Dominion Shadow Empire: Ahch-To... Bless You! | EE Dominion of Ahch-To

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: Ancient Temple, PX-0826
Equipment: The Soulsabers | 2x Striith vibrosword | Brynja coat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | G1 OmniLink | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland
Tag: Aurelian Sigismund | Felmorante L'lerim | Subject 73 Red | Maximar Fugold | Open

[ Solitude ] ​

Ingrid was watching the woman too, and the fact that someone else appeared near them and was watching them didn't escape her attention either. She had to feel these as an assassin, and now there was also the fact that the presence of something that was nearby was very familiar to her.

~ We are not alone, someone is watching us! ~ message to her peers telepathically.

Meanwhile, even the woman who hadn’t seemed dangerous yet arrived, but she never knows when they will be attacked. The woman mentioned a person named Skulenus; Ingrid had never heard that name. Since the others hadn't asked anything yet, she asked her questions.

"What is this place and who is this Skulenus?" She asked in her usual cold and military voice.

The woman apparently was not embarrassed by the presence of the armed company here. Aiglos did not detect a weapon at the woman and was not a Force User. She looked around and pointed across the hall with a wide gesture.

"Skulenus is our god, this planet is named after him, as are the people on the planet we call them as the children of the Gods. Skulenus lived a long, long time ago, at the time Valkorion was. According to legend, he fought the Eternal Alliance and then disappeared not long after. Years later, he returned from another world. By the other world, I mean not a planet but another plane of existence, a dimension. When he returned he was changed, he became different. That!"

She pointed to the two huge statues.

"After returning, he created the Skulenians, the children of the Gods, the natives of the planet, and then left again. He had not returned since, and the locals began to honour and worship him as a god. He is the god of science and magic. Those who have Force have it by His will. He favours development and aspiration. And this is one of his temples, one of many. Skulenus brought you! Here, everyone can find peace or learn if they want…"

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

​

---

High Imperator of the Rim-Guard

Tags: Ingrid L'lerim , Felmorante L'lerim , Subject 73 Red , Maximar Fugold

---

​

Ecthelion had realised the presence of a new arrival as well, it could hide from eyes, but not from someone attuned in the Force or someone in a suit with top grade sensors. He was lowering his weapon as the woman did not seem to be a threat, but preparing to draw his lightsaber to engage the hidden assassin.

His focus had located the man, Aiglos was prepared to take him out within a matter of moments.

Then the woman said the name. Valkorion. And once again Aiglos was focused back on the woman, both of his weapons lowering as he listens to the description of what Skulenus is. He slowly walks towards the woman while he listens to her tale, the pistol is already back in its holster.

The second time he was in one room with the Empress and the second time the name Valkorion was said. There is no such coincidence. Arcann did not believe in fate until it caught up with him. Until the Force was 'balancing' itself again. And now he is here, most likely drawn by the Force to this place. Disgusting.
But an individual, even sounding as degraded as this Skulenus, who lived at the same time as Valkorion and fought the Alliance, is intriguing.

"What are his teachings, woman? How did you learn about this individual 'Skulenus' if he hasn´t been here since a long time?"

​

 

[Felmorante L'lerim]

AND NEW FACES!

Equipment: Haywire I Armor over Viper Mk. I Skinsuit, Duraglide Boots with Boot Rockets
Dark Purple pair of Wrist Dazzlers, 7 Whimsy Knives, 3 Glitter Grenades, 2 Giggle Grenades, 1 Pink Vapor Grenade
Objective: Fun found, adults talk now.
Tags: Ingrid L'lerim Aurelian Sigismund

"Hmm." Her eyes continued to look around them, to the woman as she walked in. Then back to the statues as everyone began speaking.

There was something about a person becoming a god. Creating people, and teaching things. Her eyes drifted lazily to the woman and then to Ingrid.

"Not hard to make people. Specially if you make crazy people." She spoke quietly, going into a handstand and walking away from the adults to get a look at the statue again.

 

[Eina L'lerim-Vandiir]

Lirri Vendar
Padawan; Her bio​

Location: Near to the Jedi place, Ahch-To
Equipment: J-3 "Tranquility" Class Jedi Battle Armor | Gilenwave Jedi cloth | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Yellow blade lightsaber | BB-C4T droid | G1 OmniLink || Ashblade-class Neurofighter
Tag(s): Vidalu Na'an | Subject 648 Slipknot | Open

Lirri continued to follow the instructions and did what she had to. Until the next point. Until she had to do it to open her mind as well. Even as Na'an spoke the words, she felt there might be trouble with this, but she tried to try because the little girl didn’t like to fail. Especially if it can help her to fight against the Dark Side.

However, when she opened her mind…

She was suddenly inundated with images she had experienced earlier of what had happened at Anzat. Where she defended herself and her temporary ally with the light, but the woman, the leader of Dathomiran Nightsisters, Pom Stych Tivé , eventually abused it. She reached into the little girl's mind and kidnapped her. The Witch Elder first took her to the Netherworld and then from there to Dathomir. The little girl learned a lot from the dark side and they couldn’t break her, she wasn’t corrupt, but it was still uncomfortable. And since then, she has been constantly strengthening her mind so that this does not happen again. Because of this…

"This is not going to work, I'm sorry!"

She said and it all broke, she quickly pulled her hand back from Na’an’s hand and closed her mind. She experienced first-hand what the vulnerability in her mind meant, and she didn’t want it again. It’s too much of a danger, which is probably why they haven’t been taught this anymore.

"I can’t do it after what happened to me before."

​

 

[Maximar Fugold]

Max watched from the shadows as he could tell from the flashy soldier that guarded her that they were aware of his presence and would be a matter of time before he bout it. Reaching out with his mind to the both of them he telepathically spoke to them. "Im glad to see the rumors of your power hold true, until we meet again mother, id advize your escort not wear something that makes them look like a walking hood ornament." creeping up the wall and ceiling he would leave the building while they continued to talk with the woman Max banking on the idea that they wouldnt want unessesary caulties. as his form slithered away sticking to places of cover before ending up just outside the palace as he took his more human form.

ooc: bowing out peeps

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: Ancient Temple, PX-0826
Equipment: The Soulsabers | 2x Striith vibrosword | Brynja coat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | G1 OmniLink | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland
Tag: Aurelian Sigismund | Felmorante L'lerim | Maximar Fugold | Open

[ Solitude ] ​

Ingrid already knew that mentioning Vitiate, or Valkorion, in the man's presence might not be the best idea. But she also found it interesting that this Skulenus fought the Eternal Alliance. That is, it is possible that they were on one side. The fact that this figure called himself a god and supposedly created the locals made it pretty clear to the woman that it was a Sith. She means, it could have been. There were few other groups at that time, and the mentioned things were not typical of the Zakuulians.

The red-haired woman shook her head a little at what she said, cloning was easy, creating a new breed from others, or just doing it alone wasn’t that easy. She had a feeling that when Fel mentioned the crazy, she was thinking of herself, though Ingrid never thought she was, she liked the girl.

~ I hope you didn't think of yourself because you're not crazy! ~

Meanwhile, the person who was still here sent a telepathic message. At the word mother, her whole body stiffened. She didn't like her sithspawn to think of her that way. It was Adrian who preferred to think of them as his children; the woman not really attached to her creatures. Seeing the shadows, she thought it might be an Ethereal or a Shadow, though it had little to do with them, only her condition was partly inspiring to Adrian to create them.

~ Who are you?! ~ she asked from Maximar Fugold .

Meanwhile, even she had a question, god of science… Adrian would definitely protest against it.

"What kind of sciences?" She asked only this because the man had already asked the other things.

She wasn't terrified of Aiglos getting closer. Continued to smile just as kindly and wait patiently. Felmorante, as she got closer to the huge statues, she was better able to look at them. Their surface was perfect, smooth, in close-up they seemed to mirror the surface backwards. The perfect combination of white marble and gold. A real masterpiece. Much better quality than they can probably make on this planet.

"We always knew he existed, it has been so for thousands of years. I was born here on the planet, my parents were also priests, as has everyone in our family for a very long time, good lord. Our religion has two trends, one is more militant, we are the peaceful ones. Our God’s goal is to populate the galaxy with his children and creatures, who will bring technological advancement to a masterful level and thereby create a whole new world. We profess and accept this view of our lord. But the other side…"

Here her voice trailed off for a moment.

"The less peaceful side has been devoured by darkness, they want to reach the place where our god is at any cost. They want to bring it back into this world, no matter what it costs. Or, if they fail, they want to get there. They are chasing us, hoping to find the answer in the knowledge we hold so that they can achieve this. Most of our churches have already been found and looted."

She paused here for a few moments.

"Our Lord’s view is to acquire as much new knowledge as possible, which we can then use to acquire new knowledge or create new things. The other side believes we should subjugate the entire Galaxy…"

After that, she turned to Ingrid, where she smiled enthusiastically.

" All kinds of science, we try to gather everything from the galaxy!"

 

[Rath Nihro]

Objective: Chasing The Poison
Tag: Viermen

It would seem that his accomplice was still searching, which means that Rath needed to keep these people in line for a bit longer. However, a young man in the midst of the crowd panicked and began to sprint for the door. Only to feel something sharp slice open the back of his knees. He gasped in pain as the man tumbled to the ground. Floating in place adjacent to the panicked individual was the same phrik sword slick with fresh blood as it floated over him. Fear was overwhelming the mind as Rath sighed.

"Do you really think that I'm a jester here? When I say don't move, I meant do not move. But it would seem that I need to make an example out of you for you to get the picture." Rath pulled the sword through the Force as it practically flew to his outstretched hand. Almost making the one kid next him jump as it came dangerously close from cutting his neck. A dark, sinister presence flooded the room as Rath taps into the sinister energy of the Force. Screams of panic reverberated from the walls as an invisible hand of kinetic energy lifted the man who had tried to run a meter in the air. For everyone cowering to witness as the sickening sounds of bones being crushed. Pain was etched into the man's face as his limbs cracked and bones protruded his flesh. Even his face was swelling up from the pressure. However, Rath didn't finish the job as the man was lowered to the ground.

He wailed and even begged Rath to finish it, but the Warden simply shook his head.

“But if I did end your life now, what would we learn? That if you disobey then you’ll get a swift death? Oh no, in fact you continue to sit there until we’re done with our business.” Why was it so hard for these people to understand? Rath just didn’t know how plain and simple he can make it for these simpletons to grasp that as long as they do as he says, they’d be fine. At this point Rath didn’t even need to be deceptive as their own stupidity was killing them. From the corner of his vision, he noticed the large figure of Viermen peeking inside the building. Rath leans over to whisper in the young man’s ear who stood stiffly next to him.

”Where is your mother located? Is she in this room with us?” The young man shook his head before he reluctantly responded.

”S-she’s here, right over there.” To this, Rath nodded his head as he pondered on a thought. After the Warden, or rather the Shadow, looked over the group. There was indeed a middle-aged woman who was pale and her brow was slick with sweat. It was humid, sure, but Rath didn’t think it would be that warm. He gestured for the guy to go with a motion of his hand that held the gun.

”Go collect her, and meet me outside.” The dark haired man nods his head and walked through the crowd to usher what Rath assumed to be the mother. Especially with how careful the man was around her. She looked like she barely had the strength to stay conscious, and it honestly made Rath wonder exactly what was causing her to be this way. Granted there could be a number of things, but what the boy said earlier had Rath thinking. Something about the fields caused this, and the Warden began to think the poison might not be too far out of their reach yet.

”Just sit tight, and we won’t have any more incidents.” Rath called out to them before they left the building. The Warden quickly pulled the potential alchemist to whisper again.

”Stay beside me, and do what I say. Or else I cannot guarantee the safety of you or your mother. Understand?” Despite everything, the kid so far has been the only one who actually listened and obeyed Rath. Even taking the initiative in order to improve the health of a family member despite the dire circumstances. Well, perhaps they truly didn’t know that no matter what would happen, at least the majority of these people will perish. But they didn’t need to know that just yet.

”My name is Biggz Volstrum, sir.” He introduced himself, and without further ado Rath approached Viermen.

