Darth Nox of the Dark Council

NOTE: THIS APPLICATION CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.


Player Information
Your Nickname: Pain
OOC Journal: N/A
Under 18? Nope!
Email/IM: howdomagnetswerk@gmail.com // AIM: s3r1es0fpain
Characters Played at Singularity: N/A

Character Information
Name: "Kallig" / Darth Nox
Name of Canon: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Canon/AU/Other Game CR: Technically a canon-AU? Even though Nox is a canon character in the Star Wars universe.
Reference: Here!
Canon Point: Post-Explosive Conflict.

Setting: Despite taking place "a long time ago," the Star Wars universe is extremely futuristic. There's ships that can go faster than the speed of light by entering 'hyperspace,' there's lasers, giant metal walkers, speeders (basically vehicles with the same purpose as cars, but can defy gravity), robots with advanced artificial intelligence (known as 'Droids,' short for 'android'), space travel, people colonizing planets...

... oh, and something called "the Force," which is a near-supernatural phenomenon that connects all living things together, and which some people (called 'Forced sensitives') are actually able to control and manifest in the form of powers.

In the time of "the Old Republic," the Galactic Republic, a united government consisting of most of the known galaxy united into one centralized representative government, has fallen under attack by an enemy not seen since the days of Darth Revan; the Sith Empire. The Sith Empire is a meritocratic, theocratic magocracy ruled by the Sith, whom many simplify as 'evil Jedi' (Jedi being a dominant group of Force sensitives who adhere to the 'Light Side' of the Force, where as Sith adhere to the Dark Side), but are much more complicated than that. The Sith Empire is ruled by a being known only as 'the Emperor,' who is supposed to be immortal and has been ruling for several thousand years, but is only seldom seen and almost never in public. Under him are the Dark Council, a legislature-like group of the most powerful Sith who govern in the Emperor's stead, and are answerable only to him.

The Sith Empire is incredibly militaristic. Despite this - and this is explored in the Sith Inquisitor's story, particularly if romancing Ashara Zavros - the Sith and the Jedi have a lot in common, and this isn't just limited to their structure (Initiate = Acolyte, Padawan = Apprentice, Jedi Knight = Sith Lord, Jedi Master = Darth). They are both rigid institutions that strictly adhere to their ideology, can find no common ground with one another (despite several people being able to see common ground), despise any member of their groups who stray from said rigidity (i.e. Dark Side-leaning Jedi, Light Side-leaning Sith), and even in the way each group is lead (Jedi Council and Dark Council, Jedi Grand Master and Sith Emperor).

On the Black Talon flashpoint, 'the General' says that both sides are starting to develop weapons of mass destruction. Considering they haven't really been seen up until this point, it is possible that the Cold War will finally start seeing things such as the iconic 'Death Star,' implying that the war is really going to start heating up soon...

Revision One: Of course, you can't have a giant space opera without aliens, and there are plenty of them in the Star Wars universe. While there are a lot of 'near-human' alien species (for example, Chiss, Miraluka, Rattataki, Hapans, and Mirialans) who look very similar human but aren't, there are also other aliens who look nothing like humans, but are still sentient (Hutts, Wookiees, Gamorreans).

Almost every species has their own little culture. For example, Rattataki are warlike and base each individuals worth on their skill as fighters, and Chiss are secretive, self-reliant, and believe heavily in individualism.

The Republic believe all species are created equal, and no species is treated any different by the Republic's law than any other. In theory, a Hutt could become Supreme Chancellor; while humans are by far the racial majority in the Republic, every species has the exact same rights, the exact same penalties under the law, and species-based discrimination is banned across the board.

The Sith Empire, on the other hand, are extremely xenophobic to any species that isn't either a human or a Sith Pureblood. The irony of this is pointed out by Ashara Zavros (Darth Nox's apprentice and lover), a Togruta; while the original Sith were a species of red-skinned, Force-sensitive aliens, the Sith as an order didn't exist until exiled Dark Side-leaning Jedi discovered the Sith species on Korriban and interbred with them. In other words, the Sith are racist when the original Sith weren't even humans.

