The Shadow Collective was an organization of Force-wielders, criminal organizations, and mercenaries founded during the Separatist Crisis and active during the Clone Wars as a military arm of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Organized by Darth Tyranus, the Sith alter-ego of Confederate Head of State Dooku, the Shadow Collective was formed to serve as military leadership for the Confederate Droid Army. The Force-sensitives in the organization were known as Dark Acolytes, and served as dark side analogues to the Jedi Order. Led by Darth Maul, the Acolytes were comprised of former Jedi and aspiring Sith, the Acolytes led from the front line and were characterized by their vicious and savage fighting styles under Maul's leadership. Following Maul's death, fallen Jedi Master Sora Bulq took over the Collective and attempted to lead with a eye towards tactics and politics. Under Bulq, his deputy Savage Opress rallied the Mandalorian Death Watch, the Pyke Syndicate, Black Sun, and the Hutt Council, to bulk up their military power following the loss of the Geonosian foundries. When the Clone Wars came to an end, the political climate changed and the Collective was forced into hiding, taking refuge in Hutt Space and remaining completely hidden from the Jedi, the Republic, and the Confederacy. When their continued existence was discovered by the Order, the Jedi launched a full scale assault on Hutt Space, drawing the Hutts and the Shadow Collective into open conflict.
Overview[]
You will have to deal with them if you are going to get close to Dooku. He sets one against the other, but they will unite against a perceived common threat to their position. Approach them carefully.
—Avlis Tholme informs Quinlan Vos on the Collective's recruitment style.
Created in the years leading up to the invasion of Naboo in Year 3, the Shadow Collective was formed to serve as a military arm of the Sith's secret plot to destroy the Republic and the Jedi. Recruiting Jedi castoffs, Force-sensitives rejected from formal training, and those that slipped through the Order's screening process, Sith Lords Sidious, Plagueis, and Tyranus founded the Collective with five initial members. Led by Sidious' apprentice Darth Maul, the other members included Tyranus' apprentices Asajj Ventress, Komari Vosa, and Sev'rance Tann; bounty hunter Aurra Sing; and Sidious' apprentice Sly Moore. Working from the shadows, the Dark Acolytes moved about in ways that their Masters could not; forming alliances, recruiting and training new members, and laying the ground work for the Sith Master plan. Quickly the Shadow Collective was responsible for silently killing off Jedi in the field, and recruiting disenfranchised Jedi to their cause.
When the war began in Year 3, the Dark Acolytes were tasked with leading the droid armies of the Confederacy of Independent Systems against the Republic's Planetary Security Forces. While Dath Maul, Komari Vosa, and Sev'rance Tann served on the front lines with second generation Acolytes, Ventress and Sing served as Tyranus' personal bodyguard and assassin respectively. When Darth Maul was killed during his all-out assault on the ecumenopolis planet Humbarine, fallen Jedi Master Sora Bulq became the leader of the Collective. Because of the creation of the Grand Army of the Republic, Bulq sought to bring the Acolytes to heel; stamping out the crazed blitzers that Maul had trained and replacing them with more cunning, calculated servants of the dark side. Promoting skilled tacticians and powerful adepts such as Artel Darc, Nikkos Tyris, and Granta Omega, over the Maul's personal circle of Karoc and Vinoc Vis, and Saato Michen. Master Bulq's sway in the Order caused more and more disillusioned Jedi to leave the Order and join the ranks of the Collective on philosophical matters. Some joined out of personal loyalty to Bulq or Dooku, though others joined out of a misguided fascination with either the dark side of the Force or Sith lore, both of which the organization championed. Entry into the Collective was relatively easy, with most capable Force-wielders being accepted without argument. However, such recruits typically remained minor players within the group until they gained Bulq's trust, either through displays of loyalty or on occasion, the rage-fueled depravity indicative of the dark side of the Force. Once this was gained, Acolytes were provided with more important assignments and sometimes Sith training. While not true Sith in their own right, certain members of the acolytes were provided with tutoring in certain elements of Sith knowledge and philosophy.
History[]
Formation[]
When the Clone Wars erupted between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, a secret conflict was brewing between the Jedi Order and the Sith Empire out of the public eye. As Sith Lord Darth Sidious controlled both the Republic and the Confederacy, serving as the Republic's Supreme Chancellor while his apprentice, Darth Tyranus, served as the Head of State of the Confederacy, it became increasingly necessary to have Forceful beings who served the Sith fighting on the front lines against the Jedi. To this end Darth Tyranus, publicly known as Count Dooku, began training in secret a number of Acolytes to serve as Generals in the Confederate army and to counterbalance the Jedi-led forces of the Republic. While numbering significantly less then the Jedi, the Acolytes were comprised of former or failed Jedi, Force-sensitive criminals, dark side cultists and Sith aspirants. Known as the Dark Acolytes to the Jedi High Council, the group called themselves the Shadow Collective.
