*Bolded text indicates events that did not occur in the thread itself, but were decided upon as canon by either myself or the other writer(s) involved.
Chasing a Rumor On Samovar
"Who in the Nether are you!? Nevermind, have you seen a pointy-eared philistine in robes?"
"She told me to run, to act like I was leaving the planet. So she could get away with the kid, I thought. But she didn't leave immediately. She stuck around. Did she think he would be the one who came to confront her? But he didn't. It was you, a random element. So she changed her plans. What did she tell you? Something to get you off her back, I imagine. To make you doubt yourself. Lord of Doubt... Do you think he knows? Where is he now?—"
“Is this a real offer? Would you really turn me into… this thing you’re describing, and let me go?”
“How could I let you leave this place in this sad, pathetic mortal form, when I could make you into a goddess?”
“My name is Nimdok. I am a friend and associate of Master Casimir Heliobas, a member of your Alliance. Since he was unable to provide assistance on Brentaal, he asked me to come on his behalf to investigate the matter. I understand the situation is rather… unusual, in that it involves forces beyond what you are used to dealing with, but it just so happens that is precisely my specialty...”
“I’ll protect her. I can at least manage that.”
“You won’t, because you can’t! You can barely keep her alive. By the Force, you tried to bring her with you—here, right into the yawning jaws of hell! She’d have been swallowed whole, and you with her!”
“This is why I loved you. You always wanted me for myself.”
“Be yourself, whether I love you or not. Go out into the galaxy and live, Inanna. And when you’ve done all that and still long for me, well, then you can come chase me down.”
“Hey, I’m sorry for what happened earlier. It just caught me by surprise, hearing your name… One in a billion chance that we’d be paired up, huh?”
“Unless you can find somebody to teach Miri, or convince Nimdok to let you teach her—or find a way to sever that little girl’s connection to the Force altogether, you're better off putting your investigating skills to good use and trying to find out who is sending agents and hunters after them. Until they're taken care of, trying to train Miri will be like trying to hold a moonbeam in your hand. The Sith certainly aren't going to stop themselves.”
"Be careful of Thetis. She's scared and aims to please. That makes her unpredictable, but not entirely a lost cause either. Right now it's hard to say which is which."
“...she waited a few moments, as if pondering the notion. Inanna the public speaker, a representative of the Office of Imperial Truth. Inanna the propagandist. Inanna the talking head. Inanna, the people’s harlot…”
“Secrets profane the spirit. You have cursed me with a secret, Inanna Hoole. Now I am unclean. And so are you.”
“I may be a blunt instrument, but at least I get the job done.”
*Note: This thread has been rewritten to align with the revised canon. The old version can be found here.
“Inanna has more or less adopted you. But because she is placing you in our care, we have the right to refuse. Until we invoke ish’ken, don’t consider this place your home yet.”
*Note: This thread has been rewritten to align with the revised canon. The old version can be found here.
"I wanna stay with you.”
“And what if it’s too dangerous to stay with me? What if I go somewhere you can’t follow?”
“You’ll come back. Like all the other times. You always came back and took me with you. Even if I had to wait a long time."
"To know, truly know, the Lord of Doubt is not such a simple matter, Inanna. But yes, he and I are acquainted, in a way. Something tells me Ms. Suzerain is much less slippery, however... but the question remains, why should I give you information on my fellow Sith?"
Chasing a Rumor On Samovar
"Who in the Nether are you!? Nevermind, have you seen a pointy-eared philistine in robes?"
- Contacted by Lady Anesha Astapova, “Nimdok”, a history professor turned freelance archaeologist, travels to Samovar to examine a mysterious object Anesha’s father purchased shortly before his suicide. The object is rumored to be an ancient and bloodthirsty Sith holocron which can drive people mad by afflicting them with horrific nightmares and insomnia. Also in pursuit of the artifact are two Sith, Adrian Vandiir and Lord Venari, and “Lorna”, a mysterious woman whose client was among the holocron’s victims.
- After meeting with Anesha and her mother at the Lazdinay Theater, Nimdok and Lorna agree to keep the holocron away from the Sith, who have taken Anesha’s brother Andrei hostage. Nimdok and Anesha make their way to the Summer Palace, the last known location of the holocron, while Lorna attempts to slow down the Sith’s progress.
