Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Dominion. Codify a character established in an rp thread.
Image Credit: Here. One must imagine him with a Force Imbued blade rather than lightsabres.
Role: Student and protege of Battlemaster Mahtara. Kyrric is a warrior, an officer and serves as a point of view character for the Dominion of Light, contrasting with rogues such as Rhea and Diona.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Jedi Inquisition, Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Mahtara, Tephrike, Cassius, 400-Year Darkness, Firemane Industries, Netherworld Crisis, Republican Guard, Jedi Service Corps, The Valkyrie's Diary, Diona, Rhea, Jedi Service Corps, Darth Eisen, Palmyra's Wail, Ever Loyal Vanguard, Elpsis.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: Late twenties.
Force Sensitivity: Knight
Species: Gran
Appearance: Kyrric is a tall man, standing a little less than two metres. He has the attributes typical for a Gran, namely three eyes, a goat-like snout and two stomachs. He has an athletic frame and the build of a warrior. The battles he has fought in have not left him unscathed and so he bears his share of scars. Among other things, he has scars across his left eye, his mouth and right arm. He also bears burn scars from Force Lightning. He has a strong physique and is well-muscled. Kyrric often wears a suit of armour covering his entire body, and a cloak. Otherwise he wears plain Jedi robes. The Windian Jedi are an order at war and so wearing armour is not considered strange for them. Kyrric has a deep, baritone voice.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Jedi Kyrric. Jedi Commander.
Loyalties: Dominion of Light, Mace Windu Thought, Windian Jedi Order, Battlemaster Mahtara, Tephrike, Grand Army of Light.
Wealth: Members of the Windian Jedi Order are expected to have an ascetic way of life. Similar to the Old Jedi Order, they forego material possessions beyond what is necessary to do their duty. As a result, Kyrric is not rich per se. However, order takes care of its own and he can requisition resources from the Dominion as necessary and within the boundaries set by his rank. Moreover, as a Jedi he is privileged because he can go to the special shops that are closed to the public, and receives superior ration cards and vouchers.
Notable Possessions:
- Force Imbued Blade
- Armour. The armour has a helmet to cover his face and protect him from chemicals. The helmet features a voice modulator, HUD and other basic systems.
With the Force, the Kel Dor focuses on techniques that have direct martial applications or allow him to buff himself. This includes using the Force to amplify his physical characteristics, allowing him to increase his strength, speed, endurance, pain tolerance and reaction time. He can also utilise a rare technique called Electric Judgement or Emerald Lightning, which was pioneered by Plo Koon and may have later been used by Luke Skywalker to kill a Yuuzhan Vong Slayer. A cynic would say that it is simply Force Lightning under a politically correct name and with different colour coding. The Windians are too focused on fighting a war - and probably too hypocritical - to ponder this. He also has a strong command of Battlemind, Force healing, Force Weapon, and Tutaminis. Moreover, he can conceal his Force signature and knows the basics of Dampen Force.
His past as a Service Corps pen-pusher has made Kyrric very good with paperwork. However, he hates doing that sort of thing. He is also qualified to act as IT support for the same reason. He is better than his master at getting the Dominion's archaic computers to work. He does not like performing this task, but a Jedi's life is sacrifice. Mahtara, though skilled in many fields, has little truck with technology, and frequently calls upon him to solve even minor technical issues.
Languages: Kyrric grew up speaking Basic. Ironically it's his mother tongue rather than the Gran language, as the Dominion is highly conformist. The Dominion has tried to harmonise language as otherwise it disrupts the 'unity of purpose'. Their form of Basic uses a number of Twi'leki and Mirialan loanwords though, but these have been approved to prevent 'disharmony of communications'. He learned Mon Calamari language while fighting the Republican Guard.
Personality: Kyrric has been moulded by his servie to the Dominion and the tutelage of Battlemaster Mahtara. The Kel Dor is very loyal to his Master. It was this bond between master and apprentice that compelled him to follow her when she decided to rebel against the Dominion and its insane Grandmaster. However, this has also left him conflicted, as he had to break his vows and fight against his former comrades. Kyrric is someone who takes oaths very seriously and is loath to break his word. Duty, service and vows are concept that are important to him. But at the same time the Grandmaster and his cohorts were leading his country on a self-destructive path. The mere thought that the Grandmaster could be anything other than the embodiment of the Light was heresy, and yet his policies were ruinous.
