Scathe Ordo

Lord Pert walked into the main hall of the academy, knowing full well that the Sith High Council and all the leaders of all the academy would be watching him, he knew that his speech would be carried out to every academy through the Holonet right when he began. He looked around the hall and smiled, the seats were packed with Sith from all over the galaxy. He had never seen such a gathering, he had only heard of such a thing when a great ancient died and a gathering would take place at that lord's burial. Lord Pert took a deep breath and let it out, it was time for him to propose his new idea, the new way of the Sith.

Pert stepped forward, his hands behind his back and his robes flowing out behind him. When he reached the center of the hall the sounds of chatter had quickly died down. Pert sighed and looked around at each one of the people at this assembly, making sure to take in their feature's closely. He nodded, knowing full well that he should start soon or this assembly would be for nothing.

"My fellow Sith Brethren, I thank you for taking to time to come out and listen to me, to listen to my findings. And I hope that as I speak you keep an open mind to what I am saying and allow my words to fill your thoughts, and I hope you take what I say into consideration and apply it to your teachings, if not all of it, then please at least apply some of it. Most of you know who I am, but for those of you who don't let me introduce myself: I am Darth Pert, keeper of knowledge and history. I have devoted my life to studying the past of the Sith, the Jedi, and any other group that has spawned up over the years. I have not taken up any apprentices in my pursuit of knowledge, and in most ways that is a good thing, for what I have found would surely get me killed. I will probably be executed after I have finished speaking.

"I have gathered you all here for one purpose today, and that purpose is to discuss the Sith Order and its path. As most of you already know from your required reading, the Sith have risen before and fallen before, most of the time it has been from infighting, struggles for power that in the end proved nothing. The main reason for this, as I'm sure some of you know, is because of arrogance and the pursuit of power which would inevitably lead to the Sith's downfall. I believe that part of the reason that power struggles have been so prominent over the years is because people have lost sight of what the Sith truly teach: The pursuit of power above all else, and the subjugation of the weak ... now, I know you disagree with me when I say this, partly because that?s what, in your views, the Sith of old where doing. But I have a reason to believe otherwise...

"You see, in the past it has always been the belief of the Sith to kill the weak, or make them servants to those who are strong, but in the case of the Old Sith Order, they battled for the last one standing because of their One Leader. Now, with the Council of the Sith that is established, if one of them is killed, then another will rise to take the fallens place. But what if they all fell? What if the leader of the High Council became weak, and had to be disposed of? Who would run the Order? Who would step up to take his place? Surely some of you can see where I am taking these questions and the answers behind them, surely most of you can see the connotation behind these questions ... but for those of you who can't, I will answer the questions for you: If the Head of our Council fell, then the other masters on the council would start fighting each other for who should take over, and then the Order would become divided, each master forming his own group to answer the problems, and each one becoming their own faction of Sith.

"This is where my first point comes into play: We should not be headed by any leadership of a council or any type of group that is centered around one person, for this has always seemed to be the Sith's downfall. Instead of a group of Sith centered around leadership from one person, we should be focused on leadership as a collective, a democracy where all the people decide. I know some of you are thinking that this is the way of the Jedi, letting the weak and strong co-exist, letting both make choices, but if you looked at it from multiple angle's you'd see that this is a perfect way for Sith leadership. I know you are listening, and I know that many people are discussing what I said amongst themselves right now, and that is what I want, discussion, so please, talk amongst yourselves for a moment before I make my second point."

Lord Pert paused to take a breath and gather his composure, he smiled to himself and took a deep breath as he heard the chatter amongst the Sith in the hall, and the nodding of heads. He looked up at the High Council, sitting far up in the rafters, looking down on the assembly as if they were truly gods. Lord Pert raised his hands into the air and looked around as he calmed his breathing. ?Now, my second point to be made revolves around our teachings, surely the most highly followed and respected part of a Sith?s way of life. I have come to find a flaw in them, a flaw that instead of separating us from our most hated foe?s, seems to bind us together with them in some sort of twisted harmony. A flaw that ends up serving our inner light more often then not.

"The flaw I speak of regards our emotions, and I will get to another flaw that I have found when I reach my conclusion. Our emotions are what set us free. We serve them until we are strong enough to enslave them; we allow them to fill us with power, freely giving ourselves over to them until we have no use for them as a source of strength. However, it can also be a large problem if the Jedi learn to manipulate our emotions, instead of giving into our baser emotions, the ones that strengthen us, we could give into the ones that seem to weaken us, such as love and compassion. And yet it is love that we as Sith have, love for the destruction of life and the annihilation of the weak. We all want that, we all feel it in our blood, and to a certain degree, we love being the ones to bring about the end result.

"But it is here that love can be turned against you. While the Sith believe that love will help turn you to the dark, love can be used both ways. Turning you to the dark, but also raising you to the high pedestal of the light. There are many Sith who joined the dark side because of a lover that they were forbidden to have when they were a Jedi. We have embraced these people with open arms, welcoming them to the Dark, but that is something that could cause our downfall as much as any other Sith in love. Instead of welcoming these people with open arms we should keep them at a distance for a while, for they are still in love, and they still hold love in their hearts. If we Sith truly fear the light, and truly fear losing members to the Jedi, then we should try to wash all the love from their hearts, purge the warm and fuzzy feelings they have, for that is the true way of the Sith. A true Sith, evidenced by Lord Kil, is cold and distant, he has no emotions towards life other than hatred towards the weak, and respect towards those stronger than him. This is the way of a true Sith. Soon, I will make my closing points, but before I do, talk amongst yourselves.? Lord Pert stood in the center of the hall, a pleasurable smile on his face, a smile that a person would only get if they were truly confident that someone was listening to his ideas and would follow through with them, sooner or later these beliefs he had, must be taught.

Pert took deep breaths, calming himself. He had never been good at speaking in public. But he knew that this would probably be his last appearance in front of a crowd, so he knew he had to give it his all. Pert looked around the hall, and then up at the High Council, knowing full well what their silent conversation was about. He waved to the masters and chuckled quietly to himself, he knew that the death that was to await him was nothing to be afraid of, it was something that he knew to embrace. His new beliefs, his knew way of thinking was something that he embraced and would declare out in the open, for now he knew that all forms of life serve his beliefs. Pert danced around the room for a moment, garnering himself some strange glances. He was laughing quietly now, soon people would start to think he had gone crazy, but he didn't care, besides, if this was to be his last appearance in public, he was going to make it memorable. He spread his arms and walked briskly back to his place in the center of the Hall, he spun around and smiled jovially.

"But my lecture is not finished my good friends!" Pert said happily, he wasn?t in a rush to get this over with, fully understanding the true meaning of his beliefs now.

"I have this last thing to say to you before I take my leave, and forever rid you of my heresy, and madness. I hope you listen well to what I have to say next, for it is what may change your lives forever. I know it certainly changed mine." Pert paused for a moment so that the Halls attention could refocus on him. When he felt their attentive gaze he nodded and continued with his lecture. ?In my studies I have come across a group of people that were banished from the Jedi Order for their ideals. I'm sure most of you think I am referring to the Dark Jedi who found the Ancient Sith, but I am referring to another group. A group that believed in a view of the Force that has rung true in my ears. When I first heard its beliefs, I thought that it was something to look into, from a scholarly view, rather than from a view of someone that wished to follow it. But the more I studied it, the more I realized that we all, unconsciously adhere to its laws.

"The view of the Potentium states that there is no dark or light, there is only the Force. It states that the Force is inherently good, and that those who use it for purely evil intentions, and don?t wish to benefit from studying the Force to its full extent are not using the true Force, but rather a twisted perversion of it. I'm sure that some of you now are wondering where the crazy ideals of this belief came along, and I'm sure your wondering what my point is in bringing this subject up. And I can assure you that I am getting to my point, but I wanted to state the Potentium's beliefs before going into my final point, just so you could all understand what I mean when I speak. So, my brothers and sisters, are you ready to hear my final point? My closing statement? I figured as much. I will no longer burden you with guesses and questions; instead I shall state my point and state it with vehemence.

"The Jedi believe in bringing peace and order to the galaxy, they believe in justice and serenity, serving the good, being selfless and making sacrifices of themselves to benefit all around them. They believe in serving the will of the Force, and using the Force as a guide, a teacher of sorts. The Jedi believe in the virtues of peace and serenity and they do what, in their mind, is in the best interest of all, serving as mediators and lawyers in times of dispute. They caution those who are falling to Darkness and, either, keep them at bay or try and turn the fallen back towards the light. The Jedi, in the view of the galaxy, and the view of the Sith, are the goody-goodies, the ones who cast judgment to help others in their righteous cause. Why do I bring the Jedi up you ask? Well, if you had listened closely to my previous statements you would have heard how much I had advocated their pursuit of 'good', and their pursuit of peace and harmony not by means of force or trickery, but by gaining trust. They serve the beliefs of the Potentium; in fact, they are the models for what a follower of the Potentium should be. However, the Jedi believe in their beliefs too much, not wanting to understand the Force as a whole, but rather as the way that they believe would be the safest for them, the way that wouldn't change their age old beliefs. The Jedi are very basic in their thoughts, their mind and their whole philosophy can be described with one simple sentence: 'Jedi good, Sith bad, Jedi need kill Sith.'

"It is the Jedi that mold to the theory of the Potentium and make its core beliefs. There is no light or dark, just the Force, and the Force is inherently good, as I have plainly stated before. The Potentium tells us to study the Force to its limits, and find out all its secrets. Something the Sith choose for us not to do either. They want us to study the Dark Side of the Force more than anything; they wish for us to just look at our own philosophy rather than expand it and stretch its limits. But even in the Order of the Sith, we do find hints of good, from a certain point of view, of course. The views of the Jedi and the Sith are not so different, when you stop to think about them. We both want peace and order in the galaxy, it's our methods that differ. We, as Sith, believe that the weak should serve under us, and the strong should rule, that is the way to bring order to the galaxy is it not? Well, none of us wants to serve, we all wish to be the ones on top, the strong! So we seek to better ourselves, kill the weak and make ourselves stronger! That's the way we as Sith work! But, we go through this ideal system, believing that by making ourselves stronger we are in fact doing good for the galaxy. Killing the weak, or making them serve us, we believe we are making the galaxy a better place. Through our selfishness and our own thoughts we are doing good, from a certain point of view. We are living up to the beliefs of the Potentium, but not all of the beliefs. Like the Jedi, we don't want to explore the Force to its very last potential; we don't want to discover all the mysteries and secrets it hides.

"It is with that in mind that I state both the Jedi and the Sith act in good, but their views of good are changed. How does this make sense? How is it relevant? Just remember the beliefs of the Potentium every time you do something to better yourself, to do good for yourself, you are still doing good. It is with this point that I ask us all to change our Order from Sith to Potentium ? for there is no difference in what we do. As long as the reason for the action is good, the outcome will be beneficial, that is the way of the Potentium. Now that I have made my point clear, I shall leave you now. You shall no longer have to see Lord Pert ever again, farewell my friends. Please, take what advice I gave you today and use it well." Lord Pert bowed before the Hall and turned to leave, a happy strut in his step.

As he exited the hall he walked outside and shivered. He looked down and noticed the red blade peering from his stomach. Pert smiled and muttered,"And so this is how it ends for me .. and so my philosophy dies ..." Pert fell to the ground and died in peace, as the person who had stabbed him walked briskly away from the scene.