The Rule of Two is Broken!

Something that always, and I mean always, bugged me was that Darth Sidious first had Maul and then Dooku. Don't get me wrong Darth Maul is very cool, but he is a thug and a killer. Not a schemer and leader like Dooku, Vader is of course the perfect blend of the two*. So why did Sidious start whit Maul? Well I have a solution to that problem.
Darth Sidious did start whit Dooku, but just as they where making ready to start their first plan to take over the galaxy. Which was to simply use the Separatists to create the Empire. Sidious discovers that Dooku has been training a apprentice, a ex-jedi and gladiator named Asajj Ventress. Knowing that Dooku did so to kill him and take his place as the new Sith master, Sidious found and "freed" a zabrak slave.
Turing the young zabrak into a killing machine fueled by hatred and a need to take vengeance on a universe that had never been kind to him. And whit his new apprentice in tow, Sidious began a second plan he had held secret from Dooku. A plan in which he would use the Republic he hated so much to destroy itself for fear of a new power in the galaxy.
*Both a loyal attack dog and a clever warlord.

Consequent Changes

Well only, EVERYTHING!
But mainly that Palpatine is not sitting at both sides of the game table. And the idea of the sith as masters of manipulation and brutality is better show this way. It also neatly fix a HUGE plot hole in Attack of the Clones, namely that the droids would have won. And then, why create the clone army? I mean you won Palpatine, why make things complicated?
Why not just take over the galaxy as the Separatists and then reform them into an Empire? I mean no rebellion whit liberal ideas ever turned into dictatorship at the last moment.... So in this version there is a very good reason why Palpatine would create the clone army. Because his ex-apprentice has taken over his first plan, and army.
A plan which Palpatine made to be weak against his second secret plan. Which was to have the Republic turn itself into an Empire because: fear.