Dark Force 71
Maryetta Worm
The Dark Force cult emerged nearly a thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. At the time, the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith were Darth Cognus and her disciple, the three-eyed mutant Darth Millennial. As members of the Banite Sith, they followed the Rule of Two, which decreed that only two Sith could exist at any given time: the master and his or her apprentice. Millennial, however, came to find that doctrine too restrictive. While he had often been at odds with his master, Millennial rebelled against the teachings of Cognus once too many. Barely escaping the confrontation with Cognus, Millennial took refuge on Dromund Kaas, a planet that had long history with the Sith. In his new haven, Millennial kept meditating on the teachings of the Sith while also studying the works of Plaristes and Dak Ramis, two controversial philosophers who had lived over 25,000 years earlier.[2]
Millennial came to regard himself as a prophet chosen by the will of the Force itself. He founded a new sect he called the Dark Force, anointing himself the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side. His philosophy, which drew on Millennial's Sith roots as well as on Plaristes' and Ramis' writings, started to attract many followers. While some of the new cultists were intellectually brilliant, many of them were much more nave. At any rate, those who called into question the Dark Force tenets were condemned to death for heresy.[2]When Millennial ended up passing away, his cult survived him.[2] In the second century before the Battle of Yavin, even a Jedi Padawan named Kibh Jeen was seduced by the Dark Force's philosophy,[2] although he was taken down in a space battle[3] in 181 BBY.[4] At some point, the fallen Jedi Kadann and his pupil Jedgar traveled to Dromund Kaas, where they discovered the Dark Force Temple. The two elected to join the cult.[5]
At some point before the fall of the Galactic Republic, the Dark Force prophets were visited by Darth Sidious, the last of the Banite Sith. Intrigued by the prophets' unique view of the Force and interested in their ucanny ability to predict the future, Sidious decided to turn them to his service. He convinced Prophet Kadann that the future he saw was not his, that he was only a messenger. By serving him and his long-percolating scheme to rule the galaxy, the Prophets of the Dark Side would fulfill their true mission.[5] By pleding allegiance to Sidious, the clergymen of the Dark Force were brought back into the fold of the Banite Sith.[2] Sidious annexed the Prophets as his advisors, and Kadann was appointed the Supreme Prophet of the Dark Side. Some years later, Sidious' plans came to fruition as he replaced the Galactic Republic with his First Galactic Empire.[6]
With the advent of his New Order, the Sith Lord turned Galactic Emperor named the prophets the Emperor's Mages, collectively forming the Secret Order of the Empire. Many of the Emperor's Dark Jedi, Jedi-hunting Inquisitors, Force-sensitive military officers, and Emperor's Hands received their first exposure to the dark side by studying the Dark Force religion on Dromund Kaas under the tutelage of the Prophets.[2] While Kadann remained the Supreme Prophet, other significant figures emerged in the cult. Among them was Lord Cronal, a particularly cruel and twisted Human warlock[7] who may have been sired by a Dathomiri witch.[8] The former Jedi archaeologist Jerec also studied the Dark Force religion, and he cultivated a close bond with Cronal.[9] Finally, Kadann's apprentice Jedgar was named High Prophet.[2]
Although Palpatine had appointed Kadann to the position of Supreme Prophet, the man's true loyalty still lay with the Dark Force. Prior to the Battle of Endor, Kadann's visions indicated a probable restoration of balance to the Force. While that prophecy did not settle well with Palpatine, Kadann refused to compromise. He was forced to flee the Emperor's wrath with some of the Mages, while others remained behind with the Emperor. Those who sided with the Emperor were led by Lord Cronal.[7] As Kadann and his ecclesiastic followers fled to their Supreme Prophet's stronghold on Bosthirda, the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas was abandoned.[10]
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A new theory that suggests dark matter is made up of particles that strongly interact with each other via a so-called "dark force." If true, this may finally explain the extreme densities we see in dark matter haloes surrounding galaxies.
"The first is a high-density dark matter halo in a massive elliptical galaxy. The halo was detected through observations of strong gravitational lensing, and its density is so high that it is extremely unlikely in the prevailing cold dark matter theory," Hai-Bo Yu, team leader and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, said in a statement.
The only way that researchers can infer the existence of dark matter at all, in fact, is because it has mass and thus interacts with gravity. This effect can be "felt" by baryonic matter we can indeed see and by light, which astronomers are definitely able to observe.
More specifically, when light travels past these dark matter-wrapped galaxies from background sources, the substance's influence on the fabric of space diverts the light's path and, in turn, makes the background sources appear "shifted" to new locations in space.
To tackle this puzzle, Yu and colleagues, including the University of Southern California postdoctoral researchers Ethan Nadler and Daneng Yang, constructed high-resolution simulations of cosmic structures that are based on actual astronomical observations.
"These self-interactions lead to heat transfer in the halo, which diversifies the halo density in the central regions of galaxies," Nadler explained. "In other words, some halos have higher central densities, and others have lower central densities, compared to their cold dark matter counterparts, with details depending on the cosmic evolution history and environment of individual halos."
"Cold dark matter is challenged to explain these puzzles. SIDM is arguably the compelling candidate to reconcile the two opposite extremes," Yang added. "Now there is an intriguing possibility that dark matter may be more complex and vibrant than we expected."
The team thinks their research also provides an example of the analytical power of uniting real observations of the universe, which grow in detail with each new generation of telescope, with the burgeoning power of artificial intelligence.
"We hope our work encourages more studies in this promising research area," Yu said. "It will be a particularly timely development given the expected influx of data in the near future from astronomical observatories, including the James Webb Space Telescope and upcoming Rubin Observatory."
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After decades of studying dark matter scientists have repeatedly found evidence of what it cannot be but very few signs of what it is. That might have just changed. A study of four colliding galaxies for the first time suggests that the dark matter in them may be interacting with itself through some unknown force other than gravity that has no effect on ordinary matter. The finding could be a significant clue as to what comprises the invisible stuff that is thought to contribute 24 percent of the universe.
Now scientists led by Richard Massey at Durham University in England report in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society1 the first signs that dark forces and dark bosons might really exist. Researchers used the MUSE (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer) instrument on the Very Large Telescope in Chile, along with the Hubble Space Telescope to examine the Abell 3827 cluster, where four galaxies are colliding in a cosmic car wreck.
"The first is a high-density dark matter halo in a massive elliptical galaxy. The halo was detected through observations of strong gravitational lensing, and its density is so high that it is extremely unlikely in the prevailing cold dark matter theory," Hai-Bo Yu, team leader and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, Riverside, said in a statement.
Due to recent developments, please be aware that the use of large language model or generative AIs in writing article content is strictly forbidden. This caveat has now been added to the Manual of Style and Blocking Policy.
Darkforce is the name given to a negative energy that is the counterpart to the Lightforce, drawn from a dimension nicknamed the "Darkforce Dimension", and may have some form of sentience.[1] Some mutates, mutants and Inhumans can tap into this energy naturally,[2][3][4][5] while normal Humans may learn to call it up magically[6][7][8][9] or even technologically such as Smuggler.[10] Aliens could also gain access to the Darkforce, as seen with Black Light, Nightside, X'iv and others.[11][12][13][14] Like other negative energies, Darkforce is easy to learn but hard to control. Darkforce can have a bewildering variety of effects, and its users can control differing aspects of it, so some time passed before it became apparent that all these phenomena had a single source.[15]
The Darkforce dimension has no formal name, few known inhabitants, and no known points of reference. Its most obvious (and perhaps only) characteristic is darkness: not simply an empty place that has no light but a medium that absorbs light. This "dark matter" may only be what humans can perceive of an alien universe. Normal light sources are practically useless, and magical sources have limited range and power. The same absorption applies to heat and even life essence. Those who enter the Darkforce dimension without protection feel coldness and, in time, lethargy. Prolonged exposure to Darkforce in our dimension can have the same effects.[16] It could nullify its counterpart, the Lightforce,[17][18] and even trained people's chi.[19]