Ch. 9: The Age of Heresy
After the Bombing of Korriban (circa. 27,700 BBY), the Sith homeworld experienced a nuclear ice age. The radiation killed much available vegetation and the fallout blocked out the sun. It is thought that this is, at least partially, what caused Korriban to become a barren waste as it is today. It is possible that some Sith were able to escape before or after the bombing, but most of the population died. It is thought that at one point the number of Sith on Korriban was only ten thousand individuals. Sith society on other worlds was not much better. While they all had the benefit of captured Rakatan vessels with their advanced technology, Sith society was just too fragmented. The reason for this is that many planets were devastated before the Rakata left and the planets had grown so dependant on Adas that without him they were unable to function. Many of these worlds were populated by simple farmers who had no access to powerful interstellar technology.
Despite this, for some this era was one of the most stable and enjoyable in Sith history. For thousands of years, primitive Sith farmers continued to subsist on their own worlds free from major wars and dictatorships. With the widespread violence in Sith history, it is easy to forget that Sith are sentient too and many probably rather peace than perpetual war. This is bolstered by the fact that many Sith during this era had little contact with the corrupting dark side traditions of their ancestors. Their religious activities became less erotic and ritualistic to become more animistic and focused on finding inner peace. Although the entire species was force sensitive, very few had formal training and for a while these Sith lived as ordinary sentients.
However, not everyone enjoyed this peace and tranquility. With their fragmentary access to the texts of their ancestors, more urban Sith would often form cults. These primitive nation states would sponsor the advancing and learning offered by the cult. They strived to protect the ancient sources of knowledge from corruption, much like in even more ancient days. With this came the threat of heresy. Cults and nation states would often war with each over over doctrinal differences. Sith would train to use the dark side for war, and chaos would be unleashed on their worlds.
This system continued on every planet. The more outer planets would be peaceful while the inner and less primitive would be more chaotic. Korriban meanwhile continued to be a lifeless husk. Eventually, the Rakata returned and used Korriban as an outer base. A an artifact known as a 'Star Map' was built to commemorate the ancient battle, and the Rakata used Korriban to experiment with dangerous dark side abilities, but other than that not much happened, at least so far as we can tell. It is unknown why the Rakata didn't return to conquer the rest of Sith Space. Perhaps the nebula was too confusing to navigate or perhaps they did not think it was worth their time. Yet another, more likely theory holds that the Rakata were engaged in yet another war of extinction, this time with the technologically advanced Gree species. After all, the ancient records indicate that they went to war not too long after the Rakata annihilated the Qonet.
The Rakata did however set up a small base on Tund, but this base later vanished when the Rakata began to decline. The Rakatan Empire eventually collapsed after a long series of events around 25,200 BBY and the base on Korriban was abandoned as well. Not long after, the planet was taken into Xim's empire and named Pesegam around 25,120 BBY. Xim did not do much with the planet, but this resulted in early contact between the Sith and humans. After Xim's empire fell, a small colony of humans was left behind. This is interesting as the Sith and humans, while both struggling to survive, were able to temporarily forge an alliance and actually get along. Eventually the human population died off, and the human species became legendary. This set a mythological precedent that humans are one of the few species that the Sith consider to be equals.
In another strange tale of friendship, a small population of Anzati somehow came across Ziost around 26,000 BBY. Originally, the vampire-like Anzati came there to prey on the ancient Sith as Anzati are force-sensitive as well, but they are able to consume the life forces of others to strengthen their own powers. However, the Anzati somehow became stuck on the planet. The Anzati became a mysterious and hidden second species on Ziost. Eventually, the Sith waged an extermination campaign which they won due to their superior numbers. However, in this conflict many Anzati were able to make peace with the Sith agreeing to trade Anzati combat and force teachings in exchange for the occasional sacrifice. From the Anzati, the Sith received many hybrid teachings and took on many Anzati customs. The Anzati survived until around 25,000 BBY, although the low Anzati population led to their species dying out on Ziost.
After the fall of the major galactic powers, things got quiet. These individual Sith worlds continued to do their own thing. This state lasted for over twelve millenia. Every now and then, one of the worlds would have contact with some spacefarer from the greater galaxy, but by and large civilization continued to exist on the pre-industrial level. Around 15,500 BBY the Sith entered their next phase of expansion. The Sith on Ziost were able to reverse-engineer ancient spacefaring vehicles and finally get their own primitive version of a hyperdrive working. These technologically advanced Sith were able to spread to the other ancient Sith worlds and form a small working unity. Thus formed the Second Imperium of the Sith.
The Second Imperium:
The Second Imperium lasted from approximately 14,800 to 13,100 BBY. It saw the Sith from Ziost bring planet after planet under their dominion in an attempt to bring back the mythical glory of the ancient First Imperium. They wanted to make the Sith strong again by spreading the doctrines and dogmas that they perfectly preserved from their ancestors. The only problem was that everyone had 'perfectly preserved the doctrines and dogmas of their ancestors' and each of these 'perfectly preserved' codes was radically different and they did not appreciate outsiders forcing 'heresy' onto their way of life. This resulted in a series of bloody wars in which the technologically superior Ziost Sith always won. However, the Ziost Sith were not stupid, they knew that they shouldn't completely destroy the traditions of the people they conquered. As a result, this knowledge was stored, most of it on Krayiss II.
As the Imperium expanded, one after another, each nation came to be a state in its territory. Eventually, even the outlying farming planets were brought under its heel. Still, the Imperium was unstable thanks to the constant vying for power on the level of the administration and the constant cultic rivalries and local wars among the citizens. As a result of this, sometime before 14,000 BBY, the Sith decided to build a massive library-temple on Krayiss II. This structure would be a depository of all Sith knowledge. From here, the Sith council could settle any doctrinal dispute and create a systematic canon. This massive structure took hundreds of years to build, but when it was finished, it was quite possibly the largest Sith structure off of Korriban. In this temple, copies of all the books, dogmas, and teachings from Ziost, the Dromund system, the Malachor system, Nilrebmah system, and Korriban were all stored. Many legends circulate about treasures and ancient teachings supposedly stored in this structure or taken from it.
From here, Sith priests passed judgement on all teachings and lifestyles. A ruthless Inquisition was established to prevent the outbreak of heresy. However, they could not protect them from the most deadly heresy, that which was within the very core of their teachings. Thus began the Hathor Heresy.
