Sith Empire ( Jedi Civil War ) This Sith Empire was founded by Dark Lord of the Sith , Darth Revan , and his apprentice , Darth Malak , as a dark side organization in direct opposition to the Galactic Republic and its Jedi defenders . Built upon a hardened core of veterans from the Mandalorian Wars , and a host of Jedi converts , this new galactic power very nearly succeeded in conquering the Republic during the Jedi Civil War . After the redemption of Revan and the death of Malak , the Empire splintered into factions before finally dissolving entirely circa 3950 BBY . History . The founding . Towards the end of the Mandalorian Wars , the Republic ' s Jedi commander Revan visited the ancient Trayus Academy on the Sith world of Malachor V . There , he fell under the influence of the dark side . While unearthing the planet ' s buried secrets , Revan discovered evidence that an ancient Sith faction known as the Sith Empire still existed beyond the boundaries of known space and continued to pose a threat to the galaxy . The Sith Empire ' s beginnings could be found in the end of the Mandalorian Wars . The Republic ' s Jedi commander Revan , on whom the bloody war had took its dark toll , forced a final battle with the Mandalorians above the planet Malachor V , where he dueled their leader Mandalore the Ultimate to the death while the two factions ' fleets waited above . In Mandalore ' s final moments , he informed Revan that he had been influenced by a mysterious faction of Sith . After the Mandalorian fleet experienced a crushing defeat above Malachor and surrendered , Revan and his friend Malak traveled to the ice world of Rekkiad to investigate their fallen foe ' s claims . From there , they followed a trail that led them into the Unknown Regions with almost a third of the Republic fleet — justifying their departure by claiming to be pursuing the remaining Mandalorian forces . However , Revan and Malak eventually found their way to Dromund Kaas and discovered that the Sith Empire still lived . Their attempt to eliminate the Sith Emperor went horribly wrong , with the Emperor dominating their minds and finally turning them to the dark side . Programming them to attack the Republic in order to test the enemy ' s weaknesses , the Emperor named the two Dark Lords of the Sith and bestowing the Darth title on them . The Emperor then tasked them to use their knowledge of the forgotten Rakata n Infinite Empire to find the legendary Star Forge , which would help him create an armada that would crush the Republic . The next year saw them secretly search for ancient Star Map s which would lead them to the Station . Revan was to prepare the major offensive against the Republic by the order of the Emperor . However , the Emperor underestimated the two former Jedi ' s resolve — Revan and Malak broke free of their conditioning almost immediately upon their departure and began to act of their own will . From the deck of the Star Forge , hidden in the unmapped Lehon system , Revan founded a new Sith Empire in direct opposition to the Emperor , intending to conquer the Republic and remake it into something that could withstand the Emperor ' s assault . Adapting the teachings of the ancient Sith to his own needs , he then took his friend Malak as his apprentice . A year after their apparent disappearance , Revan and Malak returned at the head of a massive invasion fleet made up of Republic vessels such as the " Leviathan " , as well as strange hybrid technologies built by the Star Forge . They were crewed by experienced ex - Republic veterans , and commanded by some of the finest officers that the Republic had produced including Admiral Saul Karath , General Derred , and Mon Halan . Calling themselves the Sith , they declared war on the Republic . The Jedi Civil War . With Darth Revan at the helm , the Sith invasion was all but unstoppable . His Sith assassin s secretly flooded into the Republic from their base on Malachor V , killing and / or abducting Jedi throughout Republic space . In Sith outposts on Lehon , Dxun , and Korriban , Revan ' s most faithful servants broke captured Jedi and led them to the dark side . The Sith conspired with Czerka Corporation , one of the richest and most powerful galaxy - spanning companies of the time , to amass much needed resources . They also secured a place on the ocean planet of Manaan , thanks to the native Selkath neutrality , and so were able to export the healing agent kolto to their forces . As the Sith ' s conquest continued unchecked , worlds began to secede to the Sith invasion fleet voluntarily , either out of fear of what had happened to Telos IV or because they believed that the corrupt and ineffectual Republic was finally about to fall . The Republic , however , still had one last card to play — the Jedi . Time and again , the Republic armadas were saved from certain destruction by the prowess of a young Jedi Padawan named Bastila Shan . During a long string of Republic losses , her skills in battle meditation staved off utter defeat . When the Sith were on the brink of victory , Revan ' s flagship was invaded by a Jedi strike team during an ambush . Led by Bastila , the Jedi were able to corner Revan on the bridge . Ever ambitious , Malak fired upon his master ' s vessel , hoping to destroy all of his enemies with one swift stroke , but all did not go as he had planned . The ship was destroyed , but the Jedi were able to escape with a critically injured Revan . The betrayal of Darth Malak . After the apparent death of Revan , Malak crowned himself as the new Dark Lord of the Sith and continued his former master ' s war of conquest , but he did not share Revan ' s vision . Afterwards , he took his own apprentice , Darth Bandon . Whereas Revan had kept key Republic infrastructure intact for the purposes of post - war rebuilding , Malak and Bandon were believers in more brutal methods . Likely ignorant of Revan ' s original intentions , they preferred an all - out war of destruction and carnage . Malak ' s primary objective quickly became the assassination or capture of Bastila Shan . He almost got his wish when Bandon overwhelmed and boarded her flagship , the " Endar Spire " , during a Sith ambush over the world of Taris . Bastila managed to flee the battle in an escape pod . She was soon joined by an amnesiac Revan who had escaped the " Endar Spire " with the aid of Saul Karath ' s old protégé Captain Carth Onasi . After a fruitless quarantine and search of the planet , Darth