Belia Darzu

Belia Darzu was a   who reigned as a  during the Sictis Wars. Born on the, Darzu lived as a  before leaving her  and wandering the fringes of  as a freelance.

While traveling through the, Darzu was captured by a -controlled government called the Sictis Imperium. Upon the discovery that she was, she became a servant of the Jen'taral—a cult of Sith devotees who backed the Imperium—after being to harness the power of the.

Following the completion of her Sith training, Darzu partook in the Imperium's campaign to destroy the and its  guardians. Specializing in the combat role of the Marauder, she initially fought on the front lines of the conflict, earning distinction in battle and a reputation as a bloodthirsty warrior of the Sith.

Upon witnessing the power of the Rite of Binding, a dark side ritual capable of enthralling its victims, Darzu followed an alternative path—the way of the Magus—in an effort to expand her understanding of. During her pursuit for knowledge, Darzu became a practitioner of, learning techniques that allowed her to augment and control both the living and the inanimate.

After attaining the rank of Sith Lord, Darzu went on to become one of the foremost alchemists of the Jen'taral. A rivalry ensued amongst those who sought to exploit Darzu's work or eliminate her as a threat, prompting the Shi'ido to fake her own and avoid the scrutiny of her power-hungry peers.

Early life
"My people are most commonly thought of as spies and assassins, able to disguise themselves and blend in with any group of sentients."

A , Belia Darzu was born on the   during the , a conflict initiated by the  with the goal of destroying the  and its  protectors. Like all members of her, Darzu possessed the ability to at will. Unlike most Shi'ido, however, she also lived as a within the rainforests of her, separated from the communities of her species.

Although Darzu remained oblivious to the nature of her connection to, she was indirectly influenced by its power throughout her early life. In particular, she often experienced a sense of exhilaration from the perils she met within the forests, as well as the satisfaction from her prey. Unknown to Darzu, these sensations were actually manifestations of the, fueling her desire to hunt and kill.

As she grew older, Darzu aspired to explore other parts of in a search for greater challenges. After venturing away from her homeworld, she roamed between planets throughout the region while earning  as a freelance, selling her talents to whoever would pay for them. Throughout her assassin career, Darzu was mostly driven by bloodlust, often undertaking difficult contracts simply for the sheer thrill they provided her.

While undertaking her assignments, Darzu studied her targets intently—learning as much as she could about their species and mannerisms—before assassinating them and using her shape-shifting ability to assume their identities. By maintaining this deception for as long as possible, the Shi'ido hoped to become more skilled at blending in amongst the civilizations she encountered.

One of Darzu's contracts in the sent her into the domain of the Sictis Imperium, an interplanetary empire backed by a cult of Sith devotees known as the Jen'taral. This particular contract was deemed a high-risk job due to the Jen'taral's turbulent and fanatical reputation. Despite Darzu's confidence in her abilities, or perhaps because of it, Imperial forces ultimately captured the Shi'ido before she could complete the job.

Serving the Jen'taral
After being captured, Belia learned that the Imperium intended to force her—along with several other prisoners—into. Before she could attempt to escape, Darzu was eventually singled out due to her connection to the Force. Recognized for her potential, she was taken away and inducted as a Sith Acolyte into a secret at the behest of the Jen'taral, who sought to mold her into one of their servants.

At the Jen'taral academy, Darzu was to harness the power of the dark side and taught to follow the ancient  of the Sith. Despite being inducted against her will, she grew fascinated by the prospect of unearthing her hidden potential and embraced the Sith teachings with enthusiasm. Darzu's naturally bloodthirsty nature—along with her previous combat experience and eagerness to succeed—allowed her to surpass the expectations of the academy's instructors.

Throughout the later stages of her Sith training, Darzu—like many of her fellow Acolytes—came to specialize as a Marauder, a combat-focused role that emphasized aggressive techniques and the use of heavy  in battle. After finally completing her training and graduating as a Sith Adept, Darzu participated in the Sictis Wars, supporting the Imperium's campaign of conquest against the Galactic Republic and the Jedi.

As a member of the Jen'taral, Belia was called forth to fight for the Imperium on the front lines of the conflict, acting mainly as a shock-trooper and an enforcer. The missions that Darzu participated in were often considered, sending her into the thick of combat. Despite the dangers of her role, Darzu managed to survive the carnage she partook in, but also came. When given command over Imperial ground forces, Darzu garnered a reputation for employing brutal methods against Republic troopers and Jedi.

Way of the Magus
"Unthinking obedience is fine for a warrior, but a scientist must question&mdash;or be worth nothing."

While serving the Jen'taral, Darzu noticed that many of the Imperium's military personnel were being controlled by the Rite of Binding, a dark side ritual that caused non-Force-sensitive victims to become utterly subservient. Despite not knowing the full details of this ritual, the potency of its effects left a profound impact on Darzu. Unlike most Marauders of the Jen'taral, she became instilled with a desire to explore the deeper aspects of the Force.

To help fulfill her new desire, Darzu pursued an alternative path of the Sith Adept that focused on the cerebral aspects of the dark side—the way of the Magus. In her pursuit for knowledge, Darzu found that many of the Jen'taral's repertoires of dark side lore and rites were restricted; only the higher-ranking members of the cult were permitted to access them. Undeterred, Darzu used her shape-shifting talent to disguise herself as one of these members, allowing her to infiltrate the archives of the Sith cult without restriction.

From within the archives, Belia gained insight into, a dark side art that allowed its practitioners to permanently alter the living and the inanimate. While the details of the Rite of Binding still eluded her, Darzu became familiar with several other new s. The most noteworthy of these—in her eyes—was, an ability that allowed Darzu to sense the inner-structures of machinery and circuitry. Realizing the potential of mechu-deru, Darzu devised a way of disassembling and rebuilding different types of machinery, upgrading them to perform beyond their original functions.

Using her newly developed understanding of mechu-deru, Darzu constructed a series of advanced s that she personally employed in her missions and campaigns. In addition, she fashioned an upgraded suit that provided her with enhanced physical strength, as well as a personal, improving her lethality in battle.

The potency of Belia's creations ultimately caught the attention of Darth Crucia, the and supreme ruler of the Sictis Imperium. In a rare admission by the Dark Lord, Crucia praised Darzu's accomplishments in battle, admiring her fervent brutality against the enemies of the Imperium. As a result, Crucia ultimately bestowed upon Darzu the title of Sith Lord, reserved only for the Jen'taral's most highly regarded members.

Dark research
"The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural."

After becoming a Sith Lord, Belia gained access to a greater range of privileges and resources within the Jen'taral. Eager to continue expanding her dark side knowledge, Darzu used her position to conduct more expansive research. In particular, she planned to investigate ways of utilizing the techniques she had learned on living beings.

To supply live subjects for her experiments, Darzu seized a number of slaves who had once been held by the Sictis Imperium. While many of her subjects died from these experiments, Darzu gained new insight, leading to the development of an alchemical technique that she dubbed mechu-deru vitae. This technique allowed her to augment living beings through dark side-imbued, granting them enhanced abilities beyond the limits of regular implants.

Using mechu-deru vitae, Darzu initiated a project—at the behest of Darth Crucia—to create what would become known as the Scathers, a group of warriors and assassins that were heavily augmented through alchemically enhanced cybernetics. The success of this project solidified Darzu's reputation as one of the Jen'taral's premier experts of the dark side arts. To Darzu's displeasure, this attracted the unwanted attention of her fellow Sith Lords; some wished to use the Shi'ido's knowledge and creations for their own purposes, while others conspired to eliminate her as a threat.

Having grown weary of her Sith peers, Darzu eventually chose to fake her own death, hoping to evade their notice completely. After leaving the Jen'taral, Darzu made plans to travel outside of the Imperium's territory. By doing so, she hoped to discover locations that were both secluded and, allowing the Shi'ido to continue her research away from the scrutiny of the Jen'taral.

During her expedition, Belia discovered charts that allowed for safe travel into the  of the galaxy. It was here where Darzu located, a planet that had been largely abandoned due to the region's unstable routes. Attracted by the potent Force nexus harbored by the secluded planet, she hoped to use it as a hidden sanctuary to house her experiments. Using her modified s, Darzu oversaw the construction of a secret laboratory, renovating an abandoned of the.

Within her laboratory, Darzu discovered a way of using mechu-deru vitae to exert control over living beings, influencing their minds through dark side-imbued cybernetics. Seeing this as a major breakthrough, she sought for a means of using this technique on a larger scale. This led to the development the metacron virus, which was capable of transmuting living tissue into mechanical cybernetics. Victims of this virus were transformed into s called metacrons, ultimately lobotomizing their brains and making them completely susceptible to Darzu's control.

Personality and traits
Throughout her life, Belia avoided showing her true physical form, preferring instead to disguise herself as a member of a different species. By doing so, she hoped to blend in with the galaxy's inhabitants rather than stand out. In Darzu's mind, this gave her complete control over any individual she encountered. It was because of this mentality that she enjoyed deceiving, manipulating and meddling in the affairs of others.

Years of immersion in the power of the dark side took its toll on Darzu's body, leaving her true physical figure malformed and decayed. This corruption also affected her ability to shape-shift, making the process physically painful. Unnerved by the prospect of being seen in her true form, Darzu often concealed her appearance, either behind a set of masked robes or her self-crafted suit of battle armor.

Having spent much of her early life as a hunter, Darzu became instilled with a bloodthirsty, predatory instinct. As such, she willingly embraced the role of a freelance assassin, enjoying the thrill of pursuing and slaying her prey, and taking pride in her ability to do so. Darzu developed a sadistic streak as she was molded into a servant of the Jen'taral. While fulfilling the role of a Marauder, she reveled in carnage and derived pleasure from the suffering of others, feeding off their pain and misery.

Powers and abilities
As a Shi'ido, Belia was capable of altering her physical form at will, allowing her to impersonate other living beings. While she typically assumed the appearance of a, she was also capable of morphing her body into non-humanoid shapes.

During her time with the Jen'taral, Darzu initially specialized as a Marauder, developing a fighting style with a heavy emphasis on brute force and raw aggression over subtlety. To help amplify her combat prowess, she relied on the power of the dark side by embracing her innermost hatred and anger.

While pursuing the path of the Magus, Darzu spent much of her time studying the Force, discovering a number of new abilities. In particular, Darzu became an applicator of mechu-deru, a power that granted her an intuitive awareness of how mechanical structures—no matter how simple or complex—fit together and operated.

After becoming a Sith Lord, Darzu used her own initiative to experiment with the dark side of the Force, developing her own techniques in the process. The most noteworthy of these—regarded by Darzu as her greatest breakthrough—was mechu-deru vitae.