Darth Vectivus

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Darth Vectivus was a male Human who was a shrewd but fair businessman. The man who would become Vectivus, Dark Lord of the Sith, took over a prosperous mining colony near the planet Bimmiel. As a latent Force-sensitive, he started feeling dark side influences inside the mine and began studying them, learning all he could from the mine before the dark energies affected his crews as well as ruining the ore, forcing him to shut the mine down. He left, finding a Sith Master and learning secrets of the Force. Even as a darksider and Sith Lord, taking his Sith name, his self-discipline and preexisting business ethics allowed him to remain fair and balanced without succumbing to the lure of power. Eventually, he returned to the mine and lived out a happy life with his family and friends.

As of 40 ABY, his spirit, retaining his powers, lingered in the mine and met a Jedi named Nelani Dinn, as a Force phantom raised by Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya. Vectivus sent a swarm of hundreds of mynock-like creatures to greet the Jedi. After she cut down several of them, Vectivus showed himself and informed her that for every creature she killed, an organism somewhere died as well. Although she did not believe him, he explained that all of them were Force Phantoms conjured by him and that the only way to destroy them without killing their host was to kill their master, Vectivus. Dinn refused, as she did not want to kill the innocent that Vectivus was connected to either. He changed his appearance to that of former Galactic Emperor Palpatine, but she still refused to kill him. Calling her weak and not brave enough to make necessary sacrifices, he illuminated the way for her to leave. She cursed him as she turned to depart and soon the sounds of the creatures stopped.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Life 1.2 Legacy 1.2.1 Meeting Nelani Dinn 1.2.2 Destruction of the asteroid 2 Personality and traits 3 Powers and abilities 4 Behind the scenes 5 Appearances 6 Sources 7 Notes and references 8 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Life

During his early years, the man who would become known as Darth Vectivus lived a normal life until he reached adulthood.^[2] He had friends and family who cared about him and even taught him skills to help him in his life which led to him becoming the administrator of an asteroid mining facility in the MZX32905 system. The inherent dark side energies of the asteroid had been enhanced by a species of dark side–wielding mynock-like creatures. At this time, he came into his power as a latent Force-sensitive; he felt the energy within the asteroid and began to study it, performing various experiments and discovering new powers in the process. The dark side energies of the mine slowly led to his mining crews going insane; Force-sensitives among the crews manifested odd abilities and strange sights through the mines. In addition, the grade of the ore began to decline and, as a result, the man decided to quietly close down the mine after learning all he could from it.^[1]

The man ensured that the mine would be quietly forgotten about amidst the asteroid field's other continuing operations and ventured out into the galaxy to seek out more ways to utilize his newfound powers. He found the Sith and apprenticed himself to one to continue his training in the ways of the Force, eventually becoming a Sith Lord and taking the name "Darth Vectivus." His previously-established code of ethics prevented him from being as stereotypically violent or ambitious a person as other practitioners of the dark side.^[2] He developed his own techniques over several years of journeying, including a way to create phantoms, a sentient or controlled manifestation of the dark side that required a host soul to operate through the Force. If the phantom or the organism were killed, the other would also die. He mastered these abilities, learning to summon hundreds of phantoms at the same time. Vectivus created a holocron, containing his words on business ethic as well as a detailed explanation of the use of his phantom techniques in the memory device. Years later, Vectivus returned to the asteroid, a full-fledged Sith Lord. He built a mansion there, at the heart of the dark side energy, where he lived out the rest of his days surrounded by friends and family.^[1]

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Meeting Nelani Dinn

Millennia later,^[2] the aspiring Dark Lady of the Sith Lumiya moved into the remains of the mine above Vectivus's mansion. She used it as a sanctuary, where she studied Vectivus, whose spirit she had met in the asteroid; the history of the Sith; and the Force. She learned his personal history and techniques, mastering the projection of his phantoms^[1] to the point that she could send them across the galaxy and use them for communication.^[3]

In 40 ABY, Lumiya, under the name Shira Brie, took Jedi Knight Jacen Solo into Vectivus's former home to persuade him to join the dark side. Nelani Dinn and Ben Skywalker, the Jedi that had accompanied Solo, were separated from him by Lumiya. Dinn and Skywalker were attacked by a large group of the mynock-like creatures, and the two fought for their lives against them. After a while, they were separated from each other, and the mynocks suddenly stopped accosting them. A dark figure appeared to Dinn and it complemented her fending off of the creatures. It introduced itself as Darth Vectivus, telling her that he was a ghost but also stated his suspicions that he had no actual presence at all. Dinn refuted this, as she could feel him as a large presence of the dark side, though he informed her that the feeling did not stem from him but rather the organism he was connected to. He informed her that he was actually a Force phantom, like all the "mynocks". He informed her that for every "mynock" she killed, a person or animal somewhere in the universe died with it. He used an example of a baby bantha dying in front of its helpless mother due to Dinn's strike and being helpless to stop it. Despite Vectivus's assurances that this was true, Dinn did not believe him and asked him how she could get rid of him and the creatures. He told her that the only way to do it was to kill him; if she did so, the "mynocks" would disappear, not killing those who were attached, and she would be able to find both Skywalker and Solo again. However, as he was a phantom, the person he was attached to would die as well, which Dinn found unacceptable. The Sith Lord tried to goad her into killing him, but Dinn refused to take the life of the innocent.^[1]

Vectivus did not give in; he continued trying to push her toward the act despite her continued refusals. The Sith Lord changed his form to that of former Galactic Emperor Palpatine and spoke in his voice, telling her to strike him down. Dinn still refused to kill him, and Vectivus reverted to his original form and accused her of not being strong enough to save the lives of people, unable to sacrifice one for the greater good. Dinn told him that she would gladly give her own life for a cause like that, and Vectivus rebuffed it, saying that in that case she wouldn't have to face the loved ones of the sacrificed. He illuminated the way she needed to follow to rejoin her group after allowing them to make their own decisions and telling her that he did not want her to die unnecessarily but if she meddled in their affairs at her current strength, she would. Dinn told him to "Go to hell" and he disappeared along with the chittering of the "mynocks" above. Dinn left the chamber filled with worry for her friends' safety.^[1]

[edit] Destruction of the asteroid

Darth Vectivus's holocron later came into the possession of the One Sith, a growing new order of Sith following the Rule of One. The holocron was given to the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Alema Rar when she visited the One Sith's base. The Sith did not approve of Lumiya's plan to turn Jacen Solo to the dark side, though it was successful. They ordered Rar to deliver the holocron to Solo, who had recently come into his full Sith powers and renamed himself Darth Caedus.^[4] Eventually, it was revealed that the One Sith Order had determined Vectivus to be a fraud, despite his possession of some unique dark side powers, and Rar's gift was to be an insult to Caedus as gesture that he was irrelevant.^[5]

The leader of the One Sith Order, a man with white eyes, ordered Dician, another Sith Lord, to destroy the asteroid and the dark side powers it contained so that it would not fall into the hands of the Jedi and Galactic Alliance forces. While the One Sith attacked the asteroid, the Alema Rar Task Force, a squad led by Jagged Fel with the sole purpose of eliminating Rar, infiltrated the mine in an attempt to kill the Twi'lek, who was using the facility as a hideout. After chasing Rar through the mines, Fel used a pair of crushgaunts to break Rar's neck, killing her. The One Sith also succeeded in their mission, detonating fission bombs on the mine and obliterating the asteroid. Though the Task Force was able to escape, Rar's body and the holocron were destroyed as well before she could deliver it to Caedus and inform him of the new, growing Sith power in the galaxy.^[5]

[edit] Personality and traits

The Human male^[1] who would become Darth Vectivus was a savvy businessman with a strict code of morals and ethics to keep himself in line. He learned about business and other skills, such as negotiations, from his family and friends. Due to his curiosity of the peculiar feelings his mine was giving him, he realized that he was a latent Force-sensitive. After taking the mantle of Dark Lord of the Sith and leaving the mine, Vectivus sought out Sith lore and other information about the Force. His code of ethics carried over into his time as a Dark Lord, causing him to avoid capturing a system or eliminating populations, which was commonly stereotypical for Sith.^[2] However, Vectivus was still a ruthless individual, partly connected to his background as a businessman, and was willing to do whatever it took to succeed, a trait he promoted to others as well. After he grew old, he created a mansion inside the mine and moved back there with his friends and family. He loved his family and was a generally happy person during this time until he died of old age some time later.^[1]

[edit] Powers and abilities

Little is known about the powers that Vectivus obtained during his journey through the galaxy. It is only known that he could conjure Force Phantoms at will,^[1] without the restricting and draining backlash that limited some, like Alema Rar, to only one or two Force Phantoms at a time.^[3] Instead, Vectivus was able to summon hundreds of Phantoms at the same time. After his death, he retained his powers as a Force ghost, at least to create Phantoms; he also had the ability to change his shape at will and showed the ability to levitate above the ground.^[1]

[edit] Behind the scenes

Darth Vectivus was created by Aaron Allston for the first novel of the Legacy of the Force series, Betrayal. He appeared as a spirit to Nelani Dinn and served as a platform for Lumiya to convince Jacen Solo to become Darth Caedus by showing him that not all Sith were necessarily evil. He was also mentioned many times later in the series and was pictured—despite the obstruction of his face—in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.

According to Leland Chee's blog, Darth Vectivus' name comes from the word "invective",^[6] which has a number of definitions, including vehement or violent denunciation, censure, or reproach; a railing accusation; vituperation, an insulting or abusive word or expression, vituperative; denunciatory, or censoriously abusive.^[7]

The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia states that Vectivus told Jacen Solo that he was akin to a Force spirit. This is an error because Solo never met Vectivus throughout Legacy of the Force or at any other time in Star Wars canon.

[edit] Appearances

• Betrayal (First appearance) (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
• Exile (Indirect mention only)
• Inferno (Mentioned only)
• Fury (Mentioned only)

[edit] Sources

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

Dark Lord of the Sith
← "Millennia" BBY[2] →

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

•  Darth Vectivus in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia