The History of the Sith

The Sith originally were a race of humanoid, insectile people; inhabiting a planet they called Sith, as well. They were a primitive species, but were Force-attuned, nevertheless. They used a small portion of the Force, combining it with their magic. Their sorcery was extremely powerful, able to do incredible feats. The weapons of Sith were also part of their sorcery. Made of hard metal, the Sith swords were small bastions of Sith power. The sword-maker, as the sword cooled, would pour into the metal, vast amounts of Sith magic. Thus, through all that power, the sword did not take any damage and could cut through anything. As their world became more and more populated, their world changed greatly: Sith society changed. Everything was separated into castes. The least Force-attuned and the poorest were placed into the lowest caste, while the most power and the most Force-attuned among the Sith became the ruling class: the Sith Lords. The caste system stayed with the Sith for a long time. However, the world of the Sith changed abruptly again: Sith society had become feudal. No one knows why or how this happened. Perhaps, as the peasantry class grew, more and more disgruntled Sith wanted change. And then, perhaps, there was a revolt (much like Earth's history). Revolt, or no revolt, society did indeed change from a society revolved around castes, to one revolved around kings and vassals. The feudal system produced clans, or Houses, as the Sith called them. Each House owned a portion of land and each had a head. The ruling head of each House was a Sith Lord. Among all of the Sith Lords, there was always one who was the most powerful and the most Force-attuned. He was the Dark Lord of Sith, given that title by the other Sith Lords because of his strength. The title Dark Lord of Sith was given to the strongest of the Sith Lord, who was the ruler over all Sith (much like the Shogun of feudal Japan). However, the inevitable soon came about. Houses clashed with one another, as they vied for more land and more power. Entire Houses were wiped out. Amid this chaos, a few extremely powerful Houses arose. The names of these are long forgotten, they certainly did exist.

Meanwhile, about two thousand years before the birth of Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight believed that he had found the true source of the Force. He went before the Jedi Council and revealed to them his newfound powers. The Jedi Council was horrified, for they soon realized that the Jedi had found and tapped into the secret and forbidden power: the Dark Side of the Force. The Jedi Council immediately banned the use of such destructive powers and tried to force the young Jedi to swear never again to use the Dark Side. However, the Jedi refused, seeing that he had found true power. He believed that the Dark Side was the real Side of the Force. The ensuing events caused a great disturbance among the previously harmonious Jedi Order. Again, the Jedi elders tried to convince the brash Jedi Knight that this was not the way. But, the rebel Jedi, realizing that he would never get consent, refused again and this time, he broke away from the sacred Jedi Order, with the immense knowledge and skill of a Jedi and a burning vow in his soul to seek revenge on those who had rejected him. The secession caused great discussion among the Jedi. He was alone at first, but others from the Jedi order who had seen the immense powers of the ex-Jedi believed that this was indeed the true way of the Force. They sought him out and decided to study the Dark Side, with him and train in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force. The next event caused an even greater chasm to open. The Jedi Council alarmed at how big the Dark Jedi’s had grown to, banished them from Coruscant. And so, after much searching, the band of rebel Jedi’s landed on the planet Sith. Upon showing the natives their powers, the Jedi’s were immediately believed to be gods. He soon found out that the natives, too, had Force powers as well. But, as he investigated, they did not use their powers to the full extent. They used only a small fraction of their powers and called the phenomenon magic. The Jedi’s then decided to awe the native Sith in their ways of the Force by showing them the extreme power of a lightsaber. However, during these mock duels, Sith Lords decided to challenge the Jedi. In the first of these duels, the Dark Jedi were shocked to learn that a Sith sword could easily fend off a blow from a lightsaber. They had previously believed that the lightsaber could cut through anything. Thus, they became even more incredulous at the power of the Sith. Gradually, as time went on, the Sith Lords and the Dark Jedi interbred, creating human offspring who were VERY Force-attuned. Soon, the Sith became obsolete in extinction, as the Human-Sith offspring soon evolved into total human beings. Only a few were of pure Sith blood. Society soon saw them as elite and they became an elite priesthood, composed of sorcerers with pure Sith blood, their name being long forgotten. The Dark Jedi, along with their Human-Sith offspring, had created the cult of Sith, a cult given over to the Dark Side of the Force, embracing to the last detail, the dark powers that were offered. They called themselves the Sith, in memory of the original natives of the planet. Their leader was the Dark Lord of Sith, given the traditional title, because he was the strongest among them. Other were recruited, and soon the ranks of the Sith swelled. 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 the Jedi.

For the next thousand years the Jedi and the Sith were at war. The rogue Jedi was still alive at the time. He had used the Dark Side to prolong his life thousands of years after the normal human life. He was still the leader of the Sith, but his greed excluded any sharing of power. However, since their order was not one created to serve, rather to dominate, his disciples began to conspire against him and each other. The war with the Jedi was the external war. The internal war was with each other. The result of these internal and external battles resulted in a nearly extinct Sith order.

In the end, the Sith destroyed themselves. They destroyed their leader first, then each other. The watchful Jedi soon dispatched what few survived the initial bloodbath. In a matter of only weeks, all of them died...

All but one.

The Sith who had survived when all of his fellows had died had understood the truth. He was Darth Bane. He had adopted patience as his virtue when the other had forsaken it. He had adopted cunning, stealth, and subterfuge as the foundation of his way-old Jedi virtues the others disdained. He stood aside while the other Sith tore each other's throats and were destroyed. When the carnage began, he went into hiding, biding his time, waiting for his chance.

When he and the Jedi was believed all of the Sith were destroyed, Darth Bane emerged from his concealment. At first his worked alone, but he was growing old and he was the last of his kind. Eventually, he went out in search of an apprentice. Finding one, he trained him to become a dangerous Dark Lord of Sith, teaching him the ways of the Dark Side, as well as Sith history and tactics. But, he taught, there would only be two at any one time, because if there were more, as history told, they would try to get rid of each other. Thus, he had reinvented the Order of Sith to consist of two Dark Lords: a Master and an apprentice. And for thousands of years, the Master would teach the Apprentice. The Master would die, and the Apprentice became the Master and taught a new Apprentice, and so on. They operated in secrecy, waiting for the chance to defeat the Jedi and seek revenge. There would be no repetition of mistakes of the old order, no struggle between Siths warring for power within the cult. Their true enemy was the Jedi, not each other. It was for the war with the Jedi, that they saved themselves.

And then, nine years after the birth of Anakin Skywalker, Darth Sidious and his apprentice Darth Maul made the first open move of the Sith; the first hint to the Jedi, that perhaps the Sith were still alive. At his Master's order, Darth Maul began to hunt down and destroy Qui-Gon Jinn and his padawan, Obi Wan Kenobi. As time goes on, Anakin Skywalker turns to the Dark Side. During this time the entire galaxy is transformed by the rise of the Galactic Empire, lead by the Emperor Palpatine, who had previously been a secret Dark Lord, the infamous Darth Sidious. And then, a new, terrifying Dark Lord arises: Darth Vader. He, a transformed Anakin Skywalker, became the apprentice of the Emperor, and together, they began to wipe out the Jedi, during the Great Jedi Purge. Although a few escaped, they never were strong enough to band together to fight back, against the two powerful Dark Lords of Sith. However, as his son pleads with him, Vader turns back to the Light Side, and killed the Emperor. The Galactic Empire crumbled down and the New Republic was born. Everyone thought that the Dark Side was defeated, yet a few claiming to be Dark Jedi’s, arose. However, these impostors were no matches for the new, strong order of the Jedi.

Ruled approximately 5,200 years before Darth Vader. Ragnos was a hafl-breed Sith, a warlord of tremendous physical power and frightening grasp of the Dark Side of the Force. He rose to prominence through a series of short, ruthless campaigns against his enemies. Once he gained control of the Sith Empire, he maintained dominance by pitting his detractors against one another, manipulating them into challening him, or simply assassinating them. Among the Sith, Marka Ragnos was feared, obeyed, and admired. Marka Ragnos retained power for over a century, crushing all resistance - but he expanded the Sith Empire only slightly in all that time. Ragnos was one of the few Sith alive who had researched the history of his people and knew of the Old Republic and its defenders, the Jedi Order. Ragnos knew that if the Sith Empire were to expand too far toward their ancestral home, they would encounter the Republic. He believed the Sith were not yet ready to enter into a protracted war with the forces of the Republic, especially if the Jedi were still as strong as they had been when they defeated his ancestors. Obviously, his views were not shared by all the Sith. Many was his lack of expansion as a sign of weakness and took it as an opportunity - a justification, even - to unseat the Dark Lord of the Sith. At fist irate that the other Sith would so blindly endanger his empire with their ambition, over time Ragnos came to realize that while they were focusing their efforts on him, they were not actually expanding the borders of the Sith Empire, and thus, not precipitating contact with the Republic. Marka Ragnos elected to play to the aggression of the other Sith, to distract them from making a mistake that could bring the Sith Empire to ruin.

"He ruled approximately a thousand years before the time of Exar Kun. A member of an elite priesthood of pure Sith blood." At the funeral of the previous Dark Lord of the Sith, Sadow chalenged his arch-rival, Ludo Kressh, for the title of the next Dark Lord. Sadow felt the Sith Empire was stagnating and should expand its territory, while Kressh wanted a more isolationist approach to governing the Sith Empire. The duel was interupted by the arrival of Gav and Jori Daragon, unlucky explorers that hyperspaced to the wrong place. Kressh wanted them executed as precursors to an invasion, but Sadow saw it as an oportunity to expand the Sith Empire. Gav and Jori waited in their cells, sentenced to be executed, despairing . . . not realizing that they had become pawns of a Sith Lord. With his fierce loyal Massassi warriors, Naga Sadow secretly stole strange Republic weaponry from Gav and Jori's impounded ship, Starbreaker 12, and staged a commando raid to free the prisoners, killing a prominent Sith Lord in the process. Sadow whisked them off to his private fortress. The Sith Lords were thrown into an uproar, seeing the weapons, the evidence, and assuming they had been attacked by Republic forces. In turmoil, they turned to Naga Sadow for leadership and named him the Dark Lord of the Sith. Outraged, Ludo Kressh stormed off, taking his supporters with him. Discovering Sadow's trickery, Kressh mounted an armed rebellion against the evil Dark Lord, vowing to fight to save the Sith Empire from Sadow's reckless plans. While attacking Sadow's decoy fortress on Khar Shian, Kressh had inadvertantly waltzed into an ambush set by the Dark Lord. With Ludo Kressh out of the way, Naga Sadow rallied all the Sith Lords for the comming conquest. During Kressh's attack, Sadow had tricked Jori into fleeing back to the Republic without her brother, who was being held elsewhere, and with a hidden homing beacon led Naga Sadow right to the Republic. He began teaching the Force-sensitive Gav Sith magic, and later gave him command of the Sith invasion fleet; Sadow himself would watch the battle from his meditation sphere orbiting Primus Goluud, where he used forbidden Sith magic to rally his forces and create the illusion of a more massive invasion force than it actually was. But Gav could not stand being the commander causing all the death and destruction, and instead attacked Sadow himself. With his meditation sphere damaged, his Massassi armies began losing, and the Republic fleet set out to hunt down Sadow. Causing the Primus Goluud star to explode, Sadow tried to hide his escape back to the Sith Empire. In Sadow's absence, Ludo Kressh retook control of the Sith Empire and had his fleet waiting for Sadow's return. But Kressh's fleet was still no match for Sadow's already depleated fleet. Just as Sadow destroyed Kressh's ship, and Ludo Kressh with it, the Republic fleet arrived, led there by Jori. "He escaped across the galaxy, engaging Republic gunships in a cataclysmic battle at the Denarii Nova. Eventually, he and his followers ended up on Yavin Four, with his followers devolving into the primitive Massassi warriors over the centuries."

"As a Jedi, he was apprenticed to Master Vodo-Siosk Baas, who admitted that Kun was the most formidable student he ever had. He was seduced by the dark side and drawn to the planet Korriban, where the spirit of Freedon Nadd enticed him to let the dark powers of the Sith enter him. On Yavin Four, he discovered ancient Sith temples guarded by the Massassi, whom he eventually conquered. He confronted Master Odan-Urr in the library of Ossus, and after killing him, took the Sith Holocron in order to further his dark powers," Four thousand years before the time of Darth Vader, Kun precipitated the Sith War which was one of the most destructive conflicts in the entire history of the Republic. With the help of Ulic Qel-Droma, the Krath illusionist Aleema, and the warlord Mandalore they built up an army that rivaled the Republic's own. While Ulic and Mandalore waged a huge military battle against Republic outposts, shipyards, and eventually Coruscant itself, Kun was busy seducing other Jedi trainees to the Dark Side to do his bidding. With his new Sith initiates, Kun waged a covert war against what he called the aging and outdated Jedi Masters, sending them out to kill their old Jedi masters. During the attack on Coruscant, Ulic Qel-Droma was captured and later charged with treason against the Republic. In the middle of his trial, Ulic was rescued by Kun and Mandalore as they barged into the courtroom filled with thousands of Jedi that were imobilized by Kun's Sith spell. During the rescue, Exar Kun killed his old master Vodo-Siosk Baas in a rematch of their previous duel in which his master won. Exar Kun later sent the treacherous Aleema to Kemplex Nine with the intent to ambush the Republic/Jedi forces using an ancient Sith superweapon that was aboard Naga Sadow's ship, recently unearth from the Yavin temples. The weapon tore the core of a sun in the Cron Cluster and hurled it at the Republic fleet, but also caused the sun to catastrophically supernova, destroying everything in the system including the Great Jedi Library on Ossus. The war ended with all the Jedi banding together and laying waste to most of Yavin 4, but not before Exar Kun absorbed the life-energies of the entire Massassi race to entomb his spirit in a Sith Temple. Four thousand years later when Luke Skywalker establishes his Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Kun once again made his bid for galaxy domination by attempting to sway Luke's new trainees to the Dark Side. Exar Kun almost succeeded with Kyp Durron, but not before Luke, the Jedi trainees, and the spirit of Master Bodo Baas together destroyed Kun's spirit forever.

Rivan lived during the time of the Sith War. He is most notable for teraforming the planet Almas. Originally an inhospitable planet with a molten core and an ice covered crust. The atmosphere consisted primarily of methane and phosphorus. Darth Rivan chose Almas for his home and he built a fortress partly underground, and enclosed the whole in a dome. An expert in biology and Sith alchemy, Rivan created a new grass-like plant called kaluthin, and spread it across the planet's surface. Kaluthin's unique properties include the ability to synthesize methane from the air and create oxygen. Darth Rivan was driven from Almas by the Jedi during the Sith Wars, and his dome-like home blasted into pieces. The central fortress remained, somehow impervious to blaster fire. The Jedi, thinking that the fortress was not worth the continued effort, decided to leave it. Centuries passed, and the kaluthin continued to prosper. They spread across the whole planet and eventually made the atmosphere partially breathable, except for trace elements of methane and phosphorus which made the air slightly poisonous. On one side planet, however, there is a desolate wasteland where even kaluthin cannot grow anymore. The center of this wasteland is the ancient Sith fortress. Slowly, the wasteland grows...

Following the Sith War and the fall of Exar Kun, the Republic was at its most vulnerable state. 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. Revan's friend Malak grudgingly took the mantle of the Dark Lord's apprentice. 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, while Malak escaped and proclaimed himself the new Dark Lord, swearing revenge on the Jedi and Revan. But the Jedi had other plans. They used the brain-washed Revan to help track down Malak. On the ancient Star Forge station, Master and former-apprentice faced off one last time, ending in Malak's defeat. Having regained his memory and the title of Dark Lord, Revan renewed his crusade against the Jedi. Just as the Sith were nearing victory, having nearly wiping out the Jedi, Revan mysteriously left his Sith followers to hide in the Unknown Regions... never to be seen again. The Jedi Civil War would drag on for years to come, the Sith hunting down the Jedi and the Jedi managing to survive.

