Nihil

The Nihil, briefly known as the Nihil Empire or Nihil Union, were anarchistic marauders who rose to prominence during the High Republic Era. They had access to mysterious hyperspace routes known as "Paths" that defied conventional hyperspace logic and allowed them to travel through hyperspace in ways no one else could and take seemingly impossible routes. Although they originally focused on performing raiding operations throughout the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories, the Nihil, with the help of their Paths, emerged as a significant threat to the Galactic Republic during a time of expansion and led them to conduct a series of anti-piracy operations against the Nihil.

The Nihil were formed by the Evereni Ro family and first existed as a part of remnants of the Jedi-hating cult the Path of the Open Hand, with fallen Jedi Azlin Rell even still referring to the Nihil by that name throughout his life. The Ro family were the ones who gave the Nihil the Paths and the Path engines, which they promised would allow them incredible mobility through hyperspace. The Nihil headquartered themselves in the Great Hall of the Nihil, a space station in No-Space, because it was only accessible via the Path engines. The title of Eye of the Nihil, the keeper of the hyperspace Paths, was passed down within the Ro family, eventually to Marchion Ro after his father Asgar Ro was murdered. Marchion Ro used his position to take complete authoritative control of the organization and expand its aims.

In the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace Disaster in 232 BBY, which itself was orchestrated by Marchion Ro and the Nihil, the Nihil began to defend their way of life from the Jedi Order and the expanding Galactic Republic, whom they believed to be encroaching and robbing people of their freedom. The Nihil as a result caused havoc throughout the Republic Frontier, and were believed to have helped seed the carnivorous Drengir species along the Galactic Frontier, causing thousands of deaths. After the Nihil destroyed the Valo Republic Fair, the Jedi eventually forced the Nihil to scatter. By 230 BBY however, the Nihil were able to successfully destroy the Republic's hallmark space station Starlight Beacon, and later prevented the Galactic Republic from being able to reach ten full sectors of the Outer Rim, forcibly securing the territory as their own and choosing the planet Hetzal for their new base.

After the Nihil spent over a year expanding and seeking legitimacy as a state, in 228 BBY, the Jedi defeated Marchion Ro, the Republic and their allies defeated the Nihil's forces at the Battle of Eriadu, and the Nihil's Occlusion Zone territory fell, causing the Nihil as an organization to fragment and collapse. Although the Nihil were obsolete by the time of the Galactic Empire, rhetoric and imagery associated with the marauders survived, as did their technology, such as the design of the Path engine.

Text and facts from the “Nihil” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.