Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike.
Image Credit: Here. Here. Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Adlerberg, Prosperity Quarter, Darth Eisen, Covenant of the Piercing Flame, Jedi Inquisition, Mace Windu Thought, Windian Jedi Order, The Valkyrie's Diary.
SETTING INFORMATION
Military Base Name: Ausrine Redoubt.
Classification: Hidden Sanctuary.
Location: Tephrike.
Affiliation: Inheritors of the Light Father, Illuminated Path of the Light Father, Tephrike.
Population: Sparse.
Demographics: All inhabitants of the Redoubt are members of the Inheritors of the Light Father. Most occupants are Force-Users, though Non-Force-Users also occupy important positions. A large portion of the Redoubt's population is composed of aliens. Humans can be found there, too. Alien species present here include Twi'leks, Rodians, Zabrak, Cathar, Bothans, Wookiees and Togruta. There are even a couple Talz.
Accessibility: Ausrine Redoubt is extremely difficult to access. For one, it is located on Tephrike, a remote planet that was cut off from the Galaxy during the Dark Age. While the planet recently rediscovered by Firemane, it is still largely unknown. Moreover, Ausrine Redoubt's existence is a closely guarded secret. The Inheritors are a secret society whose members face persecution by the planet's main factions, so their weapons are subterfuge and secrecy. The Inheritors are ready to kill, deceive or use mind wipes to ensure the Redoubt remains a secret.
The Redoubt is a secret and they are very suspicious of outsiders. Moreover, its location is very remote, as it has been set up in Tephrike's polar region in the far south. It is defined by extremely cold temperatures, glaciers, fierce blizzards and extreme variation in daylight hours. The polar climate means there is a lack of warm summers. Food is scarce, and danger abounds. The Redoubt has been set up inside a mountain. The intensity of the blizzards and the remote location make it an extremely difficult place to reach by air or ground. The cold climate makes repulsorcraft unreliable. The Inheritors know the lay of the land and have become well-attuned to the cold. They conduct patrols to preserve the secrecy of the Redoubt, using a combination of technology, natural stealthiness and the Force to blend into the environment and remain undetected.
In order to reach the Redoubt, one would have to climb a very steep mountain, which is far from easy. Then one has to cross a bridge. However, the Inheritors have placed a spell on it. So the bridge an individual would see with their naked eye is actually a phantasmal bridge. The real bridge is off to the side. The residents of the Redoubt have been trained to use their Force Senses and not let their eyes deceive them. In the event that the Inheritors are having a guest, they would send someone out to guide them. Once one has crossed the bridge, there is an entrance way with easily defensible bastions to protect it. The Inheritors do not have much need for aircraft landings. The Redoubt has some little hidey holes for its inhabitants to get out secretly.
Description:
Ausrine Redoubt is a secret sanctuary, safehouse and temple for the Inheritors of the Light Father, a schismatic off-shoot of the Disciples of the Vader. The Light Father they worship is the redeemed Darth Vader. The Inheritors are all that is left of a faction of 'Light Sith' who temporarily managed to seize power in Sith territory by mobilising the under classes and slave population. Whereas the Disciples see Vader as the true Dark Lord of the Sith, who achieved apotheosis and ascended to godhood, the Inheritors believe in the story of his redemption.
Both the Dominion and the Disciples consider them heretics. Meanwhile, the Republican Guard, a revolutionary organisation that seeks to overthrow the Force theocracies and establish a secular republic for Non-Force-Users, views them with suspicion. In the eyes of the Guard, the Force is a disease that corrupts those who draw upon it. They do not persecute the Inheritors with the same fervour as the two theocracies, but regard them as problematic. All this means that the Inheritors must operate in secrecy. Their weapons are information, subterfuge and subversion. They spread sedition, smuggle in subversive literature, free political prisoners, conduct assassinations and acts of sabotage. They also seek to infiltrate the Dominion and the Vaderites to convert others to their cause, manipulate their enemies and undermine them from within.
