Ruling Families

The Nine Ruling Families, formerly the First Ruling Family when the Stybla family ruled the Chiss Ascendancy, the Three Ruling Families,Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil the Ten Ruling Families, and at one point having as much as twelve Ruling Families,Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good were an elite group of Chiss families that led the Chiss Ascendancy within the Unknown Regions. The Nine Ruling Families were represented in the Ascendancy's supreme political body, the Chiss Syndicure. Each of the Ruling Families had a family symbol worn on the uniforms of their Ascendancy military officers and cadets.
At least some Great Families, who were lower in the political hierarchy, sought to become part of the higher caste. Tribunals of the Syndicure's Aristocra typically included representatives from the Ruling Families as well as the Great Families. The Xodlak family was formerly one of the Ten Ruling Families, but it was demoted to one of the forty Great Families, leaving only nine.
Notably, the number of Ruling Families was not fixed at nine. The Chiss had historical records of there once being as many as 12 Ruling Families, and legends of there once being only one Ruling Family.
The Ruling Families were allowed to run their own private fleets outside of the Chiss Defense Force to protect family interests on a planet or family stronghold systems. They could even declare a family emergency to summon family officers and warriors inside the Defense Force to help out in their own private fleet.
==The Ruling Families==
At the time of the attack on Csilla towards the end of the Clone Wars, the Nine Ruling Families were:
*Ufsa family
*Irizi family
*Dasklo family
*Clarr family
*Chaf family
*Plikh family
*Boadil family
*Mitth family
*Obbic family
Each family saw themselves as the best, leading to a great level of rivalry. The Ufsa and the Irizi were allies, especially in their opposition against the Mitth, who often sided with the Obbic. The Chaf had a slight rivalry with the Mitth but weren't allies of the Irizi either. The Plikh and the Boadil shifted their alliances as they deemed necessary. The Dasklo and the Clarr were great enemies, almost leading to civil war when the Clarr warship Orisson appeared in a Dasklo controlled system.
While some families like the Boadil focused on trade power, other families like the Irizi and the Mitth were more interested in providing the best officers to the military.
==Former Ruling Families==
At the time of the Nikardun campaigns and the plot to destroy the Chiss Ascendancy, former Ruling Families included:
*Coduyo family
*Stybla family
*Xodlak family
==Organization==
===Chiss Family Ranks===
The Nine Ruling Families had five ranks, the Blood, the Cousin, the Ranking distant, the Trial-born and the Merit adoptive.
===Political Hierarchy===
All the Nine Ruling Families had the same ranks, those being: the Patriarch, the head of the family; the Speaker, the chief syndic; the syndic, the member of the Syndicure; the patriel, which handled family affairs on a planetary scale; the councilor, which handled family affairs at a local level; and the aristocra, a mid-level member of one of the Nine Ruling Families.
==Appearances==
*Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising 
*Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good 
*Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil 
==Sources==
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*Star Wars: Timelines
==Notes and references==
Category:Chiss culture