Ssi-ruu

The Ssi-ruuk, Ssi-ruu in singular form, were a saurian species that invaded from the Unknown Regions of the galaxy and initiated the Battle of Bakura in 4 ABY, shortly after the Battle of Endor. This race relied on a technology called entechment that involved extracting the life-energies of sentient beings and using them as power sources for their mechanical technology. They had a sizable war fleet and ruled an empire called the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium in the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster near the galaxy's rim. Ssi-ruuvi society was deep compartmentalized&mdash;being dominated by a rigid caste system based on skin color which signified one's socio-economic standing. As a species, most Ssi-ruuk were xenophobic towards members of other species due to their stringent religious beliefs and the compartmentalized state of their society. Due to the remote position of their home territory in the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster and their religious fear of dying on an unconsecrated world, few Ssi-ruuk travelled outside their Star Cluster. Thus, they remained largely unknown to the rest of the galaxy, and contact with outsiders was limited even in the days of the New Republic and the Galactic Alliance.

Biology and appearance
The Ssi-ruuk were large bipedal lizards that were covered with a thick scaly hide. Despite being reptilian, they were warm-blooded. Their skin was so thick that it could withstand blaster shots with only minor burns to show for it. They were armed with huge, muscular tails and short well-muscled upper limbs with three clawed prehensile digits which were used as hands. They had long beak-like muzzles which contained sharp teeth. Their sensitive eyes relied on triple eyelids to help them quickly adjust to changes in light. However, they did not rely on vision as Humans did. Rather they relied on their nose tongues. These nose tongues were capable of detecting changes in emotions making it hard to deceive a Ssi-ruuk once he was familiar with the "scent" of a being.

An adult Ssi-ruuk could stand over six feet tall and weigh close to 350 kg (750 pounds). The Ssi-ruuvi language was a series of honks, whistles, growls, and throat clicks. Several of the higher pitches in the Ssi-ruuvi vocabulary were above the Human hearing range. Instead of wearing clothing, they wore bandoliers which carried their tools, weapons, and other equipment (they found the idea of covering the body humorous).

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.

As with the long-extinct Sith species, Ssi-ruuvi society was compartmentalized by a rigid hereditary caste system. However, unlike the former, the latter's caste system was based solely on skin color. Their caste system comprised five main groups: blue, gold, yellow, red and green. The skin color of a Ssi-ruuk symbolized his socio-economic standing in society. One color dominated each Ssi-ruuk's body and it was forbidden to mate with a different colored Ssi-ruuk. Offspring from mixed births were brown hued and were regarded as illegitimate; consigned to the lowest and most menial of positions in society. There was also a related species known as the P'w'ecks that were considered to be an inferior race and used as slaves.



Blue
Blue Ssi-ruuk were the politicians and leaders of Ssi-ruuvi society and held most of the political positions; dominating the executive Elder's Council which administrated the Imperium. They were the highest caste, thus they received the most honor and praise. They tended to be, as a caste, extremely perceptive and ambitious. An example of this caste was Sh'tk'ith, commonly known as Bluescale.

Gold
Gold Ssi-ruuk were the religious caste of Ssi-ruuvi society. They were small in number and stature but dominated the Conclave which was entirely concerned with religious affairs. Gold Ssi-ruuk also performed religious ceremonies like the Consecration Ceremony which "consecrated" foreign planets to enable their annexation by the Imperium.

Yellow
Yellow Ssi-ruuk were in charge of the technology employed by the Ssi-ruu.

Red
Red Ssi-ruuk comprised the military caste. These Ssi-ruuk tended to be broader and stronger than other Ssi-ruuk and also had a predatory nature as well, these Ssi-ruu also have the ability to not be sensed when they are alone or in pairs.

Green
Green Ssi-ruuk were the largest caste. This caste was the lowest that still possessed respect. They had never held any position of power, but staunchly uphold the caste system as workers.

Black
Very rare; worked as assassins and espionage agents for the Imperium.

Brown
Brown Ssi-ruuk were considered the outcasts of Ssi-ruuvi society as they were the offspring of two Ssi-ruuvi from two different castes. Since class intermarriage was strictly forbidden in Ssi-ruuvi society, many of them were destroyed at birth. They performed the most menial jobs in Ssi-ruuvi society. It was commonly believed that they were the ancient progenitors of the P'w'ecks. According to the G'nnoch, the birth of a multi-colored Ssi-ruu known as the Keeramak would herald a popular rising by the oppressed brown Ssi-ruuk and P'w'ecks.

Culture
Ssi-ruuvi culture was influenced by two major factors&mdash;their xenophobia and their religious beliefs. As a consequence of this prejudice, they viewed themselves as inherently superior to all other species while all other species were inferior. Culturally, the Ssi-ruuk displayed a xenophobic attitude towards other species; regarding them as fit only for slavery and entechment&mdash;which utilized the life energies of another sentient being as a source of energy for their mechanical technology.

This attitude affected their relations with other sentient species they interacted with ranging from their lowly saurian P'w'eck cousins to the advanced mammalian Human and Chiss civilizations. Consequently, the Ssi-ruuk sought to conquer and to subjugate other civilizations to utilize their labor and resources. As a result, relations between the Ssi-ruuk and the neighboring powers like the Chiss Ascendancy, Galactic Alliance and the Yuuzhan Vong were virtually non-existent as of 28 ABY.

This xenophobia was justified by their religious beliefs. According to their sacred text known as the G'nnoch, four eggs were formed at the creation of the universe. From the first hatched Ssi and P'w'itthki, fathers of the Ssi-ruuk and P’w’eck species respectively. Ssi's children hatched from the second egg, while P'w'itthki's children hatched from the third egg. The fourth egg was reserved for those Ssi-Ruuk who earned a place in the afterlife. Eventually, Ssi fought with P'w'itthki and defeated him. After his defeat, Ssi allowed P'w'itthki's hatchlings to live on the condition of serving the children of Ssi for all eternity. This myth thus explained the beginning of the relationship between the Ssi-ruuk (hatchlings of Ssi) and the P'w'ecks (hatchlings of P'w'itthki) and their concept of supremacy over all other sentient species.

One important concept in Ssi-ruuvi culture was the belief in the existence of souls and an after life. Most Ssi-ruuk placed great value on the souls of their own kind and believed that should an Ssi-ruuk die in an "un-consecrated world", his soul will forever wander the universe alone. This belief explained why the Ssi-ruuk rarely travelled into the galaxy and remained in their star cluster. However, resources began dwindling in their isolated space; forcing the Ssi-ruuk to expand their Imperium into the fringes of the known galaxy by 1 BBY. Around that time, Emperor and Dark Lord of the Sith Palpatine made contact with the species through the Force and offered them dozens of worlds and millions of humans to entech in exchange for the use of Ssi-ruuvi entechment technology.

Another cultural concept was the belief that if a Ssi-ruu died away from their "consecrated" homeworld of Lwhekk or their star cluster, his soul was destined to wander the universe for eternity and be denied access to the fourth egg that was the Ssi-ruuvi afterlife. To counter this, priests would conduct an hour-long ceremony to consecrate another planet. At the end of the ceremony, the Ssi-Ruuk would dedicate the planet to the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium, and give it a Ssi-Ruuvi name. In an effort to compensate for this disadvantage, the Ssi-ruuk used large numbers of droids and P'w'ecks - a smaller species enslaved by the Ssi-Ruuk - to aid them in their fleets. The only known example was the planet Bakura which was consecrated as Xwhee as a prelude to an invasion in 28 ABY.

Less well known was the Ssi-ruuvi religious concept based on the prophetic coming of a Ssi-ruu of many colors whose arrival would result in the overturning of Ssi-ruuvi society. This prophecy eventually came to pass with the birth of the Keeramak. However, the Keeramak was merely a tool of Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators who had infiltrated the weakened Imperium between 4 ABY and 28 ABY following its defeat by the Alliance of Free Planets and the Galactic Empire at Bakura during the Battle of Bakura in 4 ABY. In 23 ABY, the Imperium engineered a faux popular rising of the P'w'eck Emancipation Movement under the Keeramak to fulfill this prophecy. Ultimately, this plot to reconquer Bakura was thwarted by a genuine P’w’eck uprising and the death of the Keeramk.

