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The Past History
It was a long time ago . . . in a galaxy far, far away.
According to the Annals of The New Republic, during the eight years after the fall of Palpatine at Endor, and his death aboard the Second Death Star, the Rebel Alliance flourished under the watchful protection of the last Jedi, and prompted by the recent balancing of the Force. The Galactic Empire was systematically driven further and further toward the Rim of the Galaxy, and even the temporary ascension of Thrawn was unable to deny the victory of good over evil.
But in the 8th year after the Empire's resounding defeat at Endor, less than a year after Thrawn's demise at Billbringi, the New Republic, the Force, and the Jedi received a resounding setback in the form of Palpatine's return from the beyond. The dreaded and most lethal Dark Side user in history, Palpatine had ripped himself free from the unending bonds of the Force and thrust he into the body of a clone, striking a deep wound in the Balance of the Force and bringing chaos to the galaxy. The Balance was even further disrupted when the young Jedi Skywalker decided to dare the dangers of the Dark Side, and gain knowledge of evil, to use in the overthrow of evil. The lack of a Jedi guardian in the Force sent shockwaves of perverse Dark Side energy rippling through the Force, unbalancing the Balance that Anakin Skywalker had sacrificed himself for, and disrupting the future of the galaxy, forever.
Even after the eventual death of the Emperor Reborn, the Force continued to reel from multiple body blows to its harmony and balance. Jedi Skywalker, still tainted by his foolish decision to cast himself into the Dark Side, and haunted by Master Yoda's admonition "Once you start down the Dark Path, forever will it dominate your destiny," declared himself a Master after less than a full decade as a Jedi Knight, and was led by his Dark hauntings to place the first Jedi Praxeum of the new Order on Yavin 4, a former Rebel Stronghold, and resting place of the spirit of Exar Kun, former Dark Lord of the Sith, now eternally spirit-bound to the ruins of his ancient empire on the fourth moon.
Kun was instantly spurred to action by the arrival of so many Jedi Padawans, and he used Luke's shortcomings as a then-inexperienced mentor to twist three of Luke's students to the Dark Side: First the proud, dark hero of Eol Sha, Gantoris, who was consumed, and in the end Destroyed; Streen, the addled hermit from Bespin, who was twisted to Dark Purposes against his will, purposes against which he eventually steeled himself; and Kyp Durron, most promising member of the Jedi Praxeum, and most easily seduced by the lies of the Dark Side. Durron's powers in the Force became melded with those of Kun, and he became a terrible visage - the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Luke's failures and his Dark Side hauntings had terrible consequences for the galaxy, for Kyp turned his vaunted Sith knowledge against the galaxy, destroying several whole systems in his mad quest for vengeance against the Empire, his former jailers and the ruin of his family.
Thus, with the invasion of the Dark Side's perversion into each and every aspect of the Jedi Order in its infancy, the balance of the Force became even more and more fragile, and though, in the end, Master Skywalker was able to successfully train Kyp to become a powerful Jedi, and the spirit of Kun was driven from Yavin, more and more powerful students were seduced - one after another - Dolph Kueller, Brakkis . . . and many, many more. Luke had his hands full for many years, seeking answers to the question of WHY all his efforts seemed only to lead more and more Jedi to Darkness, and rebuking such Darkness when it arose.
It was Mara Jade, finally, and of all people, who brought Luke to realize the full extent of the damage his actions had caused. For in running around madly trying to solve one crisis after another, rather than fully purifying himself of the Dark Side tendrils that still clung at him, Luke had been applying small wrappings to a deep, and ever widening gash. The good he did only delayed the inevitable, and unless Luke could realize his error, his arrogance, and his over-dependance on the brute power of the Force, it was only a matter of time before he - and all his students - tasted the glorious lie of the Dark Side.
Stunned and shocked by his own foolishness, Luke sanctified himself, casting away all of his foolhardy pursuits, and with his loving wife by his side, led the Jedi ever ever on toward a bright and more glorious future as Guardians of Peace and Justice . . . in not only the New Republic, but the entire galaxy. And thus, the balance slowly righted and healing, the galaxy could have eventually realized total peace and harmony, had not subsequent events took place which were beyond Skywalker's, or even the full might of the Order, to prevent.
The invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong brought turmoil to the galaxy, on a scale it had not seen since the rise of the Emperor, the creation of Darth Vader, and the Jedi Purge. Such chaos, indeed, that nearly all records of that time period have been lost, all that we truly know for sure is that, at the final end, the two Masters, Skywalker and Jade-Skywalker, led the battle-hardened Jedi Order forward into an age of galactic unity, incapable of realizing that the war - fought supposedly by the Vong for purposes of Galactic Domination, had instead, been a vehicle and mask for something much, much worse.
The Advent of Darkness
It would not be for three more years before the diseased state of the Balance of the Force would reveal itself - for the Jedi were strong now, led by a good and wise Council, and the Order did all that was within its power to Guard and protect the Balance. They were unaware that the Dark Side had spent the entire term of the war, from beginning to its ending, strengthening one of its earliest champions, now returned from millennia of sleep, to inflict vengence upon the Jedi Order.
Darth Bane now suddenly revealed himself in secret to those of the Jedi who had gone rouge or fallen to the Dark Side's lure, and he won many to his side by seductive persuasion, feigned attempts at bargaining, or brute force. These Dark Assassins he in turn unleashed upon the Jedi, in a probing move, to determine the strength of the resistance he would face in restoring the Sith to power.
Their first target was Mara Jade.
Ambushed and caught off guard, the flaming-haired warrior fought long and well, and to her everlasting credit, so few of the Dark Assassins survived the conflict that it was many years before Bane would again be able to wage war against the Jedi. And yet, in the end, the unbowed woman was cut down, her lifeless body dragged away for Bane's pleasure and experimentation. Skywalker never truly learned what had become of his beloved wife, and 2 years later, bowed low and aged before his time, his grief drove him out of the galaxy, and into the worlds beyond the Unknown Regions. There he would stay, for more than one hundred years.
In his absence, the Jedi Order struggled long and hard against the new and ever-growing Dark Tide that was sweeping through the galaxy, but they could not discover its source, nor find any focal point at which to strike. And when Bane finally revealed himself, desperate battle and bloodshed degenerated into full-scale warfare. Bane called upon the fullness of his power, and tore such a rend in the space-time continuum with the Force Storm he used to level the Jedi Temple that the balance was finally and utterly dashed to pieces, and soul upon soul of heros or villains dead and gone poured forth, finding new host bodies which became like their own, while the mystic energies of the Force was perverted and twisted, pouring out across the galaxy in a tsunami of untamed energy. Life and Death were overturned, young men aged beyond their years, and elderly women suddenly returned to the fullness of health. Corpses long dead returned to life and wholeness, and newborn babes succumbed to the seduction of Death.
Pure anarchy reigned supreme now, and not even Bane himself could restrain the tideforce he had unleashed, nor discover how to harness it to his own good. The Forces of good and evil dueled endlessly, uncompromisingly, unwilling to either give quarter, or accept it. The New Republic was strained to the breaking point as demi-monarchies sprung up across the galaxy, and in the end, the galaxy's unity disintegrated, until pan-galactic civil war consumed everything and everyone. Brother fought sister, father slew mother, and whole Empires rose and fell within a week's time.
But out of this maelstrom emerged several mighty champions. The two sides of the Force, now ripped apart from each other and locked in mortal combat for the destiny of the galaxy, selected mighty warriors from among their adepts and advocates, and turned them into deadly warlords, mighty sages, and peaceful guides. Among these Champions, greatest among the Jedi were Masters Neeja and Angel Halcyon, Master Coplars, and Master Darksaber. The great among the Sith and the Dark Side clans that swarmed over the galaxy included Bane, Kueller, Exar Kun, and a rising Dark Side star named Chalin Qel Jha.
The great champions gathered lesser warriors and masters around them, traveling in roving bands of terror or taking whole systems under their wing as protectors. Darksaber, Coplars, and the Halcyons were as refuges, pillars of strength, to those of good intent, and the dark cloisters and temples of Bane and his peers were to the warriors of the Dark Side what a candle-flame would be to a pack of moths. But no matter how strong either side grew to become, neither could claim victory over one another, for while disciples of Jedi Principles would bring to justice Sith Lord upon Sith Lord, lone Darths could single-handedly clean an entire clan of Jedi from existence. Thus, did the tale of war swing from victory to defeat, and back again, over and over throughout the years.
Until, at last, a wanderer returned from afar.
The Dark Emperor
Moving from one chaos-gripped world on the Outer Rim to another, our lone hero gathered news of the galaxy's diseased condition, and the fruitless efforts of the Jedi to restore order and peace in the midst of Chaos. Tales abounded of Rouge Sith Lord named Syren Lor - a brutally efficient machinery of death, and an equally vile, if perhaps more feared Vader-clone. And of course, the mysterious Bane, who never revealed himself outright, and worked in shadows to bring about the fall of might Masters. But the stories also held that a number of Jedi had gathered around the three Jedi Lords - Darksaber, Halcyon, and Coplars, and that with the return of Yoda and Windu, the faltering ranks of the Jedi merely awaited a signal, before they could rise up and cast off their chains. Bring Order to the Galaxy.
And so, working in shadow and moving secretly from one world to another, the shadowy-robed figure all in black took down first one Sith Lord, then another, then another. He made a padawan of a mighty Jedi - the loose cannonball Geryn Isolder. He made allies with other wandering heros, and finally, in a show of might against Exar Kun, victorious bane of the most recent incarnation of the Jedi Council, Luke Skywalker revealed himself.
Upon his public return, Jedi flocked to Skywalker in swarms, and Luke moved from world to world, vanquishing Sith and bringing more and more Jedi hope of eventual victory. He made firm allies out of his peers - Coplars, Yoda, and Windu, and married a young woman named Corerilla. They had a son together, Keiran Skywalker. It looked as if, perhaps this time, The Jedi might prevail.
But on the coat-tails of great victory often follows great sorrow. Master Coplar's beloved, Rav, was slain and entombed within a Soul Gem, sending Coplars into grief and heartbreak. A simultaneous attack upon Luke and his wife led by the Vader-clone, Syren Lor, and a mysteriously cloned replica of Luke's former wife, Mara Jade, led to the death of Corerilla, and Skywalker tripped perilously close to the Dark Side. His abrupt weakness caused Geryn to abandon him, and strike out on his own, and as Bane, Damzar, and others flooded the galaxy with mighty students: Pheonix Cat, Blackstone, Hethir-Chalin Qel Jha, and others, it looked as if the causes of Peace and Justice would be stopped dead in their tracks.
But worst of all ... as the Dark Side was given time to recover from Skywalker's Jedi Charge, it searched long and hard for a champion powerful enough to oppose the mighty Jedi, or perhaps destroy him. Bane, Kun, and other Dark Lords were tossed at him, but as Luke recovered from his wife's death, taking down the blood-thirsty Lor and vanquishing the Vader-clone, he proved too strong for the Dark Side's champions, and another alternative was required.
Finally, after a two-year-long search, the primal energies of the Dark Side found such a champion - in the form of Luke Skywalker himself.
Cloned from the flesh of the hand he lost at Bespin, this second Luke clone, created before C'Boath was able to clone one himself, was placed in hibernative stasis by Thrawn until such time as C'Boath could be discarded and a new Emperor would be required. But when, after 90 years, Thrawn never returned, the clone awoke on his own, and struck out alone, building up an identity and knowledge of the Dark Side unsurpassed by any rival. He learned from private, encoded records of Palpatine that were discovered on Coruscant - records that took nearly 35 years of steady, patient work to decode - that the Emperor had once had a brother, one nearly-equal in his strength in the Force, but out of fear that this man might move against him, Palpatine trapped him in a vat of carbonite, and left him far out in the Galactic Rim, lost, as he thought, for all time.
Needing an ally, stooge, and weapon against his rivals, the Dark Luke woke Doelitine from his age-less slumber, and after a long and painstaking process of returning his body to health, he commanded obedience from the newly-awakened Sith Lord, bestowing upon him the dreaded mantle and title of Darth Vishous, a ruthless killer, completely devoted to the man who had saved him from everlasting sleep, and a powerful weapon. Together, the two nefarious warriors set about uniting the Dark Side under their power, forever, and for the first time since the fall of Palpatine's Galactic Empire, a Dark Lord ruled.
The Dark Emperor, he was called. Combining forces with the Imperial Remnant and launching an offensive campaign against the remnant of the New Republic, The newly-acclaimed Emperor put the forces of good on the run again, and world after world was lost to Vishous and his armada, beginning with the Forest Moon of Endor, and consuming nearly half the galaxy. The Jedi were driven into hiding, taking refuge on worlds like Dagobah and Ossus, unable to fight Vishous, or his dreaded Master.
And once having achieved near-victory over the Jedi, the Dark Emperor turned his attention to the Sith. In supreme arrogance, and out of utter contempt for his peers, The evil Skywalker 'informed' the galaxy as a whole that, as of now, all Dark Siders were to become members in an "Unholy Alliance," a loose collection of Sith Lords, devoted to the Dark Emperor and under the joint command of Vishous and Hethir, who'd aligned himself with the Empire in hopes of securing greater power for himself. Among the members of the Unholy Alliance, young Sith Lords known as Blackstone, Grandar, Foe Raker, and others gained galactic recognition for their powers and prowess. Those Sith Lords who refused to join the Dark Emperor's cause fled or were slain - Pheonix Cat and Darth Bane, among others, were notably inconspicuous during the Dark Emperor's reign, and several Sith Lords were slain - quite brutally - for actively resisting the Emperor. The Unholy Alliance served as a sort of Dark Gestapo for the dreaded Emperor, serving their Master's every wish and whim.
Among those wishes, the Dark Emperor gave Vishous this charge - find the woman Ri Sha, beloved companion of the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, and bring her before his throne. Lusting for her, and determined to draw the Jedi Master out of hiding to destroy him, the evil monarch reached out his hand toward his only true rival, to crush hope from the galaxy, forever.
Thus embroiled in war and dominated by a powerful Dark Empire that consumed all that lay in its path, the galaxy experienced Dark days heralding back to the New Order's ruthless reign, and it's vicious Jedi Purge that left the galaxy nearly defenseless for almost two decades. Finally, driven by a vision and possessed of the knowledge that he could not, in good conscience, allow his Dark Clone to continue his reign of terror if it was in his power to stop him, the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker arose from hiding on the planet Dagobah, and vanished into the night, leaving behind his new love - Ri Sha, a Jedi Knight of great power - as commander of the Jedi Order in his absence. He set out in secret, moving in shadows from world to world, seeking a much whispered-about but rarely-beheld Dark Tower, and an ultimate showdown with his Dark half.
In the 3 and a half months of his absence, the Dark Empire gained new ground, destroying the Jedi refuge on Dagobah, capturing Ri Sha, and harrying the Jedi mercilessly wherever they could be found. At last, victorious and seeking the praise of their diabolical master, Darths Vishous and Hethir, accompanied by Mara Jade and Azel Mearindhal, came to the ominous Dark Tower of nightmarish-legend, and delivered their captive before the Dark Throne.
And there, in the shadowy lair of the galaxy's most lethal and dangerous man, the four Dark Siders and their captive were confronted with a sight that at once shocked, frightened, and filled them with foreboding. For on the floor of the Emperor's dais, a black robe lay discarded on the ground, thin whispers of smoke rising from the garment, and a dropped lightsaber had rolled down the steps leading to the dais, it's power-packs overloaded and fried. Seated in the throne, was Luke Skywalker.
