The Death Guild (Mors Forum) was an ancient order of Force-sensitive monks, sometimes regarded as Dark Jedi, that followed a nihilistic code. Their members were known as death priests (Sacerdos Mortis), or in the Hovunian language as Sakurdemor.
Traditional death priest swords were curved and serrated, with handles made of sandstone. As their code dictated, death priests did not wear metal armor in battle but instead reinforced their black robes with leather or wooden armor plating.
History[]
The Death Guild were believed to have originated as an unpopular sect of the Jedi Order around the time of the Great Hyperspace War, whose members sought to reform the Jedi Code to embrace both the light and dark sides of the Force. These reformists traveled to the Hovun system, where they established an enclave on Hovun IV and became part of a local warlord's army. There the death priests became regarded as deities of both war and order. Remaining death priests on Coruscant were eradicated after a failed attempt to eliminate the High Councillors. On Hovun, the death priests dominated the local mining colonies and formed a theocratic monarchy, ruled by the death priests and their Force-sensitive descendants. Several Hovunian cities revolted against the theocracy, though these attempts failed. During the New Sith Wars, the death priests began attacking Republic warships passing through neighboring systems, prompting a Jedi-led army to invade Hovun. Hovun's capital city, Sakurdir, was besieged by Republic forces and all known death priests were all killed in battle. Hovun became a Republic territory and the death priests became extinct, though survived through local folklore, historical records, and ceremonies such as reenactments in the capital city.
In 30 BBY, a rogue Jedi Padawan traveled to his homeworld of Hovun and claimed to have descended from a death priest, using this claim to raise a small criminal army that took control of the capital city. The renegade allied his city-state with the Hutt Cartel and allowed Hutt merchants to sell illegal narcotics A joint force of the Republic Judicial Forces and Hovunian Security Force immediately responded to the takeover and, after a month-long siege that saw over 700 casualties, the renegade was killed in battle and order was restored, though the city remained a hub for criminals such as smugglers and bounty hunters (as evident by the many casinos, cantinas, and spaceports in the area) for years onward.