#oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

Vanilla(Republic). Things are mostly according to the vanilla storylines, with a few exceptions. Kho skips the Knight Chapter 2 to partner up with Aliya as he recovers from the loss of Master Orgus, and Sarrai takes his place instead, and she’s the one that ends up mind-controlled by the Emperor- Orgus wasn’t her Master, there’s no ghost to break her out. Kho and Aliya launch a rescue mission and get her out, and Kho goes on to complete Chapter 3. Aliya goes with him to fight the Emperor.

Vanilla (Empire). Xiann and Tyma split the Inquisitor storyline: Xiann goes to Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa, Tyma goes to Balmorra and Alderaan. Chapter 2 and 3 see Xiann remaining mostly on Dromund Kaas to play politics, make friends, and enable the completion of the Silencers, while Tyma does the Force-walking. Calumnia joining Intelligence around the end of Chapter 2 of the agent story changes Cipher 9′s path a little, but the large events are mostly unchanged, however Intealligence is NOT disbanded. Warrior and Bounty Hunter are almost completely unchanged.

Vanilla Revan Plot. We fuck some things up here. It’s my own Revan, who did not destroy the Star Forge, but did return to the Empire, as she’s a sort-of halfway Child of the Emperor. He doesn’t take control or order her, and she doesn’t know, she’s just mildly influenced into courses of action. The Republic breaks her out, but the Imperial team sent to the Foundry is composed of Revanites: she is not killed, and the Foundry is transferred to “Imperial” hands before vanishing and getting covered up by Revanites. She begins plotting the downfall of both Sith and Jedi from the shadows.

Makeb. Not really any story changes here. Wrath (Mythra) handles it on Imp side, Aliya does the Republic side.

Rise of the Revanites. We go straight from Makeb into the assaults on Korriban and Tython: Arkous claims there’s no better way to field test new Imperial Isotope-5 technology than on the Jedi homeworld. It raises suspicions on both sides, and Calumnia, leading Intelligence to quietly investigate Arkous. Arkous is discovered to be a traitor and part of an unknown cult, and Calumnia requests the Wrath secretly take him out, which she does. Tyma, now Darth Umbris, takes his spot on the Council.

Rogue Sith. Fearing the discovery of her Revanites, Revan influences Malgus enough and he chooses to create a schism, starting the First Imperial Civil War. Investigations into Arkous’ benefactor (as he does not share Revan’s name in this timeline, and Revan doesn’t announce herself or bomb the Temple at Rakata) are halted as Malgus takes priority. Revan also organizes the release of the Dread Masters as another diversionary tactic, stalling for more time for the Star Forge and Foundry to continue to build her military’s strength.

Revan’s Reveal. With Intelligence still intact, Beniko’s operation on Rishi is supported by Intelligence itself, with multiple Ciphers playing their part... having been briefed ahead of time so they could play their part knowingly. Theron Shan is there as well as the Voidhound. Lana Beniko still betrays Theron, but this enrages Darth Calumnia, and Beniko is banned from working within or with Intelligence once the mission on Rishi is over. The Battle over Rishi still happens, but it’s not meant to be some massive battle where the Republic and Imperial fleets are taken out in one blow. It’s meant instead to announce Revan’s presence, and then lead the Republic and Empire to Yavin.

Yavin. Yavin is a nightmare: this is not a campaign finished in a few weeks. Revanites are dug in, and the jungle prevents effective use of tanks, artillery, and air support. Yavin is a meat grinder with the Republic and Empire paying for every foot they gain in blood and death. Revan’s intent is not to win, but to bog down, wear out, and demoralize her opponents’ forces. The Yavin campaign lasts 11 months, and at the end, with the Republic and Empire having finally made it to the Temple’s gates and believing victory is in sight, Revan plays her final card. The Temple is a trap, loaded with explosives, and the explosion causes massive casualties for the Republic and Empire.

Revan’s War. As the Empire and Republic reel from their loss on Yavin, Revan launches new assaults on key locations all over the galaxy, including the Kuat Drive Yards, Balmorra, and the Tytun Rings. Zakuul’s skytroopers and Eternal Fleets are replaced by the Star Forge and Foundry’s near limitless production of droids and starships. There is no Zakuul, just the Rakatan space stations and Revan. As the Republic and Empire begin to regroup, Revan glasses Ziost. Most of the population perishes, including Darth Cordatus (Xiann).

Imperial Schism. Darth Calumnia and Darth Moirai plan secret peace talks with the Republic, believing that war with the Jedi was foolish with Revan seeking to wipe out both orders. Their peace talks are leaked, and Revanites and Sith Traditionalists alike whip the Empire into a frenzy of controversy, turning into the Second Imperial Civil War. Darth Umbris claims leadership of one faction, outwardly appearing a rational leader who wants to focus on Revan and end the Civil War, but secretly encourages it to intensify.

Betrayal of the Forsworn. Calumnia is unwilling to fight in a civil war as Revan (who killed her little sister) continues to expand her holdings and collect more and more victories, and deserts the Empire, signing a mutual defense treaty with the Rift Alliance, and thus forcing the Republic to accept her faction as an ally. Most of Imperial Intelligence and a large number of Cordatus’s followers join Calumnia, including the Lord Wrath, who has been disillusioned by her wife’s increasing bloodthirsty behavior (Darth Umbris) and decided to dissolve their marriage.

A Losing Battle. The Republic stands alone against Revan as the Empre consumes itself. The Forsworn find a home on Tython after a reluctant Jedi Council allows them to make their home in the ruins of Kaleth. They contribute massively to intelligence efforts, and organize small strike teams to make quick hit and run attacks to attempt to bog down Revan’s advances. It becomes clear, however, that Revan is winning this war, and Calumnia works with Jedi Archivists to study Revan and her history in an attempt to discover a weakness they can use.

and that’s all i have, folks

#THIS is my overarching plot #it is revan heavy because fuck valkorian #and fuck zakuul #and its sith politics heavy #you cant tell me the empire wouldnt tear itself apart without the emperor holding it together under one leader #it would. it absolutely would. #oc: darth calumnia #oc: darth umbris #oc: aliya vydari #oc: darth cordatus

[vultures-and-scavengers]

history

Caliga was late for their weekly training session. It was out of character for her, and Aliya surveyed the faces of the Padawans gathered for training in the dojo to find poorly concealed disappointment. Privately, she was amused, but as a Jedi Councilor, she should probably have warned them not to be too eager to take lessons from a former Sith. Aliya, however, was an unorthodox pick, promoted in the middle of a war

Aliya bought into prejudice about Sith before. It had cost her the life of her Master, choosing to believe that Parkhanas would bluff to save his own life, choosing to believe what her Masters had taught her, that Dark-siders always lied.

A feint Caliga had taught Padawan Orion three weeks prior had saved her life just three days ago when Revanites raided the supply convoy she was escorting to Tython with her Master. That had given Aliya everything she needed to make her case with the Council: two training sessions a week, one with Caliga, and another with Ar’kass, both supervised.

As the two were most involved in working with the Jedi, they needed to earn some goodwill, and had hastily agreed. Caliga had often shown up early to these sessions, and Aliya knew she valued them.

So why was she late?

Comms were going unanswered, and Caliga’s location was hidden in the Force. Oh, Aliya could sense her: Caliga felt like Hoth, all ice and hidden secrets, but tinted with the faint smell of molten lava and burning metal. If Aliya listened close enough, she could hear the faint whispers of Oricon lingering around her.

Aliya tried not to listen too closely these days.

She led the Padawans through some refresher courses, keeping an eye on their stances and footwork, when the door to the training room swept open. Caliga stalked in, clearly upset about something, and her eyes were far away. The Padawans paused their katas, and Caliga’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t say stop, did I? If you can’t master the foundation, everything you build on top will be weak and prone to failure.”

Her tone was harsh, and Aliya saw the apology and realization in Caliga’s eyes. Her voice was a little softer as she corrected a Padawan’s stance, reminding them to widen their feet and ground themselves before winding her way to Aliya.

“I doubt I’ll be a good teacher today,” she said. She didn’t apologize for being late: it was one of the things that irked Aliya about Caliga, that she never apologized, or at least, never with words.

