The Great Sith War
Exar Kun and Vodo-Siosk Baas prepare to duel on the plains of Dantooine.
"The Ancient Sith have spoken. Together, we will bring down the galaxy."
―Exar Kun to Ulic Qel-Droma
With the Naddist Revolt crushed, Freedon Nadd's dream of a second Sith Golden Age was halted once again. However, a new opportunity would present itself in the form of the rising Krath cult in the Empress Teta System and the young Jedi Exar Kun.
Exar Kun was the pupil of Krevaaki Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas along with the Cathar Jedi Crado and Sylvar. Kun was extremely talented in the Force and, much like Freedon Nadd centuries earlier, developed an arrogance that lead him to believe he was worthy of receiving special teachings. Becoming engrossed with the idea that he could research Sith teachings and powers, yet remain uncorrupted by the dark side, Kun began to delve into forbidden Sith holocrons on the Jedi world of Dantooine. During a lightsaber training session with his master and fellow students, Kun defeated Crado easily. Following Crado's defeat, Master Baas instructed Sylvar to enter a duel with Kun. Exar taunted Sylvar with claims that nonhumans were inept and unworthy, angering her, and in retribution, she struck the human with her claws, scarring and infuriating him. Kun attacked her viciously and nearly killed her when Vodo-Siosk Baas stepped in and stopped Kun's saber with his walking staff. In an attempt to teach Exar Kun a lesson in strength, Baas challenged his wayward apprentice to a duel and gained the upper hand quickly, despite the immense odds of walking stick versus lightsaber. Kun was able to defeat his master with aid from Crado, who threw Exar his lightsaber during the duel. Victorious, Kun declared himself a Jedi Knight and departed Dantooine to search for the secrets of the Sith.
Satal and Aleema's Krath forces overwhelm the Empress Teta System during their coup.
Kun followed his curiosity to Onderon, where the fighting had just ended. He learned here that the Sith Lord Freedon Nadd had recently been interred on Dxun, and traveled to the moon in search of answers. Kun broke into the sealed tomb and encountered the spirit of Nadd, who encouraged the young man to continue his search on the ancient Sith burial world of Korriban. As Kun left Dxun for old Sith space, Aleema and Satal Keto, who had also recently paid Onderon a visit, were setting their plan for domination in motion on Koros Major.
The two Krath founders, after having used the late King Ommin's artifacts and the spirit of Freedon Nadd to become adept in Sith sorcery, traveled to an orbital Carbonite smelting plant above Koros where Lord Keto and Lady Magda Keto, rulers of the Empress Teta system and parents of Satal and Aleema, were being given a tour. The two were escorted by the royal tutor Korus, whose tongue was transformed into an Adegan eel by the children. This bewildered Lord Keto, who attempted to call for help, but his guard's swords were transformed into snakes that began to attack their wielders. Helpless, Lord and Lady Keto accepted defeat at the hands of their children and continued their tour, now guiding the new Emperor Satal and Empress Aleema of the Teta system. The group entered a smelting chamber, and the new rulers of Teta had the former rulers tied above vats of molten carbonite and lowered into them. With Lord and Lady Keto dead and the Tetan government under their control, Satal and Aleema took up residence in the Iron Citadel in Cinnagar. The worlds of Empress Teta quickly fell in line behind the Krath, all except for Koros Major itself. Initiating the Krath Holy Crusade, the Ketos launched an assault against their own capital world, hoping to bring it in line.
The Krath Holy Crusade
"I'll bet they don't even understand what they've unleashed, and that makes them all the more dangerous."
―Cay Qel-Droma
As the Ketos prepared to crush the resistance on Koros Major, word of the struggle and Krath usurpation reached the Republic capital of Coruscant. Jedi Master Arca Jeth petitioned the Republic leadership to send aid to the resistance fighters and help defeat the Krath, as the dark side cult reminded the Jedi too much of the Naddists recently defeated on Onderon.
Aleema Keto's illusions attack the Republic Navy at the First Battle of Empress Teta.
The Republic complied, and a battle group to relieve the resistance fighters was organized, lead by Jedi Knights Nomi Sunrider and Ulic Qel-Droma. However, when the Republic fleet arrived at Koros Major, the battle was already in progress, with Krath warships attacking the planet. As Qel-Droma ordered his ships into battle positions, Aleema and Satal began their counter-attack. Aleema utilized Sith magic to conjure illusions of space grazers which headed directly at the Republic fleet, causing the officers to panic and their ships to scatter. Nomi Sunrider was able to see through the illusion and refocus the fleet, however the Krath decided that the battle would require both the Force and physical military might, and so ordered wings of Chaos fighters to initiate suicide runs on the Republic vessels. As the fighters closed the distance between the fleets, Aleema conjured an illusion of additional wings of Chaos fighters to confuse and overwhelm the Republic ships. Sunrider again saw through the illusion and was able to block Aleema's ghost ships from interfering in the battle, but there were still many real fighters that collided with Republic vessels. The Republic fleet was crippled and forced to retreat with a severely injured Qel-Droma, while the Krath were left to complete their conquest of Koros. The Battle of Empress Teta was a complete success for the Krath, and marked the beginning of the wider Great Sith War.
