(Darth) Maul (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
survivalthroughhate) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deernet2022-10-08 04:10 pm
survivalthroughhate) wrote in deernet2022-10-08 04:10 pm
Entry tags:
- alice baskerville (black): holly,
- beatrice: mila,
- darth maul: shade,
- dito: kaiya,
- echo: kaito,
- ezra bridger: lis,
- lord felwinter: niki,
- lucius artorius castus: orlando,
- luke skywalker: skyla,
- makoto naegi: anne,
- nara'a sunvara: matt,
- neopolitan: latroma,
- obi-wan kenobi: timmy,
- pyrrha dve: silyara,
- ruby rose: josh,
- sakamoto ryouma: min,
- savage opress: vette,
- sharon da silva: lunare,
- shen yuan: drake,
- stefan salvatore: trace,
- tory nichols: lex,
- usagi tsukino: jax
Video; un: darkness (Storytime With Maul!)
[Maul's doing a little better than he has been the past few months. At least he's not all corrupted into insanity like he was for a couple of weeks in July or about to breakdown after his video in June. Sharp-eyed viewers will notice he's got a new piece of jewelry. On the ring finger of his left hand, there's a black, sparkly wedding band made of Darkblood. Yep, Maul got hitched. But who would be crazy enough to marry the Zabrak Sith Lord? A question one can ask if they're feeling especially brave.]
Everyone always thinks they're the hero in their own story. And it's easy to justify that you are no matter what you do because you're the main character in your mind. No one ever wants to admit they're just one of the side characters or even the villain. And how do you even know when you've become the bad guy? It's easy to say what actions you undertake are for the greater good or at least something that will get you what you want. You keep telling yourself that until you look around one day and see the only monster around you is yourself.
[He leans forward.]
I am very fond of stories. So I'll tell you a story about a villain from my world and you can tell me one about a hero or villain from yours in return.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had darkness in his heart. He coveted power amongst all else and to that end he committed many monstrous acts to gain it. When he saw that his family stood in his way, he killed them all without thought. Over the years, he gained power but it was never enough. Always, he wanted more. Eventually, he realized that no matter how much power he possessed, he would lose it all when he died. And so he sought to gain immortality.
He eventually found a Sith Lord, very old and wise, who told him he had discovered the secret to living forever. "Become my apprentice, do everything that I command, and I will teach you my secret," he told the man. And so he did. Day after day, year after year, he obeyed the Sith Lord, committing many more atrocities in his quest to gain immortality.
He would often ask the Sith Lord, "Am I ready?"
The response was always the same. "Not yet."
After many years the man, no longer as young as he once was, began to grow impatient. He went to his master. "I have done all that you asked. Teach me what you promised."
The Sith Lord merely laughed in his face. "You will never be ready to learn."
The man felt rage rise up within him. "Why not?"
"Because only a Sith who has no fear can conquer death. But you? You will always fear dying no matter what you do and so you will never master the secret of immortality," the Sith Lord told him with contempt.
The Sith apprentice was furious. He felt he had been lied to and so he waited. His master never slept, for he had seen the future and knew he would die in his sleep, but his apprentice was cunning. Eventually, he got his master drunk, and the Sith Lord finally fell asleep. So the apprentice took up his lightsabers, stabbing his master in his hearts, and killing him. Only then did his anger abate and he realized he still did not know the secret to living forever.
He would spend the rest of his life seeking it out and never finding it until the day he died, always shackled by his fear instead of facing it head on and conquering it instead. He used the power he'd acquired to create a vast empire that stretched throughout the entire galaxy but still it was not enough. Always he was afraid of what was to come at the end of his life. And when he finally died, betrayed by his own apprentice as usually happens with Sith Lords, it was done so screaming in fear as he realized he had failed in his lifelong ambition.
[He pauses for a moment, examining his claws without looking up.]
That was a true story by the way. It is called the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Sith Lords often have a dramatic way of doing things, especially when it comes to teaching their apprentices.
Everyone always thinks they're the hero in their own story. And it's easy to justify that you are no matter what you do because you're the main character in your mind. No one ever wants to admit they're just one of the side characters or even the villain. And how do you even know when you've become the bad guy? It's easy to say what actions you undertake are for the greater good or at least something that will get you what you want. You keep telling yourself that until you look around one day and see the only monster around you is yourself.
[He leans forward.]
I am very fond of stories. So I'll tell you a story about a villain from my world and you can tell me one about a hero or villain from yours in return.
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had darkness in his heart. He coveted power amongst all else and to that end he committed many monstrous acts to gain it. When he saw that his family stood in his way, he killed them all without thought. Over the years, he gained power but it was never enough. Always, he wanted more. Eventually, he realized that no matter how much power he possessed, he would lose it all when he died. And so he sought to gain immortality.
He eventually found a Sith Lord, very old and wise, who told him he had discovered the secret to living forever. "Become my apprentice, do everything that I command, and I will teach you my secret," he told the man. And so he did. Day after day, year after year, he obeyed the Sith Lord, committing many more atrocities in his quest to gain immortality.
He would often ask the Sith Lord, "Am I ready?"
The response was always the same. "Not yet."
After many years the man, no longer as young as he once was, began to grow impatient. He went to his master. "I have done all that you asked. Teach me what you promised."
The Sith Lord merely laughed in his face. "You will never be ready to learn."
The man felt rage rise up within him. "Why not?"
"Because only a Sith who has no fear can conquer death. But you? You will always fear dying no matter what you do and so you will never master the secret of immortality," the Sith Lord told him with contempt.
The Sith apprentice was furious. He felt he had been lied to and so he waited. His master never slept, for he had seen the future and knew he would die in his sleep, but his apprentice was cunning. Eventually, he got his master drunk, and the Sith Lord finally fell asleep. So the apprentice took up his lightsabers, stabbing his master in his hearts, and killing him. Only then did his anger abate and he realized he still did not know the secret to living forever.
He would spend the rest of his life seeking it out and never finding it until the day he died, always shackled by his fear instead of facing it head on and conquering it instead. He used the power he'd acquired to create a vast empire that stretched throughout the entire galaxy but still it was not enough. Always he was afraid of what was to come at the end of his life. And when he finally died, betrayed by his own apprentice as usually happens with Sith Lords, it was done so screaming in fear as he realized he had failed in his lifelong ambition.
[He pauses for a moment, examining his claws without looking up.]
That was a true story by the way. It is called the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise. Sith Lords often have a dramatic way of doing things, especially when it comes to teaching their apprentices.
no subject
Even with its spines removed it'd still be a monster. It was just deluding itself that it could be anything different.
no subject
[That is what Maul learned back in his own galaxy. Sometimes he fears it will be the same for him here.]
no subject
That's generally how love tends to be, in my experience. It's like one of those pitcher plants-- it tempts you with the promise of good feelings and a safe haven, and then you wind up trapped and hollowed out before you even realize you've doomed yourself.
No thanks. If I'm gonna indulge in self-destruction, I'd rather do it in the heat of battle.
no subject
[Maul himself included in those.]
You are a warrior then?
no subject
[Could he make his stance on love any clearer?]
In any case, I'm what you'd call a martial connoisseur. Had my fair share of battles. You name a weapon, chances are I've used it to off someone at some point or another. Polearms are my specialty, though. Not as intimate as a pair of daggers, but there's something appealing about thrusting a long pointed spear into a yielding body, know what I mean?
no subject
[Not really but such an argument only make sense when said in absolutes.]
My favored weapon has always been the staff. The main weapon used by my order is called a lightsaber and I forged mine into what is called a saberstaff.
no subject
[People tend to lose their virtues fairly quickly when they find something they really want-- whether it's sex or money or just keeping their life's blood inside their bodies.
But the prospect of a new weapon pulls Dito away from that particular train of thought, and he cocks his head curiously at the unfamiliar word.]
Lightsaber, huh? I'm assuming the name is self-explanatory.
no subject
[The love Maul knew he felt both romantically for Reaper and platonically for his friends was a wee bit more complicated than all that. With Reaper, the physical aspect of their relationship really was only one part of a whole, given the limitations each of them had with their bodies.]
But of course.
[Maul whipped his out, turning on first one side of his double-bladed lightsaber and then the other.]
no subject
[Dito watches as Maul brandishes his saberstaff, the blades flaring to life with a dramatic and yet workmanlike flourish. He had seen similar flashy weapons in his own world, but those had typically been imbued with an Intoner's magic.
This weapon seems to hum with an alien, unnatural energy, activated by some sort of mechanism rather than the mind. Or so that's how it seems to him.]
What's it made out of? I mean, what causes those blades to form?
no subject
[Sounded to Maul like maybe Dito had his heart broken in the past. That would certainly make sense as to why he was now so cynical against the idea of love now.]
Plasma that is created from the concentrated energy of kyber crystals.
no subject
...Okay so why don't you just assume I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Try explaining it to me like I'm an idiot.
no subject
Alright, let's start with the basics.
[He turned off his saberstaff and then focused with the Force. All the pieces of his lightsaber came undone and floated there in the air. He pointed to four small red crystals, two that were on either side of the mechanisms around it.]
These are kyber crystals. This is the heart of the whole process. The energy focused through the crystals are what makes up the blade.
no subject
So the crystals are a conduit for the blade then, huh? Like how my magic used to work back home, I guess. Only my mistress was the energy and I was the focus. I think.
[He still can't figure out how exactly it worked-- the gaps in his memory made it impossible to remember how the contract with his Intoner even shook out. He knows enough to know that it wasn't worth it, in any case-- no matter what he got in exchange for it.]
So are all of those blades the same or does it depend on what kind of those kyber thingies you put in? Like... are there more powerful crystals? Ones that focus more energy, or something?
no subject
[He explained a few more of the technical terms like how the crystals had a matrix which allowed the energy to flow right and keep from blowing the lightsaber up. After he was done with that, he answered the question.]
No. No two crystals are the same but almost all create the same output of energy. Some lightsabers require one or two. Being a saberstaff, mine requires four. And since I am a Sith, I had to bleed them.
[Even now, he could feel the pain that the crystals were in, the burden of agony they had taken on in an attempt to help their owner.]
no subject
Again, I'm not gonna pretend I understand half of what you said. I'm assuming this "Force" thing you mentioned is what counts as magic in your world?
no subject
No. Not magic. It is an energy field created by all living things which can be manipulated by those sensitive to it. Magic is a separate and distinct form of study from the Force in my galaxy, though there can be some overlap.