Igni Irae
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Codify a Dominion unit.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Mentalists.
Permission: N/A
Links: Into Darkness, After Darkness, Tephrike.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Unit Name: Visionaries of True Sight.
Affiliation: Dominion of Light, Battlemaster Mahtara, Tephrike, The Guiding Strictures of Ashla and Mace Windu to Lead to Correct Thought and Belief, Windian Jedi Order, Ecclesia of the Followers of the Divine Ashla in Her Beatific Form as Mistress of Hope and His Glorious Form as Master of Victory.
Classification: Infantry.
Description:
"There is no emotion, there is calm.
There is no ignorance, there is obedience.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is order.
There is no death, there is the Light."
This is the Code that is taught to members of the Windian Jedi Order - and to Dominion citizens as a whole. There are those who maintain that the path of the Light is defined by peace and compromise. That followers of the Light should be mediators and can only use the Force in defence, even when Darkness reigns on the other side of the border. That aggression is the very antithesis of what the Light Side of the Force should be about. The Windian Jedi Order disagrees.
The Light needs warriors who are willing to take the fight to the enemy. Who will not rest until the Darkness has been extinguished and those who prostrate themselves before it have been redeemed or eradicated. For there is only the brightest light and the darkest abyss. Those who claim there is a middle ground and that one can control both sides have succumbed to hubris and already taken the first step into Darkness.
There is no grey side of the Force. The only true way is the Jedi way. It alone can overcome the forces of chaos. The Dominion of Light is a totalitarian theocracy. Its leaders are convinced that only those who can hear the will of the Force and act in accordance with it can be trusted in power. To safeguard its way of life and lead its campaigns to unite Tephrike under its banner, the Dominion's Jedi have militarised.
Where the Ever Loyal Vanguard is the Sword and Shield of the Dominion, the Visionaries of True Sight are an elite force of Consulars. They focus on the cerebral aspects of the Force. The best Consulars of the Windian Jedi Order are selected for service among the Visionaries. The group is comprised of experienced Jedi who have displayed an affinity for potent applications of mentalism and illusions. They use the power of the mind to deceive, awe, terrify, and confuse enemies and boost their allies. Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike, and so the Visionaries use Force Imbued blades instead. These can be compared to those carried by the ancient Je'daii many millennia ago.
What Jedi Guardians achieve through direct combat, Visionaries obtain through the power of their minds. The Dominion believes that Force-Sensitives must be inducted into the Windian Jedi Order and trained from infancy, and so potential Consulars are identified at an early age. The training the Visionaries go through is a gruelling one. It includes being exposed to a full battery of mental assaults.
A trainee may have to make his way through the dark catacombs beneath the temple while blindfolded, relying solely on the Force to see, and being exposed to mental attacks and illusions that test his commitment and sanity. At the highest levels, a Visionary will be exposed to a dark side artefact and be expected to overcome its temptations and cleanse his mind. Some call this procedure too harsh, but the Visionaries argue that it is necessary to ensure that those who join them remain steadfast and resolute.
Nonetheless, there are those who whisper that some of the Visionaries have succumbed to the lure of power. The fact that the sect is very secretive heightens these suspicions, which is why it is watched by the Jedi Inquisition. Of course, this leads to the question of who watchers the watchers, but this one digresses. It is unwise for a humble Dominion citizen or official to question the orders of a Jedi or cast aspersions on his ideological purity.
Several of the Visionaries are Force clones. The Dominion believes that the miracle of life should take place in a medically sanctioned way in a laboratory. Not only is this process far cleaner, it also means that citizens do not succumb to lust, which is a path to the Dark Side. In the old days, the Visionaries were called upon to induce docility and obedience into clones. However, by now the Dominion has developed a functional cloning infrastructure, so the group can concentrate on its actual duties instead of being diverted.
Here and there, the aid of a Visionary may be requested to help calm a particularly troublesome subject. The Jedi Inquisition may also request their aid when it comes to re-educating and enlightening the inmates in its custody, though it prefers to draw upon its own experts first. The Dominion is particularly eager to clone unusually accomplished individuals, such as great warriors, researchers, sages and technicians. As a result, a notable number of Visionaries belong to long lines of clones that have fought, bled and died for the Dominion for decades if not centuries. These clones are raised with stories of the deeds of their 'ancestors' and taught to regard the Order as their family.
Jedi No'ran is a Twi'lek male and a prominent member of the Visionaries. Unlike many he is not a clone, but a 'random'. Born a frontier type, his land was raided by the Sith. He kept the family safe by using illusions to hide their dwelling. When the Dominion counter attacked after Netherworld they found this child and brought him to the Visionaries. He of course required considerable conditioning and 'education' but ended up being a skilled member of the group, though snobbish clone Visionaries still consider him 'rustic'.
Jedi Delia meanwhile is a human female clone. Interestingly, she has some sort of genetic defect from a regular Jedi guardian type lineage. This one though manifested with illusion powers. Rather than destroy her she was first studied by Dominion cloners and then brought into the Visionaries where she has worked their way up the ranks. She may well end up spawning her own cloned sub-lineage if she doesn't get purged beforehand.
COMBAT INFORMATION:
Unit Size: Medium
Unit Availability: Unique
Unit Experience: Elite.
Equipment:
Armour:
Melee Weapons:
- Force Imbued Blade or Quarterstaff.
- Combat Vibroknife
- SH-9
- ATA Pulse Wave Blaster
- Enforcer Pistol
- Adjudicator
- Submachine Gun
- Ripper
- Intimidator IR-5s
- FWG-5
- Verpine Shattergun
Combat Function: The Visionaries of True Sight have a combat function comparable to Jedi Consulars. Rather than crossing blades with enemies and leading the charge, they stay away from the heat of combat to support their allies and strike against their enemies from afar. They are a support unit, not ones to lead a charge.
Without exception, the Visionaries are highly skilled illusionists and mentalists. They can use their mental powers to determine an opponents' innate fears and use these against them. They can project startlingly realistic illusions, use their mental abilities to confuse, deceive or terrify opponents. One of their preferred methods is to summon illusionary constructs and Force projections, including that of allied forces to deceive opponents.
Another is to conceal small groups of allied soldiers or structures, such as bunkers or another building. This can enable them to lure enemy forces into traps, mask the advance or retreat of allies. However, such applications require focus and, depending on their complexity, may require several Visionaries working in tandem. They can create a sensation of fear and terror in enemies, causing them to act irrationally or see, hear or feel things that are not there. This may drive an opponent to irrational or self-destructive behaviour.
In addition, they can use Force Valour to boost their allies, are very good at seeing through illusions and can use Cleanse Mind to shield themselves or nearby allies from mind-affecting powers. They can enter a Force Meld to boost their effectiveness and draw strength from one another. They can use the Force to conceal themselves from sight and mask their aura. Their ability to cast mind tricks, Sense and their precognitive abilities are well-honed.
These abilities make the Visionaries a very good support unit. However, their focus on the Force means that their conventional combat abilities lag behind their preternatural skills. They forego heavy weapons. Moreover, their focus on mental abilities comes at a price, as their defensive powers are fairly basic. If an enemy were to spot them and focus heavy firepower in their position, they would be in trouble. Given their reliance on the Force, it is no surprise that ysalamiri, Voidstone and the like are a serious threat to them. Typical anti-Force-User weapons such as bolters, shatterguns and sonic weapons are also an apt choice.
As a result, the Visionaries are not a frontline combat unit. Their place is in the rear away from the fury of combat. There they can cast their spells and be protected by regular soldiers or Jedi Guardians. When deployed on an individual basis, a Visionary may be partnered with a direct combat orientated Guardian, such as a member of the Vanguard, so that both can best make use of each others' strengths.
Force Abilities (Force User Units Only): Powerful illusionists and mentalists. They can create realistic Force Illusions and Force projections, as well as utilise Force Meld, Force Valour, Force Cloak and Stealth and Cleanse Mind.
