The k'kayeh dragon was a colossal, snake-like creature brought into existence by the Sith Lord Darth Rivan to guard his stronghold located on the world of Almas. Measuring 200 meters long, the dragon possessed a hide as tough as armor, mirroring the shade of the Almas Wasteland's sands surrounding Rivan's fortress. Favoring an underground existence, it rarely ventured to the surface, instead spending most of its time navigating subterranean caves and swimming in underground rivers.
Following Rivan's expulsion from Almas during the New Sith Wars, the k'kayeh remained on Almas for over a thousand years, eventually becoming a figure of myth for Almas' inhabitants. Around 17 BBY, the guardian of an ancient holocron created by Rivan summoned the dragon to assail the Imperial Inquisitor Valin Draco and a group of Alderaanian Resistance members inside a cavern beneath a destroyed Jedi academy. The agents survived the creature's attack, and after Draco was knocked off a ledge into a deep ravine, the k'kayeh halted its assault and disappeared.
The k'kayeh dragon was a massive, Force-sensitive Sithspawn monstrosity created by the Sith Lord Darth Rivan through the dark arts of Sith alchemy. Possessing a serpentine form and exceeding 200 meters in length, it stood as one of the largest guardian creatures ever devised by the Sith. Its outer skin was as resilient as armor plating and bore the hue of the sand, precisely matching the shades of the Almas Wasteland, a desolate, desert region on the planet Almas where it dwelled, providing camouflage and rendering it indistinguishable from the sand dunes when viewed from above. The dragon was also amphibious, capable of breathing underwater as effortlessly as it could breathe air.
For defensive purposes, the k'kayeh dragon had extremely sharp claws, and its mouth contained numerous small, pointed teeth, alongside larger teeth taller than a Wookiee—a sapient species from Kashyyyk—capable of slicing through metal as easily as a lightsaber. Due to its creation by Rivan and its prolonged exposure to the dark side surrounding Rivan's Almas Sith fortress, the k'kayeh was attuned to the Force; it could utilize the abilities Battlemind, Force sense, and Force strike to a limited extent and could also discharge bolts of Force lightning from its two nostrils. The creature was undetectable by sense-based Force powers, and its nature rendered it invisible to sensors designed to detect life forms. The dragon had an extraordinary lifespan, capable of surviving for over a thousand years.
Though not fully sentient, the k'kayeh dragon exhibited a degree of self-awareness and actively avoided attracting the attention of Almas' inhabitants. Driven by the dark side, the k'kayeh was inherently malicious and attacked any beings it encountered.
The k'kayeh was primarily a subterranean being, rarely surfacing on Almas, instead preferring to spend its life underground, exploring the planet's deep caves and swimming in frozen underground rivers. Its primary habitat was a vast underground lake formed by the confluence of several subterranean rivers, where the dragon would often sleep for weeks before awakening and returning to the surface in search of sustenance. The beast was omnivorous, capable of consuming even starships, and frequently preyed on travelers venturing into the Almas Wasteland. However, the dragon required more food than it could safely obtain on the surface without revealing its presence to Almas' population. Consequently, it primarily subsisted on aquatic creatures like the coboko fish, found in Almas' underground rivers. The k'kayeh had a preference for forfra moss, a pungent plant growing on the ceilings of Almas' tunnels; the moss was poisonous at certain stages of its life cycle, and the dragon carefully consumed it only when its scent was optimal. Some Almas inhabitants also rumored that the k'kayeh consumed kaluthin, a plant cultivated by Rivan to modify Almas' toxic atmosphere.
In combat, the k'kayeh primarily used its jaws to swallow its prey, but when annoyed by smaller creatures or objects, it would crush them with its massive claws. When confronted by numerous threats simultaneously, the dragon would rear up vertically before crashing down on its attackers in an attempt to crush them.
Darth Rivan created the k'kayeh dragon sometime between 1417 BBY and 1167 BBY, during the chaos of the New Sith Wars. The creature was intended to defend Rivan's fortress on Almas against entire armies of Jedi—Force-wielding adversaries of the Sith—who might attempt to lay siege to the citadel. Rivan was eventually driven from Almas, and the creature remained on the world in his absence for the next millennium.
In 177 BBY, a Jedi academy was established on Almas, and a small colony gradually settled on the world. The k'kayeh dragon became a legendary creature in the eyes of Almas' population, with widespread speculation about its existence, though stories of the beast were primarily used to discipline children. Visitors to Almas often reported seeing the dunes of the Almas Wasteland moving, as if a large serpentine creature was traversing the sands, but investigations never confirmed the k'kayeh's presence. Around 31 BBY, expeditions into the Almas Wasteland recovered several k'kayeh teeth, but despite this evidence, the people of Almas continued to regard the stories of the k'kayeh dragon as mere legends.
The Jedi academy on Almas was later destroyed, and without the facility's strong light side presence, a Sith holocron created by Rivan activated in the caves beneath the Academy. Empowered by the dark side, the holocron's gatekeeper believed itself to be the spirit of Rivan. Around 17 BBY, the Imperial Inquisitor Valin Draco traveled to the ruined academy and began studying the holocron. Influenced by the gatekeeper, Draco set traps throughout the academy to capture anyone who disturbed him, including a k'kayeh dreambeast, an illusory version of the real k'kayeh dragon, about a quarter of its size, linked to the real k'kayeh through the Force.
During Draco's occupation of the academy, several Alderaanian Resistance agents journeyed to the ruins in search of the holocron of Jedi Master Qornah. The agents defeated the k'kayeh dreambeast and confronted Draco in the caverns beneath the academy. As the Inquisitor made his final stand, the holocron gatekeeper summoned the real k'kayeh to attack them. Using dark side skills learned from Rivan's holocron, Draco was able to control the dragon to a limited extent, preventing it from devouring him. The creature fired Force lightning bolts at the agents while Draco defended himself. However, the agents ultimately defeated Draco, sending him tumbling off a ledge into a large cavern below, and as Draco fell, the k'kayeh retreated into the abyss.
Morrie Mullins created the k'kayeh dragon, first describing it in Dragon of the Desert, an article published on Wizards.com in 2002 as a supplement to the Living Force roleplaying campaign. The dragon was later briefly mentioned in Mullins' Dark on Dark article and, in 2008, appeared in Echoes of the Jedi, the fourth installment of the Dawn of Defiance roleplaying campaign by Abel G. Peña and Jean-François Boivin.