“The Council?” It was a guess, but if anything was irking Caliga, it was usually the Council. The relationship between the Forsworn and their half-built base at Kaleth and the Jedi Council had started tense and mistrusting, and it hadn’t eased, even three months after the Forsworn’s desertion from the Empire.

“No,” Caliga says, before amending her words, “Well, not today’s Council. Later, Master Vydari. I’ll tell you later.”

Aliya was only more curious, but Caliga couldn’t be budged once she’d made her decision. She assumed it had to do with Revan: Caliga had assigned a contingent of Forsworn to work with the Archivists to piece together Revan’s history, her strategies, and her philosophies, to see if they could pinpoint a weakness or something to use against her.

Deep in thought, Aliya almost missed Caliga’s question, aimed not at her, but at the Padawans. “Have any of you trained to resist mental attacks while dueling?”

The Padawans look nervously at one another, but only one nods, a young Zabrak named Theorin. Caliga sits on the steps, her usual spot when she goes into lecture mode, and the Padawans sprawl on the ground around her. Her next question is a little more pointed, probing for information, “How much experience have you had?”

“Very little, Master Caliga,” Theorin answers, “My Master and I fought a Sorcerer at Corellia. He... put visions in my head, muddled my senses. My Master tried to to teach me a little more mental shielding after that, but it’s not really her strong suit.”

Caliga’s head tilted slightly, and then she asked, “Red Sith? Tall? Ostentatious purple and black armor? Long hair?”

Theorin stared at her for a moment, and then nodded, looking nervous.

“Lord Messerin- One of Ravage’s bootlickers. He tried to sell out a rival, tip off the SIS to his rival’s location. Ke’tar killed him.” She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees. “She said it was a hard fight, harder than Ravage was. I’m impressed you survived the fight as a Padawan, especially one untrained to fight sorcerers.”

Theorin opened his mouth, indignance winning out over his anxiety, but Caliga cut him off, her voice going hard. “Jahl Ke’tar, if you didn’t know, was previously known as Darth Moirai, the Dark Council member who led the Sphere of Diplomacy after killing her predecessor, Darth Ravage. Lord Messerin gave a Dark Councilor trouble, Padawan. I was not being judgemental.”

With Theorin looking chastened, Caliga moved into lecture mode, going over the difficulties of what she termed “bimodal dueling”: fighting on both physical and mental fronts. She reviewed over the theory, but footstomped the importance of basic mental shields.

As Aliya watched Caliga test Padawan’s mental shields and help the group improve their shielding, a dark pit began to form in her stomach: just what, exactly, had Caliga found regarding a past Jedi Council that made her suddenly concerned with mental shielding?

#swtor ocs #oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

Training

Normally, training Padawans is something Aliya enjoys: she gets to swing her lightsaber without intent to maim or kill. But the Force has been roiling ever since Yavin, and even her weakened and scarred connection to the Force is enough to feel the ever present chanting of danger in the background.

Maira stumbles backwards after Aliya lands a solid kick to her midsection, and the Togruta padawan is out of the fight. Aliya helps her up, and in louder voice explains the dangers of telegraphing your moves not only in the Force but in your footwork, your eyes, and your body language.

She wonders if it’ll be enough.

Revan knows where Tython is, and wiping out the Jedi is one of Revan’s driving motivations. Eventually, the Jedi homeworld will be her target, if it isn’t already.

“You’re training them to fight Jedi,” a new voice announces as a dark figure slips into the room. The Padawans edge away from the newcomer, fear and mistrust in their eyes, but Darth Calumnia... no, Caliga, is only amused.

Caliga stands at parade rest, looking more soldier than assassin, but even with the loss of her authority and titles, she wields a commanding presence. “Revan trained as a Sith Assassin: those are the teachings she’s passing down to her own order.”

Aliya shuts off her training saber, and then after a heartbeat, tosses it to Caliga, who catches it, and flicks it on before stepping into the ring. The former Sith tests the balance, swings it a few times, and then settles into a Juyo stance. “Who’s up first?”

The answer is utter silence from the gathered Padawans.

Caliga rolls her eyes, before pointing at one at random. “You, what’s your name?”

Fear twists and coils in the Force, but the Zeltron Padawan pushes past to answer, “Padawan Vekhta Orion, um, my Lord.”

Caliga scowls. “None of that ‘my Lord’ banthashit. I lost all my titles when I defected. Furthermore, you’re afraid of me.”

Aliya could intervene, but she’s curious. She’s aware the Dark Lord was considered an easy-going and lenient Lord to work for, and Caliga favors pragmatism and rationality over passion, but she wants to see how Caliga responds.

Caliga moves in a circle around the ring as she begins to pace. “Good. It means you’re not stupid. But that fear: you need to use it. Not to draw on the Force, I know that’s not how Jedi train or act. But, you need to accept you’re afraid, understand why, and then let yourself be afraid. It cannot control you, and you cannot let it control you, but fear is a natural reaction to danger. If you never felt fear, you would be a fool. And fools get themselves killed.”

The Padawans look at Aliya for confirmation, but she only nods. “You must find a way to be at peace with fear. You can’t meditate it away in the middle of a fight. You have to feel it, acknowledge you feel it, and then find your center anyways.”

Caliga smiles at her from across the ring, and then refocuses on Padawan Vekhta. “Begin.”

Caliga doesn’t go easy on the Padawan, but Aliya sits back as she tears through Padawan after Padawan, exhibiting Assassin skills, explaining the best ways to counter each move after defeating each Padawan. How to counter Force stealth with Force waves, how to spot where a Death Field is being summoned, how to determine what sort of training an assassin has and exploit their weaknesses: she’s thorough.

She’s a harsh taskmaster, but she circles back around the list of Padawans, and when Vekhta steps into the ring again, she lasts half a minute longer than she did before. Caliga doesn’t help the Padawan up when she hits the mat, thrown back by a burst of lightning, she was a hair too slow to dodge, but she studies the Padawan before giving an approving nod.

Vekhta glows, and Aliya makes a mental note to have Caliga at more of her combat training sessions from now on.

#swtor #jedi consular #sith inquisitor #oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari #yeah calumnia's gonna defect; i decided #the empire fractures into civil war #and she's frustrated because revan is the bigger threat so she defects to the republic #in order to keep fighting revan #nd brings half of sith intelligence with her

[vultures-and-scavengers]

jedi shadow. barsen’thor. jedi councillor. shieldwarden.

#sorry but shield warden is a cooler title than barsen'thor #and barsen'thor means warden anyways #and she got the title for shielding #swtor oc #swtor #jedi consular #jedi shadow #oc: aliya vydari #rowans doodles

[vultures-and-scavengers]

the galaxy has been here before, with revan, with her infinite fleets and her endless armies, poised to conquer it all, and reshape the stars in her image. the empire is shattering, cracking, fragmenting, and the republic is frozen by scared politicians.

the world (as they know it) is ending.

it is the end of an age.

but, in small places, hidden places, in whispers and lips on bare skin, it is a new beginning. red and green, light and dark, sith and jedi: there is a choice to be made here, to stand defiant as the universe turns to ash, to make the choice to stand on their pyre together.

it is calumnia who reaches first, her lips meeting aliya’s forehead in the prayer of a sinner seeking refuge. it is aliya who reaches second, her fingers cradling a monster while her eyes see only hope.

the galaxy has been here before. stars have burned out, and armies have destroyed worlds. families are shattered and hope starves and withers

the empire gives a last gasp. the republic falters.

fingers intertwine in the dark. sith-gold eyes turn brown. a spark becomes an inferno.

the stars re-ignite.

#oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari #SWTOR OC #swtor ocs #sith inquisitor #yes i will down with this ship oh my godddd oh my god i love them

[vultures-and-scavengers]

my love, my life (her new outfit.... its good)

#swtor #swtor ocs #Jedi Consular #oc: aliya vydari #IM DONE WITH BELSAVIS

[vultures-and-scavengers]

Convergence

Three weeks after Vydari and Calumnia return to Yavin with the Oricon veterans, Calumnia declares Yavin to be worse than Oricon. She’s standing in the clearing, and her bare biceps are covered in bug bites, and Kho has to swallow a laugh because the Dark Lord just looks so miserable.