Slavery is legal in the Sith Empire, and almost all slaves are aliens; particularly Twi'leks and Rattataki. Slaves have virtually no rights or recourse under the law, and are treated worse than one would treat a pet. Very rarely is a slave a Sith Pureblood or a human, and when they are, it's because their bloodline is considered disgraced. A perfect example of this is Darth Nox himself (assuming he's being played as a human or Pureblood), whose ancestor, Aloysius Kallig, was defeated in a Kaggath (a high-stakes civil war between two Sith Lords and their followers) by Tulak Hord, who decreed that the name "Kallig" was never to be uttered again and was to be remembered only in shame and disgrace.

Lately, however - and this may only be because the Sith Order suffered such heavy losses in the first half of the war against the Republic and this is done purely out of necessity - aliens found to be Force Sensitive are allowed (read: forced) to become Sith (or die trying), even if they were originally slaves. If they succeed, they are elevated dramatically in Imperial society, as being a Sith automatically makes you better than everyone else... though expect Sith of more 'proper' bloodlines to talk down to you, especially if they are more powerful than you are.

In essence, aliens in Star Wars and their relations to humans are a bit of a parallel to race relations in real life. Interspecies romance is very common in the Star Wars universe, and a notable example of this in SWTOR that doesn't have to do with player characters would be Darth Malgus (a human, and a reformist in the Sith Empire) and Eleena Daru, his Twi'lek slave. He fell in love with her despite her being a slave, and not only treated her as one would treat a wife, but actually fought alongside her (she's pretty damn good with blaster pistols) during the Sacking of Coruscant.

Aliens are making great strides in the Star Wars universe during this time period. Unfortunately, whatever progress they make will be undone by the time Palpatine's Galactic Empire is brought into existence.

Revision Two: Technology in the Star Wars universe is lightyears ahead of ours, pun completely intended. Faster-than-light travel (known as 'hyperspace travel') is the norm, and is plotted out extremely quickly by computers so that no mishaps happen during travel (i.e. flying into a star, an asteroid field, or too close to a gravity well).

Ships can exist in almost any form; small, one-man starfighters with barely enough space to sit in, to freighters that are big enough to live in (with all of the amenities of someone's house), or giant capital ships the size of a city that are usually used by militaries. Biggest of all are dreadnoughts, the largest one seen in this time period being the "Star of Coruscant," a crashed dreadnought shot down on Hoth, and being roughly the size of an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer first seen in the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

Weapons in this time period don't just include lasers (called 'blasters' here); they also use swords. Due to lightsabers being much more prevalent in this time period than they are in the movies era, these swords, known mostly as 'vibroblades,' use a special metal treatment known as 'cortosis-weave' that causes the blade to be able to resist the heat generated by a lightsaber, which is hot enough to burn straight through solid steel with almost no effort. It's likely that these are hardly ever seen in the movies due to lightsabers (and indeed, trained Force sensitives in general) being much more rare in that time period, and thus, they really have no purpose.

Lightsabers are exactly what they sound like, and they're iconic in Star Wars; they're essentially swords made of light that are about a yard long in length, extending from the hilt. The hilt is barely a foot long, and is usually clipped to a belt. The blade is a perfect cylinder, rounded off at the tip, and comes in a variety of different colors; red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, and in SWTOR, cyan and magenta (almost pink). In SWTOR, the usually light center can also come in black. How this is achieved is something I don't understand, and BioWare's justification of it is essentially "we thought it looked cool."

Lightsabers aren't heavy at all; they allow for very acrobatic combat, if their wielders know what they're doing. They can be wielded in one hand, or duel-wielded. Some lightsabers even have a blade on each end of the hilt (known as 'double-bladed lightsabers'), but these are much more difficult to use, and require specialized training.

While, in theory, lightsabers can be used by non-Force sensitives, they have become synonymous with Jedi and Sith, and it's safe to assume that anyone carrying one is a Force-sensitive of some kind.

Personality: Darth Nox, even in the instances when he's referred to as "Darth Occulus" (i.e. he's Light Side), is a master of manipulation, subterfuge, and deception, with a case of "chronic backstabbing disorder."

