Trayus Academy

"It is ancient, a relic that survived the destruction of Malachor. It was always here, far before the Mandalorian Wars. It draws death and hate to it, channels it. Atrocities feed its power, and with its power, it creates hunger. Many Jedi have been consumed by it."

- Darth Sion

The Trayus Academy was an ancient Sith academy located on the planet Malachor V. The Jedi Knight Revan discovered the abandoned structure during the Mandalorian Wars. The buried relics of Sith civilization that he uncovered there paved the way for his fall to the dark side and inspired his attempt to conquer the Galactic Republic during the Jedi Civil War. After Darth Revan's forces were defeated in that conflict, the Academy continued to serve as the headquarters of the Sith triumvirate and the training ground for the Sith Assassins until Malachor V was destroyed in 3,951 BBY.

History
"It has been here for thousands of years. It is a place where Sith teachings run strong&hellip; It is the threshold of the borders of an ancient empire. Kreia says that it was a place of reflection for the ancient Sith&hellip; a gateway to their lands. It drew Lord Revan&hellip; and it calls to her as well. She said that the teachings here will lead one to the Sith&hellip; the true Sith&hellip; and all their shadowed worlds. This place led Revan to the graveyards of Korriban&hellip; and beyond."

- Darth Sion

The Academy was built at an unknown time as a training center, when Malachor V was still in the hands of an ancient and mysterious faction known as the True Sith. Eventually the Academy as well as the planet was abandoned by the Sith and was left unvisited for centuries. The Galactic Republic was in dire straits. The seemingly unstoppable Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders had invaded the Republic and sparked the devastating Mandalorian Wars. In the year 3,961 BBY While secretly scouting for new outposts along the embattled Outer Rim Territories, the Jedi Knight Revan decided to investigate the planet Malachor V, a world which Mandalorian scholars listed as "forbidden". Upon landing on the planet's surface, Revan found more than he had bargained for.

He quickly unearthed the remains of entire Sith cities buried beneath the surface. Amidst the ruins, he came across the Trayus Academy and within he found caches of Sith artifacts and holocrons. Revan also discovered the location and significance of the planet Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith species. Perhaps more importantly, he uncovered evidence that the ancient Sith still existed beyond the boundaries of known space and continued to pose a threat to the Galaxy.

At that time, Revan came to the conclusion that the Galactic Republic, as it stood, was ill-equipped to defend the Galaxy from the True Sith. As such, he believed that a new government would need to rise in its place&mdash;an empire founded upon the Sith teachings. Unbeknownst to his closest confidants such as Malak, he had a stronghold built over the ruins of the ancient Trayus Academy and used the dark side energies of that planet to bind the most trusted of his followers to his will. The resulting thralls were used to found his order of Sith Assassins.



In the following years, Revan led the Republic's military forces to the edge of victory. In the year 3,960 BBY, he forced a final confrontation with the Mandalorians above Malachor V. In utter secrecy, he had prepared a superweapon, known as the "Mass Shadow Generator," which was to be the centerpiece of a trap with which he hoped to bring about a conclusive end to the Mandalorian Wars. Overseeing the device's use was a trusted Jedi General (later known as the Jedi Exile).

Revan lured the Mandalorians to Malachor, and as the fighting grew intense, his Jedi general activated the secret weapon. In the resulting cataclysm, a significant portion of both the Mandalorian and Republic fleets were drawn from orbit into a vast gravity vortex that was powerful enough to crush the countless ships into the planet's crust and fracture the world to its core. Remarkably, the Trayus Academy survived the catastrophic event intact.

Following his victory, Revan abandoned the teachings of the Jedi, adopted the title of Dark Lord of the Sith, and became Darth Revan. During the Jedi Civil War, circa 3,959–3,956 BBY, he used the Trayus Academy as one of several secret Sith bases dedicated to the conversion of captured Jedi. Throughout the war, Jedi were captured by his Sith Assassins, and other specially trained forces, and brought to the Academy. The corruptive nature of the location weakened their wills so that Revan and his loyal servants could easily lure them to the dark side. In such places, he converted hosts of Jedi into loyal Dark Jedi and Sith Assassins for his Sith Empire.



A year after the Sith were defeated by the Galactic Republic during the Jedi Civil War, a redeemed Revan departed for the Unknown Regions in a solitary quest to defeat the "True Sith". Meanwhile, Revan's former Jedi Master, a Jedi named Kreia, feared that her teachings had led Revan to the dark side and went in search of her pupil&mdash;a search that would eventually lead her to Malachor V. Kreia walked upon the surface of the planet and was overcome. She fell to the dark side and become Darth Traya. In time, she would study the planet's secrets and rise to command the Trayus Academy and the Sith Assassins which still lingered there. Darth Traya re-established the Academy to train, convert, and create a new generation of Sith whose sole mission was to destroy the Jedi Order.

Darth Traya soon discovered two Sith Lords who shared her vision. Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion joined her cause and together they formed a Sith triumvirate. Under the leadership of the three Sith Lords, the Trayus Academy reached its zenith. Based within their hidden Academy on Malachor V, the Sith Lords commanded legions of Assassins who hunted the remaining Jedi to the very brink of extinction. Darth Traya had managed to unite the fragmented Sith forces and lead them to victory once more, but her success would not save her. In a sudden act of betrayal, her two apprentices joined forces, stripped her of power, and exiled her.

In 3,951 BBY, Kreia located the Jedi Exile who was the only Jedi who had fought with Revan against the Mandalorians at Malachor V and yet remained uncorrupted. Plotting revenge against her apprentices, Kreia orchestrated events to set up a final confrontation between herself and the Exile at the Trayus Academy. After slaying Darth Nihilus, the Exile arrived at the Academy to combat the Sith lurking there. She invaded the academy and eliminated every Sith minion that crossed her path. Moments after defeating Darth Sion and Traya in a series of lightsaber duels, Malachor V and the Trayus Academy on its surface were utterly destroyed when the Mass Shadow Generator was reactivated on the Exile's orders.

Layout
The Academy was apparently only part of a larger network of Sith necropolises constructed on and under the surface of Malachor. These crypts reportedly contained numerous Sith holocrons and other ancient dark side artifacts; Revan's fall allegedly occurred as he raided the tombs and assumed the power of their contents. Unfortunately, these structures must have been destroyed in the cataclysm of Malachor, which only the Academy survived.

As an Academy, the Trayus complex contained numerous structures for tutelage, but its most important content was knowledge. First of all, the Academy contained some manner of religious Sith knowledge, such that Kreia, Sion and Nihilus 'learned' their defining ideals and assumed their new roles as Dark Lords based on this teaching. It also contained material on basic Sith philosophy and how to evangelize with it.

The innermost sanctum of the Trayus Academy was known as the Trayus Core. In addition, the Academy had an antechamber, which was connected to the Trayus Core by the Trayus Crescent and the Trayus Proving Grounds.

Behind the scenes

 * If the player (as the Jedi Exile) takes the dark side path, under this non-canonical timeline both Malachor and the Academy would remain intact.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords