#emperor SkekSo

[chainsxwsmile-personal]

“Chamberlain will help Emperor— Chamberlain always helps!”

(Text post credit to @pseudocapsicum)

[an-indecisive-mess]

SkekOm's Relationships with the Other Skeksis

When it comes to being raised by the Lords of the Crystal, SkekOm had developed specific relationships with each of the other Skeksis lords. These relationships are strictly familial. Anyone who thinks otherwise is disgusting.

SkekOm looked up to SkekSo. All she ever wanted to do from a young age was prove herself worthy to him in hopes that he would see her as a member of the court. And while she never really understood why he valued life and fears death, she still respected the Emperor and wanted to make him proud.

SkekZok, obviously, was the one who raised SkekOm, and the Artisan sees him as her father while the Ritual Master sees her as his daughter (though he refuses to show it to obtain his regal composure)

SkekVar was the one who taught the Artisan how to fight, but there were times when he felt like another father to her.

SkekOk was her teacher. He taught her how to read, write, and all about Thra's history. However, SkekOm saw both him and SkekLach as her grandparents.

SkekEkt and SkekAyuk acted like uncles to her. Whenever her father would be too busy, he'd let the Gourmand and Ornamentalist look after her. SkekAyuk taught SkekOm how to cook and SkekEkt would make dresses and share gossip with her. When she was young, SkekOm absolutely loved hearing about how the Gourmand and Ornamentalist met and fell in love.

SkekTek was SkekOm's closest friend. And would make sure he was looked after if he was kept up in his lab for a long period of time. Sneaking him some food, making sure he was getting sleep, and offering assistance when he needed it. SkekTek even taught her about Thra's biology (in a way that didn't require eviscerating animals).

SkekOm absolutely HATES SkekSil. Whenever they’re in the same room, the Chamberlain would remind her that she doesn't belong in the Castle of the Crystal or Thra and doesn't deserve to be a Lord of the Crystal since she wasn't born a Skeksis. The Artisan woud retaliate by throwing insults and give snarky comments to the Chamberlain, ensuring their hatred for each other. In fact, she once bit SkekSil's hand at the dinner table just because she was forced to sit next to him. Which was why she had to move to sit next to SkekOk.

SkekOm once looked up to SkekUng. She respected his tactics as Spy-Master (which was his title before Garthim Master in my headcanon), and loved hearing stories about his glory days as a fighter. But that respect was short-lived the day he bested her in Trial by Stone and got her banished from the castle for a short time.

SkekOm's relationship with SkekShod is a bitter jealous rivalry to the Treasurer. He believes that his ability to get SkekZok into buying his loyalty is more useful than a false Skeksis being loyal to the Ritual Master. And when he found out that SkekOm was to be SkekZok's second-in-command if he were to be Emperor, SkekShod was not happy to say the least. SkekOm, remained unaware of this and just saw the Treasurer as someone who did not want to be confronted after and kept her distance in order to make him feel comfortable.

Whenever SkekNa would make visitations to the Castle of the Crystal, SkekOm was strictly told to keep a safe distance from him. The former Sawyer (which was his former title in my headcanon) turned Slave-Master was known for his dislike of small creatures he deemed worthless and how he'd kill them on the spot if they failed even the simplest task from him. A little human girl was no exception to this. But over time, and after she was turned into a Skeksis, SkekNa saw her as a useful warrior. That is, after she earned her status back after getting bested by his mate in Trial by Stone.

SkekOm and SkekSa had almost like an aunt and niece bond with each other, and when the Artisan was younger, she always loved hearing about the Mariner’s adventures on the seas of Thra and wanted to join her on an expedition when she was old enough. The Artisan never had the opportunity to go on any expedition, unfortunately.

SkekMal was SkekOm's hunting master. When she was 13, the Hunter was tasked to train the girl how to track and hunt. He made her a challenge that if she were to complete said challenge, he'd let her return to the Castle unharmed. Fail the challenge, and his prize would've been one of her arms. The Artisan obviously succeeded, but she remained fearful of the Hunter ever since.

SkekOm barely remembers SkekLi. He only showed up to the castle for her christening, and she can remember the Satirist being there because of his voice and the way it sounded when he teased SkekZok. SkekLi never saw any reason to return to the castle after that day.

She never met SkekGra, but has heard from SkekUng about his days as the former Conqueror and how he used to be a fearless and ruthless warrior before he became the Heretic. SkekOm often wondered about what happened to him after he was exiled from the castle.

She never met SkekHak or SkekYi, (since they died 1000 trine before she wasa born) only hearing about them in stories from SkekZok and SkekOk about how they essentially solidified the Skeksis religion.

[an-indecisive-mess]

Merry Christmas Man!

Merry Christmas Man everyone

[lichdandy]

SkekSo the Emperor

[sixeyedmonsters]

saw this meme and immediately thought of them

[scientistservant]

[an-indecisive-mess]

Let’s be honest, as disturbing as this scene was, a lot of us were definitely checking out these three pompous peacocks.

It's officially 5 years to Age of Resistance (good god where has the time gone?) How are you planning on celebrating?

By hanging out with my Dark Crystal server and reminding everyone that this absolutely incredible scene exists!

(Note the synchronized head turn and the fact that skekSo seems to think Aughra's in the ceiling. I love these stupid birds so fucking much.)

[skekgra-smokes-weed]

nuh uh

[n0seblood]

WIPs and doodles of Seladon (featuring skekSo because i love how they look next to eachother) she’s probably my favorite gelfling to draw! lol i might finish some of these

[tdc-incorrect-quotes]

Rian: You took EVERYTHING from me-

SkekSo, wagging his finger: NUH UH

[thirstyokapi]

[punkcalf-art]

The Cark Drystal

[monsterforge]

Taking Skekso to lunch

[jinn-zerik]

How I visualize a humanized skekSo, I guess he eventually loose his hair, and nose and he would try to hide it, so he could wear some wigs for it.

[ben-the-hyena]

If Deet's vision on SkekSo's throne and the latter's accelerated cause of death turn out like that I'll call that shitpost my magnum opus

YouTube version

[sunderedandundone]

Oh, SoSu. Oh, poor SoSu.

So just to back up and provide some context: if you ask me, the great sin of UrSkek culture isn' so much that it's 'collectivist' but that it's just...*so* collectivist that the society can't countenance any person within it needing more than their 'fair share.' And before you say that sounds reasonable, by 'fair share' they really mean it. No UrSkek is supposed to really need more of any resource than any other.

Hold on! What I'm saying is that In other words, *disability is fundamentally not okay.*

Yeah. How you like them apples?

Part of the problem, of course, in their defense, is that they haven't had to think about disability for literal eons. Not on a societal level. Disease, war, and poverty have after all been eliminated, and the species is a product of extensive self-administered genomic engineering. (We are talking here about non-physical/informational 'genetics', of course, given the UrSkek's being Ascended all. But the point is, whatever malformations or birth syndromes the original bio-species might once have been prey to are long gone.) Trauma? Is something that happens very occasionally to off-planet UrSkeks, and off-planet UrSkeks don't really ever count quite as much as Homeworld UrSkeks do. If you are by some wild chance traumatized off-planet UrSkek, you're best advised just not to attempt a homecoming. (I'm sorry nobody mentioned that, GraGoh.)

I knew I had it in my head that SoSu was a Homeworld native, and that they also had a bit of a 'rough patch' in their youth that they had by sheer dint of geological time lived down, to eventually become one of the most respected academics on-world. I knew they had genuinely spent all the intervening eons working to be the very bestest, most unselfish, most not-needing-extra-love UrSkek they could possibly be.

But it wasn't till today that I realized, *they got put through Purgation as well.*

Purgation is the other sentence you can get that's not exile, and when UrSkeks choose exile over Purgation, it's because they're not keen on the idea of having the problematic bits of their body-mind 'genome' copy-pasted over with fresh acceptable code. The idea, in short, of being partly mind-wiped and re-educated. In a sequestered environment. As many times as it takes for them to start behaving rightly again.

It dawned on me today with horror that the first time round, SoSu chose Purgation.

It happened when they were very young. They were an immense psychic talent who -- again in what fairness to the UrSkek I can muster -- had to watch their emotions, which at that time easily escaped control and could manifest in, you know, stuff that could hurt people or the environment.

Or at least, stuff that if it went further, which they worried that it might, could conceivably potentially hurt somebody.

They underwent the psychic surgery to be made better, and again, worked for actual billions of Earth years to become a paragon. (And as NaNol's also-tragic story recounts, probably even benefitted from some of the extremely subtle and slow-moving erasure of history that is a phenomenon among certain UrSkek elders, so that in time, between that and the other UrSkeks that had actually been there voyaging off to other worlds or higher planes and never coming back, as the Eldest of the Eldest do...they could in time enjoy a spotless reputation on Homeworld.)

The second time they were convicted of a crime, all those long Ages later, they......................did *not* choose Purgation.