Eternal Father
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: Create an atmospheric location on Korriban
- Image Credit: Click - Christian Herman
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: N/A
- Nexus Name: Temple of Sacrifice
- Nexus Alignment: Dark Side
- Location: Korriban/Moraband
- Affiliation: The Sith Empire
- Size: Medium
- Strength: Strong
- Accessibility: The Temple of Sacrifice was reserved only for the Sith, no one else was allowed to step foot on its hallowed ground. Those who did trespass were themselves sacrificed within the Temple.
- Description: The Temple of Sacrifice is a large underground mortuary where the Sith of past eons sacrificed lesser beings to increase their power and potency in the Dark Side of the Force. Though largely forgotten and abandoned by contemporary civilization, the Sith have never forgotten its location nor its purpose. Unbeknownst to the rest of the galaxy, the Sith routinely sacrifices the Jedi and other beings at the altar dedicated to the Dark Lords who ruled the generations of Sith that came before them. These Dark Lords are eternally enshrined in the Temple, their cold unfeeling visages staring down at the blood-stained altar where the modern Sith conduct their grisly macabre rituals.
When the Sith sacrificed a Jedi Master or equivalent Force user, they enshrined their bones in a stone golem that would activate to defend the Temple if it was ever under threat. The bones of the countless other sacrifices were callously deposited into circular pits in a chamber located beneath the sacrificial altar. These pits are vast and seemingly bottomless, and the number of pits stretches into the unlit gloom without end.
- The wailing specters and shades of the sacrifice eternally wander the halls of the Temple, lost and bereft in their forlorn suffering. Jealous at the living, the shades will often attempt to assault anyone who passes through the temple halls. The spirits of the sacrificed Jedi are the most dangerous, for though they once served the Light in life they now serve the Dark in death.
- Prolonged exposure to the dark energies of the Temple could result in madness and corruption, especially towards those inclined towards the Light and those not fully initiated in the Dark.
- Light Side users find their powers and abilities diminished within the Temple, suppressed by the overbearing Dark Side energies which suffuse the air and the masonry.
- Dark Side users find their powers and abilities empowered, drawing strength from the overbearing Dark Side energies which suffuse the air and the masonry.
- Temple Approach: The land leading up to the temple is a massive craggy canyon, roughly shorn as if someone had swiped a misshapen blade through the red rock of Korriban. The rising cliffs and bluffs around the canyon obscure it from an aerial view, though one can spot it if their eyes are keen.
- Forlorn Purlieu: Leading up to the temple are terraces of various heights, laden with obelisks and other ancient monuments to the glories of Sith past. Most have crumbled and worn away from the ages of neglect, though some are fairly new. Each terrace flanks a long gradual sloping stair that winds up to the temple's entrance, the Dominance Gate.
- Dominance Gate: A massive stone gate controlled by ancient servos and massive chains, the Dominance Gate stares imposing out over the temple's winding approach. Once it had been flanked by two stone sphinxes, but now both have been destroyed and scattered across the temple grounds. The gate itself has been brought back into working order by the modern Sith.
- Abyssal Span: The Abyssal Span is a stone walkway bridging an unfathomable chasm which reaches down far beyond the reach of light. Parts of the bridge have crumbled due to age, only to be patched up by the modern Sith to make the walkway traversable. Stone statues line its outer edge, visages of winged beasts and other monstrosities.
- Sacrificial Chamber: A long octagonal chamber at the temple's heart, the sacrificial chamber was where the Sith sacrificed lesser beings for uncounted generations. The faint echoes of each sacrifice linger in the air; the striking of blade upon bone, and the blood-curdling cry of those whose life was taken by that blade. Grooves and troughs in the stone funnel blood and other liquid from the altar into a stone collection basin, which has been stained with red from the countless sacrifices that have taken place.
- Pits of Bones: Situated beneath the sacrificial chamber is a large room stretching out forever in seemingly every direction. Spaced every twenty-five meters or so are massive circular pits that do not appear to have any bottom. Many of them are filled to the very top with the bones of the sacrificed, though there are many more that are only half-filled or unfilled at all.
No one knows when the temple was built, who built it, or for how long it has been since it was built. Those records are permanently lost, never to be retrieved. What is known is that the temple was used by the pre-exile Sith to sacrifice the weakest members of their society to appease their Immortal Gods. Archaeological evidence purports that the temple even predates the documented arrival of the Rakata to Korriban by several millennia.
When the Exiles of the Hundred-Year Darkness arrived on Korriban and intermingled with the native Sith, they appropriated the temple for their own use. They maintained the ancient traditions of sacrifice as their predecessors but also transformed parts of the temple into centers of worship for themselves and the blossoming Sith Order. By the time of the Great Hyperspace War, the images of the Exiles had been engraved as giant stone statues in the sacrificial chamber.
The temple survived the cleansing of Korriban by the Galactic Republic, escaping their notice thanks to the obscuring geography that surrounded its location. Survivors of the purge fled into the temple for survival, keeping themselves hidden until the Sith retook Korriban over a thousand years later. The temple was again put to use by the Sith, this time used to specifically sacrifice Jedi that had been captured during the Sith Empire's war with the Galactic Republic.
It would continue to serve this purpose even as the Empire fell, as the various Sith who rose to replace them brought Jedi to this secret temple to sacrifice them and strengthen the power of the Dark Side.
In the post-Gulag era, the Sith would again return to occupy Korriban. The Temple of Sacrifice again returned to a place of ritual sacrifice and worship of the Dark Side of the Force.