He comes across as remote and with a penchant for brooding. Deceiving and fighting his comrades has left Kyrric with feelings of guilt. Nonetheless, he followed Mahtara's orders because he had confidence in his mentor. One of the reasons is that members of his species are rather rare on Tephrike. This made him a bit of an outsider. This made him a bit of an outsider. But Mahtara gave him the time of the day and took him on as a student. Kyrric has a strong sense of justice, and tends to view matters in black and white, favouring what can be termined rough justice. This is a method that might seem overly retributive to other people.
These characteristics have been amplified by the Dominion. The Jedi-led theocracy considers itself to be the last bastion of Light, which is besieged by manifold foes that represent true evil. It is the last hope for the people of Tephrike to survive the Long Night. Without it, there will be no new dawn. As a result, Kyrric struggles with moral grey zones because the society he belongs to teaches him to view the Galaxy in terms of good and evil. There is only the brightest light and the darkest abyss. All sentient beings face a choice of standing with the forces of good or becoming a pawn of evil. Sacrifices must be made in the name of the greater good, for the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. Kyrric has a militant mind set and believes in unquestionably upholding the peace of the Dominion. Once he commits to a course of action it is very difficult to sway him from it. He is still certain that the Dominion is the best hope of the people of Tephrike to survive. This is in spite of the many atrocities it has committed during its reign. To be fair to him, some of its foes are even worse, such as the Vaderites.
Like many Jedi Guardians, Kyrric was given a command position early on. Mahtara taught him to value the input of the clone troopers under his command instead of just treating them as disposable, unintelligent fodder that is not good for more than marching at the enemy in a straight line, shooting and getting shot at. The Dominion places Force-Users above Non-Force-Users, so Kyrric still has a bit of a superiority complex. But he has developed something like an affinity for the soldiers under his command and is not careless with their lives. This also played a role in his decision to have them surrender to Firemane's superior forces rather than fight a battle he knew they would be slaughtered in.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: Force Imbued Blade | Sidearm or Carbine | The Force.
Combat Function: Kyrric is a Guardian type who focuses on the martial applications of the Force. He is capable of both assuming leadership roles and participating in the fury of combat. He combines intelligence, cunning, physical prowess and potency in the Force. He tends to use his skill in the Force to buff himself, protect and heal his allies. He can also utilise telekinesis and summon short flashes of blinding light to distract or temporarily disorientate opponents. The Windian Jedi Order teaches its members how to use ranged weapons, so he can pick up a gun or lightbow if the situation requires it. He is a very tenacious fighter and a good tank.
However, he only has limited experience with galactic technology. Tephrike has been isolated for a long time. Hence he might have trouble assessing potential dangers if he faces outsiders who possess technology and war machines he is unfamiliar with. Kyrric knows about lightsabres and their capabilities, but lightsabre duels have been extremely rare on Tephrike because only a few beings have access to these weapons. Weapons enhanced through Force imbuement or Sith alchemy are a lot more common. Due to being a Kel Dor, Kyrric needs to wear a special breath mask and protective googles. He is aware that this represents a significant vulnerability and thus take care to protect himself, such as by wearing a full helmet. However, it is still a weakness a canny opponent could exploit.
Mahtara has taught him the basics of Dampen Force. This ability enables him to suppress or dampen the Force abilities of other adepts. He can also take the edge off the Force attacks of an enemy as they manifest, though not in their entirety. This is a potent ability, but Kyrric is only a Knight and this is reflected in his command of it. Someone who is skilled enough could work through it if affected, though this would take time and focus. Kyrric is no specialist, and so he uses it as a debuff when he closes in for melee rather than as a main skill. He also needs to be close to his target in order to use it. His telekinesis is very weak.
Force Abilities (Force Users Only): Kyrric is a combat-orientated Force warrior whose skill set and focus can be roughly compared to that of a Jedi Guardian, though the Dominion's take on what a guardian should be is probably a good deal more militarised than of the typical Jedi Order. Kyrric has been trained as a soldier and is capable of engaging in a variety of roles, such as duels, close quarter battles, ranged combat and leadership roles. With the Force, he focuses on techniques that have direct martial applications or allow him to buff himself. This includes using the Force to amplify his physical characteristics, allowing him to increase his strength, speed, endurance, pain tolerance and reaction time.
He can also utilise a rare technique called Electric Judgement or Emerald Lightning, which was pioneered by Plo Koon and may have later been used by Luke Skywalker to kill a Yuuzhan Vong Slayer. A cynic would say that it is simply Force Lightning under a politically correct name and with different colour coding. The Windians are too focused on fighting a war - and probably too hypocritical - to ponder this. He also has a strong command of Battlemind, Force healing, Force Weapon, and Tutaminis. Moreover, he can conceal his Force signature and knows the basics of Dampen Force.
Strengths:
- Force warrior. Kyrric is a very tenacious fighter with a strong Force connection. He is good at playing the role of a tank and can endure a lot of punishment.
- Command skills. While not a strategic leader, Kyrric is a solid commander on the tactical level.
- Kyrric's telekinesis is rather weak. He can lift a small object such as a pebble or pencil with great effort, but that's about it. He also struggles with telekinetic barriers. Bottom line, he is not good at telekinesis and cannot use it effectively in combat. He could be at a disadvantage against telekinetic powerhouses.
- Not trained in the use of a lightsabre or starship piloting.
In one way or another, virtually every world in the Galaxy was affected when the terrorist Zero released the Gulag Virus on Csilla. The plague spread like wild fire, bringing galactic civilisation to its knees. The so called Golden Age came to an end. Governments crumbled, galactic trade collapsed and trillions of beings perished. Historians would call it the Four Hundred Year Darkness. Tephrike suffered greatly during this period. However, the light never returned to this benighted planet.
Isolated from the rest of the Galaxy, the planet regressed. Though rich in raw materiels such as precious ores and alloys, the planet had been dependent on trade to sustain itself. Now there was no one who could buy their ores and sell them food. Countless died due to starvation, ecological disasters, riots and civil war. Tephrike's fragile democracy collapsed as the federal government proved unable to resolve the crisis. Its party system was fractured along lines of class and species. The Jedi of Tephrike were forced into a protective role. Believing themselves to be the last Jedi in the Galaxy, they held their Order responsible for the Long Night, as they had been unable to prevent the release of the Gulag Virus.
Finally, the Jedi staged a coup to topple the governments after its troops gunned down peaceful protesters. It was supposed to be a provisional emergency dictatorship that would restore order and then step down to enable a transition to democracy. However, over time it evolved into a totalitarian theocracy. Corrupted by their power and scarred by the horrors of never-ending bloodshed, the Jedi became the very thing they were sworn to destroy, while remaining adamant in their belief that they served the Light. They called their new state the Dominion of Light, a nation where every citizen would be controlled from cradle to grave. Every citizen would have a role and stay in it for life.
Two factions rose to oppose them. The Disciples of Vader venerated as the long-dead Dark Lord as a God and preached a gospel of human supremacism, Dark Side worship and enslavement of all non-humans, drawing support from fallen Jedi and humanocentric portions of society. The other group was the Republican Guard, a secularist faction run by a military junta that idolised the Old Republic and opposed the Force theocracies, believing that the Force itself was a disease that led those sensitive to it to evil. It received the backing of aquatic alien communities and of Yuuzhan Vong, who were targeted for extermination by the Vaderites and the Dominion.
While the Guard pursued a campaign of liberation, its methods were often brutal. Being far weaker than the Dominion, it utilised asymmetrical warfare. Its all-out irregular warfare campaign was characterised by a heavy dose of terrorism. It took every opportunity to target Dominion forces in the proximity of civilians, thereby provoking the Dominion to retaliate against the civilian population when the partisans vanished into the wilderness. Pervasive low-intensitiy conflict was followed by phases of intense battles and violence. The Dominion remained the strongest and largest nation, but could not unite the planet. All the while Tephrike bled.
