Sirrus

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"There are some who say I am crazy, although I doubt they know what insanity truly is. But even if you think me odd, do not take this as reason to disbelieve the teachings I am handing down to you. It is precisely their veracity that has furthered me down the road of madness."

―Sirrus

Sirrus has been a Krath High Priest, a bounty hunter of some renown and one of the most wanted criminals ever pursued by the Emperor's Hammer. Coming from humble origins on a remote desert planet in the Outer Rim, he established a reputation as one of the galaxy's most ruthless, clever and certainly most eccentric personalities. Having fully dedicated himself to the mysteries of the Dark Sides, he now serves as facility director at the Mystics Asylum on Yridia IX, where Clan Tarentum carry out some of their most bizarre and secret experiments.

Early Life

Sirrus was born in 10 BBY on the isolated mining planet of Ord Cestus. His real name, along with his family history, are largely forgotten, even by Sirrus himself. Whether these memories were voluntarily pushed out of his mind, forced out by the degradation of his sanity or a combination of the two is unclear. What has been established with some certainty was that Sirrus' father was a man of small means, probably a miner; that Sirrus ran away from home shortly after his sixteenth birthday; and that he has never set foot again upon his homeworld since he left.

Sirrus did have a younger brother, Patrick, who according to records stayed with his parents and eventually enlisted in the Imperial Army. Sirrus balked at submitting to authority, which would become a constant theme throughout his life. He chose instead a career as a devil-may-care renegade, working jobs of dubious morality at local space ports before joining forces with a bounty hunter named Terin Ryger. Despite his boasting to the contrary, Ryger was mediocre at his chosen profession, but he knew enough to pass down his skills, talents and knowledge to his protege. Their partnership did not last long, and within five years Sirrus had betrayed his mentor for a bounty placed on him by a Hutt crimelord.

The Bounty Hunters' Guild

By this time, the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire was finally winning its decisive victories. Combat in the Outer Rim was already dominated by local militias as opposed to elite stormtroopers, but with attrition on the rise and the Empire on the run, work for a mercenary was not difficult to find. The Empire, however, paid the best, and while he chafed against their obsession with order and control, Sirrus preferred working for them. They were desperate, and willing to hand out large amounts for relatively easy assignments. That is not to say he never assassinated an Imperial commissar or sabotaged an Imperial production plant when the pay was right; but, by and large, he took more jobs against the Alliance than for them.

This led to unfortunate consequences when the Empire lost. Although he had never donned an Imperial uniform, the so-called "New Republic" was ready to prosecute him for his crimes. The Empire, splintered to the wind and not obligated to help its mercenaries besides, provided no assistance. For years, Sirrus kept a low profile, staying in the seedy underbellies of obscure ports and planets where he would not be found. He ventured further and further to the edges of the known galaxy, looking for a place where he could peek his head out. It was not easy, and his reckless and abrasive personality had won him few friends upon which to depend.

The solution came in the form of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, a loose confederation of bounty hunters in the employ of an Imperial fleet that had been patrolling the farthest reaches of space and had thus been uninvolved in the Rebellion. It's commander, the self-promoted Grand Admiral Stefan Ronin, had a powerful fleet at his disposal but was lacking in other important areas -- such as manpower, intelligence and covert operations. These were all things he could depend on mercenaries on, so a guild of bounty hunters were formed, acting as basically hired guns in the Grand Admiral's fleet -- the Emperor's Hammer.

For Sirrus, the BHG offered what he needed -- self-preservation, strength in numbers and a steady paycheck. He continued to be more shunned than embraced, but he won the grudging respect of his superiors, such as Guild Masters Royal and Trench, and many of his fellow hunters. He also reconnected with his brother, Patrick, whose unit happened to be stationed with the Hammer. But most important of all, he discovered his hitherto latent connection with the Force.

The Dark Brotherhood

That someone as crude and brutes as Sirrus would be a Jedi surprised many. It was even more shocking when he was assigned to the Krath Order, which was home to sorcerers and conjurers, not thugs and oafs. At first, there was resistance and delay, as was to be expected, but even the most basic ball of clay will be molded into something of value by strong and patient hands. Evolving over time, Sirrus went from a mere bully holding a blaster to a proficient adept of the Dark Side. He became especially interested in the more esoteric topics concerning the Krath, the Sith and the Jedi in general. His assignments for the BHG permitted him many opportunities to research Jedi legends, allowing him to expand his knowledge and power while also earning his living.

Within the Brotherhood, he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Justinian Khyron, one of the most respected Grand Masters in the Brotherhood's history; with Maxamillian von Oberst, whose aristocratic nature often clashed with Sirrus' vulgarity and uncouthness; and with Zero, the master of the necromantic arts. He rooted himself in Tarentum, where he remains to this day. He was regularly involved in the intrigues and battles that occurred during this period in the Brotherhood's past, although even then he was known for being unstable at best and obnoxious at worst.

Sirrus back in his early days, when he was still a bounty hunter.

Regardless of these qualities, his abilities outweighed his deficiencies, and he was eventually promoted to Krath High Priest and was even assigned the lofty tasks of writing one of the earliest definitive histories of the Brotherhood, on the order of Grand Master Khyron. This work was never completed, however, as Sirrus' research drove him deeper and deeper into seclusion and away from his duties. He was also becoming more and more involved in politics -- although not in the subtle, indirect away usually seen amongst admirals and viziers.

Rebellion

Sirrus was, at heart, an anarchist, and this drove him to loggerheads with officials from the Emperor's Hammer regularly. He did not just get into arguments with officers who technically outranked them; he mocked them and ridiculed them openly and loudly, undermining their authority at every opportunity. He derided those who he felt were idiots and criticized those who defended risible rules without justification. From the lowest NCO to the Grand Admiral himself, no one was safe. Ronin, who cherished the respect his self-given rank demanded like a child relishes his mother's teat, gnashed his teeth in rage at the pesky upstart from some backwater who had the audacity to not just question him but taunt him as well. At first, Sirrus was given leeway, perhaps because he was considered to be a valuable commodity; or perhaps it was felt he would eventually ship up and settle down. Whatever the reasoning, Sirrus was sometimes censured but never ceased in his activities.

Eventually, he crossed the line into outright sedition, spreading stories that satirized Ronin and made him look like an absolute fool. By this point, Ronin had no choice but to act or else lose all semblance of command over the Hammer. Summons were put out for Sirrus to appear at a show trial, but naturally, the man as long gone; he was convicted and sentenced to death anyway. Not only was Sirrus supposed to be arrested on sight, it was punishable to talk to him. Any member of the Hammer who was approached by him was to notify his superiors immediately.

As this was before the Exodus had taken place, the Dark Brotherhood was still beholden to the will of the Grand Admiral. Having no choice (but also not having much love for him), Grand Master Chi-Long expelled Sirrus from the Brotherhood. An associate of Chi-Long, Shaitan, became the new Krath High Priest.

While some may have run and hid given the situation, Sirrus saw it as a challenge -- and gladly accepted it. At first, he returned to having fun at the expense of the Hammer's high command, but that gave way to more serious activities, such as sabotage, inciting riots and spying on Imperial projects. With Sirrus' unique status as public enemy number one, his infamy exploded, and he was soon gaining of following of others who scoffed at Ronin's vain and totalitarian methods. However, no one saw what came next.

Representing dissent against the Hammer and pooling his resources all together, Sirrus collected a gang of mercenaries in order to wage guerilla war on the Hammer. The stakes raised, the Hammer moved against him -- and sent one of his closest and most trusted partners after him. Her name was Ishtar, and she had been a member of the Bounty Hunters' Guild, and they had once been more than friends. She infiltrated his group, pretended to join his ranks and then, during a particularly poor ambush, stuck the blade between his shoulderblades. Regretting her betrayal, she dumped his body in an escape pod and fired it into the Unknown Regions, not looking at the destination. For all her attempts to persuade herself otherwise, she still had feelings for her friend and could not see him in the clutches of the Imperial Remnant.

DJB Facts

Positions Held

• Krath High Priest

Trivia

• The name "Sirrus" comes from the video game Myst, the first PC game I ever played.
• It really was a crime in the EH to speak to me without notifying someone that I was talking to you.
• The Rebellion section is partly my trolling the EH and partly a fanfic I wrote but never finished.