Raised from childhood as a Jedi, Skere Kaan was a force user of tremendous potential,
seen by many of his teachers and colleagues as the future of their Order and best hope
for victory against the Sith.
Specializing in Battle Meditation, Kaan was a charming, charismatic leader able to use
the force to enhance his powers of persuasion, gaining many loyal followers throughout his
life.
Unfortunately for the Order, they did not anticipate Kaan’s increasing radicalization,
as he began to blame the Jedi for the woes of the galaxy, believing it was their passive
nature and non-interventionist policies which allowed the Sith to gain so much power in
the galaxy.
Believing him to be their greatest hope and seeking to temper his extremist views, the
High Council granted Kaan the rank of Master, only for him and his closest followers to
abandon the Order entirely, in the Schism of 1010 BBY.
Seeking to prove the veracity of his claims, the former Jedi and his people set off for
Sith space, taking the fight directly to the enemy, and one by one conquered them all.
His victory was so complete, the Jedi Order sent a message of congratulation, all the
while failing or refusing to see that their former friend fell to the Dark Side and now
reigned as Dark Lord of a united Sith Order and Empire.
Coming to believe the light side Jedi were the greatest enemy to peace in the galaxy,
Skere Kaan sought out the Dark Side and knowledge of the Sith to form his new philosophy.
Yet while he embraced many of their ideas, he also saw a fundamental flaw in their teachings,
as they focused too much on individual power, creating an endless cycle of betrayal and
assassinations, as the only way for a subordinate to reach the highest level of power was to
eliminate the one occupying that position.
Therefore Kaan knew that anything he accomplished as Dark Lord was ultimately fated to ruin
upon his inevitable assassination, once again leaving the order in chaos and civil war.
Determined to end this cycle of failure, Kaan created the Brotherhood of Darkness, doing
what almost no other Sith Lord in history would ever even consider, by voluntarily surrendering
some of his power to form a leadership council, where every member was a Dark Lord of equal
standing.
Enacting his philosophy of Rule by the Strong, Kaan remained in a position of leadership
but now brought his ideas to the council, where they voted on how to proceed.
Convincing many this was the only way their order could remain united to destroy their
enemies, Kaan won the loyalty of many Sith warlords like Qordis Kas'im, and Kaox Krul,
during his campaign of conquest.
Though he now had an army of Sith Lords at his command in addition the Dark Jedi like
Kopesz and La Tor, Kaan knew it was still no-where near enough to defeat the Republic,
and so grew the Brotherhood into a true galactic power by recruiting all force sensitive citizens
from their worlds and training them in specialized Sith Academies, while non-force users were
brought into their military ranks to be used as foot soldiers.
Seeking to an end a thousand years of war, Skere Kaan and the Brotherhood of Darkness
invaded the Republic in 1006 BBY, winning the critical Battle of Korriban to take back
their ancestral home.
Under the command of Dark Lord Qordis, Korriban was home to their most prestigious Sith Academy,
where only their most promising force users were sent to become Sith Lords, the equivalent
of Jedi Masters.
At other schools, lesser students were trained to become Acolytes and Adepts, those who served
the Sith Lords and were similar in rank to Jedi Knight, while any with even less potential
became Assassins, Spies, Warriors and Marauders.
Growing their strength significantly, the height of their power saw the Brotherhood
use an army of 20,000 Sith, alongside their traditional military and fleet, to bring the
Republic and Jedi Order to the very edge of disaster, threatening to invade the capital.
Yet for all his victories and cunning, everything Skere Kaan built was ultimately brought down
by two opponents, one an enemy in the Jedi Order, and the other a fellow Sith Lord who
trained in the Academy on Korriban.
Born to the ruling Jedi Lord dynasty of the Yushan Sector, Hoth followed the traditions
of his family and joined the Jed Order, eventually becoming a Battlemaster in the Temple on Coruscant.
Yet relations with the Order soon soured, as he alone saw threat posed by former Master
Skere Kaan, refusing to blindly follow his colleagues into denial and appeasement.
Therefore, Hoth left the Order, and sought support from the rebel Grand Council of Jedi
Lords, who were far more willing to take on their Sith enemies.
Forming the Army of Light, Lord Hoth was free from the restrictions of the traditional Jedi
Order, and so recruited as many force users as possible to fight their war, regardless
of potential or age.
Knowing they were not yet ready to face the Brotherhood head on, Hoth began his campaign
by targeting systems in the Outer Rim, far from the center of Sith power, liberating
many worlds to recruit from the local population.
Meanwhile, Dark Lord Kaan and the Brotherhood continued their advance towards the galactic
core, eventually conquering a relatively unimportant planet with meagre defenses, in the First
Battle of Ruusan, entirely unaware that it was here the fate of the galaxy would be decided.
Though the Sith also won the Second Battle of Ruusan, when the jedi order and Republic
tried and failed to take it back, everything changed in the Third Battle of Ruusan, when
the Brotherhood suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of Lord Hoth and the Army of
Light, which entered the war by sending all of their forces to liberate Ruusan.
Shocked by the sudden appearance an unexpected jedi army, Kaan rallied his Sith forces, including
all academy students, save for those on Korriban, as their best and brightest needed to finish
their training.
While the Sith gathered on Ruusan, the rest of their traditional military and fleet continued
to move towards Coruscant and the Core, but progress was slowed without the aid of their
force sensitive leaders.
