The War for Liberation was a five year Red Sith slave uprising on Mure that resulted in the emancipation of the Sith and the withdrawal of the Rakata Predorate of Mure to their fortified city-states on the planetary equator. It was immediately followed by a protracted cold war between the Sith and the Rakata Second Predorate called the Long Defeat that lasted for twelve millennia. The War for Liberation was immortalized in the Murese national epic, the Karzanuowonosa, and considered the birth of the modern Murese culture of Mure.
History[]
The Rakata Infinite Empire was brought to its knees in 25,200 BBY with the galaxy-wide dissemination of a plague that stripped the Rakata of their Force-sensitivity and rendered them blind to the Force.[1][2] Unable to make use of their Force-powered technology,[3] the Rakata faced difficulties maintaining control over their slave populations and soon experienced slave revolts in many of their eastern galactic holdings.[2] Rather than seek to maintain their previously uncontested hegemony, the Rakata embraced a policy of total war, turning to the use of orbital bombardments to quell such rebellions.[2][4] Many Rakata retreated to the core Imperial holdings of the Rakatan Archipelago and Tempered Wastes rather than remain in the east.[2]
On Mure, the Empire's principle trade nexus, the forces of the Predorate of Mure under Predor Bala'zar found themselves with a Red Sith Zuguruk slave uprising on their hands. Led by a charismatic slave-turned-warrior named Asmenys, the Red Sith harassed the remaining Rakata forces over a period of five years, gradually building a grassroots guerrilla force that spanned the planet. Emboldened by a string of victories over the Rakata, Asmenys' warriors converged on the capital city of Sferastotazisiv on the planetary equator, surrounding its outer defenses and laying siege to its fortifications. After a protracted siege, the Sith were eventually able to break through to the city center, where Asmenys met Predor Bala'zar on the steps of the Temple of Inexorable Victory in single combat. The Sith slew the Predor with the Rakatan's own Forcesaber, but succumbed to injuries sustained during the duel. Despite the loss of their leader, the Sith were able to take the city and drive the Rakata back to other cities on the equator.
Rather that permit the Sith such a victory, the Rakata ordered the remnants of their Imperial fleet docked on the Monolith to bombard the city and all known Sith settlements from orbit. This extended barrage destroyed the Rakata capital, the Temple, and a sizable portion of the city's Rakata civilian population and Red Sith occupation force. Though they had successfully thrown off the yoke of Rakatan oppression, the Sith were forced to embrace a migratory tribal lifestyle to escape the harrying orbital bombardments of the vestigial Rakata fleet. Unable to settle in any one area for long due to the threat of discovery and bombardment, the Sith perambulated through the uncivilized wilds of the planet surface, laying siege and plundering the remaining Rakata settlements of the Second Predorate as they could. This period led to a protracted conflict known as the Long Defeat that lasted until 13,137 BBY.
The War for Liberation became an event of cultural importance to the Red Sith and their evolved Murese descendants. The sacrifices of its warriors and heroes became the subject of frequent poetic recitations by tribal loremasters, part of a shared cultural heritage that united the disparate wandering tribes of the Sith tribal confederation. Oral history became written history during the Murese Premodernity, giving rise to the Murese national epic, the Karzanuowonosa, that codified the events of the era and the specifics of the conflict. Even into the Murese Postmodernity, the epic was held as one of the most important cultural artifacts of the era and an encapsulation of the spirit of the Murese people.
Sources[]
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut—The Celestials
- The Essential Atlas
- The Essential Guide to Warfare
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Unknown Regions