OOM: Meeting the Revanites.

(OOC: Some lines taken from canon.)

Khem Val, Devourer of the Dromund System, Shadow Killer, Servant of Tulak Hord, has many talents. Infiltration is not one of them. The Dashade's large, imposing, unique appearance and aggressive personality make him ill suited for this kind of work.

Besides, she only has one token. So Khem is patrolling near the camp, in the thick of the jungle, amusing himself by battling the dangerous wildlife, while she sits and has tea with Dzoun, the gatekeeper and guardian on duty when she arrived.

"I am afraid I know little of Revan," she says to Dzoun with a small, friendly smile. "Who was he?"

Dzoun returns her smile, eager to expound on the subject of Revan. "He was a warrior who slaughtered armies, a teacher who trained a thousand dark apprentices, a man who was both Jedi and Sith."

Ibani raises an eyebrow. "Jedi and Sith?"

Dzoun nods. "Not at the same time, at least officially. And both turned on him in the end. Stripped him of power, of life, of memory, left him to rot. But that was not the end of Revan. Revan was reborn, relearned the ways of the Force, destroyed Jedi and Sith."

"And he came here, to Dromund Kaas?" This Revan sounds like a savior figure, perhaps a martyr. The story sounds too fantastic to be real, but there have always been rumors of Sith who found a way to cheat death itself. For that matter, the Empire's official stance is that the Emperor is truly immortal. Perhaps Revan found such a secret hundreds of years ago?

"Yes. It was here that his life ended, but the Master has preserved that life so that we may learn from it." So, Revan died here, did he? Interesting. He might have even perished at the hands of the Emperor himself, if he was powerful enough to attract His personal attention.

"And what do we learn?" Ibani asks, curious.

"We learn to walk Revan's path, to master the light side and the dark side -- war and peace." Ibani can't deny that that notion appeals strongly to her. A middle ground between Sith and Jedi, a path that accepts both sides of the Force. It sounds very much like the path she's been trying to walk ever since she learned what she was.

And it suggests that at this level, at least, there's not likely to be anything evil going on. That, that's going to present a horrible dilemma down the road if it remains true. Because her employer wants a name, a name that will result in the slow and horrible deaths of all these people, including the man sitting across from her and pouring her more tea. Personal experience makes it all too easy to imagine what will happen to them: minds assaulted and torn apart like paper, bodies wracked with pain and disassembled piece by careful piece. She takes another sip of tea to buy herself a moment. "I think I have been trying to walk that path all my life, alone" she says quietly, her voice cracking a little as she speaks with more truth and more emotion than she intended to a few moments ago.

Dzoun puts a comforting hand on her shoulder and gives her a sympathetic smile. "Take part in our rituals, learn Revan's path to greatness. Out there are your teachers, Revanites who have spent their lives recovering the works of Darth Revan," Dzoun says, gesturing toward an open area beyond the tent that she only just glimpsed on her way here. "Speak with them, complete the tasks you are given, and you will earn the right to be one of us."

"I will," Ibani replies. "Thank you, Dzoun."

OOM: The Ritual of Rebirth

(OOC: Some lines taken from canon. Warning for self-scarification.)

Elder Revanite Jhorval is a decidedly less sympathetic figure than Dzoun was, Ibani decides as the man eyes her dispassionately.

"You are among the initiates who wish to join our order -- and this is good. But tell me something, are you ready to die for us?"

WHAT? THAT'S his question. Has she been made, discovered? Ibani returns his gaze, one eyebrow raised and drawls "Do you ask this of all the initiates, or have you taken a special dislike to me, Jhorval?"

Jhorval snorts and gives her a disappointed look. "Every Revanite must face a trial of death -- just as Revan died at the hands of Jedi and Sith." Well, that suggests the 'death' in question is metaphorical or symbolic or the like, because none of the Revanites she's met are acting anything like reanimated corpses.

Jhorval continues. "Death freed Revan, left him unbound from all oaths and promises. It paved his road to rebirth." He looks at her, his eyes focusing and lingering on the scars beneath one eye, the scars whose lines tell those with clever enough eyes that she was once a slave. Ibani lost count long ago of the number of people who've done the same. "Tell me, initiate, will death free you from your past?"

Ibani thinks of her years as as a slave, cold, hungry and afraid. Of learning not to cower, not to show fear. Of learning to use the Force to fight, to kill, to heal and to hurt. "I left my past behind when I became Sith," she replies, looking him dead in the eyes, daring him to show her derision or pity. She wants neither.

