4904 BBY: Galactic Timeline: Record 11: Rebirth of the Sith Empire

For this short post I watched another video featured on swtor.com.  It's called Rebirth of the Sith Empire.    One of the things that continues to amaze me about the Sith is how resilient they are.  On numerous occasions the Sith have been thought to be extinct only to come back and attack their enemy again.  The Sith also know how to hold a grudge very well.  That all started when they met up with the Republic for the first time.  From that moment, the epic battle began. Now, lets get to this video.

The video is narrated by Master Gnost-Dural.  He speaks of the very first Grand Moff and the role that he played in reviving the Sith Empire to its former glory.  This Moff is Odile Vaiken.  He played key roles in the expansion of the Sith Empire on Dromund Kaas and the rebuilding of the Sith navy.  One of the operations that he played a particpated in was when the Sith were killing the vicious creatures that were native to Dromund Kaas so that more room could be made for the rapidly growing Empire.  Vaiken also played a key role om rebuilding the Sith army.  Vaiken died during a mission that's objective was to conquer an alien role.

Master Gnost-Dural said that the Emperor played a small role in what Vaiken was doing.  I've read the Old Republic book Revan and it seems that the Emperor in that novel was much like the one that is in this video.  What I mean by this is that no one really knows much about him.  I guess this is his way of hiding his immense powers from everyone and only using them if someone rises up against him.  Now that I think about it further, most of the Emperors that I know of (like Emperor Palpatine) played a role in the beginning of reviving their Empire but soon vanished only to appear to give instructions.  I may be wrong with these statements because I don't really know what Palpatine was doing "behind the scene" of his rule, but there may also be some truth in what I have said.  I look forward to finding out.

For my next post I will be reading Knights of the Old Republic #33: Vindication.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you..........

4975 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior

In this post I will be looking at the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Savior.  So far I've really enjoyed reading these stories by John Jackson Miller.  Even though there's the  issue I pointed out in my previous post I find that if you really pay close attention to the story and the progression of the characters, it's a very good read.  This post will be short so let's get started.

Now it's been 25 years since the Omen crashed on Kesh and the Sith aboard claimed that they were the Skyborn (Gods) to the Kesh people.  But now the Keshiri are seeing through the web of lies that the Sith have woven.  In my last post I made a small prediction saying that the Keshiri would rise up against the Sith in a violent way but after thinking about that I believe I was wrong.  The Keshiri would never win in a fight against the Sith.  Unlike the Sith who have the Force and lightsabers, the Keshiri don't really have anything that would put up a good fight against the Sith.  The alternative way to strike at the Sith that happened in this story is a much better idea.  The Keshiri waited until most of the Sith were on the mountain top where the Omen crash landed.  Then at the exact same time, they stole the Sith's Uvaks (flying creatures native to Kesh) and rode off.  This left the Sith stuck at the top of the mountain and the only way back down was by foot.  

But another resistance was putting their plan into action at the same time as the Keshiri.  Seelah and Jariad Korsin were planning to over through Grand Lord Korsin.  This plan to kill the Grand Lord was going well until Nida Korsin (the Grand Lords Daughter) arrived towards the middle of the battle when everyone was injured or dead.  I seems that there were three plans that were trying to be put in motion because the Grand Lord was planning to make Nida his successor so that she may follow his plans for Kesh through.  In the end , the Grand Lord was killed along with Jariad Korsin and Seelah was left paralyzed from the waist down due to massive boulders that crushed her leg.

For my next post I will be looking at Galactic Timeline Record 11: Rebirth of the Sith Empire.  Like one of my posts on the Great Hyperspace War, this also a video featured on swtor.com.  Until my next post, may the Force be with you.........

4985 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon

In this post I'm going to be talking about the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon.  I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series.  One thing that I don't like about the series however is how it all begins.  It seems like the reader is just thrown into what is happening with the Omen without anything to tell them what's going on. If you have read Crosscurrent like I have, you would know what's going on.  But for the readers who haven't read Crosscurrent and have no prior knowledge of these events, you will have trouble understanding what's going on.  Let me know if you see it the same way.

So enough of my ranting, let's get to this piece.  The story starts 15 years after the Omen crash landed on the planet Kesh.  The Sith survivors have managed to trick the people of Kesh into thinking that they are the Skyborn but some of the Sith are getting tired of living on Kesh.  They have been trying to find different ways of getting off the planet or alerting a ship if they pass by.  But the Sith leader, Yaru Korsin, doesn't see them leaving the planet anytime soon.  Groups start to form based on who thinks there is hope to leave the planet and who thinks that there is no hope of leaving.

Ravilan (nicknamed the red man by the Keshiri people) was one of the few remaining pure blood Sith (red skin and tentacle beard).  He was sent to the Keshiri city's to look at a new kind of algae that may be able to provide light to the Sith buildings.  While visiting these cities, he purposely let loose a deadly plague that wiped out the city's entire population.  Among the dead was a human and Ravilan used this to promote his cause of finding a way off of the planet (because the humans thought that they were immune to any disease that may plague the land).  But Korsin managed to find out what really happened and he had Ravilan killed along with the people who were following him.  In the final pages of this story, a Keshiri rebellion starts to form.        

It looks like the Sith have managed to overestimate the power they think they hold over people again.  Some of the Keshiri have seen through the lies of the Sith and looked at who they really are.  I'm hoping that there is some kind of confrontation between these Keshiri rebels and the Sith.  If the Sith continue to fight with each other and kill themselves, the Keshiri may have a chance of winning.  I've read the Fate of the Jedi series and in the second book they take us back to Kesh.  Even though that story is very far away from this story, it looks like Keshiri blood is within the Sith ranks.  I don't know if this means that the rebels I was talking about actually did rise up and won, or the human Sith population started to fall and they were forced to mate with the Keshiri in order to save the Sith tribe.  I look forward to finding this out.

For my next post I will be reading another Lost Tribe story.  It's called Savior.  I look forward to finding out what happens next.  But until then, may the Force be with you.......

5000 – 4999 BBY:Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War

In this short post I'm going to be talking about Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War. This is a 5min video in which Master Gnost-Dural recites the events of the war according to Republic history (here is the link to the video, it's the very last video at the bottom of the page).

Master Gnost-Dural starts the recording by talking about the impact the war had on the Republic.  He says that the conflict the Republic is in today is in many ways "an extension of the War".  He goes on to talk about the role Naga Sadow played in the events of this War.  He made me realize even more how much Naga Sadow was able to fool people into thinking that he was right about the looming threat of a Republic invasion even though the Republic did not yet know of the Sith existence.  He was able to use Gav and Jori to his advantage this way.

According to Gnost-Dural, the Republic made a huge mistake when the war had concluded.  They sent a fleet to all of the planets the Sith were in control of before the war and started to wipe out the populations.  The Republic did this for fear of the Sith secretly rebuilding and eventually launching another attack.  Even though the Sith lost The Great Hyperspace War, I think in a way they won.  The Sith managed to shake the Republic.  Before the Republic thought that they were invincible and that their enemy's no longer existed or were too scared to face them.  They were given false security,  and when the Sith attacked that sense of security was taken away.  By going to the Sith planetes, they showed that the events of the war troubled them deeply.  And in an effort to renew their sense of security, they killed their enemy's people and tried to destroy the Sith empire.  At the end of the video, Master Gnost-Dural wonders what may have happened if the Republic handled the end of the war differently.  Who knows?  many things may have happened.  In the final seconds of the video, Gnost-Dural speaks of a new Sith lord that has replaced Naga Sadow.  I'm looking forward to finding out who this is.

In my next post I will be looking at the Lost Tribe of the Sith: Paragon.  Until then, may the Force be with you......

  

5000 – 4999 BBY: The Great Hyperspace War and Sith Alchemy

In this post I'm going to be looking at two sections from The Essential Guide to the Force by Ryder Windham.   I have always said and will continue to say that this book is incredibly well done and the information inside is extensive.  I'm going to try and include my thoughts in the paragraphs about the topics instead of having a completely different paragraph.  Now, lets get started.

First, I will be talking about the Great Hyperspace War.  The author of this article is Odan-Urr.  He recounts the events of the Great Hyperspace War and the role that he played in it.  This article is pretty much a summary of what I have read and talked about in my previous posts with regard to The Great Hyperspace War.  He talks about the nightmare he had of the Sith launching an attack on the Republic.  But his dream was dismissed by most people.  He also talks about the Daragon's (Gav and Jori) and how they managed to get caught up in the conflict (read my posts on the rise and fall of the Sith Empire if you don't know what I'm talking about).  He recounts how the Senators in Coruscant refused to believe him, and then the attack started.  The detail used to describe the attack was incredible.  I felt as though I was also fighting the battle.  I can imagine the helplessness the Republic felt as wave after wave of the enemy attacked.  But then came the realization that the Sith were using illusions to make themselves seem stronger.  At the end of the article, Odan-Urr talks briefly about the Sith Holocron he found.  In this holocron are the forgotten histories and lore of the Sith.  The holocron also kept an up to date record of the attack, including the escape of Naga Sadow.

Next is Sith Alchemy.  This is what Naga Sadow used to conjure up the illusions of the massive beasts and warriors they used in the war.  Naga Sadow tells the reader how to perform Sith alchemy through three blood sacrifices.  He says that "Sith alchemy gives one the power to alter the molecular composition of living beings and reshape inanimate objects." (pg 174).  This is exactly what Naga Sadow did.  He made up illusions that tricked the enemy into thinking they had very little hope of winning the war.  Even though Sith alchemy is very dark, I find it very interesting that someone who has the ability to perform these acts can have such a huge impact on the battle.  But, both the light side of the Force also has a technique that can be used on enemies.  In the Golden Age of the Sith, Odan-Urr uses a Force technique to help end the Civil war between Empress Teta's people.  This technique makes the enemy think that all hope of them winning is lost which is very much like what Naga Sadow did when he performed Sith alchemy during the war.  It truly is very interesting that one person can have a tremendous impact on a major conflict like the Great Hyperspace War.

