In 3000 BBY, the Kesh capitol building was seized by the Sisters of Seelah, a group stemming from the Lost Tribe of Sith. Subsequently, their leader, Iliana Merko, attempted to compel Varner Hilts, the Caretaker, to fabricate a "testament" attributed to the Tribe's founder, Yaru Korsin. This fabricated testament would have favored Seelah Korsin, his estranged wife, and her adherents. However, this scheme was thwarted due to the fact that an authentic holocron recording of Yaru Korsin himself delivered the testament every Testament Day, which occurred once every twenty-five years.
The Sisters' presence drew the attention of two competing Sith factions: the Korsinite League, who venerated Yaru Korsin and his daughter Nida Korsin, and Force 57, who modeled themselves after the 57 Red Sith crew members of the ancient Sith dreadnaught Omen. These groups launched attacks against the Sisters of Seelah, but the fighting was interrupted when Varner Hilts proposed a reading of the Testament. Korsin Bentado, the Korsinite leader, protested this reading, citing that Testament Day was still eight days away. However, Jaye Vuhld, a Keshiri mathematician, pointed out that the Kesh calendar lagged behind the Galactic Standard Calendar by eight days. Consequently, Hilts was legally bound to convene the Pantheon's Peace, and the Sith leaders gathered for the reading.
By the year 3000 BBY, Keshtah Minor had been embroiled in nearly a millennium of internal strife and civil wars, an era known as the Time of the Rot. This period of conflict was initiated by the death of the reigning Grand Lord Lillia Venn during the Night of the Upside-Down Meteor in 3960 BBY, which resulted in the Lost Tribe of Sith fragmenting into twenty distinct factions. Each faction appointed its own Grand Lords and engaged in warfare to gain control of Tahv, the capital of Keshtah and the center of the Tribe's power. Various factions would temporarily unite to invade Tahv and depose the ruling Grand Lord, only to then turn against each other. As a consequence, much of Keshtah's urban centers and infrastructure, including the Kesh capitol building and its aqueducts, had deteriorated into ruins.
By 3000 BBY, the only operational office within the Tribe's administrative structure was that of the Caretaker, responsible for preserving the Tribe's historical records and maintaining timekeeping. The Caretaker's office was situated within the Kesh capitol building. The Caretaker at the time was an aging Human Sith named Varner Hilts, who exhibited minimal interest in the Tribe's political conflicts. A crucial function of the Caretaker's office was to oversee the reading of the Testament of Yaru Korsin, an event held every twenty-five years on Testament Day. On this day, the various Sith factions would assemble peacefully at the Kesh capitol building to listen to the final testament of the Tribe's Founder, Yaru Korsin, who was revered by most factions for his discovery of Kesh and his establishment of the Tribe's political system. In addition to Testament Day, the year 3000 BBY also coincided with two other significant dates, including the Festival of Nida's Rise and the 1,975th anniversary of Grand Lord Korsin's death. However, a particular faction known as the Sisters of Seelah harbored animosity towards Korsin and instead regarded his estranged wife, Seelah Korsin, as the "true" Founder of the Tribe. Their leader, Iliana Merko, devised a strategy to restore Seelah to a position of reverence within the Tribe's pantheon by producing a document falsely presented as the authentic Testament of Yaru Korsin, which would favor those who adhered to Seelah's teachings. As followers of Seelah, the Sisters practiced eugenics and styled their hair in braids, emulating her. The Sisters maintained hostile relations with other factions, particularly the Korsinite League, who venerated Yaru and his daughter Nida Korsin, and Force 57, who revered the "Other 57" non-Human Red Sith who had been aboard the Omen, the Sith dreadnaught that had transported the Tribe's ancestors to Kesh. Despite their differences, all these Sith factions shared the belief that the Sith were superior to the native Keshiri due to their status as the Skyborn, deities in Keshiri religion.
Twelve days before Testament Day in 3000 BBY, the Sisters of Seelah initiated their plan by occupying the Kesh capitol building. Given that the capitol building was only staffed by a few Keshiri clerks, who lacked combat capabilities, the Sisters encountered no resistance and quickly gained control of the building. While Iliana's fellow Sisters remained in the atrium with their Keshiri hostages, Iliana proceeded to confront Caretaker Hilts within his office. To ensure Hilts' cooperation, she threatened to kill one of Hilts' aides, Jaye Vuhld, using her Sith lightsaber. After informing Hilts of the situation, Iliana revealed the purpose of her visit: to alter the Testament of Varner Hilts in favor of the Sisters of Seelah. Her plan involved coercing Hilts into reading a document purporting to be Yaru Korsin's testament during the Pantheon's Peace.
