Ask The Fifth

[Kaldar]

Per my OP template, thread is death enabled​

It was probably an overstatement to say that Kaldar was feeling "confident" about his return to Darth Raze, but the fact that he had something the Dark Lord wanted would hopefully earn him goodwill. Or whatever the equivalent of goodwill was.

The truth was, that Kaldar was hopeful. Raze had said a gift would be waiting on his return and assuming that wasn't one of those cheesy holomovies where the villain was actually referring to killing the person who assisted him (which Kaldar doubted) he wondered just what he would return to.

Strange as it sounded, Kaldar felt like he may have found the right place for him for the first time.

He walked into the castle, and his eyes still looked around the building and not quite convinced this felt real. He would proceed until he found Darth Raze and kneel, presenting the shard to the Dark Lord. He found no reason to draw it out and he was still pretty sure that Raze wasn't the type to enjoy having his time wasted.

 

[Darth Raze]

It wasn’t Raze that greeted him when he first arrived. It was one of the Hapan women, scantily clad, ruby red lips, vibrant eyes and flawless skin. She moved with unnatural grace, reaching a hand out and brushing her fingers along the side of Kaldar’s face, “We’ve been waiting,” She purred, sliding her hand down his arm and further to grasp his hand and lead him into the fortress.

He would be led to a different part of the castle that was ornate and lavishly decorated. The smell of flowers and fragrances permeated all around and Kaldar would see many more stunning women giggling and looking at him with excited anticipation. The first Hapan woman led him towards a large pool fit for Emperors and kings.

“You’ve had a long journey,” The woman cooed, undoing the sash that held her attire together and letting it slip down to her ankles, “Why don’t you join us for a relaxing bath?” She asked with a smile as she guided him into the water. Multiple other women followed suit, also casting aside their clothing and preparing to give Kaldar the most incredible night of his life.

Whether it was hours later or a day, Kaldar would realize Raze didn’t care how long Kaldar had his fill of the women, good food, and any levels of debauchery he wanted to sample. However, one of the women finally hinted where Raze could be found.

The figure was standing on an empty field near an icy lake outside of the fortress. He did not turn as Kaldar walked over to join him, expecting the customary kneel. The wraith simply curled a finger to beckon him forward. Kaldar would spot five prisoners kneeling on the ground before Raze. They were civilians plucked from Byblos.

“Perhaps one of the most critical skills a Sith possesses,” He began curtly, “Is the ability to bend the wills of others,” Raze said quietly, “Controlling the mind of one is admirable, but to extend that to multiple subjects is an art form.”

He stepped back and pointed to one of the prisoners, “Delve into his mind and have him murder his wife with his bare hands,” Raze stated flatly.

Both husband and wife started pleading and protesting at once. Raze ignored it entirely. This would be an astronomical task for Kaldar as the man had an iron will and would rather die himself than harm his wife. But this was part of the training and Raze hardly cared who got hurt or died for it. He had multiple subjects to test until Kaldar got it right.

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar had firmly decided he never knew what to expect when he stepped into this castle, but this hadn't been anywhere near the top of the list. Oh was he pleasantly surprised. He'd seen the gorgeous women who had served the Dark Lord, but he had assumed they were spoken for. It seemed that perhaps things were more fluid than that, and as one of the gorgeous women greeted him, there was a 0% chance that he was going to turn them down.

I would love to, he said with an easy smile and he didn't resist as the gorgeous woman led him into the water, and have his fill he did. He denied himself no portion of enjoyment as a reward for his efforts, and he decided that this was a life that not only could he get used to but one that he would do anything to keep. He couldn't have been happier, but all good things must come to an end.

It wasn't until late into the next day that one of the women finally gave him an indication of where the Champion could find Raze, and he knew that despite the passing pleasures, he couldn't allow himself to lose sight of his true goal. After putting himself together, he went to seek out his new... well, perhaps it was too presumptuous to call Raze his master... patron? Whatever label was to be put on it, Kaldar knew he was the man that he served now.

Kaldar knelt before Raze and although he brought the shard, he didn't produce it immediately, noting the figures who were gathered there and deciding that discretion was the better part of survival. And yet, Raze would be able to sense its presence and the Champion wouldn't hesitate to produce it if ordered.

Instead, he was beckoned forward and his flicked in turn from one prisoner to the next before settling on the Dark Lord as he spoke.

He gave a nod of understanding before turning his attention back to the pleading husband. Kaldar had killed before, but perhaps never in quite so brutal and visceral a manner. To force a man to strangle his own wife was no small thing, but it was also a tool that was perhaps the most powerful one he could possess: the ability to warp a mind to your own will even when it conflicted with their own interest was a route to true power.

There was an almost visible transformation in Kaldar's face as he looked at the man, letting his anger flow into the Force before letting it attack the man's mind.

You will kill the woman, he said, exerting his will over the other man through the Force and intentionally dehumanizing her to the man's mind.

Unfortunately, it didn't work (4/20). Kriff you and get out of my head! the man yelled, gritting his teeth in resistance to the meddling he could feel in his head.

Kaldar's jaw tightened as first a wave of embarrassment passed over him that he had failed followed quickly by anger at both himself and the man. Anger that he had failed and angry that this man not only defied him, but successfully so.

 

[Darth Raze]

Raze didn’t react immediately at Kaldar’s attempt failed. The prisoners were bound and in no condition to act out with anything but words. Without warning, the wraith’s hand came up to backhand Kaldar across his face. It was hard enough to draw blood and tear his lip open. The Anzat did not look at Kaldar.

“It is what the man wished to do to you,” He said curtly. For every failure on Kaldar’s part, the Anzat would relay the thoughts and desires of the subject of the Champion’s efforts. The man kneeling gazed in complete shock and stunned silence, his mind suddenly conjuring up far more devious thoughts of what he wanted Kaldar to go through. Dark, twisted, horrible thoughts. Thoughts that had never entered the man’s proud head until then. But that changed when he saw the art of the possible. When he saw that it could actually be carried out. When he could feel a semblance of power. Power. Not strength. Kaldar would quickly realize what was happening.

“Again,” Raze stated curtly.[/abox]

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar didn't anticipate the smack across the face and he could taste the copper flavor of blood in his mouth as he reached up to hold his lip where it has smashed across his teeth. The anger inside of him boiled up and over, and he didn't have to be a genius to put together just how horrible the thoughts in the man's head likely were. Or the fact that Raze could easily carry out each and every one of them.

In other words, Kaldar's back was up against the wall, and that was when the Champion performed his best work. He let desperation and rage build to a peak and then poured them into the Force, turning it into a spear of willpower that slammed into and pierced the man's mind. His hand thrust outward and as it did, his voice changed, carrying with it an unintentional amplification in the Force as he commanded the man once again.

Kill the woman, he commanded, and continued to press in on the man's mind, piercing through it and bending his entire existence to Kaldar's will (19/20). It was intoxicating and only made the Sith yearn for more. More power, more control, more ability to bend everything and everyone to his will.

He watched as the man slowly wrapped his hands around the struggling woman's throat, and didn't let up his pressure on the man's mind until his wife lay limp beneath him. He almost pondered having the man kill himself as well (he'd heard Raze had done that to a senator once) but the man wasn't his target to kill, and moreover the torment of what he had just done to his wife would be far worse than a quick and clean end.

 

[Darth Raze]

The Anzat watched calmly as Kaldar’s second attempt was far more effective. The woman’s choked and guttural gasps slowly died away as she did, her vacant gaze staring up at the gray skies above. The man collapsed in despair, wailing and sobbing, “What have I done?!” He cried, looking at his own hands.

“You monster!” One of the remaining prisoners cried out, “How could you fucking do that, Jace!!”

