survivalthroughhate: ([TCW 80] Death is what I know)
(Darth) Maul ([personal profile] survivalthroughhate) wrote in [community profile] deernet2022-10-08 04:10 pm

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.
martyrofduty: (Default)

video | un: duty

[personal profile] martyrofduty 2022-10-08 11:51 pm (UTC)(link)
A story or a history? Not all stories are based on real people.
aetherweaver: (uh oh)

[Video] username: justanadventurer | Spoilers for Dark Knight 50

[personal profile] aetherweaver 2022-10-09 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Nara'a looks tired, his whole body drooping a bit, but he has a story he hasn't yet told. When he speaks up his voice is somewhat rough.]

Sure. I'll tell you a story.

Once there was a famous adventurer who did everything people asked of him. In the course of doing so he found a heretic's body, the remains of someone hated by the church for wielding powers that they did not understand and could not control. He touched a crystal near the body and found a man standing before him, offering to teach him those dark arts.

He did what his teacher asked - slaughtered creatures, communed with the darkness within, and saved many innocents. But still he would not stop helping when people asked.

His teacher told him to stop. But this, he could not do. Even when his teacher cursed out those who tried to get the man to help, he would not stop. Eventually his teacher told him that they would go away to a distant land, where people did not know him and could not ask for his help. He told him that he would await his answer.

The day came, and the man went out from a fort to help others once again. He came back to the camp to find slaughtered people on the ground - innocents. And among them his teacher stood, waiting for him. He fought his teacher, the blows echoing throughout the snow-filled landscape. And his teacher revealed his face for the first time... and it was the adventurer's face. He had wished for a teacher, and so one was given to him. But even in the face of his own self he could not give in.

He struck his teacher down, landing the mortal blow... but one's dark side cannot be so easily killed. His teacher stood, looking at the man with all of the knights behind him... and told the man he would always be watching and waiting to take the reins before disappearing. The commander told the knights to never speak of it again, and they didn't.

But some stories just have a way of getting out, don't they?
Edited 2022-10-09 00:40 (UTC)
faithfulson: (Never)

[Video | SN: JustLuke]

[personal profile] faithfulson 2022-10-09 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
[ It takes Luke a moment to actually respond, because the story made him pause, falling into deep thought. It wasn't hard to figure out this story was about the Emperor, but it wasn't lining up with the man he had confronted. That person had not been afraid of death, had encouraged him to kill him more than once, as a matter of fact. It took a moment for it to sink in on why that was, and it left him panic-fumbling to respond, not even think of making his video private. As soon as he was connected, all he could focus on was blurting out: ]

I think he found his way to immortality.
jedies: (Where peace can exist)

( video | un: kenobi )

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-09 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
Was that opening really necessary?

[ it's hard to tell if it's awareness or not. ]
aetherweaver: (rising fury)

[personal profile] aetherweaver 2022-10-09 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
[He's right, but Nara'a isn't going to confirm or deny unless he's straight-up asked.]

No, I don't think that's why. At least, not entirely. But free paladins like myself and dark knights are similar - they both strike down those that would hurt the innocent. Dark knights just tend to be more... straightforward about it.

But my compulsion to help is another story. I could tell you that one, too... if you wanted.
kaientai: (005)

video; un: rider

[personal profile] kaientai 2022-10-09 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Hm. I dunno what a "Sith Lord" is exactly, but this guy doesn't sound very wise at all if you ask me.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (The things I deal with)

Video; UN: Cuddlebunny

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2022-10-09 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
The more I hear about Sith, the less... well I can't even say impressed cause I never was but I'm gonna use the word anyway, but the more unimpressed I become.
Edited 2022-10-09 01:42 (UTC)
ezra_of_lothal: (Default)

Video; UN Lothrat

[personal profile] ezra_of_lothal 2022-10-09 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[Squinting, because where to even start with this drama.]

I can totally believe Sidious bragged about how he managed to kill him master, maybe even in a way to teach you.

But. Ok. First question. Who actually named Plagueis 'the Wise', then, if this was back when the Sith were hiding? Did he just name himself that?
faithfulson: (I may have made a mistake)

[personal profile] faithfulson 2022-10-09 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
When I confronted him, he tried to convince me to kill him.

[ There could have been a number of reasons why, if he was honest. It could have been because he wasn't as defenseless as he claimed -- something he certainly proved later -- and would have stopped him. It could have been he knew Vader would intercept the blade... except his father hadn't intercepted it, had he? Luke had shifted his blade to fight his father instead of killing the Emperor. He could have easily ignored him and cut down Palpatine instead. ]

[ So why...? ]


Something about turning me to the Dark Side was so important to him, he was willing to die for it.

[ He had a bad feeling about this... ]
dohaeris: (sick burn)

video; un: lady

[personal profile] dohaeris 2022-10-09 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
[sansa smiles in her raven makeup, scary stories about evil kings are familiar to her.]

Oh, the Seven Kingdoms had a hundred stories about kings like that.

[the night's king might strike a little too close to some people's home for a public network thread, so she chooses a more recent one.]

It reminds me a little of the story of Harrenhal.

[she remembers it was supposed to be littlefinger's seat, and hesitates only briefly. she leans forward like a storyteller around a campfire.]

Harren the Black was the last King of the Iron Islands to rule over the Riverlands. He was said to be a cruel and fearful man. His seat in the Riverlands was only little, because House Hoare held so many, but he wanted a grand castle. So he forced the people of the Riverlands to build him one, and thousands died laboring for him. He wasted all their coin building the biggest castle in the Seven Kingdoms. It took him forty years. When it was done he went around telling everyone it was impenetrable, and he stocked it well enough to outlast any siege. But then Aegon the Conqueror came on his dragon Balerion the Black Dread. When Harren refused to bend the knee to him and his queens, he blasted Harrenhal from the sky. You can still see where the stone melted. Harren died, of course, and all of his sons died with him.

The Targaryens gave the Riverlands to House Tully of Riverrun, who helped to repair Harrenhal well enough to use, but it's said to be haunted, and that every house that holds it comes to a bad end.

[littlefinger said that. well, sansa intends to see that he'll come to a bad end, even if he never lives in it. her mouth quirks to one side ruefully.]

We had scarier stories than that in the North, though. My brothers liked the ones from the Nightfort.
Edited 2022-10-09 04:53 (UTC)
cloversandcranes: (Awkward)

Video: Un: Naegi11037

[personal profile] cloversandcranes 2022-10-09 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
...Getting betrayed by your apprentice is considered a normal thing for these Sith Lords?

[...That doesn't sound very sustainable. Is this a common theme in villains or something? He would think constantly worrying about being betrayed would be exhausting at best and incredibly destructive at worst.]
Edited 2022-10-09 06:08 (UTC)
jedies: (Things that seem permanent)

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-09 06:57 am (UTC)(link)
And did you come to a conclusion?
jedies: (Love is more than a candle)

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-09 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
[ hmm. ]

There may not be one.
jedies: (The most beautiful form of mastery)

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-09 08:52 am (UTC)(link)
Oh you knew that? Impressive, considering how long it took.
jedies: (Until the time is right)

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-09 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
I wasn't speaking of story. And not long ago, you were desperately invested in the way people saw you.

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