Sky-walker
Chiss navigators known as Sky-walkers possessed Force-sensitivity and were crucial for the Chiss Ascendancy in traversing the perilous hyperspace conditions of their home territory, the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. In Cheunh, the primary Chiss language, these sky-walkers were called ozyly-esehembo, a term directly translated to "sky-walker" in Galactic Basic Standard. The Ascendancy's military and diplomatic corps utilized sky-walkers through the sky-walker corps, which later evolved into the seekers program.
The Chiss, Thrawn, expressed his bewilderment upon encountering Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, after he had requested Darth Vader to use the Force to navigate the Chimaera. Sky-walkers were almost always female Chiss children, typically between seven and fourteen years old, although Mitth'ali'astov, a former sky-walker, remembered the power sometimes persisting until fifteen. However, as Thalias experienced, the ability could prematurely diminish. She lost her abilities at thirteen. In one rare case, it was sometimes retained as old as twenty two.
Their Function
At a young age, Ozyly-esehembo were separated from their families and, during their service to the Sky-walker corps, were considered to belong to no Chiss family. Nonetheless, many Ruling Families of the Chiss eagerly sought to adopt former sky-walkers, viewing it as a prestigious honor.
Caregivers, usually women, looked after sky-walkers. A century before the Nikardun conquests, all caregivers had been sky-walkers themselves. However, by the time of the Nikardun conquests, very few former sky-walkers became caregivers to younger sky-walkers. Mitth'ali'astov, who cared for Che'ri, was one of the exceptions. The Ascendancy closely guarded the existence of ozyly-esehembo, revealing it only to high-ranking civilian and military personnel. Among Fleet officers, only those on the bridge and higher were informed; those of lower rank were falsely told that the ozyly-esehembo was the captain's daughter.
Using a power called Third Sight, sky-walkers navigated the treacherous regions of the Unknown Regions. This significantly reduced travel times, condensing journeys that would take weeks via conventional hyperspace jumps into a few days. Each sky-walker was always accompanied by a Caregiver. Many sky-walkers became merit adoptives within prominent Chiss families of the Chiss Ascendancy after their Third Sight faded. As soon as children were discovered to possess Third Sight, they were taken from their families for training as sky-walkers. Kivu'rik'ardok, the older sister of Mitth'raw'nuruodo, a Chiss officer, was taken to become a sky-walker at the age of five. Some training for sky-walkers took place at the Expansionary Fleet Complex on Naporar.
The Ascendancy would test sky-walkers when it was believed their gift was waning. Some sky-walkers possessed a rarer ability, a form of telepathy known to the Chiss as Second Sight. Chiss officers and warriors valued their sky-walkers highly and reacted negatively to diplomats or other officials who denigrated their navigational skills. Pilots, in particular, developed close bonds with the children due to their close working relationship.
Historical Information
Eli N. Vanto, a human officer, was entrusted by Mitth'raw'nuruodo "Thrawn" and Admiral Ar'alani with classified data about the sky-walkers. His mission was to decipher the secrets behind their powers, with the hope that his research would reveal how Vah'nya managed to retain her abilities until the age of twenty-two.
Development Information
Timothy Zahn, in an interview with StarWars.com on September 1, 2020, disclosed that the Chiss Sky-walker Corps' development as a significant aspect of Ascendancy society was unintentional. Initially, he created the ozyly-esehembo "sky-walkers" as an allusion to the name of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, the Jedi Knight/Sith Lord, for Thrawn: Alliances, without intending it to become a major element of Chiss society. However, when he was given the opportunity to write the Ascendancy Trilogy of novels detailing Thrawn's origins, he was "stuck" with the name "sky-walkers." After establishing the necessity for Force-sensitive navigators to safely navigate the Unknown Regions, Zahn expanded the concept to include the Navigators' Guild and other groups of Force-sensitive navigators in the Chaos. Zahn stated that his goal was to balance the development of Chiss culture and other Chiss characters with Thrawn "kicking butt" in the series, which began with Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising.