Csilla

Csilla, the homeworld of the Chiss, is also the capital of the Chiss Ascendancy—a galaxy-spanning empire that until recently remained hidden behind the curtain of the Unknown Regions.

Grid Location: F-8
Terrain: Glaciers, caves
Diameter: 11,080 km
Length of Day: 17 standard hours
Length of Year: 463 standard days
Population: 8 billion
Sentient Species: Chiss
Species Mix: Chiss (99%), other (1%)
Language: Cheunh
Government: Ruling Families
Major Exports: Information
Major Imports: Foodstuffs, technology
System/Star: Csilla/Csilla

Planets in the System:

Planets	Type	Moons
Cessed	Searing rock	1
Csilla	Frozen terrestrial	3
Repplic	Gas giant	22
Corb	Ice ball	2
Formac	Ice ball	0

"Csilla, the homeworld of the Chiss, is also the capital of the Chiss Ascendancy—a galaxy-spanning empire that until recently remained hidden behind the curtain of the Unknown Regions..."

Detailed History

The blue-skinned, red-eyed Chiss are genetically classified as near-humans and therefore are not believed to be native to Csilla. Yet they have been present on the world since before the planet's last great ice age, which trapped Csilla's surface beneath a glacial freeze more than five millennia in the past. In response, the Chiss moved their civilization underground, carving warrens in the bedrock and exploiting Csilla's deep geothermal heat.

The largest city on Csilla is Csaplar, which is connected to all other points on the planet via a network of subterranean tube transports. It was in Csaplar that plans to expand crowded first took shape, and by 1000 BBY Csilla had become the capital of the twenty-eight colony worlds of the Chiss Ascendancy. Csaplar also served as home to the Ruling Families, who governed all activities within the Ascendancy's borders (though an individual family's influence could fluctuate over time, with the number of Ruling Families historically varying between three and twelve).

The Chiss, who maintained a policy of not attacking unless provoked, nevertheless appeared to tolerate the actions of Thrawn, who assembled his own proactive military force in the Empire of the Hand. Thrawn's forces were responsible for decimating the Ssi-ruuk after the Battle of Endor, something the traditionalists on Csilla could not bring themselves to do.

More than a dozen years after Thrawn's death, politics shifted on Csilla in favor of a new radicalism. Fresh wars with the Vagaari shook the Ruling Family power structure, and Thrawn's Empire of the Hand became absorbed into the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. This new posture put the Chiss in a better position to fight the Yuuzhan Vong and the Killik expansion of the Swarm War. One benefit of Csilla's higher profile has been the opening of hyperroutes into territory previously considered unreachable.