For my next post I will be reading the Galactic Timeline: Record 012: The Great Hyperspace War which is featured on swtor.com.  I will try to post more regularly but until next time, may the Force be with you....

5000 – 4999 BBY: Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn

Hello again!  In this post I'm going to be looking at Skyborn which is the second book in the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  I found the content in this story to be very good.  I will give a brief summary of this story and then go into my thoughts about it.

This story starts out before Omen crashed on the planet Kesh and then picks up from when Korsin see's somebody riding on the back of a uvak.  The story follows Adari Vaal and here first encounter with the Sith crew of the Omen.  Before she finds the burning wreckage,  Adari is being blamed for going against the religion of the Kesh people.  In most cases, the person would suffer big consequences but since she is the widowed wife of a uvak rider, her status has protected her from being harmed.  During one of the hearings she is attending, a large plume of smoke erupts from the mountain along with large fires.  Not believing that the mountain is a volcano, Adari decides to investigate.  She takes Nink (her deceased husbands uvak) and flies to this mountain.  This is when Korsin see's her flying on the uvak in the first short story of this series.  She witnesses Korsin kill his brother and flees the mountain.  But later she returns and makes contact with the crew of the Omen.  She informs the people of Kesh of the Sith arrival but they mistake them for being the Skyborn (gods that the people of Kesh believe in)  and the Sith take advantage of this.  With Adari being the ambassador for the Kesh people the Sith enlist the labourers of Kesh to help them stabilize their ship on the mountain and to help them find the right metals to repair it.  But that will never happen.  

Like I said before, I found the content of these stories to be very good.  John Jackson Miller has done a wonderful job of illustrating the rich Star Wars history in each of these story's so far.  Before I started this blog, I was reading the Fate of the Jedi series.  The planet of Kesh played a major role in the story line.  But I wish I had of read this series before the Fate of the Jedi series so I would have had better idea Kesh and its people.  It will take a very long time for the Sith to actually get of Kesh because of the time between this Lost Tribe series and Fate of the Jedi (with Luke Skywalker).

I look forward to reading more of the Lost Tribe of the Sith series.  If you have any suggestions on how I can improve my posts, leave a comment below.  My next post will be from Jedi vs Sith: The Essential Guide to the Force part one The Great Hyperspace War, and part four Sith Alchemy.  Until the next time, may the Force be with you.......

5000 – 4999 BBY: Fall of the Sith Empire #4 and #5

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post.  I've been extremely busy lately. In this post I will be looking at the final issues of the Fall of the Sith Empire.  I will give a brief summary of both issues then I want to talk about what may have happened if Naga Sadow had of received the Lignan ore before the battle of Kirrek.

In issue #4, Dogs of War, Gav flies to the location of Naga Sadow to confront him.  He fires at the meditation sphere that Sadow is in.  And because of this, the illusions that Sadow conjured up for the battle begin to fade away.  This gives the Republic a new sense of hope.  Sadow lures Gav into the meditation sphere.  But Sadow isn't there.  He set a trap for Gav and the Republic fleet that followed Jori.  He activates his weapon that creates solar flares on the nearby sun.  Both fleets escape but Sadows meditation sphere is too damaged to fly, so it explodes with Gav inside of it.

In issue #5, End of an Empire, Sadow returns to the Sith Empire.  As he arrives in the system, the presumed dead Ludo Kressh appears.  He states that he is the new Dark Lord of the Sith.  They engage in a brief battle.  Sadow, not wanting to lose his title, orders one of his ships to ram the ship Ludo Kressh is in.  Soon after, the fleet of Empress Teta enters SIth space and engages the already damaged ships of Naga Sadow.  The Republic fleet obliterates Sadow's fleet, but Sadow still manages to escape.  He escapes to the planet of Yavin IV where he begins his plan to return to the galaxy and exact revenge on the Republic.

I wonder what would have happened if Naga Sadow received the Lignan ore for the battle of Kirrek.  I would assume that the Sith would have won.  If things had of ended up differently, Star Wars as we know it would cease to exist.  Instead, we would be reading more about the actions of the Sith and their effort to rid the Galaxy of the Jedi instead of the other way around (the Jedi riding the galaxy of the Sith).  I'm glad that its the other way around.  I look forward to reading what happens to Naga Sadow after he arrives on Yavin IV (if anything actually does happen to him).

For my next post, I will be reading The Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn it may take me some time to track down a copy that I don't have to pay for.  Until then may the Force be with you.......