Private Tyrant In Irons [Ingrid]

[Darth Carnifex]

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.

The mantra of the Sith repeated itself inside of the Dark Lord's head as He meditated, sitting upon the cold durasteel floor of His containment cell with both legs crossed beneath Him. His head was held high despite the unfavorable circumstances around Him, eyes closed as He ruminated over the infinite mysteries of the Dark Side. Both hands were held close to His chest, curled into fists, and touching knuckle-to-knuckle.

The guards monitoring Him would see only His stoicism and impeccable resolve. Even adorned in the plain vestments of a prisoner, the Dark Lord showed no signs of being humbled by the position He had willingly placed Himself in. On the contrary, He carried Himself with the same air of authority and nobility He had possessed long before the fight with the Eternal Empress on Panatha.

He could sense that the Empress was watching Him as well as her guards, their minds bent towards His extradition to the Ashlan Crusade. Fortunately for them, the Dark Lord had no intention of impeding their efforts to transport Him from one end of the galaxy to the other. It was He that had surrendered Himself to the Empress' authority, dispelling His armor and weapons so that she could take Him. His reasons remained His own, He had remained silent when questioned about His intentions by the Empress, though He doubted that she would let the matter easily rest.

A soft hiss permeated the air, the small vents around the cell expelling an invisible gas every hour on the hour like clockwork. The Dark Lord had not been able to fully identify what sort of chemical compound comprised the gas, but He reckoned that it was a countermeasure employed to ensure that the Dark Lord could not use the power of the Dark Side to escape. He found that the gas was only truly effective if He dropped His meditation, giving Him the option to either meditate on the Dark Side or render Himself powerless in the Force.

He chose meditation.

Not that it bothered Him, it had been a long time since He had enjoyed prolonged meditation. It gave Him the opportunity to reflect on all that had transpired in the past decade. He was thinking back on the trajectory that brought Him to this exact moment in time when the cell door disengaged its locks and opened, a light brighter than the gloom of the cell spilling in to fall upon the Dark Lord in His contemplation.

Slowly He opened His eyes.

"Greetings, Empress."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

There are too many similarities and parallels. Ingrid was aware that there were probably similar circumstances at the Netherworld as when she surrendered to Lord Hans Rennagen at Serenno. There was a reason. As an agent, the woman was fundamentally paranoid, and Carnifex is one of the most well-known and hated figures in the Galaxy. The red-haired woman was sure the man would do nothing without any intention. Just because she didn't either. And it didn't occur to her that the man wanted to wish her a happy birthday, because that date soon arrived.

Ingrid had already recorded an audio recording she wanted to send to Kahlil Noble to apologize to the man for not having the opportunity to do what she had promised; because of the attack and the circumstances were not suitable for him either. And she also reported that Ashlan Crusade will be holding a trial about the man’s father. So if he still wants to save him, he needs to contact them again. The woman knew that Demici wanted to execute the former Sith Emperor. Did she blame the cardinal for it? No. In the man's place, she probably would have done the same.

The guard in the prison block wasn't traditional now. They were all Lord Commanders of the Wardens of the Shroud, disguised as Wolfguards. She was really watching, rather than checking Carnifex through the Force. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her own people, but the woman always considered her own work the best and checked everything over and over again even when she was just serving Tacitus. The main reason she came to the trip in person was that she hoped to meet her daughter, Eina, too. Who could now be with Ashlan Crusade based on her official position and with her chosen partner.

Ingrid left her office and headed for the prison block. She walked aboard the Crimson Empress. The woman treated the fallen emperor much more humanly than the NIO and GA treated her. Ingrid did not torture the man; they were not treated so graciously with her. When she arrived at the prison, the Empress just nodded to the commander of the Warden here to open the door. Ingrid not only commanded the Empire and thus the army and fleet, but also inherited the leadership of the Wardens of the Shroud with the disappearance of Tacitus and the fact that he did not return.

There were dim, almost dark states inside. The woman stopped on the other side of the energy wall and looked at Carnifex. She wore a uniform without coats of arms and decorations as usual, her hair tied together in a bun. The red-haired woman stopped in a small straddle, clasping her hands behind her back; as always, in a military posture.

"Greetings, Lord Carnifex. How are you feeling this morning?" she asked.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord remained sitting where He was as the Eternal Empress entered, standing arm's length away from the shimmering energy wall that separated the cell proper from the reception side. At a glance, He accumulated various bits of information about the Empress; her choice of dress, the way she styled her hair, what positions her arms were in, how far apart she planted her feet, and thousands of other minute details that could be gleaned by those who knew where to look.

"My disposition is unchanged, Empress." He placed both of His hands down on the floor at His sides and lifted Himself up until He stood upright. He stood about half a meter away from the energy wall, staring down at the Eternal Empress with an unwavering neutral expression. "Are you anxious to see what the zealots will do to me when they have me, Empress? A fanatic's word is good for very little, this trial you profess will take place will be little more than theater."

The Dark Lord knew much about fanaticism, He had played it to His advantage for many decades. His own legions of fanatics were as easy to manipulate for Him as one would manipulate a tool, useful when needed by kept in reserve or discarded when it no longer fulfilled its chosen role.

"They will turn on you eventually."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

"Good! It would be unfortunate if news spread about me that I was a bad host." she said in a cold voice; she did not allow herself the luxury of having mockery and irony in her voice.

Ingrid watched as the man stood up with an unflinching face. It had already occurred to her that the man was not showing emotion and that was not really something she could feel from him. It was different from her own. Ingrid merely controlled her own emotions masterly, she was able to do it even before she became Force Sensitive; but Carnifex? She felt this was completely unnatural. It was different from her own. She read of such things that Lord Scourge may have been like, to whom Vitiate had given immortality. But she paid for it with her emotions.

Of course she couldn't know if that was the truth or not. But the red-haired woman was able to give such an example from history. Maybe one more, Tyrant; and thus an example of herself. When she started looking at the world like Tyrant did, emotionlessly like a machine. Everything is determined only by logic, calculations. She saw the world in a state she could not with the Force, she saw the embroidery of existence. However, her own personality is what she has to sacrifice for it. To defeat Omni, she was almost completely destroyed. It took nearly seventy years after the battle in the Netherworld for her soul to regenerate to a level where she could feel anything again.

Would Carnifex be able to be what Kahlil wanted again? Or would that condition permanently cause the death of the former emperor? She did countless calculations of the possibilities, most of which resulted in her saying he would die.

"I know, but some people need this show trial more than I do. I have no doubt that Lord Pietro Demici will be happy to proclaim the death sentence on behalf of Ashla." she replied calmly; religious fanatics were always predictable, she knew what to expect.

She was perfectly aware of the man's statement; there was tension between the two empires. It was also an alliance where they both expected to gain influence over the other party and use each other for as long as necessary. Then it breaks down. Ingrid already knew this when she first spoke to Cedric Grayson , no one in politics does anything without ulterior motives.

"As the Sith Empire would have done and done for the first time. There is no need for a play, we both know that despite the mutual respect that may have existed, we both just played with each other’s realms. The Sith Empire needed the Eternal Empire, and the Eternal Empire needed the Sith Empire. But the same pattern exists or has existed between NIO and GA. In this Galaxy, no one trusts the other and makes an alliance only out of interest, it has never changed over the millennia, it won’t." she answered, the woman had the respect, she respected all her enemies and allies, she was taught that. "Political games. Has this ever been about anything else?"

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"The Sith Empire was only ever a means to achieve a greater goal, Empress. When it could no longer function it was cast aside." Never before had the former Emperor spoken so candidly about the true purpose of the Empire He had forged to one who was not of His inner council, those who had been gifted with the knowledge of greater ambitions. "Political power is only useful insofar that it could manipulate the directionless and easily led, of which the galaxy has in overwhelming abundance. The generation born under the guiding hand of the Empire knew only of what had been given to them, a bountiful realm ruled by the edicts of might and cosmic providence. Now that providence has been stripped away, leaving only resentment and anger to fester beneath the surface of an otherwise pacified population."

He placed one hand upon the energy wall, electricity crackling painfully along His exposed skin for as long as He held His palm against it. Despite this, the Dark Lord showed no discomfort as He stared unerringly into the Eternal Empress' eyes. "In time, that hatred will have no other outlet but through violence. Violence will be their teacher, Empress, and through violence, they will know pain." He looked from Ingrid to His hand, which had begun to blacken and smolder the more He held His hand against the wall.

"Pain is the scalpel of creation."

He slowly withdrew His hand, flakes of charred flesh drifting off to expose the cooked meat underneath. He rubbed one finger against another, causing more cooked flesh to peel away in greater quantities until pieces of bone could be seen poking through. "What wonders they will make, my children of the Dark Side."

Letting His injured hand fall listlessly to His side, the Dark Lord again looked at Ingrid. "Their Crusade is little more than a thin veneer of gold and silver draped over pestilence and rot, for I know well of their fearless Kaiser. Children, playing with a power they could not possibly hope to understand. You will see that when the time comes, that power of Ashla will fail them. The Light will always fail them."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

"And Adrian knew that, too." she said with complete calm, without the slightest sign of shock.

She knew her late husband was working on separate projects for him; but she never spied on Adrian. In fact, she suspected Carnifex secretly had some sort of group of his own, his own people who were independent of the Sith Empire, as early as her double agent duties began. Ingrid even told Raaf when they spoke for the first time. Since then, she still thought she was part of the group. By now she knew, of course, that Kainate existed; many years passed, there was time to gather information.

"And you know through Raaf that I already suspected you were working in the background and you have a Shadow government when I offered my services to Raaf after our invasion." she said calmly.

It no longer really mattered whether she knew she was a double agent or not. The red-haired woman actually found it scary somewhere that Carnifex was playing billions; that the former emperor was not interested. Would Tacitus have gotten to this point? She has asked herself many times over the years. Maybe once she meets him again, she’ll get an answer. However, Ingrid had to agree that it was a masterful pull that the man did. Even if they reveal the reality that people were just toys, they won’t believe in this.

"I rather see that more and more people wake up and realise that it was not a guiding hand but an oppressive iron grasp." she said.

And not just because of the Maw, or the light-side factions. Ingrid still disagreed with neither the Light nor the Dark side, or even the Force itself. The woman's views haven't changed, and they won't. She watched as he deliberately injured himself with an unflinching face. Had she been able to do it, she would certainly have felt disgust at this moment. Disgust, that the man is an old fool. The Empress looked into his eyes all the way, there was only coldness, insensibility in her blue eyes. Maybe the disgust appeared there for a moment, but it was impossible to know.

"You're a fool and blind. You are nothing more than a simple useless pawn in a larger game, old man." she said in an ice-cold voice. "I guess you think Maw happened just because you wanted to and it's good for you too."

Probably anyone else would have asked this, then their voice would have been full of mockery, but here her words were just icy, emotionless words.

"Maybe that’s what you wanted, but Maw teaches them something else and because of Maw they welcome the rescue army, whatever the faction, because pain can break the soul too." she replied, it was clear from her voice that she was not thinking only of physical pain, but also of the soul; even spiritual pain can be even worse than physical, more insidious.

The darkness also let everyone down, but the man still hadn't seen it. Everything went the way the Force wanted. Lightside and Darkside do their eternal dance exactly as the Force wanted it to. Because the Force's will always prevailed. Not another. Even the strong Force users were just puppets doing the will of the Force without knowing it. That is why it had to be destroyed so that the Galaxy and everyone who lives in it is finally free.

"Maybe it will leave them in the future. But the darkness also leaves you constantly. You have such awesome powers, Lord Carnifex, but you know nothing, you understand nothing… and you will not live so long to understand anything, learn anything new." she said.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Your ignorance is not surprising."

