NPCs by Sio

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

That's true. Do you have a preference between the two?

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

The first one.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Update Firemane's forces.
• Image Credit: Here. 'Plazma Heavy' by 2-Dpanda. Found on Deviantart.com.
• Role: Heavy infantry, anti-armour, bunker busters.
• Links: Firemane.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Unit Name: Firemane Ironsides.
• Affiliation: Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane.
• Classification: Heavy infantry.

Equipment: ArmaTech gear was purchased in the marketplace. Permission requested here, obtained here. They can use Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers equipment due to Firemane gaining access to ARGH tech in this thread. Firemane obtained a supply contract that allows it to use Fire for Effect gear here.

• ACS-004 Titan Assault Armor or ACS-004 Olympian Battle Armor
• Mark One Bolter, Icebreaker
• Exterminus, Heavy Bolter, Shatterbolter, Electromagnetic Pulse Launcher, Plasma Cannon, or Lance Missile Launcher (require the Titan armour's blaster cannon to be detached if the soldier is wearing that suit)
• ARGH flamethrower.
• Grenades, thermal detonators.
• Heavy blaster pistols, sonic blasters or Cylix bolt pistol. Wrist bolter. Vibroknives. APE boltgun rounds.
• Misc equipment like medkits, military rations, lifeform scanners etc.

COMBAT INFORMATION

• Availability: Rare
• Deployment: Minor

Strengths & Weaknesses:

• Heavy infantry. Excel at cracking, including tanks and walkers, along with fortifications such as bunkers. Perfect for sieges. They can make a breach into enemy defences, allowing more mobile shock troops to advance. Also effective against clusters of enemy infantry at range.
• Power armour is used by the best soldiers of the unit. Grants enhanced strength and very good protection.
• Slower and less mobile compared to light infantry. Power armoured Ironsides are encumbered by their big suits, the more lightly armoured ones cannot stray too far since that would leave the former exposed. Reduced agility makes them vulnerable to snipers, artillery strikes, turbolasers, especially on an open battlefield with little cover. More lightly armoured infantry may not be able to match their firepower, but can outmanoeuvre and ambush them.
• No stealth. Enemies will see them coming. Obvious targets.
• Vulnerable to air strikes since they're an infantry unit. No effective air defence except portable missile launchers, and that's pretty variable.
• Limited ammo. Most of their weapons are quite heavy, limiting the amount of ammo they can carry, and/or have small magazines and a low firing rate. The Titan's blaster cannon is the main exception to the last two, but such weapons are prone to overheating and run out of ammo fast. Moreover, several of their main weapons are not practical or useable at close range.
• Lightsabre resistance of their suits is minor. Better than common Stormtrooper armour, but inferior to suits crafted out of lightsabre-resistant materiels.

Description:

The dramatically named Firemane Ironsides were created as a bunker/tank busting heavy infantry unit. For the most part, Firemane relies on motorised infantry backed up by units of specialists and heavy armour. But it saw the need to create an infantry force with more punch, drawing on lessons learned from recent battles. Thus the Ironsides were born. Firemane outfitted them with the strongest, heaviest weapons it had developed itself or could purchase on the market. When it came to the latter, it reached out to ArmaTech and Fire for Effect, as the megacorporation is on good terms with both. Their equipment reflects their nature as armour busters: Missile launchers, grenade launchers, bolters, flamers, EMP cannons, plasma cannons etc. In short, standard heavy weapons/siege stuff.


The Ironsides are not intended to operate in a vacuum. Rather they are supposed to be deployed in conjunction with more lightly equipped shock troops. This is essential because while the Ironsides hit very hard, they are comparatively slow, which leaves them vulnerable. Moreover, many of their weapons are rather heavy and they can only carry limited ammunition. In the case of the explosive weapons, they can only be utilised at range. Enemy light infantry may not be able to match their raw firepower, but can conceicably ambush and outmanoeuvre them. Especially since they are obvious targets. While bolters have ammunition that can be utilised at close range, such as APEB rounds, their main projectiles are explosive bolts, and changing ammunition takes time. Moreover, their firing rate and ammo capacity is generally low. This can become a problem in pitched combat. And obviously carrying lots of explosive ordinance can be quite risky.


When operating as part of a cog in a machine, the Ironsides can create a breach for Firemane infantry by, for instance, cracking bunkers and fortifications that could otherwise only be stormed with severa casualties. Flamethrowers are good for clearing bunkers and trenches, while carbonite rifles can temporarily snap freeze medium tanks. Both also make good area denial weapons, which can be practical if Firemane soldiers need to yield ground but prevent enemies from pursung them.


Likewise, since their focus is on heavy weapons, they are better equipped to bust or severely damage armoured vehicles, including tanks and walkers. By contrast, their anti-air capacities are limited, since they only have portable missile launchers at their disposal. This is a decent form of defence if there is nothing better available, but still variable and less reliable than a battery of self-propelled antiaircraft guns.


Because their equipment is expensive, the Ironsides' numbers are low. This limits how many of them can be deployed to a battlefield at any given time, though it also ensures that training standards are kept high. Firemane cannot field armies as huge as those amassed by galactic empires and federations, so it makes sure that its forces are rigorously trained, well-equipped and well-paid. Many of the Ironsides are Firemane veterans who have served the megacorporation in several bloody campaigns, such as Gehenna, Ruusan, the Xioquo War and Kaeshana. As a result, they are tough, experienced soldiers. Some of them have served Firemane's ruling couple since the glory days of the defunct Omega Protectorate.


The Ironsides are composed of non-Force-users, so they do not have access to preternatural powers. Rather they must rely on their wits, training and tech to win the day if they encounter hostile Force-users, though several of their weapons are effective against space wizards. Their armour suits possess minor lightsabre resistance. It increases their chances of surviving an encounter with a lightsabre-wielder, but do not allow them to tank hits the way someone wearing Phrik or Beskar armour would.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Sub a more unusual Eldorai unit that can serve as a strike force for Kaida and her group. Expand on Eldorai lore a bit. Somewhat inspired by the Eldar Corsairs. Superficial similarities exist with the Dark Eldar, but while the Harbingers venerate a death goddess and would be considered demons by conservative Eldorai, they lack the Dark Eldar's excessive cruelty and sadistic debauchery.
• Image Credit: Here. 'Dark Eldar: Darting Swiftly' by Beckjann. Found on Deviantart.com.
• Role: Strike force, raiders, religious cult.
• Links: Eldorai, Tygara, Kaeshana, Church of Ashira, Firemane, Yuuzhan Vong.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Unit Name: Harbingers of Twilight
• Affiliation: Kaida Taldir, Shadow Knights, Eldorai.
• Classification: Elite Infantry, raiders.

Equipment: The Harbingers utilise a combination of conventional gear and Yuuzhan Vong tech, most of which has been acquired through raids or on the black market. Unlike their far more affluent cousins in the Eldorai Matriarchy, they lack the means to purchase extremely high-end gear in bulk on the market and so their equipment tends to be older. But they make up for this by having some more exotic toys due to their history with the Vong.

Standard:

• Skerr Kyrric or Duraplast battle armour.
• Amphistaffs
• Vibroblades and vibrodaggers, Fire spitters
• Nang hul, Snap bug, Bhorash jelly, razor bugs.
• Chitin carbine, blaster rifles, concussion rifles, Accelerated Particle Array Guns or light repeating blasters
• Blaster pistols, sonics or shatterguns.
• 
  Plaeryin Bol, Heat Pit Sensors,
  
• 
  Grenades, thermal detonators.
  

Mission-specific, incidental or restricted to specialists/upper ranks:

• Thud bug launcher, grenade launcher or portable missile launcher (heavy weapons specialist)
• Rotary blaster cannon (heavy weapons specialist).
• Blast bug, Plasma eel, Magma pebbles
• Flamethrowers, Cryo projector.
• Ion Paddle Beamers or Charric
• Talons (select officers only).
• Det charges, tools such as laser cutters.

COMBAT INFORMATION

• Availability: Rare.
• Deployment: Limited.

Strengths & Weaknesses: They are crack soldiers. The Harbingers' existence has been defined by many tribulations. However, this has shaped them into a capable unit. Bravery, skill and fanatical zeal are well-represented among them. Force Dead. The Harbingers of Twilight are all Force-Dead Eldorai, completely void within the Force. They have no presence within the Force and thus cannot be sensed in it or mentally manipulated. possess an immunity comparable to that of Vong and their biots, meaning they are unaffected by most Force powers targeted directly against them. Even a normally powerful telekinetic blast that was capable of launching an ordinary opponent off their feet at high speeds simply caused a Yuuzhan Vong either to stumble, or lose balance temporarily. Their Force Dead nature can give them an advantage over Force-users in combat.


However, while being void in the Force is a great benefit, it also has all the associated drawbacks as they cannot be aided by the Force either. Thus if an ally were to use Battle Meditation, that would be no help to the Harbingers. Moreover, they are not immune to Force Lightning and can be indirectly affected by the Force. To name some examples, during the Yuuzhan Vong War Jedi were able to cause Vong to suffocate by making the air super dense around them or increase the air pressure to a degree that they were effectively crushed. Moreover, chucking a boulder obviously still works against Force Dead and Vong because them being a void in no way affects the fact that a giant rock is being thrown at them. Naturally they can also be sensed via Vongsense. In short, all the Force techniques that work against Vong and other Force Dead also work against the Harbingers. They also lack the extreme brute strength and durability of Vong. Eldorai are more agile and dexterous than humans and have impressive senses, but tend to be less strong, relying more on finesse and skill than brute strength.


The Harbingers are a rapid strike force. Their methods revolve around slipping into enemy territory, striking fast and hard, then vanishing quickly. To ensure mobility, their arsenal of heavy weapons is rather limited, which is a problem if they go up against heavy armour or have to launch direct assaults on heavy fortification. When faced with tanks and walkers, they would have to ambush them with anti-tank weapons and explosives or retreat, as they cannot engage them head-on or deal with large numbers of heavily armoured vehicles. Being an elite group, they tend to be deployed in small units. On the ground, they rely on speeders to traverse long distances. These give them mobility, but also leave them vulnerable to damage as the bikes are lightly armoured. Heavier ground vehicles are not available to them. Moreover, being an infantry unit, the Harbingers are vulnerable to artillery and air strikes. Those among them who wear Vonduun Skerr Kyrric armour have the usual advantages, but also drawbacks associated with this suit. The Vong splinter group the Harbingers were originally enslaved by never figured out how to cure the Vonduun crab's allergy to Baffor pollen, and their former servitors have not had any more luck.

Description:

The Harbingers of Twilight have their roots in an old Eldorai heresy. They can trace their origins back to a community of Illyria worshippers, who were banished by Star Queen Tirathana VI. Forbidden from setting foot on Kaeshana's surface again, they were declared outlaws and apostates. In Eldorai mythology, Illyria is the Goddess of Death, ruling over the hellish underworld. Orthodox Eldorai do not worship the reviled deity.


This is because she rebelled against the Great Goddess Ashira, the supreme deity of the Eldorai Pantheon, who is credited with fashioning the first Eldorai from clay, breathing life into them and endowing them with souls. However, Illyria was prideful and envious of her mother. Determined to surpass the Heavenly Mother, Illyria utilised dark sorcery to create demons, twisted parodies of Ashira's children. Illyria's children were vile abominations and endangered Ashira's Creation. Upon being confronted, Illyria refused to see the error in her ways and beg forgiveness. Instead, she turned on the Eldorai Pantheon, unleashing an army of demons.


The conflict between the two is known as the War in Heaven. Angels and the other Eldorai deities rallied around Ashira, who led them into battle against the forces of darkness. While their armies clashed in an epic battle, Ashira and Illyria duelled upon the surface of Kaeshana. Illyria was able to stab and wound Ashira severely. However, though weakened, Ashira cast her down into the underworld, with some help from the War Goddess Valora. Then the supreme goddess ascended to heaven. Until this fateful day, the members of the Pantheon had walked the earth, but now the Star Queen and clerics would be needed to communicate with them and guide the faithful. This is how the Ashiran scriptures record events at any rate. While Ashira is associated with light, fire and air, Illyria is the embodiment of darkness. However, because orthodox Eldorai society is built upon the bedrock of crown-temple-nobility, many dissidents and renegades have embraced Illyria, regarding her as a liberator who stood up to the powers that be, who was unjustly vilified.


Queen Tirathana VI, whose own legitimacy was somewhat questionable after deposing the Evora family, made a concerted effort to enforce religious orthodoxy and thus strengthen her claim to the throne, as the queen was not just a temporal ruler, but the Defender of the Faith. The dreaded Investigators of Ashira's Truth were endowed with sweeping powers to root out bastions of heresy and unbelief. A whole community of Illyria worshippers was arrested en masse. They were accused of blasphemous practices, consorting with demons and foreign raiders and ritually murdering innocent Eldorai. Some were probably guilty of crimes, many were not. They made convenient scapegoats for the slaver raids that plagued Kaeshana. In any case, Her Majesty's Government ordered their deportation. This was deemed appropriate since, as far as Ashiran hardliners were concerned, the rest of the Galaxy was populated by savages and demons. So it was only appropriate to banish the blasphemers. Confessions were often extracted via torture.


Therefore, they were sent to the 'foreign devils', being taken in ships to the nearest inhabited system and left to fend for themselves, with minimal supplies. Inevitably, they became prey for pirates, in other words the 'foreign devils' they were accused of consorting with. Assuming they actually had, this did them little good as the slavers just regarded them as another source of chattle. A good number, those deemed weak, died in captivity or were sold on the slave markets. However, the captors had something more horrific in mind for those they deemed 'deserving'.


For these were no ordinary slavers, but a Vuuzhan Vong sect, who felt a strong hatred for Force-users. Their Shapers began to conduct experiments on their captives, considering them to be a viable slave race that could be 'enlightened'. Slave seeds and the Vongspawn virus were among the methods used to keep them under control. Over the years, their time was spent labouring for the Yuuzhan Vong. Eventually, through use of their hideous bioscience, the Vong succeeded in creating Force Dead Eldorai. These experiments were paired with rigorous indoctrination to keep the Eldorai under control. The elves' children grew up with a twisted understanding of Eldorai culture, fused heavily with that of the Vong who lorded over them.


Forced to serve as slave-soldiers, the Force Dead Elves performed well in a number of battles. However, their Vong masters had underestimated the tenacity of their slaves - or the hatred these felt for them. And so it came to pass that the mutated Eldorai rebelled, taking advantage of internal squabbles between two Vong warlords. Each of whom expected the mutated slave-soldiers to obey them. Slaughtering their captors or venting them into space, the rebels escaped on stolen vessels. Their world view had been irrevocably altered by the tribulations they had experienced.


To the Eldorai, Sciia is not just their word for the Force, but also for soul. For the Space Elves view the Force as their inner flame, rather than an omnipresent energy field. The Ashirans believe that Sciia is a gift from the Goddess. Those without Sciia are soulless demons, abominations that are nothing but a cruel mockery of Ashira's Creation. This applies to Vong but also other Force Dead creatures. This made the Harbingers of Twilight outcasts. Even if they had wanted to, they could not have gone back. Ironically, these experiences strengthened their faith in Illyria. As they became more and more removed from their roots, they began to see becoming Force Dead as an act of communion with their goddess, breaking the shackles of Ashira, whose minions had dared to scorn them, and embracing the Mistress of Hell.


They became a force of cunning raiders, guerillas and mercenaries, living a nomadic existence. Their condition made them freaks even among the Eldorai exiles, though some came to swallow their disgust and appreciate their talents. Where possible, they struck against the hated Eldorai Matriarchy. Indeed, Firemane forces clashed with them in the corporation's early days when the Harbingers hit convoys or remote outposts. However, they also practised a form of 'shadow justice' by punishing slavers, as they had not forgotten their own enslavement. They preferred poetic punishments, such as hurling slavers out of airlocks into the vacuum of space - or giving them a taste of their own medicine by enslaving them.


Then came Kaeshana's cataclysmic destruction. Though a number of their membersm vanished into hell, the Harbingers were during the Netherworld Event. Akala's wild rampage caused major powers to crumble, presenting them with new targets. Indeed, a number of Harbingers believed that the mad goddess had to be one of Illyria's demons or Illyria herself. Especially since Force-users had been pulled from their pedestal. It was a bit of a letdown when things went back to normal. The stories told by disappeared cultists who'd managed to return from the Netherworld convinced the cult that Ashira's heaven was an illusion. Instead, there was only the underworld, governed by the mistress of the dead. Soon word of Kaeshana's coming destruction travelled down the grapevine. Before the massive asteroid devastated the planet, the Eldorai Matriarchy, backed by Firemane and the Silver Sanctum Coalition, launched an exodus, saving billions of Eldorai and many of the surviving Kar'zun.


However, for those who had to be left behind, the conditions were hellish. They cursed the exodites, accusing them of abandoning them to save their own skin. It was this chain of events that brought the Harbingers back to Kaeshana. In the enemy, they wound up with an enemy of my enemy is my friend situation with the Shadow Knights, a group founded by Eldorai soldiers and rebels who'd grown disgruntled with what they saw as the government abandoning Kaeshana. Both came together separately to evacuate or otherwise help people. Initial contact was awkward, even violent, but then they found common cause against the Monarchy, slave raiders who took advantage of the chaos on Kaeshana, and later the First Order when it sought to annex the planet. Kaeshana became a battleground, but when the Galactic Alliance withdrew following the Kaeshana Rebellion, the Shadows and the Harbingers were forced to likewise evacuate the planet. During the battle, there had been a truce with Firemane and the Eldorai Matriarchy, but the united front did not survive these events.


The Harbingers began to work more closely with the Shadows after the First Order occupied Kaeshana following the conclusion of the Kaeshana Rebellion. It is the goal of the Shadows to create the widest possible bloc of Eldorai forces that refuse to accept the authority of the Crown, but are also opposed to Kaeshana's occupiers. Their role in defending the Forsaken, as Kaeshana's surviving Eldorai called themselves, against foreign threats had won the Harbingers a degree of trust. It helped that few of the Forsaken still believed in Ashira. However, many Eldorai exiles are still wary of them. While Illyrians are well-represented among the Shadows, they tend to focus on Illyria as the first revolutionary and goddess of justice, not as the demonic figure the Harbingers imagine her as. This has produced awkward theological disputes. Ironically, the Harbingers are a lot more egalitarian in gender matters than most Shadows or Eldorai in general.


While part of the Shadows' nomadic migrant fleet, the Harbingers are still very independent. Much to the profound irritation of the Shadows' new Strategos Kaida Taldir, they treat orders from above more like well-meant guidelines and are averse to the idea that when the Archon says jump, they should ask how high. Being a stern disciplinarian, she finds their lack of absolute obedience...disturbing. Being a radical atheist, she also feels great contempt for their belief, to say the least. However, they do their job well as a strike force, though they make sure they get an 'appropriate' share of loot. Their Force Dead nature makes them very disconcerting to most Eldorai.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out Firemane's ranks a bit.
• ​Image Credit: Here. 'Jena Shepard' by Jinxiedoodle. Found on Deviantart.com.
• Role: Firemane operative. Cross is employed by the corporation's black ops division. She's a commando, interrogator and cleaner. Her unit falls under the purview of GRU, a military intelligence division in Firemane.
• Links: Firemane.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 28
• Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User.
• Species: Human
• Appearance: Tall, broad-shouldered and muscular. Cross exercises daily and it shows in her physique. Outside of going to the gym on a regular basis, she keeps in shape by participating in boxing matches. She is tough, tenacious and quick on her feet. Her face is marked by vicious scars. She has several tattoos on her body. The most prominent is a sword hilt on her arm. Cross derives her name from the X on her neck. She received it during her time in prison. It was the defining moment when she let her old self die and reforged herself into something new. Her hair is cut very short to make sure it doesn't get in the way. Only the top of her head has hair, while the rest is shaved.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Goes by the name Cross. Real name is Molly Mog. She really hates her real name. Anyone who uses it can expect a knife through the ribs or a broken nose.
• Loyalties: Herself, Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane.
• Wealth: Decent. It is a good idea to give the people doing your dirty work a decent salary, lest they get tempted to switch sides. After all, they know all about your dirty laundry. Assuming she makes it to retirement age, Cross will be able to retire quite comfortably, though not luxuriously. Pay in Firemane is on a sliding scale based on experience, rank, reward and so on.

Notable Possessions:

• ACS-004 Specter Scout Armor (purchased here, confirmed here)
• Racket's Bite (Firemane has access to ARGH tech)
• Magnetic Repeater
• Neural band
• Stealth field generator
• Hellburner Disruptor (purchased here, confirmed here).
• Dissuader slugthrower pistol
• Pack of kath hounds (pets, not used for combat)

Skills:

• Marksmanship
• Knife fighting & hand-to-hand combat
• Teräs Käsi
• Demolitions
• Torture
• Small unit leadership

Personality: Every regime, no matter how democratic or peace-loving it purports to be, must sooner or later do unpleasant things. Or look away when such things occur. If they do not they end up being destroyed by those who don't have those scruples. It is easy to claim a moral high ground and state that one is a beacon of peace and freedom, until the barbarians show up at the gates. Thus it is practical to employ individuals who are free of moral scruples and comfortable with getting their hands dirty. Of course, having some form of leverage over them is advisable. Cross is one of those people who perform such a function for Firemane. Shaped by the Republic-OS war into a brutal, cruel woman who saw her ideals die on the battlefield, she is an ideal black ops operative for the megacorporation.


Once Cross believed in those lofty ideals that look good on the holonet and recruitment posters: Fight the good fight, stand up for the innocent, defend liberty and galactic peace. The harsh reality of the war she bravely and naively volunteered for burnt these ideals out of her. She realised that it was a ruthless, predatory Galaxy where noble ideals meant nothing. War turned her into a highly ruthless woman with a sadistic streak, a monster according to some. To a point where she was convicted of crimes and imprisoned, before managing to escape.


Since then she has been a mercenary. Serving only herself, she's worked for the highest bidder. Eventually, her path led her to Firemane. There she found an organisation that put her talents to good use, by giving her a job in their black ops division. She's not the type who will rise far in the organisation. However, she's a nasty commando Lady Kerrigan has on call for when things need to get done, at any cost. Cross is right at home leading commando operations, organising insurgencies and targeted assassinations or extracting information from enemies via torture. The latter also applies to comrades accused of treason. Cross has no respect for rank or title. But she doesn't ask awkward questions. Give her a mission and access to the resources needed for the job, and she will see it through. Being loaded with red tape and annoying desk officers will drive her into a rage. The outside observer might mistake her for a uncouth brute. This is a perception she encourages, right down to her coarse manner of speaking and the amount of time she spends in the boxing ring. In actual fact, she's a meticulous planner and even an avid reader.


Cross feels institutional, but not ideological loyalty to Firemane. She is utterly indifferent to the mission statement Firemane claims to espouse. Propaganda simply doesn't work on her. Yammering about making the Galaxy a better place and fighting the 'bad guys' doesn't impress her. By the same token, she's also immune to propaganda against her employer because she doesn't care whether they're 'good guys' or not. She sticks with the corporation because she's well-paid, gets to do what she's good at and doesn't have to deal with sanctimonious, pacifist Jedi who chat with enemies rather than kill them or Chaotic Evil Sith who may throw their weight around and apply Force chokes at the drop of a hat. Due to her wartime experiences, Cross loathes Jedi, regarding them as weak-kneed, sanctimonious hypocrites. Cross is aware of the power Force-users wield but is not awed or intimidated by them. After all, they bleed, too. She does derive a sadistic pleasure from humiliating and breaking those she gets to interrogate though. Cross does not forget slights or betrayals and is rather vindictive.


On an idiosyncratic note, Cross breeds kath hounds. Not to fight in battles or tournaments, but as companions. As she is fond of saying, "Hounds aren't like people, you can trust 'em. They won't turn on you if you treat 'em right." When around her dogs, she shows a surprisingly gentle side most people do not get to see. Word is that she got her first hound by liberating it from a thug who abused and often starved his pet. He also had a habbit of siccing his pet on his victims. It is rumoured. Cross broke the gangster's legs and smashed his nose with a crowbar, then let the hound eat him alive. While this may be tall tales, Cross does nothing to discourage these rumours. That said, cruelty to animals disgusts her in general. She also keeps a few budgies around and is kind to them. She's taught them plenty of words. She also has a knack for art, making drawings of people or places she's visited.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice: Blasters, slugthrowers, explosive weapons. Also makes use of explosives, gas, knives, garrots and her fists.

Combat Function: Highly skilled commando, professional killer. Cross is a highly skilled marksman with a variety of firearms .She is also extremely strong and skilled in close quarters combat. She is trained in martial arts, especially Teräs Käsi. In addition to enhancing her prowess in unarmed combat, this style has also taught her how to close her mind to Force-users, thus protecting herself from mental attacks. She is good at using knives in melee combat or conversely throwing them. Finally, she has a high pain tolerance and is very tenacious.


However, she is still only mortal. Lacking superpowers, she must use her wits, tech and skill to survive on the battlefield. Cross is also not a particularly good duellist or fencer. She's more apt at using knives or bludgeoning weapons than long blades. Thus she would not perform well if given a rapier, vibroblade or a similar weapon. She's also a poor pilot. Cross is trained in small unit leadership, but not a strategic thinker and poor at leading large units.


HISTORICAL INFORMATION


Cross' personality and cynical, often callous demeanour is not the result of a traumatic or a dark, troubled childhood. Indeed, compared to what happened to her as she grew up, her childhood was rather idyllic. Born as the embarrassingly named Molly Mog, she was raised by a middle class family on Corellia. Her parents loved her and treated her well. Her father worked in retail, while her mother was a professor at a local college.


They imparted her with values such as respect for others, kindness, obedience to lawful authority and a willingness to stand up for the innocent. She also had two younger siblings. Though their jobs kept both her parents quite busy, they made time for her children and were very attentive. An aunt on her maternal side had been a fighter pilot with the Republic and the Omega Protectorate and often told the young girl stories about her adventures. However, Molly's life underwent a profound change during the Republic-One Sith War. If she had not been sucked into this conflict, perhaps she would have led an ordinary life far away from blood-soaked battlefields. She would have probably not become a commando or a cruel torturer.


Ironically, it was her idealism, fuelled by the values her family and her cultured middle class environment had passed on to her, that motivated Molly to get involved in the war effort. Her family made donations to NGOs that took care of war refugees. She herself visited refugee camps to help out. Contact with the victims of the war and their stories about the destruction caused by the One Sith and their tyrannous rule roused her to righteous anger. Though her home was still far away from the killing fields, she wanted to do something. As the say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.


The fact that she lived a comfortable life while so many people suffered also stirred feelings of guilt inside her. So she visited a Republic recruitment station. Enlisting at sixteen, she lied about her age. Conveniently, the Republic was in need of fresh bodies because the Sith showed no sign of stopping their bloody rampage across the Core Worlds, blazing a trail of destruction. After a few months of basic training, Molly was sent to the frontlines. Nothing could have prepared her for the harsh reality of warfare, for it had nothing in common with the image spread by the recruitment posters and holovids.


To put it plainly, it was a meat grinder. Before long, almost every single member of her platoon had perished on the battlefield. Some were mowed down by repeater fire, others blown up by land mines, devoured by Sithspawn or scythed by Sith Knights or traitorous Jedi. Others again simply succumbed to disease. Brutal, savage attrition thinned their ranks. But she was among those who survived. The experiences hardened her, forging her into a sharp, tough woman. During the Second Battle of Alderaan, her unit suffered so many casualties that she ended up in command.


Caught behind enemy lines after the Republic forces and their allies were forced to withdraw, hounded by Vong abominations, she showed her mettle, proving herself to be an efficient, if ruthless team leader. Teaming up with some native resistance fighters, she was able to rescue some comrades from a Sith prison camp. Refusing to leave them behind, she risked her life to save the captives. Despite the odds they faced, the team was able to secure transport offworld. They left behind a ruined, Vong-shaped planet that had become the grave of many of their comrades. What gnawed at her even more than the loss was the fact that one of their own, a comrade she had served alongside, had betrayed them, joining the Sith because they were the winning side. Good people died due to this betrayal, as he led the Vong to them. She herself was badly injured by one of their abominations. It left her furious and vengeful. Returning to Republic lines, she was rewarded for her valour and promoted. The Republic army needed good soldiers, NCOs and officers. She tried to bury her problems, using her fury as fuel. Her calls back home to her family became less frequent.


In any case, her reprieve was short-lived because the battlefield beckoned once again. Now an NCO she was paired with a Jedi Knight because the Republic military wanted to cooperate more with its nation's Jedi Order. After all, Jedi were needed to fight the Sith. Those Jedi that had not left the Republic and joined Orders that preferred to sit the war out. Molly regarded those Jedi who did not get involved in the fighting as cowards, but her opinion on Jedi Knight Resha Ve'ela soon soured, too. Though thoroughly lacking in command experience, Jedi Ve'ela was convinced that she knew best because being a Force-user made her a luminous being.


The Togruta was arrogant and self-righteous, seeing herself as superior to the common grunts. Her grasp of military tactics did not go beyond Battle of Geonosis style death charges. The result was disastrous when the Jedi more or less claimed command during an assault on a Sith base. To the Jedi's credit, she put her lightsabre to good use by fighting in the front lines. However, casualties were high, especially since the Sith in command use dark magic against the common soldiers, confusing and manipulating them. Molly was forced to shoot one of her comrades who had gone berserk. On the bright side, said waves of darkness also messed up several Sith troopers.


When they finally reached the command centre of the base, Ve'ela refused to fight the Sith and instead resorted to the age-old tactic of trying to talk the darksider down and convincing him to return to the Light. Because that was obviously how redemption worked. All it took was a few gentle words from a good person, a sudden change of heart and all sins would be forgiven. Obviously the Sith tried to turn her to the dark side, appealing to some sort of bond they shared. Molly got fed up and decided to follow the age-old tradition of fragging by putting a thermal detonator, a gas grenade and a hard sound gun too use. Her surviving comrades corroborated her story when she lied to her superiors about what had transpired. The disgust she felt for Jedi did not abate, rather it intensified.


There were more battles to be fought. Eventually she was given a battlefield promotion to brevet lieutenant, when the Netherworld Crisis sent the Galaxy spiralling into chaos. Molly suffered a very personal loss when she received word that Corellia had been devastated by the insane Force Entity. Her attempts to establish contact with her family failed. What was left of her broken homeworld fell under the control of the One Sith. She shut down. All the stress got to her. She took out her anger on pirates, Sith and traitors. She participated in a number of Republic campaigns, such as the liberation of Alderaan and various battles after the conflict with the Sith resumed. She became a frighteningly effective interrogator, using brutal methods to extract information from captives. According to her, this allowed her to save lives. Their enemies were monsters, who burnt entire worlds, butchered millions and enslaved many more for no reason other than sadism and hunger for power. So it was pointless to hold on to a moral high ground for the sake of it.


Finally, she was court-martialled after blinding several captured Sith minions and traitors and driving them forward during an assault on an enemy position. Her immediate superior, who shared her beliefs, was also cashiered. Stripped of her rank and the valorous decorations she'd earned during years of service, she was brought before a military tribunal. She did not deny her actions or shirk responsibility, unlike her superior officer, who tried to pin the blame on subordinates. Equally she made no apologies, considering those who condemned her to be cowards and wet hens. No longer a part of the Republic army, she was locked up in prison. There she received the mark on her neck that she bears to this day. Casting her old name aside, she called herself Cross. It was in many ways a rebirth, for she also gave up on the last of the ideals she'd clung to. They had been revealed to be hollow and naive.


However, prison could not hold her for long. Soon she began to plot her escape, making a pact with a fellow inmate, who had been marked with the same tats and called herself Drake. She refused to reveal her true name. What Cross did learn was that her cellmate had once been a Force-user cursed with empathic powers. Before being severed from the Force. Ironically, Drake preferred it that way because now she was free of headaches and her mind was truly her own. Pooling their brains and brawns, both managed to escape the high-security prison. By that time, the Republic was in its death throes. First Prime Minister Lasedri launched a coup and tried to radical measures against private enterprise and the Jedi Order, then the Mandalorians deployed forces to Roche. During the Second Battle of Roche, civilians were vented into space. The Republic Supreme Commander was held responsible for this.


Cross did not feel like caring anymore. She was out and had learned her lesson. So she became a mercenary. For a while she worked for an anti-Sith rebel group, which used methods Saw Gerrara would have approved of. She gained experience in unconventional warfare and directing rebel cells. However, rebels have a tendency of being short on cash and it was no different with this outfit. So she eventually drifted away from them, seeking someone who could pay her better. Later she found employment as a hired gun for an Atrisian crime syndicate, making a living by bashing skulls and blowing away kneecaps for the Reki.


However, war soon came to Atrisia. The Sith Lord Mythos tried to reclaim his throne with aid from the Dominion. Unwilling to let a Sith take control over a planet so close to their border, the Galactic Alliance intervened. The Sith summoned a Force Storm and a blood sacrifice fuelled volcanic cyclone, causing countless deaths. However, a combined force of Galactic Alliance, Firemane and Mandalorian troops were able to defeat them. In the aftermath, Cross sought new employment opportunities.


Her path led her to Firemane. The Alliance had too many Jedi and regulations for her liking. Understanding that the corporation wished to set up shop, she offered her knowledge about the local mafia, among other things, and secured a job as a security contractor. While the Sith Lords had been defeated, their actions had left behind a number of Sithspawn in the capital's ruin, along with dark cultists. Moreover, the Reki grew bold, seeking to exploit the power vacuum. After a few jobs, she was assigned to the escort of a Firemane bureaucrat called Kaylah Danton, who had been put in charge of overseeing Firemane's humanitarian operations. During the course of that mission, they came under heavy attack from dark cultists. Cross put herself on the line to protect her charge. She was mostly motivated by a desire for profit, of course, but also out of professional pride and with an eye to the future. Her valour when it came to fighting off the attackers and their Sithspawn monsters, helping Kaylah reach friendly lines did not go unnoticed.


Indeed, word of her actions reached the Lady Siobhan Kerrigan. Kaylah was an important - though rather willful! - associate of hers, so the Lady was relieved that she had not been murdered. Cross' past was checkered, to say the least, but Siobhan saw an asset she could use. So Cross was offered a formal position in Firemane and accepted. It did not take long before she transferred to Firemane's black ops division. One of her first targets happened to be the Reki syndicate she'd worked for. They stood in the way of the reconstruction process. Her methods were brutal but precise. After assassinating the boss' heir, she planted evidence to make the mafia boss believe that one of his brothers was responsible, causing the gang to tear itself apart.


During the Kaeshana Rebellion, she directed and led a unit of Eldorai partisans who conducted sabotage operations behind enemy lines. After Firemane forces left the planet due to the Galactic Alliance's withdrawal, she was given a new task. During the battle, a Firemane unit had turned traitor and defected to the First Order, turning on their comrades. Moreover, shortly after word of the defeat reached Tygara, the reactionary Duchess Tarissa Cadalthor attempted a coup against the Eldorai government, using foreigners as scapegoats for the failure of the Rebellion.


To avert future betrayals, Firemane carried out a thorough screening process of its employees. Tarissa, who had tried to stir up unrest in the capital and rally support for an anti-foreign pogrom, was executed by Siobhan in front of the Eldorai council of nobles after evidence of her treason was uncovered. Cross was part of the unit that stormed the Cadalthor compound, supporting Major Tempest and Angelii officer Kaida Taldir. Later she disposed of one of Tarissa's allies on the council, the Duchess of Caladan. There had been insufficient evidence to put the crone on trial, as she'd sung the same tune as Tarissa in the council, but not exposed herself that much, but a bomb blew up her yacht and ended her existence. Cross also interrogated Firemane members believed to have Sith ties or sympathies. She has remained with Firemane since then. She is mean as hell, but you need people like that.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out the Shadow Knights and Eldorai lore.
• ​Image Credit: Here. By Traucmahr. Entry for the Zelda Breath of the Wild French contest.
• Role: Theologian, cleric, seminal figure in the Aspirant Reformation. Sahome is a religious leader for a church of Ashirans who have broken away from the Eldorai Matriarchy and the orthodox church, pursuing what they believe to be a purer way of life. In that regard, she acts as a foil towards Kaida Taldir and Vaena Askari. The former is a rebel, too, but a radical atheist, while the latter is a devout Ashiran who is trying to reform the system from within. The submission is inspired by the lives of Martin Luther, Calvin and other Reformation figures, though the story diverges since the Eldorai Matriarchy isn't the Holy Roman Empire and this isn't 16th century Europe.
• Links: Kaeshana, Church of Ashira.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 102
• Force Sensitivity: Knight
• Species: Eldorai
• Appearance: Classical Eldorai features. She is of average height, has dark hair, bright, green eyes and pointed ears. There is a scar on her right cheek, inflicted during her time in prison. Sahome favours modest, covering attire.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Sahome Tyral
• Loyalties: Eldorai, Shadow Knights
• Wealth: Low, unlike many of her former sisters Sahome lives modestly and is generous with her wealth.

Notable Possessions:

• 'Copies of her 59 theses', which she may have nailed to a cathedral door.
• Force imbued blade
• Heavily annotated copy of 'Liber Ashira' - the Ashiran holy book.

Skills:

• Pyromancy
• Empathy
• Cleanse Mind
• Force Healing
• Force Valour
• Force Vision

Personality: Believer. That is a good word to describe Sahome. Or at least one to start with. Sahome is someone who long searched for a deeper meaning to life. An independent-minded woman who strayed from the expectations of her family, she believed she found this meaning by dedicating herself to the faith. However, she was exposed to the corrupt practices of the Ashiran Church.


Rather than turn away, she strove to reform it, but was betrayed and exiled by reactionary forces. The reformer became an outcast and eventually a rebel whose actions ushered in the foundation of a new church that stands in opposition to the orthodox Ashiran clergy. She now sees that the orthodox church and the crown are shackles on the true belief of Ashira. Justification by scripture alone is central to her beliefs. To return to the true ways, the Eldorai must cast down the flummery and trappings of the old church. Each sister can seek the divine in her own way and communicate with the Goddess directly, rather than requiring the Star Queen to serve as an intermeditary between the profane and the holy.


Sahome is an extremely stubborn woman, especially when matters of the faith are concerned. She is an accomplished orator, theological and legal thinker. Her oratory skills and relentless pursuit of what she considers to be right have gained her many followers. She has the ability to instill great fervour and devotion in her disciples. Her conviction makes her remarkably strong-willed and extremely resistant to mental manipulation or domination. Yet she is not free of self-doubt. For in a way her actions accomplished the opposite of what she intended to do. She wanted to reform the church, but in actual fact contributed to a new schism. This weighs heavily on her and is something she broods on a great deal. These days, she lives and preaches among the Shadow Knights, a renegade movement composed of revolutionaries and exiles that have split off from the Eldorai Matriarchy. While many of the Shadows are still Ashiran believers, others are atheists or Illyrians. Sahome's relations with the last two are obviously extremely poor, for she holds both in disdain. As a young priestess, Sahome was a monarchist who upheld the authority of the Crown. These days she is disillusioned and has promoted republican views. However, being an Eldorai she still believes in a hierarchy and is thus suspicious of democracy. Her political views are a lot closer to oligarchy.


Sahome dresses modestly and has a frugal life style. This is in stark contrast to the high-ranking clerics of the establishment. However, her life does not begin an end with with prayer, though it is obviously a big part of it. She is an accomplished composer and hymnodist, authoring hymns such as 'A Mighty Fortress Is Our Goddess'. She's also quite good at playing the waldzither. Despite technically being a renegade, Sahome corresponds with Vaena Cadalthor, known to her close friends as Vaena Askari. The two became acquainted during the Netherworld event. After Vaena was unexpected ennobled as Duchess of House Cadalthor, Sahome sent her a message urging her to take up Ashira's sword and pursue the cause of righteousness. It is probably for the best that Sahome doesn't know about Vaena's relationship with a Force Dead Knight.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice: The Force, Force imbued blade. Sometimes a blaster pistol.

Combat Function: Sahome's primary offensive power is pyromancy. With this power she can summon flames, heat objects by touch, burn opponents and cook dinner without an oven. She can also summon blasts of bright light to blind opponents and dissipate or absorb concentrated heat to protect herself. However, Sahome performs better in a support role than in direct combat. She is a cleric, not a soldier. Her role is to guide and inspire. Force Valour enables her to boost her allies, while she can use her healing skills to aid the wounded.


Sahome knows how to defend herself with a blade, staff or pistol, though she does not excel with them. She lacks proficiency in the use of heavy weapons and is not a good shot with rifles. Moreover, she has the usual Eldorai strengths and weaknesses: Greater resistance to diseases and infections, impressive dexterity, hearing and hand-eye coordination, but she is also physically weaker and less durable than most humans. During her exile Sahome learned how to pilot a shuttle or freighter, but she has no training in fighter piloting and is not a combat pilot.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Sahome was born in the town of Nadana, Kaeshana, a bit away from the capital city Santaissa. Her mother was a copper miner, who eventually became a town councillor. She had several brothers and sisters and was especially close to one of them, Silaqui. Her mother was ambitious for herself and her family and was determined to see Sahome, her eldest daughter, become a lawyer.


In accordance with her mother's wishes, Sahome enrolled law school. However, she dropped out almost immediately, believing that law represented uncertainty. She sought assurance about life and was driven to theology and philosophy. She was deeply influenced by two tutors, who taught her to be suspicious of even the greatest thinkers and test everything herself by experience. This fuelled her desire to find her own answers.


Philsophy proved unsatisfying, offering reassurance about the use of reason but not about the Goddess, which to Sahome was more important. Eldorai could learn about the Goddess only through divine revelation. This was a time about uncertainty and transition for the Eldorai. After centuries of isolation, Kaeshana was being slowly opened up to the outside Galaxy. Some foreigners came as peaceful merchants, but many as slavers and raiders who wished the Eldorai ill. In many cases, the offworlders possessed advanced technology, which the Eldorai both feared and craved. However, the Church proclaimed them to be demons. One of Sahome's sister was killed in a raid.


Sahome decided to join the church. She later attribute this decision to an event: she was returning to university after a trip home. During asthunderstorm, a lightning bolt struck near her. She is supposed to have later told her mother she was terrified of death and divine judgement. According to her writings, she cried out, 'Help! Heavenly Mother, I will become a priestess'. She came to regard this as cry for help as an unbreakable vow she could never deviate from. Her mother was furious over what she saw as a waste of Sahome's education, but Sahome stuck to her guns. She left law school, sold her books and entered a monastery. One friend attributed the decision to Sahome's sadness over the death of her sister. It is certain that this shook Sahome to the core.


Sahome dedicated herself to the Church, devoting herself to fasting, long hours in prayer, pilgrimage and frequent confession. Her drive to be a good Ashiran seemed obsessive. Later on she described this period of her life as one of spiritual despair, noting that she lost touch with Ashira the Merciful and had instead turned her into a jailer of her soul. Her superior turned her mind away from constant reflection on her sins towards the merits of the Goddess. She was soon ordained and began to teach theology at a local university.


She visited Santaissa on behalf of her order and was appalled by the corruption she found there. Her journeys to various backwater settlements had exposed her to the poverty many ordinary Eldorai lived in, yet many of the high clerics were corrupt and debauched. At first, Sahome seemed like an orthodox cleric with a bright future ahead of her. Orthodox thinkers praised her when she published a rebuttal of the theories of the heretic Charae Dawai, who had been imprisoned for claiming that humans and Eldorai shared a common origin. When Star Queen Tirathana VI banished an entire commune of Illyria worshippers, Sahome wrote an article praising the sovereign for removing demon worshippers from Kaeshana. The authorities took notice and expected great things of her. Eventually she was made an Abbess.


However, she became increasingly angry about the clergy selling indulgences. These promised remission from sin and were supposed to work in a dead soul's favour when it was being judged in the afterlife. Sahome regarded this as hypocritical, for scripture said that it was the Goddess and her court who deliberated upon whether an Eldorai's good deeds outweighed her bad ones. Those judged as good-hearted were granted entrance into heaven, while the wicked were cast into Illyria's hellish pit. The Goddess' favour could not be bought.


A believer could aspire to Ashira's grace by faith alone. She became enraged when the Ashiran Church sent a cleric called Johaena Teatzel to her home province to sell indulgences to raise money in order to build a grand temple in Santaissa. Both clerics clashed in public. Indeed it is said that they came to blows and Sahome tore up the commissioner's indulgence papers, though this might be embellishment. Sahome insisted that, since salvation was the Goddess' alone to grant, those who claimed indulgences absolved buyers from punishments and granted them entrance into heaven were in error. She objected strongly to a saying attributed to Johaena that 'as soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul into heaven springs'. Whether the commissioner actually said this is a matter of debate. The often quoted saying was not representative of contemporary thinking, but rather a reflection of Johaena's ability to exaggerate. However, the Church certainly benefited from the actions of its eager commissioner and many common Eldorai believed this to be official dogma. After a public clash, Sahome wrote to her Cennobite, whose role was the equivalent of a bishop, protesting against indulgences.


Finally, Sahome published her 59 theses, attacking clerical abuse and the sale of induglences. It is said that she nailed them to the door of a church where her rival was preaching. However, this has been disputed by contemporaries. Regardless, the theses soon spread like wild fire. Students and young clerics thronged to Nadana to hear her Sahome speak. At this stage she was still a moderate, believing she could reform the Church from within. She was also a strong supporter of the Monarchy. To her, the Star Queen was still Ashira's viceroy. Rebellion against her was not just treason, but heresy. Indeed, Sahome seemed convinced that the Queen herself was righteous, but misled by bad advisers. However, this rosy view of the Queen would not last. She wrote a series of pamphlets outlining her ideas, such as 'To the Ashiran Nobility' and 'On the Freedom of an Ashiran Woman'.


However, her actions attracted the attention of the Temple of Ardarvia. Arvardia was the Eldorai Goddess of Law, Order and Justice and her clerics acted as inquisitors, charged with ensuring that all believers remained true to orthodoy and did not stray. During a sermon, Sahome was arrested and informed that the Star Queen had excommunicated her. She was then brought to Santaissa, where she was put on trial by a religious court. What worked in Sahome's favour was that some nobles felt sympathy for her cause - or at least saw her as a useful pawn in the game of thrones.


This may have prevented her from having an accident on the way. Or just being sent to the Island of Fallen Angels. After being interrogated by the inquisitors, she was put on trial. There Sahome was given copies of her writing and asked if the books were hers, and whether she stood by their contents. Sahome confirmed that she was the author, but refused to recant. The Ardarvian cleric presiding over the tribunal declared her a Dark Eldorai and heretic. This made it a crime for anyone to give her food or shelter. Anyone who aided her would be declared an enemy of the Crown and the Faith. It also permitted anyone to kill her without legal consequences. Her family was put under pressure to disavow her. However, her allies managed to break her out of prison, posing as guards. Otherwise she would have probably been executed.


Forced to flee from Kaeshana, she soon acquired a following among the Eldorai exiles. Her followers called themselves the Aspirants because they aspired to Ashira's Grace. In exile, Sahome unleashed a barrage of polemics and theological writings, taking advantage of the fact that she was now out of reach of the Eldorai religious police. Despite strict censorship and border controls, some of her writings were smuggled into Kaeshana by sympathisers. Her boldest assertion was that the Star Queen did not possess the exclusive right to interpret scripture. Exposure to dissidents who propagated republican ideas caused her to reevaluate her earlier stance on the monarchy.


For a while, she was sponsored by the Evoras. This was a branch of the royal family that had been deposed by Tirathana VI. Contrary to official court history, she had not been the next in line for the throne after Tirathana V died. The losers were declared heretics and exiled. However, the Evoras had not forgotten this betrayal and constantly schemed to reclaim what they regarded as their rightful inheritance, rallying mercenaries and fellow exiles to their cause. Someone like Sahome seemed like a useful asset to them. Sahome was hesitant, but accepted an audience with Taenarys Evora. Tasayia called herself the 'rightful Star Queen of the Eldorai' and had awarded herself a host of other titles, such as Breaker of Chains, the Queen Across the Stars and She Who Was Promised. She offered Sahome a position in her 'shadow court' as Grand Chaplain if she and her followers submitted her.


However, Sahome had learned her lesson. She'd believed in Tirathana's righteousness and been disappointed. The audience was a bit awkward, as Taenarys expected the preacher to bend the knee and support her claim to the throne. From her perspective, Sahome would be a good propagandist. However, the exiled cleric refused to become a pawn. Instead she questioned the pretender on matters of the faith, on how she intended to cleanse the church of corruption and help the common folk. Despite her defiance of the church, Sahome was still quite conservative.


So she took offence at the presence of foreigners at the Taenarys' shadow court. She was disgusted when she heard rumours about the pretender sharing her bed with a foreign sellsword. It did not take long for the 'rightful Queen' to grow irritated, especially after Sahome said "Idle hands and pretentions are the idle hands by which Illyria corrupts the works of Ashira". To make an example of her, Taenarys sentenced her to death by immolation. However, Sahome managed to quell the fires, showing that she was divinely protected. As a result, several of Taenarys' followers turned on her. Motivated solely by credit, the foreign mercenaries still stood with the pretender. This left the situation a stalemate, but Sahome took control.


Refusing to spill blood, she called on her supporters to leave this den of iniquity with her, though not before making some ominous predictions about Taenarys' fate. Frustrated and angered, the claimant vowed to 'take back what is mine' and punish those who defied her. Shortly thereafter, the Evora claimant launched an attack on Santaissa. Since her support among the Eldorai exiles had diminished many of her soldiers were sellswords. Thus the attack went poorly. A cabal of mercenaries betrayed her at a crucial moment and sold her out to the authorities, expecting to be rewarded. However, Tirathana had her warriors execute the mercenaries anway because they'd sided with a traitor. Taenerys shared their fate. The executions were extremely grisly. When Sahome learned of this, she was saddened, but found herself validated.


Her network among the Eldorai exiles grew. But her work was hampered by the fact that many of the aforementioned exiles spent more time bickering and arguing with each other. Sahome was not innocent of this. Her opinion of atheists, Illyrians and other 'unbelievers' remained low. It was not uncommon for fights to break out between Aspirants and other groups. This impeded any attempt to unite the exiles, though the fact that they were dispersed across the stars also contributed to this. But she soldiered on. When a large freighter full of Eldorai was attacked by pirates, Sahome took her place among those who defended the fugitives from the slavers. Despite not being warrior, she displayed notable courage during the fight and used her Force abilities to rally and inspire her people.


Meanwhile, changes took place on Kaeshana. Tirathana VI was succeeded by her daughter Silaqui III. Under her reign, Kaeshana joined the Omega Protectorate and made first tentative steps towards modernisation and liberalisation. Religious persecution was rolled back to appease the Protectorate and because the new queen was not a fanatic. However, she was murdered by rebellious bodyguards during a failed reactionary coup. After Silaqui's death, her sister Anya Venari ascended to the throne. Assuming the regnal name Tirathana VII, the former exile vowed to be a queen for all Eldorai, no matter their social class, gender or creed.


Religious persecution was abolished, the Kar'zun emancipated and the Queen attempted to break or at least reduce the stranglehold the nobility and church had over the common folk. However, she had to proceed cautiously because the monarchy depended on these groups to remain in power. Proceeding too quickly could undo all she sought to achieve. Moreover, she was a fairly lightsided ruler, and thus did not want to advance her agenda through excessive bloodletting. She received the support of Firemane Industries due to her close relationship with its two directors. The corporation helped the Eldorai modernise their army and fleet and its mercenaries fought in many battles alongside them. Sahome was not enthusted about all these changes. Distrustful of foreigners, she could not abide the influence they now possessed. Several 'Dark Eldorai' she knew regarded the new government as a puppet regime and took up arms against it. However, Sahome was also increasingly troubled by visions. She had received those since childhood, but now they became more vivid and grim. In them she saw tidings of great tribulations that would befall Kaeshana. So she made the decision to return to her homeworld, taking advantage of an amnesty promulgated by the Queen. This move was controversial and cost Sahome a number of followers.


Back on Kaeshana, several followers gave her a hero's welcome. Sahome was allowed to preach and spread her beliefs, but kept under surveillance by the secret police. Shortly thereafter, the Netherworld event occured. Across the galaxy people vanished. Kaeshana was affected, too. Many believed the end of days was at hand. Violence broke out and the streets of Santaissa ran red with blood. Sahome's congregation was targeted by Ashiran zealots and she was later arrested. Her incarceration took place without the knowledge or approval of the Queen, who had better things to do than pursue vendettas or persecute nonconformists. Rather it was the doing of Sahome's rivals. Her followers rioted, clashing with security forces and orthodox militias. Sahome was later released and used her influence to calm the rioters, doing her part to stabilise the situation on Kaeshana. To her these disappearances were the doing of the Archenemy and so the Eldorai must rally in the name of the Goddess. During this time she became acquainted with Vaena Askari. The young Angelii was one of the soldiers sent to release her from the security police's custody. After that Vaena acted as a government-assigned bodyguard - and not so secret spy - while Sahome helped calm the situation. She foiled an attempt on the priestess' life. While Vaena was an avowed monarchist, both women were extremely pious and disgusted by the corruption that festered in the church. This and their shared love of music and song gave them something to bond over.


Once the crisis had passed, Sahome believed the great doom had been averted. She was wrong. In fact, it had just begun. The story of the Exodus has been told many times. Suffice to say a massive asteroid collided with Kaeshana. Some religious fanatics saw it as Ashira's punishment for straying from the old ways and consorting with foreign devils. Having been forewarned, the Eldorai and Firemane made a colossal effort to save as many Eldorai as possible. More than three billion could be saved and evacuated to Tygara. Firemane's warships were able to drastically reduce the asteroid in size. This mitigated the destruction caused by it. However, some Eldorai had to be left behind. They were forced to eke out an existence in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and cursed those who had gotten away. They called themselves the Forsaken. Menaced by slavers and corsairs, the Forsaken vied amongst themselves over the scarce resources. Rather than save herself, Sahome chose to stay behind on Kaeshana. Some of her disciples were sent offworld to make sure her message stayed alive. Others stayed with her.


She was ministering to the Forsaken in an underground shelter when the asteroid impacted. She was among those who tried to wrest some order from the chaos. This forced her to make some rather unorthodox alliances. Perhaps this was a test from the Goddess. Initial contact with the Shadow Knights was hostile. Sahome, who was still somewhat wedded to the idea that the cataclysm might have been a divine punishment, thought poorly of them, since many of their members were secularists. They also made deals with some warlords, whom she considered to be inimical. Thus she encouraged her followers to oppose them and fighting ensued. However, this was disadvantageous, as it helped split the Eldorai. Unexpectedly, the Shadow Knights came to her aid when her followers were assailed by foreign raiders. Sahome realised that she had let pride get in the way of the greater good. Her opinion of atheists and infidels remained poor, but she became open towards cooperation. Supplies and resources were scarce, Kaeshana was facing a new ice age and a lot of Eldorai blood had been spilt over the past few months.


The network Sahome had built among Eldorai exiles and exodites gathered donations for the Forsaken, which helped them survive the Long Night. However, tensions remained strong. Indeed the Aspirants and the Illyrians among the Shadows were close to open warfare, when the GA, Firemane and the Tygaran Eldorai Matriarchy launched a humanitarian mission to help the Forsaken. The First Order also took an interest in Kaeshana, seeking to annex it. Conflict ensued, leading to the Kaeshana Rebellion. Sahome took part in the conflict alongside the Shadows and other Eldorai rebels allied with the Alliance. She helped set up a safe zone at the abandoned Citadel of Dusk. However, the Shadows were forced to retreat after the Alliance's forces withdrew from the planet.


For the time being, Sahome and her closest followers are part of the Shadows' nomadic fleet. However, they maintain congregations on most worlds on which Eldorai have settled, such as Tygara and Arkas, while also maintaining a presence on colony ships. Ironically, despite Sahome's personal feelings on the megacorporation, Firemane space stations and worldships are a good place for the Aspirants to congregate on and proselytise because the company has a policy of religious tolerance. Sahome and Vaena met again during the Kaeshana Rebellion. Their relations are still good, despite Sahome's feelings on the monarchy and her penchant for giving Vaena advice the young Duchess has not asked for. By contrast, Sahome's relations with Kaida Taldir, the Shadows' new chief military officer, are extremely poor since the frost elf is a militant atheist. Sahome gets on well enough with Naesala Faethyra, the Shadows' Archon, who is a pragmatic woman and still believes in Ashira, though she is part of a fringe sect. Sahome was nominated for a position on the Shadows Knights' Council, but declined a seat because she viewed it as incompatible with her calling and believed it would send the wrong message. However, some of her followes have been elected instead.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Further flesh out Firemane's ranks.
• Image Credit: Here. 'Scifi drop troops moving to drop' by DarkDragoon619.
• Role: Assault troops.
• Links: Firemane.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Unit Name: Firemane Scimitar Drop Troops
• Affiliation: Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane.
• Classification: Close assault troops, drop/jump infantry.

Equipment: They can use Abregado-Rae Guild of Hammers equipment due to Firemane gaining access to ARGH tech in this thread. Firemane obtained a supply contract that allows it to use Fire for Effect gear here.

• ACS-004 Olympian Battle Armor (Permission requested here, obtained here)
• Reaper Plasma Shotgun or Boltgun (can use APE rounds) or ACS-205 Advanced Dual Weapon System (storefront request here, permission here)
• ARGH flamethrower, Cryo Projector or Icebreaker
• ACS-207 Aerosolblaster (purchase request here, approved here). Wrist laser or Wrist Bolter
• Magnetic Revolver, Blaster Pistol, ARGH shatterpistol or Sonic Wave Pistol.
• Vibroblades, vibroknives.
• Frag Grenades, Proton Grenades, Plasma Grenades, Cryoban Grenades.
• Access to ACS Modular Drop Pods (purchase request here, approved here)
• Misc equipment such as wedding, climbing and digging tools, military rations, medkits, lifeform scanners and demolition sensors, det charges, Devastator mines. Often have vibro-bayonets for their rifles. Access to ACS-602 High Explosive Specialty Ammunition for slugthrowers (request here, permission here).

COMBAT INFORMATION

• Availability: Rare
• Deployment: Minor.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

They are disciplined, tenacious, well-trained and equipped assault troops. They are trained in utilising the Olympian armour's integrated jump packs to enhance speed and manoeuvrability on the battlefield. Can grant them an element of surprise in combat. It allows them to quickly traverse battlefields and access multiple story buildings. Moreover, they have access to drop pods, which allow rapid insertion into a combat zone on the ground. It also enables them to conduct operations against targets that more conventional forces cannot approach directly. They can also operate in conjunction with regulars to breach enemy positions.


Equipped with plasma shotguns, bolters, flamethrowers, hand grenades and so on, they can cause a lot of damage in a short amount of time. Their training and gear makes them particularly skilled in close quarters combat. Compared to regulars, they receive more extensive training in melee combat, which includes becoming proficient in the use of vibroblades and other melee weapons. This can give them an edge when engaging enemies up close. By dropping into a combat zone via airborne insertion or drop pods, they can cause devastation and sow confusion among the enemy as a result of their sudden arrival, especially if dropped behind enemy lines. In small engagements such as direct assaults of a fixed target, they are capable of carrying out rapid assaults. In such a situation, they are most effective if backed up by regulars and artillery strikes. Teräs Käsi martial arts training allows them to close their minds to hostile Force-users, thus protecting themselves from mental attacks.


However, their focus lies on speed and on overwhelming an opponent within a short span of time. Compared to regulars or heavy infantry units, they have few heavy weapons and will thus require support against heavy armour or entrenched fortifications. Their tactical doctrine emphasises combat at close range. This makes them vulnerable to long range, bombardment, snipers and aerial strikes. While jump packs enhance their mobility on the battlefield, they also make them obvious targets while in flight. It is obviously extremely difficult to hide from snipers or flak in such a state. They must rely on speed and surprise in that case.


Likewise they are very vulnerable to flak if deployed in drop pods. These are particularly weak against starfighters and only have minimal guidance. While minor course corrections can be made, it is like turning around a Star Destroyer. Finally, the lightsabre resistance of their suits is minor. You gotta put force into a blow since it can withstand glancing strikes and lazy sweeps. But while it is better than standard Stormtrooper armour, it is inferior to a truly lightsabre-resistant suit.


In short, while they have the ability to rapidly overwhelm the enemy and seize an objective, they must be reinforced by other Firemane forces that possess heavier weapons, as they are unable to hold their objectives for a long time in the face of determined enemy resistance. Especially if the enemy deploys armoured units. In such situations they are best partnered with units that compliment their strengths and weaknesses, such as heavy infantry equipped with anti-tank weapons and/or e-webs, heavy repeating blasters and so on.


Description:

Speed, mobility and firepower. These are the hallmarks of the Firemane Scimitar Drop Troops. As a megacorporation, Firemane is able to field rather large forces. However, these are widely dispersed. The corporation has manifold interests, but obviously does not deploy armies as large as those of a galactic power. That would not be cost-effective. So instead Firemane troops rely on training, skill and state-of-the art equipment.


The Scimitar Drop Troops can act as a rapid response or shock troops. They are airborne assault infantry that can be dispatched at short notice, utilising speed and overwhelming firepower to achieve their objectives. They are often deployed from low orbit, sometimes directly from capital ships. To this end, Firemane purchased drop pods from ArmaTech, a company Firemane's leaders have often done business with. Sometimes, their insertion is supported by quick, precise orbital strikes from the ship they're launching from. Moreover, every Scimitar Drop Trooper wears an ArmaTech suit of armour equipped with an integrated jump pack. While not capable of true flight, this addon enhances their mobility and makes them a very versatile unit.


It is not uncommon for the Drop Troopers to be deployed on top of their target. By deploying in such a manner they can help break stalemates or sieges. Alternatively they can land behind enemy lines, enabling them to reach targets that would be out of range for conventional forces. On a tactical level, they make use of weapons such as plasma shotguns, boltguns, light repeating blasters and flamethrowers to try and overwhelm their opponents before they can react. Flamethrowers, cryo and carbonite rifles also make useful area denial weapons.


It is not uncommon for them to combine this with use of their jump packs. These help them get close enough to enemy forces to unleash a volley of bolter or shotgun fire or toss a hand grenade before evading. Their weapons are ideal for crowd control, clearing out a trench or a building. Use of their jump packs allows them to rapidly cover significant distances and gain an aerial edge over their enemies. The agility of the jump trooper also makes him more difficult to hit and means he can ambush enemies from behind. However, they are obviously vulnerable to flak or concentrated enemy fire in such a state. The jump pack also only has limited fuel. Hand grenades and bolters represent their main source of heavy firepower, as they do not have vehicles or artillery of their own. However, they can act as spotters, marking targets for aerial, orbital or artillery strikes. It must also be kept in mind that once deployed, their drop pods only allow minor course corrections. While they have armaments and defences, they are very vulnerable to enemy starfighters while in transit.


The Scimitars are ideal for seizing bridgeheads and establishing a foothold in enemy territory. These soldiers' true advantage lies in their speed, unpredictability and the ability to attack anywhere on the battlefield, at any time. But while they can seize a target, they are poor at holding it without further support. They would be unable to hold an objective for long in the face of dedicated enemy resistance, especially if their adversaries deploy heavy armour. In such a situation they would need to be reinforced. The Scimitars can act as shock troops in head-on assaults on enemy positions. Detached from the main line, they are charged with slipping through enemy lines and attack the enemy's vulnerable rear areas, supported by short and sharp artillery barrages.


They bypass and avoid enemy strongpoints as far as feasible, engaging to their best advantage while leaving engagements against bypassed units to following heavy infantry. When paired with heavy infantry such as the Ironsides or Granite Guard, the Scimitars shield their slower, but more heavily armed and armoured comrades from light infantry and skirmishers, while their power armoured sisters and brothers in arms crack bunkers, enemy vehicles and walkers.


Many of the Drop Troopers are Dahomians. These hardy, tough natives of the tropical world of Dahomey are more unused to irregular forms of combat. However, there are no racial or gender barriers. Recruits go through months of intense training to prepare themselves for their duties mentally and physically. This includeds an emphasis on squad tactics and teamwork. Training is tied strongly to the concept of mission orientated orders. This concept also calls for each soldier to be able to do the job of the comrade who is a level or two above him in rank. A subordinate officer is not just expected to follow orders, but be able to improvise and seize the initiative. Firemane officers are given an objective to accomplish, a time frame within which it must be accomplished and the resources needed. The subordinate leader is given, to a large extent, the planning initiative and a freedom in execution which allows a high degree of flexibility at the operational and tactical levels of command. Mission-type orders free the higher leadership from tactical details.


This is of particular importance for the Drop Troopers because, depending on the mission, they might get deployed into a combat zone with little initial support. As a result, ability to improvise and adjust to sudden and unexpected changes on the battlefield is crucial to success. They also receive more extensive melee combat training than regular soldiers, so that they become proficient in the use of vibroblades and other common melee weapons. The Drop Troopers have a somewhat idiosyncratic tendency to carry vibro-bayonets. While bayonet charges are obviously very impractical and often downright suicidal at range, a bayonet can be a useful tool in close quarters, especially if you have run out of ammo and have no time to reload.

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out the Shadow Knights and sub the leader of the Blades of Reason. This character will also serve as a frenemy, foil and possible antagonist to Kaida and her group.
• ​Image Credit: How to properly source your images
• Role: High Illuminatrix of the Blades of Reason
• Links: Kaeshana, Church of Ashira,

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 82
• Force Sensitivity: Non-Force-User
• Species: Eldorai
• Appearance: [Please describe the NPC in at least one paragraph. Any distinguishing marks? Do they show their age? What do they usually wear? For droid characters, link to their production model, either on Wookieepedia or as an approved tech submission.]

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Cadera Naeyra
• Loyalties: Eldorai, Shadow Knights, Blades of Reason
• Wealth: [Please keep this reasonable, or be prepared to have a very good reason for exceptions. How wealthy are they? Where does that wealth come from? Are they stakeholders in existing corporations? If so, link to them.]
• Notable Possessions: [Again, please be reasonable. No holocrons of Force Storm, no private Super Star Destroyers, no canon items unless you've worked for them.]

Skills:

Personality: Cadera is a strong believer in the power of violence to attain political and personal goals. Years spent in the underground have shaped her into a harsh, vindictive and ruthless woman. She pursues her objectives with single-minded zeal. The violence she metes out is far from mindless though. Her faith in it does not stem from madness or sadism, but a ruthless political calculus combined with an extreme suspicion of her fellow beings. Cadera is a highly organised, indefatigable woman with a strong work ethic. She is capable of working extraordinarily long hours - sixteen hours a day.


Despite her often coarse mannerisms, she can be very charming in a rough way. She does not excel at public speaking, but is what is generally called a people person, able to charm, flatter and intimidate. Her years in the underground have followed her to build up quite a following and she is very good at reading other persons' intentions. At social functions, she is a good host. She also makes a big effort to ensure that her supporters have good accommodations, access to resources and so on. These traits mask a vindictive, suspicious spirit. The underworld of revolutionary politics Cadera experienced as a younger woman - a world of secrecy, intolerance, conspiratorial intrigue and glamourised violence - meshes well with her own ambitions and talent for intrigue.


In her youth Cadera was supposed to become a priestess. It is quite accurate to say that while you can take the seminaran out of the seminar, you cannot take the seminar out of the seminarian. At least in her case. In a way she is a Rationalist fanatic. She may be an atheist, but she is hardly a secular leader in the conventional sense. Indeed she once compared the Blades of Reason to a military-religious order of sword-bearers. They must die and kill for their rationalist faith in the inevitable betterment of the Eldorai race, making sacrifices with a fervour equal to that of the religious slaughters and martyrdoms that were performed in the name of the Goddess Ashira. She despises the Church, but divides the world in Good and Evil, Light and Dark, just like its believers do. Rather than otherworldly rewards, her creed promises progress and - eventually - perfection on earth. And like the rigid orthodox church, she expects obedience.


Despite being such a radical, Cadera still has conservative views on some issues. For example, she's opposed to interspecies relationships between Eldorai and non-Eldorai. By contrast, she supports equal male rights, though she is a bit patronising about it. Though no scientist, she is a proponent of the power of science and technology to improve the lives of sentient beings. While conservative Eldorai disdain droids and cybernetics, seeing both as perversions, she supports use of them. She once wrote a holojournal article attacking the hypocrisy of conservative clerics who urged young Eldorai to fight for the motherland, but then branded them as unclean if they used mechanical prothesis to replace limbs they'd lost in combat.


Cadera is still fond of singing the Ashiran hymns of her youth. She has a pleasant singing voice. She also takes pleasure in cultivating roses and mimosas. She's also a voracious reader of literature and an avid holofilm buff. Kaida and Cadera have an interesting relationship. Kaida is the superior warrior and commander, but Cadera is the better politician. Both share the same basic ideology, as they are radical atheists who wish to tear down the tripartite order of crown, temple and nobility. In its place they wish to impose a more 'progressive system of government'. Since neither are democrats it would probably turn into a military junta or a one-party state. While Cadera is good at socialising and plays the game, Kaida is dour and, crucially, opposed to cronyism, even if it would benefit her. While chilly, patronising and dismissive, Kaida lacks Cadera's racism towards the Eldorai's Tygaran cousins. The two have worked together, but also clashed. Kaida's trust in her is limited, partly due to Cadera's background.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice:

Combat Function:

HISTORICAL INFORMATION


Cadera was born in a remote border province of Kaeshana. Being born in the rural south-western settler colonies placed to watch over the Kar’zun reservations, Cadera grew up poor. Her mother was a former soldier who'd retired after sustaining serious injuries during a battle with slavers, while her father was a washerman. Growing up in poverty, Cadera felt a near-constant need to prove herself. She was often bullied by other children. Her mother, embittered by her forced retirement and what she considered to be unfair treatment by her superiors due to her low class origins, was an alcoholic and often beat her daughter to discipline her.


Cadera grew up bitter and resentful. Her father was a religious man and motivated her to pursue a career as a priestess. For someone with her low class background, this was one way to rise out of poverty. The Angelii would have been an option if Cadera had been a Force-sensitive. So Cadera was sent away from her home town to study in the provincial capital. There she was enrolled at the spiritual seminary. It probably helped that one of her mother former comrades had joined the clergy. She was also ennabled by a rare scholarship that allowed her to study at a reduced rate. Here she joined a couple hundred trainee priestesses who boarded at the seminary. Cadera was academically succesful and gained high grades. She also wrote poetry. Five of her poems were published under a pseudonyme in a local newspaper. Thematically, they concerned themselves with topics such as nature, land and patriotism.


However, as she grew older, Cadera lost interest in her studies; her graded dropped and she was repeatedly confined to a cell as punishment for her rebellious behaviour. Her teachers complained that she'd declared herself an atheist, chatted in class and refused to show clerics the appropriate respect. Attempts to teach her discipline only seemed to make her more rebellious. Cadera joined a forbidden book club while at school. This exposed her to heretical literature that had been banned by the government. One of them was the pro-revolutionary novel 'What Is To Be Done'. This book had been called a handbook for social radicalism, for it promoted the ideas of the Green Ribbons, a radical egalitarian movement. She was also influenced by the renowned scientist and scholar Galliena Gallia, who had been imprisoned and burnt at the stake after proclaiming the heretical belief that planets other than Kaeshana held intelligent life.


She also read the writings of the renowned biologist Charae Darwai, who'd claimed that Eldorai and humans shared common traits and origins, and the banned scriptures of Arryn, a heretical preacher who'd postulated that Ashira had both a divine and a mortal nature. At night, Cadera attended secret workers' meetings, getting in touch with 'Dark Eldorai' revolutionaries who advocated the violent overthrow of the regime, though they differed on what kind of system should replace it. Her disdain for the authorities, especially the church and nobility, intensified. Cadera displayed courage when the town was attacked by slavers. She helped shepherd fellow students to safety. Confronted by slavers, she was severely beaten and sustained scars that would stay with her for life, but saved by the arrival of the militia and regular soldiers. However, her secret activities did not remain unknown and she dropped out, though the school encouraged her to come back. Doing odd jobs, she devoted herself to becoming a professional revolutionary. Attracting a group of young women around her, she organised secret meetings of workers and peasants. The security police was aware of her subversive activities and attempted to arrest her, but she was canny and managed to elude them, living off donations from friends.


Remaining underground, she helped organise a demonstration, which turned into a bloody riot. She continued to evade arrest by using aliases and disguises. Her path led her to the New Green Ribbons rebel movement. Her militant rhetoric made some rebellious peasants believe she was an agent provocateur, but she gained notoriety by organising a public demonstration that led to a bloody riot and the storming of the local prison in a rural town. The militia opened fire on the demonstrators, killing more than a dozen of them. Cadera had made the final step to becoming a militant. She and her supporters armed herself with weapons stolen from the armoury.


Unrest had spread across the remote provinces of Kaeshana, as the New Green Ribbons rose up in revolt. Labelling the Star Queen an unjust tyrant, they declared that she must be overthrown in the name of the Goddess Ashira. Significantly, their leader was a royal pretender. For she claimed to be Aspasia, a scion of the Evora branch of the royal family, which had been ousted by Tirathana VI. In truth she was probably an army deserter and a demagogue. The usurper promised an end to oppressive taxation, freedom from exploitative nobles and 'forgiveness for all previous crimes'. Peasants would no longer toil the land for a lady or pay tithes to a corrupt Church. Every woman would reap what she had sown, from the highest lady to the lowest gutter rat. It is doubtful that Cadera believed that the pretender was of royal blood - or cared. Indeed she was already spouting republican rhetoric in those days. However, she sympathised with their social agenda.


The uprising was a brutal one. The pretender's make-believe utopia was played out against a backdrop of blood and terror. Her faux royal decrees unleashed a frenzy of hatred. Peasants rose in revolt, butchering the matriarchs, their families and hated tax collectors. Brigands, who claimed to be affiliated with whichever faction was ascendant, attacked travellers and raided settlements. The retaliation of the government troops was just as brutal. Even Cadera was shocked by how vicious the fighting was, but she soon embraced it. In these dark days, she made a name for herself as a political agitator, a bank robber and a guerilla fighter. Amid the orgy of violence, she formed battle squads of partisans. They disarmed local police and troops, raided government arsenals, ambushed convoys and raised money through protection rackets on local businesses and mines and by expropriating landowners. They also performed a peacekeeping function in territories held by the rebels. When ethnic violence broke out between Eldorai and Kar'zun labourers, her battle squads stepped in. They launched attacks on pro-government troops, participating in a number of raids.


However, ultimately the rebellion was crushed. Whether Cadera participated in the final battle is uncertain, but she went underground shortly thereafter. However, she was betrayed and arrested. Cadera claims that she was tortured and beaten during her incarceration. This is very likely, though some detractors claim that she got preferential treatment in prison by agreeing to become a police informant. She made an escape attempt by digging a tunnel beneath her cell, but was captured and sent to a prison with tighter security measures. Attempts by the prison chaplain to make her see the light did not work out. Cadera was finally set free when Queen Silaqui III. declared an amnesty for all but the most serious political criminals. This was a gesture of good will towards the Omega Protectorate, of which Kaeshana had become a member state, that was supposed to prove her credentials as an 'enlightend despot'. Many of those set free by this decree did give up their revolutionary aspirations or went into exile, where they tended to spend a lot of time debating in the cafes of Fondor and Corellia instead of actually doing stuff.


However, Cadera was not one of them. Her stay in prison had only radicalised her even further. She had come to the conclusion that Ashira was a fraud. One of her cellmates happened to be a radical member of a group called the Blades of Reason and helped the young radical get in touch with them. The Blades were an atheistic, antiaristocratic and anticlerical secret society that stood in opposition to the Church and the Monarchy. While it embraced members of all social classes, it was dominated by soldiers and intellectuals. It propagated atheism, scientific advancement, land reform, nationalisation of big businesses and a republican form of government. Influenced by non-Eldorai viewpoints, the Blades rejected the idea that the Force is a Goddess-given gift. Cadera agreed with many of their principles, but stood out due to her low class origins. Many of the Blades were intellectuals, more accustomed to debate than action. While not a good speaker, Cadera spoke the language of the common Eldorai. Her militancy disconcerted several of the Blades, some of whom suspected she might be a police spy.


However, Cadera soon resumed her career as a political agitator. While not charismatic, she was a good organiser, setting up cells for the Blades in various towns and organising the distribution of propaganda materiel. To raise funds, she organised the robbing of a large delivery of aurodium to the Royal Bank. Her gang ambushed the convoy with gunfire and home-made explosives. Several people were killed, but she and her gang escaped. After the heist, several Blades confronted Cadera and expelled her from the group, which had disavowed violence after Anya Venari took the crown as Star Queen Tirathana VII. The new sovereign was known to be a liberal, open-minded woman who wanted to modernise Kaeshana and put an end to religious persecution. Some of the radicals believed they could achieve their aims through peaceful means by working within the system. Disgusted, Cadera took no notice of the expulsion. Taking control of a local chapter of the Blades, she became the editor of a forbidden holojournal. She assembled a new gang, which attacked Ashiran militants and raised finances by running protection rackets and carrying out robberies.


The more pacific Blades were disgusted by her actions, but she found an ally in Aravae Elsatra, a former army officer who'd studied at the Protectorate's military academy on Fondor and been exposed to foreign ideas there. Unlike Cadera, Aravae was born into a middle class family. Her mother had even been ennobled, though a series of poor business decisions caused them to lose a good deal of their wealth. However, Aravae was a political radical who believed in decisive action. More of a theoretical thinker than Cadera, the two found common ground, although Cadera resented Aravae's patronising attitude. Taking control over the Blades' leadership committee in what can only been described as a coup after exposing her predecessor as a government spy, Aravae pushed them towards a radical direction. Cadera had to leave Kaeshana for a bit and go into exile because the security forces were hot on her heels. Indeed she barely eluded them. For a while she served as a conduit between Aravae and the Eldorai exiles community.


Cadera returned during the Netherworld Event, which sent the Galaxy spiralling into chaos. Kaeshana exploded in paroxysms of violence. Countless people vanished into the Netherworld, religious fanatics declared that the end of days was at hand and that therefore the only way to avert hellfire was to regain Ashira's favour by purging the unbelievers and 'human monkeighs'. Nonbelievers were targeted by militants and the surviving Blades responded with violent action. The security forcess were caught in the middle, trying to impose order and keep the Matriarchy from descending into chaos. Suffice to say the radical militant got plenty of opportunities to occupy herself with illegal activities.


Cadera was one of the few senior Blades who stayed on Kaeshana after a government crackdown forced most of their leadership to go into exile. For a while this made her the de facto leader of the Kaeshana branches, though her authoritarian, coarse mannerisms won her many enemies. Her few attempts at public speaking went extremely poorly since she lacked the charisma to excite a crowd. She was better at direct action and at organising things behind the scenes. Nonetheless, she was made a member of the Committee of Rationalist Security. She was not regarded as a leader by her peers, but as an energetic troubleshooter who could get things done. This worked to her advantage because others tended to underestimate her.


However, she grew frustrated with the Blades' lack of progress. After all the disruptions, most Eldorai wanted peace and stability, not revolutions. Moreover, the 'Dark Eldorai' were a terribly fractious bunch. Some wanted a monarchy under a different queen, others an Ashiran or Illyrian theocracy, others a military junta or some form of republic. Some wanted to topple the government, others believed it was more worthwhile and realistic to seek out a new home in the stars. Then the Cataclysm changed everything. A massive asteroid collided with Kaeshana. Some religious fanatics saw it as Ashira's punishment for straying from the old ways and consorting with foreign devils. Having been forewarned, the Eldorai and Firemane made a colossal effort to save as many Eldorai as possible. More than three billion could be saved and evacuated to Tygara. Firemane's warships were able to drastically reduce the asteroid in size. This mitigated the destruction caused by it. However, some Eldorai had to be left behind. They were forced to eke out an existence in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.


The Shadow Knights arose out of the ashes, dedicated to protecting the 'Forsaken'. Feeling embittered towards the now Tygara-based Eldorai Matriarchy, they reached out towards rebel groups such as the Blades. Thus the Blades became part of the revolutionary bloc the Shadows strove to build. Members of the group took up arms as soldiers of the Shadows during the failed Kaeshana Rebellion. Cadera sensed an opportunity to gain influence. It may be a bit baffling given her past deeds, but she presented herself as a moderate among the Blades. The hardliners among them were disgruntled about allying with the Shadows, whose leader made it clear that freedom of religion would be enshrined in their constitution. Cadera became a troubleshooter for Aravae, helping the Shadows acquire supplies to feed the dwindling population and try to rebuild Kaeshana's shattered infrastruture. However, both leaders clashed after Cadera began to aggrandise power for herself and insulted the High Illuminatrix' husband. But the Blades' leader was in ill health. She tried to remove Cadera from the Committee of Rationalist Security, but was incapacitated by a stroke.


For a while there was a collective leadership, which Cadera came to dominate in the aftermath of the Kaeshana Rebellion and the Shadows' retreat from the planet, which was annexed by the First Order. Cadera's new credo is 'march through the institutions'. According to this, the Blades must build up a sophisticated organisation, invest in the training of cadres and ensure that their people are placed in crucial positions. To this end they shall take advantage of their propaganda network to attract recruits and spread their message. Many Eldorai lost faith in the Pantheon because Ashira did not save Kaeshana from destruction or foreign occupation, which is something she intends to capitalise on. Detractors refer to her group as 'Cult of Reason'.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Add some flavour to Eldorai and Kar'zun lore and give Kaida's rebels a fun unit to play with.
• Image Credit: Here. 'Iron Golem' by KhezuG. Found on Deviantart.com.
• Role: The Obsidians Wardens are allied to Kaida's rebel band. They are also available for hire by other parties. In addition, they also serve as guides for independent Kar'zun clans.
• Links: Kar'zun, Shapers of Kro Var, Kaeshana.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Unit Name: Obsidian Wardens
• Affiliation: Kar'zun, Shadow Knights.
• Classification: Force Warriors, Heavy Infantry.

Equipment:

• Heavy Durasteel Armour or personal Matrix Armour.
• Plasma cannon.
• Imperial Heavy Repeater, Baragwin disruptor, T21 light repeating blaster with power generator. Concussion rifle or Plasma Shotgun.
• Baragwin flamethrower or Cryo projector.
• Power hammers, Force imbued greatswords, vibro maces, vibro halberds, Sarzmigar Mk2 or Force pikes.
• Heavy blaster pistol or Cylix bolt pistol.
• Proton grenades, Frag grenades, Dampener aerosol grenades, smoke grenades, thermal imploders, thermal detonators.

COMBAT INFORMATION

• Availability: Unique
• Deployment: Limited

Strengths & Weaknesses:

They possess the strength of stone, for Kar'zun are literally walking rocks. This makes the Wardens incredibly strong, tough and resilient. Through their lives the Kar'zun get tougher and stronger. The Obsidians Wardens are very old. Their natural toughness is augmented by wearing heavy armour. Being made with the toughness of stone, they are extremely resistant to both and cold. Intense cold and heat could still hurt them, but only with prolonged exposure. However, while even the most fearsome arctic weather is little trouble to them, they do not do well in jungles or hot deserts.


The Obsidians Wardens are very disciplined, powerful warriors. Equipped with heavy weapons, swords, maces, mauls and the like, they can do a good deal of damage, especially at close range, where they can also use their size and weight to smash opponents. Moreover, every single Warden is a Force-user. They specialise in Terramancy, Force Barrier, Tutaminis, Force Resistance, Force Valour and Telekinesis. Terramancy can be utilised offensively, defensively or for utility purposes and grants them skills that can be roughly compared to Earth Shaping, though there is no relation between the Kar'zun and the Shapers of Kro Var. Their natural toughness, heavy armour and defensive powers make the Wardens good tanks. Thus they can soak up damage, buff allies or generate barriers to protect them from harm. Being an unusual type of creature, Kar'zun are almost impossible to mentally dominate with the Force. They resist mental attacks fairly easily.


However, they are extremely slow. As Kar'zun age they became tougher, but also slower and more ponderous. The Wardens are very old. This does not affect their mental abilities, but they simply cannot move fast. This is something an opponent could use against them in battle. More lightly armoured, agile opponents could conceivably outmanoeuvre them and whittle down their defences via ambushes and hit-and-run attacks. This can also put the Kar'zun at a disadvantage in melee since they favour large, heavy weapons. While their bodies are very tough, their eyes are vulnerable to attacks more than other parts. Due to their racial characteristics, Kar'zun are also vulnerable to sonic and pulse weapons.


Their armour is tough, but its lightsabre resistance is minor. Superior to what a suit of Stormtrooper armour would provide, but still inferior in quality to a truly lightsabre-resistant suit. Their thick hides themselves provide only glancing protection from lightsabres. Being infantry the Wardens are vulnerable to air strikes and long range bombardment. They are big, obvious targets, and so opponents will see and hear them coming. In short, good targets for snipers. Powerful land mines are also a good method because they're vulnerable once they're down. Moreover, the entire unit is extremely small, for there are only seven Wardens.


Description:

The Kar'zun have long memories. They remember a time of glory, when they were mighty and there was a united Kar'zun realm. The conflict between them and the Eldorai shaped the history of Kaeshana, for good or ill. The Kar'zun are a silicon-based race of rock people that originated on Kaeshana along with the Eldorai. They are strong, tough and honourable, but also a wounded people. The rivalry between races was fierce and they warred for centuries, before Star Queen Ariane I, one of the greatest and most ruthless generals of the Eldorai, wrested victory from near-defeat and crushed the Kar'zun.


Relations were poisoned for centuries, for the Star Queen enacted a near-genocidal campaign. By the time she died the Kar'zun were effectively dead as a people. To the Kar'zun she was a war criminal, a genocidal murderer they called Az’varik, the deadly flame. To the Eldorai meanwhile she was a hero, a woman who saved her people and brought them victory over their enemies. Regardless of the morality or lack thereof, her actions ensure that it was Eldorai not Kar’zun who would rule Kaeshana.


Her successors ended the slaughter, but forced the Kar'zun into reservations. Controls waxed and waned over the centuries. Eventually, they were emancipated and given territory of their own during the reign of Star Queen Tirathana VII. The liberal despot was troubled by the past atrocities and believed that a lasting peace could only be achieved through understanding. However, many Kar'zun had left Kaeshana, seeking a better life in the stars. Their skills made them useful mercenaries, traders, metal smiths and stone masons. As those who requested their services almost always discovered, a Kar'zun's word is his bond.


The Obsidians Wardens are one of the Kar'zun groups that chose to pursue a better life elsewhere. They are a bit of a rarity among their people, for they are Force-sensitives. While Force-users are common among the Eldorai, they are exceptionally rare among the Kar'zun. Perhaps less than one in a thousand has any perception of the Force. Perhaps less than one in a thousand has any perception of the Force. Those which do are usually made priests regardless of their previous social status and specialise in elemental applications of the Force.


The Obsidian Wardens are descendants of a cadet branch of the old royal family and members of the priesthood. The direct royal line was exterminated by the Eldorai during the sack of the capital of Vak’zahr. The group was founded by Kan'Thaza. If he had been in a more peaceful, less violent age, he would have probably been destined to assume a leading role in the clergy of the Creator God Zak’zakada, using his knowledge and elemental powers to aid his second cousin, the Queen of the Kar'zun. But when the Eldorai sacked Vak’zahr, they eradicated all the Kar'zun they could find. Their last queen, his relative, was killed. Her body was smashed with hammers and burnt to ash. These shocking events left their mark on him.


He and his allies escaped from Kaeshana, along with a few other exiles. For a while there was unity between the exiles, but then one radical sect emerged which sought to exact vengeance for the atrocities the Eldorai had inflicted on them - by any means necesary. They sought to achieve this goal by invading Kaeshana. However, they would not only punish the Eldorai, but also the Kar'zun still on the planet, believing that they had failed the race.


Kan'Thaza and his allies broke away from this group, which, after plotting for an absurd amount of time, tried to invade Kaeshana and drop an asteroid on it. This went poorly for the Legion of the Damned, as they called themselves. Those who'd split from them called themselves the Obsidian Wardens. Acquiring a proper spaceship, they set off into the Galaxy, seeking contact with others of their race while selling their martial skills to the highest bidder. Over the centuries their numbers were whittled down, though the strength of those who survived this brutal process of attrition only grew. Independent Kar'zun clans wrote stories and ballads about their exploits. They acquired a reputation for never breaking a contract and showing great valour in combat. Combat wise they equipped themselves with tough armour, heavy weapons, war hammers, vibro-maces and similar weapons. Their skill as terramancers made them potent in both offence and defence. Ideal for breaching fortifications or entrenched enemy positions, they were highly capable fighters. But they never forgot the near-destruction of their people. Where possible, they launched attacks on the Eldorai Matriarchy, though they refused to let their desire for vengeance consume them the way it had the Damned.


Today the Wardens are extremely old, extremely tough and extremely bitter. In the aftermath of Kaeshana's destruction and its occupation by the First Order a few years later, they have began to work with the Shadow Knights. Unlike many Eldorai, Archon Naesala Faethyra is not racist towards the stone people, having encountered and worked with them during her time as an exile. The rebels have, officially at least, declared the Kar'zun to be fellow Asurans. However, the Wardens still tend to keep tot hemselves. Ironically, they are on good terms with the Harbingers of Twilight, a warrior cult of Force Dead Eldorai who worship the Death Goddess Illyria, whom conservative Eldorai regard as the archenemy of the Goddess Ashira. Having experienced persecution due to being seen as 'blasphemous demon-worshippers', the Illyrians are able to feel empathy for the stone people.


The Warden work with the Eldorai rebels because both despise the leadership of the Eldorai Matriarchy. To the rebels, it is the ancien régime that, from their point of view, abandoned Kaeshana, while to the Wardens it is the régime that signed the death warrant of their race. But the Wardens still pursue their own agenda. They are available for other parties to hire, provided said groups are not seen as inimical to the Kar'zun race. The somewhat kranky stone men and women have occasionally been hired by Firemane, which has given them access to some of the corporation's weapons. The fact that the Shadow Knights' relationship with the megacorporation is tense does not bother the Wardens. Some Wardens also still seek to gather their remaining people, having not lost hope that they can rise again or at least live a more dignified existence. To this end they also seek a new home.


Compared to most military units, the Wardens have a more relaxed command structure. It helps that they are a very small unit. Their members are all very old stone men and women who do not need micromanagement and all count as elders among their people. As a result they're rather egalitarian in their daily interactions with one another. Aside from honing their martial skills, they also make an effort to recover lost Kar'zun treasures, artefacts and cultural heirlooms. The Shadow Knights' Archon won some respect by returning Kar'zun heirlooms that had been seized by the Eldorai government after the war's end, been lost during the chaos of the Exodus and discovered by her soldiers during a raid on the base of a pirate lord who had been abducting Eldorai to enslave them.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Codify a companion for Kaida and Eyrecae.
• ​Image Credit: How to properly source your images
• Role: Rogue Knight, friend of Kaida, Shadow Knight operative.
• Links: Twin Exiles.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 66
• Force Sensitivity: Knight
• Species: Eldorai
• Appearance: [Please describe the NPC in at least one paragraph. Any distinguishing marks? Do they show their age? What do they usually wear? For droid characters, link to their production model, either on Wookieepedia or as an approved tech submission.]

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Ylaea Althena
• Loyalties: Kaida Taldir, Shadow Knights, Naesala Faethyra.
• Wealth: Low. Ylaea is not wealthy at all.

Notable Possessions:

• Stealth-2VX palm shooter
• Dual-phase lightsabre

Skills:

• Duelling
• Elemental Abilities (Air and Lightning)
• Psychometry
• Force Cloak
• Dampen Force
• Force Flash
• Force Stealth

Personality: Ylaea's personality is best described in comparison to that of her acerbic friend Kaida Taldir. Kaida is dour, blunt, laconic and cold. She is extremely set in her ways. She is dedicated to her people and wants to do her duty...but also expects to be the one who gets to define what duty is.


Ylaea is quite blunt and straightforward, but a lot more gregarious, lighthearted and personable. In short, easier to get along with. She has a dry sense of humour and is a bit of a tease, especially where the comically serious Kaids is concerned. She also has a higher alcohol tolerance, whereas Kaida is a lightweight who stays away from liquor consumption. Ylaea had been shaped by the fact that she was raised in two cultures. For while she was born on Kaeshana and thus grew up in the Matriarchy, she was abducted by slavers at a young age. Later she managed to escape with the help of a Jedi and trained by them. This makes her one of the very few Eldorai who joined the Jedi order. However, she eventually grew disillusioned and decided to become an independent operator, doing good in her own way.


This also means that Ylaea is more than a little removed from the age-old squabbles that her people find so important. This can cause frustration her part because the Eldorai are so...divisive, prone to schisms and intrigue. One of her common jokes is 'three Eldorai is a church, four a schism and five a civil war'. Sadly, there's more than a grain of truth to it. Ylaea tends to deflect with humour when things get to her. Some Eldorai regard this as a lack of commitment and accuse her of not being a 'true Eldorai', whatever that is. She finds the infighting tiresome and stupid. However, she is still dedicated to helping build a better future for her people. She was drawn to the Shadow Knights because they promised to build a system based on merit rather than classism and aristocracy. Though she admits that the rebel coalition is deeply flawed, divided and has a long way to go, she sees hope in it. However, she prefers being an independent operator to being part of a formal hierarchy. Some see this as lack of commitment or dumb stubbornness, she regards it as self-reliance. She also does her best to stay out of factional squabbles in the movement.


Ylaea harbours a great deal of guilt because she was not there for the Kaeshana Rebellion. At the time it occured she was offworld, having been dispatched on a mission by the Shadow Knights. Intellectually she knows that one more fighter would not have affected things, but she feels survivors' guilt due to losing friends in the uprising. This is something she tried to hide though.


Ylaea rejects the dualist view of morality that the Jedi and Sith share. Like other Eldorai she believes her Sciia is her spiritual power and that it is her actions that shape her destiny, not an energy field shared by all other things. Her parents raised her to believe in the Goddess Ashira, though she was never that devout. These days she follows a sort of Deist philosophy. This posits that a supreme deity exists and is ultimately responsible for creation, but does not interfere directly with the created world. Perhaps there was a time when this deity walked the earth and called itself Ashira, but that was aeons ago. She rejects divine revelation or intervention of Ashira in the universe by miracles. She compares the Deist deity to an artist who was satisfied with their work.


Ylaea is broadly Light Side, but not a rigid dogmatist or a pacifist. Good is not soft is an appropriate trope, as while she is an affable person, her niceness doesn't extend to giving free passes to vile and horrific enemies. Or trying to talk down an opponent on the battlefield. From her point of view, the lightsabre she carries is a weapon and meant to be used as one. Gratuitous cruelty disgusts her though. She also refuses to play with dark artefacts and is suspicious of those who do.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice: Lightsabre, the Force, small arms.

Combat Function: Ylaea is a highly skilled duellist. She is trained in the five classical forms of lightsabre combat, but focuses on Form II. She's also proficient in the use of conventional melee weapons such as vibroblades and staff weapons. She has a strong Force connection, which manifests itself in some more unorthodox abilities. Like all Eldorai Force-users, Talsir is an elementalist. The Force-Sensitives of her race all specialise in one particular element, and hers is that of Air. In that regard she can be compared to an Air Shaper. Her connection to the element of air also encompasses the ability to manipulate and generate lightning. She can generate powerful winds, increase air pressure or vacate a small area of air, summon or manipulate lightning to smite her opponents with electrical discharges. Moreover, she has strong powers of concealment, namely Force Cloak, Stealth and Flash. Dampen Force allows her to temporarily negate or diminish the ability of her opponents to use the Force against her, though this requires intense focus.


She also has the traditional Eldorai strengths: Agility, dexterity and impressive hand-eye coordination. However, like most Eldorai, Ylaea is on average physically weaker and has a lower pain threshold than a human. Her telekinetic abilities are extremely weak. With focus she can lift a pebble or similar small objects. Thus the battlefield applications are very limited. Her lack of raw strength can put her at a disadvantage against stronger opponents, as she must rely on finesse and agility rather than brute force. She has limited skill with ranged weapons and is not proficient in the use of heavy weapons.


HISTORICAL INFORMATION


Ylaea was born in a family of lower caste Eldorai Her family lived in the city of Naldasa, a minor town about 100km from the capital city of Santaissa, the city most open to foreigners. This was a period of great changes and upheavals for the people of Kaeshana, who had for millennia lived in splendid isolation, secure in the belief that they were the only intelligent and most developed race in the Galaxy. The Plague and the Four Hundred Year Darkness had been conducive to such notions, but now outsiders were finally finding their way back to Kaeshana. Some came as merchants, eager to trade their goods, with the resultant culture shock that they possessed superior technology, but others came as pirates and raiders, eager to murder, pillage and enslave. However, at this stage the Taldirs saw very little of foreigners. For one the monarchy was eager to keep them at arm’s lengths, though it eager to adapt their tech to its own use to strengthen the kingdom. Moreover, most foreigners congregated in Santaissa and the Althenas were more focused on their own survival.


At an early age, Ylaea met and befriended a young Eldorai girl called Kaida Taldir. The Taldirs belonged to a more elevated social strata than the Althenas, but they became friends nonetheless and often played together. Ylaea was more outgoing and adventurous than Kaida, whose bossiness and know-it-all attitude won her few friends at school. Ylaea's parents loved her and she had a rather uneventful childhood. As she had only one sibling, a brother, her parents concealed her Sciiac (Force) abilities from the Angelii agents so she could help them out in their old age. However, before she became an adult, tragedy struck, for Naldasa was hit by a flood.


The two girls were separated by the natural disaster. Kaida, who could not swim, watched her parents get swept away by the tide and was caught in it. Seemingly helpless and in an act of desperation she unconsciously drew on the power inherent to her and froze the water in front of her to create an ice floe and subsequently managed to crawl onto it, effectively floating on the water for several hours before she was picked up by a rescue team that had been searching for survivors on a ship.


Ylaea, believing her friend to be dead, was able to reach a safe area, but was shortly thereafter abducted by foreign slavers who'd caught word of the flood and saw a convenient target to raid. Thus the girl was hauled off into slavery after putting up a futile struggle. Decency and good taste precludes mention of what happened in the following several years, but it could be described euphemistically as ‘unpleasant’. To discipline her, she had one of her ear tips cut off as punishment. Finally the abuse became too much and she retaliated, manifesting her Sciia powers for the first time and stabbing her owner in a mad frenzy. Pursued she was able to escape through the sewers.


Now she found herself in a wholly unfamiliar environment, far away from her kin, surrounded by strange aliens who did not speak her language. For a while she lived on the streets, hiding from her former captors. She became a small-time thief, performing petty thefts to stay alive. However, her life was turned upside down when she tried to steal from Jedi Master Kai'sha Kuda. This obviously went poorly for her. However, the Jedi showed her compassion, even defending the girl from gangsters she had antagonised and who wanted to sell her into slavery again. Ylaea, who'd had little contact with Force-users on her homeworld, was awed by the Jedi's power and the seemingly effortless way she disposed of her attackers. She wanted to be strong and bring those who'd wronged her to justice. Kai'sha promised to train her, but she made Ylaea swear that she'd follow her teachings and obey her.


Thus Ylaea left Tatooine behind her and was taken in by the Jedi, who quickly began to train her in the ways of the Force. Ylaea proved a quick learner, but buckled under the rules and organisation of the Jedi order. Some of the trainers at the Jedi enclave believed her anger and stubbornness would lead her to he dark side. They were alarmed when she suddenly manifested a blast of lightning during a training session, for they did not distinguish between elemental and Sith lightning. They were also concerned when she displayed psychometry. Her stubbornness held her back. One night during a boring routine mission, Ylaea snuck away after she'd learned of the location of the slavers who'd tormented her. The corsairs were celebrating after another successful 'haul'. Breaking into their hideout, she butchered them to the last. Pleas for mercy from those who surrendered them fell on deaf ears, for being locked in a prison cell was too good for them. After freeing the captives, she alerted the authorities so that they could help the poor souls.


When she returned to her master she expected to be punished. However, to her surprise Kai'sha praised her for taking justice into her own hands, though she criticised her for being so 'crude'. She was told that her anger was natural but that she would have to be careful and guard her emotions, as the other Jedi would not understand. This strengthened the bond between them. Little did Ylaea know that Kai'sha was actually a closeted Sith who'd infiltrated the Jedi order. In all fairness, no one else seemed to notice. Ylaea fought during the First Battle of Roche, where she put her training as a Jedi Guardian to good use to help Verpine researchers reach friendly lines and evade Sith troops who sought to capture them and their research. After proving her mettle against Sith knights and stormtroopers, she was knighted. She and her master were reunited during the Dark Harvest Crisis. Ylaea was on Dagobah, searching for clues on the origins of the zombie virus. However, she and the soldiers accompanying her were overrun by undead after having secured a piece of research. The tide seemed overwhelming. It seemed the end was near and Ylaea was close to going out in a blaze of glory with a grenade to avoid being infected. However, she was saved from certain death - or worse - when Kai'sha showed up with a force of soldiers, decimating the horde and allowing Ylaea and the few survivors to escape. Grateful for the rescue, Ylaea was still wracked with guilt over the deaths on her team, feeling that they were her fault as she had acted rashly. Kai'sha comforted her - and persuaded her to pass the research materiel on to her so that she could keep it safe and study it for the good of all, so that these sacrifices would not be in vain.


At the Battle of Metalorn, Ylaea assisted anti-Sith insurgents in performing sabotage operations and rescuing some of their captured comrades. However, the overall battle went poorly and she was disgusted when she heard about war crimes committed on the Republic side. She was also angered when, in the aftermath of the battle, the Republic signed a peace treaty with the Sith Empire. She did not believe that the Republic had secured 'peace for our time'. These were the circumstances that led to her being reunited with her former master. Kai'sha revealed to her that the Jedi order and the Republic had been infiltrated by a cabal of Sith Lords who were plotting to destroy the Light. Seemed legit. However, she was part of a Jedi Covenant whose members wanted to tear out the roots of corruption and ensure the Light would rise again. Part of Ylaea found this a bit hard to swallow...but on the other hand. Anyhow, she was dispatched on a covert mission to secure a dark artefact that had popped up in the criminal underworld. Using a combination of trickery, force and guile, Ylaea was able to obtain the device and brought it back to her master, who was quite pleased.


However, then Ylaea began to pester the senior Jedi about what her plans were, after being told not to tell the archivist about her mission and the item. Kai'sha began to hint - rather blatantly - at her 'grand plan', which involved ridding the Jedi order of 'traitors'. She went on to speechify about how it was only possible to enact change and bring peace to the Galaxy by embracing all aspects of the Force. However, Ylaea called her out on these heretical philosophies, and so Kai'sha admitted to being a Sith Lord. She went on to speechify about how her success at infiltrating the Jedi order was proof that it was broken. The same applied to the, as she put it, corrupt Republic. What the Galaxy needed was leadership from an 'enlightened elite' that could make the 'hard choices' the 'mundanes' did not have the stomach or vision for. They could rid the Galaxy of injustice and slavery by working together and so on and so forth.


At this stage Ylaea had enough and attacked her. This led to a rather dramatic duel. However, being a Master of the Force, Kai'sha was a good deal stronger and able to overpower her apprentice. However, after subduing her student with the power of the Dark Side, she stopped to monologue, as 'super villains' and those who'd like to be them tend to do. Said monologue largely consisted of the usual cliches about how nothing could compare to the unlimited power of the Dark Side and all that. She gave Ylaea a chance to be her apprentice and transcend the limitations of the Light. Being in a bad shape, Ylaea pretended to accept and knelt. Kai'sha was in the process of picking a suitable Darth name for Ylaea when the Eldorai suddenly summoned her lightsabre from behind her master, cutting her legs at the ankles. Kai'sha was turned over to the Jedi Temple Guards and put in custody.


Disillusioned, Ylaea turned in her lightsabre and quit. Becoming a rogue was the cool and trendy thing to do anyway. She fought as a volunteer during the Republic-Sith War, but walked her own path from now on. She also constructed a new lightsabre to replace the one she'd given up. After buying herself a freighter, she set out to do good and right wrongs. This led to a reunion with Kaida. She encountered the frosty elf and a band of Angelii while both happened to be pursuing the same target, a Bando Gora remnant. The reunion was a tad awkward. Kaida was even bossier than usual and had turned into an extremely dour woman who was even more laconic than most Spartans. They had a good time slaughtering Reavers though. Ylaea turned down an offer to join the Angelii an defend the Motherland because she liked her independence, which made Kaida grumpy. Or rather grumpier than her usual norm. Still both were happy about the fact that the other was still alive.


Ylaea did return to Kaeshana to meet her surviving family again. Her father had died in the flood, but her mother had remarried and now Ylaea had a little sister. Kaeshana being opened up to the outside Galaxy had also improved her family's economic circumstances. Ylaea stayed on the planet for a while, trying to reconnect with her roots. However, she'd been away for so long that she felt like a stranger. While Kaida was supportive, many of her old friends no longer saw her as a 'true Eldorai'. When her home town was hit by an anti-foreigner riot, Ylaea tried to step in to help keep the peace and keep it from turning into a pogrom against 'infidels' and 'false Eldorai'. The riot involved lynchings of 'monkeigh lovers' and attacks on temples where Eldorai did not worship the Goddess 'the right way'. Her intervention caused some trouble with the authorities, for she was an unsanctioned vigilante acting outside the law.


To her disgust, one of the leading participants in the riot was an old schoolfriend, who'd turned into a militant zealot and xenophobe. After being subdued, her former friend declared her to be a blood traitor and 'monkeigh lover'. Kaida arranged for Ylaea to be put into Angelii custody. This was for the best since a number of the local gendarms shared the rioters' radical views and tried to arrange a situation where she was 'shot while trying to escape'. Disgusted by how reactionary matriarchs were exploiting the riot for political gain, Ylaea soon left Kaeshana and returned to being a Rogue Knight, though she maintained sporadic contact with Kaida.


It was around this time that her paths crossed with those of Naesala Faethyra. The former Eldorai army officer had been banished decades ago during the reign of Tirathana VI. Having undergone a process of disillusionment with the Matriarchy, she now led a paramilitary force of Eldorai rebels who protected their fellow exiles by fighting against slavers and similar scum that preyed on them. Ylaea was too independent-minded to become a soldier and fit into a rigid hierarchy, but the two elves struck up a friendship nonetheless. Naesala was a pragmatic woman and appreciated the perspective of someone who was removed from the usual squabbles that made Eldorai society so divisive.


Ylaea stood by her when Naesala founded the Shadow Knights. The group started as a survivalist organisation dedicated to helping the Eldorai that had been left behind during the Exodus to Tygara and retoring order on devastated Kaeshana. Eventually it sought to unite the Eldorai renegades who wanted to build a new future outside of the trinity of crown, altar and throne. Ylaea, who had sped to Kaeshana with her cargo ship to help the survivors, performed several missions for them. To her shame, she was not there for the Kaeshana Rebellion because she'd gone undercover to pursue a group of slavers. The mission was a success and innocent lives were saved, but it also meant she was too late to participate in the great battle for her homeworld.


She felt immense guilt when she learned that the homeworld had been lost and that she should reunite with the Shadow Knight migrant fleet, which had managed to escape with help from Firemane. She stayed with the Shadow Knights from that moment on. Aside from her usual duties, she also worked as a recruiter, though she refused to accept a formal position. Here and there she spoke with Kaida. The frosty Angelii had participated in the Kaeshana Rebellion and went to fight at Asmeru, Skor, Bespin and Thyferra. She was also disillusioned with the Eldorai Matriarchy. Ylaea figured it was only a matter of time until she went rogue. The former Jedi turned out to be right when her old friend contacted her after quitting the Angelii and going rogue. Ylaea acted as a contact between the Shadow Knights and Kaida, who'd added the adventurous Vashyada Tryana and the primeval Eldorai Eyrecae Alzari to her crew. When the trio finally met with Shadow Knight representatives, Kaida was as laconic and blunt as humanely possible, but ended up joining.


More recently Ylaea was one of the Shadow Knights dispatched to establish some form of dialogue with the Eldorai Matriarchy after the Eldorai and the Tygaran natives abandoned Tygara in the Second Great Exodus. The elves sought a new future in the stars, while Tygara was left with no sentient population. Despite internal resistance from hardliners, Archon Naesala Faethyra wanted to set up some form of contact with the royalists. Though far from a diplomat, Ylaea had common sense and could keep an eye on the representatives.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

Spoiler

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out the Harbingers of Twilight by subbing a member.
• ​Image Credit: Here. 'Daily sketch 232/365 by Takeda11.
• Role: Scout, close range and melee support for the Harbingers of Twilight, friend of Ashana.
• Links: Harbingers of Twilight, Ashana, Raevana.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 62
• Force Sensitivity: Force Dead.
• Species: Eldorai.
• Appearance: Siona is an Eldorai female of average height, with long red hair and prominent pointed ears. Red hair is rare among the Eldorai and treated as a sign of good luck. She's certainly had her share of luck when it comes to getting out of unpleasant situations. She has a lean, athletic build. She has a couple tattoos on her face and upper arm. These represent religious symbols and are quite common among the Harbingers. She received her first to mark a rite of passage after she was rescued from Raevana. She has been endowed with Steng's Talons as part of her escalation. Her eyes change colors depending on her mood much like Yuuzhan Vong Mqaaq’ithttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mqaaq'it.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Siona Vaerum,
• Loyalties: Harbingers of Twilight, Ashana.
• Wealth: Average. Enough to cover her expenses, but not wealthy by any means.

Notable Possessions:

• Skerr Kyrric
• Cloak of Nuun
• Amphistaff
• Sonic disruptor

Skills:

• Melee & Ranged Combat
• Scouting
• Proficient in use of Amphistaff
• Piloting

Personality: By the standards of most Eldorai, Siona is an abomination. She is an outcast who defies the Crown and denies Ashira's grace. She worships the Death Goddess Illyria, a traitorous member of the Eldorai Pantheon who rebelled against the Great Goddess Ashira out of jealousy and was cast into a hellish pit. She's also Force Dead, which from the perspective of an Ashiran means she has no soul.


Siona is not bothered by this in the least. Indeed, she considers the way she is to be normal. Being Force Dead means she has been freed from Ashira's shackles. By contrast, those who can tap into their Sciia and draw upon its power are abnormal. Her views have been challenged by her close friendship with Ashana, an former Angelii and rogue Force-user Siona encountered during her time in the Netherworld. Both teamed up to escape the Field of Blades, and Siona stuck with the amnesiac, near-feral Eldorai, whose sanity had been aversely affected by the trauma she'd endured.


What she endured in the Netherworld after being raptured has left scars on Siona. To a degree, she manifests the attitude of someone with an outlook on life that can be summed up as 'the worst that could happen to me, has happened'. At first she believed that the rapture was a blessing from her Goddess and identified Akala with Illyria or one of her demons. However, she was soon disabused of that notion. Trapped in an endless cycle, she only escaped by teaming up with a Force-user. Their shared experience has made her very loyal to Ashana and she refused to forsake even when her brethren pushed her to do so.


Her upbringing has endowed Siona with some traits unusual among Eldorai. For one, she lacks the rampant sexism so common among her race. It is a little known fact, but Eldorai society was not sexist from the start. Rather the gender imbalance between females and males is something that developed over time, leading towards a highly stratified, matriarchal society, which can be considered the inversion of the patriarchal system so common among human societies. However, Siona's Illyrian cult reject this system and are fairly egalitarian. The reasoning for this is two-fold: Firstly, the Ashiran Church preaches that predominance of females is Ashira's will and the Illyrians see themselves as being opposed to her. Secondly, it would be impractical for the Harbingers to cling to cling to such a biased system because they lack the resources of their estranged kin and need all hands on deck.


Thus they're relatively egalitarian in gender matters, by Eldorai standards at any rate, which has shaped her perception. Rather than be a secretary or a stay at home dad who looked after the children while his wife was the breadwinner, her father was a warrior who taught her many things about combat. Some of the Shadow Knights think it's 'cute' that he's playing 'soldier' or believe that it would lead to a breakdown of discipline and morale, but it's never deterred him. This attitude has rubbed off on his daughter. She's also quite friendly towards Kar'zun, Kaeshana's second sentient race and long a foil and rival to the Eldorai.


By contrast, Siona is biased against Force-users. While her friendship with Ashana has tempered her views, the bias remains. Like conservative Vong - and ironically conservative Eldorai! - she is droidphobic. Her people made little use of 'thinking machines' and her hostile encounters with Archangel's killing machines gave her a negative opinion. She has a personal reason for resentment, as her father was killed by an HRD that had been posing as an Eldorai. She reacts poorly when a medical droid tries to treat her injuries and insists of being cared for by organic medics. Since her time as their slave was most unpleasant, she is very prejudiced against Yuuzhan Vong.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice: Blasters and slugthrowers, Vong projectile biots, Amphistaff, Force pike. Fond of Kukri style knives.

Combat Function: Being Force-Dead she is immune to direct applications of the Force, similar to the Yuuzhan Vong which afflicted her with such abilities. She has no presence within the Force and causes no ripples in its flow. While a great benefit, it does have the normal associated downfalls in that she cannot be aided by Force techniques such as Battle Meditation, Telepathy or Force Healing. Moreover, she can still be hurt by Force Lightning and can be indirectly affected by the Force. In short, all Force techniques that work against Vong or other Force Dead beings also work against her. Siona is trained in the use of an amphistaff and other traditional Vong ranged and melee weapons. In addition to being able to employ these, she is proficient in the use of conventional weapons such as blasters, polearms and vibroweapons.


Common Eldorai are very agile, dexterous and have impressive hand-eye coordination, but suffer from being less physically strong and having a lower pain threshold than humans. Being altered by the Vong 'treatment' has left Siona less dexterous than her Eldorai brethren, but as a tradeoff she is stronger and has a higher pain threshold. This is because the 'alterations' were extremely painful and toughened her up. Her physical strength is equal to that of a human and she is in good shape. However, while her eye implants improve her sight, the implanatation process was rather crude. Siona is more vulnerable to bright lights or flashes than a normal human or Eldorai would be. Sensitive hearing makes her more vulnerable to high-pitch frequencies, such as those emitted by sonic weapons. While decent with pistols and rifles, she is not trained in the use of heavy weapons.


HISTORICAL INFORMATION


The Harbingers of Twilight are a cult most Eldorai dislike speaking about - those who know of them at any rate. This especially applies to conservative Ashirans. The Harbingers are not just Illyrians, worshipping a goddess who was banished into a hellish pit for creating demons and trying to strike down Ashira. They are Force Dead. This makes them soulless from the point of view of Ashira.


This was not the cultists' own doing though. The cult came into being when Tirathana VI., the mother of the present, far more liberal and enlightened Star Queen, banished an entire community of Illyria worshippers from Kaeshana. The Queen's own legitimacy was somewhat questionable after deposing a branch of the royal family with a better claim to the throne, so she sought to bolster it by presenting herself as the standard-bearer of orthodoxy. Abandoned in deep space, the acolytes of Illyria were ambushed, captured and enslaved by Vong pirates. The Yuuzhan Vong did not just enslave them, but also conducted cruel biological experiments. Many of the captives did not make it, but those who did were turned Force Dead. The Vong cult used them as slave-soldiers.


Siona was still very little when this occured.. Barely capable of making sense of the horrible things taking place all around her, she was forced to grow up fast despite her parents' best attempts to shield her. She lost an older sister to the Embrace of Pain, which the Vong used as a tool of torture and punishment for their slaves. Eldorai have a lower pain threshold than humans and so most who were exposed to it perished. Young Siona did not escape the 'alterations' the Vong saw fit to bestow upon their slaves. She breathed in the corrupted air of the Vong ships. The cruel abuse she suffered at the hands of her captors, who were eager to pass on their 'insights' about pain to their victims, left its mark on her. As a result, the little one grew up with a bastardised understanding of her own culture, fused heavily with that of the Yuuzhan Vong she was forced to serve and despised. One of her earliest memories consists of hiding in the bowels of the Yong's worldship to evade the torment they inflicted. Forced to be self-reliant, she learned how to be sneaky and tough.


A struggle between Vong warlords provided the impetus for the Eldorai slave-soldiers to rebel, take their revenge against their captors and escape. Siona got a taste of bloodshed then. Cornered by Vong warriors, she was saved when her father, who had served one of the Vong officers, intervened and struck the aliens down in a violent frenzy. During the civil war the worldship sustained severe damage, and the pair was stranded upon the planet Raevana.


On first sight, the tropical environment made it look like a paradise, but in actual fact it was a death world inhabited by manifold dangerous creatures, such as the savage Korhili, a semi-sentient of aggressive lizardmen. Here Siona had to hunt, fight and forage. Hounded by creatures, she had to always be on her guard. Once when her father was down, she protected him against wild beasts using his amphistaff and improvised weapons. The pair was forced to fend for themselves for several weeks before they managed to establish contact with a rescue team led by Siona's mother. Rescuers arrived just in time to save the two from a Korhili horde. By then Siona was very sick because many of the planet's plants were poisonous and she'd been infected by some nasty parasites. But she'd survived. It took a while before she'd been nursed back to health, under the care of her parents and the cult as a whole.


While she recuperated, the Harbingers set out to build a new future for themselves, away from both the Eldorai Matriarchy and the Vong who'd enslaved them. They came to see being turned Force Dead as a blessing, for it freed them from Ashira's shackles and allowed them to commune with their Goddess. To a degree this might have been a coping mechanism, but over time it assumed the status of dogma. This was the faith Siona was raised in. She was also taught how to utilise the Vong weapons and tech that her brethren had been able to salvage during their escape. While her father was a warrior-priest of the cult, her mother piloted one of the very few coralskippers the Harbingers had been able to salvage, before devoting herself to research after being injured during a raid.


Operating from an old warship, the Harbingers lived a nomadic existence. Thus Siona grew used to life in space, though she manifested an interest in exploration. Her people evolved into a force of raiders, explorers and mercenaries. Siona received training in Zero-G and basic piloting. Soon she was allowed to participate in raids. She distinguished herself in a raid on an Eldorai convoy, displaying bravery, but also fierceness and ferocity similar to the predators who had once preyed on her. Her memories of her life on Kaeshana were very blurry, as they seemed like another lifetime ago, but she'd learned to hate those who had scorned her and her people. She received her own amphistaff as a reward. During an early skirmish with soldiers from the fledgling Firemane corporation, Siona suffered severe injuries from a Firemane boltgun. However, she managed to injure the mercenary with a razor bug and took great pleasure cutting his throat with her talons.


Siona's life would have probably proceeded in a conventional fashion - or at least what passed for conventional among the Harbingers - if it had not been for the Netherworld event. Though brief, Akala's mad rampage left its mark upon the Galaxy and touched every world, for it caused trillions of people to be raptured into the Netherworld. In addition, the Force also turned wonky, effectively depowering countless beings who were used to be being above mere mortals, though the effect only lasted for a short while. Siona was among those unfortunate enough to awaken in the Netherworld. At first she did not see this as a bad thing.


When Siona was raptured, she was locked in the middle of a raid on an Ashiran temple and had been locked in a duel with an Angelii. Because Siona was Force Dead, the Force-user was unable to anticipate her moves or sense her within the Force. However, as Siona discovered, the Angelii's Lightning could still hurt her. Both combatants were still trading fierce blows when they were suddenly enveloped by a blinding white light and whisked away into the Netherworld. When they awoke they found themselves in a shadowy realm. At first neither seemed conscious of the change in scenery, for they went right back to fighting. Siona struck her opponent, who was unable to utilise the Force, down. It was only now that she realised that she was very far from home. Countless other people from across the Galaxy had been raptured as well. Dead spirits manifested, lamenting their fate, trying to manipulate or frighten the confused newcomers. When Siona realised where she was, she at first considered it a blessing. Force-users were seemingly cut off from their powers, knocking them from their pedestal. Truly, this had to be the doing of Illyria.


However, her euphoria soon vanished when she found herself upon the Field of Blades. Here was no grand plan, no purpose, no justice, only neverending slaughter. People fought, killed, died, rose again, fought, killed and died, only to rise again and continue the cycle. She fought, she died, she killed. As time lost its meaning, she clung to what remained of her identity. Being closed to the Force, Siona was immune to the whispers of malevolent spirits. This allowed her to keep more of her sanity intact as she underwent the cycle of death and rebirth in the Netherworld. It was there that she encountered the most unlikeliest of allies, an Eldorai Force-user called Lavina Taldir. Lavina had been an Angelii, then an Omega Pyre Lieutenant before becoming a Rogue Knight. However, the traumatic experiences in the Field of Blades caused her to lose her memory. As she fought she repeated the one mantra again and again; ‘Taeris ai Ashana’ ‘I will endure’. Over time she came to know nothing else, it became her name, her identity, her soul. Ashana, Endurance. When Siona encountered this Ashana, she was near feral. Somehow Siona managed to get through to her. She sought an escape and if she had to team up with a Force-user, so be it. Moreover, Ashana was a fellow Eldorai and something inside Siona felt sympathy for her plight.


While Ashana slew, Siona was able to guide them out of hell. The pair ended up on Dathomir after emerging through a portal. After some adventures there, Siona was able to get back in touch with the Harbingers. Her brethren were relieved to see that she was alive, but deeply suspicious of Ashana. Indeed they tried to force the 'Cure' on her, which caused the Eldorai berserker to lash out violently. Siona still believed that it would be to Ashana's benefit if she was freed from her 'curse', but she refused to forsake her companion after what they'd been through together. This caused a rift to develop between her and some of her brethren.


However, soon there was bigger fish to fry, for Kaeshana had been devastated by a huge asteroid. Many Eldorai had been able to escape the cataclysm, but some had been left behind. The Harbingers decided to get involved and help the survivors, who were struggling to survive on a post-apocalyptic planet. These were harsh times. An impact winter had set in, starvation and internecine strife among the survivors claimed many lives. Siona had to execute fellow Eldorai for practicing cannibalism. The circumstances were that dire. However, she also helped look after orphans who had lost their parents during the cataclysm or the tribulations that came after. The Harbingers allied themselves with the Shadow Knights, a rebel coalition trying to wrest some order from the chaos. Siona and Ashana fought against Archangel HRDs when the droid cult tried to raid an Eldorai settlement. Both made a good team fighting against the machine hordes. Ashana was the berserker, using a combination of her physical prowess and destructive Force powers, while Siona was the more tactical and cunning, putting her skills to observe, lay traps and stage ambushes to good use. Ashana's ferocity in that fight won her some respect among the Harbingers. Indeed one of their priestesses proclaimed the Hellborn may yet have a role to play.


Contact with the Shadows also exposed Siona to other Force-users, including Illyrians who shared her faith in the Death Goddess, but did not see any contradiction in using the Force. This was confusing, to say the least, though it lead to some interesting talks. Ashana and Siona fought in the Kaeshana Rebellion against the First Order, fighting alongside a band of Eldorai partisans. However, Ashana became so battle-crazed during the fight that Siona had to shoot her companion with a stun bolt and drag her away from the battlefield when they received the order to retreat after the Galactic Alliance's forces pulled out. Ashana reacted angrily after waking up from her unwanted slumber. Still the two friends remained together, even after Ashana became a nominal member of the Shadow Knights' Force warriors.


A rag-tag fleet composed of nomads and refugees is obviously not big on credits, so Siona tried to raise funds for her brethren by participating in the Mandalorian Civil War as a mercenary. Unsurprisingly, she took the side of the Mandalorians who rallied around Ra Vizsla. Her feelings on Force-users might have softened a bit, but it was still the logical side for a Harbinger to choose. Indeed, she felt some sympathy for their cause and the Mandalorians' raider culture had some similarities to the one she'd grown up in. In an ambush during a battle in Keldabe, Siona took down a Mandalorian Force-user who had sided with Mia Monroe's faction. The duel was fierce, as the Mandalorian resorted to the use of his jetpack, scattergun and flamethrower when he realised that many of his Force techniques would not work against her. But she prevailed in the end, despite suffering nasty burns and being injured by shrapnel, letting her amphistaff loose to ambush him and trip him while she fought him upfront. She bestowed the gift of death upon him through deft use of a Force pike.


She was there when Ra and Death Watch took control of Mandalore, implementing harsh measures against Force-users in Mandalorian space. These tended to revolve around treating the Force as a disease and administering a 'cure' to Mandalorian Force-Users or exiling them. Her life among the Harbingers had fed Siona with a healthy diet of anti-Forcer propaganda. After all, it was Sciians who had scorned them. It was also a Force entity that had caused the Netherworld event. Yet she was also friends with Ashana, a Sciian, and the Harbingers had joined the Shadow Knights' coalition, placing kinship and racial survival over dogma.


Eventually Ra disappeared like during the Omega War. Siona was there for the Mandalorian attack on Dathomir, where the Mandalorians sought to round up the native Wtiches and administer the 'cure' by force. Siona participated in an assault on a Dathomiri settlement. However, she ran into a Witch family that had given her and Ashana shelter and guided them through the dense forest after they'd escaped the Netherworld. Feeling deeply conflicted and more than a little disgusted with herself, she was compelled to turn on her allies and help her former benefactors escape. Of course, the Witches still cursed her because she'd helped kill a bunch of their friends. With her contract voided by her betrayal, she found her way back to the Shadow Knights' migrant fleet, unsure of herself and her convictions. Ironically, the new Mandalorian régime suddenly changed its policies not long thereafter. She had a lot to think about after a return. Taking a step back from a direct combat role, she elected to fulfil the duties of a Starstrider, tasked with finding new colonies for her people to settle on. Presently Siona is still unaware of Ashana's true name and identity, as the former Angelii's memories have not returned. However, now that Ashana's sister Kaida Taldir has joined the Shadow Knights, some awkward revelations are bound to occur.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
Looks good.

Role would be something like "Close range and melee support for the Harbingers of Twilight."

