The Infinite Empire

Five thousand years before the formation of the Galactic Republic, Rakatan civilization was at its peak after the decline of the Celestials. Through the use of dark side fueled technologies created a powerful force powered hyperdrive, the Builders had formed the Infinite Empire which dominated known space for thousands of years. Forming a distant and far flung territory, the reason for this was because the Force empowered engines of the Rakata sought out worlds that radiated in the Force and thus led to planets such as Corellia, Honoghr, Generis, Hijarna, Xo along with Dantooine falling under their dominion. This haphazard nature of their empire meant that loose confederacies of other civilizations managed to develop in the spaces between Rakatan worlds though made use of dangerous as well as unpredictable hyperdrive technology. Their campaign of conquest led to the enslavement of numerous developing species including the Duros, Selkath, and Humans. By transporting these slave species to new worlds, the Rakata were believed to have inadvertently seeded swaths of the galaxy with sentient life.

During their expansions, the Rakata came into conflict with two other advanced as well as powerful civilizations; the inhabitants of the Gree Enclave and the extragalactic Kwa. The Infinite Empire managed to force the Gree to their native cluster and nearly exterminated the Kwa. With their victory, the Rakata took Dathomir under their rule and even transported the native Rancor's to their homeworld of Lehon as curiosities.

At its height, the Empire governed 500 worlds and its population numbered ten billion Rakatan warriors and one trillion slaves. Among its conquests were the Selkath of Manaan, Wookiees of Kashyyyk, Kumumgah of Tatooine (who eventually evolved to become both the Tusken Raiders and Jawas), Noghri of Honoghr, and the natives of the Corellia n Sector. The powerful, Force-wielding Rakata may have even displaced the most advanced species of that time period, including the Killiks of Alderaan and the Sharu of the Rafa system, during their meteoric rise to power. During their period of expansion, the Rakata encountered the Sith species of Korriban. At first, the Rakata were wary and they pretended to ally themselves with the warlord Adas, going so far as to show him how to construct the pyramidal Sith holocron. In time, however, Adas learned that the invaders were bent on conquest. When the two species went to war, he managed to lead the Sith to victory and drive the Rakata from Korriban, but at the expense of his life. After generations of galactic supremacy, the Infinite Empire began to fracture. Constant tensions between internal factions suddenly erupted into a devastating civil war caused by the Star Forge's corrupting influence.

Already weakened by warfare, the Builders were suddenly struck by a deadly plague that spread rapidly through their ranks. Later, it would be theorized that the disease was created by a slave species because it only infected the Builders themselves. The virulent plague nearly exterminated the Rakata and brought the Infinite Empire to its knees, yet the worst was yet to come. The Rakata suddenly and inexplicably began to lose their connection to the Force. Worse, they were unable to uncover the source of their failing sensitivity. Rakatan scientists came up with numerous speculative hypotheses to explain their worsening condition, but in the end, all of their theories proved incorrect.

In time, it would be revealed that a mysterious mutation in the plague had caused it to strip the Builders of their powers. As the Force users were culled from the overall population at an ever increasing rate, the Rakata lost their ability to manipulate their own technology. Soon, they were forced to rely on inferior devices that were not dependent on the Force. Sensing weakness, slave species rebelled in large-scale insurrections on many member worlds and stemmed the total collapse of the Infinite Empire in 25,200 BBY. The nearly decimated Rakata could do nothing but abandon their conquests and retreat to the safety of their homeworld of Lehon. Some Rakata castoffs survived the fall of the Infinite Empire in the Tion Cluster as late as 25,100 BBY, allowing Tion Humans access to their Force-sensitive technology. The Lehon system was protected by a disruptor field that could disable any incoming ship's communications and navigational systems.

The field, operated from the summit of a Temple on the surface of Lehon, was originally constructed to protect the Star Forge, but it was now used to protect the Rakata themselves. On their homeworld, Rakatan civilization rapidly faded into obscurity and barbarism. Warlords devastated the surface of the planet with weapons of mass destruction and the majority of the Rakata were forced to flee underground. Years later, when the Rakatans resurfaced, they called themselves Black Rakata, such as The One and his people. Only the descendants of the Priest Caste, the Elders tribe, remained on the surface protected by their ancient temples and enclaves. They were called Red Rakata by the other Rakata tribes. They alone would retain full knowledge of the potent technology and turbulent history of their species. In the following centuries, the Builders were purposefully erased from the records of their slave subjects and the Infinite Empire slipped from the pages of galactic history.

Jedi Civil War

More than 20,000 years after the fall of the Infinite Empire, most Rakata had only just begun to reemerge onto the surface, yet the Elders Tribe still thrived within their secluded compound. After long millennia of solitude and contemplation, the Elders desired to destroy their great factory so that they could finally put their bloody past behind them, but there was a problem. They could no longer enter their own Temple of the Ancients, the nexus of their collected knowledge and the key to accessing the Star Forge, because the Force was lost to them.

Darth Revan and Darth Malak's timely arrival in the system gave the elders a perfect opportunity. Promising to destroy the Star Forge, Revan entered the temple, but he betrayed the Elder's trust and took the space station for himself. Around 3,959 BBY, he harnessed the full power of the Star Forge and began a massive military invasion of the Galactic Republic that would culminate in the Jedi Civil War. Meanwhile, the Rakata were forced to watch their species' actions repeat themselves through the person of Revan, powerless to stop it. Their Temple and Star Forge became the dwellings of dark side users once more. Yet Revan would return, unlooked-for, three years later and redress that betrayal.

A redeemed Revan ended the Sith occupation of the Rakatan temple and deactivated the planet's disruptor field so that the Star Forge could be destroyed by a Republic fleet. He also aided the Rakata's efforts to regain their lost Force sensitivity which they believed would eventually allow them to rejoin the galactic community.

Post-Civil War

After the Jedi Civil War the Republic maintained an outpost in the Lehon system, but did not bother to admit the Rakatans into the Republic. Because all records of the Infinite Empire were lost to time, some were skeptical of the notion that the seemingly primitive beings had once ruled hundreds of worlds and dominated the galaxy. A number of the Rakata may have taken to the stars and left their brethren behind on Lehon, who died out within a few generations due to the limited gene pool remaining on their remote and isolated homeworld. By the time Darth Bane arrived on Lehon in search of Darth Revan's holocron (c.1,000 BBY), the planet was completely devoid of sentient life.

Portions of this post taken from Wookiepedia