Post by Dire Wolf on Mar 25, 2009 17:47:24 GMT -5
"Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one. For when the you gaze into the Abyss, it gazes back."
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
Name: Rhissai Arckan
Race: Aphithiri [Custom Race] (link)
Age: 62 (chronological) 30 (biological)
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 155lbs
Appearance:
Rhissai's black hair flows just past her shoulders when unkempt, though is generally tied up in a pony tail or a bun. The woman's bright green eyes are almost unnaturally bright, and have been known to faintly glow in the dark. Each curve and angle to her body is soft and slender, though her knuckles, knuckles, and forearms are slightly misshapen from constant physical conditioning.
Tribal tattoos crawl down either arm and end at the back of her hand. She often covers up the dark red tattoos with long sleeves. She also has a visage of a phoenix flourishing its wings between her shoulder blades. All of her tattoos are of a dark red hue.
Scars slash across her body in odd but deliberate patterns. The cuts on her face were healed by the Force enough to leave little to no evidence of their existence, but if one looks closely enough they are there. The only blatant scar on her face starts just below the right corner of her nose and traces diagonally down to the left corner of her chin.
Faction: Jedi
Rank: Master
Skills:
Piloting
Medicine/Healing
Mixed Martial Artist (Broken Gate, Lightning Fist, Aphithiri Martial Arts)
Birth place: Aphithir
Lightsaber: Single phase
Color: Silver
Lightsaber: Shoto
Color: Ice Blue
Practiced Lightsaber Forms
Shii-Cho: 5
Soresu: 5
Shien/Djem So: 5
Jar'kai: 2
Force Sensitive Practices
Telekinetic: 6
Telepathic: 9
Body: 8
Sense: 7
Protection: 2
Healing: 6
Destruction: 5
Specialized Skills:
Battle Meditation (link)
Force Insanity (link)
Force Projection (link)
Torture by Chagrin (link)
Force Illusion (link)
Force Lightning
Attributes:
Physical Strength: 5
Intelligence: 6
Speed: 8
Leadership: 5
Unarmed: 8
Melee Weapons: 3
Ranged Weapons: 1
Alignment: +4
Birth of a Jedi
Jedi Master Rhissai'arckan was born Lyssah Archria, and it was only until later in life that she earned her new name. Her name was the very same one of the Aphithiri goddess of beauty and illusion. While unusual to name one's child after a deity, her parents considered it a blessing of sorts. Though children of her lineage were more often than not named after Gods, Goddesses, and important figures. The blessing of her name was fitting, considering the fact that she was born with bright green eyes. What was even more odd was that her younger sister had the same green hue in her eye, if not stronger and brighter. For any other near human race this probably would not be unusual, but for the Aphithiri it was beyond unusual. It was beyond rare. Fortunately for the giggling little baby girl the emerald hue meant more then just beauty: It meant that she could become a Force User.
Lyssah Archria was born the first daughter to Kahn Alrilah, the monarch (or what passed for it) of the country of Ashai. The first five years of her life were that of almost complete comfort and luxury, and during that short span of time the little girl wouldn't know the meaning of "problem". Quiet and compassionate by nature, she hardly fit in with her cold and militaristic family.
Her life would have stayed that way until the day that she died had she not been traveling from the palace to visit one of the other houses when a rival country's band fell down upon them. They would have taken her as a hostage, had a pair of Jedi not saved her. Twenty aphithiri warriors stood between the master and his apprentice, but at the end those twenty lie dead or dieing. Though her saviors did not escape unscathed: the senior of the two was beheaded as a warblade bit through his neck and the junior received more than her fair share of nasty slashes.
The Draethos later revealed himself to be Ingemar Odin, and the dead woman his former master. He explained to her how the two had landed after landing on the hell of a planet to search for a group of brigands, but found none. As they returned to their ship they felt a call to her, as she was one of the few of her species that was actually sensitive to the Force. Everyone's connection was dull or lackluster at best, especially when compared to a regular human. Ly may as well have been a great flashing neon light.
When he proposed to take the little girl back to the Order she couldn't help but cry out in agreement. The little girl had seen what the cat and his master could do, and would die to be able to do the same. Having no immediate parents (it was easy to assume that they died, especially when one was looking for prospective Jedi and when the girl was so eager to go), he took her with him back to Coruscant. Those little green eyes filled with wonder and marvel when she first saw the stark grey temple that dwarfed even the greatest castle on Aphithir, and it was right then that she decided it would be her home for the rest of her days.
