Shadow Collective

The Shadow Collective was a criminal alliance and a rival Sith Order that was founded by the rogue Sith Lord Darth Maul at the behest of Mother Talzin to threaten the plans and compete for power on the Sith Lord Darth Sidious during the Clone Wars. Among its goals, it sought to defeat both the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Galactic Republic. During the war, Maul rallied the forces of Death Watch, Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Clan, and the Nightbrothers to form a base of power. The Shadow Collective worked alongside Maul as he enacted a plan of revenge against Darth Sidious, but began to fragment after the Hutts abandoned him, with the Pykes and Black Sun severing ties following their defeat at the hands of the Separatist Alliance.

Decades later, the Shadow Collective was restored once again by the resurrected Dathomirian Zabrak Sith Lord Darth Maul, who then carried plans to transform it into a newborn Sith Empire that would one day rise to gain the exact power across the galaxy. While the Shadow Collective had been growing strong over the years, Maul began to train his new apprentice Darth Talon and made her the actual head in overseeing every secondary ruler within the Shadow Collective to remain loyal. Talon would also train Darth Caedus as her apprentice, making him the head of the naval forces within the Shadow Collective.

Restoration
Sometime after the First Galactic Civil War ended in 5 ABY, resulting in the Galactic Empire's defeat by the New Republic, the Shadow Collective was restored once again by Maul, who had been resurrected by the Prophets of the Dark Side. With the Crimson Dawn, Nightbrothers, Black Sun, and Pyke Syndicate at his side, Maul formed the Shadow Council for every crimelord that would serve as secondary leaders for the Shadow Collective. He then retook his "Darth" title once again and had plans to transform this criminal alliance into an Empire ruled by the Sith. Making Dathomir is permanent headquarters, he had his followers to begin the construction of his own palace and waited patiently as the Shadow Collective began to grow strong while old remnants of the Empire remained after the signing of the Galactic Concordance.

Recruiting the Sith Eternal
When word was reached of the Emperor's death, Darth Maul, Darth Talon, and Darth Caedus were able to learn of Exegol's location from their spies, and led their forces to the planet Exegol where they discovered many cultists of the Sith Eternal that survived the battle with the Resistance Reborn. Without the First Order to support them due to its defeat and surrender to the Galactic Alliance, Maul met with all the surviving cultists and revealed himself as the apprentice of Darth Sidious. He offered them a future for the Shadow Collective, for which he will lead his grand army and naval forces to strike against the Galactic Alliance. Rather than refusing his offer, all of the cultists kneeled before the Dark Lord of the Sith and pledged their allegiance to the Shadow Collective.