I. Qotsisajaksaarai
The Truth of the Sith Code
Nwûl tash.
Peace is a lie.
Dzwol shâsotkun.
There is only passion.
Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan.
Through strength, I gain power.
Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha.
Through power, I gain victory.
Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
Wonoksh Qyâsik nun.
The Force shall free me.
Our order's founders were truly wise to have contained such wisdom and truth in so concise a code. In truth it is enviable. Over time however, the meaning of these words has become muddled, lost, or simply forgotten. What has resulted is an era of many who know the words but not what they mean. They believe that to be Sith means the freedom to do whatever random impulse compels them at the moment. This could not be further from the truth. To be Sith literally means to reach perfection. I will explain what our code means so that our order's proper nature might be preserved and thus eventual victory assured. What cannot be understated is that this code seeks to bring those who understand it victory, true lasting victory, not scoring in meaningless petty squabbles. Only when true victory is achieved can a being reach Wonosa - freedom.Nwûl tash. -
Peace is a lie.These words begin the true code because they immediately reject the Jedi code for the farce that it is. The Jedi teach that peace is the foundation for power. A more false statement could not exist in the study of Qyâsik {The Force}. They spew this bile to mask the truth. A quick look at the nature of the galaxy breaks this notion prima facie (at first glance). Nothing is ever at peace, not the stars in the sky, nor the tiniest of atoms. The stars consume their own cores as they hurtle through the expanse of space, atoms constantly shift their forms, always seeking a finality, but always capable of being reformed. Like the stars and atoms, all are in a constant state of motion, drive, and struggle for survival.
Every being, culture, and nation alive today is the product of some struggle. Their ancestors fought and clawed their way to carve out their existence. It is unfortunate that with sentience some have forgotten the means by which they have survived. Those who have embraced the lie of peace have signaled the end of their struggle for survival. Those who seek peace will be crushed by those who do not.
Dzwol shâsotkun. -
There is only passion.This line continues to combat the Jedi lie of peace by eliciting the true path power. The centrality of Shâsot - passion - to becoming Sith is total.
1 Whatever drives you to power is your passion. The stronger this passion is, the more power one may draw from it. Therefore true Sith will know no limit to their passions, because this means that there will be no limit to their power. Their desires can never be truly satisfied.
It is also important to note that a Sith's force abilities rely almost entirely upon the passions of the Sith. Emotional passion such as anger, hatred, and even fear should be cultivated and relied on by all Sith. These emotions however, cannot dominate you. If a Sith is not careful his source of strength can be his greatest weakness if he allows himself to become consumed by his base emotions.
Shâsot (Passion) - Your deepest desires, emotions, and motivators.
Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk. -
Through passion, I gain strength.The causal link between passion and tyûk - strength - is touched on above but it cannot be stressed enough. All beings are motivated by desires, some base such as nutrition, rest, and reproduction, others are more intellectual such as revenge, ambition, or pride. No matter what though, these desires drive us to act, and when these desires are strong, they can drive us to achieve incredible feats.
The evidence for this is simple. There were once two Vornskrs, one well fed and the other starved. They were both hungry and seek out food. One meal is placed between them. Who would gain the meal? The hungry Vornskr of course, because his desire for food would be so great that he would fight savagely and intensely for the chance to fulfill his desires. The other may fight initially, but will most likely back down because his desire is not strong enough for him to feel the need to die over this one small meal. Despite being potentially weaker, the hungry Vornskrs desire was so strong that he was forced to be better than his rival or die trying. If our passions are like the hungry vornskr's desire to feed, our strength will be immense.
2Tyûk (Strength) - Your raw talents, skills, and abilities deriving from your passions. All strengths arise from passions.
Tyûkjontû châtsatul nu midwan. -
Through strength, I gain power.When you are strong, you are able to leverage that strength to attain Midwan - power. Midwan is the ability to achieve your ends, desires, or goals. I will return to the two hungry Vornskrs. Hunger was the Shâsot (Passion) of one of the Vornskrs, this drove him to maximize all his physical strength and fighting abilites - his Tyûk (Strength). His maximized fighting abilities thereby gave him the ability to defeat his foe - his Midwan (power). As it can be seen there is a great deal of overlap between each of these levels but understanding the process at each point is vital. A more real world example is a being who wishes to become the head of his organization. His ambition is his passion. His ambition leads him to become stealthy and cunning. Using his stealth and cunning he assembles incriminating evidence against his company rivals, he blackmails them with the evidence he has found in order to control them. His blackmailing is his Midwan for through this method he can achieve his goals.
All types of power - wealth, combat abilities, persuasion, seduction, etc. - are all manifestations of the same thing. They are all essentially the same in that they are all the tools by which one can achieve one's ends which is the precise definition of Midwan. Therefore all types of power can be measured by the same rubric, which is their propensity to achieve one's ends. Never assume one type of power is superior to another. Enough of one can easily be used to overcome another.
Midwan (Power) - The ability to achieve your ends, desires, or goals.
Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha. -
Through power, I gain victory.Asha - victory - is the actual accomplishment of your goals. This by definition can only be done by utilizing your Midwan (power) to achieve it. If your power is not great enough to achieve the victory you desire, you must seek additional power because victory is the ultimate goal of the Sith.
3 At our core, Sith seek to win, to find the victories that drive them from the moment they wake till the moment they rest. The pursuit of victory is what consumes Sith. If it does not, one can never become Sith - perfection. They will simply not have the motivation to push themselves to reach that point. However, if the pursuit of victory truly drives you, then nothing will stand in your way.
Asha (Victory) - The realization of your desires, goals, and ambitions.
Ashajontû kotswinot itsu nuyak.-
Through victory, my chains are broken.This is perhaps the most misunderstood line in the Sith Code. Fools oft believe the chains mean restrictions on their behavior. Meaning that being Sith is really about just doing whatever you please at all moments because all societal restrictions on you have been lifted. This is false and a gross misinterpretation of the Code.
Wanton disregard for others is the fastest way to make yourself a common target. While it is impossible for a Sith to not accrue enemies in their lifetime, one who always mindlessly does as they please will make enemies of all they meet. They will thus become the Asha of many others and drive more to surpass them in power. Additionally common targets are often the most expedient way to unite beings together. Thus if you make enemies of many, the many may unite against you. While you may be able to defeat a few, the more that unite against you is the more that their Midwan rivals your own. Keep your enemies divided so that this can never occur.
4The chains are actually referring to the things that hold a Sith back from becoming truly Sith - perfection. With each successive victory in a Sith's lifetime, another chain is broken. There is a ritual marking a beings transition to being called Sith. This is what Callidus has deemed the Kutualasrisklase (The Ritual of unbinding). In it a being marks their transition to being Sith by breaking their first chain using the teachings of the Sith. Commonly this is the killing of someone close to them or the defeat of a hated rival. In doing this they demonstrate their commitment to the tenets of the Dark Side
5 to achieve victory, thus marking them as on the path to being Sith - Perfection.
Perhaps the greatest chain binding us all is mortality. I believe that this chain too may be overcome. Remember death is only the final failure of the weak.
6Wonoksh Qyâsik nun. - The Force shall free me.
Never forget that the Force is your greatest source of strength and possibly power. It is only through using the force can all the chains that hold us back be broken. One must cultivate their knowledge of and power in the force. In this way they can achieve victory.
Commentary
Commentary of Lord Ash [1] - Shâsot most accurately translates to passion but the meaning behind the word is the things that drive you. Your Shâsot need not be simply emotions. Ambition, revenge, pride, or strong desires can all be your Shâsot.
Commentary of Lord Derriphan [2] - Lord Callidus was a known lover of Vornskrs and kept several as pets. My Sith name is actually shared by one of his favored Vornskrs. Force sensitive creatures such as these should always be regarded with care as they are expressions of the will of the force and incredibly useful for understanding it.
Commentary of Lord Derriphan [3] - It is curious that Lord Callidus did not name his work the Qoasha - the Way of Victory. If victory is the ultimate goal of a Sith, would he not write about this ultimate goal?
Commentary of Lord Asha - For many years the reasoning behind the name has been debated and questioned. Some have even gone so far as to change the name of the work for Lord Callidus, believing he mis-titled his own book. This is absolute folly. Callidus cannot write a book on the way to victory because what victory means is different for every Sith. He can only advise on the methods by which one can gain the power in order to accomplish whatever victory a Sith desires. As Callidus often says all power, while maybe taking different forms, is all essentially the same thing and is measured by the same rubric. That rubric being the extent to which it permits the achievement of your desires. Since power is generic and universal, it can be addressed as a whole.
Commentary of Lord Xash [4] - This argument goes far beyond just other Sith or others of great Midwan. This is the precise argument for why it is important for Sith to at least give the appearance of benevolence to their subjects and inferiors. This of course does not mean to be kind to them always, or even ever. However if you make an enemy out of millions of even the weakest of beings, you may yet find that their combined Midwan has surpassed your own.Cruelty has its time and uses, however random, useless cruelty should be anathema to Sith.
Commentary of Lord Asha [5] - Lord Callidus almost always referred to the Dark Side as Bogan - the original term for it. He felt that the term Dark Side, carried many false connotations and led to many misunderstandings. He only ever said the term Dark Side to be clear to people. I have translated it here as Dark Side but I hope all will recognize that he used the term Bogan and that making that decision was a conscious, meaningful effort on his part.
Commentary of Lord Ash [6] - Lord Callidus repeated "Death is only the final failure of the weak" often. It was in the hope to break the final chain of mortality that drove our master to the very corners of the universe. It would appear that he failed in his mission however. If Lord Callidus could not even break this chain, it leads us to question the possibility of it. Perhaps while we all may seek to be Sith, we can never truly achieve it. Perhaps only the Sith'ari of prophecy will conquer this final chain.