- During a confrontation with the holocron’s gatekeeper, Nimdok is forced to reveal his shapeshifting abilities in order to protect Anesha. He successfully kills the gatekeeper and obtains the holocron.
- Combat ensues between Lorna and Venari. Vandiir meanwhile drags Andrei to the Palace and successfully talks his way past the local authorities. Badly damaged and outnumbered, Lorna retreats.
- Nimdok makes Vandiir think he destroyed the holocron, when in reality only the outer shell was destroyed—he removed the crystal matrix and saved it, though it was badly damaged in the process.
- Despite Vandiir giving chase, Nimdok escapes the planet with the damaged matrix and later attempts to reconstruct the holocron, which he identifies as Tel Angor’s Holocron.
- Some time later, Anesha is interrogated by Thetis Suzerain, who forcibly extracts the information about “Nimdok”’s true nature from her mind. Anesha does not remember this encounter afterwards.
"She told me to run, to act like I was leaving the planet. So she could get away with the kid, I thought. But she didn't leave immediately. She stuck around. Did she think he would be the one who came to confront her? But he didn't. It was you, a random element. So she changed her plans. What did she tell you? Something to get you off her back, I imagine. To make you doubt yourself. Lord of Doubt... Do you think he knows? Where is he now?—"
- En route to Anaxes, Nimdok is approached by a little girl. She is the real Nimdok’s daughter Miri, whom he thought was living in an orphanage on Alderaan. She is being held captive by Thetis Suzerain, a Sith Knight, and Elwick Wesley Fenton, a con man. They attempt to escape with the girl in tow.
- A Mandalorian named Leenic Ellsil and a Jedi named “Red” assist Nimdok in chasing them down. Fenton is apprehended by Ellsil. Red briefly duels with Thetis, but she manages to escape.
- When questioned, Miri reveals she was experimented on by her captors, who successfully granted her Force sensitivity. Nimdok tricks both Red and the nurse who performs the paternity test on him into thinking the results are positive, allowing him to leave with Miri.
- Red interrogates Fenton. His testimony makes it sound like the whole thing was a deliberate setup. Fenton becomes ill during the interrogation and it turns out Thetis poisoned him to keep him from saying too much.
- The police realize the discrepancy with the paternity test, but it’s too late to stop Nimdok, who has already gotten away. Red vows to track him down.
- Despite the efforts of doctors trying to save him, Fenton succumbs to the poison and dies, meaning that no more information can be gleaned from him.
“Is this a real offer? Would you really turn me into… this thing you’re describing, and let me go?”
“How could I let you leave this place in this sad, pathetic mortal form, when I could make you into a goddess?”
- Bithia, the wife of Nimdok and mother of Miri, is held prisoner in a compound at an unknown location, having been abducted from her home.
- She is brought by Errol Aylmer to see Messala, her captor. He questions her about her late husband, whom she believed to be dead, and admits to kidnapping her and Miri to use them as bait to draw Nimdok out.
- As time passes, Messala begins to lose control over the situation. He summons Bithia to him again and offers to transform her into a being of incredible power. Seeing an opportunity to be free and save her child's life, she accepts - and is immediately killed by Errol, while Messala traps her spirit inside a Prosperian Soulstone.
“My name is Nimdok. I am a friend and associate of Master Casimir Heliobas, a member of your Alliance. Since he was unable to provide assistance on Brentaal, he asked me to come on his behalf to investigate the matter. I understand the situation is rather… unusual, in that it involves forces beyond what you are used to dealing with, but it just so happens that is precisely my specialty...”
- At the Anaxes Station, Nimdok ingratiates himself with the Galactic Alliance through Admiral Cassius Callaesar in order to get involved in a particularly interesting archaeological mission into the Netherworld. Miri’s uncontrollable Force powers manifest several times during the meeting, both helping Nimdok and causing him trouble.
“I’ll protect her. I can at least manage that.”
“You won’t, because you can’t! You can barely keep her alive. By the Force, you tried to bring her with you—here, right into the yawning jaws of hell! She’d have been swallowed whole, and you with her!”
