The leading figures of the Oblee, a sentient species inhabiting the planet Oblis within the Cularin system, were the scientist-philosophers. Millennia prior to the Clone Wars, a wandering traveler introduced the Darkstaff, a perilous Sith artifact, to Oblis. Eventually, the scientist-philosophers acquired and scrutinized the artifact, acknowledging it as a substantial power source. Nevertheless, the Darkstaff initiated the manipulation of the Oblee, conjuring a shadow creature onto Oblis and subsequently deceiving the scientist-philosophers into perceiving the entity as a menace to their people. The scientist-philosophers resolved to harness the Darkstaff to energize a device intended to banish the shadow creature from the Cularin system. To fuel this machine, they fashioned three focusing crystals, into which every Oblee poured their collective aspirations and anxieties. Subsequently, the scientist-philosophers installed the Darkstaff within the device, triggering a large cataclysm that obliterated Oblis and morphed the scientist-philosophers, alongside the remaining Oblee, into ethereal entities recognized as "shadow lurkers."