Darth Rivan

"Darkness is a friend, an ally. Darkness allows us to understand others, to see what they value when they believe no one else is looking. It allows us to be honest with ourselves, to express those values that we would disavow in the light. The light blinds us. It is only in the dark that we see clearly, and there is a great dark hidden among these worlds."

- Darth Rivan

Darth Rivan was an alien Sith Lord during the time of the New Sith Wars. This ancient Sith Lord built a fortress on the planet Almas, despite its inhospitable atmosphere. He created the kaluthin grass to modify the planet's landscape and atmosphere, and managed to survive for many decades on the planet before being driven off Almas by the Jedi Knights during the Light and Darkness War.

Biography
Analysis of the fortress performed shortly after the Battle of Naboo revealed that the dome on the fortress was well over 1,000 years old, indicating that Rivan himself was of a very advanced age at the time of its construction. This led many Jedi scholars to believe that Rivan was not of the human species. The fortress itself was essentially a gigantic Dark Side focal-point, capable of shooting lightning at passing starships. Rivan's true purpose for constructing the fortress, however, lay in the creation of Sith Battlelords.

Rivan's vision for this elite new corps lay in the very nature of evil itself...more specifically, in its inherent discord. When many evildoers gathered in one location, sooner or later some of them would die, or turn on one another. Enlightened inter-cooperation was not known to be a dark side virtue. Eliminating insubordination amongst the Sith ranks became a mission of Rivan's, and his creation of the Battlelord would serve to Force-bond a commander to his troops &mdash; if a soldier attempted to harm his/her commander, the intended wound instead would be inflicted upon the soldier.

Darth Rivan was known for being the wielder of the powerful artifact known as Darkstaff, a semi-sentient weapon capable of draining Force-essence from a living being. Portions of Rivan's journals were excavated and recovered from his Almas fortress during the Clone Wars, and presented to the Jedi Council on Coruscant for study.

In the end, it is not known whether Rivan's quest for physical immortality ever truly succeeded &mdash; after being driven off Almas by a massive Jedi/Republic assault, he arrived on the planet Ruusan in time for the famed "Seven Battles" there, and is presumed to have later perished in combat, being succeeded by Lord Kaan.

Behind the scenes
There is no known connection between Darth Rivan and Darth Revan. In fact, the publication of the details of the lesser-known Darth Rivan actually preceded the more famous Revan.

It is speculated that perhaps Rivan named himself after Revan of old in order to honor his strategic genius.