Karrigan'Xalda
Daughter of the Karishzar
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Codify an NPC established in rp.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Priestess and Centurion of the Daughters of the Destroyer, 'spirit sister' and advisor to Elpsis on Xioquo matters and social projects.
Permissions: Can use Firemane stuff because I own the company. Blanket permission for anything made by Val here.
Links: Twilight of the Goddess, Xioquo, Seekers of the Sky, Liavondra, Vashyada, Qadiri, Order of Fire, Quas'Ziru, Kaylah Danton, Teaching Resilience, Tylania, Elpsis Kerrigan, Firemane, Tlaxqui, Tygara, Firedawn, Shrine of the Karishzar and Her Blessed Daughters, Caverns of the Overealm, Vashyada.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: Late 80s. Xioquo develop and age at a slower pace than humans.
Force Sensitivity: Untrained Force-Sensitive
Species: Xioquo
Appearance: Lalax is a tall, thin woman with traditional Xio features. Her right arm bears a broken chain tattoo. Her long white hair is braided back sensibly, arranged in a twisted side braid. Lalax used to be a slave. She was a scribe rather than a manual labourer or a slave-soldier, but it has nonetheless left lasting physical marks. There is a scar down her back from a lash. It is partly obscured by a broken chain tattoo. The chain runs down the length of the scar, covering most of it. As befitting her role, she tends to wear priestess garb, but without ostentation, and sensible boots. When she has to go out into the daylight, Lalax will don covering clothes with a hood and wear gloves and sunglasses to shield herself from the rays of the sun, as a Xioquo's skin can blister if exposed.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Karrigan'Lalax. In Xioquo culture, the clan name comes first. So Lalax is in fact her given name.
Loyalties: Daughters of the Destroyer, Siobhan Kerrigan, Xioquo, House Kerrigan, Quas'Ziru, Benefactors of the Karishzar's Mercy, Elpsis Kerrigan, Karrigan'Xalda.
Wealth: As a bard, Lalax' financial situation was always in flux. Sometimes her performances were well-compensated due to patronage, at other times she was barely scraping by. When she was enslaved for offending a noble she obviously lost all her property. Now she is a free woman again, and even a priestess among the Daughters. However, the Xioquo are poor and the Daughters regard themselves as the guardian of the downtrodden, so while she is paid a stipend, it is not a big one. There are clerics among the Daughters who abuse their position to embezzle money or deceive the flock into making 'charitable donations' that somehow end up lining their own pockets. However, Lalax is not one of them and despises the corrupt. Her life style is frugal, but she gets by.
Notable Possessions: A link from a broken chain, symbolising her liberation from the oppression of the old order. This is a common curio for the Daughters. As a Benefactors, she owns a pendant with the symbol of the group - a circle with a hand coming from one side with other hands reaching out to it. Moreover, she is the owner of a well-annotated a copy of the Daughters' book of faith, the 'Precepts of the Daughters of the Glorious Karishzar'. Elpsis has given her a Holdout Bolter as a gift. Lalax has a pretty modest apartment close to the Daughters' temple. It is a fair way up the 'cliff'. There's an elevator now but it often doesn't work.
Skills: Before being enslaved, Lalax was a bard. As a slave, she was a scribe. Lalax enjoys poems and singing, and is very talented with both. She still likes to participate in bardic competitions, which are a cultural fixture among Tygaran people. Some of her poems are satirical in nature, mocking the ancien régime and the mistresses, but she can also compose and sing epic, high-quality ballads. Much to Elpsis' embarassment, Lalax has composed a song for her called the 'Ley of the Destroyer's Heir'. But it is actually really good.
She has great attention to detail, and her background as a scribe makes her well-versed in administrative tasks. Most Xioquo were and still are illiterate, and scribes were of vital importance for the maintenance of the state and, more importantly, the noble house they were bound to. It has given Lalax a good grasp of accounting, logistics and administration. She has a high resistance to many poisons.
Her greatest strength lies in her words, not in martial skill. But even though the old order has been overthrown, the Underealm can still be a dangerous place. As such Lalax is not ignorant of the need to have some self-defence skills. She is no warrior, but can defend herself with dagger or pistol. Lalax is Force-Sensitive, but her affinity for the Force is not strong enough to merit dedicated training. Nonetheless, she does benefit from it to a degree. She possesses enhanced senses, which also manifest in extrasensory perception such as a mild form of precognition. Moreover, she has a preternaturally good memory and Force empathy.
Languages: Her mother tongue is Xio, the language of the Xioquo people. She has learned Basic, but has a cute accent and her manner of speaking it is a bit quirky due to her lack of familiarity with it. For example, she would say 'interrogate' rather than question because Xio does not make such distinctions between polite and impolite asking, say 'phrasage' instead of 'phrasing' or use the term 'toil' when 'work' would be more appropriate. But she is very erudite and well-spoken in her native language, as befitting a former bard, though she can also be a bit eccentric in her phrasing on occasion because that's part of her personality. She can also understand and speak Prosabia, the main Vashyada language.
Personality: Lalax' experiences under the ancien regime have shaped her into a dedicated, but somewhat unconventional devotee of the cult. She was born a free woman, but it was easy for a freeborn Xioquo to be enslaved under the ancien regime. Punishment for crimes, demotion by the whim of one's Lady or being captured in battle were all easy ways to be enslaved.
Lalax has a background as a bard and poet, and is very erudite and well-spoken in her native tongue, This is also reflected in her flowery, somewhat dramatic manner of speaking. She speaks Basic with an accent, but with struggles a bit with its unfamiliar grammar and idiosyncracies, so her manner of speaking it is a bit quirky.
She has been shaped by the abuse she suffered under a priestess after being enslaved for composing satirical poems that subtly mocked the ancien régime. It gave her a dim view of traditional region until the Karishzar came. She is an honest and dedicated woman, who used her position as a scribe to gather evidence and testify against nobles who had committed crimes under the old order during the post-war cleanup. She still resents the upper classes and, in her own words, enjoys making the mistresses angry.
Lalax is one of the Daughters, but in a mild way. She takes a philosophical view of the Karishzar as a prophetess and believes that her strength is what makes her worshipful. Thus she has a more intellectual view of the cult's icon, but still reaches the same conclusion. Nonetheless, Lalax is a good preacher and well-liked, though there are clerics who believe her views are too heterodox. She is adept at selling the story of the Karishzar, having written religious text in favour of Siobhan and the new settlement. She defines her mission as helping venerate and propagate the mercy and duties of the Karishzar.
Lalax views the Karishzar as a great and noble warrior who helps children and frees slave. She is, however, quite in awe of her and a bit starstruck by Elpsis. Lalax is very kind and compassionate to those in need, but will strongly defend the Daughters like she's their own surrogate mother. Sometimes, Lalax says and does things a little quirkily. She is very eloquent when speaking Xio, but still a bit eccentric. Nonetheless, she is a good soul with a strong sense of right and wrong. Lalax is not afraid to antagonise powerful people in pursuit of her mission, but she acts with forethought rather than rashly. She has proved that she will also act against Firemane interests if they are detrimental to her people. As she puts it, she fears only the Karishzar.
She is something of a leader to and a good influence on the extended Karrigan 'family'. Her views also make her useful for marketing when dealing with non-cult members or foreigners, as she is an approachable and ebullient sort, unlike Quas'Ziru, whose intensity has been described as unsettling. She gets on well with Karrigan'Xalda. The latter is more of a zealot than her, but they are largely on the same page and pursue similar goals. They are also both sceptical of the Seekers of the Sky. Lalax is responsible for overseeing some of the Daughters' social projects to help the poor. She is dedicated to this role and quite compassionate, but also authoritative and disdainful of those who waste food or try to curry favour by pretending to have been victims of the old order.
The priestess has an adopted son called Narax. He's the last surviving child of her mistress, who had all her other children poisoned. Lalax is a devoted, protective mother. She's in a relationship with a Vashyada called Yaritha Siur. The two were enslaved by the same mistress, and kept each other sane during that dark time. The fact that she's in a relationship with a non-Xio has raised several eyebrows among the Daughters, but Yaritha helped her break her chains. Lalax' parents are still alive, and she uses part of her income to support them.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: Sidearm, knife, hold-out bolter.
Combat Function: Lalax is not a warrior who will fight on the frontlines or seek out the fury of combat. But the Underealm can be a dangerous place, and the greater galaxy even more so. The priestess possesses basic self-defence skills, and is agile and dexterous. As with all Xioquo, she has excellent nightvision. Her kind live in caves far beneath the earth, so she can see much further in the darkness than say a human or Eldorai, which means she doesn't need fancy gadgets. She can also blend well into the shadows.
Lalax is well aware that she is no warrior, but is brave and ready to sacrifice herself for her flock if needed, though prudent rather than foolhardy. Lalax has a good knowledge of poisons, which can come in handy depending on the situation. Her Force affinity, though very minor, boosts her senses.
Force Abilities (Force Users Only): Lalax is Force-Sensitive, but her affinity for the Force is not strong enough to merit dedicated training. Nonetheless, she does benefit from it to a degree. She possesses enhanced senses, which also manifest in extrasensory perception such as a mild form of precognition. Moreover, she has a preternatural memory and Force empathy. Her empathic powers also manifest in her singing.
Strengths:
- She benefits from the standard strengths of her people. Living in the Underealm means that her people can see much further in the darkness than say Eldorai or human. Moreover, she can blend well into the shadows, has excellent hearing and sense of smell.
- Force affinity, while insufficient to merit dedicated training, grants her enhanced senses as well as a mild form of precognition that can alert her to dangers.
- She also suffers from the standard weaknesses of her people. As with all Xio, the sun and other bright lights are painful for her. If she goes out into the sunlight, she would have to wear covering attire and do something to shield her eyes from the rays of the sun. Her skin can blister in the sun if left exposed.
- While agile, she is not overly strong and as a result cannot overwhelm a foe through sheer physical presence and brute force.
- Not trained in starship piloting.
For centuries Xioquo society was defined by tyranny, the Dark Side and slavery. Theirs is a bloody, tragic history. A small clique of noble families used terror and propaganda to keep the under classes in line. Comparisons can be drawn between them and the ancient empires of the Sith Purebloods. Many Xioquo were kept as slaves. Xioquo society had always been steeped in the Dark Side. For centuries, the drows were governed by a ruthless mageocracy where only those who pursued the path of Darkness ended up on the top. Thousands laboured as slaves to serve the whims of the mistresses who sat on the top of the pyramid. The disobedient were brutally punished and often sacrificed in ghastly rituals to power war machines or be turned into abominations.
Generations of Xioquo were raised to worship and fear Mystra or, as the Xio knew her, Myrou. She was (correctly) regarded as the mother of their race. Once she had led them on a campaign of conquest to subjugate the planet. Her armies were halted when the dark one was severely wounded by her sister Tylania, Paragon of the Vashyada. Wounded by the power of the Light, she led the Xiqouo to the Underealm. There she entered a tomb and was not seen again for millennia.
Though the dark goddess slept, it was believed that she would one day awaken to lead them to conquer Tygara...and judge her children. The Xioquo awaited this day with a mixture of anticipation and dread. They performed blood sacrifices to sustain their goddess - and ensure that she did not awaken too soon. Believing that Tygara was theirs by right, the Xioquo warred against their neighbours and rivals, the Qadiri and Vashyada. While the technologically most advanced of Tygara's natives, their low population, incessant power struggles and the constant need to be on their guard against slave revolts kept them from fulfilling their potential.
