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Burgeoning Insights
Foreward
Preservation & Potential by Sith Jirai
Knowledge of the Ancients Arts is sacred.
This is undisputed.
When philosophers and masters of the force describe its power and potential as a wellspring, I believe it applies doubly to the dark side's alchemical and sorcerous artistry. Should too many drink from the spring it quantity shrinks and the chance for 'disease' increases in the spring's hearth. But to leave such a spring unattended dooms it to be forgotten and dryout as quickly and harshly as one who is unprepared to cross Jagunda's expansive deserts.
Thus, evaluating motive, readiness and enthusiasm to those who show potential is a crucial step in the preservation of this art. Such interests usually develop in a potential Sith's infancy when they still don the black robes of an acolyte. An alchemist unable to accept the risk of tapping into the wellspring or the imagination of their will is a bad investment and, in the best of cases, will perish to a fate worse than death and at worse will sully the practice in of itself. To mix paint without direction only makes one subtractive colour. We who cultivate power, must ensure it is not sullied and those who are hungry enough to seek it are not gluttons but those worthy to live and breath its power.
I have attached the assigned writings of two acolytes who earned the privilege to witness an act of organic alchemy in its purity. I leave judgement of their views upon the reader. Perhaps, that may just be you.
Never Waver. Never Relent. In Death, Glory.
Heartbeat of the Dark Side - Acolyte Jadzia
The Alchemical Arts have long been practiced by the Sith. I was considered worthy to observe the rebirth of a beast (a juvenile dragon snake) into something greater.
The huge beast was called from the depths to lie, subservient, at the practitioner's feet. Control over it was absolute as the apprentice commanded it to sleep, a sedative applied to ensure it remained so during the process. We were bade to observe the creature through the process, to monitor its progress.
I watched as the practitioner gathered himself, bringing his talents and power in the Force to him as a conductor to an orchestra before the music begins.
The Art is intense - drawing every iota of concentration and energy from the user as the subject is reformed to their will from the inside out. Cells, nerves, bone, muscle; each must be broken and reformed anew during the unbroken process. Smoke poured from the skin and scales of the beast as it was made anew in the power of the Dark Side, the will of the practitioner unbending.
It is an exhaustive and exhausting process, but the result is a true embodiment and reflection of the power and beauty of the dark side.
Dread sculpted. A dread serpent reborn.
Naishas satwas.
Privledged Observations - Acolyte Krvati
The Ancient Arts are best understood by observation, as any documentation or retelling of their reality can scant capture the experience in its entirety or do it justice. Since the dawn of the Sith, whether as organization, species or philosophy, 'reality' has been a barrier to break in order to unearth the untapped depths of life's potential. To the unshackled mind, it is truly without limit, and nowhere can we observe this truth more clearly than in the Ancient Arts and how they deconstruct, alter and bend the very fabric of reality in order to see the will and truth of its wielder's intentions realized.
To witness the work of Sith Jirai first hand was a privilege, and the work done before my eyes was testament to the Arts' power to defy law, border and barrier alike. To masterfully pull on the strings and alter the very fabric of the tapestry of what we know to be 'real', in order to craft something new yet seamlessly integrated in the greater whole - that is the beauty and undeniable horror of Alchemy. The precise and deliberate tug on the very building blocks of life, to rearrange, remove and add... Thousands of years of evolution compressed into moments, if that.
My observation cannot accurately capture the totality of the change that I observed, as the intricate workings of the Dark Side were overwhelming. Where a Sith may boast their talent to wield the Force like an instrument, the ministrations of Sith Jirai were closer to an orchestra - not merely a melody but a symphony of harmonious intentions that seamlessly blended together in a complex weave of simultaneous and forceful change. What I observed was not merely the expert wielding of the Force as a tool, a hand to guide a current, but a submersion into a vast ocean of power and pure potential, its currents drawn into a whirlpool where the conductor - Sith Jirai - forced that ocean's rotation around him as an axis. A center of gravity? Heavy, undeniable, irresistible. Life itself bending around him without question, as if it was always meant to.
The creature that was altered by the ritual, a dragon snake, has ascended past its former limits. It was trapped within the water in its former form, its imperfections robbing it of freedom that was granted it by Sith Jirai's intervention.
The knowledge that this was merely a taste pains me, yet stokes a hunger for more. To lay that tapestry bare before me and understand its designs, to know the ripples of every disturbed thread and to perhaps, one day, feel them strain under the weight of one's will. To shift, to graft, to snap and sever - and admire in horror and awe as 'reality' comes undone, rips and tears... To create something new in its wake.
It leaves me wondering if all threads are equal before a talented weaver, or conductor, if you will. Would that such truths are concealed somewhere within the arts, themselves, and can be found.
The horrific implications are thrilling and addictively captivating.
