Sith Empire...Evil or misunderstood???

From day one of Star Wars we realise that we have to do with 2 empires. The good one (Jedi) and the evil one (Sith).
After all of these year, movies and games some people changed their mind and they started looking deeper to find out about this ''evil'' empire.

Let's see how the whole story began...


Sith Empire

History:

The Sith civilization began in the year 100,000 BBY, where a race of red skinned beings evolved on the planet Korriban.They lived a barbaric, yet strangely harmonious, existence which was filled with constant warring between the various divided nations on their world. During their pre-industrial age in 30,000 BBY, the inhabitants of Korriban fought off an incursion from the Killiks. It was only the rise of King Adas did the Sith become unified under his iron rule and he was declared the Sith'ari; the ultimate being. It was he who first formed a Sith Empire in the year 28,000 BBY and his reign lasted for three centuries.This relative stability of this empire was first challenged in 27,700 BBY when the Sith were visited by the Rakata.These aliens of a distant empire attempted to lull the ancient Sith King into their confidence by providing him the knowledge to create Holocrons. However, their true motivation of conquest quickly became apparent. This led to King Adas bringing the full might of the Sith Empire to bear on the Rakata and he succeeded in driving them away from Korriban but at the cost of his life.

Using the remains of the enemy craft, the once primitive Sith were propelled into the space age and were armed with the power of the Dark side of the Force. Using these newly acquired traits from the Infinite Empire, the newly formed Sith Empire conquered other nearby worlds which became part of Sith Space with their capital being relocated from ancient Korriban to the neighboring world of Ziost. A number of pure blooded Sith also established a library-temple on the world of Krayiss Two in 14,000 BBY where they slumbered and their spirits continued to haunt the temple for the next 10,000 years.The reign of this empire was short lived, however, as it dissolved into civil war after the death of King Adas leaving his people regressing into a more primitive state. This civil war was initiated by Dathka Graush in 7000 BBY which left most of the cities of Korriban in ruin.With the death of Adas led to a group of Sith priests of the Kissai caste interpreting it as a sign to reject the Dark Side dominated beliefs of their people. Labeled as heretics for their actions, these Sith were later banished and settled the planet Tund where they formed the Sorcerers of Tund.The planet Arkania also fell under the dominion of the Sith and in 7000 BBY, they established a library known as Veeshas Tuwan on it.

Around the year 6900 BBY, exiled fallen Jedi—fleeing from the Battle of Corbos, which concluded the Hundred-Year Darkness—landed on Korriban, a desolate world inhabited by the relatively primitive but unusually Force-sensitive Sith people. Upon arriving, the Dark Jedi attempted to subjugate the Sith and take whatever knowledge they possessed. This led to the Sith attempting to protect their secrets but failed due to the superior training and technology of the invaders. 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. Over the next two thousand years, interbreeding occurred between the Fallen Jedi and the Sith by means of Sith alchemy which led to the term "Sith" being used to identify not only the original inhabitants of Korriban, but also their fallen Jedi masters. This intermingling between the two races went across hundreds of generations that was made between the Dark Jedi and the High Priests which led to the creation of hybridized offspring from this union who became the new ruling class of the Sith. Thus was the Sith Empire born, with nearby Ziost becoming the capital, while Korriban became a sacred mausoleum-world. One of the first Sith Lords of this new empire was Ajunta Pall.

Once the Exiles became Sith Lords, a group of overly ambitious of their number, led by Baron Dreypa, decided to retrace their steps back to the Republic by using a navicomputer from one of the ships that brought them to Sith Space. Despite the objections of Ajunta Pall, these Sith decided to embark on their quest back to the Republic and wage war against the Jedi. While the greater Sith were unaware of their fate, this expedition did succeed in their goal and fought against the Jedi Order. However, they were defeated and alerted the Jedi that the Exiles had claimed a world of their own. Despite this discovery, the Jedi were unable to determine where Sith Space was and thus were incapable of locating the growing Sith Empire.

The Golden Age of the Sith.

In time, the Sith formed an immensely rich and powerful empire that was built upon the use of sorcery and the dark side which fueled their technology. At its height, the Sith Empire ruled over at least 120 worlds.Long before the race reached their Golden Age, the Sith Empire participated in a skirmish known as the Battle of Kalsunor where Silooths were first used in order to subjugate the planet Kalsunor which had long resisted the conquests of the Sith. After the world was defeated, the army of Silooth creatures were left behind on that world where they remained for years.

Over the centuries that followed, the Dark Jedi Exiles were forgotten by the Galactic Republic even as all records of the Republic were lost to the Sith. This meant that the two civilizations thrived but in isolation leading to them being ignorant of the existence of one another. The Sith Empire was noted as being immensely rich and powerful; being built upon sorcery and possessing dark side fueled technology that was possibly adapted from the scattered ruins of the fallen Infinite Empire. To the galaxy outside their space, the Sith Empire was considered a fable used to by parents to tell their children before they went to sleep.

Though the Stygian Caldera that surrounded their territory confined them to Sith Space, it also meant that few travelers stumbled on their empire. However, on occasion, ships managed to brave through the Caldera and were captured by the Sith whereupon they became slaves to various ranking nobles in the empire. After generations, these slaves had slowly forgotten their origins and largely identified themselves as being Sith. It was through the entry of inhabitants from the Tapani sector that led to the influx of highly technical slaves that developed the Sith Empire's technological as well as medical base. Also, during this age, Sith Holocrons spoke of the legendary Muur Talisman which many desired to find and possess. While the Sith Empire had grown into a powerful force, they had now begun to a face a crisis as they had faced potential self annihilation. Having starved for centuries, the Sith sought to expand and conquer new lands to bring into their territories as well as enemies to subjugate.

This period in history saw the Golden Age of the Sith Empire and saw relative stability as well as power within it. At the time, the Dark Lord of the Sith was a particularly powerful and long lived individual called Marka Ragnos. Through his mastery of the dark side as well as his fierce intelligence, he had risen through the ranks in order to attain the position of Dark Lord of the Sith. One of the many contenders to the position was Simus who dueled against Ragnos and was beheaded as a result. Despite this being the case, Sith magic was used by Simus to keep himself alive within a container and he continued to serve the Sith Empire as an adviser.

During the rule of the new Dark Lord, Ragnos often placed his rivals against one another or manipulated them so they challenged him openly and in some cases had them assassinated. While many factions sought to expand beyond the confines of Sith Space, Ragnos did not allow this to be case as he well remembered that his ancestors were defeated by the Jedi Order. His memories of that time also meant that he knew how powerful the Jedi were and he was not confident that the Sith Empire was strong enough to challenge them at this point. After ruling for a century, his death caused a power vacuum within the leadership of the Empire which saw the conservative Ludo Kressh and the liberal Naga Sadow amass power in order to propel themselves onto the Sith throne.

At some point during the Golden Age, the Sith Lord Ieldis created a slaver organization known as the Crucible which was tasked with capturing refugees displaced from war in order for them to be used as a slave army that would fight for the Sith Empire.

Great Hyperspace War

In circa 5000 BBY, the isolation of the Sith was broken when two young hyperspace explorers called Gav and Jori Daragon stumbled upon Korriban by accident while they attempted to establish a hyperlane in an effort to expand their trade options. However, the feuding Sith had little interest in peaceful trade with the Republic and instead the pair were captured as spies whereupon they were imprisoned on Ziost whilst they awaited interrogation. By this point in their history, the Sith held little memory of the Republic who lived in distant regions of space compared to them. This saw Ludo Kressh and his conservative allies claim that the two travellers were the precursors of an invasion of their territory whilst his rival Naga Sadow held the view that the Republic offered new lands to conquer. In secret, Sadow also believed that focusing on conquest of the Republic would unite the strained factions of the Empire and distract the populace of the political problems they faced in their native territory. A tribunal of Sith rulers later sentenced the Daragon's to death but Sadow secretly had them rescued and sheltered at his own isolated fortress. However, he left behind evidence to suggest that the rescue attempt was done so by Republic agents and used this to galvanize the Sith Council by exploiting on their fears as well as their doubts. The Daragons proved to be the perfect scapegoats for Sadow who convinced comrades that an invasion was imminent and that they needed to conduct a pre-emptive attack against their enemy.

Whilst the Daragons were kept at his fortress world, Ludo Kressh began to uncover signs that Sadow was responsible for freeing the two alien intruders. Thus, he gathered forces loyal to him in order to assault Naga Sadow's domain in order to expose him as a traitor and schemer. This was partly also an attempt by Kressh to take the mantle of leadership of the Sith Empire. However, this all fell into Sadow's plan as he was well prepared for his rivals "surprise attack" and in the resultant chaos; he convinced Jori Daragon to abandon her brother in order to escape into Republic space. Intending to warn the Galactic Republic of the dangerous Sith Empire; she fled in Starbreaker 12 at which point Sadow unleashed his own hidden forces that annihilated Kressh's with Ludo's own flagship being destroyed thus seemingly killing him. In the aftermath, Naga Sadow declared himself as the new Dark Lord of the Sith and revealed that he had secretly placed a transmitter on Jori Daragon's vessel thus allowing the Empire to trace her journey into Republic territory. After consolidating his forces, Sadow gathered his armies of bloodthirsty Massassi warriors in preparation of the upcoming invasion. Despite the little intelligence he had of his enemy, the Sith Empire's vast invasion force moved through the Daragon Trail into Republic space. Alongside the Dark Lord was his Sith apprentice Gav Daragon whereupon they sent their armada to follow his sisters tracking beacon leading to the surprise Sith onslaught starting at the Koros Major system.
The Dark Lord was well aware that his forces would be insufficient in combating the Republic Navy but made use of the element of surprise to aid him and for a time, it worked. The Koros system fell to the Sith's might and the Empire's naval forces spread through the Koros Trunk Line to assault the shipyards at Foerost whereupon the Sith moved to assault Kaikielius, Metellos, Basilisk,Shawken and ultimately Coruscant itself. The Sith armies on Coruscant managed to march across the Legislative District and onto the steps of the Senate Hall itself where they were fought off by the defending Jedi forces. At Koros Major, the Sith proved relentless and unpredictable in their attacks which was necessary due to Sadow's limited knowledge of this region of space which led to the Republic not faring well in this conflict which became known as the Great Hyperspace War. Unknown to the Republic, Sadow had stationed his Sith Meditation Sphere around Primus Goluudwhere he employed Sith magic to create illusionary phantoms that made the Empire's enemies believe that the Sith had far greater numbers.

At some point during the conflict, the Sith Lord Naga Sadow dispatched some of his forces to locate Lignan crystals which were to be used in the creation of advanced lightsabers for use against the Republic and the Jedi. One of the ships dispatched was the Omen, however, it later crashed on the primitive world of Kesh where the crew at first attempted to return to space but later adapted to life on the planet amongst the native Keshiri. During the war, several Jedi were corrupted and joined the forces of the Sith Empire, one of which included the Kaleesh Saes Rrogon who commanded the Harbinger. In the closing stages of the conflict, the newly trained Sith Valik Kodank diverted resources for the construction of her own Sith Temple located in the Tascollan Nebula. She would later leave the Sith Empire with a sect consisting of her followers in order to continue their existence elsewhere. As the conflict continued, it was known that the Jedi used the planet Ossus as a staging ground for raids into Sith territory.

After learning of the Sith magic being used in the war, the Republic became emboldened to strike back against the Empire. This saw them being reinforced from the naval base at Anaxes which they used to push back the Sith armada to their beachhead at Koros Major. Their combined forces pushed towards Primus Goluud where they attacked the Empire's forces present in the region. By this point, Gav Daragon had turned against his Sith Master but Sadow had tricked him into being left behind on the Meditation Ship leading to Daragon dying at the hands of the Republic retaliating fleet. His act of betrayal against Gav Daragon also turned the young explorer against his master and he revealed to Empress Teta the hyperspace coordinates of the Sith Empire's territories. In an effort to destroy his enemies, Naga Sadow used his own Sith technology to cause the Primus Goluud star to erupt into a supernova whilst he made his escape back to Sith Space with what few forces he had left.