The Dark Lord turned away, clasping both His good hand and His burned hand together behind His back. In this, He adopted the patronizing stance of a lecturer, a teacher on the cusp of imparting knowledge upon a student who has fallen short of the mark. He had instructed many during His long years as a Master of the Dark Side, but so few rarely understood His lessons and made them their own. The heretic Voyance came to mind as one of those failures, her path leading only to her own death.

"Solipsis and I share many attributes, far more than either of us might realize. Where we go we leave our mark upon the galaxy, echoes in the Force created by the mere wake of our passing. His Maw serves a purpose of its own, chaos and destruction. In doing so, it serves my own interest even though I do not direct their actions. A torch drawing in so many hapless moths."

He turned back towards her again, His hands still clasped at His back. "Peace is a lie, Empress. There is only passion. The passions of many cause irreparable damage to the galaxy, locking it in a state of perpetual growth and decay, an equilibrium in which the galaxy can neither progress nor regress. One might call this cycle a balance, a serpent devouring its own tail." He did not elaborate on how He perceived it, the Empress would remain ignorant of that at the very least.

"But the Light cannot reach everywhere at once, Empress. The Jedi are spread far too thin, obsessed with old iniquities to realize the full picture. And in the Light's absence, other voices will whisper to those perceptive enough to hear them."

His voice lowered to a husky whisper, only barely audible above the crackling of the energy wall.

"Our plans are measured in centuries, you will not live to see their end."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

Ignorant? Maybe the woman has her own shortcomings and doesn’t know everything. She never deceived herself about the opposite. She may not really know what Carnifex wanted, but she was sure the man was just a puppet. Most Force users have never seen or understood all of this. It was something that was hard to accept; for if they see the truth, they shall find that they have spent their whole lives in chains. They were slaves and slaves all their lives, nothing more.

"I can say the same about you, Lord Carnifex!" she replied in a cold voice.

Even in this situation, she gave respect to the other, even if they were enemies. Oh, Ingrid knew very well what Maw's plans were and what they were doing. At least part of their plan. As well as the fact that there are those in their ranks who share the same views as the Wardens of the Shroud and want the destruction of the Force. Unfortunately, she did not know about Darth Solipsis whether wanted the same or not. However, she was really curious about it. But yes, she still didn’t agree with Maw’s methods, but they were perfect that while they tried destroying the Galaxy, the Eternal Empire was able to act in the background and made progress in their plans.

"With so much selfishness and egoism, I’m amazed you can fit on my ship." she replied, this time with some sarcasm in her voice. "You say there is only passion. Tell me, Lord Carnifex, can you still feel passion at all, or do you just mention the learned dogma and the well-known Sith Code to me?"

She was curious about this, and it was a great opportunity to ask this question, whether the man was able to feel anything or not. Her guess was that she could not feel anything but hatred and pain. In further words, the man was still blind. He was still only talking about the superiority of the Dark Side. The real difficulty was keeping the neutral side, at least according to Ingrid. She, too, always fought and fought for it; for her both sides were corrupt.

"Light can't get everywhere, it's true. But neither the darkness. Both are weak and extinguish each other. Do you really believe that one can exist without the other?" she asked.

A very faint predatory smile appeared on her lips at the man's last words and she tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked deep into the man's eyes.

"I think I've already lived much more than you, Lord Carnifex. If it depends on our ages, I will be the one to be there when it will decide which side wins in the end." she said, but she knew that the end would be the destruction of the Force and not the triumph of the Light or the Darkness. "Thanks to one of your former lovers…" she replied.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"The third gift of the Dark is the Light itself," intoned the Dark Side from the ancient passages He had long committed to memory. "As days are defined by the nights that divide them, as stars are defined by the infinite black through which they wheel, the Dark embraces the Light and brings it forth from the center of its own self. With each victory of the Light, it is the Dark that wins."

