Log:Ascendancy: the Hermit
Events begin to unfold around the fate of the Regent Commander.
OOC Date: March 26, 2023
Location: Khar
Participants: Darth Kuolo as Self/GM, Kol Goren, Merulia, Tamsin Cas, Sith Empire
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
The palace was far busier than it usually was, with new faces coming and going and passing through the halls quickly. The usual relaxed nature here had turned purposeful and determined. All around them the bustle of the castle gave the impression of something different having happened, and exactly as much was the case.
Towards the inner sanctity of the palace, the board of governors had assembled, with their cliques and faithful in tow, serving and waiting upon them. Where the rooms of the palace were busy and active, the small circular room the governors had taken up to discuss matters was quiet and calm. They didn't talk as enemies or risked so much as a slight insult to one another, but there was a curiousness about how they were speaking to another.
"Since when do we care what some outsider has to say about how we manage our affairs?" says one of the men, this one older and grey-haired. There were three in total. The grey-haired man was Duke Osziz, a beaurocratic man who helped manage labor relations in Adas. Even to look upon the man was said to encourage a family's wealth.
There were others in the room as well, but they said nothing and intended to make no interference with the governor's meeting. Kuolo, for one, lingered like a shadow against a black column, half-mask facing down, and eyes closed. He was away from the governors as they spoke, electing merely to observe.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Not far from Kuolo, on a seat which had, quite kindly, all things considered, given that politics was not an arena given to kindness, been set aside for her, Tamsin sat equally still, equally silent, hands folded in her lap, though hidden benath the sleeves of her robes. The deep black of her own attire in proximity to the Sith's Lord's pristine white serving to highlight his presence, even if his current posture might seem to be doing the opposite. Masked, though she was, she was clearly attentive, watching and listening without either response, or interjection.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
Wrapped in the red wrapping that comprised her Dathomir tunic and the black outer robe of the Sith, the Nightsister walked along a step behind, looking about and indeed observing thr strangeness of politics that was...well, extremely different to Dathomir.
It seemed...foolish, to say the least.
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
Where Tamsin may sit; Sergeant Kol Goren or ET-1141, stands at her flank. Among such august company his role is to stay attentive, yet keep to himself until called upon or otherwise need of him is determined. He is clad in the sharp crimson of the Sith's stormtroopers, even if he is counted among the more elite of those same soldiers. While he may not speak or move without due cause, behind the goggled lenses of his helmet he watches with focused attention.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
"We care about what the outside world has to think because if you didn't notice, the outsiders were brought to our doorstep," says the younger male governor, Byl. Byl was a politician through and through. His whims changed with the seasons and where Osziz did what was best as a business, Byl gathered favors and convinced people of what he liked to call the hard decisions.
"Come now, Byl, surely you understand there is a difference in opening ourselves to them and allowing them to tell us how to manage. This," Lady Gera Rixe spoke and then paused for a moment, "What did he call himself? Some sort of healer?" The question only lingered a moment before she dismissed it with her arms.
"No," Byl responded, before shaking his head as dramatically as Rixe had appeared. "If this man has something to offer our Regent Commander, I would hear it. Summon him," Byl demands, pointing for the door. Theres a spare moment that lingers there, with Byl eyeing Kuolo. There was something there, buried beneath a well-trained demeanor. Contempt, perhaps.
Kuolo didn't move. Though he had often conflicted with Byl on many matters, he did not outright believe Byl to be unneccessary to Khar Delba's upper workings. He was tolerable as far as rivals went.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Mention of a healer brought the slightest cant of Tamsin's helm, as she watched the drama, such as it was, unfolding amongst the well-mannered and well-appointed on the Sith world. An ancient place, and insular. There was no sense of upset or urgency to her posture, and she sat before the leader of her stormtrooper brigade easily enough, offering him no indication that things were likely to go awry.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
A healer herself among her people, though a 'Witch' compared to most of the galaxy, Meru follows along before folding her hands together in front of herself.
Dutiful student, faithful attendant or simply a fish out of water... but none the less her gaze slips lightly to Tamsin and Kol's own visages to gauge their own thoughts.
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
The visage of Kol Goren is hidden away behind a helmet. As a result the face of his helmet reveals next to nothing. His body language in general reveals little more than what he was trained to show: discipline. He stands with his arms at his sides and his carbine slung away within the holster that hangs at his side. Where some may fidget or squirm about out of boredom or the simple need to move, this stormtrooper in particular seems to have stood enough sentry duties over the decades that his ability to remain utterly still among the astonishingly powerful has become a hallmark of his very existence.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
The other individuals gathered can sense it almost immediately, as soon as the wizened older man enters the room. Though his training was lacking, the man could hear the Force and maybe even command it. His beard was long and kept by little bits of tied string. Other than the beard, the man's head was almost entirely bald. His eyes were a dusty shade of brown that seemed overwatered. He carried himself slowly in his pace to walk forward, escorted by one of the knights.
Rixe was the first to speak up. "Welcome, ser," she offers. Her voice was softer than the others, and of the trio, she was Kuolo's favorite. She was all that remained of the religious institutions of Khar Delba, acting as a kind of religious organizer of the many faiths and beliefs of the world.
"Your pardons, please, good people. In my travels, through the galaxy, I have gone from world to world seeking to bring the warmth of a healer's hands to the sick and injured. When I arrived six days past, I was informed through the local gossips of the ill future of one of your own," the old man explains.
Kuolo was quick to catch on, but not the first. Rixe had already begun furrowing her brow--That's why he liked her. Sharp as any. Kuolo moved from the column to lean down beside Tamsin. But, he did not do so before offering a nodding salutation to the stormtrooper. "Sergeant," he offers, before he leans lower, to whisper near Cas. "I don't recognize anything about his mannerisms or teachings. Do you?" He asks, regarding the old healer.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin's helm tracked the movements, between the speakers at the table, between the guards at the doors, and then, the visitor on his way to present himself to the gathered officials of the planet. Though Kuolo had been out of her line of sight, she did not miss his approach, the chill of his presence alerting her even before the rustle of robes, or his greeting of the trooper standing behind her. Again, that cant of her head, but more attentive now, and in his direction. And when she answered, it was the doctor's own voice, rather than the modulated sound that normally escaped her mask, "I recall something, a scrap from one of the repositories at the estate. A cult of force users, diverged from the jedi may ages ago." She did not lift a hand, but allowed the rise and fall of her words to illustrate her point, "The robes, notice the beads woven into it in concentric patterns? They match the beads in his beard. I recall something about it being used as a way to mark progress on the path. Shaman, bone rattlers."
[ Merulia (Meru)]
Merulia herself had been...well, perhaps annoyingly so, following Kuolo around if for nothing else than the fact he understood her culture enough to relate back what she could not quite understand.
Still, this old man, the healer and fortune teller? "He seems almost like a...parody of a mother in our tribe."
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
When Kuolo moves to stand near to Tamsin and addresses Kol, the stormtrooper sergeant in question offers only the slightest dip of his chin in answer to the acknowledgment. It would seem that the stormtrooper takes that whole professional bearing thing quite seriously, enough so that the nod in return barely translates through the helmet. However when the pair that is Kuolo and Tamsin begin to speak in quieter tones, ET-1141 elects to make himself scarce. He shifts, turning on a heel that he may alter his direction. Then he begins to move. Four paces away that he may open the distance between himself and the pair of dignitaries that are Tamsin and Kuolo. He does finally remove his helmet though, as the manuals only dictated that helmets be mandatory in combat situations. His smoothly shaved head freed to bask in the cool air outside his helmet, he takes in a long breath of air unfiltered through the system built into the plastoid helmet. He does not speak or otherwise interject, but at least now his intense stare may be seen; even if that's contained within an appropriately neutral - and theoretically diplomatic - expression.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
Rixe spoke up quickly, having figured it out before the Bone Shaman could continue. "I fear you may have received poor information, good ser. Our Regent Commander has lost much of his function that even our best healers have been unable to rectify. More to the point, the Commander wishes for a natural passing. He is tired, and he--"
Byl cut Rixe off there, interjecting himself into the conversation once again. "He wishes for much, but we know nothing of his capacity to speak for himself. Perhaps there is more to it than that?" Byl asks, turning between the governors.
"Surely you dont mean to suggest we ignore the Regent Commander's final orders. Are we even allowed to do that?" Osziz added his own perspective, as if the concept of disobeying the orders of their defacto ruler was new to him. What a strange thought.