Confidence Issues
The timid little girl made very few friends while she was an initiate, she preferred to focus on her studies rather then socializing with her peers. This was a double edged sword, however, while Lyss gained a better understanding of the Force much faster, she was often picked on due to her lack of friends. While she laughed it off on the outside, she was hurt more and more on the inside at each of the children's jokes.
The jokes began to effect her more and more, and despite her apathetic facade the girl was very depressed on the inside, and her confidence was at an all time low. The minder of her youngling clan, Kisai Hikogi, could sense this in the young girl, the woman took it to herself to counsel Lyss on her problems. It took a few years but the woman did manage to bring the girl out of her depression, but her confidence issues continue to trouble her until later in Lyssah's life.
Their were only two aspects of her training that she found somewhat difficult; lightsaber combat, and telekinesis. It was not that she was bad at Shii-Cho, average at best, she just found it more challenging then say, talking to someone telepathically, healing wounds, or sensing things that were going on in another room. For some odd reason the girl was never outstanding at telepathy either, make no mistake: she was good, but her prowess with telekinesis nowhere near the level that she was with telepathy, sense, or body.
This was more then enough for the children to constantly pester her about being "terrible with a lightsaber" and "no master would want to take you now". The latter of the two hurt thousands of times worse then the former, but she did the best to shrug it off regardless. She didn't do well.
At the age of 10 she, like all other younglings, began to hope that a master would take them as their apprentice. This is when some of the more extroverted children began to find masters, but not Lyssah. She was, after all, the polar opposite of those children, the little girl generally kept to herself, only spoke when spoken to, and focused on her studies.
The dread in the introverted little girl's heart grew exponentially with every passing day, at the tender age of 12 she was closing on the cut off date for finding a master. She tried her little heart out, even going so far as to travel outside of her comfort zone and beg one knight to take her as his padawan. Sadly, the man refused. Nearly all of her confidence left her at that point, she resigned her fate to work in the corps for the rest of her days.
Tutelage of the Light
It happened by acciedent really; Jedi Master Illuma Creed was on her way to the Council of Reconciliation while Lyss was going a little too fast around the corner, she was late for a class. The two bumped into each other rather hard; Lyssah was knocked to the ground. For some odd reason, Illuma felt drawn to the little girl, so she pulled her aside and tried to talk with her.
At first it was hard; the few times that Lyssah spoke it was barely audible, but after the girl became comfortable with Illuma she became quite the little chatter box. The wise old Jedi decided to take Lyssah as her padawan, the girl reminded Illuma of herself when she was younger.
Lyss did not go on many missions during the beginning of her tutelage under Master Creed, so the woman decided that teaching her the ancient art of Soresu, or the Way of the Mynock, would have to suffice. Form III suited Lyss incredibly well, the girl much preffered building up a defense to attacking. While Illuma focused on teaching her padawan Soresu, she also introduced her padawan to Ataru so that she may be more balanced in battle... one cannot rely on defense all the time.
Illuma's first mission with her padawan came nearly a year after she took her padawan. It was quite a simple mission: Arbitrate between two rival corporations who where accusing the other of attempting to create a monopoly. The mission went by smoothly and without incident, and better yet Lyssah learned more about the less glamorous part of a Jedi's duty: Diplomacy.
Over the next 6 years the two went on more missions, each one getting progressively harder and harder. They did everything from arbitrate peace talks to shutting down terrorist and rebel organizations. Illuma made sure that Lyssah learned at least one thing about being a Jedi on every mission, facile or no.
It was on one of these missions, shutting down terrorists, that she was discovered to have the rare gift of psychometry. Illuma and Lyssah were sent to the planet of Cato Neimoidia in search of Neimodians that were threatening to nuke a particularly rich city (even by Cato Neimoidian standards) unless they were allowed entry. They were not.
While following up on a lead the young padawan touched a seemingly random object. That object happened to be one of the terrorist's more personal datapads that he absent mindedly dropped in his haste to escape. The experiences and feelings of the man while he had the datapad in his pocket came flooding back to her. Including the location of their terrorist safe house.
Once at the hideout the two Jedi attempted to convince the terrorists to give up their cause. They refused. Lyssah and her master were forced to bring them into custody, but unfortunately a few of the perpetrators were killed, though nobody lost any sleep over it.
Towards the end of Lyssah's tutelage under Master Creed the two were sent on a mission to confront fallen Jedi. It wasn't especially hard to track the man down, but unfortunately her Master was not able to convince the man to see the light. A rather nasty fight ensued, one that Creed refused to let Lyssah enter.
The young Aphithiri didn't understand why her master wouldn't let her fight the man, so she did what she thought was prudent at the time: Meditate. The girl put all of her focus into her master, and envisioning the wizened Jedi winning the fight. Strangely, as Lyss did this, Master Creed began to get the upper hand and eventually kill the Fallen Jedi. Later Lyss related these events to her master, who nearly had a heart attack... the rare power of Battle Meditation had actually manifested into her apprentice.
