Darth Hater

Dromund Kaas was recently announced as the ninth planet for Star Wars: The Old Republic. Although this planet isn't fairly well-known, Dromund Kaas embodies the idea of the dark side; its corrupting power, its intrigue, and its deadly nature. Identifying how this planet is connected to the Sith Empire helps to understand why this planet belongs in game.


History

Dromund Kaas was colonized long before the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin), but its location was unfortunately lost to memory soon thereafter for unknown reasons. Following the crushing defeat during the Great Hyperspace War, the remaining Sith wandered around unknown space until managing to rediscover the previously lost Dromund system. The Sith used this opportunity to begin reconstructing their destroyed society. The Sith built Kaas City as a testament to the power of the Emperor and from there, the Emperor used the planet to experiment with the dark side and to harness its great and terrible power. These experiments changed the planet forever, causing a continuous electrical storm to forever overshadow the planet.



Dromund Kaas is located in the Dromund system, deep in Sith controlled space. The planet is a wet, marshy world, with the majority of the planet covered in either ocean or swamp. These swamps are covered in very thick vegetation. One specific piece of flora, the dart flower, is extremely deadly. This plant, which was either corrupted by the dark side or produced by Sith alchemy, is a small, semi-sentient plant that shoots razor-sharp thorns with deadly accuracy. Dromund Kaas also houses a multitude of creatures that were either imported or created by dark side force users. These creatures include the force-resistant Ysalamiri, the force hunting Vornskr, and the Dianoga. In the swamps of Dromund Kaas it is very easy for a traveler to lose his way and quickly end up dead or worse daring to seek the dark artifacts that might lie within.

However, players may find it more perilous to navigate the urban areas of Dromund Kaas. As the capital planet of the Sith Empire, this is shaping up to be ripe with political intrigue and danger. The holonet mentions the connection to the Sith Emperor and the Dark Council, but there are clues hidden in the news article for the holonet that reveal a little more about the story. It mentions that the Sith Emperor has "fallen silent recently." This mystery, combined with Imperial military being deeply entrenched on Dromund Kaas, could mean anyone playing the Imperial Agent class should prepare to spend a significant amount of time in this environment mastering these "games of intrigue."



Speculation

The concept art shown below seems to depict the Dark Force Temple, as Sean Dahlberg says in his announcement that "The Emperor's Dark Council may have awakened a dangerous, hidden power within the planet's jungles and ruins." This Temple contains a nexus of dark side energy so powerful that it disrupts most types of weapons on the planet's surface, including blasters, rail launchers and various explosives. This temple was created during the Great Hyperspace War of 5,000 BBY, and may be what the Dark Council recently uncovered. The concept art shown below also seems to show Naga Sadow's spirit. However, his spirit was supposedly destroyed a thousand years ago by Freedon Nadd, so this "spirit" is probably a holocron of him. Perhaps this hints at the possibility that players will be able to learn from the steps of the Sith Lord himself. So, based on the two previous pieces of evidence, it might not be unlikely that this is the actual resting place of Naga Sadow, instead of Korriban. This idea is further reinforced by the fact that his tomb on Korriban was empty. So, perhaps the Dark Force Temple is actually the tomb of Naga Sadow.

With the ever present nature of the dark side of the Force, Dromund Kaas could possibly mean a great deal to those players who choose the Sith Inquisitor or possibly the Sith Warrior; perhaps even being used as a second stage of sorts for aspiring Sith to increase their power. The Emperor's many experiments probably inadvertently created many terrible abominations using his corrupted rituals of the dark side. Players could possibly be able to tame, to learn how to create, or attempt to stop these creatures. Perhaps players will be able to gain access to the Emperor's research to use for their own ends. We see "Zash's Secret" hidden in the Aurebesh in the overview box, possibly implying just such a thing.



Additional Aurebesh translations coming from our own Xanamiar and Zenkou, one of our community members, reveal what could be an additional piece of the story on Dromund Kaas. On the left hand side of the holonet page, BioWare hid the phrase "Revan's Disappearance." This implies that we could learn a great deal about what happened to the main character of Kotor on the Sith capital, possibly even discovering that Revan was also looking for the Dark Temple.

Even more interestingly, one of the concept arts seemingly depicts a single Jedi versus a Sith in the swamps of Dromund Kaas. Whether this indicates that Republic players will be able to quest on the planet is unknown, but it definitely sounds as if BioWare has many fascinating things in mind for Dromund Kaas.



BioWare and LucasArts made another interesting and unique choice by including Dromund Kaas. It shares many traits with most of the other announced planets, such as supplying an unfamiliar location to gamers. Additionally, the open lore of this planet during this time period allows the developers the luxury of crafting a history that fits their vision of the galaxy during the era of The Old Republic. Sith players everywhere will surely be in for a refreshing experience as they trudge through the dark side tainted swamps of Dromund Kaas when we finally get our hands on the game.