Marcus Lai (TDS)

Marcus Lai, also known as Darth Letalis by the dark side Force-sensitive community, was the prince of the Galactic Empire and Darth Sidious' Shadow Hand during the Empire's Prime. Currently he is the Galactic Emperor of the Second Galactic Empire, ruling with both an iron will and a compassionate gaze, desiring equality and justice for all. Marcus' full name was in fact Marcus Derek Lai.

Birth and Childhood
Just over Two Years prior to the Naboo Crisis, Marcus was born to Senator Palpatine (a.k.a Darth Sidious) and the Nightsister Princess Adriana Lai during Palpatine's Sith pilgrimage to the Nightsisters looking for a certain Sith Holocron, during his search Palpatine fell in love with his Nightsister escort whom happened to be Princess Adriana Lai undercover who was observing the Sith Lord for her own mother: Queen.

After his birth Adriana left Dathomir and decided to travel about the Universe after staying with Palpatine for about a year, by 30 BBY however she had learned about her mother's death and set out to return to Dathomir to keep her people in line while brining the knowledge she had garnered back with her. Marcus was left with Palpatine whom had instructions to train him in the Nightsister and Sith ways, to teach him of the dark side and to make him powerful through those ends, most of his childhood would then attest to being trained as Darth Sidious' Shadow Hand.

The Clone Wars
Around the Clone Wars, Marcus was quickly becoming a Man as his coming into the late teens, by the time of the First Battle of Geonosis he had been announced as Assistant Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and dubbed as "Prince of the Republic" by those whom personally knew him. It would be ironically that by late 20 BBY, that his mother would return to his life, bringing the Holocron of the Sith Emperor with her.

Rise of the Empire
Marcus was the first one to arrive with his Republic Sixth Fleet to the Defence of Coruscant, there he helped to defeat the Separatists and then helped with Order 66, soon he became interested in Stefan Thomas and intended to hunt him down to beyond even the Galactic boundaries.

Hunting after Stefan Thomas
After roughly five years of hunting pirates throughout the Colonies and Inner Rim, Marcus gained information regarding the presence of Jedi and along with Vader began to hunt them across the Galaxy, soon learning of his main target: Stefan Thomas. He continued to hunt the youth across the Galaxy, learning the secret of his true identity and birth, until their decisive duel on Korriban where both agreed to go on a pilgrimage together to visit other Force sensitive Cultures.

The Fall of the Empire
Marcus returned in 4 ABY and introduced Stefan as his "Dark Jedi Apprentice", however in reality Stefan was almost a fully trained "Secret Sith Apprentice" and had become Marcus' lover, Darth Letalis and Darth Clavis plotted their overthrowing of Palpatine. Their decision was to discreetly turn the Imperial Military against Palpatine and pretend to aid Palpatine in his designs, one of their missions was to completely take control of the Unknown Regions however they instead helped form the Empire of the Hand and their new base at the Diluculo system.

Eventually Palpatine would die at the Battle of Endor and upon revealing his scheme to the Military, Marcus would announce himself as Emperor and withdraw the Imperial Forces from much of the Core, either sending them into the Deep Core or the Unknown Regions. After many years of combat, a peaceful alliance would be signed between the New Republic and the Galactic Empire, allowing the base of the Second Galactic Empire to be built upon.

Personality and traits
Marcus was less indifferent to the happenings in the Galaxy than his father Palpatine and had taken a more direct approach to the Rebellion, Marcus had been shown to be cold and sadist when it came to Jedi and had mercilessly killed them unless they were to renounce the light side and Jedi Teachings. Marcus had demonstrated cruel, sinister, sadistic nature in battle but showed respect for his enemies.

Outside of Battle Marcus had shown a harsh but kind and encouraging personality, wishing for the local populace of the Galaxy to come together in unification and help each other move towards the future, Marcus revealed that he desires a powerful Empire inside and out where all races are welcome. Marcus was described by loyal Imperial Citizens as an Imperial Hero, due to his leading from the front-line and his desire for peace to come through a unification of equality, many within the Military had even encouraged him to rise up against his father's tyranny and lead them on a glorious Revolution.

Physical Appearance
Marcus takes the form of a chocolate haired youth with blue-grey eyes, he wears dark clothes which usually contest of a dark jacket and grey jeans, tall and slightly muscular. He wears Black male knee high boots and usually carries on the middle finger of his right hand a black and white gemmed ring which he states is a family ring, his brown hair is a contrast to 's original blond hair and Stefan Thomas's black hair.

Darth Letalis's Lightsaber
Letalis' Lightsaber was a uniquely designed Curved-hilt Lightsaber wielded by Marcus, also known as Darth Letalis, he used this Lightsaber indiscriminately having no need to hide his Sith Powers like his father did.

Darth Letalis's Ring
A Sith Artefact of unknown creation believed to have belonged to the Sith Emperor and was passed down from Marcus' Maternal Family line, the Artefact has been enhanced through Generations of Use and Experimentation, it has generations of Sith Alchemy as well as both Sith and Dathomiri Sorcery added onto it making it an incredibly powerful Dark side Artefact.

Palpatine
Marcus pretended to enjoy his father's company however he saw his father more as destructive than actually helpful, Marcus allowed the Empire to come into formation and for ten years he was unsure about whether or not he would oppose his father, by the Galactic Civil War however he became rather willing to take control of the Empire and improve conditions.

Mas Amedda
Marcus respected Mas Amedda's knowledge of his and his father's ways, knowing that Amedda had more pull over Palpatine than Marcus had due to their conspiring together, despite this however Marcus would eventually plot to kill Amedda and his father.

Powers and abilities
Darth Letalis was claimed to be able to use the dark side on the same level as his father if not stronger due to his youth, he was able to lead his troops through a mental urge for victory and through the usage of Sith Battle Meditation, it was also believed at the time that Letalis had gained a holocron from his mother that allowed him to learn the teachings of the original Sith Emperor as well as the means he had taken to live forever. It was revealed that through his teachings with his Mother that those like them that followed the Sith Emperor's teachings looked at the Force different than either Sith or Jedi, the Sith dammed up the Force River and gained power from it while the Jedi let it flow through them, Letalis and those like him however considered themselves a generated whirlpool in the flow - a way to gain energy comparable to the Sith while like the Jedi not having to worry about corruption from the Force.

Basic dark side abilities:

 *  - Letalis was a Master of Force Destruction using it easily.
 *  - Letalis used this to make Allies and enemies alike fear him, especially in battle.
 *  - Letalis had much skill in the use of Force Horror and its companion: Force Insanity.
 *  - Letalis is a Master of Force Insanity.
 *  - Letalis, like any powerful Sith was quite skilled in Force Lightning.
 * Chain lightning - Letalis was quite able to shock more than one person with Force Lightning.
 * Force Shock - Letalis used this to stun potent targets, using it to catch Jedi off guard and kill them.
 * Force Storm - Letalis had been able to create a storm of Force Lightning from the palms of his hands.
 *  - Letalis could easily use Telekinesis and the Force to launch a Force Maelstrom on his enemies.
 *  - Letalis, upon taking the Throne from his deceased father he set about gathering knowledge from various cultures including other independent Sith, Lumiya found Darth Vectivus' holocron and Letalis probably learned it from there.
 *  - Letalis used his anger and rage to enhance his powers and skills.
 *  - Letalis was believed to be able to release a controlled Force scream upon his enemies, more like a battle cry prior to attacking.
 *  - Letalis was taught Force Slow by his father.
 *  - Letalis was taught Force Affliction by his father.
 *  - Letalis was taught Force Plague by his father.
 *  - Letalis was taught Darth Maul's skill by his father, Palpatine, whom recorded all new skills used by his apprentices in the Telos Holocron.
 *  - After his father's death on the Death Star, Letalis became able to use Force storm, to dangerous effects.
 *  - Letalis was a Master of using Telekinesis.
 *  - Letalis could injure the internal organs of a person, using Telekinesis, with ease.
 *  - Letalis was quite able to cause injury to the body of an entire person with Telekinesis.
 *  - Letalis more than once choked someone for failure, even putting pressure on the throats of his power hungry subordinates, to remind them who is boss.
 *  - Letalis had no problem using the Force to totally crush an enemy's body until they died.
 *  - Letalis, infused Droids with the Darkside and controlled them, this was seen with his A-01 Automatons that he had invented.
 *  - Letalis used this skill to infuse a long term Force Corruption in the minds of the people he comes across, turning them into his allies.
 *  - Letalis was a Master of Force Corruption, he used it on the Rebels and allowed them to live, this in turn gave him insiders into their Organization and manipulated them into how they are now.
 *  - Letalis could forge Darkside Energies into a spear which he directed at his enemies for maximum damage.
 *  - Letalis used this to torture Jedi and turn them into Dark Jedi, Letalis even used this on Luke Skywalker, during the Raid on Cloud City.

