Tsis Worlds

The Tsis Worlds were several dozen semi-autonomous, Tsis-colonized planets of the 's East Spinward sector that were loosely organized into a magocratic feudal federation known as the Valdiastsis ( for "Dominion of the Tsis" ).

Beginning around, the Tsis began a rapid period of outward expansion from their homeworld of Azarac, colonizing the moon of Lune and pushing into the scattered systems of the East Spinward sector. As sentient species were few in number, the Tsis quickly established themselves as the regional hegemons of the sector, and remained such even into the era of the.

History
The government of the Tsis Worlds was originally established as a loose of the systems in the East Spinward sector colonized by the Tsis of Azarac during the early days of their outward expansion. As there was no centralized government, the powerful grafas (Proto-Sith for "count" or "duke" but generally adapted to "king") who ruled each individual world served their own regional interests alone, frequently engaging in feuds or civil wars with the grafasi of nearby worlds. The confederation only served as a means of uniting the Tsis against common outsider foes, and brought about a peace that only lasted as long as the threat remained.

The rise of Ziaurus, the grafas of Azarac, brought about an end to this system. A gifted Force user, Ziaurus was responsible for conquering and subjugating the Tsis worlds in their entirety, consolidating his hold over the region and declaring himself , from the ancient word for "Emperor." ) In an effort to placate potential rivals, he established the Geras Komunal (Proto-Sith for "High Council" ), a advisory body on which each grafas sat that served as the legislative branch of the burgeoning feudal federation. In return for their continued governance of individual worlds, Ziaurus required that the grafasi respond to the daritha's calls to arms in times of war and refrain from conflict with one another.

The framework established by Ziaurus served as the template followed by all successive darithas, and the loose -style government he codified remained largely unchanged even into the. However, the influx of outsiders to the sector from the, , and brought the influences of other forms of government, and in more liberal corners of the sector, including the capital of Lune, the traditional feudal system of government was tempered by facets of democracy and representative government.

Government
The government of the Tsis Worlds could be described as a loose of semi-autonomous world-sized kingdoms. Based on the ancient Red Sith practice of vassalage, kings of individual worlds, called grafas, exercised absolute rule over their planets as fiefs in exchange for swearing fealty to their emperor, the daritha, who collectively ruled the Tsis Worlds from the capital of Azarac. Unlike similar feudal systems of governance, there was no nobility or noble class, and grafas thrones were not hereditary. Any Tsis citizen possessed of sufficient could press a claim to a planetary throne and challenge its present occupant for supremacy. Claims and challenges were considered sacred in Tsis society and could not be ignored, and were generally mediated by an official duel to the death between claimant and grafas.

In keeping with traditional Tsis appreciation for meritocracy, the citizens of individual worlds were expected to loyally serve grafas who had proven their strength in pursuit of their office, but were simultaneously expected to overthrow grafas who were judged weak or ineffective in the fulfillment of their lordly obligations. The same was expected of the grafasi concerning the daritha. The grafasi possessed the sacred obligation to remove weak emperors in favor of stronger, more effective alternatives. This practice was in line with the prevailing cultural concept of the , an ancient Red Sith archetype of absolute strength all rulers were expected to embody. Those who failed to meet the standards of perfection were summarily removed as "perversions" of the ideal.

Prior to the, non-Tsis were forbidden from holding the offices of grafas or daritha. Magocratic Tsisocentrism dominated Tsis Worlds culture for most its history, with little legislation protecting the rights of non-Force-users and outsiders. The influx of traders, merchants, and tourists to the moon of Lune following the signing of a trade partnership with the and  sowed the seeds for the erosion of this paradigm. With the eventual fall of the True Sith Empire, the Tsis Worlds were further flooded with Force-sensitive humans and seeking asylum in Tsis territory.

Over time, the decline of the Tsis as the majority race and the increased influence of outsider species and social groups led to a period of political upheaval that saw the decline of Tsisocentrism and the rise of a more nuanced multicultural magocracy. By the Golden Age of the Republic, the grafas of Lune, popularly referred to as the King of the Crossroads, was almost always a non-Tsis Force-user, and by the time of the, the Tsis Worlds came under the rule of the first non-Tsis daritha in recorded history. Despite the best efforts of various Neo-Tsisocentrist groups to disrupt this trend, Tsis influence in government continued to wane during the era of the and.

Culture
The early culture of the Tsis Worlds was profoundly shaped by the two major dark side Force-using species who colonized Azarac, the of the  and the Red Sith of. As a mix of Rakatan and Sith influences, the prevailing culture of the Tsis Worlds was warlike in nature, with a particular emphasis placed upon merit and the importance of strength.

A brutal race unconcerned with honor and not above laying waste to entire worlds for personal gain, the Rakata were the first major culture to establish a presence on Azarac. As the species who discovered it, the Rakata terraformed the planet for their habitation, importing slaves of many different species and levels of sentience to Azarac for experimental purposes. Their culture, which prized ambition, strength, and merit, left its mark on the planet's future society and influenced the cultural evolution of the Red Sith slave population, who were forced to embrace its tenants in pursuit of their continued survival.

Azarac culture was further shaped by the arrival and subsequent enslavement of the Red Sith, former residents of Korriban fleeing the endless conflict on their homeworld. Though, like the Rakatans, the Red Sith were profoundly dark sided with a near-symbiotic relationship with that facet of the Force, they were nowhere near as cruel and brutal as their masters, and still prized qualities like loyalty and sympathy above cunning and ambition. However, millennia of enslavement to the Rakatans influenced the evolution of their culture. As slaves were forced to embrace deception and cunning to circumvent particularly brutal masters, their society became more furtive in nature. The need to prove their strength to their overlords to ensure their continued survival led to the importance of merit and strength in their subculture.

Despite the leaning of the species and cultures of Azarac that preceded them, the Tsis were not a dark side people. As Azarac was a world in possession of a balanced connection to the Force, and since the Tsis had escaped the gradual removal of positive qualities suffered by their Korrbani cousins through the 's application of Sith alchemy, the Tsis were a relatively neutral people, neither particularly dark sided nor particularly light.

Despite placing due importance on strength, merit, power, cunning, and ambition as a result of their predecessors' cultural values, the Tsis also embraced certain light sided qualities. Tsis cultural expectations dictated that Tsis engage with one another in an honorable fashion, respecting those who embraced fair play and ostracizing those who used others for simple personal gain or self-aggrandizement. While the pursuit of the ancient Sith concept of perfection-through-strength, the Sith'ari, was still encouraged, it was tempered by an increased emphasis on honorable conduct in one's dealings. A popular Tsis saying encapsulated this aspect of their society: "power without consideration of morality is a weakness."

The Tsis embraced a feudal system of government that required loyalty of its subjects and accountability of its rulers. Though subjects were expected to show devotion and respect for their leaders, they were also encouraged to rise up and replace them if they believed them too weak and incapable of representing the interests of the people. Consistent with the Sith'ari concept, the Tsis believed only the strongest had the right to rule and thus encouraged ambition and rivalry, but differed from the Sith in terms of the nature of the resultant responsibility. Unlike the Sith, the Tsis expected their rulers to view their power and position as a burden and sacred responsibility, not as a means of exerting one's will upon one's constituents. Rulers were expected to represent the living will of the people and act in such a way as to advance their interests as a collective whole.