#oc: zinkaea

[jjjwhovian]

I would love to see more sides to the Empire than “evil conquerors go brrrr”.

I mean the things the Empire do ARE objectively evil but there has to be more than that.

Give us more of their culture damnit!

In fact, thanks to this post, I’m now headcanoning that after Nox joined the Dark Council Vowrawn brought him and a few others to the opera and that the whole Empire had a day of mourning dedicated to those they lost on Ziost.

Nothing will ever, EVER convince me the Empire (the resurgent Sith Empire, for clarification purposes, in case you don’t know that I basically only write SWTOR-era stuff) does not have a vibrant, fascinating, normal society.

Like I get it, ooh all the Sith are spooky and angry and meaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.  No.  That’s ridiculous.  This is a society that tells you to thrive on your emotions.  Hate to break it to Star Wars’ severely limited black/white dichotomy, but there are more emotions than hate and anger.  The idea that Sith don’t love is ridiculous.  The idea that people in the military do nothing but go pew pew and never get married and never have children is ridiculous.  The idea that Sith would all want to murder each other and their children if they have any but they wouldn’t because they hate love and hate relationships and hate hate hate hate rawwwwwwwwwwwwwr is ridiculous.

Give me a Sith Lord who’s worked in the Sphere of Biotic Science his entire career, whose yard and garden is the envy of his entire block.  Give me one from the Sphere of Technology who can fix any gadget anyone brings to him because he’s been a tinkerer his entire life.  “Oh, your speeder’s making some weird noise?  Take it to Lord Artran, he’s fixed mine for years and we just swap favors.”  Give me a super-nice neighborhood, one of those that feel like no one lives there, run by the galaxy’s most uptight HOA until a few Sith get sick of the stupid inspections and dumb fines and stage a takeover of the board of directors.

Give me a grizzled retired sergeant who lives next door to a grizzled retired major.  They watch all the smashball games at the sergeant’s house, drinking beers and eating MREs because of course they have stashes of MREs.  Give me platoon get-togethers at the cantina right outside the main gate because Captain Cratol’s band is playing this Felday and he said if everyone shows up drinks are on him.  Give me the still-wet-behind-the-ears privates checking in, totally lost on this massive base, sent off to find ID10T cards and grid squares by their new corporals because everyone gets sent to find ID10T cards and grid squares it’s just how things go.

Give me nights out at the opera and the theater and the symphony, with high ranking Sith in their nice boxes and the rest of the seating available to anyone who wants tickets, including discounted tickets offered to military personnel, especially those who are at their first duty station and got lucky enough to get Dromund Kaas, because culture is important.  Not just military culture, not just the history of the Sith, but the art and music and performances being created now, because the Sith know that their history is full of being wiped out and they’ve learned from their history and know to enjoy what’s here to the fullest, because it might not be around in a few hundred years.

Give me Sith who eschew having droids do everything, who go down to the shopping districts themselves, looking through the produce and the crafts and the new clothing styles.  Who bring home flowers to decorate their table and their windowsills.  Give me Sith in the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, whose walls are covered in shelving for translated tomes, history books, the newest offering by Darth Nox detailing the history of the Voss and how it differs from the historical account given by the Republic.

Give me date nights and outings to the shooting ranges and shopping for furniture.  Give me trying to find a swimsuit for a vacation, shopping for a new speeder, antiquing.  Give me people having smugglers ship in things like snacks and the latest album from Knights of Corellia and silly things like that.  Give me holidays and “shit is it our turn to host your mother you know she can’t stand me” and block parties.  Give me Sith parents teaching their children instead of sending them to the Academy Preparatory School, a sorcerer and a juggernaut having good-natured debates over which is more important to learn.  Give me military parents watching their child graduate from basic training, one military and one civilian maintaining their relationship through the turbulence that is military life, one Force-sensitive and one non Force-sensitive dealing with disappointed Sith parents and apprehensive non-Sith parents.

Give me actual mourning over what happened to Ziost.  Give me a commissioned memorial, a speech by the Council, a day set aside as the official Day of Mourning, where the the entire Empire just stops and remembers, because there isn’t anyone that wasn’t touched by the destruction of Ziost.  Give me people coming together to help the refugees that did make it off the planet before it was destroyed.  Give me the reactions by all of these Force sensitive people to ruination on such a great scale.

Give me a thriving, interesting society … not one-note caricatures.

[jjjwhovian]

World Building Wednesday: Zinkaea Kallig

(Note: Just like with previous one, photo is subject to change.)