- Months later on Caamas, Nimdok goes through a portal to the Netherworld in search of a fragment of the Dagger of Mortis. He becomes separated from the GA group after they are attacked with Summon Fear by the malevolent spirit of Credius Nargath. This also has the effect of causing “Nimdok” to abandon the charade, running the risk of revealing his true identity as the Shi’ido scientist Arimanes Bosch.
- Eventually Arimanes encounters the ghost of the real Nimdok, who makes a deal with him: in exchange for taking him to the fragment, Arimanes must allow Nimdok to possess his body so that Nimdok can be reunited with Miri and protect her from the Sith.
- Arimanes agrees, retrieves the fragment with the help of Allyson Locke, and returns to reality, where Miri was being babysat by Gala Geert.
“This is why I loved you. You always wanted me for myself.”
“Be yourself, whether I love you or not. Go out into the galaxy and live, Inanna. And when you’ve done all that and still long for me, well, then you can come chase me down.”
- Nimdok and Miri briefly live in an apartment on Coruscant, along with a caretaker droid named Deevee. Tensions between Arimanes and Nimdok, now occupying the same body, are increasing. Nimdok wants Arimanes to give up his pursuit of artifacts until Miri grows up, but Arimanes refuses. He instead tries to find a long-term babysitter for Miri.
- A Shi’ido prostitute going by the name “Maetel” has been working in Coruscant’s underbelly for decades. Arimanes has long suspected that she is really Inanna Hoole, his childhood friend and old flame. He seeks her out with the aim of uplifting her, but he also has an ulterior motive—he hopes to convince her to take care of Miri while he resumes his artifact hunting.
- After confirming it is Inanna, they arrange to meet in a public park. In the middle of their discussion, a group of Sith agents attack. While Nimdok is knocked unconscious, Inanna fights them off and carries him to safety.
- They rush back to the apartment and find the droid caretaker destroyed and a traumatized Miri cowering in the closet after she annihilated the Sith in order to defend herself. The three of them immediately flee Coruscant.
- Inanna suggests hiding at the Scintilla, as they are impartial to any faction. Nimdok is extremely reluctant, but agrees—only to ditch Inanna and Miri along the way, heading to Odessen on his own to complete another archaeological mission.
- After the trip to Odessen, Nimdok returns to Inanna at the Scintilla and takes Miri back, leaving Inanna heartbroken, unemployed, and directionless.
“Hey, I’m sorry for what happened earlier. It just caught me by surprise, hearing your name… One in a billion chance that we’d be paired up, huh?”
- With little to lose, Inanna signs on to a silly dating show on Alderaan. By chance, she is partnered up with Red, the same Jedi who helped rescue Miri. She recognizes him based on Nimdok’s description.
“Unless you can find somebody to teach Miri, or convince Nimdok to let you teach her—or find a way to sever that little girl’s connection to the Force altogether, you're better off putting your investigating skills to good use and trying to find out who is sending agents and hunters after them. Until they're taken care of, trying to train Miri will be like trying to hold a moonbeam in your hand. The Sith certainly aren't going to stop themselves.”
- After the dating show, Inanna arranges to meet with Red at Istabith Falls. She tells him everything she knows. Realizing that something more complicated is going on, the two team up to launch an in-depth investigation into Miri’s abduction. They split up, with Red looking for Nimdok and Inanna trying to track down Thetis.
"Be careful of Thetis. She's scared and aims to please. That makes her unpredictable, but not entirely a lost cause either. Right now it's hard to say which is which."
- Inanna visits a pair of psychic conjoined twins, Willow and Ivy, and asks them to use their powers to find Thetis. To do this, they use Inanna’s memories, then trace them back to Nimdok and Miri. Consequently, Nimdok becomes aware of Inanna’s prying and pleads with her not to get involved. She ignores his warning.
- Using Miri’s fragmented memories of her captivity, the twins successfully track Thetis to Dromund Kaas, where they witness her being punished for her “failure” by her faceless master, the Lord of Doubt.
- The twins and Inanna have a hostile mental encounter with the Lord of Doubt, who senses their presence. Inanna attempts to protect the twins from the Sith’s wrath, and in return they rescue her from him.
