Sawj Luzo

Sawj Luzo was a male Human Sith Saber of the Lost Tribe of Sith. Around 3960 BBY, for his devotion to the Grand Lord Lillia Venn, he was promoted, with his elder brother Flen Luzo, to the rank of Sith Lord after the events of the Korsinata. The Luzo brothers were rivals of Orielle Kitai in the Sith Saber leadership. Under Lillia Venn, they acted as executioners and took pleasure in their work, like the public execution of Dernas, the leader of the Red Faction and Pallima, who lead the Gold Faction. A few days later, they were sent to Jelph Marrian's farm to execute Ori Kitai's uvak, Shyn and give her two scrolls, which stated that her mother, Candra Kitai had plotted with the High Lords of the Red and Gold factions to assassinate Grand Lord Venn. Her mother had signed both scrolls, which also stated that Candra, now Venn's slave, pledged her eternal loyalty to the Grand Lord. The Luzo brothers confiscated Orielle's lightsaber, gave her a shovel symbolic of her new life as a slave, and returned to Tahv.
After being tipped off by Candra about her daughter's discovery of a working starship, they returned to the farm they visited a few days ago, this time accompanied by Grand Lord Venn herself, where they confronted an unexpectant Orielle. While Venn immobilized Kitai with the Force, several guards took hold of her. Venn explained that Candra had alerted Venn to the meeting, betraying her daughter in exchange for what Venn called "improved working conditions." While Venn entered Marrian's starfighter, her guards held Kitai in place. Kitai's rescue came under the guise of former Jedi Knight and Covenant Shadow, Jelph Marrian. After shooting her two captors from behind and firing blaster shots in the Luzos' direction, Marrian led her toward the river as Venn powered up the starfighter, unaware that he had used the ship's proton torpedoes and thousands of kilograms of ammonium-nitrate-based explosives—converted from common fertilizer—to create an anti-theft system for the vessel. As Venn ascended, the torpedoes detonated, killing Venn, the Luzos, and the guards. Orielle and Marrian fled the farm, which, along with the entire bank, sank into the river as a result of the explosion.
==Biography==
===Sith Saber===
Sawj and his older brother Flen Luzo were members of the Lost Tribe of Sith, the descendants of a group of stranded Human Sith who had colonized the planet Kesh during the Great Hyperspace War. He grew up almost a millennium after the reign of Grand Lord Nida Korsin, who had ruled for 79 years. By that time, the Force-sensitive members of the Tribe had become the new ruling elite on the continent of Keshtah Minor and lorded over the native Keshiri, who had become a large serf underclass which worshiped the Sith as the a race of gods known as the Protectors. Internal divisions had also emerged within the Tribe with two important political factions being the Red and the Gold Factions, led by the High Lords Dernas and Pallima respectively.
Sawj and his brother worked their way up the Tribe's hierarchy and had become prominent leaders of the Sith Sabers, the Tribe's equivalent of the Jedi Knights. As Sith Sabers, they also had several apprentices. Sawj and Flen also had an adversarial relationship with their fellow Saber Orielle Kitai, the daughter of High Lord Candra Kitai, who was a rival contender for the Saber leadership. The two brothers were also close allies of the High Lord Lillia Venn, who ascended to the Grand Lordship in 3961 BBY. They served as her bodyguards during public functions like Donellan's Day. Grand Lord Lillia Venn had been elected as a compromise candidate after the Red and Gold Factions were unable to agree on a successor. Thus, the political independent Lillia had ad been elected because she was the oldest High Lord and the other Lords had thought that she would not last that long in power on account of her age. While the Red and Gold Factions swore fealty to Grand Lord Lillia, they continued to compete for her coveted position. Their liege Lillia was aware of these sentiments and ambitions and sought to bring about the downfall of her rivals.
===Donellan's Day===
In 3960 BBY, Sawj and Flen escorted Grand Lord Lillia Venn when she attended the Donellan's Day rake-riding games at the Korsinata stadium in the Sith capital of Tahv. They were also seated in Lillia's luxury compartment at the top of the stadium. Donellan's Day was a public holiday in the Sith calendar which commemorated the life and times of Nida's son Donellan, who died before his mother and thus ended the Korsin family line. As a result, the heirless Nida instituted a succession system based on merit prior to her death. Thus, future Grand Lords were elected from among the Circle of Lords. For the Sith, this day signified that it was unwise to be too impatient about engineering their successions. On Donellan's Day, rake-riding games were held at public arenas like the Korsinata in Tahv. Rake-riding was a violent blood sports which pitted teams of flightless uvak and their uvak wranglers against each other.
Prior to the games, the two brothers made hostile glares at Orielle, who thought they were annoyed that this was the one moment where they were not able to sabotage her. Orielle and her mother Candra were seated at the opposite luxury compartment due to the latter's important position within the Circle of Lords. Candra had been appointed as High Lord to fill Lillia's vacancy when she ascended to the Grand Lordship. Since Candra was not aligned with the two major factions, she became the second most important person within the Tribe. Due to this position, Candra assumed the role of tiebreaker and had the power to select the elderly Lillia's successor in the event that the Grand Lord died. Recognizing Candra's importance, Lillia publicly accorded Candra with the highest respect and honor and invited her to attend public functions like the rake-riding games in Tahv.
Orielle knew that the two Luzo brothers had been watching for months, eager to profit from any slip. She privately hoped that the death of Grand Lord Venn would also spell the demise of the Luzo brothers. However, Candra read her daughter's thoughts and warned her that they were friends today. Orielle reluctantly accepted her mother's wishes but were happy that their booth was more colorful and decorated than the others. For the rake-riding game, Candra and her daughter had sponsored Campion Dey, a rake-rider from the southlands which they represented. However, Dey made an assassination attempt on Grand Lord Venn and attempted to ride his uvak to her luxury compartment. However, Venn killed his uvak with Force lightning. The Luzo brothers then sprung into action and killed the would-be assassin with their Sith lightsabers. Candra and Orielle were horrified by this unexpected development because they had not ordered Dey to attack the Grand Lord and did not know what would motivate him to do so. They were also rightfully afraid that they would be accused of staging the assassination attempt.
In fact, Grand Lord Lillia Venn had actually staged her own assassination attempt as a means of intimidating her rivals. She did not intend to execute the High Lord Candra and her family but instead wanting to make "living and breathing examples" of them by enslaving them. Under her orders, Sawj and Flen Luzo executed Dernas and Pallima on the grounds that these High Lords had conspired with Candra to assassinate the Grand Lord. Under much duress, Candra was coerced into confessing that she had conspired with Dernas and Pallima to murder Venn. As punishment, Candra became Lillia's eternal slave and was forced to shovel uvak manure at the zoo, a public uvak enclosure in Tahv. The two Luzo brothers and their Sith apprentices also raided the Kitai family mansion at Starfall. Under their supervision, the Kitai family's Keshiri laborers burnt their former masters' belongings in a large bonfire. While the Luzo brothers went inside the building, two of their apprentices guarded the doorway.
===Minions of the Grand Lord===
However, the Luzo brothers were unable to capture Orielle Kitai, who had left the stadium to return to her family estate. She witnessed the sacking of her home, which she had witnessed in a Force vision a few years ago during her second day as a Sith Tyro, the lowest level in the Tribe's hierarchy. Orielle narrowly escaped capture by the Luzos and flew with her uvak Shyn to her friend Jelph Marrian's farm in the Marisota River. Jelph was an enslaved Human horticulturalist who specialized in making fertilizers to sell to Keshiri farmers. He had supplied Orielle with dalsa flowers during that fateful Donellan's Day. She sought refuge with him and Jelph agreed to shelter her since she had nowhere else to go.
After several days, the Luzo brothers learnt about Orielle's whereabouts from several Keshiri traders who frequented Jelph's farm. They flew their uvak to Jelph's farm where they slaughtered Shyn, who was housed in a stable, on the pretext that slaves were not allowed to own the status beasts. When Ori entered the barn to come to the aid of her uvak, she encountered the two Luzo brothers. When Orielle threatened to kill her tormentors, Sawj retorted that they had already killed two High Lords earlier in the week and were not willing to dirty their hands with a slave. When Orielle protested the killing of her uvak, Sawj reminded her that the Sabers were in charged of keeping law and order, and that slaves were not allowed to keep uvak. Orielle was about to charge at the two brothers until Sawj's big brother Flen retrieved a saddle bag containing two scrolls.
Flen announced that the two brothers had come to make a trade with Orielle. Orielle read the two scrolls and discovered that her mother had confessed to conspiring with the Red and Gold Factions to assassinate the Grand Lord. When Orielle retorted that they could have gotten anything under duress, Flen acknowledged that this had been the case. Flen also announced that Lillia Venn would be appointing three replacement High Lords of her own to block any moves by her rivals. Based on Flen's voice, Orielle deduced that the two brothers were likely candidates for replacement High Lords due to their loyalty to Venn. Flen then demanded that Orielle surrender her lightsaber on the grounds that slaves were not allowed to hold lightsabers, which were another status symbol on primitive Kesh.
When Ori refused to cooperate, Flen reminded her that her mother had told them that she would cooperate and would suffer even more if she refused to do so. Flen then added that Candra was already suffering and threatened to send the Sith Sabers to burn down Jelph's farm and kill the "farmer boy." The Sith Sabers already had orders to do so if the two Luzo brothers did not return with her lightsaber. While the two Luzo brothers did not care how slaves lived their lives, they still insisted that she yield her lightsaber. To emphasize their message, Sawj and Flen ignited their lightsabers in unison. Outnumbered and wanting to save the life of her friend, Orielle yielded her lightsaber to the Luzo brothers. Sawj then confiscated Orielle's lightsaber. Prior to departing on their uvak, Flen also left Ori with a shovel to mark her new career as a slave. They then flew away laughing at their defeated rival.
===Night of the Upside-Down Meteor===
Ultimately, Sawj and Flen through their actions unleashed a chain reaction of events which led to their deaths. Humiliated, their rival Orielle Kitai descended into a fit of rage and damaged Jelph Marrian's farm and belongings in the process with her shovel. While rummaging through his barn, she found a starship beneath his mound of manure. This was a "Kesh-shaking" event because the Tribe had no access to hyperspace travel since their ancestors' first arrival in 5000 BBY. Orielle believed that this new technology would allow her people to return to the stars and her family to restore their fortunes. In fact, her "farmer friend" Jelph Marrian was actually a Jedi Shadow and a member of the Jedi Covenant, a secret Jedi faction that was determine to prevent a repeat of the Great Sith War. Orielle traveled to Tahv where she encountered her mother in the zoo and shared her discovery.
Candra reluctantly told her daughter to contact Gadin Badolfa, an architect who was closely connected to the leaders of the Red and Gold factions. She also gave Orielle the secret passcode to indicate a "Kesh-shaking discovery." From Badolfa, Orielle learnt that the two Luzo brothers had been promoted to the position of Sith Lords to reward them for their loyalty. Orielle also encountered Jelph, who had come to look for her, and the two reconciled with each other following a brief but fiery argument. Orielle and Jelph then returned to the latter's farm by uvak in an attempt to hide this discovery from the High Lords. Unknown to Orielle or Jelph, Candra secretly contacted Grand Lord Venn and alerted her to the meeting in exchange for "improved working conditions." She did not believe that her daughter's discover existed and did not believe that the other High Lords would come. Lillia then traveled with her entourage including the two Luzo brothers.
The two Luzo brothers and the Grand Lord flew on their uvak to Jelph Marrian's farm, intending to see this "Kesh-shaking discovery" and to kill those other High Lords that had come. They managed to fly their uvak in a V-shaped formation and tapped into a jet stream, which allowed them to arrive at their destination before Orielle and Jelph. Upon landing, the two Luzo brothers and their Sith Sabers quickly secured the perimeter and found the starship in the barn, just as Candra had told them. Knowing that the visitors were present, Orielle attempted to mislead the visitors by claiming she had found a sack containing four blasters, a technology that was unknown to the Tribe. Meanwhile, Jelph hid behind the bushes. Upon meeting the newcomers, Orielle quickly realized that these were not the High Lords but were actually the Grand Lord and her followers. She was quickly captured.
