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- "The shroud of the dark side."
- ―Battleteam Motto
The Ebon Cloak was the sole Battleteam of Acclivis Draco, and it functions as the training phyle of the House. Here young and eager Journeymen are mentored and guided on the paths of the dark side, so as to shape the next generations of Equites and Elders loyal to Clan Scholae Palatinae. The Battleteam was reopened early in 33 ABY, and is now under the leadership of Commander Sykes Jade.
In late 33 ABY, Ebon Cloak was closed once more.
History
Origins of the Ebon Cloak
Also called the Dark Cloak and the Cloak of Command, it was commissioned ca 998 BBY by Darth Millennial. Millennial was an apostate Sith who rejected Darth Bane's Rule of Two and founded the Dark Force religion on Dromund Kaas, a planet in the outer rim. The planet was a colony world of the original Sith Empire. Millennial gathered Sith alchemists and sorcerers, calling them Prophets of the Dark Side. The Prophets became known for creating horrific Sithspawn such as Gorc, Pic, and mutated Noghri, as well as weapons steeped in the dark side of the Force.
The Prophets altered Cerullian death spiders, both genetically and through the dark side, to create an incredibly strong spider silk that resonated with the Force. Using this silk they wove a cloak so dark that it seemed to draw the light, as if being sucked into a black hole. A commander wearing the cloak could much more easily access the Force and use it to control beings and creatures with unspoken thoughts, and receive unbidden visions of the future and of distant events.
Any being wearing the cloak would have untold power at his fingertips, if he or she knew how to control and use the Force. Darth Millennial used it well as long as he lived, and upon his death it passed from Prophet to Prophet, always hidden in secrecy upon the legendary world of Dromund Kaas for over 900 years.
Then the Prophets became aware of a Human, incredibly strong in the Force, a practitioner of the dark side. Visions of the future showed the Council of Prophets that this Senator would one day conquer the galaxy and destroy the enemies of the dark side. At a secret ceremony, a conclave of Prophets bestowed their most treasured possession upon Palpatine, Darth Sidious, approximately 30 years before the Battle of Yavin.
Realizing that Sidious was becoming reckless and heedless of the tidings of the Force, the Prophets ordered the Emperor’s Mages to watch carefully. When Palpatine died aboard the second Death Star in 4 ABY, one of the Mages was able to retrieve the Ebon Cloak from the body of the Emperor and escape to Bosthirda. There it remained in the hands of Supreme Prophet Kadann until his death at the hands of his apprentice Azrakel. With the destruction and scattering of the Prophets by Lumiya and her apprentice Carnor Jax, the cloak lay hidden away for a number of years.
Cuchulain Darkblade Palpatine heard rumors of the Ebon Cloak during his galaxy-wide travels, and after a long search found the hidden planet Bosthirda, which even Darth Sidious could not do. There he found the cloak, its significance lost on the Dark Lady who destroyed the Dark Side religion. The cloak has been in the hands of the Palpatine family ever since, helping them control Clan Scholae Palatinae and rule the Cocytus System.
When Tra'an Reith took over as Quaestor of Acclivis Draco, he decided to reopen Ebon Cloak. With Koryn Thraagus already in a leadership position, Tra'an turned to someone experienced in leading a Battleteam and who had proven himself to be loyal to HAD. That someone was Draco Maligo.
During the Ninth Great Jedi War, the Battleteam proved its mettle in the retaking of Antei. Three members especially warranted mention for their roles: Tetrarch Draco Maligo earned a battlefield promotion to Krath Priest; Korroth Karn earned his promotion to Jedi Hunter; and Karean fought exceptionally well on the field of battle. Due in no small part to the efforts of Clan Scholae Palatinae and Battleteam Ebon Cloak, Antei is again in Dark Brotherhood hands.
The Ebon Cloak's exemplary performance in this war persuaded the House Summit to grant the Battleteam the resources to build an avant-garde training facility on Antenora. Under the close scrutiny of Tetrarch Draco Maligo, Korroth Karn designed the Sedes Doctrinae. The Tetrarch actualized its construction, in the Hollow Lands of Antenora, and despite several incidents of sabotage by native rebel groups the Sedes was completed by 31 ABY. However, during this time, many Ebonites became inoperative, and in that year the Battleteam was dissolved.
In 33 ABY the House Summit decided to reopen the Ebon Cloak, placing then Battlemaster Sykes Jade at the head of the phyle.
