Benthamic

Waglington (later Benthamic), honored by the Sith Emperor as Magehunter and hailed as a Dark Lord of the Sith was a descendant of the ancient warlord Darth Vigor and a Sith Champion during the Galactic War, serving the Empire practically since birth. Since beginning his path to Sithhood, he has ascended to the rank of Darth and cemented himself as both a heroic and villainous veteran of the War. Born a runt to a vile Chiss family on the Sith garrison planet of Thule, Waglington learned quickly to compensate for his smallness by tapping into the unlimited power of the Force, namely its Dark Side. During his time as a Sith Lord, he served in countless Imperial orders, including the Grand Imperial Order, House Archaea, and currently Draconian Empire.

Personality and Traits
Despite being a Sith, Waglington, when caught in a battle, would usually seek a pragmatic approach before attacking his foes outright. He was not a merciful man, however, and when given a mission he would fulfill it to the word. Aside from assassination and open combat, he was not opposed to using seduction and guile to get what he wanted, being a true rogue at heart.

Unlike most Sith of his era, he preferred not to handicap himself with heavy cybernetic armor and implants, instead sporting a modest cloak and usually going barefoot, even in extreme environments. He justified this by saying that it was all in an effort to get more in touch with the Force as a whole. He occasionally donned a stolen pilot's helmet which he had been in possession of for many years, using it even as a child to hide his identity. As he evolved and took on the name Benthamic, he adopted a new set of armor which much closer resembled other Sith of his time.

He greatly respected his superiors and fellow Sith at all times, sometimes even approaching hostile Jedi Knights amiably to throw them off. He constantly commended his peers for their valiant efforts, though when one had come up short, he did not hesitate to make their failings vocal.

Skills and Abilities
Having been raised as the smallest child among five older brothers, Waglington was a natural master at guile and stealth. These traits would be his primary advantages in battle until his graduation from the Sith Academy on Korriban, where he was trained to be a ruthless lightsaber duelist and an adept at combative Force uses. He took an immediate liking to dual-wielding once it was introduced to him by his master, Darth Arctis. In combat, he wields one curved hilt lightsaber and one standard hilt, both fitted with cyan color crystals. It is unknown why he chose this color as opposed to the standard red, though some speculate it was in an attempt to confuse Jedi combatants or just for the sake of individuality among his fellows.

His combat style was both elegant and wild, drawing inspiration from almost all different lightsaber forms, namely Makashi, Shii-Cho, and Ataru. He constantly used his enemy's attacks against them, turning their savage blows into devastating counterattacks and exploiting their defensiveness by leaping overhead and slicing into their backs. He excelled at both single duels and open combat, though when outnumbered he ran the risk of being overwhelmed, unable to compensate for his disadvantages due to his relatively little muscle power. He was known for being incredibly adaptive however, acclamating to any challenge that faced him and even adopting different lightsaber forms when necessary.

He usually preferred to keep most of his rage bottled up inside of him and to exploit the emotions of his foes, turning several fully trained Jedi Knights to the Dark Side with only devillishly charismatic verbal assaults and without lifting a finger on multiple occasions. If he could not prevent an outright battle, he would often verbally and mentally pester his enemies to the point of total rage in an attempt to offbalance them. He was extremely confident in his ability to sway the mind of any foe, sometimes to the point of pure arrogance. For Waglington's enemies, words were often just as lethal as the sting of his lightsaber.

The Force was a weapon he constantly used to his advantage. Not much of a Sorcerer or Alchemist, he preferred a more straightforward approach; using Force Valor to dash around at superhuman speeds, telekinesis to uproot trees and use them as cover, and Force Lightning to fry groups of enemies. One of his favorite techniques was the Force Blast, which was in essence the power to harness pure Dark Side energy as a ranged attack. He was primarily a duelist though, using the Force as little more than a tool to ensure his victory by means of swordplay. However, when the situation called for it, he was adept at foresight and demonstrates superb mental strength and willpower.

Companions

 * Yuun - Gand Male; Heals (Primary)
 * Senya Tirall - Human Female; Tank
 * HK-51 - Droid; DPS
 * Lana Beniko - Human Female; Heals
 * Major Pierce - Human Male; Tank



Above: Benthamic (formerly Waglington) and Yuun some time during the Fallen Empire era.

An Aspiring Young Sith
At a young age, Waglington learned to outwit his older brothers on Thule by tricking them into fighting each other, and, when necessary, using his superior speed and agility to his advanage to smash windpipes and crack bones with ease. After being forced out of his own home by his parents, he quickly adopted the life of a street thug, pickpocketing unsuspecting Sith Lords as they passed by without ever being detected.

Over time, Waglington nurtured his ability to be both charming and roguish. His ability to conceal himself with the Force (a concept he did not fully understand at the time) eventually led to his discovery by a powerful Sith Lord, thus beginning his lifelong servitude to the Empire.

It was his natural identity as a roguelike and promiscuous thief in the shadows that earned him the moniker of Waglington, deriving from waggish, a term many local Thule officials used to describe the masked bandit that had been running rampant in the planet's most populous cities with the authorities never managing to catch up with him. Waglington found great amusement in the alias and adopted it as his own name, using it exclusively from there on out, even as a Dark Lord of the Sith.

During his reluctant stay at the Korriban Academy, Waglington excelled at the fine arts of lightsaber combat. Though initially starting at the very bottom of the acolyte food chain, he quickly asserted himself as one of the greatest students in the academy, demanding both respect and fear from all of his fellows. With his skills of guile and charisma, Waglington soon gained the undying support of over half the Academy's students while his rival, Cenum, a Sith Pureblood, controlled the over half.

The two factions engaged in open war with each other for several months behind the backs of the Overseers of the Academy, all of whom were none the wiser. When the time came for the deciding battle in the acolyte war, Waglington showed up in the tombs completely alone while Cenum arrived with five of his elite "honor guard." As it happened, Wag had purposefully instructed his followers to stay behind and allow him to finish Cenum and his goons off by his lonesome.

Armed with only a training saber and his raw power in the Dark Side, Waglington slew all six of them, particularly savoring the slow and agonizing death of his then archenemy. He returned from the Tomb of Marka Ragnos a hero, and was even praised by some of the top Overseers at the Academy, all of them awed by his handiwork. Within days, several Dark Council members had their eye on Waglington, an aspiring acolyte who had proven himself to be one of the greatest in the century.

An Acolyte No More
Eventually, it was the Dark Councilor Darth Arctis of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge that claimed Waglington as his apprentice, to the dismay of dozens of other highly respected Sith Lords. A fellow dark-skinned Chiss from the planet Thule, Darth Arctis was the most obvious choice, and for that, Waglington gladly accepted his offer, ecstatic to sunder the chains of the Academy and ascend to full Sithood.

During his time as Arctis' apprentice, the two Sith traveled across the Galaxy in search of countless lost artifacts, eventually stumbling across an ancient mystery involving the famed Muur Talisman. A Sith jewel enchanted with great dark power, it had been sought after by both Jedi and Sith for centuries after its disappearance centuries earlier during the reign of Naga Sadow. Arctis concluded that the Force simply desired that the Talisman not be found; that is, until the master-apprentice duo stumbed across a so called "Star Map," on Hoth that depicted the hyperspace travel routes of the Sith Lord Karness Muur, the Talisman's original owner.

Arctis and Waglington followed the map for years, traveling far and wide from the Deep Core near the treacherous Galactic Center to the uncharted void of Wild Space. The duo discovered hints of Muur's travels in dozens of planets, some more apparent than others. On numerous occasions, the duo's plans were foiled by the insufferable Jedi Master Nomen Karr, a Jedi who sought to find the Talisman and present it to the Jedi Council for evaluation.

Engaging in countless illegal skirmishes across the Galaxy in a time of exceedingly fragile peace, Arctis and Waglington both nearly started the second Galactic War on numerous occasions during their feud with Karr and the rest of the Jedi Council. They avoided permanent damage, but their exploits put them on high alert with the rest of the Dark Council, prompting Arctis' reputation to be endangered.

