unique
Material: Alchemized terentatek leather (concentric spheres of primary mental maze), alchemized terentatek tusk/tooth/claw/bone (interstitial mazes/structural supports, Tashai bond tracking talismans (pending approval)), durasteel (secondary mental mazes), thaissen crystals (Lightbringer sensor nodes), nullification resin plates (shielding for Lightbringers), Nightsister blood (used in alchemy), Lotek'k blood (used in alchemy)
Description: The function of the Deicide Oculus is as follows:
- To trap, temporarily or permanently, the mind of a being engaged in Force-based remote examination of the Deicide Oculus, in the manner of a mental maze, which in a sense this is;
- To detect and affect a very powerful Force Bond between the trapped individual and another, very distant individual;
- To enable various mental or spiritual Force effects to be applied to the distant target by way of the mind-trapped associate, in the manner of certain Sith rituals and Nightsister tactics.
The first design priority is the mental maze's ability to trap someone who attempts to actively perceive it, its contents, or its immediate surroundings. Even basic mental mazes tend to draw in the unwary; the Deicide Oculus is not just challenging but malicious. Escape is possible, after many hours or days, but not likely. This is due to a variety of factors and tactics:
- A standard mental maze is made of metal; this one is made of Force-resistant terentatek materials, alchemized to forbid mental passage except through the maze, especially in an outward direction. Even a standard mental maze is one-way, drawing in but not allowing egress; this effect is compounded with the use of runeworked terentatek-ivory gates between layers of concentric spherical maze. A subject will be drawn in and be unable to escape in any reasonable timeframe.
- Standard mental mazes are located at various critical points throughout the primary maze. Designed to allow eventual escape, these have been directed one to another, so that escape tends to lead naturally into another subsidiary maze.
- Each subsidiary maze corresponds to the hypnotic/astral projection skill of the Mind Walkers' approach to Beyond Shadows. In other words, progress through the maze will lull the mind into greater lassitude and weaken the connection between mind and body.
- The maze patterns of each concentric layer take the form of runic spellwork from Dathomir, from the traditions of Sith alchemy and sorcery, and from the Knell of Muspilli. To wit:
- Dathomiri crafting and shamanic spirit ichor pseudomatter amplification have entrenched a Nightsister control web in every layer, suppressing Force abilities, energy, and clarity of thought.
- Sith sorcery, specifically Rave's well-known spell of spirit invocation and control, is likewise entrenched in each layer.
- The entirety of the Taurannik Codex, designed for the summoning and insulation of ludicrously powerful beings from Beyond Shadows, is inscribed within the Oculus, in runes made of terentatek ivory. These runes form portions of the dozens of concentric mazes.
- The ivory and bone of the maze walls have been blended with crystal in a process derived from Force-imbued blade forging. Like all processes involved in the creation of the Oculus, Rave Merrill is very familiar with this one. The benefit is twofold: It makes the Oculus less responsive when under others' control, and it applies a specific quality of Force-imbued blades to the wall. Specifically, it applies their ability to destabilize the link between a soul and its anchor.
In terms of mental and/or spiritual 'bullets' to be 'fired' along the Force Bond from proximal to distant target, the most direct is Force Drain. Force Drain resonates well along bonds; some interpretations of it focus entirely on exploiting and consuming bonds in a chain reaction. As shown during Palpatine's rule of Byss, it also has the benefit of being able to be applied spirit to spirit, not necessarily requiring a visible, tangible Force manifestation.
The other potential 'bullet' is the item which is contained within the heart of the mental maze: A fully functional Phobis device. When subjects resist the maze's call to greater dissociation from their bodies, they remain highly vulnerable to the device, and are driven to seek refuge in the trapped condition that the maze aims to produce. In direct proximity to the Phobis device, unreasoning terror leads to madness in very short order. The concentric spheres of terentatek leather serve to insulate the operators from the device, as well as to keep it insulated from detection until it is too late: Any farsight-style attention or other concerted Force effort to discern the Oculus' contents will trap the viewer long before the device is discovered. Ideally, after distant subject A is trapped in such a way, and exposed to the Phobis device in something like a resonating amplification chamber, the bond to distant subject B will become the means to apply the full power of a Phobis device to the mind of subject B.
The very serious liability of this strategy should be obvious: It involves putting the Oculus' operators in direct contact with a distant but very powerful Force-wielder, while containing the mind of another very powerful Force-wielder, and while avoiding, staving off, or trapping others who have bonds to the original trapped target. Insofar as the Oculus is a metaphorical gun, it is, in a sense, capable of being turned on its owner. It is audacious, precipitous, and insanely risky. A best-case scenario for such a reversal would see the operators trapped in the Oculus, in direct proximity to a Phobis Device. A worst-case scenario could see the operators annihilated. Other possible outcomes include drawing the united attention of one of the most powerful Dark Side organizations in two thousand years, potentially through burning out their Dark Marks. Likewise, as the intended target of this device is a high-ranking priestess of Vahl, the Dark Lord may not be the only mindbogglingly nasty entity awakened. Handling it is difficult enough as it is; terentatek leather resists telekinesis, and even Masters find their eyes watering and their minds warping if they stare at it too long, to say nothing of what might happen if they step too close while incautious.
To sum up, then, this is nothing more than elaborate way to make a vanilla mental maze, and use a powerful bond to affect a distant enemy. Though its execution is complex and has multiple redundancies, the concept is simple and stands on a firm historical foundation. It may very well kill all who use it, or drive them mad.
