Sith (species)

The Sith, also known as the Red Sith during the time of the Old Sith Empire, were a Force-sensitive species of red-skinned humanoids native to Ziost and Korriban that were enslaved by exiled Dark Jedi.

Biology and appearance
The Sith were a Force-sensitive species of red-skinned humanoids with tentacle "beards" that evolved on Korriban. Pure blooded Sith were almost always left-handed, and thus their signature weapon, the lanvarok, was adapted purely for left-handed use. The Sith also only had four fingers/digits on each hand (with the exception of the Slave caste/sub-species which only had three) and three toes on each foot. After the fusion of bloodlines with the Dark Jedi exiles all Sith including the Slave caste had 4 digits on each hand, the number of digits on each foot did not change, this seemed to be the only change to the species overall after the fusion.

History
Sith society lasted as such for hundreds of millennia&mdash;from roughly 130,000 BBY to 7,000 BBY. Except for the brief unification of their species under King Adas, Sith society was fragmented, with many individual Sith Lords ruling independent fiefdoms, most of them attempting to claim Adas's title of Sith'ari and unite their kind. The Sith species originated on the planet Korriban.

Circa 28,000 BBY, Adas, marked as a chosen one from a young age by his unusual black skin, united the nations of Korriban and Ziost in violent warfare. He took the title of Sith'ari, meaning "overlord", and was seen by his people as an immortal being who would rule forever.

Eventually the Rakata arrived on Korriban. Pretending to ally themselves with Adas at first and giving him the technology of holocrons, they soon revealed their intentions and attempted to conquer the Sith. Adas and the Sith fought back and, after a series of bloody battles, drove off the superior forces of the Infinite Empire, with the king giving his life in the process. Without Adas's strong hand, Korriban soon collapsed into civil war, with many claiming themselves Sith'ari. The massive infighting eventually forced the Sith to relocate their capital to nearby Ziost.

Around 6,900 BBY, Dark Jedi exiles fleeing from the Galactic Republic after their defeat in the Hundred Year Darkness, established themselves as "divine" rulers over the 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.

The pure-blooded Sith did not go extinct however after the slavery and inter-breeding of their species; after the death of the Sith'ari in 28,000 BBY, Sith priests were exiled from Korriban, being called heretics for embracing the ideas put across to them by the Rakata. The exiled, pure-blooded Sith came across the planet Tund where they developed another Sith society known as the Sorcerers of Tund. This pureblooded Sith society combined science, ontology, and Sith magic.

Convinced by their Rakatan interactions that all sentients are Force-sensitive, the Sorcerers of Tund believed that the omnipresence of the Force (or "the Unity") illuminated the deception of dualities and multiplicity. The sorcerers had interactions with early Jedi, who view them as merely another Force sect, like the Jal Shey or Zeison Sha. However, following the Great Sith War, Jedi labeled the sorcerers' hermetica as unqualified heresy. Unsurprisingly, the sorcerers were reticent in accepting outlanders, believing that only true Sith could grasp their truth. On one occasion, however, they have welcomed the few remaining Massassi and Kissai, descended from outcasts much like themselves.

During the Great Hyperspace War in 5,000 BBY, the Dark Lord 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.

Around 22 BBY the Sorcerers of Tund were destroyed.

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.

Society and Culture
Though they engaged in supposedly primitive practices such as sentient sacrifice, held a strong caste system, and were in an almost constant state of war, their civilization was quite sophisticated; they saw these acts not as cruel or barbaric, but simply basic aspects of existence. Their caste system included a meek and lowly slave class, a skilled and intelligent engineer class, the priestly Kissai class, and the war-like Massassi class. In later years, the offspring of Sith and the exiled Dark Jedi formed another class, from which most of the Sith Lords of that time came. Native Sith culture included the Sith language, the consumption of bloodsoup, a rigid and stratified caste-based society, live sentient sacrifices to the Sith deities and use of ancient and arcane alchemy and magic. For the Sith, war and violence were just as much a part of the natural order of life as peace or serenity. Their social order was very rigid, and while many rose to the title of Sith Lord, only one, King Adas, attained the position of monarch. Another aspect of Sith culture, the creation of Sith holocrons to record knowledge, originates from their first contact with the Rakata of the Infinite Empire.

Notable Sith

 * Adas
 * Shar Dakhan
 * Dor Gal-ram
 * Dathka Graush
 * Horak-mul
 * Kalgrath (Massassi)
 * Ludo Kressh
 * Marka Ragnos (Kissai)
 * Ravilan
 * Naga Sadow (Kissai)
 * Simus
 * Uburluh (Massassi)

Behind the scenes
For the Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn initially intended the Noghri to be the Sith, but was told to change that by Lucasfilm. It is also rumored that originally the Yuuzhan Vong were intended to be exiled Sith, but that this was changed midway through the New Jedi Order series.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Precipice
 * Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
 * Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Exile
 * Star Wars Legacy 30: Vector, Part 11

Notes and references
Sith (Spezies) Sith (especie) Sithowie (rasa) Ситы Sithit (laji)