Headquarters
The official headquarters of the Ebon Cloak are the offices in the Southern turret of the Dragon's Citadel. The Tetrarch’s office is at the top of the turret, while below it there is a meeting room with a long table and computer terminal, a planning room with a large holoprojector and various other spaces that could be set up for any type of gathering or conference. At the top of the turret there is also a small strongroom, where the actual Dark Cloak is kept when not in use.
The main entrance to the headquarters, which spans the whole base of the turret, is where Dark Jedi aspiring to enter the Battleteam must start their journey to the Sedes Doctrinae, where their enrolment will be completed. Starting from this room, the Dark Jedi will have to travel, on foot, out of the Dragon's Citadel, across Eastern Li Gandor, through Batnare and the Sea of the Rising and finally arrive at the Sedes in the Hollow Lands. Inside the Dripping Hall, the rituals of initiation into the Ebon Cloak will be completed and the Dark Jedi will become a full member of the Battleteam. Obviously, if the Dark Jedi fails to travel from the Dragon's Citadel to the Sedes Doctrinae on foot, they will not be permitted to enter the Battleteam, thus making this journey a test of the Dark Jedi’s resolve to join the Ebon Cloak.
Sedes Doctrinae
The Sedes Doctrinae is the heart of the Battleteam’s operations. It is on Antenora, on the Southern edge of the continent of Batnare, where the Sea of the Rising gives way to the rocky expanse of Af Demizon. It has been excavated inside one of the cave complexes that riddle the Hollow Lands, not very distant from the city of Nas Modeh. The construction of the Sedes was authorized by Acclivis Draco after the Ebon Cloak showed its potential during the retaking of Antei in 30 ABY. The House Summit intended this facility to be the training grounds for the Journeymen of the House, where the future generations of Equites and Elders would be moulded into shape; hence its name (Sedes Doctrinae can be roughly translated as temple of learning).
The Sedes is composed of four main sectors that surround the massive natural cavern known as the Dripping Hall. To the South of the Dripping Hall the entrance consists of the security hub, the MediLab, the reception and the hangar. West of the Hall, the Obelisk compound provides combat training and exercise facilities. North of the Hall is the Sith-Krath complex, where Dark Jedi will go to conduct research, acquire knowledge, study battlefield tactics and attend lectures. The residence quarters are East of the Hall, consisting of the dormitories and living spaces of the Battleteam.
The actual location of the Sedes is kept a secret from the local population, but the tribesmen of Soba Karemu and Naa Ugo call the area around the Sedes the Kebre qua Addha'shi, or “Canyon of Howling Souls”, and they believe so strongly that it is haunted that they will not travel anywhere near it. It is possible that this fear originates from the animal and Human test subjects that are used by the Battleteam, whose cries of pain can sometimes be heard even from outside the Sedes cave complex.
During the Krath ritual to sanctify the Sedes a dark side nexus was created encompassing the grotto, to enable journeymen to advance more quickly by easing their connection to the dark side of the Force.
Entrance
The main entrance can be accessed by a path that winds its way up from the canyon floor to the mouth of the cave, about one quarter of the way up the vertical face of the cliff. The actual entrance and tunnel beyond it are a natural formation, probably eroded into existence by an underground stream. The natural tunnel leads first to the reception, where a clerk can be found and where every visitor is made to check in before continuing to the rest of the Sedes. The reception holds the records of the identity and business of everyone that entered and left the Sedes.
The reception connects to the security hub, the Dripping Hall, the MediLab and the hangar.
Hangar
The outside entrance to the hangar is hidden within a recess in the rock face of the canyon. Although this makes entering the hangar slightly more difficult, it ensures that it remains hidden from prying eyes.
The hangar can also be accessed by a turbolift platform that can carry people and small vehicles to the plains above the canyon and back. Although the main entrance is used in official occasions, the Battleteam members most often use this turbolift. The turbolift shaft is hidden from the outside by a stone outcropping.
The tunnel from the hangar leads directly to the reception, so that all visitors, expected or not, have to go through the security check-in.
MediLab
The MediLab is situated near to the entrance and hangar tunnels, so as to allow quick access in case of emergency. The MediLab contains four beds, two bacta-tanks and a diagnostics station. It also has a decently large medical cabinet and a passable operating theatre equipped for basic operations.
The MediLab is always kept well-stocked and up-to-date, since it is the only practicable Brotherhood healthcare center outside of Li Gandor.
Security hub
Linking directly to the reception, the security hub houses the displays of all the cameras present in and around the Sedes, and it has the controls of all the sealable doors, the traps, the lights and the override switches. The hub is completely encased in duralloy and it can be magnetically sealed by two durasteel doors. A side room with life-support supplies, food and weapons will allow twelve people to survive in the hub for several weeks. The security hub is where the Battleteam would make a last stand in case of a siege to the Sedes.
