Savage Opress

Betrayed and left for dead by her former Master, Asajj Ventress sought a pawn in her game of revenge against Count Dooku. The Nightsister witches live in dominance over the Nightbrothers, warrior men on the far side of the planet. Asajj arrived at their village to select a candidate to be her warrior. Savage and his brother Feral, were among the chosen.

Asajj tested the warriors in three trials of strength and ability. Savage spent more energy in protecting his brother than attacking Ventress. Savage surrendered himself to Asajj on the promise that she would spare Feral. Though Asajj saw this as a weakness, she was impressed by Savage's fighting style. She accepted his service, and brought him before Mother Talzin.

Mother Talzin's darkest magic reshaped Savage into a hulking warrior fueled by rage. As a test of his devotion, Talzin ordered him to kill his beloved brother. Savage grabbed Feral by the throat and squeezed the life out of him. Savage's last shreds of nobility were replaced by dark anger. He became an evil monster, pawn of the Nightsisters.

Mother Talzin delivered Savage to Count Dooku on Serenno. The Sith Lord was impressed by Opress' towering form, but knew he had a long path ahead of him if he was to be a Sith apprentice. As a test of his abilities, Dooku dispatched Savage to Devaron, where he singlehandedly destroyed the Jedi and clones defending the Temple of Eedit.

Count Dooku was pleased with Savage's power. Dooku began training him with a double-ended lightsaber, similar to the style used by Darth Maul. Though Dooku taught Savage how to wield the dark side, he was careful not to divulge all his secrets to his apprentice. A Sith Master must retain an advantage over an ambitious apprentice.

Dooku sent Savage to capture King Katuunko, regent of Toydaria, who had in the past rejected alliances with the Separatists. Savage easily cut past the Toydarian guards and seized the king, but in his aggression, he failed to keep the king alive.

Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived on Toydaria, but could not stop Opress. He bowled past the Jedi, escaping in his vessel, but the Jedi gave chase all the way to Count Dooku's frigate. They followed Savage aboard, but lost track of him as he made his way before his Master.

Dooku was enraged that Savage had failed, but this concern was set aside as greater problems emerged. Asajj appeared aboard the vessel, and activated the spell that ensured Savage's deep loyalty to the Nightsisters. Savage and Ventress attacked Dooku. Three red-bladed lightsabers crossed as the dark trio battled for dominance. Dooku's Sith mastery barely gave him the edge over his former apprentices.

Dooku repeatedly blasted Savage with Force lightning, an attack against which the warrior had no defense. Beaten and wounded, Savage's fury overshadowed his loyalty to Asajj, and he lashed out against her as well. Savage then battered his way back to the frigate's hangar, past Obi-Wan and Anakin. The weary warrior had no interest in conquest, only escape.

Wounded and fatigued, Savage returned to Dathomir and Mother Talzin, searching for a new focus. Talzin had more plots to hatch. She revealed to Savage that he had another brother, living in exile in the Outer Rim, who he must seek out. In her crystal ball through which she saw all, an image emerged that looked uncannily like the Sith Lord Darth Maul...

Savage scoured the distant reaches of the civilized galaxy, following a tenuous trail with the amulet given to him by Mother Talzin. From a docking station on Stobar, Savage found clues that led him to the junk world of Lotho Minor.

Savage braved the treacherous landscape and denizens of the junk planet in his search. A serpentine guide named Morley promised to unite Savage with his long lost brother, luring him into a trap that sent Opress crashing into a dark cave.

From the cave emerged a raving horror -- an emaciated half-humanoid unnaturally grafted to a mechanical arachnid, animated by insanity and the dark side of the Force. This is what had become of Darth Maul -- a feral monstrosity robbed of all reason, but who could somehow focus on the concept of revenge against Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Savage brought the broken Maul back home to Dathomir, where Mother Talzin used her Nightsister magicks to restore his sanity and body. Now whole, Maul embarked on his grandiose plan that befit a Sith Lord -- a plan of conquest that would see the destruction of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Savage accompanied Maul to Raydonia, where the resurrected Sith Lord slaughtered innocent colonists in an attempt to lure Obi-Wan. Kenobi arrived to confront Maul, but was surprised to find Savage there. Opress overpowered Kenobi, and the two brothers brought the unconscious Jedi aboard their starship. Maul wanted his revenge to last -- he wanted Kenobi to suffer as Maul had suffered for over a decade.

Obi-Wan was rescued by a surprise ally: Asajj Ventress. The former assassin had become a bounty hunter, and was attempting to bag the bounty on Savage's head. Asajj and Obi-Wan fought side-by-side against the Sith brothers. They escaped, leaving Savage and Maul empty-handed. But Maul had larger plans that had only just begin.

Maul and Savage embarked on a scourge across the Outer Rim, killing Jedi Knights and innocents in their path.

Maul made sure Savage understood his place in the Sith hierarchy. Though Savage wanted to rule equally with his brother, Maul reminded Savage of the rule of the Sith: that one must be Master, and the other an apprentice. Maul was growing in power, and Savage had no choice but to bow to his brother.

For his plans of conquest, Maul would need an army. He and Savage coerced a group of Weequay pirates to overthrow the leadership of Hondo Ohnaka on Florrum.

Jedi Masters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia tracked the Sith brothers to Florrum. In the duel that followed, Savage overpowered Adi, impaling her with his crown of horns and then skewering her with his lightsaber.

Obi-Wan picked up Adi Gallia's fallen lightsaber and fended off the Sith brothers. Savage's inexperience proved costly as Obi-Wan was able to sever the Sith apprentice's arm.

The pirates, also, had turned on the Sith, forcing them to retreat. Savage and Maul hurriedly escaped Florrum. Their plan for domination would need to wait as they recovered.

The near frozen bodies of Maul and Savage were discovered by Death Watch. A curious Pre Vizsla brought the incapacitated Sith brothers back to his camp on Zanbar.

There, medical droids rebuilt Maul's ruined legs, replacing them with a pair of humanoid limbs, and gave Savage a mechanical arm. Maul allied with Pre Vizsla, part of his plan to build a base of power in the criminal underworld by exploiting Death Watch's crusade to retake Mandalore.

Maul began forging his Shadow Collective crime empire by usurping the leadership of Black Sun. Savage killed the leadership council of Black Sun in one blow -- he threw his double-ended lightsaber across a Black Sun conference table, decapitating the five gangsters gathered.

Maul's plot soon attracted other criminal elements, like the Pykes. He next targeted the Hutt clans, launching an assault of the Hutt Grand Council on Nal Hutta. There, he and Savage met stiff resistance from a team of elite bounty hunters.

With the Shadow Collective fully formed, Maul and Vizsla arranged a staged attack on Mandalore. The Pyke Syndicate and Black Sun were ordered to attack the people of Sundari, and Savage led a robbery of the Mandalore Banking Center. It was all theater, but positioned Death Watch as saviors when they stopped all threats.

Vizsla, however, betrayed the Nightbrothers shortly after taking control of the planet, imprisoning the Sith. Yet Maul and Savage escaped. Maul challenged Vizsla to a duel and killed the Death Watch leader.

Now in control of the planet, Maul also captured his nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Seeking to cause the Jedi pain, he murdered Duchess Satine in cold blood. The act, however, attracted the attention of the Sith’s former Master.

Darth Sidious soon arrived on Mandalore, declaring the Sith brothers to be rivals. He dueled them both at once, and stabbed Savage through. As he died, Mother Talzin’s dark magicks faded from Savage’s being, and he returned to his previous form. With his last words, Opress told Maul, “Brother, I am an unworthy apprentice. I'm not like you. I never was.”