The History of the Sith
In The Beginning
Twenty five millenia before
the time of Darth Vader, about the time the Galactic Republic formed, a
group of Force-sensitive individuals came together to form the Jedi order.
Over time they studied the Force, learned from it, and refined the order
into what it is today. The Jedi order served the Republic as advisors and
peacekeepers. They understood the dangers of the Dark Side and stayed primarily
to the Light. But not all were content with the Light Side. Although forbidden
to do so, a few individuals chose to secretly study the Dark Side of the
Force; Studying the magics of anger and chaos. Their numbers grew until
the inevitable confrontation between the Light and the Dark. This came
to be known as the Great Schism; Jedi against Jedi, brother against brother.
The Dark Jedi, finally defeated after a century of bloodshed, took their
battered ships into exile, crossing the galaxy into the unknown. There
the vanquished Dark Jedi found a primitive civilization, a new people to
dominate, the Sith. With unlimited resources and willing slaves, the Jedi
exiles forged the Sith civilization into a powerful Empire.
After many centuries the
Sith Empire grew to a vast, rich realm spanning several star systems. This
was the Golden Age of the Sith. The Empire was led by many Sith Lords and
one supreme ruler, the Dark Lord of the Sith. This title was passed from
one generation to the next, with only one Dark Lord at a time. Although
little is known of the first several Dark Lords, 5,200 years ago Marka
Ragnos defeated Simus for the title and ruled during the pinnacle of the
Golden Age.The Sith Lords built huge stone temples to house the remains
of their Dark Lords, and used their magic to create creatures of unspeakable
horror to guard the tombs. The Sith Lords crafted many things on the backs
of the Sith people, many architectural wonders. The Sith Lords also created
many artifacts in this time, items infused with their malevolent Sith power.
Some enhanced the wielders power in the Dark Side, others were made to
focus Sith energy into a certain effect. The Sith people and the Sith Lords
intermarried, and some of pure Sith blood gained the status of Sith Lord.
The Great Hyperspace War
Two hundred years later,
at the funeral ceremony of Marka Ragnos, the title of Dark Lord was once
again in dispute. This time it was between Naga Sadow and his arch rival
Ludo Kressh. Sadow was part of the elite priesthood of pure Sith blood
and said that the Sith had grown too complacent, and that they should expand
their empire and conquer new territory. Content with the current glory
of the Sith Empire, Kressh vehemently opposed Sadow and accused him of
practicing forbidden magic. The confrontation escalated into a duel, but
the ghost of Marka Ragnos intervened; the shade told the Sith Lords to
choose their fights wisely and be weary of the coming times. Naga Sadow
and Ludo Kressh agreed on a temporary truce, but were interrupted by the
arrival of Gav and Jori Daragon, hapless hyperspace explorers who showed
up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mistaken as spies, Gav and
Jori Daragon were taken prisoner by the Sith. The Sith Lords convened to
discuss Gav and Jori's fate. Ludo Kressh argued that they were precursors
to an invasion and should be killed imediately; Naga Sadow belived they
could lead the Sith to the Republic, for their own invasion. Later, Sadow
staged a jail-break to look like the Republic had arrived and attacked
the prison. Outraged, the Sith Lords demanded swift action and elected
Naga Sadow Dark Lord of the Sith. Ludo Kressh openly opposed this and refused
to accept Sadow as the next Dark Lord. With Gav and Jori hidden away in
his fortress, Sadow staged another attack to retrieve their impounded ship
and again made it look like the Republic did it. But Ludo Kressh found
the evidence that Sadow had intentionally left that implicated him. Fearing
that Sadow's treasonous actions would lead to the fall of the Sith Empire,
Kressh attacked Sadow's fortress. However, Kressh had attacked a decoy
fortress and waltzed right into Sadow's trap, barely escaping with his
life. But during the attack, Sadow had tricked Jori into escaping and fleeing
back to the Republic for help. Unbeknownst to her, Sadow had place a tracking
device on her ship that would lead the Sith right to the Republic. While
Sadow was gathering the Sith forces for the invasion of the Republic, Kressh
mounted another attack, this time on Sadow's real fortress. But Sadow destroyed
Kressh's ship by remotely activating it's self destruct mechanism. Following
the tracking device, the Sith fleet headed for the Republic. The ensuing
conflict would later be known as the Great Hyperspace War.
Without warning, the Sith
invasion force launched a multi-pronged attack that included Koros Major
and Kirrek in the Empress Teta system and Coruscant, capital of the Galactic
Republic. Unprepared for an invasion, most of the Republic struggled to
withstand the onslought of the Sith forces. The only one who heeded Jori
Daragon's warning of a Sith invasion was the Empress Teta. Ready for the
invasion, her imense forces were nearly all that stood between the Sith
and control of the Republic. During his captivity, Gav had been tutored
by Naga Sadow in the ways of the Dark Side. At Sadow's request Gav had
reluctantly accepted command of the Sith invasion force. But now, seeing
all the death and destrucion, Gav had a change of heart. Confronting Sadow
at Primus Gould, Gav disabled Sadow's meditation sphere. Without Naga Sadow
using his Sith powers to control his armies, the tide began turning and
the Sith forces were pushsed back. Regrouping his forces at Primus Gould,
Sadow drew the Republic forces there for a trap that resulted in the supernova
of Primus Gould, an already unstable star. Gav warned the Republic forces
and allowed them to escape, but was himself doomed to die aboard the damaged
meditation sphere as the star went supernova. Fleeing back to Sith territory,
Sadow's fleet was met by Ludo Kressh, who had somehow managed to survive
their last confrontation. While Sadow was away invading the Republic, Kressh
had rallied the forces that were left behind in Sith territory and now
led them against Sadow's already battered fleet. But Naga Sadow managed
to defeat Ludo Kressh once again by ordering a damaged capital ship to
ram Kressh's flagship, finally killing Ludo Kressh. With not a moment to
rest, Sadow was imediately assailed by the Republic fleet that had followed
him. In a last ditch effort, Sadow fled in his one remaining battleship
between two binary stars; Using powerful Sith magic, Sadow caused huge
solar flares to explode between the stars, destroying his persuers and
masking his escape. With his fleet destroyed and the Sith Empire in ruins
Naga Sadow fled to an isolated star system called Yavin. There on the fourth
planet of the Yavin System he established a new base. Sadow commanded his
loyal Sith followers to build great Sith temples. For over a hundred years
he ruled as Dark Lord over the sole remaining outpost of the Sith Empire.
