Early Beginnings
Black Sun's roots are, for the most part, lost in the mists of time. Though crime and crime syndications nearly outdate recorded history, it had to have been at one point a solitary criminal organization on some or many pre-industrial planets, which grew along with its population, entering space with the culture it began in. It is almost certain that it is an amalgation of many thousands of smaller, regional syndicates, which grew as it swallowed more and expanded. With the development of the hyperdrive and the growth of the Galactic Republic, the beginnings of Black Sun (though it was not known by that name) spread into the galaxy with it. Black Sun has always been shrouded in mystery and urban legend, and thus much of its early (and even current) history is derived from rumor and guesswork. Here is what is known for sure as to its origins:
1) The term "Vigo," which is used to denote the various liutenants of the Underlord, is Tionese for "nephew."
2) Black Sun has historically been friendly to aliens and hostile to humans. There have been reports of only five human Vigos in the entire history of Black Sun, two during the Imperial reign; there have been no known human Underlords.
3) The term "Black Sun" first appeared in the 1,000-year-old writings of the Tion poet Chirac, in referring to a mysterious "Black Sun" appearing in the sky to foretell the fall of the Tionese king Mordu. This is likely where the original name was derived from.
Thus, it seems to infer that Black Sun had its beginnings with the Tion, possibly even the Tion hegemony. It is reasonable to assume that the first Underlord was Tionese as well, and that he or she was the first to unite the various galactic syndicates into one organization, naming it "Black Sun" and its regional crimelords "Vigos." It does not explain the organization's antipathy to humans, however, and this may be a recent modification of official code.
With the decay of the Galactic Republic, Black Sun began to expand out from its shadows. It began to increase its scale of criminal affairs, and began to meddle more in politics and business. Though it had its rough moments (such as when it tried to manipulate Senator Palpatine of Naboo, a fiasco that ended with Underlord Marius being beheaded by the Sith apprentice Darth Maul and much of Black Sun's operations being battered), it overall expanded to become the most powerful syndicate in the galaxy. In addition, the coronation of Emperor Palpatine also saw the coronation of another Dark Prince- this one a Falleen named Prince Xizor.
The Rise and Fall of Prince Xizor (1)
Xizor became Black Sun's Pericles. Under his leadership, the Vigos, who usually quietly squabbled and plotted against one another, became unified into an intact (if still suspicious) council, and the Falleen even found the sympathetic ear of the Emperor himself. However, Xizor had a hidden vendetta that eventually caused his downfall: not only did he covet the Emperor's throne, but he sought revenge on Darth Vader himself, for the destruction and blockade of the Falleen homeworld. He sought to topple Vader, so as to step closer to Palpatine's throne.
Meanwhile, the Vigos- normally held to a tight leash- were becoming restless. In a daring but bungled operation, Vigo Green attempted to smear his rival Sprax by leaking a datapad supposedly containing the names of all Black Sun operatives in the sector. However, Green's treachery was stopped in an embarassingly public fashion, and Xizor found it necessary to convene the Vigos to "punish" the human.
Meanwhile, Xizor began to pursue a course of his own. Knowing that Vader and the Emperor wanted Vader's son Luke alive to train in the Dark Side, he tried to have the boy assasinated, though he failed on several attempts. However, in a streak of apparently good fortune, his sister Leia attempted to contact the organization to see who was trying to kill Luke. Xizor lured them to his palace on Coruscant and kidnapped the Princess, hoping to use her as bait to get Skywalker. However, he underestimated the budding Jedi's strength, and in the rescue attempt his gargantuan palace was flattened by gambler Lando Calrissian and a well-placed thermal dentonater. A furious space battle erupted around Coruscant as the Heroes of Yavin fled, eventually joined by both forces of Xizor, the Rebel Rogue Squadron and the SSD Executor. In the fight, Vader took advantage of the situation by annihalating Xizor's skyhook, killing the crimelord instantly.
The Vigo Ascension War (2)
With their leader killed and their only ties snapped, the Vigos began a vicious internescine war, known by insiders as the Vigo Ascension. Vigo fought Vigo, and several declared themselves the new Underlord. This time was marked by the rise and fall of many of the Vigos, as they fought amongst themselves for control of each other's territories, resulting in brutal gang warfare between their agents, their businesses, and their allies, with many an innocent (and not so innocent) life lost in the crossfire.
The first Vigo to fall was the Mon Calamari Vigo Perit, who dissapeared shortly after Xizor died. This was a likely occurence, as Perit was a favorite of Xizor, thus alienating the other Vigos. Some suspect the Rodian Clezo, who moved with lightning speed to snatch up much of Perit's territory, as being responsible for Perit's dissapearance, having possibly been planning the operation all along. In any case, the result was a large power vacuum in the wake of Perit's disappearance, and a new respect for Clezo, as he became the most powerful Vigo.
