Conceited
"Darth Ayra, otherwise known as Alicia Drey, was a Force-sensitive human female who reigned as the Dark Lord of the Sith after reconstituting the Rule of Two following the destruction of the One Sith. Born onto the planet Chandrila in 822 ABY, Darth Ayra was born into a wealthy family of farmers who specialised in the agricultural markets namely in the production and distribution of foodstuffs. Following a fatal accident, Ayra was made an orphan until she was discovered by a Sith Knight called Circe Savan. Taking the young Alicia Drey with her Savan begun instructing her in the ways of the Dark side of the Force and inducted her as their Sith Apprentice..."
-- Excerpts from historical information about Darth Ayra the Afflicted.
Sojourn, Carrion sector, Outer Rim Territories;
The Fort, 851 ABY.
Tag:
Onrai
The current year is 902 ABY.
However, this story is set fifty-one years before the modern day.
In 835 ABY, the Sith Order first revealed themselves to the Galaxy after the end of the Four-Hundred Year Darkness.
Their invasion of the Galactic Republic culminated in the rise and fall of many Dark Lords inhibited by betrayal and deceit.
For it is the nature of the dark side is to betray.
By 841 ABY, the Sith Empire laid in ruins in what historians would refer to as the eighth incarnation of the state.
As the last Dark Lord was taken from Dac to be sentenced for His crimes a new successor emerged from the darkness.
They were the One Sith.
After Coruscant fell they began a campaign of utter dominance and annexation in the Core Worlds.
The Knights of the Republic stood no chance against them.
All has been lost.
In 851 ABY, the Old Republic would finally capitulate to their nemesis, with their systems and people taken under the banner of Sith hegemony across the Stars.
This tale is set in those last dying weeks.
Before the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith, whom brought all of the Sith into his one collective vision was betrayed and slain by his Apprentice,
which triggered the demise of his Empire.
Before Ayra killed Pandeima.
~
However, this story is set fifty-one years before the modern day.
In 835 ABY, the Sith Order first revealed themselves to the Galaxy after the end of the Four-Hundred Year Darkness.
Their invasion of the Galactic Republic culminated in the rise and fall of many Dark Lords inhibited by betrayal and deceit.
For it is the nature of the dark side is to betray.
By 841 ABY, the Sith Empire laid in ruins in what historians would refer to as the eighth incarnation of the state.
As the last Dark Lord was taken from Dac to be sentenced for His crimes a new successor emerged from the darkness.
They were the One Sith.
After Coruscant fell they began a campaign of utter dominance and annexation in the Core Worlds.
The Knights of the Republic stood no chance against them.
All has been lost.
In 851 ABY, the Old Republic would finally capitulate to their nemesis, with their systems and people taken under the banner of Sith hegemony across the Stars.
This tale is set in those last dying weeks.
Before the mysterious Dark Lord of the Sith, whom brought all of the Sith into his one collective vision was betrayed and slain by his Apprentice,
which triggered the demise of his Empire.
Before Ayra killed Pandeima.
~
DARTH AYRA stood on the balcony overlooking the vast forests of Sojourn with a sense of loathing. The third Gathering in six years concluded the night before and to the surprised of her associates on Chandrila she was set to pull out of seemingly all her business interests that she had accumulated since the fall of Coruscant. A firesale had begun in earnest leading to the liquidation of all her stock and assets. It had made her significantly wealthy, and to the delight of her peers, they were now the proud owners of companies which dealt with the sale and distribution of foodstuffs, technology or munitions in the Core Worlds. Their projections for turnover and profit were astronomical, and in just a reasonably short amount of time-- a few years, if they were right-- they would have earned back their investments and more in the new Sith-Imperial state which now ruled the entire GALAXY.
Ayra had never cared for credits. They were simply a means to an end-- to buy information, weapons, influence or other forms of commerce which only served to make her more powerful. But these things paled in comparison to the power of the dark side. It was not money or wealth which consumed the Sith Lord as she stood there. Fifteen years of service were set to culminate in the destruction her adversaries in the form of the Republic, and as these last dying weeks of civilization beckoned, it was the future that she contemplated-- the aftermath of the One Sith victory over the Jedi. Hateful eyes cast themselves upon this entire moon that she had made her own, and despite the tranquillity of the environment-- in spite of her successes and victories, Ayra felt no solace in her work, for her chains were still yet to be broken and freed.
Pandeima had noticed the change in her apprentice recently. Gone were the days of a gorgeous smile and the playful attitude which had served as an antitheist to the very ideals and culture that they had served. In it's place was the desire of solitude and the under pinging notion that something was wrong which was, in reality, and ironically wrong in of itself given the present day circumstances. Although they had initially sided with Vulcanus and his New Order out in the Tingel Arm (much to the dismay of their comrades from the initial campaign against the Republic in the late 830s and early 840s) both Ayra and Pandeima had more than proven themselves when they eventually defected to the One Sith. After all KASHYYYK would not have fallen if it was not for Ayra leading the charge against the Wookiees, and beneath the veneer of devastation brought about by their invasion of the Core Worlds, it had been Pandeima who had quietly supplied and funded the effort through Subach-Innes and then the later consolidation into Emeritus Industries while her apprentice served her interests well by bringing about the demise of their many adversaries in the Republic itself.
Both master and apprentice were set to be honoured-- to be rewarded for their contribution and efforts in the destruction of the Galactic Republic. They had elevated their respective stations as mere fodder in the war machine as Sith Knights into a pairing that made them both into the horrid manifestation of the dark side of which only a SITH LORD could epitomize. They were no longer known as Alicia Drey, or Circe Savan. They were Darths and their titles were no mere self-proclamations, or fake accolades taken by imposters who believed themselves to be better than their station, but were real and earned. Ayra had never felt stronger in this moment, and yet in the dying embers of the Republic, as the Sith Empire that she carved out of enemies stood valiant, and indomitable, she had never felt more trapped in her entire life.
Love. Pandeima had taught her how to love. During their lessons together, which began more than a decade ago when she had found that little orphan in Emita, Ayra had learned that passion did not merely mean acts of anger, rage or hate. There were more to feeling that the darker tendencies and feelings that came so naturally to those who took it upon themselves to follow the pathology of the dark side. Trapped. Beneath the veneer of their plots together, and the expansion of their shared powerbase-- which had culminated in the creation of Emeritus Industries and their respective places in this new Sith Empire-- Ayra felt troubled by the realisation that she did truly love her.
Circe. Vanessa. Pandeima. The love of her life, who had taken her out of that ruin on Emita, and eradicated the memories of loss and devastation to be replaced by purpose and meaning to become Ayra. Without her Sith Master, Ayra would not have been reborn again-- to have lived a life of purpose, and meaning. Rich, wealthy, and powerful within the upper echelons of a state set to takeover not just the Core or Mid Rim territories, but to expand into the distant lands where the splinter Silver Jedi were waiting, and of course, their former allies in the Mandalorians whom had turned against them before Dac in those ruined days left scarred by the demise of Voracitos, Adekos, Vazela, Lussk, Varanin and Carnifex.
Ayra had ascertained revenge in the One Sith and there was still more to be had. Vulcanus and his failed project had been destroyed by the Mandalorian and Silver Jedi incursions after all. She knew that the insatiable appetite of the Dark Lord and her other comrades would not be satiated merely by the destruction of the Republic. They would look beyond them to the rest of the galaxy now just as Ayra was looking ahead at an uncertain future conflicted by her own thoughts and feelings which did not align to the paradigms that she served.
The Rule of Two. Bane. It had began with Pandeima's idea to consecrate their relationship as master and apprentice into something more. An eternal union brought together by their powers in the dark side-- unified by an undying love for one another. A perfect union which broke the normalities of the dark side and the inevitable betrayal that the Sith Master instils in their apprentice. In place of ambition to climb over one another was instead replaced by the idea that together they were stronger in a perfected Rule of Two. But the more Ayra had studied their predecessors who took up the teachings of the SITH'ARI the more she was presented with the hypocrisies and doubts of the present day state and that of her own master... neigh... her own lover.
Would Bane would felt this way on the advent of a complete victory over the Jedi as she was on the cusp of achieving today? Or would he see past the deceit and lies of the One Sith and Pandeima with the realisation that their work was not complete, and never would be under this decadence that had come to pass since they had taken Coruscant? The Sith had been strong in the beginning- mighty. But the war efforts had slowed down, and strained. They might as well be soldiers and military brass now than what they were supposed to be. It was as if a bastardized version of the Jedi Order had taken their place-- to serve the state as their enemies do, and to enter in service to the force rather than to own it.
Ayra knew that all that was required of her was to continue their service. In contradiction to her feelings and thoughts was the reality that they had won. If things continued the way they had gone over these past six years then not only was the Republic set to be destroyed (with intelligence networks Ayra had built indicating that it was only weeks away from complete capitulation) but so too would their other enemies whom continued to survive in the Outer Rim. So why did it feel all so wrong?