He had spent many of His years studying the ancient lore that He and His followers had uncovered across the galaxy; from long-forgotten libraries on worlds whose names haven't been spoken for thousands of years, from the plundered archives of the Jedi Order, and from unwilling contributions of personal collections acquired by collectors of every creed and proclivity. All of that knowledge had been meticulously accumulated in the Dark Lord's personal library, the vast sum of the galaxy's information kept under lock and key.

"The Light is fleeting, Empress, a faint flicker in the endless night. Do not forget that even stars burn out, and before the formation of the galaxy there was naught but an endless abyss comprised entirely of shadow. Darkness is the natural state of the galaxy, it is Light that is the aberration." He monitored the Eternal Empress closely, His inscrutable gaze watching for any break in normality that might come over her as they spoke. They held similar dispositions, but even the slight injection of sarcasm into her vocal tonality informed the Dark Lord that they were not of entirely mirrored characteristics.

"Your arrogance rivals even that of the Jedi, Empress. Ill-fitted for the science project of a deluded woman obsessed with mythology. Her delusions were well-documented even when she fooled you into allowing her to experiment upon you. It does not surprise me that you, in turn, made that abomination you call 'daughter', the stitched-together mongrel." His voice never wavered throughout the entire conversation, steady and concise it levied such harsh criticisms without any inflection or increase in heart rate. His eyes never wavered from the Empress' own as well, constantly watching her for any sign that He had gotten under her skin.

When He spoke again, He spoke not with His own voice but with the voice of Adrian Vandiir.

"It would have been a mercy to destroy it."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

"But what was before the darkness? Nothing. And what will happen after light and darkness? Nothing again. This is the law of physics." she said.

Here, exceptionally, she did not tell the view of the Warden, Ingrid was a woman of science. It was a mere science to her; science has always taken its place ahead of the Force. If only because she knew the sciences before the Force. Maybe that was one of the things Adrian noticed in her and fell in love with her. Science. This was always the man's first. Especially if he was able to mix it with the Force. The woman did not get involved with theology in such an issue like this one. They were completely different.

"If you want to talk about theoretical physics, then life itself is what aberration is. There were billions of possible scenarios for what would be born out of nowhere. What could be created. Was there a Force before the present universe? Or is this just the property of this Galaxy? You are exactly the same as the members of Ashlan Crusade, Lord Carnifex. You just see the other side of the coin. I would bet you could do great theological debates with Lord Pietro Demici about this."

She thought for a moment, then said something else. She thought it wouldn't surprise the man, after all, there was a reason Adrian had chosen her.

"I think you have already realised that I am a woman of science, not of religion or theology." she said.

At the man's next words, only a faint, predatory smile appeared on her lips. The man didn't know everything either. Was Adrian lying or Onrai? Or were the spies unreliable? It doesn't matter anymore.

"She did not experiment on me, but I killed the sister of an entity you and the Sith considered a god. Typhojem's sister…" she said completely calmly, as if just talking about the sun just shining out there. The Sith are already hunting her, let the game be more exciting if they ever find out this.

Nevertheless, the man seemed a pleasant company if she did not count the fact, he was a Sith. Good company meant that the man was intelligent enough too, only religious fanaticism was too much for the woman. Although, in addition to the Ashlans, she slowly became accustomed to this as well. However, harsh criticism did not achieve any effect because it was misinformation. And she knew that Eina was simply considered an abomination by most of the Sith. She looked into his eyes just as coldly as before. It took more for someone to get under her skin.

"Your information is incorrect, Lord Carnifex. I did not create her, nor did Lord Vandiir. It just happened. The Ashlans like to imagine it was Ashla's will. I have no scientific explanation, and the Force, well the Force is unpredictable, especially in the Netherworld." she said calmly.

However, when Carnifex spoke in Adrian's voice, more than three hundred and twenty years had passed in vain for the woman, it hurt the same way. She felt as if the man had punched her in the stomach, her pupil dilated for a moment. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that in the "alternative world" in her mind, Adrian was looking up from the books with interest and would have spoken, but she raised her hand in thought not to try to speak. The hallucination that has been with her since Serenno. In her soul, the bleeding void caused by the shattering Force-bond was not healed. They said time would heal, it didn't. Until the woman dies, her husband's death will hurt just as much as in the moment when Adrian died.

