It's been a while since I've done this, and I guess I am due. It's been even longer since I've logged anything on a computer besides my datapad though and it feels a bit odd and... well... less private. The Sith Stalker is my ship though, and I need to get used to using it as such even if it's usually relegated to a rear guard for our missions. I double checked all of my datapads, and I haven't lost anything of really value. The Stalker already had most of my best security features anyway... so I just need to get comfortable on the computers here for the time being.
Our mission was a success, sort of. Well, really it wasn't. It depends on how you look at it. Our main objective was to go to Altax IV and cause the Taxl monks there to turn on themselves and tear the entire order apart, despite their pacifist beliefs. We succeeded there... pretty well, if you ask me... even if you consider that we had help we didn't ask for or really want. We would have found a way to get it done any way without Vikon. Anyway, we got it done, save for saving Mannix. That detail doesn't really matter in the grand scale of things though.
The other way of looking at it was that the purpose we were given that objective was to walk away with the Monks' Force imbued amulets. In that, we failed completely. I don't even have the smallest idea where to look for the two timing Sith Lord Vikon, who set us up to do the hard work, and then took us down. Oh, Raezyr and I are both recovering fine from the burns he inflicted... but I'm far from over it. When we'd collected all of our amulets as instructed, he struck us from behind like the coward he is.
It's really got me second guessing what I'm doing for the first time in months. I've been so carried up in our plans and our objectives that I really haven't thought about anything behind the actions. The idea is simple enough. Gain power. We learned the Sith way on the run and in a hurry. We read a few tomes, and were instructed over a matter of days before taking off for a risky mission on Coruscant. I call it a mission, but in reality I think it was just our master's idea of fun. He wanted to cause chaos, and that we did. We even justified it later to Dianna and her crew, who has been helping us out and vice versa.
After Coruscant, we had a few tasks we were ordered to by our erratic master, Eiron. The first was to pick up some holocrons on a mysterious planet. It was mysterious, and troubling... but in the end we managed to take control of the old Sith stronghold there, as well as the planet itself, in a manner of speaking. The other task was the one we're leaving now, partially successful. No word from Eiron though, so I'm going to suggest we go on as though he's gone until we hear otherwise.
In between those missions though, it's just been 'Gain Power'. One of the most basic principals of Sith teachings. The goal, really. I've come up with a few ideas for us to move in that direction, and Raezyr and I have kinda worked on those, but mainly have just been trying to build up some financial base. Anya and Tyr are off playing cat and mouse, but with any luck they may have gathered a few leads and maybe some credits as well. Haven't touched base with them since before this last mission.
Beyond the power though, we haven't really concentrated much on what else it means to be a Sith. We've interacted with one of the holocrons extensively, and learned theory and stories from the 'keeper of knowledge' on that holocron, Daxon Var. Eiron never gave us any real teachings though, so it's ages gone teachers... and books.
So I guess Vikon was my first real taste of the other part of the Sith. The first look at deception from that side of the credit chip, and definitely my first look at betrayal. The torture was horrible, but it will pass. Being used like a tool and then tossed aside to die won't pass. Is that the real meaning of Sith, or is it only the case for some brain cases? The teachings certainly assert that it's... acceptable behavior for Sith... but is it commonplace?
I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I boarded that shuttle months ago... what now feels like years. The shuttle taking me to Korriban from my home planet was an accident or a coincidence. You could even call it fate, if you believe in it... which I guess I should at least partially now that I may learn to see into the future.
I didn't know much about the Sith or the Jedi, beyond what holovids I'd manage to bargain, beg or slice off of others. Having no memory of where I'd come from before age 5, when I'd shown up in town on my homeworld, I just wanted answers. I got so frustrated with the lack of answers that I think it was why I acted out and left the town years later. In the forest, I found answers and more questions. More puzzles. A few strange structures I kept to myself, and several artifacts that I never figured out at all... but all that I now recognize as having Sith origins. The same symbols covered them as the one gem I was told I was carrying when I walked into the town originally.
That's probably why I was so comfortable with just going along with whatever happened after that. Lost and starving when the shuttle crashed into Korriban, I found more of the same symbols absolutely everywhere. There had to be answers there... or at least a connection. Without any real option to even return to my 'home'... I took it as it came and I followed the mysterious man I met there. The man I much later learned was actually my brother. I guess I really should look into the fate nonsense.
Raezyr and I left behind a woman for the time being to go on a reckless mission with no clear objectives other than answer seeking, which served me fine. We found little other than a few tools left behind from another Sith we assumed dead at the time. Did he have a hand in our actions even then? I hope not. We invited along another trouble maker we ran into in Tyr... and then I think everyone was just going along with the obvious path from there.
Are any of the others worried now too? Probably not Anya and Tyr... as far as I know, they haven't been electrocuted by a Sith Lord. Raezyr? Maybe... I'm sure he's not happy about how that all ended... but he also has a history of sorts with the Jedi, so the Sith way is natural for him, or he probably thinks so.
The Sith teachings make sense, and I feel connected to them because I grew up around those artifacts. I'm ok with using anger and passion as power, and I'm ok with expending lives to gain power. We've done all of that several times and it's been fine. We're gaining quite a bit of power in the Force really. I love it.
I just don't understand the point of this last mission though. Vikon had been there for years. He cleaned us out when we were done. Raezyr and I... hell... probably just Raezyr... could have walked into that Monastery and simply taken the amulets... even killed all the monks if necessary... which it wouldn't have been. Was the mission so we could learn to manipulate those around us? Instill hate? I guess that would make some sense... but what was Vikon's involvement? Couldn't he have done this on his own? Was it meant as a test for him as well? A punishment? For whom... him or the Taxl? Wait... did Eiron know? What if our own 'master' set us up for death by saber in the back?
That's the trouble I'm having. I have no idea how many more Sith are out there or how powerful they are... or if I can trust any of them beyond Raezyr, Tyr and Anya. Should we as a group continue on the Sith path, just wary of all other Sith, never trusting any of them? Then again, isn't that itself the path of the Sith? Distrust of all the others? I guess it would be.
Is that for us though? Is that how we want to continue on? Maybe we'll never even run into Eiron again, let alone another Sith. Should we keep on practicing the powers of the Sith, and the lessons, but distance ourselves from any other Sith? Go out on our own?
Should I simply continue on as I have, and trust that fate has gotten me this far? Seems like that's the path of least resistance and it's gotten me here. Even if 'here' is 'could have died half a dozen times over'.
I need to keep thinking about this, but if I were wagering, that last option seems likely.
I need to talk to Raezyr.
I need a drink.
This is a different style writing for me... and it's not something I'm sure we'll use very often, but it was interesting to be sure.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a fun way to give a bit of a retrospective as we enter a new chapter (albeit a bit direct and beating over the head) as well as introduce a few thoughts from the character without doing it in conversation, which is limiting (though also very fun to write).
Again, we'll see if it's something we use more of. :D