The Eternal Sith Empire, also known as the Dark Imperium, the Order of Purity, or simply as the Eternal Empire was a powerful and enigmatic imperial government originally established in Unknown Space by the Sith species in the wake of their near-extinction.
Beginning in 176 ABY, the Sith's immortal Dark Lord led the Empire in a campaign of destruction and oppression until their complete conquest and "purification" of every region from the Deep Core to the Mid Rim. They ruled this space unopposed until renewed rebellion and internal strife brought about the Last Sith War.
History[]
Origins[]
You believed us vanquished, to be nothing more than a mere page in your history records, but you were wrong. We grew strong in darkness and supped on hatred for thousands of years. Now... We have returned.
—Lord Destrous to Jedi Master Kyban during the Conquest of Coruscant.
In the year of 3,641 BBY, during the Galactic War was fought between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire, Emperor Vitiate was defeated and supposedly killed by Jedi Master Carthon Marr on Dromund Kaas. This vital loss in the Sith Empire's leadership eventually led to a power struggle between the Sith Lords of the Dark Council over who would claim the throne in their previous master's absence. Many rose and fell, but ultimately it fell to Lord Wrend, one of the oldest members of the Council, to rule as Regent. Soon after Wrend's rise to power, the Emperor's Wrath—Darth Sunder—vanished from the known galaxy without a trace.
Sunder's presence wasn't made known again until 3,620 BBY, in the wake of the Empire's invasion of Coruscant and the Republic's retaliatory attack on Ziost that left the Sith species nearly extinct once again, when a telepathic communication targeted toward the Sith urged the scattered and hunted Sith to escape destruction and gain strength in unknown space. While not all heeded his words, most who understood the sheer power necessary to telepathically communicate with an entire species at once, crammed into what starships they had left and departed to the unknown reaches of space, guided through the Force by Sunder's will itself until the Sith fleet came to Jaga Nor.
On this new world that resonated strongly with the dark side, Darth Sunder revealed himself to the survivors willing to join him. He claimed to be the divine champion of a dark god who possessed the power necessary to restore the Sith to their apex and declared a new empire, free of genetic impurities and incompetent lords, that would one day return to the galaxy and gain vengeance against the Republic for the eradication of their people. The Sith quickly became devoted followers of Sunder as well as this powerful god of the dark side that he spoke for, and came to refer to the Sith Lord as the Dread-Prophet.
Forging an empire[]
Beginning in the same year as its conception, the newly-formed Sith Empire began a methodical search for ancient artifacts of the Rakatan Infinite Empire at the behest of the Dread-Prophet, for use as the Eternal Empire's own tools. The comprehensive search for such artifacts throughout the Unknown Regions eventually led to the discovery of the Verox civilization on Keppona. Upon witnessing their technology and their power in the Force, the Verox came to worship the Sith as gods and submitted to them willingly.
The Sith themselves were impressed by the Verox for their physical prowess as well as their ingenuity and used the race as a source of labor and, more importantly, troops. Over the next several hundred years, the Sith Empire began to spread to other worlds across Unknown Space with their Verox troops at the forefront of each conquest. By the time 1,000 BBY came, the Sith had consolidated power over more than 600 worlds with plans to take more, though their conquests were halted by the command of the Dread-Prophet after hearing disturbing news.
The Dread-Prophet learned from the dark god that their were those within his own ranks who plotted his downfall; traitors who spat on the dark god's name and cursed his faithful. At his command, the Dread-Prophet began a furious crusade to hunt down treacherous nonbelievers within the Empire in 1,000 BBY which lasted for nearly three-hundred years. It was also during this time that the Dread-Prophet ordered the complete re-education of his citizens. This sparked a small uprising which was quickly put down by the faithful Verox, which led to the species' elevation within Sith society.
Order was restored to the Empire, but the Dread-Prophet grew intensely paranoid as a result of the conspiracies against him. He retreated into solitude, and spoke to his disciples only through holograms and telepathy; the task of maintaining control over what the Empire now held fell to the Faithful Council, a small collective of the Dread-Prophet's purest and most-loyal followers.