He rose from his throne, gliding slowly down the steps of the dais, and took the young Jedi woman from the hands of the Dark Emperor's henchmen, who confidently believed that their master had, at last prevailed, and the hated Jedi Skywalker was finally dead.
But it was not so.
Having lulled the Darths into his confidence, Skywalker took and Ri suddenly bolted for the exit, racing down the hallways and seeking any escape from the dreaded tower. The two Darths took some time to recover from their shock and confusion, but once recovered, they tore through the tower, massive Dark Side energy streaming from them, rolling off of them in waves of hate and terror that alternated one after another. Skywalker turned to face his fate, weakened beyond any hope of resistance, but the unexpected intervention of Mara Jade and Azel took the Sith by surprise, and gave Master Skywalker the time he needed to escape the tower. As Master Skywalker drifted off into peaceful, blissful sleep, he took comfort in knowing that a great evil had been slain, a greater tide of evil prevented, and peace won for the galaxy. He resigned himself to a quiet life of teaching and instruction, for the remainder of his days.
Civil War and a New Empire
After Luke retired peacefully to the planet Dagobah, he gave up his saber, intending forever after to be no more than a teacher and mentor to the Jedi. He established a new Jedi Council, with himself at the head, and for nearly two years, the Jedi regained the ground they had lost to the Dark Emperor. The Sith withdrew to the few worlds they could safely defend - Korriban, Ziost, and Yavin 4, and licked their wounds.
But the peace was not to last. Returning suddenly from the dark corners of the Galaxy, Darth Bane declared the beginning of his rule over the Sith, and was resisted by the Unholy Alliance. Vishous and Hethir, using the Forces of the Dark Empire, waged a bloody civil war against Bane for nearly 15 months, until a truce between the Three Dark Lords specified that only trial by combat could determine who would best rule the Sith. Upon that battlefield, on the planet Korriban, Bane presented himself for the fight of his life, and Vishous and Hethir presented in return, their ultimate Champion: A re-incarnated Exar Kun.
For many hours, the two dueled back and forth, a battle of blades as well as powers, Sith Magic flowed through the desolate plains of Korriban as it had not in many millennia. Bane conjoured up all the Dark Side magic and hatred he could muster, and hurled it at Kun, but no matter what powers he through against the younger Dark Lord, Bane could not pierce his defenses, nor wear down his saber defense. In the end, Kun gathered up all his stored might, and hurled from the sky a Sith Lightning Bolt of such intense power that it not only slew Bane, but nearly destroyed Kun in the process. The trial by combat now complete, Kun was declared the new Dark Lord of the Sith, and Marka Ragnos, Hethir, and Vishous all swore fealty to him, and to the New Sith Empire.
But dire as these happenings were, no news reached the ears of the Jedi Council, and many among the Order believed the Sith threat to be largely ended - a mop up operation, and no more. But in the farthest reaches of the Galaxy, the Unholy Alliance, and it's New Sith Empire, paid homage to their first Dark Lord of the Sith, and plans began to be made for final, ultimate defeat of the Jedi Order. A victory beyond victories, and a war to end all wars.
But it was a war Kun would not live to see. Azel Mearindhal, acting alone and on his own interests, believing himself to be perhaps the only TRUE Dark Lord of the Sith, infiltrated the mighty fortress of the Sith Empire, and slew Exar Kun. When Hethir next arrived to give news to his Master, he found only the smoking remains of the Dark Lord's cloak, and placing that rent cloak upon his shoulders, Hethir became the new Dark Lord.
Factionalism and Foolish Pride
Beyond the realm of the Sith, the Jedi remained confident in their ability to easily face whatever Dark Side threats were thrown at them, and out of the promise of a new age for the galaxy, Leia Organa Skywalker Solo re-established the New Republic, under the watchful protection of the Jedi. Massive warfleets, under the command of the noble General Wedge Antilles, spread throughout the galaxy, meeting out justice to petty dictators and 'emperors,' one example of which would be Val Trawn - the short-lived ruler of a Sith cult, and restoring Order to the Galaxy.
But as the Jedi luxuriated in peacefulness, their watch on the galaxy waned, and Skywalker's protests went unheeded. Slowly, beyond the reach of Antilles' fleet or the Jedi's power, two new Dark Side Empires reared their ugly heads:
The New Sith Empire, ruled by the iron-fisted Dark Lord Hethir, was a slowly-growing Juggernaut of strength, power, and might, biding their time until they would be ready to strike. Among their forces were the Unholy Alliance, that old institution of evil Sith Lords, and the new Hazat Warriors, maddened Sith fighters with incredible power.
Meanwhile, the Galactic Empire, led by the yet-again-returned form of the original Emperor Palptaine, and aided by the incarnate evil nature that was Darth Vader (now freed of that weak-willed Anakin Skywalker forever) began to build up their own forces, recruiting to their cause member upon member, watching the NSE and the NR and the JO like predatory vultures, who know that they have only but to wait, and their foes will drop right into their waiting clutches.
It was only a matter of time before it all came crashing down ...