The Feedon Nadd Uprising
Over the next millennia
the Sith Lords all died out, the Sith civilization on Yavin 4 fell into
disrepair, and the remaining Sith people were mutated by Naga Sadow's magic
into primitive, beast-like creatures that would guard the temples forever.
But in that time, almost six hundred years after Sadow's arrival on Yavin
4, A Sith Lord by the name of Freedon Nadd couldn't wait to become Dark
Lord of the Sith. Not wanting to challenge the reigning Dark Lord, Nadd
left to start his own Empire. His search led him to the backwater planet
of Onderon, bringing with him the dark power of the Sith. For centuries
after his death, the ruling family of Onderon was tainted by Sith magic.
Four Thousand years before
the Galactic Civil War, three Jedi knights, including Ulic Qel-Droma, were
dispatched to Onderon to put an end to the Beast Wars that had been raging
for fifty years. The Jedi were successful and brought peace to Onderon,
but discovered that Queen Amanoa had been influenced by the ghost of the
dead Sith Lord.
Shortly following the end
of the Beast Wars, loyalists to Freedon Nadd rebeled and threatened to
retake Onderon in the name of the Sith Lord. Nadd's reign of darkness was
brought to an end when the Jedi interceeded and quelled the Freedon Nadd
uprising. His sarcophagus was eventually moved to Dxun, removing the remaining
source of Nadd's power from Onderon.
The Saga Of Exar Kun
Four millennia before the
Rebel base on Yavin 4, the Sith Empire would be reborn at the hands of
Exar Kun. Kun was a young Jedi, arrogant and powerful. he was fascinated
by things of the Dark Side, and against his master's wishes went to learn
all he could of the ancient Sith. His research took him to the Dxun moon,
where rested the remains of Freedon Nadd. The spirit of Freedon Nadd appeared
to Kun, and gave him a gift. Under the corpse of Nadd rested two scrolls,
which told the location of the Sith homeworld, Korriban. Wanting to learn
all he could, Kun immediately set out for Korriban.
Unkown to Kun, their were
other Sith workings in the air. Two young aristocrats from the Empress
Teta System had treveled to Onderon just before it was purged of the Dark
Side. There they were taught many Sith teachings, and returned home with
this dangerous knowledge. There they and several other aristocrats formed
a secret group called the Krath, and soon they assasinated their royal
parents with Sith powers, and took control of the entire system. The Jedi
Masters learned of this, and sent a task force led by Ulic Qel-Droma and
Nomi Sunrider to destroy the Krath. Using Sith illusions, the Krath drove
the fleet and the Jedi temporarily away.
Kun, meanwhile reached Korriban
and stood in awe at the temples of the Sith. He entered into the shrines
of the dead Dark Lords of the Sith. The Spirit of Freedon Nadd again appeared
to him and offered him unimaginable power if he would give himself over
to the Dark Side. Exar Kun's idealistic plans to learn the Sith teachings
without going to the Dark Side were crushed along with his mortal body
in a cave-in caused by Nadd. With Nadd's treachery, Kun was forced to give
in to the Dark Side, to let it heal him, and heal him it did, but it desecrated
his soul. Deeper into the catacombs the Dark Lords tested Kun, forcing
him to fend off several viscious beasts, but finding his light side powers
blocked he was once again forced to rely on his anger and the Dark Side
to destroy them, and the Dark Lords approved. Freedon Nadd then told Kun
of Naga Sadow, a Sith Lord from the Golden Age who was an expert alchemist,
and that Sadow had fled with his followers to the fourth moon of Yavin.
His followers had degenerated into a people called the Massassi, but they
were of Sith blood, and many artifacts and teachings remained there. Nadd
instructed Kun to go there.
The Krath had not been idle.
They had sent several assassin droids to a large meeting of the Jedi on
Deneba. The Jedi Masters and Knights easily destroyed the droids, but not
before at least one Jedi Master was slain. This event caused the Jedi to
realize that there were darker things than they had ever known going on
in the galaxy. With Ulic Qel-Droma's master slain, he vowed to infiltrate
the Krath and destroy it from the inside.
Kun arrived on the forth
moon of Yavin, only to be captured by the Massassi. He saw that they were
linked to the Dark Side, and the Massassi sensed that Kun was a chosen
Dark Lord. The Massassi took him to the temple of fire, where Kun faced
several alchemical monstrocities created by the long-dead Naga Sadow. He
commandeerd a powerful Sith Amulet, and used it to enhance his powers and
destroyed the creatures. The Massassi proclaimed Exar Kun their ruler and
bowed down to him. The spirit of Nadd urged Kun into the laboratory of
Naga Sadow, but Kun relaizeed that Nadd had been using him in hopes that
Sadow had perfected the art of giving flesh back to the dead, and Nadd
very much wanted to live again, to conquer, again. Kun then turned on the
spirit, and using the Amulet, destroyed him utterly. But Nadd had just
enough time to get a message to the Krath, telling them to fear Exar kun,
and that he was a pretender to the Sith legacy, that they were the true
heirs.
Setting his plan in motion
Ulic Qel-Droma gained the trust of the Krath by saving them during a citizen
revolt that took place at a public execution. While Aleema was more than
willing to have Ulic join them, Satal Keto still did not trust him. When
Nomi Sunrider arrived in Cinnagar looking for Ulic she was taken prisoner
and brought before them. Testing Ulic's commitment, Satal commanded him
to execute Nomi, who Ulic was in love with. Not wanting to blow his cover,
Ulic postponed the execution to the following morning and tried to get
a message to Nomi telling her his real situation. Satal intercepted this
message and sent an assassin to kill Ulic. The assassin failed, Nomi escaped,
and Ulic killed Satal in a moment of rage in revenge for his master. This
act started Ulic Qel-Droma down the path of the Dark Side.
Out to destroy his competition,
Exar Kun traveled to Cinnagar to find the Krath. Aleema's lust for Ulic
blinded her to his treachery and she still chose to give him a Sith amulet,
which would unwittingly allowed Exar Kun to find him. Drawn together by
powerful magic, the Sith amulets when brought together released a message
from the long dead Sith Lords. The Sith Lord commanded them not to fight
each other and proclaimed that Kun would lead the Sith to glory as the
new Dark Lord with Ulic as his apprentice. This partnership would lead
to one of the bloodiest conflicts in galactic history, the Sith War.
The Sith War
The former enemeis now joined
forces in a common goal of recreating the Golden Age of the Sith. Through
his dabbling in forbidden teachings, Exar Kun had fallen competely under
the spell of the ancient Sith ways, and he knew he needed to gain additional
disciples to fan the flames of his planned victory. His search led him
to Ossus, site of the great Jedi Library and a ripe training ground for
Jedi apprentices. There Kun deceived several Jedi into following his cause,
to gain great power through Sith teachings forbidden by the weak Jedi Masters.
Meanwhile Ulic was busy commanding the Sith fleet, assaulting planets and
shipyards to increase their own fleet size. Aleema assisted with powerful
Sith illusions of an attacking fleet much greater than it actually was;
This shadow-play panicked the defenders and gave the Sith the advantage.
In the Empress Teta system the Sith fleet was confronted by Mandalore and
his warriors. Fought to a standstill, Ulic agreed to fight one-on-one with
Mandalore, with the vanquished pledging his allegiance to the victor. On
the open plains of Harkul, Ulic defeated Mandalore and added the great
Mandalorian warriors to the already vast Sith military.
Following planted clues
to the whereabouts of the Sith fleet, the Republic fleet headed out to
intercept them, but instead only succeeded in leaving Coruscant open to
an attack by the Sith. Ulic was taken prisoner by the Jedi when Aleema
treacherously left him behind and withdrew the Sith forces. Ulic was to
be tried for high treason against the Republic, but the proceedings were
interrupted by Exar Kun. Mesmerized by powerful Sith magic, the entire
assembly in the senate hall could do nothing but watch as Kun proclaimed
the coming Golden Age of the Sith. Confronting his fallen apprentice, Master
Vodo challenged Exar Kun, but was killed, proving that Kun had gained much
power with the Dark Side. Kun had also instructed his other Jedi followers
to strike down their own Jedi Masters, to make room for the new age. Many
Jedi Masters fell at the hands of their former apprentices.
To secretly punish her treachery,
Exar Kun sent Aleema to the Cron System with a powerful Sith weapon to
assault the Republic fleet. The weapon ripped the core from one of the
ten stars in the Cron Cluster and hurled it at the Republic ships, incinerating
all life aboard them with intense radiation. Aleema failed to realize that
the star was now unstable, collapsing in upon itself and going supernova.
The explosion triggered the other stars in the Cron Cluster to go as well,
vaporizing Aleema and her ship.
The shockwave from the multiple
supernovas churned across space like a tidal wave of doom at the speed
of light, heading directly for the nearby Jedi archive world of Ossus.
As the evacuation bagan, Ulic and Exar Kun rushed to claim the precious
artifacts bofore the firestorm arrived. While there, Ulic ran into his
brother, Cay, who confronted him and tried to bring him back to the Light
Side. In a fit of Dark Side anger Ulic killed his own brother, but was
then horror stricken when he realized what he had done. Nomi Sunrider,
seeing her friend killed by the man she once loved, was devastated by the
twisted workings of the Dark Side. In desperation, she used a Force-blocking
technique on Ulic that would blind him to the Force . . . forever. With
the Sith fleet getting pounded, Exar Kun retreated to Yavin 4 where he
gathered all the Massassi to the main temple. Using ancient Sith alchemy,
Kun drained the life-force from thousands of Massassi sacrifices and used
it to entomb his spirit in the temple so that he could survive . . . even
as his mortal body was destroyed in the firestorm rained down by the orbiting
Republic/Jedi fleet, defeating the Sith once again.
The Mandalorian Wars
"Four thousand years before
the rise of the Galactic Empire, the Republic was at its most vulnerable
state. A devastating war against the fallen Jedi Exar Kun had shaken the
galaxy to its very core, and left the Republic's defenses crippled. Sensing
this weakness, the warlike Mandalorians began a series of brutal attacks
against worlds throughout the Outer Rim. In desperation, the Republic turned
to the Jedi Council for aid. The learned Masters wanted to proceed with
customary caution and due care before embarking on a long and destructive
military campaign; however, more immediate help came in the form of two
young Jedi Knights named Revan and Malak. Ignoring the dictates of the
Jedi Council, the charismatic pair recruited many to their cause, rallying
the impulsive youth of the Order with cries of victory and glory. With
Revan and Malak at the head of their great fleet, the Republic set forth
to drive the invaders back. The Mandalorian Wars were long and bloody,
and many Jedi perished in the struggle. Yet, at its end, the Republic emerged
triumphant, and Revan and Malak were hailed as heroes.
But the heroes did not leave
the war untouched; something about the Outer Rim worlds twisted and corrupted
them. On Korriban, Revan uncovered the lost secrets of the Sith and became
the heir to an ancient and evil legacy. Succumbing to the lure of the dark
side, the fallen Jedi assumed the title of Darth Revan, Lord of the Sith.
Malak was chosen as the Dark Lord's apprentice, and the great fleet under
their control abandoned the Republic and swore fealty to their new Sith
masters. With their army of followers, Revan and Malak returned not as
saviors, but as conquerors. For two years battles raged on the perimeters
of Republic space. The Sith gained victory after victory, until the Jedi
set a trap to capture Revan and Malak. But during the chaos of battle,
Malak turned on his master and tried to destroy both Revan and the Jedi,
but his plan failed. Revan was captured by the Jedi, but Malak escaped
and proclaimed himself the new Dark Lord, swearing revenge on the Jedi
and Revan. Years later, Malak finally tracked down Revan and killed him.
Sith Resurgence, The Story
of Darth Bane
It would not be for another
two centuries before the Sith would rise again. A rogue Jedi became interested
in the Dark Side of the Force and the Sith. Failing to gain approval for
his beliefs from the Council, he had broken with the order, departing with
his knowledge and his skills, swearing in secret that he could bring down
those who had dismissed him.He was alone at first, but others from the
Jedi order who believed as he did and who had followed him in his study
of the dark side soon came over. Others were recruited, and soon the ranks
of the Sith swelled to more than fifty in number. Disdaining the concepts
of cooperation and consensus, relying on the belief that acquisition of
power in any form lends strength and yields control, the Sith began to
build their cult in opposition of the Jedi. Theirs was not an order created
to serve; theirs was an order created to dominate.
Their war with the Jedi
was vengeful and furious and ultimately doomed. With power as the ultimate
goal of the Sith, loyalty and honor existed only when convenient. In the
end, the internal strife between the Sith Lords would be their undoing.
A thousand years after the reestablishment of the Sith order, the war between
Jedi and Sith came to a climactic end. On the planet Ruusan the Jedi and
Sith armies clashed, with heavy losses on both sides. When outright battle
would not win the war, Darth Bane brought the Sith Lords together for a
Dark Side meld. While lowly Sith minions engaged the Jedi in battle, the
Sith Lords combined their Dark Side powers and began to annihilate the
battlefield with Dark Side energy. However, Kaan had other ideas. Breaking
the meld and insulting Bane, Kaan took the other Sith Lords to ambush the
Jedi while they were recovering from the Dark Side energy assault, wanting
to kill the Jedi with their own hands. Jedi reinforcements arrived just
as the Sith Lords attacked and drive off the Sith. Beaten yet again, Kaan
desperately decided to work together with the other Sith Lords (as long
as HE was leading them) and planed to detonate a thought bomb. Delusional
of their own power, Kaan thought that the Sith were strong enough to withstand
the detonation of the bomb. As the Jedi army cornered the Sith Lords in
a cavern, Kaan detonated the thought bomb, killing all the Jedi and Sith...
save one, Darth Bane.
After Ruusan, Bane went
to Dxun, a moon of Onderon... site of a strong concentration of Dark Side
energy. There he stayed several years using the Dark Side energy to strengthen
himself. When the Jedi believed all of the Sith destroyed, Darth Bane emerged
form his concealment. Bane began training his apprentice, but there would
only be two Sith at any one time. There would be no repetition of the mistakes
of the old cult. Their common enemy was the Jedi, not each other. It was
for their war with the Jedi they must save themselves.
Darth Sidious and Darth
Maul
The Sith remained in hiding
for a long time, continuing their traditions, biding their time for revenge.
32 years before the destruction of Alderaan that time came. Since the time
of Darth Bane the position of Sith master and apprentice had been passed
from one generation to the next. The passing of the title was not always
amiable, but was often violent as the apprentice could not wait for his
own turn to be master. Eventually the title of Sith Master passed to Palpatine.
The circumstances of Palpatine's becoming a Sith Lord are still unknown,
but he later took on Darth Maul as his apprentice. A native of the planet
Naboo, Palpatine was already a prominent senator with significant influence
in the government. As Sith Lord he took the alias Darth Sidious and began
amassing power on the other side of the law. Secretly building his own
personal empire. Darth Maul was young when Darth Sidious took him on as
his apprentice and spent the rest of his life dedicated to the Sith; mastering
the Force, utilizing the Dark Side, and training to be one of the most
fearsome fighters with a lightsaber.
Like all Sith, Darth Sidious
thirsted for galactic domination. His goal came one giant step closer with
the invasion of Naboo. Disgruntled with the Republic's taxation of trade
routes, the Trade Federation was easily persuaded by Darth Sidious to blockade
the planet of Naboo. Outraged, the Galactic Senate sent two Jedi ambassadors,
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, to negotiate with the Trade Federation.
Fearing the Jedi would interfere with his plans, Sidious ordered the Jedi
killed and instructed the Trade Federation to begin invading Naboo. The
Jedi, however, easily outwitted the battle droids sent to kill them and
escaped in a troop transport down to the planet's surface. The Trade Federation
droid army quickly subdued the Naboo people and captured Queen Amidala.
But before they could incarcerate her, the Jedi rescued her and escaped
in the queen's personal ship. In their flight from Naboo their hyperdrive
was damaged and they were forced to land on the nearby planet of Tatooine
for repairs. The Trade Federation needed the queen to sign a treaty to
make thier invasion legal. Annoyed at the Trade Federation's ineptitude,
Darth Sidious sent his apprentice Darth Maul to track down the Queen. He
found her on Tatooine, but was forced to fight Qui-Gon as the queen escaped
in her ship. Fearing for her planet's safety, Queen Amidala went to Coruscant
to plead her case before the Galactic Senate. Palpatine represented Naboo
in the Senate and assisted Amidala in the Senate Proceedings. What no one
knew was that Palpatine, in the guise of Darth Sidious, was himself responsible
for the invasion. Disappointed in the Senates lack of action, Queen Amidala
called for a no-confidance vote in Supreme Chancellor Valorum. Not waiting
for the Senate to do anything, Amidala returned to Naboo to free her people
herself. With the aid of the Gungans, Amidala organized an attack that
resulted in the Trade Federation Viceroy's capture and the destruction
of the droid control ship. The battle was won with the help of a young
boy from Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker. He was the one who flew into the droid
control ship and destroyed the main generator. However, during the battle
on the planet Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi engaged in a
monumental duel the ended in both Qui-Gon and Maul's deaths.
