The Sith evolved on the world Korriban, a highly volcanic planet with lush, dangerous jungles nestled in its valleys. The ecology had numerous dangerous predators, including terentateks, shyracks, tuk’ata, hssiss, and wraids; there is speculation that the tuk’ata are fairly closely related to the Sith.
The Sith are scaly omnivorous endothermic viviparous humanoids, with skins varying from (common) crimson to (rare) black and eyes (common) golden to (rare) orange or black; their blue blood uses copper instead of iron to bind oxygen. They have barbels on their heads and faces (three under the jaw, two on the upper lip, two functioning as eyebrows, and a backward-projecting cluster on the top, sides and back of the head), which once served their four-footed ancestors in hunting and still alert them to changes in the breeze. They possess both ripping and grinding teeth, and have birdlike talons on their fingertips. Sith are fond of piercings and jewelry, tugging on them when they need a bit of pain to help them stoke or focus their passions.
Sith are naturally mercurial and passionate, by nature as well as culture. They evolved from pack hunters and have a strong sense of hierarchy. The Sith emotion corresponding to love is intertwined with greed and lust and possessiveness, and only exists between mates where a battle between them is inconclusive. The emotional bond comparable to friendship is that of alpha to beta; one is always dominant.
The Sith seen in The Golden Age of the Sith and The Fall of the Sith Empire fall into two categories. The ones with the prognathous jaws and generally gorilla-like visages are the results of using Sith Alchemy to breed human Dark Jedi with Sith. They have hair (most commonly dark brown, but sometimes chestnut or black) and the men have beards that grow between their jaw-barbels (so none could have a human-style full beard, but they can easily manage goatees). The skin is several shades paler than their pure-Sith ancestors, their blood red with hemoglobin, and the talons are closer to being fingernails. These hybrids are able to mate with pure humans, giving results like Naga Sadow, who lack the eyebrow-barbels of the alchemical breeds and have a more human face.
Their innate competitiveness caused their natural selection to occur at a furious rate, and they were already fighting with jet aircraft and slugthrower weapons and stripping their planet’s resources when they were discovered by an early hyperdrive scout vessel. The humans aboard were easily mastered by the same power that Sith used to command the beasts of their homeworld, and this new treasure was swiftly brought to the attention of the lord Zypahl, who saw the potential of a galaxy full of slaves. Zypahl, driven by his vision, unified Korriban under his rule and directed the Sith civilization to master the technologies in the scout ship and its knowledge in its library computer.
Korriban’s ecology was wrecked by the crash program of industrialization; the world that Sith now embrace as their own is Ziost, and Korriban is now their tombworld. When Haymakh (Zypahl’s nephew) proclaimed himself the first Galactic Emperor, he chose the ecumenopolis Coruscant as his Throne World.
They use their own language for communication amongst each other and Basic as the language of instruction to slaves.
Sith writing is ideographic; the oldest samples from ancient tombs on Korriban are very much in the style of Maya script, but they have gone through considerable abstraction since then and are now precise combinations of boxes and lines.
Sith names have a personal name, deed, and affiliation (territory, military unit, craft organization, temple). e.g. Pamat Bladedroid of Qordat Droidworks. Achieving noble rank is itself a deed, and moves the deed in front of the name, e.g. Baron Kaj-Ul-Fa of the Planet Zartan.
The ancient Sith weapon, the lanvarok, is still practiced as part of their martial skill, but in the age of blasters, they now use a similarly dangerous weapon called a plasma scourge, which emits a chaotic, writhing lash of lightninglike plasma that can only be controlled by the Power. It can lash out to 25m if the wielder just wants to tag someone, or to 10m if they want to place something in a cage of lightning. The chaotic behavior makes it good at snaking around defenses, and makes it difficult to target the wielder. It can absorb blaster bolts (getting bigger and delivering more damage for a few rounds) and deliver both burns and electric shocks. The burn damage it does can be crippling. (Maneuvers: touch the bolt to a person’s spine for electrical havoc, or to their wrist to make their hand spasm and drop a weapon. Blow a droid’s breakers. Absorb a blaster bolt and use the energy to increase range for a strike. Absorb a blaster bolt and hurl a lightning bolt containing the energy with a whip-crack maneuver.) The plasma scourge is a one-handed weapon; the other hand is free use another weapon (usually a throwing weapon or a short blade— a long one tends to interfere with the lash) or make arcane gestures. They tend to melt down or explode when their wielder dies or loses consciousness; many Sith sport cybernetic hands to replace ones lost to a destroyed plasma scourge.
Some Sith take great pride in their prowess in melee. Weapons and armor forged with the secret arts of Sith alchemy are known for their ability to channel the wielder’s Power— a Sith-forged doubleblade exhibits unnatural sharpness in the hands of anyone strong in the Power, trained or not, and a rare suit of Sith-forged plate armor (worn by a rare Sith who prizes defense over mobility) can withstand a bolt from a blaster cannon. Little is known about Sith alchemy, but metallurgists believe they derive the carbon for their steel from the blood of sentient beings; certainly, Kissai priest-smiths are known to purchase champion gladiators who are never seen again. Escapees from alchemical metallurgy labs have often died of overwhelming heavy metal poisoning shortly thereafter.
The steel fist is a gauntlet covering the hand from wrist to knuckles, leaving the fingertips free for fine work; the palm is armored and can catch a sword. Adds to fist damage, more if equipped with razor-sharp talons on the knuckles, more if it’s Sith steel. Some are enchanted by the Kissai with Power-resonant crystals to enhance your Might for a scene (costs 2 stress reduced by Resolve vs. Average, makes you feel powerful and contemptuous).
The steel forearm is similar and also functions as a vambrace, and adds an elbow gouge attack.
The steel arm goes all the way up to the shoulder; it requires light armor proficiency but does not encumber. Helps with ramming through obstacles with your shoulder. All three of these leave plenty of flesh uncovered and don’t count as armor for general attacks, but can be useful in parrying.
The steel brow is a headdress that spans the forehead and drops side panels at the edge of the jaw. They are largely ornamental, mostly used to display insignia, though some are enchanted to create effects like Battlemind or Rage.
The Sith are divided into castes, though it is possible to fight from one into another.
The slave caste is made up of those who lack enough of the Power to be effective. They are meek and easily dominated by anyone who shows strength, and will be vicious to anyone who shows weakness. Very few of them are seen off Korriban and Ziost. Among some Sith, having an ancestor who started with two Gossari parents and fought their way into another caste is a note of prestige; among others, it’s an insult.
Skilled and intelligent. These are engineers, craftsmen, and technicians. They have a very utilitarian view of the Power and seldom engage in Sith alchemy; they prefer the efficiency of mass production and precision of automated tools to the intense handcrafting work of priest-smiths. They know how to manufacture holocrons and plasma scourges.
Valrassi do not often become nobles, but the ones that do usually have a great number of tricks up their sleeve.
Massassi warriors vary a great deal. They usually carry on family traditions, though some will find that their talent lies in a different form of battle.
Marauders are known for their fearsome battle-rages, and serve on the front lines of pitched battles. They almost never become nobles.
Stalwarts bank the fires of their anger and hatred rather than fanning them to a blaze, and serve well as the rank and file of Sith troops; in the current era, they usually serve in all-Sith units, with noncommissioned officers often being transferred to mixed units of other species. It takes a strong lord to keep a hierarchy under control if a Sith NCO is placed under a non-Sith officer. Stalwarts occasionally battle their way into noble rank.
Strikers are more thoughtful, and have learned to focus their anger into a precise weapon. They serve as officers in the Sith armies and fleets and make up a large fraction of the nobility.
Paladins are extremely strong in the Power, and are usually Knights or Lords in their own right.
Priests are the experts in invoking the Sith deities, who sometimes manifest as transparent figures that offer insights, or visit the dreams of their worshipers. Sith believe that it is possible to become a god, and that those who succeed in ascension can struggle for even greater powers. They have an extremely magical view of the Power, and are the experts in Sith alchemy and metallurgy. The more exotic Sith blades are usually made by Kissai smiths.
Priests who are particularly adept at Sith sorcery often turn it to their own advancement. They are usually competent fighters on their own, but are most fearsome when using their powers to bolster their minions; in single combat, they are fond of draining the life from enemies or causing them to spontaneously combust.
Traditionally, Sith hierarchies are in:
The Sith have slowly been dwindling in number; with less drive to grow and conquer, the females choose to invest more in personal power than in breeding. No Sith (outside the slave caste members on Korriban and Ziost) has held a menial job in 3000 years. Increasingly, the Sith are relying on hierarchies of vassals to handle tasks.
