- "So be it. Let the fires of battle consume us!"
- ―Mirus Cavataio, to Kaun Denaria of the Misty Falls Clan of Dathomir
Mirus Hi'ija is a warrior from the planet of Dathomir and the heir of a long Force-sensitive bloodline. Having been raised on the Force, constant battle under the guidance of his father and the ideals of the Sith, he left his homeworld to discover the Sith. Two years later he found himself at the halls of the Brotherhood to learn the arts of the Force, first becoming a Sith and then an Obelisk, only to fall in battle. His subsequent revival as a clone found him with a new lease on life, only to join the ranks of House Odan-Urr and attempting to learn the ways of the Light Side. Once known as Mirus Cavataio, the Jedi has taken his father's surname to reflect his second chance.
History
Birth and Youth
Dathomir, Mirus' homeworld.
Mirus was born in the year 9 ABY to Lauda Cavataio and Sanies Hi'ija, a priestess of Dathomir and a slave of the Morte clan. The Morte clan, while not the most dominant of clans, was still a definite presence on the planet of Dathomir, led by a Superior Mother named Petra Cavataio, who also happened to be Mirus' grandmother. Petra Cavataio was an ancient Sith witch. Some say she lived for thousands of years with a combination of the Dathomiri and Sith arts, but those who asked tended not to survive the encounter. Mirus also had a twin sister named Mira and an adopted sister, one year younger, named La'Ca. They lived in the Morte clan's stronghold, built into the side of a mountain near the Dreaming River. All three of these children shared one very important thing: the fact that they were all potentially strong Force-sensitives, being of Force-sensitive heritage themselves from both their mother and father's sides. This made them prized possessions of the Morte clan and all three of them would be destined for greatness.
Mirus' early youth was fairly normal for most children of the galaxy. Educated at home by hired tutors from off-world along with his two sisters, he learned a wide variety of disciplines: sciences, arts, mathematics; most normal school subjects. All of it was under the purview of the education of the Dathomiri children, carefully administered to them by their rather doting and rather well-travelled mother Lauda. She, having majority custodianship of the three children, preferred that they grow up like normal children. The mundane subjects that their mother taught, contrasted with Sanies' teaching on the side when the time was available to both Sanies and Mirus, gave him a nice and balanced early life. He played sport with other children of the clan, especially games such as grav-ball with the other boys. It was a rough and tumble life, and fighting was often common with other boys, as little boys were apt to do. He did tend to get along with most people for the majority of the time, which made making friends in the clan simple.
Mirus' father, Sanies Hi'ija.
Dathomiri culture, especially that of the Morte clan, was a total matriarchy. Men were no better than slaves, even when born into a position of power as Mirus was. His father Sanies, little more than a skilled warrior-slave from the nearby planet of Bandomeer, belonged to the Superior Mother and was typically away from his children for long spans of time. Many years before he was captured and then raised as her pet assassin, given a prized weapon - a lightspear, with a phrik-plated haft. The times that Mirus and his father got to spend together were extremely important to Mirus; it was Sanies that taught him how to fight with a sword, how to hunt, to fish, to live off the land and regaled him with tales of missions of hunting and tracking foes for his grandmother and the fierce battles that he took part in with rancors and rebels alike. This put a sense of purpose and adventure into young Mirus, even from an early age. While his sisters took after their mother and learned the Dathomiri magics, Mirus preferred physical arts. This would be the major shaping impact on the things that became his later life.
A First Taste Of Power
Rumours had always floated around the stronghold that, beyond the arts of magic that were common, Petra Cavataio had studied Sith arts many years ago. Out of the three children, Mirus was the only one truly curious as to its nature. As he grew older, he asked more and more questions of his grandmother, who grew to loathe him more and more for his inquisitive nature. He wanted to know what the Sith were, which she told him. But she would never, ever, ever reveal any of the secrets that the Sith held. This was not a situation he could abide so he concocted a plan to enter the library of scrolls that were under constant guard at all times. These scrolls possessed the secrets of magic and the Force that the witches of the Morte clan ascribed to. Mirus set a creature from the family zoo known as a purbole loose into the library, letting the little beast terrorise and tear up the place while his father was on guard duty. He wanted to know those secrets at any cost, eventually stumbling on a number of journals of Petra's written many years ago on the topic of Sith Alchemy and a treatise on the Code of the Sith until he was discovered by his grandmother. This earned him two days in the dungeons tortured by his own father, given the fact that Sanies had failed to keep someone out of the highest restricted section of the library of scrolls.
