I'm not cursing, I swear. Sithspawn are now playing in Part 5 of the Dark Forces Saga at Wizards.com.

The term Sithspawn was first introduced in Michael Stackpole's X-Wing series of novels, published by Bantam in the late 90s. There, the term appeared as a curse, something you shout when all your well-laid plans are going straight to Mustafar. Here's a look into the thoughts of the pilot Corran Horn in a melodramatic excerpt from 1996's X-Wing: Rogue Squadron:

"Green Three, did you copy that?"
Corran got no response. "Whistler, what happened to Three?"
The R2 unit gave him a mournful tone.
Sithspawn...

Indeed, there are such things as Sithspawn. Monsters of nightmare, these creatures were first mentioned in passing in 1996's Tales of the Jedi Companion, an excellent sourcebook by George R. Strayton from West End Games based on the early Tales of the Jedi comics. Here, the Sithspawn are described as literally a curse come alive, hideous "monstrosities bred from the stock of naturally evolved creatures," created through dark magicks of the Sith.

Strayton's background for the Sithspawn was creative and witty, given the term's origin. But this was all that was ever written about these beasts. However, several years later, in 2001, Bill Slavicsek and JD Wiker wrote a wonderful Star Wars tome called the Dark Side Sourcebook, released by Wizards of the Coast, where we are introduced to a a similar concept, the Massassi Abomination. Taking a cue from scenes in the comic Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith, we are told that the ancient Dark Lord Exar Kun used Sith magic to experiment on the natives of the moon Yavin 4 (home to the Rebels in Episode IV: A New Hope, sight of the lightsaber duel between Anakin Skywalker and Asajj Ventress in the Clone Wars cartoon series, and home to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy in the years after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi***). The result was horrendous mutants prepared to do his every bidding. On the same page, we are also treated to an illustration of Sith abominations of various other species, including a Twi'lek, a Mon Calamari, a Wookiee...and a Gamorrean. Hmm...

In 1997, the year the Star Wars Special Editions were released heralding the coming of the prequels, the sequel to the popular Dark Forces PC game, Jedi Knight was released by LucasArts. In the course of the game, we are introduced to Pic and Gorc, two Dark Jedi twins. The "twins" idea looks like it was mildly inspired by the Danny DeVito/Governor Schwarzenegger comedy vehicle by the same name, with one of the baddies being pint-sized and the other a behemoth of brobdingnagian proportions. As the smart-mouth Jedi-in-training Kyle Katarn, you must duel and defeat these two pig-snouted "Brothers of the Sith."

Pig-snouted Brothers of the Sith, eh? Hmm...

Sounds like a winner! When writing Pic and Gorc's biographies for the Dark Forces Saga series of rpg articles, I saw an opportunity to bring back the Sithspawn concept and add a new wrinkle. Coupling two of the aliens seen in Jabba's Palace (Pic as a Kowakian lizard-monkey after Jabba's court jester and Gorc as a Gamorrean pig guard), I made these guys monsters created by Sith magic--otherwise known as Sith abominations, more formally known as Sithspawn. Establishing these guys as Sith monsters rather than disciples, this also gets us around any blatant flaunting of the Rule of Two concept for the Sith established by the prequels (Yoda: "Always two there are, no more, no less...a master and an apprentice"). There are enough Sithy characters around at this point in Star Wars literature as it is.

Lucasfilm approves it! Continuity is saved! And life as we know it in the galaxy far, far away is preserved!

All in a day's work, folks. ~ Abel G. Peņa

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***okay...and the Lost City of the Jedi.

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