Because of the massive losses over Koros Major, the Jedi leadership decided it was time for an assembly to be called in order to discuss the Krath threat and other gathering shadows. Krath intelligence agents discovered that the grand convocation was to be held on Deneba, and Satal planned for a direct assault against the Jedi there. As thousands of Jedi vessels descended upon Deneba, Satal was able to sneak a Krath warship among them, hiding in orbit. Meanwhile, light years away on Korriban, Exar Kun was exploring the planet once inhabited by the Dark Lords of the Sith. Guided by Freedon Nadd's spirit, Kun became trapped and injured beneath rubble during a cave-in within an ancient tomb. The cave-in was designed by Nadd as a test for Kun, who would need to touch the dark side in order to survive. Initially fearful, Kun reached out through the Force for his former Master Baas on Deneba, who attempted to help his pupil. Freedon Nadd refused to allow this to happen however, and blocked Vodo's attempts at aiding Kun. Near death and running out of options, Kun embraced the dark side and freed himself.
A Krath war droid on Deneba
Kun's anger and malice healed his broken body and sent ripples through the Force that greatly disturbed the Jedi assembly, however Baas accepted that he could no longer help the young man. Kun, still under the belief he could use both the dark and light side without consequence, left Korriban on a course for Yavin 4, where Nadd claimed his training would be completed.
On Deneba the Jedi debated over how to best combat the dark side and it's followers, and after hearing proposals and arguments from Ulic Qel-Droma and others, the convocation took a short recess. Just before the conclave could resume, Satal set his plan in motion. The Krath warship in orbit above the planet launched a large number of escape pods, each filled with Krath war droids. Catching the Jedi unaware, the droids were able to kill many of them in the initial stages of the attack. In conjunction with the war droid assault, the service droids who had been serving the Jedi during the convocation also attacked their masters, having been sabotaged by Krath spies prior to the arrival of the Jedi. Although all the droids were destroyed at the Battle of Deneba, many Jedi were killed, including Arca Jeth. The death of his master caused Ulic Qel-Droma to plan a mission to destroy the Krath from within, a strategy frowned upon by many other Jedi, including his late master.
Ulic traveled to the Empress Teta system and cut off contact with the rest of the Order. He was quickly able to convince Aleema that he had fallen from the Jedi way and become sympathetic to the Krath, however Satal was not so trusting. He had the young Jedi imprisoned and tortured which caused Ulic to begin a journey towards the dark side. Satal eventually came to trust Ulic, and Qel-Droma was instated as a warlord of the Krath. Fearing the worst after months with no contact, Ulic's lover Nomi Sunrider planned a mission to rescue Ulic from Cinnagar. Whe she arrived however, she found that Ulic still wished to maintain his cover and did nothing as Nomi was sentenced to death. He attempted to explain himself to her via a secret message that was intercepted by Satal. Not knowing Ulic's plan, Nomi escaped her prison but before she could depart, she was confronted by Satal, who was then confronted by Ulic Qel-Droma. Ulic had recently learned from Aleema that it was Satal who ordered the attack on Deneba, and in search of revenge for the late Arca Jeth, Ulic attacked Satal. During the ensuing struggle, Ulic killed Satal in a fit of anger and succumbed to the dark side, Keto's intent from the start. Although Nomi and other Jedi attempted to help him, he attacked them as well and drove them off while he stayed on Koros Major. Ulic soon took Satal's place at Aleema's side was awarded with a rare Sith amulet while Nomi began to plan yet another mission to rescue Ulic.
"Some crimes deserve the justice of hatred!": Ulic Qel-Droma exacts revenge on Satal Keto.
Across the galaxy, Exar Kun was also continuing his descent into darkness. Much like Ulic, who believed he could conquer the dark side from within yet still remain true to the light, Exar believed he could use the power of the dark yet remain uncorrupted by it. Freedon Nadd, whose spirit still guided Kun, was intent on proving him wrong. As Kun arrived on Yavin 4, he was confronted by the primitive and savage Massassi people who easily captured the Dark Jedi, as Exar was still unwilling to fully give into the power of the dark side. On the verge of death, Kun was again visited by Freedon Nadd. Nadd once again told him that the only way to survive was to embrace the dark side and Exar complied, seizing a Sith amulet from a Massassi priest and using it's power to free himself and kill his captors. Exar had fully accepted the Sith ways, much to Freedon Nadd's delight, who immediately demanded that Kun get to work on the creation of a new body for the long-dead Dark Lord to inhabit, a task both Ommin and Amanoa had failed on Onderon. Exar had grown annoyed with Nadd however, and used his newfound power to destroy his spirit once and for all. In his last moments, Nadd visited Ulic Qel-Droma and Aleema Keto in Cinnagar and warned them of Kun's rising power. Freedon Nadd, plague of the Jedi and father to the Naddists and Krath, was gone. Exar Kun, free from Nadd's command, went about enslaving the remaining Massassi on Yavin 4 and searching for threats to his power. He identified two darksiders on Koros Major, Ulic and Aleema, and set out to kill them.
