The Scofti were a sentient species from the Unknown Regions planet Bardram Scoft. The species underwent frequent changes in its leading Prefects and governmental regimes; transitions were often violent or motivated by the threat of violence. As a result, Scofti items made for the prefecture were not designed to last longer than a year. At one point, when the standing Prefect was assassinated, other parties from the Unknown Regions, including the Chiss Ascendancy, sent emissaries to Bardram Scoft to meet with the new leader.
The government of the sentient Scofti species was led by an individual who held the title of Prefect. Leaders and governmental regimes of the Scofti changed frequently, in many cases through either violence or the threat of violence. It was not unheard of for the previous Prefect to be assassinated. Scoftic culture required that outside ambassadors be accompanied by the highest-ranking military officer; additionally, further protocols would change with each shift in government.
Newly appointed leaders would often reorganize the prefecture's palace, including the decoration. Furthermore, the new leader frequently took pleasure in publicly destroying the personal items of their predecessor. When creating items for the prefecture, Scofti artisans thus saw no point in designing them to last longer than a year, and items were often deliberately made to be fragile.
Thrawn studied Scofti artifacts to infer the Scofti's qualities.
The Scofti resided on the planet Bardram Scoft, situated within the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. At some point, the species entered into marginal contact with the Chiss Ascendancy, the nation of the Chiss species, which had acquired Scofti tableware from a governmental regime one hundred years prior. The tableware was displayed in an alien art wing of an art gallery on the Ascendancy's planet Naporar. Twenty years into the Scofti and Chiss contact, the cadet Mitth'raw'nuru "Thrawn"—who had studied the artifacts to infer qualities of the Scofti and confirmed his conclusions by consulting records of their contact—brought Senior Cadet Irizi'ar'alani "Ziara" to the gallery, showing her his ability to analyze art.
Several years before 19 BBY, a new Scofti leader came to power when the former Prefect was assassinated. Numerous groups, including the Ascendancy, from the Unknown Regions sent emissaries to meet with the new ruler. The Chiss nation sent a Chiss diplomatic cruiser carrying an ambassador to Bardram Scoft. The cruiser's crew included Thrawn, who had become a Junior Commander, and the Pathfinder navigator Qilori, the latter of whom was surprised upon hearing of the nature of the previous Prefect's demise. While the pair spoke, the majority of the vessel's crew prepared the ambassador to meet with the Scofti and learn the new government's protocols.
The Scofti were mentioned in the flashbacks of the 2020 novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising, written by Timothy Zahn.