Ausrine Redoubt is one of their secret bases. Its location and existence are closely guarded secrets. Indeed, only a select number of Inheritors are aware of it. By the cult's standards it is quite large, which says quite a bit about how small the group. It is located in Tephrike's remote polar regions, and built into a mountain. The Redoubt is often covered in snow. Its remote location and the arctic conditions make it very difficult to reach. Climbing the steep and snow-covered mountain is a dangerous prospect. One could also reach it by air, but blizzards are a serious hazard that can ground aerial transports and space craft. To reach the entrance one has to cross a bridge. Only the bridge one sees is a mirage. The real one is invisible, and a bit off to the side.
The path to the base is constantly monitored and the Inheritors have guards that monitor the icy wastes. Their patrols ride on rugged speeders or tamed animal mounts. They are very skilled at avoiding detection. Their Force-Sensitives excel in skills such as Force Cloak, Stealth and Tapas. The weather conditions also make it difficult for sensors. The Redoubt has a hidden tunnel and hidey holes for the occupants to make a quick getaway if needed. A geothermal powerplant, with a backup power generator, provides power for the base. The interior of the Redoubt is austere and utilitarian. The Inheritors do not rule over any territory, and do not have a lot of money to throw around. It has the aesthetics of a monastery crossed with military base. There are rooms for the Inheritors, waste recyclers and a geothermal power plant. The living quarters have all the essentials, but are lacking in creature comforts. This even applies to the quarters of the masters and senior knights of the order. Save for the most senior members, it is common for inhabitants to be bunked together.
Space is at a premium in the Redoubt, and so Non-Force-Users and Force-Users have the same quarters instead of being segregated. There are also ideological reasons for this since the Path of the Light Father, which is the doctrine the Inheritors follow, rejects the idea of Force-User supremacy. Dark and light exists in everyone in equal measure, and one does not require the Force to fight for the Light and follow the teachings of the sect. For the same reason, meditation chambers and the shrine are available for members of both groups. Aside from the Inheritors and support staff, the base houses a small, but well-trained contingent of soldiers who have been trained in mountain and arctic warfare, applying a mixture of tactics used by snowtroopers and Rebel Alliance freedom fighters.
One can also find a kitchen, communal dining hall, medical bay, garage, command centre, meditation areas, garage and so on. In short, all the essentials are there, but there are very few creature comforts. Moreover, there is an inner sanctum and a religious shrine. The Redoubt houses sophisticated sensors and communications gear, though they are dated by galactic standard. It also has an emergency shield generator. Moreover, it features a religious shrine, library and training facility. The Redoubt's location makes it extremely defensible, but if they were faced with overwhelming force, the Inheritors would withdraw, relying on their knowledge of the land and skill at evasion to escape detection. Standing up to legions of doom might seem heroic, but it is also foolish.
Secrecy is the Redoubt's best weapon, so they will seek to eliminate intruders before they can report its location. The Inheritors are followers of the Light, but have learned to be suspicious of outsiders. Better safe than sorry. Good is not soft, after all. Or nice. The social climate inside the Redoubt is austere, disciplined and zealous. This Redoubt does not contain any useable speeders or fighters from the days of the Rebel Alliance. There are a few rusted hulks in a lower storage area, but after centuries of neglect and snow they are completely useless.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Hall of Shrouded Memory: In order to build the future, one must know and understand the past. True to this lesson, the Redoubt has a small library. A lot of knowledge has been lost or distorted by the passage of time, so the Inheritors try to preserve what they can. The library has actual books as well as information stored on computers, or cogitators, as the Tephriki call them. Outsiders would be surprised at how big Tephriki computers are, and at the fact that they still use 5.25 floppies. The Inheritors are committed to uncovering the truth, but their records have fallen prey to their share of errors or inaccuracies. This is to be expected since centuries have passed and there was a four-hundred-year dark age the planet never moved on from.
For instance, they believe that Snoke was a failed Palpatine clone. The real Palpatine had become a malevolent spirit who sought to claw his way from the Netherworld and drown the Galaxy in darkness. His return was fuelled by mass atrocities carried out by his fanatical followers, as he fed off the deaths. They also believe Palpatine was the second incarnation of the evil Vitiate, who was defeated by Revan and the Exile. In their view, Rey and Kylo, who was once known as Jacen, were twins and the grandchildren of Vader. But one embraced the light, the other the dark. Naturally, 'The Word of the Light Father', the sacred text of the Inheritors, can also be found on the library's shelves.
