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 over a hundred millennia&mdash;from roughly 130,000 BBY to 7,000 BBY. 30,000 years after the society was established, the Sith religion and the practise of manipulating the Dark side of the Force began amongst the Sith. After a 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 was given the title of Sith'ari, meaning "overlord", and was seen by his people as an immortal being who would rule forever.

Eventually the Rakata of the Infinite Empire 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 Humanoid Dark Jedi through Sith Alchemy.

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.

By the time of the Great Galactic War, true-blooded Sith species were the overseers at the Sith training academy on Korriban.

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, even though they still existed.

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.

"In times long past, the Sith race proved malleable…Splitting into a meek and servile Slave class…An intelligent and nimble Engineer class…Others interbred with the early Exiled Jedi—like the ancestors of Ludo Kressh—watering down the powerful bloodlines…But most useful of all were members of the vicious Massassi Warrior class."

- Naga Sadow - referring to the split of the Sith (species) into the four different castes/sub-species: Slave caste, Engineer caste, Kissai and Massassi.

The Sith society was very hierarchical, utilizing both a rigid caste system and a stratified rank structure to put its subjects in their proper place. Due to how long Sith society has separated the Sith into castes (across approximately 130,000 years), each caste is sometimes referred to as a sub-species of Sith. All Sith castes were red-skinned humanoids with distinctly sharp, predatory features and tentacle beards. Their caste system included a meek and lowly Slave caste, a skilled and intelligent engineer caste, the priestly Kissai caste, and the war-like Massassi caste.

Slave Caste
Sith slaves were the meek and servile sub-species of the Sith and therefore the lowliest caste in Sith hierarchy. Pure blooded Sith slaves had only three digits on each hand unlike the other Sith castes, but after the fusion of bloodlines with the Dark Jedi Exiles, the Slaves seemed to have four digits. They worshiped the Sith Lords as gods, and were often used as sacrifices. The Sith Lords used them for slave labor. When a Sith Lord died, his slaves were buried alive with his body in his tomb on Korriban.

Engineer Caste
Sith engineers built and maintained Sith technology, including droids and starships.

Massassi Caste
Massassi were the warrior caste of the Sith. This was because Massassi tended to be taller and stronger than the other Sith castes, this combined with the natural Sith aggression made very efficient and vicious soldiers for the Sith military. Massassi were not very intelligent but they could be trained well enough to carry out complex battle plans and maintain their equipment, starships, and weaponry making them very useful to the Sith Empire. The Massassi's loyalty had to be earned but once it was they were unswervingly obedient to the Dark Lord of the Sith; they were also loyal to the individual Sith Lord they served, though this loyalty was secondary to their loyalty to the Dark Lord. The Massassi also had a complex language of their own, which may be related to the Sith language.

Kissai Caste
The Kissai were the priest class in the Sith caste system and were known to study the nature of the Dark side of the Force and practice of ancient Sith magic and alchemy. The Kissai were just as ruthless as the Massassi, but they were more intelligent, observant and lacked the physical advantages that Massassi possessed.

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)
 * Karnak Tetsu (Kissai/Sorcerer of Tund)

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
 * Crosscurrent
 * Star Wars Legacy 30: Vector, Part 11

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