The Shadow of Hoithea

[Aidan Moonrunner]

435 ABY​

The colonists of Last Chance woke up to another bleak day. Located just outside one of Hoithea's many mountain ranges, their main purpose was to mine the bronzium found in the behemoths of rock. They traded with the other colonies on the planet for pretty much every other resource. Even with the Gulag Plague ravaging the outside galaxy, the colonists of Hoithea remained self-sufficient, to an extent.
Many of them had fled the Plague, and found their way here, to the ass-end of nowhere. In this case, it helped them: they didn't need to worry about pirates or other ships coming here.

A group of miners headed to work, to a bronzium mine fairly high up the mountain. It was a newer mine, with the surrounding area still being explored. But the miners weren't worried. After all, what could possibly be up there?

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

Three days later, and the miners still hadn't come back. The colonists were starting to get worried. Miners were the one thing keeping their colony going, and losing an entire mine would cripple their trade.
After intense debate, a temporary militia was put together to investigate.
The militia traveled to the mine, where they reported a gruesome scene. The miners had been slaughtered, their corpses strewn about the mine. From what they could tell, this wasn't an animal attack: the miners had been killed by weapons, swords, to be specific.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

The colonists greeted the news with long faces. If there was someone attacking their mines, then soon Last Chance would be just another ghost colony.
The militia was expanded, and once again searched for the culprit. They traveled among the mountains for days, until they came across something.
It was said that their screams could be heard back at the colony.

None of the militia returned, and Last Chance was in a panic. What could've done this? Why had they done this?
The colonies leaders decreed that no one was to leave the colony, and sent a message to one of the other colonies for assistance.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

Over the next few weeks, colonists reported sounds coming from the mountains. The sounds of building.
But still, no one left the colony. Everyone stayed inside, too afraid to leave their homes. Slowly, the colony wasted away, waiting for assistance.

After three weeks, a force of soldiers from the colony of Elysium arrived, only to find Last Chance empty. No one was inside, and it looked like people left in a hurry. The soldiers investigated the surrounding area, including the mountains.
While in the mountains, one of the soldiers reported that they 'felt something wrong'. The soldier couldn't explain further, saying only that it seemed like something horrible had happened.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

The soldiers returned to Last Chance to find something different. A man was stumbling around the colony, his stare vacant.
The soldiers gave him food and asked what had happened. The one thing the soldiers remembered from his ramblings was that someone he called 'the Shadow' had taken the colonists to the mountains. Anything else he said was incomprehensible, and he ran off the next day.

The soldiers sent a communication to Elysium that the colony was abandoned, with few clues as to the whereabouts of the missing colonists. They stayed there for several days, until communication was lost.
No other expeditions were sent.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

Two years later, reports of missing people began to rise among the colonists of Hoithea. All of the missing persons were reported to show signs of being Force Sensitive. Curiously, the closer the colony was to Last Chance, the more missing persons.
Deciding that enough was enough, the colonists gathered a massive militia, and sent them to Last Chance. Their mission was to find out who was kidnapping Force Sensitives, and ensure they could no longer do so.
What happened next would shake the world of Hoithea forever.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

When the militia arrived, something felt off, like they were being watched.
Soon after arriving at the colony, they were ambushed by several figures in black armor wielding the Force and blades. They made short work of the militia, killing few and capturing most.
They led the captured militia into the mountains, to a large structure built into the side of one of the behemoth rocks. It was fairly new, and well-hidden. If you weren't looking for it, you would never know it was there.

Once inside the structure, the militia felt like they were being crushed, like there was something evil watching them.
And they were right.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

The militia were led to a chamber in the center of the structure, where the feeling of evil was almost overwhelming.
There, they were greeted by a woman who called herself 'The Shadow'. She claimed to be the embodiment of the Dark Side of the Force, and said she needed somewhere that fit just that.
She revealed that she had taken the missing colonists here two years ago, and tortured and slaughtered them, taking the Force Sensitives for her own use. The slaughter had created what she called a 'Force Nexus', around which this structure was built. From there, she had trained the Force Sensitives to be her loyal followers, and had kept amassing her forces by kidnapping the colonists.

The militia were horrified, and simply stared at the Shadow. The woman laughed at them, and ordered her followers to 'put them to use'.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

Over the next few days, the militia were brutally tortured, their pain adding to the power of the Force Nexus. At the end of those days, they were executed, and their deaths sealed it's power.
While not as powerful as say the Valley of the Jedi, the Nexus was powerful enough to imbue the Shadow and her followers with Dark Side energy. However, if one left the structure it resided in, then they would no longer be empowered.
The Shadow trained her followers more, and brainwashed them into her religion, which declared her the embodiment of the Dark. The Nexus ensured that the Force Sensitives were trained easier, and gave them a limited amount of power.

 

[Aidan Moonrunner]

As the centuries passed, and colonies rose and fell, and the Shadow was long dead, her followers continued her philosophy. They continued to kidnap Force Sensitives and turn them to their side, the Nexus ensuring their survival. While inside, connecting to the Force was much easier, making training in the Force simpler.
The colonists of Hoithea were largely ignorant of the followers of the Shadow, and soon those colonies turned into cities.
But no matter how they grew, they avoided the Last Chance mountains, the legends surrounding them ensuring that the Hoitheans would stay as far away from that place as possible.