The Vaks were a sentient species that hailed from the planet Primea in the Unknown Regions. Their government was known as the Vak Combine. They had pale-amber skin, stubby black hair, and dull brown eyes. Neighboring powers often claimed the Combine was unable to make decisions. The majority of the population wore hooded cloaks to protect themselves from both sunlight and rain. One Vak citizen claimed that their species never made friendships with others, though General Yiv the Benevolent sought to bring them into the Nikardun Destiny.
As the Chiss Senior Captain Mitth'raw'nuruodo learned from their artwork, Vak philosophy valued both unity and the individual. Vaks had a concept of thought lines, which encompassed individual and group points-of-view. However, as Thrawn later realized from Admiral Ar'alani, the Vaks' desire to see all points of view did not mean all points of view had equal weight. As he later explained, their artwork would have no clear focus if all lines had equal impact. To decide which lines of thought were more important than the others, something more important than simply choosing what lines of thought they liked the best was having trust in a line of thought. Thrawn came to such a conclusion after the battle over Primea. During the battle, he had revealed Yiv had falsified a message, which made everything else the general had told the Vaks suspect. However, what Ar'alani had realized before him came from Vak history, as neighboring powers were careful to avoiding killing Vaks.
Ar'alani realized the high value the Vaks placed on the lives of their own. If a Vak was killed, their lines of thought were lost forever, threatening their ability to collect information and culture. Thus, during the battle, Ar'alani manipulated the Combine into sending out patrol boats to help the Chiss heavy cruiser Springhawk, resulting in the Nikardun destroying the craft. When this happened, the Vak joined the battle on the side of the Chiss.