OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on the Shadow Knights. Most of the characters I have subbed for them have been soldiers and military leaders, which is appropriate since they are a heavily militarised, nomadic group. But no society can subsist on the sword alone. Ergo this character develops them in different ways.
Image Credit: Here.
Role: Yohara is an Eldorai scientist, researcher and inventor of the Spirit Gems. She heads the Court of the Mind, a Shadow Knight organisation for researchers, scholars and so on. In a way, she is the creator of Kytara Valon, and Banshee Squadron.
Permission: Can use Archangel stuff because I own the company.
Links: Eldorai Spirit Gem, Varisanthra Lycaeni, Banshee Squadron. Somewhat inspired by the Maesters and Qyburn from Game of Thrones. Yohara is less malevolent than the good doctor though. To Hell and Back, Blades of Reason.
PHYSICAL INFORMATION
Age: 87.
Force Sensitivity: Untrained Force Sensitive.
Species: Eldorai.
Appearance: Yohara is an Eldorai female of average height and build for her species. She has pale skin, blue eyes and pointed ears. She tends to wear her blonde hair tied back. She is in good shape, but not an athlete or a soldier. She has a piercing, analytical stare. Yohara wears nice clothes, but favours plain colours and patterns, and little jewellry. She wears some lipstick, but does not overdo it.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Name: Yohara Taenasi.
Loyalties: Herself and her work. Shadow Knights (lore submission), Shadow Knights, Court of the Shadows, Naesala Faethyra.
Wealth: Yohara is well-off and does not have to worry about how to pay her bills. But she lives a fairly utilitarian life. Within certain boundaries, she can requisition resources from the Shadow Knights as necessary. She can set a budget for her department, but it must be approved by the Archon and the Council.
Notable Possessions:
- Silver ring bearing the signet of an Eldorai eagle. It is awarded to all Shadow Knight leaders as a symbol of rank and a means of identification. The ring appears mundane, but Yohara has modified it so that is is capable of delivering poison.
- A broken chain. It is symbolic of her break with the Truth Bringers and their dogma. It is tradition that someone who is expelled from the order must give up her chain. She broke it instead.
- A heavily encrypted datacron and a paper book with her research notes. Subscription to various science journals.
- One ARD X-1 Human Replica Droid bodyguard. Reprogrammed to be obedient to Yohara. Called Marcella. The assassin droid acts as a personal assistant and bodyguard. Sometimes she steals tech or blueprints that Yohara wants for her research, but cannot (or does not want to) acquire legally. Acts as voice of reason when Yohara's passion get the better of her.
- Pet Jester. Named after a rival in the Truth Bringers. "Both have simple minds and repeat the same phrases. But Horatia the Jester is kind and brings a smile to the face of anyone she meets. Horatia the Eldorai is just a greedy, leecherous ignoramus. One is a delight, the other a waste of oxygen."
- Qanq Qahsa, an Archangel processing machine and an entechment rig. Yohara keeps them in her laboratory for study.
Am I a Sciian? Or as anyone who is not an Eldorai would say, Force-Sensitive? By some twist of fate, the cosmos saw fit to bestow upon me a Sciiac potential that gives me an increased ability to sense danger, notice when someone is lying to me and improves my memory and...that is it. No amount of effort has changed this. Quite curious, yes? On the positive side, it meant I channelled my energies into honing my mind instead of spending all my time swinging a sword without even learning basic algebra."
Yohara is a scientist, a medical doctor and an inventor, first and foremost. She is Force-Sensitive, but her Force potential is negligible. It manifests in a kind of sixth sense and improved memory capacity. But she is incapable of performing any of the feats normally associated with Force-Users. She is a decent pilot and pistol shot but nothing exceptional.
Personality: "The Conclave of Truth Bringers. Charged with studying the mysteries of Ashira and spreading Her truth. The name alone displays the pretentiousness of this antiquated body. Many of them would be disturbed if they were told to find answers, not exhaustively explain them. Each Truth Bringer receives a chain that is supposed to signify the bonds that tie the Matriarchy to its proud traditions - and collar their thoughts. They study without learning and proudly pass on the same knowledge that was passed down to them, with no addition.
All that an Eldorai needs to know has already been laid down by Ashira and her disciples millennia ago, so all that is left for the pitifully limited is to learn how to recite it by heart. They do not have the stomach to think outside of their carefully constructed bubbles, let alone innovate. So they recite the age-old phrases, toil on their outdated cogitators and pour over dusty old tomes from a time when the Eldorai believed they were alone in the Galaxy. While humans extended their reach across the Galaxy, we were trapped on our parochial little planet. If the purpose of science is to advance the cause of prosperity and expand the breadth of knowledge, the Conclave has failed utterly.
Perhaps this is to be expected, when one considers the manner of women who become Truth Bringers: the youngest daughters of noble families, dutiful, timid and unexceptional, raised in the shadow of their older sisters; or bastards and peasant girls whose minds are easily satisfied by the certainty of a warm meal and a roof over their heads. Because bold women will not be chained. They dare to ask questions the Truth Bringers dread to answer: they will look at a living being and ask 'how?' And they will look at the dead and ask 'what if?' Bold women will be needed to drag the Eldorai out of the pit they have dug for themselves. But it can - and must - be done.
