Great Territorial War

"True glory springs not from the silent conquest of ourselves, but the violent conquest of others."

- Darth Viea

The Great Territorial War was a major galactic conflict fought thirty years after the between the oppressive forces of the Third Sith Empire and the Jedi Order. Also involved in the devastating conflict were the forces of the, the and the. The conflict was fought primarily to acquire new territory throughout the galaxy.

The conflict traced it’s origins to the aftermath of the Jedi Civil War when the of  and the Jedi Order were in shambles. Only a few hundred remained on each side and both were desperate to gain a foothold in new territory. Because the Galactic Republic was still attempting to rebuild after the horrifying events of the, they paid the initial conflict no mind as they felt that it was a Jedi affair. However, once the Mandalorians and the Chiss entered the conflict, the Republic knew that it would have to defend its territory. Despite putting up a fight, there was a span of over one month where the Sith controlled Coruscant.

The decisive confrontation came when the Third Sith Empire split into two factions, the loyalists and the Macabre Alliance, and began fighting within their own ranks. The Jedi and the Republic were able to take advantage of the situation and launch an offensive aimed at pushing the Sith out of Republic territories. The conflict was not over until Coruscant was liberated and Empress Viea was killed by a group of former. When the battle ended, the Sith limped back to where they did not become involved in another conflict until the Great Rim Lines War.

Origins
At the end of the and the, few Sith or Jedi remained alive. Following the regrouping of the dozens, perhaps even hundreds of Jedi that had survived the purge, the Jedi Order knew that in order to rebuild itself and maintain the mandate of guardians of peace and justice they would be forced to accept older students who were already tainted in the ways of the outside world. This led to many Jedi Masters interpreting the pre- way of the Jedi differently than they should have, which in turn also caused many of their students to accept misinterpretations as the truth about the Force and the Jedi. Many teachers encouraged their students to strive to achieve goals that should not have been achieved, such as honor and glory in battle. Some also taught that love, specifically romantic love, was essential to all life and the Jedi Code should not be able to restrict it. These teachers continued to teach these ways for thirty years.

In the first twenty years after the end of the war, the remnants of and the  were in complete and total chaos. There was no one true that presided over a Sith Empire. Instead, it had split into two powerful factions. The first faction was led by Darth Sin and the second by Darth Midknight, two of the more powerful Sith Lords of their time. Because of the infighting that the factions created, the threat that the Sith had posed to the galaxy during the war was no longer existent and many even began to forget about the Sith altogether.

As the two halves fought against one another, a third ambitious Lord of the Sith called Darth Devlen allied himself with Mandalore the Deceitful. Mandalore promised to help Devlen become the Dark Lord of the Sith, but only if Devlen agreed to help the in another conquest against the. Devlen agreed and plans were soon put into place that would allow him to usurp the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. However, when he launched a campaign to destroy Sin and Midknight, he found Mandalore’s forces on the opposing side. Devlen’s forces were crushed by the combined strength of the two Sith factions and the Mandalorians, but Devlen himself barely made it out alive. With that, the two factions of Sin and Midknight continued in their civil war.

Devlen, however, continued in his attempt to become the Dark Lord of the Sith. He led a race of people known as the Dematri to Onderon and became an insane megalomaniac after easily disposing of the reigning Queen and becoming sole ruler of the planet. Accordingly to the reports he received on an almost daily basis, the began to think of him as a true threat, specifically because of his prized possession called the Hex Canon. The weapon, which he set up in numerous parts of Onderon, was capable of inflicting massive amounts of damage against anyone who dared to oppose him. It was the only reason he was able to control Onderon, as the people were forced to bow before him in fear.

Devlen was also in control of what he referred to as “The Diamond”, a diamond-shaped cluster of star systems that he had placed Hex Canons on. If anyone was to venture into the diamond, they would always be in range of one of the weapons. Despite this control, Devlen was not comfortable in dominating only the diamond systems. He therefore began formulating a plot to take over systems in the surrounding sectors, though the intelligence stating so leaked into the hands of the Republic. Within weeks, the threat of Devlen seemingly disappeared. No one was able to ascertain why he would simply disappear from Onderon, though it was assumed that there was a good reason and that Devlen would return, as he had erected massive defensives around his weapons and his place in.

Sin and Midknight were certainly pleased with Devlen’s disappearance. However, their interest quickly turned to information they had both received about one of the students of still operating within the galaxy. After making written contact only with the supposed disciple, Midknight and Sin decided that if they wanted to create a new empire for the Sith to destroy the Jedi then they would need to unite under one single banner. Therefore, they decided to put their differences aside and come together to hear what the supposed disciple of Revan had to say.

Midknight and Sin led the strongest of their numerous Lords of the Sith to the abandoned on  where they found the supposed disciple waiting for them. The disciple revealed himself to be a Lord of the Sith called Darth Alumnus and promised to bring about a new era for the Sith with an empire under his complete control. Sin and Midknight initially and immediately refused the thought of an unknown Sith becoming their Dark Lord, though they realized that they would not be able to learn anything else about what he had to offer unless they complied for at least a few months or years. Therefore, they accepted Alumnus into their ranks and crowned him the Dark Lord of the Sith.

For years on end, the new triumvirate of Dark Lords formed a new empire for the Sith that they called the Third Sith Empire, as it was based on the ways and teachings of the and Revan’s Sith Empire. They also worked on plans for a massive invasion of the Galactic Republic and a new purge of the Jedi Order. Their plan was simply to make the Jedi and the Galactic Senate appear weak and incompetent in the eyes of the citizens of the Republic. When the time came when the people finally had no more faith in their government, the Sith would strike with the fury of an empire reborn from the brink of annihilation.

Over the next few years, the Sith began to form treaties with minor corporations in order to build supplies. They formed the treaties under the guise of other, fictional organizations in order to keep the existence of the Sith hidden and the chose the minor corporations for supplies to keep the transactions off of the Republic Intelligence radar. Many of their supplies, including warships, fighters and ground weapons and transports were built far into the Outer Rim, and some within the Unknown Regions, to avoid detection by the Republic. The plan was moving along successfully, much to the delight of Sin and Midknight who knew that one of them would take over as Dark Lord of the Sith in due time.

Outbreak
Ten years after the formation of the Sith Triumvirate on Korriban, Coruscanti Senator Stavan Jetzt was elected Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic on the promise of renewed military strength. He was able to rump his opponents because of his experience in fighting in the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War, the latter even bringing him face to face with Darth Revan and once during his military career. Some were skeptical about his ability to lead the Republic politically, though they had faith in his ability to act as Commander in Chief if and when the Republic was thrust into another deadly conflict.

One week after his election, Jetzt requested that the send a delegation to his office to speak with him about a matter of extreme importance. The Jedi Council agreed and sent Jedi Masters Kit Corwin Rendar, Dexon Kyjar, Damien Nightblade and Jedi Knights Remer Ather and Ussej Padric Bac as the members of the delegation. When they arrived, Jetzt relayed his concerns that the Sith had returned and were preparing a massive invasion of Republic worlds, perhaps even with the help of the Mandalorians. The Jedi, however, could not believe his concerns as they refused to believe that the Sith could have built up such a massive force without them knowing about it. In order to try to persuade them, Jetzt pointed to intelligence sources that claimed that massive amounts of armor had been shipped to worlds once believed to be Sith strongholds in an effort to conduct underground operations. He went so far to suggest that the economic woes the Republic had been facing had something to do with the maneuverings of a new empire. Though the Jedi did not feel it was the workings of the Sith, they agreed to send a team to look into it.

Despite the agreement of the delegation to send a small team, the Jedi Council refused to send anyone on what they believed to be a fool’s errand. However, Rendar sensed that there was something else behind the plot, so he was able to convince the council to send Damien, Remer and Ussej on the mission. Within a day, the team boarded their ships and made their way into the, though they did not know specifically where to look.

The team’s investigation into the matter eventually led them to the sister worlds of and. They discovered that the worlds were secretly housing underground shipyards and weapons manufacturing plants in an effort to rebuild their faltering economy. However, trade disagreements between the two worlds had erupted. The living on Uvena Prime wanted to sell the arms to a corporation known only as The Consortium, a company that operated off of  that had less than noble intentions. The Shistavanens of Uvena III, however, wanted to sell them onto the open market.

The Jedi team believed that the disagreement would lead to a war between the two sister plans. However, by the time they realized that it was inevitable, it was too late to do anything about it as the two worlds had started to mobilize their troops. Damien contacted the Jedi Council and pleaded with them to allow the team to intervene, but the council refused the request. They believed that there was no reason to lose three valuable Jedi in a small civil war, especially one over something as trivial as a trade dispute.

After days of spatial warfare between the two planets with the Jedi hidden on the sidelines, Uvena Prime won the conflict and began to sell their arms to The Consortium. The team followed the weapon’s flow through a maze within the Outer Rim until it led them to Korriban where it was picked up by a group of Sith Knights. Posing as Sith Lords, the team cautiously penetrated the security of the Sith Temple and made their way to the throne room of Darth Alumnus whom they learned was the Dark Lord of the Sith and the sole surviving student of Darth Revan. The Dark Lord was able to expose them as Jedi, however, and a large battle erupted between them and the Sith. Though it had seemed unlikely, the team was able to escape and report their findings to a very disturbed Jedi Council.

As the Jedi Council endlessly debated the matter, another threat began to make its way out of the woodwork. Devlen reappeared with the Dematri on Onderon and began using the Hex Canons against Kyra Maans, the woman that he had allowed to become Queen of Onderon in his absence. He led his limited amount of forces to the palace where he expected to be allowed in, but he realized that things had changed and the people would no longer tolerate his rule. He led his forces against the palace guards and the royal security forces, but his endeavor failed. As he turned his Hex Canons onto the palace, a small squadron of Jedi Knights led by Kavari Antrell broke into the base of the main control center of the weapons and was able to stop Devlen’s men before they fired it. They decided not to destroy it, however, but rather shut it down as they would be able to figure out some kind of defense for it so they could protect against the canons in The Diamond if they were ever reactivated. Unfortunately, Devlen escaped, though the vast majority of his men were taken into custody.

As the events on Onderon continued to unfold and become public knowledge throughout the Republic, a small cryogenically frozen pod drifted through space within the Unknown Regions. The pod was found by the on a vessel under the command of Matron Lirreka of the Chiss House of EbonClaw. Lirreka brought the pod onboard her vessel and discovered that it was carrying a young, cryogenically frozen Human woman. Once she was unfrozen, Lirreka waited for days for the woman to come out of her catatonic state. When the woman finally did wake up, Lirreka began to question her. However, the woman suffered from amnesia and knew nothing about her past. Even so, Lirreka recognized that the woman was able to recall numerous unknown and well-thought out tactical strategies so she appointed her as a Vice-Matron of the House of EbonClaw, a title that was mostly symbolic.

A few weeks later, the amnesia began to pass. After a few days, the woman remembered her name to be Adena Qel-Droma and that she was a member of an ancient order known as the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi. However, she refused to explain anything else to Lirreka as she had a change of heart regarding her position within the House of EbonClaw and the Chiss. She wanted to help end the fighting in the galaxy and was dismissed by Lirreka. However, Lirreka had already planted many darker seeds into Adena’s mind, ones that the EbonClaw felt would serve her well in the future.

Adena immediately made her way to Coruscant and was taken before the Jedi Council. After a series of tests, they were amazed to find that such an ancient figure stood before them, though she did not tell them what she knew about the ancient Jedi. After much deliberation, she was granted the rank of Jedi Master and was assigned to help oversee the rebuilt enclave on. However, despite her newfound position, she continued having visions of Lirreka, visions that she did not know how to stop which greatly disturbed her.

On Onderon, the Dematri returned with another sizeable force of warriors in an attempt to reacquire lost territory. Devlen brutalized the citizens of Iziz in an effort to draw Kyra out of hiding, but she refused to negotiate with terrorists. Once the Jedi received word of what was happening, Adena volunteered to lead the mission as she was once the Watchman of Onderon and felt that it was her duty to protect the planet, even after thousands of years. While en route to the backwater planet, a man named Tamir, who was the leader of a group called the Nem’Vaah, became interested in Adena and began to stalk her. During the battle in the streets of Iziz, Tamir watched from afar as Devlen sent his HK unit droids to help carry out suicide attacks.

Adena quickly made her way to the throne room and fought off attackers alongside Kyra. During the battle, Adena was injured and Tamir arrived at the scene. Adena knew that he had been watching her ever since she had volunteered for the mission on Coruscant and got into a heated exchange because of it. Devlen also appeared in the throne room, hoping to kill Kyra once and for all. However, Lirreka reappeared in Adena’s mind and told her to kill Devlen. Adena managed to pushed Tamir away from her and make her way to Devlen. After a brief engagement, she slit his throat. When it was announced that Devlen had been killed, the citizens of Onderon finally felt that the days of war in their streets were over.

After the battle was over, Adena finally made her way to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine for rest and recuperation. When she arrived, she was introduced to Ussej Padric Bac and Dexon Kyjar who had been assigned to oversee the training of the younglings that were assigned there. The two Jedi greeted her with open arms and provided her with quarters to regain her strength in. Days later, she felt that they were open minded and that she could trust them, she told them what she believed to be the true history about the formation of the Jedi Order. She claimed that a man called The Skywalker had spoken to the God of the Universe and formed the Order of the Jedi Bendu of the Ophuchi. After eight-five thousand years of existence, a schism caused by Supreme Chancellor Fillorean broke the order into two different factions: the Jedi Order and the loyalists. Not believing a word she said, they chose not to report what she told them as they felt it wouldn’t make a difference. Adena was distraught that they did not believe her, though she tried to put it behind her.

Months later on Korriban, there Sith were becoming frustrated with the inaction of Darth Alumnus. Midknight confronted him about it, but Alumnus stated that all would happen in due time. Refusing to wait any longer, Midknight challenged Alumnus and struck him down, thus becoming the new Dark Lord of the Sith. Midknight then took a student named Darth Boli as his apprentice. When Sin received word of this, he was outraged that it was not discussed with him, but even more outraged that he was not even so much as made the heir to the throne. When he learned that Midknight was planning on using his forces to attack Dantooine and prove his might, Sin gathered his own forces and prepared for battle, claiming that he would help Midknight in his onslaught against the Jedi.

Sin led the ground forces against the enclave itself, forcing Ussej, Dexon and Adena to lead their minimal forces against the Sith. However, the Jedi were relieved to see that the Sith had become cocky and did not bring a large ground force of Dark Side users, but rather simple Sith soldiers. Ussej and Dexon fought through the fray, making their way to Sin. When they engaged him, Sin held his own for some time, but his goal was to usurp the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith. He knew that there was a chance that a Jedi Knight and a Jedi Master could defeat him, so he called his forces back to their vessels as the Jedi celebrated their victory.

The Jedi tracked the Sith ships back into orbit. They intercepted a transmission between Sin and Midknight where Sin vowed to declare himself Dark Lord of the Sith. When Midknight asked why Sin would kill him, Sin told them that the Sith needed a strong leader once again. Sin’s ships then fired on Midknight’s and destroyed them, leading the Jedi to report the news of a new Dark Lord of the Sith to the Jedi Council on Coruscant.

Dull Periods
When Sin returned to Korriban, he officially proclaimed himself to be Dark Lord of the Sith, effectively removing Boli from the equation. Boli, however, did not take kindly to the idea of someone other than him being the Dark Lord, so he and his supporters began to launch revolts against Sin and his followers. The infighting began to drag on for weeks, though nothing changed as both sides were evenly matched in combat and Sin and Boli never came face to face. Some believed that to be cowardly while others simply believed that they were waiting for the right moment to strike out at one another. Regardless, the fighting continued.

Not all of the Sith were eager to take sides. Darth Taz, a powerful Lord of the Sith and one of the people on the short list to become Sin’s apprentice, left to seek out the Mandalorians. For his entire life, he had known that he was a Mandalorian by birth, but his heritage only began to call to him when he saw that the Sith were destroying themselves and that it was possible that he had no future with them. Therefore, he traveled day and night across the galaxy in search of the Mandalorian Clans to learn about his past and to take power in whatever way he could.

After days of searching, Taz landed on and found a Mandalorian settlement. When he arrived, he was brought before Mandalore the Deceitful and immediately challenged him for the title of Mandalore. Mandalore, however, thought that the idea was laughable, but decided to humor Taz regardless of his opinions. Mandalore and Taz appeared to be evenly matched, but because Mandalore agreed to allow anything in the fight Taz was able to beat him using his superior powers with the Force. At the last moment, Taz beheaded Mandalore and proclaimed himself to be Mandalore the Conqueror, the new leader of the Mandalorian Clans, effectively stripping himself of his Sith title and his past within the Third Sith Empire.

Shortly thereafter, the new Mandalore took his fleets on routine patrol in the far edge of the Outer Rim Territories to view their skills in combat and under pressure, as he hoped to find a species foolish enough to engage him. While they were near the Unknown Regions, the Mandalorians were intercepted by the fleets of the Chiss House of Ebonclaw, as well as Matron Lirreka herself. The fleets engaged in a small skirmish that lasted for hours on end. Impressed by the others skills, Mandalore and Lirreka held a meeting where they formed an alliance and trade deals with one another, though Mandalore did not trust Lirreka at all.

After the battle, months went by without any battles or conflicts between any sides. The Mandalorians and EbonClaw remained stagnant as they traded with one another, the Sith continued fighting within their ranks and the Jedi Order and the Republic were simply pleased to see that they had time to regroup and re-strategize. To some, however, the time of silence seemed to end as quickly as it had began. Adena and Kyra agreed to meet with one another in a nightclub in Iziz simply for some sort of social interaction, though Lirreka appeared before both of them, and only then, and spoke about death rights and the returning the skulls of the EbonClaw that could be killed by the Republic in the future. Lirreka told Adena to meet with her at the Tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun, as it was the only way to end the madness that Adena had been feeling with Lirreka constantly within her mind.

Despite Kyra’s strong disagreement, Adena made her way to Freedon Nadd’s tomb on Dxun. However, she quickly realized that it was nothing more than a trap. Within her mind, Lirreka forced her to let some of the darkness in the tomb overtake her. Adena was triggered into letting her rage and frustration over the events of the Jedi Bendu schism out, and she lashed out at the vision of Lirreka to try to kill her once and for all. However, Lirreka was able to use her own abilities within Adena’s mind to reverse the attack, effectively putting Adena into a coma. Kyra, who had been watching from a distance with her guards, rushed to Adena’s side to find her help. However, after only a few minutes, Adena emerged from her coma. Even so, she had distressing information about how Lirreka had searched her mind and learned of many sacred Sith and Jedi sites throughout the galaxy. Adena and Kyra both reported the events to the Jedi Council and they both made their way to Coruscant for safety. The Jedi Council quickly began sending knights and masters to the sacred sites throughout the galaxy in an attempt to track Lirreka, though only the EbonClaw knew that it was simply a trick meant to break up and scatter the Jedi to draw their attention away from their true enemies.

On Onderon, Ussej Padric Bac had been assigned to be a Jedi Colonel and lead the Republic Task Force there in Kyra’s absence. While he was on the planet, Ussej uncovered intelligence about another rebellion by the remnants of the Dematri. When they learned that Ussej had uncovered the intelligence, they captured him in his sleep and dragged his unconscious body to their underground base of operations a few kilometers outside of Iziz. When they arrived, Ussej was brought back to consciousness and placed into a Force cage to drain his powers while holding him. They hoped that the Republic would agree to give up the planet in exchange for Ussej’s return, but the weak Ussej told them that they had to be incredibly naïve to believe that. Ussej was proven right, as he was held in the underground bunker for weeks on end.

When Ussej had disappeared, Kyra decided to return to Onderon for the safety of her people. However, she soon decided to begin training in the ways of the Jedi under Kit Corwin Rendar, as she had always known that she was sensitive to the Force. Therefore, she allowed her young daughter, Arael, to succeed her as Queen of Onderon. Shortly thereafter, Kyra left to return to Coruscant, leaving her somewhat angered daughter to attend to her new and overwhelming duties as queen. However, within a few weeks, Kyra contacted Arael in the hopes of keeping constant communication, though she found that Arael had rejected her for leaving her as queen at only twenty years old. Arael’s rejection proved to be an emotional blow to Kyra, one that the Jedi Council was well aware of.

On Korriban, events in the Sith infighting continued to unfold at what they believed was an alarming rate. Sin was forced into hiding due to the loss of many of his forces and Boli crowned himself Dark Lord of the Sith, though Sin vowed to one day return. Boli also made his intentions known to the Jedi Order and promised to usher in a new era of darkness across the galaxy. However, the threats seemed baseless as weeks based by.

Shortly thereafter, Sin came out of hiding and, in an attempt to regain some of his power and prestige, attacked Concord Dawn, despite the fact that the Mandalorians had helped him defeat Devlen years earlier. He moved his fleet into position around the Mandalorian world and soon began attacking clan outposts on the surface. Everything went as he planned it until the House of EbonClaw arrived and obliterated his fleet, though Sin survived the attack and agreed to rejoin the empire under the reign of Darth Boli, though Sin naturally had another agenda of his own in mind.

After Sin returned, Boli held a meeting with Adena in an attempt to gain information about the Jedi, as he believed that Adena had fallen to the Dark Side. However, the rest of the Sith knew that he was wrong, and Sith spies reported to Sin that Boli not only tried to befriend the Jedi Master but he had tried to romance her as well. Many Sith became outraged at such an act and turned to Sin to find an answer, effectively overwhelming Boli’s forces. The change of allegiance caught the attention of Stavan Jetzt when it was reported to him, and it was there that he decided to react.