"Mr. Syndulla," Max Vizsla asked, "do you think Twi'leks are less intelligent than humans?"
"No." Cham Syndulla lifted his head and met Max's gaze. "I'm certain we're not."
"We aren't," Max nodded. "Brain volume and standardized intelligence testing put Twi'leks and humans at essentially the same average level."
And yet, despite comparable intelligence, the two civilizations' development levels couldn't be more different.
From Coruscant to the Unknown Regions, advanced human-built civilizations existed across the galaxy.
But Ryloth—home of the Twi'leks—had only reached a relatively primitive industrial stage. Overall, it hadn't even caught up to what Max's previous world would have called the early industrial era.
On that previous world, human civilization's recorded history was only about ten thousand years long. Yet Twi'leks had been part of the Galactic Republic for more than ten thousand years—and Ryloth still looked like this.
"What are you trying to say?" Cham pressed, eyes burning.
"If intelligence isn't the problem," Max replied, "then why has Twi'lek civilization developed so slowly?"
Cham raised an eyebrow and answered flatly, "Isn't it because of 'enlightened rulers' like Orn Free Taa?"
"Before Orn Free Taa took office," Max shot back, "was Ryloth advanced? Were Twi'leks living well?"
"That—" Cham stopped himself, swallowed the words, and countered instead. "In your view, what caused Twi'lek civilization to lag behind?"
Max didn't answer directly. He asked a different question.
"Mr. Syndulla—what kind of family sells its daughter to Zygerrian slavers?"
"Most of them are poor," Cham said. "They can't feed another mouth, so they sell her—at least she might survive. And some…" He paused, spat on the ground, and continued with disgust. "Some treat their daughters like merchandise and improve their household by selling them."
"So low-income families sell daughters," Max said. "High-income families—like Senator Taa's—don't. Right?"
"Of course he wouldn't." Cham frowned. "Can you get to the point?"
"That is the point." Max raised his index finger. "If Bespin develops—if incomes rise across the board—do you think people will still sell their daughters?"
"But that doesn't contradict Orn Free Taa obstructing Ryloth's development."
"Mr. Syndulla," Max shook his head, "your bias against the senator is too deep. It's not objective."
"I don't—"
"Let me finish." Max lifted a hand to stop him. "I'll say something blunt: Ryloth is so poor that a corrupt official wouldn't even bother targeting it. The senator's money comes from 'reselling' his voting power in the Galactic Senate."
That snapped Cham's restraint.
"Lord Vizsla, I have to interrupt." Cham's voice tightened. "Because Ryloth and Ryloth's people exist, Orn Free Taa gets to live well on Coruscant as 'Ryloth's senator.' He takes the vote the people gave him and sells it—doesn't that betray Ryloth? Isn't that a crime?"
Max raised his index finger again. "One vote. Mr. Syndulla, he has one vote. The Senate has 1,024 seats. Even if Orn Free Taa voted for Ryloth every single time—what would it actually change?"
"Hah." Cham sneered. "So you're saying he's doing a good job?"
"If you can't plan for the long term, you can't plan for the present. If you can't see the whole board, you can't play a single corner." Max's tone sharpened. "You can't look only at today—and only at Ryloth."
"Oh?" Cham sounded unconvinced. "Then enlighten me."
"Zygerrian slavers, and Black Sun—the syndicates that profit from exploitation and vice—they don't want to see Ryloth develop. If Ryloth develops and Twi'leks stop selling daughters, that hits their business."
"If outside capital tries to invest on Ryloth, those criminal forces sabotage it. Ryloth has 1.5 billion people—your market is small. Big corporations won't pick a fight with slavers and cartels for a market that size."
"Lord Vizsla—sorry to interrupt again." Cham raised a hand. "Does your Figg Mining not fear confronting slavers and Black Sun?"
"I'd welcome it." Max grinned. "I have a lot of new troops who've never seen blood, never fought a real fight. If the Zygerrians or Black Sun want to give me a reason to deploy, I'll thank them for the opportunity."
"Recruiting for the Bespin facility was step one—planned with the senator. Step two: Figg Mining will invest in building factories on Ryloth. Step three: I'll bring in New Mandalorian capital to invest here as well."
Cham cut in again. "Didn't you just say the market is too small for big corporations to care?"
"Small now doesn't mean no future." Max replied. "Seven hundred years ago, the Jedi and the Republic bombed Mandalore into a wasteland. That was worse than what Ryloth is facing. After seven centuries of rebuilding, Mandalore's overall development can compete with Core Worlds planets. And when it comes to development and reconstruction, the New Mandalorians are among the galaxy's best."
Cham hadn't paid much attention beyond Ryloth; he didn't understand Mandalorian factions. To him, Mandalorians were Mandalorians.
"So Mandalorian rookies come to Ryloth to train. Mandalorian capital comes to invest everywhere." Cham's eyes narrowed. "Are you trying to annex Ryloth?"
Max didn't answer that directly.
Instead, he asked, "Do you want Ryloth to prosper—so Twi'leks can live well, and no one has to sell their daughters to survive?"
"Lord Vizsla," Cham said coldly, "a good life handed out by outsiders can be taken back by outsiders at any time. Twi'lek prosperity has to be won by Twi'leks. Free Ryloth will never allow Ryloth to become a colony."
—
PS: Genetic research in the setting suggests the Chiss are a branch of humanity. Around 27,500 BBY, a sleeper ship carrying humans reached Csilla in the Unknown Regions; those humans evolved into the Chiss and built a distinct civilization.
PPS: The Zygerrians were once a powerful slaver empire in the Old Republic era. Thousands of years before the Clone Wars, the Jedi Order destroyed that empire and freed countless enslaved people. Zygerrians later continued slave trading through more covert methods.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛡️ STAR WARS: THE RISE OF MANDALORE
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛡️ MANDALORE WILL RISE AGAIN.
A warrior culture divided.
Clans fighting for survival.
A galaxy slowly moving toward war.
And someone determined to ensure that Mandalore will never again bow its head.
Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore has 100+ chapters ahead available now.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⚔️ THIS IS THE WAY OF WARRIORS
🛡️ Mandalorians
⚔️ Clan warfare
🚀 Galactic conflict
🏛️ Politics & strategy
💥 Fleet battles
🔥 Mandalorian expansion
🌌 A changing galaxy
Mandalore has fallen before.
It has been divided before.
But warriors remember.
🔥 100+ CHAPTERS AHEAD.
👉 Witness the rise before everyone else.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🌐 SrMagnusCorp: https://srmagnuscorp.com/
🔥 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus
🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnuscorp
⚠️ Power Stones help determine future release priority!
🛡️ For Mandalore.