Aliya doesn’t restrain herself, and she does laugh. Kho’s amusement dies instantly, and he waits for Darth Calumnia to grow angry and retaliate, but she never does. She only takes on a pitiful wounded look.

“We have a patrol to ambush,” Kho reminds the pair of Twi’lek women, and they break from watching each other to return to their positions at his left and right shoulders. He’s still expecting the knife in his back from Calumnia at some point, but there’s no benefits for doing so right now, not when they’re allied against Revan.

For whatever reason, Aliya respects her. Kho doesn’t get it, doesn’t quite care to get it, and is waiting for the day they inevitably face off on the battlefield. He, at least, still remembers what the Sith and their Emperor did to Sarrai. The friend he remembers is dead, and a stranger walks in her body. That Calumnia is helpful now doesn’t change that she uses a red and bleeding lightsaber crystal.

Of course, three minutes after he thinks that, they come across the Revanites and he discovers her lightsaber is yellow. Regardless, it’s a figure of speech. She’s Sith. Sith are evil.

He watches her footwork though and he thinks derisively the Dark Council has gone downhill. She’s clearly not accustomed to dueling. Calumnia defeats her enemies anyways when he isn’t watching, and he assumes she’s better at sorcery. She seems the type.

Aliya and her bend over a datapad found on one of the Revanites, and he doesn’t quite catch their low voices as he moves to keep an eye out for more Revanites, but he does pick up when it turns into an argument.

Calumnia concedes, her eyes flicking over to Kho and Kho smirks. She’s outnumbered and outgunned, metaphorically.

She gives Aliya a pinched look, and Aliya slips off the trail and into the undergrowth, following something she found on the datapad, and Calumnia slips after her.

Kho can at least admit she’s far sneakier than he is.

He follows, feeling a bit like a lumbering beast as the Shadow and the assassin slip soundlessly though the woods. But soon enough, they’re back to quiet waiting. Another patrol, one that has Aliya especially worked up.

Eventually the Revanites prowl along the cliff face beneath them, and Calumnia twists her fingers. The one in the lead drops instantly, and Aliya is leaping off the cliff side to engage the others. Kho follows, and by the time Aliya and him have taken out the other Revanites, Calumnia is just landing on the ground.

She makes another gesture, and the lead Revanite wakes with a gasp. Kho stares, because he had been sure the Twi’lek man was dead. It’s Aliya, however, that speaks first.

“Nalen? What are you doing here? Why would you join the Revanites?” There’s dismay and betrayal in her voice, and Kho stares at her. Somehow she knows this man.

For his part, he looks at Aliya blankly. “To destroy the Sith? Like the Jedi and Republic are supposed to be doing? Revan’s tearing them apart from-.”

'Nalen’ sees Calumnia, who is listening a few meters back and then his voice becomes accusatory. “Why are you working with the Sith?”

“Because it was the Revanites who leaked Tython’s location and security flaws, Nalen. Revan wants the Jedi Order destroyed just as much as she wants the Sith Order destroyed.” Aliya’s expression is becoming increasingly wounded, but Kho doesn’t step forward. There’s a history between her and Nalen that he isn’t privy to, and he doesn’t want to misstep.

To his credit, Nalen looks startled and betrayed at that bit of news. Many Twi’lek villagers had died in the attack on the Temple: Sith bombing had been indiscriminate and with the better relations between Jedi and Twi’lek, several had been in the Temple when the attack began.

“That doesn’t make sense,” he said slowly, “Kolovish- the old Matriarch- she said the Revanites were our allies against the Sith.”

Calumnia took several steps forward. There was a look on her face that indicated she had a hypothesis she didn’t like, and she swiped through notes and files furious on her datapad. She made a noise, and then having found whatever she was looking for, pulled up a hologram of an elderly Twi’lek woman. “Is this Kolovish? We only had the moniker Matriarch to go by.”

Nalen nodded slowly, and Aliya turned to give Calumnia a questioning look. Calumnia only looked grim, and said, “We need to get out of here before there’s another patrol, and then I’ll tell you about the Star Cabal. I was an idiot to not think about them, I mean, Revan wants to take down both the Sith and Jedi, and-- and so do they.”

#oc: darth calumnia #oc: miyala naida #oc: aliya vydari #oc: kho vakkol #swtor #shadow of revan #if i cannot get star cabal content i will create it #also fuck swtor's revan i have my own #also kho is on team hating calumnia and aliya is very much not #aliya is about to put them both in a 'this is my get along shirt' sweater

[vultures-and-scavengers]

can’t decide if it’s funnier to have “why does the sith lord on the dark council running sith intelligence call you baby girl?” @ the barsen’thor, or “why does the barsen’thor call you babygirl” @ head of sith intelligence

#i have been ruminating on their dynamics and i have no answers #because they're not like.... idk... opposites or anything #they're like two sides of the same coin #and aliya is super aggressive for a jedi #while calumnia is super passive for a sith #but they're both sneaks and they both highly value pragmatism #idk like they're just peers and equals #though calumnia has let aliya order her around #she was pissy about it but like. she went along with it #oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

i am Thinking about an au where the price for calumnia’s victory on oricon is her undeath, and i am Thinking about her spending the next several thousand years keeping an eye on the Jedi because she knew how much her wife loved the order.

still sith, but for her wife, and for her wife’s memory, she will defend the jedi, and defend the people of the galaxy.

even as thousands of years pass, and she can’t quite remember the sound of her wife’s voice, she knows her wife loved the jedi, and so the jedi she defends.

#'there is only passion' but it's compassion and unconditional love #Thinking about how love for a jedi changed an embittered spymaster into someone who works to change things instead of watching from the side #i am THINKING #oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

For Aliya - 14. Are they a simple person to please or difficult? 24. What are your character's special skills?

Ooh!! Thank you for the asks!! :D

14. Aliya is very easy to please: she wants her enemies redeemed/defeated/turned into allies, and she wants her allies happy. While the execution of this gets complicated with the Revanite crisis, and later, the defection of a faction of the Empire (in my own canon, lol), at the end of the day, all she really wants is to see those she considers her people happy and cared for. That, and an uninterrupted 10 hours of sleep always makes her day.

24. Aliya is my canon Barsen'thor, so she's got the Super Special Mind Shielding technique, and she's a bit of a prodigy. Her time weakened by holding the shields meant when she no longer had to hold them, having gotten used to only using a fraction of her strength, she then had to learn how to moderate her strength because she'd knock down a building instead of just a door.

I had her as a tank Shadow for the longest time (though with 7.0, I've been keeping her on the DoT Sage spec since I fell in love with it, so much fun), so I do headcanon her strongest skill is Force Barriers. It's actually a skill that USED to belong to Miyala, back when Miyala was a TCW Era Jedi Shadow, but when I returned Miyala to her roots as a SWTOR Era Sith, I took her barrier skill and handed it to Aliya, who's much more fitting.

So Aliya doesn't have any specific special skills besides the mind shielding one, she's just good at barriers and then hits like a freight train.

#swtor ocs #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

Grief

“Again.”

Caliga flexed her fingers, narrowed her eyes and reached for the Force again. Swirls of angry red mist swirled around her, and she snarled, swiping her hand through the air as she let go of the Force.

“You can’t shield with anger,” Aliya said mildly, watching with arms crossed. “Nor fear.”

“Yes, you can” Caliga bit out, “There are plenty of Sith who have mastered Force barriers.”

“Not you, though.”

For a moment, Caliga hated Aliya. The damned Jedi was right, of course, but she didn’t have to say it, watching calmly from the sunbeam she stood in, turning her into an untouchable ethereal figure.

From where she stood, sweaty, failing, and lashing out, the contrast only made Caliga feel worse. “No,” she said, anger bleeding out and leaving only tired despair. “And I’m not even Sith anymore. I’m a traitor to the Empire, I have no power, no titles, no networks, no fleets, nothing.”

Aliya didn’t say anything for a moment, watching Caliga’s outburst. “You betrayed the Empire, yes, but you did so to save it. Because you loved it.”