Ever since he was first made a Sith under the tuteleage of Darth Zash, one of Kallig's first aspirations was the Dark Council, a governing body of high-ranking Sith second only to the Emperor himself in the Sith Empire's hierarchy. Showing a startling and dangerous amount of ambition, Nox was always one to get his way - whether this be through deception or sheer dominant will, almost every single one of Nox's followers joined him either through a respect of his abilities or nature as a Sith, or means beyond their control.

Most notably of the latter case was Khem Val, a millenia-old Dashade who served the great ancient Sith Lord known as Tulak Hord, who, while he first despised Kallig for besting him in combat and bending him to his will, quickly grew to admire him as the "heir of Tulak Hord". At a close second was Kallig's first Sith apprentice, a former Jedi Padawan known as Ashara Zavros, whom Kallig drew to him with a staged assassination attempt.

Kallig stalked and took notes on the young Jedi for almost a full day, reaching the conclusion that she was prideful and ambitious - already a perfect candidate for the Dark Side. Using a fellow Sith Lord's assassins, he had Ashara chased to him, killed the assassins to make it seem like he was saving her, and then had her look at a Sith holocron, which confused and overwhelmed her. He explained that he knew about her problem with the ghost, and that he wanted help "escaping the Sith." She, out of her own good nature, agreed... but later had second thoughts. When he arrived at the Jedi Enclave on Taris, she had told her Jedi Masters about him. Kallig responded by killing the Jedi in the Enclave, forced her to summon the ghost, and then bound the ghost to him immediately afterward as a show of power. He then guilt-tripped her into joining the Sith as his own apprentice, by convincing her that the Jedi would never forgive her for what she did. What this shows is that he would stop at nothing to get what he wants, and that he can turn almost any situation to his advantage, regardless of a plan backfiring at first.

The Sith Inquisitor in particular (with the Sith Warrior and Imperial Agent at close seconds), is known for being a classic example of the "deadpan snarker" trope. Whether it's taunting to his master after her plan backfired ("The Dashade is bound to me... and now, so are you. ... This is what we call a classic reversal of fortune."), adding insult to injury when he just bested an opponent in combat ("How does it feel to know you're about to be killed by a slave, Skotia?"), or mocking a Jedi Padawan for being forced to fight him as their final trial before becoming a Jedi ("Your master sent you? Funny, my master tried to kill me, too."), almost every dialogue option for the Inquisitor oozes with pride and snark (though not quite in the same way as the Sith Warrior can, who, if the player chooses, can be a straight-up troll).

In the case of "Darth Nox" (a Dark Side Inquisitor), Kallig is known for frightening displays of cruelty. Breaking promises of those who counted on him for help once he got what he wanted, horrifying Ashara (but not enough to make her disloyal to him), and in one particularly shitty instance, used a Jedi's former lover to lure him into a trap (right after revealing the true nature of what he planned to use the Jedi for, and of course, killing said former lover shortly after).

However, not everything he did was evil. More often than not, everything he did had a very specific reason for it; in some cases, he did show a rare side of apparently selfless kindness, such as when he helped the cult on Nar Shaddaa be free of Lord Paladius (in exchange for their loyalty to him, of course), and when he allowed Darth Achelon, a vassal of Darth Thanaton, time to escape the blast radius of the Silencer Superlaser (Achelon later swore his allegiance to Kallig, once Kallig was appointed to the Dark Council). Ultimately, however, even when Kallig showed a rare kind gesture, it was always with an ulterior motive, and never particularly harmful to the Empire at large.

Given his nature as a serial philanderer, however - unbeknownst to Ashara, thankfully, as well - Nox can be rather forward with women. He's well aware that some women consider him attractive, and has been known to use this to his full advantage. That said, his feelings for Ashara are genuine; he's just been rather promiscuous, particularly with Rylee Dray (a member of his cult on Nar Shaddaa), Darth Lachris (a female Sith and the governor of Balmorra), and Lord Zavrasha (a Sith Lord who was in charge of getting the Hutt Cartel to cooperate with the Sith on Nar Shaddaa), and is not above having a one-night stand.

Oh, and he has a guilty pleasure of liking Huttball. Watching, not participating.

Abilities, Weaknesses, and Power Limitation Suggestions: Darth Nox, as the Sith Iniquisitor class, is a frighteningly powerful Sith, who curb stomped Darth Thanaton right in front of the rest of the Dark Council, visually intimidating all of them with a display of power.

