When the renegade Sith Lord Naga Sadow failed in his bid to rule the Sith Empire, he fled to the fourth moon of a yellow-orange gas giant called Yavin. There, his Massassi crew helped build stone temples to focus the energies of the dark side (conveniently hiding Sadow's Sith battleship). For decades, Sadow practiced his Sith alchemy undisturbed. He created monstrous creatures, such as the gargantuan Sith wyrm, and twisted his Massassi into primitive, bestial guardians for his dark spirit. Sadow intended to return to the physical realm after death and continue indulging his lust for power.
The Massassi warriors were left to adapt as best they could to life on Yavin 4, devolving even further into a primitive tribal society devoted to the protection of the temples and their
sinister occupant. In reverent tribute, shamanistic dark side priests manipulated the
residual energies of Sadow's temples. Prophecies told of one who would come and release the Massassi people from their centuries of bondage and isolation on the jungle moon.
A thousand years after Sadow's arrival, the Jedi Exar Kun-still trying to convince himself that he was simply searching for ways to combat the dark side, not embrace it-arrived on the jungle moon seeking the secrets of the ancient Sith Lords. He was immediately attacked by the primitive Massassi, who took him to their Temple of Fire as a blood sacrifice to a creature they treated as a dark god-Naga Sadow's Sith wyrm.
Neither Exar Kun nor the Massassi realized that this was just another of Freedon Nadd's tests for Exar Kun, a means to force him to embrace the dark side. When Kun destroyed the creature with an ancient Sith amulet, he won the approval of Nadd, the full strength of the dark side, and the worship of the Massassi.
Kun set the Massassi to work, expanding the remaining temples. The Sith disciple also continued the fiendish work of the alchemist Naga Sadow. Using Sadow's ancient apparatus, he began to further mutate the Massassi into armored
monsters bred for pure violence. Even though the Massassi who had first discovered him had dismantled Exar Kun's own ship, they helped the new Sith Lord find and reactivate 1Vaga Sadow's entombed Sith battleship.
Once freed from exile, Exar Kun went on a rampage with his Massassi warriors, leading them into battle against the Jedi througout the galaxy. Kun's Massassi even walked the surface of the Jedi center of learning, Ossuss, when Kun triggered a cosmological disaster (and the destruction of the Jedi library) in a bid to acquire ancient Sith artifacts.
Ultimately, Kun fulfilled the Massassi Prophecyfrom a certain point of view-when the primitive Massassi all gave their lives for their new master. Cornered by the combined might of the entire Jedi battle fleet, Kun ordered every Massassi on Yavin 4 (except one; see the sidebar on Kalgrath) into the Temple of Fire. There, where he first won their loyalty by slaying the wyrm, Kun used Sadow's ancient techniques and the life energy of every Massassi to leave his body and become one with the dark side. In the end, the Massassi died exactly as they lived, in absolute and unquestioning service to evil.
The primitive Massassi presented here is one of the tribe's many hunter-warriors. Primitive Massassi priests conform more or less to the generic dark side adept template presented later in this chapter (with a few simple modifications).
Primitive Massassi Warrior: Male or female mutated Sith Thug 4; lnit +10; Defense 17 (+6 Dex, +1 class);
Spd 10m; VP/WP -/18; Atk +10 melee (2d8+5, Massassi lanvarok) or +9 melee (1 d8+6, spiked club) or +l 1 ranged (3d4, Massassi lanvarok); SQ Low-light vision, primitive, hunter culture; SV Fort +8, Ref, +7, Will +1; SZ M; DSP 10; Rep 0; Str 20, Dex 22, Con 18, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 6; Challenge Code: B.
Equipment: Massassi lanvarok, primitive hunting garb.
Skills: Listen +4, Spot +4, Speak Massassi, Survival +8.
Feats: Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Massassi lanvarok), Improved Initiative, Skill Emphasis (Survival), Track, Weapon Focus (Massassi lanvarok), Weapon Group Proficiency (simple weapons).
Special Qualities: Hunter Culture-Primitive Massassi are trained from birth to be efficient
providers for the good of the tribe. This predatory upbringing gives primitive Massassi a +2 species bonus on Listen, Spot, and Survival checks. Primitive Massassi receive the Track feat for free.
Primitive-This trait conforms to the "Primitive penalty"
given to the Ewoks on page 30 of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.
Orbalisk
Lord Kaan's aborted assault on the Republic left one incompletely trained Sith Lord alive: Darth Bane. To save the Sith from extinction, Bane instituted his most important legacy: the rule of two. After that day, the Sith would consist of a master and an apprentice, "no more, no less." Since Bane's own master had been killed at Ruusan, he journeyed to Dxun, the legendary demon moon of Onderon, to find what knowledge he could at the tomb of Freedon Nadd. Despite his best efforts, Exar Kun did not have sufficient time to strip Freedon Nadd's tomb of all the Sith artifacts and mysteries it contained.
As Bane entered the Onderon system, the spirit of his former master, Lord Qordis, appeared to the Sith warrior.
The dead man taunted Bane and accused
him of cowardice, despite Bane's claim that he acted for the survival of the Sith. Not satisfied with this answer, Qordis used the dark side to knock Bane's ship out of the sky. Darth Bane barely survived the impact by using all the Sith power at his command. Goaded on by Lord Qordis's ghost and that of the mad Sith Lord Kaan, the evil genius who had detonated the suicidal "thought bomb" on Ruusan, Bane hacked his way through the poisonous foliage and razor-backed predators guarding the crypt-and approached his destiny.
Darth Bane found the tomb of Freedon Nadd much as Kun had left it. However, since Kun had destroyed Nadd's spirit on Yavin 4, the entity no longer lurked in its crypt. Bane quickly spotted an ancient Sith hOlOCron that had eluded Kun's hasty search. As soon as he set foot inside the tomb, he realized he had been tricked.
With a wet slurp, two mollusklike creatures dropped from the ceiling onto his body. Bane felt his entire body twist with the most potent pain he'd felt in his life. Trying desperately to remove the parasites, Bane slashed at one with his lightsaber, but the blow bounced off the creature's hard shell. The pain of the poison the creature injected was so great that Bane tried to slice off his own flesh, hoping the creature would come off with it. Instead, the wound healed before Bane's very eyes.
The ghostly Dark Lords demanded that Bane ignore the pain from the "orbalisks" (as they called them) and take the Sith holocron. Bane lost himself
in the device and learned what the creatures wereand why Qordis and Kaan had tricked him into becoming their host.
These hard-shelled parasites injected their host with deadly venom. As a Sith warrior instinctively fights back with the power of the dark side, the creatures welcome that energy and feed off it. Furthermore, the venom they inject into their host-provided he survives-grants the victim enhanced strength, vitality, and accelerated healing, as well as an armored covering that is especially resistant to lightsabers.
The orbalisks had lived and died over thousands of generations infused with the dark side residue of Freedon Nadd, and continued to crave that energy.
As the orbalisks bred and hardened quickly, Bane continually fought back against their venom with the strength of the Force. Within a couple of weeks, Bane was almost completely covered head to toe in nearly
indestructible bioarmor. The exoskeleton surrounding him consisted of well-fed parasites that thrived on the dark side of the Force. Each day, Bane could feel his strength increase as the orbalisks reproduced and grew strong from his dark side presence. After it dawned on Bane that these parasites were going to grow over his face if he wasn't careful, he placed a helmet frame over his head. (For more information, see the Orbaiisk Armor entry in Chapter Four).
In the wilds of Dxun, orbalisks are kept in check by specialized predators and an incredibly unforgiving environment. Many of Dxun's beasts have developed immunities and even antidotes to resist the parasites. When unable to attach to a living animal, the orbalisks crawl slowly over trees and other forms of plant life, drawing what little sustenance they can. They cannot reproduce or harden their outer shells while sustaining themselves on plants. Like most species that evolved on the moon of Onderon, they have no other natural checks on their reproduction. A single orbalisk would be harmless to anyone but its host, but if a few mated pairs were ever removed from Dxun and escaped into, say, the Coruscant sewage system, the consequences would be dire.
Orbalisk: Force-sensitive parasite 2; lnit -4; Defense 16 (+2 natural, +8 size, -4 Dex); Spd l0cm, burrow 4cm; VP/WP 30/7; Atk +6 melee (special, bite) or +6 ranged; SQ Force-Sensitive, parasitic grip, poison; SV Fort +11, Ref-4, Will -l;
SZ Fine; Rep 1; Str 3, Dex 2, Con 28, lnt 2, Wis 9, Cha 4.
Challenge Code: B (mated pair D).
Skills: Hide +15, See Force +2, Survival +1.
Feats: Force-Sensitive, Sense.
