Sauvax

The Sauvax were crustacean sentient beings with an average height comparable to that of Humans. A robust chitinous exoskeleton almost entirely covered their heads and bodies. Although somewhat flexible, this natural protection was resilient enough to shield them from harm. Their faces were positioned atop this innate armor, with eyes that protruded to maximize their field of vision. Each Sauvax possessed a pair of delicate antennae that enhanced their spatial awareness.

The arms of the Sauvax terminated in prominent pincers, a defining characteristic. These substantial appendages could serve as effective slashing weapons in close-quarters combat and were also capable of manipulating simple objects like a javelin. However, they were ill-suited for handling smaller items designed for Human-like fingers, such as energy weapons or electronic tablets. Despite this, the large claws concealed three less conspicuous digits, including an opposable thumb that facilitated more precise manipulation.

Sauvax locomotion on land involved the use of six extended, segmented legs, enabling them to achieve a ground speed equivalent to that of a Human. They were equally adept in aquatic environments, where the bristles on their undersides and their rudder-like twin tails aided them in attaining a water speed comparable to other species with underwater civilizations. Their innate swimming abilities surpassed those of non-amphibious species. Sauvax exhibited greater strength and resilience compared to typical Humans, but possessed less agility, a fact readily apparent in their physical appearance. The Human inhabitants of Leritor often perceived the Sauvax as menacing solely based on their outward appearance.

The Sauvax consumed cultivated algae and gelatinous substances, supplementing their diet with cooked game and aquatic animals, including marine plants, sea echinoderms, sea flowers, and other crustaceans.

The Sauvax possessed a relatively rudimentary civilization when compared to much of the rest of the known galaxy. While they routinely utilized handcrafted weaponry such as spears, the Sauvax were capable of employing technological devices without the cultural constraints that hampered more primitive species.

Sauvax tribal units, referred to as kuuvan in their native tongue, established their settlements, also termed kuuvan, along the coasts of the planet's oceans, favoring locations such as tidal pools, cliffs, and shorelines. The kuuvan comprised basic dwellings constructed from stone and reinforced with sand and debris.

In certain instances, the kuuvan leader, or tevelor, held the privilege of residing in the largest structure. Typically, the kuuvan also incorporated non-residential facilities, such as drying racks for preserving fish, an open gathering area with a stone platform for oration, a domed enclosure for food storage, and tidal pools for cultivating marine vegetation and crustaceans. The entirety of the kuuvan was situated mere meters from the high-water mark.

The Sauvax utilized hand-fashioned tools, which they commonly carried in bags woven from algae. The most essential of these implements was the gruush, a versatile spear featuring a spiked tip and a curved hook, primarily employed for fishing in the continental shelves. The Sauvax cultivated their own algae and slime crops for sustenance, also utilizing the gruush in this process. They were known to employ technology to prepare game and fish before consumption.

Sauvax culture was intricate, and its nuances were often unfamiliar to outsiders. Members of other species commonly perceived the Sauvax as an assertive and impetuous people, albeit one lacking imperialistic ambitions. While the Sauvax did exhibit ferocity on occasion, this typically occurred only when they perceived a threat to their way of life. The Sauvax held a different concept of etiquette compared to Humans, and members of the species were less sociable than Humans.

In Sauvax culture, diplomatic negotiations did not commence with a simple one-on-one discussion between the involved parties, particularly if one party was at a disadvantage. The defendants were expected to demonstrate their value before their claims could be given credence. This could be achieved through the offering of a gift, potentially accompanied by a formal explanation of its purpose. In this context, a valuable present, a technological artifact, and a clear demonstration of its utility could enhance the prospects of the presenting party. However, in doing so, a non-Sauvax defendant could easily violate a cultural taboo and inadvertently offend the Sauvax.

Another avenue for engaging in diplomacy was the sharing of food; consuming the food of the other party signified trust. Non-Sauvax often found Sauvax cuisine unpalatable, but while dining, Sauvax were more inclined to mock the alien than to take offense. The defendants were also expected to offer their own food as a gift.

