The Jedi Civil War

The Jedi Civil War
Less than four decades after the death of Exar Kun, the Jedi Knight Revan, hero of the Mandalorian Wars, discovered a deserted academy belonging to the old Sith Empire. He used the teachings there to form a new sect of Sith, taking his friend Malak as his apprentice, and declaring himself Dark Lord of the Sith. Further, the academy revealed to Revan that the silent Sith Empire still lurked in the Unknown Regions, and was likely the instigator of the Mandalorian Wars.

This led Revan to wage war on the Republic, with the aim of either replacing it with a stronger power, or strengthening it through war, securing the galaxy against the ancient Sith. For this purpose, Revan used the remains of his Republic warfleet, along with the ancient Rakatan Star Forge (itself an artifact of the dark side), to build an immense armada. Revan was subtle enough to inflict minimal damage to the Republic's infrastructure, allowing either victor to steel itself against the old Sith. The resulting war was known as the Second Sith War, later the Jedi Civil War (and, still later, the War of the Star Forge).

Revan's conflict proved even more devastating than Exar Kun's war, as more Jedi fell to the dark side, were killed in battle, or were murdered by Sith assassins than in the past two wars combined. Revan was the greatest military genius the Jedi had ever seen. It was through his cunning alone that the Mandalorian Wars were won, as the Republic soon discovered. In light of this new information, the Jedi Council ordered several Jedi Knights, including one Bastila Shan, to board his flagship and capture the Dark Lord. Engaging several Jedi in a fierce lightsaber duel, Revan held the upper hand. However, a coup by Malak resulted in the Dark Lord's near-death — turning his cruiser's guns against Revan's flagship, Bastila's strike force was able to win, but at a heavy cost. Revan's mind was nearly destroyed by this encounter, but he was re-trained in the ways of the Jedi under a new identity implanted in his brain by the Jedi Council.

Taking up the mantle of Dark Lord, Malak redoubled his empire's offenses against the Republic, with none of the delicate subtlety of Revan’s plans — caring nothing about preserving his enemy's resources or sparing civilian populations...indeed, how much Malak knew of Revan's ultimate intentions is still in question.

Following a long and arduous quest for the five Star Maps that would lead him to the Sith's stronghold, the newly-reprogrammed learned of his true identity from Malak, but was able not to fall back to the dark side, Revan led a frontal assault on the Star Forge. He battled his way through the Forge's droid army and legions of Sith and Dark Jedi. After redeeming Malak's apprentice, Bastila Shan, he slew Malak himself in a final confrontation between the old friends, allowing the Republic to destroy the Star Forge and win the day.


Despite this great victory for the Republic, the galaxy soon grew even darker. A year after the battle, Revan departed into the Unknown Regions, leaving his friends behind. His motives for going alone to face the ancient Sith were unknown. Few Jedi remained after the Jedi Civil War, and those who did soon found their ranks thinning at an alarming rate. Everywhere Jedi congregated, they were murdered, struck down by an invisible enemy who, incredibly enough, was somehow attacking through the Force itself.

The former Jedi Master Kreia, in search of the reason for Revan's fall, stumbled across the same academy that Revan had used. There, she was corrupted, becoming Darth Traya. Together with her students, Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion, she began a shadow war against the surviving Jedi. Despite their incredible powers, they did not believe themselves strong enough to defeat their enemy in the same kind of open warfare employed by Malak and Revan. Even though Traya had trained them in the ways of the Sith, Nihilus and Sion soon grew tired of her views, and cast her out of the Dark Lord triumvirate. They continued their crusade against the Jedi alone.

Five years after Malak's defeat on the Star Forge, the Jedi Exile who had served as a general under Revan during the Mandalorian Wars returned from the Outer Rim. Thought to be the last of the Jedi by Nihilus and Sion, the Exile was hunted mercilessly by Sith assassins from planet to planet, as the so-called "last of the Jedi" tracked down the surviving members of the Jedi Council. Darth Traya, now simply known as Kreia, bonded with the Exile and helped him along the way, only to use him to destroy her past apprentices, and make her teachings come true in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In the end, most, if not all, of the Dantooine Jedi Council were killed, but the Exile managed to turn the tide against the insidious "shadow Sith," discovering Kreia's true identity, and slaying her together with Nihilus and Sion... thereby ending their Jedi purge, and giving the Jedi Order a chance to rebuild over the next several centuries.

In modern history texts, the Great Sith War, the Cleansing of the Nine Houses, the Mandalorian Wars, and the Jedi Civil War are often grouped together under the collective appellation of "the Old Sith Wars."

At some point during these years, the Sith stole the secrets behind advanced power-gauntlet construction from the designers of Eriadu, and adapted them to create their own unique form of protection. Such items utilized almost uncomfortable bursts of repulsorlift energy to assist in movement, and are rarely—if ever—seen outside of Sith possession.