Know your Lore: Yuthura Ban

Yuthura Ban was the Twi’lek apprentice of the Sith Master Uthar Wynn, the head of the Sith Academy on Korriban during the Jedi Civil War. Even though she herself was an apprentice, Yuthura was also a lead instructor and mentor at the Sith Academy. She respected initiative and cunning in her students and was not short of either herself. Like most of the Force-sensitives at the academy, she wore the uniform of a Sith officer as opposed to robes. Originally from Sleheyron, Yuthura was a slave to Omeesh the Hutt, a cruel Master who tortured his slaves regularly. Craving vengeance and determined not to simply be “nothing,” Yuthura maneuvered herself into a position to strike out at her master, slitting “the drunken worm”‘s throat while in his bedchamber. As she fled Sleheyron by stowing aboard a cargo ship, it was inevitable that she would be discovered by the crew. They…

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Know your lore: Uthar Wynn

Uthar Wynn was a Sith Master and the leader of the Sith Academy on Korriban during the Jedi Civil War. His Sith Apprentice was Yuthura Ban. Uthar Wynn was created as a villain for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Wynn was voiced by veteran voice actor Tom Kane. Wynn later received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, which was released in 2008. There are multiple choices for the player to make in Knights of the Old Republic regarding Uthar Wynn’s fate. Revan could side with Ban and kill Wynn. Once completed, Ban would turn on Revan. After her defeat, Ban would plead for mercy and Revan would spare her life and allow her to assume the position of the Academy Headmaster. A second choice involves Revan not allying with either Wynn or Ban; both Wynn and Ban attack him and are killed. A third option has…

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How Stuff Works: Valley of the Dark Lords

The Valley of the Dark Lords, also known as Valley of the Sith Lords was a valley and burial ground of Korriban’s Sith Lords. The Sith Great Temple was located in the valley. A number of different layouts and appearances have been given to the valley in various publications. This is, in the case of video games, mostly due to memory restraints and practicality. For instance, its appearance in Knights of the Old Republic lends itself to being easily traversed and places less demand on hardware than a full scale valley. In Darth Bane: Path of Destruction it was found that the road from the Academy to the Tombs was actually quite long and the area that the actual Valley was barren and harsh, hard to travel through for even the Sith Lords. In Jedi Academy, on the other hand, the valley is designed similar to the appearance of the…

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Know your Lore: Lonna Vash

Lonna Vash was a Jedi Master and member of the Jedi Council during the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War. She was one of the Masters who banished the Jedi Exile from the Jedi Order. Lonna Vash’s role was bigger in the original vision of the developers, Obsidian Entertainment, but like many other incomplete things it had to be cut because of the forced premature release of the game. She was planned to be found by the player on M4-78, a planet populated by droids, where she came searching for the Exile with her Padawan, Kaah Ohtok. The corresponding conversation the Exile has with Vash was even recorded and put in the game file, but, like the incomplete planet, was never used in the actual game. However, as Vash was a Council member shown in an important cut scene, the developers placed her dead body on also-incomplete Korriban to…

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The Great Hyperspace War

Over the millennia, the Galactic Republic has faced no greater threat to its existence than the brutal invasion instigated by Sith Lord Naga Sadow. It was a time in history when the original Sith Empire had reached the height of its power, and the Republic was poorly prepared for a conflict of such magnitude. Master Gnost-Dural looks back at the Great Hyperspace War and identifies the controversial decision that drove the Sith into exile and set the stage for the Empire’s campaign of vengeance against the Republic. BTC 1347 – When two hyperspace explorers stumbled onto the remote world of Korriban, they never could have guessed the chain of events they were setting into motion. Over the previous centuries, the Sith Empire had grown in size and strength, and Korriban was the very heart of its dominion. The reigning Sith Lord, Marka Ragnos, had just died, sparking a brutal power…

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Know your Lore: King Adas

Adas was an ancient Sith warlord who lived circa 28,000 BBY, long before the exiled Dark Jedi of the Hundred Year Darkness conquered his species. He used his knowledge of the dark side of the Force to conquer and subjugate his homeworld, which he ruled as king.Adas, in holocron form, first appeared in a brief vignette featured in the 1996 sourcebook, Tales of the Jedi Companion, written by George R. Strayton. His role and biography was later expanded in 2006’s Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties, written by Abel G. Peña. In that article Adas is identified to have been a member of the Sith species, and to have had interactions with the Rakata introduced in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Adas’s character would later further be used and expounded upon in 2007’s Jedi vs. Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham. Korriban, Adas’s world….

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How Stuff Works: The Star Forge

The Star Forge was a dark side artifact that was created by the Infinite Empire of the Rakata in 30,000 BBY, five thousand years before the rise of the Galactic Republic. A giant automated shipyard, the Star Forge drew energy, heat, and matter from a nearby star which, when combined with the power of the dark side, was capable of creating an endless supply of ships, droids, and other war material. It was constructed through the use of slaves from many subject worlds including, but not necessarily limited to, Corellia, Coruscant, Dantooine, Drall, Duro, Kashyyyk, Korriban, Manaan, Selonia, Sleheyron, Tatooine, and Ziost. It fed on the Force, drawing particularly from the cruel Rakata, corrupting it into an artifact of the dark side, and often times its user as well, which is why Darth Revan limited his contact with the Star Forge, lest it control him as it did the Rakata….

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Know your Lore: Ajunta Pall

Ajunta Pall was a Dark Jedi, and later one of the first Sith Lords following the Hundred Year Darkness. His spirit was redeemed by the Jedi Knight Revan during the Jedi Civil War. Ajunta Pall’s tomb is one of the side-quests available in the Korriban segment of the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In the game, he recognizes the player character’s true identity. The main character can either help him become one with the Force (for “light-side points”), fight him and destroy his spirit (for “dark-side points”), or fail to take him to the light and let his spirit fade away. The statue of Ajunta Pall seen in his tomb is identical with the one seen in the destroyed Jedi Enclave on Dantooine in Knights of the Old Republic II, which could mean that Ajunta Pall was once a highly respected Jedi Master; however, this has…

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Know your legends: Marka Ragnos

Marka Ragnos was a half-breed Dark Lord of the Sith who was immensely powerful, both physically and in the Force. He defeated Simus in combat, proving himself worthy of the mantle of Dark Lord. The tomb of Ragnos on Korriban appears in the games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy. However, the tombs in each game are dissimilar to the other. This was likely for reasons of game structure, rather than a suggestion of the tombs being at different locations. The same phenomenon is seen with the Valley of the Dark Lords as a whole. Another theory is that his tomb underwent a renovation after being desecrated by Revan and his followers. While a figure of importance in Sith history, Marka Ragnos has actually never appeared in a story in which he was alive, much like another influential Sith Lord, Freedon Nadd….

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Playable Species of SW:TOR – Sith Pureblood

Yesterday we reported about Daniel Erickson clarification about the Sith Pure-bloods. We also promised to look deeper into this race, so here you go: The Sith were a species of red-skinned humanoids that evolved on Korriban. They also had tentacle “beards” and all pure blooded Sith were almost always left-handed, and thus their signature weapon, the lanvarok, was adapted purely for left-handed use. Society and Culture Though they engaged in supposedly primitive practices such as sentient sacrifice, held a strong caste system, and were in an almost constant state of war, their civilization was quite sophisticated; they saw these acts not as cruel or barbaric, but simply basic aspects of existence. Their caste system included a meek and lowly slave class, a skilled and intelligent engineer class, the priestly Kissai class, and the warlike Massassi class. In later years, the offspring of Sith and the exiled Dark Jedi formed another class, from which…

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