Originally posted by The_Tempest
Telepathy clearly isn't restricted by physical proximity. He needn't have moved energies anywhere; all he need have done is draw on them to increase the power of his influence and perhaps his range as well.
It's more complex than that, tbh.
First, I'll take you back to when Revan first discovered Malachor. He was unaware of the true nature of the world until he reached the surface. It's clearly not affecting ships or Jedi in space when Revan didn't realize it was a dark side world until he reached the surface. When he reached the surface, he discovered how powerful it truly was.
Once there, on Malachor V, "he fell deeper into the Dark Side. He learned of the location and the true nature of Korriban, he learned of the location of other Sith artifacts, and he learned how those strong in the light side of the Force could be seduced and made to see the strength inherent in the Sith teachings. He had discovered a world that held one purpose - to teach and train others in the ways of the Sith. He had discovered a weapon that he could use against the Mandalorians, and a weapon by which he could convert more Jedi to his cause."
This takes us to game-day.
The Battle of Malachor V was one of the deadliest and influential battles in galactic history. It marked the end of the Mandalorians as a galactic threat for the rest of time, and set the scene for the Jedi Civil Wars and First Jedi Purge. The entire battle was manipulated by Revan alone to...
1.) Eradicate the Mandalorian armada from the face of the galaxy for history.
2.) Gain an army of Jedi and Republic followers with unyielding loyalty to him.
The plan itself was highly complex and was planned by Revan since his first encounter with Malachor V.
"Master, I do not believe that the Mandalorians were the true target at Malachor. I believe that the intention was to destroy the Jedi, break their will, and make them loyal to Revan. I do not know if you examined the records of the deaths on Malachor, but you cannot escape that many of the Jedi and Republic soldiers who died were not Revan's strongest supporters. I believe that Revan was "cleaning house" at Malachor V. What ones did not die became Revan's allies against the Republic."
―HK-47 (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords)
As the game canonically says, "It is no coincidence that the Republic fleet at Malachor was composed of soldiers and Jedi whose loyalties to Revan were in doubt." Before the Battle of Malachor V, Revan split his fleet in two. He gave Meetra Surik the "tattered remains" of a portion of his armada, whose soldiers' loyalties were in doubt through the horrors of war and loss. The soldiers that remained with him were the ones he had molded into unwavering loyalty. Upon seeing the "damaged, weakened and vulnerable" armada led by Meetra Surik, the Mandalorians quickly followed them. As Revan planned, she lured them to Malachor V. Malachor V was a forbidden world to the Mandalorians - a cultural taboo that Revan used against them. If you recall, Malachor V was also a planet that contained immense dark side energies Revan planned to use against both fleets.
The battle began with Revan's fleet conveniently delayed by a mere Mandalorian scouting party. This setback was however Revan's intentions. He needed to join the battle with the Republic on the losing end of the spectrum for the next phase of the plan to effectively work. Bao-Dur, the creator of the Mass Shadow Generator, describes that, before Revan arrived, the Mandalorian forces "tore into us like beasts, shredding our ships to scrap as we fought back."
""Revan used the Trayus Academy to influence the battle above Malachor V, using its power to affect the tide of battle and corrupt others to the Sith. "
―Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords
When Revan arrived with the bulk of the Republic fleet at his back, the Mandalorians realized they have been tricked. Revan used the Force to call upon the dark side energies of Malachor V and the Trayus Academy, and then released the energies against both fleets. The dark side power turned the side of the conflict while also corrupting hundreds of Jedi into his Sith minions.
The feat is both a mixture of Revan's telepathic powers and tutaminis, imo. Firstly, we know he affected the Mandalorian fleet drastically. I'm not sure a dark side nexus affects non-Force sensitives, so it's safe to say he was doing a lot of that manually. However we also know that all his own Jedi were affected, and turned into Sith simultaneously. By the looks of it, Revan either moved the nexus up to orbit because, as we covered earlier, the Jedi clearly can't feel the nexus of the planet from orbit, or Revan telepathically influenced the Jedi to feel the presence of Malachor down below given the fact they all felt it at the same time. Either way, it's an incredible feat.
Your theory that Revan used the nexus to influence the fleet is possible, however, like Nephthys said, we know that the Jedi were ultimately influenced by the "planet." It's possible the quote simply means the "planet" as in Revan is getting the energies from the planet and thus Malachor is affecting them indirectly. While I disagree with your theory, it still portrays Revan as enormously powerful, so I shall allow it. 😮💨