Dripping Hall
Continuing past the reception, the natural tunnel of the entrance gradually widens into a massive chamber which forms the center of the Sedes Doctrinae. Only the floor of the cavern has been leveled; the walls and roof form a natural dome that reaches almost sixty meters in height. The surface of the dome is entirely made up of beautiful stalactites, whose water droplets glitter in the Hall’s scant light. These droplets continue, as they have for countless millennia, to trickle down to the floor of the Hall creating a ceaseless concert of dripping water, thus giving the name to the cavern. It is said that, should all of the stalactites of the Hall stop dripping, a terrible catastrophe would descend upon the Sedes Doctrinae and the Ebon Cloak.
At the center of the Hall, a lone stalagmite rises from the floor and almost touches the giant stalactite that reaches down from the center of the dome. These natural behemoths (each calculated to be at least 25 meters tall) have been left untouched when the Sedes was built because they hold an important meaning and lesson for the Ebon Cloak. The stalagmite and stalactite started off as the smallest protrusions in the rock of the cavern, but as each droplet slid down the stalactite and dropped to the stalagmite it left a speck of minerals on their tips, thus allowing the two structures, through millennia of ceaseless dripping, to grow to their current size. This expresses to the Ebonites how, no matter how small one is at the beginning, one can grow through patience and relentless perseverance to reach the highest levels of power.
During the sanctification of the Sedes Doctrinae, a dark side nexus was created and ‘placed’ inside the central stalagmite of the hall. This nexus emanates a Force aura that embraces the whole of the Sedes, so that the Ebonites’ connection to the Dark Side of the Force is strengthened while they are training.
The Dripping Hall is occasionally equipped to host banquets, large meetings or official ceremonies. It is here that new members complete the initiation rites and are named Ebonites.
Being in the center of the Sedes, the Hall branches out to connect to all of the sections of the Sedes. To the South is the entrance; to the East the residence quarters; the Sith-Krath complex to the North and the Obelisk compound to the West.
Obelisk Compound
The Obelisk compound has been excavated to the West of the Dripping Hall. It provides for the physical training of the Battleteam members, with the sports-center, the combat simulation chambers and the shooting range.
Sports-Center
The sports-center consists of a large natural pool and a multipurpose sports field. The pool is normally used as a proper swimming pool, for water sports or sometimes just to cool down after a long day under the harsh glare of Imperius. The sports field can be used for Grav-ball or Limmie, or just for general physical exercise. There is also a changing room and shower cubicles in the sports center, so that members don’t have to go all the way to the residential quarters.
Shooting Range
The shooting range is a long hall that can be used for target practice, dueling, sparring and melee-weapons or martial-arts classes. When live targets are available (most often hapless Gungans or Ewoks), these targets will be set loose to run to the end of the hall, and the Battleteam will practice shooting before they reach cover at the bottom of the hall. The chamber is well ventilated and the durasteel walls and floor are periodically washed of blood and scorch marks.
Combat Simulation Chambers
The Combat Simulation Chambers (CSCs) have been situated in a relatively large expanse of caves which are all interconnected. Artificial obstacles and traps of many kinds have also been set into these caves (the traps are changed periodically to maintain the element of surprise), along with holoprojectors that cover every part of the chambers.
With the aid of the holoprojectors, these chambers allow the Battleteam members to practice combat operations in a wide variety of scenarios; from a battlefield with trumpets and a charge at enemy lines to a stealth assassination mission. The Battleteam most often practices outside on the surface of Antenora because the environmental conditions are more realistic; but the CSCs allow them to practice against holocrons with very advanced AI, without having any impact on the overcrowded cemeteries of the Antenora natives.
Armory
Next to the CSCs is the armory. The weapons, uniforms and armor of each member is stored inside here, along with the survival gear necessary to travel through the Antenora deserts, a few heavy assault weapons, infiltration equipment and explosives. Generally it is here that the Ebonites outfit themselves before going out to a mission.
The armory also has two benches equipped for installing enhancements or repairing weapons and armor. At the end of the armory is a small cubicle sealed in a thick layer of duralloy which contains the Battleteam’s explosives.
Sith-Krath Complex
The Sith-Krath complex is the whole Northern section of the Sedes Doctrinae. It contains the detention center, the animal pens, the alchemy laboratory, the library, the Battlefield Simulation Chamber and the classrooms. The Tetrarch’s quarters are situated at the East end of this complex.
