Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
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Post by Dragus on Jan 6, 2023 7:35:49 GMT -8
Fire rained from the sky as eruptions in orbit sent flaming satellites and orbital debris crashing down on the capital. Fortunately for the people of Sullust, theirs was a harsh world, a volcanic rock covered in a shroud of its own pestilent breath. In such an inhospitable environment, most had taken to building their cities beneath the ground. But not all. Several buildings could still be seen sprawled across the surface, belching chemical steam from long factory stacks. The fiery shrapnel raced towards these surface structures, only to strike an invisible wall at the last moment, exploding in a gush of flame against an impenetrable energy barrier. Byllurun's shield generator was still active.There was a brief interlude following this, just long enough to let the ash settle over the city. Then it began again. Glowing orange balls trailing fire and shrouded in black smoke descended from orbit, revealed as thick plated durasteel drop-pods. The largest of which practically shattered as it hit the atmosphere, scattering metal fragments across the sky over the city, and dropping a large purple membranous sphere towards the ground. Flexing hooks of bone and cartilage, great reptilian wings unfurled from the sphere to reveal the folded up form of a massive mutant drexl, with a thirty meter wingspan from tip to tip. The gargantuan beast let out a terrible shriek that roared over the screams of burning metal falling through the sky all around it. A large saddle was strapped to the repto-avian sithspawn's back, upon which was seated a black scaled barabel in a flayed manflesh robe, holding the drexl's reigns in one claw and a long black spear in the other. The lengthy polearm was actually an energy lance he had crafted by claw in the hell-forge beneath the black temple on holy Pzob. Red Sith runes ran its length, glowing sinisterly with unnatural power. The saurian Sith that wielded the wicked weapon pointed its conical tip towards a police air-speeder streaking his way, its forwards facing blaster cannons already spewing furious red bolts towards the winged beast and its mounted rider. Thumbing the activation stud that awoke the lance's electromagnetic pulse generator, the riding reptilian unleashed a crackling bolt of lightning from the spear's end that struck the police speeder square in the engine block. The vehicle exploded in an expanding black cloud thick with curling licks of flame.Dragus grinned and reached down to pat Spite on the back. He barely had time to enjoy the sight of his work when a brilliant red light drew his attention to the sky above. The clouds parted, pushed apart by a thunderous coherent lance of turbolaser fire streaking down from the Covenant in orbit, striking the city's shield with expert precision. Hit with what amounted to the hammer of god, the shield generator housing quickly became overworked, spewing grey smoke as its consoles crackled with electrical discharge, until finally it exploded in a shower of sparks. The barrier faltered and began to dematerialize, just as the first pods reached its edge and passed towards the surface unmolested. Urging Spite onwards, the Famine Lord descended towards the ground, scattering shale as the drexl dragged its scaled underside along the fractured landscape. Thrusting his energy lance back into its loop on the saddle, the crowned prince of perversion leapt from the mutant's back, flipping in the air before landing a dozen feet ahead. His toe talons carved furrows in the volcanic rock underfoot, while the nostril slits on his snout flared wide as he took a nice long whiff of the toxic atmosphere.Ahead, pods split open in groaning creaks, exposing their feral contents to the natural hellscape. From within the darkened interior of each pod, glowing red eyes blinked into existence as the sedation wore off. Awakening in this new environment, packs of black scaled barabels emerged, each long of claw and bristling with far too many teeth. They could have been a doppelganger for the Hungering One, save for one unmistakable difference. There was no intelligence behind their bestial eyes. Each of one of the creatures known as the Children of Dragus was a savage monster bereft of sentience and driven by the primal urge to feed. These feral reptilians poured from the smoking pods and leapt into a full bodied gallop as they began racing towards the few surface structures. From a distance, Dragus watched them smash through a set of outer doors before disappearing within. Cupping his ear, he thought he could just pick out the faintest of screams coming from within.FWAP! A blaster bolt struck his right shoulder, spinning the Blood Wyrm around as he hunched forwards and turned his snout to examine where he'd been hit. His signature outfit was smouldering around a blaster hole that still smoked. When he prodded the spot with a talon, he saw only unblistered scales beneath. Good, he thought. It meant the alchemical balm he had applied to his scales was working. Straightening, he turned to face the direction the unexpected bolt had come from, only to spy several sullustans popping up from a hidden bunker hole in the ground, taking pot shots at him and his feral offspring. Unafraid, he rolled his shoulders and allowed his robe to slide off his back. Naked, he was unrecognizable from the other barabels terrorizing the surface, save for the sinister serrated edged spike that glistened on the end of his tail. Snarling savagely, he bounded forwards with raw primal aggression, channeling his hate into his genetically enhanced muscles.As he descended upon the bunker hole, it erupted in an explosion of gore and blood. Dragus' right claw swept across a sullustan face, tearing most of it off it a wet spray that splintered chips of bone from the alien's skull. His tail was in constant motion, nicking, slashing, sawing, some times piercing when the need called for it. Both mostly he just used his teeth. Dragus ripped a blaster rifle from the hands of a terrified native before snapping the stock in half with display of brutish strength, then tossed the broken pieces aside. Frightened fists pounded on his hard scaled chest, but he was consumed by the hormones flooding his veins, driven by his bestial half. Widening his maw, the saurian Sith snapped his jaws once, sinking curved fangs deep into the sullustan's neck. His jaws tightened until the razor sharp incisors of his lower jaw painfully teased the top half of his mouth, then he ground his teeth together, sawing through flesh with subtle ease. When he pulled his snout away, it ripped with it the alien's throat, which he began to chew and swallow on the spot as a red geyser spouted from the wound. He then turned his attention on those hidden deeper within the bunker. These he took his time with. When he emerged some time later, his scales were glistening in a sticky red layer of congealing vitae. Spools of viscera caught on his talons dragged behind him in the ash covered dirt.By now LAATs descended in the hundreds to the surface, bearing members of the hunger cults that offloaded like the raucous pack of cannibals that they were. Wielding hooks, whips, and barbed nets, they immediately set to work rounding up anyone they could. They didn't differentiate between men, women, or children. Everyone was meat as far as they were concerned. Mephisto could be seen mounted on the back of an ill tempered ubese thorn-back war dragon, waving the saw like blade of Famine's Fang in the air as he directed the wretched cultists. Most were lean bodied umbarans, dressed in tight leathers or filthy robes, all with the same cold colorless eyes. The first of the sullustans they gathered were simply hacked apart with cleavers and filleting knives. They needed the bones and sinew to make the cages. Once their morbid pens were erected, that's when they began the hunt in earnest. They waited on the surface at the mouths of caves as the Covenant in orbit continued to pound the planet with purifying turbolaser fire, sending rivers of magma to overrun the subterranean sanctuaries. Blinded by soot and smoke, the aliens stumbled out into the clutched of the sinister cultists. Of course they put up a resistance, but these flesh vultures were well practised at their assigned task. An encampment was erected on the surface around the growing slave pens, creating a place where LAATs and shuttles could land and depart with holds full of chattel. Next to the cages of bone were thick bonfires fueled by the expired dead, crackling as flesh cooked in hot rivulets of liquified fat, releasing greasy wisps of smoke into the air that choked the captured slaves. Occasionally a cultist would stride by one of these fires and pull a flame blackened limb from the blaze, before gnawing away on the less charcoaled end. These self same ghouls also constructed a seat for the Great Devourer, crafted not simply by bone and sinew, but using only the most intact and perfectly shaped skulls they had collected thus far. Bits of rotting meat clung to the yellowing bones, but if it troubled the drake lord, he showed no sign of it. Dragus reclined in the seat of the skull throne, wrapped in a toga made from a scorched scrap of Byllurun's flag. The emblem of their great city was currently protecting the Hungering One's modesty. Held in his right claw was a long stemmed pipe ending in a small bowl that bled curling wisps of narcotic spice. He took a long draw from the bit end and then exhaled a large cloud blew into the slave pens and caused some of the meat with weaker constitutions to hallucinate. In his left he held the top half of a sullustan skull, upturned and filled with fresh blood. He sipped at it, savouring the hormonal notes of fear in the life fluid that made it such a delightful vintage.All was proceeding well thus far.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
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Post by Dragus on Jan 9, 2023 14:59:03 GMT -8
Blood dripped from his claws as the mad drake vigorously lapped up the fleeing vitae of his latest meal/victim. He was alone in the former town hall of Byllurun, a kilometer below the surface crust, nothing but solid rock overhead. His bloodlust was beginning to wane, unclouding his thoughts long enough to consider where he was. He remembered charging headlong into the smoke choked Underverse on the heels of his feral offspring. There had been so many of them, the sullustans, all packed into their warm little dens like sardines in a can. Every time his claws had raked from left to right, he wasn't sure if he was carving through one body or several. The first few drops of savoury rich blood in his mouth awoke in him a terrible primal force that could not be restrained. Everything after that was a fuzzy haze of bloodshed and gluttony. He patted his prestigious belly, stretched to girthsome limits by his gorging. Letting out a wet belch that soured the air with a whiff of pungent cheese, he sat up in the dark room, surrounded by gnawed upon bones and foul effluence. Meat tapestries of sullustan parchment decorated the walls and hung from the ceiling, a sure sign that he had indulged in the seductive lure of spice and allowed his creative side loose. The new strain from Roon was especially harsh. It was possible some of the cortosis particles in the air had leeched into the herb.
Groaning, he put a claw on one knee and struggled up to his feet, wavering unsteadily at first but soon gaining his bearing. It helped having a tail, which was used to equalizing his center of balance. His joints were sore, that meant he'd been hunting. Rotten scraps flaked off his talons as he flexed his claws, then gave his gore crusted form a full bodied shake. A few rancid bits shook loose, but not many. He'd need Squeakers to give his scales a good scouring when he got back to the Covenant. Expelling a cloud of putrid steam from his nostril slits, he stalked forwards on two legs, marching boldly out of the room into the corridor beyond. Everywhere he turned his snout it was a scene of slaughter and depravity. It was clear by his expert examination that many of the corpses had died slowly, purposefully, to prolong the agony. All trademarks of his unique brand of dining.
A whimper drew his attention to a facedown corpse, fused to the floor in a congealed pool of viscera. Swinging his tail around to his front, he thrust the tail spike capping the appendages end under the body and used it to pry the cadaver from the floor, then flip it over onto its back. As he did so, a curled up form that had been concealed beneath was exposed to his terrifying red eyes. Pulled tightly in a ball was a small female child, human judging by the scent. He knelt down, hovering over her tattered jumper as waves of his rancid breath washed over her, waking the girl like a potent form of smelling salts. She jerked upright, then turned her head, fixing Dragus with a wild eyed stare that was quickly devolving into a look of unrelenting fear. He smiled at her, exposing his toothsome maw still spattered with sullustan gristle, his teeth stained pink with blood. Raising a claw, he extended his index talon and placed it over the child's mouth, silencing her scream as it formed in her lungs.
"Shhh!" He shushed her. "Now there iz no need to be frightened. I can't kill you; you're the messsenger. Who elssse would deliver the messsage?" Bending over, he grabbed a corpse by the shoulder and dragged it over to the wall. He then did the same to a second, which he piled on top of the first. A brief nod confirmed his acceptance of the makeshift bench, which he then proceeded to sit down on. The corpses sank under his weight, farting as their bloating bodies expelled gas. Patting the vacant spot next to him with a claw, Dragus motioned for the child to take a seat beside him. She was reluctant of course, terrified really, but somehow she found she couldn't refuse. Before the child knew it she was seated beside the drake lord, who was using a talon to pry rotten morsels trapped in his teeth. Performing this bit of personal hygiene didn't stop him from speaking either.
"Now I'm sssure you have questionz. Of courssse you have questionz! Siss Siss Siss!" He snickered. "I asssure, none of it matterz. Who we are and why we did thiz...it'z all rather meaninglesss. But they will asssk. In sssome pitiful attempt at underssstanding why thiz atrocity waz committed, they will asssk. They have to know, and you..." He removed his talon from between his teeth and wiped a wad of crud off the end on the young girl's soot stained shirt. "...mussst tell them. Ssso remember thessse wordz, my child, and never forget them. Thiz waz the work of the Black Fang. We take whatever we want, we do whatever we want, we are the ultimate authority out here on the fringe and nothing can ssstop uz." The saurian Sith leaned in, stroking the girl's chin and almost cooing as he spoke. "Can you remember that, my child?"
Slowly, through the shock and the fear, the young girl nodded in understanding. Dragus smiled in his wicked manner and stood, leaving her there among the ghosts. When he returned to the surface the bulk of his force was ready to depart. The slave holds aboard the Covenant of Blood in orbit were bursting beyond full and every major settlement had been reduced to ruins. Some of the grubs would survive, they always did. But that was fine, it was an important part of the cycle really. They needed to replenish their numbers before he could begin the harvest again.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
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Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Nov 3, 2023 7:11:46 GMT -8
Byllurun, often referred to as SoroSuub Central, had recovered much of what it had lost since the last visit to the world of Sullust by the villainous velociraptor, Dragus the Black, Dark Apothecary of the Sith Eternal and Famine Lord of the Eye. Despite this, the horrific memory of the mad alchemist's past stay still scarred the psyche of most of the pitiful population of preening peons. So you could only imagine their reaction when they heard he was on his way back...
"Prepare the gunwalez." Snarled the saurian sultan of sin seated in an obsidian command throne on the bridge of the modified C-9979 modular frigate 'Dragenburg', pressing his claws to the arms of his hard chair until his talons carved furrows in the precious Pzobian blackstone. Across the four wings of the dragonfly shaped landing craft, night ewok gunners wrapped their charcoal hued paws around the controls of their ball shaped turrets, readying for the order to come as the angry vulture descended towards the shale rock surface of Sullust. "Fire!" Roared the reprehensible reptile, misting the deck in front of him with steaming rivulets of scalding vitae and spittle, his gleaming mismatched gaze focused on the view screen depicting the encroaching ground. In its current gunship configuration, the Dragenburg was like a predatory bird swooping towards its prey. Across its wings a symphony of destruction erupted as forty gunwales concentrated emerald green lances of deadly energy on a singular surface point, smashing the upper ceiling of SoroSuub Central before the winged wraith descended into the underverse beneath the planet's volcanic crust.
As the wing launch doors swung open, grimy goggled ranats in membranous wing-suits dropped into the city, extending bat like canvases to capture the air as they descended onto the main corporate facility. A shudder rang across the metallic skeleton of the Dragenburg as its repulsor engines kicked in and began arresting its speed. At the helm, Dragus' verminous assistant Squeakers pulled up on the controls, pulling the modular frigate out of its downwards plunge and leveled off as they flew over the city, continuing to rain down hellfire and ruin as they set a course towards the main manufacturing centre. The ship veered into a turn, continuing to slow as it came in over the tarmac of the corporate parking low, extending landing gear as it descended down on top of several expensive parked air-speeders with a crunch of durasteel and glass. Even as the engines still screamed, not quite cooled down, the main doors flipped open and an automated ramp slammed onto the pavement. Red eyed rodents of the vermintide poured from the interior of the vessel like a plague of rats, murdering their way into the corporate headquarters ahead of the Famine Lord's own dramatic appearance. A half dozen ranat-ogres beat man-hide drums of stretched human faces as they strolled off the ship, a display of pageantry to welcome the return of Dragus, who was carried aloft on a palanquin of bone and sinew mounted on the shoulders of green scaled chrysalide. The monstrous mutant rancor's ferocious fangs gleamed in the dim artificial light of the subterranean city, drooling acidic slime as it salivated at the scent of so much freshly spilt blood, causing it to growl aggressively that caused the platform on its back to vibrate.
The Blood Wyrm groaned in pleasure as his scales were massaged by his most recent night ewok mistress, the pleasure pawed paramour skilled in the sinful arts he so appreciated. For his part the twisted terrorsaur was garbed in his finest man-hide robe of flayed human faces, stitched together to form a terrible tapestry of expressive anguish, concealing much of the black scaled barabel's fearsome form beneath. The scabrous ranat Squeakers hurry-scurried ahead of the procession, its gnarled snout sniffing the air as it sought out the industrial heart of the facility. There was a Bulwark to build and schedule to keep. Even one as indispensable as the Hungering One's assistant knew all too well the price for displeasing the impatient drake. Within a quarter-hour of the Great Devourer's arrival, the denizens of Dragusblight had secured the facility, dragging forth the shipwrights and technicians of the corporate headquarters from the holes they had hid themselves in, presenting their bared throats for the satisfaction of He-Who-Hungers.
A leathery creak elicited from the scale cheeks of the Famine Lord's crocodilian snout as it stretched impossibly beyond the borders of his face, twisted upwards in a sinister smile that displayed a forest of dagger shaped fangs stained pink from the draconian's latest meal. A forked tongue slithered from between his rows of razor sharp incisors, rattling as it flicked back and forth, misting the air with crimson flecks of vitae and soiling the front lapel of the ruinous raptor's robe.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,409
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Nov 3, 2023 10:42:58 GMT -8
"Warm welcome and salutationz, my new friendz." Hissed the Blood Wyrm as he addressed the sullustans situated on their knees, throats bared before him on one of the industrial scaffolds overlooking the ship building facility behind them, where a massive two thousand meter plus sized Bulwark Mark III was housed. The scent of fear was as pungent as the odor of urine and scat, as the captured staff of the SoroSuub corporation had clearly soiled themselves in absolute terror of the Famine Lord's ferocious presence. For his part Dragus appeared pleased, grinning villainous from one ear hole to the next, looking as ravenous as ever. "Tiz I, Pater Mutatiz and Massster of the Alchemical Artz." He gurgled wetly with a mocking bow, crossing one clawed arm over his cadaverously attired chest. "You're a monster!" Cried one of the company's employees, causing the black scaled barabel to lift his hooded head and smile like a viper, his red right eye swirling from its slit centre in an almost hypnotic fashion. "Oh thank you, but pleassse, hold all commentz and questionz to the end of the presssentation. My Nu-Jakez will be arriving shortly and I have sssomething of a schedule to keep. The wheelz of the Sssith Eternal war machine sssadly never ssseem to ssstop ssspinning."
"What's the Sith Eternal?" Questioned a brave looking custodian, black melon shaped eyes glaring at the Hungering One in sheer defiance despite the heady stench wafting from said xeno's damp trousers. Slowly the scales of the saurian Sith's face scrunched in recognizable annoyance, followed by a flicker of movement as the overlong tail protruding from his backside above his posterior swung around and swept the serrated spike capping its end across the bold sullustan's throat, slitting open his neck in a red geyser of hot blood. The other employees cried in horror at the sight, their wills becoming as malleable as warm blue-butter in the hateful Hakusar's ethereal claws, displayed by their obvious submission and eyes now fixed to the ground. "Apologiez, but I mussst insssist on sssilence. Ssstill..." He placed his claws on either side of the bleeding out sullustan's head as he spoke, feeling the alien's blood wet his toe talons as its pooled at his feet. "...a good quessstion, nonethelesss. The Sssith Eternal iz the organization I represssent. A fine and noble..." Squeak! Squeak! It was then that He-Who-Hungers' verminous assistant Squeakers interrupted the cruel crocodilian's speech, though doing so wisely enough outside the reach of his sinister serpentine fifth limb with its deadly blade end-piece. Dragus turned to regard the scabrous ranat that prostrated itself before him, squealing in near-indecipherable fast paced rat-speech that somehow the Dark Apothecary seemed to comprehend. Bending down low to the greasy furred rodent's level, the Hungering One muttered to his assistant in a hushed tone. "It'z fine, Squeakerz. When we're through I'll carve out their tonguez while you nibble off their fingerz. They won't be able to tell a sssoul." This brought about another chorus of cries from the captured staff as they were still able to hear everything the reprehensible reptile said.
Straightening himself, the mad alchemist returned his attention to the gathered captives stinking up the factory scaffolding he stood upon. With an insidious smile, the saurian Sith continued. "Well it hardly matterz who we are. What matterz mossst iz that I appreciate all that you have accomplished here at SssoroSuub, dessspite your obviouz physssical deformitiez. Truly inssspirational." With that he twisted the head of the sullustan whose neck he slit open, snapping the vertebrae with a crack, then applied a bit of muscle to heaving the loosening head from its body. It took a few seconds but after a moment a meaty wet tear sounded to prelude the removal of said head from its owners body, causing the headless sullustan to topple over as vitae continued to fountain from its ragged stump. "You could sssay I'm sssomething of a SssoroSuub fanboy. Your Bulwark Mark III and Dauntlesss-classs heavy cruiserz are mossst impresssive. I shall be taking them, in fact, after I've enlisssted your help in a few....mmm, necesssary alterationz. You sssee I'm what you might call a capital ship connoissseur. I demand nothing lesss than complete perfection, hardly an unreasssonable requessst." With a meaty squelch the vile velociraptor plunged his right claw into the neck stump of the disembodied head, sinking his talons deep into the corpse meat to operate the sullustan's skull like a puppet, manipulating its mouth as he addressed the shipwright staff. "You all have the honour of helping making my Ark Diabolicuz a reality. Very prestigiouz, if I must sssay, which I do."
Below them, hordes of the vermintide scoured the ships in question and familiarized themselves with the manufacturing centre, repurposing parts and whipping hostages below to bloody strips as they press-ganged the locals into enslaved work teams. A gooey pop echoed from the scaffolding as Dragus extracted his claw and brought the sullustan head to his snout, opening his jaws wide before clamping his rows of sharpened incisors onto the corpse's fleshy face, sinking them down into the skull with a terrible crunch. In a single motion the black scaled barabel bit the head in half, spilling bits of grey matter and bone shards as he gobbled up the formerly sentient snack with gluttonous gusto. A second snap of his jaws crushed the rest, which he swallowed down his gullet even as organic ichor ran down his chin in long steaming ropes. The display seemed to have the desired effect on the company managerial staff. Dragging the sleeve of his man-hide robe across the end of his snout to remove any clinging residue, Dragus belched a throaty burp that stank of carrion and sour milk, before refocussing on the craven sullustans cowering before him.
"Now, I'd like to hear what you all do, ssso that I might bessst apply your skillz to thiz oh-ssso-important tasssk. Let'z ssstart with you, hmmm?" He growled, red froth drizzling from the corners of his jaws as he held a crooked talon more akin to a butchers hook beneath the chin of the employee furthest to the left. Utterly defeated, the alien stammered his reply. "Sh-sh-shipwright, s-s-sir!" This brought about another smile to the dread lizard's lips. "Wonderful, you'll be well sssuited to asssist. I'm certain your talentz will be mossst helpful, and if not....well, there are plenty of otherz I'm sssure are eager for the opportunity. Next." The next sullustan in line was quick to reply also. "Engineer, sir!" Again, this seemed to please the leech lord. "Excellent. Az it happenz, mossst of thessse shipz have enginez. Happy to have you aboard. Next." The third in line was garbed slightly different than the others, wearing a suit and tie rather than pressed overalls. He too responded with a certain sense of urgency. One wonders why? "I work in the legal department, sir." Now this had the opposite reaction from the demonic draconian, who took a step back as though he'd been slapped in the face. "A lawyer?" He asked, to which the sullustan said... "Yes, sir."
A dark forbidding shadow crept across the Great Devourer's hungry visage as he regarded the suited sullustan with utter disdain, shaking his frightful toothy snout from side to side before crouching down to stare the xeno in his ugly face. "I may be a morally bankrupt murderouz Sssith...but you sssir, you are the absssolute worssst. Take him away! Flay the ssskin from hiz bonez and make a sssofa cushion from it. Away with him!" "No, please!" The sullustan lawyer screamed as he was dragged away by a burly chest ranat-ogre, destined to become another piece of cadaverous furniture for the Famine Lord to rest his reptilian rump upon. Things were off to a good start.
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
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Post by Dragus on Nov 4, 2023 7:06:01 GMT -8
Black brick shaped atmospheric assault landers filtered through the cracked rent in the dragon-glass speckled crust that formerly served as the subterranean ceiling over the capital of Byllrun, now exposed to a dark grey sky of sulphurous clouds and the prevailing aroma of brimstone. Each one of these shuttle craft carried a complement of the Dark Apothecary's children, the evolutionary improvement on baseline humanity that he affectionately referred to as his Nu-Jakes, clad in Sith Eternal regalia and suits of crimson gammaplast. Those ships had journeyed all the way from Kamino where the enslaved cloners continued to produce them in the millions, their presence spreading to every corner of Sith controlled space as they slowly supplanted the human populations found there with their own genetically superior kind. Their journey took them through the Rishi Maze and past the dust storm that enshrouded thrice cursed Roon in a blanket of celestial grit, finally arriving at Sullust as they carried out the duty commanded of them by the Pater Mutatis, the brilliant minded barabel who dominated the Council of Seven through sheer strength of character and no small amount of Sithly charm. A profound sense of pride filled the twisted terrorsaur's black heart as he layed his mismatched gaze upon his creations, pleased with what he saw, proud as a father should be. A female fourth generation Nu-Jake, the only one of her kind thus far, joined him on the industrial railing overlooking the toil of yellow fanged tinker rats and rubber suited warlock enginseers as they put the finishing touches on his precious Ark Diabolicus. Mirror goggled ranats wielded flame cannons to carbon score the exterior hull with green alchemical fire, coating the armoured hull in a black layer of chemical soot.
Below on the factory floor, a wide berth was given to one of the mad alchemist's more recent creation, a monstrous cybernetically enhanced rancor with two prosthetic arms ending in high powered magnets. The Magcor, which was short for magnetic-rancor, had been developed after a particularly frightful dream about a dishevelled Jedi engineer with a pocket full of screws. This creature was created as a safeguard against such a potential reunion, as ridiculous as it might seem, for as a Corellian cirrhosis of the liver must have surely claimed the Jedi's life by this point in time. Still, the brutish beast had other uses. The Magcor could be seen making using of its mechanical magnet tipped arms to maneuver hull plates and heavy machinery into place, performing tasks requiring more brawn than even the four armed mutant ranat-ogres possessed. Nearby sullustan slave crews with backs slit and striped in gory welts from slashing vibro-whips laboured until their nails bled and their finger bones were worked down to jagged nubs. Many died at their stations, only to be carted away to the kitchen where they were blended into a slurry to provide fresh gruel for the other slaves and the always hungry rodent horde.
Nostril slits on either side of the saurian Sith's snout flared widely as Dragus drew in a heady breath of suffering that suffused the work sight and caused his glands to salivate, causing a bloody drizzle to spill over his bleeding lips and down his filthy chin to soil the front of his robe. The dastardly drake turned his attention to the NJX beside him. Piper, he had named her, with some small significance to the meltmassif flute he carried in the satchel of alchemical supplies riding against his hip. She was a masterpiece of unequaled accomplishment, as far removed from the basic human genome as the celestial descendants were from the bears they'd evolved from, perfect in every way. Well, almost he supposed, giving consideration to the concern she displayed absent his presence. It was his fondest hope that she would one day outgrow him, as all children do of their parents, perhaps even supplanting him if such a thing were truly possible. Still, her devotion was endearing. He reached out and stroked the pale flesh of her cheek with a crooked obsidian talon, drawing her attention from the industry below.
"Sssoon Piper, you brotherz will take to the starz to continue the great work, ssstalled by that insssufferable charlatan mage ssseated on the Sssith Eternal throne." He leaned closer, until she could feel the warmth of his rancid breath upon her cheek, his open maw buzzing with insectile gnats drawn to the rotting morsels of meat caught between his thicket of venomous fangs. "The Eye mussst not be denied itz due. Eventz are already in motion to make it ssso."
She turned her lithe and lethal form towards the Great Devourer, seeming small next to him in her skin-tight shadow silk body-glove, though he knew this to be a false impression. His powerful olfactory senses easily detected the deadly predator beside him, like a murakami orchid in humanoid form, its true nature concealed behind its beauty. "What of the others, Creator? Is it certain these other Sith will stand with you?" Her concern was touching, if misplaced.
"Ha!" The Hakusar hissed humorously. "Who would dare ssstand againssst me? With Garrax, Xazatar, and ancient Vullorr removed, the otherz will come round. Assstera iz reasssonable, if easssily irritable, she will sssee the logic. Hekat'z ambition can be relied upon, essspecially when she seez a chance at further elevation, and I am confident Melabor'z sssupport can be purchasssed with accesss to the library in the Black Temple on Pzob. Az for the ressst..." He shook his snout, exhaling a steaming breath. "...what choice will they have? Hmmm? Xitan, Karnac, and Thrakk, while eager to prove themselvez, are not ssso bold az to ssstrike out on their own. Mal'ize and Travis are like-minded spiritz, az occupied by their own interestz az Valefor, whossse aid in thiz endeavour I shall sssecure on our interssstellar journey to Peridia." Bringing his claws together, Dragus entwined his talons, his villainous visage stretched wide in a wretched sneer. "The piecez are all coming together. With a deeply indebted Rebelliouz az the figurehead, I'll be free to complete the lassst of the black altarz. The Eye will rissse again!" He snarled hatefully. "The galaxy iz already in itz death throez. It jussst doesssn't know it yet."
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Dragus
The Sith Eternal
In front of the Empire, to all you Vader haters out there. We'll blow your planet up.
Posts: 1,409
Affiliation: Sith Eternal
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Post by Dragus on Nov 5, 2023 7:52:59 GMT -8
Several weeks labour were rewarded with the sight of a pair of dauntless-class heavy cruisers lifting off from the star-docks of SoroSuub Centre, joined by a number of smaller liberator-class cruisers that rose through the fractured volcanized ceiling of Byllurun, each and every one of them boasting a partial complement of technologically sophisticated BB-2 starfire fighter/bombers. Like their last visit, the verminous Children of Decay had raided the company stores for equipment and supplies, pilfering anything and everything not bolted to the floor. The last of the rodent plague scampered into the lower hangars of the Famine Lord's new Bulwark Mark III, the Ark Diabolicus, with the master himself hot on their heels. The black scaled barabel in his cadaverous robe of tanned man-flesh leathers stalked into the turbolift with his sole feminine NJX at his side. Piper punched a command into the lift controls and the two were whisked up from the bottom to the first of the lower levels, emerging from within the unlit tube into an equally shadow shrouded hall. An tidal wave of rotten air assailed the Dark Apothecary's potent olfactory senses as the cruel hearted reptile stepped onto the deck, his natural infrared sight combined with his arcane abilities easily pierced the gloom to examine a corridor whose walls and floors were entirely coated with stretched sullustan flesh. Black eyes winked back at the dread lizard and the master-crafted creation beside him, revealing the fiendish flesh tapestry to be somewhat alive, animated through unnatural means by the Pater Mutatis' wicked command of alchemy.
Piper was deaf to it due to being psychically inert, but Dragus could hear the nightmarish echoes of suffering screaming into the fey from the living beings fused into the walls, singing a song of constant agony and horror as they were unable to end their current state of torment. That chorus of despair caused the Hungering One to salivate, releasing a gushing tide of steaming blood and spittle that spilled over his lips and drizzled down his chin, pooling at his curled talon toes. Members of the vermintide hurry-scurried from his path, while ghoulish mutants warped by the darksides corruption and the Great Devourer's dark science lurked in every available nook and cranny. They gave the Blood Wyrm a wide berth, cowering as they sensed the unmistakable prevailing sense of utter wrongness that emanated from his dark aura, a wasting miasma that threatened to strip the life essence from their twisted souls. By the time they made it to his lab, the saurian Sith could feel the rumble of the Ark's massive repulsors lifting the demonically inspired dreadnought from the factory floor and up into the sky. Further vibrations through the flesh carpet beneath his talons that tore and split the sullustan skin he strode across, signified the unleashing of the warships numerous turbolaser banks, offering a ruinous farewell to the company city, setting the hive spires aflame and burying its people in an avalanche of sharpened shale.
"Is it everything you wished for?" Asked Piper beside him, the cruel lines of her cold and beautiful face displaying reverence for her leech liege. Though her care for him was genuine, her presence always set alerted his predatory instincts, as his every sense was keenly aware of the incredible strength concealed in her slender female form.
"It'z not quite the Covenant of Blood." He admitted, dipping his snout as he brought a claw beneath his chin and scraped at the scales found there until his talon came away bloody. "But it'z much clossser than the Haemonculuz Occulori ever waz." His forked tongue flicked, misting the door to his lower lab with crimson flecks, awakening the bio-locks as the doors summarily split apart. "It will do. Now come, Piper, we've much work to attend to. I want to be prepared for when we arrive at Bakura. You're a far better ear with which to practissse my ssspeech than dear devoted Squeakerz."
