Chosen(Nuso Esva)

Chosen

TheChosen were a group ofStorm-hairelitewarriors that served their master, Storm-hairWarlordNuso Esva, with fanatical zeal since they emerged from anunidentifiedUnknown Regionsworld. Esva's warriors, under their master'slead,destroyed dozens of worlds, peoples, and governments until around0 ABY, whenSenior CaptainMitth'raw'nuruodo of theGalactic Empire struck back.

In thatyear, the Storm-hair warlord sent asquadron of more than thirty Chosen to theOuter Rim TerritoriesCandoras sector, where Chosen memberRanquiv directed anoperation tomurder Candoras'GovernorBidor Ferrouz. Attacking Ferrouz while Esva brought theRebel Alliance to Candoras'Poln system would, according to the warlord, draw Thrawn to the Poln system, where Esva'sEastern Fleet would destroy him. Ranquiv's forces divided, with thirty going toPoln Minor and the rest toPoln Major. On Poln Minor, the Chosen armed fiftyWhisperlike fighter withheavy weaponry while on Poln Major, they attacked Ferrouz along with severalthugs. However, the RebelLuke Skywalker,Hand of Judgmentstormtrooper group, Thrawn'sTroukree agents, andEmperor's HandMara Jade fended off the Chosen's attacks and located where they were holding Ferrouz's family. There, Skywalker and Jade killed the Chosen and freed the hostages while Thrawn's forces and the ImperialDeath Squadrondefeated Esva's Eastern Fleet and Ranquiv'sstarfighters. Esva and the Chosen retreated, but they continued their rampage acrossthe galaxy.

In8 ABY, thirty Chosen and Esva traveled to the Unknown Regions planetQuethold, where thenative Quesoth people assisted the warlord in, once again, drawing Thrawn to his defeat. TheQuesoth Soldiers and the Storm-hairs attacked the invading ground forces, but when Thrawn gave a command inQuesoth Soldier Speak to the Quesoth, Esva killed theQuesoth ruler, prompting the Quesoth Soldiers to kill him while Thrawn'sEmpire of the Hand stormtroopers took care of the remaining Chosen.

Description[]

Fanatical members of theStorm-hairspecies, theelitewarriors of the Chosen followed theircommander, Storm-hairWarlordNuso Esva with fanatical zeal.^[1] Armed withblasters andsniper rifles,^[2] the Chosen were known for their devastating attacks in the name of Esva andhisrealm, which if ended in a retreat, prompted the Storm-hairs to destroy everything they could not capture or conquer as they fell back.^[1] Several Chosen^[2] were equipped witharmor.^[3]Scouts of the Chosen wore corpses to protect themselves while sharing the location of their enemies.^[2]

History[]

Emergence[]

Along with their master, the Chosen emerged from anunidentified world in theUnknown Regions and began theirlethalrampage^[1] acrossthe galaxy's Unknown Regions andWild Space.^[2] By0 ABY,^[4] the Chosen and Esva came into conflict with theEmpire of the Hand, the shadow empire ofSenior Captain^[2]Mitth'raw'nuruodo,core name "Thrawn,"^[5] of theGalactic Empire.^[2]

Blue eyes, yellow eyes[]

Kidnapping and Poln Minor[]

To defeat Thrawn and begin invading the Galactic Empire, Esva and his commanders devised anoperation that would take place in the ImperialCandoras sector'sPoln system. The Chosen would kidnap thefamily of Candoras'governor,Bidor Ferrouz, and their master would command the governor to ally himself with theRebel Alliance, which would draw the senior captain to thesystem.^[2] In 0 ABY,^[6] the Chosen kidnapped Ferrouz'swife anddaughter and Esva sent him a note listing his demands, including his alliance with the Rebellion, which included giving them a base on the Poln system'splanet ofPoln Minor. If his demands were not satisfied, the warlord's elite warriors would kill the governor's family where they were holding them, acave underneath Candoras'capital planet ofPoln Major's surface. Additionally, Esva himself infiltrated theImperial II-class Star DestroyerChimaera, aboard which he would travel to the Unknown Regions and bring Thrawn'sTask Force Admonitor to Poln, where the Storm-hair'sEastern Fleet would destroy it. Additionally, Chosen leaderRanquiv and his Storm-hairs began armingWhisperlike fighters that would assist in Thrawn's destruction.^[2]

Withtraitorous ImperialMajorPakrie's insight, the Chosen learnt of most entrances and safe rooms in Ferrouz'spalace in Poln Major'sWhitestone City, which they could infiltrate to kill Ferrouz at any point. On Poln Minor, the RebelsLeia Organa andHan Solo were offered a job to mount Caldorf missiles on the Whisperlikes, which the pair accepted. Several Chosen and Ranquiv accompanied a group of nearly thirty workers to the cavern where the Storm-hairs were keeping their fighters. While the Rebels worked, Ranquiv, the thug known asSpikes and at least two Chosen discussed their coming attacks on Ferrouz. To the Chosen commander's anger, Solo and Organastole a Whisperlike—which they lost before fleeing in aspeederbus—although Ranquiv and his Chosen bodyguards attempted to prevent it.^[2]

Shortly after Esva's ally, the RebelVestin Axlon, andEmperor's HandMara Jade met with Ferrouz in hisoffice, the Storm-hair warriors and their thug allies attacked, blowing up the office's area and launching a ferocioussiege of blastefire. While Esva's agents attempted to kill Ferrouz, Jade and Axlon were rescued byDaric LaRone andSaberan Marcross, Imperialstormtroopers part of theHand of Judgment group. The group—excluding Jade, who killed two teams of Chosen in the palace's guard foyer—was able to fall back to a safe are of the palace grounds, whose basement led them to theWhistling Windtapcafe's. Not much later, the Chosen discovered their targets' location, and attacked to no avail, as the Hand of Judgment stormtroopers were able to repel the Storm-hairs' attack.^[2]

Magenta blade and yellow eyes[]

Skywalker soon infiltrated the cavern where Ferrouz's family was being held hostage by hiding in Stelikag's landspeeder trunk. Jade did as well, watching several armed Chosen patrolling the area following a random guard pattern. Moments afterward, Ferrouz shared his location with Pakrie so that many of the Chosen and thugs surrounding his family would leave and therefore allow the Emperor's Hand to have a better chance at defeating the remaining forces, and nearly twenty humans and Storm-hairs left to attack the Hand of Judgment. Using a Chosen's corpse, Jade set off a catwalk trap to distract the guards while she crawled to the governor's family's cell. Meanwhile, Skywalker alarmed a guard, prompting two of the thug's companion to rush to kill the hostages; however, although the Chosen tried to prevent it, Jade and the Rebel were able to repel the Storm-hair attack, saving the hostages.^[2]

However, the Chosen did not give up on their attack on Ferrouz in the tapcafe, instead mounting anE-Web heavy repeating blaster. TheTroukreerefugees that had allied themselves with the stormtroopers then intervened,sacrificing the life of one of of theirown to destroy the E-web. A third attack came, but was repelled easily by Hand of JudgmentsharpshooterTaxtro Grave. Soon after, Ranquiv's Whisperlikes attempted to intervene in the battle over Poln Major, but were destroyed by aGolan Ispace station, the ImperialDeath Squadron, and Thrawn's forces, as was Esva's fleet, whose leader fled.^[2]

Quesoth and Storm-hairs[]

In8 ABY,^[7] Esva and thirty Chosen traveled to the Unknown Regions planet known asQuethold. Promising its ruler, therulingQueen of the Red of the Quesoth, eternal dominion over Quethold by killing the monarch that would succeed her, theQueen of the White, Esva earned theQueen's loyalty and trust. With that, the Storm-hair warriors prepared for the upcoming attack carried out by now-Grand Admiral Thrawn's forces, setting up the Quesoth's primitivecannons across Quethold'sRed City and employingumbrella shields to protect their forces as well as theCity. Aboard Thrawn'sAdmonitor,Stromma Council LiaisonNyama, a traitorous member of the Empire of the Hand, did the Queen's bidding, and suggested that a Quesoth that opposed Esva could record hisartwork in the Red City'sDwelling of Guests building.^[1]

A member of the QuesothMidli caste and the Queen of the Red's ownbowlcarrier,Trevik, did so. Unbeknownst to him, however, the Storm-hair warlord had made that happen by ordering the Queen to command aCircling, an advisor andbreeder of hers, to task Trevik with recording the artwork that hisbrother,Jirvin, would share with Thrawn. By sharing his chosen paintings with the Chiss, the Grand Admiral would devise his strategy according to the pieces, which would allow Esva and his people to gain the upper hand.^[1]

Theday after, Thrawn's stormtrooper forcesattacked, with the three thousandQuesoth Soldiers assisting the Chosen in capturing the Imperialjuggernauts that they would use to infiltrate the Queen of the White'sWhite City. The Soldiers fought with primitive weaponry such as maces while the Storm-hairs fired blaster pistols, but were ultimately able to breach the juggernauts. Meanwhile, Thrawn's forces commandeered aloudspeaker that was broadcasting the Queen of the Red's orders inQuesoth Soldier Speak to her Soldiers, commanding them to protect Esva in the Dwelling of Guests. The warlord thought they were coming to take his life, and killed the Quesoth ruler and tasked Trevik with delivering a message to Thrawn: while his death had come, Thrawn's would come soon too, as the remaining Chosen were far more numerous than the Grand Admiral imagined, and they would hunt him down. Esva was then killed by stormtroopers, as were the remaining Chosen.^[1]

Legacy[]

Although Thrawn believed the message the Quesoth bowlcarrier had delivered to be incorrect, he still assured a bodyguard—^[1] theNoghriRukh—^[8] accompanied him at all times while he returned to the now-fragmented Empire to rebuild it.^[1] While the Noghri protected him from the Chosen and other threats, he proved to be his cause of death, killing the Chiss in9 ABY.^[8]

Leaders and members[]

Warlord Nuso Esva led the entirety of the Chosen while Ranquiv led the squadron sent to Poln Minor. AChosen announced the third attack on the Hand of Judgment,^[2] whileanother pledged his life to the Queen of the Red.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The Chosen first appeared inTimothy Zahn's2011 novelChoices of One.^[2]

Appearances[]

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• Choices of One(First appearance)
• "Crisis of Faith" —Heir to the Empire: The 20th Anniversary Edition

Sources[]

• The Essential Reader's Companion(First pictured)

Notes and references[]