"Sometimes I wonder how things would have gone if our people hadn't encountered the Chiss all those years ago. Things certainly would have been different, and considerably less turbulent. Many crises would have been avoided, and lives could have been saved. So many people... I'm sorry, I… (break) I apologize for that. I suppose I should be a bit more optimistic. First contact with the Ascendancy did bring a number of positive plates to the table. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have ever gotten our homeworld back or made the technological innovations we have today. I don't even want to know how bad we would have had it when the Reapers came..."

- Shala'Raan vas Rannoch, Supreme Chancellor of Rannoch. 2221.


The Chiss Ascendancy

The Chiss (En'tisan'sasi bah Csilla, translated from the official Chiss language of Cheunh "child of Csilla") are the newest sentient species of notable size to enter the galactic stage. A proud and highly intelligent race of bipedal mammals originating from the planet Csilla, the Chiss value a knack for strategy and subterfuge over brutal force.

Biologically, the Chiss are bipedal mammals best distinguished by their blue skin and glowing red eyes, which grow darker depending on the oxygen content of their surroundings. Their skin and eye coloration are a direct result of forced natural selection imposed upon their people as a result of a global ice age that struck their planet almost 5,000 years ago. It is unknown what the species looked like prior to this change, but it is believed that they may have been very similar in appearance to the Humans due to similarities in biology.

Csilla itself is a harsh frozen ocean of a world with standard gravity, a frigid climate, a diameter of 11,080 kilometers, three orbiting moons, and has a terrain featuring glaciers and caves. A number of notable fauna that the Chiss have exported to multiple colonies are native to Csilla, including but not limited to the ferocious Wampa ice creatures and the herd-based Tauntauns.

The estimated Chiss lifespan is around 150 years old, thanks in part to advances in medical technology. Childhoods for Chiss individuals are very short, as they reach sexual maturity at the age of 10, and after that, they do not display any significant signs of aging until they reach 70.

History and Politics

Rise of the Ascendancy

The Chiss are believed to have evolved from an ancient evolutionary genus that millions of years ago diverged from other Csillan-based mammalian primates, after the Chiss clade split from a lineage that the Wampas, a species of ferocious bipedal predators also native to Csilla (and the only other surviving family member of said lineage), also came from. As stated previously, in about 5,000 BCE, Csilla entered a global ice age that eradicated nearly all plant and animal life on the planet. The direct cause of this environmental catastrophe is unknown, but when it happened, glaciers soon covered the normally warm equatorial regions of the planet, while solid ice locked the poles in perpetual winter.

At the time, the Chiss had already entered into a sort of industrial age where considerable scientific advances were being made at a pace rarely seen in an organic species. This is due in large part of the Chiss' general lack of spiritual or religious beliefs; in return, there were very few inhibitions to technological and cultural ingenuities. In order to survive the change brought upon their homeworld, 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.

It is known that the Chiss adapted well to their planet during its climatic change and began tapping into geothermal energy as a power source. This led to the building of several populous cities amongst the glaciers and the quick development a global government. Thus, the Chiss avoided the adolescence period common to developing worlds that saw nations compete with one another, along with adopting a planet-wide tongue, known as Cheunh.

Eventually, the Chiss finally entered a space age when scientists began developing automated drones which were launched into outer space with specialized beacons that led to the creation of a network of navigational anchor-points. As the Chiss expanded into space using these coordinates, their species as whole gradually fell under the auspices of the Ascendancy. The Chiss Ascendancy is a republican oligarchy that serves as the government and holdings of the entire Chiss species, operating out of Csilla and beyond. The Chiss are largely governed by an oligarchy of extended Ruling Families from House Palace, located in the city of Csaplar. Each clan with the families is headed by leaders known as Aristocra who wear particular colors to indicate their clan and family loyalties. Standard and day-to-day decisions are made by a democratically elected parliamentary body from each of the many colonies under Chiss control. Issues are 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 can be approved for action.

As the Chiss Ascendancy expanded into the stars, one particular soldier by the name of Jer'Jo Cam'Co, was responsible for the formation of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force (CEDF) as the military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the Ascendancy. He proposed the creation of this group after explorations efforts yielded evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life and with it, the potential of encountering a new breed of threats. Much of their expansion was governed by the need to gather resources without upsetting their homeworld's ecosystem. Though their territory later managed to suffice for their growing population, the Chiss continued to expand into space. This expansion was greatly improved with the creation of the Bosbit-Delemede Translight Engine, or "slipspace drive" for short, which sped up Chiss colonization significantly.

Within a few centuries, as much as 800 worlds had been settled by the Ascendancy, a record held over most sapient species in Forn Gorek. A milestone of these colonization efforts was the planet of Hoth, a world very similar to Csilla located in the Tinoon Vinza system that would become the Ascendancy's main military hub. First contact was also made by the Chiss with the Gand and the Quarians (and by extension, the Geth) during this time, with variable, yet overall peaceful, outcomes to both negotiations.

The Insurrection

For a long while, the Ascendancy had been left in a state of general complacency as very few threats or conflicts were met. This changed, though, with the rise of a rebel movement known as the Insurrection. A few decades prior to the year 2094 CE, when the crisis first started, there were a number of tensions between the Inner Colonies, the worlds closest to Csilla; and the Outer Colonies, worlds further from the Ascendancy capital that harbored more resource rich worlds that the Inner Colonies had become heavily reliant upon. Breakaway movements were made by some of the Outer Colonies in response to what they saw as overbearing autocracy at the hands of the Ruling Families. These movements gradually escalated into full-scale violence that spread across Chiss-controlled space in only several years. As the conflict worsened, rebel military assaults were made on several Inner Colonies, including, to the shock of many, Hoth.

The Insurrection lasted for about thirty years, during which the rebel groups became incredibly adept in creating precise terrorist movements that the Ascendancy had difficulty detecting. Several naval battles took place, a significant one taking place right in orbit of Hoth, but the Ascendancy was able to keep the Insurrection from spreading too close to Csilla, which the rebels had intended to strike at some point.

The Intergalactic War

Everything came to an abrupt end in 2125. In that year, contact with Harvest, an agricultural world in the Outer Colonies, was unexpectedly and abruptly lost. It was initially believed that rebels were responsible, but it soon became clear that this was nowhere near the case. After failing to re-establish contact, the Ascendancy sent a scout ship, the Arlan, to investigate. Contact with the Arlan was subsequently lost after the ship arrived at Harvest, plunging the Chiss into a deadly war with an alien hegemony known as the Covenant. Harvest was bombarded from orbit in a process which would come to be known as glassing, marking the beginning of the Intergalactic War, the largest and bloodiest multi-species conflict ever faced by the modern galactic civilizations. During the war, hundreds of Chiss colonies were destroyed and billions of civilians and military personnel were killed by the Covenant. The conflict would see the near-annihilation of the Outer Colonies by the mid-2130s.

The war took an abrupt and unexpected turn for the better in the case of the Chiss about twenty years into the conflict. Minor events resulted in first contact between the two warring factions with the Citadel Council in 2141. The Spirit of Fire, a vessel that had gone missing ten years prior during a battle with Covenant forces, surfaced in the Ismar Frontier and was shortly thereafter detected by a Covenant battle fleet. It is simply by pure coincidence that a Batarian convoy happened to stumble upon the fleet and were subsequently obliterated in the following altercation.

What followed was an investigation by Council SpecTRe Terylene Wasava, who found the Spirit of Fire and organized negotiations between the Ascendancy and the Council. Within a month, the Council was drawn into the war on the side of the Chiss, changing the direction of the war and the political landscape of the galaxy forever…

Military

The military of the Chiss Ascendancy consists of a well-trained and well-armed force which protect a number of advanced and orderly worlds within its sphere of influence. Chiss belief in rigid discipline is largely seen within their armed forces and they make use of superior technology when required in order to hold enemy forces at bay.