 

[Kaida Taldir]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Expand on Eldorai lore and culture. The Emissaries of Illyria act as a foil to the State Church of Ashira. This submission will flesh out the Eldorai rebels Kaida Taldir has recently joined.
• ​Image Credit: Here. Unknown artist. Found on war.jeuxonline.info.
• Role: Religious cult.
• Links: Harbingers of Twilight, Church of Ashira.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Group Name: Emissaries of Illyria.
• Classification: Religious cult.
• Headquarters: No planetary headquarters. Part of the Shadow Knights' migrant fleet. Individual cells, recruiters and preachers can be found in various Eldorai settlements or aboard Asur worldships.
• Loyalties: Shadow Knights, Eldorai, Harbingers of Twilight.
• Group Sigil: A circle with four inward facing arrows diagonal from each other.
• Description: The Emissaries of Illyria are a rival of the Church of Ashira, the primary religious institution in Eldorai society. They reject the traditional Eldorai pantheon and venerate the Death Goddess Illyria, whom Ashirans are forbidden to worship. They have a strong following among the Shadow Knights and other Eldorai exiles. One of their key characteristics is their positive opinion of the Force Dead.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Hierarchy: The Emissaries have a somewhat shallow structure mixing civilian and religious functions together. Where possible, individual cells form larger units called Chapters. Clerics must pass tests, which focus a lot on theology and faith, but also on practical skills. Harbingers of Twilight who are unable to continue their duties due to age or injuries often join the clergy. Some of their clerics also serve as researchers. Trying to 'elevate' the worthy by turning them Force Dead is one of their concerns. The same applies to researching Vong technology the Harbingers were able to salvage. The Emissaries are led by a high priestess who bears the title of Hierophant. Because the Emissaries are sceptical of direct democracy, she is indirectly elected by a conclave.

Membership: In principle, all Eldorai who agree with the group's principles are eligible for membership, though there is a good deal of unofficial and official screening. In principle, the Emissaries are open to Tygaran natives, but they have only attracted a few. Most of those tend to be Xioquo who worshipped Myrou. Neither the Qadiri nor the Vashyada have an Illyria equivalent in their pantheon, so the Emissaries' message appears strange to them. However, in an ironic inversion of the Church of Ashira's beliefs, the Emissaries are biased against Force-users. To quote an influential cleric, "Blessed are those whom the spirits do not haunt, for only in silence is the word of the Mistress heard. Favoured are those who do not hear the spirits, for in ignorance can the true word of the Mistress be taught. Cursed are those who are seduced by the spirits, for in such ways is the benediction of the Mistress forgotten, and personal vainglory predominates."


The Emissaries have a three tiered approach: Force Dead, Force-Blind, Force-User. Force-users are not turned away, but regarded with suspicion and distrust, for it is believed that they must strive to resist temptation, lest they succumb to the whispers of the spirits and abuse their powers. For this reason, the upper ranks of the church are closed to them. Unlike the Church of Ashira, the Emissaries allow male priests. There has yet to be a male Hierophant though. The Harbingers serve as their elite martial arm, but since their numbers are limited the Emissaries also maintain a larger militia force.


Dogma/Doctrines: The Church of Ashira teaches that Illyria is the embodiment of evil. When Ashira fashioned the first Eldorai from clay, breathed life into them and granted them souls, her daughter Illyria, the Goddess of Death, grew envious. Using dark magic, she created demonic abominations, twisted parodies of life. When chastisted for her actions, she rebelled against the Great Goddess Ashira. And so there was War in Heaven, until Illyria was imprisoned in hell after managing to seriously wound Ashira in a duel. While Illyria was cast out, Ashira ascended to heaven. All good Eldorai who worship Ashira and follow her commandments will go to heaven, while the wicked will go to hell and suffer eternal torment.


That is what the Ashirans believe, at any rate. The Emissaries see things rather differently. They regard Illyria as a liberator, who rose up against an unjust order. She is the first rebel and it is their duty to spread her word. The paradise Ashira offers is a lie. All the Great Goddess does is feed on the worship of those who prostrate themselves before her. They also see Sciia as a curse, for Ashira uses it to manipulate those she has endowed with it. In this context Illyria is seen as a symbol of enlightenment, progression and freedom. It helps that Ashira is the patron of the Eldorai Monarchy, for the Star Queen is not just a secular ruler, but also her viceroy. In addition to rejecting Ashira, the Emissaries also refuse to worship the other members of the traditional pantheon, for only Illyria is deserving.


The Emissaries take their radical beliefs a step further than other Illyrians because they hold the Force Dead in high regard. This is because the Harbingers of Twilight, a militaristic sect of Illyrian exiles turned Force Dead by Vong slavers whom they later overthrew, are a driving force behind the Emissaries and act as their martial arm. From the point of view of the Emissaries, the Force Dead are free from Ashira's shackles. Thus being Force Dead is not a curse, but something that should be sought out to better commune with the Mistress of the Underworld. For a conservative Ashiran, on the other hand, the Force Dead are soulless, for Sciia is the Eldorai word for both soul and the Force. It should be noted that the Emissaries are not fond of Yuuzhan Vong. This is because the cultists who became the Harbingers of Twilight were enslaved and abused by Vong corsairs, who ironically are also responsible for their condition. The official line is that the Vong unknowingly performed the will of Illyria by giving their slaves the tools to break their chains. The Harbingers suffered greatly, but these tribulations made thems stronger. Opinions differ on whether a Vong who repented of his or her ways could be accepted into the cult. So far such a situation has not arisen.


The Emissaries' beliefs have also been influenced by the Netherworld Event. Initially many Illyrians, especially among the Harbingers, believed that Akala was Illyria herself or one her demons because she raptured countless beings and deprived Force-users of their preternatural powers. However, this viewpoint was challenged by the experiences of Illyrians who had been raptured, such as Siona Vaerum, who'd ended up in the Field of Blades. These days it is assumed that Akala was a malevolent Force entity. This has made the Emissaries more wary of Force-users. For these reasons, several of them were sympathetic when Death Watch implemented harsh measures against Force-Sensitives in Mandalorian space. Siona Vaerum, a member of the cult, fought alongside Death Watch as a mercenary during the Mandalorian Civil War. Joining the Shadow Knights has compelled the Emissaries to moderate their views as it requires them to work with Force-Sensitives, but the bias remains.


Unsurprisingly, the Emissaries reject the Monarchy. They also promote the idea of equal male rights and support a republican form of government. However, because they're Eldorai, they're very sceptical of direct democracy, favouring a form of oligarchic republic. Being pan-Eldorai nationalists, they are also opposed to the First Order due to its occupation of Kaeshana. The same applies to other groups they consider inimical to Eldorai interests, such as slavers, Sith and Jedi. They have very unforgiving views on crime and punishment. For instance, 'whipping through the town', which can be fatal, is especially common for child abusers. The Emissaries dislike prison sentences because they view them as a drain on society. Instead they advocate exiling, caning or indenturing lesser felons. Spacing the most heinous criminals and traitors is also seen as valid. Finally, almsgiving is an important pillar of their faith. It is treated as a religious obligation for all Illyrians who meet the necessary criteria of wealth. Those who do must make a mandatory contribution, based on their income and the value of their possessions, to help those less fortunate, especially orphans and refugees. To make sure that the money reaches the needy, the church runs a number of charitable organisations. However, equally the Emissaries have a low opinion of people who make no attempt to improve their situation and prefer to live from others' donations.

• Curios: The Gnostic Gospel of Illyria.
• Goals: To uphold and propagate the true faith, build a home for the Eldorai exiles, liberate oppressed brethren. Crush the Church of the False Goddess Ashira.

MEMBERS

• Tániel Aevaris: Hierophant of the Great Deliverer.
• Tynan Vanoth: Fatebringer of the Harbingers of Twilight, in other words their commander.
• Siona Vaerum: Warrior of the Harbingers of Twilight.
• Morwen: Host Leader in the Caerith Darin, the Shadow Knights' Force warriors.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION


Although the Emissaries of Illyria are a fairly young group, the roots of the Illyrian Heresy are deep. To most Ashirans, its followers are evil demon-worshippers, who have damned themselves to hell by succumbing to the whispers of the Arch-Enemy. Obviously the Illyrians have a different view of things. Today most Eldorai are followers of Ashira, though their zeal obviously varies. After you, can believe in a deity, but only go through the motions, pray irregularly or be devout and still critical of your goddess' representatives on earth. Regardless, the Church of Ashira was not always supreme. Likewise its dogma has not remained unchanged from the start. To a significant degree it achieved its preeminent status by allying with the Monarchy and the nobility.


The clerics gave the Star Queen legitimacy, elevating her above the other nobles by proclaiming that she was the viceroy of Ashira. Thus rebellion did not just become an act of treason, but also heresy. At the same time they affirmed the quasi-feudal social order. In return the ancien régime gave the Church land, privileges and made sure the mass of believers paid their tithes. Unsurprisingly, those who were disgruntled with the régime for political or economic reasons were often drawn to heretical movements.


In the early days of the Matriarchy, two heresies were particularly prominent. One was brought into being by a preacher called Arryn, who proclaimed that while Ashira had been created by the sun, moon and stars to birth the chosen race, the Eldorai, she was not wholly divine, but also possessed the spirit of a mortal woman. This made Ashira both woman and goddess. The other heresy was the Illyrian one. A heretic called Anethra is held responsible for its creation. Orthodox Ashiran scriptures revile her as an evil witch, a maleficar who consorted with demons and was punished for her deeds by losing her connection to the Force. The Illyrians tell a different tale, depicting her as a liberating figure who stood up against injustice and abuse of power. Too much time has passed to determine the truth. Indeed it's possible that Anethra either never existed or is just a composite figure of various heresiarchs.


Whatever the case may be, both heresied were condemned at the First Celestial Council of Nicaea. In the days of yore, the Space Elves were just as fond of conclaves as the Jedi of today. However, they tended to order religious purges at their conclaves. Illyria worshippers were driven underground and had to conceal their faith from the authorities. During the reign of Anais I., known as the Zealous, the Investigators of Ashira's Truth led a fierce inquisition against them. Many of the heretics were immolated or imprisoned on the Island of Fallen Angels.


The erosion of central authority during the Time of Troubles gave the Illyrians some breathing space. While rival claimants fought over the throne of the Star Queen, Illyrian communities established a breakaway state. Eldorai records depict it as the puppet of the Kar'zun, the only other sentient race that lived on Kaeshana, who were a rival to the Eldorai. It is likely that the Illyrian separatists were vassals and fought alongside the Kar'zun in a number of battles, though the relationship was far from a harmonious one. The Illyrians exacted vengeance on their former persecutors, burning down Ashiran temples, slaughtering priestesses and nobles. Either way the Illyrian experiment did not last, as their theocratic state was eventually crushed. Ariane the Conqueror, famous among the Eldorai for all but destroying the Kar'zun after they'd come close to conquering all of Kaeshana, was famous for her hatred of Illyrians and persecuted them.


The Emissaries of Illyria came into being as a result of a sequence of events started by Queen Tirathana VI, the mother of the present Queen. Queen Tirathana VI, whose own legitimacy was somewhat questionable after deposing the Evora family, made a concerted effort to enforce religious orthodoxy and thus strengthen her claim to the throne, as the queen was not just a temporal ruler, but the Defender of the Faith. The dreaded Investigators of Ashira's Truth were endowed with sweeping powers to root out bastions of heresy and unbelief. A whole community of Illyria worshippers was arrested en masse. They were accused of blasphemous practices, consorting with demons and foreign raiders and ritually murdering innocent Eldorai. Some were probably guilty of crimes, many were not. They made convenient scapegoats for the slaver raids that plagued Kaeshana. In any case, Her Majesty's Government ordered their deportation. This was deemed appropriate since, as far as Ashiran hardliners were concerned, the rest of the Galaxy was populated by savages and demons. So it was only appropriate to banish the blasphemers. Confessions were often extracted via torture.


Therefore, they were sent to the 'foreign devils', being taken in ships to the nearest inhabited system and left to fend for themselves, with minimal supplies. Inevitably, they became prey for Yuuzhan Vong pirates. A good number, those deemed weak, died in captivity or were sold on the slave markets. However, the captors had something more horrific in mind for those they deemed 'deserving'. Using their hideous sciences, the Vong sought to turn them Force Dead. Eventually they succeeded. Those Eldorai who had survived their alterations were utilised as slave-soldiers. Eventually the Eldorai rebelled and escaped, taking advantage of internecine strife between rival Vong warlords. They called themselves the Harbingers of Twilight and vowed to never be slaves again.


Being Force Dead made the Harbingers of Twilight outcasts, for an Eldorai without Sciia is a soulless being. Even if they had wanted to, they could not have gone back. Ironically, these experiences strengthened their faith in Illyria. As they became more and more removed from their roots, they began to see becoming Force Dead as an act of communion with their goddess, breaking the shackles of Ashira, whose minions had dared to scorn them, and embracing the Mistress of Hell.


They became a force of cunning raiders, guerillas and mercenaries, living a nomadic existence. Their condition made them freaks even among the Eldorai exiles, though some came to swallow their disgust and appreciate their talents. Where possible, they struck against the hated Eldorai Matriarchy. Indeed, Firemane forces clashed with them in the corporation's early days when the Harbingers hit convoys or remote outposts. However, they also practised a form of 'shadow justice' by punishing slavers, as they had not forgotten their own enslavement. They preferred poetic punishments, such as hurling slavers out of airlocks into the vacuum of space - or giving them a taste of their own medicine by enslaving them.


The Emissaries of Illyria were born when the Harbingers returned to Kaeshana in the aftermath of its cataclysmic destruction. The Eldorai's old rulers had fled, alongside several billion Eldorai. However, many Eldorai had been left behind and were forced to eke out a primitive existence on a post-apocalyptic planet. The Harbingers sought to help the survivors. Conveniently several of those proved receptive to their message, for Ashira had failed them. As a result the Harbingers' ranks swelled. The Emissaries of Illyria were born, serving as the civilian and religious arm of the Harbingers, who in turn performed duties similar to those of templars or paladins.


Some Harbingers voiced misgivings, believing that this would led to an influx of opportunists. For this reason the Emissaries instituted a three tiered approach. First came the Force Dead, then the Force-Blind, then the Force-Users. In the early days the Emissaries were very harsh towards Force-Users, preferring to exclude or attempt to 'cure' them. This led to clashes as some devout Illyrians on the planet were Force-Users. When the Harbingers and the Emissaries allied with the Shadow Knights they were forced to moderate their policies, though the cult still regards Force-users with distrust. To this day Force-Sensitive cult members are monitored and excluded from the top jobs, though persecution is not permitted. 'Curing' Force-Sensitives who go rogue is regarded as an act of mercy.


The Emissaries aided the Shadows in trying to keep Kaeshana's survivors safe, build shelters and get infrastructure going. While lacking the Force healing skills of many Ashiran priestesses, the Emissaries did their best to provide aid. However, scarce resources, internecine strife between the Eldorai and pirate raids complicated this task immensely. They also clashed fiercely with the Ashiran members of the Shadows, especially the Aspirants. By the time the Galactic Alliance, Firemane and the Tygaran Eldorai Matriarchy sent a humanitarian mission to aid the survivors, both sects had come to close to violence. All these disputes became secondary when the clash between the First Order and the Galactic Alliance led to the Kaeshana Rebellion. Regarding the imperial power as a foreign invader, the Shadows and their allies sided with the Alliance. They were forced to evacuate from the planet after the Alliance withdrew at the battle's end.


The Emissaries became part of the Shadow Knights' migrant flotilla, seeking to find a new home for their people to settle on. However, they also dispatched agitators to Eldorai settlements, even those controlled by the Matriarchy. This could lead to some awkward situations, as for instance a number of agitators were arrested at the behest of Vaena Cadalthor for spreading sedition. It caused some arguments in the Shadow Knights' Council. The Emissaries get on quite well with the Shadows' Kar'zun members. Both have a history of shared grievances and the Illyrians regard Ariane the Conqueror as a cruel butcher. The stone people still reject the idea that Illyria might have had a hand in their creation.


After the leaders of the four races of Tygara - Eldorai, Qadiri, Vashyada and Xioquo - decided to evacuate the planet and seek a new future in the stars, the Emissaries sought to establish contact with like-minded believers among their cousins. Time will tell what the future holds for the cult. Compromises have turned away some of the most radical members, but they still have a good deal of pull among the Shadows' rebel coalition, though the Archon Naesala Faethyra is a follower of Arryn. Their present policy is to avoid confrontation with the Old Church, but it remains to be seen how things will go, especially since contact between the migrant fleets is inevitable.


Being a radical Rationalist, which is the Eldorai word for atheist, Kaida dislikes their 'superstitious beliefs and delusions'. Ironically, unbeknownst to her, her sister Lavina Taldir, who now goes by the name Ashana, was saved from the Netherworld by a member of the cult called Siona Vaerum. This will probably contribute to making their reunion more than a little awkward, along with the fact that Ashana no longer remembers her.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
I like.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]


Thanks. I need a pic. Any ideas?

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
What sort of pic are you looking for?

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]


Uh, a pic for the submission.

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

[member="Kaida Taldir"]
...I get that. What sort of image, what do you think these people look like? Formal, informal, military, civilian, religious, what?

 

[Siobhan Kerrigan]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: Flesh out Firemane's organisation and document its anti-slavery efforts.
• ​Image Credit: How to properly source your images
• Role: Humanitarian aid group, educational organisation, employment agency.
• Links: Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane, Freetown, Kaylah Danton, Tygara.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Group Name: Firedawn
• Classification: Anti-slavery agency, humanitarian aid group.
• Headquarters: Arx. Maintains offices on various Firemane space stations and on planets Firemane operates on, such as Arkas, which has a substantial population of former slaves.
• Loyalties: Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane.
• Group Sigil: Flat line with a half sun rising over it.
• Description: Firedawn is an agency of Firemane Industries, dedicated to providing clothing, provisions, education and jobs to freed slaves within the Firemane sphere of influence.

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Hierarchy: As a Firemane agency, Firedawn ultimately answers to Siobhan Kerrigan, who is the overall head of the corporation. Since running a business is quite time consuming, she does not direct the agency herself. Instead she has delegated this task to Brigadier Frida Veldtgan. Firedawn is divided into various bureaus, which each deal with a different aspect of policy, such as health care, agriculture, rations, schooling, legal affairs, education and labour. The bureau heads report to Veldtgan, who in turn answers to Firemane. Day-to-day affairs are coordinated with Firemane's Department of Administration, which supervises Firedawn. Siobhan takes a person interest in Firedawn's work and often carries out inspections.
• Membership: Due to the delicate nature of their duties, members are carefully vetted. All members of Firedawn are Firemane employees and must abide by the company's code of conduct and adhere to its principles. Individuals with ideologies or affiliations Firemane is hostile to are not accepted. Candidates must apply for a position, pass an interview and submit to a test to gauge their skills. Members include employment advisers, doctors and other medical personnel such as nurses and midwives, teachers, linguists, agronomists, technicians and psychologists. Since many of Firedawn's charges are from more primitive worlds that had little contact with the outside worlds, language skills are essential. Members are expected to become proficient in local dialects so that they can communicate with former slaves who do not know Basic. Some of Firedawn's members are Force-users. However, these tend to be healers and mentalists who specialise in mental relaxation, dealing with psychological trauma and the like.

Dogma/Doctrines: Slavery is a great evil. This is something many, though by no means all, sentient beings in the Galaxy can agree on. It is also inefficient from an economic standpoint. Especially in a high-tech society that can build droids en masse. Nonetheless, the practice persists, and not just on primitive worlds. Going on crusades to liberate slaves is a noble venture. However, oftentimes the crusaders in question give little thought about what will happen to the slaves after their chains have been broken and their masters have been put to the sword. Many slaves, particularly those who never received an education and might have even been born into slavery, often end up in circumstances not dissimilar to their old lives.


Firedawn strives to help former slaves that were liberated by Firemane or find themselves within its sphere of influence. The credo of Firedawn's employees is: Helping people achieve their potential. It also seeks to help them reunite with family members they might have become separated from. Education is seen as crucial. This covers the ability to read and write, but Firedawn also maintains various schools meant to help their charges catch up on their education so that they can succeed in the job market. It also seeks to provide medical treatment by maintaining several hospitals. A number of the group's employees are former slaves themselves, which ensures that they tend to be very invested in their cause.


Firedawn is funded by Firemane and falls under its chain of command. Thus it presents a positive image of the megacorporation and its leaders. Indeed Siobhan Kerrigan is the godmother of several orphans raised in Firedawn orphanages. Detractors claim that the rosy picture Firedawn paints of Firemane and its Dark Jedi CEO does not match reality. Presumably the truth is somewhere in between. Regardless, Firedawn is also dedicated to helping its charges fulfil their potential by providing them with jobs in Firemane, assuming they want those. If its charges elect to forego this option, Firedawn sees it as its mission to provide them with the tools to succeed independently.

• Curios: N/A.
• Goals: Help freed slaves help themselves by endowing them with the tools and education they need to succeed in life and ensure they are not left destitute. Also provide Firemane with new potential employees. Good PR is a positive side-effect.

