Chiss Ascendancy

The **Chiss Ascendancy**, sometimes called **Chiss Space** or **Chiss Empire** by those who originate outside Chiss territory of an unknown part of space, was a regional oligarchic government of the Chiss which had dominion over the section of the Unknown Regions under their control. Chiss were secretive and had little contact with the rest of their known galaxy. In ancient times, when the old Sith Empire returned from centuries in unknown space to fight the Republic once more in a great war, the Chiss Ascendancy was perhaps the only actual ally of the Empire, and unlike all species that the Empire subjugated some Chiss were known to serve as Imperial agents. A Chiss was very xenophobic, believing themselves to be superior to all others. Because of this, Chiss were as isolationist as possible. They rarely engaged in trade with those outside their borders. For millennia, the Chiss isolated themselves and rarely entered into the affairs of the larger galaxy, with their reputation as fearsome warriors living on in stories told throughout the farthest edges of the galaxy. The Chiss first made contact with the galaxy after millennia in the form of the Chiss officer Thrawn, who would be the first to show the power and knowledge of the Chiss species to a Galactic Empire. Over the years following the Galactic Civil War, the cooperation between Imperial Remnants with the Ascendancy grew into an alliance that worked to reshape their galaxy.

## Ascendancy Leadership

### Chiss Ruling Families

The Chiss Ascendancy was governed by an oligarchy of extended Ruling Families from the ruling palace, located in the city of Csaplar on the Chiss capital planet of Csilla, homeworld of the Chiss. Each clan with the families was headed by leaders known as Aristocra, a title for the ruling class of the Chiss species within the Chiss Ascendancy, borne by important members of at least some of the Ruling Families. Each of the ruling families was responsible for a set of government affairs to manage: House Sabosen was responsible for social issues such as justice, health, and education; House Inrokini was responsible for industry and science; House Csapla was responsible for colonial affairs, agriculture, and redistribution of resources; and House Nuruodo was responsible for military and foreign affairs. Although the four extended ruling families were not known to face power struggles, several lesser clans often vied for greater authority and power.

Each family was equally represented in the Chiss government, although they went to great lengths to ensure that family identity was eliminated wherever possible, wearing colorful robes to often distinguish themselves and help ensure that decisions were reached in both a fair and equitable method. Standard and day-to-day decisions were made by a democratically elected parliamentary body from each of the colonies. Issues were siphoned up through the parliament to a cabinet of appointed Governors, and then to the Ruling Families, where a decision made by the parliament and/or cabinet could be approved for action. The vast financial holdings of the Chiss kept their supply lines running and provided them access to a number of independent shipyards which they used to keep their vessels on constant patrol. The redistribution of resources amongst the Chiss colonies and Csilla was particularly important, given the collectivist-socialist economic system of the Chiss.

## Ascendancy Military

The military of the Chiss Ascendancy consisted of a well trained and well armed force which protected a number of advanced and orderly worlds within its sphere of influence. Chiss belief in rigid discipline was further seen within their armed forces and they made use of superior technology when required in order to hold enemy forces at bay. Ultimately, the Chiss saw themselves as a bastion of order in a sea of chaos in their home space in the Unknown Regions. While their history was marked by nearly continual warfare and conquest of other worlds, the Chiss were generally not violent. They preferred to extend themselves only from a defensive posture, although they were exposed to threats in the Unknown Regions and Outer Rim. One of the major military organizations was the Chiss Defense Fleet, which were led by the Nuruodo family. The Chiss Defense Fleet patrolled the Chiss borders and space, although segments were known to combat forces beyond the realm of the Chiss in times of dire need. This fleet was considered to be a tool of foreign affairs rather than a military asset. In times of crisis, Chiss Defense Fleet segments drew upon the nearby colonies to strengthen themselves and tighten border patrols. The formation of the Chiss Army and Navy was tributary, with each military force of a Chiss colony planet sending representatives to Csilla.

### Chiss Defense Fleet

The **Chiss Defense Fleet** otherwise known as the **Chiss Defense Force** or the **CDF** was the military branch of the Chiss Ascendancy founded by the ancient Chiss after the initial discovery of several resource-rich worlds during the race's early explorations. While the Defense Fleet did was charged with repelling aggressive incursions and considering long-term strategic concerns, the Expansionary efforts made by the naval forces were in charge of frontier patrols and exploratory missions in areas around the Ascendancy, and recorded its discoveries in the Expeditionary Library on the capital world of Csilla. It would seem that the high command of the Defense Fleet, known as the Defense Hierarchy, was in overall control of both expansionary and defensive duties of the fleet; but as well as answering to the Hierarchy, the fleet fell under the oversight of one or more of the Ruling Families. Senior officers of the fleet were stripped of their family names and made part of the Hierarchy. Bound by a strict non-aggression policy, both the Hierarchy and the Families refused to countenance or even consider preemptive strikes against potential enemies until they attacked the Ascendancy. The Defense Fleet was also noted as possessing a reconnaissance corps.

## Chiss-Imperial Alliance

The Alliance between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Galactic Empire secretly began with a series of representatives from both governments that demonstrated the benefits of cooperation. As a result of this union, its ideology became an amalgamation of Imperial ideals and Chiss principles, including the concept of Non-Human beings being permitted to enter military service. The main objective of this partnership was to defend the galaxy from various threats within the Unknown Regions, including extra-galactic threats. It all began when the Chiss officer known to the galaxy as Thrawn would first establish contact with the Empire some time after it had been created by Sheev Palpatine, who in reality was the secret Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious. Captain Voss Parck of the *Venator*-Class Star Destroyer *Strikefast* oversaw the operation that removed Thrawn from his "exile" and lead to the recruitment of this unknown alien into Imperial ranks. Taken to Imperial Center to meet the Emperor in person, Thrawn spoke with Sheev Palpatine about information he possessed of the Unknown Regions including great threats and navigational information. Impressed by the Chiss, Palpatine chose to have Thrawn trained as an Imperial officer, both for the Empire's benefit and to further his secret agenda.

After rising through ranks of the Imperial Military and sharing many ideas with the Emperor about the Unknown Regions, Thrawn became the first Non-Human in Imperial history to achieve the rank of Grand Admiral. After years of serving the Empire and enduring the resentment throughout the Imperial hierarchy about the heights to which the Non-Human had risen, Thrawn had reestablished contact with his people, who flocked to his banner because of the imminent dark threat, and looked to Thrawn as a new source of hope for the Chiss. Thrawn dispatched his Human protege Eli Vanto on a mission to enlist his services to the Chiss Defense Fleet, so that Eli would act as the Empire's attache to the Ascendancy. Years later, the rebellion against the Empire would rise to become the New Republic after the fall of Emperor Palpatine, and from their victories came the crippling of the Empire. After the Battle of Jakku, the shattered remnants of the Empire retreated into the Unknown Regions. Using Thrawn's knowledge of the Unknown Regions along with information retrieved by the few survey teams and droids the Emperor had secretly sent into the unknown, the surviving Imperial Remnants were able to make their way through the great swaths of unknown territory. With the death of the Imperial leadership and loss of their legitimacy, the Ascendancy took advantage of the chaos so as to place themselves in a position of power.

Eventually, some remnants of the Empire voyaging through the Unknown Regions would encounter the Chiss Ascendancy, and although the Empire was first viewed with distrust by the Ruling Families of the Chiss Ascendancy, many Chiss aristocrats ultimately agreed with Thrawn's vision and established the cooperation that would create what some might call the **Chiss-Imperial Alliance**. Among the top Imperial officers who supported the partnership with the Chiss were Voss Parck and Dagon Niriz, who held command of the Star Destroyer *Admonitor*, the former of the two having been the one who procured Thrawn for Emperor Palpatine, while a cadre of Chiss loyal to Thrawn's vision provided their support in return so as to pacify the Unknown Regions. Both Parck and Niriz who survived the end of the war to be part of the Empire's new mission of exploration and conquest, viewed Thrawn in high regard, being supporters of the Chiss while he worked his way through the Imperial ranks. A great many remnants of the fallen Empire reorganized into the First Order in the depths of the galaxy, as part of Palpatine's Contingency, a plan to ensure that the Galactic Empire would not outlive him, rather that it would be co-opted by surviving Imperials to ensure that the Empire continued after his death.