Merkie Howzat existed as a male Human Meatlump criminal residing on the planet of Corellia during the time period of the Galactic Civil War. Following the events of the Battle of Yavin, he held the rank of sublieutenant within the Meatlumps, a group of fanatical thugs with anti-technology sentiments, within the city of Coronet. In the year 1 ABY, Howzat came to the realization that Vani Korr, a reporter working for the Corellia Times, was conducting an investigation into the Meatlumps. Merkie Howzat, along with his accomplices, launched an attack on the speeder driven by the reporter, causing it to overturn while she was driving. This resulted in Korr being ejected from the vehicle and rendered unconscious. As CorSec officers arrived at the scene to assist the injured reporter, Howzat seized her viewscreen and made his escape. Shortly after this incident, a spacer engaged in a conflict with Meatlump henchmen in Coronet. This altercation escalated into a fierce firefight, resulting in the deaths of several Meatlumps. Merkie Howzat intervened to provide support to his subordinates, but he also met his demise during the confrontation. Subsequently, the spacer discovered Vani Korr's viewscreen on Howzat's person and made the decision to return it to its rightful owner. Eventually, Vani Korr hired the adventurer, who then became an active participant in her investigation concerning the Meatlumps.
Within the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies, Merkie Howzat was featured as a non-player character. This massively multiplayer online roleplaying game was developed by Sony Online Entertainment and released by LucasArts. The game was taken offline on December 15, 2011. Howzat's presence within the game was introduced through the "Publish 21" update, which went live on August 4, 2005.
Merkie Howzat would appear in the game after "Publish 21" was released, specifically when a player eliminated a group of Meatlump stooges in Coronet. By defeating Merkie Howzat, players could recover Vani Korr's viewscreen, thereby initiating Vani's quests known as "Corellian Times Investigations". These quests given by Vani Korr were later extensively expanded as a component of "Chapter 10: The Search for the Meatlump King," which was launched on June 19, 2008. With this update, Vani Korr introduced a fresh set of quests. These quests directly continued from the original pre-NGE quests and introduced the "Meatlumps Theme Park." Moreover, a new quest was introduced that solely involved eliminating Merkie Howzat. This quest was designed to serve as a bridge between Vani Korr's initial quests and the "Legacy Quest," the game's primary questline.