Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor 
Posts: 749 
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on May 7, 2013 13:21:42 GMT -8
A room know as the "Inner Sanctum" is at the heart of the Temple, and a place forbidden to all but Lord Jud'dayus...There is no visible door from the outside of the Sanctum. It literally looks like any other bricked wall, and seems to only be assessable to Jud'dayus himself.
It has been known to be a place for "The Trials", Ceremonies and other "Rights of Passage" for students of the Temple. But no one who enters can remember what the space inside looks like, once leaving it.
The Sanctum is a large circular space, that is easily large enough to fit a fully grown Rancor in comfortably. It's completely windowless, the only external light from Tatooine's twin suns comes in from a single God's eye in the murky heights of the vaulted ceiling above, which illuminates the center of the highly ornate mosaiced floor below. The walls are just as ornately detailed; if one could see it with the limited flickering candle light, which dances from several alter-like structures strategically places around the vast room. The walls are also home to several tapestries that hang silently with only the limited flickering light to keep them from fading totally into the circular walls, yet it is too dark to make them out completely.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on May 8, 2013 9:01:40 GMT -8
The air in the Sanctum hung heavily with the sent of fragrant oils from lit incense at the edges of the dark room. Their ember-tips the only way of telling where the intoxicating smoke continued to coil from and surround a hooded meditating figure in the center of the circular room. As the figure sat completely still within the miasma of wispy smoke, it seemed to ebb and rotate as if held in a miniature weather system around the seated figure. The vibrant lance of light from the vaulted ceiling streamed in over the hooded form, casting undulating golden hues through the haze of scented smoke.
As if sensing something, the figure looked up removing his hood.
The venerable Sith's hair pooled out to his shoulders, his once chestnut brown locks a silvery peppered gray. His features were gaunt, nearly skeletal. His eyes, two dark orbs sunk slightly into his head; a single glint of red only giving a slightest hint that he had pupils at all.
"...Why do they disturb me?" Rasped the Sith, his voice hoarse with disuse. "They shouldn't be here." Jud finished, before getting to his feet and making his way towards the Main Gates.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 7, 2013 22:09:36 GMT -8
The air in the Sanctum hung heavily with the sent of fragrant oils from lit incense at the edges of the dark room. Their ember-tips the only way of telling where the intoxicating smoke continued to coil from and surround a hooded meditating figure in the center of the circular room. As the figure sat completely still within the miasma of wispy smoke, it seemed to ebb and rotate as if held in a miniature weather system around the seated figure. The vibrant lance of light from the vaulted ceiling streamed in over the hooded form, casting undulating golden hues through the haze of scented smoke.
As if sensing something, the figure stirred slightly, causing the circling streams of laced smoke to erratically move away in jagged lines towards the shadows.
"So..." The figure began. "Some have survived." Was all the figure uttered before becoming still again. The wisps of incense smoke returning to its dancing coiled spirals.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 9, 2013 9:22:07 GMT -8
The figure's head lulled back and forth, as if disagreeing with an unknown person.
"No, I haven't changed any of the codes..." The figure's head cocked to one side. "Why? Because there was never a need to. I trust those who have been given the privilege of being allowed into this place." The figure shook his head again before pointing a skeletal finger towards the dark recesses of the room. "Don't think that I haven't wondered... I have, but it has been decades since the New Force Alliance." The figure let out a huff. "If it really is him. I see no reason to suspect Itachi to cause trouble."
The figure's head snapped abruptly towards the back of the chamber. "Yes, I know. She's confronting him now." The figure laughed at the darkness. "No, I'm going to let her continue. She needs to know some history..."
After some time the figure raised his head towards the God's eye, the light from the eye highlighting the profile of a face. The figure's lips moved, but nothing audible came from them.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 10, 2013 18:34:19 GMT -8
The figure lifted a skeletal hand and in the dark recesses of the chamber a door opened, casting a small amount of ambient light into the dark room.
"Itachi..." Came the measured voice from a seated cloaked figure in the middle of the mosaiced floor. "It has been a very long time since we've crossed paths." The figure continued in the same measured tone, before turning its hooded head in the direction where Carmine would have to enter the Sanctum.
"What brings you to my house?" Asked the figure, not moving from its seated position.
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X
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Post by X on Aug 10, 2013 19:13:31 GMT -8
Carmine passed through the portal without so much as a glance or a word to the woman standing before it, his attention was focused on what lay on the other side. Stepping through, the young-looking Sith immediately took note of his new surroundings. The smell of incense permeated the air and what little bit of architecture he could make out in the dim room was quite ornate. However, what really caught his attention was the darkness of the room, as well as the wisps of smoke that lazily drifted throughout the chamber. It painted the space with a sort of dark and mysterious tone....something which in his opinion at least, suited Jud perfectly. Bringing his attention now to the cloaked figure in the center of the room, Carmine stepped forward into the light, his robe swaying behind him as he walked. He stopped just a few feet in front of the seated figure and gave a slight bow, though whether the intent of which was to be courteous or sarcastic will be probably never be known. Standing back up, Carmine smiled politely and spoke.
