Autobiography, as detailed by the candidate for use in imperial archives. Acquired shortly after last achievement of note.
“Imperial Archives, subsection Tsis Tyûkûsh, secrecy encryption level eleven. Begin Entry: Darth Theya Katherion.”
“Unlike most humans and lesser species, my kind live long lives. I myself was born in the 1157th year of the Reconstituted Empire, some one hundred and seventy years before we returned to take our revenge upon the republic and their Jedi allies. My parents were Lord Jiera Katherion and Apprentice Elak Thûn, both pureblooded Sith, as was only proper.
I never had a close relationship with my mother. Even before I proved that my heritage was pure by wielding the Force before my third birthday, she maintained a somewhat distant relationship with me after I was weaned. As a Sith Lord, she had freedom enough to choose much of what she did, though she still had a master she was beholden to. Rather than lose power and influence in the Empire and coddle me, she made sure that I would be raised strong. Thus, from my earliest memories, I remember my parents as powerful figures, my mother as the leader she was, my father as a towering juggernaut of a warrior.
Anyways, my training as a youngling neonate Sith started the day after I proved my force-sensitivity. Though the training was far from lenient, it was not strenuous. I still remember my mother looking down at me many times during my first few years of training, as I struggled to recite the Sith Code in ancient Sith, as I drew my first shaky hieroglyphs, and as I levitated objects on top of each other. Her approval meant the world to me at the time.
My education was quite extensive. Even before a year had passed, I had memorized the Sith Code, being able to recite it from memory. My second year at the academy trained me to explain it reasonably well for a child. Before I was six years old, I had already learned to speak, read and write both imperial basic and Sith reasonably well, though pronunciation and grammar still had some distance to go. Not even the best teachers to be found in the Empire—which of course the Dromund Kaas Academy employed—could teach any child to be fluently bilingual in three years.
Naturally, children seek relationships with others. At this stage of our training, the overseers did not discourage this trait. No Sith becomes truly great without being able to work with others. In my case, the closest friendship I gained was with a fellow pureblood, Rian Tharsis. At the time, we quite similar, though I naturally had longer hair than him.
Our training was not just academic or with the Force, though. We had attended the academy only six years when the empire went through another round of expansion, bringing new worlds into the fold, resulting in a surplus of prisoners of war, perfect for interrogation. Never wasteful, some of these prisoners were taken to the academy, where we got to assist in the interrogation process. My first kill was one of these prisoners, who died shortly after the blade I held slipped, severing a key artery. an accident I came to regret, as he died before he revealed all he knew.
My punishment was harsh but fair. The next two months, I was made to help prepare food for the other academy students for most of my spare time. This was not even remotely fun or enjoyable, but it taught me considerable control over knives. At the time, I thought it both unfair and unreasonable, as any child would have. The overseers did not agree, which meant the punishment endured.
Other things I learned during my first decade at the academy were related to a variety of fields the overseers thought necessary for Sith to know; Tactics & strategy, basic medical skills, leadership, Wilderness survival, history, mathematics, sciences, and more. I wasn’t the best student they had ever had, but from later reading the files they composed about me, I have come to understand that I was well above average.
Every few months we were put through special tests to determine specific aptitudes and weed out weaknesses. Some were successful, others less so. I like to think that I did fairly well in most of them. The humbling punishment for the interrogation slip-up made me considerably more careful later.
On the day I had been at the academy for ten years, I was called before the overseers for my final test as a youngling neophyte, though I did not know it at the time. They questioned me for hours on end in what I at the time thought was every field possible, making me demonstrate complex things with the Force and more, some which went well, others which did not work at all. Only at the end did I see that I was not only being observed by the Overseers. Far above, on a balcony, I saw my parents, for once together. They proudly looked down at me as the Overseers announced that I was no longer a Youngling Neophyte. I was given the rank of Acolyte.
Once I became an acolyte, the overseers changed their training regimen, making it considerably more intense than it had been before, especially the training in the Force. Additionally, I started proper training in how to fight, completely replacing the controlled instruction from my neophyte years. I quickly came to understand how little I really knew about fighting.
One of the worst moments of my life came shortly into my second year as an acolyte. One of the overseers, one of the rare aliens in their ranks, decided for some reason to pit me against a Tuk’ata—a Sith Hound—that had yet to be tamed. I wasn’t even close to ready to face such a beast with my still-limited combat training and no proper weapon.
Had it but been for the chance event that my father—though still only an apprentice—was at the academy that day I might not have survived. As it was, the beast chased me through the practice arena for a long time, with my only barely being able to jump away many times before he interfered. It was shameful to have to be saved. No, it was humiliating. My father held the beast back with ease, even holding the arena door open for me as he did, letting me get out. I didn’t see the overseer afterwards, but neither did I go out looking for him.
Only two weeks later would I learn that this particular test was one intended for experienced acolytes on the threshold of apprenticeship, not for young acolytes like myself. That was also when I learned from my mother why the overseer disappeared: He had broken the laws of the Empire by openly trying to kill a Force-sensitive. At the behest of one of my mother’s rivals, he had tried to kill me. My father had not been at the academy by random chance. He had been there to watch over me. Many pieces fell into place with those revelations.
Even though it had not been my fault that I had to be rescued from that Tuk’ata, the remaining overseers did not let me off easy. Nor did any of the other acolytes let it go. For years I had to face ridicule and mockery. For years my anger grew. I grew to hate the ones who ridiculed me for it. I threw myself into the training, learning to fight harder and harder. To my disappointment, chief among those who mocked me was the one I had called my friend, Rian Tharsis. Suffice to say, what had once been a friendship quickly grew into a rivalry, with the overseers actively pushing wedges in between us, even as they forced us to work together.
Where my aptitudes lay primarily in the esoteric branches of the Force like my mother, his aptitude lay in its more martial aspects. He gained considerable skill with blades, apparently enough to come to the attention of more powerful Sith outside the Academy, even as it seemed to me that few took notice of me. Because of the strength I now know comes from putting warriors and sorcerers together the overseers frequently teamed us up, using our rivalry to make us both stronger.
Five years had passed after the Tuk’ata incident before I faced it again, this time with Rian at my side. I didn’t need him, but he was still useful to have. We faced down no less than seven Tuk’ata, the most vicious-looking being my old shame, though that may have been flavored by my past experience with it. By that time we had learned not to actively fight each other, though we naturally tried to outdo one another. I mercilessly butchered my shame, followed by two of the others, barely paying attention to Rian efficiently dispatching three of the others. When only one remained, we moved in as one, him with a sith warblade, me with the power of the Dark Side flowing from my fingers. Without speaking or visibly communicating in any other fashion, we struck it down together. Only afterwards did we realize that this meant a tie.
However much we disliked not being victorious over the other, we must have impressed someone, for soon after we were chosen for special missions by Sith Lords. My mission did not take me into the wilderness, nor did it take me off Dromund Kaas. In fact, it did not even take me out of Kaas City. I was directed to the depths beneath the Imperial Courts, where prisoners were held. More specifically, to the halls of the Inquisitors, where prisoners are interrogated.
This time, the prisoner was not some prisoner of war. It was blatantly obvious that the prisoner was a Sith, though only human. The Sith who tested me ordered me to find out what the prisoner knew, without giving me anything to go by, not even the prisoner’s name.
For hours I worked, using all the tools at my disposal. For hours, the prisoner refused to break. It seemed futile. All the useful information I had gotten was a name. I refused to give up, though. I kept at it, ignoring the passage of time, applying more pressure to the prisoner. When his limbs were as flexible as the lekku of a twi’lek, he suddenly broke. He revealed his secrets. All of them, much to the satisfaction of the Sith watching over me.
I learned what sort of vile scum he was, seduced by the Light Side of the Force. A fool. Slowly but steadily he gave up his compatriots. In return, he got an end to his suffering. He was taken up into the courts themselves and sentenced to immediate execution. It was extremely satisfying to watch our ranks be purged of such filth.
Afterwards, I learned that while I had been interrogating the prisoner, Rian had been given the opportunity to fight an enemy, flown a fighter in battle against a worthy foe. He was all sorts of proud, but I knew that keeping our ranks clean of filth was far more important than a mere battle.