Jedi Master to Revan, Keria became consumed by guilt after Revan's turn to the Dark Side, wondering if her teachings led to Revan's fall. Following the Jedi Civil War Keria left the Jedi Order. Her search for Revan led to Malachor V, where she discovered an ancient Sith academy. Corrupted by the Dark Side presence of Malachor, she embraced the Dark Side and became Darth Traya. She began training new Sith followers, and her teachings incorporated both the Light and the Dark Sides of the Force. Her two most notable pupils were Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion, who in true Sith fasion, betrayed their master, stripped her of her powers, and exiled her. She later joined up with The Exile, and together they regained their lost Force powers. Unbeknownst to the Exile, Keria was using him to track down the Sith leadership, Sion and Nihilus, and kill her rebellious pupils. Ultimately the Exile discovered her plans and defeated her.

"Like most of Malak's followers, Bandon was once a student of the Jedi. But though the Force flowed through him, Bandon could never accept the Jedi teachings. Powerful emotions like anger and hate raged within him, and they fueled his strength. When the Sith rose to power, Bandon rejected his old Master and fled to the Sith Academy on Korriban. There he embraced the dark side and the way of the Sith with every fiber of his being. His great strength in the Force, his natural cruelty and his absolute ruthlessness in his quest for power soon set him apart from his fellow students, and drew the calculating eye of Lord Malak himself. In the tradition of their order, Malak sought a single pupil from among his many followers to become his chosen apprentice: one who could learn the terrible secrets of the Sith and use them to destroy the Jedi and the Republic. So far, Darth Bandon has proven himself to be an excellent choice. Many Jedi have fallen beneath the blade of his lightsaber, and he has yet to meet his equal in combat. In time, Bandon may even challenge Malak for the mantle of Dark Lord, for this is the way of the Sith: the strong must rule, and when the apprentice surpasses the Master, the Master must fall. But such ambitions are for the future. For now, Bandon is focused on the destruction of the Republic and the slaughter and extinction of the entire Jedi Order."

"Darth Nihilus consumes the Force from Force-sensitives in order to stay alive. He can even consume entire Force-sensitive planets. Little is known of Nihilus's true beginnings, other than the fact that he was a survivor of the Mandalorian Wars, and may or may not have at one point been a prisoner of the Mandalorians. After the war he was found by Darth Traya to be Force-sensitive, and she began training him in the ways of the Sith at the Trayus Academy on Malachor V. After his true powers and potential were realized, Nihilus, along with fellow Sith student Darth Sion, plotted and turned against their dark mistress Traya. They cast Traya down, stripped her of her power, and expelled her from the Sith Order. Nihilus and Sion had now begun their shadow war against the remnants of the Jedi Order. They hunted Jedi to the brink of extinction." Nihilus was eventually tracked down and killed by the Jedi Exile.

"A twisted wreck, Darth Sion is a Sith Lord held together only by sheer force of will. Every bone in his body has been shattered and rebuilt, turning his skeleton and his flesh into a patchwork mass of bruises and scraping bone. He is in constant pain, and only his hatred and the power of the Dark Side keeps him alive." Sion was eventually tracked down and killed by the Jedi Exile.

Self-proclaimed leader of all the Sith Lords, Kaan led the Sith army against the Jedi in their final stand on Ruusan. 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 arrive just as the Sith Lords attack and drove them off. 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... but one, Darth Bane.

A powerful Sith Master under the leadership of Lord Kaan. He assisted in the training of many Sith followers, including Darth Bane. Qordis was killed on Ruusan by the Sith thought bomb, but his spirit survived to torment the lone Sith survivor of that battle, Darth Bane. Qordis' spirit caused Bane to crash-land on Dxun, having fled there after the Battle of Ruusan.

Two thousand years before Palpatine's Empire, a group of Jedi broke from the order to form their own Sith order. Believing that true power lay not in the Light Side of the Force, but in the Dark, they waged a bloody war against the Jedi. Based on ambition that excluded the sharing of power, the Sith began conspiring against each other, undermining their own war against the Jedi. He had adopted patience as a virtue when the others had forsaken it. He had adopted cunning, stealth, and subterfuge as the foundation of his way - old Jedi vitrues the others had disdained. He stood aside while the Sith tore at each other for supremacy. The Jedi/Sith war came to a climax on the planet Ruusan, where both armies were taking great losses. Knowing that the only way to defeat the Jedi was by working together, Bane proposed a Dark Side meld to combine their Sith powers. While lowly Sith minions engaged the Jedi in battle, the Sith Lords, channeling through Darth Bane, combined their Dark Side powers and began to annihilate the battlefield with Dark Side energy. However, Lord 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. Kaan and the Sith Lords were driven off when Jedi reinforcements arrived. In desperation, Kaan planned to detonate a thought bomb and destroy all the Jedi at once, feeling the Sith Lords powerful enough to withstand the bomb's effects. 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. When the carnage was complete, he went into hiding, biding his time, waiting for his chance. Bane was forced to crash-land on Dxun, a moon of Onderon, after the vengeful sprit of Lord Qordis disabled his ship. At the tomb of Freedon Nadd he discovered a concentrated region of Dark Side power. Within the tomb he discovered a Sith holocron, and used it's teachings to build his own power. However, while retrieving the holocron, Bane was attacked by armoured creatures called orbalisks that attached to his body and would eventually form a symbiotic suit of armor that fed off of Dark Side energy. With his ship destroyed, Bane escaped Dxun by subjugating a giant flying beast and rode it to Onderon where he would find his apprentice. But from now on 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 MILLENNIAL (1,000 bby) The Dark Force religion was brought to Dromund Kaas by the Sith apprentice Darth Millennial. The apprentice abandoned his master to focus on the philosophy of Rule by the Strong, espoused by the "Dark One" Lord Kaan, rather than on Darth Bane's restrictive Rule of Two

DARTH ANDEDDU Lord of the Sith (dates unkown). A Sith Holocron created by Darth Andeddu was discovered on Korriban approximately 16 months after the Battle of Geonosis and brought to Darth Tyranus by the double-agent Quinlan Vos. Little else is known of Darth Andeddu.

A very powerful Sith Master, Plagueis learned how to use the Dark Side to control the very midi-chlorians that influence the Force. With this ability he was able to manipulate the Force to create and extend life. It is unknown how long Darth Plagueis lived, but even with this great power he could not prevent his own death. He was killed in his sleep by his apprentice, Darth Sidious

A native of the planet Naboo, Palpatine worked his way up in politics to become that sector's senator on the Galactic Senate. Unbeknownst to everyone, Palpatine also learned the ways of the Dark Side of the Force and became a Sith Lord. Palpatine played both sides to gain all the power he could. As Sith Lord he began building his dark empire, scheming and causing problems for the rest of the galaxy. As senator he feigned to solve those same problems while at the same time gaining more political support. 32 years before the first Death Star was destroyed, collaborating with the Trade Federation Palpatine instigated an invasion of his home planet of Naboo that caused an uproar in the Galactic Senate. The Trade Federation, Sidious' pawns, failed and the invasion was defeated, but for Senator Palpatine it was a success; The result was his being elected to Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, replacing Chancellor Valorum with a no-confidence vote. During that same campaign, Palpatine sent his apprentice, Darth Maul, to kill the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi who were meddling in his plans. Maul was killed by Obi-Wan, but not before he killed Obi-Wan's master, Qui-Gon. Palpatine wasted not time, and quickly found another apprentice to further his work: Count Dooku. Unsatisfied with the Jedi Order, Dooku was quickly turned to the Dark Side and began helping his master with Galactic conquest. Dooku learned of the Republic's clone army on Kamino that was ordered by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas. With the Jedi Master's death before anyone else in the Republic could find out about the army, Palpatine instructed the Count to ensure the Republic's army remained a secret. The Republic would not find out about its clone army for another 10 years. In that time, Palpatine's power and supporters grew in the Senate, and Dooku began convincing sector after sector to secede from the Republic to join his Separatist movement. With tension rising between the Republic and the Separatists, just as war was about to flash, the Senate voted emergency power to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Using his new-found power, Palpatine ordered the use of the clone army in stopping the Separatists. Thus began the Clone Wars. Throughout the War, more and more power was passed from the Senate to the Supreme Chancellor in the name of expediency in making military decisions. As the war ended, Palpatine fabricated a Jedi plot to overthrow the Republic, giving a "legitimate" reason to the Senate for eradicating the Jedi. In his victory speech to the Senate on the defeat of the Separatists and the Jedi he outlined his plan for a new Galactic Empire... with himself as Galactic Emperor. Taking Anakin Skywalker as his apprentice, renamed Darth Vader, they ruled the galaxy through fear. These two Lords of the Sith instigated the great Jedi Purge that all but wiped out the Jedi order. Palpatine would later disband the Galactic Senate, furthering the seeds of rebellion against his magnificent Empire. Emperor Palpatine entrusted Vader with the annihilation of the Rebellion that had risen against him. During that time he also commanded Vader to give Luke Skywalker an ultimatum: "Join us, or die!" Above the moon of Endor, in the final battle of the Galactic Civil War, Emperor Palpatine was killed when Darth Vader threw him into the Death Star II's reactor core. Luke Skywalker had managed to bring his father back to the Light Side, to the dismay of the Emperor. For six years after the Battle of Endor, it was believed that the Emperor was no more. Utilizing Sparti Cloning Cylinders left over from the Clone Wars, the Emperor had the foresight to clone himself. It was into one of these clones that he transferred his spirit at the instant his mortal body was thrown into the reactor core by Vader. Six years after that fateful day, the Emperor emerged from hiding with a new army to conquer the galaxy. Utilizing super-weapons like the World Devastators and the Galaxy Gun, Palpatine made another bid for galactic domination. His last clone was finally destroyed and the Emperor was finally gone. Many years after, it seemed like the Emperor had returned yet again; But it was just a small group of Imperial Royal Guards that were using the Emperor's persona to their own gain, splicing holo-footage to make it appear as if the Emperor were alive.