Detention Block and Animal Pens
The animal pens consist of a long corridor with numerous enclosures dug into the rock on either side. Towards the end are two larger pens for the bigger animals. In the animal pens the Ebonites can house their ‘pets’, and the Battleteam can store its laboratory animals.
At the end of the corridor of the animal pens is a long detainment cell and two dark and damp solitary confinement cells. This section is the detainment block. According to protocol, anybody that is shut in the detainment cell is to be considered and treated as a laboratory animal, giving the Battleteam complete liberty to carry out tests and experiments on the detainees. This usually deters the Ebon Cloak members from doing anything that might have them sent to the detention block.
Alchemy Laboratory
The alchemy lab is a large room with long benches and white floors and walls. It is kept constantly sterile to prevent the risk of contaminating research samples, and entry is only possible through the surgical sterilisation fields at the two entrances to the laboratory. The benches and the lab’s storeroom are equipped with the latest developments in Sith Alchemy, Krath Sorcery and the more common fields of scientific research. The storeroom also contains apparatus for experiments and common chemicals. On the Western side of the lab are several sturdy tables that are equipped for the vivisection of test animals.
A small grotto connected to the lab serves as an indoor ‘greenhouse’. The humidity, light and temperature of the greenhouse can be regulated to suit the needs of specific plants. Usually the Battleteam uses the greenhouse to grow flora from which useful extracts can be obtained or simply to study a specific plant.
For potentially dangerous experiments, researchers are required to use either of the two hermetically-sealable rooms to the side of the lab, where harmful solutions and vapours can be disposed of safely.
Library
The library is composed of a hexagonal central chamber from which three wide halls stem. These three halls have high arched ceilings, marble floors and they are crossed by tall bookshelves that hold datatapes and datacards that range from treaties on the Old Sith Empire to repair manuals of moisture vaporators.
At the end of the hall that leads South-West (and which connects to the corridor that goes to the Obelisk compound and the alchemy lab) is another room that holds several consoles. From these consoles the Ebon Cloak members can search the library for a specific datacard or for a generic topic, and they can connect straight to the Shadow Academy to retrieve course notes.
The hall that leads northward ends with a room that has two wide wooden tables and benches. Against the walls of this room are glass cabinets that contain books and scrolls. Most of these are taken from the libraries of the Antenora cities, and they expand on the culture, history and social structure of the native tribes. However, there are also some rare manuscripts and printed books that have been found by Ebonites on their travels.
In the central hexagonal chamber and in the room at the end of the hall that leads South-East (which connects the library to the BSC and the classrooms) are several tables, chairs and couches for quiet reading and study.
Battlefield Simulation Chamber
The Battlefield Simulation Chamber (BSC) is a wide circular room South of the library. Most of the space is taken up by the round platform in its middle, which is surrounded by consoles and controls. During a simulation, the platform projects a scaled-down holographic representation of one of the many battlefields in its database. All of Antenora has been mapped and coded for this device, plus many other strategically interesting locations across the Galaxy. The simulator can also reproduce varied locations in deep space or near star systems.
Once the battlefield is chosen, the students or the Tetrarch can set up a scenario with armies, fleets and structures. The students can then control their forces as they fight against advanced AI adversaries or against other students. The AI is updated constantly with the latest tactics and strategies, and particular care is dedicated to simulating the effects of Force powers used by Light or Dark Jedi on the battlefield.
Classrooms
Further down the corridor from the BSC there are three classrooms. The first, which has a console connected to the library, is used for lectures on scientific theory, history and Dark Jedi lore. The second one has several wooden benches and is equipped for chemistry or alchemy demonstrations and experiments that serve the purpose of learning rather than research. The third and largest classroom is free of tables or chairs; instead it has a row of mannequins and other specialized equipment that is used for the study and practice of aggressive and defensive Force techniques.
Rune Hall
To the East of the Sith-Krath complex is the Rune Hall. It was found during the final stages of excavation of the Sedes Doctrinae, and it has since been kept intact. It is a low hallway whose ceiling and walls are completely covered in runes. Studies carried out on the hallway revealed that it was excavated by a relatively advanced civilization around the time of Antenora’s occupation by the Rakata. The engraved runes have not yet been deciphered, as they are similar to no other writing system currently known.
Halfway across the hallway, in its northern wall, there is an opening that was once closed by a heavy stone slab. This slab was blasted open by the first team that began studying the Rune Hall. Beyond they found a short passage blocked by another similar stone door. Unfortunately this team found that, by shattering the first slab, they had destroyed a very important set of runes that could have helped to decipher the Rune Hall’s engravings. Not wanting to risk the same disaster, the second door has so far been left untouched, even though it is known (through scans) that there is a very wide chamber beyond that door.