The Clouds Burst
As the evil forces of the two Empires slowly grew and stretched out their talons towards the peaceful majority of the galaxy, and the Jedi slid slowly into responsive, reactive-ism, turning a deaf ear to the pleas of the galactic populace, Luke Skywalker was slowly being driven to distraction by a repetitive series of visions. Visions of a Dark Horde laying nestled on the farthest Outer Rim of the Galaxy, a Demonic Horde of evil warriors that were preparing, for the first time in 4000 years, to return to the galaxy that had expelled them millennia ago. Previously incapable of long-distance space travel, Luke somehow KNEW that these beings had gained, through one means or another, the ability to travel through hyperspace, and that some Dark Consciousness, driving these horrible evils, was just waiting to pounce upon a galaxy that would have no defense against such a barbaric Dark Side swarm. Jedi and Sith alike would be swept from the galaxy, unless something were done.
Taking no advice or counsel, Luke silently slipped away, retrieving his old saber and journeying in an unmarked Imperial Shuttle (the same used by the Rebels in their assault on Endor) and hyperspacing out to the Outer Rim. In his absence, Ri Sha and Yoda led the Jedi Council.
Almost simultaneous with Skywalker's departure, the New Sith Empire finally unleashed themselves and let loose upon an un-prepared Jedi Order. Countless Jedi were slain as Hethir's forces stampeded across the galaxy, and of all the Jedi, only one hero stood strong against the evil tide sweeping through space. Mas Sin Drawiz.
An unassuming young man, often unsure of himself or his abilities, Mas had been the prize (and final) student of Master Coplars. As the Sith rose up against his brethren, Mas found himself shoved, quite unwillingly, into the limelight, as he became, in many ways, guardian, protector, and defender of the galaxy. He filled the vacancy left by Skywalker and became emblematic of the spirit of a true Jedi - at peace, at harmony with life, and totally reliant upon the Force. Had it not been for the efforts of this young, heroic man, it is quite likely that the Jedi Order would have fallen forever, and with it, the galaxy. Luke would have returned from battle on the Outer Rim to a galaxy dominated by the Dark Side.
Mas's ability to withstand the forces of the Dark Side puzzled and infuriated the Sith, and as their frustration grew and grew, the members of the New Sith Empire's hierarchy turned their frustrations against each other, in the forms of intrigue, deception, and backstabbing. Hethir, sickened by all the lie-to-your-face deviousness that had tainted his formerly pure Empire, abandoned his throne, and took up wandering, searching for that ultimate, pure Dark Side power, and for those who would adhere to its use. In his absence, the Sith nearly collapsed upon themselves, and a succession of weak Dark Lords - Bane, Kueller, and Marka Ragnos, foolishly let the Sith spend themselves in futile attacks upon the Jedi. One such attack, led by the Dark Lord Kueller, resulted in the nearly obliteration the NSE, as the Jedi Order gathered in defense of its sacred Temple, and led by Masters Yoda and Windu, hurled a powerful gale-force-wind at the DLOS, hurling him out of a window, and flinging him mercilessly against the ground, where he died.
Darkness and Encroaching Evil
Finally, Skywalker returned .... returned to a galaxy in chaos, once again. The NSE desperately searched for a leader to fill the void left by their previous Dark Lords, and the Galactic Empire, under the rule of Palpatine and directed by the machinations of Thrawn, was quickly gaining lost territory back from the faltering forces of the New Republic. The Jedi had stagnated - half the Council slain or lost, and their numbers fragmented to the winds.
Once again, the call of the Force reached out to Luke, asking and begging him to restore order to chaos. But this time, that call could not be answered.
Luke Skywalker was possessed.
Having nearly been destroyed in his battle against the evil Dark Side warrior named Reyak, Luke now carried a most sinister disease. It crawled upon his flesh, slowly invading every orifice of his skin and poisoning him from the outside in. It could not be stopped, it could not be driven back, and only a constant flow of the Force, rushing through his veins and filling his soul, could hold the disease at bay ... but the longer, and the more deeply, Luke depended upon the Force, the more that the disease's more sinister side crept through - and Reyak's shattered consciousness took hold on the fragile Jedi's mind.
It was not an instant fall to Darkness, nor did Luke go willingly. He strove very hard to persevere, even in the face of what he knew was ultimately going to result in madness. He fought alongside Mas Sin in defense of the galaxy, he drew back the young Jedi Master Rayloth from the Dark Side and entrusted him to the care and keeping of the peaceful people of the planet Alath, and to the Jedi Mistress known as Silvershadow, and he tried to piece together the remnant of the New Republic's military.
But the battle was lost even before it had truly begun. Luke could not forever fight off a disease he did not truly understand, and even Yoda shook his head in despondent worry whenever weakness or temporary twitches would shake the student he loved more dearly than he would have his own son. To combat this advancing weakness, Skywalker threw himself ever more fully into the cause of defending the galaxy ... but even this the disease's vile, sinister nature could pervert, twist, and use to its own advantage, and it grew to a point where only one thought - just one - dominated the mind of the Jedi Master.
He had to make things right again.
Only he COULD make things right.
Possessed by this ever-growing need, and fast losing the battle of willpower against a foe he did not nor could not know existed, Skywalker turned to ancient records Yoda possessed, records that told of a place, somewhere deep in the galaxy, where trillions of threads of the Force Converged, a place of raw, living energy, energy that, given a strong enough capacitor, could be absorbed by a Force User, and used as though it were his own strength. Consumed by a need he did not understand, Luke somehow KNEW that he had to have that power.
