“The Chiss do not ask to be judged. Not by you; not by anyone.“
Government & Houses
The Ascendancy is highly structured and ordered with the rule of law being enforced by a cabinet known as the Syndicure which consists of a number of Syndics (Basic: Ministers) who are accountable to manage the four main branches of government. The head of the Government is the Grand Syndic who presides over the entirety of the Ascendancy and is advised by the Syndics.
In addition to the Syndicure, a collective of Houses known as the Council of Families exist to help administrate over Chiss society. These Houses are not literal biological families but rather associations of like-minded Chiss who have come together to help progress Chiss culture and society within and outside of the Ascendancy.
Only Chiss who have been invited to join a House may do so, otherwise all other Chiss are free from direct House oversight, a departure from the traditional view that all Chiss were affiliated in some way to a House. The head of a House is known as the Aristocra and they are usually appointed through general consensus by the other members of that House.
Military
The Chiss are noted for being serious and disciplined and this is reflected in their military. The military is known as the Chiss Expansionary Defence Force (Or CEDF for short) and is commanded by a body known as the Defense Hierarchy. Through the CEDF, the Ascendancy patrol the Unknown Regions and monitor any threat with their fleet of top-of-the-line capital ships as well as squadrons of starfighters.
Language
The Chiss language is Cheunh and was first accepted during the developing years of their civilization when they formed a planet-wide government which consisted of a single tongue that their society accepted. It is known to be a dense and difficult synthetic language to master as complicated ideas are expressed by uniting unrelated words into larger words. Thus, it has relatively few core words though the syntax requires the speaker to piece together compound words which was complex and involved.
One factor that certainly adds to the complexity of the language was the fact that written Cheunh was not set down in a phonetic alphabet. In writing, Cheunh does not possess an abstract alphabet like Aurebesh with ideograms representing concepts and complex ideas being expressed by combining simpler ideograms. The Chiss hold great pride in not only understanding but conversing in such a language.
The Chiss believe it is quite impossible for non-Chiss to learn to speak it properly. Though this complex, nuance-filled language is difficult for non-Chiss to master due to its intricacies, the Chiss themselves have little trouble mastering Basic. At least some phrases in the language are highly idiomatic.