Chiss family

Chiss families differed from family units of other sentient species in several notable regards. The government of the Chiss Ascendancy was an oligarchy based on Nine Ruling Families, with the Chiss Syndicure and Aristocra composed of high officials from the Ruling Families and lesser but still influential Great Families. As with much of Chiss society, Chiss families were highly hierarchical. Chiss families had a hierarchy of political ranks as well as social or family ranks. Family ranks applied to all family members. Families' political hierarchies applied to those who worked in politics, policy, and public service; and by extension, those affected by the decisions of family officials. The head of a Chiss family was called the Patriarch, and did not need to be male. The name of one's Chiss family formed the first component of a Chiss name, such as "Mitth" within the name "Mitth'raw'nuruodo," and also the first part of one's core name.

The process of a Chiss joining a new family and leaving their old one was called rematching. Members of the Chiss Defense Force were recruited from every Chiss family. Conversely, Chiss families would often recruit promising young students, cadets or even officers to join their families. Family politics were not supposed to affect Expansionary Defense Fleet business in any way. The desire to separate Fleet operations from family politics was so ingrained that, upon promotion to flag rank, officers of the Chiss military were stripped of their family ties, regardless of what their rank within their family had been. This was done so the upper echelons of the military would not be swayed or biased by family favoritism or rivalries. Nevertheless, the Syndicure sometimes meddled in military affairs, often with the covert participation of members of the Defense Hierarchy Council.

Chiss Great and Ruling families typically possessed "family fleets", which functioned as planetary defense forces for planets affiliated with that family. In certain cases, Chiss families could declare family emergencies and bring officers and warriors directly from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet to staff their family fleets and defend their interests. Clever manipulation of ambitious mid- and low-level Chiss civilian officials of three Great Families into declaring such emergencies nearly led to a civil war in the Chiss Ascendancy.

Text and facts from the “Chiss family” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.