Technology
"There's no way to describe the pain of having your very life force, the energy that sustains you, ripped from your body, nerve ending by nerve ending&hellip;"

- Dev Sibwarra



One thing that made their technology unique compared to the technology utilized by other sentients was the use of entechment&mdash;where a living being's life-energy was electronically drained from its body to be used as a power source for a machine. Entechment was the main power source for a wide range of their technology including starships, power stations, lights and paddle beamers. Although the Ssi-ruuk claimed that entechment was entirely painless, the victims always remained in a state of agony during and after the process of entechment.

Even when installed into power cells and machinery, these disembodied beings remained in continuous agony until their life energies expired into oblivion. Given the excruciating pain and the resulting death of the subject, the Ssi-ruuk did not practise entechment on their own people; prefering to use other "inferior" sentient species particularly P'w'ecks&mdash;a similar saurian species which had been reduced to a state of servitude in the ancient past. When the Ssi-ruuk attacked Bakura in 4 ABY, they discovered after taking Imperial prisoners that Humans were a far more powerful source of energy than the P'w'eck.

By 28 ABY, the entechment process had been perfected. The Ssi-ruuk had found ways to nourish the enteched souls. The life energy distilled from concentrated banks of algae and other microscopic life could prevent the enteched souls from decaying. It also removed the torment many enteched souls felt. Thus, the enteched life energy would be preserved reducing the need for frequent replenishment. The Ssi-ruuk also attempted a second invasion of Bakura, though their plot backfired when their P'w'eck slaves revolted.

Another form of technology unique to the Ssi-ruuk was the ion paddle beamer which was their analog of the ubiquitous blaster rifle used by much of the known Galaxy. These paddle beamers were unique in that they were unblockable by lightsabers since the beam would bend around the lightsaber's blade and strike its target. After much practice, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker managed to change the setting of his lightsaber to block the blast fired from paddle beamers. However, this change in setting meant that the lightsaber was unable to block blaster bolts.

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.

Sometime around 25,000 BBY an experimental Ssi-ruuk hyperdrive vessel crashed on the planet Garos IV.

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 BBY, the Ssi-ruuvi's supreme ruler&mdash;the Shreeftut&mdash;received visions through the Force of a hooded Human who revealed himself to be Emperor 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. Thus, they decided to venture into Wild Space, where they conquered the small Human colony of G'rho, capturing and enteching numerous members of the populace. Due to their secret agreement with the Ssi-ruuk, the Imperial leadership covered up the incident and blamed the Alliance to Restore the Republic for the attack.

Among their captives was a Human boy named Dev Sibwarra, whom the Elder Bluescale brainwashed through mind manipulation techniques; what astounded them was the boy possessed strange powers to sense others. It was from this boy that Ssi-ruuk Admiral Ivpikkis 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. Due to Sibwarra's Force abilities and his ability to communicate with his fellow Humans, the Ssi-ruuk used Dev Sibwarra to calm the subjects being enteched.

However in 4 ABY, Emperor Palpatine was killed during the Battle of Endor onboard the Second Death Star. With the Emperor unable to fulfill his promise, the Ssi-ruuvi launched an invasion of the edge of the known Galaxy. 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.

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.

Resurgence and Defeat


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 itself, 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.

When the Yuuzhan Vong War had ended in 29 ABY, they permissibly abandoned all of the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster, and with no one in charge of their replacement of the Sector but a vacuum.

Behind the scenes
The Ssi'ruk are very similar to carnivorous dinosaurs.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * The Truce at Bakura
 * X-wing: Rogue Squadron
 * A Forest Apart
 * Jedi Search
 * Children of the Jedi
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * Balance Point
 * Star by Star
 * Force Heretic I: Remnant
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Or Die Trying
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Assault at Selonia