Sith Imperial Remnant

"For thousands of years, the True Sith have remained hidden. All the way on the desolate pink sands of Nonovaas, no one could ever find us."

- Darth Troy

The Sith Imperial Remnant, officially known as the Sith Imperium, and commonly known as the Sith Imperial or Vitiate's Direct Lineage, was a revived faction of the Sith Order which claimed to be direct descendants of Darth Vitiate's Sith Empire that begun in the Draggulch Period until the late Imperial Era and beginning of the New Republic and First Order era. The faction began to arise after the collapse of the Sith Empire following the Third Galactic War, as with the collapse of the Sith Empire, Darth Maelon, a Sith Master, along with his followers quickly took control of Dromund Kaas before ordering a mass evacuation from the Sith worlds to the planet of Nonovaas, a sandy, pink planet with many beaches. Finally, after the evacuation, the Sith Imperial Remnant was declared with Maelon as the Dark Lord of the Sith and cloaked the entire planet, making it virtually impenetrable and inaccessible, clouding and hiding his Sith for thousands of years to come.

As years went by, the Sith Imperial Remnant began to open up ever so slightly, hiding their presence from the Galactic Republic, later the Galactic Empire. It later went on to form a loose and uneasy confederation with the True Sith of Darth Zereth. By the fall of the Galactic Empire, it was ruled under Darth Thanta, who begun recolonization efforts onto planets such as the Sith homeworld of Korriban and Dromund Kaas, finally retaking Kaas City and rebuilding it back to its prime, thus ending the "Thousand Year Seclusion" period of the Sith Imperial Remnant.

Ultimately, with the deposition of Darth Zereth in 16 ABY in the True Sith Cult, the Sith Imperial were unified, however, at the same time, Darth Thanta was also deposed, being cast aside and killed, with the "Hidden Emperor", Apocalyptos taking control of both Sith Imperial and True Sith factions, along with countless others, merging them into one empire, the Reborn True Sith Empire.

The Incident on Iokath
After the deaths of Darth Vitiate and Vaylin and with the Outlander claiming the power of the Eternal Fleet and forming the Eternal Alliance. Empress Acina expressed her gratitude towards the Outlander and congratulated them. With the threat of the Eternal Empire extinguished; The Sith Empire was once again preparing for war in response to the Republic's own preparation.

The Third Galactic War
Shortly afterwards, the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic found Iokath and a battle was commencing deciding on who would take control of Iokath and its resources which prompted the Eternal Alliance to step in. Empress Acina arrived with her forces to seize control of the superweapon before the Republic and sent Major Quinn, former compatriot of the Emperor's Wrath, to negotiate a deal with the Alliance Commander and to sabotage the Alliance base should the Alliance side with the Republic.

The incident on Iokath and the subsequent decimation of the Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone by the Order of Zildrog, which crippled the Eternal Alliance, set the galaxy's stage for the Third Galactic War, with reports arriving at Odessen about both factions redoubling their efforts to gather supplies, munitions, and fuel in anticipation. The Sith Empire was effectively at war with the Republic and they started by invading the ancient planet of Ossus which housed remnants of the Jedi Order, led by renowned Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, that fled into hiding during the Eternal Empire's conquest. Darth Malora of the Dark Council was sent to oversee the invasion but Malora focused more on her experiments rather than the war effort which prompted Empress Acina to dispatch a rebuilt, and loyal, Darth Malgus to take control of the operation and indirectly dismiss Malora as a member of the Dark Council.

Following the Invasion of Ossus, Darth Xarion of the Dark Council and head of Sith Intelligence orchestrated the Nova Blades pirates to plan an attack on Dantooine and distract the Republic from the Imperial activities on the planet.

After the Dantooine Incursion, Darth Malgus amassed a massive invasion fleet to destroy the Meridian Complex, a state of the art shipyard on Corellia. To accomplish this, efforts were directed at assisting King Regalun Petryph on Onderon and sabotaging the Republic Fleet at Mek-Sha before invading the Meridian Complex itself.

As the war raged on, the Sith Empire fought against the Galactic Republic for the last time. While the Sith were victorious in the early stages of the battle under the rule of the new Emperor Vowrawn, the Republic eventually drove the Sith back to their primary territory within the Stygian Caldera nebula, and Vowrawn fled into unknown space after they was defeated above Coruscant. Supreme Chancellor, Galena Rans of the victorious Republic ordered the Republic Navy to conduct a systematic extermination of the Sith Empire to permanently end the threat and to purge the corruption of the dark side from the Sith species.

Evacuation of Dromund Kaas
"This war is lost. But the survival of our kind isn't over. Now run. Flee. Leave."