Despite their large fleets and efficient military, the Chiss were generally not violent. They prefer to extend themselves only from a defensive posture, although their exposure to the Covenant has caused the Chiss to rethink things. Much of the Chiss military is comprised of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force (CEDF). Founded in 1563 CE by the heavily idealistic yet renowned soldier Jer'Jo Cam'Co, the CEDF is first and foremost a subordinate of the Ruling Families, but is professionally controlled by the Defense Hierarchy, which is ruled by a Security Council that convenes in the city of Ac'siel on Csilla. Standard CEDF officers wear black uniforms with patches colored to relate to their houses; members of the Defense Hierarchy wear all-white uniforms.

Within the CEDF are several branches, one being the CEDF Armed Forces. The Armed Forces encompass the CEDF Army, the CEDF Navy, and the CEDF Air Force. Chiss soldiers, regardless of branch, wear camouflaged color-shifting, fractal-pattern armor that allows them to sneak across battlefields with ease, and carry demolition satchels and charric guns. The only thing differentiating them, are the emblems on their breastplates that signify which branch they fall under. The Army and Air Forces maintain garrisons on Ascendancy colonies, and are known to police any attempted rebel or pirate movements against colonies with extreme prejudice. The Navy houses the Chiss marine-based infantry and primary battle fleet, as well as the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR).

The SSR is the intelligence service of the CEDF, and one of the most elite intelligence groups in the galaxy, rivaled only by the Salarian STG. Overtly, the agency is merely the information gathering and analysis division of the CEDF. In reality, the operations of the SSR are far broader than simple intelligence gathering.

The SSR has become known for their preeminent role in the acquisition and leveraging of military intelligence. The agency is widely known for using subterfuge, deception, and manipulation in defense of the Ascendancy in order to accomplish its goals. Additionally, the SSR employs numerous special projects, the most prominent one, at least to the whole galaxy, being the MagnaGuards.

Believed to be the Ascendancy's greatest assets, MagnaGuards are members of a series of advanced projects designed to create physically, genetically, technologically, and mentally superior super soldiers as special fighting units. The first major effort to create augmented supersoldiers was the SITH Project, later retroactively dubbed "MagnaGuard-I", which used operatives drafted from the CEDF. The subsequent programs, MagnaGuard-II and MagnaGuard-III, were the brainchild of Sev'eere'nuruodo, a scientist employed in the SSR. They were highly successful, but also controversial because of Sev'eere'nuruodo's dubious ethics concerning the use children as candidates. The latest installment, MagnaGuard-IV, returned to the idea's roots by using consenting adult volunteers primarily drawn from the various Special Forces units of the CEDF. To the other races of Forn Gorek, the MagnaGuards are seen as the most efficient military/combat units ever conceived, and are both respected and feared. They are generally equipped with state of the art weaponry and equipment, the most iconic being their Powered Assault Armor.

Technology

To the races of Citadel Space, Chiss are seen as something of an outlier in the galactic community. This is because the Chiss homeworld lies within the Ettarue Arm, a minor spiral arm of Forn Gorek untouched by the Mass Relay network. As a result of this, the Chiss were forced to develop faster-than-light travel through their own merits. About four-hundred years ago, the Chiss created the Bosbit-Delemede Translight Engine, a device which enabled FTL travel through slipspace transitioning. One of only three confirmed ways of FTL travel, slipspace involves the literal breaking of dimensional barriers to access a subdomain of alternate spacetime consisting of eleven non-visible infinitesimal dimensions used for faster-than-light travel. While efficient, slipspace has proven to be quite dangerous due to the possibilities of radiation poisoning, slipspace portals generated in atmospheres of planets causing intense gravity distortions, and even cases of entire ships disappearing vanishing from existence entirely with no possibility of recovery. Nonetheless, with this unique form of FTL, Chiss have colonized over 800 worlds, far outnumbering the amount of planets settled by all of the Citadel races combined.

Chiss structures are starkly angular, perhaps inspired by the icy geometries of Csilla's glacial landscape. This can also be seen in the warships of the CEDF fleet, which have very curved and fluid hull-lines. The Chiss naval vessels are usually comprised of titanium, and such protective armor is the standard of CEDF ships.

