Karrigan'Xalda
Daughter of the Karishzar
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Xioquo.
Image Credit: Here.Here.
Role: Force support unit, Sorceresses.
Permissions: ARGH gear available to Firemane per this thread. Permission for all ArmaTech gear and all other subs made by Laira Darkhold's writer here and here.
Links: Twilight of the Goddess, Daughters of the Destroyer.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Soulstealers.
Affiliation: Order of Fire, House Kerrigan, Siobhan Kerrigan, Firemane, Xioquo, Daughters of the Destroyer, Quas'Ziru.
Classification: Infantry.
Description: The Soulstealers are a dark cult of Xioquo mystics, spiritualists and sorceresses. Once they served Mystra, or Myrou, as she is known to the Xioquo, the dark goddess of the drows. Today, they serve Lady Siobhan Kerrigan, whom they know as the Karishzar. In the old days they were one of the cults that supervised blood sacrifices to Mystra. This brutal practice has been prohibited by their new mistress, who regards it as senseless. Nonetheless, the Soulstealers are still practitioners of the dark arts, who are dedicated to uncovering the dark mysteries of the Force. They focus on cerebral Force skills and arcane knowledge.
Although the Soulstealers now serve a more rational, significantly less bloodthirsty mistress, many of their duties remain unchanged. They are still ruthless in method and outlook and regard themselves as natural leaders of the Xioquo who follow the Dark. The seeming ease with which they have adjusted gives some Firemane officers, already uncomfortable about dark drow witches in the ranks, pause. For her part, Siobhan regards them as a useful resource. She probably also enjoys the fawning. The Soulstealers specialise in mentalism, sorcery, drain life and concealment. They have augmented their arsenal with more modern designs provided by Firemane or purchased from corporations it has friendly relations. Their lack of heavy armour takes advantage of their species' natural talent for concealment. Xioquo do great in dark areas or the underground where they do not need tech to see or navigate. This makes them useful for surprise attacks at night time. Use of poisoned blades is fairly commong among them. Poisoned darts loaded with a variety of chemicals, ranging from sedatives to dangerous toxins, are also popular.
All members of the cult are dark side adepts. Their training is extremely rigorous, for they are exposed to the very powers they will call upon in battle, forcing them to steel their minds against a battery of mental assaults or attempts to drain their vitality and consume their life force. They are also exposed to bright lights, the natural bane of the Xioquo, whose skin can easily blister if exposed to sunlight due to hailing from a subterranean realm. A number of Firemane members find them disconcerting. The General Research Unit, Firemane's counterintelligence agency, and the Truthseekers, its mentalist division, keep a watchful eye on them. Typically the Soulstealers will wear dark robes with a hooded cloak, tunic, gloves and mask. They may don a breastplate and gauntlets when they expect combat. Their combat role is to use their preternatural abilities to provide support, not be the ones who charge first into the breach.
Relations with the Seekers of the Sky, a sect of light side Xioquo founded by Queen Liavondra, are not good, which is why it is best to keep members of both groups apart. Otherwise close proximity can cause friction. Though much has changed, the Soulstealers are still an uncomfortable reminder of the dark past the Seekers and their followers wish to move on from. They have a strong rivalry with the Defenders of the Sunstar Realm, a sect of Light Side Xioquo mystics who were persecuted under the old régime and are associated with the Seekers. Both sects dislike each other and do not work well together. Today, the Soulstealers have ties to the Daughters of the Destroyer, a Xio cult that venerates Siobhan. Quas'Ziru, the high priestess of this sect and an advisor to Siobhan on Xioquo matters, was the one charged with reorganising the Soulstealers and bringing them into the fold.
Under the old order, Ziru was a slave, then a slave-soldier and a priestess of Myrou. She joined the Soulstealers, but was then framed and charged with treason after her patron fell out of favour with the régime. Her family was murdered and she was set to join after being savagely tortured. However, Mystra's death at the hands of Siobhan and her allies saved her from being fed to the primeval Xioquo. The experience left her more than a little unhinged and turned her into a fanatical devotee of Siobhan. She formed the Daughters to spread word of the Karishzar. While a zealot, she is also a cunning politician who is very skilled at intrigue and at advancing her own interests.
