Arsin Crassus played a significant role as a financier within the Galactic Empire, aiding in the operation of the Imperial economy. This function was maintained by him for multiple decades until the time of the Rebellion on Akiva. Earlier in life, he was an employee of the Trade Federation. As the Clone Wars concluded, Crassus was instrumental in drawing the Separatist leaders to Mustafar, where Darth Vader executed them. Subsequently, he seized their assets and utilized them to support the newly risen Galactic Empire. Beyond his financial activities, Crassus also engaged in slavery. Following the Battle of Endor, Crassus participated in an Imperial emergency summit held on the planet Akiva. During the New Republic's attack on Imperial forces on Akiva, he and Valco Pandion met their end.
During the concluding decades of the Galactic Republic, Arsin Crassus came into being. In his early years, he worked for the Trade Federation, which later became part of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. As the Clone Wars drew to a close, Crassus deceived the Separatist leadership, leading them to the volcanic world of Mustafar, where Darth Vader annihilated them. Following this, Crassus redirected the Confederacy's wealth to aid in the establishment of the new Galactic Empire. During the Age of the Empire, Crassus rose to prominence as a key financier, assisting in the management of the Imperial economy. Moreover, Crassus was also implicated in the trade of slaves.
After the Battle of Endor, Arsin Crassus was among a select few high-ranking Imperial officials who had received an invitation from Admiral Rae Sloane to attend a clandestine emergency meeting on the planet Akiva. Crassus journeyed to Akiva aboard his luxurious personal vessel, known as the Golden Harp. As instructed by Sloane, he landed on a designated pad outside the palace of Satrap Isstra Dirus in Akiva, the main urban center. Upon his arrival, Satrap Isstra extended a greeting, and they engaged in lighthearted banter. Shortly thereafter, Yupe Tashu, the Emperor's adviser, General Jylia Shale, and Valco Pandion, who styled himself as Grand Moff, joined him, arriving in their respective craft.
Unbeknownst to Crassus and the others, Jas Emari, a Zabrak bounty hunter who was now affiliated with the New Republic, the government formed by the Rebel Alliance, was monitoring their movements. However, Admiral Sloane's arrival in her Lambda-class shuttle was marked by an attack on Jas, causing her to fall from her concealed position atop a tower. Crassus and his fellow delegates then made their way into the Satrap's Palace dining area, where Isstra had arranged a feast featuring tentacled creatures, aromatic dumplings, and speckled spheres. While the other Imperials sampled the sustenance, Crassus consumed his portion with gusto. Crassus and his Imperial colleagues expressed surprise when Admiral Sloane announced that she had apprehended Wedge Antilles, a pilot flying a starfighter for the New Republic, over Akiva. He accepted Sloane's explanation that Wedge was acting independently and posed no threat to the forthcoming Imperial summit, which Sloane referred to as the Imperial Future Council.
Later, the Imperial delegates received word that Rae's Imperial Star Destroyer, the Vigilance, had destroyed two rebel A-wing scout fighters. Alarmed by this news, Crassus rose to his feet and urged his fellow Imperials to bring the meeting to a close. He admitted that he was not a combatant but merely a tradesman. Sloane instructed him to sit down, while Pandion ridiculed him as a coward. During the meeting, Crassus sided with Pandion in advocating for the deployment of the Imperial Navy's last Super Star Destroyer, the Ravager, to the Akiva system. However, Sloane, Shale, and Tashu outvoted them, opting instead to conceal their Star Destroyers in hyperspace.
Following dinner, Crassus and Shale engaged in a debate regarding the wisdom of using the remaining Imperial funds to offer bribes throughout the galaxy. When Crassus proposed a truce with the New Republic, Shale countered that the Republic's sole objective was to dismantle the Empire and pursue and prosecute Imperial officials and military commanders as criminals of war. As Crassus began drumming his fingers on the table, Sloane sternly told him to cease causing a disturbance. After Crassus began to pout, Pandion supported Sloane, warning the financier that he would injure his other hand if Crassus persisted. When Tashu suggested that the remnants of the Empire retreat to the Unknown Regions in search of the origin of the dark side of the Force, Crassus scoffed at the idea that the Imperials should pack up their ships and flee like frightened children, proposing instead that a formal, breakaway Empire should be established.