When Naga Sadow returned back to the Sith Empire, he was greeted by an unexpected figure - his rival Ludo Kressh, who had not died in their earlier battle but was warned by his spies of the assassination attempt. Showing no mercy, Kressh's forces mercilessly attacked Sadow's battered fleet before they could recover and declared them traitors. However, Naga Sadow's forces fought with wild frenzy as they had nothing to lose, leading to both sides being devastated as a result at the Second Battle of Korriban. Kressh himself was killed when one of Sadow's battleships rammed into it, at which point the fleets of the Republic arrived and attacked the weakened Sith forces. The Republic forces decimated the remaining Sith fleets and brought about the downfall of their Empire in the resultant crossfire. In a final desperate gamble, Sadow gathered what few followers he could and fled from the battlefield whilst being pursued by Republic ships. Utilizing Sith sorcery, he had his lone warship fly through the Denarii Nova and caused solar flares that destroyed his pursuers.

By this point, Supreme Chancellor Pultimo ordered Republic forces in an invasion of Sith Space which saw hundreds of ships piercing the Stygian Veil. The Sith Empire at the time was in complete turmoil after the death of Ludo Kressh and was unable to withstand the onslaught of these invaders that now arrived in their territory. With Kressh dead and Sadow missing, Shar Dakhan became appointed as the acting Dark Lord of the Sith. Sensing defeat and possible surrender being the only options available to them, he commanded his warriors to make suicidal attacks against the invading enemy fleets. This act led to heavy losses being sustained by the Republic and forced them into making a temporary retreat as a result. Ultimately, the Republic only won after many of the lower-caste Sith committed ritualistic suicide. Whilst the Sith by this point no longer posed a threat, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic was still unsatisfied as to the outcome of the conflict. Thus, Jedi and Republic forces were sent to Korriban as well as other Sith planets in order to ensure that no remnants of the Sith Empire remained. This act forced a number of Sith to flee into space where they were led by a Sith who had arisen to take Naga Sadow's place as the new Dark Lord. Members of this exile fleet later settled on Dromund Kaas where they waited for centuries in order to get their revenge against the Republic. One of the last holdouts was that of Elcho Kressh who spent years developing a counterattack plan outside the Caldera where he made most of the few forces available to him. Utilizing a tactic used by Naga Sadow, he began recruiting groups that were hostile to the Republic which ranged from pirate bands to mercenary militias and other such species which allowed him to build an impressive force. However, on the eve of his planned invasion, Elcho suffered from a ruptured stomach after heavy drinking which killed him within hours thus ending any plans of revenge.

The Sith Empire was broken as a result though unknown to the Republic, Sadow had in fact escaped in the struggle. He later fled to Yavin 4 in his single Derriphan-class battleship which was buried on the moon while the Dark Lords Massassi created Temples for their master. One of the Sith Lords to die during the conflict was Lord Garu who was the holder of King Adas's holocron and perished on the world of Ashas Ree thus leaving the ancient relic behind where it remained undiscovered for centuries. The Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic worked to destroy any remaining strongholds of the Sith which saw the end of their once glorious empire which was now defeated. After their defeat, a group of Sith retreated to the planet Thule that was home to a stealth regiment where they worked alongside special forces in order to build up once more and set themselves up as an advance force for an eventual return of the empire. However, no one came and the forces on Thule remained in the shadows for generations where they waited for their moment at getting their revenge. Some Sith Lords disappeared where they haunted worlds such asVjun.