At the height of his power, Nox was able to simply swat aside Thanaton's Force Lightning with one hand, telekinetically stop his lightsaber mid-strike, throw Thanaton across the room and into a nearby wall, and, most notably, use telekinesis to force Thanaton to his knees and bow to him in abject humiliation, right before viciously beating him within an inch of his life off-screen.

The source of Nox's power is a lost art known as "Force Walking," which is a dark ritual used to bind Force Ghosts to his body, which he then drains power from to fuel his own power. An extremely dangerous ritual, nobody, not even the person who invented it, has ever truly mastered the art, as it has been known to drive its users insane, right before it causes their bodies to rot from the inside out. Nox was able to circumvent this by using an ancient Rakata machine to rebuild his entire body at the molecular level, thus reversing the physical degradation, and by using a Voss ritual involving... well... basically getting high and "dream walking", to suppress the dead spirits inside his mind. The spirits he has bound so far include Lord Ergast (the Sith who invented Force Walking), Darth Andru, Horak-Mul (an ancient Sith Lord), Kalatosh Zavros (an ancestor of Nox's apprentice and lover, Ashara Zavros, and former member of Darth Revan's Sith Empire who was killed when Malak ordered an orbital bombardment on Taris), and an ancient Voss mystic without a name.

Nox's most notable Force Powers include a wide variety of uses of Force Lightning, a Force power that strikes his enemies with disease known as Force Affliction, and a variety of healing powers. He's also capable of mind tricks, though these tend to only work on those with a weak will.

While I'm playing him as a Sith Sorcerer (a Sith who focuses on Force powers, rather than the more melee-oriented Sith Assassin), the Wookiepedia article lists Nox as having used both single-bladed and double-bladed lightsabers with equal skill.

For power limitations, Nox can simply be stripped of all of his healing powers. I honestly don't know why Sith have them in the first place, lore-speaking.

Revision Three: For further limitation, Nox can lose most of his telekinetic powers; I'd say a safe assumption would be less than what an average Biotic (read: someone who isn't Jack or Samara) in Mass Effect can achieve, which isn't much. He'd able to throw some small things around, but nothing the size of a human. Besides this, Nox can only have his Lightning-based powers left. I really don't think electricity can damage a space station like this; at best, he'd just fry some circuits. And it is more than possible to defend oneself against electricity.

Inventory: Nox will have brought Battlemaster gear, which consists of a long, flowing robe adorned with coral-like protrustions, and a black and orange overcoat. He will also be bringing his ancestor's mask, which resembles a robotic skull, and his ancestor's old lightsaber, outfitted with a black and red lightsaber blade (as seen in his icons).

Appearance: Nox isn't that physically imposing; he's short, skinny, and honestly not that intimidating like several other Sith Lords. He has three 'squiggly' slave-brands going down the right side of his face, and some visible veins in his face due to Dark Side corruption.

One thing many people will notice about him is that he's... well... young. As mentioned above, he was referred to as a 'child' by the other members of the Dark Council (who, with the exception of Zhorrid, are mostly adults or middle-aged), suggesting that Nox is one of the youngest (if not the youngest) members of the Dark Council.

He has black hair with the bangs over one side of his face, which Nox intentionally grew out after he was no longer a slave. While it looks rather unprofessional compared to the well-groomed appearances of other Dark Council members (unless they're the type to wear masks), other Sith chalk it up to simple immaturity. Some even go so far as to say that he wants to look his age, hoping it will lure others into underestimating him. Needless to say, it's worked a few times.

Age: I'm guessing 20.

OC/AU Justification
If AU, How is Your Version Different From Canon, and How Will That Come Across?
He's not exactly AU, per say; he's a BioWare character, which means he can be basically however the player wants him to be. Also, Wicke and I have coordinated our headcanon with the Imperial Agent and Darth Nox, so that they're from the same universe.

Nox, while most definitely being Dark Sided, isn't a loose cannon 'shoot lightning first and ask questions never' type of Sith. Almost every choice he makes is carefully calculated, and even when his plans backfire (as seen with his attempts to turn Ashara to the Dark Side), he's quick to turn them back to his advantage, or at least try pretty damn hard to salvage the situation.

Also, due to his (surviving) apprentices being a Kaleesh and a Togruta (the latter of which he's in a sexual relationship with), Nox is known on the Dark Council as being one of the more liberal, pro-alien Councilors. While this is still a somewhat politically unpopular position, especially after Darth Malgus' failed coup de'tat (which Nox himself had a very active role in stopping), the rest of the Empire (particularly by Explosive Conflict; while Nox did agree with Malgus in principle and told him as such, he felt that he was most definitely going about instituting that change in the worst way possible) is slowly starting to shift more to the left as far as allowing aliens more active roles in Imperial politics. This may have had something to do with the Korriban Academy allowing more aliens to become Sith, if only to help make up for losses suffered during the first part of the war.

(The following is headcanon:) One of Nox's first major political pushes is a proposed amendment to the Treaty of Csilla. Csilla is the capital of the Chiss Ascendency, which, knowing they had no chance of defeating the Empire, willingly joined the Empire without a fight after negotiating a treaty stating that the Ascendency was going to be allowed to remain autonomous and that no Imperial citizens would be allowed to set foot on Csilla without permission. In exchange, the Empire was allowed to collect taxes from Csilla, and was allowed to make full use of the Ascendency's military. Nox wants to amend this treaty, compelling the Ascendency to allow all Force-sensitive Chiss, if they so desire, to be sent to Korriban to be trained as Sith. While Chiss can be Force-sensitive, Force-using Chiss are considered a social taboo in Chiss culture, due to Chiss being very self-reliant (i.e. they see Force-using Chiss as relying on something other than themselves). Nox wishes to change this, as he sees it as wasted potential.

The following is a list of events from Nox's storyline. It will be mostly limited to his class story, as planet questlines can be completed by any Imperial class, and I don't want to interfere with any other applications. It will be in chronological order:

Prologue:
- Openly hostile to Overseer Harkun and Ffon.

Act One:
- Killed the scientist who provided the EMP device.
- Mocked Darth Skotia prior to killing him. Turned his bodyguards against him by coercion with the Tablet of the Scorekeeper.
- Killed both Major Bessiker and his son on Balmorra.
- Slept with Darth Lachris.
- Killed Andronikos Revel's enemy (can't remember his name, for the life of me.)
- On Nar Shaddaa, slept with Rylee Dray. Killed Lord Paladius and took over his cult.
- On Alderaan, used House Rist to bring the Jedi Knight back. Killed his decoy shortly after, along with the Jedi. He then left House Thul to fend for themselves, seeing them as having nothing to offer.
- Mocked Darth Zash after she failed to take over his body, and made every effort to humiliate her while being stuck in Khem Val's body. Comin and Kaal become Nox's apprentices due to his usurping Zash's position.

Act Two:
- Guilt tripped Ashara Zavros into becoming his apprentice on Taris. Did not physically harm her; only emotionally. Later went on to romance her. Flirted with Thana Vesh while wasting no opportunity to drive home how better of a Sith he is than her. Her fate remains ambiguous (don't want to conflict with Jituss' app).
- Killed Thanaton's apprentice on Quesh out of revenge for what happened to Comin and Kaal.
- On Hoth, rejected Horak-Mul's offer and bound him without any compromise whatsoever. Was friendly to Talos Drellik.
- Attempted to push himself to his very limits when facing Thanaton after using the four Force Ghosts.
- Sided with the Mother Machine on Belsavis. Left the Nikto to fend for themselves.
- Bound the Voss Mystic spirit on Voss. Showed no reaction to the visions from Dream Walking, expressed zero regret when being confronted with his past. Allowed the Gormak Pilgrim (whom I headcanon went on to become the Nightmare Pilgrim!) to go into space after mind-tricking the Customs Agent into forgetting he ever saw the Gormak. Sorely regretted that decision later due to aforementioned headcanon.
- Slept with Rylee again (after leaving Ashara on the ship; by now their relationship was fully blooming) on Nar Shaddaa. Allowed the Veil to join his cult with no fuss, thus gaining the Silencer's main processor chip without a fight. Spared Darth Achelon while firing the Silencer at the Republic fleet.

