Chapter Five: Dark Side Traditions The Star Wars galaxy can be a dark place. Worse than the void between the stars is the void found in the hearts of those who turn to evil-for power, lust, greed, or pride. Few beings in the galaxy are completely without the stain of the dark side, and when evil people are gifted with the power of the Force, they can ruin lives, topple empires, or spread the evil in their spirits across the entire galaxy. Just as the dark side is known by many names in countless cultures, those who revere and draw upon it are known by many different names. The most famous of these are the Sith, originally a species of primitive beings subjugated by Jedi renegades, but eventually the name of an entire tradition devoted to the power of its adherents-and the suffering of its victims.
The Sith Empire Thousands of years before the Empire dominated the galaxy, a renegade group of Jedi challenged the Masters of their Order for the freedom to explore the dark side. When they were refused, defeated, and finally forced into exile, they crossed the galaxy to find a place where they could live and learn as they chose without the interference of the Jedi Order. They came at last to a planet inhabited by a barely civilized people who called themselves the Sith. The primitive, superstitious Sith, seeing these visitors fror the stars, declared the outcasts gods and promptly devoted themselves to worshiping their new masters For thousands of years the renegade Jedi ruled the Sith, expanding their empire to include nearby worlds, though they managed to avoid contact with their ancient enemies. Through continued campaign of conquest they honed their battle arts, while simul taneously adding to the fortune and glory of their empire. When they ran out of foes, they fought among themselves in bloody wars of succession. Aft another thousand years, the Sith Empire was danger ously close to extinction through self-annihilation. Finally, after the death of the infamous Lord of the Sith, Marka Ragnos, a Republic scout ship stumbled onto the Sith necropolis world of KOTriban. This single accident of hyperspace travel set off a chain o events that would eventually see the Sith return to nearly conquer the Old Republic-and planted the seeds for the return of the Sith, millennia
Marka Ragnos, Sith Lord Five thousand years before Emperor Palpatine ordered the construction of the first Death Star, the Sith Empire was ruled by a powerful Sith named
Marka Ragnos, who held the exalted title Dark Lord of the Sith. Ragnos was a half-breed Sith, a warlord of tremendous physical power and a frightening grasp of the dark side of the Force. He rose to prominence through a series of short, ruthless campaigns against his enemies. Once he gained control of the Sith Empire, he maintained dominance by pitting his detractors against one another, manipulating them into challenging him, or simply assassinating them. Among the Sith, Marka Ragnos was feared, obeyed, and admired. Marka Ragnos retained power for over a century, crushing all resistance-but he expanded the Sith Empire only slightly in all that time. Marka Ragnos was one of the few Sith alive who had researched the history of his people and knew of the Old Republic and its defenders, the Jedi Order. Ragnos knew that if the Sith Empire were to expand too far toward their ancestral home, they would encounter the Republic. He believed the Sith were not yet read to enter into a protracted war with the forces of the Republic, especially if the Jedi were still as strong as they had been when they defeated his ancestors. Obviously, his views were not shared by all the Sitl~ Many saw his lack of expansion as a sign of weakness and took it as an opportunity-a justification, even-to unseat the Dark Lord of the Sith. At first irate that the other Sith would so blindly endanger his empire with their ambition, over time Ragnos