We would be sent on several such assignments over the following months, all varying in type and scope. With each new mission, it became increasingly clear that we were being tested and evaluated by more powerful Sith. While I would like to say that I passed all the tests presented to me, I know that would be a lie. I did pass most of them, but many were with only passing success. Some, naturally, I did not pass, in particular those requiring brute strength. While I was already strong with the Force, I simply lacked the physique to overwhelm foes with raw, physical strength.
I think I had been on something like twenty-seven such assignments when the overseers called me in for what I did not know would be the final time. It was just like any other time I was to be given an assignment. I was wrong, for the overseers did not begin speaking, nor were there any other Sith in the room. As one, the overseers stood up and marched out without saying a word. Several confused moments later, a robed Sith entered the door through which the overseers exited. He towered over me, staring silently down at me. I refused to back down, glaring up at him.
After a full minute, though it could easily have been far longer, he threw his hood back, revealing the face of a fellow Sith Pureblood. I did not recognize him. He had a wide chin with prominent cheek tendrils and pronounced brow ridges. His eyes oozed power. He smiled.
Neither of us said anything for the next minute, our eyes locked together. Only then did he break the silence. “You will do.” was all he said.
I was a bit confused. “Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Lord Aruk, but henceforth you will call me Master.” he answered, then turned around, walking back out, his hand gesturing for me to follow.
I knew better than to disobey, for while I had never before seen him, I recognized the name. He was not merely an apprentice, nor was he far down in the hierarchy. He was the heir of a member of the Dark Council, the personal apprentice of Darth Anuroch. I had no idea that my reputation was good enough to interest someone as prominent as him.
On my way to my new quarters, I pondered the various missions I had had, wondering what I had done to interest him. The only mission that stood out was my first, yet he had not claimed me then. In the end, I decided there was no way to be certain, I could only accept it and embrace the opportunity.
When I got to my master’s compound and was directed to my new quarters by another apprentice, I found that the few belongings I had had in my chambers in the Academy were already there. Upon the desk in one corner of the room lay two things I most definitely knew were not among my belongings. The first was a twenty-six centimeter long rod of polished metal, clearly a lightsaber. The second was a small tetrahedral pyramid: a holocron.
The other apprentice informed me that our master needed me to prove myself yet again, that I was to learn all I could from the holocron. She also informed me that I would no doubt fail to do so in less than a week. All did. She left without giving me a chance to reply.
I would not be mocked again, so I immediately set to dealing with the holocron. I quickly came to understand why the other apprentice claimed I would fail. Not only was the gatekeeper stubborn and obnoxious, it was outright obstinate. Even the simplest elements of lightsaber design had to be forced out of it. But I did not give up. I kept at it, forcing information out of it.
By late evening, I had managed to get some lightsaber design principles out of the holocron, but little else. Knowing it had been a long day, I ended it there, going over to thinking about what I had learned. I had considered contacting my mother to tell her I had finished the academy, but before I could, she contacted me. I was not even remotely surprised she knew. She gave me her heartfelt congratulations, only to immediately follow it up with a long series of warnings about how society outside the academy was far more dangerous and how I would not doubt end up attracting undesirable attention from others simply due to my new master being who he was. Nothing I had not already thought of myself, of course. Mothers.
The next two days I wrestled with the Gatekeeper while awaiting further instructions from Lord Aruk. It was only moderately productive, but I did finally get enough to start modifying the provided lightsaber. While there is no denying that complex modifications can be interesting, I knew even back then that such were rarely worth the hassle. Getting a dual-phase saber to work right was typically hard, even more so to make sure it couldn’t fail at a bad moment. Nor did I desire any spikes, hooks or anything like that. My lightsaber was even then meant to be a functional tool.
I replaced the core hilt with one of curved metal, adjusted the inner structure and recalibrated the containment fields, before wrapping the hilt in blackened Tuk’ata leather. I considered it serviceable. Practice with my new weapon over the next two days let me fine-tune the design, clearing out a few design mistakes and making it as close to perfect as was possible at the time.
My master finally summoned me after that, instructing me to show off what I had learned and return the holocron. He was quite pleased with my choices in design and materials and did not try to deny the fact. I would eventually come to understand that his method of training often involved making his students work on their own, only to be evaluated later.
The following day I was summoned to his side to learn directly from him. It was fascinating to learn just how little I had known about the imperial courts and the intricacies of managing Sith loyalties. In just a few days I came to understand just why my master had risen to the rank he held. There was no doubt in my mind that he would go much further than that given time. The next three months would go much like that, with alternating independent assignments and direct instruction.
