The Vagaari Empire was the territorial holdings of the Vagaari pirates and slavers who flew freely through the Unknown Regions, taking and destroying at will, particularly among the smaller species and worlds.
The Vagaari eventually adopted a nomadic lifestyle in space at some point before 40 BBY, leaving their homeworld of Vagar Praxut almost entirely deserted. But their reign of terror was halted and were forced to retreat to their own corner of the Unknown Regions in 37 BBY by the Chiss Ascendancy, but however the Vagaari Empire began building up forces for an eventual attack on the Ascendancy, with the Chiss being aware of the Vagaari buildup, and feared that they had "already made alliances with powers even more dangerous than they are."
The Vagaari Empire began a war against the Chiss Ascendancy by 22 ABY, and secretly discovered posing as Geroon the survivors of the Outbound Flight and their colony for nearly five decades. However, the Geroon Remnant would soon reveal themselves as the Vagaari, who had come to avenge their losses at the hands of the Chiss years before, but were defeated in The Redoubt by the Chiss Ascendancy, with the aid of the New Republic, the New Jedi Order and Empire of the Hand.
A Vagaari traditional mask, used to scare others.
The Vagaari Empire was a nomadic government governed by a Miskara, an individual that ruled the Vagaari species after executing a coup d'etat on the previous ruler with the support of a major cadre. Once the coup was finished, the cadre became the Empire's new aristocracy. Females formulate strategies, acquire slaves, and take care of sanitation and maintenance, while males were the politicians, soldiers, pilots. The Vagaari's philosophy and religion consisted of believing aliens were cowards who were mere assets, and that their gods created them so they could have superior beings to worship. The Empire thrived on destruction, plundering worlds and species to maintain its nomadic people.
As the Vagaari were not predators, they dressed with voluminous robes and tall wraparound traditional masks with frightening patterns to scare their preys. used similar clothing, wearing helmets resembling demons and armor while in combat.
A Vagaari starfighter during the battle of Geroon
The Vagaari Empire had a large slaver fleet, consisting of at least 200 vessels, most of them being warships such as the Surfeik cruisers they acquired from the Arized homeworld the government exterminated, and Paskla-class cruisers. Zero-g plastic bubbles covered the hulls of many such ships, storing a slave within them that were used as living shields to reduce damage to the Vagaari fleet while in combat. Vagaari starfighters, that were likewise protected, complemented the slaver fleet. Pseudograv projectors, that they stole from an unidentified species, were used to draw others out of species and into what the Vagaari called "crawlspace." The projectors also prevented the victims from escaping battle.
As a nomad species, the Vagaari also used civilian transports and Vagaari plunder ships to transport their people, slaves—frozen by Vagaari stasis collars that ceased a being's life through suspended animation—and other goods. The slavers' knowledge of other species life was extensive, as they had killed so many, using weapons such as the schostri—insects whose stings were fatal to most life–forms they were used against—blaster pistols, and wolvkils, furry animals they encountered in their travels and domesticated to kill.
The Vagaari had no compassion, the wounded were left to die, and supplies were only shared with those who could offer something in return. As they discovered the fact that all species cared for others, the Vagaari exploited this weakness by sending slaves before them when boarding starships, provoking the opponents not to shoot while thinking the Vagaari were willing to negotiate for their lives; however, they were not. The living shields were created after using that tactic during their early travels, and similar strategies were employed during naval warfare—broadcasting those within the zero-g bubbles' cries on public frequencies, allowing the enemy to see the captives and therefore reduce their laserfire, allowing the Vagaari to destroy them in massive counterattacks. To deal damage within an opposing warship, the Vagaari offer crates of time-delayed wolvkils paralyzed by their collars and frozen slaves to lead massive ambushes.
A large number of Vagaari forces were destroyed by Thrawn at the destruction of the Outbound Flight. After that they retreated to their own corner of the Unknown Regions, recovering from their losses and building up forces for an eventual attack on the Chiss. The Chiss were aware of this buildup, and feared that they had "already made alliances with powers even more dangerous than they are.
The Chiss fear was indeed true, as the Vagaari Miskara had made contact with a representative of the "Far Outsiders," the Yuuzhan Vong extra-galactic species, and helped them plan their invasion of the galaxy. After the invasion, the Vagaari Empire captured territories once held by those killed by the Yuuzhan Vong.
The Vagaari Empire was nomadic in nature, leaving their homeworld of Vagar Praxut yet controlled a large area of the Unknown Regions as a maritime power.
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Unknown Regions