User:Junta Chan/sandbox

"A mysterious figure who may have been an Umbaran, Darth Ruin revived the Sith Order and seduced a number of Jedi to his cause. A war with the Jedi Order inevitably followed, but the Sith soon turned the war upon themselves. Ruin was destroyed by his own disciples, who ushered in a millennium-long period of betrayal and darkness amongst the Sith."

- Bodo Baas's writings

The New Sith, also known as the New Sith Empire or simply the Sith Empire, was a resurgent faction of the Sith Order that existed throughout the Draggulch Period. In 2000 BBY, the faction arose due to the machinations of Darth Ruin, a fallen Jedi Master who abandoned the Jedi Order to pursue the ways of the dark side. Under the mantle of Dark Lord, Ruin–amassing fifty of his former Jedi peers and a number of surviving Sith clans–established a new Sith empire and declared war against Galactic Republic along with its Jedi protectors, initiating the New Sith Wars.

Jedi schism
"There is no passion&hellip;there is solely obsession. There is no knowledge. There is solely conviction. There is no purpose. There is solely will. There is nothing&hellip; Only me."

- The creed of ruin

In the year 2000 BBY, the beginning of the Draggulch Period brought about the revival of the Sith Order, a dark side cult that opposed the Galactic Republic and the peacekeeping Jedi Order. By this point, the Sith were commonly believed to have been vanquished, having been inactive for centuries since the reign of the resurgent Sith Empire. The Sith would eventually return, however, due to the machinations of a Jedi Master known as Phanius. Reputed for his solipsistic mindset, Phanius uncovered the ways of the Sith from a rare Sith holocron, leading him to pursue alternative teachings in conflict with the Jedi Order's prohibitions.

Seduced by the dark side of the Force, the intelligent and charismatic Phanius abandoned the ways of the Jedi along with fifty of his peers, resulting in the fourth Great Schism of the Jedi Order. Under the new identity of Darth Ruin, the fallen Jedi Master sought out and infiltrated a number of surviving Sith clans, uniting them to his cause. Declaring himself a Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Ruin drove his followers to wage war against the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic, founding a new empire of the Sith and initiating a conflict known as the New Sith Wars.

Throughout his reign, Darth Ruin garnered infamy as a particularly merciless and self-centered leader, known for sacrificing many of his underlings on a whim. This ultimately led to the Dark Lord's assassination at the hands of his own Sith disciples, who were unwilling to tolerate their leader's egocentric philosophy. Despite Ruin's death, his actions introduced a new age of expansion for the Sith, resulting in the reclamation of numerous Sith worlds–particularly Yavin 4 and Ziost–along with acts of sabotage against the Republic. The treachery of Ruin's followers, however, also led to a string of further betrayals among his Sith successors, of which would persist for hundreds of years to come.

Black Knights
"Young master, have you heard the tale of the Jedi Master Murrtaggh and the Dark Underlord?"

- A Bimm bard

By 1750 BBY, a new individual had seized the Dark Lord mantle as the leader of the Sith crusades–a shadowy figure known only as the "Dark Underlord". The origins of the Dark Underlord were shrouded in mystery; some speculated that he was summoned from the realm of Chaos itself, while others believed him to be a reincarnation of Xendor, a darksider who once lived during the First Great Schism. A master of the dual-wielding Jar'Kai combat form, the bloodthirsty Dark Underlord proved himself a force to be reckoned with in the war against the Jedi, allowing him to consolidate a Sith alliance known as the Black Knights.

Headquartered on the planet Malrev IV, the Black Knights were known for their violent exploits along the Zona Miki route, terrorizing numerous space stations at the behest of the Dark Underlord. These exploits attracted the ire of Murrtaggh, a Jedi Master who hired a group of Mandalorian mercenaries in a plot to sabotage the Dark Underlord's forces. The Mandalorians staged a diversionary attack on Malrev IV, diverting the attention of a leading Sith commander and consequently leaving the Dark Underlord vulnerable to Murrtaggh's own assault. In the ensuing battle, the Dark Underlord met his demise at the hands of the Jedi Master. The Black Knights were not completely vanquished, however, and eventually managed to reform their ranks on several occasions–even centuries after the New Sith Wars–in the Dark Underlord's absence.

Conquest at Mizra
"At the Battle of Mizra, the death of the Jedi coordinator to a Sith sniper turned the Jedi retreat into a full-scale slaughter."

- Sabla-Mandibu's writings

The death of the Dark Underlord ultimately did little to impede the momentum of the Sith war effort, which continued to grow over the following centuries. Despite a number of foiled incursions at Corphelion, Gap Nine and King's Galquek, the Sith had enlisted new allies among the Devaronians and Hiitians by the year 1500 BBY. Decades later, the Sith amassed an army against Republic and Jedi forces on the planet Mizra. Many Lords of the Sith participated in this battle, each mounting a personalized speeder bike named after a predatory species that epitomized their innermost nature. The tide of this engagement was turned by the actions of a lone Sith sniper who–after killing a Jedi coordinator and disrupting their battle meditation–triggered a full-scale slaughter of the Jedi forces, resulting in a crushing Sith victory. At the battle's end, hundreds of Jedi were captured by the Sith and promptly converted to the ways of the dark side. In the aftermath of their triumph at Mizra, the Sith were left without a clear line of succession, leaving no immediate heir to the Dark Lord mantle. Nonetheless, Mizra was a pivotal turning point in favor of the Sith, solidifying their power base and paving the way for a new leading Sith figure–the tyrannical Darth Rivan.

