The Dead God
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To follow in
Velok the Younger
footsteps, and create some books spreading Maliphant's theories on the Force. - Image Credit: Here.
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Media Name: "Acceptable Loss; Stratagem to Overwhelm Jedi", by Darth Maliphant
- Format: Alchemized Leather Book
- Distribution: Rare
- Length: Medium
- Word Count: 65,248
- Description:
- Going into depth in regards to Jedi Moral and Force Sensitivities, Darth Maliphant created the book as a means to help counter large scale Jedi offensive or defensive forces. By focusing on psychological warfare on mass civilian populations, one could overwhelm entire planets with negative force emotions that would inherinetly disrupt most Jedi's ability to both concentrates, and hinder their usage of the Force. This, according to Maliphant, can be done through a variety of tactics; but often has found immediate success with orbital bombardments or en masse sith spawn raids. However, this tactic comes with serious drawbacks - such as unruly populations, galactic recourse, and more. All of this Maliphant goes into depth on, when exactly it can be of use, and different applications of it in both offensive and defensive measures.
- Author:
Darth Empyrean
- Publisher: Self
- Reception:
- Following in Velok's own manner, there is a very limited number of these books around. Partially done to make a false sense of 'exclusivity', and partially done to make them a more valuable gift to those he handed them too - it has found itself a surprisingly warm welcome in the various circles of the Sith that enjoy theory crafting and dialectics.
Crafted from Leviathan Leather and enhanced with short-term memory enchantments, the book is as much a piece of art as it is a source of information. Specifically made by Maliphant's own hand, it sees the benefits of a master alchemist putting their skills to the craft of book binding; doing more than binding its pages with thick sinew, but making it a piece of art a sith can enjoy for years to come. From its swirling leather cover, to the leviathan eye at its center that seems to stare endlessly at its host - the book carries even more love and tender care within its dark pages.
Each page is made from the skin of either mandalorians lost during the invasion of Mandalore, or otherwise sourced from Jedi Shadow's sent to kill Maliphant on more than a few occasions. While some are simply the artificial growth of skin cells, a few rare pages are made from the real original skin torn from the jedi's flesh. Each is lined with the blood of Maliphant, mixed carefully with corrupted kyber crystal to give each ur-Kittat word a wonderful sheen and glow. Truly, a work of art representative of Maliphant's need to be extra in all that he does.
CONTENT INFORMATION
- Chapter 1, "Introduction to the Dichotomy"
- "... While generally understood, it should still be noted that the Jedi and Sith are fundamentally very different. While the Jedi seek peace and tranquility, the Sith flourish in chaos and ambition - and it is this very strength we must play into to beat an opponent. Consider for a moment that a Jedi, time and time again, have always gone to save civilians in a conflict. Is it because they have some practical purpose for such? No, it is because the Jedi is a simple creature - they can not help themselves, as they are slaves to their morality..."
- Chapter 2, "Collateral Damage and its Effects Within the Force"
- "... Jedi and Sith experience the fallout of collateral damage with varying degrees of effects. When faced with large amounts of suffering, a Jedi will often feel through the Force the suffering - and since Jedi base their power out of focus and peace, the mere act of feeling that suffering can cause them to lose their potency in the Force. On the opposite spectrum, a Sith faced with mass death can often feed on the trauma in the Force - empowering themselves through its emotional miasma..."
- Chapter 3, "Obscurity; Why has this not been noted?"
- "... Because of this effect, one can understandably surmount that causing collateral damage in fact benefits Sith strategies over Jedi strategies - as a Jedi committing themselves to the act of collateral damage will only weaken their own knights. Sith, contrarily, often partake in it simply because of the nature of the Dark Side. The issue is not that Sith don't do this enough, but that they don't properly leverage it - nor do they understand what they are doing. While many simply revel in the passive nature of terror on a mass scale, they fail to harness that energy or exemplify it with critically pointed strikes to encourage greater emotional strain on Jedi in an area - choosing instead to do wild orbital bombardments that instead snuff out life rather than create the disturbances in the Force once is looking for."
- Chapter 4, "Practical Applications; How do you use this strategy?"
- "... Considering that most Sith focus on destroying infrastructure quickly rather than a 'slow burn' of a population, the effect sought is not often put into effect well. If one kills the population, they will simply cease to transmit anything through the force - while a population strained by terror, pain, or sadness can keep the emotional playing field of a planet in disarray for days. With this in mind, how would one actually cause prolonged emotional stress for an entire population?
Often, the answer is not 'orbitally bombard it'.
