In the age of the Old Republic, Seven thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, the Jedi
Order suffered a second great schism in which some embraced the dark side of the force,
eventually leading to the Hundred Year Darkness, a civil war for control of the organization.
Defeated by their light side enemies, the surviving Dark Jedi left Republic space and
found Korriban, homeworld to the native Sith species, an aggressive, warlike peoples with
a strict caste system which made them ideal subjects for the newly arrived force users.
In time, the rogue Jedi intermixed with the Sith Species and expanded their influence
by conquering nearby worlds, forming the powerful Sith Empire, hidden away from the rest of
the galaxy.
For two thousand years the Sith Empire thrived, experiencing a Golden Age under the Dark Lord
Marka Ragnos, from 5100 BBY until his death a century later.
Yet it was during the height of their power that seeds of doom were planted, as two competing
factions emerged with diverging views on the future of their civilization.
Seeking to continue the policies of Marka Ragnos, the Sith Lord Ludo Kressh and his
followers wanted to preserve their prosperous Empire as it was, while his rival Naga Sadow
sought to expand and conquering new enemies.
Clashing at the Dark Lord’s funeral, their duel for power was interrupted by the spirit
of Marka Ragnos who explained their history as rebel Jedi, before warning that the fate
of the empire rested on the path they followed.
When the spirit departed Ludo Kressh attempted to make peace but Naga Sadow refused, unwilling
to relent his pursuit of power.
Yet as they argued over the future of the Sith, a ship of unknown origin suddenly appeared
in the sky and landed nearby.
Born in the Core worlds of the Republic, the siblings Gav and Jori Daragon were trained
as Jedi in their youth but abandoned the order to seek riches of their own.
Falling on hard times, they accrued large debts and briefly lost their ship, before
stealing it back and fleeing into unknown space.
Seeking to open a lucrative new trade route they approached the first planet they found,
landing on Korriban during the funeral of Marka Ragnos.
Arresting the trespassers, Ludo Kressh advocated for their immediate execution while Naga Sadow
wanted them interrogated, so their knowledge could be used to invade the republic.
Though the Sith Council sided with Kressh, Naga Sadow refused to accept defeat and broke
the prisoners free, while staging it as an attack from the Republic, even killing his
former master Simus to leave no witnesses.
Feigning surprise and outrage at the next Council meeting, Sadow convinced a majority
to unite under his leadership and destroy the republic before they struck again.
In order to deal with Ludo Kressh and his faction which refused to participate in the
invasion, Sadow tricked them into attacking his decoy headquarters on Khar Delba, before
crushing their forces with a secret fleet hidden on the moon of Khar Shiar, where his
true base was located.
Although Ludo survived, his armies were vastly depleted and so he went into hiding, leaving
his rival as the undisputed Dark Lord of the Sith.
Keeping his human prisoners separated, Sadow sensed a great deal of force potential in
Gav Daragon and so trained him as a Sith Apprentice, while his sister Jori was sent back to the
Republic during the battle of Khar Delba, with a tracking device attached to her vessel.
His enemies crushed and the full might of the Empire behind him, Naga Sadow brought
forth the entirety of their strength against the republic, leaving much of Sith space relatively
undefended.
Using the tracking information from Jori’s ship, Sadow led the Sith fleet to republic
space, overseeing the invasion form his meditation sphere in the Primus Goluud system, where
he used his sith sorcery to project large scale illusions showing their forces as ten
times larger than reality.
Using the Koros Trunk Line hyperspace route, the Empire attacked the Koros, Kaikielius,
Metellos, Basilisk and Shawken systems, as well as the Foerost Shipyards while the Sith
Lord Shar Dakhan, a fervent supporter of Sadow, was charged with the invasion of the capital
Coruscant.
Meanwhile, Jori Daragon had made it back to her homeworld of Koros Major, where she warned
their ruler Empress Teta about the approaching Sith invasion.
As it so happened, the ruler’s jedi advisor had a vision about the Sith and so their forces
were already prepared for war.
However the rest of the republic ignored their warnings and as a result suffered brutal overwhelming
attacks.
Placed in command of the invasion fleet attacking his home system, Gav Daragon used the opportunity
to search for his sister on Koros Major, leading to a confrontation which ultimately turned
him against his master.
Abandoning the dark side, Gav flew a ship to Sadow’s meditation sphere and opened
fire, distracting him long enough for the republic to discover much of the enemy fleet
was an illusion.
Bolstered by this revelation, the jedi on Coruscant led a counter attack and repelled
the invasion, while republic forces reinforcements arrived from Anaxes to chase the Sith from
all occupied worlds.
Pulling back to Primus Goluud, the Sith were on the verge of defeat, and so Sadow caused
a supernova to destroy both fleets along with his former apprentice, who was left to die
in the meditation sphere.
Making a final act of contrition, Gav warned the republic fleet under Empress Teta to leave
before the explosion, giving them the coordinated to the Sith homeworld of Korriban.
Returning to imperial space with what remained of their forces, Naga Sadow suffered yet another
catastrophe, as Ludo Kressh waited with a fleet at his back, declaring himself the new
Dark Lord as Sadow failed and brought them to ruin.
After another brutal battle in which Sadow lost many more ships, he finally succeeded
in killing his old adversary.
But this momentary triumph was quickly overshadowed by the arriving republic forces, led by Empress
Teta, seeking the utter destruction of the Sith.
Accepting defeat, Naga Sadow fled with a single ship and a small army of Massassi warriors,
establishing a secret base on Yavin 4, where he continued to study sith sorcery and alchemy,
experimenting on his Massassi slaves.
Refusing to surrender, acting Dark Lord Shar Dakhan took command of their forces, ordering
devastating suicide attacks which halted the republic’s advance for a time.
Having remained neutral throughout the conflict between Kressh and Sadow, and not participated
in the Great Hyperspace War, the powerful Sith Lord Vitiate of Nathema, previously known
as a scholar, saw opportunity in the unfortunate state of the Empire.
With the Dark Lord in exile, their forces crushed, and worlds falling to the republic,
he gathered remaining sith Lords on Nathema, convincing them to perform a ritual, claiming
it would unleash the true power of the dark side against their enemies.
Channelling his immense power, Vitiate absorbed the force energy of everything on the planet,
including the 8000 Sith Lords helping him perform the ritual.
When it was over, every living thing on the planet was dead, while Vitiate was immortal
with nearly god-like powers.
Easily the most powerful Dark Lord remaining, Vitiate travelled to Korriban where he gathered
as many remaining Sith and their servants as possible before leading a great 20 year
exodus into the unknown regions, ending on Dromund Kaas, where they established the reconstituted
Sith Empire, promising to one day take revenge against the Jedi and Republic.