Hall of Proving: A training area. Here the inhabitants can hone their combat skills and martial prowess. The Inheritors adhere to a rather strict, rigorous training regimen. Unlike the Sith, they stress cooperation. However, they do not coddle their acolytes. Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike, whereas Force Imbued Blades are common. However, the Inheritors stress precision rather than brute force. The training facility also has a marksmanship and an obstacle course. The facility's computer sensor grid allows for the projection of holo-remotes and holoshrouds upon people using it. This teaches them to rely on more than their naked eye. Users of the facility can also hone their marksmanship.
One chamber can be used to test the powers of the adepts. It contains several openings, from which projectiles can be hurled. A blindfolded adept stays in the chamber, with only a wooden stick to defend themselves. Another student controls a few remotes that can destroy the projectiles if needed. The programme has a variety of difficulty levels. Needless to say the Inheritors draw the line at killing or maiming a member. There is also an armoury nearby. Force Imbued weapons are not that easy to conceal, so the Inheritors also utilise guns.
Chamber for the Conduct of the Eternal Struggle - a very flowery name for a meeting chamber. Here senior leaders congregate to debate and plan the struggle for freedom. The Inheritors have adopted a decentralised, cell-based structure to survive in the underground, but they still require a senior leadership to provide overall guidance on a strategic level. Access to this area is restricted. The chamber is circular, and the seats are set up around a grey rock pillar. The tenets of the Illuminated Path are inscribed upon the pillar:
Peace is a lie, there is only Focus.
Through Focus, we gain Discipline.
Through Discipline, we gain Unity.
Through Unity, we gain Victory.
Through Victory, our chains are Broken.
The Force shall free us.
The Light will conquer the Dark.
Dormitories: Accommodations for the inhabitants. The rooms are very austere. The Inheritors have no time for frivolities, and so the base population lives in quasi-monastic conditions. Inhabitants usually have to share a room and sleep in bunks. Leaders have individual rooms, but even these are utilitarian. Force-Users and Non-Force-Users have the same quarters and can bunk together. This area also has kitchens, a mess hall and a recreational area.
Control Chamber: This installation controls the automated systems and acts as a control centre. It handles communications, entranceway controls and is the central hub for the security cameras, sensors and scanning equipment.
Cloister of the Lighted Path - A long corridor where there are images and instructional images to either side. At the end a small reading room where the older or wiser members give sage advice. This is a place where Inheritors go to get counsel if they are struggling with temptation, depression, trauma etc. Moreover, repentant Sith and Jedi who have joined the order come here to unburden themselves, confess their sins and discuss how they can perform penance. The Inheritors believe that redemption is possible, but they view it as a life-long process rather than a single act. The practice of confession is also supposed to benefit the mental health of the sect's members.
Hall of Healing: The medical bay of the Redoubt, comparable to equivalent facilities in Jedi enclaves. It has all the essentials that would be needed on a regular basis, or in the case of emergency. The remote location of the Redoubt obviously imposes limitations on its stick though. It is run by a few Force healers. They are assisted by a couple old medical droids. Tephrike is a very isolated world, and so neither bacta nor kolto are available. As a result, the medical practitioners who work here must rely on more conventional medicine as well as the Force.
Storage: Self-explanatory. Various supplies are stored here. There are also a few rusted hulks that used to be speeders and fighters. But after centuries of neglect and snow they are completely useless. The Inheritors have cannibalised them for spare parts, but know better than to try and death charge legions of doom with them.
Penance: The detention area of the base. It is appropriately equipped to contain Force-Users. Large numbers of prisoners are a security risk, so this area is very compact and only ever accommodates a small number. It is also a place adepts who are wavering in their devotion might be sent to in order to reflect. In case of escape attempts, coma gas can be dispensed. There is also an interrogation room. Torture is strictly forbidden and punished by the Inheritors. The same applies to conducting medical experiments on prisoners. They are more willing to use Force Persuasion and sensory deprivation though.
