Star Wars: The Sith War - Fiction: Born A Lion[Complete]

[DirtyRottenScoundrel]

If you are a student of history, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that you will find any number of ancient legends, hokey folk stories, and general tall tales that parents tell their children or bards tell to taverns. Such is the way of things. Stories are told, stories become myth, myth becomes legend. That’s just how things are done. However, if you are as much an investigator into these histories as you are a student, you will find that these stories almost always have a grain of truth to them. Some have more than that. One such story comes from what is called the Unwritten History of the Corellian Sector. Home to the largest concentration of stubborn, odds-defying scoundrels and renegades in the galaxy as well as ancient artifacts as the progenitors’ Centerpoint Station, it is no surprise that this place saw the birth of such a tale.

Hundreds of years ago, the galaxy was a very different place than it is now. Sure the Republic still stood, the Jedi Council still served as the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, the basics were the same. The difference was a person that went by the name of Essedus Deolan. Also known as Lord Essedus or that which would become his posthumous title: The King of All and Nothing. Few in the galaxy knew of Essedus, which made his existence so much more fantastical. The stories of what Lord Essedus had done and was capable of change with every telling, but to give an example of who this person was.(and I am very sure that he did indeed exist, even if the stories are a bit exaggerated.).

One version tells of Essedus the Gray Knight, the son of a Jedi Master and a Sith Lord. Whether or not Essedus himself was trained in the ways of the Force is up for debate, though at the very least such a union would have the wheels of fate spinning madly. Such an unlikely and yet metaphysically significant event would without a doubt be a sign of future greatness(or a quick death). This would have exposed Essedus to the philosophies of both the Jedi and the Sith and explained the tendency he had to temper his passions while at the same time being all too aware of the power of ambition and intense emotion.

One version tells of Essedus the Wanderer. Nomad of the stars, Essedus traversed the galaxy endlessly, encountering strange and fantastic things as he went. He had stood in the center of the Republic Senate chamber on Coruscant. He had run in the jungles of Ord Mantel with their sentinels. He had taken tea with the dark lords of the Empress Teta system. He had sparred with the lords of Mandalore. The list of things that Essedus was rumored to have done in his years is just as long as it is epic and I daresay unbelievable. Still, every once in a while, in a distant corner of a loremaster’s repertoire of ancient fables and histories, you may find mention of a traveler from the stars that walked where few other have.

A more common element in the stories of Essedus Deolan is his role as phantom king of the stars. He had no position. He had no crown, he had no throne. He simply was. However, his influence spread far and it spread wide. Fiefdoms rose or fell after dealing with him, depending on how they had dealt with him. Royalty and Aristocracy alike sought out his flagship to seek his favor. His starship Excelsior was neutral ground in the wars of the Force. Few and far between were those of the Jedi or the Sith who were willing to bring their ancient grudges onboard his ship and even fewer were those who were able to leave after doing so. Essedus truly was the King of All and Nothing. He had no throne or royal heritage, and yet he had power and sway that some say was on par with the Republic itself.

What happened to this legendary master of the stars? Why does this great invisible empire no longer span the length and width of the galaxy? What was the downfall of the King of All and Nothing? Mortality, mostly. On his deathbed, and this is where all the legends agree, he was surrounded by his closest associates as they asked in unison who would succeed him as the invisible king. It was at this point that the Force would speak through him. His eyes were blind, though could see the threads of fate being spun. What he saw, nobody’s entirely sure, but his last words were. “It’s not for me to decide”.

When the King of All and Nothing passed away, what followed was a brutal display of ambition and powermongering. Brother fell on brother, advisor on advisor. The most noble of men and women of every race and creed showed the extent of the control that their ambition had over them. The family of Essedus Deolan disintegrated in a matter of weeks. All save one. This is not a typical part of the story though it will be included in this version. Some years before his death, Essedus had courted a servant girl in the Corellian royal household. This girl’s name was lost to time, but as the story goes, when Essedus had breathed his last, her child, which had been crying for days on end suddenly stopped. That child would never cry again.

Whether this story is true or not, none who live can know for sure. However, every once in a while, when a select few descendents of a certain servant girl pass by those with the gift of prophecy, and even a few without, something inexplicable happens. They can hardly describe it, but they know that for just a moment, they had entered the realm of legendary possibility. After all, who is to say that it is not only a matter of time until one such scion rises up to claim the legacy of Essedus Deolan? Who is to say it will be long before the galaxy sees the return of the King of All and Nothing? Certainly not I. Who knows? The one who will may already be among you. Only time will tell.