Darsin

"Please, powerful Jedi, be merciful! Do not destroy the poor, lost, weak-willed fool enslaved by Darth Rivan all those centuries ago!"

- Darsin, to the Heroes of Cularin

Darsin was a male Human who served as the apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Rivan during the time of the New Sith Wars. He resided in Rivan's Sith fortress on the planet Almas, and there, his master subjected him to various experiments and dark side rituals. Darsin came close to attaining the rank of Dark Lord of the Sith and planned to assume the name Darth Malus, but he died as a result of Rivan's alchemical manipulations before he could become a Sith Lord. Darsin's consciousness survived as an incorporeal Sith spirit, and Rivan bound him to act as a guardian of the Sith fortress. Centuries later, in about 21 BBY, the Chevin slaver Phylus Mon, the Dark Jedi Karae Nalvas and several of their minions ventured into the Sith fortress in search of the secrets of the creation of Sith battlelords, a class of warrior developed by Rivan, and their incursion caused Darsin to re-awaken, The Sith spirit attacked the interlopers, but was warded off by the power of the Darkstaff, a Sith artifact that was carried by Mon. Shortly afterward, Darsin ambushed a band of freelance agents who had ventured into the fortress in the wake of Phlyus Mon's intrusion, and he was defeated by them.

Biography
"I served him in life. I serve him in death. This seems more like how one would treat a slave than an apprentice."

- Darsin, on Darth Rivan

Darsin was a Force-sensitive male Human who lived during the era of the New Sith Wars. At some point between about 1,417 BBY and 1,167 BBY, Darsin became the apprentice of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Rivan and studied the ways of the dark side of the Force. He lived with Rivan inside the Sith Lord's fortress on the planet Almas in the Cularin system, and there, the Dark Lord subjected Darsin to various dark side rituals and performed alchemical experiments on him, treating the apprentice as little more than a slave. A small, uncomfortable lump of rough granite was installed inside the fortress next to Rivan's throne, for Darsin to sit on and meditate.

During his life, Darsin came close to becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith and he planned to assume the name "Darth Malus." However, before he could ascend to the rank of Sith Lord, Darsin betrayed Darth Rivan and died as a result of the damage that had been done to his body by Rivan's experiments. His corpse was interred inside a black marble sarcophagus in a specially constructed crypt that had been built for Darsin and Rivan in the depths of the fortess, but Darsin's consciousness lived on as an incorporeal sith spirit. Through the Force, Rivan bound his former apprentice to the dark side presence that permeated the entire fortress, and Darsin was compelled to act as a guardian of the stronghold and attack any intruders.

Rivan was eventually defeated by the Jedi Order and the Almas Sith fortress was abandoned, and Darsin lay undisturbed for centuries. Circa 21 BBY, during the Clone Wars, the Chevin slaver Phylus Mon and the Dark Jedi Karae Nalvas, along with several of their minions, traveled to Almas and explored the Sith fortress, in search of the secrets of the creation of Sith battlelords, a class of warrior leader developed by Darth Rivan that were bonded to their troops via the Force. When the party accessed a secret chamber inside which the rites involved in the making of Sith battlelords had been recorded, Darsin's spirit was re-awakened and he attacked them. However, Mon used the Darkstaff&mdash;a powerful Sith artifact that the Chevin had been lent by the criminal Len Markus&mdash;to ward off the ghost, and Darsin watched on helplessly as Mon and Nalvas made a failed attempt to perform the Sith battlord rituals, and he was subsequently unable to prevent Mon from leaving the fortress with one of Rivan's Sith tomes.

The Jedi Order hired the Heroes of Cularin, a renowned team of freelance agents, to investigate the disappearance of some Jedi Knights that had been captured by Mon's entourage, and two hours after Mon's incursion, the operatives made their way to the lower levels of the Sith fortress.

Darsin observed the agents as they moved through the fortess and he ambushed them inside the crypt, attempting to strike them down with six lightsabers that he wielded simultaneously through the Force. However, the agents overcame him and threatened to use the power Force Light to destroy the spirit. Darsin begged them for mercy and told them about what Mon had been doing in the fortress, and the agents agreed to spare the spirit.

Personality and traits
"I am what I am. I do not want to go to rest, I merely want to be free once more. If you have never been a slave, you cannot understand the torment of the dark, alone."

- Darsin, to the Heroes of Cularin

A weak-willed individual, Darsin was happy to take unfair advantage of others, and he no qualms against lying to people or being manipulative in order to achieve his aims. Following his death, Darsin became corrupted by the dark side of the Force to a greater extent than he had been when he was alive and he became vengeful, attacking intruders who entered the Sith fortress. He disliked being bound to the fortress' dark side aura and sought to be freed, so that he could go where he pleased. When Darsin was re-awakened after Phylus Mon violation of the Sith fortress, Darsin was enraged by their actions, because he believed that Mon had no right to steal Darth Rivans secrets and because Mon was carrying the Darkstaff, which had been feared by Rivan more than anything else. The spirit felt humiliated when Mon countered his attack, and he became angry at himself, because he couldn't pursue Mon's party beyond the bounds of the Sith fortress and kill them. Darsin feared the Heroes of Cularin when he encountered them shortly after Mon's intrusion, as he realized that they could potentially destroy him. As a spirit, Darsin manifested himself clad in flowing, black-colored robes.

Powers and abilities
Darsin was trained in the use of Sith sorcery and he was able to use the Force to sense the world around him, to move objects, to affect the minds of others, to heal himself, to enhance his strength and to drain Force energy. In addition, he was also proficient in the use of the powers battlemind, Force rage, Force stealth and Hatred. As a spirit, Darsin could not be harmed by physical attacks and he could teleport at will to different locations within the Sith fortress. Before his death, Darsin imbued the crystals of six lightsabers with his essence and after he became a ghost, he was able to temporarily extend his presence into the weapons wield them in combat. Due to a combination of the experiments that were perform on him by Darth Rivan and the dark side presence that permeated throughout the Sith fortress, Darsin had a greater power and control over his environment than normal Sith spirits, and his strength was further enhanced after he was exposed to the Darkstaff.

Behind the scenes
Darsin was created by Morrie Mullins and he appeared in A Mon Alone, a 2004 role-playing adventure that formed part of the Living Force campaign. He was later referenced in the article Sith Battlelords, a tie-in to A Mon Alone that was written by Mullins and published on Wizards.com, and in 2007, he received a further mention in the roleplaying module Echoes of the Jedi.

In A Mon Alone, the player characters role-play as the Heroes of Cularin and the decisions taken by them came impact upon Darsin's actions and ultimate fate. If the players spend a long time in the fortress' library, Darsin attacks them there, rather than in the stronghold's crypt, while if the players respond to a call made by the dark side of the Force in the fortress' ritual chamber for the agents to promise themselves to it, they can be possessed by Darsin. If the player characters use the power Force Light to dissipate the fortress' dark side taint, Darsin ceases to be bound to the fortress and flees, and it is alternately possible for the players either to destroy him or live him in peace.