Vodal Kressh existed a millennium prior to the Cold War, holding the title of Dark Lord of the Sith.
Vodal, an Alchemist of exceptional skill, was a successor of Ludo Kressh. He was regarded as the most skilled alchemist within the Empire. As his power intensified and his sanity deteriorated, he turned against the Sith Emperor and escaped to the planet Athiss, which ultimately became his place of eternal rest. Even following his death and burial, numerous disloyal followers stayed on the world, and their descendants inhabited Vodal Kressh's tomb until a strike force eliminated them during the Cold War, a thousand years afterward.
Millennia following this, around the time of the Battle of Yavin, rumors circulated that the Republic had annihilated Kressh and his adherents, yet a sinister cult continued to safeguard his final resting place.