New Sith Wars

"Either we win this war or the Sith will, and what then will change?"

- Lord Hoth

The New Sith Wars, also known as the Light and Darkness War or the Draggulch Period and known to the Sith as the War of the Fittest, The Betrayal and The Curse of Qalydon, was the name given to the thousand years of conflict between the Jedi and the Sith, which lasted from 2,000 to 1,000 BBY. The last century of the conflict was commonly known as the Republic Dark Age.

History
The beginning of the conflict was the Fourth Great Schism of 2,000 BBY, when the former Jedi known as Darth Ruin fell to the dark side and created his own Sith order, with fifty of his fellow Jedi Knights following him. Although Ruin was eventually killed by his own followers after a defeat, for centuries the Sith were all but unstoppable, rampaging throughout the Galaxy and winning great victories, such at Mizra. The collapse of the HoloNet and interstellar commerce led to the Republic Dark Age. Jedi were forced to assume greater leadership, commanding the Republic military and even becoming Supreme Chancellors, despite the public opinion against them due to such actions as the Battle of Uba IV. Just as in the Old Sith Wars, the Republic assembled a mighty fleet, mainly provided by Kuat Drive Yards. According to the Republic, the war was officially a "series of protracted military engagements" as opposed to an actual war.

The period from 1,250 to 1,230 BBY was known as the Sictis Wars. In that era, Belia Darzu ruled as Dark Lord of the Sith, unleashing Technobeasts against the Jedi forces.

After nearly a thousand years of war, the Sith were in near collapse. By 1,020 BBY, the Republic had reclaimed the Mid Rim and the Sith Empire was in retreat. A former Jedi Master, Lord Kaan, reorganized them into the Brotherhood of Darkness, over 20,000 strong. They fought against the Jedi Army of Light under Lord Hoth. Driving the Brotherhood from their home in the heavily defended region of space known as the Cloak of the Sith, Hoth chased them from world to world, from Hoth to Dromund Kaas to Malrev IV, before ending up in the lush forests of Ruusan. By that time, the Brotherhood was less than two thousand in number.

The wars ended with the armies of Hoth and Lord Kaan facing each other on the world of Ruusan. It was here that the final Battle of Ruusan took place, which ended with Kaan's use of the thought bomb.

The conflict resulted in the restructuring of the Republic and the apparent destruction of the Sith (and, it is speculated, the formation of the Cosmic Balance religion). There was to be no full-scale war after the New Sith Wars for almost a thousand years, until the Clone Wars erupted.

Known battles



 * Fourth Great Schism (c. 2,000 BBY)
 * Battle of Uba IV
 * Campaign(s) against the Dark Underlord (c. 1,750 BBY)
 * First Battle of Malrev IV
 * Battle of Gap Nine (1,532 BBY)
 * Battle of Mizra (1,466 BBY)
 * Battle of Almas (before (1,250 BBY)
 * Sictis Wars (1,250-1,230 BBY)
 * Third Sith Civil War
 * Battle of Korriban (1,006 BBY)
 * Battle of Kashyyyk (c. 1,002 BBY)
 * Battle of Hsskhor (c. 1,002 BBY)
 * Battle of Phaseera (1,002 BBY)
 * Lord Hoth's Campaign
 * Battle of Hoth
 * Battle of Dromund Kaas
 * Second Battle of Malrev IV
 * Battle of Harpori (1,003 BBY)
 * Battle of Balowa (1,002 BBY)
 * Battle of Ambria (1,000 BBY)
 * Ruusan campaign (1,002-1,000 BBY)
 * First Battle of Ruusan (1,002 BBY)
 * Second Battle of Ruusan (1,002 BBY)
 * Third Battle of Ruusan (1,002 BBY)
 * Fourth Battle of Ruusan (1,001 BBY)
 * Fifth Battle of Ruusan
 * Sixth Battle of Ruusan (1,000 BBY)
 * Seventh Battle of Ruusan (1,000 BBY)