Following the rest of the fleet as it headed into orbit, the Ark Diabolicus rose into the sky, leaving a black trail of smoke from the graveyard it left behind in the ruins of its afterbirth.
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 235 
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on May 13, 2024 20:50:45 GMT -8
The battled streets of Byllurun were lit up great beams of green, cutting through a swath of infantry and melting the exterior of a hovertank, bearing the markings of SoroSuub's Home Guard, a militia that had been raised alongside the forces of the Sith Warlord, Darth Hadus. The source of these new energy weapons came from a swarm of grey-hulled, long winged gunships. The newest in Imperial Technology that were to serve as a forefront for attack transports, the Imperial LA-AG. Turrets moved along the side of the cockpit as anti-infantry lasers opened up, clearing more of the landing zone for reinforcements. Among them was Xitan, freshly having returned to the flagship to gather up a new wave of the 37th Corps.
The Acolyte surveyed the battlefield which was heavily into the interior of the capital city of Sullust, thanks to the aggressiveness of his troops and lack of leadership of the enemy. One of the few obstacles though laid ahead, one of the few capable lieutenants under Darth Hadus, a Force sensitive officer named Cyclopius, a one-eyed humanoid of towering posture. His forces had done their best to isolate him from possible reinforcements, making it easier for the spear to thrust and pierce. Xitan motions to his troops as they acknowledged their orders and moved to join up with their comrades, preparing to renew the assault.
To their East, forces under General Valenius, a loyal Eriaduan officer, pushed upon the greatly diminished flank of their foe. His thrust aiming to cut SoroSuub Corporation's headquarters from the battlefield and thus deprive Hadus of much needed weaponry and machinery. To the West, the troops of Sith Lord Driderius, a resourceful Twi'lek, smashed against the troops of another one of Hadus' commanders, forcing them to give ground in all sectors and not allowing to regroup. The downside of Driderius: very hard and fast tactics with little room for being aware and preparing for counterattacks. Nonetheless, the attack was going well and Xitan hoped to cap things off with the death of Cyclopius and, eventually, Hadus.
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Darth Xitan
The Sith Eternal
Posts: 235
Affiliation: The Cult of the Eternal
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Post by Darth Xitan on May 21, 2024 23:08:55 GMT -8
Lightsabers clashed as Xitan dueled the Sith Warlord of Sullust. Darth Hadus was a veteran and seasoned warrior of the Blackguard Imperium. At its height, he had been among the many who were proven commanders under the Sith'ari Viox Savage. But how the mighty had fallen. Depriving himself of good officers, due to his paranoia, Hadus was alone when Xitan's force burst into his headquarters. The Favored had found this planet more ripe for the taking than anticipated, considering the lack of capable leadership. Numbers were important, but it was how one used those numbers meant victory or defeat. As such, given Hadus' own foolishness, it was why now that the crossguard lightsaber of Xitan clashed with the lightsaber of the Rodian Sith.
A kick came up, squaring the Rodian in his chin and sending him flying into a console. Xitan flew forward, cutting into metal and wiring as Hadus quickly moved out the way. But the Favored did not let it up, for even a second. His lightsaber came forward once more, clashing with Hadus' weapon as the pair dueled within the Rodian's command center. Hadus attempted to go on the offensive, but Xitan merely punched the Sith Warlord in the face before cutting his warrior hand off, separating his weapon from its owner. Hadus fell back, raising a hand to pull the lightsaber in, but the Acolyte's boot stepped on it. Hadus, getting annoyed then turned his Force powers upon Xitan, but this was returned with a strong attack of Force Lightning. The Rodian's skin was burned and scarred by the fierce attack. When it was over, the warlord laid motionless... for good measure, the Sith cut off the enemy commander's head.
Sullust was now under the flag of the Sith Eternal.
This is Darth Xitan to all forces. Hadus is defeated, his commanders lay dead or are too incompetent to present an issue.
Utilizing a communication console at the headquarters, Xitan spoke to his forces.
Exterminate what remains of the enemy! We take no prisoners this day! Lay waste to our foe's positions and ensure this planet quakes at our might. This system will bend to our brutality and serve us obediently. Else, they will be taught the same lesson that our foe that remains is dealt.
Xitan saw no need in keeping soldiers who had previous loyalties and performed poorly in defending this planet. SoroSuub would submit to their vicious rule, the planet would fall under their shadow, and their shipyards would provide what the Sith needed to become conquerors of stars and planets. Leaving Hadus' corpse in the headquarters, Xitan moved out to join in total destruction of what enemies remained.
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