A member of the Jedi Council before the blockade of Naboo, Sifo-Dyas believed the galaxy would soon be plunged into war, and agitated for the Republic to create an army for its defense. After the other Jedi rejected his ideas and removed him from the council, he secretly contacted the Kaminoans and commissioned them to create a clone army, which he led the Kaminoans to believe was for the Republic. In doing so, Sifo-Dyas became an unwitting pawn of the Sith, who took over the project and hired the Pyke Syndicate to murder Sifo-Dyas on Oba Diah’s moon. A decade after Sifo-Dyas’ death, Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered the army he had commissioned, now ready for duty. The Jedi took control of this army on Supreme Chancellor Palpatine’s orders, setting the Clone Wars in motion.

During the Clone Wars, the Pykes became the galaxy’s preeminent spice dealers, gaining control of mining operations on Kessel and funneling illicit substances to Coruscant’s most influential crime families. The Pykes’ stronghold is Oba Diah, but they are a powerful presence on nearby Kessel. Pyke sentinels keep a close watch on miners sentenced to extract spice and coaxium from Kessel, as well as on the smugglers hired to ferry these valuable cargos to offworld purification plants and refineries.

A well-meaning civil servant whose chancellorship was hampered by corruption in the Senate and bureaucratic snarls, Valorum secretly turned to the Jedi Knights for help breaking the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo. But Valorum was betrayed by Naboo's Senator Palpatine, who maneuvered Queen Amidala into asking the Senate for a no-confidence vote in the Supreme Chancellor's leadership. A stunned Valorum was removed from office in favor of Palpatine.

Count Dooku was a menacing Sith Lord and central figure in the Clone Wars. Once a Jedi -- trained by Yoda -- he became disillusioned with the Jedi Order and thirsted for greater power. Dooku voluntarily left the light side behind and became Darth Sidious’ dark side disciple, taking the secret name Darth Tyranus and leading the Separatist army. Dooku advanced Sidious’s secret plot to take over the galaxy, but forgot that betrayal is the nature of the Sith.

During the Clone Wars, Lom Pyke was the leader of a syndicate of spice dealers known as the Pykes. Operating out of Oba Diah, they controlled the lucrative trade that delivered spice to the ruling crime families of the lower levels of Coruscant. His spice-stained grin and hands suggested that he was more than just a dealer of the contraband substance. Sensing profit and opportunity to expand his operations, Lom allied his forces with Darth Maul's growing Shadow Collective.

The Pykes ran their affairs from the planet Oba Diah, where they dwelled in decadent luxury among mountain crags and busy spaceports where much illicit cargo changed hands. During the Clone Wars, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi came to Oba Diah, where they investigated a conspiracy leading back more than a decade. They discovered the Pykes had shot down a shuttle belonging to the Jedi Master Sifo-Dyas on their planet’s moon and given Sifo-Dyas’s body to Count Dooku, known to them as Tyranus, in return for his assistance against other crime families. But the Pykes didn’t tell Dooku that Supreme Chancellor Valorum’s aide Silman had survived the crash, and kept him locked away as insurance. The Pykes gave Silman to Anakin and Obi-Wan, but Dooku arrived and killed Silman before he could be questioned.