Within the framework of the Keshiri religion, the Great Battle represents an epoch-spanning conflict. This clash pitted the antagonistic Skyborn race against their counterparts, the Otherside, in the celestial expanse above the planet Kesh (found among the stars). This mirrors the Hundred-Year Darkness conflict between the Jedi Order and their fallen Dark Jedi brethren. The Skyborn, mounted atop enormous crystal uvak creatures, ultimately emerged victorious, but not without sustaining injuries inflicted by the Otherside. The blood of these wounded Skyborn dripped down onto the oceans of Kesh, giving rise to all the landmasses on the world. In time, the Great Battle became a central and venerated element within the mythology of the Keshiri species.
The Keshiri religion holds that, in the distant past before the rise of Keshiri civilization, two distinct races came into existence: the benevolent Skyborn and the malevolent Otherside, originating "from below." These two races inevitably clashed, leading to a confrontation in the stars positioned above the planet Kesh, which at that time was entirely submerged beneath turbulent black seas.
Engaging the Otherside, the Skyborn rode into combat on colossal crystal uvak beasts; this conflict, which would become known as the Great Battle, stretched across eons. The Skyborn eventually triumphed, defeating their adversaries, but not without suffering wounds in the process. The blood of the Skyborn, as it fell, landed on Kesh's oceans, thereby generating new land formations.
Eventually, the Keshiri species evolved on Kesh, inhabiting the very land supposedly created from the Skyborn. At some point, the Neshtovar, a group of uvak riders, rediscovered the history of the Great Battle from Kesh's Cetajan Mountains, subsequently establishing the tales of the Skyborn and the Otherside as the cornerstone of the dominant Keshiri religion. The widely accepted narrative of the Great Battle found some support from scientific observations, as the coastlines of Kesh, mapped by 5000 BBY, displayed a highly irregular and asymmetrical pattern, which bolstered the belief that the land had been formed by dripping Skyborn blood. However, in 5,000 BBY, geologist Adari Vaal unearthed evidence that contradicted the Great Battle account, and she began instructing her students that the Keshiri landscape had, in reality, been shaped by natural lava flows. Vaal was summoned to testify before the Neshtovar, who by this time had become the ruling council of Kesh. She was accused of heresy and of disseminating falsehoods about the Great Battle. Soon after, Vaal discovered a group of Sith who had crash-landed in the Cetajan Mountains. These Sith claimed to be the Skyborn and seized power as the rulers of the planet. By 4985 BBY, the Sith had effectively eliminated the myths of the Skyborn and the Otherside, and consequently the Great Battle, from Keshiri life, replacing them with older tales of the Protectors and the Destructors.
The Great Battle was initially referenced in John Jackson Miller's 2009 eBook, Lost Tribe of the Sith: Skyborn.