Chiss Ascendancy

The Chiss remembered teachings of ancient philosophers, many of whom felt that all war was madness. In 5100 BBY, the Chiss Great Families united under the one Ruling Family: the Stybla, marking it as the First Ruling Family. Over the subsequent years, the number of Ruling Families rose and fell; at times, there were as many as twelve Ruling Families, while other time periods only saw as few as three Chiss families hold the rank. The Ascendancy also grew in power, becoming the subject of legend to other nations within the Unknown Regions.

In 5019 BBY, the Chiss started to explore outside of the Ascendancy—known as the "Chaos" to the Chiss people. During the time of exploration, in approximately 5000 BBY, the Chiss discovered an ancient alien superweapon known as Starflash. In approximately 4300 BBY, during a climax of a great war fought between the Chiss Ascendancy and an enemy, the Chiss were forced back to Csilla. Despite their earlier losses, the Chiss Ascendancy were forced to use Starflash. However, the weapon also affected Csilla's sun, causing it to cool and make the surface of the planet uninhabitable.

That caused a Chiss exodus, and many Chiss moved from Csilla to colony worlds such as Avidich, Rentor and Sarvchi in 4260 BBY. This exodus to other worlds was kept a secret from most in the Ascendancy. Instead, historical accounts of the event taught that Csilla's population had moved underground, leaving out the fact that the number of Chiss below the surface was far below the population of four billion before Csilla's climate change. Nevertheless, the headquarters of both the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet and Chiss Syndicure, along with many merchant and cargo installations, were kept on Csilla. Additionally, most of the Chiss Ruling Families did not want to abandon their capital world entirely, though some did move their homesteads to other planets. By the time Mitth'raw'nuruodo had command of the Boco, the population on Csilla numbered around sixty to seventy million, with some living aboveground to maintain the illusion of a thriving capital.

Starting in 3650 BBY, in another point of Chiss history—which was not remembered fondly by subsequent generations— the Chiss Ascendancy adventured into the wider galaxy and participated in the Sith Wars, a series of conflicts between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire. The Ascendancy encountered a number of aliens before retreating to their borders in 3450 BBY, losing some wealth and technology in the process. Rumors spread amongst the other nations of the Unknown Regions that the Chiss had joined the conflicts in what they knew as "Lesser Space," yet their tales of those events remained unconfirmed. The Chiss themselves remembered their ventures into the greater galaxy as being ill-advised affairs.

In approximately 285 BBY, the Stybla family would discover a second Starflash weapon, but kept it hidden on Sposia from the public's eye. No member of the Chiss Ascendancy knew about the second Starflash except trusted members of the Stybla family, and, sometime between 39 BBY and 19 BBY, Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Mitth'ras'safis would discover the Stybla's secret.

The Chiss Ascendancy had records of many battles against the Grysk Hegemony, including some that they participated in and others they simply observed the Grysk. Around 150 BBY, the Coduyo family was removed from the number of Ruling Families, while the Xodlak family was removed from ruling status around 68 BBY. As such, there were only Nine Ruling Families by the time of the Clone Wars that occurred in "Lesser Space."

Years prior to the Nikardun conquests, the Chiss Defense Force had only been tasked with the internal defense of Ascendancy space. The Defense Force had long pled with the Syndicure for a larger mandate and stronger capabilities. Eventually, the Aristocra agreed, establishing the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet in 40 BBY with the mission to "watch over Chiss interests in the parts of the Chaos extending beyond the Ascendancy's borders, to learn who was out there and assess their level of threat." Many new ships, bases, and support facilities were constructed for the Expansionary Fleet, which needed many competent officers and warriors. It was at that time that a young Chiss named Kivu'raw'nuru was recruited from the planet of Rentor to join the Mitth family.

In the early days of the Expansionary Defense Fleet, the Ascendancy was uninterested in forming friendly diplomatic ties with other nations of the Chaos. During that time, Junior Commander Mitth'raw'nuru sought to launch the Lioaoin pirate campaign, promising General Ba'kif to distinguish between "hostiles and friendlies." Ba'kif responded that the Ascendancy had barely acknowledged the presence of other peoples and was not interested in friendships with them, instead charging Thrawn with distinguishing between "hostiles and neutrals."

Some time after the Lioaoin pirate campaign and prior to the Nikardun conquests, the Chiss Ascendancy launch a series of operations against Vagaari pirates. The Chiss were able to defeat the Vagaari. But, while the operations were a success in a military sense, they were a political disaster for the Ascendancy, with Syndic Mitth'ras'safis left dead, causing uproar in the higher echelons of Chiss society. Supreme Admiral Ja'fosk of the Ascendancy was displeased with the operation, as were the Aristocra.

During the Nikardun conquests, the Chiss Ascendancy's capital of Csilla suffered an attack from the Paataatus, who deployed three warships. Following the attack, Admiral Ar'alani launched an attack on the Paataatus homeworld of Nettehi. However, this was all orchestrated by General Yiv "the Benevolent" of the Nikardun Destiny in an attempt to conquer various governments of the Unknown Regions. Yiv was successful in subjugating or forming alliances with several factions, including the Lioaoin Regime and Urchiv-ki. However, the involvement of the Chiss Ascendancy driven by Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo, also known by his core name of "Thrawn," hindered Yiv's resolve.

Searching for allies against the Nikardun, Thrawn and his pilot Che'ri, met Jedi General Anakin Skywalker above Batuu in the Outer Rim Territories, where Thrawn sought Skywalker's assistance in learning of the Clone Wars. Thrawn helped the Jedi Order and Republic Senator Padmé Amidala fight the Confederacy of Independent Systems and assault a Separatist droid factory which was led by Duke Solha and was producing cortosis B2 super battle droids. Thrawn was able to retrieve the deflector shield generator that protected that factory, and was a much more advanced design than those seen by the Chiss in the Unknown Regions. However, Thrawn was unimpressed with the state of the Republic and believed it to be unfit for an alliance with the Chiss.

After Thrawn and Che'ri returned to Chiss space with their "Republic energy shield" taken from a Separatist base, the Chiss were able to outmaneuver the Nikardun forces in a battle near the Vak homeworld of Primea. The Vak Combine allowed the Chiss to fire on the Nikardun to break the blockade over Primea, allowing Thrawn to board the bridge of Yiv's flagship and take Yiv into custody. Following his disappearance, the Nikardun Destiny was left without a suitably competent successor, and their plans of conquest fell apart.

The Chiss Ascendancy's Chiss Defense Force undertook a series of campaigns to seek out and destroy the scattered remnants of Nikardun forces following Yiv's defeat. Although the Ascendancy typically did not permit military action without having been attacked first, the threat that the Nikardun had posed led the Syndicure to allow the rules to be bent.

A new mysterious enemy had begun to strike around the Chaos following the Nikardun conquests. This strange but unknown faction did not send threats or ultimatums, or amass ships on the edge of the Chaos, but instead attacked the very foundation of the Ascendancy itself—the relations among Chiss families.

The Grysk operative "Jixtus," with his agent Haplif of the Agbui, sought to learn about, widen, and exploit the rifts between the Chiss' Nine Ruling Families and Forty Great Houses. In doing so, they planned to coax the Chiss Ascendancy into civil war, rendering it easy for the Grysk Hegemony to conquer. After learning of an ambitious mid-ranking Xodlak family Councilor on the planet Celwis by the name of Lakuviv, Haplif settled on Celwis for a time. On Celwis, Haplif manipulated Lakuviv into declaring a family emergency and trying to forcibly seize a purported Agbui mining world rich in the valuable metal nyix. Senior Captain Xodlak'in'daro of the Chiss heavy cruiser Grayshrike was placed in command of the newly formed Task Force Xodlak. Similar plots occurred in parallel on the Chiss planets of Copero, affiliated with the Erighal family and their fleet; and Sarvchi, associated with the Pommrio family and their fleet.

