The Dark Empire was founded in April of 2007, in Tennessee, as a fan group for costumers preferring to focus on the "dark side" of Star Wars. Since that time, the Empire has slowly been expanding, with members not only in the US, but also around the world. The group is recognized by Lucasfilm as a costuming organization comprised of and operated by fans of Star Wars.

TDE encourages "custom creativity." While many of our members have canon Star Wars costumes of established Sith / Dark Jedi, pirates, smugglers and bounty hunter characters, one of the core beliefs of our group is that Star Wars was created to engage one's imagination, and The Dark Empire seeks to build upon that principle by allowing custom Sith / Dark Jedi costumes as well as pirates, smugglers and bounty hunters other then the Mandalorians within its membership base, adhering to a set of minimum costuming standards, as set forth within the TDE Charter.

Club Officers:
Michael Stanton - Sith'ari (CO)
Teresa Nuthall - Anik'ari (XO)
Guillaume Caherec Gagne- Tyran'ari (PR Officer)
Jorj Nathan Quick - Nes'ari (Membership Officer)
Mike Shipley - Jas'ari (Judicial Officer)