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Temple of the Spider (Assassin Sub-class)


Solus

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Temple of the Spider

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HISTORY


"This place isn't old. Even when we first stole it from that Hutt, it was a very young casino. By Kessel's mines, this place is still in its infancy.  But that...out there, the Madness...that is ancient. Older than life itself. This station just gives us a place to channel it.  To feel its power without losing our grips on reality completely… at least not right away" - CHOSEN MYYRDOKK

 

A few years before the fall of Hesperium, a Sith lord known as Darth Myyrdokk journeyed into the kathol rift to escape a punishment from his fellow Sith. He intended to hide there for a few years, and then journey into the rest of the galaxy. However,When he arrived, he promptly suffered the hallucinations common to that area of space.

 

During this time, one of the hallucinations that continually hunted the Sith was a spider, with 20 eyes and three human faces. This hallucination attempted to eat Darth Myyrdokk. Eventually in his madness, Myyrdokk made a deal with the hallucination. The spider hallucination would spare Myyrdokk’s life and show powers beyond imagining, if he would build a temple dedicated to the spider. 

 

Darth Myyrdokk left the rift and, with a small group of other Sith criminals, captured a hotel/casino space station owned by some lesser known Hutt. Eventually the group manually moved the station  into the Kathol rift. With this done, the Sith renovated the station into some kind of perverted Jedi temple, entirely dedicated to the spider that Darth Myyrdokk saw. The walls were decorated with emblems of the spider, gambling machines were replaced with horrific statues, colorful lights were removed for the beauty of darkness, etc. Once this was done, a mass slaughter occurred, and Darth Myyrdokk, now Chosen Myyrdokk, emerged, appearing to have been mutated with extra eyes, numerous large legs, spider-like hair, mutilated skin and speaking in only ancient Sith.

 

Since then, the temple has accepted new initiates to learn the way of the spider, with Chosen Myyrdokk as the master of the order. While the Temple denies any connection between Exodus (who was known as the spider) and itself, the Temple of the Spider has maintained a positive relation with the Sith Empire. Sith who train at the temple quickly learn how to decipher reality from their own hallucinations as well as to inflict hallucinations of their own onto their enemies. However, those who struggle quickly die off as the hallucinations in the station have been known to kill students via fear.   More than one individual has opened an airlock trying to escape some unseen horror under the flickering lights of the station. 

 

In exchange for escaping punishment, Chosen Myyrdokk and his disciples can not turn away any Sith who apply. However, Myyrdokk is not responsible for those who fail and go mad, provided he can prove that is what happened. Not all Sith who train at the Temple become Disciples, but all Sith do learn the ways of the Sith Assassin. Those few who succeed in the training are among the best assassins in the galaxy. These assassins are able to cause the most severe hallucinations in those they target, and excel at driving individuals insane. 

 

 

THE MADNESS 

 

"You’ve seen the Madness. You've experienced its terror. The pure chaos. Now make them experience it in full force. Show no mercy. Let them feel every primal fear close in on them, with no hope of escape. Break their very mind and they will be helpless before you. When you leave this place, your form will revert, but the Madness will go and grow with you." - CHOSEN MYYRDOKK

 

A core belief in the Temple of the Spider is The Madness. The Temple believes the Madness is a piece of the dark side that normal individuals in the Force cannot normally experience without going insane. According to the Temple, people experience a touch of The Madness in the Kathol rift when they begin to hallucinate. While what they witness varies, usually arachnids in some form are prevalent. Ranging from spiders crawling out under a person's fingernails, giant Kessel spiders emerging from the darkness, webs forming around solid objects, and glowing eyes everywhere, the imagery usually is quite frightening and induces a fight or flight response.

 

Instead of  being afraid of it, the Temple of the Spider teaches its students to embrace the Madness. By focusing on the hallucinations via feeding it with their own fears and life energy, and attempting to allow some of the images to be real to them, Force users can allow the Madness to infest in their minds and use it on other beings. However, the more the user allows the images to be real to them, the more complex and intimidating they become. The Temple of the Spider teaches to keep The Madness at arms length and to be careful about which images they allow to be real to them, less the images become too real and drive its users insane.  

 

When a user goes insane from the Madness, they usually suffer from one of three conditions: 1: a comatose state with random ramblings, 2: A panicked state that sees every living thing as an enemy, or 3: A complete amnesiac state, where all information from their life is completely erased, as well as a mania for spiders. Each of these three states can be cured via force healing, or very intensive therapy. Those who go insane from the Madness on the station are usually killed off quickly. Well trained Disciples have been known to inflict these conditions on their victims before killing them off. 

 

As force users develop their abilities and grow in power, they can allow more and more of the Madness to infest their mind without going insane, allowing their abilities to grow in complexity. A person who first learns how to use the madness may be able to make someone think they are hearing voices down a corridor, while a more trained user can make someone hear a specific conversation. A newly trained Initiate could make someone think they saw something crawling from the computer screen, while a Disciple could make someone smell and hear it as well as see it, and a Chosen could make the entire room appear to melt into a cloud of spiders. 

 

 While on the station, the Madness manifests around those who are infested. These images are not physical by any means, but are still startling in appearance.  Usually it starts small by giving the user the appearance of spider-like hair over their body, webs trailing the floor behind them, and elongated fangs. Those who have achieved the rank of Chosen tend to also include images of tiny spiders crawling out from their body as well as extra eyes, teeth and legs.

 

When outside of the temple, the Madness does not normally manifest except under a few occasions. The first is when an assassin is using hallucinations or illusions on a living being, allowing the Madness to be briefly seen. The second is when both the assassin and another force user are open to the force, something that usually won't happen unless the assassin is deliberately trying to scare his/her target. The third way is through several rituals developed by the Temple of the Spider (see below).

 

Fighting style

 

"If you are to succeed in combat against the best of the Jedi, you must have fear, surprise, and intimidation on your side. But if any one element is lacking, it would be best for you to retreat. You must break them before you engage them. Only then will you ensure victory and have your trophy." - Count Dooku
 
A common belief in the temple of the spider is that one should never need their lightsaber to kill except in dire situations. Whether or not this is a mockery of the Jedi code is unclear. What is clear is that the temple of the spider prefers to break people's minds over outright killing someone before said mind is broken, with many Sith who learn from the Temple of the Spider leaving with new ways to mentally torture their victims. It is even a common practice to simply make a target insane and let them loose, to instill fear among more targets.

 

That said, the temple of the spider does practice some lightsaber combat. It is especially important in the temple since a madman trying to escape his hallucination could rupture a hole into space and threaten everyone else. The Disciples and the Chosen usually can tell when someone is starting to go crazy and are able to contain the situations.  While no particular fighting form is preferred, everyone in the temple of the spider learns the application of Dun Móch. When fighting an opponent, all kinds of attacks are allowed, and since the madness infects the mind, mental attacks are heavily encouraged, if not expected. Many of their rituals and battle techniques rely on startling an opponent in the heat of battle, overcoming the strongest adrenaline rush.

 

 

RANKS

 

"Heh, sometimes I forget how startling we appear to the new initiates. What, does it look like I have an extra eye? Perhaps my fangs are dripping poison? Ooh, are you scared of the spiders crawling from under my fingernails? Haha! Run, initiate, run! Get away from here. I can tell you won’t last long." - UNKNOWN DISCIPLE

 

Initiate (rank 1): Those who first approach the temple and have permission to learn become initiates, and are thrust into training right away. Initiates must endure the ritual of the Open Eye before being selected by a Disciple or a Chosen for teaching, though a disciple guiding an initiate through the ritual isn’t unheard . At this rank, initiates are constantly led around by a Disciple or Chosen, as the station can be a deadly place for the untrained. 

 

Disciple (rank 2): Those who perform the ritual of the Wyyrlok (and all other requirements to achieve the rank of Darth by the Sith), are allowed to explore the temple more freely. No text nor room on board is off limits, though more people at this level die from fear as they discover things their minds are unable to handle.  Occasionally Chosen Myyrdokk will summon a Disciple for an audience, where he gives a unique training session. While Disciples are forbidden from speaking about what happened in the lesson, those few who survive or remember what occurred usually come out with a newfound mastery over a ritual or a force technique. 

 

Chosen (rank 3): After performing the ritual of the Vaarkulak, a Disciple ascends to the rank of Chosen. Currently there are only four Chosen in the Temple of the Sith, including Chosen Myyrdokk himself. The fact that the ritual of Vaarkulak must be approved by Chosen Myyrdokk and that the ritual itself is very deadly and often results in insane or dead Disciples, means that this number is unlikely to grow soon.

 

When one has achieved the rank of Chosen, their true form is fully revealed. The Madness that manifests around Disciples is much more elaborate and terrifying, with the user no longer appearing humanoid in any way. More so, the Chosen tend to always project an aura of Madness around them. Living beings feel an unnatural presence, and when looked at through organic eyes, get slight glimpses of the Chosen’s true form. 

 

 

RITUALS

 

Some people call these force tricks. Others call them magic. Here, we call them rituals, for each time we perform them, our connection with the Madness grows. No mere trick can simply bind you closer to the dark side. Study these rituals well, young initiate, for these have many uses outside the Temple. - CHOSEN MYYRDOKK

 

Ritual of the Open Eye: The very first ritual undertaken by all initiates, the Ritual of the Open Eye is the basis of all the teachings in the Temple of the Spider. In the ritual, the user enters a meditative state, allowing the darker energies of the force to enter the user's mind. The user witnesses multiple hallucinations, and begins to lose their ability to tell reality from illusion. During this time, the user must fight the urge to give into the dark side, but still allow the hallucinations to enter their mind. Those who fail tend to lose all concept of reality and die from fear or accidents from fear. Those who succeed allow the Madness to begin to infest in their brain. This ritual is constantly practiced by all in the Temple of the Spider, and those who leave the temple practice this ritual daily to maintain their connection to the Madness.

