Massassi/Legends

The Massassi were the subspecies of the ancient Sith race that was enslaved by the exiled Dark Jedi on Korriban. Massassi were fearsome, loyal, and formidable warriors. They lived solely to serve their Sith masters, but when on their own, dedicated themselves only to whatever life they chose.

Biology and appearance
"They really are amazingly malleable, the Massassi."

- Ajunta Pall

Like most members of the Sith race, the Massassi were red-skinned humanoids with distinctly sharp, predatory features and tentacle beards, though they were more muscular and taller than most other Sith. Due to their strength and size, Massassi tended to be more aggressive and thus formed the military of the Sith.

Massassi also had blue blood; quills and bone spurs lined their skin, though this may have been due to Sith Alchemy performed on them by Dark Jedi exiles which had landed on Korriban in 6,900 BBY following their defeat at the Battle of Corbos.

History
"Eventually all of the Sith&hellip;especially their Massassi warriors&hellip;lived only to serve their new masters."

- Ajunta Pall

As a subspecies of the Sith race, the ancient Massassi presumably originated on Korriban as well although in a much different breed than what came about after the Dark Jedi appeared. Since Sith society lasted as such for hundreds of centuries - from roughly 130,000 BBY to 7,000 BBY, it is presumed that the Massassi also had an ancient history.

Around 7,000 BBY, Dark Jedi exiles fleeing from the Galactic Republic after their defeat in the Hundred Year Darkness, established themselves as "divine" rulers over their native Sith, uniting the world once again, this time under the rule of a Dark Lord of the Sith. Over the generations, the Sith interbred with the Human Dark Jedi through a practice of the intermixing of Human and Sith bloodlines which became known as Sith Alchemy. This intermixing of species gave birth to the modern breed of Massassi warriors. Eventually, the Sith species in its original form was almost extinct. Due to their enormous size and brute strength, the new Dark Jedi masters found the Massassi useful and used them as their tools of power for the First Sith Empire. Much of the Sith Empire's military was composed of Massassi.

During the Great Hyperspace War in 5,000 BBY, some Massassi were aboard the Omen and were stranded on the planet Kesh. Something in Kesh's atmosphere eventually killed them all though. Later, the Dark Lord Naga Sadow fled to the jungle moon of Yavin 4 along with a contingent of Massassi followers to escape the pursuing Jedi and the Galactic Republic. There, Naga Sadow committed cruel experiments on his own Massassi warriors which resulted in them becoming dark side wielding savages. Despite these abuses, the Massassi treated Naga Sadow as a god, building huge temples and palaces to honor their Sith Lord. Eventually the Massassi on the moon devolved into a primitive hunter-warrior society.

In 3,997 BBY, Exar Kun elevated himself to the status of a god and enslaved the Massassi race. He then forced them to construct a great complex of temples that were used in arcane Sith ceremonies and rites. He also experimented on his slaves and created the Golden Globe that trapped the children of the Massassi and allowed him to drain their energies for his own purposes. During the Sith War in 3,996 BBY, the species became nearly extinct when Exar Kun sapped the life out of every Massassi on Yavin 4 so that he could free his soul from his body in order to escape the pursuing Jedi. The only Massassi that survived Kun's procedure was Kalgrath. Some members of the species survived, as there was at least one Massassi living on Korriban in 3,993 BBY, and reports of isolated villages of both Kissai and Massassi on Korriban.

Around four hundred years before the Battle of Yavin, the Kushiban Jedi Master Ikrit discovered the Golden Globe in the ruined Palace of the Woolamander and since he was unable to free the Massassi from the swirling golden sand within the globe, placed himself in hibernation for centuries, until the right being or beings arrived.

Finally, in 22 ABY, Jedi trainees Anakin Solo and Tahiri Veila freed the trapped spirits from the swirling golden sand of the globe, and in the process befriended the mysterious Ikrit.

Society and culture
The Massassi were fearsome, ruthless and efficient soldiers. Though the Massassi engaged in supposedly primitive practices such as sentient sacrifice and held a strong caste system, their civilization was quite sophisticated; they saw these acts not as cruel or barbaric, but simply basic aspects of existence. The Massassi language may have been related to the Sith language.

As with the Sith, war and violence were just as much a part of the natural order of life as peace or serenity for the Massassi. In addition to the focus on war and fighting, the Massassi were also loyal and organized. Even though they were not extremely intelligent, they could be trained well enough to carry out complex battle plans and maintain their equipment, starships, and weaponry. The Massassi also used alchemically hardened armor and a more primitive version of the Sith lanvarok which could also be used as a battle axe; this variant was known as the Massassi lanvarok.

In battle, the Massassi typically had a keeper who watched over them as these nasty lumbering bipeds were normally prized by the Sith as instruments of terror on the battlefield. As such, they were known as pliant and obedient warriors but answered more to force rather than words.

Behind the scenes
The word Massassi may be derived from "Maasai," an African warrior culture native to Kenya and northern Tanzania. It may also be a portmanteau of massacre and assassin.

It also appears as a name in a Zimbabwean myth recounted by Joseph Campbell in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Lucas may have taken the name from this source.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith'' audio
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War''
 * Shadows and Light
 * Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 33: Vindication, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Underworld: The Yavin Vassilika
 * Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope junior novel
 * The Night Beast
 * Galaxy of Fear: Planet Plague
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption
 * The Lost City of the Jedi
 * Jedi Search
 * Firestorm
 * Dark Apprentice
 * Champions of the Force
 * I, Jedi
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Before the Storm
 * Junior Jedi Knights: The Golden Globe
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Lyric's World
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Promises
 * Junior Jedi Knights: Vader's Fortress
 * Edge of Victory I: Conquest
 * Star by Star
 * Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force
 * Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice

Notes and references