Malak ordered Admiral Karath to destroy it . The entire surface of Taris — including all life there — was utterly obliterated during a combined sterilization operation by the Sith fleet , but Bastila , Revan and their party managed to escape and flee to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine onboard a stolen smuggler vessel named the " Ebon Hawk " . On Dantooine , the unaware Revan was retrained in the ways of the Force before given a quest of vital importance to the Republic — retracing Darth Revan ' s path to the Star Forge . After obtaining data from three damaged Rakatan Star Maps and with the death of Bandon , the crew of the " Ebon Hawk " were captured by Saul Karath ' s command ship , the " Leviathan " . Fortunately , Bastila and her party managed to escape from their cells and confronted Saul Karath on the bridge , where he was killed . On the verge of escaping the vessel , Darth Malak arrived and faced them . During the confrontation , Revan ' s true identity was revealed and Bastila sacrificed herself so that he and the others could escape . She was captured by Malak and after being tortured , she fell to the dark side and became his new apprentice . The fall . Having discovered the ancient Star Maps on Dantooine , Tatooine , Kashyyyk , Manaan , and Korriban , Revan and his crew were able to piece together the location of the Star Forge . The Republic armadas were summoned to Lehon and a massive space battle took place between the Republic and Sith forces . After a confrontation with Revan , Bastila returned to the light side and betrayed her master by using her battle meditation to aid the Republic forces . The Jedi Civil War ended as Darth Malak died at the hands of his old master . With Malak gone and the Star Forge destroyed , the infrastructure of the Sith Empire collapsed . The remaining Dark Jedi descended into a state of civil war and virtually wiped themselves out . Small skirmishes led by ex - Sith forces continued for the next few years , until much of what Revan had built was undone . In time , three new Sith Lords soon arose to take control of a remnant of the Empire , but they were never strong enough to directly challenge the Republic . The fragile alliance between Darth Nihilus , Darth Sion , and Darth Traya which almost completely decimated the Jedi was eventually destroyed by Meetra Surik , bringing an end to the Sith legacy that Revan had begun . Revan , meanwhile , had disappeared from known space , apparently continuing his previous tactics to take on the ancient Sith Empire by himself . Meetra followed him and eventually got herself killed while Revan was imprisoned for centuries . Nearly three hundred years later , the ancient Sith Empire would return to plague the Republic once more . Government and politics . The organization of Darth Revan ' s Sith Empire was surprisingly similar to that of Darth Sidious ' Galactic Empire . Following the dissolution of the original Sith Empire circa 5000 BBY , the former capital world of Ziost fell by the wayside , and was nearly forgotten . After the defeat of Exar Kun in 3996 BBY , a number of his former Sith disciples fled to the far reaches of the galaxy , including the territory of the former Sith Empire . During the intervening three - and - a - half decades , the mausoleum planet Korriban was occupied by those who ultimately became the true heirs - apparent to Kun ' s mantle . It was while journeying into Sith space following the Mandalorian Wars that Revan and Malak encountered the Sith Emperor , and were anointed as the next Dark Lords of the Sith , in order to pave the way for a future Sith invasion of the galaxy . Under the ex - Jedi , Korriban thus became the new capital of the Sith Empire , and began to attract ever - growing numbers of students and acolytes to the burgeoning Sith Academy there . The planet ' s status as Ziost ' s successor was complete . The guiding principle of the Empire was natural selection or survival of the fittest . Even the lowliest grunts were encouraged to compete for positions of power through any means necessary . While this means of promotion created a tense and divisive system of governance , it nevertheless ensured a powerful and capable military . Revan , then Malak after him , were the supreme rulers of the Empire and their strength and charisma alone kept their minions in check . The Sith had a unique way of managing conquered territories . A single governor , often a Dark Jedi , would be posted on each world and housed within an embassy which would contain a security force large enough to keep the planet under control . The Sith fleet was often on the move which allowed even the Dark Lord of the Sith to command from the front lines . All of these structures were designed to expedite the support and deployment of the Empire ' s military forces , rather than to provide a sedate governing body such as the Galactic Republic . The Sith Academy on Korriban followed similar rules . Prospective students learned to care only for themselves and to be ruthlessly independent . Additionally , the Master of the academy could , at any time , be succeeded by his apprentice . Military . Upon their return to known space , the Sith were well equipped for battle . The new Sith Empire ' s fleets were primarily dominated by stolen Republic vessels during the early stages of the Jedi Civil War , but they were soon supplemented by a host of starships built by the Star Forge . The Star Forge itself served as a primary staging ground and command center . Astrography . The objective of the Sith Empire of Darth Revan was to seize territory and ultimately replace the Republic , unlike the Sith of the Great Sith War , whose primary goal was to sow discord and chaos . While the Sith of old devastated half of the settled galaxy , Revan ' s Sith Empire at its height had seized control of a third of the known galaxy , and , just prior to the defeat at the Battle of Rakata Prime , higher - ranking Sith officials estimated that it would only be a matter of months before the Sith encroached upon the inner Core Worlds themselves , with the Republic ' s fall projected shortly thereafter . During its height , the Empire governed a large swath of the Outer Rim , including much of what was formerly known as Sith Space . Several islands of territory existed beyond the mainstream Sith Empire , including those based upon the Corellian and Tapani Sectors , giving the Sith Empire a strong presence in the Core Worlds .