Korriban

"Korriban shall be as it always was. A graveyard for the darkest of the Sith Lords, still whispering within their tombs. It shall always be a source of evil, spawning threats throughout the millennia."

- Kreia

Korriban was the sole planet in the Horuset system, located across the galaxy from Koros Major. It was a world of the Sith species and a sacred planet for the Sith Order, housing the tombs for many ancient and powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, and containing tremendous dark side power. It was originaly used as a graveyard for Ancient Sith people and later was used as a home and training ground for more modern Sith. Korriban has housed an accademy, being destroyed by the republic and rebuilt by the sith, from the time of Darth Revan to the new jedi order era. Some famous Sith Lords buried in the Valley of the Dark Lords include: Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Ajunta Pall, Tulak Hord and Ludo Kressh. Freedon Nadd is one of the few Dark Lords of the Sith not to be buried in the Valley of the Dark Lords.

Infinite Empire
This remote, forbidding planet was once a slave planet of the Infinite Empire. The Rakata took Sith slaves from the planet (the Sith originally having come to Korriban from nearby Ziost) and used them for their projects, such as the Star Forge (30,000 BBY). The sole artifact to survive this era was the ancient Star Map, around which the tomb of Naga Sadow was later built.

The Rakata were eventually struck by plague, leading to a slave revolution in 30,000 BBY.

Sith Empire
The Sith Empire was founded in approximately 6,900 BBY by exiled Fallen Jedi fleeing the Battle of Corbos, which concluded the Hundred-Year Darkness. These Fallen Jedi landed on Ziost and Korriban.

Using their training in the Force, the fallen Jedi amazed the Sith and elevated themselves to god-like status on Korriban, becoming the rulers of the Sith people. As years passed, and interbreeding occurred between the Fallen Jedi and the Sith, the term "Sith" came to mean not only the original inhabitants of Korriban and Ziost, but also their fallen Jedi masters. Until the rise of Naga Sadow, the existence of the Sith Empire was unknown to the Galactic Republic.

Under the pall of Sith magic, this desolate world became more hellish and dangerous. The Sith Lords erected huge palaces and burial complexes to honor their fallen Dark Lords. Circa 5,000 BBY, the planet became an endpoint of the newly-formed Daragon Trail hyperspace lane. After the fall of the Sith Empire, the planet lost much of its prominence in the galaxy, eventually falling off the galactic starcharts for a thousand years. After the Great Hyperspace War, the Republic and the Jedi exterminated the Sith in an act of genocide against the species.

Old Sith Wars
"Pfah. Korriban's a rock. Mind the Sith."

- Jolee Bindo

Korriban was resettled prior to 3,993 BBY by Dark Jedi survivors of the Exar Kun War, and was home to the new settlement of Dreshdae and a Sith training academy. Darth Revan and Darth Malak visited the planet on their quest to discover the Star Forge. After losing his memory, Revan visited this academy again on his quest to re-discover the Star Forge for the good of the Republic. In 3,993 BBY, as part of the Great Hunt, Duron Qel-Droma and Shaela Nur died on the planet, failing to cleanse it of terentateks. With the death of Master Uthar Wynn, the academy's headmaster, and Darth Malak himself at the hands of Revan in 3,956 BBY, the Sith Order collapsed into a civil war (which took place 3,956-3,955 BBY) which decimated the Sith Order.

It took the Republic a couple of years (approximately around 3,954 BBY) to send an expeditionary force to Korriban in order to deal with any potential Sith who might attempt to take up the mantle of Dark Lord. They found a planet nearly in ruins&mdash; barren and lifeless as a result of the then unknown civil war. It was assumed by the commanders of the Republic task force that the remnants of the Sith turned on each other, vying for what little power remained. It was also said that Darth Revan had always intended to return to Korriban one day to subdue any would-be Sith insurgents...but then he disappeared. However, the Republic discovered evidence that several Sith Lords did manage to escape the planetary conflagration, fleeing to remote corners of the galaxy.

After the fall of Darth Malak, the ancient tombs within the Valley of the Dark Lords were plundered by grave-robbers. Each tomb was once infused with history and heritage of the old Sith Empire, containing great mysteries and powerful relics of the Force.

"However, even their many traps could not long hold back the curious, the fools, and the weak. And so these tombs fell, spilling their secrets into the hands of those unable to comprehend or preserve them."

- Kreia

Many broken, charred corpses littered the plains of Korriban during this time, virtually all that remained of the Sith who once inhabited the world. However, their dark, malignant spirits remained, ready to confront any who disturb their rest by way of their guardian-familiars, the Hssiss.

In the chaos following the Jedi Civil War, which nearly destroyed the Jedi Order, Jedi Master Lonna Vash used Korriban as a hideout. She was eventually trapped and killed by Sith Lord Darth Sion in the ruins of the academy, and then used as bait to lure the Jedi Exile into Sion's hands. After escaping the trap, the Exile discovered the long lost tomb of Ludo Kressh.

Clone Wars
The world remained desolate until it was taken over by the Commerce Guild just prior to the Clone Wars, c. 24 BBY. Other than Guild employees, the planet was mostly inhabited by those who were unfortunate enough to end up on Korriban and have no way offworld.

Imperial era
After the Wars, the Galactic Empire took control of Korriban, and Emperor Palpatine visited the planet to increase his strength in the Force.

Post-Endor era
At the time of the New Republic, the Disciples of Ragnos arrived on Korriban, hoping to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos. However, their plans were spoiled by the Jedi, most notably by Jaden Korr and his former Master Kyle Katarn. This started the Battle of Korriban. It was apparently untouched by the Yuuzhan Vong War, as Darth Krayt and the Legacy Era Sith used it as their headquarters around 140 ABY.

Fauna
Due to the planet's harsh terrain (or the power of the Dark Side), Korriban's native fauna was both vicious and cunning. The bat-like Shyracks lived in great numbers in caves on the planet. Tuk'ata hounds were also fairly common. Dark side dragons, or Hssiss, were also found on Korriban, though as semi-aquatic creatures, they were quite rare. Wraid were also found on Korriban. There is evidence that, at one point, the planet was home to an ape or primate-like species, although by the time of Naga Sadow the species was long gone. Though it is possible that the primate-like species was somehow connected to the Sith species, no conclusive link between this species and the Sith species was known.

Behind the scenes
Though Ziost was established as the original Sith homeworld in The Golden Age of the Sith, many well regarded sources&mdash;including the Databank and the CUSWE&mdash;list Korriban as the Sith homeworld.

Appearances

 * Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith
 * Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire
 * Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
 * Shadows and Light
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
 * Jedi Quest 10: The Final Showdown
 * Star Wars Republic 63: Striking from the Shadows
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Empire at War
 * Empire's End
 * Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
 * Star Wars: Legacy
 * Ghosts of the Sith