Bray the Imp

I. Origins

During the early days of the Sith Empire, as it expanded within the isolated Stygian Caldera region, the Sith attempted to conquer and enslave worlds that had previously been settled by Iridonian Zabrak explorers, but they didn’t expect the local resistance - which was largely Force-blind - to put up as much of a fight as it did. In this clash between two warrior cultures, the Zabraks’ tenacity eventually earned the grudging respect of the larger Imperial army.

The Sith lords eventually decided that they were wasting resources on the war, and would be better off taking the locals as their servants and their lands as fiefdom than bombarding them into oblivion. Thus the first treaties were drawn up, with their terms leaning greatly in the Empire's favor. Most Zabrak clans, unwilling to admit defeat but exhausted by the war, agreed to join the Empire after several revisions to their terms. Those who refused were enslaved or executed, their lands confiscated and divided among the Sith and their new vassals.

Many Zabrak followed their new lords to the Sith homeworlds, including Korriban, Ziost, and the Dromund system. During the ages of the Great Hyperspace War and the Empire's fall and reconstitution, its Zabrak diaspora continued to grow. By the time of the Cold War, they had thoroughly intermingled with the last remaining Tsis and their Human-hybrid Red Sith successors, becoming their own hybrid people, the Red Zabrak.

II. Biology

While they share many traits with their Iridonian cousins, the Red Zabrak population has inherited notable Tsis features that are expressed to varying degrees in each individual.

Iridonian-inherited traits:

near-human height and generally fit build

vestigial horns that appear in the first few years of life, and grow in symmetrical patterns on the crown of the head

less hair than most mammalian species; no eyebrows or facial hair, often naturally bald

two hearts and resilient cardiovascular and nervous systems, resulting in greater stamina and a slightly higher pain threshold than many other near-human species

pronounced canine teeth and a metabolism optimized for a carnivorous diet

darkened camouflage striping or inkblot patterns that fade during adolescence, upon which tattoos are traditionally based

Tsis-inherited traits:

skin colors varying from burgundy through red, orange, and peach, similar to Red Sith in complexion and always more ruddy than Iridonian Zabrak

“bleeding” effect of a bright red ring around the iris, a partial expression of the Tsis species’ characteristic glowing eyes

heightened midichlorian levels and increased chance of Force sensitivity

Occasionally, Red Zabrak will display subtle, angular ridges across their skin. Though generally less noticeable than in Red Sith, these ridges have influenced their iconic face and body tattoos, which are a fusion of traditional Iridonian and Sith ritual tattoos that incorporate various symbols to convey clan affiliation and personal stories, and are often designed to outline and enhance any observable Tsis traits.

Bone spurs and cartilaginous tendrils, however, are recessive traits that were lost in most of the Red Zabrak population after first-generation hybrids. These traits, like the aforementioned ridges, appear with more frequency in Human-hybrid Red Sith due to both the selectiveness of the Sith elite, and the quirks of Tsis genetics.

III. Society

While Red Zabrak citizens are nominally equal with all free beings in the Empire, in practice they are second-class citizens compared to Red Sith and Humans, though with societal privilege above other nonhuman species, including Iridonian Zabrak. Scholarly opinion on the merit of their Sith blood weighed against their nonhuman heritage is mixed. Their treatment is comparable to that of the Chiss, but as ancient dependencies of the Empire rather than newfound foreign allies. Meanwhile, in Republic space, they are often viewed with distrust, if not outright detested by Iridonians as traitors to their species. Due to vows of fealty that were sworn when their clans first joined the Empire, many are bound to the ancient Red Sith aristocracy as vassals, with all that entails.

Family ties are vital in both Zabrak and Sith cultures, and the two have become inextricably entangled over their centuries together. The Zabrak openly regard their accomplishments in the Sith Empire as a point of pride and their allegiance as a concession that made both peoples stronger; according to their officially sanctioned history, the Sith definitively proved their superiority in the arena of war, and have remained worthy of following in their exploits to the present day.

Despite the Empire's tendencies towards forced assimilation, the clans have held onto some of their autonomy as agreed upon in their treaties - particularly to organize for cultural events, such as the yearly coming-of-age ceremony in which teenagers traditionally receive their first tattoos, after several days of combat sports, storytelling, and feasting. Large clan gatherings are required to be open to the public, and are routinely monitored by Imperial security forces, but are among the freest cultural expressions in the Empire outside Mandalorians.

Most young Red Zabrak end up in careers that will further the agendas of their affiliated Sith Houses - often the same ones their ancestors swore fealty to when the first treaties divided them among the Sith. Choosing a marriage or career that one’s clan or House disapproves of, or siding with a rival, is to become a social outcast at best. Since the Sith hold the strings of the Empire, they can and will obstruct and manipulate the paths of their servants, and sweep impromptu executions under the rug, in the name of preserving their power bases. Systemic xenophobia in the Empire at large makes social mobility for Red Zabrak even more challenging without Sith aid.

Coming from Mirial, a planet where the Force played a central part in spiritual life, Rylan was personally vested in working with the Voss and the Republic's diplomatic mission. His original goal of breaking up Rogun's operations became just one of many adventures he would go on during his time on the mysterious world.

Rylan attempted to penetrate the traffickers through a fake purchase deal arranged by a friendly contact in the syndicate that helps sell their abominations to customers. It would be a few days before the deal was to go down, putting other matters in priority.