Kaldar would soon realize that these prisoners were not strangers to one another. The man kept shouting at Jace, screaming expletives and piling on the guilt Jace already felt at killing his wife. Raze watched the debacle, keeping his gaze fixed on the quarrel while he spoke through the Force to Kaldar.

Observe how they forget the real enemy here.

Regardless of what Kaldar had done, it was Jace’s hands that choked the woman to death. Raze relished the anger and rage pulsing around him.

Make Jace believe that his brother is having such a reaction because he had been having an affair with his wife.

It would serve to make them forget the true enemy standing right before them. It would cause in-fighting and chaos. It was always easier to bend the will of others when doubt and despair clouded their judgment. An affair was a trivial and inconsequential thing when Jace had just murdered his wife, but it would be dramatized with the slightest manipulation to his thoughts.

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar watched the man's horror as his mind returned to him and then the other prisoners began to turn on him. It was fascinating to watch, and empowering in its own way as Kaldar observed their vicious reaction.

He heard Raze's voice in his mind, but made no immediate reaction, acting as a fly on the wall of the drama that unfolded. How easy it apparently was to turn people against each other. A touch of deception, control, and miscommunication and the entire galaxy could be twisted to suit the needs of the powerful.

It was fascinating, and it was a testament to how far just a "little" could go. Kaldar understood that this same principle could be applied to other places as well and even to the galactic stage. A little leaven leavens the whole dough.

He heard Raze's instruction again and gave a silent nod before focusing once again on the man's mind. His mind was now split and opened up before Kaldar in the Force, and such a more subtle lie was far easier to plant. Not only that, but the man's turmoil had dysregulated so much of his own inhibitions he was an easy target.

I didn't expect jealousy, he stated, feigning ignorance on the topic even as the Force planted the idea deeper into the man's mind, and with it, the implication that something more had been going on there.

Although it wasn't true inception, he let the man's mind carry the thought to its completion, nudging it along its path before it seemed to explode out of him without even further external urging from Kaldar.

You were sleeping with her, weren't you?! he shouted accusatorially at his brother.

That's why you're so mad! She was my wife you sleemo! the man growled, now at a full tilt yell as the two exchanged angry barbs and nearly came to blows.

Kaldar watched with sick satisfaction, and he thought he understood what Raze was trying to teach him. Power, yes? he asked. Even someone with Kaldar's relatively undeveloped skill could turn a situation to his advantage with the proper application of those skills.

 

[Darth Raze]

The wraith did not respond immediately, coolly watching the two men shout at one another. There was one more survivor left, a small and frail man. He rasped at them from where he was sitting, “Stop it..both of you! Can’t you see the real enemy here?” He pleaded with them. Raze observed this man calmly, choosing the next instruction for Kaldar.

Encourage his heroism.

It was not the typical manipulation of committing evil, but it was a chess move for something that would play out later. If Kaldar did as told, the remaining survivor would suddenly find his voice. He yelled louder and stood on his feet, rushing towards the two quarreling men.

“Just stop it! BOTH YOUR PROBLEMS ARE INSIGNIFICANT IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS!”

Before he could continue, both of the other men, in their unbridled fury and incensed grief, launched themselves at the third man. Within moments, they beat them into a bloody pulp until Jace smashed his face, killing him right then. He looked shocked at his actions, his eyes wide.

“YOU DID IT AGAIN, YOU ANIMAL!” His brother yelled at him as he attacked Jace. Jace managed to overpower his brother, choking him to death just as he did his wife. All it took was the slightest nudge from Kaldar, the tiniest kindling of paranoia to feed an already roaring fire. After killing his brother, Jace, overwhelmed with grief and horror, turned and walked off the side of the bridge to his own demise.

There was nothing but the howling of the brisk wind and an unnatural stillness. Raze kept his gaze fixed over the horizon, only the three dead bodies left now. Without any fuss, he used the Force to casually toss them over the side of the bridge.

