A realm was led by Storm-hair Warlord Nuso Esva whose tyrannical reign spread from the depths of the Unknown Regions to the edge of the Galactic Empire. Esva's battle fleet, divided into three fleets including the Eastern Fleet, and his elite warriors known as the Chosen expanded the realm in a series of conquests and even planned to extend his influence into Imperial Space, which by 0 ABY were being stopped by Senior Captain Thrawn.
To defeat the Imperial officer, Esva's forces kidnapped the family of the governor of the Galactic Empire's Candoras sector, Bidor Ferrouz. As the kidnapping of the governor, and orders from the warlord that commanded Ferrouz to ally with the Rebel Alliance—which was also forging an alliance with Esva's realm—would bring Thrawn to Candoras' Poln system, the warlord sent the Eastern Fleet to Poln. However, Thrawn, forces of the Galactic Empire, and the Rebel Alliance saw through the plot and unraveled it on the ground and space.
The Storm-hair reign lost one of its fleets, but did not give up, continuing its rampage across the galaxy, destroying dozens of peoples and governments. In 8 ABY, the ruler of all the Quesoth, the ruling Queen of the Red, allied herself with Esva and his thirty Chosen. On the Quesoth homeworld of Quethold, the warlord attempted to seize starships to once again destroy the galaxy that had been stopped by the Empire of the Hand; however, Thrawn's forces were able to destroy all of his realm's forces on Quethold, forcing the remnant of the warlord's forces to hide.
A realm stretching from the Unknown Regions to Wild Space was led by Storm-hair Warlord Nuso Esva. The warlord's fanatical elite warriors, the Chosen, operated as the realm's ground forces while Esva's battle fleet—consisting of three fleets of equal strength including the Eastern Fleet—acted as its navy. Firekiln capital ships that when together reached the number of five equaled an Imperial Star Destroyer lay siege to Esva's enemies, accompanied by the Whisperlike fighters and small starships. The warlord's scorched-ground policy forced the Chosen to shatter everything they could not capture or conquer as they retreated or stopped their attacks, which resulted in millions of casualties.
Since the Chosen and their leader emerged from a world in the Unknown Regions, the Storm-hairs ravaged dozens of nations and peoples while expanding the warlord's realm. In 0 ABY, Senior Captain Thrawn of the Galactic Empire began to push Esva's forces back and slow down his advance. To stop that setback, the warlord launched a campaign against the Galactic Empire that involved kidnapping the family of the governor of the Imperial Candoras sector, Bidor Ferrouz. Sending a list of demands that included making an alliance with the Rebel Alliance, which if not formed, would result in the death of the governor's family, Esva planned to draw Thrawn to the Poln system in Ferrouz's sector.
Senior Captain Thrawn, who fought Nuso Esva until 8 ABY, during which the now-Grand Admiral dealt a killing blow to the warlord and his realm.
Meanwhile, the Storm-hair infiltrated the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera while disguised as Imperial Court dignitary Lord Odo. Shortly after his infiltration, one of the warlord's attack squadrons was engaged by Imperial forces and the Chimaera under Esva's command, and the squadron fled. In the aftermath of the engagement, Esva instructed the commander of the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Admonitor, which assisted in the conflict, with telling his superior—Thrawn—that his presence in the Poln system was required immediately. At the same time, on Candoras sector planet Poln Minor, Chosen commander Ranquiv recruited the Rebels Leia Organa and Han Solo into his efforts in arming the Whisperlikes with Caldorf VII interceptor missiles, however, they were able to escape. Meanwhile, the Chosen attacked Ferrouz on Candoras' capital world of Poln Major.
The Hand of Judgment—formed by Imperial stormtrooper deserters Daric LaRone, Korlo Brightwater, Taxtro Grave, Saberan Marcross, and Joak Quiller—and Emperor's Hand Mara Jade, along with the Rebel Luke Skywalker, however, repelled the various assassination attempts on Ferrouz. Jade and Skywalker located the hostages' cavern and attempted to liberate them while Esva's Eastern Fleet and Ranquiv's Whisperlikes engaged rebel and Imperial forces led by Thrawn. Ultimately, the many Chosen guarding the hostages were killed, and the Eastern Fleet was shattered by the Galactic Empire's Death Squadron, headed by the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Executor. The leader of both forces then escaped aboard the Kazellis-class light freighter Salaban's Hope. It was shortly after this incursion into Imperial Space that Esva launched the Braccio campaign that nearly destroyed six species.
Still seeking to destroy Thrawn and bring death to the galaxy, Esva allied himself with the ruler of the Quesoth, the ruling Queen of the Red of 8 ABY, who ruled the Unknown Regions planet Quethold's Red City. Promising the death of the Queen of the White that would succeed the Red monarch, Esva gained the Queen's loyalty and would soon gain access to the White monarch's White City ship manufacturing facilities. To do so, however, as his forces were minimum, he required to steal Empire of the Hand juggernauts that he knew would soon attack Quethold. With his subjugated Stromma allies, Esva infiltrated the Empire of the Hand and shared recordings of the paintings he had brought to the Red City's Dwelling of Guests building, knowing that Thrawn would design his strategy according to the Storm-hair's artwork.
The Empire of the Hand's stormtroopers killed Esva.
The now-Grand Admiral did as the warlord expected, and Esva's Quesoth Soldiers and the thirty Chosen accompanying him gained the upper hand in the battle against the Empire of the Hand. Breaching the juggernauts, the Chosen learnt that there was no weaponry aboard, prompting their master and other Storm-hairs to hastily give several commands to their forces in Esva's language. Thrawn's TIE fighter Baron Soontir Fel commandeered a speaker through which the Queen of the Red gave orders to her Soldiers, and played a recording that commanded all of them to go to the Dwelling and protect Esva. The warlord, however, did not know that, and believed the Queen of the Quesoth had betrayed him, killing her. The Soldiers then entered the Dwelling, the Chosen fired, and they perished, as did their warlord.
With the death of the Storm-hair leader, Thrawn suspected his remnants would remain in the shadows, and would not continue their master's conquers without him. However, a liaison of Esva had told the Grand Admiral that the Chosen were far more numerous than the Chiss could imagine, and they would hunt him down, and assassinate him. Although he suspected the elite warriors would not attack, he still attached a bodyguard— the Noghri Rukh—to himself, who would kill him a year later.
Nuso Esva's realm reached the edges of Imperial Space, but its control was more significant in the Unknown Regions. It controlled and subjugated the Stromma homeworld of Oristrom, the Red City of Quethold, and a number of other star systems. A number of slave and tributary worlds was also under the realm's control, and the dozens of other worlds Esva attacked or conquered were plundered and battered until nothing remained.
Nuso Esva's realm first appeared in the 2011 novel Choices of One, written by Timothy Zahn.
- The Essential Reader's Companion