Report 2: The Sith Code

[Joslae]

Spoiler: Introduction

At the request of apprentice Zhephra Aeros, I am making another report on Sith culture and history. This time, it will be about the Sith code

Spoiler: The Sith code

The Sith code, known as Qotsisajak (‘’Way of the Sith Doctrine’’) in the common Sith tongue, is a set of tenets that reinforces the core beliefs of our order. It was first written down by the dark Jedi exile Sorzus Syn and was designed to be in direct contrast to its Jedi counterpart, which I shall not mention further. It has since been taught and preached by all layers of the Sith hierarchy. Below, I will write down each of the tenets and go over their individual meaning. The broader meaning and significance of the Sith code can be viewed below this section.

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

Spoiler: Peace is a lie, there is only passion

This line starts off the code and immediately underlines the ideological difference between Sith and Jedi. The Jedi profess peace as the greatest good. Peace is the absence of conflict and in the absence of conflict, only stagnation is the logical outcome. Passion as opposed to peace describes the necessary change that an individual must go through to thrive. If an individual is passionate, they will abandon such incessant traits as altruism or selflessness. Above all else, this line describes how the sith must choose for themselves. They must embrace their passion and lust completely.

Spoiler: Through passion, I gain strength

If one has accepted passion as the driving force behind their actions, they will naturally find themselves growing stronger. It is what the first Sith considered as a simple truth and they chastised the Jedi for denying what is, in essence, the true nature of all beings. It is the reason why we sith see ourselves as challengers of old and stagnant ways, in particular the way of the jedi order. If we can train ourselves in mastering our passions, we will gain strengths that Jedi lack. That strength is what we use to overpower and conquer those weaker than ourselves.

Spoiler: Through strength, I gain power

Once we have gained enough strength, we can challenge those that stand in our way. After defeating that which stands above us and looks down upon us with disgust, we can achieve the power that many of us so desperately crave. Power is influence and influence is an important commodity in the Empire.

Spoiler: Through power, I gain victory

Victory is something we desire, yet is not something that we must want by any means. The old sith tell us that if we achieve victory, it must have been achieved through a display of superior power. If that superior power is absent, the victory is not real and but a fleeting thing. Those that relish in these false victories will only find themselves killed sooner by those with more vision. Once we become stronger in the force, we will achieve more victories. The victories bring us power that we will, however, have to constantly fight for.

Spoiler: Through victory, my chains are broken

This line is a subject of debate among many of our peers and therefore what I write below is my own interpretation and not a paraphrasing of the common narrative. Chains represent the restrictions that are put on us and the chains that we have put on ourselves. Breaking those chains is a goal that I strive for and a goal that I believe all Sith should strive for, though it is not for us to know to which extent the chains bind us. Upon ridding ourselves of these restrictions, we can reach perfection and the utmost fulfillment of our potential.

Spoiler: The force shall free me

If we strive for perfection through knowledge and master of the force, we will eventually be rewarded. We will be freed from our mundane lives and be elevated to a greater state of being, for our purpose is many times greater than that of the commoner.

Spoiler: Teachings of the Sith code

We embrace our emotions and allow them to fuel our strength with the dark side of the force. What the code teaches us is that we must reject the controlling hold of the force and instead learn to dominate it with our own will and forge it into a weapon that we can wield. The stronger one’s emotions are and the stronger one’s will is, the greater control over the force they achieve and the greater power they wield.

But where does that leave us as simple enforcers of the dark side’s will? We are in constant battle with the force for dominance. As shown by the cesspools of acolytes on Korriban, many are not strong enough to control the force let alone wield it. Instead, they become controlled by their emotions and lose control after which insanity is the only logical outcome. In fact, even those that are strong enough end up becoming corrupted, for the dark side of the force is an alluring aphrodisiac that few are able to resist. I have read tales about lords and darths who delved too deep in the mysteries of the force and came out as broken men, doomed to live in a constant battle with themselves and the force, and upon their deaths they’d lose.

The code, however, does not speak of death or the life beyond it. It preaches of the power one can wield in life. Unlimited power. The force is a universal constant, infinite and omnipotent. It is a weapon that we are learning to wield and it is but our own strength of will that can prevent us from becoming unstoppable.

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