Rakghoul

Following the Hundred-Year Darkness, a conflict between the Jedi Order and the Dark Jedi who sought to manipulate and generate life using the Force, and the Jedi's triumph in the war's final battle on Corbos, the remaining Dark Jedi were apprehended by Galactic Republic forces. These darksiders were disarmed, stripped of their armor, and confined to unarmed transports that carried them away from the known world to the uncharted regions of the galaxy. These "Exiles", as they were called, arrived on the primitive planet of Korriban, the home of the equally primitive Sith species. The former Jedi employed their Force powers to impress the Sith, who subsequently elevated these outsiders to the status of god-like figures. Among this initial generation of "Lords of the Sith" was Karness Muur. Like many Sith, Muur sought to circumvent the inevitability of death, leading him to have Sorzus Syn forge a Sith talisman into which Muur poured his mind and spirit, creating the Muur Talisman. However, Muur's amulet served a dual purpose: it could harness Muur's Sith magic to transform any sentient being nearby into a mindless rakghoul, subservient to Muur's will. Muur intended to use these rakghouls to form an ever-expanding army that would enable him to conquer the galaxy. Nevertheless, there were exceptions, as both Force-sensitive individuals and beings from various non-Human species proved resistant to the talisman's effects. To address this shortcoming, Muur engineered the "rakghoul plague," a virus-like disease that could be transmitted through a rakghoul's bite or a scratch from its claws. Victims infected would then slowly mutate into rakghouls over a timeframe of mere hours.

Jealousy among Muur's Sith rivals ultimately led to his physical death, although his spirit persisted within the talisman. Over time, the talisman came to reside in the Undercity of the Outer Rim world of Taris, after its most recent owner was crushed in a cave-in. Years passed as the rakghoul plague spread among the Undercity's Outcasts, transforming countless individuals into mindless rakghouls that roamed the streets, attacking anyone they encountered.

By the onset of the Mandalorian Wars, rakghouls had become a constant threat in Taris' Undercity. When Jedi Padawan Zayne Carrick sought refuge in the Undercity to evade his Jedi Masters—who had murdered their fellow students earlier that night after receiving a vision in the Force foretelling that one of them would become a future Sith, and blamed Carrick for the killings after he escaped—the Jedi Masters of the Taris Jedi Council were compelled to fight through hordes of rakghouls and outlaw Gamorreans while pursuing the Padawan. Following the conquest of Taris by the Mandalorians, a Mandalorian scouting party and excavation team, under the leadership of the Neo-Crusader scientist Pulsipher, descended into Taris' Undercity. There, they located the Muur Talisman, claimed it for the Mandalorians, and transported it aboard Pulsipher's ship, the Mar'eyce. Unbeknownst to Pulsipher and his warriors, Zayne Carrick, along with his friend Marn "Gryph" Hierogryph and Jedi Covenant Shadow Celeste Morne, had secretly boarded the Mar'eyce in an attempt to recover the talisman. When Pulsipher handled the talisman on his ship, the Sith amulet attached itself to his arm, and infected Pulsipher's warriors with the rakghoul plague when they tried to assist their leader in removing it. Once the Mar'eyce landed at the Mandalorians' Ice Citadel on the frozen world of Jebble, these infected soldiers soon transformed into rakghouls, triggering a series of events that led to more and more Mandalorians becoming infected through scratches and bites.

To Celeste Morne's surprise, these Mandalorian-spawned rakghouls—or "Mando-Raks" as one Neo-Crusader recruit called them—were able to wield blaster weapons and displayed a higher level of organization and apparent intelligence than previously observed. As the Mandalorians battled their rakghoul-turned comrades throughout their Jebble base of operations, Zayne Carrick established contact with Mandalorian military commander Cassus Fett, who was en route to Jebble with Neo-Crusader transports. Carrick warned Fett about the rakghoul outbreak and urged him not to land any ships to prevent the plague from spreading further. Shortly thereafter, Carrick was ambushed by a pair of rakghouls who dragged the Jedi to the laboratory of Pulsipher. The Mandalorian scientist, now aware of the Muur Talisman's power, demanded that Carrick reveal how to unlock the relic's further control over the rakghouls. In the presence of a Jedi, the talisman abandoned Pulsipher, and the rakghouls he had previously commanded then slaughtered him. However, before the talisman could bind itself to Carrick, Celeste Morne intervened and took the talisman for herself. By combining the Muur Talisman's power with her own Force-sensitivity, Morne gained control of the rakghoul horde. Over one million Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders had been transformed into rakghouls, all now under Morne's command. However, this power came with the threat of dark side corruption from Karness Muur's spirit. Morne chose to be sealed away in the oubliette of the Sith Lord Remulus Dreypa, one of the Force-related artifacts Pulsipher had collected in his Ice Citadel laboratory. With Morne sealed inside Dreypa's oubliette, the rakghouls lost their temporary intelligence and turned on each other, nearly killing Carrick and his companion, Gryph, as they fled the world aboard the Moomo Williwaw. Moments later, the Mandalorian fleet arrived over Jebble. Heeding Carrick's earlier warning about the rakghouls, Cassus Fett ordered the orbital bombardment of Jebble using nuclear missiles. The rakghouls were annihilated, and the oubliette containing Morne and Karness Muur's talisman sank beneath the water formed from Jebble's melted glaciers.

Although the Muur Talisman, the original source of the rakghouls, was lost beneath the surface of Jebble, the rakghouls were not entirely eradicated from the galaxy. Taris' Undercity remained infested with the creatures, and new rakghouls were regularly created through bites and scratches from existing ones. By the time of the Jedi Civil War, it was estimated that up to 60 million individuals on Taris had been infected. However, because the plague was largely confined to the Undercity and lower levels, generally populated by the planet's criminal element, the Taris government took minimal action to combat the disease. The Mandalorians were later driven from Taris by Republic forces led by the Jedi Knights Revan and Malak. However, in 3956 BBY, Sith forces under the recently turned Darth Malak occupied Taris. They brought with them a serum that could cure those infected by the rakghoul plague who had not yet completed the transformation. However, the Sith restricted access to the serum, providing it only to Sith troopers who were sent into the Undercity.

An amnesiac Revan—his memories of his time as a Sith Lord after succumbing to the dark side erased by the Jedi Council—later discovered a vial of the curative serum on the body of a deceased Sith trooper while on Taris. He used it to heal several Outcasts infected with the rakghoul plague before ultimately giving it to the Upper City doctor, Zelka Forn. Forn used this sample to synthesize a mass-produced serum, which he distributed to the Outcasts and sold at a low cost to all Tarisians. Shortly thereafter, Taris was subjected to a devastating orbital bombardment by Darth Malak's Sith armada, resulting in the deaths of countless beings on the planet, including a significant number of rakghouls.

During the Republic's reconstruction efforts on Taris around the time of the first Great Galactic War, it was discovered that some rakghouls had survived the bombardment. These rakghouls roamed beyond the confines of the Undercity and even reached the surface. Reports indicated that some of these creatures had evolved, exhibiting new abilities.

The rakghouls would once again unleash their infectious plague upon the galaxy with the assistance of a deranged scientist named Sannus Lorrick. After spending years conducting illegal experiments involving gene-splicing and viral modification on sentient species, the insane doctor was stripped of his position as the Royal Science Advisor to the Tion Hegemony and exiled. Seeking revenge, Lorrick focused his obsession on the rakghoul plague in his secret lab on Ord Mantell. There, he modified the plague to his liking, creating rakghoul abominations such as Project Sav-Rak and modifying sentients with the creatures' strength. He hired a smuggler named Melarra to unknowingly transport one of his infected lab animals to the planet of Kaon, finally achieving his revenge. The plague spread rapidly, infecting four planets in the Hegemony and untold billions of people. Upon investigation, Republic and Imperial forces discovered the cause of the plague and sent strike teams to Lorrick's lab on the Lost Island to end the crisis.

