Unidentified droid (Fermata Cage)

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"I am not subordinate, it said. I will not serve. I am hungry."
―The Scourge, on what the droid said[1]

An ancient droid was once banned and locked away in the Fermata Cage by the Sith.

Biography

Origins

With a nature unlike other droids,[1] the droid intelligence[3] was created as a weapon[4] and for a purpose that other droids were not made to perform.[1] As per its design,[4] the droid became hungry[1] for information.[4] However, it refused to obey orders.[1] On two occasions, the hungry droid tried to spread itself into other droids and eventually organics, but it failed both times.[5]

While the droid in its basic, spider-droid form did not have any connection to the Force,[2] the droid's unusual nature scared[1] the Sith Order,[6] whose members imprisoned the droid[1] in the Fermata Cage. A weapon that was never used lightly,[2] the Cage was designed by Darth Momin to lock people or places outside of time[7] and successfully locked away the droid.[2] The Sith banned the technology as well.[6] The Cage was then kept hidden in a dark side hellscape[8] Momin visited.[9]

Released

In pursuit of a new vessel, the Spark Eternal enters the droid, merging with it and becoming the Scourge in the process.

In pursuit of a new vessel, the Spark Eternal enters the droid, merging with it and becoming the Scourge in the process.

In 3 ABY,[10] the Cage was retrieved by the Crimson Dawn syndicate for its war against the Sith on the order of Lady Qi'ra,[8] who hoped to lock the Sith Lords Darth Sidious and Darth Vader within the Cage to free the galaxy from their oppressive rule. To lure both Sith in, Qi'ra lied that an ancient Sith Lord existed in the Cage,[2] which was a chance Vader and Sidious could not risk being real.[7] During the Battle at Amaxine Station, Qi'ra's agent "the Archivist" successfully opened the Cage in the presence of Vader and Sidious,[2] unknowingly setting the ancient droid free.[1] Sidious was surprised by the small, disc-like device and detected no connection to the Force within it, leading him to disregard it as he accepted that Qi'ra had lied. After both Sith Lords were rescued from the Cage's grasp by the Knights of Ren, they left the station with the Cage but left the disc behind,[2] unaware of its true nature.[1]

For the battle, Qi'ra had allied with the Spark Eternal artificial intelligence,[2] which had been created as an anti-Sith weapon in ancient times by the Ascendant[11] and was possessing the body of the rogue archeologist Chelli Lona Aphra at the moment. The Spark was defeated by Vader and forced from Aphra's body during the battle, which led to the Spark fleeing into the droid disc as refuge.[2] With that, the Spark and the ancient droid merged into[1] a new being[3] called the Scourge. As they bonded into one being, the Spark Eternal felt the droid's history and took on its hunger.[1]

As a vessel for the Scourge

"I cannot stop acquiring more minds either. This will not let me. I have its memories too. We are one. It was made as a weapon. Made to be hungry."
―The Scourge, on the droid[4]
The droid and the Spark Eternal merge and create the Scourge.

The droid and the Spark Eternal merge and create the Scourge.

Although the droid lost its individual identity in merging with the Spark Eternal, its disc-like body remained and became patient zero for the Scourge. Additionally, the Scourge was motivated by the droid's desires, anger, and hunger. When an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer arrived at the Amaxine Space Station to recover everything aboard for Sidious,[1] who had been interested by the great deals of dark side energy aboard,[12] the droid disc was found by a KX-series security droid, which was soon infected by the Scourge and became another vessel for its consciousness.[1] In the "scourge of the droids,"[13] the Scourge would soon spread to every other droid on the Star Destroyer it could[1] and then across the galaxy[13] in an effort to quell a hunger for knowledge. The Scourge targeted droids to learn what was in their databanks but only grew hungrier, further realizing it would be destroyed if it stopped its spread.[14]

All the while, the original, disc-like droid body remained one of the Scourge's hosts. Infected droids on the Star Destroyer also created copies of the ancient droid to serve as vectors for the infection.[1] The Scourge launched an effort to take control of the galaxy and control the Force itself.[6] Unable to stop the urge to consume because of the droid, the Scourge reasoned it would only have a chance to surrender itself to the torrent of memories it received if it became everything in the galaxy, including organics. While the Scourge had previously reflected on how the ancient droid was only one part of itself,[4] the Scourge, in conversation with Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, claimed to be the same individual as the ancient droid.[15]

To help manage itself due to its many bodies, the Scourge created four specialized vessels to debate and help plan, including the Elder, in which the Scourge told itself it placed the personality of the ancient droid. In reality, however, the ancient droid was part of the Scourge's overall consciousness and thus the Elder was simply more of the Scourge. When the Scourge debated its nature via its main body and the Elder, the Scourge used its main body to destroy the Elder. However, the Scourge still agreed with what it told itself via the Elder: it needed to eat.[5]

Characteristics

The droid existed as in a small, disc-like body with three retractable legs. It was a deadly entity that refused to obey others and instead had a hunger. Unlike with organic thought, its thoughts occurred in orderly paths, much like those of other droids. However, it was very different in nature and purpose when compared to other droids.[1]

Appearances

Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Dark Droids 1
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 Hidden Empire 5
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dark Droids: D-Squad 1
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Dark Droids 2
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dark Droids 4
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Marvel-TemplateLogo The Scourge Reveals Its Ultimate Goal by Targeting Darth Vader in 'Star Wars: Dark Droids' on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Hidden Empire 2
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Crimson Reign 5
  9. ↑ Darth Vader (2017) 22
  10. ↑ Star Wars: Crimson Reign takes place after the Escape from Cloud City, which is dated to 3 ABY by Star Wars: Timelines. Additionally, Sliro Barsha dies during the events of Star Wars Outlaws, which Premium-Era-real Visit a Galaxy Far, Far Away with our Star Wars liveblog direct from San Diego Comic-Con 2024! on Popverse (backup link archived on August 5, 2024) dates to 3 ABY. As he is alive during Crimson Reign 5, and the events of Star Wars: Crimson Reign precede the comic, it must also take place during that year.
  11. ↑ Doctor Aphra (2020) 25
  12. ↑ Hidden Empire 4
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 SWInsider "Launchpad" — Star Wars Insider 220
  14. ↑ YouTube Lucasfilm Publishing: Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away... | Panel | San Diego Comic-Con 2023 on the official Penguin Random House YouTube channel (July 24, 2023) (original link is obsolete)
  15. ↑ Doctor Aphra (2020) 37