Riyo Chuchi

Riyo Chuchi was a female Pantoran politician who represented the moon Pantora in the Senates of the Galactic Republic and its successor state, the Galactic Empire, from the Clone Wars to the early reign of the Empire. Young, insecure, and timid at the start of her career, Chuchi grew into an outspoken and strong leader during the Clone Wars, upholding her ideals and challenging her enemies in efforts to maintain a fair and just government. By the time of the Empire, Chuchi resolved to use her position of power to protect the rights of the former soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic, which had been comprised of commissioned clone troopers. Hoping to defend and represent the voiceless in the Imperial Senate, Chuchi positioned herself as a roadblock to the Empire's early plans for military expansion.
When first elected to represent her people in the Republic Senate, the idealistic Chuchi was marginalized and treated as a mouthpiece by Pantora's belligerent and militaristic Supreme Chairman, Chi Cho. When the Pantorans learned that one of their protectorate planets, Orto Plutonia, was inhabited by the primitive Talz, Chuchi was forced to balance her loyalty to the Pantoran Assembly and the Republic as Cho prepared for war with the Talz. Overcoming her fealty to Cho, who was fatally wounded in battle, Chuchi negotiated peace with the Talz tribal leader Thi-Sen, ending Cho's One-Day War. Forging a mutually respectful relationship with Cho's successor, Notluwiski Papanoida, Chuchi returned to the Senate as a stronger politician. Together with Papanoida, Chuchi later helped resolve a dispute between Pantora and the Trade Federation, culminating in her successfully forcing the Federation to lift a blockade from their world.
At the end of the Clone Wars, the Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire, and Chuchi continued to serve in the now-Imperial Senate. As the Empire sought to transition away from Republic-era assets, Chuchi became a strong supporter for the clone troopers of the former Republic Military and opposed the Imperial Defense Recruitment Bill, which would force their discharge. Chuchi found an enemy in the bill's strongest supporter, Admiral Rampart of the Imperial Navy, however, but uncovered evidence that Rampart had taken part in the destruction of the Kamino cloning facilities to make the clones obsolete. Despite being targeted for assassination by Rampart, Chuchi was able to present evidence of Rampart's crimes to the Senate, leading to his arrest, but her efforts to stop the bill's passage backfired when Emperor Sheev Palpatine manipulated the situation to push for the replacement of the clone armies with conscripted stormtroopers. After her help in uncovering the truth about Kamino, Chuchi assisted with the Clone Underground.
==Biography==
===Early life===
At some point prior to or during the Clone Wars, Chuchi attained the rank of senator and represented her homeworld of Pantora in the Galactic Senate; though she shared her rather young age with fellow senators Padmé Amidala and Mon Mothma, she was rather timid and soft-spoken in comparison.
===Clone Wars===
====Conflict on Orto Plutonia====
It was during the time that the Pantoran Assembly requested that the Grand Army of the Republic establish a base on the planet Orto Plutonia to protect the moon of Pantora from possible attacks by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Although the Grand Army established a base, their station on Orto Plutonia soon ceased communications, forcing military leaders and Chairman Chi Cho of the Pantoran Assembly to organize an investigative task force. Cho asked that Chuchi accompany him with Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Orto Plutonia to act as a liaison between the Pantoran government and the Jedi Order.
While Chuchi was on Orto Plutonia, her responsibilities as a senator were marginalized by Cho, who simply used her as a mouthpiece to convey his orders to the two Jedi or to wield her senatorial authority over them, with Chuchi herself unable to countermand him. It was eventually discovered that Orto Plutonia was indeed inhabited and that its Talz population was the cause of the communications disruption. Chairman Cho held a great disdain for the Talz and attempted to wipe out the Plutonian tribe, but was instead killed in the process. Whilst this was happening, Chuchi conferred with the Jedi and agreed to contact the Speaker of the Assembly in regards to Cho's actions, since she had attempted in vain to prevent him from declaring war. The Pantoran Assembly decided that Cho was out of order and revoked his status as Chairman whilst also granting Chuchi authority to negotiate peace with the Talz.
Chuchi attempted to convince her Jedi allies to broker peace in her stead due to doubts over her own capability, but Kenobi implored her that it was her responsibility to broker peace for her people. Chuchi, after refusing a dying Cho's orders to exterminate the Talz, then met with Chieftain Thi-Sen and, with the help of C-3PO's translation, agreed to leave Orto Plutonia under the stewardship of the Talz and withdraw from the planet. After sharing a bow of mutual respect with the chief, Chuchi then left the planet with the Republic forces and returned to Coruscant to resume her senatorial duties. At some point after this, she met Anakin Skywalker's Padawan Ahsoka Tano and became good friends with her.
====Attack of the Zillo Beast====
When the Zillo Beast attacked the Senate the impact forced Chuchi to fall to her knees. She then looked back in distress while several other senators fell to the ground. Chuchi survived the attacks.