Darth Maul was a weapon forged by the hateful energies of the dark side to ensure the victory of the Sith over the Jedi order. A creature of pure evil, Maul had no personality beyond his ultimate devotion to his master, Darth Sidious. His goal was singular -- to exact vengeance upon the Jedi for the decimation of the Sith ranks. Born on Iridonia, his training was harsh and cruel. Maul's training culminated with one final challenge: a survival test on a savage planet where he was ultimately forced to face his own master in a duel. Only when Maul's turn to the Dark Side was complete and he was willing to kill his own master was he deemed worthy of becoming a Sith Lord. While Qui-Gon Jinn was escorting the fugitive Queen Amidala from Tatooine to Coruscant, Darth Maul swept down from above, lunging at Qui-Gon from his rocketing Sith speeder. Maul's attack was relentless; he hammered down lightsaber strikes against the accomplished Jedi Master, forcing him back time and again. It was only the timely interception of Qui-Gon by the Queen's Royal Starship that spared him. Qui-Gon was utterly surprised and unprepared for such an attack. The Sith, everyone knew, were extinct, disappeared from the galaxy for a millennium. Yet the evidence was there -- a dark attacker, trained in the Jedi arts, brandishing a lightsaber no less. Maul was dispatched by Darth Sidious to track down the Queen, a feat he accomplished through mysterious yet effective means. Traveling aboard his sleek Sith Infiltrator, Maul scouted the galaxy for the missing monarch, and reported his findings to his master. When Amidala returned to Naboo, Maul was there, waiting to face the Jedi once more. As an undeniable example of his skill and devotion, Maul plunged headlong into battle against two Jedi warriors. Using his double-bladed lightsaber, Maul held off both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in the heart of the Theed Royal Palace. When the Jedi became separated, Maul killed Qui-Gon with a well-placed saber strike. Kenobi, enraged, attacked Maul. This barrage was deflected by Maul who used Obi-Wan's touching of the dark side as a conduit for a Force attack; using the Force, Maul pushed Obi-Wan into a deep mining pit. Kenobi held onto an outcropping for dear life. Calming himself by calling upon the light side of the Force, Kenobi was able to surprise Maul, and cleave him in half with his saber.

Following the death of Darth Maul, Lord Sidious sought out another apprentice. With his plans quickly coming together, Sidious did not have time to train a new apprentice from birth. He instead turned to the Jedi. Focusing in on a powerful, and unsatisfied Jedi, Sidious recruited Count Dooku and quickly turned him to the Dark Side. Unsettled with the restrictions put on the Jedi in their studies of the Force, and feeling the Jedi betrayed themselves by serving the politicians, Dooku was quick to embrace Sidious' ideals, and took the tile of Darth Tyranus. Shortly after joining with Sidious, he was informed by his new Master of the secret clone army ordered by Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas on Kamino. Sidious ordered Tyranus to kill Sifo-Dyas and erase all reference to Kamino from the Jedi Archives. Tyranus also secretly funded the clone army, since it would play a vital part in Darth Sidious' master plan. The Republic did not find out that a clone army was being made for it until ten years later... just in time to prevent the Separatists from overthrowing the Republic. On the planet of Geonosis, the first battle of the Clone Wars broke out. Tyranus was confronted by the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. An incredible lightsaber duel ensued, but ended with both Jedi being wounded, and Anakin loosing a hand. Before Tyranus could finish them off, Jedi Master Yoda interrupted him and showed Tyranus a thing or two about lightsabers. The duel ended in a draw as Yoda saved Kenobi and Skywalker from being crushed by a falling pillar, while Tyranus escaped in a shuttle. Returning to Coruscant, Tyranus joined up with his Master and began working on the next phase of their plans for galactic conquest. Count Dooku visited the planet Rattatak, looking for another world to add to the Separatist fold. What he found instead was far more promising. Asajj Ventress, a Dark Side warrior trained in the ways of the Jedi displayed her raw talent and fierce determination which impressed Dooku. The charismatic leader of the Confederacy was able to recruit the young warrior by appealing to her disgust with the Jedi and the Republic. Though Ventress longed to identify herself as a Sith, she did not receive Sith training. Although Dooku helped hone her talents, he taught her none of the knowledge unique to the Sith. Dooku would use Asajj as a deadly tool against the Jedi and the Republic. Having been the leader of the Separatists, Dooku's only chance for regaining power after the war was by allowing himself to be captured by the great war hero, Anakin Skywalker, so that after Palpatine establishes his Empire, Dooku could be instated as his right hand man. The plan was for Anakin to become the "greatest warrior in the galaxy" by defeating Dooku and the Separatists, and later to lead the Empire's new armies. During the Separatist attack on Coruscant and the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine, Tyranus fought against the rescuers Anakin and Obi-Wan aboard General Grievous' flagship. Having been "defeated" and disarmed by Anakin and expecting to be imprisoned, Tyranus was dumbstruck that Palpatine/Sidious prompted Anakin to kill him in cold blood. Dooku discovered too late that Sidious' plans were for Anakin to become his new apprentice, and that Dooku's death was just another part of Sidious' plan for pushing Anakin to the Dark Side. Such is the way of the Sith.