 

Ritual of the Wyyrlok:  A ritual and a battle technique, required to attain the rank of Disciple. By calling on the Madness, the user must guide it towards a target and force them to experience the Madness in force. While they have some control over what the target sees, the effects are always the same: a terrifying vision, usually of a predatory creature, surprising or attacking the target. In the Temple of the Spider, to become a Disciple an Initiate must perform this on someone of higher status, usually the Disciple that has been guiding the Initiate. This helps the Initiate develop a sense of preparing, attacking, and driving a target towards insanity. The ritual lasts as long as the Initiate can focus on the target, but they need to maintain some kind of line of sight at the target, whether it is in person or via a camera. 

 

Ritual of the Plgl Web: A ritual developed by Chosen Myyrdokk to help Disciples train their initiates. This ritual allows trained users to enhance the Madness in another being and let it become more real for them. When physically touching someone, the Disciple is able to see exactly what the target sees, whether it's a hallucination or real. With this, the Disciple has a much easier time to influence what the target sees, and can create or enhance illusions much more easily. This ritual has offensive uses provided the user can think on the fly or prepare a hallucination beforehand to implant into the target. 

 

Ritual of the Dylgl: A ritual and a battle technique, the user calls upon and forces the Madness in their head to suddenly explode outwards. Those who are caught in this mental wave usually suffer a severe headache and will begin to hear voices speaking dark secrets in their ear. This effect lasts only a few moments, but in the heat of battle, it can be quite startling. Targets who are caught in the mental wave also see the Madness manifest around the user, similar to back at the Temple of the Spider.  

 

Ritual of the Damhadl Punisecln: Literally translating to “Ritual of the Spider’s Venom”, this combat focused technique calls upon the madness in a user and focuses it into a single drop of liquid, usually a droplet of blood, spit, or sweat. The user then rub or fling the droplet at a target, or slip the droplet  into a drink. If hit to a target’s body, the madness in the droplet sticks to the target, and begins to induce a nauseous or a dizziness feeling. This effect is designed to help weaken a target’s mental defense, and thus making mental attacks much more likely to succeed. This nauseating effect however can be easily wiped away by simply wiping the droplet of madness, by literally sweating it off, or via force healing. For this reason, those who use this ritual prefer to attach the droplet to the target’s clothes.  If ingested, the nauseous feeling will begin slowly at first, but can last for several days, and can only be cured via force healing or a combination of medicines and drugs.

 

Ritual of the Vaarkulak: This ritual is a very intense and deadly ceremony for those who wish to attain the rank of Chosen. Only those with permission from Chosen Myyrdokk are allowed to attempt this. The ritual begins with the user boarding a small life pod that is launched deeper into the Kathol Rift. The pod itself is filled with hallucinogenic gases, designed to boost the hallucinating effects of the Kathol Rift. There is no oxygen provided, so the person undergoing the ritual must conserve what little air they do have, and for some, this ritual can last hours.


While the pod is out, the rest of the individuals on the station gather and focus on the Madness, aiming it at the pod. Inside the pod, the user undergoes a multitude of visions and hallucinations. Reality will completely distort for the user. The rules of the universe will have no place for what the user sees. 


During this time, the user must do what he has been told multiple times beforehand to avoid at all costs, and accept all of the Madness that is flowing around him and believe each illusion to be real, no matter how extreme or dangerous it seems. Once this is done, the dark side will focus itself directly onto the user, and grant them a single vision of the spider that Chosen Myyrdokk had witnessed long ago. When this happens, the Madness will come to a crescendo. It is believed that the Chosen will then witness every single secret in the universe in a form. However, this vision will be so extreme and distorted, the only hope the user has to stay sane is to turn away right at the climax of the vision and not a moment before or after. 


Once this is done, if the user has succeeded in not giving into insanity and hasn't died from lack of oxygen, they give a signal to the people on the station to pull them back. Once on board, the newly Chosen will reveal their true form, with the Madness manifesting itself fully around the user. 

 

Ritual of the Spider: the magnum opus of the temple of the spider, only usable by those who have become a Chosen in the temple. By accumulating and unleashing so much madness at once, the user could cause an eruption of the madness. By sacrificing their own body and soul, the Chosen unleashes all the madness inside him in a large area, potentially up to several square miles long. For those who are weak minded, the madness causes them to become fearful, incoherent, and violent towards all living, non-affected beings. Those who are strong minded begin to see and hear hallucinations of spiders, Sith whispers, and other visions from the Temple of the Spider, and risk becoming infected with the madness permanently.  


The spot where the Chosen died becomes a focal point for the madness. Anyone who approaches the body from a few miles away will begin to suffer from headaches, hear voices, and eventually see hallucinations. If a person can resist the effects of the ritual, deal with the madmen who are stuck inside the ritual’s boundaries, and find the body, purging of the madness is possible.  Purging of the Madness is only possible if the body is completely destroyed by incineration or disintegration. 

Edited by Solus

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