Kuolo, meanwhile, nods his head towards Merulia. "Seems like. An elder of sorts. But I sense something else amiss here. Nobody comes this far for a man who wishes to die," he points out, quietly.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
"There are some who would say that what we wish and what the galaxy wishes are not the same thing." Tamsin was no jedi, and while she used the force, she did not look on it as the director of her actions. She did, however, shift so that she could address the three others she was with. "But I would question, as those three, at least, do not seem to be in agreement, as to how his last orders were conveyed. Have you been made privy to them? The Regent Commander must be an odd man indeed, to lead this planet for so long, but then to say, 'Just let me die.' And then no one can agree on whether or not he spoke those words? I have certainly not be allowed in to attend him." Nor was she likely to be. Despite her skill as a healer, Tamsin was not accepted as a member of the society that made their home here.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
"To die is the natural order of most things," Merulia offers, though it's soft enough that maybe only the fellow Sith would hear her.
Still, out of her depth as she might be the Nightsister was curious and her gaze moves over towards the departing trooper.
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
Sergeant Goren remains in his place a few paces away. Which in turn affords the Sith their privacy to discuss whispered matters without his ears lingering to make some vain effort at eavesdropping on their conversation. While his helmet rests tucked beneath his arm and held securely against his plastoid covered side, his chin shifts ever so slightly while his eyes roam throughout the chamber. While the histories of the place may hang prominently and quite literally upon the walls, it is the people within that august chamber which ET-1141 considers at length. He does not permit his intense blue eyes to linger for long on any given subject, but he does take ample time to consider those whom he shares his surroundings. He does finally utter a remark though, his gaunt features kept appropriately neutral, "Reinforcements don't tend to show up unless they're signaled," he adds with his own shred of soldier's wisdom.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
"The Regent Commander's orders are ironclad. We cannot intercede with his natural passing. The man lost half of his lung capacity as is. Do you think he wishes that?" Osziz says, before raising a hand towards the only soldier who didn't have immediate political interests in the Regent Commander's future. "Sergeant," he says, softening his tone some, "What would you think of a Commander who can barely stand, wheezing orders at you between gasps for air?"
"Our people have never considered ignoring the orders of our Commander because it would invite ruin to do so. We are servants, and we don't conspire against ourselves," Rixe adds thoughtfully. Byl remained quiet, letting the notion sink in to the minds of those around them."
He wishes for the peace of dying a soldier, not a hobbled king. He always feared being made to be some symbol of one thing or another. He liked being a soldier, and hated being a king. Honestly he's probably the most noble man in the sector," Kuolo admits, "But everyone is expecting me to have him killed. With that window fading, someone must be working this scheme to buy time." Kuolo offers the words thoughtfully, while looking to the Sergeant to see if he had a response at all.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin turned her ehad completely yo study Kuolo, "Buy time for what? For you to make your attempt at murder?" It would not take a skilled mind to read how non-sensical that sounded. It was plain as day. And then, as if this was the more pertinent question, "If he truly does wish to pass, why are these three arguing in that regard? And why is this bone shaman here? To ease his passing? Or to ensure it?" When the trooper behind her was addressed, Tamsin quieted, allowing the two men of military bearing to speak.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
"You think one wishes to make an enemy of you to this kingdom?" Merulia asks softly, though she too fell silent as the discussion continues around them, herself questioning but not questioned as of yet."
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
Directly addressed, Kol's voice rises up to be heard. No longer a hushed tone to prevent drawing attention. The call for his opinion has been made and Sergeant Goren begins to speak with an accent that is difficult to place; some moments it sounds like Basic influenced by a number of planetary cultures that were likely passed down to ET-1141 through his own parents and command staff over the decades, "Under battlefield conditions if my commanding officer is unable to perform his or her duties; then it is my duty to take command until I am relieved or my commanding officer may resume command". There is a brief pause. He does not shift nervously about, but he does allow for a brief moment that his words may settle into place. After that beat of a pause he continues, "During peacetime duties, then I will follow orders as they are delivered to me. If I am given leave to achieve my objective by any necessary means, then operational creativity is permitted."
Sergeant Goren then goes quiet again. He's stated his answer and it does not take much for him to resume his statuesque manner. All he really must do is stop speaking and suddenly he is like a living, breathing statue once more.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
The Governors did not have much experience with stormtroopers, and Osziz was possibly getting firsthand knowledge of how difficult their world may often be to understand. In any case, he returns his gaze toward the others. "The Commander's word must be allowed to stand," he adds.
