Crown of Slaves is a Star Wars: The Old Republic fanfiction by A Stand Up Philosopher.
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'.
Can be read in Archive of Our Own (here
) and FanFiction.Net (here
).
Beware of Spoilers!
Crown of Slaves 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.
- Later on, in Chapter Eleven, Lord Luwian reinforces that fact when he reflects, with an inner monologue, on the fact that she had always been a warrior, including such feats as commanding a warship during the re-capture of Korriban, participating in the ground conflict during the attack on Alderaan, and personally fighting the Jedi on the battlefield.
- Action Girl:
- Asmu-Nikal herself, of course, by dint of being a Sith Apprentice fresh from Korriban when she is introduced to the story.
- Vestara certainly qualifies by the time she's reached the Academy itself, having to kill several people just to get into the building itself
- Vette, as in canon, quickly proves herself capable when she helps Vestara kill a terentatek, though it's acknowledged in-story that her blaster pistols didn't really do much in the way of damage despite her impressive marksmanship. Likewise, her distraction of The Sith Warrior allows Vestara to gain the advantage and kill him.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Vestara certainly qualifies. While the Sith Inquisitor is hardly a pushover, by the time Vestara reaches Korriban, she is already trained in the basic of both Sorcery and Swordsmanship, and master the ritual of Force-Walking, something that wouldn't be happening for well over a year to come in canon.
- Though far from a talented fighter, and quite happy to become Vestara's lover and bedwarmer and give up the entire 'Sith Acolyte' attempt, Kory is able to survive several months in the Academy, and several trials, without dying, and often without Vestara's help.
- 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". By the time Vestara goes to Korriban, she almost exclusively uses 'Nicky' to refer to her lover, only using Asmu-Nikal in more formal, public settings.
- Kory has taken to calling Vestara 'Ves', when she isn't using Mistress or some other variation of submission-induced title.
- Apologetic Attacker: Vestara is forced to kill her way through a slave rebellion on Korriban to reach her next trial, something that she is quite unhappy with, and she goes out of her way to try and avoid fighting the rebels, kills them as quickly and painlessly as possible when she can't, and apologizes out loud to at least one of them before snapping the slave's neck.
- Ascended Extra:
- Kory most certainly qualifies, as she is killed by the second or third quest in the Sith Sorcerer questline, something that can be reached within the first twenty minutes of gameplay. Instead, she is alive and well weeks after the fact, and -should Vestara manage to continue to keep her alive- well on her way to becoming quite visible in the story.
- Badass Bookworm:
- Asmu-Nikal certainly qualifies, as she is shown to have an entire private library, one that includes texts of her own creation on the Force, both in relation to wielding it and more philosophical contemplations on its nature.
- Vestara, likewise, is certainly shaping up to be one. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, since the Sith Inquisitor's story is rather heavily based off of the concept of being a badass bookworm to begin with.
- 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.
- Being Tortured Makes You Evil:
- Firmly averted with Vestara. Despite everything that has been done to her at the hands of the Sith and the Empire as a whole, she is firmly dedicated to maintaining as much of a soul as she can, killing when necessary and doing so efficient. Indeed, upon realizing that the Sith Warrior was a sadist that drags out his fights simply to inflict more pain and suffering on his enemies, she immediately resolved to kill him for the sake of his canonical companions and the Empire itself.
- 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'.
- Darth Marr, certainly, with the same caveats as Kallig himself. He is slow to judgement and considers situations carefully, quick to chastise his apprentice Corilla, the future Darth Lachris, when she immediately leaps to the conclusion that a group of soldiers have betrayed them. Likewise, he holds considerable disdain for Sith that waste the lives of their troops for little or no gain, viewing them as damaging the Empire and it's safety.
- Zash plays the part of being one, and arguably is actually benevolent, though her benevolence mostly stems from the fact that keeping Vestara alive and intact so that she can steal her body via Grand Theft Me as opposed to any sort of genuine and inherent goodness.
- Blood from Every Orifice: First used in desperation to survive Spindrall's trial, then again to gain the advantage in a duel against the leader of a slave rebellion, Vestara has developed a banshee-like scream ability that causes it's targets to become highly disoriented and bleed from the nose, eyes, and ears.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Though it happened off-screen, the disembodied ghost of Aloysius Kallig slaughtered Lord Luwian and a significant number of his soldiers and guards without much effort or difficulty, not least because defending oneself from a spirit is far from easy.
- Dead Person Conversation:
- This happens regularly, much as it does in the Sith Inquisitor storyline. However, it happens even earlier and more frequently here, as Vestara has the spirit of Kallig, her ancestor, bound to her before she even goes to Korriban. And he isn't shy about providing advice, critique, or commentary when he deems it appropriate.
- 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. By the time the chapter count is in the 20s, Vette and a certain Republic Commando named Fay Shan are equally interested.
- 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.
- Female Gaze:
- Given most of the central characters, and those that they're having sex with or admiring, are female -Vestara's extra bits not withstanding-, the female gaze is the order of the day for most non-combat (and some combat) scenes.
- 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: Vestara confirms that this is exactly what Zash intends to do to her when revealing a partial truth about her secrets (stating she can see the future, which is true from a certain point of view), after both Kela and Asmu-Nikal correctly guess this is the goal of Vestara's future master.
- 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.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The fate of House Kallig, as in canon. They went from being one of the most prominent and powerful houses in the Empire, with their patriarch the strong right hand of the Empire's ruler himself, to having been slaves for several generations by the time frame of the story. Fortunately, Vestara isn't inclined to let things stay in such a way, and neither is the ghost of her ancestor.
- 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.
- Luke, You Are My Father: Played With. Vestara fully intended to reveal to Lord Kallig that she was his descendant once she was able to reach the Dark Temple on Dromuund Kaas. However, he was able to sense the presence of a member of his family, investigated, found her, and had someone retrieve her before she could, resulting in something of a mutual reveal of familial connections
- 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.
- After Vestara saves her from her canon fate on Korriban, Kory has happily submitted to Vestara and given up all attempts to become a Sith, content with simply being loved and protected and having copious amounts of sex with Vestara. And, later on, waxing eloquent about Vestara's virtues and prowess in an effort to recruit others into her mistress' bed and collars.
- 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.
- Zash's real name is revealed to by Lycia Tyrann, itself a Shout-Out.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Lord Kallig, upon arrival to the Estate of House Luwian alongside Asmu-Nikal, Kela, Vestara, Darth Marr, and the future Darth Lachris, issues one of these to close chapter eleven, with Lord Luwian as the target. "'You consider yourself a scientist, is that not so? Testing the boundaries of what can be endured before one expires. Well then. Let us conduct an experiment together, you and I."'
- 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.
- Zash's real name is Lycia Tyrann, a reference to Lycia Spodune of Tales of Hearts and Tyrann from Nier, both of whom also pull Grand Theft Me in their respective stories.
- 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.
- Much like Kela, Kory was more than happy to describe, in exquisite detail, what she and Vestara got up to, with a (literally) captive audience of Vette and Fay Shan.
