Sith Eternal

The Sith Eternal, also known as the Cult of the Sith Eternal, was a secretive Sith cult that resided on the dark desert planet of Exegol in the Unknown Regions. Mysterious cultists, they venerated the dark side of the Force, and followed Sith beliefs—even after its destruction. The reach of the Sith Eternal was vast and went far beyond the veil of the Unknown Regions. Steeped in ancient traditions, they used rituals designed to mine the secrets of the Force, they delved into the nature of phenomena such as Force-bonds and dyads in the Force, and believed that the galaxy was theirs to rule by cosmic right.

Due to its remote location and inherent veil of secrecy, the Sith Eternal chose Exegol as its sanctuary by the reign of the Galactic Empire, and revered Darth Sidious, publicly known as Emperor Palpatine—who had the cultists experiment with cloning technology in a bid to extend his lifespan. Their myriad genetic machinations led to the creation of various artificial genetic constructs, known as strandcasts, such as Snoke, as well as the Emperor's cloned son, who sired a natural-born Force-sensitive daughter named Rey. The Sith Eternal additionally began constructing a massive fleet, which would become the largest in galactic history.

While the Sith became extinct during the Galactic Civil War, Sidious cheated death by transferring his essence to an imperfect clone vessel that had been modeled on his original body on Exegol, his place of exile after during the era of the New Republic. The Sith Eternal strove to prevent his clone body from dying, and resorted to the science of gene splicing in hopes of building a more suitable vessel for his dark essence. None of their endeavours succeeded in producing a viable host for Sidious' soul, however, and he was forced to rely on life support machinery in order to survive as he worked patiently to rebuild his power and manipulate events. Meanwhile, the Sith Eternal laboured for a everlasting new, resurgent Sith Empire and raised a generation of children not only to embody the cult's values, but to serve as elite soldiers, officers, and fleet technicians in their military. Although they were not strong with the Force, the new generation was just as devoted to the dark side as the one that preceded them.

Under the hidden influence of Sidious through Snoke as Supreme Leader—engineering the rise of the First Order as a force capable of opposing the New Republic, which came to fruition by the time of the First Order-Resistance War after the First Order scattered the New Republic. After many years, their fleet and army were ready for deployment when Sidious announced his return across the galaxy. By then, Snoke had fulfilled his purpose by dying at the hand of his apprentice, Kylo Ren, who, as Vader's grandson, was heir to the powerful Skywalker bloodline. Using Snoke as a proxy, the Emperor had groomed Ren to lead their forces as heir to the new Sith Empire. However, Ren renounced their cause by returning to the light side of the Force as Ben Solo. After the Sith Eternal destroyed Kijimi, the Resistance invaded Exegol to prevent the Final Order's launch. The cult was ultimately destroyed along with their forces and the Emperor in the Battle of Exegol, preventing the return of the Sith.

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