How to play a Sith

[Darth Vyrassu]

HOW TO PLAY A SITH, BEGINNERS LESSONS


What are the Sith?

The Sith Order is a sect of Force-sensitive individuals that utilize the Dark Side of the Force, as many of you, if not all, already know this fact. Back in 7000 BBY, the Dark Jedi, who refused to rely exclusively on the light side, challenged the Jedi by giving into the dark and starting the Hundred-Year Darkness. However, they had been defeated and subsequently exiled from known space, which led to their discovery of the Sith species. Following centuries of interbreeding and mixing of cultures between the aliens and the exiles, the Sith would no longer be identified by their race, but by their dedication to the ancient Sith philosophy. This religious order would survive in many different incarnations throughout galactic history. The rise of a new leader, or Dark Lord, would often cause drastic reorganizations, however the Sith would always be characterized by their quest for power and their desire to destroy the Jedi Order.

Well that was a great history lesson, but what do they believe?

The Sith believed that conflict was the only true test of one’s ability, and so emphasized its importance. It was their belief that conflict challenged both individuals and civilizations, and so forced them to grow and evolve. They believed that the avoidance of conflict–like the pacifist teachings of the Jedi–resulted in stagnation and decline.
Another purpose served by conflict was the elevation of the strong and the death of the weak. By encouraging strife, the strong were able to exercise their power while the weak were weeded from the ranks of the Sith. A core tenet to Sith philosophy was self-reliance and the idea that an individual only deserved what they were strong enough to take. Likewise, morality was treated as an obstacle to be overcome, as it got in the way of a Sith’s ability to recognize and seize opportunities for advancement and self-empowerment.
Such philosophies were embraced and taught at Sith academies, where students were encouraged to challenge one another and fight for prestige that would be recognized by the headmaster of the academy.

Isn’t there a Sith Code as well?

The Sith Code goes like this:

Peace is a lie, there is only passion;
Through passion, I gain strength;
Through strength, I gain power;
Through power, I gain victory;
Through victory, my chains are broken;
The Force shall free me.


Yuthura Ban, apprentice to Master Uthar of the Sith Academy on Korriban during the Rule of Revan, gives an excellent explanation of each line in the stanza (Her very words will be highlighted in Dark Orchid):

– Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
It is our passion, our desire that fuels the Force. It is conflict that improves the lot of civilization and the single being both. Conflict forces one to better one’s self. It forces change, growth, adaptation, or even death. These are not our laws, but the universe’s. Without conflict, you have only stagnation.

– Through passion, I gain strength.
What fuels your power with the Force but your passion? The stronger darker emotions, anger hatred, fear… These passions empower us. The Force gives us all power, even the Jedi, but it is our passion that gives us the strength they lack. It is our goal to be stronger, to achieve our potential and not rest upon our laurels. We are the seekers, not the shepherds.

– Through strength, I gain power.
The stronger you become in the Force, the more power you will achieve, but always must you fight for your power. Without strife, your victory has no meaning. Without strife, you do not advance. Without strife, there is only stagnation.

– Through power, I gain victory.
How many victories can you imagine? Peaceful victory? Victory by sacrifice? A truce? An achievement? Unless your victory is achieved by demonstrating that your power is superior, it is only an illusion that is temporary at best.
Sith master’s note: The Sith Empire in the TOR era DID NOT WIN the Great War. The Republic may have lost, but through the Treaty of Coruscant, the Sith still have not achieved their goal, and are therefore not victorious.

– Through victory, my chains are broken.
The chains represent our restrictions, those placed upon us and those placed upon ourselves. Ultimately, the goal of any Sith is to free ourselves of such restrictions. In a way, it is that we may do whatever we wish, but there is more to it than that. One who has freed themselves of restrictions has reached perfection, perfect strength, perfect power, perfect destiny… That is our ideal.

– The Force shall free me.
The Force is our servant and our master. Our teacher and companion. A weapon and a tool. Know it, and any would know the universe. Master it, and you would master the universe. Strive for perfection and the Force shall reward you.

All right, now how should a Sith act?