12th Dark Lord of the Sith (19 bby - 4 aby). Born to Shmi Skywalker, and believed to have been conceived by the midi-chlorians. Moved to Tatooine at age three. Anakin and his mother were sold as slaves to Gardulla the Hutt, but Gardulla lost them to the Toydarian junk dealer Watto while betting on a Pod Race. Anakin was a young hot-shot pilot with force abilities. Very adept mechanically, Anakin built his own Pod Racer as well as building C-3PO. Anakin won his freedom by winning the famed Boonta Eve Pod Race, with a little help from the Force. Accompanying the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Queen Amidala to the planet Naboo, Anakin inadvertently joined in the space battle above the planets surface. He "accidentally" managed to knock out the power generator of the Trade Federation cruiser, destroying the battle droid control computer and winning the battle. Anakin was later apprenticed to Obi-Wan Kenobi in the ways of the Light Side of the Force before being seduced by the Dark Side. Anakin stayed on the path of the Light Side for more than a decade, sharing many adventures with his master. However, in that time, Anakin became good friends with Chancellor Palpatine, who was almost like a second Master for him. Palpatine encouraged Anakin to be the best Jedi ever, and even then began bending him to his will. Ten years after the battle of Naboo, Anakin and Obi-Wan were assigned to protect Senator Amidala from mysterious assassins. Master and apprentice would be forced to split up, with Kenobi tracking down the assassin and Skywalker acting as Amidala's bodyguard. Anakin an Padme spent much time together, hiding out in sparsely populated areas of Naboo. At first they denied their love for each other, but eventually gave in to it. Unable to stomach the constant nightmares about his mother, Anakin returned to Tatooine to find her. When he and Amidala arrived on Tatooine, they tracked her to a moisture farm, where Shmi's new husband Cliegg Lars told them what had happened to his mother: She had been taken captive by Tusken Raiders. Enraged, Anakin frantically searched for his mother... and found her just as her life slipped away. Seething with anger from watching his mother die in his arms from the beating the Tuskens had inflicted on her, Anakin slew the entire camp with his lightsaber. Men, women, and children. That was Anakin's first, irrevocable step toward the Dark Side. As fate would have it, Kenobi got himself captured by the Separatists on the planet of Geonosis, and Anakin and Padme decided to rescue him. They too were captured and the three sentenced to death in the arena. They managed to stay alive long enough in the execution arena for the Jedi to arrive and intervene. The Jedi were greatly outnumbered by the Separatist's droid army, but the tides turned when Yoda showed up with the Republic's new clone army. The battle on Geonosis would be the start of the Clone Wars. In the battle, Kenobi and Skywalker chased Count Dooku to a hanger bay and entered aggressive negotiations... with lightsabers. Dooku's superior swordsmanship prevailed, resulting in both Jedi being wounded and with Anakin losing his hand. Yoda showed up to fight Dooku, but the Count escaped to wreak more havoc in the universe. In a brief respite after Geonosis, Anakin and Padme returned to Naboo and were married. The two of them spent what little time they could together, while surviving in a galaxy torn by war. Anakin would again encounter Dooku while rescuing the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine. The duel ended with Dooku disarmed and expecting to be imprisoned. Knowing what a danger Dooku would still be, Anakin killed him in cold blood... taking another large step toward the Dark Side. Anakin was full of both joy and despair with Padme's pregnancy, for he foresaw that she would die in childbirth. Wanting nothing more in the galaxy than to keep Padme from dying, Anakin succumbed to the lure of Darth Sidious' revelation that there were Dark Side powers that could keep her from dying. Sadly, his fall to the Dark Side ultimately drove off the one thing he most loved in the galaxy, Padme. In a vicious lightsaber duel on Mustafar between him and his then-master Obi-Wan, Anakin was horribly wounded and burned, which is why he wears the trademark protective black armor and breath mask. Before Anakin found out that he had children, the twins Luke and Leia, Kenobi hid them from him to protect them from their father and the Dark Side. Even Palpatine told Vader that Padme and his child were dead, knowing that if he knew he had children we would not be able to focus on running a galaxy. Seething with anger, Vader tapped the vast amounts of Dark Side energy through the ancient Sith teachings, and later became the Dark Lord of the Sith. As Emperor Palpatine's right hand, Darth Vader chased the Rebel Alliance to the far reaches of the galaxy. While trying to find the fabled Kaibur Crystal of Mimban, Vader finally encountered and fought his son, the young Luke Skywalker. In his last confrontation with Luke, Vader finally returned to the Light Side by throwing Palpatine into the reactor core to save his son.

Born on the Deyer colony of the Anoat system. Kyp's parents were outspoken polititians who openly protested the Ghorman Massacre and the destruction of Alderaan. One night stormtroopers barged into their house and sent Kyp and his parents to the prison colony on Kessel, and sent his brother Zeth to the Imperial Stormtrooper Academy on Caridia. Kyp's parents were executed when Moruth Doole took over the Kessel facilities. Kyp survived and met a fellow inmate, Vima-Da-Boda, who taught him the basics about the Force. Later, Kyp escaped from Kessel with the help of Han Solo and managed to be captured again by Admiral Daala while fleeing into the Maw. Narrowly avoiding a death sentence from Daala, Kyp escaped again with Solo and the scientist Qwi Xux. While training at Luke Skywalker's newly established Jedi Academy, Kyp encountered the spirit of the long-dead Exar Kun and began gaining power through the Dark Side and ancient Sith teachings. Pissed off at the Empire for all the pain it has cause him and his family, Kyp furiously waged a one-man war against the Empire using the Sun Crusher and his newly acquired Sith powers. While visiting the site of Darth Vader's funeral pyre on Endor, Kyp claimed the title of The Dark Lord Of The Sith (he was able to claim this since no other known Sith existed to challenge him, although in my opinion Kyp had not reached a high enough level to rightfully claim the title). Kyp eventually returned to the Light Side after Kun's spirit was destroyed by the other Jedi trainees and thus was no longer under Kun's influence.

