The Dread Masters; underrated?
In this thread I'm going to explain why I think the Dread Masters are heavily underrated and not at all respected in a manner they deserve.
Firstly, the Dread Masters' extreme mastery of the dark side due to their nigh immortality is massively overlooked:
"The Dread Masters, terrifying Sith Lords of incalculable power."
―Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
"The Dread Masters possess incredible, unprecedented power over the dark side of the Force."
―Dread Master Styrak Codex Entry
"The Dread Masters use the Force like no other Sith."
―Barsen'thor
"Powers such as theirs cannot be contained."
―Darth Nox
Their powers were harnessed from mastering and perfecting the Phobis Devices, artifacts of incredible power:
"Fear is a powerful weapon, and those who wield it can rule the galaxy. The Phobis devices were constructed for just that purpose. Brimming with dark energy, their mere presence was enough to spark crippling horror in the bravest of minds. Many Sith who meditated on the devices were driven mad by their attempt. Only the lost Sith Dread Masters successfully harnessed and perfected the Phobis devices' frightening power."
―Phobis Devices Codex Entry
"Their name was earned when they studied the power of the Phobis devices, artifacts that have driven even the most depraved Sith mad with terror. "
―The Dread Masters Codex Entry
The power of the Phobis Devices is enough to drive up to a trillion people insane and cause mass dark side corruption, warping planets as Oricon was:
"Our ships will deliver our devices across the galaxy; Dromund Kaas, Nar Shaddaa, Coruscant. Populations will be infected and planets overgrown."
- Calphayus, The Dread War
Millions of Sith
- Kaas City Codex Entry
Population: 85,000,000,000
- Nar Shaddaa, The Essential Atlas
Population: 1,000,000,000,000
- Coruscant: Center of the Galaxy
This insanity was completely and utterly irreversible:
"Our research suggests that very few members of this force are willing volunteers; most are former Republic and Imperial personnel whose minds have been irreparably dominated by the power of the Dread Masters. Efforts to question or treat captured members of the Dread Host have been entirely unsuccessful. The constant psychological manipulations of the Dread Masters have rendered their followers both completely loyal and incurably, paranoically insane."
―Master Gnost-Dural, A Record of the Dread Masters
The madness was so deep that a subject could take ten blaster shot holes through them without dying or feeling any pain:
"He’d passed all the psych tests, resisted every mind-altering device and chemical they could find. Plenty of qualifications... I never got to ask them how things went from bad to nightmarish; he’d spread pieces of them all over the place by the time I got there. The guards were dead, too, but just the normal, murdered kind of dead. I guess they didn’t merit the special treatment, even though they must’ve shot the kid five times apiece. He was just standing there, full of holes, smiling that same shiny kid smile he had when they first brought him in."
―Jonas Balkar, The Search for Oricon
With this new power, they became nigh-immortal, centuries-old human Sith Lords:
"Once, we were mortals, and we dreamed of mortal things. Now we are beyond man, woman, or Sith."
―Dread Master Bestia
"Our union has transcended death."
―Dread Master Calphayus
The powers they harnessed through mastery of the Phobis devices, converted the planet of Oricon into a hellacious dark side nexus of immeasurable power:
"Oricon is a remote moon that is immeasurably strong with the dark side. Perhaps this is because the legendary Phobis devices are housed on Oricon."
―Star Wars: The Old Republic Official Website
"Oricon was affected by the Dread Masters. "
―The Emperor's Wrath
Raptus was capable of offensively teleporting a strike team across Oricon:
Calphayus was single-handedly capable of seeing many threads of the future simultaneously and prevented many disasters:
"For centuries, his visions of what might come to pass spared the Sith Empire from slave rebellions, Republic ambushes and internal disruptions many times over. As Calphayus sees the threads of many futures that might come to pass at any one time, it can be difficult for most to comprehend his insights."
―Dread Master Calphayus Codex Entry
The Phobis Devices and the Dread Masters themselves are one-in-the-same:
"Why didn't the Emperor or Revan use the Phobis Devices?""Only the Dread Masters could use them, they're intertwined. The union transformed them into a manifestation of the device's power. It's why they are still so powerful when you release them on Belsavis despite one being locked away in the Dark Temple."
- Hall Hood, SWTOR 3.0 Twitch Event Chat
They're capable of using teleportation against entire strike teams in combat; they can inflict mass incurable insanity on entire planets; can turn planets into hellish warped dark side worlds; and have achieved a degree of immortality.
I'm not attempting to claim they stomp Yoda or anything of the sort, but they deserve massive respect.