Nathema

Medriaas, a verdant and productive planet within the Nathema system, which itself was situated on the fringes of the Sith Empire in what would eventually become the Outer Rim Territories's Chorlian sector, functioned as a crucial agriworld for the Empire for centuries leading up to 5113 BBY. This world orbited a brilliant orange sun and boasted a Type I atmosphere suitable for respiration by both Humans and Sith. The terrestrial planet's landscape featured numerous farming villages scattered across its agricultural plains. By the time of the Great Hyperspace War in 5000 BBY, Medriaas possessed at least one city. Oceans divided the planet's surface into at least two continents, with the northern continent considered remote in relation to the seat of power held by Sith Lord Dramath.

Following the Ritual of Nathema, the planet was utterly stripped of all life. Every living organism, regardless of size, was consumed by the Sith Lord Vitiate's ritual, leaving behind a barren wasteland. Even droids and other forms of technology were obliterated by the ritual, and the very environment seemed drained of color, leaving everything in shades of sickly brown or gray. The atmosphere was also affected, with Nathema's sun appearing a pale brown instead of its true orange hue, and sound waves became distorted, sounding flat and dull. The surface was littered with the inanimate remains of Nathema's former inhabitants, as the ritual did not consume their clothing or belongings, and the absence of natural scavengers preserved everything in its state from the day of the ritual. Force-sensitive individuals were particularly affected, experiencing a near-physical illness due to the complete absence of the Force. The Jedi Meetra Surik and Sith Lord Lana Beniko had to actively combat the Void in the Force to maintain their sense of self and avoid being consumed by it. Over the centuries following the ritual, all traces of intelligent life were gradually erased, with the Sanitarium, a prison for Vitiate's enemies, being the only structure that showed signs of life.

However, after the demise of Vitiate's spirit, the planet underwent a rapid transformation, and the previously lifeless world was miraculously revitalized. The Void dissipated, and Force users no longer felt the unsettling "wrongness" upon setting foot on the planet. The air became fresher, the weather more dynamic, and, most importantly, vibrant plant life from seeds in the soil took root and flourished, dramatically altering the planet's once-desolate landscape.

Medriaas had been settled by the Sith Empire centuries before 5000 BBY. By 5113 BBY, the year, the Sith Lord Dramath governed the planet. Dramath engaged in an affair with a farm woman on the northern continent, but quickly forgot about her and their son, who was just one of his many offspring. In 5107 BBY, the child, named Tenebrae, started to exhibit signs of Force-sensitivity, marking him as a member of the ruling elite. Tenebrae's adoptive father confronted his wife about their lack of Force-sensitivity, but Tenebrae used his father's anger to kill him when he attacked the six-year-old's mother. He then tortured his mother for months before killing her in response to her infidelity. Subsequently, he seized control of his village, torturing and killing those who refused to submit. Over the next four years, Tenebrae conquered the northern continent, amassing followers and eliminating thousands to satisfy his appetite for pain and suffering.

Dramath dismissed these events as beneath his notice until 5103 BBY, when he decided to visit Tenebrae to decide whether to kill him or make him a servant. However, to Dramath's surprise, the ten-year-old stripped him of the Force, drove him insane, killed his body, and imprisoned his Force spirit in a holocron for continued torment. Over the next three years, Tenebrae continued his conquest of Medriaas, eliminating every Sith challenger. In 5100 BBY, he claimed the throne, while his half-brother Dramath the Second fled in fear. As the undisputed ruler, Tenebrae presented himself before Dark Lord of the Sith Marka Ragnos, the Empire's ruler, on the capital of Ziost. Ragnos, impressed, granted him official rule of Medriaas and the title of Lord Vitiate. The teenage Sith Lord returned to his world, renamed it Nathema, built a palace on the site of his childhood home, and spent the next century studying the depths of the dark side of the Force.

Marka Ragnos' death in 5000 BBY triggered a succession struggle between Sith Lords Naga Sadow and Ludo Kressh. Vitiate avoided involving himself or Nathema in the political infighting. Nathema continued under his isolationist policy even when Sadow's actions as Dark Lord of the Sith brought the Empire into conflict with the Galactic Republic and their Jedi protectors, starting the Great Hyperspace War. As the Empire crumbled under Republic assault, Vitiate remained engrossed in his studies, sparing Nathema from the war's devastation. However, after Sadow's defeat at Korriban, Vitiate emerged from seclusion and manipulated the Empire's fear. Broadcasting speeches from his palace describing the Republic's intent to massacre the Empire, he drove Nathema and the rest of the Empire into a terrified frenzy before offering them hope.

Simultaneously, Vitiate tasked a team of historians and researchers with finding the lost Sith colony world of Dromund Kaas, where he planned to retreat to avoid the Jedi. When the lead researcher presented their successful findings, Vitiate immediately summoned all remaining Sith Lords. He traveled to Korriban and promised to lead them in a great ritual of Sith magic to save the Empire. Over eight thousand Sith Lords answered his call, traveling to Nathema alongside Vitiate. Three days later, Vitiate publicly announced the ritual's commencement, and the Sith gathered in his palace. However, the scholarly Sith turned on them, dominated their minds, bound them to his will, and fed on their strength as he began the ritual. At that point, Nathema's government ceased to function, as the Jedi Meetra Surik found no electronic records after Vitiate's announcement.

To achieve his goal, Vitiate used the central computer of Zildrog, an ancient self-aware superweapon from Iokath that specialized in transferring life energies, to empower himself by consuming the life force of every living thing on the planet. The ritual lasted a week, by the end of which the entire planet was stripped of the Force. Vitiate absorbed the life force of every living organism, leaving behind piles of dust as Nathema's inhabitants, wildlife, and flora disintegrated. Cities, villages, vehicles, and other inanimate objects remained, though the ritual destroyed almost all of the planet's technology by ripping power from the circuitry. The only species to survive were the voreclaw, semi-sentient insectoid bipeds who lived underground. The voreclaw hive mind was obliterated, leaving their colonies as mindless individuals who emerged onto the surface driven by hunger. In the absence of other food, the creatures turned to cannibalism, attacking and eating each other.

The ritual transformed Vitiate, granting him immortality and immense power in the Force, and he became known as the Emperor. Vitiate blamed the destruction of Nathema on the Jedi, further panicking the Empire while offering them hope and revenge against the Republic. Gathering the remnants of the shattered Empire, especially the younger generation, Vitiate boarded a small fleet and departed for Dromund Kaas on an exodus. He ensured the journey took twenty years, so the people would rely on him as their savior. Vitiate erased all mention of Nathema from history beyond the name of the Ritual of Nathema, which Imperial scholars celebrated as one of the old Empire's greatest achievements. He also destroyed all data on the hyperspace routes back to Nathema, ensuring no one would discover the truth of Nathema and how he gained his power.

Vitiate reconstituted the Sith Empire on Dromund Kaas and ruled for centuries, using essence transfer to move between host bodies. He kept Nathema secret but continued to use the ruined world. Nathema was a perfect prison for Force-sensitives, who couldn't use the Force to escape. Vitiate established the Sanitarium, a laboratory where his Force-strong enemies could be experimented on. The only structure with signs of life, the Sanitarium was made of gray rock, mostly underground, where Vitiate kept a vault of dark relics and artifacts. In that vault he stored the holocron containing his father Dramath's trapped essence, whom Vitiate continued to torment. He also captured the remaining voreclaw survivors and stored them in carbonite to be awakened as guardians.

Seeking to create an army of powerful but subservient Force users, Vitiate brought Force-sensitives to Nathema, forcing them to brave the Force void. His efforts were only partially successful, resulting in the Nathema Zealots, who withstood the void through daily rituals and meditation that focused their power while diminishing their free will. The Zealots became dependent on the void, becoming catatonic if they left the planet. Vitiate repurposed the Zealots as guards for the Sanitarium, patrolled by mutated creatures genetically engineered to instill fear and obedience. The Sanitarium's order was maintained by the Abyssin Keepers. Vitiate deactivated Zildrog and placed it in another vault under an ancient Sith Temple in the Verdant Valley. A holomap with Zildrog's coordinates became one of Vitiate's most guarded secrets, but was stolen by Chiss agents for collateral in case the deal between the Sith Empire and the Chiss Ascendancy was violated.

Members of the Sith Empire's ruling Dark Council rediscovered Nathema and the way to it. Dark Councilors Darth Nyriss and Darth Xedrix had visited Nathema before 3954 BBY. Upon learning the Emperor wanted to start a new war with the Republic to perform his ritual again on a galactic scale, Nyriss, Xedrix, and other Councilors formed a conspiracy to unseat him. In 3960 BBY, Jedi Knights Revan and Malak ended the Mandalorian Wars, and Revan learned from the dying Mandalore the Ultimate the location of Rekkiad. They visited the ice world and discovered Dramath the Second's tomb, as well as a datacron with Nathema's coordinates. The two Jedi traveled to the desolate world and witnessed the Emperor's actions, learning of Nathema's history and Dromund Kaas' location from the government's archives. They then journeyed to Dromund Kaas to confront the Emperor, but were turned to the dark side and made into Sith Lords. They were sent back to conquer the Republic, but Revan returned to the light and defeated Malak, though his amnesia prevented him from pursuing the Sith Empire in the Unknown Regions.

In the year 3954 BBY, driven by fragmented memories, Revan embarked on a quest to find the forgotten threat. He piloted his vessel, the Ebon Hawk, towards the Nathema system. Simultaneously, Darth Nyriss initiated Sith Lord Scourge into a secret plot, escorting him to Nathema to demonstrate the Emperor's immense power. Horrified by the desolate state of the planet, Scourge, along with Nyriss, detected Revan's Force signature as they departed. They launched an ion cannon assault on the Ebon Hawk. The attack caused Revan to lose control, resulting in a crash landing on Nathema. Subsequently, Scourge and Nyriss captured Revan and transported him to Dromund Kaas. Unbeknownst to the Sith, Revan's utility droid, T3-M4, remained behind. Over the next three years, T3 diligently salvaged materials to repair the damaged ship. Though instructed to return to Revan's wife, Bastila Shan, T3 and the Ebon Hawk became entangled in the Dark Wars, leading the droid to become a companion of Meetra Surik, Revan's former ally. Eventually, in 3950 BBY, T3 communicated Revan's fate to both Surik and Shan, prompting Surik to pursue Revan's trail.

Upon reaching Nathema, Surik and T3 managed to access the remnants of the government's records, uncovering the planet's tragic history. Following Revan's path to Dromund Kaas, Surik, aided by Scourge, who Revan had persuaded to turn against the Emperor, successfully rescued Revan. The trio then attempted to assassinate Vitiate. However, Scourge's Force visions led him to betray Revan and kill Surik, believing their mission was doomed and that he needed to survive to assist future Jedi capable of defeating the Emperor. Bestowed with immortality and the title of Emperor's Wrath, Vitiate's personal executioner, Scourge served the Emperor for three centuries before ultimately betraying him to side with the Hero of Tython—the Jedi Knight from his prophetic vision. Scourge shared the history of the Emperor and Nathema with the Jedi, assisting the Hero and their team in preventing the Emperor from repeating his ritual on a galactic scale.

Centuries into his reign, Vitiate grew weary of the constraints imposed by Sith doctrines and his own empire. Determined to break free, he discovered Zakuul, a remote planet in Wild Space, recognizing its potential to establish a second Eternal Empire. He assumed the identity of Valkorion, a Human warrior, dominating his mind and using this new persona to cultivate a technologically advanced society. While the Eternal Empire encompassed a considerable area of Wild Space, its existence remained hidden from the rest of the galaxy, including the Sith Empire, which Vitiate continued to oversee, dividing his time and energy between Valkorion's body and the numerous Voices.

Around the time of the Treaty of Coruscant in 3653 BBY, Vaylin, the daughter of Vitiate's Valkorion identity, displayed both immense Force abilities and an inability to control them. Fearing she might one day challenge him, Valkorion sought to limit her powers and brought Vaylin to Nathema. After a final glance at her mother, Senya Tirall, Vaylin was taken into the Sanitarium by her father, where she was placed under the care of Jarak, an Anomid scientist who had developed a brainwashing technique. Jarak accepted Valkorion's offer of unlimited test subjects. Tasked with subjecting Vaylin to rigorous mental conditioning, Jarak was permitted to employ any method that did not result in her death. Vaylin endured brutal experiments, facing constant fear, pain, and isolation in both physical and mental tests.

Sensing her daughter's suffering through the Force, Senya Tirall resolved to rescue her from Nathema. Infiltrating the Sanitarium, she found Vaylin unconscious and carried her towards the landing platform. Their escape was thwarted by six Nathema Zealots. After Vaylin awoke, her mother instructed her to stay back while she confronted the Zealots. However, as her mother urged Vaylin to come with her, Valkorion emerged from the Sanitarium, and several Knights of Zakuul restrained Tirall and took her away, while Vaylin was returned to the Sanitarium. Vaylin spent years on Nathema, with her only visits being from her brother Thexan, who brought her gifts from the worlds conquered by the Eternal Empire.

Eventually, Jarak exhausted all conventional methods and subjected Vaylin to torture devices of his own design. Vaylin's mind was fractured, and when the pain became unbearable, she began to laugh. With Vaylin's powers suppressed, Valkorion allowed his daughter to return to Zakuul. Unbeknownst to Vaylin, she had been conditioned during her time on Nathema to become powerless against anyone who uttered the code phrase "Kneel before the Dragon of Zakuul" in her presence. Vaylin was the only prisoner to ever leave the Sanitarium alive, and her other brother Arcann journeyed to Nathema for the first and only time to escort his sister home.

Years passed, and Valkorion's physical form met its end in 3636 BBY through assassination. Vitiate transferred his spirit to the Commander, but he couldn't completely control his new host and manifested as a Force spirit visible only to them. Arcann initially claimed his Eternal Throne on Zakuul, followed by Vaylin, who faced opposition from an Alliance led by Vitiate's new host, with the Emperor's encouragement. Around 3630 BBY, a confrontation with her father's spirit revealed her conditioning to Vaylin. Utilizing her authority as the Eternal Empress, she commanded Jarak to devise a method to undo her conditioning. Jarak returned to the Sanitarium, where Vaylin provided him with numerous test subjects. Eventually, Jarak achieved a breakthrough and contacted the Empress, who soon arrived in the Nathema system aboard her flagship.

Concurrently, the Outlander experienced a vision of Vitiate's memory where Vaylin mentioned Nathema. Vitiate's spirit expressed concern that this vision indicated his daughter had returned to Nathema, having discovered a way to break her conditioning. The Outlander informed Arcann, who had recently joined the Alliance and identified Nathema as a planet in the Chorlian sector. Operative Theron Shan linked this information to Jarak's holocall to Vaylin from that sector, which the Alliance had intercepted, further supporting the theory that the Empress was returning to Nathema to overcome her mental constraints. Arcann, recently redeemed after undergoing a healing ritual on Voss, hesitated to return to Nathema, fearing its corrupting influence. The Outlander went to stop Vaylin, accompanied only by their trusted advisors, Theron Shan and Lana Beniko.

Shan piloted a shuttle to the Nathema system, where Sith Lord Beniko began to feel the effects of the void even before landing. Even Vitiate's spirit found his power diminished in this place, able to manifest only intermittently, though he promised to shield the Outlander and their companions from the worst effects of the void. The shuttle's sensors identified the Sanitarium as the only structure showing signs of life. Shan dropped off Beniko and the Outlander near it and then retreated to a safe distance. Meanwhile, a Zakuulan shuttle carrying Vaylin landed at the Sanitarium's entrance, where the Empress was greeted by a Keeper, who informed her that Jarak awaited her inside his laboratory. The Empress ordered her Horizon Guard to remain outside and ventured in, reaching the habitat where Jarak housed his twisted experiments.

Three mutated Acklays surrounded her, threatening to attack. Vaylin discovered that the void blocked her access to the Force and was forced to use her lightsaber to slay the beasts. Jarak arrived to witness the carnage, noting that the beasts attacked the Empress because they sensed her fear and hatred. He then informed Vaylin that everything was prepared for the procedure. Simultaneously, Beniko and the Outlander traversed the desolate wasteland to the Sanitarium's entrance, where they eliminated the Horizon Guards and followed Vaylin inside. Thanks to Valkorion, both still had access to the Force, though Beniko felt the void's effects most intensely, as it attempted to invade her mind and consume her spirit. Investigating the Sanitarium, the two cut down skytroopers, Zealots, and Keepers, learning about Jarak's role in Vaylin's conditioning from recordings in his personal holojournals.

Inside the main laboratory, Jarak had set up a large circular arena surrounded by massive energy orb nodes. He explained to Vaylin that the process to break her conditioning would be even more extreme than before. When the Empress asked if any of his test subjects had survived it, Jarak assured Vaylin that her unparalleled Force strength would give her a chance no one else had. Vaylin agreed to the procedure. The pillar orbs pierced her body with energy beams, causing immense pain and triggering her power to surge uncontrollably. As Vaylin struggled, Force blasts emanated from her body, annihilating several Keepers and Zealots. Jarak fled the room to save his life. He encountered Beniko and the Outlander and quickly explained that he knew the location of the only safe place, asking them to escort him through the beasts driven mad by Vaylin's power. To ensure their mutual survival, Jarak led his captors to the Emperor's vault in the Sanitarium's lower levels. They barely managed to get inside in time to avoid the energy blasts that ravaged everything outside and fried the vault's power circuits.

Throughout this ordeal, Vaylin was left alone at the mercy of Jarak's inventions, enduring unbearable pain. Determined not to die in the place she loathed, the Empress mustered all her remaining strength and overpowered Jarak's machines, causing them to explode one by one and freeing her from their grasp. As soon as the pain subsided, Vaylin felt her bonds break and left the surface of Nathema. Inside the vault, the spirit of Vitiate, already fearful of his daughter's power, warned the Outlander that Vaylin had broken free before fading completely. The vault shielded them from the Force corruption, but the presence of powerful dark side artifacts posed its own danger. Jarak informed his captors about the backup power generator, warning them to beware the vault's ancient guardians. The Outlander and Beniko restored the power and discovered the holocron containing the essence of Dramath, who initially believed his son had returned to torment him again.

However, after realizing that Tenebrae was not present in any form, Dramath recounted the history of Medriaas and revealed that the holocron held the power to destroy Vitiate once and for all. Dramath persuaded them to release his trapped spirit, finally achieving oblivion after centuries of imprisonment. The Outlander instructed Beniko to take the holocron with her to avoid revealing it to Vitiate. While they were occupied, Jarak was ambushed and killed by a vault guardian. Beniko and the Outlander had to fight off three large voreclaws before finally opening the vault door and learning from Shan that Vaylin had long since left the planet's surface. From her flagship in Nathema's orbit, the Empress used her newfound power to overload the facility's generators through the Force, triggering the Sanitarium's collapse. The Outlander and Beniko rushed to the landing platform outside, where Shan picked them up in the shuttle and departed, leaving Nathema behind.

The Outlander utilized Dramath's holocron to permanently eradicate Vitiate's spirit, while the Alliance conquered the Empire of Zakuul and seized control of its Eternal Fleet. Vitiate's final demise profoundly impacted Nathema, miraculously revitalizing the previously lifeless world within a short period. The void dissipated, and plant life sprouted from seeds dormant for millennia, growing into forests that rapidly transformed Nathema's desolate landscape. Jarak's experiments that escaped from the ruins of the Sanitarium, including twisted versions of Acklays, Nexus, and Sleens, provided the planet with some semblance of animal life.

