A "normal" sith childhood

[CloudCastle]

What does this look like, exactly? At what age do kids get sent to Korriban? Do they start training while still at home? What age is considered "too old"? Are they tested for force-sensitivity as babies?

 

Yeah, I have a lot of questions.

 

All I can find is some vague info on jedi training, but even that is very contradictory. I heard that it they must be discovered at a very young age, or else it's too late, yet you meet at least one NPC on Tython who is an adult and says she only just discovered her force-sensitivity. And in the smuggler story:

 

 

Guss tells you that the jedi tried to train him when he was already older (he complains about being bossed around by little kid padawans.)

 

[Roodbot]

Both Sith and Jedi are sent for training when their Force sensitivity is discovered.

 

The Empire seems more likely to have Force-sensitives slip through the cracks. The Sith have historically been more interested in fighting each other than getting more Sith to fight. With the coming war, this seems to have changed, leading to the recruitment of the Sith Warrior and the admittance of the Sith Inquisitor.

 

There may be some leniency for 'special' cases; the Sith Warrior is at least adolescent and certainly has been aware of his or her powers for some amount of time. Given this fact and the additional mentions of the Sith Warrior's heritage, I would postulate that in cases where young Imperial Force-sensitives are in a position where there is an option (through family influence) to delay entry to the Academy, this may take place. This would give the hypothetical Force-sensitive time to gain some modicum of preliminary knowledge (at-home Sith kindergarten) and also to grow stronger before joining the competition at the Academy.

 

In short: it depends. Maybe you're really unlucky; you live completely normally until you get grabbed off the street, thrown on a shuttle to Korriban, and handed off to some Master or another for some training before your Trial. Maybe you're lucky; you grow up knowing that either you'll have a position in the military or the Sith through your family influence. When your power manifests, you get (better) training for a few years until you reach an acceptable age to say goodbye to your family and begin your Trials.

[Pubsam]

From the Agent story, Darth Jadus' apprentice was his own daughter, and you get the impression that he taught her everything she knows. She certainly certifiable enough to have had no teachers but Jadus, I find it unlikely he shipped her off to Korriban at any point.

 

It could be like Roodbot said, that young Sith from established Sith families might delay or never make it to Korriban as their parents might choose to instruct them personally.

Edited September 25, 2012 by Pubsam

[CloudCastle]

Thanks for the thoughts on this. I couldn't help wondering, and this one issue had been bugging me for a while. I've been trying to come up with some background for a few specific characters and was getting stuck on what kind of childhood they would have had.

[losdia]

About the only thing we know about this is that there is no such thing as a "Sith Youngling." Sith training has only been shown to be done with people older than their mid-teens. There are a few vague mentions that some Sith characters received some basic force training from their families, but that's about it. Although, having said that part of the Emperor's backstory is that he was a super evil little kid who killed his family at around 8 and then went to start his training. So, it is hard to tell what the norms on this really are.

[Negranit]

One of the JK companions, Kira Carsen

mentions that he was sent to Korriban to receive sith training when he was a kid, not a teen. She spend some time there and then spend about 8 years in Nar Shadaa, before meeting a jedi and starting her jedi training. She says she had trained for about 2 years already when you meet her. She still looks quite young, so I asume that she started her sith training at a very young age indeed.

[Darth_Vicente]

Bounty Hunters and agents have the option to send a very young kid (not a teen) to Korriban, and Harkun mails them back saying "Thanks, he has potential. Whiny git."

[Thebazilly]

One of the JK companions, Kira Carsen

mentions that he was sent to Korriban to receive sith training when he was a kid, not a teen. She spend some time there and then spend about 8 years in Nar Shadaa, before meeting a jedi and starting her jedi training. She says she had trained for about 2 years already when you meet her. She still looks quite young, so I asume that she started her sith training at a very young age indeed.

 

That's true, but...

 

 

Kira was also sort of a special case, being one of the "Emperor's Children." The Emperor may have wanted his special Sith forces to be trained from an earlier age.

 

 

I think it's pretty open to how you want your character's backstory to read. I can definitely see the Sith taking in young children on Korriban in order to instill the Sith Code into them from a young age. The Sith Warrior and Sith Inquisitor are both clearly adult or at least late-teens when they arrive on Korriban, however. There's not really an indication of what is "normal."