"Indeed it has! Hmm, well over a decade if I had to take a guess. As for my reason for being here, well to put it simply, I wanted to see if you were still alive. You see, I found myself sitting alone back in my little hideaway one day and thought to myself, 'Where the devil have all of my dear old allies gone??' I must say, I expected SOMEONE to come looking for me, but it never happened. I was quite put off I tell you! So I decided to leave in search of all of you, and where better to start than here?"
Carmine's smile did not fade, instead and he found himself looking at the room's architecture yet again as he eagerly awaited the old man's response.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 11, 2013 18:46:01 GMT -8
Jud didn't rise to meet Itachi, instead he stayed in his meditative seated position, and raised a skeletal hand to motion Xxoxia away from the Sanctum door and closer towards the two men; the exit closed behind her with a slight hiss of air. Extinguishing any external light, and bringing the Sanctum's interior back to it's solitary darkness. The chamber's atmosphere was completely unnatural, and Jud'dayus felt Itachi's curiosity. His erstwhile Allie had never been privy to this place. He knew the Temple grounds, but this place - never. The Old Sith continued to feel the perplexing amount of thoughts ghosting through Itachi, as he rounded on Jud.
Jud raised his head to acknowledge Itachi, his face still completely obscured by his hood. "You look well..." Was all Jud said to the young man in front of him.
A smirk crossed the venerable Sith's face as Itachi started to speak. He spoke of Allies and his expectations of what that word held for him, and how he had excepted everyone he had known from the New Force Alliance to play to his whims. It was a nice sentiment - thinking that the dead could come to his aid - It almost made Jud laugh aloud, the audacity that Itachi had just exhibited. Thinking that everyone should have gone off to coddle him as he sulked in a dark hole.
"It has been nearly two decades, Itachi... and I am well, as you can see." Jud said evenly as Xxoxia came to stand at her Master's side; juxtaposed to Itachi. "No one came looking because you disappeared; like the others. There wasn't a point to look for another ghost. That's all that our group's become. whispers in time on this planet. Our importance folded with the end of the original Temple's purpose, and the destruction of the Sith Consortium." Jud continued in the same even tone, wondering if the time underground had addled Itachi's memory, or if it was just a coping mechanism. One to deal with that fact that all the people that he knew had been wiped clean from the annuls of history. That only two beings in this chamber were privy to the truth of the stories and legends that were now passed around Tatooine - from city, to moister farm, to city - about the Battle for Tatooine, the Mos Eisley Massacre, or the Battle of the Dune Sea. The actual facts of those events were known now to him and Jud only. Everyone else that had been there, who had fought and lived; were now gone.
They were alone...Two relics of a forgotten age. Maybe it was for the best that they had both stayed in their own little worlds, finding solace in their own way. Jud spent these years searching, searching for where he went wrong. He could only guess at what Itachi had been doing, and form the sounds of it; he hadn't been doing much more but biding his time in the dark.
Jud sighed and started to rise from his seated position; Xxoxia allowed her Master a hand for support.
"Besides finding an excuse to get out of your hole, Itachi." Jud said with little sympathy in his aged voice. "What are you really here for, and I know it's not to chat..." Jud pointed an accusatory finger towards Itachi's chest. "Now, spit it out. Even my learner knows not to disturb me while I'm in here."
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X
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Post by X on Aug 11, 2013 20:19:39 GMT -8
Carmine briefly watched as the woman from earlier strode into the room, returning his attention to the old man as he spoke. It seemed that Jud'dayus still had a knack for seeing through his sarcasm. Carmine chuckled for a moment, the old man was giving off something of an unsympathetic vibe, perhaps he wasn't happy to see him? Whatever it was, it didn't matter. Carmine gave the hooded figure a smile and started to pace a bit as he began to speak.
"Yes, well a bit of cryo-stasis here and a bit of transferring one's wretched soul into a cloned body there tend to do that for a person." Carmine laughed."But wow! Two decades you say? I must have lost track of time. I'll get to the point though, I realized a very long time ago that no one was coming, I decided that everyone must have either died or gone into seclusion. It seems that so far I've proven myself right. But I'm tired of living in the shadows, it's time to make my presence known again. I don't know what you or the others plan on doing, and in truth I don't really care. I need information, and that is why I came here. I need to know the status of the planet, who's in charge and all that. Hmm, and perhaps a suggestion while I'm at it, I need to know what sort of things I should do to get people's attention again." He chuckled again. "You were always on top of these things weren't you?"
Carmine stopped pacing, his intentions were now made known. Something that in previous days would have been unusual for him, but things were different now, he had become impatient. He felt that now was the time to carry out this plan of his and that if he didn't, then he would never have another chance at doing so. He would have to allow himself to fade into the backwaters of passing time, the thought of which was completely unnerving. Carmine looked up into the haze that was ceiling, focusing his sight on the light shining into the room. This place was seemed symbolic for him, it represented his attempt to rise from the darkness of obscurity back into the light of the world above. Carmine would achieve this goal, he had to.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 12, 2013 12:02:54 GMT -8
"I see..." Jud said in a contemplative tone, which summed up his growing disinterest with Itachi's new demeanor. "Let me bring you up to speed then, or as best as I can. I have been away myself for many years." As Jud spoke the chamber seemed to lighten slightly, the coiling smoke dissipating into the eaves in the darkness that still clung to the Sanctums walls; like a hovering sentient mass.