The most famous vessels of the CEDF fleet are the Star Destroyers. Kilometer-long warships, these triangular ships make up the bulk of the fleet and generally escort larger vessels such as carriers. The largest vessels in the CEDF fleet are said carriers. While possessing weapons of their own, their primary role is to deploy fighter craft such as the Nssis-class Clawcraft, and may serve as flagships in fleet actions. A number of Chiss carrier types are known to exist, including but not limited to the Sith-class. Frigates of various sizes and classes are used for escorting larger cruisers and carriers, as well as for independent patrol and scouting operations. They are roughly the same size as Star Destroyers, but are designed with less emphasis on firepower and armor over versatility.

Chiss weaponry is also something of an anomaly to most species. Unlike the Citadel or Covenant races, which utilize weaponry based on Element Zero and plasma, respectively, the Chiss make use of a unique type of energy weapon, the charric. A product of Chiss innovation, the charric fires a lancing blue beam, sometimes described as a maser, which delivers thermal energy with a much greater kinetic punch than that of Eezo-based weapons. Low-power shots can administer disabling burns. The most common form of charric is a hand-held carbine, but pistols are also known, and larger versions of the weapon are carried by some CEDF fighters, and include among the heavy weapons batteries of capital ships and bases.

In the years before the Intergalactic War, practically all Chiss ranged weapons were limited to charric energy, but from studying both Covenant and Council technology, the Chiss have begun to adopt standard Eezo-based weaponry and learned how to apply Covenant plasma tech to their weapons. Though, this change was gradual and did not largely impact the war. The sole exception is probably Covenant energy shielding, which the Chiss immediately worked to understand and reverse engineer. By the 2130s, the Chiss had learned how to introduce energy shielding to both their vessels and ground troopers.

Chiss are also one of the few species in the galaxy to have attempted (and for the most part, mastered) artificial intelligence. Chiss AI constructs are divided into two groups: regular software-based AI and automated "droids".

The former are the most widely used in the Ascendancy, and alone are grouped into two categories: "smart AIs" and "dumb AIs". These labels are technically misleading, as both types are extremely intelligent, but dumb AIs are only capable of learning about subjects within their designated area of expertise, whereas smart AIs exhibit much more organic-like characteristics, such as emotions, creativity and intuition. While dumb AIs are pure software, smart AIs can only be created by scanning an organic brain and replicating the neural pattern to a digital storage system known as a Rezzoil matrix. However, after seven years of operation, the AI will descend to a terminal condition known as rampancy. Various solutions have been attempted to counter this issue, but none are known to have been effectively implemented.

Droids, on the other hand, are much simpler constructs. Unlike basic AI, which exist as programs represented by holographic avatars, droids are robotic drones that generally fall under the dumb AI category. Numerous models exist, each specified to a certain task. Some battle droids used for combat exist, but are nowadays rare as the Ascendancy relies mostly on Chiss combatants. Any droids seen today are but simple maintenance and utility drones that maintain and repair ships and structures.

Diplomatic Relations

Since the first contact, the Chiss Ascendancy has encountered many galactic species. Mistrust is occasional and understandable, given the nature of the Chiss' history with the Covenant, but politically, the Ascendancy has found a very valuable ally in the galaxy's other sapient species. The Covenant races will not be mentioned; the war should say enough about where the Chiss stand on them.

The GAND were the very first intelligent civilization that the Chiss came into contact with. With how many factions of Gand exist, relations with the Chiss is unsurprisingly numerous. While intercommunication with xenophobic colonies like Kalee and Gargolyn are understandably toxic, relations between the Chiss and the colony of Malastare have always been close. Even in spite of their considerable biological and cultural differences, Malastare has more than two centuries of history with the Ascendancy with times of intermingling and cooperation going so deep that oftentimes, the occasional Gand family can be found integrated in Chiss society. Bottom line, there is no other race in the galaxy more entwined with Chiss activities than the Malastare Gand, and the Chiss will more than likely be able to turn to those particular Gand if they are ever in need of any aid.

