Following Thedek as Grand Master was Archibald Zoraan, a Consul of Tarentum. His reign was marked by nothing more than a few notable Dark Council appointments, minor revisions to the Dark Side Compendium, and updates to the Shadow Academy. In all other things, Zoraan preferred to act as an esoteric, a foreboding Grand Master; essentially, he was far better acting as Grand Master than being Grand Master. Ultimately, the membership had had enough, and protests began. Zoraan ruthlessly crushed such opposition, twisting existing legal policy and the words in the Dark Side Compendium to his will, and using the Envoys as spies to find dissenters.
In the end, however, the then Executive Officer, Alan Kawolski, and Grand Admiral Ronin intervened, but were met with resistance. Claiming that the Dark Brotherhood was still a "sister organization," Zoraan attempted to dissolve the Emperor's Hammer's hold on the Brotherhood.
Zoraan's attempt at secession failed, however, and he was deposed. Sadly, he managed to wipe most of Thedek's archives before being ousted, setting the Brotherhood back a great deal.
- This is what the former Grand Master had to say on the matter
Zoraan's Dissent
- On a rather . . . interesting note, the next Grand Master of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood will not -- as previously believed -- be "appointed" by the EH Executive Officer. Rather, I am invoking my right as the still-reigning Grand Master of the DB to call for a process of election, by which the Dark Council will determine the identity of my successor.
- As many of the older Dark Brethren will know and remember, the Dark Brotherhood is not a subordinate, subjugated SubGroup of the Emperor's Hammer, and nor was it ever. We are, in fact, an independent sister-organization which is under the EH banner as part of an extreme form of alliance -- one that was intended to forever bind together our organizations. This, including rights that the DB retains as a result of its independent status, remain reflected in both the Dark Side Compendium and Emperor's Hammer's own Training Manual to this day.
- In recent dealings, the Emperor's Hammer -- specifically, the EH's representative Sector Admiral Kawolski -- has attempted to single-handedly revoke the DB's special status without any negotiation or consultation, as well as to cease to honor several of the rights which we retain within *their* own documentation. This includes the apalling statement: "If this was 1998, I would see the Dark Brotherhood as a semi-independent sister organization. However, it's 2001, and the Dark Brotherhood has grown to become a solid subgroup of the Emperor's Hammer as any other". I am disgusted with this individual's heavy-handed attempts, as should be every self-respecting Dark Jedi in the DB.
- With a duty to protect the security and independence of the Brotherhood, I have -- regardless of the personal consequences -- found no other choice but to respond in a manner that forcibly exercises our rights and, if the EH complies, will preserve our *rightful* status for generations of Dark Jedi to come.