Sith (species)

The Sith were a race of red-skinned humanoids native to Korriban that were enslaved by exiled Dark Jedi. Overtime, 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 resulted in their characteristic red skin and long tentacle 'beards'. The ancient Dark Jedi also experimented on a few Sith warriors resulting in a race of savage, hunchbacked muntants known as the Massassi. During the Great Hyperspace War, the Dark Lord Naga Sadow fled to Yavin 4 along with a contingent of Massassi followers to escape the pursuing Jedi and the Republic. There, Naga Sadow committed cruel experiments on his own Massassi warriors which resulted in them becoming Dark Side wielding savages. Due to their history of association with Dark Side Force users, the word 'Sith' went on to be used by many dark side organizations not connected with the original Sith species.