Darth Cruor

## Xen Gaal

### Aliases

Darth Cruor, Battlelord, Taral, and Harbinger of the True Sith, formerly Dark Underlord

## Physical description

### Height

Over 9'

Born Xen Gaal, he knew peace with his fellow Gen'Dai for barely three centuries before his arrival, Typhojem. Under his command the Sith pillaged their world for resources, killing hundreds of thousands of his kind and destroying the planet's ability to support life.

Never again would his species thrive in the Galaxy.

Typhojem took one more prize from the world before he left, a child by the name of Xen Gaal, it's potential too great for the Left-Handed God to ignore. His apprenticeship began immediately, and was to last more than a century. His Lord, Darth Nemesis as he was known to the Rakata, spared no brutality or cruelty in his methods of instruction. Xen Gaal became a vessel of destruction, a sower of chaos, an agent of strife.

He was named Darth Cruor, most fitting based on his talents and intended purpose.

It was during this time in which Darth Cruor had first come to know Ku'ar Danar, a fellow apprentice of the Dark God. Together they served his will across the galaxy by instigating the Hundred-Year Darkness, Cruor on the front lines battle while Danar expertly manipulated events from the shadows. Soon after Danar, in his quest for true immortality, trapped himself on Nilrebmah.

It was during this time that the Gen'Dai made his "death mask", he poured his hatred and wrath into its creation, he has worn it off and on for the next six millennia and eventually came to serve as his anchor to the mortal realm. After so much time the piece has become a powerful relic. The creation of the mask took a toll on the mighty Gen'Dai, Darth Cruor was forced into a regenerative coma that would last hundreds of years.

The work of Darth Cruor was not seen again in the galaxy for a long time, upon awakening from his coma he searched tirelessly for signs of his master Typhojem, or the Sorcerer Ku'ar Danar. Finding neither, Darth Cruor did the only thing he knew...continued to manipulate events in the galaxy. Wars were instigated, rebellions stoked, planetary governments toppled, millions died over the course of untold centuries.

This activity was interrupted from time to time by long periods of absence from the goings on of the galaxy, one can only speculate as to his activities but some suggest that he communed with darker powers Beyond the Veil.

In 4,400 BBY, a Jedi called Chamma encountered a trio of "dark side wraiths" on the ancient Sith world Athiss. They drained him of his ability to use the Force, and dissipated like smoke when struck with a lightsaber. They were explained to be the spirits of Sith who had gone to Athiss after the Great Hyperspace War. Two of their number were known as Darth Dreadwar, and Darth Cruor.

He would rise up once again somewhere around 4250 BBY when he began to plant the seeds for conflict yet again, the resulting event known as the Third Great Schism ensued and threw the balance of power in the galaxy off, eventually he assisted the Dark Jedi in finding and utilizing the Cosmic Turbine. It ultimately being the cause of the Vultar Cataclysm.

This was but the beginning of centuries long period of unrest and war throughout the galaxy, this being the underlying cause for both the Great Sith War and Jedi Civil War. During this time he also built the foundation of a group of assassins, the Mecrosa Order. As was his habit, in the wake of destruction he disappeared yet again, the next time he was seen he would not be in physical form.

Near the year 4000 BBY a human named Shas Dovos stumbled across a spellbook in a jungle on Onderon, protecting the book was the spirit of Darth Cruor, who had been trapped within the book for over a thousand years.  His earlier appearances during the Third Great Schism had been through the possession of mortal avatars, though his spirit remained harbored away on Onderon.  Darth Cruor convinced Shas to craft a suit of armor which transforms him into the fearsome warrior Warb Null, after Warb’s demise the armor was not seen again for almost 4000 years.

Around 2000 BBY Jedi Master Phanius, ultimately to be known as Darth Ruin, falls to the dark side and instigates the Fourth Great Schism in an effort to revive the long dormant Sith Order, uniting the existing Sith clans and cults into a new Sith Empire. Darth Cruor vented his rage by stoking the flames of the thousand-year long crusade against the Galactic Republic and Jedi which followed.

Under the new alias of "Dark Underlord" he founded the Black Knights, an alliance of Sith dedicated to continuing a bloody and terrifying campaign against the Galactic Republic and Jedi Order. The Dark Underlord was eventually beaten by a Jedi Master, Murrtaggh, forcing the Gen'Dai to enter a healing slumber.

Awaking somewhere around 500 years later he was present when Skere Kaan chose to abandon the Jedi Order. He remained to help the newly founded Brotherhood of Darkness, his participation over the next decade and in all seven of the battles in the Ruusan campaign helped to greatly weaken the Jedi. Ultimately he became aware of a plan to use a ritual created by Ku'ar Danar, the Thought Bomb, and left before it decimated the rival orders.

In the ensuing centuries Darth Cruor, working by the name of Malleus, rebuilds the Black Knight, eventually coming into conflict with the likes of Yoda. With the new Banite line of Sith in hiding, Darth Cruor takes advantage of this time to search the galaxy yet again for sign of his Master, Darth Nemisis. Though not succeeding in his goal his adventures helped him to amass a vast collection of relics and knowledge, eventually coming to found a New Sith Order to create a new generation of Sith Lords. Sometime after the rise of the New Sith Order Darth Cruor was present alongside Darth Dreadwar in the Chilloon Rift, there they confronted Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo inside the Monolith.

The New Sith Order gave rise to many powerful Sith, many of which became powerful Dark Lords in their own right. Darth Cruor's time in this Order came to an unfortunate end however, the Order itself imploded into factions who fought for its future. While a brutal civil war erupted for control of what remained, Darth Cruor seemingly went to the grave.

Though much of his essence he was able to transfer to the mask he wore upon his face, a portion of his power still remained in his Gen'Dai body which was disposed of in the cruel deserts of the planet. A powerful and trusted ally, Darth Draconis, was able to recover both the mask and the body of the fallen Gen'Dai and thinking him dead secured both in an impromptu tomb. It was there that over the next 100 years Darth Cruor revived his body and regained his power, until a time in which he would be able to unify his essence (a process which while renewed his body, destroyed the mask). Once able to leave his temporary tomb he once again left for known space to meet reunite with the Sith Orders he had created.

He is known now by his true name. Darth Cruor, Battlelord and Harbinger of the Sith Empire, and he is more powerful than ever.