[Knights of the Old Republic]
Drawbacks: Rise of the Warriors, Ancient Artifact, Mandalorian Hunt (2800)
Scenario: The Legend Reborn
Korriban
Human, Soldier, Sith Lord
Adaptive Combat (2700)
Wisdom (2600)
Master Persuade (Free)
Master Treat Injury (Free)
Form III Soresu (Free)
Intuition (Free)
Soundtrack (Free)
How can magic come from germs? (2400)
Force Awareness (2300)
Matukai (2200)
Brilliance of a Conqueror (2000)
[Je’daii] (1800)
Hard Work (1400)
Weapon Specialist (Free)
Face Mask (Free)
Puppet Master (1300)
Storm of the Sith (1100)
Dark Nexus (800)
Force Harmony (400)
Force Affinity (200)
Force Lightning (Free)
Dun Moch (Free)
Slow (Free)
Burst of Speed (Free)
Force Sight (Free)
Force Body (Free)
Pazaak Deck (Free)
Dancer Outfit Wardrobe (Free)
Box of Components (Free)
Box of Explosives (Free)
Medpac (Free)
Adrenal Kit (Free)
Credits Stipend (Free)
Bounty Hunter Essentials (Free)
Dantooine Jedi Enclave (+600, 500)
Korriban Sith Academy (200)
Republic Blaster Pistol (Free)
Your Lightsaber (Free)
Your Padawan (Free)[Expand Post] Your Astrodroid (Free)
Meetra Surik (100)
Bastila Shan (0)
“…Revan? Is that you? What. Where are we? Who are those strange Jedi and Sith over there? I think they’re about to start a war…”
“Meetra, my general, my friend. Be at ease, and rest your weary heart. Withdraw your saber, and tend to that wound of yours. Fill that pain which gapes like appetite with Korriban’s rich nutrients. This is a place of life, a place of peace”
“R-Revan?”
“Out there in the world they ask a simple, true question. A question like: What is the will of the Force? And we answer. Always, we provide answers”
I can see the seedling of this galaxy’s Final Shape staring at me in stark confusion, unknowing that I have seen the truth of the Force: It is female. That with the rise and fall of every civilisation, the turn of the galactic wheel itself, there are only two constants. The superior will that pervades the dominant civilisation, and a brunette human woman who is the only shatterpoint of defiance before it.
There is a world-out there, in the World Between Worlds-where Revan is an old friend of mine, from before I found my true calling. Alas, his tale ends in tragedy and ignominy. By the truest divination of all Revan lost his claim to existence, brought suffering upon himself and his followers-and so as his friend and comrade I will lend him the whole of my assistance by taking up the shape he left behind, and I will carve order from the galaxy with it. If all is one in the Force, then on the cosmic scale Revan was always meant to become me.
He is realer as a direct terminal of me than he ever was as his own person.
“Bastila, my would-be killer and thus student” I said after unifying both academies by simply showing up and showing everyone a vision of the Force to be, “do you see that promulgation of armed men?”
“I am forming a temporarily alliance with you now the Galaxy is endangered by the Mandalorians yes, Revan”
“Humour me. Fundamentally what IS the Mandalorian movement?”
“It’s a violent clan of-“
“I mean, more fundamentally”
“It’s a mercenary”
“MORE fundamentally, Bastilla”
“…it’s a movement. An idea. A…way of living”. I snapped my fingers. “Exactly! I have seen the balance of the Force ebb and flow between Light and Darkness due to such ideas spreading unchecked and uncorrected. Until now”
“…until now?”
“Bastilla. When you are sick, you take antibiotics to cure the sickness. When there is an excess of life, it must sadly be culled for the greater value of life itself. And therefore, if the goal of all life is to be one with the Force…then in a very real sense, the goal of all life is death. Do you understand? Immortality is still a worthy goal. But it is a burden, not a privilege. The role of the Sith, as I envision it, is to shepherd all beings in life…and unto death, should they make life intolerable”
The Jedi are amazed by the corona of pure Light around the Force event horizon surrounding me, and the Sith equally baffled by the outpouring of Light from within that reaches out and soothes Meetra’s damaged channels while synchronising with Bastila’s senses. Both factions contribute their efforts to mine, buoyed by the necessity of finalising the cruel cycle that the galaxy finds itself trapped in. The outpour of Force lightning harbours none of the usual madness-only a calming certitude that something grand and necessary is happening. As the lightning arcs from Mandelorian ship to Mandelorian ship I reap lives with as little pain as I can muster.
