Lost Tribe of the Sith: Purgatory represents the fifth eBook installment within the Lost Tribe of the Sith saga. This narrative, connected to the Fate of the Jedi novel series, was penned by John Jackson Miller and made available on October 25, 2010.
The formidable Sith lineage, established on Kesh by those who survived the Omen's disastrous crash, has persisted for a millennium. So too has the brutal Sith doctrine that values power above all. As a descendant of a distinguished family and a member of the prestigious Sith Sabers, Lady Orielle Kitai wields considerable power. However, Lillia Venn, the reigning Grand Lord of the Sith, commands absolute authority and intends to maintain her grip on it.
When an unsuccessful assassination attempt triggers a political and literal bloodbath, suspicion immediately falls upon Orielle. Consequently, the merciless Grand Lord Venn swiftly condemns her to enslavement. Recognizing the cunning power play for what it is, Orielle pledges to retaliate. In the humble dwelling of a poor farmer harboring an extraordinary secret, she uncovers the means to transform her vengeance into a devastating reality.
Purgatory unfolds roughly 1,140 years following the events depicted in Precipice, the initial novella of the series. The story is presented through the perspectives of two central characters: Orielle Kitai, a Sith Saber, and her companion Jelph Marrian, a slave specializing in the sale of premium fertilizers to Keshiri farmers. Unbeknownst to Orielle, Jelph was secretly a Jedi Shadow who had become marooned on Kesh. After the demise of Yaru Korsin, the founder of the Lost Tribe of Sith, in 4975 BBY, his daughter Nida Korsin governed the continent of Keshtah Minor as Grand Lord for a period of 79 years. Although she had a son named Donellan, he predeceased her. Consequently, Nida established a merit-based succession system, where subsequent Grand Lords were chosen from the seven High Lords of the Tribe.
Since 5000 BBY, the Lost Tribe of Sith, descendants of Human Sith who were stranded on the planet during the Great Hyperspace War, had governed the continent of Keshtah Minor. Force-sensitive Sith constituted the elite of Keshiri society, while non-Force sensitive Humans formed a Yeomanry class. The native Keshiri, a humanoid species with purple skin, occupied the lowest rung of Sith society, primarily as serfs. Additionally, outcasts from the Tribe comprised a slave class. Despite their differing social strata, Orielle and Jelph cultivated a close and amiable relationship. Orielle's introduction to Jelph occurred while she was searching for exquisite flowers to adorn her mother Grand Lord Candra Kitai's booth in preparation for Donellan's Day, an annual celebration honoring Donellan's memory.
Orielle Kitai, the primary protagonist, enjoyed a life of privilege and protection due to her mother Candra's position as High Lord. During the annual Day of the Dispossessed, Candra, her daughter, and other members of the ruling elite, including the current Grand Lord Lillia Venn, gathered at the Korsinata arena in the capital city of Tahv for a rake-riding competition. Rake-riding was a violent blood sport where teams of riders competed on flightless uvaks, winged reptilian creatures indigenous to Kesh. These uvaks had their wing muscles surgically severed at birth, rendering them incapable of flight. For this particular competition, Candra and Orielle sponsored a rake-rider named Campion Dey.
Unbeknownst to Candra and Orielle, Dey intended to assassinate Lillia during the games. However, his attempt failed, resulting in his death. Candra and Orielle were both shocked and dismayed that their sponsored rake-rider had attempted to assassinate one of their family's political allies. Seeking to prove her family's innocence, Candra instructed her daughter to return to their estate while she remained behind. Upon returning to her family's estate two hours later, Orielle discovered that the Grand Lord had unjustly blamed her family for the assassination attempt and had ordered their disenfranchisement and enslavement.
Under Lillia's command, the family's Keshiri servants publicly destroyed all of her family's possessions in a bonfire. As a symbol of her reduced status, Orielle was renamed "Ori," a nickname she had previously used only around Jelph. Furthermore, Lillia ordered the summary executions of two other High Lords, Dernas and Pallima, who were the leaders of the Red and Gold Factions, respectively.
Desperate, Ori took her uvak to Jelph's isolated farm, seeking comfort and solace in her friend's company. While there, Ori and Jelph discussed whether the "downfall" of her family was orchestrated by the Grand Lord. Jelph advised Ori not to return, believing her life was in danger. He surmised that Lillia had orchestrated the assassination attempt on herself to make Ori and her mother political scapegoats. The fact that she had spared them from execution suggested that the Grand Lord intended to make a public example of them. Ultimately, Ori agreed to stay with Jelph until it was safe, temporarily abandoning her plans to restore her family's position.
Several days later, Ori was alone at the farm while Jelph was checking his traps in the forest. During this time, Ori's Sith rivals, Flen and Sawj Luzo, arrived at the farm and killed her uvak Shyn under the pretext that slaves were forbidden from owning uvaks. Prior to Dey's failed assassination attempt, the Luzo brothers had been Ori's rivals during her Sith Saber training. They also presented two confessions from her mother Candra, claiming that she had conspired with both Dernas and Pallima. Under duress, the Luzo brothers also confiscated her lightsaber. To signify her new status as a slave, Ori was given a spade.
After the Luzo brothers departed, a humiliated Ori flew into a rage. She damaged and destroyed several items of Jelph's property, including his plants, wooden cart, and barn. It was during this outburst that Ori discovered an Aurek-class tactical strikefighter concealed beneath a mound of manure. Ori quickly realized that the starship could provide a means for her and her mother to regain their lost status within the Tribe. Since the Tribe's ancestors had crash-landed on Kesh, they had been unable to leave the planet and return to the stars for over a millennium. The Tribe had always aspired to return to the wider galaxy to establish their own interstellar empire.
By the time Jelph returned to the homestead, he found that Ori had already left and that his starship had been uncovered. As a member of the secretive Jedi Covenant, Jelph was dedicated to eradicating all Sith influence and preventing the Tribe from posing a threat to the galaxy. Fearing that the Tribe would endanger the galaxy, he resolved to prevent his friend Ori from revealing the presence of a Jedi and a hyperspace-capable starship to her people.