Thousands of years before the rise of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader, the Old Republic was rife with the evil Sith, who were a constant thorn in the side of the Jedi. But greed and hunger for power were eating away at the Sith Order, destroying it from within. In the midst of this rose a new Sith, Darth Bane, who recognized that the Sith Order would fall if nothing was done. Thus it was he who, learning to cultivate patience and cunning, hid from the strife until it was over, and then rose to become the most powerful Sith Lord ever.

This is the story of the transformation of Des, a young miner, into the legendary Sith Lord Darth Bane. Des - like many of the disenfranchised who live on the Outer Rim - is disillusioned with the stagnancy of the Old Republic. When the Sith unite to bring the Republic down, Des is one of many to join their cause. His heroism and skill in battle - along with his remarkable connection to the Force - draw the notice of the Sith Masters, and Des eventually finds himself studying at the Sith Academy on Korriban. He takes the name of Bane and, amidst the deception and back-stabbing of the other students, he learns to unlock his latent dark-side talents. As his power grows, Bane realizes the Sith have lost their way. Under the leadership of Lord Kaan and his Brotherhood of Darkness, the Sith have turned their back on the true nature of the dark side. Through manipulation, cunning and strength, Bane destroys Kaan's Brotherhood and wipes out all the other Sith so he can found a new Order based on the rule of two: one Master, one apprentice.

Born in Canada, Drew Karpyshyn now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and family. He worked for many years as a writer for game company Bio Ware, contributing to a number of games, including theBaldurs Gateseries,Neverwinter Nights,Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic,Jade Empire, Mass Effectand Star Wars: The Old Republic. His tie-in novels for theStar WarsandMass Effectgames have enjoyed huge success, and he is now focusing on writing full time and golfing.

In the blockbuster movie, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, we learned about

the "Rule of Two," which decrees that there can only ever be two Sith Lords in existence

at once--Master and Apprentice. The powerful Sith Lord who destroyed all his adversaries, killed his own Master, and invented the Rule of Two was the legendary Darth Bane. This is his story.

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