”Have you found anything interesting yet?” Rath inquired as he kept the entrance of the building within his vision. Just to see if anyone was going to disobey again.

 

[Viermen]

Location: Village on Ach-To
Tag: Rath Nihro

Viermen then waited outside. He managed to catch the display of might through the doorway. The brutality he approved of. The lack of mercy when he was finished with the fool made Viermen smile under his respirator. Brutality was what he approved. Granted, he would have approved of it more if the force was not the means of that whelp getting crushed, but this Rath showed signs of being worthy. That was the only way to deal with the weak. That is the only way these people can learn true strength if they were capable.

The boy was following his colleague like a dog. The kid must be shaping up to be strong. Though not strong enough from what Viermen sees. All this boy can do is follow orders better than the others. That was not strength. That was another form of weakness. Luckily for the boy, a weakness easy to cleanse. When Rath approached Viermen, Viermen responded first by laughing with approval. The respirator made guttural hisses with the bellowing laughter. "Brutality! Well done! I would say physical blows would be better use of strength, but the fate of the weakling was satisfactory. An agonizing death worthy of his pitiful existence!"
His respirator hisses with a bit more deep laughter of approval. Then Viermen addressed the question.

The soldiers searched through all the homes, and I made sure they did so intensively. No stone left unturned. Documents would be the most interesting out of what was found. Records of harvests, storage, and the most important, shipments. I have yet to have them analyzed, but they are all the crate this one is filling up."
He then gestures at the soldier still sifting through the crates of potential items of value for the documents. he others were small containers of the crop's raw extract used for the poison, some cultural items that looked Sith in appearance but it was hard to say if the locals just had similar taste. There were still being more documents to be found as the soldier continued sifting through for any details.
"While that is being dealt with, what have you found out by 'entertaining' the locals aside from their weakness? If the need arises, I would have no problem inquiring them directly."

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

​

---

High Imperator of the Rim-Guard

Tags: Ingrid L'lerim , Felmorante L'lerim , Subject 73 Red , Maximar Fugold

---

​

He listened to her answers and his enthusiasm faded. This was just mere religion, nothing else, two sects battling each other. Just because some old woman can tell a story, doesn´t mean there is any reason to it. Aiglos looked around once more and then back to the woman.

"Where does this militant cult reside? Where are they?"

Even he did not feel any sympathy or like in the cult or people, there is reason behind stability and some marauders who want to revive someone or reach out in the nether should be stopped, Force nonsense. No reason is good enough to do that. When someone is dead, they should stay dead and not get revived through some Force magic.

Either way, he alerted The Phalanx and his cadre outside to be on alert that there might be hostile forces around.

​

 

[Vidalu Na'an]

Equipment : One(1) shoto lightsaber, One(1) industrial-strength syntherope (20m), Libeta (under eyepatch), One(1) encrypted comlink transmitter
Objective: The Old Stones
Tag(s): Eina L'lerim-Vandiir , Subject 648 Slipknot , Adelle Bastiel, Eliana Shan

"This is not going to work, I'm sorry!"

She said and it all broke, she quickly pulled her hand back from Na’an’s hand and closed her mind. She experienced first-hand what the vulnerability in her mind meant, and she didn’t want it again. It’s too much of a danger, which is probably why they haven’t been taught this anymore.

"I can’t do it after what happened to me before."

Na'an cracked an eye open as the flowerbud slipped from her grasp, being very careful not to react otherwise. The high, reedy twist of fear in Lirri's voice was as familiar today as it had been back then. Back...

When, exactly? She'd sunk deep enough into the Force for it to no longer be clear. In the back of her mind were a jumble of images--the red vines of Dathomir blurring into the greys and blues of Kamino rain, the grey skin of a Nightsister with eyes like deep blue water, streaks of darkness and broken up by blue-white lightning--

And below it all, clearer than the rest, the coppery taste of fear.

Her eye stayed on Lirri's, the sight of the girlchild quivering mirroring the slight shaking in her own palms. Very young girls always seemed to tremble in the same way, whether they knew it or not, when they were trying their hardest to seem less afraid than they were. Clearly, there was a reason this Padawan was alone that she hadn't yet been able to process.