Naboo was once again free,
the Trade Federation was defeated, and Senator Palpatine was elected to
be the new Supreme Chancellor. In the tradition of the Sith, Palpatine's
devious plans actually worked. The invasion of Naboo that he instigated
was of no concern to him whether it succeeded or failed. It was merely
a ploy to get himself elected to Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic,
the highest position in the government. Now he was poised to make great
changes in the Republic. Changes to his benefit of course.
The Clone Wars Begin
10 years have passed since
the Trade Federation's attack on Naboo. Training under his master, Obi-wan
Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker has quickly become one of the most promising,
and powerful Jedi padawans in all the Jedi Order. Sharing many adventures
in their service to the Jedi, Anakin and Obi-wan have become close friends...
but Anakin's strong will concerns Obi-wan, and other Jedi masters, since
all know how dangerous a powerful Jedi can be when turned to the Dark Side.
Unsatisfied with how ponderous
and bureaucratic the Republic has become, many star systems have broken
off and formed the Separatist Movement. Led by a fallen Jedi, Count Dooku,
the Separatists pull star systems from the Republic by promising unilateral
free trade and local, independent governing systems. As the number of systems
seceding rises, concern grows in the Republic of a possible civil war between
the Separatists and the Republic. Strongly debated on both sides, the Military
Creation Act would establish a standing army for the Republic. Proponents
of peace strongly oppose the Act, most vocal of which is Senator Amidala,
recently retired from ruling Naboo as its queen. Others support the Act
so strongly that they have put out a contract on Amidala.
After a failed assassination
attempt on Senator Amidala at a Coruscant landing pad, the Jedi Order assigns
Obi-wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to protect her. Even after 10 years,
Anakin's affection for Padme has only grown. Padme at first hides any such
feelings, knowing the consequences of such a relationship between two people
of their positions. Following a second foiled assassination attempt, Kenobi
and Skywalker chase the assassin, Zam Wessel, through the underworld of
Coruscant, nabbing her only moments before Jango Fett kills her with a
toxic saberdart. Before they could give chase, Jango rockets off and disappears.
The increasing danger to Senator Amidala prompts the Jedi Council to order
Amidala to go into hiding. Accompanied by Anakin, Padme returns to Naboo.
Among the beautiful landscapes of Naboo, Anakin and Padme's love grows.
Anakin's inhibitions already fallen... and Padme's slowly crumbling.
Meanwhile, Obi-wan tracked
Jango Fett to an unmarked planet, Kamino. There, he finds out that the
Kaminos have been hard at work for the last 10 years building a clone army
for the Republic. Acting without the Jedi Council's knowledge, a man claiming
to be Jedi Master Sifo Dyas ordered a clone army made. However, Sifo Dyas
died around that time, so the Republic never found out about its clone
army. While on Kamino, Kenobi also met Jango Fett. Spooked by the presence
of a Jedi, Jango fled the planet, but not before a fight with Kenobi. The
fight ended in a draw... after which Kenobi placed a homing beacon on Fett's
ship, Slave 1. Obi-wan's continued pursuit of Jango Fett led to the planet
Geonosis. There Obi-wan learned of the Separatist's plan to attack the
Republic. The Geonisians themselves had been producing thousands upon thousands
of battle droids. Soon the Separatists would have an army strong enough
to overthrow the Republic. Just after sending word to the Jedi Council
of the clone army and the Separatist's plans, Kenobi was captured by the
Geonosians, ending his holo-transmission. While a prisoner of the Geonosians,
Kenobi is confronted by Count Dooku, who reveals to him that Chancellor
Palpatine is a Dark Lord of the Sith. Not believeing him, Kenobi refuses
to join Dooku, and resigns himself to his death sentence.
Haunted by dreams of his
mother, Anakin disobeyed orders and went to Tatooine to help her. Accompanied
by Padme, Anakin found out that Watto had sold his mother to a moisture
farmer by the name of Cliegg Lars. Upon reaching the Lars homestead, they
learned that Shmi hand been captured by Tusken Raiders just a week before.
Full of anger, Anakin raced off into the desert to find her. Following
the Force, Anakin finds his mother in a Tusken camp. Sneaking into the
camp, Anakin finds her... only moments before her life slips away. Beset
with rage, Skywalker bursts our of the tent and kills the entire Tusken
camp... men, women, and children alike.
Alarmed by the news, the
Jedi Council immediately sent a small Jedi force to Geonosis to rescue
Kenobi and do what they could to disrupt the Separatists. Concurrently,
the Galactic Senate voted emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
to deal with the Separatist threat. Palpatines first act was to activate
the clone army and crush the rebellion.
Also concerned with Kenobi's
capture, Anakin and Padme race to his aide and reach Geonosis before the
Jedi strike force. Not long after their arrival, they too are captured.
Just before being brought out into the execution arena, Padme admits her
love for Anakin. Their life together seeming to to short lived, Anakin
and Padme fight for their lives along with Obi-wan in the arena against
monstrous beasts. Moments before all seems hopeless, the Jedi strike force
attacks to rescue the three captives. Anticipating the rescue attempt,
battle droids are unleashed against the Jedi. Destroying droid after droid,
the Jedi are slowly defeated by sheer numbers. When all seems hopeless,
Count Dooku halts the battle and offers the Jedi a choice: join them or
die. The Jedi refuse to join, but moments before the battle droids open
fire for the last time, Master Yoda arrives with the Republic's new clone
army. Massive battle ensues, spreading from the arena out to the surface
of Geonosis. The Republic and Separatist armies clash, in what will become
the first battle of the Clone Wars.
As the tide turns in the
Republic's favor, Count Dooku flees to the docking bay to escape. Before
he can board his spacecraft, Anakin and Kenobi confront Dooku with lightsabers
blazing. One of the best swordfighters ever to come out of the Jedi Order,
Dooku easily disables both attackers. Anakin not only looses his pride,
but his hind. This time, Count Dooku's escape is interrupted by Master
Yoda. After a brief battle of Force powers, the two duel with lightsabers.
Tirelessly, they both attack and defend, equally matched sword masters.
Dooku's only chance for escape comes when he distracts Yoda with a falling
pillar... aimed right for the unconscious Kenobi and Skywalker.
Count Dooku escaped, and
returned to his master, Darth Sidious. Unbeknownst to all but master and
apprentice, the civil war just begun was masterminded by the Sith, and
put them one step further in their plans for Galactic domination. The Clone
War would rage for months, with both sides winning small battles, but the
outcome of the war was ever in doubt. Count Dooku enlisted the aid of the
Dark Side warrior Asajj Ventress and the bounty hunter Durge, who's presence
would ultimately turn the tide in many battles. Both Asajj and Durge would
prove to be very large thorns in the side of the Jedi and the Republic.
More information on this
time period is being uncovered every month and will be posted as it is
released.
The Empire / Darth Vader
In the years following it
is unclear exactly what happened. Darth Sidious (Palpatine) took on another
Sith apprentice who's identity has not yet been discovered. During this
time period the Clone Wars took place and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine
declared the Republic under martial law. It is speculated that Palpatine
as Darth Sidious masterminded the start of the Clone Wars. From there,
Palpatine declared himself Galactic Emperor and used the military to rule
dictatorially over his new Empire. Also, young Anakin Skywalker, under
the tutelage of Obi-Wan Kenobi, became a powerful Jedi. Anakin's relationship
to Queen Amidala blossomed and they eventually married. To Kenobi's dissapointment,
Anakin began learning about the Dark Side, likely at Darth Sidious' suggestion.
This disagreement eventually led to a vicious lightsaber duel between master
and apprentice that resulted in Anakin falling into a boiling chemical
vat. He survived, barely, and badly scarred. Parts of his body had to be
replaced by android prosthetics and he was forced to wear a breather mask
and carry around a life-support system for the rest of his life. In the
culmination of a lifetime of collected anger, Anakin Skywalker gave himself
over to the Dark Side. He joined Emperor Palpatine, became the 12th Dark
Lord of the Sith, and donned his trademark black armor and mask. Anakin
Skywalker was no more, but was now Darth Vader.
What he did not know was
that his wife Amidala was pregnant with twins, Luke and Leia.To keep that
knowledge from Anakin/Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi whisked away the twins and
left Luke to be raised by Kenobi's brother Owen Lars on Tatooine, and Leia
would be raised by Bail Organa of Alderaan as his own daughter.
Throughout history things
must change, but not everyone likes the changes. The largest opponent to
the Emperor's New Order were the Jedi. In what would be known as The Great
Jedi Purge, Emperor Palpatine instructed Darth Vader to hunt down and kill
all the Jedi. As Palpatine's right hand man Vader had the entire Imperial
Military at his disposal. In a matter of years almost all the Jedi in the
galaxy were wiped out. The ones left survived only by going into hiding.
Abhorrence of Palpatine's
Empire spawned rebellion amongst the general populace. At first it was
just an annoyance, but the rebels got organized. The Rebel Alliance grew
and became a formidable opponent, carrying on guerilla attacks and fomenting
rebellion on Imperial held planets. Palpatine put Vader in charge of eliminating
this Rebellion. Alderaan, a planet that preached peace, was secretly a
large supporter of the Alliance with Bail Organa as one of its leaders.
In an effort to preempt any official political actions against his rule,
Palpatine disbanded the Imperial Senate and gave local rule to the regional
governors, all loyal officers in the Imperial military. The Empire became
ruled with the "Tarkin doctrine." It said that fear of military reprisal
would keep the local governments in order. This was taken to the extreme
when Grand Moff Tarkin himself had the Deathstar constructed, a space station
the size of a small moon built around a super-laser that could destroy
an entire planet. During its construction the plans were stolen by Kyle
Katarn, a mercenary hired by the Rebellion. The plans eventually came into
the hands of Leia Organa, youngest member on the Senate before it was disbanded.
Like her foster father, Leia was also a member of the Rebel Alliance. Darth
Vader tracked Leia and the Deathstar plans to Tatooine, capturing her ship
the Tantive IV. Leia was taken prisoner, but not before she hid the plans
in R2D2 who fled in an escape pod with C-3P0 to the planet's surface. The
droids came into the hands of Luke Skywalker who later joined up with Obi-Wan
Kenobi. They evaded Imperial search parties in the Millennium Falcon with
Han Solo and Chewbacca. Meanwhile, Leia resisted all interrogation methods
and protected the location of the stolen plans and any knowledge of the
Rebellion. Loosing patience, Tarkin ordered Leia to give up the location
of the secret Rebel base or he would destroy her home planet of Alderaan.
She said the base was on Dantooine which was not entirely false since it
recently was there but was now deserted. Deciding that Dantooine was too
out of the way for a proper demonstration of the Deathstar's power, Tarkin
had Alderaan blown up anyway. While trying to get the Deathstar plans to
Rebel leaders on Alderaan, the Falcon ran into the debris field that was
Alderaan and were pulled into the Deathstar by a tractor beam. The gang
managed to rescue Princess Leia and escape the Deathstar. As they were
about to leave, Obi-Wan Kenobi confronted his fallen apprentice, Darth
Vader. A lightsaber duel ensued and Kenobi was slain, vowing that "if you
strike me down I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
Unbeknownst to them, a tracking device had been placed on the Falcon that
led the Imperials right to the hidden Rebel base on Yavin 4. At the battle
of Yavin the Deathstar was destroyed and Tarkin along with it. Darth Vader
survived because he was in a fighter that went out of control and flew
clear of the explosion. The Rebel Alliance had won a great victory against
the Empire but still had a long way to go.