However, there are always renegades who buck the trend, no matter how monolithic a species may seem. Just as there are Wookiee slavers, honest Neimoidians and Eldorai who are not misandrist racists or religious zealots, there are Xioquo who have rejected the regime. In the old days, this was extremely dangerous, for they were branded as heretics and persecuted by the state. Under the totalitarian theocracy that used to hold sway over the Xioquo people, those with views that ran counter to the general cultural theme tended to be quickly disposed of or were driven underground by their fellows. Xioquo society was tough and those who defied the social norms tended not to survive long. At the same time, this made those who stayed true to their nonconformist beliefs just all the more fervent. Lalax was one of them.
Born into a family of merchants in the city of Tlaxqui, she was educated as a scribe. Her parents were social climbers, as far as the rigid class barriers of Xioquo society allowed it. They saw to it that their oldest daughter got a good education from good tutors. Lalax was a bright student and soon caught the eye of a mistress called Xalal'Tazkar, who was a priestess of Myrou. Xioquo nobility, such as it was, formed what amounted to a patrician class, bound together in a complicated system of favours, backroom deals and marriage.
However, while Lalax served her mistress as a scribe, she was a bit of a rebel who bucked convention instead of doing what was expected of her. She started to go the direction of singing and poetry, which eventually led to her being dismissed from her position because she was considered 'uppity'. Her parents were disappointed, as it was a shameful situation for them that would reflect poorly on the family. In the Xioquo's totalitarian society, no one wanted to be seen as rebellious or as having raised their child to be that. They were not in danger per se, but it was a stain.
However, Lalax didn't really mind, for she was having fun with her music. Moreover, she had a good singing voice and her performances usually attracted a large crowd. Like all Eldorai races, the Xioquo loved plays and oral performances. However, the good times did not last. Lalax soon got into hot water when her songs started turning seditious and satirical. She wasn't content with simply reciting patriotic poems and songs that glorified the Xio race and the natural order.
One of her songs was called 'Ten Nodding Toads'. It was rightly seen as mocking the oligarchic Council of Ten that was composed of the most powerful nobles and held absolute power in the Queendom of Tlaxqui. A performance of hers was broken up by the secret police. She was dragged from the stage and whisked away to prison. The conditions in prison were unsanitary, the cells were cramped, abuse was rampant and the interrogations were brutal. It gave her a taste of the system's brutality. However, she was abruptly freed by the orders of a noble who claimed to enjoy her work. Indeed, she was invited to sing another song of hers - 'The Blind Fisher'.
However, it was all a setup. She was busted and enslaved by her former employer. It was a nasty time for her. Her mistress, a firm supporter of the old ways, was determined to 'break her in' and make an example of her. Lalax The priestess tried to 'beat the rebellion' from her through physical and emotional abuse, and partly succeeded. Among other things, the mistress used her mastery of poisons to torment her slave. Lalax was a woman of words and song, so one poison used on her by Xalal'Tazkar paralysed her tongue. Lalax had to write how much she deserved her punishment and was grateful to her mistress, as well as bow and humiliate herself until she was given antidote.
The mistress liked to show her off to her peers, forcing Lalax to sing about how grateful she was to her for showing her the true way. She was put to work as an accountant. As a scribe, she attended official meetings with her mistress, keeping notes and handling her correspondence. This meant that confidential papers passed through her hands.
Lalax was not allowed to leave the Underealm, and thus only had a superficial idea of what the situation was like outside. Even if she managed to flee, she'd be alone and hunted. Moreover, she knew her family would suffer if she 'betrayed' her mistress. The Xioquo's propaganda apparatus claimed that the glorious Xioquo army was victorious on all fronts, and that they could only expect extermination at the hands of the Qadiri and Vashyada if they were conquered by them. However, sometimes she managed to speak to captured slaves or mamluks. From them she learned that things were not going to plan.
One of the downsides of living deep in the catacombs was that it was extremely difficult to learn about events on Tygara. Thus the profound changes her homeworld experienced passed by her at first. But she eventually learned of the arrival of the sky people. An army of metal sky-ships had descended from the stars.
They had weapons of tremendous power and were led by a woman the Xioquo called the Karishzar, which was their word for Destroyer. The stories claimed that she had personally slain a kraken. At first she dismissed these stories as tall tales. But they kept spreading likd wild fire. Some claimed the Karishzar was a demon summoned by the Qadiri to exterminate the Xioquo, others hailed her as a liberator who had come to free them from their oppressors. As her mistress' beancounter, Lalax could see that the Xio's resources were dwindling. This gave her hope, and resolve.
Another reason was a Vashyada slave called Yaritha. She had been a priestess among her people, but was captured during a slave raid and brought back to the Underealm as a trophy slave. She was pretty with red hair and green eyes, so Xaal'Tazkar liked to show her off. It was a nasty time for the poor girl. Early on, she was given poison that inflicted horrible agony on her. However, Lalax was able to bond with her. It was awkward because Xioquo and Vashyada had been enemies for centuries...but they were able to bond due to their shared suffering. Yaritha secretly taught Lalax her language and told her of Yarkul, and Lalax helped her avoid the worst of their mistress' wrath because she was good at reading her moods. The two helped keep each other sane, eventually becoming romantically involved. Lalax secretly started hiding papers and notes of her mistress she was supposed to burn.
Nemesis came to the Underealm when a combined force of Firemane, Eldorai and Qadiri soldiers invaded them. Their leader was Siobhan Kerrigan, whom the Xioquo called the Destroyer. Despite the technological superiority of the outsiders, the fighting was brutal. Lalax' mistress was resolved not to allow herself - or her property - to fall into the hands of the sky people. She was fond of poisoning people, and Lalax had been made responsible for accounting for what she had.
As the foreign armies advanced, the priestess barricaded herself in her manse along with her guards and slaves. Unable to bear the defeat, Lalax' mistress had decided to commit suicide and take her slaves and children with her. Secretly, Lalax had been slowly dosing herself with poison for a while to give her some immunity. However, when her mistress was distracted, Lalax was able to play dead by switching the poison with water.
But her mistress was not quite dead. Xalal'Tazkar seemed to wake when Lalax was leaving. Seeing her disobedient slave was not dead, she yelled at her and blasted her with the Force. Lalax was deeply in pain, but attacked her with a knife. She was no fighter, but Yaritha came to her aid. Having been warned by Lalax beforehand, she had been able to free herself. Together they killed their tormentor, who was still weakened by the poison she had ingested. It was the first time Lalax had taken someone's life. But it was justice.
Xalal'Tazkar had not only wanted to take her own life and that of her slaves, but also of her children. She could not imagine a future for her bloodline in a world without the old ways, and was resolved to murder even her little children. Yaritha had been able to rescue one of the babes before he was poisoned. The daughters of the mistress had had the 'honour' of dying first, so the son was left until last...which saved his life. His name was Naxar. Stricken with grief by the pointless, cruel acts of murder, Lalax adopted the boy, raising him as her own.
But when they stepped outside the villa of death, they beheld foreign troops marching through the city. Siobhan Kerrigan - the 'Karishzar' - was leading them. Lalax learned that Myrou was dead, and the old order was fallen. She did not quite believe it, and despite her exhaustion and injuries insisted on going to the tunnel where the 'dark goddess' had made her last stand.
The catacomb was permeated by death, and dark side energies. She felt the presence of the dark queen...but it was vestigial and weak. Just an echo of the tyrant in whose name the mistresses had deceived and enslaved so many. She had been reduced to whispers. Now Lalax felt she was truly free from her chains. When she returned to Tlaxqui, she was determined to help her people heal and move away from the old ways. The collapse of the old order had freed the Xioquo, but they faced an uncertain future.
Firemane did, after all, want to control them. To that end they put a rogue aristocrat by the name of Lia, one of the few Xioquo light-siders, on the throne as a vassal queen. Slavery was abolished, but millions of slaves needed food, shelter, work and education so that they would not be left destitute. War criminals needed to be punished, but many mistresses were finding ways to curry favour with the new order. Moreover, Myrou's demise created a spiritual vacuum that a plethora of cults sought to fill. One of them was the Daughters of the Destroyer, a militant sect that venerated the Karishzar for having slain Myrou and freed the slaves. It was a populist movement that styled itself as the vanguard of the downtrodden.
With Vacytha's help, Lalax turned her former mistress' manse into a haven to provide sanctuary for orphans and slave children who had nowhere to go. Quas'Ziru, the leader of the Daughters, took notice of her work and directed some of her followers to provide protection. The two had many theological discussions. Freedom enabled Lalax to reconnect with her parents. When she was enslaved, they had been indentured as workers. The family had been broken up, and she was denied contact. But she was able to find them again and make sure they got treatment after a tearful reunion. She provided them some of her income.
However, Lalax also sought to get involved in the war crimes trials that took place in the former slave pens. There Xioquo officials suspected of having committed crimes were tried by a joint tribunal. Lalax managed to get admitted as a witness, leveraging her past as a scribe. It was cathartic for her to see the former tyrants in the dock, stripped of their power. But as she soon saw, justice was not easily attained. One of those she testified against was an alchemist called Xatar'Alzar. The accused styled herself as an apolitical technocrat who had only followed orders and not known about any atrocities. At the same time she cannily leveraged her knowledge of the alchemical arts to ingratiate herself with Firemane officials and Order of Fire commanders, offering it to them in exchange for a lighter sentence.
An ambitious Order of Fire commander and former Jedi called Allegra Marshall wanted to bring her on board and used her position to try and influence the court. A lot of evidence brought up against the alchemist was declared inadmissible, or inconclusive and blame for her crimes was being shifted to subordinates. Lalax' own character was put into question by a bigoted judge. However, Lalax knew Xatar'Alzar, for her mistress had had dealings with her.
She found an ally in Magda Steiner, an Order of Fire officer charged with gathering evidence of atrocities. Lalax took her to see Xatar'Alzar's 'leftover experiments' that had been hidden away. The alchemist had not gotten around to eliminating them before being arrested. They were able to arrange a meeting with Siobhan with Quas' help. Siobhan was pleased someone had spoken up, and once she was shown evidence of the 'leftovers' she had Xatar'Alzar brought before her and blasted her with Force Lightning, killing her.
The 'Karishzar' adopted Lalax, bestowing the name Karrigan upon her. She was somewhat later to the 'extended family' than most. But she became closely involved with the Daughters. Lalax had always been a little spiritual, but witnessing the apocalyptic downfall, Siobhan and her own escape opened something inside her. Quas'Ziru had a reputation as a militant - and at times disconcerting - firebrand, but was calm and erudite in her discussions with Lalax.
At the same time the former scribe helped the high priestess refine her teachings. She also brought a populist, grassroots streak to the sect that set it apart from other religious movements among the Xioquo. Lalax was ordained as a priestess of the Daughters, taking an active role in social programmes promoted by the sect, setting up a poorhouse. She had a way with words and reputation for honesty. Her sermons proved popular because they touched on social issues. She did, however, face criticism in the sect due to her relative 'liberalism' because the most fanatical saw her as insufficiently zealous.