“Is that what you think? You think I loved the Empire?” Her voice grew louder until it was a wailing cry. “I loved my sisters!”

“Umbris still lives,” Aliya said, her calm breaking for the first time as she reached out and caught Caliga’s arm at the wrist. “She’s not gone.”

“She remained with the Empire,” Caliga responded, her eyes meeting Aliya for only a heartbeat before she couldn’t meet the Jedi’s gaze. “She might as well be lost to me. All I can do is try to learn more... protective skills so I can protect her.”

“Learning a Force shield won’t bring Xiann back.”

“I know,” Caliga said. “Chaos take me, I know. She went to Ziost to save what she could from the invasion. She chose to go, and she went knowing that Revan’s fleets were there. And I wasn’t there. She was my little sister, Aliya.”

She shook Aliya’s hand off her arm, turning away, and added, so softly she was barely sure the gasped out words were her own, “And now Tyma faces Revan alone. And once again, I’m not there. I left. I’m supposed to protect her, and I left her.”

A hand on her shoulder was Aliya’s only response, and Caliga shook off the gesture. “We’re done training for the day,” she said, stalking out of the training room, leaving Aliya behind.

#swtor #swtor ocs #Sith Inquisitor #Jedi Consular #oc: aliya vydari #oc: darth calumnia

[vultures-and-scavengers]

thinking about calumnia, my spymaster, my dark lord who took her sister’s forcewalking and made it worse, ripping the dread masters’ souls out of their bodies to consume, my ruthless and cold-hearted “i’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of my sisters” ice queen, my lord who knows right and wrong and ignores morality in favor of power and pragmatism

thinking about how she looks at aliya and says, “i won’t be the reason you fall.”

thinking about how she looks at aliya and chooses to banish the Dark

#oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari #i think about them every minute of every day

[vultures-and-scavengers]

For Calumnia! 🦋⚖️👨‍🎤🧜‍♂️

sfdgfhgjhj thank you so much. This got way long while I was answering, but I really enjoyed it.

does your muse have any unconventional interests? what are they?

Calumnia has never really had the time to develop interests. She was born on Nar Shaddaa to a waitress and a bounty hunter, and then left orphaned by the age of 14. She was then stuck looking after her younger twin sisters, Tyma and Xiann.

Her time as Watcher 51 was probably when she was freest to develop interests: she's big into Huttball (Go Rotworms!) and she's incredibly finnicky about the tea she drinks.

how does your muse feel about their job? what’s their dream career?

Calumnia is a work-aholic, and 100% does not have a work-life balance. She deeply enjoys working in Intelligence, though now as the head of Intelligence, she regrets she doesn't have time to work missions and has to handle more administrative work instead.

Her dream career, unknown to herself, would probably be a history professor or a private investigator: she enjoys learning and knowing things, and then putting those pieces together.

would your muse define themselves as rebellious or by-the-book? what are they, actually?

She would probably define herself as rebellious: she refuses to kill people for mistakes and failures, she has no patience for backstabbing and lined out appropriate ways to rise through the ranks within Intelligence, and her time on the Dark Council saw her pushing for the abolition of slavery and the promotion of worker's rights.

I would define her as by the book. She has very set personal rules and lines, and rarely crosses them, and she doesn't change her course once she's set. She doesn't buck the rules, she just changes them so the rules are acceptable to her. (If that makes sense?)

is there anyone that isn’t part of your muse’s blood family that they consider family? what is their relationship with that person or those people like?

Darth Mortis, Cipher agents (Especially 9, 22, 37, 83, 666), Darth Arcinus, Darth Tunaris, Barsen'thor and Jedi Master Aliya Vydari

She considers Darth Mortis her adoptive father: her first Sith Master answered to Mortis, and was plotting Mortis's death. Calumnia discovered it, and killed her Master, Darth Scyllani, first. She believed Scyllani wasn't fit for the role and so she presented Scyllani's lightsaber and the proof of his plotting to Mortis. Mortis made her a Lord and she became his spymaster. Eventually it became a close mentorship sort of relationship, and then eventually she began to consider Mortis family.

There are some that believe Mortis is playing politics: he placed Calumnia within Intelligence where she would eventually strike at Zhorrid and take over, and she wields considerable influence over her sisters, who would become Dark Council members themselves. And he's definitely not un-happy with how much influence his former apprentice has won him, but he's also officially made Calumnia his heir.

Calumnia also considers the Ciphers family. This goes into my own personal lore: that the Cipher Program doesn't find people who are eceptionally skilled and recruits them, but that it instead creates those people, similar to the program that created Watcher Two/Keeper. These Ciphers are engineered to be just a little faster, stronger, smarter than regular folk, and then given cybernetics and a few Sith-y rituals to make them nearly impossible to detect in the Force. Not all Ciphers are engineered, since it's expensive, but there's a few dozen who are.

Calumnia was searching for moles and traitors in Intelligence when she discovered notes on the Cipher Program, and she revealed the truth of their origins to all the Ciphers, who had been given false memories to cover up their origins (and to give them reasons to hate the Republic). While several Ciphers left Intelligence, many stayed, and Calumnia's inner circle is mostly comprised of Ciphers.

Darth Arcinus and Darth Tunaris are her enforcers, her representatives, her advisors, and her eyes and ears. She met Tunaris on Korriban, and met Arcinus, who was Darth Acheron's enforcer, after Xiann saved Acheron's life with the Silencer.

As for Aliya.... it's complicated, since Aliya, is, well, a Jedi. Calumnia is deeply, deeply in love with Aliya, even if she doesn't recognize it at all times. They met on Oricon, and spent three months bringing their forces together and trying to resist the Dread Masters, and then met again on Yavin, where they became even closer.

The following war with Revan had them both part of the 5 member council running Coalition Intelligence, where they began an actual relationship, though keeping it secret. I haven't figured out where things head after that, though.

#oc: darth calumnia #oc: darth arcinus #oc: darth tunaris #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

using revan to kill half my OCs because revan deserves to be dangerous and yavin should have been more of a hellhole for coalition forces.

killing my cipher 9 though.... damn. and sarraiva, too. like it’s not fair that sarraiva never got to heal, and cipher 9 was getting ready to retire and become a watcher after the yavin campaign, but also... things aren’t always fair.

also, taking the force away from my barsen’thor and forcing her to ask herself who and what she is without the force and without the jedi...

#oc: venari senn #oc: amora k'vall #oc: sarrai kanis #oc: aliya vydari

[vultures-and-scavengers]

so. in my canon, the “final battle” with revan on yavin iv.... isn’t. it’s a trap, because revan isn’t... stupid. she fills the temple with warheads, and because she’s obsessed with rakatan tech, she finagled a rakatan teleporter in there (and my revan isn’t hyper-powerful, she’s just an expert in rakatan tech, which is powerful, and she’s smart about how she uses the force and the tech at her disposal)

so the coalition closes in, and she blows the temple to hell after escaping.

i’m trying to decide who’s up at the front line. because this is like. the lowest point of my OCs’ story. they were tired, took the battle at face value, and paid for it.

one of my ideas is having my barsen’thor up there- and have her shield the blast, but she puts so much into it, her force connection just.... snaps.

which has the added angst of calumnia feeling aliya just.... vanish from the force. bc calumnia wouldn’t be at the front lines. she’s a spy master, she leads from the shadows, collecting information to feed to leadership.

but like. cal would go fucking ballistic if she thought aliya had been killed. bc they’ve likely been dancing around feelings, bc jedi and sith, but like. cal is the last dread master. and how horrible would that be for every force user on the planet?

massive explosion. massive wave of death. the barsen’thor’s shining presence is snuffed out. and then... this sinister unfurling of five presences everyone thought were dead and gone as calumnia lets loose to tear towards the temple.

#oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari #i am thinking thoughts #also all aliya is is wrapped up in jedi #so i think it would be interesting to take that away

[vultures-and-scavengers]

I have never seen a double-bladed saber work in this cutscene which is SUCH a shame, it’s a cool one.

#oc: aliya vydari #swtor #jedi consular