All in all, the Soulstealers have twelve members. Mictlan'Itztli is one of the more prominent members of the group. Her given name is the Xio word for obsidian. To be specific, it refers to an obsidian knife. In the old days it was the tool the priestesses employed for their blood sacrifices. Itztli is from a minor noble family and assumed the priestess role to raise their status. She is a bit bummed about blood sacrifices not being allowed anymore. Xolotl'Eztli is the member of a house that has provided priestess of the sect for generations. Service was in the blood for her, so to speak, which is also what her given name means. Eztli was a supporter of the ritual to awaken Myrou in order to turn the tide. Indeed, she participated in it, and was injured when Qual'Zyanya and her sister tried to sabotage it by bombing the participants.
Eztli was injured by shrapnel. However, Myrou was able to feed on the deaths generated by the bombing and awaken regardless. Eztli pledged herself to her...only to find out that this was a strong case of 'be careful what you wish for', for Myrou was a mad goddess who did not care about her children. Eztli suffered a crisis of faith. She claims to have experienced an awakening and turned a new leaf. Ziru does not entirely trust her. Eztli still bears the scars from the bombing, and has refused treatment for them.
Karrigan'Coaxoch is a former slave like Ziru. She used to be beholden to one of the priestesses of the cult. Her mistress survived the final battle, but perished during the post-war cleanup. Coaxoch helped Firemane and the Daughters identify hidden enemies among the clergy. Ziru has brought her into the fold as a check on the members of the old establishment. Coaxoch is a smart woman and has an affinity for snakes. She is also quite knowledgeable about alchemy.
Ehecatl'Citlalli is a scholarly sort. The cleric secretly doubted Myrou's divinity, and similarly she does not believe that the Karishzar is literally divine. However, while she does not believe the Karishzar is a goddess, she believes her name and the belief in her have power. The idea of the Karishzar and her ideals are important and thus must be preserved. Thus she approaches the cult's message from a more intellectual standpoint. In her spare time, she works on a chronicle of the sect and its new icon.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Small
Unit Availability: Unique
Unit Experience: Elite.
Equipment:
Armour:
- Fully covering dark robe with a Cloak of Hate, hood, gloves and tunic. Wear a fully covering mask with rebreather and other standard equipment to protect themselves against sunlight as well as chemicals while providing an air supply. Generally add a plastoid or durasteel breastplate, vambraces, and gauntlets in combat.
- ACS-208 Wrist Tensor
- ACS-207 Aerosolblaster
- ACS-208 Wrist Ion Beamer
- Wrist Bolter
- ACS-207 Acidthrower
- Shatter Pistol
- SP-2
- FWG-5 Flechette Smart Pistol
- MSD-32 Disruptor Pistol
- Renegade Heavy Blaster Pistol
- Holdout Bolter
- Sonic Disruptor
- Dissuader KD-30
- DC-19 Stealth Carbine.
- Dart Rifle (variable chemical payload)
- ACS-207 Cryoban Gun.
Misc:
- BCC BC-11 Comlink
- Berserk (for use on others, not self).
- Taozin Amulet
- Stealth Field Generator.
- Force Focusing Visor.
However, Xioquo are physically weaker than humans. Moreover, they do not carry lightsabres. They also do not carry heavy weapons such as missile launchers, rotary cannons, grenade launchers or heavy repeating blasters. This strongly limits their conventional crowd control abilities against large numbers of enemies, making them more reliant on the Force. They are meant to perform guerrilla attacks or serve as a support force, not frontline combatants who are supposed to lead a charge. It would be a poor use of their skills to have them storm a trench or an entrenched position.