"The PI was destroyed from within, and the remnants that stayed on this planet were hunted down by the Mandalorians soon after, under the orders of their leader, Kaine. The Mandalorian occupation was short-lived as well. When I returned from my travels they had gone, and the planet had been returned to its former state. The black markets and smuggles were in charge again." Jud started to pace around Itachi, his apprentice keeping in step with him. Her dark eyes never leaving Itachi's. "I returned to this Temple, finding it abandoned...There was no trace of Enam, or any other. So I left it a tomb to the past." Jud's pacing stopped directly in front of Itachi, his hooded face stared at the man for a long while, before he nodded to himself. As if he was agreeing with someone, before resuming his pacing.
"If you truly want an adventure, Itachi. I have one that might interest you." Jud lifted a hand and from the shadows came a glimmer. within seconds a crystal almost the size of a fist was clenched in the Old Sith's hand. It ebbed slightly at Jud's touch, its amber color illuminating Jud's skeletal fingers. "This crystal is very important to me, and I have just found another of it's sisters." Jud released the crystal and it hovered in front of him, its ebbing ceased and became dim. "I was going to send Xxoxia out alone to retrieve it... as a test." Jud said before looking to his learner, who bowed her head low in respect for having been picked to do something for her Master. "But having you here has given me another solution."
Jud's hands finally took down his hood, revealing his corpse-like features. A maniacal grin crossed the Sith's gaunt face as he continued to calculate all the possibilities before him. "You will go with my learner, and you will ensure that I get what I want." Jud said matter o' factly to Itachi. It was more of a command than a question if Itachi would accept. Jud knew he would, he was intrigued, and the Old Sith was playing on the fact that Itachi's curiosity would win over his more cautious nature.
"So, Itachi... what say you?" Jud's single eye glinted a ruby red.
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X
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Post by X on Aug 12, 2013 21:22:28 GMT -8
Carmine watched as both the old man and his apprentice paced around the chamber. He listened as Jud'dayus talked of how the Phoenix Imperium crumbled and how Mandalorians briefly took power. However, when the robed figure mentioned Enam, Carmine started to lose focus for a moment. It would seem that his old friend had disappeared yet again, it wasn't surprising however, he was good at that. He figured that he more less became bored on this lifeless shell of a world and decided to pursue more interested things. After pondering this for but a moment more, Carmine started listening again just as Jud began to mention the crystal. His eyes lowered to the object clenched in the old man's hand, studying it carefully. There was something...off about the thing, something dangerous, something fascinating. As Carmine brought his eyes back to the Jud's, the old man had just started to mention how he wished for him to accompany his apprentice while she retrieved another of these objects. Carmine gave a bitter smile. What had he become? Some sort of errand boy? Still, for the old man to want these things so badly they must be important, and this would be an ideal opportunity to find out just what that importance was. As Jud began to finish speaking, Carmine started to pace for a bit, making it seem as if he had to think the proposal over. He suddenly stopped, facing opposite of robed man and his apprentice. He then looked over his shoulder and began to speak, not mentioning anything other than the old man's proposal.
"This seems like a somewhat menial task, but I suppose I do need to get a feel for the land again. With that in mind I except your offer, but I hope your apprentice can handle herself, I don't intend to play babysitter if we find trouble."
Carmine swept is hair out of his face before turning around to meet Jud'dayus with something of a serious expression.
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Xxoxia Valuna
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The rouge Errant.
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Post by Xxoxia Valuna on Aug 13, 2013 18:11:25 GMT -8
Xxoxia had stood silently beside her Master, her eyes never leaving the man Itachi. Not for a second. She didn't trust him, and she wondered why her Master seemed to be rather cordial to him; even with the arrogant air about him. She'd never seen Jud'dayus carry on a conversation like this, and that made the young woman wonder just how close had they been? What had she missed? What had her Master not told her?
She smirked slightly, knowing her Master had many things that he'd keep secret, and even more he'd never disclose to her. This must have been something that her Master had never foreseen happening, he seemed slightly surprised, yet grateful to have the man here.
Xxoxia looked to her Master as he brought up that he was going to send her out on a mission. She hadn't known anything of this and knew that that was her Masters' way... He always tested her, and she always passed. Xia bowed her head and silently thanked Jud'dayus her saving her, for making her stronger. He was a slave-driver, and a merciless Master, yet he was more akin to a Father now. A wise, even loving, Father.
Then her Master spoke again...
"Master?" Xxoxia said slowly, almost at a whisper as she looked up immediately.
A look of utter shock took control of Xia's face, as she tried to reason why her Master would slight her so. Why - why would he reconsider sending her alone? Why would he even conceive allowing that arrogant prick to even come along on a mission of such importance? Before Xia was able to open her mouth Itachi had answered her Master.
