I have taken up the name Exar Kun, after one of the most awesome if not greatest and coolest character in the SW universe.
Character biographies courtesy of the Temple of the Sith.
Posters and Dark Empire cover courtesy of Thrawn's Art Gallery.
In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm a big TOTJ (Tales of the Jedi) fan, from The Golden Age of the Sith to the climatic Sith War. 4 000 years before Luke Skywalker's birth, the Jedi Knights illuminated and brought order to the galaxy. Their enemies ranged from the beasts of the planet Onderon, to Mandalorian warriors, to the Krath, and finally to a renegade Jedi Knight. All of these stories of courage have been chronicled in what is known as a Jedi Holocron, a Jedi teaching device designed by Jedi Masters to tutor their students in the ways of the Force. According to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Force is what gives the Jedi his or her strength. It binds the universe together. And technology, no matter how great, is as powerful when it comes to the Force.
Driven off, exiled, they fled to the far side of the galaxy where they found the Sith people who treated them as gods. After many centuries the Sith empire grew to a vast, rich realm. That was the Golden Age of the Sith . . . until Naga Sadow tried to conquer the Republic and add it to the Sith empire. Sadow's invasion was defeated, but at great cost to both sides, and the Sith empire fell into disarray and all but vanished . . . until Exar Kun rediscovered it. Not all dark side Force users are Sith followers; the Force is omnipresent while the Sith are only one following of the dark side, albeit the most powerful and well known.
Traditionally, the titular master of the ancient Sith people. a Jedi who has turned to the dark side of the Force. The title of Dark Lord was passed down from one generation to the next, with only one Dark Lord existing at a time. The mummified remains of the Dark Lords are preserved on Korriban." All Sith followers must obey the reigning Dark Lord.
Emperor Palpatine was not a Sith follower, although he knew some Sith teachings, which is why he was able to order around Darth Vader, the 12th Dark Lord.
Of all of the Jedi that were around 4 000 years before Skywalker's birth, I would have to say that the best Jedi there ever was, without a shadow of a doubt, ::chuckles:: Exar Kun! I just love his storyline and admire his accomplishments as a Jedi and as a Dark Lord of the Sith.
Who was this Exar Kun, you ask? Well, I'm glad you did ask. I suppose I could tell you a little about the coolest kick-ass Jedi. But then.... what's in it for me? Are you willing to sell your swoop on Tatooine? I hear that they're worth a lot.
Before I tell you about the coolest kick-ass Jedi, let me tell you a bit about his weak predecessors. (No one and I mean no one compares to Exar Kun in my opinion!)
Sadow felt the Sith Empire was stagnating and should expand its territory, while Kressh wanted a more isolationist approach to governing the Sith Empire. The duel was interupted by the arrival of Gav and Jori Daragon, unlucky explorers that hyperspaced to the wrong place. Kressh wanted them executed as precursors to an invasion, but Sadow saw it as an oportunity to expand the Sith Empire. Gav and Jori waited in their cells, sentenced to be executed, despairing . . . not realizing that they had become pawns of a Sith Lord. With his fierce loyal Massassi warriors, Naga Sadow secretly stole strange Republic weaponry from Gav and Jori's impounded ship, Starbreaker 12, and staged a commando raid to free the prisoners, killing a prominent Sith Lord in the process. Sadow whisked them off to his private fortress. The Sith Lords were thrown into an uproar, seeing the weapons, the evidence, and assuming they had been attacked by Republic forces. In turmoil, they turned to Naga Sadow for leadership and named him the Dark Lord of the Sith. Outraged, Ludo Kressh stormed off, taking his supporters with him.
Discovering Sadow's trickery, Kressh mounted an armed rebellion against the evil Dark Lord, vowing to fight to save the Sith Empire from Sadow's reckless plans. While attacking Sadow's fortress, Kressh had inadvertantly waltzed into an ambush set by the Dark Lord. With Ludo Kressh out of the way, Naga Sadow rallied all the Sith Lords for the comming conquest. During Kressh's attack, Sadow had tricked Jori into fleeing back to the Republic without her brother, who was being held elsewhere, and with a hidden homing beacon led Naga Sadow right to the Republic. He began teaching the Force-sensitive Gav Sith magic, and later gave him command of the Sith invasion fleet; Sadow himself would watch the battle from his meditation sphere, where he used forbidden Sith magic to rally his forces and create the illusion of a more massive invasion force than it actually was. But Gav could not stand being the commander causing all the death and destruction, and instead attacked Sadow himself. With his meditation sphere damaged, his Massassi armies began losing, and the Republic fleet set out to hunt down Sadow. Causing the Primus Goluud star to explode, Sadow tried to hide his escape back to the Sith Empire. In Sadow's absence, Ludo Kressh retook control of the Sith Empire and had his fleet waiting for Sadow's return. But Kressh's fleet was still no match for Sadow's already depleated fleet. Just as Sadow destroyed Kressh's ship, and Ludo Kressh with it, the Republic fleet arrived, led there by Jori. He escaped across the galaxy, engaging Republic gunships in a cataclysmic battle at the Denarii Nova. Eventually, he and his followers ended up on Yavin Four, with his followers devolving into the primitive Massassi warriors over the centuries.
Four thousand years before the time of Darth Vader, Kun precipitated the Sith War which was one of the most destructive conflicts in the entire history of the Republic. With the help of Ulic Qel-Droma, the Krath illusionist Aleema, and the warlord Mandalore they built up an army that rivaled the Republic's own. While Ulic and Mandalore waged a huge military battle against Republic outposts, shipyards, and eventually Coruscant itself, Kun was busy seducing other Jedi trainees to the Dark Side to do his bidding. With his new Sith initiates, Kun waged a covert war against what he called the aging and outdated Jedi Masters, sending them out to kill their old Jedi masters. During the attack on Coruscant, Ulic Qel-Droma was captured and later charged with treason against the Republic. In the middle of his trial, Ulic was rescued by Kun and Mandalore as they barged into the courtroom filled with thousands of Jedi that were imobilized by Kun's Sith spell. During the rescue, Exar Kun killed his old master Vodo-Siosk Baas in a rematch of their previous duel in which his master won. Exar Kun later sent the treacherous Aleema to Kemplex Nine with the intent to ambush the Republic/Jedi forces using an ancient Sith superweapon that was aboard Naga Sadows ship, recently unearth from the Yavin temples. The weapon tore the core of a sun in the Cron Cluster and hurled it at the Republic fleet, but also caused the sun to catastrophically supernova, destroying everything in the system including the Great Jedi Library on Ossus. The war ended with all the Jedi banding together and laying waste to most of Yavin 4, but not before Exar Kun absorbed the life-energies of the entire Massassi race to entomb his spirit in a Sith Temple.
Four thousand years later when Luke Skywalker establishes his Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Kun once again makes his bid for galaxy domination by attempting to sway Luke's new trainees to the Dark Side. Exar Kun almost succeeds with Kyp Durron, but not before Luke, the Jedi trainees, and the spirit of Master Bodo Baas together destroy Kun's spirit forever.
Before Anakin found out that he had children, the twins Luke and Leia, Kenobi hid them from him to protect them from their father and the Dark Side. In a vicious lightsaber duel between him and his then-master Obi-Wan, Anakin fell into a molten pit to emerge badly scarred and burned, which is why he wears the trademark protective black armour and breath mask. Seething with anger, Vader tapped the vast amounts of Dark Side energy through the ancient Sith teachings, and later became the Dark Lord of the Sith.
As Emperor Palpatine's right hand, Darth Vader chased the Rebel Alliance to the far reaches of the galaxy. In his last confrontation with his son, Luke Skywalker, Vader finally returned to the Light Side by throwing Palpatine into the reactor core to save his son.
Later, Kyp escaped from Kessel with the help of Han Solo and managed to be captured again by Admiral Daala while fleeing into the Maw. Narrowly avoiding a death sentece from Daala, Kyp escaped again with Solo and the scientist Qwi Xux. While training at Luke Skywalker's newly established Jedi Academy, Kyp encountered the spirit of the long-dead Exar Kun and began gaining power through the Dark Side and ancient Sith teachings. Pissed off at the Empire for all the pain it has cause him and his family, Kyp furiously waged a one-man war against the Empire using the Sun Crusher and his newly acquired Sith powers. While visiting the site of Darth Vaders funeral pyre on Endor, Kyp claimed the title of The Dark Lord Of The Sith (since no other known Sith existed to challenge his claim, although in my opinion Kyp had not reached a high enough level to rightfully claim the title). Kyp eventually returned to the Light Side after Kun's spirit was destroyed by the other Jedi trainies and thus was no longer under Kun's influence.
There you have it.... from what it meant to become a Sith Lord to the Sith Lords themselves. All that's left now are.... the comic book covers. Yes, I know I should get the novels (thanks Will, but I much prefer the comics. This gallery's for you and especially you Adam;) .
Ulic Qel-Droma sometimes lets his confidence cloud his judgement during his Jedi training. When his Jedi master, Master Arca, assigns him as advisor, he and his friends are met with adversity from warriors loyal to Odon Kira, the beast warrior's powerful leader. The work of the dark side is on Onderon, and the Jedi must stop it.
In The Saga of Nomi Sunrider, Nomi Sunrider, wife of Jedi knight Andur, plans vengeance against the ones responsible for her husband's death. She does not know it, but she is well-versed in Jedi Battle Meditation, a skill that allows a Jedi to enter the minds of one's foe.
Exar Kun binds his soul into the temple on Yavin IV, vowing to return after 4 000 years.
A hotshot pilot, a smuggler, two Jedi Knights, a princess, and two loveable droids. What's starts off as a drama turns out to be a spectacular start of a trilogy that will forever change the universe. Obi Wan Kenobi, the last of the Jedi Knights, enlists the aid of hot shot pilot Luke Skywalker. Accompanying the Jedi and Skywalker are Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, the wookie Chewbacca, and two protocol droids, C-3PO and R2-D2.
With the Death Star destroyed, the Empire is in chaos. The Rebels were victorious, but the Empire is out for vengeance. Luke Skywalker begins his training as a Jedi at the behest of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was slain by Darth Vader in "A New Hope". When Luke confronts Vader, the young Jedi-in-training cannot defeat the Dark Lord, and he finds out that Vader is his father. Obeying the teachings of his master Yoda, who also instructed Obi-Wan, Luke does not turn to the Dark Side of the Force to join his father and crush the Emperor "as father and son". In the midst of all of this, Han Solo is captured and frozen in carbonite, and taken to the gangster Jabba the Hutt. Luke and his friends plan to go after both Boba Fett and the Hutt lord.
Luke Skywalker is still training to be a Jedi Knight. He rescues his friend Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, and returns to Dagobah, Master Yoda's homeworld, to complete his training. The Jedi Master is dying when Luke arrives and he tells Luke "not to underestimate the powers of the Emperor" and when Yoda is gone, Luke will be the "last of the Jedi". Just before Yoda dies, he tells Luke that "there is another Skywalker". Luke ponders this, and Yoda finally becomes one with the Force. It is revealed that Leia is Luke's twin sister, and Vader is in fact their father. In the midst of all this, the second Death Star becomes operational, under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine. Confronting Vader once again, Luke almost commits patricide, but does not. He will not go to the Dark Side.
So be it.... Jedi!
If you will not be turned.... then you will be destroyed!
For his refusal to turn to the Dark Side, the Emperor almost kills Luke with his Dark Side energy strikes. Coming to his son's aide, Vader hurls the Emperor down a shaft, killing the once powerful ruler. Vader is dying in the process, and his last wish is to tell Luke's sister that Luke was right about him. He dies in Luke's arms. Once the second Death Star is destroyed, peace is once again restored to the galaxy.
Elsewhere across the galaxy, the Rebel Alliance has been forced into hiding once again, thanks to the Emperor's Galaxy Gun. Luke takes the Jedi Knights on a mission to find and defeat the Emperor once and for all. As the second issue of Empire's End opens, we continue to see the Emperor attempt to find a new body to enter so that he does not die. On the way to the Onderon system, Leia Organa Solo sinces the Emperor. His plan is to enter the body of the infant Anakin Solo. In a spectacular, yet sad battle, two Jedi Knights are killed by the Emperor, but but before the Emperor dies, he tries to enter Anakin. King Brand protects the infant with the Light Side of the Force, and he and the Emperor die together.
All and all, I'd have to say that the Dark Empire Trilogy was pretty good. It would surprise me if George Lucas actually based the last trilogy on it. I can picture Luke Skywalker turning to the Dark Side, to save his friends from the machines known as World Devestators. Or better yet, the rising of the Jedi Knights. Hey.... a man can dream can't he?