Sith Order

"We take what we desire because we can. We can because we have power. We have power because we are Sith."

- Sith Proverb

The **Sith Order**, or more simply referred to as the **Sith**, was an order of Force-sensitives who utilized the Dark Side of the Force often for personal gain and benefit. The term "Sith" originally referred to a species of Near-Human native to Korriban, who were later enslaved, ruled over, and intermixed with exiled Dark Je'daii from Tython. These Dark Je'daii had once been members of the old Je'daii Order, another order of Force-sensitives who believed in a balance of Dark and Light Side of the Force, who were then succeeded by the Jedi Order and while continuing this tradition, leaning much more heavily to the Light. The Dark Je'daii who would become the first Sith Lords, refused this balanced approach to the Force and challenged the rest of the Je'daii by strictly using the Dark Side and never following the traditions laid out by the Order, this, in turn, would eventually lead to a spark of a bloody schism between the Dark Je'daii, the Light Je'daii, and the moderate and traditional Je'daii in a hundred-year conflict dubbed the Hundred-Year Schism. The conflict ended in their defeat and subsequent exile from Tython by the Je'daii Order, eventually leading to their discovery of the Sith species. In the following centuries thereafter, the two groups would intermix, both biologically and culturally until the name of the Sith no longer applied to the species but rather to the Dark Side order created by these exiled Dark Je'daii and the philosophy they created. While the order itself died out at the end of the Second Terran-Sith War and Second Sith Genocide, beit from the slaughter itself or the survivors abandoning the order as they fled Sith space, the Sith Order's teachings and text still survived in some form and every once and a while the order would revived to a degree by either Fallen/Dark Jedi or Force-sensitives that stumbled across them by chance. Nonetheless, the Sith order is long gone by the time of the First Galactic War, with only Darth Starkiller, the Imperium's Emperor's Wraith, all that remains of the ancient order of Darksiders.

The Sith are still regarded as the most infamous of all Dark Side based Force organizations, even after thousands of years after their destruction, with numerous cults that worship the Dark Side, often worshipped the old Sith Order as the pinnacle of power within the Dark's ever-deepening abyss. As such, there have been numerous cults formed on the basis of these dark teachings, all in the hopes of recreating the Sith Order once more, or just continue the teachings for generations to come, some of the most infamous examples being the Naddists, the Disciples of Ragnos and the Krath.

Out of all the secret societies and cults born from Sith teachings, there is no one more mysterious and mythical than the Sith Eternal cult. Much about the cult is limited at best and outright nonexistent at worse, both factors combined create a group that's more akin to a conspiracy theory than a group that truly exists. Rather or not it is a myth or fact does not diminish the unsettling nature of the cult, with it said to have its' members in major galactic organizations, groups, militaries and even governments, and its' this power that the cult uses to maintain their secrecy, killing anyone who tries to discover the truth. Nonetheless, the Sith Eternal could simply not exist and just rumors created over the millennia by people who firmly believe that the Sith are not truly extinct and that this cult is just yet another way in which the Sith could return to the Galaxy once more.

## Ranks

The Sith had a clearly defined hierarchy which divided the strong from the weak, which ironically enough served as the closest the Sith and its' empires ever had to a true meritocracy, as the Sith constantly changed hands over the near 25 thousands years of existence.

### Dark Lord of the Sith

Dark Lords of the Sith were the greatest and most powerful of the Sith Lords, and in effect, was the name used for the leaders of the Sith Order. In the First Sith Empire, the title was also synomious with the Second Sith Empire title of Sith Emperor, as a Dark Lord of the Sith would effectively became the new Emperor or Empress of the Sith Empire. Although this was changed with the creation of the Second Sith Empire nearly twenty years after the First Terran-Sith War, with the two titles separate from each other, the Sith Emperor used for the ruler of the Empire and the Dark Lord of the Sith became the official term used for the members of the Dark Council.

### Darth

Darths, also referred to as Sith Lords were the leaders of the Sith. They commanded armies of Sith Minions, Acolytes and Warriors during wartime and served as nobles of the two ancient Sith Empires. Sith Lords used the dark side of the Force to inflict misery, suffering, and corruption. They were also tasked with preserving the lore of the Sith by passing all their knowledge on to their acolytes. While they did not enter combat as often as lesser Sith (preferring to use pawns, servants, or proxies), they were the most fearsome of the Sith as they were the keepers of the Sith's greatest secrets and wielders of its most potent sorceries.

### Sith Marauder

Sith Marauders, a variant of the Sith Warriors, were often responsible for the most brutal acts carried out by the Sith. Their training emphasized the aggressive use of a lightsaber rather than the Force. A Sith Marauder's berserk physical prowess was a dark side technique fueled by hatred, rage, and cruelty. Caring little for the subtleties of manipulating others and lacking a deep understanding of the Force, Marauders were often burdened with carrying out the wishes of the Sith Lords.

### Sith Warrior

Sith Warrior was a rank of the Sith order. They were mid-ranking Sith who generally focused their energies and skills towards battle, spending little time on actual dark side philosophy or other concerns of the "purer" Sith.

### Sith Acolyte

Sith Acolyte were Force-sensitive apprentices who had only just started down the dark path under the tutelage of a more experienced Sith.