Darth Voyance
Dark Saint of the Sith
Name: Warlords of the Sith
OOC Hierarchy:
STAFF
- Darth Voyance (Faction Owner)
- Kascalion Giedfield
- Vora Kaar
CREATIVE TEAM
- Darth Vinaze
- Ilitherna
- Darth Ineritius
- Darth Bellum
- Ashin Cardé Varanin
IC Hierarchy:
Warlords of the Sith operate in two spheres of power: Sphere of the Sith and Sphere of the Non-FU - both are powerful, linked, and have their own purview (that at times comes at odds with each other leading to great plots of courtly intrigue). This was done so that Sith do not become trapped by the bureaucratic trappings of rulership and are distracted from being Sith. But, it also allows for the ability for merited individuals regardless of Force Sensitivity to be awarded for their prowess, which unlike other Sith factions gives Non-FU characters a free upward mobility avenue. OOC’ly this means ANY character whether Sith or Non-FU can develop a powerbase in the faction with their own aesthetic imprinted on their area of influence.
Sphere of the Sith:
The Dark Sovereign:
The Dark Sovereign is the elected Military Dictator and Supreme Commander of the various Sith Warlords and Sith Barons of the Warlords of the Sith. With this title they are anointed as "Overlord of the High Lords", "Defender of the Sith Faith", "Grand Keeper of the Sith Code", "The Dark Commander of the Chapters", and the "Supreme Commander of the Warlords' Host" by the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side and the Sith Ecclesiarchy.
However, unlike other absolute monarchs like the Sith-Imperial Emperor or the dominating Dark Lords of the Sith - the Dark Sovereign is a far more practical title and rank. Rather than an all powerful Dark Lord who lashes the other Sith Lords into servitude for no use. The Dark Sovereign operates more like General or Prince - their power is granted by the Sith High Lords and their High Lord Court. They are Dictator and Overlord at the patronage of the High Lords.
The High Lord’s Court:
Despite the organizational name "Warlords of the Sith" - the title Warlord applies to any Sith Lord who is a part of the covenant. Actual Feudal Rulership belongs to the Sith High Lords - who rule over the various other Warlords and Sith Baron's from their High Lord's Court
The High Lord's are the Sith Political Body that checks and appoints the Dark Sovereign - they are at once the Warlord's greatest force of power and its greatest weakness.
Prone to courtly intrigue, Lordly rivalries, and shadowy schemes of ascension (as the Sith Code demands), they are constantly enforcing, growing, or destroying each other to gain political supremacy. In the Feudal Structure of the Warlords - the High Lords are the Feudal Masters of entire worlds (although true governorship is delegated to their enfeoffed Non-FU Governors - The Sith Barons.)
High Lord's have the right to:
Summon High Lord's For Deliberation:
Summon Ecumenical Councils for the debate and refusal/approval of a decree
Summon a Kaggath Tribunal - for the resolving of disputes between Sith of any rank (including against the Dark Sovereign)
Raise Sith Battle Chapter Levies:
Raise a Sith Chapter Platoon for their Personal Guard
Form Special Task-Forces to Command on Special Operations
Organize Their Sithari'dom Fiefs:
Reward Fiefs to persons under their influence
Own Estates of Personal Use on their worlds or worlds of other High Lords
Engage in Sith Campaigns:
Conquest, Foreign Subterfuge, Hire Mercenaries, Launch Raids, and Control the Partition of Loot
As well as:
Raise Non-FU's to Ranks of Barons
Enfeoff Non-FU's with Estates
Banish persons from their Fiefs
The Dark Brood: The Dark Brood is the collective term for Sith Knights and Sith Tyrophytes (Acolytes) that are under the tutelage, vassal enfeoffment, and command of Warlords/High Lords. This includes the College of Sith Knights which is the Academic Order that trains the Sith Knights through the Ways of the Sith Code and the Rule of the Few.
The Itsuttoi (Sith Feudal Clans):
A Tsis-Itsuttoi [Pronounced: TS-ISS ITS-UU-TOY] - meaning: "The Sith Chained" in ur-Kittât, is a term for a Feudal Collective of Sith Lords, Knights, Barons, and their Vassal Warriors that form a Clan or Itsuttoi. Inspired by real-world clan system from Feudal Japan - an Itsuttoi is exactly that, a Feudal Warrior Sith Clan.
An Ittsutoi can be of any size and commanded by any rank of Sith FU or Non-FU. However, those of greater rank IC'ly can have greater sway. In fact, Itsuttoi can be vassals of other Itsuttoi and those of others. How each Itsuttoi is governed internally is up to the direct will of the commanding person. Itsuttoi can be landless and simply a war-band of Sith Warriors aboard their own ships - or they can be landed with locations, regions, or worlds under their control.
The greatest Itsuttoi are commanded by Sith High Lords and Sith Barons - these are known as the Ari'Itsuttoi [Pronounced: ARE-EE-ITS-UU-TOY] - meaning: "the Lordly Chained".
They hold greater IC power and have access to greater resources of war and politics within the cut throat schemes of the Warlords. And as such can have many Vassal Itsuttoi at their sides.
Other Sith Entities:
Sith Ecclesiarchy:
Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side - The Supreme Prophet is the arch-priest of all the Warlords covenant and head of the Sith Ecclesiarchy - the Religious Masters of the Sith Code. This organization within the Warlords' is a successor to the Qotsisajakaar (the Keepers of the Sith Code) - a religious splinter order created by Darth Voyance. As the Ecclesiarchy, it's goal is to monitor the Warlords and make sure the faith of the Sith Code is adhered to. As such the Ecclesiarchy is often the most hated and feared facet of the faction. Under their command is a cadre of Priests, Sorcerers, and Dark Disciples who administer the magicks of the Sith and purge elements they deem anathema to the Sith Code and Religion.
The Shadow Hand and the Secret Order of the Hand:
To assist the Dark Sovereign in keeping control over the Sith High Lords and monitor their shadowy machinations - they are supported by a Shadow Hand and the Secret Order of the Hand.The Shadow Hand is appointed directly by the Dark Sovereign and they are the Order Master of the Secret Order of the Hand - which is a Order of secret spies that are loyal to the Hand who report plots of treachery.
In addition, the Shadow Hand operates a group of Sith Hounds who are sent out into the galaxy to gather Intel, infiltrate other factions, and carry out covert operations of destruction.
The power of the Secret Order is that any Sith could be a member of the Hand's command. And often their identities are well guarded by the members of the Secret Order because A. should they be revealed as a member other Sith are inclined to kill or exile them and B. The Hand themselves will see to it they are despised off before they fail.
Sphere of Non-Sith:
The Grand Executor:
The Grand Executor is the Supreme Secular Commandant of the Warlord's Political, Administrative, and Governing apparatus. While the Sith High Lords and Warlords lord over worlds the real administration of feudal governance is delegated down to the Grand Executor and his Sith Barons. Do not be fooled, they are not servants but Feudal Lords in their own rights - controlling the operations of fiefs and estates across the Warlord's domains. All Sith Barons answer not to the Dark Sovereign but to the Grand Executor and his Privy Council - the Baron's Court.
The Sith Barons:
While Sith Lords act as Overlords and their Sith Knights and Acolytes their vassal warriors with their landed estates - Sith Baron’s are the NFU machinery of the Political Bureaucracy of the Warlord’s Fiefs and Domains. They control the day-to-day and report to the Grand Executor the movements and political actions of the Sith (in order to keep tabs on their feudal squabbles). Cruel, precise, practical, and shrewdly diplomatic, Sith Barons are perhaps the most opportunistic of the Sith Warlords personnel. They freely change allegiances from one rising Sith to another in order to secure their upward mobility on the feudal ladder of the Warlords.
The Warlords’ Host:
Sith Battle Chapters (Sith Troopers):
Sith Battle Chapters became their own separate command structure - led by soldiers not Sith Lords and Knights. As such they have developed in a fighting force more meritocratic, kraterocratic, and feudal in nature. The First Chapters like the Red Sons of Korriban and the Embers were forged on Sepulcher - in this moment this was called THE FIRST MUSTER. They are commanded by a Lord General and each Battle Chapter a Lord Chapter Commander.