Special Qualities: Parasitic Grip-An orbalisk that successfully hits with its bite attack does no
damage, but automatically attaches itself to the flesh of its host and begins injecting venom into the host's bloodstream. A host can remove an attached OTbalisk with an opposed Strength check or by killing it.
Generally, the latter method often proves easier, since the parasite attaches so firmly that pulling it off would cause a substantial amount of the host to come off with the parasite. In game terms, the orbalisk's Strength increases to an effective score of 30 (that is, a Strength modifier of +l0) when opposing any Strength checks specifically made to remove it from its host. If anyone successfully pulls the OTbalisk free, the he! immediately takes 1 d4 wound damage. Any attempt to cut the OTbalisk free by removing the flesh it's attached to invariably fails because of th( healing properties the creature provides (see OTbalisk Armor, Chapter Four).
Poison-Orbalisks inject their venom into the host immediately after they hit with a bite attack. Once attached, they pump out another dose once per day Note that the dark side helps fend off the poison-ii fact, a character with 36 or more Dark Side Points no longer needs to save against the venom at all.
Every time OTbalisk venom is injected into the bloodstream of the host, the victim must immedi-ately make a Fortitude save (DC 18) and a second Fortitude save 6 rounds later. The poison has the following statistics:
feature is the remarkable intelligence evident behind its yellow eyes.
Sith hounds are one of the most unpredictable
"animal" enemies in the galaxy. Sometimes they attack as soon as they feel threatened. More often they sit patiently, waiting for an opening in their opponent's defenses. This is especially true if they believe a foe does not realize their true nature.
Packs of Sith hounds can execute complicated hunting and attack maneuvers, guided by their enhanced intelligence and canine ancestry. Never underestimate them.
Sith Hound: Predator 5; Wt +7; Defense 13 (+3 Dex);
Spd 10m; VP/WP 27/12; Atk +7 melee (1 d8+2, bite) or +2 melee (1 d6, claws) or +8 ranged; SQ
Darkvision 20m; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +2; SZ M;
Rep 3; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, lnt 9, Wis 12, Cha 12.
Challenge Code: C.
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +9, Survival +6.
Feats: Improved Initiative, Track.
Initial Secondary
Poison Type Damage Damage Orbalisk Venom Injury DC 18* 1d6 con 2d6 con
*The victim gains a +7 dark side bonus on this save for every 2 Dark Side Points he has.
Sith Hound
Evil and frighteningly intelligent curs spawned from the depths of an otherworldly hell guard the tombs of the Sith necropolis world of Korriban. In reward for their faithful service, the beasts were taken to sites infused with the dark side, where they mutated into relentless and indefatigable Sith hounds. Exar Kun was especially fond of the creatures and personally brought them to the Massassi temples of Yavin 4.
The ancient Sith Lords alchemically altered the already brutal canines of their world, adding horns, increasing their size, and doubling their brain mass.
Some have hypothesized that if Sith hounds had the physical capability and the inclination, they could even speak sentient languages. Sith hounds are
unswervingly loyal to darksiders, to whom their senses are especially attuned. They were left on Korriban because the ancient Dark Lords of the Sith wanted trustworthy guardians to protect their remains. A Sith hound's most notable
The most powerful Sith Lords possess a talent for the dark alchemy of the Sith. The Emperor, like Naga Sadow and Exar Kun long before him, became a master of manipulating the genetic building blocks of living creatures through the dark side. Over the millennia, many creatures have been broken, twisted, and rebuilt by this evil power.
Massassi Abomination
Although the Massassi pledged their loyalty to Exar Kun after he defeated the Sith wyrm, the Dark Jedi was still not satisfied. Filled with bitterness and spite, he swore to himself that he would make an example out of the warriors who had put him through his ordeal in the Temple of Fire. Furthermore, he realized that Naga Sadow had not gone far enough when he altered the Massassi. While they made excellent forest warriors, they were not prepared for the highpowered ordnance they would have to face when fighting the forces of the Republic. Exar Kun rejoiced when he discovered the giant alchemical machine that had belonged to Naga Sadow. At last, he had the means to shape his Massassi servants as he needed them, and he knew just the Massassi on whom he could experiment: Zythmnr, the priest who had ordered Kun to be sacrificed.
The Sith disciple first altered Zythmnr physically, fusing the old priest's skin with metallic bioarmor and enhancing the Massassi's skeletal structure and musculature accordingly. Vicious claws became razored gauntlets, thick hide became hardened plating, and Zythmnr's head was encased in a shelled