New Sith The New Sith , also known as the New Sith Empire or simply the Sith Empire , was a revived faction of the Sith Order that existed throughout the millennia - long Draggulch Period . The faction arose in 2000 BBY due to the machinations of Darth Ruin , a Jedi Master who initiated the Fourth Great Schism of the Jedi Order , becoming a Dark Lord of the Sith . Amassing a multitude of like - minded disciples , Ruin founded a new empire of the Sith , clashing with the Galactic Republic and the Jedi in the New Sith Wars . The reign of Darth Ruin ended prematurely due to the instigation of his backstabbing followers , setting a treacherous precedent that would plague his successors for many centuries . Nonetheless , the New Sith had emerged into a bloody age of galactic expansion , eventually giving rise to a new leader — the shadowy " Dark Underlord " and his marauding Black Knights . Even with the Dark Underlord ' s defeat by the Jedi , the Sith crusades persisted , further expanding their territory and power base . Over five hundred years after their resurgence , the New Sith achieved a crushing victory against Republic and Jedi forces on the planet Mizra , provoking mass Jedi defections and a continued streak of Sith domination . In the wake of this upturn , the tyrannical Darth Rivan rose to leadership , creating a unique brand of warrior s — the Battlelords — in an attempt to curb the string of betrayals among the Sith . This venture met an abrupt end , however , after Rivan and his Battlelords were entrapped , and ultimately destroyed , by a Sith artifact called the Darkstaff . In the last centuries of the New Sith Wars , the reigning Dark Lord Belia Darzu created an army of mutated cyborgs — the Metanecrons — during the two - decade Sictis Wars . The end of this period saw yet another Sith victory , but not before Darzu ' s demise at the hands of the Mecrosa Order . By the advent of the century - long Republic Dark Age , the New Sith had all but completely eroded the strength of their ancient nemeses . Despite the Republic ' s imminent collapse , the Sith ranks devolved into a period of discord and treachery , plunging their empire into a civil war . Throughout the Republic Dark Age , a number of Sith warlords took control of their own independent dominions , continuing their violent conquests against the Republic , the Jedi and each other . The fragmented New Sith remnants endured a phase of perpetual turmoil for some time — although still collectively dominating the galaxy ' s Outer Rim — until the intervention of the renegade Jedi Skere Kaan in 1010 BBY . Declaring himself the new Dark Lord of the Sith , Kaan conquered the warring Sith enclaves , reorganizing them into a faction called the Brotherhood of Darkness . History . Jedi schism . In the year 2000 BBY , the beginning of the Draggulch Period brought about the revival of the Sith Order , a cult of dark side practitioners who — over the past several millennia — sought the destruction of the Galactic Republic and the peacekeeping Jedi Order . For centuries up to this point , the Sith were commonly believed to have been vanquished , having been inactive since the reign of the Sith Empire from the time of the Great Galactic War . The Sith would eventually return , however , due to the machinations of a Jedi Master known as Phanius . Reputed for his solipsistic mindset , Phanius pursued alternative teachings in conflict with the Jedi Order ' s prohibitions , leading him to uncover the ways of the Sith from within a rare Sith holocron . Seduced by the dark side of the Force , the intelligent and charismatic Phanius abandoned the ways of the Jedi , intent on reviving the Sith Order . To this end , the fallen Jedi Master sought out and infiltrated a number of surviving Sith clans , uniting them under his banner and assuming the identity of Darth Ruin . In the process , fifty additional Jedi chose to leave the Order and rally behind Ruin ' s new Sith crusade , resulting in the Fourth Great Schism . Declaring himself a Dark Lord of the Sith , Ruin drove his followers to wage war against the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic , founding a new empire of the Sith and initiating a conflict known as the New Sith Wars . Throughout his reign over the New Sith , Darth Ruin garnered infamy as a particularly merciless and self - centered leader , known for sacrificing many of his underlings on a whim . This ultimately led to the Dark Lord ' s assassination at the hands of his own Sith disciples , who were unwilling to tolerate their leader ' s egocentric philosophy . Despite Ruin ' s death , his actions introduced a new age of expansion for the Sith , resulting in the reclamation of numerous Sith worlds — particularly Yavin 4 and Ziost — along with acts of sabotage against the Republic . The treachery that led to Ruin ' s fall , however , also provoked a string of further betrayals among his Sith successors , of which would persist for hundreds of years to come . Black Knights . By 1750 BBY , another individual had seized the Dark Lord mantle as the leader of the New Sith — a shadowy dark side spirit known only as the " Dark Underlord " . The origins of the Dark Underlord were shrouded in mystery ; some speculated that he was summoned from the realm of Chaos itself , while others believed him to be a reincarnation of Xendor , a darksider who once lived during the First Great Schism thousands of years earlier . A bloodthirsty marauder , the Dark Underlord proved himself a force to be reckoned with among the Sith , allowing him to consolidate a Sith alliance — the Black Knights — in a destructive campaign against the Republic and the Jedi . Headquartered on the planet Malrev IV , the Black Knights were known for their violent exploits along the Zona Miki route of the Outer Rim Territories , terrorizing numerous space stations at the behest of the Dark Underlord . These exploits attracted the ire of Murrtaggh , a Jedi Master who hired a group of Mandalorian mercenaries in a plot to sabotage the Dark Underlord ' s forces . The Mandalorians staged a diversionary attack on Malrev IV , diverting the attention of a leading Sith commander and consequently leaving the Dark Underlord vulnerable to Murrtaggh ' s own assault . In the ensuing battle , the Dark Underlord met his demise at the hands of the Jedi Master . The Black Knights were not completely vanquished , however , and eventually managed to reform their ranks on several occasions — even centuries after the New Sith Wars — in the Dark Underlord ' s absence . Conquest at Mizra . The death of the Dark Underlord ultimately did little to impede the momentum of the Sith war effort , which continued to grow over the following centuries . Despite a number of foiled incursions at Corphelion , Gap Nine and King ' s Galquek , the New Sith had enlisted allies among the Devaronians and Hiitians by the year 1500 BBY . Decades later , the Sith amassed an army against Republic and Jedi forces on the planet Mizra . Many Lords of the Sith participated in this battle , each mounting a personalized speeder bike named after a predatory species that epitomized their innermost nature . The tide of this engagement was turned by the actions of a lone Sith sniper who — after killing a Jedi coordinator and disrupting their battle meditation — triggered a full - scale slaughter of the Jedi forces , resulting in a crushing Sith victory . At the battle ' s end , hundreds of Jedi were captured by the Sith and promptly converted to the ways of the dark side . In the aftermath of their triumph at Mizra , the Sith were left without a clear line of succession , leaving no immediate heir to the Dark Lord mantle . Nonetheless , Mizra was a pivotal turning point in favor of the Sith , solidifying their power base and paving the way for a new leading Sith figure — the tyrannical Darth Rivan . Tyranny of Rivan . At some point between 1417 BBY and 1250 BBY , the Dark Lord Darth Rivan led the New Sith from a personal fortress on the terraformed planet Almas . In an effort to overcome the perpetual betrayals among the ranks of the Sith , Rivan sought to build an army of darksiders led by a unique brand of Sith commanders known as the Battlelords . Through a series of complex rituals fueled by the power of Sith magic , the Dark Lord created a Force bond between the Battlelords and the soldiers under their command , preventing the subordinates from attacking or killing their masters . Initially , the use of Rivan ' s Battlelords brought a higher degree of cohesion to the armies of the Sith . This success proved short - lived , however , when the eventual betrayal of Rivan ' s Sith apprentice — Darsin — obstructed the fruition of the Dark Lord ' s Battlelord army . Additionally , the Jedi began specifically killing individual Battlelords , thereby releasing the bonded subordinates and allowing them to flee the battlefield . As a result , the Sith deemed the Battlelords unfit for their intended purpose , ultimately discontinuing their use . During his reign , Darth Rivan obsessively sought the destruction of a Sith artifact known as the Darkstaff , fearing its reputably malevolent power as a potential threat to his existence . In time , however , the Jedi Order staged an assault against Rivan ' s stronghold on Almas , precipitating a violent end to the Dark Lord ' s reign . By this point , Rivan had finally managed to acquire the Darkstaff , only to have its power turn against him amid the pivotal battle . To this end , the Darkstaff invoked a hyperspace wormhole , obliterating Rivan ' s entire contingent of Battlelords and teleporting the Dark Lord himself forward through time . At his final destination on Ruusan during the Light and Darkness War , Darth Rivan — now deprived of his ability to wield the Force — was killed by a Force - user of unremarkable power . Sictis Wars . In 1250 BBY , the final quarter of the Draggulch Period saw the rise of Belia Darzu , a Dark Lord who led the New Sith during a two - decade period known as the Sictis Wars . Using a hidden stronghold on the Deep Core world of Tython , Darzu experimented with the power of " mechu - deru " , an obscure technique allowing the manipulation of mechanical structures through the Force . These experiments led to the creation of the nanogene spore , a virus capable of transforming living victims into hulking hybrids of metal and flesh called technobeast s . Through the power of the dark side , the technobeasts were bound to the will of Darzu herself , who promptly mobilized the creatures into an obedient army known as the Metanecrons . Over the course of the Sictis Wars , the technobeasts were unleashed upon the Galactic Republic and the Jedi , becoming recognized as the defining horror of this period . By 1230 BBY , an alliance once established between Lord Darzu and the Mecrosa Order — a secret society from the Tapani sector — had fallen apart . The Mecrosa sought revenge against the Dark Lord for an unwanted incursion in their territory . Additionally , Darzu — like many of her Sith predecessors — fell victim