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Sith

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this ancient brotherhood of Jedi Knights split from the ranks of the "lightsiders" when access to the ancient Sith lore was forbidden. The Jedi Council feared that the knowledge of harnessing the Dark Side of the Force would be twisted and used to perform many evil acts. The so-called Dark Jedi fled the Republic and established themselves on Korriban, where they learned a great deal about the Dark Side of the Force from the natives, who called themselves the Sith. The two groups shared information and interbred, until the term Sith became synonymous with the Dark Side of the Force. The ancient Sith brotherhood was believed to have been defeated during the Great Sith War, many millennia before the Galactic Civil War. However, adherents to their teachings continued to grow and prosper beyond the control of either the Jedi Order or the Old Republic. The modern Sith brotherhood was founded some 2,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, by a rogue Jedi Knight who yearned to learn more of the Dark Side of the Force. Together with about 50 followers, this rogue fled the Old Republic and established his own Sith order. With galactic domination on their agenda, these new Sith Lords quickly became distrustful of each other and abusive of their dark side powers. In a short time, they had nearly wiped themselves out again. One Sith Lord remained, a man by the name of Darth Bane. He swore that the Sith would never again vanish from the galaxy, but also made certain that they never grew beyond their means. He established a rigid code by which there could only be a single Sith Lord and a single Sith apprentice. When the Lord finally expired, or was murdered in his sleep, his current apprentice was promoted and allowed to take his own student. Darth Bane's Rule of Two offended many other Sith Lords, but these splinter groups invariably wiped themselves out before becoming a threat to his power. The pairing of Master and Apprentice continued for many centuries until Darth Plagueis rose to power. Plagueis was one of the most powerful Sith Masters, and was believed to have found a way to control the midi-chlorians. It was said that he could manipulate them into creating life. However, after learning of this power, Plagueis's own apprentice, Darth Sidious, chose to kill his Master and take his rightful place as Sith Lord. Sidious then took Darth Maul as his apprentice, and hoped to take control of the galaxy by bringing the Old Republic down from the inside. The slow build-up of Sith power had begun to occlude the Light Side, and the Jedi Order was unaware of the growing threat of the Sith. When Darth Maul was destroyed by Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Battle of Naboo, Sidious' plans were briefly thwarted. However, he found the charismatic former Jedi, Count Dooku, to be a worthy replacement. Just a few years later, Sidious revealed to the galaxy that he was also Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, and it a series of deft maneuvers, he destroyed the Jedi Order and established Darth Vader as his new apprentice. Vader, whose former identity as Anakin Skywalker placed him in the center of a Jedi prophecy as the Chosen One, should have destroyed Sidious and taken his place as Sith Master. However, in fulfillment of the prophecy, Vader chose to return to the Light Side of the Force before killing Sidious. Following the deaths of Vader and Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, and with the destruction of Palpatine's clones on Byss, the order of the Sith was exterminated. This, coupled with the fact that the Jedi Order had been destroyed years before, finally brought the Force back into balance, as the final act of the Jedi prophecy. Interestingly enough, it was the Sith who realized that the Force was more than just light and dark, and that a complete understanding of the Force could not be achieved without embracing both aspects as a single entity. Although their ultimate use of the Force was evil, the Sith were perhaps closer to a true union with the Force than the Jedi Order of the time.