The rage flared, and without knowing it Xxoxia had drawn and ignited a single saber. "You fugging arrogant bastard!" The woman roared, the sound of her enraged voice echoing off the chamber, as she propelled herself forward. her saber spearing out at waist level.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 13, 2013 18:44:46 GMT -8
Jud's hand opened into a grasping claw before darting down towards Xxoxia's spearing saber, his palm meeting the red blade's tip with pin-point accuracy. Instead of poking a neatly seared hole through the ancient Sith's hand. The blade disappeared into his palm as his fingers tightened around it without harm. The saber shrieked before bubbling with acrid smoke, the plasma enveloped Jud's hand for a split second with a white light of hot plasma, before it returned to the vivid red of a blade; held within his hand seemingly unscathed. Jud's skeletal face turned slowly towards his learner, his hand continued to clench the saber's blade, bringing it up parallel between the two as he turned.
"Master... I..." Xxoxia choked out as she stepped back from her Master. His hold on her saber kept her in place. "I meant no insult to you!" She said shrilly.
"Are you done?" Jud said softly, his single red eye glaring at his learner. "Or do I have to teach you a lesson in manners in front of an honored guest?" The Old Sith's voice was stern, yet mellow... but Xxoxia's face showed the fear that lay beneath her cowering exterior. She knew what he was capable of, and Jud knew she didn't want to be seen in that position.
"Yes..." Xxoxia said. "I will do as you see fit, Master."
Jud released his learner's saber and turned back to Itachi.
"As you see, she has a fire in her that won't be snuffed out... and I like that." Jud smiled at Itachi, he knew the man was an exceptional saber duelist, but he also knew that he had taught Xxoxia everything she knew. If worse came to worse... Jud chuckled at the thought, Itachi wasn't insane enough to double cross him. He knew that if Jud ever found out that he'd been played, that there wouldn't be a place in the Galaxy for which to hide.
"I'm glad you have accepted. Let us walk and talk..." Jud said as he turned and waved his hand. The exit to the Sanctum opening as he did so.
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X
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Post by X on Aug 14, 2013 13:00:00 GMT -8
After he finished speaking, Carmine's attention was immediately brought to Jud's apprentice as she began her violent outburst. Not appearing even the slightest bit shaken, he only looked at her and smiled as she charged toward him. However, before he could react (if he was even going to ), the old man stepped in and effectively stopped the now enraged young woman. Carmine shifted his stance a bit and became lost in thought, not paying much attention to the conversation between Jud and the girl. Did she really think she could take him? Charging in blindly, common sense clouded by emotion. She would've been dead in a heartbeat had the old man not intervened, it appeared that Jud'dayus still had much to teach the girl. Carmine brought his focus back to the two in front of him just as Jud began to finish speaking about the girl having an inextinguishable fire. As the old man opened the the Sanctum's exit and spoke, Carmine gave him a nod and began to speak briefly as he made his way out.
"Very well, but in regards to your apprentice, let us hope that her 'fire' isn't what gets her killed."
As he finished speaking, Carmine gave a slight smile and exited the Sanctum.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 27, 2013 10:12:12 GMT -8
Jud had retired back to his Sanctum, leaving Xxoxia and Itachi to their task. He took a meditative seat on the tiled floor and bowed his head, before it snapped up abruptly. "How...?" Said the Old Sith, his voice wavering slightly.
Jud turned in his seated position and looked towards the direction of the exit to his private quarters. "First Itachi, now him?" Jud asked the shadows, a sly grin crossing his face. "The plot thickens..."
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Post by Darth Tempestuous on Aug 28, 2013 8:22:42 GMT -8
Not long after leaving the droids attending him in the corridor, Enam stopped in front of a wall that seemed to block his way. While inhaling, he closed his eyes attempting to gather himself before continuing on. While exhaling slowly, Enam opened his eyes as the doorway opened up before him. His guard was up, not knowing what to expect from the devilish old man waiting inside after years of separation. A few steps in, the door closes behind him.
The dark room was still as haunting as he remembered, blanketed in shadows with dancing candle light festively flickering within. He looked around without a word, cautiously keeping himself still while his eyes adjusted and searching for the man that resided within.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 28, 2013 9:26:01 GMT -8
"The prodigal son returns..." Came the Old Sith's voice. The center of the room illuminating in a new vibrant glow from the God's eye above. Jud stood facing Enam, his cloaked and hooded form only a silhouette in the stream of light from up above.
"You have many questions." Jud said without missing a beat. "... And I have some of my own." Jud stepped forward and bowed to Enam, then motioned towards his right, with a skeletal hand; where two chairs stood. "Now, please. Take a seat, and quell you rage for me... at least until you've heard the whole story." Jud moved the short distance towards the chairs, taking a seat in the one furthest from Enam.