The Crucible
When Lyssah reached the age of 18 Iluma decided that she was more than ready to be submitted to the Jedi Trials, and so she was. Her first trial was that of skill; she was to defeat a hologram of a Dark Jedi knight. Unfortunately for Lyssah, fighting a hologram meant that she had to rely on her prowess with a lightsaber more than her strength in the Force. This coupled with the fact that she was facing a Dark Jedi Marauder doomed the poor girl to fail at her first attempt.
After many late nights of honing her skills in form III she finally decided to have a re-match with the hologram. The results were quite different the second time around; instead of being quickly overwhelmed the girl held her ground until the "Dark Jedi" made a mistake. That is when she struck, finishing the fight with a single blow to the "chest."
Her next trial was a measure of her courage in the face of adverse and overwhelming odds. She and Illuma were sent to Ralltiir to guard a senator who recently had a sizable bounty put on his head. He was to be making a public speech... compounding the problem. Luckily, though, most of the mission went without incident, it was when they were making their way back to the transport that they were ambushed by a platoon-sized Mercenary crew. Lyssah got separated from Illuma and the senator, she quickly found herself facing off against nearly 15 mercenaries. Single handily.
The young Aphithiri held off for as long as she could, even going so far as to kill four of the mercs, but eventually she was overpowered by the shear numbers of the assailants. At the end of the quick battle she found herself laying on the ground, her broken body refusing to move. The leader of the crew walked up to the girl and scoffed a little bit, almost not believing that such a young looking girl could have killed four of his men. He was about to drive his sword down into her gullet when her Master, who had just caught up with Lyssah, parried the blow and proceeded to kill or maim every merc present. Her trial of flesh was enduring the grievous wounds that she sustained in the short lived fight and survive.
It took nearly a week in the kolto tube for the girl to recover from that mission. She had many dreams during this rather long float, but one stood out more then the rest. It was considerably clearer then her other dreams; it was of her causing unimaginable amounts of pain in someone... a man... and liking it. Even taking pleasure from his anguish. This dream stuck with her, even well after she was released from the medical wing of the Jedi Temple. She told her master of this dream, who told one of the High Council members, who talked with Lyssah for a rather long period of time before deeming it a "vision."
He also pronounced that she passed her trial of spirit, to see the inner darkness within herself and that she was capable of. She was later called to the High Council chamber where she underwent the knighting ceremony. It finally happened...
Lyssah-Mav'nkau was a Jedi Knight.
Teaching for a change
For the next year Lyss almost completely focused on honing her Force Deflection, often bringing a small training remote on Diplomatic missions. While she was far from mastering her power she was most certainly well on her way.
Then something happened that Lyssah did not expect; she found an initiate by the name of Miki Arisaka, she was but weeks from being sent off to the MediCorps. Lyssah, much like her master before her, saw much of herself in the initiate, and even felt the call of the Force to the girl. So, after a few days of talking with the girl, Lyssah decided to take Miki as her padawan learner.
For the first few years the pair only went on the easy missions, but that was understandable considering that Miki was barely out her her tween years. As Mik aged the missions became progressively harder and harder, but they took it in stride.
Six years and more then a few missions later, Lyss decided that it was time for Miki to be submitted to the trials. The two were sent to Balosar to shut down a death stick ring, it took months for them to infiltrate the the compound. When the Jedi struck they found themselves greatly outnumbered while this was not a problem for Lyss, it most certainly proved to be problematic for Miki.
An explosion threw Lyss down a few levels, separating the two, but it only took a few minutes for her to rejoin her padawan. Sadly, that was not fast enough. She came barreling through the door as fast as she could, only to see a Miki laying there with a rather menacing looking vibrosword in her chest, the man who did this to her was hovering over her broken body. He turned and smirked at the Jedi Knight as his comrades closed the blast door, it would not slow her righteous fury long enough for their leader to escape.
The Fall
The woman broke through the door and tried to heal her padawan, but it was too little too late. The Knight never had much of an apptitude for healing, she was much better suited to augmenting her own bodily functions through the Force. Two left the Jedi temple all those months ago, one returned, after reporting the events to the Council she begged them to let her bring Miki's killer to justice. They barred her request. She was too emotionally attached to the situation, but they would send a pair of guardians after the man.
