"Passion does indeed generate power, but if it is not properly channeled, it becomes self-destructive."
— Valermit's private observation while reading the Sith Code in the Archives of the Dark Lords of the Sith on Byss.
Biography[]
"Valermit is... somewhere outside the Rhid-Kendalaran Nebula, I do not know where. As long as he was still in the Nebula, I was able to track him, but that grew more difficult once the pirates made the unexpected decision to leave the Nebula rather than return home. I managed to trace him to a foreign star system, one ruled by lesser races, but I lost him there. His father is there now, searching for any evidence of his whereabouts. I can still track Kissai Hunter Kraqmol, for he is my husband, and we share a strong Force bond."
Birth and trials[]
Darth Awata, also known as Tsitira Awata, and known to some only as "The Phantom", was born Valermit Mindseer on Kendalar V to Kissai-Hunter Kraqmol Mindseer and Kissai-Prophetess Iplaekuoth "the Dream-weaver" Mindseer in the Rhid-Kendalaran Nebula (somewhere in the general vicinity of the Nilash system). He is a descendant of a small splinter faction of Purebloods who were not on Tund when Rokur Gepta wiped out the Sorcerers of Tund with his electromagnetic torpedo. He grew up in the Enclave of the Pureblooded Sith Sorcerers on Kendalar V, passing his coming-of-age trials, defeating his childhood rival Hojnûl (of the Massassi caste, not the Massassi subspecies) for the first time in single combat, and crafting his warblade and fully attuning its crystals at the age of 18 before being initiated into the Enclave. High Sorcerer Tsoirrim Highmind-Foreseer evidently considered this level of skill in attunement impressive, as he took Valermit's warblade to be tempered using Sith Alchemy, giving it the ability to deflect blaster bolts and vibro-blades (and lightsabers, though those are little more than old legend in the Enclave) - a rare honor for a new initiate.
Training[]
Valermit was reportedly approved for accelerated training shortly after his initiation into the Enclave, as the Ruling Council of Sorcerers had planned a near-suicidal mission which only a talented new initiate could perform, though a vision reported by his mother probably affected their decision. As per Enclave requirements, Kissai-Admiral Tigathisse, a Ruling Councilmember (and the first-ever non-Sith Pureblood member of the Ruling Council) oversaw Valermit's accelerated training, introducing him to Form II warblade combat (also called "the Duelist's form" in the Enclave) to complement his previous basic training in Form VI warblade combat (also called "the Sorcerer's form" in the Enclave) and taking the time to work with him on developing his talent for navigation to the point where he could make a trial run through hyperspace with an experienced sorcerer along to make sure he didn't kill himself by accident.
First mission[]
Unfortunately, the accelerated training had to come to an abrupt halt due to a long-awaited narrow window of opportunity having just opened, resulting in Valermit's trial run being a live one into pirate territory. Along the way, the GX-series light freighter piloted by then-Initiate Valermit under the supervision of a senior Sorcerer narrowly missed a red giant's mass shadow when the sheer enormity of the star overwhelmed Valermit's ability to guide the light freighter through the Force, nearly knocking the young initiate unconscious. The mission's official destination was a moon in the next system, with the objective being to retrieve valuable ore from a droid-operated mining post, though he later claimed that his mission was something else entirely. Considering the accelerated training, his mother's vision, and the amount of distance that that light freighter covered, that claim appears to be true. Regardless, the hyperdrive conveniently "malfunctioned" in such a way that Initiate Valermit found himself under the guns of three pirate frigates (according to Imperials in the Nilash system) or one pirate corvette (according to then-Initiate Valermit). It is worth noting that Valermit was the only Pureblood captured, and that an entire squad of battle droids onboard the light freighter was destroyed: the supervising sorcerer made it to safety in the hyperspace-capable escape pod before the pirates even realized he was there.