Before Dr. Lorrick was defeated, the insane scientist gifted one of his infected animals, a risp, to a smuggler named Zama Brak. The infected risp bit the smuggler, who was traveling on the passenger liner called the Stardream, initiating the plague on the cruise ship. Following the infection of the crew, the Stardream crashed on the planet Tatooine, restarting a crisis of galactic proportions. The Sith Empire (Post–Great Hyperspace War) and the Galactic Republic quarantined the planet and attempted to contain the plague, but their efforts were thwarted when volunteers hoping to assist in the containment spread the virus further throughout the galaxy. Sometime during the plague, the children of Addalar Hyland, the CEO of Galactic Solutions Industries, were killed on the desert planet, motivating the grieving father to create the Hyland Organization for Rakghoul Neutralization.

The disease resurfaced on the planet Alderaan, where initial reports indicated unusual animal attacks, lacking any signs of Killik signatures, on patrolling soldiers. Addalar Hyland and THORN responded swiftly, utilizing the retrofitted GSI weapon called the Spike, enabling the organization to enter the rakghoul tunnels to suppress and study the deadly plague. Within the tunnels, THORN scientists discovered a new ecosystem that allowed the virus to thrive without the need to infect other creatures. The rakghouls' DNA contained a code similar to that of fungal species, enabling them to reproduce. They spawned first as raklings and grew into more specialized subspecies, such as the Eyeless and creatures that bred and harvested fungal matter.

In the course of time, the rakghouls were isolated on Taris and—possibly due in part to the serum Revan recovered—driven to extinction. However, as long as the Muur Talisman persisted, the threat of the rakghouls remained. Approximately fourteen centuries before the galaxy-spanning Clone Wars, ice miners unearthed Dreypa's oubliette beneath Jebble's surface. The finders were puzzled by the oubliette, which became known as the "Jebble Box." The inability to open it or scan its contents gave rise to numerous rumors regarding its origins. Collectors bought and sold the box, believing it to be an ancient Jedi treasure, and wars were even fought over the mysterious object. The Republic ultimately succumbed to the machinations of the Sith Lord Darth Sidious and was reorganized into the Galactic Empire, ruled by the former Supreme Chancellor-turned-Galactic Emperor Palpatine, Sidious' public persona. By this point, the Jebble Box had come into the possession of the crew of the Uhumele, who attempted to sell it to the scholar and historian Fane Peturri. Peturri was allied with Darth Vader, and Vader claimed the Jebble Box for himself during the transaction, freeing the imprisoned Celeste Morne and, with her, the spirit of Karness Muur. Upon learning that Vader was a Sith, Morne attacked him, and the two engaged in a lightsaber duel on the desolate moon where she had awakened. Vader's skill proved too great for Morne to overcome alone. Faced with death and the possibility that the talisman would attach itself to Vader after her demise, Morne was forced to tap into the talisman's power, turning Vader's cadre of clone stormtroopers and Fane Peturri into rakghouls under her control. Outnumbered, Vader fled onto his shuttle. Simultaneously, the crew of the Uhumele were escaping when Morne activated the talisman's powers; Crys Taanzer, the only Human member of the Uhumele's crew, transformed into a rakghoul, and Captain Schurk-Heren was forced to end her life. Morne was abandoned on the desert moon where she had been revived, left with only the spirit of Karness Muur and the group of rakghouls she had spawned as company.

Nearly two decades had passed, yet Vader's memory of Morne remained vivid. He dispatched a heavily armed company of stormtroopers to the desolate moon, their mission to ascertain her continued existence. Morne, very much alive, employed the Force to cause the Imperial shuttles to crash violently upon the lunar surface, subsequently transforming the stormtrooper crew into rakghouls. Learning of this development, Vader sought out his spy, Wyl Tarson, instructing him to disseminate information regarding a secret Imperial weapon supposedly located on the moon. This information was to be brought to the attention of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a rebel group that had formed in the years following Vader's initial encounter with Morne, their aim to oppose the oppressive Empire and reinstate the Republic. Unable to resist the temptation of acquiring an Imperial weapon, key members of the Rebel Alliance, including Princess Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo accompanied by his Wookiee companion Chewbacca, and the former clone trooper Able, embarked on a mission to the barren moon. Upon landing, the rebels were immediately swarmed by a horde of rakghouls, leading to several members being bitten and transformed into rakghouls themselves. A small group of rebels managed to escape aboard Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon, while Skywalker was captured and taken to Morne's cave dwelling.

Morne, under the influence of Karness Muur's spirit and believing the Jedi had abandoned her, attacked Skywalker; Organa intervened to defend him. When Morne directed her lightsaber toward Organa, Able, who had recently arrived, opened fire in her defense, only to be transformed into a rakghoul as a result of his bravery. Sensing the Force presence within both Skywalker and Organa, Muur attempted to dislodge his talisman from Morne, seeking a new, more susceptible host. However, Morne regained her senses and deflected the talisman away from the two rebels, reclaiming the burden of the talisman herself. As Morne turned away from the two, Skywalker and Organa became the targets of Morne's legion of rakghouls, but the timely arrival of Solo and the Millennium Falcon allowed them to escape unharmed. The rebels left behind their primary shuttle, which Morne seized for her own use. Her numerous rakghouls boarded the shuttle, assuming their positions as the new crew, and the vessel ascended into orbit, where an Imperial-class Star Destroyer awaited. Before the Imperial crew could mount an attack on the shuttle, Morne once again harnessed the power of the Muur Talisman to transform those aboard into rakghouls. As she piloted the shuttle into space, the Star [Destroyer](/article/destroyer-legends] crashed onto the moon and exploded.

Having acquired a ship, Morne was overcome with a desire to explore the galaxy, a place she had been absent from for over four millennia. This desire, however, was not her own, but rather originated from the spirit of Karness Muur. Upon realizing this, Morne instead directed her shuttle towards the Deep Core, intending to shield the galaxy from the threat posed by Muur and the rakghouls. She and her rakghouls remained there until 127 ABY, when their shuttle was boarded by the Pellaeon-class Star Destroyer, the Iron Sun. Mistakenly believing that the Imperial ship served the same Sith-led Empire as Darth Vader, Morne utilized the Muur Talisman's power to transform the entire crew of the Iron Sun into rakghouls. Over the subsequent decade, the Iron Sun's food supply dwindled, leading to the rakghouls engaging in infighting and cannibalism in a desperate attempt to survive.

In 137 ABY, the Iron Sun and its rakghoul crew captured another vessel, the Mynock, belonging to Cade Skywalker, a former Jedi apprentice and descendant of Luke Skywalker. Skywalker and his companions—Deliah Blue, Jariah Syn, Jedi Knights Shado Vao and Wolf Sazen, and the Imperial Knights Antares Draco, Ganner Krieg, and Azlyn Rae—began exploring the seemingly deserted Star Destroyer, discovering the bones of deceased rakghouls before being ambushed by a group of surviving rakghouls. Morne regained control over the creatures, halting their attack, but not before Skywalker and Rae were infected with the rakghoul plague. Morne isolated the two and informed them of their unfortunate fate as victims of the plague, promising them swift deaths once the transformation took hold. However, Skywalker refused to accept his destiny and, upon learning that the rakghoul plague was a disease created by but separate from the Force, he employed his radical healing ability to cure himself and Rae, much to Morne's astonishment.