The Ascendancy's greatest Council allies are, surprisingly, the SALARIANS. Nearly on par in terms of intelligence gathering capabilities and scientific achievement, the Salarians and Chiss tend to agree on many matters. However, their relationship is not without its flaws. Always needing to be at the prime of technological development, the Salarians have tried multiple times to acquire technological information from the Ascendancy, in particular, information pertaining to the slipspace drive. While this is typical of Salarians, the Ascendancy is not amused by this at all and has made this opinion known.

Initially, the ASARI had a rather lukewarm view towards the Chiss. Their strong military doctrine and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction led many Asari to see Chiss as being rather barbaric. There is also the matter of the Chiss' discovery of slipspace through their own merits and their technological development surpassing the Asari by four-hundred years being a great blow to their racial pride. Further complicating the issue is the Chiss expressing the logical absurdity of the Asari's biology. Many wild theories have been suggested, the most widely believed one being that the Asari were some genetically engineered offshoot of a race of similar biological makeup (like the Humans or even the Chiss themselves) spawned by the experiments of another spacefaring culture, possibly the Protheans. This theory is widely hated by the Asari, though it is credible, given how there is minimal fossil record of the ASari on Thessia that date back earlier than 50,000 years. The start of the Intergalactic War, however, quickly pushed all of those issues aside. While ever so conservative, Asari convivial attitude towards the galaxy has been shaken as a result of the Intergalactic War, and the ubiquitous Asari have suffered a great many tragedies; as the most widespread Citadel race, countless Asari perished by the millions for every Citadel world that fell victim to the Covenant armada. For now, the Asari are the Chiss' allies, though what will happen between the two in the future has yet to be seen.

The Chiss Ascendancy is on good terms with the TURIANS, as both have very sizeable and formidable militaries that worked together on countless occasions throughout the Intergalactic War. The Chiss Expansionary Defense Force is one of the largest known fleets in the galaxy, which the Turians are known to both respect and fear. They also have a mutually intense dislike for the Covenant; during the initial Council attacks against the Covenant Empire, the Turians often bore the front of the assault and their continuous struggle only strengthened their bond with the Ascendancy.

The KROGAN have no unified government, but after the Citadel Council declared war on the Covenant in 2141, the Krogan became invaluable assets on the field. Their warrior spirit and efficiency in warfare has earned them the respect of the Chiss, many comparing them to the MagnaGuard super-soldiers.

The Chiss Ascendancy has a long history of mixed interactions with the QUARIANS, and most of those interactions have been less then friendly. This is due to the Ascendancy's use of artificial intelligences. However, their dislike of AI's is vastly overshadowed by their hatred of the Covenant. In 2145, a group of Chiss were brought to the Migrant Fleet for protection against a pursuing Covenant force. Refusing to hand over the Chiss to the Covenant, the Migrant Fleet was subsequently attacked and hundreds of ships were destroyed. They managed to drive the Covenant away in the end, but this incident had cemented the Quarians' desire to bring the Covenant down at all cost.

On a normal occasion, the BATARIANS would take the appearance of a new spacefaring race as an opportunity to send slaver ships and pirate groups to raid a colony, to test the new race's defenses, and introduce a new species into their slave caste system. However, times have changed. The Batarian Hegemony resides mostly within the lawless Terminus Systems, which are less militarily defended by the Citadel Council and thus suffered the brunt of the Covenant attacks during the Intergalactic War. In 2152, the Covenant began a campaign against the Batarian Hegemony in order to conquer their home planet, Khar'shan, as its location provided a great strategic position from which the Covenant could easily formulate attacks on both the Chiss and the Council. Khar'shan and every other habitable world in the Kite's Nest star cluster were lost, and the Batarian Hegemony is now on the verge of collapse. As such, the Batarians are more interested in self-preservation than potentially starting a war with a first-rate galactic power that has, as of yet, done nothing to wrong them. Chiss, in turn, are disgusted by the Batarians' continued practice of slavery, but see fit to leave them be in light of their predicament.

