Post by El Supremo on Mar 20, 2011 10:13:38 GMT -5
Background:
The reclusive leaders of the Black Serpent organization, the Shadow Dragons rule from their fortress on Lothos, an ancient temple known as the Temple of Shadows and Light, whose existence was one of the reasons for their choice of Lothos as a home for the Black Serpents. They have traveled far from their roots as the Jhemadan, a scholarly breakaway sect of Jedi. Now a ruthless organization of Dark Jedi, the Shadow Dragons have been the only known force users in the Yaeger sector for thousands of years, though rumors of a surviving Jhemadan Master have been floating around the organization for years.
The Shadow Dragons are an exclusively human and near human organization, making it their business to kill any non-human Force users that they can find, and they are very good at finding things. They recruit their members mainly from the Black Serpent organization, though when they find a natural force user elsewhere, they make it their business to either turn and recruit them, or kill them. They have a very strict hierarchy, with the rankings being Acolyte, Disciple, Initiate, Student, Knight, Lord, Master, and Grand-Master. A member of one rank is completely subservient to the members of the higher ranks. The only way that a Shadow Dragon can reach a higher rank is by passing the requisite tests (that vary from level to level), and receiving a promotion by a member of Lord level or higher. In order to achieve the level of Lord or Master, the Shadow Dragon must pass the tests in the presence of all members of the level above the one he is striving for that are not on active assignment, andreceive their approval. To achieve the level of Grand Master, a candidate must pass the tests, and if there is a sitting Grand Master, he must immediately defeat him in mortal combat.
The Jhemadan prided themselves on their simple, almost monastic lifestyle, and that ethic is still part of the Shadow Dragon lifestyle. All members below the rank of Student are restricted to the outer court, where they own nothing other than a coarse grey robe, and perform eight hours of backbreaking labor a day, in addition to their long and tiring lessons. A Student moves into the opulent Inner court, though he is still allowed no personal property other than his robe. Each student is made the personal servant of a Knight, who is also that student's instructor (another carry over from the Jhemadan). The Student will now leave the Temple of Shadows and Night for the first time since his arrival there, accompanying his master on his assignments. When the Knight judges him as being ready for his test, he is taken back to the Temple, and if he passes his test, he graduates to the opulent lifestyle of the higher ranking Shadow Dragons. Generally speaking, the Shadow Dragons have around five Masters, ten to fifteen Lords, around a hundred Knights, and an equal number of Students (no Initiate is raised to
Student unless there is a Knight without a Student), two hundred or so Initiates, four hundred Disciples, and nearly a thousand Acolytes. Around once every tenth generation, a Master attains the rank of Grand Master. The Shadow Dragons currently have a Grand Master, Iridian Soh, but Grand Master Iridian is almost two hundred years old, and beginning to become feeble and incoherent.
The relationship between the Shadow Dragons and the Black Serpent organization started as being a very close one, but the two organizations have drifted apart somewhat, with the Shadow Dragons viewing the Black Serpents as tools to be used to serve a purpose, and if necessary to be left by the wayside. The Serpent Tooth assassins are much closer to the Shadow Dragons than the rest of the organization is, and they serve as the Shadow Dragon's contact with the rest of the Black Serpent. One of the facets of the Jhemadan that the Shadow Dragons have maintained is their devotion to the art of hand to hand combat. In fact, the school of martial arts that the Shadow Dragon's practice is still called the Jhemada school, though it a somewhat debased and formalized reflection of the original. The Serpent Tooth practice this form as well, but without the Force manipulations that the Shadow Dragons include.
The force powers of the Shadow Dragons are connected to those of the Jedi by a very tenuous thread, a thread that has been strained a number of times. Therefore, they do not have all of the powers that most Jedi know. They do not know: Absorb/Dissipate Energy, Enhance Attribute, Instinctive Astrogation Control, Short Term Memory Enhancement, Instinctive Astrogation, Force Lightning, Lightsaber Combat, Accelerate Another's Healing, Return Another to Consciousness, Doppleganger, Force Harmony, Telekinetic Kill, Transfer Life, or Transfer Force. However, they have an entire battery of powers that they developed on their own, which are unknown in the rest of the galaxy. They exclusive use Cloak of Darkness, The Dragon, Hands of the Jhemadan, The Clouds Parting, Crimson Burst, Shadow Mist, Jhemadan Combat, Shadow Split, and Mind Sand.