Instead, Jhorval looks amused. "Then you have nothing to fear, initiate." He gestures toward a path cut into the jungle that leads up into the hills. "Before us is a path. Beyond it, a cave dedicated to Darth Revan. Some fall on the path, some are torn apart by things inside the cave. But initiates who reach the end are reborn. Remade."

Ibani is skeptical. "You expect me to believe that?"

"I expect nothing of you. But this is the first step along the path of Revan, the first trial. If you do not complete it, you will not be accepted into the Order."

Ibani sighs. "Very well. I will go."

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Ibani breathes deeply, feeling the cuts in her side ache as she leans against the stone walls of the cave. Jhorval wasn't kidding when he mentioned beasts on the path and in the cave. Vine cats on the path, and Gundarks in the cave itself. Enough of them that she was very grateful for her lightsaber, whatever strange connection her master has to it.

She can feel the power in the cave pressing down on her as she coaxes her wounds closed, thick and heavy, clinging to her body. In the center of the cave is a shrine, a massive statue of a man in a mask looking down on those below and ringed by fire. Revan, most likely. She walks toward the shrine and seats herself before it. Her instincts tell her to meditate, to reach out for the Force, so she does.

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The Overseer sneers at her, her eyes lingering on the scars below Ibani's eye. Ibani can barely stand, but she doesn't dare do anything else. Even being punished with force lightning isn't enough to grant her an excuse to sit without permission. "I would have thought those scars would remind you that you are slave filth. For reasons I cannot fathom, you are being permitted to continue training here on Korriban, permitted to advance a year, but that changes nothing. NOTHING. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Overseer," Ibani replies.

The Overseer gives her a cruel smile. "Thankfully, those scars of yours will remind anyone who sees you of what you are, what you will always be, even though you will no longer be under my direction. Isn't that nice?"

Ibani sits in the library, pondering the patterns before her, carefully replicated in ink. What the Overseer said is true, she will bear her slave brand for the rest of her life and she's bitterly certain that no one here would let her forget that she was once a slave even if she COULD remove it. But there are other options.

The past has left its scars, but that does not mean that they must limit her, must make her less. Why not take them and make them part of something more, something that represents what she wants to be? She will be SITH. As as a Sith ought to be, not these twisted, cruel creatures that walk these halls with her.

With a steady hand, she cuts additional lines beneath her eye, slowly, carefully. When she's finished, the letters and numbers will be part of something abstract but more aesthetically pleasing, an echo of ancient Sith designs.

Ibani pulls herself back to the here and now with great effort, feeling the heavy power of the cavern fighting her every step of the way. "The past is past. It shapes me, but it does not limit me. It does not bind me." The fires blaze up, growing to almost touch the ceiling of the cavern and she sees the image of a man standing before her, an image of Revan. Then, the power trying to hold her goes slack and everything goes dark.

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She feels the Force around her, not the heavy clinging power of the cave, but warm and comforting, like the embrace of a friend. It tugs at her, as if it is saying 'come and see!', so she lets herself be drawn along.

She sees a massive complex, its design strange, patrolled by guards and terrible beasts. She sees a man, trapped inside a forcefield prison and she feels his presence in the Force press against her. A jedi?

Suddenly, she's drifting in space, between the stars, falling toward a space station on a lonely asteroid. She's hit by a wave of dread, of horror greater than any she's ever known, a metallic clanking, marching sound ringing in her ears...

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Ibani sits upright suddenly, gasping desperately for air. That, that wasn't a dream. It was something more, a force vision? She's never had one before, but that doesn't mean much at her age.

It's only then that she notices her surroundings. She blinks, staring at the makeshift medical area and the medical droid hovering nearby. How did she get here? Wasn't she in that damned cave just a minute ago?

Thankfully, Jhorval decides to poke his head inside the tent at that moment. "Ah, you're awake!" he says with an actual smile. "You return to us, dripping with the blood of the womb. You are reborn."

"I, yes. Yes, it seems I am," Ibani replies. "What was in that cave?" she asks.

"Darth Revan's shrine. Every piece of Revan's life that we've recovered is in that cave. It's the last thing initiates see before dying. Tell me, how does it feel to see the world reborn?"

"Confusing, at the moment," Ibani replies, still pondering the force vision. Are those going to happen often? And if they are, could they at least provide some context for what they show? This one gave her a scare, but she has no idea what it means!

"It is confusing at first, but you will find your way," Jhorval replies. "I'm proud that you've begun your new life, initiate. I would suggest you give yourself a few days before attempting another trial, get some rest." With that, Jhorval is off again before she can even say goodbye.

Her holocommunicator beeps, displaying a message from Lord Zash. Her Master wants to meet with Ibani in her office as soon as possible.

"Sorry Jhorval, I don't think rest is in the cards."