Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

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Private The Past Is Not the Past

The mountains of Lorta

In the distant past - though, perhaps not too distant - the warlike Lortan Fanatics had carved a bloody path though neighboring sectors. In the end, their genocidal fury had led to their eventual purge.

Centuries later, whispers of a possible resurgence had reached Alliance ears. The information was sparse; it could've been little more than cantina talk, or a misheard story.

But it warranted investigation.

The mountains of Lorta were dotted with crumbling structures, places of worship that religious extremists retreated to during their extermination. Many of the temples had disintegrated underneath the weight of time, leaving behind little more than chunks of stone. If there had been any carvings or decorations of note, they'd been weathered down to nothing.

One sanctuary, partially built underground, had largely withstood the ravages of age. It was by no means pristine, and some decaying sections had collapsed entirely, but it was one of the few buildings that housed any remains of the Fanatics culture and beliefs.

At the surface of the decrepit ruins, Cora pressed a hand against a thick green vine that had woven its way around a broken pillar. Life surged into the verdant plant, urging it to elongate and grow down the length of a hole that lead deeper into the underbelly of the temple. Winding her leg around the vine, Cora shimmied her way into the darkness.

A glow rod lit her way through the puzzling corridors. It was far cooler underground, but the unkempt stone walls still reeked of mildew. Her nose wrinkled, reminded of the brief time she'd spent in the dungeons beneath the royal palace of Ukatis.

The passage spilled out into a spacious chamber with a remarkably high ceiling. Various implements, perhaps once used for ritualistic purposes, lay scattered about the floor. What caught her eye, though, were the murals painted along the walls.

Ancient brushstrokes depicted the Reslian Purge in all of its brutal glory. Images of Lortan ships descend unto Tunroth villages, razing homes and murdering civilians. One particularly grisly scene illustrated a Tunroth hunter being stabbed, shot, and having his skull caved in by a club at the same time. Cora winced, but held the glowrod closer as her bare fingertips skimmed over the composition.

The Lortan Fanatics of old may have been long gone, but the air here held a distant charge of zealous energy.

She couldn’t help but wonder what had gone on in this room.

Darth Nwul Darth Nwul
 
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The music kicked up, the next track playing. The dark figure strutted through the shadowy halls, forgotten mysteries passing him by. He'd already examined them or the archaeological droids had done their jobs. A few floating droids hovered around his head, casting light on his surroundings as he hummed to himself. He kicked his feet and slid across a plate of metal that was part of the floor, snapping his fingers and backstepping over a trap that had been disabled. He tossed his head about as the music picked up just a little more.

<watee sa reesin (uh tonkin), preesa pushena doom (wa na yongee?)>

He turned around again and chuckled, stepping over the dust left behind by a group of specters that he'd destroyed hours ago followed by the bodies of the corporeal undead defenders. He snapped his fingers and slid through to another section of the building.

<Ik'Paraploo Nekaa! Soopa! Ik'Paraploo Nekaa!>

He sung along, translating the huttese "It's raining men! Hooray! It's raining men!"

The self-styled Steward of the Dark Side, the leader of a cult of bogan worshiping fanatics, was dancing to Huttese Pop Music, as he worked his way towards the ritual chamber he had been studying just a few hours ago before he'd left to grab another reference from the affixed holocron on the other side of the tomb. The academic turned around and pressed his back against the door leading into the chamber and checked the notebook in his hand. "Amahn!" He sang loudly before pushing back on his feet.

The doors parted behind him and he turned, looking up at the figure standing in the center of the room.

He paused. His connection with her in the force should have warned her about her presence... wait.

He snorted and shook his head with a laugh. Of course, the temple is a nexus point, her presence was drowned out by it. He let his laugh hang in the air for a few moments before stepping out of the shadows, the darkness literally clinging to him as he stepped through it, a smile on his face. A warm smile. He still had his notebook under his arm while he canted his head to the right like a bird, his golden eyes gleaming at the woman he adored and hadn't expected a visit from.

"Cora! What a pleasant surprise!" Nwul crowed, "What brings you to this dark place?"

Corazona von Ascania Corazona von Ascania
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How long has this been here? Blonde brows furrowed as her fingers trailed over the decaying mural, a flake of red pigment loosening from the stone canvas and fluttering to the ground. She tried to discern the medium by sight and touch, but it was difficult in the dim lighting. Her fascination with art hadn't been nourished on Ukatis, spurred as a trivial pursuit that wouldn't add much to her matrimonial resume, but it was an ever-present thread in the back of her mind. Lately, for some reason, it was if her senses had opened further to appreciate what she couldn't before.

Is it acrylic? Oil based? What would they have had access to? Perhaps clay…

"Cora! What a pleasant surprise!" Nwul crowed, "What brings you to this dark place?"

Cora hadn't moved for several minutes, but now she visibly tensed. Abruptly ripped from her musings, her mind whirred in alarm. She hadn't erased the possibility that she'd be alone, but his laugh rippled around her in a dreadfully familiar way. Ugh, he probably enjoyed the way she'd briefly startled, too.

Turning on her heel, Cora extended the glowrod further in front of her with a frown. Her cheeks flushed beet red with the recollection of the circumstances they'd last met under, but she did not wither under his vibrant gaze. He'd seen her at her lowest point on Ukatis, blungeoned into submission by a forced marriage, and she had trouble reconciling that with the present. At the very least, she was not the bruised child he'd guided away from a cliff's edge. Now she was something sharper, steadier, but still had a ways to go.

"I…am simply here to admire the art." She answered, already feeling herself get a little defensive. Neither of them would believe that.

Her gaze lingered on his face, his affectionate smile, for perhaps a little longer than it had to. Her feelings regarding Nwul were…complicated.

Blue eyes swept down to the notebook tucked under his arm.

"Were you….singing, Wake? In a place like this?"

Actually, wait, no, that seemed to fit.

Darth Nwul Darth Nwul
 

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