Well, lets address a common stereotype first. Murder. A true Sith does not murder out of pleasure. Darth Bane essentially said that murder without purpose is foolish. However, for example if you have a secret that only you know of, but without your express consent, someone has found out that secret, you now have a purpose to remove the person. After the dockworkers found out that Zannah was a Sith Lord, she killed them, as she did not want her identity revealed. For those of you who want to be a Sith because you think you can go around on murderous rampages for the hell of it, being a Sith is not for you. there are some cases where blind rage is an exception, but this is usually brought on by an external force or conflict, not an internal desire to maim.
Sith use negative emotions to give themselves power. Rage, hate, fear, desire, lust, pride, greed, and envy are all prime examples. Love can lead to these emotions more often than not, but Love also leads to compassion and mercy, something the Sith seek to avoid, but that is a lesson for another time. Sith, on the whole, believe that emotions are of nature. They are natural parts of life and the universe, and if the Jedi seek to rid themselves of emotions, then they will be seen as unnatural and abominations to abhor. Mercy is frowned upon by the Sith, as it is letting the weak live. There are certain exceptions to this in the Sith however. Mercy can be shown to someone if that person is still of some use.
The Sith are very structured in a pyramid of Social Darwinism. “What does that mean?” some might be wondering. Essentially it means “survival of the fittest,” basically what you might have learned in a 6th grade biology class. In class they tell you that if animals aren’t strong, then they’ll die very easily by predators looking for a meal to keep themselves alive. The Sith very much apply this to their way of life. The weak should be servants to the strong, or die. They believe this is a natural part of life, and keeping weak links around will only bring society down. In sports teams, they usually have a saying that is similar to: “You are as fast as your slowest person.” The Sith have a similar way of thinking.

Hmm, interesting, but one final question… Are the Sith evil?

Keep in mind that no Sith will ever think of himself as evil! As Emperor Palpatine has stated, “Evil is a point of view.” As a Sith, you should think that you are making the Galaxy a better place for your actions, not hindering it. Remember too, is the Tukata that kills for a meal evil? The Rancor that steps on the insignificant ants? The Sith see themselves as giving nature a chance and they view the Jedi as people who wish to disrupt the natural order of things, a blight upon the lands if you will.
As a parting gift, I will give you my favorite quote regarding the Sith:
True mastery is to feel the flames of your passion, to dance with the fire, to live in it, to fully embrace the primal forces of destruction and creation, and not be burned to a cinder, to survive and prosper because you loved the flame, used the flame, but did not allow yourself to be consumed by it; this is greatness; this is Sith.

Now, I hope that this clears anything up for those of you who dont know how to begin role-playing as a Sith. Remember too that you can come and ask some of the more experienced members for advice on how to make that Zabrak you always wanted. Another suggestion too, Role-play as an apprentice to another experienced Sith. Follow him around on his RP adventures and see how he or she might act. Its a great way to meet people here and it adds to immersion on a whole new level, as your character is not only learning, but you as a player are as well!
Again, I hope this guide covers any misunderstandings that people may have on this great and unique order, and if there is any other pearl of wisdom I have not brought forth then by all means, please discuss below.

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SITH
The word Sith needs a bit of disambiguation to begin with. As of the events of SWTOR, the term refers to a race, an empire and a philosophy / religion / cult. These are three very different things, that are nevertheless completely intertwined. I'm not going to go into a full history of the Sith Empire here, but if you're interested, check out Wookieepedia. Suffice it to say that the Jedi split along light/dark lines, the dark Jedi were exiled, settled on Korriban, and interbred with the natives there. Then, centuries later, they came back and carved a path through Republic-held space and forced the Treaty of Coruscant, which pretty much brings us to current.


EMPIRE VS. REPUBLIC
Politically, the Sith Empire is an expansionist power with designs on replacing an old, entrenched and highly bureaucratic Republic that has ruled over most of the known galaxy and fallen into stagnation and corruption. For a historical example, think about the Goths pushing up against the Roman Empire in the 4th Century. Remember that the Roman Empire, while ostensibly a Democratic Republic, had nonetheless invaded and annexed almost all of the known world by this point, and for all of their vaunted democracy, there was a very definite and distinct difference between Patrician and Proletarian life.

While I'd rather steer clear of the flame war that could easily erupt by dragging modern-day politics into this, it's not hard to find any number of parallels with the current political situation... and that's exactly the point. Do you think that the modern day US is a vital democracy ensuring the essential liberties of its citizens and spreading those values around the world? Do you think it's an overbearing, imperialist power more interested in corporate profits and oil supplies than human rights? If those questions exist with regard to institutions in the real world, it's not hard to see how the same questions could apply to this conflict as well.


POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
When it comes to politics, the Sith espouse a philosophy most closely equated with Social Darwinism or hard-line Libertarianism. Not only are individuals expected to sink or swim on their own merits, but it is actually viewed as a substantial disservice to people to offer charity or mercy as it is through struggle and conflict that we are tempered and gain experience and strength. It is expected and even desired that this system will result in vastly disproportionate rewards for different members of society, but also includes the inherent, unshakable belief that, with sufficient ambition and ability, anyone of any station in life can advance. (The Sith Inquisitor storyline underpins this extremely well, as the character goes from slave to master by virtue of a combination of force sensitivity and shrewd, uncompromising ambition.)
This is contrasted against the pluralistic-but-bureaucratic society of the Galactic Republic.


