Lwhekk/Legends

Lwhekk is the capital of the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium and is located beyond the main disk of the Galaxy, in the remote Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster.

Geography
Lwhekk was a humid, jungle-covered planet located in the Ssi'kaat system within the remote Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster beyond the known Galaxy. The jungles of Lwhekk were broken by spired cities which appeared to be quite fragile against the jungle. The planet also had volcanoes and a large part of it appeared to be covered by oceans.

Known locations on Lwhekk included the volcano Mount Skar'lak, the underground Caves of Ss'laath and the Cree'n'aak Palace which served as the residence of His Potency the Shreeftut, the supreme ruler of the Ssi-rruk. The planet's sentient species were the saurian Ssi-ruuk and P'w'eck races. Lwhekk was also home to the fft, small multi-legged lizards which were the main source of food of both Ssi-ruuk and P'w'eck.

Society


The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had two seats of power; the Conclave, the religious body, and the Elders' Council, the political body. The Conclave and the Elders Council often competed for control of the empire and only the leader of the Imperium could prevent civil war from happening. The leader of the Imperium was known as His Potency the Shreeftut and was the supreme ruler of the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium.

The society of the dominant Ssi-ruuk was divided into a rigid caste system based on skin color. Their caste system was comprised of five main groups: blue, gold, yellow, red and green. The skin of a Ssi-Ruuk represented his political standing. One color dominated each Ssi-Ruuk's body and it was forbidden to mate with a different colored Ssi-Ruuk.

Blue-scaled Ssi-ruuk were the politicians and leaders of society while gold-scaled individuals served as the religious caste. Yellow-scaled Ssi-ruuk were responsible for the technology used by the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium while red-scaled Ssi-ruuk dominated the Imperium's military. Green-scaled Ssi-ruuk formed the work force of Ssi-ruuvi society.

Below them were those brown hued Ssi-ruuk who were the offspring of two Ssi-Ruuvi from two different castes. These were considered outcasts by Ssi-ruuvi society and performed the most menial of jobs. Last of all were the P'w'eck &mdash; a related species &mdash; which served only as slaves.

Early history
The Ssi-ruuk evolved from packs of carnivorous animals on their jungle homeworld Lwhekk. Gradually they formed tribes, each consisted of members with the same skin color. The most dominant were the Blue and Gold scaled tribes. The Blue scaled Ssi-ruuk possessed a great deal of political power, while the Gold-scaled began Ssi-Ruuvi religion. These two would form the Ssi-ruuvi upper class. The Ssi-ruuk eventually encountered the smaller yet more common P'w'ecks and conflict arose between the two species. Eventually, the P'w'ecks were subjugated and enslaved. The Blue and Gold tribes then made an alliance and selected the first Shreeftut. The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium was born and the Blue and Gold tribes then subjugated the rest of Lwhekk and divided them into castes.

The Conclave and the Elders' Council were formed and eventually the Ssi-Ruuk expanded their empire into space. They conquered several worlds and enslaved their inhabitants, most of which were primitives. Eventually the Ssi-ruuk discovered the art of entechment and began enteching subjugated species. The practice of entechment of lower life forms became common; even the P'w'ecks, cousins of the Ssi-ruu were used. But gradually it was learned that containment of these ‘souls’ for long periods would result in madness and it was decided that the Imperium needed to expand its realm once again. Another reason was due the dwindling resources in their isolated region of space.

Exploration of the Galaxy
Prior to that, the Imperium had never before dared to expand beyond its cluster, partly because of the large distances involved, partly due to the xenophobic nature of the Ssi-ruuk, and partly because of their religious fear of traveling to 'unconsecrated' worlds. In 1 ABY, they had decided to venture into Wild Space, where they conquered the small human colony of G'rho.

Among the captives they captured was a Human boy named Dev Sibwarra whom the Elder brainwashed through mind manipulation techniques; what astounded them was the boy possessed strange powers to sense others. It was from this boy that the Admiral discovered that Humans were the galaxy's dominant species. He also discovered that humanoids had longer containment time when enteched and could last longer than most other species. The Ssi-ruuk then used Dev Sibwarra to calm the subjects being enteched.

Despite this, they retreated back to their cluster following the attack, and did not plan another venture for five more years. In 4 ABY, the Ssi-ruuvi shreeftut received visions (through the Force) of a hooded human who revealed himself to be Palpatine, ruler of the Galaxy. He offered the Ssi-ruuvi dozens of worlds and millions of humans to entech, in exchange for the use of Ssi-ruuvi technology. The shreeftut agreed.

Expeditionary forces were sent out against both the Galaxy proper and the neighboring government in the Unknown Regions, the Chiss Ascendancy. However, neither expedition was very successful: the Ssi-ruuvi only narrowly succeeded in conquering the human world of Cattamascar, and were utterly defeated at Bakura, when it became known that Palpatine, having just been killed, would no longer be able to fulfill his promise. Likewise, although several minor Chiss worlds were taken, the Chiss retaliation was massive and unexpected, and laid waste to the Ssi-ruuvi capital, Lwhekk. After the Chiss raid on the Imperium, a small Rebel Alliance task force appeared in Ssi-ruuvi Space. The Rebel force had come to stop the Imperium's expansion into the known galaxy. Seeing the Imperium in ruins, the Rebel Alliance believed that the threat from the Ssi-ruuk was over.

The Return of the Imperium and the Yuuzhan Vong Incursion
It was many years until the Ssi-ruuvi rebuilt enough to contemplate continuing their expansion. Two major events occurred in that time. One was the birth of the Keeramak, an event of major significance in the Ssi-ruuvi religion. The Keeramak himself, a mutant Ssi-ruu, was a master strategist and politician. The other event was the secret takeover of the Imperium by the Yuuzhan Vong, who secretly made one of their own, E'thinaa, as a ranking general. During these years, the Ssi-ruuk would discover new techniques of preserving enteched souls.

Together, E'thinaa and the Keeramak devised a new strategy for continuing the invasion. They made a secret deal with the Prime Minister of Bakura, Molierre Cundertol, and engineered a faux P'w'eck slave uprising, positing the Keeramak as its leader. Together, they succeeded in consecrating Bakura and launching a second invasion of the planet, but when the P'w'eck's actually did revolt and managed to kill the Keeramak, all was lost. Cundertol himself fled back to Lwhekk, where E'thinaa killed him.

The subsequent fate of the Ssi-Ruuk is unknown, although it was believed that the Yuuzhan Vong launched an actual invasion of their territory. The death of the Keeramak may have also started a civil war, which seemed to be E'thinaa's goal. In any event, it is likely that the Imperium was too weakened to continue its invasion plans for the foreseeable future.

Appearances

 * The Truce at Bakura
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee