Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on a location referenced in Tephrike submissions. Also create another death trap on my bizarro planet. This nexus is not meant to give anyone powerups. Rather it's supposed to be a fun challenge for explorers and expand on Tephrike's blood-soaked history.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permission: N/A
Links: Dominion of Light, Disciples of the Vader, Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike, Mahtara, Force Dead, Cinder Guard, 400-Year Darkness, Disciples of the Dust, Ashspawn/Reborn, Windian Jedi Order, Mace Windu Thought.
SETTING INFORMATION
Nexus Name: Palmyra's Wail.
Nexus Alignment: Dark.
Location: Tephrike.
Affiliation: Republican Guard, Tephrike. The Republican Guard maintains a garrison to keep people away from the nexus, but does not fully control it. Their goal is to quarantine, not harness it. Disciples of the Dust, Ashspawn/Reborn. Many of the Ashspawn dwell here, but their goal is survival, preservation of lost knowledge and keeping the horrors that lurk inside the nexus from causing even more harm.
Size: Large
Strength: Strong
Accessibility: Strictly speaking the nexus is easy to find, as it is located in Tephrike's former capital. The natives consider it to be a cursed place and do their best to stay away. The Jedi-led Dominion of Light maintained a military outpost to keep watch on the nexus and prevent others from abusing it. However, attrition rates were high since many soldiers went insane or succumbed to sickness. Later it was taken over by the Republican Guard. The Guard makes use of Force Dead soldiers from the Cinder Guard, who are immune to the mental effects. However, the outpost is underfunded, and they lack the numbers to fully prevent access. To compensate for this, they have laid traps such as land mines and shoot trespassers on sight. Further inside the ruins the Duststalkers, a force of undead rangers created by the Ashspawn, protect the border and ward off outsiders.
A traveller will have to contend with dangerous creatures such as zombies, Sithspawn and demons. It is pertinent to note that Palmyra is contaminated by radiation. Moreover, the weather also represents a hazard, as it is characterised by torrential rainfalls and tempestuous storms. The rain can be acidic and smoke and ash clog the air. This can be dangerous for unprotected lungs. Thick fog can also affect visibility. The nexus is difficult to scan, even for dedicated sensor ships. These hazards all impede exploration and make visiting Palmyra's Wail a dangerous endeavour.
Description: Many centuries ago, Palmyra was Tephrike's capital. However, the Gulag Virus caused the planet to spiral into chaos. The city became a battleground when the local Jedi, frustrated with the corruption and inefficiency of the government, staged a coup. Later the Disciples of the Vader, a fanatical Sith cult founded by a traitorous Jedi Knight, tried to conquer the planet. Palmyra became a war zone once more. Both Jedi and Sith employed weapons of mass destruction along with Force magics. Driven to desperation by the Sith onslaught after the latter performed a ritual to summon a dark side storm and raise the dead, Jedi Master Mahtara dropped a nuke on the city. This ended the battle in the Jedi's favour, but the effect was cataclysmic. The preternatural contamination and staggering death toll created a Force nexus within the ruins of the city. It has been abandoned since then. Attempts to alter the nexus have failed, as it is very potent.
Today, Palmyra's Wail is considered cursed; a fountain of horrors that is best avoided. Visitors will behold a blasted hellscape of ruined buildings, skeletons and broken vehicles. Those who visit the nexus in search of treasures or who attempt to claim its power will face manifold hazards. These range from the supernatural to the mundane or environmental. The rusted husks of broken aircraft, tanks and walkers abound. The city lies in ruins, the air is full of ash and storms are common. The Republican Guard, a revolutionary movement opposed to the Force cults, maintains a small fort at the edge of the nexus. Their goal is not to harness it, but to contain its influence and prevent Force-Users from accessing it. They correctly fear that anyone who tries to use the nexus will be corrupted by it. Palmyra's Wail was created by a brutal battle that devastated the city. Both sides launched bombing raids, laid mines and shelled parts of the city with artillery. As a result, visitors must be careful because unexploded ordnance still poses a serious danger.
However, the men and women of the Cinder Guard are not the only sentient beings who hold vigil over the ruins and strive to prevent misuse. Of all the beings who perished when Palmyra burnt and then arose as twisted undead beings, not all lost their sentience. The cataclysm spawned a new species of undead popularly called the Ashspawn, though they often call themselves the Reborn. These zombies have retained their sentience, ability to use tools, reason and form societies. All are Force-Sensitive to varying degrees.
However, their existence is a curse, for many things the living take for granted they can no longer enjoy. Palmyra's Wail is their home, but also in a sense a prison, for they must be vigilant against the dangers posed by the nexus. The Ashspawn have occupied some of the ruins, creating underground havens for their kind. The Ashspawn are not barbarians and can be reasoned with. Indeed, they are paradoxically one of the most civilised groups on the planet. But they are deeply disappointed by and resentful of the living. Many of their groups have banded together for mutual protection and try to preserve the memory of what was lost.
NEXUS EFFECTS
Those who approach the nexus experience extremely vivid hallucinations. These become more powerful the closer one gets to its epicentre. The effect is often amplified if the person in question is Force-Sensitive. The nexus is deceptive, playing tricks on the mind of the visitor and tormenting them with illusionary horrors. Indeed, as the visitor gets closer, they will often experience flashes of Palmyra's last moments and get a taste of what its inhabitants suffered in those terrible days. Their perception of their surroundings is warped.
They may behold Palmyra's last moments, see the chaos and the bloodshed. Or there might be naught but silence and corpses upon corpses wherever they look. Perhaps with their own body being added to the pile. This contrasts with illusions that show Palmyra as it once was, before the calamity. The past and the present merge, until they have difficulty distinguishing between the two. Mirages show the past, but blow into mist and ash when reached. Those who persist on their course are exposed to what amounts to an extremely powerful form of Force Insanity.
Tying in with the above, the nexus actively tests Force-Users, threatening to break them. Lightsider finds their belief in their convictions and morals tested in a place where noble ideals went horribly astray. Darksiders fare no better, for they face the meaningless of their drive to power. Those who try to straddle the line between both sides will be called out for their middle-of-the-road tendencies and what the nexus considers to be their refusal to make a stand. Each category will experience hallucinations and illusions that tests them. The nexus will also draw from their own experiences, forcing them to confront what they fear, desire or revile. In doing so, it seeks to strip away lies, convenient rationalisations, delusions of superiority and righteousness. The nexus is deceptive, beguiling visitors with visions of power and glory - or conversely tempting them with the hope that they can set things right and purify it or save damned souls. Visitors may experience intense feelings of nausea or anxiety, as well perceive apparations of crying children or feel the sudden touch of a random hand. There is also the eerie feeling of constantly being watched by...something.
The ghosts of the dead are still trapped inside the nexus, unable to move on into the Netherworld. Some are helpful and warn visitors of dangers, others plead for release, attempt to manipulate or possess newcomers. Their long imprisonment has taken a toll on their sanity. Others are locked into doing whatever they were doing at the time when Palmyra was nuked, or even further back. Soldiers on both sides are trapped in fighting a battle that brought ruin to them. Moreover, if someone dies in Palmyra's Wail, it is best to cremate the corpse as quickly as possible. Otherwise the nexus is likely to reanimate it as a ravenous zombie.
Another effect of the nexus is that it is very detrimental to using comms and other forms of electronic communication. They often do not work, or one hears a shade. Moreover, using the Force can be dangerous because it is unstable. This can be broadly compared to how Akala's machinations during the Netherworld Event made it difficult to use the Force and could have detrimental consequences for the user or those around them. This obviously does not make it impossible, but it is akin to drawing upon wild magic. For instance, when a Force-User uses their abilities, the power output can vary quite a bit and thus the effect can be larger or smaller than intended. Moreover, drawing heavily upon the Force can open the Force-User to the corrupting influence of the nexus. Giving into the nexus can make it a lot easier to harness the Force and achieve impressive feats of strength...but at a tremendous cost. The nexus does like to beguile the ambitious or desperate, and then try to possess them.
Palmyra was destroyed by a nuclear weapon. As a result, the land is tainted. The dark taint amplifies the danger posed by radiation. In addition to the mental torment, visitors are at risk of being physically warped by the preternatural radiation. Wearing a hazmat suit or an equivalent thereof in the radioactive disaster area is absolutely necessary to shield from contamination by radioactive material, but this still leaves irradiation. This means decontamination is necessary after leaving the nexus. The warping can include nasty physical disfigurements such as hair loss, burns, teeth falling out, blindness, and sloughing of the skin from the bones as one gets closer to the epicentre of the nexus. There is also a risk of the radiation inducing cancer, sterility and cellular degradation. The polluted air itself is very dangerous to breathe in, as there is a very high risk of radiation induced lung injury, pulmonary insufficiency and eventually death. The ash dust that clogs the air is dangerous for unprotected lungs.
POINTS OF INTEREST
Jedi Temple: The ruins of Palmyra's Jedi Temple. Jedi and Sith clashed here during the battle of Palmyra. They continue to fight to this day. Visitors perceive mirages of the seemingly eternal battle and may find themselves trapped in a mental maze. Apparitions of Younglings, forced to fight a war they were pressed into as child soldiers, beg for help. The nexus will actively try to manipulate and warp the visitor's perception of reality. In so doing, it seeks to mess with their memories. If the visitor has companions, it may try to make them turn on each other. Those who stay too long may lose themselves in the experiences of the past Jedi and Sith and become trapped. According to rumours, treasures and artefacts can be found here. Whether their acquisition is worth it is another question. Just to be sure, the Republican Guard has left some booby-traps behind to deter would-be treasure hunters.
Oasis Residential Tower: An old residential complex. On first sight, it appears to be a literal oasis in a ruined wasteland. From afar, a visitor sees people going about their daily lives. Indeed, they seem to engage the visitor in dialogue, beckoning him or her close. One hears children laugh and play. However, when one gets closer, one finds that there are nothing but skeletons. Sometimes one's own is added to the pile. Visitors may also see what happened when the area was torn apart during the battle and the nuclear strike, seeing it from the perspective of the civilians who lived and perished in an atomic firestorm. Trapped spirits seek release from their damnation and may help a traveller in return for being freed or conversely try to deceive them. A group of Ashspawn has taken the time to build a small memorial for the dead residents. A few spirits have been able to find peace with the Disciples' help.
Liberty Square: At first, the square appears normal and relatively undamaged. But as one approaches, one feels an overwhelming despair and sees the horrible reality. Indeed, the power of the nexus makes things look even worse than they actually are, causing the area to resemble a literal hellscape. Radiation levels are extremely high. Those who approach will be exposed to an extremely powerful surge of Force Insanity. One possible effect is that someone's deepest and primal fears are given flesh. Moreover, if an intruder is not alone, their warped perception may cause them to see their companions as hostile demons.
This is the epicentre of the nexus, so it is easy to fall into craters or an enormous pit created by the nuclear blast. Here the hallucinations are at their strongest and the illusions are very tangible. They torment visitors, confronting them with their own choices, their failings and the horrors that were wrought here. Indeed, the visions try to compel the visitor to fall into the pit.
Freedom Spacedock: This used to be Tephrike's main spaceport. When the Gulag Virus ravaged the galaxy, the government was forced to impose harsh entry restrictions and quarantine regulations. Many people, such as refugees and travellers, were stranded at the spaceport. They were not allowed to leave. As their supplies dwindled and reports of an outbreak caused the local government to initiate a lockdown, some tried to use illegal means to break out. This led to clashes with xenophobic nativist groups, who blamed the 'foreigners' for the pandemic.
The Spacedock suffered during the battles for Palmyra, and is now mostly ruins. The few remaining spaceships are old, rusted and beyond repair. A traveller may receive visions of the grim fate of the people stranded here. Some shades still think that they are alive and that the authorities will let them leave quarantine at any moment. This can lead to harrowing scenes, as, for example, parents try to comfort their children. The spaceport is located far from the epicentre, so smugglers are rumoured to make use of it for deals. The Guard tries to suppress these criminal activities, as it does not want items tainted by the nexus to leave Palmyra's Wail. The Cinder Guard is stretched thin, but carries out sweeps to crack down on the worst.
Government House: In the old days, this was the seat of Tephrike's federal government and residence of the Prime Minister. It was stormed by the Jedi during their coup, then became a battleground. By now it has been looted. It has whispering voices from across time. One may see Guy Aybel, last Prime Minister of Tephrike, pacing around restlessly. Sometimes the apparition is actually helpful...but it is very embittered towards Jedi. One may also hear Stakes ranting incoherently.
Parliament Building: Parliament was badly damaged during the fighting. Indeed, the dome's plenary chamber has a big hole in the roof. Long before the Jedi took power or the city was nuked, Palmyra was the site of bloodletting. Unarmed demonstrators were massacred by government soldiers as they marched to Parliament to present a petition to the legislature. Younglings were among the casualties. This was a catalyst for the Jedi coup. Visitors may see the massacre unfold before their eyes. Perhaps they may spot a young Mahtara, then still an innocent Padawan and not an iron-fisted tyrant. In Parliament itself, they may see Jedi Lord Zaras Dant denounce the politicians as corrupt and put an end to their sitting. Disciples of the Dust were able to secure some of the contents of the parliamentary library.
Galactic Stakes Tower: Former headquarters of Stakes Enterprise, owned by failed real estate tycoon and former prime minister Winston Stakes. His election led to a heavy increase in political divisiveness, civil unrest, racial tension and an incredible amount of corruption. He would end up embroiled in numerous scandals, such as the meltdown of the Tephrike Golden Future Binary Fusion Plant. His administration tried to cover up the disaster, then blamed 'sabotage'. When Stakes lost the election, he refused to concede and made baseless allegations that a conspiracy of liberals, aliens and socialists had stolen the election from him. While his fanatical followers stormed Parliament to 'stop the theft', Stakes barricaded himself in his luxurious tower. There he continued to act like he was head of government, issuing orders via social media.
The Tower was looted during the Dark Age. Back in the day, the Tower was extremely luxurious. The aesthetics were gaudy, tacky and fake. A visitor from before the collapse described it as the epitome of bad taste, featuring manifold gilded furnishings, canopy beds, fresco-style ceilings, colossal chandeliers, and a solid gold toilet. Stakes surrounded himself with gold furniture, gold wall decorations and so on. Today, nothing of the place's forer glory remains, for it was thoroughly looted and fell into disrepair. Indeed, the tower is in a pitiful state, has no power and the elevator stopped working ages ago. The scent of junk food is strong in some of the rooms.
An apparition of Stakes is stuck here. Rather than being an illusion, it is his real shade. He is convinced that he is still prime minister and either has not noticed that he died centuries ago and that the city was nuked in the interim, or does not care. Sometimes he tries to access his social media account, but the account no longer exists and the computer has lost both power and Holonet access. He spends his time denouncing his political rivals and minorities is increasinly incoherent rants, or barking out orders to long-dead minions.
Sepulchre of the Reborn: A former mortuary that now serves as the headquarters of the Disciples of the Dust, a group of Ashspawn mystics, lorekeepers, healers and embalmers. It used to be called the Palmyra Municiple Mortuary and Pathology Centre. The Disciples have renamed it and made it their temple. An underground crypt lies beneath the building. It serves as a sanctuary for mummified Ashspawn. The catacombs are also useful for hiding or making an escape. The Disciples prize adaptation and flexibility, so they have no palatial fortress. Nor do they hoard all their artefacts in a single archive.
River Lethe: The river has been contaminated by radioactive waste. Due to the influence of the nexus, those who drink from it will not just get sick, but also experience forgetfulness. Moreover, visitors see bodies floating in the water.
Fort Vigilance: A small, but well-defended outpost maintained by the Republican Guard, at the edge of the quarantine zone. Vigilance has a small garrison composed of soldiers, as well as technicians, researchers and the like. Without exception, all of the base's occupants are Force-Dead. It has barracks, a bunker, museum of oddities, heavily guarded vault and some turrets. The outpost has a small, but dignified memorial for those who perished in Palmyra's annihilation. Since Palmyra's Wail is contaminated by radiation, the base has a side area where people in hazmat suits hose down returning people. It is close to the entrance, but inside the fort. The Guard is low-tech and so it has to utilise more primitive means. The base's construction was one of the last orders of Mahtara before she retired. The Republican Guard has maintained it and the Cinder Guard has been posted here.
