Personal biography, as detailed by the candidate for use in imperial archives. Acquired shortly after last achievement of note.
As I have in common with many of the less exceptional Sith, I was born on Dromund Kaas some twenty-eight years before we returned to repay the republic for what they did to Korriban all those years ago. It is simple fact that Imperial records show that I have ancestors who were Sith. None of these Sith were my parents or their parents. In fact, you have to go back several generations more before them to find any Sith who had any true power in my family tree. But that is quite irrelevant, for upon being tested at the age of five, I proved myself worthy of becoming a Sith, the ultimate honor for any child in the Empire. The future truly was within my grasp.
Where the vast majority of Sith for the past two and a half decades have almost all been trained on Korriban, our ancestral homeworld, all sith of my generation and before have been trained in the academy on Dromund Kaas. That is, after its construction following our last war with the Jedi. But where a Sith was trained matters little. If he or she is trained properly the way I was, he or she will have had plenty of conflict throughout the training. Anything else would mean a mediocre Sith at best.
I myself had to send quite a few fellow acolytes to the infirmaries with injuries of varying seriousness before they learned not to bother me. So far as it goes with proof, I have not killed any acolytes. I could’ve killed many, but chose to show pity upon them and send them to the infirmaries instead. Not one of them ever dared to strike against me after that, for they knew well that I was far superior to them, and so long as they stay out of my way, I will not bother hunting them down. Why should I bother, when they are not our true enemy, the Jedi?
The few times I did not win, I took bitter lessons from it. Sometimes, I got outmaneuvered politically, other times I found myself facing those who were superior warriors. Whatever the cause, I made certain the problem would not come up again by whatever means I deemed necessary. I leave it to you to imagine how I went about that.
As happens with all acolytes who survive the academies, I eventually rose to the rank of Apprentice and found a master I deemed worthy at the time. His name was Lord Arkanus. He was in the service of Darth Arctis, though of course not particularly highly ranked within the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge. I did not care, for in addition to teaching me far more about the Dark Side, he ensured that I learned exactly what I needed to access the edifices of the ancient Sith with relative safety.
Initially, I merely served in the Imperial Reclamation Service, but as I grew in power and knowledge, I took on more and more direct roles until I finally had command over a portion of it. For several years, I worked with and led these men, amassing a power base of sufficient size to eventually become a power of my own, rather than a mere minion. Lord Arkanus naturally demanded I hand over whatever artifacts I found within the uncovered ruins, and I naturally handed him just enough to not make him suspicious.
As my collection of artifacts grew, I grew more ambitious. Had things kept going that way, I would no doubt eventually have taken Lord Arkanus’ place. But of course this was not all glorious. More than a few times I found that the traps of the ancient Sith were quite a bit more ingenious than expected. Having to spend days submerged in Kolto to recover from broken bones and other injuries, I could not continue building my power base as quickly as I desired.
However, before I could dispose of my master in a way that would not cause any problems for me, the war with the Jedi broke out. I myself led one of the teams sent to retake the surface of Korriban from its unlawful occupiers. In fact, I was one of the first Sith to set foot upon a free Korriban in over a thousand years. The sight of the tombs of the ancient lords of the Sith were breathtaking. Even as we disposed of the republic forces there, I could barely wait to see what riches—and traps—they held.
Like most other Sith, I naturally had to aid the war effort. It was expected of me and I liked it. A day spent crushing the Jedi is not a day wasted. But however enjoyable that might be, my true passion lay in exploring the ruins of the ancient Sith. In discovering forgotten artifacts that might lead to the obliteration of the Jedi and the republic.
Though the forces I served with were not always victorious, I was no combat master or tactician. The blame for any such failures, though wrong in so many ways, was not mine to bear. Most members of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge were more often than not deployed well behind the front lines, distant from most pitched battles. This, naturally, suited me just fine.
What did not suit me nearly as fine was Lord Arkanus. Where he had once supported my career properly, it now became clearer and clearer that he did not care about gaining more power. He cared more about history. About ‘preserving the past’ or some such nonsense. Sure, its nice to know the past, but what is the point to study it if you are not going to use it to become more powerful? It was quite simply, a shame to be his apprentice when he held these views.