Each of the three Great Families being manipulated by Jixtus' agents—the Xodlak, Erighal, and Pommrio—were allied with rival members of the Nine Ruling Families. Open warfare between the Xodlak, Erighal, and Pommrio would spill over into the Ruling Families and eventually the entire Chiss Ascendancy. With each of those three Great Families intent on claiming Hoxim's supposed nyix mine and willing to fight to the death over it, Jixtus's plans nearly came to fruition.

The three Great Families' forces met in the space above the Agbui mining world of Hoxim, unaware that the planet below them had no real value. They nearly engaged each other in hostilities, until they noticed the Springhawk, flagship of Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo, derelict and apparently under attack. The three families' forces cooperated to "rescue" the Springhawk, combatting and defeating the forces that had "attacked" Thrawn. In the ensuing battle, the purported nyix mine on the planet's surface was destroyed, ensuring that the families could not fight over the nyix that was allegedly there.

In that manner, Senior Captains Thrawn and Lakinda prevented Jixtus's plot from causing a full civil war among the Chiss. Each of the Xodlak, Erighal, and Pommrio were commended and granted honor for rescuing a downed Expansionary Defense Fleet warship. Nonetheless, the Patriarch of the Xodlak family was furious at Lakinda for failing to secure the supposed nyix deposit; leaving Lakinda, a merit adoptive, in a tenuous spot in her family. Shortly thereafter, Syndic Zistalmu of the Ruling Irizi family offered her a spot as a Trial-born of the Irizi, without even having to conduct the Trials.

The end to Jixtus's plans against the Chiss came with Senior Captain Thrawn's last stand. Although the plot from the Grysk Hegemony to cause a Chiss civil war was mitigated, the Grysk remained a threat to the Ascendancy.

The Chiss Ascendancy assigned Thrawn to explore the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy to evaluate whether the nascent Galactic Empire would be a suitable ally against the emerging threat of the Grysk Hegemony. By the time Thrawn left, there were renewed stirrings of political conflict in the Ascendancy, but he assumed the Aristocra would settle their issues, as they had numerous times before. Seeking counsel upon his return, the Ascendancy ruled that the time had come to judge whether or not the Galactic Empire would be a suitable ally, and that it was time to infiltrate the Empire in order to either make them an ally or to weaken them as easy prey for the threat to attack instead of the Chiss. With the blessing of the Aristocra, Thrawn chose a planet in Wild Space to begin his fake exile and gain the attention of the Galactic Empire.

On his "exile" planet, Thrawn was taken by Imperial Captain Voss Parck without resistance. Thrawn was then brought before Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine on the galactic capital of Coruscant in order to be questioned on the threats lurking within the Unknown Regions. Thrawn became his advisor on matters relating to these areas, but he kept the location of Chiss territory a secret from the Emperor. He was also assigned Ensign Eli Vanto as his translator and aide. However, years into their partnership, Thrawn sent Vanto to the Ascendancy as an Imperial liaison, where he believed that he could be a great help to the Chiss and rendezvoused with Chiss Admiral Ar'alani.

Finding the Grysks stealing the moons surrounding the planet of Mokivj, Thrawn, who had been promoted to the rank of Grand Admiral after the victory at Batonn, and the Empire battled Grysk forces on Mokivj and in space, rescuing Force-sensitive Chiss girls known as ozyly-esehembo from the Grysks. Ar'alani promised to bolster the defenses of the colony world from which the Chiss children were taken. Speaking with Darth Vader, Thrawn admitted that the Ascendancy could be taking its first steps into a civil war, and believed that the Aristocra may have failed to settle their differences or that one side was under the control of the Grysks.

Later, an armed Grysk warship hid in an asteroid, resulting in the Empire bombarding the enemy ship with turbolaser fire. Exiting hyperspace soon after, the Steadfast deployed plasma spheres to draw away the Grysk laser fire. Before leaving, Ar'alani ordered her crew to salvage the debris from the Grysk warship. Eli and Ar'alani then boarded the Grysk warship to see the Empire had captured two Grysk prisoners. There was a tense exchange between Ar'alani and one of the Grysks. Soon after, the Chiss entered Imperial space to warn the Empire about the Grysks and to also warn the Grysk Hegemony to depart. The Grysk commander mockingly asked if the Chiss were serving the Empire and tried to brush off the recent Grysk defeats. Observing the space battle, Vanto and the Chiss officers realized that the surviving Grysk starfighters were returning to their warships to inform newer reinforcements about their enemy's defenses. However, with the aid of Thrawn's TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighters, the Ascendancy defeated the Grysk craft.

After pushing the Grysk back, Vanto was told the information he was working on was about the navigators, and Thrawn dispatched Assistant Director Brierly Ronan to join the Ascendancy. Emperor Palpatine also spoke to Thrawn, who admitted that the Chiss force breached Imperial space, but stated it was to warn the Empire of the Grysks, and said that the Grysk presence in the Kurost sector proved that they had an active interest in the Empire. However, the Emperor privately decided that, to counter the Grysks, he should take control of the Chiss Ascendancy, intending to use Thrawn to do so. However, before the Grand Admiral and the Emperor could have their "long talk," Thrawn, the Chimaera, and Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger were taken away during a local rebellion on Lothal into deep space by a pod of Purrgil that Bridger had summoned.

Called a "nation" like other powers within the Unknown Regions, the Chiss Ascendancy was a hegemonic empire and was comprised of interconnected sovereignties governed by the noble houses that made up the Aristocra, a sociopolitical body that consisted of mid-level members of the empire's Nine Ruling Families. The Aristocra were collectively conglomerated to serve, represent, and unite the Chiss species as a whole, thereby bringing them under one common order. Most notably, the Aristocra effectively constituted the governmental hierarchy and bureaucracy of the Chiss, known as the Chiss Syndicure, the executive leadership that served as the collective head of state of the Ascendancy, that was located in both Assembly Cupola and Convocate Hall in Csaplar, the capital city of the Chiss Ascendancy.

The power held by the ruling families was that from which the legitimacy of the Aristocra's authority fundamentally derived. As a consequence, they had the power to pass legislation and bless decisions to be instituted across the Ascendancy.

The Ascendancy military consisted of the Chiss Defense Force, charged with defending Chiss territory, and the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, charged with patrolling the Chaos, and were bound by a set of laws restricting their authority to perform preemptive strikes and was to "watch over Chiss interests in the parts of the Chaos extending beyond the Ascendancy borders, to learn who was out there and assess their level of threat." In addition to the Expansionary Defense Fleet, many Chiss families had family fleets that functioned analogously to planetary defense forces for worlds where that family had a strong presence.

All operations of the Chiss Defense Fleet were managed by an admiralty known as the Defense Hierarchy Council, which also held the power to exile traitors for crimes against the Chiss. Chiss officers were outfitted with a type of uniform which was able to absorb energy, protecting the user from blaster fire. There were multiple military ranks used in the Chiss Defense Fleet, including the ranks of admiral and commander. Though the Aristocra were not supposed to have influence over assignments in the Chiss military, it was still known to happen behind the scenes and against protocol. The fleet used several types of starships, including Chiss warships and Chiss shuttles. The Chiss shuttle was also referred to as a Chiss courier ship.

Ozyly-esehembo was a Cheunh word for Force-sensitive Chiss navigators, which translated to Galactic Basic Standard as "sky-walker." They were administered by sky-walker corps to navigate through difficult territory in the Unknown Regions. Sky-walkers were Chiss children, usually girls and usually between the ages of seven and fourteen, though some recalled the power sometimes lasted until age fifteen. Additionally, the power could sometimes fade ahead of schedule.

