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. Because of this; the Massassi were the the warrior class in the Sith caste system. 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



The species possessed red skin and yellow eyes which was a common aspect of most members of the Sith race. What made them different was their 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 as well as strong 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. Cyanogen silicate was a cauterizing agent used by Sith healers that worked on Massassi as their tough hides meant that no other agent was effectively capable of working on them.

The Massassi under the command of Naga Sadow that relocated to Yavin IV after the Great Hyperspace War were mutated by Sadow and became more hunched and monstrous than the other, original Massassi, and so the Massassi of Yavin IV came to be considered as savage brutes instead of warriors they once were. At this point, they became large creatures with sharp-claws as well as had fin-like growths on their heads and back.

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 because of the other Sith subspecies originating from there. Since Sith society lasted as such for hundreds of centuries - from roughly 100,000 BBY to 7,000 BBY, it is presumed that the Massassi also had an ancient history. At some point, they along with the priest caste were resettled from their homeworld to the Sith Empire's capital of Ziost.

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. 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 Sith Empire. Much of the Sith Empire's military was composed of Massassi.

During the Great Hyperspace War in 5,000 BBY, the Massassi proved to be formidable and savage warriors that fought against the Galactic Republic on behalf of the Sith Lords. Some Massassi were aboard the Omen and were stranded on the planet Kesh. Something in Kesh's atmosphere eventually killed them all though. Despite the fury of the Massassi, the Sith Empire was defeated and forced to return to Sith Space where they were pursued and attacked by the pursuing Republic forces. In order to survive, the Dark Lord Naga Sadow commanded his loyal Massassi to give their lives and delay the Republic so he could escape. This resulted in the Massassi assassinating their Sith Lords on board Sadow's fleet and engaging the Republic thus giving their master the chance to flee the battlefield. Later, 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. At some point during the construction of the Massassi Temple's, they created the Yavin Vassilika that contained a key to one of the more strategically important temples.

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, 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 and Tund.

Though largely decimated, some Massassi had previously been taken off world which meant that the species was not largely extinct at the time. Some of its members, however, quickly went into the service of the new Sith Empire that had formed during the Jedi Civil War. Some also remained neutral as they were resentful of the treatment done to their race by the Sith. These Massassi either decided to continue a life where they could live in peace while others stayed in the fringes of society and sought revenge against the Sith. In the years before the Great Galactic War, the True Sith hiding in the shadows of the galaxy began dispatching their infiltrated agents in the Jedi Order such as Barel Ovair to remove any threats posed by ancient Dark Side spirits such as that of Naga Sadow. To that end, he travelled with his Padawan Eison Gynt to Yavin 4 to study the temple there though Gynt was unaware of his master's true allegiance. Upon arriving, they were attacked by the native Massassi who had amazingly survived the events caused by Exar Kun, and overwhelmed Ovair and Gynt to the point that they fled to Sadow's tomb. From the encounter, only Master Ovair emerged and returned to the Jedi Council. Seven years later, Gynt emerged wearing Massassi warrior robes and had been possessed by the Dark Side spirit of Naga Sadow from the tomb. Gynt attacked master Ovair is broad daylight with all the Republic watching, and although a formidable opponent with Sadow's powers, Ovair was able to defeat the possessed Gynt.

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. Many scholars believed that the species had gone extinct by the time of the Rise of the Empire though it was possible that some managed to survive on forgotten Sith worlds or had devolved into predatory savages on distant worlds. 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. By this point, the Massassi were largely extinct with many archaeologists as well as linguists attempting to learn more about the mysterious race. It was known that the last member of the species known as Kalgrath departed to Ziost, one of the former strongholds of the Sith Empire but little else was known about his fate.

Society and culture
"They failed to learn the lesson of humility. The grander their works, the more they ached for the power that still seemed so far out of reach. They gathered these stones for the Sith in a vain effort to touch the face of their god. And they pursued the dark power of the Sith in a vain effort to become like gods themselves."

- Luke Skywalker's view on the species after reading the Books of Massassi

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 and they also made use of hieroglyphs which were written on their artifacts as well as structures. During the reign of Exar Kun, the race had largely devolved into mindless brutes that followed the commands of their master. There were notable elements within their culture, however, such as the presence of priests and elders.

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. They were not only fearsome, but were both loyal and formidable warriors that were dedicated to their Sith masters. In addition to the focus on war and fighting, the Massassi were also loyal and organized. They were bred to blindly follow orders and to live for the glory of battle. 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.

Notes and references
Massassi Massassi Massassi Massassi