What brings you to the lost and found, dear?
Won't you pull up a seat?
Everybody got a price 'round here to play
Make me an offer, what will it be?
—Bea Miller, "Playground"
Underworld is the forty-second installment in the Untitled New Sith Wars series. Narasi Rican leads a team of Jedi Padawans to Nar Shaddaa to investigate Black Sun's involvement in cortosis smuggling while Tirien Kal-Di and Casparin Borador team up to pursue leads of their own.
Opening Crawl[]
Excerpt[]
| Source: Underworld | Attribution: Sakaros |
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Tirien Kal-Di stood in the inky penumbra of danger, the light at his back, gazing into darkness that foreboded true disaster. Violence and cruelty often left marks that endured long after they were inflicted. Eriadu echoed with the Force's agony where the Crescentia had burned and so many Jedi had burned with it; to hear Raven tell it, Mizra had been even worse, the blood of slain Sith, Jedi, and soldiers alike crying out from the soil; and Tirien would not return to the ruins of Bogg 14 with a blaster to his head. Frazga had killed Kozoka out of hate and fear, and that deed lingered in the asteroid mine, but it was not nearly enough to account for the darkness saturating the very stone around him. Kozoka's murder had been a crime, if far from the worst one Tirien and Narasi had confronted, and arguably a justifiable one at that, but already it was slipping out of focus, relegated to a back corner of Tirien's mind where he stored data no longer relevant to the moment's needs. In the course of solving the crime, down in the depths of the mine, they had unearthed a far greater threat. Perhaps, Tirien reflected, it was not merely he who stood in the shadows of the Force, but the asteroid itself, orbiting some nebulous, lethal primary. A black sun. The galaxy's most savage crime syndicate had harvested enough cortosis to equip an army, but to what end? What army? The asteroid mine was only the periphery, Tirien knew; vast and nefarious forces had come together to effect this operation, and they would not be forestalled by the seizure of one mine. | |
Segments[]
Appearances[]
| Characters | Creatures | Droid models | Events | Locations |
| Organizations and titles | Sentient species | Vehicles and vessels | Weapons and technology | Miscellanea |
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Dramatis personae
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Other characters
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Creatures
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Droid models
Events
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Locations
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Organizations and titles
Sentient species
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Weapons and technology
Miscellanea
Plot Summary[]
After transferring control of the cortosis mine they seized to Haleya and her Shadow Commandos, Tirien Kal-Di and Narasi Rican travel to Kashyyyk to plan next steps with several of their fellow Jedi. Tirien persuades his colleagues to send Narasi, Zaella Sabir, Zilq Riega, and Trizane Caprioana to Nar Shaddaa to investigate Black Sun's involvement in smuggling the cortosis. While Kenza Rowkwani and Zine Cudac depart to follow other leads and Dil-Faan Ravaydi remains on Kashyyyk, Tirien departs to link up with his Jedi "cousin", Casparin Borador.
Some friction emerges among the four Padawans due to their differing styles, though Narasi, the mission's leader, unites them all. After their arrival on the Smuggler's Moon, they set about pursuing leads. Meanwhile, Tirien rendezvouses with Casparin on Manda, where she coopts him to a mission of her own: intercepting the Jebble Box, an alleged Jedi relic coming up for auction. Tirien has Casparin sell the Corusca gem he took from the mine to finance their operation.
On Nar Shaddaa, the team's tensions are growing as they fail to find solid information about Black Sun. Narasi and Trizane observe but fail to apprehend the bounty hunter Kharda Deghrin, and when they return to the Second Chance, they find the unscrupulous dock owner robbing the ship. When he threatens Gizmo, the Jedi team up to free the gizka, but Zaella slices off three of his limbs; Narasi accepts it as justified, but Trizane is ambivalent and Zilq deeply unsettled. The Jedi dock the Second Chance at Tomna's, a more reliable facility. On Manda, Tirien and Casparin successfully infiltrate the auction, but fail to obtain the Jebble Box; accepting temporary defeat, Casparin shifts her focus to Tirien and the cortosis.
Trizane identifies a slave market known as the Brokerage, and the Jedi decide to infiltrate and collect data on Black Sun, but their plans are disrupted when a shipment of Twi'lek slaves is delivered. Though Narasi tries to stick to their plan of noninterference, lest they draw attention, Zaella ultimately persuades her; a hasty ruse falls apart when Zaella encounters a former fellow Sith from Ryloth. As the other Jedi deal with the slavers, Zaella duels and defeats Mizhette, but beats her half to death in the process.
Sending the slaves away with the slavers' ship (and the slavers), the Jedi destroy the Brokerage and flee, but Narasi receives an accidental overdose of spice when a spice thief collides with her. The other three take her to Chenf Ori'quasalniod, an unscrupulous Balosar doctor; when he tries to parlay helping Narasi for sex with Zilq, Zilq agrees, but though Zaella counsels her, Trizane "persuades" Chenf to change his mind and help Narasi for free. Narasi convalesces on the Second Chance while the others pursue leads.
On Daalang, Tirien and Casparin receive little from her contact, Jibosh Curgol, though he implies the cortosis smuggling is not limited to the Republic. The two travel to Keldooine to find Vidir Kro'zhey, and through him Sorin Ruy'the. Once Narasi recovers, the four Jedi, having located a club run by Vigo Mar'sebbin, infiltrate it, only to run into Mar'sebbin's bodyguard, the former Jedi Jheno Jaray. Narasi duels Jheno to buy the others time to escape with data they stole, but Jheno defeats and captures her. Zaella, now in command, struggles between her anguish at leaving Narasi and her duty to ensure the data reaches the Republic. When they discover the datacard has nothing about cortosis, though, Zaella plans an attack on Black Sun's headquarters to rescue Narasi.
With the aid of Republic Intelligence and a troop of Ganks, the Jedi infiltrate Black Sun's headquarters, though several security devices and soldiers have been cleared ahead of them. Once Narasi is freed, the Jedi confront Mar'sebbin; Narasi and Zilq pursue him while Zaella and Trizane duel Jheno. In his secret hangar bay, Mar'sebbin is assassinated by Kharda Deghrin; with his protectee dead, Jheno allows the Jedi to leave in peace, and they flee with Mar'sebbin's datapad.
While Casparin waits for a contact point with Sorin, Tirien travels to Pusat Station for an illicit rendezvous with Darth Alecto, who has been his off-and-on lover since their meeting on Terminus the year before. Alecto agrees to put her Anzati on the issue and pursue the matter in Imperial space, but she and Tirien both have sex and argue repeatedly before parting ways.
Back on Kashyyyk, Narasi prepares for the conference of Jedi and the disturbing information she retrieved from Mar'sebbin.
Behind the Scenes[]
Zilq's glum reflection that there is nothing beautiful on Nar Shaddaa was inspired by the reflection of one of Sakaros's fellow U.S. Army officers in regards to his combat deployment in Afghanistan.
Shout-outs include:
- Raven Kaivalt (via Tirien) muses that, on Mizra, "the blood of slain Sith, Jedi, and soldiers alike [cried] out from the soil", a reference to Genesis 4:10 and the story of Cain and Abel.
- Both this page's epigraph quote and Zaella's line "Welcome to the playground" are from Bea Miller's "Playground", which is itself from Arcane.
- Casparin calls Tirien "my pretty pretty princess."
- An Ishi Tib bounty hunter tells Kharda Deghrin, "We can bring you in warm, or we can bring you in cold," Din Djarin's trademark line from The Mandalorian.
- Trizane gets the UNSWS's fifth "I have a bad feeling about this" when Narasi insists on pursuing Kharda Deghrin.
- In the fight to protect the Chuns, the Weequay complains "Who punches an arm?!" in reference to this this CollegeHumor sketch.
- The GEAR HEAD tattoos on Casparin's knuckles, although the term itself dates to 1974, are a more direct and intended reference to the eponymous skill tree in Knights of the Old Republic.
- Teyfuul and Tirien's exchange ("How seldom it is one meets a fellow spirit!" / "With fellow taste in antiquities, at least.") is a take on an exchange between Judge Turpin and Sweeney Todd in the climax of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
- Narasi's one-off mission to rescue an Elomin store clerk (and accepting the reward offered by his Sullustan employer) is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the various side quests in the Knights of the Old Republic games.
- Zaella's snarky observation that the Jedi Council maintains a policy of "hit it and quit it" was inspired by this Reddit thread.
- Trizane's reflection that perhaps Jedi are only "one bad day" away from falling echoes the Joker's philosophy in The Killing Joke.
- Trizane's poetic recitation about cutting between soul and spirit is a reference to Hebrews 4:12.
- Zaella's invective against Mizhette while beating her was inspired by a similar scene between Faith Lehane and Buffy Summers in the Buffy episode "Who Are You?".
- Zaella's response to Koyi shocking Entozon was inspired by this Family Guy scene.
- When Narasi is dosed with spice, she feels "the world turned upside down", the name of a seventeenth century British ballad which is reputed (perhaps apocryphally) to have been played upon the British surrender at the Siege of Yorktown.
- Narasi attempting to cut off her own ears while overdosed on spice was inspired by the real-life case of Kaylee Muthart, who gouged out her own eyes while under the influence of methamphetamines.
- Casparin refers to herself (and, by extension, Jibosh Curgol) as Tirien's "friends in low places".
- Part of Mar'sebbin's "Miraluka Special" involves branding the offending individual with Black Sun's sigil—not as further punishment, but to prevent anyone else from harming that individual. This is a reference to the mark of Cain (although, unlike in Genesis, the brand is not as a degree of mercy amidst punishment, but to cause the branded individual more suffering by denying him an easy death, as well as to cause fear in others).
- The Aurodium Saucer, mentioned as a combination nightclub and amusement venue, is named for the Gold Saucer in Final Fantasy VII.
- The Ongree who speaks to Zilq before the bar fight says, "There'll be less of [a problem] when you come with us", a near-exact quote from My Fellow Americans.
- Sakaros can not remember whether Narasi's downward elbow strike that snaps a mook’s neck against a table's edge was actually inspired by John Wick, but the same move occurred there.
- In a play on Darth Vader's line in A New Hope, Tirien, describing the Elata's sensor suite, calls it a "technological terror" that is "insignificant next to the power of the Force".
- Jheno quips (tongue-in-cheek) to Mar'sebbin that Narasi's lightsaber is "a clumsy weapon for a more barbarous age", reversing Obi-Wan Kenobi's description of Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber in A New Hope.
Jade-Starrz suggested the idea of a character with a gauntlet-mounted, deployable cortosis shield which could also deflect other projectiles; Sakaros adapted it into Jheno's tessen fan in keeping with his overall rōnin aesthetic. MPK suggested the floating droid dosing its owner with narcotics in Singularity.
Sakaros read Shatterpoint and reread the Revenge of the Sith novelization, both by Matthew Stover, while writing Underworld. Both also featured the notion that a Jedi is so attached to his lightsaber that he can sense its presence when it is nearby, a concept Sakaros worked into the Padawans' Nar Shaddaa mission.