In contrast to many other governments, the Chiss Ascendancy favored a more libertarian approach in how it conducted itself in galactic affairs, embracing a philosophy of strict non-interventionism and peaceful diplomacy. This philosophy was codified via the Chiss laws prohibiting pre-emptive strikes. Although military service was an important component of Chiss culture and heritage, the very notions of conquest and aggressive expansionism were almost universally disdained by society, and such actions would be in fundamental defiance of military protocol. Not believing in the preliminary initiation of force, the Chiss only supported going to war in the event that the Ascendancy fell under attack by external forces. Still, official military policy was to do everything possible to avoid a preemptive attack against a possible enemy. Though the act of entering another faction's space to gather intelligence was effectively allowed, it was close enough to breaking the rule to cause concern.

Despite not allowing involvement in non-Chiss battles without being provoked, the Chiss, who also disallowed deliberate provocation, allowed their military ships to provide humanitarian aid if they arrived in the aftermath of such battles. Nevertheless, the Chiss Ascendancy was also generally isolationist, almost never involving itself in affairs that existed beyond the bounds of its own space. Diplomatically speaking, on those rare occasions when the Ascendancy did engage in intergalactic matters, the Ascendancy displayed its pacifistic ethos by taking a benevolent approach in its dealings. Despite this, the Ascendancy always exercised extreme caution when doing so, taking measures to ensure that the location of Chiss Space would remain hidden, even to leaders of other galactic governments. Even though the Ascendancy had diplomats within its ranks, the Chiss also had very little desire to maintain serious relations with the other "nations" of the Unknown Regions, with some members of the Chiss Ascendancy not even seeing aliens as true people.

While it rarely embedded itself in galactic conflicts, the Ascendancy would sometimes send emissaries to observe large-scale wars and assess galactic geopolitics. Such would be the case during the Clone Wars, in which Mitth'raw'nuruodo was sent into Republic space to analyze the conflict, during which he had an encounter with the Jedi Order. Years later he would be sent to the Galactic Empire in order to assess its power and determine its viability as an ally against threats that lurked in the Unknown Regions, just beyond the bounds of Chiss territory. Even so, such external dealings were only carried out if they were somehow seen as being beneficial to Chiss interests, or if specific circumstances had the potential to produce consequences that could have a negative impact on the Ascendancy in the future. Chiss and Imperial forces would collaborate in battles against the Grysks in 1 BBY. While Thrawn tried to come to conclusions that benefitted both the Empire and his people, Emperor Palpatine, unknown to the Chiss, came to seek complete control over the Chiss Ascendancy, which would make him their emperor as well.

Throughout its history, it was not unheard of for refugees to come to Ascendancy worlds to seek asylum. Whenever a group of refugees asked for land to settle on, Chiss Patriels almost always turned them down and sent them away. While the Ascendancy was not inherently expansionistic, it often sent ships beyond its borders for the purposes of exploration and research. This allowed for them not only to successfully map and chart numerous expanses throughout Wild Space and the Unknown Regions, but also to discover the existence of forces that could serve as grave threats to the Chiss species.

Philosophically speaking, the Ascendancy vindicated its positions through a kind of utilitarian lens, the Chiss themselves being an empirically-minded species. The Chiss saw their government as the inverse of the Chaos that was the Unknown Regions, believing their Ascendancy represented order, security, steadfastness, power, glory, light, and culture. Young Chiss were allowed to take a "wandering year" after their basic education to travel throughout the Unknown Regions and learn. After the year, which also allowed the young individual a chance to engage in self–examination and mediation, the Chiss was expected to return to their curriculum, whether that be job training or advanced education. The wandering year was a staple of some Chiss families, with supporters of the practice arguing it gave the younger generation a chance to better decide and uncover their talents and goals. It was hoped that could prevent false starts during the younger individual's future studies, yet critics of the practice argued there was little evidence of such positives.

According to critics of the wandering year tradition, most evidence pointed to the idea that it was simply a year for young people to relish in self–indulgent laziness, all while wasting parental funds. A third opinion arose from cynical members of Chiss society, who thought a wandering year was simply an escape for midagers who did not want to deal with what was, at least traditionally, the most condescending and pompous time in their entire lives. The wandering year tradition was similar to practices within many other Unknown Region–cultures, yet the Chiss thought it was special to themselves. Indeed, the Chiss were often condescending when dealing with the other species of the Unknown Regions, as if they thought they were the only true sentient species in the region. The Chiss language was known as Cheunh, while written communication was done in Cheunh script. The Cheunh script included variants used by government officials that were deliberately hard for observers to read upside-down. In the ancient past, the Stybla family used Tybroic as a language, but by around 18 BBY it was only used in ceremonies. In their rare contacts with outsiders, the Chiss used trade languages, such as Sy Bisti, which was used across the Unknown Regions and Wild Space as a means of communication. Other trade languages used by the Chiss both within the Chaos and the rare times they ventured to Lesser Space included Taarja and Minnisiat.

The social and political structures of the Ascendancy were focused upon the "family" structures, which often generated political infighting. While there were several Ruling Families, there were a subsequent number of "Great Families" that, given the proper conditions, could rise to become members of the ruling elite, and thousands of lesser families, which were less influential than the great houses. Neither the number of Ruling nor Great Families was fixed, with families able to rise and fall, and some of the lesser families hoped to join the ranks of the Great, while others were content with their local power blocs. Even though family loyalty was not supposed to impact military decisions, it often unofficially did. While the Syndicure was unable to officially control military matters, it could advise, encourage, and, in the words of Thrawn, "make trouble," which was something the politicians were particularly skillful at.

Most Chiss names were multi-syllabic and consisted of three distinct parts, as in Mitth'raw'nuruodo. The first portion identified an individual's family, the second was the given name, and the third indicated other social factors. A combination of parts of the three portions constituted the individual's core name, such as the derivation of "Thrawn" from "Mitth'raw'nuruodo".

The secrets of Second and Third Sights were among the best kept secret in the Chiss Ascendancy, to such an extent that many Chiss themselves were unaware of their full extent or even their existence. They were identified with the ability to use the Sight to act as navigators for the CDF and were known as ozyly-esehembo, the Cheunh word for "sky-walker." The existances of the sky-walkers was also kept secret from the other species and nations of the Unknown Regions, with the Chiss even hiring alien navigators at times to keep up the illusion of lacking their own. Jixtus came to speculate the Chiss indeed had their own form of hyperspace navigation, yet he incorrectly guessed the Chiss means were electronic hyperdrives they claimed during the Sith Wars, though later Grysk agents became aware of the sky-walker corps.

Much like how the Galactic Empire showed prejudice towards aliens, the Chiss Ascendancy was known for distrusting humans. When Imperial Commander Eli Vanto served the Chiss Defense Fleet, the Chiss treated him similarly to how Grand Admiral Thrawn was treated when he joined the Empire. Nevertheless, all mistrust towards Vanto subsided when he proved his worth. Despite keeping minor relations with the neighboring nations of the Unknown Regions, the Chiss saw little need to treat them as allies or equals.

The Chiss Ascendancy ruled a swathe of space beyond the borders of the known-galaxy. The Chiss Ascendancy cared a great deal for its sovereignty. The Ascendancy's government went to such lengths to avoid compromising even the location of its territory that it resulted in the Chiss' becoming a species shrouded in a certain curious air of mystery and legend. The Chiss Ascendancy was comprised of multiple sectors, including one in the northeast-zenith of its territory. In addition a group of sectors was located in the southeast of the Ascendancy. By the time of the Clone Wars, the Ascendancy was an empire which controlled a large part of the Unknown Regions.

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