Invasion of Ziost

The Invasion of Ziost was a military operation in 3636 BBY during the Galactic War between the reconstituted Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic that saw the former Sith Emperor Vitiate take control of the entire planet of Ziost and, despite attempts by the Republic and Empire to break his hold, bring about a horrific cataclysm—feeding off of the planet's population, Vitiate used a ritual of Sith magic to consume all life on the world, just as he had done to his own homeworld of Nathema more than a millennium earlier.

In the aftermath of his reawakening on the moon Yavin 4, Vitiate took gradual control of Ziost's population and used them to slaughter each other to fuel his strength, and Agent Theron Shan of the Republic Strategic Information Service deployed the Sixth Line—a covert team of Jedi—to investigate, only for them to fall under Vitiate's control. As the situation worsened, Supreme Chancellor Leontyne Saresh decided to ignore the warnings of Shan and her agent Rane Kovach, and she sent the Republic Military to exploit the Empire's weakness by invading the planet for "humanitarian reasons." Saresh's forces fell under Vitiate's control just as the Imperials had, adding to his army of possessed. Shan and Sith Intelligence Minister Lana Beniko worked to free the planet's population from Vitiate using an powerful electrostatic gun in the city of New Adasta, but the effects were only temporary—only a fraction of the planet's population was evacuated before Vitiate unleashed a wave of death energy across the planet, turning all living things to ash and leaving behind a barren, gray and brown world haunted by the monstrous Sithspawn known as Monoliths that he had created.