Act Three:
- Talked trash to Thanaton while the Kaggath was being decided.
- Spared Lord Skar, Thanaton's apprentice, on Corellia.
- Formed an alliance with Darth Decimus by being active in the Battle of Corellia. Proved to be beneficial later due to Decimus hating Thanaton's guts.
- Blew up Thanaton's base on Correlia with a sizeable portion of his men still inside. Not a single fuck was given.
- Defeated Thanaton in the duel on Correlia in front of all of his allies. After he fled like a coward, Nox made a speech and drove home how Thanaton was a disgrace to the Dark Council. Won a lot of allies, including Darth Achelon and Lord Skar. Thanaton's power base was virtually gone.
- Didn't act smug in front of the Dark Council, but called Thanaton a coward for fleeing a Kaggath that he started. The Dark Council agreed. After Thanaton was killed, Nox asked about the Emperor and hinted at his own ambitions. Marr was not impressed.

Prologue:
- Didn't release any of the Force Ghosts. Called them his "slaves" much to Ashara's disapproval.
- Heavily involved in the Battle of Ilum and the campaign against Darth Malgus' armed insurrection. As to how involved, Jituss' mundane and I will need to sort that out.
- Likewise with the Eternity Vault, the Battle of Denova, and Karagga the Unyielding.

Headcanon/Other Stuff:
- Politically liberal. One of the most pro-alien members of the Dark Council. Believes all who are Force Sensitive should be allowed to become Sith if they so choose, and that a Sith's worth should be based solely on their power, not species. Took a few hits politically for this position following Malgus' shitstorm.
- Fully romanced Ashara Zavros. Open to marrying her after the war, even if it means having to ask the Jedi High Council. Plans to kill them if they say no (don't tell Ashara).
- Agreed with Darth Malgus in principle, and regretted having to fight him.
- Has a guilty pleasure of liking Huttball. Rotworms fan.

- Political allies on the Council:

Darth Vowrawn

Darth Mortis

Darth Decimus (deceased)

Darth Jadus (Ousted. Due to Jadus having no official power anymore, Nox has never met him).

Political swing-votes:

Darth Hadra (deceased)

Darth Marr

Darth Arho (deceased)

Political enemies:

Darth Ravage (though they have a grudging, mutual respect)

Darth Acheron (deceased)

Darth Zhorrid (loathe each other, despite being around the same age)

If OC, Did You Run Your Character Through a Mary-Sue Litmus Test?
And What Did You Score?

Samples
Log Sample: "You brought us here, little snake! A world devoid of the Force! This time you've gone too far!" "Quiet, Andru. No Sith can do that."

"Both of you, quiet down." The only one who wasn't a ghost silenced both of them, bringing a gloved hand to his chin. This... this wasn't possible. Was he dead? Was this Chaos? No... no, it couldn't be. "I asked the six of you for an opinion, not to listen to your paranoia." Ironic, coming from him. He was as freaked out as any of they were. The Voss ghost finally spoke up, after a long period of silence. "Your Emperor did this."

Nox turned to look at the Voss Mystic. After a moment or two of mindless staring, he finally outstretched both of his hands, and re-bound the ghosts into is body, in a display of power that was, of course, painful even to himself due to the muscle convulsions.

None of those ghosts were helpful. They were as clueless about this place as he was. The Force felt odd here, certainly not the same as his own galaxy. But... could this really be the work of the Emperor? He knew the Emperor did something similar to Revan. Did the Emperor begin to think that he was a threat, perhaps by mastering Force Walking?

Pondering this, Nox's eyes close, and his gloved hand came to the bridge of his nose. He didn't feel any (abnormal) presences inside his mind... but if anyone could hide their presence, it was the Emperor.


Network Sample: This world makes me sick.

[ The voice is heard before the video begins. The video takes place in a dark room, with a man levating cross-legged, meditating, his eyes glowing an eerie shade of purple, with five bluish swirls orbiting him like the electrons of an atom. ]

A world devoid of the Force... even to a Sith, it feels wrong.

[ The Sith Lord lands on the ground, getting to his feet. His rather elaborate robes dragging behind him, he moves towards a nearby window, and looks out. ]

Look at them. Like maggots on a corpse. Even without the Force, I could have sensed their suffering. Too weak to fight, to try to change their miserable world for the better... they deserve whatever comes of it.