Cogadh journey past to present

(play blow me away by breaking benjamin)
 
Cogadh hums in his study as he recounts the past:
 
From the day he was born all he knew was pain and suffering, his father a Darth in the Sith Empire raised him to be a weapon, for the first 16 years of his life all he knew was hunger, pain, suffering, loss, loneliness and a never ending Wrath of hatred for the man that sired him, losing his first friend crushed him, losing his mother broke him and left him rejecting a part of him, chaining and caging his feelings he was almost like a droid, lacking passion and a will to embrace who he truly was, affecting his connection with the force to where it fluctuated.
 
 
Then after he turned 16 he escaped and made his way to Corbos, ended up at the academy as an acolyte, meeting Darth Zutayitsi who called him ‘Ardira’ meaning child in High Sith, during his tour of the Academy. This is where his true journey started. Not long after joining the academy he met, unknown at the time, his future master a Sith who enjoyed fucking with peoples heads, who focused most her time on mind related powers and juyo, she forced him to accept who and what he was, forced him to embrace his passion in a lesson of combat and pain, ending with him getting a broken leg. He also met an apprentice who used his lack of knowledge to get a token from another acolyte in exchange for a power, had he known the true value of that Token he probably wouldnt have handed it over to her.
 
During his academy studies he met, Drelkol, Zaavi and Anto, 3 fellow acolytes like him seeking to prove themselves worthy of being Sith, he started a Rivalry with them, constantly trading barbs or fighting, especially Zaavi, he faced three trials, one where he fought a nexu with another acolyte who he never saw after he made apprentice, another where they had to recover an artefact and were swarmed by lizards, was not fun. And the final trial where again he had to embrace who he was, learn to control his passions and start walking like a Sith and not a child controlled by his emotions and the Dark Side.
 
As an apprentice he learnt a few tricks under his master, but constantly sought to rebel against her, refusing to let her lessons, especially during dark meditation, fully break him, refusing to be a tool or weapon for another. He studied Shii cho as his first form under the then Arbiter Dae’jing now wrath of the Dark Lord, he came to love the form, its unpredictability, the underestimated power of the skill, he aimed to master it first, and to pass on its knowledge to others to show them like Dae’jing showed him, that it was truly a powerful form to embrace.
 
Next he learnt Ataru, to add more aggression into his form as well as learning Niman, to mix the force with his blade skill, he would learn powers from other lords, trying his best to keep his skills hidden from others, especially his at the time master, he wanted to be like shii cho, underestimated, overlooked so he could catch those who faced him in combat off guard. He spent a lot of his time on the academy grounds teaching acolytes shii cho.
 
He was recruited in the Jen’Kovoti, at the time never realising that was what they were there for when they took him from in front of his master, there he trained, learning to wield the pike and how to fight using Echani hand to hand combat. He would later join the Mind’s Eye to balance his brawn with more brain, to seek more knowledge old and new, to learn from the past and to unravel the mysteries that lay before him.
 
But his true passion was in beast control, becoming a proverbial black sheep in his master's legacy as he learnt to persuade beasts to follow his command, studying them, understanding them and how they lived. This also led him to walk the path of the Vikas in the Mind’s eye, to learn how to manipulate life and twist it in the form of sith spawns and plant spawns.
 
He spent his free time on Zol’darc, his masters first conquested planet, crafting armors using pieces of animal bones from hunts. Once a jedi knight came looking for something and ended up clashing blades with Cogadh, he survived and the Knight escaped but not before he was blasted with the force light, while avoiding the brunt of it, part of it still affected him, leaving him pissed off and lashing out at anyone. This led to his mind fracturing and a split personality for a bit, his inner voice becoming more vocal, but through another Dark Meditation that runs deep he broke a chain and accepted himself, gaining more control and becoming more like a Sith.
 
One Day Darth Razia had called him to her prefecture, for a meditation to help him control his anger even more, it took the form of Lightning and lashed out along his right arm, leaving lightning scars along his arm as a reminder of what happens when he loses himself.
 
After this he started to more openly rebel against his master, especially after she became an Arbiter and had taken another apprentice, a lap dog of a Sith who seemed more than willing to dance to her tune, openly defying her in public to the point where she tried to take his saber and give it to the other apprentice, a decision he hated and smashed his old saber infront of her and another Arbiter at the time in defiance. This left him back in academy rags and a blunted sword. But he still defied her, going to Drelkol, to secretly craft his new saber, crafting a new outfit that he wore instead of the rags she demanded he wear. Making deals with Sith like Zutayitsi and Sacrisi to gain more power and backing for when he was ready to strike against his master, learning Makashi from Sacrisi and then continuing it later on in life.
 
He started learning juyo too, but couldnt continue it till he himself was a lord, but he embraced its more primal form of combat. Eventually came the time for him to ascend. He had faced an unknown foe on his masters planet, got a building dropped on him and from the clues this assailant left him, assumed his master had some connection to it all, especially when the building was made similar to the home he grew up in. Returning to her estate he commed her, called her to her own balcony, dropped a shuttle on her and destroyed said balcony as he and her battled it out, crashing into the valley of crystals below and fighting to the death, he lost but survived, cast out of her protection, he made a bid to rise and eventually now stood in the Empire as a Sith Lord.
 
With this Ascension came evolution, Cogadh started becoming more refined, reflecting on the past led to him controlling his passions even better than before, this change shocked some but it was to be expected tied into the experience of his trial of true site, a test of survival using nothing but the clothes on his back, the force and the nine lessons.
 
He rose in the ranks of the Kovoti, making it to Jenja not long after, conquered his first planet and faced Aash in a fight to the death for the Chair of military defense and strategy. A battle he lost but again survived, folly of his foes as this gave him chance to grow in power, he worked to get stronger, took new planets, made deals, learnt new powers, mastered shii cho and later Juyo.
 
He would eventually make Wanizori and the new Jen’forja, capture and tame several beasts from his time as apprentice to his time as a lord now, from a curious veractyl and Akk dog, to a Nexu and Skar’kla, and eventually a Vorn Tiger. He also learnt Jar’kai, Saberstaff, and Cross guards helping the Lord and new Arbiter of Philosophy test this new weapon style.
 
He would face a second Rite of Aure’kkesh against Alechto, smacking him in the face with a force enhanced tree branch, unfortunately Alechto’s will was stronger and again he lost. He would be appointed Vice Captain, by Alechto after they themselves were made High Captain. He took an apprentice, an unlikely zabraki sith by the name of Qo’unai, it wasnt easy training them and preparing them for lording but he did his best.
 
Eventually a war sparked between the Empire he was in and the Empire from his past, while hunting a traitorous Darth who claimed to be a prophet for something called Bogan, Cogadh and the Kovoti would be injured and wiped out by the Dark Honor Guards, the Vowran’s empire equivalent to the Kovoti, in leagues with the Darth who was on the run and another Darth, Cogadhs own father, who didnt notice him due to his helmet but choked Cogadh out while saying “one Emperor, one Empire.” this reignited an old hatred in cogadhs heart.
 
They were left alive by the enemy to break their will but Cogadh turned that defeat into motivation, warning the Empire of this threat during a Dark Council meeting where the council power was condensed to 4 chairs and a new council position of Regent was named, the first and current being Darth Razia, the chair of influence was left empty. After claiming another planet. Cogadh made a bid for the chair despite razia wanting the former Arbiters to have a chance to prove their worth of taking this chair, Cogadh countered with where are they now, if not here to claim the chair, why are they not present at a meeting of such importance. This got Razia intrigued and she allowed the challenge.
 
Konn’da, a former arbiter would counter this challenge and end up Cogadhs rival for the chair, poetic in his mind as his former master faced Konn’da in the past for her chair. So this time Cogadh was determined to deny them another chance at taking the chair. He bargained and gained support of other Sith in the empire for his claim for the chair. On the night of the fight he fulfilled his agreement with Razia, to destroy Konn’da, and claimed the chair of Influence, not long after becoming the Arbiter of Influence, Alechto disappeared forcing Cogadh to take full leadership of the Kovoti. This lead to the Dark Lord asking him where Alechto was during a guild meeting before naming Cogadh High Captain and burning him to blacken his armor, making him a member of the Kovoti Elites known as blackguards.
 
During the war he would lead many assaults against the Dark Honor Guards as well as reconstruct and baptise the Kovoti with changes. Eventually he had to vacate his chair and go on a secret mission for the regent. Upon his return he finds out the two empires have made a cease fire for now, Drelkol who later becomes replaced by Darth Niati had claimed his chair and Alechto had taken over the chair for Justice.
 
Cogadh was back in the Empire…. And he will continue to carve and baptise his story in fire and blood. His journey took a break but now it was back and he won't let anyone stop his bid for power. Like a Dragon he will leave his foes burning in ash. Until a fateful event drove him away from the empire, After a fourth Rite of Aure'kesh against a young lord, Cogadh was stripped of everything connecting him to the Kovoti, why because unlike everyone else in the kovoti who became laxed he enforced the rules, he threatened arbiters to behave themselves, and because he used wave of darkness in a fight to the death, he was punished because he almost affected 2 arbiters, and like dark jedi they lashed out and had him punished, Angered by it he faked his death and vanished, After having claimed his masters old planet of Zol'darc before the rite, he was found by his Old master and a Sith the empire assumed was killed but Cogadh kinda suspected might still be alive, Learning of the Sovereignty, the 5 Tenets, the Sovereignties teachings on the code, crucible of service, the vortex of juyo and the ultimatum, How Grimsong faked their death to leave the Empire. He meditated, full of rage blaming the empire for holding him back and casting him aside when it no longer needed him, with the guidance of Isatri he comes to the realisation that he Let it happen, that he was as much to blame for it as the Empire, this followed many such sessions where Cogadh would learn more, question things, he would end up meditating on the 5 tenets gaining a deeper understanding, this will eventually lead to him defying Isatri in her mediation chamber. which lead to hallucinations, meditation and realisation/revelation that becomes a hard pill to swallow.
 
This is his journey so far, Stick around to find out more