The Massacre of the Sith Council was the opening engagement of the Successors War in 121 ABY. It saw the deaths of seven of the Councils ten members.
In early 121 ABY, Darth Abeonis announced to the Sith Council that he would shortly be announcing who was to be his successor. Two days later, he passed away; having announced no-one as his successor. With no heir declared, it was only a matter of hours before tensions amongst the Sith reached breaking point. A Sith Lord named Darth Proditor took it upon himself to decide an heir and usurped the throne for himself. Many on the Sith Council saw this act as treason and prepared to remove the usurper, but before they could act Proditor and his apprentice Darth Setil struck at the Sith Council, killing seven of the nine present and convincing Darth Q'Antiqas to join him.
The massacre[]
Following his usurpation of the throne just the day before, the Sith Council decided unanimously to remove Darth Proditor from power, and vote upon an heir to Darth Abeonis' throne. Learning of this from his apprentice Darth Setil, Proditor commandeered two-hundred Sith droids and breached the Council chamber on Korriban, with a mission to wipe out the Council. The initial explosion from the Council doors took Darth Validus.
Darths Proditor and Setil charged into the chamber, droids in tow, and begun firing upon the unprepared Council members, killing two more members before they could rise from their seats. The remaining members managed to ignite their blades and engaged their attackers, although they soon discovered several modifications had been made to the droids that attacked them. With strengthened armor plating, and improved AI and combat programming, the droids were able to hold of the Council members. Before long, another two members of the Council had been killed, including Darth Caedus; who had his neck crushed by a Sith droid.
It became apparent to the remaining Sith Lords that they could not defeat Proditor, and so they begun to retreat. Darth Alectasa, knowing that he was destined to die, gave his life to assure Darth Wyyrloks escape; as did another of the Council members. All that remained of the Sith Council was Darth Q'Antiqas; who had been disarmed and forced to surrender.
Aftermath[]
Following the massacre the Sith Council was dissolved and all power was returned to the Dark Lord. Darth Q'Antiqas pledged his allegiance to Darth Proditor so as to buy Wyyrlok time to escape, but soon found his fleet absorbed into that of Setils'.
After learning of the massacre, many of those who remained declared open war upon Proditor; thus beginning the Successors War.