The Isen Star Empire was first unified by a defected Imperial Inquisitor named Xal Shun. Under Shun (who died around the time of the Battle of Yavin) and later his daughter Aerianna, the ISE pursued a course of vigorous expansion and conquest in the Unknown Regions. The noble houses were predominantly tall, blonde, Force-sensitive humans; their simple self-training was expanded in certain cases by the Shuns, who picked certain nobles for training as Dark Jedi. These Dark Jedi operated more in an oversight and enforcement capacity than an administrative one, and though there were Dukes, Earls, Barons and so forth already, there was a vast difference in role between Force-trained and untrained nobles.