However, this did not deter Mirus; in fact, it did quite the opposite. It set in him a burning desire and aspiration of learning those secrets, the secrets to the supposed ultimate power his grandmother wielded. If he could have such power for himself one day, he would break free of the male oppression that the witches tended to practise. He could be a somebody too on this planet, which was a thought that pleased him greatly. One day he would have to return to the idea and become stronger. In his youth, however, it was not to be, and the idea was shelved for a later year.[1]
Starting Down The Warrior's Path
By age fifteen, Mirus had become a stronger fighter. Spending more time with his father and really taking up the art of the sword as a more dedicated practise given the Morte chosen weapon was a sword. Mirus found himself working with the armies of the Morte clan in many types of training, both tactical and practical. He knew how to handle himself in battle and how to wield his weapon, training with people twice his age and easily a foot taller than him while he was still growing. It was here that he started to learn the art of Kartranin, a martial art common across the galaxy. All of this made him a keen young warrior, thirsty for his first fight against a real enemy and hungry to learn more about the arts of battle.
His first real test in battle was a trial fought between the Morte clan and the Misty Falls clan over a disagreement that the two Superior Mothers had. Mirus found himself taking his first life in this fight, an older slave that fought him sword on sword. Mirus took his first real wound from this man only to cut his hand off then stab him between two ribs, killing his first enemy. It was a glorious moment, followed by two more kills later on in the chaotic and violent battle. For his efforts, Mirus was awarded the dragon's fangs tattoos next to his left eye, a Morte clan symbol of a warrior's greatness in battle. Almost every single Morte warrior who survived their first battle carried the mark as a reminder that thir lives were now entwined forever with the arts of war and that they could never leave its harsh embrace.[2]
Much of his early adulthood was spent fighting alongside the army. His skills grew with a sword, tested primarily on raiders from other clans and marauders and smugglers from off-world, killing many men in the process of defending the Morte clan stronghold. Between himself and his father, many enemies of the clan had been slain and his grandmother finally began to see Mirus' worth as a fighter. This was starting to heal the rift created earlier by his little intrusion into the restricted area of the Scrolls. With his ties to his family finally strong and a good sense of his own inner strength, tempered in the fires of battle, Mirus could finally start working on his own projects, building his body to be strong and starting to research deeper mysteries of the Force with greater access to the Scrolls.
Into the Galaxy
As his twenty-fifth birthday approached, Mirus had to make a very difficult choice: he could stay on the planet with his mother, father and sisters, staying in the Dathomiri life with the aspiration of perhaps one day becoming a general of sorts for his clan. Or, he could risk everything and leave the planet in hopes of finding some trace of the Sith and learning their arts from them. He chose the latter and, despite a complete denial and pleading from his sisters and mother not to leave, he did so on a freighter bringing supplies and slaves to the planet. He was left out in the wide Galaxy, with barely any money, the clothes on his back, a very vague notion that he could control the Force and the need to achieve his one goal.
Lynx, the rogue Dark Jedi.
He stumbled onto the planet of Tatooine, where he ran into a strange sentient; a Kel Dor who seemed to know more about Mirus than he ever told this man. The Kel Dor made Mirus a simple offer; travel with him for some time and he might be able to help him on his quest. Said travelling companion was actually a rogue member of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood who took a particular interest in helping potential new students realise their true calling and offered his assistance freely. Mirus accepted this offer and travelled around the Galaxy, performing various deeds at the behest of his travelling companion, whose name Mirus only knew as Lynx, named for a planet in the Tapani Sector. Their adventures were many, going across the Galaxy and testing themselves against all kinds of challenges, many of them involving illegal activities such as stealing. More than once did they find themselves in trouble with smugglers or pirates, fending them off-- Mirus with his trusty sword and Lynx with a lightsaber of blue. More than once did they have to attack people for their own survival, however, raiding merchant ships and the like just to scrounge for some food and the money they needed for their nomadic lifestyle. They used a battered and old YT-1300 as their base of operations, amusingly called the Ion Maiden.
Eventually it came to the point that Mirus had to fake his own death in order to get some bounty hunters off their back; a short adventure on Tanaab where Mirus and Lynx accidentally managed to kill the son of a government official because he was threatening them with a blaster and his friends who all happened to be mercenaries. The ensuing firefight killed all of the mercenaries and fatally wounded the son, to which the official put a small bounty on their head. Mirus, in a short moment of critical thinking, detonated an escape pod after launching it from their ship while being chased by a pair of Preybird fighters and making the ship drift, appearing dead in space. It was enough to get the pilots off their tail and the bounty off their heads, but Mirus never forgot the lesson: don't cross the governments of any system. With them off his back, Mirus was free to pursue other things.
Over the course of the two years in which they travelled together, Mirus took up the art of Dulon, partially out of the want for improved combat skills but also because Lynx refused to actually teach him anything despite being obviously some kind of Force-user. This frustration helped him hone this art and become proficient in it reasonably quickly. While not a master, it was certainly a start on the right track.
Eventually Mirus and Lynx came across the world of Empress Teta, bathed rich in the history of the Sith and the Krath. It was at this point that Mirus' barrage of questions about the Sith forced Lynx to cave and start telling Mirus about the two. Lynx had sufficiently dragged enough marauders and pirates onto Mirus that he was physically and mentally ready to handle the rigors of the Brotherhood. He told Mirus of the Star Chamber and the Tripartite Path, of Sith, Krath and Obelisk, of Okemi, Tiamat and Ferran - but only in passing mention. He told Mirus that he would have to take a test to prove himself worthy of their powers, of the power of the Sith and the greatness that was the Galaxy's infinite Force. Mirus accepted this offer, just as he had done so with Lynx's original offer two years before. It was time to accept his destiny and embrace the darkness.
Shortly after, Mirus was preparing himself for the first step on the path of the Brotherhood: the Test of Lore. Finally, here was his chance: two years of searching and of training and his chance to learn the powers of the Sith had finally arrived. Lynx dropped Mirus off to take the test, never to see the mysterious Kel Dor again - he'd never even learned his real name. However, that was no longer an issue. He had to focus on his goal. He finally had his chance to become a Sith and Mirus intended to take the chance with both hands and run with it.
From Initiate to Protector
Mirus' acceptance into the Brotherhood came easily, passing his Test of Lore and being sent to the moon of Lyspair over the planet Antei, to the Shadow Academy. At the Shadow Academy it was very clear what Mirus wished to study, applying immediately for the Sith Order and its associated studies. Upon passing his first basic exam, the Academy presented him with the rank of Apprentice and formal assignment to House Taldryan. At this point, Mirus was transferred out of the Academy and out to Taldryan's headquarters on Karufr, where his training would truly begin. Academy exams could still be taken from his new residence, which he continued to do almost obsessively, attempting to absorb as much of the knowledge as he possibly could, especially that of the Sith. It was staggering and mindblowing, just how much knowledge was available, all of which he tried to absorb as quickly as he could, faring reasonably well in doing so. He enjoyed testing his mind in amidst testing his body and learning the histories of the Sith, studying ancient Darths and their impacts on the Galaxy.
The symbol of House Taldryan.
This wanton lust for knowledge had Mirus recognised by his House summit. They granted him the rank of Acolyte for his dedication to his studies and granted him the use of a training saber and learning the bare basics of lightsaber combat, Form Zero. He spent a lot of time with his combat instructors, almost spending his time entirely with them for his tenure as an Acolyte while waiting for some of his straggling Academy test results to come through. At this point, Mirus truly began to excel. He found that he was not particularly good at using the Force, though he was learning a wide variety of Force powers - instead, his size, strength and natural bent towards physical activity made him a natural in a variety of combat arts. He polished off his skills in Kartranin and Dulon that he'd learned as he travelled the Galaxy and put finishing touches on them while he started to learn the basics of lightsaber combat.
In fact, his combat progress and prowess was enough that one of his instructors made passing mention to both the Antei Combat Centre and the Grand Master's Royal Guard, both at home on Antei. A trip there would likely not go astray were he to attempt qualifying for them. So saying, Mirus took both of the application tests as soon as he possibly could and found full marks on them. While he could not travel to Antei immediately to begin his training with them, the status of membership was enough for Mirus. He understood the Guard would require advanced training the likes of which he had never seen and the Combat Centre would require a full qualification for its later rounds.
With a spare moment in his training Mirus had the chance to finally qualify for the Antei Combat Centre. He submitted himself for training and judgement, eventually encountering a Krath named Socorra Erinos who tested his skills in the Courtyard of the Elders. Ultimately, Mirus was defeated atop the Spire but learned considerably from the battle, especially his weakness in the Force and resolved to improve that about himself before he made Dark Jedi Knight. Unfortunately, his qualification was not to be, prompting him to continue his training. [3]
After the qualification on Antei, Mirus remained dedicated to his training and continued practising with his combat and Force instructors, honing his body with harsh training and his mind with continued study. All of this relentless effort eventually paid off and Mirus was granted the rank of Protector.
New Horizons
Upon Mirus' promotion to Protector, things began to change as he took a more active role in participating in the House's activities, not just his own studies. Granted the honour of an armory lightsaber, a considerable upgrade from his training saber, Mirus could then say that he had his own real lightsaber - even if it was only a mass-produced one, he had his own weapon. Not only this, but the House Summit informed him that his duties and responsibilities, as well as the things he could access as a member of the Brotherhood, were now far greater. This prompted him to push harder in his duties in order to live up to the heightened expectations upon him.
- "You will come quietly."
- ―Mirus, to rogue apprentice Kariss
True to this effect, he immediately received a request from the Summit to re-capture one of the apprentices afflicted by the Horizon plague and bring them back to the House for curing. Mirus had essentially missed the entirety of the actual events surrounding this contagion and was fortunate enough not to be infected by them. However, its lingering malady still affected other Journeymen. Mirus set out to the nearby planet of Sarmus, where in its forests he found the rogue Apprentice named Kariss, a Zabrak sniper. In a short yet brutal fight after a discussion of the loyalties of House Taldryan, Mirus defeated Kariss and successfully returned her for her cure. It was a difficult and harrowing experience but Mirus came out stronger for it, learning a lot more about why one had to be part of House Taldryan and loyal to its cause.[4]
Rian Aslar, Mirus' Master.