Rather, one would want to study on the subject of psychological warfare. Consider for a moment the effects of a population put on durasteel spikes - a forest of bodies, but kept aloft by respulsorlifts so as to ensure they suffer for days or weeks. This solution may be more manpower-intensive than traditional firebombs, but the slow and painful deaths spread emotional stress through the Force for a far longer period than before. This can be used for both its effects on enemy traditional forces, and the effects on the Jedi - effectively castrating the morale of an enemy force, and perturbing any light sided force connection in one single move..."
- "... Considering that most Sith focus on destroying infrastructure quickly rather than a 'slow burn' of a population, the effect sought is not often put into effect well. If one kills the population, they will simply cease to transmit anything through the force - while a population strained by terror, pain, or sadness can keep the emotional playing field of a planet in disarray for days. With this in mind, how would one actually cause prolonged emotional stress for an entire population?
- Chapter 5, "Cost-Benefit Analysis; When is it worth it?"
- "... Acceptable Loss is not a strategy for the weak or unsure, and that can not be stressed enough. Using it on enemy planets can create long term rebellion issues due to the long term emotional scarring left on the population - and no matter the amount of propaganda or welfare offered can bring that public relation back for many decades or centuries when done effectively. Doing it on enemy planets you do not manage to take can have secondary effects as well - providing a rallying cry for armies to become fanatic in their war effort. Never allow your efforts to create martyrs - always ensure it is not a half effort, but fully destructive to turn a nation back.
Additionally, one should also consider the long term effects of collateral damage while defending a planet. The act of burning ones own planet to the ground to keep the enemy at bay should not be done lightly - as many considerations should be taken into account. First, what damage will it do to the output of the planet. Second, if it can be assymetrical politicized as the enemies fault. Third, and last, if it can turn ones own soldiers against you. If a defending army can not rationalize destroying their own citizens, you will turn your garrisons against you with little to do but run..."
- "... Acceptable Loss is not a strategy for the weak or unsure, and that can not be stressed enough. Using it on enemy planets can create long term rebellion issues due to the long term emotional scarring left on the population - and no matter the amount of propaganda or welfare offered can bring that public relation back for many decades or centuries when done effectively. Doing it on enemy planets you do not manage to take can have secondary effects as well - providing a rallying cry for armies to become fanatic in their war effort. Never allow your efforts to create martyrs - always ensure it is not a half effort, but fully destructive to turn a nation back.
- Chapter 6, "Historic Implementations"
- "... During the Sacking of Coruscant in 8653BBY, Malgus and the Sith managed to implement a dangerous strategy of orbital bombardment, surprise attack, and total war. Through their mixture of mass destruction on a planet with the population to spare, they were able to effectively disable many of the Jedi Master's - creating a prime arena for them to slay them. It was their expert implementation of Acceptable Loss that allowed them supreme victory, helping to lead to the Treaty of Coruscant..."
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
For years Maliphant has been hoarding knowledge - from the Telos Holocron, to Vitiates, to even Mother Talzin's grimoire; but he has made very little contributions to galactic history overall. Realizing that some of his most prized possessions were the contents of the books he received from
Velok the Younger
years prior, Maliphant had the simple idea to do much the same; to release highly alchemized books into the more intelligent Sith circles strictly to spread his knowledge to others in ways that didn't directly threaten him.In this, Maliphant decided offering glimpses into his Force based theorems, implementation of Dark Side strategies, and historical context of a variety of subjects was the best route. While spreading the teachings of the Telos Holocron could in fact bring extremely powerful Sith to light, he instead chose the route of strategy to keep his own effort safe. This is where the many books he made would be built from as a foundation - expanded on as he moved through the various subjects he wished to cover.
For "Acceptable Loss", Maliphant focused solely on the effects of total war on the Jedi's psyche. Attempting to understand why Sith tend to cause damage en masse, and also understand the benefits of such, he created the theory of Acceptable Loss - a strategy that can directly harm the Jedi's implementation of the Force on a large scale while also providing a boon for the Sith; but noting why it hasn't been implemented thus far, the cots of such, and the variety of subjects entwined with it.
Notably, this was following the fire bombing of the Sith Academy - something Maliphant personally wanted to see revenge for. With this in mind, Maliphant gave the book to a set few individuals; as there are only ten copies in existence.
-
Darth Empyrean
- First Edition
-
Velok the Younger
-
Kascalion Giedfield
-
Alina Tremiru
-
Rax Tremira
-
Taeli Raaf
-
Kyrel Ren
-
Arcturus Dinn
- Saved for Maliphant's Own Giving.
- Saved for Maliphant's Own Giving.
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