Uvak

Uvak were large, four-legged reptavians exhibiting expansive, leathery wings, pointed beaks, and substantial tails. Consistent with predatory species, they possessed a pair of emerald eyes situated at the front of their heads. An individual uvak surpassed the size of a fully grown Keshiri or Human. Their paws featured four digits terminating in sharp claws. Being a reptilian species, uvak were entirely covered in scales and hatched from eggs. Their robust strength and stamina rendered them suitable as mounts and beasts of burden within Keshiri society.

Each uvak had the capacity to transport a maximum of two individuals of Human size. They were also capable of sustained flight across both landmasses and oceans by utilizing jetstream currents in Kesh's upper atmosphere. However, the Keshiri and Sith generally regarded long-distance travel between Keshtah Minor and the continents of Alanciar and Eshkrene as highly perilous, if not impossible. While uvak inhabited Keshtah Minor and Alanciar, they were absent from the polar continent of Eshkrene in the planet's South Pole due to its severe, frozen climate.

Uvak were known for their temperamental nature and frequently formed strong attachments to their riders. The death of a rider often led to insanity in the uvak. Consequently, it was essential to stable them with relatives of the deceased to maintain their sanity. Wild uvak, lacking riders, were reputed to be indolent and hostile toward other living beings. They also possessed considerable intelligence and were capable of developing distinct personalities. One uvak, known as Nink, famously abandoned its rider, Zhari Vaal, in the sea after enduring prolonged mistreatment. Nink subsequently cultivated a warm and intimate relationship with Vaal's widow, Adari Vaal. Within Keshiri society, uvaks were regarded as a status symbol by ruling factions, including the Neshtovar and later the Lost Tribe of Sith.

Force-sensitive individuals were also known to communicate with their uvaks. During Dreypa's rebellion in 2975 BBY, Kaliska, the leader of the Doomed, employed the Force power of animal friendship to persuade a herd of uvaks to journey from the port town of Eorm to Eshkrene, located in the south pole. By 37 ABY, prospective Lost Tribe riders had begun manipulating the dark side of the Force to assert their will over infant uvaks while still in their eggs. This was done to cause the uvak to "imprint" upon the Force-user, enabling the latter to claim the uvak as their own. The Sith Vestara Khai forged a close bond with her uvak Tikk through this method. Following their separation in 44 ABY, Tikk's distress was so profound that Vestara's father, Gavar Khai, was compelled to euthanize the uvak to alleviate his suffering.

The uvak species originated and evolved on Kesh, a secluded planet situated in Wild Space. At an undetermined point, the Keshiri, a purple-skinned humanoid species indigenous to Kesh, domesticated the uvaks. Subsequently, the uvak became beasts of burden and mounts in Keshiri society. By 5000 BBY, uvak had become a symbol of status, with only members of the Neshtovar, an elite political and religious aristocracy, permitted to ride them. Uvak played a significant role in Neshtovari religion. Nesthovari cosmology held that the Skyborn, a group of deities, rode gigantic crystal uvak during the "Great Battle" against the Otherside, malevolent entities associated with death, sickness, fire, and rebellion.

The Neshtovar considered themselves "Sons of the Skyborn," responsible for bringing knowledge of the Great Battle and Keshiri creation to the oceanside mountains of Keshtah. They used uvak steeds to unify the entire continent under their rule and often developed deep, lifelong bonds with their mounts. Zhari Vaal, a Neshtovari, was known to mistreat his uvak, Nink, who retaliated by throwing Vaal into the sea, resulting in his drowning. His widow, Adari Vaal, a geologist, inherited Nink and formed a close, amicable relationship with the creature.

In 5000 BBY, Adari Vaal's scientific research on tectonic plates contradicted the Neshtovar's teachings that volcanic eruptions were caused by the Skyborn. Harassed by the Neshtovar, Vaal and her uvak fled into the Takara Mountains. While flying over these mountains on Nink, Vaal discovered the stranded Sith Empire ship Omen. She and Nink also witnessed Yaru Korsin pushing his brother Devore Korsin over a cliff into the Southern Ocean. During this incident, Vaal lost her balance and fell from Nink, managing to cling to the uvak's foot until it landed on a seaside perch.

Later, Vaal discovered the offworlders' mountain encampment and met Yaru Korsin. She learned that the offworlders were predominantly Human Sith stranded on Kesh after the Omen was attacked by a Jedi starfighter while delivering Lignan ore during the Great Hyperspace War. The group also included 55 Red Sith and a contingent of Massassi warriors, who either succumbed to Kesh's atmosphere or were killed during the Red Sith Purge in 4985 BBY. Korsin persuaded Vaal to assist their escape, and she led the Neshtovar to the Sith encampment. The Sith posed as the Keshiri gods, the "Skyborn," and gained the allegiance of the Keshiri on Keshtah Minor.

The Sith subsequently occupied the Neshtovar's homes in the capital Tahv. As the Neshtovar's power waned, Vaal became an honored member of the new Sith government. Soon after their arrival, the Sith appropriated the strongest uvaks, and a group of Sith enthusiasts formed the Skyborn Rangers, an uvak-riding club that evolved into the Tribe's air force. However, most of the uvak population remained with the Keshiri as domesticated beasts of burden. By 4985 BBY, uvak were used to transport water and operate the pulley system for Tahv's aqueduct.

Uvak were instrumental in the Sith's administration of Keshtah. They transported Sith circuit riders to outlying settlements to consult with local bureaucracies staffed by former Neshtovar members. Neshtovar were also permitted to fly uvak for work and visits to the Sith's mountain retreat. Following the lakes poisoning incident in 4985 BBY, the Sith prohibited all Keshiri from riding uvak to control information flow. Many former Neshtovari were reduced to stable hands and policemen, with Vaal being the sole exception, allowed to keep Nink to visit Korsin.

Eventually, many Keshiri, including Vaal and disaffected Neshtovari, opposed the Sith's rule and formed an underground resistance movement to undermine their power, force them offworld, and liberate the Keshiri. By 4975 BBY, Vaal attempted to organize a strike by stealing the Sith's uvaks. The Keshiri resistance amassed an army of over a thousand Keshiri and five thousand uvak. Vaal's uvak, Nink, was the oldest at forty and considered the natural leader. However, the resistance's plans were foiled when Vaal's son, Tona Vaal, betrayed them and revealed the plot to Nida Korsin, Grand Lord Korsin's daughter.

Consequently, many Keshiri resistance members were forced into exile or were killed. Vaal, along with a thousand Keshiri riders and their uvak, fled across the ocean by harnessing a jetstream current. Only three hundred riders and their uvak survived the turbulent journey, becoming stranded on an island before being rescued by Alanciari sailors from the continent of Alanciar, home to another Keshiri civilization. Vaal and her allies warned the Alanciari Keshiri about the Sith threat, prompting them to strengthen their defenses and prepare for a potential invasion.

Meanwhile, the Sith consolidated their rule over Keshtah. By 3960 BBY, several uvak were raised for rake-riding, a blood sport pitting flightless Keshiri against human wranglers. These uvak were deliberately made flightless by clipping their wing muscles at hatching and screwing grass prongs into their wing edges. From a young age, they were trained by their handlers to fight and kill, satisfying the Lost Tribe's bloodlust. During one such event, Campion Dey, an uvak wrangler, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate Grand Lord Lillia Venn. The attack failed, and Dey and his uvak were killed.

As a result, Dey's sponsors, High Lord Candra Kitai and her daughter Orielle Kitai, were blamed and reduced to slaves. Candra was forced to shovel manure at the Zoo, a facility for uvaks and other wild beasts, while Orielle and her uvak fled Shyn to the farm of Jelph Marrian, a stranded human Jedi who had arrived on Kesh during the Jedi Civil War. Later, members of the Lost Tribe caught up with Orielle, killed her uvak, and confiscated her lightsaber, claiming her family conspired with the High Lords of the Gold and Red factions to assassinate Grand Lord Venn.

This event triggered a chain of events where Orielle attempted to regain their privileged status by revealing the existence of Marrian's Aurek-class tactical strikefighter to the Tribe. Ultimately, Grand Lord Venn and several followers were killed during an attempt to seize Marrian's starfighter. This event, known as the Night of the Upside-Down Meteor, ushered in a vicious power struggle that lasted nearly a millennium and devastated much of Keshtah. Orielle and Marrian survived and lived in secrecy in the jungle highlands of Keshtah's interior.

In 3000 BBY, the reformist Grand Lord Varner Hilts restored order and stability to Keshtah Minor, ending the centuries-long civil conflict. After rebuilding Sith society, he initiated a program to explore the uncharted seas and lands beyond Keshtah. Following a visit to the ancient Sith ship Omen in the Kesh Sith Temple, Hilts learned of a second continent, Alanciar, separated from Keshtah by a vast ocean. By 2975 BBY, Edell Vrai, one of Hilt's associates and a fellow Sith Lord, developed a fleet of airships for long-distance travel, using uvak to provide propulsion and control direction. The uvak were harnessed to the airship and had space to rest, eat, and sleep when not needed. Despite the dangers, the Sith could not develop sailing ships because Keshtah's hejarbo trees were unsuitable for shipbuilding.