I dared to ask questions. To seek truth from facts rather than regurgitate myths. The ignoramuses considered my curiosity to be improper. They murdered my teacher. When they could not sway me to the path of mundanity, they dragged my name through the mud and tried to force me into silence. That collection of old fossiles would rather have the Eldorai people remain trapped inside the dark pit of ignorance and oppression, as long as their sacred traditions are not trampled with. My research saved lives, but they heaped scorn upon it because it contradicted their archaic beliefs about Ashira's tenets on life. Anything that violated orthodoxy threatened the power of throne and altar.
But Ashira seems to have fallen silent. Even the charnel pits and graveyards of Kaeshana have not roused her to respond to their meek prayers. So be it. Many Eldorai consider the Scattering of our people to be the greatest tragedy in our history. I call it a liberation. As long as we remained obedient to the Matriarchy and mindlessly parroted the phrases of our foremothers, we were naive children. Now at last we can leave childhod behind. The medicine is harsh and tastes foul, but the patient needs it to survive. For those of us who wield the stylus, it is our duty to bring about a revolution of the mind. It is our obligation to bear the torch of illumination. A free society is an educated society that does not run from the truth in terror.
Exile agrees with me. There is freedom to pursue research hidebound minds were too afraid to embark on. The Shadow Knights glorify the sword to an absurd degree, but what is the blade without the mind that can give it direction? The Spirit Gems have been my the first achievement under their patronage. They have given soldiers a chance to fight, pilots to fly and mothers, fathers and siblings to be with their families again after sustaining mortal injuries. But they shall not be my last.
I have spent many days studying the data salvaged from the databanks of Archangel. Quite curious that a sect of machines pursue vainglorious dreams of world conquest similar to those of organic beings, but I digress. Their aims were vile and they were enemies of my people, yet their insights were...intriguing. It allowed me to finalise the first stage of the Soul Gems. Our bodies of blood and flesh are vessels for our minds. And death need not be the end.
If there is a higher power out there that breathed life into us, then it created us with the capacity to utilise our minds to grasp the infinite and shape ourselves and the cosmos, not bow to arbitrary dogma masquerading as truth. I confess that this sphere many call the Netherworld intrigues me. It cannot represent the true afterlife. If it were so, it would not be possible for the living to bodily access it via portals and traverse it. Or for beings trapped inside it to leave. Nonetheless, great power resides in it. It is proof that life and death are not absolutes. What happened on Kaeshana was a tragedy beyond measure, but perhaps we can wrest something good from it. If only to be armed for the next eruption. If only the Harrowed were more receptive to my enquiries."
"Yohara is always right" has become a bit of a meme among the Shadow Knights. Anytime something incredibly unpredictable or lucky/unlucky happens a Shadow Knight will say "Yohara predicted it" or "Yohara said it'd happen" in a joking way. Yohara's most enduring traits are her curiosity, confidence in herself and scorn for orthodoxy. She is an unrepentant iconoclast who respects audacity. This was the cause of her falling out with the Conclave of Truth Bringers. She is characterised by an unshakabeable confidence in herself, can make her appear arrogant and self-righteous. As a person she is quite affable, passionate and friendly, but prone to lecturing. What she considers to be ignorance can rouse her to anger. She blames the present state of the Eldorai and the calamities they have experienced on their backwardness. There is nothing she despises more than rote learning and a refusal to question established truths.
In contrast to the stereotypical presentation of the scientist, Yohara is not an atheist. However, her beliefs lean towards Deism because she finds the idea of an all-powerful sky goddess who continued to meddle in mortal affairs to this day to be quaint. She believes that some form of central intelligence must have guided creation or acted as prime mover, but dismisses the idea of an anthropomorphic deity. Ergo she does not accept divine law as a reason for why a specific form of research or enquiry should not be performed. One of her heroes is the renowned scientist and scholar Galliena Gallia, who was imprisoned on the Island of Fallen Angels after proclaiming the heretical belief that planets other than Kaeshana held intelligent life. Galliena ended up being burnt at the stake.
Unlike traditionalist Eldorai, Yohara does not reject droids for violating Ashira's precepts on life. Indeed she is more than a little fascinated by thinking machines, particularly those that blur the line between organic beings and machines. Her soul gems are partly based on entechment, though without the pointless sadism since the idea of leaving beings in eternal torment disgusted her. She is in the business of saving lives, advancing the cause of prosperity and expanding the breadth of knowledge of society, not inflicting pain and torment. Granted, sometimes there are setbacks. She also has few qualms about using illegal means to acquire things she needs for her work, such as tech.
She is diligent, has an indefatigable work rate and expects any assistant of hers to be able to keep up with it. Those who cannot get short shrift and lose their jobs. Yohara refuses to coddle, but can be quite caring and protective of those who pull their weight. Thus she shows a friendlier side to fellow scientists who impress her in some way. She is an acquaintance of Varisanthra Lycaeni, an Eldorai banker and fellow exile. Their views overlap quite a bit, but Yohara blames Vari for walking away from her people.