The Kel Dor, the race Kyrric belongs to, were a minority on Tephrike. The Dominion's conformist society viewed them with suspicion, especially since they had an independent Force tradition, the Baran Do. A few of the sages had tried to keep the teachings of their brethren alive and preserve their culture. After Jedi Master Zaras Dant toppled Tephrike's government, dissolved parliament and declared herself the planet's first Jedi Lord, some of the sages joined forces with the Alliance of Democratic Forces. This was a coalition that consisted of supporters of Tephrike's old government, rebels, members of fringe Force groups and Jedi who believed their order had lost its way. Zaras was a secular military dictator, not a fanatic. Her methods were heavy-handed, but she included non-Jedi and Non-Force-Users in her junta. However, she was assassinated by traitorous guards.
Her successor Tyjan Kree was a zealot who had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side. Under her the junta was transformed into a Jedi theocracy. Nonconformist and fringe Force groups faced persecution. Kree had their sacred texts burnt. This was accompanied by forced population transfers of nonconformist communities. This had repercussions for the life of Kyrric when he was born centuries later, at a time when the Windian Jedi Order had given up any notions of one day surrendering power. He was born in a creche run by the Dominion's totalitarian government. While by no means unheard of, Gran were rare, which made him a bit of an outsider. But the Dominion sought to take care of its citizens from cradle to grave - and to control every aspect of their lives, for freedom opened a gateway to the pernicious influence of the Dark Side.
Kyrric's path was set in stone the moment his Force-Sensitivity was discovered through a standardised test. It was the law that all Force-Users must join the Windian Jedi Order, be trained by it and serve the Dominion in whatever capacity they were capable of. The only true way was the Jedi, for there was no salvation outside of its holy Light. Those who did not embrace its teachings would be seduced by the Dark Side of the Force and become pawns of evil. Kyrric displayed prowess in the Force, but had trouble fitting in. There were few Gran in the order and socialising with other initiates was difficult for him. He also had to deal with xenophobia. It made him sullen, broody and withdrawn.
His chances to become a Jedi Knight seemed slim. As in the old Jedi Order, Younglings who had not been selected to be Padawans by a certain age or were not strong enough in the Force would be shifted to one of the divisions of the Jedi Service Corps. Corps members performed educational, bureaucratic, agricultural, medical and infrastructural work. Because the Jedi controlled the Dominion, the Corps was intertwined with government apparatus. Many in the lower ranks of the Order saw assignment to the Corps as a demotion and labelled those who got transferred as washouts. This was in spite of the fact that the Corps provided a great many necessities and was important for keeping the machine running.
However, the heavily militarised nature of the Windians gave those who did not swing a sword or command armies little prestige. Kyrric tried to impress potential teachers by participating in a tournament. He fought valiantly to the point of exhaustion, but was rejected. His aggression and passion might have been a black mark against him. The same applied to his very weak command of telekinesis, which resulted in him losing a duel. So he was given a job in the department that was responsible for registering new Jedi initiates. However, he did not even get to select them or go on field trips. Instead he was relegated to being a pen-pusher who registered them. It did not help that the Dominion's computers were archaic and terribly slow.
However, Master Mahtara took notice of him. The venerable Yodaling saw a marginalised young initiate who had skills but was being kept in a meaningless role. She had see him at the tournament and remembered him. So she sought him out. Mahtara was a bit of an institution among the Jedi because she had been alive before the Darkness. It was she who had defeated the Sith at the Battle of Palmyra and saved the Dominion from the dark legions - by dropping a special enchanted bomb on the city.
Determined to succeed he threw himself into training. Lessons with her was gruelling, to say the least. A student could expect at least one duel a day. When they sparred, she attacked Kyrric not only with her blade, but also her words. They were designed to enrage him in order to force him to learn control. Employing a variant of Dun Möch, she utilised psychological manipulation and intimidation. Despite being beaten back by her blade and wounded by her harsh words, Kyrric managed to remain in control, phrasing passages from the Jedi Code. In doing so he passed the test. Mahtara taught him about the Jedi Code, but also how to think for himself. She told him many ancedotes from her past, but remained personally inscrutable.
Survival training in the wilderness of Tephrike was also part of the curriculum. She made Kyrric spend some time among a unit of clone troopers associated with her. At first Kyrric was more than a little pompous and arrogant in his dealings with them, acting as if him being a Jedi made him superior to them. Mahtara made him face the clone troopers in the ring, where he was deprived of the Force. Being beaten by one of the clone troopers forced some humility on him. He accompanied his Master on a few missions against rebel forces. He helped her unmask a local governor as a crook and bring him to justice.
Around this time, another Padawan was assigned to Mahtara. His name was Tyrus, who had been born in the Vaderite lands. Tyrus was a human male raised from low ranking Force using parents. During one of the Sith's many civil wars his parents were driven out. His father was killed. His mother fled to the Dominion. They were granted asylum, but after her son's Force potential was discovered he was taken from her to be raised as 'ward' of the Jedi Order. Years later Tyrus was a Padawan demonstrating his skills. However, he had a bit of a rebellious streak; always trying to uphold the ideals and codes of the Jedi and the Dominion. This was great...sort of. This made him someone who was more of a true paladin and defender of the Light than most in the Dominion, especially the higher-ups.
This became concerning when he was sent on a mission with his Master to a remote village which had been agitating 'counter-righteous sentiments'. Tyrus found out that these complaints were pretty valid; the Dominion had promised them aid in return for their allegiance but done back on their word. Collectivisation had caused great misery and poverty. Tyrus then faced the reality of the Dominion as troops moved in to ensure 'righteous behaviour' because it was against the tenets of the Light. This caused him to be transferred to Mahtara to be trained alongside Kyrric. Mahtara was incredibly conflicted since the boy was much closer than the current generation to what a Jedi should be, but pragmatism and order demanded harsh measures. In some sense she's aware that she's rationalising, but did it anyway. Kyrric was happy about having another friend, though part of him felt jealous. He was taken aback by Tyrus' hetedorox beliefs and tried to anchor him in the Light, as he saw it, for he feared that his fellow Jedi might have been tempted by the dark side. Despite a rocky start, the two managed to become friendly with one another.
Things came to a head when Tyrus was sent with Kyrric to fight the Republican Guard, after investigating a string of terrorist attacks. There they discovered that the rebels had some valid views, but also saw him as the enemy. Interrogation revealed that many were ordinary people who saw the Jedi and Sith as oppressors, instead of being pawns of Yuuzhan Vong like the Dominion's propaganda claimed. Even Kyrric felt conflicted, but in response doubled down on his commitment to the Code. The rebels had murdered his fellow Jedi and committed terrorist acts. Their bombings had killed Dominion civilians. Kyrric and Tyrus fought the revolutionaries alongside a unit of clone troopers.
However, then Tyrus came across his mother, who was fighting to get revenge on the Dominion for taking away her son. In accordance with the Guard's laws, she had been stripped of the Force and turned Force Dead, but she had submitted to this willingly. Tyrus found that he could not kill his parent despite everything and spared her. Kyrric tried to take her prisoner, but Tyrus interceded, for he was now resolved to fight against the Dominion for betraying the Light and the people under them. Kyrric was knocked out and the two fled, for Dominion troops were on the way.
When Mahtara learned of this, she gave Tyrus the task to capture or kill the renegade, for Tyrus had become a nuisance and helped the partisans launch strikes against Dominion settlements and bases. It was a chance for him to prove his commitment to the order and solidify his place in it. When she bid him farewell, Mahtara told him that: "there come times when the greater good demands that we perform acts that repulse us. We will feel disgusted with ourselves...but duty demands that we do not shirk. A Jedi's life is sacrifice." She gave him some scout clone troopers to aid him. Kyrric pursued his quest with vigour.
After a long search, he was able to track Tyrus down to a volcanic island. The partisans had established anti-air defences, so Kyrric and a small team of scout troopers infiltrated the island to knock them out, allowing the Dominion to perform an air strike. However, the rebels were well-entrenched and the fighting was fierce. A clone trooper saved Kyrric from being killed by a Republican Guard sniper. Grimly, Kyrric engaged Tyrus in a furious duel. The battle soon moved to the volcano itself. Close to the climax of the fight, the following exchange took place:
Kyrric: I have failed you, Tyrus. I have failed you.
Tyrus: I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over.
Kyrric: Tyrus, General Aruunzeb is evil.