“The art of manipulation goes far beyond simply overpowering one’s mind,” He explained, “Power is learning when to apply it and when to let your subjects take it the rest of the way. Power is learning the complex network of influence. You have power when your subjects execute everything on your behalf without them ever realizing that they are puppets. Power is not having to lift a finger to see your grand machinations succeed.”

Kaldar would know then that this was a man well versed in the rise and fall of kingdoms and regimes. He spoke of far beyond the modern Sith teachings that relied on Force powers and merely reciting the Code without understanding the nuances.

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar watched what unfolded like some sadistic science experiment that he got to pull the strings of, and he wondered if this was what Raze's life was like all the time. And who were these people? Where'd they come from? Was there some purpose in tormenting them other than Kaldar's education? If the answer was no, then it made no difference, but Kaldar's curiosity still there.

He reached out again as Raze instructed him to encourage the man. This, Kaldar didn't understand. He couldn't see the benefit to it, but he... well, "trusted" Raze might be a strong word, but he was sure that the Dark Lord had a purpose, and he would do his best to learn from it.

He reached into the man's mind and fanned the emotion upward into flames. And there it was. The man surged forward toward the brothers, and they turned on him at once. They beat him to a pulp, and Kaldar's eyebrows rose in surprise.

Well, kriff, will you look at that, he thought to himself. That wasn't the move he had expected, but that was why he still had a lot to learn. Raze had known.

And it didn't stop there. The brothers fought, and at at the end of it all, there was no one left standing but the two Sith. Kaldar felt intoxicated by it. The death still hung in the air by the Force, and it was his power that had caused it. They were his kills in their own way.

Kaldar listened to what Raze said, and he couldn't help but linger on the change in the man. He was both different and the same as the stories that Kaldar had heard about him when he'd been a member of the Sith Empire. That reality felt like an eternity ago now, and as far separated as they from it by time, Raze also seemed separated from it by... existence. Gone was a man who never took off his mask and... well, he was still mysterious about his machinations, but it made Kaldar wonder just what he had gotten up to all those years when he was Dark Lord. He spoke with a knowledge and authority that Kaldar had heard few speak with and even fewer earn the right to speak with.

And yet, the sheer weight of the statement that he made was in its own way enough to crush the Champion. He was no stranger to lying and manipulating to get his way, but the sheer scope of what Raze said felt like it was something he could never achieve. Of course, he would lay no voice to these self-doubts as he was a firm believer they had no place in a Sith, but still they were there.

How does one learn to anticipate the ripples of a single event? he asked. That was at the heart of the power that Raze described, and it was the part that seemed so Herculean in scope.

 

[Darth Raze]

“If there is a single, predictable constant in the universe,” Raze said calmly as he tilted his head to look at the Champion. The boy still had a thin line of blood tinting his lips from where he took the blow to the face, “- it is the hubris of humanity that extrapolates across thousands of races,” He finished. As he did so, he reached into the folds of his robes and drew out what Kaldar would recognize as the shard. The real shard. If he felt around on his own person, he would realize that he had an identical piece shaped by ice, but Raze possessed the original. One of the multiple women that tousled with Kaldar in that bath had long since retrieved Raze's prize for him.

“It is rare that you will ever truly need to manufacture chaos within a mind. Almost every single time, the tools are already there – you must merely equip your target.”

He started walking then and Kaldar would know to fall into step as well. The wraith made his way towards a large tower that had been constructed atop a cave where he began his tinkering with alchemy. It was the site where he would construct his weapons, trinkets and artifacts. The Anzat led the way up a spiraling staircase, the icy chill always lingering, “Patience and observation will be far more useful than any amount of studying the Sith Code or channeling your strength. There is a time and place for it,” His attacks thus far had been pure chaos, but only clever observers would understand there was a method to how he operated.

The wraith began to step towards a balcony and looked over the icy parapet. If Kaldar peered over it, he would see a vast army in the icy valley below. The army was built up of the men Kaldar brought, Exalted created from thousands taken from Byblos, and rows upon rows of abominations. They all stood at attention, obedient and perfectly disciplined. A single break in focus in the mental thread that Raze had with his beasts could result in complete and utter chaos.