Yohara is the inventor of the modern variant of the Eldorai soul gems. Ironically, she has so far eschewed undergoing the process of transferring her consciousness into one of the soul stones. This is because she is secretly afraid of being trapped in one. She has no problem with carrying out the procedure on others though. As of late, she has acquired a bit of fascination with the Netherworld. She treats it as an alternate plane governed by natural laws that differ from those of the mortal realm, but can nonetheless be understood through the scientific process.
COMBAT INFORMATION
Weapon of Choice: "I can use a blaster and a knife passably well."
Combat Function: "If compelled to rise to the occasion, I can defend myself, but there are better people for it. I know where my strengths lie, and being a soldier is not one them. I am a warrior of the mind, not of the sword. I know when it is prudent to perform a tactical retreat. I am the one who gives soldiers the tools and makes sure they are still alive after the fighting. Sometimes their bodies cannot be saved, but their consciousness can. I am also a fair pilot."
Yohara is not a fighter, knows it and does not want to be one. She knows some basic self-defence and can fire a pistol, but is no elite soldier or martial arts savant. If forced into a fight, her strategy will be to find cover, fire her pistol and wait for backup. Due to her importance to the Shadow Knights, she has guards to protect her. She is not the type of person one would send into the middle of a war zone to participate in fighting. Yohara is an untrained Froce-Sensitive, but her Force affinity is negligible and training would not change that. Even something as basic as using her mind to lift a pebble would be beyond her. Her Force affinity manifests itself in a kind of sixth sense and better memory, but that's it.
She is a good doctor and has strong nerves though. Fighting going on around her will not cause her to freeze or cry in terror. Instead she will quite prudently try to extract herself from danger or use what skills she has to put her in a good position. Yohara is very strong-willed and extremely difficult to mentally dominate or manipulate. She is smart enough to make backups of her research instead of putting her eggs all in one basket. Thus destroying the one 'mad scientist laboratory' will not undo all her work because she has enough sense to keep duplicate blueprints and make more than one prototype.
Strengths:
- Good doctor. She is legitimately good at her craft. Granted, in some cases her patients need to undergo a transformation of sorts, but some are just too far gone to be saved otherwise.
- Eldorai racial strengths. Eldorai possess impressive dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Not a soldier. Yohara can defend herself, but she is poorly equipped to take on experienced soldiers, martial arts savants or Force-Users in a direct fight. She is a scholar, not a shock trooper.
- She has the traditional Eldorai racial weaknesses: On average she is less strong than a human, has a higher metabolism and a lower pain threshold. Her Force potential is insignificant, so she cannot overcome these weaknesses through physical augmentation powers.
Yohara grew up in a time of change for Kaeshana. For centuries Kaeshana had been insulated from foreign influences. As far as the Eldorai was concerned, they were the only form of intelligent life in the Galaxy. Outsiders were barbarians or demons, parodies of life that stood outside of Ashira's creation. Ashira had fashioned heaven and earth, and fashioned the Eldorai in her image. The Star Queen was the Goddess' chosen viceroy and emissary in the mortal realm. As long as the Eldorai stayed faithful to the teachings of their foremothers, all would be well. Those who defied her were lumped together as Dark Eldorai, whose hearts had turned to evil and who sought to overthrow the goddess-given order.
But now the willow palisade of isolation was being broken down. Outsiders visited the Eldorai homeworld in increasing numbers. Some came to trade, but many were raiders and slavers who considered the Eldorai to be ideal prey due to their technological backwardness. The fact that Kaeshana had been isolated for so long worked against the Eldorai, as their technology was inferior to that of the outsiders. Stasers could not compare to blasters.
Eldorai society was split on how to confront these challenges. When slavers, traders and envoys started to arrive on Kaeshana, the Eldorai fell into two distinct categories based on how they viewed this. The first saw the outsiders as barbarians, as a threat which needed to be eliminated and a source of nothing positive. From the point of view of this party, nothing good could come from accommodating 'human monkeighs'. The second saw the outsiders as useful for their technology, even if ‘backward’ compared to the glorious Matriarchy.
At the same time the Matriarchy was faced with internal dissent and heresy. Star Queen Tirathana VI was a despot who ruled with an iron fist. Strict orthodoxy was the norm under her, for she rightly feared that otherwise many of her people might be tempted to abandon the old ways and thus challenge the very foundation of her rule. Innovation was discouraged, for the Goddess' Chosen People were perfect in every way. Rigid class barriers kept most of the population disenfranchised, while the nobility and the church reigned supreme. With no means of bringing about change through nonviolent means by working within the system, many political or religious dissidents turned to terrorism or were driven into exile. The government responded to resistance with repression, using all the resources of a police state.
This was the world Yohara grew up in. She was raised in humble circumstances. Her father had been born into a peasant family and served in the army, joining one of the Eldorai Sciiac Reserve Battalions. Under Eldorai law, all Force-Users had to receive training to control their powers. Those who showed the greatest aptitude for combat were conscripted by the Angelii, a corps of elite shock troops and royal guards. However, the Angelii only allowed women to join. The Reserve Battalions drew their members from Force-Users who had received training but entered the reserve, regular Force-Sensitive soldiers who had not been recruited by the corps and former Angelii. They also allowed men to join. This was one of the reasons conservative Eldorai looked down on them. Given basic training and equipment, the Sciiac Reserves were often assigned unglamorous tasks such as forlorn hope charges, scouting, patrol duty and clearing mine fields.
Her father had distinguished himself in combat against Dark Eldorai and foreign raiders, but his low birth and gender kept him from rising high in the tanks. An injury sustained in combat with slavers ended his career. He found employment as a blackmith, working for a minor noble. There he met his wife, a skilled seamstress. Like Yohara's father, her mother was of low birth and had worked her way up, but been unable to afford higher education.
Young Yohara was a precocious child with an inquisitive mind. When she was very young she was allowed to play with the children of her parents' patron. However, eventually these playing sessions were forbidden, for the noblewoman did not like her children mixing with the servants. For a while she served as a page. However, she wanted more. Her parents could not afford to send her to a prestigious school, but their highborn patron favoured them, albeit in a somewhat patronising way. Her parents wanted better for their child than they had been able to achieve for themselves.
As a youth she was sent to study with the Church. The Church of Ashira was - and in many ways still is, despite the recent calamities - an important social and political force in Eldorai society. Many Eldorai received their education from clerics in faith schools. The Church was very wealthy and a crucial component of the tripartite order of crown, temple and nobility. Of course, the towering cathedrals and opulent apartments of the prelates were merely gifts handed down to the church and it would be a sin to refuse such piety.
Yohara was a good, diligent student, though some of her teachers cautioned her against her being too inquisitive, for it could easily lead her astray. There was only one path of righteousness and it was the one that had been paved by the disciples of Ashira millennia ago. At this point Yohara was still a fairly pious girl. Her parents had been held back by the rigid class barriers of the Eldorai Matriarchy, but raised her to believe in Ashira. Her Force-Sensitivity was discovered when a sixth sense kicked in and she saved a fellow student from a potential skimmer accident. Her Sciiac potential was confirmed by a standardised test. However, further tests revealed that her Force affinity was pitiful.
Yohara tried hard, but was incapable of pulling off even basic feats of Force use. This was a cause of disappointment to her and left the girl frustrated. Force-Users had a lot of prestige in Eldorai society and were often placed above mere 'mundanes', for those who could tap into their flame were perceived as blessed by Ashira. It did not help that some of her classmates had manifested powers, as did one of the daughters of her parents' noble employer, who joined the Angelii. However, the realisation that she did not possess the same powers also lit the fire of ambition inside her.
She was subjected to bullying from girls from more well-off families due to her low origins, but this only made her more determined. Those who entered the embrace of the Church were supposed to forsake materialism, but it was also a place for the second daughters of noble families, whose attitude was the exact opposite. Corruption and hypocrisy were the order of the day. Yohara lived an austere life and dressed simply. At first because she could not afford anything else. But it eventually became a life style she embraced in response to the decadence around her. Her serious, somewhat bossy personality did not win her many friends, but her commitment did not go unnoticed.
Yohara could have pursued a conventional career in the clergy after completing her ecclesiastical studies, but she wanted something else. She was drawn to the Truth Bringers, an order of scholars, healers and learned women. Due to their scientific and intellectual pursuits, they were sometimes referred to as the "Angelii of the mind". Her scholastic efforts drew the interest of Caecilia Thalien, a senior Truth Bringer with an interest in alchemy. Caecilia was seen by some as too unorthodox, but had gained the favour of a noblewoman after saving her bodyguard from a poison her peers believed had no cure. This gave her protection, but also produced jealousy.
However, Yohara soon discovered that the Truth Bringers discouraged innovation. They were supposed to be the foremost scholars of the realm, but they were better at explaining answers to questions than at coming up with them. Acolytes were supposed to study the classics and praise the Goddess for having true knowledge. Innovation was a dirty word. The glorious Matriarchy had survived for thirty centuries without innovation, and did not need any innovation to last for thirty more. All daughters of Ashira should rejoice, for the Star Queen and her holy church all provided all the protection, teaching and order they could possibly need.
As Yohara grew older, she chafed under the restrictions placed on her. It did not help that foreign raiders had grown more and more rapacious, seeing the Eldorai as easy prey. The letters she exchanged with her family, though censored, told her that the raiders' attacks on Eldorai settlements had not ceased but increased. Cotroversies such as the dispute about the sale of indulgences did not pass her by. She attended the trial of Sahome Tyral, a radical Ashiran cleric, as an observer. The priestess was condemned as a heretic, but freed by her supporters with the help of a renegade Angelii. Her escape sparked a purge, as alleged sympathisers of the priestess were persecuted. Yohara kept her head down. She was no Church reformer, but she secretly agreed with Sahome that the Church had become corrupt.
However, from then on her views diverged. She did not identify deviation from the true word of the scriptures as the cause of this malaise. Rather she saw backwardness as the more pressing problem. When the soldiers of the Crown paraded a group of captured pirates through the streets, she felt pleased that evildoers had been thwarted. But she could not feel triumphant. Instead she wondered why foreign barbarians were able to traverse the stars, but Eldorai could not. The starship and some of the weapons of the pirates were brought to the Truth Bringers for study. The same applied to their droid and the cybernetic arm of one of the slavers.
Most senior Truth Bringers dismissed these designs as crude and primitive. There was nothing out there in the stars for Eldorai. The fact that humans relied on machinery was proof of their moral and spiritual degeneracy. Test firing and after action reports from Eldorai soldiers revealed that blasters were far superior to stasers, but these claims were dismissed. However, Yohara took an interest. The prospect of there being intelligent life outside of Kaeshana fascinated her.
She examined the body of one of the pirates. Vivisection determined that their insides were quite similar to those of an Eldorai. "They are not different from us so there is a place for in the stars as well." Even though she lacked the necessary seniority, she arranged for the droid to be brought to her so that she could question it about the outside world and find out how the tech worked. Though a bit unnerved by the metal demon, she asked it many questions. However, her disobedience got her into trouble and she had to do penance. Her fascination with foreigners was deemed dangerous and she came under investigation. For a while she was banished to a remote province on the fringes of Kaeshana. There she was supposed to pray, reflect on her errors and apply her skills as a healer. It was a backwater province and conditions for the locals were very poor.
Caecilia chided her for being so careless and stressed that she needed to learn to dissemble. But her mentor also introduced her to the forbidden writings of the renowned biologist Charae Darwai, who had been here for claiming that Eldorai and humans shared common traits and origins, and Galliena Gallia. Yohara also learned the story of Malya Helindan, one of the very Eldorai to become a Jedi Knight. Official sources claimed that Malya had stolen the Arithdae Codex, a sacred Eldorai relic, and that it had been lost ever since. But Caecilia did not believe that the official version contained the whole truth.
Yohara's interest in foreign tech was deemed disturbing and so she was directed to immerse in the healing arts and study the classics. She was a capable medical practitioner, but her interest in the stars did not wane. She would often observe them through a telescope and used black market dealings to get her hands on pieces of foreign tech that had been smuggled to Kaeshana. Then her teacher sufferd near-mortal injuries in a terrorist bombing. The perpetrators of this act were assumed to have been Dashdae Eldorai terrorists.
Caecilia's noble patron pulled strings to get her essence transferred into a soul stone. This was only done very rarely, as the stones were difficult to make and the process was problematic from a religious perspective. Unlike the later versions, these stones were imbued with the Force. Yohara felt a deep sorrow when she learned what had happened to her teacher and volunteered to help with the ritual. She lacked the Force potential to actually participate in it, but helped set it up. However, the ritual was botched and Caecilia's essence was lost. In the aftermath of her passing, her rivals claimed that it was a sign of divine judgement. Caecilia's soul had been tainted by her heterodox beliefs and so she had been dragged into Illyira's hellish realm to be judged accordingly.
One of those who declared this was an old Truth Bringer called Horatia Pyacela, who considered Caecilia a heretic. Angered, Yohara could barely restrain her temper. She came to suspect that there had been foul play. Fortunately for her, she was able to secure some of Caecilia's writings and correspondence. Concerned about being investigated, her mentor had written most of it in a form of code. But through diligence and her familiarity with her teacher, Yohara was eventually able to translate it. Her mentor was gone, but she channelled her grief into activity.
The event left her with a strong revulsion of the old guard and a fascination with the soul stones. They could be used to preserve the great minds that her people sorely needed to survive the trials to come. No one had seen fit to improve upon the designs for centuries. Determined to make her mark, she studied all she could. She was accused of hubris and sinful pride for postulating that she could improve upon a design of the foremothers. "'Caecilia's defiance I sense in you.' That is what that ignorant oaf Horatia told me."
Her contacts with the inhabitants of Santaissa's Foreign Quarter were seen as problematic. Her suggestion to replace the antiquated cogitators with foreign computers went down poorly. One of her colleagues denounced her, claiming that she was conspiring with traitors and foreign lackeys. Yohara came under investigation again, and it was discovered that she was in possession of heretical writings. This time her incarceration was far less pleasant, for she was starved. She was probably saved by the death of Tirathana VI.
The death of the Star Queen triggered a struggle for the succession. On the one side stood Tirathana's niece Nalia, a hardline conservative who had support among the army and the old guard. On the other Tirathana's daughter Silaqui, who had a reputation as a pleasure-seeking intellectual lightweight, but was more liberal and wanted to connect with the greater Galaxy. Her exiled sister Anya Venari returned to Kaeshana to support Silaqui. With her she brought Colonel Siobhan Kerrigan and an Omega Protectorate delegation.
Negotiations broke down and fighting ensued. Nalia was slain by Kerrigan and Silaqui was crowned Queen. She lifted Anya's exile and agreed to have Kaeshana join the Protectorate as an autonomous member state. In return the Protectorate would respect Eldorai traditions, help the elves develop their planet and protect it against attackers. Partly to please her foreign overlords by showing them how progressive she was, partly because she lacked her mother's zealotry, Silaqui freed many political prisoners.
One of them was Yohara, whose arrest was lifted. However, she was now under a cloud. Her imprisonment had left her embittered and suspicious of her colleagues. She saw Tirathana's demise as a liberation. She began to visit the Foreign Quarter more frequently and managed to join an Eldorai delegation that was sent to Fondor to learn about the foreigners and their technology. During the journey Yohara spent a lot of time inspecting the starship and asking the crew questions about how its systems worked.
When they arrived on Fondor, she could not believe her eyes. Her gaze was not wholly uncritical though. She found the ecumenpolis to be lacking in elegance and crude. But she was awed by the huge shipyards and factories. She spent a lot of time touring the various sites, conversing with scientists and technicians. To learn more she enrolled at a college. As part of her education, she travelled to Loronar to visit its droid foundries and spent some time working there. She purchased a protocol droid to help her learn about this strange new world.
During her time abroad she crossed paths with Varisanthra Lycaeni. The two met at a conference of Eldorai expatriates. Both elves had similar views on many things. Varisanthra was a former Eldorai government bureaucrat who had been driven from Kaeshana after her patron had been banished on false charges of treason. At first she had been a smuggler, crime lord and a rebel fighting the Matriarchy. But over the decades she legitimised her business empire. Now she headed Nova Bank, an important player in galactic finance.
At first Yohara looked up to the older woman, who had shown an Eldorai could find her place in the stars and even thrive. Varisanthra dealt with the humans as an equal, instead of being subservient to them or haughtily dismissing them. Yohara came to admire her. Varisanthra also introduced her to human scientists and got her access to advanced technologies. This helped Yohara come up with an electronic design for the Eldorai, a smartphone proxy. She also translated several scientific texts into Eldarai.
However, their relationship soured when Yohara tried to persuade Varisanthra to return to Kaeshana with her. The banker insisted that this part of her life was over. She had tried to help modernise Kaeshana and been burnt by both the royalists and the rebels. She had a responsibility to her employees and clients, not the Matriarchy. This caused a huge row between both women, for Yohara saw Varisanthra as walking out on her people. Her mind was exactly what the Eldorai needed to regain their self-respect and walk into the future with their heads held high, no longer shackled by ignorance or tyrants. But Varisanthra was adamant in her refusal.
Angered, Yohara now saw her as selfish and departed, turning down an offer to work at Nova Bank. Hurt, Varisanthra nonetheless introduced her to some people who could help her with her soul stone research. However, their close cooperation was over. While Yohara was away, Eldorai rebels tried to topple the Queen. The rebellion was foiled with the help of Firemane, but Silaqui was assassinated by treasonous bodyguards.
Crown Princess Anya took the throne, assuming the regnal name Tirathana VII. The name was a conservative choice that harkened back to her reactionary mother, but the new queen promised to be a queen for all Eldorai and to lead Kaeshana into the future. Influenced by her long time in exile, the new Queen abolished theocratic persecution, emancipated the Kar'zun and apologised for past crimes of the Monarchy. The old guard was angered, though the Queen promised not to meddle in the affairs of the nobility if they supported her.
At first Yohara was a fan. Tirathana VII aimed to turn the Matriarchy into a modern nation. Time would cool her admiration though. The Queen's ideology was enlightened despotism, not a totalitarian theocracy. However, there was institutional resistance within the Church and the nobility. The Truth Bringers remained a bastion of conservatism. Perhaps because they realised that they would lose their privileges in a modern state.
Yohara became one of the Queen's supporters, but this put her at odds with many in the Conclave. The old guard considered her tainted by her association with the late Caecilia and her time offworld. They did not like the BRT super computer she wanted to introduce to help them sort and maintain the massive amount of data in the archives. She bickered a lot with Horatia, who did her best to marginalise her in the order. "She was jealous of my teacher, and that jealousy transferred to me because, like my teacher, I could think for myself. Especially after I made a computer that was far more effective than her vacuum tube."
Admittedly Yohara's bossy, know-it-all personality did not help her win friends either. Some of the innovations she proposed were introduced because they tallied with the zeitgeist, but it was not enough for her. If the Eldorai had had more time, perhaps the Queen's reforms could have taken root and brought about more profound change. However, time was not something the Eldorai had in abundance. Instead they were hit by a series of calamities.
The first was the Netherworld Event. Trillions of people from across the Galaxy were suddenly raptured and woke up in this cold, bleak realm. Yohara was one of them. Natural laws were turned upside down. The land was bleak, filled with tormented shades and blood rained from the sky. Some spirits offered guidance, many tried to manipulate her. Some shades she encountered took the form of demons or angels from Eldorai mythology.
Yohara almost went mad when she was trapped in what seemed like an endless maze and tormented by malevolent spirits that tried to make her believe she was being punished for her sins. When an entity that pretended to be Ashira tried to manipulate her, she managed to resist and thus stave off a possible possession attempt. She managed to use her intellect to see past the illusions and find her way out. Yohara came to the conclusion that this Netherworld could not be the true afterlife. But she also refused to accept the idea that she was condemned to Illyria's hellish pit. She discovered that not all apparitions were malevolent. Some could be reasoned with and told her much about this strange plane. Maybe she was hallucinating, but she was certain that the spirit of her old teacher appeared to her. She had a long, intellectual conversation with the apparition. The encounter left Yohara certain that Caecilia had been murdered by reactionaries. She eventually managed to leave the Netherworld.
Finding her way back to Kaeshana, she discovered that the planet had gone through a period of turmoil. The government had been able to restore order, but now the Eldorai faced new threats. The Omega Protectorate had collapsed, leaving the planet without a protector. Moreover, Kaeshana was doomed to be devastated by a huge asteroid. It was too big to be destroyed. The Exodus was a traumatic time for all Eldorai. The Matriarchy made a deal with Firemane. With their help, the majority of the Eldorai could be saved and evacuated to Tygara. But some had to be left behind. These unfortunate souls called themselves the Forsaken and had to eke out an existence in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Yohara was one of the fortunate souls who managed to leave the planet, though she had a close call when she was attacked by Ashiran fanatics who believed the asteroid was the Goddess' punishment.
She was deeply troubled by the loss of life and the abandonment of Kaeshana. The policy to prioritise the best and brightest for the evacuation did not agree with her, for she deemed many of them to be the exact opposite. Still, she helped where she could. For a while her talents as a doctor were more needed than her scholarly one. She tended to Eldorai refugees and helped organise vaccinations for Tygaran natives they encountered.
She also became extremely critical of the Matriarchy. In her opinion, the Eldorai had become complacent. Instead of learning to become self-reliant, they were content to become dependent on Firemane. It was Firemane that led negotiations with the Qadiri rulers and was given command of the campaign against the Xioquo. In Yohara's opinion, the Eldorai were becoming a colony due to complacency. She criticised the Crown in an open letter. At the same time, her interest in the soul stones had turned into an obsession. The Netherworld had left its mark on her and she often dreamt of it. Her plan for soul stones on a larger scale, using technology rather than sorcery, went down poorly.
Horatia rallied her supporters against her. Yohara's very public criticism vexed some of her friends in the nobility. In response she delivered a fiery tirade, denouncing the institution she had spent so much time serving. Before she could be stripped of her chain, she broke it and departed. Yohara left Tygara behind her. Firemane was a possible choice of employment, but she wanted to help her people, not serve foreigners.
However, she had not gone unnoticed in the Eldorai exiles community. The Shadow Knights, a group of Eldorai renegades devoted to protecting the Forsaken, decided to headhunt her. This turned out to be quite fortuitous, for Shadow Knight agents saved her from being abducted by Archangel. Yohara agreed to work for them, if she was given freedom to pursue her research. She made it a condition that they help her get revenge on Horatia. "She is still alive now, but braindead. Not that she ever really used her brain for productive endeavours before. It is unfortunate, really. But sometimes to usher in the new the old must be put to rest."
Yohara used her knowledge of cybernetics, robotics and medicine to aid the Shadow Knights. She helped maimed soldiers regain lost limbs by giving them mechanical ones salvaged from broken war droids. Later she was able to give them proper cybernetics. Interaction with the Harbingers of Twilight gave her insights into Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. There was more freedom to pursue unconventional research, but resources were scarce. So a lot of what she needed had to be acquired through raids. She bickered with officers who considered her projects too obscure. Yohara was no soldier, but showed courage during a raid. She was a medic during the Kaeshana Rebellion, where she was injured.
In the aftermath of the failed rebellion, the Shadow Knights formed a nomad fleet. Yohara, who had divided her time between Kaeshana and being offworld, joined it. The Shadow Knights found themselves at war with Archangel, for the machine cult regarded Eldorai exodites as useful processing materiel. The dire threat forced them to ally with Enyo Typhos, a rogue creation of Archangel. The scientist broadly aligned herself with the Blades of Reason, a largely atheistic faction that rejects the monarchy and mysticism in favour of republicanism and scientific development. However, her relationship with them was not a straightforward one. Her designs validated the Rationalists' belief in progress and she was able leverage her influence into being put in charge of the Court of the Mind. But many leading members of the Blades were professional revolutionaries, and she found some of them rather uncouth and ignorant of anything outside of the intrigues of the revolutionary underground. "Of bomb throwing and writing revolutionary pamphlets, they know much. But what of teaching and building? Ah, well, I shall work with what I have." Yohara was in love in with her own voice and poor at sharing the limelight.
