Symbiote Name: Ariadne of Shayet
Symbiote Age: 1103
Short Biography:
Ariadne is the fourth Goa’uld to bear her name. She was spawned for a singular purpose, the safeguarding of the planet Labyrinthus, known in the Goa’uld language as Shayet. The planet serves as a prison for a being defeated long ago by the System Lord Ra. Ariadne served Ra in defending the planet from any interlopers that would dare to walk its soil for fifty years after having taken her first host - a girl from the planets native population. In her fifty-first year as the planets custodian her Ha’tak was assaulted by a far superior force and crippled in battle with the forces of another System Lord. Rather than die defending the planet she chose to surrender, valuing her own life over her fealty to Ra. With a stroke of luck she was spared and given a position as an Underlord in her conquerors court.
As an Underlord no-longer bound to a single planet Ariadne had ample opportunities to refine her genetic knowledge of what it meant to be Goa’uld. To lead as a God, to serve under other Goa’uld, to take advantage of anything and everything in the name of personal gain. As well as this, her duties saw her learning and improving more practical skills. From her memory she learnt a number of the Jaffa martial arts and from her experience on the battlefield she learnt how to effectively command the Jaffa war-machine. She observed that the Jaffa were heartened by her presence on the battlefield and she took to leading from the front when she could. Not all battles are won on the battlefield however, and Ariadne often found herself representing her master in a number of diplomatic situations. She possessed sufficient grace and tact to come out never really losing much but neither did she gain much, finding the backstabbing and pettiness distasteful and frustrating.
The Goa’uld are ever fighting amongst each other however, and territory is not the only thing that regularly shifts allegiance. Over the many years of being a part of Goa’uld infighting Ariadne’s allegiance changed many times. She would do almost anything to survive, and swearing fealty to a new lord became almost a regular occurrence. Partially through self-reflection and partly through the observation of all her new masters Ariadne gradually became aware of one of the most crippling flaws of the Goa’uld race - their arrogant self-centeredness. She was not so arrogant as to assume she was free of this, and knowledge of this flaw within herself allowed her to minimise the impact it had on her even as she exploited it as fully as she could in opponents.
She was largely satisfied with her life as an Underlord, and was content to be traded between the warring System Lords as property, for even as she was, she retained all the privileges of a Goa’uld. Sarcophagus use when necessary to keep her alive and young, a selection of hosts when she tired of her appearance, as well as relative safety. Her life, however, differed from that of the System Lords in a few key ways. She was considered by those servants that saw her as a minor god at best, all their reverence and awe often being directed at whomever was her Lord at the time rather than her. As well, she knew that the Goa’uld wielded no magic, for all the knowledge of their technology resided in her genetic memory, as it does for all Goa’uld. She was not tasked with the tiresome business of maintaining an empire or worrying about who was next likely to betray her as the System Lords kept such things close to themselves, closer than her. This absence of reinforcement of her Godhood meant that she suffered no delusions as some System Lords did, even coming to be privately amused when she saw Goa’uld that believed their own propaganda.
Between knowledge that total self-centeredness presented weakness and having observed that a leader taking an active role in her affairs could bring about more efficiency than one ruling from on high, Ariadne developed some unusual views on how exactly she should treat the subjugated populations of the worlds under her control as well as the Jaffa of her armies. Rather than ruling with an iron fist she made use of positive incentives, being slightly freer with rewards, only punishing the more excessive of transgressions and being consistent in such matters rather than acting on her whim.
This far less cruel behaviour eventually drew the attention of the Tok’ra, who saw the potential of one seemingly not entirely interested in stroking their own ego by utterly dominating everything they could. A Tok’ra agent was instructed to draw close to her and observe her as a potential sympathiser or easy infiltration point. Ariadne eventually discovered the Agent, but rather than following Goa’uld protocol and executing the Tok’ra, Ariadne merely informed the agent that as long as her own operations remained largely untouched she was content to ignore the Tok’ra. When asked why she would do this she explained that she did not care for her masters petty warring and incessant infighting and they’d be better off dead. At such sentiment, the Tok’ra agent asked why she would not consider aiding them. Her reply was that while she had no love for her masters, she was not willing to risk herself to get rid of them, especially knowing they’d just be replaced by someone else. When she released the Tok’ra to continue his business it was with the warning that he’d still be executed if her superior suspected.
