During the final decades of the Galactic Republic, a male of the Chiss species was born on the
planet of Csilla.
And while Mitth'raw'nuruodo and his brother Mitth'ras'safis grew up as mere commoners,
they both proved skilled in their own ways, with Mitth'ras'safis going into politics and
rising to the rank of Syndic, while Mitth'raw'nuruodo used his tactical brilliance to join the Chiss
Expansionary Defense Force, quickly reaching the rank of Force Commander.
Their achievements were noticed by the ruling families of the government, and so both brothers
were made merit adoptives of the Mitth family, also known as the 8th ruling family of the
Chiss Ascendancy.
Mitth'raw'nuruodo or Thrawn as he would come to be known in the core worlds, continued
his impressive rise to power, becoming the youngest to ever reach the rank of Commander.
His success led the 8th ruling family to make raise him further in status, becoming trial-born,
meaning he was eligible to become a permanent member of the family.
During much his time with the Defence Force, Thrawn commanded the Combat Cruiser Springhawk,
and explored many areas within the Unknown regions, becoming the first known Chiss to
make contact with humans, when he saved the light freighter Bargain Hunter from a pirate
attack.
Through the use of the trade language Sy Bisti, Thrawn was able to communicate with them,
befriending them somewhat and learning Basic from their interactions.
Sometime later, Thrawn received word about a Vagaari ship near Chiss Space, a species
known for piracy and slavery who had been pillaging the areas outside Chiss borders
for a decade.
He then ordered the Springhawk to pursue the vessel, defeating and boarding their ship
to learn more about their kind, while also discovering a great deal of treasure looted
from various worlds.
Thrawn tried to use this as evidence for the Chiss to send more ships against the Vagaari,
but was instead chastised for his pre-emptive strike philosophy, since it went against his
species moral code.
Undeterred and unwilling to allow the Vagaari to continue raiding unopposed, Thrawn ignored
the wishes of the ruling families, even willing to risk his status with the 8th ruling family.
He then engaged the enemy again, capturing one of their Gravity well projectors, so it
might be studied and used against them.
But having lost some of his men during the confrontation, the event was reported to the
ruling families, who again admonished Thrawn for his actions.
Still unrepentant, and eager to eliminate the Vagaari threat once and for all, he embraced
an opportunity that presented itself, when he encountered a convoy of ships from the
trade federation in the unknown regions.
Though they outnumbered and outgunned Thrawn’s forces, the Chiss commander was able to use
his tactical wisdom to utterly defeat the enemy ships without suffering even a single
casualty.
Boarding the main ship he soon discovered they were representatives of Chancellor Palpatine,
leader of the galactic Republic, also known as Dark Lord Sidious.
They told him they were sent on a mission to destroy the Jedi ship Outbound Flight,
which sought to explore beyond the galaxy.
But this had to be stopped, because of a group of potential enemies known as the Far Outsiders,
who were amassing forces at the edge of the galaxy in preparation for a massive invasion.
If these hostile aliens were to capture the Outbound Flight, they might learn of the Republic,
placing them in great danger.
And so Lord Sidious had decided the ship must be destroyed.
Thrawn even spoke to the Dark Lord directly, confirming the story.
Sidious was impressed with Thrawn’s military abilities and so ordered his men to share
their intelligence about Outbound Flight and the Far Outsiders, while Thrawn agreed to
help stop the ship before it could leave their space.
At the same time, he used his human ally Car’das to feign betrayal and lead the Vagaari to
attack Thrawn’s position, even gifting the enemy some battle droids.
But the Chiss Commander orchestrated events so that the Vagaari would attack at the same
time Thrawn’s fleet confronted the Outbound Flight, causing his enemies to attack each
other, and allowing for his forces to slip in and do massive damage.
In addition, the battle droids Cardas had given to the Vagaari, turned against them
in the midst of battle, killing the Vagaari leaders onboard their flagship.
When Thrawn contacted Jedi Master Joris C’baoth, commander of the Outbound Flight, asking him
to surrender, the force user refused, then using his powers to force choke thrawn.
Defense Force soldiers responded quickly, reassigning vessels to emit heavy radiation
onto the Jedi’s ship killing all onboard and breaking the force choke threatening Thrawn.
And while their quick thinking saved his life, the event also gave time for the remaining
Vagaari vessels to escape.
They were then visited by Chaf'orm'bintrano of the Fifth Ruling Family who they suspected
has come to reprimand Thrawn and possibly confiscate the Outbound Flight’s technology
for himself.
And so Thawn’s brother Mitth'ras'safis, also known by his core name Thrass, flew the
ship away before it could be seized, and thereby giving Thrawn a bargaining chip he could use
to avoid punishment from the government.
Unfortunately however, the Outbound Flight was never heard from again, and with the loss
of the ship, Thrawn’s brother Thrass also disappeared.
Over the next few years, Chancellor Palpatine contacted his new Chiss ally a number of times,
attempting to enlist his aid.
Thrawn, fed up with the politics of his people, and eager to work for Palpatine, then decided
to orchestrate his own downfall, continuing his pre-emptive strikes against Chiss enemies,
until eventually stripped of all rank and status within the ruling families.
Exiled to a primitive and isolated world in the Unknown Regions.
Surviving there for a time, he eventually escaped onboard an Imperial Star Destroyer
that came to the planet pursuing a smuggler named Booster Terrik.
Thrawn used his knowledge of the terrain and tactical brilliance to organize a number of
attacks against their encampment, then hiding in a power generator casing to get onboard
their ship.
Yet when he attempted to leave his hiding place he was captured by the imperials who
were monitoring the area.
Thrawn, obviously outnumbered and without recourse, quickly surrendered to them, but
avoided punishment by greatly impressing Imperial Officer Voss Parck, who was stunned that the
former Chiss commander had been capable of doing so much damage on the planet and infiltrated
their ship all on his own.
And so Parck brought Thrawn back with him to the former Republic now Empire, presenting
him as a gift to Emperor Palpatine, in the hopes it would please the dark robbed leader
and make up for their failure to capture booster Terrik.
Palpatine was pleased to finally meet Thrawn face to face, and while he publicly insulted
him to keep up appearances in the royal court about the government’s disdain for non humans,
in truth he was happy to recruit Thrawn into the empire, with Parck acting as his trainer
and mentor until beginning his training at the private Imperial Academy of Carida.
Although he faced constant discrimination for being nonhuman, he quickly rose through
the ranks, even coming to teach at the Academy for a time, before heading back out to further
explore the unknown regions.
This time with Imperial support, setting up a military presence in the area.
Thrawn’s ultimate goal, was to help Palpatine unite the galaxy together, so they might have
the strength to resist the Far Outsiders threatening the Chiss and so many others.
And so with this goal in mind, he organized a vast network of allies, spies and contacts
throughout the Unknown Regions, creating a territory known as the Empire of the Hand,
ruled by Thrawn.
And while he remained loyal to Emperor Palpatine, considering his territory as under the umbrella
of the larger Galactic Empire, he administered the region differently, ruling through consent
rather than terror and granting planets and systems far more autonomy.
Thrawn’s rise to power also came to the attention of the Chiss, and while the Ruling
families still saw him with destain, many others rallied to his cause, increasing the
size and quality of his forces in the area.