Kun arrived in Cinnagar directly after a Jedi assault lead by Nomi Sunrider was beaten back by Qel-Droma. Exar confronted Ulic and Aleema and quickly incapacitated the Tetan Empress. Qel-Droma was much more of a challenge however, and the two dark Jedi dueled fiercly. The duel was short-lived though, as Exar and Ulic's Sith amulets began to glow with dark energy, enticing the spirit of Marka Ragnos to appear as it had during the duel between Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh. This time however, the combatants yielded to the spirit and stopped their duel to heed Ragnos's words. The ancient Sith Lord proclaimed that Exar Kun was to be the new Dark Lord of the Sith, while Ulic Qel-Doma was to become his apprentice. The two were branded with Sith tattoos on their foreheads to signify their new allegiance. With the inception of the new Sith Lords, the order was once again revived, the first time since the death of Freedon Nadd centuries before.
The Brotherhood of the Sith
Jedi Master Odan-Urr's death at the hands of Exar Kun, the new Dark Lord of the Sith
"You are puppets of a tradition pretending to be important. The coming of a golden age has no place for you. Your Republic is an empty, self-indulgent diversion…signifying nothing. The lost glory of the Sith will turn all of your supposed accomplishments to dust!"
―Ulic Qel-Droma, to the Senate[src]
Allied with Aleeema's Krath armies, the two Sith Lords set out to plan the final destruction of the Jedi and the Republic. Using the Dark Reaper,they inflicted near-genocidal casualties on worlds such as Raxus Prime. Exar used Sith alchemy to create Terentateks, large creatures with a thirst for Jedi blood. Ulic was also able to make an alliance with Mandalore the Indomitable on Kuar, and with the new addition of Mandalorian soldiers to their forces, the Sith overwhelmed the Republic defenders at Foerost. While the Krath and Mandalorian armies under Ulic's command terrorized the galaxy, Exar went about building a following of darksiders for the Sith Lords to command. He traveled to Ossus, where he gave an impassioned speech to the Jedi students there, claiming their masters were withholding knowledge and power from them. Many students, including Crado, left Ossus for Yavin 4, where they would become the apprentices of Kun, however before Kun himself left, he planned on retrieving the Sith holocron possessed by Odan-Urr, the ancient Jedi hero of the Great Hyperspace War. Kun confronted Odan-Urr and killed him, taking the holocron for himself and claiming the ancient Master declared Exar a Jedi Master directly before his death.
On Yavin 4, his students expressed doubt about the path they had started on after sensing the dark taint of the moon. In response, Kun destroyed Odan-Urr's Sith holocron, releasing the spirits trapped inside which then possessed the doubtful Jedi. Reassured by the dark spirits now controlling their actions, the Jedi students trained with Kun in the dark arts and were eventually convinced by him that the last thing standing in the way of another Sith Golden Age was their former Jedi Masters. The students left Yavin to hunt down and kill their masters in an incredibly successful strike known as the Jedi pogrom. Meanwhile, Ulic had grown ambitious and arrogant with his new Mandalorian army and decided to strike the heart of the Republic, Coruscant. Although the plan was frowned upon by Kun, Ulic went ahead with the attack and lead Mandalore and Aleema into battle alongside their armies. Aleema, tired of sharing power over the Krath with Ulic, ordered a retreat while Qel-Droma was attacking the Republic war room alone. Abandoned, Ulic was eventually defeated by the Jedi on Coruscant and put on trial.
Exar Kun shortly before killing his former master, Vodo-Siosk Baas
Ulic's trial was presided over by the Republic Inquisition and he was found guilty on all charges. As he was sentenced to death, Exar Kun strode into the Senate Hall where the trial was being held. Immobilizing the senators and executing the Supreme Chancellor, Kun freed his apprentice only to be confronted by his former master, Vodo-Siosk Baas. Kun used his new weapon, a double-bladed lightsaber to overpower and murder Baas, who claimed he would one day return to defeat his apprentice. Kun and Qel-Droma departed Coruscant to continue their war after again proclaiming the dominance of the Sith. Upon Ulic's return to command, Mandalore informed him of Aleema's treachery at the Battle of Coruscant and the Sith apprentice began planning for revenge.
The next stage of the war centered around the attack on Kemplex IX. Ulic hoped to use the battle as a trap for Aleema, while Exar planned to trick the Krath Sorceress into destroying the Cron Cluster, a group of ten closely packed stars, which would result in the destruction of a different target. Exar armed Aleema with the Corsair, the ancient flagship of Naga Sadow discovered on Yavin 4. Kun taught her how to use it's Sith magic to rip the cores from stars, but neglected to tell her that it would cause a supernova the ship could not protect her from. Aleema and Crado were to take the ship and lead the assault on Kemplex IX, however Aleema was overly eager to use her new weapon. After destroying the Republic jump-station that was their target, Aleema lured a Jedi fleet into the nearby Cron Cluster, just as Exar Kun had predicted. Aleema ripped the core out of one of the stars, incinerating the Jedi fleet, however she was unable to control the explosion. A chain reaction began, with all ten stars going nova and destroying the Corsair along with Aleema and Crado. Also according to Exar Kun's plan, the supernova headed directly at Ossus, the primary target of the Sith.
While the Jedi attempted to evacuate Ossus with as many relics and artifacts as they could, Exar Kun and Ulic lead an attack against the planet. Kun's Massassi warriors looted what remained of the Jedi library while the Dark Lord himself attempted to steal a cache of ancient lightsabers from the Neti Jedi Master Ood Bnar.
Sith Lord Ulic Qel-Droma battles and eventually kills his Jedi brother, Cay Qel-Droma, on Ossus.
Kun failed as Bnar transformed into a giant tree and hid the lightsabers beneath his body, not to be disturbed again until millennia later. Ulic flew above the fray during the battle, only to be confronted by his brother, Cay Qel-Droma, who had sensed his presence. Ulic and Cay landed and began a duel which ended with Ulic killing the brother he had once fought alongside as a Jedi. Witnessing the murder, Nomi Sunrider trapped Ulic in a "wall of light" and cut him off from the Force out of disgust for what he had become. Ulic only now realized what he had done and renounced his Sith ties, agreeing to help the Jedi defeat the Dark Lord Exar Kun. After both the Jedi and Sith retreated from the planet, Ossus was hit by the Cron Supernova, destroying all life on the planet, save for Master Bnar.
On other battlefields across the galaxy, the war still raged. Following the Jedi victory at the Battle of Toprawa, the failed Jedi apprentice Haazen was nearly killed by explosions in caverns that claimed the life of many of his fellow Jedi, including Barrison Draay. Haazen was revived by the Sith and turned to the dark side, only to hide his allegiances following the end of the war. On Onderon, the remaining Mandalorian warriors were beaten back and retreated to Dxun, where Mandalore the Indomitable was killed by wild animals. With Ulic's help, the Jedi also prepared for a massive assault on Kun's fortress on Yavin 4. The war was drawing to a close, and Exar Kun was the last leader of the Sith still standing. Above Yavin, thousands of Jedi ships descended towards Kun's fortress. Realizing the war was lost, Kun assembled his Massassi warriors at the temples left behind by Naga Sadow. Exar Kun called upon Sith magic and drained his Massassi slaves of their life force, killing them. The energy he gained from them allowed the Dark Lord to break free of his mortal body and maintain his spirit, which hoped to leave Yavin to continue the war elsewhere in the galaxy. Sensing this, Nomi and rest of the assembled Jedi created a wall of light around Yavin 4, hoping it would have the same effect as it did against Ulic on Ossus. The massive surge of light side energy managed to keep Exar Kun's spirit trapped on the planet, tied to one of his temples, however the collision of light energy from the Jedi and dark from Kun's Sith magic caused a massive firestorm to erupt and rage across the moon, killing all life on its surface. The Jedi retreated, their mission accomplished. The Great Sith War was over, and the Sith Order was defeated.
Following the conclusion of the Great Sith War, the remains of the Brotherhood of the Sith were disbanded. The Empress Teta system was finally liberated from the remnants of the Krath at the Third Battle of Empress Teta and the Jedi and Republic began the long process of rebuilding a broken galaxy. During this period, the Jedi initiated the Great Hunt, an effort to kill the Exar Kun's remaining Tarentateks which terrorized the Order during the war. The program was mostly successful, however several beasts survived on both Korriban and Kashyyyk. The Jedi also attempted to destroy the Sith-inspired Mecrosa Order, however their attempts were unseccessful. The few surviving members of the Brotherhood were still scattered throughout the galaxy. Toki Tollivar became a serial killer on Corellia, Haazen infiltrated the Jedi Covenant, an organization designed to ensure the extiction of the Sith, and Ulic Qel-Droma was killed shortly after his redemption on Rhen Var. The Old Sith Empire continued to survive in obscurity in the unknown regions, still lead by the same Sith Lord who had escaped the Empire's destruction centuries before during the Great Hyperspace War.
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