The Grand Lord then called into the barn. Sawj and Flen then opened the stable doors behind Venn, revealing the Jedi starship. Sawj revealed that the Tribe's leadership had allowed Badolfa to deliver Orielle's messages to the other four other High Lords. He then revealed that Orielle's mother had already made another deal with the Grand Lord in exchange for "improved working conditions." While Lillia had wanted to execute the other High Lords for treason if they came, she was happy with her prize. Sawj watched while his older brother led their Grand Lord through the excavated manure toward her discovery. Lillia was triumphant that she had lived to see the day that the Tribe discovered a starship. She then commented that she had spent years reaching the pinnacle of power only for others to think it was time for her to die. When the Luzo brothers tried to assure her of their loyalty, she brushed them off and vowed to conquer the stars.
Unknown to the other visitors, Jelph had managed to use the Force to levitate the sack of blasters towards him. Ori witnessed this and heard Jelph's telepathic call but did not inform the others. At the right moment, she fell down to the ground and surprised her captors. This distraction gave Jelph enough time to emerge from the farmhouse and open fire on Venn's entourage. The Sith Sabers were unfamiliar with blaster technology and a few were struck down. The remaining Sith attempted to use their lightsabers to deflect the blaster bolts. Ori took advantage of the chaos to break free and steal one of her captors' lightsabers. Meanwhile, Venn entered the Aurek starfighter's cockpit while the Luzo brothers guarded the barn's doorway. Jelph and Orielle then fled into the Marisota river. Since the stable's doorway was large enough to accommodate wide-winged uvak, Lillia and her followers thought that they would be able to drive the starfighter through it.
As the starfighter hovered towards the exit, Sawj and Flen suddenly realized that the vehicle was still connected to its moorings. In fact, two mono-filament cords had been tied around the starfighter's landing struts. These cords were in fact part of an ingenious anti-theft system which had been constructed by Jelph to destroy the starfighter and its occupants in the event that it was discovered by the Sith. These lines were connected to two proton torpedoes which were surrounded by thousands of kilograms of ammonium nitrate based explosives. The resulting explosion destroyed the Aurek starfighter and the barn exploded; killing the Grand Lord, the Luzo brothers, and the remaining Sith Sabers. The ensuing explosion also leveled the surrounding riverbank and wiped out all evidence of the farm and its occupants. Thus, in one stroke, the two Luzo brothers along with their main ally, Lillia Venn, were wiped out completely without any trace. Lillia's death triggered a millennium-long power struggle known as the Time of the Rot which devastated much of Keshtah Minor.
==Personality and traits==
Like his Sith brother Flen, Sawj Luzo subscribed to the Sith belief in self glorification and were also proficient with handling lightsabers. He had a good relationship with his brother Flen and both aspired to lead the Sith Sabers. Both brothers were big-built and were barrel-chested. Due to their ambitions, they came to view their fellow Saber Orielle Kitai as a rival and sought to do everything in their power to humiliate and break her. They treated her with disdain and expressed satisfaction in her suffering. In addition, Sawj and Flen were known for their cruelty and their willingness to kill without hesitation, as reflected when they executed the assassin Campion Dey, the High Lords Dernas and Pallima, and Orielle's uvak Shyn.
==Behind the scenes==
Sawj Luzo and his brother Flen first appeared as minor antagonists in John Jackson Miller's two eBooks Lost Tribe of the Sith: Purgatory and its sequel Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel, which were first released on October 25, 2010 and February 21, 2011 respectively. This marks their only known appearances in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Most of their lines are told through the point-of-view of Orielle Kitai, one of the two main protagonists in the series.
==Appearances==
*Lost Tribe of the Sith: Purgatory 
*Lost Tribe of the Sith: Sentinel
==Notes and references==
Category:Humans
Category:Lords of the Lost Tribe of Sith
Category:Males
Category:Sith Sabers