Ch. 7: The First Imperium of Sith

After exterminating the Killiks, the Sith were left with several nearby planets to set up colonies on. Ziost became like a second home to the Sith species, while Malachor became a major depository for knowledge, and Tund became a frontier world where only the hardiest could survive. As they spread, their teachings on the nature of the Force became more refined.

Some Sith holocrons date back to 100,000 BBY, or at least are believed to. During the Age of the Gods, Sith tribes would usually cluster around these holocrons attempting to preserve their knowledge. The information contained in the holocrons were eventually written down on long scrolls and hidden in depositories, jealously guarded. This resulted in the Sith knowledge becoming very focused and specialized. Different cults would have their own beliefs and abilities and be distrustful of anything new. This all changed when the Sith became spacefaring. When this happened, the Sith had to copy as much as they could so that new colonists could stay true to their teachings. Eventually it was decreed that all available Sith knowledge should be stored on the outer planet Malachor. The reason for this is because while Korriban and Ziost would always be the centers of Sith culture and life, a depository was needed on one of the far-flung worlds to serve as a place for the Sith to branch out further from.

The overall technological level of the Sith at this time is hard to pin down, as their tools have always been a menagerie of different eras smashed together. First to note is the weapons. Most Sith weapons were original creations as they prefered to use the weapons of their ancestors rather than alien weapons. It should be remembered that blaster technology was not invented yet as blasters are Rakatan creations. It is highly unlikely that the Sith developed slug projectile weapons as we know them as Sith technology just did not evolve along that line. Instead, the Sith usually used massive alchemically-enriched swords, warhammers, or pole-disk weapons. Their spaceships and hyperdrives especially were run down and the Sith had little idea of how to reverse-engineer them. This resulted in a crippling dependence on technology that the Sith could not understand. The Sith ships were originally borrowed from the Killiks, although after a while the Sith learned how to reverse-engineer the ship at least. Sith ships were huge, bulky, and unstable, powered by a reactor and hyperdrive the Sith barely knew how to operate. As a result, the Sith used this technology sparingly.

It is believed that they would often attempt to create a technique that would allow them to travel based solely on the power of the Force. This is likely how the Force Storm technique was originally developed. Force Storms are massive hyperspace aberrations which can transport ships from one point in space to another. Some of the most powerful storms can even touch down on a gravity well, ripping up structures and flinging them into the void. However, it is highly unlikely that the Sith were able to use such a technique with that degree of refinement. We have records of them struggling to conjure the storm by themselves. Instead, they conducted huge rituals where a circle of Sith would sacrifice a, usually male, virgin to drain his life force to power the storm. Apparently the Sith thought that virgins somehow get better light-years per gallon ratings. The reason for males in particular is because the Sith viewed male virginity as a sign of extreme weakness, and it is only fitting that the weak should be used to power their space vessels.

With this strange mix of technology and the Force, the Sith spread out. Eventually they formed a large, but disorganized, government that came to be known as the First Imperium of the Sith. The Imperium was founded around 29,000 BBY, after a few hundred years of exploration. The center of Sith power was, of course, Korriban. It was from here that the Sith Emperor or Council would rule from. However, the Sith Emperor changed almost on a yearly basis with assassinations, poisonings, duels, and wars being the culprits. This was not a problem. Although the Emperor demanded loyalty, most worlds couldn't care less who was in charge and went about their daily business. As a result, while Korriban was almost perpetually in a state of civil war, the outlying planets didn't get involved and were independent in all but name. In fact, many of the smarter Sith migrated to these more peaceful worlds to escape. As a result, the Sith on Korriban often saw the colonies as weak, but they couldn't do anything as they were too busy killing each other off.

The Imperium as a whole was extremely xenophobic. Whenever they found what appeared to be another sentient alien species, they would not hesitate to exterminate with extreme prejudice. As a result, the Imperium had only pure blooded Sith. Sith were known to have several races even this early. Sith were ranked by a caste system with slaves and peasants on the bottom followed by merchants, engineers and warriors. At the top were the sorcerers and warlords who ruled. Each caste had a distinct appearance and skin tone. Usually, the darker red one's skin was, the higher the status. A few legendary Sith were even known to have skin that was charcoal-black.

This is the state of affairs that the Rakata found when they first encountered the Sith. At this point, the Rakatan empire was locked in yet another war of extinction, this time with the Kwa. The Rakata wanted to conquer Sith Space, but they saw how disorganized it was and knew that it would cost far too many resources to take it over. Additionally, the Sith were so disorganized that the Rakata considered them to be a non-threat. They had time to implement a more subtle plan. The Rakata captured Sith from far out worlds and experimented on them. Eventually they were able to create several powerful genetically-modified embryos. These embryos were implanted into kidnapped Sith women who had their memories wiped and were put back on their home planets. Later, they would give birth to the genetically enhanced Sith offspring. These offspring had jet-black skin and were extremely strong in the Force. Additionally, each was modified to stop aging once they reached a certain age. Throughout their young lives, Rakatan agents would kidnap them to alter their minds with the Force. These Rakatan would implant certain sleeper commands that could be activated at any time. The most powerful of these sleeper agents was named Adas.