Dread Masters The Dread Masters were six powerful Human Sith Lords who served the Sith Emperor for centuries as prophets , generals , and advisers . Their names were earned when they studied the power of the Phobis devices , artifacts that had driven even the most depraved Sith mad with terror . This power allowed the Dread Masters to destroy entire Galactic Republic fleets during the Great Galactic War ; they had mastered the art of battle meditation to the point that they would inflict an awful , mysterious terror upon members of any given Republic cruiser . In order to avoid being compromised , they kept in constant motion in an Imperial dreadnaught that roamed the galaxy . With the help of an elite Republic Special Forces Division team , Jedi Knight Jaric Kaedan infiltrated the dreadnaught and captured the Dread Masters . The Jedi Order publicly announced that the Dread Masters were killed , but secretly they were imprisoned on Belsavis . Released by servants of the Sith Empire , the Dread Masters went rogue following the defeat of the Emperor on Dromund Kaas , forming an empire led by their own Dread Council . After one of their members was slayed on Darvannis , the remainder relocated to their Dread Fortress on Oricon , where they were defeated in 3639 BBY . Dread Master Calphayus was the only one who survived the downfall of the others , and was taken once more into Republic custody . History . Origin . This group of Sith Lords gained their reputation following their study into the Phobis devices . The power of this artifact had caused the most depraved of Sith to go mad with terror . Their mastery over their new power made them powerful allies to the Sith Emperor whom they served in the span of centuries as advisers , generals , and even as prophets . During this time , they were noted to have spent many years in secluded meditation on the world of Dromund Kaas . These periods were only interrupted when they needed to bring some crucial wisdom to the Emperor or to accept a gift in the form of supplicants . These Sith kept in such close company that they became inseparable , and their great power reached full strength when they worked in union with one another . During the Great Galactic War , they served in the front lines against the Galactic Republic , where they used their power to project terror into their enemies . Such power allowed this group of Sith to destroy entire fleets of the Republic . In order to keep their position from being compromised , the Dread Masters were stationed aboard an Imperial dreadnaught , which allowed them to remain mobile by traveling throughout the galaxy . Despite the secrecy of their location , their dreadnaught was eventually discovered by Jedi Knight Jaric Kaedan . Armed with this knowledge , he led a team from the Republic Special Forces Division to infiltrate the Sith vessel with the objective of capturing the Dread Masters . As a result , the six Sith were captured by the Republic yet resisted all attempts at being interrogated . Despite this , the Jedi managed to learn that the Dread Masters were centuries old . Following the success of the mission , the Sith dreadnaught was destroyed , and the Republic leaked false information that the Dread Masters had been killed in the skirmish . It was believed this was because the Jedi Council had hoped that such news would prevent the Emperor from launching any plan to rescue them . However , another reason the Sith were kept alive was that it was believed that they were too valuable to eliminate . Thus , imprisonment was seen as the only alternative with the ancient prison on the world of Belsavis seen as the only place to confine the power of the Dread Masters . This was because it was believed it had safety measures strong enough to prevent them from escaping . As a result , the Dread Masters were imprisoned on Belsavis , where they remained until long after the Great Galactic War . It was feared that if the Sith Empire ever freed the Dread Masters from their prison , then the galaxy would tremble before their might once again . Freedom from imprisonment . On Belsavis , the Dread Masters were imprisoned in the main levels of the facility in separate cells , but all other prisoners within a quarter mile of them died almost immediately after the Sith arrived . This forced the Republic to move them deeper in the facility , into The Tomb . By 3641 BBY , when Belsavis was discovered by the Empire , the Imperials set out to free the imprisoned Sith . However , their activities accidentally unleashed the Esh - kha , an ancient race that was originally imprisoned by the Rakata , who stole the imprisoned Dread Masters and took them to Cave - Under - Tree , where their High Savants began to draw on their power to allow them to break free of Belsavis . However , they were later freed by an Imperial Rescue Team , and after they regained freedom , they exacted revenge on those who held them prisoner . The Empire gave them a shuttle , and they returned to Imperial space . Sowing fear . Shortly afterwards , they betrayed the Empire and planned to conquer the galaxy for themselves . They recruited on Denova the Trandoshan warlord Kephess to act as their proxy ; Kephess and his mercenary army tried to conquer the planet but were defeated by task forces from both Republic and Sith Empire . However , the Dread Masters healed Kephess and traveled to Asation , where they planned to use the technology of the hypergate to unleash the Terror From Beyond , but were again defeated . Around the time of the Asation incident , the Dread Host , servants of the Dread Masters , attempted to recover a Rakatan weapon known as the Aurora Cannon from Section X on Belsavis . Once again , their plans were foiled , and the cannon destroyed . By 3639 BBY the Dread Masters continued to remain a third party in the war . They dispatched Sith Lord Tagriss to steal several Sith Artifacts from Arcanum . Tagriss managed to steal the Seeds of Rage and the Darkstaff . Both the Empire and the Republic sent strike teams to recover the artifacts , and ultimately Tagriss was defeated on Ilum . After three consecutive failures , Dread Master Styrak chose to act independently from the other Masters and went to Darvannis . There , he gathered various mercenary and Hutt Cartel groups to create a force strong enough to oppose both the Empire and the Republic . Enforcing his will on some of the mercenaries ' minds , Styrak drove some of them insane . Unfortunately for Styrak , the Empire and Republic noticed his actions and sent strike teams to stop it . After the mercenaries were wiped out , Styrak sent his Dread Guards and pet kell dragon to fight the strike team before entering combat himself . Although he proved to be a formidable opponent , he was eventually killed . Upon Styrak ' s death , projections of the remaining Dread Masters appeared and absorbed his power from his corpse . The Empire and the Republic tracked the Dread Masters to the planet of Oricon , where they had set up their base of operations . Both factions dispatched teams to destroy the Masters for good . After fighting through the Dread Fortress , the strike teams encountered Dread Master Brontes , and after a difficult fight , prevailed over the powerful Sith sorceress . The strike team then traveled to the Dread Palace , the seat of the Dread Masters ' power . Each of the remaining Masters individually attempted to rid themselves of the strike team , but failed . The strike team then reached the throne room , where all four Dread Masters fought the team simultaneously in a climactic battle . During the fight , the Masters were confounded by the strength of the strike team , and brought back the spirits of Styrak and Brontes in an attempt to even the odds . This did little to even the fight , however , and the spirits were defeated . In a last - ditch attempt for victory , the remaining four Masters attempted to suck the life out of the strike team ' s members . The strike team then killed each Master one by one ; they still could not believe that they had been defeated . Calphayus survived and wandered Oricon after the death of his fellow Masters , soon arriving at the Republic Strike team camp . There he sought to reason with the team , telling them of his rather human past . He was once married , and felt no fear or pain towards his wife or life in general . However , once he and his friends , now Dread Masters , studied the Phobis devices , they became linked mentally and physically in a weave of Terror and Madness , distorting and changing him into a living entity of Madness . Calphayus was weak , scared , alone and looking for hope . The strike team decided to show mercy , and let him be cared for and evaluated by the Jedi . Behind the scenes . The Dread Masters were first introduced in the 2011 video game " " . Their original character models featured helmets and robes that were also attainable by player characters as wearable armor . In 2012 , their appearance was updated to feature new helmets that were not available to players , though , by 2014 , a variation known as the Crest of the Dread Master became available . Freeing the Dread Masters is the ultimate goal of the Belsavis story arc for Imperial characters . They go on to serve as major antagonists in the post - story content of " Star Wars : The Old Republic " . Chronologically , their uprising occurred in an interlude between the character story lines and the " Rise of the Hutt Cartel " .