Exotic dark side abilities:

 *  - Letalis was quite skilled at the art of Sith Alchemy and evidence of this came from his creation of the Lycans, a race of Humanoid Wolves connected to Sith Sorcery - through the form of a Curse, Letalis was also belied to have used Sith Alchemy and Sorcery in conjuncture on his ring.
 *  - Letalis was a Sith Sorcerer, it is claimed that he knew the Sith Spell used to cause Stars to go Supernova, with deadly effect.

Universal Force abilities:

 *  - Letalis was a Master of Battle Meditation, particularly Sith Battle Meditation, which he used to crush his enemies with ease in confrontations.
 *  - During his Ten years pilgrimage, Letalis went about learning other abilities from the Force Cultures he stayed with, there he possibly learned this from the Aing-Tii.
 *  - It is unknown how Letalis came upon this ability which was taught by Vergere, it could be very possible that Letalis learned this condensing Force Ability through experimentation, making Letalis a re-inventor of the Ability especially since its only user prior is out of the Galaxy till 25 ABY.
 *  - Letalis was able to understand the language of any race that speaks it.
 *  - Letalis has been shown to be very skilled at the telekinetic arts.
 *  - Letalis was known to have Force Visions.
 *  - Letalis could easily use Force Push to use Telekinetic powers to move objects or individuals.
 * Force Whirlwind - Letalis could use the Force to control the air current causing a maelstrom and controlling it.
 * Force Wave - Letalis was able to use Force Wave to explode pure Telekinetic energy out around him.
 * Force Repulse - Letalis could use Force Repulse, the cousin of Force Wave, the deadly effect to those around him.
 *  - Letalis could create a field of Force energy to defend against damage directed at him.
 *  - Letalis was quite capable of predicting the future of events or more specifically his future with powerful enemies.
 *  - Letalis was one of the few people to be born with sight of Shatterpoints, using this, Letalis plotted out his future using Shatterpoints as one of his major influences.
 *  - Letalis could stop the recording of Holocam, briefly disabling them, when he passes by if he so desired.

Light side Force abilities:

 *  - After his pilgrimage Letalis showed great skill at the different types of defensive Abilities used by the Jedi, also a natural ability came to him prior to his pilgrimage, revealing that similar to Vader he had the ability to absorb energy through his hand at that early stage - absorbing Blaster Bolts so they caused very little damage.
 *  - Letalis took interest in the battle mind and was able to use it to enhance dark side abilities including Vaapad.
 *  - Letalis was quite capable of going into a Hibernation trance for many reasons, usually healing.

Other Force abilities:

 *  - Like his father, Letalis was a notorious user of Force Stealth and managed to use it to great effect at the Battle of Coruscant, where he managed to use the dark side and Telekinesis to down three C-9979 landing craft and two Vulture droid fighters all without getting discovered.
 *  - After becoming Emperor, after killing his father, Letalis was quite able of seeing distant or future events regarding himself or the things he thought on.
 *  - During his ten years of Pilgrimage, he learned this from the Aing-Tii while being apprenticed under them.
 *  - During his pilgrimage, Letalis took up learning with the Theran Listeners, learning how to hear things through the Force.
 * Age Negation - A long lost Force Ability rediscovered by the Sith Emperor and recorded on his holocron, it allows the cells of the body to reproduce as a static rate, allowing the body to remain static and non-aging.

Physical abilities

 * The Seven Lightsaber Forms - Letalis was described as a peerless Lightsaber swordsman, by Darth Vader, it was well to assume that he knew most of if not all of the Seven Forms.
 * Lightsaber Form Variants - Letalis was a Master of Lightsaber Form variants, among these included Vaapad whom he used in battle against Stefan Thomas during their duel on Korriban.
 *  - Letalis was capable at using distraction and doubts when in combat to gain a upper hand on his enemies, he even taunted them at times or throwing objects at his enemies.
 *  - Letalis had an amazing throwing arm, along with Telekinesis, Letalis could throw his Lightsaber with great strength and cause it to come easily back to his hand.

Appearances

 * Revolution of Inheritance series
 * Marcus Lai (ROI)
 * Torment to Darkness series

Behind the Scenes
His first name "Marcus" means "Warlike". His middle name "Derek" means "Great Ruler". Marcus' first and middle names together intentionally means the "Warlike Great Ruler". Marcus' Sith name: "Letalis", is a Latin word meaning "Fatal or Lethal".