Sauvax were diligent workers, typically specializing in manual labor but also demonstrating aptitude in academic pursuits. While Sauvax rarely pursued professional careers requiring advanced technology, such as computer hacking or starship operation, they embraced high-tech weaponry and could become formidable soldiers.

The Sauvax possessed their own language, also known as Sauvax. Some individuals, who had occasional contact with the Human farmers, attained some proficiency in Galactic Basic. Given that the Sauvax vocal apparatus could reproduce most of the sounds in Basic, a Sauvax could learn and speak Basic without significant difficulty.

Known Sauvax names include Chuuvus, Gurruul, Juucsuur, Kruuvurn, Muurbux, Tchuul, Uukk, and Vrujuun.

The Sauvax evolved on the world of Leritor, situated within the Yucrales sector of the Mid Rim territories, and developed their unique way of life and culture in isolation.

At some point in Leritor's history, a Sith space vessel crash-landed in the Bleaks, a mountain range on the planet's primary continent. The survivors employed their dark side Force abilities in an attempt to seize control of the planet and its inhabitants, but the Sith were unable to thrive on Leritor and ultimately vanished. Sauvax legend incorporated this event as an ancient catastrophe in which a metropolis fell from the sky and "divine emissaries" attempted to subjugate their people. Unbeknownst to the Sauvax, the wrecked ship remained partially buried in the Bleaks, containing a Sith artifact: the Najus Bracers, which could amplify the power of a dark Force user.

Years later, Humans from the Core Worlds identified Leritor as a potential colony where they could peacefully reside as farmers in the fertile inland plains. Their survey team observed the Sauvax and engaged with representatives of the main kuuvan to establish a formal Agreement of Settlement that stipulated that the Humans and their machinery could not encroach within 100 kilometers of the coastline. Conversely, the Sauvax were permitted to visit the Human-inhabited lands for trade and cultural exchange as they desired. The Human settlers consented to allocate this extensive area to the Sauvax in exchange for a peace accord.

The Humans subsequently utilized massive tracked vehicles known as harvesting combines to cultivate the prairies, avoiding the coastal regions. In subsequent years, Sauvax envoys made contact with roaming harvesting combines. The Agreement of Settlement was honored, and no violence transpired between the two peoples.

Centuries after Leritor's earlier occupation by the Sith, the planet was covertly visited by a Sith scholar and adept named Profex Rynalla. Having discovered the location of the missing Najus Bracers, she traveled to Leritor aboard a large transport vessel, accompanied by two PTR-3 Vedette small fighters, and two dozen Klatooinian soldiers. She located the partially buried Sith starship in the Bleaks near a cliff face and established a camp there using prefabricated structures. Recognizing the need for additional labor to excavate the wreckage and search its interior, she resolved to enslave the local population.

Rynalla's forces attacked a nearby harvesting combine, the Nellist, employing energy beams from her ships. After immobilizing the harvester, the Nellist was breached from within. Rynalla's forces abducted the healthier farmers to employ them as diggers, and terminated the older and weaker settlers using the traditional gruush weapon of the Sauvax. While the Sauvax lacked weaponry capable of damaging the hull of a harvesting combine, the gruush Rynalla left behind were sufficient to cast suspicion on the native species.

Similarly, Rynalla's minions raided a kuuvan, wielding energy weapons. The Klatooinians fired from their ships, devastating the huts, and then seized the most physically capable individuals. As Rynalla's presence on Leritor was a closely guarded secret, no one suspected a third party for the attacks, despite the fact that the Klatooinians left behind some incriminating evidence—namely, a young female Sauvax who witnessed the events and concealed herself in a shelter, fearing the return of the plunderers.

The Sauvax prisoners joined their Human counterparts at Rynalla's excavation site. Working in unison, they extracted minerals and debris from the Sith vessel, depositing the waste in a pile near the camp perimeter and discarding the dirt into a nearby stream. The Sauvax captives, being amphibious, were selected to work in the deepest, submerged corridors of the ship. Five armed Klatooinians maintained constant surveillance over these fifty workers.

The laborers were housed in caves in the lower section of a cliff, preventing them from easily tunneling to escape; simultaneously, they remained under the continuous illumination of Rynalla's watchtowers. Every two days, the miners, who were unaware of the specific object of their search, were evacuated from the ship to allow the Klatooinians to search for any signs of escape, while Rynalla sought the Bracers.

