Korriban

"Korriban shall be as it always was. A graveyard for the darkest of the Sith Lords, still whispering within their tombs. It shall always be a source of evil, spawning threats throughout the millennia."

- Darth Traya

Korriban was the sole planet in the Horuset system, located across the galaxy from Koros Major. It was the original homeworld of the Sith species and a sacred planet for the Sith Order, housing the tombs for many ancient and powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, and containing tremendous dark side power.

After the Hundred Year Darkness, the remaining Dark Jedi interbred with the Sith species and ruled the Sith using their Force powers. After the Great Hyperspace War, Korriban was abandoned and became a barren world. It was the site of two Sith Academies, and became the headquarters of the New Sith Order.

History
"The call of Korriban is strong, but it is the call of the dead."

- Darth Sion

Infinite Empire
This remote, forbidding planet was the original homeworld of the Sith species. The Rakata invaded Korriban in an attempt to integrate the world into the Infinite Empire, intending to harvest slaves from the planet to be used for Rakatan projects, such as the Star Forge (30,000 BBY). The sole artifact to survive this era was the ancient Star Map, around which the tomb of Naga Sadow was later built.

The Rakata were eventually forced off the world after the Sith King Adas led his people against them. Adas died in the battle, and thus, despite this victory, Sith society crumbled, and, in the ensuing centuries of strife, the Sith relocated to Ziost, leaving Korriban as a graveyard world.

Sith Empire
The Sith Empire was founded in approximately 6,900 BBY by exiled fallen Jedi fleeing the Battle of Corbos, which concluded the Hundred-Year Darkness. The fallen Jedi landed on Ziost.

Using their training in the Force, the fallen Jedi amazed the Sith and elevated themselves to god-like status on Ziost becoming the rulers of the Sith people. As years passed, and interbreeding occurred between the Fallen Jedi and the Sith, the term "Sith" came to mean not only the original inhabitants of Korriban, but also their fallen Jedi masters. Until the rise of Naga Sadow, the existence of the Sith Empire was unknown to the Galactic Republic.

Under the pall of Sith magic, this desolate world became more hellish and dangerous .The Sith Lords erected huge palaces and burial complexes to honor their fallen Dark Lords. Circa 5,000 BBY, the planet became an endpoint of the newly-formed Daragon Trail hyperspace lane, when it was discovered by Gav and Jori Daragon. This event triggered the Great Hyperspace War. After the fall of the Sith Empire, the planet lost much of its prominence in the Galaxy, eventually falling off the galactic starcharts for a thousand years.

Old Sith Wars
"Pfah. Korriban's a rock. Mind the Sith."

- Jolee Bindo

Korriban was resettled prior to 3,993 BBY by Dark Jedi survivors of the Exar Kun War, and was home to the new settlement of Dreshdae and a Sith training academy. Darth Revan and Darth Malak visited the planet on their quest to discover the Star Forge. After losing his memory, Revan visited this academy again on his quest to re-discover the Star Forge for the good of the Republic. In 3,993 BBY, as part of the Great Hunt, Duron Qel-Droma and Shaela Nur died on the planet, failing to cleanse it of terentateks. The planet became the capital of the Czerka Corporation. With the death of Master Uthar Wynn, the academy's headmaster, and Darth Malak himself at the hands of Revan in 3,956 BBY, the Sith Order collapsed into a civil war (which took place 3,956-3,955 BBY) which decimated the Sith Order.

It took the Republic a couple of years to send an expeditionary force to Korriban (around 3,954 BBY) in order to deal with any potential Sith who might attempt to take up the mantle of Dark Lord. They found a planet nearly in ruins&mdash;barren and lifeless as a result of the then unknown civil war. It was assumed by the commanders of the Republic task force that the remnants of the Sith turned on each other, vying for what little power remained. It was also said that Revan had always intended to return to Korriban one day to subdue any would-be Sith insurgents, but he then disappeared. . However, the Republic discovered evidence that several Sith Lords did manage to escape the planetary conflagration, fleeing to remote corners of the galaxy.

After the fall of Darth Malak, the ancient tombs within the Valley of the Dark Lords were plundered by grave-robbers. Each tomb was once infused with history and heritage of the old Sith Empire, containing great mysteries and powerful relics of the Force. Many broken, charred corpses littered the plains of Korriban during this time, virtually all that remained of the Sith who once inhabited the world. However, their malignant spirits remained, ready to confront any who disturb their rest by way of their guardian-familiars, the Hssiss.

In the chaos following the Jedi Civil War, which nearly destroyed the Jedi Order, Jedi Master Lonna Vash used Korriban as a hideout. She was eventually trapped and killed by Sith Lord Darth Sion in the ruins of the academy, and then used as bait to lure the Jedi Exile into Sion's hands. After escaping the trap, the Exile discovered the long lost tomb of Ludo Kressh.