In the following months
the Imperial Navy swooped down on the Alliance with everything they could
muster. The Rebels were forced to flee Yavin 4 and eventually established
another base on Hoth. Luke, Leia, and Han were becoming legends in the
Rebel Alliance while Darth Vader tried relentlessly to destroy the Rebellion.
Hundreds of probe droids were sent out to the farthest reaches of the galaxy
to find the Rebel base. One short-lived probe droid revealed their base
on Hoth and allowed the Imperial Navy to assault the base. Most of the
Rebels escaped under the covering fire of a huge ion-cannon, but many were
captured trying to get through the screen of Imperial ships. Sensing Luke's
strong Force abilities, the Emperor instructed Vader to find Luke and either
turn him to the Dark Side . . . or kill him. Using Leia, Han, and Chewie
as bait, Vader lured Luke to Cloud City. In their confrontation, Vader
gave Luke the ultimatum and revealed that he was his father. The duel ended
when Vader chopped off Luke's hand. Vader's Sith heritage showed through
when he told Luke that the two of them could join forces and overthrow
the Emperor. Luke refused to believe that Vader was his father and fell
down the central shaft of Cloud City. He was then rescued by Leia, Chewie,
and Lando in the Falcon. Vader would not rest in his quest to turn Luke
to the Dark Side.
The following year, Emperor
Palpatine ordered the construction of a second Deathstar. It was nearly
completed when the Rebels learned of its secret location orbiting the forest
moon of Endor. What the Rebels did not know was that Palpatine had allowed
the Deathstar plans to be stolen and set a trap for when the Rebel fleet
arrived. During a commando operation to Endor to disable the shield generator,
Luke gave himself up to the Imperials, accepting the inevitable confrontation
between him, Vader, and the Emperor. Luke, now a Jedi Knight, implored
his father to return to the Light Side claiming that the Dark Side had
not driven fully from him what he once was. Vader denied it and brought
Luke before the Emperor. In an attempt to end the Emperor's tyrany, Luke
struck at the Emperor with his lightsaber but was intercepted by Vader's
own saber. In their duel, Luke tried not to fight back, not wanting to
kill his father. But Vader riled up Luke by saying that he would instead
bring his sister, Leia, to the Dark Side. Luke snapped and attacked Vader
in anger, beating him back until he lopped off Vader's hand. Stopping to
consider the irony of both father and son losing their hand, Luke made
a final defiant stand against the Emperor by throwing away his lightsaber
and declaring he would never turn to the Dark Side. Dismayed at the news,
Palpatine attacked Luke with Force lightning. Writhing in agony, Luke called
to his father for help. persuaded by fatherly instinct and the Light Side,
Vader came to his son's aid and threw Palpatine into the reactor core shaft.
In the action, Vader was himself struck by the Force lightning, frying
the life-support system in his suit and causing irreparable damage to his
body. Meanwhile the Rebels had destroyed the shield generator, attacked
the Deathstar, and set off a chain reaction that caused it to explode.
Luke escaped with his dying father in a shuttle right before the Deathstar
blew up. Luke had succeeded in bringing Anakin Skywalker back to the Light
Side, but his wounds were too severe and Anakin passed away.
Emperor Palpatine's Clones
Six years after he was thought
to
be destroyed, Emperor Palpatine reemerged in a clone body. Once again he
made his bid for galactic domination. Palpatine had had the foresight to
secretly clone himself for just such an eventuality. As his mortal body
was hurled into the reactor core of the second Death Star by Darth Vader,
the Emperor transfered his spirit into one of the clones, a very painful
and traumatic Dark Side process. Thought to be dead, Palpatine spent the
next six years secretly rebuilding his Empire. More superweapons, like
the World Devastators, were constructed. Drawn through the Force, Luke
Skywalker, now a powerful Jedi, confronted the Emperor on Byss. Torn between
the Light Side and the desire to strike down the Emperor, Luke was left
with only one solution: join the Emperor. He would challenge the Dark Side
from within, penetrate the power of the Dark Side and learn its secrets.
Luke took command of the Imperial fleet, controling and coordinating them
through Dark Side Force meditation as Darth Vader had done.
With the New Republic forces
fighting a losing battle against the World Devastators on Mon Calamari,
Han Solo and Leia tracked down Luke hoping to bring him back to the Light
Side . . . or kill him. They found him on Byss but were promptly taken
prisoner. Knowing that Leia was pregnant, the Emperor hoped to bring her
to the Dark Side as well as enter her child in his next incarnation. Headstrong
and defiant, Leia escaped from the Emperor and encountered Luke; He convinced
Leia that he was no longer under the control of the Dark Side, that it
was her presence that helped him break it's influence. With the master
control codes to the World Devastators in R2D2's memory they all escaped
. . . all but Luke. He had stayed behind to kill the Emperor and all of
his clones, but was bested by the last remaining clone. With Luke once
again at his side, the Emperor sought out Leia and her unborn child. While
trying to control a huge Force storm to destroy the Republic fleet, Palpatine
was caught off guard by Luke and Leia's combined Light Side Force attack.
Palpatine lost control of the Force storm and was consumed by it, ending
the Emperor's reign of terror once again.
Long before the cloned Emperor's
demise, the evil ruler initiated an elite corps of seven warriors whom
he empowered with the Dark Side of the Force. These "dark jedi," as he
called them, were authorized to put into action his master plan to retake
the Galaxy: Operation Shadow Hand. In the Emperor's brief absence before
returning in another clone body, his most promising Darkside Warrior, Executor
Sedriss, ruthlessly continued Palpatine's plans.
