Thoriel Silbus

Thoriel Silbus was a 🇪🇺 minor 🇪🇺 living during the time of the and its aftermath.

Earlier life
Prior to his time as a Sith, Thoriel Silbus was a Doctor of at Trans-Sectorial University on, where he taught for many years. His career came to an abrupt end during the, when Dagary Minor was invaded and conquered by the forces of ; the university itself was destroyed in the course of the battle. Grief-stricken and hopeless, the professor allowed his family to believe he was dead and turned himself in to the occupying Sith forces, who threw him in a concentration camp. Unexpectedly, Silbus was eventually rescued by one of Malak's 🇪🇺, who sensed the Nautolan's 🇪🇺 🇪🇺. When offered the opportunity to join the Sith Order, Silbus was sent to the on.

Sith academic
After passing his trials and being confirmed as an, Silbus delved into the intellectual side of life in the academy, studying ancient Sith history, philosophy, , and sorcery. He spent much time studying the writings of the ancient Sith Lords and, and on translating commentaries into. Despite his best efforts to remain aloof, he was sometimes caught up in the power plays among his fellow Sith, and he survived several duels in the academy's library. Despite these disruptions, Silbus thrived on Korriban, and his intellectual achievements earned him the praise of the academy's Headmaster,.

Uln was eventually ousted and replaced by his apprentice,. Wynn was suspicious of Silbus, viewing him as an ambitious, crafty seeker of powerful secrets and a threat to his own position in the academy; these suspicions were encouraged by Wynn's 🇪🇺 apprentice,. Eventually, Wynn arranged to have Silbus moved to the more secret on, using his academic achievements and expertise as a pretext.

Though he resented Uthar Wynn, Silbus came to view this arrangement as a fortunate one. Trayus Academy's library was more extensive than the one available to him on Korriban, and he found the environment to be quieter and less volatile. Years passed, and Silbus became a teacher of Sith philosophy and history, in addition to continuing his translation work. He took a personal interest in reforming the intellectual training of Sith adepts, but since he never personally apprenticed anyone, more than a few of his colleagues came to see him as a meddler.

Largely due to its secrecy, Trayus Academy was left unscathed by the. As the title of 🇪🇺 passed from Malak back to Revan, and then on through a series of claimants, Silbus looked after himself, immediately swearing allegiance to the newest Dark Lord. In the meantime he kept himself engrossed in his responsibilities in the academy, seldom leaving Malachor for any reason.

The Sith Triumvirate
During the time of the in 21,102 AR, one of the current Dark Lords,, visited Malachor. With little explanation, he compelled Silbus and a number of his fellow 🇪🇺s to accompany him on his ship, the . Later on, some of these other Masters were sent to take charge of the beast army which would be used in the. However, Silbus himself was forced to remain in Nihilus' company.

Silbus was a witness of the, during which the Ravager was boarded by a former Jedi named Meetra Surik, otherwise known as the Exile, along with a force of 🇪🇺s and other allies. Rather than stay and help defend the Ravager, the Nautolan evacuated to one of the accompanying s, which ended up being one of the only Sith vessels to survive the battle.

Some weeks later, Silbus returned to Trayus Academy, only to find Meetra Surik laying claim to the title of Dark Lord, having killed and, the latter of whom had briefly returned from exile. Although privately annoyed with Surik for having killed many of his colleagues and students at, 🇪🇺, and elsewhere, Silbus immediately pledged himself to the new Dark Lord. He was quick to curry favor with the Exile, arguing for her legitimacy to his fellow Sith as well as ratting out dissidents in the Order. As Surik consolidated her power and formed the Sith Remnant, Silbus was rewarded with rapid promotions and expanded duties.

During this period, Silbus was also tasked with training several of the Exile's companions in the ways of the Sith, including Visas Marr, who was the former apprentice to Darth Nihilus, and Atton Rand. Later on, Surik and her companions left for the 🇪🇺 in search of Revan, who had disappeared in search of the "true" Sith Empire. Now serving as Headmaster of Trayus Academy, Silbus remained behind, serving as de facto ruler of the Sith Order in his master's absence.

Personality and traits
Thoriel Silbus was vain and self-aggrandizing, and he valued intelligence and strength in the Force above all other attributes. Consequentially, he was dismissive of anyone who did not meet his standards in either of these criteria. Though he thought no lot in life was more wretched than that of non-Forceful beings, he also looked down on fellow Sith who failed to prioritize arcane Sith knowledge as he did. He was particularly contemptuous of non-Forceful 🇪🇺s, considering them an "absurdly prolific" species.

Though Silbus presented himself as slavishly devoted to the current Dark Lord of the Sith, to one degree or another he privately resented most of his superiors, thinking that they underestimated his genius and the value of the knowledge he was accumulating. The only Dark Lord he felt any real fondness for was Darth Traya, who several times consulted him during her rule over the Sith Triumvirate. He also had some respect for Jorak Uln, whom he considered a prodigious scholar.

Powers and abilities
After many years of tenacious study and practice, Silbus became an advanced practitioner of the dark side of the Force. One atypical power of his was the art of ; by the end of his career, Silbus established such complete control over Trayus Academy's s that he could command them even from great distances and with seemingly little effort. He was adept with several mind-based powers, including and.

Due to his obsessive devotion to intellectual matters, Silbus fell out of practice in the martial aspects of Sith training and considered such things as physical combat to be beneath him. He neglected his dueling skills to such a degree that he eventually stopped even carrying his 🇪🇺 with him, usually leaving it in his quarters. When faced with an adversary, he would either have other Sith fight for him, or else rely exclusively on his own dark side powers to destroy his enemies. He was proficient enough with 🇪🇺 to strangle or even crush other beings to death, and was able to cast 🇪🇺.

Behind the scenes
Silbus was not present in the earlier drafts of Torchbearer. Midway through the outline-revising process, he first appeared as "a swaggering, arrogant Nautolan" Sith Lord known only as "the Beastkeeper." In these earlier iterations, he had no role in the narrative until the battle of Malachor, where he would command the Sith's armies of drexls and other monsters. Later on his backstory was expanded and he was given a more prominent role as the head of Trayus Academy, in order to give a more meaningful antagonist to the final battle, as well as to serve as a vehicle for Sith-related exposition throughout the narrative.

The original visual hook for the character comes from an depicted in the . The concept for his personality as an evil, narcissistic professor was loosely inspired by the author's experiences in academia.

Appearances

 * Torchbearer