Lacking lightsabres they cannot wade through a hailstorm of blaster bolts. While strong in the Force, their use of it is specialised. Moreover, it is a very small unit, which has implications in pitched combat against large numbers of enemies. In melee they would use speed, agility and finesse over brute force. They focus on using the Force over conventional combat skills, so ysalamiri and Voidstone make them vulnerable, as they take away or weaken their biggest advantage. Thus combining use of ysalamiri and Voidstone with snipers or soldiers armed with rapid firing blaster weapons is a good tactic. Standard anti-Force-user weapons such as flechette launchers, bolters, rotary cannons, explode on impact grenades, shotguns, and hard sound guns are a good choice, especially since they lack strong tanking abilities.
Potent mental applications require focus and this is hard to achieve whilst under heavy bombardment. Being infantry, they are vulnerable to long range bombardment, such as via artillery or air strikes. The Soulstealers are all adepts of the Dark Side, so strong Light Side attacks such as Force Light can weaken them, making them less effective than they would be otherwise. They would also feel weakened in areas very strong in the Light, such as within the proximity of a Light nexus. Certain applications of dark sorcery can also be negated or countered by Force Light.
Strengths:
- The Soulstealers are extremely talented sorceresses and dark mystics. They have a very strong connection to the Dark Side and are experts at drawing upon its power.
- Benefit from Xio racial traits such as agility, resistance to cold temperatures and darkvision. They can see much further in the darkness than humans even without the use of gadgets.
- Their strength in the Force comes at a cost. They are focused on mastering the more arcane and eldritch aspects of the Force, smiting their enemies from afar, driving them insane or draining them etc. They can defend themselves using conventional weapons, but would be gravely weakened if their connection to the Force was disrupted. This is particularly pertinent since they are lightly armoured. Thus ysalamiri, Voidstone and the like rob them of their biggest advantage. Their powers are strong, but large scale or intense use requires concentration and focus. Being darkside adepts, they are also susceptible to powerful applications of the Light.
- Forego heavy weapons such as anti-tank weapons or rotary blasters. This makes them poor against armoured fighting vehicles or fortifications. Snipers can also become a problem. They are dark side magi and a support unit, not assault troops.
The Soulstealers are an honourable and ancient order of Xioquo witches with a long, proud tradition that involves striking fear into the hearts of the enemies of the drows and performing blood sacrifices. Once they served as priestesses of Mystra or, as the Xioquo called her, Myrou. To the Xioquo she was their creator. This view was not unjustified, as she was the first of their kind and a very powerful sorceress and elementalist. The primeval Force-user was the strongest of her race. Once she led her people on a campaign of conquest, but after being mortally wounded in a duel with Tylania, her sister and the Paragon of the Vashyada, she had to retreat to the Underealm.
There she entered a tomb, and was not seen for thousands of years. Her disciples founded a magocratic, despotic matriarchy built upon the bedrock of slavery, oppression, misandry and dark side worship. Though their dark queen slept, the Xioquo still regarded her as their foremost goddess. No matriarch dared declare herself queen, fearful that the Old One might take vengence - or that a rival would accuse her of heresy and put her to death. Thus a variety of cults came into being, worshipping Mystra and the minor deities of the pantheon. The Soulstealers were one of them. In Xioquo society priestesses are not cloistered. They are simply Force-users with a spiritual mandate and have the duty to glorify the goddess, spread word of her teachings and ensure that their fellows worship her the proper way.
It is more of a job than a vocation and they are not excluded from succession. The Xioquo believed that their goddess required nourishment and so they performed sacrifices in her name. The Soulstealers were one of the sects that carried them out. But they also appeared on the battlefield, using their aptitude for the more destructive aspects of the Force to fight the Xioquo's enemies. To be chosen to stand among these priestesses was considered a great honour. Thus it was a very prestigious position - but also a dangerous one. Xioquo politics have always been a hornet's nest.
They played a pivotal role in repulsing an impetuous Qadiri assault on the Underealm led by the Mirza of Lakish, using their mental powers to sow terror and confusion among the Qadiri soldiers. When the time came do to battle against technologically superior Firemane and Eldorai forces, they utilised guerrilla tactics. Working with Xioquo partisans, they used illusions to deceive their enemies, so that janissaries and irregulars could pick them off. They also worked with the Blood Wraiths, a Xioquo necromancer cult, who used their talent for raising the dead to assault invaders assailed by partisans and illusions. Fierce battles were fought with the Angelii and the Order of Fire. However, while the fighting was fierce and the drows did not give way without forcing their enemies to pay a considerable price in blood, in the end they could not overcome the huge gap in technology, materiel, command and control.