Though there was power jostling and assassination attempts among all the Vigos, a particularly vicious rivalry formed between the new Vigo Leana (a former lieutenant of Green, who had been killed by Xizor for his disloyalty) and Vigo Vekker. The two, who shared many criminal interests (in luxury, gambling, and high-class spice) and who bordered each other near the Core, became bitterly embroiled in a fight. There is some evidence that the wily Vigo Durga the Hutt is egging either or both sides on, to weaken them. Though it was kept relatively low-key, it was still a dangerous time for agents of either Vigo, and for those who decided to look too deep into criminal affairs in the area.
One of the most notable falls was that of Vigo Lonay and his replacement with the mentally unstable Vigo Moff Neomen, a power change of which the most is known due to its violent and public execution and its distinction as being the first battle of truly "open warfare." Sprax, with whom Lonay had a running rivalry, began making open strikes on his slaving operations through pirate and mercenary action, trying to draw the Twi'lek's forces out into the open. This they did, when a rogue agent of Lonay actually managed to kidnap Sprax. However, a special team of Sprax agents managed to not only rescue the Vigo but find and destroy Lonay's prized Mandalorian Dungeon Ship, effectively flattening his operations. However, his former liutenant Neomen proved to have been planning for this, as Lonay's organization was quickly converted into a brutal pirate and thug force by the former Moff.
The most ambitious and far-reaching of the Vigo plots came when Vigo Durga began a plan against Vigo Wumdi very shortly after Xizor's death, though the final result did not occur until just before the Battle of Endor. Durga approached the newly triumphant Clezo and suggested a temporary alliance in order to convince the Emperor that the Corporate Sector, where Wumdi worked out of, should be dissolved. Durga used his clan's resources to order a miniature war fleet from Corporate Sector entities, something that they were not allowed to do under their contract to supply the Empire. Meanwhile, Clezo used his resources on a campaign of deception to make it seem as if the Corporate Sector was ailing in its profits and ability to aid the Emperor. Though Wumdi's spies found out about the plot and had many CSA companies boycott materials from Hutt Space and Rodia, this only dug the economic grave deeper, and the Emperor was irritated enough to dissolve the Corporate Sector, despite the best efforts of some brave Corporate Sector employees who tried to uncover the truth behind the economic collapse. Wumdi's organization suffered greatly from this blow, and he retreated into an isolationist organization, obsessively rooting out and destroying rival agents. The Corporate Sector stayed in business after Palpatine's death however, as the board of executives fought to control the chaos sewn by the Emperor's order, though it took years to become economically viable again.
Another squabble erupted over, oddly enough, the plans to the Second Death Star, which had switched hands between Rebel and Imperial forces too many times to count. The treasured plans fell into the hands of Vigo Leana, who wanted to hand it over to the Rebels to curry favor with the obviously winning side (for a price, of course). However, Sprax, Durga, and Neomen also saw this, and in an odd version of a football pileup the plans were fumbled back and forth before finally falling into the hands of Sprax, who delivered the plans to the grateful Rebels. He proceeded to follow up on his support for the Rebels by striking an Imperial base and delivering the supplies to the needy Rebel fleet at Sullust, as well as supplying agents and material for the attack on the Second Death Star.
A Shaky Peace and New Rivalries
The Vigo Ascension came to a halt, not due to the rise of a new Underlord, but due to the machinations of a Falleen named Savan. Savan, who claimed to be Xizor's niece and therefore claim to the throne, worked with Vigo Kree'tah to eventually bring all the Vigos to the bargaining table to "democratically" elect a new Underlord (though she was the obvious electee). The conference met on Svivren in a suspicious and trigger-happy atmosphere, and was in fact fractured twice due to walkouts before the fateful event. However, on the eve of an agreement, the conference was violently disrupted by former agents of Sprax, who were being unknowingly manipulated by Vigo Wumdi. The conference disintegrated into violence which ended in the demolition of the hotel building, apparently planned by an agent of one of the Vigos as a contingency should the conference fail.
However, the conference was not a complete disaster. Two distinct groups had coalesced before the disruption. The first, named Black Nebula, was based around Savan and including Vigos Durga, Neomen, Vekker and (to a certain extent) Wumdi. The second was much more in disarray, eventually grouping Sprax, Clezo, Leana, and by default the fence-sitter Kree'tah into a loose organization known as the Vigo Confederacy. The Confederacy suffered from the rivarly of Sprax and Clezo, who each desired the head of the group, while Black Nebula quickly fell in behind Savan (though they may have been plotting something behind their backs).