to treachery at the hands of her own Sith followers , culminating in the Dark Lord ' s assassination by the Mecrosa . In spite of Darzu ' s death and the resulting sabotage of her technobeast army , the New Sith were nonetheless deemed victorious by the end of the Sictis Wars . Additionally , Darzu ' s successors would continue utilizing the technobeasts for the remainder of the New Sith Wars , albeit in smaller numbers than before . The victory of the Sictis Wars came at a cost , however , and once again deprived the Sith of a clear line of succession for a new leader to seize the Dark Lord mantle . Fragmentation . By 1100 BBY , the relentless Sith crusades had weakened the Republic ' s economic , military and political strength to the point of absolute collapse , beginning an era known as the Republic Dark Age . This new era , however , also brought about a phase of intense division between the power - hungry Lords of the Sith . Unwilling to unite under a single leader , the New Sith failed to capitalize on the Republic ' s decline . Instead , they turned against one another in a period of disagreement and backstabbing , leaving their ranks irreparably fragmented . The century - long Republic Dark Age saw the rise of many Sith warlords who — despite their lack of unity — continued waging their bloody conquests throughout entire star systems , with some maintaining control of their own independent territories . Even in their divided state , the Sith collectively dominated the galaxy ' s Outer Rim while pushing towards the Core Worlds . Discord persisted between the fragmented remnants of the New Sith until the year 1010 BBY . Around this time , Skere Kaan — a Jedi Master known for his radically disillusioned outlook on the Republic and the Jedi — had organized a group of like - minded peers called the " Brotherhood " . Spearheading a campaign to conquer the remaining Sith enclaves on his own terms , Kaan went on to defeat the most powerful of the warring Sith Lords in a matter of months , all while working under the false pretense of rebuilding the Republic . In the process , the Jedi Master — having since declared himself a Dark Lord of the Sith — assumed leadership over the surviving Sith , uniting them to the principle of " Rule by the Strong " . Amassing his twenty thousand - strong following , Kaan founded a new , unified Sith faction called the Brotherhood of Darkness , promptly declaring war against the Republic in the final decade of the New Sith Wars . Legacy . After the collapse of the New Sith , Kaan and his Brotherhood of Darkness sought to repress the unrelenting betrayals that had ultimately caused the downfall of their predecessors . To this end , Kaan allowed all members of the Brotherhood to bear the title of Dark Lord of the Sith , hoping to encourage a sense of equality throughout their ranks . Additionally , Kaan forbade his followers from assuming the coveted title of " Darth " , believing that such a practice merely provoked strife among the Sith . Despite these preventative measures , the Brotherhood met their ultimate demise in the climactic Ruusan campaign , ending the thousand - year - long New Sith Wars in 1000 BBY . The Sith were not completely destroyed , however , as a surviving Brotherhood member — Darth Bane — went on to establish a new Order of the Sith Lords . In the aftermath of the Draggulch Period , succeeding generations of the Sith Order came to regard the New Sith Wars as the bloodiest , most wasteful conflict in galactic history . The ramifications of the Fourth Great Schism were documented in a Jedi guidebook titled " " , citing the Sith revival as the near - end of galactic civilization . Nonetheless , the Republic avoided extinction and escaped the Dark Age perpetuated by the Sith , rebuilding its government after the Ruusan Reformation . In a collection of historical writings called the " Book of Sith " , Darth Bane lambasted the New Sith , asserting that their persistent infighting led them to waste an ideal opportunity to defeat the Republic . This — combined with Bane ' s fervent opposition to the Brotherhood ' s promotion of equality – led him to establish the " Rule of Two " , a doctrine that was intended to curb the ambitions of the power - hungry Sith . Under this doctrine , Bane ' s successors enacted a centuries - long plan for galactic domination , eventually succeeding where the New Sith had failed by overthrowing the Republic and all but completely purging the Jedi Order . By the year 40 ABY , the New Sith and a number of their leading figureheads were discussed in a about the Force , compiled by Jedi historian Tionne Solusar . Behind the scenes . The New Sith were first mentioned in the of , authored by Terry Brooks and published in 1999 . The novel erroneously establishes the New Sith ( simply dubbed the " Sith " at the time ) as the original foundation for the Sith Order as a whole . In the year 2000 , this error was corrected in " The Essential Chronology " , a — penned by Kevin J . Anderson and Daniel Wallace — which first identified the faction as the " New Sith " . The " Power of the Jedi Sourcebook " misattributed the history of the New Sith under the name of the Brotherhood of Darkness , a separate organization that existed after the New Sith collapsed . While most commonly known as the " New Sith " in multiple sources , the faction was later referred to as the " New Sith Empire " in the of " Star Wars Comic UK " , released in 2011 . In the following year , the group was simply named the " Sith Empire " in " " .