Furious, Lyss left that chamber, not to return in over a decade. It took her 3 years to hunt the man down, but when she finally caught up with him she found the former crime boss a changed man. He had since left his criminal activities, he even had a wife and small child. Feeling terrible about how he killed the adolescent girl, he begged for forgiveness and mercy. She barred his request and killed him, along with his family.
Realizing that she could never return to the order after what she did to the former drug lord, she fled to the last place that she figured the Jedi would look for her: Aphithir.
Ferocity
After but a few months the Fallen Jedi found herself a street urchin. Even though she was of their race, her fellow Aphithiri refused to consider her anything more then an off-worlder due to the fact that did not know the language. She quickly became frustrated, especially since she no longer had the credits to leave. So when one of the planet's massive hulking warriors decided to pick on the hapless woman she was more than happy to pick on him right back. What she did not count on, however, was the fact that these brutes are usually very proud and quick to anger. Almost the second that the little quip left the woman's lips the large man had his gargantuan sword drawn and accepted her challenge.
The fight was rather quick, the man had no clue who... or what... he was dealing with. As he went to run her through Lyssah used the Force to enhance her reaction time, speed, and strength. She dodged and batted the sword away, elbowed him in the gut, punched him in the crotch, and struck his nose with the heel of her palm... breaking it. To be honest; the first and third strikes would have only thrown the man into a rage, but it was the second drive that made the man double over. Even with the Force fueling her muscles the man's sword was hard to pick up, but she mustered the strength to do it.
Lyssah killed the "warrior" with his own sword.
The next day the authorities picked Lyssah up, but not to haul her off to prison or the wastes. No. Instead they brought her in front of her father, Khan Alrilah. The girl hardly remembered her father after nearly twenty five years, but he couldn't help but notice her facial features. How she looked so much like her sister, and even her mother. After some questioning, he found that she was none other than his daughter... and welcomed her back into the family. Though as a warrior rather than spoiled royalty.
He then awarded her the blood letter Rhissai, meaning ferocious or ferocity, that name would take place of her given name for the rest of her days. She also managed to master the martial art of the Aphithiri Warriors, Nsis'Drrn. In addition taught Mando'a, which is almost a second language on Aphithir.
Ly quickly proved the the questioning true-born that she was, indeed, not a benefactor of nepotism. Less than a year after her knighting she bested each and every one of the so called warriors in the sparring ring, and for that she was elevated to a knight of the Red. The Khan's own bodyguard, sworn to do nothing more than protect him with their own lives. Because of this she often accompanied her father into battle, though he was the type to lead from the rear rather than foolishly charge into the fray. Because of that, she as allowed to showcase the rare power of Battle Meditation.
After she took the red, Ashai never lost a battle, and they became a superpower within a few short years because of it. Three years later she volunteered herself to take part in a mission that would cripple a rival house, the odds of success were slim... but who could deny a woman who been the reason for so many victories? Even her father could not deny her the honor out of risk of a slight.
The mission required her and four other free-birth warriors to infiltrate a rival clan leader's compound and slay him. They swept through the compound like shadows in the night, killing only those who stood in their way or were hapless enough to actually notice their presence. Rhissai was the first into his room, but she did not kill him the way that one would expect, her conciousness invaded his mind and shattered it into a thousand tiny peices. This mission earned the woman her second and final bloodletter: Arckan, or Wolf.
She took a small (massive) amount of plasure when she invaded her enemies minds, so when Khan Alrilah asked her to "interrogate" possible enemies to the clans she jumped at the chance, though she always missed not being able to command armies. For the next two years she tortured off-worlders and Aphithiri alike for information on invasions, rebellions, and sometimes just for her own twisted enjoyment. Then, a child was brought before her... one of his peers had accused him of attempting to start a rebellion and a plot to assassinate her father. Rhissai may have been a Dark Sider, but she was not so evil that she would torture and kill a child. Let alone one that was accused by another child. So she humbly refused.
The Khan saw her refusal to interrogate the child as an act of treason and almost instantly ordered her to be shipped to the nuclear wastes of Aphithir's southern hemisphere for a week. This was a life sentence. The wastelands of Aphithir were completely hostile to most sentient life forms, not many lasted an hour in the boiling temperatures... and those that did probably didn't survive the frigid nights. Instead of submitting to her fate she escaped her bonds with her mastery of the Force and stole one of the Clan military ships that the clan of the fire bird stored. She later named this ship the All Under Heaven and kept it for her own personal use.
Wolf in Exile
At first she found it hard to readjust to life outside of the clans; often taking things to heart and "accedenatally" slaying someone that unkowningly put a blemish on her honor. Soon she found one man who could help her with her mastery of the Force and her often radical reactions to simple comments: A Kiffar Dark Jedi by the name of Mako Vel. The two galavanted around the galaxy for at least 3 years before gaining enough notoriety with the Jedi to warrant an armed response.
