| Destiny
|
I hope your Supreme Leader is taking notes, boy. This is how you conquer a galaxy.
—Darth Vorath
Darth Vorath was a Human male Dark Lord of the Sith and former Jedi Knight. Born Kalon Soral to the revered Taarn Soral, he was a peer of the man who would become Revan and fought in the Mandalorian Wars as a Revanchist. Following the conclusion of the Mandalorians Wars, he went on to serve as a Sith Marauder in Darth Revan's Sith Empire and fought in the civil war that erupted from its collapse. After the fall of the Sith Triumvirate, he came upon the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord, who took him as an apprentice, eventually shaping him into Darth Vorath.
Biography[]
Early aspirations[]
Kalon Soral was born on Coruscant to Taarn Soral and Eve Sendor, Jedi Knights who had fought in the Great Sith War over ten years prior. Relentlessly coddled and spoiled by his parents, Kalon grew up with a great aspiration to follow in his parents' footsteps and become a great Jedi Knight. Losing his father at the age of six only further drove his determination to achieve this dream. While his father's death made his mother reluctant to bring Kalon into the Jedi Order, she ended up doing so after seeing his strong resolve. Upon joining the Jedi Order, Kalon was taken as an apprentice by Jedi Master Hazar Bailum, a peer and friend of his father.[1]
Kalon was infamous among his peers for being notoriously stuck-up, endlessly boasting about the skills and talent he had inherited from his parents. While the other Padawans resented him for his enormous ego, the Jedi High Council took interest in him and nominated him for knighthood ahead of the others. While Master Bailum objected to this, seeing his Padawan as not yet fit for the rank of Jedi Knight, the word of Grand Master Nomi Sunrider proved final and Kalon successfully passed the Jedi Trials.[1]
The Mandalorian Wars[]
When the Mandalorian Wars broke out, Kalon's rival Revan began advocating for Jedi intervention. When the Jedi Council refused to participate in the war, Revan started a movement of Jedi that became known as the Revanchists. One by one Kalon's contemporaries joined this movement while he stood by and debated over whether to join them. On the one hand, he wanted to bring justice to the Mandalorian invaders, but on the other he didn't want to lose his favor with the Jedi Council. It was not until Nova Larisa, a female Sephi Jedi to whom he was attracted, joined Revan's cause that he did the same.[1][2]
Throughout the war, Kalon frequently butted heads with his fellow Revanchists, particularly Malak and Meetra Surik, both who held prominent positions among the Jedi Crusaders and served as Revan's lieutenants. More than once Kalon tried to earn his place at Revan's side, but was refused because of his aggressive behavior. For most of the war, he was mainly relegated to leading grounds forces alongside Voren Renstaal.[1]
In 3960 BBY, the Revanchists made their final push against the Mandalorians. Deploying a Republic fleet at Malachor V, the Jedi and the Mandalorians made their last stand. Kalon was placed under the command of General Meetra Surik—to both their chagrin—and he helped coordinate the battle above the planet. In the end, the Mandalorians were defeated with the death of their leader at Revan's hands and Malachor V was fractured by the use of the Mass Shadow Generator.[1]
Marauder to warlord[]
Kalon as a Sith Marauder
After the battle, Kalon returned to Coruscant feeling hollow. Avoiding contact with the Jedi Council, he visited his mother at her apartment, only to find her missing, without leaving a note or any indication to where she had vanished to. Left without a family and a purpose, Kalon bode his time until he heard again from Revan, who had since formed a Sith Empire and become a Dark Lord of the Sith. Without a second thought, Kalon left Coruscant for good and joined his former rival's order. Attaining the rank of Marauder, Kalon went on to fight in the war against the Jedi Order he had once been a part of. At some point during the war, he encountered his former master Hazar Bailum on Mon Gazza. Bailum attempted to convince his erstwhile apprentice to turn away from the darkness, but Kalon refused, telling the old Jedi Master that the Sith was the only life for him. He then fought and swiftly slayed Bailum without any hesitation.[1]
Having wizened from his time with the Revanchists, Kalon decided to bide his time rather than attempt at usurping either Darth Revan or his successor Darth Malak at any point during the war, knowing both were stronger than him. When Malak fell at the hands of a redeemed Revan, the Sith Empire collapsed and broke into numerous factions on Korriban. Kalon was quick to claim leadership of one of these factions and became a prominent warlord in the early days of the Sith Civil War, ruling alongside his lover Nova Larisa.[1]
Kalon's reign proved to be short-lived however. At the height of the civil war, Revan -- now a Jedi once more rather than a Sith—returned to Korriban with a strike force and drove the Sith off Korriban. While most of the warlords fled, Kalon stood his ground and confronted Revan personally. When the former Dark Lord offered Kalon a chance to surrender, the warlord rebuffed him and ordered Nova to attack Revan. His lover attacked the Prodigal Knight in a flurry and the Prodigal Knight was forced to strike her down when presented with no other option. Enraged, Kalon attacked Revan and clashed lightsabers with his once-rival. While nearly equal in skill, Revan proved the stronger combatant and swiftly defeated Kalon. Rejecting another offer to surrender, Kalon implored Revan to kill him as well but the former Dark Lord denied him the satisfaction of embracing the dark side again. Instead, he departed from Kalon's fortress while the rest of his army was destroyed by the Republic. Left without anyone to command, Kalon left Korriban and went into exile.[1]
Becoming Vorath[]
Following his disgraceful defeat, Kalon decided to wait out the rest of the civil war's course. From the ashes of the Darth Revan's Empire rose the Sith Triumvirate and with them came the Dark Wars. Kalon remained an observer as the Sith Lords tore themselves apart before being summarily defeated by the Jedi Exile, Kalon's former compatriot Meetra Surik. Once the Triumvirate had fallen, Kalon returned to Malachor V only to find the planet destroyed by the Mass Shadow Generator. Just as he was about to leave the system, Kalon was greeted by a voice in his head. The voice belonged to the spirit of a Sith Lord named Darth Trayus, who had been sealed within the core of the Trayus Academy on Malachor. Now that the planet was destroyed, the ancient Dark Lord was now free. Seeing potential in the fallen Jedi, Trayus offered to make Kalon his apprentice, to which the fallen Jedi agreed. Adopting the name Darth Vorath, the newly-christened Lord of the Sith made for the Unknown Regions, intent on becoming respected once again.[1]
Darth Vorath traveled across the galaxy in search of scattered remnants of Revan's empire, recruiting Dark Jedi and ex-Republic military officers. In time he had gathered an army and was prepared to make his move against the Jedi. However, before he could launch his attack, he was confronted by another Sith who introduced himself as Lord Vidius. A member of the thought-extinct Sith race, Vidius claimed to belong to another Sith Empire ruled by the mysterious Sith Emperor. The Sith Emperor saw Vorath as a potential obstacle to his plans and had sent Vidius to give the novice Dark Lord two options: either join the Sith Emperor or be destroyed. Having stood in the shadows of others for so long, Vorath refused to join the Emperor and prepared himself to fight Vidius. Knowing Vorath would be no match for the other Sith, the spirit of Darth Trayus decided to intervene and distract Vidius, buying Vorath enough time to escape.[1]
Leaving his army behind, Vorath retreated into Wild Space and came upon the desolate world of Sed'tral, where he decided to set up his base of operations. While exploring the barren world, he came upon an oubliette, a stasis casket used by the Sith. The capsule contained the slumbering body of an ancient Sith Lord and was guarded by a Talortai, who immediately attacked Vorath. After defeating the Talortai, Vorath broke into the capsule and killed the comatose Sith within. Seeing him to be stronger than his previous master, the Talortai pledged loyalty to Vorath and was made an acolyte. Not wishing to risk losing his life to the Sith Empire, Vorath decided to bide his time once more. Using the oubliette to preserve his life, Vorath waited out the rise and fall of numerous Sith Empires, only coming out at irregular intervals to plan and prepare for his eventual rise.[1]
Preparations[]
Over the next three thousand years, Darth Vorath prepared for his return. Laying low during the reign of the Sith Emperor, he came out of his hiatus at some point during the New Sith Wars to scour Sith tombs across the galaxy. When Darth Bane wiped out the Brotherhood of Darkness, Vorath returned to hibernation and tasked agents he had recruited to monitor the activities of the Banite Sith.[1]
Around 132 BBY, a former Jedi Master by the name of Tolrus Rawn arrived on Sed'tral and defeated his Talortai guardian. Vorath saw potential in the Twi'lek and took him in as his first Sith apprentice, naming him Darth Scythe. He then tasked Scythe in gathering resources for his order, as well as to oversee the Banite Sith and reawaken him when or if they succeeded.[1]
A century later, Vorath briefly exited stasis and discovered the holocron of Ajunta Pall, from which he first learned of the Armor of Valtheran.[3][2]
In 19 BBY, the Sith did indeed triumph when Darth Sidious took over the Republic and made it into the Galactic Empire. While this delayed Vorath's plans, he simply saw it as a momentary setback and carried on with his scheme, doing well to lay low so that neither Sidious nor his apprentice Darth Vader noticed him. A year after the rise of the Empire, Vorath managed to get his hands on a sample of Anakin Skywalker's DNA and used it to create a clone of the Chosen One. It was Vorath's hope that this clone would prove just as strong as his template and defeat Vader should the Sith Lord ever find Vorath, as well as to serve as Vorath's Shadow Hand in the future. Along with the Zabrak Darth Ravage, Darth Nemesis came to serve as one of Vorath's top enforcers.[1]
Dark Lord Ascending[]
In 4 ABY, over twenty years after the Empire's ascension, Darth Sidious and his apprentice were both vanquished at the Battle of Endor, leaving a power vacancy in both the Empire and the Sith. Vorath saw this as the perfect opportunity to set his plans into motion. On the secret Imperial throne world of Byss, he found a cache of clone bodies created by Sidious for emergency use. Believing Sidious to have been unsuccessful in transferring his essence into these bodies, Vorath released one of these clones and convinced them that they were in fact the real Palpatine. Not long after, Vorath found out that an Imperial admiral by the name of Gallius Rax was following a contingency plan given to him by the original Palpatine and pitting the Imperial fleet against the New Republic's over the planet Jakku, knowing that they would tear each other apart. As Vorath needed the Imperial fleet for his own use, he had one of his Sith contact the commanding officer of either side and inform them of Rax's plan. Both sides then turned on Rax and fired upon his base, killing the Fleet Admiral. The Imperial fleet then retreated from Jakku and eventually joined forces with Grand Admiral Thrawn.[4]
The following year, the clone of Darth Sidious was discovered by Thrawn and the "reborn" Emperor assumed command of the Grand Admiral's forces, absorbing them into what he dubbed "the Dark Empire." This was all in fact part of Vorath's ploy to weed out Palpatine's loyalists so that he could eventually eliminate them and prevent any frivolous uprisings from breaking out. In order to ensure that the clone Emperor followed Vorath's plan accordingly, he tasked his minion Atha Prime with monitoring Sidious and influencing his every action.[5]
Toah Jarsan
While the Dark Empire gathered under his watch, Darth Vorath came across a young Jedi who was apprenticed to Luke Skywalker, the first of the New Jedi Order. This boy, Toah Jarsan, was the son of Aron Jarsan, a member of the underground Revanite cult. Aron had implanted false memories into his son's mind, making Toah think he was the son of Revan. Unbeknownst to Vorath, another Revanite member had infiltrated his Sith Order and planted false memories into the Dark Lord as well, leading Vorath to also believe that Revan was Toah's father. This caused Vorath to develop a vendetta towards Toah Jarsan, still bitter over what Revan had done to him on Korriban three thousand years ago.[2][1]
By 8 ABY, Vorath had begun working with an individual known by the name of Snoke. Vorath directed Snoke and his agents to capture the firstborn son of Han and Leia Solo, Ben, with the intention of raising him as a Sith. Preoccupied with his other machinations, Vorath left the young Solo in the care of Snoke aboard Amaxine Station.[6]
Four years after creating the Dark Empire, the clone Palpatine made his move against the New Republic while Vorath watched from afar. The reborn Emperor attempted to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side for Vorath's service but was stopped by the spirits of Skywalker's father and masters. The following year, Palpatine launched an assault on Coruscant. Just as Vorath and Atha Prime had predicted, the more straight-minded Thrawn saw the flaw in this plan and ordered the fleet to retreat. Those who were loyal to Palpatine stayed while those who weren't retreated with Thrawn to Dromund Kaas. The battle proved to be a failure and the surviving fleet, now only a handful of starships, retreated to Byss. There, Vorath confronted the clone Palpatine and executed him, forcing the rest of the Dark Empire to fall back to Bastion. Vorath allowed them to flee, deeming them no longer a threat. In the meantime, he returned to Dromund Kaas, where he would begin building his new empire and prepare for his ascension.[5]
Building an Empire[]
Over the next fourteen years, Darth Vorath continued making preparations for his attack on the New Republic. On Dromund Kaas, he instated Espaa Valorum, scion of House Valorum, as puppet leader of his Crimson Empire to oversee operations while he and his Sith dealt with other matters.
As arrogant as he was, Vorath was not foolish enough to forget his own mortality. Knowing that he could possibly by vanquished, he stored his memories and personality onto a Rakatan device known as the mindspear and entrusted it to Atha Prime. At the same time, he created a clone of himself to father a child with the Dark Jedi Lumiya, planning on using the mindspear on the resulting child to create another avatar of himself should his original body be destroyed.[7]
While Vorath was busy with building his empire, several Imperial warlords rose to take on the New Republic themselves. Vorath allowed most of them to proceed with their activities, knowing that they would not succeed. However, in 14 ABY, he was forced to step in to deal with Lord Hethrir, ruler of the Empire Reborn. The Reborn had previously attempted to attack the New Jedi Order two years earlier, only to be thwarted by Kyle Katarn. They had also suffered another recent defeat with the failure of Tavion Axmis, who had been attempting to resurrect the ancient Dark Lord Marka Ragnos. As Hethrir had now set his eyes on kidnapping the three children of Leia Organa Solo, Vorath decided it was time to be rid of the former Procurator of Justice. As killing him would attract unwanted attention, Vorath instead broke Hethrir's mind with the Force. Hethrir's resulting madness quickly drove his followers away from Crseih Station and the Empire Reborn was soon no more.[4]
In 24 ABY, Vorath made contact with the Yuuzhan Vong. Meeting with Nom Anor on Adumar, he convinced the Yuuzhan Vong to postpone their invasion so that he could enact his plan.[8] Simultaneously, he had his Sith infiltrate Anor's ship and retrieve the captive A'Sharad Hett. Upon meeting Hett, he offered the former Jedi to join his order. When Hett rejected him, Vorath had the fallen Jedi encased within an oubliette and left him on Sed'tral.
Shortly after dealing with Hett, Vorath traveled to the Outer Rim world of Damosus to find his "son" Varon. After befriending the young boy, Vorath had Varon kill his brother and uncle before taking him to Dromund Kaas, where he was placed under the tutelage of Roon Altor.[7]
By 25 ABY, Darth Vorath finally had almost everything he needed to execute his plan. All he needed was one last card for him to play: the enchanted Armor and Staff of Valtheran. Traveling to Prakith, he confronted and slayed the "Immortal God-King" Darth Andeddu, who then led him to Oricon, where the spirit of Darth Vitus gave him the armor and staff. After absorbing both Sith spirits into the Staff of Valtheran, Vorath then returned to Dromund Kaas, where he revealed himself and his Order to the New Republic. With the Empire under his control -- and with his ally Atha Prime manipulating the New Republic from within—Vorath was at last ready to take his revenge.[3]
War and fall[]
The Imperial-Sith War quickly spread across the galaxy, conquering worlds along the Daragon Trail on a route that would eventually take the Sith to Coruscant, as it had for the Sith Empire over five thousand years ago. Thanks to Atha Prime secretly pulling the strings of the New Republic, victory came easily and swift for the Sith invasion.
Leaving command of his forces to Darth Scythe, Vorath remained on Dromund Kaas while he prepared for the eventual assault on Coruscant. To make sure he would have no competition in taking over the galaxy, he used the Staff of Valtheran to contain the spirit of Darth Trayus, who had stayed by Vorath's side since the conception of his Sith Order. With Trayus no longer a potential threat, Vorath was in the clear for taking over the galaxy.
After a year of conflict, the Sith forces eventually reached Coruscant. Arriving on his flagship, the Apocalypse, Vorath unleashed the dark side creature known as Kal-Teraz upon the New Republic forces, destroying various space and ground forces. He then went down to the planet itself, where he found and captured Toah Jarsan, bent on finally taking his revenge on Revan and his legacy. Before he could do so, he was confronted by Jarsan's master Luke Skywalker.
While the Dark Lord dueled with the son of the Chosen One, things slowly began to turn against Vorath's favor. As Grand Admiral Thrawn had died shortly before the war, some Imperial forces were no longer certain in their choice of siding with another Sith and lacked the intelligence and strategic insight Thrawn had had. At the command of Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, these Imperials turned against the Sith and sided with the Republic in fighting against Vorath's forces.
Meanwhile, Vorath was more focused on his fight with Skywalker. Eventually he was able to mortally wound the Jedi Master, although not before losing the Staff of Valtheran. Now free, the Sith spirits possessed Vorath and drove him insane, deliberately weakening him. He then attacked Toah Jarsan, who was able to cut down the Dark Lord of the Sith and destroy him once and for all.
Post-mortem[]
With his death and Pellaeon's betrayal, the Sith and their forces were driven off Coruscant and retreated back to Korriban. The Imperials that had betrayed them eventually became the Imperial Remnant and made peace with the New Republic -- now reformed into the Galactic Alliance -- while the remnants of Vorath's order were eventually tracked down and wiped out by the Jedi.
Although Atha Prime had been seemingly slain by Luke Skywalker's sister Leia Organa Solo, the sentient armor managed to escape Coruscant and found another host to possess. Retrieving the mindspear that had Vorath's memories, Atha planned on tracking down the Jedi Knight Jaden Korr, whom the Sith had had eyes on since his defeat of the Disciples of Ragnos, to use him as a vessel for Vorath's consciousness. However, his plans were delayed by Toah Jarsan and his next host, Mammon Hoole, proved difficult to possess.
In 40 ABY, fourteen years after his demise, Vorath's genetic son Varon Krul seceded from the peaceful Sith Order of Darth Sedriss and declared himself Dark Lord of the Sith. Atha Prime saw an opportunity and made a deal with the mysterious Snoke, who was manipulating Varon, to secure the young Sith and use him as a vessel for Vorath's memories. However, when things began to fall apart for Varon, Snoke turned against both him and Atha. The mad scientist was then apprehended by Toah Jarsan on Jakku, who then destroyed the mindspear, thus preventing any chance of the Dark Lord returning.
After the failure of his plot, Varon returned to his homeworld of Damosus, where he settled down with Lysira Naris and had a son with her, whom they named Kalon after the man Vorath had once been. It was the hope of Kalon Sendor's parents that he would one day become a Jedi Knight and bring justice to the name once more.
Back from the dead[]
In 42 ABY, sixteen years after he had seemingly perished, the spirit of Darth Vorath was brought back from the depths of Chaos when Luke Skywalker was similarly resurrected by unknown means. Possessing the body of his grandson Kalon Sendor, Vorath made contact with Kylo Ren on Damosus before being confronted by Skywalker and Vorath's former apprentice Darth Nemesis, now known as Kane Skywalker. After Vorath swiftly defeated the Skywalkers, the confrontation was interrupted by the arrival of Supreme Leader Snoke's flagship the Supremacy, and Vorath was brought onto the Mega Star Destroyer along with the Skywalkers, Varon, and Lysira Naris.[6]
While being held in a cell aboard the Supremacy, Vorath reached out to Kylo Ren, goading him to realize his true potential by overthrowing Snoke.[9]
Personality and traits[]
Throughout his youth, Kalon Soral was considered by many to be very egotistic. His relation to a revered Jedi Knight led him to boast his accomplishments to his peers, who found his attitude grating. Even his master, Hazar Bailum, found his strong sense of self-importance to be particularly tiresome and would admonish Soral many times. When it came to joining the Revanchists, Soral was hesitant at first, fearing that it would tarnish his reputation. It was his love for Nova Larisa that finally pushed him to do so.
Behind the scenes[]
Darth Vorath was created as the main antagonist of the Destiny Universe by the user of the same name. His name is taken from a Transformers character, since it had the phonetic sound of the word "wrath" in it without being too obvious, which Darth names tended to be. His pre-Sith name, Kalon Soral, was taken from the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic character creation name generator.
In earlier stories, the role of Darth Vorath as the Dark Lord after Sidious was fulfilled by Darth Nimtra.
In the author's mind, the main divergence between the Destiny timeline and the Legends timeline is centered around Vorath and his machinations. In the Legends timeline, the author imagines that Vorath either died during the Jedi Civil War or was killed by Vitiate's Sith, thus preventing his future rise.
This article uses images of Darth Scabrous and Xanatos to "portray" Darth Vorath.
Appearances[]
- The New Republic (First appearance)
- Rise of the Dark Empire
- The Emperor's Wrath
- A Delayed Invasion
- The Final Destiny (Appears in flashback(s))
- Calm Before the Storm
- Seeds from the Past
- The End of All Days
- The Lifted Veil (Illusion)
- The Corellian Conspiracy (Mentioned only)
- Walkers in the Sky
- The Seventh Heir
- There Be Dragons
- The Balancing Act
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 The Essential Guide to Star Wars Destiny
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Seeds from the Past
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Calm Before the Storm
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Destiny Documents: The Imperial Warlords
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Emperor's Wrath
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Walkers in the Sky
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Final Destiny
- ↑ A Delayed Invasion
- ↑ The Seventh Heir