V Marka
Brandi Baylon
Marka is the name of the forested and hilly areas surrounding Oslo, Norway. It includes areas within the municipality of Oslo, but also large areas in Hole, Ringerike in Buskerud county and Jevnaker, Lunner, Nittedal, Brum, Asker, and other municipalities in Akershus county. The name is actually just the finite form of mark (Norse mǫrk f) 'woodland, forest'. (See also Finnmark, Hedmark, Telemark, Marker and Aremark.)[2]
Though not designated a borough of Oslo, it is a major recreational area for the population of Oslo, and development in the area is for the most part prohibited. Despite being used frequently by many inhabitants of Oslo, especially at weekends, the fauna of marka includes species such as lynx, wolf, beaver, moose and roe deer.
The term Oslomarka is usually used for all the recreational areas around Oslo. Marka is the administrative name for the part of it that lies inside the city limits. Neighboring municipalities (most of which lie in Viken) do not have the same kind of administrative division as Oslo, and thus do not have any separate administrative arrangement for their parts of the area. The area within Oslo municipality is divided into two parts. The population and agricultural areas of Marka are located mainly in two valleys, Srkedalen and Maridalen.
Marka RagnosBiographical informationBornPrior to 5100 BBY[1]Died5000 BBY[2]Descriptive informationSpeciesSith-Human hybrid[3]GenderMale[source?]PronounsHe/him[3]Eye colorBlack[4][5] or Gold[6]Skin colorObsidian[6] or Pale[5]Chronological and political informationAffiliation(s)
- Sith Empire[7]
- Disciples of Ragnos[4]
Marka Ragnos was a male half-breed Dark Lord of the Sith who lived during the time of the first Sith Empire, born long before 5100 BBY, and, around that same year, dueled Sith Lord Simus for the title of Dark Lord of the Sith and control of the Sith Empire. Ragnos defeated Simus, who was beheaded in the battle with the other aspiring Dark Lord. Ragnos lived for over a hundred years, growing in power, pitting his adversaries against each other and ensuring that there were no threats to his throne.
Following his death shortly before the Great Hyperspace War, two powerful Sith Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh, fought each other to occupy his throne; Ragnos' spirit appeared before them and proclaimed that only the most worthy should succeed him.
Ragnos lived on as a Force ghost after his death, trapped within the confines of his tomb in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban. A thousand years after the Dark Lord's death, Exar Kun summoned Ragnos from his grave through the use of talismans. Ragnos crowned Exar Kun as the new Dark Lord, with Ulic Qel-Droma as Kun's apprentice, as an attempt to resurrect the lost empire thousands of years prior.
Thousands of years after the Sith Empire, during the New Republic era, the Dark Jedi Tavion Axmis made an attempt to bring Marka Ragnos back from the depths from the Force, using an old Sith artifact, known as the Scepter of Ragnos in order to siphon the Force from many Force Nexuses all spread across the galaxy, empowering the Disciples of Ragnos. Tavion's goal to resurrect Ragnos almost succeeded, but her operation was overthrown by the Jedi Jaden Korr, defeating Ragnos' spirit, and enclosing him in his tomb once again, where he was dragged back in the depths of the Force.
A Sith-Human hybrid,[3] Marka Ragnos was a direct descendant from a Dark Jedi who was exiled from the Republic after the Hundred-Year Darkness,[3] who lived 20,000 years after the formation of the Old Republic.[2] Feared, obeyed, and admired among the Sith,[8] Ragnos was considered to have been the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith of his[3] age, and was born a long time before 5100 BBY.[9] When the Dark Lord of the Sith died, Ragnos and another powerful Sith, Simus, rose up to take the mantle. A formidable warrior, Ragnos dueled and defeated Simus in combat circa 5100 BBY, proving himself worthy of the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith.[2]
After gaining the mantle of a Dark Lord, he led ruthless campaigns against his Sith enemies,[10] pitting his adversaries against each other and ensuring that there were no threats to his throne.[8] His iron-fisted rule would last over a century.[2][10][11]During those times Ragnos likely composed his own epistle,[12] created a Scepter capable of siphoning the Force from many different places, which could be used to empower non-Force users,[4] and designed a pair of gauntlets capable of augmenting the strength of the Force in its user.[8]
Years later, Ragnos, as Dark Lord of the Sith and the ruler of the Sith Council and Sith Empire, was petitioned by a thirteen-year old boy named Tenebrae. The youth had come before Marka Ragnos to ask for training in the Sith arts and for recognition as the ruler of his father's domain, the planet Medriaas. Although he declined to take him as an apprentice, Lord Ragnos was impressed by Tenebrae's power and ambition, and named him the ruler of Medriaas, bestowing on him the rank of Sith Lord and the name Vitiate.[1]
Ragnos' legacy lived after his death. The Ragnos Lakes, on Kesh, for instance, were named after him.[13] During his funeral on Korriban, two Sith Lords, Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh emerged as favorites to succeed Ragnos as the next Dark Lord of the Sith and the two engaged in a duel of Sith swords, after a disagreement as to who would better serve the Empire as Dark Lord. Ragnos' spirit appeared before them speaking of a great past and an uncertain future for the Sith Empire, proclaiming that only the most worthy would succeed him.[7] After the duel, Sadow was elected as the new Dark Lord of the Sith.[7]After the inconvenient arrival of Gav and Jori Daragon, Sadow had an excuse to invade the Republic, claiming that those Galactic Explorers would try to bring Republic reinforcements in an effort to invade the Sith Empire soon enough.[7]
Vitiate did not join in the struggle for succession after Ragnos' death, nor was he involved in the conflict between Sadow and Kressh, or the Great Hyperspace War.[7] Instead, he decided to stay hidden, until the right time arrived.[1]
After Sadow's election as the new Dark Lord of the Sith,[7] further events led to a major war with the Galactic Republic.[7] Ultimately, because the schism was never healed it spelled the end of their interstellar empire.[14] Ragnos lived long after his death as a Force ghost, trapped within the confines of his own tomb in the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban.[4][8]
A thousand years after his physical death, during the Jedi Civil War, Revan and his companions visited the tomb of Marka Ragnos, during their search for the Star Forge.[8] Revan had to enter the tomb and retrieve an old Sith artifact in order to impress Uthar Wynn so that Wynn would grant him access to Naga Sadow's tomb where a Star Map was located.[8] Revan had to make his way into the Ragnos' tomb, which was protected by a rogue assassin droid.[8]After battling the droid forces inside the tomb, Revan and his companions encountered the assassin droid. After conversing with the droid, he said that he was originally programmed to kill Jedi, but his Sith programmers made his cognitive systems more independent than they desired. Since then, the droid kept himself in isolation within the confines of Ragnos' tomb, building droids to aid in his protection.[8] After that, the droid asked Revan for assistance in changing his programming, because, although the droid had developed the desire to not to kill, his programming was often at odds with his desires. Then, the droid offered Revan assistance to help him change his programming.[8] After the reprogramming of the droid was successful, he offered Revan several of his redundant systems, so he could use them on other droids, and then the droid stated that he could escape from the planet, wishing well to Revan.[8] Before exiting the tomb, Revan also found a pair of gauntlets that once belonged to Marka Ragnos. After that, Revan went out of the tomb, to gain prestige with Uthar Wynn.[8]
At some point in his life, Darth Plagueis traveled to the Valley of the Dark Lords in Korriban. While there, he found no evidence that the spirits of Korriban were real, believing that those were mere diversions created for the credulous, but as Plagueis boarded his ship, he beheld a vision of Marka Ragnos. The apparition challenged Plagueis' claim to the Sith title, and railed against his plan to dismantle the traditions of Korriban. The vision however did not answer Plagueis' questions and inquiries. Instead, Ragnos snarled and disappeared in a whirl of smoke. After the experience, Plagueis wrote that it was possible that the entire episode, simply played out in his mind. Those texts were later acquired by Darth Sidious, Plagueis' former apprentice, and were included in a book he called, "Book of Sith."[19]
Thousands of years after his actual death, during the New Republic era in 14 ABY,[4] Ragnos' spirit was intended to be resurrected from beyond the grave, this time summoned by a Sith cult known as the Disciples of Ragnos whose leader was Tavion Axmis, Desann's student.[4]
With the help of an ancient scepter; once used by Ragnos to drain residual Force energy, Tavion and her apprentice siphoned the Force from many Force Nexuses all spread around the galaxy and used it to empower their followers. Tavion plotted to use the collected energy to resurrect Ragnos.[4] After a hard campaign tracking the Disciples of Ragnos across the galaxy, the New Jedi Order managed to track Tavion on Korriban.[4]Jedi Luke Skywalker and Kyle Katarn were in charge of the campaign on Korriban, dispatching every available Jedi from the temple on Yavin 4, among them, the Jedi Jaden Korr, who participated on almost every mission against the Disciples of Ragnos.[4]
During the Battle of Korriban, Jaden Korr managed to enter Ragnos' tomb, intending to stop Axmis. He was nearly too late, as she managed to resurrect Ragnos by allowing his spirit to possess her body, but Ragnos himself was nevertheless defeated by Korr. Ragnos' ghost was forced back into his sarcophagus, screaming out a dark promise that he would return.[4]
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