Ask Never Thought Hssiss Essential

[Nakoa Singh]

Korriban was boring, as far as planets go. Red sand, red stone, red sky. Anything of value or interest would be better served moved somewhere else, from its temples to its mostly-forgotten native population. Korriban was practically a giant, red museum with no air conditioning, standing in memory of what happened when morons were left in charge of terrible magics and weapons of mass destruction. Ergo, one devastates one's own homeworld. No wonder the purebloods were conquered.

Nakoa thought the dry heat must be making him grumpy. He had his usual set-up for the environment, mask and all, as he waited by a stony outcropping. It was approaching nightfall on Korriban, which was ideal for literally anything unless one was a cold-blooded reptilian species. He and another Sith who'd expressed interest were off to poke at some old ruins that'd already been- probably- thoroughly gone through my graverobbers. Why Sith Lords bothered putting treasure-filled tombs within easy walking distance of other Sith remained a mystery to Nakoa.

Luckily they weren't actually here for material goods. The real treasure today would be the sorceries they discovered along the way.

@Braden

 

[Wodan]

Wodan purposefully wore some lighter blue clothing as he trunched through the desert to meet Nakoa. The Academy teachers had realised that having all of their students dress in dark reds, browns, blacks and beiges meant finding them in the Red on Red on Red landscape of Korriban was difficult if not impossible if they went missing. So they had advised students to wear red or green to stand out against the ground if they ever sent a rescue ship. Having spent one to many days and nights in the desert during his young life, Wodan had taken the advice to heart and on his return purposefully grabbed some brighter clothes before heading out.

“Been waiting long?” He asked as he walked up the small rise towards where Nakoa was waiting. “Nakoa, correct?” He asked, holding his hand out in greeting. Wodan’s scarred face was covered by a blue fabric wrap covering up almost all of the scarred tissue and a good portion of his face.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

"No," Nakoa replied, rotating to regard the blue-wrapped man approaching them from behind his own loose-fit layers. He firmly shook Wodan's proffered hand after a moment's consideration. "Nakoa I am. Wōđanaz?" the Wrean asked in accented basic. As far as he knew, they'd never actually met in person despite hearing of the Firrerreon Sith through the ever-churning Imperial rumor mill.

He took in the other Sith's appearance, the layers of blue cloth stained red by sand and different equipment and weaponry that'd been brought with him. Scar tissue just barely peeked out, mostly hidden. It was known Wodan's front on Corellia had sustained great losses from a heavy ISC counterattack, and it can't have been all that long since. The Firrerreon man was surely an industrious sort.

"You were interested in my work?" Put plainly, a large majority had neither interest nor aptitude for any sort of sorcery. Cowards called it 'too far' and the inept called it 'too complicated'. Nakoa thought these people should come up with better jokes. Most who showed up wanted something magical out of the arrangement and that's about what the Wrean expected from the Firrerreon here. Such was how the Sith functioned.

@Braden

 

[Wodan]

“Greatly.” He replied with a smile, placing his hands on his hips as he talked. “I have dived a little in myself, but am always looking for ways to expand my knowledge.” Beneath the layers of fabric, the Shard pulsated against his chest, the dark object seemingly excited about delving deeper into into the Dark Side of The Force. Wodan’s hand reached up, his palm resting over the location of the Shard, it felt weird to not be able to touch it, but with some many powerful Sith on Korriban it wouldn’t take much for one to try and take it from him. Best he kept it hidden for now.

“So what exactly are you planning to do today? I wasn’t really told much about exactly what you do beyond the basic, ‘Its Sorcery’ comments.”

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

His head tilted slightly right as Wodan spoke, eyes glancing for a moment somewhere over the Firrerreon's left shoulder. It returned to neutral after a second or two. Both arms slowly crossed loosely over his chest. "Admirable." Not much gave away what the Wrean was thinking between his flat vocal affect and still expression. Or at least the little of it visible behind his coverings.

"Sith would call it 'sorcery'. What I practice is Vodun." Nakoa skipped right over Wodan's question. Knowing about magic and being able to do anything with it were very different beasts. There were even writings by ancient Sith Lords who knew much of sorcery but couldn't use it themselves, instead simply teaching it to their apprentices. That, and Wodan was giving off a sense of wariness.

"Define 'dived in a little'. What have you personally tried?"

@Braden

 

[Wodan]

Wodan copied Nakoa’s head tilt when the Sith mentioned Vodun, was that what Nakoa just called it or was this an aspect he didn’t know about he wondered. “Nothing extreme, Tendrils probably the most advanced I have been able to succeed with so far.” He replied, having used only a little of his own blood to channel the Primal Spirits of the Dark Side. Wodan hadn’t yet tried multiplication of practitioners or a more extreme offering, he wanted to get a firmer understanding of the process first.

“Have you done anything interesting with Vodun?” He asked, his face a little more stern than the last question, was this man actually proficient with this art? Wodan didn’t have the time to waist with a charlatan on the Korriban sands.

@Mr. Teatime

 

[Nakoa Singh]

Wodan's serious expression was met with a flat look from Nakoa, unimpressed by his attempt at stern questioning. Did this scarred soldier think the Wrean Sith had something to prove? His left eyebrow rose slightly, amber-gold eyes flashing in Korriban's cool night. "Yes. Don't ask stupid questions."

Nakoa clearly had no patience for that line of questioning. He circled back around to what they were actually doing with barely a second's pause. "We are binding a wandering ghost to an appropriate animal. There are many of both on Korriban." A thumb pointed over his shoulder, past the plains, toward a collection of rolling hills so old that, once upon a time, they were mountains. "Hssiss live in the unimaginatively named 'Valley of Dark Lords'. Ignore the whispers."

Wandering ghosts dwelt there, whole and in shreds, from as far back as the Order of Sith Lords' founding. Grasping for life past their time, they often influenced the native subspecies of Hssiss. An ideal vessel for embodiment.

@Braden