Darth Traya vs Darth Nyriss

SithArchaeologist wrote:Traya

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords Official Prima Game Guide wrote:
The nexus of the Trayus Academy, the core is a clawlike altar built over a colossal geyser of dark side energy. It is here that you face your ultimate battle and fulfill your destiny.

Before they could recover, she leapt at them. Despite her withered appearance, she moved with the all the speed and ferocity of a dark side warrior in her prime. She landed right between her two adversaries, her blade flashing back and forth in a series of slashes and cuts that immediately threw her two opponents on the defensive.

Scourge barely managed to parry the first wave of her assault, unable to even think about countering with an attack of his own. Another quick thrust forced him off balance and he staggered backward.

Nyriss seized on the opportunity to focus all her efforts on breaking through Meetra’s defenses. The Jedi was clearly overmatched; though she managed to hold her ground, she was forced down to one knee.
In the awkward position her right flank was exposed, and Nyriss brought her blade in to deliver a crippling cut. At the same time, Scourge lashed out with the Force, catching Nyriss flush in the center of her chest.
An ordinary foe would have been thrown clear across the room, but Nyriss instinctively threw up a Force barrier to protect herself, absorbing and redirecting the brunt of the impact. Even so, Scourge’s attack knocked her off balance just enough to send her lightsaber wide of the mark, giving Meetra the opportunity she needed to scramble away to safety.

Dazed, he looked up just in time to see another bolt of violet lightning catch Meetra in the chest. Like Nyriss, she threw up a barrier to save herself from the worst of it, but she was still knocked from her feet.

Azronger wrote:@XSUPREMEXSKILLZ Can you quantify Dromund Kaas' nexus?

XSUPREMEXSKILLZ wrote:I'm not sure what manner of demon has possessed this thread for anybody to suggest that Traya does anything but die horribly. Meetra managed to best Traya on a "colossal geyser of dark side energy" after slaughtering her entire Sith Academy and Darth Sion:

Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords Official Prima Game Guide wrote:
The nexus of the Trayus Academy, the core is a clawlike altar built over a colossal geyser of dark side energy. It is here that you face your ultimate battle and fulfill your destiny.

Let's compare this to Nyriss vs. Meetra and Scourge. The fight begins by Nyriss purposely putting herself in a less advantageous position and jumping between her two adversaries, still overwhelming them and instantly putting them on the defensive:

Before they could recover, she leapt at them. Despite her withered appearance, she moved with the all the speed and ferocity of a dark side warrior in her prime. She landed right between her two adversaries, her blade flashing back and forth in a series of slashes and cuts that immediately threw her two opponents on the defensive.

Scourge was barely even able to parry the first sequences of Nyriss' assault, as she quickly and easily threw him off balance and caused him to stagger backwards:

Scourge barely managed to parry the first wave of her assault, unable to even think about countering with an attack of his own. Another quick thrust forced him off balance and he staggered backward.

Now, I think this is one of the key moments that illustrates just how far above Meetra Nyriss really is: during the microbial period of time during which Scourge staggers backward, Nyriss "seizes on the opportunity" and completely outduels Meetra, the latter only being saved when Scourge throws a force push to cause Nyriss' attack to miss the mark.

Nyriss seized on the opportunity to focus all her efforts on breaking through Meetra’s defenses. The Jedi was clearly overmatched; though she managed to hold her ground, she was forced down to one knee.
In the awkward position her right flank was exposed, and Nyriss brought her blade in to deliver a crippling cut. At the same time, Scourge lashed out with the Force, catching Nyriss flush in the center of her chest.
An ordinary foe would have been thrown clear across the room, but Nyriss instinctively threw up a Force barrier to protect herself, absorbing and redirecting the brunt of the impact. Even so, Scourge’s attack knocked her off balance just enough to send her lightsaber wide of the mark, giving Meetra the opportunity she needed to scramble away to safety.

Nyriss proceeds to drop Meetra with a lightning bolt, the latter either unable to defend against the attack with her lightsaber, thus opting to use a force barrier, or the attack was so quick relative to Meetra that she was unable to bring her lightsaber to bear:

Dazed, he looked up just in time to see another bolt of violet lightning catch Meetra in the chest. Like Nyriss, she threw up a barrier to save herself from the worst of it, but she was still knocked from her feet.

All in all, Nyriss was capable of delivering a "crippling cut" to Meetra in the time period it takes Scourge to stagger backwards and deliver a force push, was dominating the fight the entire time, and left her opponents in a powerless position in seconds. This being the same Meetra that defeated Traya in the midst of a massive dark side nexus, (at BEST, the Kaas nexus cancels this out). So why exactly do people think Traya is going to last longer than 5 seconds in this fight?

Moza & Chodo Habat, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords wrote:"Forgive me, Chodo, but the human - I could feel her suffering. I did not feel it until she stood before us, but then it filled my senses. Have you ever felt such an intensity before?"

"Only once before. The day I came to Telos and strode upon its ashen surface. It is a planet's worth of pain."

"I do not know how she endures."

"It is because she has no choice. Perhaps in helping to heal a planet, it will help her become whole again."

Visas Marr, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords wrote:
"I wish to learn how it is she still walks when her spirit is nothing more than a shell... when you feel as though the Force, as if life itself, has abandoned you."

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:Many years had passed before she regained her connection to the Force, but in the end, surviving the trauma of Malachor V had given her the strength to defeat Darth Traya and her followers.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:Traversing its surface had been agony. Mentally, she had still sensed the anguish of all who had lost their lives there. Physically, the intense gravity of the world had held her in its crushing grip, leaving her gasping for breath. It had been the most awful and horrific experience of her life.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:She had visited Malachor V years after the cataclysm of the mass-shadow generator. Traversing its surface had been agony. Mentally, she had still sensed the anguish of all who had lost their lives there. Physically, the intense gravity of the world had held her in its crushing grip, leaving her gasping for breath. It had been the most awful and horrific experience of her life … until now.

On Malachor she’d felt the echoes of unimaginable pain and suffering—but at least she’d felt something. Here on Nathema, there was only a cold emptiness. It was unnatural; abhorrent. On Malachor she had felt the echo of great destruction; here there was only the unbearable void of annihilation.

Her body reacted with a revulsion so strong she felt physically ill. Her mind briefly tried to imagine what had happened to cause such an abomination, then recoiled from the answers. Her mind went blank and her body numb.

She stood motionless for several minutes, or maybe it was several hours; time had no meaning here. But the incessant squawking of T3 eventually roused her from her stupor.

Drawing on the mental focusing techniques she had learned as a Padawan, she forced herself to concentrate on something—anything—besides the inescapable nonpresence of the Force.

...

The entire process took less than five minutes, but for Meetra it might as well have been an eternity. She had managed to keep busy up until this point, but while waiting idly by for T3 to finish she began to notice the absence of the Force once more.

She could feel the Void pressing in on her from all sides. At the same time it was pulling on her, trying to rip away the very essence of her existence. Nature abhors a vacuum; the emptiness was trying to fill itself with her energy. For an instant she felt as if she were going to become undone, her physical body discorporating into trillions of subatomic particles that would scatter across the entire surface of Nathema.

No! she screamed in her mind. The Void will not take me! I am more than just a collection of random matter and particles! I am a living being. I am Meetra Surik!

The affirmation of her own existence seemed to push the Void back, at least for the moment. But Meetra knew she couldn’t hold out against it much longer. As much as she tried to ignore what she felt—or, more precisely, didn’t feel—all around her, she knew it was only a matter of time until the horrors of Nathema stripped away her sanity.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:For several days she pored through the archives, stopping neither to eat nor to sleep, taking a quick meditation break every few hours to replenish her fading stores of energy and mental focus.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:She knew the storm-ravaged world had to be the world Canderous had spoken of; the one Revan had seen in his dreams. The dark side was powerful here.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:She had opened herself up to the Force, looking for guidance and wisdom, but here on Dromund Kaas, where the dark side prevailed, it was difficult to find the inner tranquility necessary to find enlightenment.

The Old Republic: Revan wrote:Meetra had gone into what he liked to call her warrior's trance; she sat still and straight, her eyes focused on nothing as she stared straight ahead.
He had seen it many times during the war against the Mandolarians. Before each major battle she would try to center her emotions, cleansing herself of all fear and hatred lest the imminent heat of battle draw her towards the dark side.  She believed she could transform herself into a perfect conduit for the Force, an incorruptible weapon of light.

DarthAnt66 wrote:

Azronger wrote:@XSUPREMEXSKILLZ Can you quantify Dromund Kaas' nexus?

Compared to the Trayus Core nexus, it's a safe bet that it's weaker.