Uvak-powered airships were used during the Sith invasion of Alanciar. Vrai led an expedition of three airships to explore Alanciar but were attacked by Alanciari ballistae and an "air force" of uvak riders stationed at Garrow's Neck. During this skirmish, the uvak "Starboard," attached to the airship Candra, crashed on Jogan Halder, an Alanciari man, wounding him. He and his lover Quarra Thayn, an officer in the Alanciari military, were captured by the Sith and later cooperated with them in exchange for Vrai sparing Quarra's life. Later, High Lord Korsin Bentado led a large invasion force of airships known as the Ebon Fleet to invade Alanciar, violating an agreement with Vrai to attack only after his reconnaissance mission. These airships and their uvak were destroyed by Alanciari artillery defenses.

Despite these losses, Bentado's forces regrouped and infiltrated the Alanciari capital of Sus'mintri, killing the War Cabinet, Alanciar's military leadership. Bentado then attempted to rebel against Grand Lord Hilts and create a "Second Tribe" on Alanciar but was thwarted by Vrai, Quarra, and his Keshiri assistant Squab, who personally killed Bentado. Ultimately, the Lost Tribe peacefully took control of Alanciar after coercing Halder into convincing the Alanciari Keshiri that the Sith were not a threat. Halder claimed that Bentado and his followers were "servants" of the malevolent Destructors and that Hilt's supporters were the Protectors. Thus, the Lost Tribe gained control of Alanciar by winning the people's support.

Following the "conquest" of Alanciar, the Lost Tribe phased out airships in favor of wooden ships, which the Alanciari could build due to their abundant forests. However, uvak were still used for transporting goods and people and relaying communications on both Keshtah and Alanciar. During Dreypa's rebellion, Takara Hilts, the Sith princess and daughter of Lord Varner Hilts, and Kaliska, the Doomed leader, stole a herd of uvak from Eorm. They used the Force to convince the uvak to fly to Eshkrene, home to the Doomed, descendants of stranded Jedi and Dark Jedi from the Hundred-Year Darkness. These Force-users had made peace and dedicated themselves to protecting the Keshiri from external threats.

During Dreypa's rebellion, uvak flown by the Sith's Skyborn Rangers played a key role in the Battle of the Marisota Floodplain against Baron Remulus Dreypa's rebels. Dreypa, an ancient Sith veteran of the Hundred-Year Darkness, had been imprisoned for four thousand years within an oubliette and desired to seek vengeance against the Jedi and the Galactic Republic. Dreypa and his forces retreated to Sessal Spire, unleashing Leviathans, ancient reptilian Sithspawn capable of draining the souls of other lifeforms, on both his pursuers and former allies. These Leviathans devoured everything, including several uvaks. The Doomed and their uvak steeds arrived but were no match for Dreypa's dark side powers and Leviathans.

Following the Battle of Sessal Spire, Parlan Spinner, a Sith outcast who had allied with Dreypa, joined forces with Takara and Kaliska to defeat Dreypa. Spinner used an uvak to ferry Iliana Hilts, Takara's weakened mother and Grand Consort, back to Tahv. After Dreypa's death and defeat, an uvak and its rider were seen flying above Tahv during the city's reconstruction. An important legacy of Takara's contact with the Doomed was that the Lost Tribe learned the Force power of animal friendship, enabling them to influence their uvak steeds, elevating the relationship between uvaks and their Sith masters.

By 37 ABY, the relationship between uvak and their Sith masters had advanced significantly. Prospective Lost Tribe riders used the dark side of the Force to force their will on infant uvaks in their eggs, causing the uvak to "imprint" upon the Force-user. The Sith apprentice Vestara Khai developed a close bond with her uvak Tikk through this method. After their separation in 44 ABY, Tikk's grief was so intense that Vestara's father, Gavar Khai, euthanized the uvak to end his suffering.

The Uvak were first introduced into the Expanded Universe by Christie Golden and first appeared in her novel Fate of the Jedi: Omen, the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series released on June 29, 2013. Their relationship with their Sith masters was further explored in her novella Imprint, released in July 2009. Uvak later appeared in Golden's third Star Wars novel Fate of the Jedi: Ascension. Their anatomy, physiology, behavior, and history were further developed by John Jackson Miller, who authored the Lost Tribe of the Sith novella series from 2009 to 2012.

Uvak also appeared in Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith—Spiral, a comic spinoff of Miller's novellas, which ran from August 8 to December 12, 2012. They were drawn by Andrea Mutti, inked by Pierluigi Baldassini, and colored by Michael Atiyeh. In addition, they were also illustrated by the cover artist Paul Renaud. According to Miller, the comics were faithful to the original description of the uvaks in Omen but were more svelte than he had imagined. He also commented that the first uvak he had written about, Nink, was a rather fat member of his species. Pablo Hidalgo's The Essential Reader's Companion, released on October 2, 2012, also included a painting depicting the Keshiri character Adari Vaal and her uvak steed, illustrated by Darren Tan.