Tyrus: From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!
Kyrric: Well, then you are lost!
Tyrus had a stronger Force connection and was a strong telekinetic. However, the Kel Dor was the better tank. Kyrric was badly wounded but managed to strike a serious blow and his opponent seemingly fell to his death, after being devoured by lava. Little did Kyrric know that his opponent managed to survive and claw his way out of the fiery pit by drawing upon the Light. His horribly burnt body was recovered by his mother and rebuilt. To protect and maintain his charred body, he received a mobile life support system encased in a suit of distinctive white armour. When Kyrric returned home, he was commended for his actions. However, internally he felt hollow. He now understood the meaning of what Mahtara had told him. His master knighted him.
However, there was no end to the wars. The Netherworld Event did not leave Tephrike untouched. Countless people disappeared and the Force was thrown out of balance. The Dominion faced a joint offensive conducted by the Republican Guard and the Vaderites, now led by a faction of 'Light Sith'. For the first time in a long time ago, the Jedi theocracy was truly under threat. Battlemaster Mahtara led the defence of the Dominion and made Kyrric one of her lieutenants, appointing him as a Jedi Commander. To stall its enemies, the Dominion conducted a scorched earth campaign. Kyrric helped sabotage factories and set fire to agricultural fields.
At Mahtara's behest, he and his men used chemicals to poison any food and water supplies their foes might get their hands on. He also put down a mutiny among Dominion soldiers. Kyrric distinguished himself in combat, slaying a Sith Knight in a duel. He fought at Fortress Purity, where the Dominion routed a Republican Guard army. There he faced Yuuzhan Vong warriors, rallying clone troopers and Jedi Padawans to battle this threat. He and his troops held off a determined rebel assault before counterattacking. Though injured by an amphistaff and shrapnel, he fought fiercely. He later joined Mahtara for the Battle of Salona. The Dominion was able to weather the storm and drive its enemies back. Kyrric participated in a number of search and destroy missions to eliminate Republican Guard terrorist camps. But though the Dominion had won, the victory had come at a cost. Moreover, Mahtara's prominence was the cause of envy. Thus the Battlemaster recalled Kyrric to the capital, for she needed reliable Jedi at her side.
Grand Inquisitor Antonius emerged as a rival. Secretly the chief witch hunter was indifferent to Dominion ideology, seeing it as a path to power and nothing more. However, he was capable of exploiting the internal rivalries in the Council and befriending those who felt that the Battlemaster had been in her position for too long and amassed too much power. The Grand Inquisitor used embezzlement and blackmail as leverages to gain support. Kyrric was uncomfortable with the power plays in the capital. He was loyal to the Dominion, but the intrigue was a far cry from what he had been taught in the academy. It contradicted the values his order was supposed to stand for. The Inquisition approached him with a request to become an informant. Kyrric wanted to decline, but his Master told him to play along and feed them information given to him by her. His activities helped unmask double agents in Mahtara's command. Some were turned, others quietly removed.
However, the Battlemaster was unable to prevent Antonius from being permitted to expand the combat troops of the Inquisition. He depicted them as an army of the faithful that would quell any internal disturbances and fight for the Light. But in truth they were an alternate army. This led to a turf war between the Grand Army and the Inquisition, as both squabbled over resources. Mahtara had some success at keeping Antonius from giving his troops a strong tank arm by limiting his access to clone tank troopers, modern engines, fuel and spare parts, citing shortages. In response, her rival accused her of monopolising power and depriving the faithful of the means to fight the enemies of the Light. The Grand Inquisitor was able to bring the Temple Guard under his influence, which strengthened his position in the capital. Things would have come to head sooner or later, but the arrival of Firemane served as a catalyst.
When a Firemane fleet showed up in Tephrike's orbit, Mahtara and her supporters urged caution. They believed the outsiders could be used and that diplomacy was the Dominion's best options. Some of them might have also hoped that their arrival could be used to push through vital reforms and liberalise the nation. Antonius sided with those who viewed the outsiders as Sith abominations and proclaimed that the Dominion needed to wage a holy war. Antonius himself did not believe this, but it was convenient for him. He managed to gain the support of the paranoid Grandmaster, who was obsessed with apocalyptic visions and resented Mahtara for isolating him from the machinery of government.
