Dread Masters

"We are prisoners no more. Free of the Republic. Free of the Empire. Both will fall before the Dread Masters."

- Dread Master Raptus.

The Dread Masters were six powerful Sith Lords who served the Sith Emperor for centuries as prophets, generals and advisors. Their name was earned when they studied the power of the Phobis devices, artifacts that had driven even the most depraved Sith mad with terror. This power allowed the Dread Masters to destroy entire Galactic Republic fleets during the Great Galactic War, they had mastered the art of Battle meditation to the point that they would inflict an awful, mysterious terror upon members of any given Republic cruiser. In order to avoid being compromised, they kept in constant motion in an Imperial dreadnaught that roamed the galaxy. With the help of an Elite Republic Special Forces team, Jedi Knight Jaric Kaedan infiltrated the dreadnaught and captured the Dread Masters. The Jedi Order publicly announced that the Dread Masters were killed but secretly they were imprisoned on Belsavis.

Origin
This group of Sith Lords gained their reputation following their study into the Phobis device. The power of this artifact had driven the caused the most depraved of Sith mad with terror. Their mastery over their new power made them powerful allies to the Sith Emperor where they served in the span of centuries as advisors, generals and even as prophets. During this time, they were noted to had spent many years in secluded meditation on the world of Dromund Kaas. Such periods were only interrupted when they needed to bring some crucial wisdom to the Emperor or to accept a gift in the form of supplicants. These Sith kept in such close company that they became inseparable and their great power reaching full strength when they worked in union with one another. During the Great Galactic War, they served in the front lines against the Galactic Republic where they used their power to project terror into their enemies. Such power allowed this group of Sith to destroy entire fleets of the Republic. In order to avoid their position from being compromised, the Dread Masters were stationed aboard an Imperial dreadnaught which allowed them to remain mobile by travelling throughout the galaxy.

Despite the secrecy of their location, their dreadnaught was eventually discovered by Jedi Knight Jaric Kaedan. Armed with this knowledge, he led a team from the Republic Special Forces to infiltrate the Sith vessel with the objective of capturing the Dread Masters. As a result, the six Sith were captured by the Republic yet resisted all attempts at being interrogated. Though unresponsive to questioning, the Jedi managed to learn that the Dread Masters were centuries old. Following the success of the mission, the Sith dreadnaught was destroyed and the Republic leaked false information that the Dread Masters had been killed in the skirmish. It was believed the reasoning for this was because the Jedi Council had hoped that such news would prevent the Emperor from launching any plan on recovering them. However, there was another reason the Sith were kept alive which was because it was believed that they were too valuable to eliminate. Thus, imprisonment was seen as the only alternative with the ancient prison on the world of Belsavis seen as the only place to confine the power of the Dread Masters. This was because it was believed it had safety measures strong enough to prevent them from escaping. As a result, the Dread Masters were imprisoned on Belsavis where they remained until long after the Great War had concluded. It was feared that if the Sith Empire ever freed the Dread Masters from their imprisonment then the galaxy would tremble before their might once again.

Freedom from Imprisonment
On Belsavis, the Dread Masters were imprisoned in the main levels of the facility in separate cells, but all other prisoners within a quarter mile of them died almost immediately after the Sith arrived. This forced the Republic to move them deeper in the facility, into The Tomb. However, they were later freed by an Imperial Rescue Team and after they regained freedom, they exacted revenge on those who held them as prisoners. The Empire gave them a shuttle and they returned to Imperial Space.

Sowing Fear
Shortly afterward, they betrayed the Empire and planned to conquer the galaxy for themselves. They recluted on Denova the Trandoshan Warlord Kephess to act as their proxy; so Kephess and his mercenary army tried to conquer the planet but was defeated by task force from both Republic and Sith Empire. However the Dread Masters healed Kephess and traveled to Asation to acquire the tecnology of the Infinity Gate but were again defeated.

Behind the scenes
The Dread Masters were first introduced in the 2011 video game Star Wars: The Old Republic. Their original character models featured helmets and robes that were also attainable by player characters as wearable armor. In 2012, their appearance was updated and changed to feature new helmets that were not available to players.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Old Republic