Tetrarch’s Quarters
The Rune Hall ends, at its Eastern side, with the entrance to the Tetrarch’s quarters. The antechamber is the only part of these quarters that is accessible to the other Battleteam members. Its furniture and decor is usually changed by each Tetrarch.
Access to the rooms beyond the antechamber are restricted to the Tetrarch and the House Summit, but the Ebon Cloak members speculate that they connect through a secret passageway to the supposedly unexplored chamber beyond the stone door of the Rune Hall.
Residential Quarters
The residential quarters are to the East of the Dripping Hall. They are primarily composed of the common hall and the dormitories, but they also include the storeroom and the Night Garden.
Common Hall
The entrance to the residential quarters is one big room sectioned off into the mess hall, the cantina and the games room.
The mess hall consists of a long table with twelve chairs, and an opening nearby leads to the kitchens. The chef’s speciality is mushroom, which he goes to pick personally in the nearby cave networks almost daily; rare is the time when he serves a menu lacking in large quantities of these mushrooms.
The cantina has a long bar with stools and a (locked and rationed) liqueur cabinet. There are also a few separate coffee tables with settees off to the side.
The games room is where Ebonites go to distract themselves after a hard day’s work. The available games are dejarik, holochess, fuse-ball, pazaak and sabacc, but the whole room can be cleared for other games, and occasionally the Battleteam will have one of the local Antenoran bands play on the stage.
Dormitories
Beyond the common hall a short corridor leads to all of the eleven private rooms of the Ebon Cloak Dark Jedi. The rooms are hewn roughly out of the raw rock, with a ledge of stone serving as a bed and a thinner slab for the desk. Several alcoves provide storage space for clothes and personal effects, and each room has an en-suite bathroom. The uncomfortable bed, the freezing shower water and the generally cold atmosphere (and temperature) of these rooms is intended to discourage Ebonites from spending too much time in their rooms instead of training.
Storeroom
South of the common hall is the main storeroom of the Sedes. It is a wide cave with a low ceiling. Half of it is occupied by long aisles of sturdy metal shelves, while the rest is stacked with waterproof crates of all sizes. There is also a closed-off cold-room which connects directly to the kitchens. The storeroom is stocked with enough food to last for almost two years. The storeroom also stores ammunitions, common repair parts for vehicles and spaceships, drilling tools for a possible collapse of a tunnel, survival gear for desert expeditions and all of the more menial paraphernalia required to run the Sedes on a daily basis.
Night Garden
To the South of the Storeroom a long and narrow passageway leads from the Dripping Hall to the night garden. The garden is a natural cavern which has a floor completely covered in a thick mat of soft dark moss. The only illumination comes from the swarms of bioluminescent beetles and the glowing mushrooms lining the cave. The stalactites on the roof of the cave, like those in the Dripping Hall, slowly drip water from their tips to the floor. Ebonites have found that the continuous soft patter of these droplets splashing down onto the moss layer is very soothing to the mind, and it allows a Dark Jedi to enter deep meditation and profound thought.
Roll of Tetrarches
- Adam Anderson
- Saitou - 12/4/2000 - 4/9/2001
- J'Lek Arcanos
- Saitou: 5/3/2002 - 5/12/2002
- J'Lek Arcanos
- Tirna Q'jira: 9/13/2002 - 2/25/2003
- Mike Christu
- Quowal
- Karva Dronaal
- Lorad Desmos: 5/14/2003 - 6/11/2003
- Saitou: 9/16/2003 - 10/8/2003
- Vally Tamalar: 10/19/2003 - 10/26/2003
- Kschamehellan: 12/13/2003 - 12/19/2003
- Issard Jokaat: 3/26/2004 - ?
- Mordecai Orren Vathalan
- Exodius: 1/30/2005 - 5/5/2005
- Uzbad Zol Tamalar: 8/20/2005 - 11/14/2005
- Laurus: 11/14/2005 - 2/13/2006
- Cethgus: 3/9/2006 (24 ABY) - 4/21/2006 (25 ABY)
- Uzbad Zol Tamalar: 4/23/2006 - 6/19/2006
- Radek: 6/19/2006 - 7/21/2006
- Kara Incendia Zor-El: 2/3/2008 - 9/9/2008
- Draco Maligo: 2/9/2009 - 6/30/2009 (31 ABY)
- Sykes Jade: 4/22/2010 (33 ABY) - 7/22/2010 (33 ABY)
(Note: This is an incomplete list. Please contribute to this list if you have any information pertaining to the topic.)
Trivia