- "[T]his one here, in a very temperate zone—the one that hosted what was called the High Rites—might be the most significant area to explore. Only the highest-ranking Sith—the ones strongest in the Force—conducted rituals here. And correspondingly, the most powerful Sith on Upekzar lived only a few kilometers away from this cave system, in a city that lies in the shadow of a dormant volcano."
- ―Jedi Knight Natua Wan, 44 ABY
Sometime after their discovery of the Circle of Visions, the Sith residents of Upekzar built a city close at hand to the cave system in which they conducted their Mysteries' High Rites. This city was one of the five major settlements on Upekzar and was inhabited by the strongest Sith Force users on the planet due to its association with the High Rites.
Description
- "This was not a martial world. Their focus was different."
"They focused on the metaphysical, not the material. They were not warriors focused on conquering and weaponry, Saba, because they didn't have to be." - ―Saba Sebatyne and Grand Master Luke Skywalker, 44 ABY
Like all the sites located along the Circle of Visions, the abandoned city of the Sith was built on an island or in close proximity to a shoreline in the southern hemisphere of Upekzar. Lying in the shadow of a dormant volcano, the city sat some three kilometers away from the extensive lava cave system and rhak-skuri colony where the planet's Sith residents conducted their Mysteries' High Rites. Due to the lingering presence of the dark side in the general vicinity of the site, a large black-gray cloud perpetually loomed over the city and its volcano, crackling with blue Force lightning and generating a strong, foul, cold wind that swept outwards from the city.[1]
Unlike most Sith, the residents of Upekzar did not see themselves as conquerors. As a result of their metaphysical rather than martial focus, their settlement did not exhibit the traditional aesthetics of a fortress. Though a functional curtain wall surrounded the entirety of the city, its exterior was extensively decorated with paintings of red-eyed Sithspawn and murals of Sith sparring and meditating. The city was accessible from the outside world by means of an innocent-looking durasteel portcullis, and its buildings were designed simply to protect and shelter their inhabitants from the elements rather than inspire awe or intimidate its beholders. An underground hangar sat beneath a large open square in the center of the city, and served to house and shelter a Sith Meditation Sphere.[1]
History
- "You can feel [the dark side]—it's like standing with your back to the summer and your face toward the winter."
- ―Luke Skywalker on the city of High Rites, 44 ABY
The ancient Sith of the Sith Empire who first discovered and explored the Circle of Visions on Upekzar selected five distinct sites along its circumference to construct their settlements. Each of these settlements was built in the vicinity of a volcanic cave system hosting a colony of rhak-skuri, and each sacred site possessed a dedicated focus related to a distinct aspect of the dark side. The largest city was built around the cave system associated with the Mysteries' High Rites, and served as the residence of the strongest Sith Force users on Upekzar. The city lay within the shadow a dormant volcano and sat some three kilometers distant from the cave system in which the Sith rituals were conducted.[1]
In 44 ABY, during the Jedi Order's search for the Force entity Abeloth and the Sith Meditation Sphere known as Ship, Grand Master Luke Skywalker and a strike team of Jedi investigated the ruins of the ancient Sith city and the extensive cave system in which the Sith had performed their High Rites. While Ben Skywalker, Vestara Khai, and Natua Wan spelunked through the High Rites cave system, Luke Skywalker and the main Jedi force proceeded to the city center in search of the hangar that had once held a Sith Meditation Sphere. However, upon reaching the hangar, the Jedi discovered that Abeloth had harnessed the collective dark side energies of Upekzar and compressed them within the reanimated corpse of Tola Annax, creating a Force bomb that turned the city to dust and coerced its once dormant volcano to erupt.[1]
Appearances
- Fate of the Jedi: Ascension (and audiobook) (First appearance)