Requested Hexes:
- Tash-Taral (Capital)
- Weken
- Kamar
Interested Members:
Kascalion Giedfield
Vora Kaar
Darth Bellum
Darth Immortuos
Ashin Cardé Varanin
Darth Kentarch
Darth Mutilice
Darth Vinaze
Dasam Kal
Ihsan
Romund Sro
Alina Tremiru
Ceri
Amali Mustra
Maestus
Jacen Novastar
Description:
In the fractured and chaos plagued galactic future of the 864 ABY, there is only conflict and war - and the Warlords of the Sith are their dark masters. Birthed from the fiery and unrepentant machinations of furious schism, raging avarice, and coveted domination, the Warlords of the Sith began as disparate forces of individual schismatic Sith Lords. These Warlords freed themselves from the stagnate and vegitative command of the Sith Empire, forming a feudal covenant horde of Sith who bow to no vainglorious Dark Lord, claimant Emperor, or dark Demagogue - they serve themselves in binded unholy crusade, as it is commanded by the Sith Code.
The Warlords of the Sith follow the tenants of the Sith Code - Peace is a Lie, there is only Passion. Sith of the Warlords (Warlords Sith) are not bound by imperial bureaucracy, artificial titles of placation, nor do they break their own development to grovel at the feet of self-appointed Dark Lords and Emperors in return for gaudy status and empty promises of power. They follow the way of the Sith as their venerated ancestors did - through struggle, rivalry, military service, and adherence to the path of violent education. Warlords Sith are driven by warmongering feudal and codified zeal for power, land, wealth, and rule. Their training is practical - in battle and raids, their rewards land and feudal command. The Warlords Sith breed of Sith are more martial hardened, cruelly focused, and ambitious. For as the Sith Code commands those that cannot keep up are left behind - and destroyed.
But, before the Warlords, before the retribution wars of the Resurgent Imperials under the New Imperial Order, before the Dread Ascendancy in its warmongering terror and the Rule of Few in its dark education, before all claimant and renegade Sith - there was only one. The one who planted the seeds of what became the Warlords of the Sith. Called the “Arch-Heretic'' by Sith Imperials and feared as the twisted Dark Saint of the Sith by the Warlords - before all, there was Darth Voyance and her splinter order, the Qotsisajakaar, the Order of the Keepers of the Sith Code.
Voyance delivered a sermon of religious and political rebellion against the Sith Empire and it’s artificial control of the Sith, blunting their development under the Sith Code in order to become servile. Voyance began a movement to return the Sith to the veneration of not a King, an Emperor, a Dark Lord - but the Sith Code itself. Peace is a Lie and the Empire enforced an illusory peace weakening Sith development for the sake of bloated bureaucracy. Voyance reviled against it and forged the Sith Keepers.
However, the time was not right. The events of Kyber Dark destroyed the progress Voyance had created. The Sith Keeper’s Order was disbanded and its surviving members dispersed to infiltrate the galaxy on their own. Upon the invasion of the Sith Holy Worlds by the Galactic Alliance - Darth Voyance would resurface, but this time joined by Kascalion Giedfield and Vora Kaar forming the Warlords of the Sith. Invading Korriban in a show of force and declaring that there was only one faction worthy of being Defenders of the Sith Faith. The Warlords had finally arrived and their unholy crusade had begun.
The Pitch:
The creative design of Warlords of the Sith is dictated by three Core Creative Themes:
- “Not Just a Faction, But, a Setting & Sand-Box”
- “Make the Sith, Villains for Anyone’s Story”
- “Feudal Intrigue and Eternal Crusade”
1. Not Just a Faction, but, a Setting & Sand-Box
Warlords of the Sith is not just a faction - its an entire Setting, a Sith Sandbox, or consider it the Lore Expansion Pack for the Chaos RP “Base Game”. The board has seen several “Sith Empires” often organized by a central cohort of RPers and their ambitions on the site’s Map Game or on the evolution of Sith RP as it is represented by the RPers the central cohort attract to facilitate their story ambitions. When constructing the core creative themes of the Warlords an opposite ethos was employed - “a faction that acts as a brand new setting with new mechanics to allow creative freedom for Sith RPers and to foster a new generation of villains for the site’s heroes to face.”.
