Ssi-ruuvi Imperium

The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium was the government and holdings of the Ssi-ruuvi. The Shreeftut, leader of the Imperium, reigned over a swathe of the Unknown Regions known as the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster from the capital of the Imperium, Lwhekk. The Imperium was also governed by the Conclave and the Elders Council.

Early history
When the Ssi-ruuk expanded 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'eck, 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 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 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 placed and made one of their own, E'thinaa, 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-ruuvi is unknown, although it was believed that the Yuuzhan Vong Empire launched an actual invasion of their territory. By doing this they put down the Ssi-ruuvi Imperium of the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster and began a brief new reign of terror within the Sector of the Unknown Regions. 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 ended in 29 ABY, the invasion force permissibly abandoned all of the Ssi-ruuk Star Cluster. They left no one in charge of their replacement of the Sector.

Government

 * To be written

Military
The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium’s military consisted of the red-hued warrior class which dominated both its fleets of starships and its ground forces. Due to their trichoid configuration and fervent religious beliefs, they were noted as fierce opponents when forced into a fight. However, due to their fear of dying away from their consecrated home space, the Ssi-ruuvi military rarely operated beyond their Star Cluster. 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. Thus, they were masters of quick strikes designed to achieve victory quickly and secure as many captives as possible from which they grew in strength by using entechment to bolster their numbers.

Consequently, the Imperium’s military was designed to operate against technologically-primitive foes as was the case during the first invasion of Bakura&mdash;where the Imperium fleet wiped out half of the Imperial garrison prior to the arrival of Rebel Alliance reinforcements. However, the Imperium’s military fared poorly against technologically-advanced foes like the New Republic, Chiss Ascendancy and even the Yuuzhan Vong. Following an invasion of Chiss space, the Chiss launched a punitive attacked which devastated much of the Imperium's military power. During the fighting, Ssi-ruuk-piloted V'sett-class fighters were encountered by Chiss pilots as noted by Jagged Fel. If the Imperium wanted to annex a planet outside their home space, Ssi-ruuk of the golden-hued priest caste would conduct an hour-long ceremony to consecrate another planet. According to their religious beliefs, if a Ssi-ruu died away from their "consecrated" 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. 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. The only known example was the planet Bakura which was consecrated as Xwhee as a prelude to an invasion in 28 ABY.

Foreign relations

 * To be written

Territory

 * To be written

Appearances

 * The Truce at Bakura
 * Jedi Search
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * Or Die Trying

Notes and references
Ssi-ruuk-Imperium Imperio Ssi-ruuvi Ssi-ruukowie