SITH VS JEDI
This one, to me, is much more interesting.
Starting with the Jedi, the philosophy underlying the Jedi Code and the order as a whole has an incredible parallel with Buddhism. It eschews attachment and passion in favor of a serene acceptance and dispassionate, ego-less, intellectual efforts to maximize the greater good. It also has quite a bit in common with Christian dogma insofar as it espouses a philosophy of asceticism and devotion to the divine (which is functionally indistinguishable from the greater good for the purposes of this discussion).
The goal is certainly worthy... but is it the only way? Should working for good come at the cost, essentially, of your humanity? Does denying your passions and completely sublimating your own desires and ambitions really make you a better or more ethical human being?
To the Jedi, Passion is an absolute anathema, something to be avoided at all costs; for the Sith, it is life itself.

Respectively:
The Jedi teach that passions cloud the mind and lead to rash, selfish actions with negative consequences for both the actors and those around them. They instead recommend maintaining a serene, dispassionate, egoless calm from which an individual can act with purely intellectual equanimity and altruism.
The Sith, on the other hand, maintain that passion is a source of power- a point that is rather difficult to deny. Embracing and expressing passion is not only a font power but also provides a much more direct and visceral interaction with the Force. At the same time, however, there is always the caution to express and derive strength from passion but to maintain control over it. Keep those passions on a leash, let them out to fuel you when you need them, but have the self-discipline to keep it under control and not let it take over.


PHILOSOPHY
In terms of philosophical underpinnings, the first and most obvious place to start is with Frederick Nietzsche. (Yeah, that "God is dead" guy.) Nietzsche was among the first to discuss the notion of subjective morality- the notion that, absent an objective viewpoint from which to judge, there can be no absolute "good" and "evil", only the opinion of each individual, subjective viewer. He goes on to opine that, in such a situation, the best thing an individual can do is to acquire the power to shape the world to best suit his or her notion of what is right.

(Gee... where might we have heard something like that before?)

Another example, though, is the difference between communal and heroic morality and cultural traditions associated with each. For the former, we can once again invoke the Buddhist or Judeo-Christian relationship with the world, where the moral code lends itself quite well to helping people get along in a community setting, albeit at the expense of a certain amount of individualism. Heroic morality, on the other hand, idealizes the dynamic individual, personal strength, self-reliance, and standing up for what you believe. A good example of heroic morality, on the other hand, is pre-Christian Norse / Germanic culture. Examples include Beowulf, the Norse Sagas, or (for more recent, popular culture examples) Rohan in Lord of the Rings or even Conan (which, if you remember the epigram for the film, brings us back to Nietzsche).


THE PATH TO THE DARK SIDE:
So, given all of the above, how do we get from the individualistic, passionate hero to the black-hearted villain? There's no denying that the Star Wars universe is a very polarized place, with plenty of examples of shiningly good and most black-hearted of evil. How do you go from trying to save the galaxy to blowing up entire populated planets? And, salient to this discussion, where is your character along the path?

Are you still an idealistic member of the Empire, convinced that the freedom and opportunity it brings is a much-needed breath of fresh air to the people of the Republic who have been languishing under a decaying, overbearing bureaucracy for millennia?

Are you struggling with your passions, trying to do the right thing but occasionally too caught up in the heat of the moment?

...or have you seen too much, been too frustrated for too long, seen the mass of humanity for the pathetic, self-defeating bunch it is and decided that they really have no meaning or purpose beyond how they either stand in the way of or advance your aims?

Palpatine, for example, is a pretty boring character if he's just evil for the sake of being evil... but if you dig into his motivations for why he's doing all that despicable stuff, he's much more interesting. Was he gloating to Luke about the imminent deaths of all the people he loved just to be a jerk, or was he trying to push him over the edge and have him give in to his anger as a way to break him free of the mental shackles placed upon him by his Jedi training?

TL;DR: If you want to play Crazy Sith Eddie (Izzard) and put babies on spikes, do it... but have a reason for it.

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Always remember, have a passion and a reason to want to play a Sith, if you're in it just to murder and be evil, it's not for you. Playing a Sith is a very deep concept and takes the ability to fully understand ALL and EVERYTHING regarding the Sith, the force and the Darkside, understand each and every Sith in history and see their motives as to why they chose the Darkside and the religion of the Sith. To play a great Sith, you need a reason and motives as to why you've chosen the darkside and the Sith Religion. Also remember, always have fun.

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