"That's fine," she said, keeping her voice very deliberately low. Years of wandering had taught her that that was the best thing for a frightened child--stillness, a quiet voice, the same room and grace you would give a startled animal. "It's...a scary thing. I know. To be so small, in such a big Galaxy. To sit with your own weakness, your own pain. I fight against it all the time, after Kamino. And Dantooine. And Kalidan. It's the most terrifying thing in the universe."

Na'an breathed into her limbs, feeling it down into her fingertips, and bit by bit the trembling slowed. In the back of her mind, the buzz of the lightning and the rain, of mad blue eyes, receded a little. "I won't make you stay--I'm not like her, don't you worry. But if you'd like, you can sit and just watch.

See why I bother, after all this time?"

 

[Eina L'lerim-Vandiir]

Lirri Vendar
Padawan; Her bio / NPC bio​

Location: Near to the Jedi place, Ahch-To
Equipment: J-3 "Tranquility" Class Jedi Battle Armor | Gilenwave Jedi cloth | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Yellow blade lightsaber | BB-C4T droid | G1 OmniLink || Ashblade-class Neurofighter
Tag(s): Vidalu Na'an | Subject 648 Slipknot | Open

Lirri was unspeakably relieved when it turned out that Na’an wasn’t angry because it didn’t succeed and didn’t want to force her. This was a rather unusual and new thing for the little girl after her bad experiences so far, but it was also pleasant in any case. However, she shook her head at the woman's words. She didn’t find the thing downright scary, just she didn’t want to be vulnerable.

"I’m not scared and I don’t find it scary. Rather, vulnerability is what bothers me."

She explained to Na’an and hoped the older woman would understand all of it. She nodded at the last question, Lirri didn't have to think much about it luckily. She wasn't a silly little girl, just a young one.

"Yes, I understand!"

She said honestly. Lirri really understood and already knew that she still had a lot to learn. However, she wondered what the other woman was going to do, what the outcome would be, so she didn’t want to leave.

"I'll stay if you don't mind. I wonder what you're doing."

​

 

[Felmorante L'lerim]

MAYBE PEW PEWS

Equipment: Haywire I Armor over Viper Mk. I Skinsuit, Duraglide Boots with Boot Rockets
Dark Purple pair of Wrist Dazzlers, 7 Whimsy Knives, 3 Glitter Grenades, 2 Giggle Grenades, 1 Pink Vapor Grenade
Objective: Fun found, adults talk now.
Tags: Ingrid L'lerim Aurelian Sigismund

Even from her upside down position, there was a wide smile at the telepathic message. She followed the link back, taking the mental sidestep to reply back. ~ I'm not crazy, I have a good grasp on my mind. The others don't, but they don't know that. ~ She replied, if a bit ominously as she stared, enamored at the sheen of the statues before her.

"The non-peaceful side. So like...the bad guys? Is that right? Or just-ah, I don't know the word for it." She spoke before righting herself with a graceful, if lazy, roll onto her feet. It looked as though she could bend in half by the maneuver.

"If your churches are about science, and they are looting them...does that mean you have like, a library or computers or something? Not just statues?" The words were cautious, testing the waters with her words as she twirled and spun looking around for any sign of technology only to return her gaze forward and then directing it towards Aurelian Sigismund .

"I wonder if they'll want to talk or if they'll just go all pew pew pew at you when you get close thinking they are all big and bad." There was a a laughter to her words, suggesting she had already guessed what path the militant side was going to take.

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Empress Regent of the Eternal Empire, Overlord of the Eternal Empire, the Emperor's hand, Lord Commander
The Red Witch, The Night Queen, Lady Stuztala, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium, Archon of the Primyn Group​

Location: Ancient Temple, PX-0826
Equipment: The Soulsabers | 2x Striith vibrosword | Brynja coat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | G1 OmniLink | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland
Tag: Aurelian Sigismund | Felmorante L'lerim | Open

[ Solitude ] ​

Ingrid continued to listen intently to what the woman was saying. She had a feeling that Adrian would have liked this Skulenus except for the divinity part. After all, her late husband did not believe in the gods, nor did the woman. They both thought they were just powerful Force Users, or entities. In any case, his views and teachings were very similar to those of the late Sith Lord. And the hostile sect did not sound good.a

~ You’re right, our own madness is the hardest to recognize or admit. ~ she replied, looking for a moment at the hallucination of her dead husband, who smiled at her amusedly and kindly.

She wasn’t crazy, just the injuries caused by the nervous breakdown and the disappearing Force-bond. Ingrid answered Fel’s next question aloud.

"Yes, they are the bad guys." She turned back to her for a moment. "You recognize this symbol?"

She asked and showed what they had first found on Batuu and then met it in several places since then. The woman, meanwhile, continued to answer the questions.

"They are everywhere, their numbers far greater than ours, as far as we know there are sects, cults, and followers in the entire Unknown Region, perhaps beyond. They travel the worlds, so they probably have a lot of ships. Unfortunately, I do not know more precisely, good lord."

After that, she looked at the symbol Ingrid was pointing and began to nod fiercely.

"Yes! It’s a symbol of Skulenus, we use that too, not just them."

Then she looked at Fel and smiled broadly at the question.

"Yes! We have a library, digital and physical, we have a lot of actual books and datacrons, and also quite a few holocrons, and scrolls, Codexes, and recordings from HoloNet, various scientific conferences. Although they took a lot of things. You can watch it if you want, it’s here on the level below us."

Although the dark side presence was felt from there, personal reasons were not so important to Ingrid. The Empire was the first for her.

"The others can go with you if they want, I have to do something, so I will check it out later if I can. Now that we know who we are looking for, the hunt can start after the other half of the religion."

The Empress didn't even know how wrong she was about this…

 

[Aurelian Sigismund]

​

---

High Imperator of the Rim-Guard

Tags: Ingrid L'lerim , Felmorante L'lerim , Subject 73 Red , open

---

​

Aiglos remained motionless while listening. After both women had finished he looked around again, seemingly taking in the interior of the temple. But he was actually calling a team of droids from The Phalanx as well as another Cadre of Paladins to the surface. There was work to do and maybe even something of worth in this temple. Furthermore he was setting the ship and his soldiers on alert, making them ready to prepare for action if it should become necessary.

Ecthelion remained silent and would calmly make his way into the lower level, intending to look around the library and archives before his team arrived here. His cape would smoothly glide down the stairs as he stepped on, following him wherever he goes. Now he would as well extend his senses, drawing upon the Force he felt, tickling from his fingertips and expanding his senses to find if there are more beings inside the building and how their minds looked like. He left his pistol holster open when he put the weapon in earlier and with a quick thought the hilt of his pike jumped into his hand.

The High-Imperator hoped, if this cult was devoted to what they say they are, that maybe some hint of ancient tech would be done here. And if not, it didn´t matter, they would either way take everything they need. And want. No cheap religion should endure.

​

 

[Vidalu Na'an]

Equipment : One(1) shoto lightsaber, One(1) industrial-strength syntherope (20m), Libeta (under eyepatch), One(1) encrypted comlink transmitter
Objective: The Old Stones
Tag(s): Eina L'lerim-Vandiir , Subject 648 Slipknot , Adelle Bastiel, Eliana Shan, Ingrid L'lerim

"I'll stay if you don't mind. I wonder what you're doing."

Na'an guided the Padawan back to her seat with a single hand and small, sad smile. Poor kid, insisting that her desperation to avoid vulnerability was not the same thing as fear. It was very much the kind of front a Padawan would put up, especially under the trauma they'd both gone through. "I'm glad," she said quietly. "I've been wondering what this looked like from the outside. Leigh can't tell me."

She settled back onto her tailbone, her eye slipping closed again as her breath lengthened. "So how about this. Watch. And you tell me what you think I'm doing."

And with that, she slipped downward.

The first step, as she told Lirri Vendar, was the body. Na'an stilled, focusing inwards the way her own Master had taught her so many years ago. This was the easy part, always had been; in a few minutes, she was lost following the lines of muscle under her skin as they twitched and rested in their turn. Her lungs expanded, stretching her chest out with cool air, then collapsed, bringing her body more to rest with every exhale. Her skin tingled. Her blood thumped dully against the thin spots of her skin, warm against the cold. And, so deep down as to be ignored most of the time, the low ache of her skull around her left eye, where the implant moved against the bone, the scarred flesh, threaded thin wires into the tissue of her brain.