It was only when the Tau’ri stormed head-first onto the Galactic stage. The death of Supreme System Lord Ra by the hand of mere primitives threw the careful balance between the System Lords into chaos, and for the first time Ariadne was forced to consider that her life as an Underlord might not be as everlasting as she’d believed. When her own Lord and Master, then Cronus, fell not to Goa’uld but to Tau’ri Ariadne was far away from him. As ever, she had remained far from her master to ensure she wasn’t brought down with him. She was left with a Ha’tak and a few hundred Jaffa with which to hold several worlds. She kept a low profile and a close watch on the Stargates, fearing that she would be the next to feel the wrath of the Tau’ri even as she admired them for their ability to strike in a unified way that none of the fractious System Lords could match.
She maintained her small domain, eventually officially joining Anubis when she saw that the choices were join or die, though she never met him or actively participated in his conquests, seeking to stay as distanced from him as possible. After Anubis’ apparent death, her realm passed to Ba’al as he made a power play to take all of Anubis’ former territory. Ariadne saw it as safer to remain with the more powerful System Lord than oppose him for the sake of ruling in her own name. The moment she truly lost all she had once had, however, was when the Replicators arrived in her system and attacked. The moment she discovered the nature of her enemy Ariadne fled alone on a Tel’tak rather than risk death to save anything she wasn’t carrying already. Minutes later she received the call to support Ba’als fleet at Dakara, a call she promptly ignored, especially given she no longer could assist her master. What most affected her however, was not this massive loss, but the manner in which the Tau’ri managed to defeat the Replicators - as a combined force with the Jaffa. It seemed to her that wherever the Tau’ri went, they united all around them to defeat their foes. To her, they became an ideal for what a united force was capable of, and proved that the Goa’uld way of infighting was truly wrong.
For some time she did not know what to do, and wandered the nearby star systems in her Tel’tak acting, poorly, as a free human trader. This was a little easier for her than it might’ve been for other Goa’uld as she never developed delusions of actually being a god, and knew that she wasn’t entitled to things just for living. She managed to eke out a living for four years like this sometimes trading fairly, sometimes resorting to force, until 2009 when she landed on the world that was once under her care - Shayet.
It was not until an encounter with the forces of a would be System Lord that she made the final steps toward becoming Tok’ra, shortly after having landed on her old planet Shayet. Ariadne was heading to her Tel’tak to leave the humans to their fate when SG-3 arrived to defend the population. Ariadne could not resist the temptation to watch the infamous god-slayers of the Tau’ri in action, and so stayed. This and a multitude of other reasons eventually compelled her to actually join in the battle, loath to see people she still considered hers slaughtered pointlessly. In the course of the battle, she killed several Jaffa that were about to execute prisoners and in doing so saved the life of one of the women of the planet, a particularly fiery and defiant women that refused to bow to the Jaffa even when faced with certain death. She showed her how to wield a Goa’uld weapon against the Jaffa and, inspired by the woman's courage, decided to stay with her and fight the Jaffa to the end. After all, the life she was leading was merely an existence. Fighting here would be a chance to once more feel the exhilaration of triumph over a superior foe.
It wasn’t long before SG-3 found their way to the System Lord himself and eliminated him, and, with their god slain, many of the Jaffa retreated and fled. SG-3 also departed not long after, and though Ariadne had been careful to avoid direct contact with them, she had been impressed by their ability to organise a militia from the natives of the planet as well as the co-ordination within their own team. She decided to stay on the planet herself and try her hand at co-ordinated rebuilding, inspired by the seemingly endless drive of the woman she had saved, whom she’d learned the name of - Idalia.
She wasn’t the only one to stay, however. Many of the Jaffa that had come to the planet were particularly fanatical, and rather than fleeing completely with their Gods death they stayed bent on avenging that death. They remained on planet and began raiding the settlements of the Native populace in heavy handed attempts to show power. Ariadne was presented with two options. Present herself as a Goa’uld to these Jaffa and assume control of them as their god, or organise the natives to cast down the few Jaffa warriors. Partially as an experiment in the effectiveness of her ability to bring the humans together and partly out of fondness for Idalia, Ariadne chose to side with the Natives, training those that were willing to wield left over Jaffa staff weapons. With her deep knowledge of Jaffa tactics and strategies, she was able lead the natives in several victorious skirmishes against the left over Jaffa fanatics. She kept her Tel’tak close at all times in case events went poorly however.
Before the battle with the final group of Jaffa, however, Idalia confronted Ariadne to find out how she knew so much. She was forced to reveal her nature as a Goa’uld, as Idalia would not accept anything but the truth. Ariadne expected to be cast out for sharing the knowledge, but instead Idalia thanked her for choosing to save the people of Shayet, a reaction that stunned Ariadne.
During the battle, even as they fought side by side, Ariadne was struck by a Staff weapon blast from one of the last of the Jaffa. Her host body was damaged too much for her to repair on her own, and without a sarcophagus nearby she believed she had finally met her end. Instead, the completely unexpected occurred. Idalia, seeing the saviour of her people dying, offered herself as a Host for the creature that was truly Ariadne. Ever wishing to live, Ariadne accepted, allowing the previous host body to die.
By the end of the momentous events that took place on that world Ariadne had taken a new host. Once she had fled through the Stargate, much to the bewilderment of the villagers, she realised what she had done as she heard her hosts mental voice screaming in desperation for freedom. Normally she could suppress the voice of a new host with ease, and while she still possessed the capability here, this host was a women she had grown to know, even consider a friend. A woman who had laid down her life to save Ariadne’s own. After all they’d been through, Ariadne could not bring herself to simply silence the girl.
The process was slow, but over a week or so Ariadne began to speak to Idalia in an attempt to calm her host while inwardly wrestling with the decision before her - to blend with a host instead of dominating her. She did not begin the process for some time yet, instead finding a safe world to discuss with Idalia and ensure it was what they both really wanted. Much more discussion was had until they finally decided to blend. By doing that, she would become Tok’ra in spirit, but doing so also changes a Symbiote, and this was one of the most difficult things for Ariadne to accept. They spent a day on the uninhabited world doing this, the process difficult and strange for both parties, but ultimately rewarding as each was able to reconcile the others actions.
From there, Ariadne sought out the Tok’ra, traveling the Stargate network trying to find them. They eventually found her. Tensions were high as she was captured and taken to the new Tok’ra homeworld. When she declared that she wished to join the Tok’ra and described how she’d fought Goa’uld remnant forces on Shayet, she was met with usual Tok’ra skepticism and subjected to many long and arduous tests and interviews to determine her true loyalties. When they finally came to the conclusion that she was sincere, she was allowed to officially join the Tok’ra and live on their homeworld as one of them, though as with all recently turned Goa’uld turncoats she is far from trusted.
Over the roughly five years that Ariadne has lived on the Tok’ra homeworld she has adapted to her new host body and learnt much about a number of distinctly Tok’ra technologies, though she has spent just as much time allowing Idalia to control her body and learn about the new and alien galaxy she now lives in.
More recently, Idalia has been becoming ever more eager to see the galaxy for herself as the allure of fantastic sights the Tok’ra city wears off. Ariadne has also begun to be more vocal in her opinions of the species wasting its potential. The High Council has tried to reconcile her in this area but she will hear nothing of it, and so they have become eager to send her away, a sentiment she is beginning to share, especially with the Tau’ri-Tok’ra alliance being rekindled once more.
Personality:
Ariadne has a personality atypical for most Goa’uld, and does not even fit the normal Tok’ra personality. She is incredibly old by human standards, though not Goa’uld standards, by which she is middle aged. This only affects her personality in that she has lived for over a thousand years being in complete control of both her host body and almost all the people around her, and it has been difficult for her to get used to being a subordinate or equal. As such, she resents being kept out of decision making processes and dislikes having information withheld from her. Nonetheless, she admires the Tau’ri as a species, largely for their ability to work together, something the Goa’uld are notorious for being incapable of. She also deeply respects and admires her Host, Idalia, for her fiery passion and her willingness to take on a Goa’uld symbiote, meaning she will almost never exert control without permission. Though hardly selfless, she still despises overly selfish behaviour, due to the belief that it is the reason the Goa’uld are not themselves the fifth race. Ariadne tends to approach most situations with a fairly cold and logical outlook, conserving life not because of a desire to save people but because it is a waste of resources to let people die. Idalia has influenced her to be less cold, but this aspect still remains.
Effects of Blending on Symbiote Personality:
Idalia’s influence on Ariadne has both softened some of her cold logical attributes and revitalised her slightly jaded nature with the vitality of youth. As well, where Ariadne enjoys luxuries and fine or well crafted things, Idalia’s need to explore and see new things has imprinted strongly, leading Ariadne to seek out new luxuries rather than subsist on the old ones. She has been able to control this new tendency to some extent with logic and has thus avoided anything negative, though she has developed a liking for archeological curios and oddities. She is more accepting of worse environmental conditions, but if anything her tolerance for mistreatment at the hands of those above has lessened even more to the point of nonexistence.
Symbiote Trivia:
- Ariadne’s Kara’kesh is buried with her previous host body on Shayet.
- Ariadne makes full use of the eye-flash and symbiote voice to indicate control of her host.
- Ariadne now has a tendency to collect archeological curios and other souvenirs when she can, though once she has them she places little value on them.
- Ariadne’s Ha’tak was left intact when the Dakara superweapon was activated. Its fate is unknown.
Host Name: Idalia
Host Age: 29
Host Appearance:
163 CM or 5'4 in height. Onboard the Tempest Idalia tends to wear clothing of Tok’ra make that displays to some extent her body, which is in excellent shape due to the presence of a Goa’uld. It is still in muted colours not designed to attract a large amount of attention, merely meant for tasteful aesthetics. On ground missions, she wears the standard Tok’ra uniform, except in situations where a particular camouflage uniform has been issued to the ground team, in which case she will wear that instead. Due to Ariadne’s martial training she wears a forearm holster for a Zat’nik’tel reminiscent of those usually found on Jaffa armour. Both her uniform and casual clothes usually have space to store a Tok'ra healing device for when she is not wearing it on her hand.
Short Biography:
Idalia was born on the planet Shayet, in the community centered around the Stargate. She was fortunate in managing to avoid being taken by the Goa’uld for a potential host, being hidden along with the other more attractive women far from the Stargate whenever it activated. Among her people she was something of an agitator against the Goa’uld, wishing to fight them instead of hiding, but she was never foolish or stupid enough to actually challenge them on her own, having seen and heard of the fates of the others who did.
Her daring and willingness to break with ancient tradition was not limited to merely denouncing the Goa’uld however, and in areas that were less obviously fatal she was quite inquisitive. In her younger years she explored the areas around the settlement for more than anyone in generations had done, much to the chagrin of her parents who worried over her safety. Though much of the surrounding area of settlement is rugged cliffs and broken land, one of her most intrepid journeys took her far enough both along the road away from the settlement and far enough off it for her to come face to face with one of the entrances to the great Labyrinth. For all its magnificence, it did not bring her to believe any more in the Goa’uld. Fortunately for her, she was unable to open the door, no matter the means. When she returned, she brought with her a broken fragment of a control crystal as a souvenir.
As she grew older her adventuring lessened considerably, though not by her choice, rather, the village required her contributions to daily living as it did every member. Shortly after her twentieth birthday, the Chappa’ai activated, as was not uncommon, but instead of an organised force led by a Goa’uld, several Jaffa sprinted through, looking scared to death as though fleeing the wrath of the gods. When Idalia heard of this, she snuck away from the hiding place of the women to see for herself.
When she arrived, she saw the people of the village indecisively milling about the new arrivals, unsure of whether to help them out of fear or slay them in the name of vengeance before their god arrived. Idalia knew which of the two she prefered immediately, and set about rallying first her friends and then the best hunters of the village to take up arms. She saw a chance to finally strike at the Goa’uld without their gods to watch over them and with her decisive spark, the villages pent up frustration and hate finally overflowed. The Jaffa were all slain quickly, their superior weapons no match for the sudden and vicious assault.
The act of Defiance, however small, led to a celebration, of which Idalia was one of the foci. She was conflicted over this, not wishing to be a hero to the village, but also relishing in the moment of victory. In the four years following, no Goa’uld forces came through the Chappa’ai, and it seemed as though the planet was safe at last. One remarkable event did occur in the third year when a group of five humans in strange garb carrying unfamiliar weapons came through the Stargate. They called themselves SG-17, and brought tidings of the Goa’uld defeated. They explored the planet a little before leaving as quickly as they had arrived. For a time Idalia thought of dialing the Chappa’ai with the symbols the outsiders had used to depart, but in the end her fear of such an extreme unknown triumphed over her curiosity. In 2009 a traveller arrived, claiming to be ‘from another village.’ Many of the villagers did not believe this strange woman was who she said she was, as she had goods not seen from the other villages and acted strangely. Before anyone could do anything about this however, a great pyramid descended from the sky in the distance.
When the Goa’uld arrived in ships, SG-3 was not far behind, emerging from the Stargate as if they had known the moment they were needed. Idalia witnessed both the arrival of the Goa’uld ships and the arrival of SG-3, taking heart in the return of the strangers that claimed to have defeated the Goa’uld. It seemed as though her dreams of being free from the oppression of the Goa’uld were finally going to be fulfilled, not just on a small scale filled with uncertainty, but in a grand and final way. She was eager to help SG-3, but as an untrained civilian she was turned aside, claiming that an ‘angry little girl’ would just get in the way. She nonetheless tried, organising a small group of her fellow townsfolk and attacking a Jaffa with the primitive weapons of their people when they stormed the town. She was easily defeated by the Jaffa, bows and spears proving no match for Jaffa armour and training, and was about to be killed as an example of what happened to those that resisted. Fortunately for her, Ariadne had been watching the events unfold and was inspired by her courage. Idalia watched as the strange trader killed the Jaffa with her Zat’nik’tel, before approaching Idalia. Ariadne kept up her ruse as best she could, and taking a Jaffa Ma’tok Staff Weapon, showed Idalia how to fire it.
Unfazed by her brush with death, Idalia immediately sought out more of her kin and taught them what she had just been taught, eager to take the fight to the Jaffa. Ariadne was able to stem Idalia’s lust for revenge long enough for SG-3 to finish the Goa’uld in command, but the moment the Jaffa started retreating, Idalia stormed after them with her new weapon in hand, eager to ensure the invaders of her world were driven away. This brashness almost cost her her life once more, as she was ambushed by several of the fanatical Jaffa who chose to stay and avenge the death of their god. Once again at the tip of a staff weapon, she remained defiant. Once again, she was saved by Ariadne, who with the help of several villagers ambushed the ambushers, killing them in a storm of vengeance.
Twice indebted to Ariadne, Idalia began to stay near to the strange women whom she considered her saviour, seeing in her what she’d always wished she could be. A brave and skilled warrior that would stand up to the Goa’uld no matter the odds. Idalia provided the local knowledge that allowed Ariadne to rally a proper militia on Shayet, and fought alongside Ariadne against the fanatical Jaffa, leading several successful battles over a number of months that inspired her with every Jaffa death. However, during this time acting as almost a second in command, she noticed that Ariadne had near perfect knowledge of the Jaffa’s tactics and positions, something no ‘normal trader,’ as Ariadne claimed to be, could know so well.
Before the final battle to defeat the last of the Jaffa, she stormed into Ariadne’s tent and demanded to be told how she knew so much. She deflected the first and second false stories Ariadne gave, driving for the truth. Eventually, Ariadne told her of her true nature as a Goa’uld, demonstrating with an eye flash and the symbiote voice to prove it. Idalia at first had trouble believing, yet after a long silence between the two woman, she decided that Ariadne could not be evil. She was brought to the conclusion by the apparent selflessness shown by Ariadne, a large amount of feeling indebted to her and perhaps a little hero worship.
