INFO: The Chiss were a tall, blue-skinned Near-Human civilization from the Unknown Regions, best known as the people to which Grand Admiral Thrawn belonged. Due to the remote position of their home territory in the Chiss Ascendancy they remained largely an enigma to the rest of the galaxy, and contact with outsiders was limited even in the days of the Galactic Alliance.
RACE: Chiss
HEIGHT: 1.8 Meters Tall
SKIN: Various shades of blue
DISTINCTION: Glowing red eyes, above-average night vision
LANGUAGE: Csilla
HOMEWORLD:Csilla, the homeworld of the Chiss, was a cold world of glaciers and snowy wastes located deep within Chiss Space, and served as the capital of the Chiss Ascendancy.
Sometime around 27,500 BBY, Humans arrived on Csilla in a sleeper ship and colonized the planet. The planet entered an ice age in 5,000 BBY. Glaciers covered the normally-warm equatorial regions of the planet, while solid ice locked the poles in perpetual winter. In order to survive, the Chiss built energy-efficient warrens beneath the ice, as close to the warmth of the inner planet as possible, with underground carriage travel routes to connect the various underground sections of Csilla. The iceways were bored through the bedrock of the planet, so that they were unaffected by the shifting ice found on the planet's surface.
Locked in an ice age for millennia, Csilla forced many socioeconomic and technological changes upon the Chiss, but few physical changes. Contrary to beliefs in a link between the Chiss skin color and the Csillan temperature, scientists have concluded that the Chiss’ blue skin is caused by a mineral found in the Csillan hydrosphere.
Csilla was the capital of the Chiss Ascendancy. It was also home to the Expeditionary Library. Grand Admiral Thrawn was born here.
BIOLOGY AND APPEARANCEThe Chiss and baseline Humans regarded each other as aliens, but genetic studies have indicated that the two peoples were close biological cousins, and it is not clear whether the differences between them were the product of straightforward evolutionary divergence and differing planetary habitats, or the result of genetic engineering similar to that which produced such hybrid species as the Massassi, and the Myke.
Female Chiss.
Outwardly, the Chiss were distinguished from baseline Humans by three clearly visible traits—blue skin, midnight-black hair, and glowing red eyes; but their blood was red, and a case can be made that all these superficial features were the result of external factors in the biosphere of the ice-locked planet Csilla, said to be their homeworld, or at least, the political, cultural and military center of their civilization. Their coloration was said to be caused by the same atmospheric minerals that gave Csilla's glaciers their distinctive bluish tinge, and while less is known about the reasons for their distinctive glowing red eyes, an environmental reaction does seem to be involved, in as much as Chiss eyes were observed to glow brighter as the oxygenation of the atmosphere they found themselves in increased.
Beyond these potentially superficial differences, it is not clear how far the Chiss diverged from Human norms. Although both Chiss and Humans speculated about distinct physiological differences, for instance in the vocal apparatus or skeletal structure, there is no really firm proof of stark evolutionary differences. One theory put forward is that the Chiss were in fact descended from an ancient group of Human colonists who settled in the Unknown Regions long before the foundation of the Galactic Republic and were subsequently forgotten. There was, in fact, a Human sleeper ship colony established on Csilla around 27,500 BBY, though records of this were virtually nonexistent and it remained unknown how a remote area of the galaxy could have been trailblazed so far back.[4] It does seem that the Chiss possessed a faster-than-average metabolic rate, leading to a distinctively lean physique, and they were considered to have reached maturity by the age of ten or twelve; but there is nothing to say that the Chiss metabolic rate sits outside the range of known Human parameters, and it is not clear that their early maturity was a result of strictly genetic factors rather than cultural attitudes.
CULTURE AND HISTORY:The Chiss are believed to have been established on Csilla for some time: records made available in the last years of the New Republic suggested that they had been there since before the beginning of the millennia-long ice-age in which the planet was then locked fast, and possibly since before the foundation of the Old Republic. By the time contact was made with modern Galactic civilization (which was right before the eruption of the Clone Wars), they had extended their frontier across a volume of space in the Unknown Regions, perhaps encompassing as many as several hundred thousand star systems, and they claimed to have been a major interstellar power in this area for at least ten centuries; but while Chiss space had been mapped by astrogation missions over the centuries, it was by no means fully explored, still less intensively colonized.
The Ascendancy
The government on Csilla controlled 28 major colony worlds scattered across Chiss space, united in a political federation known as the Chiss Ascendancy. New Republic sources suggested that their interstellar expansion had been driven by the need to feed the large urban population of the capital, which had grown beyond the levels that Csilla could comfortably sustain, and estimated a total Chiss population for the Ascendancy of just less than five trillion. It is certainly true that newly-discovered frontier worlds such as Crustai were in the process of being opened up to large-scale settlement during the period between the Clone Wars and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Against this must be set rather more certain evidence that Chiss control over outlying systems such as Klasse Ephemora and Yashuvhu was tenuous, and Chiss space only occupied a tiny fraction of the Unknown Regions.
Considering their proximity to aggressive and expansionist species such as the Ssi-ruuk, and in particular, the Killiks and the Vagaari, it is perhaps no surprise that the Chiss saw their territory as a bastion of calm and order in a chaotic galaxy. Under normal circumstances, the Ascendancy's relations with the rest of the galaxy were governed by a strict formal policy of non-aggression backed up by strong defensive preparations; although the Chiss did not as a rule intervene in the affairs of others, outsiders were discouraged from encroaching on the untapped resources of the Ascendancy's territory by the threat of savage military reprisals against attackers. Although overt hostile action was formally required as a trigger for retaliation, simple territorial transgression could be interpreted by some Chiss patrol commanders as enough to constitute a violation. Differences of opinion over the rules of engagement evidently existed among the Chiss military and civilian hierarchy, but most outsiders seem to have been unaware of this, and uncertainty as to the exact mechanics of the system probably played a role in discouraging outsiders from venturing near Chiss territory.
In the final years of the Old Republic, however, a series of events sent tremors through the solid façade of Chiss society. By 37 BBY, the barbarian Vagaari were raiding volumes of space close to the Ascendancy's frontier, but far more serious concerns were raised by the direct incursion of a force from another alien race a few years later. Although the aliens were destroyed by a fleet led by Admiral Ar'alani, it quickly became apparent that what had been encountered was only a small scouting force, probing ahead of a massive alien invasion force. The invaders were almost certainly the Yuuzhan Vong, although it should be noted that the living planet Zonama Sekot, itself fleeing from a Yuuzhan Vong assault, took refuge in a remote area of Chiss space at around the same time, and its arrival was detected by a CEDF deep space probe, but the Chiss did not understand the greater significance and identity of the planet, dismissing it as a natural system capture of a rogue planet.
SocietyEven in the era of the Galactic Alliance, the wider galaxy seems to have had no direct contact with Chiss civilians. What was known about them was, as mentioned above, they mediated largely through encounter with military units, and through a few high-level contacts with political and diplomatic delegations. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the military and the ruling class were the best understood aspects of Chiss society; or at least, the best documented.
The Ruling FamiliesMuch of the political power within the Ascendancy seems to have rested with a group of affiliations known as the Ruling Families (or sometimes "Ruling Houses"), which seem to have had features of both lineage-groups and specialized castes, and who between them provided leadership for the Chiss in all aspects of society.
One level, the Ruling Families were, as their name suggests, defined by blood relationships; but while lineage undoubtedly played an important role in the structure of the Families, merit also had a part in defining membership. Formal processes of advancement existed by which commoners—a term which apparently covered the vast bulk of the Chiss citizenry—could achieve status in the Family hierarchy. A study of Chiss society produced by the University of Sanbra in the last years of the New Republic claims that the Family lineages stretched the length of Chiss history and spanned the breadth of the Chiss population, so that every Chiss was associated with a Ruling Family; but if this is correct, the mechanisms of advancement make it clear that there was a division between those who were actual members of the Families, and those commoners who were merely affiliated to them.
The best-documented means of acquiring Family status through merit was that which operated in the military. For the duration of their service, every officer in the Chiss military was attached to one of the Ruling Families as a "merit adoptive", and while under normal circumstances, this Family status was lost when an individual left the service, those of particular ability were said to be "born to trial", and given the opportunity to make their Family status permanent.
If these Trial-born of the Family were successful, they would be permanently "matched" to the lineage; conversely, members of a Ruling Family could apparently also be "released" and "rematched", although it is even less clear how this processes operated. It is possible that marriage was involved in matching, although no mention is yet known that indicates an institution of marriage among the Chiss.
There was a hierarchy of leadership within each Family, consisting of brothers and sisters (known collectively as siblings), plus cousins, and ranking distant relations—the last being the highest level that the most able Trial-born could reasonably hope to achieve. Individuals with the ranks of Aristocra and Syndic also served as high-level representatives of the Families, with seemingly plenipotentiary powers, though an Aristocra could hold only collateral rank within the internal hierarchy, and a Syndic at least could be Trial-born. It is in fact possible that the titles of "Aristocra" and "Syndic" denoted hereditary and adoptive members of the family respectively, but no clear evidence is known to prove this hypothesis.
Chiss officers serving alongside the New Republic during the Yuuzhan Vong war indicated that the highest structures of power and influence within the Family hierarchies were kept largely secret from those outside them. It is likely that an Aristocra or a Syndic was typically a proxy for these unseen leaders, but when a Jedi delegation visited Csilla in 29 ABY, they were met by ostensible leaders of the Ruling Families whose identities were concealed by hooded cloaks in what appear to have been symbolic shades of color denoting their bloodlines.
In spite of the outward impression of calm and order that the Chiss liked to project to outsiders, there were evidently tensions within the Families. In 27 ABY, the Chaf were prepared to incite civil war if it would give them an ascendancy over the other Families, and political assassinations were apparently a real part of Chiss political life for the Ruling Families and other allied kin-groups. A tradition of shadow children is recorded, offspring who were kept safely anonymous to prevent a family bloodline being fully extirpated. Of course, as with most information on the Chiss, this custom was reported by a Chiss source, rather than directly observed; and in this case, it was offered as an explanation for an apparent paradox in previously-supplied information. The usual refrain must once again be given: much remains uncertain about Chiss society.
At this point, however, we must turn to one of the most perplexing of all the problems in the evidence for Chiss society. In 27 BBY, the Corellian spacers who encountered the Ascendancy were told that there were at that time nine Ruling Families, though at various times in Chiss history, the number of affiliations was said to have fluctuated from three to twelve. The Fifth Ruling Family were the Chaf, who wore yellow, and apparently held a specific portfolio for diplomacy and foreign affairs, while the Second and Eighth Ruling Families shared a military oversight role. It was to the second of these two Families that Thrawn and his brother Thrass belonged; they wore dark red, and naming patterns indicate that they were known as the Mitth Family.
This situation seems to have held constant until 22 ABY, but in the University of Sanbra study mentioned above, written about five years after this date, only four lineages were identified, with no hint that this situation was anything other than immemorial.
According to the Sanbra report, House Csapla was responsible for relationship between Csilla and the colony worlds, and the associated distribution of foodstuffs and the allocation of economic resources. House Nuruodo was responsible for relations with outsiders, including control of the CEDF—a role which suggests that they should be identified with the earlier Second Ruling Family. House Inrokini was responsible for technological research, manufacturing, and the information infrastructure. And House Sabosen was responsible for law and order, healthcare and education. The cloaks of the representatives encountered in 29 ABY, in bronze, rust-red, gray and copper-green, implicitly represented the colors of these families.
The official explanation offered for the discrepancy between the "Nine Families" of 22 ABY and the "Four Families" of 29 ABY is that in the aftermath of the Third Vagaari War, safeguards designed to prevent Chiss from being absorbed by the hive-minds of their newly-contracted Killik laborers were compromised, resulting in two of the Ruling Families becoming Joiners. A subsequent "disagreement" over how to respond to the crisis saw three other families removed from power, apparently by the intervention of Thrawn's Household Phalanx.
However, it is not at all clear how seriously this information can be taken, as it was conveyed by Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano, of the Chaf Family: the Aristocra himself represented one of the five Families absent from the Sanbra material, and he referred in passing to Baron Fel's opponent Commander Ina'ganet'nuruodo, whose name would suggest she was a member of House Nuruodo, as being a scion of one of the "destroyed" lineages. Further adding to the complexity, it can be observed that whereas Fel identified Ganet as a syndic's phalanx commander, the militia chief from a colony world, she herself claimed to speak for the CEDF, of which Fel was, according to all other evidence, field commander.
Various explanations for the seeming discrepancies and inconsistencies are possible, but the safest observation to make is that here, as with most other elements of Chiss life, the evidence available does not allow firm conclusions as to the underlying truth of the matter.
GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE:Given the caveats noted above, it is perhaps best to treat the rest of the University of Sanbra material on Chiss government with some caution, in emphasis if not precisely in content. The report claimed that the twenty-eight colony worlds were led by "appointed governors, or House leaders". Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is not entirely clear whether this phrase signifies one group or two: the Sanbra information says that they were all elected in a "democratic" manner, but other evidence suggets that the Ruling Families had significant authority in at least some colonies, and the title of House leader suggests at an association with the quasi-dynastic Families (especially as they are called Houses in the Sanbra material). Whatever the case, it but it seems that the planetary leaders held executive authority on their own worlds—for instance, House leaders "usually" appointed the commanders of the Colonial Phalanxes—and they also came together to form the Chiss Parliament, sitting in a building known as the House Palace, located on Csilla in the capital city of Csapla (the name of which seems obviously related to that of House Csaplar).
However, the federal powers of these representatives, who seem to have been known collectively as "Senators", were largely limited to voicing concerns that would then be responded to by a central oligarchy, consisting of the Family hierarchy—perhaps in the form of the Council of Families mentioned in 27 BBY—acting in conjunction with the Cabinet, a cadre of administrative officials appointed by the Families themselves. It was this élite that was apparently responsible for all aspects of policy and strategy, shaping and directing Chiss society across the Ascendancy through controlling the allocation of resources in a highly-controlled and money-free command economy.
The sources generally suggest that the Chiss prized stability and tradition, but it is, in the final analysis, entirely unclear how transparent or influential the democratic process represented by the Parliament truly was, and utterly unknown how effective the Families and Cabinet managed the means of distribution, or whether any sort of black economy functioned alongside the state apparatus.