Her closeness to Yaritha caused issues, for though they had broken with the old ways the Daughters were not free of the bigotry of the old order. Lalax campaigned to allow Yaritha into the Daughters, but there was resistance because she was not a Xio. So she had to settle for being akin to a 'step-daughter'. Her lover took the surname Siur, which was Vash for 'sister'. This was seen as blasphemous by militants since it implied she saw herself as equal to the Karishzar. There was a small group of Vashyada and Qadiri in Tlaxqui who either had significant others or for other reasons wanted to stay after being freed. With Yaritha acting as a mediator, Lalax tried to reach out to them bring them into the fold and work for reconciliation.
One of the Daughters, a more senior cleric, considered them to be potential enemy agents and spies and so started a smear campaign against them. Lalax did what she did best, wrote a song and inspired the crowd...and several of the low class Daughters...to stand in solidarity. Ironically, Quas'Ziru was rather bigoted herself, but she didn't tolerate infighting or intrigue against a fellow Daughter. So while she wouldn't allow non-Xio to join, she had the cleric ejected.
For her part, Yaritha was well-placed to become a trader and negotiator to the 'outside'. After all, she could go out freely in the hated sun. There were some Vashyada who had settled nearby the Underealm in the forests and coastline she could work with. She also built up connections to the Zaldrani, an ethnic group of 'snow' Qadiri and Xioquo who lived in the arctic north.
Lalax was one of the Daughters involved in setting up the Flame of the Eternal Memorial, which commemorated the victims of the Blood Forges. This place of evil had been touched by the light due to the righteous acts of defiance and resistance of the victims, with the spirits forming a gestalt entity that sought to ensure the lesson of the Blood Forges was never forgotten. Survivors had lobbied for some sort of memorial, while reactionaries denounced it as propaganda. The idea of turning it into a memorial was initially promoted by the Seekers, who laid sole claim to it.
Lalax pushed for the Daughters to be involved as well because they were the champion of the oppressed. This led to much debate since it was a light side nexus, and many of their Force-Users were of a dark or grey alignment. Quas'Ziru made Lalax one of her negotiators, and she was able to come up with a workable agreement. To that she also rallied Daughters who had suffered in the Blood Forges, and led a silent march to the nexus to supplicate themselves before the spirits. Per the agreement, the Daughters would be responsible for guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Martyr. For a while she served on the Council of the Eternal Memory, which oversaw the memorial. She eventually stepped aside to take an important role in the Daughters' social aid organisations, running a poorhouse and overseeing various programmes to help the martyrs, the wounded, sick and poor.
Lalax' contact with Siobhan was fleeting. The 'Skyqueen' could only occasionally visit the Underealm, but the priestess was able to acquire a 'comm device' so they could speak. Siobhan appreciated having someone who would tell her honestly about what was going on, even if it made Firemane look bad. Or rather especially if it did. It is, after all, lonely on top...and hard to get accurate information from one's minions as an autocratic ruler.
When the Blood Wraiths, a dark side sect of necromancers, rose in revolt, Lalax provided aid to wounded soldiers and civilians as a healer. She also used song and music to raise the morale of the fighters who fought the reactionaries in battle. In the aftermath of Firemane's campaign on Tephrike, she composed a ballad for the returning Xioquo fighters who had fought the Dominion of Light. She also ministered to those who had been shaken by the horrors they had witnessed during the bloody battle. One of them was Karrigan'Xalda, a fellow Daughter, who had been left traumatised when the Dominion's Jedi General ordered a unit of Younglings and Padawans on a futile death charge against Firemane troops to cover his officers' retreat. The Daughter had been forced to fire on the child soldiers.
The priestess was deeply shaken when she received word that Siobhan had been struck down by the Sith Lord Darth Soteria and was in coma. Some Daughters wavered in their faith, while others suspected conspiracy. Lalax soldiered on, being a voice of both resolution and reason. Eventually, her path crossed with that of Elpsis when the 'Fire Princess' was sent on a diplomatic mission to Tlaxqui. It would mark an important turning point in her life, as Lalax became involved in an investigation to uncover corruption, abuse of power and treason within Firemane.