General:

Name: Zinkaea Kallig

Class: Sith Inquisitor > Sith Sorcerer > Madness Discipline

Gender: Male (He/Him)

Species: Human

Sexuality: Pansexual

Family: He was born into slavery, his parents were both overworked to death by their owners

Birthplace: Begeren

Occupation: Alliance Commander of Ancient Research, formally Dark Council member

Fears: Losing everything he’s worked for

Guilty Pleasures: Aside from the usual Sith stuff of torture and Sith Archeology there’s reading and enjoying a nice cup of tea

Morals:

Alignment: Mostly Dark Side/Neutral EvilChaotic Good

Virtues: chastity/charity/diligence/humility/kindness/patience/justice

Sins: lust/greed/gluttony/sloth/pride/envy/wrath

This or That:

Introverted/Extroverted: Zinkaea is super out there and definitely the sort to draw attention to himself.

Organised/Disorganised: Everything has to be perfect in his eyes, doesn’t matter what he’s doing

Close-minded/Open-minded: Zinkaea used to be pretty close-minded on some things, such as Jedi and Sith working together, but ever since joining the Alliance he’s eased off a little.

Calm/Anxious: Zinkaea is a very volatile person, capable of snapping one moment and being calm and collected the next

Agreeable/Disagreeable: He usually tries to get his way by anyways necessary but later on in life he’ll learn to bite his cheek and do things another way

Cautious/Reckless: This motherfucker ate up four Force Ghosts to make himself stronger before they started messing with his mind and ate up a fifth DURING the process of trying to heal himself cause “why the hell not”. He’s insane.

Patient/Impatient: Despite the previous entry he’s very capable of being the schemer and biding his time.

Outspoken/Reserved: Zinkaea is not afraid of being up front with what he’s thinking and is willing to be hostile with people, even the Commander.

Leader/Follower: Zinkaea feels he needs to be in control and likes being the leader of his own little groups, which is why he challenge Adyllus to a duel to decide who the Commander of the Alliance should be. Have a guess who won.

Empathetic/Unempathetic: Zinkaea is aware of other peoples feelings and is willing to act out on that like with Vette but usually there’ll be zero fucks given.

Optimistic/Pessimistic: At the start Zinkaea is very confident of rising to the top of the Sith food chain and gaining more power before his optimism changed in a better way post-KOTET.

Traditional/Modern: Zinkaea was a former slave so naturally “traditions” can die in a hole. That’ probably why he was so against Thanaton.

Hardworking/Lazy: He’ll do anything in his power to achieve his goals. ANYTHING that the Alliance will allow him to do.

Relationships:

OTP: Lana Beniko; the love of his life, definitely felt a connection with her the instant he met her during all the Revanite stuff was about to kick off and he only felt their bond grow stronger ever since KOTFE.

OT3: Lana Beniko/Rylee Dray; impossible since the latter is dead before the former even met him but he would be lying if he said he didn’t fantasise about it.

BrOTP: Talos Drellik; they are literally best buddies, Zinkaea could be torturing someone one moment and then the next having a delightful discussion about an artefact either of them found.

NOTP: Vanzeth; these two despise each other, ever since meeting as Acolytes as Korriban and their intense rivalry only grew every time they meet. Also with Vette, a slave he mistreats, in his crew Zinkaea’s hate for the Pureblood grew.

[villainship]

Okay so SWTOR OC Spin the Bottle I got these matchups for my main 8 (I can’t link ‘em so you can check my blog for their profiles):

Adyllus-Xerzen

Noviitro-Lyir

Portirou-Zahied

Vanzeth-Rakine

Glondaka-Cezek

Rerfanox-TD

Lebaza-Elenir

Zinkaea-Vensys

Ooh, Hi! Let's see these profiles for the LIST --

Adyllus & Xerzen: Wary tolerance, I imagine, on the part of cat Sith toward a Jedi who he'd probably consider a reasonable-enough person. One who wouldn't outright reject him (or Ashara) is at least worth listening to if they had something they needed to discuss. (Kissing verdict: too Straight to try that, apparently lol)

Noviitro & Lyir: BH and smuggler have some things in common--they might not appreciate each other's personalities, though, if Noviitro seemed too sour / Lyir seemed too talkative! (Kissing verdict: ...that doesn't mean it's off the table for Lyir. Anyone who doesn't behave like a complete jerk in front of him probably has a chance)

Portirou & Zahied: Volatile combination where disciplined, professional soldier/officer Zahied (who likes to pretend he's stable & put-together, even at his most unhinged) would find NO respect for a rowdy, chaotic, self-absorbed criminal. As his life fell apart he stopped caring so much about rules--if breaking them would get the results he needs for the Good of the Republic, he'll let a smuggler work for his side. Nonetheless his personal disgust would be palpable interacting with some of them. hehheh (Kissing: not happening. Pointing guns at each other: one wrong move & that’s a real possibility)

Vanzeth & Rakine: Even worse. Knowing that someone is comfortable being an Imperial is all Rakine needs to know to hate (and possibly attack) someone--a nasty one is a priority target for her. (Outcome: Shoot On Sight from the saboteur, if she can't manage to blow up his entire ship first)

Glondaka & Cezek: There are very few people who don't immediately hate Cezek, and some--like a Jedi--she would go out of her way to see them repulsed by her behaviour. (Violence verdict: depends how resistant Glondaka is to being goaded toward a confrontation by someone who can't possibly beat her in a fight, but would consider it a victory to get punched in the face by a "peacekeeper")

Rerfanox & TD: The party Sith would himself say that chiss Love him, and that he has numerous hot chiss friends--but more are /always/ welcome. Whether that goes well or badly for him. . . (Kissing verdict: Tarskal wishes. Rare is the kiss opportunity he would decline)

Lebaza & Elenir: Gay trooper ladies, unite! Elenir is easily swayed into approving of cute girls with a moral code. (Kissing verdict: Perfectly plausible to me that they’d be kissing over the table at the cantina when the bottle has chosen it. . . They also just seem like they would get along well as army buddies based on common values)

Zinkaea & Vensys: Lmaoo. Vensys may be too cocky about his ability to manipulate a situation--but he also just LOVES to flirt for the game (and for the potential influence/ammunition that could come out of it. shhh). He also would say he serves an excellent cup of tea. This Agent/Watcher/Secretary/Personal Assistant is all about making winning favors & making a good impression. (Kissing verdict: even if Sith are usually a little above his simple station, he’s bold enough to try it if he thinks he can get away consequence-free)

[jjjwhovian]

How did Zinkaea react when he heard about uphrades ?

My first ask, yay! Before I answer tho I’m sorry for not uploading anything these past two months, I’m kinda shit up uploading stuff on time so bare with me.

Zinkaea is a very unstable and volatile person, sometimes looking calm and keeping frustrations about things that upset him inside as to not show weakness or he’d have a literal breakdown and just cause even more death and destruction to vent his feelings out, so his reaction when finding out his home planet was destroyed could be either or, or even both.

He hoped Darth Angrel suffered a painful death but is even angrier when he finds out he’s already dead, losing the chance to make the Sith Lord suffer himself.

Though there’s also a small part of him that has this twisted sense of relief when he realises that could’ve been him had he not gone into slavery, so in a way the thing he hated most saved his life. This made him very conflicted and he did not like that, so more slaughter for him to commit.

[jjjwhovian]

Bit of an old post I know but I wanna give my own thoughts onto this, plus can never resist spouting off headcanons.

As you said on Wookiepedia Zhorrid was still active during the Galactic War before eventually getting replaced by Lana Beniko (definitely an upgrade). But I don’t really remember hearing any mention or codexes of any kind about her after Chapter 1.

So my headcanon is that sometime after Chapter 3 my Wrath decides to visit a Dark Council meeting, there he learns his rival Zinkaea, now named Darth Nox, is on the Council which he isn’t really happy about but doesn’t do anything about it for the time being.

But the more important thing is that he meets face to face with Zhorrid as she’s ranting her head off about something to do with her servants messing up something which was fairly minimal in the grand scheme of things. Whatever it was clearly everyone else was tired of listening to her.

Vanzeth takes one look at Zhorrid, practically wheezes and yeets her from the face of the galaxy…very violently I might add.

He thought Jaesa was crazy but that girl was something else entirely. The idea someone like her was in charge of “Imperial Intelligence” was laughable

He then tells the rest of the Council quite bluntly “find someone more competent or else” and just leaves without another word.

Who her successor was? That I haven’t figured out yet, I’m playing with the idea it might be Xarion since he was around during the Galactic War according to Wookiepedia. But who knows?

Whatever Happened to Zhorrid?

So I know that if the Imperial Agent sides with Darth Jadus at the end of Chapter One, they are sent to kill Zhorrid, Jadus’ daughter, one of the more intriguing people in a story where many characters fit that moniker.

She is both ally and antagonist. She is a monster and a victim. She is sympathetic (because of her upbringing by Jadus) and … well, she is who she is.

And she basically disappears after Chapter One, even though she’s nominally still in charge of the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence. She apparently does not object to its dissolution in Chapter Three, even though that would theoretically cripple her own power base. We don’t seem to see her with the rest of the Dark Council at the end of Chapter Three of the Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitior stories.

According to Wookiepedia, she actually ran Sith Intelligence before Marr replaced her with Lana Beniko. I cannot rebuke this, but I have not found anything in the game to support this position.

Elsewhere on Wookiepedia, it claims Zhorrid personally re-organized it after the Star Cabal crisis. Again, I’ve never seen these events subscribed to her in the actual game. In fact, we get almost nothing about Sith Intelligence between the end of the Imperial Agent story and the end of Shadow of Revan.

I like Wookiepedia, but a lot of it’s stuff is poorly sourced and referenced.

(I have to be honest with you - the idea of Zhorrid personally reorganizing anything is crazy. Her father was a monster but she is bat-shit.)

The simplest explanation for everything is that she was killed by the rest of the Dark Council sometime before the end of the Agent’s story. This would be consistent with the Council’s attitude towards her, and her inability to build her own power base and respect. Dark Councillors do not generally “like” each other, but they usually tolerate their fellows out of necessity. They don’t do that with her.

Eventually - years later - the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence (later the Sphere of Sith Intelligence) will be merged into the Sphere of Galactic Influence in Acina’s government. Darth Xarion commands that Sphere, overseeing Sith Intelligence.

But the game never gets into this. As I said, people just stop mentioning her if she even survives chapter one.  

So headcanons ! What happened to her in your stories?

Tagging @vespertine-legacy​ , since I know you’re a fan!

[jjjwhovian]

More Q's about your Inquisitor! How did Rylee Dray die? How did Zinkea get along with Ashara?

First question:

Zinkaea’s cult on Nar Shadda was in a little “despite” against a gang that’s been targeting their weapon shipments, one day a small group raided the cults base, they were able to fight the group off but quite a few members died in the process.

Rylee was one of those people.

Zin was just starting to get serious about getting into a relationship with her as well, so when he heard about what happened…

Let’s just say the gang was never heard from again.

Second question:

At the start Zinkaea intended to corrupt Ashara and bring her over fully to the Dark Side but she was more persistent than he thought, he almost respected that.

I wouldn’t say they hated each other but they didn’t really get along, sure they both wanted the Empire to be better than it was but they’d clash when it came to the atrocities the Sith commits, the Apprentice getting angrier when Zin always took the Sith’s side.

And when Ashara brought making peace with Jedi into things Zinkaea would just sneer and belittle her for being stupid. Hell, when she suggested teaching his future children about the Jedi he pretty much laughed her out of the room.

Six/Seven years later when they reunite and Zin is now part of the Alliance…he regrets the things he said to her and treats her much better than before.

He never believed in her dream of Jedi and Sith working together. But he does now.

[jjjwhovian]

Interesting answer, especially in comparison to my own Inquisitor whom I had in mind when I made this ask.

Zinkaea does sometimes wonder what else he could’ve been instead of a Sith for brief moments before throwing those thoughts down the drain. What he could have been doesn’t matter to him, but what he was does and he was originally a weak and frightened slave who would have remained so for the rest of his life before eventually being worked to death like his parents if he hadn’t discovered he was force sensitive.

Anything else was preferable to that, even being a monster.

And he is not ashamed one bit of the person he’s become.

Again, Zinkaea was a pathetic slave that lost everything he cared about and his experiences before and during the class story heavily affected his outlook in life. To him there is no such thing as “good and evil”, all that matters are “weak and strong” and he vowed to himself that he would never become weak again.

And whenever he did find something or someone that made him feel genuinely happy, ie. Rylee Dray, it was taken away from him almost immediately which further fuelled his dark nature and gave him little reason to be kind or empathetic.

The galaxy has never been kind to Zinkaea right his whole life, so why should he be kind in return?

That was his mindset…until the events of KOTFE where a blue Twi’lek, a Jedi leader and a blonde Sith lady helped him through his pain and anger.

He is still Sith, and he always will be, but that doesn’t mean he is no longer capable of seeing beauty in the galaxy again.

(Whew, that was a lot of my thoughts there. Now if only I could actually put them into an actual piece 😒)

A really specific question, or rather one and a half, towards whichever of your Dark Side or non Light Side characters you wanna answer for, “do they hate/are ashamed of the person they became and do they wish they could’ve been something else?”

Thank you so much for this, @jjjwhovian !

Quoraah Beltane had been a child-prodigy. She had her equivalent of a college degree by the age of 17, and had earned a place in medical school at the University of Sobrik. She was going to become a doctor, researching vaccines and curing diseases.

Then her life was flip-turned upside down. She was arrested, enslaved, and shipped off to the Empire. It was discovered that she was Force sensitive. The rest is history.

She's essentially a light-side Sith. She doesn't restrain her passions, but she still wants to make things better.

She's not… ashamed of the person she has become, but she is definitely ashamed that a lot of people were hurt or killed during her journey. Sure, most of them were trying to kill her, but others didn't have it coming.

Take Ashara. Regardless of what you think of her masters on Taris (more on that later) she cared about them and was happy there.

Quoraah didn't want to fight them. She didn't want to kill them. Academically, she understands their distrust. But it hurts her so much that she because did to Ashara what the Empire did to Quoraah.

That's a lot of guilt to deal with.

She hopes to make it up to her someday.