Order of Zildrog

The Order of Zildrog was a militant organization that emerged on Zakuul following the fall of the Eternal Empire. Driven to avenge his people's defeat, Vinn Atrius brought together various individuals and factions with different agendas who were united in their hatred of the Alliance and the Commander who commanded it. Learning about Zildrog, an ancient superweapon from Iokath, Atrius was informed by GEMINI 16, a rogue GEMINI unit who sought the destruction of the Eternal Fleet, of its workings and whereabouts, giving the Order the means to bring the Alliance down.
One of the Alliance's original founders Theron Shan learned about the Order and decided to work against it from the inside. Shan led the Commander into a trap on Iokath and later revealed himself as a traitor during the mission to Umbara. Faking his defection to the Order, Shan stalled them with false data while he chased Zildrog's location by infiltrating the Chiss House Inrokini on Copero to obtain the Sith Emperor's holomap leading to it. After the Order found Zildrog on Nathema, Theron send an encrypted message to the Alliance, convincing them to attend a rendezvous where he revealed his true allegiance and motives.
Together with Lana Beniko and the Commander, Theron tried to stop the Order from awakening Zildrog, but they were too late. Trapped in a force field, they could do nothing but watch as GEMINI 16 activated Zildrog and revealed his secondary form to be none other than the Gravestone. The Alliance's key asset was parked on Odessen, from where Zildrog proceeded to remotely use it to systematically destroy the entirety of the Eternal Fleet, which sat without orders in Odessen's orbit. After Zildrog prepared to target Odessen itself, the Alliance leadership used an opening to engage and destroy GEMINI 16, defeat Vinn Atrius and finally destroy Zildrog itself. Although the Order failed to achieve its primary goal, it nevertheless dealt a serious blow to the Alliance, depriving them of their most valuable military assets and causing many of its members to leave in the aftermath.
==History==
===Origins===
Around 3630 BBY the war against Zakuul of Zakuul ended with the Eternal Alliance toppling the Eternal Empire and acquiring some of its military assets, most importantly the Eternal Throne that controlled the Eternal Fleet. In the wake of the conquest Vinn Atrius, a former member of Empress Vaylin's Horizon Guard, witnessed the plight of his people and the heavy toll of the war, coming to resent the Alliance and its Commander, who brought an end to Zakuul's centuries of prosperity under Emperor Valkorion. Atrius became determined to take down the Alliance to avenge his people and began searching the GEMINI network for the means to do so. While browsing the data the Eternal Empire obtained on Iokath, he came upon the mentions of Zildrog, an ancient dragon god from old Zakuulan legends. The data indicated that Zildrog was in fact an Iokath superweapon with enough power to destroy entire civilizations and Atrius began to search for a way to find, awaken and control Zildrog. 
Atrius formed the Order of Zildrog from other Zakuulan hardliners like himself, including rogue Horizon Guards, Knights and Scions of Zakuul, Eternal Empire military soldiers, reprogrammed skytroopers and cultists from the fringe Heralds of Zildrog. United by their hate of the Commander for destroying their civilization, the secretive Order launched a campaign to bring the end of the Outlander and their Alliance. They set up base of operations on an abandoned listening post, where Atrius was approached by GEMINI 16, who promised to share information on Zildrog in exchange for the destruction of the Eternal Fleet. GEMINI 16 acquired access to the security of the Alliance base on Odessen, allowing the Order to observe and record Alliance's every step for months.
===Crisis on Umbara===
Theron Shan, one of the Alliance's original founders, contacted Atrius expressing desire join the Order and bring the Alliance down. Atrius refused to listen to him, which led Shan to arrange a trap for the Commander on Iokath to prove his dedication. He then contacted Atrius again, insisting that his contributions were vital to the Order's success. Atrius distrusted Shan and pointed out that the events on Iokath gained the Alliance a powerful ally, whose support was now denied to the Order. Shan asked for a way to prove himself, and Atrius asked him to secure a shipment of adegan crystals from Umbara. Theron traveled there along with the Commander and Lana Beniko and revealed his betrayal, trapping on a train that was about to collide with a mountain. The Commander and Lana survived the crash, but Theron managed to secure a large part of the adegan crystals shipment, escaping with it on his shuttle.
===The search for Zildrog===
Impressed with his dedication to their cause, Atrius and the others reached a decision to welcome Theron Shan into the Order. Using his unique infiltration skills as a former Republic Strategic Information Service operative, they tasked him with finding a holomap with coordinates to Zildrog's location, although GEMINI 16 warned Atrius not to trust Shan. Theron located a lead on the device stolen by the Chiss agents from the Sith Emperor on Copero, and convinced ruling Syndic Zenta of House Inrokini to provide him refuge in exchange for Alliance secrets. Zenta's brother Valss was Force-sensitive and received a vision of Shan's victory, which led him and several of Zenta's best fighters to join the Order. Theron sliced into Zenta's personal datapad to reveal the map's location in the ancient ruins and abandoned the Syndic. He and Valss extracted Zildrog's coordinates and destroyed the holomap, but when they were about to depart the Commander and Raina Temple arrived to stop them. Valss stayed behind to buy the others time and was killed, while Theron escaped on shuttle and transmitted the coordinates to Atrius.
===Endgame on Nathema===
Using the map's information, the Order learned that Zildrog was located on Nathema and moved its base of operations there, taking what they could from the listening post and tasking Theron Shan with wiping all data and destroying the rest. However, Shan was in fact a double agent working the Alliance the whole time and left encrypted backups of the data, as well as a message meant for the Alliance. As he expected, the message was intercepted, and the Alliance Commander with Lana Beniko headed to Nathema. Meanwhile, the Order excavated Zildrog in the ruins of an ancient Sith Temple, assisted by their allies with personal vendettas against the Commander.
Theron slipped away from the Order and rejoined his friends, but GEMINI 16 noted their presence and Atrius ordered to begin the ritual meant to awaken Zildrog ahead of schedule. The GEMINI deceived and betrayed some of their allies, locking them inside energy transfer chambers to be used as fuel for Zildrog's awakening, when the Alliance battled the Order's forces and reached Zildrog's location. Shan shot Atrius, but GEMINI 16 trapped the Alliance members in a force field and revealed that the machine god was already awakened. Zildrog then used his connection to the Dark Sanctuary to remotely take over the Gravestone which was parked on the Alliance capital of Odessen. Zildrog took the Gravestone into Odessen's orbit and proceeded to repeatedly fire its omnicannon at the Eternal Fleet, which sat defenseless in the abscence of orders from the Eternal Throne. 
After annihilating the Eternal Fleet, Zildrog targeted Odessen itself and began to recharge before the next attack, dropping the force field and forcing GEMINI 16 to engage the Alliance directly. Lana, Theron and the Commander battled and destroyed the GEMINI droid, and Theron attempted to shut Zildrog down, but was stabbed in the back with a lightsaber pike by Vinn Atrius. Desperate to have his vengeance, Atrius ordered Zildrog to enhance him with its power, after which he attacked Lana and the Commander with his new increased strength. The two of them defeated Atrius and destroyed Zildrog, but the last act also triggered the self-destruct mechanism of the Gravestone and disabled the Eternal Throne. The Alliance had lost two of its most powerful weapons but endured, while the Order of Zildrog was finished, leaving the Commander to decide Vinn Atrius' fate.
==Behind the scenes==
The Order's membership changes depending on the player's class and choices made throughout the base game and Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion. Three people appear as Zildrog's victims during "The Nathema Conspiracy" flashpoint, two of which are introduced in holorecordings on the abandoned listening post, while the third confronts the player before the second boss fight of the flashpoint:
*Either Chela Nayss or Zera, depending on the player's choice to support or attack Senya Tirall during Knights of the Eternal Throne Chapter I: Wrath and Ruin.
*Either Darth Mortis or Indo Zal, depending on the player's choice to claim the Eternal Throne as peacekeeper or the new Emperor during Knights of the Eternal Throne Chapter IX: The Eternal Throne.
*For Jedi Knights, either Servant One or Bela Kiwiiks depending on the player's Light or Dark alignment.
*For Jedi Consulars, either Sophia Farash or Gaden-Ko depending on the player's Light or Dark alignment.
*For Troopers, either General Essith or Elin Garza, depending on the player's choice to support either Republic or Sith Empire during the War on Iokath.
*For Smugglers, either Nexia Kirill or Jedi Master Sumalee, depending on the player's choice to pledge the pirate fleet for the Republic or claim them for themselves towards the end of their class story.
*For Bounty Hunters, either Malea Janarus or Sith Lord Vindis, depending on the player's choice to kill Dorian Janarus or Darth Tormen towards the end of their class story.
*For Imperial Agents, either Shara Jenn if the player became a double agent for the Republic Strategic Information Service, or Marcus Trant otherwise.
*For Sith Warriors, either Darth Baras or Darth Ravage, depending on the player's choice to spare or kill Baras towards the end of their class story.
*For Sith Inquisitors, either Darth Zash or Khem Val, depending on the player's choice to put of them in the Mind prison towards the end of Khem's companion story arc.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Eternal Throne 
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==Notes and references==
Category:Eternal Empire organizations
Category:Military units
Category:Religious organizations