In a last ditch effort to find the Muur Talisman, Arctis and Waglington traveled to Taris, the last known destination of the Sith Lord Karness. Putting his skills in the Force to a test, Arctis instructed Waglington to use all of his power to pinpoint the exact location of their lost artifact. After several hours of meditation, Waglington received a rough vision of the talisman's location, deep within the murky swamps of the ruined planet.

Arctis and Waglington led an Imperial excavation team to the heart of unexplored Taris land, digging up a massive trench over the span of several days in an attempt to find the talisman. Just before pulling out, the Muur Talisman revealed itself in the cursed dirt, prompting Arctis to quickly grab it and examine its power.

Instantly, the indigenous Rakghouls around the area began to fall into a trance-like state, following every one of Arctis' mental orders without question. By the time Nomen Karr and his Republic strike team caught wind of the excavation and made their way to the Imperial encampment, Arctis had gone mad with his newfound power, now commanding an army of fanatic Rakghoul mind slaves. Terrified, Karr and his team attempted to flee in vain. The Jedi Master watched as Arctis transmuted his strike team one by one into horrifying Rakghoul mutants, hungry for human blood. Karr escaped back to Coruscant, but only barely.

Waglington was both fascinated and terrified with his master's newfound power, fearing that it could one day become harmful. Indeed, before Arctis could return to Imperial Base Camp on Taris, he had fallen deathly ill to an undiscovered illness dubbed "The Rakghoul Plague." Within days, the Plague had spread throughout the various Imperial encampments and eventually wormed its way into Republic territory. Shuttles desperately attempted to flee the planet; those who succeeded only brought the sickness back with them to their homes. A Rakghoul Plague epidemic had been thrust into motion, only the richest nobles being able to afford preventative vaccination.

Arctis died a power crazed Rakghoul-Chiss hybrid monster, leaving his apprentice the only thing left to his name - the Muur Talisman. Not seeking to follow in his master's footsteps, Waglington hid the talisman thousands of miles away from the nearest sentient settlement on Taris, sealing it under a thousand feet of molten rock. The talisman wouldn't be discovered again for thousands of years, long after his death, but the Rakghoul Plague continued to ravage the Galaxy over the years, sending both the Republic and the Empire into disarray.

Powerplay
With the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge now vacant, the Dark Council was eager to find a suitable replacement for Darth Arctis. With the passing of his master, the Sith Emperor's Hand deemed Waglington worthy to be promoted to the rank of Sith Lord, thereby permanently freeing him from the chains of any future Sith masters. With a rigorous contest between dozens of Sith Lords now in place to assume control over the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge, Waglington was quick to stake his claim as well.

While his powerbase within the Empire was growing and he had many Sith allies now in place, many Dark Council members and various Sith Lords opposed Waglington's promotion, citing the ideal that only Darths should be able to ascend to a seat on the Council. His most vocal rival was Darth Thanaton, a longtime rival of Darth Arctis and a fellow contestant in the race for power.

After weeks of deliberation, it was decided that Darth Thanaton was the most suitable replacement for Arctis. Out of respect, Thanaton offered to make Waglington his apprentice, noting his undeniable power in the Dark Side; however, it was not to be, as while he still had the option to take on a master, the newest Sith Lord in the Empire's arsenal elected to instead take the Sith Emperor's executive offer to be stationed wherever he pleased. It was a rare honor bestowed only to the Emperor's most promising aspiring Lords, and one not taken lightly. From then on, Thanaton sought to sabotage Waglington's exploits across the Galaxy; he justified it as revenge, though in truth he was extremely bitter to have missed out on one of the greatest potential apprentices in the Empire.

The Sith Lord
Waglington spent the next two years as a freelance Sith Lord. His first act was to seek out and destroy Nomen Karr's system of apprentices, seeking revenge for the years of meddling with he and his master's plans. Sure enough, Waglington quickly tracked Karr down to planet Hutta. Unbeknownst to the Sith Lord, another Imperial by the name of Darth Baras had also arrived on Hutta to destroy the Jedi mere hours earlier.

The two sensed their shared purpose on the world and sought each other out, quickly establishing a temporary alliance and dedicating both of their powerbases to locating Karr. As it happened, Baras had spent decades building an intricate network of spies, infiltrating the inner workings of both the Republic and the Empire. Karr spent years attempting to bring Baras' schemes to light before the Jedi Council, though he never gained enough evidence to solidly incriminate him.

Just like Waglington, Baras tracked Karr to Hutta to silence him permanently. With both of them backed by a squadron of Sith agents, they tracked Karr's location within a matter of days with the combined power of Force tracing and intelligence. The two of them traveled to a small structure built into the side of a mountain several miles from Jiguuna, finding not only their Jedi target but also an ambush party of several Havoc Squad troopers.

Karr intentionally left his trace for both Baras and Wagington, hoping to lead them here and eliminate both of his rivals at once. After a difficult skirmish, the two Sith defeated the Havoc Squad troopers and were left to address the Jedi himself. Their blades locked together and Baras was almost instanty disarmed and incapacitated, allowing Karr to steal his lightsaber and stow it away.

With Waglington left to address the Jedi on his own, he elected to combine both defensive and offensive tactics and adopted the Makashi form to deal with his opponent. The duel dragged on for ten minutes with neither side gaining an advantage; Waglington's steel defense endured while Karr gradually became more angry as time passed, inching closer to the Dark Side with every blocked strike.

The Sith began to verbally attack the Jedi, hoping to exploit his obvious rage and use it to imbalance him. Sure enough, the Jedi began to fully embrace his emotions, causing him to wildly throw himself at Waglington. Though he was now unbalanced, he was a force to be reckoned with, sparing Waglington no moments of rest. As it became apparent that Havoc reinforcements were on their way, Waglington revived Baras and the two of them evacuated from Hutta with their Sith allies. Wag's feud with Karr ended there, but Baras would dedicate the remainder of his life to eradicating the Jedi once and for all.



Above: Waglington some time before joining the GIO.

The Grand Imperial Order
Several months after his skirmish with Nomen Karr, Waglington was contacted by an obscure ally by the name of Darth Jagger. Jagger too was a former partner of Darth Baras, though he grew to dislike his reckless zeal over time and abdicated his position. The two met on the Imperial Fleet, and after a few moments of conversation, Jagger invited Waglington into the "Grand Imperial Order." Currently without an Imperial subgroup to call home, Waglington obliged.

Jagger brought Waglington the the Order's home on Kaas City and quickly introduced him to its ruling council, the so-called Elders. Waglington quickly gathered that there four primary figures in power: the three brothers Aqueron, Morderis, and Dieta, and a mysterious Emperor by the name of Kwagar. He also learned that there was a clear dissent in the ranks; for the past few weeks, Kwagar had been severely neglecting to lead the Order, and the three brothers had nothing but criticism for him.

Waglington ascended through the ranks of the Order quickly. Though he wouldn't meet Kwagar for months, one brother would soon grow to question Wag's methods. Morderis, like him, was an experienced Sith Marauder, perhaps even more skilled in the art of dueling. Morderis made note of Waglington's sarcastic and conniving nature, and thus sought to inhibit his ascension for several months.

The two would feud to no end until they were both forced to turn their attentions to a myserious new member of the order by the name of Paarthur. A witch garbed in a red cloak who claimed she was the last "Nightsister," Paarthur impresed all the senior members of the Order and took a particular interest in Waglington above all others. She eventually convinced him to join her in a ritual of "self-discovery," in which a host of possible hidden powers may be revealed.

Waglington discovered that night his natural affinity with the dead. Apparitions came to him one-by-one, whispering to him strange secrets of the Dark Side and the deeper nature of his power. Fascinated, Paarther revealed her true intentions to Waglington. Several years ago, she had sensed a presence in the outer reaches of the Galaxy; an ancient dark spirit rapidly growing in power who, if left unchecked, could drastically alter the future of both the Empire and the Republic.

For several weeks, Waglington attempted to use his power to communicate with the spirit. Alongside Paarthur, Waglington revealed the nature of their recent studies to the Order. Cautious but curious, they allowed them to continue their endeavours - eventually, they were involved in the game-changing ritual in which the identity of the spirit was revealed to them.

The entity revealed itself to the the Son, the supposed physical manifestation of the Dark Side. Intrigued by Wag's unorthodox powers, the entity expressed its interest in seizing control of his body to use as his new host. Waglington was able to drive the Son out of his immediate consciousness with the help of the three brothers and Paarthur, though the entity's spirit still remained in the deepest depths of his mind, slowly growing in strength and power like a spiritual plague. If not expelled from his body, the Son could very well permanently claim Waglington.

Paarthur was quick to pose a possible solution. She explained that there was an abandoned spire in the frozen wastes of Hoth constructed thousands of years ago by an ancient race of Force-wielders. If her suspicions were correct, the spire served as a place of spiritual healing and cleansing of the mind. Seeing no other options, she and Wag traveled to Hoth, accompanied by Aqueron, Morderis, and Dieta "just in case."

The five of them climbed to the top of the spire and began the ritual. It was clear the Son wouldn't give up without a fight; the dark entity immediately awoke within Wag's mind and seized control of the vessel. Waglington, possessed by the Son, lashed out at the group before him.

Waglington stuck down Paarthur with ease, then quickly disabled Morderis. Dieta posed a more lengthy threat, though not even his mastery of the Dualsaber could protect him from Waglington's onslaught and he was promptly disarmed and brought to his knees. Aqueron rushed to his brother's aid, just barely saving him from a killing blow.

The two last standing combatants fought viciously, but even in his rage, Waglington could not overwhelm Aqueron's steadfast defense. He was drained to the point of opening himself up to being disarmed, an opportunity Aqueron immediately took. Weaponless and quickly losing power, Waglington put up one last stand against his attackers, though the rejuvenated Dieta unleashed a wave of Force power that pushed him over the edge of the spire and into the snow below.

The four of them rushed back down the surface and found the miraculously living Waglington. It seemed the dark spirit had been vanquished, though at a great cost: his memories has been completely wiped.

Waglington was accepted back into the Order and was retrained by Morderis. To Wag's frustration, none of the members of the Order, not even Paarthur, would tell him exactly who he was or how he lost his memory. Despite this, Waglington still possessed his innate Force capabilities, and in time his powers perfectly mirrored that of his old self's.

Paarthur was the most distant of them all, constantly evading his attempts to probe her for details of his past. Eventually, she disappeared completely. With her gone and none of the others willing to say a word about who he really was, his future seemed grim.

In time, Aqueron expressed his interest in permanently removing Kwagar from leadership, overwhelmingly tired of his inactvity. Aqueron, trusting Waglington's skills, included him in his schemes along with his two brothers. Preparing for a great secession for several weeks, the four of them, backed by approximately half of the entire Order, confronted Kwagar in his Dromund Kaas throne room.

Kwagar seized the initial advantage, unleashing all of his power at once to blast his opponents away. However, it was clear his months of inactivity had dulled his skills. He had expended all of his energy in a single attack and was now utterly defenseless. Rather than submitting to defeat, Kwagar threw himself out of the window, plummeting to the depths of the city below. His body was never found.

With Kwagar out of the picture, Aqueron seized control of the Order, encouraging the others to either join the fold or leave. With the new Order established, Aqueron elevated Waglington to the rank of Elder, recognizing that he was not only a great warrior, but deeply cared for his allies despite his ignorance of what they had truly done.

Waglington spent many months scouring the Galaxy for hidden artifacts of Dark Side power as an Elder of the Order, but instead of discovering new power, he began to receive strange visions of another life. He concluded that remnants of his past were now returning to him in scattered bits and pieces. After many days of meditation, he had fully unlocked the secrets of his past and was now sorely aware of the dishonor his fellows had commited.

No longer seeing his fellow Elders as trusted friends but as deceitful vipers, Waglington left the Order in search of answers. With his powers effectively doubled after experiencing two lives, he was confident he'd be able to find what he was looking for. To usher in a new era of his life, he rechristened himself as Darth Benthamic and set about unlocking the full extent of his power.



Above: The reinvented Darth Benthamic the Loathsome.

The Rise of Benthamic
Coming quite shortly...