An assassin trained in the ways of the dark side by Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress yearned to be considered a true Sith, but such status wasn't allowed under the Sith's Rule of Two. Ventress fought with twin red-bladed lightsabers, and clashed with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker many times. But her destiny would not lie with the Sith. After Dooku rejected her as his apprentice and tried to kill her, Ventress returned to her roots as a Nightsister, made a living as a bounty hunter, and – in the strangest twist of all – rediscovered the way of the light that she’d rejected long ago as a Jedi Padawan.

A ravenous Karkarodon, Riff Tamson was a ruthless Separatist commander placed in charge of operations on the water world of Mon Cala. Count Dooku tasked him to disrupt the fragile peace between the Mon Calamari and the Quarren. Though present on the planet as a Separatist envoy, he secretly conspired with Quarren chieftain Nossor Ri to bring the Quarren into the war on the side of the Confederacy. Though Nossor believed he was doing what was best for his people, he had no idea of the true extent of Tamson's wicked plans.

Purged from the otherwise complete Jedi Archives is all evidence of the mysterious world of Kamino. A lonely world beyond the Outer Rim and just south of the Rishi Maze, few could have predicted that Kamino would become a key contributor to a massive shift in political power in the final days of the Republic. Kamino is a planet of endless oceans and storms. Few features mark its surface, save for massive stilt-mounted cities wherein reside the planet's natural inhabitants, the Kaminoans. From Tipoca City, the planet's Prime Minister rules. Lama Su closely monitored the operations of Kamino's most prized export: clones.

General Grievous was a brilliant Separatist military strategist and a feared Jedi hunter, known for his ruthlessness and hacking cough. His body itself was a weapon, allowing him lightning quick strikes and devastating blows. But he was also quick to run from a fight, a tactic that worked until one final meeting with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The Confederacy of Independent Systems, also known as the Separatist Alliance, was a collection of star systems and corporate titans that left the Republic and fought for independence against the Republic’s clone armies and Jedi Knights. The charismatic former Jedi Count Dooku was the Alliance’s political leader, while its military power came from credits and assets donated by powerful galactic trade groups. No one suspected that the Alliance was actually a tool of Darth Sidious, who had engineered the Clone Wars as part of a Sith plot to rule the galaxy.