Peaceful Springs Municipal Park: The park looks vibrant, alive and healthy. Birds chirp happily, and children play or have picnics with their parents. In actuality, it is a devastated, quiet wasteland shrouded in fog. The silence is eerie. Nothing grows here or lives anymore. Those who see past the illusion will just see death and realise it is as peaceful as a graveyard.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
In the old days Palmyra was the capital of the Tephriki Federation. In that time Tephrike was a somewhat unstable, democratic federation. The city was rocked by violence when following a disputed election, Prime Minister Winston Stakes refused to concede defeat and falsely alleged that an interstellar conspiracy had stolen the election from him. He alleged that these nefarious conspirators had also been behind a fusion reactor meltdown that occured shortly before the election. In truth, his insistence on getting the fusion reactor online as soon as possible, regardless of justified concerns about safety standards, had been at fault. After attempts to overturn the election results failed, fanatical Stakes supporters stormed Parliament in order to 'stop the steal'. They were eventually forced out, but Stakes got away scots free.
Right-wing media mouthpieces criticised tthe police for 'using violence against patriotic protesters', while police officers who had shown solidarity with the domestic terrorists were praised. Ironically, just a few months ago, Stakes had ordered the police to brutally suppress a peaceful protest of non-humans whose habitats had been destroyed by the meltdown. His followers continued to peddle the big lie of a fraudulent election. Political violence became depressingly common, leading to the Years of Lead. This was a time of turmoil characterised by political violence perpetrated by far-right human supremacist and left-wing, alien paramilitary and terrorist groups. Street warfare, bombings, abductions and assassinations caused thousands of deaths until terrorist activity finally decreased.
When the Gulag Virus broke out, the galaxy spiralled into a new Dark Age. Cut off from the rest of the Galaxy, Tephrike was ravaged by the plague and civil war. The federal government proved unable to solve the crisis. It was not helped by the fact that groups such as human supremacists claimed the virus was a hoax. Their fearmongering contributed to the spread of the virus, as they denounced the measures introduced by the government as 'tyrannical'. A demonstration staged by a human supremacist party predictably turned into a super spreader event. Protesters who refused to adhere to proper safety measures and accused shadowy elites of spreading the virus also contributed. Warlords and criminal gangs became a serious threat. Many people succumbed to disease, malnourishment or the bloodletting in the streets. Desperate to restore order, Tephrike's Jedi Knights launched a coup with the backing of elements of the military.
Government House was stormed, Prime Minister Aybel toppled and Parliament was dissolved. Palmyra fell under the Jedi's control. However, fierce fighting broke out between the Jedi junta and the Alliance of Democratic Forces, a coalition of government loyalists and former oppositionists who rejected the new order as tyrannical. Palmyra became a war zone. What was supposed to be a temporary dictatorship evolved into a totalitarian theocracy, the Dominion of Light. However, as terrible as the bloodletting was, it paled in comparison for what was to come.
Cade Seward, one of the Jedi Knights tasked with suppressing rebels, succumbed to the Dark Side. Visions and fever dreams convinced him that he was the Sword of Vader, chosen to eclipse the light. Gathering followers, he mustered a Sith army and marched against the Dominion. Aside from being a Vader-worshipping zealot, he was also a virulent human supremacist. At first, the Dominion did not take the oathbreaker seriously as a threat. They regarded him as a mere bandit and demagogue. But it soon turned out that the newly christened Darth Malitia was a genuine threat to the young nation's survival, as well as anyone who was non-human. Supporters of the Dominion were massacred en masse to be raised as zombies or turned into Sithspawn abominations. He also did not shy away from using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The Dominion was driven to radicalise even further. All aspects of life were subordinated to a total war policy.
Jedi General Mahtara, the future Battlemaster of the Dominion, was one of the Jedi commanders who faced Malitia in the field at the ruins of Palmyra. She received her promotion to Master in the field after holding off a Sith attack. However, the battle was going ill. Both the Dominion and the Sith troops fought fiercely. Humanitarian conventions had been abandoned in the favour of what was considered efficient. City districts were shelled with artillery. Tactical ballistic missiles, IEDs, white phosphorus and gas were utilised. Dominion troops were forced to fall back after the Sith performed a dark ritual to create a huge Deadly Field and later raised countless dead as zombies. Defectors claimed that Menace had gone mad and was using blood sacrifices to power a ritual that would create a tear in reality, allowing him to open a gateway to the depths of Chaos. It is no longer possible to verify these rumours. Either way, the Dominion had been driven to the brink and was desperate. Thus Mahtara was authorised to unleash a terrible nuclear weapon Dominion scientists had built in secret.