Despite being outnumbered and an inferior tactical position, Kaan found a weakness in
the enemy lines, allowing them to win the Fourth Battle of Ruusan, and regain a significant
foothold on the planet.
The war then devolved into more of a prolonged stalemate, with momentum shifting back and
forth.
During the Fifth Battle of Ruusan, the Sith were on the verge of victory when Valenthyne
Farfalla descended onto the planet with jedi reinforcements, forcing them into retreat.
The Jedi were once again victorious in the Sixth Battle of Ruusan, but at this point
had become overextended in both men and resources, allowing the Sith to regain the advantage
going into the Seventh Battle, when Kaan brought all their Sith students and teachers from
Korriban, to deal the final blow against the Army of Light.
Yet after so many years of war, the Army of Darkness was only a tenth of what it was at
the height of their power.
Although Hoth’s forces were technically only an offshoot of the Jedi Order on Coruscant,
with many of their knights and masters remaining behind to defend the core, by this point the
Army of Light was truly the only hope for their people, and so was supported by both
the Jedi and Republic, with countless warriors joining their cause.
But in truth, light side forces were weakened to such a degree, Kaan might still have achieved
ultimate victory, if not for a secret enemy growing in the shadows, the one Sith willing
to stand up and expose the weakness of the Brotherhood.
Born in 1026 BBY on the poor mining world of Apatros, Dessel was the force-sensitive
son of an alcoholic, abusive father, who called the boy the Bane of his existence.
After killing his father with raw force power, and later a Republic Ensign, Dessel fled the
planet and joined the Sith Army, where he proved an exceptional soldier and commander.
Coming to the attention of Lord Kopescz, he was sent to the Sith Academy on Korriban,
where he took the name Bane and became one of their most promising students.
Though he struggled for a time, he attended special classes, studied ancient texts ignored
by others, formed an alliance with another top student Githany and defeated his greatest
rival in single combat.
Yet as Bane gained more knowledge and power, he started to question the leadership of Lord
Kaan, and his departure from traditional Sith teachings, knowing that a true Master of the
Dark Side must be unrivalled and unmatched.
Equality was a lie, and victory belonged to the powerful.
Publically defying Kaan, he declared himself Darth Bane, embracing the title of Sith Lords
past which was banned from the Brotherhood because it suggested superiority and encouraged
rivalry.
Though Darth Bane agreed in-fighting was a problem in the Sith Order, he believed Kaan’s
solution was equally self-defeating.
The force was not fire, to be passed from torch to torch, but venom, powerful in concentrated
form, yet weak when diluted.
In other words, with so many Sith Lord’s sharing the power of the dark side, none could
achieve their true potential, and so the Order as a whole would never be strong enough to
defeat the Jedi and conquer the galaxy.
Abandoning the Brotherhood, he left the academy to search for ancient knowledge, and soon
found the Holocron of Darth Revan on Lehon, an ancient Dark Lord of enormous power and
wisdom.
Learning much from his new master, the rogue Sith defeated both assassination attempts
sent against him, first killing his former Master Kasim in single combat, and then surviving
several poison kisses from Githany, who sought to prove herself to Kaan by exploiting her
relationship with Bane.
Realizing the Brotherhood needed to be destroyed so the Order could be reformed, he returned
to the Sith and feigned a conciliatory attitude, claiming he wished to use the knowledge he
gained to help them win the war.
Despite Kaan mistrust, Bane grew so powerful he was able to manipulate the mind of the
Brotherhood leader, convincing him to accept advise and use a Though Bomb against their
enemies, an ancient dark side weapon able to annihilate the Army of Light.
Gathering every last Sith together, who to Bane’s disgust were all granted the title
of Dark Lord, Kaan led them into a cave system, with the intent of luring the Jedi to follow
them.
Suspecting a trap, Lord Hoth gathered 100 volunteers, and led them into the cave, where
Skere Kaan, now well beyond the point of madness, ended a thousand years of war by unleashing
the dark side weapon, killing every Sith Lord and Jedi present, while also trapping their
spirits for thousands of years.
Having destroyed the Brotherhood, Darth Bane remained as last of the Sith Lords, and so
reformed the Order according to the personal philosophy he developed throughout his life,
guided primarily by the Rule of Two.
Believing there must be only one Master to embrace the power of the Darkside, and a single
Apprentice to desire that power.
Though Skere Kaan’s Brotherhood of Darkness only survived for 10 years, and was often
seen as a perversion of the Sith way, there were some who appreciated his philosophy of
cooperative rule by the strong, with Kaan’s former apprentice Vulta Daanat, who left the
Brotherhood because he believed the acquisition of knowledge was more important than the pursuit
of power, incorporated some of their teachings into forming the Blackguard of Mustafar.
Kaan was also admired by Darth Millennial, an apprentice within the lineage of Bane,
who was ultimately kicked out of the Order for his disagreements, allowing him to create
the Dark Force cult, which later became the Prophets of the Dark Side on Dromund Kaas.
Yet most surprising of all, Darth Bane himself showed some respect for the Dark Lord after
his death, answering a question from his apprentice Darth Zannah, about whether the former leader
was weak, by realizing that Kaan was a fool, but could not be accused of weakness.
Thus ended the New Sith Wars, from Darth Ruin to Dark Lord Kaan, with a new order rising
from the ashes, who after a thousand years of planning would finally unleash the Revenge of the Sith.