[grandmthethird]

in the "fate of the jedi" book series,

 

 

we meet the lost tribe. the lost tribe are a group of sith that have been stranded on a planet for 5000 years, they have had no contact from the outside. the lost tribe have tried to keep many of the old sith traditions alive. they have their own dark council, and all the internal power plays you see in the old republic era

 

now keep in mind that over 5000 years things would be lost and forgotten, but i believe the way the lost tribe are with their apprentices is probably a good place to make comparisons with the SWTOR way of doing things. so the lost tribe take those children worthy of become sith away from their familys and put them in a kinda training academy when they reach there teens, the teens are then put through rigorous training for a couple of years, and at the end of it if they are lucky and alive they might then be picked to become an apprentice.

 

[huggaa]

I don't think age matters much to the sith it more of when you find out your force sensitive your going to sith camp even if the have to force you.

 

I remember a mission where you go into cave 51 i think and it turns out the Republic is hiding force sensitive people till they can get them off world because they are young and old and will not survive the trainning.

[Meepbot]

From what i can tell, more "priviliged" sith, with a better heritage, are trained from a young age before actually entering the academy, as would be indicated by some things the Sith Warrior says, as well as Ffon in the inquisitor story. Ffon says something along the lines of "You cant expect him to be equal with me in intellect, Ive trained under the best teachers--" indicating that some sith who have a better heritage have access to early training. Edited September 26, 2012 by Meepbot

[Sonnak]

The Jedi prefer to train it's padawans from a young age. The sole reason behinde that is to build them to the Jedi way and not have to fix what society put onto the child growing up.

 

Take Anakin Skywalker for example. Due to growing up in a non jedi society he gathered unto himself what was right and wrong based on the society he lived in. Thus taking into the way of the Jedi he found it way to restrictive with his abilities.

 

Anakin goes off to slaughter the Tusken Raiders who brutally tortured his mother. Acting out on his emotions that Jedi are trained not to act on. This is the prime example as to why the Jedi do not like taking anyone but children into the order. They do but it is not common place during the Old Republic era. The New Jedi Order took up many of force sensatives during its time regardless of age simply due to the fact it was lacking in actual numbers and needed to replenish it's ranks.

 

Sith on the other hand. They take anyone of any age regardless. They do not care if your a child or a teen or the such. If you are strong and can use the force they will be happy to bring you in. Most of the time the one adding you to the ranks is probably using you for his/her own personnal gain of some kind but that is aside the point.

 

A child brought to the Sith would most likely , "in my opinion" be one hell of a ruthless individual looking out for himself/herself with little to no care of others around them since the Sith believe in the old saying of, "Only the Strong Survive". So this child would build a survival instinct while honing his/her Force abilities and always attempt to set himself/herself on a marker of power as time progresses as most Sith do.

[GreyLisa]

The lead writer wrote on the forums pre-launch that the sith are quite family focused.

So my guess that is that a high standing sith would not waste their force sensitive children by sending them to Korriban too early instead have private training with them to make sure they get an edge over the other students

 

Daniel Erickson wrote:

 

For the last thousand years the Sith Empire has needed stability and growth more than anything else. That means alliances that prevent power struggles. It means encouraging the creation of more children. Which in turn means marriage and a focus on family.

 

Where once the individual was judged largely alone, bloodlines are now incredibly socially important. A Sith from a long line of powerful Sith will find his path through the Academy easier, his opportunities increased. A family with no Force-users who suddenly find themselves with a Force-sensitive child will sacrifice everything they have to get them martial training and mental discipline coaches - for if that child passes the Academy and becomes Sith the entire family will rocket to the penultimate social class in Imperial society, side by side with moffs and governors, second only to Sith themselves.

 

Marriage among the Sith is usually between only two people and is often to forge a political alliance. Marriages of love do happen often among the lower ranked Sith but decrease the closer the Lord is to the top of the pyramid-shaped power structure. Marriages between Sith and non-Sith are rare as the Sith believe it dilutes the chance of a Force-sensitive offspring. It is a common, though unspoken of practice, for Sith parents to kill a non Force-sensitive offspring and deny it ever existed, claiming the baby was stillborn, etc. A Sith with openly non Force-sensitive offspring is believed to be admitting the thinness of the blood in his or her family line.

 

Adultery is common among the Sith but officially illegal. Divorce is strongly frowned upon but killing one's spouse for adultery or any other provable offense is socially acceptable. The one time you see obligatory divorce is when a member of the Dark Council breaks a couple apart to stop the assimilation of too much power in one place.

 

http://unjoe.yuku.com/sreply/202490/Star-Wars-The-Old-Republic-MMO#.UGTJelFmr5g

[CloudCastle]

Thank you! This is all so interesting. It's really getting me thinking about some character backgrounds.