Savan wasted no time trying to crush the rival confederacy. She sought out the human replica droid Guri, formerly her uncle's second in command. Guri was not only a deadly fighting machine, she also contains a wealth of Xizor's Black Sun secrets, most of which were lost when his palace was destroyed. In the world of Black Sun, secrets are power. However, the HRD had other plans, fleeing in a quest to wipe her memory of her assassin programming and her haunting past with Black Sun. When Savan finally cornered Guri, she was partially stopped by agents of Sprax who were tailing her to discover her plans. While she escaped with Guri, the memory wipe was complete enough to destroy the secrets in Guri's mind. Though Savan now had a potent assasin, she did not get what she hoped for.
However, a war was being fought, the Vigos needed to keep making money, and business continued much as usual. Sprax used his Brentaal Trade House contacts to create a shortage of bacta, and skimmed off massive profits from this galaxywide crisis. Clezo finally secured a hold on the Corellian Trade Run, and Neomen succeeded in a complete military and economic occupation of the backwater Iema IV. In addition, a Sprax-supported attack on a major casino house in Vekker's territory put a reign of terror over the entertainment industry, severly injuring the Quarren Vigo, though Durga managed to bring Sprax down a notch with the embarrasing takeover of Nwarcol Point, a major refueling point in the heart of Sprax's territory.
Savan's Gambit and the End of an Era
This badly fractured era of Black Sun finally came to a firey end. Savan, who lacked the icy patience of her uncle, was growing frustrated with her faction's inability to defeat the Confederacy. Determined to crush her opposition once and for all and consolidate Black Sun under her rule, she approached Ysanne Isard, the Imperial Intelligence Director, with information she had garnered that implicated the Vigo Confederacy members in not only several criminal pursuits (duh), but also in supporting the Rebel Alliance - an action Isard could not stand. Savan proposed a deal - if Black Nebula captures the offending Vigos, gives them over to Isard, and supplies Isard with intelligence on Rebel Alliance actions, Isard would turn a blind eye to the actions of Black Nebula. Isard agreed, and Savan began a plan of deception in order to lure the Vigos together for capture. Both of Savan's head Vigos, Durga and Wumdi, disagreed with the plan, however, and Savan was forced to appoint the easily-pliable Vekker as head of the operation.
After luring the Vigos together with blackmail information, Isard met with Vekker, Wumdi, and Neomen on Tarshon to turn over the prisoners - a group that ended up including the Sprax agents Torill Hendyker and the treasonous Moff Zolar. Isard was very pleased with this, but had no intention of letting Black Nebula off easy - she now knew who they were, and any offensive actions would result in their arrests. Both Savan and Isard's plans were disrupted, however, when the two expeditors broke violently free. Chaos ruled, and in the fighting Savan, Vekker and Clezo were killed, Wumdi was arrested by the Empire and Sprax was badly wounded.
The Tarshon incident was the death knell for Black Sun. With few Vigos remaining, and Imperial and New Republic agents hunting the remnants, the last hope for a unified Black Sun was vaporized. The formerly monolithic syndicate split into warring factions, each led by a crime-boss-of-the-week with plans to conquer all the others and rule the underworld once more. Many organizations were destroyed in the fighting, others left paralyzed and helpless as the authorities swept amongst them and rounded up thousands of criminals. Within a few years, the Black Sun had been nearly extinguished from the galaxy, with small and weak circles of crime lords remaining.
Though Black Sun may have died, its legend lived on. By the time of the Battle of Coruscant, fragments of Black Sun's old power had begun to coalesce into the hands of a new breed of Vigo... one who eschewed the old titles and trappings of the syndicate, and who fought for Black Sun's future with craft, cunning and tenacious criminal spirit. Just before the Battle of Coruscant, a vicious and intelligent killer named Y'ull Acib resurrected an organization following Black Sun's model on that planet.
Black Sun grew slowly but steadily, and ended up wielding considerable power over the Imperial Interim council during the waning days of the Empire. Though this organization faced much turnmoil when their leader Durga the Hutt died, leaving a power vacuum that took several years and much bloodshed to fix, it grew stronger when a leader named Czethros took power and quelled the violence with a stern hand. He took Black Sun on an extremely profitable path, raising an organization that rivaled the power of the old Black Sun before he took an ambitious political power bid that was foiled, and he was arrested by the New Republic. Much of Black Sun was compromised during his interrogations, though many powerful remenants managed to secure their safety. As the Yuuzhan Vong begin their invasion of the galaxy, Black Sun is leaderless and disrupted...though it might just need a small spark to restart the fire. (3)