When a Firemane-led coalition conquered the Underealm, Mystra was awakened from her slumber. Several Soulstealers died when a cabal of renegades sought to thwart her awakening by blowing up the matriarchs conducting the ritual. However, their deaths only hastened her return. But the Old One turned out to be a mad goddess. Not caring about her people, she ordered them to fight to the last. Indeed, some of the prietesses were devoured by their idol when she found their faith in final victory to be wanting. Her reign came to an end when she was slain by Siobhan Kerrigan and her allies. This caused a huge crisis of faith.
Like all Xioquo, the Soulstealers faced the choice of resisting the foreign conquerors or collaborating with them. Their numbers had been diminished by all the bloodletting. The dark priestesses chose to bend the knee, turning to Siobhan as their new goddess since she had bested their old idol. They acknowledged her as the Karishzar, the Destroyer. Though Siobhan initially felt like disposing of them, she recognised their utility. She had brought the Xioquo to heel with fire and steel and put a lightsided vassal queen in power. However, while the slaves rejoiced about their emancipation, many Xioquo resented being conquered.
Members of the old guard bit their tongue and feigned obedience in public, but conspired in secret. Others continued fighting a guerilla war. Conscious of this, the Lady decided to weaken the known and covert opposition by assimilating a group that might otherwise become a centre of reaction. At the same time she believed that she could show them a more productive way to use the Dark Side. However, she made it clear that she did not want the Soustealers to sacrifice people to her, for she deplored such rites. The Destroyer, so she told them, was not a parasite who needed to steal others' life force. Reforms were implemented to make the group lesss needlessly bloodthirsty. Her decision was not without its critics though, both among the Light Xioquo that were gaining ground and in Firemane itself.
Though a Dark Jedi herself, Siobhan had no appetite for needless, wasteful bloodletting. Not trusting the surviving members of the old leadership, she put her faithful acolyte Quas'Ziru in charge of reorganising the sect. Once a priestess of Mystra, Ziru had been betrayed by her fellows and sentenced to be sacrificed herself. Mystra's demise saved her life and caused her to undergo a conversion. Having become a born again Kerriganite, she took up her task with particular vigour. She purged elements regarded as untrustworthy, too wedded to the old ways or uncontrollably vicious. Before becoming a priestess, Ziru had been a slave, so she had Siobhan's confidence despite having served the old order. She had also been a member of the sect and the priesthood, which ensured a certain a degree of continuity of leadership.
Wary of the group becoming a hotbed of reactionary sentiment, she sought to expand recruitment towards those who had been wronged by the ancien régime and thus had the most incentive to be loyal to the new order. Of course, this has not made all Soulstealers zealots. A good number of them are pragmatists who follow their overmistress out of survival instinct and because she treats them better than their old bosses. Siobhan lacks the ancien régime's penchant for self-destructive purges. Provided they obey her orders and are an asset to her cause, she treats them well. The Blood Wraiths, meanwhile, continued to oppose the new order, regarding those who had made their peace with it as race traitors. The Soulstealers faced off in combat against the necromancers in the deepest caverns of the Underealm. Their mind bending and force drain abilities were most useful when the Wraiths summoned undead and dark side apparitions.
After Siobhan removed herself from public life to recover from a stroke shortly before the Incursion Event, rumours spread about her condition. As a result, some of the Soulstealers plotted rebellion, proclaiming that the Karishzar was dead. However, the insurrection was crushed and Ziru made an example of those who had conspired. Siobhan rewarded Ziru and the loyalists for their fealty. The cult has forged ties with the Daughters of the Destroyer, a Xioquo cult that worships Siobhan as the Karishzar and is led by Ziru.
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