The five-part comic-book series titled Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith — Spiral is a Star Wars Legends story penned by John Jackson Miller and brought to publication by Dark Horse Comics. It serves as a companion piece to Miller's Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith eBook series.
The narrative unfolds around the year 2974 BBY, which is approximately a year following the events chronicled in the ebook Lost Tribe of the Sith: Pandemonium. Spiral's events take place on the isolated world of Kesh, the adopted home of a marooned group of Human Sith known as the Lost Tribe of Sith. The storyline primarily follows the experiences and adventures of Parlan Spinner, a young outcast from the Tribe, and his one-time adversary who became his ally, Takara Hilts, a Sith princess who is also the daughter of Grand Lord Varner Hilts. A significant portion of the plot revolves around the danger that the ancient Dark Jedi Baron Remulus Dreypa poses to the Lost Tribe, after Parlan freed him from his oubliette.
Spiral's initial release was on August 8, 2012, and it continued until December 12 of the same year. The series is comprised of five issues, with the script being the work of Miller, who also contributed to the Lost Tribe of the Sith series of short stories. Randy Stradley made the announcement on the Dark Horse message boards that the series would conclude after the fifth issue.
The events of Spiral transpire a few months after the conclusion of John Jackson Miller's novella, Pandemonium, which culminated in the Lost Tribe of Sith's takeover of Alanciar, another continent located on the planet Kesh. During the celebrations commemorating the arrival of the Lost Tribe's ancestors nearly three thousand years ago, the Human Sith outcast Parlan Spinner and his group, known as Spinner's Web, disrupted the proceedings. Spinner also made an attempt to assassinate Grand Lord Varner Hilts, but his efforts were thwarted by Hilts' daughter, Sith princess Takara Hilts, who captured him. Despite Spinner facing a potential death sentence, Grand Lord Hilts chose to spare the young man's life and offer him a second chance, having sensed Spinner's latent Force abilities. Consequently, Spinner was assigned to work as a sailor aboard the Keshiri captain Chegg's vessel, the Southern Star.
Takara also secretly boarded the Southern Star, intending to travel to Alanciar in the hopes of making a fresh start in new territories. However, the ship's actual destination was Eshkrene, the planet's South Pole, for an exploratory and surveying expedition. Spinner and Takara were tasked by Chegg with managing the sails. Upon the ship's arrival at Eshkrene, the two attempted to abandon Chegg's crew, but they were pursued by Chegg and his men, who sought to kill them. However, they were rescued by a group of cloaked individuals known as the Doomed, who swiftly dispatched Chegg and the other pursuers with arrows. Spinner and Takara, along with the surviving crew members, were taken as prisoners and brought to the Doomed's settlement.
The leader of the Doomed, a S'kytri named Kaliska, shared the history of the Doomed with their Sith captives, Spinner and Takara. The Doomed were the descendants of ancient Jedi and Dark Jedi who found themselves stranded on Kesh following the Hundred-Year Darkness. After engaging in conflict, the two Force orders reached a truce, with the Dark Jedi agreeing to confine their "greatest weapon" within an oubliette. The Force-users then relocated to Kesh's South Pole, where they maintained a protective watch over the Keshiri and sought to achieve balance in the Force. Takara developed a bond with Kaliska, who instructed the Sith princess in the Force ability of animal friendship.
Meanwhile, Spinner was imprisoned for expressing interest in the "Great Weapon." However, he and the Keshiri crew managed to steal the oubliette and escape Eshkrene aboard the Southern Star. Kaliska and Takara pursued Spinner and his followers. However, Spinner shattered the casket, releasing the Sith Lord Remulus Dreypa, a survivor of the Battle of Corbos who had been exiled to the Stygian Caldera. Spinner and his crew quickly aligned themselves with Dreypa, while Takara and Kaliska were imprisoned below deck. The Southern Star returned to the main continent of Keshtah Minor, landing at the port of Eorm, Spinner's hometown. Dreypa utilized his dark side powers to eliminate the tyrannical Lord Galathos and the local Sith garrison.
Dreypa's display of Dark Side abilities impressed the local population, who rallied behind the Sith Lord. Despite his aspirations of reaching the stars once more, Dreypa reluctantly agreed to lead a rebellion against the Lost Tribe, with Spinner serving as his lieutenant. Meanwhile, Takara and Kaliska managed to escape from their captors and returned to Eshkrene, bringing with them the entire town's herd of uvaks, winged reptilian creatures. Dreypa's rebel army advanced into the Marisota Floodplain and engaged the Lost Tribe's forces, which were under the command of Lord Hilt's wife, Grand Consort Iliana Hilts. The Lost Tribe's forces inflicted significant casualties on Dreypa's forces, who retreated to Sessal Spire, a volcanic caldera overlooking the Southern Ocean.
Iliana's Sith forces cornered Dreypa and Spinner, attempting to execute them. However, Dreypa used his talisman to summon Leviathans from beneath the crater. Leviathans were massive Sithspawn created during the Hundred-Year Darkness, capable of draining the life energy of sentient beings. Dreypa's Leviathans consumed both allies and enemies alike. At that moment, Kaliska and the Doomed attacked Dreypa and his Leviathans, who retaliated against the newcomers. Spinner also engaged in combat with Takara. However, their duel was interrupted when Takara's mother, Iliana, was attacked by one of the Leviathans. Spinner slew the beast, saving Iliana's life and earning the trust of his former adversary.
Spinner and Takara fled the fighting with the weakened Iliana, riding on an uvak. They were joined by Kaliska, who revealed that the Jedi ancestors of the Doomed had concealed a starship beneath the Sith capital, Tahv. Aware of Dreypa's desire to reach the stars, Kaliska persuaded Spinner and Takara to destroy the ship. However, Dreypa and his Leviathans caught up with them, having devoured all of their opponents, including the Doomed forces. Spinner and Iliana managed to escape, but Kaliska was captured and killed by one of Dreypa's Leviathans. In an attempt to delay Dreypa, Takara engaged the Dark Jedi in a duel but was unable to match his Force abilities and was taken prisoner.
Meanwhile, Spinner and Iliana returned to Tahv. The weakened Iliana was reunited with her elderly husband, Varner. However, Spinner went back on his promise to destroy the Last Hope and instead took it for a joyride above Kesh's atmosphere. Before Spinner could explore the wider galaxy, he was contacted by Dreypa, who issued the young man an ultimatum. Aware of Spinner's newfound affection for Takara, he threatened to kill her unless Spinner handed over the Last Hope. Dreypa and his Leviathans then laid waste to Tahv while Iliana's forces prepared for a final stand. Spinner used the Last Hope's turbolaser cannons to eliminate most of the Leviathans.
Meanwhile, Takara managed to break free of the last remaining Leviathan and kill the creature with Force lightning. In the ensuing chaos, she and Dreypa ended up on the hull of the Last Hope. Spinner flew the starship to the shores of the Southern Ocean, where he feigned handing the vessel over to Dreypa, before jumping into the sea with Takara. Dreypa claimed ownership of the vessel only to discover that Spinner had programmed its engines for a one-way journey into Sessal Spire. Dreypa perished in the resulting explosion, which deprived Kesh of its last known hyperspace-capable vessel and prevented any information about Kesh and the Lost Tribe from reaching the galaxy until centuries later.
Following Dreypa's defeat, the Sith began rebuilding Tahv, and the former outcast Spinner became a celebrated hero of the Tribe. Grand Lord Varner Hilts appointed the young man as one of his Hands, and Spinner also entered into a romantic relationship with his former enemy, Takara.