“...she waited a few moments, as if pondering the notion. Inanna the public speaker, a representative of the Office of Imperial Truth. Inanna the propagandist. Inanna the talking head. Inanna, the people’s harlot…”
- Inanna decides to go undercover in the Sith Empire. She applies for a job on Telos and is promptly contacted by Moff Aerarii Tithe, who places her in the Office of Imperial Truth, TSE’s propaganda division.
“Secrets profane the spirit. You have cursed me with a secret, Inanna Hoole. Now I am unclean. And so are you.”
- Inanna approaches Pygar and Faya, two Sith Changelings created by Adrian Vandiir, at Vandiir’s nightclub. (Yes, the very same Adrian Vandiir from earlier. Small galaxy.)
- Pygar hates Vandiir and wants to defect from the Sith Empire. He asks Inanna to help him. Inanna is automatically suspicious—and rightfully so, because Faya apparently set the whole thing up in an attempt to get rid of Pygar.
- After the convoluted situation is resolved, Inanna reluctantly agrees to help Pygar escape, sending him home to her family on Lao-mon, far from the reach of TSE.
- Unbeknownst to Inanna, Pygar and Faya break into Vandiir’s private residence, where Pygar steals data from their creator’s personal computer on the various Sithspawn he has created.
- This prompts Vandiir to send a Doppelganger and death squads after him. If Pygar hadn't stolen the data, Vandiir would not have cared about his defection, but now the Changeling is a liability...
“I may be a blunt instrument, but at least I get the job done.”
- Thetis Suzerain asks the Doppelganger to kill Nimdok as well as Pygar while he's on Lao-mon. The Doppelganger agrees on the basis of wanting to please Vandiir and "indulge"...
*Note: This thread has been rewritten to align with the revised canon. The old version can be found here.
“Inanna has more or less adopted you. But because she is placing you in our care, we have the right to refuse. Until we invoke ish’ken, don’t consider this place your home yet.”
- Pygar makes his way to Lao-mon and meets Inanna’s parents, Tammuz and Lilith Hoole. Tammuz is infuriated by what he sees in Vandiir’s data, and Pygar urges him to publish it.
- At around the same time, Nimdok also travels to Lao-mon, intending to leave Miri in the care of the Hoole family. With two fugitives occupying the same house, the Sith forces simply cannot resist attacking them.
- Nimdok is badly injured by the Doppelganger, who removes a large amount of the “hidden flesh” from his body, but he and Tammuz manage to defeat it.
- Pygar is attacked by the Saaraishash. The Hoole family bands together in order to protect him.
*Note: This thread has been rewritten to align with the revised canon. The old version can be found here.
"I wanna stay with you.”
“And what if it’s too dangerous to stay with me? What if I go somewhere you can’t follow?”
“You’ll come back. Like all the other times. You always came back and took me with you. Even if I had to wait a long time."
- Red tracks Nimdok to Lao-mon and confronts him in the hospital, demanding answers.
- While trying to explain themselves, the spirits of Nimdok and Arimanes get into an argument with each other.
- The two spirits each explain what they know, and are able to piece together enough information for Red to find a lead: three names, a species, and the planet Kiva, which they believe may be the Lord of Doubt's homeworld.
- Red convinces Nimdok to go into hiding with Miri within the borders of the Silver Jedi Concord, where they will hopefully be safe...
"To know, truly know, the Lord of Doubt is not such a simple matter, Inanna. But yes, he and I are acquainted, in a way. Something tells me Ms. Suzerain is much less slippery, however... but the question remains, why should I give you information on my fellow Sith?"
- Inanna realizes that what the twins saw in their vision—the punishment of Thetis and their confrontation with the Lord of Doubt—occurred in the Red Room of Adrian’s nightclub, which seemingly indicates that Vandiir must know them. (Gee, the Chaos galaxy must be microscopic for all these coincidences to keep happening, huh?) She reluctantly makes an appointment with Vandiir in order to ask for his help.
- In trying to gain Vandiir's favor through seduction, Inanna miscalculates. Vandiir rejects her advances and instead demands that she resolve the situation with Pygar and the missing data. Otherwise, he will do nothing for her. Suitably chastened, Inanna departs for Lao-mon, accompanied by Vandiir's Sithspawn Faya...