MEMBERS

• Lady Siobhan Kerrigan: patron and overall head.
• Brigadier Frida Veldtgan: Director of Firedawn
• Professor Sagacity: Head of the Bureau of Education
• Nima Tann: Mental healer.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION


Firemane has a long history of promoting abolitionism. To a degree, this has historical reasons. Siobhan spent some time as a slave in her youth, and this left marks on her. After escaping her servitude, she struggled to survive on Nar Shaddaa, where sentient trafficking is commonplace. She was saved from a violent gang by the Rogue Jedi Adril Tythorin, an Eldorai who had been abducted from Kaeshana by a gang of slavers. Much later, Siobhan joined the fledgling Omega Pyre. There she became a close associate and eventually wife of Tegaea Alcori, one of the paramilitary corporation's leaders. Their first mission together under the Pyre flag took them to Dahomey. The tropical planet had regressed during the Dark Age and come under the thrall of warlords and slavers. The Pyre was able to topple this regime and liberate the vast slave population. However, now they faced the problem of what to do with them - and how to ensure that they would not be left destitute.


As is often the case, winning the peace was harder than winning the war. These were just one of the many challenges the Pyre faced as it evolved into a galactic power, the Omega Protectorate. It took many years of trial and error, success and setback to get Dahomey on track and ensure its population had the tools to help themselves. However, it proved to be a valuable lesson. Many freed Dahomian slaves joined the Pyre and later Firemane Industries. The most prominent is probably Major Tempest, Siobhan Kerrigan's Apprentice. Flash forward more than a decade, and Firemane was confronted with similar issues on Arkas and Tygara.


For many years, Arkas had been plagued by off-world slavers and pirates who had enslaved and persecuted the local population. When they were finally driven off and the planet placed under the protection of the Levantine Sanctum the locals could finally breathe easy. Looking at the ideal tropical lands now freed from danger, Firemane and Nantaris’ Freespace Rangers came upon a plan. Their goal was to liberate slaves, but to do so responsibly. Simply freeing the enslaved but then leaving them in their current condition would actually be worse for those people.


Therefore they decided to create a new town on Arkas to house the manumitted people. This town was called Freetown. However, they were realistic enough to acknowledge that this would never be a utopia. Issues soon arose. Taking so many people from many different cultures, species and languages and putting them into one settlement was bound to cause friction. With so many of the people born into slavery or living on metropolis worlds, the transition to tropical farming was abrupt. What’s worse, although every person received an equal allocation of land, some naturally got better spots than others, or some tried to buy up the land of others and make themselves landlords.


Faced with growing dissent, Firemane had to help relocate groups apart and restrict acquisition of land by one person or group. Naturally others complained at this point that they were being forced into a plantation system little better than servitude. Though it took considerable patience not to throw up her hands and just let them sort it out themselves, Tegaea Alcori, with Tempest as her onsite agent, managed to reach some accommodations. Henceforth the farming would be undertaken on a voluntary basis, with the ability to buy other plots, but with debt relief and restrictions on buying the land of others. Other settlers would run other areas of town including fishing, entertainment and service industries. A volunteer militia composed of locals was created to provide security.


To oversee this process, Firemane created the Firedawn organisation. At first its operations were limited to Arkas. Moreover, it lacked sufficient funding, since Firemane was preoccupied with the Eldorai's Exodus from Kaeshana. Corruption was also an issue, as some officials took advantage of former slaves. After learning of this, Siobhan had several corrupt officials court-martialled. She also sacked the organisation's head and put her old colleague Kaylah Danton in charge. The new boss applied her usual no-nonsense attitude and organisational skills, introducing Eriaduan efficiency. Firedawn worked closely with Firemane and various humanitarian groups to improve the lot of the freed slaves under its care. She also secured funds to operate Firedawn-run schools. Firedawn began to publish its own textbooks for freed slaves. They emphasised the bootstrap philosophy, encouraging their charges to believe that each person had the ability to work hard and to do better in life. Aside from practical and theoretical knowledge, the educational materiel also included a somewhat idealised depiction of the lives of Siobhan and Tegaea. After all, both had come from a life of abject poverty, but managed to rise out of the gutter and get to the top. The group also taught plantation works technical skills and sought to supply them with machines that could help them improve their output.


The colonisation of Tygara caused its remit to expand. However, the situation was a good deal more complicated on the lost elf world. Firstly, the planet was split between various, often internally divided races; the Qadiri, Vashyada and the Xioquo. All practiced slavery to a varying degree. While slavery was very rare among the Vashyada, who deemed it inefficient and generally only applied it as a punishment for felons unable to pay reparations to their victims' families, it was a way of life for the other two. Indeed the Xioquo's entire society was built upon the bedrock of slavery. The Xioquo were also led by darkside cultists who abused their slaves and often worked them to death. It was also part of Qadiri culture in all main states and regions. While some slaves could eventually purchase their freedom, most were exploited by their owners until the day they died. Secondly, Firemane was engaged in helping the Eldorai to establish a new home on the planet. Thirdly, Firemane soon found itself at war with the Xioquo, who menaced the new settlements with raids to secure slaves, and allied itself with the Amikarase Empire, the largest Qadiri state on the planet, ruled by Shahbânu Semiramis.


Thus abolitionists could not go in guns blazing. Using force to compel the local rulers to abolish slavery might free the slaves, but it would cost many, many lives, collapse the planet's economy and cause widespread devastation. All things considered, the slaves would probably be worse off than before. So Firemane elected to pursue a policy of gradual abolition. The Xioquo, being the most aggressice race and led by dark despots, would be subdued, the others encouraged to give up the practice. In the long term, technological progress and machinery would render it inefficient and self-defeating. However, Firedawn would continue to aid escaped slaves. Thus if a slave managed to escape from say the Amikarese Empire, reach Firemane or Eldorai territory and spent a night on free soil, he or she would be considered free. Over time, this would trigger an exodus and cause tensions on the planet.


Kaylah moved on from Firedawn after receiving a promotion. She was charged with helping organise the Eldorai Exodus from Kaeshana, which would earn her a seat in the Board of Control, Firemane's ruling group. She was succeeded by Brigadier Frida Veldtgan. The career officer had been responsible for training Qadiri Sepoys in Firemane's services and took an unusual interest in the plight of the slaves. Firedawn had its work cut out for it after the defeat of the Xioquo and the death of their 'Demigoddess' Mystra. The conquest of the Underealm had triggered a huge slave revolt, as slaves rose up against their hated mistresses.


Thus there would be no gradual abolition here, as the slaves had been promised that Firemane and the Eldorai would break their chains. Providing the vast number of slaves with all the essentials was a huge task. Much work had to be done to avert a humanitarian crisis. Later Frida got to work with her predecessor was Kaylah dispatched to the Xioquo capital to serve as the Firemane adviser to the new Queen Liavondra. Fortunately, despite the challenges and continual intrigue from unreformed Xioquo matriarchs, cooperation with the Xioquo actually worked better than with the Qadiri because their new, farsighted Queen wanted to break with the destructive past and lead her people into a better future. Though primitive by galactic standards, the Xioquo have a knack for tech or, as their enemies put it, minds of metal. Several former Xioquo slaves found jobs with Firemane, often working in technical professions. Firedawn continued its work even after Firemane and the Eldorai Matriarchy grew estranged. It dispatched aid teams to Kessel in the aftermath of the Silver Sanctum's short-lived liberation of the planet, though their record on the spice moon was mixed as the agency was not able to maintain a long-lasting presence.


Slavery among the Qadiri came to an end within the context of the Second Exodus. This was a condition on Firemane's part for providing the Qadiri with advanced technology - and a chance to join the other races in the stars. Of course, practices such as sharecropping, indentured servitude and so on persisted. Change would take time if it was supposed to be sustainable. As a result Firedawn's duties increased considerably. The agency moved its headquarters to Firemane's mobile hub, the Arx Aeternae. After the elves evacuated Tygara aboard Sanctuary stations and Asur worldships, Firedawn helped newly liberated slaves take their first steps into a new world.


The agency's work is far from over, but Firemane continues to fund it. It maintains a strong presence in a number of Firemane installations. As Siobhan takes a personal interest in its work, being a diligent member of Firedawn can be good for one's career, should one catch the eye of the Lady. The same obviously applies to the former slaves the group takes care of. A number of the members of Siobhan's personal guard or staff started out under the care of Firedawn. Firedawn is a civilian agency and does not teach people how to play with guns. However, it can direct its charges towards Firemane's paramilitary forces and military academy. Because Firedawn's work is quite difficult and unglamorous, Siobhan has a tendency of assigning Firemane officials who have caught her eye, but still need to show what they've got. So if they do well there, it shows they might be qualified for higher office.

 

[Kaida Taldir]

[member="Valiens Nantaris"]

OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

• Intent: To sub the leader of the Blades of Reason. The character will serve as a frenemy and foil to Kaida.
• ​Image Credit:
• Role: High Illuminatrix of the Blades of Reason, an Eldorai rebel party.
• Links: Eldorai, Blades of Reason, Shadow Knights.

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

• Age: 109
• Force Sensitivity: Non-Force User
• Species: Eldorai.
• Appearance: [Please describe the NPC in at least one paragraph. Any distinguishing marks? Do they show their age? What do they usually wear? For droid characters, link to their production model, either on Wookieepedia or as an approved tech submission.]

SOCIAL INFORMATION

• Name: Cadera Naeyra.
• Loyalties: Blades of Reason, Shadow Knights.
• Wealth: Average.

Notable Possessions:

• Copy of her political pamphlet 'What Is To Be Done'.
• Copy of 'On the Origin of Species' by Charae Darwai.
• Copy of her book 'The ABC of Rationalism'.
• NN-14 blaster pistol

Skills: Political acumen. Good public speaker, skilled at intrigue and personnel management. Cadera has decent self-defence skills, but is not a warrior, commando or super spy. She has minions to do such things for her. Extremely strong-willed and resistant to mental manipulation.

Personality: Determined, driven and combative are goods words to describe Cadera Naeyra, High Illuminatrix of the Blades of Reason. Crafty and pragmatic, she knows when to make tactical retreats and adjust, but never loses sight of her goals. Or of her belief that she is in the right. Radicalised at an early age, she has spent decades as a professional revolutionary. She has an extraordinary capacity for disciplined work and has a strong work ethic, though this also makes her very impatient with those who cannot keep up. Though she can display kindness, especially towards children, she is moody and volatile. Indeed she can be venomous in her critique of others, exhibiting a propensity for mockery, ridicule, and ad hominem attacks on those who disagree with her.


While she shows no sign of sadism or of personally desiring to commit violent acts, she endorses the violent actions of others and exhibits no remorse for those killed for the revolutionary cause. As she once said, a revolution without firing squads is a contradiction in itself. Tending to eschew luxury, she lives a spartan life style. While not a soldier, she exercises regularly and enjoys hunting and swimming. She developed a passion for mountain walking in the Alderaanian peaks. She despises untidiness, always keeping her work desk tidy and insists on total silence while she is working.


Cadera's evaluation of Eldorai society is pessimistic. Per her analysis, it is defined by superstition, backwardness, xenophobia, classism and ignorance. The homeworld is under the control of foreign invaders, while Tygara has been abandoned. The Matriarchy is dependent on foreign aid and might as well be considered a client state. They continue to maintain a quasi-feudalist power structure, with economic and political power being concentrated in the hands of a small elite chosen from birth. The Shadow Knights are fractured and divided. Their emancipatory message has become diluted by compromise. The key word is backwardness. Too many Eldorai still subject themselves to the 'tyranny of superstition'. They believe in false idols, for they pray to deities that evidently do not exist. This is the opium of the people, for it gives monarchs, aristocrats and clerics power over the masses. Ashira is not a goddess, she was merely the first Eldorai and they must cast off their shackles. The Blades of Reason must become the motor of progress, acting as a vanguard of dedicated revolutionaries to spread Rationalist ideas among the common people, especially the workers and soldiers. Cadera believes that representative democracy provides the illusion of freedom, while in fact maintaining the dominance of the upper classes.


Instead she promotes a centralised, authoritarian system where rights are tied to service to the collective. She also supports the idea of democratic centralism. While the directing bodies of the Blades are elected, all members are bound by strict party discipline. Likewise the decisions of higher bodies are absolutely binding for all lower bodies and all members. Every Blade must act like a cog in a well-oiled machine. She describes democratic centralism as consisting of 'freedom of discussion, unity of action'. Detractors accuse her of being intolerant of contrary opinions. She is also very critical of Force-user dominance. She does not see this as merely an Eldorai problem, but identifies general trends in various societies, especially the main powers. Force-users have an inherent advantage due to their preternatural abilities, so power often gravitates towards them. However, this power is unearned because it is with them from birth and it allows them to exert hegemony over those who have been born without.


Cadera dominates the Committee of Rationalist Security, which is the Blades' leadership group. However, she is not an absolute leader, but relies heavily on two faithful acolytes, Trokana and Stylena. Sadly, both despise each other. Trokana is an accomplished orator and glamorous military commander, but vain and a poor politician. By contrast, Stylena is a dull public speaker and has not won any laurels on the battlefield, but a highly skilled power broker and backroom manager. Their squabbling plays into Cadera's hands, but also often irritates her. She sees herself as superior to both, but also depends on them. Cadera has been successful at placing several of her acolytes in key positions of the Redeemers, the Shadow Knights' counterintelligence and domestic security agency. Kaida and Cadera have a number of things in common.


Both loathe the monarchy, aristocracy and are committed atheists. Both also believe they're in the right and others would be better off doing as they tell them to. However, Kaida is icy, whereas Cadera is more passionate. Moreover, Kaida is a socially awkward, brutally honest introvert and a stickler for rules who's poor at socialising, but a formidable soldier. Cadera is no warrior, but a skilled politician and not above using manipulation and deceit to serve what she considers to be a larger goal. Kaida is more than a little disdainful because she views Cadera as a 'civilian'.


COMBAT INFORMATION

• Weapon of Choice: Blaster pistol, hold-out blaster, minions.
• Combat Function: Cadera is not a soldier and her place is not on the frontlines. She's good with guns and has been in enough dangerous situations to keep calm under pressure and think on her feet. That said, she is not a special forces commando or elite soldier. She also cannot use the Force. She would stand little against someone with exceptional combat skills. Being an Eldorai she's agile and dexterous, but is physically weaker and has a lower pain threshold than a human. She's a decent pilot, but is not a dogfighter. She's a leader, not someone who's supposed to storm the trenches.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

For someone with such radical views, Cadera had the background of someone whose family had profited from the old order. She was born on Kaeshana during a time of transition and change for the Eldorai. Her mother was from a family of peasants. Despite this lower class background, she had rosen to middle-class status, studying at a university before teaching at an institute for young nobles. She married the son of a prosperous middle class family. Soon after their wedding, Cadera's mother obtained a good job in the city of Knossus, rising to become Overseer of Primary Schools in the Thessia district a couple years later.


Eventually she was promoted to Overseer of Public Schools for the province, overseeing the foundation of countless schools as part of the government's plans for modernisation. Her dedication was rewarded by the State, which bestowed on her the status of hereditary noblewoman. However, trueborn aristocrats still looked down on her, regarding Cadera's mother as a parvenu with tainted blood. Cadera was born in Knossus and baptised by an Ashiran priestess a few days after her birth. She was one of eight siblings, having two older and six younger ones.


As was traditional in Eldorai families, her mother was the breadwinner. Her father had a more mundane job. He had career aspirations of his own, but sacrificed these to stay at home, look after the estate and the children. Cadera grew up in a very traditional system of education and childhood. As a young girl she learned from a male servant how to read and write, and began her junior schooling at age ten. Both parents were avowed monarchists. They eschewed contact with political radicals and there is no evidence that the dreaded Investigators of Ashira's Truth ever put them under surveillance for subversive thought. In the case of Cadera's mother, her avowed monarchist beliefs might have been overcompensation due to her low class origins. All in all, Cadera's childhood was quite congenial. Every summer they holidayed at a rural manor. Among her siblings, Cadera was closest to her brother Zathrian, whom she often bossed around. She had an extremely competitive nature. She manifested an interest in sports at an early age and spent much of her free time outdoors or playing the Eldorai version of Dejarik, and excelled at a highly conservative, disciplinarian school.


When she was still young, her mother died of a brain haemorrphage. This seems to have scarred young Cadera deeply. Her behaviour became increasingly erratic, aggressive and she renounced her belief in Ashira. At the time Cadera's older sister Nethari, whom she was close to, was studying at a university in Santaissa. This was Kaeshana's capital and the only place on the planet foreigners were allowed to dwell in. Nethari often visited the foreign quarter, which was kept under strict surveillance, as the Eldorai were distrustful of foreigners due to continuous incursions and slaver raids.


Exposed to foreign ideas, Nethari began to doubt the system. Being older than Cadera, she'd done a tour of duty with the army and fought foreign raiders, who possessed superior technology to the Eldorai. Discharged after being wounded in battle, she lost faith in the regime and its ability to protect the Eldorai. She also studied the writings of banned subversive organisations and became involved in political agitation against the absolute monarchy of the reactionary Queen Tirathana VI. She even organised anti-government protests. However, she did not stop with peaceful protests, but joined a revolutionary cell bent on assassinating the Star Queen and was selected to construct a bomb due to her military experience, knowledge of explosives and chemistry. However, before the attack could take place the conspirators were arrested and tried for conspiracy to commit regicide, heresy and treason. Nethari was executed by immolation. This unfortunate event had a profound effect on Cadera.


At the time the young Eldoria had been studying at a prestigious seminary. Her mother had wanted Cadera to become a cleric, while Nethari would inherit the family estate. However, things had not gone the way she'd planned. Shaken by recent events, Cadera left the seminary despite scoring high marks. She told her father that she wanted to study law. What had happened to her older sister planted the seeds of radicalism inside her. She began to feel a strong antipathy towards the system. Her father was in awkward spot, for he had to disavow his treasonous, executed daughter to avert suspicion, lest the secret police take an interest in the remaining family. At university, Cadera was exposed to radical thinking. She got in touch with some of her dead sister's old friends who had managed to avoid being locked up by the Investigators.


She devoured forbidden literature such as the writings of Charae Darwai, a renowned biologist who had been imprisoned ages ago for claiming that Eldorai and humans shared common traits and origins. Cadera also read the works of the scientist and scholar Galliena Gallia, who had been imprisoned and burnt at the stake after proclaiming the heretical belief that planets other than Kaeshana contained intelligent life. Another scholar who made an impression on her was the heretical preacher Arryn, who'd postulated that Ashira was not wholly divine, but infused with the spirit of a mortal Eldorai woman. Cadera took this belief one step further by concluding that Ashira was not a goddess at all. Instead she'd been an ancient Eldorai who had been deified by mundanes who'd misunderstood her Force powers.


She also joined a student society and took part in demonstrations against the government, which had been cracking down on 'heretical thinking' in universities. The Investigators arrested Cadera and accused her of being a ringleader in the demonstration. She was expelled from the university and exiled to her family's estate after performing disciplinary labour service. Her father was concerned by her radicalisation and was able to convince the governor to rescind Cadera's exile. Presumably bribes were involved. However, the expulsion from university was upheld. Much to her father's disappointment, Cadera displayed little interest in the management of the family estates. Eventually Cadera was able to complete her law degree as an external student, though the celebrations were marred when her brother Zathrian died of a rare disease.


Cadera managed to get her foot into the door of the legal profession by working for a regional court. However, she soon became disillusioned. In one case, a merchant from her hometown was accused of 'blasphemous rhetoric' and 'smuggling'. As Cadera found out, the defendant had actually been framed. Moreover, the judge heading the court was compromised since she was the friend of a matriarch who wanted the merchant out of the way and stood to benefit from a guilty sentence. Cadera's attempts to prevent this were unsuccessful. She fully embraced revolutionary politics. She became enamoured with the pro-revolutionary novel 'What is to be done?'. It should be noted that Cadera had no qualms about living off the estate's income.


Travelling to Santaissa despite being prohibited from entering the capital, she got involved with a revolutionary cell called the Young Eldorai, which demanded radical change in Eldorai society and government. Their programme included the abolition of Church tithes and of the religious courts, constitutional government and the creation of an elected assembly...though only 'worthy' Eldorai would get a vote. It was not radical enough for Cadera. The Investigators were notorious for infiltrating subversive organisations with police spies, and so the young radicals were soon unmasked. Cadera, who had grown frustrated with the cell's lack of drive, had brought matters to head by organising a demonstration that turned violent. She managed to evade capture when the Investigators cracked down on the radicals. While many of her comrades were forced to confess real and imagined crimes against the state, Cadera went underground, living under a pseudonym.


The revolutionary underground had become her life and she was drawn to like-minded radicals, who founded a secret society called the Blades of Reason. They rejected the authority of the Crown, aristocracy, clergy and the existence of divinity of Ashira and the other Eldorai deities. Cadera raised money for the illegal publication of a holonewspaper that would spread their message. Displaying organisational skills, she became the holonewspaper's editor. Her pen produced articles characterised by inflammatory rhetoric and dry wit. Dismissing those who believed in peaceful change and reform, she endorsed the use of political violence and armed insurrection.


She also tried to build connections with the community of Eldorai émigres and exiles that had emigrated from Kaeshana or been banished by the Crown. However, she found the emigres to be a fractious bunch cut off from the realities on Kaeshana. It did not take long for the Blades to embrace propaganda of the deed and direct action - in other words, stoop to terrorism. Government repression bred reaction. Their actions coincided with the uprising of the New Green Ribbons, a radical egalitarian movement led by a pretender to the Eldorai throne. However, both groups pursued divergent aims and soon became rivals.