"I think he would find it really interesting, that Lady Eina and her chosen one were able to wipe out all the filth you and the Sith made on Ession and create a strong planetary Light Side Nexus." now was the time for her riposte, which she said in an equally cold, military voice as she spoke before.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Only that heretic believes in deities, fabrications of a superstitious mind," accused the Dark Lord, "The Sith believe in no higher power other than the Dark Side of the Force, a fundamental and observable fact. You would do well to drive all fallacies from your mind, Empress, they will only poison you." Whatever rapport that Ingrid had been led to believe existed between the Dark Lord and the woman they jointly referred to had long since disappeared, the Dark Lord incrementally sidelining those who no longer factored into His grand designs for the galaxy.

"As for your assumptions of errancy, it is you who are mistaken; about a great many things. The Netherworld is not some mystical otherworld, it is anchored in the physics of the Force. The Aperion gives it shape and cohesion, the Pneuma populates it with the consciousnesses of the dead. What many cultures refer to as a soul or a spirit is the Pneuma of the conscious mind detached from the Anima of the living body. In the Netherworld of the Force, these aspects are magnified. Your own thought gave birth to the daughter you never had, an aberration."

The Dark Lord had authored or co-authored many writings on these phenomena, He had even created a diagram that explained each aspect and how they related to the physical universe all beings inhabited. It was the mainstream school of thought within the Kainate and those organizations influenced or covertly operated by the Dark Lord's followers. He was unwavering in His beliefs, fully committed to what He had come to regard as fundamental truth through decades of intensive study and research.

"You know so little of the man you profess to have loved. He would have found what became of Ession a waste, a despoilment of what he had worked to achieve. You are no greater bearer of his legacy than that bastard daughter of yours. I have made far greater use of what he left behind."

Little did the Eternal Empress know, but Adrian Vandiir lived on through an artificial simulacrum designated Lord Prospero. When Lord Vandiir was killed, the Dark Lord moved to upload the collected data on Lord Vandiir's personality and mannerisms into a robotic body. At its heart, the Dark Lord implanted a living Shard imbued with a Force echo of Lord Vandiir. When brought online, Lord Prospero believed himself to be Adrian Vandiir himself, as if he had never died and had merely woken up from a deep slumber.

"Perhaps you will one day see."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

"Says the one who expects him to be worshipped as a God. I feel a little contradiction in this, Lord Carnifex. Or maybe you even forget, that one of your family member (Darth Mori), imagined himself to be a kind of high priest or similar in the cult of the Left-handed god?" she asked without emotion. "It is ironic that you use religion to retain your power while supposedly condemning and despising it. But yet, you built a personal cult like Darth Tacitus did… but you went far further, yours is rather a personal and family Pantheon, not just a cult."

Probably anyone else would have said this it would have been in a voice dripping with mockery, not a little contempt in their voice. She knew what the Force was made of and how. She learned about this, she wanted to understand it, this was the basics in that plan, in which the Wardens of the Shroud wanted to destroy it. Even the woman often experimented with Anima and tried to understand it better. Just because of Telis Taharin-Zambrano , who is the woman's lover and last, and not least sangnir for a while. However, the man was wrong, Ingrid really had nothing to do with Eina's birth, she knew exactly that.

"My only thought then was to save him, bring him back." she said unusually honestly. "Back then, there, in the Nether, it was the last of my desires to have a child from him."

She knew Adrian didn't want a child, but he also didn't mind if she wanted to use his samples. This is how their son was born; who had already developed on Dromund Kaas, along with her other son when Eina was born. There really was no scientific or Force explanation for Eina. Nobody knew; the man may claim that this happened, but she did not believe him. One Sith is always lying, and this guess was no closer than any other she has heard in the last three hundred years.

"I think he would have watched with scientific interest and I am sure he wanted to study Lady Eina and the crusader." intentionally did not say Lord Geiseric's name to protect the man. "You know, if something that comes from him in part is capable of this. Would he be able to do it himself, just on the dark side. He was a scientist, the best in the Galaxy."

It was Ingrid's opinion that Adrian would have thought so. The woman knew that she could not get everything her husband had created because he had secretly worked for his emperor too. There was no doubt that Carnifex kept records of all documents. Of course, she had no knowledge about the Shard either; fortunately. If she had known, the red-haired woman would never have handed the Butcher King to the Ashlan Crusade, but she would have wanted to kill the man personally.

"I have no doubt that you, Lady Raaf, or other sorcerers and alchemists close to you have used Lord Vandiir’s data to create even more corrupt and depraved things. I always knew it was going to happen." She told; Ingrid was not one of those in whom one found it easy to arouse doubt or sway her views. They spent quite a bit of time training her mentally. "Is that all you can do?" she asked.

Of course, she knew if only as much time had passed for her as here in the Realspace, Carnifex would have long ago crushed her with those words. But thanks to Netherworld, she had more time to recover.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"For now, Empress." He inclined His head respectfully, never taking His eyes off of her for a single moment. "This conversation was very enlightening, if not for you then definitely for me. I have learned quite a bit." Never for a moment was the Dark Lord of the Sith not analyzing His adversary, watching every movement of her body from how she carried her weight to the muscles on her face. Everything could inform an observant individual what they needed to know.

He would take what He had learned from the Empress and reflect on it, meticulously dissecting everything she had said. He had never thought to achieve any sort of turn-about with the Empress' beliefs, she was too far engrossed in her own flawed viewpoint for any meaningful shift. Once she had been a powerful tool in the Sith's arsenal, but now she had fallen far from her position of importance in the eyes of the surviving Dark Lords. Now she would only ever be an obstacle, one that would have to be knocked from the board sooner rather than later.

Even now, through the subconscious link of the Dark Side, the agents of the Dark Lord were mobilizing to act on this new imperative. To destroy the Eternal Empress was of paramount priority, and the phantoms haunting the darkest regions of the galaxy would emerge from their sepulchers to feast upon her throat. The Dark Lord felt no regret for having to turn on His former ally, it was merely the nature of such political intrigue. Everything was expendable except the self.

"I will inform Lord Vandiir of my findings when I return to him, I imagine he will find the data very interesting."

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

"I, too, think it was useful for both of us." she agreed.

She hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to the man that much before, as they hadn’t met many times. For some reason, Tacitus kept the woman away from the elite of the Sith Empire before sending her there as a spy. Although after she arrived there, Ingrid met Prazitus several times and recognized the danger in her, not because she was an excellent warrior. The red-haired woman thought of things behind the scenes. Carnifex soon handed over the throne, so they no longer had the opportunity to speak. Until recently.

But now she also learned a lot about the man’s character and motivations. Though she showed the man that she considered him one with the other Sith who were out there and she underestimated him. That was not true. Ingrid saw exactly how dangerous the other was. The Empress never underestimated her opponents, though she didn’t overestimate them to dangerous levels. She knew Carnifex was playing something in the background and his interest required him to be in captivity. And also that he certainly has plans on how to avoid the execution.

She learned a lot about his character and about him, she still analysed this information in her mind, even in those moments. Methodically. The red-haired woman will capture everything else, movements, eye movements, the slightest facial expressions and accents later. When she recalls these from her memories. Ingrid was methodical and tactical, a great analyst. She was very, eerily similar to Telis Taharin-Zambrano in this.

The last sentence, however, was such that it almost hit her in the stomach. No, she felt hope for a split second, but then the bleeding wound in her soul, the black hole, the emptiness, proved the man lying. It took her a second or two before she could speak without being hoarse, and even a mocking smile appeared on her lips. It didn’t reflect her true emotions, it was just a professional, acting smile.