After the first few months, my training regimen changed again. Where it had been general before it was at that point focused specifically towards identifying corrupted Sith. In particular those who strayed from the code or had been seduced by the Light Side of the Force, but also a little those who simply did not contribute sufficiently towards Imperial goals. It was a fascinating subject.
While I naturally dealt with a number of court cases during my first three years with my master, none of them could truly be considered high-profile or particularly memorable. Perhaps the most memorable case I had in my early years as an apprentice came in the 1183rd year of the Reconstituted Empire, with the little-known Sith Lord Verrek.
He had taken an interest in the academy around the time I left it behind, working with the younger acolytes and neonates there, so I knew very little of him myself. Suspicion arose about his not being properly true to the Sith code, but in spite of a fairly thorough investigation, I found nothing that could condemn him. With my master only being a Sith Lord himself, a deeper investigation could not be forced, especially not with no evidence to justify it beyond vague concerns.
While I could easily have continued serving in the courts for decades, my ambitions were greater than merely serving there. I sought out new knowledge and skills. In between my work there, I took up a study of the fascinating field of Sith Alchemy. Initially, it was of course just as a tool in the process of interrogating prisoners, but it would turn out to be so much more.
As part of my training in this, I forged my first haphazard attempt at a Sith Warblade, albeit only on a smaller scale. More of a long knife, really. It took me a number of attempts to get it right, with the first few attempts not even holding up to a single cut with a lightsaber. A full month was what it took me to figure out just the right process.
In my studies of alchemy, I came across another Sith I found suspicious. She wasn’t born Sith, nor was she even a human. Eris Nenal’s study of alchemy led me to believe her intentions were not for the better of the Empire, so I started an investigation into her, one that would take years to complete, as I could not risk a potential enemy of the Empire getting any hint of being under investigation.
Three years into the investigation of her, the pursuit led me into an ancient Sith ruin far outside Kaas city, where one of the earlier Dark Lords of the Sith from the reconstituted empire had built his tomb. Unfortunately for me, the tomb was guarded and I shamefully have to admit that I wouldn’t have made it out without the Apprentice’s assistance. Considering how she not only wielded the Dark Side expertly, but followed the Code flawlessly, I couldn’t keep the case running, much to my shame. I had to be forced to throw it out, so stubbornly did I stick to my theory of her being disloyal. It was one of my greatest failures.
Shortly afterwards, more evidence arose about something being wrong at the academy. More specifically, undeniable evidence of Light Side pollution. Someone there was leading young Sith down the wrong path, but no as before the evidence as to who was responsible proved elusive. This led to my master assigning several of his operatives to long-term assignment at the academy, hoping the guilty would slip up eventually. Occasionally, some were caught, but it was clear they were not at the root of the problem.
Years would pass without anyone coming through. In the end, he recalled the agents, sending me in their place, ostensibly to study biological Sith Alchemy and instruct acolytes in the basics of non-biological Sith Alchemy. Though years had passed since I last spent time there, the academy was very much familiar to me. I found the study interesting, but spent at least as much time subtly investigating.
It took me months of study to get any sort of success in the field of biological alchemy, delayed somewhat by my investigations and the lessons I gave. In the end, I threw away all former assumptions, putting every single overseer on the suspect list. Initially, I kept my investigation and interrogation to overseers and acolytes. Eventually I uncovered evidence that alone was minor and irrelevant, but together pointed me in the right direction. I changed my investigation, delving into those with more power and authority than I myself had. Quite unnerving, really.
I started investigating Sith Lords.
To say that this investigation suddenly had to be handled more carefully would be putting lightly. Even with my master’s prominence and authority at my back, investigating Sith Lords was risky business at the best of times. These were not the best of times. The first hint of that came after the first assassination attempt. Not a particularly well-planned attempt, so I easily thwarted it. Even better, I managed to keep the assassin alive.
Interrogating him proved… educational. He led me straight towards a man I had investigated in the past: Lord Verrek. To say my anger at this discovery was significant would also be putting it mildly, though the full result of it would only come later. I had cleared him of his crimes before, but clearly I had not done nearly enough of a good job back then.
It wasn’t easy to contact my master about my prior failure, but I knew better than to confront a Sith Lord without considerably more power at my back. My master not only brought forth ten enforcers to assist in the arrest, but personally came along.
Suffice to say, the capture of Lord Verrek—while far from uncontested—was not overly problematic. We took him down hard, then brought him in for immediate trial. He was convicted and sentenced to immediate public execution. As it was my investigation that had revealed his treachery, I was given the honor of executing him.
This was a great moment for me, an opportunity for me to show all that I was a true child of the Empire. The treacherous Lord was manacled to a large pillar of stone at the very center of the main market of Kaas city, with tens of thousands watching. Not adverse to showing off, I chose not to use my lightsaber. Instead, I summoned forth a whirlwind of telekinetic energy, slicing him apart with thousands of tiny pieces of metallic shrapnel conveniently made available. From what I have heard, the sight of my execution was spectacular.
Neither I nor my master let the opportunity this provided go to waste. We quickly assimilated as many of the deceased Sith Lord’s assets into our own as we could, many of them under the pretense of checking them for corruption. No doubt many saw through it, but it was entirely within the laws of the Empire, so they could not do more than object.
As it was, the seized assets proved that no less than fifteen acolytes and neophytes had been corrupted by the late Sith Lord. All of them were naturally taken in for reeducation, but four of them proved to be beyond saving. Of his thirteen apprentices, ten proved to either be free from corruption or recoverable, while the last three were punished in a different manner than their master had been. I gained my first personal Sithspawn that day, gifting my master with the other two.
The amount of assets gained precipitated my master’s ascension to the rank of Darth. I couldn’t have been more proud, even if it meant dodging assassins and other attempts to weaken both my own and my master’s position in the Empire.
I had planned to leave the academy with the investigation complete, but my master made it abundantly clear that I was to remain there. In my fury at having failed with Lord Verrek the first time around I had accidentally broken a statue that my master liked. Only now, with the problem taken care of, was my punishment unveiled. I was to remain at the academy until sent elsewhere. He claimed it was to keep anyone there from straying again, but it was obvious that it was just as much to punish me.
At the time, I could either obey, or find a different master. It was blatantly obvious to me that I would be hard-pressed to find another Sith to serve with even remotely similar level of power, so I accepted my punishment, hoping to make the best of it, however much I felt it was harsh.
Stuck at the academy, it was in many ways harder to maintain and grow my power base and influence. As years passed, I would lose several assets due to not being able to maintain them directly, either due to them being taken by others, or due to trading them away.
It would take until the 1207th year of the reconstituted empire before I began to truly enjoy teaching at the academy. In many ways, it was actually refreshing, and I found that while I lost influence elsewhere, I gained influence through the acolytes that passed through the academy. It would take most of a year more to discover just how wise my master was, for while he was clearly punishing me, even then he made sure I learned.
My grasp of Sith Alchemy grew considerably stronger, as did my collection of other Sith beholden to me in one way or another. It eventually proved fairly easy to find acolytes especially suitable as apprentices to certain other Sith, making them owe me favors. I naturally also kept several for myself, using them to keep the academy in line.
Near the end of my time at the academy—in PRE 1216—I came across an acolyte I took special interest in, a Sith Pureblood of particularly good heritage. I challenged her harder than the other acolytes and took her as my personal apprentice four years later, when my master finally called me away from the academy.
My new apprentice proved to be more than an apt student, taking in lessons easily. I brought her into studies of Sith alchemy early, using her as an assistant in my experiments. Unfortunately, however skilled she was, she was not ready for the level of Alchemy I involved her in. Within months of involving her in my experiments, she got in over her head. In just a few hours, she went from a promising apprentice to a mutated wreck, twisted beyond recognition and usefulness. The loss devastated me, making me far more wary of Sith Alchemy and even more so of involving any of my apprentices in it. Instead, I began to exclusively use slaves as assistants in biological experiments, to prevent further losses of skilled assistants. I refused to involve other Sith in my experiments, no matter how inconvenient that was at times. I would not lose another apprentice to such.
My former apprentice died not long after being mutated, the changes to her genetic structure unstable. The death did not make things any easier to deal with, but reaffirmed my decision to not train others in this branch of alchemy.
