Darth Krayt

Darth Krayt, born A'Sharad Hett, was a Human male who served as a Jedi Master in the waning days of the Galactic Republic. The son of legendary Jedi Knight Sharad Hett and his wife K'Sheek, both of whom lived among the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine, he eventually became the Padawan of Jedi Masters Ki-Adi-Mundi, and later, An'ya Kuro. When he was only a teen, Sharad Hett was murdered by the Jedi assassin Aurra Sing, who was later defeated in a duel by a young A'Sharad Hett. During the First War, he served the Republic as a General and established himself as a charismatic leader who often led his troops from the front. He eventually became friends with the young Anakin Skywalker and helped him come to terms with the destruction which had been wrought by the galaxy-wide war. A'Sharad took part in key conflicts during the war such as the Battle of Boz Pity and Siege of Saleucami. He managed to survive the Clone Wars, and was one of the few Jedi known to have escaped the Great Jedi Purge in 19 BBY (1689 NE). He is the leader of Darth Krayt's Galactic Empire

Biography

Sith-Imperial War

Following the events between 127 (1815 N.E.)–130 ABY (1817 NE), the Sith made their presence known openly under Darth Krayt's leadership, and the result of his machinations was the Sith–Imperial War. Krayt's own holocron contained entries relating how he engineered the fall of the Galactic Alliance and the restoration of the Galactic Empire as the dominant galactic power of his home galaxy. Harnessing that hatred to sabotage a Jedi project that was established for entirely altruistic reasons. The original intent of the Ossus Project was to use Yuuzhan Vong terraforming techniques to successfully restore a barren section of the once-devastated Jedi fortress world of Ossus. When the test proved successful, the response was tremendous.

Krayt's apprentice Darth Maladi, who was an expert in Yuuzhan Vong bio-forms and had recruited Zenoc Quah, a rogue Yuuzhan Vong Shaper. Together, they sabotaged the Ossus Project with a Vongspawn virus. On every world on which the Yuuzhan Vong had carried out their work, the vegetation withered, and bony growths—like those once seen on those the Yuuzhan Vong had taken as slaves during their invasion—began forming on the skin of the inhabitants.

The Jedi immediately suspected sabotage, but could never prove it. It did not matter; the lingering resentment the galaxy felt towards the Yuuzhan Vong, even decades after their defeat and exile, did Krayt's work for him, and soon the Yuuzhan Vong were accused of trying to restart their genocidal crusade against the galaxy by other means.

The results were everything he could have hoped for. The Jedi, devoted to the truth above all, defended the Yuuzhan Vong and encouraged the Galactic Alliance to support them. The Empire reacted accordingly; members of the Council of Moffs demanded retribution (quite possibly instructed to do so by Krayt himself) and, invoking the Treaty of Anaxes, declared war on the Galactic Alliance. Emperor Roan Fel went along, albeit reluctantly, feeling it was the best course for the Empire in a dangerous galaxy, but never entirely supported it, even keeping his Imperial Knights out of the fighting.

In addition to war with the Empire, the Galactic Alliance found itself facing dissension from within its own ranks. Worlds that had suffered the most under the Yuuzhan Vong now aimed their resentment at the Alliance; many even refused to support them and actively sided with the Empire, while others just stood by and watched under the banner of neutrality. So divided, Krayt was able to conquer the Alliance.

In three years, the Galactic Alliance was forced into surrender and the Empire absorbed all its former holdings, even reclaiming Kilo Coruscant as the Imperial throneworld. It was a reversal of the galactic order that no one could have foreseen, or believed was possible. But despite the grandeur of this victory, it was but a stepping stone for Krayt. Quite possibly he felt that it would be easier to establish his definition of order over the Skyriver galaxy as an Empire than under a democratic government, even if that Empire was no longer the absolute tyranny his predecessor Darth Sidious had originally intended.

Sith Betrayel

Krayt and the foremost members of his Order traveled to Had Abbadon with intentions of capturing Skywalker. On the surface, Muur offered an alliance and began to modify Krayt's body. However, it was in truth a set up, as Cade's allies were waiting in secret. Muur, however, truly took control of Celeste and planned to take Krayt's body for his own.

During the fight, Krayt was stabbed in the right side of his chest by Azlyn Rae, electrocuted and Force-pushed off of the cliff by Morne/Muur, and seemingly fell to his doom. At the bottom of the cliff, Darth Wyyrlok, having landed his shuttle nearby, approached the Emperor's body, declaring that he would be taken to the tomb of the Sith on Korriban. To his surprise, Krayt woke, having cushioned his fall with the Force. He asked Wyyrlok to take him to a bacta tank in order to regain his strength, but the Chagrian Sith Lord electrocuted his master in response, seemingly almost killing him. Krayt's body was then placed in a stasis chamber within XoXaan's Temple of Korriban, hiding the truth from the other Sith while planning on inducting all beings in the galaxy into the ranks of the One Sith, as Krayt had always intended.

Darth Maladi, however, suspected Krayt had been killed by Wyyrlok and shared her concerns with Darth Nihl. Maladi also feared Wyyrlok would try to eliminate the two, as they had not been born Sith, and suggested Nihl to go to Korriban and verify whether Krayt was alive or not. Once on the Temple, Lord Nihl lied to Darth Talon, telling her that he had felt Lord Krayt's summoning in his mind. The pair entered the Stasis Room and discovered that Krayt's body had vanished, while his armor remained within the chamber.

First Multiverse War

Resurrection

Lord Nihl informed Wyyrlok about the disappearance of Krayt's body. Wyyrlok immediately claimed that somebody had killed the recuperating Krayt and then stolen his body, leaving his armor behind. Already facing serious losses in the war with the Alliance of Nations and Fel Empire, Wyyrlok ordered that the incident be covered up temporarily from any of the Axis of Empires knowing about it, and appointed himself as the new Emperor with Nihl serving as his advisor. An enraged Wyyrlok then used Force lightning to destroy Krayt's armor. As advisor, Nihl used his position to move against his rival Talon by implicating the latter in Krayt's disappearance.

This suspicion was backed by Talon's apparent disappearance following her meeting with Nihl. Wyyrlok expressed his suspicions on Talon's "loyalty" and ordered Nihl to apprehend her for interrogation. Nihl pursued Talon into the ancient Valley of the Dark Lords by using the Force to home in on her position. En route, he encountered a tuk'ata but used his powers to tell the beast that he was not a foe. Meanwhile in a deep chamber, Talon had already encountered the resurrected Darth Krayt who had granted her the power to sense any pursuers. He had also healed himself of his Vong implants which he had foreseen as part of his rebirth.

Eventually Darth Nihl found and dueled Talon until Darth Krayt intervened, dominated Nihl, and revealed to the two Sith his plan to hold the One Sith under his control. For decades he had taken the most powerful, newly-born Force-sensitives, having them enhanced with cybernetic implants and turned into unquestionably loyal Sith troopers that would take their own lives when ordered to do so by their master. It was with these troopers and a new, more powerful class of Sith starfighter that Darth Krayt intended to make himself the unquestioned leader of the Skyriver galaxy and challenge the Galactic Empire from the Viau Universe to show their dominance as the true lords of the Sith. Upon revealing this, he then revealed his will and presence to all those in the Galaxy that had ever touched the dark side, Cade Skywalker included. Though this brought pleasure to the One Sith, Darth Wyyrlok stood alone as an enemy of Krayt upon confirming that the Dark Lord was alive.

Soon after Krayt proceeded to head to Kilo Coruscant with Darth Nihl and Talon, along with at least two Sith Troopers. When they arrived, they were confronted by several Sith that Darth Wyyrlok had convinced that this Krayt was an imposter. After a short battle Darth Krayt's forces were successful; an enraged Wyyrlok then confronted the Dark Lord declaring he had already killed him, and that he would not apologize for attempting to kill Krayt.

After a short, but intense duel, Darth Krayt led Wyyrlok to believe he was victorious, only to then impale the usurper through the chest. With his former ally dead, Darth Krayt declared that for the galaxy to be truly united, seceding from the Axis and join forces with the Alliance to fight against Combine, many question why he would do so as his response was that Palpatine would betray them as he has to many while the Combine are also the true threat to their destiny, he would have to cause the Kilo Skyriver to go through a form of death and rebirth as he had. With that said and done, the Dark Lord of the Sith began to make his preparations for war.

Personality and Traits

Sharing much of some of the traits of his variant counterparts, A'Sharad Hett was highly devoted to Jedi philosophies and values, only to be somewhat too quick to use the Force to throw around those who might be a threat, yet no sense of evil within him when he was a Jedi. However, he remained silently vengeful towards Aurra Sing, his father's murderer, though for a time thought he had conquered those feelings in honor of his father, a claim Yoda accepted. During their confrontation, he drew on the dark side of the Force, and while he was successful at subduing her, his guilt left him wishing to go into self-imposed exile. However, the Dark Woman saw the future which was laid out before A'Sharad and convinced him that going into exile would not cure his troubles. The Dark Woman took the young Jedi as her Padawan and finished his training to become a Jedi Knight, teaching him to accept death without anger. However, some of his fellow Jedi even back then sensed a darkness within him.

Hett was also a firm believer in personal accountability, believing that individuals should own up to their actions. It was his belief in this that caused him to keep his version of Anakin Skywalker's secret when he learned about Skywalker's mass murder of a Tusken Raider tribe on Tatooine, believing that it was Skywalker's responsibility to do so for himself. Despite his valiant attempt, Hett was unable to instill these beliefs into Skywalker. Had he been able to, it is possible that he could have prevented Skywalker's fall to the dark side. Hett firmly believed all Jedi deserved a proper funeral, even one who fought against him. Even as Krayt he honored those who died as heroic Jedi, such as Kol Skywalker. This also extended towards Wielders of the Keyblade, Federal Knights and warriors of justice as a sign of respect.

However, with the advent of the Great Jedi Purge that happened in his reality, all of Hett's beliefs fell apart, and turned to the dark side. Seeking revenge against the Empire for the Jedi Purge, Hett returned to Kilo Tatooine and reemerged as a Tusken warlord. However, in his rage-blinded state of mind, he never actually took the fight to the Empire, instead ravaging the moisture farmers of Tatooine. His actions ultimately forced Obi-Wan Kenobi into action. Unable to understand why Kenobi didn't simply join his crusade, Hett and Kenobi clashed when the master of Skywalker refused to allow any more raids. When the First Multiverse War came to his universe, he saw the opportunity to strike against the alternate version of the Empire by using the Alliance of Nations, but also to bring the Sith from the XIlo Universe to his side.

Defeated by Kenobi and exiled from the Tusken culture, Hett began wandering the galaxy, without purpose or goal. Eventually, he was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and came into contact with Vegere. Heavily influenced by both the brutal Yuuzhan Vong culture and Vegere's teachings, Hett developed a predatory worldview, believing that the only way to establish lasting peace and order was to shatter the galaxy's current status quo. However, despite being influenced by Vergere, their separate belief systems simply didn't mesh, and according to his testimony she abandoned him to focus on the eventual Darth Caedus. Hett escaped from the Yuuzhan Vong soon after and destroyed their ship to ensure no word of his survival would come to anyone. Luke Skywalker considered his physical appearance to be somewhat comparable to that of Anakin Skywalker, before the Chosen One was bound into his armor.

Krayt briefly joined forces with Luke Skywalker against Abeloth, setting aside the enmity between Jedi and Sith, and refraining from slaying Jedi who accosted him, for long enough to face down this threat to his plans and the galaxy at large. By the time of his ascendency, he was known as the Dragon of the Sith. Darth Krayt believed that what the galaxy most needed was strong order. As such, in his philosophy he felt that a man of vision must be the sole leader. Upon taking the golden throne of the Empire, Darth Krayt proclaimed himself to be that man of vision. In Krayt's time as emperor, the formal polices of dissemination against non-humans were since gone, though by sheer numbers humans were the most common species in his Empire's workings. Krayt made sure to try to recruit non-Jedi Force users, though those who refused would be destroyed, offering traditions such as the Nightsisters and Jensaarai the choice to join his Sith rather than be purged, and so acquired many new servants from these orders and other Force Adepts who joined the Sith. It was rare for Jedi to be given this choice, however--usually they and those who harbored them were killed or imprisoned. He also tolerated the Ember of Vahl tradition, as they hunted Jedi for his Empire. Despite his war with the Jedi, Krayt viewed their code as honorable. He respected Kol Skywalker such that he had the Jedi's blade housed in a transparent shell in a place of respect in his citadel. He was very resistant to fear.

Unlike the majority of Sith Lords, Darth Krayt was not a power-mad schemer, but rather a man devoted to establishing lasting order and peace, at all costs. His beliefs heavily influenced how he crafted his new Sith Order, for he felt that the Sith should devote themselves towards a common goal rather than personal advancement and he gave their search for power purpose. This earned him the ire of the ancient Sith Lords who believed in the Sith belief that power was an end in itself and needed no other purpose. However, in keeping with traditional Sith philosophy, and his own predatory worldview, he determined that only the strongest were able to carry out this goal.

However, Krayt's beliefs were ultimately twisted by his own fear. Increasingly aware of his own impending death, Krayt devoted himself to finding a way to cheat it, too wrapped up in his own scheming to realize that his Sith Order could survive his death and his vision could continue. Ultimately, the tactical mistakes that he made in his efforts to stave off death spurred Darth Wyyrlok into action. Wyyrlok was effectively a product of Krayt's beliefs, and was loyal to the central goal of the Order rather than himself, or Krayt.

As pointed out by Darth Wyyrlok, Darth Krayt had a tendency of clinging to the painful memories of his past, becoming defined by his obsessions. Wyyrlok also came to the conclusion that Krayt used his bloodline to hide his physical weakness from the rest of the Sith, ensuring Krayt's undisputed rule as Dark Lord of the Sith. In their fateful duel, Darth Wyyrlok attempted to use these memories against his former master. However, after his rebirth, Darth Krayt appeared to have overcome his past to a certain degree, which was evidenced when Krayt tricked Wyyrlok into believing he was affected by Wyyrlok's mental powers. Darth Krayt was capable of feeling love.

After his resurrection, Darth Krayt no longer feared death, but viewed it as a passageway to something far greater. This gave him the view that the galaxy should experience the pain of death and the rapture of rebirth as he had. He also believed that Cade Skywalker had to die and be reborn in order to serve him.

Quotes

"This.... feeling, such power.... I haven't this presence sense...Akio!"

— Krayt senses Akio Yujo's arrival, prior to his assasionaton of the Nationalist council.