OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION- Intent: Create a nifty artefact to allow Thuux to commit all sorts of heinous acts with impunity.
- Image Source: DeviantArt | Gloroh & Tartauris
- Canon Link: Sith Talisman
- Primary Source: N/A
- Manufacturer: House of Progress
- Affiliation: Thuux Zethrux
- Model: The Mask of Lies
- Modularity: No
Production: Unique
- Material: Alchemised Bone
- Face Stealer: While wearing the Mask of Lies, a Force User can "steal the face" of an incapacitated being, a process that takes around fifteen minutes and is excruciatingly painful. While this ordeal is perfectly survivable, it has numerous side effects, including but not limited to persisting fatigue, muscle atrophy, dizziness, and in some cases frequent episodes of psychosis. This can be partially amended through top-tier medical care, and fully amended by returning the "face" or through certain especially powerful force healing techniques.
- The Masks We Wear: The Mask itself is capable of holding five "faces" at a time; by focusing on one of these stolen identities, the wearer can change their own body to look, feel, smell, and sound like their victim, with the change taking everything from a thirty seconds for minor changes to thirty minutes for particularly extreme changes. Generally speaking, it is not possible for the wearer to transform into a being with more than twice or less than half their body mass. While able to deceive most physical senses and virtually all sensors, this change does not cover force signatures and the like, making it all but impossible to deceive force users that know the victim.
- Hall of Faces: While the number of "faces" the Mask can hold is limited, it is possible to create purpose-built sorcerous mannequin heads that can hold spare "faces". This process would take around four hours of work for a sorcerer, or eight for a novice sorcerer.
- Face Stealer: Through the cruellest of Sorcery, the Mask of Lies allows its wearer to steal the faces of their victims and temporarily transform their own body into a perfect facsimile, though this change does not extend to their physical or mental abilities.
- The Mask Within: Importantly, the Mask is able to "meld" into is wielder, both in their normal form and in stolen forms, though unconsciousness, death, force nullification fields, or powerful bursts of Force Light/Lightning will cause the Mask to reemerge on their faces.
- Even Lies have Limits: In addition to the limitations on how large or small the desired shape can be, more drastic changes take longer to transform into. Importantly, drastic changes also carry with it a number of risks, including a chance of serious injury should the change be reversed too quickly.
- Eyes of the Worthy: While the faux forms are all but perfect on the physical plane, it does not change the force signature of the user. Furthermore, anyone currently transformed by this mask will appear like a shifting mass of blackness when viewed through Force Sight. (See the image in the spoiler.)
- Truth Will Out: Having never been meant to be permanent, the wearer will revert to their normal forms upon unconsciousness, including sleep. Furthermore, force nullification fields and especially powerful blasts of Force Light or Force Lightning can violently force the wearer back to their normal form; should the stolen form be drastically different than their normal one, this bears with it the risk of serious injury, typically internal bleeding and blunt force trauma.
For many years, Thuuxx Zethrux has been an amasser of wealth and a collector of oddities. Among the most priceless items ever to have come into his possession was a small number of original texts from the time of Adjunta Pall, detailing his experiments and philosophy as transcribed by one of his closest followers. By themselves, the texts held little knowledge that could not be found among the Sith Alchemists of today, and since Zethrux himself had neither the skill nor the inclination to take up that obscure art, the texts were relegated to a heavily secured vault on Empress Teta.
This would all change after corporate dealings brought the Falleen into contact with the eccentric Sith Knight Adrian Vandiir. After learning of the younger man's insatiable lust for knowledge and growing collection of Sith relics, Zethrux made a number of backdoor inquiries, eventually setting up a meeting between the pair.
As a result of this meeting and the deal struck therein, the young Knight set out to create a talisman for Zethrux, a talisman to allow the ambitious mentalist to engage in less than moral dealings without compromising his identity. After choosing the form of a mask, skull fragments from recently deceased test subjects were alchemically fused together, forming a skull-like mask well-suited for further force-imbuement.
Rather than relying on the creativity and energy of its wearer, the Mask is designed to violently extract part of the victim's very essence, perfectly replicating just about every part of their body at the point of extraction, with the notable exception of their presence in the Force. While undeniably cruel, this method has proven to be highly efficient, though with the caveat that it does not affect the wearer's force presence and fails to grant them access to the victim's knowledge and mannerisms.
