Unidentified totem

A powerful totem was created a long time prior to 1032 BBY by an ancient species that ultimately went extinct. The relic came to rest in a temple on the moon Obsidia, where the Force spirit of a monk eventually protected it among the structure's ruins.

At one point, the Nightsister witches of the planet Dathomir, seeking a way to lead the Sith Lord Darth Caldoth to his ruination, used the Force to view visions of potential futures. The Nightsisters thereby learned of the existence of the totem and its protector spirit and, knowing of Caldoth's interest in obtaining such artifacts, used telepathy to indirectly guide the Sith Lord toward discovering the relic. In doing so, the witches assumed that the guardian spirit—of which they believed Caldoth had no knowledge—would kill the Sith. However, after Caldoth traveled to the temple and approached the totem, he instead captured the spirit itself and ignored the relic, thus revealing his true goal to the indirectly observing Nightsisters.

History

A discovery

Many thousands of generations prior to^[1] 1032 BBY,^[2] one of the galaxy's species that later went extinct created a totem. The powerful artifact eventually came to rest in a decorated alcove inside a temple on the Unknown Regions moon Obsidia. A group of monks attended the temple, with the Force spirit of one of the monks eventually coming to protect the relic after the monks were no longer present at the ruined structure. An ancient tablet also pointed to the existence of the totem.^[1]

At some point between approximately 5000 BBY and 1032 BBY,^[2] the Nightsisters,^[1] a group of witches from the Outer Rim Territories planet Dathomir,^[3] sought to exact vengeance upon the Sith Lord Darth Caldoth. To that end, they used the Force to view glimpses of potential futures along which they could guide Caldoth toward his own ruination. In one such vision, the Nightsisters learned of the existence of the totem as well as its guardian spirit.^[1]

The trap

Aware of Caldoth's active search for any relics left behind by extinct ancient species, the Nightsisters then used the subtle presence one of their members, Zeldin, had established in the Sith Lord's mind to carefully nudge him onto a course of action that would lead him to discover the totem. Although Zeldin was aware of the risk presented by the possibility of Caldoth acquiring the powerful relic, the Nightsisters relied on the assumption that the guardian spirit would eliminate the Sith.^[1]

Over a long time, Zeldin guided Caldoth's decisions and actions and encouraged his enthusiasm for the quest, all the while making sure that the Sith Lord believed it was his own divination and research that revealed the existence of the relic to him. In reality, Caldoth had detected Zeldin's efforts since their very beginning and merely pretended to be guided by them. Ultimately, Caldoth uncovered the ancient tablet pointing to the totem—although, as far as Zeldin knew, his research never revealed to him the existence of the protector spirit—and, elated, hastily made plans to travel to Obsidia to retrieve it.^[1]

After arriving at the temple, Caldoth approached the alcove where the totem was kept, with his eyes shining at the sight of the relic. However, at that point the Sith Lord revealed to the Nightsisters, who were observing him from afar via Zeldin's mental connection to him, both his knowledge of the guardian spirit and his true goal: he bound and captured the spirit for his own uses and then departed the moon, leaving the totem untouched.^[1]

Behind the scenes

The totem appeared in "The Gilded Cage," a short story written by George Mann and included in the 2020 collection Dark Legends.^[1]

Appearances

• "The Gilded Cage" — Dark Legends (and audiobook) (First appearance)

Notes and references