Sith Enlightenment

“Sith Enlightenment”

Darth Skuldren was a long forgotten and obscure Sith Lord, who reveled in the torturing of Jedi. Surprisingly he was weak in the force and would have been left behind in the ranks of the Sith if not for an rare ability called “force sever.” Unlike most masters who expended enormous amounts of concentration and focus, he could wield it at ease. Anyone who dared challenge him was quickly put down by his force severing ability and rendered naked and powerless without the force. He could then easily dispatch them with his innovative lightsaber form and weak force abilities. They granted him the title of Sith Lord. In order to get rid of him they gave him reign over a massive Sith library on Ocaron Prime, along with the guardianship of several mysterious holocrons.

Darth Skuldren was an enthusiastic philosopher and visionist. His views were not popular among the Sith because they were often thought provoking and radical to the Sith teachings. Most raised far too many questions. A being that is trying to assert his or her power over the galaxy at large does not like spending time speculating about questions. Especially when they cause the being to question their own motives and beliefs.

Thus Lord Skuldren sat skulking in solitude amongst the dust of his librarian fortress of rock. Longing for company he began kidnapping jedi. One at a time he tracked them down and severed them from the force. Not only did this make them powerless but also prevented other Jedi from tracking them down. Within the realms of his library he tortured the Jedi at his leisure, but not physically. Instead they were subjected to the Sith Lord’s lectures on philosophy and life. He would release the Jedi, perhaps hoping that some shred of knowledge had been passed to them, and would restore their abilities in the force.

After several years the Jedi Council formally decided to put a stop to this Sith Lord. Two Jedi Masters were chosen, along with two Jedi Knights, one of which was a former victim of Darth Skuldren. The plan was simple: track down the Sith Lord and allow one of themselves to be captured. A locator device would lead the other Jedi to his hideout and then they could strike.

The plan worked.

Codal Rayn, one of the Jedi Knights, made a very public visit to a planet in the Bogdel System. A Jedi was abducted in the system some eight months earlier. Local officials held grand parades, vast celebrations, and numerous banquets. Eventually Darth Skuldren stalked down the Jedi Knight and took him. Skuldren bound the jedi with Mandalorian Force restraints and brought Rayn back to his library retreat on Ocaron. There, as usual, he introduced the narrow-minded Jedi to a broader view of life. He began by enlightening Rayn on the true key to developing superior skills with a lightsaber.

Skuldren’s words were crisp and fluent, “First one has to study the use of swords, physical swords, both heavy and light, practical and unique. Then you abandon all of the seven classic lightsaber forms, for their teachings would merely corrupt a perfectly good student and send him down a ruinous road. A true swordsmen formed his own style, made from imagination and study. It was then perfected through practice. By studying the classic forms you taught your mind motions and sets learned by a thousand others. Your moves could be predictable. But to follow one’s own style from the start, that was the key to success, the key to victory, the key to… greatness!” He spoke these words pacing back and forth, lost in his thoughts, “The creative unknown could destroy all previously constructed notions by…” and then they struck.

Darth Skuldren was slammed against the black marble wall that he was facing. Just as he was at the peak of his lecture, the Jedi had caught him off guard. They had slipped into his lonely fortress while he was busy perfecting his notions of knowledge.

The Jedi knew of his force severing powers and were not about to give him the opportunity to use them. However, since he had not actually harmed anyone they had to try and take him prisoner. A daunting task considering this was a Sith Lord, but there were four of them right?

Quickly the Jedi Masters acted, one tossing a lightsaber to Rayn while the other formed a wall of imprisonment with the force around Skuldren. Yet the sith was crafty. He begged the Jedi to spare him and he promised to surrender himself peacefully. The Dark Lord took special care in emphasizing that he had not actually harmed anyone and that he was merely lonely and looking for companionship. Nodding to each other the Jedi agreed, they felt truth in his words. They accepted his surrender conditionally: he would surrender his Sith lightsaber and cloak, would wear a Tucano Amulet of Disturbance, and would allow himself to be shackled. He agreed.

