Private A Proper Education

[Darth Nefaron]

Ziost, one of the Ancient seats of Sith power, is a dead world.

To live here invites peril. Even more so when venturing into the wilds in search of lost knowledge.

This world is a beacon to many would-be Sith, acolytes, and apprentices who come in droves to study the well-documented remains of Sith temples in person. A practice that is meant to be as safe as can be for a young darksider.

But there is more to fear here than old ghosts. For one, his very soul is at stake as he is drawn into a scheme that few know of.

The first salvo in a long, secret war.
​

Nefaron had many teachers during his years of exile in the far reaches of the galaxy. Some praise the works of past Sith, treating their ruins as holy places to be endlessly studied and protected. Others saw the ancients as failures, stepping stones for future Dark Lords to learn from. They held little value in these ruins aside from symbols of legitimacy. In truth, Nefaron fell somewhere in the middle, he was no historian but he held some respect for certain Sith that he saw as predecessors to himself, specifically those who saw the unity of the Sith under one grand design as the only path to success. But in the end, they all failed, their bodies having rotted away long ago, especially in the well-studied tombs and ruins on Ziost.

But Nefaron knew that the lure of an undiscovered chamber would be to much for an academic to ignore, specifically Darth Malum. But this was no simple attempt at assassination, Nefaron had promised Malum's death to another in any case. What he truly desired was a boy who was to travel with Malum on his excursion, a child fabled to be of impressive skill, a potential prodigy in years to come, but one in need of guidance. Malum, to his credit, was a busy man with wide-ranging influence within the Empire, but that made him... blind, one might say, to certain opportunities. Nefaron would exploit this weakness, to take from him a young man that could very well be a key asset in future conflict.

Perhaps an apprentice, Nefaron long sought a proper student.

But first, the seeds of doubt must be planted. Fear, regret, and humiliation are to be Nefaron tools.

"My Master, they are coming."

"Have you hidden yourselves well? The ruin has been modified as I instructed?"

"Yes, Master. They have not spotted our scouts. We await your command."

"Good. Conceal yourself, you will be called upon soon."

The twisted human, his body covered in ritualist markings and symbols fled back into the darkness of the temple. Nefaron awaited his guests in the deepest section of the ruin, a place where little light remained. Sensors throughout the ruin would alert him to the pair's progress, and Nefaron would use this to his advantage. Even now, a diluted version of his toxin flooded the halls, not the full dose designed to drive recipients utterly mad, but enough to ensure that his guests would begin to... doubt. Their eyes will begin to play tricks on them, their sense of direction twisted to Nefarons will. Malum is strong, soon enough he will detect the ruse, but he will be fooled long enough for him to be separated from his companion.

The boy will be tested. Nefaron will be his guide.

Tags: Darth Malum of House Marr Marcus Dinn


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[Marcus Dinn]

Marcus supposed he ought to be grateful to Malum. Not every Sith Lord was willing to give someone else's apprentice an educational opportunity like this. Granted, Marcus' hackles were raised in expectation that it was all a trap of some sort, but so far the Ziost field trip had proved uneventful, even fun.

The boy approached the ruins with obvious interest. He loved old things and the history behind them. Tombs especially fascinated him, as he wondered about the lives of those buried within them. The possibility of treasure hidden inside only sweetened the deal. He might have had a future as an archaeologist, if alchemy's calling had not been stronger.

"Who is buried here?" he asked Malum, after trying in vain to read the marking on the entrance to the tomb. They were too worn away by time to be legible. After checking for traps of a more common variety, he cautiously crossed the threshold.

Darth Nefaron Darth Malum of House Marr​

 

[Darth Malum of House Marr]

"I suspect, we shall soon learn," Malum answered, looking down upon the Ur-Kittat writing, his amulet pulsing warmly against his chest as he attempted to figure out even a fragment of what was written there, alas, despite the aid in which his great ancestor's ghost provided him, the words were simply too worn with age and whether to be legible.

Frustratingly so, legible enough to register as Ur-Kittat, readable enough that he knew it was Ur-Kittat, but neither legible nor readable enough to provide him the information which his curiosity so demanded.

Red eyes turned upwards, as Marcus crossed the threshold into the tomb, his heart wavering for but a moment, waiting for some great calamity to befall, only to allow out a short breath as nothing occurred. Ziost, the so-called Gateway of the Empire, though it had hardly filled that role in much time, amongst the most famous of the Sith Worlds, and currently under the governorship of Darth Arcanix.

There was little doubt why the mother of monsters was interested in the world, Malum thought as he followed soon after his trainee, temples, and tombs of this nature dotted along much of the world, an enduring legacy of the great Sith empires of old, and now held in the covenant by the current Sith empire, the eleventh by his count... but that number could be much higher.

He gazed around the ruining architecture, the architecture declining, the colours fading, a strange smell pervading across the air, the place had been abandoned for quite some time. Likely pilfered dry as well, which might be disappointing for his young, if tall charge.

But, for prize was not why he had brought Marcus here.

"Tell me, what is the purpose of such structures?"

Marcus Dinn Darth Nefaron
Mentioned: Taeli Raaf