A Firemane delegation that had come to negotiate with the Dominion was attacked by extremists. Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, daughter of Firemane's leaders, was captured by the Inquisition and brought to a brainwashing camp. The result was war. After levelling the Jedi Temple, Firemane deployed ground troops, making common cause with the Republican Guard. Mahtara survived an Inquisition assassination attempt and went underground. There she started to mobilise her forces.
Kyrric was able to make contact with Battlemaster Mahtara, who had hidden in an armoured train beneath the earth. Mahtara was content with letting the battle between the Grandmaster's loyalists and Firemane play out, but used her agents to deny reinforcements to the loyalists. A defeat would discredit the Grandmaster and get rid of many of her foes. Her passivity puzzled Kyrric. But she had an important task for her apprentice. Elpsis was being held by the Inquisition, but her location was unknown. If she were recovered, the Battlemaster could use her as a bargaining chip to negotiate with Firemane. So Kyrric was charged with finding and bringing her to Mahtara.
After detecting that Firemane forces had attacked one of the Dominion's re-education camps, Kyrric and a force of loyal soldiers were dispatched to investigate. By the time they arrived, Firemane had long left. Dominion functionaries who had managed to avoid being killed or captured were interrogated. After being sufficiently 'persuaded', they divulged Elpsis' location, a brainwashing camp called Serene Springs.
By the time he and his troops arrived, Firemane was in the process of starting its assault. When he contacted his teacher, he was ordered to deploy a diversionary force and punch through to the camp. He and his men would pretend to be reinforcements, then strike, decapacitate the Inquisitors and camp guards and retrieve Elpsis. In short, they would commit treason. Kyrric had a choice to make. He could stand with his teacher or the Grandmaster. It was a hard choosing.
"So many vows they make you swear. Protect the people of Tephrike. Defend the innocent. Honour your Master. Uphold the law of the Grandmaster and the Dominion. Obey the Code. But what if the Grandmaster is destroying the Dominion and killing innocents? What if he gives you the order to kill your master? What if your master tells you that the only way to save the Dominion is to betray it? What then?" He chose his teacher. Firemane attacked the camp with fire and fury. Meanwhile, a revolt had broken out inside. Elpsis was able to overcome her brainwashing and kill the Grand Inquisitor. Other prisoners joined the uprising. Together they slaughtered the camp guards. The increasingly desperate defenders let Kyrric and his men through and paid the price. Kyrric and his men fought fellow Dominion minions.
However, Firemane had pushed into the camp. Kyrric confronted their commander, Major Tempest. Rather than fight, he stood aside and relayed a message from his teacher. Battlemaster Mahtara, he said, wanted peace and was not allied with the Grandmaster anymore. However, Firemane was not in the mood for negotiations, especially with people who had already betrayed. Tempest presented him with an ultimatum. Instead of fighting a futile battle, Kyrric ordered his surviving soldiers to surrender after being told they would be treated well. The Kel Dor left the camp with a dozen escorts.
During the journey home he learned that Fortress Purity had fallen to a combined force of Firemane and Republican Guard soldiers. Moreover, the Grandmaster had been assassinated. His death was blamed on the 'villainous' Grand Inquisitor. Mahtara's allies initiated Operation Apotheosis. This was originally an emergency continuity of government plan issued to the Reserve Army to execute and implement in case of a general breakdown of civil order in the nation. However, now a modified version of the plan was used to take control of Dominion cities, seize government buildings, disarm the Inquisition, and arrest the leadership after the Grandmaster's demise. Executive power was transferred to military district commanders. Kyrric participated in the execution of Operation Apotheosis in the capital.
Mahtara convened a somewhat reduced High Council and was reinstated as Battlemaster, with supreme command over the Dominion armed forces. She declined the title of Grandmaster and so that position remained vacant. Not all Dominion leaders pledged their support to the new régime though. The Battlemaster bitterly reflected on the fact that the war and needless loss of life might turn out to be beneficial to the Dominion because it would force it to focus. Despite his inner conflict, Kyrric stood at the side of his teacher, determined to see this conflict through.
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