For several months, he searched high and low for this hidden world - Arcanis. And for nearly a year his mind slipped closer and closer to the edge, until at last, in a fit of rage and self-righteous anger that Jedi and Sith would dare to duel where young children had been slain millennia ago in a similar war between light and dark, Luke Skywalker declared himself the guardian protector of the Galaxy, and threatened death to any who resisted his decrees or commands. Empowered by the Kaibbur Crystal, now adapted to feed off of his energy and multiply it back a thousand fold, Skywalker was nigh invincible, and the increase in power only drove him further over the edge. Dark Lords tried to recruit him to their wickedness and found themselves converted into smoking piles of ash. Jedi tried to rein him in only to find themselves hurled blindly into (and often through) walls.
Luke Skywalker was now quite mad.
Finally, on the planet Arcanis, Luke stepped over the line. He absorbed the entirety of the Force Nexus there, turning the planet into a desolate wasteland, and set about to order the galaxy as HE wished it. Raise the dead to life. Meet out justice to those who opposed the Jedi way. Rule on high. Forever. His family and friends tried once more to force him to see the light, but, almost effortlessly, the Jedi Master hurled them aside. Only the final intervention of Ri Sha, his beloved companion, was able to ground him, as she offered to sacrifice her life, that Leia, Han, and their children and friends, might escape the grip of this 'mad man.' Luke realized the folly of his actions, and possessed of near omniscience, he felt the encroachment of Reyak's evil upon his mind, and draining himself of nearly all the power he had absorbed, shattering the Kaibbur Crystal beyond usefulness ever again ... he purged himself of Reyak, and destroyed that ancient evil, forever. The planet Arcanis tore itself apart, and Skywalker spent many, many months recuperating from his illness and mental imbalance, but in the end, all was restored to normal.
The Fall of the Jedi Order
Even though Skywalker was repudiated by the New Republic of all evils he might have committed while under Reyak's influence, the galaxy had suddenly had enough of Force Users, and trust in the Jedi waned. The New Republic turned away to face the NSE and the GE on their own, and were slowly chopped up piece-meal. Skywalker himself retired to the planet Alath, as Sovereign-Protector of the small world, and finally wed his long-time love, Ri Sha. The two tried to reunite the shattered forces of the Jedi once more, in a desperate attempt to return peace to the galaxy.
But now, it was almost too late. During the months of Luke's insanity, and the chaos that resulted from the fallout of the events surrounding that incident, a new Dark Lord of the Sith had emerged from the crumbling NSE infrastructure, and Dark Lord Khamier Sarin began his reign as ultimate ruler of the Sith by slowly and methodically purging the galaxy of the Jedi Order. The Halcyons were the first to go, and then dozens of other, lesser Jedi. Eventually, the Skywalker line came under fire, as first Anakin, then Jaina were captured and slain. Leia was driven insane by grief, and shortly thereafter, captured by the Galactic Empire, even as Han was captured by the NSE. Jacen was driven to Dark Side madness by the inability of his Uncle to stop any of these events from occurring, and the Jedi began to collapse in on themselves as .. One by one ... their heros were wiped from existence. Even the tragic love saga of the Zafner family bore the heavy thumbprint of Sarin, and his Vader-like Henchman, Blackstone Azazel. Sarin himself pledged that, unless Silver were to deliver herself up before him, he would kill her daughter.
The Jedi were being exterminated. Among the hunters, the Bounty Hunter Maltez ranked among the greatest - Maltez Buffton, of the Buffton Trade Cartel, slowly rose from obscurity to great fame as a Bounty Hunter and Sith Lord, and the BTC profited greatly from his success, the alliances he formed with the NSE, and the buisness saavy possessed by his organisation. Soon, the BTC would rank above the New Republic as a Galactic Power.
Finally, the tide of the inevitable turned against Luke Skywalker, and Ri Sha, alone and unguarded, was slain. Her starship was found, a floating wreck, out in the deeps of space. Not too long after, his children were also brutally slain. Facing enormous depression, and seemingly incapable of doing anything right, Skywalker packed his bags, and fled into anonymity. He would not be heard from for five years.
In his absence, the remainder of the Jedi rushed to try and stand together one last time, before the Sith rolled over them all. Masters Yoda and Drawiz, assisted by Jedi Knights Arian Daragon and Kyp Durron founded a resistance movement on the planet Dagobah. But though they fought long and hard, the Jedi were simply incapable of achieving victory. Kyp was lost, Arian vanished into the deeps of space, and Yoda and Drawiz fled Dagobah, taking to the shadows to hide, and wait for a day when they might be needed once more.
The Sith had won.
The Division of the Galaxy and the Ordering of Empires
As the Jedi slowly faded into the legends and histories of a decade past, Sarin and Palpatine finally began to focus their attentions upon their respective rivals. The NSE and the GE went to war in a powerful, titanic struggle that waged back and forth across known space. Both Empires gave as good as they got, but in the end, the NSE continued to edge ahead, winning battle after battle against the New Republic, and relocating their seat of government to the planet Coruscant, from whence the New Republic had retreated nearly a year ago. The Galactic Empire and the New Republic continued to fight on, but it was a war of attrition, and everyone know it was only a matter of time before Sarin emerged out on top.
