I didn’t want to come here. About the only thing as irritating and potentially dangerous as Sith are nobles, and pretty much for the same reason: an idea that they are owed things solely because of who they are and an access to power that lets them take any disrespect out on others. Doreau, of course, noted the differences, as the Sith are built more around earning and holding onto that power while the nobles better understand that their power only comes from maintaining the system that keeps them in power, but ultimately the results are the same: a bunch of arrogant beings who will demand “respect” and torture and kill anyone who doesn’t give it to them. That being said, I figured I’d play nice with them as part of my personal goal to see if I could build up some connections to them and a power that might not rival the Sith, but could indeed be useful against the Sith if used properly.
And I was kinda looking forward to seeing how a bunch of nobles acted when they came up against a Sith.
It turns out, at least on Alderaan, pretty nicely most of the time. While there was some arrogance, for the most part the nobles and the military were respectful but not overly fearful, just the sort of people that I wanted as contacts. Sure, the head of House Thul was an incompetent weakling that I had to save from being shot out of his own palace by his enemies, but for the most part the rest of them had reasonable requests for me to do and were grateful when I achieved them. The most wrenching was probably the daughter of Stanel Thul, who had been abducted by the bug-like Killik’s along with a diplomatic team and I was sent it to retrieve them by her father. It turned out to be too late for her, as she had been converted into what they call a “Joiner”. She pleaded with me to let her stay with the nest, but I refused and forced her to return to her father. Normally I’m in favour of people making their own choices, but she didn’t make the choice. She was brainwashed into it by chemicals and pheromones, and so even when she protests that this is what she really wants I really have no idea whether or not she has any idea what she wants. If the Empire can figure out how to reverse it and she with a clear head wants to come back, well, by then I’ll be long gone.
It made me curious what Doreau thought of them. I’ll probably never know.
As for my own mission, again the nobles were quite accommodating. My contact was Elana Thul and she asked me for a favour and in return she’d help me track down the artifact I was looking for. Since I was trying to get in with the nobles, it was an easy choice to help her out. Eventually, I found out that a Jedi had the key to the Organa vault where it was stored, and a quick search of the Alde library revealed that he had had an arrangement to be married to another noble, but backed out of it. Chances are, he still loved her and I could use her to get him to meet me. Either she hated him and would help or loved him and could be … encouraged to help. It turned out to be a little of both, but she eventually arranged a meeting where I got the vault key and my artifact. The Jedi didn’t make it. Well, he did say he’d only give me the key over his dead body …
After that, my ancestor returned to warn me about Zash again and guide me to where his old lightsaber was being kept by the family of his retainers. So, of course, it had been sold before I got there. However, it’d been sold just before I got there, by the father of the last of his line, who told me where to get it. I retrieved it and also encouraged the crime lord who had it to drop the debt of the girl who was the last of the family line of the retainers of my ancestor. Well, she’d helped me get it back and it wasn’t her fault that it was lost, so she deserved the help.
Zash wanted me to come back and perform the ritual, so if there is a trick to this, I’ll soon find out what it is.
Tags: TOR Diary
The Verbose Stoic 
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