Somebody find me a Merchant-Duke. Any Merchant-Duke, I don't care which one. I'm getting tired of being unable to communicate with the Qyzora.
—Lord Andric Valdayn
The Archduchy of Qyzori, also known as the Merchant-Duchy of Qyzori or the Qyzora Archduchy, was an interplanetary government in the Ethereal Demesnes. It was categorized as an Oligarchic Demesne, and was a voting member of the Diet of the Ethereal Demesnes, however, it did stand out in the Diet for a particularly unusual reason; while most Demesnes whose predominant populations were races other than Ethereal Humans were categorized as Democratic Demesnes and legally represented their indigenous races in the Diet, Qyzori's native Qyzora race specifically petitioned to be categorized as Oligarchic with their mostly foreign-born leaders recognized as their legal representatives.
Qyzori was first discovered by the classical Ethereal Empire, at which time first contact was made after just a few years of observation, at the time a record for the Empire's shortest wait to initiate direct contact. However, the Qyzora, while friendly and happy to become a protectorate world of the Empire, refused to form a planetary government at that time. In fact, Qyzora had relatively little central governance of their own regardless, relying mostly on clans, families, hives, and similar traditional divisions. Nevertheless, they did gladly work for the Empire, providing a surprising amount of industrial and mining output relative to their population and development.
In time, after the Empire disappeared and the Demesnes arose, eventually Diet diplomats and economists investigated Qyzori and offered to assist a planetary government's formation. With this second offer, the Qyzora eventually decided to accept, but would only do so under unusual conditions; they desired only partial self-rule. Thus, Demesnes capitalists, the new Merchant-Dukes and Merchant-Duchesses, were appointed by the Diet to assist in governance and interplanetary-scale scientific and industrial development of the planet.
By the time of the Cold War, Qyzori had achieved independence from the Diet and become a full voting member. In spite of this development, the ruling foreign class remained, much to the approval of the indigenous Qyzora, whose natural bio-social and cultural development led them to fear full self-rule. A number of centuries later, during the Clone Wars and later Galactic Civil War, Qyzora labor both in their own star system and elsewhere in the Demesnes provided a significant part of Demesnes economic output and industrial production.