====Blockade over Pantora====
Later in the war, Pantora was blockaded by the Trade Federation under the pretense that the planet owed a number of debts to the corporation. Chuchi, now a stronger voice in the Senate and as an individual, vocally opposed these accusations and worked tirelessly to convince her fellow senators to side with Pantora's plight, despite widespread anti-Republic sentiment on the moon itself. During the crisis, the daughters of the newly-elected Pantoran Chairman, Notluwiski Papanoida were kidnapped by bounty hunters working on behalf of the Trade Federation representatives who were interested in pushing Papanoida to ally his world with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Chuchi took it upon herself to find the chairman's missing daughters with the aid of her close friend Tano.
The two visited the Trade Federation vessel in orbit of Pantora to search for the kidnapped Papanoidas, with Tano masquerading as Chuchi's servant, as the Jedi were not officially allowed to be involved in Pantora's business. After meeting with some of the Federation personnel, Chuchi and Tano began investigating, sneaking into an ambassador's office. When they overheard a conversation that confirmed that Trade Federation supervisor Sib Canay had planned the blockade and kidnappings on behalf of the Confederacy and that one of the Papanoida daughters was being kept onboard, they planned a rescue. They infiltrated the detention block and located Chi Eekway Papanoida, but were soon caught. Chuchi watched on as Tano, revealing herself as a Jedi, destroyed their battle droid attackers. Chuchi then stepped in, successfully using the information on the Trade Federation's involvement to negotiate an end to Pantora's commercial isolation.
====The Senate hostage crisis====
Chuchi voiced her concerns over the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill during the Clone Wars and met with numerous other Senators led by Philo. However, terror hit and Cad Bane led several deadly bounty hunters into the meeting hall where he planned to blackmail Chancellor Palpatine into releasing Ziro the Hutt for the Senators freedom. Chuchi was shocked at Bane's ruthless shouting and acts against Anakin Skywalker and Philo. When an unconscious Skywalker was put with the hostages, Chuchi helped Amidala care for him while cradling his head in her lap. She survived the events.
====Late war====
When Tano was put on trial by the Republic for sedition and murder, Chuchi was one of the senators present as part of the jury. When it seemed as though the Confederacy had moved to take control of the InterGalactic Banking Clan by conquering the banking capital of Scipio, Chuchi enthusiastically voted in favor of a motion to allow Republic forces invade Scipio to place the banks under Republic control. In the end, the Republic's counter-invasion was successful and led to Palpatine being granted full control over the finances.
===Imperial Era===
=====The Defense Recruitment Bill=====
Following the transition of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, Chuchi maintained her position in the Imperial Senate. She was present for the vote on the Imperial Defense Recruitment Bill, where she sided with the opposition to the legislation, expressing her concerns for the bill's lack of planning for decommissioned troopers' living arrangements and their poor representation in a vote that would directly affect them. Despite the bill's support from Senators Gani Riduli and the Commerce Guild's representative, Senators Bail Organa and Tynnra Pamlo also opposed the bill resulting in the vote being postponed.
After speaking with Admiral Rampart, the officer who had proposed the bill and responsible for the training of the Empire's new TK stormtroopers, Chuchi visited 79's, a cantina catering to clone troopers, in order to discuss the bill with them and hear their concerns and demands. Despite her good intentions, she found the clones opposing any living or pension arrangements as they wished to return to fighting as they had been trained to do. Although they had a hard time accepting the reality of their situation, Chuchi was eventually able to convince them that their age would eventually prevent them from fighting and they agreed to allow her to represent them to the Senate.
After collecting a number of demands and requests from the clones to deliver to Rampart, Chuchi exited the bar, but before she could leave she was approached by Slip. Hiding in the shadows of the door, Slip revealed to Chuchi that word among the clones was that Rampart was behind the fall of Tipoca City; he added that a friend of his, fellow clone trooper Cade, had proof of the fact and intended to reveal it to the Senate before he was killed by a sniper. Shocked, Chuchi promised to the clone that she would investigate his claims. Indeed, when she was later invited to the Imperial Inspectorate HQ to discuss the clones' demands with the Admiral, she questioned him on his miraculous survival of the "storm" that had destroyed Tipoca City, only for Rampart to claim that he was in fact absent in military exercises off-world. Still suspicious, Chuchi had her guards look for Slip, only to discover that he had disappeared.
As she was leaving the HQ, Chuchi was contacted on a secure channel by Senator Organa, who told her to meet him in a remote location. Reaching a back alley in the Coruscant Underworld, Chuchi found Organa's astromech droid, R2-C4 who was keeping an eye out for the Senator. Organa praised Chuchi for her fierce opposition to the bill and told her of rumors circulating about Rampart's secretive actions. Chuchi revealed Slip's claims to Organa, worrying the older Senator who asked her to be careful and warned her that pursuing such leads could put her in danger. Ignoring him, Chuchi kept looking for Slip around the underworld herself, eventually discovering him in a dead-end alley next to a pipeline. Slip was shocked and warned Chuchi that if she was able to find him so would the mysterious assassin who was after him. He did, however, manage to tell her that the records of the attack on Kamino would be present within Rampart's Venator-class Star Destroyer, VZ-114.
As Slip had feared, the sniper had followed Chuchi and killed Slip and her two guards as they were attempting to evacuate her. Eventually, Chuchi was cornered by the sniper inside a warehouse, but before he could kill her Rex appeared and stunned him. Rex revealed that he was in fact Slip's contact, but arrived too late to get him off-world. Instead he took Chuchi and the assassin in a garage, where he attempted to interrogate him, only for the sniper, actually Clone X trooper Clone X, to kill himself via suicide shocker, to Chuchi's horror. Afterward, Rex called in Clone Force 99 to help with their investigation.
=====The truth about Tipoca City=====
Chuchi gave Omega a tour of the Senate, explaining what a Senator does. When Omega asked whether the clones had representation, Chuchi admitted that they did not, but added that she was determined to fight for their rights. Chuchi then met with Organa, accompanied by Omega. She told him about the assassination attempt, leading Organa to note how resourceful Rampart was. He then advised her to meet with former Kaminoan senator Halle Burtoni for support on her investigation, though he cautioned her it might be difficult to get Burtoni's help. He explained that following the money might help Chuchi expose Rampart.
Chuchi met with Burtoni and asked about the missing funds for the cloning operation, which had been siphoned off over the past year. Burtoni brushed her off, saying that she should not pry into sensitive matters. Chuchi brought up the Kaminoan people, but Burtoni again brushed her off, leading to an exchange with a frustrated Omega who did not understand how she could not care. Burtoni finally admitted that she'd expected an attack. Chuchi asked if Rampart had diverted the funds, and Burtoni confirmed this, but she would not support Chuchi in the Senate until there was concrete proof. Chuchi said she would get it, but was running out of time.
In the Senate, Chuchi challenged Rampart's claims that he had addressed all her concerns, saying that he had given them reason not to trust him. Chuchi said that Burtoni was willing to testify about the diversion of funds, and when Rampart brushed Burtoni off, proposed a formal investigation. She suggested that because Rampart's actions began months before the destruction of Tipoca City, this suggested that he was planning for it. Finally, Senator Organa handed Chuchi the data package delivered by Omega, showing Rampart's Venator firing on the city and exposing his actions. Chuchi was then surprised and concerned when, after Rampart had been taken away, Emperor Palpatine commended her and used the situation to push his new stormtrooper program.
=====Helping the Clone Underground=====
Chuchi later became involved with Rex's Clone Underground, a network of clones that were helping their brothers across the galaxy. Based out of the garage that Rex had taken her to earlier, Chuchi was present when Echo, Fireball, Nemec, and Gregor returned from a mission that saw them rescue three clones, including Howzer. A concerned Chuchi listened to Howzer tell her and Echo what he remembered from the prison.
Months later, Chuchi invited Separatist Senator Avi Singh and his RA-7 protocol droid GS-8 to a secret meeting at a safe house on Pantora. The Clone Underground had a heavy presence in the vicinity to protect the Senators from the Empire. Once safely inside the safe house, which was a tea parlor, Singh secretly met with Chuchi. Despite fighting on opposite sides during they were there to discuss their growing concerns against Emperor Palpatine on both former Republic and Separatist worlds. As they sat drinking tea, they were attacked by Clone X trooper CX-1, who attempted to kill them both. Fortunately, Rex was able to toss the assassin’s bomb out of the room just before it exploded, and he and Howzer pursued the assailant underground. After the incident, Rex advised Singh and Chuchi to maintain a low profile.
After the prisoners at Tantiss Base were liberated from Doctor Royce Hemlock's command, Echo offered the clone and former Imperial scientist Emerie Karr the chance to travel to Pantora to meet with Senator Chuchi, who would value her perspective, also telling Karr that Chuchi was planning to help settle some of the freed clone prisoners.
==Personality and traits==
Riyo Chuchi was very young for her occupation as a Senator, at first insecure in her ability to perform her duties but determined to invoke reason and diplomacy. Although she was originally more reserved and insecure of her own capability to broker peace, she was still a strong-willed idealist and was willing to stand up for what was right.
Following the rise of the Empire, Chuchi vowed to be a voice for the voiceless when others refused to be, wanting to represent the interests of the clone troopers in the Senate, as they had no government representation. She was willing to meet with and work with the clones to attempt to gain pensions and other compensation should they be phased out of the Imperial Military. She was committed to the truth, following through on Slip's claims and eventually exposing Rampart for his role in the destruction of Tipoca City on Kamino.
She would become protective of the clone Echo during their time in the Clone Underground.
==Behind the scenes==
Riyo Chuchi first appeared in "Trespass," the fifteenth episode in Season One of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She is voiced by Jennifer Hale in The Clone Wars. When the StarWars.com Databank was updated for The Bad Batch Season Two, the entry for Rex revealed the return of Chuchi by including her within its image. Subsequently, the image was changed to a singular shot of Rex, removing the spoiler of her return.
==Appearances==
===Non-canon appearances===
*Disney Infinity 3.0
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Clone Underground members
Category:Diplomats
Category:Females
Category:Galactic Empire senators
Category:Galactic Republic senators
Category:Individuals with she/her pronouns
Category:Pantorans