- "Power is the only thing worth having in this galaxy. If you have power, whatever else you desire will become yours."
- — Teshran Lor
Teshran Lor, also known in some circles as Darth Phasmis, is a Sith Lord and former Imperial High Inquisitor who now serves the Cult of Shadow as a Dark Lord. He is widely considered to be the second most powerful Darksider in the cult, next only to Sivter himself. The only reason he has not become a member of the cult's Inner Circle is due to the fact that Sivter considers him to be too obsessed with his own power to trust with the matters that are dealt with by the Inner Circle.
Teshran is a true Sith Lord, having earned the title while a part of the Sith Empire, and has even covered his entire body in red and black Sith tattoos, much like Darth Maul before him, as a demonstration of his faith. His knowledge of Sith magics and Dark Side techniques is considerable, as is his power. Contrary to his aristocratic appearance, Teshran is also highly skilled in lightsaber combat, however he prefers for his enemies to assume otherwise.
Teshran doesn't use his Darth Phasmis title much since leaving the Sith Empire, but will sometimes invoke it to command respect.
Skills[]
Force Powers[]
Teshran's abilities in the Force are numerous and varied. He tends to prefer abilities that aren't often seen or even known about by other Darksiders such as Morichro and Dark Side Web. He also likes to use powers that allow him to make use of his opponents such as Force Drain, or those that are highly visible signs of his power such as Deadly Sight.
Lightsaber Forms[]
A skilled duelist, Teshran is a master of Makashi, but also employs Niman regularly as a ploy to make more aggressive opponents underestimate him and, in fact, takes great pleasure in defeating someone only with Niman since it is often considered one of the weakest of the classic forms.
Teshran also frequently uses Djem So as another ploy, using the sheer power of the form to catch his opponents off-guard once they start to believe that all he knows are forms that lack such aggressiveness. In all instances, he uses Jar'Kai and Sokan to control the duel.
Weapons[]
- Electrum Lightsaber Cane
Teshran only uses one weapon, his electrum lightsaber cane. Unlike most other lightsaber canes, the saber is actually concealed within the handle. The staff connected to the handle is made of cortosis and is detachable to allow the lightsaber to spring forth. Teshran then makes use of both with Jar'Kai: the lightsaber to attack with and the cortosis staff to defend with.
Equipment[]
- Cortosis Weave Robe
Teshran wears robes woven with cortosis, which not only protect him against lightsabers, but also help to mislead others into believing he doesn't prefer combat as they cover up his impressive physique.
History[]
Early Life[]
Born on Utapau as a member of the long-lived Pau'an race, Teshran's childhood and early adult life was fairly dull. He was a member of a semi-influential Pau'an family and as such received good schooling where he excelled in his classes but failed to do anything else to set him apart. He became a bureaucrat of good standing for the Utapaun government after graduating and served well for several years, however the constant, and often pointless, demands of the public began to grate on him the longer he served.
By the time General Grievous invaded Utapau, Teshran was fed up with the entire system and secretly was glad to see the Separatists come. After deliberating for a bit, he decided to offer his services to the invaders only to see them destroyed at the hands of the Galactic Republic. In his frustration, Teshran discovered his first taste of the Dark Side as he unwittingly unleashed his fury on a squad of Clone Troopers during the Battle of Utapau, utterly annihilating them. Frightened by what he had done, he fled into the wilds of the planet where he eventually came to embrace the Dark Side as he worked to harness it further over the course of several years.
Inquisition[]
By 10 BBY, Teshran decided to return to civilization and caught the first transport he could find to Coruscant. After a series of inquiries, he was brought to the attention of the Inquisitorius. After convincing them that he wished to serve the Empire, Teshran was given a more complete instruction in the Dark Side, as well as inquisition techniques, where he once again excelled before he was inducted as a member of the Inquisitorius.
In his new capacity, Teshran served the Empire well by tracking down the few remaining Jedi and any family that might be connected with them, eventually earning the rank of High Inquisitor for his efforts. One of his most successful cases was a former Jedi known as Sariv-Cren. By the time Teshran was finished with him, Sariv-Cren's mind had been warped and twisted into serving only him as his loyal bodyguard and assassin.
He would have continued to seek out and exterminate the enemies of the Empire, but the Battle of Endor ended those plans as the powerful government turned on itself to determine who would run the Empire after the fall of Palpatine and Vader. Uninterested in the squabbling, and seeing the writing on the wall, Teshran quietly left the Empire behind to seek out someone else who could further his power in the Dark Side.
Power of the Sith[]
Teshran found what he was looking for in the revitalized Sith Empire under Norik Kun. He devoted himself fully towards learning what the Sith had to teach and used their resources to pore over volumes of Sith lore to uncover lost or forgotten techniques. He eventually underwent a ceremony to rise to the position of Sith Lord and, by his own insistence, was adorned completely with Sith tattoos to demonstrate how committed he was to the Dark Side. He also took a new name, according to ancient tradition, and became Darth Phasmis.
As Darth Phasmis, Teshran demonstrated a willingness to do whatever was necessary to achieve his goals. He played enemies against each other, sacrificed those in his way, and callously used whoever he needed to, however he needed to, in order gain more power. Only the unquestionably loyal Sariv-Cren remained exempt from his machinations.
Unfortunately for him, the Sith Empire collapsed on itself, putting an end to any aims he had about one day ruling the Sith. Once again infighting dominated another powerful empire, and once again Teshran wanted no part of it, gladly leaving it as it was torn apart from within. Dropping his name of Darth Phasmis as a sign of him distancing himself from the Sith Empire, Teshran headed back out into the galaxy.
Call of the Shadow[]
With the Sith Empire crumbling, and the remnants of the Galactic Empire caught in the midst of a full-blown war with the New Republic, Teshran decided to lay low but was eventually discovered by a powerful Defel Darksider known as Sivter who invited him to become a part of the Cult of Shadow. Initially skeptical of why he should follow the Defel, Teshran quickly changed his mind once Sivter revealed just how powerful he truly was. He was further impressed by Sivter's depth of knowledge about the Dark Side.
Deciding that he had found a man who could rival Palpatine and Norik Kun, Teshran joined the cult and became one of its Dark Lords. He was given several duties and eventually rose to become the Overseer in charge of the cult’s scholars and instructors. The cult’s Shadow Keepers were also known to have called upon his services on occasion as an Inquisitor to break a particularly difficult prisoner. However, despite being an instructor, Teshran took few students of his own as he was more interested in increasing his own power rather than anyone else’s, although notably one of his students - Shaela Aimreh Dorcha - would eventually surpass him in influence by being granted a place within the Inner Circle.
This self-serving aspect of Teshran's would end up keeping him from becoming a member of the Inner Circle of the cult, a decision that he made no secret of resenting. Towards that end, he began to form a base of loyal followers in anticipation of Sivter's eventual death. Rather than see the Cult of Shadow suffer the same fate as the Empire and the Sith, Teshran resolved that Sivter's death would mean his swift accession as the new Dark Master of the Cult of Shadow…