Although Hilts admired the boldness and originality of Iliana's plan, he promptly pointed out its flaw, explaining that he did not actually read from Korsin's Testament. Instead, the Testament was delivered via a holographic recording of the deceased Founder himself; the Testament was stored within a holocron, an ancient Jedi and Sith technology. For the subsequent four days, the Sisters of Seelah maintained their occupation of the capitol building. During this period, the Keshiri staff were confined to another room. Iliana and her followers unsuccessfully attempted to activate the holocron, disregarding Hilts' assertions that the machine only activated on Testament Day. As Testament Day approached, large numbers of Humans and Keshiri gathered in the Circle Eternal in preparation for the Festival of Nida's Rise. While ordinary citizens were not permitted to attend the Testament Day reading, this did little to diminish their interest in hearing the Founder's words being relayed to the masses by the Tribe's leaders.
Failing in their attempts to reactivate Korsin's holocron, Iliana threatened to kill Jaye Vuhld unless Hilts complied. Before any action could be taken, they were interrupted by the arrival of a second faction, the Korsinite League. The Korsinites had managed to scale the capitol building's walls and enter the building through its glass windows. These new arrivals then descended into the atrium and attacked Seelah's followers. A lightsaber duel quickly erupted between the two factions. Iliana's followers outside the capitol building were also attacked and pursued by a third Sith faction, Force 57. Several Sith from all three factions were killed or wounded during this skirmish. Hilts and Jaye managed to escape the three-way skirmish by hiding behind the Sandpipes, ancient instruments used for recording time. During the fighting, the capitol building's windows were damaged, setting Hilts and his staffs' maintenance work back by thirty years.
Before further lives could be lost, Hilts managed to halt the fighting by offering them lodging in the capitol building prior to Testament Day. The three Sith factions reluctantly disengaged from their skirmish but then began arguing among themselves. Korsin Bentado and Neera, the leaders of the Korsinite League and Force 57, respectively, demanded to know why Iliana and her followers were occupying the capitol building. As devout followers of Yaru and Nida Korsin, the Korsinites regarded the Testament of Yaru Korsin as sacred scripture and were intolerant of those who did not share their beliefs about how the Tribe should be structured. Meanwhile, Force 57 harbored animosity towards Seelah Korsin for banishing the original 57 Red Sith from the Tribe.
As the religious differences between the three factions threatened to escalate into open conflict once more, Hilts attempted to mediate by offering to conduct a reading of the Testament from Yaru Korsin's holocron. While Iliana was angered by the Caretaker's deception, the dogmatic Bentado refused to accept any reading prior to the designated Testament Day. He threatened to kill Hilts if the latter persisted with his "heresy." However, Hilts managed to defuse the situation by enlisting Jaye Vuhld, a talented mathematician, to reveal his findings that Kesh was eight days behind Galactic Standard Time. Although Bentado initially refused to accept Jaye's findings, the other Sith were convinced by Jaye's mathematical calculations and consented to the reading of Korsin's Testament. Consequently, Hilts was legally obligated to convene the Pantheon's Peace.
As a result, the Sisters of Seelah's occupation of the capitol building came to an end. The three Sith factions withdrew from the building, while the Keshiri workers were freed and allowed to leave. According to tradition, only the Tribe's leadership was permitted to view the reading of Korsin's Testament, and no Keshiri were allowed to participate in the Pantheon's Peace. Hilts convened the assembly, which was attended by twenty Sith faction leaders, including Iliana, Korsin, Neera, and the leader of the Golden Destiny, a faction that was concerned with the stellar aspects of the Tribe's history. Ultimately, Yaru Korsin's Testament failed to resolve the Sith factions' differences, as different factions interpreted the Founder's message in their own ways.
Following the conclusion of Korsin's recording, Hilts discovered that it had been recorded over an earlier recording: a message from the ancient Sith Lord Naga Sadow to his slave Yaru Korsin. The faction leaders quickly realized that their ancestors were not "special" but were actually the descendants of runaway slaves who had become stranded on Kesh. In an attempt to conceal this "inglorious history," Iliana personally destroyed the holocron, and the Sith leaders vowed to keep the contents of the meeting secret. However, news of the disastrous Testament Day eventually reached their followers, triggering a massive outbreak of violence on Keshtah Minor known as the Great Crisis. Varner Hilts was able to end the Great Crisis by discovering a map at the Kesh Sith Temple which confirmed the existence of a second continent known as Keshtah Major. As a result, the Hilts became the new Grand Lord and ushered in the Hilts Restoration.