Sith Academy



The Sith Academy was a Star Wars Fanfic writing group with a shared Alternate Universe, focused on the (regrettably) minor character Darth Maul. Initially a parody series centered on Maul's 'training' (read: exploitation) by his master, Darth Sidious, it took a sharp turn into Foe Yay territory by the intentionally absurd pairing of Maul with a young Obi-Wan Kenobi.

The group operated from July 1999 to December 2001, covering 181 stories, with the finale being an alternate interpretation of the events of the Canon film The Phantom Menace. Unlike most Fanfic, the series had an overall editorial policy, and so avoided a lot of the quality issues which plague fan work in general. It also had a rabidly active fanbase, who not only contributed stories but also ran a mailing list for them.

The series provides examples of:
 * Alternate Universe Fic
 * Better Than It Sounds - Certainly the contributors found it funny
 * Big No - a Running Gag of the series.
 * Canon Defilement - very intentionally done to all of the canon characters.
 * Cats Are Mean - waves paw Bring Me Tuna. Now.
 * Crack Fic - Several of the stories are intentionally ludicrous, especially 'The Thirteenth Mary Sue'
 * Crack Pairing - several
 * Crowning Moment of Funny - Darth Maul Mows the Lawn
 * Depraved Homosexual - Sidious, 'The Dark Transvestite of the Sith', certainly counts, though some would argue the most of the Jedi Masters do, too
 * Everyone Is Bi - And into drag, it seems, as well.
 * Fix Fic - Subverted; several of the stories 'explain' later events of the Canon series in a tongue in cheek manner
 * Flanderization - As the series progressed, Obi Wan became more and more pathetically co-dependent and overly cheery, to the point where the authors decided it had gotten too much and made a Ass Pull explanation of it being a side effect of medication.
 * Foe Yay - though the Jedi seem oblivious to it
 * Heroic Sociopath - Darth Maul acts out the authors' frustration about, well, anything that came to mind.
 * Informed Judaism - Palpatine and Darth Maul, who was raised in the faith by Palpatine.
 * Jedi Mind Trick - Heavily abused by Sith and Jedi alike, but in at least one case Qui-Gon Jin gets into serious legal trouble because of it.
 * Kick the Dog - Maul's favorite pasttime; one of the original series guidelines was that "Obi Wan must be vexed"
 * Living with the Villain - Obi Wan is Maul's next-door neighbor, and it's later learned that, yet all of the Jedi except Yoda are in total denial that Maul and Sidious are Sith, even when Maul says so to their faces.
 * Man in a Kilt - Ewan MacGregor Obi-Wan Kenobi often wears one, much to Maul's delight. "Kilt. Sex. Now."
 * Manipulative Bastard - Palpatine, of course.
 * Mary Sue - Satirized in a Meta Fic actually called "The Thirteenth Mary Sue". Interestingly, while one of the main characters is actually named Darth Mary Sue, the character's creator insists that it was a coincidence.
 * Meta Fic - Much of the humor of the series comes from intentionally conflating the characters and the actors who played them, or from faux Foreshadowing of events in the later Canon stories. In addition, there several stories which break the fourth wall in various ways.
 * No Periods, Period - subverted in a story where Darth Sidious uses the Force to transfer Darth Mary Sue's PMS to Maul.
 * Overly Long Name - Dr. Lwkncalkdwoinvcalkdslaksowieuriuaoinclskdnfoaiwheoisldkhklgalskdhwoiazlzowx xvas-OOM! the 2983rd.
 * Pollyanna - Obi Wan, to such an extent that the authors later felt it necessary to explain it away as the result of personality-altering medication.
 * Power Perversion Potential - 'Force Driven Monkey Love' is the starting point; it gets much, much weirder at times.
 * Running Gag - Oh, where to begin...
 * Slash Fic - And how!
 * Take That - The first story was written to vent the author's frustration over a driving test. Later targets of the authors' collective ire include air travel, the National Rifle Association, IKEA stores, and Martha Stewart.
 * The Dark Side - Very, very subverted.
 * Training From Hell and Wax On, Wax Off - Viciously subverted. The original premise of the series is the 'bunch of menial crap' which Palpatine foists off on Maul under the guise of 'training'.
 * Trash of the Titans - Maul's apartment is literally supernaturally filthy due to the corrupting effects of The Dark Side.
 * Villains Out Shopping - Most of the stories involve this, especially early on. Subverted, in that it's actually the Heroes Out Shopping, and Maul takes it as an opportunity to twit the Twit Jedi Apprentice over and over again.
 * WAFF - The increasing predominance of WAFFy stories was one of the reasons site owner Siubhan chose to close the series.
 * Wretched Hive - Lampshaded.
 * Your Eyes Can Deceive You - Subverted.