Impressed by Skywalker's power, Morne pledged to assist him and his companions in their mission to eliminate Darth Krayt, the current Dark Lord of the Sith. Together, they launched an attack on the Imperial base on Had Abbadon. There, they encountered the Devaronian Sith Lord Darth Reave. Morne transformed Reave's stormtroopers into rakghouls, who promptly turned against their former master. Even Reave's dual lightsabers were unable to prevent him from being scratched before he managed to escape. Reave fled back to the Temple of the Sith on Coruscant, where he informed Darth Krayt and his Sith allies about Skywalker's presence on Had Abbadon before succumbing to the rakghoul plague, transforming into a rakghoul, and attacking Krayt. The rakghoul that was once Reave was slain by Krayt's Hand, Darth Stryfe, and its body was examined by the Sith scientist, Darth Maladi, who expressed surprise at the sight of a rakghoul, creatures that were believed to be extinct. A message from Celeste Morne, impersonating Karness Muur and falsely claiming to hold Skywalker hostage, lured the Sith to Had Abbadon, where they were ambushed. In addition to Skywalker, the Jedi, and the Imperial Knights, Krayt and his Sith were attacked by groups of Morne's rakghouls. The rakghouls even defended Morne from Antares Draco's attempt to kill her and seize the Muur Talisman for Emperor Roan Fel. The rakghouls were largely defeated by Draco and the Sith, falling victim to Sith lightning and deadly lightsaber strikes, but Krayt himself was mortally wounded in a coordinated attack by Azlyn Rae and a Karness Muur-guided Morne. With Krayt defeated and the other Sith falling to the strike team, Morne pleaded with Skywalker to end her life before she completely succumbed to Muur's influence. Skywalker complied, mercifully killing Morne with his lightsaber. With Morne's death, Muur's talisman attempted to bind itself to Skywalker, but Skywalker resisted the temptation of the power Muur offered, instead destroying the talisman with the Force, seemingly driving the rakghouls back towards extinction.

Rakghouls, characterized by their hideous appearance and craving for flesh, were non-sentient beings, typically exhibiting simple and animalistic behavior, often referred to as "mindless." These feral rakghouls, also known as "lower rakghouls," were driven by their instincts, particularly their hunger, often traveling in packs of four to eight, and attacking anything resembling potential food. While they lacked a formal hierarchy, certain rakghouls, sometimes referred to as "rakghoul fiends," exerted influence over their "lower" brethren. These hardy and vicious rakghouls were generally believed to retain fragments of their former intelligence, directing other rakghouls to trap and ambush prey; rumors even suggested they could wield weapons.

However, rakghouls only reached their full potential when under the influence of the Muur Talisman. Possession of the Muur Talisman allowed one to enslave rakghouls, commanding them as an army with the potential for limitless expansion. Under the talisman's influence, rakghouls became more docile and could access the knowledge and skills they possessed in their previous lives. Unfortunately, their former personalities could not be restored, as only an imprint of their past selves remained within the rakghouls.

Rakghouls were the result of Sith alchemy performed by the ancient Sith Lord, Karness Muur. In creating the talisman in which he would later invest his mind and will, Muur imbued the amulet with the ability to almost instantaneously transform nearby sentient beings into rakghouls, which he could then command and control. However, the talisman's powers were not universally effective; Force-users and certain non-Human species were immune to its effects. To overcome this limitation, Muur engineered the "rakghoul plague," a virus-like disease that could be transmitted through a rakghoul's bite or scratch. Individuals infected with this disease would eventually transform into rakghouls themselves. Incubation periods varied, but the infection's manifestation was typically a rapid and painful process, resulting in transformation within six to forty-eight hours. The bodywide mutation manifested as the body would become twisted, skin pigmentation would drain and the victim would attain a whitened corpse-like state. Victims would also bleed from pores in the skin, and from places such as the eyes. In the aftermath of the Mandalorian Wars, the Sith Empire established by Darths Revan and Malak possessed a curative serum that could save individuals infected with the plague, and the Jedi Cade Skywalker possessed the unique ability to heal infected individuals. However, once a victim had fully transformed into a rakghoul, death was the only means of salvation.