After a thousand years, the lineage of Bane led to Darth Plagueis, the wise, and his apprentice
Sheev Palpatine of Naboo who took the name Darth Sidious.
Plagueis was a powerful Dark Lord who found the secret of manipulating the Force to prevent
himself from aging, and may even have had the ability to prevent the deaths of others.
Together with his apprentice they worked to place Palpatine in the galactic senate, while
Plagueis remained in the shadows, manipulating events from afar.
Over time the Sith Master became obsessed with immortality and understanding the nature
of the force, even developing a theory that it could strike back against those who abuse
it’s power.
Yet for all his wisdom and cunning, he could not forsee the coming betrayal of his apprentice.
Darth Sidious, was never able to learn his masters secret for immortality, but nevertheless
felt he had learned all that was necessary, and killed plagueis while he slept, and taking
his place as Master of the Sith.
In keeping with the rule of two, Sidious already had an apprentice of his own, choosing the
force sensitive child of Mother Talzin, a powerful witch from the planet Dathomir.
This young Nightbrother, became known as Darth maul, and was trained in the ways of the darkside,
specializing in the use of a duel bladed red lightsaber.
Maul’s aggression, speed and strength were impressive even to Sidious, and as he learned
of their history, the apprentice grew wrathful, desiring vengeance against the Jedi who defeated
the Sith in the last war.
However, Sidious was not yet prepared to reveal their existence, and so forbid Maul from going
after the Jedi, leaving him to satisfy his lust for violence by hunting Rathtar’s on
Twon Ketee.
Yet the Sith Master also recognized Maul’s need for a greater challenge, and so sent
him to deal with pirates harassing the Trade Federation.
During his time dealing with the threat, he learned of a Jedi Padawan who had been taken
as a prisoner, and tracked the Twilek woman down, eager to test himself.
Hiring a group of bounty hunters and help rescue the Jedi, for a time they fought side
by side, eliminating pursuers as they escaped.
However once the immediate threat was gone, the Jedi padawan and sith apprentice turned
against each other, engaging in a lightsaber duel, with Darth Maul emerging victorious.
Meanwhile Sidious, acting as Senator palpatine, manipulated the galactic government from within,
finding allies and earning a reputation as a man of action and integrity, while in secret
he took every opportunity to manipulate the process for his own benefit.
Fortunately for the Sith Lord, after so many years of Republic rule, the government had
grown corrupt and seemed to only truly care about the maintaining the luxury of the core
worlds, at the expense of all others.
The Jedi, considered themselves allies and servants of the Republic but did not think
it appropriate to interfere in matters of politics, and so were unable to prevent the
factionalism and partisanship of the Senate.
Blinding themselves to the possible consequences of deep political turmoil.
Yet not all Jedi were unaware of the potential for conflict, as Master Sifo Dyas foresaw
a larger threat approaching.
Though he was expelled from the Jedi High Council for his beliefs, he was convinced
a war was coming, and travelled in secret to the world of Kamino, where he ordered the
creation of a clone army.
However Palpatine became aware of his actions, and contacted Lama Su the Prime Minister of
Kamino, arranging for every clone Soldier to be implanted with an inhibitor chip, that
would allow the Dark Lord to gain control of the entire army at the moment of his choosing.
Darth Sidious than ordered the death of the Jedi Master, using the fallen Jedi Count Dooku
to arrange for the Pyke Syndicate to shoot down his ship above the moon of Oba Diah.
After a thousand years of preparation, Darth Sidious was at last prepared to unleash the
revenge of the sith against the Jedi Order.
Beginning with what came to be known as the Naboo Crisis.
32 years before the battle of Yavin, the Dark Lord made a secret alliance with the Trade
Federation, an enormous merchant conglomerate, with its own representation in the senate,
convincing them to invade the planet of Naboo in protest of the recent taxes imposed upon
Free Trade zones.
This then prompted a diplomatic crisis in the galactic senate, which Senator Palpatine
used to bring down Chancelor Finis Valorum, so he might be elected as his replacement.
Unfortunately for the Dark Lord, not everything went to according to plan, as it was during
the Naboo crisis, that the existence of the Sith was revealed, when his powerful apprentice
Darth Maul was sent to kill Jedi master Qui gon Jinn, and his padawan Obi Wan Kenobi.
Although Maul proved to be shrewd and masterful with a lightsaber, engaging both Jedi at once
and even killing the Jedi Master, he was ultimately defeated and seemingly killed by the padawn
Obi Wan Kenobi.
Sidious was deeply disappointed by the loss of his apprentice, having spent years training
him in the ways of the darkside, and had no choice but to find a new apprentice, selecting
the former Jedi Count Dooku, who took the name Darth Tyrannus.
Trained as a jedi from a young age, Dooku proved supremely gifted in the force, chosen
as the apprentice of Master Yoda before rising to the rank of Jedi Knight.
Famed as perhaps the greatest lightsaber duellist in the Order, he soon took on an apprentice
of his own, training and befriending Qui Gonn Jin.
Unfortunately, Dooku grew frustrated with the corruption he saw in the republic government,
and became disillusioned by the Jedi council’s unwillingness to involve themselves in political
affairs.
And so the Master Dooku left the Order, going into self imposed exile for a time, and there
was approached by Darth Sidious, who offered him the chance to destroy the old corrupt
government and replace it with one of his own design.
In order to achieve this, Darth Tyrannus was ordered to reach out to a number of worlds
and systems, taking advantage the growing resentment towards the republic.
After a number of years, he created an alliance between thousands of worlds which then all
succeeded and declared themselves the Confederacy of Independent Systems.
Chancellor Palpatine then used the Secessionist threat as an excuse to pass the Military Creation
Act, allowing for the Republic to raise an army.
The Jedi and senate, unaware that both sides of the conflict were being manipulated by
the Sith, took the Separatist threat seriously and made the decision to use the recently
discovered Clone Army of Kamino, as Republic forces against Dooku and his droid armada.
The Clone Wars, as they became known dragged on for many years causing great devastation
on both sides.
Yet this was all a part of the Sith plan, as it allowed Palpatine to gradually gain
emergency powers as Chancellor of the Senate.