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Post by Darth Tempestuous on Aug 28, 2013 19:26:06 GMT -8
Enam's eyes never went off of Jud'dayus for a moment once he was in view. Even when the old man pointed out the chairs for the two to use, he only spared his peripherals to see where they stood in the room. Watching the old Sith sit down first, Enam only took three steps into the sanctum before drawing the seat closest to him to where he stood. He turned the chair around to have it's back facing Jud'dayus before slowly sitting down, placing his left arm onto the top of the chair and drawing a non-active saber with his right hand. The dust on the tiled floor lightly lifted up away from Enam from the power he wasn't restraining, and he had kept his guard up despite his urge to outright assault the old Sith verbally.
"It's funny, I had the feeling you'd still be standing among us... of course I'd be right about that much. Though, prodigal son, huh" Narrowed his eyes a bit. "Strange choice of words in my opinion." Having breathed in a couple times silently, he spoke up again. "So, where to begin telling stories... oh, what's going on with the Temple being in the sorry state it's in right now? Or, what about this bit of news I've heard, the one about Gywren being declared deceased?" His index finger taps the top of the chair as he spoke. "Seems as good of places as any to start this story of yours."
Enam attentively listened for Jud'dayus to start.
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 28, 2013 21:28:46 GMT -8
"It is funny, isn't it?" Jud said genuinely, without the slightest hint of sarcasm or boyish wit. "I live on while all those around me die..." Jud's hooded head looked up towards Enam, the Sith's single red eye a smoldering ember in the utter darkness of his Force veil. "I feared you dead as well. I..." The Sith started, before he nodded his head to something unheard. "I'm glad to see that I was wrong, and that is why I have gone so far as to call you a son." Jud's skeletal hands clasped together and rested on the Sith's chest as he reclined further into the chair. "You're the closest thing to family I have... as sick as that may sound."
It was sick, utter sickness. He'd beaten Enam to within an inch of his life several times, and rebuked him even more than that, yet the feeling of kinship burned in his hollow heart. It was the same feeling he had when he raised Sylvis and Gyrwen. Jud bowed his head at the thought of them, and a long dead emotion started to surface. It welled up inside Jud. The loss, the regret, the absolute emptiness of his existence... It took considerable strength for Jud to fight the person he was down. No doubt Enam was able to see his former Master racked with slight spasms as he held on to control his battling ideologies.
"The Temple is no longer a Temple, it has become a tomb, a monument to the dead." Jud's voice was cold, distant, absent of any positive feeling. It literally conveyed emptiness, loss, hopelessness. All things that Enam had never seen or heard from the Old Sith, ever. "I maintain only the Sanctum and the gardens for myself and my errant. The rest is to be reclaimed by the dunes, just as I will be reclaimed by the Force..." Jud's hooded head looked up again to Enam. "Someday."
"Gywren..." Jud breathed out in a sigh more than actually saying the name. The timber of his voice wavered, almost cracking. Was the Old Sith about to cry? "He died eighteen years ago, along with his sister..." Jud paused, his body physically seeming to wither more into the chair in which he sat. "They both died in front of my eye." Jud's hands came up in a pleading manner. "And there was nothing I was able to do. Nothing! I was powerless, useless, completely useless-" Jud's head went into his hands, and an anguished cry came from the Sith. One that Enam had never heard uttered from the stern man. It was a moan of suffering, of shear suffering. "They were used as bait, as trinkets." Jud said into his hands, before righting himself up to look at Enam again. "He used them to get to me. They were sacrificed to his ambitions and for my sins... He was too powerful, but his reign came to an end... shortly." Jud's eye flickered. It was a small victory, knowing that the Emperor had been crushed under his own ambitions... but it would never allow him his children again, and the weight of that was worn heavily on the Old Sith's shoulders.
Jud searched himself and the man before him. He had one left, only one. A smile crept over Jud's face even though he still ached over Syl and Gy's deaths. Out of all his learners he knew Enam was the strongest, but he had never guessed that his most troubled student would be his last living link to his recent past. Jud sighed.
"...Anymore questions, Enam?"
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Post by Darth Tempestuous on Aug 29, 2013 20:19:47 GMT -8
Jud'dayus' story had gotten to Enam, leaving him in disbelief more than anything. The very man that he had clashed with for years, who seemed to always hold the key to any answer needed to accomplish anything, was left sitting there in a chair bitterly reciting his traumas that left him in the sorriest state the Sith has ever seen. He tried to come to terms with what was said, but the thought of losing Gywren, a man that was trained nearly side by side with him for years facing many hardships together, to the hands of some overly ambitious Sith Lord was not something that seemed feasible. There was only ever one duel he rememebered where he proved himself better than Gywren, and even then it was because of a cheap trick the brute used against the technique-heavy fighter. It was a terrible feeling, now knowing he's lost the closest thing to a brother he had that long ago, when he would look forward to having drinks with him as little as a few weeks back.
Sylvis Amara's name evoked another deep tug in his chest. The Jedi-raised woman that had shown mercy to Enam more than once since their first encounter, a soul that healed him when injured, ignored his broken demeanor and still embracing what little sanity that he clung to up to the last day they've seen each other... now gone, never to be seen by him again. A sister he was indebted to protect in kind, for doing so on his account in the early years upon meeting the old Sith that was sitting in front of him. She was now only a memory, just like her brother that suffered through so much together. Now the two are together again in the vastness of the Force itself.
Enam, now bearing red eyes himself from the emotional weight thrust on him, looked at Jud'dayus with malice seething from his form. "... I've too many questions to ask." He gritted his teeth as his lips tightened shut, fighting himself from lunging forward at the old man with his saber active. The dust on the floor kicked up more as he spoke up again. "Like who was the one responsible for ending their lives? How could you have let them end up in the mercy of their killer?" Inhales sharply as his left hand gripped the top of the chair, slowly crushing it to splinters in his hand. "OR WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND, WOULD EXPECT ME TO CALMLY SIT HERE, AND ACCEPT ANY OF WHAT YOU JUST SAID?!"
The sanctum walls echoed Enam's scream, eventually leaving the two men sitting still in the silence. Enam slowly loosened his grip on the chair, letting bits of it fall to the floor that was now clean of the dust that was there before, and wiping the excess on his hands off on his cloak with the sweat that had built up in his palms. Still breathing heavily, after a couple minutes passed, he spoke again. "So long as the one responsible for their deaths is dead and gone, I've nothing more to say on the matter. There's nothing I can do after the fact, is there?" Twirls his light saber once in his right hand. "I wasn't around then to have made a difference."
His head now lowered slightly from the grief settling in from the news, though still with his eyes trained on Jud'dayus, Enam addressed the old Sith again. "Whatever questions you have of me, ask them now old man."
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Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase
Retired High Councilor
Posts: 749
Affiliation: To only a meager few, his motives are his own.
Traffic Light: Yellow
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Post by Lord Jud'dayus: The Debase on Aug 29, 2013 23:29:39 GMT -8
"I actually never expected you to sit." Jud said truthfully, not reacting to Enam's display of rage or raising his voice above what Enam knew to be his mentor voice... his Fatherly voice. "You have changed, yet the anger remains...but." Jud leaned forward slightly. "You have learned to control it. You finally have become the learner I foresaw; strong minded, powerful..." Jud leaned back again into the chair. "Patient..." The Old Sith was silent for a time, as if gathering his thoughts to what Enam had asked.
"The man responsible was only known as "The Emperor"..." Jud had steepled his hands again. "I've known many Emperors... But he reminded me of the original Emperor, the one who brought war to the Galaxy in 3,681 BBY." Jud let the information sink in slightly before continuing. "He claimed that he knew me, that he was once my learner." Jud thought back to his humiliation, to Gywren sacrificing himself for Jud'dayus, to Sylvis' dead body falling to the floor of the archives, to his rage, his hate... but it didn't help. None of his training or power could touch the man called the Emperor. Jud snapped out of his thoughts, seeing Enam patiently awaiting him to continue. "He gave them no mercy..." Jud said with a venomous hiss. "Syl had been captured and tortured to within an inch of her life. Gy rendezvoused with me on Korriban, in the ruins of the old academy." Jud took a breath. "We knew it was a trap, but it was SYLVIS! How could we not?" Jud shook his head. "We fought our way down to the archives, into the belly of the beast, and came face to face with the Emperor." Jud's voice took on the tone of a growling nexu, the rage came from the Old Sith like waves of static as he remember the conflict. "He had her..." Jud's teeth grit. "He had her strung up naked, like some trophy kill." The demeaning memory caused the Sith to close his eye."We both lost it, we both went into a rage, and we killed every guard he had with him. He laughed, he just reveled in all the slaughter, in our pain." The atmosphere in the sanctum became turbulent as it had before when Enam had enabled the room to show him his past in vivid detail.
Enam was transported. The smell of ancient paper, the dankness of a tomb, and the thrumming pressure of extreme hate pushed on his skull. He was in the archives, looking at a scene of absolute destruction, and at the center stood two dark figures. One's curly blond hair fluttered around his head by an unseen force, the others cloak whipped back and forth like the frenzied tail of a enraged nexu. Gywren and Jud'dayus stood amid a field of dead, their sabers held in trembling hands, as more servants of the Emperor hurried themselves into the fray... and behind the masses of fanatical followers was a sight Enam wasn't ready for. The nude, battered form of Sylvis hung limp on a makeshift trophy stand before a terraced set of steps that ended into a high-backed throne. The throne had one occupant, a hooded specter that sat calmly, watching everything unfold below him.
