After many centuries the Sith Empire grew to a vast, rich realm spanning several star systems. This was the Golden Age of the Sith. The Empire was led by many Sith Lords and one supreme ruler, the Dark Lord of the Sith. This title was passed from one generation to the next, with only one Dark Lord at a time. Although little is known of the first several Dark Lords, 5,200 years ago Marka Ragnos defeated Simus for the title and ruled during the pinnacle of the Golden Age.The Sith Lords built huge stone temples to house the remains of their Dark Lords, and used their magic to create creatures of unspeakable horror to guard the tombs. The Sith Lords crafted many things on the backs of the Sith people, many architectural wonders. The Sith Lords also created many artifacts in this time, items infused with their malevolent Sith power. Some enhanced the wielders power in the Dark Side, others were made to focus Sith energy into a certain effect. The Sith people and the Sith Lords intermarried, and some of pure Sith blood gained the status of Sith Lord.
Two hundred years later, at the funeral ceremony of Marka Ragnos, the title of Dark Lord was once again in dispute. This time it was between Naga Sadow and his arch rival Ludo Kresh. Sadow was part of the elite priesthood of pure Sith blood and said that the Sith had grown too complacent, and that they should expand their empire and conquer new territory. Content with the current glory of the Sith Empire, Kresh vehemently opposed Sadow and accused him of practicing forbidden magic. The confrontation escalated into a duel, but the ghost of Marka Ragnos intervened; the shade told the Sith Lords to choose their fights wisely and be weary of the coming times. Naga Sadow and Ludo Kresh agreed on a temporary truce, but were interrupted by the arrival of Gav and Jori Daragon, hapless hyperspace explorers who showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Mistaken as spies, Gav and Jori Daragon were taken prisoner by the Sith. The Sith Lords convened to discuss Gav and Jori's fate. Ludo Kresh argued that they were precursors to an invasion and should be killed imediately; Naga Sadow belived they could lead the Sith to the Republic, for their own invasion. Later, Sadow staged a jail-break to look like the Republic had arrived and attacked the prison. Outraged, the Sith Lords demanded swift action and elected Naga Sadow Dark Lord of the Sith. Ludo Kresh openly opposed this and refused to accept Sadow as the next Dark Lord. With Gav and Jori hidden away in his fortress, Sadow staged another attack to retrieve their impounded ship and again made it look like the Republic did it. But Ludo Kresh found the evidence that Sadow had intentionally left that implicated him. Fearing that Sadow's treasonous actions would lead to the fall of the Sith Empire, Kresh attacked Sadow's fortress. However, Kresh had attacked a decoy fortress and waltzed right into Sadow's trap, barely escaping with his life. But during the attack, Sadow had tricked Jori into escaping and fleeing back to the Republic for help. Unbeknownst to her, Sadow had place a tracking device on her ship that would lead the Sith right to the Republic. While Sadow was gathering the Sith forces for the invasion of the Republic, Kresh mounted another attack, this time on Sadow's real fortress. But Sadow destroyed Kresh's ship by remotely activating it's self destruct mechanism. Following the tracking device, the Sith fleet headed for the Republic.
Without warning, the Sith invasion force launched a multi-pronged attack that included Koros Major and Kirrek in the Empress Teta system and Coruscant, capital of the Galactic Republic. Unprepared for an invasion, most of the Republic struggled to withstand the onslought of the Sith forces. The only one who heeded Jori Daragon's warning of a Sith invasion was the Empress Teta. Ready for the invasion, her imense forces were nearly all that stood between the Sith and control of the Republic. During his captivity, Gav had been tutored by Naga Sadow in the ways of the Dark Side. At Sadow's request Gav had reluctantly accepted command of the Sith invasion force. But now, seeing all the death and destrucion, Gav had a change of heart. Confronting Sadow at Primus Gould, Gav disabled Sadow's meditation sphere. Without Naga Sadow using his Sith powers to control his armies, the tide began turning and the Sith forces were pushsed back. Regrouping his forces at Primus Gould, Sadow drew the Republic forces there for a trap that resulted in the supernova of Primus Gould, an already unstable star. Gav warned the Republic forces and allowed them to escape, but was himself doomed to die aboard the damaged meditation sphere as the star went supernova. Fleeing back to Sith territory, Sadow's fleet was met by Ludo Kresh, who had somehow managed to survive their last confrontation. While Sadow was away invading the Republic, Kresh had rallied the forces that were left behind in Sith territory and now led them against Sadow's already battered fleet. But Naga Sadow managed to defeat Ludo Kresh once again by ordering a damaged capital ship to ram Kresh's flagship, finally killing Ludo Kresh. With not a moment to rest, Sadow was imediately assailed by the Republic fleet that had followed him. In a last ditch effort, Sadow fled in his one remaining battleship between two binary stars; Using powerful Sith magic, Sadow caused huge solar flares to explode between the stars, destroying his persuers and masking his escape. With his fleet destroyed and the Sith Empire in ruins Naga Sadow fled to an isolated star system called Yavin. There on the fourth planet of the Yavin System he established a new base. Sadow commanded his loyal Sith followers to build great Sith temples. For over a hundred years he ruled as Dark Lord over the sole remaining outpost of the Sith Empire.
Over the next millennia the Sith Lords all died out, the Sith civilization on Yavin 4 fell into disrepair, and the remaining Sith people were mutated by Naga Sadow's magic into primitive, beast-like creatures that would guard the temples forever. But in that time, almost six hundred years after Sadow's arrival on Yavin 4, A Sith Lord by the name of Freedon Nadd couldn't wait to become Dark Lord of the Sith. Not wanting to challenge the reigning Dark Lord, Nadd left to start his own Empire. His search led him to the backwater planet of Onderon, bringing with him the dark power of the Sith. For centuries after his death, the ruling family of Onderon was tainted by Sith magic.
Four Thousand years before the Galactic Civil War, three Jedi knights were dispatched to Onderon to put an end to the Beast Wars that had been raging for fifty years. The Jedi were successful and brought peace to Onderon, but discovered that Queen Amanoa had been influenced by the ghost of the dead Sith Lord.
Shortly following the end of the Beast Wars, loyalists to Freedon Nadd rebeled and threatened to retake Onderon in the name of the Sith Lord. Nadd's reign of darkness was brought to an end when the Jedi interceeded and quelled the Freedon Nadd uprising. His sarcophagus was eventually moved to Dxun, removing the remaining source of Nadd's power from Onderon.
Four millennia before the Rebel base on Yavin 4, the Sith Empire would be reborn at the hands of Exar Kun...