The loss hurt more than I could admit at the time and I left alchemy behind for a while, getting my master to assign me to duty with the imperial navy, where I could take my anger out on the enemies of the empire, rather than on anything I would later regret destroying.
The five-year stint with the navy gave me connections there, as well as helping me refine my lightsaber skills and combative uses for the Force. Militarized use of the Dark Side became a very nice outlet for my fury.
In the 1232nd year of the Reconstituted Empire my master called me to his side again, both to train under him and to take on a role in the imperial courts. While the next few years did not unveil any Sith seduced by the Light Side of the Force, it did involve dealing with a significant number of criminals and Sith who were too independent-minded, who had liberal interpretations of the Sith Code. Their interpretations had hurt imperial policies, causing them to require being dealt with.
It did not please me at all to see the Sith I had once investigated—Eris Nenal—prove herself yet again by rising to the rank of Sith Lord before I myself earned the rank. It was unacceptable for someone who was not even human, let alone Sith, to rise to such a lofty rank before me. Humiliating, that is what it was.
I would go on to focus even more on growing my influence and power base over the next few years, even as I trained an apprentice my master brought to me. While the woman wasn’t a Sith Pureblood like me or my master, at least she was human. Her name was Liana Nerath and she was native to Dromund Kaas, the first in her family in generations to be Force-sensitive, which I found intriguing.
Two years after I took Liana as my apprentice, my master arranged for my promotion to the rank of Sith Lord. I had grown my power base sufficiently large for him to deem it appropriate. Or so I would like to think, at least.
My new apprentice proved even better than the one who died had been. She was suitably ambitious, but even more than that, she was careful and observant. On her own she eliminated a number of the plots to weaken me. Her real talent, fortunately, did not lie in Sith Alchemy. Even when I offered to train her in the basics, she expressed only limited interest, instead delving into intrigue and subterfuge. It would take years for her to grow into her own there, but she would eventually become a specialist at this.
Liana had been my apprentice for nine years
(PRE 1248) when I received a request from another Sith Lord. Lord Zeruk had seen promise in my apprentice and his duties in the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence meant he was in charge of the Sith who were sent to infiltrate the ranks of the Jedi Order to weaken them from within. He wanted to send her on just such a mission, to lay the groundwork for our revenge against the Jedi Order.
While loath to part with a skilled apprentice, I knew that it would make or break her as a Sith, and I knew well that it would be an assignment she would be especially suited for. It was also entirely within the goals of the Empire, so I could not think of any reason that I found satisfactory to deny his request. Over the next several months she was given special training for her future role, then sent on her way into the republic to take up the role crafted for her. As part of the recompense for willingly giving up an apprentice like this, I was made aware of the fact that our revenge against the republic and the Jedi Order would begin in roughly half a century.
Being fond of teaching, I waited only a few years before taking another apprentice to focus specifically upon. Unlike Liana, this apprentice was pureblooded like myself, but like Liana I had no plans at all to teach him advanced levels of Sith Alchemy. Instead, I had him tailored to serve as an enforcer. Not that I truly needed one. I could protect myself easily enough. I simply found it convenient to have a warrior that would be loyal to me first.
The next decade I would spend training him and others, as well as improving my skills with the Dark Side and influence throughout the Empire. I had only limited contact with my apprentice within the republic and it was always relayed through Imperial Intelligence, but I was pleased to learn that she had grown into her new role, that the Jedi had not penetrated her cover. It was not the same as directly communicating with her, but at least it was good to know she thrived.
As my influence within the Empire grew, I naturally built up a network of informants, some of them secret, others meant to be more visible. No intelligent Sith would ever imagine that a Sith Lord would be without any spies or informants, thus it was better to have a few potential rivals were meant to find. Anyways, one of my more subtle informants discovered evidence of a plot to assassinate my master. Considering how I like and respect my master, I moved quickly to foil this plot, only informing my master after the fact, gaining his favor when evidence was presented. The fact that I managed to acquire additional assets in the process was a definite bonus.
Most prominent of the new assets was a pair of holocrons containing knowledge of the Dark Side that I had not had access to previously. Wresting the secrets from the two holocrons took me until PRE 1269, though of course much of my time was also spent doing other things in aiding the imperial preparations for war, as well as maintaining and growing my influence in the Empire.
I spent the next two decades gaining power and influence within the Empire, as well as dealing with a setback or two that I see no reason to speak of at the present. I would rather speak of a more amusing event concerning my apprentice Liana, that was relayed to me by Imperial Intelligence agents… Apparently she had not only managed to embed herself in their ranks—something I never doubted her capable of—but gained their trust. She sent word that she had been chosen for training as a Jedi Shadow, to hunt down and destroy Sith artifacts and wielders of the Dark Side. Rather amusing, considering just what she was.
Occasionally, artifacts that were considered undesirable for the Jedi to get their hands on were sent to me by way of Imperial intelligence operatives, but this was a rare occurrence, as maintaining her cover was far more important to me and to the empire than any number of artifacts ever could be. I had no desire at all to lose any more apprentices.
Even as my apprentice embedded herself deeper into the Jedi Order, her true purpose there was to spread discord in the Jedi Order, to weaken it from within. From afar I watched her with pride. However, most of my time was spent keeping the Sith true to the Code, as my master desired for me to do. And of course gaining more power, both in the Empire and with the Force.
The final decade of the 13th century of the reconstituted Empire was perhaps the most hectic time of my life yet, perhaps of the Empire as a whole. Every single part of the Empire was focused on the final preparations for our revenge. In mid-1298, the Dark Council announced the date our revenge would begin.
The combination of my own and my master’s influences guaranteed me a key role in the liberation of Korriban. It was a glorious battle. The Jedi had no warning. They were utterly unprepared. Just as we knew they would be. Within months, we had conquered much territory, but I will not bore anyone with a personal account of the war. That can be found elsewhere.
More important was an event in 1302, when my master’s master died and Darth Aruk took his well-deserved place on the Dark Council, having long been recognized as the heir to that seat and having the power to ensure than none could truly contest it. As is only natural, my own power and influence grew significantly with his ascension, as did that of my master’s other lords and apprentices.
After taking most of a year to consolidate my claims, I turned my attention upon the Korriban Academy, which had at long last been fully rebuilt and expanded. I oversaw the transfer of the vast majority of Sith Acolytes and Neophytes from the Dromund Kaas Academy, guiding them to their new home upon our original homeworld. It was just as grand a moment in the history of the Empire as the liberation of that ancient world.
Years later several important events occurred in my life. The first was the death of my mother, slain by a Republic hit squad after she thwarted some plot by the Republic Strategic Intelligence Services. I was not particularly surprised to hear of my father’s death about a month later, considering how he went into somewhat of a rage at her death. Charming man, really. Foolish to let his rage control him, but he did achieve something before he died, at least.
While the loss of my parents was undesirable, my somewhat distant relationship with them meant I had no risk at all of anything resembling a breakdown from it. That is not to say I did not do anything about it, that I did not respond. No. I responded. In the cold, hard fashion worthy of a Lord of the Sith.
I spent the next year and a half doing as much hurt as I could to the Republic Strategic Information Services. Though it was not my normal sphere of interest, I used my influence to assist Imperial Intelligence both within and outside the Empire. I do not know how many Republic agents were caught or killed through my assistance, nor do I care. All I care about is that it is many.
My increased influence with yet another sphere of the Empire was what precipitated my ascension to Darth in 1308. I spent the next few years in consolidation, occasionally assisting the war effort, but working more within the empire than outside it.
At the end of the war, I assisted in several major battles, such as the conquest of Kashyyyk, where I, as well as one of my subject moffs, directed the whole operation. The imperial slave markets were flooded with able-bodied sub-human workers following our victory there.
I personally did not agree with the so-called “peace-negotiations”, but considering that my master sits on the Dark Council, I could not exactly object. He did not see fit to inform me or anyone else of his position on that treaty, but I suspect he was not overly supportive of it. The decision came from the Emperor in any case, meaning not even my master had any real choice in the matter. The one good thing about this is that we have time to train even more Sith, to consolidate the most useful parts of the territory we ensured that the Republic had to abandon.
I know for a fact that war will break out again. How? Peace is a lie.
Until that happens, all I can do is make sure the Empire is in as good a position as possible to crush the Republic and the Jedi when it finally happens.
End recording.”