Following the supposed destruction of the Sith Empire, the Jedi worked to destroy whatever remained of the Sith's legacy which included talismans, temples and holocrons. This was an attempt by the Jedi to prevent the dark knowledge of the Sith from being used by other Dark Siders or by students who could be influenced by those teachings. Among the many locations destroyed, the ancient Sith library on Arkania known as Veeshas Tuwan was destroyed by a group ofJedi Masters. Jedi Shadows worked to destroy any Dark Side artifacts created by the Sith such as amulets and talismans. While the ranks of the Jedi Shadows destroyed most of these tainted artifacts, items such as holocrons were, however, kept in the custody of the Jedi Order though many others were left in the burial vaults of the Sith Lords.Any surviving manuscripts and books were later taken to the Galactic Museum at Republic City where they were stored in the Sith Hall for visitors to see. Many of these artifacts were later taken by the secret Jedi cabal known as the Jedi Covenant.

Despite their efforts, many great Sith weapons would be forgotten and lost for ages such as the dread Dark Reaper.

Though the Empire was destroyed, one of its legacies remained such as the Crucible which continued to operate in the shadows for centuries where it abducted countless people and turned them into ruthless warriors. One of the few known artifacts that were kept by the Jedi Order included the Holocron of Naga Sadow which was kept in order to provide insight into the origins of the ancient Sith. Ultimately, the campaigns of the Jedi to bury the teachings of the Sith was partly successful with much of the Sith Empire's history being masked in shadows over the centuries that followed.

Legacy:

"You thought that the corrupted remnants of the Republic, the machines spawned by technology that Revan led into battle were the Sith? You are wrong. The Sith is a belief. And its empire, the true Sith Empire, rules elsewhere. And Revan knew the true war is not against the Republic. It waits for us, beyond the Outer Rim. And he has gone to fight it, in his own way."―Kreia, to Meetra Surik[src]

With the Sith Empire defeated, its long reign came to an end as a result of the devastating conclusion of the Great Hyperspace War. Worlds such as Korriban became lasting monuments that provided traces of the ancient Sith Empire. The planet Dromund Kaas itself also vanished for a time until it was discovered by the Empire-in-Exile led by the Sith Emperor which had been rebuilding its forces within the Unknown Regions. This faction of the Sith along with other relics continued to influence and shape events in the galaxy for thousands of years. It was from that point onwards that the term Sith changed from being a name for the species to being a title given to those that practiced the Sith teachings. Among the many legacies of the ancient Sith were their various warbots that were deactivated after the defeat of the Empire. These few battle droids remained hidden with some emerging during various events such as the later Great Sith War and even during the Jedi Civil War. It was believed that very few Sith starships survived the devastating conclusion of the Great Hyperspace War though knowledge of their construction was believed to still reside within scrolls and holocrons. However, these vessels were inferior compared to designs that would be developed in the following years.
Other legacies of the ancient Sith included the manipulations of long dead Sith Lords such as Marka Ragnos with the Disciples of Ragnos forming during the era of the Galactic Civil War. This group sought to bring about the return of their master until they were defeated by Jaden Korr. Decades after its creation, the Galactic Empire was destroyed, and it seemed that the legacy of the Sith Empire was gone with it. But in 9 ABY, the dark history of the planet Dromund Kaas came once more and in an effort to protect his fledgling New Jedi Order, Luke Skywalker worked with New Republic Intelligence to bury the knowledge of the dark world Dromund Kaas of the Sith Empire in order to ensure that its corruption would not bring further threats to the galaxy. However, unknown to many, a forgotten remnant of the Sith Empire had been left abandoned on the planet Kesh, which formed the Lost Tribe of Sith who sought to bring about the great splendours of their ancestors to the galaxy.

Even further to the future, the dark shadow of the Sith still fell across the galaxy when the teachings of XoXaan, now a long-dead Sith spirit, were used by the fallen Jedi that became known asDarth Krayt, who used them to found the One Sith. He later succeeded in taking control of the Fel Empire and made himself the Emperor thus creating a new Sith Empire.

Among the various eras, numerous attempts had been made to create a new Sith Empire.

his is the story of the great Sith Empire. Now good or evil I will let you to decide.

I hope you found my post enjoyable enough to keep you reading all this long writing...

Thanks for reading...

George...

Sith empire history by star wars wiki