An exception to the usual hierarchy are the preceptors. A preceptor has no master, no apprentice, no territory, no allegiance. They provide instruction in anything where secret techniques are useful— usually the Power. They make their living instructing other Sith— they are paid in anything from currency to slaves to secrets. Some of them wander the galaxy as passengers on anything from tramp freighters to passenger liners; some own entire hypercapable cruise ships. They are a key to the stability of the Sith Galactic Empire; otherwise, secrets would be lost when masters fail to teach them to apprentices. They are expected to keep their word when promising not to teach a technique until the person who teaches it to them is dead. It takes the acclaim of a Preceptor to make another Preceptor. Preceptors are the most common authors of holocrons, though some powerful lords will create them and hide them behind numerous layers of challenges as a way to extend their will into the future.
Preceptors seldom battle directly, but will often do so by proxy by training students to battle the students of other preceptors, with a promise of new secret techniques if they win.
Sith are vulnerable to domination by the Power of those with strong kinship ties, and traditionally their parents place Power Shackles on them. Shackled Sith can be tapped for energy by their parents. Parents have incentive to mate with someone powerful enough to produce children who will be a good source of power; for the most powerful, those are in short supply, and they keep harems instead. Sith are considered to have won to adulthood when they break free of the Power Shackles of both their parents, and are given preferment in society; they often apprentice themselves to their parents. Those who are free because their parents were killed have to start on the fringes. These are the first chains a Sith must break.
There is a careful balance in the number of children to have in queue: old enough to be a useful source of power, not in imminent danger of breaking free.
The female power level tends to wax and wane with the investment of biological resources, so they tend to be more conservative; males have more consistent power levels and can take more risks, getting them killed more often. Females who survive past the age of reproduction with all their children departed are usually powerful from all the practice reining in their children.
Sith are able to use the Power to transfer life force from other beings to heal themselves and reduce the effects of aging; particularly strong ones can do so to prolong their own lives, killing the subject. The healthier the subject, the more can be transferred; the older the Sith, the less it helps. The best sources are late adolescent/early adult sentients in good physical and mental condition. The most powerful Sith have been known to live three or four centuries in this manner. Even beyond this point, they can cling to life through sheer willpower as their body wastes away; some have even been known to survive as severed heads, flying under their own power or being borne by their slaves.
Some Sith are adept at transferring their own spirits to other bodies, particularly those of their descendants and apprentices. Often, the elder simply obliterates the spirit of the younger one, but sometimes there is a blending, in which the younger one may prevail, gaining the knowledge and power of their former master without losing their own identity.
Finally, some Sith choose to move beyond the mortal plane altogether, either under their own power or with the Kissai assistance. Some (particularly preceptors) become saints, receiving sacrifices in exchange for insight and teachings or just possessing someone; these are always attached to something, whether it be a place or a bloodline or a weapon or holocron. The mightiest will seek godhood, either carving out a new divine role (an Emperor became the god of Wealth this way, around 1200 years after Haymakh proclaimed the Galactic Empire) or battling one of the existing gods for their position.
Sith rely on the Power in all walks of life. They have a talent
dubbed precognitive paranoia
; it is very difficult to surprise a
Sith lord with a preset explosive device, whether it be an individual
shaped charge or a fusion warhead. Assassination usually requires combat
or military defeat.
Some Sith will not trust an underling whose mind they cannot probe, and will kill those who remain inscrutable; others believe that if a minion can keep their own lord out, they’ll be able to keep out interlopers as well, and simply set up tests of loyalty. Showing inability to probe someone’s mind in public is a sign of weakness, so being probed publicly has extra possiblities of risk or survival, depending on the temperament of the lord.
Sith are able to induce phobias and addictions in their minions; there is
a technique for crushing the will
which leaves a person’s mind
intact but largely without autonomy. Some have shown a talent for impelling
people to confess their secrets, while others can remove a person’s
sense of self-preservation for hours to weeks.
Sith prefer to think in absolutes; they prefer clear-cut choices that stir the passions, not the careful nuance that requires deliberation.
Sith will usually kill people who fail them in important tasks. For mundane tasks, they usually just demote them; trained minions are hard to find. People who challenge them directly elicit a variety of reactions:
I am the Master now!
Sith engage in large projects not as a matter of investment but ego. Building something that everyone knows is going to last a thousand years impresses people, that you have such powerful resources that you can build impressive monuments to your own majesty without leaving yourself vulnerable, and that you have confidence that you are strong enough in the Power to achieve some form of immortality. Long-term projects, like terraforming, are a way of demonstrating that you have talented climatological engineers at your command— and everyone knows that it’s much easier to screw up an ecosystem than to fix one, so those engineers are an implicit threat to enemies. The precision deorbiting of comets and ice asteroids onto Tatooine isn’t a generational project; it’s a demonstration that the overlord there is equipped to perform orbital bombardment.