Cavern of Perseverance: A large cavern encased in ice. It is probably the coldest area in the Redoubt. A narrow tunnel connects it to the rest of the base. The ice has a crystal-like apparance. Some parts of it are even transparent. It eventually leads to an underground lake. The Inheritors use the Cavern for their trials. Adepts come here to meditate, and refine their Tapas. However, it is also used for stealth training, as adepts must evade pursuers while enduring the cold. Sometimes they have to retrieve something from the lake.
The Heart of Light:
The inner sanctum of the Redoubt. Only a very select few are granted entrance. Neuranium has been incorporated in the construction of the walls and door. This means the Heart is extremely difficult to scan or breach. Inside, the dimly lit chamber is dominated by a tomb. A figure encased in armour rests upon it. The Inheritors claim that it bears the glove of Darth Vader. One could compare it to how many churches claim to have relics with far more bits than would be possible or how countless rare Jedi and Sith artefacts have proliferated across the galaxy. The room has been sound-proofed, so that no one outside can hear what is being discussed inside.
Some claim that the Illuminator, the official leader of the Inheritors, dwells here. However, the Illuminator is an aloof figure few have ever seen in person. They have been declared dead many times, but always resurfaced. Most have only seen a hologram of a person wearing a mask and all-white suit of armour. When they appear in this guise, their voice is modulated by an electronic speaker, leaving gender ambiguous. Certain remarks made by the Illuminator imply that they are an alien who participated in the ghetto uprising against the Sith. They are believed to be a powerful illusionist and telepathy.
Hall of Artisans: A somewhat fancy name for a workshop. Here weapons and technology is studied, built and maintained. Technology that has been recovered from the pre-Gulag era or stolen from the Inheritors' enemies is sometimes brought here. There is also a forge to manufacture enchanted items and weapons such as Force-Imbued Blades and talismans.
Shrine of the Dispelling Light: A religious shrine in the heart of the sanctuary. It is a place of reflection, contemplation and meditation. The traditional Vaderite helmet is on display here as a prominent symbol. The large helmet has been broken. It is in the centre of the circular room. The chamber is dark, but light emanates from the broken helmet, symbolising Vader rising from the darkness that had consumed his soul. There are no chairs or pews, just a monument to the darkness overcome. Adepts come here to meditate, reflect on Vader's fall and redemption, as well as their own struggles against the darkness within and without. Both Force-Users and Non-Force-Users may meditate here.
SECURITY
Maximum
- The Redoubt is well-defended, but its greatest strengths are its obscurity, secrecy and remote location. Set up inside a snow-covered, steep mountain in Tephrike's polar region, it is extremely difficult to reach. The climate is arctic, the blizzards are fierce and the temperatures are extremely cold.
- Approaching the base is difficult. One has to climb the snow-covered mountain - a very daunting difficult prospect. To reach the entranceway, one has to cross a bridge. The naked eye and technology will pick up a phantasmal bridge. The real bridge is off to the side. The entranceway has easily defensible bastions and concealed turrets. The Redoubt has various anti-air and antipersonnel laser cannons as well as sonic projectors, though it lacks heavy armaments. It has an ECM suite, standard sensors and scanners.
- Inside the base, one finds biometric security, hidden auto-turrets, and security cameras. The retina scanners will notice if the retina they are scanning does not belong to a living person. The Inheritors have various hidey holes in order to make a quick getaway. Many of these holes are hidden away behind an otherwise mundane facade. Some have been set up as dead ends that funnel potential pursuers into traps. Everything inside the Redoubt is monitored.
- Concealed Coma Gas Dispensers.
- There is a contingent of Force adepts who follow the Illuminated Path of the Light Father and have been trained accordingly. Indeed, most of the inhabitants of the Redoubt are Force-Sensitives. Their skill level varies, but it always includes a crack cadre from the Covenant of the Piercing Flame. They are aided by a contingent of stormtroopers who specialise in mountain and cold weather warfare. However, the base population is sparse. If the Redoubt is breached by overwhelming force, the Inheritors are prepared to pull off a strategic retreat in order to live to fight another day - and blow up the base, ideally with the enemy inside it.
- The averse weather conditions make it very difficult to scan the Redoubt. It is bitter cold and snow and icestorms can hamper an invading force. Force Illusions have been placed to make the place appear ordinary and hide life sign. Ausrine Redoubt has been set up deep beneath a mountain. Thus it does not need a shield generator to protect it against orbital bombardment.
