Darth Amorosa

* Current
* Dark Lady
* Debut

Darth Amorosa was a female Human Sith Lord and the Dark Lady of the Sith who was active during the First Order-Republic War. Amorosa's contributions to the war saved many lives that would have otherwise been lost. She became famous for her ruthless tactics and her unusual philosophy about the Force. She was ultimately responsible for completely upending the status quo of the galaxy by creating a rival superpower in the New Sith Empire and culling many of the exploitative organizations throughout the galaxy like the Hutt Cartel. She also rebuilt the Sith Order and even influenced the new Jedi Order to be remade with her values. Her actions paved the way for a brighter future for the galaxy where the most hard done people could take refuge and thrive.

## Biography

### Early Life

Amorosa (born Aliana Beniko) was born on Odessen to Darth Mayrik and an unknown father. Her birth was a wake-up call to the previously reckless Mayrik who refocused her efforts into ensuring her daughter would remain safe and protected. Amorosa aided her mother in a transportation mission when she was ten years old, transporting the 5 year old Rey to Jakku at the behest of Niima the Hutt. Amorosa sung to Rey to get her to settle down. Rey ultimately didn't remember this encounter, and grew up beliving her parents had left her on Jakku,

Amorosa began her training as a Sith when she was six, with Mayrik teaching her the basics of the Force using the wealth of Jedi and Sith holocrons that Darth Alora had manged to secure during her life. Amorosa proved to be unimpressive in the Force, with an impressive work ethic. She worked hard and trained harder to impress her mother and earn her Sith name.

When Amorosa was 14 years old, she and her mother were attacked on Corellia by Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and Ben Solo. Amorosa was severely wounded in the fight, and fled for her life on her mother's orders. Mayrik was eventually killed by the Jedi, and her body burned.

### Galactic Drifter

Now without her mother, Amorosa became a drifter in the galaxy. She travelled through the Outer Rim to make a living. Taking mercenary jobs, bounty hunting contracts, smuggling, bouncing and courier jobs, she continued her training through the conflicts she encountered along the way. As a result of her involved life, Amorosa became an extremely well-rounded Force user who was practised in many different techniques and approaches to a problem.

In 30 ABY, Amorosa was pursued throughout the edges of Republic Space by the *Raddus* for several weeks. General Leia Organa, on high alert since the start of the Cold War, was so alarmed by the sight of a Sith ship that she gave relentless pursuit. As Amorosa's ship, the Fury, had a damaged Hyperdrive Generator, Amorosa was unable to make a jump long enough to not be immediately picked up on long range scanners. The pursuit ultimately ended when Amorosa turned her ship and fought the *Raddus*, destroying its Hyperdrive generator and leaving it unable to pursue. She hailed the ship, demanding that they cease pursuit and that she wasn't associated with the First Order, before leaving. The battle had no casualties aside from a few wounded.

Amorosa took work from Niima the Hutt on occasion, befriending a Force sensitive Twi'lek named Talon and giving her basic training in the Force and building her a lightsaber.

### First Order-Republic War

Amorosa arrived on Jakku to replace a broken Hyperdrive coil when she became wrapped up in the war. Though supposedly there for repairs to leave the system, she was actually planning to commit suicide by ramming the Fury at lightspeed into Jakku's sun. She unknowingly reunited with Rey, and encountered Lor San Tekka after the destruction of Tuanul by the First Order. After hearing about the Resistance's plans and promising to help, she beheaded Tekka to spare him the agony of dying from a chest wound. The next night she had an encounter with Kylo Ren, not knowing his true identity, and defeated him in a lightsaber duel.

She later rescued Poe Dameron from the wreckage of a TIE Fighter and brought him on board the Fury to have his injuries treated. After encountering Finn, and Rey again, she defended them from an attack by the First Order and aided them in escaping Jakku with BB-8.

After converging in open space, the two ships were captured by Han Solo. Solo only wanted the Millenium Falcon back, but found the angry Sith Lord standing inside. After a brief conversation, Amorosa determined they weren't a threat and let them take the ship on the condition they wouldn't mention her being Sith to Rey or Finn. The group split up, with Rey and Amorosa going aboard the Fury to bring Poe back to a Resistance station and Finn going with Solo to Takodana. She was attacked by Kylo Ren a second time, but fought him off without drawing her lightsaber.

Meeting up with the others on Takodana, Amorosa sensed that Finn and Rey were strong in the Force and gave them basic lightsaber instruction under the guise of vibroblade training. The three eventually started to hit it off and become friends over the few weeks they were on Takodana waiting for the Resistance to come take BB-8. Eventually Amorosa would confess her identity to Finn, but continue to keep it secret from Rey.

Rey would ultimately discover Amorosa's identity when the First Order attacked Takodana. In her haste to flee, she witnessed Amorosa draw her lightsaber to fight Stormtroopers. She had little time to come to grips with this discovery as she was captured by the First Order.

### Battle of Ilum

Amorosa and Finn traveled to D'Qar to meet with the Resistance, where Finn told them about Starkiller Base and how it was about to take aim at the Republic. Making a hasty plan of attack, Amorosa travelled with Finn and Solo to Starkiller Base to disable the shields and save Rey. The group split up so Amorosa could intercept Rey, but the scavenger was distrustful of her after learning she was a Sith Lord. Amorosa made an impassioned plea to Rey that she could yell at her as much as she pleased after they were safely off the planet, and that she would explain everything. Rey tentatively agreed, but only on the condition that Amorosa surrender her lightsaber. She would later return it to her when they made the plan to bomb the oscilator.

As they retreated, they learned from Poe that more time was needed to take out the base. Handing her lightsaber over to Rey a second time, the group split up to Amorosa could buy them more time to destroy the planet. As Starkiller Base fired, Amorosa used the Force to hold back the weapon for a few seconds so Poe could finish bombing the internal workings of the base. Holding back the beam completely exhausted Amorosa, and she had to be carried back onto the Falcon before they could flee.

Rey confronted Amorosa about her deception, and Amorosa eventually confessed to having romantic feelings for Rey when asked why she was so concerned about the scavenger's well being. Rey rejected her feelings on the basis that her deception couldn't be forgotten, but offered her the chance to earn back her trust and possibly her friendship. Amorosa agreed.

### Training Rey

Amorosa escorted Rey to Ahch To to be trained as a Jedi by Luke Skywalker. Offering her lightsaber training and a place to live, Amorosa worked hard to earn back Rey's trust. When Rey was plagued with visions of Kylo Ren as a result of the Force Bond, Amorosa spent her time training to use a Jedi shielding technique to block the bond and keep Kylo Ren out of her head.

Their friendship was eventually repaired after Leia Organa openly wished Rey would kill Amorosa, and that Rey's cold attitude toward her made her fear that she would. Her fear of Jedi and the memory of what Luke's previous apprentice had done to her only exacerbated that worry and she broke down into tears. Rey felt an intense amount of sympathy toward her and the two reached an agreement that there would be no more artificial distance between them.

Amorosa deployed this technique after a particularly nasty encounter with Kylo Ren. Rey was skeptical at first, as Ren had invaded her mind and the experience had been so traumatizing she wasn't content to repeat it. Amorosa insisted that she would make it as painless as possible and that she would stop if Rey demanded it of her. With this reassurance, Rey agreed and Amorosa entered her mind to shield her from the Force Bond.

Thought it had been effective, Amorosa had exhausted herself doing it. Rey was touched by the sheer effort Amorosa exerted to ensure she felt no pain, and that led to her realizing just how much she loved her. She confessed this to Amorosa and kissed her, and the two began a romantic relationship. Rey would later discover that Mayrik was killed by Luke Skywalker, which would further tip her loyalties in the Sith's favor.

### Evacuation and Battle of Crait

Amorosa was present for the evacuation of D'Qar, actively preventing the loss of the bombing fleet by circumventing Poe's authority and using the Force to incapacitate him. When the Fleet was being pursued by the First Order, she and Poe took a shuttle to Canto Bight to find a codebreaker to help sneak aboard the Supremacy. While on Canto Bight, she had a very frank conversation with Poe about how the symbolic victories he's searching for will ultimately prove fruitless because of the arms dealers operating on each side of the war.

Though finding the codebreaker proved a failure, a new opprotunity presented itself when Hux contacted the Resistance to barter for the Sith as a prisoner. Amorosa ultimately agreed and took this opprotunity to sneak the others onto the ship. Amorosa was taken before Snoke while Rey, Rose, Finn and Poe disabled the Hyperspace tracker. When standing before Snoke, Amorosa was boisterous and boastful, actively keeping Snoke focused on her and taking advantage of his low opinion of her friends to let them sneak by unnoticed. Snoke attemtped to read her mind, but Amorosa used old Revanite techniques to keep him at bay. When the Resistance fleet jumped to Hyperspace and the Supremacy couldn't track them, Snoke ordered Amorosa to be killed, but Rey arrive with her lightsaber and the two fought off Snoke's knights.

Rey ultimately killed Snoke, but was left vulnerable by a Knight. Amorosa, sensing her immenent death, threw her lightsaber to deflect the killing blow, but left herself open to Kylo Ren who severed her leg and impaled her through the stomach. Rey incapacitated Kylo Ren and got Amorosa to the Fury where her wounds were treated. After almost a full day of surgery, 2V-R8 announced that Amorosa's vital organs were healed, her spine replaced with a cybernetic replacement after it was severed by Ren, and her non-vital organs were removed.

Aliana was ultimately comatose for two months.

### Rallying the Outer Rim Fleet

When Amorosa awoke, she discovered that the Resistance had settled on Odessen, the home of the Eternal Alliance. Immediately she started contacting her allies in the Outer Rim. The Resistance had mistakenly believed that Amorosa's allies in the Hutt Cartel were the Hutts themselves. In reality it was put upon pilots, spice runners, traffickers, and others coerced into working for the Hutts that she had previously helped on her adventures. The Outer Rim Fleet arrived on Odessen in force and the Resistance immediately went on the offensive.

During this time, Amorosa and Rey married.

Amorosa was also involved in an excursion to Nathema, where a secret First Order facility was training Force Sensitive children to be Jedi Hunters. Amorosa, Rey, Finn and Rose invaded the facility and rescued most of the children, including Star Beniko. It was here the Knight of Ren Kuruk was killed by Rose Tico.

Following the events on Nathema, Amorosa was contacted by Naboo, which had been blockaded by the Republic as a preventative measure against the Sith owing to Naboo's reputation for birthing Emperor Palpatine. Amorosa travelled to Naboo and agreed to disperse the blockade the Naboo offered itself as a staging ground for the Outer Rim Crusades after the war. Queen Tahraya agreed, and Amorosa used the Force to disperse the blockade.

## Personality

### Attitude

> "Amorosa embraced it. Embraced the rumors and fear and turned them to her advantage. They so desperately wanted her to be a tyrant? She would give them a tyrant. She would give them something to haunt their nightmares, fearful that they would be the next one to die at her very whims. She would let the lesson sink in that she did not need to enter Republic space to destroy them, and that there wasn’t an Outer Rim hell far enough to hide them from her. If they wanted to live in fear so badly, she would make every last waking moment of their lives an unbearable nightmare from which they would never wake." - The Sith Resurgence, Chapter 43
>
>

In public, Amorosa wears the mask of a ruthless Sith Lord, having long since accepted that she will always be distrusted for being Sith. She considers the fear that the Republic gives itself to be useful in it's own right, making even the emptiest threat carry a great deal of weight. In private, Aliana is sentimental and wears her heart on her sleeve. Her love for her friends is intense and overpowering, and it dominates her decision making at times. She says on many occasions that were it not for Rey she would be content to watch the First Order and the Republic tear each other apart. Her attachment to her friends comes from the intense loneliness she felt when she lost her mother to the Jedi.

### Politics

Amorosa has an intense hatred of the Jedi for killing her mother as well as the Republic for allowing it to happen in the first place, and one of her life goals has been to destroy the Republic's Jedi Order and break the stranglehold on the Galaxy the Republic has enjoyed for thousands of years. While she eventually succeeds in this goal, her involvement in the War ultimately leads to the creation of the new Jedi Order, which became a staunch ally to the Sith for many years to come. Amorosa is vehemently anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian, considering the Republic and Hutt Cartels to be a scourge on the Galaxy. She is often seen in the lowest rungs of the Outer Rim aiding and supporting the common folk. This approach has garnered her a lot of goodwill and respect, enough to rally a Fleet against the First Order. Amorosa is also a supporter of direct action, murdering the Supreme Chancellor for betraying the Resistance in the destruction of the Singularity, though she left the Senate unharmed to elect a new one.

Amorosa does not believe in cooperation with existing power structures, often citing the way her mother played by the Republic's rules of nonviolent activism and peaceful advocacy and was murdered anyway as proof that the myth of peaceful activism is a convenient lie by power structures. Though not believing the Galaxy can exist stateless, she believes the Sith Order should exist to strike fear into the hearts of the powerful, and to cut them down when they have outlived their usefulness.

## Relationships

### Rey Beniko

Amorosa and Rey were fast friends from the moment they met, though Amorosa's concealing of her identity would eventually put a severe strain on their friendship. Amorosa felt responsible for Rey after getting her involved in the War, and made it her mission to ensure she got out alive. At some unknown point, Amorosa developed feelings for Rey, which only intensified her feelings of responsibility.

Amorosa's selfless love for Rey bordered on unhealthy at times, with Amorosa subjecting herself to injury or stress at Rey's benefit. This only became worse after her identity was revealed and Rey insisted she had to earn back her trust. Though her very genuine love for Rey eventually caused the Jedi to warm up to her and fall in love with her in turn, it created an imbalance in their relationship where Amorosa was doing the majority of the emotional labor and even getting hurt because of it. Poe expressed these concerns to Rey, and even outright calling Rey's behavior "abusive." Rey was mortified by the revalation and resolved to do better by her. When Amorosa woke up from her coma, Rey confronted her about this imbalance and her own cruel acts and the two came to an agreement that there would be no more "transactions" or "debt" in their relationship. It took a while for Amorosa to become accustomed to the idea, but afterward their relationship was far healthier.

### Poe Dameron

Amorosa and Poe had an unlikely friendship. The two bonded on the mission to Canto Bight, and Poe became very concerned about Amorosa's wellbeing after she fell into her coma. Poe confronted Rey about her toxic behavior and pushed Rey into realizing how poorly she'd treated her. After she woke up, Poe made a point to keep an eye on Amorosa and watch for her mistreatment from Leia. It was Poe's idea to limit Leia's authority after too many instances of Leia harassing her, and checked in with Aliana to make sure her relationship with Rey was going better.

Poe had been a supporter of Amorosa's aid from the start, believing that a Lightsaber on their side instead of the First Order's was only a positive thing.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Lightsaber Combat:** Amorosa is considered a master of Lightsaber combat, and the only Force User who remains in the galaxy that knows about lightsaber forms at all. With the loss of knowledge about lightsaber combat, Amorosa is able to dominate opponents for quite some time, and it takes a while for the rest of the galaxy to catch up.
	+ **Juyo Form:** Amorosa's preferred form is Juyo, an extremely vicious form of lightsaber combat that channels the Dark Side and makes use of extremely dirty tricks to win.
* **The Dark Side of the Force:** Amorosa was the Dark Lady of the Sith and dedicated her early life to mastering the Dark Side in all it's complexities.
	+ **Channel Passion:** Amorosa drew her strength in the Dark Side from Passion instead of anger or hate, though she had plenty of those to spare. This made her presence in the Force more stable, and far less corruptive. Rey Beniko once remarked that when she used the Dark Side, everything became very warm. As opposed to the creeping cold of other Sith and Dark Jedi.

### Force Powers

Aliana is considerably weak in the Force compared to other characters. Her strength is on part with an average Jedi. It's her discipline and training that make her stand out, along with her attunement to the Dark Side. Aliana has a strong connection to the Dark Side of the Force, which allows her to channel it more effectively while the Light remains diminished.

## Notes and Trivia

### Trivia

* Amorosa has a deep-seated fear of the Jedi after watching Luke Skywalker kill her mother. She spent her life seeking vengeance for her mother's murder.
	+ This element of Amorosa was later repurposed for Anevay Darkflare, a character written for Orchard's Warcraft series *Anevay Darkflare - Horde Champion*. Darkflare desired revenge on Arthas Menethil for killing and torturing Sylvanas Windrunner, who she loved dearly.
* Dealing with trauma is a major part of Amorosa's character, as even ten years later she is still haunted by her mother's death and hasn't accepted it. As the story progresses, her mask slowly unravels and the reader sees her vulnerabilities. This is especially true in the latter half of the story as Aliana is the one on the recieving end of Rey's emotional labor, where previously the roles were switched.
* Originally Aliana's title was "Dark Lord of the Sith" entirely on the basis that the term "Dark Lord" was a generic title while "Dark Lady" was almost universally associated with Sylvanas Windrunner. This eventually changed because Orchard enjoyed how satisfying it was to say "Dark Lady of the Sith."
* Amorosa's colour palette changed multiple times throughout the story's illustrations, starting out washed out with a lot of grey tones before becoming brighter and higher contrast as time went on.

### Design and Inspiration

* Amorosa draws inspiration from much of the Legends continuity that featured Sith Lords who were allies to the Jedi or the Republic in different fashions.
* Amorosa takes a great deal of inspiration from Darth Acina and Vanessa VanCleef, being both a ruthless and opportunistic schemer (Acina) but those schemes being largely oriented around the destruction of oppressive power structures and the liberation of the underclass (VanCleef).
* Much of Amorosa's philosophy, belief systems and goals are found all throughout mid 20th Century civil rights activists.
	+ In particular, a lot of inspiration was taken from Assata Shakur. Amorosa is falsely accused of the crimes of others, made into a scapegoat by the Republic, and develops a deeply cynical view of power structures as a result. She even indirectly quotes Shakur at times.
* Amorosa was designed with the intention of taking up most of Kylo Ren's screentime in The Sith Resurgence, being a friend and confidante to Rey instead of a tormentor. Amorosa was also written to directly contrast Kylo Ren in many ways. Where Kylo Ren viewed Rey as a prize to be won, Amorosa was only ever concerned for the well being of the first friend she'd had in years. While Kylo Ren viewed the Dark Side as his inherited destiny, Amorosa studied it and mastered it through merit alone.
	+ Amorosa also takes much of the role in the story that had previously gone to Finn, which is something Orchard regrets doing after later exposure of the way Finn was sidelined in the canon films. This resulted in plans being laid out for Finn to have a story arc about his Stormtrooper Rebellion, where previously Orchard was open about not knowing what to do with him.
* Amorosa shares the attitudes of Darth Traya and her ancestor Lana Beniko in regards to the Force. She views it as a tool at best, and a questionable ally who's allegience is conditional at worst. She encourages Rey not to surrender completely to the Force, Light or Dark, and draw on its power for her own ends.