Through the New Sith Wars, numerous factions emerged to lead what was generically described as the "New Sith Empire". However, at some point after the Battle of Mizra, the Council of Five emerged to lead the New Sith Empire of that era. Before 1,400 BBY, the Council had secured control over the largest Sith factions, dominating galactic east and controlling a broad swath of the Outer Rim Territories, including ancient Sith Space.
Personnel[]
The New Sith Empire was led by the Council, whose members were widely considered the most powerful and dangerous Sith Lords in the galaxy. The Empire was backed by an army of dark siders, as well as an exponentially larger force of non-Force-sensitive soldiers who made up the Imperial Army and Navy.
The Sith[]
The structure of the New Sith Empire's Sith. Anointed Sith are in red.
Although many dark siders and dark side adepts were agents of the Empire, not all were considered Sith. The Sith Lords recruited Force-sensitives and gave them varying degrees of training. Some were trained specifically as spies, assassins, or combat brutes; others were given broader training in a variety of dark side disciplines. The most promising were dubbed Sith Acolytes and given some measure of command over lesser adepts and non-Force-sensitives. Both Acolytes and adepts, however, could be killed with impunity by their masters, or even other Sith Lords.
When Acolytes proved their worth to the satisfaction of senior Sith, they would be anointed Sith Lords. Sith Lords enjoyed considerable privilege in the Empire; they had absolute authority over Acolytes and non-Force-sensitives given to their command, and could kill their underlings with impunity. By contrast, killing a Sith Lord without permission of those higher in the command structure was punished by death, and usually torturous death at that.
More senior Sith Lords were given command over their juniors, with responsibility for larger theaters of war or specialties (such as leading or training the Council's Sith Assassins). Directly beneath the Council of Five were the Sith Overlords, who were given broad authority to carry out the Council's will. Only a Sith Overlord (or, rarely, the Council of Five itself) could elevate an Acolyte to the rank of Sith Lord, and while they often sought the advice of their lesser Sith Lords in choosing Acolytes for advancement, the Sith Overlords retained absolute discretion in the matter.
The Council of Five ruled the Empire, but acted almost exclusively through its Sith Overlords. Few besides the Overlords themselves and the Council's bodyguards knew the identities of the Council members or had any interaction with them.
The title "Darth"[]
Every fool who loved swinging a lightsaber enough shared the intellectually masturbatory belief that "Darth" was a promotion instead of a lateral designation.
—Misen Deech's thoughts on Darths
In the New Sith Empire, the title "Darth" was an additional honorific for a Sith Lord, denoting a Sith with exemplary capabilities in martial combat (as opposed to those of more middling combat skills, those who preferred to fight with the Force, and outliers such as Sith alchemists). While any Sith Overlord could anoint a Sith, only one Darth could make another. Bearing the "Darth" title did not necessarily elevate a Sith Lord's chances of further promotion, but many Darths held private (or open) disdain for other Sith Lords. The Council of Five always included at least one Darth among its members.
Civilian bureaucracy[]
Sith accounted for only a small fraction of government personnel. Most day-to-day tasks were handled by civilian bureaucrats in a variety of ministries; the four territorial Sith Overlords appointed Sith Lords to supervise the implementation of ministerial work within their fiefs. The professional civil service also included supervisory tracks which could lead to appointment as planetary or sector governors.
Security[]
The Imperial Justice Corps was responsible for law enforcement throughout the Empire. Imperial Intelligence had both foreign intelligence and domestic security roles. The Imperial military included both an army and a navy.
Life in the Empire[]
Citizenship[]
The Imperial population was divided into two classes: subjects and citizens. Citizen enjoyed a lighter tax burden, more rights (especially freedom of movement and various rights related to criminal trial), and generally higher status, and consequently represented the minority of Imperials. Many subjects sought to gain citizenship; the most common path was serving a full career in the Imperial military, which granted citizenship to the servicebeing as well as his descendants. The legitimate children of an Imperial citizen were themselves citizens, even if the other parent was a subject. It was possible for a citizen to be stripped of citizenship for a crime, but the list of qualifying crimes was short, and the decision required multiple levels of review.
When a new planet was conquered and absorbed into the Empire, most of its denizens became Imperial subjects, though citizenship was sometimes extended to the upper echelons of society, or those with the money to buy it outright. Subjects, unlike citizens, could be sentenced to slavery for various crimes, but were still protected against forcible enslavement by outside parties.
Non-subject foreigners generally had few if any rights, though exceptions were made for those who made major contributions to the Empire. The Zygerrian slavers enjoyed special protections in return for keeping the Empire well-supplied.
Culture[]
The Empire stressed loyalty, valor, self-discipline, and thinking of the whole rather than oneself. Most Imperials were acclimated to the ubiquity of military and intelligence personnel. Most press was state-run; the Imperial News Network was an Empire-wide example. Public assembly was subject to great restriction as determined by the local governor, though citizens had certain rights of protest and petition. The Imperial justice system was harsh, but relatively consistent across the Empire. Some degree of corruption was tolerated, but if corruption incited rebellion, the Empire often punished the corrupt officials even more harshly than the rebels, which served as a deterrent.
As with Republic citizens and Jedi, most Imperials went their whole lives without personally encountering a Sith of any kind. However, Sith were often advertised as heroes of the Empire; in 1,385 BBY, Darth Shakelli was one of the foremost propaganda heroes of Imperial military recruitment. Force-sensitives born in the Empire were subject to mandatory recruitment for training as Sith, but the Empire possessed no widespread means of identifying newborn Force-sensitives, and many escaped notice.
The official motto of the Empire was "Wonoksh Qyâsik zin", meaning "the Force shall free us". It was adapted from the final line of the Code of the Sith. The Empire's symbol was a five-pointed pentacle, including the words "passion", "strength", "power", "victory", and "freedom", all also derived from the Code.
Economics[]
Despite being an oligarchy, the Empire was generally tolerant of free-market capitalism, save for those industries which it served the state to acquire and control. Many worlds, such as Columex, grew rich from trade, and the construction of major spaceports was a consistently-desired investment.
The Imperial Credit was the currency of the Empire. Technically, Republic credits were not legal tender in the Empire (and vice versa); in practice, illegal currency traders operated on many Imperial worlds.
Slavery[]
Slavery was legal in the Empire, which had arrangements with the Zygerrians, the Thalassians, the Karazak Slavers Cooperative, and others. Slaves of the Empire were usually put to work at industries such as mining, construction, and farming.
Both citizens and subjects were legally allowed to own private slaves, though citizens were usually the only ones who could afford to. Many beings preferred to buy droids for household labor, as they were both less expensive and less likely to turn on their owners. However, some citizens purchased slaves as status symbols—if a being could afford to own, clothe, and feed slaves, the reasoning went, that being must be wealthy.
Astrography[]
The Empire was based in galactic east, bracketing but not infringing on Hutt Space. It controlled the majority of the eastern Outer Rim, including in The Slice, and by the mid-1380s BBY had made stable inroads into the Mid Rim and more tenuous ones in the Expansion Region and Inner Rim. The heart of Sith power was the northeastern galaxy and sectors around Sith Space, though its economic base lay elsewhere on major trade worlds.
Most planets were ruled by governors appointed from the civil service. However, any Sith Lord who served as a "principal advisor" to a Sith Overlord (usually meaning the Overlord's council of advisors) was granted a "throneworld" to serve as an economic base and headquarters. A handful of Sith Lords administered their throneworlds personally, but most chose non-Forceful governors.
Diplomacy[]
By the fourteenth century before the Battle of Yavin, the Empire was in a state of war with both the Galactic Republic and the Supreme Modality. The four territorial Sith Overlords were allowed to make war on any target in their path; Trayvin Osydro led an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Hapes Cluster in 1,395 BBY.
The Council of Five did limit the Overlords' power in some ways. Hutt Space enjoyed a protected status, as the Council felt the Empire did not have the resources to open a third full-scale war front. Bothan Space had weaker protections, but both Osydro and Vedya Gasald elected not to make enemies of a culture of spies who might turn their talents to the Republic if pushed.
Behind the scenes[]
In fleshing out the world of the 1,300s BBY New Sith Empire, Sakaros eschewed the traditional "dictator & friends" model of the Old Sith Empire and the "dictator plus specialties" model of the One Sith, instead intentionally structuring the Council of Five's Empire to resemble the American Mafia, with elevation to the rank of Sith Lord the equivalent of being "made".
The contrast between citizen and subject status was inspired by the various degrees of citizenship in the Roman Empire.