It was her. Her own living body. All of it was her, scarred but living. A miraculous thing, made no less miraculous for being common.

Every living being was this way, wasn't it? Every life.

She felt the urge to expand outwards, and so Na'an did. No longer focusing on her own body, she could feel the stone met her flesh, where the stone met the earth, where the earth met the sea and sky and trees. The wind danced against her skin, tangled in her hair, carried her away. The porgs playing in the island's surf trilled joyfully; she could taste the salt of the water, shivered where it wet the skin under the feathers. Deep under the water, a mother thala-siren herded her young towards the falls; Na'an slid through the water along with them, sleek and silver among the coldwater coral. The nearby villagers squabbled, waved brooms at the intruder, and their irritation was her own, as was his consternation when the brooms smacked against his legs. Just across from her, Lirri sat, trying and failing to be completely still; for the briefest moment, Na'an saw her own body through the child's eyes.

Deep underground, an unknown rodent had caught a lizard and was dragging it back to its burrow to eat. When it bit down, she savored the reptile's blood on her tongue, and twitched in mirrored pain and terror as the lizard realized it was dying. She bled with the lizard, thrashed with it, died with it, followed its mind into the dark, then all but sang with the rodent's satisfaction as it began to eat. Predator and prey, living and dying all at once together.

And so it was everywhere on the island. This was the Force, primal and strange--the tension, the cycle. Everything was part of it--Life feeding death, death feeding life, the light and the dark creating each other. And now Na'an had her place in it, was a part of it, was every part of it; the barriers between her and the island slowly, slowly, dissolving. She sighed, and her exhale was the island wind rustling Lirri's hair. She twitched, and a hundred other bodies twitched with her. The porgs and the sirens, the rodent and the lizard, the sky and the sea, the moss and the trees and the--

The stones.

The old stones.

Hidden away, deep, deep on Ahch-To. Where no sentient hands could touch. The old stones, bones of the planet, the gates and the guard, womb and graveyard both. Resting unafraid, resting and watching. Watching every life. Every death. Watching Na'an.

And, far far away, watching other old stones. Other bones, on which someone had built a church, where she could feel the ice-cold edges of Imperial troops. That, and someone new, someone who--someone who wanted--

"Oh!"

The word slipped out of her lips without thought. Na'an rocked back on her seat as if she'd been punched, almost toppling off the rock entirely. She sucked in a huge gulp of air, suddenly dizzy when the oxygen hit her brain. How long had she been meditating? How long had she been holding her breath??

"Oh," she said again, more softly. "Oh, that's..."

There was a lingering smell on the edges of her awareness--rich and sweet and mouldering, like sick and rotting meat. Suddenly, she felt like she wanted to vomit.

 

[Eina L'lerim-Vandiir]

Lirri Vendar
Padawan (Technomancer, slicer, technocrat); Her bio / NPC bio​

Location: Near to the Jedi place, Ahch-To
Equipment: J-3 "Tranquility" Class Jedi Battle Armor | Gilenwave Jedi cloth | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit undersuit | Yellow blade lightsaber | BB-C4T droid | G1 OmniLink || Ashblade-class Neurofighter
Tag(s): Vidalu Na'an | Subject 648 Slipknot | Open

Lirri watched in silence what the other woman was doing. Because through the Force it was not much to be felt. Luckily, she read about it before, she remembered the way she looked at the other woman. But the little girl knew so far that it would take months or years to live on a planet for this to be feasible, or she would have to be a very strong knight and master at it. Life perception skills weren't Lirri's strength anyway.

The little girl was much more interested in machines than in living things. The padawan sensed electrical networks and the things she had energy in. That was her strength, and she had no problem with that. She knew she had little chance of ever being good at life perception skills, but she really didn’t bother. Not everyone could be good at everything. And she stays with electricity, it was more interesting anyway. In the end, she was startled.

"I think you tried to tune your mind to the Nexus and the neighborhood… and in the end you felt something bad."

​