Warlords of the Sith acts like a supplementary setting to Chaos’ usual Sith affairs. Warlords Sith operate on different ambitions, cultural cohesion, and story --> Less Empire Building, More Character’s Power-Base Building (as seen with its decentralized structure, Sith Clan mechanics, Sith Clan Fiefs (estates) location mechanics, and the encouragement of Feudal Intrigue and Sith Rivalries); Less Cult of Personality and More Creative Freedom (as seen with the absence of a strong central IC and OOC dictating power - character’s are free to explore their own power bases and conjure machinations of power grabs and creating their own aesthetic within their own power base); and most important of all - Less Blobs and More Lore! (Warlords promotes the division of the map, locations, and resources under the influence of the Warlords faction by Characters to create a patchwork of varied aesthetics, Sith rulerships, units, warbands, Dark Side faiths, and political structures - giving the faction an uniquely varied yet cohesive existence).
2. “Make the Sith, Villains for Anyone’s Story”
One of the big things the Warlords of the Sith would like to push and foster in any who join is to help them become the Villains they want to become - especially Villains that can be the antagonists in the stories of the heroes on the site. Warlords follows the idea that - What is a Villain without heroes to thwart their evil machinations. RPers within the Warlords will be encouraged to develop their own evil plots and reach out to other factions to coordinate grand campaigns of villainy, heroism, betrayal, political intrigue, and dark ambitions.
Warlords wants Sith characters to become nuanced and unapologetic Villains - not Villians that obtusely deliver evil monologues and power game ostentatious shows - but Villains who can learn how to take defeat (in classic SW story style) only to return stronger, wiser, and more of a threat. By “nuanced villains” we mean to create Sith who can be enjoyed by heroes as villains of worth, entertainment, and memorable story. And to do this, Sith within the Warlords are to be coached by more veteran writers and given any support they need in developing their villain’s plans and story. That is the key here - you aren’t just a member of a faction, you are a villain in training at the Warlords. Be the villain you’d want in your stories if your character was a hero.
3. Feudal Intrigue and Eternal Crusade
Despite the great freedoms described above - Warlords Sith are constrained but empowered by a core central aesthetics that is the meta-aesthetic of every character power base that is fostered in the faction. This meta-aesthetic are the two story themes of: Feudal Intrigue and Eternal Crusade.
Feudal Intrigue:
The Warlords of the Sith has the actual IRL mechanics of Feudalism baked into the mechanics of the faction - i.e. Mechanics for feifs, knighthoods, lordships and growing warlord powerbases. Feudal Intrigue isn’t just an aesthetic - it is the VERY SOUL of the faction’s methods of story generation and RP. Take all the instances of political intrigue in the old Sith lore (Sadow v Kresh, Revan v Malak, the dark side coalitions of Exar Kun), and those of Game of Thrones, DUNE, and IRL periods of Lords and Courts - like Medieval Japan or Europe; combine them and that is the aesthetic Warlords is trying to develop. Intrigue, Courtly Machinations, Feudal Feuds, and Warrior Traditions are themes of the Warlords’ plots.
Eternal Crusade:
The Warlords of the Sith are crusading warmongers. They are on an eternal religious crusade to liberate and purify the Sith Holy Worlds across the Tingel Arm as led by Darth Voyance’s crusading zeal. As well as an avarice crusade to gain more fiefs, serfs, resources, and wealth so that individuals can gain tangible status and expand their power bases to influence Warlords’ internal politics (like the IRL Feudal Lords of history). Constant feudal war (internal or external), conquest, raiding, and holy war are a cornerstone of RP.
Simply put: the Warlords of the Sith are a Sith faction like no other. It promotes OOC and IC growth as writers and villain characters - with room to explore personal aesthetic choices while adhering to a cohesive faction culture and aesthetic. While ambitious (and perhaps presumptuous) it is a faction that looks to found deep roots for a creative and site story contributing future.
Past Roleplay Threads:
Duel of Faiths [Warlords of the Sith Story Campaign|Episode I]-[Check OOC]
Kingdom of Heaven
Leviathan of the Left-Handed God [Sith Warlords]
The Red Sons [SJC/Warlords of the Sith - Roche Raid]
Hounds of the Shadow Hand|[Warlords of the Sith]
Six Thousand Stagnant Years (Warlords of the Sith)
Breath of Ash (open to WotS members)
Dragon Riders of the Warlords | Warlords of the Sith
Unknown Occurrences-Warlords of the Sith
KORRIBANNED
Valiens Nantaris