It took a year before two Jedi Guardians caught up with the pair. Rhissai defeated her Jedi first, using the Dark Side to fuel a powerful surge of lightning to kill the man. His death was slow and agonizing, every single muscle in his body was forced to flex and relax thousands of times within the space of a second. She was barely done savoring her kill before a strange pang of remorse washed over her, it was strange... like she actually felt bad for killing the man who tried to kill her. Rhissai's confusion was interrupted by the clash of her master and the Jedi Guardian.
The warrior used the Force to lift the assailant up well off of his feet. Instead of killing the man quickly, however, she decided to sift through his memories first. She wasn't gentle. The woman shattered through the man's mental barriers and ripped though his memories, turning his warmest memories and casting them down into horrific nightmares. Until she found that the Jedi whom she was torturing was her ex-Master's former padawan. That is when she decided to end the man's shattered life with the deft flick of her wrist, snapping his neck with the Force. Rhiss would have left him alive, but after the irreversable damage that she caused in his mind death was a far better mercy than life.
The feelings that Rhissai felt as she killed the man were as strange as the ones that she endured when she killed the first Jedi. Sadness filled her heart, but she dared not to seek counsel with Mako about it... it may have proven to be a fatal mistake. The woman couldn't afford to give him a hint that she felt remorse at all, he would believe that she wanted to return to the light and almost instantly kill her.
For the next year she followed Mako, her heart was beginning to grow hard to killing when finally a face from her past caught up with her on Tatooine. She was a Jedi Master by the name of Illuma Creed. Her master tried to turn her back, but Rhiss couldn't... not in the presence of Mako. The Dark Jedi was the aggressor, and he nearly took Creed by surprise, but she was a quick old Master.
To say that the fight between Mako and Illuma was epic would be a vast understatement. Rhissai dared not intercede. Not this time. She was just as likely to be slain by her master in his blood lust as she was by Illuma, who would think that Rhiss was trying to help her "master." The woman followed the combatants as they battled their way through the spaceport. The fight lasted for at least an hour before Vel finally managed to cut off Creed's hand.
She finally gave in to the light just as Mako destroyed Creed's lightsaber and was about to perform the coup 'de grace on her. Rhissai barely managed to block the would be killing strike with her lightsaber. Suprised would be an amazingly underwhelming word for what her "master" felt as his own red blade was blocked by the green line of plasma of his "pet's" lightsaber. Which is what he had been calling her ever since she slew the two guardians: "pet." Rhiss never gave the Kiffar a chance to recover, the "pet" used her lightsaber to cut the "master" in half.
Redemption
Rhissai agreed to appear before the High Council and account for her actions when Illuma suggested it. The woman expected punishment, especially for killing the two Guardians, but the action that the Council took surprised her... to say the least. They could sense the guilt and remorse that wracked her heart and knew that if given a second chance she would do it all over again. So, they reinstated her as a Jedi Knight.
It took the Aphithiri woman years to forgive herself for her actions when she was Dark despite the council's forgiveness. On the day that the Council reinstated her as a Jedi Knight she made a vow to herself: Never kill unless it was absolutely necessary. The most she would do is wound or maim, this counted for everyone from the lowest of soldiers to the darkest of Jedi.
The woman was sent on simple diplomatic missions for her first year back, she silently thanked the council for this... Rhissai wasn't sure if she could the handle fighting anymore. Then she found a potential padawan in Eefr’ahj’akelith. The young chiss girl had so much potential in the Force, but was only a few days away from being sent to the Medcorps and it almost felt as if the Jedi Knight was being called to the girl. Unfortunately for Rahja, the self-deprecating Jedi Knight feared that her anchor to the Order was still too weak to take on a padawan. With a heavy heart she didn't take Rahja as her padawan... and the girl was sent to the MedCorps. Rhissai never forgave herself for this.
The Aphithiri went on to do more diplomatic missions for the next year until she found Dace Adin, another initiate who had much potential in the Force but was still in danger of being sent to the away. This time the woman refused to see another with so much potential be sent to the Agri or Medicorps. The Aphithiri took the child as her padawan and began to impart her knowledge of the Force to him.
As always, the two were sent on the easy missions for the first few years so Dace could grow, both physically and in his prowess with the Force. Rhissai got a first glance at her student's wisdom on a mission to Dantooine, as always there was a dispute between the two major families. She was getting nowhere in the talks between the two families, mostly because they had no reason to argue other than the fact that they had a loathing for each other. Then, Dace... who was only 15 at the time, decided to point that fact out... he also used the Force to give weight to his words. The rival families gave up their dispute, and even went so far as to form an uneasy alliance.
Then she met a fairly interesting Jedi Master by the name of Jace Beleren. Rhissai found it somewhat amusing that she had met him when he was but a padawan, yet he was now a master and she was but a knight. The two had met up once again while he was practicing a kata of Lightning Fist and, being a Jedi who adored unarmed combat, she expressed interest in learning the art. Though he was reluctant to teach her at first, he eventually taught her after years of close friendship. Jace is one of the three people that she consider's to be a true "friend" to this very day.
The next three years were fairly more... intense. The Council began to send the two on increasingly harder missions, most of which involved Dark Jedi, mercenaries, or both. It was also during these missions that Dace displayed his ability with a light saber, often having to help his master hold off a Dark Jedi while they tried to convince him or her to come back to the Order.
The two were sent on a mission to arbitrate an accusation between two rival shipwrights on Coruscant. One of the corporations, Corellian Engineering Corporation (CEC), claimed that Fondor Shipyards Corp. (FSC) was attempting to sabotage their vessel production facilities. Fondor on the other hand, claimed that this was just a wild accusation aimed at taking a large portion of FSC assets.
Rhissai thought that something smelt fishy about the whole thing, so she decided to investigate the scene of the crime itself, the shipyards at Corellia. She used the rare art of Psychometry on one of the pieces of evidence, a knife used to kill a guard, to identify the killer.
Dace, who by that time was 18, was finally ready to be submitted to the Jedi trials. Yet, Rhissai held him back... she feared that he would end up like her first padawan, and she just wouldn't be able to handle another loss like that. Dace was now old enough to be sent out on a simple solo mission it was of the diplomatic variety, but he was still by himself... this nearly gave Rhiss a heart attack.
While Dace was on one of his missions she happened to run into a young near human by the name of Remiel Archibald. He was about the same age as Dace and happened to be in the same situation that she was, only reversed. The Aphithiri woman quickly befriended the boy after talking with him on a vast multitude of subjects, easing both of their minds. To this day he is one of the few people that Rhissai can truly call "friend."
After another year of training Dace she finally broke through her inhibitions and submitted him to the trials, he was more than ready to become a full member of the Jedi Order. He was more than ready to become a Jedi Knight. She still keeps in contact with her former padawan, and he is the one of the three people who she truly trusts, along with Jace Beleren and Remiel Archibald.
The Trials
Dace's first trials were the test of his skill and courage, the boy actually fought against two Dark Jedi Acolytes and won... but at a cost. As usual, Rhissai and her padawan were sent to some far away planet to confront a Dark Jedi. This mission, however, would turn out to be very different. The two Jedi quickly found themselves facing down 3 fallen Jedi, one master and two of his acolytes.
For obvious reasons Rhissai took the fallen master, but unfortunately the man took nearly all of her attention and the fight was long... and tiring. That left Dace with the two acolytes... the battle was long, drawn out, and exhausting. If it weren't for boy's extensive in knowledge in Form III he surely would have perished, but he not only survived... he prevailed. After slaying one of the acolytes he managed to get the other in a saber lock.
The final acolyte barely managed to force his lightsaber down on Dace's eyes before the padawan used the Force to throw the other boy back. Rhiss' padawan quickly began to writhe around in pain, the acolyte decided that it was a better idea to savor the pain of his victim before killing him. That was a mistake. The boy recovered, much to the surprise of the acolyte, and fought him until his counter-part fell from a swipe to the neck.
Rhiss, who had since maimed the fallen master and prepared him for transfer back to the temple, found her padawan lying on the ground in agony. Dace had summoned the Force to dull his pain, and after the fight was done he let the Force subside. This was also Dace's trial of flesh.
Adin went through his trial of spirit came into play during a training session with his master. Unbeknownst to Dace, Rhissai had agreed to go teach him one of the more brutal lessons that the Jedi Order can teach. It was about the Dark Side. The boy had fought many Dark Jedi during his tutelage under his master, yet he knew little of the pain that falling can bring to oneself.
So she slowly began to play act like she was holding her padawan back and eventually the boy lashed out during said training session. Rhiss barely fought back and made it look like he killed her, when really she was just critically wounded. Dace's heart was quickly wracked with grief as he thought that he killed his master, he fled Coruscant in complete fear of what the Order would do to him.
The council sent another padawan after the boy in an attempt to "turn" him back to the light side. It didn't take much to convince him to return to the Order and account for his "crime." When the boy returned to the High Council chamber he was greeted by Rhissai and the Masters of the High Council standing before him in a ring. He was knighted, and Rhissai was made into a Master in turn. It was also about this time that Rhissai began to learn the ways of Form VII: Juyo, as her passionate personality allowed her to grasp its concepts relatively easily.