It is not the lightning that is meant to kill, after all. Merely the reaping of life essence through the Dyad I form with my general. This world does not yet know the power of the Dyad-a force to rival even Sideous-and so there can be no defence against it.
Empty vessels and spent weapons drift in the void of space, as the Force reaches equilibrium around us. Poor Nihilus. He was consumed by his appetite because he was unable to stabilise the phenomena he accomplished. But as Meetra would have been able to become one with the Force in a world without me, so too am I able to place myself partially within the Force.
After that, the threat of mere military assets is a mere abstraction.
>You are Darth Malak. Formerly Alek Squinquargesimus. Once apprentice and now aspirant Dark Lord of the Sith. Vengeful outcry against the Mandalorian scourge. Traitor.
>You have been Taken.
>Be at ease. Set aside your pain, and the clasp of metal affixed to your face that belays it. You are forgiven. There is new purpose bestowed on you, now that you aspire to be something more than my shadow.
>But what brought you to this path, Malak? Why were my vision, my mentorship and my trust not enough for you? What seething inadequacy let the Dark Side drove you to betray yourself before you ever betrayed me?
>Aggression? Ruthlessness? No. In the end, it was lack of faith in I, your teacher.
>It was your obligation as a Sith Lord to betray me when I dallied with heterodoxy. It was my failure not to punish you for it that saw me cast from power, and burdened your shallow and brutish but efficient tactics with the burden of lordship. And it was the disappointment of others in your achievements that culled the joy from it.
>If you regret the path you took, it is not too late to renounce it.
>There is a knife for you. It is shaped like [the saber of light]
>You grow weary of comparison to me. You deserve an achievement that belongs only to you. I say this in truth: You have always been the better duellist, Malak. Now you will be sublimed into the blade you master, cutting at will, cutting where you will. You will be complete and self-defined in your finality, untethered from your past forever.
>Grasp tight the knife. Flick it on. Take your new shape.
>You are Darth Sion. Tortured husk of a warrior. Drinker of the Dark Side. Your bones are dented iron, and your flesh scorched leather.
>You have been Taken.
>Rest, weary Darth. Let this pain slough from you as maggots consume dead tissue. You are free of torment. Of humiliation. Of the Dark Side. So ask yourself: Why do you persist in being a monument to your own sins?
>Pain. Pain is all there is for you.
>She raised you high when it suited her, and she brought you low again when you outlived your purpose. Now you are shattered, your bones chips, your body a corpse that has forgotten how to die. You are a dead thing charged with war, given life only by the apoptosis of the Force.
>There is a knife for you. It is shaped like [relief]. Rub it into your scar tissue.
>You will not need to suffer any more. You will not need the Dark Side to haul frayed tendons or animate rotten nerves. Your fragments will be repaired with gold, and you will carve yourself anew from ruin to eternity. Cut away these useless things.
>Apply the knife like a topical cream. Massage it into all afflicted areas. Take your new shape.
>You are Darth Nihilus. Lord of Hunger. Ceaseless devourer of the Force. Of your own flesh, blood and bones. Your robes conceal a long-lost form.
>You have been Taken
>Open wide, now. Your belly shall be filled to the brim. Set aside your mask, and shrug off those stifling robes. You will not have to hide who you are anymore.
>What drove you to the brink of emptiness? Where will this appetite lead you next?
>The Republic superweapon rent a wound in the Force itself so great, it was mirrored upon your very being. Do you find it unfair, being the dwindling death rattle of a man who has long since lost everything? Nevertheless, you persist. Because this hunger is all there is to you. Because any meal, however meagre, is better than starvation.
>There is a knife for you. It is shaped like [abundance]. Engulf it.
>There. You will be full, now. The screaming ghosts of midichlorians in your substance will multiply and overflow, making you into your own everlasting meal. You have removed so much from the galaxy, and like an event horizon filled to the bring with matter it is time to give something back
>Metastasize the knife. Savor it. Take your new shape.