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Legends Article This page contains information from the Star Wars Legends continuity and may not be supported by the Dark Brotherhood.
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Cyrus Raze is a Human male Dark Jedi Knight from Clan Naga Sadow.
He briefly trained as an apprentice of Trevarus Caerick during 28 ABY, joining the Marked less than a year before Caerick’s betrayal at the start of 29 ABY. His loyalty was tested when he was arrested under suspicion of conspiracy to commit treason, but was eventually cleared once he established he had been used.
Throughout 29 ABY, Cyrus was plagued with unexplained blackouts. Knowing something was wrong with him, he turned to the Sadow Archives. In early 30 ABY, Robert Daragon learned of his involvement in the bombing of the Dystopia nightclub. Daragon offered to and erase the evidence incriminating Cyrus in the bombing in exchange for him assembling a team to search Kalekka Tower for answers on the now Yuuzhan Vong occupied Antei.
Biography
Early life
Cyrus was born in the slums of Hurom on Thule. He never knew his father and his mother died shortly after giving birth, leaving him in the care of her sister. Thule was a forgotten world, having never managed to shake off its dark history, and few along the Hydian Way were prepared to trade with it. The citizens of Hurom suffered because of the planet’s reputation, and Cyrus’s family were among the worst off. When he was still a youngling, his aunt was forced to sell him off to slave merchants, barely able to support herself.
The Brotherhood
It was 27 ABY and the height of the Yuuzhan Vong War, but Cyrus—along with most of Thule—barely noticed. Thule got little out of the New Republic, and the Republic got little out of Thule. He was 15 when he was discovered by Vallen'dere, a visiting envoy from the Brotherhood. He’d known he had "special" talents since he was a child, but had never heard of the Force, let alone seen a Jedi. Vallen took him to the Orian system, where he became an initiate into the disciples of the Lord Astronicus Aurelius Sadow, to learn about the dark side.
Cyrus found the Brotherhood fascinating. Growing up on Thule, he’d heard stories of the ancient Sith, the sorts people told to keep children awake at night; however, as he got older he’d dismissed them as fictitious bogeymen and make believe monsters. The morality of now joining the ranks of childhood bogeymen did not enter into his mind; the long years as a slave had robbed him of any innocence, and he was well versed in thievery and extortion to get by. For the first time in memory, he found a home among the disciples of Sadow, and was ripe for being taken advantage of by those Elders whose own loyalties were fast becoming questionable.
The unwanted apprentice
Cyrus did not know it, but he had already earned the attention of Trevarus Caerick and Darth Vexatus. When they heard from the envoy Vallen’dere that Cyrus had been discovered on Thule, they approached Cyrus with inquisitive minds about the stories he had heard growing up. One in particular interested them: the legend of Asael’s blade. Asael was said to have lived millennia ago and have wielded a sword possessed by a demon that drank people's souls. The stories told how Asael had been a feared Sith warrior, until his sword had turned against him and devoured his soul.
Caerick wanted Cyrus remember more about Asael, so bestowed him with the power of third sight, and began teaching him how to probe the Force for the information he wanted. Early in 28 ABY, Vexatus took him back to Thule to track down the origins of the stories of Asael—in hope of tracking down the final resting place of the sword itself. By then Cyrus had begun to suspect the pair were delusional, pursuing but fairy tales that—even if true—had surely been lost millennia ago. Nevertheless, he humoured their interest, grateful for whatever training he got get them to part with, even if he was sure their own quest was in vain.
However, not long after Caerick and Vexatus returned from Kangaras with the scepter of Hafa Chun, the pair lost interest in Cyrus and what he had to offer them. As Caerick and his favoured apprentice disappeared to the construction site at the Temple of the Void for weeks at a time, Cyrus was left to resume his training normally, no longer receiving either of the Elders personal attention. He finally realized he had just been used to get at what he knew about Asael, and that the Elders had never had any real interest in training him as an apprentice.
Betrayed
On the anniversary of the Exodus, 29 ABY, Caerick and Vexatus betrayed the Brotherhood and fled with the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Harbinger to Lehon, deep in the Unknown Regions. Outraged, Lord Sadow ordered a roundup of all suspected associates, arresting the likes of Vallen’dere, Krenth, and Cyrus himself, among others. They were treated guilty until proven innocent, too much deception having been sown to take chances. Cyrus felt used, realizing everything since Caerick had become consul had been part of an elaborate setup. As soon as the two Elders had realized the scepter of Hafa Chun had once belonged to Urias Orian, they’d dropped their search for Asael, hanging Cyrus out to dry—and left him behind to pay the price.
Cyrus rotted in jail on Gamuslag for several months until a number of prisoners were granted a temporary reprieve to assist with clearing out a viral outbreak at Lor Zatean. In reality, he was being used again, this time as bait to lure out a vicious unidentified species of xenomorphs—which in truth were descendants of the Sith leviathans Urias Orian had left behind— that had infected the population. The mission proved to be a catastrophe, with the entire resort having to be sterilised from orbit. However, through his actions he managed to prove his loyalty to his clan and family, so was finally released from prison.
Time passed and the Mark on Cyrus's forehead faded, only the dark scar tissue left behind revealing any sign of his former apprenticeship. Pleased that the bond that had tied him to Caerick was finally disappearing, he was at last able to move on and get back to his training. However, as the months passed, the young journeyman became plagued by blackouts, often having no recollection of whole days. Regardless, he completed his Trials with astonishing speed, being knighted around the turn of 30 ABY—although, the speed of his advancement drew concern from some who felt it unnatural.
Nightmares
In early 30 ABY, Cyrus's past caught up with him. The blackouts grew worse and where he had thought the curse of the Mark to be behind him, the scar returned to pain him on a regular basis. For the first time in a year, the tattoo of the third eye tore open, spilling dark and blackened blood. He concealed what was going on from the rest of the Clan, but as time went on the blackouts grew more frequent. When he discovered he had been behind the bombing of Dystopia in early 30 ABY, he covered his involvement up by murdering a Dlarit Security Force team and erasing the video recordings—fearing that if the Overlord were to find out he would almost certainly be put to death.
However, Cyrus failed to conceal his actions from Consul Daragon. Arrested, and taken to the Consul's office by Black Guardsman Macron Goura, Cyrus was convinced his life was over. When Goura probed his mind for the truth, he was repelled by an unknown force inside Cyrus's mind—but a force that had echoes of similar unexplained occurrences among the prisoners on Gamuslag, and the rogue Dark Jedi Master Curwen Sunei who had recently been discvered on Inos 42.
Privately—even from his own Black Guard— Daragon revealed he had been experiencing the same blackouts as Cyrus, and offered to cover up the incriminating evidence of his involvement in the Dystopia bombing—even from the Overlord himself. Daragon was convinced Cyrus's—and his own— condition shared signs of the exact kind of mind influence indicative of Trevarus Caerick. In exchange for his leniency, Daragon wanted Cyrus to assemble a team to break through the Yuuzhan Vong lines at Antei and search Kalekka Tower for answers, certain that the one place that might hold the answers would be Caerick's former palace.
Second Battle of Antei
As the rest of the Clan prepared for the mission to liberate Antei from the clutches of the Vong, Cyrus spent the time training up a crack squad of commandos to ransack Kalekka for the answers he—and the Consul—desperately wanted before they lost their minds to whatever force it was afflicting them: be it Caerick or otherwise. In mid 30 ABY, his commando team joined the main Dlarit Special Operations Group force during the Second Battle of Antei, arriving at the Jaden Pass in the Du'san Boundary ahead of the main party.
Trivia
Cyrus Raze will feature prominently in a Clan Feud planned for Clan Naga Sadow for after the Ninth Great Jedi War (most likely early-to-mid Summer 2009). He made his first appearance in the A Foreboding Wind run-on in December 2008 and also featured in the Ares Rising run-on in February 2009. His character will return in the Ninth Great Jedi War run-on in March 2009.