Yohara had continued her research on the soul stones. She achieved a breakthrough after the battle with the machine cult. Utilising technology scavenged from Archangel and from the Ssi-Ruuvi, she completed her spirit gems. These used the entechment process to preserve mortally wounded heroes. The spirits inside were not tormented, instead they existed in a grey area between life and death. They could not live in purgatory forever, but she considered the process to be more reliable and safer. The gems could be plugged into vehicles, droids and starships, enabling the trapped souls to interact with the real world and continue their service. Her first 'patients' were a group of Shadow Knight pilots who had suffered near-fatal injuries or been put into a coma. The morality of transferring their souls into the gems was dicey, but she carried out the procedure nonetheless. Thus Banshee Squadron returned to service in unlife. Ironically, their new commander Kytara Valon, had once been an associate of Yohara's former friend Varisanthra.
Her efforts were rewarded with the position of Magister of the Court of Mind, a Shadow Knight organisation for scholars, scientists and so on. Now Yohara strives to turn it into what she thinks the Truth Bringers should have been. She has continued her research on the soul stones. However, she continues to be fascinated by the Netherworld and feels a strong pull to return to it and explore it. Recently she was part of the Shadow Knight expedition to devastated, warp-tainted Kaeshana.
Yohara participated in the Shadow Knight expedition to Kaeshana. The Eldorai rebels had received reports that the planet had suddenly emerged on the other side of the Galaxy and was no longer occupied by the First Order. This sounded crazy, to say the least, but probes had confirmed it. Thus the Shadows decided to dispatch a task force to investigate and look for survivors. The mission was under the command of Kaida Taldir, which annoyed Yohara. The scientist assisted on bringing one of her machines along. When the team arrived in Kaeshana's orbit, they found that the reports were true. However, when they tried to land, a sort of disruption field caused their ship to crash.
Fortunately, they survived, but their ship was grounded. They found themselves in a twisted hellscape. After defending themselves against vicious beasts, they ran into a group of survivors, led by a Dark Eldorai insurgent called Morwen. The survivors understandably held a grudge. Siona was able to communicate with them, and the Shadows learned that Kaeshana had been dragged through the Netherworld. After some awkward negotiations, the two groups decided to team up to escape the planet. Yohara had determined the source of the disruption. On the way the party was assaulted by a horde of Ashiran fanatics, who believed that they could obtain Ashira's forgiveness and enter paradise if they purged the planet of infidels. Yohara was smart enough to take cover, fire her blaster and let the soldiers do the fighting.
After a brief respite, the group ran into the Harrowed, a mixed group of Kar'zun and Eldorai. Like the Harbingers, they were Force Dead, but this was due to the influence of the warp rather than experimentation. Some of them were also more than a little unhinged, such as a self-proclaimed Illyrian prophetess. The newcomers had to prove that they were alive and not mirages or ghosts. Once the Harrowed were satisfied, their leader, a Kar'zun called Brak'Vrasz, agreed to lead the Shadows to the source of the disturbance. It was a so-called anomaly.
They eventually reached the anomaly, where they were confronted by the Sicarii and their suspicious leader Raekana. The Sicarii were a cult of Illyrian assassins. Raekana was their prophetess and a bit of famous figure among Illyrians. Paranoid and suspicious of the newcomers, she was very reluctant to cooperate, especially since the party included former Angelii. Siona Vaerum, a member of the party put her diplomatic talent to good use, urging Raekana that it was time to move out of the darkness.
The anomaly was a curtain of red, a dome of crimson surrounding a darkening void. As Yohara explained, heart was a pure pierce of Nether energy, which should not exist inside the realspace of this galaxy. Therefore, the Force had formed a barrier around it. However, this in turn had caused an opposing barrier of Force null to form. Thus the barrier was composed of three layers, and the party required the three opposite to penetrate through: A Force-User, a Force Dead being and a Non-Force-User. Kaida went through first. She was able to complete her task and activate Yohara's machine, but then was assailed by powerful Nether energies. Her sister Lavina saved, though she lost her Force connection in the process.
While the sisters of ice and fire recovered, Brak'Vrasz and the primeval Eldorai warrior Eyrecae carried on. All those close to the portal received visions of the great battle Kar'zun and Eldorai had fought many centuries ago. Brak'Vrasz became Force-Sensitive, while Eyrecae was turned Force Dead. With the last two layers penetrated, the field had been overcome and the Shadows were able to send ships to evacuate the survivors. After returning to the worldship, Yohara, Kaida and other members of the party were received by the Archon and other senior leaders. Kaida delivered an extremely laconic and Yohara an extremely detailed account of what had transpired. Sadly, the Shadows did not have time to study the Netherworld phenomena further.
The leaders were given a somewhat edited account of what had transpired. This included learning that the Eldorai had not defeated the Kar'zun on their own merits, but enlisted humans and covered it up. After some discussion, the three leaders decided not to cover this up, which would be futile anyway, but they were rightly concerned about it causing unrest. Yohara supported not quasing the truth. However, these revelations also led to violent riots, which had to be suppressed by the gendarms. Yohara remains with the Shadows, diligently continuing her research.
Last edited:
