Pomp and Circumstance (open)

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza looked around his room and smiled as he looked about. There was nothing spectacular in there. A bed, a desk, holo-projector, chair and datapad. With a wave of his handhowever, the room suddenly looked fantascic. It was decorated to a standard, usually reserved to those of the late Emporer's court. Atleast that's what he wanted others to see. The fact was that Yurza needed none of this stuff, but he understood that the one who showed riches to others were respected by them. Though he doubted this illusion would go unnoticed for any significant time, it woul be interesting to see who the first to unviel his hoax would be.

He walked outside on a balcony to feel the fresh air and prehaps give a moment for meditation. He ended up leaving his door open, purposely of course, as he sat down outside.

[Lucianus Adair]

Already having set his few belongings in his new livingspace, the predator thought it a decent course of action to take a stroll and familiarize himself with every nook and cranny of his new home.

Tactical points of advantage and disadvantage were observed. Scenarios ran through his head. It was unlikely that Korriban would come under attack, but one must allow for every exception.

In mid-stride, he paused. Mars noted the open door, the lavish furnishings, the resident. The furnishings....

A rather fashionable illusion. But why? And why here on this remote planet?

Ever so silently, Phoenix Mars Whyte entered the room and checked his headspace as he did so. Run-ins with doorframes simply did not do. A blonde man sat out on the balcony. The man nodded to himself, looking over the illusion that was cooked up with such detail.

"It is detrimental to your personal safety to sit with your back to the door. Every warrior knows this." Mars spoke aloud, and folded his hands behind his back.

Or at least every warrior should...

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smirked, not turning to face the voice just yet.

"Only those that have fear should be cautious of what is behind them. Then again those that don't have fear though are foolish and idiotic. While I do fear what may be lurking behind me, I would never just cautiously turn my back without being prepared. The Force are my eyes to my blindness."

[Lucianus Adair]

Phoenix brought his arms around to the front, crossing them.

"That would be the other answer. A just and good one. It is a welcome thing to encounter -- for once in the past few weeks -- one that knows what they are talking about. "

He relaxed, dropping his arms.

"Of course, the rules on the battlefield are different when you do not have the Force accessable to you. When you are blind of the Force, it is very much a different experience. Tell me...have you been privy to such a happening?"

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza nodded, thinking back to a time when, during his training for Lord Vader he had been assigned to fight on of the other apprentices in a field of ysalamiri. Yurza won.

"I have, though thanks to the Force only a few times. And yourself?"

[Lucianus Adair]

"On several occasions. It was not merely for the experience of battle without the Force, but to refine my predatory drive. I may look to you a normal man, albeit taller than most, but I assure you there is much more than meets the eye."

He closed his eyes. "I am a hunter, a tracker. Until the death of the Emperor, one of his most dangerous men."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza smiled.

"I see. Then it is nice to meet a kindred spirit. For though I served Palpatine, Vader was my master, though I use the term lightly. More accurate would be that he scheduled my training and kept a close eye on it."

[Lucianus Adair]

Mars opened his eyes, a small and bemused look resembling a smile coming across his face.

"Indeed. Though I never met with Vader. I was one of many things kept secret from him by Palpatine. The large amount of my training I had already recieved prior to working with the Empire."

Again, he looked around at the elaborate illusion.

"Your illusion is a decent construct. The design is something to be appreciated by the nobles of some worlds. But it would have been fitting in the abode of my childhood guardian and first master, which was here on Korriban. A small piece of information that none here would likely know is that this planet has been my home since my earliest memory, though I have not stepped foot here since the death of Lucianus at my hand."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza wasn't shocked to hear that this man had been a secret kept from Vader. Just as he himself had surely been hidden away from the Emperor as much as he could have been. He chuckled slightly at the thought of it. A Sith's only goal is to overthrow his master, as Palpatine surely knew when he took Vader under his wing. As this man, himself, had apprently done.

"Lucianus? Your master?"

[Lucianus Adair]

He nodded.

"Lucianus Lucifer Bane, also went by the name of Lord Shade. Under edict from Palpatine, he was one of many dissidents I had been ordered to dispose of. His abode and vineyard still stand on the southernmost point of this planet. Whether the vineyard still thrives is not known to me, but there should be some finely aged wine in the cellar, as well as an extensive library, training hall, and weaponry stores in addition to the living quarters that he, my brother and I had occupied, and a few guest rooms."

[Yurza Magus]

"I see...well prehaps they could be put towards good use to us in the future," Yurza whispered. He turned slowly and looked at the man standing in his room. He was taller than he had honestly imagined, but he didn't care about that.

"I am curious of what your life under Palpatine was like."

[Lucianus Adair]

Mars dropped the smile.

"I was biding my time. Every kink in the armourwork of the Empire was rather apparent, but Palpatine was too full of himself to see it. I was aware of the fall of the Empire long before it became noticeably possible or apparent. He was a weak man, but overthrowing him was not my place. The thriving of moldable existance demanded his end. And it did arrive."

[Yurza Magus]

"Yes it did and in it's wake it left a galaxy, lost and in despair. A galaxy that could be molded into whatever a person wanted it to be. As long as that persona was strong enough to stand and not falter at the sight of a potential enemy."

[Lucianus Adair]

The older man hmmed.

"You follow well." Phoenix sniffed the air. Not much had changed here since his last visit, except for a little more blood in the air.

"What is your focus now?"

[Yurza Magus]

"Mine is only to live out my days in peace and comforts much more tangible than this," he said as he wiped his hand across what appeared to be a finely decorated drape. The moment his hand left the material however, he dropped his illusion and looked around at his rather plain looking room.

[Lucianus Adair]

Phoenix didn't even blink.

"That hardly sounds entertaining. I, for one, seek to pass on my knowledge. And such as my first master had done...I shall have to venture to the residence and recover some of the wine, and look at tending to the vineyard, and the residence itself. Perhaps the masters of this order would have some interest in the use of the place, as you said. On its grounds, there is in fact an official deed for the property."

[Yurza Magus]

"I see...how convenient," Yurza said in passing. "However as for teaching. Why teach someone that will only turn on you and kill you at the first chance?"

[Lucianus Adair]

Phoenix shook his head.

"You have little faith. There are reasons why I have always trained daily. From the moment I had been made aware of the Force --what it is and what can be done with it -- not a day has been missed in my practices. I have trained physically, mentally and intellectually for a time far beyond your years. "

There was a pause.

"Do not doubt what those around you are capable of. Never take an opponent for granted, no matter how inexperienced they are compared to you. Avoid single-mindedness. That is how backstabbing happens. In the case of Lucianus, it was a matter of duty."

[Yurza Magus]

"Oh I understand all to well about being aware of your surroundings, but you cannot deny the fact that the nature of the Sith is to become the most powerful and to do that we all will turn on each other eventually. It is the will of the Force that we seek power and we will seek to become the best."

[Lucianus Adair]

"All too true. And I suppose you will somehow manage to do things like this without becoming overconfident?"

He now kept his empty-looking black eyes on Yurza.

"Deep, hard discipline and complete, all-around self control. To control the destiny you shape for yourself, as well as other persons, one must first master himself in all aspects. Thus, a man greatly increases his chances of survival through all things."

[Yurza Magus]

"But can one truely master themselves? We all crave something that blinds us. For most, if not all, that thing is power. Take the late Palpatine for example. Where he not blinded by his arrogance we might not be in this position right now."

He smirked. "We have transversed beyond anything that we thought possible just a few million years ago, yet in all this time we have yet to look inside and see the one last horizon waiting to be explored."

[Lucianus Adair]

"And the reason this is so...would seem that it is because self-discovery has the look of being too Jedi-like an accomplishment. Far too easily and far too often we stereotype ourselves, and miss out on the largest doorway to many things: opportunity. Most of us rarely reach the point of discovering our full potential."

He 'hmmmed' a second.

"I had resolved long ago for that to not be the case for myself."

[Yurza Magus]

"Jedi-like...no. Smart and passive...yes."

"Looking into one's self is a path to far more strength and balance than anyone has ever done. True that the practice was first brought into existence by the Jedi of the old, but as they became blinded by arrogance they lost contact with the Force, whereas the Sith re-establish this connection. Through the use of the raw and natural power of the Force it demands that we look deeper into ourselves."

[Lucianus Adair]

"I have been doing such a thing for countless years now. I make use of the inherent predatory nature of my species in the hunt , tracking and in combat."

He smiled the slightest bit.

"And where strength is lacking in areas of little skill, compensation training becomes highly valuable in areas which one will always have little capability. There are skills that we all know we will never be able to master beyond a basic point."

[Yurza Magus]

Yurza stuck his hands in the pockets of is black pants and took a few steps forwards inside. "Are you so sure of that?"

[Lucianus Adair]

He shook his head.

"No. As I said, it is known. That does not necessitate that it is definite. Yet so far as everything has been tested over the millenia, this has been the case. So I could say that what we know usually limits us. Therefore -- in a sense -- it is possible to admit one truly knows nothing at all, that everything is just experiences, and anything is possible."

[Yurza Magus]

"And that is our right to explore as Sith. The Jedi don't recognize this. They look at the Force and meditate were as we see it for what it truely is, something to make us more than just limited beings. The Force can makes u into limitless gods if only we can see beyond our limits."

[Lucianus Adair]

"Indeed."

Mars unzipped the jacket that hung around his broad shoulders. It was warm today.

"The Jedi see the Force as something that guides them. Whereas the Sith, such as you and I, see it as something we can control."

[Yurza Magus]

"Only if you are strong enough to control it."

[Lucianus Adair]

Phoenix crouched, examining the floorwork.

"Such positions of power are not for all of us."

[Yurza Magus]

"If any...," Yurza mumbled. He looked lost in thought for a moment and then looked up again. "Excuse me. Where are my manners. My name is Yurza Magus."

[Lucianus Adair]

Phoenix looked up, hearing those words. Immediately he snapped to his feet, and looked back at Yurza.

"I could say the same about myself. I am Phoenix Whyte."

[Yurza Magus]

"It is a pleasure to meet you and while I am sure that we will meet again in the future, I must ask you to leave. It has been a long day and I must retire to the night."

[Lucianus Adair]

He nodded shortly.

"Very well. I shall head to the library and continue my studies. I bid you a good night."

Mars then turned and left.