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 capturing the life-energy (I.e. soul) of beings and using them as power sources. 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.

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 bandoleers which carried their tools, weapons, and other equipment (they found the idea of covering the body humorous).

Society Description
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 Ssi-ruuk also had 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. There was also a related species, the P'w'ecks that are only slaves.



Blue
Blue Ssi-ruuk were the politicians and leaders of Ssi-ruuvi society and held most of the political positions. 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. They formed the Conclave legislative body.

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.

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. This is because a brown hued Ssi-ruuk can only be the offspring of two Ssi-ruuvi from two different castes. They perform the most menial jobs in Ssi-ruuvi society. Many of them were destroyed at birth. It was commonly believed that they were the ancient progenitors of the P'w'ecks.

Religion

 * See: Ssi-ruuvi religion

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, 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


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.

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

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rebellion
 * The Truce at Bakura
 * X-wing: Rogue Squadron
 * 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