Crimson Dawn

## Pre-Campaign History

Previously a smaller tier criminal organization, little is known of Crimson Dawn before their rise to prominence other than that it coincided with the Galactic Banking Crisis and the economical power vacuum left by both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant State from 14-16 ABY.

## Campaign History

While unknown at the time, Crimson Dawn would later be tied to the murder of Grakkus the Hutt. Handled personally by its leader, Aureen, they were also responsible for the theft of several items from Grakkus’s vault. The group found out that whoever was responsible for this murder made contact with someone on Carania, the capital of Serenno.

The first mention of Crimson Dawn to the Jedi came on Quesh, where a group of initiates were investigating the Hutt-Owned facilities that produced adrenal stimulants (as well as the street drug SLAM), where a Crimson Dawn Operative assassinated the entire crew of the facility.

While investigating the murder of Grakkus the Hutt, the initiates followed the trail of clues to Serenno, finding the members of House Nalju brutally murdered. After further inspection of the crime scene they realized there were also two children kidnapped. The group was attacked by a squad of Crimson Dawn ‘Clean Up Crew’ pyros, one of which the group managed to capture.

Following Intel found on Quesh regarding the Crimson Dawn Assassin, the jedi found themselves at a shadowport called The Menagerie on Ord Vaxel, which it was revealed was the location for the next CD attack. They bumped into an Ardennian Crimson Dawn Operative, who while being questioned, admitted the organization was ramping up their operations and that her main contacts were Deilo and Lidei, Tognath brothers.

After questioning the captured cleanup crew pyro, the Jedi were led to a Crimson Dawn safehouse back on Serenno. As the group raced through the building fighting members of Crimson Dawn, the group eventually got to the top floor, seeing Aureen briefly, who threw the kidnapped Serennian children, Orron Dooku and Helena Nalju, at the group.

Leads found at The Menagerie led a group of Jedi to the 9th Bastion Asteroid Base, the Crimson Dawn’s base of operations at the time. The self-proclaimed last witch admitted to killing Grakkus and kidnapping children across the galaxy to make her dark acolytes and tools of her revenge against the Jedi, who she blamed for the death of her people. As Aureen fought the Jedi, Knight Aron Thul fought her students. The Jedi were terribly outmatched against Aureen, but both parties managed to escape the base.

On Taris, the Jedi, traversed crumbling city ruins reclaimed by nature to track down and capture Deilo and Lidei, Crimson Dawn Lieutenants. While there, they found a pamphlet for a meeting of the Nar Shaddaa Workers Coalition, led by a Zabraki woman named Maeve. The Jedi learned that Maeve’s movement was largely being funded and its strings pulled by prominent Crimson Dawn Financier, Erran Kor. In an attempt to disturb the Hutts’ firm grip of power on Nar Shaddaa Kor shot Maeve during an important speech while embedded undercover Crimson Dawn agents incited riots throughout Nar Shaddaa’s poorer working districts, with Maeve presumed dead and having to hide at the Praxeum. After being captured and questioned by the Jedi, Erran revealed that he had been moving spice out of a warehouse on The Wheel, and moving product from Mandal Motors and Yutane-Trackata.

### Investigation on the Wheel

A group of Jedi went out to investigate The Wheel, a now Crimson Dawn occupied space station concerningly close to Yavin IV. They infiltrated the base under the guise of a pod racing team. The group competed in a major race while using their downtime to uncover what the Crimson Dawn was plotting. They found a staggering amount of small arms, armor as well as tanks, APCs and landing craft, they also found intel on experimental bacta tanks. ((Mention Aureen presiding over the awards ceremony

### Battle of The Wheel

Seeing the need to immediately act upon this intel, the Jedi Order went into a near-full mobilization, sending out three teams:

Aurek: Group meant to distract whatever patrol ships were outside The Wheel, allowing teams Besh and Cresh to fly in safely and as unbothered as possible. They were successful, allowing Besh and Cresh to land, but were met by one of Aureen’s Acolytes, Denash, otherwise known as “The Banshee”. They were able to scare her off and she retreated in an especially explosive manner. Things were going well, as Padawan Seyzoe was able to track Hyperspace trajectories for fleeing Crimson Dawn ships, until the Jedi were waylaid by the next threat: the Crimson Dawn Flagship, *The First Light,* was being pulled directly into The Wheel.

Besh: Infiltrating Crimson Dawn research facilities and investigating the ‘experimental bacta tanks’ they were using. They found the Bacta tanks were not purely Bacta, but mixed with something that chemically looked very similar to Dathomirian Waters of Life. Four Acolytes emerged from the tanks, and whoever was in contact with this substance was turned into a zombie-like creature. The acolytes were defeated, the turned scientists eliminated and samples of this substance were collected.