White Fang
Rhissai's first mission as a Jedi Master was to investigate a series of killings on Tatooine. It took her months to find out who the serial killer was: a Dark Jedi. She quickly confronted the man, who fled into the dune sea of the planet in hopes that Rhissai would lose track of him. She eventually tracked the man down to a rather sizable cave, inside she found nothing but the man's lightsaber and a few splatterings of blood. Rhiss quickly found out just what did this to the Dark Jedi... a Krayt Dragon.
The Jedi Master fought the creature for hours on end before she finally managed to plunge her lightsaber through its eye and into its brain, killing it. Rhiss heard that precious pearls lie within the Krayt Dragon's gullet and that they made excellent lightsaber crystals, if properly cleaned and cut of course. So, she cut the two pearls out of the beast and almost left the cave. Almost.
Just as she was exiting the Aphithiri woman felt something beckon to her through the Force deeper inside the cave. As usual, the woman followed the call of the Force, and much to her surpise (and delight) she found a crystal formation. It took her hours to extract a crystal that was suitable for use in a lightsaber, and once she did the woman found the gem to be a durindfire crystal.
The second that she got back Rhissai began to construct her new lightsaber. It took her several weeks of mediation on each crystal before she finally imbued them with enough of the Force to be used in a lightsaber. The construction only took the woman a few weeks to get the thing together, and another week to etch in the quote that pertains to her life... and reminds her how easy it is to stray from the light: "Be careful when you fight monsters, lest you become one. For when you gaze into the abyss, it gazes back." After all was said and done, she named her new lightsaber Silver Fang.
Two years later Rhissai ran into a face from her past. Again. She and Master Creed where to track down and confront two Fallen Jedi Masters and their padawans. It took the two months to track down the four people... and when they did a fight almost instantly ensued. The fight seemed to last for hours before the Master made a err, and when he did exploited it, destroying his lightsaber and cleaving off his hands in one fell stroke. As the master lay there she turned to the padawan and almost begged him to seek forgiveness, and that it wasn't too late. There was a fight, but only parried the strikes, nothing more. The padawan finally decided to return to the temple and seek redemption when Rhiss deactivated White Fang and refused to fight him any longer.
After the fallen master was back in the All Under Heaven ran over to Master Creed. Rhissai, knowing that her presence may temporarily distract her former master enough for the Dark Jedi to kill her, began to focused her Battle Meditation on the fight, doing her best to influence Illuma positively and the Dark Master negatively. It was not enough, however, and she could sense great pain coming from her master... she instantly stopped meditating and rushed over to the battleground. Not known to to Rhissai at that moment, this pain hadn't happened yet... and withdrawing her power had infact given the Dark Jedi enough of an edge to win the fight.
She arrived just in time to see the Dark Master plunge his lightsaber into her gut. The Aphithiri, now angry and hurt, rushed in with her Ataru and quickly cut down the master... searing both of his legs off with one aerial swipe. She nearly killed him were he was, but she refused to give into her inner darkness again... it would be a dishonor to her former master, herself, and the vow that she made nearly one and a half decades before.
Despite Rhissai's best attempts to heal her, Master Creed died in her arms minutes later. But not before she told the woman a few of her inner musings on life, the Force, and people in general. The wizened master also instructed her former pupil to take the Qixoni crystal out of her lightsaber as a final gift. At first the woman refused, but she could not refuse a dieing woman's wish.
Once she got back to the temple the woman carefully took apart her former Master's lightsaber and retrieved the dark red Qixoni crystal from the hilt, then mournfully put it into her own lightsaber. After this process was completed the woman decided that to rename her lightsaber White Fang.
On the Council
Rhissai's next mission was one to Coruscant where she was to track down another fallen Jedi. It didn't take long for her to find the man but, as she expected, he ran. The chase quickly transitioned into a starship sized game of cat and mouse through Coruscant's upper atmosphere, she managed to follow the man into the hyperspace tunnel when he jumped.
During their transit they ran into an anomoly, one that dropped the two ships out of hyperspace prematurely... into the Myrkr system. The Dark Jedi took did not hesitate to try and take refuge on the forest covered planet in hopes that he could lose the Jedi Master that pursued him.
Rhissai chased the man through the forest for what felt like hours before he managed to drop off of her proverbial radar. Unfortunately for the Jedi Master a small pack of four Vornskr happened to be following the woman and decided that it was the opportune moment to strike.
