During the Galactic Civil War, Stafuv Rahz held the rank of major within the Imperial Military. This male Gektl hailing from Hoszh Iszhir turned against his own people, seeking power under the Empire. Rahz was responsible for maintaining his planet's shield system, a barrier against resource-hungry magnates. Driven by immense ambition, Rahz essentially traded his species' freedom for personal advancement by providing Emperor Palpatine with a means to circumvent Hoszh Iszhir's defenses. Palpatine seized this opportunity, and while the Gektls of Hoszh Iszhir were enslaved to work as miners, Rahz served the Empire, reporting directly to Lord Darth Vader.
Following a raid on Kar'a'katok, which led to the recruitment of Ampotem Za, who would later become the overlord of Mandalore, Vader tasked Rahz with abducting Myoris Lin, a teacher, and her students from the planet Harix. Rahz succeeded in this mission, but one student, Berd, escaped his grasp. This escapee sought refuge with the Alliance to Restore the Republic and fought against Rahz in an effort to liberate his classmates and his mother, Lin. The ensuing battle resulted in the destruction of Rahz's fleet, but the Gektl attempted to salvage the situation by executing his prisoners. However, while attempting to use a sonic beam projector on the captives, Stafuv Rahz met his death, as Berd had sabotaged the weapon.
Stafuv Rahz, who was born and raised on the harsh world of Hoszh Iszhir, dedicated himself to the upkeep of the planet's defense shields. These shields served to keep away prospectors looking to mine the planet's valuable guerrerite deposits. Displaying a lack of concern for his fellow Gektls, Rahz journeyed to Imperial Center, hoping to secure an audience with Emperor Palpatine. His request was granted, and during his meeting with the leader of the Galactic Empire, he offered Palpatine the access codes to bypass Hoszh Iszhir's shields. In return, he requested a commission in the Imperial Military and control over his home star system.
Palpatine accepted these conditions, eager to exploit the valuable natural resources of Hoszh Iszhir. He ordered a fleet of Star Destroyers to bombard the planet before enslaving the Gektls and forcing them to work in the guerrerite mines. Rahz was assigned to Lord Darth Vader, the Supreme Commander of the Imperial Navy, who held the Gektl in contempt for his deceitful and treacherous nature and made no secret of his feelings. Sometime after his appointment, Rahz was dispatched to Kar'a'katok to lead a raid on the secluded planet. Rahz's forces subdued and captured Ampotem Za, a native of the planet belonging to the Shimholt species. Za managed to escape captivity and return to Kar'a'katok, but his fellow Shimholt shunned him because the planet's government had banned off-world travel for its citizens over four millennia prior. Now an outcast, Za was returned to Rahz's custody. The Gektl presented Za to Palpatine, who appointed the Shimholt as the overlord of Mandalore.
In 1 ABY, Rahz was sent to Harix with orders to abduct Myoris Lin, a teacher, and her students. Lin was suspected of sympathizing with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and Vader intended to use her and the children as hostages to lure her Rebel contacts into a trap. Lin attempted to lead her students through an escape route in a desperate attempt to evade Rahz, but the Gektl managed to capture them all. However, one student, Lin's son Berd, successfully escaped and was rescued by Luke Skywalker, a member of the Rebel Alliance who had hoped to deliver illicit pre-New Order micro-books.
As Skywalker departed Harix, he destroyed a small fleet of ships that Rahz had sent after him, prompting the Gektl to request assistance and rescue from Lord Vader. Upon returning to the Dark Lord's command ship, Rahz and his colleagues received orders to announce that the hostage students would be executed if the Rebels did not reveal themselves. Vader also made it clear that this was Rahz's last opportunity for rescue, and any further requests would result in his complete abandonment. Rahz was then tasked with personally organizing and overseeing the executions, and with positioning a fleet of his TIE Fighters behind the Talhu Slotted Peaks of Harix in anticipation of the rescue attempt that Vader predicted.
As Vader had foreseen, he soon witnessed a thousand enemy ships approaching his base. As Rahz and the Imperials prepared their defenses, Skywalker and his ally Han Solo triggered an avalanche of rubble from Shaelo Cliff, destroying the Gektl's entire fleet of TIE Fighters. Appalled by the loss of his fleet and the sudden communications jamming, Rahz hoped to salvage the situation by executing his prisoners using the sonic beam projector he had been preparing. Before he could carry out the execution, Skywalker attacked him, leading to a struggle with the desperate Gektl.
The attacking "fleet" was, in reality, a collection of Deep Space Target Practice Units modified to resemble spacecraft. The Rebels used them as a diversion while they attempted to rescue the captive children. The real fleet began to swoop over the Lins' school, deploying numerous smugglers who had been moved by young Berd's situation. Rahz, held by his adversaries, shed his tail, skin, and clothes in desperation, broke free, and headed towards the sonic beam projector. However, before the Gektl could fire it at his enemies, Berd reconfigured the weapon's power, causing it to destroy Rahz instead.
Stafuv Rahz, an ambitious Gektl, had no reservations about harming others to achieve his own goals. Devoid of any loyalty to his home planet of Hoszh Iszhir, the Gektl essentially sacrificed the freedom of his entire race in exchange for an Imperial uniform. This likely stemmed from the Gektl's inherent instinct for survival. Given the harsh environment of Hoszh Iszhir, characterized by barren deserts, dangerous predators, and toxic clouds, its inhabitants were driven to do whatever it took to stay alive. However, Rahz went beyond these natural means in his pursuit, which earned him the disdain of his superiors. Despite this, he was always eager to impress Lord Vader and constantly feared the Dark Lord.
Major Rahz made his first appearance in Bring Me the Children, a comic strip by Russ Manning published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate in 1980. Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley later established the character's first name, Stafuv, in their online supplement Aliens in the Empire, which was published on StarWars.com as part of the Hyperspace subscription feature in 2007. Rahz's first name was a reference to the "Staff of Ra," an artifact from Raiders of the Lost Ark, the 1981 Indiana Jones film conceived and executive produced by Star Wars creator George Lucas. Peña initially missed the reference in the character's name during a discussion with Handley around 2004.