Kissai Prophetess Iplaekuoth Mindseer, also known as the Dream-weaver, is the former apprentice and now explicitly-named heiress to Kissai Prophet Notsmû "the Fearbringer", High Prophet and Keeper of the Knowledge of the Enclave of the Pureblooded Sith Sorcerers. She is especially infamous for creating the Dream-weaver Ritual, which no-one else has tried to emulate. The Dream-weaver specialized in the seeding and manipulation of dreams very early on, using some of her master's methods for manipulating illusions to great effect. Later in life, she retreated from this dark and manipulative practice and sought balance in the Force in an effort to guard against the consquences of the Dream-weaver Ritual.
Biography[]
"I fought every man near my age in the Enclave, and only two could best me."
— The Dream-weaver recounting part of her history to a Zuguruk-caste apprentice.
Birth and trials[]
Iplaekuoth Mindseer was the favored daughter of Kissai-caste Sorcerers Litsmûn and Whunia (surnames missing), who trained her from childhood to follow in their footsteps. Iplaekuoth passed her coming-of-age trials with surprising ease, though the Ruling Council had to give up on matching her up with an opponent of near-equal skill for the dueling portion of the trials since she seemed capable of foreseeing every move that any of the other younglings might make. This naturally drew the attention of the Prophets of the Enclave, who observed her continued training with especial interest.
Apprenticeship[]
The youngest and newest of the Prophets, Notsmû "the Fearbringer" (he became so widely known by his appellative that his real surname was forgotten), himself the former apprentice of the High Prophet of the time, took Iplaekuoth as his apprentice at least a year earlier than was the custom. She spent the greater part of the next decade studying under his tutelage, developing her precognition to levels that most Sith never even dream possible. She learned to communicate telepathically with her master even when he was as far away as the next star system and, it is rumored, she became the only person (other than his wife) who could stand to be in his company for longer than a few hours. The reason for this is actually quite simple: Notsmû the Fearbringer gained his appellative from his mastery of illusion, which he actively practiced on everyone around him, probably shortening the lifespans of a few Sorcerers by causing strangely variable blood pressure levels from all the illusory ... things that waited for them in the strangest places. Naturally, Iplaekuoth picked up both some skill in creating illusions, and, out of dire necessity, in seeing through a wide variety of illusions, both of which would later save her future husband's life on some of his more harrowing missions.
The beautiful dream-weaver[]
Kissai-caste Apprentice Iplaekuoth was widely considered a rare beauty, with her unusually long hair (beyond waist-length - unheard of among even Sith of mixed-blood!) being a wonder to everyone in the Enclave. She knew very well the stir that she caused especially among the other apprentices and initiates, and she used this to her advantage. Eventually, this led to unwanted solicitations for her hand and enough unsavory advances made by the males of her caste that she started retreating off-world. During her studies, however, she came across a brief mention of an ancient ritual which supposedly had once been used by a powerful sorceresses for some unspecified end, which resulted in her complete and utter defeat. Iplaekuoth was immediately fascinated by the concept, and she began searching the Archives for more information. She found several other oblique references, but no explicit descriptions of the ritual. Eventually, she determined to try and re-create it herself, even without full knowledge of it.
Iplaekuoth, determined to get revenge on the males of her generation, started out by using a combination of telepathy and illusion to insert herself into their dreams. She began cruelly playing on their emotions, probing for their vulnerabilities and goading them into approaching her again, which, unsurprisingly, they did. Each time one did so, she challenged him to a duel, thus bringing to light what quickly came to be called "the Dream-weaver Ritual". One after another, she defeated and humiliated apprentices and initiates, being perfectly capable of parrying or avoiding blows faster than they could be delivered. She played with her opponents, taunting them, deliberately driving their passion to its peak before using it to dash them down.
Iplaekuoth's ritual quickly drew the attention of the Ruling Council, leading them to investigate both her actions and the actions of her opponents. When they learned what her motives were, the Councilmembers were divided over how to deal with the situation. The High Sorcerer eventually ruled to permit the duels to continue, on the condition that a senior Sorcerer must be in attendance at each one to ensure that the laws of the Enclave - and the laws of the dueling ground - were not flagrantly violated.
Hautiness before a fall[]
"You fool. Did you think the Ritual came at no cost? Did you really think you could destroy any man you laid eyes on, and not pay the price?"
— Apprentice Kraqmol Mindseer reproaching Apprentice Iplaekuoth for attempting to execute a ritual she did not understand.
Before a full year had passed, Iplaekuoth had broken the pride of nearly every male Kissai-caste initiate or apprentice. She had begun to carry herself like a queen, even going so far as to reply haughtily to her own master's orders. The enraged Notsmû the Fearbringer determined that his apprentice had gone far enough, and he concocted a plan to bring her the same humiliation which she had inflicted on so many others. The prophet made some nearly imperceptible tweaks to the dreams which his apprentice used to draw in her prey. At first, there was no visible difference in her continuing ritualistic humiliation of her colleagues, but then an unexpected challenger arrived on the dueling grounds to face her.
Iplaekuoth looked up at the sound of her new opponent's challenge, and she looked up even further, her face going white as she finally realized just how far beyond the line she had gone. The immediate future flashed through her mind, but she steeled herself for the combat anyway, determined that this Massassi-caste upstart should receive an even greater humiliation than any of her previous Kissai-caste opponents - not least because he dared consider himself worthy of a member of the ruling caste. However, her master's plan proved her undoing, for, even though she foresaw and defended against her opponent's attacks, she did not yet have sufficient strength in the Force to make up for her relative lack of physical strength in the face of his punitive power strikes. She was quickly beaten to the ground, exhausted and barely conscious, with her opponent exulting in his victory. The other Kissai-caste apprentices looked on, their hatred overcoming even the solidarity of the Kissai caste, and they determined to leave her to her fate - all except for one, a recently-returned Kissai-caste apprentice hunter by the name of Kraqmol Mindseer, who had caught the mutated form of Iplaekuoth's dream while still in hyperspace, and who intervened before Iplaekuoth's master could. Kraqmol challenged Massassi-caste apprentice-Warrior Udarmo, and the two immediately engaged each other in one of the longest-lasting duels fought between two apprentices in living memory. Kraqmol, though his precognition was nowhere near as advanced as Iplaekuoth's, was able to predict and parry one power strike after another - and he had the strength to cope with most of them. Eventually, however, even his strength began to flag under the now-sporadic attacks of his opponent, and he determined it was time to bring the duel to an end. In a sudden and completely unexpected reversal of tactics, he switched from his Form III defense to a highly aggressive Form VII offense, feinting and darting around his opponent's defenses until his dazed opponent lost his balance and fell - right onto Kraqmol's training blade.
Both apprentices sustained multiple injuries, with each having taken blows to his extremities. The Massassi-caste apprentice was sent straight to the healers after the fight, as the fall he took actually impaled his thigh, tearing through the muscles and damaging the bones themselves despite the Enclave training blades being designed to prevent such a mishap from occurring. Kraqmol's words to Iplaekuoth when he pulled her out of her healing trance became textbook forever after: "You fool. Did you think the Ritual came at no cost? Did you really think you could destroy any man you laid eyes on, and not pay the price?" Iplaekuoth is said to have flinched, both from Kraqmol's words and from the angry look in his eye. She turned and fled, stealing her master's ship and vanishing into hyperspace, leaving the injured Kraqmol staring after her.
The price of power[]
Iplaekuoth fled from one Enclave outpost to another, yet everywhere she went, her deranged mind saw apprentice Hunter Kraqmol waiting on the landing pad, or just past the airlock doors of the orbital station. Finally, having exhausted all Enclave holdings, she fled into true hyperspace, before inadvertently slipping through a thither-to unknown tear in the fabric of Kendalaran Hyperspace, where-in she remained for several months. Her master eventually succeeded in tracking her down, and he forcibly brought his renegade apprentice back to Kendalar V where the half-mad young woman promptly attacked the recovered apprentice Hunter Kraqmol, and he, in turn, disarmed and subdued her.
In the end, the Dream-weaver ritual was a success, though not in replicating the original on which it was extremely loosely based. Iplaekuoth not only rid herself of her unwanted suitors, but she also found herself a husband whose willpower rivaled her own. While her highly public defeat and humiliation was a painful price to pay, it proved to be an important turning point in her life. She learned to hold her manipulative nature in check, and she learned how and when to unleash it. Further, her master realized the role his own unchecked behavior had played in his apprentice's misconduct, and he halted his own illusory depredations, resulting in a second heartfelt sigh of relief from the entire Enclave. As for Kraqmol, he gained a strong Force bond with the woman who would eventually become one of the most powerful illusionists in the Enclave and the mistress of dream-weaving, and, further, he gained himself a wife. His one-time opponent, Udarmo, when he discovered that his wound could not be fully healed, devoted himself to the study of Sith sorcery and battlefield healing, eventually coming to rival the greatest of the Kissai Sorcerers in knowledge and power.
Identification of the original ritual[]
Several decades later, Initiate Valermit Mindseer, son of Kissai Hunter Kraqmol and Kissai Prophetess Iplaekuoth Mindseer, vanished without trace on his first mission for the Enclave. He eventually resurfaced on Byss, the capital of the Sith Empire, and, during his studies there, he found what he believes to be the actual ritual his mother tried and failed to re-create: the Kaggath, though on a much smaller scale.
Promotion to full Prophetess[]
((Reminder to self to update this.))
((WIP))
Personality[]
While she doesn't get out and about much as the Warden of the Red Moon of Kendalar, Kissai Prophetess Iplaekuoth Mindseer is well known and liked among the younglings, initiates, and apprentices of the Enclave as the most experienced instructor the Enclave has in the Way of the Sorcerer and Jar'kai dual-blade combat. She spends a surprisingly large portion of her time working with them to help them better channel their emotions and to bring out latent Force abilities so that they can be trained properly. And she does all this without leaving the Red Moon of Kendalar.
Skills and powers[]
Kissai Prophetess Iplaekuoth Mindseer has learned a wide range of skills during her long career as a Prophetess of the Enclave. Her greatest strengths lie in the realm of Telepathy, specifically mind-altering powers.
Warblade combat[]
She notably mastered the way of the sorcerer some time before her former master ascended to the Ruling Council as the new High Prophet. She later went on to master Jar'kai, often fighting against phantoms created by her former master to hone her skills. She reportedly started her son on the way of the sorcerer at the age of twelve standard years. She is the most sought-after instructor in this form in the Enclave, with even battlemasters deferring to her expertise. Her skill as a duelist remains almost unparalleled to this day.
The Dream-weaver also reportedly became an expert on telekinetic warblade combat, which she combined with her previous dual-wield training and her realistic illusions to great effect. According to her son, she can conjure and control as many as six illusory warblades at one time, and she can use them to fight as many as six opponents at one time. She does not have to be physically present in the same place as her opponent(s), though she does still require either line of sight or the presence in her opponent's location of an individual with whom she shares a Force bond, and thus through whom she can channel the ability if they consent.
Telepathy[]
The Kissai Prophetess isn't called the "Dream-weaver" without reason, just as Obi-wan Kenobi wasn't called the master of Soresu just because he studied it. Her talent for dream-weaving became blindingly obvious during her apprenticeship when she misused it in her Dream-weaver Ritual. She continued to exercise this talent throughout her life, though more responsibly after her marriage. She used the ability to share part of her vision concerning her son with the Ruling Council of Sorcerers, resulting in his becoming their choice for a dangerous mission into pirate-controlled territory. She later used it to share a part of her vision with her son and with a failed Zuguruk-caste apprentice whom she believed to still be capable of great things. Still later, she used it (without her son's knowledge) to learn of the capture and condemnation of Jedi Master Reegha Alvar from Valermit's dreams and to warn the Jedi Master's Padawan in the hopes of turning one-time blood enemies into something a bit closer to a neutral party, despite all three individuals being at least half the galaxy away (and also despite her never having met either of the Jedi in her life.)
The Dream-weaver's mastery of dream-weaving also extends to a variation called by some a Force nightmare. This played an integral part in her Dream-weaver Ritual, nearly driving her insane after Kraqmol Mindseer managed to deflect part of its effects back into her mind. Her ritual subtly affected the kendar crystals of Kendalar V, also, resulting in kendar memory crystals gaining a greatly enhanced defense against thieves which is reminiscent of some ancient Sith plagues.
As a prophetess, the Dream-weaver possesses extremely advanced precognititive abilities, which manifested themselves even before her coming-of-age trials, and which contributed to her becoming one of the greatest duelists in the Enclave.
While she no longer so much as possesses a warblade, let alone uses it in combat, Iplaekuoth is notoriously skilled in conjuring illusions, including conjuring, imbuing, and controlling as many as six illusory warblades simultaneously. Each warblade deals damage comparable to that of a forcesaber and is more than capable of parrying, blocking, and deflecting attacks against her person. She has been known to combine this with a Force projection of herself and multiple squads of dopplegängers or phantoms to distract her husband's foes even from several star systems away.
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