The Noolan evolved in the Noola system. Their home system was part of the Relgim sector, an area of the Outer Rim Territories.
During the Galactic Civil War, Otolia Ratiuv, a female Noolan technician, was near an explosion that killed the body of a nearby Homanan. Due to the coincidental proximity of a Jedi Force crystal, the Homanan, Nana, was able to transfer her essence into Ratiuv. During this process Nana lost the shape-shifting ability of the Homanans, but she instead developed telepathy. In her new Noolan body, Nana continued agitating for a change in galactic governance through the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Joe Littrell created the Noolan for the article "The New Rogues Gallery: Unsung Heroes of the Rebellion," a roleplaying game supplement published in Polyhedron 59 in 1991. At the time, Polyhedron magazine was unaffiliated with Lucasfilm Ltd., which has left the canon status of the Noolan ambiguous. Despite the uncertainty surrounding the species's place in continuity, the Noola system is referenced in The Essential Atlas, published in 2009. However, according to one of the authors, Jason Fry, "its inclusion shouldn't be taken as a statement of canonicity for anything except the geography." Polyhedron 59 mentioned Noolan only in the singular form, so no plural for the species has yet been specified.