- Darth Maelon's broadcast to the Sith Empire

As the war ended with a Republic Victory, Emperor Vowrawn was missing and presumed dead. With the imminent and inevitable collapse of the Sith Empire, Sith Master, Darth Maelon, seeing the power vacuum left by Vowrawn's disappearance, seized the opportunity to quickly take control of the capital, Dromund Kaas. He and his followers quickly stormed the communications towers, broadcasting a signal to the remainder of the Sith Empire. He would order an evacuation of Dromund Kaas and other Sith worlds, quickly fleeing most of the Sith worlds with few remaining. Maelon along with the rest of the empire would be reorganized and would flee, wandering aimlessly across space as Republic forces attacked them.

Fleeing to Nonovaas
Following the evacuation, the Sith at first would be outnumbered and would lose many soldiers and members as the Republic trailed them, making use of the newly established hyperspace lanes. In desperation, the Sith would enter the hidden Carated Rim, otherwise known as "The Gateway to the Outer Rim" (or in their case, the Mid Rim). Entering the rim, they would hide on the hidden planet of Nonovaas, which was near the border of the Carated Rim, and located at a safe distance from the Sith Worlds. As the Sith landed on Nonovaas, they would at first face some resistance from the local populous, however as time went by, the Sith would take over the planet, building a new citadel and would live secretly and peacefully, as the combined effort of the Sith masters would allow them to cloak and conceal the planet from any detection from the force or the Republic, making it virtually impenetrable and inaccessible, clouding and hiding his Sith for thousands of years to come.

The Republic and Imperial Years
"We are alone. But someday, we shall return."

- Darth Venya's broadcast

Following many years on Nonovaas, Darth Maelon later died, being succeeded by Darth Venya, who was a revanchist. Under her rule, the Sith Imperial Remnant began to slowly colonize planets and moons in Nonovaas' system, before expanding outward. During her reign as the Dark Lady of the Sith, the Sith Imperial began to recruit and accept Fallen Jedi into their ranks and later, former members of Darth Ruin's New Sith Empire. Venya herself later on didn't dedicate her time to ruling the rump state, quickly instead venturing off on adventures and spending too much time with her partner and apprentice, Darth Vela, whom they had a relationship with one another. This later cost her many things, as while off on a distant planet, she was ousted by Darth Listrius, who took control of the rump state.

Under Listrius, the remnant began to see the fall of the New Sith Empire, the Brotherhood of Darkness and the beginning of the Ruusan Reformation. Listrius would keep the Sith in further lockdown, refusing to expand into the neighbouring star systems, putting a policy of defense first. However he did allow small scale recruitment and occasionally would steal Republic ships which were to be repurposed into Sith starships and others, quickly advancing in domestic technology and development. Listrius ruled on until the High Republic era, where he would be succeeded by Darth Cryrd, who mostly followed in his predecessor's footsteps.

During the reign of Cryrd, however, he would seek out Darth Vela, Venya's apprentice who took with her several Sith troopers and a small group of Sith Imperials to an unknown planet. The two eventually met on the planet of Anchelli Minor, which contained a force nexus of the Dark side. Cryrd at first dueled against her, however, later on the two came to a negotiation in which Vela would be left alone in her own corner of the planet, whilst Cryrd would occupy and annex the planet as part of the Sith Imperial Remnant. During the beginnings of the Imperial Era, seeing the rise of Darth Sidious and the Galactic Empire, the Sith Imperial under Darth Natthal would begin negotiating and enacting an act of confederation with the True Sith Cult. This would allow the Sith Imperial to expand their territory to the unknown regions. However, Natthal would die after this, after a "hunting accident" with his apprentice, Darth Thanta, who succeeded him to the throne.

The Sith Remnant's Rise
"Our time in hiding has gone long enough. We must break free from the shackles of this prison and conquer what is rightfully ours!"

- Darth Thanta

Darth Thanta during the Imperial Era would be faced with several challenges at the start of his reign. For one, he had to deal with the True Sith Cult beginning to speak and contact the empire, which infuriated him, however he kept it mostly to himself. However, with the fall of the empire, the ensuing chaos gave Thanta many opportunities to finally leave Nonovaas and the Sith colonies.

The Sith would begin sending explorers back into the Sith Worlds and used old star maps of the Sith Empire to retake and to explore former planets belonging to the Sith in secrecy. Several Sith discovered Dromund Kaas once more, which by then was in ruins. Upon knowing this, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Thanta decided to rebuild it, and then Kaas was back into operations once more. Kaas City was rebuilt relatively quick, and seeing as it was built over a Dark Side Force Nexus, it was easy for the Sith to feed off the dark side and become powerful once more. In addition to that, the Sith Imperial would also search for their home planet of Korriban, quickly seizing it for themselves.

The Emperor, Thanta appointed twelve powerful Sith Lords, to the rank of Dark Lord of the Sith, and the twelve collectively formed the Dark Council—the highest position a Sith could attain in the new empire, and the de facto rulers of the Empire as the Emperor gradually retreated from public view over the following decades to pursue his own studies in the dark side. On account of the dangerous predators native to Dromund Kaas, the Dark Council tasked the Human Nero Aureliual with bringing order to the non-Sith members of the Empire and allowed him to develop an Imperial Military. Aureliual proceeded to recruit every non-Force-user of proper age into the new Imperial Army, and instituted a rigorous training regimen that instilled military discipline and training in his recruits. The Imperial Army was trained on various imperial academies on Korriban, Ziost, and Kaas, the most notable being Dromund Kaas Imperial Academy, which was under the imperial patronage of the Emperor himself.