Surviving Zealots began settling in the abandoned wilds, living a meager existence in fragmented tribes. Although the connection between the planet's rebirth and Valkorion's death was undeniable, experts couldn't pinpoint a precise environmental mechanism that could have caused such a sudden change. Following the fall of the Eternal Empire, Vinn Atrius, a former member of Vaylin's Horizon Guard, grew resentful of the Outlander and their Alliance, blaming them for ending Zakuul's centuries of prosperity. Atrius sought ways to avenge his people and discovered mentions of Zildrog in data the Eternal Empire had recently obtained on Iokath. Learning that Zildrog, known as a dragon god in old Zakuulan legends, was a real superweapon capable of destroying entire civilizations, Atrius began searching for it.

Atrius established a secret Order of Zildrog and was contacted by GEMINI 16, a rogue GEMINI unit who offered information on Zildrog in exchange for destroying the Eternal Fleet. Alliance member Theron Shan heard rumors about the Order and decided to infiltrate it to dismantle it from within, keeping his intentions secret from his allies. After joining the Order, Shan infiltrated the Chiss House Inrokini on Copero and obtained Zildrog's location from a holomap stolen from Vitiate decades earlier. He then destroyed the holomap, but the Alliance recovered the fragments and began reassembling it.

Using the map's information, the Order discovered that Zildrog was located on Nathema and moved their base of operations there. Shan left a coded message for the Alliance, informing them about the Order and providing coordinates on Nathema. The restored holomap from Copero confirmed the validity of his information. The Outlander and Beniko headed to Nathema to stop the Order, while Alliance specialist Hylo Visz mobilized the Eternal Fleet in orbit of the Alliance capital of Odessen. On Nathema, the Order used their modern equipment to excavate Zildrog in the ruins of an ancient temple in the Verdant Valley, establishing camps and patrols around it. Atrius, Shan, and GEMINI 16 approached Zildrog, and Atrius ordered preparations to awaken it.

Meanwhile, Beniko and the Outlander landed on Nathema and made their way to the coordinates they received, marveling at the planet's ecological revitalization and battling Zealots and escaped beasts. Shan slipped away from the Order and rejoined his allies at the rendezvous point, revealing his true intentions and explaining the danger Zildrog posed to the Alliance. The three rushed to stop the Order, but GEMINI 16 detected their presence and initiated the ritual to awaken Zildrog ahead of schedule, while another member of the Order dispatched an Ancient Guardian Droid to delay the Alliance. The GEMINI deceived and betrayed some of their allies, imprisoning them in energy transfer chambers to fuel Zildrog's awakening.

After fighting through the Order's defenses, the Alliance reached Zildrog's location. Shan immediately shot Atrius. However, GEMINI 16 trapped the three in a force field and revealed that they were too late, Zildrog had already awakened. The ancient computer demanded a target to consume, and GEMINI 16 provided information that allowed Zildrog to access the Gravestone, an ancient Iokath warship that was crucial to the Alliance's victory over Zakuul. Accessing the Gravestone, which was his original secondary form, Zildrog remotely took control of the vessel in Odessen's orbit and repeatedly fired its omnicannon at the Eternal Fleet, completely destroying it. Zildrog then targeted Odessen itself and began to recharge before the next attack, but this resulted in the shutdown of the force field, forcing GEMINI 16 to engage the Alliance directly.

Shan, Beniko, and the Outlander battled and destroyed the GEMINI droid. Shan attempted to shut Zildrog down but was stabbed in the back with a lightsaber pike by Atrius. Desperate for vengeance, Atrius asked Zildrog to enhance him with its power, and the ancient machine god granted his request, tasking his new servant with destroying his enemies. Atrius attacked Beniko and the Outlander, but they defeated him and destroyed Zildrog. As the ancient machine died, it triggered the self-destruct mechanism of the Gravestone, leaving the Alliance without its most formidable weapon. The Outlander decided Atrius' fate while Lana tended to Shan's wounds, determining that he needed immediate treatment on Odessen. They then departed Nathema on a shuttle sent by Hylo Visz.

Before the Ritual of Nathema, the planet was inhabited by millions of Sith, many of whom were farmers. Nathema's population resided in villages and cities across the planet, governed by an autocratic regime led by a single Sith Lord and numerous subordinates. The world also supported diverse wildlife, including birds, fish, insects, and land animals. Its agricultural fields produced a significant amount of foodstuffs for the Empire. However, the ritual annihilated nearly all life on the planet, rendering Nathema barren and lifeless. Aside from Vitiate, only the voreclaw survived, though their hive mind was destroyed by the ritual, leaving their underground colonies mindless. When the voreclaws, driven by hunger, emerged onto the surface, radiation from Nathema's sun ravaged the insects, burning their exposed flesh and chitinous shells. The species faced extinction due to starvation. Vitiate captured the remaining survivors and stored them in carbonite beneath the Sanitarium, using them as guards.

In the time that followed the ritual, the only permanent inhabitants of the planet consisted of those within the Sanitarium: The Nathema Zealots, who were able to persist after contact with the Force void through daily rituals and meditation that made them completely obedient to Vitiate; the specifically trained Abyssin Keepers, who maintained order within the Sanitarium on a daily basis; and the prisoners themselves, who were powerful Force users that had angered or opposed Vitiate and were subsequently sent to Nathema as a form of punishment. Vitiate's daughter, Vaylin, was also confined within the Sanitarium for a period, where she was subjected to mental conditioning and became the only inmate to ever successfully escape the facility alive. After Nathema underwent rebirth, surviving Zealots started to establish settlements in camps, sustaining themselves with the plant life that rapidly flourished across the planet following Vitiate's demise. The rival, warring factions engaged in raids and killings against each other due to differing theories regarding the events that had transpired and their beliefs on how to better serve their master, whose deaths they sensed through the Force but were unwilling to accept. The transformed landscape of Nathema also became a habitat for dangerous predators that had escaped the Sanitarium's destruction, including corrupted versions of sleens, acklays, and nexus, as well as the voreclaws, who were the only remaining descendants of Nathema's original population.

Nathema made its initial appearance in 2011, featuring prominently in The Old Republic: Revan, a novel authored by Drew Karpyshyn, which unveiled much of the backstory of Sith Emperor Vitiate and his Empire. The novel laid the groundwork for much of the plot in Act III of the Jedi Knight storyline within the video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which was launched by BioWare and LucasArts approximately one month after the release of the tie-in novel. Within the game, Nathema is referenced by Lord Scourge at the beginning of Act III as he recounts the Emperor's history, though he does not explicitly name the planet. The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural, a reference guide in-universe that was released with the Collector's Edition of the game, mentions Nathema in the chapter where Gnost-Dural investigates the history of the Emperor, as do The Essential Reader's Companion and the Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia, both of which were released in 2012. The regular updates to the Online Companion for The Essential Atlas situated Nathema and the Nathema system within the Chorlian sector of the Outer Rim, specifically in grid square S-4.

The original 2011 version of the game included only a single mention of Nathema by name within the "The Ritual of Nathema" codex entry, which was acquired from a datacron on the Imperial version of Balmorra. On October 7, 2016, a cinematic trailer titled "Betrayed" was released to promote the Knights of the Eternal Throne game expansion, depicting Vaylin's confinement within the Sanitarium, although at that time no connection to Nathema was established. The expansion itself, which was released later that year, featured Nathema as one of the two new planets added to the game, serving as the setting for Chapter VII: Into the Void, which also confirmed it as the location where Vaylin was imprisoned as a child in the trailer.

Nathema was revisited in 2018 with Update 5.9: The Nathema Conspiracy, which featured it as the primary setting for the flashpoint and storyline of the same name. The update illustrated Nathema's revival following Vitiate's death and served as the conclusion to the Knights of the Fallen Empire/Eternal Throne storyline. It also introduced a retcon to Nathema's history by revealing Zildrog's involvement in the Ritual of Nathema. This caused confusion among the players, as the ritual was previously believed to be performed solely by Vitiate. Writer Charles Boyd addressed the issue by highlighting player posts that pointed out that the Sith Emperor's ritual always required a mass death to be triggered by an external source before Vitiate could harness the life essences of the deceased to empower himself, adding "y'all have it pretty much sorted here".