Family Tradition Religion The Nightsisters

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The Nightsisters

HISTORY
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The Nightsisters of Dathomir go back for many generations, and their history includes many false narratives. Little is known about Dathomir before the founding of the Nightsisters, but several civilizations were rumored to have set up homes on the world before abandoning them with the passage of time. The history held by the Nightsisters say that a Jedi woman named Allya was once exiled from the Order even before the founding of the first Sith.

Traveling to Dathomir, Allya settled the world and began training the native peoples whose natural inclination toward the Force led them to become potent wielders of old and nigh-forgotten techniques that came to be known as Shadow Magick. The new society Allya created was highly matriarchal with higher honor given to those who were more powerful practitioners of magick.

Interbreeding between human and Zabrak ultimately led to a subspecies of Zabrak known as Dathomirian that over time became the dominant sentient species on Dathomir. The few remaining cults on Dathomir warred among themselves for generations until the coming of the early Sith Lord, High Arcanist Leviticus.

Battling the head of the Nightsisters and subjugating the local cults, for a time the power of Dathomir came under Sith control directly. During this period, it was thought that the Nightsisters had been wiped out for the first time, but not the last for the last. As with subsequent attempts to stamp them it, it proved to be unsuccessful.

Over the following centuries, the Sith's grip on the world weakened, and the native clans who had taken to hiding in order to survive rose in power once again. In the intervening years, the witches of Dathomir honed their magick and began their worship of the Fanged and Winged Spirits who represented the bodily manifestations of the Dark and Light respectively. With these beliefs, however, came some of the first schisms within the residents of Dathomir.

A sect of witches who would later become known as the Nightsisters paid homage to the Fanged Spirit, and in the beginning channeling his power was so intense it caused the rupture of capillaries - most commonly in the face - which marked them as users of the Fanged One's power. Seen by some of their sisters as outcasts for their choices, the Nightsisters took pride in these markings and began to tattoo themselves with these marks to declare their devotion to the Fanged Spirit.

Over the millennia that followed, disagreements and practical concerns alike caused many different clans of witches and Nightsisters to form, often conflicting with each other and even launching into wars against one another. Wars and skirmishes wiped out almost all of the clans that stood against the Fanged Spirit, leaving only variants and subclans of Nightsisters remaining in the generations that followed save a few who held to their exclusive service to the Winged Spirit.

The clans remained divided until 31 BBY when Clan Mother Zalem unified the Nightsister Clans together and declared herself Queen of the Nightsisters. Zalem consolidated a surprising amount of power until her daughter, Ros Lai, - the result of a relationship with a captured and later executed Jedi - allied with another Jedi to overthrow Zalem who was ultimately killed. Ros Lai intended to take her mother's throne, but before she could, she was taken into custody by the Jedi and never seen again.

The subsequent turmoil led to a great deal of uncertainty among the Nightsisters with many clans breaking away from the unification to once again pursue their own ends. Those who remained in the alliance came under the control of Mother Talzin who continued sending her daughters off world as assassins and warriors as had been done for generations.

When the Clone Wars began, Dathomir's connection to the Sith via Darth Maul and Asajj Ventress brought it into the crosshairs of the Confederacy of Independent systems. After a failed assassination attempt against Count Dooku, General Grievous and the droid army traveled to Dathomir to wipe out Mother Talzin and her clan of Nightsisters.

It was only a failure to understand the structure of the Clans that allowed the Nightsisters to survive. Asajj Ventress left Dathomir to find her place in the galaxy, Merrin joined Cal Kestis, and it appeared that the Clan of Talzin had been wiped out. By fortune or the will of the Force, however, the Clan was not to be destroyed.

The assassins that Talzin had sent off world eventually made their return to Dathomir, allying with other clans of Nightsisters who had survived in order to found new clans including the Forgotten Valley Clan.

Over the generations, Dathomir was silent until the Forgotten Guardian began summoning off worlders to raise an army. With assistance from the First of the Forgotten Valley Clan, the off-worlders managed to defeat the Forgotten and Dathomir's power was reawakened.

Renfry, First of the Forgotten Valley Clan and Sith Lord Raze returned to Dathomir in conquest two years later. Subjugating the Singing Mountain Clan - one of the few remaining singular devotees to the Winged Spirit and long term rival to the Forgotten Valley Clan - and spreading a violent conquest across Dathomir, the Nightsister Clans were once again unified under a new Queen of the Nightsisters.