In the battle the following day, Ariadne was struck by a blast from a staff weapon even as the last Jaffa fell. Idalia’s world nearly shattered as her new friend and saviour lay dying, and for what seemed like an age, she simply knelt by the wounded form of not knowing what to do. Eventually, it came to her, something Ariadne had told her the night before. Her friend was not the body that lay dying, but the creature within, a creature that could survive in any body. In what she believed to be a sacrifice of her own life to save the one good Goa’uld she had ever known to exist, she offered her own body for Ariadne. The Goa’uld accepted, and with a kiss Ariadne left her old host body and entered Idalia. When the militia found the two bodies lying side by side after the battle, they assumed both had fallen and bore them back to the town. In reality, Ariadne was in the process of taking command of this new body and planning some kind of escape. She’d aided the people of this world against her former brethren, but now it was time to leave while they still believed her a martyr.
The next thing Idalia knew, she was trapped within her own body. Able to see from her eyes but utterly without control, merely watching her body move as though it were a puppet controlled by some other-worldly force. She tried to move her hands, but they would not obey her. She tried to run, but her legs would not move. When the force reached out to grasp something, she tried to stop it. Once she succeeded in halting her hand for a moment, but then it was lost to her again. She screamed and screamed for freedom, hoping against hope that someone would hear her.
It felt like an eternity before Ariadne finally responded to her. Initially Idalia demanded that she be freed and allowed to return to her village, something of an automatic response to having her body totally usurped. Over time though, Ariadne was able to calm her and they discussed the possibility of the Blending. Idalia was hesitant at first, but eventually could not refuse as she did not wish death on Ariadne and was attracted by the benefits of having a symbiote, in particular the strength to fight any foe and the longevity to explore as long as she wanted. Idalia was also hesitant to decide that joining the Tok’ra was a good idea as she wished to explore the galaxy instead, but Ariadne convinced her by explaining that it would be the safest place for them.
When they were eventually captured by the Tok’ra, Idalia’s efforts were instrumental in convincing them that Ariadne should be spared and allowed to join. Despite this, she was also unhappy with the Tok’ra mistrust and methods, still not fully understanding that things could be as uncertain as they were.
Idalia’s adaptation to the Tok’ra way of life was far more difficult than Ariadne’s, especially as she began to miss her village and friends intensely, never having been away from them for so long. She was unable to see them due to the pairs confinement to the Tok’ra homeworld. She eventually adapted, and once she had she began to drink in all the knowledge the Tok’ra could teach them with much enthusiasm as well as going through Ariadne’s now freely shared memories as well as she could. She learned much from both sources but the marvels of the galaxy still seem new to her and she has not lost any of her childish glee at finding something new.
Though she was informed of the Goa’uld defeat and the lessened need for combative abilities, Idalia nonetheless became quite interested in Ariadne’s skill in personal combat after having witnessed the memories of her in battle. She has spent a fair amount of time training to make use of these memories alongside Ariadne, both of them adapting as much as they could to the use of skill learned centuries ago in a different body. Idalia has, by this point, adapted to the basics of the martial arts Ariadne knows with both unarmed and Ma’tok combat, but there is still much more for her to learn. Though Ariadne knows it all, adapting it to a new body is almost akin to learning it again, especially now that she shares the body instead of dominating it. Idalia has recently become anxious to leave as she is not only eager to explore the galaxy for herself but she is tiring of the shades of grey within Tok’ra politics and methodology. Such things do not sit well with her and while she does not agree with Ariadne’s reasoning for leaving, her own desires still match the goal of leaving.
Host Personality:
Idalia is a determined and exceptionally brave woman. Free of political concerns for most of her life, she has a generally quite black and white moral code, having some trouble thinking of situations or people as anything other than ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ She is filled with a strong wanderlust, and has the spirit of an explorer, always eager to see new things. She has a strong prejudice against the Jaffa as they have always been the ones to carry out the terrible acts of the Goa’uld against her people. Her will is such that she can resist the control of Ariadne for a second or two just as Skara was able to resist Klorel. This has not come into play since her initial experience of being a host however as the pair generally either agree or can come to an agreement with reasonable discussion. Despite Ariadne’s vast knowledge within her mind, she still prefers to see things for herself rather than just remember them.
Host Trivia:
- Idalia still has the piece of control crystal she found on Shayet, she wears it on a necklace next to her skin at all times.
- Idalia has learnt to use a healing device without Ariadne’s assistance, though it is much more taxing for her than it is when they work together.
- Idalia has never been in space and looks forward immensely to seeing it with her own eyes.
Forsythe