Founded in 39 ABY by Qormus Aquila and Selika Roh, House Ventress is a distinguished arm of Clan Plagueis. In contrast to its counterpart, House Tyranus, Ventress operates with subtlety and strategic finesse. Positioned strategically on the moon Cilix, Azorian Citadel serves as its hidden fortress, drawing power from the gas giant Cogrion
Guided by the vision of Selika Roh, the Dread Lord of Clan Plagueis, Ventress excels in political manipulation and covert influence. Beyond its defense role, the house is a masterful player in the intricate game of Sith politics, carving a niche as a powerhouse in the shadows.
History
Founding
In the galactic year 39 ABY, the visionary minds of Qormus Aquila and Selika Roh converged to give rise to a formidable entity within the illustrious Clan Plagueis — House Ventress. As founders and architects of this clandestine house, Qormus and Selika, known as the Dread Lord, embarked on a mission to carve a niche distinct from their sibling house, Tyranus, within the enigmatic folds of the Sith traditions.
While House Tyranus thrived on overt military might and a confrontational demeanor, House Ventress emerged as the epitome of subtlety and strategic finesse. Qormus, donned as the Left Hand of Dread, and Selika, the formidable Dread Lord of Clan Plagueis, envisioned Ventress as a shadowy force, weaving through the complex web of galactic politics and power dynamics. Their approach was calculated, their moves deliberate, making House Ventress a subtle but potent influence in the tapestry of the Sith legacy.
The foundation of House Ventress coincided with the strategic establishment of the Ventress headquarters on the distant moon of Cilix, orbiting the gas giant Cogrion. Amidst the frozen expanse of Cilix, the Ventress stronghold, Azorian Citadel, stood as a testament to the house's commitment to secrecy and security. Ice Station Zerek, connected to the sea floor stronghold, served as the surface gateway, providing an additional layer of defense against potential threats.
Fuelled by the boundless power harnessed from Cogrion's geothermal activity, House Ventress not only secured its position within Clan Plagueis but also demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the pursuit of power, influence, and the subtle manipulation of the galaxy's destiny. With House Ventress at the forefront, the Sith legacy evolved, embracing both the overt strength of Tyranus and the covert mastery of Ventress, creating a dynamic balance within the dark corridors of the Force.
Organization
House Ventress operates within the hierarchical framework characteristic of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood, with a well-defined structure aimed at maximizing efficiency and strategic prowess. The organization is led by a singular figure, the Quaestor, known within House Ventress as the Veiled Orchestrator. Assisting the Quaestor in their leadership role is the Aedile, who serves as the Silent Strategist and second-in-command, contributing to the overall coordination of the House's endeavors.
House Ventress draws its name and inspiration from the formidable Asajj Ventress, who serves as its guiding force. While Asajj embodies the dark side's influence within the house, it's her visions and directives that shape the overarching goals and aspirations of House Ventress. As a cunning manipulator with a profound understanding of the Sith arts, Asajj Ventress stands as a source of inspiration and guidance for all members of the house.
Within the organizational structure of House Ventress, the emphasis lies on subtlety and strategic finesse. Members are encouraged to navigate the intricate web of galactic politics and power dynamics, embodying the clandestine nature of the Sith legacy. The house's primary seat of power, Azorian Citadel on the moon Cilix, serves as the central hub for planning, coordination, and the execution of calculated maneuvers.
As members of House Ventress strive to embody the legacy of their founders, Qormus Aquila and Selika Roh, they contribute to the house's collective strength, ensuring that the balance between overt power and covert mastery is maintained within the dark corridors of the Force. The organization's structure, guided by the principles of House Ventress, reflects a commitment to achieving dominance through calculated subtlety in the pursuit of the Sith's ultimate objectives.
Military Capabilities
The structure and force size of the House Ventress military capabilities has gone through a few changes over the years. Currently they maintain a fast, nimble but lethal force and Ventress is always willing to adapt to maintain an edge over their rivals. It should be noted that in addition to the forces listed here, the House also maintains its own volunteer reserve, made up of some of the personal vessels of the members, underlings and associates of the House. This House reserve of volunteers consists of various freighters, haulers, armed shuttles, and starfighters. These are often organized in an ad hoc fashion and used for missions that require plausible deniability. The adaptable nature of the reserves allows the ability to rally to each other's aid quickly and decisively, which has proven useful time and time again.
As mentioned above, these forces can be joined or supported by the House reserve, made up of some members and associates personal spacecraft. When politically sensitive missions need to be carried out with plausible deniability, it is often ships from the House reserve and special ground forces who perform the missions. It is rumored that any Brotherhood member who meets with a Ventress diplomat, councilor or envoy, could also be meeting a highly skilled and trained member of one of their covert ops units (as members often serve ambiguously in both roles at the same time).
Navy
The House Ventress naval component consists of its primary operational asset Expeditionary Fleet Aurek of the Ascendant Fleet. The main capital vessels of EFA remain on standby to conduct the full range of operations at very short notice. In addition to their larger capital ships they have several smaller corvettes and gunships that serve as escorts and screening vessels.
The House also has a large elite group of fighters consisting of various types of TIE fighters, supported by several Hyena and Vulture droid squadrons. They are permanently assigned to the vessels of EFA. Rotationally a flight from each of the manned TIE squadrons cross trains with the T-47 squadrons assigned to the Cilix Garrison of the Aliso Home Guard. This is often just used as a training tool by the squadrons themselves to give more junior pilots extra time in the cockpits.
The fleet and the House can always call upon additional support from other Plagueian assets if necessary, but this is rare, as each fleet of the parent Ascendant Fleet is designed to be self-sufficient and self-supporting. It stands ready to project power as needed to support their own machinations or greater Plagueian goals in general. All members of the House summit can call on Force Aurek if it is ever needed. Missions and task oriented groups can be detached from the house fleet, but it often operates a full and cohesive unit for all major operations.
Ground Forces
The Cilix Garrison of the Aliso Home Guard is tasked with defending the House leadership and guarding any other vital assets. While still capable of independent offensive operations, this unit's primary task is the defense of the Azorian Citadel and Ice Station Zerek. Comprising armor, air support, line, and scout companies it is a full spectrum operations unit.
In addition to the Cilix Garrison, House Ventress operations are also supported by elements of the Ascendant Expeditionary Force. Those units can be called under the direct operational command of the House for specific operations outside of the Aliso System. Additionally, at all times Ventress has a Special Mission and Scout Company on site to support specialist covert actions to help them manipulate, influence, or spy on their friends and foes alike. These units rotate through assignment to Cilix as part of their environmental training every 6 to 12 months. They serve as dedicated units capable of assassinations, espionage, sabotage and other types of direct action operations.
- One platoon of one of the Special Missions Companies of the Ascendant Expeditionary Force that rotates every 6 months and serves as special forces support, exfiltration and combat rescue for any House leader or members to use as needed. This is a specs ops unit, whose missions and whereabouts are not publicly disclosed.
- A scout company which also rotates twice each year that serves as combat support and recon forces. This unit operates as a grey unit, technically qualifying as elite infantry, but operating in a more traditional and overtly militarized capacity. They provide platoon sized quick reaction forces and 2-4 person sized sniper teams as needed to support any House missions or activities.
Headquarters
The Ventress headquarters is on Cilix, a moon of Cogrion. Cilix is entirely covered in ice, with the icy crust covering a water ocean that spans the entire surface. No other bodies in near-Cogrion space have any assets to defend. The main Ventress base is Azorian Citadel which sits on the sea floor of Cilix and is connected by an umbilical and lift system to Ice Station Zerek on the surface. This serves as one of the major defense mechanisms of Azorian Citadel, in that it can have all the forces on the surface withdraw into the sea floor location and then retract the connection to the surface. Any enemy would have to be prepared with submersibles to even reach the base. The sea floor location is also where the primary shield generator is located to project the area shield at the surface. Power for the shield and the rest of the base is taken from geothermal activity generated by tidal forces from Cogrion, so power is virtually unlimited.
Summit Chronology