With generations of silence from the Fanged and Winged Spirits after the events that unfolded during the Clone Wars, Darth Raze claimed to be the Son of the Fanged Spirit, speaking on behalf of the darkness itself and bringing the Nightsisters once again under the wings of the Sith.


RELIGION
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The religion of the Nightsisters is a critical aspect of their culture. They worship the twin deities known as the Fanged Spirit and the Winged Spirit. It is the belief of the Nightsisters that the Winged Spirit governs fertility and growth, appearing as a blinding white gryphon within the world of the spirits. On the other hand, the Fanged Spirit appears as a night-black gargoyle and governs virility and the hunt. It is the belief of the Nightsisters that these two forces be in balance with one another, and that Dathomir is the bridge between the world of flesh and spirit. Thus, Dathomir is critical in balancing the forces of Fanged and Winged.

And there is merit to the claim that Dathomir is a bridge between worlds. Those who serve as the religious leaders on Dathomir - the Shaman - can witness the passing of spirits across the Veil that separates flesh from blood through their use of a technique known as "second sight." It is these spirits of the dead that often heed the call of the Nightsisters in their spells and rituals. In ages past, the shaman could also invoke the power of the Twin Deities directly, but since their deaths during the Clone Wars, there has been silence for nearly two centuries.

It is this silence that allowed the Sith Lord Raze to claim spiritual succession to the Fanged Spirit, wielding his power and influence in the darkness to sway the religious leaders among the Nightsisters to follow him.

Because the Nightsisters believe that Dathomir is the transition point between flesh and spirit, they shun many forms of technology. They believe that the spirits and their power are strongest within the the natural world, and in order to preserve this power they avoid modernization and technology while on world.


CULTURE
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Nightsister clans - sometimes also termed tribes - are often named for their geographical locations with names such as the Forgotten Valley Clan or Singing Mountain Clan. Each Clan is led by a Clan Mother whose authority within her clan is absolute and looked to by those she leads for advice, decisions, training, and direction. She is often advised by the elder sisters within her village, but it is also not unheard of for these elder sisters to break off and form allied clans of their own, thus subjugating greater portions of Dathomir for themselves.

Beside the Clan Mother is the First of the Clan. The most apt term for a First would be the apprentice to the Clan Mother. Selected shortly after birth from among the sisters, she is brought up and trained by the Clan Mother in magick and is considered her right hand in most issues. Defense of the tribe falls heavily upon the First and it is the expectation that when the Mother finally dies the First will succeed her.

Outside of Mother and First, roles within a tribe are as numerous as one might expect. The sisters ensure that everything within the tribe runs smoothly, and although all learn a small amount of magick, most hold other roles such as hunting, taming beasts from the small up to the rancor, protecting the village, and more.

By far the most unusual role within the clan are those who travel off world. It is a long tradition that specific members of the Nightsisters will be trained to travel off world and offer up their skills as spies and assassins. Often wearing red in honor of their devotion to Dathomir these women are advised to always remember their homes and return often to reconnect with their tribe and the power of their world. Though they are rare to see in the galaxy, those who have crossed paths with these warriors know well the incredible depth of their skill.

While this is the life for women, the life for men is quite different. In the early days of Dathomir before the arrival of Allya, a group of Zabrak slaves was stranded on Dathomir after their slaving ship crashed. It was one of these Zabrak that Allya took as her mate and each child born of their union was a daughter strong in the Force. This early family set the precedent for Dathomir throughout all the ages to come.

Dathomir was established as a matriarchal society with the Nightsisters being entire female and trained in the use of Shadow Magick. The word of the Clan Mothers was absolute and all the males of a given clan - termed Nightbrothers - were primarily kept isolated from their sisters until such a time as one chose a mate. While this is most common, it is not unheard of for select males to be kept around the sister's villages at the request of one of the sisters or in times of conflict. Outside of this, Nightbrothers are kept in their own villages close by where they can be summoned for battle if needed.

Males are thought to lack the finesse and natural aptitude to balance both the Fanged and Winged Spirits or learn the intricacies of magick. In their own villages, the males pour their energies into hunting and fighting, often forming pack-like structures to compete and war either amongst themselves or against other villages.


INTENT
This is a piece of site lore designed with the intention of weaving together elements of Disney canon, legends, and site canon into a single article so that we have a cohesive and consistent way of handling the Nightsisters on the site.
 
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