Captured?!?[]
Valermit's captors did not immediately return to their base as had been expected; instead, they journeyed to the edge of the Rhid-Kendalaran Nebula through the twists and turns of the anomaly commonly known as Kendalaran Hyperspace, then they used little-known normal hyperlanes to make the trip to the Nilash system. Once there, they began preying on civilian shipping until they ran afoul of an Imperial Star Destroyer out on patrol, resulting in the pirates being handed every bit as crushing a defeat as they had given to their prisoner. Valermit was picked up by the Imperials who initially treated him as a common prisoner - something which the lieutenant who arrested him quickly rethought after seeing two of his men hurled against two different walls simultaneously by the sheer force of the Pureblood initiate's rage when they attempted to cuff him. Very shortly thereafter, his existence was brought to the attention of the local governor who arranged to send the initiate to Byss, the capital of the Sith Empire, deeming it wisest for a Pureblooded Sith to be turned over to the order bearing his species' name. Keeping Valermit's warnings concerning the dangers of making a hyperspace jump into the Rhid-Kendalaran Nebula in mind, Imperial agents investigating the origin of the pirate vessels promised to send word if they found the nebula, within which both the Enclave's homeworld of Kendalar V and the pirate base lay hidden. Thus, Valermit became the first member of the Enclave of the Pureblooded Sith Sorcerers to enter either Imperial or Republic space in roughly 250 standard years.
A True Sith initiate joins the Sith Order[]
Valermit Mindseer was accepted into the well-established Sith order known as 'Dark Lords of the Sith' as an initiate. When asked whether he could handle their grueling curriculum, his reply was simply "We shall see."
The young Pureblood initiate views training in the Dark side as a birthright, but one that must be fought for, on pain of losing said birthright.
Valermit has been repeatedly questioned by senior members of the order as to where he came from, likely because he is the first Pureblooded Sith (other than previous Emperor Validus' alchemically-crafted reincarnation) to be seen in Imperial space since the devastation of Tund. The initiate cannot remember the path back to the Rhid-Kendalaran Nebula, however, as the image of the red giant he nearly crashed into has overwhelmed that memory. He has begun transcribing portions of the Enclave's history from memory for the archives of the Dark Lords of the Sith in an effort to recover that memory, among other things.
After completing his initiate tasks, Valermit was chosen by Darth Invidia to become her new junior apprentice; this is especially interesting when considered in the light of Darth Invidia's comment to Darth Inanna concerning Valermit the day he arrived on Byss: "Nope... all yours... kill it... eat it... drain its life... I do not care..."
Beginning the De'evan Project[]
With his Mistress' approval, Valermit delved into a long-term research project on the mysterious ancestor of Darth Nikkan De'eva. He hopes to discover that the legend of this ancient Sith lord's mastery of Mechu-deru is not only true, but that the Sith lord's holocron can be recovered and that the knowledge contained therein will prove useful in combating the rogue AI which he first encountered on Bandomeer (though the Byss Sith Empire first encountered it on Mandalore Prime.) However, the passage of four millenia since the Sith lord's disappearance, along with a deliberate campaign to hide the truth about him, has turned the De'evan project into a daunting task. Valermit has begun recruiting other Sith disciples to aid him in the research, and he has enlisted one of the Empire's allies to investigate Republic and Jedi records for any traces of either Darth Nikkan De'eva or his distant ancestor.
Valermit imbued and fully attuned a Kendar Memory Crystal, though he later lost it in a skirmish with a joint Jedi and Republic strike team on Byss. The Sith apprentice is keeping an ear open for the rumor of the spread of Force nightmares resulting from unauthorized handling - or even simply being in the presence of - his Kendar Memory Crystal.
Accusation of treason[]
Following a lecture he gave for the Sith Academy on Byss concerning the mind-altering powers - and his demonstration of the dangers associated with them - Disciple Valermit Mindseer was accused of treason by members of the Imperial Sith Military, who claimed that he had deliberately launched an attack against the Sith Empire. Following a staged trial and a nearly fatal test (during which he destroyed his warblade) set him by his Mistress, the disciple became convinced that he had been cast out of the Sith Order. However, only a few days later, he participated in the invasion of Samaria at his Mistress' command, where he nearly melted a war droid with the sheer heat and fury of his raging emotions channeled into the first true sustained stream of Force lightning he had ever used in combat. He was forced to fall back, however, as he had still not recovered from injuries sustained during the afore-mentioned test, and he spent the remainder of the battle doing what he could to stabilize the wounded and aid in safely removing them from the battlefield.
Death and rebirth[]
"Let it be seen, That Valermit..Of the enclave...Is no more...That his life has ended....
Rise Lord Gidiskin. and face the order as a member in truth..free from the chains of your past."
