Veeshas Tuwan

Veeshas Tuwan, situated within the icy wastelands of Arkania, functioned as a sprawling library-temple for the old Sith Empire. This served as a repository for Sith artifacts and writings. This extensive Sith archive was obliterated by a Republic–Jedi strike team composed of Jedi Masters and Knights during their counterinvasion, which occurred following the Great Hyperspace War.

Description

Nestled deep within the frozen expanses of Arkania, Veeshas Tuwan was a vast complex encompassing both a library-temple and record hall. Veeshas Tuwan, at its largest, spanned over five square kilometers and descended many levels beneath the surface. As one of the primary archive facilities for the old Sith Empire, Veeshas Tuwan housed a significant collection of Sith artifacts and writings gathered from across the Empire. The sheer volume of Veeshas Tuwan's holdings made it challenging even for seasoned Sith Lords to locate specific information. Similar to other library-temples, the complex also contained numerous sealed chambers where Sith sorcerers engaged in dark-sided experiments and transcribed Sith magic rituals.

History

Around 7000 BBY, coinciding with the Hundred-Year Darkness and the subsequent reorganization of the ancient Sith Empire by the Dark Jedi Exiles into the old Sith Empire, the library-temple of Veeshas Tuwan was erected. Located on the frigid world of Arkania, a Colonies planet known since the Indecta Era for its production of rogue geneticists and mad scientists, Veeshas Tuwan represented one of the earliest Imperial outposts beyond the Stygian Caldera. Over millennia, the complex evolved into a central archive and repository for Sith lore, artifacts, and writings. The library's extensive nature meant that even the most experienced Sith Lords struggled to find and access the information they sought.

Veeshas Tuwan's destruction occurred during the Republic–Jedi counterinvasion following the Great Hyperspace War around 5000 BBY. As the Sith Empire crumbled, the Jedi Order discovered Veeshas Tuwan's existence on Arkania. Concerned by the presence of a Sith colony so close to the Republic's core, a Jedi strike force, consisting of hundreds of Jedi Masters and Knights, was dispatched to Arkania with orders to completely destroy the Veeshas Tuwan complex. While the majority of the library's artifacts and scrolls were destroyed to prevent any future Sith resurgence, the Jedi preserved and studied a select few important writings.

Later generations of Sith, particularly the various New Sith orders that emerged after Darth Ruin's Fourth Great Schism, viewed the destruction of Veeshas Tuwan and the loss of its accumulated knowledge as one of the most devastating blows to the Sith religion. Seviss Vaa, a prominent member of Skere Kaan's Brotherhood of Darkness and a scholar of the old Sith Empire's history, believed that the Jedi deserved the most agonizing deaths imaginable for destroying Veeshas Tuwan, as this act deprived future Sith generations of a significant portion of their cultural heritage and history.

Behind the scenes

The publication of Veeshas Tuwan's entry in the 2008 The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia resulted in a minor retcon. While Tales of the Jedi Companion (1996) explicitly stated that "[n]ot a single resource was saved, for the Jedi feared any remaining dark-side knowledge might allow the Sith to return to power at some point in the future," the Encyclopedia entry implies that the Jedi salvaged some of the library's contents before its destruction, stating that "a great portion of [Sith] history was destroyed or stolen by the Jedi."

Sources

Notes and references

Appearances