Troubled by the use of this weapon, yet desperate, Mahtara insisted on accompanying the bomber crew that would drop the weapon upon Vaderite lines in Palmyra. It was not possible to evacuate all Dominion troops and Jedi in time, as they were still locked in combat with the Sith legions. Lacking conventional stealth systems, the bomber was concealed by illusions. However, a Sith mentalist managed to see past the concealment and the bomber came under fire. Insisting on completing the mission, Mahtara gave the order to drop the bomb. Palmyra ceased to exist. But the Sith crusade came to an end. Menace's forces retreated, going on the so called Arduous March. He was eventually slain by one of his lieutenants. The Vaderites regrouped at Castle Maysaf, but their bid to conquer Tephrike had failed.
On paper, it was a victory for the Dominion. However, the loss of life among Dominion followers, Sith and civilians had been staggering. Palmyra had not just been destroyed, it had been irrevocably tainted. Those who had been caught in the blast radius had been unable to join the cosmic Force. Instead they remained trapped as shades. Feeling immense guilt about her actions, Mahtara put down her lightsabre and resigned from active service. Eventually the Dominion's descent into madness and zealotry would force her to return to the forefront. It soon dawned upon Dominion leaders that the weapon had been even more devastating than they could have anticipated. The huge explosion of Force energy, the huge loss of life and the fact that Jedi and Sith had been throwing around Force power throughout the battle had spawned a dark nexus.
When the Dominion dispatched search parties to look for survivors, they came back twisted, or not at all. Entire units were lost. The radiation caused physical deformities, while the psychic energies caused visitors to lose their mind. Despite the obvious dangers, there were still people who were drawn to the nexus. Some searched for loved ones, hoping against hope that they might still be alive. Others believed ther were treasures hidden in the ruins or that they could harness the power of the nexus. Grandmaster Norn Astur declared Palmyra to be a forbidden zone, ordering the creation of the Shield of Light outpost. The radiation forced the Dominion to set up the base at the very edge of the quarantine zone. Attempts were also made to erect a containment wall to prevent the spread of radiation. However, this effort soon foundered due to lack of tech and funds and so the wall remained flawed.
Moreover, it soon became apparent that the nexus had had a strange effect on some of the undead. Most of the dead who rose again as zombies were mindless, but some retained their sentience. Rejected by both the Dominion and the Vaderites, former Sith and Dominion soldiers and civilians turned undead banded together under a prophetess called Hecate. They were soon called the Ashspawn, though they preferred the name the Reborn. The Dominion tried to purify the nexus, devoting several Jedi Masters to the task, but many lacked true purity in the Light. Moreover, the nexus was too strong to be altered. Some Jedi found themselves trapped, reliving the battle until they were unable to separate truth from illusion. Thus the Dominion had to settle for quarantine, especially in the face of Vaderite attempts to claim the nexus.
Several skirmishes were fought between Ashspawn and the Dominion forces that manned the defensive wall. The Reborn could not break through because they lacked the heavy firepower and the Dominion could bring air power to bear, but Palmyra was a life-threatening death trap to mortals. After sustaining severe losses, the Dominion settled for containment. One Jedi Master called Aristides Kydatus defied this order though. He believed himself to be a descendant of the legendary Skywalker. He was, in his mind, the last scion of a fallen legacy and believed that he must enter 'the paths of the dead' and call them to aid him in his final war against the Sith. He was the 'light in the darkness'. So the 'righteous man' boldly led his followers into the jaws of death. The Jedi Lord demanded to have an audience with the 'lords of death'. After he was smote, the nexus brought him back. He was kept in a pit after being resurrected, conscious but unable to move. The Disciples removed his limbs for this purpose and used them for transplants.