Tyranny of Rivan
"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

Having risen to power as a Dark Lord at some point before 1250 BBY, Darth Rivan led the Sith from a personal fortress on the terraformed planet Almas. In an effort to overcome the perpetual betrayals among the ranks of the Sith, Rivan had built an army of darksiders led by a unique brand of Sith commanders known as the Battlelords. Through a series of complex rituals fuelled by the power of Sith magic, the Dark Lord created a Force bond between the Battlelords and the soldiers under their command, preventing the subordinates from attacking or killing their masters. Initially, the use of Rivan's Battlelords brought a higher degree of cohesion to the armies of the Sith. This success proved short-lived, however, after the Jedi began specifically killing individual Battlelords, thereby releasing the bonded subordinates and allowing them to flee the battlefield. As a result, the Sith deemed the Battlelords unfit for their intended purpose, ultimately discontinuing their use.

During his reign, Darth Rivan obsessively sought the destruction of a Sith artifact known as the Darkstaff, fearing its reputably malevolent power as a potential threat to his existence. In time, however, the Jedi Order staged an assault against Rivan's stronghold on Almas, precipitating a violent end to the Dark Lord's reign. By this point, Rivan had finally managed to acquire the Darkstaff, only to have its power turn against him amidst the pivotal battle. To this end, the Darkstaff invoked a hyperspace wormhole, obliterating Rivan's entire Battlelord army and teleporting the Dark Lord himself forward through time. At his final destination on Ruusan during the Light and Darkness War, Darth Rivan–now deprived of his ability to wield the Force–was killed by an unidentified Force-user of inconsequential power.

Sictis Wars
"Maggot of metal, rust, and rot. Sith life draws breath, old life does not."

- Mechu-deru vitae incantation

In 1250 BBY, the final quarter of the Draggulch Period saw the rise of Belia Darzu, a Dark Lord who led the Sith during a two-decade period known as the Sictis Wars. Using a hidden stronghold on the Deep Core world of Tython, Darzu experimented with the power of mechu-deru, an obscure technique allowing the manipulation of mechanical structures through the Force. These experiments led to the creation of the nanogene spore, a virus capable of transforming living victims into hulking hybrids of metal and flesh called technobeasts. Through the power of the dark side, the technobeasts were bound to the will of Darzu herself, who promptly mobilized the creatures into an obedient army known as the Metanecrons. Over the course of the Sictis Wars, the technobeasts were unleashed upon the Galactic Republic and the Jedi, becoming recognized as the defining horror of this period.

By 1230 BBY, an alliance once established between Lord Darzu and the Mecrosa Order –a secret society from the Tapani sector –had fallen apart. The Mecrosa sought revenge against the Dark Lord for an unwanted incursion in their territory. Additionally, Darzu–like many of her Sith predecessors–fell victim to treachery at the hands of her own Sith followers, culminating in the Dark Lord's assassination by the Mecrosa. In spite of Darzu's death and the resulting sabotage of her technboeast army, the Sith were nonetheless deemed victorious by the end of the Sictis Wars. Additionally, Darzu's successors would continue utilizing the technobeasts for the remainder of the New Sith Wars, albeit in smaller numbers than before. The victory of the Sictis Wars came at a cost, however, and once again deprived the Sith of a clear line of succession for a new leader to seize the Dark Lord mantle.

Fragmentation
"Every Sith wanted to be king. And so we argued, while the Republic grew frail–its citizens sickened with plague–and became isolated by a decaying infrastructure. Coruscant's throat lay bare beneath our blades, but the Sith plunged their knives into one another's backs instead!"

- Darth Bane's writings

By 1100 BBY, the relentless Sith crusades had weakened the Republic's economic, military and political strength to the point of absolute collapse, beginning an era known as the Republic Dark Age. This new era, however, also brought about a phase of intense division between the power-hungry Lords of the Sith. Unwilling to unite under a single leader, the Sith failed to capitalize on the Republic's decline. Instead, the Sith turned against one another in a period of disagreement and backstabbing, leaving their ranks irreparably fragmented. The century-long Republic Dark Age saw the rise of many Sith warlords who –despite their lack of unity –continued waging their bloody conquests throughout entire star systems, with some maintaining control of their own independent territories. Even in their divided state, the Sith collectively dominated the galaxy's Outer Rim while pushing towards the Core Worlds.

Discord persisted between the fragmented remnants of the Sith until the year 1010 BBY. Around this time, Skere Kaan–a Jedi Master known for his radically disillusioned outlook on the Republic and the Jedi–had organized a group of likeminded peers called the "Brotherhood". Spearheading a campaign to conquer the remaining Sith enclaves on his own terms, Kaan went on to defeat the most powerful of the warring Sith Lords in a matter of months, all while working under the false pretence of rebuilding the Republic. In the process, the Jedi Master –having since declared himself a Dark Lord of the Sith –assumed leadership over the surviving Sith, uniting them to the principle of "Rule by the Strong". Amassing his twenty thousand-strong following, Kaan founded a new, unified Sith faction called the Brotherhood of Darkness, promptly declaring war against the Republic in the final decade of the New Sith Wars.

Behind the scenes
The New Sith were first mentioned in the novelization of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, authored by Terry Brooks and published in 1999. Initially, the novel established this particular faction as the original foundation for the Sith Order as a whole. This was later retconned, however, in the Tales of the Jedi comic book series, which introduced the origins of the Sith millennia beforehand. In the year 2000, the "New Sith" were first identified as such in The Essential Chronology, written by Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace. While most commonly known as the "New Sith", the faction was later referred to as the "New Sith Empire" in the sixth volume of Star Wars Comic UK, released in 2011. In the following year, the group was simply named the "Sith Empire" in Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, a reference book written primarily from an in-universe perspective.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel