Introduction 

The Brotherhood of Dark Jedi, though relatively recent in foundation, traces the roots of its practices back through thousands of years.  One of the most important of these foundations is the Tripartite Path, followed by the ancient Star Chamber.  This path teaches three distinct ways of utilizing the Force for personal power and growth, with the true Masters of the Dark Side ascending all three Paths.

The founders of the ancient Star Chamber were three, a Scholar, an Assassin, and a Warlord.  Each chose apprentices, and taught them their talents and abilities. This division of three set the foundation for the early Star Chamber, and later the Brotherhood of Dark Jedi.  Though this foundation was sound, it was not perfect.  In their training, each student began to bear many of the prejudices of their Master, and these began to spill over into their relationship with the other Orders.    

The Warlord was an exiled Sith, a participant in a failed coup to overthrow Marka Ragnos as Dark Lord.  Being a pure-blood Sith, he was convinced of the superiority of his legacy, and its control of the Dark Side.   He taught his students to seek positions of leadership within the Cult, and to guide the other Orders to submission.  It was the Warlord who sought to expand the reaches of the Star Chamber beyond their home systems, to reclaim the glory lost by Ludo Kressh and Naga Sadow, at the end of the Great Hyperspace War, and the utter failure of Exar Kun after the Great Sith War. 

The Scholar, a renowned sorceress from the deepest regions of the Core, was already mad when she joined the Warlord.  Her strange third eye gave her visions and insight into the future and the past. She guided the Assassin from Corellia to the Antei System.  It was from her that we gained our first knowledge of the Final Order.  Her students were taught to seek out and unravel the ancient mysteries, so that a full knowledge of the Dark Side might lead them to power. 

Finally, the Assassin was a strong, proud man from Corellia.  Lauded as the most efficient murderer of the day, his name was spoken in hushed whispers.  Often the merest threat of his attention was enough for a rival to back down.  The Assassin was mired in the politics of the system, but despised them.  When he joined the Star Chamber, he and his students sought unity with the Dark Side, by unifying their physical forms with the Force, in a harmony of energy and matter.  They studied war-skills as the expression of this sought unity, and grew into the most ferocious warriors ever to plague the Jedi.

For a century after the Great Sith War, the Star Chamber solidified its position in the Galaxy, acting in secret from what we now call the Antei system.  They carefully manipulated system and regional politics, in attempts to cause strife and discord across the sector.   Their policies placed them in direct conflict with the decree of a later Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Bane, and his Apprentice.  The Star Chamber, being much older than the Decree, therefore kept its origins very quiet, as to avoid confrontation with the most powerful of the Dark Jedi.  Their ultimate goal was the recreation of the Sith Empire, and the culmination of the Final Order.

The triumvirate was successful, for as long as it lasted.  The Assassin Ferran led their forces where open combat was required, his own power equal to a thousand of his lesser.  Warlord Okemi guided their overall strategy, studying and planning every conquest carefully, his mind forever on the future.  The Sorceress Taimat provided her own mysterious arts, and through her visions and ancient knowledge, brought ever increasing power to their designs. 

As far as we know their plans where accidentally thwarted by the Sorceress.  Acting on a vision that she declared would herald the Final Order, she and her students began a grand ritual, designed to extinguish the lights of all stars, using a sympathetic bond between the solar bodies, and their presence in the Force as symbols of life and the Light Side.   Okemi sanctioned the ritual, giving his blessing, against the protest of Ferran.  As the ritual collapsed, the Assassin slew Taimat.  The star of the Antei system partially reverted to the Darkness, destroying all life in the system in its transformation, including Okemi and Ferran. 

The Star Chamber was devastated, with only a handful of their students surviving.  For the next four thousand years, they and their students kept watch.  It was only after the fall of the Empire, that more students began to emerge. 

Finally, the Three Orders have been reunited under the Dark Lord of the Sith…

The Tripartite Path 

Each Order has its own advantages and weaknesses that make it an essential part of the Brotherhood.  No Order could be successful in completely exterminating another Order.  These stereotypes do not define every member of the Order, but provide a framework of expectations upon which the members of the Brotherhood generally react to their own Order, and their rivals.

 The Elders of the Dark Side, have Ascended over all three Orders.  While still attached to their Order of study, their knowledge of the Dark Side has broadened enough that they are no longer limited by their old preconceptions.  One of the highlights of a Dark Jedi’s career is this point in their study.  Many who would become powerful and valuable Elders are stuck behind, because of their adherence to stereotypes.    Those who are capable of making this leap, are perhaps one in a thousand, which is why the ranks of the Elders in the Brotherhood are so thin. 

 Grand Masters are completely unrestricted in their views, having a firm mastery of all aspects of the Dark Side, even those not recognized by the Tripartite Path.  These are the true Lords of the Dark Side, and the most like the Greatest, Lord Darth himself. 

 Quote:   Let the Obelisk die in battle, and the Sith bicker over their tarnished crowns.  In the end, they will only know what we choose to teach them.  That is the greatest power of all.

 Scholarly and insular, the Krath are the most mistrusted of the three Orders.   Their foundations are rife with betrayal; even the most inexperienced Obelisk knows that it was a Krath whom betrayed Exar Kun to the Jedi Knights.  They know that the Antei system is the barren desert of today, because of a failed Krath ritual. 

Among themselves, the Krath speak of the Wanderer as the first of their kind, in hushed whispers and veiled innuendo.  Only a few Krath can claim to have any understanding of this enigmatic figure in the legends of the Dark Side.  Common knowledge says that the Wanderer was the first Apprentice of Darth, selected as the first after Darth’s exile from the Jedi community.  The Wanderer was a prophet of exceptional clarity, and lived a nomadic existence across the Galaxy.  After the exile of the Dark Jedi from the Republic, it was the Wanderer who led them to the future Sith Empire. 

Another version says that the earliest known Jedi of this Order were the followers of a cult of personality, lead by a Dark Jedi residing on Andiron, called Negas.  He wielded a potent form of dark side sorcery, used to ensnare the minds of those around him.  It was said that with the merest words, he could alter the seasons, darkening the sky for months at a time, or even fester disease in an entire village.  According to the Book of Memories, this sorcerer even ensnared the First Dark Lord, Darth himself.  When he was mysteriously destroyed, his legend passed into myth, feared and loathed as an evil god of darkness and destruction by the future residents of Onderon. 

A Sith Lord named Freedon Nadd resurrected the legend of Krath, in two Sith initiates, Aleema and Satal Keto.  They and their group of students took the name Krath in memory of the god of darkness that haunted the people.  Nadd used them to destroy King Ommin, the Sith heretic of Iziz, and begin his purge of the Jedi.  The Krath became a feared presence in the Empress Teta System. Even slaughtering a conclave of Jedi Masters at Deneba, this prompted the Jedi hero Ulic Qel-Droma to infiltrate their sect. Satal Keto used an ancient ritual, and poisoned Qel-Droma, rendering him unable to betray the Dark Side.  The former Jedi then took Aleema as his lover, and slew Satal Keto.  This act cemented his position in the Dark Side, and he joined the Dark Lord Exar Kun as the commander of his war-fleets. 

Fate however, would bring this Krath low. Stripped of his power by vengeful Jedi Knights, Qel-Droma betrayed Exar Kun’s base of power on Yavin IV. Kun and his followers were promptly destroyed. 

It would be another thousand years, before the Sorceress Taimat, already half-insane, joined the Admiral Okemi and warrior Ferran, to found the Star Chamber.  In a misguided reading of an ancient text, she developed a ritual to strip the light from a star, and rend it to pure entropy.  In her madness, she lost control of the ritual, the Assassin slew here as the rite collapsed. 

Two of her surviving apprentices carried on what they knew of her magics  They took their own apprentices, and established what is the modern Order of the Krath, named both for the ancient god of Onderon, and those who later took his name. 

In the modern Brotherhood, the Krath are invaluable as diplomats, researchers, and scientists.  Their particular form of magic allows them to manipulate the Dark Side though sympathetic relationships between other elements of matter.  Their knowledge boggles most of the Sith and Obelisk, and intrigues the Elders who were not initiated into their ways.  Young Sith and Obelisk tend to fear the Krath, the Elders of these Order, tend to emulate the Krath, in their scholastic pursuits, and they wonder who is really in control of the Brotherhood.    This inherent connection to the Force is both their strength, and weakness.  While an individual Krath might create rites that have powerful effect, it is only through communal effort that the Krath are truly effective. 

The Krath are just behind the Sith in terms of leadership positions, and when they do not hold the command position itself, they often serve as advisors, especially to Sith Dark Councilors.  This places the Order in a position of quite heady authority, without many of the consummate risks of actual political power.  This also places them in a precarious position.  Despite their best efforts, the Sith often play the political game with more finesse than they.  When the Crown changes heads, the Advisors are often the first to lose theirs. 

Krath stereotypes of the other orders:
             Sith:  “Headstrong and proud, many Sith are too caught up in their own games to really pay attention to the ‘glory’ they babble about.  When the time comes, they will realize just how empty their lives really are.”
             Obelisk:  “These are best suited to watching your libraries and temples, young one.  Be cautious, however, even the best mind is useless when separated from its body.  The Obelisk are not known for deferring their anger in such considerations.”

Quote:  “To conquer a fighting system you must let it conquer you. You must give yourself to it totally.”

The most recently formed of the Three Orders of the Star Chamber, the Obelisk are the acknowledged masters of personal combat and ground-based military strategy and tactics. Obelisk members are often found in command of Brotherhood operations ranging from Special Forces to regular army maneuvers. As masters of hand-to-hand combat, martial arts, and weaponry, they also train the Apprentices in defense and the fine arts of the lightsaber. In all things, the Obelisk serve as the warriors of the Brotherhood.

Obelisk history is long and full of harsh lessons learned in the heat of battle. The Obelisk trace their history to the second student of Darth. His name, Alaiedon, is often translated as “The Iron Willed”. This Jedi was a renowned warrior in his own right, made even more powerful through the Dark Side of the Force. Alaiedon left Darth to begin a quest of his own; to satisfy his obsession with perfecting the art of war so completely that none would ever be able to challenge his power. 

Alaiedon traveled for five years, absorbing everything he was taught or that he witnessed at an incredible rate. The Warrior's increasing proficiency drew a number of students to him. By his student’s estimates he had soon mastered nearly a hundred fighting styles, while using the Force to make these styles even more powerful. His students begged Alaiedon to teach them what he had learned, yet he refused, overcome by his obsession. Still, the students learned from observing their master. The Warrior's apprentices would often read their master's collected texts and participate in practice sessions against each other.

On what was to be the final stop on his long journey across the Galaxy, Alaiedon was asked by an insurgent group to take command of their army in efforts to topple a corrupt planetary government. Tempted by power, the Warrior agreed and readied himself and his apprentices as he prepared a plan of tactical genius. Executing his strategy flawlessly, Alaiedon stunned his apprentices as well as the forces under his command by his utter and complete mastery of combat and military tactics, sweeping away opposing forces with unprecedented ease and swiftness. Quickly rallying his forces, the Warrior swept out across the star system, conquering all who stood in his way. His conquests quickly drew the attention of the Jedi. As Alaiedon consolidated his seat of power and prepared for further conquests, an enclave of four Jedi Masters arrived to confront the Warrior. The Jedi commanded that Alaiedon abandon his cause, but the warrior had no intension of agreeing. The power exerted in the epic battle that followed could be felt several systems away and darkened the skies overhead. When his students arrived Alaiedon lay motionless next to the slain bodies of three Jedi Masters, and the single remaining Jedi held a sword which throbbed with Dark Side energy. The Jedi Master slew all but three of Alaiedon’s apprentices. The remaining apprentices fled for their very lives from the Jedi and the sword he wielded. Eventually settling on an unknown world, the three decided not to repeat their master's mistakes. Instead, they established a small school to train willing men and women in the art of war.

Nothing was heard from this group for many years, nor do the Obelisk resurface in any form until Ferran's joining with the Three in the Star Chamber. Ferran, a notorious assassin from the tribes of Corellia, was often accompanied by an odd tutor for most of his life. It would be many years before it was discovered that his tutor was one of the last graduates of the ancient school dedicated to Alaiedon's art of war. Ferran eventually followed the Dark Side to the Antei system, where he found Okemi the Admiral and Tiamat the Sorceress expecting him. Together, they carefully constructed their influence within the surrounding systems. Ferran often disagreed with the two about their methods, and was usually out-numbered by his partners. In his frustration, he began to teach students what he had learned from his tutor in addition to their dark studies. It is said that Ferran slew Tiamat as her ritual collapsed around her and her students, which rendered the Antei system the lifeless shell that it is today.

The Grand Master, whose name was stricken from all records of the Brotherhood resurrected Ferran’s legacy in the Brotherhood. He created a cabal of elite warriors, and chose as their sigil the Obelisk. This Order swept through their Brethren, assassinating and otherwise silencing the opponents of the Other. During the battle to reclaim the Brotherhood, Grand Master Cotelin was mysteriously led by the Dark Side to Ferran’s ancient texts. The Grand Master knew that a group of warriors trained using these texts would be an incredible asset. He turned them over to the cabal members on the agreement they would serve the Brotherhood. Thus Grand Master Cotelin retained the legacy of the Warrior when he recreated the Star Chamber.

In a forgotten temple to the Warrior on Antei, an ancient sword was discovered by a lone Obelisk. This sword, called Son’Jiaat, roughly translated as Fury of the Gods, is the center Obelisk study today. Brotherhood scholars argue about the origin of this sword, with some even believing this could be the lost sword of Alaiedon.

In the Brotherhood now, the Obelisk are the principal warriors and tacticians. While the Obelisk are excellent field commanders, their training primarily focuses upon martial warfare, making the typical Obelisk unfit for fleet command. Their control of the Brotherhood’s armed forces and their own individual clout as tutors of the combat arts ensures that they can never be trampled or ignored by the Sith and Krath in their machinations.   

Obelisk stereotypes of the other orders:
             Krath: “Fighting men must be tempered in the fiery forge of true dangers, and the dangers present in books and politics are few and far between.”
             Sith:  “Ships of metal and blasters from afar are nothing compared to combat with an opponent face-to-face.

 Quote:  “The legacy of the Master of our Masters is a heavy burden.  We will serve as the guardians of his noble Order, until the conclusion.  See that you do not become a liability to the Final Way my apprentice.”

 The youngest Sith are often oblivious to the secrets that the Elders of their Order hide from them.  Yet, the most fractious and scattered of the three Orders, is also the most vocal of their own legacies.  It is their Masters that have lead the Dark Side for generations, and even the Dark Lord of the Sith is called Darth, a title none other may bear.  The Sith Empire was the most powerful rival to the Republic, and even the New Order was founded by a Dark Lord of the Sith. The theocracy of the Dark Side that he envisioned was based on Sith teachings.  Of all the records in the galaxy, it is the Sith that have lead the most into the Dark Side.  They are an order of Guardians of the Dark Side, they bear their responsibility with a stoic detachment. 

Even with all the gold in their legacy, there is much rot underlying the surface.  The Sith would much rather forget about Serpentis the Silver Tongued.  According to their records, and even those few hidden from the Krath; recount that the Third Apprentice of Darth was an abject failure in nearly all things.  A Senator to the Republic from a backwater world, he played a public face of being an upstanding and noble contributor to the politics of the Republic.  Underneath his façade was a man who gloried in corruption.  He cared little for the Republic, or even the worlds that he represented.  He craved power and influence for its own sake, and spread his web outward, seeking more and more.   From somewhere far beyond the stars, he attracted the notice of the Lord of Darkness, who found him in the midst of his corruption.  Darth showed Serpentis that all his plans were nothing in the Dark Side.  The Silver Tongued became the third and final Apprentice of Darth. 

By all accounts, he was wildly successful in his education.  He rapidly studied and understood the concepts that Darth lay before him.  This failed to satisfy his lust for power, and he devoted himself to studying those aspects of the Dark Side that enhanced his personal connection to the Force for power and glory.  

Serpentis was also the first to leave his Master’s side.  He was bitter rivals with the enigmatic Wanderer, who was nearly three times the age of the young Dark Jedi.  After a particularly heated argument, the Wanderer cursed Serpentis, and Darth upheld the Wanderer’s rebuke.  The Silver-Tongued fled back to Coruscant, disgraced, and began his old ways anew.  For nearly fifty years, he established a network of corruption that shook the Republic to its very foundation.  So influential was he, that on the very night he was to take office as Chancellor of the Republic, he was slain by his own First Apprentice.

Within the Star Chamber, the legacy that every modern Sith recognizes is established.   Okemi was an exiled Sith Warlord.  Before his exile, he had significant influence in the Empire, and departed with nearly all his surviving forces.  He ventured only a short distance from the Empire, establishing his base of operations within the Antei system.   He struck at both the Republic and his former allies, and is said to have lead the Republic to Ziost during Naga Sadow’s reign.  His command of the Dark Side was arguably even stronger than the mad Taimat who joined him in his mission, and later brought Ferran from Corellia.  Okemi firmly believed in the Final Order, and did his best to guide the Star Chamber towards that end, even sanctioning the fatal ritual of the insane Sorceress.  It was Okemi who stood as the guiding beacon to the Star Chamber in all things. 

Of all the Orders, the modern Sith are still the most concerned with the pursuit of power for its own sake.  They are the true Warlords of the Brotherhood, guiding its policy towards careful expansion of territory and financial resources.  Each Sith seeks personal power above all else, and understand that the Brotherhood and its own resources are the fastest way to accumulate that success.  Ideally, they would command every aspect of the leadership of the Brotherhood, and they very nearly do, though it is the Brotherhood’s fleet that they have the tightest command of. 

Though they are often stereotyped as fighter-jockeys, the Sith are much more complex than that.  They are the Knights of all ancient cultures, and upon their fighters they soar into battle.  Through their connection to the Void, they claim their mastery of the Dark Side.  Their love of flying, exploration, and space-warfare give them the most credible claim to actually seeking the supremacy of the Dark Side.  For as much as wars can be fought between lightsabers, true conquest will always be fought between worlds. 

Sith stereotypes of the other orders: 
             Krath:  “Despicable monks.  They can sing and write about the Final Order, for it is we who shall actually command at the conclusion of the Final Way”
             Obelisk:  “When I speak, the Obelisk scurry forth to carry out my commands.  Such is the way of the Guardians of the Brotherhood.”