Sith are never content; their ambition may be to fight their way up to the Imperial Throne, to become a Preceptor and develop their own mastery, to become the richest tradelord or most clever craftlord, or to ascend to godhood and immortality. Even the Emperor will have ambitions to make their mark on the galaxy, or be planning the greatest mass sacrifice in history to challenge a god. In these decadent days of the Empire, the notion of the Imperial Progress has arrived: a traveling festival that brings the Imperial retinue and several battle fleets on tours of the galaxy at huge expense. (This is a fine time for a challenger to capture Coruscant, and three reigns back, the Emperor used a Progress as a way to lure his opponents into a trap.)
There are several schools of thought on rulership. A Sith whose philosophy differs from his overlord may clash, but as long as the overlord’s auditors deem his tribute appropriate and the underling is not fomenting rebellion, the overlord will let it stand.
The oldest style of rulership. Phrases like oderint, dum
metuant
and pour encourager
les autres
would make excellent sense to them. They rule with
an iron fist, harshly punishing failure. They aren’t just
cruel— they’re arbitrary, always leaving the hope that
someone might survive or even be rewarded. They’re fond of
decimation, hostage-taking, public torture, and leaving heads on pikes
as ways to get the best performance out of their underlings, and will
use classic Roman-style
decimation as a motivational tool. An underling who eschews such
tactics on his own minions needs to be very confident and effective to
stand up to this kind of overlord.
Strict disciplinarians with a penchant for rules, rules, rules. Each node in the hierarchy is responsible for all dependent nodes. If you can’t keep the beings under your command in line, you will be punished. Hierarchs generally insist on military discipline throughout the societies they control. Like the underlings of tyrants, underlings who have differing philosophies need to be very confident and effective.
These Sith have been learning from the societies they conquered and adapting their tactics to using financial incentives to accomplish their will. For fungible things they want accomplished, they post bounties. For fixed things (e.g. infrastructure), they have competitive bidding for contracts— with the twist that failure to deliver on time and within budget usually leads to anything from demotion to public death by torture. They tend to conduct negotiations in rooms where they have a throne surrounded by force field projectors; if parties in the negotiation attack each other, they just turn on the field and watch the fun. (Killing your boss for providing unrealistic time estimates meets with great approval.)
A new school of thought among Sith. They rely on pleasure and pain as motivation; they can induce them directly in serfs and vassals using the Power, and they have their closest slaves wired with cybernetic implants that go directly to the pleasure and pain centers. (The surgery for this is too complicated to inflict on mass populations, since competent neurosurgery droids are very expensive; it’s just not practical to have an assembly line doing this on large populations.) This can lead to thoroughly addicted minions.
They also have policies of rewards with luxuries and drugs and penalties that involve privation.
Those who decline the more sybaritic rewards tend to elicit notice as possessing judgment that can lead to promotion.
Most species have a notion of powerful transcendent beings that control destiny. The Sith know that theirs are real, and perform regular blood sacrifice to please them. The gods manifest in a variety of ways: as spectral beings, or by possessing people, or speaking to them as a ghostly voice in their head, or appearing in their dreams, or as extreme weather events and unlikely coincidences. They seem to be able to show up anywhere, though they do so most often near their places of worship.
Sith gods appear to each have metaphysical territory staked out; if there is no god for a particular territory, it is possible for a Sith to ascend there without challenge (as Emperor ???? did to become the god of wealth), but if your chosen specialty is already taken, it is necessary to defeat the god— which means convincing a large enough number of the priestly caste to perform blood sacrifices to fuel your ascension, risking retribution from the god you are challenging if you fail.
The gods are best pleased by blood sacrifice of enemies, but your own slaves and criminals will do. Many arena games have a religious component, and some slaves are picked for sacrifice after a particular number of victories (usually 216, sometimes 1296).
The known gods are:
Gods can battle amongst each other, and can even consume each other; living in a time in which two gods are struggling for power is usually dangerous.
Sith pride themselves on prowess in battle, and all but the slaves have collections of their favorite weapons. Any Sith of substance possesses a trophy room with reminders of foes they have vanquished— beasts hunted, opponents bested. Trophies range from taxidermy (even of sentients) to weapons to items that their quarry prized, even if the Sith doesn’t see the value in them.
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