A New Concise History of the Sith
By (Anonymous)
(1st edition published 143 ABY)
Prologue
With the return in recent years of the Sith, it is necessary to compile a new edition of Sith history, both of the ancient people and of the numerous offshoot sith orders. There have been many Sith histories compiled throughout the years, notable examples being those by professors Murk Lundi and Ingo Wavlud, but in recent times they've become rather out of date. The Sith in recent times were able to suppress a staggering amount of information of their Order's origins and manipulations and some suspect that it will be centuries before the extent of their machinations are uncovered.
With new information being discovered almost daily about the history and dealings of the modern Sith Rule of Two and One Sith, some would argue that any present work should focus primarily on covering their history. However, this approach is short sighted. If one is to understand the Sith, one should study all its aspects, not just the dogmatic narrow view of contemporary historians. Therefore, I endeavor to set out a history from the origins of the Sith and trace their history up to the present day.
As I intend this to be a concise history accessible to those with minimal background in the field as well as to experts, I will be omitting great swaths of information. There is a common misunderstanding that history is the result of the actions of a few great men. While this is erroneous, the Sith are a great example of why this mindset persists. In order to not bore the reader with endless facts and dates, I endeavor to detail the Sith using notable figures as points of reference. Therefore, this history will be semi-biographical.
With that clear, I believe the best way to start is by detailing what this is not. Some mistakenly equate the Sith with the 'dark side.' This is not a history of the dark side or a philosophical treatise on the Force, but a history of the Sith people and their ideologies. On a similar note, some believe that the Sith are the 'antithesis' of the Jedi and have been around since their beginning, and there is no hope in destroying their ideology since it will exist as long as the Jedi survive. This mindset is misleading on so many levels, primarily, it seems to equate the Sith with the dark side rather than treating them as they are. The Sith, from the point of view of the Jedi order's 25,000+ year history, are only one of many dark side wielding enemies they've faced. These other dark side orders have all come and gone, and while the Sith are resilient, they are not indestructible.
The typical start date for the founding of the Order of the Sith Lords, or the main branch of the Sith, is 6900 BBY. This is the supposed date when the dark Jedi exile Ajunta Pall beheaded the Sith king Hakagram Graush and assumed the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith, thereby fusing the pureblood Sith people with the teachings of generations of dark Jedi. Now the actual date may have been a few years later, but scholars throughout the centuries have given this as the date of the birth of the Sith, and as such I will do the same. However, it is important to cover their prehistory as well as the history of the Order proper.
Sith Prehistory can be divided into three eras: The Age of the Gods, the Age of the First Empires, and the Age of Heresy.
The Age of the Gods (circa. 100,000-30,000 BBY) is called such due to the vast number of archaeological references to the 'Immortal Gods of the Sith.' The Sith were thought to have been created around 100,000 BBY by the ancient race known as the Celestials, although the identity of their actual creators is disputed. It is believed that this race created the Sith to act as Force-sensitive servants to whom they taught the dark side to. This race eventually went extinct but they lived on in myths and legends as a pantheon of divine figues. This age is characterized by the sheer mystery that surrounds it. There is little evidence to suggest that the Sith after 100,000 BBY maintained a large interplanetary empire. Instead, scholars believe that the Sith existed as a variety of superstitious tribes that carried on the wisdom of their gods.
The Age of the First Empires (circa. 30,000-27,700 BBY) is called such due to the multiple Sith empires that rose to achieve interplanetary dominion. This era began with the Killik-Sith War, which resulted in a unification of the Sith people and offworlder technology falling into their hands. The Sith then began a series of early conquests of nearly planets. Eventually the Sith were invaded by the Rakata but were able to drive them off. The era ends with the death of the Sith'ari Adas, the Bombing of Korriban, and subsequent victory over the Rakata resulting in the Sith gaining powerful technology but lacking in unified leadership.
The Age of Heresy (circa. 27,700-6,900 BBY) is called such due to the frequent references to 'heresy' in almost every archaeological fragment discovered dating from this era. With their homeworld reduced to a radioactive waste, the sith made several conquests of nearby systems leaving behind many sites of learning. However, constant war and little understanding of the Rakatan technology resulted in the Sith being reduced to a much more primitive state. The Sith of this era would often cluster around ancient spacefaring tech and depositories of knowledge with a religious passion. They were determined to preserve these teaching through any means necessary. Any attempt to unify the Sith of this era failed as the groups were in perpetual war with 'heretics' or those who did not follow the same set of ancient teachings. This era ended with the arrival of the dark Jedi exiles, or Jen'jidai.
The history of the Sith Order proper can be divided into six main eras: The Ancient Sith, the Old Sith, the True Sith, the New Sith, the Rule of Two Sith, and the One Sith. It should be noted that these designations only apply to those groups that obtained galactic significance. Other Sith orders such as the Mecrosa Order and the Lost Tribe of the Sith have histories that span multiple eras and as such will be dealt with separately.
The Ancient Sith (circa. 6,900-5,000 BBY) expanded throughout Sith Space but remained, for the most part, isolated from the rest of the galaxy. This era is characterized by constant wars, but none so bad to cause the species as a whole to revert to primitivism. However, the lack of devotion to anything but infighting led to a forgetfulness and stagnation of technological innovation. This led to the Sith adopting a strange hybrid of primitive and space age technology. Most teachings of this era are devoted to Sith Alchemy and Sorcery. This era culminated in the Great Hyperspace War which decimated Sith society. In the War's aftermath, the Sith Lord Vitiate assumed control of all sith forces and retreated to the unknown regions where the True Sith Empire flourished.
The Old Sith (circa. 5,000-3,680) are the scattered remains of the Ancient Sith given new life. The main faction, the True Sith, or so they claimed to be, remained hidden in the unknown regions behind a tangled web of mass shadows preventing hyperspace travel. Despite this, they had considerable influence on the rest of the galaxy through subterfuge. Back in known space, this era is characterized by several powerful Sith Lords and their factions rising from each other's ashed. The first major manifestation of the ancient Sith teachings was in the Naddist cult. This cult as well as the Krath, paved the way for the fallen Jedi Exar Kun to revive the Sith Order into the Brotherhood of the Sith during the Great Sith War. Following this came the Revanchist Sith Empire which drew upon many of the teaching facilities the Brotherhood used as well as many ancient sites and relics. This culminated in the Dark Wars in which the Sith Triumvirate were able to successfully wipe out the Jedi Order, although they were quickly defeated and the Jedi rose again. This age ended when the first of the True Sith attacked the galaxy at large.
The True Sith (circa. 3,680-2,000 BBY) are different from the Old Sith as where the Old Sith looked to the past for their teachings, the True Sith looked to the Jedi for their teachings becoming like a dark mirror. The Sith of this era engaged in a series of wars with the Republic at large, but they eventually lost power due to infighting and disintegrated after a few hundred years. The Sith empire broke and eventually territories shifted to secular governments, many of which eventually joined the Republic. The Sith as a whole was so divided that they suffered many fates. Some orders became even more fanatical and went underground as cults, while others were able to modify their beliefs to a more liberal position becoming like Jedi to their territories, some even went as far as to join the Jedi en masse. This age ended with the Sith Holocaust which killed almost all pureblood Sith marking the final transition from a people to an ideology.
The New Sith (circa. 2,000-1,000 BBY) are the result of the Fourth Great Schism in the Jedi Order. Darth Ruin then rose to power used these exiles to reunite various Sith cults and nations. This resulted in a series of civil wars in the Republic which shattered any hope of a stable and unified galaxy leading to the Republic Dark Age. Sith factions broke off and waged a series of wars with each other and what was left of the Republic. Eventually, Lord Kaan was able to unify these factions by seating the heads of each on a single powerful governing body, the Brotherhood of Darkness. This era ended with the Seventh Battle of Ruusan where the Sith were wiped out and thought to be extinct.
The Rule of Two Sith (circa. 1,000 BBY-41 ABY) were created by Darth Bane reorganizing the Sith Order to prevent infighting. For a thousand years, with few exceptions, there were only two Sith alive at any given time, a master and an apprentice. They worked to take control of the Republic by manipulating events from behind the scenes, rather than through open war. This was frighteningly successful as it culminated in the rise of the Galactic Empire. After the Empire fell, this line of Sith did not quite die, for they were briefly revived by a fallen Jedi who became known as Darth Caedus.
The One Sith (circa. 41 ABY- present) are the result of a fallen Jedi who became known as Darth Krayt. The One Sith is characterized by looking to the Sith's very origins and using their teachings. Due to the fractured state of the galaxy, the One Sith were able to remain under the radar and achieve in a hundred years what it took the Rule of Two a thousand years to accomplish. However, the One Sith were regarded by followers of past Sith traditions as an embarrassing accident. Sure enough, the One Sith eventually fell and their order was left in ruin much like the past Sith orders from which they failed to learn from.
In conclusion, the history of the Sith is a very complicated and messy affair. The purpose of this work is to give an outline of the major players to demonstrate their influence on the order as a whole.