Dev The Shattered City

[Matsu Ike]

Walk any path in the world between, and you will be forced to choose, not once but many times. The paths fork and divide. With each step you take through it, you make a choice; and every choice determines future paths...The paths diverge and branch and reconnect; some not even that observers truly knows where any will take you, where each twist and turn will lead. However, at the end of a lifetime of walking you might look back, and see only one path stretching out behind you; or look ahead, and see only darkness. ​

It was part of what had brought the jedi master there... to observe and to learn.. to see key moments and wonder at times. She doubted she would ever change anything it was what had made her how she was and developed many of the other decisions. She could turn back and look at the various points in her life though and it was interesting to see what she had done. THen she felt it... a sudden tug in the force that alerted her that she should head back. ONe could stand here for a lifetime or several. Though she knew some things would say she only had what anyone has... a lifetime. It amused her as she stepped through the rift and out onto the high plane. the beautiful gardens there being exactly what they wanted and what the jedi used for training and meditation. Attention to the greater detail in some places as the materia and environment shifted with what they might need to be able to see.

The Silver Strands, their hyperlanes based on the migration of the purgill were proving effective and they were shortening the distance with relay beaconds along the path. Clearing obstructions, making the route safer for them and it would be safer for the large creatures as well when they traveled. Scanning being done of the ring around the planet as they weren't going to plunge in and take things but scanning the structure and seeing how long they had been going to that world were important. To give them a better idea of what they could do.. what they would find there. Already exploring the ancient city was a top priority and she had opened it to a number of jedi. The promise for some to visit Peridea might prove effective but the chance to go to a place and see a fairytale within the order itself another.

From the high plane she could see the new Remembrance-class Battlecruiser MK. II as they were being sent towards the warping cannon. It would fling them faster to the coordinates they they had established. Much like their krampus which allowed them to be sent ot the galaxy below so they were developing the means to be sent to the areas around their jedi temples. The paths of the world between worlds was something she had seen described on the planet as well in some places... she had been there and it bled the force in areas... seemed to show why the Zeffo and Dathomiri, celestials and purgill went there. Building a temple that would allow the jedi to study and always have a location they could return to shoudl the worse happen once again. Not perfect but future planning rarely was.

"Welcome, I hope the trip wasn't too terrible and you are ready."

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma @PM to join

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

To be a Jedi Knight was a calling. To be arbiters and keepers of the peace. For Ulic this charge was not a platitude emptily spoken in opulent halls. He felt the Jedi had a responsibility to step in, to tilt with any force that sought to pollute, murder, and destroy. For him who was dedicated to The Old Way, discussing things in council chambers with endless meditation and conjecture was pointless. The Force demanded action, to step into the gauntlet of life and contribute. So when he was inviting on a mission to the World Between Worlds, Ulic did not hesitate.

He had heard rumors of the plane that bridged time and galaxies, a nexus of nexuses, where one’s reason, sanity, and fortitude would be tested.

He was ready.

Ulic approached The Grand Master and head of this mission.

“The journey was fine Grand Master, I am ready to do my duty.”

The Jedi Knight bowed his head and placed his fist on his chest. He was a man of single minded zeal. All his energies, and strength he yielded to Ashla. He was her living Saber, battling the forces of Darkness ans shielded the helpless. If going to this plane of existence could help make a safer galaxy, then it would be worth it. What Ulic lacked was his own inner search, while he had past trials, he did not particularly find introspection helpful. He felt digging deep often lead to danger. How many Jedi searching the recesses of their souls found themselves engulfed in the shroud of the dark side. It was not that Ulic did not have personal feelings, he was stirred to action by them, being careful not to feed the more negative ones like anger which leads to suffering.

The truth is he felt honored, to have been invited, trusted, to come to a place legends like Ahsoka Tano had discovered.

Matsu Ike

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Exploration was what Coren was about now. His war dog days behind him, but the sights he was after now? The ones beyond the galaxy. He wasn't making many of the trips on his own, allowing the younger explorers with their reflexes to take the time and do what was needed. He was required more here in the Known Galaxy, as a Sentinel and Watchman, a teacher and an example. Jared and Kaia had gone out to the breach, but his daughter was more keen on locating hidden Jedi secrets, such as Tanalorr.

It was in the Starchaser blood, the mythic link to a skill exuded by the Purrgill which evolved into a wanderlust.

It was why he was here, with Celeste Rigel back at home, or off on one of her own duties, he was here, with other Jedi, but he was here. Meeting with Matsu and others. It was time for him to stretch his own legs.

The Tachyon Rising, his main ship, was not far off.

"Matsu." He said with a calm and ready comfort to the other Master.


Matsu Ike Ulic Indominus Roma

 

[Matsu Ike]

"I have walked across the surface of the sun. I have witnessed events so tiny and so fast, they could hardly be said to have occurred at all." "I can track a single snowflake across a blizzard on hoth, To see a micro-civilization rise and fall and rise again only to fall on the surface of an atom in the heart of a dying star a thousand thousand light years from our feet. To stare into the space between worlds where the precept lurk, their secret languages something to learn." "But you, you are just another being. The galaxies smartest force poses no more threat to me than does its smartest termite."​

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

She looked at the two jerdi who were there and bowed as she stood up. Coren was... well the starchasers were made for this level of exploring. THis is what they did... she only really was taking it to the grand stage in a way. Doing something he had done as she approached. "Master Starchaser... I hope charting the strands to Peridea didn't steal your thunder. I know how much you and your family have done to rediscover worlds thought lost ot the jedi... well Millinar was a find for us all and when the mists allow one to travel there it is a beautiful place. The local species remember everything from a thousand generations of force users."

SHe looked at the other jedi and bowed. She hadn't met him before but there was always room for more jedi. She had hoped others would come and there was plenty of space for them "And a duty it shall be. Peridea is not a place I would say is safe so we will need to be ready. There is something there... signs of celestials, of the Zeffo and the once great kingdom of the Dathomiri... whatever befell it the ancient jedi were able to feel... to sense and told stories of it as almost a fairytale to padawans." She said it and the small amount of information that they did have was not a lot so they were going out and bringing a number of supplies including biots designed to detect dangerous creatures.

"We have some of our advanced detection biots for dangerous things that are known to bring down civilizations and as always there is the danger of meddling from other things... beings strong in the force to appear as gods to some but they are not all powerful." Some of them had been sealed away, trapped before or could even be countered... all powerful usually didn't face such dangers or problems. "We will also be able to study the purgill.. they make the planet their final destination when they reach the end of their life. The nexus on the planet might be a navigational beacon they canm feel from across the universe which to study that... it could make for a discovery of a lifetime."

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

TAG: Matsu Ike

The Jedi Knight was leaping into the unknown. What Master Matsu spoke of sounded quite bizarre, force dieties? He hsd heard of legends of beings so powerful in the Force they were worshipped as gods. However, they were just that, legends. Ulic was skeptical by nature, what The Grand Master described, the altering of dimension, matter, and time seemed far fetched to him. He had signed up for this voyage not out of belief in the cause, rather curiosity. His peers had and the Masters had grown concerned with his single minded devotion to the Old Ways, that he had become so accustom to routine and the duties of knighthood he has lost that spark, that desire to know the mysteries of the Universe.

Ulic had grown weary, his heart withering more swiftly than his body. The thrill of life was ebbing, he felt it in combat, the drills were mechanical and threats felt as mirrored copies of ones he faced before. The truth us he was on this mission because Master Tora sensed it, that dark thought that had invaded his mind for years, and now had grown from a whisper to a numbing scream. The Jedi Knight did not describe it, it was forbidden, an affront to the Force itself. And now it plagued his soul more than ever. Its spell calling him to an action most terrible.

What stopped him? Duty. The Jedi had need of his skill set, his blade. So he carried on, hiding the emptiness, the black hole forming within. This was what made him valuable to this exploratory mission. He would not hesitate to risk life or limb to make discoveries. And in truth he hoped if any of what Master Matsu said was true, he’d be consumed by whatever chaos awaited them. Only he would fight to the bitter end, not for him, but for them, those he was to travel with on this odyssey.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

She looked upon them and they were able to go into the ship that would be makign the journey. The aterno shifting the hallway in a way that the jedi would be able to walk through it. THe biots and droids working on the ship to show them the latest reports and information. The gatekeeper standing tall and at the ready as it was being projected into space. It was seeing them off as the bridge of the ship opened revealing the consoles. Hardlight projections of the high plane and the route that they were going to take as well as the routes of the silver strands. THey were watching them to make sure the purgill weren't going to be there when they came out of hyperspace. "We are prepared to go." She got confirmation as they were prepared and the sounds came from the console. "Initiating jump." The ship master was there... using their astrogation with the engeines they were one of the few able to use path engines as they were intended with routes plotted by the force. So they could move faster in hyperspace the distance. "Engage." A smile on her face when the ship jumped to hyperspace and she could feel them pick up in a spare moment. going into sub-hyperspace to make the travel even faster.

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

TAG: Matsu Ike

Ulic boarded the unusual ship, and took his place on the bridge. As Matsu said “engage,” they made a jump of some kind. He felt his insides buzz and a feelibf if falling as he tried to keep his balance. This sensation was bot a normal light speed jump. The Jedi Knight was having a hard time to getting his star legs, he felt a little sick, but conjured The Force to suppress the impluse to void.

After some moments he adjusted to what felt like a shift in gravity, learning to walk. At first he used the wall to guide him and then with some practice he could stand without aid. Ulic was curious if this side effect was common, those he was with had done this before and so he surmised they had adapted. The Knight did his best to regain hus composure, he wanted to be an asset on this trip, not a liability.

As he stood crossing His arms, the Larimar blue cloth shoulders thick and wrinkled. His great pauldrons of brass mail looked like dragon scales and at his waist and under robes a coral red. The Knight had purposely dressed against tradition, he was a warrior not a monk, and warriors wore armor and colors of combat and their cause.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Coren worked in very specific ways. When he was part of a team, he took what he could to always help out with the navigation, and the getting from A to B, unless there was a war. That was when he would do things in a much more aggressive manner. His fighting style put all attention on him and he would wait until he could blast something with the Force.

But that was years ago. Now Coren was here to work on the new tricks that Matsu had for them. A bit of exploration was always good for the soul. Got him away from the salvage tricks that people were always out to get. His daughter handled that. Listening from the back, Coren had a small connection, more familial than personal, with purrgill. But they were out chasing them?

At least following.

Bracing as the jump was initiated, the Master fell into the Force, to help with guidance during the jump.

Matsu Ike Ulic Indominus Roma

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

THe ship was going and she could feel it as the jedi grandmaster looked on. Slowly adjusting a few things but sub-hyperspace was different in some ways... for one distances were warped and bendable... best way to get something from the unknown regions on one side of the galaxy to another world on the opposite side.... it also allowed many to see you from a thousand worlds across the galaxy and more. She was finding a place to sit while bringing up the smaller maps for the others. "Peridea is our destination. The ring of the world is composed of bones from the purgill who come here.. a massive graveyard world."

She was looking at them for a moment and the initial information needed. "We have managed to explore a little from Avalonis, the island where the Altisian order settled when they were fleeing from the empire long ago. They charted mostly the coasts and some of the Ancient City we are seeking out there." She was bringing in sections of the map for them to be able to look over. "We will be able to hopefully learn some more. The myth of it told to padawans does not give a lot of information but we will be able to explore the fallen kingdom of the Dathomiri... as well as possibly find information about older thing. Massive statures of celestials are on the world."

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

TAG: Matsu Ike

Ulic listened as Grandmaster Matsu went on about what worlds that had been explored. The mention of a Purgil graveyard sounded ominous. Even those great creatures it seemed died as all do. The Jedi Knight waa resigned to this fact, even welcomed it. He had spent his earlier life in service of the Order, his single minded zeal was enough then. Now he felt adrift, and not because he was out of his element. Those young years of fighting on fronts, and championing Ashla seemed like a dream that had passed into this bleak pit, this state of existence where he’d found no remedy to this malaise.

The Jedi carried on because it is all he had. And now on this most unusual adventure he wish he was that young man who would be wide eyed over space whales and the mysteries that await.

Ulic was mindful his feelings were swaying him, and so he stood up more attentive and tried to be useful. Approaching The Grand Master , “Dathomiri, are there not witches there?”

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

"There is, the Dathomiri witches came here in stories. On the backs of the purgill the same way they ride on the backs of the rancors. An interesting legend but there might be something to it... Maybe not exactly on the backs of the creatures but their mouths are large enough one could fit a vessel in there safely." She said it with a small look while the ship was passing over the ring of the planet. Scans displaying a holographic of the bones as there were massive intact skeletons and many more that were shattered and moving around. All between filled with bone dust that remained there. SHe was looking at it and it was a better way to study it but it wouldn't give all of the information. "We have some drones to scan it but we are trying not to disturb it more then it already is." The planet looming in the viewport though was larger and grey mountains with green fields going long as sections had lakes and rives able to be seen. The ocean being the best part as two places were there... a new building that could be seen with scout vessels and large crates. "Crown and Spears, the new extragalactic branch... acting like a hub for those exploring the planet as well as the galaxy with its communication systems able to access the seeder beacons set between. it will allow communication with far less delay in case there is danger as well as provide shelter."

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

Ulic pulled up a screen that looked on the world of whale bones.

“I read that a former Jedi and his apprentice csme here, a Baylan.. Skoll. He remained on the planet, seeking what he called ‘The Beginning’. Strange this this is where the Purgils end. Do you know Grand Master what he meant?”

The Jedi admitted that the recordings of Skoll he had without permission taken from the archives. The Dark Jedi who lived for many centuries ago spoke as his own soul now sang, woeful, mournful, and full of melancholy. While he disagreed with Skoll’s feelings on the Jedi Order, he understood that then it was a different Order, forbiding attachment and becoming warmongers rather thab peacekeepers and explorers. So the Old Wolf was not wrong, reforms were warranted, qnd sadly he never saw The Rise of New Jedi Order lead by Master Skywalker, nor the era of the Silver Jedi.

“We all see through a glass darkly..”

Ulic said that without thinking, his mind lost in these thiughts as he waited for Matsu Ike to enlighten him about Peridea. He admitted he wanted to make landing and walk in Skoll’s footsteps. Perhaps it would serve as a means to shaking him of this Dark Stupor that had taken him of late, this feeling of futility he could not shake.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

"Nothing fact, only theories. THe beginning can mean a lot of things depending on what you seek. The begining of a species, of the force, of the universe, of the order. Something calls beings here. The Purgill didn't originate here more then likely but they can always find it. The Zeffo found this world, the Dathomiri, the jedi now." She said it as the ship was settling into an orbit. With them being able to see the ocean below them and she spoke looking at the viewport as she spoke. "Though sometimes there are greater mysteries in the force." She said it and held a hand up for a moment when she immersed herself into the currents of the force.

"Reveal." She said it and didn't break the permanent illusion but she made it so they could see through it. Allowing the white current to wipe across the viewport. A large island appearing in the middle of the ocean when she clasped her hands behind her back. "We'll take one fo the shuttles down to it but Avalonis, isle of the children of the jedi who fled the destruction of the temple and the purge. Now form force bloodlines and seek to preserve the greatest of the jedi." THey could eb a lot of things but they were dedicated to the lightside of the force and there were ties down there going back to the old old republic. Qel-Droma's, Sunriders, Halcyon, Jeth.

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

The Jedi Knight listened, mysteries of the Force.. he was afraid they were all but gone. The Jedi clung to a dogma approach, as did The Sith, and it clouded The Great Mystery at time in certainties, which helped youths not go mad, but for the older it felt like walls that declared an end to knowledge.

When he heard that bloodlines of the Qel Dromas and Sunriders was on this island that they would visit, Ulic became nervious. His namesake, Ulic Roma was variation of the famous Ulic Qel Droma. He had chosen it as an alias, his real name hidden in the past, and this one forged on legends. Now he was to meet living blood from those legends, and he feared his shroud, his attempts at concealing who he really was could come crashing down.

He had heard a wise Jedi instruct him that one could take another identity if it was a choice, to be born again in The Light, and so let the Past die. That was Ulic’s great fear, His Past coming back and now he felt uneasy for the first time on this mission.

“Grandmaster, I need to tell yoi something..”

He swallowed,

“But it can wait..”

He would follow her to the Shuttle to set dowb on this sacred world. And he felt like a pretender, a liar about to meet the Seed of Holy Men and Women who achieved wonders.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

SHe looked at the padawan and bowed her head in understanding as she offered a smile. "When you wish I shall be here." She said it with a small grin on her face. Leading the way towards the shuttle itself. The runabouts were simple in design.. just a box but they were also some of the most impressive in terms of a generic shuttle. With speed and defensive means but it could hold a dozen or so people inside as well as more then enough equipment. She filed in and had plenty of room for the others to join them. Allowing the jedi researchers who were coming with them and she had hoped the likes of Romi Jade might come or well there was a chance Jorus Q. Merrill might find the invitation. He liked traveling and coming to a new galaxy to explore never know. He might give it his seal of approval for the routes. "We'll be down shortly, the children of the jedi have Fallenassi that were fleeing with them who concealed the island in the white current. It gave them an extra layer of protection that not just being in another galacy might provide."