Rynalla and the Klatooinians believed themselves to be well concealed, and were therefore more concerned with preventing prisoner escapes than with detecting incoming intruders. Consequently, Rynalla established a second camp near the edge of the Bleaks, where two soldiers stood guard. Three Humans and two Sauvax did attempt to escape, but they were apprehended, subjected to pain, and executed. Rynalla's ongoing activities, including the river pollution and escalating noise, were detected by a Sauvax hunter, a Sauvax farmer, and a Sauvax child, but none of them discerned the cause.

A separate Sauvax kuuvan that had contact with the enslaved Sauvax mistakenly concluded that the Human settlers had perpetrated the assault with the intention of exterminating the entire Sauvax species. Concurrently, the Human settlers were perplexed as to why the Sauvax had attacked the Nellist without provocation, as the Nellist had not violated the Agreement of Settlement.

A group of Sauvax warriors from the aggrieved kuuvan, led by their leader, surrounded the first harvesting combine they encountered, the Gevion, and demanded an explanation. While the Sauvax did not attack, they prevented the Gevion from harvesting. The captain of the Gevion, in turn, had to avoid injuring the Sauvax with the reaper at pain of sparking a war—which was Rynalla's secret intention. The Gevion captain was too scared of the threatening military force to send an envoy to parlay.

The Gevion transmitted a distress signal that was intercepted by external parties passing near the planet. The newcomers initially offered to mediate, then to investigate the situation. Ultimately, they uncovered Rynalla's scheme and thwarted her, though not before she had recovered the Najus Bracers. This brought an end to the attacks and restored peace to the planet.

Nevertheless, another kuuvan in the southern part of the continent remained skeptical, choosing to believe that all the trouble had been secretly orchestrated by the Human settlers in an attempt to harm the species. The kuuvan sought to leverage their grievance to pressure one of the offworld factions into a new commercial arrangement and to gain access to technology that could grant them an economic or military advantage over the other kuuvan.

Sauvax were almost exclusively observed on their home planet, Leritor. They were generally regarded as inhabitants of a remote frontier region, despite their location in the Mid Rim. Nonetheless, some Sauvax individuals felt a strong desire to explore territories beyond those of their ancestors. A small number of Sauvax learned to pilot starships and operate energy weapons. However, there were no documented instances of Sauvax armies operating outside Leritor. Similarly, there were no reports of Force-sensitive Sauvax. In 43 ABY, a Sauvax was present on the planet Taris, where she participated in Sok Brok's Fiftieth Annual Pet Show, held at Molpol's Traveling Circus. The Sauvax was exhibiting her pet, a livestock animal raised for its meat; however, from the audience, the Human contraband runner Han Solo mused that the Sauvax might be more palatable than the creature she was presenting.

The Sauvax made their debut in the tabletop game adventure Standoff on Leritor, authored by Peter Schweighofer and illustrated by Mikael Noguchi. The article was published in Star Wars Gamer #10, the final issue of the magazine, in 2002. The Sauvax were subsequently included in the role-playing supplement Ultimate Alien Anthology in 2003, featuring a new illustration of a Sauvax by Raven Mimura. Their name was referenced in the non-canonical graphic novel Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace in 2006.

Ultimate Alien Anthology suggests that Rynalla was defeated during the events of the adventure "Standoff in Leritor," and this article adopts the same assumption. Nonetheless, players of that scenario may pursue various paths to reach that conclusion. For example, they may choose to visit a kuuvan, becoming the first offworlders to do so with permission, and they may decide to enlist a Sauvax and/or a Human settler to accompany them. The adventure prevents Rynalla from escaping with the Bracers, although it acknowledges the possibility that she may have allies or rivals who later follow her trail to Leritor.

The non-canonical comic story Tag & Bink: Revenge of the Clone Menace mentions Sauvax as an ingredient in cuisine on Coruscant. In the story, set in 22 BBY, the headhunter Jango Fett is depicted as enjoying Sauvax meat, provided it is not overcooked. Fett consumes a Sauvax dish while on a date with Kannen Doom.