Successive Sith Lords contested the nexus, for the dark cult considered it holy ground. The psychic energies and the radiation probably hurt both groups just as much - or even more - as the actual fighting between them. Darth Hyperion once rid himself of a troublesome rival by ordering him to take the province the nexus was in with a woefully under-equipped force, knowing that his enemy would be unable to resist the temptation of claiming Palmyra's Wail. Darth Blitz was convinced he could harness the power of the nexus. Impaler used his agents to plant the seeds of the idea into his head. However, though a bloodthirsty tyrant, Hyperiob actually understood the nexus better than his overly ambitious subordinate. Blitz never received the promised troops.
He led an assault on the Dominion's fortress. It was repulsed and it was believed he had been killed. But his soul had been tethered to a soul jar and so he arose again. Using his necromantic powers, the 'master of death' began to bind zombies and other creatures that dwelt in Palmyra's Wail to his will. Unnerved by his abilities, the Disciples worked with the Dusststalkers, who planted false information about there being a wellspring of power in the nexus that was waiting for a worthy master to claim. Blitz committed the folly of trying to force his will upon the nexus, which fought back. The rangers engaged him and his cohorts while necromancers and mentalists among the Disciples turned several undead creatures on him. However, the Ashspawn were tested by the Netherworld calamity. The mass rapture badly weakened the Dominion base, allowing the Ashspawn to stage a breakout. But it also triggered a demonic incursion in the nexus. Some Ashspawn succumbed to its malign influence.
By the time the Netherworld Event began, the Shield of Light outpost was in a bad shape. As part of their Hundred Days Offensive, the Republican Guard assaulted it. In contrast to the Dominion and the Vaderites, the Guard was composed of Non-Force-Users who considered the Force to be a curse. Fearful that the Jedi or Sith might utilise the nexus to bring forth horrors, they targeted it. Lacking Force-Users, the Guard was obviously unable to even make the attempt to cleanse or contain it. Moreover, their soldiers suffered from the negative effects of the nexus, causing many to get lost, lose their mind or suffer physical deformities. Thus the Guard stuck with manning the outpost with Vong and other Force Dead soldiers and researchers. The Shield of Light was renamed Fort Vigilance, and occupied by the Cinder Guard.
The grand offensive against the Dominion failed and the Guard was driven back, but it stubbornly clung to the outpost, even after it became difficult to reinforce the garrison and supply it with provisons. So great was the fear that Force-Users might be drawn to the nexus and inevitably be corrupted by its power and tempted to unleash evil upon the world. Freak weather patterns made it difficult to resupply the garrison, though they also impeded Dominion or Vaderite attempts to overrun it. At one stage during the Netherworld War, the disappearance of many members and forced conscriptions back to the regular forces for the Battle of Purity left Palmyra's Wail almost unguarded. The result was a demonic incursion. The remaining members of the Cinder Guard died all but to a man, but were able to throw back the invasion and their bodies were eventually found by their returning comrades, who cremated their bodies. The present-day Cinder Guard remembers them in its songs. Little known is the fact that soldiers had been forced to agree to an uneasy accord with the Ashspawn that dwelt in the blasted hellscape to stop the demonic incursion. The prophetess Hecate was badly wounded fighting an abomination, and had to be embalmed by her acolytes due to the damage her body had sustained.
The present commander of the Cinder Guard knows the truth, but there is no love lost between both groups. To the rebels, the undead Force constructs are deeply disturbing. The rebels stubbornly held on to Fort Vigilance, fearful of what could happen if Force-Users took control of the nexus and were corrupted by its power. Manpower issues compelled the rebels to introduce the controversial policy of conscripting convicts, deserters and similar individuals. In return for fighting the forces of hell, they would be given a second chance after their service was complete. Thus Cinder Guard held vigil, while also launching periodic forays into Palmyra's ruins to put down dangerous Sithspawn or apprehend and eliminate intruders.
More recently, a sect of Vaderites tried to break through in order to gain what they believed would be the 'unlimited power' of the nexus. This was folly, of course. Most of the attackers were stopped and killed by the Guard. One managed to get through and reach the epicentre, where he was extremely amped up by the energy of the nexus, but also overwhelmed by it. The soldiers had to put down this even more powerful threat. In present days, the Republican Guard is on the offensive again, having conquered Fortress Purity through an alliance of convenience with Firemane. However, the Cinder Guard continues to hold vigil over the land of ashes. They will continue to do until they are all dead, or the taint has been removed, whichever comes first.
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