There were reports of disappearances in the area around the main temple for the training of the Mystics, the main rulers of Voss whose clairvoyance guided their leadership and governance of their people. Rylan learned a Sith Lord was alleged to be behind the vanishments, who were Voss individuals known to have failed the Mystic trials.

Helping to uncover the Sith intelligence plot to corrupt and train the failed Voss as Dark Side warriors, he responded to an emergency distress call from the ruins of an old Jedi settlement under archaeological study. After the Imperial attackers were driven off, the Sith Lord claimed responsibility and revealed his location in a bunker down south. The failed Voss were freed and eventually taken in by the reluctant Jedi, seeking to protect them from further attempts to turn them into Sith.

Rylan undertook the trials himself in preparation for fulfilling a prophecy where he would be instrumental in the Voss achieving victory over the Gormak. The Mystics spoke of a civil war and the need to get the bottom of what was provoking and make difficult decisions to end the fighting, even though it would be costly. The visions of the Mystics were always right, the Mirialan learned, and he wanted to do right by the Voss.

The deal with the animal traffickers went down the day after his trials. Rylan managed to find out their names, but he was forced to escape with Akaavi's help after they attempted to spring a trap and get him in trouble with the Voss. They exposed and forced to go into hiding, Rylan found himself having to literally pose as carbonite cargo to get inside their hideout.

When unfrozen, he was surprised to be greeted by one of the traffickers he confronted earlier, Gormak Zak. A man who lived among the Gormak, Zak turned against the traffickers after finding out they had wronged his tribe by setting foot into the forbidden Nightmare Lands with some of his people.

Following an operation to capture Jokull, the King of the Gormak, Rylan found out in another of the traffickers' hideouts that their operations expanded deep into the Nightmare Lands. Not only that, the Sith were also interested in the beasts, which Rylan thought they looked to train and use against the Republic and Jedi. Such revelations angered him. Rogun not only had crossed the Voss deeply by turning the wildlife into bioweapons, but also for them to end up in the hands of the Sith, such horrors would not go unanswered for.

King Jokull had also been corrupted by the curse of the Nightmare Lands, gaining powers of clairvoyance like those of the Voss Mystics. To find out the source of the madness in those dark woods and stop the exploitation of such corruption by Rogun, Rylan would have to confront things the seasoned smuggler's never seen before.

He undertook a Voss ritual to shield himself from the dark forces that turned less fortunate souls to savagery, and found out a truth he couldn't imagine, even with keeping an open mind.

An expedition deep into the Nightmare Lands revealed that a mysterious being named Sel-Makor was behind the curse that turned most who stepped into it agents of suffering and pain, turned the beauty of the woods into a haunted grove of gnarled wooden spire branches, and made monsters out of the animals who called it home. The lands were his domain, and all the cursed people and monsters were controlled by him and acted on his will.

The being that Sel-Makor used as a host revealed the ghost of a long-deceased figure whose story only made it more complex, the Voss and Gormak were not seperate peoples. Back in the day, they used to be one and united blessed with Mystic powers until fighting over how they should be used broke them apart. Rylan was taken aback by this, but it was the truth, even if the Voss may see it as outright heresy.

He caught up with traffickers in their lab demonstrating the beasts to the Sith. They along with their abominations were both dead after a tough fight. Making the long trek back to the outpost on the border of the Nightmare Lands, the echoes of screams and anguish still kept Rylan on edge until he was out of that cursed place.

In the end, he would reveal the truth of the Voss and Gormak's origins to the Voss' ruling council of Mystics known as The Three. They of course were in denial. Yet they realized that the threat of the Gormak was over if it meant understanding they were also Voss just as much. King Jokull had always been a Mystic, the curse of the Nightmare Lands awakened those powers. The Three chose to maintain their independence but would expand diplomatic ties with the Republic. They'd lean more to the their side and become more protected against incursions by the Empire into their homeworld.

King Jokull as the war chief of the Gormak would stand trial before a tribunal of Voss adjudicators as the main one responsible for sowing death and destruction on Voss through civil war and scheming to expand the influence of the evil plaguing the Nightmare Lands. Rylan provided testimony on the actions of the Sith and the gangs to exploit the people and the local wildlife as tools of war in outside conflicts.

Adjudicator Mirev-Ka: "For levying war among our people, conspiring to condemn our homeworld to the evil of the Nightmare Lands and attempting to corrupt our people and wildlife to seek others' blood, you owe a great debt. You will serve the Voss and as King of the Gormak, you will help end this war."

It was found by the tribunal that Jokull as the ruler leading the Gormaks was accountable for these crimes, they all had occurred under his watch. His sentence would be aiding the Voss in their process of settling the conflict with the Gormak through a winding diplomatic gauntlet to end their perpetual war.

Rylan helped the Voss in service of the Republic because of his experiences growing up as a Mirialan. He believed they should remain an independent people free of the influence of the dark side. Closer ties to the Republic would allow the Voss to be better protected against the Sith conquerors. They also had the prospect of open a potential source of study for the Jedi to expand their knowledge of the Force. The Voss way was one of many different ways of understanding the energy field that brought all life in the galaxy together.

As for Gormak Zak, he had to lay low or also face the tribunal. However, the news of the truth about the Voss and Gormak being once one people divided by struggles for power was a complete shock. He at first denied it. He'd realize eventually that it was really the case. The Gormak he considered family could tie their heritage back to the ancient Voss, like the modern Voss they had fought so long and hard against.