Unaware of the Emperor's
return, the leaders of the New Republic planned to intercept a cargo of
advanced Imperial war droids and use them to attack the Emperor's citadel
on Byss. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and Kam Solusar, a Jedi Knight Luke
helped bring back to the Light Side, had gone in search of more Jedi. Their
search led them to Ossus: site of the Great Jedi Library. Still obsessed
with turning Luke back to the Dark Side, Palpatine sent Darkside Warriors
Sedriss and Goir to Ossus to capture Luke and Kam. They failed.
The Republic assault on
Byss using the war droids was thwarted by the Emperor's war beasts, genetically
altered monsters bred for war. The Republic assault force was able to retreat
with the aid of nearby smugglers that were sympathetic to the Republic's
cause. Angered at the insolence of the Rebels, the Emperor fired his latest
superweapon, the Galaxy Gun, at their hidden base on the Pinnacle Moon.
The entire moon was destroyed, but the Rebels had relocated their base
to Nespis VIII shortly before. Han and Leia's children, strong in the Force,
had been raised on the secret planet of New Alderaan to protect them from
the Dark Side. Unfortunately, Palpatine learned of the planet's location
and sent yet more Darkside Warriors to capture the Solo children. Again
they were defeated by Luke and the others.
Fear of the Emperor's new
Galaxy Gun swiftly brought many star systems under his control. Upon learning
of the new Rebel base the Emperor fired his Galaxy Gun at it, but the shot
was a dud. In the short time that it took to lauch another projectile the
Rebels managed to evacuate Nespis VIII just before it was destroyed by
the second shot. With his imperfect clone body rapidly decaying under the
strain of the Dark Side, Palpatine went to Korriban to get help from the
long dead Sith Lords. They would not help him, but told him where he could
find Leia's youngest child, Palpatine's last hope for a new body. He found
her on Onderon, secluded in the Kira Fortress, seemingly safe. Luke and
the others arrived at the fortress just as Palpatine was reaching for the
child. In this monumental confrontation between Light and Dark, the Emperor
was mortaly wounded. As his spirit tried to reach Leia's child it was intercepted
by Empatojayos Brand, a Jedi Knight they had found amongst a civilization
cut off from the rest of the galaxy in an intestellar gas cloud. As Brand
died from his own wounds he took the Emperor's spirit with him to the nothingness
that is beyond. Palpatine would no longer return in another clone body,
his spirit was gone forever. Besieged by Rebel ships, the Emperor's flagship
fled from Onderon into hyperspace. It exited hyperspace exactly where R2D2
had instructed it to, on a collision course with the Galaxy Gun orbiting
Byss. As the ship collided, the Gun fired off and caused Byss itself to
be destroyed.
The Ghost Of Exar Kun
Eleven years after the battle
of Yavin, the spirit of Exar Kun, still trapped within the Sith temples
on Yavin 4, made another attempt at galactic domination. Recognizing the
need for a new group of Jedi to act as peacekeepers in the New Republic,
Luke Skywalker established his Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. A remote, primitive,
back-water planet, Yavin 4 seemed like a good place for the academy. But
the seemingly abandoned Sith temples were not entirely empty. Awakened
from four centuries of solitude, Exar Kun's spirit promptly proceeded to
sway one of Luke's apprentices to the Dark Side. Gantoris, a headstrong
and impatient apprentice, was an easy target. Of the opinion that Luke
wasn't teaching him fast enough, Gantoris gladly accepted instruction from
Exar Kun, not knowing it was the Dark Side that he was learning. Luke felt
that building a lightsaber was too advanced for any of his students at
the time, but with Kun's instruction Gantoris built his own lightsaber.
Then he challenged Luke to a "friendly" duel. Unskilled at using a lightsaber,
Gantoris was easily disarmed, but during the fight Luke sensed moments
of anger in him. A sign of Dark intentions. Luke warned him about the Dark
Side but Gantoris just blew him off. Feeling superior to Exar Kun because
he was mortal and Kun was just a ghost, Gantoris confronted Exar Kun. Even
in death, the Sith Lord was powerful and burned Gantoris to a crisp.
After losing one candidate,
Kun moved on to another student to try and sway him to the Dark Side. But
Gantoris' death alerted Luke that something was going on. With a lifetime
of anger toward the Empire for what it did to his family, Kyp Durron was
another easy target for Kun. Wanting the quickest path to becoming a powerful
Jedi to exact revenge on the Empire, Kyp accepted Kun's teachings. Under
the Dark Lord's influence, Kyp did indeed grow powerful. With their combined
Force strength they ripped Luke's spirit from his body into the same realm
that Kun inhabited. Kyp then stole the Suncrusher and fled Yavin 4 to get
his revenge from the Empire. While Kyp was on his rampage against the Empire,
Kun tried unsuccessfully to trick Luke's other students into destroying
their master's body, so that he too would be stuck in that nether-world
forever. In the end, all of Luke's students joined together and with the
help of Luke himself engulfed Exar Kun with their combined Light Side power
and destroyed him forever.Without Kun's interference, Luke managed to get
back into his body. Also no longer under the Sith Lord's influence, Kyp
came to his senses and stopped his rampage and turned himself in to the
New Republic. Kyp continued his studies at Luke's Jedi Academy, but a bit
more aprehensively since he knew first hand about the dangers of the Dark
Side.
In order to better understand
the ways of the Sith and its various incarnations, one must understand
those who brought them about. Great lords and masters of the order
line galactic history, but it is the greatest of these that will be focused
on here.
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Marka Ragnos
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Naga Sadow
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Ludo Kreesh
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Freedon Nadd
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Exar Kun
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Ulic Qel-Droma
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Darth Bane
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Darth Sidious
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Darth Maul
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Darth Tyranus
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Emperor Palpatine
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Darth Vader
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