Before Ausrine Redoubt was claimed by the Inheritors, it was built as a monitoring and defensive installation. It also had a far duller name. But this was centuries ago. Tephrike's government had plans for opening up and developing the polar region. However, these plans fell through. Like so many other places, the base was forgotten during the Four Hundred Year Dark Age. When the Gulag Virus ravaged the Galaxy, Tephrike descended into chaos. Millions died from disease or factional infighting.
The nominally democratic federal government proved incapable of resolving the crisis, so the Jedi led a coup to remove it from power and impose a junta. What started as a temporary, emergency regime soon degenerated into a repressive, totalitarian dictatorship. The Jedi were corrupted by their power and the horrors of war, as they were forced to make increasingly ruthless choices. They became the very thing they sought to destroy, while still believing they served the greater good. The Disciples of the Vader arose to counter them. The Disciples are an extremist, human supremacist Sith cult that worships Vader as a Dark God and preaches the inferiority of non-humans.
Like most Sith movements, the Vaderites were founded by a schismatic Jedi. As the Jedi grew corrupt and sought to impose their vision on society, some grew drunk on power. One of them was Cade Seward. Thrust into command at a young age, he fell to the dark side. A vision convinced him that Darth Vader had chosen him as his champion to eclipse the light. For Vader had experienced apotheois and was now a Dark God. Indeed, the Gulag Virus had been a machination of the dark side to cleanse the Galaxy of weakness. Cade chose the name Darth Malitia and was able to assemble an army that became a serious threat to the Dominion. His dark crusade was halted at Palmyra, Tephrike's old capital. But victory came at a staggering cost for the Dominion, for the city was turned into a cursed, dark side nexus.
But the Vaderite threat did not vanish. The Sith managed to carve out their own state. It was built upon a foundation of slavery, human supremacism, and tyranny. Humans who professed faith into the Vaderite religion were coopeted as a new middle class and given preferential treatment. They became the soldiers, officers, administrators and technicians of the new regime and were organised in the Humanist Party, a political machine responsible for the promotion of Vaderite ideology. Meanwhile, aliens were enslaved, confined to ghettos or exterminated. Rule of the strong was enshrined in the Vaderite's Sith ideology, for there could be no place in the New Order for those deemed weak, mentally or physically defective.
The Inheritors of the Light Father came into being as a schismatic off-shoot of the Vaderites. A lost tome from the pre-Dark Age had come to light, telling the true story of Vader's redemption. A faction of Light Sith rebelled during the Netherworld Crisis, gaining the support of the downtrodden who had been forced into ghettos or worked to death in slave labour camps. For a while these Light Sith held power. But they soon became embroiled in a war with the Dominion of Light and were overthrown by orthodox Vaderites. An uprising in the Prosperity Quarter ghetto was brutally crushed. All copies of the lost tome were destroyed. However, not all renegades were wiped out. Uniting with some of the survivors of the uprising, they went underground and unleashed a campaign of sabotage and assassination to undermine the Vaderites' tyrannical rule. Their first attempt at insurrection failed and their leader, the Illuminator, was declared dead. But this enigmatic figure later resurfaced, preaching a gospel of resistance against the forces of oppression. Targeted by both the Dominion and the Vaderites and viewed with suspicion by the Republican Guard, the Inheritors of the Light Father evolved into a secret society. Subterfuge, secrecy and subversion would be their weapons against their foes, not martial might.
Some of their adepts became sleeper agents, living among the Jedi and the Sith while trying to undermine them. The group created a decentralised, cell-like structure and a network of safehouses. But they needed a place where some of their members could congregate. It had to be somewhere far from civilisation. They found their sanctuary in the forgotten icy wastes of their planet. Here, far from meddling forces, they set up a sanctuary. They called it the Ausrine Redoubt. A fitting name, as it lay inside the polar region and was the literal light in the darkness. Conditions would be very austere and it would be a harsh life, but no one had said that walking the path of the Light would be easy. The darkness was the easy, seductive path, after all. Though they were few in number, the Inheritors would claw their way out of the dark abyss into the light, just as their idol had done centuries ago.
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