Rixe nods her head as well, though she has nothing to add.
Byl, meanwhile, was not pleased. "This isn't over. We will hear more of these arguments until a broad concensus can be understood and accepted. In the meantime, this elder is going to be the guest of my House until such a time as he can perform his miracle-works. I'll arrange for the scribes to assemble whatever cases we have for investigation. We will find a solution," he asserts.
Kuolo, in the moment, seemed to be thinking quickly. "I don't know. But, we should find out." His words were quick, and he looks between Merulia and Tamsin. "Theres no reason for me to linger. I've got work to do," he offers, before rising back to his full height again.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
Tamsin did not argue with the three, nor do what she might be called to do as a medical professional and grill the Bone Shaman. Quite likely, she would be able to sense the going on, somehow. The Force did find a way. Clearly intending to leave the now quartet to their bickering, polite as it was, Tamsin rose from her seat, "I will see what I can determine about his methods. You are right. Healers do not travel across a galaxy to heal the unwilling." She left the rest of that unspoken. As Kuolo rose, she did as well, content to follow the Sith Lord out of the palace.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
A nod of agreement to Tamsin's words and Merulia was moving, hands still folded. She was departing with Kuolo's command, though her gaze did linger on the Stormtrooper who'd shared his military insights and culture.
Interesting, but not the place to question just yet.
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
Those he travels with begin to move and that seems to be all the signal that ET-1141 needs to helmet up once more. His head lowers and he scoops his helmet onto his head with the practiced precision of decades of repetition. He affects his professional bearing; back straight, chin up, eyes forward. Only when the forms of Kuolo, Tamsin, and Merulia begin to move does Sergeant Gorden begin to walk after them. His steps are even and measured. A march that many a world has heard over the last decade or more as the bootfalls of the Sith Empire had marched through conquered streets, promenades, palaces, and governmental halls. He walks with that steady stride as one gloved hand lowers to remove his carbine from its holster. Only during their departure does the stormtrooper bring his carbine up and across his armored chest, clutched between two gloved hands as the procession of Sith dignitaries gets underway.
[ Darth Kuolo (Ku)]
As the proper Sith make their exit, the Governors remain. They wont stay for long, but, the Sith are gone before anything more. "The Regent Commander has lost most of his lungs to this poison. There are two individuals in line for his job. I'm the popular candidate but there is an influence of individuals who believe a proper Sith shouldn't return to the Commander," he explains. "Khar Delba long ago swore only a true Sith could rule the system. When the last true Sith was killed, that created a problem in their doctrine, so a Regent was appointed to safeguard the throne. Now, a citizen of Khar Delba and a true Sith is in-line to take it. This scares a lot of people," he explains.
[ Tamsin Cas (Cas)]
"It seems that they have lived this way for so long," Tamsin offered, as she made her way out with the group, hands flicking to settle the sleeve of her robes, "That they have forgotten that a Steward is not a King, and can wield only a shadow of the power necessary to lead a people into the future. They have been hidden away here for many centuries, but the world has moved on. If they wish to survive, they will need to move with the times and not against them." And then, because it is important, "Why have I not been consulted about this poison?" And then, she lifted a hand, "A question for another time." Preferably before the Regent Commander fully shuffled off this mortal coil.
[ Merulia (Meru)]
"Do you think this is a means to use the guise of a mystic to sway the story?" Meru questions as they walk, the Nightsister tilting her head. "They wouldn't risk direct violence to remove you but...if you were no-longer the popular option..."
She trails off, considering her own assessment but making a point of drawing her gaze over the more experienced pair.
[ Kol Goren (KO)]
For his part ET-1141 does not speak. He follows and he listens, but he does not supplement the Sith's wanderings with his own. He marches along with a song in his head. It is martial in bearing, drums and trumpets and promises of heroism no doubt. He grips his carbine a little tighter. Somewhere deep down he takes a long, long breath and releases it upon a dreamy sigh. At some point he'll be asked to line so many occupying these halls against a wall and mow them down. That will truly be a glorious day for the Empire and its continued quest for galactic stability. The thought is cast from his mind however, as he must be mindful of his present and avoid full-on colliding into the back of Darth Kuolo or any of the others who may elect to stop suddenly amidst their discussion.
