Ancients

The Ancients were a race of old beings who transcended with the Force at some point before the disappearance of the Celestials. They were believed to have humble beginning as a curious race, or perhaps even collective of races, and were thought to be generally peaceful in nature. It was known that they had varied extents of sensitivity to the Force. During this time, there came to be known a handful of individuals that rose above the other Ancients and became the Nomad Souls. What transpired next was unknown, but what was discovered by later excavations in xenoarchaeology hinted at a great war between the Ancients and the reigning Celestials. The Celestials overcame the Ancients, and forced them into a metaphysical cosmic journey, effectively banishing them from the galaxy and keeping them from returning.

The Nomad Souls, however, remained unaccounted for. They remained behind to serve as guides to the other galactic species, after the Celestials had disappeared. During this time, the Nomad Souls became divided on the methods to this guidance. Rahk'neqah continued on with the goals that had lead the Ancients to banishment - what became known as the Cycle of Chaos; total chaos through war and destruction. There was one Nomad Soul, however, who believed in manipulating the events of the galaxy in subtle ways, to allow for it to evolve on its own in a more ordered and regimented way, thus promoting a more natural growth. This became known to the Nomad Souls as the Eternal War.

This cycle continued with the galaxy, happening in various ways. Rahk'neqah placed the claim that the Cycle of Chaos often occurred with putting the Sith forward as scapegoats to performing his will. Both sides believed that they were helping the people better themselves through the promotion of life. Rahk'neqah and his followers, however, believed that some must be sacrificed for the greater good, forcing evolution on the rest of the galaxy by means of survival of the fittest.

As time passed, the galaxy forgot about the Ancients, and what was left to be known of them turned into rumors and legends. By the time of the Clone Wars, all evidence of the race had been forgotten, lost, or destroyed, and with it all memory of even their names. It wasn't until 19 ABY, when a Jedi Knight named Reina Krailles with a xenoarcheologist named Kytra Dorien, uncovered evidence that pointed toward the existence of this race. Further leads indicated that it started out as a peaceful race, until it was warped into a malevolent and destructive entity bent on purging the galaxy of all forms of "weakness," which is what prompted the Celestials into action.

Rahk'neqah, the leading figurehead of the extremist Nomad Souls, held the belief that the Ancients needed to return, to finish what they had begun. With the largest threats to their return exterminated through his and his faction's machinations, it set the stage to finally bring about the return of his race, and the final Galactic Purge. Rahk'neqah saw himself as a form of a prophet, fulfilling his destiny as the one that would return the Ancients to their former glory and take back their rightful place in the galaxy. Over the millennia, his views of the Cycle of Chaos became perverted to the point that he believed all others to be weak, and only him and his kind fit to survive in the galaxy.

He found the ideal host in one Cadden Blackthorne. Over a decade before Blackthorne became Darth Trayus, Rahk'neqah established the seed to his fall to the dark side, carefully planning his ascension by putting a piece of his consciousness in Cadden's mind. When the Cult of Shadow successfully attacked Onderon, Rahk'neqah found that point in Faarel Blackthorne's death, and through his subtle suggestions to Cadden, he successfully turned him into Darth Trayus and the rise of the Crimson Empire.

As the Crimson Empire became stronger, Rahk'neqah worked to establish Trayus's successor as one of the other Nomad Souls that shared his beliefs. The time for Trayus's defeat was at hand, and before the Jedi could strip him of the Force, Rahk'neqah violently ripped himself from Blackthorne, a process that nearly killed the fallen Jedi. Cadden had done everything that Rahk'neqah had planned for him.

After this event, Rahk'neqah disappeared, and a new figurehead, the Nomad Soul named Asan'aton, took the throne of the Crimson Empire from Darth Invictus. Subsequently, another Nomad Soul named Vor'salis claimed the Cylon territories. The time was nearing when the Ancients would return, and the Cycle of Chaos would finally end.