This attracted the attention of Rian Aslar, the Quaestor of Taldryan. His interest in the Journeyman was so much so that Rian took Mirus on as his Apprentice and their formal training began. Rian immediately began to improve Mirus' training regime considerably, discussing many topics at length in their few moments of downtime when Rian was not occupied with his work as head of the House Summit - battle, home, training. This Master and Apprentice relationship would ultimately be very important to Mirus, forming the very thing that would push him harder as a member of House Taldryan. Being apprentice to the leader of the House was obviously a gigantic responsibility in and of itself and he pushed himself as hard as he possibly could to excel to ensure that Rian's reputation, and that of his own, was never tarnished. A new path had opened, and new horizons awakened to him in the aftermath of the plague. He had many opportunities and had every intention of running with them.
Down the Obelisk Path
Under the guidance of his Master, Mirus realised many things, the foremost of which was that his training with Rian was very combat-oriented thanks to Rian's alignment as a member of the Order of Obelisk. This prompted Mirus to deeply contemplate his own choice of following the Sith path. He found that more of his personal traits fell in line with Obelisk and that his decision was made early without understanding the Tripartite Path fully. His own dedication to perfecting his body and combat arts would make him a far better study of the Obelisk philosophy than it would the Sith and he put in a formal request to transfer. A day later he found new robes present at his quarters, clad in blue - Obelisk blue. Mirus could not have been happier that this change was so easily granted to him. With a new purpose, he set out to continue his training.
That training began with the study of the martial art known as Shyarn-ado. Expanding his knowledge of sword-fighting, Mirus decided to take up the martial art under a House trainer, finding himself adapting well to its principles of swordsmanship though not to its softer requirements. With a lot of time and practise he started to improve, grasping little more than the basics around the time he was given his promotion to Guardian for his hard and dedicated work in helping the House with little tasks and activities. With a renewed promotion and a new-found sense of duty, Mirus pushed his training to the next level, all but sacrificing free time in the pursuit of greater strength in the greatest of Obelisk traditions.
- "You are needed back on Dathomir immediately. You have been summoned for a Trial of Grievance."
- ―Sanies Hi'ija, to Mirus Cavataio
That strength would immediately be tested by a call from his father on Dathomir, asking him to return home to participate in an unknown Trial of Grievance, a way of challenging people for a crime they committed. Mirus asked Shadow Taldrya and the Old Folks' Home to take him back to Dathomir in their ship Senility, which they consented to, teaching him about the way the old guys did things around Taldryan. Sabacc, porn, and napping ensued on the trip to Dathomir, leaving Mirus amazed at how these legends of Taldrya still functioned, but he supposed they had their reasons. Being left on Dathomir, Mirus faced down the Trial the following morning with his father, only to find that a Sith was the one who had masterminded this plot.
The man who had issued the Trial, Kaun Denaria, was the father of the first man that Mirus had ever killed. The Trial of Grievance turned to combat immediately as Kaun challenged Mirus, even going so far as to set off a grenade provided by the Arconan in order to cheat and win. Mirus survived the grenade even though he took a lot of shrapnel to his body, then promptly killed Denaria despite the pain after a mental reminder of his Master's words. Finally he ended the Sith on his father's lightspear after the Sith went berserk. Mirus eventually succumbed to his wounds and the exhaustion of using the Force, his father carrying himself and the Sith back to the Morte stronghold for investigation. Mirus discovered the Sith was an agent from Arcona sent to get at Taldryan's Quaestor through his apprentice. Mirus took this knowledge back to Karufr with him, unsure of what to do next.
[5]
Troubled Times
- "Stick to what you know, not what you think you know."
- ―Atra Ventus, to Mirus Cavataio
Atra Ventus, Mirus' fateful opponent.
Mirus finally managed to take the time to travel to Antei a week and a half after his mission to Dathomir to train with the Grand Master's Royal Guard, which he qualified during his tenure as an Acolyte. Immediately he was sent to train with the protector of the Voice of the Brotherhood on Byss, Atra Ventus. Having a highly talented and skilled warrior as his opponent, Mirus was expected to learn much from this session of battle. However, the battle quickly turned violent and Mirus found himself outclassed within moments. Disarmed of his lightsaber, struck with repeated Force attacks and having his left arm and leg broken, Mirus was battered and beaten by Atra until he felt he could take no more. When Mirus attempted to draw his shyarn, Atra called upon his saber and cut the weapon and his arm, rendering Mirus unconscious and leaving him in the chamber.