For the ELCOR, this piece is rather interesting. Relations between the Chiss Ascendancy and Courts of Dekuuna are very warm, as the Chiss utilize resources that Elcor space is rich with, such as titanium and platinum. The Elcor economy has bloomed greatly from the trade, and is expected to enter a new Golden Age. There is also something of a kinship between the two species that cannot be entirely explained. Many Chiss and Elcor have expressed some strange desire for friendship, something akin to reconnecting with an old friend.

As client species of the Turian Hierarchy, the VOLUS and the HUMANS tend to agree with them on many subjects. As such, due to good Turian relations with the Chiss Ascendancy, interactions by Volus and Humans with Chiss have proven to be beneficial on all sides. The Volus are amazed by the unique technologies that the Ascendancy has developed and seek to emulate it. And with the Volus having the second largest economy in Citadel Space behind the Asari, Chiss have benefitted greatly from Volus financial support and resource exchange. Humans, meanwhile, are more complicated. The Human Systems Alliance, which is essentially an extension of the Turian Hierarchy, is respected by the Chiss for their combat prowess, and the Humans respect the Chiss for a variety of other reasons, such as their technology, discipline, fleets, and experience. However, the Alliance is also a bit put off by how the Chiss dismiss their accomplishments; Humans have always been rather bold and headstrong, believing themselves ready for anything the galaxy has to throw at them. The Chiss are not impressed by this attitude, and actually support their clientele status in the Turian Hierarchy, a status that the Systems Alliance has never been overtly happy with.

The Chiss and HANAR have no real political relations, as neither side has much of anything which interests the other. The only exception would probably be their mutual disdain for the Covenant; the Covenant religion greatly conflicts with the Illuminated Primacy's own religious ideals regarding the Protheans, and as such, the Hanar see the Covenant as an affront to their own religion. This has been shown to unnerve many Chiss who see similarities between Hanar and Covenant religious zeal, but other than that, they seem to get on well.

Like their Hanar counterparts, the DRELL have had limited involvement in Citadel-Chiss transactions. In fact, most of the Chiss race isn't even aware of the Drell due to the rarity of the species ever leaving the Hanar homeworld. However, Drell assassins employed under the Compact have proven to be invaluable in military operations, and the SSR enjoys using expendable assassins.

The EREDAR are such a new element to the galaxy that relations between them and the Chiss (or any species for that matter) are extremely minimal. The Draenei are at least on good terms with the Chiss thanks to the camaraderie formed by the war hero known as Dutun with various individuals in the Intergalactic War. It is unknown what the Man'ari of Argus feel towards the Chiss, but if what has been said of them by the Draenei is to be believed, it is most likely not congenial.

There has been no formal contact between the Chiss Ascendancy and the GETH. If history is anything to go by, the Ascendancy is extremely divided on whether or not to even approach the machines. As a species that has spent much of its history working alongside artificial intelligences, many Chiss condemn the actions that the Quarians took in regards to the Geth's gradual rise of self-awareness. In a time of galactic war, however, any issues regarding the Geth must be put aside.

The Chiss see the VORCHA as the rest of the galaxy do: annoying and dangerously violent pests. Scientists are, however, intrigued by the biology of the Vorcha, making them a recurring object of interest for xenobiologists.


And the first faction explored, the Chiss Ascendancy. Much of the information I implemented comes from their actual culture and military in Star Wars canon, with a few tweaks I added. If there is anything I didn't add that you would like to know about, go ahead and inform me of what. I'd like to thank my good friend, SpawnX66, for his help with this. Thanks a lot bro.

Other factions I intend to describe include the Covenant, Citadel Council, Quarians, Geth, Eredar, Gand, hell even the Flood. The Citadel races I am unsure of whether or not to a whole chapter dedicated to all the species associated with them, or to do individual chapters for each species. The Quarians and Geth are already separate from them because in this universe, they were never associated with the Citadel and are thus an independent faction just like the Chiss.

Review and have a nice day.