DARTH CAEDUS (Jacen Solo) Lord of the Sith (~40 aby). Famous first-born son of Leia and Han Solo, Jacen grew up exposed to the Galaxy's wars. His accumulated experiences of the Universe's pain, suffering, injustice, and chaos eventually led him the Dark Side.

DARTH KRAYT Lord of the Sith (125 -132 aby). Ancient and deadly, Darth Krayt has created a Sith order that is fully immersed in the Dark Side. For over a hundred years, Krayt's Sith have hidden on the planet Korriban, using the miasma of the Dark Side that permeates the planet to conceal themselves. The Rule of Two is gone, banished by the Sith's new leader. Now there is only the One - the Sith order itself.* But Krayt was not always a Sith. He began his life as A'Sharad Hett, a Jedi Knight. Raised by his Tusken Raider father (a Jedi himself) A'Sharad was a devoted Jedi, but frequently questioned Jedi teachings. He survived the Jedi Purge and went into hiding on Tatooine, becoming a Tusken Raider warlord, but was later disarmed and humiliated by Obi-Wan Kenobi. This was the turning point that put A'Sharad Hett on the path of the Dark Side. For a time he made a living as a bounty hunter, until one bounty lead him to Korriban where he encountered the ancient spirit of Xoxaan, Sith Lord, who would teach him the ways of the Sith. After leaving Korriban and discovering that the object of his revenge, Palpatine and Vader, were already dead, he fled to the Unknown Regions where he encountered and was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. While their prisoner he fell further toward the Dark Side, and was also subject to their biological experiments. Now intent on reforming a new Sith order, Darth Krayt escaped and returned to Korriban. Nearly a century later, after establishing a new Sith Order, Krayt masterminded a new war between the Gallactic Alliance and the New Empire. After the Alliance was defeated, Krayt proclaimed himself the new Emperor. But all was not as he wished it, for the former Emperor Roan Fel had escaped assassination and still had a sizeable Imperial force loyal to him, and Krayt had also learned of the last surviving Skywalker, Cade Skywalker. Krayt's body was slowly being consumed by the Vong growths that covered his body, but after hearing of Cade's strong Force healing powers Krayt captured him and planned to turn him to the Dark Side and have Cade heal him. But Cade wanted no part of it, and with the some opportune help... escaped

DARTH RUYN (132 aby) Sith master who apprenticed Darth Talon and taught her to be an assassin. Talon's final lesson was killing her own master on the orders of Darth Krayt.

DARTH TALON Lord of the Sith (132 aby). One of Krayt's "Hands," the purpose of her existence is to execute Krayt's will. Talon's tattoos were earned in ritual combat and inscribed by Krayt himself.* It is Talon who first exposes Cade Skywalker’s Jedi heritage while pursuing Roan Fel’s daughter. Talon is also the one who defeats and captures Cade during his attempt to rescue Jedi Hosk Trey’lis. But during Cade's successful escape attempt he kills Talon.

DARTH TALON Lord of the Sith (132 aby). One of Krayt's "Hands," the purpose of her existence is to execute Krayt's will. Talon's tattoos were earned in ritual combat and inscribed by Krayt himself.* It is Talon who first exposes Cade Skywalker’s Jedi heritage while pursuing Roan Fel’s daughter. Talon is also the one who defeats and captures Cade during his attempt to rescue Jedi Hosk Trey’lis. But during Cade's successful escape attempt he kills Talon.

DARTH STRYFE Lord of the Sith (132 aby). Perhaps the most brutal of Darth Krayt's followers, Darth Stryfe is an explosion of raw power.*

DARTH NIHL Lord of the Sith (132 aby). The other of Kray'ts Hands, the Nagai warrior is the top enforcer of Krayt's will both within and outside of the Sith Order.*

DARTH WYYRLOK Lord of the Sith (132 aby). Third of that name, Wyyrlock is Krayt's most trusted lieutenant, master of ritual lore of the Sith and all the ways of the Dark Side.*


DARTH MALEVAL Lord of the Sith (132 ABY) He supervised the 908th stormtrooper squad in their attack on the traitorous 407th squad on Borosk. After the battle, Maleval was shot by his own troops who disapproved of his merciless tactics.

DARTH MALADI Lord of the Sith (132 aby). Head of Sith Intelligence and Assassination, Maladi is also an expert in the ways of torture.* She interrogated/tortured Jedi Hosk Trey’lis to get information on Cade Skywalker.

DARTH KRUHL Lord of the Sith (132 ABY) Sith assassin who infiltrated Bastion in a failed attempt to kill deposed Emperor Roan Fel. Kruhl was killed by Fel, who is an accomplished Knight.

DARTH AZARD Lord of the Sith (132 ABY) This Sith commander was tasked with tracking down the renegade Republic fleet led by Admiral Stazi. When Imperial Admiral Sha Dun was unsuccessful for too long, Azard killed him and appointed Admiral Valan to the task of tracking down Stazi,