The medics collected Mirus and sent him to a bacta tank, healing all of his physical wounds save his arm. Once extracted from the tank, the medics began preparing a prosthetic for him but he screamed at them to leave it be as a way to punish himself for his complete failure. While he had learned much from the battle, Mirus felt completely humiliated by his defeat at Ventus' hands and swore that he would improve himself or die trying. He decided that it would be left as it was until he had earned his arm back through his training. This forced him to go back to the training arenas and learn to fight left-handed, requiring him to set Shyarn-ado aside for the moment and re-learn all of the abilities of Kartranin once again. This would be a critical point for him, having to re-evaluate himself as a warrior and promising himself to reach Atra's level.[6]
- "We need a new battleteam. One we can send out when we ask them to, not when it suits their needs. One actively dedicated to the improvement of our House."
- ―Shaz’air Taldrya, to Rian Aslar
Mirus was given no time to lament his new status. In amidst the chaos of the new changes to the Dark Council and to the Brotherhood as a whole thanks to the Horizons plague, House Taldryan’s Summit—his Master, Rian, as well as Shaz'air Taldrya serving as Aedile—had determined Taldryan’s need for an additional battleteam. While the Old Folks’ Home were certainly talented and capable, they were rogues at the best of times, serving only their own agendas and needs. Instead, what they determined Taldryan needed was a more active response team to crises and other problems, as well as the day-to-day management of the dominion. To this end, they selected Rian’s apprentice to lead the task force, one who had already shown promise in all areas of study and action despite his injury. While hesitant at first, Mirus accepted the position as leader and ultimately as Warden-Commander, dubbing the battleteam the Wardens of Unity, who whose initial membership consisted of many different people from Taldryan. First to join was Bubbles Taldrya, an ex-Tetrarch of his Master’s old battleteam, Phoenix Phyle. Lokasena Corvinus and his student Miranda Goto soon followed, as did the Guardian Carissus. Mirus’ old friend Malfrost Xeon chose this time to join as well. With a core of six members, the Wardens of Unity were officially ready to begin operations. [7]
The Warden-Commander
The emblem of the Wardens of Unity.
His first task as Warden-Commander was to set the battleteam up for action. Given a section of the Great Hall, Mirus had to work with construction crews to create Aegis Hall, the home of the Wardens, as well as establish training protocols, acquire hardware for the Wardens’ use, ensure that all the relevant people were kept in the loop at all phases of completion and manage the individual members of his battleteam. This kind of administrative work was something Mirus was highly unaccustomed to and the stress began to show – however, all this work in establishing his battleteam and creating its purpose and structure on his own, as well as recruiting a sixth member in the form of Malfrost’s student Nero Inferni, was rewarded with his promotion to the rank of Jedi Hunter.
Mirus found himself working immediately in Taldryan’s defense the very next day. He and Malfrost were involved in a whirlwind case of an assassination right on the doorstep of Taldryan’s Great Hall. With the assassin sneaking all the way inside the Great Hall after murdering two of Taldryan’s younger Journeymen, the two Wardens found themselves having to rout the attacker after a third life was taken inside the Great Hall itself. The two Wardens hunted down the assassin and exposed him before he could reach the Spire and the House Summit, preventing a major disaster that could have easily damaged House Taldryan’s leadership. The Wardens had officially proven themselves on their first task.
- "And your plan?”
“Oh, my plan, mister Aslar. My plan is very simple! I am going to have you hunted down in this very room for sport. I will award ten thousand credits to the man that subdues each of you."
- ―Rian Aslar and Trey Al-Avann
At the request of his Master, Mirus traveled to the planet of Coruscant where he and Rian, with the help of a Taldryan Intelligence Directorate operative named Agent Vairn, would retrieve Rian’s father’s cache of supplies and artifacts from before the Great Jedi Purge. This cache was controlled by a Black Sun Vigo, as they tried to pawn off the artifacts for a considerable fee, prompting them to arrive a day early and prepare for the mission. Mirus went to Coruscant’s underworld in search of his twin sister Mira, who met him in a nightclub and tried to understand why he was allowing himself to leave his arm cut off. When their reunion was over, Mirus ventured into The Works with Rian, intent on reclaiming this supply cache. However, things immediately went sour as the Black Sun sprung their trap in the form of Vairn betraying Mirus and Rian to a full Black Sun security team.
Captured, Mirus and Rian planned their escape under escort when Mira arrived, bearing the Force and her lightwhip. Together, the three Force-users slaughtered their way through the security team and subdued Vairn, who surrendered herself to the Quaestor’s will. Thanking Mira for her assistance, the two Taldryanites moved on to the Vigo’s penthouse where they encountered a Cerean named Trey Al-Avann, the Black Sun Vigo of the planet of Coruscant. Promising credits to the man who subdued them, Al-Avann turned the room into a battlefield, even going so far as to unleash two hunter nexu on them. As Rian began to clear the room of the guards, Mirus slew one nexu and used Beast Control to tame and subdue the other, turning it to his will. When the room was cleared, Mirus and Rian tracked down the fleeing Vigo and crashed his speeder into a wall until the nexu pounced and devoured him. Considering their mission a success, Rian gladly informed Mirus that he was ready to take the Trials for the rank of Dark Jedi Knight. [8]
The Avenger II.
Unfortunately, that was never meant to be. It was at that point that Grand Master Zoraan’s remnant forces in the form of the Super Star Destroyer ‘’Avenger II’’. Many Brotherhood strike teams came together to capture the fleeing ship, which was struggling to escape The Shroud. The Wardens formed a five-man strike team and assaulted the ship with the rest of the Brotherhood in what was easily the hardest mission Mirus had ever faced before. Boarding the vessel in a specially designed boarding pod and cutting their way into the air ducts from the outside, the Wardens made their assault on the ship against Sith, battle droids, automated turrets and hired mercenaries across the entire vessel. In the ensuing conflict, Mirus was injured rather grievously and was sent for healing under the auspice of Clan Naga Sadow’s finest healers and alchemists. However, the Sadowans decided to make use of the Warden-Commander for their own purposes and planted a Force suggestion in his mind – when the time was right, he would come to them.
The Trials Of Dark Jedi Knight
- "By the right of the House and the will of the Dark Council, I, Quaestor Rian Aslar of House Taldryan, declare you, Mirus Cavataio, to be a Knight of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood. Serve your House with pride and lead your Battleteam with valor. May Darkness forever guide your path. Rise, Knight!"
- ―Rian Aslar to Mirus Cavataio
Mirus' first lightsaber.
Finally, after his healing was complete and the excitement of the Avenger II died down, Mirus was presented before the House Summit for the examination of his worthiness of the rank of Knight. The Trials consisted of three parts: the Trial of Power in which the candidate’s worthiness in battle would be tested, the Trial of Blood in which the measure of personal sacrifice and physical injury would be examined and the Trial of Domination in which a candidate’s leadership skills would be brought into question. Immediately the Trial of Power began and Mirus was faced with two captured Jedi Knights, whom he fought and dispatched with practiced ease with a few quick strikes. Quaestor Aslar brought Mirus’ tribulations as a one-armed man into consultation with the Aedile and deemed the length of his tenure willingly one-armed in order to hone his talents as worthy of passing the Trial of Blood. Finally, the Trial of Domination required him to answer a difficult question about leaving a Warden trapped behind enemy lines at the risk of more lives; Mirus adamantly refuted that he would get back a fellow Warden no matter the cost, as that was one of Taldryan’s prime mottos. Satisfied with the answer, the Summit declared him as having passed all of his Trials and dubbed him a Dark Jedi Knight of the Brotherhood.[9]
His Master presented him with one final gift – the patterns to a lightsaber from the Herald’s office and the rights to craft his own lightsaber crystal in the House’s forges. Immediately Mirus created his first lightsaber and set about learning Shii-Cho as a lightsaber form, feeling its basic form and simplicity more in line with his mentality. Following this he visited Taldryan’s medical team in order to have a new prosthesis fitted for his right arm, feeling that finally, after multiple battles and numerous trials, including his promotion to the rank of Knight, he had finally earned the right to have his right arm back.
The curse the Sadowans had inflicted upon him at the end of the mission aboard the ‘’Avenger II’’ decided that it was the perfect time to rear its head. Awakening in Mirus the deep-seated want to go to the Orian System, he packed all of his belongings and commandeered a freighter to leave Karufr. The House caught wind of something strange and sent two of their Dark Jedi to stop him before he reached the landing pad. It escalated immediately into a fight; Mirus dispatched both foes despite suffering extreme burns from a flamethrower across his face and body plus a sword stab wound to the leg. Ultimately it was a battered and broken Mirus that stumbled upon the world of Tarthos, the homeworld of House Marka Ragnos.
The Rule of Sadow
Mirus was once again subjected to the care of the healers and alchemists of Naga Sadow – this time, they were preparing him for the trials that they would put him through. While he had already passed his tests as a Dark Jedi Knight, this was only the beginning for him. They re-created his face and body as best they could despite some major muscle atrophy; there were some changes to his facial features and body as a result of this but they were mostly minimal. They also subjected him to some light Force hypnosis and flash-training in order to bring his skillset to something more current. Whatever training they could not simply write over and give him they would teach him physically. Finally, they sped up his Clan and House indoctrination by adding it to the flash-training package.
Mirus' first apprentice, Yuriko.
Upon the completion of his reconstruction, Mirus met with his new Quaestor, Kalia Pepoi, who explained the basics to him: he was a member of the House, which gave him a position as an operative of Shadow. In his current state he was trained primarily as an all-purpose operative who could execute any range of missions from long-range assassinations to up-close and personal one man raids on enemy territory. On top of this, he was assigned to the battleteam Scepter of Ragnos for his experience and expertise working in a team, making him more useful to the House. With his loyalty guaranteed by their mental re-work, Mirus could easily be used as an asset and a Disciple of Sadow. He also began training with the Grand Master's Royal Guard full-time in order to hone his skills to a razor-sharp edge, given the great number of Sadowan members in the Guard and their reputation for excellence throughout history.
At this time, he encountered a Novice in House Shar Dakhan, Yuriko. She, being a Sith and a new member of the Clan, was taken on by Mirus as an apprentice as part of his training; the approval from the Summit came quickly.
Using his knowledge acquired from Taldryan and the founding of the Wardens of Unity, Mirus was then tasked to re-appropriate his skills in crafting elite teams to create a training battleteam for Shar Dakhan. The result was Tenebrae, a battleteam dedicated to mentoring new Dark Jedi towards their goals of Knighthood. Mirus transferred to the House in order to enact his plan, one well received by members of the House Summit.
Final Acts
What momentary respite Mirus would have had did not last very long. Upon the commencement of the Brotherhood's Dark Crusade, Mirus was sent to the first battlefields to fight in the name of the Clan. Knowing that his combat skills were his forte, the Clan saw fit to deploy himself and Tenebrae to the first battlefield of Nfolgai, where Mirus proved himself and his team in the heat of battle. It was the second battlefield of Khar Delba where Mirus, in a in a wide variety of battlefields, showed his true combat prowess by utterly destroying every foe that came his way and earning the attention of the Grand Master - and earned himself a battlefield promotion to Obelisk Templar, as well as drawing the attention of other Dark Council members.
The Fist of the Brotherhood, Fremoc Pepoi, as well as his wife Kalia, decided that they needed a vassal, someone to represent their interests throughout the Galaxy, and so they chose Mirus, to train him and introduce him to new methods of making war as the Dark Crusade raged on. However, that was not to last, for while Mirus was able to make success with his next round of combat throughout the Crusade, the tactical lull that drew the Clan back to the Orian System revealed a full-scale revolt on multiple planets. On Aeotheran, where he fought in the Battle of Kel Rasha - and, in its final moments, slew the orchestrator of the plan, in a rooftop duel against an Elder-class Sith.
To win the fight, Mirus had to make the ultimate sacrifice, his life, stabbing himself through the chest and spearing the Sith with the same strike, killing them both in the same blow. For his heroics, Consul Locke Sonjie had a bronzium statue of the Hero of Kel Rasha erected, a permanent memorial to the man who had contributed so much to the liberation of a key world in the Orian system.[10]
Personal Information
Appearance
Mirus is naturally a large and physically imposing person with a heavyset, muscular frame built from many years of training his body. He stands a not-quite-intimidating five feet and eleven inches, but carries the bulky muscle mass of two hundred and twenty pounds. With very little body fat and a body that tapers down towards his waist, he looks every part the powerful and strong fighter he is. He possesses long, strong fingers, large feet and bronzed skin from spending a considerable amount of time in the sun, pockmarked and weathered though his complexion may be. He has short black hair, blue eyes, thin eyebrows, a long nose and wide jaw, face usually kept in a brooding or even emotionless expression.
Mirus has a number of scars and tattoos all across his body acquired from various battles fought; the most obvious of all of these are the set of dragon's fangs beside his left eye acquired as a sign of his dedication to battle and the long black coiled krayt dragon around his left bicep. He has a long scar running across the right side of his face as a reminder of the changes he has recently undergone and a set of three claw scars from a rogue nexu running diagonally on his right palm. Occasionally, his body will find the disparity between his experiences and the current state of his body, which results in a lot of phantom pain - a perfect example is his right arm where it was once bisected but is no longer removed thanks to his cloned body.
Personality
Mirus Hi'ija is a revived man in a cloned body, with all his old memories flash-implanted into him. While he has a much more positive outlook than many of his brethren thanks to his second chance at life, it occasionally leads to self-doubt and the odd memory lapse as he tries to recall things from before his revival. Occasionally questioning himself and who he is, Mirus struggles to find his place in the Galaxy the second time around - death has left a permanent scar on his psyche. With his new lease on life, Mirus is trying very hard to slip into the mindset of the Light Side. He puts in a lot of conscious effort to do the right thing by people, to listen and try to understand - a stark change in his personality from his time as a Dark Jedi. However, old habits die hard, and there are times that he slips back despite his best efforts not to; much of the Light Side, of simple altruistic compassion and sheer goodness, is still foreign to him.
First and foremost, Mirus is a warrior. Ten years of fighting battles has taught him the hardiness and impetus that evolves from constant life-threatening battle. He applies this straightforward manner to all aspects of his life from training and study to exercise and even social encounters. This makes him a very dedicated warrior and friend, as well as a follower of a cause that he believes strongly in - which, while not entirely blinding, can lead him down the wrong path when he chooses his beliefs first and logic second. His loyalty is unmatched, however, dedicated to the people close to him and the bonds he forms with those people.
Hailing from the planet Dathomir, a matriarchal tribal world, Mirus is strongly accustomed to a lifestyle that is far simpler than many in the Galaxy are used to. As a Dathomiri, he much prefers a lifestyle without many of the creature comforts that most take for granted, making him come across as a very plain sort of person. While he is not entirely useless at technology, he does occasionally struggle with the more advanced pieces of technology and, in many cases, is not an adept hand behind the controls of a vehicle beyond the most basic speeder or using advanced computer banks. Sometimes he will break out into Paecian, the language of the Dathomiri people, entirely by accident, or leave a few words here and there instead of using Basic. More often than not he will reference Allya as many would invoke the Force as some kind of curse or word for reverence.
Women have been a central part of Mirus' life since birth - not because he is any kind of ladies' man, but because the society from which he hails is dominated by women and men are generally slaves or property at best. Fortunate enough to be family to a Dathomiri Superior Mother to avoid being a slave, Mirus is strongly accustomed to seeing women in positions of power. He has the tendency to defer to women thanks to this upbringing, knowing rather well thanks to more than one sickeningly brutal beating that traditional gender roles as many Galactic societies would expect simply do not exist.
His major likes are weapons and artifacts related to battle - he enjoys collecting weaponry and relics of wars long past, especially exotic swords and other melee weapons though he will not say no to a good blaster. His collection, however, is small and he is always looking to expand it - which can, and has in the past, landed him in trouble. He enjoys eating berries to the point that he has sometimes been said to have a berry fetish, almost always found with a pouch of berries or small fruits available. He has a phobia of clowns after a particularly vicious incident in his youth involving a deranged clown and a vibroblade. He also does not like excessively talkative people, sitting still in one place with nothing to do for a long time and the colour yellow.
Combat Style
Mirus lives up to the role of a Guardian – he seeks to protect without much thought of himself. He has the very strong tendency to fight on the front lines of a battlefield without thought of his own protection and will gladly fight fiercely on behalf of another if it means preventing an ally from being hurt. However, this is often at the detriment and cost of his own health and safety, where he could easily end up more injured than he would otherwise thanks to his own self-sacrifice: it has cost him his life once before and could reap the same cost again. When fighting, Mirus chooses one of the core principles of his arts to employ together, where he will select a point on the battlefield and defend it with all his might. Whether that might be in front of an ally, in a crowded corridor or on the front lines of a battlefield, this principle serves him in the defensive role such that he is not forced back constantly, preventing him from switching to an offensive stance and not retaking the ground that he has lost. Should he lose the point, he will relentlessly fight to take it back and retake the initiative.
His choices of combat art revolves around the way his body works; being strong and tough, Mirus employs fighting styles that reflect his way of life. His hand-to-hand style of choice is Broken Gate, a hard art that makes considerable use of low, rooted stances, a resilient body and devastating, powerful strikes - the perfect choice for someone who focuses heavily on their body. For similar reasons he has chosen to hone and pursue the lightsaber Form known as Djem So, one that relies on strength and defense in equal measure. In this way he can employ all his natural traits and willingness to fight and protect together. Soresu is too purely defensive for his strengths, and Shii-Cho is too brute force for his liking; Djem So falls nicely in the balance and as such he has chosen that Form over all others.
For Force use, Mirus has a standard principle he draws on. Many in the Brotherhood use rage and anger as a powerful tool and an easy means to draw upon power through ‘rage’. Mirus prefers to, as a way to avoid running easily towards the darkness, draw upon his primal adrenaline to channel his desire to protect. Whether it be for himself or others, he uses this more altruistic desire instead of the simple concept of ‘rage’ - as the Light Side would much prefer. That is not to say he is in any way immune to the emotions leading towards anger and rage whatsoever; it is simply that he draws his core power from something other than the majority of the aptly named Dark Brotherhood.
The Force powers Mirus employs revolve around five core powers; Control Self, Rage and Amplification all go hand-in-hand as his core trio of powers in order to improve and maintain his body, whether it be through improving his strength or speed or resisting a hammer blow to his body. These three powers are then coupled with a healthy dose of Precognition in order to monitor the flow of a battle and minimise the hits that he takes. Finally, this is then combined with Barrier as a defensive power, which he can employ on both himself and others to minimise the amount of attacks they take directly. Mirus is, in general, less adept in mental powers, choosing his body as his vessel to fight with.
DJB Facts
Positions Held & Achievements
- Joined The Dark Brotherhood on Oct 25, 2012.
- Has been a member of Houses Taldryan, Marka Ragnos, Shar Dakhan and Odan-Urr.
- Was apprenticed to Rian Aslar. Reached Dark Jedi Knight in 2 months and 19 days.
- Founded two battleteams: Wardens in Taldryan and Tenebrae in Shar Dakhan.
- Joined House Marka Ragnos and its battleteam Scepter of Ragnos.
- Has had three apprentices: Yuriko, Rand al'Thor and Rhiann Baenre.
References