"You are lying, Lord Carnifex. I would be the first to know that he is alive. But until you have no way of putting together and healing a soul torn into thousands pieces unscathed, Lord Vandiir will remain dead." she knew exactly which shard was where and in what condition. She still visited and cared for them.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

The Dark Lord's lips peeled back to reveal glinting teeth, the only time He had ever attempted anything resembling a smile since Ingrid had known Him. It was grotesque, a mockery of Human expression. There was no emotion behind it, no genuine display of joy or even mockery. No other part of the Dark Lord's face moved in accordance with this putrid motion. It was like He had taken another's face and plastered it over His own, entirely alien despite His humanesque appearance.

"That is because you lack vision."

The smile faded incrementally, slowly morphing back into the thin-lined grimace that constituted the Dark Lord's default expression. The overwhelming feeling of disgust and revulsion passed along with it. The Dark Lord then did something He hadn't yet done since Ingrid had come to speak with him.

He turned His back on her.

Slowly, He shifted to His right and turned until they were no longer facing one another. With a dismissive wave of His hand, He bade her leave His presence. He compounded on this sentiment by stating, "I grant you my blessing to leave, Empress. That is all we have to speak of for now. Perhaps we will continue this conversation after the trial." He spoke with unwavering confidence that there would be a time for them to reconvene after His time in the Crusade's punitive court, the very weight of His surety anchoring Him against the raging storm.

He would not speak with her after His grant of leave had been given.

Ingrid L'lerim ​

 

[Ingrid L'lerim]

Lady Ingrid L’lerim Ragal Terassi Vandiir
Eternal Empress of the Eternal Empire, Lord Commander of the Wardens of the Shroud, Archon of the Primyn Group
Empress of Terraris, Supreme Commander of the Terraris Command, Head of the House L’lerim, CEO of the HPI Consortium​

Objective: Speak with Carnifex
Location: En route to the Ashlan Crusade | Aboard of the Crimson Empress
Equipment: The Soulsabers (hidden) | Brynja coat and hat | Hersir Imperial Uniform | Viper Mk. I Skinsuit | The Last Gift || Empyrean gland | OPBC-01m
Tag: Darth Carnifex

[ Stone and Dust ]
<"High Nelvaanian"> | ~ telepathic communication ~ | << comm. channel >> ​

She had no idea that that Shard existed; based on the man's reactions, she thought of a much simpler solution. Something that even she herself played with the idea of creating it. A replica, a clone. It was the simplest, and although Ingrid owned all the official DNA and other samples from her late husband, she had no doubt that Carnifex also had such samples and was able to make a copy of it. But after the reactions she had no doubt about this.

"A clone is not him." she said in an ice-cold voice. "Just a shoddy fake thing. Nothing more."

Even Voracitos offered her a fake, a copy. No; in her eyes none was real. Even Ingrid would have been able to produce a fake, one that in she'll packs soul shards into it and gets a very, very similar result to her beloved husband. But that would not have been him. It would have been just an echo that reacts the way Adrian did, but not because he is, but only because he remembers it. If Adrian had lived, she would have known. If there’s anything else, a clone, or the like out there in the galaxy, it’s not her husband. She didn't know how she would react if she met one.

The man's words and movements are like an offended little boy. At least that's what Ingrid saw in her; they behave this way if they don’t get what they want. It’s true that the man’s words, like poison, or the needle, penetrated very deeply, those which related to Adrian, but luckily Ingrid controlled her emotions perfectly. Never show weakness; one of the most heard sentences in her life. One of the things that defined her, and this was that made her an iron. That’s why she dared to face the NIO's, GA's and NJO's leaders during her captivity.

There was no emotion on the woman's face after Carnifex's words, she just spoke out loud; MANIAC relayed her words to the outside guards anyway. She deliberately spoke a common language for the Butcher King to understand.

"Guards, bring in my desk, I'm spending the day with Lord Carnifex." she ordered.

The woman also had the weapons for psychological warfare, not just the man…

Last post; thank you for the game, see you on the junction at the weekend.[/ccenter]

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