Strengths:
- Powerful mentalists and illusionists.
- Good support unit. Able to boost allies.
- Glass Cannons. Limited conventional fighting abilities and have only basic duelling skills. No heavy weapons or strong defensive Force powers.
- Ysalamiri, Voidstone and the like rob them of their biggest advantage, leaving them vulnerable.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
When the Gulag Virus ravaged the Galaxy, Tephrike descended into chaos. Isolated from the rest of the Galaxy, the planet regressed technologically and socially. When the virus reached the planet, millions perished. The death toll was further increased by infighting between rival factions. Tephrike's fragile, multispecies democracy unravelled. A coalition government proved unable to restore order, contain the plague or provide shelter, food and protection to millions of displaced fleeing the fighting.
The Jedi were called upon to assume a protective stance. After government soldiers shot protesters who had come to parliament to deliver a petition, the Jedi decided that it was their duty to intervene and take control. The radical Duros Jedi Master Zaras Dant was the ringleader of the coup. With the support of renegade elements in the army, they took control of the capital Palmyra, arrested Tephrike's prime minister and disbanded parliament. However, they soon faced opposition from rebel forces, such as the Alliance of Democratic Forces.
What was supposed to be a provisional emergency junta turned into a dictatorship without end. Racial tensions between Tephrike's people triggered pogroms and the Jedi came under fire when they tried to put an end to the violence. Faced with enemies on all sides, the Jedi had to militarise. They became soldiers and generals like during the Clone Wars. Except this time they were also control of the government.
Their authoritarian tendencies were intensified by betrayal within their ranks, Tephrike's economic and social collapse as well as the rise of the anti-Force-User Republican Guard and the human supremacist, Dark Side worshipping Disciples of the Vader. In place of the failed federation, they created a totalitarian theocracy. But the wars did not come to an end. The Jedi came to believe that power could only be entrusted to those who could hear the will of the Force and that they alone could save Tephrike from chaos. The Dominion of Light was born. It produced a heavily militarised Windian Jedi Order.
Many Jedi fell to the Dark Side, while staunchly believing that they still served the Light and that their actions were justified by the greater good. They grew used to power that even surpassed the authority the Jedi Lords had wielded before the Ruusan Reformation. Tephrike was engulfed by perennial conflict. Low-intensity warfare continued through the centuries, interrupted by intense flare-ups of violence and protracted battles.
The Visionaries of True Sight came into being to help stem the tide of chaos. Indeed, they are one of the earliest special formations the Windian Jedi Order set up. Strictly speaking, they predate the Dominion. They were founded at the behest of Zaras Dant, the charismatic revolutionary leader who led the Jedi's coup d'état against the federal government. Zaras' motives were, initially at least, benign. The catalyst for her coup was a massacre known as Bloody Sunday. On this day, unarmed demonstrators were fired upon by Yuuzhan Vong government soldiers as they marched to Parliament building. The soldiers would later claim that the protesters had been violent. A few young Jedi had come to see the rally. When the protest reached a pitch, and the soldiers opened fire many of them were killed, including Younglings.
Zaras decided that enough was enough. Action was needed to save Tephrike. Until order was restored and free elections could be held, the Jedi would have to take control. She got her way, swaying many of the members of the local Jedi Enclave to her cause. Some disgruntled politicians and members of the security forces joined the coup. The rebel forces stormed Government House and took control of the capital.
Zaras was a strong mentalist with a knack for illusions and mental manipulation and she gathered those who possessed similar abilities into a special unit. However, the assault on the prime minister's residence was a bloody one. Notwithstanding the flaws of the government, there were soldiers willing to lay down their lives for it. So a bloody fight ensued. The rebels bombarded Government House with artillery. Zara and her colleagues used their sorcery to invade the minds of the defenders.
Boosted by the mentalists, Zaras tapped into their innate fears or caused them to turn on their allies. Combined with the effect of the bombardment, this had quite an effect. Prime Minister Gul was arrested. But the fighting did not stop. The coup triggered pogroms against species associated with the old régime. The Jedi were forced to intervene, making them a target of the militias. The bloodletting affirmed Zaras' decision that the Jedi could not surrender power. Parliament was disbanded and a number of lawmakers were arrested on charges of treason or corruption. Some were later released and disavowed the old system, endorsing the Jedi junta. Mind tricks may have been in play.
Forces that were loyal to the old government and members of the opposition who rejected the new régime as tyrannical united in the Alliance of Democratic Forces. A few Jedi and some Neutral Force-Users joined their ranks. The capital became a battleground. The Visionaries were a part of this battle, aiding the beleaguered rebel forces. When the rebels were on the brink, they summoned illusions to throw ADF troops into disarray, instill fear and paranoia. Furthermore, they boosted the morale and coordination of their allies.
The Jedi junta was victorious, but Zaras did not live to see, for she was murdered by traitorous bodyguards. Even worse, a rogue Jedi Knight called Tallak Haran had aided them, for he considered Zaras a tyrant and feared that she was leading the Jedi order down a dark path. Tyian Kree, a Devaronian Jedi Master, emerged as the new Jedi Lord. Tyian was very ambitious - and had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side.
Obsessed with the idea that the Plague had been a Sith conspiracy and that agents of darkness lurked everywhere, she created a totalitarian theocracy. Tyian founded a Jedi Inquisition and expanded the Visionaries. Facing a manpower shortage, the Dominion turned to cloning. The Visionaries were ordered to use their mental powers to condition the first batches clone troopers to be docile and obedient to their Jedi masters. Detractors argued that some of the Visionaries had become dangerously close to falling to the dark side. They evolved into a very secretive sect.
The Order tightened its grip on the Visionaries after some of them defected to Darth Malitia and his Sith army, the Disciples of the Vader. The Visionaries faced their fallen comrades on the battlefield when the Dominion and the Vaderites clashed at Palmyra. The battle was a savage one and characterised by brutality on both sides. The Vaderites used holocrons stolen from the Dominion to harness the dark magic of the Sith.
The Visionaries had to combat dark illusions and apparitions conjured by Sith magic. Some Sith agents manifested a false light side aura to infiltrate the Jedi lines. The Visionaries played a crucial role in countering these tactics by launching surgical mental assaults against Sith mages. Some might have studied the methods of the Sith a bit too thoroughly, summoning illusions that bore a strong resemblance to those of the Sith. But the Dominion had been driven to the brink and so only victory mattered. They also used their powers to conceal allied forces and defensive strong points, luring Vaderite troops into traps or manipulating them into firing on their comrades. But the bloodletting led to high casualties. A cadre of Sith Assassins managed to get past their defences and fell upon the Visionaries.
As the conflict grew more and more brutal and the Sith used dark magic to raise the dead, one of the Consulars was plagued by a Force vision of coming doom. It is said she touched the mind of Darth Malitia. Regardless, she spoke of innumerable dead rising from the graveyards and charnel pits and of a night that would never end as elder horrors walked the earth. Defectors claimed that Menace was planning to open a gate to the Netherworld. Whether he actually intended to do this has been list history. But Dominion troops were falling back after the Sith performed a dark ritual to create a huge Deadly Field. Thus Jedi General Mahtara was authorised to unleash a terrible weapon Dominion scientists had built in secret.
Troubled by the use of this weapon, yet desperate, Mahtara insisted on accompanying the bomber crew that would drop the weapon upon Palmyra. It was not possible to evacuate all Dominion troops and Jedi in time, as they were still locked in combat with the Sith legions. The bomber lacked conventional stealth systems, so a Visionary concealed it with an illusion. However, a Sith mentalist managed to see past the concealment and the bomber came under fire. Insisting on completing the mission, Mahtara gave the order to drop the bomb. The weapon caused immense destruction, somewhat comparable to a thought bomb. Palmyra was devastated. The staggering loss of life that had taken place over the past few days, as well as the destruction caused by the bomb's detonation, created a dark side nexus.
Palmyra ceased to exist, and the Sith crusade came to a halt. On paper, it was a victory for the Dominion, but it had come at a terrible cost. For the time being, the Dominion was the dominant power on the planet. The Visionaries continued to serve the Dominion in the centuries to come. Rumours of heterodox teachings sometimes led to purges and investigations by the Inquisition. Their mental skills made them influential and feared.
The Netherworld Event triggered a new period of warfare. After a long period of dominance, the Dominion was challenged. Some of the Visionaries had foreseen a coming darkness, but prophecies and visions are treacherous. Their visions might have played a role in the Dominion overextending itself in renewed offensives against its foes. They were caught off-guard when countless people were suddenly raptured and Force-users discovered that their ability to use their powers was impaired.
The Republican Guard took advantage, launching a grand offensive. While their conventional forces assaulted the Dominion head-on, Force Dead commandos and assassins carried out surgical strikes and terrorist attacks. A good number of Visionaries and other Jedi were assassinated by Republican Guard terrorists. Eventually the Dominion was able to rally and blunt the offensive. After Akala's fall, the Jedi could safely call upon the Force again. The Visionaries participated in the First Battle of Fortress Purity, targeting the Non-Force-Users in the Republican Guard. The battle was a victory for the Dominion and the rebels were routed.
But the second battle was a defeat for the Dominion. This time the Republican Guard had the support of Firemane. The Dominion could not match Firemane's massive firepower and advanced technology. They tried to negate it through use of a weather control machine and mass use of Force-users. A small cadre of Visionaries aided General Kennobi, who boosted the morale of Dominion soldiers through battle meditation. They also employed their powers to mentally affect Firemane pilots, conceal small groups of Dominion soldiers and defensive emplacements, enabling them to ambush hostile forces. This caused significant enemy casualties among the Republican Guard and Firemane.
When the allied forces tried to storm a hill that was a major Dominion stronghold, a cadre of Visionaries carried out a massive mental attack that manifested in white noise. Dominion militia and suicide bombers used the distraction provided by this to charge the enemy. A bunker concealed by a Visionary turned out to be an entrance into the tunnels of Fortress Purity. Viper Company, a Republican Guard unit composed of Force Dead soldiers, was able to find and infiltrate it.
The illusionist in the bunker was able to mess with the minds of Non-Force-Using Republican Guard and Firemane soldiers, but was injured by an explosion and then gunned down by a vengeful Freya Solveig. The allied forces fought a heated battle with Dominion troops in the tunnels, but eventually penetrated it. Firemane artillery and the redirection of the lightning storm by Qadiri elementalists also caused casualties among the Dominion troops. In the final stages of the battle, General Kennobi ordered a force of Younglings to conduct a futile death charge before committing suicide. The small cadre of Visionaries was among the troops that were evacuated.
The Visionaries had not been deployed at full strength, as the disgraced Battlemaster Mahtara arranged for forces to be held back. She rightly calculated that a defeat would be a great blow to the Grandmaster's prestige and undermine his position, thereby allowing her to make a move against him. This obviously also prevented the mentalists from using their full strength against the enemy.
The battle was a great loss for the Dominion. But the defeat also forced the Jedi theocracy to focus and concentrate its resources on survival rather than power plays and internal repression. The Mad Grandmaster was assassinated by the Council. His death was blamed on a 'Sithspawn' air strike. Ironically, one of the Visionaries had had a vision that foretold a great doom. Grand Inquisitor Antonius had arrested him on charges of heresy. Antonius followed the Dominion soldiers who had bravely defended Fortress Purity to the grave. He was burnt to ash by Elpsis Kerrigan-Alcori, whom his Inquisitors had tried to brainwash into being his obedient drone. Most of the Visionaries pledged themselves to the Dominion's new government, now led by Mahtara.
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