The Sith, also referred to as the Sith Order, was an ancient religious order of Force-wielders devoted to the dark side of the Force. Driven by their emotions, including hate, anger, and greed, the Sith were deceptive and obsessed with gaining power no matter the cost. The order reached the apex of its power under Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith who achieved his order’s goal of galactic conquest after a millennium of plotting. Within a generation, however, the deaths of Sidious and Darth Vader would mark the end of the order of Sith Lords.
Thousands of years before the Clone Wars, the Jedi Order was fractured by a schism that began when a rogue and his followers turned away from the light side of the Force, believing the dark side was the path to true power. Having relocated to the planet Korriban in the Outer Rim Territories, their movement ultimately evolved into the Sith Order, resulting in a war between the former brothers and sisters in the Force as the Jedi Knights rallied to the defense of the Old Republic. Although the Sith were driven off of the Core World Coruscant by 5000 BBY, centuries of conflict ensued between the two orders, culminating in the Old Republic’s collapse. Undermined by constant infighting and ruined by the last war against the Jedi, the Sith were rendered all but extinct with the exception of one; Darth Bane survived the ancient order’s destruction and passed his knowledge to a single apprentice, Darth Zannah, before being entombed on Korriban, which became known as Moraband. Henceforth, the Sith was governed by the Rule of Two, a new philosophy dictating that only two Sith Lords—a Sith Master and a Sith apprentice—could exist at any given time. As a result, the Sith were all but forgotten while the Jedi focused their efforts on preserving the new age of peace under the modern Galactic Republic.