Csilla (pronounced /ˈt͡ʃiːlə/) was a frigid, ice-locked planet in the Unknown Regions. It was the homeworld of the sentient, near-human Chiss species and the capital world of the Chiss Ascendancy. Though largely unknown to the wider galaxy during the age of the Galactic Empire, exploratory missions to the Unknown Regions conducted years later revealed Csilla and other worlds that could be reached through cautious hyperspace jumps.
Csilla was a cold, ice-locked planet located in the Csilla system of the Unknown Regions, at the coordinates F-8 on the Standard Galactic Grid. Its capital was the city of Csaplar, which was mostly located underground.
Visitors to Csilla, whether Chiss or alien, were led to believe that the planet remained vibrantly populated despite its shift to much colder weather. The parts of Csilla near the Csaplar spaceport were bustling, with hotels, entertainment venues, merchants, diplomats, government and military business nearby. However, most of the above-ground parts of Csaplar and other cities were devoid of inhabitants and made to simply look lively to create the appearance of a well-populated world.
At the twilight of the Clone Wars, approximately 60–70 million Chiss still lived on Csilla. The vast majority of them lived in illuminated and heated underground caves which could even have forests, lakes, mountains, and convincing artificial sunlight within them. To create the façade of 8 billion inhabitants on Csilla, some of those who lived underground were selected on a rotating basis to spend a limited amount of time on the surface, to appear as if they lived there.
Csilla was inhabited by the Chiss for thousands of years. Approximately 1000 years before the Clone Wars, during the 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 an ancient alien weapon known as the Starflash. The sacrifice of all four sons of the Mitth Patriarch Thomoro destroyed the entire enemy force, saving the Ascendancy from being conquered and securing the Mitth a rank among the Nine Ruling Families. However, the weapon also affected Csilla's sun, causing it to cool and make the surface of the planet uninhabitable.
Because of the change in temperature, a vast majority of the planet's four billion residents moved offworld to the planets Rentor, Avidich and Sarvchi. Those who remained moved underground. At the time of the Clone Wars, the official records stated that Csilla had a population of eight billion, but the actual population at this time was around sixty to seventy million. To maintain the illusion of a still-thriving planet, several hundred Chiss citizens were stationed near Csaplar's spaceports and tube cars were continually run across the empty city.
Csilla was openly attacked in 19 BBY. Three unknown enemy capital ships emerged from hyperspace and attacked the orbital defense platforms. The defenders, although shocked momentarily, began firing within a minute and soon destroyed all three of the ships and all wreckage so as to not damage the planet. All leadership on the planet went to underground bunkers and stayed there for several hours to see if there were any follow-up attacks.
The Chiss and their home planet were largely unknown in other regions of the galaxy. Consequently, when an Imperial scouting party led by Captain Voss Parck encountered Thrawn in circa 15 BBY, Parck instructed cadet Eli Vanto to learn anything he could from the alien about his species and homeworld. In 4 ABY, the Force spirit of the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi told his apprentice Luke Skywalker the fate of Csilla, and many other planets, would rely on him confronting the Sith Lord Darth Vader in the Battle of Endor.
Sometime after the Battle of Crait in 34 ABY, the pirate Hondo Ohnaka included Csilla in the galactic map of his book named the Galactic Explorer's Guide. Although dangerous hyperspace anomalies limited exploration of the Unknown Regions, the occasional exploratory missions of the region conducted by 35 ABY revealed some navigable worlds—including Csilla, Ilum, and Rakata Prime—that could be reached through careful hyperspace jumps.
A part of the Chiss Ascendancy, Csilla was the homeworld of the sentient Chiss species.
At some point, an artist traveled around the galaxy and wrote about the Chiss and their ability to settle into icy planets in his journal. The document was later restored and published by the Graf Archive sometime after 34 ABY and included a mention of Csilla as the Chiss homeworld.
Csilla was first mentioned in the new Star Wars canon on a map featured in the 2016 StarWars.com article Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Star Wars: The Force Awakens?. Csilla made its first canonical appearance in Timothy Zahn's 2020 novel, Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising, the first installment in Star Wars: The Ascendancy Trilogy.
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