— Darth Invidia, Arch Sorceress and Empress' Hand, raising her junior apprentice to the rank of Sith lord
One week after his seeming conviction, Apprentice Valermit Mindseer was astonished when his Mistress, the Arch Sorceress, publicly exonerated him of the charge of treason on the basis of the ruling of Dark Lady Kālarātri made previously, and then she proceeded to promote him to the rank of Sith lord in the Empress' presence and with her approval. With the new rank came a new name and a level of authority as her second senior apprentice which the Pureblood had thought was lost to him forever. His voice and his carriage took on a level of strength and confidence which he had not previously known, and one of his first acts as a senior apprentice and Sith lord was to begin examining the Sith Archives on Byss for information which was lacking.
Sticking fingers in contraband pies[]
Despite the highly public nature of his trial, exoneration, and promotion, the new Lord Gidiskin became less noticeable to those outside his order than he had been before. Rumors began to circulate within the capital's under-city concerning his promotion, and speculation regarding the nature of it ran rife. Those few in the Byss underworld who actually did have direct contact with the new Sith lord took especial care not to correct the rumors nor enlighten their rivals.
The precise nature of Lord Gidiskin's interest in the Byss underworld remains a mystery; however, he did follow up on a lead from an information broker which led him and the ISM to the lair of a group of starship parts thieves calling themselves the Black Steel Syndicate. Only a single light freighter escaped the subsequent Sith-Imperial assault, though they escaped before the assault began and thus did not know what happened. They are the only non-Imperials who know the location and the name of the secret Darkspear Project Development Complex.
The rise of a new acolyte of sorcery[]
"Do not rely overmuch on your saber: the true power of the Sith lies in the Force. A Sith without a lightsaber is no less dangerous than one with a lightsaber, so long as he realizes this and acts on that realization."
— Gidiskin'ari advising a Sith disciple.
((Stuff happened.))
Blinded to the Force[]
During an operation on Yavin IV which involved a flesh raider attack, Lord Gidiskin was blinded to the Force after his doppleganger, and thus much of his presence in the Force, was dissipated in the explosion of a flesh raider shuttle. The Sith lord was taken back to Dromund Kaas unconscious, and he remained in a coma for at least a week. There, the Arch Sorceress repaired his essence sufficiently that he could eventually recover, then she forcefully broke him out of his coma.
Upon realizing that he could no longer sense the Force, Lord Gidiskin sought an audience with Empress Rowe. He returned the symbols of his rank and resigned from his position as the junior co-lead of the Restoration of the Darkspear Project, seeing himself as unworthy of the title of Sith lord. He requested that the Empress speedily assign a replacement so as to minimize the damage which he believed he had done. Much to his surprise, the Empress chose not to kill him for his failure, instead stripping him of his name and sending him into exile as 'Ronin' until he should recover sufficiently to be worthy of his rank once more.
'Ronin' spent a large part of his time in exile on Yavin IV, where he was surprised again by the willingness of Jedi Master Thalia Splintrus to help him in his recovery. He surmised that this was because he had been carrying a relic of her people at the time of the attack, and also because he recovered her severed tongue from a flesh raider chieftain. He also met several other Jedi while there, one of whom, the Jedi Knight Marric Farstar, threw him into confusion by calling him 'friend'.
Eventually, 'Ronin' acquired a new starship to replace the Rhak-skuri, his personal shuttle which he had lost during the skirmish with the flesh raiders. This new vessel was a modified scout ship gifted to him by the mercenary Captain Krutap in gratitude for past assistance rendered. That night, 'Ronin' experienced a strange dream in which someone masquerading as Darth Invidia ordered him to return to Dromund Kaas. Even though he knew that the individual in the dream was an imposter, he elected to run the risk of returning.
After a brief stint on Dromund Kaas during which his Mistress restored his former name and rank, Lord Gidiskin set off into the galaxy on a quest to regain more of his former power - and to craft a special weapon. He took advantage of his return to the Sith being known to only a handful of people to make it seem as though he had broken all ties with the Sith Order, thus allowing him greater freedom of movement outside of the Sith Empire than he might have had otherwise.
Personality[]
Valermit has a tendency to speak quietly, which some people mistake for a sign of weakness. However, he is perfectly capable of projecting his voice across a surprising distance without increasing its volume in the slightest. Those he intends his words for are typically able to understand him; those who can't probably aren't the people he's talking to. He speaks softly when angered, though his eyes tend to flash, glow, or "flame up". He has been known to project his anger into the mind of the one who angered him in the form of a vicious mindtwist.
The Pureblood has a healthy regard for the power of others which helps him keep his own skin intact. He is also swift to change his attitude when corrected by a superior, as he recognizes that things in the greater galaxy do not necessarily work the same way as they do in the Enclave. He will often compare what others tell him to what he's used to in the Enclave, which has led to at least one person exclaiming in exasperation: "This isn't the Enclave!"
Valermit spends a great deal of time studying and he commands a respectable knowledge of the history of the Sith species and the Sith Order as a whole. He has been known to interpret some of his reading in an unusual manner, such as his understanding of the Sith Code and its history. Where others might tremble or even cower in fear at a veiled threat from a Darth, he rarely gives a noticeable reaction beyond a possible reference to a red giant. He also applies his knowledge and interpretation thereof to the physical world, with sometimes interesting - or painful - results. He is the only Force-user in the known galaxy to have attempted to trigger a kendar pulse and blast his enemy with the power gained thereby, though that is, admittedly, only because he is the only Force-user in the greater galaxy to possess kendar crystals. He is also the only Force-user in the known galaxy to knock himself unconscious with that same blast.
He is amazingly predictable, both in his distancing himself from members of most other species, and in his behavior - except when he's not. That may be one of his greatest strengths: like a Form VII specialist, as soon as someone thinks they know what the pattern is, it changes.
Skills and powers[]
Warblade/lightsaber combat[]
As the junior apprentice of Darth Invidia, Valermit reportedly told her senior apprentice that his mother had started training him in the Sorcerer's Form of warblade combat about six years before, when he was twelve standard years old. He later successfully demonstrated this fact in combat with a Sith lord at the first Skirmish on Bandomeer, where the apprentice was knocked unconscious while the lord required the aid of a droid to leave the battlefield. He further demonstrated his skill in a sparring match with a Sith lord of his own order on Darth Invidia's orders, where he took his opponent off-guard four times, one of those being after the only hit he took where he managed to channel some of his opponent's lightning into a painful counterattack. Valermit also had received some basic training in the Way of the Duelist, which he demonstrated in his first sparring match with Lady Inferna, where he simultaneously counter-lunged and parried her thrust before she had a chance to recover, then he caught her leg with a light cut on the way past.
Valermit has repeatedly demonstrated an ability similar in appearance to Force absorb, as he has absorbed multiple Force attacks with his right hand, then transferred the power to the kendar crystals in his warblade for later use. His opponent at the first Skirmish on Bandomeer went so far as to salute him for that.
Telekinesis[]
Valermit demonstrated some significant skill in Telekinesis as an Initiate, throwing two Imperial soldiers against opposite walls when they attempted to cuff him. Both men were either dazed or knocked unconscious, and the lieutenant overseeing their search of the pirate vessel on which Valermit had been held captive quickly decided to permit Valermit to remain free. He was treated with respect by the Imperials for the duration of his stay in the Nilash system, and many members of the local garrison gave him a wide berth, which tends to suggest that his Intimidating Presence was already beginning to manifest.
Variations in his use of Force push, pull, and hold include combination Force push and shocking an opponent, hurling an opponent against a wall to stun them, conjuring an illusion while throwing an opponent to ensure that said opponent's attention is transferred from him to the illusion, seizing an opponent's weapon in mid-air then sending it right back at them, combining Force-gripping an opponent's weapon with the signature Form VI "Draw Closer" maneuver (in one sparring match with a Darth, he grew desperate enough to attempt the "Draw Closer" maneuver using the Darth's own weapon after twice failing to strike her directly with it. Since they were sparring on the walkway in the throne room on Byss, the Darth was nearly flipped over into the lava behind him by accident!)
Telepathy[]
Valermit's navigational skill became apparent as a youngling, when his father discovered that Valermit could find his way home from almost anywhere on Kendalar V, even through unfamiliar territory. Later, at the age of eighteen, Valermit guided a GX-series vessel across several star systems before a red giant overwhelmed him and the supervising sorcerer had to take over. He would later guide Darth Invidia's personal starship through the asteroid field surrounding Bandomeer and into hyperspace as part of a mission to exfiltrate the Empress' Wrath from Bandomeer in the wake of a hostile AI gaining control of the skies. While it was a close call, Valermit did manage to override the safeties on the hyperdrive and make the jump, guiding his Mistress' starship along a litte known - yet stable - hyperlane despite the AI deploying some sort of interdiction device in an attempt to catch the shipful of Sith.
