Orders of the Brotherhood

An Order in the Dark Brotherhood is a set path, or predetermined set of characteristics for the purpose of Role Play.

Lore

The Brotherhood of Dark Jedi, though relatively recent in foundation, traces the roots of its practices back through thousands of years. One of the most important of these foundations is the Tripartite Path, followed by the ancient Star Chamber. This path teaches three distinct ways of utilizing the Force for personal power and growth, with the true Masters of the Dark Side ascending all three Paths.

The founders of the ancient Star Chamber were three, a Scholar, an Assassin, and a Warlord. Each chose apprentices, and taught them their talents and abilities. This division of three set the foundation for the early Star Chamber, and later the Brotherhood of Dark Jedi. Though this foundation was sound, it was not perfect. In their training, each student began to bear many of the prejudices of their Master, and these began to spill over into their relationship with the other Orders.

The Warlord

The Warlord was an exiled Sith, a participant in a failed coup to overthrow Marka Ragnos as Dark Lord. Being a pure-blood Sith, he was convinced of the superiority of his legacy, and its control of the Dark Side. He taught his students to seek positions of leadership within the Cult, and to guide the other Orders to submission. It was the Warlord who sought to expand the reaches of the Star Chamber beyond their home systems, to reclaim the glory lost by Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, at the end of the Great Hyperspace War, and the utter failure of Exar Kun after the Great Sith War.

The Scholar

The Scholar, a renowned sorceress from the deepest regions of the Core, was already mad when she joined the Warlord. Her strange third eye gave her visions and insight into the future and the past. She guided the Assassin from Corellia to the Antei System. It was from her that we gained our first knowledge of the Final Order. Her students were taught to seek out and unravel the ancient mysteries, so that a full knowledge of the Dark Side might lead them to power.

The Assassin

Finally, the Assassin was a strong, proud man from Corellia. Lauded as the most efficient murderer of the day, his name was spoken in hushed whispers. Often the merest threat of his attention was enough for a rival to back down. The Assassin was mired in the politics of the system, but despised them. When he joined the Star Chamber, he and his students sought unity with the Dark Side, by unifying their physical forms with the Force, in a harmony of energy and matter. They studied war-skills as the expression of this sought unity, and grew into the most ferocious warriors ever to plague the Jedi.

Schism

For a century after the Great Sith War, the Star Chamber solidified its position in the Galaxy, acting in secret from what we now call the Antei system. They carefully manipulated system and regional politics, in attempts to cause strife and discord across the sector. Their policies placed them in direct conflict with the decree of a later Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Bane, and his Apprentice. The Star Chamber, being much older than the Decree, therefore kept its origins very quiet, as to avoid confrontation with the most powerful of the Dark Jedi. Their ultimate goal was the recreation of the Sith Empire, and the culmination of the Final Order.

The triumvirate was successful, for as long as it lasted. The Assassin Ferran led their forces where open combat was required, his own power equal to a thousand of his lesser. Warlord Okemi guided their overall strategy, studying and planning every conquest carefully, his mind forever on the future. The Sorceress Tiamat provided her own mysterious arts, and through her visions and ancient knowledge, brought ever increasing power to their designs.

As far as we know their plans where accidentally thwarted by the Sorceress. Acting on a vision that she declared would herald the Final Order, she and her students began a grand ritual, designed to extinguish the lights of all stars, using a sympathetic bond between the solar bodies, and their presence in the Force as symbols of life and the Light Side. Okemi sanctioned the ritual, giving his blessing, against the protest of Ferran. As the ritual collapsed, the Assassin slew Taimat. The star of the Antei system partially reverted to the Darkness, destroying all life in the system in its transformation, including Okemi and Ferran.

The Star Chamber was devastated, with only a handful of their students surviving. For the next four thousand years, they and their students kept watch. It was only after the fall of the Empire, that more students began to emerge.

Finally, the Three Orders have been reunited under the Dark Lord of the Sith…

The Tripartite Path

Each Order has its own advantages and weaknesses that make it an essential part of the Brotherhood. No Order could be successful in completely exterminating another Order. These stereotypes do not define every member of the Order, but provide a framework of expectations upon which the members of the Brotherhood generally react to their own Order, and their rivals.

The Elders of the Dark Side, have Ascended over all three Orders. While still attached to their Order of study, their knowledge of the Dark Side has broadened enough that they are no longer limited by their old preconceptions. One of the highlights of a Dark Jedi’s career is this point in their study. Many who would become powerful and valuable Elders are stuck behind, because of their adherence to stereotypes. Those who are capable of making this leap, are perhaps one in a thousand, which is why the ranks of the Elders in the Brotherhood are so thin.

Grand Masters are completely unrestricted in their views, having a firm mastery of all aspects of the Dark Side, even those not recognized by the Tripartite Path. These are the true Lords of the Dark Side, and the most like the Greatest, Lord Darth himself.

The Orders

Krath - The Krath are manipulative and subtle, preferring to subjugate from the shadows.

Obelisk - The Obelisk are ruthless warriors, skilled in the use of all manner of weapons and combat techniques.

Sith - The Sith are cunning tacticians and warlords, bent on conquest and domination.