Galactic Republic and Jedi Order



 * Aru-Wen
 * General Kiel Charny
 * Chayka
 * Darovit
 * Karist Dem
 * Lord Valenthyne Farfalla
 * General Newar Forrth
 * Lord Gale
 * Ginger
 * Githany
 * Hardin
 * Set Harth
 * Lord Hoth
 * Master Kaan
 * Lirondo
 * Johun Othone
 * General Crian Maru
 * Murrtaggh
 * Pernicar
 * Petja
 * Rajan
 * Lord Saleeh
 * Master Tal
 * Torr Snapit
 * Turpimir
 * Supreme Chancellor Tarsus Valorum
 * Dree Vandap
 * Myl Vlahu
 * Zor Vlahu
 * Zannah

New Sith Empire

 * Adanar
 * Darth Bane
 * Darovit
 * Dark Underlord
 * Belia Darzu
 * Durge
 * Lord Githany
 * Lord Kaan
 * Lord Kopecz
 * Lord Kaox Krul
 * King Lahzar
 * Lord LaTor
 * Lucia
 * Lord Qordis
 * Darth Rivan
 * Darth Ruin
 * Lord Seviss Vaa
 * Lieutenant Ulabore
 * Zannah

Mandalorians

 * Durge
 * Jaing
 * Ung Kusp

Other groups

 * Felloux
 * Nubyl
 * Outer Rim cyberneticist
 * Ubese of Uba IV

Behind the scenes
The development of the New Sith Wars' backstory is perhaps one of the more convoluted productions of the Expanded Universe. The first glimmer of what would become the war appeared in the video game Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight, which featured the Valley of the Jedi as the location for a vague ancient battle between Jedi and Dark Jedi. The game's novelization, Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, extrapolated from the game, mainly introducing the Jedi Army of Light and its commander, Lord Hoth, and the Dark Jedi Brotherhood of Darkness, under Lord Kaan, as well as the thought bomb, several ancillary characters, and a setting for the battle as having been fought "centuries" ago. In neither source was the Brotherhood stated as being Sith; instead, it was variously referred to as Dark Jedi, or just Jedi.

At around the time Jedi Knight was published, George Lucas was developing a backstory of the Jedi and Sith for the prequel trilogy of films. His version, much of which appeared as exposition in The Phantom Menace novelization, stated that the Sith were formed from a Jedi Knight who broke away from the order two thousand years before the movies. He was followed by fifty other Knights who formed the Sith, and they engaged in a thousand-year war against the Jedi. They conquered the galaxy, but were eventually wiped out from a civil war, out of which Darth Bane emerged as the sole survivor.

The first connection between the two events came a year after Episode I's release, in The Essential Chronology. The Essential Chronology established that the founder of the Sith was merely the founder of a new sect of Sith (in order to mesh with the established Expanded Universe). It slightly altered the timeline of Lucas' outline; following the Sith civil war, Kaan (now established as one of the few surviving Sith Lords) created the Brotherhood of Darkness (now established as a collection of Sith), with the Army of Light being hastily formed to deal with the new threat. Darth Bane was then established as having emerged only following the Brotherhood's defeat at Ruusan.

A year after The Essential Chronology came out, the comic Jedi vs. Sith was published. It showed the final battles of Ruusan, taking information from all three sources. Notably, it established Bane as being one of Kaan's followers and rivals, further tying the two original views together.

The New Sith Wars were included in one other major crossover, again from George Lucas. In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Lucas retconned the Republic as having been only one thousand years old, presumably a misremembrance of Obi-Wan Kenobi's "[For] over a thousand generations" dialogue in the 1977 Star Wars film. However, it still managed to tie in with the new backstory involving Bane and the rampaging Sith. As a solution to this new discrepancy, the HoloNet News website created the Ruusan Reformation, stating that the Republic reset its measurements and reformed its government totally following the end of the war on Ruusan.

Of lesser importance are the revelations that the New Sith Wars were responsible for the previously-established destruction of the Ubese homeworld, and the construction of the Sith temple on Malrev IV. In addition, as with most major Star Wars events, a number of lesser events and personalities of the New Sith Wars have been covered by a variety of sourcebooks and articles. Notably, Abel G. Peña has written all of the latter.

Appearances

 * Prototypes
 * Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
 * Darkness Shared
 * All for You
 * Jedi vs. Sith
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novelization
 * Dark Forces: Jedi Knight