Crown of Slaves is a Star Wars: The Old Republic fanfiction by Historical Hijinks, author of Seraphim, Herald, Because of the War, Dawn Is Just a Heartbeat Away,and Nothing Is True.
Official Summary:
There had always been so many things I loved about the story of the Sith Inquisitor. The cleverness, the biting sarcasm, the triumphant story of rising from slave to Dark Councilor in a handful of years, of ritualized Sith Sorcery and, of course, of massive lightning storms. I had always imagined that, should I wake up one day in the world of Star Wars, I would be my favorite character in my favorite universe.
Then I awoke, strapped to a table, a slave being tortured and twisted, body and soul, for the amusement and 'advancement' of my owner. I realized that the world I had seen had only been a fraction of it, only the parts that wouldn't fall afoul of Ratings and censorship laws. And I realized that the path to glory was not so easy as a game made it seem.
Fine then. I have the advantage of foresight and a touch of Destiny. If I must become 'evil' to gain my freedom and to free the galaxy from its vicious cycle, let me be 'evil'.
Or
A massive Star Wars nerd ends up in the world of SWTOR pre-game as a slave and realizes that games really undersell things.
This work contains examples of:
- Action Mom: Nikal-Mati, Lady Luwian, used to be one. She was one of the Sith involved in putting down a slave revolt, which is how Kela came to be Asmu-Nikal's personal slave. Finding a baby Kela after killing her parents, Nikal-Mati took her home and had her raised alongside Asmu-Nikal.
- Action Girl: Asmu-Nikal herself, of course, by dint of being a Sith Apprentice fresh from Korriban when she is introduced to the story.
- Affectionate Nickname: Although she hasn't used it too many times yet, Vestara has dubbed Asmu-Nikal "Nicky", both to tease her and because it's far easier to say in casual conversation than "Asmu-Nikal".
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Vestara and Asmu-Nikal. They are constantly verbally sparring with one another, and both find the other to be highly attractive, but they've never done anything sexual directly with one another.
- Benevolent Boss:
- For a given value of Benevolent, Aloysius Kallig seems to qualify in both life and death. When the Force Storms caused by the opening of the Dark Temple became too dangerous for the Imperials, lesser Sith, and slaves to be outside, he ordered them all brought into the Temple itself, with the guards at the front door only be outside for an hour at a time.
- Asmu-Nikal certainly qualifies, though it is noted in universe that she is different from the majority of Sith.
- Not just for Kela, either, which could be expected given they have been together almost literally since their births. Vestara acknowledges several times that most Sith would have killed her, sold her, or at least tortured her if she treated them the way she treats 'Nicky'.
- Even the Girls Want Her:
- Vestara, thanks both to her exotic looks and her extra genitalia, is quite popular with her fellow slaves, and even has the interest of her owner. Come Chapter Six, even Lana Beniko seems to be interested in her.
- Asmu-Nikal, a Sith Pureblood, is as beautiful as she is deadly, aware of it, and proud of it. In fact, she seems to take a great deal of pleasure by being wanted by whomever possible.
- Four-Star Badass:
- Lord Aloysious Kallig, Grand Marshall of the Armies of the Most Holy Empire of the Sith, Right Hand of Tulak Hord. A man so influential and powerful his own best friend and Lord (himself a rather impressive fellow)had him assassinated.
- Tulak Hord, Lord of Hate, Master of the Gathering Darkness, Dark Lord of the Sith. The man who laid waste to an army led by one-thousand Jedi at the battles of Yn and Chabosh, and had sufficient power to drag a battleship the size of the Endar Spire out of the sky, causing it to crash.
- Darth Marr, Dark Lord of the Sith, Councilor of the Sphere of Defense of the Empire, The Empire's Stalwart Shield, The Iron-Clad, 'and numerous other epithets'. A perfect example, given his tendency to lead from the front and act as a highly Reasonable Authority Figure by Imperial standards.
- Grand Theft Me:
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- Asmu-Nikal really, really doesn't appreciate people trying to poach Vestara from her, regardless of their rank or sex.
- She's even less happy when it's Lana, her childhood rival, trying to do it.
- Asmu-Nikal really, really doesn't appreciate people trying to poach Vestara from her, regardless of their rank or sex.
- Internal Reveal:
- Vestara reveals her knowledge of the future, including the fate of several people, when Asmu-Nikal finally leaves her no option but to reveal some of her secrets. Though the most important one, that Vestara is actually someone from our world thrown into the game, is still unspoken
- Made a Slave:
- Vestara, the main character, is a human from the "real world" that died, and wakes up a slave and experiment in the Sith Empire.
- In Chapter Six, Asmu-Nikal's brother Tudhaliya gets himself killed and a group of his friends mentally broken and enslaved by Lord Kallig when they break into the Dark Temple.
- Zash attempts to purchase Vestara from Asmu-Nikal, which precipitates Vestara having to reveal the truth to Nicky and Kela.
- Meaningful Rename:
- The Main Character named themselves Vestara Khai, after the future girlfriend of Ben Skywalker, who herself was a Sith that struggled between being a Sith and doing the right thing frequently.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- Darth Marr's birth, non-Sith name is Koret Solusar.
- The birth name of Darth Lachris is revealed to be Corilla Hamner.
- Psychic Powers: Any of the characters capable of wielding The Force, naturally, which includes the entire Luwian Household and Vestara herself.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Marr, when it comes to 'authority figures' in the Empire, is incredibly reasonable. He disapproves of cowardice, but even more severely disapproves of leaders that waste their troops and resources out of pride or foolishness. He is also quick to chastise his apprentice, the future Darth Lachris, for leaping to conclusions about their subordinates' behavior.
- Shout-Out:
- Lord Luwian (unknowingly) quotes Quintus Arius from Ben-Hur (1959) when addressing Vestara: "Your eyes are full of hate, Forty-One."
- The entire Luwian family is named, and somewhat based on culturally, various members of the Hittite Empire's royal family. The Luwians themselves were a cultural group that was competitive with, allied with, or intermingled with the Hittites and Hurrians, the two other major groups in the Anatolian region. The entire family is named after King Suppiluliuma I's(a very famous and power Hittite warrior-king)grandparent and great-grandparent generations. Asmu-Nikal was his grandmother, whose siblings were in fact Asmi-Sarruma and Tudalhiya II, and Asmu-Nikal's mother was named Nikal-mati. Indeed, the only name changed was that of her father, which in history was also Tudhaliya (I, as opposed to II), but in the story is actually named for her historical husband, Arnuwanda. This was to reduce confusion by having two Tudhaliya's at the same time.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat:
- Vestara and Asmu-Nikal, essentially every moment of every time they are in the same room as one another.
- Asmu-Nikal and Lana Beniko have a long-running and rather vitriolic social rivalry with one another, and little in the way of hesitation when it comes to expressing it to one another.
- The Tease: Multiple characters:
- Vestara unapologetically flirts with Kela and Asmu-Nikal both, taking special delight in tweaking Asmu-Nikal's proverbial nose.
- Asmu-Nikal, herself, deliberately makes things as 'hard' for Vestara as possible, not only by having the slave help dress her, but by performing nude yoga and forcing her to watch it at close range without anything blocking her view. In Chapter Six, she teases Lana Beniko with Vestara's beauty and large penis as her weapon of choice.
- While not a tease so much as libidinous, Kela has no qualms about climbing into bed with Vestara and telling their mutual owner all about it.