With Sylvis in sight Jud and Gy erupted into motion, loosing a battle cry that echoed off the walls with deafening fury. Both seemed to be super human, advancing on the mass of saber toting fanatics with a zeal Enam had only seen when Jud fought Apocalypse all those decades ago on Tatooine. The seated figure made a motion with his hand and an equally loud cry came from his followers as they fell in to engage the two men. Jud and Gy seemed to ignore this completely, as the rage almost became visible around both men; as if they were glowing with the fire of hate inside them. They were outnumbered at least 4:1, but the Emperor's servants fell like wheat before a thresher. There was no respite, no remorse, no quarter, and no way of retreat. Gywren and Jud'dayus danced around each other - like a well choreographed ballet - It was more than amazing, it was basically impossible. They never collided or slipped on the gore soaked floor. They glided and spun around one another; as if connected in their hatred. The dance of death was mesmerizing to watch, and to behold the effect on both men, on their hatred and their rage was more than beautiful... It was a masterpiece of true devotion. Enam never understood why Jud'dayus took in the siblings, or how they didn't seem to view Jud'dayus in the same way Enam did, but in that moment it seemed to come into sharp focus. Jud had loved them... He had truly loved them. Enam's attention shifted back to the present. Jud and Gy stood panting in front of Sylvis, their clothes tattered and singed, their bodies shaking with rage and adrenaline. The scene behind them was nothing less than a carnal house. Heads, lost limbs, and bisected bodies lay everywhere. No one had been left alive, it was now a garden of corpses. With the servants dispatched Jud turned his attentions to the cloaked figure on the throne before him, as Gywren quickly went to his sister, untying her nearly unconscious form and taking her down to the floor carefully, with the ease of a father caring for a child. The emotions were palpable, creeping into Enam as if he were there. There was so much pain, too much pain. It was crippling almost to the point of being able to drive one mad with sorrow and hate.
"Syl...Sylvis, can you hear me?" Jud asked tenderly as he unclasped his cloak and draped it over her bruised naked body. Gy's face turned into a deep scowl as he held his sister close, tears started to trickle down his angelic face. Sylvis didn't answer, she continued to shiver and mumble under her breath as the heavy cloak was placed over her. Jud made a face of both anger and loss as he got to his feet again and stared at the figure who still sat idly in his throne. Enam felt the Force tense, as if it were being contracted like a giant spring waiting to be let go.
Jud's jaw clenched and his hands did as well around his ignited sabers as he started towards the steps.
"Yes, yes... Such anger, such delicious hate for me." The voice came across to Jud as the figure rose to his feet, igniting his crimson saber and pointing it at Jud as he climbed the stairs. "Now, bow to your Emperor."
"I'm going to have you beg for your life, you impudent Fug!" Jud roared as he cleared the remaining stairs in the blink of an eye, locking sabers with the Emperor for a brief second before he was tossed like a cork from the top of the steps, falling hard onto the tiled floor of the Archives.
"Father!" Gywren bellowed, as he watched Jud'dayus impact against the floor with a sickening thud and skid to a stop before a pile of the dead.
"Oh no, no no no, this attitude won't do." Said the Emperor walking slowly down the steps towards the two, as Jud picked himself off the floor. "Bow to your Emperor, Jud'dayus..."
"I bow to no one." Jud said as he righted himself up, feeling the tell tale signs of broken ribs as he straightened up. "Especially to a corpse." Jud finished as he clapped his hands together and gave a satisfied smirk as he watched the area around the cloaked figure engulf him in a pancaking Force crush. "Bow to m-" Jud started, but was lost along with his smile as the cloaked figure of the Emperor burst from the debris unharmed, sending tile and rocks in every direction. The Emperor just shook off the last of what had clung to his cloak before making a motion with is own hand has he continued towards Jud.
The pain that gripped Jud's body was beyond anything he had ever felt, and though he tried not to scream he found that he was. Jud was screaming in absolute agony as the blood in his veins started to forcefully seep from his pours. His vision blurred as blood pooled from his tear ducts and the amount of excruciating pain. The Sith was lifted off his feet as the blood started to trickle from his orifices towards his booted feet and finally to the tiled floor below.
It was a shock to the system, feeling the pain that Jud'dayus was feeling, or more correctly how he felt.
"Oh no, don't blackout on me now... old friend. I haven't told you what I really think." Came the Emperor's voice in the sick tone of someone that really didn't want him to pass out from the pain.
At that exact moment Gywren leapt in from the side, leaving his sister propped against the rack on which she had been hung. "I'm going to fugging kill you!" He screamed as he used both of his sabers to slash at the Emperor with unbridled aggression. It was like watching a film that you already knew the end of. Enam knew the outcome, he knew Gy never survived this encounter, and with the growing pressure around him, he knew deep down that these were some of Gywren's last moments.
The Emperor dodged the first strikes just by moving around them, his body seeming to phase around the saber blades as if he were actually dematerializing and rematerializing as the strikes came. This whole time he still maintained a hold on Jud'dayus, as he called his single saber to his right hand and started to parry and fight back. It was obvious that even with two sabers Gywren was starting to lose. He was being beaten back, outmatched... and then it happened. The Emperor feinted low, and Gy's sabers came down in a crossing fashion to block the strike. Their saber's met, but as they did, the Emperor's blade blinked out passing through Gy's guard. There was no time to react, and Gy's gawking face made the Emperor laugh as he reignited his saber's blade, running a clean line from Gywren's belly button and up through his head.
Jud gurgled blood in protest as Gy's bisected body flopped to the tiled floor. The Emperor just shrugged and turned back to Jud'dayus. "You don't make them like you used to, huh?" Enam could feel the turmoil in Jud, as he just watched his son die in a most horrible way.
"You're weak Old Man... You've allowed yourself to become WEAK!" The Emperor emphasized every syllable which translated to a punctuation in pain for Jud. "When I learned that you still drew-breath, I was taken back by nostalgia. Thinking that you were the great Jud'dayus, the terrible Debased!" The Emperor pulled Jud to him through the Force, so that the two were face to hooded face. "But look at you. LOOK! A simpering, sentimental Old Man!" The Emperor sighed as he tossed Jud away and next to the still warm corpse of Gywren; like he meant nothing. "Your weakling child put up a pointless fight for you... how touching." Jud grimaced in pain and sorrow as he turned from the corpse of his son. The Emperor turned away from the battered Old Sith and to Sylvis; who was still nestled against the rack. "You harbor such feelings for..." The Emperor stopped, but Enam could feel the seething bitterness behind the hooded face. "For this weakling, and in doing so you've become weak yourself." The Emperor lifted a hand and Sylvis shrieked as she was pulled up from the floor and stretched as if she were on the rack again.
"No.. Not Syl-." Jud barely could rasp the words out of his clotting mouth, as he lay on the floor bleeding profusely. He couldn't stand, he couldn't fight. For the first time Enam felt a wave of terror gripping his heart as he watched Jud acknowledge what would come next. Enam could feel Jud'dayus willing his body to get up, to somehow intervene, but his muscles protested and stung as he clawed at the tiled floor towards the Emperor. "No. you. can't..."
"It's for your own good." The Emperor said in the measured tone of a mentor. "You said that to me a long time ago... and you were right. I didn't believe it then, but you were right. You were always right." There was a measure of respect again in the Emperor's voice. "...and that is why I need the Debase back. I need your Council for what I have planned."
Before Jud could reply the Emperor had reignited his crimson saber and leveled it at Sylvis' heart. There was little if any consciousness left in the woman, her body battered and bruised from days of captivity. Enam didn't know if she was even aware of the situation, he didn't even know if he was truly aware of the situation. The Emperor talked to Jud like they had already met...but how? As Enam felt all of this he saw Jud's body picked up off the floor and swiveled to face Sylvis and the Emperor's blade.
"Sylvis?" Jud murmured as he made eye contact with his daughter.
She didn't speak. All Enam could make out was her mouthing: I'm Sorry. Before the Emperor brought his saber back and thrust it into her chest. Jud's eye widened in disbelief and shear terror as the murder of his daughter was carried out infront of him. Enam could feel it again, he could feel Jud's will screaming to be let loose. He wanted to fight, to use his bare hands to kill the Emperor, but he couldn't. He wasn't able to rid himself of the Emperor's touch. He wanted to cry but couldn't, the tears wouldn't come. "You fugging...." Was all Jud could manage to rasp, as he hung his head in shame and anger. The multitude of feelings that were running through him made Enam sick to his stomach. Sylvis' body collapsed to the floor before it quickly disappeared - becoming one with the Force.
The Emperor placed his hand softly on Jud's head. "Now you're free. Your chains have been broken." The voice of the Emperor said softly, with the tenderness of a Father. "Take up your rightful position of Grand Kissai... it has always been yours, you just needed to see that your path had become blocked, blocked by those weaker than you." The Emperor released Jud from his immobilization hold and lowered the Venerable Sith to the ground in front of him. "Will you Take up the Kissai role under me, Jud'dayus?"
Jud sucked in a lung full of air and steadied himself on one knee, his head still lowered to the Emperor. "I will do as you wish...my Lord." Jud said somberly. He had been beaten, bested and ruined. There was nothing left for him outside the darkness of the Archives. He had lost the last of his worldly ties. He was nothing, the Emperor had just proven that. "I am your humble adviser and warrior." Jud finished, never raising his head to look upon the man who had just devastated his world.
"Good, good..." The Emperor purred as he ascended to his throne once more. "You will accompany me to the gathering-......
The image faded, bending into the fabric of the sanctum again. The journey was over, and across from Enam sat the man responsible for everything.
"You've seen, you know, and I hope you can understand...I can never bring them back or rewrite what has already been written. If you had been there, you would have died too..." Jud looked to Enam, and the oddest feeling of calm breezed past the Sith Rouge. "I have lived with this shame ever since that day, and even after the Emperor's timely demise." Jud sighed deeply before he took down the cowl of his hood. The face produced from the darkness was even more sorrowful than the worst state Enam had ever seen Jud in. Jud's face was little more than a skull with taught parchment-thin skin over it. His long hair was nearly absent from his liver-spotted scalp, only wisps of single hairs seemed to catch the dim lighting of the sanctum. Jud looked up to Enam, his single eye not as vibrant as it usually was, the spark seemed gone. Maybe Enam was seeing into the dying embers of his former Master? Maybe he had come back in some strange ironic way to see his Master die? Jud's thin almost nonexistent lips parted in a amused smile.
"Oh, I don't look that bad, do I?" Jud asked with a hint of his usual sarcasm, but it didn't belie his sorrow or the advanced state of decay - if it could be called that - he seemed to be in.
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