Cordaxia Vel'naz

Raised on the streets, **Cordaxia Vel'naz (formerly Sarrys)**, made a name for herself as both a combatant, a diplomat and a strategist. Orphaned at a young age, Cordaxia found herself in the care of the Hutts for most of her early life. In her time in the Hutt's care, Cordaxia saw the consequences of injustice and pledged to fight in when opportunity would allow. The compassion and skill she brought to this mission gained her the attention of Darth S'renx Vel'naz of the Sith Imperium. Initially hiring her as his head of security, Vel'naz fell in love with the mercenary and eventually married her making her the lady of House Vel'naz. Cordaxia's rise would continue until the fall of the Sith Imperium at the hands of the Eternal Empire. She later joined the offshoot of the Sith Imperium which became known as the Midnight Order and served it as both Minister of Intelligence and later Chancellor. She served with distinction until her death at the hands of Xalven.

## Biography

Born on Nar Shaddaa, in 3673 BBY to smugglers working for the Hutt Cartel, Cordaxia spent the earliest years of her childhood in the company of her parents as they traveled from world to world delivering and obtaining items of value for their Hutt Masters. The only entertainment she enjoyed on these trips was the experience of traveling to new worlds. When she was four years of age, her parents were returning to their main contractor, Serohga the Hutt. They had been sent to acquire a particularly rare artifact from a man in the Outer Rim and were anxious to receive their pay for the coveted item. As they strode into the Hutt’s throne room with crate in tow, they were surprised to discover that beneath the artifact, a bomb had been rigged to detonate. Though it was discovered soon enough to prevent detonation, Serohga was furious and ordered his guards to execute Cordaxia’s parents at once. Cordaxia, still a young child at the time stood by with wide eyes as her parents were gunned down before here.
The Hutt took notice of the young child and her pale, tear-soaked face as she stood deadly still waiting for whatever was to happen next. He spoke, ordering his guards to bring her to the slave pits. She would remain alive, but would serve him as payment for her parents’ failings

### Dance of Death

Cordaxia served the Hutt faithfully for 12 years, for her entire living memory. As she neared the age of 16, the Hutt began to notice the beautiful creature she had grown into and demanded that her service be altered: she was now to dance for him and act as his personal attendant. She took to her new role with disgust and humiliation, but was thankful to be rid of some of her more degrading cleaning tasks.

She did well as a dancer, but her toleration for the humiliation had its limits and after 3 years in the role, the 19 year old Cordaxia attempted to stage an escape from the palace. By day, she observed the gladiatorial fights attended by the Hutt along with all of the fighting that was regular occurrence within the throne room and by night, she practiced the moves she saw in her cell. By no means an expert, Cordaxia was able to apply her raw and untrained skills in getting outside the palace before being caught and captured by the exterior guards who overwhelmed her.

Brought before her master in the late of the night, she knelt before him expecting only death to follow. The Hutt instead laughed in his sickening way and commended her for her initiative. He told her that if she wanted to fight, she would fight. Once again, she shifted roles falling under the instruction of one of Serohga’s lieutenants who taught her how to handle a blaster, a blade and how to fight without weapons. She quickly became a formidable member of the Hutt’s guards and for a time, seemed happy with her new position. For 10 more years, she kept the palace and the Hutt safe from intruders and eventually earned the trust of her master who saw her reborn and happy to serve. Unlike the other guards however, she detested murder and would often usher minor thieves and intruders away so as not to suffer the wrath of the Hutt. She showed care for the slaves who she occasionally oversaw and from time to time would sneak them food. Her ability to do these small acts of kindness made her job more tolerable, but it would not last.
The Hutt’s trust in the girl he had come to care for was misplaced; however, Cordaxia longed for her freedom and was willing to do just about anything to achieve it. Armed with both greater skills and more powerful weapons than her previous attempt, Cordaxia moved to escape again. This time, she was capable of killing all in her path and as she reached the outside, she pulled out a detonator and pressed the button with a mixture of elation and pity. Behind her, the interior of the palace erupted in flames as it began to crumble. She walked away from her “home” of 25 years for the last time and never looked back.

### A New Type of Warrior

Having grown up and lived in the underworld for her entire life, Cordaxia knew little else and began taking jobs as a mercenary. Her skill in battle attracted others to her and over time, she came into leadership over a small team of mercenaries she deemed worth to accompany her into battle.

Cordaxia felt great sorrow for her final act against the Hutt who, for all intents and purposes, had been her only family for most of her life. She did not enjoy killing, but saw it as a necessity. Despite the darkness of her past, she never lost her kind, noble and curious nature. Cordaxia and her crew were selective with the tasks they undertook and would go to great lengths only to help the underdog. They didn’t work for free, but they asked for little in return for their services.

Their clients were mainly refugees, victims and those who could not afford justice against those who oppressed them. Cordaxia and her crew spent years going out of their way to protect such people and make their lives easier. They had all been in the same situations and sought to ensure that fewer people would have to endure the horrors that they had.

Years later, a job was offered to the crew by Darth S’renx Vel’naz of the Sith Imperium. A job that required nothing, but protection for his House. The crew was happy to take up a job they deemed easy for such a large sum of credits and did their job with precision and pride. The quality of their work impressed S’renx who had quickly become enamored with their leader. He offered them a permanent contract as guardians of his House and Cordaxia was elevated to his Chief of Security.

### Security for Vel'naz

Cordaxia did her job well and, to her surprise, enjoyed the time she got to spend with S’renx. She secretly harbored and attraction for the man who was far above her station and did her best to suppress such feelings while still keeping close. House Vel’naz, a great source of intel for the Sith Imperium was a constant target for those seeking information and so Cordaxia’s job always kept her busy.

One night, when S’renx was away from his estate, a squad of elite hunters struck the house and took a number of Cordaxia’s men down as they infiltrated the inner chambers of the structure. Cordaxia was quick behind them and brought down most of their squad in her pursuit of their leader. She found him in the Central Intelligence chamber, a cyborg attempting to breach the systems. Upon seeing her, the cyborg disconnected from the console and attacked. It was a fierce battle and the cyborg seemed to have the upper hand. He was stronger, faster and could anticipate her attacks. At one point, she clawed her across the face, an attack that she was lucky to have survived, but that would leave her scarred for the rest of her life. She tried backing off and shooting the cyborg, but he took the shots and continued to move toward her. He wrapped his metallic fingers around her throat and pinned her against the wall. Confidence burned in his one real eye and she gasped for air, but he did not notice her hand slipping down to her belt reaching for a small gun. She drew it and fired several electrified blasts into his body leaving him shorted out. Moments later, her remaining guard burst in and captured him.

During the battle, Cordaxia had sustained a number of injuries and was brought to the med bay where she received a number of cybernetic replacements and enhancements. S’renx was relieved to find that she was alive and well when he returned and thanked her for her loyalty and service.

### Arrested Lord

Some time after her encounter with the cyborg, Cordaxia found herself in a unique situation. S’renx had been accused of poisoning the Emperor and had been sent to prison leaving Cordaxia in charge of his house. Many disagreed with this choice, but assumed it was because of her unfaltering loyalty to him. These people were unaware of the love affair taking place behind the scenes as the two had grown closer. Before he was taken away, Cordaxia promised to keep his House and legacy safe. In his absence, she bolstered the guard and sought out new members of the House who could serve as its agents.

House Vel’naz grew under her temporary command becoming a lair of secrets and information. After 5 years, S’renx was discovered innocent and returned to find his house in a strong position. He was delighted at his return, but even more so at finally being reunited with his love who he wasted no time in marrying. In a private ceremony, the two recited their vows and became one. Cordaxia became the Marchioness of House Vel'naz and served alongside her husband in collecting information of concern to the Emperor and the Imperium.

### The Fall of the Imperium

Cordaxia's service was not to last however. Elevated to the role of Keeper of Sith Imperium Intelligence, Cordaxia would be instrumental in collecting intel of value to the Imperium's military forces. Nothing could have prepared her, or anyone else, for what was to come. Days after Emperor Salvatus was slain by his daughter, Kharia, a fleet unlike anything the galaxy had witnessed appeared in the skies over Voss. The

Eternal Fleet had come and laid siege to the once-peaceful planet. On the surface, Cordaxia and other leaders within the Imperium debated their response to the attack with the majority voting to abandon the planet and disappear from the eyes of the galaxy. Empress Kharia and her faithful deemed such discussion as treason and declared that those involved would be punished once the invasion had been ended. The threat was never executed as Kharia fell to the invading force's Exarch who declared the planet under the rule of Emperor Valkorian of Zakuul. Cordaxia retreated to the planet Thule with the remaining Imperium force where they began to rebuild a society under the leadership of Empress Candicia. Cordaxia was made Minister of Intelligence and acted to further the reconstruction effort of the newly dubbed Midnight Order.

### A Dreadful Encounter

After five years of service to the Order, Cordaxia found herself facing a creature known as the Shade. The Shade had plagued the Order with tragedy after tragedy and it had been discovered that it could be defeated by a figure sacrificing their sense of self and shifting their moral alignment. Cordaxia allowed Dread Master Belleva to unleash her inner darkness which enabled her to destroy the Shade and discover who summoned it. The darkness took hold of her though and began to impact her performance as Minister of Intelligence. When her husband, the Praetor, confronted her about her change, she revealed herself unfit to hold the position and fled the Matriarch to a base in an undisclosed location. She held and tortured the former Princess, Nomathecia, at this base until her untimely escape and was eventually captured and brought back to the Order. Through a ritual performed by Si'alla using an ancient artifact, Cordaxia was restored to her former self and reassigned as Minister of Intelligence just in time to join in the final search for the traitor who summoned the Shade: Dread Master Senna.

   Following the end of the Shade conflict, Cordaxia dedicated her time to locating a new and less hostile home for the Order to settle upon. Eyeing the depths of Wild Space, she settled on a location and revealed it to the Order.

### New Horizons

The planet was the namesake of a system called "Acheron." The new homeworld proved to be a temperate and lovely place to settle that many within the Order deemed too good to be true, but as the move became finalized, the reality began to set in. Cordaxia oversaw the colonization stages of the planet and initiated the construction of the capital city as well as a dozen other settlements that would be required for long term habitation. As the Order became comfortably settled on Acheron, Cordaxia and the Ministry of State began dispatching diplomatic teams through the nearby Expansion Regions to discuss terms of annexation with other worlds in an attempt to increase the size and resources of the Midnight Order.

Several of the planets requested favors that proved the Order would truly care for new member worlds that proved daunting challenges for the teams involved, but the deals earned the growing Order a number of shipyards, new resource harvesting locations and a large supply of recruits for its military. The Ministry of State flourished under Cordaxia's leadership until a new threat presented itself. Valencia, a member of the near-extinct Roderick line had made contact with the Order regarding a secret cloning program being conducted by Zakuul on deceased members of the Imperium Royal Family. After investigating and eliminating a number of these clones, Valencia seized the throne from Candicia and was subsequently overpowered by a clone of S'rahnia named Val'erica. With the Order under Val'erica's control, several loyal leaders who remained faithful to Candicia were forced to flee the planet or face death.

On Rishi, the resistance to Val'erica's hold organized their attempts to reclaim their home. Under the leadership of Neronae and Cordaxia, they plotted, but their efforts proved futile as Candicia was slain before their eyes when they stormed Acheron. Only with the return of Si'alla did their battle against Val'erica find its conclusion as she was able to overpower the usurper with the aid of S'rahnia's spirit and Candicia's spirit.

Under Si'alla, Cordaxia resumed her role as Minister of State and continued her work searching for potential new members for the Midnight Order.

### Where I Stand, Is Where I Fall

In the latter part of her tenure as the Midnight Order's Minister of State, Cordaxia spent much of her time in meetings with the governors of the Order's holdings. She attended to their various needs as best she could to prove that the Order took care of its people and she was largely successful.

Unfortunately, an even arose on Caseyarus with many nobles raising an army against the planet's governor creating the need for him to declare a state of emergency. Cordaxia personally led the Order's response force to reclaim the planet and, while their efforts proved successful, the governor lamented over his decision to join the Order as it divided his people to the point of civil war. Resources were promised to the people of Caseyarus to help their restoration efforts following the rebellion and the damage it caused.

Shortly after, she oversaw the secession of Kaeshun into the hands of House Citadel, an ally she wished to procure for the Order. Her vote in the matter was an easy decision for her as Cordaxia had always opposed the annexation of Kaeshun and believed that their relationship was beneficial to no one. The conflict that enabled Kaeshun to fall to House Citadel garnered the attention of Darth Haar who required the presence of the Empress or the Chosen to discuss new terms for his silence. Cordaxia joined Neronae on the mission to Ilum where Darth Haar waited for them. He demanded that they eliminate his master in exchange for his silence on their location and they reluctantly agreed. Upon locating his master however, they determined that Haar had set up both parties and fled the planet with his master. Cordaxia was highly discouraged by Haar's lack of respect for diplomacy, but she knew you couldn't expect better from the Sith.

For a short period of a few weeks, everything was quiet within the Order until the Councilors attacked eachother with varying degrees of paranoia and delusion as a force plague seemingly affected them during a standard meeting. Cordaxia personally attacked Minister of War, Syrena Itera, before being subdued by the Empress and contained in stasis with the other Ministers and the Chosen. During her incarceration, her mind remained active and she was able to offer advice to members of the Order as they went about their day-to-day tasks.

When Csavrah and others had done more research into the plague and discovered its origin and where to find him, Cordaxia was consulted and urged Csavrah to release her for a single mission to arrest the Jedi Commander. Csavrah, knowing Cordaxia's skillset and effectiveness released her, believing she would change the tides of the mission. She traveled to Orpal, in secret, with other members of a team designed to capture the Jedi Commander. As they traversed the main space station of Orpal, her skills in both diplomacy and combat were often utilized to bypass obstacles until they finally reached the Jedi Commander. After a brief encounter with him, he was assassinated by Xalven of Kaeshun who remained spiteful for the Order's choice to grant his planet to House Citadel. Not knowing the depths of his motivation, the Order team stared at Xalven as he instructed his noghiri soldiers to attack them seeing no other reason to satisfy their desire for answers. While the noghiri attacked, Xalven ripped Cordaxia off her feet and held her in the air before him. Xalven and his victim exchanged some form of mental entity before Xalven smiled at Cordaxia and thanked her before immediately twisting his wrist and breaking Cordaxia's neck. Her body fell limp and was thrown from the high platform with a powerful force push. After failing to capture Xalven, the Order team collected Cordaxia's body from down below and returned it to Acheron to be put to rest.

## Personality

Cordaxia has always had a curious mind and enjoys learning new things. She traveled often in her early childhood and after 25 years of being trapped in a Hutt’s palace on Nal Hutta, was happy to once again navigate the stars seeking out new worlds. She is immensely loyal and kind-hearted. Despite many of the horrors she endured in the past, Cordaxia always retained a softness, especially for those she empathized
 with and would do what she could to ease their pain and suffering. As the Marchioness of House Vel'naz, she acts from her new station with the same kindness and compassion for those under her.

## Skills & Abilities

Cordaxia was a quick learner. In her teens, she staged an escape from a Hutt Stronghold using skills learned from mere observation and practice in her personal time. Her skills in combat only grew with actual advanced training. She is a master of hand-to-hand combat and an excellent marksman. She is proficient with a blade, but it is far from her strong point. Following a breach in House Vel'naz security, she is now fitted with cybernetic upgrades increasing her strength and her speed.

She was proficient as a spy and a computer hacker, skills which when combined with her contacts helped her to ascend to the position of the Minister of Intelligence in the newly formed Midnight Order. Her exposure to the more cultured class of the Imperium/Order and her growing role in politics also helped her develop her already reasonable diplomatic skills and earned her a reputation as a fair and balanced, yet pragmatic mind.