“Patience,” He repeated as he gazed over his budding war machine, “And discipline,” He stared at the masses, “What do you believe should be the next task bestowed upon you?”

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar saw him pull the shard out and only then realized he had been made to look the fool. No, he had been a fool for letting the shard out of his sight. A lesson of its own, and one that he would thoroughly berate himself for later. His teeth dug into the cut on his lip, angered and inflicting pain on himself as something of a punishment.

At its core, Raze facilitated the desires that were already there within people. He brought to the surface whatever dark hopes and promises the person needed in order to get them to do what he wanted. He had no illusions that the same was being done to him and that Raze would throw him away at the first sign of inconvenience, but that didn't mean that the Champion wasn't and couldn't still learn. The key would be to maintain his usefulness. A simple transaction... hopefully.

He moved along with Raze and ascended the tower, the chill here even more intense than before. Hoth was cold everywhere, but here it was an unnatural chill. Kaldar could sense the power of artifacts that had been created and stored here, and though he didn't know what they did, he knew that they likely could have laid waste to planets.

Listening to Raze reminded him of a story he heard when he was in training about a sea serpent from Kashyyyk that had a very unusual way of hunting. It would lay on the bottom of the lake and remain completely still until its prey approached. Even as they took small bites of it, it would still remain still. When the prey had been lulled into complacency, it would finally strike.

Perhaps such patience was at the heart of what it meant to be a successful - a true - Sith.

He walked out to the balcony and looked down into the icy valley below, and his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open slightly. His eyes moved slowly over the abominations gathered, all submitted to the will of the Dark Lord. It was difficult to grasp the scope of this legion, and he began to understand why the ancient Sith had been so obsessed with the production and weaponization of these monstrosities.

He had to shake his mind from the army below to answer the question that Raze asked. His mind raced, and he considered what it was that Raze wanted. What it was that he had just learned, and how he could apply it.

The major galactic governments have fallen apart, which means planets are ripe for the picking. They'll be looking for security and protection and plenty of others will be looking to exploit that, he said. In other words, the galaxy was now in a shadow war without even knowing it. Politicians, businessmen, and others vying for power while the governments that were left even went to war with each other.

I could whisper in the ears of the rich and powerful and foment more conflict, he said. He wasn't really sure it was the right answer or that it was what Raze wanted, but despite all of this, Kaldar still wasn't sure what Raze's end goal was. Chaos had many applications, and though Kaldar didn't know which application Raze was looking for - as he didn't seem interested in conventional conquest - he could see to it that the galaxy was ready for whatever the end goal was.

 

[Darth Raze]

Raze nodded silently as he gazed out over his armies, “You need only sway the right individual and influence billions,” He reminded him. He had a challenge in mind, the shard twirling between his fingers, “King Weylin of Onderon is rather sweet on his sibling,” He said simply, “Find a way to have him step down and for someone of my choosing to replace him. None can know what happened and none can suspect Force use.”

The wraith looked at Kaldar, “Do you accept the task?”

 

[Kaldar]

Kaldar listened to Raze's explanation and his task that he gave to the Champion. Sweet on his sibling? Did that mean what Kaldar thought? Hopefully not, but probably. Even Kaldar with his moral standards found that to be unsavory.

It would be no small thing, and he expected others had attempted these kinds of things before and - with it now being assigned to him - he had to assume they had failed.

Kaldar had no such intention because he knew what it meant if they did. To kill the man would have been simple, but to scramble his mind and turn his darkest thoughts to Kaldar's own gain. That was a far more powerful tool than simple death. But it required knowledge and planning.

It also required Kaldar to ask a question.

I do, he said, not hesitating in his responsibility. Though to pave the way for your representative and plant the correct seed, I would need to know who you have in mind, he said.