Shadereth and Killian

Warning: Contains minor spoilers on class stories and on Shadow of Revan and Fallen Empire stories.

I had been thinking about creating Shadereth for a while, a long while. I knew I wanted a Chiss who would be Shadiesse’s brother serving under the Republic, but I didn’t have enough backstory for him yet. I also knew that one of Shadiesse’s brothers had to be with her on the Imperial side of things. An agent seemed fitting since that story character interacts a lot with Sith from the Dark Council, so it made sense: Shayder, Imperial Intelligence, well respected among Sith because his sister is a member of the Dark Council. But what about the other brother?

It’s only when I determined exactly how they would be separated that I knew I was ready to create Shadereth. It is fitting that each sibling has a form of ‘’shade’’ in their name. If you recall “Operation Shade”, which the Chiss family from Csilla had undertaken to reshape the galaxy when the left the Chiss Ascendency and joined the Empire, which at the time, seemed the best option for what they had planned. They had not had the chance for much interaction with the Republic anyway. Operation Shade was in effect. After the accident, each took on a name that derived from “Shade” and that did not give much away from their former names, as those who had attacked them might have tracked them down.

Shadereth is a Trooper Vanguard Tank. He blows things up. Havoc Squad. He has a scar on the entire left side of his face. His features are similar to Shayder’s yet his skin tone closer to his sister’s.

When their ship was attacked, Shadereth quickly went into rescue mode, making sure the others of his family were safe before him, leading the escape. So it’s only fitting that he would end up leading a squad of soldiers and put them first before his own safety. His parents were piloting the ship and went into evasive manoeuvers. Shadereth guided his siblings to the escape pods. They were waiting for him to join, but he would not leave their parents behind. “No one gets left behind.” He went back for them, to help them, as the ship began to break apart.

He kept calling out to them to go, that they would grab the other pod and be right behind them. Shayder insisted that they wait, he did not want to leave his brother behind. Shadereth and their parents  were almost at the escape pods when the first explosion ripped part of the ship apart. Shadiesse used the Force to protect herself and Shayder from the blast as the escape pod was ejected prematurely. Then they closed the pod’s hatch as it was projected into space. The force of the explosion sent Shadereth flying across the ship, his face was burned from the fires of the explosion. When he managed to lift himself from the ground, the pathway to the escape pods was completely destroyed. Where the escape pod had been, a large black hole remained and it looked like the pod had been caved in by pieces of the ship that had broken off in the explosion. Shadereth thought Shadiesse and Shayder had died. Shadereth managed to move his aching body around to see his parents lying on the floor of the ship, dead. As far as he knew, he was the only to have survived.

Shadereth managed to grab an evac suit before the second explosion, which completely tore the hull in two and he was sent flying into space. From the distance the escape pod Shadiesse and Shayder were in, it looked like the ship exploded and no other pods were seen, as Shadereth had not taken one. As far as they knew, they were the only two to survive. Shadereth’s life force, despite being kept alive by the evac suit, was so faint, and Shadiesse’s powers had not yet been mastered, she was not even an acolyte yet, she could not sense his presence. She thought him dead. So she steared the pod to the nearest planet where she and Shader were taken in as slaves.

Shadereth floated in space in the debris of the ship and finally awoke in a strange ship. The woman who had rescued him mentioned they had a mission nearby and that they saw him while flying close to check out the debris. She was of Havoc Squad, Republic special armed forces: Daenerys. Shadereth admitted his family had left the Chiss Ascendency to join the Empire but were constantly being hunted by slavers and Sith who wanted to recruit his sister. He reported being the sole survivor. Daenerys offered to return him if that’s what he wanted. He didn’t. He hated the Empire and all Imperials and claimed they had caused his family to die. After a few days and learning of his heroics, Daenerys proposed that he join Havoc Squad. She mentioned that there were many secret squads of Havoc Squad and he had the makings of a leader and could make a real difference for the Republic. The fact that he WAS Imperial didn’t bother her. He was willing to run any tests her superiors would want in order to determine his true allegiance and he was convinced that joining the Republic was all that he had left. He was grateful for a Republic soldier’s kindness and rescue and he owed it to her to fight alongside her, even if in a different regimen; he would make sure she was always safe. And she promised she would always tend to his wounds. (Healer and Tank.)

Shadereth quickly moved up the ranks. The thought had occurred to him that perhaps his family had survived and he tried searching for them, using variants of their names, variants of the name he took up for himself, but he did not find them. He still took a name with “shade” in it, perchance they were alive and came upon his name, they would know it was him.

Update: Killian is used to depict the character Perce in my SWTOR fan-fiction series called Protectors of the Force. Perce however has no scar on his face (Photoshop fun to remove that). Perce is introduced in Story 3 and is the leader of the Followers of Kromus, and close friend to Relsor, the leader of the True Sith faction. They work together to take over the galaxy. Perce is also an expert slicer, but there is one of his enemies who is better and it drives him mad.

Much of Killian’s background is unknown to those who know him. He is a Sniper in the Imperial Intelligence division. He grew up on Dathomir, taming Rancors, earning him his facial scars. He claims he was approached by a Master of the Dark Side, which lead him to join the Empire. He is a Sniper and has met and done some missions with Shayder.

Killian and Shadereth crossed paths once while on separate missions. Killian had walked up to Shadereth and had spoke to him as though he knew him. Killian told him that he knew he was undercover and didn’t need the disguise with him. After some conversation, he realised he was not whom he thought. Both was intrigued though. Shadereth let the Imperial go, telling him that not all Chiss look the same, but because he was courteous, he’ll give him a head start. Killian’s mission had been to prevent Havoc Squad’s mission somehow and he was willing to abort his mission thinking Shadereth was a fellow Sniper (Shayder). Shadereth allocated him 5 seconds before his team would shoot, giving Killian enough time to escape. Shadereth hoped this meant Shayder was alive but was angered that his brother would remain with the Empire, with those who had tried to kill and enslave them.

Much later, when joining Rosiet who is the true leader of the Alliance on Odessen against the Eternal Empire (since she’s my main), leading Havoc Squad with Daenerys and helping the Republic to gather against the new threat, Shadereth again met Killian. Shadereth was having trouble dealing with the fact that another Empire was threatening the galaxy and that he had to work with Imps. He didn’t like it. But he saw that not all Imps were the same and some were aliens just like him.

Medeusa irked him, how she just stared at him. She found he looked familiar and went to get a friend of hers in the Dark Council. At the same time, Killian was telling him that he really looks like a colleague of his and he has to meet him, that it’s not just him thinking all Chiss look the same.

By the will of the Force, Shayder and Shadiesse arrived in the cantina, with Killian and Medeusa and all three siblings were gobsmacked. Hence they learned what had happened to each, and how each had risen to their current position with the Empire and Republic. Shadereth was happy they were alive and well but did not agree with their choice to stay with the Empire. Shadiesse assured him she wanted to reshape the Empire and that being on the Dark Council allowed her to have information she would not otherwise have. Shadereth had misgivings but he trusted his sister, who was friends with Rosiet, whom Daenerys and he trusted most.

That is when Killian showed interest in maintaining contact with his new friends and speaking with Medeusa showed much knowledge in the Dark Side and the Force. Although he was not a Force User, he acted as though he wanted to be one and Medeusa invited him to stay at her “Chamber of Deception”, though she only did that because she was wary of him and wanted to keep a close eye on him. This is where all previous backstories come to meet and where others notice Killian’s and Tiamat’s strange behaviour.