I had not sufficient power to depose him yet, so I had to do the next best thing: Find a more suitable master to serve under until I could teach Lord Arkanus what it truly means to be Sith. Just before grinding his head into a pulp with my boots.
By this time, I had accumulated a decent amount of contacts throughout the Empire. Thus when I cast out my nets inquiring with subtlety about Lords and Darths of true worth, it took no time at all before I got plenty of feedback. But the vast majority of these were not even worth considering. Some were too ambitious, others didn’t even have the excuse of ambition, they were plain stupid. Then there were the Sith who were too public. I had no interest in attention of that sort. All that would do is attract assassins.
In the end, the choice fell on a young Sith Lord who went by the name of Nyiss. She, unlike all the others, was worthy. She had the proper respect for the past, stayed out of the public eye and had just the right amount of ambition. At only a few years older than myself, she had had time to gather the power to rise to the rank of Sith Lord. And she valued secrecy.
The fact that she had shown no compunction about using any means necessary to kill republic scum made her all the more attractive as a master. In my eyes, her use of chemical and biological weapons was quite simply artistic. I established contact with her and made it clear what I expected in return for joining her, and she in turn made her expectations of me clear. As these expectations did not clash, we made the necessary moves. I collected what I could bring of my power base and once safely away, I made my intentions abundantly clear to Lord Arkanus.
My service to Lord Nyiss naturally did not begin with proper trust from either of us. Trust takes time to build. At first my position was somewhat less than it had been under Lord Arkanus, but as time passed, this would change. She did not expect me to blindly hand over my collection, I did not offer. Any such offer would not spread mistrust. But even this was not the sole contents of my troubles these months. As foolish and complacent as he had grown, my former master did not take kindly to my absconding with what I considered my belongings and my servants. He sent a few assassins my way and tried to have several of my assets seized.
I dispatched his assassins with relative ease, as they all underestimated me. His attempts to seize my assets was easily blocked by my new master, who had quite a bit more political pull than he did. The simple fact that he had proven unable to retain them and me in the first place proved his inadequacy. For all I cared, he could chew on the carpets in anger at my choice.
Eventually, as Nyiss began to trust me, I rebuilt my power base and even made it grow larger, even as she grew more powerful even quicker with the aid of my own power. Some twenty years ago, after some truly deep digging, we recovered evidence of a particularly powerful artifact made by one of the most ancient of Sith Lords and departed to uncover it.
Exactly how we went about that is another tale, but suffice to say, we found it and put it to good use. That artifact is the object that has made me into the Sith I am today. Before our departure, Lord Nyiss dealt some particularly memorable defeats to the republic and the Jedi. These defeats are part of why she eventually rose to the rank of Darth, but far from all of it. I knew after we found the artifact that I truly had found a master worthy of service, a master under whom I could rise far in the Empire.
During the Sacking of Coruscant I helped myself to a good portion of their holocron vaults, liberating a number of Sith holocrons stolen by the Jedi over the years, in addition to removing quite a few Jedi holocrons, the latter of which now rest comfortably inside a Blue Giant whose location I have no intention of sharing with anyone. It was unfortunate that Darth Malgus did not give us sufficient time to remove every single holocron and other records from that edifice to narrow-mindedness. Still, we did cripple it good and proper.
I captured a pet Jedi during the sacking—one who tried to stop my recovery project—who I had some fun with in the months after, slowly breaking her, body and mind. After that, I got my master’s assistance at turning her into a proper sithspawn. Better than Jedi in so many ways.
My master’s project saw some success, but not enough before the Jedi captives were all dead or turned, but I left as soon as my master no longer needed me at her side. Turning Jedi isn’t nearly as enjoyable as breaking them. After a year on Korriban delving into the ruins there and helping a few young acolytes, I spent the next few years making good use of that farce called a “peace treaty”, going further outside imperial borders to find and acquire Sith artifacts that had either been buried outside imperial space, or had been uncovered by others before.
Now I am searching for something even juicier . . . A rumored collector of artifacts, one who has no ties yet to the Empire. One way or another, his or her collection will be mine.