Cresh: Taking the fight directly to where Aureen was administering from: the command tower at the center of the wheel. After facing near-zero resistance on the way to Aureen, Cresh was met by Aureen, who was sporting the Mandalorian weapon of legend - the Darksaber. With this she was able to command the loyalty of disparate Mandalorian separatists to combat the Jedi on her behalf. During this epic battle, both Knights Thul and Jin’a’zal were felled (though not fatally). Then-Padawan Aaldspar was very nearly killed by the Nightsister, but Padawan Okuz intercepted the felling stroke, giving up his life in the process. This opened up Aureen to attack, as Padawan Aaldspar lopped off her arm, taking control of the Darksaber.

In fury and agony, Nightsister Aureen pulled her flagship into the command tower of the Wheel. The remaining conscious Jedi allowed her to escape only so that they could prevent the ship from cutting the Wheel in half, killing thousands. In a combined effort of expertise and will, and the with help of Padawan buckle’s pet Purgil [Tori Atmos], the Jedi were able to avert disaster, though Nightsister Aureen escaped, but not without loss. Nebu Okuz, knighted posthumously, fell to save his friends, and he was successful. No other Jedi fell that day. The Jedi then accepted responsibility for the damage done to the wheel, later making great efforts to restore their galactic neighbors to working order.

### **The Return to the Ninth Bastion of Clan Vizla**

Padawan Emil Seyzoe’s clever scanning gave the Jedi what they assumed was the muster point for the Crimson Dawn evacuation efforts. When they arrived, they discovered the base more abandoned than last time, and utterly undefended. That was not the case, as previously captured Acolyte Vermyk had snuck aboard the *Uninvited Guests* along with Knight Moosh Maroosh and his Jedi followers. Vermyk attempted to play a game of cat and mouse with the Jedi, and though he landed a number of mortal wounds, the Jedi were able to defeat and ultimately kill Acolyte Vermyk. Following this, the Jedi discovered a documentation repository of all of Aureen’s Acolytes, currently being expunged by a remote character only known by “The Oracle.” The Jedi were able to thwart their attempts to delete this information, and came away with locations, names, and character profiles on nearly all of Aureen’s Acolytes. In a final attempt to keep the information out of the Jedi’s hands, the Oracle character attempted to remotely crash the asteroid base into the face of Ord Mantell, which the Jedi subsequently foiled.

The Jedi also infiltrated the League of Fighters, a traveling fighting competition to entertain the social and criminal elite that traveled around in a Lucrehulk. There were reports that many of Crimson Dawn’s top non-force sensitive toughs were recruited from here. While the Jedi did not find any concrete conclusive data, one of the fighters, a Nautolan known only as Slice confirmed their suspicions as he had been courted by them several times before.

### **Crimson Dawn and the Nar Shaddaa Riots**

At the urging of Maeve, a group of Jedi went to Nar Shaddaa to deliver some humanitarian aid supplies. They found that Kanna Borego, Maeve’s second in command, was now in charge. The group found out that the Nar Shadaa Workers Coalition was still getting ‘anonymous’ donations and that Kanna hoped to bring the fight to them.

Kanna later asked the Jedi for help in finding her sister. Through some crafty investigation the group was able to find the sister, only to find out that she was actually Shaelyn, one of Aureen’s Acolytes. Kanna were working together, partly at Aureen’s bidding, but also to liberate Nar Shaddaa from the oppressive rule of the Hutts. Shaelyn offered the group to join her in fighting to throw the hutts off Nar Shadda but the group refused. She disappeared from sight after triggering several planted explosives as a fleet of Crimson Dawn ships flew in to escalate the already explosive war.

Master Calden Seaus brought another group to Nar Shaddaa to provide aid and Maeve insisted upon coming along. While the rest of the Jed helped provide aid, Padawan June and Maeve went through an active warzone, where June was severely wounded. The two were able to meet with Kanna and nearly talk her down until Shaelyn came in, June attempted to talk to Shaelyn, but failed when she attempted to kill him. June, Maeve and Kanna were able to escape from Shaelyn and other acolytes. Calden and the rest of the students were able to deescalate a near-massacre of Nar Shaddaan civilians despite interventions from another of Aureen’s acolytes. The Jedi, Maeve, and Kanna retreated into hiding as the Hutt blockade was broken and the Hutt Mercenary Army suddenly surrendered (it was later discovered the source of their funding was hacked and drained). Hutt leadership fled the planet and nearby Hutt forces were too weakened by other attacks to respond. Crimson Dawn quickly moved in to seize several districts though most of the planet remained under control of local gangs and leftover administrators that stayed behind.

### **The  Attempted Assassination of Rien Tevv**

Due to the information recovered from the Oracle on the Clan Vizsla asteroid base, the Jedi came to possess the location of and vague directive of the Dark Acolyte Jaexme, codenamed “The Freak.” The Acolyte intended to assassinate Sullustan Sorosuub Officer Rien Tevv. Led by Sullustan Jedi Master Marab and his Padawan Autu, the Jedi struck out to Sullust with the goal to subvert any harm to the planet or it’s people, and to subdue the Acolyte Jaxmae and any of her allies.

The Jedi were very successful in keeping the knife-throwing phenom from landing any mortal blows on the Sorosuub leader, but the ensuing chase was fraught with danger. The Jedi sped atop lava flows on speeders, and through dangerous mills to chase down their targets, Acolytes Jaxmae and Paneleo, the latter who attempted to open a floodgate of lava to impede or destroy the Jedi. Luckily, Master Marab and his loyal Jedi defenders kept the lava from doing harm to the people of Sullust, or themselves, while beating back Paneleo, who subsequently escaped.

Meanwhile, Jedi Padawans Seth, Autu, and Emil chased down Jaxmae to her pickup location, and attempted to talk her down, reason with her and steer her away from Aureen’s designs. She was not receptive, and like a cornered manka cat, lashed out, injuring Seth, who had disarmed himself in a show of good faith. Still, Jaxmae obviously was swayed by the Jedi, as she gave Autu coordinates for a rendezvous, which Emil verified as not being a trap. At the end of the escapade, only the Jedi and a refinery were worse for wear, as the assassination had been averted, Aureen’s plot on Sullust foiled.

### **The Piracy of the Serrenian Treasury Ships**

Meanwhile on Serenno, the Noble Houses elected to divide what remained of House Nalju’s assets. Helena Nalju, sole survivor of the massacre of the Nalju family a year earlier, was not invited, but went anyway with her betrothed, Orron Dooku, adoptive father figure, Colgrath, and a group of the Jedi Order including Knight Aazol Tarva. Aureen interrupted these proceedings and pumped Dioxys gas into the room, which Padawan Jericho was whisked away with the Force, allowing the onlookers the ability to avoid a truly grisly fate. The Jedi, led by Orron Dooku, were then quickly able to evacuate the Noble Houses to safety on the upper floors of the acestra Dooku abode. Nightsister Aureen battled Knight Tarva to a stand-still, before making a truly bizarre exit through ancient pathways of the Dooku castle.

In a twist of events, the Nightsister informed Helena that while she murdered the entire Nalju family, Count Vemec ordered and paid for the assassination. In an attempt by the Nightsister to tempt even one Jedi to the dark, Aureen offered Vemec’s head as a gesture for her “past mistakes” and to influence Helena to seek vengeance. While Helena rushed deep into the safehouse, seeking out the fleeing Count Vemec, the rest of the Jedi fought off the Crimson Dawn’s surrounding forces. As the Jedi caught up with young Helena, she stood over the cowering form of Count Vemec. Through the pleas of Colgrath, Orron, and the other Jedi present, Helena made the decidedly Jedi decision to simply curse Count Vemec’s name, and damn him to Serreno’s justice system. She stayed her blows, and became a Jedi in truth.

However, this drama was a clever ploy by the nightsister to distract the Jedi and the Serrenian Nobility, as she absconded with much of the Serrenian wealth by way of treasure ship. This would lead to a large influx of liquid credits for the Crimson Dawn.

### **Chasing Down the Banshee**

A group of Jedi led by Knight Misako and Master Proko, using intel from The Oracle’s database, formulated a plan to draw in “The Banshee” otherwise known as Denash, involving a Jedi defector, and a team to bring the defector to justice. The trap was sprung by not only Denash but Tannis “The Bully” and Paneleo Ttan “The Enraptured” in the Hetzal system.

Denash shot down Padawan Filsa K’san, in an attempt to save her, Proko took a hard fall, resulting in him being hospitalized for some time after.

After a distraction from the Rogue Squadron, Padawan Jalrin engaged in an aerial duel with Denash until she was ultimately brought down and took a group of farmers hostage who were promptly rescued. Once the area was cleared, Padawan Seth Draalin called down a Proton Torpedo into the burning barn that Denash was in. Seth was able to kick the torpedo into her, killing her, but he was captured by Paneleo Ttan with the help of Zuckuss and 4-L0M.

Shortly after these events a rescue mission was organized to find Seth. After some aggressive discussions with Zuckuss and 4-L0M, the group of Jedi, led by Knight Misako, hired the pair of bounty hunters to Gamorr, the location of a sizable Crimson Dawn base. While Seth was being tortured for information by Paneleo, the rescue team split up to disable the turbo laser installations, stealth systems, sensor arrays and cripple their motor pool. Upon meeting at the rendezvous point, they found Seth in a nearby garbage heap but were pursued by a force of tanks and flame troopers as they escaped in just the nick of time with the help of Zuckuss and 4-L0M.

### **The Mishap with the Czerka Corporation**

A group of Jedi, led by Master Ralor Drax, went to Ubrikkia to investigate the presence of the Acolyte known as the Oracle. They decided to infiltrate the Czerka sector offices, posing as a rich buyer and his retinue to infiltrate Czerka Corp. Through a bit of subterfuge they found out that a receptionist, Phyllis, who they mistook as the Oracle. While the rest of the Jedi were playing their parts or snooping throughout the Czerka offices, Initiate Kitchiiran was led to a private security office by Phyllis to slice Czerka’s systems for her. Seth and Kitchiiran assumed this was a ploy by the woman, who they thought was the Oracle, to undermine Czerka’s security.

Instead of aiding the company against the intrusions of the Oracle, they made the executive decision to destroy many security appliances with high-yield explosives, hoping to foil the Oracle’s intrusions manually. In actuality, they had crippled the Czerka security devices and programs ability to defend against the Oracle, who was off-site at the time. Utterly shocked at the revelation that they had misfired so thoroughly, the Jedi, namely Kitchiiran, tried to manually stop the Oracle.

He was unsuccessful in stopping Czerka from being sliced, but he did locate where the Oracle might be hiding, where her home-base is located. In addition, the Jedi received the designation of an important world to both Crimson Dawn, Czerka, and the Hutts: Krenth-238.

### **Hetzal Prime and the Bacta of Life**

After Jedi Knight Moosh Maroosh and Master Calden Seauss completed an in-depth synthesization of and research into the Force-imbued fluids found when the Jedi confronted the Crimson Dawn on the The Wheel, they came to the conclusion the only location that could have supplied the bacta used in the concoction was Hetzal Prime.

Upon arrival, the Jedi narrowed their search to a particular Bacta research station that specialized in dissections of and the interactions of Bacta with dead tissue. This facility was ran by Niak Drus, a Kaminoan doctor who had previous had her license to practice suspended in the Republic due to some questionable experimentation, and because of the suspicious amount of credits that had recently been invested into the facility, the Jedi decided to sneak in to investigate.

The Jedi found that Crimson Dawn were in fact working in a secret laboratory hidden in the recesses of the spacious body storage warehouse and morgue of the facility, and that Acolyte Asena Vi was on the premises, doing research to investigate how the Dark Acolytes to combine bacta and the mummified corpses of long-dead nightsisters to create an alchemical mixture to both empower and stave off death. Acolyte Vi freely gave herself and her information up to the Order, interested more in the knowledge that the Order had to offer than her own research on behalf of Aureen.

Immediately after this revelation, another Dark Acolyte, Kia Wattcro attempted to bring the building down around them with explosives, in order to bury both the Jedi and Asena Vi, and the secrets of Aureen’s research. The Jedi were successful at escaping the collapsing facility  At this point, the ends of this research have yet to be realized.

1. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 1: Blades in the Dark
2. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 5: The Serennos
3. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 6: Pit of Vipers
4. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 9: The Scion, The Witch and the Warehouse
5. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 10: Ghosts of Dathomir
6. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 13: Twin Sons of Taris
7. ↑ JO:R Season 1, Episode 14: The Crimson Candidate
8. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 0: When the Dawn Breaks
9. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 1A: Wheeling and Dealing Damage
10. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 1B: Where There's a Wheel, There's a Way
11. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 1C: Dawnbreaker
12. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 4: Dead Mantell No Tales
13. ↑ Lucre Libre
14. ↑ Maeve-ing My Way Downtown
15. ↑ Dark Side of the Smuggler's Moon
16. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 12: Fanning the Flames
17. ↑ Monster Unincorporated
18. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 6: Helena Handbasket
19. ↑ The Banshee's Last Wail
20. ↑ Misako and the Search for Seth
21. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 8: Getting All Czerk'd Up
22. ↑ JO:R Season 2, Episode 13: Operation Witch Hunt