Assassination attempt in the Korsinata On Donellan ' s Day in 3960 BBY , an assassination attempt was made on the life of Grand Lord Lillia Venn . During a rake - riding competition in the Korsinata on Kesh , uvak wrangler Campion Dey drew his lightsaber and flew his uvak toward Venn ' s private viewing box . Before he could reach her , Venn unleashed her Force lightning on him , and Dey was subsequently killed . While his motives for wanting to assassinate Lillia remained unknown , his sponsors High Lord Candra Kitai and her daughter Orielle Kitai were accused of instigating the assassination since they had sponsored Dey for several years . As punishment , the Kitais were stripped of all their former titles , lands , and possessions , and were reduced to the status of slaves . To escape retribution , Orielle Kitai sought refuge with her friend Jelph Marrian , who owned a farm along the Marisota River . This set the stage for the Night of the Upside - Down Meteor which ended with the death of Grand Lord Venn and triggered the Time of the Rot , which was a period of civil war and instability that almost lasted a millennium . History . Background . By 3960 BBY , the Sith Tribe had been on Kesh ' s continent Keshtah Minor for more than a millennium . The Tribe were the descendants of ancient offworld Human Sith who had become stranded on Kesh during the Great Hyperspace War in 5000 BBY . Under the leadership of Yaru Korsin , the Tribe subjugated the Keshiri living on Keshtah Minor by claiming to be the Protectors , mythical gods in Keshiri mythology . Following the death of Korsin in 4975 BBY , his daughter Nida Korsin succeeded him as Grand Lord and ruled for 79 years . She outlasted her son Donellan who died an old man . Following his death , his mother instituted a succession system based on meritocracy where future Grand Lords were elected from a seven - member Circle of Lords . To commemorate the unfulfilled life of Donellan , the Tribe instituted a holiday known as Donellan ' s Day or the " Day of the Dispossed . " Donellan ' s Day was held on the anniversary of his birth in 4960 BBY . By 3960 BBY , the reigning Grand Lord was Lillia Venn , a Sith woman who had been elected the previous year following the death of the previous Grand Lord . Venn had been a compromise candidate when the six other Grand Lords had been unable to agree on a new leader . As the eldest member of the Circle of Lords , Venn had been selected because the other Lords regarded her as an old and frail candidate . By that stage , two major political parties had emerged within the Tribe : the Red Faction led by High Lord Dernas and the Gold Faction led by High Lord Pallima . Following the accession of Venn to the Grand Lordship , the Sith aristocrat lady Candra Kitai was appointed as the seventh High Lord . Since she was not aligned with either the Red or Gold Factions , High Lord Kitai was able to serve as the independent tiebreaker who could select the leader ' s successor . This strategic position made her the second most important person in the Tribe . For that year ' s Donellan ' s Day celebrations , the Grand Lord and the Circle of Lords would watch a game of rake - riding at the Korsinata stadium in Tahv , the Sith capital on Kesh . Rake - riding was a blood sport which pitted uvak s which had their wing muscles cut at birth against each other . These uvaks would be ridden by uvak wrangler s . While they were technically sporting events , these rake - riding games also served as a battleground between the various rival factions . For the games , Candra and her daughter Orielle Kitai , a Sith Saber , had sponsored an uvak - wrangler named Campion Dey whom they had known for several years . In addition , the Grand Lord Lillia Venn had sponsored two wranglers who had been recommended by Flen and Sawj Luzo , the two Luzo brothers who were her top allies . Meanwhile , the Red and Gold Factions also sponsored their own wranglers . Prior to the games , Orielle had purchased some dalsa flower s from a Human agriculturalist named Jelph Marrian , who owned a farm along the Marisota River . Unknown to the Sith , Marrian was a stranded Jedi Shadow who had come to the planet three years earlier . The Assassination Attempt . The rake - riding games initially were uneventful . Shortly after the start , Campion Dey and his uvak broke away from the scrum and leapt onto the grandstand , scattering the passengers . Dey and his uvak ran towards Grand Lord Lillia Venn ' s luxury compartment . However , Lillia killed the uvak with Force lightning , causing her would - be assassin to fall onto the seats . He was immediately dispatched off by the two Luzo brothers . Orielle and her mother Candra were shocked and horrified by the incident since they had known Dey and sponsored his training for several years . They knew that they had not ordered the assassination on Venn but felt that suspicions would fall on them . Candra instructed her daughter Orielle to return to their family ' s estate at Starfall , which was south of Tahv , while she tried to resolve the situation . Since Dey had been killed before he could be interrogated , nobody knew who had actually staged the assassination . The Red Faction claimed that Candra had connived with the Gold Faction to assassinate Venn . Likewise , the Gold Faction claimed that Candra had conspired with its rival . Lillia Venn took the unsuccessful assassination as an opportunity to chastise her political rivals . As Dey ' s sponsor , Candra was accused of staging the assassination . As punishment , her entire family were stripped of all their ranks , titles , and belongings in order to make a public example of them . As a warning to other would - be political rivals , Candra was also forced to shovel manure at the city ' s zoo in public . In addition , Venn also ordered the immediate execution of High Lords Dernas and Pallima within their own boxes in the arena . Aftermath . Two hours after the assassination attempt , Orielle returned to her family ' s estate at Starfall only to discover that her family had been disenfranchised and reduced to the status of slaves . Under the orders of the Grand Lord Lillia Venn , her own family ' s Keshiri slaves burnt the Kitai family ' s ' belongings in a large bonfire . To mark her status as a slave , Orielle was called " Ori " by one of her family ' s slaves . While Orielle was comfortable with using her shortened nickname among fellow Humans like her friend Jelph , she had forbidden her Keshiri servants to call her by that name . This small change reflected her family ' s tremendous decline . Seeking to escape retribution , Orielle sought refuge with her friend Jelph . During her time there , Orielle and Jelph discussed whether the " downfall " of her family had been the result of a conspiracy engineered by the Grand Lord . Jelph advised Orielle not to return because he believed that her life was in danger . He speculated that Lillia must have ordered the attempted assassination on herself in order to make the Kitai family political scapegoats . The fact that she had spared them rather than execute them indicated that the Grand Lord had intended to make a public example of them . In the end , Orielle agreed to stay with Jelp until it was safe to return to Tahv . Still , she was determined to restore her family ' s position . While Jelph was out hunting one day , Orielle was visited by Flen and Sawj Luzo , the two Luzo brothers who had recently been promoted as High Lords by Lillia . They killed her uvak Shyn on the pretext that slaves were not allowed to own uvaks . Prior to Dey ’ s failed assassination attempt , the two Luzo brothers had been Orielle ' s rivals while she was training to be a Sith Saber . They also produced two confessions from her mother Candra which claimed that she had conspired with both Dernas and Pallima . Under duress , the Luzo brothers also confiscated her lightsaber . To mark her new status as a slave , Orielle was given a spade . After the Luzo brothers departed , Orielle was so distraught that she entered into a fit of rage . She damaged and destroyed several items of Jelph ' s property including his plants , wooden cart , and barn . During that time , Orielle discovered an " Aurek " - class tactical strikefighter beneath a mound of manure . Orielle quickly realized that the starship could become a way for her and her mother to regain their loss status within the Tribe . Since the Tribe ' s ancestors had crash - landed on Kesh , the Tribe had been unable to leave the planet and return to the stars for more than a millennium . The Tribe had always hoped to return to the wider galaxy to create their own interstellar empire . By the time that Jelph had returned to the homestead , he found that Orielle had already left and that his starship had been uncovered . As a member of the secretive Jedi Covenant , Jelph was committed to eradicating any Sith influence and preventing the Tribe from posing a threat to the galaxy . Fearing that the Tribe would pose a threat to the galaxy , he resolved to stop his friend Orielle from revealing the presence of a Jedi and a hyperspace - capable starship to her people . This set the stage for a duel between Orielle and Jelph at Tahv ' s aqueduct . Behind the scenes . The Assassination attempt in the Korsinata appeared as the climax of John Jackson Miller ' s EBook " " , which was released on October 25 , 2010 . It was told from the point - of - view of Orielle Kitai , one of the main protagonists .