Private Balancing the Sword

[Lord Depravious]

LOCATION: Ord Mantell
Tags: Onrai
Any Empire Reborn are open to join.​

Shaidin Kamari had just decided to reveal himself once again to the Galaxy. In his own right he had now become an Ancient Sith Lord who's prime should be considered long past him; however, through unnatural rituals he had kept his body young and after learning deep within his citadel for years he was ready to once again leave his fingerprint on the galaxy.

Upon his return to the galactic stage he had obviously heard of the new version of the Sith Order that was similar to previous iterations of the Sith with the current Dark Lords own machinations. He had however also heard rumor of a much smaller imperial faction that had life breathed into it as of late.

This greatly intrigued Lord Depravious. The current Sith Order of course had its benefits - but he had no allegiance to this order - his allegiance was to himself, and the bogan. He was now effectively shopping for a galactic power that could provide him the means to see his ultimate end goal come to fruition. The Sith Order being the secondary power behind the Galactic Alliance was a great argument. If Depravious was cunning enough he could with no small amount of effort, manipulate the power structures inside of the Sith and ultimately attain his goal. But what if this new Empire Reborn could provide him what the Sith Order could not - he held absolutely no allegiance to a faction that had effectively outlived its purpose.

It was these rumors that brought him to Ord Mantell, in search of this rebirthed Empire that arose from the ashes of Palpatines Empire.

His shuttle touched down on the surface of the world at a local space station in Ord Mantell City.

As he exited he felt no need to announce his presence through the necessary channels. He chose this moment to unleash a devastating wave of bogan energy through out the city. The tendrils of the darkside spreading and crashing into the steel buildings around him like the crashing of waves into the side of a boat. Though, to those who did not possess force sensitivity - the change in the air was imperceptible. Though.. To a trained user of the force - dread washed down their spine as the presence of overwhelming might now stood in their space port.

Lord Depravious, Shaidin Kamari had arrived - would he be greeted, or attacked?

 

[Onrai]

“Welcome to Ord Mantell.”

The blonde, black-robed woman who he had not yet noticed to the present stepped forward, smiling. "I'm Vanessa Vantai, governor of the Bright Jewel system and leader of the Enigma. To whom do I have the privilege of receiving?" She asked, looking the man over. While Vanessa seemed polite, there was a distinct wrongness about her, something that didn't particularly stick. the waves of Dark Side energy noticeably seemed to be strangled, perhaps choked and otherwise devoured or suffused within the greater cityscape. It was as though the city itself had somehow consumed the power that had been vented in it.

"I presume you're a Sith..." It took a moment for the man's identity to click with her. "Shaidin Kamari, right? We were in the old Sith Empire together once upon a time, albeit not particularly close, before its demise and the squabbling factionalism of Sith and Imperials made themselves known." She groaned, a great deal of not particularly fond memories arising in response. "I presume you heard about the formation of the Enigma and have come to join - this way!" She turned away, motioning for him to follow as she began to leave the immediate vicinity of the dock, heading to a meeting room. Business like this needed to be conducted in far more appropriate locales.

Lord Depravious

 

[Lord Depravious]

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TAGS: Onrai

Shaidin remained silent as the woman approached – while she seemed to understand and know who he was, he did not remember her. Though, this wasn't out of the ordinary for him as he didn't often associate himself with imperial officers outside of high command in any of the Sith orders that he had found himself in over the years.

She was correct though, in fact had read him like a book, all except for one subtle mistake. He wasn't here to join, he was here to be sold on why he ought to join. What could this new imperial remnant have to offer him?

"Good" his voice rang out with an arcane power, his eyes burned with a mixture of yellow and crimson fire that could rival the sun that stood above them.

Without hesitation he followed her, his senses on high alert the entire time. Eyes darting to each side around him ensuring that if there was a trap – he was well aware of it and the presence of any beings around him.

With each step he took, his confidence exuded under the earth below him.

 

[Onrai]

Vanessa gave a soft laugh as they walked to the meeting room. "You're on Ord Mantell. If you're expecting the classic Sith or Imperial backstabbing routine, you've got another thing coming. So many lives and so much resources wasted over such nonsense doesn't work here." Perhaps that was just the bitterness she had towards how many times the Dark Side had ultimately imploded against the Galactic Alliance and the Republic over the years. But she was old - she had a right to be bitter, didn't she?

The two would reach the room in question. A droid would come in, offering the two a small snack of meat and cheese along with drinks, which Vanessa received graciously. "It's been a long time since you disappeared. A lot has changed - I'm sure you have questions." The door was now open - if he was going to join the Enigma, it was best to satisfy whatever inquisitions he could yet throw out.

Lord Depravious

 

[Darth Moskvin]

Too Greedy, Too Deep

"Horrors, I believe, should be original--the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence."
- H.P. Lovecraft -​

Location: Ord Mantell
Gear: In Sig
Familiar: Archimedes​

O'Death

Atop a rooftop, with Archie dancing around trying to collect bugs for his personal collection, I sat with partial humor, partial on point. Dead legs dangling over the roof, like misguided broken doll legs; I felt a new presence on the planet I planned to murder. New bodies waking up, finding themselves, and worse of all: you caught my attention. Dinner.

Pulling my tattered robe up to meet my bruised knees, because I love the color purple, I leapt down from my vantage point. I felt a familiar presence as I passed by awed citizens looking out their glass jail cells. Onrai . Such a grand design of something I would flush to the acid baths. But I liked him...her...it.

Softly, I landed into the street, turning my cryptic face upward to the nearest citizen, flashing my daggers breaking from their lockdowns. Laughing, Archie chirping; we are the nightmares, the boogeyman sleeping under your bed, holding your dangling hand under your bed with friendship, walking like dual ghouls to your graveyard. That's us. Archie is worse than me...if you believe a Sith lie.

With a sniff, a lick, and a rhetorical question that sent one citizen to my body count, I found the source of annoyance. "Sith and their perceived magik," I spoke, twirling the finger bones in my dread-locked hair. "You smell like bantha fodder, Lord." My eyes darted briefly to the double hilts hanging on my waist like noosed justice.

"Jump little Sith."

Lord Depravious


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[Lord Depravious]

​

Lord Depravious entered without hesitation, the echo of his boots upon the floor a quiet warning to all present.
He followed Onrai with the calm certainty of a man who had never once needed permission to exist in any room. The droid offered refreshments - he dismissed them with a glance, as one might ignore a fly buzzing too close to the wine.

His gaze, twin flares of crimson and gold swirling like solar fire, drifted across both Onrai and Darth Moskvin . He made no effort to disguise the assessment—he studied them as one might study prey or pawns, silently tracing lines of weakness and calculating advantage. Though this was no battlefield, and he had not come here to shed blood, he assumed nothing. Least of all trust.

Onrai spoke first. Then the creature followed - blunt, rude, and brazen. An insult followed by a command.

Depravious didn't so much as blink. The dark side stirred around him like a beast, roused but not yet unleashed. The room grew colder, shadows stretching subtly toward him, drawn by disdain that rolled off him in waves. But his face remained an unyielding mask - an iron sculpture of noble disapproval.

"Good," he said at last, voice smooth as poisoned silk. "Then you recognize the title… and still chose insult."
"I needn't defend my pride to lesser creatures. I simply mark those who mistake contempt for courage."

There was no raise in volume, no shout, no saber drawn - just words, and yet they carried weight enough to silence a lesser man.

His attention shifted to Onrai, the only one present who, thus far, had shown the semblance of decorum one might expect from the architect of an empire. His tone remained composed, but the force behind it was undeniable.

"I once swore allegiance to the Empire whose ashes you now gather. And while my loyalty to the core principles of Sith philosophy remains unwavering... I stand beholden to no banner."

He let that truth hang in the air - an implicit warning wrapped in civility.

"I've come to determine whether your so-called rebirth is worth the fealty of a man such as myself... or if your throne is merely a gathering place for savages."

The words were not shouted. They didn't need to be. The final glance he cast toward Moskvin—eyes like honed blades, carved from disdain - was not the look of a man issuing a challenge.

It was the look of a man deciding whether to waste his time.

 

[Onrai]

"Decorum, Moskvin." Vanessa said sternly. "Insulting everyone who comes to Ord Mantell does me no favors, and this is my planet." She understood that there was both a level of respect and duplicity on Moskvin's side, but this was uncalled for. Sith factionalism was dead, and she would do her best to stamp out whatever potentially remained within the Enigma - it had killed the Sith Empire, the One Sith, the second Sith Empire, and had thrown her position into chaos innumerable times over the decades. A focus on unity above all else would be the only thing that would see Imperial ambitions return to the galaxy victorious instead of forced to skulk in the shadows.

"Not ashes." She said. "Ashes of ashes of ashes. At this point the Empire we both knew is nothing, ground so deeply into powder that it's only good for fertilizer. I still have members of the Imperial Army in my forces, but even the blessings of Onrai and the finest in biofiber prosthetics can't stave off the wear of time on a mortal body. And not everyone is fortunate enough to find a solution that allows them to keep a public presence." She chuckled at the thought of those who had been reduced to spectral lichs, skeletal husks formed of the corpses of their inferiors who yet skulked in abominable places. Once, those creatures had made her feel fear, but now she was something they could never hope to be.

"The Enigma is not rebirth - it is a question and an answer to that question. To the question - 'where do we go from here?' - and the answer to 'how to we prepare for the next stage?' It is a process refined in the fires of war, the collapse of empires, and tempered by the arcanery yet unearthed. Ask your questions - I will listen, and I will answer." A glance over at Moskvin indicated that she expected no interference in this matter.

Lord Depravious Darth Moskvin

 

[Lord Depravious]

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Tags: Onrai Darth Moskvin


Onrai's preference for decorum—or at least a passable illusion of it—was not lost on Lord Depravious. In an age where refinement had become a rarity among Sith, it was... refreshing. Savages made for fine weapons, yes, but seldom for worthy allies. Onrai's restraint set her apart—if only slightly.




Ashes of ashes—perhaps even that was too generous. The Empire forged in Palpatine's shadow had been reduced to scattered embers, its legacy desecrated by the petty ambitions of those unworthy to wield its mantle. Still, Shaidin found himself appreciating Onrai's candor. There was, at the very least, honesty in her disillusionment.



"What, then," he began, his voice low and even, like a blade unsheathing in a quiet room, "separates your rebirth from the countless failed incarnations that litter the annals of Sith history?"



There was no malice in his tone—only the stark clarity of a man who no longer entertained pretense. Time, after all, was a currency even he would not waste.



"My vision for the galaxy requires vast infrastructure... influence... power."
He paused, allowing the weight of his words to fill the room like fog.



"The current Sith Order, for all its rot, has resources in abundance. What cause, then, would compel a man such as myself to bend knee—or even incline my head—to this..."



He raised a single hand, gesturing to the room with effortless grace. The gesture was subtle, but dripping with calculated derision, as though the very walls around them were barely worth acknowledgement. His gaze swept the chamber, and then returned to Onrai with the piercing intensity of a hawk circling a dying creature.



"...this remnant?"

 

[Onrai]

Lord Depravious Darth Moskvin

"Respect."

Vanessa sat down and looked over at the Sith. "You know as well as I do that no one in this galaxy, Sith or Imperial, is going to respect you simply for having Dark Side power and being a long-surviving Sith. Maker knows I've seen countless people since the Empire's collapse come in, think they were some sort of galactic big shot, and fail miserably." She said. "But through cooperation, we justify our efforts in working together. We have a reason to respect one another, instead of seeking to once again slip the knife in and destabilize our own efforts the same as has happened in cycle for decades. That lack of respect is why Sith and Imperials have always failed, squabbling and backstabbing each other instead of cooperating against their enemies."

Leaning her head back, she sipped her drink. "Work with me, join the Enigma and help to answer the question of the Empire's future, and you'll get something the Sith Order will never give you. Jedi are fragmenting and the Alliance is stagnating. Help me further unify these shattered remnants, and you will get that which you've been so long denied."