At its founding, the Collective was made up solely of Forceful dark siders and had little in the way of formalized ideology or philosophical teachings, and was for the most part motivated by a simple opposition to the Jedi and their teachings. Overall the Dark Acolytes desired the overthrow of the Galactic Republic, with many of the former Jedi members especially being frustrated with it's bureaucracy and greed. Quinlan Vos cited that since this desire was rooted in their disgust with the Republic's corruption rather than a thirst for power, they were still acting in accordance with Jedi teachings. However the organization was strongly influenced by Sith philosophy, and was deeply rooted in the dark side of the Force due to this. Tyranus cited, during his meeting with Jedi Grand Master Yoda on Vjun, that since all beings carried the dark side within themselves turning to it was simply to acknowledge another part of one's self and was not in itself inherently evil. In a separate exchange with Quinlan Vos, Tyranus stated that the Jedi's refusal to use the dark side was motivated by fear of it, and if the Jedi simply stopped fearing it, they could use it to correct the injustices of the galaxy. While Darth Tyranus was the unquestioned leader of the Collective, Master Sora Bulq was second in command and had a large following within the organizations ranks. While some members, such as Asajj Ventress refused to bow down to the Weequay, Tyranus trusted his fellow Jedi renuncicate and allowed him to make decisions for the group. Following Bulq's death at the hands of Quinlan Vos, who had secretly infiltrated the group while remaining loyal to the Jedi Order, and the expulsion of Ventress, the Dathomiran Nightbrother Savage Opress took control of the Collective and looked for ways to get out from under Dooku's control.
Prior to Bulq's death, Opress had secretly begun reaching out to the leader of the Mandalorian terrorist group known as Death Watch, Pre Vizsla, and requested to form an allegiance. The Mandalorian warriors had long served as pawns of the Sith and Opress hoped to rekindle old alliances otherwise overlooked by Tyranus and his master. As Vizla and his clan hoped to see the Republic overthrown and the slaughter of the Jedi, it was not difficult for Opress to gain the service of the Death Watch and their super commandos. In the ensuing months Opress traveled to the planet of Mustafar on a scouting mission for Bulq, while secretly planning a visit to the fortress of Black Sun Vigo Xomit Grunseit. Grunseit refused to pledge themselves to the Zabrak and threatened to alert the other Vigos of the Black Sun of the Zabrak's plans of takeover; ignoring the threat Opress removed Grunseit's head and placed the Falleen's chief of security, Ziton Moj, in command of Grunseit's forces. With a major faction of Black Sun secretly under his control, it was only a matter of time before Opress was approached by crime families, such as the influential spice trader Lom Pyke, volunteering to pledge support and their resources. Feeling that the time was right, Opress infiltrated the chambers of the Hutt Grand Council on Nal Hutta and offered them a place at the top of the Collective should they join. Refusing the Zabrak, the Hutts attempted to kill Opress before he slaughtered one of the Councilors and the others fled. Tracking the fleeing Councilors to Tatooine, Opress was able to threaten them into compliance and they quickly pledge to privately support the Collective so long as they were not officially allied.
Attack on Mandalore[]
Our combined strength will be rewarded. Mandalore will be yours, and Kenobi, this Sith pretender Dooku and all our enemies...will fall.
—Savage Opress to Pre Vizsla
As all things fell into place, Opress decided it was time to conquer a planet to serve as the Shadow Collective's capital world. With Master Bulq distracted with the war, Opress led his Death Watch allies to Mandalore where they successfully laid siege to the pacifist government. Portraying the Death Watch members as heroes and nationalists instead of terrorists, Opress aided Vizsla and his people gain the public support in overthrowing Duchess Satine Kryze and taking the city of Sundari. With the aid of Black Sun, who overtly launched attacks in the city, the Death Watch members created the illusion of protecting the city from threats the Duchess was ignorant to. Following a month long imprisonment, Kryze was executed to the great joy of her people and Arkus Almec was named as Prime Minister to the new Mand'alor, Pre Vizsla, who took the name of Mandalore the Deliverer to symbolize his act of delivering the Mandalorians from their mundane pacifist lives and restoring the proud warrior traditions of the past. With the planet conquered, Opress and the other leaders began to order weapons of war to expand their armies. As Mandalorian warriors rallied to join the Death Watch supercommandos, they marked their armor with yellow and black patterns and a crown of horns to pay homage to Savage Opress.