New Sith Wars
After capturing the planet from the Republic in a brutal battle, the New Sith Empire and the subsequent Brotherhood of Darkness both occupied Korriban, with the later known to have operated a Sith Academy on the planet. A young Darth Bane studied there before becoming a Sith Lord. The apprentices that trained there were the ones that were to join the Brotherhood of Darkness, thereby the most powerful Sith being trained in the galaxy.

Clone Wars and the Galactic Empire
In 24 BBY, a Sith Cultist by the name of Granta Omega tried to contact the ancient Sith Lords. His plans were thwarted by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The world remained desolate until it was taken over by the Commerce Guild just prior to the Clone Wars, c. 24 BBY. Other than Guild employees, the planet was mostly inhabited by those who were unfortunate enough to end up on Korriban and have no way offworld.

At some point in the Wars, fallen Jedi Quinlan Vos and Tol Skorr were racing to find Darth Andeddu's holocron for Count Dooku. Vos won by allowing a Tuk'ata to scare Skorr off. As a reward, Count Dooku gave Andeddu's lightsaber crystal to Vos.

Shortly after the Battle of Yavin Palpatine, now Emperor of the Galactic Empire and the ruling Dark Lord of the Sith, visited the tombs of the ancient Sith Lords on Korriban that were still haunted by the ghosts of the long deceased Sith. He wanted to gain further knowledge of the dark side, but his demands only enraged the mummified Sith. Wounded and cowed, he was rescued by Jeng Droga and had to recover from the assault in a bacta tank on Imperial Center.

New Republic
At 11 ABY, Palpatine visited the planet once again for the last time, in order to restore his decaying clone body. However, after communing with the spirits of the Dark Lords that were buried on this barren planet, he learned that this body could not be saved. Instead, they revealed to him the possibility of possessing the body of newborn Anakin Solo. He did not succeed in his attempt to do so, and died on Onderon shortly after.

Later, in 14 ABY a cult known as the Disciples of Ragnos arrived on Korriban under the leadership of the Dark Jedi Tavion Axmis of the Empire Reborn, hoping to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos. However, their plans were being slowly uncovered by several Jedi, most notably by Kyle Katarn and his two students, Jaden Korr and Rosh Penin. Eventually, the trails led the Jedi to Korriban. One of the greatest Jedi battles of the time, the Battle of Korriban concluded when Jaden Korr defeated Marka Ragnos's spirit in Tavion's body. The supporting Imperial troops withdrew.

New Jedi Order and beyond
The New Jedi Order also revisited the planet on other occasions. At one time, Luke Skywalker sent some Jedi Academy researchers to Korriban, where they discovered the logs of the Jynni's Virtue. The time codes on the log indicated it was recorded just before the Battle of Yavin, however they were found sealed in a 7,000 year old tomb.

Korriban was apparently untouched by the Yuuzhan Vong War, as Darth Krayt and his New Sith Order used it as their headquarters starting around 30 ABY. Until 127 ABY, they remained relatively hidden, acting behind the shadows like Palpatine did.

Fauna
Due to the planet's harsh terrain (or the power of the dark side), Korriban's native fauna was both vicious and cunning, including creatures such as the fierce terentateks. The bat-like Shyracks lived in great numbers in caves on the planet. Tuk'ata hounds were also fairly common. Dark side dragons, or Hssiss, were also found on Korriban, though as semi-aquatic creatures, they were quite rare. Wraid were also found on Korriban. There is evidence that, at one point, the planet was home to an ape or primate-like species, although by the time of Naga Sadow the species was long gone. Though it is possible that the primate-like species was somehow connected to the Sith species, no conclusive link between this species and the Sith species was known.

Also, due to the relative aggression of the species inhabiting Korriban, creatures such as the Tuk'ata and the Shyrack were transferred to Telos, to aid in the Republic recovery effort led by the Ithorian Council.

Behind the scenes
Though Ziost was established as the original Sith homeworld in The Golden Age of the Sith, many sources described Korriban as the Sith homeworld. It was the "public" capital world of the Sith Empire during the era of Darth Revan, but was a mausoleum-world for millennia beforehand and would return to such a state not long after.

The controversy was put to rest in the article Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties by Abel G. Peña, which clearly established the Sith originating on Korriban, and relocating to Ziost before the arrival of the Dark Jedi exiles during the Hundred Year Darkness.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Shadows and Light
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Jedi Quest 10: The Final Showdown
 * Star Wars Republic 63: Striking from the Shadows
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Ghosts of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Empire's End
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Star Wars Legacy 5: Broken, Part 4
 * Star Wars Legacy 9: Trust Issues, Part 1
 * Star Wars Legacy 10: Trust Issues, Part 2

Notes and references
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