I'm looking to play a Chiss in a game that I've got coming up, but I'm having a hard time finding any "current" info on the Chiss' leanings, as the stuff I'm finding is Old Republic-era information, which see them aligned with the Empire. The information in Few questions if anyone knows or could point me to a good resource for this:

1. It seems that they are fairly isolationist, based on the short bit in Enter the Unknown. Would it be accurate to state that they don't take sides in the Empire/"New Republic" conflict, so long as there is no threat to the Ascendancy?
2. Is Chiss culture generally the same as described in Old Republic times?

3. How do Chiss feel about force users, or do they not have a strong preference?

Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

They can't be aligned with the Empire during the Old Republic days as the Empire didn't exist then.

From what little I know from the EU, they are very isolationist and don't take kindly to intrusions into their territory. One of the few non-Chiss that is brought up would be Baron Soontir Fel and his family that end up helping the Chiss deal with new threats to the galaxy, but since we have a new movie coming out and the Zahn novels are most likely gone from the canon, then so is his story (since it was via Grand Admiral Thrawn that he joined the Chiss).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Soontir_Fel

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Chiss_Ascendancy

He's likely meaning the Empire as it is presented in TOR.

Indeed. I keep finding reference to the Chiss Adescency as bring allied to the Sith Empire during the Galactic Cold War, and i always do a doubleback. I am like "wtf?!?".

What do the Chiss have anything to do with the Sith at the time? The Republic's territories are nowhere close to the Chiss at that point in time, and the Sith Empire was located literally at the other side of the galaxy.

Now, Chiss are located near Rakata Prime (relatively) but dont seem to have a big history shared with them. Which suggest, iny personal interpretation, that they are a race weak in the Force.

But the again, maybe they were conquered by the Rakata and just never mention it either.

Yes, the Ascendancy and the Sith Empire had an alliance of sorts, although I don't think they were militarily aligned. As far as GCW era, pretty much everything the Empire has to do with the Chiss begins and ends with Thrawn and the Empire of the Hand.

1. Seems like they stayed pretty neutral until the Vong. That being said, any one individual that leaves the Chiss Ascendancy could align with whoever on their own.
2. I'm pretty sure the dates that FFG and that TOR use conflict, but Star Wars remains pretty static culturally. So yeah, they're probably not much different.
3. I'm guessing they are ambivalent. There are a few Force-sensitive Chiss.

Indeed. I keep finding reference to the Chiss Adescency as bring allied to the Sith Empire during the Galactic Cold War, and i always do a doubleback. I am like "wtf?!?".

What do the Chiss have anything to do with the Sith at the time? The Republic's territories are nowhere close to the Chiss at that point in time, and the Sith Empire was located literally at the other side of the galaxy.

Now, Chiss are located near Rakata Prime (relatively) but dont seem to have a big history shared with them. Which suggest, iny personal interpretation, that they are a race weak in the Force.

But the again, maybe they were conquered by the Rakata and just never mention it either.

The Ascendancy was one of the Sith Empire's allies in TOR days -- but they were technically independent. They were quite powerful militarily, but not expansionist, which allowed them to consolidate their power base.

Non-canon, but in SWTOR, the Chiss are shown to be highly valued as allies -- so much so that many Sith Lords would go to great lengths to impress them and gain their favour. They were also employed in small numbers in the Sith administration.

From what little I know from the EU, they are very isolationist and don't take kindly to intrusions into their territory. One of the few non-Chiss that is brought up would be Baron Soontir Fel and his family that end up helping the Chiss deal with new threats to the galaxy, but since we have a new movie coming out and the Zahn novels are most likely gone from the canon, then so is his story (since it was via Grand Admiral Thrawn that he joined the Chiss).

While quite true, given the fact that the perhaps singular most memorable Imperial from "Legends" was a Chiss I highly doubt Disney will change much about one of the fan-favorite races (just as they made sure that Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc).

Indeed. I keep finding reference to the Chiss Adescency as bring allied to the Sith Empire during the Galactic Cold War, and i always do a doubleback. I am like "wtf?!?".

What do the Chiss have anything to do with the Sith at the time? The Republic's territories are nowhere close to the Chiss at that point in time, and the Sith Empire was located literally at the other side of the galaxy.

Now, Chiss are located near Rakata Prime (relatively) but dont seem to have a big history shared with them. Which suggest, iny personal interpretation, that they are a race weak in the Force.

But the again, maybe they were conquered by the Rakata and just never mention it either.

The Ascendancy was one of the Sith Empire's allies in TOR days -- but they were technically independent. They were quite powerful militarily, but not expansionist, which allowed them to consolidate their power base.

Non-canon, but in SWTOR, the Chiss are shown to be highly valued as allies -- so much so that many Sith Lords would go to great lengths to impress them and gain their favour. They were also employed in small numbers in the Sith administration.

Fair enough for the Sith's side. But about the Chiss themselves, why are they getting involved? An isolationist non-expending power decides to get involved in a galactic conflict that does not involve its borders, interests or security whatsoever.

Especially as the Republic has clearly demonstrated no desire to expand anywhere near the Chiss territories. For all i know, the Republic did not even knew the Chiss existed as a military power. Getting involved just draws the spotlight on them.

Compared to the ever-expansionist Siths who, by all accounts, WILL betray and beeline against the Chiss ascendecy the moment they believe they can get away with it. Not at the moment because of the balance of power, but if they won against the Republic, who else will be in their way?

They are likely involved because the Sith need playable races too and as such the Chiss were chosen. Though from a pure story perspective, being the Sith allies is a good way to keep them from outright conquering you. It gives you the chance to keep tabs on a potential threat that you wouldn't otherwise have as an outside. Since they are great at being spies and what not they'll be able to gain advance warning of any Sith plot against them. Obivously the Republic doesn't have the power to keep the Sith in check or there wouldn't be a cold war going on. So you can either not ally with them and have no idea what the Sith are up to or you can be their ally and keep tabs on them.

But all things considered, the Sith needed another playable race and someone felt Chiss was a good idea.

Actually, in SWTOR, out of the box, I don't believe Chiss can play force-using Sith classes. (Only Bounty Hunter and Agent.)

Here's some detail taken from the game's official wiki text:

As remote and secretive as the distant star system from which they emerged, the Chiss species remains a mystery to most of the galaxy. Completely removed from the Republic and the Empire, these blue-skinned humanoids evolved an advanced civilization known as the Chiss Ascendancy in the Unknown Regions of space. Despite constant political power struggles among the ruling class, the Ascendancy maintained strict controls over its dominion and the civilization prospered. This is how the Chiss developed socially and technologically in isolation for thousands of years… until they were discovered by the Sith Empire.

During the late days of the Empire’s exile, the Sith came into contact with the Chiss, and what followed was an event unique in the annals of Imperial history. In every previous instance where the Empire had encountered an alien civilization with enough technology and resources to defend itself, the Empire demanded surrender and capitulation to the rule of the Emperor. Each civilization refused and the Sith conquered their worlds and killed or enslaved the inhabitants. The power struggles of the Ascendancy are rarely solved with force of arms, however, and the Chiss ruling class surprised the Empire by considering the offer on its merits and asking for a summit. The Empire's military leadership, confused, agreed.

Behind closed doors the best Chiss negotiators met with a who's who of important Imperial diplomats, including the very unusual presence of the commander of the secretive Imperial Guard. Nothing has ever been publicly revealed about that meeting but the outcome is known and now wondered about by diplomats and historians the galaxy over. The Chiss would become the first official allies of the Emperor. Their armies, resources and tax revenues would be freely offered to the Empire. In return the Empire would allow the Ascendancy to govern and administer its own planets, and never set foot on the Chiss homeworld of Csilla without permission - not one political representative, not one noble tourist, not one Sith.

In the years that followed, the Chiss assisted the Sith in the invasion of Republic space and earned the Empire’s respect and trust as military allies. While in Sith-controlled space, the Chiss submit to Imperial authority without question and a handful of Chiss have even integrated themselves into Imperial society. Nonetheless, the Chiss Ascendancy maintains its own forces, separate from the Imperial military, and most members of the species still retain their characteristic private ways, even when working closely with their heavy-handed Imperial allies. To the Republic, the Chiss continue to be a complete mystery and the species’ very existence is unknown except in high level political and military circles.

To be totally truthful, if I wanted to play a Chiss in "modern" times I wouldn't worry to much about canon or legends or whatever. There's blessedly little about the Chiss, so that means you get to MAKE STUFF UP. (I wanted to say something stronger then stuff there but those darn filters.)

I'd probably say they tried to remain neutral, paid a bit of a tithe to the Empire to be left alone, and want nothing to do with anybody, but that's just what I like.

Just play a Chiss Bartender with bad grammar.

I've had the chiss fighting off a foe, and keeping them in check, that uses organic technology.

Make sense then. Sith discovered them, and they werent too proud to bow a little to play the long game.

I personally suspect they are simply infiltrating the Sith Empire just to be in perfect position to make it blow up at the right moment, wipe out any reference to their homeworld and how to get at it, and gey the hell out of dodge.

They could then destroy the Sith Threat with minimal effort. As opposed to a relatively costly war they had no guarantee of winning.

By this point in the games storyline, I'm sure the Republic knows where the Chiss homeworld is.

Thanks a lot for the input folks (sorry to be so long in responding, holidays and whatnot). Really appreciate it, and will go over some of what has been brought up with my GM.

By this point in the games storyline, I'm sure the Republic knows where the Chiss homeworld is.

What makes you reach that conclusion?

By this point in the games storyline, I'm sure the Republic knows where the Chiss homeworld is.

What makes you reach that conclusion?

They're an active ally of the Sith. I would expect after years of war they'd of found out where the Chiss are from. You can only truly remain hidden if you remain uninvolved in galactic wars.

That might be logical in other circumstances, given how hyperspace travel works the Republic would have no way to track the Chiss to the Ascendancy. They would need to already know the hyperspace routes.

By this point in the games storyline, I'm sure the Republic knows where the Chiss homeworld is.

What makes you reach that conclusion?

They're an active ally of the Sith. I would expect after years of war they'd of found out where the Chiss are from. You can only truly remain hidden if you remain uninvolved in galactic wars.

Since the Ascendency is not directly involved with the state of war. Any suport they provide is from within the Sith Military instead of as an external ally, there is no reason for the republic to suspect the Chiss are a galactic power to be reckoned with.

For the republic, the Chiss are nothing more than a pool of manpower the Sith are drawing from. Nothing worth special investigation.

Yes ..... I'm sure ..... the Chiss are the special snowflake that gets to assist the Sith but go completely unnoticed by all.

Yes ..... I'm sure ..... the Chiss are the special snowflake that gets to assist the Sith but go completely unnoticed by all.

What are they? They are the only willing Sith Allies. All other have had their planets conqueres by the Sith, and thus their economy is wired to support the war machine.

The Ascendency? Nop. They supply men, intelligence and some techs.

Yes .... the only Sith ally ...... that gets to remain a complete secret. Sounds like a pitch for special snowflake status to me.

What's your deal, dude?

I mean, they needed some Sith allies, and decides to tap into the EU for some. They then found some rationale about why they would be unknown during the future, and came up with a reasonable explanations. Are you griping about it from a Doylist perspective or a Watsonian perspective?

What's your deal, dude?

I mean, they needed some Sith allies, and decides to tap into the EU for some. They then found some rationale about why they would be unknown during the future, and came up with a reasonable explanations. Are you griping about it from a Doylist perspective or a Watsonian perspective?

I honestly don't care if they're Sith allies. The Sith needed more options and they got them. That's cool. No big deal. But I scoff at the idea that you can be allies to the Sith, take part in their war, provide assistance, and remain 100% a secret that people can't figure out. And any attempt to continue the "but no one knows them!!!" idea just makes them sound more and more like special little snowflakes.

I was asked why I felt the Republic would know about them. I answered. If you want to continue to insist that they are this "secret" cool. But I'm not buying it.