Darth Sabbot, born under the name Prospero Kallig and also known by the title Witch-king of Thule, was a Sith Lord that served in the final years of the New Sith Wars. He was known for both his knowledge of ancient Sith magic as well as his mastery of lightsaber swordsmanship, effectively able to seamlessly blend the two crafts together as one. Sabbot was one of the few Sith to survive the destruction of the Brotherhood of Darkness, having left the Brotherhood almost a year prior to the disastrous Seventh Battle of Ruusan. Some time after the near extinction of the Sith Order in 1000 BBY at the hands of the Army of Light, Darth Sabbot's body grew corrupted and began to erode. Sabbot traveled to the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban where he planned to undergo a pseudo-suicidal ritual with the goal of separating his dark side from his light side. When Darth Sabbot's ritual began to fail, he was saved by the spirit of his ancestor, Darth Nox.
After rescuing his descendant, the spirit of Darth Nox became bound to Darth Sabbot's body. With the power of his ancestor, Sabbot became virtually immortal and never aged a day. Whenever Sabbot died, Nox's spirit was able to dissolve the deceased body and remake it anew.
Sometime after the binding ritual, Darth Nox urged Darth Sabbot to return to their shared homeworld of Thule and take control of the planet. After murdering the planet's ruling council, Darth Sabbot reigned as the 'Witch-king of Thule' for nearly a thousand years. Under Nox's guidance, Sabbot transformed Thule into the center of an interstellar kingdom that spanned across the Esstran Sector and beyond.
Prospero Kallig met his end during the Battle of Thule in 9 ABY when he was killed by Maxon Lathorne, a descendant of two of Darth Nox's ancient enemie, Zeck Lathorne and Pax Cryseth.
History[]
Early Life[]
Prospero Kallig was born in the year 1032 BBY on the Sith World of Thule. As a member of the Kallig bloodline, Prospero hailed from a long lineage of powerful dark side practitioners that could trace their origins back to Lord Aloysius of the original Sith Empire. Lord Baal was a powerful Sith Lord that instructed Prospero in the dark side of the Force. Lord Baal was the one of the last practitioners of Sith sorcery and passed on all of his knowledge regarding the subject to his favored apprentice, Prospero.
From a young age, Prospero became involved in the New Sith Wars against the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic. By 1010 BBY, Prospero joined Skere Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness in their fight against Lord Hoth's Army of Light. Sometime around 1001 BBY, almost a year prior to the disastrous Seventh Battle of Ruusan, Prospero left the Brotherhood. The exact reasons for Prospero's departure were unknown, but it was possible that something or someone drew him away into an isolated part of the Galaxy.
Prospero's abandonment of Kaan's Order was what allowed him to survive the near extinction of the Sith Order. Prospero returned to a Galaxy were the Sith were all but extinct. To make matters worse, whatever Prospero had faced during his dissappearance caused his body to become corrupted and slowly start to erode. To remedy this, Prospero traveled to the ancient Sith homeworld of Korriban where he aimed to conduct a pseudo-suicidal ritual that would allow him to separate his dark side from his light side.
As Prospero's ritual began to fail, he was saved by the ghost of his ancestor, Darth Nox, who bound his spirit to Prospero's body. The presence of Nox's spirit appeared to heal Prospero's body and make him virtually immortal. From the time of the binding ritual, Prospero never aged a day. Every time Prospero died, the spirit of Nox was able to dissolve the deceased body and make it anew. Darth Nox also appeared to retain the ability to take control of Prospero's body as if it were own.
At the behest of Darth Nox, Prospero returned to Thule where he took control of his homeworld by slaughtering the planet's ruling council. The planetary population of military-centric dark side worshipers quickly proved to be an ample recruitment pool for Nox and Prospero's fledgling kingdom. Prospero would rule over Thule for many centuries, his body never aging a day due to the power of Nox's spirit. Because of this, many on Thule venerated Prospero as the 'Immortal Emperor'. Under Nox's guidance, Prospero established a number of dark side cults on Thule, including the Prophets of Thule. Prospero also began instructing a number of Dark Acolytes and Sith Assassins in the ways of the dark side.
Sometime during his rulership of Thule, Prospero Kallig adopted the title of Dark Lord of the Sith under the name Darth Sabbot.
Clone Wars[]
Darth Sabbot witnessed the growth of Darth Bane's Order of the Sith Lords. Many Banite Sith Lords traveled to Thule and met with Sabbot. Those that tried to strike at the ancient Sith Lord were cut down. Those that Sabbot saw as unworthy were turned away. Darth Sabbot saw the most potential in a young Sith Apprentice known as Darth Sidious.
At the start of the Separatist Crisis in 24 BBY, Darth Sabbot was approached by several members of the Prophets of Thule. The prophets claimed that they had received visions of a coming conflict between the Galactic Republic and the fledgling Confederacy of Independent Systems. The prophets believed that Thule could achieve glory by siding with the Separatists. So it was that Sabbot traveled to the planet Serenno and meet with Darth Tyranus, pledging the support of Thule to the Separatist cause.
During the Clone Wars, Prospero was known to outsiders only as the 'Witch-king of Thule'. Throughout the Clone Wars, Darth Sabbot largely remained within his own region of space, with his will enacted by his two primary enforcers, Lord Veran (Sabbot's own apprentice) and General Gigas.
Under Darth Sabbot's orders, General Gigas of Thule was "allied" with the Neimoidian Moth Krokod of the Trade Federation, the Skakoan Kol Koskor of the Techno Union, the Quarren Qet Thulu of the Quarren Isolation League, the Kaleesh warrior Xharqenvelkalaan (aka Xhar), and the (unknowingly force-sensitive) Muun Ulsar Gorano of the InterGalactic Banking Clan. While Darth Sabbot and his Acolytes oversaw strategies and tactics on a large Galactic scale, Gorano, Thulu, Xhar, Koskor, and Krokod were charged with overseeing strategies an tactics on a much smaller scale.
Imperial Era[]
Following the end of the Clone Wars and the rise of the Galactic Empire, Darth Sabbot pledged himself to Darth Sidious' service as an advisor. The Emperor granted Sabbot great amounts of autonomy and authority equal to his own apprentice Darth Vader. Later scholars believed that the Emperor was somehow aware that Prospero was possessed by the spirit of Darth Nox and was thus wary of him.
Official Imperial reports claimed that Prospero was responsible for "liberating" Thule and the surrounding systems from Separatist occupation, Similarly, Veran was painted as having defected to the side of the Republic in the final days of the war. As the "new ruler" of Thule, Prospero worked closely with Prydon Spyre, Imperial Moff of the Esstran Sector. Despite Moff Spyre holding de jure over the Esstran Sector, Darth Sabbot was the Sector's true master.
On Thule, Darth Sabbot had many of the Prophets of Thule executed for their incorrect visions regarding the Clone Wars.
Sabbot used his authority to gain control the 32nd Stormtrooper Legion which had previously been under the command of Jedi General Sidrat Rasili during the Clone Wars. Sabbot's first flagship was the Temperence, a Venator Star Destroyer which served as the mobile headquarters of the 32nd Assault Corps during the Clone Wars. The Requiem was quickly replaced by the Imperial I Star Destroyer Excoriator. Finally in 0 ABY, Sabbot was given command of the newly-built Executor-class Star Dreadnought Excommunicator.
In the first years of the Empire, Darth Sabbot deployed his Legion into the bloodiest and most gruesome war-zones during the Reconquest of the Rim. Soon, the 32nd Stormtrooper Legion gained a reputation as one of the most resolute Stormtrooper Legions in the Empire. Following the Reconquest of the Rim, there were no longer any major threats to Imperial control save for pirate raids and scattered rebellions. As the Empire began to move away from the use of Clone soldiers, Darth Sabbot bolstered the ranks of the 32nd with elite warriors from the elite of the Armed Forces of Thule.
Sometime during the Imperial Period, Darth Sabbot rescued a woman named Lilith Gremory who had been kidnapped by pirates. Sensing a strong connection with the force, Sabbot trained Gremory in the ways of the Force, transforming her into a Dark Side Acolyte and his personal assassin. It was with Gremory that Prospero would sire his final child.
In 5 BBY, a Stormtrooper stationed on Rishi reported that his garrison was wiped out by a force-sensitive and lightsaber-wielding individual. The report was received by the ISD Exterminator. Darth Sabbot took it upon himself to track down and eliminate the Jedi-in-Exile. Darth Sabbot encountered the Jedi in the jungles of Rishi where the Jedi revealed himself to be Morggan Lathorne, a direct descendant of Zeck Lathorne. After a long duel, Darth Sabbot managed to overpower and captured Morggan. Despite capturing Morggan, Sabbot was unable to find Morggan's son, Maxon Lathorne.
Darth Nox had Morggan imprisoned aboard Pyron Station in the Esstran Sector. Nox spent three years trying to break Morggan's spirit and turn him to the dark side. Despite his years of torment, Morggan never fell like his brother had. In 2 BBY, Morggan was rescued by a smuggler crew that included his son Maxon.
Post-Endor[]
When the Emperor began to assemble Tempest Force, Darth Sabbot sent the elite Myrmidon Squad to represent the 32nd Stormtrooper Legion. While Myrmidon Squad fought during the Battle of Endor on the ground, Sabbot himself was present for the space battle aboard the ISD Excoriator. When Darth Sabbot sensed the death of the Emperor, he ordered all forces loyal to him to retreat from Endor and return to Thule.
After returning to Thule, Sabbot worked with Grand Moff Ebram Spyre to split off from the "mainstream" Empire by creating their own faction centered around the Esstran Sector and surrounding regions of space. Grand Moff Spyre was the de jure leader of this warlord faction with Darth Sabbot providing insurmountable support from the shadows. During the early Imperial Civil War, Grand Moff Spyre (with support from Darth Sabbot) was one of the strongest Warlords and remained the greatest threat to the New Republic besides the Empire itself.
After the New Republic regained control of Coruscant in 6 ABY, Morggan and Maxon Lathorne immediately set their sights on Sabbot and Spyre's "Empire". After the three-year-long "Esstran Campaign" the New Republic managed to fight through the Esstran Sector and reach Spyre's capital of Ord Radama. The initial siege at Ord Radama lasted several days before the New Republic was able to destroy the Excommunicator. With the loss of the flagship, the bulk of Ord Radama's naval defenses crumbled soon after and the New Republic was able to make planetfall.
Final Death[]
When the New Republic captured Ord Radama, the Esstran Sector had been mostly liberated from Imperial influence. The only world still left to capture was Thule, Darth Sabbot's personal stronghold. After a long period of sustained fighting, the New Republic was able to fight through Thule's defenses and breach Sabbot citadel. Morggan and Maxson Lathorne finally approached Darth Sabbot's throne room with the intent of ending the threat posed by the Dark Lord of the Sith once and for all.
Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, the power provided by the Darth Nox's spirit allowed Darth Sabbot to hold off the two Jedi with ease. However, Morggan was able to perform a Force Exorcism (a technique he perfected with the help of Zeck's Force ghost) and banished Darth Nox's spirit from Prospero's body.
The strain of preforming the Force Exorcism combined with the sheer magnitude of dark side energy released by Darth Nox's banishment fatally affected and incapacitated Morrgan.
With Morggan incapacitated and dying, Darth Sabbot turned his attention towards Maxon. Without the spirit of Darth Nox, Prospero's body began to corrode. However, Sabbot was warble to harness his pain to hold his body together for a renewed duel against Maxon. Sabbot hoped that after he had killed Maxon he could consume his spirit to heal his body.
Despite the Dark Lord's best efforts, Maxson was able to overpower and strike down Darth Sabbot.
With a cry of anguish and an explosive outburst of dark side energy, Prospero Kallig, Dark Lord of the Sith, was no more.
Legacy[]
The amount of dark side energy unleashed by the demise of both Darth Nox and Darth Sabbot tainted Thule's capital city, making it a Nexus of the Dark Side. As the power of the dark side grew on Thule, the New Republic became unable to continue sustained occupation. As the power of the Dark Side grew on Thule, only the planet's residents and those strong in the dark side could live there.
While Darth Sabbot was slain at the Battle of Thule in 9 ABY, his apprentice Darth Veran, was not. Acting upon the final orders of his master, Darth Veran sought out the biological son of Prospero Kallig. He eventually encountered Lilith Gremory who claimed to have been Darth Sabbot's consort and was in possession of a young child strong in the dark side. Subsequent genetic tests proved the child to be Prospero's biological offspring that he sired with Gremory at some point before the Battle of Thule.
Darth Veran took the child as his own just as Darth Sabbot had done with him so long ago. The fate of Lilith Gremory was uncertain. Veran renamed the child Tyber and raised him to be a powerful practitioner of the dark side of the force. While Prospero sired many children throughout his long life, Tyber Kallig was by far the most successful.