The ability to conjure convincing Force illusions and to harm enemies with mind twists came to the fore during the first Skirmish of Bandomeer, where he convinced his opponent that he was being attacked by a war droid, then, later, he created illusory flames which weakened his opponent significantly, though the Sith lord was able to "extinguish" them using the Force. He later used Force illusions to illustrate a report he made to his mistress in the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas concerning his research on Darth Marr, some of which (notably a scene from the Battle of Corellia during the Galactic War, where he showed the results of Sith infighting) were extremely convincing. His ability to see through illusions has been developing as well, as he nearly detected his Mistress when she hid herself using a mind trick and illusion in the Great Hall of the Dark Lords of the Sith on Byss. Further, during his stay on Bandomeer, he asked one of the locals to show him how to move around the countryside quickly without being seen by unfriendly eyes. He later utilized this ability, combined with a mind trick and a wrapping of illusory shadows, to cover his escape alongside a wounded Imperial Sith Military lieutenant from numerically-superior enemy forces.
[]
During his coming-of-age trials, Valermit completed the full attunement of his kendar crystals while waiting his turn to have his warblade judged by the High Sorcerer of the Enclave - something which fewer than ten individuals have been able to do in the more than 250 years of the Enclave's existence. Some time later, after his acceptance into the Sith Order in the galaxy at large and his selection as the junior apprentice of Darth Invidia, Valermit came up with a method for imbuing a kendar crystal with the Force: he simply channeled all the Force energy put out by the Empress' Wrath while the latter was mastering his own alchemically-altered weapon under Darth Invidia's supervision into a previously imbued and fully attuned kendar crystal. He may be the first member of the Enclave to re-imbue a kendar crystal.
Sith alchemy[]
One of the first abilities Lord Gidiskin attempted to use after his introduction to Sith alchemy was the mask technique, which he applied to his eyes. Another was terraforming: he loosened stones from their moorings by manipulating them at the molecular level (specifically the manipulation of electron charges, with some painfully explosive results), then he used telekinesis to build a ramp up a cliffside to access a crashed starfighter.
Equipment[]
Valermit Mindseer's warblade[]
- Main article: Valermit Mindseer's warblade
Valermit Mindseer's warblade was Valermit's first combat-worthy weapon. He crafted it during his coming-of-age trials and, extremely unusually for a mere youngling, he fully attuned its kendar crystals both to himself and to the weapon, thus guaranteeing that only he could use it as anything more than a basic sword.
Valermit Mindseer's battle armor[]
- Main article: Valermit Mindseer's battle armor
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Valermit Mindseer's battle armor made its debut when he joined Imperial forces in springing a trap for a Jedi strike team in the super-max security prison on Byss. The combination of hardened plastifold plates, cortosis-weave, and hardened leather succeeded in significantly reducing the injuries he sustained in combat against an officer of the Republic military who had accompanied the Jedi. His battlemask in particular almost completely absorbed a burst of blasterfire to the face, leaving the Sith apprentice with only minor burns.
Valermit Mindseer's field equipment[]
((Coming some day, over the rainbow. . .))
Lord Gidiskin's Sith robes[]
Since Valermit's rebirth as Lord Gidiskin, he has taken to wearing long red robes with a hood pulled down over his eyes and a mask obscuring his face in a manner reminiscent of his ancestors, the Sorcerers of Tund. Surprisingly, he has not found it any more difficult to blend in while wearing these robes than while equipped for the field, though he has not been involved in a military operation since before his promotion.
Behind the scenes[]
Valermit's name came from a fusion of Vatharn's Second Life username with the occupation of his previous Pureblooded Sith, Suessydo, an SWtOR Sith Assassin who survived the Eternal Empire's invasion of Dromund Kaas and the fall of Kaas City and who lived as a hermit for several years until the heat was off.
Valermit's personality is based largely on how Vatharn played Lord Kaissen De'eva, with a generous side-helping of Suessydo's even higher degree of introversion. In fact, Valermit might eventually be considered Lord Kaissen De'eva's counterpart: where Lord Kaissen De'eva was trained as a warrior and specialized in mechu-deru, Valermit is aiming for Sorcery (though his combat style is something of a cross between that of a Sith sorcerer and a Sith assassin) and Sith alchemy. However, Valermit may end up with significant skill in and knowledge of mechu-deru, especially if he does succeed in his quest to find Lord Kaissen De'eva's holocron.