A Simple Lesson (Open)

Valaria stepped into the room, a variety of seats laid out with students sitting in them. The class was a small one, only a half dozen or so students. It was how she preferred it. She felt that such allowed more connection, and let one truly get a feeling for how some of the students thought. She herself wore a set of tight red silk robes that covered her from the neck down. She paused a moment as she surveyed them and reviewed what she planned to teach. It was a simple lesson, but one that the instructors on Korriban often neglected in their haste to push the most vicious and powerful to the front. "Good afternoon everyone. For those that do not know me I am Lady Valaria. I will be one of your new instructors." she pauses again before continuing. "Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me." She recites the Sith code. "Such a simple thing isn't it? The lesson quite clear? Who can tell me the meaning of the Sith code?" She asks the class, looking to see who speaks.

Hurme slouches on her chair at the back row as she observes the red robed woman with a perked eye brow. She sits up a little more straightly and glances at other students around her before clearing her throat. "Excuse me, Lady Valaria. I'm pretty sure that all of us are familiar with the Sith code and it's meaning." She chuckles slightly. "We are not on Korriban anymore, after all." She leans forward and starts slouching again. "So can we cut the basic crap and get to the point?"

Valaria puts on an expression of feigned shock. "Not on Korriban? I didn't realize. I couldn't possibly be trying to make a point could I?" She says, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "If you are so certain you've nothing to learn here dear, answer my question or leave hmm?" Valaria says calmly but with a slight edge to her voice.

Pelagie sat in one of the chairs. Being something of an upperclassmen, this course might seem too rudimentary to her, but she had wanted to be in the class taught by the Lady Valaria. She had been intrigued with the woman ever since meeting her on Hutta. She smirks a bit as this new student, whose name she did not know, spoke up in such a way as to make Pelagie wonder why such unrefined clay would even be admitted into the school. She'd keep an eye on her.

She sat up a bit straighter, oranges eyes beneath purple hair, striking features focused on the teacher. She wore her typical scant clothing, revealing much of her generous, pale flesh. Several possible answers swirled through her mind. She finally sat up a bit straighter.

"Lady Valaria, if I may," she began, moving her left hand up a bit as though a signal for bid to speak before she carried on, "We are in a crucible. As the mantra of our school even tells us, we are molded in the furnace, by the power of our passion. We will learn terrible truths, and we must embrace them. This is the chaos, the Abyss, and it eats those who stand still within their weakness. Peace is stagnation, limitation. Through the Dark Side, we shall break free of these bonds."

Valaria looks at Pelagie as the upperclassman answers the question. "A fine answer, though I'm of course open to hearing others. But as your classmate with no patience points out, we are not on Korriban. This is not a basic class. So I'll ask a better question. What are the flaws in the Sith Code?"

A slight blush appears on Hurme's tanned and tattooed face as she leans backwards and crosses her arms over her chest. She was wearing simple dark grey clothes that could be seen on Korriban's Sith Academy's Acolytes. She bows her head and mutters. "My apologies, Lady Valaria.". She sits more straightly on her chairs as she looks at Pelagie, listening to the purple haired woman. After hearing the answer she looks back at the Lady Valaria, pointing her thumb at Pelagie. "I was going to say just the same thing as she said.."

She listens the new questions and glances at the other students, pondering and absent-mindedly tapping her fingers against her knee.

Zirellax had been silently listening from her seat, sitting up straight in her black and red armored robes, her glowing red eyes fixed on Lady Valaria. She cast her gaze around as Pelagie and the unknown student spoke up. She ran a finger over the scar on her right eye, before looking back to Lady Valaria, speaking up, "I may have an answer to that. One flaw seems to be that the Sith Code promotes a lot of power plays, lots of attempted takeovers, and this sort of action cause a rather large amount of chaos and disruption to the balance of the Empire and Sith Order." She then fell totally silent, merely looking at her teacher as if she had never spoke at all.

She took a few moments afterwards to glance around the room, at her fellow students, eyes lingering on Pelagie for a brief moment and then bringing her attention back to Lady Valaria.

Valaria smirks and rolls her eyes lightly at Hurme's response but doesn't say anything towards it. She nods once at Zirellax's answer. "That is one possible issue to come out of it certainly. Though it is more symptom than direct issue. The mentality bred by the code does tend to lead to ambition outstripping reason ofttimes. Any other thoughts on flaws in the code?" She asks as she survey's the class.

Pelagie had given her full focus to Zir as the Chiss-Sith replied, sparing some small measure of that same focus for the other student - the one seeming intent on digging her own grave. She'd have to look into this one more given time and whim.

When the Lady Valaria speaks, Pelagie sits more upright, spine straight, shoulders back a bit. Her chin is raises slightly as she looks upon the teacher. Thoughts swirl within her mind, somewhat like a darkly colored maelstrom, but she does not answer. Her eyes moves subtly about, giving her own silent regard to the body of the small class before she moves them back to the instructor.

Perhaps uncharacteristically, she holds her tongue.

Hurme looks around at the other students as she listens to Zirellax's answer. She leans forward again, elbows on her knees and chin resting on her hands as she look at Lady Valaria again. "Yeah, I agree with Blue on this one. The code seems to encourage people to seek for personal power only and they tend to forget that there is power in numbers too." She glances around herself, looking little unsure. "Am I right..?"

Valaria smirks. "You are not wrong my impatient friend." She says as she looks over the group, eyes lingering a few moments on the silent Pelagie before flitting back to the others. "That is indeed a flaw in the code. Or at least in many's enaction of it in their lives." Valaria purses her purple painted lips together. "But it is not the only one. Further thoughts anyone?"

Pelagie raises her left hand at the wrist, from where she had held them lightly folded before herself, "One's failing in action of embracing the Code does not necessarily imply a flaw in the Code," she mentions, "Though I do not see the flaw inherent in the Code," she admits.

So said, she lowers her hand, as though its motion is some ritual for her speaking in this setting. She looks upon the teacher, blinking her orange eyes once, perhaps staring a bit overlong at the purple lips.

From somewhere at the back of the class, a newer attendant of the academy spoke up.
The bright red skin offset by golden jewelry and gold-hued tattooes and makeup.

"Passion makes you predictable. Angry people react in usually the same way. Fearful people do to. Find out what your adversary's passions lead to and they become a weakness, not a strength."

"Quite right.  These are both flaws in embracing the code.  Symptoms as I said.  The code doesn't tell us to shun allies, nor does it tell us to put our ambitions beyond all reason."  She smiles in response to Pelagie's comment.  She looks over the rest of the class to see if answers are forthcoming and nods to the Sith at the back of the class. "Exactly right. The flaw in the code is in exactly what it teaches.  The code preaches to follow your passions, to let them empower you to grow strong and take what you desire.  These are good lessons, and one of the things that give Sith an edge over other groups like the Jedi.   However it fails to council any form of moderation in this." she says calmly.  "Passions are a wonderful thing.  At least until they drive you to kill an ally out of ambition.  Or to overreach because you want it too badly.  Or even to fight when you should flee. As the young woman in the back pointed out, if you know someone's passions you can exploit them.  Passions can toss caution and reason to the wind and then we're little better than savages.  Passions should be embraced, but not to the point where you are lost to them.  You must rule your passions, not the other way around."  Valaria finishes, looking around at the students and measuring their reactions.

Hurme nods slowly as she listens to Lady Valaria. She starts slouching on her chair again and rubs the bridge of her nose. "Nice speech. And I get the point. It's a good point." She shrugs and perks her eyebrow as she crosses her arms over her chest again. "But I'm no sure if I fully understand it. Could you give us an example of situation where your emotions, or your passion, rules you and not the other way around?"

Zirellax blinks slowly as she listens to Lady Valaria and the others, slightly raising her own hand, "I do find using my passion into seeking knowledge helps me temper any potential...arrogance or abuse of power. I value my allies as well, and it's important to keep a level head, lest a brawl starts over who over has the pointiest sticks."

She then lowers her hand, having said her bit, eyes resting on her teacher.

Pelagie continues to sit up straight, hands held primly before her. She looks at the teacher, fighting to keep her lips mostly straight, mostly. Her eyes barely betraying her with a slight flick toward Hurme then back, her effort to maintain her composure mostly successful save perhaps to someone very attentive to such minutiae.

"That is very good to hear Zirellax." Valaria smiles. "Allies can be quite useful. It is passion unbound by reason that I warn about." She looks to Hurme. "I can give you a few. The most common one is one that happens so very often among us. The student that see's an opportunity to slay their master and try to claim his place. So often the student does so before they are ready because their desire for power outweighs their ability to control it. Then they find them self in a untenable situation." She smiles softly. "Another example would be one brought up by the young woman in the back. If your passion is anger then if you let that rule, you will often be predictable. You will be powerful, but you can be goaded, entrapped by a more cunning foe."

"Yeah, I got it now." Hurme says and leans backwards with hands behind her head. "Still I don't get why someone would attack and kill their master. Seems just.. stupid. Why would you eliminate someone you can learn from just so you can brag about it?" She shakes her head and looks at Valaria.

"Not just to brag, but also in an effort to take up their master's position for power and status," she says, looking around at Hurme, "Although, I do tend to agree, to a point. Learn all that you possibly can from your master, then take them out if necessary." Zirellax faces forward, attention back where it had been, smoothing out her robe a little.

Another small chuckle came from the back. When the Sith spoke, her voice was laced with casual amusement as she folds her arms across het chest. However the mirth in her voice in stark contrast with the more agressive twist of her features.

"Really ? Killing your master is killing someone you can learn from ? Hah ! If your 'master' lets down their guard so completely that you as their apprentice can strike them down, they probably have nothing more left to teach you. And of itself, you'll be lucky that they let a threat to their own power live long enough to get to that point, so... killing those bastards is about the only thing you -can- do to stay alive and grow."

Almost as an afterthought, she adds..
"Big mean Kryat dragon eating it's own tail, all this business."

"And that is exactly the problem" Valaria responds to the young woman at the back. "The Sith have power, more so than the Jedi because we do not limit ourselves. But how do we use that? To kill ourselves. More good Sith die to a dagger in the back than to the Republic. If Sith cannot trust any then we've no allies. Take your example. If the Master had no need to fear their apprentice's rise to power, if the apprentice had no need to fear their master stepping on them? We'd have two good Sith instead of one. As for nothing to learn." She scoffs. "You presume that just because someone was less skilled at defending their back than you were at planting a dagger there, that they have nothing to teach. Perhaps they knew a technique that was useless in that situation but would win us a battle the next day. You've hurt the entire Empire to advance yourself a bit." She smirks. "And that is the flaw made evident. You advance, you grow more powerful and you cut down those who might be powerful enough to be a threat. Someday perhaps you rise to rule yes? A goal of many Sith. And then you find you've left the Empire weak in your scramble for power and you rule nothing."

Pelagie nods, slowly, contemplatively, then again raises her left hand a bit, at the wrist, speaking, "There is presumably one Sith amongst them all who is the most skilled, and what if they slew all the others to prove this? The Jedi would win," she muses, seeming to focus her orange eyes inward, "Must we kill to create stepping stones? If we worship power so, then acknowledge it. Just because you may squash it does not mean it could not aid you. Besides," she seems to focus again, looking at Valaria, "Killing something may also acknowledge fear. What need have we of fear?"

Zirellax listened carefully to Lady Valaria, nodding her head a few times. She seemed content is what was being lectured, her face displaying some satisfaction, allowing herself to speak up once again, "This is why I value allies very highly. They are no good dead, as is a powerful master or apprentice. It benefits no one, even if you think it does. I find the want for power is too great for many a Sith, however. They create instability, which I do not like. Knowledge seems to be dropped for raw power, a lot, as well."

When she finished, she traced her finger along her scar again, becoming as silent and passive as ever, and again, as if she never uttered a word.

Hurme watches and listens others with a small hint of grin on her lips while reclining on her chair. She shakes her head and murmurs barely audile with herself. "Aaand it always goes to politics.." She sighs and glances at the red skinned Trueblood before turning her gaze back to the Lady Valaria. "Blue has an excellent point. Again." She point her thumb at Zirallex.