Darth Vectivus

"He was a hardheaded business man with a keenly balanced sense of profit and fairness, and when temptation whispered in his ear he could ignore it as easily as he could ignore the importunings of equally destructive softheartedness."

- Lumiya

Darth Vectivus was a Human Sith Lord from long before Darth Sidious's time. He was a shrewd but fair business man, and he took over a prosperous mining colony near Bimmiel. In the mine, as a latent Force-sensitive, he started feeling the dark side influences inside it and studied them and learned all he could learn from the mine before the dark energies effected his crews and ruined the ore which forced him to shut the mine down. Even as a darksider, his self discipline and preexisting business ethics allowed him to remain fair and balanced, without succumbing to the lure of power. Eventually, he returned to the mine and lived out a happy life with his friends and family.

In 40 ABY, he returned to his mine, as a Force Phantom risen by Lumiya, and met a Jedi named Nelani Dinn and sent mynock-like creatures against her. After she cut down a few, Vectivus showed himself and informed her that for every creature she killed, an organism somewhere died as well. She did not believe him but he explained that all of them were Force Phantoms conjured by him and that the only way to desroy them without killing their host was to kill their master, Vectivus. She refused as she did not want to kill the innocent that Vectivus was connected to either. He changed his appearance to that of former Galactic Emperor Palpatine but she still refused to kill him. Calling her weak and not brave enough to make neccisary sacrifices, he illuminated the way for her to leave. She cursed him as she turned to leave and soon the sounds of the creatures stopped.

Biography
Vectivus became the administrator of a mine on an asteroid near Bimmiel. The inherent dark side energies of that asteroid had been enhanced by a sub-species of dark-side wielding mynock-like creatures. As a Force-sensitive, Vectivus could feel the energy within the asteroid and began to study it, performing experiments and acquiring new powers. After the dark side energies slowly began to drive his mining crews insane, and the grade of the ore began to decline, Vectivus quietly shut down the mine.

After ensuring that the mine would be quietly forgotten about, and after learning all there was to learn from the place, Vectivus departed and began to seek out the Sith. Years later, he returned to the asteroid, a full-fledged Sith Lord. He built a mansion there, at the heart of the dark side energy, where he lived out the rest of his days surrounded by friends and family.

Legacy
Centuries later, the aspiring Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya moved into the remains of the mine above Vectivus's mansion. She used it as a sanctuary, where she studied Vectivus, the history of the Sith, and the Force.

In 40 ABY, Lumiya took Jacen Solo to Vectivus's former home to begin his journey to the dark side. Nelani Dinn and Ben Skywalker, Jedi that accompanied Jacen, became separated from the group. Nelani was swarmed by a large group of mynock-like creatures. After cutting some of them down, they stopped attacking her and a figure appeared behind her. It congratulated her on fending off the creatures and when she asked his name he told her that she would not know it but she may know him by Darth Vectivus. Vectivus told her that he was a ghost but also probably less, he considered himself to be a residual presence, a "sliver of a ghost." He was completely unaware of himself, his thoughts, and his feelings, he even speculated that he could be nothing at all. Dinn thought otherwise as she could feel him as a large presence of the dark side though that was not him but rather the organism he was connected to. He was a Force Phantom like all of the creatures above her head, a manefestation of the dark side that required a host soul to operate, if the phantom or the organism were killed, the other would die just the same way with the same wounds. He informed her that for every "mynock" she killed, a person or animal somehere in the universe died with it. She accused him of lying to her though he was not. He used an example of a baby bantha dying in front of its helpless mother due to Nelani's strike and being helpless to stop it. When she did not accept it, he used a piranha beetle as his expository medium and then a Kowakian monkey-lizard. Nelani asked him how she could get rid of him and the answer was simple. She had to kill him. If she did so, the "mynocks" would disappear, not killing those who were attached, and she would be able to find Ben and Jacen again. However, as he was a phantom, the person he was attached to would die as well and that was unacceptable to her. He dared her to do it, landing close to her and kneeling, baring his neck to give her a clean cut. Dinn refused to take the life of the innocent and asked if his taunting of her was necessary. Vectivus told her that it was, he was goading her into performing this necessary action to save thousands of lives.

Dinn continued to refuse so he changed his form to that of former Galactic Emperor Palpatine and spoke in his voice. He asked her if she could strike the man he had become down and she told him that he wouldn't if it was connected to another life. He changed back to his original form and accused her of not being strong enough to save the lives of people, unable to sacrifice one for the greater good. Dinn told him that she would gladly give her own life for a cause like that but Vectivus rebuffed it by saying that in that case she wouldn't have to face the loved ones of the sacrificed, she didn't have the strength. She called that logic ruthessness. He laughed at her saying that ruthlessness without strength was irresponsible and that he hoped she would never have to make a life or death decision like that. He illuminated the way she needed to follow to rejoin her group after allowing them to make their own decisions and telling her that he did not want her to die unnessisarily but if she meddled at her current strength she would. She told him to "Go to hell" and he thought he may already have but he wouldn't know. He disappeared along with the chittering of the "mynocks" above and she left the chamber filled with worry for her friends' safety.

Darth Vectivus's a holocron detailing the use of his Force Phantoms techniques later came into the possession of the One Sith, who gave it to Alema Rar when she visited their base. The One Sith did not approve of Lumiya's plan to turn Jacen Solo to the dark side so they ordered Alema to deliver the holocron to the newly christened Darth Caedus. Later it was revealed that The One Sith Order had determined Vectivus to be a fraud, despite possessing some unique dark side powers. The One Sith Order destroyed Vectivus's asteroid, despite the dark side powers it contained, so that it would not fall into the hands of the Jedi and Galactic Alliance forces. In the process they killed Alema, who was inside the asteroid, and the holocron along with her as she had not had the chance to give it Caedus.

Behind the scenes
According to Leland Chee's blog Darth Vectivus's name comes from the word "invective", which has a number of definitions, including vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach; a railing accusation; vituperation, an insulting or abusive word or expression, vituperative; denunciatory, or censoriously abusive. "Vect" also can be the Latin word for revenue, which seems appropriate considering the Sith Lord's past as a businessman.

Vectivus was featured in the October 2006 official website poll, "With Darth Bane and Darth Plagueis getting novels, which of these Sith Lords would you like to see explored in books?" Also featured were Freedon Nadd, Darth Sion, Darth Nihilus, and Darth Andeddu, the latter of which won the poll.

Appearances

 * Betrayal
 * Exile
 * Inferno
 * Fury

Notes and references
Darth Vectivus Darth Vectivus