Private The Hound

[Jaivant]

There was no home for the Sith, the real Sith, in this galaxy anymore. They could play into the facade of an empire, believe that political power meant the privilege of ignoring thousands of years of history and nomadic life. In just the short time that he knew of his heritage, barely a fraction of a fraction of Sith history, Jaivant was already acutely aware that his ancestors, his people had been displaced across the stars, forgotten to an eon of intermingling with other species, like his father's father had with his father's mother, and like his father had with his own mother. From his youth the young Graush had learned to tether himself to this cultural pain, tying himself as tightly to the dark side of the force as his blood drew him towards it.

And so he found himself standing under the red sky of Xo, a world that existed only a few dozen light years from the border of the current incarnation of the Sith Empire. It was the adopted homeworld of the Zanibar, a species that was culturally bound to ritual sacrifice. It was also the site of his meeting with someone who professed to have some skills of the alchemical sort, the planet supposedly a preferred world due to its deep corruption.

It didn't make waiting around with two Zanibar bounty hunters as tools for communication with natives any more entertaining.

"They're running late." He grumbled, his voice as coarse as his personality.

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

Jaivant

"Of course." A female voice would respond to his muttering. "Given the knowledge you wish to learn and understand, certain substances and reagents are very much necessary. Hard to find." The voice would cease as a form matching the voice would slowly shimmer into existence. "So let's get down to brass tax. The information I have gleaned about you is that you come from a certain biological lineage of Sith. The 'true' Sith, who had the title as a species before the earliest Darksiders made such an organization and not a people." She said solemnly. "Would it be fair to assume that I am correct so far?"

The sooner Vanessa could determine what precisely Jaivant wanted, the sooner she could provide him what it is he desired.

 

[Jaivant]

Like a living contradiction, the burning red glow in his eyes were held in a deeply cold glare. He was frigid on the surface, but seemed heated at the same time. "What I am shouldn't matter, not anymore." Javaint replied in turn, folding his arms over his chest in trademark fashion. "I am Sith, this is true, but we are not here to discuss my ancestors." He shrugged all the same, jerking his head back in a gesture that seemingly told his two companions to give them room to breathe. "I'll keep this short and simple." He said.

"The idea of a tool to siphon the spirit of its victims isn't lost on me, or the idea of something to guarantee the death or at least imprisonment of someone that fancies themselves immortal. They're a novel idea, a grand idea on paper, but they don't quite go as far, in practice, as I'd like them to." Jaivant explained, retrieving a dagger from his side. "In theory, one could transfer their essence into an occupied body and vie for control, like two minds in one body. I want to make a weapon that draws on both the novelty of the sort of weapons that lock their victims away and the idea of forcing two souls to fight for the control of one body." He said.

"To weaken them through physical death, then to rip their souls from them and feed it to their murderer, rather than capture them into some crude blade. It might strengthen me, but I don't really care about that - I want to make sure that certain people I kill stay that way, forever, and I just can't trust a cell to hold them there forever."

"A little bird told me once that you had some experience with certain unnatural abilities that involved the soul - I'd like to take advantage of that to have you assist me in making sure this provides me with as much certainty as I can afford."

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

Jaivant

Vanessa initially shrugged in response to a part of the Sith's otherwise dismissive attitude. She would ponder over his questions as they arose. "Indeed it isn't. I have an example of such a weapon stored away, crafted at my own hand. Never let someone tell you a sword is a better weapon than a lightsaber at killing." She thought for a bit over his initial suggestion - a weapon that would force souls to struggle over their bodies? How intriguing.

"Well... what about a weapon capable of bifurcating or trifurcating one's soul? You know, dividing it up and fragmenting it into various bits for storage and potential future siphoning."

 

[Jaivant]

If Jaivant was not frowning already, his lips were set deeply in one now.

Were he in a more mercantile mood he might have entertained the suggestions, and if the people he was interested in inflicting a final judgement upon were anyone other than the ones he already had in mind then perhaps the suggestion and its easier execution might have convinced him to reconsider his goal. However, his grandmother was not someone who was capable of being restrained - not by Chaos, not even by a prison meant to trap the soul. Whether or not dividing her essence would weaken her enough to be an effective solution was not something he could leave up to chance or time, in his mind it would be best to over-prepare than to give her - or anyone in the future - a way to circumvent a final solution.

"Interesting, but unfortunately it is out of the question." He replied, tucking the idea into the back of his head for the future nonetheless. "The people I am after cannot be given a single inch, it is paramount that I ensure there is nothing left of them for this world or the next. I do not desire or envy their strength, I want them gone - even the potential of a return is too great of a risk." Jaivant explained, his arms unfolding from his chest to gesture to the sand, the tiny grains sweeping up to create a silent, moving, illustration of his point - figures resembling himself with a blade cutting one figure in two, only for it to return as the figure depicting him turned his back.

"To put it bluntly, I wish to reverse the art of transfer essence to draw another into myself - the risk for a battle of wills is great enough, but it is one I am confident that I can emerge the victor in. I only need your assistance in imbuing a weapon with an enchantment of that nature, as I am.. uninitiated in this regard."

Onrai

 

[Onrai]

Jaivant

"Hmm..." What Jaivant wasfp suggesting seemed an extension of an older technique of enchanting such a weapon, which was easily within her bounds. However, if the intent was to draw the soul of the one slain by the weapon into Jaivant himself, such would be a bit more tricky. Vanessa thought carefully and began to consider how such a pairing could be appropriately made, before an idea struck her.

"Okay, so here's the only thing I can think of. We create a sword - standard Sith thoroughfare, capable of draining the soul from an enemy upon their being cut. However, we can use the appropriate arcane techniques to bind the sword to a talisman, which you can wear. And this binding, of course, will transfer the drained soul into whoever the talisman is draining, similar to sending a file between a couple of datapads. The binding would even in theory allow someone else to kill the person you wish to eliminate for you while still redirecting their spirit into you, where you can win the battle of wills and snuff them out. Not to mention that Sith magic spits on the concept of distance limits. How does that sound?"

For both of their sakes, Vanessa hoped that Jaivant would like this idea.