In the background, the New Republic continued to try and survive, watching as their planets and systems were carved away by the three Super-powers: the GE, NSE, and BTC, and trying to forge a separate peace with all of them in an effort to save their skins, and abandon the moral and ethical precepts upon which they were required to wage war with any tyrannical or despotical government. The Jedi, likewise, attempted to re-establish themselves, appointing a new Council, and fleeing slowly from world to world, attempting to outrun the hand of fate ... the hand of Sarin.
Among the many brutal acts of the time, Sarin had begun to purge his empire of any potential rivals. Stories began to leak out of the ironclad Imperial Space that Foe Raker and Valaryc had both, for a time, been imprisoned, and when Foe Raker did, in fact, defect to the Galactic Empire, the amount of purging that Sarin had been discreetly preforming became bare. At the head of the New Sith Empire, Sarin was not Emperor ... Sarin was Dictator. He ruled with an iron-fist, and only his loyal apprentice, Blackstone, was given any respect or noble position. Other Sith served Sarin's every wish and whim, and upon one weakness, they were slaughtered. Sith Lords like Grandar, Damzar, Berzekk (formerly Maltez Buffton) rose to great power amongst the Sith, but they were aware, all of them were aware with every waking moment, that should they make one mis-step, one false move, and the hand of Sarin would descend upon them.
Meanwhile, In the Galactic Empire, a growing movement could be felt among the Military Command. Admiral Thrawn was gone, slain, but the men who rose to take his place - noble men like General Sardar, Commander Toulon, and Admiral Agrippa, began distance themselves from Palpatine, Vader, and Jerec. The Empire was still ruled by Palpatine, in name, at least, but it was commanded by the Military, and as the years wore on and the war began to wind down to its inevitable end, Sardar was slowly elevated to a vaunted position ... he became their unspoken Supreme Commander. Palpatine and his stooges no longer ran the show.
Years wore on, and casualties mounted on all sides. The Jedi sat, stagnant, paralyzed with fear that if they were to make any aggressive moves, their final members would be hunted down and destroyed, and the Jedi become no more than a memory. The New Republic bought peace at the cost of freedom and justice, and the days when the galaxy was free were now, no more than memory.
Tremors in the Force
It was impossible to think at this point that the ideals of peace and justice could ever return to the galaxy. Impossible to believe that there existed any hope for freedom. Such dreamers were denounced as fools, and more often than not, as traitors. Skywalker and the Old Order were gone, and in there place, the Jedi had become ineffectual puppets of the ineffectual NR.
Only the Force could save the galaxy now.
And perhaps, in its own small way, it did.
It started small ... disagreement, argument, battle, and war between the NSE's higher ups. Blackstone abandoned his master and struck out on his own, finally hunting down and putting a permanent end to the eternal thorn in his side - Bane. Sarin went into temporary hiding, recuperating and drawing his strength together for the ultimate move in his game of chess against the galaxy.
And purely by happen-chance ... a simple Rouge Jedi Master named Rayloth happened to stumble across a simple farm planet on the Outer Rim ... and he found there, living the simple life of a simple farmer, The Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. After a short plea and an even shorter argument, Rayloth convinced the nearly 120 year old Jedi Master, kept ever-young by the massive amounts of Force Energy coursing through him, to return with him to the aid of a dying cause. To make a difference one more time.
But the galaxy at large would not hear Luke's call to arms. The Council refused to take action against the Sith, and the Republic had layered treaty upon treaty over itself, in an attempt to buy peace with the galaxy. So, disheartened by the lack of self-sacrifice and willingness to lay one's own life on the line that he found, even among the Jedi, Luke struck out on his own. Slowly but surely he gathered to himself men and women willing to give their lives in service to the galaxy, and in hope that it might be freed.
And now ... the Future
Several months after his less-than-triumphant return, Master Skywalker struck at a bold plan. Recruiting the aid of Wookiee Techs and hauling an old, scrapped spacedock along, Luke took his small cadre of resistance forces to the Endor system where, with painstaking time and care, the Wookiees salvaged the torn and ravaged hull of what was once the pride of the Imperial fleet, and the personal flagship of the galaxy’s most feared and hated warlord: Darth Vader.
In a symbolic gesture meant to emphasize that where once a Skywalker had brought death, pain, and suffering upon a galaxy of free individuals, another Skywalker, son of his father, would be willing to give his life to return that freedom again. Taking not only the flagship of his fallen father, but also trading his old glove gained after his battle against Jabba for the right-handed glove of his father, Luke slowly moved the re-christened warship, the Sentinel, out of orbit, and began to lay plans for his return to action.
Meanwhile, the NSE’s final gambit was called. Behind the scenes and through careful political and military maneuvering, the two great evil empires merged as one. Over the course of a single evening, Palpatine’s empire was stripped away from him, his loyal warlords were assassinated where they slept, and in the course of several hours, the new Galactic Republic, ruled by Emperor Sarin, stood atop the great podium of the galactic stage, and turn it’s cold, cruel gaze upon the remainder of the galaxy’s poor souls.
Moving quickly to attempt to counter Sarin’s throw of the gauntlet, Skywalker declared the formation of the new Rebel Alliance, a conglomerate force of free men and women from across the galaxy, led by cadres of Noghri Death Squadrons, Wookiee Clans, and Jedi Knights. They came out of protest - in defiance of the weak-willed New Republic. They came out of guilt - shamed by the long inactivity of the Jedi Order. And they came to take back the galaxy so rightly theirs to begin with.
Facing opposition from the New Republic’s Legislative and Executive branches, and from the leadership within the Jedi Council itself, Luke Skywalker, Grath Xandar, Rayloth Zafner, and others banded together to face the legions of the Sith. Padawans, Knights, Rebels, and Masters from all worlds and all walks of life came together under the provisional leadership of Skywalker, Xandar, and Vodo Siosk Baas.
Discerning that the true strength of the Galactic Empire lay in its corps of Dark Side warriors, Luke split up his forces and turned them against the Sith. Groups of 2, 4, and more Jedi spread throughout the galaxy, led by such heros as Jedi Knight Ganner Rhysode, Masters Qi Rahn, Neeja Halcyon, Owen Darkthorne, and many others. Skywalker himself prepared to confront the first of the greater Sith Lords in his way: Foe Raker Gilkane.
But the road was not easy - as it has never been. Master Rahn was lost at the hand of Aristan Tombstone, who turned to taunting the head of the Jedi Council, Master Alistair Darksaber, and slaughtering a Jedi periodically until Darksaber would offer himself up, blade against blade. Other Knights and Masters also fell under the heavy hand of the Sith, and the New Republic turned its back on the Rebel Alliance, denouncing them as foolishly idealistic dreamers hastening towards their own demise. Likewise, the Jedi Council denounced the Alliance as aggressive, seeking battle and glory, and warned the organisation that Skywalker himself was treading dangerously close to the Dark Side.
But the Rebels would not be stopped. If there was hope of victory, even in an hour so Dark as this, it lay with them. More and more rouges, warriors, and heros flocked to the Alliance, including such renown warriors as Dankin Gerrub, and rouge Jedi heros like Moraya Silvershadow - the Jedi Mistress Silver. These pair went underground and undercover within the Galactic Alliance, on a mission to brew rebellion within the Galactic Empire itself, and to find Sarin, wherever he might be, and end him.
Other heros continued to pour into the Alliance. The Crusaders sent representatives, the Fringe Elements sent wave after wave of allies into the Alliance, hoping against hope that with the Jedi at their forefront, the Alliance might have strength enough to turn back the tide of evil. A slim hope, perhaps, but when a slim hope be all you have - a slim hope is enough.
Not to be outdone, Sarin himself continued to turn his strength against the galaxy, parading gunboat diplomacy in the face of galactic powers such as the Mandal Empire, and the Buffton Trade Cartel. The Galactic Empire was seeking to put all things under its power, and no single force could possibly hope to stop it.
As the tide of evil continued to roll over the galaxy, it slowly began to meet some resistance. Light resistance, yielding against the hard thrusts of the Dark Side, but the further the forces of evil pushed, the harder, more resilient, and more frustrating the forces of the Rebel Alliance proved to be. A war - the first true war of light against dark since before the dawn of the Jedi Order - was about to begin.
And yet, amidst the chaos of war, amidst the political backstabbing, the lethal friendships, and the mess of the galaxy, several Jedi Masters began to detect what appeared to be grave disturbances in the fabric of the Force - Vergenci were springing up across the galactic plane, including one new Vergence, in the form of Jedi Padawan Rhea Triton’s unborn child. Prophecies and foretellings abounded as the two sides of the Force, torn apart by nearly 20 years of most brutal and bloody warfare, sought to claim final victory over each other. The Balance had finally, unmistakably, failed - and the Dark Side’s evil perversion reigned supreme.
As the Jedi moved to counter this widening breach in the fabric of the Force, Skywalker leapt to action, guided by a vision of possible futures and paths which the galaxy could wander down. After coming before the Jedi Council with a plea that they abandon their foolish stagnation in the face of the galaxy’s most desperately hour, and again being rebuffed, Skywalker moved to lay charges at the feet of the Council, and using his previous history as the last of the Old Jedi Order and the First of the New - and his charge to ensure that the Jedi were reborn in the new age -he stripped the Council of their authority, disbanded their number, and demoted them to the rank of Knight, their Master ranks returnable later if earned. He charged Darksaber with guarding and protecting the young Rhea Triton, and then sent Windu and Nathan Darksaber to seek the recently returned Master Yoda, who would instruct them in what they must do. Skywalker then turned and left the Council, hastening toward a confrontation with Foe Raker Gilkane.
Finally, the stage was set. The players had been handed their parts, and the great epic drama was set to begin. The galaxy, torn and fought over between the two great sides of the Force, Light and Dark, was set to combust at any moment. The Jedi Order, spearheaded by the heroic efforts of Ganner Rhysode, Mas Sin Drawiz, and Vodo Siosk Baas, turned to confront the forces of evil, while the selfsame forces of darkness gathered their champions and hurtled towards a brutal confrontation with their light-sided rivals. But behind the scenes of this great war, a much more deadly conflict raged - in which the Jedi and Sith were but pawns. For after 20 years of warfare, 20 years of turmoil - light against Dark - the balance of the Force MUST be achieved again, lest not even the Sith be capable of restraining the perverse Dark Side forces let loose upon the galaxy. Unless balance could be brought to the Force once more, the galaxy would surely tear itself to pieces.
Act III, Scene I.
Let the curtain rise......