However, this was all to change very soon, with the changing turbulent political and social climate.

The Rise of Apocalyptos and the Formation of a New Empire
"I shall rise while you fall."

- Apocalyptos

As the Sith Imperial finally reclaimed their old homeworld and Sith space, they closed it off from the outside galaxy, only letting select few individuals and Sith to leave and enter the empire and its colonies in the Carated and Outer Rim, along with the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. During this time, Sith Imperial intelligence and investigators onto the planet of Rhen Var, after finding records of the Eternal Empire's findings of the "Beast", which was actually the former celestial Rhen Xar. Attempting to find the body of Rhen, they eventually found it after many months of searching, in a cave on Rhen Var, however, once they touched the tomb, the non-force sensitives were instantly killed, but the force sensitives of the investigators took the body to Dromund Kaas.

Many months later, Imperial Intelligence discovered that the body had slightly moved, and they decided to investigate more. However, many hours later, the body started to wake up, frightening the two investigators examining Rhen Xar. This would begin to cause a shift in the balance of power in the Sith Imperium. Rhen Xar would take the moniker of "Apocalyptos" and would begin plotting to take control of the entire imperium.

As Apocalyptos begun to seize the reins of power and control, being dubbed "The Hidden Emperor", Darth Thanta had become a cowardly shell of himself, and even proposed to align himself with the First Order and soon, the Final Order of Darth Sidious. With this, the entire Sith Imperium, along with the True Sith Cult would turn against him, with chaos beginning in Kaas City. Kaas would be under siege by members of the First Order, before being defeated by the defending Sith. Thanta would kill them all, and then meet the Sith Lord Darth Ectral on Kaas Bridge. A terrible fight would ensue between them, whilst Apocalyptos watched the battle. Thanta would be pushed back and attacked by his own followers under Apocalyptos's command, whilst Ectral would continue dueling. Thanta would then be thrown off his throne, and killed by his own apprentice and Dark Council member, Darth Xion. Xion would then proclaim Apocalyptos as Emperor, and Apocalyptos would take the throne, and disposing of Thanta's body. In the Unknown Regions, Darth Zereth was also deposed by several of Apocalyptos' minions, after forcefully signing a treaty formally uniting the two organizations into one new empire.

With that, the Sith Imperial Remnant would be reorganized into the Reborn True Sith Empire with Apocalyptos as its Emperor. The Sith Empire would be an empire that followed the teachings of the old Sith, and also implementing their new ones from what they have learnt. From then on, the Sith would be on the search for holocrons and ancient texts, conquering many worlds.

Government
The Sith Imperial Remnant was a magocratic authoritarian theocracy, with the Dark Lord of the Sith as both its head of state and overall paramount Supreme Leader. It has been described as anti-democratic and in its civilian government, it is rather authoritarian and is dominated by the Sith military policing its civilian populous. The Sith Imperial possess a war economic mindset and the entire realm of the Sith is subdivided into various parts, with regional civilian and Sith governors and representatives who answer to the Dark Lord of the Sith through the Sith Imperial's Wrath, Voice or Hand.

Political factions were also known to exist within the ranks of the government of the Sith Imperial with such coalitions formed around specific Sith Lords.

Military
The Sith Imperial Military was the backbone of the Sith Imperial and the realm itself, as Imperial culture and society had been highly militarized since the Sith Empire's early years on Dromund Kaas.

Odile Vaiken's training regimen, which saw use by the Empire for centuries after Vaiken's death, led to the drafting of every able-bodied adult into military service. This remained a mainstay of the military in the centuries after his death: every non-Force-sensitive in the Empire was automatically conscripted into the military upon reaching adulthood, and they remained in service until retirement or disability. While advancement and promotion helped skilled military officers establish powerful families with histories of military service, the children of those families were expected to earn their own place in the military and received no special treatment on account of their lineage.

Above the ranks of generals and admirals in the Army and Navy, there existed the rank of Moffs and Imperial High Command, which answered directly to the Emperor's Wrath. The individual who holds the rank of Grand Moff, which was established for Odile Vaiken, answers directly to the Minister of War and possesses special privileges, often developing close ties to the Dark Council. Moffs were allowed greater variety in their uniform colors, as they typically tailored their uniforms to reflect past service and their current command. Imperial officers also utilized code cylinders, which allowed them access to secure areas and intelligence resources.

The Sith Imperial Fleet were comprised of many ships as well. In addition to Harrower-Class Dreadnoughts from the Sith Empire, the Sith Imperial also had repurposed Republic ships, and later, Imperial-Class Star Destroyers and Venator-Class Star Destroyers stolen from the Galactic Republic and Galactic Empire respectively.