On the morning of the Imperial Future Council, Crassus and his fellow delegates received news from Admiral Sloane that Imperial forces had destroyed a New Republic transport over Myrra. While Sloane asserted that they had no further cause for concern, Crassus argued that the Rebel Alliance still posed a threat. Pandion then added that the rebels would dispatch a naval force and proposed that the Empire send an Imperial fleet, including the Super Star Destroyer Ravager, to reinforce the Imperial presence on Akiva. While Crassus concurred with Pandion's call for a military display of force, Sloane countered that the New Republic held a military advantage and pointed out that they had already lost their communications station on Akiva.
The delegates then proceeded with their summit but made little headway due to the eruption of a rebellion on Akiva. With a mob running rampant outside the Satrap's Palace and their shuttles destroyed by Norra Wexley, a New Republic pilot, Crassus and Pandion demanded that Admiral Sloane deploy Imperial reinforcements to Akiva. However, Sloane overruled them and ordered that they depart on Crassus' ship, the Golden Harp. When Crassus objected, Sloane reminded him that he was not a "true Imperial" and added that he was nothing more than a moneylender and a banker. After Sloane discharged a warning shot from her weapon, Crassus reluctantly complied and instructed his pilot to summon the Golden Harp, which was located a system away. The yacht arrived within an hour.
After the Golden Harp arrived in Myrra, Crassus and the remaining Imperials traveled within the ship's passenger compartment. They were accompanied by several rebel captives, including Norra Wexley, Sinjir Rath Velus, and Jas Emari. Crassus was attended to by his two slaves, who trimmed his toenails and removed calluses from his toes. When the Golden Harp sustained damage from enemy fire, Crassus complained about the harm to his ship. He was present during an altercation between Pandion, Sinjir, and Jas. Crassus protested when Pandion offered Jas 20,000 credits to kill Sinjir, who had been an Imperial loyalty officer who had abandoned his post on Endor. Before the conflict could escalate, the crippled Golden Harp crashed into the hangar bay of Sloane's Star Destroyer, the Vigilance. Crassus, along with the majority of the stormtroopers, perished in the crash impact.
Arsin Crassus was a large, obese man with a black beard, plump feet, and calluses on his toes. He wore a shimmering long robe that trailed behind him like a peafowl. He often traveled with his own protectors: enslaved women who wore hardened-lacquer animal masks. He possessed an opulent space yacht called the Golden Harp, which he used as his personal mode of transport. Crassus was a glutton known for consuming vast quantities of food in a single sitting. Crassus viewed himself as a merchant rather than a warrior. Consequently, he was hesitant to engage in combat unless his side possessed overwhelming firepower and resources. Crassus was also boorish and known to drum his knuckles on the table during arguments. He was also emotionally immature and prone to sulking when reprimanded by others.
Crassus' Imperial colleagues, particularly Admiral Sloane, held him in contempt, regarding him as little more than a moneylender and banker. He was also a user of spice, which he smoked through a long obsidian pipe. During the retreat from Akiva, Crassus was initially unwilling to lend his yacht, the Golden Harp, to his fellow Imperials. Despite his objections, Crassus yielded to Sloane's demands when she discharged her weapon.
Arsin Crassus made his debut as a minor antagonist in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel, Aftermath. Although he was killed off in that story, the novel's 2016 sequel, Aftermath: Life Debt, mentioned that he had been taken prisoner by the New Republic and assassinated by the undercover Imperial agent Windom Traducier. This inconsistency has yet to be addressed by the Lucasfilm Story Group. Crassus was named after Marcus Licinius Crassus, a politician considered to be the wealthiest man in Roman history, who formed the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Pompey.