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

TAG: Matsu Ike

As Ulic boarded the shuttle, he felt it. The drip, drip, and he could hear his blood swirl in bis veins. A flash of image in his mind’s eye, he decided to join Matsu near the front,

“I cannot withold information that may put our mission in jeopardy.”

He spoke in hushed tones, asking permission to supplement his whispers with telekenisis to speak to her mind.

“Grandmaster, I am not who I appear.. well I chose to be thus. My name sake.. you may have suspected is a forgery. An amalgamation of Qel Droma to conceal..”

The Shuttle hit some chop as it entered The White Current.

“Where I really come from..”

He swallowed, his eyes flickering with some sparks.

“I am the Seed of Nayama Bindo and..”

He took a deep breath,

“Exar-Kun.. I am a Kun.”


00:48-01:01

The saying of the name made a chill come over his body. He had spent a short life time running from it. The yearning in his blood for the Darkness, a hunger he resisted and quelled with his passion for The Light. He did not know how Grand Master Matsu would respond to this. For many Exar-Kun was the devil of Sith legend, who was so powerful in the dark side he plagued generations after The Old Republic, even tormenting Luke Skywalker’s disciples. The ties to such a great evil had made Ulic resolve to be a exemplary Jedi, to resist his blood and choose a path unlike his ancestor.

He repeated a chant to himself, one he said often under his breath,

“I am not my ancestor.. I am not my ancestor.”

He took his lightsaber hilt and handed it to Master Matsu. Disarming himself. His face grim and painted with fear.

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

She stood there and listened to him with a neutral expression. The names meant something to all of them but it was important to him as she moved forward. "We all come from somewhere Jedi Ulic." SHe said it looking at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Our blood and genetics do not determine what we become, nor what we do... if it did then a lot of jedi would be very different." She offered a smaller smile to him though as the shuttle was departing. "Remember that Exar Kun was once a jedi, that he was corrupted by the darkside, turned on his fellows is one aspect of him but not all of it."

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

The Nervous Jedi listened as The Grandmaster spoke softly to him. Ulic had forgotten that his ancestor had been a Jedi. His story had been shrouded by what he became, The Dark Lord who tried to bring The Republic to its knees with his partner Ulic Qel Droma. That meant that while the tendencies towards treachery and weakness in his blood coursed, it also meant a fragment of who Kun was, an exemplary Jedi was there too.

Ulic bowed his head as her hand rested on his shoulder,

“Change my stars [1].. I can be more than my blood. This I have believed. You have reminded me that ever one like Exar was good till he choose not to be. That all shadows began as something else..”

The Jedi then looked up at her ,

“Thank you, Master. This has lifted a great burden from my heart. To confess this and to hear your sage counsel.”

————————————————
[1] Ulrich Von Liechninstien/ William Thatcher says “change my stars,” in A Knight’s Tale (2001)

 

[Matsu Ike]

Coren Starchaser Ulic Indominus Roma

She gave a nod of her head to him, it was a mixture as she advice, wisdom and well when it came to judging people based on their blood there were worse things to be then a fallen jedi. She looked at him. "It is alright, the burden will be eased and there will always be the lingering thought about it but you have to make the choices. A memory will rarely have the amount of power some others face.... but it will have what you give it... then you risk it becoming a self fulfilling situation." She said it while the shuttle went through the barrier that concealed the island and the viewports changed showing the green lands below. Beautiful and the main village and temple were large in sections of the island. Designed initially like the regular jedi temple to mirror it but also built into the mountain itself so peaks carved into spires and the base entrance near the village.

 

[Ulic Indominus Kun]

TAG: Matsu Ike

Ulic nodded, she was right, he was the one who made the choices. So many fell to the dark side believing it was destiny, that their blood or the path they were on predestined it, and this was part of the lie that ensnared many. Nothing took away your right to choose, not even fate or The Will of the Force. For the Sith lived in opposition to the Whills, and that proved one could go against the Will of The Great Mystery.

As he ruminated on the words of the Grand Master, the Jefdi saw the fire green country and the temple betond the barrier, a song flooded his head, was it coming from the island?


He had heard some had the ability to play The Force as instruments, like flutes and lyres, though he had never experienced it until now.

“Master Matsu, do you hear that?”

The flute had a sound of sadness, almost a melancholy yet also whimsy and discovery. The mix of wonder and dirge rolled into one. Ulic wondered, was this his own soul? His hopes for a better future and his fears of what he might become.