She fought the four animals off with her mastery of the Force, a little use of Force Grip and Lightning, and White Fang. Rhissai had more than a few scratches and bites, but she was alive. The Aphithiri then caught sight of the Dark Jedi and chased him into a cave, the very cavern where the Vornskr pack came from, but the man quickly slipped away from her again once inside. She cautiously entered the cave, she could sense animals within... they were just waiting to feast on her flesh. But they were cunning, the force user hunters waited for the best possible moment before striking.
She was ambushed by four more Vornskr, including the alpha male and female, she came out of the fight battered, bloodied, bruised, and bitten. The Jedi was about to leave when she heard whimpering behind her, she turned around to see the form of a pup in the shadows. Rhissai wasn't without a heart, she couldn't just leave this hapless creature to die... so she bent down and scooped it up lovingly.
Rhiss was just exiting the cave when suddenly she heard the familiar snap-hiss of a lightsaber and a viridian hue rush towards her. She didn't have time to retrieve White Fang so the woman did her best to dodge out of the way, but unfortunately for the pup the lightsaber caught him in the tail, searing it off.
She was plunged into combat with the Dark Jedi, the fight would have been considerably quicker if she didn't have to constantly worry about the Vornskr pup's well being, but she ended it quick enough. It wasn't long before the young Knight made a mistake, one that Rhissai capitalized on by destroying his lightsaber and holding the end of the blade to his neck in one deft stroke. He conceded defeat. She took extra care in securing him before heading back to her ship, the last thing she wanted was for him to try something while she was flying back to Coruscant.
Once back the woman decided to keep the pup and name him Wrex, this name would prove to fit the Vornskr as it matured. To say that he was a bruiser would have been an understatement; he was nearly a whole foot taller than the average Vornskr male, he was built like a bantha, and surprisingly intelligent. She taught him commands in her mother tongue, she thought that Aphithiri sounded worlds better than basic did... and it seemed to help the canine creature learn commands. Rhiss would take Wrex with her on the ship when she was out on missions, but rarely took him out on the field for fear that he would be killed.
At age 59 the High Council asked Rhissai to join their ranks. The woman barely served on the Council for a year before Remiel suddenly cut off communications with the Jedi Order during a mission to break up a slaver ring. Some of the Council thought that he turned to the Dark Side, but she could never believe that. It was then that Master Rhissai'arckan took it upon herself to find Remiel and find out why he left the Jedi Order.
RP Sample:
Rhissai'arckan moved through the Council chamber with a certain kind of feline grace rarely seen in those outside of one of the myriads of cat-like species the galaxy had to offer. Every movement was calculated, thought out, and flowed into the next. To one that did not know Rhiss almost looked like a predator prowling for whom she may devour. This was far from the case, the woman was a Jedi Master and a newly appointed member of the Jedi High Council. She prowled over to her new seat, taking care not to catch her long raven hair between her body and the opulent chair.
The Aphithiri mostly stayed silent during the proceedings, only speaking if she had something worth while to utter. Often times she found that it is better to stay quiet and look like stupid than open your mouth and prove it. The ghost of a smirk contorted the youthful features of her face at the thought; she would have to use that one some time.
The woman diverted her bright green eyes up to the grand master as she spoke about the Sith Empire, and possible actions that should be taken. If there was one thing that she would speak her mind on it would be this, Rhissai refused to stay silent about things that literally meant the life and death of a civilization, the Republic in particular.
"The threat that the Sith Empire is to the Republic has been downplayed far to much in my own personal opinnion. In recent years the Empire has been collecting weapons, ships, and men skilled enough to use them. I believe that this, along with the shroud of the Dark Side that has clouded my foresight as of late and the rapid increase in Dark Jedi are all terrible omens."
She looked at the faces of a few of the surprised members of the High Council, they had barely heard a few sentences out of her the whole morning. That slight smirk that she wore earlier turned into a slight grin as she realized that she had their rapt attention.
"I believe that we stand at the edge of the abyss, that abyss is war. While, noble masters, I am by no means a war monger, there is a season for every action. We must send Jedi to one of the most key Republic strongholds in the Outer Rim: Mon Calamari."
Rhissai let out a slight sigh as the paused, letting her words sink in. She lightly flicked a long and irritating strand of ebony hair from her face. Sometimes the woman wondered why she never cut her hair shorter... after a few moments of pondering this she realized that the rest of the Council was still waiting for her to continue.
"Forgive me, and we must also not forget about the rising threat of the Mandalorians. Their numbers may still be small but they are ferocious, and I have my doubts about the Republic Military's ability to hold off two marauding nations on two different fronts at the same time. We should also consider sending Knights to Mandalore in an attempt to calm their anger."