Little did they know was that Skuldren had shared an interest in the Tucano Cults of Meditation. For an unpracticed user the disturbance amulets prevented all focus and broke all concentration. It prevented force users from making strong connections to the force. Though to a seasoned practitioner the disturbance amulet drowned out all thought and distraction, creating a state of mind of pure focus. Few knew of these secret traditions because the necklaces were advertised as tourist must-haves when one traveled to Tucano. There strange noises, vibrations, and subliminal imagery were thought to be great gag gifts for annoying friends.

So the jedi and Darth Skuldren boarded a sleek Jedi Consular 5B interdictor-sloop and began the long hyperspace journey to the galactic core. After three minutes of hyperspace travel Lord Skuldren abruptly stripped the two Jedi watching him of their force powers and instantly slammed their heads together in the ancient meeting of the minds. He swiftly restored their connection to the force so as not to arise the suspicions of the Jedi pilots.

Gently he took one of the unconscious Jedi and dragged his lumbering body into the escape pod. Then, while hiding his presence in the force, he silently crept into the pilot’s cabin. With another wave of force energy he cut both jedi off from the force. Without wasting time he drew a lightsaber he picked up from one of the unconscious Jedi and stabbed the Jedi pilot. But in that second the other Jedi Master reacted, igniting her emerald lightsaber. It was too late though; the Jedi Knight lied slain, awkwardly crumpled in the pilot’s seat. Careful to control her emotions the Jedi Master fought with a cool inner calm, but without the force. That didn’t matter. She had trained for many years in lightsaber combat and her skills were something even a Sith Lord couldn’t take away.

They fought for two dramatic minutes of intense parries, slashes, and thrusts. It seemed to the Jedi Master that the Sith “Lord” was rather weak in the force and his lightsaber form was rather slow and simple. The Jedi Master sought to end this conflict with an advanced Makashi sequence aimed at opening up her opponent’s defenses amid an attack and unleashing a surprise sun djem attack, disarming her opponent’s weapon. Suddenly Skuldren let loose with a double feint, followed by a full thrust. The Jedi Master parried the saber away with a double tap, then struck inside her opponent’s defenses toward his hand.

That’s when something odd happened. She looked down only to see the hilt of another lightsaber sticking out of her stomach. Falling to her knees she realized the Sith picked up both lightsabers from her companions standing watch over his cell. The kreffing Sith kept it hidden the whole time, probably up his tunic sleeve. There he stood, shutting down his lightsabers he sat down in the navigator’s chair. He looked her full in the eyes and cracked a carnivorous grin.

“If you always want to win in a contest, use a wildcard. It works every time. I would give you my full lecture but I’m afraid you would miss all the key points.” His eyes were captivating but felt eerily hungry as he gazed at the Jedi Master.

“There are only two bright possibilities in your future. One would be if I knew the lost arts of Krudesh, the ancient powers of life. I could bring you back from the brink of death or even create from anew. Alas those scrolls were destroyed in the Katarri Wars of Jentel.” His voice dropped sullenly on those last few words. It was obvious the event brought solace to this creature of the darkside.

“The other bright spot is that sun over there.” He turned and pointed out the portside cabin window. “I’m going to crash this ship straight into it at full blast. Of course it will dishearten you to know that I will leave the ship before then, but it may bring you peace to know your friend will survive.”

He stood and began to leave. Then he cocked his head back as if remembering something. “May the force brighten your life from this moment on and shine into the depths of the astral planes.”

And with that he left. The clunk of the escape pod shooting off and the tremors of the massive gravity well of the sun were the last things I felt. Sweltering heat struck with such a force that it was instant. Soothing sounds of harmony took me into the afterlife. All was one, all was knowing, and the story of Darth Skuldren was thus revealed to me.

Excerpt from the recordings of Jedi Holocron 1782-AZL of the Jedi Archives

Personal Note: This “Darth Skuldren” could necessitate further research. I shall have to inquire the Jedi Council to lend one of the masters to unlock some of the deeper levels of the holocron. Perhaps something of these “Krudesh powers” can be discovered…

January 24, 2007